The StoryGraph’s Onboarding Reading Challenge (read a book from your StoryGraph recommendations)—Beautiful Demons—Finished 3-10-2023
The StoryGraph Reads the World (Cuba)—Of Women and Salt—Finished 3-12-2023
The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a sapphic romance)—She Who Became the Sun—Finished 3-22-2023
Beat the Backlist 2023 (about dragons or robots)—The Glow of the Dragon’s Heart—Finished 3-22-2023
Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (what is the most common letter in the title of the last book you read for this challenge. Find a book with a title that starts with that letter)—Even the Moon has Scars—Finished 3-23-2023
Scavenger Hunt (the prettiest book in your TBR)—The Watchmaker’s Daughter—Finished 3-23-2023
Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (A book about a vacation)—The Swap—Finished 3-24-2023
2023 TBR Toppler (the first book in a series)—The Last Artifact—Finished 3-26-23
2023 Monthly Themes (March of the Memoirs)—In the Dream House—Finished 3-1-23
2023 Reading Challenge (A book in a series you already started)—Catching Fire—Finished 3-27-23
This meme is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy too!!
Bon Voyage!!
Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.
United States
New Hampshire (Adams)
New York (Haverford, Limerick, Johnstown), Connecticut (Ashford, Canterbury, Bayfield), Pennsylvania (Philidelphia)
Iowa (Iowa City), Pennsylvania (Philidelphia, Allentown), Georgia (Savannah), Indiana (Bloomington), New York (New York City)
Louisiana (New Orleans, Algiers Point, French Quarter, Port Sulphur)
Florida (Key West, Orlando), Georgia (Atlanta)
Georgia (Atlanta, Decatur)
Washington (Oreville)
California (post-apocalyptic Sacramento)
Hawaii (unnamed island)
Washington D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania (Chestertown, Philadelphia), Florida (Miami)
Yours Truly, The Duke is the first novel in the historical romance Say I Do trilogy about dukes needing to wed to tap into their wealth by New York Times bestselling author Amelia Grey.
Fredericka Hale needs a husband, and fast. She’s been caring for her deceased sister’s three young children, and now a childless cousin has petitioned the court for custody. Fredericka is powerless to stop her, but having a husband might sway the ruling. The last thing Fredericka wants is a hurried-up marriage to a man she doesn’t know—much less love, but she’ll do it for the children. So when the handsome Duke of Wyatthaven shows up with a proposal, she accepts. He’ll help her, and in return, they’ll lead separate lives. But distance cannot keep them from their powerful attraction.
At the top of his game in London, the Duke of Wyatthaven has no interest in marriage. However, if Wyatt doesn’t marry by week’s end, he’ll lose a sizable inheritance from his grandmother. When Wyatt’s solicitor finds Miss Fredericka Hale, Wyatt considers this little hiccup solved. Miss Hale is lovely, and intelligent. Most importantly, she prefers country life to London, so he’s free to continue his life as usual. But when circumstances force Fredericka and the children to show up at the duke’s door, Wyatt can’t deny he’s always been under her spell. Will the duke give up his bachelor lifestyle and give into the fiery passion growing between them?
First Line:
Bold lettering on the stiff paper in his hands blurred as the Duke of Wyatthaven tried to concentrate on the infuriating matter before him. Proposing marriage.
Yours Truly, The Duke by Amelia Grey
Miss Fredericka Hale needs to get married, and it needs to be fast. Being unmarried, she stands to lose custody of her sister’s three orphaned children to her married cousin. Wyatt, the Duke of Wyatthaven, is the answer to her prayers. Like her, he needs to be married as soon as possible to claim a sizable inheritance left to him by his late grandmother. They planned to marry and never see each other again, a marriage in name only. But the best-laid plans often don’t go their course. When Fredericka’s cousin threatens her, Fredericka does the only thing that comes to mind: go to her husband. But will Wyatt and Fredericka be able to overcome her cousin’s schemes? And will they be able to keep their distant but friendly relationship? Or will they fall in love?
