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 plus My 2017 Women Reading Challenge Sign-up

    

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.

Question:  Where's your favorite place to read? (submitted by Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

My Answer:  There's a small 'porch' on the north side of our home that used to be a carport.  There's a nice little table and the bench seat from FIL's van (because it was converted to a wheelchair van).  So yes, it's about as hillbilly as you can get ... but I love it.  Except for this week, because it's bitter, bitter cold out.  I'd love to get a papasan chair for indoors, but it would have to be a room that the animals (cats and dogs) never, ever visit.  They're a rowdy bunch, bless 'em!

        

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)

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All kinds of stuff going on today...5 link-ups and a book challenge sign-up.

Thanks to Peekabook blog for hosting this challenge.  (The majority of books I read are by women authors.  My two favorite genres are cozy mysteries and historical fiction and many of the authors in those genres are women.)

Levels:

Level 1: BABY GIRL - read 5 books written by a woman author

Level 2: GIRLS POWER - read 6 to 15 books written by a woman author

Level 3: SUPER GIRL - read 16 to 20 books written by a woman author

Level 4: WONDER WOMAN - read 20+ books written by a woman author

I'm starting with the lowest level (Baby Girl) and hoping to move up during the year.

BOOK LIST:
1.  The Parting (Courtship of Nellie Fisher 1) by Beverly Lewis
2.  Unknown to History: a story of the captivity of Mary of Scotland by Mary Charlotte Yonge
3.  Every Trick in the Rook by Marty Wingate (NetGalley, to be published March 2017)
4.  ...
5.  ...

And I thought I'd give y'all a little sneak peek:

(the cover is liked to Amazon as the book does not appear on GoodReads yet.)

SYNOPSIS

Julia Lanchester is flying high. She’s nesting with her boyfriend, Michael Sedgwick, and she’s found her niche as manager of the tourist center in her picturesque British village. Thanks to all her hard work, visitor traffic was up—way up. Her reward is an even more hectic schedule. Michael’s busy, too, traveling all over as the personal assistant to Julia’s father, celebrity ornithologist Rupert Lanchester. With precious little time together, Julia’s romantic weekend with Michael can’t come soon enough.

But the getaway is spoiled when Julia’s ex-husband is found murdered on her boss’s estate. And after a witness reports seeing Michael near the scene of the crime, the press descends, printing lies and wreaking havoc. To protect Julia, Michael vanishes into thin air, leaving her to pick up the slack on Rupert’s show and track down the real killer—even if it means putting herself in the flight path of a vicious predator.

BOOK BEGINNINGS

A distinctly steamy atmosphere filled the church hall at St. Swithun's on that early April Thursday evening, created by met mackintoshes, dripping umbrellas and leather boots that would not dry out until July, all combined with six oil-filled radiators plugged in along the walls.

FRIDAY 56

...I heard one of the men suggesting they remove the entire door and take it with them. I heard myself shouting something about destruction of private property and how this was a Grade II-listed building and I'd have Historic England down their throats in a second if they touched a single hinge. That was when Tess suggested I go upstairs and dress.

So what are you reading today?

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 - July 1, 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.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Jennie Bateman has again fallen in love with Thomas, her former husband, but Tasha, one of his children, is determined to destroy their relationship.

Jennie had done that herself a number of years earlier. In the midst of a manic episode, she had deserted Thomas and their two daughters, choosing, instead, a life of shameless debauchery.

Perhaps she was shocked when Thomas filed for a divorce. Perhaps it was the influence of a preacher who took an interest in her. Perhaps she simply cycled back toward normal.

Whatever the cause, years later, when she again made contact with her family, she was a different person. Even so, they wanted nothing to do with her.

But time moves on. Circumstances change...

~~~oOo~~~

BOOK BEGINNINGS

"Hump day, hump day," Jennie Bateman sang as she sauntered down the hall.  It was Wednesday afternoon, halfway through the week, two more days before she slid into the weekend and a mother-daughters dinner in Atlanta.

Lunch had just ended, and her third-grade class was with the music teacher.  Because of a quirk in this week's schedule, they would go from music class directly to art, and, as a result, Jennie had almost an hour to herself.  She was headed to the school's office for coffee.

Can I get an 'amen' from the teachers? :D  This book will be reviewed tomorrow on the blog, so be sure to stop back by!

~~~oOo~~~

FRIDAY 56

SHORT SYNOPSIS

In Henry Adams, Kansas, you can't start over without stirring things up ...

Many a good woman has had to leave a no-good man, but how many of them took a backseat to his six-hundred-pound hog?  On her own for the first time, Genevieve Gibbs is ecstatic, even if certain people preferred the doormat version of Ms. Gibbs./  Finding someone who appreciates the "new" her has only just hit Gen's to-do-list when TC Barbour appears in her life.

~~~oOo~~~

I did my Friday 56 from a different book, because my Kindle is under the weather, and I have a print copy of the above title.

As always, class began with the pledge and the Negro National Anthem.  It was Zoey's day to accompany the singing on the piano.  Eli had been in Henry Adams going on three years now and knew the words by heart.  When he had his dad first arrived it had been weird being one of only two White kids in town and he'd been pretty sure he wasn't going to like it, but nobody made a big deal about it and he'd done a lot of growing up since then.  He'd also learned a ton of Black history and realized people were people.  As Amari once pointed out, Eli was now bicultural and personall he thought there was a lot of cred in that.

(I had no idea there was even such a thing as the "Negro" National Anthem.  Now I've also seen it described as the Black National Anthem.  It is a wonderfully spiritual song, alluding both to past and present blessings as well as degredations.  Here is a link to the sons on YouTube for anyone who is interested.)

I'll review this book on the blog here a week from Monday (July 11, 2016).  Y'all come back now ... er, then.

~~~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 of Silver's Reviews:

Name an author or authors that you have read most of his or her books and would recommend to others.

I really can't claim to have read most of an author's work, but there are three I've read several of there books, and to whom I'd like to give a shout-out:

Joyce and Jim Lavene

Sadly, both these wonderful authors (and people) have passed in the last year:  Joyce in October 2015, and Jim in May of this year.  This is really a devastating to the cozy mystery genre - last time I heard a count on the number of books they had published it was like over 70.  SEVENTY!!!  Their son and daughter, Christopher and Jeni, have taken over the reins of "Team Lavene", as I took to calling them after Joyce passed.  I loved how the family pulled together to continue the legacy of this fine writing duo.  I've read maybe 7-10 of their books...give or take, well, actually only the one that means (maybe more than that).

Daryl Woods Gerber

One of Daryl's "Cheese Shop Mysteries" (written under her Avery Aames pseudonym) was actually my introduction to cozy mysteries.  And I won the book in an online drawing at Great Escapes Virtual Blog Tours.  Now I have read I think all but the lastest in that series.  I've also read several of the "Cookbook Nook" mysteries and her suspense/thriller "Girl on the Run".  I'm fixin' to read the newest Cookbook Nook Mystery ("Grilling the Subject"-to be published August 2016!).

NLB Horton

The first book in NLB's "Parched Series", When Camels Fly, is on my semi-official "Top Ten Books I've Read" list!.  The sequel, The Brothers' Keepers, only increased my appetite for Archaelogist Grace Madison's thrilling adventures!  Luckily I won't have to wait too long, because the third installment is due this fall.

~~~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)

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)