ACCIDENTALLY FAMILY - By Sasha Summers * * * *

 

  

                                    Title: Accidentally Family

       Series: Pecan Valley #1

Author: Sasha Summers

Genre:  Clean & Wholesome Romance 

Rating: * * * *

Publishers: Entangled: Amara 

(May 26, 2020)

Paperback: 368 pages

ISBN: 978-16882814741

Welcome to Pecan Valley, where the town may be small but the townspeople will always lend a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on. Where good times, good humor, and good people will always lead to happily ever after. — Life for Felicity, and her teen children, is finally back on track. After her divorce, she wasn’t sure if her sweet family would ever be the same. But things are good –– right up until her ex’s spirited toddler lands on Felicity’s doorstep. If the universe is going to throw lemons at her, thank God she has her best friend, Graham, to help her make lemonade out of them. How did she never notice how kind and sexy he is?

Graham is still recovering from his wife’s death years ago and trying to help his teen daughter get her life together. Who is he kidding? His daughter hates him. Forget lemons -- he’s got the entire lemon tree. So when Felicity suggests they join forces and help each other, he’s all in. And suddenly he can’t stop thinking about her as more than just a friend. Too bad their timing couldn’t be worse…

Because life rarely goes as planned. Luckily there are many different kinds of family to hold you together and lift you up... plus maybe even a little love between friends. 

This book brought me to tears several times, and though the character cast is deep, the author does an awesome job of fleshing out the minorist character. This book would definitely be considered a great beach read and definitely going to look for more of this series. Just realized while looking at her Amazon author page that she has several Harlequins with kids on the cover that I've read. That explains her ability to make the teenagers and toddler in this story feel like you know them. It's not often you get a mature romance to go along with the teenager angsty romance. While in general I don't like a book told from mutiple POVs  it worked so well in this book.

Born in San Antonio, The United States

Websitehttp://www.sashasummers.com

Twittersashawrites

GenreRomance, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Member SinceAugust 2010

URLhttps://www.goodreads.com/sashawrites

Sasha Summers grew up surrounded by books. Her passions have always been storytelling, romance and travel--passions she uses when writing. Now a best-selling and award winning-author, Sasha continues to fall a little in love with each hero she writes. From easy-on-the-eyes cowboy, sexy alpha-male werewolves, to heroes of truly mythic proportions, she believes that everyone should have their happy ending--in fiction and real life.

Sasha lives in the suburbs of the Texas Hill country with her amazing and supportive family. She looks forward to hearing from fans and hopes you'll visit her online. Facebook: Sasha Summers Author, Twitter: @sashawrites, or her website: www.sashasummers.com

The Pout-Pout Fish Board book – by Deborah Diesen

 

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

Deep in the water,

Mr. Fish swims about

With his fish face stuck

In a permanent pout.

Can his pals cheer him up?

Will his pout ever end?

Is there something he can learn

From an unexpected friend?

Swim along with the pout-pout fish as he discovers that being glum and spreading "dreary wearies" isn't really his destiny. Bright ocean colors and playful rhyme come together in this fun fish story that's sure to turn even the poutiest of frowns upside down.The Pout-Pout Fish is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. 

Undoubtably the cutest book, I've read to my grandchildren.  I can't believe that anyone found it offensive. It's not for school aged kids but little kids that will love the bright pics and rhyming sing songy story. I doubt the 1 year olds that are being read to are going to remember this and just pop up and kiss a stranger or think that everyone should smile and never have a down day. Get a grip people and give your little kids a chance to laugh when you go "blub, blub, blup " and give a more age appropriate book to your kids that might be inclined to kiss a stranger! Geeze!

Review- MORAL COMPASS by Danielle Steel * *

 

Title: MORAL COMPASS

Author: Danielle Steel

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: * *

Publishers: Delacorte Press 

 (Jan 7, 2020)

Hardback: 288 pages

ISBN: 978-0399179532

FTC Disclosure: Copy provided by the public library.

Copy provided for the purpose of providing an honest review.

 This does not affect my opinion of this book.

Saint Ambrose Prep has been the school of choice for the sons of the great and the good for over a hundred years. Now, for the first time, Saint Ambrose has just enrolled its first female students. While many of the kids on the campus have all the privilege in the world, some are struggling dealing with family, insecurity and loneliness. In such a heightened environment, even the smallest spark can become a raging fire.
The day after a Halloween party, a student lies in the hospital, seriously injured and with a dangerous level of alcohol in her blood. Only the handful of students who were there when she was attacked know what happened, and they have closed ranks. As parents, students, staff and the media attempt to establish the truth, no-one at Saint Ambrose will escape the fallout.
As the drama unfolds, those involved will reach a crossroads where they must choose between truth and lies, between what is easy and what is right, coming to rely on their own moral compass.

