Friday Five: The First Week in October

 I've been busy all week, but mostly things are starting to feel a little more routine at school.  Cross country season is well underway.  Little Sister has a quad injury and low iron and ferritin, so it's not going exactly like any of us would want, but we are still moving along.  The weather is a little crisper in the mornings, but tomorrow it is forecast to hit 85 degrees.  I've found some cute things this week, and am still enjoying the clothes for colder weather.

1. Peyton Snap Cuff Tee

2.  Jean Popover Shirt

3.  Gola Mark Cox Tennis Sneakers

4.  AE Baseball Hat

5.  AE Getaway Quarter Zip Sweatshirt

6.  Striped Sequin Sweater

7.  237 Sneakers

8. Rugby Crop Polo

9.  Omberline Corduroy Shirt

10.  Mollie Ballet Flat from Dansko

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

Waiting on Wednesday: Let's Call Her Barbie

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: Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen

Due out: January 14, 2025

Synopsis taken from Goodreads:

She was only eleven-and-a-half inches tall, but she would change the world. Barbie is born in this bold new novel by USA Today bestselling author Renée Rosen.

When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.

In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.

As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.

In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.

Monday Mini-Reviews: September Fiction Reflections

 September has passed in a whirlwind where I spend some days thinking that we must have been in school for at least a hundred days already, and the next wishing I could find a way to get into a routine.  

I've done a lot of reading, though.  

Some September highlights:

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout is the fifth in this series.  I love all the different characters and enjoyed catching up with them again. I still haven't read The Burgess Boys, which I definitely need to do.  Strout's writing style is one I find I need a bit to get into, but I know it's not for everyone. I sent Oh, William! home with  my mom a few weeks ago, but she returned it this weekend, exclaiming that she just couldn't get into it.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave- I loved Dave's most recent book, The Last Thing He Told Me, so much.  This one was enjoyable, but it didn't live up to how much I loved that one.  When Liam Noone dies (leaving behind three ex-wives and some children), Nora and Sam, estranged siblings, work together to determine whether their father jumped to his death or was pushed.  There is a little suspense, and I do enjoy Dave's writing, so this is still a four-star read for me.

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson has been on my radar for a while.  I loved Baker's first book, Keeping the House and enjoyed her sophomore novel as well.  I am not someone who loves a book set in a circus, but this one was so good. We get to see various points in Cecily Larson's life from the time she was left in an orphanage by her mother, to her role as a grandmother at the age of ninety-four.  There were so many secrets her family never knew about her, but when her great-grandson takes a sample of her saliva for an at-home DNA test, Cecily is confronted by her past.  I loved the Minnesota setting and hope we don't have to wait as long to hear from Baker again.

For whatever reason, nonfiction really worked for me this month, so I didn't get as many fiction titles read as I normally do.  October is literally right around the corner, so I guess we will see what I feel like reading as the weather turns colder.

Friday Five

This week has been a blur.  My  husband has been gone for work and two of my daughters had appointment with specialists.  Middle Sister was referred on to a GI doctor after her liver enzymes were checked three times (along with numerous other tests) and they were still elevated.  The good news there is that the bloodwork continues to show them trending down and the doctor thinks that in March she had a virus that attacked her liver.  Little Sister's appointment was more annoying.  On Monday I took her in, following up with a blood draw she had that showed she has low iron and low ferritin.    Somehow from this, we ended up getting referred on to a cardiologist.  While I'm all for erring on the side of caution, there was no reason to create a mountain out of a molehill and now despite a normal EKG and a normal treadmill test, she can't be released to run (it's XC season) until she has an echocardiogram.  Frustration has been high at our house. 

Anyway, I'm glad it's Friday because I need a few days to relax.  Here are the things I found this week for you to enjoy:

 

1.  Coated Kelsey Crop Boot

2.  Maryelbone Cord Blazer

3.  Patterned Cardigan

4.  Julia Denim Jacket

5.  Cashsoft Relaxed Crewneck Sweater

6.  Hannah Printed Sweatshirt

7.  AE Relaxed Crewneck Sweater

8.  Sunburst Cardigan

9.  Collection Sequined Embellished TShirt

10.  Leopard Wide Leg Pants

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

Waiting on Wednesday: More Or Less Maddy

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: More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova

Due out: January 14, 2025

Synopsis taken from Goodreads:

The powerhouse New York Times bestselling author and Harvard-trained neuroscientist returns with a breathless, exhilarating, and heartbreaking novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the ripple effects her mental health has on her family and her pursuit of a career in stand-up comedy.

