Charlie Foxtrot (Code 11-KPD Swat #5) by Lani Lynn Vale

Title: Charlie Foxtrot

Series: Code 11 KPD SWAT #5)

Author: Lani Lynn Vale

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: September 3, 2015

Foster made a promise in his hospital bed when his leg was taken from him that he’d get back to one hundred percent. Leg or no leg, he’d get back on the SWAT team if it killed him.

And he does get back. But he has a problem.

He can’t let go of the past.

The anger burns deep, making his emotions volatile at the best of times.

Then he meets Blake with her haughty attitude and inability to distinguish the difference between a pocket knife and a sword.

Little by little, she makes him whole again, one bad joke at a time.

She doesn’t see the revenge in his eyes, though. Doesn’t see the rage burning deep.

Rage so pure and all encompassing, that he knows it’ll explode.

It’s just a matter of time.

What Foster doesn’t realize, though, is that the love that Blake has for him is enough to fight his demons, one kiss at a time.

Foster never stood a chance.

My Thoughts…

LOVED IT!      Am not sure I can convey how much I loved Blake and Foster’s story.    Foster is the typical police officer, alpha male, sexier than anything else man.     Blake is the strong, self reliant, recently divorced woman.   Put these two together and sparks have to fly and oh boy, they flew.   What sticks in my mind most of all is the respect.   Foster could have been the guy that told  Blake how to live her live when it was in danger, instead he took into account what she needed to feel safe and then figured out how to take what she needed and made that into what he could do to keep her safe.   

While the romance in the main focus of Charlie Foxtrot, the mystery of who was stalking Blake was just as entertaining to me.    I thought I knew who it was… I had ideas… boy was I wrong.   I realized I was clueless and I love it.    The surprises, the twists, and the guessing were all what kept me truly reading.  I knew how the romance would end up but I did not know the rest of the story.     

Whether this is your first Lani Lynn Vale book or your 100^th do not pass on Charlie Foxtrot.     This is a great story with a ton of heat and mystery.

“I cannot believe you’re making me do this, Uncle Darren. This is Missy’s job. Seriously, I’m going to give every single one of your SWAT team food poisoning, and then where would you be?” that voice said.

The voice that gave me an instant hard on.

The voice that’d been teasing me for weeks over the airwaves.

The voice that I wanted screaming my name with me pounding her to oblivion.

“Missy gave you very detailed instructions. All you have to do is right here,” Chief Rhodes said to Blake.

I’m glad that I never did anything with her…or to her, that would’ve brought his wrath down on my back.

It was a good thing to know. Considering it’d been in all my intentions to seduce her…and possibly keep her.

“Alright, I’ve got the biggest pot I could find, boiling with water. Now what?” she asked, running her finger over a piece of paper at her side.

I glanced at Chief Rhodes and nearly laughed when I saw him flipping through what looked like a Guns & Ammo Magazine.

He wasn’t even paying the least bit of attention to her.

Leaning against the door jam, I continued to watch as she brought out a large paper bag that had ‘Fisherman’s Cove’ on the side.

Peeking into the bag, she squeaked and stepped back, letting the bag drop to the floor.

“Oh, my God! They’re all over the floor, Uncle Darren!” Blake squealed.

The Chief didn’t even look up from his magazine.

“Pick them up,” he said distractedly.

The lobsters, all fifteen of them, started crawling around the kitchen floor.

“Uncle Darren, you big bastard,” Blake hissed.

The Chief smiled. “Did you read this article yet?”

“Which one? The one on the fifty caliber AR-15?” Blake gasped, stepping to the side of a crawling crustacean.

“That one. Do you see how far the shot knocks him back?” the Chief laughed.

“About as far as I’m going to knock you if you don’t fucking help me,” she growled, dancing on the tips of her toes and shaking her head.

I scanned her body, taking in everything in a glance.

Her hair was up in messy bun on top of her head, stray hairs falling out every which way.

She was wearing blue jean shorts that just barely covered her ass, and a white tank top that said, ‘I make dirt look sexy.’

Her legs were long and toned.

They were deeply tanned, but you could tell that they were tan from being outside, and not a tanning bed.

She had a suntan line at her ankles from what looked like socks and shoes.

Her toes were painted a lime green, and she was wearing a pinky toe ring.

The whole outfit was outrageous, but it fit Blake’s personality perfectly.

“Need help?” I rumbled from the doorway.

