Barbara BrettonBesprekingen

This is not normally the genre I read. If you like a light, fluffy, and predictable romance with a touch of paranormal, you'll like this book. If you are looking for something with more substance, take a pass. There isn't enough charm in the book to counter the fact you know where the story is going.

This was okay. The ending has me perplexed, though. I think Zane and Emilie just became their own ancestors, but I'm not sure. I got kind of sick of Emile after awhile. She was annoying and pretty much ended up getting her way without having to compromise anything. The story was kind of odd and confusing and not entirely satisfying.

A cute, light, magical romantic comedy. Kind of intense action at the end. Some of the magic was a bit corny and out there. But its a book about a magical town full of magical creatures, so it really goes there. A good start to what I hope is an interesting series.

WHAT THE ...... ??? How could this book end like this? Wow. This one was tense and crazy and that ending was unexpected. I need the next book like NOW!

This one was kind of endless and boring. A definite letdown from the amazing cliffhanger from the last book. It was a lot of backstory and a fight that didn't make much sense. I just didn't get the conflict or how it was resolved. I was glad when it ended. I hope the next book has more going on that will keep me on the edge of my seat like the first 2 books did.

I really liked the approach to the old love meets new love--nicely non-cliched. Not as fond of the cliff-hanger ending.

Simple and cheesy. Impossible to take seriously, but not really meant to be, either.

Bonus points: you can tell that Bretton is a knitter herself in the way she adds in correct knitting terminology. I really appreciate that aspect of this series a LOT.

I liked it. I wanted to like it a lot more. I wanted Sarah Addison Allen with a wee mystery. This magic was way more over the edge into black magic- there's darkness here. I will continue the series, but would someone get SAA to write more of her lovely tales, please?

I enjoyed this romance. I voluntarily chose to review this story and I've given it a 4* rating. These two seemed so much like opposites but didn't know how much they had in common. And let the sparks fly! Lots to enjoy in this story.

I put down my dystopian novel because I thought that the world was a bit stressful and unpredictable, and I could do with something lighter. This was a fun story that gave me a few laughs. However, it also contained a very bizarrely placed and really bad sex scene. I would like to request that no author ever uses the word "shaft" in a sex scene again. I felt like Barbara Bretton suddenly remembered that she needed to include another sex scene in the book, wrote it in two minutes, and just randomly inserted into the story. Perhaps her editor rang her at half past four on a Friday and said, "I need a sex scene by the end of the day!"

Content warning: dead child

This cosy fantasy mystery was an easy read. I often find first person narrators too snarky or neurotic for my liking, but I liked this one's voice. The characters were distinctive and fun, the worldbuilding enjoyable, and the story flowed very well. I didn't even mind the romance! (If you've read my other reviews, you'll know I'm really not into romance...)

Although the actual mystery wasn't too difficult to work out, the clues were neatly placed. For my tastes, the climax was a tiny bit bogged down in explanation/reflection, but that's a very minor criticism.

Technically, the writing was fine. I noticed just one typo, and a few line breaks in odd places.

A well presented cosy mystery with a strong fantasy element.

Review: Shore Lights by Barbara Bretton. 4* 08/06/2019

This was a relaxing story that I had read about a mother and an adult daughter scenario.
The novel was well-written, somewhat predictable heartfelt story with family issues. The majority of the characters were members of two families, the DiFalco‘s and the O‘Malley‘s. The setting was in Paradise Point, New Jersey.

Madelyn Bainbridge is the thirty-two year old daughter whose husband leaves her for another woman. She finds herself unemployed with a young four-year-old daughter, named Hannah, and in financial trouble. Her mother, Rose DiFalco offered for her to stay at her B&B business in New Jersey, hesitating Maddy decides to return to her mother’s home until she can manage her life. The issue here is Maddy and her mother, Rose DiFalco never really got along and neither of them ever showed any love or affection towards one another.

