Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Waiting on Wednesday: The Rom-Commers




Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released title I can't to read.


This week's pick: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center 

Due out: June 11, 2024



Synopsis taken from Amazon:

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.


Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?

Friday, March 22, 2024

Friday Five

 Happy Snowy Friday!  Although it's the end of March,  I drove through snow this morning on my way to school.  I'm hoping it is short-lived. I am ready for spring!


Here are the things that caught my eye this week:





1.  Athena Sweater




2.  Waist Defined Shirred Jumpsuit



3.  High Rise 70s Flare Jeans




4.  Open Stitch Sweater



5.  Easy Long Sleeve Rugby Tee




6.  Martha Stewart Bobs Sesame



7.  High Rise Light Pink Jogger




8.   Eyelet Mini Shirtdress




9.  Circle of Hope Brass Earrings




10.  We Were the Lucky Ones - I loved this book by Georgia Hunter and at some point I will watch this movie.




That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Waiting on Wednesday: Same As It Ever Was




Waiting on Wednesday  is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released title I can't wait to read.




This week's pick: Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

Due out June 18, 2024


Synopsis taken from Amazon:


The New York Times bestselling author of THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD (“wonderfully immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.

At fifty-seven, Julia Ames is living an improbably lovely life. Despite her inclination toward self-sabotage and prickly alienation, she has found herself with a husband she loves, two happy children, and a quiet, contented existence in the suburbs. When she bumps into an old friend that she hasn’t spoken to in years—a friend who almost ended her marriage decades prior—Julia finds herself reexamining her supposedly happy life. Compounded with a bombshell announcement from her son and her daughter’s impending departure for college, this chance meeting threatens to send Julia spinning out of control.

Daunted by a looming empty nest, Julia becomes consumed with her checkered past—and with the chaos of her present. She grapples with a complicated new daughter-in-law, the reappearance of her own estranged mother, and the forbidden allure of rekindling a relationship that was once both her lifeline and her downfall. The novel follows Julia over the course of a few tumultuous months as well as the fifty-plus years that preceded them, from her chaotic childhood in Chicago to her fraught early days of marriage and motherhood. SAME AS IT EVER WAS ultimately examines the complete and complicated trajectory of one woman’s life and asks what it takes to form—and keep—a family.

Monday, March 18, 2024

NonFiction Tuesday: The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon

 



This week's pick: The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington's Most Private First Lady by Heath Hardage Lee

Due out August 6, 2024



Synopsis taken from Amazon:

In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top ten list of most admired women fourteen times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity intact. And yet, the media often portrayed Mrs. Nixon as elusive and mysterious. The real Pat Nixon, however, bore little resemblance to the woman so often described in the press. Pat married California lawyer Richard Nixon in June of 1940, becoming a wife, mother, and her husband’s trusted political partner in short order. As the couple rose to prominence, Pat became Second Lady from 1953-1961 and then First Lady from 1969-1974, forging her own graceful path between the protocols of the strait-laced mid-century and the bra-burning Sixties and Seventies.

Pat was a highly traveled First Lady, visiting eighty-three countries during her tenure. After a devastating earthquake in Peru in 1970, she personally flew in medical supplies and food to hard-hit areas, meeting one-on-one with victims of the tragedy. The First Lady’s 1972 trips with her husband to China and to Russia were critical to the detente that resulted. President Nixon frequently sent her to represent him at significant events in South America and Africa solo. Pat greatly expanded upon previous preservation efforts in the White House, obtaining more art and antique objects than any other First Lady. She was progressive on women’s issues, favoring the Equal Rights Amendment and backing a targeted effort to get more women into high level government jobs. Pat strongly supported nominating a woman for the Supreme Court. She was pro-choice, supporting women’s reproductive rights publicly even before the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973.

When asked to define her “signature” First Lady agenda, she defied being put into a box, often saying: “People are my project.” There was nothing Pat Nixon enjoyed more than working one-on-one directly with ordinary human beings, especially with women, children, and those in need. In 
The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon, Heath Hardage Lee presents readers with the essential nature of this First Lady, an empathetic, adventurous, self-made woman who wanted no power or influence, but who connected warmly with both ordinary Americans and people from different cultures she encountered world-wide.


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Monday Mini-Reviews: Two Five Star Reviews and Back to Reality

 Spring Break 2024 is a wrap and today it is back to reality.  I started making a list during the sermon at church today since my mind was wandering and I kept thinking of multiple things I needed to do as soon as I got back to school.  


