Month: December 2013

Item: Mistletoe in Manhattan
Rating: 3
Author: Jana

Mistletoe in Manhattan by Talli Roland | Mini Book Review

Posted December 8, 2013 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 2 Comments

Mistletoe in Manhattan by Talli Roland
Published by Notting Hill Press on November 3, 2012
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Holiday - Christmas
Pages: 60
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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As Little Missington's first Christmas baby in fifty years and the daughter of 'Christmas When You Like It' party-planners, Holly West has been surrounded by the holiday spirit since birth. Trouble is, she's not exactly filled with festive cheer. In fact, Holly can't wait to ditch the tinsel and Santa suits for champagne and celebs, and become a party-planner to the stars.

When British film star Dean Layton hires her parents' company to throw his holiday bash in Manhattan, Holly jumps at the chance to help, confident she can handle a little Christmas in exchange for access to Dean's exclusive world.

But New York and Dean's over-the-top demands are more than Holly bargained for. Can Holly deck the halls and make it a party to be proud of, or will this Christmas be one she'll never forget . . . even if she wants to?

Holly works for her parents’ year-round Christmas event service. Naturally, she is pretty tired of the holiday. I would be too if I were immersed in it all year long! When she receives a call from the office of a British celebrity who has moved to New York City, she knows this is her big break. She wants to get out of the small family company and make it big on her own. She jumps at the chance to go to New York and plan a huge British Christmas party.

When she gets to New York, she begins to realize what celebrities are really like. She is being demanded to deliver extravagant things at the very last minute. She has to work with a very snooty assistant. She begins to lose sight of her family and what is really important. Enter, Alex. He is the bartender at the hotel and helps her plan the party in a strange city, and pretty much saves her butt. He also provides her with experiences that make her realize her current life is pretty good on its own.

Mistletoe in Manhattan is a very quick, sweet Christmas read. I felt like there were SO many details, that the book would have been stronger if it were longer. The romance was a very tiny part of the story, which was disappointing. I did like the underlying message and the dose of Christmas in New York City, though. Definitely read this one if you need a quick pick-me-up, and wish you were celebrating Christmas in NYC like I do!

Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally | Book Review + Giveaway

Posted December 5, 2013 by Jana in Blog Tour, Book Review, Giveaway, Young Adult Fiction / 7 Comments

Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #4
Also in this series: Stealing Parker
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on December 3, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

This is the second book I’ve read in the Hundred Oaks series. I read Stealing Parker last year, and did not fall in love with it like I had hoped. I was really drawn to Racing Savannah, because of the horses. I’ve never been a horse person, but I loved the idea of a racetrack romance. After all, I’ve always had a thing for cowboys! I ended up liking Racing Savannah much more than Stealing Parker, and am glad I gave this series another shot! As always, my main points are bolded. :)

1. I really loved the setting of Racing Savannah. I loved the stables, the racetrack, the horses. The author did a great job painting a picture of the farm and the horse racing. I actually really liked the horse races. They were exciting! When I was little I always wanted to ride horses, so this aspect of the story made me really happy. The horse that Savannah spent most of her time with, Star, had a sweet personality and I loved the time she spent with him.

2. The characters were fun, but I particularly liked one of the secondary characters, Rory. He also works on the farm, and is Savannah’s wacky friend. He writes questionable screenplays, and has the hots for Vanessa. I love these two. Vanessa is sweet and such a good friend to Savannah. I actually liked their romance more than Savannah and Jack’s, just because there was much less drama. I liked Savannah ok, but she was nothing special. I liked that, despite her family’s lack of money, her time on the farm inspired her to make more out of her life. I liked watching her fight for her future. I did get annoyed at her judgmental attitude. I liked Jack, but did not really like him in the role of owner of the farm. He’s just a little too young to be running things, and making such big decisions. And really, could Jack have been more perfect? I was constantly questioning him, because I could not find one thing wrong with him (except that he was a bit too scared of his parents). I liked both his and Savannah’s families, but I think Savannah’s dad was my favorite. I liked how much he cared about her, and what a sweet father-daughter relationship they have.

3. I’ve never been a fan of the clash between classes kind of storyline. I felt like there was too much emphasis placed on rich people vs. poor people. Savannah’s dad was worried he would lose his job if Savannah dated Jack. Cindy, Savannah’s dad’s pregnant girlfriend, was scared to ask for time off because she would be fired for being sick. Jack was worried his parents would be mad if he dated Savannah. She was referred to as not being girlfriend material. Savannah had a really bad attitude towards rich people, figuring that they were all heartless people who only cared about getting more money. It just frustrated me. Is this still a valid concern in this day and age? I know this was a problem in the olden days, but I thought it had mostly died out. I don’t understand why money makes a difference.

