Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart ~ Book Review

When Quinn's sister Nora sends her an odd message telling her she has something for her and asking her to meet her but not elaborating what it is she has, Quinn is puzzled yet not overly concerned.  They haven't had a lot of contact over the years and she figures it's just Nora being Nora.  But when her sister shows up with a little girl in tow begging Quinn to keep her safe and not let anyone know she is there.  Before Quinn can even respond Nora takes off in panic leaving Quinn to care for Lucy who won't even talk to her.  Quinn tries to honor Nora's wishes thinking there has got to be a reason Nora just dropped the little girl and ran but her husband, while empathizing with Lucy, is not in agreement with what is going on and they both worry Nora has gotten herself into something not good.  Added to that is the fact that Quinn and Walker live in the guest house on her mother's property.  Liz is all about maintaining her image and position among the lakeside town's rich and elite and this would not go over well.

This drama deals with the lies and deep secrets buried within a family that are shoved to the surface by the appearance of little Lucy.   There is lots of emotion and tension as the different characters try to deal with their involvement with the mystery that surrounds who Lucy is.  While I did find it slow paced in some parts in others it was  a page turner as you try to figure out what is going on and layer upon layer of the mystery is revealed.  I must admit I did figure out a couple  of the twists before the ending. The story is told by alternating between the three women's viewpoints revealing pieces to the mystery.  The title really could refer to all the females within the story in some way or another.   

I ended up giving this a 7.5/10

Reading Challenge Goal Met:  A book purchased between 2020 - 2022

I feel I need to give a trigger warning to this story so DO NOT SCROLL ON if you don't want to know a part of the story

SPOILER ALERT:  TRIGGER WARNING  

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There is child abuse depicted in the story and while not totally graphic you do know what is going on.

Reading Challenge 2022 Wrap Up

A little bit late but I still wanted to write out how I did on my reading goals for last year.  Otherwise what is the point of making them, right?  I'm totally a list maker/lover and I love to cross things off a list.  I find it very motivating.  That is the reason why I make the challenges and goals.  It helps me to get to some books that have been sitting languishing in my piles, helps me to realize just how many books I am purchasing, and it helps me to see what books I no longer have an interest in.  

In 2022, I missed my Goodreads goal of 45 books.  I've always tried to hit the 50 books a year goal but it has remained illusive for me.  So last year I adjusted the expectation.  But life threw me curveball after curveball last year and though reading is usually an escape for me, last year at times my mind was just to full and I found I couldn't focus to read.  I missed my goal by almost 5 books.  Still 40 books in a year is not too bad.

The Read Your Shelf Challenge was once again fun and caused me to go and look through all my books on a regular basis to find what fit the prompts each month which helped me to remember what books I actually have.  I was able to hit this challenge every month, sometimes reading more than one from the pile for the month.  A lot of the the titles also criss-crossed and met other challenges as well.

I listened to quite a few audiobooks and find I am liking listening to them when I am in the car doing errands.  I tend to prefer non-fiction in this format, I am finding.  

I shocked myself and read 13 non-fiction books last year.  3 were hard copy and 10 were audio.  I actually got half way thru a 14th but I'm taking my time with it so will finish in the new year.  

I had quite a few 10/10 reads for the year, which is always exciting, some good but average type of reads, couple of duds that I thought would be really good but weren't and a couple of "Did Not Finish"  (DNF's) that I just could not bring myself to keep going with.  

So my top 5 favorite fiction books of 2023 were as follows:

5.  The Record Keeper by Charles Martin

An intense, action-packed emotional ending to the Murphy Shepard series dealing with a man who rescues those caught in modern day slave trade.

4.  The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

A story of a young French Jewish girl who joined the resistance fighters in France using her artistic talent to forge passports and documents helping Jewish residents to flee across the border during WWII.
 

3.  The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Based on true historical character, Grace Darling, who's act of courage and strength made her a celebrity in England.

 

2.  The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart

Dual timelines, one set in the Romanov period, a lost Fabrege egg, and a modern day treasure hunt all combine to make a page turner of a story.

1.  When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer

A totally unique take on the combination of dual time lines, time travel, and historical fiction.  Christian fiction that wasn't preachy and dealt with trusting in the sovereignty of God through uncertainty, grief and purpose in life.  Can't wait for book 2.

My 3 Favorite Non-Fiction books (or audiobooks) of 2022 in no particular order were:

The Astronaut's Wife by Stacey Morgan

Stacey's story of what she learned while her husband orbited the earth in the space station and she was left home to chug along with life on her own offers the reader glimpes into the astronaut life and what's it like to be the spouse left on earth and encourages the reader to make the most of what God brings into your life with hope and trust in Him even in the midst of loneliness and uncertainty. 

Help I'm Drowning by Sally Clarkson

Lessons in trusting God even when we are questioning why.  Calming, encouraging and uplifting.  

