A year ago today I decided to start a blog. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I’ve had so much fun learning, and exploring other book blogs. I look forward to making new upgrades to the site and hopefully expanding my readership in the next year.
My favorite read for August 2021 – Nicole’s Nook (nicolesnook.com)
Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group that responds to weekly bookish prompts. This week’s prompt:
August 24th: New Beginnings
School is about to be back in session for many, and with it, new beginnings! Whether it’s the start of a new grade or a new adventure in a fantasy world, let’s share about stories with the theme of new beginnings! (This could even be a second chance at new beginnings too!)
Goodreads synopsis:
An unforgettable story of resilience and resistance set during WWII and present-day France on a secluded island off the coast of Brittany
Natalie Morgen made a name for herself with a memoir about overcoming her harsh childhood after finding a new life in Paris. After falling in love with a classically trained chef, they moved together to his ancestral home, a tiny fishing village off the coast of Brittany.
But then Francois-Xavier breaks things off with her without warning, leaving her flat broke and in the middle of renovating the guesthouse they planned to open for business. Natalie’s already struggling when her sister, Alex, shows up unannounced. The sisters form an unlikely partnership to save the guesthouse, reluctantly admitting their secrets to each other as they begin to heal the scars of their shared past.
But the property harbors hidden stories of its own. During World War II, every man of fighting age on the island fled to England to join the Free French forces. The women and children were left on their own…until three hundred German troops took up residence, living side-by-side with the French women on the tiny island for the next several years.
When Natalie and Alex unearth an old cookbook in a hidden cupboard, they find handwritten recipes that reveal old secrets. With the help of locals, the Morgen sisters begin to unravel the relationship between Violette, a young islander whose family ran the guesthouse during WWII, and Rainier, a German military customs official with a devastating secret of his own.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Type-A Margot Cary is the leading event planner for the crème de la crème of Chicago high society. No request is too extravagant for her to execute with trademark perfection. That is, until an unfortunate incident involving a shrimp tower, live flamingos, and a shellfish allergy puts her on the black list of the rich and social and out of a job. With the lights about to be shut off in the trendy condo she can no longer afford, and her savings account dwindling, Margot’s situation is near to desperate.
In steps her birth father’s side of the family (who she’s never met), the McCreadys…the McCreadys of the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop in small town Georgia—and as luck would have it, they’re looking for an event planner and don’t care about her reputation among the A-list crowd. As Margot tackles small town life—where everyone knows everything about everyone—and builds a relationship with a father who she’d never known, she discovers the comforts that community, a rather large extended family, and a rugged, unpretentious country man can offer…
Goodreads Synopsis:
She watches from her terrazza as the three American women carry their luggage into the stone villa down the hill. Who are they, and what brings them to this Tuscan village so far from home? An expat herself and with her own unfinished story, she can’t help but question: will they find what they came for?
Kit Raine, an American writer living in Tuscany, is working on a biography of her close friend, a complex woman who continues to cast a shadow on Kit’s own life. Her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women–Julia, Camille, and Susan–all of whom have launched a recent and spontaneous friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. Susan, the most adventurous of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of staid retirement by taking a lease on a big, beautiful house in Tuscany. Though novices in a foreign culture, their renewed sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a gusto for life, and a fierce determination to thrive. But how? With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten–and with drastic and unforeseeable results.
Goodreads Synopsis:
After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.
The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.
The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.
A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers, and she can’t imagine moving forward without him. But for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.
Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into the boy who stole her heart in high school, old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart… and hope it won’t lead her astray.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where people like me who love lists and books can share our thoughts on fun bookish topics. This week’s topic is “Completed Series I Wish Had More Books”.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
Darcy & Rachel by Emily Giffin
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood by Charlaine Harris
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Harris
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Heather Wells by Meg Cabot
The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
Cooking Class Mystery by Miranda Bliss
Destiny by Toni Blake
Huxtables by Mary Balogh
Kiana is spending two months with her father and “stepmonster” while her mother films a movie. On the way to register for her new school her baby brother gets sick and her stepmother rushes off to the doctors before she can register Kiana for classes. Due to a mix-up at that office she ends up in a class for the “unteachables”, kids who the school has given up on.
