Review: Be Your Everything by Catherine Bybee

Be Your Everything (The D'Angelo's #2) by Catherine Bybee

Publication Date: November 15th 2022 by Montlake Romance

Pages: 347

Source: Publicist

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BAM | The Book Depository | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Chloe and Dante have crushed on each other from afar for years. Chloe had no idea Dante was attracted to her, and she’s been off limits to Dante since she’s his best friend’s younger sister. However, all these feelings come to a head when they’re off in Las Vegas celebrating her brother’s pending nuptials. After a night of drinking, they wind up married. Can they have a future starting everything backwards or should they undo their hasty decision?

I’m a fan of the unrequited love trope, because after longing for someone so long it’s satisfying to see them happy together. I thought Chloe would be happy to be married to Dante, but there were other things at play, such as the reactions of her family. Being Catholic she worried about disappointing her family, mother mostly, by not having a big church wedding, and then Dante was worried Chloe’s brothers would be seriously ticked after warning him off of her for years. Dante had a reputation of being a player, so I get that. Also, there was some questions in Chloe’s mind about Dante’s true feelings for her, so some insecurities had to be dealt with.

I enjoyed seeing them gradually open up and settle in together. The family was another issue, and I was happy they presented a united front while smoothing ruffled feathers.

There was also an element of danger to Chloe as some unusual things started happening to her as soon as she got back from her trip. It was easy to guess the culprit, but there were some tense moments when I worried for her!

I’m enjoying the D’Angelo series! The big Italian family, the setting, both in the US and out, and the romances. Chloe and Dante’s romance steamed up the pages, but also felt like a real relationship, not just something based in fantasy and wish fulfillment. I look forward to the next one!

Be You Everything is available to purchase now and is also available through Kindle Unlimited “Read & Listen for Free” with the program. Love that option!

4 Stars

Book Description:

With two protective older brothers and a traditional Catholic Italian mother, it’s surprising that Chloe D’Angelo can manage a date without someone in the family naysaying her romantic choice. And Dante Mancuso…oh, no. Her brother’s best friend is not a dating-app right swipe.

But when they are left unsupervised on a late night in Vegas, all of that changes. Add in a Vegas wedding chapel and a couple of “I dos” and Chloe wakes up with a ring on her finger and a hangover. Dating Dante was always a secret desire, but marriage? The rift that this news would cause in her family has the both of them keeping their nuptials to themselves as they scramble to undo their Vegas mistake.

Dante knew the rules: Chloe was off limits. Only he can’t stop once his mind starts to believe she might be his forever. Just as their attraction deepens, Chloe flees to Bali, desperate to clear her head.

All Dante has to do is keep her brothers from killing him and convince her that they are meant for each other. But first, Dante has to find her.

About the author:

Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also  graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total she has written thirty-six beloved books that have  collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages. 

Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing  bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban  emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, the Most  Likely To series, and the First Wives series. Learn more about Catherine and her books at www.catherinebybee.com 

Sunday Post #186

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! I spent Thursday morning making pies and then we went to a friend's house for dinner with my sister and her husband. I'm still full, lol! Friday was a beautiful day weather-wise and my cat was living his best life, in and out of the house because it was warm enough to have a few adventures out there. Today (Saturday) we traveled to another couple/friend's house (they just bought and are in the process of a major renovation), about an hour away, and my husband helped with a bunch of things while us wives visited. We went to lunch and got home about 8:30pm. Tomorrow (Sunday) I have a flowers to plant and the hubby is installing kitchen pendants. 

I finally have our bathroom pictures to post. Before and afters:

Before

Before

 

After:

After:

Been a long process and I'm happy it's done! 

Read:

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

All audios, and library lends. I enjoyed all. 

Received/Purchased/Library Lend:

Two audio ARCs and two library lends. 

Instagram:

Fall trees and a read.

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How was your week?

