A Lowcountry Christmas by Mary Alice Monroe - Audio Version

A Lowcountry Christmas

by Mary Alice Monroe

Audio Version

 ☆☆☆☆☆

I enjoy reading holiday stories. But especially during

the holidays. I cant get enough of them. This year, I have

found I am getting the most from audio stories. I have one

or two kindle books I want to get to. But mostly, 

I like being read to! 

This was my first Mary Alice Monroe story. The cover was so 

calming and pretty. As it turned out, A Lowcountry Christmas

was a calm and pretty story. A family with struggles and love.

Happiness and memories. Respect and patience.

 The McClellan family find themselves as many of us do at

one time or another. The budget is low and Christmas is 

around the corner. They also are reminded that they live in

a community. A helpful and caring community.

 When an emergency comes up, everyone is reminded what

is important. What matters and what doesn't. 

It's a wonderful story to listen to. Mary Alice Monroe does 

the narration for her own book. I love it when

writers do that! She makes it sound just like she heard 

it in her head while writing it. 

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday. 

With lots of book time. 

Whether listening or reading. 

Review by Lisa Hutson

The Summer That Made Us by Robyn Carr - Audible version

The Summer That Made Us

by Robyn Carr

Audible Version

☆☆☆☆☆

 

The story starts with two sisters, Louise and Jo, that marry two brothers.

Each sister has three daughters. There is the family summer house.

Each season, the six daughters and Louise and Jo live in pure happiness

at the beach.Or so it seems. Anyone outside the family would think

its all magical. Everything is perfect for everyone.

Until that one summer.

 

The Summer That Made Us has a number of events that change

everything. Every life attached in any way is changed.

And the summer house is never opened up again. The closeness

is gone for everyone. Even Louise and Jo have lost their relationship.

 

 

As life goes on, one of the daughters decides she wants to see the

summer house opened back up. Wants to bring it back to life.

 

The Summer That Made Us is full of emotion. The roller coaster

of every different human feeling is displayed. I could not put

the book down. I needed to see whats going to happen next.

Robyn Carr brings deep, interesting and funny characters to life.

 

And Therese Plummer is excellent as always. Her narration brings

Robyn Carrs stories into my heart. I have loved them all.

Anyone that listens to audible stories knows that the voice

can make or break any story. Therese is wonderful.

 

I hope you will also enjoy The Summer That Made Us.

 

 

I bought my copy of The Summer That

Made Us from Audible.com

Review by Lisa Hutson

 

 

 

 

 

Any Day Now by Robyn Carr

Any Day Now

by Robyn Carr

 

 

Any Day Now is book #2 in the

Sullivans Crossing series.

 

The greatest thing about Robyn Carr series are that

they are loaded. They are loaded with characters. Locations.

Feelings. Surprises. Sullivans Crossing is no different.

 

You do not have to read What We Find in order to follow

along in this story. But it does pick up from the end of

that story. Sierra Jones is trying to get her life together.

Without doing any harm to anyone else. She makes her

way to the area her brother, California, is building

his own life up with his new wife, Maggie.

 

 

 Sierra has left a lot of drama and mystery behind her.

Once she gets to catch her breath, California and

everyone else in Sullivans Crossing do all they can to

help her button up the circus tent of her past.

 

She meets a yummy, ladies man of a firefighter, Conrad.

Sierra is sure that Conrad will be scared off sooner or

later. So why not enjoy the time with him until then?

 

Conrad has no intention of running. But can Sierra let

him in to her life? Can she try for love one more time?

Is Connie as strong as he thinks? Can he really get

over all that is in Sierras past??

I hope you will enjoy reading it to get answers

to all the questions.

 

I won this book in a book blog

contest. Not from the author.

Review by Lisa Hutson



Barefoot at Moonrise by Roxanne St Claire (Edited review)

Barefoot at Moonrise

by Roxanne St Claire

This is book two of the Timeless series.
What a great idea for a series of grown ups falling

in love. Really, love stories are wonderful. But when

they are in my age group. They have been around

the block. They know whats what. And they know about

falling in love.

So Beth Endicott grew up on the right side of the tracks.

In a well off family. With a very domineering father.

As a result, Beth has made her own way. Started her

own business and is making it successful herself. Not the

easy way. None of her adult life has been the easy way.
Not since high school when her boyfriend broke up with

her using cruel words and blame . Then an unhappy marriage.

A harsh miscarriage. The horrible divorce.
And now, she is at her high school reunion.

Ken Cavanaugh is the boyfriend that destroyed Beth in high

school with his horrible break up. His beloved father was killed

at a construction site owned by Beths father. Ken has spent his

life blaming Mr Cavanaugh. He has not been about to let go of

the hatred. While he is satisfied with his life as a fireman and

paramedic, he knows he is missing something. That family

life. Then he sees Beth at the high school reunion. It's his

chance to apologize to her. For the terrible way her treated

her back then. But it only takes a short second to realize he is

still in love with her.

"She looked away and gnawed on her lower

lip. "I have....baggage," she finally said.
"Who doesn't? At our age, if we didn't

have baggage, we wouldn't have lived. We

can unpack it together."

