Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by quickly with a summary of some of the books I have been reading lately.

Small Great Things
This book was eyeopening and moving at the same time. In the latest novel by Jodi Picoult, we are presented with the topic of racism. This book was deep, educational, and powerful all at the same time. I love how the author is able to weave together a story that keeps you wanting to keep reading until the very end. When you do and the unexpected occurs, I love it all the more. This book is high up there on the list of books that I have read this year. I will be recommending this to all of my friends. Thank you Random House for the opportunity to review this title.

Giant Days 2
In the follow up to the volumes, we continue getting to know the characters and the struggles that they encounter on a more regular basis. While the topics are not always straight forward as one might hope they are good ones to think about. The illustrations were nicely done. I liked the story and I was glad to see that this is continuing.

Lily and Dash’s Book of Dares
When Lily finds a notebook and meets a new secret friend, it soon takes her on a quest of a completing a set of dares. As her secret pal also does the dares she sets up for him, they start to get closer and closer. The book follows their story about how everything plays out. I don’t want to give out any spoilers about what happens, but I found this one to be a cute story. I liked the story line and the adventure that the characters went on. A good read.

The Left Us Everything
In this moving book, we are greeted with the concept that what happens to the memories that we have created after we are no longer here. This book is one that helps us to understand the importance of things we hold on to and how we can share those memories with others. I enjoyed the story and feel like going through someone else's life after they pass away is not an easy task. An honest book with alot of heart felt emotion.

The Secret Ways of Perfume
First of all let me say that I have been fortunate enough to visit perfumerie in France and it was wonderful. I had not planned on this, but it was added to a tour I did and I am so glad it was. I discovered some wonderfulness at that place! This book helped me to recall the experience that I had while visiting. I loved the story and how it brought our main character to places she could recall. It is amazing the power of smell that has on a person. I appreciated the setting, the characters, and this book very much.

River Keep
In this fantasy novel we are taking on a twisty adventure to help find a cure for Wull's father. This book was a very interesting read. I feel like it would be better played out in a video form because there is so much that you could do with it. I enjoyed the story and the plot, but would think it would come alive in that format. If you like books about magic this may be the book for you!

The World Without You
In this book, we are greeted by Bo who has the power to travel through time. The challenge is that this is only real to him. He meets his match in Sofia, but when she gets locked in the past, he has to find his way back to her. The book jumps back and forth from his perspective, to that of his family who tell the story of mental illness. This book is gut wrenching and interesting. I enjoyed it.

Happy Reading!

Casual Readathon July (#CRJuly)

Source: Casual Readathon Twitter

Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by with another quick reading challenge! This one is hosted by Hosted by @lizameggle with help from @KayteSays! The hashtag for this event #CRJuly and it will be held from July 24 - 30. The image above outlines the challenges that will be happening for this challenge.

Here I will mark my progress:

1) Read Three Books
2) A Book with Supernatural
3) Book with purple on it
4) Book Someone Picks
5) A Book from a Series
6) Book on Your TBR for a Year+


Will you be participating?

Happy Reading! 

June 30th update- I happy to report that I was able to get through three of the six challenges for this week. Unless you count pokemon as supernatural (I've been reading the manga). I always appreciate these events! Thanks! 

Book Review: Better in the Morning

 


Author: Fern Ronay

Review:

This is the book about Veronica. When we first meet her she is eagerly anticipating getting engaged. When things don’t quite go that way, she starts over again. This time though she has a little help from her grandparents (and her friends) who show in her dreams to help guide her on her way. Through these dreams she is greeted with new challenges including a new class. The class leads to other places and new hopes for her life. But will the new life be everything she hoped? As you know we don’t include spoilers here on the blog, so I don’t want to say too much. 

This book was a quick read with a quick changing storyline that kept me entertained. I appreciated the resilience of Veronica and her ability to cope with whatever came her way. When things didn’t go right she just tried something else instead. I appreciated that she kept moving forward no matter what the circumstance was that was thrown her way.

I think one of my favorite parts of this book is the casual one-liners thrown in. There are a few times when I found myself thinking I can tell that the author has a sense of humor. I appreciated that throughout this book.

I would recommend this book for those who enjoy a cute chick lit type story. It was a good read and worth the time spent.

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the author to review this book and provided a copy of it. Though I did not pay for the book, the opinions are strictly my own.