The Chief didn’t look up, but Blake did.

And she looked stunned.

“What are you doing here so early? Dinner’s not ready yet,” she snapped.

I held my hands up.

“I’m here because I’m supposed to drop these off,” I said, waving a stack of folders in her direction.

My eyes roamed the front of her, zeroing in on the way her pink and white bra straps showed from under her tank.

She narrowed her eyes, and effectively dismissed me by turning her back on me.

I guessed, though, that it was because she was hiding the way her nipples pebbled in reaction to my gaze.

Well, I’ll take that as she was happy to see me.

The Chief finally stood and walked over to me, stepping over a lobster as he went. “You have one escaping into the kitchen,” he said on his way out.

I followed him, smiling at the curse she tossed at his back.

“You’re mean,” I laughed.

The Chief looked over at me and winked. “She needs to be challenged sometimes. And she’s stubborn as hell. If I hadn’t given her something to do, she’d just be worrying.”

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 5, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.

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Other books I have reviewed by Lani Lynn Vale

Halligan to My Axe

Bang Switch 

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. .This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

Published September 13, 2015 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons

When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent, she soon realizes. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them.

After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams asking for her help, Charlie finds herself entangled in a thirty-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family. Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance bring healing. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could’ve imagined.

My Thoughts…

The genre of Southern Gothic Mystery is new to me.    This is the first of this type I have read and I loved it.    The story was told wonderfully.  I could not stop reading.   While the idea of someone knowing what was going to happen to children in danger or what did happen to children that had been lost was outside of my normal comfort zone, I enjoyed the entire story.  

There was a mystery, of course.    The who-dun-it actually lead to more and more mysteries of the Evangeline house.     The Deveau Family has a lot of history.  As with many families there are secrets.   Within those secrets is love, abandonment, murders (yes, more than one), and family dynamics.    The love is interesting.    From the very first interaction with this family you know something is not right.   Each family member is off, they all have secrets, and they are not all as they appear.     The more I read, the more I understood their relationships with each other.     Even the hired help in the Evangeline house have secrets that lead to the long time mystery being solved. 

The relationship between Noah and Charlie was intense.   Charlie was still dealing with the death of her young son.  Noah had his divorce to come to terms with.    I have to admit that I figured out how Noah fit into the story long before it ended, but I still did not know the why’s of who he was.     Their relationship almost seemed doom before it started yet they both realized what they had with each other and worked so very hard to make it work.   When doubt came in they pushed through, when fear was there they stayed strong with each other, and when they were in danger they knew that could trust each other.    

This is a great read.   The pace of the story was perfect, the characters are strong and mysterious, and the ending is amazing.    I definitely recommend checking out The Gates of Evangeline. 

Book Links

Amazon   |   Barnes and Noble   |   Goodreads

PRAISE FOR THE GATES OF EVANGELINE

"What a delicious book! Gripping and atmospheric—with a heart-stopping twist—The Gates of Evangeline is an imaginative blend of southern gothic, family epic and spooky whodunit. Trust me: you won’t just read Hester Young’s debut, you will absorb this gorgeous novel using all 'six' senses."

—Jillian Medoff, bestselling author of I Couldn't Love You More and Hunger Point

"Hester Young's The Gates of Evangeline is not just a riveting story about the search for a long missing child. It's also a powerful and haunting examination of a mother's grief and her long road to recovery. Hester Young's protagonist, Charlotte "Charlie" Cates, is tough and vulnerable, wounded and fearless, and I simply could not stop reading this thrilling, beautifully written Southern Gothic mystery.

I can't wait for the next entry in this captivating new series."

—David Bell, author of Cemetery Girl and Somebody I Used to Know

“Young’s The Gates of Evangeline is a stunning debut novel. A lyrical, haunting, heart-wrenching work of suspense with echoes of du Maurier, Hitchcock, and King.”

—Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins

"Step through The Gates of Evangeline with Charlotte Cates, a grief-stricken Northerner tasked with uncovering a Southern dynasty's dark secrets. Hair-raising and heart-rending, Hester Young's first novel is one of buried shame, children taken too soon, and, ultimately, of immense true love that binds across the mortal divide."

—Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet

“In Hester Young's haunted Louisiana, the ghostly labyrinth of the past opens its great doors to deliver up a lush gothic thriller. The Gates ofEvangeline is a darkly marvelous debut, a classic whodunnit stitched with otherworldly chills.”