First let me say, I've read Danielle Steel books since the mid 70's and loved them. Very few left me disappointed. However, that was not the case with MORAL COMPASS. This book had so much potential. It was timely and could have been great but it fell boringly short. The characters were flat and the story was dull. There was no build up, no suspense, no feelings at all. 

The facts were pretty much done as an info dump in the first three chapters and it only got worse as it went on. I never empathised with any of the characters at any point in the story. They were dull as cardboard cutouts. If this book had been written by anyone other than Steel, I'd have quit by page 50 but I did read the whole thing as I kept expecting it to take off and actually entertain me. Possibly, if this had been a mystery type of book, it would have been better but it read basically as going from point A to B to C  and not only did you not care about point A, B or C , you didn't care about the journey. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to get to the end of a story. I'm not sure that this story actually deserved two stars instead of one, but out of sentimentality for DS, I gave it two. 

Danielle Steel has sold 650 million copies of her books internationally, and every one of her books is a bestseller. She is published in 69 countries and 43 languages.Steel has written more than 163 books, 139 of which are novels; 18 children’s books, including Pretty Minnie in Hollywood and Pretty Minnie in Paris about her white long-hair teacup Chihuahua.

She also founded and runs two foundations, one named in honor of her late son, The Nick Traina Foundation, which finances organizations involved in mental illness, child abuse, and suicide prevention. The second foundation was established to assist the homeless.  She lives in Paris and San Francisco and is the mother of nine children.

Review- DEEP IN THE ALASKAN WOODS by Karen Harper-* * *

Title: Deep in the Alaskan Woods
Series: Alaska Wild Novel #1

Author: Karen Harper

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Rating: * * * 

Publisher: MIRA 

(April 28, 2020)

Paperback: 352 pages

ISBN: 978-0778309628

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley

Copy provided for the purpose of providing an honest review.

 This does not affect my opinion of this book.
Alexandra Collister came to her estranged cousins’ B&B in Falls Lake, Alaska, looking for a fresh start. The surrounding forest can be harsh and unforgiving—luckily, rugged wilderness tracker Quinn Mantell offers to be her guide. Still recovering from a toxic previous relationship, Alex is wary of getting too close, but when savagely deep claw marks appear outside her bedroom window, keeping her distance from Quinn is no longer an option.

Then a body turns up exhibiting the same ruthless slash marks, and Alex knows it isn’t a coincidence. Something sinister is lurking in the woods around Falls Lake, turning Alex’s fresh start into a brutal game of survival. The murky veil of forest offers more threats than answers. Can Alex and Quinn find the killer before darkness falls for good?

I've read oodles of Karen Harpers books and loved them. DEEP IN THE ALASKAN WOODS not so much. The story had great potential and I loved the setting but I never connected with the characters. The romance felt flat as did the suspense. Normally, when reading this type of book, I'm obvious of everything going on around me. At no time in this book did I feel like I anything other than I had a book in my hand. I'm not a fan of instant attraction. I like a relationship to grow and develop so that may have been part of my problem with Alex and Quinn. The only thing that kept me reading was I don't like not know who did the deed. 

Karen Harper is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of romantic suspense and historical novels. A native Ohioan, Karen is a former high school English teacher and English-and-writing instructor at the Ohio State University. (Go Bucks!) The Harpers are avid Ohio State football fans, but they have a serious side too. They were on the 10-year committee which revamped the main library on campus. The Ohio State Library houses her author collection in Rare Books and Manuscripts.

The Harpers love to travel, and Karen often uses her favorite places as settings for her novels. She's recently written books set in Edwardian England and South Florida, the latter where she lived for 30 winters. Her latest trilogy is THE SOUTH SHORES NOVELS, with forensic psychologist Claire Britten and criminal lawyer Nick Markwood. Her most recent historical is THE IT GIRLS.
These bring her published books to over 70 in a 35-year writing career.

Karen belongs to several writer's organizations, including International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and The Historical Novel Society. She appreciates hearing from readers on her website at www.KarenHarperAuthor.com and www.facebook.com/KarenHarperAuthor--and she answers!