Down the Rabbit Hole

unfinished business -nora roberts What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn’t changed much either—he was still lean, athletic, rugged…But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He’d stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?

So Vanessa had finally come home, Brady thought. She could still turn him inside out with one of her sultry looks. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t forgiven him for that night twelve years ago—but he’d had his reasons for not showing up. He’d let her leave town then—but he wasn’t going to let her get away this time…

4 Drink Me Potions

Unfinished Business is the perfect summer read with the sweet re-blossoming of love in two childhood sweethearts. I like Nora Robert’s mysteries, they can be quite entertaining, but her contemporary romance stories have just as much heart in it, in a different way.

In this novel, Vanessa has a lot of baggage that she’s bringing back with her to her hometown. Estranged from her mother for the last 12 years and stressed from her career as a concert pianist, hometown life seemed to be a good pace for her to rest. Of course, things get a little crazier than she imagined with the presence of her high school boyfriend there with unresolved issues left between them. I’m glad that the story doesn’t focus on that moment where Brady stood her up, but that the problems were more due to their current adult lifestyles and reconciling that things have changed in some ways after 12 years.

Vanessa had to discover who she was before she could really be what Brady may want from her. I liked the pacing. Things slowly built onto each other as she came face-to-face with the things she kept denying to herself, and the questions she couldn’t ask before. And at the heart of it all is a love story between two people that greatly cared for each other in their teens but have found a second chance for a more mature relationship.

Overall Recommendation:
Unfinished Business is as the title suggests, a story of two people separated by the years with unresolved issues. Vanessa definitely brought a lot of baggage back with her to her hometown, but slowly, she learned to rediscover who she was and not how external circumstances had molded her. This love story is sweet and filled with promise. It’s a different kind of story from Nora Robert’s mysteries, but it’s just as poignant and well done.

adult

Review: An Engagement in Seattle by Debbie Macomber

May 11, 2016May 15, 2016 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: From this Day Forward #1-2

an engagement in seattle -debbie macomber Aleksandr Berinksi is a Russian biochemist in the U.S. on a visa that is about to expire. Marriage will allow him to stay – marriage to Julia Conrad.
If Julia’s going to save her Seattle-based company, she needs him as much as he needs her. There’s a Groom Wanted in Julia’s life. And not just any groom!

A billboard on the side of a Seattle road is common enough – but one advertising for a bride? It’s Chase Goodwin’s solution to the problem of finding a wife quickly, a wife to bring home to Alaska.
Lesley Campbell has her own reasons for responding – and in no time she’s the Bride Wanted in Chase’s life!

4 Drink Me Potions

Let me just first say that these two stories by Debbie Macomber are some of her older ones and seemingly different from the kinds of plots she writes more after the 2000s, but there’s still something about them that make it enjoyable and applicable no matter the audience (although I do suggest you’re at least 16+).

In Groom Wanted, there was a tangible chemistry between Julia and Alek. Although it was a marriage of inconvenience but one that would help save the company, Alek genuinely seemed to have very fond feelings for Julia even in the beginning. I’m glad that Macomber differentiated that his feelings weren’t equated to love, at least not initially, ’cause that’d be way too unrealistic.

Julia, on the other hand, made me wanna strangle her sometimes. Yes, she went through a horrible ordeal with the betrayal from the man she loved that kept her from trusting in Alek and his very true feelings for her. I suppose the fact that I didn’t give up when she drove me crazy a little is a mark of how invested I was into their story. Overall, it was a very easy read that I gobbled up in practically one sitting. Perfect for a summer day (or evening until the wee hours of morning…)

In Bride Wanted, Lesley’s story was harder to digest. She too had been used and left behind by a man, making her wary about men in general. Chase needed a woman to bring back to the far unknowns of Alaska, using the most amusing way to do that. I was more amused than anything when reading their story. Definitely not as invested, although there were sweet moments here and there as well.

Lesley’s insistent love for her ex was the most annoying trait. Chase wasn’t the most romantic kind of guy. He’s very straightforward (I think you can tell by his extremely direct method of finding a wife). So between the two of them, there was some chemistry but it wasn’t as fun to read when I just wanted to knock some sense into her and to tell him to maybe woo her a little more.

Overall Recommendation:
Both stories were overall cute and had its moments. These were situations where marriage was something they needed for their own reasons, but not because of love. As a hopeless dreamer myself, finding love after the fact is a wonderful storyline to watch unfold. Macomber executes the stories with heated passion that slowly builds and people who find that they did indeed marry for love after all. Groom Wanted was particularly enjoyable, while Bride Wanted wasn’t far behind but the individual personalities of the characters were a little harder to manage. Overall, it was a quick and nice summer read when you feel like a good romance that ends happily.

Review: It Wasn’t Always Like This by Joy Preble

May 11, 2016May 10, 2016 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

it wasn't always like this -joy preble In 1916, Emma O’Neill is frozen in time. After sampling an experimental polio vaccine brewed on a remote island off St. Augustine, Florida, she and her family stop aging—as do the Ryans, her family’s business partners. In a way, this suits Emma fine because she’s in love with Charlie Ryan. Being seventeen forever with him is a dream. But soon a group of religious fanatics, the Church of Light, takes note. Drinking the elixir has made the O’Neills and Ryans impervious to aging, but not to murder—Emma and Charlie are the only ones who escape with their lives.

On the run, Emma is tragically separated from Charlie. For the next hundred years, she plays a cat-and-mouse game with the founding members of the Church of Light and their descendants. Over the years, a series of murders—whose victims all bear more than a passing resemblance to her—indicate that her enemies are closing in. Yet as the danger grows, so does Emma’s hope for finding the boy she’s certain is still out there . . .

1.5 Drink Me Potions

**It Wasn’t Always Like This comes out May 17, 2016**

Thank you Edelweiss and Soho Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review

DNF’d at 58%

I honestly thought I would enjoy this book. At first, I thought my discontent was from the writing style. This is my first book from Joy Preble, although I was very intrigued with her previous novel, Finding Paris. I laid that aside and just kept going.

I thought it’d be more romantic. Two protagonists who loved each other. No matter how long their separation was (like, seriously a 100 years?), they’d somehow find their way back to each other and try to get rid of the threat from some lunatic religious organization hell-bent on destroying them, unperturbed by killing other innocents whom they’d mistaken for her.

Unfortunately, it just fell flat. The boy never really makes an appearance in her life for the most of the story that I reached. Just the occasional flashback of what happened in their lives that changed everything (i.e. how they practically became immortal). He wasn’t physically present in her current and modern life. Kinda hard to appreciate that aspect of the story if he was all but just a fond memory.

I told myself to keep on reading. It’ll just get better, ya know? Right? But once I stopped for a break (at 58%), I just couldn’t continue and pick it up again. I was just so tired of the constant fear from some crazed church group who could be hiding in plain sight and re-branded from their original name. So with huge regret, I’m sorry to say that It Wasn’t Always Like This just didn’t end up working for me. I gave it my best shot.

I just hope that at the end of it, they find each other and get their second chance, after everything.

Overall Recommendation:
Well, I couldn’t really finish this book, stopping at 58%. However, it could’ve just been something that personally didn’t click with me. There was suspense from being chased by religious fanatics – who were also killers, by the way. The romance didn’t work for me because, well, they hadn’t seen each other in like 100 years. It’s not that I hated this novel, but I just couldn’t bring myself to finishing it, try as I may. Maybe it’d be a better read for others.