Book Review: The Summer Without You by Karen Swan

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: A pause. That’s all it takes to bring your eleven year fruitful relationship with your super-hot adrenalin junky boyfriend to a halt.

His reason?

He needs to put some distance between you two so you could fall in love all over again and move from the routine both of your lives have become.

But should it be so?

Aren’t you having the best time of your life with him? For crying out loud, you guys were supposed to get engaged then married the next month. This can’t be happening, you keep telling yourself. But he leaves for the airport. And you are left with no option than to go shoot a friend’s wedding in New York.

Things don’t happen as you think it would. You end up in the Hamptons, being heartsick from loneliness sharing a ginormous property with roommates who to be frank, if you still had your entire sense intact you wouldn’t have decided to crush with for half a year.

This pause is putting a strain on what’s left of you and your boyfriend. You can’t get a hold of him when you call because he says so. He’s out there, hiking all over Asia, spending time in monasteries, being hot, shaving his hair bald, and growing a goatee… when all you do is to mop around wearing his clothes everywhere (in replace of a swimsuit!!).

Of course you too can have fun like he is doing, doesn’t matter how reserved you are. You can have the time of your life this summer and leave your ol’ uptight British self where it doesn’t belong in the Hamptons and paaartaaay(!!) as well as work.

But what with your roommate having problems of their own? What with neighbours being electrocuted and boyfriends being clubbed to death? What with the fear of Sandy rearing its head across shores again and the staunch campaign of preventive measures you are a part of? What with the hot thirtyish guy you can’t get out of your mind because… you might be attracted to him, or possibly, frightened of him?

Rowena Tipton’s life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

OK. So maybe summer is over, to hell with summer reads! Who wants to be in the Hamptons at this time of the year anyway with the northeasterners approaching shores? But you can’t let 2014 pass away without reading this book! Chances are Karen Swan would release a new, kicking Summer read 2015 and you’d regret you didn’t get a hold of this!

I enjoyed the storyline. Girl hauls over to the Hamptons leaving London for the summer since her boyfriend pressed the pause button on their relationship, Girl decides she’d have the time of her life without him and make the most of this summer like he is doing, cue in roommates with complicated lives, women who fart and blow their noses all over their faces in yoga poses, neighbours who litter seashores and a new chin-length haircut (the first time in her life!). 

You have the bomb in your lap, flip pages cautiously. Fab storyline.── ★

Rowena Tipton is a must-read character. Too much soul you’d love to befriend a Brit (who has cleaner teeth albeit). Sweet, beautiful and well-developed. You would love her for her penchant to take on the problems of others and help them go through it all. You would love her for sucking at every selfie photo (like every other normal person out there). Oh, her curiosity gives this book the suspense it has. And sometimes, you would just love her for her need to show her boyfriend the dress she wore a night before through Skype cam when someone is being clubbed to death below her window.── ★★

The other characters were also, hmm, ah-mazing!!! There’s Bobbi, the loud, professionally ambitious roommate who always, always wants a selfie moment and is always dragging our lead to a glamorous event! There’s Humphrey, who dropped medicine for waiting at events and shagging every other girl, every other night (no talent wasted there). There’s Greg, the workaholic roommate who’s having a traitorous affair this summer. You would also love Florence, the Town leader of some sorts, spearheading the seed bombing campaign. Melodie, the yoga instructor loved for her melodiously soothing voice and her high flexibility to stay in complex yoga poses for minutes. There’s also Ted, the dark, hot thirtyish guy who won’t stop staring at our lead. Matt, the jackass boyfriend who would leave his girlfriend on her own the whole of summer (because people cannot really cheat in four months… except Rowena!). Lots of other characters I haven’t mentioned for you’d have to quit reading this review and stop procrastinating! A star to all these characters who made this book memorable(––this word has a more scintillating effect when read the French way)! ── ★★★

