#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in July 3 2015 and Tucker by Juliana Stone review

#FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About.

Join in :D

Sun No idea. I guess I biked or walked?

Mon, 1 h bike, 1 h yoga

Tue, 1.20 h bike, 1 h workout class

Wed, 1 h yoga, 1 h bike

Thu, 1 h bike

Fri nothing

Sigh, I got a fever on Thursday and the worst sore throat ever. But then I have been somewhere everyday so no wonder if someone infected me.

..........................................

When all hope is gone, can love still find a way? 

Tucker Simon has given up on love. After a tragedy, it’s just not in the cards for him, and he wishes his family would get off his back. He’s fine—or at least he thought he was--until a family wedding forces him to address a few things, namely his date, Abby Mathews. She's been put in the ‘friend’ category, mostly because she deserves so much more than what he can give. But the more time that he spends with her, Tucker begins to think that maybe there is a chance for love after all... 

Abby Mathews has been in love with Tucker Simon since he walked into her family’s bar nearly a year ago. But he’s got baggage and heartache a plenty. His one-night-stands aren't going to lessen that no matter what he thinks. Tucker needs a friend, but Abby wants to give him more, and as they navigate their way through a weekend in Florida, their attraction can’t be ignored. Abby has to make a choice. Does she cherish their friendship and take what she can get? Or does she go after what she really wants, which is Tucker’s heart… 

My thoughts:

I have no idea how the Simons's are rich, I guess that was in the Barker books? Eh, who knows. Seems they have money.

Tucker has issues. His wife went missing. He loves them and leaves them now.

Abby has issues. She has been in love with Tucker for months now. They are just friends, which is good, but she loves him.

He needs a date to get his mum off his back. Abby says yes.

We meet a bunch of Simons at a wedding. Sparks fly between Abby and Tucker. But can they get over the whole, my wife is missing!? Can I love again?! Duh, it's a romance, of course he can love again. And so they lived happily ever after. The end.

Conclusion:

Cute.

Kindle Edition, 226 pages
Published February 5th 2014 by Juliana Stone
The Family Simon #1
Contemporary romance
Freebie

The looking glass house - Vanessa Tait

Vanessa Tait, great-granddaughter of the Alice who inspired Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, tells the fascinating story of the childhood classic's strange beginnings through the eyes of a naive and deceived governess.

What happened before Alice fell down the rabbit hole?

Oxford, 1862. As Mary Prickett takes up her post as governess to the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, she is thrust into a strange new world. Mary is poor and plain and desperate for change but the little girls in her care see and understand far more than their naive new teacher. And there is another problem: Mary does not like children, especially the precocious Alice Liddell.

When Mary meets Charles Dodgson, the Christ Church mathematics tutor, at a party at the Deanery, she wonders if he may be the person to transform her life. Flattered by his attentions, Mary begins to believe that she could be more than just an overlooked, dowdy governess.

One sunny day, as Mary chaperones the Liddells on a punting trip, Mr Dodgson tells the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But Mary is determined to become Mr Dodgson's muse ­ and will turn all the lives around her topsy-turvy in pursuit of her obsession. 

My thoughts:

The story of Alice, but not really, it was the story of Alice's governess, and in turn about Alice.

Mary is from a poor family, but finds herself lucky to become a governess to the Lidell children. Maybe she even can find a match for herself.

Fiction and history is mixed since we can't know everything for sure. Mary is pretty blind at times, but she was a woman of her time. She fell for Hodgson, and thought he liked her back. She also disliked Alice a lot since Alice stole the attention she wanted. Of course she never questioned why a grown man wants to spend so much time with a kid. So she was jealous, blind, but still yes I got that she wanted more from her life.

Alice then. We only see Alice through Mary's eyes, and Alice is a spoiled child who gets way too much attention and revels in it. I can't say I liked Alice, but then, would she have been liked that if she had not been told how special she was? Oh and sidenote, I found it so interesting to see what happened to Alice when she grow up. There is another story there!

Right, the elephant in the room. We can't know, but really, he took those pics, he wrote creepy letters. Yeah. And little by little he gets creepier and creepier. Just by things he says when you think about it.

I thought it was interesting, and so creepy, about the historical explanation why he could spend time with kids. He could not have spent time with a young woman, that would have been wrong. But little girls that was ok in those times. Cos yes, who would do anything wrong? No one is that weird..right.

Conclusion:

It was an fascinating look at the family. And I totally think there should be a book about Alice as a woman.

cover

nice

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published July 2nd 2015 by Corvus
Historical fiction
for review

The chocolate apothecary - Josephine Moon

Christmas Livingstone has formulated 10 top rules for happiness by which she tries very hard to live. Nurturing the senses every day, doing what you love, sharing joy with others are some of the rules but the most important for her is no. 10 - absolutely no romantic relationships!

Her life is good now. Creating her enchantingly seductive shop, The Chocolate Apothecary, and exploring the potential medicinal uses of chocolate makes her happy; her friends surround her; and her role as a fairy godmother to her community allows her to share her joy. She doesn't need a handsome botany ace who knows everything about cacao to walk into her life. One who has the nicest grandmother - Book Club Captain at Green Hills Aged Care Facility and intent on interfering - a gorgeous rescue dog, and who wants her help to write a book. She really doesn't need any of that at all.

Or does she?

My thoughts:

I warn you, you will want chocolate while reading this book. After you have read this book, hey even before starting this book.

Christmas owns a chocolate store, she makes the chocolate herself, and she loves it. But she does have her issues. A bad breakup and heartache makes her shy away from men.

Lincoln is a botanist, and he has studied the cocoa plant in South America. Now he is in Tasmania. To see his family, and to hear his gran tell him to settle down ;)

They meet, they start to write a book together. They do fancy each other, but she has her rules. No men. So this is not a romance. And I did wonder at times, will they, wont they? Will someone else show up? Seriously, I did not know! And I wont tell you ;) But I promise you, there will be a HEA.

And the chocolate! Oh my, the chocolate. It's not the store bought kind (even if I love it). It's the delicious, decadent, real chocolate. I wanted it, I wanted to visit this store and meet her. I needed chocolate.

The village was great, a nice set of characters. I liked Christmas and Lincoln, they did their mistakes, but they were knobbly human.

Conclusion:

A sweet, chocolate filled story.

Cover

I need chocolate

Paperback, 384 pages
Published July 2nd 2015 by Allen & Unwin
Women's fiction/ romantic fiction
For review

The cat with a really big head - Roman Dirge

This is the tragic story of a cat called Cat and his stupidly enormous over-sized head as he struggles with day-to-day problems like coping with hairballs, trying to eat Chunky Beef Chunk With Beef catfood or dealing with the neighbourhood mouse, Mr. Stinky and his army of annoying mice. Life hasn’t dealt Cat a good hand, but still there’s always the prospect of reincarnation and a better life isn’t there..?  

My thoughts:

Roman Dirge has the best morbid weird funny stories. The artwork is awesome, very morbid and cute.

In this we meet Cat, who has a really big head and maybe he has a big brain then too, or perhaps not. Cat does not have a happy life. Poor cat.

And then there was a story about an autopsy, yup.

Macabre and funny. Totes adorbs.

Conclusion:

Great illustrations and good stories.

Oh and you have to read his Lenore stories, you have to!

Hardcover, 96 pages
Published June 30th 2015 by Titan Comics (first published 2002)
Graphic novel
For review