 
Happy Reading!

Guest Post: Calista Lynne Author of We Awaken

Hi Everyone! 

Just stopping by today with a Guest Post from an author, Calista Lynne. She reached out to me to help with getting the word out about her book and provided me with the answer to the question that I love to ask....what made you write this book? Below is a guest post representing her thoughts. 

Please help me welcoming her!

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Writing from Life

or Where The Hell Did This Novel Come From?

By Calista Lynne

 I like to say that I used up all my life experience in my first novel. At the time, it seemed like I squeezed everything from my teenage years into a story and would never have anything to write about again. While writing purely from imagination is fantastic in theory, it’s practically impossible in action. I don’t know of any fiction authors who don’t litter their stories with real life occurrences, even if they are skewed and exaggerated to suit an elevated plotline. It’s part of the reason why I use a pseudonym and am wary of people I know reading my novel. They might look at my character sitting around in a hotel in Baltimore and remember the times I visited the city with my parents growing up. This is where the argument of whether authors should be held accountable for the unwelcome opinions of their characters comes into debate, but that’s a completely separate issues.

We Awaken is about two female asexuals in a same sex relationship, one of which is a creator of dreams. Obviously I am not, nor have I ever met, someone who could be likened to the sandman, but still there are a lot of scenes in the story that I plucked out of my life growing up. From songs played in cars to places visited, many of the backdrops to scenes are very much places and events I have witnessed firsthand. My other inspiration was the fact that I wanted to write the representation I wanted to read growing up and hadn’t seen much of in literature up to that point.The only issue is, up until the book was written I always felt as if I hadn’t lived very widely. My heart was on those pages and I had nothing left for future pieces. 

So I got on an airplane and crossed an ocean at the age of 17 to live in London all by myself. Okay, so I was a week away from turning 18, but it was definitely an interesting knee-jerk sort of reaction to feeling stifled by suburbia. Now I have inspiration thrown at me from all directions and it’s almost too much. Here are some things I did in my first few months of being British:

●     Accidentally end up in Essex trying to get to Ikea

●     Be a featured extra in an upcoming British rom-com

●     Work for both a magazine and a theatre

●     Take- and do poorly in- clown classes

●     Overhear kilted bagpipers trash talk one another in a pub

●     Pay frequent visits to a man who plays a tuba which is actually a flamethrower

           

Of course I do much more than this, but these are a few incidents that stick out in the mind as being particularly interesting. So if you look in one of my future novels and see a character wandering Essex confused, asking which part of London it is because they just want to buy some damn sheets, know that it probably isn’t as fictional as the genre would have you believe. Being an expat is loads of fun and it’s always interesting to be the Token American even if I have difficulties with British sarcasm and figuring out what a courgette is. I’m not sure if I’ll stay in Europe forever, especially considering the state of my visa, but for now I have the Shakespeare Globe and Cadbury chocolate and everything is alright.

 If you’re interested in reading about the antics of the ladies loving each other in my first novel, here is the synopsis. Good luck trying to spot where my inspiration came from: 

Victoria Dinham doesn’t have much left to look forward to. Since her father died in a car accident, she lives only to fulfill her dream of being accepted into the Manhattan Dance Conservatory. But soon she finds another reason to look forward to dreams when she encounters an otherworldly girl named Ashlinn, who bears a message from Victoria’s comatose brother. Ashlinn is tasked with conjuring pleasant dreams for humans, and through the course of their nightly meetings in Victoria’s mind, the two become close. Ashlinn also helps Victoria understand asexuality and realize that she, too, is asexual.
 

 But then Victoria needs Ashlinn’s aid outside the realm of dreams, and Ashlinn assumes human form to help Victoria make it to her dance audition. They take the opportunity to explore New York City, their feelings for each other, and the nature of their shared asexuality. But like any dream, it’s too good to last. Ashlinn must shrug off her human guise and resume her duties creating pleasant nighttime visions—or all of humanity will pay the price.

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Author Bio:

Calista Lynne grew up on the American East Coast and is currently studying in London. She is having difficulty adjusting to the lack of Oxford commas across the pond and writes because it always seemed to make more sense than mathematics. Look for her near the caffeinated beverages.

Buy the Book Here:

Harmony Ink      Amazon     Barnes and Noble

 

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Happy Reading!