Humor, check. Suspense: It’s just so, so, hard to still love an author who keeps you on the edge of your seat for over 300 hundred pages. I ate this book up in two days! And I wouldn’t even show that much interest in a cupcake! (Yes, there’s more to life than cupcakes!).── ★★★★

Super-fantabulous ending! Applause, applause, can’t wait for Karen Swan’s next. Because I’d eat anything non-fattening that offers that much excitement (P.S: My persisting food imagery throughout this review might be because I’ve starved for hours––but didn’t realize––in my quest to finish up this book!)── ★★★★★ 

Karen Swan’s fabulous summer read, The Summer Without You, is available on Amazon. While you are at reminiscing your lost summer days, you can also get all of Karen’s Christmassy books to jet-start the excitement to your holiday season! (Would probably get mine also if they do not take a decade to get to this country! In that case, can’t wait for 2024, woo-hoo!)

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their chick-lit sunny, breath-taking (I mean it! Keep your inhaler nearby for the suspense!) and anyone who just wants anything to arm themselves with in case their spouses, partners call a pause on their relationship to go hiking around Asia.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads. (And never on shitty Amazon, because I won’t axe part of this review for nothing!)

Oh, forgot my rating: Obviously a five-star book (5/5)

Book Review: A Husband's Confession by Zoe Miller.

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine this: Your life could be described as perfect. You have an adorable husband who you’ve been married to for twenty-years––very happily-married. Two kids who are amazing at school and at home. And as if that’s not enough, there’s a successful bakery which you manage with your husband as chief baker. Your life has seen successful balance for over ten years and there can be no reason you can say you are not content.

Over the other side of the picture lies your brother-in-law and his amazing wife who he’s also been married to for quite as long as you have been married with one beautiful daughter to flourish their union. You could have called them happily-married once, but lately things have gone a bit rocky in their relationship with your brother-in-law losing his job and growing sulky every passing day.

You see, there’s competition between you two couples and this rivalry has existed since the wee years of your husband. There’s rivalry over which couple is more successful, which couple has a more stable financial backing, which couple has the greatest kids.

For over a year, you two couples have never met as a family to celebrate any holiday. Beneath the smiles at the dining table there’s way too much tension that could snap the face of a Botoxed Real Housewife.

Then one Saturday night, a dinner is proposed by your brother-in-law. You and your husband feel reluctant to go considering the bad blood. But you decide to just get over it over and done with.

But oblivious to you two, the events taking place during this dinner and after would completely turn your life from paradise to hell. And in just one week you would lose everything (––be prepared for it, I mean, everything!––) you’ve come to love and call your own

That’s when Ali’s story begins and possibly ends.

MY REVIEW

Did I freaking love this book and would be yelling at you to go bang on the glass windows of a bookshop near you threatening if they do not have a copy they might as well not open the shop that day? Yes, yes, I would.

(I had to tuck myself in a corner at my faculty’s lecture theatre in order to read hundred pages a day of this delight so no one bothers me!) What the hell is up with this book story-line? Perfection beyond reasoning. I ah-dored it! So Girl and Husband living happily-married, Husband’s Brother and Wife in a rut of late, there’s envy in the picture, loads of secrets away before your life gets shattered, one Saturday night––one day of hell. Who knew a family dinner could be so damaging? A huge star to this story-line.── ★

(Stocked with wheat bread and bottled water, I devoured this book in four days) The main characters, oh, fuck me, were stunning! It’s hard to read a book focusing on four mains who are well-developed and bear resemblance to real-life persons it isn’t hard relating (or not) to them–––most authors can’t achieve this! You find yourself splitting between the couples who should get more of your love or more of your rage, or sometimes, making this distinction between the individual characters. Ali was amazing, my favourite! You would completely revere her for her soft exterior yet the warrior living inside of her as she struggles to get her family, her life, her career, her emotions under control! Jo, the brother-in-law’s wife, also my favourite! Loved for her sophistication, her poise even in the threatening times that promise to wreck her life and marriage. Max, Ali’s husband, you women would stab at his name declaring this is the kind of man you would (have) want(ed) to get married to. Finn, the brother-in-law, who would gain your hatred for most part of the novel thanks to the level of asshole Zoe Miller portrayed him to be. Unbelievable main characters. A star to all four.── ★★

