My Thought Today...

 

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Dewey's 24 Hour Readthon-1 month to go!

Dewey's is returning!  One month to go! Be sure to get signed up! 

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Book Date: Heart Talk

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 Hi All,

I know I shared some on Wednesday about this one, but I would recommend this book for my book date and for you to pick up! I really enjoyed it! 

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Stacking the Shelves

Hi All,

Happy Saturday. 

Picked up these two from the library recently, but definitely would recommend Stacking Your Shelves with them! If you need a graphic novel break, they do not disappoint! 

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Wisdom Wednesday

Sharing some powerful wisdom from Heart Talk...

"Be careful when it comes to focusing on the opinions of others -you could end up walking a day in the life of everyone else but yours. "

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Book Date: Run Rose Run

Happy Book Date Monday! 

Here is my current read :) Have you read it? 

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Review: Her Country

Hi All,

Stopping by to let you know about a great book! I was able to get early access to this one and I really enjoyed it. I hope you will get a chance to pick it up soon.

Author: Marissa Moss
 
Summary:
The full and unbridled inside story of the last twenty years of country music through the lens of Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, and Kacey Musgraves—their peers and inspirations, their paths to stardom, and their battles against a deeply embedded boys’ club, as well as their efforts to transform the genre into a more inclusive place for all (and not just white men in trucker hats), as told by award-winning Nashville journalist Marissa R. Moss.

It was only two decades ago, but, for the women of country music, 1999 seems like an entirely different universe. With Shania Twain, country’s biggest award winner and star, and The Chicks topping every chart, country music was a woman’s world: specifically, country radio and Nashville’s Music Row.

Cut to 2021, when women are only played on country radio 16% of the time, on a good day, and when only men have won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards for a decade. To a world where artists like Kacey Musgraves sell out arenas but barely score a single second of airplay. But also to a world where these women are infinitely bigger live draws than most male counterparts, having massive pop crossover hits like Maren Morris’s “The Middle,” pushing the industry to confront its deeply embedded racial biases with Mickey Guyton’s “Black Like Me,” winning heaps of Grammy nominations, banding up in supergroups like The Highwomen and taking complete control of their own careers, on their own terms. When the rules stopped working for the women of country music, they threw them out and made their own: and changed the genre forever, and for better.

Her Country is veteran Nashville journalist Marissa R. Moss’s story of how in the past two decades, country’s women fought back against systems designed to keep them down, armed with their art and never willing to just shut up and sing: how women like Kacey, Mickey, Maren, The Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Rissi Palmer, Brandy Clark, LeAnn Rimes, Brandi Carlile, Margo Price and many more have reinvented the rules to find their place in an industry stacked against them, how they’ve ruled the century when it comes to artistic output—and about how women can and do belong in the mainstream of country music, even if their voices aren’t being heard as loudly.

 

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Middle Grade March

Happy Middle Grade March! 

A fun readathon...be sure to check out this out.

The 5 Prompts this year are: 1. A book with 5 or more words in title 2. A book featuring an orphan main character 3. A contemporary book 4. A book set in Asia or featuring a Asian main character 5. A book older than you are
 

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Spring Break

 

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March Bookish Bingo

 

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Book Tour: Falling for the Competition Excerpt

Hi All! 

Excited to be here to tell you about Falling For the Competition and to provide you with an excerpt. 

Falling for the Competition

It’s going to be the best summer ever for ambitious, overachieving Quinn. A huge history buff, not only has she landed her dream job interning in the archives department of the local castle, but her best friend will be working there too.

However, Quinn isn’t the only one to be working in Archives this summer; Quinn’s academic rival, Patrick, is sharing her office in Muniments. They’re competing for the Letter of Recommendation (singular) from the research historian that Quinn needs to get her dream future placement.

Their emotionally-loaded and competitive rivalry turns into a reluctant friendship, as they spend every day working together in silence (and sharing the occasional Twix). Until the Re-Enactors arrive. Between Patrick and Harry – the Golden Knight of the jousting team – Quinn’s carefully planned summer is thrown into complete disarray. Meanwhile, her best friend’s relationship may look perfect on the outside, but Quinn is starting to realise that there’s more going on than there seems.

Although Quinn is determined and single minded about planning every detail of her sparkling future, she comes to discover that the best things in life are the spontaneous ones – and that some people are more important than any Letter of Recommendation (singular) could ever be.

*************

Excerpt:
 Frankie’s been picked up by Ned for work.

On a horse.

Yep, a horse. Mum called to say that there was a horse outside, and there’s Ned, leaning down over the horses neck to present a swooning Frankie with a bunch of flowers. Not ones that he’s picked off the ground on the way here, but proper, thought about, flowers. Her dad is disapproving in the doorway and I give him a quick wave.

So I’m walking, and that’s alright because I’ve got time to dissect my dream. Which is a mistake. Because as soon as I reach Muniments and stumble up the stairs and Patrick gives me that smile like he’s so happy to see me, I’m desperate to put my hands on his bare skin, to pull his lips to my neck, to feel his chest in real life. He nods towards Lisa’s room and I take it that she’s in this morning.

