Me & Milo the Great by Michelle Schlicher ~ My Thoughts

Me & Milo the Great

Me & Milo the Great by Michelle Schlicher
Print and e-book
Expected publication: September 14th 2017

My name is Holiday Sanchez. I carry a heavy burden.

But I'm not the only one.

There are others who know what it feels like to remember. Maybe they are the answer. Maybe we can help each other. Maybe I'll finally get past it.

Maybe it just takes time—and a little bit of magic.

Pre-order from Amazon for only $3.99!

My thoughts about Me & Milo the Great ~~

(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—"I didn't call him my father. Even when he still lived in our house, slept in the room next to mine, ate at the same kitchen table. I wasn't something I planned. I can't tell you why. I was too young."

Me & Milo the Great is a wonderful, thought provoking, emotional story which I found to be very different from most of the books I have been reading lately. And this one is a bit different from Michelle's previous books, all of which I thoroughly loved. This one deals with the aftermath of a tragic event and how it affected the life of a young woman. It has a more serious tone than her other books, but it is also filled with hope.

Holiday lives a complicated, secluded life for something that wasn't her fault. But the guilt and feeling of responsibility that she is living with causes her to withdraw from everyone and everything around her. That is until she meets Milo. Something magical sparks between them and Holiday starts to feel differently about herself. I loved the relationship between Holiday and Milo, both of them misfits in their own worlds, but they're just strange enough to be perfect for each other.

This story made me stop and think about how people react, and how they must feel, after going through a tragic event like Holiday did. The guilt that survivors feel and the responsibility that Holiday felt, for something someone else did, has got to be crippling. Me & Milo the Great took me to a sad, tragic world with some quirky characters but at the same time it was filled with beauty, love, and forgiveness.

Thank you, Michelle, for this wonderful story that opened my eyes and made me think about other people and what they might be going through. You just never know, do you?

I received a copy of Me & Milo the Great from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

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I have loved all of Michelle's books.
Click on the covers to find them on Goodreads.
Click on the links below to read my thoughts.

  

The Blue Jay

Gracie's Song

Come This Way

About the author

Michelle Schlicher is the author of the novels The Blue Jay, Gracie’s Song and Come This Way. She lives outside of Des Moines with her husband, two children, two fluffy dogs and a cat that followed her home to become a prince. You can follow her on Instagram @michelleschlicher.

Connect with Michelle

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 14, 2017

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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A rather slow reading week for me this week. The book I just finished was rather long so it took me a bit to get through it. It was very engrossing though. The weather has turned cool here, which is odd for August in South Dakota but I'll take it. It almost feels like fall—I can't believe how fast the summer flew by. College classes start next Monday with the public schools starting the day after, on Tuesday. You can just feel the increase of activity all over town. 

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

What I'm currently reading/listening to

Cracked Open (Mindjack #5)
by Susan Kaye Quinn
I love this series!

Possession in Death (In Death #31.5)
by J.D. Robb
(audio-book)
This series is great on audio.

What I recently finished

The Dream Keeper's Daughter

by Emily Colin
My thoughts will be posted later this weelk.

The Quiet Child
by John Burley
Read my thoughts here.

A Wild Fright in Deadwood (Deadwood #7)
by Ann Charles
(audio-book)
I just love this series!

What I am going to read next

The Art of Hiding
by Amanda Prowse
This is my first book by this author. Have you read her?

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen ~ My Thoughts

Lost Lake

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
Series: Lost Lake #1 
Paperback, 352 pageg
Published May 30th 2017 by St. Martin's Paperbacks 

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby's past. Her husband, George, is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that's left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires. It's not quite enough to keep Eby from calling this her final summer at the lake, and relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand.

Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness and heartbreak and loss. Now she's all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope, too, thanks to her resilient daughter, Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.

One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren't sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it's too late?

My thoughts about Lost Lake ~~

(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 line—"The wet night air bounced against the electric streetlamps, giving off tiny sparks like flint. Almost tripping again, Eby Pim laughed and looped her arm through George's."

I have loved every Sarah Addison Allen book I have ever read. And Lost Lake can be added to that list as well.

Lost Lake is filled with wonderful characters who all love that lake and are drawn to it for their various reasons. Returning to Lost Lake is coming home for most of those people. They experience a feeling of acceptance, happiness, and love when they set foot on the grounds.

And like most of SAA's book, this one has her touch of magic intertwined in the story which makes reading it such a great escape.

