Tips for Tuesday: Books - Blessing in Disguise & The Lovely and the Lost

We may have been given one or more of the books listed below for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books: Blessing in Disguise by Danielle Steel &  The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Mom - Today I am recommending two books dealing with parents and children.

The first book I am recommending is Blessing in Disguise by Danielle Steel. This book is not your typical Danielle Steel novel.  There are no star-crossed lovers at the center of this book. Instead, there is Isabelle McAvoy, a woman who has loved and lost more than once, but for whatever reason love never seems to work out for her. Instead she has devoted her life to her three children each fathered by a different man and to her job. As the strong independent woman she has been forced to become, Isabelle is an admirable heroine and good role model for young girls teaching them that you cannot always rely on a man and it is best to be able to take care of yourself. Two of her ownt three girls take this a little bit too much to heart and are laser focused on their work to the detriment of any other areas of their life. Of course, this being a Danielle Steel novel, there is still plenty of romance for all. However, the most important love stories in this book are just kind of thrown in at the end and never really developed making the reader feel a little cheated. The story is still interesting though and at times sweet and touching, and the book is definitely worth reading.

The second book I am recommending today is The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The Lovely and the Lost is about a family of search and rescuers, Cady, Jude and Kira, who are participants in a mission to find and save a missing young girl. Kira was once  a missing girl herself and was found living alone in the woods and taken in and adopted by Cady. The search brings flashbacks to Kira which forces her to confront her past while at the same time her adoptive mother is forced to confront her own past. This is an intriguing novel full of interesting characters. The book moves along quickly and definitely keeps you interested. However, in the end I would have liked to know a little more about the characters, especially Kira, and what happened to them before and after the events of the book, and I was not ready to leave them at the end of the book.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.