Confessions From a Coffee Shop by T.B. Markinson

As much as I love writing movie reviews, I still try to keep up with my reading and this next novel is by one of our very own bloggers T.B. Markinson who owns 50 Year Project and Marking My Mark.  I’ve already read T.B. Markinson’s two previous novels, A Woman Lost and Marionette.  I’ve linked the posts to the titles if you’d like to check them out.  T.B. Markinson is an outstanding author and although her novels are not the usual reading genre that I go for, they were both very captivating reads.  Marionette is definitely my favorite of the two (if I had to choose).

She recently released her third novel, Confessions From A Coffee Shop and being a huge supporter of writers in our blogosphere, I had to get a copy of it. I read this during my Halloween month but didn’t manage to get a review in before now.

Confessions From a Coffee Shop

by T.B. Markinson

Cori used to have a lot of promise.  She had a book deal but everything stopped when she couldn’t figure out how to end it.  Right now, she juggles a few jobs to make ends meet while taking care of her unemployed girlfriend, Kat, who seemed to have a shopping addiction.  While teaching at the university in British literature, she works part-time at the local coffee shop.  One day, she sees her old school crush, Samantha at the coffee shop while at work.  Their friendship takes a good turn as they offer each other comfort through the tough times but when Samantha ends up asking Cori to keep a few secrets, she ends up driving Kat to be suspicious, causing their relationship to hit some bumps.

In the hands of someone with less experience or maybe a different personality, Confessions from a Coffee Shop could have turned into a boring story.  However, there was a lot to love about this one.  Cori has a dilemma that many might be able to relate to: struggling to make ends meet, wondering how you land such a wonderful partner, trying to find a way to be more, being stuck in a seemingly dead-end situation, flustered by an old crush.  It happens to everyone some time in your life.  Cori is a witty and funny character with her reactions and how she interacts with the people in her life.  It does take a little while before I really settled into the story but when it did, its an intriguing read.

At the same time, the characters that are in Confessions from a Coffee Shop are well balanced.  Some are plain geeky and weird, while others are fun to read.  The contrast with Cori’s character and how they grow as the story develops is a fun part to it all.  There will be this moment where as the reader you will wonder how Cori is so oblivious so whats happening around her when you already know whats really the secret.  If anything, this novel was different from the first two and better because of the sense of humor.  There are just charming characters to carry this story forward. This one also showed a more refined writing as it had a lot of detail.

Confessions from a Coffee Shop is a fun book to read.  Its a cute romance full of charming characters that are extremely entertaining to read.  Although, Cori sometimes hits the wishy-washy area, it also reflects life and relationships in a real way.  After all, it takes time to find the courage to attack some touchy issues in relationships and it also takes time and reflection to be able to dig yourself out of a hole to a better future.  This is heavy in the romance genre so its also a genre that I haven’t touched in a while.  I’m never sure what to expect because it can always get formulaic but this one is a recommended read. I had a lot of fun with this one! 🙂

Book Review: Marionette by T.B.Markinson

I have been following T.B. Markinson and herblog, 50 Year Project for a good while now. Earlier this year, she released her debut novel A Woman Lost which impressed me a lot. You can check out he review HERE. When she reached out to me at the end of November to review her second book, Marionette, I accepted right away. I had already read excerpts she had posted and it sounded like a really intriguing book. The only deal was that I had to complete my NaNoWriMo month first so for the last few days I have been plowing through this book. Lets start with a little synopsis.

Seventeen-year old Paige is ready to go to a small town college to escape her dreadful controlling parents who blame her for past tragedies that have happened.  However, right before school starts, Paige suddenly decides to slit her wrists and her girlfriend Jess finds her in the nick of time and saves her.  Not knowing why Paige did it, since she won’t talk about it, Jess makes her promise to go see a psychiatrist to sort out her issues.  Paige doesn’t believe it’ll help but she reluctantly still does it. However, at the same time, she’s trying to hide being a lesbian while in college, one to prevent her parents from finding out but also as the debates of gays and lesbian equal rights are brewing and tension builds up, she does it also to protect herself and Jess.

