Friday Bookish Post - Altdorf by J.K. Swift

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-ups!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" for hosting this link-up!  Click on the buttons above to go to his blog.

        

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy, and Janice at Mostly Blogging for these fun link-ups!  Click on the button to visit the sites to join in!  The more the merrier...really! :O)

~~~oOo~~~

SYNOPSIS

At the end of the thirteenth century, five hundred orphans and second sons are rounded up from villages in the Alpine countryside and sold to the Hospitaller Knights of St John. Trained to serve as Soldiers of Christ, they fight in eastern lands they know nothing about, for a cause they do not understand.

Thomas Schwyzer, released from his vows by the Grandmaster of the Hospitallers, returns to the land of his birth a stranger. Once a leader of men, and captain of the Order's most famous war galley, he now settles into the simple life of a ferryman. He believes this new role to be God's reward for years of faithful service fighting the Infidel in Outremer.

Seraina, considered a witch by most, a healer by some, is a young woman with a purpose. A Priestess of the Old Religion, and the last Druid disciple of the Helvetii Celts, she has been gifted by the Great Weave to see what others cannot. Her people need her guidance and protection now more than ever. For Duke Leopold of Habsburg, in his efforts to control the St. Gotthard Pass, builds a great Austrian fortress in Altdorf. Once finished, the Habsburg occupation will be complete, but the atrocities visited upon her people will have just begun.


BOOK BEGINNINGS

Like shepherds from Hell, the demons drove their flock of evil spirits and twisted minions over the Alps far into the valleys below, spreading disease, insanity, and chaos.  The only warning of their approach was the fohn, a warm, dry wind that preceeded the horde's arrival.  It was not superstition or myth to the locals, but simply and event that occurred a scattering of times every year, and the fohn in the late winter of 1314 was longer and warmer than any could remember.

FRIDAY 56

Pirmin cursed Thomas in his native Wallis dialect, and although Thomas could not understand the words, he was glad ten feet of water separated him from the enraged giant.

BOOK BLOGGER HOP

Thanks to Elizabeth from Silver's Reviews for this week's question:

Is every day a reading day for you?

Unless I'm sick or on the road to Texas (in-laws).  It's not unheard of to finish an average length book in a day, but some days are busier than others.  Now that I've 'rediscovered' reading for pleasure, I really think their should be a UN RDA of Reading!

~~~oOo~~~

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So what's up with YOU these days?  If you have a post for any of the above link-ups, feel free to leave your link in your comment!

Friday Bookish Post - 13 August 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-ups!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY

Summary

In this layered collage of memory within memory, Hale recreates for readers her kaleidoscopic experience of a decades-long journey to acceptance and insight. Writer, prodigal daughter, single parent, Buddhist disciple, and, late in midlife, a newlywed, she is transformed through an unconventional relationship with a female spiritual teacher and an odd ritual of repeated tattooing with her two young adult children.

Book Beginnings

The couch, upholstered in textured velour, muted greens and gold, clashes with the view through the storefront window behind us:  the buckling asphalt parking lot of a seedy Tampa strip mall with the words PIERCINGS * TATTOOS blazing on the glass in biker orange and gunmetal gray.

(Review to follow on Monday, August 15th).

~~~oOo~~~

THE FRIDAY 56

Synopsis

For Amy Simms, hatching a birding shop in her hometown of Ruby Lake, North Carolina, hasn’t exactly been a breeze. But could a deadly discovery clip her wings for good?

It’s just days before Amy plans to open Birds & Bees on the first floor of her creaky Victorian house, but delayed seed shipments have prevented the fledging owner from stocking her shelves. And it doesn’t help that Amy’s best friend and business partner is out of town indefinitely. With locals skeptical about the niche shop taking flight, the last thing Amy needs now is a dead man in her storeroom-or for a crotchety tenant to catch her holding a bloody birdfeeder hook over his body . . .

Pigeonholed as a leading murder suspect by police and lacking a solid alibi, Amy’s delving into the victim’s ugly past and buzzing around Ruby Lake for clues on his killer . . . before she ends up like so many of her beloved feathery friends-trapped behind bars!

Friday 56

A rumpled red sleeping bag lay in the corner.  There were a couple of empty takeout containers, a half-consumed bottle of water, a bottle of Kentucky bourbon that had also been nearly depleted, and wads of stained paper napkins.  And that's just the hightlights.  The corner was a veritable nest.  But who or what had been nesting there?
In my house.  Right above me.  I shivered at the thought.

(Review to follow next Monday, August 15th.)

