Cover Reveal: Love Revolution by Michelle Mankin

OMG, this one I am so excited about! Not only is it written by my good friend Michelle Mankin, but I was honored with an advance copy of it and I love every word this lady writes!  I’ll have more information and maybe even some giveaways as the release date approaches so keep reading!

Genre and Age Group: Romance Young/New adult

Author: Michelle Mankin

Release date: November 14, 2012

Links: michellemankin.com

The wheels of love are always turning at Black Cat Records. Things are just starting to settle down there, but two Texas sisters are fixin’ to stir things up again at the Vancouver record label. CEO Mary Timmons sets spirited country superstar, Sara Daniels, on a collision course with cocky rocker, Chris Alex. Meanwhile, Brutal Strength’s suave drummer, JR, has his head turned by pretty young intern, Samantha Daniels. Do all their highways lead to happiness or will the wheels fly off when the sisters’ tragic past comes back to haunt them?

Love Revolution is a rock ‘n roll romance inspired by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and is the second book in the Black Cat Records Trilogy.

Book Review: Saving Grace by J.M. Hill

**** Four Stars!

Julie Hill is kind and sweet and gifted me with this book to read and review.  Since I had no idea beforehand what this book was about, I jumped at the chance to read and write about it.

The Prologue at the beginning of the book definitely hooked me in.

The story revolves around two cousins, Kate and Grace, who were lucky enough to have three gorgeous, sensitive and caring guys move into a house across the street from them. The Anderson brothers not only drove nice cars, they also worked in a lucrative family business that  afforded them free time and the flexibility to work from home!  After numerous meals together, home visits and movie nights, both cousins fall in love with two of the Anderson brothers. Grace’s relationship with Michael does not develop as quickly as that of Kate and Miles. The first half of the book was a highlight to the romantic tension that existed between Grace and Michael.

All this time, I kept wondering, where is this going to lead and how does the Prologue eventually get resolved? Until I reached the 64% mark on my Kindle.

The pace of the story then picks up at breakneck speed when Grace faces a life changing incident.  What happens to Grace and most importantly the after-effect of the event on her is heartbreaking and real.  Grace and Michael struggle not only to build their relationship but to put their past experiences behind them. I realize that we needed the first half of the book to place their relationship in perspective and to entitle it to the meaningfulness that it deserves. A love that survives tragic events needs a solid foundation. True love does not happen overnight. Strong ties and connections build their strength over a period of time.

In the end, I learned one thing:  that the title, “Saving Grace” is an irony all in itself. For although at first glance we see that Michael and those who loved her helped Grace to heal from her ordeal, all of the book’s main characters, were, in one way or another rescued by Grace’s perseverance and unconditional love.

Book Review: Gabriel’s Inferno and Gabriel’s Rapture by Sylvain Reynard

***** 5 Stars!

I think I’d better get cracking on these book reviews. Here is one that I read at the beginning of the summer and still think about once in a while. What do you get when you mix a love story with the sweet prose and poetry of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri?  You get head in the clouds, soul sweeping romance.   The Gabriel series delivers nothing less than that.

The love story between Professor of Dante Studies Gabriel Emerson and his student, Julianne Mitchell takes many twists and turns as both try their best to avoid going against the University’s fraternization policies and risk losing it all.  Both Julianne and Gabriel have a shared past that serves as a basis for the book’s premise. The story is further enriched by many side plots and other characters that play extremely important parts in the development and outcome of their relationship. As the couple’s past and present collide, Gabriel knows that he must atone for his previous sins so that he can be confident enough to know that he is deserving of someone like his Julianne.

Written so beautifully in two parts by Sylvain Reynard, both books draw many parallelisms between Professor Emerson and the story of the real life Dante Alighieri who wrote the Divine Comedy.  Reynard’s meticulous detailing of scenery and location whether it be at the Toronto University or on the streets of Italy, brings vivid and picturesque images to the reader’s mind.

In the truest sense of classical literature, the author compares Gabriel Emerson’s love for Julianne to that of Dante and his Beatrice. She was the daughter of a banker whom Dante had only met twice in his life but whose presence impacted him so much that he mentions her in many of his writings.  As Beatrice was the only one who can lead Dante to paradise, only Julianne’s love can assure Gabriel of his own redemption.

“You found me”, he murmured. “I should have waited. I love you.”

Boots and A Kindle

I just had to write about this. I started out my nice long weekend by clicking CHECK OUT and CONFIRM PURCHASE for a guilty pair of beautiful boots.  Check them out – cute and walkable and not overwhelming for someone with a challenge in the height department like me.

As all was right with the world on a lazy Saturday night, I decided to get a drink and stand by the kitchen counter with my elbow on guess what?  My Kindle! I heard a “crack” and thought to myself, “oh well, it has its cover, I am sure it will be fine”. Well it wasn’t.  Feeling like I just lost a limb, I wandered in a daze into my office and ordered a brand new one with delivery scheduled for Monday. Two days without one, I can survive.

Here is the point of the story. I posted about it on Facebook (secret group that I am so proud to be a part of) and (while screaming) HERE IS THE POST THAT I GOT FROM COLLEEN HOOVER!  Colleen Hoover! We all know who she is!  Talented, gifted and now published one thousand times over author of Slammed and Point of Retreat.  Sweet, wonderful and kind Colleen Hoover with a huge and generous heart.  Enough said.