The other family also are going through some emotional issues and struggling to maintain a generation family business which is an old local tavern the O’Malley’s in Paradise Point, New Jersey. Aiden O’Malley, former firefighter, while now managing and being the cook at the tavern is also raising a seventeen-year-old daughter, Kelly on his own since she was two. Aiden also still grieves about his younger brother who died in a horrifying house fire where Aiden was also burned but survived.

Bretton goes on weaving these two families throughout the book. There are plenty of issues, happenings and stubbornness still to read….

My review

Finally finding the home of your heart. Separately both Sam Butler and Annie Galloway find the place that will not be a constant reminder of their past failures, but also the place where two people who are not looking for new beginnings, find one, together.

My review

Hayley bakes cakes for a living and is raising her daughter, Lizzie, alone. Finn Rafferty grew up under the shadow of rock music legend Tommy Stiles and starting to realize he wants more of what Tommy has, a family. When Finn learns that Hayley maybe connected to Tommy, he finds that there may be more to this connection than just the genetic one.

My review

Good read. Involving characters. The leading characters love for each other is felt in every word. This story left me wrung dry.

Two sisters struggle to come together when their formerly famous mom suffers a stroke and burns down her house, but their own issues with intimacy get in everyone’s way. Bretton’s book shows promise, but the story ends almost before it begins with a too convenient and hurried ending.

Amy R. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

Enjoyable romance set during World War II...

Twenty-one-year-old Catherine Wilson goes out one night with her family (dad, mom, sister) to the Stage Door Canteen. Her sister, Nancy, is a big film buff and she hopes to see some movie stars there. When they get to the canteen Catherine meets a young soldier (Johnny Danza, 25) who is friends with her father and is in his squadron. They dance and talk for some of the night. Johnny finds out Catherine’s fiancé, Douglas, is currently fighting in the war. Catherine’s family is sad because their father has enlisted in the war and he will be leaving tomorrow along with Johnny, so this will be their last night together for a while. Later that night, when Catherine goes home she finds out her fiancé Douglas has been killed at war.

As time goes by, while Johnny and her father are overseas, Catherine begins to correspond/write to her friend (Johnny) she met from the canteen. They begin to know each other through their letters. Then, one day, Johnny arrives on her doorstep with injuries. He was sent home to recuperate but, unknown to Catherine, due to his injuries Johnny can no longer fight/serve in the army and he is getting an honorable discharge. Catherine has been working in her father’s manufacturing factory while her dad is at war and Johnny eventually begins to work there and help her out.

This was a really charming read. It was told from many POV (points of view). It showed how the women of that era dealt with their husbands, fathers, and boyfriends being away at war.

I liked Catherine, she was a strong, classy heroine. I thought she did a great job running her father’s factory, even while the men sometimes opposed her (they didn’t like taking orders from a girl/the boss’s daughter.) I also liked Johnny. He was abandoned as a child and went from orphanage to orphanage. But he learned a lot through jobs, working with his hands, experience in the army… Catherine’s family was likable, I enjoyed the New York City setting.

This was a sweet 1940’s romance.

Reading about war especially World War II triggers something inside me that I can't quite pinpoint to. This is a fictional work about a family from World War II that find their father and fiancee of the daughter on the war front. The author has written about the helplessness of families with such sensitivity that I could not stop myself from getting deeply involved in their stories. Although it's fiction, I feel the letters between the characters and the entire atmosphere of rationing shortages and women working in factories after the men left for war convict such a tragic sense of loss and belonging for humanity from the era. The entire gamut lies in the deep intertwined bonds of wait and living on hope for the war to end between the characters.

