Speed Date: Attachements by Rainbow Rowell

Welcome to another Speed Date, this week we are tackling Attachements by Rainbow Rowell

The Plot: Best Friends Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder work for the same newspaper, The Courier, Beth is a movie reviewer/entertainment reporter and Jennifer a copy editor. Through out the workday, they send each other emails back and forth, telling each other amusing stories, deep fears and talking about the things they can't seem to talk with anyone else. 

They know that the company monitors their work-email accounts - they monitor everyone's accounts - but they just don't care, and so far they have managed to escape all warnings. 

Lincoln works at The Courier too, he's the person who reads the emails that get flagged down as inappropriate and writes the warnings. It's not his dream job, but he doesn't know what he wants to do and the job pays pretty well. Beth and Jennifer's emails often get flagged down but Lincoln knows he's never writing them a warning. 

He likes hearing them banter, he reads about Jennifer's uncertainty about having a child with her wonderful husband, about Beth's relationship that doesn't seem to go anywhere. He knows this is a bit creepy, and he knows he's falling for Beth. But he also knows that the more time passes, the weirder it gets. 

First Date: Beth and Jennifer do sound like best friends, I like them. I want them to be my best friends. Lincoln is a very sweet guy, but his sections are a bit long compared to Beth and Jennifer's quick fire interactions. 

Second Date: For a moment there it seemed like the story was getting a little stuck, but it soon picked up steam again. Beth and Jen are hilarious, but so real. Also, Go Lincoln! He's finally making changes in his life. 

Third Date: I admit I cried a little there, I couldn't help it! I feel like I really know these people!! Wanted to hugh Jennifer so much! poor dear! But things look up! and Beth and Lincoln, so many near misses but they made me sigh happily at the end! 

Relationship Status: This might be the book I marry!

I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVED this book. There were parts that were a little slow, and sometimes Lincoln's POV went on for a little too long, but I LOVED THIS BOOK: The setting, the millenium nostalgia, the happy chatter and the sad chatter. It was all lovely. I think I have found a new favorite author! 

Favorite Quotes (among many): 

"I always knew he was selfish and self-indulgent, and kind of lazy; those are practically prerequisites for playing lead guitar." - Beth

"Things get better - hurt less - over time. If you let them." - Lincoln

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Book Review: All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

At First Sight: Josh Kowalski has spent most of his life looking after the family business: The Northern Star Lodge. While all his older siblings left their home town and went to do whatever they wanted, Josh was left working at the Lodge and struggling to run a profitable business. 

After the Lodge took a bad turn and his siblings were forced to take a good look at the situation and realized that they had basically walked away and left their youngest brother to deal with it all, things started to get a little better and Josh began to see the light at the end of the tunnel: he was going to be able to leave town and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. 

So, starting a relationship with his best friend Katie just now seems like really bad timing, but after years of unrequited love on Katie's side, suddenly they are together. 

The problem is that Katie doesn't want to leave, and Josh is still planning to... 

Second Glance: All he Ever Dreamed is the sixth book of the Kowalski series and I can sum up how I felt about it in one word: MEH! This was supposed to be a grand story that had been building up since book 4 (All He Ever Needed), Katie and Josh have spent the better part of the last 20 years dancing around each other, Katie is really in love with Josh and the whole town knows it except for him.

Suddenly they start a relationship. I know I'm supposed to think that it was inevitable - Katie moves into the Lodge to help her mom Rose (the lodge's long time housekeeper and second mother to the Kowalski clan), they are are spending a bit more time together and Josh realizes that yes, she is a girl -but, really? well, I felt like things just started between them without any real rhyme or reason. 

And, by the end, I still fet that they were in a relationship just because they were there and (START OF SPOILER ZONE, highlight to see) that Josh comes back to town and gets back with Katie because he doesn't figure out what else he could do. I never felt that coming home was his dearest wish, it was just that he went out into the world and didn't find anything he liked more, but not in a good way, it was an "Oh, just as well! I know I threw a temper tantrum to get out of there but, c'est la vie". (END OF SPOILER ZONE)

Bottom Line: "Meh" is really the best way I can describe this book. I liked the characters, writing wasn't bad but I didn't really find myself rooting for Katie or Josh or Katie and Josh, I wasn't really invested in the story. I still like Ms. Stacey's style and I'm looking forward to Liz's book because it sounds like it could be great, but I found All He Ever Dreamed just a bit too bland. 

2/3

Book Review: The Reluctant Wife by Bronwen Evans

Love the cover,
but every other page it says that
Abby's hair is blond. 

At First Sight: Three years after leaving her husband, Abby returns to this Italian villa to ask him for a favor. Conte Dante Lombardi isn't sure how he feels about his errant wife's return. In his mind, she left because of a petty fight and should have crawled back long before.

