tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18016767057627745782024-03-18T15:13:11.209-04:00 Cerebral Girl in a Redneck Worldnfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.comBlogger1379125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-1133601895767792032019-03-14T13:52:00.000-04:002019-03-14T13:52:33.187-04:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: Almanac 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKZExFfrskur6-CepW18rRPosmktGZlotUVkny2Jf3VXFax8Aa4UdxVtFIq4mUtOiRQCzmLCW3CFl7eTn-TtduHvSOpnbLZH5b-N0KJx-Dbxs7Lct8om6IctK6yCKYET-6SR1Gh7fNtyQ/s1600/almanac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="234" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKZExFfrskur6-CepW18rRPosmktGZlotUVkny2Jf3VXFax8Aa4UdxVtFIq4mUtOiRQCzmLCW3CFl7eTn-TtduHvSOpnbLZH5b-N0KJx-Dbxs7Lct8om6IctK6yCKYET-6SR1Gh7fNtyQ/s200/almanac.jpg" width="156" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i>A one-of-a-kind annual featuring surprising facts, stunning color photos, arresting infographics, and illuminating maps that present the world in a whole new way.<br /><br />An almanac like you’ve never seen before, this arresting volume features key information on science, nature, history, and geography, spiked with cutting-edge ideas and spectacular visuals. Discover features that only National Geographic can deliver, including exquisite photography, explanatory infographics, illustrated timelines, and maps created by expert cartographers. Chapters include Exploration & Adventure, This Planet & Beyond, Life on Earth, and The Science of Us; featured topics range from the polar jet stream and how chameleons change colors to the world’s biggest cities and the science of addiction. It includes top travel trends, new explorations, and recent discoveries, as well as fascinating trivia. Enlightening for young and old, exquisitely designed, each page of this special almanac reveals something new about today’s world. </i><br />
<br />
• Paperback: 400 pages<br />
• Publisher: National Geographic (October 23, 2018)<br />
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<br />
<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<br />
My father raised me to have a ravenous curiosity for the world. I'm always asking "why?" and saying "I wonder..." So when I was offered this book for review, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a longtime in coming, but well worth the wait!<br />
<br />
In the foreword by Cara Santa Maria, she describes this book as<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...a compedium of adventure, science, photography, and wonder that will spark your curiosity and excite your senses. This book celebrates trailblazing scientists and explorers, and the contributions they've made to our understanding of the universe."</blockquote>
And so it is! This book is a feast for the eyes! Every page is in full color with beautiful photography. The book is broken into seven chapters:<br />
<ul>
<li>Trending 2019</li>
<li>Exploration & Adventure</li>
<li>This Planet & Beyond</li>
<li>Life on Earth</li>
<li>The Science of Us</li>
<li>Yesterday to Tomorrow</li>
<li>Our World</li>
</ul>
Each chapter begins with a "Quizmaster" by Cara Santa Maria, testing your knowledge with questions and listing the page on which the answers may be found. Questions like "What four nations have moon missions, past and present?", "What is the name of the fungus threatening the world's frog species?", and "In what continent is the ancient city of Timbuktu?"<br />
<br />
The book doesn't go into depth on any one subject, but rather is a "jack-of-all-trades", giving you enough of a sampling to pique your interest and make you want to learn more. It touches on hot topics like smart cars, gene editing, and drug-resistant bacteria, as well as lighter topics like butterflies and bagels. Regardless of the topic, it's interesting, educational and visually appealing!<br />
<br />
A section on US History includes a glossary of state flags, including the New Mexico state flag...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico, the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures."</blockquote>
And includes a quick guide to other US territories like Guam and Puerto Rico.<br />
<br />
Throughout the book there are "Best of @NATGEO" sections containing some of the best photography of National Geographic. Beautiful landscapes, fascinating people, awe-inspiring weather and stunning sea life. Each image pulls you in, seeking to absorb every minute detail.<br />
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<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/10/national-geographic-almanac-2019-on-tour-october-2018/">website</a> for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Monday, November 19th: <a href="https://alyssarossblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/19/book-review-national-geographic-almanac-2019/">BookExpression</a><br />
Monday, November 26th: <a href="https://www.vcolotta.com/bookshelf/ng-almanac-2019">Thoughts From a Highly Caffeinated Mind</a><br />
Monday, November 26th: <a href="https://msnoseinabook.com/2018/11/26/blog-tour-book-review-almanac-2019/">Ms. Nose in a Book</a><br />
Tuesday, March 5th: <a href="http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com/2019/03/almanac-2019-blog-tour-review.html">A Dream Within a Dream</a><br />
Wednesday, March 6th: <a href="http://manoflabook.com/wp/book-review-national-geographic-almanac-2019/">Man of La Book</a><br />
Friday, March 8th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Buy09PPH7Ju/">Instagram: @thepagesinbetween</a><br />
Tuesday, March 12th: <a href="http://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com/2019/03/blog-tour-review-of-almanac-2019-by.html">From the TBR Pile</a><br />
Wednesday, March 13th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/biblio_files/">Instagram: @biblio_files</a><br />
Thursday, March 14th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
TBD: Monday, March 4th: <a href="http://familycorner.blogspot.com/">Diary of a Stay at Home Mom</a><br />
TBD: Friday, March 8th: <a href="https://intothehallofbooks.com/">Into the Hall of Books</a><br />
TBD: Monday, March 11th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/shereadswithcats/">Instagram: @shereadswithcats</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word:</b></i> This book lived up to my expectations. The quality of the book is high, with heavy gauge glossy pages and gorgeous photography. It just feels expensive and like it is going to hold up very well through many years on my bookshelf and being thumbed through. The photography is what we've come to expect of National Geographic. It's concise and to the point, and touches on many, many different topics. If I were to criticize anything, it would be that it may be a little too light on substance about many subjects. It left me a little <i>too </i>wanting rather than merely piquing my interest. It's hard to give a topic like climate change it's due significance in a mere paragraph, but the illustrations help add weight and meaning when a topic is light on real details.Overall I am very pleased with this book which is a true feast for the eyes and mind.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/products/national-geographic-almanac-2019">National Geographic</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/national-geographic-almanac-2019-national-geographic/1128769304?ean=9781426219818#/">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2q3lsYg">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781426219818">Indiebound</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>My Rating: </b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiseLmWDD3ZOEn9gUpvjuheMoe3D1Zq3n6gUyPKPtlfeHwiO33soj1p4LvkkgCihix_7AYAirA-N-Od4_PzcayE69anqto85gHBADCOTZDSt-9-bdq5DLE2wvMupVZWMT7SLFyHp_tbN9N/s1600/Bplus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="55" data-original-width="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiseLmWDD3ZOEn9gUpvjuheMoe3D1Zq3n6gUyPKPtlfeHwiO33soj1p4LvkkgCihix_7AYAirA-N-Od4_PzcayE69anqto85gHBADCOTZDSt-9-bdq5DLE2wvMupVZWMT7SLFyHp_tbN9N/s1600/Bplus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-44445652165685248092019-02-06T00:30:00.000-05:002019-02-06T00:30:15.595-05:00I'll Be Back<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hiatus</span></b></span></div>
<br />
It's been a crazy year and a half. From Hurricane Irma hitting us head-on to my father's death, to four months solid of weekend protesting against illegal slaughter farms and cruelty and now a rollover car accident which has totaled my car, things have been hectic and exhausting. I'll be back once I get my bearings about me. Until then enjoy your reading!nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-76234292244779855432018-11-21T14:19:00.000-05:002018-11-21T14:19:12.151-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects by Teasel E Muir-Harmony<h2>
<a href="https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/products/apollo-to-the-moon" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-68055" height="200" src="https://tlcbooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Apollo-to-the-Moon-Cover-231x300.jpg" width="154" /></a></h2>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>A celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo missions to the
moon, this narrative uses 50 key artifacts from the Smithsonian archives
to tell the story of the groundbreaking space exploration program.</b> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Bold photographs, fascinating graphics, and engaging stories commemorate
the 20th century's most important space endeavor: NASA's Apollo program
to reach the moon. From the lunar rover and an emergency oxygen mask to
space food and moon rocks, it's a carefully curated array of
objects--complete with intriguing back stories and profiles of key
participants. </i><br />
<br />
<i>This book showcases the historic space exploration program that landed
humans on the moon, advanced the world's capabilities for space travel,
and revolutionized our sense of humanity's place in the universe. Each
historic accomplishment is symbolized by a different object, from a
Russian stamp honoring Yuri Gagarin and plastic astronaut action figures
to the Apollo 11 command module, piloted by Michael Collins as
Armstrong and Aldrin made the first moonwalk, together with the
monumental art inspired by these moon missions. Throughout, Apollo to
the Moon also tells the story of people who made the journey possible:
the heroic astronauts as well as their supporters, including President
John F. Kennedy, newsman Walter Cronkite, and NASA scientists such as
Margaret Hamilton. </i><br />
<br />
Hardcover, 304 pages<br />
Published October 30th 2018 by National Geographic Society<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Fondly I recall wandering the halls of the National Air and Space Museum when I was director there in the 1970s and eavesdropping on visiting families.</blockquote>
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, National Geographic gives us an illustrative book about this landmark event, filled with photographs and information about America's journey to the moon.<br />
<br />
This book opens with a foreword from Michael Collins, a Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 pilot and the director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum from 1971 to 1978. He is the photographer who took one of the most iconic images of space exploration, showing the Apollo 11 lunar module above the moon's surface with Earth in the background; a photo which Collins named "Three Billion Plus Two". Collins provides a good introduction to this book, effectively summarizing the space program and some of the key individuals involved in space travel. He acts as a reliable narrator of the early days of space travel.<br />
<br />
This book is divided into nine sections: The Early Days, New Challenges, The Assembly, Liftoff!, In Flight Moonwalking, Lunar Science, Overcoming Catastrophe, and Return to Earth. Each section begins with an introduction and is filled with artifacts pertinent to that stage of the space program. Quite appropriately the first artifact following Collins's foreword is a plaque containing fabric and a piece of wood from the plane of the Wright Brothers that took flight in 1903, the fragments of which Neil Armstrong took with him into space aboard the lunar module Eagle in July 1969, on that famous flight that put man on the moon.<br />
<br />
Some of the artifacts in the book are a given, things like the Vanguard TV-3 Satellite, the first satellite launch that failed spectacularly in 1957 following the equally successful launch by Russia of their first satellite Sputnik. Or the Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule, which launched the first American into space on May 5, 1961.<br />
<br />
Some items are more intimate and personal, like the Ansco camera that John Glenn bought at a drug store and used to catch photos from space in 1962, or the "Urine Collection and Transfer Assembly" that was used by astronauts on the Apollo 11 flight for...well, urine collection during space travel. And the museum collection includes the more mundane, like small plastic toy astronauts and lunar roving vehicles from the '70s.<br />
<br />
At the end of the book you will find a detailed Apollo timeline, as well as further reading suggestions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/11/national-geographics-apollo-to-the-moon-on-tour-november-2018/">website</a> for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, November 6th: <a href="http://litandlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/apollo-to-moon-history-in-50-objects-by.html">Lit and Life</a><br />
Wednesday, November 7th: <a href="http://booksaremything.blogspot.com/2018/11/tlc-book-tour-apollo-to-moon.html">Tina Says…</a><br />
Thursday, November 8th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7H335Hnf5/">Instagram: @giuliland</a><br />
Monday, November 12th: <a href="https://www.readingreality.net/2018/11/review-apollo-to-the-moon-by-teasel-e-muir-harmony/">Reading Reality</a><br />
Wednesday, November 14th: <a href="http://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com/2018/11/blog-tour-review-of-apollo-to-moon-by.html">From the TBR Pile</a><br />
Thursday, November 15th: <a href="https://alyssarossblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/book-review-apollo-to-the-moon-a-history-in-50-objects-by-teasel-e-muir-harmony/">BookExpression</a><br />
Monday, November 19th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reading.wanderwoman/">Instagram: @reading.wanderwoman</a><br />
Tuesday, November 20th: <a href="http://familycorner.blogspot.com/">Diary of a Stay at Home Mom</a><br />
Wednesday, November 21st: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Thursday, November 22nd: <a href="http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/">I Wish I Lived in a Library</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://e135-abookaweek.blogspot.com/">A Book a Week</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word: </b></i>This book is essential to anyone interested in the history of the space program. It's tough to do a book like this and not have it feel like a text book. This one walks that line. It's informative, but it also humanizes the artifacts and offers you a personal look inside space exploration. A wealth of knowledge and a little better understanding of why we did what we did and how America became the first to put a man on the moon, while acknowledging its failures and embarrassments along the way.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/products/apollo-to-the-moon">National Geographic</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/apollo-to-the-moon-teasel-e-muir-harmony/1127952033?ean=9781426219931">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2AORcGR">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781426219931">IndieBound</a> <br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><br />
<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvEiZQOrgWSUvY9KisRZNhGtBBX75Pcfp0V0Ropj-T8cDUoLQbibgmfm3a7Pqsss91Xd4p2eVsX7TwQsaSCPv6jRqfqvxWCxmoX5FfrIvVTWFT2FwlJ8NGdEzrP8yTNjNGO8JHLr2tiRJ/s1600/Aminus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="63" data-original-width="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvEiZQOrgWSUvY9KisRZNhGtBBX75Pcfp0V0Ropj-T8cDUoLQbibgmfm3a7Pqsss91Xd4p2eVsX7TwQsaSCPv6jRqfqvxWCxmoX5FfrIvVTWFT2FwlJ8NGdEzrP8yTNjNGO8JHLr2tiRJ/s1600/Aminus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-53349100556568437232018-11-06T12:03:00.000-05:002018-11-06T12:03:09.051-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_6Nxy4_WoZbkAobLzDgnbiB2uZzVqCrkvAF8Pr6R4PJw8bJd7SIuf9x8NXATZ7E-JNGiZ6-DPf2_BRSgq4v34ClMTr6jXS4nJpNwN-tk0HxxreHSwp4J0Mq62KhcEdw892FaMDKM4nB9/s1600/Field+Guide+to+Birds+of+North+America+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1075" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_6Nxy4_WoZbkAobLzDgnbiB2uZzVqCrkvAF8Pr6R4PJw8bJd7SIuf9x8NXATZ7E-JNGiZ6-DPf2_BRSgq4v34ClMTr6jXS4nJpNwN-tk0HxxreHSwp4J0Mq62KhcEdw892FaMDKM4nB9/s200/Field+Guide+to+Birds+of+North+America+cover.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText13383081164098260230"><b>This fully revised
edition of the best-selling North American bird field guide is the most
up-to-date guide on the market. Perfect for beginning to advanced
birders, it is the only book organized to match the latest American