You can find full reviews for all these books and everything I read last year HERE

What were your favorite reads of 2022?  

A Bridge Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist

Lady Constance Morrow could not help herself. She just had to say goodbye to her beloved uncle Skelly. He was arrested and put upon a ship bound for the Virginia colonies and she might never see him again. But even as he growled at her to get off the ship, the captain laid ahold of her and Constance found herself kidnapped and also heading to America to be sold as a tobacco bride along with many other woman who were English prisoners. No amount of insisting she was a Lady, daughter of an Earl, changed her fate. Drew O'Connor is a tobacco farmer in West Virginia. He isn't looking for a bride, he just wants someone who can cook and clean and tend to his home and baby sister. But as circumstances work out he ends up with a bride, non other than one who insists she is not a prisoner of England come to be a bride but one Lady Constance Morrow. Thinking she can be his servant until he can figure out whether she is telling the truth or not, Drew takes her to his tobacco farm only to find out she has no idea how to cook, hasn't a clue about gardening and horror of horrors, she would rather work on mathematical equations than clean. She is educated which is not a good thing in Drew's eyes and mixed with her stubborn personality, it can only lead to trouble. Maybe the best thing to be done is to ship this woman back where she came from. 

 I picked this book up after trying a couple of other reads for this month's challenge that just turned out to be too heavy for the head space I was in. I wanted something lighter and easy. This book turned out to be perfect for that. It is historical fiction based on the historical facts of many Virginia tobacco farmers purchasing brides from England for 120 pounds of tobacco. The practice helped the men stay in the colonies, build homes and start families thereby helping the colonies survive and because the brides came from England it helped ensure England's continued presence in the Virginia colonies. When not enough brides were found to meet the need, the Crown resorted to sending prisoners and unethical captains would kidnap young women. The author was also able to weave into the story two major historical battles between Powhatans and the settlers in 1622 and 1644 respectively. I enjoyed this historical story. The author's character development was good as Constance grew to love the land she had inadvertently been taken to. Of course there is the romantic tension building between Constance and Drew throughout the story as well the mandatory assumptions and miscalculations of feelings that come with a romance story of this kind. I have to say towards the end though I was getting a bit tired of these assumptions and decisions being made out of  them instead of honest communication in the story but I did enjoy the read overall for what it was and the humor that would surface occasionally throughout the story. It was the lighter read I was needing.

         

Rating 8.5/10

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  December "Read Your Shelf" prompt:  A book with mostly white on the cover (yes I know, the dress looks yellow but I'm counting it as a wedding gown so I'm calling it as white with the yellow coming from lighting.  🤷).

The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky ~ Book Review

After picking her teenage daughter up from a party one night, Deborah and her daughter Grace are in a discussion as Grace is driving.  The rain that had started earlier is now a full onslaught and it is dark and neither Grace or Deborah see the man running on the road until they have hit him.  To protect her daughter, Deborah sends Grace home to be with her younger brother whom she left at home while she waits for the police.  When the police arrive, Deborah through omission, lets the police believe it was she that was driving taking the blame for hitting the man and justifying to herself  that her daughter doesn't need the stress of all the questions and dealing with police and the accident on her driving record. Because she is a doctor and has good standing in the community Deborah thinks it will quickly blow over but when things take a turn and her lies get bigger and deeper and start to involve Grace anyway, Deborah must face that she sees a change in Grace that starts to concern her and starts to eat away at the strong bond they used to have no matter how she tries to brush it off as Grace needing time to process the accident.  As Grace pulls further and further away from her, Deborah must face the fact that her "little" white lie had so much bigger consequences than she ever imagined and the compounding lies might just destroy them.

This was a really good story that explored family dynamics when there is a secret that needs to be kept.  The relationship between Grace and Deborah was close but in the seconds it took to make a bad choice for all the right reasons on Deborah's part, both Mother and daughter end up facing consequences they never thought would happen.  It looked at the heavy pressure of keeping such a thing secret and the toll it ends up taking on self worth, relationships and family and even on moving forward.  This story, though an older one, is still relevant today and would foster great discussions in a book club.  

I gave it a 9/10

Reading Challenge Goals met:  Read Your Shelf October prompt "a book with the word secret in the title"

December Reading Possibilities

Here it is, the beginning of December already.  I can't believe we are into the final month of 2022.  I for one am ready to say goodbye to this year.  It has been one of the most challenging years ever.  I'm itching to turn the calendar page and start a fresh new year.  How has your reading been going this year?  Meeting your goals?  I'm a behind in my GoodReads goal of 45 books for the year.  Life just got in the way.  Oh well.  But who knows, I may be able to get close by the time the year closes out.  Non-fiction November usually sees me finishing at least 4 - 5 books but not this year.  About 3 1/2 is what I accomplished.  

