WWW Wednesday #75 | February 5, 2020


WWW Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words.
Just answer three questions and share what you're reading.


We had a very brief - and mild - blast of winter last week and now Florida seems to think it's springtime. It's going to be 80 degrees today. I demand some winter weather! *stomps off in a snit* What's it like where you are today?


WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

     

 I'm not far into Great and Precious Things but I'm already getting a feel for how weighty this one is going to be. Main character Camden is being crushed by a weight of grief and guilt. He's come home to the small Colorado town he swore he would never return to - and it hasn't exactly been a happy homecoming. It seems there are some complicated relationships and I'm interested earns the how's and why's and see where this goes.
Current progress: 12%

I read my first by Corinne Michaels on audio last month and absolutely loved it. So I decided to dive right into another one. Come Back for Me is her most recent release (I think) and, as with the one I read last month (We Own Tonight), it's narrated by Andi Arndt and Zachary Webber. Those two are like narration gold and I love the way they bring characters to life. This is a second-chance romance and the female main character has been through an abusive marriage so this isn't exactly light and fluffy. I love the two main characters (and Ellie's seven year old daughter) and I'm invested in their story.
Current progress: 65%

WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?
I finally read the long-awaited finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy and I practically inhaled it. While The Queen of Nothing didn't quite have the intrigue and tension of the two previous books I still loved it. Jude, Cardan, more scheming, surprising alliances... I was totally there for it. Review is coming soon.

Birthday Girl is one that had been on my TBR for a long time. Over time I had built it up to be a guaranteed five star read and my expectations were sky high. It didn't end up being a five star book for me but I still really enjoyed it and I will definitely read more from Penelope Douglas. 


WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'LL READ NEXT?

    


As I mentioned in my Sunday Post, I received a PR package for Malice even though I didn't request it. It's not something I ever would have picked up on my own but I've gotta say the synopsis is super intriguing. And Shannon raves about it. So I might just give it a try. 

What are you currently reading?
I wanna know! :)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Five Star Predictions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic: 
Five Star Predictions from My TBR

There are those books I want to read because I love the author. And books I want to read because the plot is intriguing or contains my favorite tropes. And then there are those books that just seeing the cover and reading the synopsis gives you all the feels - and you just know (or at least you really, really hope) that it's going to be great. Here are the books on my TBR that I predict will be five star reads.

From the internationally best-selling author of The Simple Wild comes the continuation of a woman’s journey to Alaska and a life she never imagined for herself.

Calla Fletcher returns to Toronto a different person, struggling to find direction and still very much in love with the rugged bush pilot she left behind. When Jonah arrives on her doorstep with a proposition she can’t dismiss, she takes the leap and rushes back to Alaska to begin their exciting future together.

But Calla soon learns that even the best intentions can lead to broken promises, and that compromise comes with a hefty price—a log cabin in interior rural Alaska that feels as isolating as the western tundra.

With Jonah gone more than he’s home, one neighbor who insists on transforming her into a true Alaskan, and another who seems more likely to shoot her than come to her aid, Calla grapples with forging her own path. In a world with roaming wildlife that has her constantly watching over her shoulder and harsh conditions that stretch far beyond the cold, dark, winter months, just stepping outside her front door can be daunting.

This is not the future Calla had in mind, leaving her to fear that perhaps she is doomed to follow in her mother’s fleeing footsteps after all.

Raised to rule, bred to lead and weaned on a diet of ruthless ambition. In a world of haves and have nots, my family has it all, and I want nothing to do with it.

My path takes me far from home and paints me as the black sheep. At odds with my father, I’m determined to build my own empire. I have rules, but Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of them. From the moment we meet, something sparks between us. But my family stole from hers and my father is the man she hates most. I lied to have her, and would do anything to keep her. Though she tries to hate me, too, the inexorable pull between us will not be denied.

And neither will I. 

Molly and Finn Alcott had the picture-perfect marriage. With two gorgeous children, a lovely home and their own business, they were the couple others aspired to be. But when news of their divorce spreads through town like wildfire, it sends their beautiful image up in flames.

Molly spends years mending her broken heart. She finds joy in a life centered around her kids and career. Her happiness has a different picture now.

Then one day, she finds a letter in her mailbox. Written in Finn’s handwriting, dated over fifteen years ago, it’s a letter he wrote Molly after their first date.

Week after week, Finn’s letters appear. Each marks a date in their history. Each holds the confession of the man who still owns Molly’s heart. Each heals a wound from their past.

It’s just too bad Finn isn’t the one sending them.

Where the Lost Wander | Amy Harmon
In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.
The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.
But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.
When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.
Someday, Someday | Emma Scott
How long would you wait for love?

Max Kaufman was kicked out of his home as a teen and his life has been an uphill battle ever since. From addiction and living on the streets, to recovery and putting himself through nursing school, he’s spent the last ten years rebuilding his shattered sense of self. Now he’s taken a job as a private caretaker to Edward Marsh III, the president and CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Max soon learns Marsh’s multi-billion-dollar empire is a gold and diamond-encrusted web of secrets and lies.