Ornithological Society taxonomy</b>.<br /><br />With more than 2.75 million
copies in print, this perennial bestseller is the most frequently
updated of all North American bird field guides. Filled with
hand-painted illustrations from top nature artists (including the
ever-popular hummingbird), this latest edition is poised to become an
instant must-have for every serious birder in the United States and
Canada. The 7th edition includes 37 new species for a total of 1,023
species; 16 new pages allow for 250 fresh illustrations; 80 new maps;
and 350 map revisions. With taxonomy revised to reflect the radical new
American Ornithological Society taxonomy established in 2016, the
addition of standardized banding codes, and text completely vetted by
birding experts, this new edition will top of the list of birding field
guides for years to come.</span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="row">
<span itemprop="bookFormat">Paperback</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">592 pages</span></div>
<div class="row">
Published
September 12th 2017
by National Geographic Society<br />
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<br /></div>
<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<br />
One of the joys of having your own home is having your own yard. And one of the joys of having your own yard is the wildlife that comes with it. Squirrels, opossums, raccoons, butterflies and bees, even rats (yes, they are wildlife, too! What's a squirrel, but a rat with a fluffy tail!) And, of course, birds!<br />
<br />
Every spring I keep an eye out for the baby birds that wind up on the ground, in order to protect them from the dogs and make sure the parents are caring for them. And at times in the past it has led to me trying to figure out what type of parent bird is attacking me in defense of its baby. I wish I'd had this guide then!<br />
<br />
This is a really nice guide! The cover is heavy gauge paper and glossy, and declares that the guide has <b>ALL 1,023 SPECIES</b> of North American birds! Now in its seventh edition, this guide has more than 900 maps and 3500 illustrations. The book is a nice size at 5.5 by 8 inches-- not too big and not too small!<br />
<br />
Open the book to find a Quick-Find Index on the inside cover listing every type of bird (i.e. grouse, eagle, martin, vireo) and a quick page listing. The inside of the back cover has a map key to common map symbols used throughout the book. Both the inside front and back covers fold out to reveal a "Visual Index of Bird Families".<br />
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The book is notched with quick tabs to Sandpipers, Gulls, Hawks, Flycatchers, Thrushes, Warblers and Sparrows. The introduction explains what species were included in the book, which includes some "accidental species" that have made appearances, but don't have a foothold in the country and have fewer than three sightings in the past two decades (or five sightings in the last hundred years). Some species are introduced species, like the European Starling, and are even deemed a nuisance. The book explains:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In general the ABA [American Birding Association] requires an introduced population to have been present and stable for at least 15 years to be considered established.</blockquote>
The book diagrams the parts of a bird, for those of us interested in an anatomy lesson, and talks about things like plumage variations and voice.<br />
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Each family listing outlines the different species found in that family and has a brief description of the family. For example, for the Anatidae family (ducks, geese, swans) it describes them as:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Web-footed, gregarious birds, ranging from small ducks to swans. Largely aquatic, but geese, swans, and some "puddle ducks" also graze on land.</blockquote>
It then tells us that there are 160 duck, geese and swan species worldwide, and 66 in North America.<br />
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Each listing then goes on to list each species, and includes illustrations for both juveniles and adults, maps of the range of the various species, their size, how their plumage changes as they mature, and a description of their voice. The species within a family are sorted, such as grouping together Whistling Ducks, or Perching Ducks (like our own invasive Muskovy Duck here in south Florida).<br />
<br />
At the end of the book is a list of "accidentals" and extinct species. Extinct species include the Labrador Duck, Passenger Pigeon, and the beautiful Carolina Parakeet (last seen in the early 1900s).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/11/national-geographic-field-guide-to-the-birds-of-north-america-7th-edition-on-tour-november-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, November 6th: <a href="http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/">she treads softly</a><br />
Tuesday, November 6th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Wednesday, November 7th: <a href="https://alyssarossblog.wordpress.com/">BookExpression</a><br />
Thursday, November 8th: <a href="http://helensbookblog.blogspot.com/">Helen’s Book Blog</a><br />
Friday, November 9th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/booksofmainandmaple/">Instagram: @booksofmainandmaple</a><br />
Monday, November 12th: <a href="http://www.birdchick.com/">Birdchick</a><br />
Monday, November 12th: <a href="https://minnesotabirdnerd.blogspot.com/">Minnesota Birdnerd</a><br />
Tuesday, November 13th: <a href="http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/">Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds</a><br />
Wednesday, November 14th: <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/">Doing Dewey</a><br />
Thursday, November 15th: <a href="https://secularhomeschooltoday.com/">Just a Secular Homeschooler</a><br />
Thursday, November 15th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wellreadmama/">Instagram: @wellreadmama</a><br />
Friday, November 16th: <a href="http://www.thebirdblogger.com/">The Bird Blogger</a><br />
Monday, November 19th: <a href="http://stephaniesbookreviews.weebly.com/">100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews</a><br />
Tuesday, November 20th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/megabunnyreads/">Instagram: @megabunnyreads</a><br />
Wednesday, November 21st: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
Monday, November 26th: <a href="http://eliotseats.com/">Eliot’s Eats</a><br />
Tuesday, November 27th: <a href="http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com/">A Dream Within a Dream</a><br />
Tuesday, November 27th: <a href="http://www.wellreadnaturalist.com/">Well-Read Naturalist</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> This book really has it all. It's thorough and concise. The book feels high-quality, and is beautifully illustrated and enormously informative. This one is a must-have for all birders, whether amateur or experienced!<br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssn_807C7fevLb5zHKGNMlqMwmBkSQPDmDdf_Ld1PEmyNLE3pV_sRvN7TYyiN1XJlhBCqwQImG4q7FcUhFQ2OphXyfsVtw-4Knkqd1DfNSjB0Un-o5UbdOyTAi5h3Rs50IqQsSgyaYXVS/s1600/Aplus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="61" data-original-width="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssn_807C7fevLb5zHKGNMlqMwmBkSQPDmDdf_Ld1PEmyNLE3pV_sRvN7TYyiN1XJlhBCqwQImG4q7FcUhFQ2OphXyfsVtw-4Knkqd1DfNSjB0Un-o5UbdOyTAi5h3Rs50IqQsSgyaYXVS/s1600/Aplus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-50899501120679577542018-06-08T21:20:00.000-04:002018-06-09T00:21:25.875-04:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicRxcFKkM_Kz05wiTQZkpt9jj1sFQhLRew9Km-mcdujUwWo6Rl3dClGHyzdNaKaVJPPnEOpH5dORMItfSt52yVVIrziApABGYKomciPDAtShXZD_DPEhOpTQoVooNWQCSyvb540bc6myc/s1600/The+Last+Ballad+PB+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="430" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicRxcFKkM_Kz05wiTQZkpt9jj1sFQhLRew9Km-mcdujUwWo6Rl3dClGHyzdNaKaVJPPnEOpH5dORMItfSt52yVVIrziApABGYKomciPDAtShXZD_DPEhOpTQoVooNWQCSyvb540bc6myc/s200/The+Last+Ballad+PB+cover.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053">The <b>New York Times</b>
bestselling author of the celebrated <b>A Land More Kind Than Home</b> and <b>This
Dark Road to Mercy</b> returns with this eagerly awaited new novel, set in
the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina in 1929 and inspired by
actual events. The chronicle of an ordinary woman’s struggle for dignity
and her rights in a textile mill, The Last Ballad is a moving tale of
courage in the face of oppression and injustice, with the emotional
power of Ron Rash’s <b>Serena</b>, Dennis Lehane’s <b>The Given Day</b>, and the
unforgettable films <b>Norma Rae</b> and <b>Silkwood</b>.<br /><br />Twelve times a week,
twenty-eight-year-old Ella May Wiggins makes the two-mile trek to and
from her job on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City,
North Carolina. The insular community considers the mill’s owners—the
newly arrived Goldberg brothers—white but not American and expects them
to pay Ella May and other workers less because they toil alongside
African Americans like Violet, Ella May’s best friend. While the dirty,
hazardous job at the mill earns Ella May a paltry nine dollars for
seventy-two hours of work each week, it’s the only opportunity she has.
Her no-good husband, John, has run off again, and she must keep her four
young children alive with whatever work she can find.<br /><br />When the
union leaflets begin circulating, Ella May has a taste of hope, a
yearning for the better life the organizers promise. But the mill
owners, backed by other nefarious forces, claim the union is nothing but
a front for the Bolshevik menace sweeping across Europe. To maintain
their control, the owners will use every means in their power, including
bloodshed, to prevent workers from banding together. On the night of
the county’s biggest rally, Ella May, weighing the costs of her choice,
makes up her mind to join the movement—a decision that will have lasting
consequences for her children, her friends, her town—indeed all that
she loves.<br /><br />Seventy-five years later, Ella May’s daughter Lilly,
now an elderly woman, tells her nephew about his grandmother and the
events that transformed their family. Illuminating the most painful
corners of their history, she reveals, for the first time, the tragedy
that befell Ella May after that fateful union meeting in 1929.<br /><br />Intertwining
myriad voices, Wiley Cash brings to life the heartbreak and bravery of
the now forgotten struggle of the labor movement in early
twentieth-century America—and pays tribute to the thousands of heroic
women and men who risked their lives to win basic rights for all
workers. Lyrical, heartbreaking, and haunting, this eloquent novel
confirms Wiley Cash’s place among our nation’s finest writers.</span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="row">
<span itemprop="bookFormat">Paperback</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">416 pages</span></div>
<div class="row">
Published
June 5th 2018
by William Morrow Paperbacks
<nobr class="greyText">
(first published October 3rd 2017)
</nobr>
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<i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053"><br /></span></i>
<b><i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053">About the Author</span></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJLZP6XRpK18ADFCnHkwGUYqrN_IQbg8qI45IwMfKAK_0_stmb2W1WP8JmB-fcdQsL1tfU9oFXOnqKvtlZAX0sa4fMQzPzgilRwRWXDSVbX-fYINJUBjPVrwIRyrq5BjbxbayFkWz2_CE/s1600/Wiley+Cash+AP+%25C2%25A9+Mallory+Brady+Cash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJLZP6XRpK18ADFCnHkwGUYqrN_IQbg8qI45IwMfKAK_0_stmb2W1WP8JmB-fcdQsL1tfU9oFXOnqKvtlZAX0sa4fMQzPzgilRwRWXDSVbX-fYINJUBjPVrwIRyrq5BjbxbayFkWz2_CE/s1600/Wiley+Cash+AP+%25C2%25A9+Mallory+Brady+Cash.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053">Wiley Cash is the award-winning and <b>New York Times</b> bestselling author of <b>A Land More Kind Than Home</b>. A native of North Carolina, he has held residency positions at Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University. He and his wife live in Wilmington, North Carolina. </span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText10344555607322917053">Check out the author's <a href="https://www.wileycash.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText10344555607322917053">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WileyCash/">Facebook</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText10344555607322917053">Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/WileyCash">Twitter</a></span><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053"> </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText10344555607322917053">Ella May knew she wasn't pretty, had always known it.</span><i><span id="freeText10344555607322917053"><br /></span></i></blockquote>
Based on one amazing real-life woman, this is the story of Ella May Wiggins who as a single mother became a union organizer and died fighting for worker's rights.<br />
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At the ripe young age of 29, Ella May finds herself raising four children alone while working a back-breaking job at a textile mill. She lives and works alongside members of the black community. In fact, her best friend and neighbor in Stumptown is a black woman by the name of Violet.<br />
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Ella's husband has run off...again. She knows she isn't much to look at, but she has been keeping company with on again/off again Charlie, who shares her love for music. Ella writes ballads in her free time. <i>Note: One of her ballads, <b>A Mill Mother's Lamen</b>t, was recorded by Pete Seger.</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Pretty took the will to be so and the money to do it and the time to see to it and the sleep to maintain it, and Ella didn't have any of those things.</blockquote>
Ella May never had much in life, and all she wants is to have happy children with food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads. She is struggling to do just that on her measly $9 a week, when she hears of a union. So she hikes to her first union meeting.<br />
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Ella is one tough and impressive lady...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But there was something about her that made him fear getting too close, something that told him she would just as soon spit in his eye as say hello.</blockquote>
Equality was important to Ella, both for blacks and for women, and she fought for both.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/06/wiley-cash-author-of-the-last-ballad-on-tour-june-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, June 5th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/the_need_to_read/">Instagram: @the_need_to_read</a><br />
Wednesday, June 6th: <a href="http://booknaround.blogspot.com/">BookNAround</a><br />
Thursday, June 7th: <a href="http://manoflabook.com/wp/">Man of La Book</a><br />
Friday, June 8th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Monday, June 11th: <a href="http://winingwife.com/">Wining Wife</a><br />
Tuesday, June 12th: <a href="https://jessicamapreviews.com/">Jessicamap Reviews</a><br />
Wednesday, June 13th: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
Friday, June 15th: <a href="http://www.krittersramblings.com/">Kritters Ramblings</a><br />
Monday, June 18th: <a href="http://www.brokenteepee.com/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
Tuesday, June 19th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/novelmombooks/">Instagram: @Novelmombooks</a><br />
Wednesday, June 20th: <a href="http://www.thebookdivasreads.com/">The Book Diva’s Reads</a><br />
Thursday, June 21st: <a href="http://litandlife.blogspot.com/">Lit and Life</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> How can you not be impressed with Ella? This story is about desperation and determination and a strong will. Ella was made of the same ilk as the women who fought for women's suffrage or who survived the Dust Bowl. One of my favorite things about this novel is the way that the author tells Ella's story through the use of other characters. Throughout the book each chapter is focused on seeing Ella through a different person on her periphery. I'm always a sucker for Appalachian literature, and jumped at the opportunity to read Wiley Cash when it was presented. Tragic and inspiring, I definitely recommend this one!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062313126/the-last-ballad/">HarperCollins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-ballad-wiley-cash/1125454569?ean=9780062313126#/">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2HioFtt">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=the+last+ballad">IndieBound</a><br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-43679092822457330772018-04-18T17:36:00.000-04:002018-04-18T17:36:07.537-04:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502287333l/35068592.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502287333l/35068592.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<b><i>Synopsis</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">From the <b>New York Times</b>
bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation,
struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy.
Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used
thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s
never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a
political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an
American legacy in her own right.<br /><br />A general’s daughter…<br /><br />Coming
of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth
Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets
Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp,
she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They
fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of
war.<br /><br />A founding father’s wife...<br /><br />But the union they
create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From
glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at
the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s
first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and
betrayal to find forgiveness.<br /><br />The last surviving light of the Revolution…<br /><br />When
a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her
husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried
secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her
own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country
that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to
understand the flawed man she married and imperfect union he could never
have created without her…</span></i><br />
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<div class="row">
<span itemprop="bookFormat">Paperback</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">672 pages</span></div>
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Published
April 3rd 2018
by William Morrow Paperbacks
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ISBN 006246616X
<span class="greyText">(ISBN13: <span itemprop="isbn">9780062466167</span>)</span>
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</div>
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<b><i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">About the Author</span></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNQy_sHdCg2_VFeHvzv0kLjHEqxD4oWSWUCcbFsKsxxssG_rMWJ-ifVgRV08e4vbT6bVFD9RJ0sPcpzxQE0Tr1Tv9vGvKmYNidKOi_InGDTEjKOohmy9ihCy7Q5FFFUCM3dxlAWO3BhzO/s1600/Stephanie+Dray+photo+credit+Kate+Furek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNQy_sHdCg2_VFeHvzv0kLjHEqxD4oWSWUCcbFsKsxxssG_rMWJ-ifVgRV08e4vbT6bVFD9RJ0sPcpzxQE0Tr1Tv9vGvKmYNidKOi_InGDTEjKOohmy9ihCy7Q5FFFUCM3dxlAWO3BhzO/s1600/Stephanie+Dray+photo+credit+Kate+Furek.jpg" /></a></div>
<b><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">About Stephanie Dray</span></b><br />
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author of historical women’s fiction. Her award-winning work has been translated into eight languages and tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. Before she became a novelist, she was a lawyer and a teacher. Now she lives near the nation’s capital with her husband, cats, and history books.</span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><br /></span></i>
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Check out the author's <a href="http://www.stephaniedray.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Like the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stephaniedrayauthor/">Facebook</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephanie.dray/">Instagram</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/stephaniehdray">Twitter</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526"></span><i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><br /></span></i>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5y6KbNtPtXB7MjZMj7IUSIVrr5n_QOMjgnqO_LTr8Enz8IQfgxSwsXgQlBo0imu_9Oa7vigYAkcy3bp4JpA6buJz3x__961nD-SpG49p2CR0cAObdcKy4S77FCVQdrc2nhrWwLUUxb33/s1600/Laura+Kamoie+photo+credit+Renee+Hollingshead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5y6KbNtPtXB7MjZMj7IUSIVrr5n_QOMjgnqO_LTr8Enz8IQfgxSwsXgQlBo0imu_9Oa7vigYAkcy3bp4JpA6buJz3x__961nD-SpG49p2CR0cAObdcKy4S77FCVQdrc2nhrWwLUUxb33/s1600/Laura+Kamoie+photo+credit+Renee+Hollingshead.jpg" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><b>About Laura Kamoie</b></span><i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Laura Kamoie is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing fiction. Laura lives among the colonial charm of Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband and two daughters.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Check out the author's <a href="http://www.laurakamoie.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Like the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Laurakamoieauthor/">Facebook</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/laurakayeauthor">Twitter </a></span><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText2848926449470600526">The promise of liberty is not written in blood or engraved in stone; it's embroidered into the fabric of our nation. And so is Alexander Hamilton.</span><i><span id="freeText2848926449470600526"> </span></i></blockquote>
Everyone is familiar with Alexander Hamilton. If you weren't before the play became the <b>It</b> play of the decade, then you are now! And even before the play <i>Hamilton</i>, you knew of some of Alexander Hamilton's accomplishments-- you maybe just didn't know you knew.<br />
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Alexander Hamilton is one of our "Founding Fathers of the United States". He was a huge proponent for the US Constitution, founder of the US financial system, <i>The New York Post</i>, the Federalist Party and more, as well as the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As Wikipedia puts it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous
executive branch, a strong commercial economy, with a national bank and
support for manufacturing, plus a strong military.</blockquote>
So, pretty impressive guy, right? But you know what they say about behind every man...? In Eliza (whom he calls by her childhood name Betsy) he found the perfect life partner to support him and fuel his ambitious nature. In this story we get to experience life with Alexander Hamilton through the eyes of his beloved wife-- flaws and all.<br />
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I was first introduced to the authors with their book <i>America's First Daughter</i>.about Patsy Jefferson, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. I learned then that these authors have a real knack for drawing you into a story, and leaving you wanting for more. When you finish one of their historical fiction stories like this one and <i>America's First Daughter</i>, you are left wanting to read more about the historical characters and their accomplishments. When I read one of their books, I can't wait to finish the story to dig into a history book or Wikipedia and learn more. They bring the characters to life.<br />
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This is historical fiction, but as it is seen through the eyes of Eliza and she is passionately in love and in awe of her husband Alexander Hamilton, it feels a bit like a historical romance novel-- at least in the beginning. The story is rife with historical characters, from George Washington to Benedict Arnold to James Madison and more, and the women in their lives often play an important part. The authors draw from letters and documents and actual quotes for the story as much as possible, bringing a sincerity to the story.<br />
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One thing that I found a little odd was the way that Eliza would often refer to her husband as "Hamilton" when speaking about him with others, as would other women like her friend Theodosia. I know it wasn't uncommon for women back then to refer to their husbands by the title "Mr.", as in "Mr. Hamilton", but I've never heard of women referring to their husbands in the 1700s by simply their surname, as if they were military squad members or something. It seemed odd to me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/04/stephanie-dray-and-laura-kamoie-authors-of-my-dear-hamilton-on-tour-april-2018/">website</a> for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<h2>
InstagramTour Stops</h2>
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Sunday, April 1st: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhCo4TpH8Tg/?taken-by=theliterarybirds">Instagram: @theliterarybirds</a><br />
Tuesday, April 3rd: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg_2W1NDMwu/?taken-by=writersdream">Instagram: @writersdream</a><br />
Friday, April 6th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhPc8h9HrK2/?taken-by=somekindofalibrary">Instagram: @somekindofalibrary</a><br />
Friday, April 6th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhM8MnGnLc8/?taken-by=willbakeforbooks">Instagram: @willbakeforbooks</a><br />
Saturday, April 7th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhRmGynD5nm/?taken-by=bookishconnoisseur">Instagram: @bookishconnoisseur</a><br />
Tuesday, April 12th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BheRJ_GFRym/?taken-by=prose_and_palate">Instagram: @prose_and_palate</a><br />
Monday, April 16th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ladyofthelibrary/">Instagram: @ladyofthelibrary</a><br />
<h2>
Review Tour Stops</h2>
Wednesday, April 4th: <a href="https://brokenteepee.com/my-dear-hamilton-stephanie-dray-laura-kamoie-book-review/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
Thursday, April 5th: <a href="http://achickwhoreads.blogspot.com/2018/04/tlc-book-tours-book-review-my-dear.html">A Chick Who Reads</a><br />
Friday, April 6th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNDSuAlpXE/?taken-by=happiestwhenreading">Instagram: @happiestwhenreading</a><br />
Monday, April 9th: <a href="http://abookishaffair.blogspot.com/2018/04/tlc-book-tours-my-dear-hamilton-novel.html">A Bookish Affair</a><br />
Tuesday, April 10th: <a href="https://girlsinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/my-dear-hamilton-book-review/">Girls in Books</a><br />
Wednesday, April 11th: <a href="http://www.westmetromommyreads.com/2018/04/book-review-my-dear-hamilton-by.html">West Metro Mommy</a><br />
Thursday, April 12th: <a href="https://www.readingreality.net/2018/04/review-my-dear-hamilton-by-stephanie-dray-laura-kamoie/">Reading Reality</a><br />
Friday, April 13th: <a href="https://thelitbitch.com/2018/04/13/review-my-dear-hamilton-a-novel-of-eliza-schuyler-hamilton-by-stephanie-dray-and-laura-kamoie/">The Lit Bitch</a><br />
Monday, April 16th: <a href="http://epkwrsmith.blogspot.com/">Peppermint PhD</a><br />
Tuesday, April 17th: <a href="http://www.booksaremything.blogspot.com/">Tina Says…</a><br />
Wednesday, April 18th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Thursday, April 19th: <a href="http://www.literarylindsey.com/">Literary Lindsey</a><br />
Friday, April 20th: <a href="http://litwitwinedine.com/">Lit.Wit.Wine.Dine.</a><br />
Monday, April 23rd: <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/">Doing Dewey</a><br />
Tuesday, April 24th: <a href="https://intothehallofbooks.com/">Into the Hall of Books</a><br />
Wednesday, April 25th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lavieestbooks/">Instagram: @lavieestbooks</a><br />
Thursday, April 26th: <a href="http://stephaniesbookreviews.weebly.com/">100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews</a><br />
Friday, April 27th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_literary_dreamer_/">Instagram: @_literary_dreamer_</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://www.historywomanperspective.com/">History from a Woman’s Perspective</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> I have become a fan of authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. I love the way they write their characters, and the way they can make learning fun, so you don't even know you are learning and reliving history. Eliza Schuyler Hamilton is an impressive story character, as was the real woman! Hamilton is a passionate, intelligent, ambitious man burdened with illegitimacy and doomed to die in what has probably become US History's most famous duel. His wife Eliza would go on to fight to preserve his legacy, before dying at the ripe old age of 97. I would recommend this book not only to fans of historical fiction, but to those who love historical romance. Loved it!<br />
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<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062466167/my-dear-hamilton">HarperCollins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-dear-hamilton-stephanie-dray/1126557496?ean=9780062466167#/">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2EdemFx">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=my+dear+hamilton">IndieBound</a><br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMIyaLM1wTX8CniFGO17fQwZPf7B0yviqXp4vMusvVKsKOw7GdqIqWh0uAcXsDOiAwJoXap8UJvehw9c3nOqq3qMUmPrXwd-kEmNVyYP5JhGAj26nortU7vHL-GxpjkLt6KHPaaoRCpUG/s1600/A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="61" data-original-width="62" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMIyaLM1wTX8CniFGO17fQwZPf7B0yviqXp4vMusvVKsKOw7GdqIqWh0uAcXsDOiAwJoXap8UJvehw9c3nOqq3qMUmPrXwd-kEmNVyYP5JhGAj26nortU7vHL-GxpjkLt6KHPaaoRCpUG/s1600/A.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-73121172345124429962018-03-21T16:27:00.000-04:002018-03-21T16:27:15.016-04:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499696793l/35084165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499696793l/35084165.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="freeText3436130894778517511"><b>The New York Times bestselling author revisits the characters from her beloved novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me
in this captivating, beautifully written drama involving family,
friendship, secrets, sacrifice, courage, and true love for fans of Jojo
Moyes, Elin Hilderbrand, and Nancy Thayer</b>.<br /><br />On the weekend of
her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron.
During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the
courage to do what she should have done months earlier: break off her
engagement to her charming, yet overly possessive, fiancé.<br /><br />Three
weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died—and has given her another
gift. Nestled in crepe myrtle and hydrangea and perched at the marshy
edge of a bay in a small seaside town in Delaware, Blue Sky House now
belongs to Clare. Though the former guest house has been empty for
years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls, which
are decorated with old photographs taken by Edith and her beloved
husband, Joseph.<br /><br />Exploring the house, Clare finds two mysterious
ledgers hidden beneath the kitchen sink. Edith, it seems, was no
ordinary woman—and Blue Sky House no ordinary place. With the help of
her mother, Viviana, her surrogate mother, Cornelia Brown, and her
former boyfriend and best friend, Dev Tremain, Clare begins to piece
together the story of Blue Sky House—a decades-old mystery more complex
and tangled than she could have imagined. As she peels back the layers
of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate
love, heartbreaking sacrifice, and incredible courage. She also makes
startling discoveries about herself: where she’s come from, where she’s
going, and what—and who—she loves.<br /><br />Shifting between the 1950s and the present and told in the alternating voices of Edith and Clare, <b>I’ll Be Your Blue Sky</b>
is vintage Marisa de los Santos—an emotionally evocative novel that
probes the deepest recesses of the human heart and illuminates the
tender connections that bind our lives.</span></i><br />
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<span itemprop="bookFormat">Hardcover</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">320 pages</span></div>
<div class="row">
Published
March 6th 2018
by William Morrow
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ISBN 0062431935
<span class="greyText">(ISBN13: <span itemprop="isbn">9780062431936</span>)</span></div>
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<br />
<i><b><span class="greyText">About the Author</span></b></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHR9Vz0JYuN63mjGmK-s4I2Nvxr5LvvwZmkij9qHew6D0cZGJ_Rg9cB8dOGM-xu-2dg64_QLJ51f87_54ZVhsfQMDbmdokfsMpWYwnvcVcVK_nduZYiuIL_p8XfjgwfVMi1mUEgHwVbOMa/s1600/Marisa+De+Los+Santos+AP+Photo+by+Tisa+Della-Volpe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="160" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHR9Vz0JYuN63mjGmK-s4I2Nvxr5LvvwZmkij9qHew6D0cZGJ_Rg9cB8dOGM-xu-2dg64_QLJ51f87_54ZVhsfQMDbmdokfsMpWYwnvcVcVK_nduZYiuIL_p8XfjgwfVMi1mUEgHwVbOMa/s200/Marisa+De+Los+Santos+AP+Photo+by+Tisa+Della-Volpe.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
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<i><span class="greyText">A New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing, Marisa de los Santos lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family. </span></i>
</div>
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<br />
<span id="freeText3436130894778517511">Follow the author on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/marisa.delossantos.writer">Facebook</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText3436130894778517511">Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/marisadlsantos">Twitter</a> </span><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText3436130894778517511">My Thoughts</span></b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3436130894778517511">It was what she would remember always: how the second she stepped inside, before she'd so much as taken her first full breath of new air, she was struck by the feeling-- the understanding, the certainty-- however improbably, that the house was Joseph. </span></blockquote>
In the days leading up to her marriage, bride Clare is conflicted. She loves her fiance, but she is having doubts. Everyone reassures her that it is perfectly normal to have doubts as your wedding day looms.<br />
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Then a fortuitous meeting with Edith changes everything. An elderly woman, there is something wise and yet youthful about Edith that strikes Clare. It feels as if Edith knows her-- sees inside her. Their meeting is relatively brief yet profound, and quite literally changes Clare's life.<br />
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Weeks later Clare learns that Edith has died and left her a house at the beach.While exploring the house, Clare soon find her and her close family and friends working to solve a mystery pieced together from neighborhood stories, hidden ledgers and old news stories.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/03/marisa-de-los-santos-author-of-ill-be-your-blue-sky-on-tour-march-2018/">website</a> for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, March 6th: <a href="https://openlybookish.blog/2018/03/06/ill-be-your-blue-sky/">Openly Bookish</a><br />
Wednesday, March 7th: <a href="http://mytime2read.blogspot.com/2018/03/review-ill-be-your-blue-sky.html">Time 2 Read</a><br />
Thursday, March 8th: <a href="http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com/2018/03/ill-be-your-blue-sky-by-marisa-de-los.html">bookchickdi</a><br />
Friday, March 9th: <a href="http://www.ricki-treleaven.com/2018/03/literary-friday-ill-be-your-blue-sky.html">The Sketchy Reader</a><br />
Monday, March 12th: <a href="http://booknaround.blogspot.com/">BookNAround</a><br />
Tuesday, March 13th: <a href="http://www.leahdecesare.com/book-reviews/book-review-ill-be-your-blue-sky-by-marisa-de-los-santos/">leahdecesare.com</a><br />
Wednesday, March 14th: <a href="http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/">Kahakai Kitchen</a><br />
Thursday, March 15th: <a href="http://gjackswrites.com/blogging/">G. Jacks Writes</a><br />
Monday, March 19th: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
Tuesday, March 20th: <a href="http://www.brokenteepee.com/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
Wednesday, March 21st: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Thursday, March 22nd: <a href="http://abookishwayoflife.blogspot.com/">A Bookish Way of Life</a><br />
Friday, March 23rd: <a href="https://intothehallofbooks.com/">Into the Hall of Books</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> This is my introduction to the author. To be honest, I actually have <i>Love Walked In</i>, but I still haven't found the time to read it. I'm glad that I found the time to read this one! There's good character development, and while the story has the old "someone leaves someone else a house" storyline and romance mingled in, there is a parallel mystery storyline to give it a fresh twist. I especially enjoyed the playful and intuitive relationship between Clare and her best friend /ex-boyfriend Dev. I would happily recommend this one to my book club!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062431936/ill-be-your-blue-sky">HarperCollins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ill-be-your-blue-sky-marisa-de-los-santos/1126314417?ean=9780062431936">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2oL9PoD">Amazon</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbHpQ0l_dGv9mbLJ6QFLoRwNkbNr4Gra-4-JtTUtgRRpstud9bYJ3chivCt6_lbbf51inXUtaYr954itpAMI1W6b6VHgdEyCwm1kqrPP7duiEO8tBrtfnsnKAYDo3eREpigwFcO_LVuy2r/s1600/Aminus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="63" data-original-width="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbHpQ0l_dGv9mbLJ6QFLoRwNkbNr4Gra-4-JtTUtgRRpstud9bYJ3chivCt6_lbbf51inXUtaYr954itpAMI1W6b6VHgdEyCwm1kqrPP7duiEO8tBrtfnsnKAYDo3eREpigwFcO_LVuy2r/s1600/Aminus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, and quotes could differ from the final release. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-79596235266084465462018-03-19T15:18:00.000-04:002018-03-19T15:18:18.689-04:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: In Praise of Difficult Women by Karen Karbo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517480590l/35754802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517480590l/35754802.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"><b><b>From Frida Kahlo
and Elizabeth Taylor to Nora Ephron, Carrie Fisher, and Lena Dunham,
this witty narrative explores what we can learn from the imperfect and
extraordinary legacies of 29 iconic women who forged their own unique
paths in the world</b>.</b><br /><br />Smart, sassy, and unapologetically
feminine, this elegantly illustrated book is an ode to the bold and
charismatic women of modern history. Best-selling author Karen Karbo (<b>The Gospel According to Coco Chanel</b>)
spotlights the spirited rule breakers who charted their way with little
regard for expectations: Amelia Earhart, Helen Gurley Brown, Edie
Sedgwick, Hillary Clinton, Amy Poehler, and Shonda Rhimes, among others.
