Kisses Under The Spotlight Alex Jackson Series Book 1 - by Joanne Dannon - 5 Stars!

This book was a quick read for me!  I really enjoyed the story of superstar Alex Jackson (he sings, taps, a little of everything to old Gershwin style music) and physiotherapist Violet McKenna.  She, was working at a hotel, on call for anyone who had an injury in the hotel, when she is called in to look at Alex Jacksons ankle.  He jumped from the top of a piano and landed wrong.  She always thought that he was soooooo handsome and talented, even had a calendar and a few pictures up in her bedroom.  After she meets him, she throws those away, she was so disappointed that he was such a prima donna.  When he asks her to join his tour so that she can keep his ankle in performance ready shape, she had to be really convinced to join because her first contact with him wasn't so great.  She finds he can be nice, down to earth, when he isn't in a lot of pain and looking at perhaps not being able to dance in a contest coming up for which he really wants to win.  He needs Alex with him to make sure he will be ready for that and that he will be able to perform at all of the scheduled stops in between.
Well it isn't long before the conflict turns into sexy banter, then into sex between the two and the scenes are smoking.  If you don't like explicit sex this book isn't for you.  In the end Alex and Violet part ways, she doesn't want a life that is always moving, she wants to settle down into a home she's already picked out and do her work from there.  Traveling for a life is something she just doesn't want.  Her childhood taught her to dislike moving all of the time.
I won't say more as you will have to read the book in order to see how things work out.
I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  I did enjoy the book!
Here is a description as found on Good Reads:
Fairy tales aren’t just for princesses

Superstar Alex Jackson steers clear of any emotional involvement after a series of life-changing events turned his life, and heart, inside out and upside down. Broken and deeply scarred, he has sworn to remain single and emotionally aloof to all women.

Physiotherapist Violet McKenzie, is distrustful of men—famous men being at the top of her list for good reason. She’s learned a thing or two about them and has made a conscious effort to stay as far away as she possibly can.

Until sexy Alex needs her professional assistance after a stage mishap and she becomes his personal physio. Violet has sworn off love, but when Alex’s hot kisses keep her up at night longing for more, she wonders if she can remain steadfast to her personal promise to never fall for the wrong guy again.

Can a superstar and an ordinary girl have a happily ever after, or is that only reserved for the songs Alex sings?

Praise for Joanne Dannon - “A sexy superstar hero who has it all except the love of the right woman and an ordinary working girl whose job propels her into the heart of the hero's glamorous life. Joanne Dannon's wonderfully emotional story will sweep you away.” – Rachael Thomas, Harlequin Presents author.

Before We were Yours - by Lisa Wingate -- 4 Stars

Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale.

This story is based on two timelines, one with 12 Year old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings who live on the river with their Mom and Dad.  Mom has a really bad delivery of twins gone wrong and has to be taken into the hospital.  Somehow she is coerced to sign away her children who were left to their own on the river in their boat, the Arcadia.

They are whisked away to The Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are told that they will see their parents soon but that is a lie, they find out everything about the home is based on lies.

Present day a Senator's daughter comes upon a woman in a Senior Center she is visiting and the woman steals her bracelet.  When she goes to collect it she looks in on the woman and the story begins in present day as she hunts for what she thinks might be her Grandmothers past, and it doesn't line up with the pretty Senator's daughter who is being groomed to run for a Senate seat herself one day.

I believe I won this kindle book from Good Reads in exchange for an honest review.  The book drags just a bit, I was able to pick it up and put it down at will, it took a while before the two stories come together and things start moving then.  I was hoping this book would be one that has me from the very beginning and that it would be one I would be totally engrossed in.  The subject matter, although the characters for the most part were fictional, there was actually an orphanize run by the same woman and they stole parents children, kids along the streets, told Mothers their new borns were born dead, they did terrible things and then made great amounts of money by selling the children famous families that had the money to buy them.  It's a good read, one worth reading, and you feel that everything that happens to the children there is just wrong!

My LIfe To Live - How I became the queen of soaps when men ruled the air waves by Agnes Nixon - 4 Stars!

I was never home during the day so wasn't able to sit and watch daytime soaps, although I did hear about Erica Kane and certainly knew who Susan Lucci was! The book was a fascinating read about the woman who was not only a writer for two soaps that ran so very long, "All My Children" and "One Life to Live." She was not only a writer she had a husband and children and was pretty much the patriarch of her family's, those at home and those in her shows who she did consider family! It is really too bad that she wasn't able to see the book of her life finally published! Her children used her words and wrote and typed and got the job done even though she had suffered a stroke. You can feel the love of the woman as you hear her story. I'm not a writer, I read, I do reviews and I received this book from http://bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.

 I can't tell the story of how this book came to be, or how her life started, it was all there in the book, her life was very interesting even for someone who didn't get to stay home and watch daytime soaps.