The longer Max works and lives with the Marsh family, the tighter the secrets tangle around him. And his heart—that he’s worked so hard to protect—falls straight into the hands of the distant, cold, and beautiful son of a dynasty…

Silas Marsh is set to inherit the family fortune, but his father is determined his heir be the “perfect” son. Before Silas can take over the company and end its shady business practices, he must prove himself worthy…and deny his true nature.

Silas must choose: stand up to his father by being true to himself and his undeniable feelings for Max. Or pretend to be someone he is not in order to inherit everything. Even if it means sacrificing a chance at happiness and real love.

All I Ask | Corinne Michaels
Teagan Berkley is trying her best. A single mom raising a precocious teen, she may have given up on her dreams, but she's accepted her life in her small beachside hometown. Now the one person who abandoned her when she needed him the most has returned, bringing back memories of what might have been.

Derek Hartz arrives in town with a teenage daughter - and he's full of guilt over his failed marriage and the way he ended his friendship with Teagan. He's determined to set things right with her, but first he needs to gain her trust. Something he's not convinced he deserves.

As Teagan and Derek open up to each other-and confess their deepest secrets-it's impossible for them to deny what's always been between them. But just when their happily ever after is within reach, their complicated history surfaces again and threatens to keep them apart. Forever.

Regretting You | Colleen Hoover
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.
The Great Alone | Kristin Hannah
Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
What the Wind Knows | Amy Harmon
Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make? 
Great and Precious Things | Rebecca Yarros
How do you define yourself when others have already decided who you are?

Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him—especially his father. He left, swearing never to return.

But a desperate message from his father brings it all back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again. But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried in Alba that are best left in the dark.

If only he could tell his heart to stay locked away when she whispers she’s always loved him, and always will…

Great and Precious Things is a heart-wrenching story about family, betrayal, and ultimately how far we're willing to go on behalf of those who need us most.

Have you read any of these books?
What book on your TBR do you predict will be a five star read?


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The Sunday Post #193


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's a chance to share news - a post to recap the past week on your blog, 
showcase books and things we have received, and share news about what is
coming up on your blog in the week ahead. You can find the info here:
Sunday Post Meme

  • It's been a pretty uneventful week... thank goodness. Things at the office are back to normal after all the end-of-year and holiday craziness and I'm settling into a routine with the new CEO. (My longtime boss/CEO retired in December and our former CFO took on the CEO role and moved into the executive suite with the other Board members.) We're all still adjusting, I think. 
  • Yesterday we made a run to Trader Joe's and I once again bemoaned the fact that we don't have one closer. In a city this size (large, with almost a million residents) there are only two locations and neither one is particularly close to me. But I love it so it's worth the trip. Any other Trader Joe's lovers? :) 
  • The January Of Books giveaway ended on Friday so congratulations to Sandra for winning the giveaway. She's already chosen her book and should have it soon. Thanks to all who entered!
  • I'm finally remembering to share photos of the sofa table The Husband made us. He saw a similar one online and thought it would be perfect for us to use for charging all our devices (two iPhones, two iPads, one Kindle), thereby getting everything off the dresser in the bedroom or the bar in the kitchen. I'm so proud of him for making it himself and it looks great! My only contribution was choosing the trim on the ends. LOL (Btw, pic was taken before sofa was moved back into place. This isn't how we left it. Haha.)
    
  • Since it's Super Bowl Sunday, here's a list of Book Bub's all-time best football romances. I love seeing Fumbled and All Played Out included! 
  • This week's 80's music fix is Wishing Well from Terence Trent D'Arby. Nothing much to add about this one... it was just a good song with a great groove. :)


WHAT I COMPLETED IN THE LAST WEEK:


The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) - Holly Black

This week was all about The Queen of Nothing. I was reading and listening every chance I got. Even though I'm not sure this one had quite the same level of tension and intrigue as the previous books, I was still 100% invested. There were still twists I didn't see coming, a couple OMG moments, and scenes between Jude and Cardan that I've been waiting two years for. Perfectly happy with the conclusion.

WHAT I'M CURRENTLY READING: 
    

Birthday Girl - Penelope Douglas

In the midst of all my visits to the world of the Fae, I also dove into Birthday Girl, a book that's been on my TBR for well over a year. I'm at about the 90% mark so I'm sure I'll finish it today.


PHYSICAL BOOKS:
Malice - Pintip Dunn

I received a gorgeous hardcover copy of Malice by Pintip Dunn from Entangled this week. I have no idea why because I do not receive PR packages. I can only guess they have me confused with someone else. LOL Either way, it was exciting to receive it and the book sounds super interesting.

KINDLE BOOKS:

Violent Delights (White Monarch #1) - Jessica Hawkins





How was your week? Any new books? Any news to share? 
I'd love to hear about it!
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Review: Heartland by Sarina Bowen

HEARTLAND
Sarina Bowen
Publication date: January 28, 2020
Genres: Adult/New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Series: True North #7
Format: eARC
Source: Author
4.25 Stars








S Y N O P S I S

Dylan is my best friend, and the only person in my life who understands me. He doesn’t mind my social awkwardness or my weird history. The only glitch? He doesn’t know that I’ve been hopelessly, desperately in love with him since the first day we picked apples together in his family’s orchard.

