Author: Janet Goss

Publisher: NAL Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-0-451-235695

Publish Date: March 6, 2012

Pages: 322 Trade Paperback

Type: Fiction

Purchase: $10.19 at Amazon.com

Solving the Puzzle…

Dana Mayo, an artist and cross-world solving whiz, lives in New York.  The one problem in her life that she seemingly can never solve is her love life.   She continues to carry a torch for a man who she loved over 20 years ago.  When she met Ray Devine, he was a married man.  She just can’t seem to let him go, or at least the image of the man she believed was her true love.  She attempts to track him down, however is met with disasterous results.

Shortly thereafter, Dana meets a handsome neighbor, Hank Wheeler, a general contractor who lives with his pet pig in a brownstone which he is renovating for a wealthy client.  Dana and Hank are a seemingly right match in every way, yet there is something about him that just doesn’t add up for Dana.  The way that he handles his job and speaks of his past leaves Dana with doubts that he is not who he claims to be.  Yet, he fits her well and she continues to date him, all the while using his pet pig, Dinner, as the subject of her art pieces which she is succesfully selling.

Added to the mix is an alluring, sexy younger man, W.W. Moody.  She meets him in her travels to visit her best friend, Elinor Ann.  Her instant attraction and their mutual chemistry is undeniable.  The surprising part about their crossing of paths is that he is a famous newspaper crossword puzzle creator.  Dana is obviously a fan and has solved many of his puzzles.  Moody is nearly half her age and not a right fit for Dana’s life.  She attempts to steer clear of Moody and focus on her relationship with Hank, however Moody is as persistent with his adoration as any man can be.  She engages with him in creating puzzles which may potentially make the paper and is undeniably attracted to him.  Dana goes against her better judgment and does meet up with him on several occasions and finds herself unable to resist their physical connection.  Eventually, Dana subcombs to his ways at a crossword-solving competition/convention and finds herself in a position of having to admit to Hank that she has been unfaithful in the relationship.

Reeling in the knowledge that Ray Devine has passed away, Dana is torn admist her feelings for both Hank and Moody.  They both want her… they both love her… now, it’s up to Dana to solve her love-life once and for all.

Poor Miss. Mayo…

When I began this book, the first chapter instantly hooked me into the story.  A fantastic beginning with surprising turns in the plot, I admittedly couldn’t put the book down.  However, as the book progressed, the pace slowed for me.  It never slowed to a pace in which I lost interest in the story, however it took me a bit longer to finish this book than to others which have completely engulf my senses.  

As to the heroine of the story, Dana, she is a flawed character who is relatable.    However, so much emphasis was put to her personal love life rather than to who she was just as a woman in the world.  Too many others in her life impacted her life choices.  She didn’t represent a strong, empowered woman who I could find respect for.  I had a difficult time connecting to her.

Rating

Overall, it was a good book which I enjoyed reading.  Like most novels, some parts stood out more than others.  As I mentioned before, the beginning of the book was intriguing.  Towards the end of the read, I was anxious to discover who Dana Mayo decided to give her heart to.   I found the book to be an enjoyable one and it made for a nice bedtime story.

For more information on Janet Goss, visit her website at www.janetgossbooks.com.

FTC Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from the publisher.  Clicking on the either the photo of the book cover or the link next to the purchase price stated above will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page.  No purchases are necessary.

Happy Easter to all of you who honor and celebrate this wonderful holiday!

In thinking about God’s love for us, I am reminded that his love for us is constant and ever present.  Through the different stages of darkness and light in my life, he was always there for me even when I didn’t remember to say “thank you.”  I am so lucky.  Today is such a celebration of God’s devine love, which I am honored to receive.  As I spend today with my family, I send my wishes to you all that you, too, are having a wonderful time with family and friends.

Looking back into yester-year, I remember when Easter was all about dying eggs, the Easter Egg Hunt, the baskets, the chocolate bunnies, and all of the amazingly fun experiences that I shared with my twins.  I would get up at 6am and hide all of the eggs in the front and back yards.  I remember one year, in particular, when the ravens who live in the palm trees of our neighborhood swooped in on my eggs, even though I thought they were hidden well, and ate them to pieces before the twins awoke to start the hunt.  The remnants of colored shells just laid everywhere!  Now that the girls have grown into teenagers, we no longer celebrate Easter in those ways.  Instead, we put all of our focus into church and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Today, my focus is to remember that God loves me today as much as he did yesterday and as much as he will tomorrow, just as I am… imperfections and all.  That brings me so much joy.

For those of you with small children who still get to enjoy the simple pleasures of Easter Egg Hunt, cherish each moment.  They are gone before you know it!

