Book Review - The Protective One by Shelley Shepard Gray

The Protective One by Shelley Shepard Gray

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis: The tragic and untimely death of an old friend has made Elizabeth Anne rethink not only her priorities but her courtship with David, her longtime neighbor and suitor. Though he’s Mennonite like herself and has her parents’ approval, she feels that a spark is missing. Desperate for a change, she breaks things off—wondering if, perhaps, she’s the one who’s missing a spark.

When her family becomes upset with her decision, E.A. turns to her friends for support. One of them is Will, a man with a good heart who has always been there for her. As the two bond over their shared struggle to navigate a future that everyone else seems to have figured out, they are surprised to realize that they have feelings for each other.

But E.A.’s world takes a sudden turn when she realizes that she’s not the only one struggling—Marta, one of her sewing students, is in desperate need of protection. With the aid of Will and several other friends, Elizabeth Anne begins a journey that is more difficult and rewarding than she could have ever imagined...one that ultimately enables her to find everything she’s been searching for.

My Thoughts: I have never read anything from Shelley Shepard Gray that I know of but after reading The Protective One she has become a voice that I want to read again. She tackled some strong subject matter (abuse) in this story and did so with such beautiful and skilled writing.

The Protective One is a story that will stay with you long after you finish it as it keeps clouding my thoughts from time to time even now and it's been a while since I completed it.

The characters are well drawn out and actually appear as if they could be your neighbors or folks you could actually run into on the street in town.

My favorite character a main one was EA. She was so likable and head strong. I loved her ability to stand up for herself no matter if it was what was expected of her or not.

I would recommend this story to anybody. It has a bit of everything for everybody and I don't think anybody would walk away disappointed!

I was given a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.



You can purchase a copy on Amazon HERE and right now it is only $1.99 for the kindle copy.


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Book Review - The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

My Thoughts: Oh my gosh this was so doggone funny! A genius idea for a story! I loved how Olive and Ethan were the only ones who didn't get sick and wound up going on the honeymoon vacation in spite of how much they loathed each other! It didn't take rocket science to figure out how the story was gonna go somewhat from here but the adventure and the mishaps in between sure were fun! Although the real fun actually started when they got back home and everything had changed between them. If you haven't already read this what are you waiting for?!!!

I posted a video review for this so feel free to check it out on YouTube! You Tube Video Review for The Unhoneymooners


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Review - Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry

Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry
Released: December 20, 2011
Publisher: Gallery Books
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 304 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
Author Site: Jael McHenry

After the unexpected death of her parents, painfully shy and sheltered 26-year-old Ginny Selvaggio seeks comfort in cooking from family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning (“do not let her…”) before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish.

This was a fascinating story of a young lady who has Asperger's Syndrome and has tragically lost her parents and now trying to live on her own. She never really knew anything was wrong with her because she led a sheltered life which has not prepared her for living in the "real" world so to speak. Even so I still got angry with her sister quite a bit. She just assumes Ginny should now come to stay in her home and they will automatically sell the family home and get rid of the things inside and never stops to think how this will affect Ginny and what she may want.

I don't have Asperger's but I could still relate to alot of what Ginny felt and like her, I can even see myself hiding in a closet and trying to shut out the world sometimes when it gets to hard to deal with. Maybe it's because of this association that I enjoyed this book so much and the incredible recipes were just an added bonus! But either way I highly would recommend it to anybody for a quick wonderful inspirational read.