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 organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. Hosted at The Book Date.
READ THIS PAST WEEK
blog tour book
blog tour book
blog tour book
blog tour book
CURRENTLY READING
MAY READ NEXT
What have you been reading this past week and what’s up next on your reading list?
Happy week ahead to you. We are forecast for more rainy days ahead.
320 pages Bethany House publishers Sep 24,2024 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Beyond the perilous landscape lies a love that defies extinction. . . .
In the bustling world of paleontology in 1916, Eliza Mills defies societal expectations to pursue her passion. Having published her early groundbreaking papers under a false name, she has finally earned her place at the Carnegie Museum and seizes the opportunity to work at Dinosaur National Monument with a renowned paleontologist. But things in Jensen, Utah, aren’t what they appear. When Eliza gets the chance to dig up bones at a ranch with a dark history, it sparks a chain of events that will rock the very fabric of her carefully constructed world.
Devin Schmitt, Eliza’s closest friend since childhood, harbors unspoken feelings for her but knows he will never be able to win her heart. Just as he vows to give her up for good, Eliza begs him to visit her in Utah for another grand adventure. He reluctantly agrees, and within a few days of his arrival, he and Eliza find themselves entangled in a web of danger where the stakes are much higher than they ever anticipated. Together, Devin and Eliza must hold on to God as their hope as they navigate a treacherous terrain of betrayal to unbury the truth and save Eliza from those who wish to see her fail.
I am sorry to see this series end, but I enjoyed it so much and learned a lot from it. Being from the Pittsburgh, PA area I am familiar with Carnegie libraries and museum and the many other things that he had a hand in developing.
Our main female character had an unusual interest for the time period, as a paleontologist in 1916, she is used to being discriminated against. With what many think of as an unusual interest for women. This way of thinking only makes her work harder to prove herself. As with today, people also are under the mistaken assumption if you’re a woman of science you cannot have a faith belief.
When she is sent on a dig at the Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Uta she is thrilled to have a chance to work with a paleontologist she admires and hopes to learn even more. As dark secrets come to light at the very ranch where the dig is taking place will all her hard work crumble to dust and blow away in the wind?
Feeling lonely she is thrilled to see her childhood best friend, Devin Schmitt has listened to her pleas and come for a visit. Together they are thrown into a dangerous living and working environment, someone doesn’t want them there or things to change.
Is this the time or place for Devin to act upon his feelings for Eliza Mills, though he wants to spend a lifetime of happiness with her. I enjoyed seeing the character development and learning of women of science and paleontology through this series.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Kimberley Woodhouse is the best-selling and award-winning author of more than two dozen books. She is a wife, mother, author, and musician with a quick wit and positive outlook despite difficult circumstances. A popular speaker, she’s shared at more than 2,000 venues across the country. Kimberley and her family’s story have garnered national media attention for many years including ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Montel Williams Show, Discovery Health channel’s Mystery ER, The Hour of Power, The Harvest Show, and over 1,000 other TV appearances and radio interviews. She lives and writes in the Poconos with her husband of thirty years. kimberleywoodhouse.com
Thanks for the heads-up nudge, Heidi. Life can get pretty busy, but I do enjoy doing this one. So glad you’re enjoying it.
Happy Friday & welcome to the First Line Friday hosted at Reading is my Super Power ! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Today I’m delighted to feature the first line of Count the Night by Stars by Michelle Shocklee. Now this is the same author I featured last week with her book Appalachian Song which is a book I have read and loved. The one I am featuring today I have not read but hope to very soon, enjoy.
FIRST LINE(S)
May 29,1897
My darling,
No one could accuse Luca Moretti of being a coward. I thought you brash and arrogant that day I saw you in the lobby of the Maxwell House Hotel. You stood taller than all the other men in their tailored suits, not caring that the elbows of your coat were worn or that one of the brass buttons was missing. Instead, you kept your shoulders back and your gaze steady, even when the mean treated you as though they bettered you somehow. I’d never seen that kind of boldness before, and it intrigued me.
414 pages Tyndale Fiction March 22, 2022 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Count your nights by stars, not shadows. Count your life with smiles, not tears. 1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious “Peaches” and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier.
