About the Book: New Yorker Sadie Maddox is the toast of the classical music world and the queen of all she surveys in short, she’s a bit of a diva. But lately her CD sales are sagging, not to mention parts of her anatomy. Maybe it’s time for a change. Something new. A second act. So when her agent suggests she take on a professorship at a small liberal arts college, Sadie decides to give it a go. Ivy-covered walls, worshipful students . . . oh yes, the ivory tower has its appeal. And she needs the money.

Except the college is in rural Iowa, and the closest thing to designer clothes is the western wear shop down on Main Street. Sadie’s colleagues are intimidated, her students aren’t impressed, and she has to live far too close to farm animals.

And when Sadie meets Mac, a large animal veterinarian, she assumes they have nothing in common he is, after all, a country music fan.

But when the semester ends, Sadie packs up and decamps for the city that never sleeps . . . and finds she can’t, either. This laugh-out-loud novel about second chances will have readers cheering as Sadie struggles to find her life’s second act

My Review: This was my first novel by Kimberly Stuart and I loved it! It was laugh out loud funny and just a pure delight to read. I breezed through it rather quickly, and was sorry when it was over.

There is a delightful cast of characters, all very different from each other. I have to admit, I’m not much of an opera fan so I probably would have added immensely to Sadie’s problem of being recognized. I cringed at her snobbiness at first (though I can imagine leaving New York would be very hard!), cheered her successes, and yes, rejoiced in the ending.

This book would serve as a great summer read, even if a lot of it takes place in the dead of winter. It’s nice to remember that sometimes it gets cold when you’re so very hot!

You can check out Act Two on Amazon.
Visit Kimberly Stuart’s website.
Look at a sample of the book at David C. Cook’s website.

About the book: What if your ex was famous and adored by millions? What would you do if you had one chance to make him regret his entire existence? How much would you risk?

Kate Hollis’s ex-boyfriend’s face plasters newsstands and TV, the Internet, and the multiplex. Jake Sharpe is one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he’s famous for is about Kate. For over a decade his soundtrack has chased her — from the gym to the supermarket, from the dentist’s office to the bars. Now thirty-year-old Kate gets the call that Jake has finally landed back in their Vermont hometown for an MTV special. The moment she has been waiting for has arrived.

On the eve of their prom, Jake Sharpe vanished, resurfacing when his song Losing — about his and Kate’s first sexual experience — shot to the top of the Billboard charts. And the hits kept coming, each more personal than the one before.

Now Kate gets her chance to confront Jake and reclaim her past. But after eleven years of enduring protracted and far-from-private heartbreak, everyone in Kate’s life has a stake in how this plays out. Kate must risk betraying the friends Jake abandoned, the bandmates whose songs he plundered, and her own parents, who fear this will dredge up a shared past more painful than any of them want to acknowledge. But after getting the call in the dead of night and jumping on a plane, can she turn back now?

My Review: I loved The Nanny Diaries immensely but also really enjoyed Citizen Girl so I was looking forward to reading this latest from the Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I wasn’t disappointed.

If you have ever experienced deep hurt at the hands of someone you loved, especially a first love, I think you will find something you relate to in this book. Hopefully, you’ve moved on enough that you wouldn’t do what Katie does in this story…hop on the first plane to go see him, but the fantasy of doing such a thing…showing up looking fabulous is always there, even a little, isn’t it?

In any case, the story weaves together the timeline of the past with the present situation. This creates some mystery (what exactly did Jake do???) but also pushes the story forward. There’s a little bit of romance and a lot of angst!

I can’t say that I found the entire book to be terribly realistic, but it’s a good read and an interesting chance to ask yourself…what if?

What I love about McLaughlin and Kraus’ writing is how well they create the feel of a scene. They add in a lot of little details that make you feel like you’re there. This is one of their greatest strengths, I think. Just be warned there is a bit of foul language.

Dedication was just released in trade paperback format by the Atria Division of Simon and Schuster books.

You can visit Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus here.

About the Book:When purple-haired Mayla Strong struts down the center aisle of Salliesburg Independent Christian Church, the bug-eyed congregation strains to get a peek at her pierced nose and lip. But Pastor Paul welcomes her with a huge, infectious grin and baptizes her on the spot.

Determined to make her heavenly Father proud, Mayla’s sincere and often hilarious attempts to let Him change her from the inside out takes her into some difficult places. Through it all she grows in faith and wisdom–sometimes through pain, sometimes through humor, but always in a way that is uniquely Mayla.

My Review: I really enjoyed this book! Mayla is a really fun and down to earth character and it is so much fun to learn about what it means to know Jesus through her eyes. Unconcerned with appearances, she is enamored with her new faith and desires to live in a way that reflects that. In the beginning she is surprised by the changes taking place and throughout the course of the book she learns that she must consciously continue to make choices for God.  Part of what I like so much about Mayla is that she is completely unpretentious, there is such a sincerity to her desire to live out her new life.

