Seaview Inn by Sherryl Woods

# of book read so far this year: 35

Title: Seaview Inn

Author: Sherryl Woods

Date Finished: 6/28/2008

Genre: Contemporary Romance

# of pages: 394

Series: ~~~~
blurb: Hannah comes to Seaview Keys, Hoping to persuade her grandmother, Jenny, who's getting old, to see Seaview Inn and move into a retirement home. Hannah is worried that it's getting to be too much for Granny Jenny and she wants her to move into a retirement home. Hannah has also recently lost her mother to breast cancer, and also been diagnosed with breast cancer herself, so she's also coming to Sea View Keys to try and get herself back together and get her life back in order. Hannah's daughter, Kelsey, announces that she's pregnant, and while she loves the baby's father, she's not yet ready to marry him and she's unsure of whether she wants to keep the baby or put it up for adoption. She drops out of college at Stanford University and comes to Seaview Inn to try and figure out what she wants to do with her life. Luke, Hannah's childhood crush , is an orthepedic surgeon. He has just returned from Iraq, where he was an army doctor. He is recovering from an car bomb that shattered his leg. He has also just gone through a painful divorce, after finding out that his wife and best friend cheated on him while he was in Iraq. He, is also in Seaview Key to try and figure everything out, and figure out what he wants and where he wants to be. Later in the story, when Hannah is cleaning out her mother's suit, she finds letter from her father that were addressed to her. They answered some of her questions about why he abandoned her and her mother all those years ago. Hannah and her father, and her half brother are able to meet and try to catch up for lost time. After coming to Seaview Keys, Kelsey realizes she wants to stay there and help Grandma Jenny run Seaview Inn. Her boyfriend, Jeff follows her there, and she eventually realizes she really does love him and wants to spend the rest of her life with him and their baby daughter is born. They get married right before their baby is born. Grandma Jenny gets her wish and Seaview Inn stays open. Hannah and Luke are immediately attracted to each other, and despite her fears that her cancer will come back, Hannah soon realizes that there's no place that she'd rather be than in Seaview Keys with Luke, and even gives up her job (where she's accomplished ALOT) in New York to move to Seaview Keys
personal thoughts/opinions: I really enjoyed this book. I thought Grandma Jenny was a crack up and kept everyone on their toes. Toward the end of the book, I thought Hannah was going to end up pregnant, and did get a little teary eyed when I was reading about her cancer scare. I am so glad that she got to reunite with her father and meet her brother. And I think her and Luke are perfect for each other! I hope there will be a sequel that includes Hannah and Luke's wedding, and maybe a baby for them, and also the birth of Kelsey and Jeff's Baby.
What did you like best about the book? I really like books with the small town setting where everyone knows everyone.
What didn’t you like about the book? I thought Kelsey was being pretty selfish in the beginning but I'm glad she came around in the end and decided to marry Jeff.
why you read it? I had read and really enjoyed Mending Fences so I wanted to try this book too.
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? both
Would you recommend it to others? yes I definitely would
Do you want to read more books by this author? I'm planning to read the Sweet Magnolia Series next. I also definitely want to read the Charleston Trilogy and Flamingo Diner.
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read? yes it did sort of remind me of the Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs and somewhat of Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? not at all
Was this book what you expected? yes, maybe even exceeded my expectations.
What book are you planning to read next? Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods- Part of the Sweet Magnolia Series.