All in all, I enjoyed Racing Savannah and am happy I read it! The horses made the story unique and enjoyable, and the romances were sweet. Even though I liked Vanessa and Rory’s story a bit more, I did like reading about Savannah’s life-changing decisions and her romance with Jack. There were some pretty sexy scenes, so I would not really recommend this for younger young adults, but it’s a fun new contemporary romance that I’m sure many readers will love. I have not read all of the Hundred Oaks series, but I could tell from some of the names dropped that characters in the previous books check in and let you know what’s going on with them now. I always love it when authors do this, so I’m sure fans of the series will be happy to see them.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to see the boots? Here’s the link! I think they are adorable.

Thanks for visiting my stop along the Racing Savannah tour, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours!
If you are interested in following the tour, you can find the schedule here.

The October Christmas: Christmas in the Philippines | Guest Post by Kayla

Posted December 4, 2013 by Jana in Guest Post / 2 Comments

It’s my pleasure to welcome Kayla of The Bookish Owl to the blog today to celebrate Christmas with us, Filipino style! Kayla is here to tell us all about what Christmas is like at her home in the Philippines. I absolutely love learning about Christmas traditions, especially ones from cultures and countries I am not familiar with!

A typical Filipino Christmas starts around October and ends on February of the next year. Why? Well, we don’t really celebrate Halloween. The spookiest holiday is a Western tradition and while there may be a few parties, it’s not that big of a deal in my country. By October, all the Christmas decorations are up and my wish list has been sent out to my relatives.

The best thing about Christmas in the Philippines is the food. Noche Buena (Noh-cheh-Bo-we-na) is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, a very large event within my family. There’s ham, a staple in our Christmas diet, and round fruits like oranges and grapes as it is believed that they bring good luck to you during the coming year. It’s a family feast filled with relatives asking if you have a boyfriend and awkward conversations with that cousin you haven’t seen in months. There’s also Puto Bungbong (Poo-toh-boong-boong), a Filipino street food of steamed purple rice topped with coconut, margarine and brown sugar.

However, before the Noche Buena, we dress up in our best clothes and hear Mass. I live in a small town where my parents practically know everyone and we always have to spend at least half an hour after the Mass ends just to be able to greet all the people they know. My brothers and I are forced to mano po (Ma-noh-poh) to each and everyone of them. Most of the time, I don’t mind but it grates on your nerves when they start asking you about boyfriends. Oh, the awkwardness of family. By the way, mano po is a traditional gesture made by youngsters to the elders wherein we put the backs of their right hands to our foreheads as a sign of us receiving blessing from them. It’s a sign of respect and even though it gets tiring after a while, it feels nice to uphold Filipino beliefs and customs.

Christmas in the Philippines revolves around three things; Family, Food and Faith. These 3 F’s make up our identities as Filipinos and this won’t change even with the storm surge that occurred last November. A lot of you know about Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda that recently hit the Visayas region of our country. I’m sure you have seen the devastation it wrought; people are homeless, without food to eat and the dead are piled up because the cemeteries are destroyed. Families can’t find missing loved ones as some bodies were swept out to the sea or are covered by debris. The typhoon has killed an estimated 2500 people and the earthquake that came before that killed around 200. Philippines experience about 20 typhoons in a year that do a lot of damage to our country but even with all the calamities, the tragedies and the disasters that afflict us, I know that Filipinos will continue to smile and to rebuild their lives.

For us, that is the true essence of Christmas;
finding that one speck of happiness in a dismal world.

Thank you so much for sharing your Christmas with us, Kayla! And thank you for such a sweet, heartfelt post. I think you’ve taught us a wonderful lesson: the meaning of Christmas is finding happiness in a world where things might not be going the way we hoped, or they way we needed them to go. I know I appreciate the reminder, myself.

If you would like to get to know Kayla more, visit her blog, her YouTube channel, or find her on Twitter!

So, what’s Christmas like at your home?

Deck the Blog for A Bookish Little Christmas with That Artsy Reader Girl!

Posted December 2, 2013 by Jana in Blog Event, Bookish Little Christmas / 3 Comments

December is here, and That Artsy Reader Girl has donned her Santa hat for a month of celebration! This BLC Logo uses designs by Icons by http://dryicons.com.

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Bookish Little Christmas with That Artsy Reader Girl! By now, I’m sure many of you know how much I love Christmas. I love decorating, I love baking, I love the buzz at the stores, the carols, and the lights. I love this season of giving and love. I love the cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies, and the Christmas romance novels. Give it all to me!

Throughout the entire month of December, I will be sharing Christmas book reviews, giveaways, features, and guest posts from my very wonderful friends! Grab yourself some hot cocoa, and get ready for a fun and festive month here on the blog!

Would you like to participate? I’ve always got room for more friends! Just let me know, and I will fit you into the schedule. :) And be sure to send me links of any Christmas posts you come across (or write yourself). I’d be happy to help spread the word, or just come and bring some Christmas cheer. And I hope YOU will stop by lots this month, mainly because I love your face, but also because it’s going to be so much fun and I’d hate for you to miss out!