Review: The Second Christmas by Marta Perry

 

The Second Christmas (The Promise Glen #4) by Marta Perry

Publication Date: September 27th 2022 by Berkley

Pages: 272

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Leah thought she’d be inheriting her Aunt Miriam’s plant/herbal business in upstate New York, but instead she’s back home in Promise Glen. Her family is unaware of the circumstances, but it was parting that left Leah shaken and hurt. On the bright side she’s setting up her own business on the land adjacent to her family’s property. The dilapidated little cottage needs work, but with some work and a little love and care it’s the perfect place for her new business. Unfortunately, her father asked Josiah, the man who broke her heart, to do the work. Determined to show she’s moved on Leah agrees.

Being home makes Leah realize just how much she missed her big, boisterous, and loving family. Losing that future in New York is starting to feel like a blessing in disguise. This close-knit, loving family filled me with joy! I liked learning about their Amish ways and holiday traditions.

Josiah was a fool when he courted Leah, too immature to recognize what he had with Leah until she was gone. With the work on her cottage, he hopes to mend their friendship and maybe win her trust and heart again. Also, it gives him a chance to prove himself to his father in the family business.

Working together in the cottage gives Leah and Josiah time to mend fences and remember that they were friends first before any romantic feelings developed. They shared confidences and support, something they fall back into. Leah helps Josiah see the situation with his father a little more clearly and Josiah helps Leah work through her feelings of shame and betrayal over her aunt’s reaction. He couldn’t help but be outraged for her.

The Second Christmas was a heartwarming second chance romance that gave me all the Hallmark-holiday romance vibes! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!

4 Stars

Book Description:

The warmth of the Christmas season and a woman's return home to the charming Amish community of Promise Glen opens the door to a second chance at love.

When Leah Stoltz pictured returning to Promise Glen, she imagined taking everything she learned from her aunt's business in Upstate New York and starting up a quaint herbal tea shop of her own. What she didn't expect was for Josiah Burkhalter to insist on helping her. Josiah might have been her childhood sweetheart but they've both changed a lot since then and Leah's not sure she can trust the man who once broke her heart.

Josiah is determined to make the most of this unexpected second chance. When he hears of Leah's plans to open her own shop, he resolves to help in any way he can--beginning his gentle campaign to win her back by renovating the small cottage on her family's farm.

During her time away, Leah looked forward to once again spending the holiday season with her family, especially Second Christmas, December 26th, a time of celebrating with extended family and close neighbors like the Burkhalters. But as Christmas nears, her feelings for Josiah grow more confused, strengthened by their time of working together. Now it will take all the magic of the season for Leah to confront her fears and reach for the love she deserves.

Thankful For Books Giveaway Hop!

 

I'm thrilled to be taking part in the Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop hosted by Marlene @Reading Reality and Kimberly @Caffeinated Reviewer book blogs! You can find the list of participating blogs by clicking HERE or by scrolling down to the bottom of the post. 

Hope you've had a great reading year! Here are some of my standouts:

I'm giving away a $15 Gift Card at either US Amazon or US Barnes & Noble or up to $15 at The Book Depository.  The giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.  Click HERE for a list of included countries. Scroll down to fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Post #185

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week.

We're making big strides with our kitchen remodel. The cabinets and hardware are all in we just need the countertops installed. The fabricator said they might have it ready to install before Thanksgiving, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a pain to cook and clean with no kitchen sink (been doing dishes in the laundry room), but it's a temporary situation. My bathroom is almost 100% done. I'll post before-and-afters soon.

Work was kind of a nightmare on Monday with a new doctor. She's nice, but I can tell she's a newer doctor and she made a lot of extra work. I had a horrible migraine by the end of the day, another on Friday at the end of work. I'm happy I'm mostly only working two days a week now and I'm only on one more day with her this month. 

The weather has been gorgeous this week. Still a little cold (high 50s/low 30s) but it's been clear and sunny. I went on a new hike today, which was so pretty with fall colors! After my husband and I tried a new place to eat in Nevada City. A walk-up brewery/bakery and the food was delicious! All fresh local farm produce, dairy and meat. Good but pricey, but I guess everything is lately.

