Reviews

Review of Real Women Wear Red 
By Jamieson Wolf, The Book Pedler

Kate “Cyn” Francis is in a frump.

Unlucky at love, Cyn wonders if her second chance at love will ever come along. At forty five, it’s been years since she’s had a man in her bed and love in her heart. Her ex, a big fake, turned out to be more lust than love and Cyn wonders if love is possible for women over forty.

At the behest of her close friend Maggie, Cyn decides to take drastic action and change her life. Her old one sure isn’t working for her. She dyes her hair, changes her name and her age and heads out on a Caribbean cruise. On a boat full of men, there’s got to be one Mr. Right among them. Right?

Instead of Mr. Right, Cyn meets two other single women who are also looking for love: the beautiful Sandy Brown is traveling the cruise trying to mend her broken heart. Divorced and self-conscious, she is also looking for love, hoping that she can find someone to make her feel love again.

There’s also Millie Evans. Having sold her publishing empire, Millie is on a succession of one week cruises looking to find her long lost love. A widow after losing her husband, Millie searches for the man she met years ago on a cruise. Even though it is an impossible task, Millie hopes to find the man she loved and walked away from.

When these three women board the S.S. Platinum Queen, they have no idea that their lives are about to change forever. They come together in a time of need for each of them and find each other. Before they can find love, however, they will have to learn to love themselves.

But, thankfully, there is nothing that can’t be accomplished with friendship, more than a few martinis’s and lots of red. A real woman does wear red after all….

I absolutely loved this book. Without a doubt, it was THE best chick lit book that I’ve read in years. It has everything you could possibly need in a chick lit book: girlfriends, a search for love, martini’s, sandy beaches and sexy men.

But, really, Real Women Wear Red is so much more than sandy beaches and sexy men. The novel is about love, loss and the courage it takes to move on with your life. It’s also about the strength needed to look inside yourself be honest with who you are.

What I loved most about Real Women Wear Red is the fact that these women are real. I felt for them, ached for them, laughed with them. I felt like I knew them, like I had known them for years. When I finished the novel, I felt as if these women were my friends, my confidantes. In short, I felt for them.

It’s not every author that can accomplish this. Most chick lit is peopled by cardboard cut out characters that all sound and talk alike. Likewise, the plot is usually the standard girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl pines for boy, boy comes back to girl. Don’t get me wrong, I love chick lit, but it’s rare to find something that fits in the mold and also goes beyond the genre at the same time.

But Holmes has created three very distinct women surrounded by an incredible plot that will take you on the ride of your life. She has done the impossible: created a chick lit novel that transcends the genre and, instead, becomes something else all its own.

Real Women Wear Red is a fast, fantastic read and I loved every word. You will laugh, you’ll cry and then you’ll laugh again. This is not your average chick lit. Do yourself a favor and read it, won’t you?

Review of The Tom Jones Club
By Mary, Happy Ever After Reviews

One word that describes Lucky Stryker is loveless. All the men she has met have walked away from her. She has no idea why but she has a feeling it’s because of her childhood. Lucky is a complex woman with a complex life. Her whole life is centered on work and nothing else. When she does meet a guy she shies away. So because of this her life is about to be turned over literally. All she knew in her life about her mother is about to change. For years she has worked in the wine business and has made a career out of it but not by choice. You see Lucky has always dreamed of maybe singing or just doing something else.

So it comes as a shock that at a Tom Jones convention she starts singing at a lounge. Not just any lounge but one that a person knows her mother and whole sordid past. Lucky has no idea what happened in the past but right now in the future she is trying to comprehend things. Most of all is a smooth-talking cowboy name Eric Blake. Something about this man makes her feel safe and giddy with love. It is a feeling she has no idea how to cope but knows a day without him is painful. Yet through his playfulness and sexual charm she knows Eric is up to something.

Eric Blake knows a tense woman when he sees one and Lucky Stryker is one tense woman. Right of the plane she mistakes him for a country hick. Now he knows he dresses down occasionally but something about Lucky makes him want to be better. He knows inside of Lucky is a passionate woman but something always pulls her back. Something about her in Las Vegas and the whole Tom Jones convention is just beyond weird.

Through it all though is one person who might know more about Lucky than her, Mona. Eric knows that Lucky is the one for him but every time he confides his feelings she calls it childish. The passion is there between them but Erick knows that once Lucky comes to grips with her past and parents things might go past second base for them. Can he wait for Lucky or will he be like the other guys and give up on Stryker?

Lucky Stryker is definitely not your usual heroine in a romance. Here is a woman who is afraid of love. I loved that this girl is so neurotic in her own mind yet some part of her wants love but scares her. Now Eric is the man she needs to keep her balanced. In the beginning Kathy did a great job of Eric’s identity for even I couldn’t figure out what his true motive was in the book. Not only was Lucky and Eric interesting but the whole Tom Jones storyline as well. Mona and the other characters were great to read including the whole Tom Jones thing going on. Kathy did a great job and definitely a great book to read.

3 ½ Tea Cups!