Rescue Me

Summary:

She's 33, unmarried, and stuffed into a Bubble Yum pink bridesmaid dress. And the whole town wants to fix her up with anyone with a dental plan . . .

Who's going to rescue Sadie Hollowell now?

Everyone in Lovett, Texas, knows Sadie has always been a "notional" kind of gal. She got a notion to leave town ASAP and never visit her daddy (bless his heart) again. Now she's back and got the notion to invite a good-looking, hard-muscled, total stranger to her cousin's wedding. Better a stranger than some of the losers she's dated.

Vince Haven got his muscles the hard way—as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. He's staying in Lovett to visit his crazy aunt—the proprietor of the local Gas and Go. Before he can get the heck back out of the small town, his aunt makes him an offer he can't refuse. Maybe he'll stick around Lovett for a while. Maybe he'll make a "go" of the Gas and Go. Maybe he'll rescue Sadie out of that pink dress!

http://www.amazon.com/Rescue-Me-Rachel-Gibson/dp/0062069128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353897782&sr=8-1&keywords=rachel+gibson+rescue+me

Such a Pretty Fat

Such a Pretty Fat:  One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big; Or, Why Pie Is Not the Answer

Are you tired of books where the self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself tiny in hopes of a fabulous new life?  Do you hate the message that we women can't possibly be happy until we fit into our skinny jeans? 

Yeah?  Well, Jen Lancaster is, too. 

Jen doesn't find stories like this uplifting; rather, they make her want to hug these women and take them out for fizzy champagne drinks and cheesecake and explain to them that until they figure out their insides, their outsides don't matter.

Unfortunately, being overweight isn't simply a societal issue that can be fixed with a dose of positive self-esteem.  It's a health matter, so on the eve of Jen's 40th birthday she decides to make changes so she doesn't, you know, die.  Because what good is finally being able to afford a pedicure if she loses a foot to adult onset diabetes?

http://www.jennsylvania.com/jennsylvania/books.html

Bright Lights, Big Ass

Bright Lights, Big Ass:  A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are All These Idiots and Why Do They Live Next Door to Me?

From the rollicking bestselling author of Bitter Is the New Black comes a brand-new collection of essays that shine a bright light on the big city to reveal the escapades of the outrageously unglamorous.

Jen Lancaster hates to burst your happy little bubble, but life in the big city isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Contrary to what you see on TV and in the movies, most urbanites aren't party-hopping in slinky dresses and strappy stilettos.  But lucky for us, Lancaster knows how to make the life of the lower crust mercilessly funny and infinitely entertaining.

Whether she's reporting rude neighbors to Homeland Security, harboring a crush on her grocery store, or fighting -and losing - the Battle of the Stairmaster, Lancaster explores how silly, strange, and not so fabulous real city living can be.  And if anyone doesn't like it, they can kiss her big, fat, pink, puffy down parka.

http://www.jennsylvania.com/jennsylvania/books.html

Pretty in Plaid

Pretty In Plaid; A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase 

In Pretty in Plaid, Jen Lancaster reveals how she developed the hubris that perpetually gets her into trouble. Using fashion icons of her youth to tell her hilarious and insightful stories, readers will meet the girl she used to be.

Think Jen Lancaster was always "like David Sedaris with pearls and a super-cute handbag?" (Jennifer Coburn) Think again. She was a badge-hungry Junior Girl Scout with a knack for extortion, an aspiring sorority girl who didn't know her Coach from her Louis Vuitton, and a budding executive who found herself bewildered by her first encounter with a fax machine. In this humorous and touching memoir, Jen Lancaster looks back on her life-and wardrobe-before bitter was the new black and shows us a young woman not so very different than the rest of us.

