We Were On a Break

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Is it a break? Or is it a blip? 'You've just had a holiday,' I pointed out, trying not to yawn. 'Wasn't that enough of a break?' 'I don't mean that kind of break.' There's nothing worse than the last day of holiday. Oh wait, there is. When what should have been a proposal turns into a break, Liv and Adam find themselves on opposite sides of the life they had mapped out. Friends and family all think they're crazy; Liv throws herself into work - animals are so much simpler than humans - and Adam tries to get himself out of the hole he's dug. But as the short break becomes a chasm, can they find a way back to each other? Most importantly, do they want to?

This may be a book that is mostly enjoyed by the quit young> I'm older (maybe 20 years older than the main characters)and I did not find this a funny book at all. What I did find was that this was a sad look into dating and I am thanking goodness that I don't have to do it anymore. I also found this to be a book filled with...er...fillers. Constant reiterating of what was happening/had happened. It held my interest enough for me to finish it and I would recommend this to a younger crowd, but other than that, I would not put this in my 'to be re-read' pile. *ARC Supplied by publisher

Mulberry Moon by Catherine Anderson

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The New York Times bestselling author of New Leaf returns to Mystic Creek, Oregon, where a wounded heart finds a place to call home. . . .  After a career on the rodeo circuit, Ben Sterling longs to settle down on his farm and start a family like his brothers. He’s searched all over for the woman of his dreams. Yet the only one to spark his interest is the new owner of the local café. Getting her attention, however, won’t be easy. Sissy Sue Bentley has worked hard to make it on her own, and she doesn’t need another man in her life. From her alcoholic father to the men she’s dated, who were after only one thing, they are nothing but trouble. Except Ben keeps showing up whenever she really needs help. Sissy struggles to deny her growing feelings for him—but soon Ben’s tender concern has her hoping for a happier future. Then her past comes barreling back into her life, and it will take more than the love in Ben’s heart to hold them together. 

Well it looks as though I am going to be one of the very few not as enamored of this books as all the others. I know that Ms Anderson writes some very sweet romances (I adored her book Blue Skies to the point that I've worn the backing away). 

But this book just made the heroine Sissy into a very childlike (and for me unrealistic and nearly unlikable creature -come on? A Pack Rat???) and Ben into a 'prince charming'; again unrealistic outside of a Christian romance. I understand that Sissy was abused to some point (and you will find that point near the ending of the book), it was hinted at all though out the book. I also understand that Ben does not want to hook up to any woman that doesn't share his likes and dislikes. I found this to be unrealistic and a bit on the cruel side - he wanted his women to adore his animals; ALL of his animals as much as he did and he wouldn't settle for anyone who merely liked them - with him it was all or nothing. I do NOT like characters that 'give' ultimatums -on either side. This is what I felt Ben to be doing with his other relationships.

This book felt to me as if it had been hurriedly written with a lot of thinking about sex and once you get to the act it was like a deflated balloon -disappointing. Don;'t get me wrong, I don't like or dislike sex in books- this just seemed to be especially poorly written and not engaging at all.

Had I read about Ben's chest just one more time - I would have tossed my Kindle out of the window.

*ARC supplied by publisher.

Dr. Do-or-Die (Doctors in Danger #2)by Lara Lacombe

Book Description: Two doctors are on thin ice as they race to save the world from a deadly disease.
Epidemic researcher Dr. Avery Thatcher has studied countless illnessesbut nothing prepares her for what she finds at a remote Antarctic base: the man she never wanted to see again and a mysterious ailment ravaging inhabitants. Avery will do whatever it takes to discover the illness's cause, and she vows to keep her heartbreaking history with Dr. Grant Jones in the pasteven if reignited passion brings them dangerously close.
For Grant, ending this outbreak and regaining Avery's trust are vital. As their hunt to contain a lethal pathogen escalates, he'll put everything on the line to avert disaster. But will another insidious threat stop them both cold?" 

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Quit simply, this was a very typical Harlequin romance with the added quirk that it was set in Antarctica. The idea that the CDC is involved and that our heroine is a hot-shot doctor FOR the CDC even at such a young age, is even better but again, Harlequin can be contrary that way LOL! 

While the plot may be difficult to swallow (terrorism via an ice core sample from the Antarctic)it is not ALL that difficult to swall and the author did a great jopb in making me beleive that it can really happen. The plot was a little cliched (what's new?) and the rest of the story had the proper amount of the angst that Harlequin is famous for, rapid character growth ( because the books are so short) and a set up for the next book in this trilogy (series?).


*ARC Supplied by publisher

Days Like These by Sue Margolis

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"Book Description: In the new novel from the author of Losing Me, one woman is about to discover what happens when you take the “grand” out of “grandma.”
Recently widowed, Judy Schofield jumps at the chance to look after her two grandchildren for six weeks while their parents are out of the country. After all, she’s already raised her own daughter—and quite successfully, if she may say so herself. But all it takes is a few days of private school functions, helicopter parents, video games, and never-ending Frozen sing-alongs for Judy to feel she’s in over her head. As weeks become months, Judy feels more and more like an outsider among all the young mothers with their parenting theories du jour, especially when she gets on the wrong side of the school’s snooty alpha mom. But finding a friend in another grandmother—and a man who takes her mind off all the stress—almost makes it worthwhile. She just needs to take it one incomprehensible homework assignment and one major meltdown at a time. . . ".

I thought that this book would be right up my alley. An older woman taking care of her grandchildren while her daughter and son-in-law leave the country to help an impoverished nation through a tragedy of massive destruction. I thought that this would be a humorous read per the books description - what with an older woman trying to fit in with the modern idea of raising a family and instead I found it to be a book about taking sides, class distinction, no humor to be found and more neurosis than you can shake a stick at. Very unoriginal and done with little finesse.

What I did take away from this book is that the parents of these children are quite selfish for putting their careers ahead of their family. I DO understand that what they did was extremely altruistic and I should be admiring them, but I did not. These parents are already helping people just by being Dr.’s and one could have left to tend to this devastated country while the other stayed home and then switched places.

I also realize that if both parents hadn’t left at the same time, there would be no book. 

The Britishisms and slang started to get on my nerves and I had to use my dictionary more times than I spent reading the actual novel. Yes, this book was by a Brit author, I GET IT. But seriously if a book is going to be marketed to the USA then tone down *some* of the Brit speak please. 

I also found the character’s to be very annoying, dislikable, selfish, spoiled, one dimensional and a bit clichéd. So was the plot (what there was of a plot). Some authors can do a wonderful job of writing simply about the days in the lives of their characters with nothing guiding these character’s but to get to the end of the book -this was not one of these books.

I could go on about why I thought that this wasn’t a good book, but it IS a good book, and therefore why I gave it a higher star rating than I normally would have. However, it was just not for someone like me (who is actually the age of the Grandmother) who was raised to believe that family came first in most cases; a career (both mothers AND fathers) came in second. Not always, but mostly.

*ARC supplied by publisher.