What I'm reading now

I took the following from the author's website:

King and Maxwell meet in Split Second, both discredited Secret Service agents who "lost" a protectee in the line of duty. The two work to solve the campaign-trail crimes that discredited them, and in the process uncover the careful planning that initiated the separate acts of violence that shattered their lives and brought them together in a common cause. Michelle has become obsessed with Sean’s case. And he needs a friend -- especially since a series of macabre killings have brought him under suspicion and prompted the reappearance of a seductive woman he’s tried hard to forget.

What am I reading now?

I took the following from the author's website:

Every woman has that group of friends in her life ~ her "go to girls" The friends that she can turn to who "get it." The ones who are there for you no matter what. The ones who laugh with you and cry with you. The ones that will always be there. These are the women of Napa Valley.

Jamie is the editor-in-chief of Wine Lover's Magazine, a single mother and caretaker to her senile mother-in-law ~ a woman who thinks her daily caregiver is Dean Martin. Jamie is still recovering, financially and emotionally from the death of her husband several years earlier. And when she finds what could be the key to happiness, can she open the door and let it in? Or will her feelings of guilt and betrayal hold her back?

Danielle is a vintner and the divorced mom of two. She's basking in what she knows is going to be a successful launch of her new wines. Wines she created on her own after her divorce. But what she doesn't expect is for her daughter to come home with news that will shock her to her core. Will an old flame help her accept the changes that are coming and find the love she's been missing in her life for so long? Or will a tragedy that no one sees coming change their lives forever?

Kat is a sommelier, co-owner of a magnificent restaurant with her chef husband, and mother of a blended family. But is being deeply in love with your husband enough to get them through the teenage years, step-children and exes? And what happens when old faces return and she's faced with the knowledge that not everything is what you thought it was. What happens when she finds she was mad at the wrong person and finds out the "right one" was in the wrong? Can she forgive and move on? Can love overcome everything and truly bring a family together?

Alyssa is an artist and gallery owner with a secret of her own. One she was hoping would stay buried deep in her closet. But the time has come for her to put someone else first, to face the past and to deal with her demons. What she never expected to find was love and her "home."

No matter what is going on in their own lives, no matter the heartache or joy they're experiencing these four women are always there to love, support and encourage each other.

This book is a clear example of the power of friendship and how it can last through the years. You will laugh with them and you will cry with them. It's the story of true and lasting friendships. It's the type of friendships that every woman should experience and a story we can hopefully all relate to. I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Can’t say that enough. It is an amazing, beautiful book and I can’t wait to share it with my friends!!! A MUST READ!

Currently reading: Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay

The following was taken from the author's website:

Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living out their dream as the proud owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. Their first big order comes courtesy of their partner and best friend, Tate Harper, who’s getting married. Tate and his fashion designer fiancé want 500 cupcakes for the wedding. The only problem is Mel and Angie can’t stand the demands of this bridezilla who insists on original recipes for the cupcakes and complete ownership of their creations.

When Mel stumbles upon the bride-to-be dead-by-cupcake, she immediately becomes the prime suspect. The police believe that a secret ingredient in the cupcakes may have caused her death. To save Mel and their business, the ladies need to find the real murderer, before the cupcake killer ices someone else…

What is Kris reading now?

 I took the following from the author's website:




Determined to secure another London season without assistance from her new brother-in-law, Mary Alsworthy accepts a secret assignment from Lord Vaughn on behalf of the Pink Carnation: to infiltrate the ranks of the dreaded French spy, the Black Tulip, before he and his master can stage their planned invasion of England. Every spy has a weakness, and for the Black Tulip that weakness is black-haired women-his "petals" of the Tulip. A natural at the art of seduction, Mary easily catches the attention of the French spy, but Lord Vaughn never anticipates that his own heart will be caught as well. Fighting their growing attraction, impediments from their past, and, of course, the French, Mary and Vaughn find themselves lost in the shadows of a treacherous garden of lies.

What is Kris reading now?

I took the following from the author's website:


Katie Carr is certainly trying to be good. That’s why she puts up with her husband David, the self-styled “Angriest Man in Holloway.” But one fateful day, she finds herself in a Leeds parking lot, having just slept with another man. What Katie doesn’t yet realize is that her fall from grace is just the first step on a spiritual journey more torturous than the interstate at rush hour.