I was super happy seeing that Amelia Grey had another series starting. Historical romances are one of my favorite genres to read. Having read her books previously, I knew what type of romance I would get. So, yes, I was thrilled that this book was out.
Before I get deeper into the review, I want to mention this book’s trigger warnings. They are domestic violence (off-page and alluded to), parental death (off-page and remembered), remembering of abuse by a school teacher, and a custody battle. The most graphic of the trigger warnings is the abuse that Wyatt remembers his schoolmates enduring (the teacher never touched him because of his status). If any of these triggers you, I recommend not reading this book.
Surprisingly, the love story between Fredericka and Wyatt was not the book’s main focus until maybe the last few chapters. Instead, the book focused on the children and who should have custody. I found it fascinating how custody worked back in Regency England. Unmarried women were not considered ideal guardians unless there was a male figure in the picture or said unmarried women had money/a title. But, if another relative (a marriedcouple or an unmarried man) pursued custody, the magistrate gave it to them. Marriage or being a man always trumped the woman. Surprisingly, if titles were involved in the custody dispute, the magistrate always deferred to the person with the higher title. So a marquis challenging a duke would not have a chance in court unless it could be proven that the children were being harmed. So, I understood why Fredericka was wound up so tight for 90% of the book. Those children could be taken away from her because of that, and when Wyatt showed up to propose (out of the blue), it was an answer to her prayers.
I agree with the consensus that Fredericka was too controlling during the book. But, saying that, I understand why (see above). She also dwelled too much on the past. She was insanely jealous of Jane and her sister’s relationship and let it color every interaction. I seriously wanted to grab Fredericka, shake her, and say (in thewords of Elsa): “Let. It. GO!!!”
I thought that Wyatt was the complete opposite of Fredericka. He was too easygoing. At one point, I thought Wyatt would have made a perfect modern-day surfer. He had the Regency “brah” attitude down pat. There was a reason why Wyatt was that way, and when the author revealed why, I wanted to swoop in and hug him. The guilt that he lived with was almost too much for me to read, and the scene with his friend who had the misshapen hand broke my heart.
The children were a massive part of this book, and I loved them. But, they were damaged by the domestic violence they saw and their parents’ deaths. I had tears when the oldest girl yelled at Wyatt not to hit Fredericka and the pain Wyatt had when Fredericka explained why she said that. But they also made me laugh. There is a significant scene with Jane and Fredericka when they walk in on the kids drinking brandy and smoking cheroots (like they saw Wyatt and his friends doing). I know I shouldn’t have, but I laughed. Why? Because it was a typical thing, a kid would do (excluding the smokes and booze). All they wanted was to act like Mr. Lord Duke (as the youngest called him); at the time, it seemed fun.
While Fredericka and Wyatt had sexual tension, the author chose to have them build their relationship. There were a few (well, more than a few) stolen kisses sprinkled throughout the book. I was disturbed that Fredericka could get utterly bamboozled by his kisses. What magic was Wyatt doing with his lips, and where can I find a man like that?
I also liked that this was a clean romance, and when Fredericka and Wyatt finally had sex, it was a fade-to-black scene. Listen, I like explicit sex scenes as much as the next woman, but they get boring (yes, I said it). Sometimes, you must let your imagination do what it does best and imagine things.
The end of Yours Truly, The Duke was cute, but I found certain things unbelievable. I thought havingJaneandFrederickatalk, and the past was laid to rest was not believable. Jane was such a dink to Fredericka throughout the book; people do not change like that.
I would recommend Yours Truly, The Duke, to anyone over 21. There is no language and mild violence. There are also very mild sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warning paragraph.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, NetGalley, and Amelia Grey for allowing me to read and review Yours Truly, The Duke. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoyed reading this review of Yours Truly, The Duke, then you will enjoy these books:
In GREAT SCOT by Suzanne Enoch, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-thirty and well past marriageable age, though, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head.