And, for those of you who, like me, celebrate this religious holiday… God Bless You and Happy Easter!

 12 Pairs Hit the Dance Floor

Just a quick recap from March 19th’s Season Premier…

William Levy, a famous Latin star, and Cheryl Burke were met with the audience’s seemingly never ending applause.  Apparently, the ladies find this man so gorgeous that his dancing is secondary to the eye-candy.  Carrie Ann Inaba and Cheryl Burke both “thanked” ABC for their jobs just for the mere fact that they get to watch William dance.  For me, all a bit over-rated.  He was fine, but nothing for me to drool over.

Sherri Sheppard and Val Chmerkovskiy had a joyous and fun filled Fox Trot that brought smiles to the judges faces.  They scored well for their performance, although I felt their technical skills were lacking.  She seems to be a delightful person and I can see her staying around for a few episodes.

My children know who Roshon Fegan is even though I do not.  He’s a break-dancing star from The Disney Channel who is obviously is a really great street-dancer.  He and Chelsie Hightower did a great job with their Cha Cha Cha and I can see Roshon continuing to do well over the next several episodes.

Gavin DeGraw and Karina Smirnoff had a lovely Fox Trot which obtained minimalist scores with the judges.  I think his personality is adorable, but don’t see him as a long-timer on the program.

Jack Wagner and Anna Trebunskaya had a delightful Fox Trot which took us back to the older days.  Jack has been a leading man in many shows and soap operas.  I can see him sticking around for many episodes and believe that his dancing showed promise last night.

Maria Menounos and Derek Hough started off the show with an average Cha Cha.  She seems to have a dynamic personality and is motivated to work hard to remain on the show.  They didn’t dazzle me, but their dance hit the middle of the pack.

Melissa Gilbert and Maxim Chmerkovskiy did a great Cha Cha, however were met with lower scores than I believe they deserved.  Melissa looked fantastic and I’d like to see her do well this season.  She has a lot of fans and hopefully they’ll keep her around for a while!

Gladys Knight and her partner Tristan MacManus did a fantastic job!  She’s such an icon!  I think that she’ll stay around for a few shows due to her following, yet due to her age, I don’t think she’ll keep up with some of the younger, flashier dancers.

By far, my favorite dance of the night was Katherine Jenkins, a famous English singer, and Mark Ballas.  She was absolutely gorgeous on the dance floor and her moves were remeniscent of a professional dancer.  I think she’ll go a long way based on her dance skills.   Her greatest obstacle is that the American public is not familiar with her.

I believe that Martina Navatrolova will be the first to go.   She was quite stiff in her dance and obviously this just isn’t her thing.

Donald Driver did fine, however I think his partner needs to taper her dancing down to match her partner.  She overpowered him.

All dancers get another shot next Monday night with eliminations next Tuesday.

Ben Flajnik has given the final rose and an $85K engagement ring to Courtney Robertson.   There’s a lot of speculation regarding whether or not this romance will last.  The day after taping, multiple media sources spotted Robertson sans the engagement ring that was given back to her on The Bachelor – The Final Rose.  According to a film taken by TMZ Live, Robertson claims that they are, in fact, a couple and the engagement is on. 

Being an avid fan and writing multiple recaps of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette episodes over the past several years, I found this season to be the hardest one to watch.  Each season, like sneaking to the last page of a book, I jump over to Reality Steve’s website and review his prediction for the season’s winner.  He had this one right.  Thinking all season that Ben would pick Courtney made the entire season to watch as one negative scene after another played itself.  Courtney did not behave like a gracious woman, nor one who was truly falling in love.  And, I think that’s hard for the viewers because they wanted to see a good outcome for Ben after his rejection by Ashley in the last season of The Bachelorette. 

Lindzi seems to be handling the rejection beautifully.  It’s been reported that she was actually at ABC and behind the scenes at the After the Final Rose taping.  However, she felt that Ben had so much to tackle on-stage with Courtney that he didn’t really need more pressure by interfacing with her.  She’s also been quoted as saying that she “dodged the Ben Bullet” and that she was just kidding when she told Ben that he could call her if things didn’t work out with Courtney.  She would love to be chosen to be the next “Bachelorette” or cast on Bachelor Pad, however nothing has been confirmed at this time.  Truthfully, she wasn’t my pick for Ben.  I really liked Kacie B. and Nikki.  I felt they were both best suited for Ben.

It was nice seeing Ashley and J.P. on After the Final Rose and hear them talk about their upcoming wedding within the next year.  They seem very stable and very much a couple in love.  My hopes and wishes are there for the both of them.

