This Week in Reading - July 7

It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:

The Pawful Truth by Miranda James - This is the latest in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series which so far I've been really enjoying. (Publisher)

Heiress Gone Wild by Laura Lee Guhrke - 

Currently:

Reading:  Finishing up Distant Hours by Kate Morton and Ten Years a Nomad by Matthew Kepnes

Listening:  Still listening to Suddenly One Summer by Julie James.  It's taking forever but that's no fault of the book.

Watching:  We haven't watched much though we did see The Secret Lives of Pets 2 in theaters this weekend.  It was pretty cute.

Off the Blog:

Wedding is done!  And here are a few pictures to share.  I had to restrain myself from going super overboard and am limiting to four.  The bottom is a picture of Emma with my grandparents who were absolutely delighted with the whole thing.  The ceremony took place in one side of the double parlor in the home and was gorgeous.  Above that is the wedding party on the steps.  And then there's just a picture I thought was sweet. 

We were very pleased by the venue when we chose it and were impressed above and beyond anything we could have expected.  The food was fantastic and perhaps the most Southern of reception spreads that could be done.   If anyone is looking for kind of a random gorgeous place to be married let me know!  I'm trying to think of other events we can have just so we can rent it again!  They decided to spend a week in Charleston before getting back to regular life.  Emma starts her new job teaching 8th graders at the end of the month.

The rest of us spent the rest of the week being as lazy as humanly possible.  

On the Blog:

What Happened:

Monday:  A Beach Wish - Contemporary Fiction Review
Tuesday:  Top Ten Tuesday - Childhood Favorites
Wednesday:  The Blackbird Season - Reviews from the TBR Shelf
Thursday:  Books from the Backlog - The Tale of Holly How
Friday:  Friday Fives - July Reading
Saturday:  2019 Reading Recap - 2nd Quarter (Halfway Done!)

What's Coming Up:

Monday:  A Family of Strangers - Fiction Review

Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday - Character Freebie

Wednesday: Ten Years a Nomad - Nonfiction Review

Thursday: Books from the Backlog 

Friday: Friday Fives

Saturday: TBD

Have a great week and happy reading!

2019 Reading Recap - 2nd Quarter (Halfway Done!)

So once a quarter I like to revisit the resolutions I made at the end of the year.  Partly for encouragement, partly because there is not much I love than tracking data, and the rest to make sure I didn't forget a resolution which very much happened this time around.  I blame the year itself because somehow it got left on fast forward.  I mean how could we be halfway through all ready???

1.  Read 200 Books in 2019 - I changed this to 150 and I'm currently at 67 so a few books behind but not so far behind I can't catch up.

2.  Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge (here) and the Read Christie 2019 Challenge (here) - I'm doing okay here.  I've made some progress on the Agatha Christie challenge and though I haven't made any on the MMD challenge I feel like I'm still in good shape.  

3.  Read 4 Nonfiction Books - After reading a true crime book back in April and a book of journal entries that was hiding on my TBR for ages my total stands at 3.  I think I can easily read 1 more this year to make this goal.

4.  Read 10 Books I Already Own -I'm doing pretty good here though I don't have the exact count.  This last month I've been doing a lot of rereads and thoroughly enjoying them!

5.  Make Progress On Series I've Enjoyed But Neglected - Read 5 off of this list - I've completely neglected this one this quarter.  Definitely need to catch up!

6.  Read at least half the books this list and this list -  Same as above.  Definitely need to focus here!

7.  Read 4 Classics - or at least books I have deemed classics - I hadn't read any in the first quarter but I made up for it here by listening to Sense and Sensibility and A Study in Scarlet.  Two more and goal completed and I definitely think I can make it!

8.  Try 10 new cookbooks either purchased or from the library. - I've done 3 but have come to a screeching halt.  I just got a couple of new ones from the library that I'm really looking forward to trying so I'm hoping to get back to cooking soon.

 How have you done with your reading goals so far in 2019? 

Friday Fives - July Reading

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  Michelle over at Because Reading is Better Than Real Life   used to do a Five on Fridays that I always enjoyed and I've seen a few other variations on the theme.  As well I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd give start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. Since this is the first Friday in July I'm picking 5 books to read this month.  I've been giving each month a theme and while I had been thinking this month's theme would be "Beach" I'm finding June has left me worn out and way behind.  So this month is all about the comfort reading and catching up.

1.  Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews - I've been wanting to read this one for quite some time and I pulled this to read this summer.  I'd really look to finally get to it.

