AN ARRANGEMENT by Lindsay Marie Miller #NA #Romance @Lindsay_MMiller #BookReview

An Arrangement by Lindsay Marie Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An Arrangement is a NA romance set in New York. Claire Andrews’ younger sister Amy has a rare heart defect. Dr Abrams wants to try some expensive experimental treatments which won’t be covered by insurance, so the family must foot the bill.

Since her Dad’s death, twenty year old Claire has been holding the family together. She is shocked to find that the family wealth has either been used up by her mother or is locked in trust funds for Claire and her sister. Claire can access her money in a week’s time when she turns twenty-one, but their is a will stipulation that she must be married to someone of equal or more financial standing.

She turns to childhood family friend Benjamin Lewis and basically asks him to marry her for the sake of Amy. He surprisingly agrees straight away, but his consent starts off a roller coaster ride of will they? Won’t they, as Claire bounces from uncertainty about the wedding sham to loyalty to her sister.

Claire’s character actions have been written in such a way that they drive many readers to frustration, her almost childlike petulance and stubborn anger create constant rebounding moments. Yet through it all Ben perseveres with his insistence that he wants to marry Claire and do the right thing. A different man may well have thrown the towel in and walked away with the treatment he received.

Claire’s mother is an enigma, one moment a crushed mess unable to cope with her daughter’s illness and the loss of her husband, the next a cold a callous matron following the money trail.

There’s a lot of emotional anger in the book from many sides. Did it work for me? I don’t know. I did want to see more depth and maturity to Claire. I also felt there was room to tighten the writing in places where small scenes and actions were over written with tendencies towards tautology.

Who might enjoy this book? I think it might appeal to readers new to the NA romantic genre.

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Book Description

When Claire Andrews returns home from college for the summer, her little sister is rushed to the hospital due to a life-threatening heart condition. On her twenty-first birthday, Claire will receive a trust fund set aside by her late father with enough money to cover all medical expenses. 
The catch? 
Claire must marry a rich man or her access to the trust will be denied.
Her childhood crush, Benjamin Lewis, is a twenty-eight-year-old billionaire business mogul and New York City’s most eligible bachelor. When Ben agrees to marry Claire, her financial problems are solved. 
But will the price Claire must pay in return be too much for her heart to bear?
**Stand Alone New Adult Contemporary Romance**

About the author

LINDSAY MARIE MILLER graduated from Florida State University Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. An author of Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense, she enjoys writing about strong heroines and the honorable gentlemen who claim their hearts. The author resides in her hometown of Tallahassee, FL, where she is currently working on her next novel.

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#NewEngland #Fall road-trip diaries, travelling with our toddler #Travel #MondayBlogs

If you’ve been following these recent Monday blog posts you’ll know we like road-trips

Fall Colours

Catch up with some of them here;

LA and back on a packet of crisps

Building US west coastal road so we could drive on

Australia

New York

Mauritius

New Zealand

Today’s road-trip is about when we went back to the US for a 10 day Fall trip to New England with our two year old.

Our trip began with an evening arrival in Boston, Massachusetts, this time I was armed with my stroller for use in the airports, which can be taken right up to the aeroplane doors and is essential for toddler travel. Our first stop was the coastal town of Portsmouth in New Hampshire. Coming from England and seeing familiar place names out of the environment we knew them in was a little strange. We also found that New England had more toll roads than we’d experienced before in the US.

Getting our fill of the number of states in this area of the US, we went over into Maine and visited Portland, enjoying the coastal road views and taking in some shopping.

The fall colours were amazing and we took our time enjoying scenic river banks. I fell in love with the covered bridges which are a tradition of New England. Built with roofs to keep the bridges open during the winter months. Stopping off at one of the many maple syrup farm shops we were invited around their little museum and given a talk about the maple extraction process. An added bonus was the local stories of the covered bridges being “sweet-heart” bridges, a place to meet your sweet-heart out of site of prying eyes.

We headed into the White mountains and slowly drove to the top of Mount Washington on some very tight and steep roads. (Approximately a 30 drive up and a 30-45 mins drive down) There’s a cog railway train you can take up but the 3 hour round-trip time was going to be too long to entertain our toddler on. For rally enthusiasts there is a “Climb To The Clouds” racing event each July on the Mount Washington auto- road where rally drives race to the top. The record stands at 6 mins and 9 secs set in 2014.

In Conway we stopped off at the steam railway centre

Our travels took us to Vermont and Burlington, we dined in one of those old fashioned train diner cars turned into a family diner and then indulged our daughter at the Vermont Teddy Bear factory, where we took the tour and she made a bear.

We did consider heading across to Niagara Falls, but we didn’t have the time this trip. Instead we headed back towards Boston, taking in the Boston Tea Ship which amazingly our little girl remembers today.

