Tag Archives: Sheila Roberts

Sand Dollar Lane (Moonlight Harbor 6) by Sheila Roberts-a review

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Sand Dollar Lane (Moonlight Harbor 6) by Sheila Roberts-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 26, 2022

Brody Green is finding it hard to recover after being dumped by his fiancée, Jenna Jones, then watching her walk down the aisle with someone else. Jenna is determined to make up for her love defection and find him the perfect woman, but Brody is done with love. First a divorce, then a broken engagement. From now on he’s keeping things light, no commitments. Luckily Brody’s business is booming. Beach Dreams Realty is the best real estate company in town. And the only one. Until…

Lucy Holmes needs a new start. In business, in love, in…everything. If ever there was a cliché, it was her life back in Seattle. She was a real estate broker working with her husband until she caught him trying out the walk-in shower in a luxury condo—with another agent. She’s always been the more successful of the two, and with him gone, she’s determined to build a business even bigger than what she had. Moonlight Harbor is a charming town and it has only one real estate agency. Surely there’s room for a little competition.

Or not. Looks like it’s going to be a hot market in Moonlight Harbor. And maybe these two competitors will make some heat of their own.

••••••

REVIEW:SAND DOLLAR LANE is the sixth instalment in Sheila Roberts’ contemporary, adult MOONLIGHT HARBOR romance series. This is real estate agents Brody Green, and Lucy Holmes’ story line. SAND DOLLAR LANE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous storylines is revealed where necessary.

Told from third person perspective SAND DOLLAR LANE follows in the wake of forty- four year old Lucy Holmes discovering her husband is having an affair with his much younger assistant. Hoping for a fresh start, Lucy, along with her teenaged daughter Hannah, moves to the small town of Moonlight Harbor where Lucy will find she is not the only real estate agent in town. Enter single father Brody Green, and Moonlight Harbor’s only realtor. Lucy believes a little bit of competition is good for the soul but Lucy and Brody will butt heads, masking an barely veiled attraction between our leading couple. What ensues is the slow building but tempestuous relationship between Brody and Lucy, and the potential fall-out as Lucy’s ex comes back hoping for a second chance.

Meanwhile, Lucy’s daughter Hannah has fallen for Brody’s son Declan, and their parents’ petulant relationship begins to take its toll, threatening the growing happiness between H & D.

The slow building relationship between Lucy and Brody begins acrimoniously as Brody is all but threatened by Lucy’s success in a town that does not require another real estate agency. Pushing one another’s proverbial buttons, Lucy and Brody continue to dance around the ‘elephant in the room’, a dance that reveals Brody doesn’t do relationships, preferring to keep Lucy on the sidelines as a competitor and friend. There are no $ex scenes-any physical contact is limited to a singular, chaste kiss.

The secondary and supporting characters include Lucy’s daughter Hannah and Lucy’s ex-husband Evan, and her sister and brother in law Darla and Orren ; Brody’s son Declan; Brody’s ex Jenna and her husband Seth, handyman Carl, and a large assortment of townsfolk and friends.

SAND DOLLAR LANE is a well-written but slow moving story line exacerbated by the hero’s inability to commit or move forward; a relationship in which there is no discernible or palpable sexual attraction between our leading couple as Brody refuses to accept Lucy as a permanent fixture in his life. Continuously reminding our heroine that he has loved and loss, Brody refuses to go down that road, again. The premise is interesting; the romance, in my opinion, is lacking. Lucy is a true and determined heroine; Brody’s attitude and actions left me with mixed feelings about the overall story line.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by Sheila Roberts- a review

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A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by Sheila Roberts-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 28, 2021

Single mom Lexie Bell hopes to make this first Christmas in their new home special for her six-year-old son, Brock. Festive lights and homemade fudge, check. Friendly neighbors? Uh, no. The reclusive widower next door is more grinchy than nice. But maybe he just needs a reminder of what matters most. At least sharing some holiday cheer with him will distract her from her own lack of romance…

Stanley Mann lost his Christmas spirit when he lost his wife and he sees no point in looking for it. Until she shows up in his dreams and informs him it’s time to ditch his scroogey attitude. Stanley digs in his heels, but she’s determined to haunt him until he wakes up and rediscovers the joys of the season. He can start by being a little more neighborly to the single mom next door. In spite of his protests, he’s soon making snowmen and decorating Christmas trees. How will it all end?

Merrily, of course. A certain Christmas ghost is going to make sure of that!

••••••••

REVIEW: A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by Sheila Roberts is a contemporary, adult, stand alone, slightly paranormal, story of women’s fiction focusing on kindergarten teacher/single mother Lexie Bell, and her elderly neighbour / widower Stanley Mann.