(At one point I was nodding, at a point I was nodding too much, at another point I just had to close this book, close my eyes for some seconds and wonder why everything was just so right) Isn’t it amazing when you read women’s fiction that talks about issues that are timeless? Infidelity, sibling-rivalry! I have never read a book that portrays infidelity the way Ms. Miller does it in this title. Do not roll your eyes, this isn’t another book where the main character’s life shatters after finding her husband in bed with a woman with boobs as ginormous as size ten feet (where the hell do I get my comparisons from??) . It goes to show there’s more to infidelity than authors can go on and on yapping about. And you have never read a book with sibling-rivalry leading to couple-rivalry that is this amazing! Star, star, star!── ★★★

The other characters in this book, were marvellous! From Debbie, the woman from Max's childhood Ali has been threatened of for ages. Jessica, Ali’s daughter keeping secrets of her own, far from the perfect daughter everyone assumes she is. Tom, Ali’s young son who’s the coolest boy you could ever have for a son. Grace, Jo and Finn’s daughter, having a background that would shock the reader.── ★★★★

(At a point in this book, I couldn’t stand it anymore, “Bread, bread! I need more bread!”) The suspense in this book was gripping. Very, very gripping I sat in different positions in the not-so-comfy chairs in the auditorium. Wondering how one writer could break all the rules of Women’s fiction and provide something totally different from the norm! If I had succumbed to the suspense brought about as a result of the writing technique (current day→flashback→current day) I would have keeled over before I even thought of writing this review. Talking of the beautiful writing, should I say this book was set in moments that took and shook the world (World Cups, 9/11) giving this book more girth and making it all so relatable and real to the reader? Marvellous.── ★★★★★

Oh, and the romance… J── ★★★★★

So it’s obvious this book gets a… frigging… six over five stars!! (6/5)

I would never put Zoe Miller as one of my favourite writers, because she’d forever be the woman who changed my perception of women’s fiction and threw away all the rules to pen this masterpiece. (I am very British––a strict fan of conventions).

A Husband’s Confession is available on amazon. If you miss it I’d have to club you.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves writers who break all the rules yet emerge very successful, anyone who wants a title about infidelity portrayed so differently it boggles the mind, anyone who wants to be reaching for the Kleenex to wipe away the sweat from their foreheads. This might be the best book I ever read this year!

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads!

Book Review: The Shaman And The Mafia by Elizabeth Upton

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You used to be a nun, hiding your voluptuous curves in the drab outfit. So now that you are no more a nun, still heading a drug centre which has all freaks and junkies trooping in every minute, you have every right to flaunt your curves, right? Know about sex, about men, gain some sexual experience, spend some time with a man intimately, right? But for some reason, carnal desires be damned, you are working your ass off to get a degree in family law and already have your hands full combatting drugs, drug lords and shady cops who can think of nothing but having their way with you.

Then your partner in battling drug crimes dies.

His brother, an FBI agent with a thirst to revenge whoever mutilated his brother is introduced into his life along with his sexy assistant. Instantly, the attraction between you and him (the brother) is, um, nothing you’ve experienced before. Soon, you two are shagging. And the sex is, um, nothing you could have experienced before.

Perhaps you two could write your happy ending. But, what with mafia looming in at every corner, bullets being shot at everyone, a serial killer who won’t stop till he gets in your pants, your boyfriend’s increasing need to get his brother’s killer behind bars which eventually leads to less time spent by you two, what with everybody’s life in danger? And most importantly, what with you curious about how sex with other men would feel like?

Marietta’s hellish life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I enjoyed reading this book.

