Luanne Oleas

Reading [b:Walking on Air 22979647 Walking on Air Christina Jones https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411047042l/22979647.SY75.jpg 1768413] by Christina Jones was an undertaking. At 581 pages, it did take a while to get through the story. That said, it was worth it to me. I've been to the part of England where the book is set. I've even flown off a grass strip there. I'm also semi-versed in aerobatic jargon, or at least airplane parts, because my husband was a cropduster. I've also visited England enough to know some of the colloquialism used. I do wonder if those outside of England who don't know much about airplanes would enjoy, or even understand, parts of the books as much as I did. Billie Pasco is trying to escape her past and make something of her future. But something keeps dragging back to her big mistake of having an affair with a married man. At first, it seems her boss at the taxi company is the one constantly hounding her about her indiscretion. But even when she leaves his employ, he continues to remind her of it. It takes the bulk of the book to find out why, and you aren't going to guess it. I didn't. I thought for sure that the married man was being blackmailed by Billie's boss, who knew about the affair after picking them up as a cab fare. If Billie decided at some point, she didn't care if that secret got out, then the blackmail would stop being paid. Boy, was I WAY OFF. I enjoyed the on/off/on interest in the local pilot/airline owner/aerobatic enthusiast. As someone married to a pilot, I have to say the author nailed the obsession with flying and being around planes. Until you've lived it, you don't know it. However, there were days I wished I had landing gear instead of legs so maybe my husband would be obsessed with me.This is truly a fun book, full of crazy characters, each fraught with their own personal issues. I admit some of the comparisons to celebrities mentioned didn't make sense to me because I don't watch much British TV. However, it didn't have any overwhelming impact on my understanding of the story. I'm sure it would have made the writing even more colorful/colourful for me if I had understood those references.If you have a few days—it took me five—you should read this book. I'm glad I did.

I loved this big, fat book about two foster sisters, Cecilia a rock star (single) and Robin a lapsed photojournalist with a family. I love the depth of characters in this book, showing how each dealt with childhood abandonment in their own way. The walk through the past and the unveiling of experiences really brings home the importance of a stable family life in a childhood development. Cecilia and Robin struggled to cope in their own ways, showing how the same experience can be handled in multiple ways. Each experienced relationship issues in distinct ways, both tending to shield themselves from undue harm. I found the ending satisfying and would definitely recommend this book to those who like well-developed characters and stories.

Second read. First review.

I think I loved it just as much this time as the first time I read it, which was around 1992. Of course the two main characters are upper crust. Why would you bother with a Victorian romance if they weren't? Kate Harvey (aka Lady Katherine D'Harnancourt) and Lucien Kingsley Tremaine are perfect for each other and perfectly flawed. Both lost their entire families, almost overnight.

Lucien returns from war to find himself revealed as a bastard son and striped of his inheritance. Katherine had to reinvent herself after becoming pregnant while unwed.

But anyone who reads you the story can tell you what happens. What I love about this book is what I love about any book that tries to tell a great story. Strong characters, lots of them, each with strong motivation. Excellent dialogue, believable (for the time) circumstances, and more obstacles in the protagonist's path than you could shake a stick at.

And love. The unending, unbreakable, forged from fire emotion that keeps you coming back time and again. Sure, it's 424 pages long, but it's so, so worth it.

When I picked up this book, I was looking for something akin to a beach read, and this filled the bill in spades. I've been reading a lot of intense books lately about death, metaphysics, and deep spirituality. I needed a change. Something light, quick-paced and not stressful. (COVID gives me enough of that already.)

I learned a lot about soap opera history while reading this book. It contains little tidbits in the story and historic quips at the beginning of some paragraphs. Sort of interesting that the shows were called soap operas because originally most of the sponsors were companies who made soap products.

The book was full of good-looking people, except the bad guys, of course. But there was the qualifying condition that it was set in Los Angeles in the entertainment industry. . . although the cops were cute too, so that sort of blows that theory. But I wanted something fun and this was definitely that.

The violence that drove the story was pretty much off screen which was fine with me. Actually, not a lot of the story was realistic. Instead, it was more of a soap opera, but that fit. Mary Lisa, the main character's pathetic relationship with her own family was almost as dysfunctional as her on screen persona's, the semi-wicked, love-to-hate, star of a soap opera, Sunday Cavendish.

I like a book that can laugh at itself. The romantic lead was Jack Wolf, chief of police in a small city. In the story, characters who worked in the daily soap opera industry teased him about his name, asking if he had made it up to sound like a cop.

If you want a romp that not too deep, this book is for you. I might check out more of Catherine Coulter when I need a light read again.