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Next Trip – Denver, Colorado and a rocky mountain white out experience.

HIGHWAY THIRTEEN TO MANHATTAN by Kourtney Heintz @KourHei #Psychic #Thriller

Highway Thirteen to Manhattan by Kourtney Heintz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Highway Thirteen to Manhattan is book #2 in this psychic thriller series. As it continues where book #1 left off, I do suggest reading The Six Train To Wisconsin first.

This book opens with Kai Richter in hospital recovering from a life threatening attack. But because Kai is a telepath she can hear all the thoughts of every patient and person in the hospital and their suffering, the medication she’s given for the pain stops her creating a psychic shield to the voices and instead of getting better in hospital she is deteriorating.

She begs her brother Caleb and husband Oliver to get her out, but it is a battle against the doctors and her parents. Back in Butternut Kai discovers an ability to draw, a skill she showed no signs of in earlier life, she doesn’t know what she is drawing, but it helps her forget the nightmares and the darkness which threatens her psychic walls.

In her sleep Kai travels to the in-between and meets the spirit of her grandmother, where she seeks answers to the changes she feels. She thinks a part of her attacker’s soul is now mixed with Kai’s and that staying in Butternut is making it worse.

Kai and her brother Caleb head back to New York to create some distance between all the past and present events in Butternut, but Caleb faces his own problems, someone is trying very hard to put him out of a job. Kai offers her telepathic skills to find who wants Caleb out, but she comes across someone who alarmingly shuts down her skills.

As time for Caleb runs out the traumas of Butternut follow Kai to New York, just how far will the new Kai go to save the ones she loves?

I read these books one after the other and this is another intense read dealing with lots of emotions especially of the key characters. I don’t think this is a series where you are meant to only show support for any one character, the story-lines leave you rocking and rolling as lies are revealed, desperate actions taken, reactive heat of the moment arguments and manipulative people keep you on your toes.

This review is based on an ARC copy of the book which is due to be published in November 2016.

Read more reviews for this book on Goodreads

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THE SIX TRAIN TO WISCONSIN by Kourtney Heintz @KourHei #Psychic #Thriller #Bookreview

The Six Train to Wisconsin by Kourtney Heintz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Six Train To Wisconsin is a psychic thriller and includes telepathy, dream walking and empaths. It opens in New York but its main setting is a small town called Butternut in Wisconsin. The Six train is a NY train line, I couldn’t quite find the reason for the book title. The book is written using the style of alternating POV chapters from Oliver and Kai.

Oliver Richter is an auditor, his wife Kai a suicidal telepath, she works in social services trying to help children in need. But she can hear all the suffering of everyone in a half mile distance and unless she can protect herself with a psychic shield she gets dangerously involved. Oliver is very worried about his wife and plans to take her away to open space with few people to help her recover because she is extra vulnerable after a child in care was murdered and she blames herself.

Oliver kidnaps Kai and takes her to his family home in Wisconsin, but it is a battle of wills, Kai is not happy and tries to leave on several occasions. Kai’s brother Caleb is a sleep-walker he can enter the minds of those close to him during their sleep, he aids Kai against Oliver who has his own demons to face in Butternut, but he must also face family and friends whom he abandoned years ago.

Attempts to fix Kai and reconcile their relationship are stretched to the limit when a local boy is kidnapped. The whole town is searching, Kai believes her powers will help her find him, but danger lurks.

This is quite an intense read, the constant feuding and battle between Oliver and Kai is wearing to read. I did however enjoy the psychic side of the book and the build up to the intense ending of the book was very well done. The series continues in book #2. (Which I review here tomorrow)

I reviewed this book on Amazon as part of #AugustReviews

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT THE BAD GIRL by L Donsky-Levine @ldonskylevine #WeekendBlogHop

Today’s team book review comes from Terry, she blogs at http://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Terry has been reading The Bad Girl by L Donsky-Levine

THE BAD GIRL by L Donsky-Levine

4.5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber’s Review Team

I liked this book a lot. It’s witty, sharp, unusual, touching and so well written. Set in downtown New York in the 1970s, this is a fairly long novella about Riley, a lonely girl working in the sex trade with no company except her beloved cats, and Fitz, a one-armed Vietnam vet.

I read in the author’s bio that she’s a native New Yorker, and her knowledge of and love for the city is so apparent in this story. It’s what I think of as warts-and-all New York, the impression I had of it when I was growing up—more 1970s cop show than Carrie Bradshaw and Mr Big!

