Here are my reading stats for December! Books read: 10 Books I read (reviewed ones have * and link to review; books not yet reviewed will be linked up once review is posted.) Inseparable* by Dora Heldt Knit the Season* by Kate Jacobs Secrets of the Tudor Court: By Royal Decree* by Kate Emerson Still Alice* by Lisa Genova The Nine Lives of Christmas* by Sheila Roberts Shanghai Girls* by…
View Post
First line: The stone walls stood as they had for more than two centuries, simple, sturdy, and strong. From the back cover: #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts introduces you to the Montgomery brothers – Beckett, Ryder, and Owen – as they bring an intimate bed-and-breakfast to life in their hometown. The historic hotel in Boonsboro has endured war and peace, the changing of hands, and even rumored…
View Post
First line: “Our daughter looks like a South China peasant with those red cheeks,” my father complains, pointedly ignoring the soup before him. From the back cover: In 1937 Shanghai – the Paris of Asia – twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree – until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away…
View Post
First line: When a guy is in trouble he starts making deals with his creator, and Ambrose was dealing like crazy. From the inside cover: Two people are about to discover that when it comes to finding love, sometimes Christmas magic isn’t enough…sometimes it takes a pesky orange cat named Ambrose. When a guy is in trouble, he starts making deals with his Creator…and Ambrose the cat is no exception.…
View Post
From the back of the audio case: Fifty-year-old psychologist Alice Howland is content with life. Not only is she a revered Harvard professor, but she also has a successful husband and three grown kids. However, Alice’s life is turned upside-down when she succumbs to a degenerative brain disease, leaving her perfect family reeling from her sudden memory loss. Read by: Lisa Genova My thoughts: I first came across Lisa Genova…
View Post
First line: On the twenty-ninth day of January in 1542, twenty-six eligible young women sat at the table in White Hall Palace with King Henry. From the back cover: Charming. Desirable. Forbidden. Brought to court with other eligible young noblewomen by the decree of King Henry VIII, lovely Elizabeth “Bess” Brooke realizes for the first time that beauty can be hazardous. Although Bess has no desire to wed the aging…
View Post
From the back of the audio case: The upcoming holiday season is all about showing off her talents as a pastry chef for college-age Dakota Walker – when she’s not busy stitching at Walker & Daughter, the coziest little yarn shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Now, with the help of the family that’s always sustained her, including the women of the Friday Night Knitting Club, Dakota remembers what is…
View Post
First line: The distance across the Narrow Seas between Calais, the last English outpost on the coast of France, and the town of Dover, in Kent, was less than twenty-five miles. From the back cover: Pretty, flirtatious, and ambitious. Nan Bassett hopes that an appointment at the court of King Henry VIII will bring her a grand marriage. But soon after she becomes a maid of honor to Queen Jane,…
View Post
It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. As you can see, not much happened on my blog last week and not much…
View Post
Now available in paperback with a cool new cover: About the book: After the unexpected death of her parents, shy and sheltered Ginny Selvaggio, a young woman with Asperger’s syndrome, seeks comfort in the kitchen. The rich aroma of ribollita, painstakingly recreated from her Italian grandmother’s handwritten recipe, calms her senses. But it also draws an unexpected visitor—the ghost of Nonna herself—and Ginny soon discovers she has the power to…
View Post
Another challenge has come to a close. As you can see from my list, I finished reading 24 out of the 25 books I had listed and I am in the middle of reading the last one right now. I was also able to read an additional 9 books during this time that were not on my original list. That puts my total number of books read from September 23…
View Post
It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. Another week of not much reading happening. I have been busy trying to finish up…
View Post
In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I’ll post what books I’ve received either by mailbox/library/store. Purchased: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie I have always been fascinated with Catherine the Great and I knew I had to get this one. What’s in your mailbox?
View Post
From the back of the audio case: The Grey sisters had only each other when their mother died years ago. Their father provided for them physically on Water’s Edge, the ranch that had been in their family for three generations; each of them, however, longed for their father’s love. Winona, the oldest, knew early on that she could never get it. An over-weight dreamer and reader, she didn’t exhibit the…
View Post
First line: I was a child of eight in April of the year of our Lord fourteen hundred and ninety-eight. From the back cover: Beautiful. Seductive. Innocent. Jane Popyncourt was brought to the court as a child to be ward of the king and a companion to his daughters – the princesses Margaret and Mary. With no money of her own, Jane could not hope for a powerful marriage, or…
View Post
CONGRATULATIONS to Mo Wilson winner of Bring Me Home for Christmas by Robyn Carr Random.org selected the winners. Thanks to all who entered the giveaway!
View Post
It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs. The last two weeks have gone by in a blur and I’m sorry to say…
View Post
In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I’ll post what books I’ve received either by mailbox/library/store. *** This is for the last 2 weeks. For Review: The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry This just came out in paperback and I can’t wait to read it. From the library: Knit the Season (audio book) By Kate Jacobs This is…
View Post
First line: Forty-four years old. From the back cover: As Christine approaches her forty-fourth birthday, life isn’t looking particularly rosy. Admittedly, her career has never been better, but her personal life has been pretty much dead in the water since she discovered her husband was sleeping with her (former) best friend. Now, not only is Christine divorced and childless – she doesn’t even have a cat! – she is beginning…
View Post
FIR is hosted by Katrina atCallapidderdays. Every Wednesday this fall, Katrina will be posting a question about reading. This week’s question: Share a special memory relating to books or reading — something you’ll never forget. I have a lot of memories relating to books and reading but the best one I have involves my dad reading to us at the dining room table during dinner. He was an elementary…
View Post
First line: It began with President Coyle’s children, Ethan and Zoe, both high-profile personalities since they had arrived in Washington, and probably even before that. From the inside cover: THE ONLY WAY Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he’s ever been part of. The president’s son and daughter have been abducted from their school – an impossible crime, but somehow the…
View Post
First line: I decided to listen to my family and get back out there. From the back cover: Voluptuous, sensuous, alluring and fun. Barely 40 DWF seeks special man to share starlit nights. Must love dogs. Life after divorce for Sarah Hurlihy consists of juggling her job as a preschool teacher and the demands of her interfering family. Then her bossy big sister decides to place a personal ad for…
View Post
First line: Two days before my sixteenth birthday, I woke up so early that my maid was still asleep on the floor at the foot of my bed. From the back cover: In seventeenth-century China, in an elaborate villa on the shores of Hangzhou’s West Lake, Peony lives a sheltered life. One night, during a theatrical performance in her family’s garden, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man and…
View Post
Here are my reading stats for November! Books read: 11 Books I read (reviewed ones have * and link to review; books not yet reviewed will be linked up once review is posted.) The Secret History of the Pink Carnation* by Lauren Willig Until There Was You* by Kristan Higgins Left Neglected* by Lisa Genova Peony in Love* by Lisa See It’s a Waverly Life* by Maria Murnane Bring Me…
View Post