Holy Guacamole!

Welcome to the Holy Guacamole! blog tour, sponsored by Glass Road PR.

HOLY GUACAMOLE - A ROMANTIC ADVENTURE FOR FOODIES Debut authors Dan and Denise Harmer deliver a thrilling food-lover's adventure in Holy Guacamole. The culinary tale hurtles a television chef and a washed-up sports writer into a harrowing escapade that may cost them their lives. When Trace Domingo is accepted into Chef Bonnie Miller's culinary boot camp, a life-threatening journey into Bonnie's past unfolds. In a vulnerable moment, Trace discovers part of Bonnie's closely-held secret. She hasn't yet decided to trust the "bootie" when a crisis makes the choice for her. The pair embark on a race against the clock across southern California and northern Baja in Mexico. Laced with local references, historical sites, and culinary delights, Holy Guacamole is a fun summer beach read. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book go to support the ministry of Outside the Bowl.

Pattie's Review:

While I enjoyed the book after a while, it did not immediately capture my attention. However, I pressed on so that I could review the book for Glass Road (who generously sent me a copy for review). The story really did pick up after a while.

Part of the issue with my enjoyment is that I generally don't connect with male narrators right away. The narrator, Trace, seemed like a nice enough guy with a desire to learn to be a chef, and of course he has a crush on Bonnie the chef, but beyond that, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to read his story. Besides, I wasn't sure what attraction these two shared beyond their love for food. They have a wild and bumpy ride, and that's not just a metaphor.

If you love foodie things, you'll like this story. If you have a heart for missions to Mexico, you will enjoy the latter part of the story (can't break the Reviewer Code and say more than that!).

Thank you to Glass Road PR for a review copy of this novel.

Fade to Blue

My review is at the end. Thanks so much for visiting and reading!

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Fade to Blue B&H Books (May 15, 2011) by Julie Carobini



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A word from the author:

I grew up as Julie Navarro, in a family of truly right-brained individuals. Among us you’ll find writers, artists, and musicians, all of us willing to talk about the arts at a moment’s notice.

Over the years, I’ve published several hundred articles and stories in magazines and books, including Aspire, Decision, Expecting, Focus on the Family, Key Magazine and God’s Abundance: 365 Days to a Simpler Life. As I wrote, I found a common theme cropping up: my family, the sea, and God’s timely work in the lives of those around me.


Maybe it was time to incorporate those interests into novels, I thought.

And so I did. Not once, but twice. Both times, God shut both doors and windows. So I continued to write and dream and raise my kids with Dan. Eventually I decided to write romantic seaside novels, and that’s where I found my voice.

When I’m not writing, marketing, or editing for others, I’m driving my kids around town, imagining that my mid-sized SUV is actually a sleek sailing yacht.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Suz Mitchell is the determined dreamer we should all be and won't allow her ex-husband Len's jail sentence to ruin their young son Jeremiah's life. An accomplished artist, she moves with her child across the country to California's central coast and lands a sweet job restoring priceless paintings at the historic Hearst Castle overlooking the ocean.


To her utter surprise, a serious old flame, Seth, is also now working at Hearst and jumbles the dreams inside Suz's heart. While sorting out the awkwardness of their past split and current spiritual differences, a repentent Len shows up eager to restore his family.


Suz must learn to let God be the true restorer of all that once seemed lost.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Fade to Blue, go HERE.

Pattie's Review:

While I did like this book, I have to be honest and say it is not my favorite Julie Carobini novel (That would be Chocolate Beach). Suz is a likeable enough heroine, but it does seem a little unreal that everyone she meets is charmed by her. However, I do identify with her being harder on herself than others are on her. I'm that way myself.

I wonder, too, if perhaps I would have had a little more invested in the characters if I'd read the first two in this Otter Bay series. This is book three, and while I think there was enough backstory about Suz's brother Gage and his Callie to get the general idea, I do think I might have missed some things about Suz in that book.

The story is good, suspenseful enough but not too scary, and we do figure out the bad guy pretty early on - the twist is, we don't know how and why he's the bad guy, and what he is really after, until the end. The ending is satisfying, but felt rushed to me - maybe a little more time taken with the falling action and denouement would have made it a little bit more believable to me instead of boom, it's over, the bad guy is locked up.

The spiritual lessons of divorce and forgiveness are well-played out and addressed. Both of these tend to be touchy subjects, and the author handles them well without giving a black-and-white answer to a very gray subject area.

Overall, a solid new novel from Carobini, with plenty of grace.

Dining With Joy

Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck

What do you do with a cooking show host that can't cook?

You cover it up, apparently. Because Joy's the host of her own show and she can not seem to make any edible food. Her father's legacy and cooking show empire is at stake, so she and her crew continue the charade.

Enter Luke, the cook at the Frogmore Cafe (which readers of Rachel Hauck will recognize from previous novels), who is keeping Joy's secret while creating the dishes that will make her famous.

As always Rachel Hauck puts likeable heroines in impossible situations and lets the story and the romance play out. She does a great job of letting Joy's cover-up unravel with the help of one gleeful nemesis Wenda Devine, a rival cooking show chef.

The love story is well played and the spiritual lesson about truth and truth-telling is clear without being preachy. I enjoyed this novel.

Originally written for Christian Bookworm Reviews.com

CFBA Presents an Unlikely Suitor

My review is at the end :)

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing An Unlikely Suitor Bethany House (May 1, 2011) by Nancy Moser

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nancy Moser is the award-winning author of over twenty inspirational novels. Her genres include contemporary stories including John 3:16 and Time Lottery a Christy Award winner, and historical novels of real women-of-history including Just Jane (Jane Austen) and Washington's Lady (Martha Washington). Her newest historical novels are Masquerade and An Unlikely Suitor. Nancy and her husband Mark live in the Midwest. She’s earned a degree in architecture, traveled extensively in Europe, and has performed in numerous theaters, symphonies, and choirs. She gives Sister Circle Seminars around the country, helping women identify their gifts as they celebrate their sisterhood. She is a fan of anything antique—humans included. Find out more at www.nancymoser.com and www.sistercircles.com and her historical blog: http://footnotesfromhistory.blogspot.com/


ABOUT THE BOOK

New York dressmaker Lucy Scarpelli befriends socialite Rowena Langdon as she's designing her 1895 summer wardrobe. Grateful for Lucy's skill in creating fashions that hide her physical injury, Rowena invites Lucy to the family mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, encouraging the unusual friendship.



One day Lucy encounters an intriguing man on the Cliff Walk, and love begins to blossom. Yet Lucy resists, for what Newport man would want to marry an Italian dressmaker working to support her family?



Rowena faces an arranged marriage to a wealthy heir she doesn't love, but dare a crippled girl hope for anything better?



And Lucy's teenage sister, Sofia, falls for a man well above her social class--but is he willing to give up everything to marry a woman below his station?

As the lives of three young woman--and their unlikely suitors--become entangled in a web of secrets and sacrifice, will the season end with any of them finding true happiness?



If you would like to read the first chapter of An Unlikely Suitor, go HERE.

Pattie's Review:

I really enjoyed this latest Nancy Moser novel. I have been a fan of hers since the days when I reviewed "The Invitation" for Multnomah, and I've enjoyed each of her books I've read ever since.

I particularly liked the characterization, and how she is able to climb into a historical time and place and make it seem almost like I'm there with the characters.

Highly recommended.

Wives of Faith

I'm over at my military wife blog this weekend for the Wives of Faith blog carnival!