Nun de-nuns, Nun devotes her life to fighting drug crimes in her locality, Nun makes an encounter with hot brother of her dead friend, nun wonders if she should explore her sexual freedom before she ties the knot. Lovely storyline. And with crime and danger lurking at every corner, what more do you need? A star to the storyline.── ★

I love that this book touches on themes which aren’t new but queer: Spiritual Healing. I don’t think I have ever read a women’s fiction title that explored the supernatural world of a shaman and his healing techniques in the form of visions and dreams. It opens the reader to a whole new dimension in which souls must be purified, spirits of death must be driven out and troubled minds find rest. Amazing input in a story filled with mystery and suspense.── ★★

The characters in this book were also interesting to read about. From the main, 

Marietta the nun whose karate classes did come in handy (and who you don’t have to be a previous nun before you could relate to her!). Raymond, the FBI Director boyfriend who knew the best date you could ever take a girl is over the skyline of New York City. Jerry Young, the sexy, Casanova assistant to Raymond who’s emotionally detached and troubled by past incidents. Barney, the P.I who’s hunting skills couldn’t be as good as his culinary skills. Gina, Marietta’s friend who is always around in times when our lead needs some advice (about sex, clothes, men and relationships).── ★★★

The suspense in this title was, um, very suspenseful. I loved how Elizabeth Upton made this crime novel as fast-paced as watching a CSI episode (Miami, not New York!).── ★★★★*

Now, I loved this book. Had a very emotional ending that shocked me. But I would have ‘loved, loved’ it if the blurb wasn’t packed with too much spoilers.

So my rating: 4.5 stars/5

Elizabeth Upton’s suspenseful latest is available on Amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their Women’s Fiction packed with crime, suspense, and anyone who is curious about nunnery and dating an FBI agent.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Book Review: Low Expectations by Elizabeth Aaron

My Synopsis.

Imagine This: You are early twenties, a fashion student and you have a fetish for men with beards (the longer the length measurable in inches, the higher the attraction). New year comes with resolutions to be good at what you do (fashion, making the routine calls to your mum and meeting up with your friends for a girl’s night out). Of course, if a good man comes by, you could ditch your celibacy and stop shagging anything without beard and perhaps think of a more stable relationship.

Your life isn’t perfect. Or even what you hoped for. But at least, you’ve got friends who arm you with lots of their opinions on sex, relationship and men enough to get you writing an advice book. You’ve occasionally ‘interned’ for fashion designer who knows your name whenever he needs you on the job. You’ve got a paying job with a boss who you do not want to admit you have the hots for, and might also have the hots for you too (what with him not having a beard and all?). And you have been sleeping with this struggling musician from a band with a nice beard and a nice face. You wouldn’t want to think you are serious with him. But the relationship (or call it whatever) has passed normal Fuck ‘Em and Ditch ‘Em phase.

But then something seems missing in your life. Something you’d rather want than what Guy With Lots of Beard can give. Something you would want with clean-shaven boss but you wouldn’t admit. Until another lady comes in the picture.

But could your happy-ending be beyond gaining the man of your dreams (which you are nowhere close to), dumping the beard in your bed, or something more?

Georgie’s life summed up for your entertainment.

MY REVIEW

The storyline of this book was good. Girl going celibate because she gets dumped, hurt and heartbroken by men who are complete tossers, Girl works hours to bring out her fashion line in fashion school, Girl meets OK guy, Girl settles with OK guy, Girl has perfect guy in sight, Perfect Guy might have another girl in sight, Girl wonders if she’s really meant to choose OK because that’s better than choosing perfect and getting dumped amidst lending a sympathetic ear to the complicated problems of her friends. Beautiful.

