Showing posts with label Cathleen Armstrong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cathleen Armstrong. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Book Review: Last Chance Hero

11:32 AM 0 Comments
The inhabitants of Last Chance, New Mexico, could not be more pleased. Dr. Jessica McLeod has opened an office right on Main Street. Andy Ryan, the best athlete the little town ever produced, has ended his short career in the NFL and has come home to coach the mighty Pumas of Last Chance High. Unfortunately, Dr. Jess immediately gets off on the wrong foot when she admits that she's never seen a football game, isn't really interested in doing so, and, in fact, doesn't know a first down from a home run. Meanwhile, Coach Ryan is discovering that it's not easy to balance atop the pedestal the town has put him on. When this unlikely pair is drawn together over the future of a young player--whose gifts may lie in the laboratory rather than on the football field--they begin to wonder if they might have a future together as well.

With the flair that has made her Last Chance books a favorite among readers of contemporary fiction, Cathleen Armstrong draws on the passion Americans have for the traditions of small-town high school football.

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I'll be honest. I'd completely forgotten about this series of books. This sometimes happens as the mom of two boys who keep chaotic schedules. When I first started reading, I kept thinking that something seemed really familiar about the book and sure enough, I have read at least one of the other books in this series. In some ways, this made the book feel like coming home. I already knew most of the characters. I can't say that I always understood Jess' stubbornness, but I certainly know people like that so I did enjoy that she was another totally real character. I enjoyed her story with Andy and catching up with everyone else, but again I'm going to be honest. I didn't enjoy the ending. It seemed abrupt and that there were a lot of loose ends. Now, if there's going to be another book in this series, I'm okay with that. However, I did read that this is the last book in the series and it just doesn't feel concluded and that always leaves me feeling unsettled.

Still, if you enjoy every day life in a small town with some serious sports fanatics and love thrown into the mix...I can for sure recommend Last Chance Hero.
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I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own.

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Monday, February 2, 2015

Book Review: At Home in Last Chance

12:00 PM 0 Comments
Kaitlyn Reed and Steven Braden have always had a similar philosophy of life: when the going gets tough, they get going--out of town and away from the problem. Now they are both back in Last Chance, New Mexico, and trying to start over. Kaitlyn is working to reestablish a relationship with the seven-year-old daughter she left behind six months earlier. Steven is trying to prove to his family that he is not the irresponsible charmer they have always known him to be. As Kaitlyn and Steven find themselves drawn to one another, one big question keeps getting in the way: How will they learn to trust each other when they don't even trust themselves?

With emotional depth and characters who leap off the page and into the reader's psyche, Cathleen Armstrong continues to delight her readers and win new fans. Readers will be thrilled to return once more to the small town they've grown to love.

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Whew...for fiction, this book had a lot of emotional depth. From little Olivia to her mom and everyone that surrounded them, this book will have you feeling all the feels, as the kids these days say..or did the other day, anyway. I did have one teensy problem with this book, though. It was book 3 in a series that I hadn't read and while for the most part, it is a stand alone book, there was more than once that I felt as if I was missing some nuance or bit of information that I would have known from reading the other books. Other than that, it was all good and it made me wonder if tiny places like Last Chance still exist somewhere out there in the west.

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I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review.  All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Book Review: One More Last Chance

12:23 PM 0 Comments
Sarah Cooley has come home to Last Chance, New Mexico, for one reason--because it doesn't change. After an engagement gone bad with a man who wanted to change everything about her, Sarah is more than ready for the town whose motto may as well be, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Chris Reed, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to spark some change in the little town. As the new owner of the Dip 'n' Dine, he's shaking things up to draw folks from all over the Southwest into his restaurant.

As it turns out, the winds of change are blowing into Last Chance--just not in the ways that Sarah or Chris might expect.

With the same evocative writing and fascinating characters that won fans for her debut novel, Cathleen Armstrong invites readers back to Last Chance for a soul-searching, romantic story of two people navigating the twists and turns of small-town life.

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While I really enjoyed this book, I found that I far more enjoyed Chris' story than I did Sarah's story. I found Sarah's attitude about things never changing, even things that logically change all the time, to be a bit unrealistic and unsettling. That being said, the book is a good one that won't disappoint. Life does have a tendency to change in ways that we least suspect and this is exactly what happened for both Chris and Sarah.

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I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are my own.
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