Stacking the Shelves

                                             Stacking the shelves is about sharing books that you may have bought, e books, borrowed from friends or the library, gifts, review or e books. Stacking the shelves is hosted by Tynga Reviews.

I got these from the library.

Review: All the Summer Girls by Meg Donohue

Title: All the Summer Girls

Author: Meg Donohue

Pub date: 5/21/2013

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Source: Edelweiss









Summary from Goodreads:

In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book--or a cocktail--long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired...again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier--and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

My thoughts/review:

I loved this story. I was sucked into this story from the first page. Kate, Vanessa, and Dani are best friends who met in school. Kate is the friend that's a perfectionist. She gets dumped by Peter even though she thought her relationship was perfect. Vanessa is a stay at home mom who met her husband while working at an art gallery, but now she wonders what if she would have stayed with her old boyfriend. Dani is a novelist who hasn't finished her book yet. She is portrayed as the party-er of the friends. They all have secrets about an incident involving Kate's brother . They all feel responsible for what happened. This was a page turner. It would be fitting to read this book about the beach on the beach. This book showed how friends can still come together while each of them having to deal with their own dramas. This story has affairs, friendships, betrayals and new love. I wonder what happens next for the three friends.

Book Review: Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer

Title: Unmasking Maya

Author: Libby Mercer

Pub date: Dec. 12, 2012

Source: The author












Summary from Goodreads:

 Fresh from a career-killing scandal, New York fashion girl, Maya Kirkwood, arrives in San Francisco to reinvent herself as a fine artist. She's offered the opportunity to create an installation at the Silicon Valley headquarters of a hot new tech company. Fabulous, right?

Not so much.

She can't stand Derek Whitley - wunderkind software genius and CEO of the company. Hot as he may be on the outside, inside the man is a cold, unemotional, robotic type. Way too left-brained for her right-brained self.

As Maya and Derek get to know each other, however, their facades begin to crack. She catches her first glimpse of the man behind the superhuman tech prodigy, and he starts to see her as the woman she used to be. But is this a good thing? Once that last secret is revealed, will it bring them closer together or will it tear them apart?

My summary/thoughts:

 Unmasking Maya is about Maya Kirkwood an artist who falls for Derek who is a nerdy workaholic while she installs her artwork for his company.  This wasn't so much of a romance. It felt more like a chick lit novel. There was a lot of flirting and mysteriousness.  This was a short, light read with some warm and fuzziness at the end. The main character has a lot of male issues because of what her father did. Overall, it was a fabulous read.
 

Book Review: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe

Title: The Color of Tea

Author: Hannah Tunnicliffe

Publisher: Scribner

Pub date: 6/5/2012

Source: The Library








Goodreads summary:

Macau: the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a three-bead necklace. It was time to find a life for myself. To make something out of nothing. The end of hope and the beginning of it too. After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea.

Grace opens a cafÉ where she serves tea, coffee, and macarons—the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea steeped and macaron baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.

A delicious, melt-in-your-mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, The Color of Tea is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal.

My review/thoughts:

Grace Miller and her husband, Pete, are living in Macau, China for Pete's work. After they find out they can't have children, Grace opens a cafe called Lillian's where she makes macarons and serves tea. Grace makes friends with people she wouldn't have otherwise known after she opens Lillian's. We meet Marjory, Rilla, and Gigi just to name a few women that Grace becomes close to. Gigi is a feisty character that I liked reading about and was very memorable. This is the first time I've read about China so that was cool since I've never been there. Grace has a lot of issues but she works through them in the book. Overall, this was a light and fast read. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It was a fabulous read. As soon as I finished, I wanted a macaron.

Review. Sad Desk Salad by Jessica Grose

Title: Sad Desk Salad

Author: Jessica Grose

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Pub Date: 10/2/2012










This story gives a comedic look at a girl who is a full-time blogger on a women's gossip website. Alex lives in New York with her boyfriend Peter. The chapters are coordinated with the days of the week, so we get to hang out with Alex for a week as she tries to find good stories for her boss Moira, who is always there to give Alex a good swift kick in the pants to get the best stories. Alex gets thrown into a whirlwind when she finds out about a hate blog that has her as the main target. Alex's craziness really drives the story. This book has mystery and a lot of scandal. I wouldn't mind seeing a TV show made from this book. This is a quick, entertaining read. If you like reading the gossip sites every once in a while or obsessively, then this book is for you.

Review: Breaking the Rules by Cat Lavoie

 Title: Breaking the Rules

Author: Cat Lavoie

Publisher: Marching Ink, LLC

Pub date: 8/8/2012

Source: Marching Ink, LLC








 My review:

Roxy Rule is a chef at heart but she works as a personal assistant at a PR firm. She and Ollie have been best friends basically since birth, but it all changes after Ollie kisses her right before he leaves for London for a job promotion. Roxy’s sister Steffi comes to her pregnant with no place to go. Roxy’s friends Tali, Emma, and Andy are there to lend a listening ear or bottle of wine or both for Roxy. This book was bananas. It read like a soap opera meets Maury Povich with cooking in between. My first thought of Roxy was I want to go to her house and eat. I could just taste her cupcakes. This book had family, friendship, love quadrangles, and food. What more could you ask for in a book? This book is a fabulous and entertaining read.

Review: The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner

Title: The Next Best Thing

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Publisher: Atria Books

Pub Date: July 3, 2012

Source: NetGalley







Summary from Goodreads:

At twenty-three, Ruth Saunders headed west with her seventy-year-old grandma in tow, hoping to be hired as a television writer. Four years later, she’s hit the jackpot when she gets The Call: the sitcom she wrote, The Next Best Thing, has gotten the green light, and Ruthie’s going to be the show-runner. But her dreams of Hollywood happiness are threatened by demanding actors, number-crunching executives, an unrequited crush on a boss, and her grandmother’s impending nuptials.

Set against the fascinating backdrop of Los Angeles show business culture, with an insider’s ear and eye for writer’s rooms, bad behavior backstage and set politics, Jennifer Weiner’s new novel is a rollicking ride on the Hollywood rollercoaster and a heartfelt story about what it’s like for a young woman to love, and lose, in the land where dreams come true.

My thoughts/review:
  Ruth Sanders is a twenty-something television writer who's face is scarred from a tragic car accident that took her parents when she was three. She lives with her grandmother who tells it like it is and is engaged to her boyfriend. Ruth gets her television show picked up and we get to see behind the scenes of what it is really like to be a show-runner. I had no idea what goes into my favorite scripted TV shows to get put on TV. It was very interesting. I loved her grandma she was sweet, sassy and stylish. In my head, I kept picturing Ellen Burstyn as the grandma. This was a fabulous read and I was sad it ended. It had drama, celebrities, love, rejection, heartbreak, redemption, and family.