Stacy Alesi

TWICE IN A BLUE MOON by Christina Lauren

October 21, 2019

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During a two-week trip to London eighteen-year-old Tate Jones falls hard for Sam Brandis. Her first love is all-consuming and Tate finds herself confiding in Sam and telling him a secret she has had to keep her entire life. When Sam betrays her trust and reveals her secret to the tabloids, Tate is heartbroken, and her life is forever changed. Fourteen years later Tate is a successful actress who has just booked the role of a lifetime. When she arrives on set, however, she discovers that the screenwriter of her new movie is none other than Sam. With a two month shoot ahead of her, Tate is now forced to confront her first love and his betrayal.

Christina Lauren (the pen name of writing duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) is the author of some of my favorite contemporary romances. “Twice in a Blue Moon,” however, is a departure from their recent romantic comedies, such as “The Unhoneymooners” and “Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating,” and takes a more melancholy and at times serious tone. One of the main flaws with this book is that I never really felt the chemistry between Tate and Sam. Character development is something Christina Lauren usually excels at, so this was a disappointment. Their two-week romance in London feels rushed but I was willing to look past that because it was first love and a teenage romance.

Unfortunately, even once they are reunited as adults their relationship does not feel entirely fleshed out. Tate forgives Sam very quickly when it felt like a lot more time needed to be spent talking about his betrayal and their past. Sam’s character and personality are also never fully developed, his motives often remaining a mystery. In fact, his grandparent’s love story, which the screenplay he wrote is based on, often seemed more interesting than him and Tate. The final two-thirds of the book take place on a film set, and while this setting could have been interesting it also never felt fully realized like writing about Hollywood and the movie business was outside of the authors’ comfort zone.

While “Twice in a Blue Moon” is a perfectly fine second chance romance, for me it did not live up to the highs set by Christina Lauren’s previous works.

10/19 Caitlin Brisson

TWICE IN A BLUE MOON by Christina Lauren. Gallery Books (October 22, 2019). ISBN 9781982135706. 368 p.

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MY DRUNK KITCHEN HOLIDAYS! by Hannah Hart

October 20, 2019

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How to Savor and Celebrate the Year: A Cookbook

From the publisher:

New York Times bestselling author and Food Network star Hannah Hart is back with her biggest book ever: a humorous holiday cookbook celebrating year-round festivities with food, drink, and friends.

In a world where everyone is looking for some good news and something to celebrate, Hannah Hart is there with almost fifty ideas, arranged into twelve months of themes and recipes for how to celebrate with family and friends.

A collection of recipes, activities, and suggestions about hilarious and joyous ways to celebrate with family, friends, pets, and your entire community, My Drunk Kitchen Holidays! will commemorate holidays from Valentine’s Day to Graduation, Pride Month and International Left-Handers’ Day (really!). The book will culminate with the fall holidays that get much deserved attention: recipes for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a celebration of Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Christmas that is festive, inclusive, and incredibly hilarious.

As soon as I saw that Hart had a new book coming out, I requested it from the publisher. If you are not familiar, she has a cooking/comedy YouTube channel at MyHarto that my daughter had told me about several years ago. Sort of like Drunk History, but with cooking. She also has a Facebook page. Well, she’s all over social media. The woman is smart and funny and she knows how to cook. Forbes did a profile of her, How Do You Describe Hannah Hart’s Career? It’s Complicated and said this:

How do you sum up someone who’s a YouTuber, podcaster, author, television personality, LGBT rights advocate, “influencer,” the fiancé of one of 2019’s 30 Under 30, and all-around person-on-the-internet…Whatever Hannah Hart makes, regardless of what form it takes, is always kind, comedic, conscious and occasionally culinary. So keep watching, because perfection is pointless, and the best conversations happen in the kitchen – with or without alcohol.

So this is her latest creation, a cookbook that covers holidays throughout the year, and the table of contents goes month by month. So January has New Year’s Day, Trivia Day (1/4,) Play God Day (1/9,) and Vision Board Day: Second Saturday of the Month. Some holidays you know, and many you may never have heard of. And some missing holidays as well – no Ides of March, and probably the biggest surprise, no Christmas. Although Cookie Day (12/4,) includes a recipe for Christmas cookies, so no worries. But December has Hanukkah (!), Winter Solstice (12/21,) and Champagne Day (12/31,) which I believe most of us call New Year’s Eve. There are holidays for everyone, like Walking Day (first Wednesday of April,) Be A Millionaire Day (5/20,) Lipstick Day (7/29,) and Cheese Pizza Day (9/5.)

