Book Review: Summer at the Lakeside Resort (Lakeside Resort Book #2) by Susan Schild

Summer at the Lakeside Resort 
(Lakeside Resort Book #2)

by Susan Schild

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:


I think I’ll go slather myself with Ben Gay so my muscles won’t freeze up on me like the tin man.


Australians had been credited with inventing the black box flight recorder, the cochlear implant, and the electronic pacemaker. She groaned internally as she read on. Son of a biscuit. They’d also invented box wine. That was genius.


I hope you remember the girl you were, the one who rode bikes fearlessly, got dirty, and didn’t give a fig about how you looked.


“My legs and arms are white as rice, and I still have my winter weight.” Her thighs reminded her of rice pudding.


When she got back to their campsite, Charlotte was outside frying bacon on an electric skillet. Jenny sniffed. “Someone should make a perfume that smells like that.” “Men and dogs would just follow you around,” Charlotte said.



My Review:


Jenny was highly focused and working hard to get her resort fully operational but being a one-woman operation, she was anxious about balancing her money, time, and energy and was grateful to have her new love for support – but did she? Luke was called away on business to Australia and highly distracted by his new project during the rare phone connections. Luke was a kind and gentle man but he wasn’t much for discussing feelings and seemed to be as attentive and romantic as a frozen fish stick.

After reading several taut thrillers, I enjoyed the leisurely pace, real-world issues, subtle levity, rustic feel, and down-home flavors such as the name of the general store – Gus’s Gas-N-Git -, which was, smirk-worthy. While slow in pace, the storylines were easy to follow, realistic, wryly written, and chaste enough for my elderly mother’s church ladies’ book club, which is indeed a rare find on my reading list. 😏

Empress DJ

About the Author

Website

Goodreads
Amazon

Susan Schild writes heartwarming and funny novels about women over 40 having adventures. falling in love, and finding their happily ever afters.

Susan is a wife, and a stepmother who enjoys weekend getaways with friends, reading fiction, and rummaging through thrift stores and antique stores for treasures like four dollar cashmere sweaters and amateur watercolor paintings. A dog lover, Susan is especially fond of Lab mix rescue dogs.

With a professional background as a psychotherapist and a management consultant, Susan has used her professional background to add authenticity to her characters.

Susan and her family live in North Carolina where she is busy writing her next novel.

Book Review: Sweet Southern Hearts by Susan Schild

Sweet Southern Hearts

by Susan Schild

Releasing January 10, 2017

Goodreads

Amazon

B&N

When it comes to marriage, third time’s the charm for Linny Taylor. She’s thrilled to be on her honeymoon with Jack Avery, Willow Hill’s handsome veterinarian. But just like the hair-raising white-water rafting trip Jack persuades her to take, newlywed life has plenty of dips and bumps.

Jack’s twelve-year-old son is resisting all Linny’s efforts to be the perfect stepmother, while her own mother, Dottie, begs her to tag along on the first week of a free-wheeling RV adventure. Who knew women “of a certain age” could drum up so much trouble? No sooner is Linny sighing with relief at being back home than she’s helping her frazzled sister with a new baby…and dealing with an unexpected legacy from her late ex. Life is fuller—and richer—than she ever imagined, but if there’s one thing Linny’s learned by now, it’s that there’s always room for another sweet surprise…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Buy Pizza and Get Gas at Gino’s Gas and Go! She grimaced. The best pizza in Willow Hill, which just happened to be located in a gas station, needed to change their motto.

… in general teenaged boys are like jackals.   They’ll turn on you with bared teeth, tell you they hate your guts, and then they’ll ask you to fix them a grilled cheese sandwich.

‘That was the most perfect day.’ Looking dreamy, she clasped her hands together… Linny nodded, remembering Jerry’s nephew drinking too much beer and driving an ATV into the porta-potty the minister’s wife was using, and Jerry’s uncle from Possum Trot, North Carolina, eating his first shrimp ever and going into anaphylactic shock. But she just smiled at her sister.

‘I only got the necessities,’ Mama said looking self-righteous as she pulled out toilet tissue, marshmallows, two half gallons of ice cream, caramel popcorn, a bag of pork rinds, and a big box of Luzianne tea.

Those men claim they love sleeping under the stars on their air mattresses, but in the morning both of them walk crooked and smell like Bengay.

My Review:

The talented scribe known as Susan Schild has delighted me once again with the latest addition to her highly entertaining Willow Hills series.  Sweet Southern Hearts was exactly that, and I adored it. The endearing and highly relatable character of Linny quickly found herself sucked into a whirlwind of chaotic activity with no transition time to ease into her new roles of wife and stepmother. Non-stop challenges continually vexed her attempts at Zen such as the friction provided by her husband’s demanding ex-wife, her surly teenaged stepson pushing her limits, her fledgling new business contracts, and a senior citizen cross-country “freewheeling RV experience” with her mother and two other widows. Linny was beyond overwhelmed as she frantically juggled these many obligations into her already hectic calendar when an even bigger surprise landed on her doorstep. I was holding my breath for sweet Linny for fear that either this new wrinkle or her spineless wuss of a husband would cause her to finally crash and burn. The storyline was lively and relevant and well-paced. Ms. Schild’s writing, as always, was engaging and full of levity, humorous descriptions, and comical observations, insights, and inner musings.   Linny has an active imagination that I find highly amusing. I also enjoy her colorful friends with the same level of enchantment and am already looking forward to future trips to Willow Hill.

Empress DJ

About the Author

Susan Schild writes heartwarming and funny contemporary Southern fiction. Her stories feature adventuresome women, good men, blended families, sweet dogs, friends and family who see you through, and happily-ever-afters at any age.

Susan is a wife and stepmother. She enjoys weekend getaways with friends, reading fiction, and rummaging through thrift stores for finds like four dollar cashmere sweaters. A dog lover, Susan has a special fondness for Lab mix rescue dogs. She and her family live in North Carolina where she is finishing up the third novel in the Willow Hill Series, Sweet Southern Hearts, which will be released January 10, 2017.

Susan graduated from James Madison University in Virginia, and holds a master’s degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has used her professional background as a psychotherapist and management trainer to add authenticity to her characters.

Susan is represented by Gordon Warnock of Fuse Literary Agency.

You can find Susan:

Website

Goodreads

Amazon