Two Book Tuesday

A favorite and and a not so favorite….

Title: Say You Still Love Me
Author: K. A. Tucker
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: August 6th
Ratings: ♥♥♥♥♥

Goodreads Summary:

Life is a mixed bag for Piper Calloway.

On the one hand, she’s a twenty-nine-year-old VP at her dad’s multibillion-dollar real estate development firm, and living the high single life with her two best friends in a swanky downtown penthouse. On the other hand, she’s considered a pair of sexy legs in a male-dominated world and constantly has to prove her worth. Plus, she’s stuck seeing her narcissistic ex-fiancé—a fellow VP—on the other side of her glass office wall every day.

Things get exponentially more complicated for Piper when she runs into Kyle Miller—the handsome new security guard at Calloway Group Industries, and coincidentally the first love of her life.

The guy she hasn’t seen or heard from since they were summer camp counsellors together. The guy from the wrong side of the tracks. The guy who apparently doesn’t even remember her name.

Piper may be a high-powered businesswoman now, but she soon realizes that her schoolgirl crush is not only alive but stronger than ever, and crippling her concentration. What’s more, despite Kyle’s distant attitude, she’s convinced their reunion isn’t at all coincidental, and that his feelings for her still run deep. And she’s determined to make him admit to them, no matter the consequences.

Piper never thought that working at a summer camp at 16 would change her life as much as it did. Now 13 years later, she is transported back to that one summer when her first love starts working in her building.

I loved EVERY. SINGLE. THING. about this book. Camp storyline? Second chance romance? I’M SOLD!

You see so much character progression between teenage Piper and business Piper. Here was a strong girl finally standing up to the one person in her life whose opinions she values the most. Piper was such a kickass chick who didn’t let the gross older men at her office push her around, even when they went around her back. Finding such a strong female main character in a contemporary is always a huge plus because sometimes I find them to be too few and far between.

Earlier this month I tried to read another K.A. Tucker that I had to DNF, so I was a little nervous going into this ARC. I had nothing to worry about because this book was really wonderful. It was just what I wanted: steamy but not too steamy, not only a great love interest, but great friendships, and family drama. I think this may find its way onto my favorites list for the year.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Title: All the Water in the World
Author: Karen Raney
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Publication Date: August 6th
Ratings: ♥♥

Goodreads Summary:

Maddy is sixteen. Smart, funny, and profound, she has loyal friends, a mother with whom she’s unusually close, a father she’s never met, devoted grandparents, and a crush on a boy named Jack. Maddy also has cancer. Living in the shadow of uncertainty, she is forced to grow up fast.

All the Water in the World is the story of a family doing its best when faced with the worst. Told in the alternating voices of Maddy and her mother, Eve, the narrative moves between the family’s lake house in Pennsylvania; their home in Washington, DC; and London, where Maddy’s father, Antonio, lives. Hungry for experience, Maddy seeks out her first romantic relationship, finds solace in music and art, and tracks down Antonio. She continually tests the depths and limits of her closeness with her mother, while Eve has to come to terms with the daughter she only partly knows, in a world she can’t control.

With unforgettable voices that range from tender to funny, despairing to defiant, this novel illuminates the transformative power of love, humor, and hope.

Maddy is trying to live her life as normally as possible, despite having cancer. She wants to laugh with her best friends, go to church with her grandparents, and get her crush to like her back. Eve is just trying to keep going. When she finds out her daughter was keeping something from her, everything comes apart.

There was nothing wrong with this book. It was just boring. There was a great over all plot, I just didn’t think it was executed the right way. . I loved the dual perspectives and dual timelines and I think they made the story more compelling but the three “Parts” didn’t add anything to the narrative. When it comes down to it, this is story about a mother and her daughter, and honestly, I would have liked more scenes with the two of them together.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.