Normally, a teacher would notice quickly if a student doesn’t belong in his class. But, Zachary Kermit is the most burnt-out teacher in the school. He wasn’t always that way, but a thirty-year-old cheating scandal still haunts him. The superintendent is itching to get rid of him. Mr. Kermit is assigned to the unteachables in hopes that he will resign before cashing in his early retirement. But, something strange happens. The students the entire school dreads, turns out to be the class the best class he’s ever had and revives his love of teaching. But is it enough to save his job? The kids will have to band together to save the teacher they’ve grown to love.
Korman has a gift for writing books that appeal to the reluctant reader. This is very similar to Ungifted , except now the misplaced student is in a class with troubled students. Like most of Korman’s books it’s told from multiple perspectives, so we get to know all of the kids and adults. This stretches a lot of rules about how schools work, but the outrageous plot and humor draw you in to the story. I hope that, like Ungifted, he writes a sequel.
Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group that responds to weekly bookish prompts. This week’s prompt:
August 17th: Used Books
Today is National Thrift Shop Day! While it’s always an amazing feeling to get a brand-new book, there can be many hidden and older gems to be discovered at thrift stores. In honor of this holiday, what are some used books you have found either online or at thrift shops that you were grateful you purchased? Could be a book you had been looking for or maybe one you decided to take a chance on!
The majority of books I get are used books because I am active on the paperbackswap website. There are so many books I wouldn’t have known about without that site. These are five that I really enjoyed.
Fiona Finnegan faces many tragedies in her young life, but never gives up on her dream of owning her own tea shop.
Fascinating nonfiction book for any book lover.
This is book one in the Shetland Island mystery series. The mystery has a lot of layers to it and I love the Scottish setting.
A close look at the complicated family dynamics in an Irish Catholic family.
This was a very unique fantasy book. Although I read a lot of fantasy, this was different from my usual picks.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where people like me who love lists and books can share our thoughts on fun bookish topics. This week’s topic is “Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago”
Goodreads Synopsis:
Murder has jarred London’s elite. The sons of prominent families have been found at dawn in public places, partially butchered, with strange objects stuffed in their mouths. Once again, the local magistrate turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help. Moving from the gritty world of London’s docks to the drawing rooms of Mayfair, Sebastian confronts his most puzzling–and disturbing–case yet.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks,” son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods’ wrath.
They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Goodreads Synopsis:
With each new book, Maeve Binchy continues a remarkable progression of sales and audience growth, reaching fans of all ages and backgrounds with her matchless wit, warmth, and sheer storytelling magic. “Tara Road,” her first full-length novel since “The Glass Lake,” again shows her incomparable understanding of the human heart in the tale of two women, one from Ireland, one from America, who switch lives, and in doing so learn much about each other, as well as much about themselves. Ria lived on Tara Road in Dublin with her dashing husband, Danny, and their two children. She fully believed she was happily married, right up until the day Danny told her he was leaving her to be with his young, pregnant girlfriend. By a chance phone call, Ria meets Marilyn, a woman from New England unable to come to terms with her only son’s death and now separated from her husband. The two women exchange houses for the summer with extraordinary consequences, each learning that the other has a deep secret that can never be revealed.
Drawn into lifestyles vastly differing from their own, at first each resents the news of how well the other is getting on. Ria seems to have become quite a hostess, entertaining half the neighborhood, which at first irritates the reserved and withdrawn Marilyn, a woman who has always guarded her privacy. Marilyn seems to have become bosom friends with Ria’s children, as well as with Colm, a handsome restaurateur, whom Ria has begun to miss terribly. At the end of the summer, the women at last meet face-to-face. Having learned a great deal, about themselves and about each other, they find that they have become, firmly and forever, good friends.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a spellbinding and dazzlingly innovative portrait of a woman haunted by the past.
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present.
Combining the visionary power of legend with the unassailable truth of history, Morrison’s unforgettable novel is one of the great and enduring works of American literature.
Goodreads Synopsis
History has all but forgotten…
In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.
Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.
But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her…
Please note: This novel has also been published under a different title: Sophia’s Secret.
