February Wrap Up

 

February goes too fast!  I didn't read as much as I normally do, and I've broken my own rule, I've been reading more than one book at a time!  Since I belong to two book clubs and I have an ARC I need to finish, I've been volleying between my bcc's and the arc.  Hhhmm, I don't think that really makes me a philanderer, I still only stay true to my one book, this was just very special circumstances with February being a short month, ya know, sometimes things happen ;)

Here are the books I've read this month -





I loved A Hard Death!  That one was great, will be doing a review soon and will have Jonathan Hayes here!  Shanghai Girls would never have been picked up by me, but my bcc chose it and I did like it, but Lisa See is an author, while excellant and you really just breeze through her books and learn so much, but are tinged in such sorrow.  My review is *here*.  While I didn't review Mozart's Blood I really liked it.  I love The Opera and this was just steeped in that life.  Nice twist on the vampire story.  Bet Me was my first foray into Jennifer Cruise.  It was chosen by Christine of The Happily Ever After fot my online book club, Authors By The Alphabet.  If you'd like to join, go *HERE*.  I loved this book, quick easy and fun.  Read my review and q-n-a *here*

What's up for March?  Well here ya go -





The first 2 are my bcc's for the month, The Kensei I'm almost done with and it's and ARC, with Jon Merz stopping by here at the end of the month!  Queen Betsy is an e-book and will go to my TBR Challenge.  I know there'll be more but for now this will due.

Bet Me Review & Q-n-A

Bet Me
Jennifer Cruise
432 pgs.
St. Martins Paperback
BCC











Amazon Blurb -

Setting: small city in Ohio
Thirty-three-year-old Minerva Dobbs is annoyed when her current boyfriend dumps her three weeks before her sisters' wedding. But she's downright furious a few moments later when she overhears her now "ex" boyfriend bet hunky Calvin Morrisey that he can't take her home and bed her. In fact, she's so angry at them both that she lets Cal take her to dinner and decides to string him along until after her sisters' wedding. Minerva pegs Cal as a handsome "used car salesman of seducers." Cal thinks Minerva is a "cranky, starving, risk-averse statistician." But Minerva's hormones keep whispering "this one," although she knows the gorgeous Cal isn't the man for her practical, white-cotton-bra, several-pounds-over-thin, self. And Cal is blindsided by the lust he feels for the voluptuous, sensual woman he glimpses behind Min's actuary exterior. While Cal and Min struggle to deal with their mutual distrust and attraction, their friends and families try their best to interfere and direct the progression of the unlikely romantic connection.
Bet Me is unabashedly, irrepressibly romantic. In the wacky, wonderful world of Min and Cal, author Jennifer Crusie leaves no humorous situation unexplored--no potential comedic cauldron left unstirred--no hysterically funny complication left undeveloped. The reader is treated to a seemingly mismatched hero and heroine who fling caution to the winds to explore their unexpected attraction. The sexual tension is hot, the dialogue witty and wickedly sarcastic, and the supporting cast of secondary characters hilarious. Like Min's favorite Krispy Kreme donuts, this novel is rich and sinfully delicious. Indulge. Enjoy. 
******

Poor Minverva is in a club with her boyfriend David and her bff's, Liza and Bonnie, when David decides it would be best if they went their separate ways.  Not only is she angry at being dumped, but her sister Diana's wedding is in 4 weeks and he was her date, never mind that her weight obsessive nag of a mom Nanette loves him.  Her night doens't get much better when she overhears her ex bet drop-dead gorgeous Cal that he can't get her in the sack in a month.

What follows is a fun, funny story of how the two wind up connecting.  Min is not the knock out in the traditional sense of the word.  She is a full bodied woman who's mom is forever haunting her ceaselessly to loose weight.  She sure doesn't think she's what Cal would ever desire let alone dream of, especially after seeing his ex, love shrink Cynthie with a Victoria Secret model body.  Cynthie and David hook up to try and sabotage the two from being together, her friend Liza is a pitbull worried sick Cal will hurt Min, the only one with faith is Bonnie who believes in fairytales and is living out her own with Cal's friend Roger.

Both of them have dysfunctional families with Cal's taking the cake!  There were bits of sadness mixed in with the fun. This was my book club, Authors By The Alphabet, February choice and I really enjoyed this book, this is the first time I've read Cruise, and the only thing that got to be a bit much was the constant talk of food and weight.  That went over the top a bit for me.  I recommend this book.

3 1/2 cannolis

Book Club Q -n - A -

1.    What did you think of 'the bet'? Do you think Min should have just asked Cal about it or do you think she was right in waiting for him to reveal it himself?
Of course the bet was stupid!  And yes she should have just asked Cal about it.  Unfortunately that’s a mistake we tend to make is skirt or hint and not just come out and ask.
2.    What is your favorite scene in the book?
I think when he told her how beautiful she was and that she needed to accept that about herself instead of constantly seeing a fat girl.  Letting herself go and allowing herself to be sexy.  That was so intuitive of him and really sweet.
3. Who is your least favorite character and why?
It had to be Min’s mother Nannette, to be so dam frigid and obsessive to the point of not being happy.  Min nailed it when she said go home throw away your fashion mags and eat !4. Who is (are) your favorite secondary character(s) and why?
Both of their friends were just great!  I loved each of them what super characters, I bet everyone wishes for friends like that.  Each one had such different personalities, yet they were loving and cared for each other.
5. Do you believe in the fairy tale ending of finding true love and living happily ever after?
Yup, I sure do!

I had a fave quote, when Liza told Bonnie do you want bullet head or the dumb blonde?  I just hadda laugh!  What a description of Cal's friends, bullet head being Tony and the dumb blonde being Roger.

