First Comes Love #SRC2016

I am participating in the Summer Reading Challenge again this year! I love it! The book I am currently reading is First Comes Love by Emily Giffin.

About The Book:

Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious, relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing, Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes, their delicate bond splinters. Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single - and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother - a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter is assigned to her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands. On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. As the anniversary of their tragedy looms, and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover that they need each other more than they knew - and that in the search for true happiness, love always comes first.

My Thoughts:

This is a great book, and makes me miss my sisters immensely, who all live in different states than I do! A nice story line that travels from childhood to adulthood.

About The Author:

Emily Giffin is the author of seven internationally bestselling novels: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, Heart of the Matter, Where We Belong, and The One & Only. A graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law, she lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children.

 
 

Appetite #SRC2016

I am participating in the Summer Reading Challenge again this year! I love it! The book I am currently reading is Appetite by Sheila Grinell.

 About The Book:

When Jenn Adler returns from a year in India, she has a surprise for her parents: a young guru from Bangalore whom she intends to marry. Her father, Paul, is wary of this beggar Jenn has brought home who, he suspects, is conning his much-loved daughter while her mother, Maggie, is frightened that this alien stranger will steal away her only child, her focus in life. In the months leading up to the backyard wedding, Maggie is forced to reevaluate her virtues as she casts about for support, and Paul faces an unexpected threat at work one that Maggie could help him meet, if he would only ask. But even with these distractions, the two parents are focused on one primary question: Can they convince their daughter she is making a terrible mistake before the wedding takes place?

My Thoughts:

This is a good first novel. A bit different. I wasn't sure if it was about the daughter or the parents. Maybe both. A good read.

About The Author:

Born in a taxi in Manhattan, Sheila Grinell studied at the Bronx High School of Science, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Towards the end of her forty-year career as a creator of science museums, she began to write fiction. Appetite is her debut novel. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and dog.

 
 

The Assistants #SRC2016

I am participating in the Summer Reading Challenge again this year! I love it! The book I am currently reading is The Assistants by Camille Perri.

About The Book:

Rule #1: All important men have assistants. Rule #2: Men rule the world. Still. Rule #3: There is enough money. There is so much money. Tina Fontana is a thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss - but after six years of making reservations and pouring drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, the glamour of working for a media company in New York has completely faded, but her student loan debt has not. When a technical error with Robert’s expense report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her loans with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she hesitates. She’s always played by the rules, but this would be a life-changer. As Tina begins to fall down the rabbit hole of her morally questionable plan, other assistants with crushing debt and fewer scruples approach her to say that they want in. Before she knows it, she’s at the forefront of a movement that has implications far beyond what anyone anticipated. Featuring an eclectic clan of co-conspirators, a love interest far too handsome to be trusted, and a razor-sharp voice full of wry humor, The Assistants is a rallying cry for the leagues of over-educated and underpaid women who are asking themselves, How is it that after all these years, we are still assistants?

My Thoughts:

This is an amazing read. So much fun! I like the flow of the story line, and I finished this book faster than expected! A great read.

About The Author:

Camille Perri is the author of The Assistants. She has worked as a books editor for Cosmopolitan and Esquire. She has also been a ghostwriter of young-adult novels and a reference librarian. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from New York University and a master of library science degree from Queens College. Perri wrote the first draft of The Assistants while working as the assistant to the editor-in-chief of Esquire.

 
 

The House Of Bradbury #SRC2016

I am participating in the Summer Reading Challenge again this year! I love it! The book I am currently reading is The House Of Bradbury by Nicole Meier.

About The Book:

Mia Gladwell's life is going nowhere. The media has skewered her debut novel, her fiance Carson, a successful Hollywood producer, has jumped ship, and now she's living in her sister's carriage house unattached, unemployed, and uninspired. Then she learns that the Los Angeles estate of iconic author Ray Bradbury is up for sale, and she feels an immediate urge to buy the wonky old house, convinced that moving into the late author's home will inspire her to create her best work yet. Life in the Bradbury house is not what Mia imagined, however. Soon after moving in, to fulfill a debt she owes to Carson, she agrees to take in a pill-popping young actress as a tenant, and suddenly she finds herself in a balancing act between her needy ex, an unpredictable starlet, and her disapproving sister, who's keeping a close eye on her. Add to this a series of mysterious sketches left at her doorstep by a stranger, and Mia's life is more complicated than ever. As she searches for clues, though, Mia discovers insights into her own life. Maybe moving into Bradbury's house was a big mistake, but maybe not.

My Thoughts:

This was a fun interesting read. A little bit mystery, a bit romance, and altogether fun! A decent first novel!

About The Author:

Nicole Meier is a native Southern Californian who pulled up roots and moved to the Pacific Northwest. She works as a freelance travel and lifestyle writer. She lives in Oregon with her family. The House of Bradbury is her first novel.

 
 

Don't You Cry #SRC2016

I am participating in the Summer Reading Challenge again this year! I love it! The book I am currently reading is Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica.

 About The Book:

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected. As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.

My Thoughts:

This is a great mystery. A thrill ride the whole way through! The perfect way to kick off Summer reading!

About The Author:

 Mary Kubica is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Good  Girl and Pretty Baby. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in History and American Literature. She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children and enjoys photography, gardening, and caring for the animals at a local shelter.