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Susan Mallery. 2011
Kindle.

Goodreads Summary.
After nearly a decade as a sous chef in a trendy eatery, Jenna is desperate for a change. She’s supported her ex-husband’s dreams for so long that she can’t even remember her own. Until she sees a for-lease sign near her parents’ home and envisions her very own cooking store. Her crash course in business is aided by a street-wise store manager and Jenna’s adoptive mother. But just as she’s gaining a foothold in her new life, in walk her birth parents – aging hippies on a quest to reconnect with their firstborn.

It took me quite awhile to get into this book and I was wondering whether I could like it. However I kept going and by mid-way I was really hooked into it and liked it. 

Jenna the main character was very likeable. S he had the challenge of really believing in herself as her ex husband had made her second guess herself, as he gave her negative and unfair feedback to the dishes she created.  Eventually she begins to see him for the shallow person he is and her life begins to take an upward slope.  She is adopted and has a wonderful relationship with her adopted parents, but when her birth parents make their appearance some cages are rattled.  

All the main supporting characters are interesting and in the end I could say, "Yes this was worth reading."

Personal Challenge 2013

The Fixer Upper

The Fixer Upper   Mary Kay Andrews
2009

Goodreads summary:

After a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. She reluctantly accepts to refurbish Birdsong, the old family place in Guthrie, Georgia.

But, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise. "Bird Droppings” would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol pink dump. There's also a murderously grumpy old lady who has claimed squatter's rights and isn't moving out. Ever.

Ella Kate is the old lady, and she is quite a character.  She reminds me of the Granny in The Beverley Hillbillies, a lot of grumpiness but a good heart under it all.

Dempsey has been really sucked in by her boss and blamed for something she had no idea she was involved in. In Guthrie she meets two lawyers father and son, who are kind and helpful. While in this town just about everyone knows what has happened before it happens, she finds support and begins to grow a backbone in adversity.  The FBI get involved and are interesting minor characters. They also assist Dempsey in trapping her now previous boss into being found out.

This was my first read by this author, I enjoyed it, I think I would file it more under women's fiction than romance.  There is a relationship but it is not to the forefront, although naturally it plays its part.  It reminded me of some of the books by authors like Emilie Richards or Wendy Wax or some of Susan Mallery's books.

2013 Personal Challenge: A new author

Bookish TBR 2013 Reading Challenge

I have decided to enter this challenge as it ties in with a personal challenge I was setting myself anyway and it means some interaction with other readers.  It sounds like a lot of fun and giveaways are open to international readers, what is not to like about that, when you live in New Zealand!

About the Challenge: From the Bookish Blog.

6 BLOGGERS, 12 MINI-CHALLENGES, 24 BOOKS TO WIN!!! 

We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us.. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up..

Join us on a quest to dust off your TBR Pile and read all the books you've been telling yourself you'll read next time you'll get a chance.. This is your chance! And we've got PRIZES!!! :D

Challenge Guidelines:

1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 - Dec 31, 2013.
2. Anyone can enter! You don't have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you've read! (On your blog, Amazon or Goodreads/Shelfari!)
3. Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2012 and earlier! NO  2013 ARCs and 2013 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge. (If you don't have a blog, post about it on Facebook or Tweet!)
6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2013, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
8. On the 20th of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will have it's unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e. the entire month)
9. If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;) 
10. December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway - a box of books. 
11. You don't have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in giveaways!

Levels:
(how many books you're planning to read for this challenge in 2013)

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

I am planning on 20.  A Friendly Hug.  

The Devaneys.                    Sherryl Woods.               

The Flamenco Academy.    Sarah Bird                        

Rapture in Death.                J. D. Robb                                      

The Witness                        Sandra Brown                  

The Tender Texan               Jodi Thomas                     

These Old Shades               Georgette Heyer             

Devotion                             Katherine Sutcliffe            

The Secret Sister                 Elizabeth Lowell              

Ride a Painted Pony            Kathleen Eagle                

Talk of the Town                 Lisa Wingate                   

Second Chance at the Sugar

Shack                                 Candis Terry                    

Any Given Christmas           Candis Terry                                      )     

The Fixer Upper                  Mary Kay Andrews        

The Governess Affair          Courtney Millan                

Mai Tai One On                  J. M. Landis                     

              

My 2013 Book Challenge

While I am joining the TBR 2013 book challenge and an audio book challenge, I am also setting my own one for myself, so that I have something else to challenge me. I  read middle grade and ya fiction as part of my work as a teacher, I usually read one of those a week. Very good reading I might add.

4 non fiction.

5 of a series.

8 that are already on my Kindle as of this day.

4 rereads of novels I have loved.

4 new to me authors.

2 from a sub genre of romance I rarely or have never read.

2 from a genre I rarely or never read. Choose them from a Goodread's top list of that genre

12 published in 2013 (Hopefully this will cover must buy and read immediately  authors I love!)

7 whose titles begin with my name letters. K.A.T.H.R.Y.N

4 recommended by other readers.


A book may only be named in one category!

Do you join reading challenges or set personal reading goals?

Image credit: Tablet and Books www. 123rf .com