Robin Wells (1)Critiques

I had no idea this was part of a series when I started to read this book, but as far as I know is the books not linked to each other than that they take place in the town of Wedding Tree. All I knew was that I wanted to read this book the first time I saw the cover and then read the description of the book. I have a deep love for books with parallel timelines and I found the description of the book fascinating with two women, old now, finally confronting the past...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION

I had no idea this was part of a series when I started to read this book, but as far as I know is the books not linked to each other than that they take place in the town of Wedding Tree. All I knew was that I wanted to read this book the first time I saw the cover and then read the description of the book. I have a deep love for books with parallel timelines and I found the description of the book fascinating with two women, old now, finally confronting the past...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION

This book isn't going to win any writing awards, but I enjoyed it. It's a fun, easy read with plenty of juicy drama to keep you interested.½

Hope Stevens is called to Wedding Tree, LA to help her grandmother clear out her home so that she can move closer to family in an assisted living facility. Grandma Addie proceeds to tell Hope the love story of her true love during WWII and the subsequent actions that resulted.

I read this book for my ladies Book Club. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It seemed very typical and didn't really have any great substance to the tale - just same old, same old.

Very sweet story. Liked the different points of view. Somewhat predictable but a nice read.

4.5 stars.

The Wedding Tree by Robin Wells is a captivating tale of love, loss, forgiveness and healing.

At loose ends following the collapse of her marriage and the loss of her business, Hope Stevens volunteers to help her grandmother Adelaide sort through her belongings before moving into assisted living. Needing to find answers about an incident from her past, Adelaide recounts a long ago romance with a dashing World War II pilot and the events that led to her marriage to her late husband, Charlie. In between her duties for her grandmother, Hope works on the mural she is painting for Adelaide's next door neighbor, Matt Lyons, a widowed father of two young daughters. Despite their inauspicious first meeting, she and Matt begin dating, but with Hope planning to return to Chicago once her grandmother moves, will their romance end in heartbreak?

Although Hope loved spending summers with her grandmother in Wedding Tree, LA, she and her late mother, Becky, lived permanently in Chicago. Following her mother's unexpected death three years earlier, Hope rushed into marriage only to have her heart broken when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. With her confidence shaken by her misjudgment of the man she loved, her self-esteem is also low due to her ex-husband's dismissive and derisive comments about her artwork. Spending time with her grandmother is a balm to her wounded spirit and with Adelaide's gentle encouragement, Hope is excited about her upcoming project painting a mural for Matt's daughters.

World War II afforded Adelaide the unheard of opportunity to take a job working in the dark room of a newspaper after her high school sweetheart, Charlie, goes off to war. Excited to finally get out from under her parents' watchful eye, Adelaide enjoyed volunteering for the local USO where she eventually meets and falls in love with pilot Joe Madison. Her whirlwind romance comes to an abrupt end when Joe ships out for the Pacific and when the unthinkable happens, she reluctantly marries Charlie and returns to Wedding Tree. Their marriage is tempestuous and veers wildly between seething resentment and periods of contentment. However, Adelaide is haunted by a long ago incident and with the uncertainty of what happened now weighing heavily on her mind, she is hoping that Hope will be able to help her find the answers she is searching for.

Matt is through the worst of his grief by the time he meets Hope but he is still taken off guard by his attraction to his lovely neighbor. Hope is the complete opposite of the women he usually dates and he is surprised by how easy she is to talk to. Their friendship gradually transitions to dating but with both of them aware she is only in town temporarily, they agree to keep things casual between them. Matt soon realizes he has become emotionally invested in their relationship but Hope continually deflects his efforts to discuss their future. Hope is afraid to risk her heart but will Matt convince her to change her mind?

Written from alternating points of view, The Wedding Tree by Robin Wells is a heartwarming and uplifting novel that is quite riveting. The characters are vibrantly developed and immensely appealing. With plenty of small town charm and an intriguing storyline, this powerful story of healing is sure to be a hit with readers who enjoy multi-generational family sagas.

Amelie Michaud is sixteen and living a happy life in Paris when World War II starts. At first little seems to happen, even with her brothers going off to join the army, but then little troubles become big troubles and finally major hardship. Amelie and her best friend, Yvette, wind up on their own in Paris, working menial jobs to survive, and spying for the Resistance.

