Tag: ttt

Top Ten Tuesday-Traveling Through Books

Post author By deanne01
Post date March 28, 2023
15 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-Traveling Through Books

Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

This week’s topic is if you like X let me recommend …………….. to you.

This week If you love to travel, I’m going to recommend some wonderful books you can dream of as you armchair travel.

The Cornish Coast

The English Channel

The Irish Coast

Paducah Kentucky

Vienna

Virginia

Paris

Calcutta, India

Afghanistan

Moscow, Vienna, Washington, DC

I hope this finds you well today. Thank you for stopping in today, it’s been a pleasure. Please leave a comment. Where would you like to travel and have you ever done so through a book?

Tags armchair traveling, Contemporary, historcial fiction, Rom Com, Top ten Tuesday, traveling, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is TTT Rewind, which means you’re invited to scan the list of 641 past topics that have been done over the last 13ish years and pick one you’d like to do! Maybe you missed a fun one that you’d like to write about, or maybe you’d like to write a follow-up or update to one you’ve done previously. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl . I am choosing a topic from April 19, 2021

Top Ten Colorful Book Covers

I’ll admit colorful book covers do draw me towards a book. Here are some colorful book covers on my tbr list still waiting for me to pick them up and give them a read.

Pub Date 03 Oct 2023

ingle all the way to Silver Bells, Wyoming, for the coziest holiday read of the season!

Clumsy, earnest baker Sylvie West has worked at the Christmas Café in Silver Bells, Wyoming, ever since her boozy eggnog fruitcake won the town’s annual holiday bakeoff fifteen years ago. Her forever happy place, the café compliments her sweet, well-ordered life with her roommates: recently-widowed Gramps and her yappy chihuahua-pug Crumpet.

When Sylvie learns the café might be sold, she’s determined to put the Christmas Café on the map in a big way. Good thing the Holiday Channel* is filming in Silver Bells. And how perfect of bra-snatching Crumpet to have forced an awkward encounter with the film’s charming lead actor, Royce. When Gramps and Sylvie make a pact to be brave this Christmas, Sylvie knows just how to stretch her wings and save the Christmas Café in the process: get the film team to set a scene at the café!

Between her newfound acting gig, a booth at the Christmas Festival, an appearance at the Christmas Parade, and a budding romance with Royce, Sylvie has a lot on her plate. Good thing her old friend, gruff yet reliable Abe has just come back home to manage his parents’ goat farm. That is, until she catches herself feeling all too merry and bright in his presence. With a little help from family, friends, Crumpet, and the goat farmer down the way, Sylvie just might make this Christmas the sweetest she’s ever had…

Pub Date 23 May 2023

In this charming installment of the Heart Lake series, a grumpy single dad and a small-town bookseller—who’s secretly an advice columnist—find love when they least expect it.

As chaotic as it can be, Rosie Dean loves her unruly life. But between raising twins alone, running her struggling bookshop, and secretly writing a parenting advice column, the single mom can’t think about dating. At least that’s what she tells herself . . . until her high school crush (and his incredible blue eyes) return to Heart Lake for the summer. Even though Evan has grown into a huge grump, he’s still a super sexy one, and soon sparks begin to fly.

Single dad and widower Evan Mills is used to hearing he’s too serious. But with a grieving tween daughter to raise on his own, the graphic designer is just trying to stay strong for her. He hopes a few weeks at the lake will be the fresh start they both need. Evan never anticipated reconnecting with Rosie, or that she could make him feel whole again—if he’d give her the chance. Will one steamy summer with Rosie be long enough to melt Evan’s heart?

Pub Date 25 Jul 2023

t’s Halloween weekend and Beacon Harbor, Michigan, has a packed schedule of events, including the Pumpkin Pageant, featuring humans and their canine counterparts. For treats, there’s plenty of pumpkin goodness from bakery/café owner and local lighthouse resident Lindsey Bakewell. But someone wants to spoil the fun with a deadly trick . . .

Lindsey prefers to keep her bakeshop’s Halloween decor light and autumnal, rather than gruesome and ghoulish. But everyone knows her lighthouse home is haunted. Some intrepid teens have even tried to break in to witness the resident ghost themselves. Dreading Halloween night, Lindsey reluctantly allows her influencer and podcaster best friend, Kennedy, to host a live ghost-hunting investigation in the lighthouse, conducted by a professional team. Protective of her ghost, Lyndsey is understandably nervous about what they might uncover . . .