A suspension bridge on my hike

fall colors on my hike

creek below suspension bridge

Read:

Click on cover for Goodreads link

I enjoyed all three books. I finished The Second Christmas a few days ago but put off writing my review because I just didn't feel like getting on the computer. Work and constant whatnot just kind of did me in this last week. I just wanted to start my next book and read.

Received/Purchased/Library Lend:

I loved One Plus One by Jojo Moyes so I was excited to get a copy of Someone Else's Shoes. I let out a happy squeal when I saw the email for Hello Stranger! I don't read much YA anymore, but after reading Carole's review I requested an audio of Sugaring Off. I have a lot of library audios to get through before they expire!

Instagram:

My current read. I'm enjoying it!

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How was your week?

Blog Tour Review: Folk Around and Find Out by Penny Reid

 

Folk Around and Find Out (Good Folk:Modern Folktales #2) by Penny Reid

Publication Date: October 17th 2022 by Cipher-Naught

Pages: 314

Source: Publicist

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Nook | Kobo | Apple | Goodreads 

Google Play | Smashwords | Amazon Worldwide

My Thoughts:

Charlotte’s cousin has disappeared, and her family is panicked so they devise a way to locate her on the downlow by getting information from the last place she worked, The Pink Pony. Unfortunately, the club is owned by Hank Weller, a man Charlotte used to have a mad crush on until he stood her up for her junior prom.

Hank doesn’t want anything to do with Charlotte let alone hire her to dance at his club. Especially since the town blames Hank for her marriage failing after Charlotte’s husband ran off with one of the dancers from Hank’s club. I wasn’t sure how that was his fault, but it did leave Charlotte alone with four young children to raise.

Of course, even with all their reservations, they end up working together and are surprised to find they actually respect and like each other. The begrudging attraction they feel becomes hard to deny or resist.

Charlotte was a breath of fresh air, oblivious to most things around her, especially gossip, which was no surprise considering she had four young children to raise on her own and barely had any time for that kind of thing to register!  I appreciated her no nonsense attitude about people and her commitment to raising her kids right at the expense of her own happiness if necessary.

Hank was a bit of a Grumpy Gus at first, with not much patience for anyone but his best friend, Beau Winston. I enjoyed seeing him soften and change after spending time with Charlotte and her adorable kids. He absolutely melted my heart with the care and help he gave to Charlotte when she needed it!

I have to say one of my all-time favorite characters in Penny Reid’s romances is Cletus Winston! He is crafty and cutthroat and seems to hold a secret or ten on just about everyone! He always makes me laugh and I have to admire his deals and skills! He comes in very handy in this installment.

I love Penny Reid’s brand of romance! Her writing is clever and hilarious! Hank and Charlotte had oodles of chemistry that made for a satisfying slow burn, simmer-to-boil kind of romance. Folk Around and Find Out was pure fun and a definite recommend!

4.5 Stars

Excerpt:

My day hadn’t been great even before she walked in.

I’d just returned from the funeral of my longtime bookkeeper. He’d died from old age in his sleep surrounded by his five kids, loving wife, and eighteen grandchildren while leaving me with a reconciliation mess and this month’s payroll to finish.

My newly trained bartender had sent a manifesto via text message, blaming his decision to quit on my unwillingness to build a dedicated meditation room and give him four paid half-hour breaks per shift to use it.

Three Diamond Whiskey bottles out of the six that had shipped from the distributor were broken in the crate. If you’re keeping score, that’s seven hundred dollars in Tennessee Whiskey and a crime against humanity.

On the plus side, the suit I’d worn to my parents’ funerals fit and I still looked damn good in it.

Of course, I didn’t know the newcomer was her at first. The door opened and closed, same sound as normal no matter who was coming or going. It was a Sunday mid-morning, still early yet for any of the dancers or bouncers and way too early for any customers.