In CHRISTMAS AT DEWBERRY HOLLOW by Amelia Grey, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love. Certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner. The last thing Isabelle wants is for Gate to take her heart with him when he goes.
In MY MISTLETOE BEAU by Anna Bennett, Miss Eva Tiding is determined to cheer her widowed father with the perfect Christmas gift. Even if it means breaking into the home of the rakish earl who swindled Papa out of his pocket watch and pretending to date the earl for the Christmas season.
First Lines:
Great Scot:
Jane Basil threw the heavy blankets over her head and burrowed deeper beneath the covers.
great scott by suzanne enoch
Christmas at Dewberry Hollow
Who wanted a curmudgeon staying at their inn during Christmastide? Not Isabelle Reed.
Christmas at Dewberry hollow by Amelia grey
My Mistletoe Beau
Miss Eva Tiding’s hands were surprisingly steady, considering she was on the doorstep of London’s most disreputable rogue.
my mistletoe beau by anna bennett
I usually do not review anthologies. It’s not that I don’t like them (I do), but I find it hard to review each story. So, I surprised myself when I downloaded Kissing Under the Mistletoe. I decided to review because, honestly, I figured it was time to step outside my comfort zone (review-wise).
I enjoyed reading Kissing Under the Mistletoe. Each story was well written, with characters that left an impression on me. Plus, they were all Regency romances, which you all know that I love.
Great Scot made me smile. I had read the Wild Wicked Highlanders series, and the MacTaggert boys (and girl) had left me wanting to know what happened to them after the series ended. With this novella, I got that. I was thrilled that Jane could get her HEA with Brennan (eventhough it was Instalove). But what interested me more was the dynamics between Jane and the rest of the MacTaggert women. Because of Jane’s role in Amelia-Rose and Niall’s romance, I understood why she was hesitant to become close to Lady MacTaggert and the other women. But, as the saying says, it takes a village (this time all the MacTaggert women), and that village drew Jane out of her shell. In return, her blossoming caught Brennan’s eye, and that turned into a delightful romance.
Christmas at Dewberry Inn was another one that made me smile. I will admit, I was not too fond of Isabelle at first. She was rude to Gate right from the beginning. But, she grew on me, and when it was explained why she acted the way she did, I felt terrible for her. Again, this is another Instalove situation, but it was adorable how they fell in love. It was just a feel-good romance from the beginning to the end.
My Mistletoe Beau had me laughing right from the beginning. All Eva wanted to do was get her Papa’s watch from Jack’s possession. See, Jack hates her father and wants to hurt him any way he can. If that means winning his watch (which was given to him by Eva’s mother), then he’ll do it. But Eva isn’t one to play fair. She suggests a wager of her own: She pretends to be his fiancee, and she will get the watch by the end of the charade. Of course, you all know how this goes, and they both fail when they fall for each other. This wasn’t quite an Instalove story, but it was a great enemy-to-lovers romance.
The book itself was a quick read. Each story was only about 8-10 chapters long. Perfect length for an anthology!!
The sex scenes in each story were hot with significant buildup. I will admit that My MistletoeBeau was exceptional in that department. Eva and Jack’s chemistry and sexual attraction were through the roof. And when they had sex, it was incredible!!
I would recommend Kissing Under the Mistletoe for anyone over the age of 21. There is mild language, mild violence, and sex/sexual situations.
I can’t believe that it is already October. The month of September flew by!! I didn’t do that great reading and I am behind on almost every reading challenge that I’ve entered. I figure that I’ll try again in 2022 to do the challenges and read more.