2.  Meet Me in Atlantis by Mark Adams - I actually started this one back in April but didn't make much progress.  I enjoyed what I read and would like to focus on this one for a bit.

3.  Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie - I've been trying to read an Agatha Christie a month but didn't get around to this one in June.  I always find Christie soothing so this sounds perfect.

4.  Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband and a Bus with a Will of Its Own by Doreen Orion - The subtitle makes me laugh and this sounds like a fun travel-y book to get into this month.

5.  Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George - I loved the first two books in this series and am looking forward to continuing it.  Plus, I intended to read this as my June middle grade and it just didn't happen.

What do you want to read this July?

Books from the Backlog - The Tale of Holly HOw

Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!  This week's book is one I had completely forgotten about until I redid my shelves a month or so ago.  I've had it for literally years and was really looking forward to it when I bought it.  Isn't that always the way.

Goodreads:  The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert

Blurb:  Everyone in Sawrey likes Ben Hornby. So when Beatrix finds the shepherd dead in the meadow and suspects foul play, she wonders who would have done such a thing. A trio of village cats has an idea: When Ben breathed his last, his sheep must have seen his killer before scattering. So they set out to find the far-flung flock. Although she’s distracted by duties at the farm and the sad plight of a young girl, Beatrix must get to the bottom of this. As the stories intertwine, Beatrix and the creatures realize that, to solve this case, all of Sawrey, both the two- and four-legged inhabitants, must work together... 

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf: A cozy mystery solved by Beatrix Potter seems kind of summery and very fun.

The Blackbird Season - Reviews from the TBR Shelf

Goodreads: The Blackbird Season by Kate Morretti

Rating: Somewhere between Good and Just Okay
Source: Library (Audio)

Description:  Where did they come from? Why did they fall? The question would be asked a thousand times....Until, of course, more important questions arose, at which time everyone promptly forgot that a thousand birds fell on the town of Mount Oanoke at all.
In a quiet Pennsylvania town, a thousand dead starlings fall onto a high school baseball field, unleashing a horrifying and unexpected chain of events that will rock the close-knit community.

Beloved baseball coach and teacher Nate Winters and his wife, Alicia, are well respected throughout town. That is until one of the many reporters investigating the bizarre bird phenomenon catches Nate embracing a wayward student, Lucia Hamm, in front of a sleazy motel. Lucia soon buoys the scandal by claiming that she and Nate are engaged in an affair, throwing the town into an uproar...and leaving Alicia to wonder if her husband has a second life.

And when Lucia suddenly disappears, the police have only one suspect: Nate.

Nate's coworker and sole supporter, Bridget Harris, Lucia's creative writing teacher, is determined to prove his innocence. She has Lucia's class journal, and while some of the entries appear particularly damning to Nate's case, others just don't add up. Bridget knows the key to Nate's exoneration and the truth of Lucia's disappearance lie within the walls of the school and in the pages of that journal.

Genre: Mystery (Kind of)

Why I Picked This Book:  I was intrigued by the blurb and I liked that there were multiple narrators for the different POVs

My Impression:  Huh... I'm not sure how I felt about this one.  Part of the problem were expectations.  I was expecting a mystery style thriller with an unreliable narrator or two.  However, there really wasn't much of an investigation and really not much actually happens.  The bulk of the book is centered around secrets and rumors that are floating around a small Pennsylvania town.  None of them are good and range from harmful to life destroying.

The characters aren't particularly likeable though I could sympathize with Alicia.  She married the golden boy and expected a fairy tale life and it didn't come to be.  Their son shows signs of being on the Austism Spectrum fairly early and from then on Alicia's life focuses completely on her son to the exclusion of her husband.  It's a dynamic that I think happens pretty regularly in families with young children.   Bridget seems very nice but kind of one dimensional and Nate is the type of guy that wants to be everyone's friend even if it isn't the best decision.

I was a bit frustrated as it felt like the serious topics - bullying, sexual assault and even the murder - were handled quickly or brushed aside while so much page time was devoted to who is saying what and how everyone feels.  As well I was frustrated by the date jumping. I had a hard time keeping up with the timeline though part of the problem may have been that I was listening to the audio which made it impossible to really go back and check dates.

This wasn't my favorite listen.  I did enjoy the narration by Cassandra Campbell, Gibson Frazier, Joy Ozmanski, and Rebekah Ross and I love when different POVs are handled by different narrators.  However, between the issue with the dates, the lack of investigation structure, and the rushed dealings of the serious subjects I was a bit frustrated with the book itself.  I did find the writing compelling and would give another book by this author a try but it wouldn't be top priority.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  I would though only if the blurb really interested me.

