It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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Well, we had a pretty exciting weekend. Our community had two tornado warnings on Saturday. Luckily, I don't think either time there was a touch down so there was little to no damage. As luck would have it, we were on the road both time, leaving and coming back from a short road trip. Hubby was really sorry to have missed it as he is a storm-chaser wanna-be. 

With it being Father's Day on Sunday, we also had a weekend full of kids and grandkiddos. This week is shaping up to being super busy too. I'm ready to have a do-nothing, relaxing weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading


Queen Bee
(Lowcountry Tales #12)
by Dorothea Benton Frank

Before the Rain Falls
by Camille Di Maio
Narrated by Dara Rosenberg

What I recently finished

The Body Lies: A novel

by Jo Baker

Pub date 6/18

My thoughts will be posted tomorrow.

Whisper Me This
by Kerry Anne King
Narrated by Teri Clark Linden


I Saw Him Standing There
(Oceanic Dreams #1)
by Holly Kerr
This is book 1 in a fun new series. Check it out!


The Two Lila Bennetts
by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Pub date 7/23

What I am going to read next

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
(The Art of Hearing Heartbeats #1)
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
This is our book club pick this month. Have you read it?

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Book Spotlight Giveaway! Buffalo for the Broken Heart by Dan O'Brien

I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

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Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

Buffalo for the Broken Heart

Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch by Dan O'Brien
Paperback, 272 pages
Published October 8th 2002 by Random House Trade Paperbacks 

For twenty years Dan O’Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O’Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, “short-necked, golden balls of wool,” O’Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half.

Buffalo for the Broken Heart is at once a tender account of the buffaloes’ first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he’s describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O’Brien combines a novelist’s eye for detail with a naturalist’s understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative.

About the author

Dan O'Brien was born Daniel Hosler O'Brien in Findlay Ohio on November 23, 1947. He attended Findlay High School and graduated in 1966. He went to Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from Findlay College in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the University of South Dakota in 1973 where he studied under Frederick Manfred. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green University (of Ohio) in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at Denver University.

When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s he began to change his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001 he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass fed and field harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the American Great Plains.

He now raises buffalo and lives on the Cheyenne River Ranch in western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, FYI. New York Times Book Review. ~ Goodreads

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Release Day! The Road She Left Behind by Christine Nolfi ~ My Thoughts #TheRoadSheLeftBehind #NetGalley

Happy Release Day!!



Congrats Christine
on the release today of
The Road She Left Behind!

The Road She Left Behind by Christine Nolfi
Print and e-book, 316 pages
Published  June 11th 2019 by Lake Union Publishin

Three women. Two families torn apart by secrets.

Crushed by guilt over the car accident that killed her father and sister, and torn apart by her mother’s resentment, Darcy Goodridge fled her family estate eight years ago and hasn’t looked back. Now an unexpected phone call threatens to upend what little serenity she’s found. Her nephew, Emerson, who was just a baby when his mother died, has gone missing. Darcy must return home and face her past in order to save him.

Once back in Ohio, Darcy realizes there’s more to Emerson’s disappearance—and to the sudden retirement of her mother, Rosalind—than meets the eye. As she works to make inroads with Rosalind, Darcy begins to unravel a decades-old secret that devastated her family and forced a wedge between her and Michael Varano, the man she left heartbroken when she vanished after the funeral. After carrying the scars of that fateful night for almost a decade, Darcy is determined to find closure, healing, and maybe even love where she lost them all in the first place—right back home where she belongs.

    

My thoughts about The Road She Left Behind~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First lines—"The harbor cruise had developed into a kidnapping. Slipping past the revelers, Darcy inched toward the relative privacy of the boat's lower deck. She was the hostage."

The Road She Left Behind just blew me away. Such a great story—such turmoil and emotions. Darcy is running away from her past, running for eight years. Then all of sudden, she gets pulled back to the life that she was running to avoid.

There are so many secrets and lies from the past, things that cannot be forgiven—until they need to be in order for life to move on. The relationships and drama between the characters is what intrigued me about this story. Everyone and everything is so intertwined that figuring it all out is what drove me to keep turning the pages.

The story has amazing, strong, and interesting characters—characters who fight, support, and love each other. I loved the interactions between Rosalind, the staunch, upstanding judge, and her eight year old grandson, who is truly wise beyond his years.

I was excited to start reading The Road She Left Behind and was sad when I got to the last page. I wasn't ready to be done with this adventure and my time in this wonderful story. This is definitely a book that you are going to want to read as soon as possible. 

"The things you own don't bring happiness."

I received a copy of The Road She Left Behind via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.

About the author

Some writers are gifted with an unusual life and I’m certainly one of those. I’ve lived in Ohio, Virginia, California, Utah and now South Carolina. In college I was featured on the front page of the Houston Post for a lark that erased all my debt. I met my four adopted children for the first time in the sweltering heat of the tropics. I helped build several companies and was lucky enough to earn a living doing what I love best–writing–in a PR firm I owned.