The segment is uneventful—until things take a terrifying turn. The team freaks out. As Kennedy joins the mad dash outside, she bumps into what looks like the prankster teens’ creepy clown costume hanging from a tree. But when Lindsey’s dog, Wellington, begins to whine, they make a grim discovery: the clown is no dummy. It’s a corpse.

Now Lindsey and company will need to keep their cool if they want a ghost of a chance to solve the murder—and see another Halloween . . .

Pub Date 01 Apr 2023

In 1944 in war-torn Dubrobvnik Branko Milisic holds his newborn daughter Safranka and wishes her a better future. But while the Nazis are finally retreating, the arrival of the partisans brings new dangers for Branko, his wife Dragica and their new baby…

As older sister to two half-siblings, Fran has always known she has to fit in. But now, for the first time in her life Fran is facing questions about who she is and where she comes from.

All Fran knows about her real father is that he was a hero, and her mother had to flee Dubrovnik after the war. But when she travels to the city of her birth to uncover the truth, she is devastated to discover her father was executed by the partisans in 1944, accused of being a collaborator. But the past isn’t always what it seems…

Pub Date 06 Apr 2023

Welcome back to The Starfish Café for a glorious summer, but with a few dark clouds on the horizon…

This is the final book in The Starfish Café series and is best enjoyed after reading the other two books in the series – Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café and Spring Tides at The Starfish Café.

Pub Date 02 May 2023

A random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects, in this breathtaking new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After.

Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.

At thirty-two, Fern’s life doesn’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern’s back home, running her mother’s lakeside resort—something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend’s the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin.

She needs a plan—a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern’s going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern’s not sure she wants to know what it is.

But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?

Pub Date 30 Apr 2023

Love Heart Lane – where friends are there for you no matter what

When Bea Fernsby discovers her fiancé’s eyes have been wandering, she calls off the wedding and hits the road. The village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands is about as far away from home as she can get, and when she stumbles into the ideal summer job at The Little Blue Boathouse and meets gorgeous vacationer Nolan Hemingway, things finally start looking up.

Now, as an old mystery surfaces and Bea and Nolan band together to find out what happened to his late grandfather’s one true love, fate throws Bea some unexpected curveballs…and promising opportunities.

Bea’s stay is only supposed to last a couple of weeks, but as the old saying goes: ‘Once you arrive in Heartcross, you never want to leave…’

Pub Date 23 Mar 2023

As Esmeralda moved past Christopher, her breath stifled as he caught her finger in his. It was only a split-second, their fingers intertwined in a hold so brief that no one could have possibly noticed, but it told her everything she needed to know. He didn’t just come to see Cuba. He travelled all this way to see me.

Havana, 1950. As the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Cuba and regarded as the most beautiful girl in Havana, Esmeralda knows the importance of marrying well for her family. But when her father takes her on a business trip to London, she falls in love with a young merchant named Christopher.

When Christopher is invited to visit her father’s sugar farm, Esmeralda knows that they must keep their love affair hidden at all costs. But when the country falls into revolution, Esmeralda is faced with an impossible choice – flee to America with her family or follow her heart and travel to London to be with Christopher. But Esmeralda has been keeping a secret from her family for months, and her decision will have devastating consequences.

London, present day. Claudia is rebuilding her life and following her passion of restoring unloved houses back to their former glory. But when her mother asks for her help in tracking down her grandmother’s history, her curiosity is piqued. Her only clue is a family crest, which she learns is for the Diaz family, once one of the wealthiest dynasties in Cuba. Impulsively Claudia books a ticket to Havana, feeling sure in her heart that she will be able to uncover her family’s true story.

Arriving in the bustling and vibrant city she meets a young man named Mateo, a chef who loves nothing more than to cook his family’s recipes. As they get to know each other over dinner, Mateo says that his grandfather used to work for the Diaz family and he too wants to uncover what happened.

But when they arrive at the Diaz family home, they find it completely abandoned as if preserved in time from the 1950s. It’s not long before they uncover a heartbreaking story about her family, who were forced to leave everything they had ever known. As she becomes closer to Mateo, will her family’s story of sacrifice convince Claudia to leave behind her own home and follow her heart to Cuba?