I did get a few books read over break, but as is typical, I have more I've added to my TBR. These two were both five star reads although I read several others that were also very good.





The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is one I would typically say is not "my type" of book.  Cassie Andrews is a bookseller that is gifted The Book of Doors, a book that holds special powers that Cassie and Izzy, her friend, explore as they travel anywhere in the world.  But the book is highly sought after since it holds special powers and there is violence and danger following them wherever they go. 

I found myself turning pages as quickly as I could to find out what would next happen.  I wasn't sure who Cassie could trust and I kept rooting for her, yet was skeptical that things could turn out well for her.  The time travel aspect, which is something I usually think I don't like, was so well done.  

My only regret is that in reading it so quickly I am not sure I truly caught every connection within this gem.





Frances Perkins is a woman in history that until now was unknown to me.  March is National Woman's History Month and I've found myself asking students if they can think of any important women in history.  This seems incredibly hard for them and often the only people they can come up with are athletes or musicians.  Frances Perkins is a woman students should know about.  She served as the Secretary of Labor under FDR, and in this fictionalized account of her adult life we see her rub elbows with a variety of influential people of her time, and the many contributions she made to our country.  Perkins' life was certainly unconventional for a woman of her time, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about her.

I'm always thankful for the authors who continue to turn out fictionalized accounts of little known women and love that these books pique my interest and I get to do some more research on my own to learn more.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Friday Five: Back From Boston

 We had a great time in Boston over spring break.  We did a lot of sightseeing, some shopping and ate great food. I'm glad for the couple of days we have at home now to regroup and relax.





Spring is definitely coming and there are lots of warm weather clothing I'm seeing online (and in person in Boston).  

Here are this week's finds:

1.  Getty Crop Wide Leg


2.  Water Resistant Hooded Utility Jacket



3.  Striped Knit Cardigan



4.  Sunset Icon Cotton Crewneck Sweater





5.  Midform Infinity Sandal




6. Sienna Embroidered Shirt




7.  High Rise Wide Legged Cropped Jeans




8.  Nike Sportswear Phoenix Fleece



9.  Snappy Stretch Convertible Baggy Cargo Jogger




10.  Ski Stripe High Pile Fleece Jacket




That's it for me this week. What's caught your eye?

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Waiting on Wednesday: Summers at the Saint




Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.





This week's pick: Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

Due out: May 7, 2024


Synopsis taken from Amazon:

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . .

Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help―including the daughter of her estranged best friend―Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday of Spring Break

 We've headed to Boston for spring break!  We'll be back on Wednesday and the three full days we are there should be packed full of sightseeing and good food.  I'm hoping for some reading time on the plane and have packed several books along with my kindle.  

I've read some books that weren't all that amazing, but I am wondering if part of that is because of having a bit of a book hangover after Lonesome Dove.  The Book of Doors has been an amazing read, and I feel like I am finally back to my normal reading after that.  

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Friday Five: Spring Break Is Here

 



1.  Eyelet Tiered Mini Shirtdress




2.  Pippa Packable Pullover Puffer




3.  The Great Lakes Pullover Sweatshirt




4.  Endless High Rise Pant




5.  The Emmett Wide-Leg Crop Pant: Welt Pocket Edition





6.  Round Neck Short Sleeve Floral Lace Sheath Dress




7.  Printed High Rise Girlfriend Chino Pant





8.  Striped Puff Sleeve Button Up




9.  Striped Terry Half-Zip Pullover




10.  Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans






That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Middle Grade Historical Fiction

 

February really was a month full of historical fiction.  I picked up this book after seeing Janssen at EverydayReading post on instagram that she was reading it aloud to her daughters. It had been on a TBR on my desk at school for far too long.





It's 1914 and Norvia has spent her childhood on Beaver Island hearing about her Ojibwe heritage from her grandfather.  After her parents divorce and her mother remarries, relocating the family to the city, Norvia is told to keep her native heritage a secret.

Now she has a stepfather and stepbrother, Vernon along with exciting things like automobiles, soda shops and movies.  WWI is looming, but Norvia wants this to be the best year yet as she dreams of going on to high school.

I loved this one.  I loved the setting on the island and small town. I loved Norvia's stepfather who was kind and patient and wanted the best for his own children and stepchildren. I loved that this one incorporated some faith in it as well without it seeming preachy. And I loved that this one was inspired by Anna Rose Johnson's family history.

This one was a five star read!