Unwrapping a Review of THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown

I know Unwrapping Romance is all about romance especially that HEA promised us in romance novels but every so often, I read a book that just deserves a little shout out of excitement. With the holidays bearing down on us, I can’t think of a better time to give off some joy for a wonderful, delightful, and cockle-warming British chick-lit that comes as close to romance as you can get without a Happily-Ever-After. THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown is everything wonderful! Pure Holiday Joy. 

***print copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unscripted review—thank you.

Blurb for THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF:

Sybil has always taken comfort in her knitting, creating beautiful garments stitch by stitch. But her world suddenly unravels when her fiancé ditches her for her identical twin sister and things go from bad to worse when an incident jeopardizes her job.

Hoping to escape her woes and forget that she'll be alone for Christmas, she visits her friend in Tindledale—a winter wonderland of quaint shops and snowy rooftops. Embraced by welcoming—if eccentric—locals wearing handmade knits reminds Sybil of her own creations and her unrealized ambitions of selling them. So when the vintage boutique asks her to create a knitting display for their front window, she's thrilled. The hot town doctor has even taken an interest in Sybil, hoping to heal her broken heart.

But just when Sybil thinks she's going to have her fairy-tale Christmas after all, an unexpected turn of events threaten to unspool her happily ever after.

~*~       ~*~        ~*~       ~*~       ~*~

Life couldn’t get much lower for Sybil. Her fiancé leaves her at the altar amidst a Star Wars themed wedding and runs off with her twin sister, and now there’s a chance, a great chance she will be on the hook for a huge money error at work. Really not wanting to face anything anymore, she packs up her little dog, Basil, and heads to Tindledale, a truly quaint little English village that when she steps off the train, she thinks she’s on a set for FROZEN. She’s eager to see her best friend, Cher, who will certainly help her see to making sure her life doesn’t get any more discombobulated but Cher is out of town, and the accommodations at the Duck & Puddle Pub, which Cher and her chef husband are now running, were highly lacking. With no other choice, she ventures to the Bed and Breakfast on the other side of the village. There she meets the incorrigible, Lawrence Rosenberg, host extraordinaire, and leader of the Tindledale Players. Lawrence sets her on the right path to discovering more about herself, her life, her desires, than she ever knew, and even encourages her to take a chance at love. Taking the road not traveled was the last thing she ever expected when she began her journey to Tindledale.

With a cast of the most delightful, unexpected, funny, endearing, and simply lovely characters, I would love to live in a place like Tindledale. I fell in love with this book so fast it surprised me. Although, we are greeted with not one, but two states of despair…first with Hettie, and the prospect of her losing her precious House of Haberdashery in Tindledale, but then Sybil whose life is a complete disaster…Alexandra Brown manages to makes us smile and even laugh.

I was sick as a dog with the cold from hell while reading this but I couldn’t have asked for a better escape into a warm, loving, and cozy read to make me feel better and smile. Okay, it’s sweet, most definitely, but its also romantic comedy at its holiday best. I can see this story being made into one of those wonderful feel good holiday movies that you want to take out once a year and watch it yet again. I can see reading this every holiday season for that feel good heartwarming experience too. I’m not a knitter, and it doesn’t matter but I would taking up knitting just to be invited to one of Syb’s and Hettie’s delightful natters…that seems to be what a gossip session is called in England. Tindledale is the most welcoming place on the planet, I think. Like I said, I’d love to live there.

I highly recommend reading THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown if you’re a fan of feel good, cozy holiday stories, funny clumsy kind of comedy, and I’ll clue you in…Sybil has everything come together for her and even has a hottie town doctor a little head over heels for her. Go ahead…take a trip to Tindledale and when it’s over, you can imagine your own HEA for Sybil.

Happy Reading Everyone!

THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown, William Morrow, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank You.

Unwrapping: Review of HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET by Lorena Bathey

Every once in a while I come across a book that isn't called a romance but is rather designated as a chick lit. However, it still has such a sweet romantic happy ending that I can't resist reading it and then telling everyone about it. HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET by Lorena Bathey is one of those books.

A while back, Lorena approached me with the offer to send me a copy of this unique novel which first released in December 2011. At first I was hesitant because it wasn't a traditional romance but then I read the blurb and said, 'this, I want to read'. As soon as I got the book, I sneaked a peak and knew I had to share it with you.

***Copy provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET:

Phoebe Bertramis boring, bland, and unexciting. She works a job that is inadequate of her abilities. She has a boyfriend that is tolerable, but mostly a dud. She is on the treadmill of her life and doesn't know how to get off.

With changes in her job and her apartment going condo, she must find a new place to live. Her friend Meghan brings her to the perfect apartment and the moment Phoebe steps in the door, she knows there is something special and atypical about this perspective residence.

What she never expects are the three ghosts that arrive on her couch to teach her how life is really meant to be lived.

                *                     *                    *                  *                   *                   *

This story centers around a major character, Phoebe Bertramis who is miserable in her life. She feels everything about her life is bland and beige. When she decides to make a change with a new job and since her boring beige apartment is going condo, she goes in search of a new place to live. Her friend, Meghan finds her the most perfect place. The minute Phoebe walks through the door of this unique apartment, she feels she's come home.

HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET by Lorena Bathey is a heartwarming story with bits of sadness that touch the heart. It's about recognizing the worth of your life, the worth of those who exist in your life, and those yet to become part of it. With a Christmas Carol feel to the story, Phoebe discovers the worth in her life with the help of three ghosts who live at the HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET.

Three unique characters brought incredibly to life by Lorena Bathey become the stars of this story about life affirmation. My favorite is Polly who has a bubbly, infectious personality that makes you smile without thinking. A former twenties club gal whose flamboyance from her experience as a singer and dancer teaches Phoebe about dressing with flair so that she won't feel so invisible. I think Polly had the most influence on Phoebe's reemergence from her shell. Then there is Isolda, a brash character compared to Polly who as one of the first suffragettes made the house available as a refuge for women who needed to start over. Very progressive. She helps Phoebe realize that her boring boyfriend is a great part of why she is so unhappy. She convinces Phoebe to look deep inside herself to find where she belongs. Finally, there's Hazel. I wanted to hug Hazel. She is a down-to-earth black woman who becomes a mother figure to Phoebe. She's gentle yet firm with Phoebe and teaches her the most about relationships and getting what she needs from life and love.

With the help of these three incredible spirits, Phoebe emerges from her beige dull world, finds true love with a man who not only loves her but respects her. There is a little sex, a lot of laughs, a few awww moments and a time or two when I had to wipe away a tear. Is it a true romance? No, this story isn't so much about Phoebe finding romance but about finding herself, however, she does find true love and a happy-ever-after.

HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET by Lorena Bathey might be different. It might not be a romance. It might be a tad bit slow near the beginning but if you're a fan of stories with something to teach you about life and love, friendly ghosts, and happy endings, I think you'd enjoy this chick-lit and like me, find the romance swirling beneath this life affirming story.  It's certainly one you can recommend to friends who turn their noses up at the romances we love - this is one to let them read then tell them they just read a romance.

If you'd like to learn more about Lorena Bathey and her books, please visit her website.

Happy Reading Everyone!

HOUSE ON PLUNKETT STREET by Lorena Bathey, Amazon Digital, available now in print (limited) and ebook formats - borrow for free with Amazon Prime.

                                                              

Now For Something Different: Review of DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND by Alexandrea Weis

Recently, Alexandrea Weis asked me to read her newest release, DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND. Now normally I wouldn't accept this challenge for UNWRAPPING ROMANCE because Chick-Lit isn't really considered romance even though it can contain elements of romance and sometimes, even a happy ending. Well, when I read the description, I was intrigued. I was fascinated by the concept of a fortyish woman, wife and mother, embarking on an adventure that could destroy her life as she knows it. I just had to find out what happens in the aftermath. Once I did, I thought - yes, my readers might like this one. So, Alexandrea, thank you for the opportunity to read this wonderful story and as promised, I will present an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND:

Resilient and practical, Kara Barton has continually strived to live a respectable life. She went to college, embarked on a promising career as an attorney, married a great guy, and always appeared to be the perfect wife and mother. But all is not what it seems, and the troubling past Kara has been running from her entire life is about to catch up with her. Urged on by her insecurities about growing older, and desperately wanting to feel one more night of passion, Kara agrees to share a tryst in a hotel room with a sexy business associate, Scott Ellsworth. But Scott wants more than one night together, and Kara quickly discovers it is impossible to resist him. Soon Kara finds herself transformed into the kind of woman she vowed never to become, and the secure world she has struggled all her life to build begins to fall apart. Kara Barton is about to find out how a one-night stand can change everything.

                          *                   *                  *                  *                  *                *   

Kara Barton is an attractive, intelligent forty-something lawyer who has been married for 12 years and has a spirited and precocious ten year old daughter. She also has a very unhappy marriage with her husband, Cal. Feeling as if her youth is slipping away and that she is no longer sexually attractive, Kara succumbs to the flirtations of a handsome older man who invites her to join him in a night of unbridled passion. With the promise that this will only be a one time thing, she gets what she wants - passion, excitement but perhaps more.

Scott Ellsworth is a man with a reputation. He has a reputation for chasing married women and for causing more than one divorce in the process but he, himself, has no desire to be tied down or even in a relationship. Yet when Kara Barton comes into his life, things change. He cannot resist her after their one-night stand and when her husband becomes violent, he comes to her rescue giving her and her daughter a place to stay even as he continues to romance her, seduce her, and claim her.

DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND by Alexandrea Weis surprised and delighted me. It's a story of wishing for what was, what can be and discovering that it was there all along.  This story takes the reader through many ups and downs. It's full of passion, heartache, anger, and resentment but most of all it's filled with a sense of wanting what once was and discovering that it had never gone away but merely changed over the years.

I'm not one to usually quote a book in a review but there is one line from the book that summed up this experience that Kara Barton and many other women are faced with sometimes - the guy left holdin' your hand when life turns to shit is the man you should give your heart to.

DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND by Alexandrea Weis may be labeled a Chick-Lit but it's a romance. It has everything in it that makes you smile, wipe away a tear, and cheer for the heroine when she finally stands up for herself. It even has a happily-ever-after ending.

I do sincerely recommend DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND by Alexandrea Weis to anyone who is looking for a grown up story about a grown up woman that is living a life that can change on a dime not once but twice. And when her search for a real life ends, discovers it's brought her full circle.

Happy Reading Everyone!

DIARY OF A ONE-NIGHT STAND by Alexandrea Weis, World Castle Publishing, available now in print and ebook format.