1897. Outspoken and forward-thinking Priscilla Nichols isn’t willing to settle for just any man. She’s still holding out hope for love when she meets Luca Moretti on the eve of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Charmed by the Italian immigrant’s boldness, Priscilla spends time exploring the wonderous sights of the expo with Luca—until a darkness overshadows the monthslong event. Haunted by a terrible truth, Priscilla and Luca are sent down separate paths as the night’s stars fade into dawn.
I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend. Thank you for stopping in today.
The Paris Daughter: An absolutely unforgettable page-turner full of family secrets (The Lost Daughters)
Paris, 1939: Gazing out at the glittering skyline, Evelina clutches the letter from her love in shaking hands. “I know I do not deserve you, my darling, but I pray that you will change your mind. You have my heart, and I hope that nothing will keep us apart…”
London, present day. Blake gazes down at a scrap of shimmering silver velvet attached to a faded dress design, tracing the details with wonder. They were left with her grandmother at Hope’s House, a home for unmarried mothers, before she was adopted. Now her beloved grandmother has passed, the beautiful fabric and the designer’s signature are the only clues Blake has about her biological family. Will she be able to unravel the decades-old family secret?
Blake can’t get the intricate drawing, and what it could reveal about her family, out of her head. Armed with a plane ticket, a Paris address and the details of a handsome fashion curator named Henri, Blake is determined to find out the truth about her talented great-grandmother Evelina’s life. Perhaps doing so will help Blake get her old spark for designing back, after her dreams have sat forgotten for so long.
Soon Blake is walking down the Champs-Élysées and enjoying intimate dinners with Henri,who is researching Evelina’s work as one of Paris’ most celebrated designers, whose bold designs rivalled Coco Chanel’s. As Henri and Blake grow closer, they uncover Evelina’s legacy, and her forbidden romance that set the fashion world ablaze.
As Blake discovers the impossible choice that caused Evelina to flee the most romantic city in the world, she wonders if she too could risk everything for love. Could hearing tales of her great-grandmother’s bravery encourage her to take a chance on a new life with Henri? Or will the fallout of Evelina’s heart-wrenching past drive Blake back home?
A completely addictive and emotional novel about family secrets, forbidden love and having the courage to follow your dreams. Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Lucinda Riley and Victoria Hislop.
Written by one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. When she has a new book publishing, I greatly look forward to reading it. The Paris Daughter is the fifth book in the Lost Daughters series, of which I have read all of the books. This is such a beautiful story, told in a time-slip manner.
1939 Paris: Evelina comes from a working background of farmers; it is to be her lot in life to become a farmer’s wife like her mother and grandmother have before her, but she wants something more in life. She has a secret notebook with sketches of stunning evening dresses of the highest fashion. Her dreams are hers and hers alone as she’s not supported in her dreams by her parents so she must leave home. Becoming a well-known fashion designer is an accomplishment she has worked years towards, and it is finally hers.
Modern times London: All women adopted from Hope House a helpful home for unwed mothers is given a box filled with precious mementos from their mother to help the now adult child find their parents if they want to. Blake has her grandmother’s box, and it has items connecting her to a famous fashion designer of some years back. She is desperate to find who this woman is as she travels to the city of love and finds love there herself, unexpectedly. Will being surrounded by high fashion houses and designers bring the spark back into Blake’s life and give her the courage to design again?
Upbeat, romantic, encouraging, a real page turner that I couldn’t put down.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
VISIT OTHER BLOGS ON THE TOUR
MEET THE AUTHOR
Soraya Lane graduated with a law degree before realising that law wasn’t the career for her and that her future was in writing. She is the author of historical and contemporary women’s fiction, including the #1 Kindle bestselling novels The Last Correspondent and The Secrets We Left Behind.
Soraya lives on a small farm in her native New Zealand with her husband, their two young sons and a collection of four legged friends. When she’s not writing, she loves to be outside playing make-believe with her children or snuggled up inside reading.
352 pages Tyndale Fiction October 3, 2023 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Forever within the memories of my heart.
Always remember, you are perfectly loved.
Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.
Thirty years later, the day after his father’s funeral, Walker Wylie is stunned to learn he was adopted as an infant. The famous country singer enlists the help of adoption advocate Reese Chandler in the hopes of learning why he was abandoned by his birth parents. With the only clue he has in hand, Walker and Reese head deep into the Appalachian Mountains to track down Bertie Jenkins, the midwife who holds the secrets to Walker’s past.