Can they get over the past? Beth is Miss Independent. Beths father and

first husband taught her to never let anyone have any power over her

life or feelings. Can they get past all the hate and secrets? Can Beth let

herself love again? How can they have a relationship if Ken

can't be in the same room with her father?

"...spotted a pair of red and white high heels

tucked by the stairs the led to the sand.
He couldn't help smiling, because, hell,

this was better than Cinderella.
All he had to do was follow the footprints

in the sand."

I liked this story from the beginning. But at 23%, I fell

head over heels in love with it. Its not unusual for me

to weep a little here and there during a good love story.

But it is unusual for me to be surprised. It is unusual for

me to laugh out loud as I am crying. And it is very

unusual for me to finish a book in just over one day.

I highly recommend Barefoot at Moonrise. It caught

me completely off guard. I have enjoyed reading

Roxanne St Claire before. I loved book one of this

series. But I did not expect the deep feelings this

story caught up in me.

 

I am adding to my original review as I just finished

listening to Barefoot at Moonrise in audio form.

Oh my gosh, fabulous. I truly loved this story.

Easily my favorite Roxanne St Claire story. Period.

And it is wonderful either way. Reading or listening!

The narrator is wonderful. His name is BJ Harrison.

I prefer male narration in romance stories.

I highly recommend giving this one a try.

Completely enjoyed listening to this story after I

loved reading it so much too.

 

I was given my copy of this book in exchange

for an honest review.
Review by Lisa Hutson





Wind Chime Wedding by Sophie Moss

Wind Chime Wedding

by Sophie Moss

This is book 2 of the Wind Chime Novel series.

We are back to the island. This one is the story

of Becca. She is a teacher at Heron Island Elementary.

Becca is proud of her home and the school she works

at. One day, she is told that the school is going to

be closed down and the children will have to go to 

bigger schools outside of their area. Many of the 

teachers will lose their jobs. Becca has been engaged

to Tom for a long time. They have a deep 

emotional connection from when they were very 

young. They have been together really ever since.
The wedding is coming in only 3 weeks. And then, 

she will follow him and move to Washington, DC. 

She will give up her job and her home to be with him. 

Colin is working hard to build a center to help 

veterans coming home from war. He came home

with one prosthetic leg. So Colin feels like he can

relate and help them. Colins father is a big time 

politician. He demands that his son is visible in the

political world. His father loves Colin and he uses

his sons service record to get people to pay attention.

His father has helped a lot getting the funding needed

for the center. Which is why Colin goes along with

his fathers demands.

There is a lot to this story. The people of the island are very 

involved. They are interesting to say the least. Becca 

knows where her heart is happiest. But she has been waiting 

to marry Tom for most of her adult life. 

Which does she give up?

"All love is risk, Becca," her father said gently.
"I would rather have a love as strong

as I had with your mother for a single day

than a lukewarm love that lasted a lifetime."

 Wind Chime Wedding is full of love. From every 

corner of the island. It's a place of soothing comfort.

Trusting your neighbor. The old saying about it taking

a village to raise a child. The people here live that.
I do recommend these stories if you enjoy happy,

dependable reading filled with much emotion and hope

for the future. Sometimes, the hope for the future

is brought by a wind chime. 

I was given this copy of Wind Chime Wedding in

exchange for an honest review.
Review by Lisa Hutson

Anything For You by Kristan Higgins - Audio Version

Anything For You

by Kristan Higgins

Anything For You is from the Blue Heron series.

Connor O'Rourke has been in love with Jessica Dunn

since they were 12 years old.
Connor has not had the easiest life. But really, he always

had his twin sister, Colleen. Their parents broke up.
Their mother did not take it well. Their dad started a

new family for himself.
Meanwhile, Jessica has been trying to survive. Taking care

 of her parents, herself and her little brother, Davey.

Davey suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Only Jessica

can take care of him. At least, that's what she thinks.  

She never asks for help from anyone. Never.

That is hard for Connor to accept. He is the guy that takes

care of the people around him. Especially the women.

Its always been his fondest wish to take care of Jessica.

But Jessica is determined to take care of herself and Davey.

She struggles and strives to reach her goals.

With her own personal life being her last concern.

The story runs over a long span of time. The way its written

draws you in. Closer to the characters. Into their relationships.

You will find yourself cheering when the good things happen for

everyone. Then, of course, crying when the bad things happen.

The Holland clan. The O'Rourkes. Everyone from Manningsport

is in this story. Oh gosh, just thinking about this story makes

me smile and tear up a little bit.

I have to add, I have read quite a few Kristan Higgins stories.

I have always liked them. I feel like her writing style is

changing. The last two stories of hers have felt different.

More and deeper emotion. The characters are interesting

and real. Even the ones that aren't so likable are important

and you want to know about them.

Amy Rubinate is a wonderful narrator for Kristans books.

I have not listened to her for a while and as soon as she

started talking, it reminded me how great she does.

Review by Lisa Hutson

I bought my audio copy from Audible.com