Their lives--imperfect, elegant, messy, glorious--provide inspiration
and instruction for the new age of feminism we have entered. Karbo
distills these lessons with wit and humor, examining the universal
themes that connect us to each of these mesmerizing personalities today:
success and style, love and authenticity, daring and courage. Being
"difficult," Karbo reveals, might not make life easier. But it can make
it more fulfilling--whatever that means for you.<br /><br />In the Reader's
Guide included in the back of the book, Karbo asks thought-provoking
questions about how we relate to each woman that will make for
fascinating book club conversation.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Hardcover, 352 pages<br />Published February 27th 2018 by National Geographic Society<br />ISBN 1426217749 (ISBN13: 9781426217746) </span><i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"><br /></span></i>
<b><i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939">About the Author</span></i></b><br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939">KAREN KARBO is the author of multiple award-winning novels, memoirs and works of nonfiction. Her best-selling “Kick-Ass Women” series includes <b>The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman</b>, which was an international bestseller. Karbo’s short stories, essays, articles and reviews have appeared in <b>Elle</b>, <b>Vogue</b>, <b>Esquire</b>, <b>Outside</b>, the <b>New York Times,</b> <b>Salon</b>, and other publications. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a winner of the General Electric Younger Writer Award. Karbo lives in Portland, Oregon, where she continues to kick ass.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Check out the author's <a href="http://www.karenkarbo.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorkarenkarbo/">Facebook</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/karbohemia/">Instagram</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/karbohemia">Twitter</a></span><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"><br /></span></i>
<b><i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">The book you hold in your hands is about women who insisted on being difficult.</span><i><span id="freeText3772055533460316939"><br /></span></i></blockquote>
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">We've all heard the old adage about how "well-behaved women seldom make history", and this book is about some of those misbehaving women. The author shares stories and background of 29 women who wouldn't be constrained by societies boundaries and expectations. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">Women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wasn't afraid to embrace motherhood and marriage in the age of rising feminism while being a career driven, independent woman. A woman who for years was the lone voice for women and equal rights on the supreme court. The term "gender discrimination" started with her (well, actually with her secretary). She has been, and continues to be, an inspiration to countless women, proving you can be strong yet feminine, powerful without overpowering, that you can fully commit to a relationship and yet maintain your independence and self-identity. As the author states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">...it's hard to believe a woman so genteel and soft-spoken is such a mighty litigator. Her mother-in-law once advised her that the key to a happy marriage was sometimes pretending to be a little deaf; Ruth has said the same applies to being a female Supreme Court justice. "When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best to tune it out," she observed. "Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade."</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3772055533460316939">...Proving, in case there was any doubt, that you don't need to possess the strapping badass countenance of Xena Warrior Princess to be a truly, deeply difficult woman.</span></blockquote>
And did I mention that the woman is 85 years old and still works out at the gym twice a week doing things like side-planks and one-legged squats? The woman is amazing!<br />
<br />
And women like Helen Gurley Brown, who did things by her own book, becoming one of the first female copywriters at the age of 30, married when she was 37 (in the age of spinsters, she eschewed marriage until she found someone interesting enough with whom to settle down, but had fun playing the field in the meantime), made the conscious choice to not have children (*gasp*), and at age 40 wrote <i>Sex and the Single Girl</i>, which was rife with "wisdom" she'd picked up regarding dating as a single woman in the 50s (dating single and married men alike. She found work to offer a large supply of men).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
She came to learn from her life as a single girl that when it came to men, as long as you were naked and smiling, they were happy. In the era of No Sex Before Marriage, this attitude was societal high treason.</blockquote>
Or there is my idol and oh-how-I-wish-she-was-my-mentor Jane Goodall, who pioneered the study of chimpanzee behavior. As a young woman, Jane had graduated from secretarial college in 1952. Later she went to visit friends in Africa, and while in Nairobi she had a fortuitous meeting with archaeologist and paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey. He saw something in her and invited her to join him on an archaeological dig. Impressed with her patience and meticulous method, he offered her the opportunity to go setup camp in Gombe to study the chimpanzees there. And Jane, in a world where unmarried girls live with their families and get jobs as secretaries and teachers, didn't hesitate to jump at the opportunity. Jane shook the scientific community with her observations, her findings causing them to redefine man. I think that may constitute as being "difficult"! Then to make things worse, she anthropomorphized the chimps, "attributing human traits" to them, which is taboo in the scientific community. She came under fire many times, but she didn't back down. Much like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane was soft-spoken and genteel, but strong and determined. In regard to an uncomfortable interview where comedian John Oliver attempted to get Jane to play along, the author says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It's a terrific, awkward moment of television where a woman refused to smile, become giddy and jokey to relieve a tense moment and make everyone feel better. It would have been so easy for her to go along with the joke, to make light of her life's work. But being difficult, she wasn't about to give in. Difficult women aren't all swashbuckling extroverts who shoot off their mouths and shout down their adversaries. Sometimes they just sit quietly and refuse to pretend to be agreeable.</blockquote>
Sorry, but I so identify with this passage!<br />
<br />
I enjoyed this book. I liked the profiles, I liked the relaxed and approachable writing style that didn't leave me feeling as if I were reading a text book biography. The author chose a great selection of women to represent the "difficult" woman. And visually I really liked the use of red ink to contrast with the deep black ink, as well as the sketches of each woman at the beginning of each chapter.<br />
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<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/02/karen-karbo-author-of-in-praise-of-difficult-women-on-tour-march-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, February 27th: <a href="http://abookishwayoflife.blogspot.com/2018/02/in-praise-of-difficult-women-life.html">A Bookish Way of Life</a><br />
Thursday, March 1st: <a href="http://abookishaffair.blogspot.com/2018/03/tlc-book-tours-in-praise-of-difficult.html">A Bookish Affair</a><br />
Monday, March 5th: <a href="https://brokenteepee.com/praise-difficult-women-karen-karbo-book-review/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
Tuesday, March 6th: <a href="https://msnoseinabook.com/2018/03/06/blog-tour-book-review-in-praise-of-difficult-women-by-karen-karbo/">Ms. Nose in a Book</a><br />
Wednesday, March 7th: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2018/03/book-review-in-praise-of-difficult-women/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
Tuesday, March 13th: <a href="http://www.booksaremything.blogspot.com/">Tina Says…</a><br />
Wednesday, March 14th: <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/">Doing Dewey</a><br />
Thursday, March 15th: <a href="http://www.bibliotica.com/">Bibliotica</a><br />
Friday, March 16th: <a href="http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com/">bookchickdi</a><br />
Monday, March 19th: <a href="https://openlybookish.blog/">Openly Bookish</a><br />
Monday, March 19th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://www.5minutesforbooks.com/">5 Minutes For Books</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> The author does a great job at presenting us with 29 glorious examples of difficult women.They were chosen for all sorts of reasons: for speaking their minds, for bucking the system, for being fearless, for setting new standards and shattering glass ceilings. For leaving footsteps that we may follow in, and for encouraging us to go off the beaten path and find our own track.And encouraging all of us to be at least a little bit difficult. Love this book!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<a href="https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/books/books/biography-and-memoir/in-praise-of-difficult-women">National Geographic</a> <br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-praise-of-difficult-women-karen-karbo/1126683551?ean=9781426217746#/">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2GPRRYN">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=in+praise+of+difficult+women">IndieBound</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-62932314746690533172018-03-08T20:51:00.000-05:002018-03-08T20:51:36.569-05:00REVIEW: Jefferson's America by Julie M. Fenster<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453232771l/18142328.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453232771l/18142328.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText4158120530466502767"><b>The surprising story
of how Thomas Jefferson commanded an unrivaled age of American
exploration—and in presiding over that era of discovery, forged a great
nation.</b><br /><br />At the dawn of the nineteenth century, as Britain,
France, Spain, and the United States all jockeyed for control of the
vast expanses west of the Mississippi River, the stakes for American
expansion were incalculably high. Even after the American purchase of
the Louisiana Territory, Spain still coveted that land and was prepared
to employ any means to retain it. With war expected at any moment,
Jefferson played a game of strategy, putting on the ground the only
Americans he could: a cadre of explorers who finally annexed it through
courageous investigation. <br /><br />Responsible for orchestrating the
American push into the continent was President Thomas Jefferson. He most
famously recruited Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the
Corps of Discovery to the Pacific, but at the same time there were other
teams who did the same work, in places where it was even more crucial.
William Dunbar, George Hunter, Thomas Freeman, Peter Custis, and the
dauntless Zebulon Pike—all were dispatched on urgent missions to map the
frontier and keep up a steady correspondence with Washington about
their findings.<br /><br />But they weren’t always well-matched—with each
other and certainly not with a Spanish army of a thousand soldiers or
more. These tensions threatened to undermine Jefferson’s goals for the
nascent country, leaving the United States in danger of losing its
foothold in the West. Deeply researched and inspiringly told, <b>Jefferson’s America</b>
rediscovers the robust and often harrowing action from these seminal
expeditions and illuminates the president’s vision for a continental
America.</span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="row">
<span itemprop="bookFormat">Hardcover</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">368 pages</span></div>
<div class="row">
Published
May 10th 2016
by Crown
<nobr class="greyText">
(first published March 25th 2014) </nobr></div>
<div class="row">
</div>
<div class="row">
<nobr class="greyText"> </nobr>
</div>
<i><b>About the Author</b></i><br />
<br />
<i>Julie M. Fenster is the author of many works of American history, including <b>The Case of Abraham Lincoln</b>, <b>Race of the Century</b>, the award-winning <b>Ether Day</b>, and, with Douglas Brinkley, <b>Parish Priest</b>, which was a <b>New York Times</b> bestseller. She also cowrote the PBS documentary <b>First Freedom</b>, about the Founders and religious liberty. She lives in Upstate New York.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
John James Audobon, the orinthologist and painter, left his family at home in Ohio in October of 1820 and traveled in a slight state of desperation to New Orleans, a well-worn city newly vibrant and very rich.</blockquote>
A couple of years ago I read a fictional account of the life of
Jefferson's oldest daughter Patsy, and it really piqued my interest
about her father. So when the opportunity came to read this accounting
of Jefferson and the exploration of The Louisiana Purchase I jumped at
it.<br />
<br />
Jefferson was rather forward thinking and was determined to
"go west" and expand the US from sea to "shining sea". In pursuit of
this dream, he made The Louisiana Purchase from the French in 1803.<br />
<br />
This
book is made up of the tales of the infamous team of Lewis and Clark,
as well as lesser known explorers like Pike, Freeman and Custis and
Dunbar and Hunter, whom Jefferson sent to explore The Louisiana
Purchase. Lewis and Clark's main objective was to follow the Missouri
River west and find whether it would offer a route to the Pacific. They
were also expected to watch for opportunities of trade, resource
availability, and document wildlife and native peoples encountered along
the way, all of which was logged in detail in their diaries.<br />
<br />
The
book includes a handy map of the US in 1803-1804, pictures of the
explorers, photos of things they encountered during their adventures,
and excerpts from the explorer's diaries as well as editorial articles.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jeffersons-america-julie-m-fenster/1122654775?ean=9780307956491">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jeffersons-America-President-Explorers-Transformed/dp/0307956482/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1520559745&sr=8-1">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=jefferson%27s+america">IndieBound</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>My final word:</b></i> Providing
a good overview of both the expeditions and the politics of the time, I
rather liked this book, although it could get a little too detailed at
times for my tastes. Recommended for lovers of history.<br />
<br />
<b><i>My Rating:</i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a nearing-fifty blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through Blogging for Books, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-43472925164673850072018-03-02T15:28:00.000-05:002018-03-02T15:28:54.970-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: Promise by Minrose Gwin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501605819l/35068602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501605819l/35068602.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
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<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244">In the aftermath of a
devastating tornado that rips through the town of Tupelo, Mississippi,
at the height of the Great Depression, two women worlds apart—one black,
one white; one a great-grandmother, the other a teenager—fight for
their families’ survival in this lyrical and powerful novel<br /><br /><b>“Gwin’s
gift shines in the complexity of her characters and their fraught
relationships with each other, their capacity for courage and hope,
coupled with their passion for justice.” --</b> <b>Jonis Agee, bestselling author of <i>The River Wife</i></b><br /><br />A
few minutes after 9 p.m. on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1936, a massive
funnel cloud flashing a giant fireball and roaring like a runaway train
careened into the thriving cotton-mill town of Tupelo, Mississippi,
killing more than 200 people, not counting an unknown number of black
citizens, one-third of Tupelo’s population, who were not included in the
official casualty figures.<br /><br />When the tornado hits, Dovey, a local
laundress, is flung by the terrifying winds into a nearby lake. Bruised
and nearly drowned, she makes her way across Tupelo to find her small
family—her hardworking husband, Virgil, her clever sixteen-year-old
granddaughter, Dreama, and Promise, Dreama’s beautiful light-skinned
three-month-old son.<br /><br />Slowly navigating the broken streets of
Tupelo, Dovey stops at the house of the despised McNabb family. Inside,
she discovers that the tornado has spared no one, including Jo, the
McNabbs’ dutiful teenage daughter, who has suffered a terrible head
wound. When Jo later discovers a baby in the wreckage, she is certain
that she’s found her baby brother, Tommy, and vows to protect him.<br /><br />During
the harrowing hours and days of the chaos that follows, Jo and Dovey
will struggle to navigate a landscape of disaster and to battle both the
demons and the history that link and haunt them. Drawing on historical
events, Minrose Gwin beautifully imagines natural and human destruction
in the deep South of the 1930s through the experiences of two remarkable
women whose lives are indelibly connected by forces beyond their
control. A story of loss, hope, despair, grit, courage, and race, <b><i>Promise</i> </b>reminds us of the transformative power and promise that come from confronting our most troubled relations with one another.</span></i><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Hardcover, 400 pages<br />Published February 27th 2018 by William Morrow<br />ISBN 0062471716 (ISBN13: 9780062471710) </span><i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"><br /></span></i>
<b><i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244">About the Author</span></i></b><br />
<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"></span></i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9sgdY4kQNmlrLzFHCRtFhFjensN6HsOu2i98fR2m-VEULWBqOEo_V2b208rHb9lw30DioVg8uc7-LTqpYamxKLU-DXdVNhmVSBWzCmBhOsROsscdYTZnY1PLCrBySDV94peb1b3tErVp/s1600/Minrose+Gwin+AP+Photo+by+Steve+Exum+Photography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9sgdY4kQNmlrLzFHCRtFhFjensN6HsOu2i98fR2m-VEULWBqOEo_V2b208rHb9lw30DioVg8uc7-LTqpYamxKLU-DXdVNhmVSBWzCmBhOsROsscdYTZnY1PLCrBySDV94peb1b3tErVp/s1600/Minrose+Gwin+AP+Photo+by+Steve+Exum+Photography.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Minrose Gwin is the author of <b>The Queen of Palmyra</b>. She has written three scholarly books, coedited <b>The Literature of the American South</b>, and teaches contemporary fiction at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.</span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"><br /></span></i>
<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Check out the author's <a href="http://www.minrosegwin.com/">website</a>.</span><i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"></span></i><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244"> </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span id="freeText16165374119716104244">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Too still out there.</span></blockquote>