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Personal:
Miss B
As I mentioned last week, Miss B is getting her wisdom teeth removed next week. She is a combination of nervous/excited about it. What I didn’t mention in the post from last week is that we have to pay out of pocket for the surgery. Not going to say how much but it is sizable. I was a little pissed about that because hello, insurance. But, since her teeth are not impacted, insurance doesn’t cover the extraction or the anesthetic. BK says I shouldn’t be grumpy about it but why do we have insurance if all its good for is covering cleanings?
Miss B is getting my current laptop next month. Why, you ask? Well, she dumped soda on her laptop and it shorted out (this is on top of her Windexing her keys a couple of months back). So, after talking to BK, I went to Dell, got approved for financing, and ordered myself a new gaming desktop. The tower will not be here until the end of October, so she has to wait until then. She also learned a valuable lesson about drinks and laptops. With this laptop, she’s getting a stand, so at least I don’t have to worry about her spilling her drink on it (knock on wood).
She is doing well in school. She is running a booth at lunch for Beta Club on Friday (talking tofreshman and sophmores). She also earned her fatigues in ROTC and should be getting them within the next couple of weeks.
Mr. Z
Mr. Z is having some issues adjusting to being back in school. Not behaviour wise but academically. He decided that his Math 1 teacher’s way of having them turn in homework is stupid and is refusing to do it. I know I mentioned this last week and I thought I had nipped it in the bud. Nope, he is still refusing to do it. I talked to him again last night about it and told him, again, that if he can’t turn his homework in, then he’s grounded. He didn’t like it and pushed back saying “Well Miss Blank’s way of doing it is stupid and takes up too much time.” While I agree, I told him he had to follow her rules.
Other than that, he’s doing pretty well. He is into anime (Seven Deadly Sins is his favorite), Minecraft, and Worldbox.
Miss R
Miss R hurt herself over the weekend. She was attempting to do a headstand on my bed, fell, and pulled a muscle in her neck/upper back. She refuses to take pills (any sort of pills) so managing her pain was interesting. I ended cutting up an Ibuprofen into tiny pieces and had her take them individually.
She is doing very well in school. Her school work (sent home every Tuesday) are all S+’s and 100s. She did get 3 wrong on last week’s spelling test but they were words she had problems with. She got her 3 week progress report home and it was blank. I got a laugh out of that and she told me everyone in her class had blank papers. The teacher had an issue printing them. I figure if anything was wrong, the teacher would let me know.
Skittles, Snickers, Loki, Jesper, and Tincan
The girls are still not liking that the kittens are in the house and they do not hesitate to put the boys in their place. Mainly by smacking them on the head and hissing at them. You would think that the boys would leave them alone but nope, they don’t learn…smh.
Who is Tincan? Well, he is the stray kitten that I feed on my back porch. My girls have named him Tincan because he is the color of one. I am working on getting him close to me. He will now hide behind one of my pots and watch me put out his food and water. I want to get him used to me so I can get him to the vet (for vaccines and hopefully to get neutered). I strongly believe that he is Jesper and Loki’s brother and if that’s the case, then he was handled as a baby and he isn’t 100% feral.
Me
Nothing has really changed from last week. I am almost to the end of season 2 in Cold Case. I watched an episode last night where I bawled. It took place in 1963 and it covered racism. There is a very graphic lynching scene at the end of the episode that shook me. The episode I am watching now is centered around The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It took me a few minutes to realize who the serial killer was and I got a little laugh over that.
I am still playing ESO. I am in Western Skyrim, trying to beat a coven and bad vampires….lol. And yes, it is as fun as it sounds.
Reading
I read 2 books since last week. I have been super busy this week (with BK being gone) and have been exhausted at night. I am hoping to read some of the book I am currently reading tonight.
What I Recently Finished Reading:
In GREAT SCOT by Suzanne Enoch, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-thirty and well past marriageable age, though, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head.
In CHRISTMAS AT DEWBERRY HOLLOW by Amelia Grey, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love. Certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner. The last thing Isabelle wants is for Gate to take her heart with him when he goes.
