The Dearly Beloved [Book Review] #ThrowBackThursday

September 16, 2021

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
#throwbackthursday

Genre/Categories/Setting: Literary Fiction, Marriage, Friendship, Faith, 1960s Manhattan

In 2020, I decided to systematically revisit my older review posts and update them. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads. Today, I’m re-sharing a compelling drama of marriage, friendship, and faith, The Dearly Beloved: A Review. My best read of the year in 2019.

Recently, I reviewed Gilead and explained why I think it is literary fiction; The Dearly Beloved is another example of literary fiction.

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

“Four very different individuals (two couples) navigate relationships, marriage, children, faith, career, ministry, crisis, joy, friendship, forgiveness, uncertainty, understanding, and heartbreak. The couples meet in the 1960s when the men, Charles and James, accept positions as co-pastors of the Third Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. The relationship between the couples is strained because the wives are polar opposites: Lily is a loner and an atheist and Nan values connection and is a devout Christian. In this tender character-driven story that covers decades of life, we also learn the backstory of each individual.”

One Favorite quote: “While she was away, they had been able to forget the accident. When she returned, they had been forced to pick up their rakes of grief and drag them along the ground.”

A thoughtful story of faith and doubt, hope and disappointment, friendship and marriage, career and family….

Continue here for 10 reasons why I loved The Dearly Beloved…

QOTD:

Have you read The Dearly Beloved or is it on your TBR?

Gilead [Book Review] #WhatsOnYourBookShelfChallenge

August 20, 2021

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Genre/Categories/Setting: Literary Fiction, Pulitzer Prize, Fathers and Sons, Family Life, Rural America and Small Towns

I’m linking up today with Deb @ Deb’s World and Sue, Donna, and Jo for the August installment of #WhatsOnYourBookShelfChallenge

Gilead has been on my virtual bookshelf for years! When I heard about this challenge, I thought this Pulitzer Prize book might be perfect to read! My husband and I both read and enjoyed Gilead, and it has earned a place on both of our lifetime favorites lists. We definitely want to continue with the next three books.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Pulitzer Prize 2005. New York Times Top-Ten Book of 2004. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Marilynne Robinson writes the quiet story of three generations of fathers and sons. faith, and rural life.

My Thoughts:

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12 Favorite Books: Happy #NationalBookLoversDay

August 9, 2021

Background Image Source: Canva

How are you celebrating National Book Lovers Day?

Are you grateful for books?

I think every day is Book Lover’s Day for me!

What would we do without our beloved books and reading?

I REALLY Loved These Twelve Books!

(which just scratch the surface of my lifetime favorites list!)

Happy National Book Lovers Day!

What are you reading today?

For National Book Lover’s Day I’m sharing twelve books I REALLY love, books that I could always reread, and books that are on my lifetime favorite’s list, and books that have received 5 star ratings. (in no special order):

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I love epistolary format and slow burn romance and quaint small villages by the sea.

Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

I love stories with themes of faith and friendship.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

I love well-written histfic with memorable characters inspired by real life heroes.

A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

I love a multi-generational family story…and the father/son part at the end is heartbreaking and poignant and memorable.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

I love a well-told, page-turning histfic about real life events.

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

I love gently told histfic stories and books about books and slow burn romance.

The Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

I love this beautifully told WW1 story of friendship and slow burn romance.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

I love books that live in my memory years later….I also loved the unique narrator in this WW11 histfic.

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

I love beautiful endings and this story with themes of music, faith, and family has a memorable and beautiful ending.

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

I love a mashup of genres and this story has a bit of everything I love: histfic (1906 San Francisco Earthquake), suspense/mystery, found family, women helping women, and a slow burn romance.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I love this histfic story based on real life sisters with themes of friendship, women’s rights, and abolition of slavery.

The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

I love this inspirational story promoting equal educational rights for girls around the world.

Happy Reading Everyone!

QOTD:
How many of these titles have you read?
Do we share any favorites?
Are any of these titles on your favorites list?

I’m leaving you with a few of my favorite bookish images!

I’m always prepared with book recs! LOL

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek [Book Review] #ThrowBackThursday

August 5, 2021

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
#throwbackthursday

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Southern Fiction, Book About Books, Racism, Prejudice, Poverty

In 2020, I decided to systematically revisit my older review posts and update them. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads. Today, I’m re-sharing an historical fiction that’s on my lifetime favorites list, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

“In the 1930s, nineteen-year-old Cussy Carter and her father live in the isolated woods of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. They are the last of the “blue people” of Kentucky and endure racism and prejudice because of the blue hue of their skin. They are considered “colored.” Dad risks his life and health working long hours in the coal mines and Cussy takes a government job with the historical Pack Horse Library Project. As a “librarian,” she travels across treacherous mountains and dangerous creeks on her mule, Junia, to deliver books and other reading materials to the mountain folk who have few resources. She does what she can to meet their most dire needs. Incidentally, she doesn’t cuss! (She’s named after a town in France.)

“Cussy (or Bluet as she is called by some) is everything I love in a fictional character! Determined. Compassionate. Smart. Brave. Resourceful. Fierce. A difference-maker. Merciful. Passionate about her work. A librarian. And most memorably, an Angel in disguise.”