Meanwhile, we have the frame story--Amelie O'Connor, seventy years later, likes to keep the door to her little apartment at her assisted living facility open, to receive visitors. One day she receives a very unexpected visitor--Kat Thompson, former fiancée of her late husband, Jack O'Connor. Kat has never gotten over resenting the fact that her fiancé came home with a French war bride. Now that she's dying of cancer, her hospice counselor says she needs to forgive for her own peace of mind, and her minister tells her she needs to forgive for the sake of her own soul. So now, she wants the story of what happened between Amelie and Jack. Right now.

Amelie agrees to tell her, but in her own way, which involves telling her experiences through the whole war, while Kat doesn't see why anything prior to Amelie meeting Jack can possibly be relevant to what she wants to know.

Kat, it turns out, has very definite ideas about what must have happened.

Amelie recounts the story of the increasing hardships and terrors of the war years, as she and Yvette slowly lose their entire families, and need more and more desperate measures to survive, while taking greater and greater risks to support the Resistance and help defeat the Germans. They each lose their first loves, struggle to get enough food while the German occupiers eat in a meal what an entire French family needs to make last a week.

It's near the end of the war when Amelie meets Jack, and the truth of what happened challenges Kat's assumptions, and challenges her view of herself.

Both the historical background, and the personality development, including the relatively tricky on of Kat, are well-handled.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Veramente un bel libro. Magari un po' lento nei primi capitoli, ma poi decolla.

I absolutely loved this book! There was a lot of historical events in the story some I had heard about before and some I had not. The story was very interesting I loved the characters and I was so happy that Amelie and Jack got a happy ending. Highly recommend.

I absolutely LOVED this story!! The characters were so great. Many profound insights from Adelaide about life. The present day love story was so sweet and the long ago tale Adelaide told was heartbreaking but very interesting. I did not want to stop reading. Highly recommend.

The French War Bride tells the story of Amelie O'Connor and Kat Thompson and how these two women fell in love with the same man Jack O'Connor. The women meet sixty years after World War II in a nursing home. Moreover, through a gripping and haunting story told by author Robin Wells Amelie's tale of living through the Nazi occupation of Paris unfolds and Kat finally, learns how Amelie became her ex-fiances wife during the war. The French War Bride is a true masterpiece of work and for anyone that enjoys love stories intertwined with the background of World War II will truly be a fan of this book. Author Wells brilliantly spins real events beautifully against the fictional backdrop of these characters.

At her retirement home in Wedding Tree, Louisiana, ninety-one-year-old Amelie O’Connor is approached by Kat Morgan, the ex-fiancée of her late husband, Jack.
Although her life has been happy, Kat, now in hospice, has questions that only Amelie can answer.

High school sweethearts, Jack and Kat were to marry when Jack returned from France after World War II.
Instead Jack returns with his French war bride, Amelie and a baby.

Amelie insists that understanding only can come by retelling her life story.
Interjections by Kat, reveal her character and complete the
love triangle.
The story is not a "quick read", there is so much to learn of
the mettle of this French woman caught in the perils of World War II.

Bittersweet and intricate, this is definitely a worthwhile historical fiction read.

"4.5 out of 5 stars!! SO SWEET!!! A man and woman's lives join when their baby is born but even more so for Jake and Annie, two people who conceived a child because of a sperm bank mix-up, who are complete opposites yet plan to do everything in their power to make a good life/family for their child. Even if that means accidentally falling in love!"

Read more of this review and two teasers here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2014/05/feasted-on-baby-oh-baby-by-rob...