November is taken up by Thanksgiving, which includes recipes for “Garlic-Ass Mashed Potatoes,” “A Great Gravy,” “Black Olive Stuffing,” and what I thought would be the ubiquitous “Green Bean Casserole,” but instead, was green bean casserole made from scratch. You know, fresh green beans, cremini mushrooms, heavy cream, etc. The thing is that the recipes are real, and the directions easy to follow and usually funny. For instance, in the green bean casserole, step 4:

Next sauté your cremini mushrooms in olive oil. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to play with texture, you can cook the mushrooms on one side and then the other. This is a marvelously ambitious task and no one will notice, but I noticed, and now I am praising your for it–WELL DONE!

There are also lots of stories scattered throughout the book that usually tie into the holidays, and are always fun reading. So this is not a cookbook for serious cooks, but if you know a serious cook who you think should lighten up a bit, then this is the book to buy for them. It is a conversation starter for sure, so a good, albeit not too big, coffee table book. Finally, this book is all about pride, from the rainbow sweater Hart wears on the cover to the rainbow border on the back cover to the stories inside. Great pictures, too, always a plus. Bottom line: this is a terrific gift book and a fun cookbook.

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10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MY DRUNK KITCHEN HOLIDAYS! by Hannah Hart. Plume (October 22, 2019). ISBN 978-0525541431. 224p.

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FINDING CHRISTMAS by Karen Schaler

October 19, 2019

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From the publisher:

From the writer of the Netflix sensation, A Christmas Prince, and Christmas Camp, the Hallmark movie and novel, comes a heartwarming new Christmas story, Finding Christmas, showing how sometimes the detour in your journey is the path to true love.

With all the glittering decorations, twinkling lights, snow angels, gingerbread men and mistletoe, Christmas is Emmie’s first love.

This year, she can’t wait to share her favorite Christmas traditions with her boyfriend, Grant. She thinks he’s “the one.” So when Grant’s hectic work schedule has him more “Bah Humbug” than “Ho, Ho, Ho,” Emmie creates a holiday-themed scavenger hunt to help him find his Christmas spirit. At the end of the journey, Grant will arrive at the charming town of Christmas Point where she’s planned a romantic weekend filled with holiday activities.

But Emmie’s plan backfires when a mix-up has the wrong guy following her clues! Sam, a best-selling mystery writer, thinks Emmie’s clever Christmas riddles are from his agent, who is trying to help him get over his epic writer’s block.

When he arrives at Christmas Point and finds the stunned Emmie, he immediately feels she’s someone special, but she can’t see beyond the fact that the wrong guy has shown up. Inspired by the small, charming town, Sam decides to stay and convinces Emmie to join him in a little holiday fun while she waits for Grant.

When Grant finally shows up, Emmie is disappointed to discover he’s not enjoying the activities she planned and can’t help wonder if he’s really the one for her. She also can’t get Sam out of her mind and all the great times they had together. With Christmas coming fast, Emmie will need the magic of the season to help steer her in the direction of true love…

I enjoyed the Netflix movie, “A Christmas Prince,” mostly because it felt new and more modern than the typical Hallmark channel Christmas romance movies. I haven’t seen “Christmas Camp” because I have been very turned off by how crappy the Hallmark movies have been this past year. It feels like since they started pushing a new movie every week, the quality, which let’s face it, was never great, has gotten even worse. I just couldn’t watch them anymore. But if I find the Christmas Camp movie, I’ll give it a try. Probably. Maybe. Who knows.

This book. I started reading it and put it down. A couple of times. The first five chapters or so are basically descriptions of Christmas decorations and I got bored. Fast. But I persevered because I kept hearing about this book (good publicity department!) Once the scavenger hunt kicked in, the story started progressing. It was entirely predictable, a generic Christmas romance, which I dont mind at all. I stuck it out for the happily ever after. Mostly because of what’s been going on in the news this week. I really, really needed a break, an entertaining read that required little to no thinking whatsoever. This book worked beautifully for my escape from reality, if only for one night.

I loved the meta touches – Emmie and her friend talk about watching “A Christmas Prince” and “Christmas Camp.” Cute, and it worked. Sam and Emmie were mostly developed characters, Grant nothing but a caricature of the overworked, ambitious lawyer.

