It's Monday, What are you Reading?

WHAT a crazy week!  A friend's birthday dinner, a baseball game, a work happy hour and just the craziness in event planning and being an assistant to a very busy CEO!  So very little reading occurred until this weekend when I curled up with some pre fall crisp weather and ran through some books! and I am hoping with a work trip this next week and some hours on a plane for some full on reading time!  

Is September crazy for anyone else?

A meme hosted by Sheila at BookJourney. 

Finished this past week:

The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith
I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe
To See the Moon Again by Jamie Langston Turner
Ballroom by Alice Simpson
Ghosting by Edith Pattou

Currently Reading:

House of Wonder by Sarah Healy

Next on the TBR pile:

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Review: I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

I Shall Be Near To You

by Erin Lindsay McCabe

Publisher: Crown

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Rosetta doesn't want her new husband Jeremiah to enlist, but he joins up, hoping to make enough money that they'll be able to afford their own farm someday. Though she's always worked by her father’s side as the son he never had, now that Rosetta is a wife she's told her place is inside with the other women. But Rosetta decides her true place is with Jeremiah, no matter what that means, and to be with him she cuts off her hair, hems an old pair of his pants, and signs up as a Union soldier.

Rosetta drills with the men, prepares herself for battle, and faces the tension as her husband comes to grips with having a fighting wife. Fearing discovery of her secret, Rosetta’s strong will clashes with Jeremiah’s as their marriage is tested by war. Inspired by over two hundred and fifty documented accounts of the women who fought in the Civil War while disguised as men, I Shall Be Near To You is the intimate story, in Rosetta’s powerful and gorgeous voice, of the drama of marriage, one woman’s amazing exploits, and the tender love story that can unfold when two partners face life’s challenges side by side.


Kritters Thoughts:  Another historical fiction, but this one during the civil war and from the beginning, I was hooked!  Newly married Rosetta can't stand to stay in a house on her in-laws property, so she decides to join her husband in the war.

Rosetta was a fantastic character.  She was likeable and it was easy to cheer her on in her endeavors, and maybe cringe too!  Even though this story is told from a woman's perspective I still felt the grittiness of war and it didn't lack the real truths of what life was like on the front lines.  

If you love the Civil War time period and want to hear about how some women wanted to be a part of it, this is the book for you.

I had read a similar storyline for book club and none of us really loved it, so I will definitely be recommending this one to them as a great story about women taking roles in the Civil War.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel!

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith

The Story of Land and Sea

by Katy Simpson Smith

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 256

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution, this incandescent debut novel follows three generations of family—fathers and daughters, mother and son, master and slave, characters who yearn for redemption amidst a heady brew of war, kidnapping, slavery, and love. 

Drawn to the ocean, ten-year-old Tabitha wanders the marshes of her small coastal village and listens to her father’s stories about his pirate voyages and the mother she never knew. Since the loss of his wife Helen, John has remained land-bound for their daughter, but when Tab contracts yellow fever, he turns to the sea once more. Desperate to save his daughter, he takes her aboard a sloop bound for Bermuda, hoping the salt air will heal her.

Years before, Helen herself was raised by a widowed father. Asa, the devout owner of a small plantation, gives his daughter a young slave named Moll for her tenth birthday. Left largely on their own, Helen and Moll develop a close but uneasy companionship. Helen gradually takes over the running of the plantation as the girls grow up, but when she meets John, the pirate turned Continental soldier, she flouts convention and her father’s wishes by falling in love. Moll, meanwhile, is forced into marriage with a stranger. Her only solace is her son, Davy, whom she will protect with a passion that defies the bounds of slavery.


Kritters Thoughts:  Told in three separate stories in a non linear fashion, this story takes place during the American Revolution when the US was trying to break away from the British and the British were trying to keep their hold.  I don't read many books set in the time period, so my first reaction was absolutely positive to read a book outside of my normal historical timeline.

Interesting and different - the way the three parts were set up.  They were told out of order and I am not sure that I liked it.  I loved each part of this family's story and seeing the similarities between the daughter (Tab)'s life and her mother's life was very interesting.  Although a few years apart, life hadn't changed and women died in child birth and the relationships with slaves hadn't changed and I loved seeing the lack of change in time.  

