Cynthia EllingsenRezensionen

I did not like this book. Partially for the writing, and partially for the genré. As for the genré, it's a drama / romance-style novel. The main adult characters were irrational and emotionally immature. The writing was mixture of decent writing and discontinuity. The chapters went back and forth between the past and future and in each, the female lead character writing as "I". I've seen the format before, used in other stories I've read recently, and it is more annoying than interesting. The author did choose an interesting historic setting for the story. I do not recommend reading this story.
— Rebecca

Evie has kept a secret for 70 years. A secret she has held close in her heart. A secret about Evie's past that she has never shared with her daughter or granddaughter. A secret that transformed her life and made her into the woman she is today. A secret that had its origins on a day different from any other. It began in Dublin on May 7, 1945, when Evie was 14. Evie has never returned to Ireland after she left for America. It is time.

I love novels written in dual timelines, connecting the present to the history of the past. In this beautifully written novel, time alternates between present-day and post-WWII Ireland. Individuals impacted by events of the period, relationships never forgotten, and oft as heart-wrenching as heartwarming, revealing the light of kindness, friendship, love, hope, and forgiveness, and the darkness of experiences wrapped in fear, cruelty, loss, survival, and secrets.

Thank you to Cynthia Ellingsen, NetGalley, and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read an eARC of this novel.

This was on my Kindle and I picked it out as my next Kindle read, then I couldn't put it down. Evie's adventures with Harding in Ireland play out in counterpoint to Rainie's trip to Ireland with her sick grandmother. Poignant tales of love and loss and the value of friendship and family. I thoroughly enjoyed the story.½

A race to save a lighthouse by finding an answer to a long old mystery.

Sisters Jayne and Charlotte haven't seen other in over 20 years. When their parents divorced, Charlotte stayed with their father and Jayne moved to Dublin with her mother who needed to take care of her father. The only summer that they spent together was when they were ten and spent the summer at their grandparent's beach house. After that summer, they became estranged and haven't talked each other in over 20 years. All they have is their memories of that happy time. Now they live totally different lives and both have kept their hurt about their estrangement affect their lives. Jayne is single and bankrupt and not sure if she'll be able to meet her bills. Charlotte is married to a successful man and has two sons. She works from home in a high pressure job. They are both surprised and unhappy with the conditions that their grandmother put on bequeathing her beach house. Their grandmother wanted them to renovate her beach house within the next six months and work together on the renovation. Once the house is done, they can either sell it or make it a family house. Even though they agreed to the stipulations of the will, there was a lot of animosity and distrust between them. Charlotte was mad at her mother for only taking one daughter with her when she left and she felt like Jayne had gotten all of their mothers love. Jayne was angry because Charlotte never wrote to her after their glorious summer when the felt like sisters. Can renovating the beach house make them become sisters again or is there too much distrust between them?

This is emotional book about sisters and secrets, love and forgiveness. It had two fantastic main characters, a bit of romance, issues with Charlotte's teen age sons and a lot of background on the work involved in renovating an old house. Can the bonds of sisterhood make Jayne and Charlotte forgive each other and move forward as friends or will the secrets that they find in the house separate them again? I have read other books by this author and she always creates characters that her readers care about and plots about the importance of family. This is an emotional and uplifting book about sisters, secrets and the family bonds that hold us together no matter how complicated they are

Thanks to Bookouture for a copy of this book to read and review.

Julie and her husband Tristan live in Chicago and both spend all of time working at their careers so that they can save for the future but they rarely take time to enjoy life. Julie finally gets home Wood Violet, a 140-acre Wisconsin resort lovingly built by her grandparents and now owned and managed by her parents. Julie and her husband planned to spend the long weekend together to ease the issues they have been having with each other after her miscarriages. When Julie gets to Wood Violet she feels like she is truly home but when she sees her parents, she is very concerned. Her mother had a stroke that her father told her was not serious but when Julie sees her mother, she's very upset. She has some paralysis and seems to have given up on life. Their house is a mess and her father is working constantly to try to get everything taken care of at the resort. At the end of the long weekend, she decides that it's more important to stay with her parents and help than it is to go back to her high pressure job in the city. Tristan leaves angry with her for putting her parents ahead of their marriage. Julie finds out that some of her old friends are staying at the resort and they immediately connect with each other. When they find a young girl living in an abandoned cabin at the resort, they are all concerned. After doing some investigation, Julie finds that Margaret is looking for her birth mother and some of her information pointed to the resort. Julie tries to help her while she is working at the resort trying to help with the financial situation as well as her mother's heath. When she finds some hidden letters, things start to make sense but she knows that bringing it to light will totally change her family dynamics. At the end of the summer, she has to decide whether to go back to Chicago and try to repair her marriage or whether she should stay at Wood Violet where she feels that she can make a difference and do what is important for her life.
This is a well written family story about finding your true home and happiness in what you accomplish in life. The characters feel like old friends. There's love for family, friends and husbands along with a bit of mystery and a beautiful setting. This my first book by this author and I definitely plan to read some of her earlier books.

