Reviews-TLC Tours – Cindy's Love Of Books

The Cougar Club Review and TLC Tour

Posted on February 1, 2010April 14, 2014 by Cindy

TITLE: The Cougar Club
AUTHOR: Susan McBride
PUB DATE: January 26, 2010
PAGES: 320 Pages

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Meet three women who aren’t about to run and hide just because the world says they should be on the shelf and out of circulation.

KAT
Her life seems perfect until she loses her high-powered advertising job and catches her live-in lover in a compromising position……with his computer!

CARLA
This sexy TV news anchor is in danger of being replaced by a twenty-something blond bimbo. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she was the up-and-coming star?

ELISE
A married dermatologist, Elise thinks her plastic surgeon husband is playing doctor with someone else.

Kat firmly believes that aging gracefully isn’t about giving up; it’s about living life with your engine on overdrive. So this unofficial “Cougar Club” quickly learns three things about survival of the fittest in today’s youth-obsessed society: True friendship never dies, the only way to live is real, and you’re never too old to follow your heart.

MY THOUGHTS:

My first introduction to Susan McBride was through her YA books The Debs and The Debs: Love, Lies and Texas Dip. Which I have to say that I really enjoyed reading. Book three, The Debs: Gloves Off is set to be released in March 2010. Which I am really excited about and I am dying to read this book.

I have to admit that I haven’t read any of her other books but I will definetly be looking for them now as I really enjoyed reading The Cougar Club.

Its nice to read a book that is within your age group as this will be the year I turn 40. Kat, Elise and Carla are all believable characters and ones that I could relate too.

The book opens up with Kat losing her job in advertising which she has devoted her life too and then she comes home to discover her younger boyfriend has been cheating on her with internet porn. Kat is devasted with the fact of loosing her job and boyfriend that she flees New York City without even really thinking about it and heads home to her parents place in St. Louis.

While in St. Louis Kat reconnects with her two best friends from school, Elise and Carla. Carla is the hottest news anchor lady in St Louis and dating a younger guy, Randy who is the sportscaster. Carla knows she is the IT lady for the station but soon realizes that a younger replacement might be stepping in in the form of her ex husbands new girlfriend. Elise is the town’s dermatogolist, married to a plastic surgeon, has a son in college. Since her son has been in college she has become a workaholic and has no idea what is about it hit her.

This is a great book about friendship and you realize who your true friends really are and that no matter if its been years since you were in contact true frienship never dies and that it will always be there. Love will always be there for you no matter your age. You will find it and perhaps in unexpected ways and places.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Susan McBride is the author of The Cougar Club (January 2010, from HarperCollins/Avon) about three 45-year-old friends who happen to date younger men. She has also written three books in The Debs young adult series (Random House/Delacorte) set in Houston, including The Debs; Love, Lies, and Texas Dips; and the forthcoming Gloves Off. In addition, she’s penned five Debutante Dropout Mysteries (HarperCollins/Avon) set in Dallas: Blue Blood, The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night of the Living Deb, and Too Pretty to Die (HarperCollins/Avon).

Once called “The Lou’s Whodunit Queen” by Sauce magazine in St. Louis, Susan was named one of the city’s “top singles” in 2005 by St. Louis Magazine, but is single no more. She tied the knot in February of 2008. Susan was the cover girl for the February 2009 issue of St. Louis Woman magazine, where she was featured in the article “Paperback Princess.”

Susan has won a Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, a Romantic Times magazine Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Amateur Sleuth Mystery, and was twice nominated for Anthony Awards for Best Paperback Original, and was one of three finalists for the William Rockhill Nelson Award for Literary Excellence (for Kansas and Missouri Authors). She lives in Brentwood, Missouri, with her husband.

http://susanmcbride.com

This ARC was provided for review by Avon books a division of Harper Collins USA and was part of the TLC Tours.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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After The Moment Review

Posted on October 22, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: May 2009

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

ABOUT THE BOOK:

After the Moment is a novel about boys, love, and violence. Leigh Hunter and Maia Morland meet at a dinner party four years after their high school romance ended in bloodshed, legal charges, and parental meddling. During the party, Leigh remembers how and why he fell in love with Maia, who liked to describe herself as an anorexic, self-cutting “train-wreck”. The novel explores how love transforms us, and how failing to meet its complicated demands helps to shape the adults both Leigh and Maia become.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the first time I have heard of Garret Freymann-Weyr and read any of her books.