The Read Your Shelf Challenge's prompt for December is Read a Book With a Mostly White Cover.  I knew I had a few but when I went through my stacks I found I had a good number.  I also threw in a book that has a wedding dress all though because of the shading and lighting the dress looks yellow but wedding dress are for the most part white so there it is.  As usual I've slotted in books to meet my own personal reading challenges for the year.

READ YOUR SHELF CHALLENGE

          ~ The Accidental Woman by Barbara Delinsky

          ~ Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

          ~ Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain

          ~ A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist  (finished)

          ~ The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

          ~ Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer

NON-FICTION

          ~ Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children by Jodie Berndt

          ~You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado

          ~ Prayer by Timothy Keller

          ~ Terri: the truth by Michael Schiavo

          ~ Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

BOOKS PURCHASED BETWEEN 2020 - 2022

          ~ A Promise to Remember by Kathryn Cushman

LIBRARY HOLDS

          ~ Looking for Leroy by Melody Carlson

          ~ The Woman with Two Shadows by Sarah James

What are you reading in December?  Are you a Christmas theme reader?

Home Work: A memoir of my Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews ~ Book Review

This is Julie Andres memoir of her Hollywood years from her first foray into films with Mary Poppins and then immediately after Sound of Music through the years to Victor/Victoria.  She tells of her work life and her home life during those times.  Her marriage to Tony and subsequent divorce because of the constant separations that were a result of their jobs and the lovely daughter that came from that marriage, to her meeting Blake Edwards and their dating years and marriage.  The trials that they faced both on a personal level and career level were very much entwined as they made several films together.  Again within their marriage there was struggles because of separation brought about by career choices and decisions that weren't made well concerning where they lived and Blake's depression, hypochondriac tendencies, ex-wife issues, blended family life and on/off dependence on prescription medications for pain also strained the couple but they found a way to make their marriage work until Blake's death at the age of 88.  Told with honesty Julie dives into a lot of hot button issues and how it affected her life.

I really, really wanted to like this memoir, because Julie Andrews and her films Mary Poppins and Sound of Music were such a huge part of my younger years and I still watch those 2 films today,  but I found myself just iffy on the book. I thought I would enjoy it way more than I actually did.  I found myself skimming huge parts of it as I was finding large sections of it to be boring. Not sure if it's the writing style or all the name dropping, or that I'm just not in a place where I'm interested in reading about the problems of jetting around the world and living in Malibu, Switzerland, New York and LA., or if I just didn't connect with it once it got past the Mary Poppins and Sound of Music parts.  I realized that I didn't really like any of the movies much after those two.  And though she does get quite a bit into the Pink Panther movies that her husband made, which were favorites of my family when I was growing up, it kind of took the rosy hue off of those too when I read of all the issues with the actor that went on during the filming.   The story somehow just seemed a bit dry for me. There was something missing for me in the telling, something that didn't connect me emotionally.  I did really like reading about her adopted daughters from Vietnam which I knew nothing of and her trip there to both the Vietnam and Cambodian refugee camps that led to her efforts with Congress in getting more children from orphanages, especially those fathered by American soldiers, to better lives in the U.S.  I was hoping to read more of when she had throat surgery and all that entailed and the loss of her singing voice from that but the story never got that far.  It ended with her and Blake's effort to take Victor/Victoria to Broadway so I suspect a book 3 is probably in the works.  I know other people who loved this memoir so it could be that it just wasn't the right timing for me and this book.  

I always find memoirs a bit more difficult to rate as I always feel how can one rate someone's life so my rating goes to how the story is told.  I gave it a 7/10

Reading Challenge Goal Met:  November non-fiction choice

The Record Keeper by Charles Martin ~ Book Review

The last installment in the Murphy Shepard series finds Murphy recovering from his last rescue mission which almost killed him.  He's questioning his continuing his involvement in helping to rescue girls caught and captured in the slave trade as now he just wants to be with his wife and daughter.  But when his mentor and friend, Bones, gets taken by the very person who is organizing these slave trade rings all around the world, Murphy knows he must get back into it.  With no clues whatsoever, finding Bones is going to challenge Murphy physically and mentally like he's never been challenged before.  But Murphy's life long mantra of "Love always shows up" drives him on and he'll stop at nothing to find his friend.  

As per usual, Charles Martin writes a story that involves all the reader's emotions.  In this dive into Bone's backstory there is lots of action and suspense while Martin delves even more in the slave trade globally.  The story pits extreme good and extreme evil against each other even as family ties are tested.  Though a heart rending story of leaving the flock to go find the one lost, I do feel the need to give a warning of triggers.  There is lots of violence, and of course the series revolves around the slave trade and sexual abuse.  Some parts of the story caused me to have to put it down for a time before I resumed they were so heartbreaking and hard to read.  It is intense but well told.  I must say though, that due to a few parts that were too much of a character narrating his own story that I felt, though imperative to the story, did drag a bit for me, I did give it a 1/2 point down from a 10 rating.  But an excellent series that broke my heart while bringing awareness to the horrendous slave trade going on in the world today.  The series is best read as a whole as each book builds upon the one before.