• Colleen Hoover Awww, that stinks Nina Gomez. It’s a good thing I’ve got a kindle tree in my backyard. Send me your address to colleenhoover@live.com and I’ll get you one in the mail Monday. Now I’m scurrying off before I give away a child…

14 hours ago · Unlike · 12

Nina Gomez OMG, did Colleen Hoover, my idol Colleen Hoover just offer to buy me a Kindle? I have to save this Facebook thread! And post it on my blog! Colleen Hoover addressed a message to me!!!!! I am totally star struck!

Cover Reveal: Bound Together by Marie Coulson

Layla Jennings is a fiery, independent and level-headed nineteen year old. Always playing by the rules and doing what’s right, she has been the apple of her father’s eye and her mother’s treasure. But moving to college in Long Beach is about to turn Layla’s world upside down. With the gorgeous, pierced, guitar playing, wannabe rock star Oliver living across the hall, Layla finds herself thrown into a world of music, money, torn friendships and blood simmering sexual tension.

But on taking a job in a local coffee shop she meets the deliciously handsome Jared Garrett. Convincing herself that he is a waste of oxygen she tries to put the young successful business man out of her mind. But when he continues to show up she finds herself constantly thinking of him. Dazzled by his boyish good looks and discovering a whole new world of carnal and erotic pleasures, Layla finds herself falling head over heels in love but with Jared hiding a vital secret can she ever truly trust him?

 

Is it really just A JOB?

What a week. The birth of my new baby (my blog, that is) could not have happened at a worse time.  There were deadlines and meetings and auditors and upcoming training sessions. All I kept thinking about is, when can I just get back to my reading? How lucky are those who can blog and tweet and write all day. How can I make this work? How can arriving at home past 8pm and rushing through my chores for an hour of reading and writing ever work? All this time, I kept wishing and wishing and wishing…why can’t I just do what I love to do? What gives with this job?

Early this morning, I sat on the train on my way in to the city checking my calendar for today’s meetings. I felt the same rush of excitement that I have always felt as I planned the rest of my day. I realized that I live for those meetings, the challenges and all those unrealistic deadlines. I thought about how I love making decisions that matter, how every single day is new and different and a learning experience in every way. Most of all, I thought about Jen and Ellen and Katie and how not one day passes without our laughter reverberating through the walls of our fourth floor hallway. How this long and arduous train ride is where I got close to my dearest train buddy.  How I would save every Bosses Day card and wolf down every cupcake and lunch plate that I would find on my desk. This job allows me to travel and live and cultivates my love of purses. This job gives me everything I love and takes care of the people that I love. It’s not a job, it’s a career and a very fulfilling one at that.  Boy, am I ever so lucky.

So in the end, I guess there will be much reading, writing and blogging on weekends.

I LOVE this Fall’s New Look!

Had to take a break from reading yesterday to spend some quality time with my personal shopper. Vibrant colors are in for the season!

P.S.   I did NOT buy everything that you see hanging in the pictures. Just a few of them…..

Book Review: The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher

*****  Five Stars!

I know, I know. There are already so many reviews for this book.  I pride myself on being a trendsetter for some things, but definitely not for a review of this book.  With month end close deadlines and client audits, how is a girl to manage her time well enough to be able to give justice to the review that this book deserves?

Anxiety filled, romantic and just plain honest. This book made me sit in silence, think and most of all, remember.  For who among us has never had a first love?  More importantly, who among us has been lucky enough to have a second?

The story revolves around Caleb and Olivia, two people in love, one of them loving completely and the other holding back. Caleb and Olivia loved each other over a span of eight years.   The story begins a few years into the present when Caleb is involved in a car accident which causes him to have amnesia and leaves him with no memory at all of his past.  Olivia thinks this is the perfect opportunity to restart their relationship. But as the story continues, we find that there were too many words unsaid, too many secrets and so much deception that has damaged them both perhaps to the point of no return.  Tarryn Fisher has a unique writing style that deftly intersperses the past with the present as she weaves them together from chapter to chapter.  These events are so well-connected that we long to read through the pages of the present to understand their past.  And darn, that line, that one written line –  hit me straight in the gut and settled in my heart.

“You can only give your heart away once; after that, everything else will chase your first love.”

The Opportunist is a heartfelt story of the memory of your first love, how deep and passionate it is and how it can never be replicated no matter how hard you try.  It is a story of how every one of our actions has a way of impacting our life. How more often than not, there is in one way or another, some kind of finality to paying for our mistakes.  Ultimately, it is a story of acceptance and the determination to move forward with life as it presents itself to you.  Which still leads me to question – does one ever really recover from this?  Does moving forward really mean moving on?

So Here Goes………..

It’s been a heck of a crazy summer.  But somehow, I managed to read 50 books, don’t ask me how. Since this blog is coming up pretty late in the game, I will not be reviewing all fifty books. I must say that I do have my TOP THREE which I think I will mention during the course of the week. These top three books (four if you count the sequel) evoked so many thoughts and feelings for me, I will remember them for a very long time. I am sure you will too.

How did We Get Here?

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but my shopping addiction has been replaced by my addiction to books. I think it was when someone named Jeff Bezos introduced the Kindle and opened up a world called Amazon. Everything within the click of a button. In seconds. Immediate gratification has always been my thing. A pair of shoes. The latest collection of purses. A good book.

I have always loved to read and write but until I became part of the world of Blogs and Indie Books and Indie Authors, I was never brave enough to write out loud. Well, here I am now. Ready to weigh in, ready to give you my thoughts. Hoping that somehow and in some way, I can get back to what I really want to do. I want to write.

Oh, and by the way, Rachel Zoe has the most beautiful pair of ankle boots that my personal shopper at Nordstrom was able to find for me. I also got to grab the Vintage shopper bag from Gucci in Navy. Started wearing it this weekend. As you can see, I am also still shopping…..