Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Released April 24, 2012 Kristan Higgins Harlequin Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth In Somebody to Love , Parker Welles has the rug torn out from under her feet when she learns her father's being arrested for insider trading. The mansion she and her young son, Nicky, call home is being sold, their trust funds are gone, and all she has to her name is a checking account with about $10,000 and a house she didn't know she owned up in Maine. With Nicky heading to California for a few weeks, Parker has time on her hands. She heads up to Maine thinking she has a comfortable home she can sell. Instead, she finds she is now the proud owner if a run-down shack owned by someone who was obviously a hoarder. It's going to take a miracle to make this cabin marketable. Parker never expects her father's trusted friend and lawyer, James Cahill to come to Maine to help her out. She can't exactly refuse his handyman skills, but he's also the last person she wants to tru

Released April 24, 2012 Robyn Carr Harlequin Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I fell in love with Virgin River after reading Redwood Bend . This seemed like the ideal town to call home, a place full of friendly faces and helpful neighbors. One of the minor characters really caught my interest. Tom Cavanaugh, a former Marine, left me hoping he'd find the perfect woman. In Sunrise Point , he certain meets his match. Tom and his grandmother run an apple orchard, and autumn is definitely one of the busiest times of the year. Tom's in the middle of hiring his seasonal crew when a young single mom, Nora Crane, appears looking for a job. He knows she's not up to the hard labor, but his grandmother insists that he give Nora a chance. Tom knows that his ideal wife is not going to come with baggage, and Nora knows that marriages never last. Yet, both of them realize they're falling head over heels with the person they'd least expect. I've only read a couple Vi

Released March 2012 Mary Anna Evans Poisoned Pen Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Based on the back cover blurb, I wasn't sure I'd really like Plunder . The new novel from Mary Anna Evans seemed to focus a lot on the heroine and her husband's company researching sites along the southern coast. Their jobs became difficult when an offshore rig exploded causing oil to spill out into the Gulf. The moment I started reading, however, I become enamored with the characters.  Faye and Joe are incredibly likable, but it's the teenager they befriend, Amande, who truly won me over. That girl is a spitfire, and I certainly hope she appears in future novels. The main plot to the story involves a law in Louisiana that states when a spouse dies without a will, the blood children of the deceased inherit his/her estate. The current spouse is able to remain in their home free of charge, but he/she doesn't gain ownership. Amande's step-grandmother is living on th

Released April 24, 2012 Harpercollins Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Based on the real events leading to Bin Laden's death, KBL: Kill Bin Laden gives a fictional account of every aspect of planning that lead up to the killing. The story starts with the SEAL team revealing Bin Laden's corpse to a retired Airborne Ranger, Charlie Becker, and then goes back in time to the intricate details of planning his hunt and eventual assassination. Events are told in chronological order, so you feel the anticipation of the hunt building with each page. Throughout Kill Bin Laden , the reader is taken on a detailed journey where key players all shape the tale. Readers spend time in the Oval Office, in the heat of Pakistan, and in the CIA headquarters in Virginia. Because the story has real people, it feels more like a true account than a fictional retelling. If you've read the papers or watch the news, you likely know everything about what Bin Laden did and why the U.S. neede

Released February 2012 Courtney Walsh Guideposts Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth More than 20 years ago, Suzanne Carter was forced to abandon her friends and never return to Sweethaven, Michigan. Now, she's dead and her daughter wants answers to her questions, particularly the truth regarding who her father really is. Campbell Carter heads to Sweethaven hoping her mother's former friends will have the answers she needs. In Sweetwater, Campbell is helped by an attractive young man who also has ties to Suzanne's past. With his help, she and her mother's former friends begin to unravel the mystery behind her father's identity and the secrets they kept from each other. As a Guidepost book, I expected A Sweethaven Summer to be incredibly touching. I definitely wasn't disappointed. The characters are extremely likable, and there is the touch of romance that blossoms between Luke and Campbell adding appeal. I didn't feel the mystery regarding Campbe

Released August 2011 Barbara Taylor Sissel Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Years after being left at the alter, Livie Saunders receives a note from Cotton that simply states "I'm sorry." Flooded with emotions, Livie soon receives another message asking if she'll meet him. She'd wanted to put Cotton behind, even burying pieces of her wedding gown projects completed for her landscaping business. Cotton's return brings old feelings to the surface, feelings she's not sure she ever planned to face again. For Cotton, leaving Livie was hard. After one mistake caused him to flee town, he's ready to face his past and the crime he committed. He needs to take that ninth step... The Ninth Step surprised me. I'm never sure what to expect of an eBook, especially ones that are self-published through Amazon's program. I'd love to say everyone I've read has been amazing, but the fact is that I've ready far more works that really shouldn

