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A Novel Review-Laura Kay

A Novel Review-Laura Kay

has 66 followers and is following 38 people

A little bit about me...I'm a stay at home mom with four children. I have a degree in English Literature and love reading and writing. I began thinking how it would be great to have some devoted time to writing each week, so I figured blogging would allow me to combine two of my favorite things...and A Novel Review was born.


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  • Memphis, TN, USA
  • member since July 9, 2011

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 90 reviews
  • While We Were Watching Downton Abbey
    • Rated 5 stars

    Three women living in the same upscale Atlanta apartment complex don't seem to have anything in common. When the building concierge begins a weekly screening of DOWNTON ABBEY the three women find themselves sitting together and striking up a friendship. The one thing they all seem to need is each other.

    Samantha seems to have it all; rich good looking husband, a top notch social life, the best apartment in the complex, oh and is beautiful. But what people don't see is the real Samantha who is a people pleaser and is convinced her husband married her only because he felt bad for her and her younger sister and brother. She has to hold everything together or it will all fall apart.

    Claire has just moved in after selling her home in suburbs. Her daughter has just left for college. She has already written two novels while working two jobs to support her and her daughter, so this is her chance to live her dream. She is giving herself a year to write with no interruptions. Yet words seem to be failing her.

    Brooke a newly divorced mom of two little girls isn't sure of herself. Her jerk ex-husband has made her forget the strong and capable woman she once was. He continues to lord his high and mighty self over her and rub her nose with his Barbie doll girlfriend.

    As the women meet together each week their unlikely friendship grows, but can they really open up to each other? Share their greatest vulnerabilities? And can this new friendship withstand a shocking betrayal?

    I was super excited to review While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax. I kept hearing people talk about the television show DOWNTON ABBEY, so I decided to watch the series before reading the book. After watching the series, I get the addiction! Now you don't have to be a fan of the program to read the book (but I highly recommend the show), but it does give fans some fun flashbacks and references of the program.

    I truly adored While We Were Watching Downton Abbey. I enjoyed getting to know the three ladies and their stories, watching their friendship grow. There were even a few times when they were hanging out I wanted to add my advice. I found myself frustrated for them, laughing with them.

    This is a perfect book to throw in your bag as you begin those summer vacations or to read while sitting out in the backyard while the kids play. It's just a light fun feel good read. I am recommending to all my girlfriends!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Seduction
    • Rated 5 stars

    The most stunning novel I've read this year is SEDUCTION by M.J. Rose. I've not read tons of historic fiction, but it is a genre I am finding I very much enjoy. I've found many of the historical books have a contemporary feel to them. This is not the case with SEDUCTION, I immediately felt transported back in time. Rose's writing style was haunting, aged and authentic.

    SEDUCTION moves back and forth between Victor Hugo's story taking place in the 1840's and present day. While reading Hugo's story I was mesmerized and I wasn't pleased when I would begin the next chapter where I was back in the present with Jac. Here's the thing, I wasn't pleased when I left Jac's story back to Hugo either. I found myself completely engrossed in each of their stories never wanting to deviate being equally fascinated by both stories as I was trying to figure out the connection.

    This was my first book by M.J. Rose I've read and I am now a fan! I was incredibly taken in by SEDUCTION, a suspenseful fictional account of Victor Hugo using an outline of his real life. He is living in Jersey in political exile from Paris. His eldest daughter drowns. In an effort to know she is alright Hugo enters the word of séances evoking a sinister entity.

    The present day story is about Jac L'Etoile, a mythologist who is suffering from a great loss and looking for an escape. Jac receives a request to help her old friend, Theo. Her adventure takes her to Jersey, for the first time...or is it? She is hoping to discover the island's Celtic history, but while there she and Theo begin searching for the lost journals of Hugo and suddenly everything begins to intersect.