Georgie had so much flesh as someone who couldn’t be fictitious. I’m not sure, but I felt I was reading the exact life of Elizabeth Aaron, like a memoir of the sorts. So there was no point in just enjoying the story, but having this connection with the main character as you would someone in real life is just super. From her lengthy thoughts on relationships, sex, and men, you get the feeling you are not reading just a book, but reading a real-life story penned in a book.── ★

The other characters made reading this title too worth it. From Georgie’s mom, who’s bent on letting Georgie forgo a degree and pin down that man for marriage. Georgie’s dad whose story with her mum and his mistress I enjoyed most. There’s also Sarah (the loud-mouthed friend), Henry (her boyfriend) and Alistair (her teenage ex she was having an affair with) whose drama I adored. Julian (the snotty gay friend), Theo (his boyfriend) and Marco (the co-worker blackmailing the former if he didn’t have sexual relations with him he’d make him lose his job and the love of his life). Beardy (the dodgy asshole kinda boyfriend), was an all-time jackass who stirred up emotions in me that kept me seething with anger throughout the novel. Scott (Mr. Scottish Perfect) also held my interest too. A star to the characters.── ★★

Humor was good. How could it not be if you had the world’s funniest, most opinionated friends with a hilarious take on mostly sex, relationships, men (douchebags) and feminism. I looked forward to Georgie’s night outs with her friends.── ★★★

I liked this book. But I really wanted to ‘love, love’ it. It had a good take-off, but then interest petered out as things became a bit monotonous, but raced towards some parts of the middle to the end.── ★★★★

My rating: Four stars (4/5).

Elizabeth Aaron’s fine debut which borders more on real life than it does on fiction is available on Amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves fashion or not. Anyone who wants chick-lit that seems more true to life or not. And anyone who wants one of those titles with a perfect end (because everybody really loves a book with a perfect ending teamed with reader/character fulfillment).

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Book Review: What Nora KnewBy Linda Yellin

My Synopsis.

Imagine This: You work with an online magazine. All your boss passes on for you to handle is the shitty assignments. Of course, because you cannot tell her if you want to try on the new sweat-proof panties you’d book a holiday for yourself and go hiking in them. All you want is a column.

You are given a column.

All you want is a column you want to write. Whoever said romance and chivalry was dead must have been looking through the window from his studio apartment to your neighbouring own watching you and your boyfriend, um, co-exist. But then your boss decides to give you a column about romance which you, um, once knew about.

The thing is, you’ve tried romance, you’ve tried the jitters, you’ve tried all the sparks-fly crap. And in the end, it left you signing the divorce papers being divorced from, um, someone who handles divorces for a living. Now all you want is to just be comfortable with someone you love. Or at least think you should love.

Then you meet a sexy author who gets ladies’ panties thrown in his face all the time. You hate that he’s romantic at all. You hate that he’s a successful writer which you bet he slept his way around to get there. You hate that he loves Sleepless In Seattle and says all the things ladies want to hear. Except you.

Except you, right? Because the last thing you want is romance. You are perfectly fine with a boyfriend who keeps turtles he makes you speak for and talks about the mattresses of his previous girlfriends. Isn’t that the good life? But for a second, what if you want to take a glimpse at what a perfect life can be?

Molly’s life summed up for your entertainment.

MY REVIEW

It’s a nice thing to read about main characters who are writers. But when they are struggling writers, it’s just so not hard to fall for the whole story-line of the book. I loved the story-line. Girl hates odd tasks her EIC gives her, Girl has to challenge her inner Nora Ephron to come up with something romantic so a topic of a column could be possibly up for discussion with her boss, Girl wonders just how she could pull this romance thing if she wants nothing at all of it. Fabulous story-line.── ★

Who really, doesn’t adore Nora Ephron?── ★★

So you know the main character, Molly, was a winner with me. You would love her voice, her humour, her kill-joy attitude towards anything romance-related. The nicest thing about Molly’s voice which I’d love to put across is, she didn’t make this book feel like a story, it felt personal, like her life was an opened book in front of you to enjoy and relate to. A star to her.── ★★

Some of the characters in this book made reading it fun. I loved Kristin, Molly’s friend going through guys and sex on Match.com and constantly reminding her she’s not happy. Angela, the compulsive tweeter who would tweet anything she considers tweetable. Molly’s mum who just decided catering for family holidays and being a conventional mum had to go because none of her diners were worthy of slaving hours for. Russel, the OK-boyfriend who would flare up for telling him chiropractors aren’t doctors. Cameron, the annoyingly romantic writer who wants to charm the pants off our lead but wouldn’t go outright to admit it.── ★★★

Humor, check, check.── ★★★★

My rating: Four stars.