Released April 2012 ECW Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I swore I did this review a week ago, right after finishing the final word, yet I find no record of a review. In a way, I'm glad because a week later, after reading close to half a dozen books, I can't forget the lessons learned in Chai Tea Sunday. Nicky loves her job as a school teacher, but she also loves her husband more than anything. For years, they've tried unsuccessfully to raise a family, and when she learns she's pregnant, they're both overjoyed. A couple months before the baby is due, Nicky goes into labor. The baby is born with a genetic disease that isn't treatable. Left to mourn the loss of their premature daughter, Nicky and her husband drift apart and become legally separated. Needing to start over, Nicky leaves her condo and job behind and heads to Africa to teach children in an orphanage. There she finds the conditions appalling and the headmaster of the orphanage to be c

  Free Two Days Only! Saturday 4/14 & Sunday 5/15 Two Kindle eBooks are  FREE this weekend!   Click Cover for FREE Kindle eBook Fortuna by Michael R. Stevens Longing for escape from his mundane existence as a Stanford computer science major, Jason Lind signs up to play Fortuna, an online role-playing game set in Renaissance Florence. From the first, fateful mouse click, Jason tumbles into the vibrant, lush, and anonymous world of Fortuna. Swept up in this highly complex, highly addictive game of fame, fortune, and power, Jason quickly transitions from casual gamer to compulsive player. What started as a great escape may be anything but, because in the world of Fortuna, it's not how you play the game; it's if you survive. "Fortuna will captivate you. An intriguing story of today's cyber world tied into the everyday world. And an intriguing mind wrote this book." Bookloons

Released February 2012 Bell Bridge Books Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth When I first asked to review The Dog Walker , I'd read a promo stating the book followed "the tradition of Forrest Gump." That's one of my all-time favorite movies, and I guess not a good reason to choose a book. As I read, the comparisons between this book and Forrest Gump often struck me as just too much. The setting and characters may be different, but throwing in a woman much like Jenny and war vet seemed too coincidental to be a coincidence in my eyes. I couldn't get past it. The Dog Walker is about a somewhat dim-witted 17-year-old dropout. His mother wants him to go back to school, but school was not the place for him. Instead, he starts up a dog walking business with the promise that if it doesn't work out, he'll go back to school. He plans to make sure his business works out though. Benny's passion for dogs is clear. He relates to them and appreciates their

Released on May 29, 2012 Bantam Books Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I actually reviewed this book for Amazon's Vine program. You'll find my review here . Meanwhile, I did just want to bring it to the attention of Roundtable Reviews' readers. It's definitely a mystery that keeps you guessing and really makes you want more by the time everything is revealed.

Here's your chance to get to know bestselling author Eileen Goudge. This is your chance to ask questions, comment on The Replacement Wife or any of her other books, or simply gain insight into the life of an author. Eileen is holding a chat April 10, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. EST. Head to Bookmovement.com and scroll to the bottom of the screen for the chat window. The event is open to the public and does not require you to sign in or become a member.

Free Today Through Sunday April 8! Three Kindle eBooks are available from some of our top authors! Click Cover for FREE Kindle eBook!   Fa tal February by Barbara Levenson     For half Jewish, half Southern Baptist Miami criminal defense attorney Mary Macgruder Katz, life spins out of control following a minor fender bender. Hardly before she knows what hit her, Mary breaks off her engagement, jumps into a sizzling new romance, gets fired from her former fiancé's highbrow law firm, starts her own practice, and lands her first client, Lillian Yarmouth, the prime suspect in what's become the Miami society murder of the year. But this case is anything but black and white. And Mary has stumbled into something that has someone seeing red.  ~~~~~ Click Cover for FREE Kindle eBook! The Castro Gene by Todd Buchholz The Castro Gene, by best-selling author Todd Buchholz, is seamless, suspe

Released March 2012 Atria/Emily Bestler Books Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth A mother steps just outside the train doors to get cell phone service while her young daughter sleeps on their seats inside. The train leaves and fails to see the mother chasing after the train. The conductor promises to look after the child until the mother meets them at their destination. Despite these carefully arranged plans, the child vanishes from the train without a trace, even though there were dozens of people there. Inspector Alex Recht investigates the girl's disappearance. His gut instinct is that the girl's father took her, but then the girl's body is found in northern Sweden with a message carved into her forehead. Alex and his team --Fredrika Bergman, an investigative analyst who specializes in cases involving children and women, and Detective Peter Rydh -- must unravel the clues and stop a madman before he launches another attack. Unwanted hooked me from the start. I&#