The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘netgalley’

Camille Hart is a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, cancer survivor and match maker. Her family and her job are the most important things in her life, so when she finds out her cancer has returned, she brings her job home. She isn’t given very long to live and wants to find her replacement, someone she can trust to keep family together.

Since she runs a match making business, she already has a few ideas of who to hook her husband up with. He isn’t completely on board, but wants her to be as happy as possible for the remainder of their time together, so he goes with it.

What neither of them expect is that he, instead of she, may find the perfect match for him and it may be the thing that tears them apart, rather than bringing them together when they need it the most.

I was so intrigued by this book from the second I read the description. It’s such an interesting premise. I’m a morbid person and think about death. Think about what my husband’s life would be without me and have thought, minimally, about if anyone in my life would be a good replacement if I wasn’t here. Don’t get freaked out, I don’t sit around and stew about it at night, but it comes up in conversation at times, “You could never marry So and So because ….”. It normally has to do with my husband playing golf But I don’t think I could ever find someone, while I was alive, to take my spot and urge them to get close with my husband. I may be a little of the jealous type. But that’s exactly what Camille does in The Replacement Wife.

I have mixed feelings on the characters in this book. I’ve never been told that I have a very short time to live, so I can’t say what I would do in Camille’s shoes. I have also never been married to someone on their death bed, so I can’t really speak to her husband’s angle either, but some of the decisions that both of them made in this book irked me. Like Camille’s husband not agreeing with her decision to “hook him up” but being ok with finding love on his own. Or Camille urging her husband to move on, but being very unhappy when he finds someone, who wasn’t the one she chose for him. I think they both lived through some serious double standards here.

As sad as the plot sounds, and I obviously had some issues with the characters, there were lights of hope in this book. Little glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how you look at this book, you cannont deny the scariness of reality in the words. This book is proof that life can change in an instant. What you are doing that you may think is helping someone may actually be hurting them. But as I’ve always believed, everything happens for a reason.

This book is one that I will not soon forget. I think it is one that throughout my life, through sickness and in health, I will remember and think back to. I know that in my life there will be times when I think about if anything happened to me, who could/would take my place, but I’ll think of this book and how it impacted this couple. I love books like this that I can reflect on and although it’s fiction, it can happen and who knows if it hasnt?

I give The Replacement Wife 4  bookmarks.

ASIN: B00729PV0G
Released: March 27, 2012
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

Caroline “Rocky” Rhodes has worked very hard to get far away from Last Chance, South Carolina. She has Washington D.C. in her sights, working under a U.S. Senator, but ends back up in Last Chance when an English Baron comes to town.

Hugh DeBracy plans to tear down tourist attraction Golfing for God and build a textile machinery factory. The Senator is all about bringing in business and has Rocky help Hugh out. Problem is, Golfing for God is Rocky’s dad’s pride and joy.

So now she’s back in the small town she despises, during the one time of year she hates the most, the Watermelon Festival, and has to choose between family or career.

Unfortunately for this former Last Chance beauty queen, someone will be hurt no matter her decision and she’ll be the one to live with the last pain.

When I read the description to this book, I was intrigued! It is written in the format of a letter from Rocky’s mom.  It sounded fun and cute and I’m always a fan of books with small town settings. They remind me of home.

The characters in this book are great! They have that small-town charm that you expect from the inn owner, to the beauty shop babes, to the town cop, who happens to be Rocky’s brother, to her old boyfriend who is the reason she left town int he first place. For me, characters make the stories. If they draw me in, there’s a good chance I’ll love the story, no matter what it’s about. I want to know them and know more about them! That’s how I felt about Rocky. This was a big adventure for her. No matter what she did, she had a ton on the line. She worked so hard to get this job, but family is family! What would you do? And it doesn’t help that there’s a hot Baron in the shadows. I couldn’t put the book down because I had to know what happened in Last Chance with the deal and with Rocky. I couldn’t get enough of it!

There’s just something about small town charm that intrigues me. I live in a small town, but it’s not the size of Last Chance. When I think of small towns I think of the Gilmore Girls and Stars Hollow. I am obsessed with quaint little towns that thrive with history. Last Chance is one of those. My town has history coming out the ears, from the legend of the Mothman to Chief Cornstalk. I feel like I can relate with these small towns and they are places I always dream of being.