I rated it a 9.5/10

Book Challenge Goals Met:  Started the book for the Read Your Shelves Challenge August self made Prompt of "A book that has a summer vibe" and finished September's self made prompt of "4 books from my newest purchases and 4 from my oldest purchases".  

The Murphy Shepard Series

Book 1 review The Water Keeper

Book 2 review The Letter Keeper

The Last Dress From Paris by Jade Beer ~ Book Review

In 2017 London Lucille has a strong loving relationship with her grandmother so when Granny Sylvie asks her to go to Paris and bring back a priceless Dior dress that belongs to her, Lucille agrees to the task.  Thinking she'll only be gone a few days, Lucille goes against the wishes of her overbearing condescending boss to grant her grandmother's wish.  But when she gets to Paris she finds there is more to the dress retrieval than her beloved Grandmother has told her and when she finds mysterious initials sewn into the dress and some descriptive cards Lucille finds her time in Paris extended as one couture dress leads to another.

In Paris 1952, Alice is the wife of the British ambassador and her days are filled with planning extravagant parties and visiting her designer of choice, Dior,  for her clothing needs.  In her position she is to be seen and many look to her fashion choices.  Her husband is lavish with her clothing budget but not so much with his love and affections.  Lucille's takes strength from her lady's maid who has become her trusted friend.  But when a new person shows up at one of Dior's shows Alice must make some choices that can change the course of her life.

POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING AHEAD:

I have to admit this book was a total cover choice when I saw it at the library.  The cover is gorgeous but strangely enough the dress on the cover is not at all in the book.  I really dislike when publishers don't match their cover art with the actual story.  But anyway, this book was okay.  The writing was solid and the premise of the dresses intriguing and it had me googling what each dress mentioned actually looked like, none of which are the red dress on the cover.  But unfortunately the story became based on something I don't enjoy in my reading, infidelity, so it was hard to really connect with some of the characters for me in spite of the reasoning and had I have known that I wouldn't have picked it up. I don't know why I didn't clue into that from the description on the back.  I did like Lucille's story line and found myself engaged with her part of the story and I liked how her storyline played out.  And I did like the strong unbreakable friendship of Alice and Marianne, defying what their stations in life would have dictated.  

I found it very hard to rate this book as the writing was solid but it was personal taste for foundation of the story that brought it down for me.  Finally I rated it a 7/10.

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  Read a book from my library holds

November Reading Possibilities

Well it is November and for reading that means I participate in Non-Fiction November.  All that means is I make a concerted effort to read mostly or all non-fiction for this month.  Although I do like memoirs and autobiographies and read through them easier, non-fiction dealing with particular topics is a bit tougher for me.  I find they are repetitive and take a long time to make their points and I get slogged down in that.  But this month always helps me make that push.  The last couple of years I have found that audiobooks have helped a lot with my non-fiction reading.  

The Read Your Bookshelf Challenge prompt for this month is "A Book That Makes You Feel Cozy or Nostalgic".  The prompt is a bit odd for me as it begs the quesiton:  "How do I know what book makes me feel cozy or nostalgic if I haven't yet read it?".  But  I did find a couple that brought up thoughts of nostalgia or coziness so I chose a Julie Andrews autobiography because if anyone makes me feel nostalgic is Julie Andrews with memories of childhood viewings of Mary Poppins and Sound of Music.  Still two of my favorite all time movies.  I also threw in the Francine Rivers collection to get another story read out of there because biblical fiction always makes me feel cozy.  I'm on #4 in the series:   Unspoken.   And the book by Phil Callaway is in there for this prompt because he is a humorist and his books always make me laugh and he talks a lot about family stories so there is nostalgia there.  

The other books chosen are just random books off my non-fiction pile that caught my attention.  And a fiction book in case I get too bogged down in the non-fiction.

READ YOUR BOOKSHELF CHALLENGE & NON-FICTION NOVEMBER

          ~ Home Work: A memoir of my Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton

             (finished)

          ~ Laughing Matters: Learning to Laugh When Life Stinks by Phil Calloway

          ~ Lineage of Grace: Unspoken (Bathsheba's story) by Francine Rivers

          ~ Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy by Karen James

          ~ Job by Charles Swindoll

          ~ It's Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst

          ~ Keeping My Sister's Secrets by Beezy Marsh

          ~ All My Mother's Secrets by Beezy Marsh

BOOK PURCHASED IN 2020 -2022

          ~ Facing Fear  by Nik Wallenda

          ~ You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado

          ~ Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart (finished)

AUDIOBOOKS

          ~ Ask It by Andy Stanley  (finished)

          ~ What Your Soul Needs for Stressful Times by Holley Gerth

What are you reading in November?  Any good non-fiction on your radar?