Goodreads Synopsis
The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they leave their little house on the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Minnesota. They settle into a house made of sod on the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Soon Pa builds them a sturdier house, with real glass windows and a hinged door. Laura and Mary go to school, help with the chores around the house, and fish in the creek. Pa’s fiddle lulls them all to sleep at the end of the day. But then disaster strikes—on top of a terrible blizzard, a grasshopper infestation devours their wheat crop. Now the family must work harder than ever to overcome these challenges.
Goodreads Synopsis:
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it. “To Kill A Mockingbird” became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Scarlett O’Hara, the beautiful, spoiled daughter of a well-to-do Georgia plantation owner, must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of the poverty she finds herself in after Sherman’s March to the Sea.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Orphaned as a child, Jane has felt an outcast her whole young life. Her courage is tested once again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding, proud Edward Rochester to care for his ward Adèle. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled yet kind spirit. She falls in love. Hard.
But there is a terrifying secret inside the gloomy, forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be left heartbroken and exiled once again?
Goodreads Synopsis:
Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work “her own darling child” and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.” The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen’s radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.
After his father loses his job, Georges’ family moves to a Brooklyn apartment building. The first day there he notices an invitation to join a spy club. He thinks it’s a joke, but then he meets Safer and his sister, Candy. Safer pulls Georges into a mission to spy on their mysterious neighbor, Mr. X. As the mission continues the lines are blurred between lies and reality, and Safer and Georges both face problems they’ve been avoiding. Meanwhile, his science class is the middle of learning about taste, and the entire class is anxious to see the results of a taste test. According to school legend, your future is determined by whether not you can taste a certain chemical.
I listened to this book while on a road trip. I think that affected my experience of the book. I liked the plot and the characters but found my mind wandering, as tends to happen to me when I listen to books. I really liked the story with Safer. He’s an interesting, quirky, character from a Bohemian family. He gets Georges into some very comical situations, but also teaches him a lot about friendship. While the story at school was very important and had a great scene where bullies get what they deserve, it didn’t capture my attention as much. I think it was partly the idea that kids would put so much stock in a science experiment (or that a seventh-grade teacher would have the luxury of spending an entire week, just teaching about taste). I do think it would be a great book for class discussions. There are so many cross-curricular activities that could be tied into this book. I loved that she tied in some lessons about the history of spelling, which I find fascinating.
Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group that responds to weekly bookish prompts. This weeks prompt:
August 10th: Bookish Happiness
For every reader, books are so much more than just words on a page, but instead are words that help make our lives better and spark happiness from the very characters we read about. Since August is recognized as Happiness Happens month and yesterday was National Book Lovers Day, for today’s prompt let’s talk about books that make us happy and bring joy to our hearts!
I’m not a big re-reader, but Pride and Prejudice is my comfort read. Elizabeth and Darcy’s happy ending will always put a smile on my face.
This book shows up in a lot of my lists. It was my first introduction to Jenny Colgan, and all her books make me happy.
This is the first book in a fun series about a family that owns a bait shop/funeral home. A premise like that has to make you smile.
I just finished this book about three hours ago, and I’m still happy. Even though there are some sad parts, I finished if feeling so good about the power of libraries.
This is another one that comes up on a lot of my lists. It’s such a funny book. My Favorite Read for December 2021
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where people like me who love lists and books can share our thoughts on fun bookish topics. This week’s topic is “Hilarious Book Titles”
When a ship carrying robots crashes on a deserted island, most of the machines are destroyed. Otters from the island find one still intact, and inadvertently activate it. Knowing no other life, the robot, Roz, learns through observing the animals. At first, they think she’s a monster, but as they get to know her Roz becomes a member of the island. Soon Roz is no longer a regular robot, but a wild robot. She even adopts a gosling. The island residents have no idea that as they are forming a family, there’s a search party looking to recover Roz.
This book is delightful. I listened to the audio version. The sound effects and voices for the different animals, really added to the experience. I thought this was such a unique concept. The combination of animals and robots has broad appeal to kids. I liked that it didn’t shy away from the harsh aspects of nature but handled them in an honest, matter-of-fact manner that did not make the story too sad. This would be a great book for kids to read independently or to read as a class.
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