Jane Tara

Note : This review was originally posted @ Readers'Muse

Having read Jane’s previous books, I really know what to expect from her and she has once again lived up to my expectations. Jane’s book are those which you might want to read when you are down in the dumps. Especially if you are a woman, it makes you feel good about yourself.

Like her previous books, in this book again the protagonist is a strong willed female. Or should I say the “protagonists” are a bunch of ladies from different walks of life with their own shortcomings and positives. A book club in the nearby bookstore binds these ladies together. The story is essentially about each character’s life and the difficulties that they face and how they help out each other.

One thing that is commonly found in this genere (Chic Lit) is the presence of this Ultra Male (or some “drool worthy” male) who makes our dear heroine go weak in her knees and then hurts her badly only to come back cajoling. It’s all nice to read, but then isn’t it too monotonous? At times I find such stories repulsive. Thankfully Jane has saved me that trouble by not bringing in such a twist of sorts.

Her characterisation as always speaks volumes about a woman. Women are always judged for expecting a happy ending. Jane has beautifully brought out a fact that a happy ending is always possible though the definition of “happy” might not fit in with our expectations. It’s like expect the unexpected to make you happy.

This book is a total mood lifter filled in with so much of positive energy inspite of the struggle that the characters endure.

My weeny bit complaint would be – I knew what to expect from Jane – A Happy ending.

Overall, I loved the book!

VERDICT: Go for it! Be Happy won’t hurt to have a Happy Ending!

RATING: 4 on 5
… (plus d'informations)

Note : This review was originally posted @ Readers'Muse

Having read Jane’s previous books, I really know what to expect from her and she has once again lived up to my expectations. Jane’s book are those which you might want to read when you are down in the dumps. Especially if you are a woman, it makes you feel good about yourself.

Like her previous books, in this book again the protagonist is a strong willed female. Or should I say the “protagonists” are a bunch of ladies from different walks of life with their own shortcomings and positives. A book club in the nearby bookstore binds these ladies together. The story is essentially about each character’s life and the difficulties that they face and how they help out each other.

One thing that is commonly found in this genere (Chic Lit) is the presence of this Ultra Male (or some “drool worthy” male) who makes our dear heroine go weak in her knees and then hurts her badly only to come back cajoling. It’s all nice to read, but then isn’t it too monotonous? At times I find such stories repulsive. Thankfully Jane has saved me that trouble by not bringing in such a twist of sorts.

Her characterisation as always speaks volumes about a woman. Women are always judged for expecting a happy ending. Jane has beautifully brought out a fact that a happy ending is always possible though the definition of “happy” might not fit in with our expectations. It’s like expect the unexpected to make you happy.

This book is a total mood lifter filled in with so much of positive energy inspite of the struggle that the characters endure.

My weeny bit complaint would be – I knew what to expect from Jane – A Happy ending.

Overall, I loved the book!

VERDICT: Go for it! Be Happy won’t hurt to have a Happy Ending!

RATING: 4 on 5
… (plus d'informations)

Note: The Review of this book is up @ Readers' Muse

Having read Jane’s previous books I pretty much know what to expect. Her writing is something that I am extremely comfortable with. Her books will make you think effortlessly and make you feel good about yourself after you finish it.

Rhi, our strong willed protagonist has fled New York to make a living herself on her own. She settles down in a small town of Hamlet and rents the local theater to turn it into a full fledged theater only to find it haunted by an adorable ghost.

Like her previous books, our protagonist and other female characters are the strong at heart yet soft and vulnerable. In fact such characters are inspirational when you are down in dumps.
The writing as could be expected from Jane, was beautiful sans the overdo of the drama element that one can expect in a paranormal romance. Her characters as always speaks volumes. Though I felt with this book ,the female characters completely dominated the whole show. I really couldn’t connect much with the male characters. For instance, our adorable ghost who died mid way during his masterpiece act is the crux of the story whom I couldn’t really connect to. This can possibly because the female characters were rather strong and powerful so much so that they shadowed the male characters.

One seemingly positive attribute in Jane’s story lines is the closure that she gives to all her characters. They all get some closure of sorts. Right from the sidekicks who don’t actually influence the story line to the main characters, they “ ALL” get a closure of sorts. I am not a big fan of closures. Somethings are better off without a closure.
My weeny- tiny complaint would be that the story was majorly predictable with few minor truly surprising twists.

VERDICT: Light breezy feel good supernatural read! Go ahead give it a go!

RATING: 3 on 5
… (plus d'informations)

I received this book in an ARC e-book format from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. To be honest, after the first chapter, I wasn’t sure I was going to like the book. It started with the heroine walking in on her best friend & boyfriend in a compromising position… and had some language I wasn’t a fan of. However, it was a book I’d agreed to read and review, so I went ahead and kept reading. I was actually quite glad I did. Despite the foul language, which was sparser throughout most of the book than it was in the first chapter, it was a cute, quirky read which I enjoyed. The main character decides to renovate an abandoned theatre and finds that it’s haunted… by a very good-looking ghost whose son, the love interest, looks just like him… so much so, that Rhi (the main character) thinks for a while that she’s talking to the same man at times when in fact she’s speaking to a man and his ghost father at different times… which leads to some interesting conversations. Rhi is also a witch, even though she’s trying to downplay that in her new setting, but it leads to some interesting developments as well. The whole thing ends with a very interesting production of Hamlet, and of course, all the love interest stories end up just as they should at the book’s conclusion. All in all, a fun read.

Would I recommend this to my BFF? Probably not, but I would definitely recommend it to my theatre-mom friends who like to read.
Would I recommend this to my teen daughter? Well, actually, I think she’d like it, but I hesitate to recommend something to her with bad language sprinkled throughout, so I guess no.… (plus d'informations)