An utterly gripping and heart-wrenching novel about family secrets, lost loves and new beginnings. Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Lucinda Riley and Victoria Hislop.

Pub Date 02 Mar 2023

Hold on to that feeling of a holiday by the sea with this gorgeous romance.
‘A wonderfully warm, romantic read’ Karen Clarke
Bella is happiest running her tiny antique business from the front room of her cottage on the Boardwalk.
To ensure she has enough income coming in, she also rents out two of her bedrooms to paying lodgers.
But she didn’t count on having a secret crush on Jack Collins, one of her lodgers and her best friend’s brother…
As if life wasn’t complicated enough,her world-travelling mother appears on her doorstep on the same evening that Jack’s ex-fiancée arrives on the Boardwalk determined to win him back.
Bella has a lot of thinking to do and soon discovers that not all gems sparkle.

Pub Date 04 Apr 2023

Julia Rothman’s series of Anatomy books are beloved by children and adults alike. In Wildlife Anatomy, Rothman captures the excitement and distinctive attributes of wild animals around the world. The book is packed with hundreds of her charming, original illustrations, detailing the unique features of animals of the rainforest, desert, grasslands, oceans, and much more. From lions, bears, and zebras to monkeys, mongoose, bats, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and much more, Rothman’s visual guide covers all the key features, right down to the anatomy of a lion’s claw and a wild horse’s hoof. All the illustrations are accompanied by labels, intriguing facts, and identifying details, such as: When is a Panther Not a Panther? and What Makes Aardvarks So Odd? Rothman’s characteristic combination of curiosity and an artist’s eye makes this wildlife treasury rich and full and promises new discoveries every time it’s opened.

Thank you for stopping in today. Have a wonderful day.

Tags children's book, Contemporary, historcial fiction, Rom Com, Top ten Tuesday, ttt, vegan book blogger

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each Tuesday we are given a theme that we can make our own to fit our needs. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s theme is February 21: Favorite Heroines (or heroes, if you prefer!) I’m going to change the theme and list books that sound like they involve female drama.

A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love.

Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.

Welcome to Eldey, an island with deadly secrets.

Mona: a carefree artist, staying at the Cloister to work on her illustrations.

Beth: the harried mother of a toddler, on the remote Welsh island for a weekend with her family.

Charlotte: a reluctant stepmother who wanted a romantic getaway with her husband.

One of them is a serial killer who poisoned four of her friends at her eleventh birthday party. They all fit the profile. Who will risk everything to kill again?

An absolutely gripping Welsh crime novel, perfect for fans of Sarah Pearce and Lucy Foley.

Two sisters have one summer to crush their comfort zones and save their grandmother’s legacy in this sweet, sexy, and heartfelt novel by Ali Brady, author of The Beach Trap. Things get even more complicated when secrets come to light, making the sisters question the one relationship they’ve always counted on: each other. With their company’s future on the line, they can’t afford to fail. But in trying to make a comeback to honor their grandmother, are they pushing themselves down the wrong path?

In the spirit of Colleen Hoover and Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You, an unforgettable and heartbreaking love story with an earth-shattering secret at its core that asks the question: is love worth risking everything for?

An earth-shattering secret. A life-changing love story.

When Wren realizes her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.

But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harboring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone. Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

From the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author Donal Ryan, a searing, jubilant story about four generations of women and fierce love

The Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, are mad about each other, but you wouldn’t always think it. You’d have to know them to know that—in spite of what the neighbors might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes—their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world.

Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It involves wives and widows, gunrunners and gougers, sinners and saints. It’s a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. Of all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn’t. The Queen of Dirt Island is an uplifting celebration of fierce, loyal love and the powerful stories that bind generations together.

Mexican Gothic meets Outlander in this spellbindingly atmospheric timeslip debut, as a woman struggling with struggling with her mental health spends the winter with her cruel in-laws in their eerie, haunting manor that sweeps her back through time and into the arms of her fiancé’s mysterious, alluring 19th century ancestor.

Traveling to be with her fiancé’s terminally ill mother in her last days, Saoirse Read expected her introduction to the family’s ancestral home would be bittersweet. But the stark thrust of Langdon Hall against the cliff and the hundred darkened windows in its battered walls are almost as forbidding as the woman who lies wasting inside. Her fiancé’s parents make no secret of their distaste for Saoirse, and their feelings have long since spread to their son. Or perhaps it is only the shadows of her mind suggesting she’s unwelcome, seizing on her fears while her beloved grieves?

