(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Toni Ashton never planned to return to Blue Hills, the small Missouri town where her family has been making  wine for over 100 years.  Not permanently anyway.  The 46-year-old has worked hard to make a successful life for herself in St. Louis.  With a flourishing wedding planning business and a relationship that could produce an engagement ring any day now, Toni's content in the city.  But when her mother, the indomitable Evie Ashton, suffers a devastating stroke, Toni knows she has no choice—she must go home.  

Shocked at the shabby state of her mother's property, Toni begins digging through the clutter, intent on finding something—anything—to help her understand the enigmatic woman who gave birth to her.  The two have never really seen eye-to-eye and Toni's determined to find out why.  As her mother lays comatose in a nearby hospital, Toni slowly sifts through Evie's debris, uncovering long-buried mysteries that could change the course of her life forever.  When Toni slips on the little black dress Evie was wearing when she had her stroke, she knows she's found the key to unlocking the secrets of the past, but does she dare confront the visions it's showing her of her own future?  Especially when they feature cozy scenes between her and the man who's trying to take over her family's vineyard?  Opening up the scars of the past is one thing, but toying with the perfect future Toni's so painstakingly built for herself is quite another.  

Can Toni trust the dress' peculiar magic to reveal the truth about her family's past?  It's powerful enough to shatter hearts, but can it mend them, too?  Toni's about to find out ...

After reading—and loving—Susan McBride's The Truth About Love & Lightning, I rushed over to my library's website to check out everything the author had ever written.  Neither her Cougar Club or The Debs series sounded like my kind of thing, but Little Black Dress sure did.  I wanted another atmospheric contemporary tale sprinkled with magic and I got it with this older novel.  True, the story's quite similar to Love & Lightning—a little too similar, in fact—but it's just as engaging.  The complex characters spoke to me, the vineyard setting enchanted me and the magical elements of the story tickled my imagination.  I enjoyed Little Black Dress for the same reasons I liked McBride's newest—it's a warm, magical read that's both sweet and satisfying.  Would I have liked a teensy bit more originality?  Sure, but overall, I'm not complaining.  I dig McBride's writing and will be keeping a lookout for more winsome books from this delightful, new-to-me author.   

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a lot of The Truth About Love & Lightning by Susan McBride and a little of both The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and The Best Man by Kristan Higgins)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs) and mild sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find 

     

 (Images courtesy of Scarletta Press)

Although I read a lot of picture books (thanks to my 4-year-old story lover), I don't review many of them.  So, when the good folks over at Scarletta Press contacted me about taking a look at the titles they've recently published with their Kids imprint, I hesitated.  Then, A Day at the Lake by Stephanie Wallingford and Dawn Rynders (with illustrations by Erica Pelton Villnave) caught my eye.  The cover looked so inviting that I just couldn't resist taking the plunge (pun very much intended).  

A perfect read with which to welcome the warm, summer weather (which we're already experiencing here in the Phoenix area), A Day at the Lake will charm water lovers of all ages.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

When Sarah Carr's husband drowns, the 17-year-old widow is left penniless and alone.  She has no family to take her in, no one at all—except for the babe growing inside her.  Throwing herself on the mercy of a brother and sister-in-law she barely knows, Sarah hopes for the best.  But it's not to be.  Sold into slavery, she's herded aboard a rat-infested ship and taken from Cornwall to the American Colonies to be an indentured servant.  With no means of escape, she puts her life in God's hands, praying to Him daily for deliverance.  

In the midst of her struggles, Sarah meets Alex Hutton, a handsome doctor whose kindness stuns her.  Never has she had a man treat her the way he does.  But, she's a lowborn servant girl and he a gentleman doctor.  It's ridiculous for her to imagine building a life with him.  And yet, she does.  When Alex declares his love for her, Sarah's joy is complete.  He's her savior, her love, the man she wants to marry.  If only she were free to choose him.  She's not—as a woman and a servant she has no rights at all.  

Soon, Sarah's torn from Alex, but she can't give up hope.  Once again, Sarah must give herself over to God's will.  He won't let her down again.  Will he?  Armed only with her faith, she will face every danger, risk everything, if only for one more chance at love—at life.

I've read plenty of books about slavery, but none featuring a young, white woman sold into bondage.  Any human being treated so cruelly is abominable, of course, but it does make for an intriguing subject for a novel.  Unfortunately, Beyond the Valley by Rita Gerlach just doesn't live up to the potential of its premise.  Part of the problem is Sarah herself.  While she spends lots of time reacting to the things that happen to her, she doesn't spend more than a few pages acting to change her situation.  Already a rather flat character, Sarah's also a weak heroine—not good things in a character-driven novel.  Gerlach's dull prose doesn't help matters.  It's just not strong enough to make the story really come alive for the reader.  I do appreciate the fact that Beyond the Valley is a clean, gentle, faith-promoting novel, I just wanted more from it.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't really think of anything.)

