Month in Review: October 2018

October was so, so busy - it felt like we were running around all month!  We started the month by taking a family vacation to Memphis; we all had a great time and it was nice to be able to spend time together.  Unfortunately, the night before we left for our trip, Tom and I were in a car accident.  We're fine and the other driver was at fault, but my car was pretty banged up, so we had to deal with that right when we got back.  After 10 days in the repair shop, I have my little car back, good as new!

Tom and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this month, as well as 15 years together. Sometimes it's really hard to believe it's been that long!  Every year we've been trying to stick to the "traditional" anniversary gifts, and the 5th year is wood.  We planted two boxwood bushes in the backyard, and Tom gifted me with a wooden bookmark - so perfect!

My sister and I attended the Morristown Festival of Books for the first time, and we loved it!  So many great authors and we even got to meet one of our favorites, Kate Morton!  In more book news, I finally got up the courage to volunteer with my Friends of the Library group at their annual book sale.  I spent a morning making sure all the displays were fully stocked and neat while customers shopped, and of course I had to grab some books for myself. 

We went to the movies twice and saw Venom (not what I expected) and Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (fun but not as good as the original).  Team Outlaw had a pretty good month in fantasy football and we're now 4-3!  We were tied for first for a week, but now we're back down to the middle of the pack.  And thankfully, we had a lot of trick or treaters on Halloween and gave away most of our candy, so now I won't eat it!

The Books

 

Cinder (reread) // Jamaica Inn //  The "I Do" Deli // Crazy Rich Asians

Guess Who (review to come) // The Clockmaker's Daughter // The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (review to come) // The Perfume Garden

The Dry // The Winter Sea // The Residence (review to come) // Royally Screwed

The Posts and Reviews

5 Books to Read Before You Take a Trip To Disney World
Top Ten Tuesday: Longest Books I've Ever Read 
Review: The Other Side of Lost 
TBR Expectations 
Morristown Festival of Books 
Review: Playing With Matches 
Review: The "I Do" Deli 
Three Days in Memphis 
Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania 
Spooky Mini-Reviews
Nonfiction November 2018: My Year in Nonfiction So Far
Book Haul #2

The Posts I Loved

Amy at A Magical World of Words lists 5 classic novels you should read, even if you don't like classics

Laura at Boats Against the Current discusses new genres she's discovered

Tracy at Cornerfolds breaks down 5 horror books that actually terrified her

Michelle at Pink Polka Dot Books writes a break-up letter to confusing books 

Sam at We Live and Breathe Books talks retellings

Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books lists 10 ways you might be a book blogging cliché

How was your October?  Did you dress up for Halloween?

Backlist Mini-Reviews: Time Travel Romances

I think you guys know by now that I'm a sucker for time travel romances - and I've found two more!

Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins (2015)

Cassandra feels trapped in a high-society town until she meets Lawrence on the beach, but their relationship becomes complicated when they realize they are separated by 90 years.

In 2015, Cassandra is lost: she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, she has few friends, and she doesn't fit in.  In 1925, Lawrence's life is being planned out for him by his father and uncle, and he's too scared to tell them that he really wants to be a writer.  Through some rip in time, Cassandra and Lawrence meet on the beach of the house they share, decades apart.  Their relationship was a bit insta-lovey, but it worked here.  They find a kindred spirit in each other, and the circumstances under which they meet are rather romantic, so it's forgiven!

I liked the way the author played with the time travel aspect, especially how Cassandra is concerned with changing the future.  When she discovers that Lawrence is supposed to be murdered in just two weeks, she obviously wants to stop it, but she worries that maybe she is the one putting things in motion.  Things got a little tense as the story inched closer to that night, and I worried for Lawrence.  I enjoyed the way the story moved between the two characters' points of view, and they felt very distinct, especially since Collins did a great job creating the 1920s scenes.  The ending was very clever and unexpected.  4 stars 

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (2011)

After the death of her sister, Eva Ward travels to Trelowarth, an estate in Cornwall where the sisters spent their childhood summers.  While there, she finds herself inexplicably traveling back and forth to 1715, leaving her wondering where her place really is in the world.

This was my first Susanna Kearsley book and I can confidently say it won't be my last.  I loved Kearsley's writing; it's very elegant and rich without being stuffy, and the gothic, almost melancholy feel comes through strong, especially in the first part of the book.

Eva is an interesting main character.  Even though she is close to the family who lives at Trelowarth (and they are all fabulous characters), she finds herself drawn to the inhabitants of 1715, eventually falling in love with one of the brothers who lives there.  I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been for Eva to not be able to control the time travel; she would disappear and reappear without warning.  I actually wanted a bit more of the romance between Eva and Daniel, which is surprising for me.  The way the author tied in real historical events was interesting, although the pacing of the story felt a bit slow at times.  However, there was an unexpected twist at the end that left me with a huge smile on my face and brought the whole story together.  4.5 stars

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Daisy Jones and the Six

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

Daisy Jones and the Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Expected publication date: March 7, 2019

In 1979, Daisy Jones and The Six split up. Together, they had redefined the 70’s music scene, creating an iconic sound that rocked the world. Apart, they baffled a world that had hung on their every verse.

