Carol Cassada

This book was a smooth and easy read. The story had its sweet and tender moments. However, it seemed "familiar" - I have read the same type of story many times. I wanted to find something new, a new twist or disturbance that made it stand out as unique. The main character's thought process was a little repetitive. Actually, I thought there was too much of her thought processing, talking to herself in her head more than I wanted to read. There wasn't any terribly strong conflict with choosing between the two men... and the scene that drives her to the decision was predictable.
I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I liked it enough to finish the story but didn't find it compelling. If you are looking for a light easy beach read, this may be right for you.… (more)

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

I really enjoyed the first book in the Westmore series. I gave it 4 stars, and I couldn't wait for the next book in the series. And here it is.

The writing jumps around from being too formal to being too casual. And the story lines are moving too fast. There is something big going on in the story and then poof, the conflict is over. Like Jeff, Marie's husband has been a jerk for years and Catherine tells him he's a tool and he just says "yeah you are right" and starts acting sweet and apologetic.

The other problem is the reactions of people. When Alicia shows up at Marie's house when she should be at the trial, Marie simply things to herself that Alicia must have something important to say and then politely offers her tea or coffee as if it were a regular visit. Realistically Marie should have met Alicia with "What are you doing here?" and some measure of shock.

Those are just a few examples. I'm feeling let down after the first one. But I still think Carol Cassada has potential as an author. In fact, if she just took some more time editing this story it could be as good as the 1st one. Right now it has a feeling of something published too soon.

I was still invested in the characters and wanted to know what happened, I just with the issues around the main story lines would get cleaned up. There was a great flow, it's not a short story but it moves fast and easy. One of those beach reads - although I guess this isn't the season for that. lol

I'm sorry to have to give this 2 stars, but it just needs more work.… (more)

From: http://lilacwolfandstuff.blogspot.com/2011/08/review-westmore.html

The cover is quite waspish, which fits the story well. The fictional town is as white bread east-coast as you can get.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story. It's pure chick lit, lots of characters that you love and love to hate. They all cross each others lives here and there throughout the book.

I felt the pace was perfect, not too fast, not too slow. I felt like I was reading a Danielle Steel novel, only this was better. Charlotte is still grieving her husband who died 4 years earlier, she is just getting ready to think about dating. Her oldest son works in a bar until he finds something better, her middle son is in a rock band with the daughter, hoping to make it big. The youngest quit college to shack up with a 29 yr old (he's 19).

Charlotte is best friends with Marie who is married to Jeff. Jeff is brother to Andrew who is married to Elizabeth - and they are Wayne's parents. Wayne is best friends with Jacob who starts dating Alicia (Charlotte's daughter). Very soap opera-ish. But it flows so well that even I can keep the characters straight (I'm so bad with names as some of you know) and I can't wait to see what happens next.

This book is fairly lengthy, 391 pages...but I read it in 2 days. Now remember, that's with kids so the story does grab you. Only problems are the numerous grammatical errors and the ending. Although I saw on Amazon that it's Volume 1 so I think I can give some leeway to the ending now. The grammar needs work. Some of them I'm not sure if it's just a bad feed to the PDF version, so I'm not going to hit that too hard either.

Just a reminder to authors - please, let many people red pen your manuscript, especially if you plan to self-publish.

Ok - since it's volume 1 and I see paperback versions out there while I read a PDF I'm going to upgrade this to 4 stars since I really didn't want to put it down and it read so very fast. I do look forward to volume 2 and hope Carol Cassada lets me review that as well.… (more)