Can't Help Falling in Love

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Bella Andre

My rating:

3 stars—I liked it.

My Thoughts:

This was a pretty vanilla, fuzzy romance. Not a lot of depth but it was decent.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“Gabe Sullivan risks his life every day as a firefighter in San Francisco. But after learning a brutal lesson about professional boundaries, he knows better than to risk his heart to his fire victims ever again. Especially the brave mother and daughter he saved from a deadly apartment fire...and can't stop thinking about.

Megan Harris knows she owes the heroic firefighter everything for running into a burning building to save her and her seven-year-old daughter. Everything except her heart. Because after losing her navy pilot husband five years ago, she has vowed to never suffer through loving - and losing - a man with a dangerous job again.

Only, when Gabe and Megan meet again and uncontrollable flames of desire ignite between them, how can he possibly ignore her courage, determination, and beauty? And how can she deny not only his strong bond with her daughter.but the way his sweetly sensual kisses are challenging her to risk everything she's been guarding for so long?

This winter, if one - or both - of them aren't careful, they just might end up falling in love.”

Once and Always

Once and Always by Julia Harper

My rating:

3 stars—I liked it.

My thoughts:

Julia Harper is also Elizabeth Hoyt. I’ve been a fan of Hoyt’s historical romances for a while. This is the first contemporary that I’ve read from her. I didn’t love all the mystery thrown in, but there was some hotness between the characters!

Description from Goodreads.com:

“IS THERE A PROBLEM, OFFICER?

Small town cop Sam West certainly doesn't mind a routine traffic stop: speeding ticket, stern warning, and sayonara. With a whopper of a blizzard closing in, that's all he has time for. But the lawbreaker he pulls over is anything but typical. From her mile-long legs to her razor-sharp wit, Maisa Bradley is like nothing Coot Lake, Minnesota, has ever seen . . . and she's about to take Sam on the ride of his life.

BEING BAD HAS ITS BENEFITS

Whoever said blood is thicker than water probably wasn't related to a former Russian mobster. But an innocent mix-up and rumors of stolen diamonds soon have the Russian mob taking an unusual interest in the sleepy little town-and Maisa facing heated scrutiny from a certain tall, dark, and handsome deputy. Sam's dazzling blue eyes beg her to reveal all her secrets, but how much should she tell? Getting snowed in with the sexiest lawman in the frozen north may not be the worst way to decide.”

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

My rating:

4 stars—I really liked it.

My Thoughts:

This book seemed very familiar to a favorite from years ago. I love this theme. Calpurnia is the typical “plain” woman who wishes for the man who has it all and loves her the most. Having that man who thinks you are the most beautiful, the most interesting…how sweet.

Historical romance fans—give this one a try!

Goodreads.com Description:

“Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love.”

The Rich and the Rest of Use

The Rich and The Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West


My rating (out of 5 stars):

4 stars—I really liked it.

My Thoughts:

I wish people who needed to read this were reading it, instead of people that already understand the impact of poverty. So many people are wrapped up in their ego and spend their life obsessing about asinine issues.

This book was easy to read and was well researched.

Description from Goodreads.com:
 
“Record unemployment and rampant corporate avarice, empty houses but homeless families, dwindling opportunities in an increasingly paralyzed nation—these are the realities of 21st-century America, land of the free and home of the new middle class poor. Award-winning broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West, one of the nation’s leading democratic intellectuals, co-hosts of Public Radio’s Smiley & West , now take on the “P” word—poverty.

The Rich and the Rest of Us is the next step in the journey that began with “The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience.” Smiley and West’s 18-city bus tour gave voice to the plight of impoverished Americans of all races, colors, and creeds. With 150 million Americans persistently poor or near poor, the highest numbers in over five decades, Smiley and West argue that now is the time to confront the underlying conditions of systemic poverty in America before it’s too late.

By placing the eradication of poverty in the context of the nation’s greatest moments of social transformation— such as the abolition of slavery, woman’s suffrage, and the labor and civil rights movements—ending poverty is sure to emerge as America’s 21st -century civil rights struggle.

As the middle class disappears and the safety net is shredded, Smiley and West, building on the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., ask us to confront our fear and complacency with 12 poverty changing ideas. They challenge us to re-examine our assumptions about poverty in America—what it really is and how to eliminate it now.”

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. Perfect Parenting by Elizabeth Pantley
4. Traveling Light by Katrina Kittle
5. The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
6. I Killed June Cleaver by Deborah Werksman
7. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
8. Lady Be Good  by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
9. Awaken the Spirit Within by Rebecca Rosen
10. Chosen by Chandra Hoffman