<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">An F5 tornado hit Tupelo, Mississippi during the night hours of April 5, 1936. It left death, devastation and confusion in its wake. This is a fictional account of that event.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Dovey is a black laundress who lives on The Hill, which is the "colored" side of town. For many years she has done the laundry of many of the white townfolk. One of the families she works for is that of town judge Mort McNabb. Mort's son "Son" McNabb raped Dovey's young granddaughter Dreama and left her pregnant. </span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244"><span id="freeText16165374119716104244">I found Dovey to be quite likable if abrasive. She's</span> hardworking, focused, loyal and protective of her family. After the storm, she hobbles along injured in search of her missing husband, granddaughter and great-grandson Promise.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">The storm also leaves Jo McNabb, teenage daughter of Mort McNabb, injured and responsible for the care of her injured mother. She also finds what she believes to be her baby brother in a tree out in front of the house and he becomes her main focus. Dovey comes across Jo and her mother while searching for her own family. And so begins the odd entanglement of Jo and Dovey.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Jo has become tough and determined since the storm, and totally focused on caring for her little baby brother Tommy. She in part seems to be sort of trying to "win" her mother's love by taking such good care of her mother's youngest son, in a family where the only daughter feels somewhat overlooked.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">Dovey's granddaughter Dreama is a beautiful and spirited young girl and passionately loves her son Promise, despite his harrowing beginnings. It wasn't always this way, but she's come around and now adores her son something fierce!</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">I enjoyed the author's writing style, which is very approachable and restrained, and descriptive without being too heavy or trivial. I liked the characters, and the central storyline. I liked the way that the story would show you one side to a person, and then show another side to them, making you reassess your view of them (or making a character reassess <i>their </i>view of them). And having recently gone through a major hurricane myself, and now having just lost my father a few weeks ago, I have a little understanding of what the characters in the story are going through-- the exhaustion and uncertainty and loss.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText16165374119716104244">However I was also left feeling a little "blah", and I'm not sure why. I liked the characters. Maybe it had to do with the story being rather mundane much of the time. It's people laying around injured and exhausted, walking in search of family or help, hungry, confused, but for the most part felt sort of like watching a camera follow around a mother for a week: mother feeding kids, bathing kids, lulling them to sleep, doing laundry, picking up toys. Day after day the same mundane things interspersed with moments of devout humanity.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/02/minrose-gwin-author-of-promise-on-tour-march-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
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Tuesday, February 27th: <a href="http://nomoregrumpybookseller.blogspot.com/">No More Grumpy Bookseller</a><br />
Wednesday, February 28th: <a href="http://ricki-treleaven.blogspot.com/">The Sketchy Reader</a><br />
Thursday, March 1st: <a href="http://readaholiczone.blogspot.com/">Readaholic Zone</a><br />
Friday, March 2nd: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Monday, March 5th: <a href="http://litwitwinedine.com/">Lit.Wit.Wine.Dine.</a><br />
Tuesday, March 6th: <a href="http://www.booksaremything.blogspot.com/">Tina Says…</a><br />
Wednesday, March 7th: <a href="http://epkwrsmith.blogspot.com/">Peppermint PhD</a><br />
Thursday, March 8th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_literary_dreamer_/">Instagram: @_literary_dreamer_</a><br />
Monday, March 12th: <a href="http://www.literarylindsey.com/">Literary Lindsey</a><br />
Tuesday, March 13th: <a href="https://intothehallofbooks.com/">Into the Hall of Books</a><br />
Wednesday, March 14th: <a href="http://www.brokenteepee.com/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word:</b></i> What makes this story especially uncommon is the viewpoint of a black family after a natural disaster like this. Especially from this era in the 1930s when the black community went "uncounted". This is "their" story, when history didn't deem them important enough to even count among the dead. The characters are fleshed out, and they are characters with whom you can identify. It's a moving story, but at times can get a little wearisome. And the ending came up fairly abruptly. But overall I liked this story and would recommend it. For lovers of historical fiction.<br />
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<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062471710/promise">HarperCollins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/promise-minrose-gwin/1126314551?ean=9780062471710">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2GM6ADZ">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=promise+gwin">IndieBound </a><i><b></b></i><br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, and quotes could differ from the final release. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-22536054181610515462018-02-23T16:34:00.000-05:002018-02-23T16:34:06.453-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509700377l/35489958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509700377l/35489958.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
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<i><span id="freeText2533174782930643463">Metal artist Katie Mack
is living a lie. Nine years ago she ran away from her family in Raleigh,
North Carolina, consumed by the irrational fear that she would harm
Maisie, her newborn daughter. Over time she’s come to grips with the
mental illness that nearly destroyed her, and now funnels her pain into
her art. Despite longing for Maisie, Katie honors an agreement with the
husband she left behind—to change her name and never return.<br /><br />But
when she and Maisie accidentally reunite, Katie can’t ignore the
familiarity of her child’s compulsive behavior. Worse, Maisie worries
obsessively about bad things happening to her pregnant stepmom. Katie
has the power to help, but can she reconnect with the family she
abandoned?<br /><br />To protect Maisie, Katie must face the fears that
drove her from home, accept the possibility of love, and risk exposing
her heart-wrenching secret.</span></i><br />
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Paperback, 384 pages<br />
Published January 16th 2018 by Lake Union Publishing<br />
ISBN 1542048982 (ISBN13: 9781542048989)<br />
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<i><b>About the Author</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBKxyfAUd_ktwbvZODZmEFnmambGj2zyTO85dsvqbmznT6P3jlNxLqB6iY7Tl34tB4OqnpwsHAQ4oJFfwV29_uWSR9_cpUEqZum2ayV-drRpFHgUaLJJtYTnBycpDYgrRXRHd8Tlnb9rn/s1600/Barbara+Claypole+White+AP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIBKxyfAUd_ktwbvZODZmEFnmambGj2zyTO85dsvqbmznT6P3jlNxLqB6iY7Tl34tB4OqnpwsHAQ4oJFfwV29_uWSR9_cpUEqZum2ayV-drRpFHgUaLJJtYTnBycpDYgrRXRHd8Tlnb9rn/s200/Barbara+Claypole+White+AP.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="background-color: white;">Bestselling author
Barbara Claypole White creates hopeful family drama with a healthy dose
of mental illness. Originally from England, she writes and gardens in
the forests of North Carolina where she lives with her beloved OCD
family. Her novels include<i> <b>The Unfinished Garden</b>, <b>The In-Between Hour</b>, <b>The Perfect Son</b>, </i>and<i> <b>Echoes of Family</b>. </i><b><i>The Promise Between Us</i></b>, a story of redemption, sacrifice, and OCD, has a publication date of January 16<sup>th</sup>,
2018. She is also an OCD Advocate for the A2A Alliance, a nonprofit
group that promotes advocacy over adversity. </span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Check out the author's <a href="http://www.barbaraclaypolewhite.com/">website</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraClaypoleWhite/">Facebook</a></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="background-color: white;">My Thoughts</span></b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Crouched in the corner of my baby girl's bedroom, we both shake, the
three-legged mutt and the mother with a colony of fire ants multiplying
in her brain. </blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white;">Katie is an artist who has been hiding the fact that she suffers from OCD. She's also been hiding her past from those who are a part of her "new life". Nine years ago she ran out on her husband and baby girl, and later promised her husband that she would stay out of their lives and play dead. She's begun a new life for herself as a metal artist, and she has a good man in her life. She keeps pushing him away, but he seems to keep coming back.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Daughter Maisie is a bit quirky and very smart. Her mother died when she was just a baby and she was raised by her single father who is a professor. Now she has a new stepmom and is about to start middle school, and she's beginning to feel the pressure.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Through happenstance Maisie and Katie meet, and Katie recognizes the signs of OCD in her own daughter. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">This is my first exposure to this author. I enjoyed this book for the most part. The author has a relaxed writing style, and really does a great job of making the characters come to life. But a few things did bug me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">First was the fact that Maisie always felt younger than the ten years of age she is supposed to be in the story. She felt like she was more like six or seven years of age. And her biological mother Katie would speak to her like she was a little girl, using childish phrases and words. That really kind of annoyed me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Secondly was the descriptions of the OCD experience. Maybe it's accurate and I'm way off (after all, it seems the author got her insight through speaking with people who suffer with OCD, including her own family member). So maybe those who suffer from OCD will read this and think it is spot-on, but for me it felt over-dramatic in the same way that Maisie felt overly young. Both things just felt "off".</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2017/10/barbara-claypole-white-author-of-the-promise-between-us-on-tour-januaryfebruary-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
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Tuesday, January 16th: <a href="https://doingdeweydecimal.com/2018/01/16/tlcbooktours-review-the-promise-between-us/">Doing Dewey</a><br />
Thursday, January 18th: <a href="http://booksandbindings.com/2018/01/18/book-review-the-promise-between-us-by-barbara-claypole-white/">Books and Bindings</a><br />
Friday, January 19th: <a href="https://readaholiczone.blogspot.com/2018/01/angies-review-of-promise-between-us-by.html">Readaholic Zone</a><br />
Monday, January 22nd: <a href="http://www.krittersramblings.com/2018/01/review-promise-between-us-by-barbara.html">Kritters Ramblings</a><br />
Thursday, January 25th: <a href="http://www.leahdecesare.com/book-reviews/book-review-promise-us-barbara-claypole-white/">Leah DeCesare</a><br />
Friday, January 26th: <a href="https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com/reviews/2018/1/26/review-the-promise-between-us-by-barbara-claypole-white">What Is That Book About</a><br />
Monday, January 29th: <a href="http://www.justonemorechapter.com/2018/01/review-promise-between-us-by-barbara.html">Just One More Chapter</a><br />
Tuesday, January 30th: <a href="http://pagebypagebookbybook.blogspot.com/2018/01/family-drama-ocd-promise-between-us-by.html">Book by Book</a><br />
Thursday, February 1st: <a href="http://www.winingwife.com/2018/02/01/book-review-promise-us-barbara-claypole-white/">Wining Wife</a><br />
Wednesday, February 7th: <a href="http://achickwhoreads.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-promise-between-us.html">A Chick Who Reads</a><br />
Thursday, February 8th: <a href="https://novelgossip.com/2018/02/08/review-the-promise-between-us-by-barbara-claypole-white-blogtour/">Novel Gossip</a><br />
Monday, February 12th: <a href="http://sj2bhouseofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/tlc-book-tours-review-of-promise.html">SJ2B House Of Books</a><br />
Tuesday, February 13th: <a href="https://writeoncindy.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/the-promise-between-us-by-barbara-claypole-white-interview-giveaway/">Thoughts On This ‘n That</a><br />
Thursday, February 22nd: <a href="https://thegeekybibliophile.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/the-promise-between-us/">The Geeky Bibliophile</a><br />
Wednesday, February 28th: <a href="https://comfyreading.wordpress.com/">Comfy Reading</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/writersdream">Instagram: @writersdream</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word:</b></i> Despite my reservations about the internal descriptions and dialogue with OCD, and the childishness of Maisie, I really did enjoy this story. I wasn't a fan of Maisie's father Callum, and Katie's sister Delaney felt a little one-dimensional. But Katie was a highly fallible character that you could root for, Maisie was an endearing off-beat little kid, Lilah was the stepmom who surprised everyone with her strength and loyalty and determination, and Maisie's "Uncle Jake" was also a very flawed human being who I wound up liking. I would especially recommend this one for those who enjoy stories involving mental health, and those who like stories centered around family dramas. I will be happy to read this author again.<br />
<b></b><i><b></b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-promise-between-us-barbara-claypole-white/1126705235?ean=9781542048989">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Between-Barbara-Claypole-White/dp/1542048982/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1506376055&sr=8-1">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=promise+between+us">IndieBound</a><br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYB82ubQ2wtTLaswgZHC_dx98r836WlcswWEjCi9G0bO6qG9Rpolz5IiPIiRsk68DbvF8lHnGwOJn3fhkVUugvYdn8HyquiQHqMcSmv8ye2Ie7kEqIeIb_JR6sqwV3Tl69KUKr5Ruc0sx/s1600/Aminus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="63" data-original-width="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYB82ubQ2wtTLaswgZHC_dx98r836WlcswWEjCi9G0bO6qG9Rpolz5IiPIiRsk68DbvF8lHnGwOJn3fhkVUugvYdn8HyquiQHqMcSmv8ye2Ie7kEqIeIb_JR6sqwV3Tl69KUKr5Ruc0sx/s1600/Aminus.jpg" /></a></div>
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Cover: B+<br />
Writing Style: A-<br />
Characters: A-<br />
Storyline/Plot: B+<br />
Interest/Uniqueness: A-<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, and quotes could differ from the final release. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-72187174912907577452018-01-25T07:17:00.000-05:002018-02-23T16:35:28.105-05:00Introducing...The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White<i>Introducing books through the first chapter or so...</i><br />
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<b>Raleigh, North Carolina</b><br />
<br />
Crouched in the corner of my baby girl's bedroom, we both shake, the three-legged mutt and the mother with a colony of fire ants multiplying in her brain. Hardly a fire-ant protection squad, but we would die to keep Maisie safe.<br />
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Ringo nudges my arm and wriggles close. His circle of trust is small, namely me, but then I rescued him after he collapsed in our driveway, deprived of food and love. Neither of us has eaten. I can't, and Ringo won't leave my side. Not tonight.<br />
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<b><i>-- The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypoole White</i></b>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-25809473012929400862018-01-19T09:20:00.000-05:002018-01-19T09:20:06.504-05:00ON MY RADAR (1/19/18 edition): Books that have hit my radar...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/HurricaneAndrewFLRADAR.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/HurricaneAndrewFLRADAR.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Here are some books that have recently hit my radar and set off my alarm bells...<br />
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<i><b>The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz</b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText8419579090391939680">They called themselves
“the lucky ones.” They were seven children either orphaned or abandoned
by their parents and chosen by legendary philanthropist and brain
surgeon Dr. Vincent Capello to live in The Dragon, his almost magical
beach house on the Oregon Coast. Allison was the youngest of the lucky
ones living an idyllic life with her newfound family…until the night she
almost died, and was then whisked away from the house and her adopted
family forever.<br /><br />Now, thirteen years later, Allison receives a
letter from Roland, Dr. Capello’s oldest son, warning her that their
father is ill and in his final days. Allison determines she must go home
again and confront the ghosts of her past. She's determined to find out
what really happened that fateful night--was it an accident or, as
she's always suspected, did one of her beloved family members try to
kill her?<br /><br />But digging into the past can reveal horrific truths,
and when Allison pieces together the story of her life, she'll learns
the terrible secret at the heart of the family she once loved but never
really knew.<br /><br />A vivid and suspenseful tale of family, grief,
love—and the dark secrets that bind everything together—Tiffany Reisz’s
latest is enthralling to the final page.</span><br />
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<i><span id="freeText8419579090391939680">Paperback<br />Expected publication: February 13th 2018 by Mira Books<br />ISBN 0778331164 (ISBN13: 9780778331162) </span></i>
nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-16966651347310817922018-01-16T17:33:00.001-05:002018-01-17T11:22:46.690-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476714979l/30988485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476714979l/30988485.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText6599203896752783897"><b><i>Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold</i></b><br /><br /><i>Set
at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once
played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive
story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an
affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of
the <b><i>New York Times</i></b> Notable Book <b>The Hazards of Good Breeding</b>.<br /><br /> Amid
the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to
the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone
fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a
resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf
Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s
brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow
resistance widows.<br /><br />First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin,
the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home.
Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their
homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive
Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then
she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now
refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions
displaced by the war.<br /><br />As Marianne assembles this makeshift family
from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain
their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she
quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of
her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with
secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually,
all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined
their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique
share of challenges.<br /><br />Written with the devastating emotional power of <b>The Nightingale</b>, <b>Sarah’s Key</b>, and <b><i>The Light Between Oceans</i></b>,
Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a
fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history.
Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, <b><i>The Women in the Castle</i></b>
is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that
explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in
the wake of unimaginable hardship.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText6599203896752783897">Paperback, 368 pages<br />Published March 28th 2017 by William Morrow<br />ISBN 0062663453 (ISBN13: 9780062663450)</span><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText6599203896752783897">About the Author</span></b></i><span id="freeText6599203896752783897"><i><b> </b></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5jw3C1LemmanzJP43OXLst2F5rIWEDfqvJuxllWCRvlJZTWkdxYiLuGqeRVtcYkEK1_4Lj-3P0-f8k_ZTDTIwyHbflr0CNV_1DG9ePQOSL46uC8yZV6hiPvrJUWDWCgkUSCY-UnpZ5MD/s1600/Jessica+Shattuck+AP+Photo+by+Lesley+Unruh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="160" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5jw3C1LemmanzJP43OXLst2F5rIWEDfqvJuxllWCRvlJZTWkdxYiLuGqeRVtcYkEK1_4Lj-3P0-f8k_ZTDTIwyHbflr0CNV_1DG9ePQOSL46uC8yZV6hiPvrJUWDWCgkUSCY-UnpZ5MD/s200/Jessica+Shattuck+AP+Photo+by+Lesley+Unruh.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6599203896752783897"><i>Jessica Shattuck is the <b>New York Times</b> bestselling author of <b>The Women in the Castle</b>, <b>The Hazards of Good Breeding</b>, a <b>New York Times</b> Notable Book and finalist for the PEN/Winship Award, and Perfect Life. Her writing has appeared in the <b>New York Times</b>, <b>The New Yorker</b>, <b>Glamour</b>, <b>Mother Jones</b>, and <b>Wired</b>, among other publications.</i><br /><br />Check out the author's <a href="http://jessicashattuck.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeText6599203896752783897">Connect with the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jessicashattuckauthor/">Facebook</a></span><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText6599203896752783897">My Thoughts</span></b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText6599203896752783897">The day of the countess's famous harvest party began with a driving rain that hammered down on all the ancient von Lingenfels castle's sore spots-- springing leaks, dampening floors, and turning its yellow facade a slick, beetle-like black.</span></blockquote>
Marianne is the widow of a "resister"-- a member of the German Resistance that fought against the rise of Hitler and attempted to assassinate him. Marianne's childhood friend Connie is a fellow resister, and he promises him that if anything should happen to him, she will watch over his fiance and the child she is carrying.<br />
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Fast forward about seven years to find Marianne taking in Benita and her son after the war, and later joining with another woman Ania and her children. They all live together in the old abandoned castle at Burg Lingenfels. Left damaged and unsure by the war, they have come together to build themselves up once again.<br />
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Marianne is a strong woman, perhaps even controlling at times. She can be meddlesome and will happily put others to work, doling out assignments and orders. But she has good intentions, and beneath the tough exterior there is a kindness and generosity.<br />
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Benita is pretty and delicate-- too pretty for the life of an uneducated peasant in a small village. and she was the little girl who dreamed of being a princess. And one day she met her prince in Connie Fledermann, longtime friend of Marianne's. Marianne is a bit bristled over Connie's engagement to the beautiful and delicate flower and doesn't understand what he sees in her. But he makes her promise to take care of Benita and their child if anything should happen to him. Which, of course, it does, as this story is about the widows of the resisters.<br />
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However Marianne was something of a resister herself. She played her part, if not as large a part as her husband Albrecht and Connie. But she is, after all, just a woman. And that is why she lives to be a widow.<br />
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Later after she and Benita are settled in at the castle, Marianne learns of another widow Ania Grabarek and sets out to locate her and bring her to the castle for shelter and safety as well. Ania is serious and matter-of-fact. She tends to be obedient and diligent. As a young girl she had dreams of something more, but conscribed herself to a life of drudgery and compliance.<br />
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And there in that old drafty castle the three women lived with their six children, raising them together, and becoming a family.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/01/jessica-shattuck-author-of-the-women-in-the-castle-on-tour-january-2018/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Tuesday, January 9th: <a href="http://abookishwayoflife.blogspot.com/">A Bookish Way of Life</a><br />
Monday, January 15th: <a href="http://stephaniesbookreviews.weebly.com/">100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews</a><br />
Tuesday, January 16th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Friday, January 19th: <a href="http://www.historywomanperspective.com/">History from a Woman’s Perspective</a><br />
Monday, January 22nd: <a href="http://booknaround.blogspot.com/">BookNAround</a><br />
Wednesday, January 31st: <a href="http://litwitwinedine.com/">Lit.Wit.Wine.Dine.</a><br />
Wednesday, January 31st: <a href="http://aliteraryvacation.blogspot.com/">A Literary Vacation</a><br />
Monday, February 5th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_literary_dreamer_/">Instagram: @_literary_dreamer_</a><br />
Wednesday, February 7th: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/novelmombooks/">Instagram: @Novelmombooks</a> and <a href="http://www.novelmom.com/">Novel Mom</a><br />
Thursday, February 8th: <a href="https://writereadlife.com/">Write – Read – Life</a><br />
Monday, February 12th: <a href="https://jessicamapreviews.com/">Jessicamap Reviews</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://www.5minutesforbooks.com/">5 Minutes For Books</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word:</b></i> I did like this book! I liked the characters, seeing the different aspects of the events surrounding the rise of Hitler, and the different types of people that played a part-- the Nazis, the resisters, the apathetic and self-absorbed, the cowards, the heroes. They all played a part. I enjoyed the author's writing style, the history lesson wrapped up in a story about humanity. The attempt to explain <i>how </i>it happened, as we who are part of the post-WWII world with hindsight at hand are left to wonder how they could have ever let this happen. I think this story is a pretty good example of how it happened.<br />
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<i><b></b></i>
The characters are hit-and-miss. With the widows, there were times in their lives when I liked them and others when I didn't. This story bookends the war and the years following the war with glimpses into what these widows came from and where they ended up at the end of their lives.<br />
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There have been a lot of books about Hitler and the Holocaust, but I like the unique look this one takes at how the Holocaust was ever allowed to happen, and the contrast of the compliance and resistance. Definitely recommended!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now</b></i>:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062563675/the-women-in-the-castle">HarperCollins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-women-in-the-castle-jessica-shattuck/1123951281#/">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2Cxi5xp">Amazon</a><br />
<br />
Cover: A-<br />
Writing Style: A<br />
Characters: A+<br />
Storyline/Plot: A<br />
Interest/Uniqueness: A<br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, and quotes could differ from the final release. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-69748155574024832062018-01-15T07:30:00.000-05:002018-01-15T07:30:01.329-05:00Mailbox Monday (1/15/18 edition)<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6a712qRgFav5uoBkC7V_71PqJ1vu7abyn7xoPEMlhRA33zZzplSg23FspXYqwZIH-tXMRsIOB4xCQLHcV28pWcNA6GzIhzdzay4Pqv8cjqjsYXryEiKJcjVmPngl85FGHcsVoPYPruBs/s1600/bigstock_Rural_Mailbox_127425.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6a712qRgFav5uoBkC7V_71PqJ1vu7abyn7xoPEMlhRA33zZzplSg23FspXYqwZIH-tXMRsIOB4xCQLHcV28pWcNA6GzIhzdzay4Pqv8cjqjsYXryEiKJcjVmPngl85FGHcsVoPYPruBs/s320/bigstock_Rural_Mailbox_127425.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 78%; font-style: italic;"> Image licensed from bigstockphoto.com </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 78%; font-style: italic;">Copyright stands</span></div>
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Mailbox Monday is hosted <a href="http://mailboxmonday.wordpress.com/">here</a>. I've received a few new books recently:<br />
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<i><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33911349-prairie-fires?from_search=true">Prairie Fires</a>: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser</b></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><b>The first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the <i>Little House on the Prairie</i> books</b><br /><br /><b>One of <i>The New York Times Book Review</i>'s 10 Best Books of the Year</b><br /><br />Millions of readers of <i>Little House on the Prairie</i>
believe they know Laura Ingalls—the pioneer girl who survived blizzards
and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the
famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never
been fully told. Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters,
diaries, and land and financial records, Caroline Fraser—the editor of
the Library of America edition of the Little House series—masterfully
fills in the gaps in Wilder’s biography. Revealing the grown-up story
behind the most influential childhood epic of pioneer life, she also
chronicles Wilder's tumultuous relationship with her journalist
daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, setting the record straight regarding
charges of ghostwriting that have swirled around the books.<br /><br />The
Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to
the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But
Wilder’s real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of
relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. It was only in her
sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that
she turned to children’s books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a
celebratory vision of homesteading—and achieving fame and fortune in
the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in
American letters.<br /><br />Spanning nearly a century of epochal change,
from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder’s dramatic life provides a
unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of
self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, <i>Prairie Fires</i> reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.</span><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i>Hardcover, 640 pages<br />Published November 21st 2017 by Metropolitan Books (first published November 14th 2017)<br />ISBN 1627792767 (ISBN13: 9781627792769)</i></span><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31848282-i-was-told-to-come-alone?from_search=true">I Was Told to Come Alone</a>: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad by Souad Mekhennet</span></i></b><br />
<br /><span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"><b>“I was told to come
alone. I was not to carry any identification, and would have to leave my
cell phone, audio recorder, watch, and purse at my hotel. . . .”</b><br /><br />For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for <i>The Washington Post</i>
who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides
of her upbringing – Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a
mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand
each other.<br /><br />In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany
Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the
German neighborhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalized and the
Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another,
and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a
daily presence. In her travels across the Middle East and North Africa,
she documents her chilling run-ins with various intelligence services
and shows why the Arab Spring never lived up to its promise. She then
returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of
the notorious ISIS executioner “Jihadi John,” and then in France,
Belgium, and her native Germany, where terror has come to the heart of
Western civilization.<br /><br />Mekhennet’s background has given her unique
access to some of the world’s most wanted men, who generally refuse to
speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger
to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the
Taliban, ISIS, and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to
an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination.<br /><br />Souad
Mekhennet is an ideal guide to introduce us to the human beings behind
the ominous headlines, as she shares her transformative journey with us.
Hers is a story you will not soon forget.</span></span><br />
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<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825">Hardcover, 368 pages<br />Published June 13th 2017 by Henry Holt and Co.<br />ISBN 1627798978 (ISBN13: 9781627798976) </span></i></span><br />
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<b><span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34004892-secrecy-world?from_search=true">Secrecy World</a>: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite</span></i></span><span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"> by Jake Bernstein</span></i></span></b><br />
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<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"><span id="freeText11770512863646210391"><b>A two-time Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist takes us inside the world revealed by the
Panama Papers, a landscape of illicit money, political corruption, and
fraud on a global scale. </b><br /><br />A hidden circulatory system flows
beneath the surface of global finance, carrying trillions of dollars
from drug trafficking, tax evasion, bribery, and other illegal
enterprises. This network masks the identities of the individuals who
benefit from these activities, aided by bankers, lawyers, and auditors
who get paid to look the other way.<br /><br />In <i>Secrecy World</i>, the
Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Jake Bernstein explores
this shadow economy and how it evolved, drawing on millions of leaked
documents from the files of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca--a
trove now known as the Panama Papers--as well as other journalistic and
government investigations. Bernstein shows how shell companies operate,
how they allow the superwealthy and celebrities to escape taxes, and how
they provide cover for illicit activities on a massive scale by crime
bosses and corrupt politicians across the globe.<br /><br />Bernstein
traveled to the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and within the United
States to uncover how these strands fit together--who is involved, how
they operate, and the real-world impact. He recounts how Mossack Fonseca
was exposed and what lies ahead for the corporations, banks, law firms,
individuals, and governments that are implicated.<br /><br /><i>Secrecy World</i>
offers a disturbing and sobering view of how the world really works and
raises critical questions about financial and legal institutions we may
once have trusted.</span>
</span><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"> </span></i></span><br />
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<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825">Hardcover, 352 pages<br />Published November 21st 2017 by Henry Holt & Company<br />ISBN 1250126681 (ISBN13: 9781250126689)</span></i></span><br />
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<b><span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34189556-the-wife-between-us?from_search=true">The Wife Between Us</a> by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen</span></i></span></b><br />
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<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><b>A novel of suspense that explores the complexities of marriage and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.</b></span><br />
<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><b> </b><br />When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.</span><br />
<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><br />You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement.</span><br />
<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><br />You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves.</span><br />
<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><br />You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her.</span><br />
<span id="freeText8529377208799750735"><br />You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.<br />Assume nothing.<br /><br />Discover the next blockbuster novel of suspense, and get ready for the read of your life.<br /><br />THE
WIFE BETWEEN US is the debut novel of co-authors Greer Hendricks and
Sarah Pekkanen. Hendricks, a former book editor with a major New York
publishing house, lives in Manhattan with her family. Pekkanen, the
author of seven bestselling solo novels, lives in Maryland with her
three sons. THE WIFE BETWEEN US has been sold in 30 countries and
optioned for film by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners. It is a Book of
the Month Club Pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and an Indie
Next Pick. Hendricks and Pekkanen are currently at work on their next
novel, also a psychological thriller.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText8529377208799750735">Hardcover, 352 pages<br />Published January 9th 2018 by St. Martin's Press<br />ISBN 1250130921 (ISBN13: 9781250130921)</span></i><br />
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<span id="freeText8196644444909407956"><i><span id="freeText2531408957574908825"></span></i> </span><i><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30653967-the-women-in-the-castle?from_search=true">The Women in the Castle</a> by Jessica Shattuck</b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText3188974320742772227">Set at the end of World
War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of
German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows
whose lives and fates become intertwined.<br /><br />Amid the ashes of Nazi
Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once grand
castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen
into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resistor murdered in
the failed July, 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne
plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave
conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance
widows. <br /><br />First, Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of
her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together,
they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to
Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naïve Benita, has
fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates
Ania, another resistor’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees
languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced
by the war. <br /><br />As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the
ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared
pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly
discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her
privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with
secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually,
all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined
their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique
share of challenges.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText3188974320742772227"><i>Paperback, 368 pages<br />Published March 28th 2017 by William Morrow<br />ISBN 0062663453 (ISBN13: 9780062663450)</i></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-33877975678378356052018-01-12T09:13:00.000-05:002018-01-12T09:13:00.215-05:00ON MY RADAR (1/12/18 edition): Books that have hit my radar...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here are some books that have recently hit my radar and set off my alarm bells...<br />
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<i><b>My Last Love Story by Falguni Kothari</b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText13598824753928355509"><i>Promise me you'll learn to cuss, learn to love again. Live again. Promise me you won't give up on each other.</i><br /><br />Simi
Desai is thirty years old and her husband is dying of cancer. He has
two last wishes in his final months: first, that she'll have his baby so
that a piece of him lives on, and second, that she'll reconcile with
her old flame, who just happens to be their mutual best friend. And so
over the course of their last summer together, Simi's husband plans a
series of big and small adventures for this unlikely trio, designed to
help them say goodbye to each other and prove to Simi that it's okay to
move on without him--and even find love again. <br /><br /><strong>Beautiful and poignant, Falguni Kothari's <em>My Last Love Story</em> will pull your heartstrings as only unforgettable love stories can.</strong></span><br />
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<i><span id="freeText13598824753928355509">Paperback<br />Expected publication: January 23rd 2018 by Graydon House (first published 2016)<br />ISBN 1525811398 (ISBN13: 9781525811395) </span></i><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText13598824753928355509">The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText11917420784315636818">A charming, clever, and
quietly moving debut novel of of endless possibilities and joyful
discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and
finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our
lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.<br /><br /><i>Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.</i><br /><br /><i>Bone china cup and saucer-Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.</i><br /><br />Anthony
Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly
lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day,
she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in
rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or
accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the
twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged
his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end
nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting
assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures,
including an irritable ghost.<br /><br />Recovering from a bad divorce,
Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the
lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She
finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a
welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud
engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out
to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects
with their owners.<br /><br />Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London
pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing
near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces
her to break a promise she once made.<br /><br />As the <i>Keeper of Lost Objects</i>,
Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she
unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to
rest?<br /><br />Full of character, wit, and wisdom, <i>The Keeper of Lost Things</i> is a heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of <i>The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs. Queen Takes the Train,</i> and <i>The Silver Linings Playbook</i>.</span><br />
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<i><span id="freeText11917420784315636818">Paperback, 288 pages<br />Published November 28th 2017 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published February 21st 2017)<br />ISBN 0062473557 (ISBN13: 9780062473554) </span></i><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText11917420784315636818">The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor</span></i></b><br />
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<span id="freeText11917420784315636818"><span id="freeText1049621685128864627">In 1986, Eddie and his
friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days
biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of
excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little
chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can
understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a
dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.<br /><br />In 2016, Eddie is
fully grown and thinks he's put his past behind him, but then he gets a
letter in the mail containing a single chalk stick figure. When it
turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a
prank--until one of them turns up dead. That's when Eddie realizes that
saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all
those years ago.</span>
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<i><span itemprop="bookFormat">Hardcover</span>, <span itemprop="numberOfPages">280 pages</span></i></div>
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Expected publication:
January 9th 2018
by Crown Publishing Group (NY)
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</i><div class="infoBoxRowItem">
<i>ISBN 1524760986
<span class="greyText">(ISBN13: <span itemprop="isbn">9781524760984</span>)</span></i>
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<span id="freeText11917420784315636818"></span> </div>
nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-30167789996541489302018-01-11T08:31:00.000-05:002018-01-11T08:31:17.950-05:00Introducing... The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne<i>Introducing books through the first chapter or so...</i><br />
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Long before we discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in the parish of Goleen, West Cork, and denounced my mother as a whore.<br />
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<i><b>-- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne</b></i>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-35539378875748427012018-01-08T10:05:00.000-05:002018-01-11T13:17:00.377-05:00TLC BOOK TOURS and REVIEW: The Crows of Beara by Julie Christine Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Synopsis</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="freeText3994901461135435998"><b>Along the windswept coast of Ireland, a woman discovers the landscape of her own heart</b><br /><br />When
Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a
new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance.
