Review: The Beach House: Coming Home, by Georgia Bockoven

19 May 2017 by Melissa

About the book, The Beach House: Coming Home

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (May 16, 2017)

Bestselling author Georgia Bockoven is at her powerful and emotional peak in this novel perfect for fans of Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand.

Unlock the door to the beach house…a place where life slows down, people come together, and love is the strongest force of all.

After you’ve given your baby to strangers, what do you say when someone asks if you have children?

Fourteen years ago, Melinda Campbell was fifteen and a half, pregnant and terrified. Desperate to protect her baby from a malicious grandfather and needed at home to take care of her own critically ill father, Melinda makes the most generous, heart-wrenching choice of all: adoption. Now she’s living the successful life her father struggled to give her, but missing her daughter with a longing that shadows every joy.

Jeremy Richmond knows the beach house the way a painter knows his canvas, intimately and focused on detail. His life revolves around his adopted daughter, Shiloh, the girl who’s owned his heart from the moment he first held her as an infant. They were a picture-perfect family until Shiloh was diagnosed with pediatric lupus and Jeremy’s wife walked away.

When Shiloh tells her father she’s tired of fighting her illness and wants to meet her biological mother before it’s too late, Jeremy agrees to find a woman he has no desire to meet.

From the moment Melinda and Jeremy come face-to-face, they realize their worlds will never be the same. Will the beach house that has harbored troubled hearts for decades prove to be the balm they need to heal…?

Buy, read, and discuss The Beach House: Coming Home:

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Georgia Bockoven

Georgia Bockoven is an award-winning author who began writing fiction after a successful career as a freelance journalist and photographer. Her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide. The mother of two, she resides in Northern California with her husband, John.

Connect with Georgia:

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts

I fell in love with Georgia Bockoven’s Beach House series years ago when I picked up the first one on the “new paperback” table at Barnes and Noble. All these years – and books – later, I’m still hooked on this fictional house in Santa Cruz, CA, and the stories that live and breathe within its walls.

In this story, we meet Melinda who gave up her baby for adoption when she was a young girl, and Jeremy, that baby’s adopted father, as well as Shiloh (formerly Danielle) the baby – now thirteen – in question. It’s the kind of story I expect will resonate with any child who is adopted, or has adopted siblings.

But it’s also a story that can be enjoyed by anyone.

Bockoven’s characters are richly drawn, with flaws that make them seem like real people, and detailed backstories that provide as much subtext as text. She depicts human emotion with great insight, and she’s particularly adept at inserting moments of levity – sometimes laughter through tears, sometimes just laughter – exactly when they’re needed.

It would be easy to dismiss The Beach House: Coming Home as a ‘beach read,’ because of it’s title and setting. Truly, there’s nothing wrong with turning toward lighter fare during the summer, but that generalization would do this book a disservice, because it’s a wonderful family drama, replete with lush details and full of supporting characters (Cheryl from the cottage next door, for one) that sing off the page.

Goes well with mango-peach iced tea and steamed artichokes with garlic and butter.

Tour Stops

Tuesday, May 16th: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, May 16th: The Book Bag

Wednesday, May 17th: Time 2 Read

Thursday, May 18th: Into the Hall of Books

Friday, May 19th: Bibliotica

Monday, May 22nd: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Tuesday, May 23rd: Back Porchervations

Wednesday, May 24th: Jathan & Heather

Thursday, May 25th: Library of Clean Reads

Monday, May 29th: Kritters Ramblings

Tuesday, May 30th: Dreams, Etc.

Wednesday, May 31st: alyssarossblog

Thursday, June 1st: Tina Says…

Review: The Mermaids of Lake Michigan, by Suzanne Kamata

16 February 2017 by Melissa

About the book, The Mermaids of Lake Michigan

Paperback
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing (February 14, 2017)

Elise Faulkner is more at home in the waters of her beloved Lake Michigan than on land where her beauty queen mom is always on her back about her lack of a social life; her sister is dating the boy of her dreams; her favorite penpal–the one who wrote about mermaids in Ghana–has gotten married and ended their correspondence; and no one’s allowed to talk about her glamorous great-grandmother, the deep-sea wreck diver. Elise is biding her time with books until she can flee. But then crazy Chiara Hanover pops into her life, as does Miguel, a mysterious carnival worker whose dark future has been predicted by a gypsy.

Buy, read, and discuss The Mermaids of Lake Michigan

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Suzanne Kamata

Suzanne Kamata was born and raised in Grand Haven, Michigan. She is most recently from Lexington, South Carolina, and now lives in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan with her husband and two children. Her short stories, essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in over 100 publications including Real Simple, Brain, Child, Crab Orchard Review, and The Japan Times. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and received a Special Mention in 2006. She is also a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/ Wingspan Fiction Contest, winner of the Paris Book Festival Award, and winner of the Half the World Global Literati Award for the novel.

