Saturday, April 7, 2018

The Ringmaster's Wife by Kristy Cambron

This was the first time I read anything by Kristy Cambron and she did not disappoint. Although, I am not a fan of the circus, I would highly recommend this book. It is beautifully written and told from the perspective of two female characters from different times that range from the late 1800′s to the 1920′s. The characters, both historical and fictional are well developed and likable.  I did not want this book to end! 
Synopsis
In turn-of-the-century America, a young girl dreams of a world that stretches beyond the confines of a quiet life on the family farm. With little more than her wit and a cigar box of treasures to call her own, Mable steps away from all she knows, seeking the limitless marvels of the Chicago World’s Fair. There, a chance encounter triggers her destiny—a life with a famed showman by the name of John Ringling.
A quarter of a century later, Lady Rosamund Easling of Yorkshire, England, boards a ship to America as a last adventure before her life is planned out for her. There, the twenties are roaring, and the rich and famous gather at opulent, Gatsby-esque parties in the grandest ballrooms the country has to offer. The Jazz Age has arrived, and with it, the golden era of the American circus, whose queen is none other than the enigmatic Mable Ringling.
When Rosamund’s path crosses with Mable’s and the Ringlings’ glittering world, she makes the life-altering decision to leave behind a comfortable future of estates and propriety, instead choosing the nomadic life of a trick rider in the Ringling Brothers’ circus.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Song Sunday - Leave your Pretty to Me

Leave Your Pretty to Me by Semi Precious Weapons (2010)



Sunday, March 18, 2012

Recent Reads

A Discovery of Witches
By: Deborah Harkenss

I LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. I had no idea this book was going to be a trilogy. The second book, Shadow of Night comes out July 10th.


SYNOPSIS

In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting story of magic and suspense.

Thirteen Reasons Why
By: Jay Asher


SYNOPSIS

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Groundswell
By: Katie Lee


SYNOPSIS

A young screenwriter marries a world-famous actor many years her senior and adjusts to the dream life that comes with being the wife of a star…

Until her whole world turns upside down when she catches her husband cheating. After filing for divorce, she’s left to pick up the pieces of her life and embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes her to the west coast of Mexico. There she finds the healing power of surfing—and love—through a gorgeous California-born surf instructor and cures herself of the writer’s block that has been holding her back in her career. Tensions rise when she is drawn back into her ex-husband’s web and is forced to choose between the idyllic, simple life she’s found in Mexico, and the fast-paced, success-driven world of Hollywood that she left behind.

My Name is Memory
By: Ann Brashares


SYNOPSIS

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. For all the times that he and Sophia have been connected throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart.

But just when Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally awakens to the secret of their shared past, the mysterious force that has always separated them reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

These Things Hidden
By: Heather Gudenkauf


SYNOPSIS

When teenager Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever. Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child. Her former friends exult her downfall. Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school. It's Brynn—shy, quiet Brynn—who carries the burden of what really happened that night. All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her.

But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister.

Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. And if the truth is revealed, the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Recent Reads

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks


Nicholas Sparks' books are always an easy and enjoyable read. The Best of Me isn't one of my favorites and the ending was predictable, but was never bored reading it.

SYNOPSIS

In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.
Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew — about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear — was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?

The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White


Karen White is one of my favorite authors. I have read seven of her books and have loved every single one. The Strangers on Montagu Street is the third book in her Tradd Street Series (The House on Tradd Street, The Girl on Legare Street, The Strangers on Montagu Street). The series is a MUST read.

SYNOPSIS

Psychic realtor Melanie Middleton is still restoring her Charleston house and doesn't expect to have a new houseguest, a teen girl named Nola. But the girl didn't come alone, and the spirits that accompanied Nola don't seem willing to leave...

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen


I really enjoyed this book. I was never bored reading it but I wish there was more written to the story. It's almost as if the author took sections out of the book in the final draft. It left me wanting to read more of the story. Not really sure why...

SYNOPSIS

Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Augustana - Steal Your Heart

Love this song right now...even though it's been out for months.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Wildflower Hill

Wildflower Hill
By: Kimberley Freeman

SYNOPSIS


Emma, a prima ballerina in London, is at a crossroads after an injured knee ruins her career. Forced to rest and take stock of her life, she finds that she’s mistaken fame and achievement for love and fulfillment. Returning home to Australia, she learns of her grandmother Beattie’s death and a strange inheritance: a sheep station in isolated rural Australia. Certain she has been saddled with an irritating burden, Emma prepares to leave for Wildflower Hill to sell the estate.
Beattie also found herself at a crossroads as a young woman, but she was pregnant and unwed. She eventually found success—but only after following an unconventional path that was often dangerous and heartbreaking. Beattie knew the lessons she learned in life would be important to Emma one day, and she wanted to make sure Emma’s heart remained open to love, no matter what life brought. She knew the magic of the Australian wilderness would show Emma the way.
Wildflower Hill is a compelling, atmospheric, and romantic novel about taking risks, starting again, and believing in yourself. It’s about finding out what you really want and discovering that the answer might be not at all what you’d expect.