If you, too, want a fast, easy read to escape your reality, give this book a try. There is no sex, and barely any kissing either, so suitable for a Hallmark movie. Which I’m guessing is where it’s headed.

10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

FINDING CHRISTMAS by Karen Schaler. William Morrow Paperbacks (October 15, 2019). ISBN 978-0062883711. 384p.

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SUMMER OF ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand

October 18, 2019

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From the publisher:

The #1 New York Times Bestseller

Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of a summer when everything changed, in New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand’s first historical novel

Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It’s 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother’s historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha’s Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country.

In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.

I was ten years old during the summer of 1969, just a few years younger than the youngest sibling in this story. I remember a lot about what was happening then.

I was a big reader, including newspapers; we got the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsday, and I read them all cover to cover. I never had enough reading materials. My parents were not readers and back then books were a special occasion gift. My mom would take me to the library once a week, wait outside in her car, so I always felt rushed, not to mention that the library limited the number of books I was allowed to borrow. I don’t recall exactly, but it was something like 3-5 books at a time. I could read that many children’s books in a day. When I ran out of children’s books, the librarian let me borrow adult books. I read everything I could get my hands on.

I knew about Vietnam and it scared me. I don’t really remember Chappaquidick, but I definitely remember the man walking on the moon. All that comes up during the Summer of ’69, wrapped up in a family that lived through it all.

While the publisher notes that this is Hilderbrand’s first historical novel, the rest is pure Hilderbrand. She is known for fabulous beach reads, and this certainly fits the bill. The family, Nantucket, the romance, the squabbling, it’s all here. I was immediately caught up in the story and these characters, and she does a really good job making them all come to life.

There are deeper issues woven throughout the story; racism, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, and more all come to light, making this a very satisfying read. Lots for book groups to discuss for sure. I really enjoyed this book, though it was more nostalgic than historical for me.

10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SUMMER OF ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand. Random House (June 18, 2019). ISBN 978-0525510871. 384p.

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A HANDFUL OF STARS by Helene Saucedo

October 17, 2019

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A Palmistry Guidebook and Hand-Printing Kit

From the publisher:

“In Handful of Stars, the hand becomes an exquisite map . . . wise, trusted, and uniquely our own. Beautiful and mysterious.”—Kim Krans, artist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Wild Unknown Tarot, The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit, and The Wild Unknown Journal

Packaged in a deluxe keepsake box, Handful of Stars by hand analyst Helene Saucedo is a beautifully illustrated, step-by-step guide to the ancient art of palmistry with a novel twist.

Preprinted perforated sheets designed by Saucedo especially for the book—along with a a nontoxic ink pad, ink roller, and gel pen—enable readers to create a palm print and record notations on a single sheet of paper.

Informative and entertaining, this unique volume appeals to novice hand analysts and makes a great gift for inquisitive minds of all ages.

This is a fun gift book, and the holidays will be here before you know it. Costco has out their Christmas trees, toys, and food gifts, etc. It’s happening, people!

So I’m not really a new-age kind of person, but I thought this book was interesting. Apparently, palmistry is more than just looking at your life-line or heart-line. You start with your hand analysis.

I learned that my hand flexibility relates to my level of adaptability and flexibility in my career and relationships. My hand showed that I am somewhat flexible, and I would say that’s probably right. Next up was thrumb size. I didn’t know that size matters <cough.> Using the scale presented in the book, I have a large thumb. It says that people with large thumbs are “determined go-getters who don’t take no for an answer. They’re ambitious and energetic with high standards.” I would say that is fairly accurate.

Next up was using the thumb to determine the balance of logic and willpower. My thumb has a larger top, which indicates logic. It says I’m “a planner, a person who makes choices based on calculated measures. This person may tend to overthink or overanalyze a situation.” So more logic (top half) than will (bottom half.) I am definitely a planner, but I’m not sure that I would say I overthink or overanalyze things.

Then it was time for “Thumb and Personality Type.” Based on the information provided, I am an extrovert, “a person who is excited to engage with others and is at ease in groups.” Nailed it.

There are lots more things to look at before you even get to the lines on your hands, and this book clearly explains what to look for and what it all means. If you’ve ever had an interest in palmistry, or are just curious, this is an excellent place to start. The book comes in a box with everything you need to figure all this out. The illustrations are clear and made this novice feel like a pro. I think teens and young adults would love this, and I had fun with it, too.

10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

A HANDFUL OF STARS by Helene Saucedo. Harper Design (October 15, 2019). ISBN 978-0062899361. 80p.