I loved Catherine and her strength of mind in supporting her family and running her Dad's factory, being in charge of it while he's away at the war. Women like her represent the true capable people that we are underneath all the soft and feminine masquerade we have been associated with since ages. She is trying hard to forget her fiancee's death in the war, writing encouraging letters to her father assuring him of the well being on the home front as well as running his factory and still dealing with the emotions these war years have made her to grow into the person she has become. I could resonate with her resolve to not break down when her mother and younger sister are so easily affected emotionally. I know there were a lot of women who dealt strongly and impassively when they took control of their families during the war. So Cathy is one of my favourite persons from the book. Johnny, the orphan soldier who befriends her father and promises to look after him and ends up wounded while protecting him also is written about sensitively. His recovery and his mental state as being one who's seen as a saviour and therefore indebted to gratitude by Catherine's family and his own state of dilemma at having to return back to a place where he has no home or family waiting for him pierced my heart. It's very rare when we can climb into characters' skin and feel the emotions so personally. Eddie Martin, the guy who couldn't enlist himself for war service because of a physical handicap made me realise the social standing between men and women. Parts of this book is so brilliant and so emotionally gripping that at times I forgot this is a work of fiction which obviously draws a lot from the reality. There's also something about the mental state of veterans who return from war back to their homes as completely changed people. I wish this were given some precedence too in the story. But is it only true that the young recover quickly from signs of distress than the elderly is something I'll never know. It must have been terrifying to find our beloved as changed individuals and I really empathise with the Dad in the story. We can never know what the bad of the war affected them in what ways because we have never experienced it our self. I liked the sensitive representation of people in the book. It indeed was a sentimental journey for me to embark upon because I got so involved with all of them. Also, this is my first Barbara Bretton book. Even though it's a Kindle freebie, I am hoping I find further good works from her to read.

It was a simple romance. I normally don't care for romance, but the setting made it worth the read. A small town that looks exactly like Salem, MA where every resident has a secret: Vampire, Sorceress, Werewolf, etc. I loved the setting and the main character runs a knitting shop. Other than that, there wasn't really anything special about the story.

Despite my lackluster review here, I really am interested in reading the next story.

I saw a review of this book on another blog - sorry, original blogger, I didn't save the post - and since I'm an obsessive knitter & obsessed with vampires, witches, fairies, and the like, I immediately requested the book from interlibrary loan.

You'll saw my huge library pile I got last week, this book was in it. Well, it was the first one to be picked up from the stack (even though I was reading 3 other books at one time), and I absolutely laughed out loud - literally made my cat cross eyed with me - from the very first page. Obviously Bretton was sincere in her desire to make a GOOD knitting fiction book; it's been done before, but usually the knitting references are done in passing, and it's obvious the writer has no real connection to knitting (an exception is The Shop on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber). The addition of paranormal elements made me just giddy. There's a bit of romance, which I'm not a huge fan of, but the book is so well written, I felt myself rooting for the relationship between Chloe & Luke all the same.

"Sticks and Strings" is awash with quaint New England charm, with all the necessary components for some kick ace chick lit. A headstrong, albeit bumbling heroine in search of love, a poignant love triangle and plenty of colorful characters to bring the star-crossed lovers together. But, quite like Sugar Maple, your expectations will barely scratch the surface of this quirky paranormal comedy. Rife with nostalgia, 21st Century American cynicism and hilarity, "Sticks and Strings" keeps you on your toes. Chloe Hobbs is the reluctant heroine with a veiled past and a killer penchant for knitting needles. Bretton spins her web brilliantly as she introduces you to the last earthly haven for magical outcasts. There is plenty of intrigue, romance and magic to keep you believing in the bonds of friendship and the power of true love. A must-read for the avid knitter, cat person and reader.

As much as I thought this was going to be just another romance story it wasn't and I liked it.
I liked the characters especially Noah and Gracie and I liked the story. I always like a good book where that the parents are at odds and the big thing was I just liked the plot. While I did not think that Gracie and Noah had a true romance. I never felt the connection but, I guess that love stories sometimes can be felt but not seen. The thing is I felt the love between the two of them but I never did see the love show between both of them. I really really liked that Barbara Bretton kept the twist going until the end because let me tell you I believed Simon and I really thought.....they were brother and sister

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: The first time they met, his dog trashed her car.

The second time they met, she set fire to her bathroom.

The third time they met, they fell in love.

Annie Galloway isn't looking to fall in love again. Sam Butler doesn't want a home and family of his own.

Too bad fate has other plans . .

Bit too much tell instead of show but good story½