As always, I get sucked in by a clever summary and pretty cover and don’t pay attention to the fine print that says this is the third book in the series. This book stood alone just fine, but now I feel like I need to go back and read the rest to learn more about Rocky’s family, although I’m sure some of the surprises and secrets I learned in this book would be spoilers to the previous books in the series.

I give Last Chance Beauty Queen 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-0446576086
Released: February 1, 2012
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

Poppy Wyatt isn’t having a good day! She’s passing around her engagement ring, which is a family heirloom going way, way back when the fire alarm goes off and no one knows who had the ring last. But that is just the beginning. When she goes outside to make a call, a bum runs by and takes her phone. She has to have a phone so that if someone finds her ring they can get a hold of her. Luckily there is a little silver lining in the day. A phone is laying right there, in the trash bin beside her. So, she claims it as her own and goes on with her life.

But that phone isn’t any phone. It’s the phone that belongs to Sam Roxton’s assistant. The phone that helps his life run smoothly. His assistant has left him high and dry for a modeling job, hence the phone in the trash. Sam wants the phone back to get on with his busy schedule but Poppy has a better idea: She will forward all of his work stuff if he lets her keep it until she can get a new one or her ring is found. Deal.

These two don’t know it yet, but this twist of fate is about to change their lives forever. Good thing they are just a text away!

What can I say, I’m a die hard Sophie Kinsella fan. I’ve read every one of her books and when I saw this on NetGalley, I couldn’t have been more excited. Her books are so fun. They make you laugh, they make you lighten up and if you are having a bad day, Sophie Kinsella definitely knows how to boost your spirits.

This was such a cute book, predictable, but cute. Fun girl with a handsome, rich fiancee ends up in a pickle and ends up turning to an unlikely stranger to help find herself and what’s best for her life.

When it comes to works of fiction, Sophie Kinsella pushes my buttons. I am normally a fan of fiction that is believable, minus Harry Potter and Twilight and Hunger Games….well anything dystopian. I like to put myself in the character’s shoes and believe I can live the life they lead. For the most part, Kinsella’s characters live believable lives, with believable friends and settings, but there is always a slight hint of over the top fiction in each book. Like this one, I mean really, would this ever happen? Would a woman lose her ring and her phone and happen to find one in a trash can and the owner let her keep it and they become so close? No! But Sophie Kinsella makes you believe it could happen and more likely… it would happen!

One of the things I’m still not sure about are the footnotes in this book. I applaud Kinsella for stepping out of the “normal” box and adding footnotes, but they were hard for me to follow. I read this book on my Nook and you can click on the footnote to go to the page, and really enjoyed it for the first couple of chapters, but after a while, it got tiring flipping back and forth for only a couple of words. After getting tired of switching, I tried to catch up with them all at the end of the chapter, but then I just got confused as to what they were referring to. If I was reading this in a paper format, I think it would have worked easier. I could have thrown a bookmark at the end of every chapter and quickly referred to it. I think it was a good idea, but I don’t think it works for a digital format. I’m just not patient enough for it.

I know I can always turn to Sophie Kinsella for a fun, upbeat read. I always keep my eye on her blog for new books and can’t wait to see what’s next. I give I’ve Got Your Number 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-0385342063
Released: February 14, 2012
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

On My Bookshelf is a weekly meme where you show off the goods you get each week. These can be books you bought, you borrowed, you got from the library, you downloaded, you won, you got from review. I think that covers it all. This meme was started by Kristi at The Story Siren. She actually calls it In My Mailbox, but I have an itty bitty mailbox and my things always get wet, so I ship them to work, so I renamed it because I’m compulsive like that.

Anyway, I got some goodies this week. The first two I downloaded on NetGalley after being contacted by a publicist. I am halfway through one and hope to buckle down and finish it today. The other, I have started, but put it aside when I realized which one I needed to review first.