“Are you,” he hesitates and I must look hectic and flushed and needing. “Okay?”

I’m prickly all over and my clothes are too much on my skin. He’s leaning back in my chair watching me arrange my desk with a slight frown on his face.

“Yes, I’m fine, Patrick.” I give him a superior smile, because I am more than fine, I’m just not going to tell him why. And I love keeping this secret from him.

“Oh, you look,” he casts around for the right word, “um kind of, flushed?” He finishes off with a shrug, like he’s not sure.

“I walked,” I say, pulling my pony tail out. It’s uncomfortable and I need something to do with my hands to stop them reaching over to his desk.

“No Frankie?”

“No, Ned picked her up.” I say, pulling my hair over my shoulder and tying it into a messy plait. “On a horse.” We exchange knowing glances. He rolls his eyes.

“Your hair is nice like that.” Patrick says, and his eyes flick over my neck where his lips had been in my dream. My traitorous body flushes and my stomach clenches. I can’t say anything. “What? Don’t like compliments?” He says, sceptically.

I glare at him and turn to my computer.

I email IT for an up to date on my online database and get an out of office reply until next week.

Next. Week.

Joking? Why didn’t they tell me that the lady who was dealing with it wasn’t going to be in the office? Don’t they know I’m on a deadline? I pick up the phone calmly and call her extension and wait until it bounces to one of the other people there.

“Hi, yes, this is Quinn from Muniments. Can you tell me who’s dealing with her work whilst she’s on holiday?” I listen. “No one, right. Well, I have this project and it’s on a deadline, and I wonder if she’s left an update for me?” I pause. “No. Right. Is there anyone else that can work on it for me?” I even give my winning adult smile down the phone in the hope that will work. “Right, no, okay. Thanks for your help.”

I carefully put the receiver down, and I’m aware of Patrick watching me, but I don’t care and I lay my forehead on the table like a child and groan. I know she said she was on track, but did that include the holiday? There’s only a few more weeks left after this week and I’ve got to populate the damned thing and make sure it works okay and SHE’S NOT IN.

I am not in control and I hate it.

Patrick is next to me, and he’s buttercup fields and wildflowers. He doesn’t say anything because he knows me, and he knows that I won’t tell him unless I want to. Because no matter what’s going on between us, this is a competition, this is my life, this is the Letter of Recommendation, Singular, that is slipping out of my grasp. I sit up and he’s leaning against my drawers, mouth pinched and eyes trying to read my mind.

“I need to see Lisa.” I say. He nods.

“She’ll understand.” His long fingers are splayed on my desk.

“I’m not sure she will.” I am a despondent kitten. “I wouldn’t.”

“That’s because you’re too hard on yourself.” He says softly. We watch each other, and I see his pulse jumping against the skin in his throat and I clench my fists to not reach out and feel if it’s racing. I stand up and he doesn’t move so I have to step round him, avoiding his eyes, and trying not to touch him because I don’t think I could stop my hands wandering over his skin if I did. He seems amused at my attempts at edging past him and grips my waist, spinning us so he’s next to my chair and I’m in the aisle between our desks.

 *******

Purchase Links

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Falling-Competition-changing-ambitious-people-ebook/dp/B09N6YKZM7

US - https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Competition-changing-ambitious-people-ebook/dp/B09N6YKZM7

Author Bio – Jen lives in the Midlands with her husband and two children. With a Masters Degree in Medieval History, Jen loves castles and King John a little too much. Strangely un-British, she does not like tea, oranges or marzipan, but adores French cheese, guava juice and Chinese food (not together).

When not writing, Jen can often be found pointing out historical inaccuracies in period dramas, being a Lady that Lunches with close friends and playing board games with her family. Note: her handbags are always heavy due to multiple books (just in case she needs them). 

Social Media Links –

@jensmith950 Twitter

Hope you get a chance to check it out! 

Happy Reading!

Book Date: Atlas of the Heart

Hi All,

Happy Book Date Monday. 

Stopping by to share my current read. 

Have you read this one?

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Reading Recap

Hi all,

Stopping by with a couple of mini reviews...

Our Little World
A mystery coupled with family dynamics made for an interesting read. I enjoyed this one very much. I read that there is an audiobook version of this one and I can imagine that will make it even more entertaining. For those seeking a book to keep them up at night, this may be the one for you.

Neruda on the Park
If you enjoyed Into the Heights, you may also like this one. This one was another read about family and about following your dreams. Add in a twist of romance and you create quite the combo. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one! 

Jagged Little Pill
I loved this one. I am so glad to have heard about the musical cause I was able to listen to the soundtrack while taking it all in. The story is one that made me feel a hundred things. I remember the original CD as a kid and I love hearing a story along with it. Worth the read! 
 

Happy Reading!

Book Challenge: 52 Book Club Challenge

52 books in 52 weeks using 52 prompts!

Shake your reading up in 2022 with this 52-inspired reading challenge.

• Dates: 1 January to December 31
• Times: Flexible
• Example Book Challenge: A job title in the title

This is a great book challenge for diversifying your reading in a structured way.

 

Happy Reading!