Connect with Suzanne

Website | Twitter

My Thoughts

Like the main character of The Mermaids of Lake Michigan, Elise, I spent a lot of my teen years with my nose in a book, not bothering to be part of the social activities at my school. Like Elise, I am happiest when I’m in the water. But unlike Elise, I’m not a fictional character growing up in the midwest, and my own coming-of-age was vastly different than hers.

Still, I found the entire novel quite engaging. Elise is a relatable narrator, and the mixture of innocence and candor in her story captured my attention from the first page, and kept me reading to the last.

While this novel is Elise’s story, I found the arcs of the other characters who were spotlighted just as compelling. Amanda, the younger sister who is more advanced socially, Chiara, the wild best friend, and even Julia, Elise’s mother, whose secrets come out slowly, as her daughter discovers them.

It is this focus on the women in the piece that I found truly interesting about Kamata’s book. Certainly men are present – Elise’s father, Miguel, the gypsy she meets at the carnival, Chiara and Amanda’s respective boyfriends – but they are incidental, used to illustrate the changes in their female counterparts, more than fully-dimensional characters in their own right.

What results from this blend of honesty and exploration is a novel that feels both familiar and unfamiliar at once, like a long walk where there’s always something new and interesting around the next bend.

Suzanne Kamata’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, February 14th: Kahakai Kitchen

Wednesday, February 15th: Books and Bindings

Thursday, February 16th: Bibliotica

Friday, February 17th: Books ‘n Tea

Monday, February 20th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Tuesday, February 21st: Write Read Life

Wednesday, February 22nd: Reading is My Superpower

Wednesday, February 22nd: Just Commonly

Thursday, February 23rd: Ms. Nose in a Book

Friday, February 24th: Readaholic Zone

Monday, February 27th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, March 1st: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, March 2nd: Sweet Southern Home

Friday, March 3rd: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Monday, March 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Tuesday, March 7th: Dreams, Etc.

Thursday, March 9th: Art @ Home

Monday, March 13th: Wall-to-Wall Books

Wednesday, March 15th: Dreaming Big

Monday, March 20th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Review: Sisters, One, Two, Three, by Nancy Star

30 January 2017 by Melissa

About the book, Sisters One, Two, Three

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (January 1, 2017)

After a tragic accident on Martha’s Vineyard, keeping secrets becomes a way of life for the Tangle family. With memories locked away, the sisters take divergent paths. Callie disappears, Mimi keeps so busy she has no time to think, and Ginger develops a lifelong aversion to risk that threatens the relationships she holds most dear.

When a whispered comment overheard by her rebellious teenage daughter forces Ginger to reveal a long-held family secret, the Tangles’ carefully constructed web of lies begins to unravel. Upon the death of Glory, the family’s colorful matriarch, and the return of long-estranged Callie, Ginger resolves to return to Martha’s Vineyard and piece together what really happened on that calamitous day when a shadow fell over four sun-kissed siblings playing at the shore. Along with Ginger’s newfound understanding come the keys to reconciliation: with her mother, with her sisters, and with her daughter.

At turns heartbreaking, humorous, and hopeful, Sisters One, Two, Three explores not only the consequences of secrets—even secrets kept out of love—but also the courage it takes to speak the truth, to forgive, and to let go.

Buy, read, and discuss Sisters One, Two, Three

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Nancy Star

Nancy Star is the author of four previous novels: Carpool Diem, Up Next, Now This, and Buried Lives. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, Family Circle, Diversion magazine, and on the web. Before embarking on her writing career, Nancy worked for more than a decade as a movie executive in the film business, dividing her time between New York and London. She has two grown daughters and a son-in-law and now lives in New Jersey with her husband.

Connect with Nancy

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

I love a good family drama, and if it’s connected to anything remotely beachy, that only increases my enjoyment, so you can imagine that I leaped at a chance to read and review Sisters One, Two, Three.

I was not disappointed.

The Tangle family (aptly named, because their lives and secrets are all a giant, tangled ball of confusion, contradiction, affection, and family bonds) quickly found their way into my heart and my head, as their secrets, both big and small, were revealed to us.

Nancy Star does an amazing job at peeling away the onion-layers of family connections. Perhaps it’s because I’m an only child that I am so drawn to stories of people who are not, but I was enraptured by the bond each of the sisters had for each other, and intrigued by the way each of them was both independent, but also part of a whole.

This is a perfect January novel. It’s a palate cleanser after all the sweetness of last month’s holidays, at once tender and bracing (yes, it’s possible to be both) and it’s also a reminder that even the best families have their issues.