From Goodreads.com:
The sausage maker’s youngest daughter is heading for the fight of her battle-scarred life. It’s the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanksi is nowhere near her home in California. She’s in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law. Given her father is the small town’s leading citizen; Kip isn’t overly worried, at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil Kip. What follows is a wild ride through Kip’s present predicament and her past. She’ll come to regret leaving her life in LA, regardless of the good reason for which she returned, when family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, lay Kip’s life bare before the courtroom. Distrusting her legal team, her rebellious history well known, things both personal and legal spiral out-of-control. It doesn’t look good for Kip Czermanski.

 
In a time of hardship and heartbreak, sometimes, reality just isn’t enough. Slipping Reality is the story of fourteen-year-old Katelyn Emerson, who, when faced with the glaring reality of her brother’s illness, rebels against the truth by slipping away into the depths of her own imagination. There, she finds the kind of support and comfort she feels she deserves. There, she does not have to feel so alone. And yet, as Katelyn’s grasp on reality begins to unravel, so too does the story of a girl who grew up too fast and fell apart too soon. Emily Beaver’s debut novel is a coming of age story that deals with the trials of young grief, insight, and growth where it’s least expected.

I also had to get a new audio book this week from the library. Although  I have fallen in love with Mary Higgins-Clark’s mysteries, I needed something different. I have listened to three of hers in a row now. So, instead, I got something fun and light. This is The Full Box by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes. This is the complete “Full” series that the duo wrote. I listened to the first book, Full House , and really liked it and decided I’d just get the whole set and finish the series. I am almost done with Full Tilt and it is just as fun and action packed as the first book.

Did you get any goodies this week?? If so, what are they?

 Welcome to On My Bookshelf, a little later on a Sunday than normal, but better late than never, right? On My Bookshelf is a little variation from In My Mailbox brought to you by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This week I got some good ones off NetGalley. I am also told one came for me in the mail at work on Friday, but I was out of town. I’ll have to add it to next week’s stash.

Here’s this week’s goods: 

Interior designer Deva Dunne’s latest project comes to a screeching halt when blood on the carpet leads her to the body of her client, an exotic dancer with a mysterious past. But the murdered woman is not the only resident of the posh beachfront condominium with secrets, and investigating officer Lieutenant Victor Rossi considers them all suspects.

Though wary of working in the killer’s midst, Deva continues decorating the unit for the new owner. When she stumbles upon clues that might help crack the case, she can’t resist doing a little digging of her own, despite Rossi’s orders to quit meddling. Now, she’s juggling the investigation, her career and sexy neighbor Simon Yaeger, who seems interested in more than her etchings.

Deva can’t help but be flattered by all the male attention—that is, until she realizes the killer has designs on her, too…

hay Brandenberger is raising her daughter in Moose Creek, Montana on her childhood ranch, nestled against the Yellowstone River. Despite her hard work, she can’t seem to keep her head above water-and now the bank is threatening to foreclose. She prays for a miracle, but the answer she receives is anything but.

Having agreed to play the bride in the Founders Day wedding reenactment, Shay is mortified to be greeted at the end of the aisle by none other than Travis McCoy, her high school sweetheart-the man who left her high and dry for fame and fortune on the Texas rodeo circuit.

Then the unthinkable happens. Thanks to a well-meaning busy body and an absent minded preacher, the wedding reenactment results in a legal marriage. But before Shay can say annulment, Travis comes up with a crazy proposal. If she refuses his offer, she’ll lose her home. But if she accepts, she may lose her heart.

Shay isn’t sure if the recent events are God’s will or just a preacher’s blunder. Will trusting her heart to the man who once shattered it be the worst mistake of her life? Or could their marriage be the best accident that ever happened?

Grace has taken care of her widowed father her entire adult life and the ornery old goat has finally died. She has no job, no skills and very little money, and has heard her father’s prediction that no decent man would ever want her so often she accepts it as fact.

But she does have a big old house on Lawyers Row in Peacock, Tennessee. She opens a rooming house and quickly gathers a motley crew of tenants: Promise, Grace’s best friend since kindergarten, who’s fighting cancer; Maxie, an aging soap opera actress who hasn’t lost her flair for the dramatic; Jonah, a sweet, gullible old man with a crush on Maxie.

And Dillon, Grace’s brother’s best friend, who stood her up on the night of her senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace’s guest house for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts—but first, he’ll have to convince Grace that she’s worth loving…

Did you get any goodies?