Paint the Grass by H.R. Boyd

From Amazon (I couldn't find it on Goodreads yet):

“You have to lose something first, before you can find it . . .” 

Bethany Taylor has been missing for twenty years. She just doesn’t know it. 

She does know how to be the perfect hostess for her husband’s corporate events. She knows how to fill out scholarship paperwork and set up dorm rooms for her boys. She knows how to create the perfect life for her entire family. And for twenty years that’s exactly what she’s been doing. 

Until the day her husband says “I love you” to his perky-boobed running buddy. 

A single sucker punch to the heart shoves Bethany’s missing life to center stage. 

Two choices come to mind. One requires a pair of pliers, a really sharp knife, and relocating to Morocco. The other, slightly less costly option, calls for a journal, a purple pen, and several cans of spray paint. 

Because a fresh coat of paint can fix all kinds of problems—and maybe even mark the path to a new life. 

Paint the Grass is a hilarious and heartwarming novel that celebrates the process of losing something before you find it and the joy that comes from living life true to yourself.

My Take:

First, this is women's fiction rather than romance, which is slightly outside my normal reading. Having said that, I enjoyed this immensely. There were moments in this story that tugged painfully at my heart because I totally related to the emotions Bethany was going through. My husband has never done what her does, but there are still times when I've felt so lonely right beside him that I could barely stand it.  

However, this book isn't really about sadness. It's about a woman taking back her life and figuring out what she wants and where she will make a difference. It's about empowerment and the lifting gift of sisterhood. I found myself setting my own "paint the grass" types of goals as I read. 

Remember what I love, do something scary, show kindness, and be happy being alone are just a few of her daily goals. Every one of them is an exercise in self-evaluation and a potential for growth and deeper happiness. 

I give Paint the Grass by H.R. Boyd 5 stars and a CLEAN rating.

1-5 scale and what it means:

1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad

2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing

3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive

3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love

4: Solid mind candy / worth reading

4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read

5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:

Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"

PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door

PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.

PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy

R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always

#WFsummerbookshelf Challenge and Prizes!

I’ve joined a team of amazing authors to present an opportunity for all of you to win some PRIZES! You can Print the bookmark from the google document and track your progress

​​To Earn Points towards these amazing prizes:

1. Read any/all of these books! As you finish books Post a review to your Social Media Account with #WFSummerBookshelf and tag the author! 12 points for each book/review
2. Comment on participating authors’ Summer Bookshelf Posts! Posts will be on individual authors' pages -1 point for each post you comment on.
3. Bonus Points: Share this post to your FB Page (3pts) & tag friends below that you think would love to participate! 1 point for each friend tagged

Participating authors:

@Cindygwrites

@azauthor

@charitybradfordriverford 

@heathertullis

@AuthorHillarySperry

@authorLisaCatmull 

Follow all these authors' pages so you don’t miss out on any point opportunities!

​

~The event runs from June 1st-July 31st

~Final prize winners will be announced Monday, August 1st

~Prizes shipped within U.S. only

The Wedding Cake Tree by Melanie Hudson

From Goodreads:

Can a mother’s secret past provide the answers for a daughter’s future?

Celebrity photographer Grace Buchanan has always known that, one day, she’d swap her manic day job for the peace and quiet of her beloved childhood cottage, St Christopher’s – she just didn’t expect it to be so soon. At the reading of her mother’s will, she’s shocked to learn that she hardly knew Rosamund at all, and that inheriting St Christopher’s hangs on one big – and very inconvenient – condition: Grace must drop everything for two weeks and travel the country with a mysterious stranger – war-weary Royal Marine, Alasdair Finn. Caught in a brief but perfect moment in time, Grace and Alasdair walk in Rosamund’s footsteps and read her letters at each breathtaking new place. As Grace slowly uncovers the truth about her mother’s incredible life story, Alasdair and Grace can’t help but question their own futures. Will Rosamund’s madcap scheme go to plan or will events take an unexpected turn?

An emotional, fun-filled journey of a lifetime.

My Take:

This was an okay book. It felt more like a travelogue to all these locations than a romance. There is a lot of detail about every stop. What every hill, tree, cottage/hotel, and sky looks like. It's weird, but even though they go to all these places to learn about the dead mother's life, I don't feel like anything really happened. I never felt connected to the characters and didn't feel their connection to each other so the romance felt forced. 

Maybe it was just my mood the week I read it? It was well written, maybe more women's fiction than I expected? Anyway, I find that a month after reading the only thing I remember about the story is that the sky looked different in every place they went to and their reason for splitting up made me mad. 

I'll still give it 3 - 3.5 stars. And sorry to my followers that need the heat rating, but I honestly don't remember if there was language or scenes. See, forgettable.

1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:

Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always

The Casserole Dish by Amey Zeigler

From Goodreads:

One broken woman. One broken house. One broken neighborhood. And one casserole dish to fix them all. 

After a painful divorce that left her house rehabbing business in shreds, Lisa Bennigan seeks to rebuild her life with her three children. When she inherits a house with lots of sweat equity, she throws herself into the renovation to avoid her pain and loss. 

While she attempts to rehab the house, she discovers the neighborhood also needs a little TLC. Backbiting and gossip have torn their cul-de-sac apart. Lisa hopes she can establish harmony by baking love into slightly magic casserole dishes shared with her neighbors and maybe even save her own heart as well.

My Take: 

This book falls firmly into the women's fiction category, which is not my normal read either. I guess I'm branching out this summer! There is a romance thread, but the main focus of the story is Lisa's journey of healing after her divorce as well as that of the neighborhood. 

This cut-de-sac is more of a mess than the house that needs to be decluttered and fixed up. Everyone is dealing with their own issues and their coping mechanism is to judge and complain about everyone else. Of course, this only makes everything worse. Jackson encourages Lisa to over an olive branch to try and make things better. She decides to take one neighbor a meal and wait to see what happens. 

This was an enjoyable read. I felt extremely lucky that I'd never experienced this kind of neighborhood. It made me appreciate all the great relationships I've enjoyed over my lifetime.

I give The Casserole Dish a solid 4 Stars and a Clean Rating.

1-5 scale and what it means:

1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad

2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing

3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive

3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love

4: Solid mind candy / worth reading

4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read

5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:

Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"

PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door

PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.

PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy

R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always