A Review by Diana - A Romantic Comedy

‘Just Marred Again’

By: Charlotte Hughes

What a little powerhouse of a story.  This book was a breath of fresh air for me as two about to be divorcees happen upon one another along with a thirteen year old teenager in a remote cabin in the hills of North Carolina in the middle of a winter snow storm.  Now did they just happen to be at the same place, same time, or did fate step in and take control of a mistake waiting to happen?  Big question…

Michael Kelly, a young lawyer making his way up in a very prestigious law firm Smyth -McGraw in Charlotte, NC, is all about his job, getting ahead, providing a good life for his young wife, his ultimate goal to make partner in the law firm.  Working seventy and eighty hour weeks, he makes the ultimate mistake of leaving his young wife at home by herself, casting her aside leaving her alone to her own devices.

Maddy Kelly, a vivacious young fitness instructor/trainer is totally in love with her husband but the marriage is falling apart.  She eats alone, wakes up alone and goes to bed alone her husband totally ignoring her needs and their marriage.  After a miscarriage she can’t take it anymore and she leaves him determined to make a better life for herself, one where she matters only if to herself.  Anything would be better than the lonely existence she's endured for the last five years of her marriage.  She takes some much needed time off over the Thanksgiving holiday and decides to spend some time at a little cabin her and her husband still own.  She loads up her two little dogs, lots’ of food and firewood and sets off, heedless of an approaching winter storm.  When she is awaken in the late of night to find a man coming through the front door she boinks him over the head with the fireplace poker only to realize that it’s her soon to be ex-husband. 

Now the fun begins between these two misguided lovers and fate is determined to get these two love lost people back on the right track.  But can fate really step in and change our lives?  Can fate put us back on the right path of life?  You’ll find out!

I loved this little story, it’s not real long but the characters have depth and will grab you from the first page as the author regales a humorous tale of two lovers that have lost their way. The story line moves well, it’s easy to follow and the editing is great.  There's a little deception, clean humor, and in the mix of hopes and dreams you have a very perceptive teenager.  It’s a refreshing clean read, very little sex in the story but just enough that you’ll feel the love radiating from the characters.  I highly recommend this book and will promote it as much as possible on my own sites.  My hat is off to this author, for a successful story.

A Contemporary Review by Diana (RTAnnie)

First of all let me say that this is the first book of author Sophie Moss that I’ve read and I now have a new favorite author.  Get a load of this!

Becca Haddaway is a second grade teacher on a speck of land called Heron Island, a little island with the warmth and depth of a small community.  She’s about to take the big plunge of marriage in two weeks to her teenage sweetheart Tom, a man that shared a traumatic life event with her in the past, therefore they had formed a very close bond with one another.  She’s comfortable with Tom, it’s a romantic notion for her to grow up and marry her long time sweetheart.  But if this is really real, is the bond they share the same thing as love and if so, why is she attracted to another man?  And why does she keep hearing the magical sound of tinkle tinkle twink when she’s around this other man?  What’s up with that?

When Becca learns that Heron Island Elementary School is in the middle of a plot of deceit and revenge on the verge of being shut down she takes matters in her own hands.  This is her town, she grew up here, her mother taught at that school, she went to that school as a child and she’s not going to just get married, move off her beloved island, and let this terrible tragedy happen.  This school is part of the make-up, part of the island’s history and she has to do something.  And, she has to question her true motives about why she is about to marry one man when all she can think about is another.

Colin Foley, an ex Navy Seal and the son of an affluent Senator, after losing part of his leg on a mission gone bad in Afghanistan, is forced out of the military and is trying to come to grips with what he wants out of his life.  After being dumped by his fiancée because he’s an amputee he has finally found a cause in which to focus his life on.  He wants to open a wounded veteran’s rehab center, to be able to give others like him a purpose to go on living.  One where they can feel needed, to be able to feed their families, to have a goal once again in their torn lives.   When he starts having feelings for an elementary school teacher on the path down the aisle, he has to stop and re-access what he really wants out of life.  He still wants a family, a home, kids, and he loves the small town feeling of Heron Island.  He wants to make this his home but he has to have the right woman.  One that will accept him for who he is, and not show pity for the fact he only has one leg.  He cannot suffer that pain again.

A Contemporary Review - by Diana (RTAnnie)

‘Wind Chime Cafe’
 Book 1

by: Sophie Moss

Annie Malone a single mother of a little girl that has gone through the most horrific trauma that a child should never ever have to experience has decided to leave D.C. and move somewhere quiet where her and her little girl can get some much needed reprieve from hounding reporters..  She and her daughter move to Heron Island off the Maryland coast where she plans to live her dream.  She purchases a little café with an apartment above where she has plans of opening a fancy French restaurant (bistro) on the auspice that a big time hotel company is purchasing property to build a fancy high dollar resort.  She can hardly wait after all the years of saving she has finally taken the big step into ownership and management.

But we all know that often times the best laid plans go to squat when fate steps in and changes the events and path of our lives.  Annie has no clue what she has gotten herself into on Heron Island but she’s about to find out that the powers to be have other plans for her life and that of her little daughter.

Will Dozier has no intentions of selling his grandparents home on the little sleepy Heron Island.  It’s been in his family for and the inhabitants depends on his property for the preservation of many species of birds, butterflies, etc.  He wants a buyer that will preserve the charm and substance of the house, someone that won’t over develop the land and destroy all that his grandparents lived for.

Will is a top notch Navy Seal dubbed as ‘The Escape Artist’ but he’s suffering flashbacks of a mission gone terribly badly.  He was the only survivor that came out of the mission unscathed.  He lost members of his team and another was badly injured and lost his leg.  Will has gone through a terrible trauma himself and is still suffering, but his life is about to change.  He is going to meet a little girl that is going to steal his heart and make him face his own nightmares.  One that she herself can relate too.  They will be a balm to one another’s souls and then there is her mother.  Uttt ohhhh!

Latest Contemporary Review - Silver Rain

Purchased Novel Reviewed by Francine.

Silver Rain is another entertaining read from Jan Ruth’s stable of Welsh based novels. Essentially this is Al’s story, and that of the women in his life.

Al, poor love, has entered the male menopause where his mirrored reflection tells a story all its own, and several questions need answers: How in hell did life pass by so damn quick? And, why don’t relationships come with a red caveat tag? = "think before you leap astride a two-legged filly" Even so, divorce is not the death nell: is it?

 

Albeit affairs can cause bitterness and result in a cold bed, the old saying, “plenty of fish in the sea” doesn’t exactly lure mermaids forth from the depths of Al’s latent desires. And yet, hope eternal is not to be dismissed. For there’s a third question: do angels exist? They must, because when Kate is cast before him, he’s smitten. What of the caveat, though? Kate has her own personal demons, and dare Al hope he can be her ultimate solace? There are plenty of giggle moments and sad reflections in Silver Rain, in which fiction can seem almost too real.

 

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