Authors By The Alphabet March Book Choice

The Persian Pickle Club
By Sandra Dallas
196 pgs.
St. Martins Press













Amazon Blurb -

This entertaining second novel from the author of the well-received Buster Midnight's Cafe could be a sleeper. Set in Depression-era Kansas and made vivid with the narrator's humorous down-home voice, it's a story of loyalty and friendship in a women's quilting circle. Young farm wife Queenie Bean tells about the brief membership of a city girl named Rita, whose boredom with country living and aspirations to be an investigative reporter lead her to unearth secrets in the close-knit group, called the Persian Pickle Club after a coveted paisley print. Queenie's desire to win Rita's friendship ("We were chickens... and Rita was a hummingbird") clashes with her loyalty to the Pickles when Rita tries to solve the murder of a member's husband, in the process unearthing complicated relationships among the women who meet each week to quilt and read aloud to each other. The result is a simple but endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises. Dallas hits all the right notes, combining an authentic look at the social fabric of Depression-era life with a homespun suspense story.
*****

Thank you Julie for this months choice!  I'm looking forward to reading it, and we'll check back the 3rd or 4th Thursday or Friday of the month for the ?'s!

Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls
Lisa See
336 pgs.
Random House
BCC











Amazon Blurb -

See (Peony in Love) explores tradition, the ravages of war and the importance of family in her excellent latest. Pearl and her younger sister, May, enjoy an upper-crust life in 1930s Shanghai, until their father reveals that his gambling habit has decimated the family's finances and to make good on his debts, he has sold both girls to a wealthy Chinese-American as wives for his sons. Pearl and May have no intention of leaving home, but after Japanese bombs and soldiers ravage their city and both their parents disappear, the sisters head for California, where their husbands-to-be live and where it soon becomes apparent that one of them is hiding a secret that will alter each of their fates. As they adjust to marriage with strangers and the challenges of living in a foreign land, Pearl and May learn that long-established customs can provide comfort in unbearable times. See's skillful plotting and richly drawn characters immediately draw in the reader, covering 20 years of love, loss, heartbreak and joy while delivering a sobering history lesson. While the ending is ambiguous, this is an accomplished and absorbing novel.
*****

I didn't want to read this book, I've read Snowflower And The Secret Fan from See, and while it was very good, her books are steeped in sorrow, tragedy and heartbreak.  This was no different.  Now, don't get me wrong, it was a very good book, but it was sad, sad, sad.  I really don't like reading such downers, but hey that's what a book club is about, reading stuff you normally wouldn't.  I don't want to discourage others from this novel, the characters were rich, their personalities so tangible.  I like Pearl, her sister May drove me nuts!  Their family was interesting and I found myself amazed at the culture's ways.  Lisa See does a wonderful job bringing you there with them.

While the girls were in China, you get such a great picture of life there, how different they think from Westerners, when they came here, you hurt for their ostracized life and the prejudices.  If you love historical novels steeped in fact, and can take heartache, this one is for you.

3 1/2 cannolis

Authors By The Alphabet Q-n-A

Just wanted to to give a heads up, the q-n-a is coming up in the next couple of days, if you can get them on your blog Christine that would be great :)  We can find Christine and the ?'s here - The Happily Ever After

Julie, I believe you're up next to choose and host, so if you can pick our D author I know we won't be disappointed!

This months book -


Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie
432 pgs
St. Martins Paperback
BCC












*********

Once Christine post's the ?'s, I'll put the direct link on this post, so come back and check for it :)

Mary Higgins Clark Challenge

This challenge is being hosted by my challenge buddy and enabler, Marce on her blog, Tea Time With Marce.  Click on her blog title to go right to the sign up page.  It is running till August 11 and there are different levels of participation so you can choose what works best for you!

I chose to read 6, and I don't know which books I'll read yet.  I'll be coming back here to link up my reviews with the books.

Books Read -

1. A Cry In The Night

January Wrap Up

 

Lucky for me that picture is not a reality for my neck of the woods :)

January was a great reading month.  My book-club books were really good choices and for both, I think everyone liked them and had really similar thoughts on them.  I finished up my James Patterson Challenge with Don't Blink. A cute surprise was Zen And The Art Of Vampires by Katie MacAlister.  It was really light, but I liked Pia and Kristoff, and I felt really bad for Pia.

This month I  have some good reading coming.  I have 2 ARC's from 2 authors who I will be hosting in March for some Q-n-A's.  One is Jonathan Hayes who's Precious Blood I read and really liked.  He commented on my and Hubby's reviews.  Hubs is reading Hard Death and is almost finished,  he loves the protagonist Dr. Edward Jenner, I'm excited to read it as well, and have the Dr. here to answer some ?'s  You can read both reviews and the author's comments *here* and *here*.  I haven't read any of Jon Merz yet, but I have The Kensei: A Lawson Vampire Novel all ready to go.  I also have The Invoker which is the same character, though Jon has said this latest novel is a stand alone and I don't need to read the 1st ones to know what's happening.  Lawson is the main character and he is sort of a James Bond type but a vamp.  These will be my first time hosting authors and I can't wait.

I'm not that excited about reading Shanghai Girls for one of my book clubs to be honest, but the point of being in a book club is to read what you normally wouldn't and maybe get pleasantly surprised, the other bcc, Bet Me has me real happy and I want to read that one!!

What am I reading now?  This -


Mozart's Blood
Louise Marley
400 pgs.
Kensington
Kindle Edition












I love Opera.  Some really hate it, but I love the music.  This is steeped in that life, right now it's still a little slow but I'm hoping it's going to pick up.  The ratings it got were all 4 and 5 stars so we shall see.  The good thing, I got it as a freebie on Kindle ;)  Gotta love the Kindle!

Happy Reading!