women authors Archives - Tina Hogan Grant

Book Review

The Bluebell Girls By Barbara Josselsohn (Lake Summers Book 2)

About the Author

Barbara Josselsohn grew up on Long Island and lived for several years in her beloved New York City before moving to the northern suburbs. She began her career as a business journalist and then turned her attention to her first love, fiction.

The Synopsis of the Book

Returning home to her family’s little lake house is the perfect way for Jenna to escape her heartbreaking divorce. Her mother Sweet has been losing her memory and Jenna is sure that taking her daughter Sophie for a break with Sweet in Lake Summers, tucked under the Adirondack Mountains, is what they all need.

Jenna finds comfort in lazy afternoons along the water, and during long nights overlooking their bluebell garden, she’s relieved to hear Sweet telling stories about her long-lost loves. Surrounded by family, it seems that some of Sweet’s memories have returned and Jenna knows she has made the right decision to come home. But when she meets handsome next-door neighbor Troy, she is reminded of a tragedy in her past she has tried hard to forget.

Troy is the boy with whom Jenna shared her very first kiss—she’s relived that moment under the stars every night since she was seventeen. But though he once swept Jenna off her feet, he also broke her heart, and living next door to him for the summer feels impossible.

But sometimes the only way to heal is with those who know you best, and despite her best efforts, Jenna is drawn to Troy again. With her family reunited at last and happier than ever before, is she finally brave enough to face up to her past, and settle down in Lake Summers forever?

My Review

This is the second book in the Lake Summer Series but it can easily be read as a standalone. I have not read book one but I had no problem diving into the book and not feeling lost. The author did a great job providing enough of the back story from the first book.

This is a beautiful, well-written story that had me fully engaged throughout the entire book. If I wasn’t busy writing my own book I would have easily finished this in a couple of days. The story is set in the small resort town, Lake Summer and from the author’s wonderfully descriptive writing, she painted a vivid picture and I felt like I was there. It was a great escape.

A fast easy read with likable characters and a sweet love story that will stay with you for a long time. I would like to know what happens next and I’m hoping there will be a book three.

COVER DESIGN – 5 STARS – I have one word for the cover—Brilliant. Its vibrant, eye-catching, and a perfect fit for the book.

CHARACTERIZATION – 5 STARS – I loved the characters and easily related to Jenna – They were well developed and their independent personalties were well defined.

STORY & PLOT 5 STARS – I was captivated the entire time, wondering what the outcome would be. I loved the storyline and learning the history of the family.

OVERALL RATING – 5 STARS – This was a great read and I highly recommend it.

Read The Review

Better Endings is a beautiful story that explores a woman’s heart and I enjoyed the way Tina Hogan Grant builds resilience in the protagonist. The journey that Tammy makes is inspirational and will give hope, especially to female readers who have suffered abuse and have experienced unhealthy relationships.

Tammy’s character is well handled and the growth process that happens in her life is well-captured in the story. Tammy grows from someone who is prone to fear to a woman who takes control of her life, creating the kind of life she wants. Themes of family, love, and adventure are deftly handled and it is easy to develop a fondness for the sea after reading Better Endings. Great prose, exciting characters, and themes that evoke the realism of everyday life. -Readers’ Favorite

Everything books

Book Review Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

April 20, 2019 Tina Hogan Grant

Book Review – Daughter of Fortune & Bonus Questions for Your Book Club

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende – Historical Fiction

Book Review Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende — Buy the Book from Amazon

About the Author

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of eight novels, including, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has also written a collection of stories, three memoirs, including My Invented Country and Paula; and a trilogy of Children’s novels. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-seven languages and have become bestsellers across the continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Aerts and Letters. Isabel Allende lives in California.

The Synopsis of the Book

Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaiso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquin Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquin takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.

So begins Isabel Allende’s enchanting novel, Daughter Of Fortune, her most ambitious work of fiction yet. As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San-Francisco and northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes among whom Eliz moves- with the help of her good friend and savior, The Chinese doctor Tao Chien – California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean.

Her search for the elusive Joaquin gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a new search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.

Our Review

This is a wonderful well-written historical fiction that begins in the British community of Chili, a culture I knew nothing about until I read this book. Set in the mid-1800’s we are taken back to a time where women are subjected to disturbing means in order to survive. Our discussion revolved around the strong women characters, the challenges they had to face and the life-threatening diseases they had to overcome.

Eliza, a young woman who was abandoned at birth and raised by a spinster named Rose and her brother Jeremy, enters womanhood and finds what she believes to be her true love. Pregnant with his child, she risks her life to follow him to San Francisco where he hopes to strike it rich by gold mining. But her journey is not easy and death is near.

This book had so many interesting facts about many different cultures which enhanced the story immensely. It was not only a great historical romance but a good history lesson too.

Having lived in the gold rush town of Sonora, I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the book and loved learning many aspects of the gold rush era that took place in California.

There were a lot of facts to process in the book. The chapters were long and the book is almost four hundred pages. For me, it took a while to read, mainly because It was a book I could easily put down and return to at a later time. Others in the group felt the same way. We all felt the ending was abrupt and left some unanswered questions, which was disappointing after investing so much time into the book.