In 2004 I made the wisest and most irrational decision of my life–I began writing fiction full-time. All those years of hard work pay off daily in sweet notes and comments by readers. Please continue the mail, tweets and comments on FaceBook, GoodReads and other sites. I cherish your support and love chatting with readers. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Christine

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June 10, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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My daughter and I just got back from spending the weekend in Deadwood attending the Wild Deadwood Reads event. We met a lot of author and got to look over a ton of new books. And we enjoyed the beautiful area surrounding the Black Hills and the sites of Deadwood. We love it out there! 

I was also able to connect up with one of my very favorite authors, Deanna Lynn Sletten. I have read and loved all of her books and it was so much fun to spend some time with her and to finally get to meet her daughter. Her daughter, Deborah Bradseth, is a cover designer and has designed all of Deanna's covers, as well as other authors. 

My daughter, Deanna, and me

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading


The Two Lila Bennetts
by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Pub date 7/23
Love these two authors and am so excited to be reading their newest!


Whisper Me This
by Kerry Anne King
Narrated by Teri Clark Linden

What I recently finished


The Road She Left Behind
by Christine Nolfi
Pub date 6/11
My thoughts will be posted tomorrow.

Little Beach Bungalow
(The Seaside Saga #9)
by Joanne DeMaio
I love this series. Read my thoughts here.


Seeing Trouble
(Deadwood #2.5)
by Ann Charles

What I am going to read next

Queen Bee
(Lowcountry Tales #12)
by Dorothea Benton Frank
I love this author and her Lowcountry stories.

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Book Spotlight Giveaway! Resisting Ruby Rose by Jessie Humphries

I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

****************************

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

Resisting Ruby Rose

Resisting Ruby Rose by Jessie Humphries
Series: Ruby Rose #2
Paperback, 284 pages
Published October 28th 2014 by Skyscape

Still reeling from the heartbreaking events that unfolded on Grissom Island, Ruby Rose is trying to come to terms with the fact that she’s gone from a vigilante in killer shoes to a stone-cold killer. Everyone from her therapist to her smoking-hot boyfriend keeps trying to convince her that she hasn’t crossed over to the dark side, but Ruby isn’t so sure. It doesn’t help that her nemesis, Detective “Mastermind” Martinez, is still out there, waiting for another chance to take her down.

When an alleged CIA agent named Skryker shows up and asks for a meeting, Ruby figures it just means more questions about her case. But he has information of an entirely different nature and a job offer: join an elite force of young assassins, including Skryker’s right-hand guy, Quinn Donovan. Quinn is distractingly charming, handsome—and deadly. Ruby resists becoming a killer again, but as she becomes more ensnared in a web of deceit, no one around her is safe.

Book 1

About the author

Jessie Humphries, author of young adult contemporary thriller Killing Ruby Rose, is a Full-time Mother, Part-time Attorney, Half-witted Writer, and a Full-blown Lunatic. Some people like to call her a B-Word...for all kinds of different reasons, though she likes to think most of them have to do with the fact she's a Book writer, Beach lover, and a pretty good Baby Momma. She lives in Las Vegas with her Brawny husband, four Beautiful kids, and a Bizerk Morkie named Max. ~ Amazon

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Little Beach Bungalow by Joanne DeMaio ~ My Thoughts

Little Beach Bungalow

Little Beach Bungalow by Joanne DeMaio
Series: The Seaside Saga #9
Print and ebook, 332 pages
Published May 14th 2019 by Joanne DeMaio

From the New York Times bestselling author of Night Beach comes a novel as alluring as a weathered cottage by the sea.

The cottage is nestled along winding Sea View Road, set back from the sandy street. Surrounded by swaying dune grass, it's a shabby little beach bungalow with an open back porch overlooking a sparkling Long Island Sound. A sign propped in the front window says: For Rent.

Well, the cottage was For Rent ... until one particular lobsterman booked a summer stay there. As Shane Bradford settles into the New England beach town of Stony Point, he unloads more than boxes and duffels. With his arrival, he unpacks secrets, and entwined histories, among his circle of beach friends. Old loves surface. New ones emerge, too.

Little Beach Bungalow follows Shane's simmering summer days back on the Connecticut shore, and much is in store.

     

My thoughts about Little Beach Bungalow ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"The cottage is a stone’s throw from Long Island Sound—and looks it. Years of standing beside that salt water have left the old beach house seaworn."

Little Beach Bungalow takes the reader, once again, back to the beautiful beach town of Stony Point. We get to catch up with the lives of everyone in the community. It's a community full of love, drama, and hopefully forgiveness. 

Shane's return to Stony Point stirs up a lot of emotions and feelings from the past. Everyone's lives are turned upside down when he then decides to stick around. Can the past be forgiven and forgotten? And how are all of their lives going to change? 

I absolutely adore this series and I love going back to this wonderful place with all the caring and gracious people who have become my friends. And I love how Joanne always leaves her stories with a little twist at the end that makes me want more. 

Joanne's beach books make me feel like I'm taking a little vacation to the sand and water and I love my time there. Little Beach Bungalow truly is the perfect summer read.  

I received a copy of Little Beach Bungalow from the author and this is my honest opinion of the book. 

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About the author

Joanne DeMaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea. Currently at work on her next novel, Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut.

For a complete list of books and to learn more about the author, visit Joannedemaio.com. She also enjoys hearing from readers on her Facebook Page.

Connect with Joanne

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!