I have to say the cover of this book is beautiful, isn't it! It fits in with the rest of the story! So, imagine a few years after losing your husband, after he has passed away, after spending all those years with the love of your life with him. You happen to still be living at the Assisted Living place because that is what your husband needed at the time, and you normally leave your door open so your friends know you are home and perhaps you can get together and do something together, and look who shows up at your door! The last person you ever would expect to show up there is your husband's jilted ex-fiance' who is now 91 years old. Her name is Kat, and she is still looking for answers as to, "why?" Amelie never expects to see this! Yes, Kat was the fiance’ of her late husband, Jack. Kat has to be around the same age as Amelie is, and has been handed a sentence of cancer, with less than six months to live. With her doctor having her get her affairs in order, there is only one thing that Kat wants to know, and that is why Jack proposed to her, making her his fiance’ prior to the World War II, then ended up marrying another woman instead of her? Knowing she cannot go to her grave without getting the answers from Amelie, she confronts her in her own home. (I thought that was quite brazen, but she did it.) Amelie surely feels put on the spot, and where I would have told her it’s none of her business, but in words much nicer than that, Amelie proceeds to try to get Kat to understand. I felt if Kat did not understand by then, after living through the War herself and seeing what it did to people, then she clearly doesn’t have a clue about love. Amelie tells Kat what the love of her life did to end up marrying her instead.
Yikes! I would have died! I mean they are 91 years old, can’t they just drop it by now? Nope! I guess drama never goes away no matter what your age is! However, this makes for hearing a wonderful love story between Amelie and Jack, but why would Kat want to put herself through finding out her fiance’ left her without marrying her, yet married another woman? Kat demands to find out the answers from Amelie, so Amelie gives her the answers she requests. I honestly don’t know that I could dig all that up all over again and have someone judging me at my 91 years of age??? What’s the point? Her husband has past and yes, it’s nice to remember those types of things, but not when you have another angry woman who is demanding answers from you!
This is not a book you are going to read through in a matter of hours, but days because this book covers a lot, it goes much deeper than your regular thriller or other types of books and is actually beautiful, despite Kat. Tune her out and enjoy! (This author has made a note in the beginning of this book about the huge amounts of research this book took in order to write it. I was pretty impressed by what she had to say.) I think most everyone would love this book, and I highly recommend reading it! You'll enjoy this very much.
I received this book for FREE from the Publisher, Berkley/Penguin Random House LLC and NetGalley, in exchange that I read then write a review about this book/what I read. "Free" means I was provided with ZERO MONIES to do so, but to just enjoy the sheer pleasure of reading this book and then writing an honest review about what I thought about this book, regardless if my opinion is positive or negative. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the law set here: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html
The Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, 16 CFR 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising Federal Acquisition Regulation.

"4.5 out of 5 stars!! SO SWEET!!! A man and woman's lives join when their baby is born but even more so for Jake and Annie, two people who conceived a child because of a sperm bank mix-up, who are complete opposites yet plan to do everything in their power to make a good life/family for their child. Even if that means accidentally falling in love!"

Read more of this review and two teasers here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2014/05/feasted-on-baby-oh-baby-by-rob...

I've never read anything by Ms. Wells before, but she can weave a beautiful love story that will keep you riveted to your seat.

Adelaide is a 93 yr old widow who's fallen from a ladder and suffered a nasty bump on her head. They were worried she may not make it. But she did, but it was decided that she wouldn't be able live by herself any longer. Her son and granddaughter will need to go through her things and help clear her home out so they can sell it. She has kept almost everything she has every had because they all have memories for her. Adelaide will be going California to live near her son.

Hope her only grandchild, whose mother Rebecca was killed in a car accident a few years back is going to stay and help her grandmother get all her affairs in order. She lives in Chicago and just went through a nasty divorce and lost everything so she really doesn't have much to go back to. She's always spent her summers with her grandmother and loves Wedding Tree, LA.

Adelaide needs to get some old secrets out before she will be able to die in peace. She needs to tell mainly, Hope. So when she comes home from the hospital she starts telling Hope these secrets that she's held for so long. It's really a summary of her life's story. It's absolutely beautiful, but it changes so many things. At first, Hope's not sure about the state of her grandmother's mind because the stories are way back in the late '30s and '40s. When Adelaide is telling her these stories they are so vivid you feel like you are right with her. She's involved in a love triangle that is heartbreaking. Things start to fall together and Hope has no doubt theses things really happened.

There is a very attractive young widower, Matt who moved next door to Adelaide who has two very young daughters. He has always kept out for Adelaide to make sure she was okay. His girls like to go next door and raid Ms. Addie's cookie Jar and play with her dog. When Hope meets him and sparks fly, but due to the pain of the hurtful divorce and her knowing this is only a temporary arrangement she keeps her feelings in check. But they keep bumping into each other. Matt feels the sparks as well and he's fighting them as well because he's not felt anything for another woman since his wife passed away.

This is just a wonderful novel, it's so well written that you find yourself stealing every moment to get back to reading. I'm mainly a mystery reader, but this has a bit of mystery to it as well. It's just a well-written novel. It has something for everyone.

I would like to thank Berkley Publishers and NetGalley for providing me an e-galley of this book in exchange for my honest review.

rabck from aramena; the baby part was crafted to fit the romance, so that was a negative. But the dynamics of the three couples was a positive. Bachelor Holt panics when he's left with his 6mo daughter, who he doesn't even know existed. He snowballs local radio personality Stevie into becoming his wife. As a back story, his parents never should have divorced and find each other again at his wedding. And her parents are not so happily married after all, due to her father being forced into retirement½

I wasn't 100% sure I really wanted to read this book, but I'm really glad I did. While my heart broke for Emma every time she was rejected or picked on, I also loved the humor in the story. Emma's grandmother is a hoot, although the mixed metaphors did get a little old after a while. Overall though, fantasic read.

