Book Review: Wife for Hire by Christine Bell

I was attracted to this book by its name 'Wife for Hire'. I thought it was an interesting idea for a novel. I loved Ms. Bell's writing style and characterizations. 
The book was entertaining, with lots of fun filled, quirky dialogues.

Book summary from goodreads:

He needs a wife for three weeks…

Owen Phipps is out for revenge. His mission? To expose the man who stole his sister’s money and dignity. All he needs is a “wife” who can play along. Too bad his last best hope is an actress who tries to mace him with perfume when he offers her the role of a lifetime.

Lindy Knight is a real sap. She loves too hard, feels too deep, and often finds herself saying yes when she should be saying “Let me think about it.” She can’t believe her good fortune when Owen offers her more than enough money to hold off foreclosure until she can find a job. Three weeks at a resort, money she desperately needs, and she gets to help bring a criminal to justice? Score.

It seems easy enough until the first time a couples bonding game turns intimate, and they realize how dangerous their mutual attraction could be. Can they keep their hands to themselves long enough to find the evidence Owen needs? Or are the close quarters more temptation than they can handle?

My review, Wife for Hire is just simple fun with a happy ending which makes you smile. This is a terrific one to read if you need a sweet story to just smile and laugh and not to think much. The way the story is told by the author is really good.  

The story is about Owen Phipps, in order to right some wrong done to his sister, he hires Lindy Knight to play the part of his wife for three weeks to accompany him to a couples retreat.There starts a game of attraction which later buds into a sweet romance. They are in the Couple's retreat to find any discrepancies related to Owen's sister, Cara's ex who has cheated Cara of her life-long savings and left her with a broken heart. There is the little suspense part of the story as from the first we are unaware of the wrong that is happening in the retreat, if anything at all. By the end only, every loose-end of the story ties up in a perfect package, that is, a happy-ever-after package.

The main reason for me to review the book was i loved Lindy's character. I think i will always remember Lindy as one of the best female characters from all the books i have read. She is so sweet....and so innocent, but yet strong-willed. Lindy is very talkative, funny and totally genuine, down-to-earth and i loved her from the first to last page.

Owen is a business tycoon, entirely opposite to Lindy outside but inside he is just as lonely and has a good heart. He is caring and generous towards everyone, especially Cara even though Cara is his step-sister from his father's second wife. But due to his father's betrayal, he does not believe in love and relationships. During their three weeks fake marriage in the retreat, Owen realizes and learns what is love from Lindy as she is so open to love and feelings.

Even though, i have read similar story lines , this was pretty good because of its characters and the simple, entertaining approach.

I would recommend this book if you need something to read when you are low and sweet Lindy will obviously cheer you up!!

Book Review: Tribute by Nora Roberts

It has been a long time since i have read a Nora Robert's book! I had almost forgotten Ms. Robert's writing style but when i started with Tribute, i was so enthralled by the depth of her story and depiction style that i was not able to put it down till i finished it. Ms Robert writes romance novels with a strong storyline, not the 'falling in love at first sight' romance but 'falling in love with time by knowing each other' romance.
Tribute is exactly such a novel about people, their pasts and relationships. The book is a romantic-suspense with keeping a perfect balance between romance and suspense, neither high-intensity suspense or highly-emotional romance.

Book Summary from goodreads:

Cilla McGowan, a former child star, has found a more satisfying life restoring homes. So she comes to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to save the dilapidated farmhouse that once belonged to her grandmother, a legendary actress who died of an overdose more than thirty years ago.

Plunging into the project with gusto, Cilla’s almost too busy and exhausted to notice her neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer. Determined not to carry on the family tradition of ill-fated romances, Cilla steels herself against Ford’s quirky charm, though she can’t help indulging in a little fantasy.

But it’s reality that holds its share of dangers for Cilla. A cache of unsigned letters found in the attic points to a mysterious romance in her grandmother’s life and may be the catalyst for a frightening, violent assault. And if Cilla and Ford are unable to sort out who is targeting her and why, she may, like her world-famous grandmother, be cut down in the prime of her life.

I love Nora Robert's books about how efficiently she describes both nature and people. You will get a real look and feel of the situations. When you read the below lines, you will understand, its so sweet!. This is one of the thing that is best about this book...lot of beautiful descriptions of nature and house renovations.

Quotes from Tribute:

Cilla describes about her litte farm:

"SHE SAT on the lovely patio with the view full of the pretty pond and the green hills that rolled back to the blue mountains. Roses and lilies stunned the air with perfume that had the bees buzzing drunkenly and a hummingbird, bold as an emerald, darting for nectar. The sun poured strong and bright out of cloudless skies to wash everything in the golden light of fairy tales. Birds sang their hearts out in Disneyesque harmony."