    SEDUCTION had me totally engrossed, it's beautifully written and made my heart race making it difficult to put down. I am in awe of how talented M.J. Rose is as a writer, her writing is brilliant! I could gush and gush about this novel! Once you think you know what's going on you will soon realize you don't! Phenomenal! A suspense filled novel from beginning to end! I am highly recommending this!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Orphan Train: A Novel

    Orphan Train: A Novel

    by Christina Baker Kline
    • Rated 4 stars

    Seventeen year old Molly Ayers needs to log 50 hours of community service to keep her out of juvenile. Vivian Daly is a ninety year old woman who needs someone to help her clean and sort out her attic--an attic filled with childhood memories. On the surface seem to have nothing in common, but as they begin going through the boxes Molly learns a part of history rarely spoken about...Orphan Trains.

    Nine year old Vivian finds herself on an Orphan Train in 1929, leaving New York to parts unknown. The train fills up with other young orphans and heads to the Midwest searching for homes for the children. Some will find love, families and others find themselves as nothing more than servants.

    Molly relates because she too is an orphan, a foster child. Always searching for a home and never seeming to find one. The more Vivian shares with Molly, a loner goth, begins letting her guard down. Molly begins opening herself up and realizes she may be able to help Vivian with an unsolved mystery.

    I'd never heard about Orphan trains before reading this novel. It always makes me sad when I realize how much history we don't learn about in school. The novel goes back and forth between Vivian's past and current Molly (with her having a few flash backs of her own). The majority of the book is more about Vivian's past, which I was completely engrossed in. Ms. Kline I felt really wrote young Vivian so well. I could picture her and I wanted to reach out a help this young girl and allow her a childhood. As Vivian got older you could see even though she found happiness, she had been so hurt as a child it made her make a choice that broke my heart (sorry not going to spoil it!).

    I warmed up to Molly, but didn't really connect with her as much. There is tension with her foster mom Dina. The tension between Dina and Molly didn't work for me. Dina is written as a strong opinionated woman and to say she was fostering because of her husband just didn't make me a believer or the reasons she supposedly didn't like Molly. This for me was the only aspect that didn't work for me. I did enjoy the changes we see in Molly because of her relationship with Vivian, how she begins to come out of herself to help someone else and is loved in return.

    After reading just a few pages of Orphan Train, I had a hard time putting the book down. I ended the book with tears and wanting more. I wasn't ready to leave Molly and Vivian. I am highly recommending Orphan Train. This is one book you really don't want to miss out on experiencing.

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Witch of Little Italy
    • Rated 5 stars

    Eleanor Amore finally opens her eyes to the abusive relationship with her boyfriend Copper once she realizes she is pregnant. She is hoping her mom will help her out, but to no avail. She decides she will go back to the one place she always felt she belonged, where she felt safe...back to Bronx. Back to her Amore family! Back to where Eleanor lost her memory when she was ten, but also where she feels she left her heart.

    When she returns to her family, she begins regaining flashes of memories from her earlier life. Learning more about her past pushes Eleanor to figure out the family mystery...what happened the day the Amore's died. The only way for her to have a future is the figure out the past.

    The Witch of Little Italy is filled with magic, family, and tradition. Once I had the chance to really sit down and read I really just didn't want to put it down. I was drawn into the magical world of the Amore's, I wanted to figure out the mystery. I wanted to know and understand the family history!

    The novel mainly goes back and forth between Eleanor's point of view and her Aunt Itsy. The Aunt Itsy chapters gives the reader more information, as well as more questions. Some parts of the mystery I was able to figure out, but man the ones I didn't!! Loved it! This is just a great read! I read a quote on the back of the book that truly sums up and I wanted to share it.

    "I was utterly enchanted from the first page, and found myself continually marveling over the effortless grace with which this story unfolded. This is a complex, richly textured tale that practically sings with magic, and I know Suzanne Palmieri has a long and brilliant career ahead of her. In a word: I was charmed."

    --Donna Ball, award-winning author of the Ladybug Farm series.

    I honestly agree with Ms. Ball's description of the book! I was charmed! I am highly recommending The Witch of Little Italy!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Best of Us: A Novel
    • Rated 4 stars

    A group of college friends embark on a week long trip together to Jamaica to celebrate a birthday of one of their own. The ladies are excited to get a break from the reality of their daily lives. Tina is a mom of four and her days and nights seem like a blur. She needs to get a good night sleep and just a little time to herself. Allie recently found out her biological father and his father both died from a genetic family illness. Savannah has been hiding the news her husband cheated on her and is now in the process of a divorce. Last is Pauline, she is hosting the party for her husband Dwight's birthday. She is an outsider to the group dynamic, but she is putting an all out effort to make this trip a huge success hoping to win back some favor with her husband.