This book makes for a great beach read! Too bad I don't live near one. Fear not, I also believe this book makes a great weekend read, or a great car-ride read,... etc.

There is no mystery here. From the beginning, the basis of the story is well laid out (pun intended). Emma Jamison (the heroine) is falsely blamed for an international incident, and it behooves no one in charge to exonerate her. Thus, she is living a life that only the instantly infamous celebrity would understand (think Monica Lewinsky or Camilla Parker Bowles). Even after months of time passing, a move to be close to her only living relative, and a new occupation, Emma knows no peace.

Ms. Wells does an excellent job conveying the futility of her situation, and the effect it has on all those she comes in contact with. Add to this storyline, a grandmother who lives life fearlessly with her octogenarian "boyfriend", and Emma's developing interest in the "boyfriend's" grandson; a man who ironically can ill afford to receive any adverse publicity.

Enough information. You just need to read it.

P.S.This is the first book I have read, written by this author, and it won't be the last.

light hearted and fun, though about a not so light hearted subject (attachment disorder). doesn't get into the disorder much, so it says light chick lit. it isn't one of those "wacky hijinks" stories either, which is good. the cover sucks, and the back description doesn't match the book at all. just based on those I never would have picked this up if it hadn't been mixed in with my bag of random romances and I hadn't been desperate for a book.
the main male is a rich business consultant who discovers he's a father when his one night stand (a year ago) dies and names him father. the baby turns out to have attachment disorder and he can't handle her. the main female is a parenting expert who has the ability to calm the troubled baby.
from the back you'd think it was one of those weird books where the infant has some diabolical plot and manipulates the poor hapless adults. thankfully, it isn't.

I absolutely loved this story. Katie's inability to let go of her husband was so sad to me. I've lost family members before, but I think loosing someone who you've decided to spend your life with must be devastating. However, I think that at some point you do have to move on with your life. Zack and Gracie were just what Katie needed to move on. I got the sense that she was really ready to move on, but her heart was standing in the way. Which is all understandable.

I didn't really "relate" to any of the characters, as I've never been in any of their situations. But they were still great characters. Zack was so head strong and thought he would be able to come in "fix" what was wrong and go back to his normal life. But Gracie and Katie, unintentionally, set his life on a different path. And Gracie, wow, what a work of art she was. But again, with every thing going on in her life, how could she not be a mess emotionally.

As with most all romance stories I knew how it would end, but with this one having pegged the entire end of the story was not at all a disappointment. It was such a great ending. There weren't many loose ends with this one, but I would love to read a book that focuses on Gracie and the struggles that come with being a young mother. I think that would be a great addition to the story.

I don't give out 5-star ratings that often, and I'm not 100% sure what it was about this one that compelled me to dole one out this time: I think it was a mixture of great writing, a touching story, believable characters, and situations that most anyone could picture themselves in. Plus this book just left me feeling so warm and happy.

A review copy of this book was provided by the author. This is not a paid review and is a truthful and honest review.

Katie Charmaine is still grieving over the death of her husband who was killed in Iraq two years earlier. Then she receives an unexpected surprise. Zack, the guy Katie fell for during the summer she was 17, has shown up in her small town, and he isn’t alone. He brought with him the daughter Katie gave up for adoption 16 years earlier. 16 year old Gracie is pregnant, and dealing with the death of her adoptive parents. Zack hopes to share joint custody with Katie, and give Gracie the guidance she needs. Factor in the feelings he still has for Katie, and things are bound to get messy.

Katie’s attempts to bond with the daughter she gave up were heartwarming. It wasn’t easy, and Gracie didn’t hesitate to make Katie work for it. As for Zack I have mixed feelings about him. I didn’t feel he was sympathetic enough about what Katie was going through. He seemed to expect her to just forget about her husband, and move on without a shred of guilt with a man who is a self-proclaimed commitment phob. He did get better as the book progressed, and the chemistry between him and Katie can’t be denied. He just never really won me over. I loved the rest of the characters though. Katie and Gracie were fabulous. I also enjoyed the supporting cast of quirky Chartreuse, Louisiana residents.