Okay, so in the beginning, I have to confess, this book was just okay for me. And, I only read it for Scavenger Hunt items. But, in the end, I got so caught up in the mystery and the hunt for the treasure that by the end I was hooked and stayed up late just to finish that last bit. It’s a good read that makes you do that. The romance was sweet. But, in the end, it was secondary to the STORY.

I still wonder what Dawn is meant to do for a living in that itty bitty town, but whatever...

Dawn is from a family of treasure hunters. She resented her abnormal, unsettled childhood, but she was always loved.
She also grew up enamored by her great-grandparents' love story. The letters her great-grandfather Fitzie wrote while at sea inspired Dawn to believe in true love.

But mystery and controversy have always surrounded Fitzie. He disappeared after his last treasure hunt at sea and some people thought he stole the money.
When the whole story is brought into the limelight yet again, Dawn's parents will lose their home if they can't prove that Fitzie didn't steal the money.

As Dawn's life borders on falling apart, she impulsively buys a dilapidated lighthouse and heads home to help her parents uncover the truth about Fitzie. Quickly learning that her patents are no help, she connects with Kip who offers to help.

Original storyline, great characters, exciting mystery, loved the lighthouse setting, and enjoyed the characters too.
What a great, fun read.

Dawn Connors is the daughter of treasure hunters, and didn't find growing up on ships in, from a child's perspective, random places all over the world, fun or happy or secure. Now as an adult, she's living in Boston, working in the financial industry, and in a relationship she hopes will lead to marriage. It's secure, and stable, and she's determined to hold on to this.

Then what's expected to be a light, entertaining show about the history of Starlight Cove, Michigan, where her parents now live, turns out to be a vicious exposé on a famous shipwreck that Dawn's great-grandfather, Captain Fitzy Connors, commanded. There have long been stories that he survived the wreck and stole the silver coins being transported. The tv show pushed the idea that the current Connors wealth comes not from a wreck her father found, but from the vanished silver coins. In short order, she's lost her job and her boyfriend, and heads home with a plan of investigating the Wanderer wreck and proving Captain Fitzy's, and her father's, innocence.

It's the first time in years that Dawn has been back to Starlight Cove, on Lake Michigan, but it's the only place she ever thought of as home as a child. Yet the tv scandal show has stirred up trouble even here, and even as she buys and rehabs a lighthouse to cover the real reason she's here, she encounters friends, enemies, and people whom she can't figure out which category they belong in.

It's mystery and romance in a small town, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I do have a really tiny, insignificant complaint, which will matter, most likely, to exactly no one.

At one point, getting around Starlight Cove on a bike, Dawn thinks about the fact that in Boston, people would routinely take a cab to go just five blocks.

In Boston? Seriously? Yes, we have cabs in Boston. Yes, they have customers. But in Boston, allowing for the fact that "five blocks" is in Boston a remarkably squishy, useless term, nobody takes cabs for short distances, in ordinary circumstances. In Boston, it's easier to walk, or take the T. Because Boston is a lousy city to drive in, not worth doing if you don't need to have your own car with you. Although even then, parking is expensive and hard to find, too.

No, someone who, like Dawn, had lived ten years in Boston, would regard the T as a normal way of getting around, and a cab as a relatively expensive option for special cases. This would be especially true in the compact, crowded financial district, where Dawn presumably works.

But that's a personal pet peeve, and nearly everyone has them when someone writes about their hometown who doesn't really know it. Heck, my subconscious kept trying to transplant Starlight Cove to the New England coast, and I kept having to slap it down!

Dawn, her parents, Kip Whittaker, the Henderson brothers, and others in Starlight Cove were interesting and likable characters, and there's an interesting mystery at the heart of the story.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Thank you for the ARC. A good story about the friendship between three women. Well written, It held my interest throughout.

Reviewed by: Crystal B
Book provided by: publisher
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

The first thing about Marriage Matters by Cynthia Ellingsen that caught my eye was the cover. It’s a very striking cover. After I read more I just could not wait to read this book. I love books about weddings. There is just something about a wedding that makes you feel happy. I really liked the characters in this book and felt instantly bonded to them.

Chloe is a busy girl with a LOT going on in her life. She has a hectic schedule with school and working part time. She doesn’t really have a lot of time for love. She unexpectedly meets a very nice man with a young daughter. Chloe find herself trying to make time for her new love and his daughter. She becomes engaged much to the dismay of her best friend Ben. I loved Chloe she is one determined young woman that knows what she wants out of her professional life and she is going after it. She just isn’t quite sure what she wants in her love life. She has some though choices to make for what is right for her. I enjoyed Chloe’s story of discovering a love that has always been there, she just didn’t see it.

Kristine is a married women that isn’t exactly happy with her marriage. Things just aren’t going well for her. She is busy running her business and missing her husband whom is gone a LOT. I liked how this part of the story shows how marriage still needs work after even after being together many years. I really enjoyed Kristine and Kevin’s story, Watching them over come the problems they have in their marriage and build on their love. These two have loved each other for years and still love each other even more then when they were married. What a wonderful love story.