~~~oOo~~~

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" for hosting this link-up!  Click on the buttons above to go to his blog.

The question comes from Elizabeth at Silver's Reviews:

Do any of your book club members have a blog? Do you compare notes if they do?

I don't actually belong to a book club.  There are some online reading challenge groups that do group reads.  Maybe I could start (or join?) a book club at the county library.

~~~oOo~~~

        

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy, Janice at Mostly Blogging, and Tina at Mommynificent for these fun link-ups!  Click on the button to visit the sites to join in!  The more the merrier...really! :O)

I guess I'm combining Thursday and Friday linkups, because here's another (and it's one of my faves), hosted by Katherine (who rocks, btw):

- and the wonderful co-hosts:

• Nina at Vintage Mamas Cottage
• Debi at Surroundings by Debi
• Marilyn at Marilyn's Treats
• Olivia at Reinvented Collection
• Angelina at Peonies & Orange Blossoms
• Shellie at The Fab Journey

Friday Bookish Post - June 23, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-ups!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

Book 'Synopsis':

Shame is everywhere.

Whether related to relationships, body image, work, or a secret sin, we all experience shame. While shame manifests itself in fear, broken relationships, and regret, it ultimately points us to our fundamental need as fallen human beings: redemption.

Shame never disappears in solitude, and Heather Davis Nelson invites us to not only be healed of our own shame but also be a part of healing for others. She shines the life-giving light of the gospel on the things that leave us feeling worthless and rejected, giving us courage us to walk out of shame's shadows and offering hope for our bondage to brokenness. Through the gospel, we discover the only real and lasting antidote to shame: exchanging our shame for the righteousness of Christ alongside others on this same journey.

BOOK BEGINNINGS

This is from the book's Introduction (on page 17).  It's also a departure for me to use a non-fiction book for these link-ups.  Cover is linked to GoodReads.

"I have always been terrified of public speaking.  I can trace it back to eighth-grade graduation, when I froze on stage in front of my classmates and an audience of hundreds."

THE FRIDAY 56

I picked a random page (123) and came up with this quote:

"It would be easy to go through the questions listed above and identify the ways in which your husband or wife needs to change so there is less shame in your marriage.  When I wrote this list, I have to admit that my first impulse was to tell my husband, Seth, all the things "we" needed to work on for us to grow in shame-resisting intimacy in our marriage."

~~~oOo~~~

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" for hosting this link-up!  Click on the buttons above to go to his blog.

This week's question comes from Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Reviews:

Do you have your picture in your profile?

I have my picture in several of my profiles (social media, etc), but not all.  And the picture is 13 years old, taken around the time our daughter was born.  In the picture with me are our two sons, now 18 and 19 years old.  My hair is shorter and grayer than it was in that picture.  One of these days I will update it.

~~~oOo~~~

Also sharing with:

        

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy, Janice at Mostly Blogging, and Tina at Mommynificent for these fun link-ups!  Click on the button to visit the sites to join in!  The more the merrier...really! :O)

Friday Bookish Post - May 13, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-ups!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.  Since I will have two reviews tomorrow, I thought I'd do BBOF on one and F56 on the second.

SYNOPSIS

Indulging their pleasure in travel and new experiences, recently retired private school head Maggie Detweiler and her old friend, socialite Hope Babbin, are heading to Maine. The trip—to attend a weeklong master cooking class at the picturesque Victorian-era Oquossoc Mountain Inn—is an experiment to test their compatibility for future expeditions.

Hope and Maggie have barely finished their first aperitifs when the inn’s tranquility is shattered by the arrival of Alexander and Lisa Antippas and Lisa’s actress sister, Glory. Imperious and rude, these Hollywood one-percenters quickly turn the inn upside-down with their demanding behavior, igniting a flurry of speculation and gossip among staff and guests alike.

But the disruption soon turns deadly. After a suspicious late-night fire is brought under control, Alex’s charred body is found in the ashes. Enter the town’s deputy sheriff, Buster Babbin, Hope’s long-estranged son and Maggie’s former student. A man who’s finally found his footing in life, Buster needs a win. But he’s quickly pushed aside by the “big boys,” senior law enforcement and high-powered state’s attorneys who swoop in to make a quick arrest.

Maggie knows that Buster has his deficits and his strengths. She also knows that justice does not always prevail—and that the difference between conviction and exoneration too often depends on lazy police work and the ambitions of prosecutors. She knows too, after a lifetime of observing human nature, that you have a great advantage in doing the right thing if you don’t care who gets the credit or whom you annoy.

Feeling that justice could use a helping hand--as could the deputy sheriff—Maggie and Hope decide that two women of experience equipped with healthy curiosity, plenty of common sense, and a cheerfully cynical sense of humor have a useful role to play in uncovering the truth.

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY

Maggie Detweiler, new-minted woman of leisure and not at all sure she was going to like it, had no sense of impending tragedy as she posed in front of the broad stone veranda of the Oquossoc Mountain Inn that bright October morning.  She didn't really know what made her say to Hope, "When your picture's being taken, don't you always wonder if it's the one that will run with your obituary?"