In MY MISTLETOE BEAU by Anna Bennett, Miss Eva Tiding is determined to cheer her widowed father with the perfect Christmas gift. Even if it means breaking into the home of the rakish earl who swindled Papa out of his pocket watch and pretending to date the earl for the Christmas season.
What I am currently reading:
A glamorous birthday dinner in the Hollywood Hills ends with the famous host dead and every guest under suspicion in this dark, cinematic suspense debut reminiscent of an Agatha Christie page-turner crossed with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.
When actress Elspeth Bell attends the fiftieth birthday party of her ex-husband Richard Bryant, the Hollywood director who launched her career, all she wants is to pass unnoticed through the glamorous crowd in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion. Instead, there are just seven other guests–and Richard’s pet octopus, Persephone, watching over them from her tank as the intimate party grows more surreal (and rowdy) by the hour. Come morning, Richard is dead–and all of the guests are suspects.
In the weeks that follow, each of the guests come under suspicion: the school friend, the studio producer, the actress, the actor, the new partner, the manager, the cinematographer, and even Elspeth herself. What starts out as a locked-room mystery soon reveals itself to be much more complicated, as dark stories from Richard’s past surface, colliding with Elspeth’s memories of their marriage that she vowed never to revisit. Elspeth begins to wonder not just who killed Richard, but why these eight guests were invited, and what sort of man would desire to possess a creature as mysterious and unsettling as Persephone.
The Last Guest is a stylish exploration of power–the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another.
What books I think I’ll read next:
A paranormal romantic comedy at the (possible) end of the world.
All Callie wanted was a quiet weekend with her best friend. She promised her mom she could handle running her family’s escape room business while her mom is out of town. Instead a Satanic cult shows up, claiming that the prop spell book in one of the rooms is the real deal, and they need it to summon the right hand of the devil. Naturally they take Callie and her friend, Mag, along with them. But when the summoning reveals a handsome demon in a leather jacket named Luke who offers to help Callie stop the cult from destroying the world, her night goes from weird to completely strange.
As the group tries to stay one step ahead of the cult, Callie finds herself drawn to the annoying (and annoyingly handsome) Luke. But what Callie doesn’t know is that Luke is none other than Luke Morningstar, Prince of Hell and son of the Devil himself. Callie never had time for love, and with the apocalypse coming closer, is there room for romance when all hell’s about to break loose?
From New York Times bestselling author Gwenda Bond, Not Your Average Hot Guy is a hilarious romantic comedy about two people falling in love, while the fate of the world rests on their shoulders.
A promise to stay together. An unbreakable bond. A fierce will to survive.
From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.
When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father – that they will stay together, no matter what.
Years later, at just 15 years old, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Cibi, only 19 herself, remembers their promise and follows Livia, determined to protect her sister, or die with her.
In their hometown in Slovakia, 17-year-old Magda hides, desperate to evade the barbaric Nazi forces. But it is not long before she is captured and condemned to Auschwitz.
In the horror of the death camp, these three beautiful sisters are reunited. Though traumatised by their experiences, they are together.
They make another promise: that they will live. Their fight for survival takes them from the hell of Auschwitz, to a death march across war-torn Europe and eventually home to Slovakia, now under iron Communist rule. Determined to begin again, they embark on a voyage of renewal, to the new Jewish homeland, Israel.
Rich in vivid detail, and beautifully told, Three Sisters will break your heart, but leave you amazed and uplifted by the courage and fierce love of three sisters, whose promise to each other kept them alive. Two of the sisters are in Israel today, surrounded by family and friends. They have chosen Heather Morris to reimagine their story in her astonishing new novel, Three Sisters.
A young woman takes a job as a nanny for an impossibly wealthy family, thinking she’s found her entre into a better life–only to discover instead she’s walked into a world of deception and dark secrets.
Nanny needed. Discretion is of the utmost importance. Special conditions apply.
