Cali Girl Book Blog

After having her heart broken, Lily Carver ran north to manage an upscale resort-and back to her longtime friend Sam Denning. Though she's well aware of how hot Sam's become, she refuses to risk her heart again. No matter how incredible his kisses make her feel...
Sam's been in love-and lust-with Lily since the summer they met. When he finally shows her how much he wants her, Lily can't resist his seduction. But Sam's a forever kind of guy and she's only interested in short, painless relationships.
Lily thinks she can protect both their hearts with a short affair to let their passion run its course, something where they both know the rules and can explore the sparks between them without getting burned. But their best-laid plans are put to the test by their undeniable attraction-and by a secret Sam's been keeping from Lily that could ruin everything.


Something So Right is the familiar story of a heart so broken and bruised that it's owner will not take another chance on love. In this case Lily is so determined to set boundries that she has become quite mercenary about them. Sam is deeply in love with her and has finally given up fighting the attraction for the sake of saving their friendship.
We see these themes quite often in the romance world but Elyse Mady has managed to give the story it's own charisma. This is helped along by the imagery of the beautiful and remote setting which lends to the touching and sweet story.
All in all a pleasant read.

Lucinda Darling thinks she's ready to get married.
Even though Donald doesn't give her butterflies, the heiress is ready to make her marriage work. She's got the dress, she's at the church and her fiancé...is making out with his ex. So Lucinda stuffs her tulle skirts into her tiny sports car and hits the road...only to have her car break down.
Jake Parker knows he's not ready to settle down.
But Grandma Hattie is sick, so, to make her happy, he's returning home to find himself a fake fiancée. When Jake rescues Lucy from the side of the highway, she goes from runaway bride to temporary fiancée.
Lucy hopes to escape the public eye in small-town Georgia, but she doesn't expect to fall for Jake's charming hometown, let alone Jake himself. Soon Jake and Lucy both start to wish their lie were true. But Lucy knows she must stop their pretense before Jake's family-and her heart-are hurt so badly they'll never recover.

Just A Little White Lie was everything I wanted it to be! Lynnette Halberg fulfilled all my most romantic wishes all the way to the happily ever after. For some reason every time I try to find the words to describe my experience in reading this book I get the image of warm apple pie with  a serving of fresh vanilla ice cream. This could be the reason I have been trying to write this for two days in an attempt to come up with any other description except for warm and sweet with wonderful spicy notes of intrigue served with a cool splash of fresh, creamy vanilla down home goodness.

Suffice to say I enjoyed this book, and I particularly enjoyed Lucinda's character. It was refreshing to read a character that is rich beyond believe with such a sweet and caring personality. One that has no care for social standing or putting on airs, but instead cares deeply about people.

This was the first Lynnette Halberg novel I have read and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

When I am in the mood for a quick and indulgent read I usually grab the closest romantic comedy I can find. (Brit-Chick-lit if at all possible) So that is all I was expecting from this novel. What I got was entirely different! First of all this is no quickie romance, at 496 pages it is definitely a full length novel. A novel that managed to play out the wonderful stories of the supporting characters beautifully without detracting in any way from Miranda's story. The story of the wonderfully kind hearted, quirky and over the top Miranda who shares her lunches with a homeless man and dotes on her elderly land lady. Her kind hearted nature triggers a sequence of events that lead us on a journey of comedy, romance, wicked revenge, heart break and love that I loved every rip roaring moment of.
Jill Mansell has an uncanny ability to make you care for every single character in her novel. There was a tragedy mid way through this book that affected me so deeply I almost feel as if it was a true story. Three days after finishing the book and my heart still twinges whenever I remember this scene and for that alone this book will go down as one of my favourites of all time. Even without that though this was still a wonderful book that I enjoyed every moment of.

TG