Ford is describing about Cilla:

"She was a ride on a dragon, a flight through space, a dive into the deep waters of an enchanted sea."

Cilla McGowan is on a journey to find herself, who she is and what she exactly wants in life. Coming from a long line of actors, she was a child actor for a TV series, then did lot of commercials but was never happy with her work. Thirty-five years later after her grandmother's death, Cilla  has just purchased her grandmother's beloved little farm in Virginia from her difficult mother, Janet Hardy's daughter. Cilla seems drawn to the farm and decides to take the terribly neglected farm and make it once more into a home of beauty and charm as in its past as a tribute to her grandmother. 

Cilla is determined to do the all the hard-work needed to repair and renovate the little farm house but, she also has a vulnerable side which craves for love and care, which she has never got from anyone in her life. She shares a close relation only with her ex-husband , forever best friend, Steve. When she comes to little farm, her father and his new family tries connecting with her but, as she has never received any affection till now, she is confused about her feelings. But, she is unable to resist the affection and care shown by her neighbor,Ford and his ugly but charming dog, Spock  at her good or bad moments.

Ford is a graphic novelist, a geek, charming, funny, irresistible, easy-going and caring ..wow...i loved him! He is full of positive attitude towards life. At times, he is little bit dominating but only when Cilla was being stubborn not wanting anyone's help when she needed it. But i loved his character, as Cilla is saying that Ford is someone who cared enough to get pushy and bossy about her welfare and she is happy to be flexible or accommodating sometimes. For Cilla, Ford is always a stable guy and she wonders how she has connected with someone so blessedly stable!

Ford is very protective towards Cilla and he is not afraid to let her know how much he loves her, and he makes certain that she knows he will keep her safe and never leave her alone. He is sometimes so sweet and endearing, like when he says about construction work "Tools and I have a long-standing agreement. We stay away from each other, for the good of mankind." He is happy to observe while watching Cilla work with power tools on her house renovations and he is always ready to provide her moral support. When Ford's pictures comes in tabloid with Cilla after an attack on Cilla, and she is described as reincarnation of Janet Hardy and Ford as seduced by the lonely, trapped spirit of Janet , he reacts so unexpectedly, he takes it as funny, not at all bothered by it, just explains his unique thought process. Excellent work with Ford's character...he is my favorite hero! He is a perfect guy for Cilla who needs someone like him in her life to help her "find" herself.

Cilla and Ford are attracted to each other from the first but more than the way they find each other attractive on the outside, they are attracted to each other's smartness, intelligence and strength. When they develop a romantic relation, it is sweet and tender. I loved Ford and Cilla's relationship, the affection and understanding between each other they were having from the first and slowly how it develops into true love. The conversations between Ford and Cilla were really sweet and funny. Even though both of them fall in love with each other, Cilla is not convinced to take the next step as she is scared due to her past history of Hardy women but, eventually Cilla falls for Ford's persuasiveness once she realizes that Ford has seen her true self and loves her unconditionally.

The suspense part of the story is fairly good as we keep guessing from the first who is the mysterious lover from Cilla's grandmother's past who has written the letters she has found in the attic. It was obvious by the first half of the story that someone hates Cilla and her family and is causing harm to her and her property. And Ms. Roberts did a superb job of throwing suspicion around and kept me guessing throughout nearly the entire story as to who the antagonist was. At the end, Cilla decides to find the 35 year old truth which she thinks she owes to her grandmother as a tribute, with Ford's help and that is when the suspense unravels.

One of the odd things about the book which i did not like much was the dreams Cilla use to have where she is conversing with her late grandmother. I was little bit unsure about it but one thing was clear as Cilla was living and rehabbing her grandmother's favorite farm, she is closer to her than ever and she was trying to connect to Janet through her dreams.

All in all, Tribute was an entertaining read. The most part of the book is about the rehabbing of the farm by Cilla, her construction and landscaping crew.  There are lot of jargon and dialogues based on house renovations and Minute details about sinks, tiles, shower blocks, paint, and trim.

A quote from Tribute where Cilla is thinking about Ford and her love relation:

"They could take some time, couldn’t they, to build on that? To restructure, to decide on tones and trim? They could take a good look at the foundation, evaluate. Because hers was so uneven. Lots of cracks there, she mused, but maybe they could be shored up, supported and repaired. Since his were so solid, so sturdy, there had to be a chance to make the whole thing stand. To make it last. She so badly wanted to make things last."

There is one quote Cilla describes about Ford, it is really a fabulous one....

