Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring TBR

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is our spring TBR.  I have one book left over from my winter TBR (The Villa) that I included here, and then I tried to pick some books that have been languishing on my TBR (and shelves!) for far too long.


What's on your spring TBR?

Friday, March 15, 2024

Little Free Library Sightings

It's always fun to see a Little Free Library "out in the wild!"  I love to spot them, browse their selection, leave a book if possible, and then look them up on the official website, because sometimes they have interesting stories to go along with them!  There's also an app you can download to find local Little Free Libraries where you can even "check in" to keep track of the ones you've visited!  Here are a couple I've visited recently that actually aren't mapped in the app, but we came across them anyway!

This Little Free Library, called Raritan Library, is located at the edge of a park, just beside an elementary school.  We've passed it a couple times when going to the playground with Henry.  It was built and installed as part of an Eagle Scout project in 2021.  It currently has mostly adult books in it, but I've grabbed a book for Henry from there, too!
#123610 - We came across this LFL just outside a big public playground that we took Henry to for the first time recently.  It was installed by a Girl Scout Troop for a project in 2021.  It has an official LFL charter number and sign but for some reason is not on the official LFL maps.  In any event, the first time we saw this library, it was actually empty.  I made a mental note to bring some baby books we were looking to unhaul the next time we visited, but of course I forgot!  But, it was nice to see some books in there the second time!  And since they're all "adult" books, there are some choices for parents, too!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Just For The Summer

Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

Abby Jimenez
Expected publication date: April 2, 2024
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together? - from Goodreads


Friday, March 8, 2024

Quick Reviews

 She Wouldn't Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha (2021)

Maria is a 39-year-old wife and mother, totally overwhelmed by her job and family - until the day she wakes up as her 17-year-old self, unsure of how she got there or how to get back to her family.  She comes to realize that she has a chance to change history, but the change will prevent her from meeting her husband or having her children in the future - how does she make this impossible choice?  I love time travel stories and I was so taken with the premise of this one, but unfortunately, I was left with more questions than answers and it hindered my enjoyment of this book.  We find out that a certain event propels Maria into the past, where she learns she isn't the only one this has happened to.  She then discovers she has been sent back for a "purpose," which to me wasn't super clear - like, if you couldn't figure out this purpose, what was the point?  And also, there's basically no going back, but completing your purpose will change the future you thought you knew.  So, why these people?  Why this purpose?  And since you can't go back to your old life, what is the point of you reliving your life, albeit very differently?  Would certain things still happen, regardless?  And should you (or could you) try to change those things, too?  I didn't care for the bit of insta-love that was thrown in as well.  I did enjoy the connections between the characters and trying to figure out how it would all work out.  Incredible premise, but the execution didn't work well for me.  3 stars


Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (2023)
 
When a college hockey team and ice skating team are forced to share a rink, sparks fly between the captain and the star skater.  Anastasia doesn't have time for a relationship, but will she make room for a new partner?  I have to admit, I'm not quite sure what to think about this one - it's definitely going to end up being 3 stars for me, though.  There were parts I liked - the college setting is one I don't read often, so it was nice to revisit that.  It was way spicier than the cover might make you think (although sometimes it felt like the sex scenes were taking over the story).  The timeline is realistic (no real insta-love here).  But, I did have issues with it.  First off, there were WAY too many side characters to keep track of and after awhile I just stopped caring.  The book is at least 100 pages too long (it's well over 400 pages, there's a lot of repetition in the forming of the relationship between Anastasia and Nathan, and there were plot points that could have been omitted entirely while important ones were totally glossed over).  While it makes sense than Anastasia would be deeply in touch with her emotions after many years of therapy, I felt like the characters were a little too self-aware (and mature, maybe?) for their ages, and there's so much talking at the expense of actual plot.  And don't get me started on that epilogue!  3 stars


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Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Fate Be Changed

Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

Farrah Rochon
Expected publication date: April 2, 2024
What if the witch gave Merida a different spell? This New York Times best-selling series twists Disney•Pixar's Brave into a fast-paced story in which Merida is sent back in time.

