Book Review: The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee

TITLE: The Glass Kitchen
AUTHOR: Linda Francis Lee
PUBLISH DATE: June 17, 2014
PUBLISHER: St. Martins Press
384 pages

Amazon: $10.99 ebook
Barnes and Noble: $10.99 ebook
 
After a couple of chapters of wondering where this book was going, I was pulled and then couldn't put the book down.  It took a bit to figure out the characters and what was happening. The reader is hit with a bunch of chaos right off the bat and it requires patience for the issues to come to light. But if you are patient, the characters find their way into your heart and I was rooting for them all. Well all but Uncle Andrew. I didn't want him to get anything, but he was still a good, bad character. 

Ariel was my favorite, but I aligned with her as she was a dreamer, the problem solver, the bridge in negativity.

I did love the sisters, Portia, Olivia and Coredila, but would love to read a follow-up book that includes their own stories. 

There was a few major curve balls in this book that by the time I was sucked in, I was so transfixed that I was not prepared for them. They threw me and made it that much harder to put the book down for normal life things like sleep. I refuse to divulge them though!

This is a perfect book for a vacation read. It was light, happy and full of chaos. And of course, the family drama was fantastically written.

SUMMARY - Portia Cuthcart never intended to leave Texas. Her dream was to run the Glass Kitchen restaurant her grandmother built decades ago. But after a string of betrayals and the loss of her legacy, Portia is determined to start a new life with her sisters in Manhattan... and never cook again.

But when she moves into a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side, she meets twelve-year-old Ariel and her widowed father Gabriel, a man with his hands full trying to raise two daughters on his own. Soon, a promise made to her sisters forces Portia back into a world of magical food and swirling emotions, where she must confront everything she has been running from. What seems so simple on the surface is anything but when long-held secrets are revealed, rivalries exposed, and the promise of new love stirs to life like chocolate mixing with cream.

The Glass Kitchen is a delicious novel, a tempestuous story of a woman washed up on the shores of Manhattan who discovers that a kitchen—like an island—can be a refuge, if only she has the courage to give in to the pull of love, the power of forgiveness, and accept the complications of what it means to be family.

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Book Review: Come Back To Me by MIla Gray

Title: Come Back To Me
Author: Mila Gray
AKA: Sarah Alderson
ebook, 373 pages
Expected Publish Date: June 19, 2014
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Amazon: 
Barnes and Noble:

No one can write a love scene like Sarah Alderson!!! That said, there is so much more in this book than romance scenes. But boy, are the windows steamy!

I will read anything Sarah Alderson put out, so I did not read the summary of this book and therefore had no idea what to expect. It opens with a home filled with anguish and tension, fear so thick it could be cut with a knife. Jessa lives with this everyday. Her mother walks through life in a stupor, drug-induced haze. All of this caused by her father, a Marine who has had a bad turn of events during his last service. He has PTSD so badly he cannot contain his emotions.

Then Jessa runs in to Kit again. The boy she had a crush on as she was growing up as he was always around being her older brother's best friend. A historical playboy, girl player he does not have the best reputation, but when he starts to date Jessa things may change.

This was such a romantic book that I wanted to cry in so many places. The way Jessa and Kit met and their relationship grew was beautiful. I really can't say more because I refuse to give away the plot, but I will say that their time is numbered as Kit is scheduled to deploy very soon. What will become of their relationship? How it will continue even though her older brother may have words about the relationship? And will it survive when Jessa's own father has had a problem with Kit since he was a child?

This is a future movie, if you ask me!

Summary - Home on leave in sunny California, Marine and local lothario Kit Ryan finds himself dangerously drawn to his best friend's sister, Jessa - the one girl he can't have.

But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.

What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.

When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.

Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.

A breathtaking, scorchingly hot story about love, friendship, family and finding your way back from the edge of heartbreak.

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Book Review: Unbearable by Sherry Gammon

Title: Unbearable
Port Fare Series #3
Author: Sherry Gammon
ebook; 1,313 pages
Published June 9, 2014 by Wordpaintings Unlimited and CPP

Amazon: $3.99
Barnes and Noble: $3.99

I have read first book by Sherry Gammon called Unlovable, but for some reason I do not remember reading the second book in the series, Unbelievable. So, I will be adding that to my reading list after finishing this review. :)

I highly recommend reading this book as it touches on a few subjects generally kept in the dark - domestic violence, rape, cheating and how to cope with them. Gammon brings these subjects up so well, in all her books, that you do not even realize she is describing a whole new world until it comes crashing down on the reader and we are forced to ride it out because it is impossible to put the book down. Gammon weaves these tales so intricately that it feels like the reader is living the book.

Gammon creates, introduces and develops characters like Tess that are completely wrecked and trying to survive. Women that I root for at the same time I want to protect. She writes strong, yet vulnerable heroes like Booker who do such a wonderful job of being realistic. Honestly though, my favorite characters ended up being Booker's family because they played such a large role in the story.  As family is usually in the middle of your relationship.

Even though she covers unhappy topics, the plot is still light enough to be read on vacation or during a work break.

Sherry Gammon also follows up with Maggie, the young woman who was raising her alcoholic mother in the first book in the series, whom I absolutely love.

Summary - Booker Gatto is done. Done with women, his old life, all of it. Only the love of his friends in Port Fare keeps him going as he leaves the MET in exchange for the quiet life his new law practice will provide.
 
Tess Selleck, once as ambitious and determined as she is smart and beautiful, had to leave everything and everyone she loves in San Diego to escape the man who destroyed her dreams and now wants her dead.
Together Booker and Tess find love when they least expect it, until their pasts drive them apart. Is there a happily ever after for these damaged lovers? Or is the thought of loving and trusting again simply Unbearable?

Unbearable is the exciting conclusion to the Port Fare Series. Join Booker as he struggles to find his happily ever after.

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