MY THOUGHTS
A beautiful historical fiction time-slip novel, taking place in the 1940’s and 1970’s 1940’s: A young woman, little more than a child without the best upbringing wants to show her boyfriend how much she loves him before she moves away from North Carolina to Tennessee. At 14 she’s pregnant, her mother is dead, her father shoots her because of the pregnancy, and she runs away. The Appalachian Mountains are beautiful, wild and a good place to hide in the 1940’s but not for a 14-year-old pregnant teen shot by her father. Midwife Bertie hears her dog making a fuss in the woods and she finds the girl. Bringing the girl inside she and her five sisters live in the cabin her father built for his family of eleven but now all are gone but the five sisters living together that nurse this young girl back to health. As time goes on, she gives birth to a healthy beautiful baby boy, but she can’t stay as her father knows where she is and as she is unmarried and she’s underage he’d bring her and the baby home where she’s not wanted. This beautiful young, frightened girl develops a real affinity for her midwife as she becomes the mother she doesn’t have. The time comes for Songbird to leave, so named for her beautiful, melodious songs she treats the baby to.
1970’s: Thirty years later. A young man experiences the death of his father and learns he’s adopted after that, when his mother tells him. Feeling hurt, confused and bitter. Why didn’t they want him, wasn’t he good enough he wonders. As he explores his adoption records with the help of an adoption advocate, they go back to where it all started tracking down Bertie Jenkins, his mother’s midwife, now long retired. So much has changed in the wild Appalachian Mountains but time has also stood still in many ways. The old cabin Bertie has lived in with her sisters still stands with no electricity as things meander along here at a slower pace. Bertie holds the keys to the questions this man who became a famous singer, Walker Wylie but will she trust this stranger enough to meander back in time to a slower pace and give him the missing pieces to his puzzling questions?
This story is so beautiful so heartbreaking yet so healing and time marches on. I just could not stop reading and shed a tear or three while reading. I really enjoy reading about the olden days of Appalachia. Highly recommended!
MEET THE AUTHOR
Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels, including COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award in Fiction, and UNDER THE TULIP TREE, a Christy Award and Selah Award finalist. As a woman of mixed heritage–her father’s family is Hispanic and her mother’s roots go back to Germany–she has always celebrated diversity and feels it’s important to see the world through the eyes of one another. Learning from the past and changing the future is why she writes historical fiction.
With both her sons grown, Michelle and her husband make their home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about.
Happy Friday & welcome to First Line Friday hosted at Reading is my Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Today I’m delighted to feature the first line of the book I am currently reading, Appalachian Song by Michelle Shocklee.
339 pages Tyndale Fiction publisher October 3, 2023 publication date
Isn’t that a beautiful Fall cover?
ABOUT THE BOOK
Forever within the memories of my heart.
Always remember, you are perfectly loved.
Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.
Thirty years later, the day after his father’s funeral, Walker Wylie is stunned to learn he was adopted as an infant. The famous country singer enlists the help of adoption advocate Reese Chandler in the hopes of learning why he was abandoned by his birth parents. With the only clue he has in hand, Walker and Reese head deep into the Appalachian Mountains to track down Bertie Jenkins, the midwife who holds the secrets to Walker’s past.
For fans of historical and Southern fiction comes a poignant story of love and sacrifice set in the heart of Appalachia, from award-winning author Michelle Shocklee.
FIRST LINE(S)
Appalachian Mountains
North Carolina
Feb 1,1943
My heart thumped hard beneath Mama’s thin coat while I waited for Amos at our secret place. Holes from the chinking in the old trapper’s cabin let in frigid mountain air, with another storm brewing by the looks of heavy gray clouds in the sky, but I couldn’t leave for Tennessee tomorrow without seeing Amos one last time. Tears blurred my vision.
This book is really good so far and I expect that to continue. I’d love to see the first line(s) of a book you’re reading.
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. Hosted at Carole’s Random Life.