After the moment is about a person’s first love. We all remember our first love and its always a special relationship that we hold deep in our hearts.

Its also about perseverance, strength and loyalty, but also of betrayal, pain, and disappointment.
When I first picked up After the Moment I thought it was a girl story but quickly realized that it was about a guy, Leigh. I have to admit as I was reading it I kept picturing Leigh as a girl and that had to do with the spelling of the name.

Leigh is your typical perfect guy if there is such a thing. He is attractive, athletic, smart, and selfless. A girls dream guy to say the least. He is leading the good life and things are going great he is looking forward to senior year, his girlfriend Astra, and what the future might hold for him beyond high school.

Leigh is your typical teenager who worries about finding a summer job that would look good on his college applications, where to apply and other things.

Things are good until one day something tragic happens to make Leigh question his life.

It was nice to read Leigh being total unselfish and turning his back on his life to be there and help his little sister, Millie out. Even though it meant moving to live with her and leaving his life behind in New York. He wants to be there for Millie and to help her cope and get over her loss.

Leigh’s plan is to take care of Millie and be loyal to his girlfriend back home but that doesn’t happen as he begins to fall in love with the sweet and a little bit odd Maia Morland. Maia’s life is basically a train wreck waiting to happen. She is dealing with an eating disorder, a father who is in jail and a few other issues.

I enjoyed reading the book and I have to send a big thank you to TLC tours for allowing me to be a part of this tour and for introducing me to a new author. I am looking forward to reading her other books,

This book was provided for review by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

The Promised World Review

Posted on September 15, 2009April 14, 2014 by Cindy

PUB DATE: September 2009
I have to send a thank you to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to be a part of this tour. Thanks to Atria Books for sending me this book.

I had this book on my TBR pile for awhile and when I heard about this tour I had to take part in it. What better time to read the book then for the tour?

ABOUT THE BOOK:

On a March afternoon, while Lila Cole is working in her quiet office, her twin brother Billy points an unloaded rifle out of a hotel window, closing down a city block. “Suicide by police” was obviously Billy”s intended result, but the aftermath of his death brings shock after shock for Lila when she discovers that her brilliant but troubled twin — the person she revered and was closer to than anyone in the world — was not only estranged from his wife, but also charged with endangering the life of his middle child and namesake, eight-year-old William.

As Lila struggles to figure out what was truth and what was fiction in her brother”s complicated past, her job, her marriage, and even her sanity will be put at risk. And when the hidden meaning behind Billy”s stories comes to light, she will have to act before Billy”s children are destroyed by the same heartbreaking reality that shattered her protector and twin more than twenty years ago.

A love song to the redemptive power of books and stories, The Promised World is a mesmerizing tale of intimacy, betrayal, and lost innocence that will haunt readers long after they have turned the final page.

MY THOUGHTS:
I have to admit that Lisa Tucker is a new to me author. She has written four other books.

I have to admit that I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book. The only thing I found hard to read was when Billy went to the elementary school. I actually had goose bumps. Living in a city where we have had two school shootings brought back a lot of memories. Which just happens to be the anniversary of one of the school shootings this past weekend.

With that being said the book was hard to put down and every time I did put it down I had to pick it up to continue reading.

The Promised World is about twins Lila and Billy. The past, present and the future of all those involved.

Billy is married to Ashley and they have three children. Lila is married to Patrick and they have no children.

After Billy is killed, Lila is grieving the lose of her brother. Her world basically comes crumbling down around her. She is having a hard time dealing with it and it seems like no one is there to help her. You couldn’t help but wish you were there to help Lila through this.

Lila discovers a lot of her twin that she never knew about, such as, his divorce from his wife, Ashley and that he was being accused of child abuse with one of his own children. She also discovers that he was very unhappy and couldn’t deal with his problems any longer. How will she handle all this new information on Billy?

Ashley is truly convinced that Billy and Lila had a troubled childhood and couldn’t understand that strong bond that they had. She thought there was more to their past then what they were telling people. Could there be something that they aren’t saying?

Lila has no memory of her past apart from what Billy has told her. Why doesn’t she remember? Is Billy telling her the truth? What will she do when she realizes what he has told her might not be the truth but made up stories?