Grade:  C

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for violence, scenes of peril and mild sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of Beyond the Valley from the generous folks at Abingdon Press via those at Pump Up Your Book Promotion.  Thank you!    

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

After being jilted at the altar, Faith Holland fled her small town in the Finger Lakes Region for good.  Three years later, San Francisco feels like home.  The 30-year-old runs a successful landscape design business, shares an apartment with a good friend, and spends her free time cuddling with her golden retriever.  Life could only be better if she had a nice guy with whom to share it.  Too bad moving on means getting over Jeremy Lyon, the man she's loved since junior high.  The man she still loves.  The man who should be her husband.  

When Faith is summoned home to help scare off the gold-digging snowbird who's set her sights on Faith's widowed father, she realizes a stopover in Manningford might be just what she needs.  After all, her siblings can always use help at the family vineyard.  And there's the old barn that she's been dying to re-purpose as an event venue.  The fact that Jeremy still lives in town has nothing to do with her extended stay.  Nothing at all. Okay, it does, but Faith hasn't even seen him yet.  Instead, she keeps running into Levi Cooper, the arrogant jerk who ruined her wedding.  Just because he's now a decorated war hero and the chief of police doesn't mean he's any more likable.  Or less sexy.  Because he totally is.  Not that she's looking (of course she is -- no heterosexual female could glance away).  Still, he's Levi Cooper, her mortal enemy, which means no way in heck is Faith going anywhere near him.

But as things in Manningford grow ever more complicated, Faith finds herself drawn to her old nemesis.  Is it possible Levi's grown up a little?  Could he have actually turned into a decent guy?  Faith doesn't think so, but amidst all the drama of her small town, her family, and her own dismal love life, it's Levi she finds herself relying on.  Could it be she's been chasing the wrong man all along?  Or, is Levi just toying with her, the same way he always has?  Faith's not ready to risk her bruised heart again—or is she?

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I'm not big on reading adult romances.  There's pretty much only one author writing in this genre who can persuade me to dip into it once in awhile and that's Robyn Carr.  I'm a fan because Carr writes mature love stories laced with themes of home, family, and small town values. From what I can tell, Kristan Higgins does the same.  Kinda.  Now that I'm an expert on Higgins (you know, since I've read one of her books), I'm thinking her novels are like Carr's books' younger, sassier cousins.  The Best Man, at least, features the same kind of small town Carr loves to write about, as well as a similar brand of big-hearted, down-to-earth folks.  And yet, "mature" is not a word I'd use to describe this story.

First, though, the good:  The Best Man is an upbeat, funny novel with a strong contemporary voice.  Despite being over 400 pages long, it hums along at a fair pace, taking time to build up the history and romance between Faith and Levi instead of just insta-loving them together.  Although some of the characters could definitely be called cliché, overall they're a quirky, colorful bunch, who demonstrate everything that's right—and wrong—with small towns.  Also, I liked that Higgins took on some more serious subplots, which kept the plot nicely balanced.

The downside to a fun novel is that sometimes it crosses the line between comical and silly/ridiculous.  The Best Man does this fairly often, mostly because Faith often acts like a clueless 13-year-old (I mean, seriously, what 30+ year old describes another person as the "Lying Liar of Lie-Land [233]"?).  Levi bugged me as well, mostly because it was difficult to appreciate how much he'd grown as a man when he still referred (constantly) to Faith's breasts as her "rack."  I don't know about you, but that kind of immaturity just isn't swoon-worthy to me.  Then, there's the sex.  And, weirdly, since The Best Man is an adult romance (and a bona fide Harlequin, at that) I'm not even talking about graphic sex scenes (since there are really only one or two of those)—I'm talking about how each and every character (which, truly, is only a slight exaggeration) has to talk about or think about sex pretty much 24/7.  It was just too much for me (way, way too much).

So, now that I've practically written a whole novel myself, let's get down to the nitty gritty:  What did I think of The Best Man?  In general, it's a fun, light, engaging romance.  And yet, there were definitely elements that distracted from my enjoyment of the book.  If Higgins ever writes a sweet romance (or even something in the PG-13 range), I would probably give it a try since I like the author's bright, easy style.  Otherwise, I'll leave her novels on the shelf in favor of my "mature" romances, thank you very much!

(Readalikes:  Reminded me a little of Little Black Dress by Susan McBride and a bit of Robyn Carr's novels)

Grade:  C+

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for language (1 F-bomb, plus milder invectives) and sexual content/innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of The Best Man from the generous folks at Harlequin via those at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.  Thank you!