The author who showed us what it was like to wait in line at the unemployment office with a Prada bag, how living in the city can actually suck, and that losing weight can be fun with a trainer named Barbie and enough Ambien is ready to take you on a hilarious and heartwarming trip down memory lane in her shoes (and very pretty ones at that). 

http://www.jennsylvania.com/jennsylvania/books.html

The Perfect Hope

Book #3 of the Inn Boonsboro trilogy

Summary:

Ryder is the hardest Montgomery brother to figure out—with a tough-as-nails outside and possibly nothing too soft underneath. He’s surly and unsociable, but when he straps on a tool belt, no woman can resist his sexy swagger. Except apparently Hope Beaumont, the innkeeper of his own Inn BoonsBoro…

As the former manager of a D.C. hotel, Hope is used to excitement and glamour, but that doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the joys of small-town living. She’s where she wants to be—except for in her love life. Her only interaction with the opposite sex has been sparring with the infuriating Ryder, who always seems to get under her skin. Still, no one can deny the electricity that crackles between them…a spark that ignited with a New Year’s Eve kiss.

While the Inn is running smoothly, thanks to Hope’s experience and unerring instincts, her big-city past is about to make an unwelcome—and embarrassing—appearance. Seeing Hope vulnerable stirs up Ryder’s emotions and makes him realize that while Hope may not be perfect, she just might be perfect for him…

Dark Places

After reading Gone Girl I wanted to read more from Gillian Flynn. This book was just as good. I really enjoyed reading it. She does a great job building suspense throughout the book. I would recommend this book to someone who likes a good nail biter.

Summary:

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club… and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

http://gillian-flynn.com/dark-places/

The Last Boyfriend

Book 2/3

Summary:

"Owen is the organizer of the Montgomery clan, running the family’s construction business with an iron fist—and an even less flexible spreadsheet. And though his brothers bust on his compulsive list-making, the Inn BoonsBoro is about to open right on schedule. The only thing Owen didn’t plan for was Avery McTavish...

Avery’s popular pizza place is right across the street from the inn, giving her a first-hand look at its amazing renovation—and a newfound appreciation for Owen. Since he was her first boyfriend when they were kids, Owen has never been far from Avery’s thoughts. But the attraction she’s feeling for him now is far from innocent.

As Avery and Owen cautiously take their relationship to another level, the opening of the inn gives the whole town of Boonsboro a reason to celebrate. But Owen’s hard work has only begun. Getting Avery to let down her guard is going to take longer than he expected—and so will getting her to realize that her first boyfriend is going to be her last…" - Penguin Group

The Next Always

Book 1/3

Summary:

The historic hotel in BoonsBoro, Maryland, has endured war and peace, changing hands, even rumored hauntings. Now it's getting a major facelift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. As the architect of the family, Beckett's social life consists mostly of talking shop over pizza and beer. But there's another project he's got his eye on: the girl he's been waiting to kiss since he was fifteen...

Celebrity in Death

Book 43

Summary:

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody—drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. Talented but rude, and widely disliked, K. T. Harris had made an embarrassing scene during dinner. Now she’s at the center of a crime scene—and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster, to step into the role she was born to play: cop. - Amazon.com

www.indeath.net

New York to Dallas

Book 41

Summary:

The number-one New York Times–bestselling author J. D. Robb presents an intense and terrifying new case for New York homicide cop Eve Dallas, one that will take her all the way to the city that gave her her name — and plunge her into the nightmares of her childhood. When a monster named Isaac McQueen — taken down by Eve back in her uniform days — escapes from Rikers, he has two things in mind. One is to pick up where he left off, abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. The other is to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago. 

www.indeath.net

Spring Fever

This is a really cute love story. There is always a time in our lives where we wonder "what if" we had never let go of our Ex. Sometimes it is the BEST decision of our lives to move on and then sometimes it just makes sense to get them back. This is a great story about love. Lots of lough out loud situations and of course you HATE the new girl. This is a great pool or beach read. 

Summary:

Annajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless.  They’ve been divorced for four years, she’s engaged to a new, terrific guy, and she’s ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history.  She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia.  But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she’s been given a second chance.  Maybe everything happens for a reason.  And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back.  But there are secrets afoot in this small southern town.  On the peaceful surface of Hideaway Lake, Annajane discovers that the past is never really gone.  Even if there are people determined to keep Annajane from getting what she wants, happiness might be hers for the taking, and the life she once had with Mason in this sleepy lake town might be in her future.

www.goodreads.com

You Don't Want to Know

I had this book sitting in my inbox for quite some time. I finally got around to reading it and I am so glad I did! This book, with all it's twists and turns had me captivated from the first chapter. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery.  I could not put this book down. I had to know what was going to happen next!