—Jedediah Berry, author of the Hammett-prize winning The Manual of Detection

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

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While You Were Gone by Kate Moretti

Published September 2015 by Red Adept Publishing

Despite Karen Caughee’s intense focus on her music, her life is drifting out of its lane. Her alcoholic mother keeps calling from bars for early-morning rides, her boyfriend doesn’t think she gets him, and that Toronto Symphony Orchestra position she applied for ends up going to her friend, Amy. By chance, she meets American Greg Randolf just before she’s in a car accident. He pulls her from the wreckage, but after major surgery, her recovery is slow. Without her music, her life’s pursuit, Karen is pushed further adrift.

Greg stays by her side while she heals, and he sees her every time he’s in Toronto for work. Without any other support or friendship in her life, Karen craves his enthusiastic attention, and their friendship deepens to love. Though she’s fallen hard for him, he doesn’t share everything with her. In one heartrending moment, Karen’s life comes to a crossroads, and she must face the full truth about who Greg is, and about who she has become.

My Thoughts…

Have you ever finished a book and wondered what the rest of the story was?   What happen to a character?    In 2012 I read Thought I Knew You by Kate Moretti and was left with these questions about Greg.   While You Were Gone answers these questions.   Yet it does not tell the rest of the story as far as continuing where the first book ended.   This book tells the rest of the story.    It tells about the character, Greg, who was missing for a lot of the story.   What was he up to?   Where was he?  

This is Greg and Karen’s story.   Greg’s life.   Karen’s life.     While on a trip to Canada Greg saves a woman, Karen, from a fiery cab.   Of course, their relationship goes from there.   Things happen, things change, and the story develops.    I cannot give away too much or you won’t have a reason to read the book.   

I loved getting a peek into Greg’s world.   It is not the same story as Thought I Knew You.   Everything, except Greg, is different in this story.    There are different characters, a different location, and a different ending with a similar twist.    While I still don’t agree with what he did or even the reason why he does it, I had more compassion for Karen.  She truly loves Greg.   She trusts him, even when he gives her reason to doubt him.   

Unlike many series books, this one is a standalone story.    Whichever book you read first you will know the twist.    Kate Moretti did an excellent job pulling the story together.  

Book Links

Amazon   |   Barnes and Noble   |   Goodreads

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. .This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced

Release Blitz of Raber Wolf Pack Book 3 by Ryan Michele

Title: Raber Wolf Pack Book 3

Series: Raber Wolf Pack

Author: Ryan Michele

Genre: PNR/Shifter Romance

Release Date: August 31, 2015

"There will come a time in our world when greed, power and wealth will overrule good judgment, and packs will be destroyed." 

In the blink of an eye, everything can change, altering life as we know it forever.

Sabrea has struggled her whole life with the guilt of not being a perfect wolf. She never wanted to meet her mate for fear of disappointing him by not being what he needs. Even going so far as to avoid the one place where she already smelled him.
Fate has other ideas.

Thor, Gamma of the Raber wolf pack, plays the field and loves every minute of it. That all ends with one whiff of his mate. Nothing can stop him from finding her, having her, claiming her.

As Thor and Sabrea come together, threats to the pack make themselves known, leaving many lives hanging in the balance. 

Can the Raber wolf pack defeat their enemy? Can they protect all of the wolves, and keep the humans safe in the process?

This is the action-packed conclusion to the Raber Wolf Pack Series.

  

Ryan Michele has a huge obsession with reading, which only came to life after her best friend said she had to read Twilight. After reading that series, her entire world changed in the blink of an eye. Not only was she sucked into new worlds and all of the wonderful words authors put down on paper, she felt the urge to begin to write down the characters that played inside of her head. In doing so, Safe was born. When she’s not reading or writing, she spends time taking care of her two children and her husband, enjoying the outdoors and laying in the sun.

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Meet Me in Abeline: A Cupid's Bow Short Story by Melissa Storm

Published July 1, 2015 by Partirdge & Pear Press

James Morgan never really believed in love. That is, until he laid eyes on Deborah Walker at the local soda fountain. He surprises himself by inviting her out for an impromptu night on the town, and she shocks him even more by agreeing. As the night progresses, the two share their past histories and secret dreams, and James realizes that she is the perfect woman for him. The only problem is that he ships off to Korea the next morning. Fulfilling his duty is non-negotiable to James, even if fighting for his country will ultimately break both of their hearts.