What is Kris reading now?

I took the following from the author's website:

Alan Christofferson is a successful Seattle advertising executive who seems to have it all: a beautiful home, a sky-rocketing career, and an idyllic marriage to his childhood sweetheart, McKale. However, unbeknownst to him, on the day that Alan successfully pitches a three million dollar advertising campaign to a key account, events are already unfolding that will soon take from him everything he holds dear.

Within a few short weeks, Alan Christofferson loses everything: his company, his fortune, and even the woman he loves. Betrayed by his business partner, Kyle, stripped of most of his material possessions and all of his emotional connections, Alan is left adrift in a world that has suddenly grown cold and meaningless. At first he considers taking his own life; instead, equipped with little more than the clothes on his back and his diary, he sets off on a walk across America, from Seattle to Florida. THE WALK covers the first 12 days of Alan’s journey, which will take him over 250 miles, from Bellevue, WA to Spokane, WA. As he journeys across the country, Alan will learn how to move beyond despair toward a profoundly new understanding of life, helped along the way by the unexpected kindness of strangers.

Masterfully written and emotionally resonant, THE WALK is destined to become an instant classic. As always, Evans’ intimate grasp of human motivation and frailty lends an impressive authenticity to his writing. A tightly crafted and character-driven work of art, THE WALK shows Richard Paul Evans at his finest, his most inspirational and his most moving. Newcomers and existing fans alike will thrill to the story of Alan Christofferson’s spiritual journey, and will be eagerly awaiting the next installments.

What is Kris listening to now?

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

The following was taken from the author's website:

Twelve-year-old CeeCee is in trouble. For years she’s been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille— the crown-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town. Though it’s 1967 and they live in Ohio, Camille believes it’s 1951 and she’s just been crowned the Vidalia Onion Queen of Georgia.

The day CeeCee discovers Camille in the front yard wearing a tattered prom dress and tiara as she blows kisses to passing motorists, she knows her mother has completely flipped. When tragedy strikes, Tootie Caldwell, a previously unknown great-aunt comes to CeeCee’s rescue and whisks her away to Savannah. Within hours of her arrival, CeeCee is catapulted into a perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricities—a world that appears to be run entirely by women.

While Tootie is busy saving Savannah’s endangered historic homes from the wrecking ball, CeeCee encounters a cast of unforgettable, eccentric characters. From the mysterious Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in an outdoor tub under the watchful eyes of a voyeuristic peacock, to Oletta Jones, the all-knowing household cook, to Violene Hobbs, the loud-mouthed widow who entertains a local police officer in her yellow see-through peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

But CeeCee’s view of the world is challenged in ways she could have never imagined: there are secrets to keep, injustices to face, and loyalties to uphold. Just as she begins to find her ballast and experiences a sense of belonging, her newfound joy collides with the long-held fear that her mother’s legacy has left her destined for destruction.

Laugh-out-loud funny, at times heartbreaking, and written in a pitch-perfect voice, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a spirited Southern tale that explores the intricate frailties and strengths of female relationships while illuminating the journey of a young girl who loses her mother but finds many others.

What is Kris reading now?

 I took the following from the author's website:

Becca Robins leads a simple life, making jams and preserves on her very own farm. But when there’s a murder in her quaint little town, she puts herself in the line of fire to defend her friend’s innocence—and goes from making jam to being in one… 




(don't you just love that last line....."and goes from making jam to being in one.." )

What is Kris reading now?

This series has been one of my comfort reads, so the perfect book for me to have picked up next.

Here's what amazon.com has to say about it:

Briggs makes a well-deserved move into hardcover with the rousing fourth adventure for kick-ass were-coyote auto mechanic Mercedes Thompson. Healing in body and spirit after the events of 2008's Iron Kissed, Mercy is preparing to marry alpha werewolf Adam Hauptman when an old friend asks her to help fend off a nasty ghost. It's a good time for Mercy to leave Portland, Ore.: vampire queen Marsilia is after her and her vampire friend Stefan for successfully hunting down a monster that should have killed them. Mercy leaves Adam to negotiate peace with Marsilia and heads to Spokane, Wash., to investigate the ghost, an unexpectedly complicated task. Though action supersedes characterization, the preternatural culture of vampire seethes and wolf pack politics is deeply intriguing. Briggs provides plenty of detail about Mercy's complex world without boring info-dumps, satisfying both new and longtime readers. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

What is Kris reading now?