Summary:

In Ava's dreams, her son, Noah, looks just the way she remembers him: a sweet two-year-old in rolled-up jeans and a red sweatshirt. When Ava wakes, the agonizing truth hits her all over again. Noah went missing two years ago, and has never been found. Almost everyone, including Ava's semi-estranged husband, assumes the boy drowned after falling off the dock near their Church Island home.

Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah's disappearance. Now she's back at Neptune's Gate, the family estate, her strength slowly returning. But as Ava's mind comes back into focus, she can't shake the feeling that her family, and her psychologist, know more than they're saying. Are they worried for her well-being--or anxious about what she might discover?

Ava secretly visits a hypnotist, hoping to restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. She is sure she's heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won't stop until she gets answers, but the truth is more dangerous than she can imagine. And the price may be more than she ever thought to pay. . .

Bitter is the New Black

I loved this book! Working in the corporate world for as long as I have, I have seen and maybe even been( shh) this woman. There is a little bit of her in all of us. We all have our moments of frivolity. But it's when we realize we have gotten to that level of crazy and tone it down that we finally feel normal again. Keeping up with the Janes really can get tiring. You can only have so much before you realize that all you have is stuff!
Now that I am not working I look at my shoes, my purses, my jewelry, and clothes that I HAD TO HAVE and think "where am i going to wear this stuff now?" Most of my days are spent in yoga pants and T-shirts. Thankfully we are not at a point in our lives where we would need to start selling all that stuff because we don't know where we will get money to pay for the mortgage.
Things I did learn along the way:
1. If you can afford a hight rent payment it's better to buy a place (you can change the wallpaper).
2. ALWAYS put aside 10% of your income for a rainy day. working at the same place for 10 years I      was able to set aside enough to not have panic attacks.
3. Splurge every once in a while! We work our buts off and there is no point in doing all that to get to a point in our lives where we think "why didn't we..."
4. Cleaning your own home keeps you humble. It does not matter that you are wearing $30 Chanel nail polish when you are on your hands and knees cleaning toilet bowls.

Read this book, i'm glad I did!

Summay:

Jen Lancaster was living the sweet life-until real life kicked her to the curb.

She had the perfect man, the perfect job-hell, she had the perfect life-and there was no reason to think it wouldn't last. Or maybe there was, but Jen Lancaster was too busy being manicured, pedicured, highlighted, and generally adored to notice.

This is the smart-mouthed, soul-searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.

Filled with caustic wit and unusual insight, it's a rollicking read as speedy and unpredictable as the trajectory of a burst balloon.

---

Wrong Bed, Right Guy

This is another book I picked up from a set of ebooks. The story is ok. There are many side stories which never get answered. I am not too familiar with the author to know if she has other books to support the side stories. She alludes to a mysterious woman who Nathan once had feelings for but we never know who it is. Then the best friend has a crush which we are never told about. The powers of deduction make me think the best friend and the crush once had something but because of friendship it ended. I will never know because I will not read another book from this author. 

It was again just a afternoon read. 

Prim and proper art gallery coordinator Elle Walser is no good at seducing men. Heck, she’s been throwing hints at her boss for months, but he’s completely clueless. Desperate to escape her mother’s matchmaking efforts, she comes up with a plan—buy some lingerie and climb into her boss’s bed. The plan goes brilliantly…until she accidentally seduces a sexy stranger instead. 

Bad boy nightclub mogul Gabe Schultz just had the best almost-sex of his life. Too bad the smoking hot blonde thought he was his brother and bolted before he could finish what they started. Though her holier-than-thou attitude puts a serious damper his mood, Gabe’s never been one to give up on something he wants. And he wants Elle. But does a man who lives on the dark side really have a chance with a proper lady?