Continue here for my full review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek …

QOTD:

Have you read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek or is it on your TBR?

Three Words For Goodbye [Book Review]

August 4, 2021

Three Words For Goodbye by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, Sisters, (1937) Europe

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

In 1937, two sisters are sent to Europe by their beloved grandmother to deliver three letters. Complicating this mission is the fact that the sisters haven’t spoken to each other in years and have grown apart in many ways. Clara is the careful and dutiful one and is engaged to marry millionaire, Charles Hancock. Madeleine is more independent and free spirited and strives to be a journalist like her hero, Nellie Bly. Both sisters are devoted to their grandmother and are committed to fulfilling her dying wishes. Clara looks forward to embracing her love of art and visiting Europe’s art galleries while Madeleine envisions writing articles on the political unrest in Europe and submitting them to U.S. newspapers in an attempt to be published. The sisters traveling experiences on the Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and finally the Hindenburg provide the backdrop for many of their most dramatic and challenging moments. What will this trip mean for their relationship? Will they successfully deliver the letters and what secrets will they discover?

My Thoughts:

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Radar Girls [Book Review]

July 27, 2021

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, WW11, Hawaii, Women’s Air Raid Defense, Friendship

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Welcome to my stop on Harlequin Trade Publishing’s 2021 Summer Blog Tours for Historical Fiction. Thanks for the invitation Justine.

Thanks #NetGalley @HarlequinBooks for a complimentary eARC of #RadarGirls upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Inspired by real women of the Women’s Air Raid Defense (WARD) during WW11, Radar Girls is the story of new recruits and unsung heroes. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Daisy, a gifted horse trainer, enlists in a top secret program that recruits women to replace men who have joined the war. Their high stakes assignment is to guide pilots into blacked-out airstrips and track unidentified planes over the Pacific Ocean. The young women face many challenges including forming a team, working in a male-dominated field, facing unequal treatment of women, and surviving a war.

Image Source: Wikipedia

My Thoughts:

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Sparks Like Stars [Book Review]

June 2, 2021

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Afghanistan, Asian-American Literature

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Nadia Hashimi, the author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, tells the story of Sitara Zamani who lives a privileged life in Kabul Afghanistan in 1978. Sitara’s father works for the progressive president and the children from the two families play together. When Sitara is ten years old, the communists stage a coup and Sitara is the only survivor. She is smuggled out of the palace by a sympathetic guard and into the home of an American diplomat. Years later while working as a successful surgeon in America, Sitara (now known as Aryana) is confronted with her past which causes her to ask questions and awakens strong feelings of anger and revenge.

My Thoughts:

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Project Hail Mary [Book Review] #FathersDay

June 18, 2021

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Genre/Categories: Science Fiction, Space Mission, Friendship, Survival

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Middle School science teacher Ryland Grace finds himself on a desperate space mission to save planet Earth. He wakes up on a spaceship hooked up to tubes without a memory of how he got there or how the two people next to him died in their beds. Although he senses he knows them and realizes their importance, he can’t remember his own name or his purpose for being there. In dual timelines, we hear Ryland’s backstory (as he regains his memory) and experience the dangerous present reality. Ryland finds an unexpected ally in his quest to save Earth from extinction.

My Thoughts:

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Ask Again, Yes [Book Review] #ThrowBackThursday

June 10, 2021

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
#throwbackthursday

Genre/Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Complicated Family Drama, Friendship

In 2020, I decided to systematically revisit my older review posts and update them. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads. Today, I’m re-sharing a review of a complicated family drama, Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane.

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

“Beautifully written, Ask Again, Yes introduces us to two families who live next door to each other. Behind closed doors, the families deal with complicated issues. Meanwhile, two of their children, born six months apart, grow up as each other’s constant and best playmate and develop a deep friendship as they hang out after school. Just as Kate and Peter grow old enough to discover they might be attracted to each other, a tragic event happens that changes everything for the two families. One family moves away and the children’s friendship is torn apart.

The remainder of the story involves the children, who are now grown, coming to terms with what happened and figuring out what this means for their relationship, their families, and their future.”

Big themes of regret, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, second chances, growth, and redemption…..

Continue here for my full review of Ask Again, Yes …

(including Content Warnings)

QOTD:

Have you read Ask Again, Yes or is it on your TBR?

More Books Like These Please! #TopTenTuesday #LetsDiscuss2021

June 8, 2021

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall#throwbackthursday

My Summary:

A thoughtful story of faith and doubt, hope and disappointment, friendship and marriage, career and family….

QOTD:

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I REALLY Loved These Twelve Books!

Happy National Book Lovers Day!

What are you reading today?

Happy Reading Everyone!

I’m leaving you with a few of my favorite bookish images!

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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson#throwbackthursday

My Summary:

Continue here for my full review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek …

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Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane#throwbackthursday

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More Books Like These 5 Star Reads Please!

More like these please:

Smart, thoughtful, beautifully crafted, and complex contemporary fiction…

Poignant, relatable, and memorable complicated family drama

Unputdownable Histfic With Compelling Issues and Memorable Characters

Honoring brave girls around the world

Complicated Marriages and Friendships

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The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
#throwbackthursday

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
#throwbackthursday

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
#throwbackthursday