But the moment she turned the corner and came into view, I gritted my teeth. Here we go. What could she want? She better not be selling Bibles.

“Charlotte.” Standing behind the bar, I crossed my arms and sounded unfriendly. She’d caught me restocking paper products and the three surviving bottles of Diamond Whiskey. I was only half finished with my current task, but nowhere near half finished with my task list for the day. I did not have time for pious Charlotte Mitchell.

As a rule, I had time for two types of folks: people I paid, and people who paid me. A small number of exceptions to this rule existed: a few friends from college and in town, like Beau Winston or Patty Lee, and any woman I’d set my mind on seducing, but even then, I made sure the scales remained balanced—give and take, tit for tat, even-steven. Point is, Charlotte was obviously not the former exception, and there was no way she’d ever be interested in becoming the latter.

“Hank.” She didn’t look at me, but she did paste on an obligatory-looking smile that pulled her full lips tight and came nowhere close to her green eyes. Tracking Charlotte Mitchell’s slow approach, I didn’t miss how she took her time and peered around.

I wanted to snark, “Lost? I believe the wallpaper and sanctimony store is closer to downtown.”

Instead, I ground out, “What do you want?”

About the book:

He needs to get her out of his system. Just once...

Hank Weller doesn’t help people. He leaves that do-gooder nonsense to his best friend, Beau Winston. Hank does what he wants, when he wants, with whomever he wants—and Hank does not want to hire Charlotte Mitchell to be an exotic dancer at his club, The Pink Pony. Sure, he can’t help noticing the dips and curves of her, how shrewd, smart, and funny she is, the fire in her hazel eyes. He's always noticed. She’d probably draw a crowd and entice the regulars. But after Charlotte's messy, public divorce made Hank’s club out to be the culprit—and made her the single mother of four kids—he doesn’t need or want any additional bad press courtesy of Charlotte Mitchell. Or the distraction. Unfortunately for him, the town’s prettiest charity case doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words nope, no, and never.

Charlotte Mitchell doesn’t much like Hank Weller. Once upon a time, she used to. Years ago, she liked him a whole heckofalot despite other folks in town labeling him as “eccentric” and “nonconformist,” which were polite southern alternatives to "filthy rich" and "self-centered douchebag." Her opinion of him changed dramatically after he volunteered to be her date to junior prom and then promptly stood her up. They haven't so much as acknowledged each other in over a decade. But a sudden family emergency means Charlotte needs access to Hank’s club ASAP. Unfortunately for her, the narcissistic fancy-pants doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words help, generosity, and compassion.

But he’s about to find himself schooled. Charlotte is going to teach Hank a lesson once and for all about basic human decency, whether he likes it or not.

Spoiler alert. . . he likes it. ;-) 

About the author:

Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.

Connect with Penny Reid:

Website | Mailing List | Facebook | Amazon | Twitter

Sunday Post #184

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week.

It's been a week of cold rain and snow. Our highs last week were in the 40s and lows in the upper 20s to low 30s. A new experience for me being from Southern California. I love it! Cozy nights with the wood burning stove going. Perfect reading weather.  I'm wearing sweaters, scarves and coats. We warm up a little this week with highs in the 50s. 

Our kitchen remodel is in full swing. The island and bottom cabinets are in. The top cabinets and hardware should go in Monday or Tuesday, but the countertops may not go in until after Thanksgiving *sobs*! We'll see what their schedule is.

This photo was on Tuesday and the photos below were on Thursday, so most of it melted in a couple of days:

Fall colors on my usual run by our house:

Grapevines on my usual run

Went on a four mile hike yesterday with my sister and her husband but didn't get any pictures cause we were too busy chatting. It was cold but very pretty.

Read:

Click on cover for Goodreads link

Received/Purchased/Library Lend:

Two Kindle Unlimited audios, one purchased audio, and one library audio. And I won this lovely audio from Anne @Books of My Heart! Thank you, Anne!

Instagram:

Such a pretty cover, right? I'm giving it away HERE. 

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How was your week?