Then there is June. Oh how I loved June! She is one spunky Grandma that ever so gently (well sometimes not so gently) leads her family in the right direction. I found June to be so much fun! She finds the second love her life in a very unlikely man that she has had an on going battle of mischief with. I adored June and Charley’s story. These two are so adorable! I could not help myself from giggling during parts of their story.

I really, really enjoyed this book. There is humor, drama, and love. I would really enjoy reading more more by Cynthia Ellingsen. I enjoyed her style of writing and the flow she has of telling us a great story.

As I read MARRIAGE MATTERS by Cynthia Ellingsen I kept picturing it on the big screen as a romantic comedy. I had great fun mentally casting all of the main characters and enjoying the possibility of seeing the story play out in theaters. From what I understand, a lot of people read books that way, but I’m not usually one of them. Rarely do I think a book I enjoy can be done justice in a movie, but I’m going to make an exception for this one. I’m not going to share my mental cast list because that would only serve to spotlight my pitiful range of knowledge when it comes to current actors.

The main characters in MARRIAGE MATTERS are three interesting women with different approaches to their family and romantic relationships. June is the matriarch of the family and a meddling one at that. Fortunately for readers, her tendency to interfere in the lives of others offers many moments of humor in the book. Kristine, June’s daughter, has been married to Kevin for twenty-five years, and she is reevaluating their changed relationship even as the date of their vow renewal ceremony approaches. Chloe is Kristine and Kevin’s daughter, and her overscheduled life barely allows time for her to have a relationship with her cat, much less a man. Thank goodness her hottie best friend happens to live right next door, and her career ambitions usher her into the world of a handsome mentor.

As these three generations of women make their plans to walk down the aisle together, I found their romances to be pretty predictable. Fortunately, the book’s humor and insight into marriage ensured that I didn’t mind the book’s predictability in the least. I thoroughly enjoyed this look at romance and relationships at varying ages and stages, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a light and easy read with surprising depth.

The publication date for MARRIAGE MATTERS is April 2, 2013.

Three longtime best friends ... three lives in shambles ... an opportunity to rebuild their lives together ...

Jackie, Cheryl and Doris have been longtime best friends through thick and thin. When each of their lives takes a downward turn, they come together at the age of forty to pick themselves up off the floor and rebuild their lives together.

Jackie had married into money, and when her husband Robert died, she took off for Paris to become an artist. After living the glamorous Parisian high society life for two years, the money from her husband's estate has run out and she is left penniless. What does she do ... why she goes back home to her BFFs in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Cheryl is a career oriented marketing executive who is on top of her game, until a racquetball incident and damaging information on her Blackberry gets her wrongfully terminated from the marketing firm. She also likes to sleep around until one of her dalliances leads to an unexpected pregnancy.

Doris and Doug were high school sweethearts who got married at 17 years of age when Doris became pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage. Their marriage survived and Doris has been a stay-at-home mom for their only child, Mandy, a fifteen year old ungrateful spoiled brat. Two years ago Doris' mother passed away and she became a completely different person: gloomy, depressed, judgmental, prone to panic attacks and chocolate binges. When their twenty-third wedding anniversary arrives, Doug has a mid-life crisis and tells Doris that he needs to "find himself."

Now back together, the three BFFs go out on the town to a strip club and come up with a brilliant business idea: open a Hooteresque like restaurant called The Whole Package that caters to women staffed with half-naked male servers.

Can their business plan yield a success and help them rebuild their lives, or will it tear their lifelong friendships apart?

The Whole Package is a delightfully entertaining story about the importance and beauty of the power of friendship. Written in the third person narrative with alternating perspectives of Jackie, Cheryl and Doris, the author weaves a magical tale about the special bond that is formed in lifelong friendships. Through thick and thin, good times and bad, ups and downs, these three ladies share a special bond that has kept them together for over thirty years. The author does a wonderful job describing the women's individual life stories, their shared memories, and their lifelong friendship bond. Rich in detail, the women's plans to start-up their restaurant was intriguing and had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. The journey that the three women take to rediscover themselves and rebuild their lives is a testament that even when the chips are down, someone will still be in your corner giving you support. Their story is heartwarming, tender and poignant, it will make you think about your own friendships, while providing a nice dose of humor to make you smile as you turn the pages.

The author has created a cast of characters who are realistic, complex, strong, loving women. I loved the dynamic of their friendship. The description of their different personalities and lifestyles along with the complexities of their friendship was intriguing, I loved seeing how their three lives meshed together over the span of three decades. The dialogue had a nice mixture of poignancy and humor, it made the story an enjoyable and compelling read. You can't help but become engrossed in the women's lives and cheer for them to succeed as they go on a journey to rebuild their lives.

The Whole Package is a wonderful story that captures the beauty and essence of the bond of friendship. This heartwarming and poignant story will resonate with you long after the last words have been read.

Disclaimer: I purchased the book and will give my honest review. I am participating in a virtual book tour event hosted by CBLS Promotions.

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