Monday, August 29, 2011

"Yours to Keep" by Shannon Stacey This was a HOOT!

“Yours to Keep” by Shannon Stacey

I LOVED this book!  It was GREAT and at times just crazy hilarious!  Why?  From the lies these characters try to keep from Grandma!  From the moment I picked it this book up, the story just grabbed my attention right away and made it very difficult to put down.  This is truly a book to whisk you away from your life and into the lives of these characters while forgetting your own life completely.  This book is a thorough enjoyment.
This book is about a single woman, Emma Shaw, who has a Grandmother who recently moved to Florida, and is returning home to visit her Granddaughter to make sure she is happy with her life, and once she knows Emma is happy, Grandma can then return to Florida with all her new friends and not worry about her Granddaughter’s happiness any longer.  Grandma will have a clear conscious.
Emma, worried her Grandmother will move back and live with her there in the house in New Hampshire, after all, it is Grandma’s house, gets an idea to recruit a friend of hers to pose as her fiancé.  This way her Grandmother will know Emma is happy and has future plans to marry, will be happy, and live happily ever after.  This way Grandma will return back to Florida to her new home with her new friends, and enjoy her own life without worrying about her Granddaughter.
Emma concocts a plan to make Grandma happy.  Emma has a friend.  His name is Sean Kowalski.  He literally just got out of the Army after being in for 12 years.  Emma decides Sean is the man to have pose as her fiancé as he is the perfect guy to be able to do this for her.  Currently he has no place to live, no job and no immediate plans.  This will work out great while her Grandmother is here visiting.  Sean just so happens to be super hot!  From being in the Army for so long, his body is in perfect shape.  This only happens to be a plus as it was not planned this way.  Emma does feel an attraction to Sean, and she tries very hard to hide it.  Emma is in very good shape herself, as well, as she works as a Lawn and Garden Design Specialist, thus starts an attraction between the two of them, but Emma is in denial of it.  This is temporary . . .  Only temporary.  As soon as Grandma is gone, so is Sean.  This makes for very amusing reading, to say the least.
Sean agrees to the idea Emma idea Emma has concocted, as what is a month?  Sean is used to being able to make a home anywhere since he was in the Army for so long and had done this so many times already.  He is very adaptable to living quarters.  He quickly moves in with Emma, and they start to try to learn everything they can about each other before Grandma arrives.
Although, from the second Sean moves in with Emma, you can just feel the physical attraction at it’s finest between the two of them as you are reading.  Emma keeps denying it, while Sean is having fun with this and taunts her continuously with it.
Emma and Sean get to work out learning the details about each others’ lives, right down to grocery shopping together, their likes and dislikes, etcetera.  They work out the sleeping arrangements, such as Sean will get the bed as he is a little taller than she is, and she will sleep on the couch in her own bedroom, which she is not so thrilled about, while the whole time they will be posing as if they are sleeping in the same bed.  
Grandma comes home and they meet her at the airport.  They both find out very quickly this scheme is going to be harder to pull off than they both originally thought as their answers to Grandma’s questions already flubbed them up a few times.
As time goes by, they keep at it, and they are doing a great job of fooling Grandma, or at least they think they are doing pretty good at pulling this off.
After some time goes by, the two of them continue to hold back from their strong attraction to each other.  Through the sleeping arrangements, Emma does find herself staring at Sean a lot, trying not to get caught, and vice versa.  She sees him in a towel, in his underwear, and other forms of dress, and complains to him.  He comes back at her and asks her just how are they supposed to share a bedroom and shower together and ‘not’ run into these circumstances?  I loved this part!
As different events come up and they attend them, Emma finds out that Sean and his buddies have a bet on whether or not they will sleep together.  Emma does not get mad at this because she knows it will never happen.  Or will it?  NO!
Emma then finds out that Grandma wants to ‘give’ her the house as a wedding present.  Emma refuses because she feels so guilty for lying to Grandma in the first place.  Emma wants the house, but not on the terms of her lying to her Grandmother about her getting married.  She just can’t accept the house under these terms, and she can’t tell Grandma either.  Grandma can’t figure out why Emma does not want the house.  And then . . .
The next most difficult thing Emma has to face is being put on the spot to set the wedding date.  Grandma wants to know when the wedding date will be.  Now what does Emma do?
All the flub-ups, all the different answers Emma and Sean end up giving to Grandma about different things and more, leaves her a little more worried and frustrated, and a little guilty feeling for lying to Grandma.
I had such a great time reading this book!
This is just a ‘small’ part of this story.  There is so much more to this storyline that if I go into anymore, I will give away spoilers, and I don’t want to do that.  I have not given any away yet!  I want you to enjoy this book as much as I did!  You will be entertained continuously while you read this book.  This is a must-read!  Get it on your “To Be Read” lists right away! 
This story was so much fun in anticipating what will happen next as different events come along that Sean and Emma attend as an engaged couple.  There are the Family get-togethers, picnics, dinners, and more.  It was so much fun.  I have to credit the author, Shannon Stacey, for writing such a creative story and pulling the reading right into it.  It takes a talented author to write a book that the moment you open it and read the first few sentences, you feel like you have known these characters for a lifetime.  Her writing is very refreshing and exciting.  It portrays the heartfelt emotions in the characters and she is able to extend the feelings of her characters to you very well.  You can feel the attraction between Emma and Sean so well.  You end up dying over whether or not these two will or won’t get together.  You can actually feel the tension as you are reading this story.  Shannon Stacey’s writing truly held my interest.  She definitely writes in such a way that keeps you glued to the page.
Want a book that will genuinely take you out of your life into the fun filled and crazy life of Emma’s?  Want a book to take you out of your own life completely and into the lives of another couple working so hard to cover up the truth and pull one over on Grandma?  This is definitely the book for you.  I know you will get as much pleasure out of reading this book as I did.  You have no choice but to enjoy this book!
Personally, I would LOVE to see this book made into a movie!  I think it would be very entertaining, humorous, and very popular.  This is one of those books I can see it very clearly.  Keeping my fingers crossed!
Happy reading!
Laurie
I received this book for “FREE” from Carina Press, through NetGalley, as an Ebook, through their Book Reviewer’s Program in exchange to read this book and write a review about it.  It is NOT required for my review I write to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was NOT provided with “ANY” monies to accept this book, “NOR” to read it, NOR were “ANY” monies given to me to write the review for this book.  All that was ‘expected’ of me was to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it.  Again, the opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I LOVE Comments so please leave one! After I review the comments and make sure they are NOT SPAM - I HAVE BEEN BOMBARDED WITH SPAM - YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE PUBLISHED HERE! Thanks SO MUCH for your patience and for leaving a comment!!! Comments are ALWAYS welcomed, YET THEY WILL NOT LINK TO GOOGLE+ EITHER DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF SPAM!!! When I say this blog is experiencing SPAM, we are talking 30+ comments PER DAY that are spam! Please understand!! Again, thank you!!