Category: Challenges (past)

Miranda’s Big Mistake Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: June 2009

I have to send a huge Thank You to Danielle at Sourcebooks for sending me this book. She has introduced me to a fantastic UK author that I probably would never had read otherwise.

I loved this book and I can’t wait to read her Millie’s Fling.

I have to say right off that there is alot of characters in the book. There is Miranda, Chloe, Bev, Fenn, Florence, Danny, Greg, Bruce, Miles, Johnnie and a bunch of other characters which all have small parts in the book. Even though there is alot of characters and story lines happening, it was really nice to see that they all play a part in Miranda’s life and they all came together in the end.

Miranda is a young trainee at a hair salon. Her boss is the famous Fenn Lomax. She’s constantly late and always has the greatest excuses for being late which Fenn never believes. Miranda is a sweet and kind person who goes out of her way to make everyone around her happy. She even makes it a point to give half her lunch to a homeless guy and brings him gloves (which she takes from the salon after a customer left them behind) Then she discovers that the homeless guy (Danny) really isn’t homeless but that he is a making a documentary about life on the street and they want Miranda to okay her part. She is mad at first but then they become friends and perhaps more?

Chloe is married to Greg and works at Bruce’s store. Greg and Chloe seem to have the perfect relationship until Chloe tells Greg that she is pregnant. He isn’t happy and he lets her know. He leaves her because it hates the fact that Chloe broke their wedding promise about not having kids. Chloe decides that she will have the baby. When money becomes tight she decided to look for another place. Thankfully Bruce’s mother Florence tells Chloe that she can move in with her tell she gets on her feet again.

Greg takes tickets that Chloe had for a celebrity event and goes with his friend to the event in hopes to meet Daisy. Its at this party that Miranda and Greg meet. They hit it off instantly and quickly become a couple and then engaged. Greg hasn’t told Miranda about Chloe and swears he never will.

Now as any good book would go of course we know that fate plays a part and the paths of Miranda and Chloe cross. They are now housemates with Florence. How will this play out in the book? Will Chloe realize who the man in Miranda’s life really is?

I loved Miranda and I felt bad for her when she found out about Greg and what he did to her. He got what he deserved in my opinion. Then when she found Miles (the race car driver who was at Grand Prix in Montreal) It was sad to see that didn’t work out and it wasn’t by choice. Then there is Danny will he be able to win Miranda’s heart in the end?

There was alot of love happening in the book. Florence got her man in the end and even Chloe got hit with the love bug while she was having her baby.

These are two cover images I found online for the books. I really like the one with the drawings on it. Which one do you like?

The next book set to be released this fall in North America is Millie’s Fling. I am really excited and can’t wait to read it. I am sure it will be fantastic. I love reading chick lit and I am loving Jill’s books. If you haven’t read anything by Jill yet then you really need to pick it up.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Secrets to Happiness Review & Early Bird Blog Tour

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: March 2009

Thank you to Miriam at Hachette for sending me this book to read and review. This is part of the Early Bird Blog Tour.

Here is a list of some of the participating blogs touring the book today:
Participating Blogs:
http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com/
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/
http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/
http://www.readingwithmonie.com/
http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset
http://epicrat.blogspot.com/
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/
http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com/
http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com

My Review of the book:

Sarah Dunn is the author of The Big love which I haven’t read yet.

First I have to tell you my favorite part of the book. It was this passage on page 109.

“So, on this particular Sunday afternoon, before she has so much as walked through the bookstore’s front doors, Holly had made a few rules for herself: (1)she could only buy books she actually intended to read; (2)they had to be light enough that she could take the subway home; and (3) she couldn’t spend more the thirty bucks.”

I could relate to this in so many ways as I am always saying something like that before I walk into a bookstore. Thankfully the second works really well if I go downtown to the bookstore as I am busing it and then the metro. Needless to say and I admit I don’t follow the rules. What fun would it be to do that?

Secrets to Happiness is about Holly Frick who is a divorced (she is still in love with her ex, Alex)television writer. Her career is slowly dwindling. She’s written a novel called Hello, Mr Heartache but it sold less than 500 copies. Not your typical best seller.

Trying to get over Alex has been hard for Holly. She is still hoping that they will get back together. She still loves him. When Holly attends a baby shower given by her old friend Betsy she meets Betsy’s 22 year old brother Lucas and begins an affair with him. She figures she should have some fun if Alex is.

Amanda is Holly’s best friend and she’s married to Mark. They have a thirteen month old son named Jacob. Amanda tells Holly about her affair with Jack. She tells Holly that she has to meet him. When Holly agrees to meet him she doesn’t like him. Then a chance meeting she sees him and they agree to go out for coffee.

Amanda ends her affair with Jack when she realizes she doesn’t want to loose what she has. Amanda insists that Holly contact him. Really what kind of person would do that? I don’t think I could do that, could you?

Holly and Jack begin to date. Dating Jack, Holly ends her affair with Lucas. Shortly after Amanda and Jack decide to continue their affair and realizing he still cares about Amanda he breaks up with Holly.

I should also mention that in the beginning of the book Holly decides she is going to adopt a dog. She goes to the animal shelter to adopt a dog. There is one that catches her eye a dog named Chester. Chester has a brain tumor she finds this out after being drawn to him. His owners brought him to the shelter cause they couldn’t afford the operation. A vet has offered to do the operation so that Chester will live. I think this was a great thing that Holly did to adopt a sick dog.