When Sarah Larsen finds the notice, posted on creamy card stock in her building’s lobby, one glance at the exclusive address tells her she’s found her ticket out of a dead-end job–and life.
At the interview, the job seems like a dream come true: a glamorous penthouse apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC; a salary that adds several zeroes to her current income; the beautiful, worldly mother of her charge, who feels more like a friend than a potential boss. She’s overjoyed when they offer her the position and signs the NDA without a second thought.
In retrospect, the notice in her lobby was less an engraved invitation than a waving red flag. For there is something very strange about the Bird family. Why does the beautiful Mrs. Bird never leave the apartment alone? And what happened to the nanny before her? It soon becomes clear that the Birds’ odd behaviors are more than the eccentricities of the wealthy.
But by then it’s too late for Sarah to seek help. After all, discretion is of the utmost importance.
It’s not every day an obscure orphan girl becomes a fae queen.
Crysta and her companions have found the diadem and stone, but just when it looks like the tide has finally shifted in their favor, Crysta is sucked into Terise’s sleeping curse with no way of escape and nowhere to hide from Titania’s ruthless attacks.
And now she is permanently bonded…to the wrong fated mate.
Jareth is not only heartbroken at the loss of his fated mate bond, his mating frenzy is in overdrive, preventing him from functioning. He and Kheelan must overcome their differences if they hope to free Crysta, but they are faced with more setbacks as Titania takes faerie captives by the hundreds, building her army and growing her powers.
And the diadem, the key to Moridan and Titania’s undoing?
Tainted by Titania’s curse.
But a cursed relic isn’t the only surprise the wicked queen has in store for Crysta. The battle for control over the minds and hearts of the fae is one Titania intends to win by any means necessary.
Can Crysta and Jareth unite the Unseelie and Seelie Courts before Titania and Moridan destroy the Fae Realm?
Lyrical and haunting, Hannah Capin’s I Am Margaret Moore is a paranormal thriller that tests the hold of sisterhood and truth.
I am a girl. I am a monster, too.
Each summer the girls of Deck Five come back to Marshall Naval School. They sail on jewel-blue waters; they march on green drill-fields; they earn sunburns and honors. They push until they break apart and heal again, stronger.
Each summer Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen come back to the place where they are girls, safe away from the world: sisters bound by something more than blood.
But this summer everything has changed. Girls are missing and a boy is dead. It’s because of Margaret Moore, the boys say. It’s because of what happened that night in the storm.
Margaret’s friends vanish one by one, swallowed up into the lies she has told about what happened between her and a boy with the world at his feet. Can she unravel the secrets of this summer and last, or will she be pulled under by the place she once called home?
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Personal:
Miss B is getting her wisdom teeth removed in a couple of weeks. She had the appointment with the oral surgeon earlier today (which is why this post is late). She is nervous but I think she is more nervous about taking the Valium than the surgery (go figure).
Mr. Z had a bumpy week at school last. He was caught not turning any of his math work/homework in, which resulted with him having a grade of 40 (F). Whelp, momma got involved and he turned everything in. That bumped his grade up to a 90 and he was told not to do it again or he would lose his phone/computer.
Miss R is doing good. She did get caught lying to me about her spelling words. But, a quick message to the teacher cleared everything up. When I asked her why she would lie about them, she told me “I don’t need to do them and they’re stupid.” She had library today and brought home The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and What a Day It Was at School by Jack Prelutsky.
The kittens had their vet appointment today. Jesper weighs 7lbs and Loki weighs 6lbs. The vet also told me that they are older than what we thought. They are 5 months old (we figured 4 months). I got the go ahead to make the appointment through our local Humane Society to neuter them also.
Blog
Another week of not doing anything on the blog. But, in my defense, I did have a lot going on since last Wednesday. I am planning on updating posts this coming week.
Reading
I am out of my reading slump. I have read 4 books (almost 5 but I was exhausted last night and crashed) since last Wednesday. I have written zero reviews. When BK is home, I cannot sit and write reviews. He is very distracting….lol.