Readers of Eve Chase, Kate Morton, and Anita Frank will devour this bewitchingly atmospheric, melancholy modern ghost story set in the lush hills of England’s Lake District. There, a solitary women’s quiet life spent in her crumbling ancestral manor house with the company of a child’s ghost is dramatically interrupted when her estranged sister returns to share a horrific story of cruelty and desperation from decades earlier…

Francine Thwaite has lived all her fifty-five years in her family’s ancestral home, a rambling Elizabethan manor in England’s Lake District. No other living soul resides there, but Francine isn’t alone. There are ghosts in Thwaite Manor, harmless and familiar. Most beloved is Bree, the mischievous ghost girl who has been Francine’s companion since childhood.

When Francine’s estranged sister, Madeleine, returns to the manor after years away, she brings with her a story that threatens everything Francine has always believed. It is a tale of cruelty and desperation, of terror and unbearable heartache. And as Francine learns more about the darkness in her family’s past—and the role she may have played in it—she realizes that confronting the truth may mean losing what she holds most dear.

As moving and poignant as it is chilling, Her Little Flowers is a story of grief and enduring love—and of the haunting regrets only forgiveness can dispel.

Love isn’t blind, it’s just little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls in love—not with one man but two. The timing couldn’t be worse.

Making judgment calls on anything right now is a nightmare. If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to have it all.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ginny Baird brings her signature charm to this multicultural story about two disputing families sharing a beach house and the messiness that comes from falling in love with someone who your family is determined to despise.

In 1944, Germany, two sisters seek to overcome impossible odds in this unforgettable WWII novel about sisterhood, courage and survival.

All they had left was each other. Until the Nazis tore them apart.

After years of hiding from the Nazis, Rachel Epstein and her little sister Mindel are captured by the Gestapo and sent to the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. The only ray of light for either girl is that they are together.

But on arrival they are separated. As she’s seventeen and deemed an adult, Rachel is sent to work in a brutal factory while four‑year‑old Mindel is sent into the so‑called “star” camp for Jewish prisoners. Rachel knows her sister will have no chance of survival all on her own.

Working in the windowless, airless factory—filling munitions casings with chemicals that burn her fingers and make her eyes sting—the only thing that keeps Rachel going is the thought of her little sister. Because if there’s even a chance Mindel is alive, Rachel knows she must try to save her.

But, separated by barbed wire, and treated brutally by SS guards who do not even see them as human beings, can either of the orphaned sisters dare to hope that they’ll ever find their way back to each other? And to freedom?

What do you think of my selections? Will you be reading any of these?

Have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping in.

Tags Contemporary Fiction, historical fiction, Rom Com, Romance, Top ten Tuesday, ttt, vegan book blogger

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday-Red and Pink covers of books I want to read.

Post author By deanne01
Post date February 13, 2023
19 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-Red and Pink covers of books I want to read.

That Artsy Reader Girl hosts Top Ten Tuesday now. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Today’s topic is Love/Valentine’s Day Freebie. So once again I’m going to make the topic my own and list books with a mostly pink or red cover for Valentine’s Day.

“A luscious, layered story of inheritance, heartbreak, reinvention, and family. I adored this book.” —Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author

When a deed to an apartment in Paris turns up in an old attic trunk, an estranged mother and daughter must reunite to uncover the secret life of a family matriarch—perfect for fans of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Beekeeper’s Daughter.

Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Kristin Harmel, and Pam Jenoff, this new historical fiction novel from an acclaimed author is based on true WWII stories of life in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Occupation and the women who served the Allies as agents and spies. Casting light into one of the darkest periods of World War II, this powerful book tells of two Jewish sisters– one imprisoned in Poland and the other who joins the Special Operations Executive in a daring attempt to free her family from the Nazis.

Based on a true story, a spellbinding historical novel about the world’s first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly.

In 1887, young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take.

But life in the city is tougher than she imagined. Down to her last dime and desperate to prove her worth, she comes up with a dangerous plan: to fake insanity and have herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell’s Island. There, she will work undercover to expose the asylum’s wretched conditions.

But when the asylum door swings shut behind her, she finds herself in a place of horrors, governed by a cruelty she could never have imagined. Cold, isolated and starving, her days of terror reawaken the traumatic events of her childhood. She entered the asylum of her own free will – but will she ever get out?

