Currently Reading - Out of the Clear Blue Sky

Lillie Silva knew life as an empty nester would be hard after her only child left for college, but when her husband abruptly dumps her for another woman just as her son leaves, her world comes crashing down. Besides the fact that this announcement is a complete surprise (to say the least), what shocks Lillie most is that she isn’t heartbroken. She’s furious.
 
Lillie has loved her life on Cape Cod, but as a mother, wife, and nurse-midwife, she’s used to caring for other people . . . not taking care of herself. Now, alone for the first time in her life, she finds herself going a little rogue. Is it over the top to crash her ex-husband’s wedding dressed like the angel of death? Sure! Should she release a skunk into his perfect new home? Probably not! But it beats staying home and moping.
 
She finds an unexpected ally in her glamorous sister, with whom she’s had a tense relationship all these years. And an unexpected babysitter in, of all people, Ben Hallowell, the driver in a car accident that nearly killed Lillie twenty years ago. And then there’s Ophelia, her ex-husband’s oddly lost niece, who could really use a friend.
 
It’s the end of Lillie’s life as she knew it. But sometimes the perfect next chapter surprises you . . . out of the clear blue sky.

 

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Review: The Best Man by Kristan Higgins #Romance

Title: The Best Man

Author: Kristan Higgins
Rating: 4 stars

This is the second book I've read by Kristan Higgins. The first was actually the third book in this series. I liked it enough to seek out the first two books and see what I'd missed and I'm glad I did.

The Best Man is a sweet, if unlikely romance, between two people who grew up on opposite sides of the tracks.

Right off the bat I have to say that I liked Faith and Levi. They got off to a rocky start in the book and this was definitely an 'opposites attract' type of story. Faith had what, on the surface, seemed like a fairly cushy childhood. The only exception to that was the death of her mother when she was twelve. Levi, on the other hand, grew up in a single parent home in the town trailer park worlds away from Faith's nice house up on the hill.

I enjoyed the progression of the relationship as well. The author didn't rush anything. She let things build and grow at a natural pace. Even the inevitable separation that occurred toward the end of the book was believable. Ms. Higgins did a nice job with the characters back stories to have what happened make sense.

There were two negatives in this book for me, which took away from the romance. At times I felt the extra stuff going on with the secondary characters drew focus away from the couple. I get that some of it was done to set up for future books, but I still thought it was a bit much. There was a lot of bickering by Faith's grandparents. I thought some of that could have been shaved off, as well as some of the interactions she had with her ex, Jeremy. The other issue, which wasn't really the author's fault, is that I found edits within the book. I don't mean things that should have been edited. I'm talking about actual words that had lines through them and should have been taken out before the novel went to print. 

While I'm hoping that at least the second issue I had in the first book does not carry over into the second of the series, I have already begun reading book number two, The Perfect Match.

Even still, I enjoyed this book and will probably check out more of this author's work. There were a few editing issues, however they didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the story. 

I recommend this story for those who like sweet romances with lots of family drama.

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Author Bio

Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than a dozen novels and a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages and received numerous starred reviews fromPublishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal,Kirkus and Romantic Times. She is a four-time nominee for The Kirkus Prize for best work of fiction.

Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, National Public Radio,Library Journal, iBooks and Amazon have named Kristan's books to their best books of the year numerous times. The author is a popular speaker at schools, writers conferences, bookstores and book festivals.

Before she was a writer, Kristan worked in advertising and public relations. She waited tables and nannied while in high school and college, cleaned houses as a young mother, and is the proud descendant of a laundress and a butcher.

The author loves animals, children (even teenagers), the New York Yankees and dessert.

Along with her heroic and tolerant firefighter husband and two snarky and entertaining children, Kristan lives in her hometown in Connecticut.

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Review: Waiting On You by Kristan Higgins

Title: Waiting On You

Author: Kristan Higgins
Rating: 4 stars


Kristan Higgins is a New York Times Bestselling Author, but this is the first book I've read by her. I've never been afraid to try new to me authors because how else will one find great books if one doesn't try? For the most part, I really enjoyed Waiting On You. 

The chemistry between Colleen and Lucas was electric.

There were a few things I didn't like about this book, but it had nothing to do with the romance between the two main characters, Colleen and Lucas. From the opening chapter when he strolls into her bar I was rooting for them. They may have broken up ten years ago, but it was obvious from that first look that things were far from finished.

The book takes a lot of twists and turns, and the list of side characters is a little overwhelming. This book is part of a series, but for the most part can be read as a standalone. I loved the town of Manningsport where the story took place almost as much as I did Lucas and Colleen.

My big problem with this book, and the reason I didn't give it five stars, ultimately comes down to pacing. There were things that happened in the book with minor characters, that while they needed to happen, didn't need to be explained in as much detail. I didn't want to hear about Colleen and her mom's trip to art class and how hairy the model was (yes, there is naked modeling). I wanted to get back to Lucas and Colleen's relationship. The rest could have been glossed over. My guess, however, is that the reason it wasn't is due to tie ins to the rest of the series. It wasn't a deal breaker for me, but something to be aware of going in.

I loved Lucas in this book. He was a great character and I instantly loved him. Colleen took a little getting used to, but she fit Lucas. He was so serious and she was able to get him to lighten up and have fun when no one else could. They were a good match. 

Honestly, I was a little sad the story is over. I could have read many more pages of Colleen and Lucas' romance. 

The sex scenes in this book are behind closed doors for the most part. I would have liked to have a little more detail in that area, but again, not a deal breaker for me. 

I will most likely pick up another book from this author in the near future and give it a try. I'd recommend this book to those who love contemporary romance with quirky heroines and sexy alpha heroes. 


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Author Bio

I started writing romance novels when my kids were little. I’d always been a writer of some type—public relations, advertising, research—but wanted to stay home with the bunnies. I’d been reading romance novels ever since I swiped Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss from my grandmother’s night table. “Higgins,” I said to myself, “I bet you could write one of these.” And so I sat down every afternoon when the kids were napping, took my lifelong love of romance novels and tried to make a career out of it. We’ve been living happily ever after since.

   I live in my hometown, a small, pretty place in Connecticut where there’s a beautiful library and a wicked good ice cream stand. I’m the mom of two lovely children who have very long eyelashes and excellent vocabularies, the wife of a heroic and brave firefighter and the willing love-slave to a naughty mutt named Willow. Our cat, Huck, occasionally deigns to sit on my lap, especially when I'm typing.

   I love to write books about relationships, since the search for love and security is one of the driving forces of life. My characters are regular people, folks like us, and I hope to give them a big, memorable love story rich with family, pets, food and laughter. When I’m not writing, I like to be with my kids, goof around with my husband, read, watch baseball, ride my bike and bake. I suffer from chronic bedhead and an unhealthy (and completely understandable) obsession with Derek Jeter, shortstop for the New York Yankees. We spend as much time as possible at our family home on Cape Cod, swimming in the Atlantic, shivering on the beach, swatting horseflies and watching fish evade my lure at Higgins Pond. It’s as close to heaven as it gets.

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