Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts

4/20/18

Saint Harry by Maura Beth Brennan

Saint Harry – A Short Story by Maura Beth Brennan
Angie’s widowed Aunt Ida decides to embark on a career talking to the spirits, and use her powers to help her family and friends. Angie worries that something crazy might happen. And it does.
Angie has moved back home with her mother after a break up with her boyfriend. One day they find out from their Aunt Ida that Uncle Harry, Aunt Ida’s husband, has passed away. Aunt Ida is beside herself with grief and begins declaring what a Saint her Harry was. Aunt Ida always put Uncle Harry down and made his life hell. While Uncle Harry was the favorite uncle in the family, Aunt Ida, in turn, was a sour puss, and the least favorite in the family. Uncle Harry was a magnificent Uncle, He was sweet and generous, the opposite of Aunt Ida. Aunt Ida begins calling Harry, “Saint Harry.” She starts speaking well of him now that he’s dead. She declares that he was such a good and kind man and just a Saint. She even takes to praying to him and asking him to show her a sign.
One day Aunt Ida announces that she is going to visit Miss Maeve the local medium and spiritualist. This troubles Angie very much and she wants to talk Aunt Ida out of going. But instead, she accompanies her to the Miss Maeve’s house. After her visit with Miss Maeve, she says that she talked to Uncle Harry and that she has powers too. The medium then turns to Angie and tells her that good things are coming to her. What will happen next? Will good things come to Angie?
Saint Harry is a witty, laugh out loud, short story by Maura Beth Brennan. It is full of humorous antics and anecdotes. The storyline and plot are fully developed and well thought out. From the very first page, I was hooked and it kept me hooked throughout the entire story. Maura Beth Brennan has a knack for writing short stories that are full and fun and very entertaining. She packs a lot of cleverness and ingenuity into one quick read. I fully enjoy her stories and this one, Saint Harry, did not let me down.
Maura Beth Brennan has a way with words that makes them flow right off the page. The plots are always fulfilling with excellent endings. Saint Harry is right up there with some of the best chick lit reads. The characters are well developed and multifaceted. Once again, Maura Beth Brennan, packs a lot of personality and temperament into her characters, in one short story. I love the funny people that are in her tales. They make me laugh and laugh and laugh.
Saint Harry is one of those stories that leaves you smiling and uplifted. It is charming and enchanting.  The descriptions of the setting, the people and the objects are vivid and complete, so as to make the reader feel as if they are there watching on as the story unfolds. There are little twists here and there making it unpredictable. It is satisfying and complete with a great happy ending. One must read Saint Harry by Maura Beth Brennan.
Maura Beth Brennan is the author of the outstanding, mysterious, 5 star novel, “The Edge of Memory,” and the short stories “The Ex Chronicles,” and “Saint Harry.” We are looking forward to more books by this exceptional writer, Maura Beth Brennan.
Chick Lit Cafe highly recommends the sweet short story, Saint Harry by Maura Beth Brennan
Purchase Saint Harry by Maura Beth Brennan Now @Amazon
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4/15/18

100 Dates and a Wedding by Steph Tumba

100 Dates and a Wedding by Steph Tumba
100 Dates & a Wedding relates the dating tribulations of a young French divorcee named Valerie Duval. It narrates Valerie’s dating experiences in London and shares the lessons she learnt from them. Her disillusionments, her joys, and her own ambiguities are shared without concession questioning how to deal with a break up after a long relationship? How to believe in love again after being defeated? Doesn’t everyone kiss a few frogs before reaching their happy ending? But the questions every woman wonder: How many dates does it get to find the “One”? 100? How many shags? Valerie won’t tell. How many mistakes made? Certainly plenty. Should you play the Game?
Valerie never understood the rules. So how do you meet the right one then? After a few slaps on the face. The road to love is not easy, but when you find it, you realize that somehow you enjoyed the ride, but more so adored reaching the destination. We must all go through this, c’est la vie! 100 Dates & a Wedding will make your heart laugh out loud; it is filled with raw emotions and evinces an incredible honesty in terms of storytelling. 100 Dates and a Wedding is moving and charming, is the perfect novel for a female of any age to engross herself into and delve into self-discovery through Valerie’s inspiring journey.
100 Dates and a Wedding is a fictional story based on author, Steph Tumba’s, real life events. In it we meet Valerie Duvall, a young French woman that has lived in London for three years now. She was married for seven years and is now divorced. Her two best friends, Camellia, sensitive and loyal, and Bianca, outgoing and sexy, help Valerie signup and create a profile on the dating site “match.com”. Valerie is reluctant at first but decides to give it a try and creates her profile in hopes to meet someone she can have a real relationship with.
As she looks at the profiles of the men online, she starts to relax and have fun. With so many men to choose from, she doesn’t know where to start. So she decides to send messages to all of the ones that caught her attention. Right away there is action on her profile. She receives a hundred emails and a 300 winks from the eager men that are hoping to find a date. With her friend’s approval, Valerie begins to date. Will she find the love of her life – her soulmate?
What follows is a humorous adventure in the world of online dating and matchmaking. It is the story of one woman’s life, her marriage and divorce, her career, her life in London and her experiences in online dating and finding the love of her life.
100 Dates and a Wedding starts out with a humorous bang right from the beginning, as Valerie is having her divorce and birthday party on the same day. The things that go on at the party are laugh-out-loud-funny.
Then she starts dating and has many trials and tribulations with her dates. She goes from one date to the next excited and confused. She actually seems to find some keepers but then as time goes on and she gets to know them for one reason or another things don’t work out. Will she ever find the one who she will fall in love with and get married? You must read the book to find out.
I couldn’t put 100 Dates and a Wedding down and read it almost straight through. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and I began laughing right away. It is engaging, fun and exciting. There are real moments when my emotions got caught up in the story, as it made me angry and sad at times too. But it’s mostly funny and definitely interesting, as the reader gets a peek into the author’s life. It is written very well with a bit of a French flair to it.
Author Steph Tumba did a magnificent job of describing the setting, which is in London, as I felt like I was there. I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters. They have interesting and quirky personalities. They are well developed and fleshed out and became real to me.
I know readers will enjoy 100 Dates and a Wedding, the story is original, creative, well written and composed. Because it is based on a true story of the author’s own experiences, it is very realistic and down-to-earth, yet very funny, amusing and especially entertaining. I loved the satisfying ending.
Chick Lit Cafe highly recommends 100 Dates and a Wedding by Steph Tumba to all romantic comedy lovers.
Purchase 100 Dates and a Wedding by Steph Tumba @Amazon Now