  "A slow leak, unchecked, eventually eats through just about anything. Stone, metal, wood. It doesn’t make much noise, and it’s a long way from the big gushing flood. But it gets the job done."

It is interesting  right? But,for someone who doesn’t like home renovations, it might be a bit boring. As i love reading about home stuffs, i loved it...each and every dialogues!! And there is also Ms. Roberts way of describing each and every small thing beautifully, you just can't resist getting interested!

One of my favorite quote from the novel:

Ford's dialogue to Cilla's dad

“She needs me. She needs someone who understands and appreciates who she is, and who she’s decided to be. And I need her, because who she is, and who she’s decided to be are—big surprise to me—what I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

Tribute was just a great, enjoyable read and i enjoyed reviewing it!!

Chocolate Mania: Choco Butter Cream Cake

I just love chocolates, in any form, cookies, biscuits, cakes, ice creams, WOW....just can't describe the feeling!! Is there anyone who don't love chocolate, i don't think so?
When i came from office today, i was thinking of preparing a cake so that my mom-in-law can take it home as she was leaving to Kerala . As i had to prepare the cake really fast, i decided i will make my favorite chocolate cake which is awesome. Even though i use to make different types of cake, chocolate cakes always comes perfect, may be because i like it the most. The whole ingredients collecting and preparation will take only max 30 minutes,  as i use to make it in microwave. 
So, here is the recipe for Choco butter cream cake:

Ingredients needed:

2 cups Plain Flour
500 gms butter (melted)
1.5 cups Sugar (powdered)
.5 cup Cocoa Powder
2 tbsps Milk
1 Egg
1 tspn Vanilla essence


Preparation:

Sieve and mix Flour, sugar and cocoa powder together.
Add butter, milk, Egg and little water to a mixer jar and blend it smoothly.
To the flour mixture, add the butter -egg mixture slowly and blend it together in a bowl.
Now, the cake batter is ready for baking. 
Take a cake oven pan, grease and flour it and pour the cake batter into it.
Microwave the cake for 2 to 3 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 
Allow the chocolate cake to cool completely before decorating it with icing.

For Choco Butter Icing:

250 gms butter
.5 cup powdered Sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Heat butter in a pan until it melts . 
Add cocoa powder and sugar to the melted butter and stir the mixture for 2 minutes. 
Allow it to cool off.

Once both the cake and the choco butter icing is cooled off, decorate the choco butter icing on top of the cake as you like. Enjoy the yummy cake!
Note: Just be careful when you microwave the cake so that the baking will be perfect, not more, not less.

Hmmm...you know the best thing is.... you can prepare a wonderful chocolate cake in less than 5 minutes!!

 

Book Review - Cordina's Crown Jewel by Nora Roberts

Who does not like fairy tales! i love it! I'm a sucker for sweet, romantic novels. This last week of 2012, iam reading lot and lots of romantic stories.
So the first read was the Cordina Royal family series by Nora Roberts. The one thing about Nora Roberts  novels are they are very easy to read, also she writes beautiful love stories. 

Cordina Royal Family series includes the love stories of the heirs to the fictional European island kingdom of Cordina. The series has each book dealing with love life of Prince Armand's only daughter, Gabriella - the princess (Affaire Royale), sons, Alexander - heir to the Cordina kingdom (Command Performance) and Bennett - youngest, known as playboy prince (The Playboy Prince). The first three stories of heirs are connected, it is better to read it in order to get the whole picture. But, the fourth book you can read it independently. The fourth book in the series - Cordina's Crown Jewel is the one i loved best! It is the fun-filled, romantic story of Camilla (daughter of princess Gabriella) and Delaney, an archeologist. The idea, the setting and the love story was perfect.

Princess Camilla of Cordina is a tireless fundraiser and gracious representative of her country. Following a nasty run-in with the press after a charity function, however, Camilla realizes that her devoted life to official duties has left her drained and on the verge of nervous breakdown. She decides to get away for some time to live her own life before she falls over the edge, so she cuts her hair, borrows a friend’s rented car, and asks her assistant to give her a few hours’ head start before telling her parents she’s gone. Ten days into her impromptu road trip, and already feeling like a new woman, Camilla goes off the road in a storm when a deer jumps in front of her car. Fortunately, a few minutes later, a battered truck pulls up and the owner begrudgingly offers her a lift. She’s a bit miffed that he won’t help with her luggage, until she realizes that his arm is in a sling. Delaney Caine is an archaeologist, home recovering from injuries he sustained in a car accident. It’s a good opportunity to catch up on paperwork, but he’s frustrated by pain and incapacity, and hates being away from the site of his latest dig. Del takes Camilla to his cabin where they find that the storm has knocked out the power and the phone. He’d like to get rid of her, but there’s no way to do it until the weather improves. Camilla makes several really rude remarks about her rescuer’s housekeeping, but she redeems herself by rolling up her sleeves and getting to work. She can cook, too, and always makes herself useful. While they’re waiting for her car to be fixed, she also helps Del to organize and type his research notes. She finds herself fascinated by his work and oddly attracted to this obviously intelligent man. Del knows she’s hiding something, but one thing is perfectly clear, both are attracted to each other. But Del is sure that she is trouble and since she’s not exactly hiding her attraction to him, it’s up to him to make sure that nothing happens. But, as more and more Camilla and Del spent time together, they get close to each other. Eventually they fall in love but, before they can understand it themselves or confess it to each other, Del has to know Camilla's true identity.