Struggling to overcome her troubled past and a failing marriage, Annie
is eager for a chance to rebuild her life.<br /><br />Yet when she arrives
on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach
on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and
many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Among
them is Daniel Savage, a local artist battling demons of his own, who
has been recruited to help block the mine.<br /><br />Despite their
differences, Annie and Daniel find themselves drawn toward each other,
and, inexplicably, they begin to hear the same voice--a strange, distant
whisper of Gaelic, like sorrow blowing in the wind.<br /><br />Guided by
ancient mythology and challenged by modern problems, Annie must confront
the half-truths she has been sent to spread and the lies she has been
telling herself. Most of all, she must open her heart to the healing
power of this rugged land and its people.<br /><br />Beautifully crafted with environmental themes, a lyrical Irish setting, and a touch of magical realism, <b><i>The Crows of Beara</i></b> is a breathtaking novel of how the nature of place encompasses everything that we are.</span></i><br />
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<span itemprop="bookFormat">Paperback</span></div>
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Published
September 1st 2017
by Ashland Creek Press
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ISBN 1618220470
<span class="greyText">(ISBN13: <span itemprop="isbn">9781618220479</span>)</span></div>
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<div class="infoBoxRowItem">
<i><b><span class="greyText">About the Author</span></b></i></div>
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<span class="greyText"> </span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzpDIoOMvGqbdXA2UbEW-kHCwJB-HFMGFqBhrdj9u3Y6KSMA4X9rXO0DU1BOqzEWMOtkUNCPwQaVxOXK34xVvfldafm6Pg5RxdVa83-V_ZP-GbGkX9ne3JTqs-mILqDyKgI2GSJJJpfnNs/s1600/Julie+Christine+Johnson+AP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzpDIoOMvGqbdXA2UbEW-kHCwJB-HFMGFqBhrdj9u3Y6KSMA4X9rXO0DU1BOqzEWMOtkUNCPwQaVxOXK34xVvfldafm6Pg5RxdVa83-V_ZP-GbGkX9ne3JTqs-mILqDyKgI2GSJJJpfnNs/s200/Julie+Christine+Johnson+AP.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
<i>Julie Christine Johnson’s short stories and essays have appeared in journals including <b>Emerge Literary Journal; Mud Season Review; Cirque: A Literary Journal of the North Pacific Rim; Cobalt; and River Poets Journal</b>. Her work has also appeared in the print anthologies <b>Stories for Sendai; Up, Do: Flash Fiction by Women Writers; and Three Minus One: Stories of Love and Loss</b>. She holds undergraduate degrees in French and psychology and a master’s in international affairs. Julie leads writing workshops and seminars and offers story/developmental editing and writer coaching services. </i><br />
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<i>Named a “standout debut” by Library Journal, “very highly recommended” by Historical Novels Review, and “delicate and haunting, romantic and mystical” by bestselling author Greer Macallister, Julie’s debut novel <b>In Another Life</b> (Sourcebooks) went into a second printing three days after its February 2016 release. A hiker, yogi, and swimmer, Julie makes her home in northwest Washington state. </i><br />
<br />
Check out the author's <a href="http://juliechristinejohnson.com/">website</a><br />
Connect with the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/juliechristinejohnson/">Facebook</a> <br />
Follow the author on <a href="https://twitter.com/JulieChristineJ">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/juliechristinej/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/juliechristinej/">Pinterest</a><br />
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<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Annie turned off the engine and rested her forehead on the steering wheel, gathering strength.</blockquote>
Annie's gone through a bad stretch. After the loss of her younger brother, she drowned herself in drink, and now finds herself attempting to get her life back on track, but finds that her marriage has been completely derailed and irreparable. She is sent to Ireland for work, and while there she finds her life shifting tracks and a new love taking root when she meets local artist Daniel Savage.<br />
<br />
This book presented itself to me at an opportune time. I was uncertain whether I should accept it for review, as romance is not generally my thing and historical fiction is hit and miss, but it just so happens that it came around just as I was immersed in an Ireland lovefest, and in particular a West Cork lovefest of Bantry and the surrounding area. Add to that the fact that the novel begins in Seattle and the author lives near the Kitsap Peninsula (the area where I used to live and now consider my second home), and it seemed almost fortuitous that this book came into my life. <br />
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The characters and storyline are both well developed, and the fictional town of Ballycarog and surrounding areas thoroughly drawn. You can almost smell the salt air and feel the damp chilled breeze and hear the cries of the Red-Billed Choughs. The story is narrated alternately by Annie and Daniel, and these dual narrators are both sympathetic and reliable characters, and their transitions are handled masterfully by the author.<br />
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This story is at its heart a romance, but there is a fantastical almost mystical bent that crosses into mythology. I found myself having the movie <i>The Lake House</i> continually popping into my mind. That was the feel of this book. A love story that surmounts all boundaries and restrictions; a love that is destined to be.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGHhbmy8xezeKb84P_4ECveiy2rJFkLbzYdWlc2sgXv6zDACT9JwF_3_OK6f_R0rO6mAcXWywUUrb5NWJH-TluPnoeTDbrBjo9tF3n7VTv7MWZiCsyEh1Lv_speUoAJ_AMqo5jZPgv0pq/s1600/tlc+tour+host.png" /></a></div>
<span id="freeText6515957155555904010">I would like to thank TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. Check out the <a href="https://tlcbooktours.com/2017/06/julie-christine-johnson-author-of-the-crows-of-beara-on-tour-october-2017/">website </a>for the full tour schedule:</span><br />
<br />
Monday, October 2nd: <a href="http://booksandbindings.com/book-review-the-crows-of-beara-by-julie-christine-johnson/">Books and Bindings</a><br />
Tuesday, October 3rd: <a href="http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2017/10/review-crows-of-beara-by-julie.html">BookNAround</a><br />
Wednesday, October 4th: <a href="http://sapphire-love.blogspot.com/2017/10/blog-tour-crows-of-beara-by-julie.html">Sapphire Ng</a><br />
Thursday, October 5th: <a href="http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-book-tour-stops-here-review-of.html">Kahakai Kitchen</a><br />
Monday, October 9th: <a href="http://www.ricki-treleaven.com/2017/10/the-crows-of-beara.html">The Sketchy Reader</a><br />
Wednesday, October 11th: <a href="https://www.thedesertbibliophile.com/blog-tour-review-the-crows-of-beara-by-julie-christine-johnson/">The Desert Bibliophile</a><br />
Tuesday, October 17th: <a href="https://openlybookish.blog/2017/10/17/the-crows-of-beara/">Openly Bookish</a><br />
Wednesday, October 18th: <a href="https://jathanandheather.com/2017/10/18/the-crows-of-beara/">Jathan & Heather</a><br />
Friday, October 20th: <a href="http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2017/10/the-crows-of-beara/">Literary Quicksand</a><br />
Monday, October 23rd: <a href="http://www.girl-who-reads.com/2017/10/the-crows-of-beara-by-julie-christine.html">Girl Who Reads</a><br />
Tuesday, October 24th: <a href="http://stephaniesbookreviews.weebly.com/blog-tours/the-crows-of-beara">100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews</a><br />
Wednesday, October 25th: <a href="http://www.spiritblog.net/the-crows-of-beara/">Based on a True Story</a><br />
Thursday, October 26th: <a href="http://www.stephthebookworm.com/2017/10/27/review-the-crows-of-beara-by-julie-christine-johnson/">StephTheBookworm</a><br />
Friday, October 27th: <a href="https://brokenteepee.com/crows-beara-julie-christine-johnson-book-review/">Broken Teepee</a><br />
Monday, January 8th: <a href="http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/">Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World</a><br />
Wednesday, January 10th: <a href="http://ajreader.blogspot.com/">Read. Write. Repeat.</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/">Beth Fish Reads</a><br />
TBD: <a href="http://unabridged-expression.blogspot.com/">Unabridged Chick</a><br />
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<i><b>My final word:</b></i> I was pleased to find that I really liked this story! The author is a gifted writer able to draw you into the story and allows you to lose yourself in it. Annie is a strong woman who can "fake it til she makes it" when she needs to. Daniel is the tortured artist, immersed in self-condemnation for past sins until Annie reaches a part he'd buried long ago. The Irish people of West Cork will charm you and win you over. The author took what could have been just another fluff romance story and gave it form with solid characters and a topical theme. If you enjoy a story like <i>The Lake House</i>, a love story with an almost magical bent, then pick up this book. You won't be sorry!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-crows-of-beara-julie-christine-johnson/1125895010?ean=9781618220479">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2rWvQ6W">Amazon</a><br />
<br />
Cover: C+<br />
Writing Style: A-<br />
Characters: A-<br />
Storyline/Plot: B+<br />
Interest/Uniqueness: A-<br />
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<i><b>My Rating:</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6c9CdKchNoZJR21KRctulHYglRYaswsTo1nK7GXei_7gQ0GZjJyLp-5VBNgJpcATv6f7nGDcqg22WIkO-0ofmnha1D64g2blplyn9505lT27cmzSCEEDyDUEOWhszVakH2FZh8jHO6v4H/s1600/Aminus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="63" data-original-width="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6c9CdKchNoZJR21KRctulHYglRYaswsTo1nK7GXei_7gQ0GZjJyLp-5VBNgJpcATv6f7nGDcqg22WIkO-0ofmnha1D64g2blplyn9505lT27cmzSCEEDyDUEOWhszVakH2FZh8jHO6v4H/s1600/Aminus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a near-fifty blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through TLC Book Tours and the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, and quotes could differ from the final release. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-84572981539644821492018-01-01T08:57:00.000-05:002018-01-01T08:57:19.419-05:00QUICK REVIEW: Lights Out by Ted Koppel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434725454l/25733923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434725454l/25733923.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<b><i>Synopsis</i></b><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><b>In this tour de force
of investigative reporting, Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack
on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would
be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared.</b><br /><b> </b><br />
Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. Tens of
millions of people over several states are affected. For those without
access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no
refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices
we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is
widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before. <br /><br />It
isn’t just a scenario. A well-designed attack on just one of the
nation’s three electric power grids could cripple much of our
infrastructure—and in the age of cyberwarfare, a laptop has become the
only necessary weapon. Several nations hostile to the United States
could launch such an assault at any time. In fact, as a former chief
scientist of the NSA reveals, China and Russia have already penetrated
the grid. And a cybersecurity advisor to President Obama believes that
independent actors—from “hacktivists” to terrorists—have the capability
as well. “It’s not a question of if,” says Centcom Commander General
Lloyd Austin, “it’s a question of when.” <br /><br />And yet, as Koppel
makes clear, the federal government, while well prepared for natural
disasters, has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power
grid. The current Secretary of Homeland Security suggests keeping a
battery-powered radio.<br /><br />In the absence of a government plan, some
individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands.
Among the nation’s estimated three million “preppers,” we meet one whose
doomsday retreat includes a newly excavated three-acre lake, stocked
with fish, and a Wyoming homesteader so self-sufficient that he crafted
the thousands of adobe bricks in his house by hand. We also see the
unrivaled disaster preparedness of the Mormon church, with its enormous
storehouses, high-tech dairies, orchards, and proprietary trucking
company – the fruits of a long tradition of anticipating the worst. But
how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive?<br /><br />With urgency
and authority, one of our most renowned journalists examines a threat
unique to our time and evaluates potential ways to prepare for a
catastrophe that is all but inevitable.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620">Hardcover, 279 pages<br />Published October 27th 2015 by Crown<br />ISBN 055341996X (ISBN13: 9780553419962) </span><br />
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<br />
<i><b><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">About the Author</span></b></i><br />
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<i><span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><span id="freeTextContainerauthor574347">Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for <b>Nightline
</b>from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005.
After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the
Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008. Koppel is currently a senior
news analyst for National Public Radio and the BBC.</span> </span></i><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
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<span id="freeText3310106472813438620">I've been concerned with the stability and reliability of our electrical grid for some time now. A coworker and I have talked about how an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) or solar flare could kill all electronics in a given area. Do you have any idea what is "electronic" these days? Everything, including our cars! If an EMP hit a highly-populated area like New York or Los Angeles, most people would find themselves without electricity, cars, radios or phones. No power means no refrigeration, and people on medications that need to be refrigerated (like insulin for diabetics) would begin to die, there would be no incubators for babies or life support for patients in need. The only working automobiles would be old-fangled carburetor-driven vehicles. And getting power up again would be no easy feat. In the case of an EMP or solar flare or something that takes out transformers, it's possible that a densely-populated area could be without power for over a year, as new transformers would have to be manufactured and installed.</span><br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620">However this book addresses more the vulnerability our system has to hackers, and how other countries like Russia have already attempted to hack the system and come frighteningly close more than once. And we are doing alarmingly little to protect ourselves against hacking. </span><br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620">This book does a great job of explaining our vulnerabilities, where we are failing, and what could be done to protect ourselves. This is an important book, and people need to be aware of the danger we face every day to being plunged back into the dark ages.</span><br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><br /></span>
<b><i><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">Buy Now:</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lights-out-ted-koppel/1121443732?ean=9780553419986#/"><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">Barnes and Noble</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Cyberattack-Unprepared-Surviving/dp/B0143RYF9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514814638&sr=1-1&keywords=lights+out+ted+koppel"><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">Amazon</span></a><br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=lights%20out">IndieBound </a></span><br />
<span id="freeText3310106472813438620"><br /></span>
<i><b><span id="freeText3310106472813438620">My Rating:</span></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOO0v6THrRDeD0fvrQ6VLF5zZ201aE7UEve-7Ge4Ic5gfkLCV1meN_UGXHtuiYyJ04Z_OYnkDCna49rYC5FcklV264IypDF2UCxJ6Ex9VMymSAlW8bcSOGu7H9pcnTnw-nMBMSefR_kKV/s1600/Bplus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="55" data-original-width="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOO0v6THrRDeD0fvrQ6VLF5zZ201aE7UEve-7Ge4Ic5gfkLCV1meN_UGXHtuiYyJ04Z_OYnkDCna49rYC5FcklV264IypDF2UCxJ6Ex9VMymSAlW8bcSOGu7H9pcnTnw-nMBMSefR_kKV/s1600/Bplus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I received a copy of this book to review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. </i></span></span>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-17852945837657076022018-01-01T08:12:00.000-05:002018-01-01T08:12:10.243-05:00QUICK REVIEW: Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Ed Tarkington<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442616440l/24001098.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442616440l/24001098.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<i><b>Synopsis</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText1792301094441378768">Welcome to Spencerville,
Virginia, 1977. Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul.