This book is an attempt to piece together a clear portrait of the band’s rise to fame and their abrupt and infamous split. The following oral history is a compilation of interviews, emails, transcripts, and lyrics, all pertaining to the personal and professional lives of the members of the band The Six and singer Daisy Jones.

While I have aimed for a comprehensive and exhaustive approach, I must acknowledge that full and complete accounts from all parties involved has proved impossible. Some people were easier to track down than others, some were more willing to talk than others, and some, unfortunately, have passed on.

All of which is to say that while this is the first and only authorised account from all represented perspectives, it should be noted that, in matters both big and small, reasonable people disagree.

The truth often lies, unclaimed, in the middle. - from Goodreads

I just love Taylor Jenkins Reid, and it seems like she's yet again branching out in a new direction with her latest book - I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Book Haul #2

I recently volunteered with my Friends of the Library group at their annual book sale, and of course I couldn't resist picking up a few books of my own!  Here are the books I grabbed (and seriously, for $0.50 each, you can't go wrong!):

    

The Girl on the Train (to replace a copy someone borrowed from me and never returned!) // The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society // Clara and Mr. Tiffany

    

A Royal Match // The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes // Under the Wide and Starry Sky

    

The Girl You Left Behind // The Rosie Effect // The Tea Rose

 

Have you read any of these?  Where should I start first?

Nonfiction November 2018: My Year in Nonfiction So Far

Last year I joined in on Nonfiction November for the first time, and I loved it!  I found so many new bloggers to follow and my TBR grew exponentially.  I was inspired to read more nonfiction in 2018 and I've been looking forward to this event all year!  Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness is hosting the first week of Nonfiction November 2018, which is all about our year in nonfiction reading.  So far this year I've read 19 nonfiction books and so many of them have been fantastic.

My two favorites and the ones I recommend the most are:

 

The Radium Girls // Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

I've read a lot of female-centric stories:

   

Princesses Behaving Badly // The Girls of Atomic City // Code Girls // Wonder Women

But my tastes are pretty broad and I've read stories about space, ice cream, marriage, and sinking ships, too:

   

In Harm's Way // Sweet Spot // Ask an Astronaut // How to be Married

For this Nonfiction November, I'm hoping to find even more new bloggers to follow and of course, to add more books to my TBR!  I want to read more nonfiction, but I never seem to have that many on my TBR.  And here are the books I'm hoping to get to this month:

   

#GIRLBOSS // The Lost City of Z // The Last Castle // Fly Girls

   

From the Corner of the Oval // The Residence // Sometimes Amazing Things Happen // The Electric Woman

 

What have been some of your favorite nonfiction reads of the year?



Spooky Mini-Reviews

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (2017)

After her husband's death, Elsie is sent to his family's country estate to await the birth of her child.  The sojourn, however, is anything but calming as strange things start happening around the house, including the appearance of several life-like wooden figures.

If you're looking for a spooky read without too much gore, this is the book for you.  An estate that everyone in the local village stays away from, possessed portraits - this story had such a strong eerie, gothic feel to it without being cheesy.  The book is told through three storylines: Elsie's time at The Bridge, the estate, in 1865; Elsie's time at an insane asylum (and because she's being accused of murder, you know something went down at The Bridge); and through the diary of an ancestor, which shed some light on the house's current creepy issues.

I loved Elsie; she's very strong and pragmatic, definitely ahead of her time.  She doesn't want to believe something weird is going on at The Bridge, that there must be some explanation.  If it were me, and sinister wooden paintings were appearing and moving around my house, I'd be out of there in a second.  I though the origin portion of the story was interesting, but it was also a little outlandish and didn't necessarily fit with the feel of the rest of the book.  4 stars

The Widow's House by Carol Goodman (2017)

Jess and Clare move to a small town in the Hudson Valley to work on their marriage and their writing, but the house at which they become caretakers has a dark past, and it may be coming to get them.

Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment for me.  It wasn't scary, spooky, or eerie at all.  It felt cheesy, and the author's attempts to create tension all fell flat.  It seemed like she took every cliché and threw it all into one book.  Haunted house? Check. Mental asylum? Check. Weird puppets? Check. Potential psychic abilities? Check. Family secrets? Check.

The whole backstory to the house's past seemed simple (a woman and her newborn freeze to death one night), but the author made it so convoluted and repetitive.  Poor Clare was just a mess - she had a crappy childhood; she ended up in an institution for a little while; her husband was one of the most selfish and manipulative characters I've come across.  It seemed like everything bad that could happen to her, did.  There was a big twist in this book that actually could have been really cool, but like everything else, it was so overdone and over-the-top that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. 2 stars

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Gilded Wolves

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

The Gilded Wolves
Roshani Chokshi
Expected publication date: January 15, 2019

Set in a darkly glamorous world The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts:

An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive. - from Goodreads

A treasure hunt through Paris?  I'm in!