Here is the description as found on Good Reads: From the Emmy-winning creator and writer of All My Children and One Life to Live, a memoir of her trailblazing rise to the top of the television industry, including behind-the-scenes stories from some of the most beloved soaps of all time
Before there was Erica Kane, Adam Chandler, or Victoria Lord, there was Agnes Nixon, a young girl who dreamed up stories for paper dolls. Those tales she imagined--ones filled with ambitions, rivalries, and romances--would soon parallel her own path to success. In a memoir filled with as much drama as the soaps she penned, Nixon shares her journey from Nashville to New York City, as she overcomes the loss of her fiance in World War II, a father intent on crushing her writing dreams, and the jealousy of her male colleagues on her way to becoming one of the most successful names in television.
While fans will delight in Nixon's own incredible life, they will also love her behind-the-scenes insight into her most popular shows. Inside, she shares the inspiration for Erica Kane and how she cast Susan Lucci in the role; an excerpt from the never-before-seen All My Children story bible; entertaining anecdotes about her shows' beloved casts and special guests, including Carol Burnett, Kelly Ripa, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett; and more.
But My Life to Live is also a portrait of a pioneer. Driven to use her ratings power for good, Nixon fought and broke network taboos by wrestling with controversial social issues ranging from women's health, interracial relationships, and the Vietnam War to drug addiction, LGBT rights, and AIDS. By infusing her characters with sensitivity, humor, and humanity, she enabled millions to examine an opposite point of view. And long before Shonda Rhimes launched a golden age of female showrunners, Agnes Nixon positioned ABC to become the media giant it is today. She is a true television legend, and her candid and inspiring glimpse behind the curtain of the television industry will charm soap fans and story lovers alike.

Treasured Grace by Tracie Peterson - Five Stars!

I know I've read Tracie Peterson before me, I've always enjoyed her writing. She does great background studying before she starts her books.  You will learn something that happened in history, was true of the land she is writing about, and some times the characters really existed although she may have made some of it different to keep the story moving.  She often sprinkles great points from the Bible in her books, they are well chosen and make me reflect which can't be all bad.  Even if you don't believe, there are some of her points that she is trying to make that is just a good way for everyone to behave.  

In this book she tried to make the point that we are all alike under our skin, we are afraid of that which is different from us, but if we just make the point of trying to learn about other people, you will find they aren't so different.  They have the same fears, goals, although they may have things they were taught that are extremely different from our culture.  That is what is different the cultural aspects.  Maybe the language.  Some people such as the indians at the time of this writing really had sad lives, they distrusted the whites, of course, we took their land and killed all of their buffalo, then moved them off to reservations eventually.  This even pointed out that different tribes were not the same.  

The characters in this book  were so enjoyable to read about and I would love to read about Grace, Mercy and Hope in the next book.  Tracie often writes several books so that you can enjoy the characters, the land, as things progress in the next books.  I believe the last books I read of hers were based in Alaska.  I believe I received this book through http://bloggingforbooks.com from Bethany House.  I got this in exchange for an honest review and I read this book in one day...and I gave it five stars!


Description of book as found on Good Reads: Tracie Peterson Begins Compelling New Series Set on the 1840s Frontier

Grace Martindale has known more than her share of hardship. After her parents died, raising her two younger sisters became her responsibility. A hasty marriage to a minister who is heading to the untamed West seemed like an opportunity for a fresh start, but a cholera outbreak along the wagon trail has left Grace a widow in a very precarious position.

Having learned natural remedies and midwifery from her mother, Grace seeks an opportunity to use her skills for the benefit of others. So when she and her sisters arrive at the Whitman mission in "Oregon Country," she decides to stay rather than push on. 

With the help of Alex Armistead, a French-American fur trapper, Grace begins to provide care for her neighbors, including some of the native populace. But not everyone welcomes her skills--or her presence--and soon Grace finds herself and those she loves in more danger than she imagined possible.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel - Five Stars for this sick twisted tale!

Wow I knew this book was going to different, after I started it I had problems putting it down.  It started a little slow but you could tell it was worth the effort.  It's sick and kind of twisted, but then there are families that are sick and twisted out there.  This one was surprising to me, I kept waiting for her to blurt out the real secret of the family and then I was still surprised even though I had a feeling it was going to be that.  Lane's Mother committed suicide when she was 15 years old. She never had a normal relationship with her Mother, and as badly as she wanted it, it wasn't to be.  

She was sent away to a family she had never met, Grandparents she had never met actually wanted her, they had no idea where her Mom had run to.   They didn't know  she had a child.  But then that was a reason to run.  I didn't know just exactly why until almost the end of the book.  I kept hoping Lane was going to get out of there for good, she did for a while, but then she went back as her cousin who also lived with her Grandparents, Allegra, came up missing.  There was something to Allegra being gone and Lane knew it.  She wasn't going back to Las Angeles, until she found out what happened to Allegra.  

This book was one that I won through the ReadItForward people, hoping for an honest review which I've given it.  The books is creepy and dark,  but very worth reading!  

Here is the description as found on Good Reads: Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.

After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane's first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart

Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands Romance Collection - 5 Stars!

What a great collection of stories set in Turtle Springs, Kansas.  After the war, so many of the men were lost and never returned to Turtle Springs, that the businesses are failing, women are on the brink of losing their homes.....  Seven different authors wrote seven stories about a different woman set in this city where the female mayor decides to advertise for mail order husbands!  They are to come to Turtle Springs and spend a few minutes with each woman until each agree to a man/woman and the courting can begin.  Of course they have all sorts of men, some are not there just for the women some are their for their farms, money if they have any, etc.  Each of these women are desperate for the help of a man in their life and choose a man to court them.  I received this book of novellas in kindle format in exchange for an honest review through netgalley.com. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the stories and had fun envisioning each story as it played out.   Each of the stories complemented the others as they often had characters from other stories that were active in the next.  Reading about mail order brides is something I enjoy doing, this was a fun twist and I believe they were well written!

Description as found on Good Reads: Meet seven of Turtle Springs, Kansas, finest women who are determined to revive their small town after the War Between the States took most of its men. . .and didn't return them. The ladies decide to advertise for husbands and devise a plan for weeding out the riff raff. But how can they make the best practical choices when their hearts cry out to be loved?