Jen's Blog

Nine Women, One Dress is Jane Rosen’s debut novel and it is a lot of fun!  The book is light, fun and interesting.  Rosen’s writing is quick and witty and keeps your attention from the first page.  You won’t want to put this one down.  The dress in question is being sold at Bloomingdale’s and is the last dress that a famous pattern maker designs.  It quickly becomes the dress of the season and everyone must have it.  There are nine women who wear the dress in question in this story and they all are in a different point in their lives.  After coming in contact with their dress something in their live changes in a big way, and Rosen does a great job of weaving the characters in the story together.  It’s really well done.  4/5 on Goodreads, put this on your to read list!  

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy! A Bee in Her Bonnet is the second of the honeybee sisters trilogy by Jennifer Beckstrand (who is my favorite Amish romance writer!).  There are so many things I like about Beckstrand's novels including the wonderful characters, the glimpse into the Amish lifestyle, the settings in my home state of Wisconsin and most of all the sweetness of couples getting to know each other.   A Bee in Her Bonnet has all of those elements. This book features the second Christner sister, Poppy.  Poppy is tall and has always been told by her disapproving grandfather that she will end up an old maid.  She is sure that he must be right.  Luke Bontrager, the best friend of her sisters fiance, agrees.  He is confused by her desire to learn how to do everything herself and wonders why she thinks she can do things better than anyone else.  However, after several perilous outings, that leave both of them injured they b...

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty is a wonderfully written story, one that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.  The story features three couples, all who are linked by one main tragedy that affects their relationships.  Sam and Clementine are busy parents of two little girls.  Clementine’s oldest friend Erika is married to Oliver, they seem to have an easy fun life just the two of them.  Then there is Tiffany and Vid, a fun loving couple with a small daughter.  From page one readers are kept guessing about what may have happened at a barbecue that Tiffany and Vid host at their house.  Something terrible happens and it’s obviously affecting all of them, but what is it?  I made many, many guesses and I came close but the real story was very unexpected!  This is a great edge of your seat read full of twists and turns and just enough suspense.  The book has a little something for everyone!  Rated 4/5 s...

Falling by Jane Green is a beautiful story that reminds us all that sometimes families can take place in the most unexpected ways. Emma has moved the the East Coast from England, where she meets Dominic.  Much to her surprise she and Dominic hit it off despite their very different backgrounds.  She has never met anyone quite like Dominic and it turns out that having someone different in her life is exactly what she needed.  Dominic is also a single father and Emma finds herself falling in love with both father and son.  Sadly, tragedy strikes and Emma finds herself having to create a new happiness, fight for what she loves and form a new idea of family. It's a beautiful, well written book.  The unexpected ending threw me for a little bit of a loop (and drew a few tears out of me), but ultimate Green redeemed herself and I enjoyed the book very much! Thanks to Netgalley for the Advanced Readers Copy! Rated 4/5 pm Goodreads.

One of my favorite things in the whole world is discovering a new author! Amy Avanzino is my new author this week, I loved From the Sidelines ! One of the things I loved most about this book is how I could relate to many parts of the story even though the main character Autumn is completely different than me (I however am a mother to three boys, all who played football!). I always admire writers than can make me feel that personal connection to a character or a story.  Autumn is an overprotective, single mom to a 10 year old boy who one day decides he wants to play football. Autumn knows nothing about sports and is not sure that this is a good idea at all. She has never thought that he was a sports type at all. However, since the end of her disastrous marriage Zachary hasn't been very happy and she wants to change that. She jumps right into the world of football, meets new people, learns how to trust herself and others and most importantly watches her son gain his footing and gai...

It's no secret that Nora Roberts is my favorite author, and I always read her new releases before anything else in my to read pile!  This one was no exception and in the end I wasn't disappointed. However, this one didn't grab me right away as so many of her books usually do.  It took me a little bit to get into the story.  Fantasy books are not usually my cup of tea, so I think perhaps that was a little bit my issue.   This story focuses on Sawyer and Annika, along with their group that are ultimately trying to defeat evil and recover the magic stars created by the goddesses.  Sawyer has the ability to time travel with his compass that his grandfather gifted him and Annika is a mermaid, which is a new element to Roberts books.  Annika is the most delightful character that I have encountered in a long time.  Bay of Sighs is the second in the Guardians triology and it ended a bit abruptly.  Of course that just makes the reader want to read the ...

I usually love Elin Hilderbrand's books.  However I cannot say I loved Here's to Us .  I liked it a lot and it was very well written, but to me it didn't have the same magic that her other books usually have. Elin as usual does a wonderful job depicting life in the summer on Nantucket for the family of celebrity chef Deacon Rowe when they gather together at his summer house to say goodbye to him. Each of his children and his three wives are present, which as you can guess creates plenty of conflict and sparks.  There are truly brilliant pieces of the story in the interactions between the three wives. My biggest problem with the book was with the amount of adultery in the story.  I get that some stories can support a story line that supports this but it seemed excessive in this story.  I personally like an ending in a book that wraps up the stories and makes the reader feel hopeful.  I mostly got that in this story, but it felt rushed.  I felt li...