Tag: romance

Recipe For A Charmed Life by Rachel Linden

lisascubby

Recipe For A Charmed Life is a beautifully crafted love story. But not your usual love story between two people, but a love story which goes so much deeper than that. It’s a story about losing love, rekindling love and realizing what’s important in life and who is important in one’s life. It explains how until you let go of your past which cannot ever be changed you won’t be able to eagerly look forward to a future you also will not be able to change.

Chef Georgia May Jackson is an American cooking in Paris. With Julia Child as her childhood in her head mentor, she believes she is realizing “their” dreams. Her goal, to open a restaurant of her own. Until one night she not only loses her temper, but also loses her dream, her boyfriend and her job. During this same time, she begins to also lose her tastebuds which in her line of work is tragic. Doctors are mystified and she is terrified.

On top of all this bad news, Georgia May gets an unexpected message from her mother who she has not seen since she was a young girl. She has never forgiven her mother for just up and leaving them and has never had the true reason why she left. She finds out her mother is now living in a small coastal town near Seattle and has invited Georgia May for a visit. She realizes she needs to regroup and find her old spark and perhaps she can finally put to rest what happened to their family all those years ago.

But when she finally meets her mother, she discovers a beautiful free spirit who has a magical relationship with making anything in a garden grow, who only wants to make things right with her daughter. Georgia May begins to see her mother in a different light. Not the person she imagined growing up.

Of course, her mother’s helper is a very handsome oyster farmer who is very mysterious, and Georgia May can’t figure out what his problem with her is. She gets the feeling he hates her and can’t imagine why. He also seems to have his own set of issues and secrets.

As they settle in and start to discuss the past, Georgia May begins to feel differently. She’s still angry with her mother about her past and doesn’t know what to think about their future. She is excited about perhaps a future with her. And just like that she gets a call from Paris with an offer. She is torn. What on earth would Julia do?

Recipe For A Charmed Life is a from the heart, passionate story about forgiveness, friendships, unforgivable issue and moving past the hurt and finding true love and enthusiasm for whatever comes next.

Thank you #NetGalley #BerkleyPublishingGroup #RachelLinden #RecipeForACharmedLife for the advanced copy.

On The Plus Side by Jenny L. Howe

lisascubby

On The Plus Side is a funny, warm-hearted, empathetic look at the realities of not being what society defines as “normal”. It’s about personal introspection, insecurities, falling in love and re-falling in love with oneself.

Everly Winters is content with her life. She is a receptionist, loves art and creativity which bodes well at the company she works for. She has a bit of a crush on one of her co-workers. But she lives her life quietly, ever since her grandmother died.

Suddenly, she is thrust onto a reality show called On The Plus Side which helps overweight women with all aspects of their life. She loves the show but is horrified that someone nominated her (whose identity she is still looking for) to actually be a participant. The show tries to transform the person by giving them the tools to step out of their comfort zone with new ways of dressing, making them look inside themselves as well as having family involvement. This family thing makes Everly very nervous!

As Everly begins the process of having cameras film her all the time, she begins to open her eyes to the camera operator, Logan who is not only fabulously handsome, but kind and comforting.

But, having to look back on her life is not something she really wants to do. There is pain in that process. Her mother has always pushed her to lose weight so she could look and feel better, something she has always felt she didn’t need thanks to her late grandmother’s words of wisdom that she just always be her beautiful self both inside and out. She is nervous what her mother will say on camera!

Funny enough, Everly does begin the metamorphous process and starts to self-reflect and discover the person she used to be when her grandmother was alive. She also finds she and Logan have a great deal in common and begin having feelings, which because this is reality television, the fans as well as the producers think is fabulous!

But just as she is beginning to find the old Everly, and also perhaps love, it could all be taken away as the producers have a very different outlook on what is happening in her life! Is she strong enough yet to stick up for herself and every other past and future contestant of On The Plus Side?

This fantastic story is an honest, humorous yet serious look at being fat in today’s world which in this book is an ok word to use. Its thesis is to accept oneself, love everything about yourself because you don’t have to answer to anyone BUT yourself. Embrace who you are, not who others want you to be. And you are not alone!

Thank you #NetGalley #Griffin #JennyL.Howe #OnThePlusSide for the advanced copy.

Our Cursed Love by Julie Abe

lisascubby

Our Cursed Love is an adorably sweet, young adult story which captures the essence of being a teenager in love and all that comes with it. In youth, the journey begins with self-esteem issues, peer and parent pressure, and the learning process of becoming who you want to be. The book especially encompasses first love and all those feelings of awkwardness which can drive any teenager crazy! But in Our Cursed Love, the transformation of the main characters is magical!

Remy Kobata and Cam Yasuda are high school seniors who have been best friends since their childhood. They sometimes know each other better than the other does. But both hold one secret from the other. Remy has deep feelings for Cam and Cam thinks he might be falling for real for Remy. But he is lost at what to do.

As they go on vacation to Japan to meet Remy’s sister and her boyfriend and also for Remy to interview at a prestigious college there, both knowing full well that Cam will be staying in the United States for college and Remy will hopefully get in to this college, this may be the last time for quite a while they will be together. So, they want to make the next six days heading up to New Year’s Eve the best of their lives. But there is an awkwardness between them as they both want to say something to each other, but it just never happens.

