Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Release Date - October 21, 2014 Jodie Bailey Abingdon Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Taryn McKenna hasn't had it easy. Her mother died of liver cancer when Taryn was just 14 and her father always felt that Taryn and her mother had kept him from achieving his dreams. Raised mainly by her grandmother, Taryn's world is shattered when her grandmother collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Jemma has one wish for her granddaughter and that's to forgive the past. Now that Jemma's in need of a recovery, someone must finish a quilt she was working on. There's not enough time for Taryn to do it alone. More than a decade earlier, Taryn and her steady beau walked away from each other, and this quilt offers them the chance to reunite and work through the differences of the past to see if they have a future together. Quilted by Christmas is a gentle romance with likable characters and long buried secrets. It's a relatively short read at just under 200 pa

Release Date - September 2014 Pam Jenoff Harlequin MIRA Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth You cannot argue with the price of The Other Girl . This Kindle novella is free. It is a companion piece to The Winter Guest . Marie struggles with her currently living situation in WWII Poland. Her husband is off at war and her in-laws are not exactly welcoming. One night, Marie finds a young girl hiding in a barn. She risks it all to keep this girl from German officers. The problem is that help is going to come at a price. Marie is pregnant and estranged from her family, but her family are the only people she can think of at this time of need. At just over 20 pages, this is not a novella that will take you much time to read. I have yet to read The Winter Guest , so I'm not sure where things tie together. While I liked Marie's story, I couldn't help but wonder how it will all tie together. I'll know soon enough as that is one of the next novels on my reading list.

Release Date - October 14, 2014 Nicole Michaels St. Martins Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Sweet Opal Studios is Brooke Abbott's dream and she wants to see her new business become a success. She has the shop, has the crafts, but construction on the road her store sits on isn't helping. It's going to take a Christmas miracle to bring customers to her store. She never expects to find Alex Coleman lurking in the apartment above her store. Alex watched his best friend's sister growing up, but now that he's back in town, he never expected to feel so drawn to her. However, Brooke's brother makes it clear to Alex that Brooke is fresh out of an abusive relationship and Alex needs to stay away. As the owner of the building Brooke is renting, Alex is having a really hard time keeping away. Should he risk it all and stick around to see where things lead? This Christmas-themed romance is another quick and fun read. As the season gets busier, I always like havi

Release Date - October 14, 2014 Taunton Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Back in the spring, I went on the hunt for the perfect handbag. My favorite purse was the target of a forgotten restaurant chocolate melting all over the inside. I washed it the best I could, but ant season and all, they found the remnants easily enough. Finding my dream purse turned out to be a huge challenge. I knew what I wanted, but the closest purses were $200 to $400, and I wasn't about to spend that kind of money. My daughter ended up finding me the closest match to my dream, even if it is a vegan purse in a light mint pastel color. Handbag Workshop: Design and Sew the Perfect Bag offers guidance into skipping the stores and creating the bag of your dreams in the comfort of your home. It starts by looking at the basic shapes of a purse, when that purse is unsewn and laid out flat. Next it looks at the tools you need to create your purse. That's where things get tricky. Not everyone

Release Date - September 2014 Robyn Carr Harlequin Mira Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Robyn Carr's latest Thunder Point novel, The Homecoming , introduces Seth Sileski, a man who made a bad decision after leaving Thunder Point and changed a number of lives, and Iris McKinley, a woman who was once close to Seth until one night. Let it be noted that this is the first book I've read in the Thunder Point series, and that may have been a mistake on my part. The books do stand alone, but I didn't have the connection to the town that other readers may have. Years ago, Seth made a poor choice right when his professional football career was taking off. Now he's back in Thunder Point, serving as the new sheriff and ready to prove he's changed his ways, especially to his father. Iris McKinley was once Seth's best friend, and he'd like to be friends again, but Iris wants little to do with him. Even he doesn't know how badly he broke her heart years ago.

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Release Date - October 7, 2014 Michele Dunaway Macmillan Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth A Little Christmas Jingle has a lot going for it. Of the holiday-themed romances I've read in the past couple of months, this one is easily my favorite and will stick with me. Here's another great read for those who love Christmas stories. Detective Jack Donovan is happy with the work he does on the city's animal abuse investigative unit. He's not as happy as the attention he's drawing as Mr. December for a charity calendar. He's also not thrilled that his mother works tirelessly to find him a wife. Little does Jack know, he's about to meet the woman of his dreams. Kat Saunders works hard to save the lives of the animals in her veterinary clinic. In fact, she's opened up a no-kill shelter as part of her clinic, though it seems to be ticking off some of the area residents. She's facing a court hearing that her shelter is illegal and that the animals

Release Date - August 2014 Anna Sullivan Forever Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Holden "Hold" Abbot is on Windfall Island to uncover who the heir to the Stanhope fortune really is. His presence is a distraction to Jessi Randal, a single mom who wants to focus on her seven-year-old son and not a relationship. Hold is getting harder to ignore, however. Balancing work, parenthood, and her growing attraction to Hold is tough. Even worse, Jessi finds a link between the missing heir and herself, her son's father returns after walking out on her when she was pregnant, and town gossip looms at every corner. Does she really have time and energy for a romance? Hideaway Cove is the second book in the Windfall Island series. I loved the first book in the series and hoped to enjoy this one just as much. However, it feel short. I didn't like the return of Jessi's ex-boyfriend and the father of her son. It was too easy to predict why he suddenly returned after eig

Release Date - July 2014 Richard North Patterson   Quercus Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I have a feeling that I would have gained more enjoyment out of Eden in Winter had I read other books in the saga. I didn't, however, and quickly found myself disliking most characters in the book. No one seems capable of telling the truth unless they're backed into a corner, and even then they excuse their behavior constantly, even if they are just clearly in the wrong.  Adam Blaine is uncovering the truth behind his father's death on Martha's Vineyard. This truth threatens to tear his family apart, but he's equally determined to make it so that not one of his family members pays the price for Benjamin Blaine's death. As the CIA agent works to unravel the truth, he finds himself forming a bond with his father's pregnant mistress. I don't want to say too much more about the plot, because there are things I could give away. I never really connected wi

Release Date - October 2014 Donna Alward Macmillan Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I love feel-good stories, and Christmas at Seashell Cottage is definitely a feel-good holiday romance. The story takes place in my favorite place on earth, coastal Maine, so that made it all the more enjoyable. Charlie Yang's parents may not have been thrilled by her decision to move to Maine and become a small town doctor, but she's happy enough. She cares for most everyone in the town and has a charming cottage in a beautiful coastal town. In hopes of getting to know more people in the community, she agrees to help out with the decorations for the upcoming holiday. While working on the nativity scene, Charlie comes face to face with a man she's admired from afar. Dave Ricker is a former SEAL and as he's new to the town, he needs friends just as much as Charlie does. She doesn't want to lose her heart to a man who may leave, but it's hard to resist. While walking