Monsoon Summer by Julia Gregson ~ Book Review

Kit Smallwood is a nurse who took care of soldiers during World War II.  But suffering from the exhaustion of it all and the mental turmoil of a secret she carries from the war, she goes to a family friend's farm in Oxfordshire to rest and recuperate.  Her friend is busy setting up a charity which would send midwives to South India to train Indian midwives in more modern methods and she encourages Kit to consider going.  Kit's mother has a painful Indian past and when Kit becomes involved with an Indian man training to become a doctor who stays at the farm for a short while her mom is beside herself.   Kit and Anto fall deeply in love very quickly and and not really thinking through the cultural differences in their backgrounds the two wed filled with hope for the future but without her mother's blessing.  But when they move to India where Anto wants to practice and Kit decides to work for the midwife training school, the pair are met with conflict wherever they turn.  Even as she became estranged from her mother because of her marriage,  Kit also is met with suspicion and disapproval from Anton's family, especially Anto's mother who is very traditional.  To top it off, India has just won independence from Britain and her British presence isn't too welcome in the community especially in the context of teaching their women British ways.  Thrown into the midst of having to learn traditional Indian culture and walking delicately within the family and facing a job that is very tense, Kit soon finds trouble plaguing her from every direction.

I am always drawn to stories set in India and that is why I picked this book up years ago.  It has sat in my stacks until finally this year it made it to the top to meet one of my reading challenge goals.  I don't know why I waited so long.  While it did start a bit slow it evolved into a story I ended up loving.  I thought the author did a great job in growing her characters through the story and in presenting the glaring differences in post war Britain and traditional India.  I also thought the tensions that were present in India towards Britain and British citizens as they tried to get on their feet after hard won independence was well told and incorporated into the story.  Wrapped in a family saga the author was able to explore the Indian midwife history and how caste plays a part in that, racism, British/Indian tensions, tradition and modern clashes, fitting in, love, betrayal and forgiveness.  The up and down relationships that encompasses Kit's life kept me engaged in how real the author wrote them.  I thought this a wonderful story that opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I rated it a 9.5/10

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  Read a book that has a summer vibe to it (August prompt), Read Your Shelf Challenge

October Reading Possibilities

September, I felt like I was kind of barely chugging along in my reading but when I looked back I actually finished 3 books.  So I guess I did better than I was thinking.  Fall is here which always makes me feel like cozying up with good books so hopefully there are some great reads in my choices.  It's been feeling really good this year to get some books read off my shelves and out the door to let someone else enjoy them.

The Read Your Shelf Challenge prompt for October is "A book with the word Secret in the title".  Not being able to meet the challenge the last couple of months it was fun to see I had a few to meet this month's challenge.  I also threw in a few books that have titles that allude to a secret being kept.  And a book with "autumn" in the title, just because it is autumn.  The library book has nothing to do with the prompt but just sounded like a fun read.

READ YOUR SHELF CHALLENGE PROMPT (a book with "secret" in the title)

          ~ The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky  (finished)

          ~ Keeping My Sisters' Secret by Beezy Marsh

          ~ All My Mother's Secrets by Beezy Marsh

          ~ A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

          ~ Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain

          ~ Shiloh Autumn by Brock & Bodie Thoene

   

LIBRARY BOOKS TBR

          ~ A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong  (finished)

          ~Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

NON-FICTION

          ~ the above books by Beezy Marsh are non-fiction

          ~ Facing Fear by Nik Walenda

          ~ Praying the Scriptures for your Adult Children by Jodie Berndt

BOOK PURCHASED BETWEEN 2020 - 2022

          ~ Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon

AUDIOBOOKS

          ~ Ask It by Andy Stanley

          ~ What Your Soul Needs in Stressful Times by Holley Gerth

What are you reading this October?  

The Pact by Jodi Picoult ~ Book Review

I finally got the goal of reading a Jodi Picoult book off my reading goal's list.  And I'm so late putting up a review because it's been a hard review to write.  While some of the story was heartbreakingly good some of it was so unnecessary.  I pushed through to the end because the premise was good and I wanted to find out what really happened that tragic night but the execution was not my cup of tea and because I had waited so long to read this author I wanted to give it a fair shot.  