Would I Recommend this Book?  Yes with reservations. This is more about how gossip works and devastates and spreads versus an actual mystery so if you're okay with that you should be fine.

Top Ten Tuesday - Childhood Favorites

Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl which is all about lists.  This week's Top Ten list is about your childhood favorites.  Here are some of my favorite books as a kid - books I read over and over and books (well some of them) that I still own.

1.  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - I read this over and over and I reread it a few years ago and enjoyed it just as much.  The odd thing is that I've never read anything else by Burnett.  I picked up A Little Princess and just never was able to get into it.

2.  The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright - I don't know how I got my copy of this book or how I missed picking up any other Enright books but I adored this one and read it until my copy just about fell apart.  As an adult I've tracked down the rest of her books and I love them all.

3.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - I resisted reading this series but then I saw the movie with Megan Follows and read the whole series in a weekend.  I still reread it periodically. 

4.  Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott - I have very strong emotions (mostly negative) about Little Women but I loved Eight Cousins and reread it countless times.  I did get a copy of the sequel which I should reread.  I read it at around 11 or 12 and didn't like it because of what happened to dashing Charlie. 

5.  Belles on Their Toes by Frank B Gilbreth Jr and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey - I loved Cheaper by the Dozen but the one I reread over and over was the sequel.  I loved seeing the dozen as teenagers and young adults.

6.  The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene - I loved all the Nancy Drew books - the original series, the remakes, the off shoots - just all of them.

7.  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - I reread this a few years ago and was really surprised by how much I liked it as a kid because it is so different from everything else I enjoyed then or really now.  However, it is a wonderful story and now I want to read the rest of the series - which to be honest I didn't know existed until a few years ago!

8.  Mystery Behind the Wall by Gertrude Chandler Warner - I loved the whole Boxcar Children series but this one about a scavenger hunt left by the last resident of the house was my very favorite.

9.  The Ghost at Dawn's House by Ann M. Martin - I loved all of the Babysitter's Club books but this one was my favorite.  It had ghosts, mysteries,and secret passages so how could I not?

10.  The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - This was the only book from the Chronicles of Narnia that I read as a kid.  Unlike a few other books I actually had the whole series but mine was sorted in order printed so this one was followed by Prince Caspian which I never could quite get through.

What were some of your childhood favorites?

A Beach Wish - Contemporary Fiction Review

About A Beach Wish

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 25, 2019)

New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble returns to the beach in her latest summer read about the family we create and the wishes we make that can shape us. Zoe Bascombe has never said no to her family. When she blew her Juilliard audition, she caved to their wishes and went to business school. But when her mother dies and leaves instructions for Zoe to spread her ashes at a place called Wind Chime Beach, she defies her brothers and starts out for a New England town none of them has ever heard of and discovers a side of her garden club mother that her wildest dreams hadn’t imagined. Zoe has another family. Her first instinct is to run home. Instead she is caught in the middle of her feuding new relatives. With one family fighting among themselves and the other not speaking to her, Zoe must somehow find a way to bridge her new life with her old. For the first time in her life, Zoe must make a stand for her family—both of them. If only she can only figure out how. Her answer lies at Wind Chime Beach where for generations people have come to add their chimes to the ones already left among the trees. And when the wind blows and the air fills with music, their secrets, dreams, and hopes are sent into the world. There’s a message for Zoe here—if she has the courage to open her heart.

My Thoughts:  I'm fairly new to Shelley Noble's books but I've been enjoying catching up and this latest one was probably my favorite one yet.  I really liked Zoe.  She wasn't perfect and sometimes her choices puzzled me but I really enjoyed watching her discover the puzzle her mother left her all while discovering what makes her happy.  I won't lie - this plot definitely falls under my favorite things category - and this book definitely didn't disappoint!  I've had a busy few weeks and this was a nice soothing brain vacation.  It was easy to get into the story and easy to connect with the characters and a fun setting that was perfectly beachy and quirky.  This is a great summer read and cements Noble as one of my go-to authors for an enjoyable contemporary fiction read with great characters.  Rating: Very Good  (4 Stars)

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Shelley Noble

Shelley Noble is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Whisper Beachand Beach Colors. Other titles include Stargazey Point, Breakwater Bay, and Forever Beach—a story of foster adoption in New Jersey—and four spin-off novellas. A former professional dancer and choreographer, she lives on the Jersey shore and loves to discover new beaches and indulge her passion for lighthouses and vintage carousels. Shelley is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Find out more about Shelley at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.