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THE NUGGET by P.T. Deutermann

October 16, 2019

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World War II Navy Series, Book 6

is a retired Captain of the U.S. Navy who has found a brilliant second career as an accomplished author. Many of the books he has had published concern action by the Navy in different areas and also various periods. He also has a set of equally well written novels that do not concern the military, which are just as engrossing as the military novels. All in all, a man with a superb background and obviously a gift for telling a story, keeping his readers pinned to the book, and assuring his place as a writer in constant demand.

The Nugget is a story set during a period beginning with the outbreak of World War II for the United States. Bobby Steele is a graduate of Annapolis, the U.S. naval academy. He has had a two-year assignment, after which he is sent to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii where he is assigned to an aircraft carrier. We meet him as he is awakened from a sleep aboard a ship by the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and with this is run full tilt into high action.

Deutermann describes the first days of the war in the Pacific against the Japanese and the first victory against them at Midway. Bobby Steele plays his role in much of the action that actually took place during the first several years of the war. He is shot down twice, rescued each time, but eventually ends up in the Philippines. It is there that Bobby and the copilot that flew with him unable to return to U.S. forces work with the Philippine resistance forces against their Japanese invaders.

The Nugget is a book that successfully keeps the reader glued to a plot involving plenty of hair raising action with the incredible dangers of war, making sure that the reader must finish the book before attempting to go to sleep. A definite five star novel for an author who has plenty of them to his credit, with the certainty that more will follow.

10/19 Paul Lane

THE NUGGET by P.T. Deutermann. St. Martin’s Press (October 8, 2019). ISBN 978-1250205889. 320p.

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IN HER SIGHTS by Katie Ruggle

October 15, 2019

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Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters, Book 1

From the publisher:

Five bounty-hunting sisters
Deep in the heart of the Rockies
Fighting to save each other
…and the men who steal their hearts

Bounty hunter Molly Pax fought hard for everything she has, turning the bail recovery business she shares with her sisters into an unqualified success. So when their sticky-fingered mother jumps bail and puts the childhood home up as collateral, Molly’s horrified. To make matters worse, every two-bit criminal in the Rockies now sees her family’s misfortune as their next big break.

She needs help, stat.

Enter rival bounty hunter John Carmondy: six feet of pure trouble, with a cocky grin to match. John’s the most cheerfully, annoyingly gorgeous frenemy Molly’s ever had the pleasure of defeating…and he may be her only hope of making it out of this mess alive.

Ruggle writes good romantic suspense, which I don’t always love because it often feels like the mystery was an afterthought. Not the case here, however. This introduction to a new series revolves around four sisters who all live together and run a bounty hunting business together. The romance in this story revolves around the eldest sister, Molly, and one of their competitors, John.

Molly’s sisters all realize that John has a major crush on Molly, but she is oblivious. Molly is working hard to keep the business going and their lives afloat, after their mother almost lost their house. That mother is quite an unusual character; I’ve seen cats that are better mothers. In fact, most cats are better mothers. She’s been in and out of jail and marriages, is completely self serving, and uninterested and uncaring about her daughters. It would be sad except the girls are doing fine despite their mother. Until she steals a very valuable necklace and puts them all in danger.

There were a few minor plot points that didn’t make sense to me but why quibble when a story is as fast moving and well written as this one. One of the mysteries is solved by the end, but the other is a cliff hanger, leaving me waiting impatiently for the next book in the series. Risk it All comes out 12/31/19. Guess what I’ll be doing this New Year’s Eve!

10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

IN HER SIGHTS by Katie Ruggle. Sourcebooks Casablanca (March 26, 2019). ISBN 978-1492662495. 384p.

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MET HER MATCH by Jude Deveraux

October 14, 2019

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From the publisher:

In small towns, no one lets the facts get in the way of juicy gossip…

Terri Rayburn is a girl with a reputation. She doesn’t deserve it, but having grown up on the outskirts of Summer Hill, Virginia, she knows how small towns work. The only way to deal with vicious gossip is to ignore it. So she keeps to herself as she runs the summer resort on Lake Kissel.

When she returns home from a short trip to find a handsome stranger living in her house, she smells a rat. Someone is trying to fix her up, and she has to admit that Nate Taggert is just her type. However, Nate is engaged to the daughter of the mayor and strictly off-limits.