The story revolves around 2 families, the Golds and the Hartes who are the best of friends.  They have been neighbors for 18 years and spend a lot of enjoyable time together.  When one family has a son and the other a daughter those two children also grow up the best of friends.  But as they grow older there is always an undertone and hope with the parents, their friends and even themselves that it will become something more and as they go into high school it does just that.  But it ends tragically one night when  Emily, who showed no signs of being unhappy, commits suicide with a gun taken from Chris' father's cabinet.  When Chris gets arrested for it, he reveals that  the couple had a suicide pact that went wrong.  But the detective in charge doubts Chris' story and soon charges him with murder.  Denied bail, Chris is sent to prison to await his trial.  As disbelief, shock and anger sets in it drives a wedge into strong friendship between the families as the Emily's mother becomes hard and angry with grief and Chris' mother stands by her son's innocence no matter what.

With all the anticipation I had for finally getting to this author I felt disappointed in the end. The story starts right off the bat with the shocking suicide and then winds its way into the the two family's history together and what led to that point with the teens even as it starts to move forward with the arrest and with Chris in prison preparing for his trial.  While the story in and of itself was a great premise and delved into so much concerning teen suicide and the pressures they face and the confusion and great grief surrounding the families left behind that totally held my interest along with the courtroom drama,  it took a huge downturn for me because of all the s*x involved throughout the story.  The descriptions of intimate acts between the two teens, the parents and even the lawyer were just over the top for me and totally took from the story.  Really can an author not give me the idea without the detail?  Can the feelings, emotions and thoughts of the teens about the intimacy they were involved in not be told to me with describing the act?  Was it really necessary to the story to describe the parent's intimate scenes to me?    And the whole character of the womanizing lawyer who brought women home to spend the night with his 13 year old son in the house knowing what was going on and their discussions about it was just too much and had me saying "Really?".  I spent so much time being angry at this man's bad parenting.  Again, was it really necessary to the story to give me details of the lawyer's time in the bedroom with his women?  Can you not just give me the idea that he is a womanizer for character development without going into the bedroom detail?    To me if felt like the author felt sex scenes were necessary to sell the book so inserted them periodically.  In the end the story was so heavy for me with everything going on with not much to give some breathing space.  Now that I have finally read a book by this author and though she is very popular and deals with some major issues society faces today in her stories, I don't know if she is an author that suits my reading tastes.  What do you guys think?  Should I read another to give her a fair shot?  

Unfortunately I gave it a 4/10 (1 out of 5 on goodreads because of how their rating system is described)

Reading Challenge Goal Met:  July's Read Your Shelf Challenge Prompt: A book you've been avoiding but actually want to read

Help, I'm Drowning: Weathering the Storms of Life with Grace and Hope by Sally Clarkson ~ Audiobook Review

I borrowed this audio book when I saw it come thru my library's hoopla app.  The title totally grabbed me, especially the sub title as the last couple of years has totally felt like a huge storm of life and I don't think I've been weathering the last 8 months well.  I'm telling you, I feel like God brought this audiobook around right when I needed it.  It is so calming, encouraging and uplifting in a time of being overwhelmed and stressed.  The author takes us through lessons in trusting God even when we question "Why", when we feel lost and alone, when we feel God is silent and when life gets plain overwhelming.  She reminds us to trust in God's character when we don't understand what is going on. I love how it pointed us continuously to God's word and how it can be trusted because He is faithful to it and to trust in God's goodness in spite of how we feel.  I believe the author read it herself and her voice was very easy to listen to.  Her example and stories from her own life are relateable, down to earth and honest. I think I will purchase this book as I'm a visual learner and get a lot more out of a book when I can make notes and underline and annotate.  It is a super timely book for anyone feeling overwhelmed with life.  

I rated this a 10/10

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  at least 3 non-fiction, at least 3 audiobooks in 2022

September Reading Possibilites

August saw me finishing 3 1/2 books.  I had yet another DNF (did not finish) book.  This one was at 198 pages, hence the 1/2 book, and I'm totally counting it in my read books numbers.  That's a lot of pages not to count.  I should have stopped sooner but I kept thinking it would progress into something better but unfortunately it didn't for me.  

September's Read Your Shelf Challenge prompt has once again been a dud for what I have on hand.  It is to "Read a Collection".  I don't read collections.  Of any kind.  So once again I'm making up my own prompt to get me through books that are in my piles.  So I picked 4 books from my newest purchases (on the left) and 4 books from my older purchases (on the right).  And a non-fiction that is a recent purchase that I really want to get into.  I like to underline and annotate non-fictions so that is why I bought that one instead of borrowing it and I really liked the last book I read from this author.  

READ YOUR SHELF CHALLENGE

          ~ The Record Keeper by Charles Martin  (finished)

          ~ The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamerlain

          ~ The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

          ~ The Collector's Daughter by Gil Paul

          ~ No Place for a Lady by Gil Paul

          ~ Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon

BOOKS PURCHASED 2020-2022

          ~ Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart

          ~ A Promise to Remember by Kathryn Cushman

NON - FICTION

          ~ Facing Fear by Nik Wallenda

AUDIOBOOK

          ~ Going Higher with God in Prayer by A.W. Tozer (finished)

          ~ Count the Nights by Stars by Michelle Shocklee

LIBRARY HOLD

          ~ A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

          ~ The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer (finished)

What are you reading in September?

