TLC Book Tours Book Review: At The River's Edge

About At the River’s Edge
Series: Chesapeake Diaries
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 28, 2014)
Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: After taking stock of her life, Sophie Enright has decided it’s time for a break. Between a law career that’s become criminally dull and a two-timing boyfriend she’s done with once and for all, Sophie desperately needs some time to think and some space to breathe. The perfect place to do both is easygoing St. Dennis, Maryland, where Sophie can visit with her brother while she figures out her options. Once in St. Dennis, she discovers a shuttered restaurant and makes a bold move that is also a leap of faith. Sophie buys the fixer-upper in order to finally pursue her dream career.

But Sophie’s labor of love becomes a bone of contention for her new neighbor Jason Bowers. The local landscaper has big plans for growing his business—until Sophie scoops up the property he’s got his eye on. And no amount of buyout offers or badgering from him will get her to budge. It’s hardly the start of a beautiful friendship. But when they’re paired up to work on a community project, they agree to put their differences aside, and sparks begin to fly. Then Sophie’s cheating ex suddenly shows up, looking for a second chance—and threatening to make Jason a third wheel just when his hotheaded feelings about Sophie were turning decidedly warmhearted. All Sophie wants is a new life and a true love. But what are the odds of having both?

Review: At The River's Edge is the latest book in The Chesapeake Diaries Series. I absolutely adore these books. If you are a fan of Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series, you will love these. Its all about small town goings on with a touch of love to make you go Awwww!

This book is more about new beginnings, as the romance between Sophie and Jason doesn't really blossom until more than halfway into the book, but that doesn't matter. It is fun to watch her life unravel and then start over.

I think what this book does is show how you can make changes when things go wrong and to go for your dreams. Sophie was lucky that she had the opportunity to start over when she caught her boyfriend cheating. I think we've all had an ex that we wish we could run away from.

I loved her passion for opening a restaurant. I'm always a sucker for books with food in them, and Mariah serves up some great recipes in this one. (I plan to make the coconut cake very soon) I only wish more of the book took place after her restaurant opened...I guess we'll see how she's doing in the next book!

As always there's conflict between the hero and the heroine, it wouldn't be a romance without it. Just as the ex has to make an appearance as well, though the conflict isn't really heavy, and I liked it that way. No deal breakers, just an almost childish misunderstanding.

But this is such a wonderful read, and the characters that you've met before in the other books, like Violet and Grace are still there and just as lovable as ever. Oh and if you haven't read this series, there's also a little paranormal activity going on.

I highly recommend this book and all the others in this series.

About Mariah Stewart

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and their dogs amid the rolling hills and Amish farms of southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she gardens, reads, and enjoys country life. . .

Book Review: The Long Way Home

Author: Mariah Stewart
Title: The Long Way Home
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Publish Date: Jan 29, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley

Book Blurb: 

As the only child of a wealthy investment manager, Ellie Chapman has never known anything besides a life of perfect privilege. But her years of good fortune come to an abrupt end when her father is exposed for swindling billions of dollars from innocent investors in a massive Ponzi scheme. And just like that, Ellie loses everything: money, job, home—even her fiancé, who’s jailed as her father’s partner in crime. With no job prospects on the horizon, no cash, and her family name in tatters, Ellie has only one place to go.

Sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland, is hardly where Ellie intends to stay, however. Keeping her identity a secret, she plans to sell the house her late mother left her in the small town and use the proceeds to move on with her life. Unfortunately, her ticket to a new beginning is in dire need of a laundry list of pricey improvements, many of which she’ll have to do herself. And until the house on Bay View Road is fit to be sold, the sole place Ellie will be traveling is the hardware store. But as the many charms of St. Dennis—not to mention Cameron O’Connor, the handsome local contractor who has secrets of his own—begin to work their magic, what begins as a lesson in do-it-yourself renovations might just end up as Ellie’s very own rejuvenation.

Review: The Long Way Home takes us back to St. Dennis, Maryland. This is a series that can be read in order or simply as a stand alone book. I've read the first 3 and I missed two somewhere along the line, because this is book 6 in the series.

I think St. Dennis reminds me a bit of Debbie Macomber's Blossom St series or Sherryl Woods Chesapeake Shores. Wouldn't it be nice if all our small towns were so quaint and colorful?

Ellie's character is a sweeter version of Caroline from 2 Broke Girls, complete with her own crook of a father, just like Bernie Madoff. If there wasn't already a cupcake business I'd expect her to try to start one!

The problem is unlike Caroline Channing ...Ellie Chapman is a bit blah. She doesn't want to get close to people because she doesn't want to rejected because of what her father did, yet she's looking for clues to her past.

Another problem, most people find out her secret without her telling them.

That makes things a little less interesting.

Too much falls into place easily for her and her relationship with Cameron didn't feel right either.

In comparison to the other books in this series, this one felt hurried to me and the relationship not so romantic.

Rating:  3 flowers

TLC Book Tour & Review: Almost Home

Author: Mariah Stewart
Title: Almost Home
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Publish Date: March 22, 2011
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours & the publisher
Book Blurb: When she was young, Steffie Wyler always knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life: 1. Make ice cream. 2. Marry the coolest boy in town. 3. Live happily ever after. These days, Steffie is the proud owner of One Scoop or Two, a wildly popular ice cream parlor. But the cool guy left town right after high school, before they could scratch the surface of their mutual attraction to see what, if anything, lay beneath. Steffie’s made a great life for herself in St. Dennis, but true love has never come knocking.
Wade MacGregor left for college in Texas and remained there to start a successful business with his best friend, Robin Kennedy, but he’s always felt something was missing. Then life throws him a curveball: A third partner has robbed the company blind, and Robin has died—but not before entrusting Wade with a precious secret. Now back in St. Dennis, Wade’s determined to do whatever it takes to protect his friend’s legacy—and to figure out, once and for all, if the sparks that fly whenever he’s with Steffie are just temporary fireworks or the lights in the window leading him home.

