Sunday Skim

Week of 7/21/2019:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

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Julie's Review: Meet Me in Monaco

Author: Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb
Series: None
Publication Date: July 23, 2019
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Romance with a dash of history added in
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Summary: Movie stars and paparazzi flock to Cannes for the glamorous film festival, but Grace Kelly, the biggest star of all, wants only to escape from the flash-bulbs. When struggling perfumer Sophie Duval shelters Miss Kelly in her boutique to fend off a persistent British press photographer, James Henderson, a bond is forged between the two women and sets in motion a chain of events that stretches across thirty years of friendship, love, and tragedy. James Henderson cannot forget his brief encounter with Sophie Duval. Despite his guilt at being away from his daughter, he takes an assignment to cover the wedding of the century, sailing with Grace Kelly’s wedding party on the SS Constitution from New York. In Monaco, as wedding fever soars and passions and tempers escalate, James and Sophie—like Princess Grace—must ultimately decide what they are prepared to give up for love. ~amazon.com 

Review: Grace Kelly and her visit to the Cannes Film Festival is the catalyst for Sophie Duval and James Henderson meeting but she is not responsible for the sparks that fly between them. She brings them together by trying to outwit James by coming into Sophie's parfumerie and hiding in the office. By happenstance they meet again only to cause Sophie to start questioning why she's always been a non-risk taker. Does she have what it takes to save her business, her passion?

Sophie has been happy to create her perfumes in her factory/lab in Grasse but it's the sales part of the business she struggles with in Cannes, until Grace Kelly commissions one of her fragrances for her wedding to the Prince of Monaco. Will she be able to capitalize on her notarity? Will she also take Grace's advice and follow her heart.

James is battling his own issues at work. He's too gifted of a photographer to be working in a newspaper. So when the opportunity to work for a gallery and do the work he truly wants to do arises, he takes the matters into his own hands. It doesn't hurt that the gallery puts him in great proximity to Sophie.

It is the romance between James and Sophie that you get caught up in. How they get to know each other between their letter correspondences while they are apart. How they fall in love with who the other is before even having a proper kiss. I feel that there is something to that in these days of instant gratification. Their loved developed on pages before they had a chance to spend time together.

One thing I was missing was the true essence of the friendship between Grace and Sophie. I wanted their friendship to bloom outside of correspondence and I didn't get that. I do feel that there was a mutual appreciation and affection but friendship is a stretch. Grace Kelly is the backdrop to the story that is James and Sophie.

If you are looking for a romance in a beautiful location, then definitely pick up Meet Me in Monaco.


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Julie's Review: How to Hack a Heartbreak

Author: Kristin Rockaway
Series: None
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Publisher: Graydon House
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Romance
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: More than a Romance novel 
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Summary: Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster. By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers--"Hatchlings"--who can't even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she's matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr. But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It's called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight. Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez--the only non-douchey guy at Hatch--has no idea she's the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever. ~amazon.com

Review: Let the Girl Programmers reign begin and last long! So, so many great things about this novel but mostly it’s about empowerment and taking control of the things you can and letting go of the things that aren't within your control.  Melanie works at a company that is all bros and it’s wearing her down.  She is verbally harassed daily with no backing of her boss or the CEO. Well that and the fact that the dating app Fluttr keeps disappointing her with the men that seem to respond to with pictures of their junk or standing her up.

So, when she gets tired of it and creates #JerkAlert she feels that things are turning around for her. Will #JerkAlert be the answer to her dating and work problems? Or will it just create more issues for her.  Not to mention her love life is starting to look up when the guy she's mooned over at the office seems to be interested in her as well.

But just as things are turning around things fall apart just as easy but it is how Melanie responds to it is what makes her resilient and innovative.

I kept cheering Melanie and her awesome friends on throughout the course of the book. This is all about women supporting women, female empowerment and finding your place in the world. I highly recommend this one! This is one that you will want all your friends reading the rest of the summer.

Julie's Review: The Two Lila Bennetts

Author: Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Series: None
Publication Date: July 23, 2019
Publisher: Lake Union
Pages: 320
Obtained: Publisher/Authors
Genre:  Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: What lines have to be crossed to be a good person doing bad things?
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Summary: Lila Bennett’s bad choices have finally caught up with her. And one of those decisions has split her life in two. Literally. In one life, she’s taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. As she’s trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she’s done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time. Lila’s decorated career as a criminal defense attorney, her marriage, and her life are on the line. She must make a list of those she’s wronged—both in and out of the courtroom—to determine who is out to get her before it’s too late. But even if she can pinpoint her assailant, will she survive? And if she does, which parts of her life are worth saving, and which parts must die? Because one thing’s for certain—life as Lila Bennett knew it is over.