An Appalachian Summer by Ann H. Gabhart ~ Book Review

It's 1933 and many have lost their fortunes in the stock market crash.  Piper Danson's parents, however, managed to make it through and Piper's mother is bent on keeping things just as they were before the crash including having Piper's debut party, albeit a couple of years later than the norm.  Piper's father has chosen Braxton Crandall to escort her in the hopes that Braxton would court his daughter.  Braxton's family is railroad money and so in her parent's eyes Braxton can give her the kind of life she's used to and even better.  But Piper's heart belongs to her childhood friend, Jamie, who's family unfortunately did not weather the crash so well and whom she hasn't heard from in a while.  When Mary Breckinridge comes to town and Piper attends the tea held in her honor, she is taken with Mary's stories and pleas for workers for her horseback Frontier Nursing program helping pregnant women and children in the Appalachian mountains.  In an effort to stall the courtship and marriage plans her parents have for her, Piper convinces them to let her have one last summer and go and help Mary Breckinridge.  Once there Piper finds the work hard but rewarding and she soon loves the people of the mountains and the job she is doing.  Then against all odds, who shows up to write a newspaper story about the Frontier Nurses but Jamie himself.  As does Braxton.  

This historical Christian fiction romance features the historical Frontier Nursing program as it's base, something I've never read about before.  It was an enjoyable though predictable story.   I found it a nice clean summer read that allowed me to just get lost in the story without a lot of thinking.  There is elements of hope and faith and a young girl standing up for herself and the life she feels she should be leading as opposed to what her family insists upon for her.  And of course, there is the clean romance in it as well.  There seems to be a lot of stories out right now about the Appalachian mountain people and different aspects of horseback "helps" given to them, but the Frontier nursing program in this story is unique in that sense.  It was interesting looking up Mary Breckinridge and her program.  Though a nice easy going story that I liked, I wished for more of the grittiness that I'm sure went along with this nursing program. 

I rated it a 7.5/10

Reading Goals Met:  Reading Your Shelf Challenge prompt "A book with a summer vibe", A book purchased between 2020 - 2022

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren ~ Book Review

Olive's twin sister Ami has planned her fancy wedding down to the last detail winning almost everything towards it. When everyone who was at the wedding comes down with food poisoning from the seafood buffet except for Olive and her new brother-in-law, Ethan, Ami insists that her look alike twin sister takes the honeymoon trip to Maui she won in a contest so it doesn't go to waste as it must be forfeited if they don't go. Unbeknownst to Olive, Ami's brand new husband has offered the trip to his brother. There is only one problem, Olive and Ethan can't stand each other. But Ami insists Olive go, so the big hoax to fool the hotel starts. But can these two pull off looking like they are madly in love just so they can have a free vacation? 

Unpopular opinion coming.  I DNF'd (did not finish) this one.

 Concept seemed fun for a summer read but it ended up playing out in ways that are not my cup of tea in reading material. I pushed it to page 198 hoping it got better but it didn't. Constant s*xual tension and private thoughts about the other character got old as did the trope of wrong assumptions and preconceived ideas about motives. The final straw was the language. Basically no story except the hate to love amidst all the s*xual angst. Granted some funny moments and humorous situations but the constant snarking at each other back and forth got old too. When I found myself thinking I had better pick it up just to get done so I could count it towards my total books read this year it was a wake up call to set it aside. I wasn't enjoying the read. Unfortunate because I was really looking forward this one from all the rave reviews.

Rating:  4/10

I'm still counting it towards my reading goals because of the time spent getting halfway through it

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  (which I modified because I didn't have books to fit the original prompt): Read a Book with a Summer Vibe

Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel ~ Audio Book Review

Hello, my name is Susanne and I am a chronic over-thinker and experience "analysis paralysis" on a regular basis!  

That is why I got this book. Anne Bogel takes us through what overthinking is and what it isn't, giving us signs of the over thinker to start helping us to see that devoting overly large parts of our mental energy to relatively insignificant things is a drain.  How we choose to spend our limited resource of mental energy matters.  She then takes us through chapter by chapter into habits that will help us to get off the overthinking train and make those decisions.  Each chapter ends with "next steps", questions or short exercises to help you to determine where you are at in that step and how to get to that place of being free from overthinking.