An extraordinary portrait of a woman ahead of her time, Madwoman is the story of a quest for the truth that changed the world.

The scent of roses is in the air while romance blooms in this gorgeously escapist Scottish-set love story, about finding your way back to the one you’ve never forgotten… Sure to capture the hearts of readers who love Debbie Macomber, Carolyn Brown and Fern Michaels.

It’s hate at first sight for the wedding planners…

It’s down to maid of honour Beth and best man Matt to plan a dream wedding for the absent bride and groom. Not only do they have to handle the bride’s sky-high expectations and their respective dysfunctional families, they also have to deal with each other – and so far, it’s not going well.

Fire-fighter Matt is far too laid-back for Beth’s liking, and Beth’s need to arrive half an hour early for everything is driving Matt crazy. But over the weeks, the arguing and animosity morphs into something else that feels fun and flirty…

With Beth’s father parading his new, half-his-age girlfriend around, her mother set on revenge, Matt’s family refusing to engage in the celebrations, and an addled grandmother thrown in the mix, is there any way Beth and Matt can make the wedding a success?

A funny and heartwarming romantic comedy for fans of Jo Watson and Sophie Ranald.

It’s Christmas time at the Weber Haus mountainside inn, where the official greeter, watcher, and matchmaker of the hotel’s resident humans is an adorably mischievous bundle of feline fluff named Snowball. Snowball takes her job very seriously –even if it means being a little more naughty than nice –and she’s ready to celebrate her third holiday season by making the purrrrfect match.

New York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion grew ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home.

Can a new shop change the village’s future – and Rowena’s?

Single mum Rowena is always looking for ways for her and her four-year-old daughter, Nia, to live more sustainably. So, when she visits a zero-waste shop in Cardiff, she’s inspired to start one up in her own village, where local businesses and artisan shops are a core part of the community.

For Huw, it’s love at first sight when he bumps into Rowena, on the day he moves to Foxmore. But a series of misunderstandings keeps the two from getting closer, and now a conflict of interest over Rowena’s shop might put a stop to any fledgling romance…

When a figure from Rowena’s past makes a surprise appearance, both her shop and relationship with Huw are suddenly under threat. Can Rowena still realise her corner shop dreams and find love?

A gorgeously fun and feel-good cosy romance, perfect for fans of Sue Moorcroft, Holly Martin and Suzanne Snow.

The start of a BRAND NEW series from bestselling author Sarah Bennett.

On paper, Hope Travers has an idyllic life.

Living in a bustling farmhouse with her mum, aunt and uncles, cousin and too many dogs to count, surrounded by the breath-taking Cotswolds countryside, she knows she is privileged and protected.

But all families have secrets, and the Travers family are no exception. Their farmhouse sits in the grounds of the Juniper Meadows estate, passed down through the generations and now being made to pay its own way with a myriad of businesses and projects. When a construction crew uncover what appear to be historical ruins, the history of the Travers family is put under ever closer scrutiny as a dig gets underway.

Hope may have found a blossoming romance with local archaeologist Cameron Ferguson who is running the dig, but when things start to go wrong around the estate and family secrets begin to be revealed, Hope wonders if she’s made a big mistake in digging up the past.

Her life spanned ninety-five years and there were only two great loves in her life. The first is long gone. The second still stands as a testament to an extraordinary woman.

1916

Venice Arial is a product of the elite social class in New Orleans and under the strict control of her cruel and hateful mother, Lorraine. At twenty, Venice must obey the rules of social duty her mother sets, including going through with an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. The golden days of youth are being stripped away and her only escape is the family’s summer home on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain—her beloved Belle Haven.

When Venice visits Belle Haven in the last weeks of summer, her structured life is thrown off course by a poor local boy, Etienne Armand, who shows her a love she has never known. But to Lorraine, locals are low class, and a poor boy like Etienne is strictly forbidden. But how can Venice return to New Orleans with such strict rules and the isolation of her palatial prison? Venice has a major decision to make but will the raging war in Europe make it for her?

1991

Seventy-five years ago, Venice Arial made a dramatic decision that altered her life and her future. After living through so much history, her cherished memories along with the painful ones are fading. The Lost Generation must be remembered, and her personal story recorded. That foregone era was the harsh reality of her life. She had known great love, a crippling world war, lost love, and new beginnings but should she include the cruelty, selfish greed, and hurtful deception inflicted on her all those years ago?