Told from third person perspective A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT follows two intersecting pathways in the days and weeks before the Christmas holidays. Single mom Lexie Bell is new to town and doesn’t know many of her neighbors. A slip and fall at the local hardware store finds Lexie unable to navigate the wintery streets on her own, and finds herself dependant upon her reclusive and elderly but reluctant neighbor Stan, a gentleman who has struggled in the three years since the death of his wife. Lexie’s six year old Brock, whose only grandfather passed away one year before, is pulled towards the neighbor, bestowing Stan with the moniker of Grandpa Stan. When a single father moves in across the road, Lexis and Brock’s attention is pulled from Stan, and placed on the man with whom Lexie will fall in love.

Meanwhile, Stanley continues to grieve the loss of his wife but late night visits by the spirit of his beloved, push Stan out of his comfort zone, and in the proverbial arms of a potential new family. But Stan commits a Christmas faux pas, and Lexie must do battle with her son in the aftermath, pushing Stanley out of their lives until a potential tragedy strikes at the small Bell family.

A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT is a slow building, sweet and impassioned Christmas story line somewhere in the tone between A Christmas Carol and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Stanley Mann and his wife never had children, and in this, Stan struggles with the social graces towards family and kids. When the spirit of his dead wife continues to make nightly visits in an effort to push Stan our of his ‘funk’, Stan’s only desire is to reunite with his wife, keeping to himself, shutting out the world around. The premise is heart warming; the characters are animated; the romance is virtually non-existent and only implied.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts-a review

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ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS by Sheila Roberts- a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 29, 2020

Catherine Pine is hoping her Christmas is a bit more jolly than last year’s. That one was her first without her husband, and with her kids and their families absent this year, she’s worried. But things change when her good friend invites her on a Christmas cruise to lift her spirits. Suddenly every day is an adventure and she’s making a bunch of new friends, including the lovable Sophie Miles.

It’s like a gift from Santa when Sophie and Catherine meet the charming Dr. Rudy Nichols, a perfect match for hypochondriac Sophie. But he comes with a two-legged lump of coal, his guard-dog daughter. And then there’s chocolatier Trevor March, who’s also interested in the scrumptious Sophie. Can he convince her that chocolate is the perfect cure for what ails her? Who knows what Santa has in store for these holiday travelers? Anything could happen this charmed Christmas!

•••••••••

REVIEW: ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS by Sheila Roberts is a contemporary, adult story line focusing on several passengers who have embarked on a pre-Christmas holiday boat cruise through Europe ( or more specifically Germany).

Told from third person perspective ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS follows sisters Sophie and Sierra, Dr. Rudy Nichols and his daughter Athena, brothers Trevor and Kurt March, and friends Catherine and Denise.

Breaking down the passenger agenda and backstory: Sophie Miles is a hypochondriac who reluctantly agreed to the European cruise when her sister Sierra’s husband bailed on his Christmas cruise tickets. Hoping to meet her future husband, Sophie will latch onto Dr. Rudy Nichols, a man several decades older but a man who has eyes for someone else. Meanwhile, Sophie’s sister Sierra struggles with the possible demise of her marriage, and begins to pull away from the other passengers, choosing to remain behind while the others play tourist.

Widower Dr. Rudy Nichols found himself attracted to widow Catherine Pine but Catherine is hiding a secret that will affect all relationships going forward. Catherine’s adult children wanted nothing to do with their mother in the face of her continued grief after the death of their father so Catherine’s friend Denise invited Catherine along for the cruise. Meanwhile, Rudy’s daughter Athena is a little over protective of her father believing him to be naive. Playing guard dog to her father, forty-something Athena makes more enemies than friends, and struggles to leave her father alone.

Chocolatier Trevor March agreed to the cruise when his brother’s girlfriend was unable to attend. Kurt March is chaperoning a history class of students on the holiday cruise but nineteen year old Harriett, one of the students, takes a liking to Kurt’s brother Trevor, and won’t leave him alone. Trying to distance himself from his brother’s class, Trevor finds himself attracted to Sophie Miles, a woman whose penchant for over reacting and believing she is going to die of any number of diseases pushes Sophie to follow Dr. Rudy like a love-sick puppy, in the hopes of marrying a doctor to cure whatever ails her.

In short: Harriett wants Trevor: Trevor wants Sophie: Sophie wants Dr. Rudy: Dr. Rudy wants Catherine: Catherine wants to survive another year: Athena doesn’t want anyone seducing her father: Sierra wants to save her marriage: and Denise is having the time of her life. Got it? Good. It’s like high school all over again !

ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS follows several intersecting pathways where love will blossom for some but not for others but saying that ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS has all of the ingredients of a YA (young adult ) novel, and in this I was disappointed with the attitudes and theatrics of most of the storyline’s unlikable characters. There are the jealous rivalries, mean girl comments, pouting and whining, secrets, lies, rejection and love. Poor Dr. Rudy was oblivious to his daughter’s attempts to keep Catherine and Sophie away from her father; and Sophie’s obsessive behavior regarding germs, illness and disease may have been funnier if not for the reality of COVID19 and the numerous deaths reported at sea. ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS is a well-written story line but missed the mark with annoying and unpleasant characters that detracted from a potentially sweet plot.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

reviewed by Sandy

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