Seducing Cinderella

I started reading this book, thinking it would a cute love story. Little did I know it would be so graphic. The story is really cute. It was a a great way to get a break from the crime murder mystery books I have been reading recently. I have not read a book like this since I was in my teens. It's a good afternoon read. I did not see the cover of the book before I read it I would have been able to judge this book by it's cover for sure. I probably would not have selected it. It was part of some ebooks someone gave me. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. Maxwell
Mixed martial arts fighter Reid Andrews’s chance to reclaim his title as light heavyweight champ is shattered when he’s injured only months before the rematch. To make sure he’s healed in time, his trainer sends him to recuperate under a professional’s care—Reid’s best friend’s little sister, all grown up.
Disorganized and bookish Lucie Miller needs some professional help of her own. She’d do anything to catch the eye of a doctor she’s crushed on for years, so when Reid offers seduction lessons in exchange for 24/7 conditioning for the biggest fight of his career, Lucie jumps at the chance.

Soon Reid finds him himself in the fight of his life...winning Lucie's heart before she gives it to someone else.

11th Hour

This is the 11th book in James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. This book was a little bit different, it seemed like all the strong women in this book all seemed to have some type of emotional breakdown. What I did not understand was when Lindsay and Joe got into their fight and it lasted as long as it did, why did he give up and just make the make-up so weak? So much rage was expressed and then with a blink of an eye it was resolved. 

I love reading his books, the only thing I don't like is that it takes me a day and a half to read the book. Not only because I am a fast reader but really because his chapters are so short it seems like you really are getting a novella and not really a full book. So much of the 416 pages just seem like wasted space. His writing style of attempting to get to a climax at the end of each chapter tapers off with the continuation of this series. The content of this book is good but having read so many of his books it seems like the style is the same. I would think with him collaborating with so many writers his styles for each series would have some type of variance. I expect more. When authors write so many books per year, I think they loose some of their writing integrity. I have been saying this of Peterson for quite some time. 

This book is still worth the read if you like Patterson's work. 

YOUR BEST FRIEND

Lindsay Boxer is pregnant at last! But her work doesn't slow for a second. When millionaire Chaz Smith is mercilessly gunned down, she discovers that the murder weapon is linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco's most untouchable criminals. And it was taken from her own department's evidence locker. Anyone could be the killer—even her closest friends.

OR A VICIOUS KILLER?

Lindsay is called next to the most bizarre crime scene she's ever seen: two bodiless heads elaborately displayed in the garden of a world-famous actor. Another head is unearthed in the garden, and Lindsay realizes that the ground could hide hundreds of victims.

YOU WON'T KNOW UNTIL THE 11TH HOUR

A reporter launches a series of vicious articles about the cases and Lindsay's personal life is laid bare. But this time she has no one to turn to—especially not Joe. 11TH HOUR is the most shocking, most emotional, and most thrilling Women's Murder Club novel ever.

http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_11thHour.php#.UFDAGkJRI20

Stolen Prey

I like John Sanford's Prey series. I came across them about 10 years ago and I have been addicted ever since. This book does not disappoint with it's suspense. Two parallel stories keeping you on the edge of your seat. 

Summary:

Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Wayzata, an entire family has been killed—husband, wife, two daughters, dogs.

There’s something about the scene that pokes at Lucas’s cop instincts—it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he’s seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn’t seem to fit.

Until it does. And where it leads Lucas will take him into the darkest nightmare of his life.

www.amazon.com

Fantasy in Death

Book 37

Summary:

In the latest novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author J.D. Robb, it is game over for the criminals pursued by NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer-gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can't wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company's latest top-secret project, Fantastical.

The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . .

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim's girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a prob­lem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve's husband, Roarke, one of U- Play's competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death.

http://www.indeath.net/wikiindeath/index.php/Fantasy_in_Death

Where we Belong

I liked this book so much I finished it in one day. I could not put it down! It is a great story. I just wish she had finished the story of Marian and Conrad. I hope there is a follow up book to this. Giffin is known for intertwining her characters. It is a good read.

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

 

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

www.amazon.com

Kinded in Death

Book 35

Summary:

When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena’s body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate.

When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.