Tag Archives: Beach Reads

When the Cypress Whispers

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Continuing with my book reviews, here’s my next pick…

When the Cypress Whispers is a novel set in the beautiful island of Erikousa in Greece.  Naturally, I was enticed by the story and the cover, as I love all things related to Greece (a slight obsession of mine).  This was the first novel I’ve read by Yvette Manessis Corporon, an Emmy Award winning writer, producer and author. She is currently a Senior Producer with the syndicated entertainment news show, EXTRA. I really enjoyed this book because it connected the author to her Greek roots, and while there is a bit of a love story in the novel, it also speaks of Greek traditions that the author learned from her own grandmother. I am truly looking forward to reading her second novel, Something Beautiful Happened, also set in Greece.

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When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel (Synopsis)
The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne aspires to the American Dream, yet feels as if she’s been sleepwalking through life. Caught between her family’s old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career, she cannot seem to find her place.

Only her beloved grandmother on Erikousa, a magical island off the coast of Greece, knows her heart. Daphne’s fondest memories are of times spent in the kitchen with Yia-yia, cooking and learning about the ancient myths. It was the thought of Yia-yia that consoled Daphne in the wake of her husband’s unexpected death.

After years of struggling to raise her child and pay the bills, Daphne now has a successful restaurant, a growing reputation as a chef, and a wealthy fiance-everything she’s ever wanted. But across the ocean, Yia-yia can see through the storybook perfection of Daphne’s new life- and now she is calling her back to Erikousa. She has secrets about the past to share with her granddaughter- stories from the war, of loyalty and bravery in the face of death. She also has one last lesson to teach her: that security is not love, and that her life can be filled with meaning again.

Pickup a copy or download it to your e-reader and enjoy a great read, I promise you will truly enjoy this story.

Have you read any good books lately?  I love suggestions!

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Beautiful Ruins

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Continuing with my book reviews, here’s my next pick…

Beautiful Ruins, a New York Times Bestseller, immediately caught my eye (I was judging a book by its cover, literally.) But who can blame me with that magnificent photo of the Italian coastline. I figured this was something I would be interested in as I have a slight obsession with Italy. This was the first novel I’ve read by Jess Walter, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I must say I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to reading a few more of his books. Beautiful Ruins is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962…and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later. This book has romance, drama, a beautiful setting, and tells a great story.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (synopsis from Goodreads)

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio’s back lot—searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and his idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion—along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow.

Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

Well, there you have it…so, pickup a copy of Beautiful Ruins or download it to your e-reader, and enjoy this great story.

Have you read any good books lately?  I love suggestions!

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Leaving Time

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To continue with my summer book reviews, here’s my next pick…

Leaving Time, the latest book from NY Times Bestselling author, Jodi Picoult, has to be one of the books that has surprised me the most with its ending. I must admit I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult.  I have read many of her books, because I think she is an amazing writer (I loved My Sister’s Keeper), and I would love to meet her at a book signing. However, I haven’t loved all of her stories, they’re not for everyone. After a few chapters I thought I was in for another disappointment…and then suddenly, I could not put it down.  And the ending was completely unexpected, there is a reason it debuted at #1 on the NY Times bestseller list.

Leaving Time. Photo courtesy of Jodi Piccoult.

Leaving Time, photo courtesy of Jodi Picoult.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult (synopsis)

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

So, pickup a copy of Leaving Time or download it to your e-reader, and enjoy a great summer read.
Have you read any good books lately?  I love suggestions!

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Night Road

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To continue with my summer book reviews, here’s my next pick…

Night Road is one of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors, Kristin Hannah, a NY Times Bestselling author, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at a few book signings. The first novel of hers that I read was Firefly Lane (click here for my review), which was fantastic.  I quickly became hooked on her books and have read many more.  But I have to say that as the helicopter mom that I am, this book really touched my heart, because it was beautifully written.

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Night Road, photo courtesy of Kristin Hannah

Night Road by Kristin Hannah (synopsis)

For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows—her twins, Mia and Zach—are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable.

Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for college and out of harm’s way. It has always been easy– until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss. Nothing feels safe anymore; every time her kids leave the house, she worries about them.

On a hot summer’s night her worst fears come true. One decision will change the course of their lives. In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything. In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget…or the courage to forgive.

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, Night Road raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness. It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope. This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love.

So, pickup a copy of Night Road or download it to your e-reader, and enjoy a great summer read.
Have you read any good books lately?  I love suggestions!

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The Friday Night Knitting Club

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To continue with my summer book reviews, here’s my next pick…

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (click here for synopsis)

I’m not sure why I usually end up reading books that are part of a trilogy or series, but I seem to be drawn to them.  This next book that I am recommending is by Kate Jacobs, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, and its sequels, Knit Two, and Knit the Season. I’ve had the pleasure of reading all three books, and I recommend you read them in order.

Here’s an excerpt from Google Books:  It starts almost by accident: the women who buy their knitting needles and wool from Georgia’s store linger for advice, for a coffee, for a chat and before they know it, every Friday night is knitting night. As the needles clack, and the garments grow, the conversation moves on from patterns and yarn to life, love and everything. These women are of different ages and backgrounds, and face different problems, but they are drawn together by threads of affection that prove as durable as the sweaters they knit.

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I guarantee you’ll really enjoy these books, so as usual, pickup a copy or download it to your e-reader, and enjoy a great summer read!

What have you been reading this summer?

 

Firefly Lane

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To continue with my summer book reviews, here’s my next pick…

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (click here for synopsis)

Kristin Hannah, the New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, is another one of my favorite storytellers.  I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting her at a few book signings. The first of her books that I read, Firefly Lane, happens to be her most popular novel. She herself calls it the book the changed her career.  I’ll admit, I’m the kind of person that sometimes does judge a book by its cover (shame on me), and I first picked up this book because I loved the name and was intrigued by what kind of story this would be.  It is a wonderful tale of friendship and life as seen through the eyes of two women who’ve been lifelong friends.  Truly, one of my all time favorite books to date, and the only one of her novels that has produced a sequel…Fly Away.  I have not read Fly Away yet, as I’m planning to read it on a very long flight this summer.  But I’m sure it will be as amazing as its prequel. So, pickup a copy of Firefly Lane or download it to your e-reader, and enjoy a great summer read!

FIrefly Lane

Are there any good books you’ve read recently? I love suggestions!

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

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Now that summer is around the corner and many of us are starting to plan our vacations or just hanging out at our favorite beach, lake, pool, etc., it’s time for some good summer reading.  I love to read and when I find a good book, I just can’t put it down until I’ve finished it. When I was much younger, I read many of the Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews. Years later, I became obsessed with the mysteries of Mary Higgins Clark, and I read many of her novels as well.

In the past few years, I’ve read many more books, and I will be featuring some of my favorites in the weeks to come.

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain (click here for synopsis)
Let me start by saying that I love all of the books by Diane Chamberlain and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her at several book signings, as she lives in Raleigh, NC, where I used to live a few years ago.  Her books always have a mystery to them, and they really keep you guessing.  This is the first of her books that I read a few summers ago, and I think I finished it in two lazy beach days!  It is my favorite of all her books and it pretty much got me hooked on this author.  Without giving much away, I’ll just say, go buy a copy, or download it to your e-reader, grab a towel, some suntan lotion, shades, a cold drink, and enjoy a great afternoon read!

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Photo Courtesy of Diane Chamberlain Books