Review: Almost Home is the third book in Mariah Stewart's The Chesapeake Diaries series. Book 4 will be out in Sept 2011. This story centers around Steffie and Wade. The great thing about these two characters is that all the other characters from the past two books play large supporting roles.

The last book dealt with Dallas and Grant. Steffie is Grant's sister so Dallas plays a big part in this one and she's also Wade's sister.

These characters really feel like family by the third book and St Dennis is the perfect idyllic town. As I read, I kept wishing I could be one of the tourists visiting. Mariah really brings the town to life with her writing. Plus after reading this...who wouldn't want to go to Steffie's One Scoop Or Two!

Of the three books in this series, Almost Home is the most romance oriented, but that's to be expected, because Steffie's story was set up in the first book.

I really love how all three books are tied together, but can be read as stand alone novels. I cant stress enough how much I love this series. It really has the makings of being another Blossom Street kind of series, for those of you that love Debbie Macomber. So if you like stories that are about friends, family and a little romance thrown into the mix, this is a series you won't want to miss. I can't wait for the next book!

Author Info: About Mariah Stewart

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and their dogs amid the rolling hills and Amish farms of southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she gardens, reads, and listens to the voices in her head. She is currently working on the next book in her bestselling Chesapeake Diaries series.

Connect with Mariah:
On her website
On Facebook

Next stop on the tour: Colloquium

Reviews of the other Chesapeake Diaries Series: Home Again
Coming Home

Book Review: Home Again

Author: Mariah Stewart
Title: Home Again (The Chesapeake Diaries Book 2)
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Publish Date: July 27, 2010
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provide By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher
Book Blurb: Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent.

Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save the day, along with his damaged career. Trapped in the unwanted glare of the limelight once again, Dallas discovers that it’s coolheaded Grant who is willing to risk everything to protect her and her son, and to secure the future they were always meant to share.

Review: I didn't think it was possible to create a better story than Coming Home, the first book in The Chesapeake Bay series, but with Home Again, Mariah Stewart did just that. This book is more relationship oriented than the first, and for me that was a good thing.

There is some drama in the last 40 pages, but it really isn't anything that affects the story much.

I loved the character's in this story...I think it is possible that Dallas, and Beryl and Cody are some of my favorites. Both Dallas and Beryl are actresses, though Beryl hasn't done much work in recent years, but you can't take the actress out of her.

She really brings excitement to the story. She's a doting aunt and she spoils the dickens out of Cody, who is one of the cutest kids in any book I've read recently.

The love affair between Dallas and Grant is one of second chances. They were high school sweethearts that parted because of Dallas' desire to act. But their's isn't the only second chance in this story.

This series reads like a small town soap opera, only with less sex. These books are very light on the romance, and high on the relationships. Once you meet the cast of characters, you really feel like you know them. In this story you get to know Dallas and Grant and their families, which means you also get to know a bit more about Steffie, the owner of One Scoop Or Two.

I devoured this book in one day, and since it was well over 400 pages, I'd have to say that was because it was such a great read!

Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: Coming Home

Author: Mariah Stewart
Title: Coming Home (The Chesapeake Diaries)
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Publish Date: March 23, 2011
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher
Book Blurb: In the wake of his wife’s murder, agent Grady Shields turned his back on the FBI—and everything else—to retreat into the vast solitude of Montana, grieve for his lost love, and forget the world. But after years in seclusion, his sister’s wedding draws him to St. Dennis, a peaceful town on the Chesapeake Bay. Though he swears he isn’t interested in finding love again, Grady can’t ignore the mutual sparks that fly when he meets Vanessa Keaton.


Although her past was marked by bad choices, Vanessa has found that coming to St. Dennis is the best decision she’s ever made. Bling, her trendy boutique, is a success with tourists as well as with the townspeople. She’s made friends, has a home she loves, and has established a life for herself far from the nightmare she left behind. The last thing she’s looking for is romance, but the hot new man in town is hard to resist. And when Vanessa’s past catches up with her, Grady finds that he’s unwilling to let her become a victim again. As together they fight her demons, Grady and Vanessa discover that life still holds some surprises and that love doesn’t always have to hurt.
 
Review: Anyone that likes Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods or  Robyn Carr, will love this book. Coming Home is the first book in The Chesapeake Diaries series by Mariah Stewart. It is part romance and part suspense, but really it is a story about relationships and families.
 
The story takes place in St Dennis, a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. This book helps to set up the next two books in the trilogy. In this book you are introduced to all the key players. The focus of this book is Vanessa and Grady. Both are wounded individuals when it comes to relationships, but something clicks between them.
 
The romance blossoms, much faster than it would in real life, but hey! this is romantic fiction. It isn't real life. Vanessa and Grady really seem to belong together, regardless of the things that happened to them in the past. The past however doesn't want to stay in the past.
 
Vanessa has a string of incidents happen that is more than just a tiny police matter, and Grady feels the need to step in.
 
This is really when their relationship blossoms, it is also when some other relationships start to mend.
 
I love the small town that Ms.Stewart created in this book. The townspeople are fun and much like those that you find all over America. This book could easily have been about my town.
 
She keeps both the romance and the suspense fairly light, making this a great read for the beach. I can't wait to dive into the next book
 
Rating: 5 flowers