What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin’ is available on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their chick-lit laced with humour.  Anyone who loves Nora Ephron. And anyone who is a (secret) romantic at heart should read this fun, rom-com.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on goodreads.

Blog Tour+Review : Christmas At The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Christmas at the Cupcake Café

Cupcake Café  # 2

By: Jenny Colgan

Releasing October 14^th, 2014

William Morrow

Blurb

Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Cafe, is in love and couldn’t be happier. Her new business is thriving and she is surrounded by close friends, even if her cupcake colleagues Pearl and Caroline don’t seem quite as upbeat about the upcoming season of snow and merriment. But when her boyfriend Austin is scouted for a possible move to New York, Issy is forced to face up to the prospect of a long-distance romance. And when the Christmas rush at the cafe - with its increased demand for her delectable creations - begins to take its toll, Issy has to decide what she holds most dear.

This December, Issy will have to rely on all her reserves of courage, good nature and cinnamon, to make sure everyone has a merry Christmas, one way or another. . .

Indulge yourself and your sweet-toothed friends with Jenny Colgan’s new novel, simply bursting with Christmas cupcake recipes and seasonal sugar-fuelled fun.

 Link to Follow Tour:  http://www.tastybooktours.com/2014/09/christmas-at-cupcake-cafe-cupcake-cafe.html

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13596423-christmas-at-the-cupcake-caf?ac=1

Buy Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-at-Cupcake-Cafe-Novel-ebook/dp/B00K53EH56/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1410452461

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-at-the-cupcake-cafe-jenny-colgan/1113460040?ean=9780062371188

iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/christmas-at-the-cupcake-cafe/id524415333?mt=11

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-at-the-cupcake-cafe-1/zhaR2ygNd0ie4dITpEBkPA

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine this: You own a café. A café you’ve worked throughout the year to stabilize. You have the perfect boyfriend with a not-so-perfect/too-eco-conscious little brother who doesn’t deter you from loving him so. You’ve built a network of friends who find solace in your café working to earn a living and dreading Christmas is around the corner.

You cannot wait for Christmas to get by. It would be an amazing time of the year for you since for once you have a perfect life (career-wise, relationship-wise and almost family-wise), never mind your adorable boyfriend hasn’t yet proposed but everyone is sure he would pop the question in the season.

Until New York steals him away. Obviously with his question too.

Long-distance might be a hefty task, but you and your boyfriend would pull it off with the grace you exhibit in your kitchen baking the finest cupcakes.

But what if you are not thinking of the future? What if you are not thinking one of you would have to make a big, career compromise to be with each other? What if you are not thinking you would love New York so but not with your boyfriend in it? What if you want your relationship, but with your cupcake café as well? And what if your boyfriend might just have a cupcake girl fetish and might swap you for the first inorganic, industrial, thin and pretty hot cupcake girl New York offers him?

Issy’s dilemma summed up for your delight.

