Review: If You Must Know by Jamie Beck

If You Must Know by Jamie Beck

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published: June 2020

Here is another book from 2020 I read, but didn't get around to reviewing.  This is a great mother/daughter contemporary story.  

The Turner women have reached a point in their lives where they really need each other. Sisters Amanda and Erin have never gotten along. Erin and their mom were always contentious and since the death of their father, they have all been a little lost. When Amanda finds out her husband is leaving her while she is pregnant, she will have to lean on her family in order to make it through.

Thank you to Montlake Romance and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoy books that deal with sisters and mothers. This book did not disappoint. It kept me invested from the very beginning. The moral of the story is that even though we may not always like our family, we love them and know that they will always be there for us when we need them.

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Review: A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alice Pearse is faced with a dilemma when her husband decides to leave his job. She leaver her part-time job that she really enjoys to find full-time work. She thinks that she may have found the perfect job(I would think so too) getting to work with books all day long. It's a dream come true. Unfortunately, this job also comes at a time when there is so much going on in her personal life. Will Alice be able to still be present for her family as well as her new job? Will this job live up to the excitement that was offered to her at the beginning, or will things change?

I was very enthusiastic to read this book. Imagine a job where all you do is read books and talk to publishers all day long. That is my dream job. The story moved very slowly for me. Taking me 10 days to read this book, and I wasn't drawn to it in my down time to pick it up, although I was curious to find out the outcome of the book. The second half moved along a bit quicker for me.

The thing that really drew me to this book was the main character Alice. She is a book lover and her job is to read and vet books for a new concept of bookstore. Who wouldn't want a job like that, especially as a book lover. I'm not sure why is always seems that when one thing is going right in your life, other things seem to go terribly wrong. Alice is faced with many challenges after taking this position and they seem to be all flying at her face at the same time. From issues with her parents health, to marital problems and guilt of not being there for her kids as often as she was before she took the job. These are things we all face in life and how we handle them will determine our strength and character. How Alice handles these problems will be a test to her as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, friend and employee. How many balls can we juggle before they all come crashing down upon us?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

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Review -- Mother's Day Out by Karen MacInerney

Mother's Day Out by Karen MacInerney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**I received this book as a part of Goodreads Giveaways**

Margie Peterson is your typical stay at home mom.  As if carpool lines, PTA fundraisers, and school newsletters weren't enough to keep her busy, she decides to take a part-time job to help with the family finances.  The job she took is not one that is typical of a stay home mom, but it's one that is sending her on quite an adventure.  She gets the opportunity to work for a private investigator.  The job is simple, but could be dangerous at times.  Her first case goes off without a hitch(almost).  The second, on the other hand, get really complicated really fast when she finds a dead body in the bathroom of a gay bar!

Margie Peterson is the mom we all hope that we could be.  She's strong, fearless, and is able to think quickly on her feet.  All great characteristics of a private investigator, but it tends to also get her in trouble from time to time.

This book had me laughing out loud, and sitting on the edge of my seat.  There is a twist around every corner and mystery that you have to get to the bottom of.  I enjoyed this book, but only gave it three stars because even though it had me on the edge of my seat, it took a while for me to get there.  It took me nearly a month to read this book.  Some because my life has gotten busy and there is hardly any time to read. But books that are hard to put down find a time to get read.

I do recommend this book for mystery/thriller/chick-lit.  And I will read more from this author and this series.


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Thanks Mom!

For most of us, the first person to read us a book was our mother.   She may have read to you while you were in the womb.  She read us or told us countless bedtime stories.  As we got older, she bought the books we needed for school, or books she thought might help us out with a situation we were going through.

Now, my mom is constantly suggesting books for me to read, and giving me books as gifts.   Just this year she has given me, Guilt-free Motherhood: Parenting with Godly Wisdom by Julianna Slattery and King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village by Peggielene Bartels. She has introduced me to David Baldacci and John Grisham books.  She gives my children books every time she sees them.

I can definitely say my love for reading was inspired by my mother.  I think there has only been one time in my life when she wasn't happy about my reading.  I had to be about 11 or 12 years old.  I was reading a really good book, that I didn't want to put away and go to bed.  I couldn't tell you what the name of that book is now, though.  So, she made me turn off my light.  I turned off the light and turned on the flashlight. Im not sure how long it was before she came back to my room and told me to turn off the flashlight and go to bed.  I just couldn't stop reading.  So, I took the flashlight and my book and maybe a pillow and went into my closet to read.  And I fell asleep.  The next morning, my mom couldn't find me because I was asleep in the closet!!  True story.   I wish I still had a closet big enough to curl up in and read.

So to all the mothers who have inspired us to read and to all of us who are mothers and are inspiring our children to read.  I say Happy Mother's Day!!

My Girls Readin'