Goes well with a cup of black tea – Earl Grey, perhaps, or English Breakfast – and multigrain toast with organic peanut butter.

Nancy Star’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, January 2nd: The Baking Bookworm

Tuesday, January 3rd: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, January 3rd: Tina Says…

Wednesday, January 4th: Run Wright

Friday, January 6th: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, January 10th: Girls in White Dresses

Tuesday, January 10th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, January 11th: Chick Lit Central – “Books We’re Looking Forward To”

Friday, January 13th: View from the Birdhouse

Monday, January 16th: Caryn, the Book Whisperer

Tuesday, January 17th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Wednesday, January 18th: Why Girls Are Weird

Thursday, January 19th: A Chick Who Reads

Friday, January 20th: Not in Jersey

Monday, January 23rd: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Tuesday, January 24th: Books and Bindings

Wednesday, January 25th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Thursday, January 26th: Paperback Pilgrim

Friday, January 27th: Books a la Mode author guest post

Monday, January 30th: Bibliotica

Tuesday, January 31st: Just One More Chapter

Review: A Thousand Salt Kisses, by Josie Demuth

10 June 2016 by Melissa

About the book A Thousand Salt Kisses

Publication Date: April 2016
Wise Ink Press
Series: Salt Kisses, Book One
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Romance/Mer-Stories

Beautiful Crystal White is the new girl on the remote Starfish Island. During a party on the mainland, she goes for a midnight swim with other party goers where she meets the handsome, intriguing Llyr amongst the waves.

As she heads back to shore she realizes that he is not behind her and that nobody at the party remembers him. Crystal can’t seem to shake Llyr from her mind and returns to the beach in the hope of meeting him again. When she finally does, she realizes there may be more truth to the ramblings of the island folk than she thought.

To add more drama to her life, Crystal’s mother and her father are at war over a local power station that is devastating local marine life.

Over a sizzling roller coaster summer, it becomes apparent that all these events are not entirely unrelated and Crystal finds herself both caught up in a deep mystical romance and at the centre of an exploding environmental scandal…

Buy, read, and discuss this book

Amazon | Goodreads

About the author, Josie Demuth

Josie is a 31 year-old writer from London. Her Salt Kisses books became popular on Wattpad, and are now also serialised on Radish Fiction. A Thousand Salt Kisses is her third book.

For more information please visit http://www.saltkissesbooks.com/ and https://josiedemuthwriting.wordpress.com/.

Connect with Josie

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Wattpad

My Thoughts

I got this novel later than I expected, had an exhausting weekend at Dallas FanExpo (Comic-Con) and have been fighting a slow internet server all day, so apologies to the author and BookJunkie Promotions (the tour host) for this review being late.

I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I call myself the Bathtub Mermaid, so you can guess that I was excited about any story related to mer-folk, and I often tell people that I believe the YA market is home to some of the most provocative stories and strongest female characters in all of contemporary fiction. Crystal is smart, feisty, and very much her own person, and while she’s initially less-than-thrilled about her new life on Starfish Island, a new friend, a new romance, and a new-found love of the ocean all conspire to change her perspective – a literal sea-change, if you will.

I really appreciated the way author Josie Demuth made sure Crystal’s parents had their own story, rather than making them mere ‘props’ for Crystal’s tale. While some of the plot twists were a bit predictable for me, aged 46, I suspect my teen self, and contemporary teenagers who might read this, would find them less so.

I have only two major complaints about what is, essentially, an engaging, well written novel that gives us a version of mer-culture that is unique to this author:

Some of the dialogue is a bit ‘off.’ I don’t know if it’s my American ear reading a London-based writer’s work, or if Demuth was having trouble channeling her inner teenager – it’s not every scene, and it in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the story.
It’s very much a ‘first in the series’ novel, and I felt there wasn’t quite enough resolution. On the other hand, I absolutely want to know what happens NEXT, so in that, author did her job incredibly well.

If you are looking for a literary work of art, to be discussed in English classes for the next century, this is not the book for you. If, however, you want a fun, romantic, beach-read that you and your teenage daughter/sister/cousin/friend can share with no worries about adult content (there is implied sex, but nothing explicit) this would be an excellent choice.

A Thousand Salt Kisses will make you long for a day at the beach and a hot mer-guy to hang out with

Goes well with a hot dog and crinkle-cut fries, served from a beach concession stand. Frosty root beer optional.

Giveaway

To enter the giveaway for a signed copy of A THOUSAND SALT KISSES, please see the GLEAM entry form below. Three copies are up for grabs!

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on July 8th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to US residents only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GIVEAWAY!