But I know better than to confess.

Now that we’re both in college together, I’m seeing a new side of him. College Dylan drinks and has a lot of sex. None of it with me.

Until the night I foolishly ask him to tutor me in more than algebra…and he actually says yes.
But the cool morning light shows me how badly I’ve endangered our friendship. And I don’t know if anything will be the same again.

M Y   T H O U G H T S

Every new release from Sarina Bowen is cause for celebration. And when it’s an addition to the True North series, centered around the Shipley farming family in Vermont, I get downright giddy. Heartland is Dylan’s story, who (along with his twin sister) is the youngest of the Shipley clan. Now 20 and in college, he struggles with what his future holds. And he buries that uncertainty by living in the moment and having a good time – with plenty of drinks and plenty of girls.

This is all I will ever have – friendship and the ache of wanting more. - Chastity

Chastity fled from the religious cult she was raised in two years ago and was taken in by Leah and Isaac, also former members of the cult and neighbors/friends of the Shipley’s. Starting college as a 21-year-old freshman, Chastity is sometimes overwhelmed but she’s also embracing her freedom, testing her boundaries and learning what she wants for herself. And the biggest thing she wants? Dylan Shipley. Chastity has been in love with her best friend almost since she arrived in Vermont but she knows he’ll never see her beyond anything other than a friend. Until one night during a tutoring session she asks for instruction in more than just algebra.

We fell into kissing the way I once fell off a dock into Lake Champlain. Suddenly and without warning. - Chastity

There was so much to love in Heartland and Dylan and Chastity were at the top of the list. Despite playing the role of the party guy and avoiding his future, and despite being completely obtuse when it came to his feelings for Chastity, Dylan was a sweetheart and totally likable. He loved his family, he was a hard worker, he didn’t play games, and he was a great friend to Chastity. And speaking of Chastity, she was a young woman really coming into her own. I loved that (except when it came to her feelings for Dylan) she was usually willing to stand up for herself and speak her mind. She was brave and had a backbone. She may have been raised in a cult and didn’t enter the “real world” until she was nineteen, but that didn’t mean she was a child or needed coddling. She was learning to form her own opinions and adjusting to the act that she could try new things and forge her own way. I wanted to cheer for Chastity for every hurdle she passed. When their relationship changed, Chastity realized that she may be getting what she wanted, but it also came with a whole new set of uncertainties and insecurities.

Life is full of little moments that don’t matter a whole lot, peppered by a few moments when everything is on the line. – Dylan

There was so much goodness even beyond Dylan and Chastity. The evolving relationship between Dylan and oldest brother Griffin, the chemistry between Chastity and Dylan (scorching hot!), Dylan’s (one-sided) conversations with the goats, Dylan’s friend Rickie (fingers crossed that my guess is right and Rickie will be featured in the next book with Daphne), and so much more. I guess it’s too soon to want the next book, but that doesn’t me from wishing I had it in my hands. Heartland was sweet and hot and swoony, with a perfect mix of humor and heart. If you haven't experienced the True North series, what are you waiting for?

Disclosure: I received a a complimentary copy of this book from the author. This does not impact my opinion of the book or the content of this review. I received no compensation and my review is voluntary.

GET YOUR COPY OF HEARTLAND HERE!

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WWW Wednesday #74 | January 29, 2020


WWW Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words.
Just answer three questions and share what you're reading.


It's 10:30 in the morning and all I can think about is lunch. As Pooh Bear would say, there's a rumbly in my tumbly. So to distract myself from the gnawing hunger (dramatic much, Tanya? 😉) I'll engage in some book talk.


WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

    

 I've been switching back and forth between reading and listening to The Queen of Nothing and I am *loving* it! It was a long wait for this final book and I was so ready to dive back into this world of scheming and plotting and machinations. And the audio version is excellent. Caitlin Kelly's narration is fantastic and the different voices are so distinct. I always know immediately who is speaking and Madoc's and Cardan's voice in particular are just perfection.
Current progress: 58%

On a whim I decided to also start Birthday Girl on Monday but I've made very little headway. I can't seem to tear myself away from The Queen of Nothing and all my reading time is focused there. But I'm enjoying what I've read so far and will be giving it all my attention once I finish TQoN.
Current progress: 10%

WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?
The Family Upstairs was brilliant and was a great reminder of why I love Lisa Jewell. I was so invested in the story and the way the story unfolded, with bits of information parsed out bit by bit, added to the tension and suspense. I can't stop thinking about it and I'm tempted to start all over and listen to the whole thing again.


Heartland was a great entry in the True North series. Dylan was a little thick-headed and slow to come to terms with how he really felt but he was such a likable guy that I forgave him. Chastity was a great protagonist and I appreciated her willingness to (usually) say what was on her mind. And I get the feeling that the next book will feature Dylan's friend Rickie which makes me all kinds of happy. :)



WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'LL READ NEXT?

    


Pretty sure one of these will be next up. I think my emotions will be wrecked no matter which I choose. :)

What are you currently reading?
I wanna know! :)

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