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February Book Review

Welcome to March!  February seemed to last forever but fly at the same time.  We have been blessed with higher-than-normal temps here and it's been wonderful!  I slightly feel bad for people who like to ski or our neighbors with outdoor ice-skating rinks.  But we could still get a storm and winter isn't over.  It's just feels that way right now, and I am fine with that. 


In February I read some great books!  As always, below are my ratings, comments and then the comments from the back of the book.  I hope there are few that you add to your hold list!













Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 4.5 /5

I have read some great books by this author and there are also many that I can't get past the first couple chapters.  I know she is amazing, but I can't do all of her books.  This one I loved.  Great story and great characters!

Back of book:   Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.






Lone Oaks Crossing By Janet Dailey

My Rating: 4.5/5

Nice story and great read

Back of book:  When news of her grandfather’s stroke sends Jo Beth Ellis back to the family farm, she finds it in danger of foreclosure. Lone Oaks Crossing is in rough shape, but Jo has big plans—she’ll use her expertise as a Derby-winning horse trainer to reinvent the property as a healing retreat. But renovating while trying to keep her independent grandfather in check is a huge job for one woman—and even more challenging when she receives her first client, the unruly fourteen-year-old Cheyenne, who is determined to do anything but cooperate. Jo is at the end of her rope when neighbor Brooks Moore offers her a deal she can’t possibly refuse . . .


Jo may have sworn to leave the gambling and vicious competition of horse racing behind her, but training Brooks’s gorgeous thoroughbred is a challenge she can’t resist, especially when sulky Cheyenne takes a shine to him—and when Brooks is sinking an outrageous amount of money into rehabbing the farm, and even rolling up his sleeves to help. With a troubled teen’s spirit and her grandfather’s faith in her on the line, Jo steps into a tentative partnership with the undeniably attractive Brooks. Against all odds, she dreams of winning a trifecta—a champion horse, a happy family, and a forever love.




Winter Road by Joanne Demaio

My Rating:  4.5/5

Loved it!  Adorable story and easy read.  This is a series, but I didn't know what when I read it.  I think they are all standalone books because I had no problem understanding this book. 

Back of book:  Home, for Joel Briggs, is the old New England farmhouse on Winter Road. From the front porch, he listens to the barred owls or watches the towering Christmas tree lit up in the yard. It's a quiet road, kind of like his life. Quiet.


Until Faye Weston walks right into it. What begins as a chance encounter one bittersweet winter night turns into a cherished friendship. A friendship that neither wants to jeopardize. Yet they do. Unless, like the Christmas season asks, they choose to believe -- not only in their friendship, but in the winding road of their love story.





Palazzo by Danielle Steel

My Rating:  4/5

Danielle Steel rarely disappoints!  This was a good story.  Loved the details of the high-end fashion industry.

Back of book: After her parents perish in a tragic accident, Cosima Saverio assumes leadership of her family’s haute couture Italian leather brand. While navigating the challenges of running a company at twenty-three, Cosima must also maintain the four-hundred-year-old family palazzo in Venice and care for her younger siblings: Allegra, who survived the tragedy that killed their parents with scars and a spinal injury, and Luca, who has a penchant for wild parties, pretty women, and poker tables.


Cosima navigates her personal and professional challenges with a wisdom beyond her years, but her success has come at a cost: Her needs are always secondary. She’s married to the business, and her free time is given to those who rely on her . . . until she meets Olivier Bayard, the founder of France’s most successful ready-to-wear handbag company. A brief conversation on her palazzo’s terrace turns into a tour of the Saverio workshop, and, fifteen years after her parents’ deaths, Cosima has found a confidant.

Now the business is financially stable and generating enough income for the Saverios to live comfortably. Then Luca loses a hefty sum at the casino, and his debt must be repaid with money or his life. Cosima, forced to bail him out, is given an impossible choice: List the palazzo, sell a third of the family business, or let Luca fend for himself. But is there another way to save everything she has fought for before it goes up in flames?




Things I Wish I Told My Mother  By Susan Patterson

My Rating:  4/5

Interesting story and loved the details on Europe.  Loved the ending.


Back of book:  A mother and daughter on vacation in Paris unpack a lifetime of secrets and hopes—with a giant Pattersonian twist at the end!


Every daughter has her own distinctive voice, her inimitable style, and her secrets.
Laurie is an artist, a collector of experiences. She travels the world with a worn beige duffel bag.

Every mother has her own distinctive voice, her inimitable style, and her secrets.
“Dr. Liz,” Laurie’s mother, is an elegant perfectionist who travels the world with a matched set of suitcases.

When Laurie surprises her mother with a dream vacation, it brings an unexpected sparkle to her eyes. So begins Things I Wish I Told My Mother. You will wish this novel never ends.






Whew!!  I hope you found a couple to add to your hold shelf!  

Stop back on Monday for Motivational Monday!



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Diary of a Business Mom
I am a working mother of 2 little ones, a wife, career woman, novice gardener, and a lover of all crafts! Grab a glass of wine and enjoy a happy place on the internet.