As for Ben and Courtney… I truthfully hope that they are both able to find a nice way to split away from one another, heal, and move on.  The trust issues and perceptions that they have for one another are seemingly too great to hurdle over.    I believe in true love, but am just unsure that this was a couple who were destined to be forever… despite the fact that they told one another on that mountain top that they would love each other forever.

Joan Knows Best

Season 2 of this hysterical reality series is my favorite currently airing.  Joan Rivers has the perfect one-liners and come-backs for every situation she is presented with.  She is absolutely one of the funniest women alive.  Viewers can see how much she truly loves her daughter and grandson, yet like a moth to flame she just can’t keep herself out of sticky situations.  Her over-mothering antics are over-the-top enjoyable to watch.  So far my favorite episode of the season is when Joan smokes marijuana to relieve stress.  Unbelievably funny, folks!  WE.tv has hit a home-run with this series.

The Real Housewives of Orange County

Being a resident of the O.C., I enjoy watching this show for the sights and sounds of my local stomping grounds.  These women, with the exception of the newest housewife, Heather Dubrow, are the most dramatic women around.  All they can seem to do is one-up one another and start teenage level fights over who said what about who to whom.  It’s a lot of ranting and raving about nothing.  What’s nice is to see Heather Dubrow’s view of these women as she’s getting to know them.  She has a much more conservative approach to the entire situation and is well cast for the season.  An interesting fact… with a few degrees of separation, I actually am professionally linked to her husband Dr. Dubrow (who is the same reality television plastic surgeon from The Swan and Bridalplasty) and spoke with him personally about the season before it started.  He was quite proud of his wife and her accomplishments with the show.  This show is a like watching a train wreck ready to happen with the gossip storms brewing up each episode.  It’s like a grown-up popularity contest.  It’s a guilty pleasure, I must admit. (Watch on Bravo-TV)

Ice Loves Coco

E!’s follow up to Khloe and Lamar is Ice Loves Coco.  Rapper and actor Ice-T (Law & Order SVU) is married to this blonde-bombshell model, Coco (Nicole Austin).  She is delightfully naive and silly, with a heart of gold.  With measurements of 39″ 23″ 40″, she is the real life Jessica Rabbit.  This season, Coco is faced with health problems surrounding her blood pressure and tries to get Ice to trade cheeseburgers for kale chips.  They talk about starting a family, Coco teaches her gay BFF how to drive, and start to build a new house together.   Coco and her dog Spartacus steal the show (sorry, Ice) and we are transported into this NY’s couple’s quirky, cool, and fabulous life.  I love to watch the way that Ice truly loves Coco.

The Dead Files

Amy Allan and Steve Di Schiavi star in this unique show about validating the existence of the paranormal.   They visit reported haunted locations across America and perform two separate investigations.  Steve is a retired NYPD homicide detective and Amy is a paranormal researcher and physical medium.  Steve interviews the residents of the haunted locations and performs a full investigation as to its history.  He researches deaths or any reportable incidents which occurred there.  On a separate night, Amy Allan walks the location and channels on camera the dead spirits whom she is communicating with.  Most episodes, she follows up with a professional sketch artist to create a depiction of the spirit she dealt with.  At the end of each episode, Amy and Steve meet up with the residents of the location to reveal what they’ve learned.  Often times, Steve has photographs, articles and pictures of the deceased associated with the property.  They compare these to the sketches that Amy had made to see if their stories coincide.  Their combination of their unique skills creates an intriguing and compelling show which makes the viewers question the validity of spirits amongst us.  (Travel Channel – Friday Nights)

So… Reality TV Fans…

Tune into my recommendations if you are so inclined.  I look forward to writing some upcoming recaps for the new Dancing With the Stars season and keeping tabs on American Idol.  Stay tuned.

Author: Ashley Ream

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

ISBN: 978-0062093646

Publish Date: March 6, 2012

Pages: 306 Trade Paperback

Type: Fiction

Purchase: $10.19 at Amazon.com

Meeting Clementine…

Clementine Pritchard, a world-renowned artist, has decided her own fate.  Tired of living an unhappy life, filled with counseling and  psychiatric medications, she chooses to end her life in 30 days.  Within this last month of her life, she has elected to end the therapy, flush her medications down the toilet, and tie up the loose ends of her life. 

First was her plan as to how to end her life.  She decides to take a trip down to Mexico to obtain a lethal and illegal animal euthanizing drug.  When she drops off her beloved cat, Chuckles, at her ex-husband’s house for him to babysit while she is away, she finds herself faced with telling him a lie about her pending death.  She informs Richard that she has terminal cancer and needs to go to Mexico to obtain drugs for the condition.   Unwilling to let her face a dangerous and notorious Mexican Border alone, he goes on the trip with her, not realizing what she is really there to purchase.  Their unexpected actions in Mexico demonstrate to Clementine that the love between them is not lost.  That loose end was not as neatly tied up as she’d planned.

