Book Review: All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

Thursday 30 September, 2010 By 5 Comments


Title: All I Ever Wanted
Author: Kristan Higgins
Publisher: HQN Books
Publication Date: July 27, 2010
Paperback: 384 pages
ISBN: 978-0373774586
Genre: Fiction

About the Book:

One Happily-Ever-After Rocking Chair . . .

And no sign of any forthcoming babies to rock in ol’ Georgebury, Vermont. For Callie Grey, turning thirty means coming to grips with the fact that her boss (and five-week fling) is way overdue in his marriage proposal. And way off track, because Mark has suddenly announced his engagement to the company’s new Miss Perfect. If that isn’t bad enough, her mom decides to throw her a three-oh birthday bash in the family funeral home.

Bad goes to worse when she stirs up a crazy relationship with the town’s not so warm and fuzzy veterinarian, Ian McFarland, in order to flag Mark’s attention. So Ian is more comfortable with animals. . . . So he’s formal, orderly and just a bit tense. The ever-friendly, fun-loving and spontaneous Callie decides it’s time for Ian to get a personality makeover. But, dang, if he doesn’t shock the heck out of her, she might actually fall for Vermont’s unlikeliest eligible bachelor. . . .

My Review:

Absolutely delightful and witty, All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins is an extremely fun book to read. Filled with quirky characters beginning with the protagonist, Callie Grey who has just turned thirty and realises nothing in her life is going as planned. Higgins takes the reader to Georgebury, Vermont to meet the inhabitants, including Callie’s quirky family and friends. All I Ever Wanted was an absolute delight to read and I caught myself laughing most of the time. Higgins has managed to capture the times in a person’s life where they wish the earth would swallow them whole and make it funny. Higgins’ characters are diverse and quite relatable, so much so the reader will compare the characters to people they know in their lives. Quirky characters coupled with her witty narrative style and fantastic protagonist and the “only comfortable with animals” veterinarian Ian, and Higgins has a laugh out loud funny book. I would recommend All I Ever Wanted to anyone who is looking for a witty and delightfully fun book.

About the Author:

Kristan Higgins, author of All I Ever Wanted, combines real life, true love and lots of laughs in her stories. Her books have received praise and accolades from readers and reviewers alike. Kristan won a Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award in 2008 for Catch of the Day, and received a 2010 nomination for Too Good To Be True. Called “one of the most honest and creative voices in contemporary romance,” Kristan is hard at work on her next book. She lives in a small Connecticut town with her heroic firefighter husband, two lovely children, one devoted dog and a regal cat. Kristan loves to hear from readers!

I received a complimentary copy of All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins from FSB Associates. Receiving a review copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Thursday 30 September, 2010 By 9 Comments


Title: Up From the Blue
Author: Susan Henderson
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: September 11, 2010
Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN: 978-0061984037
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Tillie Harris’s life is in disarray—her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren’t unpacked, and the telephone isn’t even connected yet. Though she’s not due for another month, sudden labor pains force Tillie to reach out to her estranged father for help, a choice that means facing the painful memories she’s been running from since she was a little girl.

An extraordinary debut from a talented new voice, Up from the Blue untangles the year in Tillie’s life that changed everything: 1975, the year her mother disappeared.

My Review:

Susan Henderson’s deeply moving and emotional debut novel Up From the Blue will capture the reader’s attention straightaway. Henderson’s use of beautiful prose with a simple and almost lyrical quality weaves together the life of Tillie which is filled with joy, sadness, despair and the loving bond between mothers and daughters. The reader first meets Tillie when she is in labour with her child and then the story flashes back to her childhood where the reader gets a haunting look at Tillie’s childhood through the eyes of her 8-year-old self. Up From the Blue is a fast-paced emotional novel filled with unexpected twists and turns throughout the story and it is quite easy to forget one is reading a work of fiction as Tillie explains her life in raw detail, her emotionally unstable mother and the ordeals the family must go through, the pain and deep sadness, and the feelings of guilt no 8-year-old should ever feel. One cannot help but be moved by Henderson’s narrative and be profoundly changed. The strength and courage of Tillie Harris will make readers sit up and take notice. Her story is one that is deeply emotional and unforgettable. Up From the Blue is a novel I was unable to set down and personally, I look forward to more literary works from Susan Henderson. I would recommend Up From the Blue to all of my readers and anyone in a book discussion group.

About the Author:

Susan Henderson is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the founder of the literary blog LitPark: Where Writers Come to Play (www.litpark.com). Her work has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Pittsburgh Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, Opium, and many other publications. Henderson lives in New York, and Up from the Blue is her first novel.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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