The story is mostly told from Riley’s point of view, but there are some lovely bits through the eyes of cat Samson, the last one of which made me cry. It’s not like anything else I’ve read for some time, and unlike some novellas that seem as though they’re a novel squashed into something too short, this is exactly the right length. There’s an element of dark comedy to it, too. I loved Riley, Fitz, Samson and old Bennie Sadowitz who befriends Riley in her hour of need. You will, too 🙂

It’s great – Ms L-D is a terrific writer and I’d like to read more by her. Definitely recommended.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

We’ve Always Got New York by @JL_Knapp #Chicklit #wwwblogs

We’ve Always Got New York by Jill Knapp

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We’ve Always Got New York is a new adult women’s lit/ chick lit sequel to What Happens to Men When They Move To Manhattan? It continues the relationship stories of Amalia and her friends Olivia and Cassandra.

After a summer break in Brazil, Amalia returns to New York ready for year two of Graduate School. She must sort out her feelings for fellow student Michael, whom she was infatuated with last year. Cassandra’s job is very demanding and she distances herself from Amalia as soon as she picks her up from the airport.

Amalia needs to find a new flat but with New York prices she hears of a work study program where she could be paid to do research. She needs to apply to the scary Dr. Greenfield who will be a hard task master.

Michael looks like he’s hooking up with Angela, so on the rebound Amalia agrees to see Hayden, but she won’t commit to an exclusive relationship, just to keep her options open.

Is this the classic love triangle? Or is this just the way New York makes everyone feel? Hayden believes the New York pace of life leaves everyone in a constant state of want, making them selfish. It certainly seems that way as Amalia struggles to choose between Hayden and Michael.

This is a light easy read set in the Big Apple.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Barb reviews A Cry from the Deep by Diana Stevans

Today’s book review is from team member Barb, she blogs at http://barbtaub.com/

Barb chose to read and review A Cry From The Deep by Diana Stevan

The south of France’s Provence region, New York City, and Ireland’s beautiful Donegal Bay are some of my favorite places on earth. So when I realized they were the settings for Diana Stevan’s debut novel, A Cry from the Deep, I was excited to receive a review copy.

Margaret is a young woman in late nineteenth century Ireland praying that her sailor lover James returns before she needs to wed another man. When his boat is spotted, she joyously prepares for their wedding and joins him on his ship, the ill-fated Alice O’Meary. In our time, Catherine is a young underwater photographer and mother attempting to recover from the traumatic dive that destroyed both her career and her marriage. When she’s lured away from her lavender farm in the south of France by the chance to document the hunt for a historically significant treasure-laden shipwreck off the Irish coast, she joins the unethical treasure hunter Kurt Henessy and handsome nautical archeologist Daniel Costello. Returning to New York with her young daughter Alex, Catherine’s flea-market purchase of an old gold ring unites the two women from across the centuries as Catherine begins to experience Margaret’s story.

Some of the first romance novels I read—Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Daphne du Maurier—had a slightly removed quality, as if they were reporting on feelings or events instead of experiencing them. Diana Stevan’s debut novel reminds me of them. Of course, writing from different point of views is hard enough. Integrating those alternating POVs across centuries is especially daunting. Dialog and action have to be believable, and characters need a voice that’s individual and memorable enough to immediately identify them for readers. If the main characters’ voices in A Cry From The Deep had been more individual, or displayed more diversity in terms of dialog and personality, it would have been easier to overcome that feeling of distance and connect with them.

For me, this book was three separate stories that didn’t fully integrate. First there was a ghost story, where the connection with Margaret was intriguing, but only hinted at the reasons behind it. Were Catherine and Daniel resurrected versions of the earlier lovers? If not, what did Margaret want them to do? Next, the treasure hunt with pirate-like Henessey was interesting but somewhat repetitive when it came to the dives. Finally, the love triangle with Daniel and ex-husband Richard took the form of Catherine’s internal speculation. For the book to be successful in any of its triple incarnations, I would have liked to see the pivotal Big Moment, where blood, bodies, or at least sex is overwhelming and life changing.

Stevan’s command of grammar and structure is impressive, and her technical descriptions of the dive process were interesting. But her descriptions of the locations I love were bare bones. I felt that the story could have happened anywhere without any particular impact. Because it was well-written, a strong attempt, and an interesting premise, I would give A Cry From The Deep three and a half stars. I think Stevans is a talented writer and this is an impressive debut. I’d love to see another book from her, especially if she lets her characters take some risks.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

What Happens To Men When They Move To Manhattan? by Jill Knapp

What Happens To Men When They Move To Manhattan? by Jill Knapp

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What Happens To Men When They Move To Manhattan is quick chicklit read. Amalia Hastings lives in New York, she’s taking a masters degree in Biology and Behavioural Studies. She shares a flat with two other girls and has a long-term boyfriend called Nicholas and plenty of friends.

When her boyfriend suddenly breaks up with her on her birthday, she’s thrown into turmoil. Only dragging herself out of her misery to take an exam. Flat mate Liz makes Amalia attend a college dinner, but a close encounter with fellow student Michael leaves her confused.