Nate and Terri form an unlikely friendship while he throws himself into life at the lake. As Nate starts to hear rumors about Terri he’s confused. Knowing how smart, beautiful and strong she is, he’s determined to discover the source of the gossip. Terri doesn’t want to revisit the past, but Nate won’t stop until he discovers the truth—even if the truth might be more than either of them can handle.

Set in the beloved fictional town of Summer Hill, Virginia, Met Her Match examines the tensions between the wealthy townspeople, the summer vacationers and the working-class people who keep the town and resort running. Told with humor and heart, Met Her Match is the perfect summer escape.

I’ve only read a few of Jude Deveraux’s books because I don’t love her writing style. Reading this book reminded me of that. It’s a good story, but honestly it feels like it could be a young adult book if only the characters fit that profile. That said, this was a good story and a very quick read, so redeeming qualities for sure.

The secret from Terri’s past takes too long to get out, but it helps ramp up the tension. Nate also has baggage, but we know more about his as the story unfolds. Nate’s fiancee is named Stacy, which made it hard for me to hate her, but she is the antagonist of the story. Sort of. The characters were interesting and fairly well developed, and the small town setting showed the darker side of what I tend to think of as idyllic small town life. All in all, it was an entertaining read.

10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MET HER MATCH by Jude Deveraux. MIRA; Original edition (September 17, 2019). ISBN 978-0778351245. 336p.

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PURSUIT by Joyce Carol Oates

October 13, 2019

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The author, in many of her novels, has demonstrated a capacity to project the innermost feelings of the people she writes about. The Pursuit is definitely a study in one woman’s grasp of reality and how this affects her mother, and later her husband.

Abby is a reclusive young woman coming from the most traumatic of childhoods. She keeps to herself, afraid that contact with others will showcase her faults and drive them away. She dreams of coming upon a field with skeletons and a large skull, and a smaller one that she thinks of as the daddy and mommy skulls. Her mother and father disappeared one day leaving Abby to feel that they didn’t care for her and left to go live alone without her.

Not seeking companionship, Abby is surprised when a young man, Willem, seeks her out and eventually asks her to marry him. She does so with a good deal of trepidation. The day after the wedding, as Abby is on her way to the University she is attending, she gets off the bus she is riding on and into traffic. She is hit by the same bus she was on and sent to the hospital. Willem, in love with Abby, begins investigating whether the incident was an accident or done on purpose by his wife.

Oates sets up the rest of her novel as a completely mesmerizing look into what is the deep-seated trauma that engulfs Abby, how was it initiated, what caused it, and how to bring it to rest. The workings of her mind become bared for the reader, and it becomes impossible to set the book down before solutions are arrived at, or not arrived at. And, of course where her trauma began.

10/19 Paul Lane

PURSUIT by Joyce Carol Oates. Mysterious Press (October 1, 2019). ISBN 978-0802147912. 144p.

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TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE by Susan Isaacs

October 12, 2019

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Isaacs presents her latest published novel, and it is certainly one that continues her practice of giving her readers an engrossing book, which instantly draws them into the action.

A native New Yorker, the author does center the action in that area of the U.S. Corie Geler is a woman who, at the beginning of her working life, became a member of the FBI. She had studied the Arabic language while in college, and became a very valuable agent due to that expertise.

Corie retired shortly before the novel begins, with the aim of having a personal life. She did meet a man that had lost his wife due to illness, fell in love, and the pair married. She adopted Josh Geller’s 14-year-old daughter a year after they married, and her current life is supervising the girl and tending to running her house. She also does an occasional job as a contractor for the FBI using her Arabic skills. And at the same time, she acts as an agent for several publishers of Arabic literature looking to have their books translated and sold in English into the English speaking world.

Corie has gotten into the custom of going for lunch with a group of people living in her hometown of Shorehaven, on Long Island, and who also have the advantage of being able to work a business from home. They meet, exchange ideas making the shared luncheons a social event. But Corie’s FBI instincts kick in when she begins to feel that one of the group is more than a little strange, and begins to examine him.

Pete Delaney indicates that he is a package designer doing a bit of traveling to customers in order to present his products to them. But his habits do cause alarm in Corie’s FBI trained mind, and this is reinforced by what she does uncover.

Isaac’s style is somewhat tongue in cheek and quite engaging to the reader. The book becomes one that cannot be put down, and when finished, makes her readers quite ready for her next novel. Well done and a good read.

10/19 Paul Lane

TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE by Susan Isaacs. Atlantic Monthly Press (October 1, 2019). ISBN 978-0802147554. 288p.