Review: The Lovesick Cure by Pamela Morsi

  The Lovesick Cure
  Author: Pamela Morsi
  Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
  Publication date: August 28th 2012
  Source: Netgalley
  My rating: 4 Stars

  

For Jesse Winsloe, the answer is clear: head into hiding. Single again and laid off from work, Jesse flees to Onery Cabin to lick her wounds with her ancient aunt Will—a Granny woman with the secret to healing the lovelorn.Sure, Onery Cabin may be right out of Hollywood's Lifestyles of the Poor and Hillbilly, but Marrying Stone Mountain has its charm—including the local physician's assistant, Piney Baxley, a past recipient of Aunt Will's pungent "heartbreak poultice."

Between folk remedies and a "no strings attached" romance, Jesse is beginning to think she's found her own brand of lovesick cure—because there's nothing like a pinch of confidence and a dash of attraction to mend a broken heart.

I felt like I was transported to the deep South, and could easily be sipping sweet tea, sitting on a porch swing, while reading this.  It was a sweet tale of family, getting over heartbreak, and finding love in unexpected places.  And while there was little in the way of drama, I was totally immersed in this sweet tale.

Jesse has just had her heart broken by what she thought was a fine upstanding man, Greg.  The principal of the high school she where she taught earth science.  It seems that another caught his eye and he tossed aside a two-year engagement and married someone else.  To add insult to injury, right before this switch-up (or switch-down, you decide), Greg picked Jesse to lay-off instead of another teacher because of how it would look if he kept her on instead.  So with no job and no fiancée, and no plans Jesse decides to flee Tulsa and visit with her ancient Aunt Will, in the Ozarks of Arkansas.

Aunt Will is a celebrity of sorts in this small, hayseed town.  She’s what they call a “granny woman,” someone who dispenses herbs, “yarbs” as they call it, tonics and folk cures.  But much more than that, Aunt Will seemed to be the woman the town relied on for cures and advice for all things that ailed them.  When Jesse comes to visit, Aunt Will insists that Jesse take “lovesick cure” a putrid smelling poultice that’s applied to the chest every night for six days to cure her heartbreak.  This is how she connects to Piney, the town Doc who recognized that horrid smell from his own time with the poultice, much to Jesse’s embarrassment.  He’s had experience with heartbreak as well.  

This story was told from mainly Jesse and Piney’s POV but other characters also have some time spent on them.  Jesse was a likeable main character, someone I sided with from the beginning.  How could you not feel for this woman who’s been dumped by her fiancée, so he can up and marry someone else after a two-year engagement?  She’s from the big city but is never condescending to her Aunt Will or the others in the small town, and the love and care she shows her old Aunt is touching.   Piney is a man every woman would want, responsible, good-looking, and a wonderful father.  Every woman, that is, except for his wife who took off long ago.  The friendship Jesse strikes up with Piney is innocent enough at first but soon they can’t fight the shared growing attraction. 

The Lovesick Cure reeled me in with the promise of romance, but honestly, the history and interactions between all of these characters were just as captivating to me.  There was a solid cast of secondary characters, Piney’s teenage son, Tree, and his girlfriend Camryn.  And then there’s Aunt Will, and her past life and a couple of intriguing secrets.   They all had their own story that you wanted to discover and watch unfold as well.   I loved all of Aunt Will’s sage advice handed out with or without tact (mostly without), but hey, sometimes people have to be slapped upside the head to get a point. 

This was an engrossing and sweet tale, with a romance that’ll make you say “awww” in the end.   

Waiting on Wednesday #17

 

Is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases were eagerly anticipating.  The book I'm most excited about this week is...

 

Shadowlands by Kate Brian

Publication date: January 8th 2013

Publisher: Hyperion

 

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

I LOVE mysteries and this one sounds brilliant!  The main character Rory already seems like a girl I can get behind and root for. She must be strong to fight off a serial killer and escape.  Add to that, there's complicated relationship between Rory and her sister. I really want to know what's behind that drama.  I don't really see anything mentioned about a romance, but a girl can hope.  Plus, I just love that cover, gorgeous!!  I'm dying to get my hands on this. 

So what are you currently lusting after?  We'd love to know.  Link us up and we'll check it out. 

Author Event Recap and Giveaway: David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Hello lovely readers!  Tonight I attended another wonderful author event, this time featuring David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, authors and frequent collaborators.  I was excited because I've met both authors before, so knew I was about to be entertained!    The event was held at the lovely independent bookstore, Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop in La Verne, California. Be sure to scroll down and enter our giveaway of Signed Copies of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, both are co-authored by these talented writers. 

David reads from Every Day

Both authors started out by reading their newest releases.  David read from Every Day and Rachel read from Beta.  While they both sound amazing and I can't wait to pick them up, I was most intrigued by their collaborative works.  They've published three books together: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. David and Rachel said that they had a basic idea behind each story but didn't know exactly what the other would write until 

Rachel Reads from Beta

they received the next chapter.  I'm currently reading Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, and I have to say this method worked out brilliantly.  You can tell they had fun coming up with the story, and their easy and teasing relationship I observed tonight shines through in the writing.  Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist has already been turned into a movie, and both David and Rachel were very pleased with the results, as David said they felt like they "hit a home-run" with that movie.  When asked if any of their other books would also be turned into films, they said

there is bites of interest but nothing solid at the moment.  Speaking of movies, David related an experience he had while taking a friend to the bookstore featured in Dash and Lily, The Strand.  He went in to buy a few books and also picked up a copy of Dash and Lily, and the clerk who rang up said "Oh, this is really good, have you read it." He replied, "yeah."  Then she said, "It's awesome and it's being turned into a movie, I can't remember who's doing it, but maybe they'll film some of it here."  And he said, "That's awesome, I'm glad I have a copy then."  He said the best part was when he realized he had to pay with a credit card and he thought "oh here comes the punch-line" but nope, no recognition from her at all.  All in the audience were laughing, of course, at this point. So this is how rumors get started!  

