Friday, April 26, 2024
Quick Reviews
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Unread Books On My Shelves
Friday, April 19, 2024
Fiction/Nonfiction Quick Reviews: The Romanov Edition
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Paradise Problem
Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.
Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.
But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie. - from Goodreads
Monday, April 15, 2024
Meeting Abby Jimenez! Plus, A Giveaway!
The event started at 6pm on the 4th floor of the bookstore, and we chose our seats shortly before that. Every chair was full for the sold-out event! Originally, Abby was supposed to be in conversation with author BK Borison, but she had to back out due to illness, so Abby was interviewed by AD Jarvis, a local author who happened to already have a ticket to the event and is a big Abby fan. For someone who had to fill in at the last minute, I think she did a great job! She asked Abby questions about the new book (of course), her characters, and her writing process. Although a self-proclaimed introvert, Abby is a wonderful public speaker - she’s warm, engaging, funny, and charismatic. Her love for her books and her characters really shines through. She seemed so happy to be there, and that’s really awesome for fans to see. She even dropped some information about her next book!
After an hour of interviews and an audience Q&A session, the meet-and-greet portion of the evening began. Since we were near the back of the audience, we did have to wait quite awhile, but it’s nice that Abby took the time to briefly chat with each person, sign their books, and snap a photo. My sister met her first, and they had a good laugh about Abby almost spelling her name wrong in her personalization (my sister is one of those elusive one L Michele’s!). Then it was my turn, and of course I can never think of anything smart to say, so I just mentioned that the previous guest was my twin sister, and she was the one who got me hooked on her books. Abby replied that she loves meeting friend or sister pairs and hearing which one found her books first.
LOL, yes, my eyes are open, but just barely! |
- You must be at least 13 years old and a resident of the United States to enter.
- The giveaway will be open until April 22, 2024.
- The winner will be notified by email, and they will have three days to respond with their full name and mailing address. If they don't, another winner will be chosen.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Little Free Library Sightings
#111671 - This LFL is also near my sister's house, not far from the previous one, so it was easy to make a stop. It was completely stuffed with books! Unfortunately, I didn't have any with me to leave. I love the bright color of the library, as well as the Dr. Seuss quote on the side, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
Monday, April 8, 2024
Michele's Monday Picks #43
Friday, April 5, 2024
Review: Wild Card by Staci Hart
The hot baseball player I’m forced to stay with for my best friend’s wedding is off limits.
Remy Winfield has more muscles than manners, and he’s on a mission to get me into bed by way of the filthiest mouth I’ve ever wanted to kiss. He doesn’t care about my long time crush or my certainty that we’re finally about to happen.
Remy's sure I’ll break first and kiss him, and he’ll tease me to the limit to make sure I do. I might be a Lady, but I can still play his dirty little game. It’s perfectly safe, totally harmless.
Until I fall for him.
Suddenly, Mr. Long-Time Crush doesn’t matter at all.
And my best friend can never know. - from Goodreads
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Demon of Unrest
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Month in Review: March 2024
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Can't-Wait Wednesday: The House on Biscayne Bay
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s atmospheric new novel.
With the Great War finally behind them, thousands of civilians and business moguls alike flock to South Florida with their sights set on making a fortune. When wealthy industrialist Robert Barnes and his wife, Anna, build Marbrisa, a glamorous estate on Biscayne Bay, they become the toast of the newly burgeoning society. Anna and Robert appear to have it all, but in a town like Miami, appearances can be deceiving, and one scandal can change everything.
Years later following the tragic death of her parents in Havana, Carmen Acosta journeys to Marbrisa, the grand home of her estranged older sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher Wyatt. On the surface, the gilded estate looks like paradise, but Carmen quickly learns that nothing at Marbrisa is as it seems. The house has a treacherous legacy, and Carmen’s own life is soon in jeopardy . . . unless she can unravel the secrets buried beneath the mansion’s facade and stop history from repeating itself. - from Goodreads
Monday, March 25, 2024
Michele's Monday Picks #42
Friday, March 22, 2024
Quick Reviews
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring TBR
Friday, March 15, 2024
Little Free Library Sightings
#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
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
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Can't-Wait Wednesday: Fate Be Changed
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