I received a copy of Lost Lake from Goodreads in exchange for my honest opinion.

Waking Kate (Lost Lake 0.5) 

 is FREE on Amazon, 

to get you started on this great series! 

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About the author

Sarah Addison Allen is the New York Times Bestselling author of Garden Spells (2007) The Sugar Queen (2008) The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010) The Peach Keeper (2011) and Lost Lake (2014). Her new novel First Frost is now on sale. She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina.

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Book Spotlight Giveaway! A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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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I've got a great book for you today! It's a gently used copy of a fabulous read. This is a book that everyone seems to be talking about right now. I read it for one of my book clubs and we all loved the story and especially loved Ove. I ended up with two copies so I am letting one go. One option in the giveaway is to comment about this book or other books by this author. I am hoping you can help me pick which one of his books to read next. 

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!



A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Paperback, 337 pages
Published May 5th 2015 by Washington Square Press 

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations. 

  

About the author

Fredrik Backman, a blogger and columnist, is the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. Both were number one bestsellers in his native Sweden and around the world, and are being published in more than thirty five territories. His latest novel is Britt-Marie Was Here. He lives in Stockholm with his wife and two children.

Connect with Fredrik

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The Quiet Child by John Burley ~ My Thoughts #TLCBookTours #TheQuietChild

The Quiet Child

The Quiet Child by John Burley
Paperback, 304 pages
Published August 8th 2017 by William Morrow Paperbacks

From the award-winning author of The Absence of Mercy, comes a gripping and darkly psychological novel about family, suspicion, and the price we are willing to pay to protect those we love the most.

It’s the summer of 1954, and the residents of Cottonwood, California, are dying. At the center of it all is six-year-old Danny McCray, a strange and silent child the townspeople regard with fear and superstition, and who appears to bring illness and ruin to those around him. Even his own mother is plagued by a disease that is slowly consuming her.

Sheriff Jim Kent, increasingly aware of the whispers and rumors surrounding the boy, has watched the people of his town suffer—and he worries someone might take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Then a stranger arrives, and Danny and his ten-year-old brother, Sean, go missing. In the search that follows, everyone is a suspect, and the consequences of finding the two brothers may be worse than not finding them at all.

Purchase The Quiet Child

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My thoughts about The Quiet Child ~~

(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 line—"Michael McCray squinted into the low-hanging sun as he swung the liberty blue Mercury four-door into the Century Grocery parking lot off Gas Point Road,. At 7:45 P.M., the last of the August daylight still lingered, not yet willing to surrender to the town of Cottonwood, California, to the custody of the night." 

Not only is The Quiet Child so well written that the words just flowed off the pages, the story was intriguing and suspenseful enough to make me not what to put it down. I loved the way the author wrote the descriptions so as to make me feel like I was totally immersed in the scenes he was describing. It was all so detailed and well written without being overdone.

And the twists and turns of the storyline. Wow! So much there that I was not expecting—so many thing that are not what they seem to be. This is an author that I will definitely be reading again.


I received a copy of The Quiet Child for the TLC Book Tours book tour in exchange for my honest opinion.

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About the author

John Burley attended medical school in Chicago and completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He currently serves as an emergency medicine physician in Northern California, where he lives with his wife and daughter, and their Great Dane and English bulldog.

Connect with John

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Check out other stops on the tour

Tuesday, August 8th: The Ludic Reader

Wednesday, August 9th: The Book Bag

Thursday, August 10th: Buried Under Books

Thursday, August 10th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, August 11th: Bewitched Bookworms

Monday, August 14th: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, August 15th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, August 15th: SJ2B House Of Books

Wednesday, August 16th: Readaholic Zone

Thursday, August 17th: Tina Says…

Monday, August 21st: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Tuesday, August 22nd: StephTheBookworm

Wednesday, August 23rd: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Wednesday, August 23rd: Art Books Coffee

Thursday, August 24th: A Bookworm’s World

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Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 7, 2017

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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What a busy week and weekend! My MIL was here and we had 16 family members over on Saturday to see her. Whew! It was fun though. I didn't get any reading time in and I can't wait to get back to my current book. 

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

What I'm currently reading/listening to

The Quiet Child
by John Burley

A Wild Fright in Deadwood (Deadwood #7)
by Ann Charles
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

Me & Milo the Great
by Michelle Schlicher
My thoughts will be posted soon.

What I am going to read next

The Dream Keeper's Daughter

by Emily Colin

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!