This story of great love, war, and remembrance will grab your emotions and hold them until the very end.

What are your choices this week?

Have a beautiful day my friends. Spring will soon be here.

Tags historical fiction, Rom Com, Romance, Top ten Tuesday, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday-debut books I’ve read or would like to read

Post author By deanne01
Post date February 7, 2023
25 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-debut books I’ve read or would like to read

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is 2023 Debut Books I’m Excited About. I’m going to make the topic my own and list debut books, some that I’ve read and some I’d love to read.

Published 2023

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery is a “celebration of motherhood and female resilience.”

Published 2022

Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

Published 2020

When a woman conceals her sister’s death to claim their joint inheritance, her deception exposes a web of dangerous secrets in this addictive new thriller for fans of Megan Abbott, Gillian Flynn, and Paula Hawkins.

“Like most of the dead, I want to be remembered.”

Published 2020

The Yellow Bird Sings is a powerfully gripping and deeply moving novel about the unbreakable bond between parent and child and the triumph of humanity and hope in even the darkest circumstances.

Published 2020

In this brilliant debut fantasy, a story of secrets, rebellion, and murder are shattering the Hollows, where magic costs memory to use, and only the son of the kingdom’s despised traitor holds the truth.

Published 2020 My Review Here

Remembrance by Rita Woods is a breakout historical debut with modern resonance, perfect for the many fans of The Underground Railroad and Orphan Train.

Published 2018

An eerie and absorbing novel following a criminal psychologist who has discovered shocking and possibly dangerous connections between a serial killer and her stepdaughter.

Published 2020

A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.

Published 2020

Part love story, part mystery, The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is a gripping and atmospheric tale of family madness, long-buried secrets and hidden desires.

Published 2020

Combining the emotional power and dual narrative style of Before We Were Yours with the nuanced, layered, and atmospheric mystery of The Dry, a powerful debut novel revolving around a shocking disappearance, two neighbor families, and shameful secrets from the past that refuse to stay buried.

What do you think of my selections? Have you or would you read any of them?

Have a super day and thanks for stopping by today.

Tags Top ten Tuesday, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday-New to Me Authors I’ve Read in 2022

Post author By deanne01
Post date January 24, 2023
27 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-New to Me Authors I’ve Read in 2022

Hey all, welcome. Today’s theme for Top Ten Tuesday on That Artsy Reader Girl is New to me Author’s we’ve read in 2022.

Some people are hesitant to read new author’s books and prefer to stay with what they’re comfortable with, the tried and true. I respect that and can see their point of view. As for myself I love trying new to me authors. I have found many great authors that I can’t wait to try their backlist now and then you find some that you try a book and say, eh and move on. To me it’s always worth trying a new to me author.

New to Me Authors I’ve tried in 2022

“Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe…

Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny is powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime.

Two ordinary sisters. A long and brutal war. A heroic sacrifice…

London, 1915. As German bombs rain down on the East End of London and hungry children queue for rations in the blistering cold, fifteen-year-old Florrie is forced to grow up fast. With her father fighting in the muddy trenches, Florrie turns to her older sister Edith for comfort. But the war has changed Edith. She has grown quiet, with dark shadows under her eyes, and has started leaving the house at night in secret. When Florrie follows her sister through the dark and winding streets of London, she is shocked by what she discovers. But she knows she must keep her sister’s secret for the sake of their family, even if she herself must pay the ultimate price…

A twisty, domestic suspense debut about a clique of mothers that shatters when one of their own is murdered, bringing chaos to their curated lives.

She was the perfect wife, with the perfect life. You would kill to have it…

Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care. But there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just what Mrs. Kip will give her—but she’s going to have to work for it.

Beloved, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe delivers a hopeful and heartwarming story about an impossible Christmas dream, an unexpected act of goodwill–and a surprising chain of events that could gift joy far beyond the holiday season…

Sometimes you need to face the past to find your path in life…

A gorgeous, uplifting story about family secrets, unconditional love and staying true to who you are—even when life throws you a curveball. This irresistible novel is perfect for fans of RaeAnne Thayne, Elin Hilderbrand and Susan Mallery.

Barby Keel is used to all manner of creatures arriving at the door of the Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary where she lives and works, deep within the Sussex countryside. Nothing can prepare her for the arrival of Teddy, however, a neglected, traumatised puppy who is dumped at the gates of the sanctuary in a filthy box, terrified and desperate for someone to love.

