This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we keep track of what we are currently reading and plan to read.
In the mail this week I received:
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| October 9, 2012 |
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
1959 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.
Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.
The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world.
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| October 1, 2012 |
When pampered Jacqueline Abington secretly elopes with the family gardener, she asks another woman to take her place on the much anticipated maiden voyage of the Titanic. Tessa Yarborough hails from a poor corner of London but has been granted the opportunity of a lifetime--a ticket to sail to America aboard a famed vessel. But there's a catch: she must assume Jacqueline's identity. For the first time in her life, Tessa stays in luxurious quarters, dresses in elegant gowns, and dines with prestigious people. Then a wealthy American man takes an interest in her, and Tessa struggles to keep up the ruse as she begins falling for him. When tragedy strikes, the game is up, and two women's lives are forever changed.
And then, from Paperbackswap, cuz some blogger recommended it, I have no idea who, but it has gotten some great reviews:
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| April 17, 2012 |
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
A stunning debut reminiscent of the beloved novels of John Hart and Tom Franklin, A Land More Kind Than Home is a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small western North Carolina town.
For a curious boy like Jess Hall, growing up in Marshall means trouble when your mother catches you spying on grown-ups. Adventurous and precocious, Jess is enormously protective of his older brother, Christopher, a mute whom everyone calls Stump. Though their mother has warned them not to snoop, Stump can't help sneaking a look at something he's not supposed to—an act that will have catastrophic repercussions, shattering both his world and Jess's. It's a wrenching event that thrusts Jess into an adulthood for which he's not prepared. While there is much about the world that still confuses him, he now knows that a new understanding can bring not only a growing danger and evil—but also the possibility of freedom and deliverance as well.
Told by three resonant and evocative characters—Jess; Adelaide Lyle, the town midwife and moral conscience; and Clem Barefield, a sheriff with his own painful past—A Land More Kind Than Home is a haunting tale of courage in the face of cruelty and the power of love to overcome the darkness that lives in us all. These are masterful portrayals, written with assurance and truth, and they show us the extraordinary promise of this remarkable first novel.
What I've Read:
This past week on the blog I posted a few reviews:
Unending Devotion by Jody Hedlund
Review here and giveaway here. This was a really great read with lovable characters in an intriguing setting and I recommend it, as well as a bunch of other readers!
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| September 2012 |
Another read from the same genre is With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin. This author is fantastic with her historical detail on the World War II era, I have read one of her other titles and will definitely continue to read the rest of her titles. She blends history and romance quite well, and adds a small dash of inspiration as well. Please stop by and read my new review of With Every Letter, here.
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| August 2012 |
And earlier I had also posted a giveaway (ended) and review for The Kingmaker's Daughter by Phillipa Gregory, and posted the review here. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this one, so those on the fence about another Gregory read might want to go ahead and give this one a try. I love the Wars of the Roses era, probably because there are so many facets and people involved, it still hasn't gotten old like the Tudors has for me.
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| October 2012 |
I am currently reading The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. This is my first novel by her, and Sourcebooks is reissuing this one for us in October. I am impressed with the writing style, and happy that I am enjoying it even though it is a modern setting. I never thought a modern setting of an archaeological dig would be so intriguing but the Scots accent had me from "Aye."
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, there is an interesting conversation going on at Unabridged Chick, which you may want to weigh in with your thoughts regarding pseudonym etiquette and an author telling us to revise a review. What would you do? http://unabridged-expression.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-reads-and-blogging-etiquette.html
What's on my reading agenda:
ANNOUNCING THE NEXT READ ALONG AT HF-CONNECTION!!
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman is one of her earlier works and was voted on as our choice to read for the next read along. If you would like to join us, order your copy soon because we plan to begin reading around 10/13/2012. You don't need to do a sign up post or anything, just join in our weekly discussions. See the details here. I'd love to have you get all Medieval with us!
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