Bittersweet Surrender - Diann Hunt

Book Description

Carly Westlake is living the dream. She spends her days at a spa (okay, so she owns the place), she's dating a hunk, and she's surrounded by chocolate—milk chocolate, her favorite—that she uses for the chocolate facials that made her spa famous.

But when long buried secrets threaten Carley's business and her friendship with business-partner Tom, she fights like crazy to keep the dream—and the illusions—afloat.

It takes a miracle of grace to get Carley to finally make that bittersweet surrender to love and real life.

My Review

Although I love chocolate as much as the next woman, I am not sure I would be able to deal with being wrapped in it, or seeing other women wrapped in it, as in a chocolate spa. The idea is totally unique, though, and well done in that the reader is not subject to the sights of this.

Diann Hunt manages to deal with many issues in this novel. Relationships between siblings, in-laws, at work, between friends, and everything in between, obviously, but also infidelity, gambling, anger, grief are touched on here. The story flows smoothly, told mostly from Carly Westlake's point of view, but also from those her life touches. She tries to be everything everyone else needs from her brother's keeper to her old flame's daughter's friend, then feels disappointed when her needs are not met. Her husbands unfaithfulness when she was dealing with breast cancer, though it happened before the story starts, is very much a part of her, as is the death of her best friend, who was manager of her spa, and also was the wife of her accountant. Secrets threaten the relationships. Romance is in the air.

A well written novel, that I would be glad to recommend to friends.

i received this ebook free from ThomasNelson publishers through their Booksneeze program for the purpose of reviewing. i was not required to give a positive review, just an honest one.

Smitten - By Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, & Diann Hunt

 

Published by Thomas Nelson

Average Blogger Rating:4.51 Stars

Book Description

Four friends devise a plan to turn Smitten, Vermont, into the country's premier romantic getaway-and each finds her own true love along the way.

With Smitten Lumber closing, residents wonder if their town can stay afloat. Then four friends and local business owners-Natalie, Julia, Shelby, and Reese--decide the town is worth saving. How will they do it? They'll turn Smitten into a honeymoon destination!

As Natalie, Julia, Shelby, and Reese work to save the town, each discovers romance in her own life. Meanwhile, the faith of a little child reminds the whole town what it means to have real faith in the God who is the always and forever Love.

Discover a novel written by four of Christian fiction's most popular romance novelists- friends in real life who've drawn an amazing story of four friends! Includes a Reading Group Guide as well as "Conversation over Coffee with the Authors".

MY REVIEW

i found this a very fun read...actually this is written like one book - it is just that each season and each main character is written by a different author. What makes this work extremely well is the fact that the authors are best friends, and according to them can finish each others sentences. Want to get to know these authors better? well, each author loosely based her main character on herself, the operative word being loosely.  This novel really invites the reader to feel the friendships that the girls enjoy - from one season to another.  Together they have a plan - to save their town, but first they must convince the residents (in particularly the men in their lives that not only is the plan good, it will work! A few anxious moments as the reader wonders if things will work out all around, many chuckles as the characters mess things up for themselves and you have a wonderful novel.

i actually checked the start of the book to see if some of these novels were a continuation from other novels, that is how comfortable i was with the characters right from page one. The story (stories) flowed with out pause from one story or season into another. i have never read a novel that took novellas and welded them together so seamlessly, unless they were written by one author. 

i was disappointed that there were a few loose ends not tied up, and that the sequel to this one does not come out until December 2012. In every other way it met my expectations.


i received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through their program Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review. i was not required to give a postive review.