Deborah promises to wait for him, but two years is a long time to put her life on hold, especially for a man she only knew for one day. When Rip Rockwell returns from the war and James does not, Rip proposes marriage to Deborah. She agrees and they build a beautiful life together until his death fifty years later. Through it all, though, she can never quite forget her first love. She retires to Abeline, expecting to live out the rest of her days in peace. So imagine her surprise when James Morgan moves in next door…

Is it ever too late to give love a second chance? James and Deborah are about to find out.

My Thoughts…

Meet Me in Abeline is maybe the shortest novella I have ever read.   It was quick, fun, and to the point.  Yet, it had a story.   In just a few pages I was able to care about James and Deborah.   I was invested in what was happening.    Most importantly I needed them to be okay.   The story did not go as I expected.   Most war time stories go with the guy going to war, the woman waiting for them to return.   That was not quite, but kind of, how this went.    Read the book and check it out. 

Melissa Storm is a newer author to me.   I have devoured quite a few of her books in the last couple months and know that whether it is a full fledge novel or a wonderful novella I will be entertained from the very beginning to the very end.     I certainly recommend checking out all of her books, including this one Meet Me in Abeline.  

 Book Links

Amazon   |   Kobo   |   iTunes   |   Barnes and Noble   |   Goodreads

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. .This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced

Midnight Burning by Karissa Laurel

Published July 7, 2015 by Red Adept Publishing, LLC

Solina Mundy lives a quiet life, running the family bakery in her small North Carolina hometown. But one night, she suffers a vivid nightmare in which a wolfish beast is devouring her twin brother, who lives in Alaska. The next morning, police notify her that Mani is dead. Driven to learn the truth, Solina heads for the Land of the Midnight Sun. Once there, she begins to suspect Mani’s friends know more about his death than they’ve let on. Skyla, an ex-Marine, is the only one willing to help her.

As Solina and Skyla delve into the mystery surrounding Mani’s death, Solina is stunned to learn that her own life is tied to Mani’s friends, his death, and the fate of the entire world. If she can’t learn to control her newfound gifts and keep her friends safe, a long-lost dominion over mortals will rise again, and everything she knows will fall into darkness.

My Thoughts…

Midnight Burning is a look at mythology, which I know very little about.    My lack of knowledge did not hinder my understanding of the story.    Karissa Laurel did a great job explaining the Gods and how the rankings went without making it boring.   She gave just enough information for the unknowing reader to get enough understanding to follow the rest of the story.     I ended the book thinking that I definitely need to check out more mythological books.   

I have to be careful while writing this review as I really want to give away more than I should thus possibly giving away spoilers, I will be careful so please keep reading.    Solina is not a complicated woman, at least in the beginning.   She lives at home, works with her family in their bakery, and does not travel.   When her twin brother ends up murdered in Alaska everything changes for her.     She cannot put his death behind her; she has to know what actually happen to him.    As she learns more about what happened to her brother, she comes into herself.  She finds her true talents, finds friends, and finds out about a world that she never knew thought was real.   

Midnight Burning is part of a series.   This is the first one and definitely worth checking out.    It does not end abruptly, but does leave unanswered questions.   I will hope that Karissa Laurel does not keep us waiting long for more.  

Book Links

Amazon   |   Goodreads   |   Barnes and Noble

Author Facebook 

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown by Lynda Renham

Published July 28, 2015 by Raucous Publishing

Roxie Brown loves erotica and her friend, Sylvie, loves crime … novels of course. On a girls' night out they meet the Great Zehilda, the tea leaf reader, and suddenly Roxie’s Fifty Shades fantasies about her millionaire boss, Ark Morgan, look about to become a reality. But then she looks through the telescope and her life is turned upside down. Roxie and Sylvie, with help from Sylvie’s flatmate, Felix, set out to crack the case. Can Ark Morgan save her or is he the man she should be running from? Then enter Sam Lockwood and her heart is shot with another arrow. Come with Roxie Brown on her hilarious crime-busting romantic adventure and discover if the love of her life is the man of her dreams or if the man she loves is her worst nightmare.

My Thoughts…

Every time I pick up a book by Lynda Renham I know that I will get a quirky, fun, and easy read.  Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown is no exception.   I could not get enough of Roxie.   I knew she was off on what she saw and how she was going about solving the “murder” yet I was not exactly sure what she did see.    Her friends, Sylvie and Felix, were hilarious.  They fed into her paranoia of who the murderer was and kept me in stitches laughing at their antics.    With every move they made I was waiting for the other shoe to drop on them.  

