On The Rocks

After dating her boyfriend Ben from college for the last few years, Abby Wilkes is making preparations for her wedding. Armed with her best friend Grace, she's spent the day trying on wedding dresses looking for just the right one. She has found it in a $4,000 Vera Wang gown, only she wasn't prepared for what would hit her out of left field. As Grace was perusing Facebook, she watched as Ben's status update went from Engaged to Single in just minutes as the same time, Abby's phone began a flurry of incoming text messages. I mean how could the love of your life, break up with you without telling you, but had no problem telling Facebook?

In Erin Duffy's latest novel, On The Rocks, the premise is set for what happens when Abby is confronted with her engagement being called off on Facebook. How does one get over that? How do you keep from not picking up a weapon of some sort and taking out your frustrations on the one person who truly deserves it?

"After I saw Ben's Facebook post changing his status to single and telling everyone he had ever met in his life (except me) that we were over, I did what any red-blooded American girl who had been trying on wedding dresses for impending nuptials would have done: I went directly to his apartment and tried to break down the door with my fists. When that didn't work, I walked halfway down the hallway, and took off in a full sprint, and charged the door with my shoulder like they do on TV cop shows, but since I'm only five-two and weighed 110 pounds at the time, all I managed to do was bruise my shoulder so badly I couldn't raise my arm above my head for six weeks. I probably could've tried ringing the doorbell like a normal person, which would have alerted me to the fact he wasn't home, but adrenaline and shock will make a girl do really stupid things."

It's nice to know that I am not crazy after reading On The Rocks and realizing I, too, have probably done or thought about the things Abby has. I couldn't imagine what I would do if after that much time invested in someone didn't work out and found myself on the dating scene single one again. Wait, I actually can because after 10 years of being with someone and learning he had cheated, I found myself doing just that at 31, just like Abby. Erin truly writers from a girl's heart although I would have loved to see this story written without all the profanity that Abby and Grace use in this novel. The storyline however can't be missed. It is why I can still give this novel a 4 out of 5 stars based on my own rating system.

Abby must find a way to get over stocking her freezer with quite literally all Baskin Robbin's 31 flavors of ice cream and learn to stop sending pointless text messages to Ben. Her best option is to take Grace's suggestion to spend the summer at a beach house, and learn to find a way to move forward without adding pounds to the equation. If you have ever experienced a bad breakup before, this is the perfect novel for you! I absolutely LOVE it and most of all LOVE Erin's writing style. It's legitimate, honest and real just like things are without the happily ever after ending. This is simply one of the best novels I can recommend for a summer reading list.

I received On The Rocks by Erin Duffy compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. This is the second novel from Erin Duffy and is available for sale in April  2014. (ISBN: 9780062205742; ISBN10: 0062205749; Imprint: William Morrow ; On Sale: 4/22/2014; Format: Hardcover; Trimsize: 6 x 9 Rough; Pages: 320; $25.99;)

For more information about On The Rocks, Erin Duffy or where you can preorder a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

On the Rocks by Erin Duffy

You can also find Erin Duffy on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on On The Rocks, please visit William Morrow's website. 

Bond Girl - Giveaway and Review

You know you've read an excellent book when you can wait to tell someone about it and all the best parts of the book. Only in this one, the entire book is filled with the best parts. Bond Girl by Erin Duffy is the story of Alex Garrett, who has dreamed of a career in the finance industry since she was eight, following in her father's footsteps. Only this is a predominantly male industry and not that many women find the success she is hoping for.

She finally attends college hoping that the business and finance classes will be enough to help her understand what it takes to get her foot in the door of Cromwell Pierce, one of the top leaders in Wall Street, also a fierce competitor of her father's company. When she finally is offered the position, she soon finds just how difficult it will be beginning her journey as a Junior, which is the grunt level in the bond trading sector. She has been told she will do whatever is asked of her without complaint and that's where the story gets interesting. I found this book to be a blend of the Devil Wears Prada only in a male dominated finance industry and for an extremely difficult boss named Ed Ciccone or "Chick" as he insists she refers to him.

It's just how far Alex is willing to go that makes the story that much fun. Seeing it as working in an office with 40 men and one other woman, she is forced to deal with all the inside jokes one would expect from having to fetch coffee and pizza whenever the team is hungry or in need of a caffeine boost or being the blunt of practical jokes when the days prove boring and slow. Yet in the end, it shows how much drive and perseverance Alex has to prove her worth at her job.

I received Bond Girl by Erin Duffy compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and LOVED it! It was definitely a book I could relate to, when I begin a career in the wireless industry as one of the first women technicians and how to go about proving my self worth in a male dominated field. So my hats off to girls like Alex who can put up with the best of them and not take it personally. A fun-filled 5 out of 5 stars!

For more information on this book, the author and where to purchase a copy of this book, please click on the link below:

Bond Girl by Erin Duffy

Thanks to the generous folks at Harper Collins and William Morrow, they are providing a giveaway copy of this book to one lucky follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Here are the details:

1. Be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address.

2. Be a follower of my blog Reviews From The Heart.

3. Like my Facebook page at Reviews From The Heart by clicking here.

4. Leave me a comment telling me why you would love to win a copy of this book. Don't forget to include your email address. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the symbols.

The giveaway will end on February 21st and I will notify the winner by email.