Both David and Rachel captivated us all, I swear I'm starstruck every time I go to an author event!  These two were so nice allowing us to take pictures and ask extra questions while we were getting our books signed, it was a true pleasure meeting them.  When I say "we," I mean Arlene from Winterhaven Books, and I!  Yes, we got to meet up again and we had another great time gossiping before and after.  Two obsessed bookworms together and the night just flies by!  I had a great time, Arlene! 

Well, now it's your turn to reap the benefits of these author signings: signed books!  We've decided to giveaway a signed copy of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and a signed copy Dash and Lily's Book of Dares.  Both are signed by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and both are hardcover.  The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  So fill out the rafflecopter below for a chance to win.  The only requirement is that you follow the blog via GFC. The giveaway will run for two weeks, so make sure you get your entry in soon.  Thanks for visiting and good luck! 

Mini-review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

  Alice in Zombieland
  Author: Gena Showalter
  Publisher: Mira Ink
  Publication date: October 5th 2012
  My rating: 3 stars 

 

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

I think I may be in the minority of reviewers who didn’t enjoy Alice in Zombieland. With a stunning cover and alluring premise what’s not to love? I think when I read the word zombie; I should have taken that as a sign as I haven’t had much luck with zombie books except for one. But I went in with the hopes that it would provide something different and different it certainly did.

The beginning of the book I had no problems with, I found myself thrown into the mix from the get go, with several questions flying around the place. Do these so called monsters Alice’s dad sees really exist? And if so why are they hanging around here of all places? And the continued pace certainly kept me on my toes. I think what let me down was that I was unable to form a strong connection with any of the characters. Yes there was such a varied bunch; surely one would have stood out? Sadly no, each time I thought I was getting to grips with someone’s character, they would do something which would grate on me for the rest of the book. That’s not to say I didn’t  have fun with this book, there were parts which totally had me hooked and I’m positive that the characters I found to be lacklustre in places will be more rounded and developed by the second book.

Despite not enjoying Alice in Zombieland as much as I’d hoped, I’m sure a lot of others will find this a spell-blinding read.  

And to convince you to give this book a try check out these glowing reviews;

Sam @ Realm of Fiction

Jenny @ Supernatural Snark

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads.   

Review: All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen

  
  All The Broken Pieces
  Author: Cindi Madsen
  Publisher: Entangled Teen
  Publication date: December 11th 2012
  My rating: 4.5 Stars

 

What if your life wasn’t your own?

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

All the Broken Pieces just blew my mind in a good way, and I loved it!  Cindi Madsen crafted a fascinating and mind bending mystery, and a swoony slow-building romance that left me in a puddle on the floor. 

Olivia wakes up with no memories, tubes in her arm, staples in her head and a scar on her chest.  She has only her parent’s version of what happened, a terrible car accident, and not many details.  What’s more disturbing though, is that she can hear two distinct voices in her head and dreams that don’t make sense, and feel far too real.  Are they really dreams, or could she be remembering events from her past?  Whenever she asks her parents for details, they clam up and get upset and evasive.  Plus, there’s the fact that as soon as she was well enough, they picked up and left Minnesota, and great jobs, and moved to a small town in Arizona.  Now Olivia is faced with starting a new school, making friends, with no idea of who she is or what her past contained. 

Right away she makes friends with Keira, a nice girl, but a follower of the popular crowd.  Olivia would like to make friends, but the voices in her head have conflicting ideas about that.  One side wants to fit in and the other does nothing but mock the in-crowd.  Then there’s Spencer, the cute loner guy with shaggy brown hair and “geek-sheik” glasses who runs hot and cold with her.  One minute he’s helping her and the next he’s insulting.  Yet, he’s the only one she feels she can confide in when her dreams become more frequent, more real, more disturbing.   Olivia feels a growing need to find out what really happened the night of her accident, but can she handle the truth?

This story gripped me from the first pages.  I was riveted by the mystery of Olivia’s accident and loss of memory.  Ms. Madsen did an excellent job of creating the air of suspense around this puzzle and I was anxious to piece it together and solve it.  While some of the aspects may have been a little fantastic to believe, and I pieced together some of it early on, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. 

As everyone knows, I’m a romance junkie and this one did not disappoint.  Ms. Madsen knows how to write a romance!   The dreaded love-triangle and insta-love we see time after time is completely absent!!  *does happy dance*  Spencer comes off as a jerk at first, cautious of Olivia, because she’s hanging out with the popular crowd, and he has a troubled past with them.  But he is a sweetheart:

A car drove by, and Spencer moved her from his left to his right.  “What’s with the switch-up?” Liv asked. “I want to be between you and the street. That way if rocks fly up or whatever . . .”

“You’ll take the hit for me?” She leaned into him. “My hero.”  Tightening the arm he had around her waist, he kissed her forehead.

I’m such a sucker for gestures like that, so it’s no surprise that I was a goner over Spencer.  I had to put him on my ever growing list of book boyfriends! 

The ending, while satisfying was thought provoking.  I’m not sure how this would have worked out if it happened in real-life. 

This is the second story I’ve read by Cindi Madsen and she just gets better and better.   I’ll be picking up whatever she writes next!