Contemporary Fiction Archives - Page 2 of 5

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (novels)!

November 22, 2017 by bubblebathbooks Leave a Comment

Bubby:

I know, I know. The turkey hasn’t even gone in the oven yet. But there are only hours left until the Christmas Season officially kicks off and we want you to be prepared! Just picture it: Thanksgiving dinner is over, the menfolk are gathered around the television gorging themselves on football, the kids are happily playing outside, your mother-in-law went to take a nap and you are alone with a slice of French Chocolate Silk Pie. And one or more of the novels pictured above. Isn’t it beautiful?

Sissy:

Totally unrealistic. Kids will be bugging us to play board games. We’ll be elbow deep in dishes. But we’ll be together! And that’s all that matters, right?

Bubby:

You know that our family will help with the dishes. They’re awesome that way. And there WILL be French Silk Pie, right?

Sissy:

Actually, I’ve been scanning Pinterest and have found a Chocolate Salted Caramel Peanut Butter pie that is calling my name.

Bubby:

No. No peanut butter in my chocolate. But we can argue about the menu later. Tell us about the Christmas Book selections we’ve curated for our beloved readers, Sissy.

Sissy:

It shall be done, sister mine. Our stories take you to many and varied locations, from small-town USA to the English, and even French countryside. We have holiday love stories, family dramas, mysteries and combinations thereof. There’s even a smidge of paranormal in one tale.

Bubby:

What they all have in common is a delightful Christmas setting and a heartwarming ending. We have 8 novels for you this year – 5 are new, 2 we reviewed recently, and one, The French for Christmas, is a favorite from the past. We are certain that you will find a new Christmas favorite out of this bunch.

Sissy:

So this year, let the Thanksgiving dishes soak for a while and go find a quiet corner to hide in and immerse yourself in Christmas! Or use paper products (I’m only saying that so that I can drive Bubby crazy – she is a “must use real dishes” snob and I’m enjoying seeing her throw a fit and foam at the mouth a little!) Anyway, check out the synopsis of each novel below, click on the title if you want to buy it, and enjoy!

The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy: When her best friends offer the use of their cottage in the beautiful French countryside, Evie jumps at the chance. With her soon-to-be-ex-husband, celebrity chef Will Brooke, plastered over the news with his latest ‘love interest’, leaving the country seems like the perfect plan. Armed with her French grandmother’s tattered notebook of recipes, Evie is determined to ignore Christmas altogether and bake herself back to happiness.

And when Evie meets her next-door neighbour – the très gorgeous doctor Didier she finds a very willing taste-tester. But is it possible that he could be interested in more than just her Tarte Tatin? With snow falling, a special Réveillon dinner and a little Christmas magic in the air, could Didier even be the one to thaw Evie’s heart? Or will a visit from the ghost of Christmas past change everything?

We’ll Always Have Christmas by Jenny Hale: Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family’s cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing…The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas. Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.

As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson – the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington…In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?

Christmas At Bay Tree Cottage by Linn B. Halton: The countdown to Christmas is usually a magical time, but Elena James is fed up with living on a building site! The renovations on her beautiful cottage – like her heart – have been frozen in limbo ever since she was unexpectedly widowed. Elana calls in a professional, Luke Stevenson, to help finish the cottage, so her little girl can send letters to Santa up the newly-repaired chimney. Luke’s kind, capable and sexy – but he’s also ten years younger than Elana. So why has her heart decided it’s finally time for a thaw?

A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt: Welcome to Thornwaite, a quaint village tucked up in England’s beautiful but rainy Lake District… where homecomings happen and surprises are in store for the four Holley sisters…Anna Holley, the third of four sisters, has always felt a little bit forgotten. A family tragedy when she was a child had her retreating deep into shyness, and social anxiety kept her on the fringes of the cozy chaos of the busy vicarage. After several years away from home, Anna returns for Christmas… and an important announcement from her father. As much as she once loved the village, coming back is hard and puts Anna’s social capabilities to the test.

Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber: Merry Knight is pretty busy these days. She’s taking care of her family, baking cookies, decorating for the holidays, and hoping to stay out of the crosshairs of her stressed and by-the-book boss at the consulting firm where she temps. Her own social life is the last thing she has in mind, much less a man. Without her knowledge, Merry’s well-meaning mom and brother create an online dating profile for her–minus her photo–and the matches start rolling in.

Initially, Merry is incredulous, but she reluctantly decides to give it a whirl. Soon Merry finds herself chatting with a charming stranger, a man with similar interests and an unmistakably kind soul. Their online exchanges become the brightest part of her day. But meeting face-to-face is altogether different, and her special friend is the last person Merry expects–or desires. Still, sometimes hearts can see what our eyes cannot. In this satisfying seasonal tale, unanticipated love is only a click away.