But, he never really forgotten Abby - he didn't want to forget her - and he has reasons why he would much rather remain married than go through with a divorce. So he strikes a deal with Abby; he'll give her the money she needs for her Grandmother's surgery, and in exchange she'll stay with him in Italy and they'll resume where they left off 3 years ago.

Abby isn't happy with this arrangement, but she'll do just about anything for her Gran - who is her only surviving relative - so she agrees, plus, deep down, she never really stopped loving Dante, even if his obsession with having a child as soon as possible is very annoying.

Second Glance: Okay, so Abby married Dante when she was only 19 years old - he was in late twenties- early thirties - afte a whirlwind courtship and a society wedding. But their marriage didn't last long as Abby was really unprepared to be a wife at that age, and she certainly wasn't ready to be a mother.

Dante is a bit obsessed with his own mortality  -both his grandfather and father died fairly young - and he knows he needs to have a son soon, as in his mind time is running out, both because he wants to be a father and because it would secure his family's future.

This was a fairly standard story, it had a bit of old-school category romance which was nice in it's own way. There weren't any big surprises or amazing character development but it was OK. The beginning was pretty entertaining and before I knew it I was almost done.

Bottom Line: Is The Reluctant Wife something to write home about? not necessarily, but it was fun while it lasted and I think that the people who go after category romance will find it pretty good. For me, I would have liked the characters to be a little more developed and for the issues in Dante and Abby's relationship to actually been adressed, but it was ok.  

Quickies: Much Ado About Juliet and Double Crossed

Hello guys! Today I bring you two quick reviews. 

The first is Minnie & Daisy Best Friends Forever #1: Much Ado About Juliet by Calliope Glass.

This is a short story about Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck in their schoolgirl days. In this installment, Minnie wants to get the lead in the school's production of Romeo and Juliet, just so she can get near the guy playing Romeo: Paul Poser. 

Daisy thinks Paul is exactly that, a poser, so she's doesn't care about the play all that much but agrees to go support Minnie... but she ends up getting the part instead. 

From what was happening, I guess Minnie and Daisy were supposed to be high school girls (or at least middle schoolers) but this book is definitely just for kids. It was cute and I even liked the story but yeah, definitely for little kids. 

Second book is Double Crossed by Ally Carter. 

And well, it really isn't a book but a novella that brings together the worlds of Ally Carter's series: Heist Society and the Gallagher Girls. The two worlds collide when Macy McHenry meets Hale at a society party. One thing leads to the next and soon Kat, Hale and Macey are working together on a little project.

It was a fun novella and I think the fans of both series would like it. Personally, I don't care that much for the Heist characters, particularly Kat, so I would have liked for the story to lean more on the Gallagher Girls side, but it was a good story - this quibble is entirely personal - and it sort of made me wish it was longer. 

One thing the story did prove is that having both sets of characters working together would be really awesome and entertaining, and that both series aren't that far removed from each other.

Plus, it was nice to see Macey take a more central role. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the Disney Group for the galleys of both these stories :)

Cover Reveal: Lost In You by Heidi McLaughlin + Giveaway

Hello my darling peeps! 

Today I'm happy to share with y'all the cover of Lost in You, the new book from Heidi McLaughlin! Hope you like! also, be sure to check the bottom of the post as Heidi is giving away a $15 Amazon Gift Card. 

Coming May 1st
Cover by Sarah Hansen ~ OkayCreations.net

Lost in You

Ryan Stone is a less than average teenager. He doesn’t have fancy clothes. He doesn’t carry around the latest smartphone and he definitely doesn’t have an MP3 player. Instead, he goes to school, does his chores and dreams of a new life away from Brookfield where he’s expected to follow in his blue collar family’s footsteps. 

Hadley Carter is America’s Pop Princess. A successful recording artist living her dream with a sold-out tour and a handful of Grammy’s there isn’t much that she wants for, except love. But finding love on the road is near impossible when all she longs for are romantic dinners, a nighttime stroll on the beach and holding hands with someone who isn’t going to exploit her. 

When a chance encounter introduces Ryan to Hadley, will he be like her adoring fans looking for a way in, or will it be Hadley who pursues Ryan even though it might cost her the only career she's ever known.

Lost in You is a story about following your dreams, taking risks and getting lost in love. 

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About Heidi:

Heidi is the author of USA Today, Digital Book World, Amazon and Barnes & Noble Bestselling novel, Forever My Girl

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home is an over-hyper Beagle/Jack Russell and two Parakeets.

During the day Heidi is behind a desk talking about Land Use. At night, she's writing one of the many stories planned for release or sitting court-side during either daughter's basketball games.

USA Today Bestseller - Forever My Girl - Amazon | Barnes & Noble 



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