Dream A Little Dream - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Rating: 4

Pages: 400

Challenges: Audio, Support your Local Library, Romance, Book Awards (RITA), 20 in 2009

Synopsis

Rachel Stone is left with a young son Edward when her Evangelist husband is caught lying to his congregation about the "good deeds" he is doing. He decides to ditch his life and his wife with $5 million to boot! In desperation, Rachel decides to return to Salvation, NC, where the towns people think (thanks to her husband) that Rachel is the reason for the good preacher's demise. Needless to say she is not much liked.

Rachel has determined that her husband's millions have to be in Salvation and has returned to find it. After some pleading and desperation she starts working at a drive-in where she finds love with the owner...and finds her faith.

Review

I enjoy the "Bonner" books from Phillips. Although I enjoyed What I Did for Love much better. See my review here. Rachel has more guts and determination than most people and she endured more than anyone should have to. The way her husband paraded her around reminded me of Tammy Faye Baker - I wonder if that was Phillip's inspiration for the book. A very good read!!

What I Did For Love - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Rating: 5 out of 5 horses

Pages: 400

Challenges: Support your Local Library, Publish in 2009, 20 in 2009

Synopsis (and picture from BN.com)
How did this happen? Georgie York, once the costar of America's favorite television sitcom, has been publicly abandoned by her famous husband, her film career has tanked, her father is driving her crazy, and her public image as a spunky heroine is taking a serious beating.

What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? Not go to Vegas . . . not run into her detestable former costar, dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard . . . and not get caught up in an ugly incident that leads to a calamitous elopement. Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, a fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life.

It's a paparazzi free-for-all, and Georgie's nonsupporting cast doesn't help. There's Bram's punk-nightmare housekeeper, Georgie's own pushy parent, a suck-up agent, an icy studio head with a private agenda, and her ex-husband's new wife, who can't get enough of doing good deeds and saving the world—the bitch. As for Georgie's leading man, Bram's giving the performance of his life, but he's never cared about anyone except himself, and it's not exactly clear why.

Two enemies find themselves working without a script in a town where the spotlight shines bright . . . and where the strongest emotions can wear startling disguises.

Review

Loved it! If you enjoy watching ET or reading US to get the scoop on celeberties you will enjoy this book. It is esentially the break up of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt with Jennifer marrying a bad boy...oh and Jennifer Aniston has a stage father. It's fun to see the the inner workings of celeberties and their relationships. I have rellly enjoyed Susan Elizabeth Phillips books and would recommend this one

Priceless - Dave Ramsey

Rating: 2 out of 5 horses

Pages: 136

Challenges: New Author, Support Your Local Library

Review (picture from bn.com)

This book is about why we need to be out of debt. I am already convinced that being out of debt is good so this book wasn't the right one for me. This book has very little on HOW to get out of debt, just a persuasive argument on why debt is bad. Not the book I was looking for.

Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

Rating: 3 out of 5 horses (average)

Pages: 432

Challenges: New Author, Audio, Support your Local Library, Dewey Recommended, Numbers, Book Awards, 20 in 2009

Synopsis (and picture from BN.com)

Margaret Lea works in her father's antiquarian bookshop where her fascination for the biographies of the long-dead has led her to write them herself. She gets a letter from one of the most famous authors of the day, the mysterious Vida Winter, whose popularity as a writer has been in no way diminished by her reclusiveness. Until now, Vida has toyed with journalists who interview her, creating outlandish life histories for herself - all of them invention. Now she is old and ailing, and at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to Margaret is a summons.

Somewhat anxiously, the equally reclusive Margaret travels to Yorkshire to meet her subject - and Vida starts to recount her tale. It is one of Gothic strangeness featuring the March family; the fascinating, devious and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline.

Margaret is captivated by the power of Vida's storytelling. But as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction, and she doesn't entirely trust Vida's account. She goes to check up on the family, visiting their old home and piecing together their story in her own way. What she discovers on her journey to the truth is for Margaret a chilling and transforming experience.

Review

I was disappointed in this book. I think that it is possible it was all the great reviews it has gotten, but also that I read it over a period of time. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I read it faster and would have kept the characters straight. Although the end of the book did surprise me which was nice.

Envy - Anna Godberson

Rating: 4 out of 5 horses

Pages: 416

Challenges: Young Adult, Support Your Local Library, 20 in 2009

Series: Luxe #3

Synopsis (and picture from BN.com)

Jealous whispers.
Old rivalries.
New betrayals.

Two months after Elizabeth Holland's dramatic homecoming, Manhattan eagerly awaits her return to the pinnacle of society. When Elizabeth refuses to rejoin her sister Diana's side, however, those watching New York's favorite family begin to suspect that all is not as it seems behind the stately doors of No. 17 Gramercy Park South.

Farther uptown, Henry and Penelope Schoonmaker are the city's most celebrated couple. But despite the glittering diamond ring on Penelope's finger, the newlyweds share little more than scorn for each other. And while the newspapers call Penelope's social-climbing best friend, Carolina Broad, an heiress, her fortune—and her fame—are anything but secure, especially now that one of society's darlings is slipping tales to the eager press.

Review

Another good one in this series. I didn't like it as well as the others but it was still really good. This story ended with a setup for the next book (which I think is the last). In this we see Diana and Henry still loving each other even though he marries someone else...and Elizabeth in a predicament from being married to Will. We also see a new love emerge for Teddy, but will he ever get to be with the girl he loves? We will have to wait until book 4 to find out. I would recommend this series for anyone who is wanting a Young Adult book.