I, at first, had a hard time focusing to get into the book so when I saw it offered as an audiobook I went that direction.  I enjoyed listening to it, the narrator was easy to listen to.  There are many takeaways and nuggets but I will at some point reread the physical copy as doing those "Next Steps" portions at the end of each chapter was difficult unless I was sitting with pen and paper (which I wasn't because I listen to audiobooks in the car while driving) and all the helps and nuggets beg for a good underlining pen to remember them all.   That being said there was also a lot of overthinking stories and some of them were unrelatable but if the reader could remember to take the principle and not the example then that helped.  One of the biggest takeaways for me was when the author talked about determining what is of value to you in life.  Once this is determined hold the decisions you have to make up to the light of these values that matter the most to you.  Such common sense but such a truth for me to grab ahold of and practice.  Don't Overthink It gives you a framework from which you can come to make decisions you are comfortable with freeing you up focus on other things.  

I rated it an 8/10

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  Read at least 3 non-fictions this year,  Listen to at least 3 audiobooks

When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer ~ Book Review

Nineteen year old Libby is a time crosser.  She lives two lives simultaneously, one in 1774 Williamsburg, Virginia, as Libby, daughter of a Mom who also was a time crosser.  Her other life is in 1914 New York as Elizabeth, daughter of a mother bent on marrying her off to an English marquess so that their social standing can advance.  She falls asleep in one life to wake up in the other with no time passing in either while away from it and with full memory of the other life.  She must not search for answers for either path or for any reason try to change either path with any foreknowledge she might obtain in either life.  Deep inside she is the same person but the two lives could not be more different.  On her 21st birthday she will have the choice to forfeit one path and stay in the other forever.   

In 1774, Libby's father has recently passed away and she and her Mom are trying to keep her father's print shop going.  Women in business aren't exactly supported in this time period but they manage to land a contract with the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor thanks to her friendship with a young member.  But when the Patriots ask them to do some printing for them it could just put all they've worked for into jeopardy.  Libby has purpose in this path as she supports the suffragette movement and the Patriots.  In 1914 as Elizabeth she has a loving relationship with her father but her Mother has one focus and one focus only and that is to marry her to English aristocracy so that her family's social standing might advance.  No matter the cost and no matter how Elizabeth feels about it.  As her 21st birthday approaches in both time paths there is no question in Libby/Elizabeth's mind which path she wants to choose though it breaks her heart to know some of her relationships will have to be left and there will be heartbreak at her death in that path.  There is uncertainty in both paths  but when the day comes can she trust that God has a plan for her?  

I loved this story.  It is such a unique approach to dual time lines, time travel, historical fiction.  The story was engaging right from the beginning as Libby's two different lives were laid out.  Interestingly everything Libby was fighting for and working towards in 1774 was exactly what her mother in 1914 was trying to force upon her.  Libby faced different wars in both of her timelines and I was totally invested in both of her story lines.  Amazingly the last third of the book was exactly what I needed at this time in my own life.  It is a Christian fiction story but I don't feel it was preachy but a major encouragement to trust in the sovereignty of God through uncertainty and grief and with one's purpose and life.  Such a good story.  Can't wait for book 2 coming next year.  

I gave it a huge 10 out of 10!

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  New to me author and Read One a Month from my library holds

The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels ~ Book Review

Robin Windsor is the owner of a quaint little used bookstore in River City, Michigan.  She spends her days quietly working in her store with her one employee.  She bought the bookstore in an attempt to escape the noteriety of her parents.  Her dad, a former senator, was convicted of murder and treason and her mom was also sent to prison for her part in protecting him.  She has not seen them since they were convicted, some 18 years, and has no desire to.  Trying to start over hasn't been easy but she loves her little bookstore.  Books had always helped her to escape, but now she finds herself having to make the hard decision about whether to close the store due to lack of business.  When a friend concocts an insane idea to enter an art contest to win the prize money to save the store, Robin reluctantly goes along with it.  But at the same time the day of her father's execution is here and a reporter figures out who she really is and her quiet life is yet again turned upside.  In the midst of the chaos Robin starts to receives packages in the mail containing one book at a time from her past and she knows exactly who is sending them.  But why is her past coming back to haunt her now?  

This story is a duel timeline going back and forth between Robin's present day and her past when she was a young girl.  The author wove it really well giving just enough out of each era to move the story along and reveal how Robin got to the place she where she is experiencing her present day perfect storm .   The books being sent to her were a main part of both timelines and tied the two together.  Being a reader not drawn to classics or poetry I found I was starting to skim through those parts where the quotes were written.  It was a bit of a struggle back and forth on my part because it is such a part of the story that connects Robin to her love of books, her past, and her relationship with Peter who was important to her school years.  Because of that the story just didn't grab me as it would have otherwise.  Yet it is what made the story unique.  And there was one part of the story about her "speech" in her after high school years that I just could not buy into.    It was a book I liked it but wasn't swept away by it.

I rated it 7.5/10

Reading Goals Met:  A book purchased between 2020 - 2022, Read Your Shelf Challenge June Prompt (A book with a book on the cover)