Do Not Open ‘Til Christmas by Sierra Donovan: Bret Radner once dreamed of being a hard-hitting journalist, exposing corruption and writing Pulitzer-winning pieces. But heart-tugging circumstances kept him at the Tall Pine Gazette, where small town life, new neighbors, and human interest stories are the news. In charge for the entire holiday season, Bret is determined to run the newsroom right. Yet with a too-pretty rookie reporter to train, he finds himself challenged on just about everything.

A waitress at the Pine ‘n’ Dine restaurant, freelance reporter Chloe Davenport finally gets her big chance to work full-time for the Gazette. But proving herself to her handsome boss won’t be easy. He turns down all her holiday-themed stories and, in fact, doesn’t seem to like Christmas at all. Yet the closer Chloe works with Bret, the more she realizes that his tough exterior conceals a hidden hurt…and a heart she wants to fill with glad tidings of great joy–for many seasons to come.

Hope at Christmas by Nancy Naigle: Sydney Ragsdale is divorced, but her husband is still calling the shots. In an attempt to shake free from his hold, she and her daughter, Ray Anne, head for tiny Hopewell, NC to the only asset her ex has no control over – a decaying farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents. She finds solace at The Book Bea, the bookstore she’d loved as a child during her summer stays.

Kevin MacAlea, Mac to his friends, is the local high school history teacher and baseball coach. Father of a twelve-year-old son, he’s Hopewell, North Carolina’s most sought after bachelor. His young bride abandoned him and his son just before Christmas and has never come back.

But when a catastrophe forces The Book Bea to close before the end of the year, everyone in the small town is feeling the loss. While Sydney is already off-balance by the bad news, her ex-husband breaks a promise to their daughter that sends Ray Anne running away.

The Ghost of Christmas Past by Rhys Bowen: Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house’s atmosphere.

Then they learn that the host couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother’s pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on.

A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt

October 18, 2017 by bubblebathbooks Leave a Comment

Welcome to Thornwaite, a quaint village tucked up in England’s beautiful but rainy Lake District… where homecomings happen and surprises are in store for the four Holley sisters. Anna Holley, the third of four sisters, has always felt a little bit forgotten. A family tragedy when she was a child had her retreating deep into shyness, and social anxiety kept her on the fringes of the cozy chaos of the busy vicarage. After several years away from home, Anna returns for Christmas… and an important announcement from her father. As much as she once loved the village, coming back is hard and puts Anna’s social capabilities to the test.

Sissy:

Imagine my joy when I began reading A Vicarage Christmas and discovered that it was set in the Lake District in England, where Bubby and I spent a few idyllic days last year. We loved it so much there that we could pick up and move right now, if that were a possibility.

Bubby:

We went to many fabulous places on our UK adventure, but the Lake District was a highlight for me too. I could totally picture the village of Thornthwaite and I wish I could be there! In fact, I think we might have driven through it…

Sissy:

Something wholly unexpected happened when I read A Vicarage Christmas. I don’t know if I was hormonal or it was just because I had a cold, but I loved Anna’s story and even cried.

Bubby:

What? YOU cried? I’m supposed to be the Weepy Wendy around here. I didn’t cry when I read A Vicarage Christmas, although I really loved the story too.

Sissy:

I also cried watching Dancing With the Stars that day, so there was possibly something going on. But regardless, I finished the book thinking it was utterly delightful.

Bubby:

I felt so bad for Anna that she felt unnoticed in her family and carried blame for a tragedy that totally wasn’t her fault. I wanted to give her a big hug and a cookie and tell her everything would be fine. And everything IS fine, eventually. Really, families need to talk more, don’t you think, Sissy?

Sissy:

Yes! Even the best of families have issues that need to be regularly addressed. Everyone needs to sit down and have a great chat and let all the stuff out in a secure environment. In Anna’s case, that turned out to be a real possibility. I know that in other families, unfortunately, that might not be a safe thing to do.

Bubby:

I’m glad that you and I can talk about all the things. Anna and her family, with a little help from a new friend, end up working through most things, but I’m really interested for the rest of the books in the series. They will focus on Anna’s other sisters, two older and one younger. Their troubles are alluded to in A Vicarage Christmas, but I want to know more!

Sissy:

The love story was yummy and the setting of an English village at Christmas, with all the various vicarage activities, made me want to hop on a plane and spend the hols in the Lake District. Maybe next year…

Bubby:

We’ve not read anything by Kate Hewitt before, but we will now! A Vicarage Christmas has excellent characters that feel like your own friends, great story with realistic family highs and lows and a setting that can’t be beat. Christmas has come early this year! Let’s rejoice! And don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter contest HERE for a chance to win an Amazon gift card.