Review: Don’t we all have those decisions we wish we could undo? A path that would could have taken and wonder what could have been? Liz and Lisa explore this dichotomy in this novel but give it a twist with domestic suspense.

Lila Bennett has made some questionable choices and one of those choices gets her kidnapped and locked away. Unfortunately for Lila, there’s a huge list of people who might want to harm her. Her career as a high profile criminal defense attorney doesn’t help nor do the personal life choices she’s made. I mean she's not exactly the nicest person but does that make her unlikable? Don't some people who do bad things deserve a chance to redeem themselves?

My question is will Lila really change? Will she redeem herself in the end, even though she's already lost those closest to her? And should she change who she is? Maybe how she approaches things and coming at decisions differently but I don’t think she should change her drive and ambition. That shouldn’t be the message we send to women, although stepping on people will eventually lead to your downfall.

I liked the dual story-line and was excited to see which one would play out and if all her truths would come out. I didn't mind Lila and her suspect morals because I do feel like she felt remorse but didn't have the tools to deal with those emotions. In order to make some major changes she will need some therapy but I think she can do it.

I would have liked a bit of a stronger ending or an epilogue to see how Lila changed her life and how they have changed her life,

Sunday Skim

Week of 7/14/2019:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

And with playoffs the weekend of 7/12 we are done with baseball season; well for 3 weeks. So I'll have a bit more time for the pool on weekends which means some more reading time! Also, tomorrow I leave for a business trip to Delaware so I'll be getting in some good reading then as well. I'll be spending the rest of this month on July releases. We are 1/2 way through summer, any goals or specific books you want to get to before 9/21 is upon us?

Julie's Review: We Came Here to Forget

Author: Andrea Dunlop
Series: None
Publication Date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: Atria
Pages: 352
Obtained: Publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Angst, first love, true love, tragedy, redemption with fantastic characters
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Summary: Katie Cleary has always known exactly what she wants: to be the best skier in the world. As a teenager, she leaves her home to live and train full time with her two best friends, all-American brothers Luke and Blair, whose wealthy father has hired the best coaches money can buy. Together, they are the USA’s best shot at bringing home Olympic gold. But as the upward trajectory of Katie’s elite skiing career nears its zenith, a terrifying truth about her sister becomes impossible to ignore—one that will lay ruin not only to Katie’s career but to her family and her relationship with Luke and Blair. With her life shattered and nothing left to lose, Katie flees the snowy mountainsides of home for Buenos Aires. There, she reinvents herself as Liz Sullivan, and meets a colorful group of ex-pats and the alluring, charismatic Gianluca Fortunado, a tango teacher with secrets of his own. This beautiful city, with its dark history and wild promise, seems like the perfect refuge, but can she really outrun her demons? In alternating chapters, Katie grows up, falls in love, and races down the highest peaks on the planet—while Liz is reborn, falls into lust, and sinks into the underground tango scene at the bottom of the world. From the moneyed ski chalets of the American West to the dimly lit milongas of Argentina, We Came Here to Forget explores what it means to dream, to desire, to achieve—and what’s left behind after it all disappears. ~amazon.com 

Review: What can shatter someone so much that they literally get on the next plane out of town? What made Katie give up her dream of Olympic gold when the destruction wasn't caused by her own actions? The answer is guilt. Guilt that she could have done something, didn't see what she should have, etc. 

So Katie leaves for Buenos Aires and reinvents herself at Liz Sullivan who is running away from heartbreak, apparently like all the other expats she happens upon. She immerses herself in the culture by taking Spanish lessons to become a tour guide and then decides to take tango to put her body back to use. 

What she finds is that everyone is dealing with heartbreak in some way and that everyone has their own way of dealing and healing. She has to find her own way back and dealing with the hurt and pain. Once she opens up to her new friends and herself she begins to heal and understand that not all things are within her control she can let go.
 
What I loved about this book was that it was raw, emotional and real. You feel for Katie especially when it's revealed what it was that sent her into distress. You want her to find her way back to the things and people she truly loves while maintaining what she learned during her time in Buenos Aries. 

Ms. Dunlop does an excellent job of pulling the story together with writing that is superb and  character development is spot on. She is an author that I look forward to reading her next book.


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