Two cousins who start a food stall at their local night market get a serving of murder in this first novel of a delicious new cozy mystery series by Jennifer J. Chow, author of Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.

A collection of lost books holds the clues to her family’s legacy…and her future.

Hope Sparrow has mastered the art of outrunning her tragic past, learning never to stay anywhere too long and never to allow anyone control over her life again. Coming to Wanishin Falls in search of her family’s history already feels too risky. But somewhere in the towering stacks of this dusty old bookshop are the books that hold Hope’s last ties to her late mother—and to a rumored family treasure that could help her start over.

There are so many more authors and books I could list but this is a start.

Thank you for stopping in. What new to you authors have you discovered while reading their books last year?

Tags authors, books, new to me authors, Top ten Tuesday, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday-Books I Can’t Wait to Read publishing in the first 6 months of 2023

Post author By deanne01
Post date January 9, 2023
33 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-Books I Can’t Wait to Read publishing in the first 6 months of 2023

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Therre are so many delightful books releasing in the first half of 2023 so it’ll be hard to just pick 10 but here is a partial list. Are any of my books on your list also?

Pub Date 06 Jun 2023

Never underestimate the power of a woman with a shop full of books

Massachusetts, 1954. With bags packed alongside her heavy heart, Alice Campbell escaped halfway across the country and found herself in front of a derelict building tucked among the cobblestone streets of Cambridge. She turns it into the enchanting bookshop of her dreams, knowing firsthand the power of books to comfort the brokenhearted.

Pub Date 06 Jun 2023

“Storms show up and there ain’t a thing we can do to stop them.”

Sonny Bates left South Carolina fifteen years ago and never looked back. Now she’s a successful Hollywood location scout who travels the world, finding perfect places for movie shoots. Home is wherever she lands, and between her busy schedule and dealing with her boss’s demands, she has little time to think about the past . . . until her latest gig lands her a stone’s throw from everything she left behind.

Searching off the coast of Charleston for a secluded site to film a key scene, Sonny wanders onto a private barrier island and encounters its reclusive owner, known by locals as the Monster of Indigo Isle. What she finds is a man much more complex than the myth.

Pub Date 16 May 2023

Mountains Beyond Mountains meets Tattoos On the Heart in this unforgettable, powerful, and stunningly-told memoir of a struggling veterinarian saving animals and humans on the streets of California – and how he discovered what bonds all living creatures.

New York in the 1920s—a time when fortunes are made and a woman’s dreams are challenged against all odds in a sweeping historical novel by the international bestselling author of The Light After the War.

1926, Hyde Park, New York. Born to modest means but befriended by the wealthy, aspiring dress designer Pandora Carmichael has been surrounded by privilege yet never at home in it. That hasn’t stopped her from dreaming—of a romance in a rarified world that could also give her the status and resources to start a business of her own. When she’s introduced to a charismatic Princeton student, Pandora’s future begins to fall into place.

Pub Date 18 Apr 2023

Based on the true story of an astonishingly brave woman who saved hundreds of mothers and their children during the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Elisabeth Eidenbenz left Switzerland in 1937 to aid children orphaned during the Spanish Civil War. Now, her work has led her to France, where she’s determined to provide expectant mothers and their unborn children a refuge amid one of the worst humanitarian crises of the twentieth century.

Pub Date 02 May 2023

When a woman stumbles across a mysterious children’s book, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed in this “transporting, heartfelt, and atmospheric” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author) novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savannah and Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.

Pub Date 28 Mar 2023

Russia, 1917

Petrograd is on the eve of revolution. For Countess Sophia Orlova, the city of her childhood – the only home she has ever known – has become her deadly enemy. The mob are ready to get rid of anyone connected to the old regime, including Sophia.

When rebels threaten to shoot Sophia and her husband, they are saved by Nikolai, a fervent supporter of the revolution. Determined to help Nikolai’s cause, Sophia sets up a hospital wing in the house, nursing injured victims by his side.

Her kindness has captured Nikolai’s heart, but their burgeoning romance is forbidden. With battle lines drawn between the new and the old, both their lives are in danger…

Pub Date 07 Mar 2023

From an exciting new voice in WWII historical fiction comes a tale of love, loss and a betrayal that echoes through generations…

Paris, 1940: War is closing in on the city of love. With his wife forced into hiding, Jacques must stand by and watch as the Nazis take away everything he holds dear. Everything except his last beacon of hope: his beloved bookshop, La Page Cachée.