To the disbelief of her colleagues, Clementine decides to fire her assistant, Jenny, and forgo her upcoming gallery showing.  This is just the beginning of the antics she enacts during the last days of her life.  She plans for her death with precision and poise, yet she is faced with situations pertaining to her mother and sister’s death that she did not anticipate.   Reckless yet thoughtful, Clementine lives each day as though it has a destiny of its own.

Loving Clementine…

As I turned the last few pages of this superbly realistic and poignant novel, I was faced with the last planned day of Clementine’s life.  Filled with both tears and laughter through some of her final steps, I mentally begged Ream not to let Clementine seal her scheduled fate.  I had grown to love Clementine as those around her did.  Only, she didn’t know just how loved and needed she truly was.  Clementine had given up on herself and doubted the loyalty of those who knew her best.   She couldn’t see a future which would bring her not only the great successes but the small indulgences which only life can bring.  However, the reader could see it for her. 

It is nearly impossible to read this book and not find a soft spot in your heart for this unforgettable character.  She became as real to me as a close friend.  As I approached the final pages of the novel, I wished for more and more pages filled with Clementine’s thoughts.  After I finished the book, I was left pondering the outcomes of the vivid characters which Ream had created in my mind.   Few books have left me having to know more, read more.  Losing Clementine is one such book.  It’s the type of story which makes it hard to put the book down and stays with you when you’ve finished it. 

One of my favorite paragraphs in the book is, “I looked at her.  She was ready to crumple.  She was made of nothing more substantial than tissue paper.  She could blow away in the wind right then or dissolve in the rain.”  I have lived such moments, I have loved and lost like Clementine.  I understand the darkness and the light that was so beautifully brought forth in this story.

Rating

I understand that this is Ashley Ream’s debut novel.  I am immediate fan.  I’ve decided to follow her on Facebook/Twitter and encourage readers to explore her website at http://ahream.com/.  Her writing brings you into scenes which are not only memorable and realistic, but also reflect the darker humor in life.   All I can simply say is that I highly recommend the read… it’s well worth your time and will leave you with a lasting impression.

FTC Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from the publisher.  Clicking on the either the photo of the book cover or the link next to the purchase price stated above will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page.  No purchases are necessary.

The new contestants for Dancing With The Stars were announced this morning:

Jack Wagner, star of “Melrose Place” and “The Bold & The Beautiful” (pro partner: Anna Trebunskaya)
Melissa Gilbert, star of “Little House on the Prairie” (pro partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy)
Donald Driver, Green Bay Packers all-time leading receiver (pro partner: Peta Murgatroyd)
William Levy, telenovela star (pro partner: Cheryl Burke)
Sherri Shepherd, co-host of “The View” (pro partner: Valentin Chmerkovskiy)
Katherine Jenkins, opera star (pro partner: Mark Ballas)
Gavin DeGraw, singer (pro partner: Karina Smirnoff)
Martina Navratilova, tennis star (pro partner: Tony Dovolani)
Roshon Fegan, Disney star (pro partner: Chelsie Hightower)
Maria Menounos, TV host (pro partner: Derek Hough)
Jaleel White, URKEL! Star of “Family Matters” (pro partner: Kym Johnson)
Gladys Knight, music legend (pro partner: (pro partner: Tristan MacManus)

Source:  The Huffington Post

My initial favorites:

Jack Wagner, Melissa Gilbert and Gladys Knight.  I’m not too thrilled to hear about “Urkel!”

I just cannot imagine Martina Navratilova dancing.  That should be interesting.

Happy Sunday, Saloners!

What a busy weekend!  Yesterday, my daughter auditioned for the Academy of Performing Arts at the local high school.  Her twin was filming a school project and played the role of Juliet.  I actually got some great reading time in and watched Breaking Dawn Part 1 with the girls last night.  I still have yet to read the series.  I must be the last person on earth who hasn’t read the books.

In any event, work has been keeping me busy and I did a bit of “consulting” today for family friends.  I enjoyed coming home and writing my book review for Losing Clementine.  It was a book that was so relatable, poignant, and had dark humor undertones.  LOVED IT!  My review is posting on the 4th.

Not much in the mood for The Oscars (which are on right now).  But, everybody and their brother is Tweeting about how skinny Angelina Jolie’s arms look.  Can’t wait to catch the pictures of her. 

Off to order some Thai food for dinner and get ready for the what the upcoming week will have in store for me!

Have a great week and stay tuned for my review of Losing Clementine.