The book switches points of view many times. We not only “see" life in Chartreuse through Zack and Katie’s eyes, but also Gracie and Katie’s in-laws. That took a little getting used to, but I understand why the author went that route. It made it easier to understand how everyone was feeling about the possibility of Katie moving on. I’d still recommend this book even though I found Zack frustrating. The relationship between Katie and Gracie is reason enough to read.½

I loved the story line of this book. I won this book on a book blog giveaway and decided to push it to the top of the TBR list. I am not disappointed by this decision at all. In the beginning I can relate to Sammi, the klutziness, insecurities, and her passiveness when it came to her job and landlord and especially dating. The book begins with Sammi hiring a life coach which she believes is Divine intervention in her life, who knew it would be to her heart also. Sammi learns through her life coach she can be bold and bold she is. Sammi takes on her landlord to preserve her little 1930's rental by getting the historical preservation Society and then the Museum's board of directors involved. This infuriates her "equal" at the Museum. (please take "equal" lightly)

This book is hilariously funny and also very sentimental. Sammi learns why she is hurting guys she dates and tries to overcome that fear while dating Chase. She learns how to forgive and love in this little story. And Chase learns that you can't stick with an outline of what you want in a woman after meeting Sammi.

I LOVED this book. I laughed out loud while I was reading this. It is about a woman named Sammi who has a problems dating. She tends to hurt her boyfriends. One had broken ribs after I date. So when FBI agent Chase Jones fills in for his brother, Luke, that is in the witness protection program for witnessing a murder, Chase takes over his Life Coach business.
You get to meet Horace, who is a 44-year-old man who stills lives with is controlling mother who has to know exactly what Horace is doing at all times. Horace calls the life coach, who is supposed to be Luke but is actually Chase to see what he should do. These parts of the book were SO funny.. Horace plays the accordion and writes rap songs that he sings to Chase over the phone.
Then you get to meet Sammi. Chase is intrigued by her and tells her where to go for a run and he ends up going there himself to see what she looks like. But Sammi's dog, Joe, ends up tackling Chase and this situation in the book is very funny.
I loved Sammi and Chase's relationship in the book.
This is just an all around great book that I could talk about for hours!!

STILL THE ONE by Robin Wells is a story full of heartache, pain, and love. Like so many other wives before her, Katie suffers the shock of finding that her husband has been killed during his second tour of duty in Iraq. That right there should be enough to hook many readers and tug on a few heartstrings. Ms. Wells takes the story of the war widow and brings it to life within the pages of this book. Readers are left to ponder the question of what they would do if their spouse, their love, was gone, leaving behind only a few material possessions and no biological legacy.

That's certainly what ripped my heart open anyway.

It's not enough that Katie's husband is dead, he has to leave her with no children as well. What could make this situation any worse than it already is? Katie has actually already had a child and gave that baby girl up for adoption nearly seventeen years ago. Still raw with the pain of losing her husband and therefore the opportunity to have children and family of her own, Katie is in for a nasty surprise when an ex-lover shows up along with her sixteen-year-old daughter.

What made STILL THE ONE such a great ready was Ms. Wells ability to create a realistic and believable story while manipulating our emotions in every way imaginable. One would think, okay, so Gracie and Zack show up. So what? It's not like the sudden appearance of her daughter would be enough to suddenly put joy into Katie's heart. The daughter might be angry and could just walk out and leave, then where would Katie be? And Zack? What reason would he have to stay? He's the father to Gracie and only just recently discovered as much. He has every reason in the world to be mad at Katie for not telling him about their child.

Ms. Wells solves this dilemma by introducing a reason why the three need to stay together - Gracie is pregnant. Gracie needs her parents in this confusing time and both Katie and Zack have to find a way to forgive each other in order to help her. Who knows, perhaps forgiveness will remind the two of the connection their hearts once shared.

I found the mix of pain and love in STILL THE ONE to be the main factor in keeping the pages flipping as fast as my eyes would allow. Simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful, Ms. Wells writes a story that sticks in the mind and permeates dreams. Her characters are relatable and it's impossible not to feel a certain amount of involvement with them. This is one of those books where, once the last page has turned and the characters are left behind, you sit staring at the back cover trying to figure out what you feel such a sense of loss and loneliness.

I recommend STILL THE ONE to any fans of romance fiction. I couldn't ask for a more touching story, one that truly gives you hope in the world and the people in it. As a sidetone, if you've read Between the Sheets by Robin Wells, you will probably recognize some characters and references in STILL THE ONE.