Author Archives: malenalott

About malenalott

Malena Lott is the founder of Book End Babes, mod mama, mojo maker and mad martini mixer. She can often be found reading or writing on her deck under a shade tree. For more on her books, pop over to www.malenalott.com.

Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single

Posted on by
2

We’re re-posting our May review of the title since JJ is an October Top Pick. Looking for funny? Jenny, at the hands of Heather McElhatton, will show you the way.

Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single by Heather Mcelhatton

First line: “This is a mistake. I’m not really here.”

I don’t care what you call it: the American version of Bridget Jones’ Diary, funniest damn book of the year, prescription for what ails America, JJiSoBS is one helluva great read. When is the last time you chuckled on nearly every page of a full-length novel? Yeah. I did. And I read it over a week’s time period, too, so it wasn’t a one-sit phenomenon where I just happened to be in a ticklish mood. 

Jennifer Johnson is the quintessential smart, size 12 girl who works as a copywriter in the marketing department of Keller’s Department store. Yes, she has the gay best friend and the not-so-cute but great guy friend and the mean sis who is getting married and the bitchy boss Ashley, BUT… and this is a big but, author Heather Mcelhatton gives us such great characterization and punchy dialogue that we don’t care that the set-up is familiar territory for us. Nothing is really weighty in the novel, but we don’t mind. We don’t need a friend with cancer or existential pondering to make JJ sing. We like that she is kitchy and flawed and eats hot dogs on her first date with handsome Brad Keller, the hero. We wince right alongside her as she falls for the handsome son of the president of the company. 

No, not everything is entirely plausible, especially in the last third of the novel, but we’re having such a hoot we don’t care about that, either. She does a nice job of tying the loose ends at the end and leave us wanting to jump forward six months to see what Miss Jen is up to now. I will never look at a Cinnabon, or, ick, a used tampon, the same way again. 

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. If you’re single, fine, but I’ve been married 15 years and I still loved it. 

For: Laughing your hiney off. - Malena Lott

Get it at Amazon.

To Beguile A Beast –

Posted on by
Reply

 

To Beguile A Beast by – Elizabeth Hoyt 

First line:  ”It was as the carriage bumped around a bend and the decrepit castle loomed into view in the dusk that Helen Fitzwilliam finally, – and rather belatedly, – realized that the whole trip may’’ve been a horrible mistake.”

Beast:  Man, disfigured in a terrible war he shouldn’’t have been a part of in the first place.

Beguiled:  A beauty whose need to hide is greater than her fear of the monster who opened the door to her and her two very tired children. 

Hiding from the powerful duke who fathered her two children,  Abigail, nine, and Jamie, five, the duke’s tentacles stretch as far and wide, as his money.

Abigail is a serious child with dark moods and deep introspection.

Jamie, however, is ruled by his stomach and stray animals.

I love how Ms. Hoyt’’s characters had to reach past a man’’s terrifying appearance to see his beauty.  How both children are still children, fearing the future, yet living in the moment.

Interesting twist for the heroine, as former lover of the duke.  How could you not be drawn in?

For:  Readers who want charm and emotion.  You will be swayed. -   Kathy Wheeler

 

Gimme Shelter

Posted on by
Reply

Gimme Shelter: Ugly Houses, cruddy neighborhoods, fast-talking brokers, and toxic mortgages: My three years searching for the American dream by Mary Elizabeth Williams

First line: Of course I want a home. I’m an American. It’s encoded into my cultural DNA.

Sometimes timing is everything and with the case of Mary Elizabeth Williams’ memoir, the timing is perfect. We can’t turn on the news or flip open the paper without hearing SOMETHING about the housing problem. HGTV has made a nice niche for itself with reality shows detailing people’s search to find the perfect home as well as flip ‘em, fluff ‘em, fill ‘em with stuff. 

Williams’ memoir goes deeper than the headlines, because as desensitized as we might be to the housing boom and bust if it doesn’t directly affect us, it’s a big damn deal if you’re in the middle of it. If you’ve bought a home you know the kajillion and one questions and details that go along with it. It’s stressful, and yet, because it’s the “American dream” we forge on, hoping we can grab the brass ring. This is why I loved GIMME SHELTER. 

Shelter is one of the three “necessities”, along with food and water, and we immediately relate to Williams’ situation. She and her husband combined didn’t make six figures and their main expenses were rent and parenting – like a lot of Americans. So her journey wasn’t “I’ll take that one,” but a real struggle in how to make it financially work and not feel like she shortchanged what she wanted in a home. To boot, they live in New York, where you can’t get much without ponying up a lot. It’s unfathomable to me as a Midwesterner to pay such an exhorbitant amount for an apartment when in my neck of the woods, a suburb no less, you can get a huge home, decked to the gills for the same price. But that’s what makes GIMME SHELTER all the more fascinating. Where you are and the supply and demand of space and the type of lifestyle you want to live changes the game. 

If you are looking to buy, the book is a good eye-opener for the process, both emotionally and financially. If you’re already a homeowner, you’ll relate to the dizzying experience, and as a voyeur enjoy Williams’ adventure from hunting to closing. Highly recommended.

For: A rich read on the highs and lows of house hunting and getting what you want in America – Malena Lott

Get it at Amazon.

Between the Devil and Desire

Posted on by
Reply

 

Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath

First line:  When I was five years old, my mum sold me.

This is a tough story, full of emotional highs and lows, including the disturbing subject of child abuse, overcome.

The heroine’’s husband, the Duke of Lovingdon, died unexpectedly.  The death appears suspicious, and she is a suspect.  But the reading of the will in the opening of the story shows a hero who is not a smooth talker.  A hero who lives his life for money.  So when the duke bequeaths his entire unentailed fortune to this man who grew up in the stews of London as a pickpocket – a good one, no less  - no one is more surprised than he.  Or happier.  He’s richer than he’d ever thought possible.

The heroine is devastated, furious, blindsided.  Who wouldn’’t be when a stranger has invaded her life?  Follow a man who goes through her home evaluating the value of each and every object?  Her five-year-old son is now the ward of a man who abhors society and authority and good manners.  As London’’s most virtuous duchess, she may find she is all too human.

 

 

For:  Readers who want the satisfaction of circle completion.  A good read. -   Kathy Wheeler

Get it at Amazon. 

 

Highland Scandal

Posted on by
Reply

Highland Scandal by Julia London

First line:  ”From his vantage point in the middle of a brambly thicket –- which Jack noted gloomily, had torn his best buckskins –- he could see the road through the branches.”

Jack Haines is running from the Prince of Wales.  Accused of adultery with the Princess, worthy of high treason.  The Prince’’s men are hot on his trail – in Scotland.  Suddenly, he is confronted by four men and taken prisoner.

Only it’’s not the Prince’’s men.  Lucky.  It’s Carson Beal, Laird Lachlan.  His choices?  Handed over to the Prince’’s men, or handfasted (literally bound by wrist, at least through the ceremony) to Lizzie Beal, the Laird’’s niece.  For one year and one day. 

Lizzie, of course, is furious.  Her first act of rebellion is slipping through a window, somewhat high, and dropping to the ground, almost giving Jack a heart attack.  Of course, she is caught and brought back.

While Lizzie is a very beautiful woman, her older sister even more so.  Only, she is crippled and cannot walk. 

Highland Scandal is a most entertaining story.  Definitely worth your time.  Suspense, trickery and humor guide your adventure along.

For:  Readers who want to see how a man and a woman might get a handfasting annulled.  Or not. -   Kathy Wheeler

Get it at Amazon.