Sixteen and full of rebel cool, Paul spends his days cruising in his
Chevy Nova blasting Neil Young, cigarette dangling from his lips, arm
slung around his beautiful, troubled girlfriend. Paul is happy to have
his younger brother as his sidekick. Then one day, in an act of
vengeance against their father, Paul picks up Rocky from school and
nearly abandons him in the woods. Afterward, Paul disappears.<br /><br />
Seven years later, Rocky is a teenager himself. He hasn’t forgotten
being abandoned by his boyhood hero, but he’s getting over it, with the
help of the wealthy neighbors’ daughter, ten years his senior, who has
taken him as her lover. Unbeknownst to both of them, their affair will
set in motion a course of events that rains catastrophe on both their
families. After a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion
to their small town, Rocky and his family must reckon with the past and
find out how much forgiveness their hearts can hold.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText1792301094441378768">Hardcover, 320 pages<br />Published January 5th 2016 by Algonquin Books<br />ISBN 161620382X (ISBN13: 9781616203825)</span><i><span id="freeText1792301094441378768"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText1792301094441378768"></span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText1792301094441378768"><br /></span></i>
<i><b>My Thoughts</b></i><br />
<br />
This was a sort of off-beat story, quirky, a little jumbled. Some book club members complained that it was as if the author threw in everything but the kitchen sink. I liked the story well enough, but it was a bit YA "coming-of-age". We found in our book club discussion that it is one of those books with moments you don't fully understand, and then someone will explain, "No, remember he..." and someone else will say "Oh! I missed that!" or "Oh, I thought..." There's a lot going on, and it's easy to miss or misunderstand little things. But this is a good pick for those who like coming-of-age stories.<br />
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<i><b>Buy Now:</b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/only-love-can-break-your-heart-ed-tarkington/1120956146?ean=9781616205263">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Only-Love-Break-Your-Heart/dp/B0176UGIGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514812195&sr=1-1&keywords=only+love+can+break+your+heart+by+ed+tarkington">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=only+love+can+break+your+heart">IndieBound</a><br />
<br />
<b><i>My Rating:</i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw0qqJpV2Mj9CaxcMZJAQLX5Xh57lBaeQjejevfRhOm1_5tiwA9S8c0289ROA2Mb2dJStCdhWbQpe2d3snjwc4ZVjL5TfXQ4D5ZIjnK5FGjl0C9A4yxplrsXkMxyUaTjrF7mG3j6TMRub/s1600/B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="53" data-original-width="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw0qqJpV2Mj9CaxcMZJAQLX5Xh57lBaeQjejevfRhOm1_5tiwA9S8c0289ROA2Mb2dJStCdhWbQpe2d3snjwc4ZVjL5TfXQ4D5ZIjnK5FGjl0C9A4yxplrsXkMxyUaTjrF7mG3j6TMRub/s1600/B.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This book was the July 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.</i></span></span><br />
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nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-56156843007638458042017-12-31T23:20:00.000-05:002017-12-31T23:20:24.729-05:00QUICK REVIEW: Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419212676l/22609433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419212676l/22609433.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<b><i>Synopsis</i></b><br />
<br />
<i>From the internationally bestselling author of <b>Nefertiti </b>and
<b>Cleopatra’s Daughter</b> comes the breathtaking story of Queen
Lakshmi—India’s Joan of Arc—who against all odds defied the mighty
British invasion to defend her beloved kingdom.</i><br />
<br />
<i>
</i><i>When the British Empire sets its sights on India in
the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest. India
is fractured and divided into kingdoms, each independent and wary of one
another, seemingly no match for the might of the English. But when they
arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a
surprising challenge.</i><br />
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<i>
</i><i>Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two
armies—one male and one female—and rides into battle, determined to
protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear
at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and
training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire determined to
take away the land she loves.</i><br />
<br />
<i>
</i><i>Told from the unexpected perspective of Sita—Queen
Lakshmi’s most favored companion and most trusted soldier in the
all-female army—<b>Rebel Queen</b> shines a light on a time and place rarely
explored in historical fiction. In the tradition of her bestselling
novel, <b>Nefertiti</b>, and through her strong, independent heroines fighting
to make their way in a male dominated world, Michelle Moran brings
nineteenth-century India to rich, vibrant life.</i><br />
<br />
Hardcover, 355 pages<br />
Published March 3rd 2015 by Touchstone<br />
ISBN 1476716358 (ISBN13: 9781476716350<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>About the Author</i></b><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069">Michelle Moran is the
international bestselling author of six historical novels, including
<b>Madame Tussaud</b>, which was optioned for a mini-series in 2011. Her books
have been translated into more than twenty languages.<br /><br />A native of
southern California, Michelle attended Pomona College, then earned a
Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate University. During her six
years as a public high school teacher, she used her summers to travel
around the world, and it was her experiences as a volunteer on
archaeological digs that inspired her to write historical fiction. <br /><br />In
2012 Michelle was married in India, inspiring her seventh book, <b>Rebel
Queen</b>, which is set in the East. Her hobbies include hiking, traveling,
and archaeology. She is also fascinated by archaeogenetics, particularly
since her children's heritages are so mixed. But above all these
things, Michelle is passionate about reading, and can often be found
with her nose in a good book. A frequent traveler, she currently resides
with her husband, son, and daughter in the US.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeTextauthor269069">Check out the author's <a href="http://michellemoran.com/">website</a></span><br />
<span id="freeTextauthor269069">Follow the author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Moran/145369525537299">Facebook</a></span><br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>
<b><i><span id="freeTextauthor269069">My Thoughts</span></i></b><br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>
<span id="freeTextauthor269069">This is the tale of Queen Lakshmi and her all-female guard, and the trusted friendship she develops with her most skilled of soldiers Sita. Sita was a motherless child raised in poverty. Seeking a way out for her family and being the protector of her little sister, Sita trains to be a warrior, in hopes of being selected to join the Queen's army. And this is exactly what she does, going on to become a friend and confident to the Queen.</span><br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>This story has a little of everything. Full of adventure, adversity and even a little romance, Sita is a heroine for today. The author always writes an engaging and easy-to-read story. While I enjoyed this story, it wasn't quite as good as her earlier novel <i>Madame Tussaud</i>. Nevertheless I would recommend this one.<br />
<b><i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"></span></i></b><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeTextauthor269069">Buy Now:</span></i></b><br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>
<span id="freeTextauthor269069"><a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rebel-Queen/Michelle-Moran/9781476716350">Simon and Schuster</a></span><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rebel-queen-michelle-moran/1119884036?ean=9781476716367#/"><span id="freeTextauthor269069">Barnes and Noble</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Queen-A-Novel/dp/B00T6K2O8Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514778620&sr=1-1&keywords=rebel+queen"><span id="freeTextauthor269069">Amazon</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=rebel+queen"><span id="freeTextauthor269069">IndieBound</span></a><br />
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"><br /></span></i>
<i><span id="freeTextauthor269069"></span></i><br />
<b><i><span id="freeTextauthor269069">My Rating:</span></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOO0v6THrRDeD0fvrQ6VLF5zZ201aE7UEve-7Ge4Ic5gfkLCV1meN_UGXHtuiYyJ04Z_OYnkDCna49rYC5FcklV264IypDF2UCxJ6Ex9VMymSAlW8bcSOGu7H9pcnTnw-nMBMSefR_kKV/s1600/Bplus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="55" data-original-width="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOO0v6THrRDeD0fvrQ6VLF5zZ201aE7UEve-7Ge4Ic5gfkLCV1meN_UGXHtuiYyJ04Z_OYnkDCna49rYC5FcklV264IypDF2UCxJ6Ex9VMymSAlW8bcSOGu7H9pcnTnw-nMBMSefR_kKV/s1600/Bplus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This book was the June 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies, although I got this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.</i></span></span><br />
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nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-81591343562957811092017-12-31T22:09:00.000-05:002017-12-31T22:17:53.015-05:00QUICK REVIEW: The Mothers by Brit Bennett<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460652458l/28815371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460652458l/28815371.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<b><i>Synopsis</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="freeText3507141547268411448"><b>A dazzling debut
novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story
about young love, a big secret in a small community—and the things that
ultimately haunt us most. </b><br /><br />Set within a contemporary black
community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel
is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition.
It begins with a secret.<br /><br />"All good secrets have a taste before
you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our
mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked
too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."<br /><br />It is the
last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious,
grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's
recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard
is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to
waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the
pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent
cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia
hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best
friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are
full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made
that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully
maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had
chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a
relentless haunt.<br /><br />In entrancing, lyrical prose, <b>The Mothers</b> asks
whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If,
as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our
younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the
decisions we make that shape our lives forever.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Hardcover, 288 pages<br />Published October 11th 2016 by Riverhead Books<br />ISBN 0399184511 (ISBN13: 9780399184512)</span><br />
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<b><i><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">About the Author</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<i><span id="freeText3507141547268411448"><span id="freeText3988871701767152603">Born and raised in
Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and
later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where
she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014
Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. Her work is featured in <i><b>The New Yorker</b>, <b>The New York Times Magazine</b>, <b>The Paris Review</b></i>, and <b><i>Jezebel</i></b>.<br /><br /><b><i>The Mothers</i></b> is her first novel.</span> </span></i><br />
<i><span id="freeText3507141547268411448"><br /></span></i>
<span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Follow the author on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/britrbennett">Twitter</a></span><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">My Thoughts</span></b></i><br />
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<span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Unfortunately I did not write this review when the book was fresh in my mind. So I am hampered in my ability to thoroughly relay my feelings. However I did like the author's writing and the character development. What made my experience reading this book especially enjoyable was the fact that the book I purchased came with post-it notes written by the author marking certain passages throughout. It gave some great insight into the author's thoughts and intentions when writing the story, and it was really a great experience!</span><br />
<span id="freeText3507141547268411448"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText3507141547268411448">This is a great book for anyone who likes stories of family drama and gut punches, and people forced to make tough decisions.</span><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Buy Now:</span></b></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mothers-brit-bennett/1123351731?ean=9780399184529#/"><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Barnes and Noble</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Novel-Brit-Bennett/dp/0399184511/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1514776476&sr=8-1"><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">Amazon</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=the+mothers+brit"><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">IndieBound</span></a><br />
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<i><b><span id="freeText3507141547268411448">My Rating:</span></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wQQoXAF_C9AIEGUurxxf5Y72dslZtwiqUjtMUHKwr0dnNzkkDcQXyyut_drM5E7c_QEVOppL3BSy0Cq8JgB1syM-NlRXeqj9ilh743XShIyLJ6fD7RFt9TUwKozqfV3mG6xBlDWP6FrC/s1600/Bplus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="55" data-original-width="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wQQoXAF_C9AIEGUurxxf5Y72dslZtwiqUjtMUHKwr0dnNzkkDcQXyyut_drM5E7c_QEVOppL3BSy0Cq8JgB1syM-NlRXeqj9ilh743XShIyLJ6fD7RFt9TUwKozqfV3mG6xBlDWP6FrC/s1600/Bplus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a3fd6a2f-8b9e-f8c2-9ecf-23e88affc3a0" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cerebral Girl </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This book was the March 2017 selection for the Cape Coral Bookies.</i></span></span><br />
<br />nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-42153433182811259902017-10-22T08:07:00.000-04:002017-10-22T08:07:07.342-04:00READATHON October 2017: End-Event Survey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGnH_9oVlCp4LJtYv7KYwGmpthmze3MMsttXHU4VrqGweLWub-XFssm-WOE_Vy88WGWYjUCAIooTmL5xN1K0qXNPL-5u74I4er3GlVQdHEZc9W2IR8jH_Rwkw-tAEN-mJ2HUEONIPWwTM/s1600/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGnH_9oVlCp4LJtYv7KYwGmpthmze3MMsttXHU4VrqGweLWub-XFssm-WOE_Vy88WGWYjUCAIooTmL5xN1K0qXNPL-5u74I4er3GlVQdHEZc9W2IR8jH_Rwkw-tAEN-mJ2HUEONIPWwTM/s320/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<strong>Closing Survey! (add your link or comment below)</strong><br />
1. Which hour was most daunting for you? <b>Well, after a day working on hurricane cleanup I was so tired and
exhausted that I only lasted a couple of hours before passing out. But since my whole body hurts today and I'll be taking it easy, I'm going to try to continue my reading today on my own.</b><br />
2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read! <b>I'm still working on the very long The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne</b><br />
3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners?<br />
4. What’s a really rad thing we could do during the next Read-a-thon that would make you smile?<br />
5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you
be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep? <b>I always try to participate.</b><br />
nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-37503266145704306762017-10-21T20:00:00.000-04:002017-10-21T20:00:10.630-04:00READATHON October 2017: Getting my drink on<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFAxfL5-22D-9JHi2HhvNR1nHCvnhCqa7L4zO4CIZ6V3AwjjVXvkMT7n3Zr0aqWupJoUu-ekXjMy8yJd0-BZXl8pj_O2nYF9y8cJ3Ur_00THrXQbxGtap7tY8RAp9vyWf7TWZJrIhOVaS/s1600/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFAxfL5-22D-9JHi2HhvNR1nHCvnhCqa7L4zO4CIZ6V3AwjjVXvkMT7n3Zr0aqWupJoUu-ekXjMy8yJd0-BZXl8pj_O2nYF9y8cJ3Ur_00THrXQbxGtap7tY8RAp9vyWf7TWZJrIhOVaS/s320/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm finally ready. Settling down with a mug of tea and finally reading after a day of hard and exhausting work.<br />
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<br />nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1801676705762774578.post-62244908891395633142017-10-21T19:14:00.000-04:002017-10-21T20:00:20.045-04:00READATHON October 2017: Mid-Event Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFAxfL5-22D-9JHi2HhvNR1nHCvnhCqa7L4zO4CIZ6V3AwjjVXvkMT7n3Zr0aqWupJoUu-ekXjMy8yJd0-BZXl8pj_O2nYF9y8cJ3Ur_00THrXQbxGtap7tY8RAp9vyWf7TWZJrIhOVaS/s1600/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFAxfL5-22D-9JHi2HhvNR1nHCvnhCqa7L4zO4CIZ6V3AwjjVXvkMT7n3Zr0aqWupJoUu-ekXjMy8yJd0-BZXl8pj_O2nYF9y8cJ3Ur_00THrXQbxGtap7tY8RAp9vyWf7TWZJrIhOVaS/s320/Readathon_Pocketwatch_Bellezza.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Halfway through the readathon, and I haven't really been able to participate yet. Today is when everyone decided to help me with hurricane cleanup, and you have to jump at the opportunity when you have it! So today was spent on roof repairs and landscape cleanup. Now I am showered and exhausted and barely able to move. Perfect time to curl up in a chair with a pot of tea to finally get some reading done!<br />
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<b>Mid-Event Survey</b>:<br />
1. What are you reading right now? <b><i>The Heart's Invisible Furies</i> by John Boyne</b><br />
2. How many books have you read so far? <b>zero</b><br />
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? <b>Same book. It's a long book.</b><br />
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? <b>Today has been nothing but interruptions. I'm hoping to have tonight to settle down and get some reading done.</b><br />
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? <b>Nada</b>nfmgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677291537193518055noreply@blogger.com1