While I love the romantic relationships that develop in this story, the friendships are the best.   Who has friends that will break into apartments?  While some of it was farfetched, their entire friendship was outstanding.    They had each other’s backs in the craziest of situations and never doubted that there really was something going on.     There was no criticizing of each other and the choices that they made.   Felix, Sylvie, and Roxie are true friends. 

Wonder where the Fifty Shades part of the story comes in?    I believe that it mostly comes from  Roxie’s mother.   She wants to spice up her life and start swinging (read the book to find out what her definition of swinging is.)  She always keeps providing Roxie with books, opinions, and other fun things to spice up her love life.  

Lynda Renham is always good for a funny, laugh out loud, book.    If you have not checked out her other books I definitely recommend doing so.   

**Thank you Lynda for providing me a copy of Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown for an honest review**

Book Links

Amazon   |   Amazon UK   |   Goodreads   |   Smashwords

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

The Best of Enemies by Jen Lancaster

Published August 4, 2015 by NAL

Jacqueline Jordan knows conflict. A fearless journalist, she’s spent the past decade embedded in the world’s hot spots, writing about the fall of nations and the rise of despots. But if you were to inquire about who topped Jack’s enemy list, she’d not hesitate to answer: Kitty Carricoe.

Kitty reigns supreme over the world of carpools and minivans. A SAHM, she spends her days caring for her dentist husband and three towheaded children, running the PTA, and hiding vegetables in deceptively delicious packed lunches.

Kitty and Jack haven’t a single thing in common—except for Sarabeth Chandler, their mutual bestie. Sarabeth and Jack can be tomboys with the best of them, while Sarabeth can get her girly-girl on with Kitty. In fact, the three of them were college friends until the notorious frat party incident, when Jack accidentally hooked up with Kitty’s boyfriend…

Yet both women drop everything and rush to Sarabeth’s side when they get the call that her fabulously wealthy husband has perished in a suspicious boating accident. To solve the mystery surrounding his death, Jack and Kitty must bury the hatchet and hit the road for a trip that just may bring them together—if it doesn’t kill them first.

My Thoughts….

If you have not read Jen Lancaster’s books before you are seriously missing out.    The Best of Enemies is a little different than some of her other books but it is just as good.    I found this book to be just as quirky and fun but it had a mystery in it.   Honestly, I had the mystery solved before the end but I was still thrilled with the ending.    Just remember all is not as it seems.

The characters were all interesting.   Jack (Jacqueline) is, of course, my favorite.    I love that she is such a tomboy and knew it.    She loved being one of the boys, although she becomes one of the boys almost by default of not having her mom around.      Kitty was the wicked one of the book.  I felt like she was always out to take someone for something.    She felt she was very important and deserved more than she received.   Don’t get me wrong, I liked her.   Even the bad girl isn’t always bad.    Finally, there is Sars (Betsy).   She is the best friend to both Kitty and Jack.    She is awkward in her youth and extremely successful when an adult.    I felt that each character was developed well and had their own story line that was well written.   

The storyline was interesting.   When I started the book I was so confused.  I didn’t really understand all the invites and the bills that followed for the destruction.   I will admit that I giggled at the chocolate fountain incident.    It took me a few chapters in to really understand what was going on.    I enjoyed that the chapters alternated between Jack’s point of view and Kitty’s point of view.  I always find it interesting to see how two people who are experiencing the same thing can have such different opinions and views on how things happen.

I definitely recommend checking out The Best of Enemies.   Jen Lancaster is an author that is on my must read list.

Book Links

Amazon   |   Goodreads   |   Barnes and Noble

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?: True Stories and Confessions by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella

Published July 7, 2015 by St. Martin’s Press

The mother-daughter writing duo that brought us Best Friends, Occasional Enemies and Have a Nice Guilt Trip returns this summer with an all-new collection of funny stories and true confessions.  In DOES THIS BEACH MAKE ME LOOK FAT?  New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella share tales about life, love, family, food, and of course the beach, guaranteed to strike a chord with every woman.  “While we do write about our bodies,” Lisa says, “we know that weight doesn’t really have any weight with us.”  Instead, they encourage us to enjoy the beach “and not worry about whether every little thing makes me look fat.  In fact, not to worry at all.”