A Thousand Salt Kisses

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, June 6
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Thursday, June 9
Excerpt at Brooke Blogs

Friday, June 10
Review at Bibliotica

Monday, June 13
Interview at I Heart Reading

Tuesday, June 14
Spotlight at To Read, Or Not to Read

Wednesday, June 15
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Friday, June 17
Spotlight at AC Reads

Monday, June 20
Excerpt at Eclectic Ramblings of Author Heather Osborne

Tuesday, June 21
Spotlight at Fiction Conviction Book Blog

Friday, June 24
Spotlight at A Leisure Moment

Monday, June 27
Spotlight at It’s a Mad Mad World

Monday, July 4
Review at A Book Drunkard

Tuesday, July 5
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Friday, July 8
Blog Tour Wrap Up at Book Junkie Promotions

Review: Mystic Summer by Hannah McKinnon

9 June 2016 by Melissa

About the book, Mystic Summer

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (June 21, 2016)

A chance run-in with a college boyfriend puts a young woman’s picture-perfect life in perspective in this warm-hearted and lyrical novel—from the author of The Lake Season.

Since finishing graduate school, Maggie Griffin has worked hard to build an enviable life in Boston. She’s an elementary school teacher in a tony Boston suburb, a devoted sister, and a loving aunt. With her childhood best friend’s wedding quickly approaching and her own relationship blossoming, this is the summer she has been waiting for.

But when Maggie’s career is suddenly in jeopardy, her life begins to unravel. Stricken, Maggie returns home to seaside Mystic, Connecticut, where she expects to find comfort in family and familiarity. Instead, she runs into Cameron Wilder, a young man from her past who has also returned home, and whose life has taken a turn that puts Maggie’s city struggles in harsh perspective. When tragedy strikes for Cameron, Maggie is faced with big decisions as she weighs what matters most and strives to stay true to the person she’s become.

Set against the gorgeous backdrop of a New England summer when past and present collide, Mystic Summer is a gorgeous novel about looking back, moving forward, and the beauty that blooms when fate intervenes.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Hannah McKinnon

Hannah McKinnon is the author of The Lake Season and Mystic Summer. She graduated from Connecticut College and the University of South Australia. She lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with her family, a flock of chickens, and two rescue dogs.

Connect with Hannah

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

When I saw this title in the list of summer tours, I immediately sent an email begging to review it because it was ‘speaking’ to me. Having read it (twice) I’m glad I did, because this book is the perfect launch for the summer reading season.

I found main character Maggie to be really likeable, and I found both her roommate Erika (in the throes of wedding planning) and her actor-boyfriend Evan so well drawn that I was immediately caught in fond reminiscences of the early days of my own marriage, when we lived in cheap apartments, and weren’t really working up to our level of potential – yet. I also liked the boy-next-door, childhood love, Cameron, who wasn’t pedestal perfect. I maintain that it’s the flaws in characters that make them feel real, and these characters are all well balanced with lovely attributes (loyalty, wit, intelligence) and flaws (indecision, prime among them).

I also loved the fact that most of the novel takes place in and around Mystic, CT. While I’ve never explored the whole town, I’ve made the requisite visits to the old Mystic Seaport, and loved it’s shippy, tarry, historical wonder, and I’ve also lived in tourist towns (Georgetown, CO), so I know what it’s like to be a townie, and understand the love-hate relationship that locals always have with tourists. Author Hannah McKinnon manages to make the town of Mystic, and the Mystic River into a character in its own right, and I really appreciate that the setting was so intrinsic to the story.

The story itself blends yearning and nostalgia, and the inevitable choices we make between embracing the new and returning to the old and familiar, and it does so in a way that is both compelling and interesting. While this novel could easily have turned into a formula romance (and I admit there’s a time and place for those), McKinnon’s writing is deeper than that, and her characters don’t always make the obvious choices.

One thing that struck me early in the novel was the obvious love Maggie’s mother has for her children. It’s talked about, but there’s a scene after Mom’s birthday where Maggie says she’s staying the night, and her mother’s response is basically, “Woohoo! She’s STAYING!”

Overall, Mystic Summer was a richly detailed, unputdownable story that is light enough to be a beach read, but deep enough to be satisfying and interesting all the way through.

Goes well with, New England clam chowder, crusty sourdough bread, and chilled Samuel Adams Summer Ale.

Giveaway

One winner in the U.S. or Canada will get a copy of this book. Enter by commenting on this post (tell me one thing you’re looking forward to this summer), OR Like AND Share the Facebook post (I’m MissMelysse), OR Retweet my Twitter post about this review (I’m @Melysse). One entry per action. No more than one entry per action, per person. Contest is open until 11:59 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 22nd.