Down By the River by Robyn Carr

# of book read so far this year: 34

Title: Down By the River

Author: Robyn Carr

Date Finished: 6/20/2008

Genre: Romance

# of pages: 377

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy
blurb: June's secret Lover retires from the DEA and comes to Grace Valley for good. They annouce that they're pregnant and make plans to get married. Chris and his boys are still in Grace Valley, and the boys are recovering from the car accident. June and Chris's Wife, Nancy, become really close. The Forrest family decides to stay in Grace Valley. The Mull family is still living in Grace Family. Jurea befriends Erline, her neighbor, and another mom with a bunch of kids. Sam gets her into an empty house, and helps her start her life over. Myrna's husband, Morton returns to Grace Valley, much to everyone's surprise, after writing her letters under a different name, which actually happens to be his REAL name...he's just always went by Morton. The new Preacher, Harry, is having some addiction problems with gambling, and as a result looses a lot of money, and ends up borrowing from a lot of people. He runs in Shame, but soon learns that according to the residents of Grace Valley, "Everyone Makes Mistakes" and they all welcome him back in Grace Valley with open arms.
personal thoughts/opinions: I love his this book started off the day after Just Over the Mountain ended. I came to really love the residents of Grace Valley, and was really sad to see this series end. I miss them already. I sure wish Robyn Carr would continue this series. I got a different vibe from the residents of Grace Valley than I did from the residents of Virgin River, though I loved the residents of Virgin River just as much!
What did you like best about the book? I loved June...and how she kept her love a secret for a long while. I sort of did the same thing so she reminded me a lot of myself.
What didn’t you like about the book? I didn't really like the who Myrna/Morton storyline. I could've done without that.
why you read it? because I've really enjoyed the first two books in the series, I had to finish it off!
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? It was recommended to me by friends in Bookloversgroup in yahoo groups.
Would you recommend it to others? yes I definitely would
Do you want to read more books by this author? I have two more books of hers already that I want to read, and she's coming out with A Virgin River Christmas later this year, and 3 more books in the Virgin River Series in 2009.
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read? yeah the Virgin River Series.....OH...I wish she would've mentioned the Virgin River Residents in this series....I kept waiting for their names to appear, but they never did.
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? Not at all!
Was this book what you expected?What book are you planning to read next? Blue Skies ALSO by Robyn Carr!!!!

Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury

# of book read so far this year: 33
Title: Like Dandelion Dust
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Date Finished: 6/16/08
Genre: Christian Fiction
# of pages: 384
Series: ~~~~~~
blurb: Joey is a little boy who's 5 years old and Adopted. His birth mother, Wendy, gave him up for adoption when she had him because his father was in prison for beating her. She gets pregnant right after he goes to prison. She doesn't tell him she's pregnant, instead she forges his signature on the adoption papers. 5 years later, when he gets out of prison, she tells him the truth. He insists they must get their son back and take him away from the only home and the only parents he's ever known. This is obviously very upsetting news to Joey's adoptive parents. They come up with a plan to flee the country while their Haiti on this mission trip with the church. In the end, Wendy's husband starts abusing her again, so Wendy decides to drop the case and that Joey is really better off with his adoptive parents, because no matter how many times Rip gets sent to prison for abusing her, she will continue to take him back every time.
personal thoughts/opinions: I really enjoyed this book. It did make me have second thoughts on whether I really want to adopt a child when I'm older. I hated Rip, and I thought Wendy was pretty selfish most of the time too. I didn't really like Beth...she tried too hard to shove religion down everyone's throat and expected everything to be just perfect.
What did you like best about the book? probably the subject matter. I love reading stories about adoption, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
What didn’t you like about the book? probably some of the characters
why you read it? because I had read the back cover and the blurb caught my attention
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? I found it on my own when I was shopping
Would you recommend it to others? I already have
Do you want to read more books by this author? yes I definitely plan to
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read? yes, somewhat of A Theory of Relativity, and this non fiction book I read
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? not at all...I only wish I would've picked it up and read it sooner.
Was this book what you expected? I think it exceeded my expectations
What book are you planning to read next? I have started Down By the River by Robyn Carr

I gave this book a 5/5!!

Just Over the Mountain by Robyn Carr

# of book read so far this year: 32

Title: Just Over the Mountain

Author: Robyn Carr

Date Finished: 6/13/08

Genre: Romance

# of pages: 376

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy
blurb: Some of the big things that happened in this book were: June's old Beau, Chris Forrest has seperated from his wife and returned to Grace Valley along with his two little hellion sons, 14 year old twins Brad and Brent. They always seem to be getting into trouble. There question of whereabouts of Myrna's dad surface again after bones are found under her bushes outside. It is then discovered that this birdwatcher named Paul put them there to set her up. June ends up Pregnant and Jim returns for good, and the secret of their relationship is finally out! Susan Stone becomes a nurse at the clinic, which causes a lot of tension between her and John in the beginning, but they soon kiss and make up. Justine, Sam's wife, was recently diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, and then believes she is pregnant, so she stops all of her treatment. Unfortunately, this turns out not to be true and ends up costing her her life. The Mulls are learning to survive in non-isolation and have moved to town. The two kids have started going to school and are doing well. Clarence is having a harder time than the rest of the family. Jurea has reconstructive surgery on her face and the changes are just too much for Clarence to handle. So, he goes back to the forest, but he soon starts to come around. Oh, and Blythe and Daniel have always seemed like such a nice couple but decide to confess after everyone thinks Daniel's having an affair with Sarah, that they are in fact brother and sister.
personal thoughts/opinions: WOW! I DEFINITELY liked this book better than Deep In the Valley!!! So many things happened in this book. I'm so glad Jim is here to stay and can't wait to hear more about their pregnancy and getting married. I didn't really like Sarah in the beginning, but when I got to the TWIST in the story, my feelings changed and I felt that Blythe was being pretty selfish. I also thought that Susan and Julianna were being pretty catty for being PROUD of running Pastor Wickham out of town. I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle Chris....I CANNOT Stand parents who let their kids get away with murder!!! I thought it was pretty chauvanistic for John not to want Susan to work and wanted to strangle him on a few occasions too. And Honestly, I could've done without the whole Myrna storyline.....that just didn't seem to fit this perfect little town.
What did you like best about the book? how there were actual STORYLINES....In the first book in the series everything seemed to run together.
What didn’t you like about the book? Some of the people....I wanted to strangle some of them!
why you read it? because I recently read this author's other series and wanted to try this one too.
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? It was recommended to me by friends in Bookloversgroup (online group on yahoo)
Would you recommend it to others? yes I definitely would
Do you want to read more books by this author? yes
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read? not so much
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? NOT AT ALL! I can only hope that the next book in the series will be as good as this one was.
Was this book what you expected? yes, maybe it even exceeded my expectations
What book are you planning to read next? While I track down, Down By the River, the third and last book in the Grace Valley Trilogy, I will Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury. I've been wanting to read that book FOREVER!

