I really loved this book and got sucked into the historical fiction that takes place during the day’s surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Wes Avery is a former military man who runs a Texaco station in Orlando where he lives with his wife and daughter. He notices unusual activity around an air base close to his home. Having been a part of the bombings at Hiroshima, Wes is immediately concerned about what he’s seeing.

In the middle of all of this, Wes’s wife Sarah, stars having a nervous breakdown. It seems to stem from the fact that after having multiple miscarriages, she was given a hysterectomy without her knowledge and consent depriving her of the large family she wanted. 

Meanwhile, we learn that Charlotte, the Avery’s 17 year old daughter was actually adopted from Sarah’s sister right after she was born. Charlotte was selected to the homecoming court at her school and through much of the book she’s preparing for that along with experiencing her mom’s breakdown and the impending conflict in Cuba.

I enjoyed reading about the event as part of a bigger story. If you like historical fiction, this is an awesome choice to read.

Baseball Dads by Matthew S. Hiley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Funniest. Book. Ever.

Dwayne’s son is on the 10 year old Little League team in the swanky side of Ft. Worth. Alex is known as one of the best players in the league but his coach insists on playing “daddy baseball”, putting his own son at short stop and the assistant coach’s son at first base even though they lack the skill. The best kids he relegates to the outfield or the bench. Consequently, even with a pretty talented team, they are going to be big losers this season.

Dwayne’s wife has been sleeping around and hanging out with the gossipy, nasty women in the area. She’s also spending so much money he can’t figure out how to keep up with everything.

Dwayne’s had enough. He decides he’s not going to take it anymore and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He adopts a Jedi Grandmaster Ninja Warrior outlook on life and his three baseball dad “friends” come along for the ride.

This book is over the top, horrifyingly hilarious. You have no idea what Dwayne and the guys will do next. If you’ve ever been involved in Little League baseball, I’m sure you’ll find it as funny as I did. I laughed so much, I think my dog was worried about me. Love it! 🙂

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The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh how I loved this book! If you’re reading my reviews, you probably think, “she always says that”. But I’m so fortunate to read really awesome books and my motto is, “life is too short to read bad books”.

This book was wonderful. A truly wonderful, heartwrenching story of a little girl, Gretl, who is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Her mother and grandmother encourage Gretly and her sister to jump off the train, telling them they would so jump and they’d all be safe. Before her mother and grandmother could jump, the train is blown up. The accidental explosion, mean to blow up a German troop train, was set by Jakob Kowalski.

Jacob finds Gretl and her sister Elza and takes them to a family. Elza dies and the family can’t continue watching Gretl when they have four children of their own. Jakob takes Gretl to live with his family. He never really gets to know her until he is injured in the war and comes home to recover. This is where he learns what a smart, special little girl Gretl.

Eventually, Jakob’s family can look after her no longer and he takes her to an orphanage with the home that she will be one of 50 children selected to go to South Africa and be adopted into new families.

As one of the older children, Gretl relizes she’s not going to be chosen so she uses her smarts to get selected and sent to South Africa where she is adopted by a wonderful family. She’s never known a life like this, one of privilege, and she grows up to be a successful college student when she runs into Jakob again.

Jakob had to leave Poland or be arrested and ended up in South Africa because they were looking for engineers and he knew the country was against communism. He also knew that Gretl was there.

They come back together, eventually falling in love. But his Catholic faith and her Protestant faith don’t make the arrangement look possible in the eyes of her father.

This is a wonderful story. It’s sad and happy and I wish it wasn’t over. Two thumbs up! 🙂

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Girl Meets Class by Karin Gillespie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just loved this book! I have loved all of Karen Gillespie’s books and was excited to read another.

This one is about Toni Lee, who is a former child tennis superstar who’s life has come off the rails due to a career ending injury. Toni Lee’s dad isn’t good at disciplining her because her mother died when she was 4 so he calls in her Aunt Cornelia.

Aunt Cornelia, Toni Lee’s mother’s sister, is the CEO and founder of a large caned Southern food company. She has basically been funding Toni Lee’s party girl existence and she decides it’s time to stop, to rein Toni Lee in.

She makes a deal with Toni Lee, telling her that if she gets a job that Aunt Corny approves of, keeps it for a year, and keeps to the other dictates of the contract, that she’ll give her a $5 million inheritance at the end of the year.

Toni Lee struggles to find a job. With time running out, she takes a job through Teacher Corps. They are supposed to teach college grads how to become teachers while they are placed in their first teaching jobs. Toni Lee finds out too late that the positions are hard to fill because they are in bad neighborhoods with out of control kids.

The story takes the reader through Toni Lee’s trials and tribulations at the school and she is one tough cookie.

Loved it! Two thumbs up. 🙂

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The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! I was sucked right into this cute story about Lou, a restaurant owner and chef.

She in engaged to Devlin, a handsome and successful attorney. She is part of his plan for a perfect wife, a perfect life. He doesn’t, however, support her dream of owning her restuarant, Luella’s. His mother worked two jobs when he was growing up to make ends meet and he thinks he can save Lou from that life. But Lou loves her restaurant.