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between heaps of homework, finals, and navigating life in the city, it’s normal to be feeling the pressure. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her “perfect” Connecticut her blonde, toned, and tanned mother; her flawless, high-achieving, engaged sister, Emily; and her always popular, athletic, easygoing brother, Jack. Yet lately, Maddy’s highs seem dizzyingly high, and the lows seem terrifyingly low. Suddenly, the things that used to make her happy are becoming harder and harder to grasp.

When a spontaneous visit to a comedy club opens her eyes to a new hobby just as her mental health begins to spiral and an incident at a family Thanksgiving dinner leads to a terrifying breaking point—and to a new diagnosis—Maddy’s life starts to look quite different. As she struggles to accept her bipolar disorder and attempts to navigate her burgeoning stand-up career, she’ll have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

Friday Five

 Fall/winter clothing is my favorite- even though I'm not a big fan of the cold weather.  I am finding lots to love right now -and I'm finding it vey difficult not to buy anything.

Here are my finds this week:

1.  Coffee T-shirt

2.  Taos Winner Sneaker

3.  Corduroy Jumper

4.  Aril Cord Shirting

5.  Milano Half Zip 

6.  Cable Muscle Sweater T

7.  Sequin Halter Neck Top

8.  Mollie Ballet Flat

9. Striped Mockneck Pullover Sweater

10.  Sacred Acre podcast- this story features a well known area football coach who was murdered by a former player who suffered from mental illness.  

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

Waiting on Wednesday: The Favorites

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

This week pick: The Favorites by Lynne Fargo

Due out: January 14, 2025

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating about a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and rollercoaster relationship. Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the "real story" through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary. But she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy either. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

Inspired by the powerful love and hate that fuel Emily Bronte’s classic, Wuthering Heights, The Favorites is an exhilarating dance between passion, ambition, and what it truly means to win.

Monday Mini-Reviews: A Little Suspense

 It's been a busy start to the school year, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get everything done each day.  My reading has trended more toward quick page turners since I know I can get through them quickly and they are usually engaging.

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine is a follow-up to her novel, The Last Mrs. Parrish.  I will admit that I remember absolutely none of that one, and enjoyed this one a great deal.  I was able to read the book in its entirety while my husband drove us to and from a cross country meet this weekend.

Daphne is trying to move on with her life, having relocated to California after she and Jackson divorced.  (As the novel begins, Jackson is in prison).  Her daughters want to see their father, so she decides to rent a cottage for the summer months after he is released from prison.  His new wife, Amber, has plenty of schemes she intends to carry out as her main goal is getting Jackson's money.  

I loved the fast pace, the different narrators, and the suspense of this one.   

Long ago I read Shari Lapena's first novel, The Couple Next Door, and thought it was very predictable.  And yet, it received rave reviews from nearly everyone.  Because of that, I haven't rushed to pick up anything else she's written, which was a mistake.  This newest novel, What Have You Done? is a fast, suspensful read that I stayed up late to finish one night last week.

The book opens with a farmer finding the body of a teenage girl who has been murdered and left on his land.  Multiple narrators and many twists and turns follow.  I did still guess who killed Diana Brewer, but it wasn't until the very end that I knew I had figured things out.  

I am going to need to go back and read Lapena's backlist titles.  This one was a perfect read for a person who is looking for entertainment and suspense.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Friday Five: Busy This Fall

 

Wow, this fall is busy.  Cross country season (our last high school one) is underway, but mostly we are used to that busy-ness.  I feel like I'm not really yet into the rhythm of the school schedule yet.  I've skipped working out a few times this week, which I hate, but I am hoping that soon things settle down.

1.  Asics Unisex Gel Kayano Sneakers

2.  Cable Puff Sleeve Sweater

3.  Patent Buckle Strap Ballet Flats

4.  Starlet Jumpsuit

5.  Houndstooth Blazer

6.  Lost and Found Ringer Tee

7.  Rilo Rib Long Sleeve Top

8.  Nostalgic Sweater

9.  Striped Shoulder Mock Neck Top

10.  

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