My Review

You know, can anyone ever go wrong with a book filled with cupcake recipes to the max? Yes. They can. But not Jenny Colgan. She demonstrates that not only a baking heroine who shares off recipes and gives a step-by-step instruction manual on how to make each cupcake is enough to win the hearts of all readers (because who doesn’t bake? Because who hasn’t let go watching their weight this festive season? Because who doesn’t adore cupcakes). But with a great storyline to match, how exactly could anyone return their book and demand a refund? A star to the storyline.──★

I loved Issy. So many of you women would relate to her because who doesn’t like a café manager who gives out all their recipes? You would love her for her insatiable need to make everyone around her happy with just the right cupcake for the right mood. You would be rooting for her as she finds it hard not to fall in love with New York even when she’s taking away her boyfriend (because who doesn’t want to be a secret New Yorker at heart?). Her motherly voice is refreshing and her ability to make everything just right would be admired by the reader.──★★

You would also find the other characters interesting. Especially her employees at the cupcake café with their very complicated lives praying for just another Christmas miracle just as Issy is. From  Pearl, the assistant manager who has the most adorable son and dealing with his father who isn’t all too adorable. Caroline, she’s got too much snark in her to light up the café and piss everyone off in the process, going through a divorce and trying to keep a sane head at the same time. Helena, the best friend who’s too occupied with her very obnoxious daughter who is all she seems to talk about when Issy makes an appearance. Issy’s mum who spends her time travelling the world to finding herself enough to bother about her daughter and changing her name frequently to suit every religion she’s taken up. Darny, the too-eco-conscious brother of Austin, Issy’s boyfriend who poses way too much trouble. So much more characters I loved I cannot mention, because I am afraid this review would burst at its seams.──★★★

This book had a very romantic-comedy-like ending that gives you just the right amount of chest-expansion after finishing it. Though very predictable, you would wish you could finish this book at a sitting if the main character wasn’t always insisting you needed to get your Christmas baking over and done with.──★★★★

My rating: Four-point-five stars.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their seasonal reads with just the right touch of romance and comedy. Anyone who loves their chick-lit character giving away recipes evenvthey consider as very secretive. Anyone who loves anything with enough warmth to last them through this hectic festive season. And anyone who just loves to stop, munch on a cupcake and relax because there are lots of cupcakes in this title.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads. 

Author Info

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including Christmas at the Cupcake Café and The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris, which are also published by Sphere. Meet Me at the Cupcake Café won the 2012 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance and was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller, as was Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, which won the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2013. Jenny is married with three children and lives in London and France.

Author Links

Website:  http://www.jennycolgan.com/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/jennycolganbooks
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/JennyColgan
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/39272.Jenny_Colgan

Rafflecopter Giveaway (2 e-copies ofCHRISTMAS AT THE CUPCAKE CAFE)

Book Review: Double Strike (Davis Way Crime Caper series #3) by Gretchen Archer

MY SYNOPSIS

Double Strike (#3) takes reins from Double Dip (#2) to tell the story of Davis Way’s mysterious/romantic/hilarious/undercover life.

If you were Davis Way, here are a few pointers to begin with your (very chaotic) life:

1. You are on the security force of a casino, sort of a spy on the team.

2. You are not easily ruffled by theft, murder, shooting because that’s what you headbutt on a daily basis.

3. You are the splitting image of your boss’ wife (if you coat an additional heavy layer of foundation, pull on some contacts and spray-dye your hair) and that—unfortunately—makes her your boss too.

4. Your relationship with you boyfriend-now fiancé is as stable as it can ever be… if your ex-ex husband doesn’t rear his shit-head, his mother doesn’t have a plan up her sleeves to throw you under a bus (literally, if she just knew a bus driver).

5. There’s a wedding date looming, but all you can think is, ‘big yay! Ya-ay! Yay? Oh, crap yay’, when your ex-ex husband drops the biggest bomb that leaves you thinking.