Hmm…so how to start? I really liked this book a lot! Marionette is an extremely captivating read and the best part that I liked was how Paige’s character went from this somewhat selfish and irritating girl to a more refined person as the story moved along. I love character development and a lot of times its hard to find a good story with that.  This one did a great job. Plus, the other characters that supported Paige, especially Jess was fun to read about.

There was a sense of suspense that kept the story going because we don’t get the final reveal of what the deal is with Paige and her parents and even her sister except during the little parts as she opens up about the whole situation and why she feels the way she does, and the big mystery of why she tried to commit suicide. We start with questions and then as we move along, as the situation opens up, we continue develop into something a little more complex and thats what makes this such a page-turner. As serious as this situation first starts, Paige and some of her cluelessness also makes it have some humorous moments to loosen the mood.

Overall, an extremely enjoyable read that I’d definitely recommend. Its intriguing and awesome! I devoured this super fast and I look forward to any future novels by T.B. She’s awesome and you need to head over and check out her blogs if you haven’t already: 50 Year Project HERE and Making Your Mark HERE! Show her some support and if you like reading, give her novels a shot, I promise its worth your time 🙂

 

Book Review: A Woman Lost by T.B. Markinson

Seeing as its August recommendation month here, I decided to show some love for the fellow authors I follow.  Trust me, I buy ALL of your ebooks and store them on my tablet.  Trouble is, I’m still building the habit of reading on my tablet so it just sits there.  For this month, I’m venturing to read those books.  If you just followed me and you have a book, or you just saw this and wanted to share a book that you wrote with me, tweet, email, facebook message me, even search me up on Goodreads and tell me.  I’d love to showcase it here.  This month is about giving back to all of you.  There is just so much talent here that I can’t help but support it all.

First up is the ever wonderful T.B. Markinson’s debut novel A Woman Lost.  She has two blogs currently.  One is 50 Year Project and the other is Making Your Mark. I first met her on 50 Year Project and it where she showcases her travelling adventures all around the world, her reading and movie watching challenges.  Its a great personal journey to read.  Making Your Mark is the more recent blog featuring her world as a self-published author.  Both are very awesome and you should definitely stop by to check it out.

Lets start this review with a little synopsis:

A Woman Lost is about Elizabeth “Lizzie” Petrie who is intelligent and beautiful, has a trust fund as she pursues the career of her dreams and also has an attractive and sweet girlfriend Susan.  When her brother Peter calls her out of the blue to announce and invite her to his wedding and to meet his future wife, Maddie, she is forced to face her family that neglects and dislikes her, especially her mother who is unaccepting of her sexual orientation.  All her mother sees is Les-Bi-An. In this situation, she loses track of how her life should be and gets scared as Susan asks her to commit.  This fear, in turn makes her start avoiding the situation and questioning what she wants in her future.  Will Lizzie be able to conquer her fears and decide what she really wants?

I’m not a person thats crazy about chick literature.  I used to back in my high school days when I read Nicholas Sparks.  BUT, if  you use A Woman Lost to initiate that whole world of romance, its definitely a good start.  Its hard to believe this is a debut novel because it was really well written.  The story was enjoyable and had some pretty sexy and passionate sex scenes to top things off. I haven’t read an ebook (that was actually a novel) this fast but the story made me want to just keep going to find out what happens to a clueless and self-absorbed Lizzie.

What is great about the story is that even though it was a romance, it was also something of a self-discovery and a whole mural of other problems that influence relationships like family and our past for example. It makes it so much more realistic.  Thats one of the issues I usually have with romance novels.  This definitely didn’t go too far from being realistic.

Also, the characters in the story were great.  Even though, the main focus was on Lizzie and her partner Susan and her brother’s fiancee Maddie.  These characters lead the romantic story on really well.  However, my favorite has to be her behind the scenes best friend Ethan.  Those conversations made it a bit more humorous in a way and was always fun to read.

It was a really enjoyable and engaging romantic read.  I loved every minute of it.  It wasn’t too long either.  I highly recommend that you check this out and show a fellow blogger some love 🙂 If you aren’t into romance, maybe you know someone that does!