Pub Date 24 Jan 2023

A brand new standalone novel from the bestselling author of the Hedgehog Hollow and Starfish Cafe series!Welcome to Bumblebee Barn, home to wonderful animals, stunning views and spectacular sunsets – and resident young farmer, Barney.

While Barney loves his life at Bumblebee Barn – a farm that has been in his family for generations – he’s struggling to find someone to share it with. The early mornings quad biking through muddy fields and the long hours looking after the crops and animals are proving to be a deterrent to finding love.

Pub Date 17 Jan 2023

Do the “Cupid chocolates” from Lucy’s shop
really help people meet their One True Love?
Dean, a TV reporter, has his doubts…

Lucy’s chocolate shop, How Sweet It Is, has been in her family for generations…along with the secret recipe for Cupid chocolates. Rumor has it that if you eat one on February 14, you’ll meet your soulmate. Lucy herself isn’t sure if it’s magic or just romantic optimism, but a family legend is at stake. Besides, with her grandmother to support and a rival bakery opening up across the street, it certainly doesn’t hurt to believe.

I am really looking forward to these titles plus many more. What’s on your list?

Tags Top ten Tuesday, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday-My favorites from 2022.

Post author By deanne01
Post date January 3, 2023
22 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday-My favorites from 2022.

It’s going to be hard to list only ten books I read and loved from last year since I read so many of them but here’s a starter list.

A courageous doctor and his apprentice fight to save London’s poor—and discover that the hearts of men can be colder than a winter chill—in this gripping holiday mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry.

Do you ever wonder about your pets and what adventures they may get up to? What they might experience when you’re not around? And, finally, where you’d be without them?

The Guinea Pig Chronicles is based on the lives and adventures of six real life guinea pigs, owned by the author and her family over a period of twenty years.

A sumptuous novel based on the fascinating true story of La Belle Époque icon Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon, who shattered the boundaries of fashion with her magnificently sensual and enchantingly unique design from the USA Today bestselling author of In Royal Service to the Queen.

An absolutely heartbreaking, gripping and beautiful story about how love shines brightly even in the darkest times, and the incredible sacrifices people make in wartime. Fans of The Nightingale, All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz won’t be able to put this down.

New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde returns to Twilight, Texas, with a delicious love story about a sexy cowboy and a love-shy nurse determined to win the Christmas Cookie Bake-off challenge.

He’s sexy, single, and he can bake!

A poignant and ultimately triumphant novel based on the incredible true story of children who braved the formidable danger of guarded, wintry mountain passes in France to escape the Nazis, from the acclaimed author of Courage, My Love.

Sometimes you need to face the past to find your path in life…

A woman hires a housekeeper to care for her aging parents—only to watch as she takes over their lives in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author Samantha M. Bailey calls “an ingenious master of domestic suspense.”

An uplifting novel about a heartbroken young pie maker who is granted a magical second chance to live the life she didn’t choose. . . . from the bestselling author of The Enlightenment of Bees.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Lost and Found Bookshop brings readers a can’t-miss tale of friendship, hardship, redemption, and love between a San Francisco baker and a barbecue master from Texas.

“Wiggs writes with compassion and insight… This is another winner.” —Booklist

It was so hard choosing favorite books and I could have easily added more to this list. Have you read any of these or have any of these on your tbr list?

Have a marvelous day. Thanks for stopping by.

Tags Top ten Tuesday, ttt

Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday Books I Want Santa to Bring/Bookish Wishlist

Post author By deanne01
Post date December 20, 2022
15 Comments on Top Ten Tuesday Books I Want Santa to Bring/Bookish Wishlist

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is a special one for the holiday season, and one that allows us all to spread a little cheer during this week leading up to Christmas.

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl has asked us to list our bookish wishlist this year. Here are a few books from my list. Please don’t feel obligated to purchase anything from my list just take a look around at all the wonderful books on my and everyone’s lists to get gift ideas for yourself. The list was so easy and fun to make and it took a lot of willpower to not buy every book on my list as I was looking at them on Amazon. Please visit the many other posts and special Christmas lists on Top Ten Tuesday this week.