Rating: 
Summary: Positively wonderful!!!!!
Review: "Shore Lights" was another great book by Barbara Bretton. The story of Maddy and Hanna Bainbridge and her friend Aidan O'Malley and his daughter, Kelly. I really got into this book and could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Positively wonderful!!!!!
Review: "Shore Lights" was another great book by Barbara Bretton. The story of Maddy and Hanna Bainbridge and her friend Aidan O'Malley and his daughter, Kelly. I really got into this book and could not put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant enough
Review: Another wonderfully written book by Barbara Bretton. The storyline is about a mother (Rose)-daughter(Maddy) relationship that is fraught with misunderstandings and distance. Despite having lived apart for many years now, Maddy moves back to her hometown and takes a job working alongside her mother. The story follows the two women through this transition and we see Rose and Maddy get to know each other once again, partly because of Hannah, Maddy's young daughter. Instead of a romance taking senter stage, the relationship between the mothers and daughters is at the forefront and th romance is slim to none, really. The book was well-written although a bit far-fetched in terms of realism. Maddy and her family are linked with another local family, the O'Malley's, through a teapot and a dying matriarch. There was a bit of supernatural involved with tat part of the story and that detracted from it somewhat, but overall it was a good read and well worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Not her best
Review: I have enjoyed reading Mrs. Bretton in the past. Her work can bring tears and smiles. BUT I have to say that SHORE LIGHTS was not her best work. I was expecting to read a story about Maddy and Aidan learning to find love again. Maddy and Her mother finding each other again (or maybe for the first time). Sadly I found the start of the book to be really slow and full of tons of information that in truth just took up space. Once the story starts to pick up and all the characters are dealing with all these new feels and learning to trust and love again the story takes a really weird twist. Maddy's daughter is some how connected to Aidans 101 yr.old grandmother and the connection is a Samvar.
I will read Bretton again, but this one will be on my 'miss' list. If the idea of a 101 yr. old women speaking through a four year old by magic powers of the tea pot then you might want to hold out on this one as well.
Rating:
Summary: Shore Lights----You won't be able to put it down!
Review: I have read several of this authors books and find this to be the best. Not only do the characters grab your attention, and their plights and dilemna's tug at your heart, but there is reality intertwined with drama. From the beginning you could tell the author was writing from experience. The facts, the descriptions, the feelings, you knew the author experienced some of the angst and/or feelings her characters were portraying. The characters were carefully crafted, the situations real and the emotions deep. This was not your typical romance, this book will grasp your interest, hold you mesmerized and you will find yourself relating to the characters on a any level. I found character traits and idiosyncrasies I could relate to in many of the characters in this book. I did not want the book to end and when it did, I cried. After reading the authors note in the back of the book, I cried some more. This book will tug at your heartstrings.This is not your run of the mill romance. Its much more, has more depth, more characterizations, more of real life. You will enjoy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Not my cup of tea (or teapot?)
Review: I have read some of Barbara Bretton's other books, and have enjoyed, but this book was a very different type of story, (not a romance), and it just didn't draw me in.
Everybody has their own background, their own slant as to what will touch their heart. I saw that many people loved this book, but I guess our own experiences shape our interest, and although I loved other Barbara Bretton books, I should have checked out the synopsis before buying.
This is not a romance book, but rather a book that was more about mother/daughter relationships. I always had an excellent relationship with my mother, and so this story did not "talk" to me. I felt myself feeling that Rose was very much at fault, and I kept wanting to tell her off! Since it's a little hard to "tell off" a character in a book, this book left me feeling rather frustrated. Add that I didn't like the whole supranatural theme, and I found myself with very little to enjoy! The only part of the book that I liked was the side story about his wonderful daughter, and I felt that that story really went nowhere.
If you are looking for a book about mother/daughter relationships, check the other reviews, and you will see that this book comes highly recommended. But if you are looking for a romance, you might want to look further.
Rating:
Summary: A good tale that ended too soon
Review: I read "Shore Lights" on the suggestion of a friend. The book sucked me in and held my attention right until the end ... and at that point I wondered what happened to the rest of the story. Throughout the book, Rose makes many references to all these ideas that she has to share with her daughter Maddy, and that just never comes to fruition. The book ends on a happy note, but I just felt it wasn't finished. The author alluded to much more. I was left wondering if there was a sequel (and hoping that there was because I liked the characters and the setting very much). I would recommend this book to other readers (it's great "beach reading"), but don't be surprised if you're not disappointed at the abrupt end.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful modern day romance
Review: Maddy Bainbridge and her four-year-old child Hannah leave Seattle to help her mom run the Candlelight Inn in Paradise, New Jersey. Although she has been away from home for fifteen years, Maddy needs work as an accountant and Hannah needs a change of scenery after her father left them and remarried.Over the Internet, Maddy gets into a bidding war over a dented teapot. She gets the last bid winning the teapot by defeating widow Aidan O'Malley. His teenage daughter wanted the teapot because it is identical to one in a picture her grandma possesses. Aidan sends an email to Maddy to try to purchase the teapot, but she informs him She plans to give it to her daughter as a magic lamp. As they exchange emails, neither knows the identity of the other, but begins to like what they read and perhaps even fall in love just a bit. However, both are afraid to take this out of hyperspace into reality, although neither knows that they have already met at her daughter's pre-school and were attracted to one another. SHORE LIGHTS is an entertaining Internet romance that provides readers with an interesting thought as to whether the in-person reality can match the email perception. The lead couple is a delight and the support cast adds depth to either of the protagonists though the poor communications between Maddy and her mom seem overly contrived. Still Barbara Bretton bestows a beautiful modern day romance on her audience. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great Women's Fiction
Review: Sometimes an author takes a risk and it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Ms. Bretton took a risk with SHORE LIGHTS and came up with her best book yet. Don't be fooled by the word ROMANCE on the spine. Yes, there's a sweetly emotional love story between Maddy and Aidan but this is really a story about family, especially about mothers and daughters. Ms. Bretton doesn't write about perfect people in a perfect world. Her characters are so real they almost jump out of the book and sit down at the kitchen table with you and tell you their story. This is a comlex story about real human emotions and I can't sum it all up in 1000 words. But I do know that if you're looking to laugh (lots of witty dialog) and to cry (bring your tissues) and to feel better when you finish than you did when you started, SHORE LIGHTS is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: My first Barbara Bretton
Review: This book is my first Barbara Bretton book. It is a touching story, Rose is Maddy's Mom, her and her daughter to see eye to eye on things but one thing they know is the love they have for Maddy's daughter Hannah, she is having a hard time since her Dad remarried and her Mom moved in with her grandma's. Maddy sees this Old Russian Samovar on the auction web site and she wants that for Hannah since it reminds her the genie lamp for the movie Aladdin, she wants to get that for her for Christmas. Aidan is betting for the same one he wants it for his older daughter so that she can give it to her grandmother that is very sick in the hospital. This old Russian Samovar bring two familles closer together. It was a great read! I am looking forward on reading her other books.
Happy Reading Lisa
|