I'm going to try to do this as a new, regular, post.   Once I finish a book, I almost always pick up another right away.  Therefore, once I finish reviewing the book I recently finished, I'm going to try and do another post letting you know what I'm currently reading and what you can expect to see reviewed here at Not Enough Books.    Like I said, I'm going to try and do this.  I have a feeling I'll forget (just like some weeks I forget (or just too lazy to find pictures?) to do a Friday Smile post.)

Currently Reading:
In the Wake of the Boatman by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Here is what Amazon has to say about the book:
In the Wake of the Boatman is a study of family dynamics and sexuality. The narrative concentrates on the life of Puttnum Douglas Steward, born during the middle of World War Two, and immediately considered better off dead than alive by his father. And so begins Puttnum's life. Spanning the next thirty three years, his is an existence of deep sorrow and humorous irony. A befuddled adolescent, Puttnum is a good, hardworking student, but an angry young man. In his junior year of high school, he is arrested for joy riding, an event which galvanizes his father's poor opinion of him. Nevertheless, two years later he is accepted into the University of Virginia on an ROTC scholarship. Cloistered away at school, he begins to detect something different about himself, culminating in a brief, unnerving fling with his annoying cadet commander. After college, in the weeks prior to officer's training school, he dons a dress and pantyhose for the first time, initiating a struggle to accept this unexpected and entirely unwanted facet of his personality. Initially horrified, Puttnum asks to see action in Vietnam, where he is determined to suppress his urge or terminate all problems. Instead, he returns to the states three years later, wounded and decorated and no less confused. Through fate or irony, he immediately becomes an American mole within a Russian spy ring. This event ultimately catapults him into the nation's conscience, where the media and the Army depict him as the prototypical American man. A flustered icon with a bizarre secret, Puttnum becomes the armed forces' token hero, its soul luminary in the Vietnam era. Racked by guilt and his father's death, his problems begin to boil, and he flees his life and celebrity in a final attempt to come to terms with himself. There are many characters throughout the book, all of whom make an impact, of some sort, on Puttnum's. His beautiful sister Mary, a psychologist, understands others better than she understands herself. Her husband, Chester (Survival) Darwin, is the archetypal Hemingway male and the logical person to secede her father as the dominant man in her life. He is the type to swallow tacks to illustrate his hardened nature. His mother, Helen, is a woman of extreme beauty and a weakness for the bottle. Well meaning but misguided, she is an alcoholic with an aristocratic lineage. More than anything, she desires to recapture her family's lost nobility, a state which she believes existed, momentarily, in the early years of her marriage. Puttnum's father, Carl, is a man confounded by the masculine stereotypes of his time. An annoying knee injury, suffered in childhood, keeps him from service during World War Two. A series of scarred ligaments and muscles cramps one of his legs whenever he experiences high pressure situations. Humiliated by the implications, Carl projects his anxieties onto his male child, and worries, throughout the years, that his boy will never stack up. As he gets older, however, he begins to perceive, in moments of introspection, that his behavior is the cause of their alienation.

Currently listening to:
The Hollow by Nora Roberts   (2nd in the Sign of Seven trilogy)

Here is what the author's website says about the book:

For Fox, Caleb, Gage and the other residents of Hawkins Hollow, the number seven portends doom—ever since, as boys, they freed a demon trapped for centuries when their blood spilled upon The Pagan Stone...

Their innocent bonding ritual led to seven days of madness, every seven years. And now, as the dreaded seventh month looms before them, the men can feel the storm brewing. Already they are plagued by visions of death and destruction. But this year, they are better prepared, joined in their battle by three women who have come to The Hollow. Layla, Quinn, and Cybil are somehow connected to the demon, just as the men are connected to the force that trapped it.