~~~oOo~~~

SYNOPSIS

Walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards with a bow-tied Bullmastiff draws Nic and Nigel Martini plenty of attention from the press. But that’s nothing compared to the attention they receive at the A-list after party, when Hollywood royalty learn that Nic and Nigel have discovered behind the scenes footage from A Winter’s Night, an acclaimed film known for backstage love triangles and the tragic death of its original star, Melanie Summers.

Returning home after the party, Nic and Nigel find their house in shambles and their employee DeDee Evans beaten within an inch of her life. And when the weapon used to pummel DeDee implicates beloved actress Christina Franklin, Nic and Nigel drink and banter their way into a modern-day version of a golden-era crime caper.

THE FRIDAY 56

He quietly drummed out a rhythm on his leg for a few more minutes before narrowing his eyes and asking, "You don't have any questions?" 

"Oh, I have lots of questions," I assured him.  "However, I assumed that you came here to tell us something.  But if you're trying to do so through Morse Code, I should warn you  that I'm a bit rusty on my dashes and dots."

~~~oOo~~~

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" for hosting this link-up!  Click on the buttons above to go to his blog.

This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth at Silver's Reviews.  I'm actually going to paraphrase:

Is there a reason you chose your blogging platform (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) over another?

My scintillating answer?  Nope. :p

~~~oOo~~~

Also welcoming the weekend with:

        

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy, Janice at Mostly Blogging, and Tina at Mommynificent for these fun link-ups!  Click on the button to visit the sites to join in!  The more the merrier...really! :O)

Friday Bookish Post - 6 May 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

This captivating, breakout novel—told in alternating viewpoints—brings readers from the skies of World War II to the present day, where a woman is prepared to tell her secrets at last.

Estranged from her family since just after World War II, Mary Browning has spent her entire adult life hiding from her past. Now eighty-seven years old and a widow, she is still haunted by secrets and fading memories of the family she left behind. Her one outlet is the writing group she’s presided over for a decade, though she’s never written a word herself. When a new member walks in—a fifteen-year-old girl who reminds her so much of her beloved sister Sarah—Mary is certain fate delivered Elyse Strickler to her for a reason.

Mary hires the serious-eyed teenager to type her story about a daring female pilot who, during World War II, left home for the sky and gambled everything for her dreams—including her own identity.

As they begin to unravel the web of Mary’s past, Mary and Elyse form an unlikely friendship. Together they discover it’s never too late for second chances and that sometimes forgiveness is all it takes for life to take flight in the most unexpected ways.


BOOK BEGINNINGS

"It was my eighty-seventh birthday when my sister Sarah walked into the meeting room of the Carnegie Library.  Somehow she was still a young girl of about fifteen, with pale blond hair in a single braid down her back, just as she'd been when she scrambled up the climbing tree in the backyard and tossed apples to me on the ground down below.  Of course, I knew it couldn't actually be my sister.  Perhaps the Sarah-sighting was yet another side effect of again.  After all, the older I've become, the more everyone I come across reminds me of someone I once loved.  I had no inkling that the girl with the braid might change everything."