If you are a historical buff that loves this time period, then this book is up your alley.  After this book, I still want to read more about the American Revolution, but I am not sure this was the best one to start with.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St. Amant

All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes

by Betsy St. Amant

Publisher: Zondervan

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Kat inspected rows of the same old cupcakes. They seemed to blink back at her, as if they knew she was capable of so much more.

Kat Varland has had enough of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

At twenty-six years old, Kat is still living in the shadows of her family in Bayou Bend, Louisiana. Still working shifts at her Aunt Maggie s bakery. Still wondering what to do with her passion for baking and her business degree. And still single.

But when Lucas Brannen, Kat s best friend, signs her up for a reality TV bake-off on Cupcake Combat, everything Kat ever wanted is suddenly dangled in front of her: creative license as a baker, recognition as a visionary . . . and a job at a famous bakery in New York.

As the competition heats up, Lucas realizes he might have made a huge mistake. As much as he wants the best for Kat, the only thing he wants for himself her is suddenly in danger of slipping away.

The bright lights of reality cooking wars and the chance at a successful career dazzle Kat s senses and Lucas is faced with a difficult choice: help his friend achieve her dreams . . . or sabotage her chances to keep her in Louisiana."


Kritters Thoughts:  A mix of small town business and life with Hollywood and it was so great!  Kat works at her aunt's small bakery in Louisiana and has been living under her thumb with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry as her only options.  Her long time best friend Lucas is still in their small town and she may have started seeing him in a new light a more than best friend light.

I loved seeing a small town girl thrust into the Hollywood life and still trying to keep her values through it all.  I also adored the budding relationship between Lucas and Kat and seeing the ups and downs from both sides as they both told their view of the story.  (Although there was a little too much miscommunication for my liking!)  As always, I love the behind the scenes of Hollywood and this one was even better with a Food Network competition show!

As a Christian fiction book, this one definitely kept their morals clean, but still provided enough drama and not too much preaching lessons.


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel!


Ebook 2014 Challenge: 53 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Litfuse Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Driftwood Tides by Gina Holms

Driftwood Tides

by Gina Holms

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  He made himself an island until something unexpected washed ashore.When Holton lost his wife, Adele, in a freak accident, he shut himself off from the world, living a life of seclusion, making drifwood sculptures and drowning his pain in gin. Until twenty-three-year-old Libby knocks on his door, asking for a job and claiming to be a friend of his late wife. When he discovers Libby is actually his late wife's illegitimate daughter, given up for adoption without his knowledge, his life is turned upside down as he struggles to accept that the wife he'd given saint status to was not the woman he thought he knew.Together Holton and Libby form an unlikely bond as the two struggle to learn the identity of Libby's father and the truth about Adele, themselves, and each other.


Kritters Thoughts:  Quite a dramatic family drama with both main characters having the opportunity to tell their side of the story.  The author creatively switched between Holton a man who has recently lost his wife and can't seem to find his passion since the accident and Libby who is on the cusp of a wedding that is getting out of hand and learns that her parents and past isn't what she thought it always was.  

These characters made the book.  They played off each other and challenged each other at the same time.  This book could have been set anywhere (although I love Nags Head!) which gives this book the ability to relate to almost any reader.  The pursuit of self and passion made me easily fall in love with this book.  

I read this book in practically one setting, it was so easy to get into and to care about all the characters.  The author revealed the details of the secrets and things at just the right moments.  This book is a great read for any time of the year - on the beach on vacation or curled up as fall begins!

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from JKS Communications.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

The week after vacation and the beginning of a very long month at work, so this week's reading was pretty sad, but I am pretty proud of what I did read.  Hopefully I can find a few more quiet reading hours in the next few weeks.

A meme hosted by Sheila at BookJourney. 

Finished this past week:

Guests on Earth by Lee Smith
Defector in our Midst by Tom Fitzgerald
The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson
Driftwood Tides by Gina Holms
All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St Amant

Currently Reading:

To See the Moon Again by Jamie Langston Turner

Next on the TBR pile:

The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith

Review: The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson

The Agincourt Bride

by Joanna Hickson

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 578

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  The epic story of the queen who founded the Tudor dynasty, told through the eyes of her loyal nursemaid. Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory.

When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court.

Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette’s lowly position.
But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties. Her brother, The Dauphin and the dark and sinister, Duke of Burgundy will both use Catherine to further the cause of France.

Catherine is powerless to stop them, but with the French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt, the tables turn and suddenly her currency has never been higher. But can Mette protect Catherine from forces at court who seek to harm her or will her loyalty to Catherine place her in even greater danger?

Kritters Thoughts:  What an epic book!  Starting with the narrator giving quite an intro and then the book completely jumps into the childhood of a princess who we all come to find out quickly will be influential in her country's future.  France is literally balancing on her shoulders.

First, let me rave about how I loved the narrator and it was fantastic to read a book from this period from the perspective of a close maid who even spent nights in the Princess' rooms.  She had a unique perspective and she was able to use the Princess' unmailed letters to fill in the story - genius.  Of course there was drama, but there was also some fantastically intense scenes that just kept the book moving along and along.  

The one thing that kept tripping me up was the concept of three different opposing parties instead of just two and I had to remind myself who did and didn't like who, but once I got it - the book just kept getting better and better.  

Quite the chunky book, but I wouldn't take one page out of it.  I appreciated reading a full story of Princess Catherine in just one book instead of separating it into bits and pieces.  I will be on the lookout for the next book by Joanna Hickson.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Defector in our Midst by Tom Fitzgerald

Defector in our Midst

by Tom Fitzgerald

Publisher: Mascot Books

Pages: 290

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When Hitler ordered the total annihilation of the small village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia on June 10, 1942, a pair of newborn twin girls was secretly hidden from the Nazis while their parents and the rest of the village were massacred. The son of one of the infant girls, CIA Agent Myk McGrath, has become the world’s most prolific agent. Now he’s on a frenetic search to catch a cunning group that has outsmarted the country’s highest intelligence agency and vanished from their watchful eye. In the midst of Myk’s hunt, a defector arises whose allegiance is unknown, a defector with ties to Lidice.

China’s top physicist is snatched from his beach vacation and forced to replicate his breakthrough discovery in electromagnetic technology. New York City awakes to a terrifying phenomenon: seventy percent of its electricity has been permanently wiped off the power grid. Myk is in a race against time to find who’s behind the attack and prevent an already fragile U.S. economy from turning into a calamity.

In his pursuit, Myk begins to piece together a lifelong enigma: why his mother and her twin sister abruptly ended their relationship at the time of his birth, and why his mother developed within him the skills that would make him the most prodigious agent the CIA has ever known. The deeper he digs into exposing a devious conspiracy against the U.S., the more he uncovers the stunning truth about the secret lives of the twins from Lidice.


Kritters Thoughts:  An interesting take on political thriller with current and historical themes tying together - this peaked my interest and kept my attention until the end.  Myk has an interesting past, but doesn't know everything as his mother kept some things from him and he is closely tied to the Holocaust.  The new modern terrorists are intertwining with relatives related to the Holocaust and taking a modern take on it.

I was a religious studies major in college and now live right outside of DC, so the mix of religious themes and political thriller were right up my alley.  I loved how this employee of the CIA was not just a CIA suit, but also had a personal life that interfered with his investigation.  This may sound crazy, but I sometimes feel like the police or agents of such don't have personal lives that affect their work when in real life they bring work home and sometimes home gets taken to work like any other person, I loved that part of this book.

The one thing that made some moments slow was having to remember who was on what side and what their beliefs were and what they were fighting for.  It took me a few moments to get a little chart going to understand where they all fit in the puzzle.  If you like political thrillers but have read so many that they seem the same over and over again, this was something new to add to the mix.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Maxwell Street Blues by Marc Krulewitch

Maxwell Street Blues

by Marc Krulewitch

Publisher: Alibi

Pages: 247

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:   Chicago runs in Jules Landau’s veins. So does the blood of crooks. Now Jules is going legit as a private eye, stalking bail jumpers and cheating spouses—until he gets his first big case. Unfortunately, the client is his ex-con father, and the job is finding the killer of a man whom Jules loved like family. Why did someone put two bullets in the head of gentle bookkeeper Charles Snook? Jules is determined to find out, even if the search takes him to perilous places he never wanted to go.

