The Baby Planner

The next book I’m suggesting that you check out is The Baby Planner by Josie Brown. Katie Johnson is just that… a baby planner. She makes her living consulting with new moms on the newest must-have baby gadgets, the most socially acceptable playground groups, top notch baby care, and much more. For the new moms that use Katie’s baby planning services, she is also therapist, referee and best friend all rolled into one. There’s only one problem. Katie’s biological clock is ticking. The thirty-something year old is ready to be a mommy herself. Bring in anti-baby husband, Alex, who refuses to do more than “keep an open mind” about having a child. Translation: he doesn’t want kids.

This is a very easy read. A fun (and often funny) look at the world of new parenthood, baby planning, and the ups and downs of life.  Give it a shot!

The Choice

The Choice, by Nicholas Sparks, revolves around the implications of seemingly ordinary choices made by veterinarian Travis Parker and his new next-door neighbor Gabrielle Holland, a physician’s assistant.  After an unpromising first meeting, the two end up falling for each other. Already dating someone else, Gabby is faced with the dilemma of whether to stick with longtime boyfriend Kevin, or get involved with Travis. The book is split into two parts. The first part follows her decision-making process and its effects on Travis and Gabby’s lives. Part Two takes place 11 years later when Travis faces a life and death decision following a car accident.

This is a fairly quick read. As with most Nicholas Sparks’ books, this is a romance novel with real-life issues, decisions, and consequences mixed in. Nicholas Sparks is my favorite author, so of course I loved this book. If you enjoy romance-type books with a real-life grounding about them, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Summer Rental

If you’re looking for a wonderful summer read, give Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews a try. I had not read any of her books previously, but I’ll be checking all of them out now!  I LOVED this book.  It’s a fun read. If you’ve ever thought about taking a getaway to the beach with a few of your closest friends and just getting away from it all, you’ll appreciate this book. The three main characters in the book, Ellis, Julia and Dorie, have been best friends since childhood. As they find themselves in their mid-thirties, each at a crossroads in life (and each with their own drama!), they decide that a trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks is just what they need. You’ll fall in love with the characters, enjoy a little suspense and romance, and take a trip to the beach without ever leaving your comfy chair!  I highly recommend this book. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Breaking the Rules

If you’ve never read Suzanne Brockmann novels, you should try one out!  I haven’t read too many of her books, but that will soon change. The latest I’ve read is one called Breaking the Rules. It has romance, action and suspense all rolled into one great read!  Navy Seal Izzy Zanella and his estranged wife, Eden Gillman, are set on saving her abused teenaged brother even if that means reconciling with each other to prove to a court that they can give him better care than anyone else. But just as their hearts begin to mend, the makeshift family gets caught up in saving another youth from a crime ring in Las Vegas and ends up with a group of dangerous men on their trail.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Beauty: a retelling of the story of Beauty & the beast

I’ve always loved fairy tales.  One of my favorite books growing up was a collection of folk and fairy tales from around the world.  So, I suppose it’s no surprise that when I found Beauty: a retelling of the story of Beauty & the beast, a children’s/YA novel by first-time Warren, Ohio author Robin McKinley, I decided to give it a try.  That was back in the early 1980s and since then I’ve probably reread it at least 3-4 times.  McKinley has a way of making her world completely believable and she has a way with words that totally draws me in to her character’s lives.   In McKinley’s version of the tale, Beauty (her real name is Honour) is the youngest of three daughters of a widowed merchant.  When his shipping business goes belly-up they must leave the city and venture inland to a country village where magic is still to be found.  Those who know the story can guess that she will meet up with The Beast and break the spell that binds him.  If you enjoy a well-written old-fashioned romance with a touch of magic, give this a try.  By the way, McKinley went on to write a Newbery Medal winner, The Hero and the Crown. I could have told you she was destined for greatness!

-Janet M

Friendship Bread

If you’re looking for a good read, you might try Friendship Bread by Darien Gee. This is a really sweet (and sad at times) novel about friendship. 

A book “about life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, Friendship Bread tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens.”

One of the main characters (Julia) and her daughter (Gracie) arrive home to find a homemade loaf of Amish friendship bread on the front porch. She offers the starter mix of the bread to a couple of women who are new in town. This sparks a friendship between them. There are other things that take place throughout the book, in the lives of Julia and her new friends. That’s all I’m going to give away, as I want you to read the book for yourself and enjoy it!

I thought it started out a bit slow. But when you get further into it, it’s a good book.

-Amanda

Heads You Lose

I stumbled upon Lisa Lutz a few years ago when I read the first of her Spellman Files– and what a stumble that was!  She writes a fun, white-bread kind of mystery where her quirky characters drive the development of the plot as much as the actually case they are trying to solve.  

And she has done it again in Heads You Lose, a collaborative effort with her former romantic partner, David Hayward.  This tag-team novel is interspersed with comments by the authors about the direction (or lack thereof ) of the plot line and characters.  The writing is laugh-out-loud funny… and leaves you want for more!

-Penny

Moon over Manifest

I’ve just finished reading the latest Newbery winner: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.  This excellent and readable novel toggles back and forth between the years 1918 and 1936.  It relates the stories of Abilene Tucker and her father, Gideon and how Abilene learns more about her father’s life as a young man in Manifest, Kansas during World War I.  Times are tough in 1936 when Abilene is twelve. Gideon is a good man, but also a drifter and a con man, using his wits to survive very tough times.  He and his daughter struggle to survive during the Depression so in the summer of 1936 he sends her off to the town and people he knows best.  She meets up with those who knew him best and since he never talked to Abilene about his growing up years, so she longs to find a connection to him through the people she meets in Manifest.

The quirky but believable characters are wonderfully fleshed out.  They are so well described that you would recognize them if they walked up to you and said “hi”.  The storyline is well-plotted and well-told.  Vanderpool presents the characters’ stories in such a way that you find out just a little about them each time as if the author is slowly unwinding their lives for view.  This would appeal to both boys and girls – it takes historical fiction, adventure and mystery and rolls them all up into one wonderful yarn.  It would make a wonderful family read-aloud. I highly recommend it.

-Janet M

Blood Oath

    

   If you like a good action tale, and a vampire that doesn’t drink the blood of  humans, you’ll love this book. It involves a vampire that takes a blood oath to always follow the orders of the President of the United States. He is a secret service agent with supernatural strength, tremendous eyesight, and is tireless. He has a handler who is at first very afraid to work with him and then gets fed up fast with the vampire’s odd tendencies. Nate the vampire and Zack the handler go after the bad guys with zest, even if the bad guys could be from “The Other Side”.

Blood Oath Janetas