FRIDAY 56

"Who's the blond cartoon character?" I asked, pointing to the patch sewn onto the shoulder - of a little gremlin girl with the blue wings and big, red boots.

"Fifinella, the patron saint of the fly girls.  And she's not blond, my dear; that's her golden helmet.  Go ahead, try it on," she added, holding out the jacket.

I hesitated for just a second and then allowed her to slip it over my shoulders.  I pushed my arms into the sleeves.  The jacket fit perfectly."

~~~oOo~~~

 

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.

BOOK BLOGGER HOP

Thanks to Elizabeth at Silver's Reviews for this question of the week:

Why did you start your blog?

Shortly after my daughter was born in 2003, I found a site online called "Maya's Mom".  It was a hang-out for moms of all ages, with kids of all ages.  It was a special place, and I made a lot of internet friends.  A couple of years down the road, Maya's Mom was sold to "BabyCenter".  Aside from the change in focus away from including older children, the place did not have the same spirit.  So, the time I had put into schmoozing there had to go somewhere.  So I started a blog.  At first it was a mommy blog.  Now I mostly review/promote books.

~~~oOo~~~

Also sharing with:

   

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy and Janice at Mostly Blogging for these fun link-ups!  Click on the button to visit the sites to join in!  The more the merrier...really! :O)

Friday Bookish Post - March 4, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

SYNOPSIS

Texas transplant Pru Parke has put down roots in England, but she never dreamed she’d live in a grand place such as Greenoak. When her former employers offer Pru and her new husband, former Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse, the use of their nineteenth-century estate while they’re away for a year, she jumps at the chance. Sweetening the deal is the prospect of further bonding with her long-lost brother, Simon, who happens to be Greenoak’s head gardener. But the majestic manor has at least one skeleton in its closet—or, rather, its garden.

Working on renovations to the extensive grounds, siblings Pru and Simon squabble about everything from boxwood to bay hedges. But when the removal of a half-dead tree turns up the wreckage of a World War II–era German fighter plane and a pile of bones, the arguments stop. That is, until a rival from Simon’s past pays a surprise visit and creates even more upheaval. It’s suddenly clear someone is unhappy their secrets have been unearthed. Still, Pru’s not about to sit back and let Simon take the fall for the dirty deed without a fight.

~~~oOo~~~

Book Beginnings

The large terra-cotta pot, weathered from the seasons, sported an inch-wide crack that strained at the wire wrapped around its circumference.  Roots of the bay tree, seeking to break free from their encircling confinement, had insinuated themselves through the crack, found open air, and dried up.  The small tree itself seemed to slump, as if resigned to a second-class existence.  Pru and her brother, Simon, stood gazing at it in silence.

~~~oOo~~~

Friday 56

The figure lunged and shoved her away.  She fell back and landed on her bottom in the gravel, shouting in alarm.  As the person ran past her toward the opening, she managed to grab his ankle, and she struggled to stand and keep hold.  The figure kicked loose from her grasp, and the force sent her staggering.  She caught her foot on a guy rope from the marquee, danced a few steps, and went down hard on her stomach.

~~oOo~~~

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Writer" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.

This week's question for the Book Blogger Hop is:

Do you tend to read more in the winter or in the summer months? 

The amount of reading I do does not really change, but the location might.  In winter, I read almost exclusively indoors.  During the summer, I love to sit on the side porch for hours and read. ;)

Friday Bookish Post - February 26, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

Synopsis

Olivia Denis is a contented young wife with a carefree life in late 1930's London. Then her world is shattered with the violent death of her husband, Reggie. The police want to call it a suicide and close the case, but Olivia knows Reggie couldn't possibly have fired the fatal shot.

Further mysteries surface surrounding her husband's death. Did the trustworthy Foreign Office employee betray government secrets? Was his murder linked to the death of a German embassy clerk the same night? And who searched their flat?

Her desire for answers and her need to support herself cause her to break away from the pampered life she's known and take a job. But with the much-needed paycheck as a society reporter for a newspaper comes a secret secondary assignment - one that involves her in the increasingly dangerous world of European politics as the continent slides toward war.

~~~oOo~~~

Book Beginnings

What I saw was all wrong. 

I gasped as I looked down at Reggie's face and reached for him.  My hand jerked to a stop as reality hit me. 

Reggie wasn't sleeping on that cold metal table.