Click HERE to buy A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt

Something Like Family by Heather Burch

October 5, 2017 by bubblebathbooks Leave a Comment

Something Like Family: Abandoned by his mother when he was young, twenty-two-year-old Rave Wayne knows all about loss. That doesn’t mean he’s used to it. After he’s dumped by the girlfriend he assumed he’d spend his life with, Rave is longing more than ever to connect.

Then, as if by miracle, he receives an invitation from his grandfather, a man he thought was long gone, to come for a visit in rural Tennessee. Loyal, honest, and loving, dear old Tuck is everything Rave could have hoped for. He’s family. Soon, Rave finds himself falling for a down-to-earth local girl, and he thinks his life is finally coming together.

But the past isn’t through with Rave. When his mother returns after many long years, looking to reconcile the terrible mistakes that once defined her, Rave struggles to put together the unsettled pieces of his heart. Will this once-estranged family be able to come together to understand the meaning of unconditional love, the fragile bonds of family, and the healing power of letting go?

Bubby:

It’s so good to read new books by authors you already know are good at what they do. We had the opportunity to review One Lavender Ribbon by Heather Burch a few years ago and knew she’d be an author we’d want to read again and again. Something Like Family is one of those stories that could have been all dark and depressing with lots of painful emotions and no real closure (like Sissy’s latest diet) but instead it’s uplifting, fulfilling, and has a beautiful happy ending (like the strawberry swirl cheesecake in Bubby’s fridge).

Sissy:

I don’t like cheesecake that much. I’m not on a diet, thank you very much. I’m on a healthy lifetime eating plan. You should try it. Besides, what does that have to do with Something Like Family? It is a beautiful, moving story and now I’m going to say serious things about it.

Bubby:

Serious? Or boring?

Sissy:

Behave yourself right now. Sometimes people’s circumstances are so horrible growing up that they fail to ever heal and be able to deal with life. There are others who, despite their trials, manage to become lovely productive adults. Our main character Rave is one of the latter. His growing relationship with his sweet, wise, Grandpa Tuck is the highlight of this story.

Bubby:

I completely fell in love with Grandpa Tuck. He reminded me in some ways of our own grandpa, especially in how much he loved and missed his dear wife. It’s so obvious that all Tuck needs in his life is for the people he loves to be happy and to love each other. I’d like to tell you if that happens or not but…SPOILERS.

Sissy:

I was talking to someone on Sunday about immigrants who trudged thousands of miles to the west and battled immense physical trials and losses. I decided I wouldn’t have made it past the Missouri River. I would have laid down in the snow in front of the wagon and just let it roll over me. But Rave has something inside him that makes him carry on through his hardships and thrive. He allows himself to have hope, and the people he meets in Tennessee make him believe in second chances.

Bubby:

Something Like Family is just a great story. There’s drama, several unexpected plot twists, excellent characters that move quickly and deeply into your heart and, of course, a little romance – on several fronts. I wasn’t expecting Something Like Family to have that perfect happy ending I’m always craving, but it did. Not quite the one I was expecting, but oh, it was a good one! Heather Burch has cemented her place on our must-read author’s list.

Sissy:

Sometimes wrenching, but ultimately oh so tenderly fulfilling, Something Like Family is a wonderfully written novel that warmed my heart through to the center.

Click HERE to buy Something Like Family by Heather Burch

A Boardwalk by the Sea – Summer Sundaes by Georgina Troy

September 12, 2017 by bubblebathbooks 2 Comments

When Sacha Collins, cafe owner and sundae-maker extraordinaire, meets Italian archaeologist, Alessandro Salvatore in Rome, she’s grateful to him for being her tour guide. Now he’s turned up in the seaside village where she lives, known locally as The Boardwalk by the Sea and is setting up a gelateria in direct competition to her retro Summer Sundaes Café. She’s only been running her café for two years since taking over from her father and until now the only other shops on the boardwalk, a wool shop, an antique shop and a second-hand book shop have helped rather than hindered her custom.

How will her creative sundaes made from fresh Jersey ice cream compete with his delicious Italian gelatos? Sacha is worried. Is there enough custom for both businesses to thrive? Who is behind the strange changes being made at night on the boardwalk? And when the oldest resident on the boardwalk is threatened with eviction can Sacha and Alessandro come together and find a way of helping her? For a peaceful little boardwalk overlooking one of the quieter beaches on the island, there’s an awful lot going on and some of it is going to lead to big changes.