As with young adults, they fear their feelings will not be reciprocated. And Remy just needs to make sure Cam is her soulmate before she opens her heart to him. But unfortunately, when she goes to a mystical tea reader, he not only tells her she will never have a soulmate, but she will never fall in love. She is devastated.

But she hears there could be a potion which has been banned by the government that could help her in her search to see if Cam is the one. They take the potion. Unfortunately, it is disastrous! Cam begins to lose all his memories of Remy! And as of now there is no antidote. By New Year’s Eve if they can’t find one, Cam will never remember who Remy was to him.

As they are helped by magical scientist friends, they are in the race of a lifetime. Remy feels like perhaps she really does not have a soulmate, but can she let Cam go? Even if they find a remedy, will they even be together? As the clock ticks down to New Year’s Eve, the pressure is on them. They truly are cursed!

Our Cursed Love is a charming love story filled with humor, magic and real-life teenage dilemmas which will resonate with young readers.

Thank you #NetGalley #WednesdayBooks #JulieAbe #OurCursedLove for the advanced copy.

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg

lisascubby

Sometimes, timing is everything, but in Maybe Once, Maybe Twice timing is heartbreaking. The story follows the joys and sorrows of a woman who has three great loves in her life. Her dream to become a singer/songwriter, and two relationships which somehow keep falling to pieces. The story is told by jumping in time backward in age to now explaining how all these second chances have come to fruition and the risks involved in each decision she makes.

Maggie finds herself at a pivotal point in her life. She discovers on her 35th birthday that she may not be able to get pregnant, something she really wants although there is no man in her life, and she certainly can’t afford any help in that area. Oh, and her music career is in the dumps. Her only salvation is she and her best friend Garrett have always said if they were not married by the age of thirty-five, they would marry. Which for Maggie is very pleasurable as she has secretly loved her him since they first met. Yes, they have had their ups and downs over the years and yes, they have not seen each other in a while but she knows he’s coming to her party, and she knows she can make everything all right.

So, when they finally meet up, Maggie is devastated to learn Garrett is engaged to be married to someone else. Especially after he gave her an amazing kiss at the party! Heartbroken she begins to look back at their relationship as well as her first love, Asher whom she met at summer camp who was also the first person to break her heart.

But when Garrett invites her to his engagement party, which turns into a nightmare with them confronting each other, she realizes she can’t continue like this. So, she decides to look up Asher, an actor and is surprised at what she finds.

As they reconnect, and with his help realizes she is on the edge of fame, Garrett makes an unexpected announcement. So does Asher. And someone from her past she hates has come back to haunt her. Overwhelmed by all of this, she must decide what she wants knowing she will hurt them both.

Is there a true love of your life? Can there be two? How do you break someone’s heart knowing this could be the end of the relationship. How do you decide to finally, for once worry about yourself instead of all the others. How does she finally find the happiness and peace she needs.

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a funny, emotional rollercoaster of falling in love, memories and learning to let go. It’s about being strong for yourself and others, not ever realizing you can be able and still be in control of your own life as you reach the top of the mountain.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sGriffin # AlisonRoseGreenberg #MaybeOnce,MaybeTwice for the advanced copy.

Plot Twist by Erin LaRosa

lisascubby

Plot Twist is a sweet love story about a romance writer who has lost her mojo on love and can’t write, who proceeds to fall in love with her best friend’s brother, an actor who comes from Hollywood royalty, but does not only not want to act anymore, but is facing a sober life and is afraid of letting someone else down. In this charming plot, they discover not only each other, but themselves.

Romance writer Sophie Lyon gets very drunk one night and declares live on social media that she has never been in love and with her next book due in weeks believes she is a wash-up. Except the next morning when she is sober, she discovers she is now a media star. What has she done?

Dash Montrose, Sophie’s landlord as well as Sophie’s best friend Poppy’s brother sees her in a panic. An expert at social media, he tells her he can help create a platform where she could share what she feels if she will help him write a speech he needs to make at a ceremony in honor of his father, a Hollywood legend.

So, Sophie decides to go back to her former exes and ask the question why we broke up and document said answers on social media as the clock ticks towards her deadline. Dash who has his own crisis going on is learning to be sober. He has not told anyone in his family this as well as the fact he does not want to act and would prefer to live a simple life creating pottery while he is still learning how to live life clearheaded. Sophie’s problem is a terrific distraction as well as her being great to look at and fun to be with.

As Sophie visits her exes and discovers the good the bad and the ugly, she begins to realize she perhaps may have a problem with commitment. While this is happening, Dash is trying to figure out how to tell his family, who will not be pleased with his news that he was in a rehab. You see, his parents are all about the fame and being the perfect family.

But attraction gives in, and Sophie and Dash proceed to become friends with benefits. Of course, neither wants to tell Poppy because they know she will lose her mind! In the meantime, Dash seems to have a stalker who threatens to blow up his life by informing the media of his secret.

Everything explodes in their faces all at once and neither of them handles the aftermath very well. Is it possible for these two people who clearly love one another to admit their feelings when one of them can’t commit and the other is afraid to commit?

Plot Twist has strong messages while being a delightful, heartfelt story with twist and happy turns which will keep you rooting until the end.

Thank you #NetGalley #CanaryStreetPress #ErinLaRosa #PlotTwist for the advanced copy.