With an on-off relationship and a will he / won’t he question constantly hanging over her head Amalia stumbles on for the next few months. Best friend Cassie tries to match her up with Hayden but Amalia just needs to find herself and it’s not helped by her ex begging forgiveness.

Stuck in a potential love triangle, should Amalia still go the Brazil as she intends at the end of college term or should she give one of the men in her life one more chance?

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

The Gift Horse by Leslie Stilton

The Gift Horse by Leslie Silton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Gift Horse is a book about artist Maggie Malone and her ultimate desire to become a famous artist. However she is the victim of a group of people who recognised her talent from a very young age and they manipulated her life for their own benefit.

This group are not human and are part of an experiment to restore culture to their homeland. With the help of Maggie’s best friend Parker, she finally sees and recognises the similarities of the Greek Trojan Horse and her own life.

The book is deeply set in New York and Fleetwater a town easily reached by train. I’m not a follower of art, so much of the artist details of the book flowed over me, I did understand Maggie’s passion and frustration when doors closed to her in the art world. This is a long book filled with many characters. The style of writing is very eloquent showing that the author has a mastery of the written word, the pace of the book is very relaxed, for me the real mystery began to unfold in the last quarter of the read. I would have liked to have seen more drama earlier on in the tale and more action to evoke my emotions as a reader to keep me hooked and engaged in the whole story.

 

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Fairy Tale In New York by Nicky Wells

Fairy Tale in New York by Nicky Wells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“How do you celebrate Christmas with no place to stay, no food and no presents?”

We meet Carrie Collins and Jude Shaw who first appeared in last year’s Christmas book “Spirits of Christmas” this book continues with their story but is just as good as a stand a lone read. It’s just before Christmas and Jude and Carrie are at JFK airport checking in for a flight home after the band Jude plays in has just been on tour. 17 gigs in 21 days. My Whyte is at the front of the queue a desperate man, his wife has gone into early labour and he is desperate to get on a flight to London to be with her, but all flights are full in the holiday rush.

Jude looks down at his own baby daughter Maya and remembers how if felt to be rushing to the hospital to be there for the birth and he offers to give up his seat on the plane. The airline arrange for Jude and his family to fly home the next day and Mr Whyte offers them his hotel suite for the night in exchange. This looks like the easiest option until a snowstorm comes and New York is shut down leaving Jude and his family stranded with no where to go on Christmas eve.

Read the tale of kindness and Christmas cheer which will leave you all warm and fuzzy.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Fairy Tale in New York

 

New York. A restaurant near Park Avenue. It’s early evening, and dusk is falling. So is the snow. Jude and Carrie are only killing time while they wait for their flight to London. They don’t know yet that their life will never be the same.

 

When rock star Jude gets stranded in New York with his family on Christmas Eve, he has no idea that he is setting in motion a chain of events that will turn their Christmas into the most magical one yet…

 

No good deed goes unpunished, or so it seems to Jude and Carrie on the morning of the twenty-fourth of December. The previous day, they gave up their London-bound flights to someone in crisis. And now, a spectacular whiteout is grounding all planes, and Jude, Carrie, and baby Maya are stuck far from home.

 

Tired, hungry, and just a little panicked, Jude loads his family into a cab and returns to their hotel. But there’s no room at the inn, and not even a platinum credit card will make a difference. Snow is falling heavily, and the family is facing a very bleak night indeed.

 

How do you celebrate Christmas with no place to stay, no food, and no presents? Join Jude, Carrie, Maya and a cast of colourful characters in this fairy tale story of Yuletide in New York.

 

 

Fairy Tale in New York is now available in Kindle and paperback editions from all Amazon domains, including: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

 

Ultimate rock chick author Nicky Wells writes romance with rock stars—because there’s no better romantic hero than a golden-voiced bad boy with a secret soft heart and a magical stage presence!

 

Nicky’s books offer glitzy, glamorous romance with rock stars—imagine Bridget Jones ROCKS Notting Hill! If you’ve ever had a crush on any kind of celebrity, you’ll connect with Nicky’s heroes and their leading ladies.

 

Born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993 and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. Nicky loves listening to rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When she’s not writing, she’s a wife, mother, occasional knitter, and regular contributor at Siren 107.3 FM with her own monthly show. Rock on!

 

Nicky’s books: Sophie’s Turn | Sophie’s Run | Sophie’s Encore | Spirits of Christmas

| Fallen for Rock | Fairy Tale in New York

 

Join Nicky: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Romantic Novelists’ Association | Sapphire Star Publishing | Amazon | Goodreads | Pinterest | Google+

 

Did you know? There’s a single out now by Nicky’s fictional rock band Tuscq come to life! “Love Me Better” is available for download from Amazon, iTunes and many other places.