Bubby:

Ever since one of Sissy’s boys spent some time in the English Channel Islands a few years ago, I’ve wanted to go visit. They sound like such lovely places for a holiday! And let’s be honest here, I really want to try some of that famous Jersey cream and a few of the donuts called Jersey Wonders. I wanted to make a batch today to show you readers but Sissy is on a diet and won’t let me…

Sissy:

I agree with you that since my son lived there, my awareness of the Channel Islands and my desire to go there grew. But I loved the beginning of the story, set in Rome, when Alessandro was taking Sacha on a whirlwind tour of all the hot spots in Rome and stopping for gelato. It took me right back to my trip to Rome with Mr. Sissy, because we did the same thing. We walked for miles but we made up for it with many scoops of delicious gelato. I’ve never tasted any since as good as the gelato in Rome.

Bubby:

Some of us haven’t been to Rome, so we can’t comment on that.

Sissy:

You can just dream about going with Mr. Washboard Abs, Italian model Alessandro.

Bubby:

I’d take Mr. Bubby over Mr. Washboard Abs any day, but I would like to go to Rome. Almost as much as I’d like a Jersey Wonder donut, but not the cabbage loaf bread. That sounds strange. I enjoyed getting to know all of the quirky characters that live on and around the boardwalk, and I’m excited to get to know more about Jersey through the Boardwalk By The Sea series.

Sissy:

There were just enough glimpses into the history and sights of Jersey on the other end that I could picture it and all of the wonderful residents we met. The boardwalk with its quaint shops and nearness to the ocean called to me! How about we go see Jersey via Rome? Introduced in this first book was a bit of a mystery that piqued my interest, which I assume will continue to unfold in the next books. How will Sacha and Alessandro’s romance blossom? What’s in store for Jack, Lucy, Bella, and Nikki? I suppose I shall have to wait for another delightful Boardwalk By The Sea title to come out!

Click HERE to buy Summer Sundaes by Georgina Troy

Right Where We Belong by Deborah Raney, Melissa Tagg and Courteney Walsh

August 30, 2017 by bubblebathbooks 1 Comment

Whether in a quaint home bakery in Langhorne, Missouri, a cozy boho coffee shop in Maple Valley, Iowa, or a charming lakeside cottage in Sweethaven, Michigan, love grows best in small towns just like this!

In Deborah Raney’s A Langhorne Romance: Lily O’Neal’s thriving at-home bakery means working alone in her state-of-the-art kitchen, so how’s she ever supposed to meet the man of her dreams? But when delivery truck driver, Gage Simmons, shows up at her door—crooked grin and all—she can’t help making sure he has a reason to return…even if it means ordering her supplies one at a time.

In Melissa Tagg’s A Maple Valley Romance: After years of mistakes and regret, coffee shop owner Megan Harrow has finally built a new life for herself and her daughter in quirky, but charming Maple Valley. But she’s not ready for the sparks that fly when she meets local nonprofit owner Eric Hampton . . . or for the sudden reappearance of an unwelcome face from her past.

In Courtney Walsh’s A Sweethaven Romance: Eleanor Waverly is practically Sweethaven royalty, but her comfortable, cushy world is turned upside-down when she discovers an old map hidden in the bottom of a 125-year-old time capsule. Her only hope of uncovering the truth lies with local firefighter (and Waverly rival) Jason Holloway, and with his piercing eyes and troubled past, it’s clear from the start it’s not only her way of life that’s on the line, it’s her heart.

Bubby:

Now as much as Sissy and I were ready to spread our wings and leave our little hometown, sometimes there really is no place like home, the place where you grew up, the place where your memories are, and the place your family calls home too. All three of these books take place in hometowns just like that.

Sissy:

I like my little hometown now way better than the little hometown I had in high school. Is that bad?

Bubby:

Nope. I feel the same, although my little hometown now isn’t so little. I think that once Mom and Dad moved away, it was hard to have ties in California anymore. Besides, we’ve lived here longer than we lived in California at this point!

Sissy:

The essence is, we totally get the small town vibe of Right Where We Belong; the good and bad parts. Like everyone knows your business, but also everyone is willing to help you when needed. Aside from the small town element and love stories, A Langhorne Romance, A Maple Valley Romance and A Sweethaven Romance all bring different components to the collection. There is some mystery and danger, some deep issues are addressed, and there is also some cute, quirky fun (like me).

Bubby:

I’d say you’re short and quirky. Cute only when you’ve been fed. All the Right Where We Belong tales have a satisfying happy ending. That makes me happy! I thought that I’d be less busy once school started but man was I wrong! These three stories are the perfect length to fit in my super crazy schedule. We can all use a little more happiness and love in our day, right?

Sissy:

Right. That’s why I come to visit Bubby all the time. I’m like a ray of sunshine in her pocket! Speaking of a ray of sunshine, Right Where We Belong, with its relatable, loveable characters, is a totally gratifying, “happy making” read!

Click HERE to buy Right Where We Belong

Save