Saving Ceecee Honeycutt

 I had the good fortune of my book club selecting this novel, otherwise I would've missed it. 

If you're looking for a slice of life story with solid writing, lots of heart, and plenty of growing up struggle, then this is the right book for you. 

Love the immersion into the Southern culture and feeling I was in the story. So powerful. 

AMAZON

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.

In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a novel that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.

Project Hail Mary

Wow. I mean wow. 

I liked the Martian. I was interested to read Hail Mary. But I wondered if it was going to be repetitive of the concept of lone man in space and not live up to Mr. Weir's previous success. 

I didn't need to be concerned. Mr. Weir isn't a one hit wonder. 

This book took many unexpected twists and turns that I didn't see coming. 

There's a reason the story is told between present day and flashbacks, and the seamlessness of the two is well executed. 

Everything on the page is related and drives the plot. 

The science boggles the mind by doesn't bog down the story if you're not a science-minded person. 

Highly recommend. 

AMAZON

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Persuading the Billionaire

This is a fun romantic read. 

Escape to Hawaii, learn the heartbreak and sorrows that bring these different people together, and have a blast while reading. 

The characters are well formed, the story hits all the right notes, and you'll keep turning pages to the satisfying conclusion. 

AMAZON  

They weren't looking for love, but it found them in Hawaii anyway.

Alexis Robinson is alone on what should have been her honeymoon. It's just her luck that she gets knocked over by a car door before she even steps foot inside the Hawaiian resort. The man who hit her offers to pay her, but she refuses. It reminds her of what her ex would have done - throw money at everything. But when she witnesses his assistant quit her job, she persuades him to let her take over, desperate to keep her mind off her cheating ex.

Maxwell King is only at the Maui Royal Resort to decide whether or not to purchase it. His wealth has only grown over the years, but it's time for him to step into a different role and take on something more challenging. Little does he know that looking for one challenge might lead him to an even bigger one: not falling in love with the woman he's hired as his assistant for the week.

A jilted bride alone on her honeymoon.
A stubborn billionaire in need of an assistant.
And a resort in paradise for a week.

When the lines of their working agreement blur, will Alexis and Maxwell keep it strictly business? Or will the sparks flying between them be enough to persuade the billionaire?