Visit Svea's blog at The Muse in The Fog Book Review to start linking up your Sunday posts! Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea whose purpose is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. I will be combining my Sunday/Monday memes here.
Mailbox Monday is a meme originally from Marcia's Mailbox and is being hosted at Suko's Notebook during December.
In the Mail....
I finally received The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen which I was waiting on forever... (and I want next year's book NOW)
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| Jan 1 2013 |
Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father regain his spirits when his academy fails, agrees to travel with him to the distant Cornwall coast, to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But after they arrive and begin teaching the younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen and danger mounts. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte, only to find the music room empty? Who sneaks into her room at night? Who rips a page from her journal, only to return it with a chilling illustration?
The baronet's older sons, Phillip and Henry, wrestle with problems--and secrets--of their own. They both remember Emma Smallwood from their days at her father's academy. She had been an awkward, studious girl. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her.
When the suspicious acts escalate, can the clever tutor's daughter figure out which brother to blame...and which brother to trust with her heart?
And on Kindle I snagged some freebies, but the one I actually spent money on was
A Woodland Christmas: Four Couples Find Love in the Piney Woods of East Texas (Romancing America) [Kindle Edition]
Experience a nostalgic Christmas in the Piney Woods of East Texas where a traveling wood-carver dispenses wisdom that brings four couples to realize the gift of love. Can Bridget show Seth how to forgive? Will Mary see Joseph live up to his promise? Can Seth steer Emma away from the need for vengeance? Will R. C. help Gabriella find her grandfather?
And I also bought the last book needed to complete my Susanna Kearsley collection:
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
When Eva's film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall, where they spent their childhood summers, to scatter Katrina's ashes and in doing so return her to the place where she belongs.
But Eva must also confront the ghosts from her own past, as well as those from a time long before her own. For the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who had lived there in the eighteenth century. When Eva finally accepts that she is able to slip between centuries and see and talk to the inhabitants from hundreds of years ago, she soon finds herself falling for Daniel Butler, a man who lived--and died--long before she herself was born.
Eva begins to question her place in the present, and in laying her sister to rest, comes to realise that she too must decide where she really belongs, choosing between the life she knows and the past she feels so drawn towards.
This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we keep track of what we are currently reading and plan to read.
This past week I finished up Against The Tide by Elizabeth Camden and then The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James (I sped through this one), which are both titles I would highly recommend. Reviews coming very soon!
And then I started The Tutor's Daughter (see In The Mail above) and since I LOVED Klassen's previous novel The Maid of Fairbourne Hall last year, I wanted to make this new one last. I told myself to read it slowly and savor my relationships with these new characters. Sadly, I am almost done with it as I type. Fantastic stuff. You KNOW something is good when you receive and read a review book within a span of 4 days.
Fun tidbit, I was quoted on the back of The Tutor's Daughter from the review I wrote of The Maid of Fairbourne Hall but since it was written for Historical Novel Society, they got the credit, instead of it saying MARIE MARIE MARIE.. lol... they would never have chosen the quote if it was just from plain old blogger at Burton Book Review; I know they use 'big' name review lists like Kirkus, Booklist, and, alas, Historical Novel Reviews to use as blurbs & quotes... But, I wanted to give myself a shout out anyway and make myself feel better. Makes mental note to review less for HNS =)
Adding the last two books I've read (and then add Klassen's) to my year end totals, I read about 80 books and over 30,000 pages! I am very pleased with those numbers, but I don't expect 2013 to be quite so awesome with high numbers as I plan on doing some other things besides reading and reviewing in 2013 =) Which it seems I'm already inching towards that trend, as my last review was posted on December 11, over two weeks ago!
To wrap up the year:
and lastly, an awesome challenge that I actually hope to complete! 2013 TBR Pile
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and followed the blog this year, I know there are a lot of new people and many of my regular followers and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this blog worthwhile for me. I appreciate it! I feel so special being a book blogger and part of this community. Thank you!! Today, Sunday, is my FOUR YEAR Anniversary! Amazing! What a ride it's been and I look forward to 2013!
Happy New Year!
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