The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman

The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525896002

Trade paperback, $16.99, 416 pages

If you've ever had a really tight-knit group of girlfriends when you were a teenager, Viola Shipman's The Clover Girls is made for you.

Four girls- Emily, Veronica, Elizabeth and Rachel- meet at summer camp in Michigan back in 1985. They bond together and nickname themselves 'The Clover Girls' after they find a four leaf clover. 

Emily is the mom of the group. After her brother died, her parents thought it would be good for her to away from all the sadness. She is smart, kind, and caring. 

Veronica is the confident, funny leader of the group, a real beauty. Rachel is the talented one, she sings and dances, and wants to be a movie star. Liz is the creative one, always designing clothes for the others and herself. Veronica and Rachel as the shining stars bond together, leaving Liz and Emily together.

As the story moves to 2021, a letter from Emily to each of them asking them to reunite for a week at Camp Birchwood, arrives. Emily and Liz have stayed in touch, but we find that something happened during their last summer together that tore the four friends apart.

Liz is a real estate agent who spends much of time caring for her elderly mother who has dementia and lives in a nursing home. She is devastated that her own children and grandchildren do not visit her mother or even seem to show any empathy towards Liz. Liz is expected to be the caretaker for the entire family.

Veronica went on to a successful modeling career. Now she is married to a successful architect, and mom  to a teenage son and daughter. They live in Los Angeles, and all that that lifestyle entails, yet Veronica is unfulfilled with her life, a void she fills with junk food that she hides from her family.

Rachel became a sitcom star in the 1990s, and now she is a public relations consultant to conservative politicians.  She is a very public face, appearing regularly on cable talk shows, defending ideals that confound her family and friends.

When the friends reunite, old wounds come up to the surface. They relive past slights and hurts. Why did Emily want them to come back together; can they forgive, forget, and move on? Can they become the friends they once were?

There are a lot of 1980s touchstones here. The movie The Breakfast Club plays a big part, and books like Flowers in the Attic, and songs like Journey's Open Arms will bring back memories for those of us who grew up in that era.

I related best to Liz, and I think most readers will find themselves doing the same. The characters of Veronica and Rachel seemed too similar to me, and I sometimes had a difficult time remembering which was which, as each woman takes turns narrating the story. They had lives that most of us don't lead.

I didn't go to summer camp, but if you did, you will get an extra layer of satisfaction from this story, remembering and comparing your own experiences.  

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Beach Reads Summer Blog Tour.

Meant To Be Yours by Susan Mallery

Meant To Be Yours  by Susan Mallery
Published by Harlequin ISBN 978-1335041494
Mass market paperback, $8.99, 464 pages

Author Susan Mallery takes readers to the town of Happily Inc, a destination wedding town in Southern California created in the 1950s by a banker who had seven daughters. By the time the 2000s rolled along, thousands of happy couples, from royalty to Hollywood celebrities and average Americans, have flocked there for the wedding of their dreams.

The town's commerce revolves around weddings, and in her fifth book in the series, Meant To Be Yours, wedding planner Renee Grothen is so busy planning the nearly 75 weddings a year for the company she works for, Weddings Out Of The Box, that she has no time for a personal life.

Renee has not been lucky in love- her first love broke up with her, and then she had a relationship with (unbeknownst to her) a married man. So when famous thriller author and former military police officer Jasper Dembreski takes her home from game night at the local bar, they agree that their hookup is strictly about sex. (You don't have to wait long for a hot explicit sex scene in this story.)

 Jasper decides that he wants to introduce a female love interest for his series detective, so he goes to Renee and asks her if he can shadow her for research. He has decided that the female character will be a wedding planner, and a serial killer will be stalking weddings in his next book.

Renee thinks this is a bad idea, but the owner of the company likes the suggestion, as do a happy couple planning their wedding who are fans of Jasper's books. So Jasper will be learning about wedding planning from Renee, but she has strict rules that he will not interfere or insinuate himself into the process. She takes her responsibility to make couples weddings special, and will not tolerate anything that disrupts that.

I so enjoyed my first trip to Happily Inc and Meant To Be Yours! Even though it is the fifth book in the series, I didn't feel lost not knowing any of the secondary characters. I was able to jump right in and follow the story. (That being said, I liked this book so much that I will read the rest of the series in order.)

Having gone through my son's wedding last year, I was drawn to the wedding planner aspect of the story; I liked learning about all the details that go into the process. And the theme weddings- Scottish, Star Trek, and even an apple-themed wedding- were so intriguing.

Reading about Jasper's writing process was interesting too, and the scene where he took Renee to the library because that is where he spent a great deal of time in school was so sweet.

I highly recommend Meant To Be Yours for anyone who likes a good contemporary romance, it's a great way to wile away a rainy Sunday. You'll feel like you met a new group of friends, and you'll want to visit them again in other Happily Inc books.

Visit Susan Mallery's website here for more info on Happily Inc- there's lots of fun stuff there, including a map of the town and character introductions.

Thanks to Harlequin for inviting me to be a part of their Romance & Women's Fiction blog tour, and providing me with an egalley for an honest review.