After walking in on Devlin and his intern on his birthday, Lou’s life starts falling apart. The dreaded restaurant reviewer, AW Wodyski chooses that day to visit Luella’s and is treated to terrible service as the staff were so concerned about Lou and horrible food because Lou didn’t know well enough to just get out of the kitchen.

The resultant bad review pretty much ends the promising future of Luella’s. While Lou is drinking it off at a pub, she runs into Al, and makes plans to show him the City. They begin their relationship on a “no work talk” policy and they have fun and eventually start falling for her.

When Al finally realizes that she is the owner of Luella’s, he’s horrified. He tries to get his editor to let him do another review but he won’t let him. They officially kill AW Wodyski and Al supposedly takes his job but Devlin finds out the truth and shares it with Lou who is devastated once again.

This story is about how Lou eventually finds success in both love and business and it was a great read. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend! 🙂

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Twillyweed by Mary Anne Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book and there was a lot going on.

Although it initially seemed that the focus was on Jenny Kate trying to connect with her mother, who had given her up for adoption, it became so much more. I loved the characters in this book. I love how they interacted with each other.

As the book went on with more twists and turns, I grew to love it more. Loved this book! 🙂

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If I Could Turn Back Time by Beth Harbison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! When Ramie is almost 38 years old, she has an accident where she hits her head really hard. When she wakes up again, she’s in her 18 year old life.

She knows it’s weird, can’t figure out why she’s there. She wonders if she should be trying to save her dad from his early, at age 52, death. Or if she shouldn’t have broken up with her high school boyfriend, Brendan. She does things a little differently than she did the first time around but isn’t sure that’s what she’s supposed to be doing.

Then she wakes up as a pregnant 26 year old, married to Brendan, and she’s miserable. This life really does’t feel right to her and she really has no idea what to do in it.

When she finally wakes up in the hospital, it’s been 3 weeks since she hit her head and she’s experienced a lot of things in her dreams. Or were they dreams? She tries to explain it all to her best friend, Sammy. She wonders if she will ever find her true love.

I loved this book so much, I just couldn’t put it down. Two thumbs up for If I Could Tun Back Time! 🙂

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If It Haint Broke by MIaureen Hardegree
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a great book! The sixth in a series about a high school girl who is able to see ghosts and help them move on to the next life.

This book is about Heather Tildy, who is a freshman at her high school. She’s worried about her big date for homecoming with her crush, Drew, who is a junior. In the bathoom at school, she’s approached by a ghost. She knows that if she connects, she’ll be sucked into helping her so she tries to avoid her as long as possible.

Eventually, it’s not possible and the starts to learn about Wheatherly Raines, a girl who supposedly committed suicide at her school 20 years prior. As Heather and her best friend, Zach, delve into the events surrounding Weatherly’s death, they come to the conclusion that she was suicidal and that something else must be the cause for her death.

As they go through figuring everything out, they do some bold things that aren’t looked upon favorably at their school. Heather and Drew have their homecoming date which was nearly derailed by another girl, and didn’t turn out like Heather planned. But all ends well. She solves what’s keeping Weatherly around, allowing her to move on, and she ends up with Drew.And that’s how the book ends.

Such a cute story and I plan to read the books that came before!

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Ever After by Jude Deveraux
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book by Jude Deveraux and I didn’t read the first two books in this trilogy, although I’d like to now.

This story of Hallie Hartley, a physical therapist who learns she’s inherited a house on Nantucket. As part of the arrangements to her taking possession of the house, the man who informs her lets her know that she’ll have a client there, as well.

Jamie is a former soldier who was involved in a vehicle explosion in the war. He’s scarred everywhere and has a really hurt knee Hallie is to try and help heal. He also experiences flashbacks and nightmares. Hallie is able to help him get past most of these things.

They form a relationship that is more than just client/therapist. They fall in love with each other. Aided by the Tea Ladies, ghosts who are said to inhabit Hallie’s house, they overcome all of the bad stuff to head towards happily ever after.

I can’t wait to read the first two books in this trilogy. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not having read the first two books. Two thumbs up! 🙂

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Those Girls by Lauren Saft

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not sure how much I liked this book. However, I couldn’t stop reading it. I’m pretty sure that these kinds of events happen amongst a lot of high school kids.

Mollie, Alex and Veronica are the “It” girls at their school. I liked the bond between the three girls, Mollie, Alex, and Veronica. While they went through some tough times, they ended up sticking together as friends, when they remembered all they’d been through together.

I felt uncomfortable for Mollie in her relationship with Sam. But high school is a confusing time. Not knowing how to keep Sam interested, thoughts about “how fat I am”, and the complicated friendships with the other girls are common feelings in high school that I have experienced.

I could relate to Alex and her feelings about Drew. Both of them found it hard to express how they felt about each other to each other or even themselves. I loved how Alex joined the band and sort of came into herself via her music.

Veronica I just felt flat out sorry for. Poor little rich kid, I feel like she was missing love so she was trying to get it anyway she could even though a lot of it was pretty raunchy.

Couldn’t put the book down. At times I felt like I wanted to take a shower but I believe this is a “real” book and sometimes those aren’t so pretty.

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