Watching/Playing
I am almost done with Season 2 of Cold Case. BK and I have also been watching Head and Miracle Workers (very funny) on HBO Max. The kids and I watched the live action Cinderella on Saturday (loved it btw).
I am still playing ESO. Right now, I am questing/leveling in Blackwood. Not sure where I am going to go from there.
What I Recently Finished Reading:
This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…
You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.
In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…
What I am currently reading:
In GREAT SCOT by Suzanne Enoch, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-thirty and well past marriageable age, though, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head.
In CHRISTMAS AT DEWBERRY HOLLOW by Amelia Grey, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love. Certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner. The last thing Isabelle wants is for Gate to take her heart with him when he goes.
In MY MISTLETOE BEAU by Anna Bennett, Miss Eva Tiding is determined to cheer her widowed father with the perfect Christmas gift. Even if it means breaking into the home of the rakish earl who swindled Papa out of his pocket watch and pretending to date the earl for the Christmas season.
What books I think I’ll read next:
A paranormal romantic comedy at the (possible) end of the world.
All Callie wanted was a quiet weekend with her best friend. She promised her mom she could handle running her family’s escape room business while her mom is out of town. Instead a Satanic cult shows up, claiming that the prop spell book in one of the rooms is the real deal, and they need it to summon the right hand of the devil. Naturally they take Callie and her friend, Mag, along with them. But when the summoning reveals a handsome demon in a leather jacket named Luke who offers to help Callie stop the cult from destroying the world, her night goes from weird to completely strange.
As the group tries to stay one step ahead of the cult, Callie finds herself drawn to the annoying (and annoyingly handsome) Luke. But what Callie doesn’t know is that Luke is none other than Luke Morningstar, Prince of Hell and son of the Devil himself. Callie never had time for love, and with the apocalypse coming closer, is there room for romance when all hell’s about to break loose?
From New York Times bestselling author Gwenda Bond, Not Your Average Hot Guy is a hilarious romantic comedy about two people falling in love, while the fate of the world rests on their shoulders.
A promise to stay together. An unbreakable bond. A fierce will to survive.
From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.
When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father – that they will stay together, no matter what.
Years later, at just 15 years old, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Cibi, only 19 herself, remembers their promise and follows Livia, determined to protect her sister, or die with her.
In their hometown in Slovakia, 17-year-old Magda hides, desperate to evade the barbaric Nazi forces. But it is not long before she is captured and condemned to Auschwitz.
In the horror of the death camp, these three beautiful sisters are reunited. Though traumatised by their experiences, they are together.
They make another promise: that they will live. Their fight for survival takes them from the hell of Auschwitz, to a death march across war-torn Europe and eventually home to Slovakia, now under iron Communist rule. Determined to begin again, they embark on a voyage of renewal, to the new Jewish homeland, Israel.
Rich in vivid detail, and beautifully told, Three Sisters will break your heart, but leave you amazed and uplifted by the courage and fierce love of three sisters, whose promise to each other kept them alive. Two of the sisters are in Israel today, surrounded by family and friends. They have chosen Heather Morris to reimagine their story in her astonishing new novel, Three Sisters.
A young woman takes a job as a nanny for an impossibly wealthy family, thinking she’s found her entre into a better life–only to discover instead she’s walked into a world of deception and dark secrets.
Nanny needed. Discretion is of the utmost importance. Special conditions apply.
When Sarah Larsen finds the notice, posted on creamy card stock in her building’s lobby, one glance at the exclusive address tells her she’s found her ticket out of a dead-end job–and life.
At the interview, the job seems like a dream come true: a glamorous penthouse apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC; a salary that adds several zeroes to her current income; the beautiful, worldly mother of her charge, who feels more like a friend than a potential boss. She’s overjoyed when they offer her the position and signs the NDA without a second thought.