~~~oOo~~~

The Friday 56

(which is actually from page 55 this week)

"Why did he approach me?  And why was he hanging around my building when he watched this person that he wouldn't name break into my flat?" 

"I'd suspect the burglar was German." 

"I don't know any Germans." 

John shrugged and looked away.  "Reggie was in the Foreign Office...."

~~~oOo~~~

   

Thanks to Billy B at the "Coffee Addicted Blogger" and Ramona at "Create With Joy" for hosting these link-ups!  Click on the buttons above to go to their blogs.

Book Blogger Hop

Do your children, siblings, or other family members enjoy reading as much as you do?

I don't think any of the family read quite as much as I do, but I know they enjoy reading.  Hubs especially likes science fiction, non-fiction and maybe westerns.  The boys (well, young men now, really) like gaming as well as history (especially military history).  My daughter will read a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. having to do with dinosaurs or clocks.

Friday Bookish Post - January 8, 2016

    

Thanks to Freda from "Freda's Voice" and Gilion at "Rose City Reader" for hosting these bookish link-up!  Click one of the buttons to go to the link-up page.

(click on the cover to go to GoodReads)

SYNOPSIS

Sean and Sara are supposed to have a relaxing vacation in Vail, but it all goes up in a puff of powder when there’s a suspicious death on the mountain. And the deceased is not just anyone; it’s Adrian Blackwell, a two-time Olympic skiing gold medalist.

Rumor has it Adrian died in a skiing accident, but he was too skilled for Sara to accept that as fact. But she doesn’t want to disappoint Sean by ruining his ski trip, even though she’s convinced Adrian was murdered and she’s itching to find the killer.

Sean has never been able to say no to Sara, but this time he plans to. However, all it takes a call from their PI firm back in Albany to change his mind. A job’s come in to investigate Adrian’s death, and his agent is the one footing the bill, leaving Sean with more questions than answers.

Yet one major problem remains: their New York State PI licenses hold no legal authority in Colorado. They still can’t help but look into Adrian’s death on the sly, though. This case will definitely involve some underhanded tactics, all while trying to dodge the local police over the course of the investigation.

~~~oOo~~~

FRIDAY 56
(from 58%, or location 1125 on the Kindle)

"Hey, we were here first," a man in his fifties bellowed above the crowd.  His squat frame was easily carrying an extra fifty pounds.

Sean faced him and put on a polite smile. "We had reservations."  He didn't mention that they were held under the name of Benjamin Franklin."

(the above was edited 1/9 to correct two errors.)

~~~oOo~~~

BOOK BEGINNINGS
(OK, you caught me.  This quote is from the first page or two of the book, not the very beginning.)

"He was sitting there thinking about how love the day had been.  No murder.  No mention of murder.  Just him and Sara relaxing."

~~~oOo~~~

Is the quote from the Friday 56 portion or the Book Beginnings section more of an enticement for you?

~~~oOo~~~

edited to add:

    

Thanks to Billy B at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicated Writer and  Ramona At Create With Joy for hosting these link-ups.  I only found the Book Blogger Hop through Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews and Ramona is just so cool I have to do Friendship Friday as well!

Questions for the Book Blogger Hop:

Have you made any improvements on your blog since your started your blog? 

Scads and scads!  I've made more changes to my blog than the number of reading challenges I've enrolled in this year!

Did you change the format? 

When I started blogging in July of 2007, I believe my blog had a purple-y theme, because purple is my favorite color.  Then I switched to a wine-colored background with a map of the earth motif.  Then, when I found my blog turning into more of a book blog than anything else, I figured I should get something 'bookish'.   There may have been others...I just don't remember. ;)

Did you change your header? 

Well, there were the changes that came with the color changes.  Then in some kind of blog challenge last year I added the tag line "Life happens on the back porch."

Did you add or remove items from your side bar? 

A while back I switched to the format/layout I have today (1 column of text and 2 sidebars).  I had had only one sidebar on the left side for a couple of years, but when I had all my reading challenge buttons and counters in the sidebar, those puppies went on forEVER!

~~~oOo~~~

Now I've got a question for y'all:

I've been thinking of changing the blog name to reflect my new focus on books and writing.  If you were faced with the same question, would you keep the familiar name or go for something more bookish?

(from jucoolimages.com)