    What could be more perfect than a group of friends spending a week together dining on gourmet dinners, languishing hours on the beach, drinking till all hours of the night? As the weather turns from perfect to a pending hurricane the groups begins to falter. Forcing each woman to reexamine herself and her priorities. Each of the woman seeing even her friends differently than before they arrived.

    I immediately connected with Tina, what mom wouldn't! I related also to Allie. They were my favorite characters from the beginning, even their husbands. I could picture all of them so easily, their lives are so like mine. Savannah not so much. But I could respect how she was trying to push through better than ever and let's be honest there is always a Savannah in a friendship! You could see potential issues with someone like Savannah, so that really didn't shock me. But I was surprised most by Allie!

    We try very hard to limit visits with others to just a few days, I swear no good comes after about day four! Not only are the characters dealing with their own issues and each others issues, but a hurricane makes a sudden change of course heading right to them. Reminding them all what matters most.

    I love Sarah Pekkanen's writing! Her characters are always so authentic and their issues seem to easily connect to her audience. It's real life at it's best and worst. When I first read about the book I had this idea of a bunch of ladies getting together and hanging out at a resort living the life, maybe things get a little sexy. I was wrong. It's a story about couples, friendships, and finding your strongest self to get through the hard stuff.

    I am definitely recommending THE BEST OF US! So as the weather gets warmer this will be a perfect book to throw in your beach bag as you head to the beach!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Paradise Guest House: A Novel
    • Rated 5 stars

    I highly recommend you grab a copy before you take off for any summer vacation

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review Friday, April 12, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • And Then I Found You: A Novel
    • Rated 4 stars


    At the age of thirteen Katie Vaughn feel in love with Jack Adams at the age of thirteen, the first day of spring. There will always be something special about the first day of spring for the couple. They grew up together believing they would be together forever. And they were for a very long long time. But life happens, choices are made and once some decisions are made they can't be undone. Something the young couple realized too late.

    Fast forward thirteen years after their break-up. Kate has found a great life. She is close to her family, owns a successful shop, and has found a great guy, Rowan. What could possible be the problem? Kate finds an engagement ring. Almost in a cold sweat, Kate realizes she is going to need to totally open herself up to him--and she wants too. She believes the only way she can move forward is to deal with her unsettled past.

    But can her past lead her to her future?

    AND THEN I FOUND YOU, is a sweet soft spoken story of a young woman trying to make a life for herself after making a life changing decision. A decision she knew was right, but leaves her wondering of what could have been.

    At first, I didn't really get Kate. I mean you could really feel Kate holding herself back from Rowan. It seemed sorta wrong, like she knew in her heart he wasn't the one for her. I didn't like it, he was putting so much in and it just didn't feel like she was. But honestly, this is how real life works. We have baggage that we carry, Kate had baggage. Kate wanted to not have baggage and it took her a very long time to realize it was time to own it and realize it was time to deal with it, she couldn't carry it forever--not alone. Once she started being honest with herself, I connected with her.

    The novel is a love story, a story of lost love, a story of finding ones way home. Once Kate found herself, Kate found more than what she expected. A touching story. Highly recommend.

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review Wednesday, April 10, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Next Time You See Me: A Novel

    The Next Time You See Me: A Novel

    by Holly Goddard Jones
    • Rated 0 stars

    In the small town of Roma, KY, a woman goes missing. Like many small towns in the 90's there are lines drawn by how much money you make and the color of your skin. Those lines become blurred when Ronnie Eastman is missing and the lives of numerous residents are about to collide and will never be the same.

    At the tender age of thirteen, is an awkward girl, a loner, an outcast. Emily is hiding a dark secret. Suzanna is a teacher, wife and mother. She is struggling with her marriage and the decisions of her past when her sister goes missing. Wyatt, an older guy who has spent his life in a factory and never found love. Last, Tony. Tony a former baseball player who had been perusing his dreams to play in the major league, when an accident cost him his career--sending him back to Roma. Their lives become more and more tangled until the shocking end.