In retrospect, the notice in her lobby was less an engraved invitation than a waving red flag. For there is something very strange about the Bird family. Why does the beautiful Mrs. Bird never leave the apartment alone? And what happened to the nanny before her? It soon becomes clear that the Birds’ odd behaviors are more than the eccentricities of the wealthy.
But by then it’s too late for Sarah to seek help. After all, discretion is of the utmost importance.
It’s not every day an obscure orphan girl becomes a fae queen.
Crysta and her companions have found the diadem and stone, but just when it looks like the tide has finally shifted in their favor, Crysta is sucked into Terise’s sleeping curse with no way of escape and nowhere to hide from Titania’s ruthless attacks.
And now she is permanently bonded…to the wrong fated mate.
Jareth is not only heartbroken at the loss of his fated mate bond, his mating frenzy is in overdrive, preventing him from functioning. He and Kheelan must overcome their differences if they hope to free Crysta, but they are faced with more setbacks as Titania takes faerie captives by the hundreds, building her army and growing her powers.
And the diadem, the key to Moridan and Titania’s undoing?
Tainted by Titania’s curse.
But a cursed relic isn’t the only surprise the wicked queen has in store for Crysta. The battle for control over the minds and hearts of the fae is one Titania intends to win by any means necessary.
Lyrical and haunting, Hannah Capin’s I Am Margaret Moore is a paranormal thriller that tests the hold of sisterhood and truth.
I am a girl. I am a monster, too.
Each summer the girls of Deck Five come back to Marshall Naval School. They sail on jewel-blue waters; they march on green drill-fields; they earn sunburns and honors. They push until they break apart and heal again, stronger.
Each summer Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen come back to the place where they are girls, safe away from the world: sisters bound by something more than blood.
But this summer everything has changed. Girls are missing and a boy is dead. It’s because of Margaret Moore, the boys say. It’s because of what happened that night in the storm.
Margaret’s friends vanish one by one, swallowed up into the lies she has told about what happened between her and a boy with the world at his feet. Can she unravel the secrets of this summer and last, or will she be pulled under by the place she once called home?
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.
Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-litfocus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.
What I am Reading Now:
This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…
You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.
In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…
What I plan on reading this week:
In GREAT SCOT by Suzanne Enoch, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-thirty and well past marriageable age, though, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head.
In CHRISTMAS AT DEWBERRY HOLLOW by Amelia Grey, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love. Certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner. The last thing Isabelle wants is for Gate to take her heart with him when he goes.
In MY MISTLETOE BEAU by Anna Bennett, Miss Eva Tiding is determined to cheer her widowed father with the perfect Christmas gift. Even if it means breaking into the home of the rakish earl who swindled Papa out of his pocket watch and pretending to date the earl for the Christmas season.
A glamorous birthday dinner in the Hollywood Hills ends with the famous host dead and every guest under suspicion in this dark, cinematic suspense debut reminiscent of an Agatha Christie page-turner crossed with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.
When actress Elspeth Bell attends the fiftieth birthday party of her ex-husband Richard Bryant, the Hollywood director who launched her career, all she wants is to pass unnoticed through the glamorous crowd in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion. Instead, there are just seven other guests–and Richard’s pet octopus, Persephone, watching over them from her tank as the intimate party grows more surreal (and rowdy) by the hour. Come morning, Richard is dead–and all of the guests are suspects.
In the weeks that follow, each of the guests come under suspicion: the school friend, the studio producer, the actress, the actor, the new partner, the manager, the cinematographer, and even Elspeth herself. What starts out as a locked-room mystery soon reveals itself to be much more complicated, as dark stories from Richard’s past surface, colliding with Elspeth’s memories of their marriage that she vowed never to revisit. Elspeth begins to wonder not just who killed Richard, but why these eight guests were invited, and what sort of man would desire to possess a creature as mysterious and unsettling as Persephone.
The Last Guest is a stylish exploration of power–the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another.
