I was totally charmed. I especially liked Noor, a woman whose upbringing and traditions were totallyAn absolutely lovely little bon bon of a romance!
I was totally charmed. I especially liked Noor, a woman whose upbringing and traditions were totally foreign to both the western Church's St. Valentine's legends and the ancient Greco-Roman pantheon. She maintained her own belief and practice of love and magic in her relationships with her students, her community, her friends, and her special love for the little old church. Ethan Weaver was such a GUY! Stuck in his little creative groove, blissfully unaware of the world around him, and not understanding that his son needed his active presence in his childhood life. With a little magic and humor, they made a great pair!...more
The premise of this novel - a forty-plus soon-to-be-divorcee, beaten down by her mean ex-to-be, acquiresParanormal Women's Fiction ho-hums right along
The premise of this novel - a forty-plus soon-to-be-divorcee, beaten down by her mean ex-to-be, acquires the power to direct karma when she saves an old lady from a speeding teen driver. She's unaware of the gift until she turns the nasty ex and his greedy girlfriend into toads. Overwhelmed, she flees to her old hometown and moves to her parents' old house which is now occupied by her autistic brother. While she reconnects with the old high school gang (who all turn out to be witches) and her unrequited crush (who turns out to be a bear shifting retired cop), brother gets disappeared - but why? Rumor has it he ran afoul of the shifters - or was it the vampires? - by cheating at the local gambling den. It's up to our plucky and sometimes vengeful heroine, her newly-adopted coven, and the bear shifter, to follow the trail and rescue the brother from becoming a human sacrifice in a sirens' ceremony. If this is all too much, too fast, rest easy. What should be a mystery and a madcap paranormal romp wheezes along at a geriatric pace, full of over-long repetitive interior monologues, and written in a bizarrely young adult tone. I forced myself to finish reading, right up until the unfortunately premature ending and the invitation to read book two. I'll pass. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review....more
When a woman feels that she's washed up, invisible, past her prime, she's prone to do desperate things. Like enteMarvelous blend of myth and chick-lit
When a woman feels that she's washed up, invisible, past her prime, she's prone to do desperate things. Like enter a travel-writing contest... Like fly off to Italy... Like make friends with a hard-drinking 2000-year-old mermaid... And it only gets better. Friendship and a magic cameo are Parthenope the mermaid's gift to Perla, the down-sized, divorced, destitute fifty+ refuge from Silicon Valley and failure. They two share their histories, their hurts, and their secrets. Parthenope's gift is not all it seems, and her friendship taxes Perla's self-perceptions and ethics to bittersweet extremes, but in the end both somehow arrive at an HEA that is both real and magical. Rich with descriptions of the Amalfi Coast, and the Italian lifestyle, shot through with mythology and magic - this book will charm and gratify anyone who has ever felt unseen, unheard, and unloved, and anyone who loves romance sprinkled with magic and truth. This is a voluntary ARC review....more
In Fat Girl Begone! author D.E. Haggerty has put a different spin on the fat girl transformation trope. Everly is 35How to become your own best friend
In Fat Girl Begone! author D.E. Haggerty has put a different spin on the fat girl transformation trope. Everly is 35, single, on the plump side, and her long-term fiancee Josh has just dumped her because she's a chronic failure at dieting. A BFF back-up call, a bottle of tequila, and a hangover later, she finds herself committed to the old "I'm gonna get skinny and gorgeous and make him sorry" revenge plan. But the lady who never hits Day 3 on a diet plan finds unexpected back-up in her bestie, in her (hot) personal trainer, in the gals in her Zumba class, and especially in the geeky-sweet guy who works out at her gym. And the "fat girl" - the one who calls herself 'lard-ass' and doesn't think she's good enough - starts her metamorphosis. I empathized totally with Everly, and her struggles with self-comforting behavior that has morphed into harmful habits. That Everly actually struggles more with Body Dysmorphic Disorder than with overeating put a new spin on this kind of story, a very thoughtful and upbeat one. No shaming, no blaming, just a lovely clean romance and a woman learning to stand proud. My thanks to eBook Discovery for the ARC, and this is my voluntary and independent review....more