Wednesday 19 February 2014

The Jewel Box, written by first-time author Michelle McCarty, chronicles the life and loves of Jill who is a single mother trying to survive in the 1960s. She starts working in a bar called The Jewel Box to make ends meet and begins a journey that will bring a variety of characters into her life. Some are beloved, such as Beau, the loveable bar owner, and Gabriel, a man who becomes the love of her life. Some are less likeable, such as Hope and Gloria, who want nothing more than to keep Jill away from Gabriel.
                A book that follows the life of one individual can often end up losing my interest because I become bored with that character. Ms. McCarty does such a good job of developing this main character, from small town Jill to big city Cherie (she changes her name when she starts waitressing at the bar), that I found myself entertained throughout. All of the characters are rich and interesting with very diverse profiles. The main love story was realistic as Gabriel came and went from her life throughout the book but was always in her heart. The cover of the book, as read on my ereader, is intriguing and represents the story well. The format and editing were both well done and transferred to my ereader without any problem. This is a perfect chick-lit book that provided me with an enjoyable read!

Thursday 13 February 2014

The Bracelet


The Bracelet is the first book in a series written by C.A. Deslauriers. As the cover of the book implies, at the center of the story is a bracelet that symbolises the love between the two main characters, Jay and Christine. Christine has led a fairly rough life and eventually finds love and success, only to lose the love. She writes a book entitled The Bracelet about Jay and her life that becomes a best seller but still cannot find peace in her life. As the book moves back and forth in the telling of the events in Christine’s life, the author has managed to make what could be a confusing format very easy to follow by using different fonts for the past and present. In fact, the whole book is set out in an enticing way so that the reader gets lost in the story instead of confused. Unfortunately, I could never find anything to like about the character of Christine. I never found myself caring about her at all. For some reason, she rubbed me the wrong way. Having said that, I will give the next book a try because I do like how the author writes. For anyone who is bothered by sex in a book, this is probably not for you because it does become quite explicit at times. I read this book as an ebook on my ereader and found the formatting and editing to work perfectly this way. As well, the cover gives a good idea of what the story is about, something that is sometimes missing in ebooks.