This week’s forgotten book is:
The Saints of Swallow Hill
386 pages Kensington Books January 25, 2022 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
It takes courage to save yourself…In the dense pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners labor, hacking into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap that gives the Tar Heel State its nickname, and hauling the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together. Though the work is hard and often dangerous, Rae Lynn, who spent her childhood in an orphanage, is thankful for it–and for her kind if careless husband. When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn undertakes a desperate act of mercy. To keep herself from jail, she disguises herself as a man named “Ray” and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity–a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill. Swallow Hill is no easy haven. The camp is isolated and squalid, and commissary owner Otis Riddle takes out his frustrations on his browbeaten wife, Cornelia. Although Rae Lynn works tirelessly, she becomes a target for Crow, the ever-watchful woods rider who checks each laborer’s tally. Delwood Reese, who’s come to Swallow Hill hoping for his own redemption, offers “Ray” a small measure of protection, and is determined to improve their conditions. As Rae Lynn forges a deeper friendship with both Del and Cornelia, she begins to envision a path out of the camp. But she will have to come to terms with her past, with all its pain and beauty, before she can open herself to a new life and seize the chance to begin again.
I just love this beautiful Fall like cover and the book sounds so good. I really hope to have a chance to get to it soon.
Which book sits neglected on your shelf you’d like to get to soon?
384 pages Bethany House Publishers Sep 3,2024 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Separated by centuries, the lives of two women intertwine through their shared pursuit of love, truth, and justice.
In 1885 London, Lillian Freemont embarks on a treacherous journey to reunite with her long-lost niece, Alice, who was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital eight years ago. Fueled by her sister’s plea and armed with the gold token that identifies her niece, Lillian teams up with investigative reporter Matthew McGivern to expose the grim reality of the shadowed streets of London. As Lillian and Matthew unravel the mystery of Alice’s disappearance, their partnership blossoms into one of shared purpose and undeniable attraction.
In present-day London, Janelle Spencer finds herself unexpectedly running the Foundling Museum. When filmmaker Jonas Conrad arrives to document the museum’s history, their collaboration takes a surprising turn as they uncover articles from the past that shed light on a haunting connection to the present. As Janelle becomes caught between exposing the truth and protecting the museum’s reputation, she must decide if she can risk everything for what she believes.
MY THOUGHTS
This is a dual timeline historical fiction. Split between 1885 and present day. Though a split timeline there are many connecting factors and things that were relevant in the latter time are still very relevant today.
1885 London: The Foundling Hospital is supposed to be a safe house for children of bad circumstances but when young girls are disappearing from there with no records being kept and without a trace there is an investigation. When some of the children are placed in the Foundling Hospital, they are brought in with a golden token identifying them so they can be reclaimed at a later date. As the investigation continues, we get a taste of the seedy underhanded ways some people operate and the dangerous ways of the streets.
2023 London: Now the Foundling Museum, I found this interesting the documentation of the Foundling Hospital and what happened to some of its. As more is uncovered and comes to light it may not show the Foundling Museum in its best light. Now the question is how to keep investigating and not spoil the reputation of the museum.
I enjoyed immensely the research that was put into this as it is based on historical facts. Informative and interesting. Well written!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
CARRIE TURANSKY is the award-winning author of more than twenty inspirational novels and novellas and a winner of the ACFW Carol Award, the International Digital Award, and the Holt Medallion. She loved traveling to England to research her latest Edwardian novels including No Journey Too Far, No Ocean Too Wide, Across the Blue, and The Highland Hall series. Her novels have received stared reviews from Christianbooks.com and Library Journal. They have been translated into several languages and enjoyed by readers around the world. Connect with Carrie on her website: http://carrieturansky.com/, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
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 organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. Hosted at The Book Date.
HERE’S WHAT I’VE READ IN THE PAST WEEK
WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING
READING NEXT
RECENTLY FINISHED WATCHING
CURRENTLY WATCHING
Does anyone have any recommendations for shows similar to the ones above?
Saturday again and that means another Stacking The Shelves post hosted at Reading Reality. This is a post to share which books we’ve received this week, may it be by mail, library, NetGalley, arc from an author, bought, borrowed or some other way of acquiring it.
Once again, we are having rain here in Pennsylvania. Once that lets up, we’ll have cooler more Fall like temperatures here in Pennsylvania. I’ve not done a lot of reading this week as I’ve been doing some deep cleaning of the house now that it’s not so humid. By deep cleaning I mean cleaning walls and wiping down the wood trim. Stuff that you’re more than happy to ignore most of the time.
Anyways, on to my acquired books this past week.
RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY
Maybe it would be better if NetGalley didn’t love me so much? LOL
BOOK MAIL THIS WEEK
And what have you added to your reading stack this week? Thanks for stopping in and have a relaxing day.
Vegan Book Blogger 