There is alot going on in the book and at times it can be confusing. I know at times I had to flip back a few pages. Over all I enjoyed it. I was even laughing out loud at a few spots.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

**Last Night in Montreal Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: June 2009

Thanks to Caitlin at Unbridled Books for sending me this book to read and review and to be apart of the tour for this book. Honestly with a title like ” Last Night In Montreal” how could I turn this book down? I love to read books with a setting that I know all about. The details were right on and it felt like I was there.

Isn’t the cover great? I love the cover and I really love it when it relates to the book as this one does. There is a reference in the book to the broken plate and pomegranate juice in the first chapter.

“She came out dressed all in black and carrying the three pieces of a plate that had fallen off the bed the night before; it was a light shade of blue, and sticky with pomegranate juice.”

The book is told in various view points from the characters involved: Lilia, Eli, Christopher and Michaela. The book moves back and forth from present to past in alternating chapters. I usually don’t like books like this because of the flip but this worked well with the book and made you want to find out why Lilia’s father had abducted her.

The story is about Lilia and her disapperance from her small Quebec town when she was seven years old. The town is between St Jean and the American border which is several hours from Montreal. Her father has taken her across the American border in various cities and states in the US. They have been travelling her whole life and they never stay in the same city for long because they are afraid of getting caught by the police and Lilia being forced back to her mother.

Eventually her father meets a woman and he decides he is done running and wants to be with her. For Lilia she can’t settle down and moves on. Her father still sends her money in case she needs it and works to get some. She never stays long in one place and as soon as it seems she is making friends she leaves them without them knowing until its too late.

This is what happened to Eli. He has become obsessed with her living and wants to know why so when he gets a postcard one day saying the Lilia is in Montreal and they will help Eli find her. He jumps at the chance and goes from Brooklyn to Montreal and spends his life savings trying to find her.

As I was reading the book I kept wondering why did Michaela dislike Lilia so much? What was the accident that Michaela kept obsessing about wanting answers to? Also if Christopher was always so close why didn’t he do more? Why was he so obsessed over this case?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Emily St. John Mandel was born on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, in 1979.She studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York. She lives in Brooklyn.

You can check out Emily’s website here

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The 48 Hour Book Challenge at 24 hours

Posted on by Cindy


Well after a good night sleep I am ready to go. Not sure how much reading I will get done this morning because I have my son around. It will be rough but I am sure I will get some reading done.

The books I want to get to today are: Would You (that was from last nights challenge) Puppet by Eva Wiseman, Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen and How it Happened in Peach Hill by Marthe Jocelyn.

My breakfast is there too which is a glass of orange juice, tea and its suppose to be oatmeal but I put too much milk in it AGH.

How are you doing?

I will start reading again at 9am.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The 48 Hour Book Challenge Hour 7 1/2

Posted on by Cindy

Wow hard to believe that I am 7 1/2 hours into the Book Challenge. Here is my stats as of now:

BOOKS READ: 2
PAGES READ: 321 pages
HOURS READ: 4 hours
SNACKS/FOOD CONSUMED: Moka coffee with fruit loops (breakfast)
coffee w/ minestrone soup & roast beef panini (lunch)
glass of pepsi with chocolate chip cookie & Ice Cream sandwich
Glass of water with tylenol (headache)

MINI REVIEW: (I will be posting a longer review after the challenge)

The Sinful Life Of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes
The book is about Lucy Burns who basically sold her soul to the devil when she was 10 years old. Her sister Ellen got hit by a truck and almost died. There were so pretty funny moments in the book and it proved to be a quick and easy read.

Neil Armstrong is my uncle & other lies Muscle Man McGinity told me by Nan Marino
The book is about Muscle Man who is a 10 year old liar. He tells some major lies. One day he threatens the kids on the street to a game of kick ball. Tamara is hoping she can prove Muscle Man to be the liar she thinks he is. The story takes place in 1969 when the war is happening and Neil Armstrong makes the first walk on the moon. it was a fun and easy read.

I probably won’t get back to reading until after supper as Michael is home from school and asking me to help him with what feels like 50 thousand things. Good Luck everyone. I am also taking the break because of a headache I have.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The 48 Hour Book Challenge

Posted on by Cindy

This the four hour mark into the book challenge. I haven’t been reading for the last two hours as I was out for lunch. I plan an reading from 1:30pm until 3:30pm when I will then have to stop to pick up my son from the bus stop.
This is me snuggled into my favorite spot on the couch reading The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns. This was taken just within the two hour mark.
This was lunch: minestrone soup with a piece of fresh bread and lunch was a roast beef panini and cabbage slaw.
I am off to finish the Sinful Life of Lucy Burns and have a snack of a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of pepsi. The next book I will be reading is Neil Armstrong is my Uncle & Other Lies Muscle Man McGinity Told me.

How is everyone doing?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The 48 Hour Book Challenge Hour 1

Posted on by Cindy


This is hour 1 of the 48 Hour Book Challenge.

BOOK: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes
PUB DATE: June 2009
PAGES: 167

HOUR: 9AM
SNACK: This is actually breakfast. Fruit Loops cereal and moka coffee.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.