    The Next Time You See Me is told by multiple viewpoints, I really felt this allowed me to 'see' the characters as others saw them, as well as get to know them. By doing this I really got a sense of each of them, making me more sympathetic to them, where written differently I might not have. Even though the story is told using multiple points of view, it was very easy to follow along.

    I really enjoyed being swept away into this mystery/suspense novel. The most well written descriptions I've read in a book, I could hear the sticks cracking and leaves rustling about as Emily walked through the woods. The cast of characters were all flawed, so I never really loved or hated any of them. At the end of the story, I was surprised by my final thoughts of the different characters. Even though I pretty much figured out the 'who done it' part of the book pretty early on, I really enjoyed the book. The characters really drove the story, so the story became less about the who and more about the why. I am recommending The Next Time You See Me!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review Wednesday, April 10, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • Market Street
    • Rated 4 stars

    Cassie Blake was the Heiress to Fenton's, an upscale exclusive department store in San Francisco. She traded in her heiress crown for a pair of gardening gloves after she married her former Ethics professor, Aidan Blake. For ten years Cassie believed her life and marriage were perfect, but that all changed when she meets one of Aidan's students. After finding out Aidan had an affair, Cassie takes off to stay with her best friend, Alexis.

    While trying to figure out what to do about her marriage, her mother offers her a dream job. She wants Cassie to run a new Food Emporium, food/gardening is near and dear to Cassie. Seems like the perfect way to be a part of Fenton's. Cassie's life has completely changed and she is no longer sure what to do and things are about to get even more complicated.

    This is one of those great books when you put it down you can't believe how much you've read! Anita Hughes does an amazing job with describing the foods, clothing--everything. I also really enjoyed getting to know all the different characters in Market Street. I really just loved Cassie and Alexis, they were such great friends and really looked out for each other. I loved seeing them come into their own. The only person I really didn't care for was Aidan. It wasn't just because he cheated--he seemed to treat Cassie like he loved her, but not really an equal (I would venture to guess that was how he was suppose to come across!).

    I would have to call this a fun, delicious novel with a side sexy (it does get a little hot!) I am recommending Market Street!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review Friday, March 22, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • When She Was Gone

    When She Was Gone

    by Gwendolen Gross
    • Rated 5 stars

    It's almost time for the new school year to begin and Linsey Hart is about to go off to school at Cornell. Early one morning Linsey walks off and just disappears. Leaving behind her family and community to wonder and speculate what happened.

    When She Was Gone opens up the doors to numerous households in Linsey's small suburban neighborhood and allows it's readers to see inside. As the neighborhood grapples with the young girls' disappearance, they are also struggling to keep their own secrets buried.

    The story is told with numerous vantage points from her mother to a young boy who is an outcast, but who might just hold the answers in his collection of 'things'.

    This isn't just a story about what happened to Linsey, but a story about what goes on behind closed doors of her neighborhood--uncensored. As the reader, we get to see everything they are really doing and thinking. Abigal's (Linsey's mother) whole world is turned upside down she can barely function and yet when she goes door to door to find out if her neighbors may have seen anything, one neighbor closes the door on her face. Gross really pulled down the veil and exposes some deep down truths.

    I am definitely one who always wonders who are people really when I can't see them, so I really enjoyed getting the all access pass. During most of the book, I can't say I was really vested in any of the neighbors stories. For me the aspect that kept drawing me in further was the mystery of what really happened to Linsey. It was like the more I found out the less I really knew. Then at the end of the novel it felt like suddenly all those doors I had been peeping in were suddenly closed, I was once again shut out of their personal lives. I realized I'd been more connected to these characters than I thought.

    I was completely hooked! There were a number of moments where I was reading along, while holding my breath! I am a huge fan of Gwendolen Gross's writing style--smart and precise. I highly recommened When She Was Gone!

    A Novel Review-Laura Kay wrote this review Friday, March 15, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
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Displaying 1-10 of 90 reviews