So now that we are settled on your character, let’s brief you on your mission. One, your boss’ son is in connection with the son of drug lords for dealing in boarding school which has gained him a suspension. It’s your duty to solve up this ‘mystery’ which you wouldn’t classify as mystery at all, because as far as you are concerned, he’s bad news, his parents just have to realize that. Two, as if these fucking drug lords aren’t posing enough problems for you on case one, they are trying to close down the casino by gambling with drug money? Find out if their legal tender isn’t legal tender at all and get the FEDs on them before they cause over three hundred employees including yourself, to become redundant. Three, the sight of the newest casino manager gives you the strangest feeling, like you know he’s up to something with his little Strike It Rich Casino within your casino to which he’s hired new staff for. Whatever the hell, he’s doing behind closed doors, it’s your duty to find out even if that means getting on some contacts and a different hair colour to work under a thirteen-year-old shape-shifted into the body of a thirty-year-old whose giddiness makes you want to shoot a bullet through your head and hope someone does the same to her just so no one passes through your plight.    

As if all the above isn’t problem enough, one fucking lawyer is causing a stir in your family by chairing the divorce between your grandmother and her husband, you have to learn how to use twitter like a pro else you lose your job, your boss’ wife is getting you into the most outrageous gigs because apparently playing her in public with her husband (enough to get your hair, which she supposes it’s hers, burnt!) isn’t enough and your boyfriend doesn’t see no future (kids) with him if you happen to keep your (very dangerous job, not to mention) after the wedding (which you are praying Alabama courts would ever let happen).

Welcome to your life… your life as Davis Way. You have big shoes to fill, unless of course your boss’ wife gives you ones twice smaller than your real size.

MY REVIEW

Do I even need to write a review for this title? Aren’t you tired of me screaming at you to go get all Gretchen Archer’s works??

I adored the storyline! Could I not really? When Gretchen Archer throws in moments you haven’t ever read in any title. One of the reasons I love about Gretchen’s Davis Way series is she takes out all contemporary topics contemporary women face on a daily basis (lack of commitment, career-hungry bitching) and puts a whole marvelous spin with lots of action(!) never pulled off that way in any chick-lit title.──★

Davis Way as usual was fantastic! Beautiful voice, humorous voice and a hilarious way of hash-tagging to completely express a thought other writers would have made her waste a whole paragraph on (Hashtag Impressive). Davis Way never disappoints and she leaves you hungry for more in subsequent upcoming titles in the series.──★★

Oh, I did love the comeback of the characters that I fell in love with in Double Dip (#ThrowbackThursday) and the introduction of some fun, funky characters that made this book #VeryEntertaining. No Hair, the team leader who is always getting pissed at our lead for having the tendency to give everyone a nickname. Fantasy, the ex-women’s prison guard who could slap a fugitive into calming down even when they knew a life-sentence was breathing down their neck. Baylor, the five-year old partner shape-shifted into the body of an adult who would never get serious on assignments. Bianca, the boss’ wife with very high standards for whoever wasn’t willing to impersonate her. Eddie The Ass, the ex-ex husband who’s always in time to remind our lead girl how much of a bitch she is. Bea, Eddie’s mother who hasn’t quite forgiven our lead for splitting the world into #TeamDavis and #TeamEddie in their blood-boiling nasty divorce battle (which to her dismay, led to her son’s fanatics defeated). Hashtag Elspeth, the twitter-nutter who would stop at nothing to teach our lead just how to create the right hashtag topics in her tweets. It’s a characterization party in this novel. #Amazing #JadoreDior!──★★★

Humor, check. Suspense, check. #LolRead #VeryGripping──★★★★★

My rating is obviously a five star! And I am very sure I’d keep giving a hundred-percent to all the books in this series before they are even conceptualized because… #GretchenFuckingWritesGood!

Double Strike as part of Henery Press’s mystery Davis Way series, “if you like one, you just might (really, really, they mean it,) like all.” Is available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle.

I recommend this book to anyone who’s been a spy or not. Anyone who loves a good mystery in their chick-lit. Anyone who’s turned on by Women Sleuths. And anyone, just anyone who wants anything to keep them laughing out loud. If you very much hate sitting on the edge of your seat during your leisure time, warning, this is not a novel to relax to! But really, how can you relax with a title so fast-paced if you blink you might have to start all over!

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.