The best thing i like about the book was its fun-filled conversations and easy flow. One thing about Nora Roberts books is that in her stories, the people fall in love not only with the external beauty but also with each other's intelligence/brain. Ms. Robert's characterizations of Camilla and Del were good, with Camilla being a sweet,classy dame who leaves her wealth and starts on a journey of soul-searching and when she finds real interest in archaeology, she tries to learn everything she could about it. Delaney is a boneheaded, always crabby guy who is an intelligent archaeologist, never realizes about love until he lose it. There were also some negative points in the story like lot of conflict conversations between Camilla and Del in the end where they meet in Cordina. But, overall i loved the book. It is a simply sweet, fun-filled book whenever you are free to have an entertainment read!

Book Review: The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

This is the second YA romance book i loved reading after Easy by Tammara Webber.

After reading Easy, i was searching for similar kind of YA books when i came across the author Sarah Dessen. I read some of her book summaries and i liked it. So i started reading with the book Just Listen by Sarah Dressen. It was a good book to read and i became an instant fan of Sarah Dessen
but i dont know, i just can't say it was my favorite. The next book i read was The Truth about Forever and wow, i just loved it. It was sweet and funny in a simply narrated way. It is on one of my top favorite list. So, today i thought i will encourage you all for reading 'The Truth about Forever' by writing a fantastic review on the book

To sum up the novel: 

The Truth About Forever is about Macy Queen, who is still coping with life when her dad died in front of her before two years.
Macy tried to hold it together for the sake of her family, hiding her grief and seeking perfection, thinking that this would help her mother who seeks perfection in everything she does, her own way of dealing with loss. She strives to be  have a perfect life with Perfect grades, perfect behavior, perfect boyfriend. When Macy's boyfriend,Jason leaves on a summer brain camp, Macy is alone with her strict study schedule and library job, which she is filling for Jason on his absence. After spending her day job in library with snotty girls, she is not at all happy with her job and informs the same to Jason through emails which he does not care much and asks her to concentrate on the job. But then she meets Wish catering crew who were catering for one of her mother's real estate party and she gets a taste of real chaos, where nothing is perfect.When in one of her emails, disappointed with her library job, Macy confesses her love to Jason as they are in a relationship for almost two years, he responds that they need to take a break from each other till summer ends. After the bad email, she joines Wish, makes new friends and meets Wes - an artist, sculptor, almost perfect guy with his own not-so-clean past and believes in people can have flaws, no one is flawless. With her catering friends, she learns how to make life better by understanding her grief and be happy again by trying to overcome her unhappiness. Macy and Wes develops a friendship and they indulge in lot of funny and truth-sharing conversations and she realizes that Wes is the one person with whom she can be her own self without any false pretense. Finally, Macy and Wes understands their feelings for each other and confronts it. She regains confidence to live her life the way she wants and helps her mother to start overcoming the grief over her father's death.

I loved the book. Sarah Dessen has turned a simple plot to a deep, emotional and heartwarming story!! 

I liked Macy's character a lot, how finally she understands the truth about forever that forever always changes, it is a self created one. Macy is afraid to live her own life, mainly she stops her early morning runs which she use to do with her father, and tries to live a
life for perfection just like her mother wants as she does not want to worry her mother more after Macy's father's death.
Wes's character is fabulous. Wes is an upcoming sculpture artist who is having similar situations as Macy as he has also suffered his mother's death leaving his younger brother to his care but has made his life almost perfect with his family catering business and his artist work.
The truth sharing conversations between Macy and Wes are so cute...you will love it! The way they connect to each other through the truth game and share their life secrets are nicely depicted by Ms.Dessen. I liked the character of Kristy also, Macy's catering crew friend, she is smart and funny who helps Macy realize the truth about her life.

It is a great read for teenagers who will love it and also it has a great message!! Hope you enjoy it!!