The Kiss Quotient

Author: Helen Hoang

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2018
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases - a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by a pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice - with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner who can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the box on her lesson plan - from foreplay to more-than-missionary position. . .

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense parternship starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic.

Review: There is quite a lot of graphic sex in this novel - consider yourself forewarned. That said, there is a larger message here, and I enjoyed the more substantive parts of this novel. Maybe let's not tell my mother I read this one :-)

A Wreath of Snow

Author: Liz Curtis Higgs
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 212
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: All Margaret Campbell wants for Christmas is a safe journey home. When her plans for a festive holiday with her family in Stirling crumble beneath the weight of her brother's bitterness, the young schoolteacher wants nothing more than to return to the students she loves and the town house she calls home.

Then an unexpected detour places her in the path of Gordon Shaw, a handsome newspaperman from Glasgow, who struggles under a burden of remorse and shame.

When the secret of their shared history is revealed, will it leave them tangled in a knot of regret? Or might their past hold the threads that bind their future together?

Review: A question came up in my book club this week about reading seasonal books in the "correct" season. A good author and a good story can transport me so it doesn't matter that it's July - I was transported to December 1894 in Victorian England.

Totally predictable, but sweet, this was a fast, enjoyable story. 

Under a Summer Sky

Author: Melody Carlson
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2017
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: High school art teacher Nicole Anderson is looking forward to a relaxing summer in Savannah, house-sitting and managing an art gallery for a family friend. The house is luxurious in a way that only old money could make it, and the gallery promises interesting days in a gorgeous setting. Yet it isn't long before her ideal summer turns into more than she bargained for: a snooty gallery employee who's determined to force her out, a displaced adolescent roosting in the attic, and two of Nicole's close childhood friends - who also happen to be brothers - vying for her attention.

With a backdrop of a beautiful historical city, incredible architecture, and even an alleged ghost or two, combined with the opportunity for romance. . .anything can happen!

Review: I read this not realizing it's the third book in a trilogy, but I also looked up the other two and it appears each book is about a different person so I think it's okay to read them out of order.

In typical Carlson style, this was a fun story. I thoroughly enjoyed my escape to Savannah.

Follow Your Heart series:
Book 1: Once Upon a Summertime (set in New York City)
Book 2: All Summer Long (set in San Francisco)
Book 3: Under a Summer Sky (set in Savannah)

Looking for Jane

Author: Judith Redline Coopey
Genre: Fiction    

Publisher: Fox Hollow Press, 2013
Pages: 244
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: "The nuns use this as their measuring stick: who your people are. Well, what if you don't have no people? Or any that you of? What then? Are you doomed?" This is the nagging question of fifteen-year-old Nell's life. 

Born with a cleft palate and left a foundling on a doorstep of a convent, she yearns to know her mother, who name, she knows, was Jane. When the Mother Superior tries to pawn her off to a mean looking farmer and his beaten down wife, Nell opts for the only alternative she can see: she runs away. A chance encounter with a dime novel exhorting the exploits of Calamity Jane, heroine of the west, gives Nell the purpose of her life: to find Calamity Jane, who Nell is convinced is her mother. 

Her quest takes her down rivers, up rivers and across the Badlands to Deadwood, South Dakota and introduces her to soot, a big, loveable black dog, and Jeremy Chatterfield, a handsome young Englishman who isn't particular about how he makes his way, as long as he doesn't have to work for it. Together they trek across the country meeting charactes as wonderful and bizarre as the adventure they seek, learning about themselves and the world along the way. 

Review: This novel had a Huckleberry Finn and This Tender Land vibe to it, and while I wasn't a fan of those books, I loved this one. It was fast moving and entertaining. I read this while on vacation in the Cleveland, Ohio area and it was the perfect way to end each busy day.

Christmas in Winter Hill

Author: Melody Carlson
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group, 2019
Pages: 176
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Krista Galloway is not a fan of Christmas. After her rough childhood in multiple foster homes, the holiday season just brings too many bad memories to the surface. But when she accepts a job as a city manager in the mountain town of Winter Hill, Washington, Christmas is part of the deal. The small town is famous for its Christmasville celebration, something that the city manager. . .well, manages.

As she tries to make her tiny apartment feel like home for her and her eight-year-old daughter, Emily, Krista begins to wonder if this move was a mistake. She doesn't always feel welcomed in the close-knit town. and Emily continually wonders, "Where's the snow?" Can a friendly stranger and his family help restore Krista's Christmas spirit before the big day?

Review: I love Melody Carlson's stories. They're easy to fall into, and I am totally transported to the locale. I went for Christmas in July with this selection.

Dinosaurs Before Dark

Author: Mary Pope Osbourne
Genre: Fiction / Children
Publisher: Random House Children's Books, 1992
Pages: 80
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Where did the treehouse come from?

Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious treehouse whisks them to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark. . .or will they become a dinosaur's dinner?

Review: I read this book to my older daughters, but it's my 6 year old son who really latched on to reading. I'm including this in my blog this time around because I think we're going to make it through more of this series than I had with the girls. 

This is the series I wish I would have dreamed up - a cute brother/sister duo, adventure, time travel, history. These are great for kids, and fun to read aloud as well.

The Good Sister

Author: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Group, 2021
Pages: 320
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be. . .dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich, and shocking story of what families keep hidden.

Review: When this started it reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but then it took off in another direction. I had an idea of where the ending was going, but what a fanstastic ride.

Other Sally Hepworth Books found in this blog
The Mother-in-Law
The Soulmate