I found this book to be both a little bit funny and a little bit touching. The writing is strong and there’s really no romance in it. It’s a short little book….under 250 pages and I easily read it in an afternoon. Might be something fun to take along to the doctor’s office while you sit in the waiting room!

Nine out of ten.

About the Book: Josey Anderson will be the perfect wife. She and Chase did have the perfect wedding—if you don’t count the matron of honor going into labor. Now all she has to do is find a cute Cape-style house, report for the Gull Lake, Minnesota, paper, bake cookies and learn to sew—is that so difficult?But when Chase lands a new job—in Moscow—Josey’s dreams disintegrate. After all, she’s been there, done that as a missionary, and a city without year-round hot water, decent takeout or…maternity clothes—that’s not perfection! But what’s the perfect wife to do?

My Review: I loved the first book, Everything’s Coming Up Josey and equally enjoyed Chill Out, Josey!. Josey has such a fun voice and Susan’s prose is effortless and fun. I devoured this book in just a few hours. It was interesting to me to read about how different Josey’s second Moscow experience is. Additionally, I found the ways Josey fills her time to be really interesting. There are some elements to the plot that might not be one hundred percent believable, but Susan handles them with such humor and fun that it’s hard not to just go along with it for the fun. These are among the best books in Christian chick-lit. 9.5 out of 10.

Megan Crane is one of my favorite chick lit authors. Her books are not only fun to read, they also have substance. It’s in the little things, the small scenes or random thoughts a character has that make you realize…hey, that’s just like me! Her latest book, Names My Sisters Call Me, releases today. It is my favorite of hers yet, though they are all wonderful. I highly recommend that you check it out if you enjoy chick lit with substance. (which is sort of silly to me, because I think most chick lit has substance–but I think her books are especially good) To celebrate the release of her book, you can visit her blog for a conversation between her and Liza Palmer

Amazon is hosting one incredible contest right now. I mean, can you even imagine having written a book people would hope to spend a weekend with?

A Book Blogger is giving away two copies of Joshilyn Jackson’s The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. Stop by her blog to learn how you can win!

Here’s a list of the 110 best books. (supposedly) Spot your favorite on that list?

I have a copy of Melanie Wells My Soul to Keep to giveaway. Read my review and if you are interested in a copy of this book, look for the weekend discussion question which will be posted tomorrow. Participate in the weekend discussion and you’ll be entered to win….simple as that!

Back Synopsis:  Preacher’s kid and prodigal Harriet Bisset returned to her church and her family in Franklin, Tennessee, seven years ago. Once the proud owner of two tattoos and a nose ring, Harri is now addicted to Jelly Bellys in lieu of hangovers and Bible verses in lieu of foul language. The good news is that she has everything under control: a part-time position as director of women’s ministry, a church family that adores her, a rent-free home in a senior mobile home park, and the possibility of owning the café where she waitresses. Nothing could tempt Harri to return to her old ways. Nothing but a 1298 cc, liquid-cooled, sixteen-valve, in-line four-cylinder motorcycle—and the church consultant riding it. Reformed rebel Maddox McCray’s arrival at First Grace spells C-H-A-N-G-E for the dying church. And it just might mean change for Harri when Maddox sets out to convince her that even Christians are allowed to have fun.
Review:  Inspirational or Christian Chick Lit received quite a bit of attention when it first surfaced.  I was really excited to read it, as I love chick lit and can most strongly identify with a character of faith.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of the Inspirational Chick Lit out there is simply not that good.  There are a few stand out examples, most notably Penny Culliford and Susan May Warren’s contributions, but overwhelmingly these books end up being afraid to take risks that make sense and at the worst come across as preachy.

Having said that, I had high hopes for this book.  I heard quite a bit of buzz about it and mostly good reviews.   I really love both the cover and the title.   I am sorry to say that I ended up disappointed. 

To be fair, some of my objections to this book lay in a fundamental disagreement of what God wants for His church.  But since the book revolved around a church attempting to change in order to gain congregants, and the hero was a church consultant, it was impossible to ignore.   A few times I wanted to scream because I felt they were handling things and understanding things all wrong.  And since accepting the changes and coming around to a new viewpoint was a major part of the journey for Harriet, I felt frustrated and unsatisfied by the ending.

I finished the book, and I did find some redeeming parts to it.  Overall, however, I felt this book suffered from the two problems that plague Christian chick lit…preachiness and lack of humor.  I would have liked to see a bit more character development and growth for the hero as well.

I’m sorry to post the first negative review at the Nook.  I do still plan to give Tamara Leigh’s other books a chance (I have at least one other one in my TBR pile) as long as they don’t revolve around church growth strategy!  Overall, I’m giving this book six out of ten stars.

Disagree?  Tell me why in comments!