This hilarious series has been compared to both Erma Bombeck and Nora Ephron, and Delia Ephron has praised Have a Nice Guilt Trip, saying "You will identify with these tales of guilt and fall in love with them and fierce (grand)Mother Mary." This latest volume hits all the humorous and poignant notes that fans have come to expect from the beloved mother-daughter team, including:

Lisa on her first trip to Vegas:  “I was ready to gamble.  Anyone who knows my marital history knows this already.”

Francesca on her spin class instructor:  “there are always several women loitering after class to ask Philippe a pretend question.  It’s pathetic.  Especially when someone steals my pretend question.”

Lisa on electronic fitness devices:  “You can even buy a Fitbit scale, which will connect to your Fitbit bracelet and a fitness app on your phone, so that all the inanimate objects you own can talk about how fat you are behind your back.”

Francesca on running into your ex’s friend while on a date with someone new:  “all the envy-inducing benefits of seeing your actual ex with none of the pathos.”

Lisa on stating the obvious:  “I’m a mother, and as you know, it’s our job to say things that go without saying.” 

From dieting to dating, and from driving a Porsche to driving on the interstate at night with your mother, Lisa and Francesca open their lives and their hearts to readers, inducing belly laughs and nods of recognition throughout.

My Thoughts…

I always wonder what the real lives of authors are like and this is the perfect glimpse into Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francessca, lives.     These mini-essays are great little stories of things that have happen to them and how they reacted.   The thoughts they had in response to different things going on around them matched mine so many times.    I found myself giggling, smiling, cringing, and mostly just turning page after page wanting more.   

The nice thing about a book set up in the format of short essays is that it is easy to pick up and then put back down as needed.    Each essays was only a few pages long.    This would be a fun to book to take to the beach or somewhere where there will be lots of people.  It is easy to read one or two essays and then concentrate on what is happening around you for a little bit.  

This is not a typical Lisa Scottoline book, yet it is just as entertaining.   I recommend checking it out.   It is worth the time to read. 

Book Links

Amazon   |   Goodreads   |   Barnes & Noble 

As of December 1, 2009, According to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),  product reviewers on blogs must disclose whether they received products for free or received payment for their review.

 The books I review on this site ( A Soccer Mom's Book Blog) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  I never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.

Laid Out (Worth the Fight #4) by Sidney Halston

Published August 18, 2015 by Loveswept

Growing up an Army brat, Violet Channing could never meet her dad’s high expectations. But in the eyes of her best friend, she could do no wrong. He even insisted that he should be her first kiss. Now Cain Sorensen is all grown up, hardened by years in special ops and always looking for a good fight. Tall, with striking blue eyes and impossibly blond hair, he’s a modern-day Viking warrior. Of course, Violet’s all grown up, too, and she’s ready to surrender to his every command.

Cain knows he’s bad for Violet. His work is dangerous, and his hobbies are downright deadly. As a private mercenary and a mixed martial arts fighter, he could never let such an innocent soul into his world. And yet his most grueling combat training is no match for Violet’s killer curves, hot touch, and suggestive glances. Now all of Cain’s most explosive fantasies are coming true—but once they cross the line between friends and lovers, there’s no turning back.

My Thoughts…

While Cain is ex-military, special ops, and MMA fighter he is also the sweetest guy.   He comes across as quite the a** and believe me he deserves all the names that he is called throughout the book yet he cares.   He just doesn’t know how to show that he cares and thinks he doesn’t deserve the right to care.   It is up to Violet to shake up his world and push him outside his comfort zone and learn to let his feelings show.   

It hurt me to see how withdrawn Violet was in the beginning of the story.  She was a push over, letting everyone tell her what to do from what to wear to who to date.    She did not stand up for herself EVER.   As the story went on I was so proud of her.  She grew into herself and realized she was worth more than she thought.    She stood up to her friends, her co-workers, and most importantly Cain.    She realized life would go on, although it wouldn’t be as steamy, without Cain.    I cannot imagine how hard that had to have been for her.   

The relationship between Cain and Violet was steamy to say the least.    It didn’t move fast  It actually moved at turtle pace.   I was okay with that.    While the sparks flew, they didn’t just react and regret.   They made sure, with lots of arguing and walking away, that what they had was real and that they were both on the same page.   Some of their conversations made me blush, but for them they were necessary.  

This is a great series.  Alpha males, sexy men, strong women, and military life is all of my favorite character traits.     I recommend checking out Laid Out. 

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