Snooky, as he was affectionately known, had a knack for turning dirty dollars clean, with clients ranging from humble shop owners to sharp-dressed mobsters. As Jules retraces Snooky’s last days, he crosses paths with a way-too-eager detective, a gorgeous and perplexing tattoo artist, a silver-haired university administrator with a kinky side, and a crusading journalist. Exposing one dirty secret after another, the PI is on a dangerous learning curve. And, at the top of that curve, a killer readies to strike again.

Kritters Thoughts:  A completely fantastic who dun it, set in the perfectly murderous town of Chicago and the private investigator on the job has deep connections to the victim, suspects and all of it.  Jules Landau's family has a not so fantasticly positive history in Chicago and he is not following in his family's footsteps, instead he is somewhat on the other side of the law as a private investigator until he finds out that someone very close to him has been murdered and his dad charges him to find out who did it.

I loved how the author pieced together all the crazy things that end up in the news in Chicago all in one book - crooked politicians, mafia ish families, crazy drugs and so on.  All are wrapped up in this one murder mystery and it just worked.  I was rooting for Landau from the beginning to find out who killed his friend and of course I was way off base, but was still satisfied with the outcome.  I don't know that I would have picked up all the clues even if I had been reading it with a fine tooth comb.  

A great who dun it, crammed in less than 250 pages.  With minimal gore, I would say all readers who love this genre would enjoy this one.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2014 Challenge: 52 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate

The Story Keeper

by Lisa Wingate

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Pages: 448

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When successful New York editor Jen Gibbs discovers a decaying slush-pile manuscript on her desk, she has no idea that the story of Sarra, a young mixed-race woman trapped in Appalachia at the turn of the twentieth century, will both take her on a journey and change her forever. Happy with her life in the city, and at the top of her career with a new job at Vida House Publishing, Jen has left her Appalachian past and twisted family ties far behind. But the search for the rest of the manuscript, and Jen's suspicions about the identity of its unnamed author, will draw her into a mystery that leads back to the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains . . . and quite possibly through the doors she thought she had closed forever.


Kritters Thoughts:  A book within a book that is also about the publishing industry - this one was right up my alley!  It also helped that I am already a Lisa Wingate fan, so when offered this book I immediately said yes!  

Jen Gibbs is in the publishing industry and has just started a job at a publishing house and a mysterious parts of a manuscript end up on her desk.  Not only does she fall in love with it and want to find the rest of it along with the author, but it takes place in her hometown, so she packs it up in pursuit of the author and the rest of it.  I loved how much she has tried to escape this backwoods small town Appalachian hometown, but as soon as returns she is swept up into the drama and roles from her past.  

The added benefit of a mysterious author who she is trying to track down gave the book even more of a story.  This part of the story weaved into the family drama stated above so seamlessly.  It was so interesting to see Jen Gibbs react one way to someone else's family drama and then to her own - I loved it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is already a book lover and who also loves a little historical wrapped into their contemporary stories.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row


Ebook 2014 Challenge: 51 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from JKS Communications.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

August - the month of the vacation!

source

August was a full month!  My birthday, a lot of work, and ending with a vacation!  The reading was up and down, but ended on a high note because my vacations are full of lounge chair time with books and the nook!  

1. My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal
2. Neverhome by Laird Hunt
3. Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
4. The Curse of Van Gogh by Paul Hoppe
5. Expecting by Ann Lewis Hamilton
6. A Pinch of Ooh La La by Renee Swindle
7. The Virtues of Oxygen by Susan Schoenberger
8. Desire Lines by Christina Baker Kline
9. Three Story House by Courtney Miller Santo
10. In Bloom by Katie Delahanty
11. The Homecoming by Robyn Carr
12. Wild Within by Melissa Hart
13. 2AM at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Beritno
14. Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan
15. Solomon's Whisper by Sandra Brannan
16. Heroes are my Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
17. The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate
18. Maxwell Street Blues by Marc Krulewitch

Total pages read, clicked, and flipped: 6,440

Where Have I Been Reading?:

Indiana
Mississippi
Sherman Oaks, CA
Oakland, CA
New York (2)
Bangor, Maine
Memphis
Los Angeles, CA
Oregon (2)
England
Philadelphia, PA
Denver, CO
Maine
Chicago, IL