Monday, February 18, 2013

Groovy Monday, what are you reading?

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

Last week was such a weird one.  I started 4 different books.  I am a one book at a time reader, I give one my complete attention.  Well last week none were grabbing my attention, I knew it was a mood issue but felt the same about them all, they were ok, possibly 3 stars, I moved on, got bored came back, they picked up a little, repeat, repeat repeat again.  So here's to hoping I get my groove back.

I am currently giving my attention to

 
 
I expected so much more from this one, but I can't get into it.  If I complete it, I doubt I will go on with this series.
 
 
 
I found a great inspiration book.  Very much needed as I realised with my life being in transition mode - work, living arrangements, grief, studying, I needed a pick me up with solutions.
 
 
Kate Morton is an author I want to read this year, please participate in my sidebar poll.  You can go to my post here to read the summaries if you need or want to.
 
 
 
 
 
Have a great week, I have time to network again, yaaaay, I look forward to visiting you.
 
 

Friday, February 15, 2013

What Kate Morton book should I read 1st?



I have heard so many great things about Kate Morton's books and really want to try one this year.  I would like you to help me choose.  Please participate on the poll, seen on my sidebar.

Here are the descriptions of Kate Morton's works below. For the audio book lovers, she has peaks of her reading chapters.  You can also download free chapters.

All the info on the books below I took from her website here, it is dynatime, I'm impressed.

Thank you for the recommendations.

 

The Forgotten Garden

A lost child...
 
On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

A terrible secret...

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance...
 
On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.


The Distant Hours


Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon

with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1918 children’s classic The True History of the Mud Man.
In the grand and glorious Milderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.
Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric Sisters Blythe.  Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancรฉ in 1941 plunged her into madness.
Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected.
The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time
for someone to find it.

The House at Riverton 

Within its four walls lay a secret that would last a lifetime.

Summer 1924: On the night of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, onetime housemaid of Riverton Manor,is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long-consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

The Secret Keeper


1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds--Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy--who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatally entwined...
 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Review - Dangerous Voices by Rae Carson



Book Summary

Errik has been a prisoner–and alone–for a long, long time. He lives for the moment each day when the window of his dungeon cell shines a bit of light onto his bearded face. But everything changes when he gets a new neighbor–a young girl with a voice as beautiful as the springrise.

They both know the rules: No singing. No speaking. Voices are dangerous. But they can’t help themselves. And soon enough, Errik begins to remember himself, why he’s here in this dark place, and why his captors will stop at nothing to ensure his silence.

My Review- 4

I have started to read short stories before reading a full work of an author I don't know, I really enjoyed this one.  What a surprise to realise this is a known author, The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  I would never have considered reading a fantasy novel but the writing style of Dangerous Voices has definitely intrigued me. 

I enjoyed the suspense of what was going on.  Why are they locked up, why can't they talk or sing.  Are the guards coming and what will happen? 

I think a conspiracy is going on and wish this short story gave us more.

A favourite quote

If I stand against the wall on my tip toes, I can bathe my face in that spot for a few moments - or maybe longer; I'm not sure anymore - before it disappears. 

For those that have read The Girl of Fire and Thorns, do you think I would enjoy it? 

 

Monday, February 4, 2013

It's Monday, weekend over

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

My daughter went 6 and we had a spa themed party with 6 little girls, what a fun time. Mani, Pedi, Makeup, Hair styling and tattoos.  The foot massage soak machine was the favourite, bubbles and flowers to add a spa touch, they loved it.  Hand cookies with icing for fingernails.  Just lovely.....

 
 
On to my reading.....  I am having a hard time getting into anything.  I have read erotica which has been nice but usually I read maybe 2 a year, I have read 2 just in January, lol
 
This weekend has been hard but I am currently reading
 
 
 
My erotic reads - Club Shadowlands 1 & 2 by Cherise Sinclair
 
I think they are great and very hot, not sure if I will review, we will see.
 
 
 
I reviewed Bunheads here - gave it 4 stars
stunning cover
 
 
 
 
And I have no idea what is next but I am thinking The Prophet, the 1st, The Shepherd was my favourite Serial Killer read last year.  The Cage (Thriller Novella) was good also, a great peak into the series if you just want a try.
 
 


The Shepherd - 4 1/2  I read and reviewed after my Top Ten of 2012 but definitely a favourite.
The Cage - 4 I didn't review
 
 
Have a great week, I look forward to networking with you