I give Just over the Mountain 5/5!!!

Some Kind of Wonderful by Debbie Macomber

Basically John McFarland blackmails Charles Lovin into sending his daughter Judy to John's island. Once she arrives there, they fall in love, but it takes them forever to admit their feelings. John is quite the beast and lashes out to Judy on several occasions. Judy eventually gets a letter from home saying her brother is getting married and decides she wants to go home. However, John refuses to allow her to leave, which forces Judy to change her mind about him and ignore him at all costs. He finally agrees to let her go home, and it isn't until Judy gets home that she realizes how much she really loves John. She ends up going back to the island to marry John.

My thoughts:

In the beginning of the book, I wasn't so sure. But I stuck with it, and ended up liking it. I really liked Judy and I could definitely see her with a house ful of kids someday. I didn't really have much of an opinion about her family, because I didn't read much about them. However, I think the sister in law really helped Judy to realize her true feelings. Now....my feelings on John are somewhat mixed. I did think he was pretty selfish and arrogant, and there were times when I wished I could reach right through the pages and strangle him. BUT, I also saw a really sweet side. It was obvious, as much as he denied it, that he really loved Judy and lived to make her happy. I was tought when he built the school and the Doctor's office. I figured they would end up together, but the story should've ended with their wedding. SO thats MY review. I don't regret reading it....I plan to read ALL of Debbie Macomber's books someday and now I can cross this off my list. As far as ratings go, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Deep In the Valley by Robyn Carr

# of book read so far this year: 30

Title: Deep In the Valley

Author: Robyn Carr

Date Finished: 6/6/08

Genre: Contemporary Romance

# of pages: 378

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy.
blurb: We got to know the residents of Grace Valley. Grace Valley is set in California, near the Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity Counties. This is only a few hours away from where I live? Grace Valley is a very small town, where every knows each other and watches out for each other. Some of the main characters in this book were Tom Toopeek, June Hudson, her dad Elmer Hudson, the Craven family, and John Stone. John is new to Grace Valley and he's the OB-GYN. June has doubts about him in the beginning and suspects he has a past that includes Sexual Assualt charges,. Luckily, discovers she was wrong. June meets Jim, an undercover DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) Agent who shows up once in awhile. Gus Craven is an abusive father and husband, and his wife ends up killing him in self-defence.
personal thoughts/opinions: I must say I was a bit disappointed. I liked the Virgin River Series muchbetter. I will definitely read the other two books. I wrote out a list of all the characters so I could remember who's who (in another entry).I really did like all the characters though....well except for Gus Craven. And I noticed there sure seemed to be a lot of blame and accusation going on?
What did you like best about the book? I like the small town feel and how everyone knows each other.
What didn’t you like about the book? I noticed there seemed to be a lot of accusation and blame going on in this book.
why you read it? I loved the Virgin River Series so much that I was excited to read this series too.
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? It was recommended to me by Bookloversgroup (online group on yahoo.com)
Would you recommend it to others? yes I would
Do you want to read more books by this author? definitely
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read?
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? not as much as the Virgin River series did
Was this book what you expected? ummmm I really didn't know WHAT I was expecting, so yeah I guess so.
What book are you planning to read next? between the time I finished the book and the time I posted this entry. I have started the second book in the Grace Valley Series, Just Over the Mountain and also started and finished Some Kind of Wonderful by Debbie Macomber.

I rated this book 3.5/5