If you could change your fate, would you? Merida understands that as princess of Clan DunBroch, she has certain obligations—but that doesn’t mean she has to like it. Especially when one of those obligations means losing her freedom by becoming betrothed to a man she has never met. Merida balks at this tradition, but her mother Queen Elinor insists that Merida must do this to embrace her role as future queen.

Determined to chart her own path, Merida follows magical wisps to a witch’s cottage, where she is given a magic pastry and promised it will incite “a great transformation” in her mother. But instead of feeding Elinor the pastry, Merida eats it herself.

Merida awakens in the past, a now-teenage Elinor holding a knife to her throat and accusing her of espionage. She’s been transported to a time when the Clans MacCameron and DunBroch are bitter enemies. And it just so happens that the timing of Merida’s arrival has kept Elinor and Fergus from meeting.

Will Merida be able to bridge the rival clans, help her parents fall in love, and change her own fate? - from Goodreads


Monday, March 4, 2024

Michele's Monday Picks #41

Angela is so generous to let me pop in with my little series, Michele’s Monday Picks!  I’m not a blogger or bookstagrammer, but I love getting excited about new releases with the rest of you.  Here I’ll be sharing new books I’m really looking forward to!

*******************************************************************
 
By Elsie Silver
Expected Publication: April 9, 2024

From Goodreads:
Rosie Belmont has been driving me wild for years. The good kind of wild. The bad kind of wild. But mostly the kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend’s little sister and knowing you can’t have her.

After living in the city, she comes blasting back into Rose Hill like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic.

And one wide-eyed desperate plea for a job is all it takes for me to hire her.

Forbes may have labeled me the World’s Hottest Billionaire but all I care about is opening my new recording studio. Something that comes to a screeching halt when I end up face-to-face with a young girl who claims I’m her biological father.

Now I spend my days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old all while trying desperately to keep my hands the hell off my best friend’s little sister.

I vow to keep Rosie at arm’s length. I try to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her verbal sparring is merely foreplay—friction that turns to blistering heat.

I know damn well I shouldn’t cross that line.

But shouldn’t and can’t are two very different things.

And the only thing I truly can’t do is resist her.


If you haven’t yet started your Elsie Silver journey, here is the perfect time as she starts a new series - do you think you’ll be picking this one up?

Friday, March 1, 2024

Month in Review: February 2024

 

February was a fun, kind of quiet month.  I took my niece out for her birthday (which was in January), and she chose lunch at Panera and browsing around Barnes & Noble - I love that she's become such a big reader!  We had two snowstorms this month, which is practically more snow than we've gotten in the last few years combined.  One of them was totally unexpected (at least the severity of it) and we ended up getting about 10 inches overnight, which was quite the surprise to wake up to.  My siblings and I decided last year to not buy gifts for all the kids/cousins anymore, because with a family as big as ours, it just gets overwhelming.  We decided instead to do a get-together for the kids.  Last year, we went to see the Christmas lights at the zoo, and this year we decided to go to one of those indoor trampoline parks, and the kids had a blast (I'll be honest, I think the adults did, too!).  With everyone's busy schedules, it's nice that we were able to find a day to spend together.  Work has been fairly quiet for me, as the accountants are in their busy season.  I do have some added administrative tasks, which fill some time.

Henry is doing great, learning new words every day (and I've realized I have to be careful about what I say around him, because he has started to repeat EVERYTHING).  He loves to play outside - we took him to a big playground here in town, and now he is constantly asking to go back to the "big park."  He's also very into art lately - my stepmom got him his own art cart and stocked it with supplies, which came in really handy when it snowed and we were stuck inside.  We did get to play in the snow a bit, though, and Henry loved it - except he kept wanting to use our shovels, so Tom bought him his own kid-sized one!


The Books




The Posts and Reviews



How are you doing?


* This post contains affiliate links; I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.