Monday, December 30, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? December 30, 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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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

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Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
A book I've been wanting to read for a long time is the perfect last read of 2019.

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Witch Song
(Witch Song #1)
by Amber Argyle
Narrated by Melissa Reizian Frank

Thankless in Death (In Death, #37)
Thankless in Death
(In Death #37)
by J.D. Robb
Narrated by Susan Ericksen

What I recently finished

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The Last Mystic
(Singularity #4)
by Susan Kaye Quinn
Pub date 1/7

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Mind Reader
by Kirsty McManus
Such a fun read! Read my thoughts HERE.

What I am going to read next

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The Institute
by Stephen King
One of my fav authors and a book I've had on my TBR list for too long is the perfect way to start the new year.

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!

Sunday, December 29, 2019

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins ~ My Thoughts #TheBookCharmer

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The Book Charmer

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
Series: Dove Pond #1
Print and e-book, 368 pages
Published July 30th 2019 by Gallery Books

The New York Times bestselling author of the wildly popular MacLean Curse series crafts a charming and evocative story about a picturesque Southern town, two fiercely independent women, and a magical friendship that will change their lives forever.

The residents of Dove Pond, North Carolina, know three things: they have the finest bar-b-que this side of Atlanta, their Apple Festival is the best that ever was, and the town has phenomenal good luck whenever the Dove family has seven daughters. Fortunately, that time is now, because Dove Pond desperately needs a miracle.

The seventh daughter, Sarah Dove, believes in all things magical. Books have whispered their secrets to her since she was a child. Now the town librarian, she makes sure every book finds the reader who most needs it. But recently the books have been whispering something different—that change is about to come to Dove Pond. Sarah is soon convinced that the legendary Dove Pond good luck has arrived in the form of new resident, Grace Wheeler.

After the tragic death of her sister, Grace has moved to Dove Pond with her grieving young niece and ailing foster mother hoping to retrench financially and emotionally before returning to her fast-paced city life. But she soon learns that life in a not-so-sleepy town isn’t as quiet as she’d hoped. Despite her best efforts to focus on her family, she can’t avoid the townspeople, especially her next-door neighbors, the quirky and talkative Sarah Dove and cynical veteran Travis Parker. Grace’s situation grows more complicated when she assumes her duties as town clerk and discovers that Dove Pond is on the verge of financial ruin.

Already overburdened by her own cares, Grace tries to stay aloof from the town’s issues, but she’s never been good at resisting a challenge. With Sarah’s encouragement, and inspired by the wise words of a special book, Grace decides to save her new town. And in her quest, she discovers the rich comfort of being a part of a loving community, the tantalizing promise of new love, the deep strength that comes from having a true friend, and the heartfelt power of finding just the right book.

   

My thoughts about The Book Charmer ~~

(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—"On the Saturday after her seventh birthday, a book spoke to Sarah May Dove."

I loved this book so much. I loved the warm and caring people of Dove Pond and the way the community came together to support each other. And I loved the magic of the books.

Grace, Mama G, and Daisy are a family, a family that has had their share of troubles and drama. The move to Dove Pond is only temporary, just until Grace can save enough money to move them all back to the city. But... the town and people of Dove Pond have a different plan for this little family.

Grace meets Sarah, the town librarian, and they don’t hit it off... at all. There’s definitely trouble there. But Sarah has the power and wisdom of the books to help her break through Grace’s hard exterior. I’ve always felt that books are special, so to read about the connections the books have with Sarah and how they seem to know what everyone needs made The Book Charmer such an entertaining book to read.

And I love how the ending left the future wide open for more book magic. I can’t wait to go back to Dove Pond and find out what the books have in store for everyone. The author has more stories in her head about this wonderful community, book #2, A Cup of Silver Linings will be out July 7, 2020.

I received a copy of The Book Charmer from BookishFirst and NetGalley and this is my honest review.

About the author

Karen Hawkins

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Hawkins writes novels that have been praised as touching, witty, charming, and heartwarming. A native Southerner who grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee where storytelling is a way of life, Karen recently moved to frosty New England with her beloved husband and multiple foster dogs.

The Dove Pond books are a nod to the thousands of books that opened doors to more adventures, places, and discoveries than she ever imagined possible. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Karen
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Saturday, December 28, 2019

Book Spotlight #Giveaway! Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner #GoodInBed


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!

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Good in Bed

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
Series: Cannie Shapiro #1
Paperback, 376 pages
Published April 2nd 2002 by Washington Square Press

Weiner's witty, original, fast-moving debut features a lovable heroine, a solid cast, snappy dialogue and a poignant take on life's priorities.

For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She's even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.

But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.


About the author

Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, and, most recently, Mrs. Everything. A graduate of Princeton University and contributor to the New York Times Opinion section, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Jennifer



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Friday, December 27, 2019

Release Day! Mind Reader by Kirsty McManus ~ My Thoughts #MindReader

Happy Release Day!!

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Congrats Kirsty
on the release today of
Mind Reader!

Mind Reader
by Kirsty McManus

Print and e-book, 173 pages
Published December 27, 2019

Kellan Gallo can predict soulmates. Operating out of the nightclub Heaven Sent, his charming reputation and impressive accuracy rate are legendary.

But when Kellan meets stem cell scientist Beatrix Mackenzie, he wonders if his time might be better spent pursuing a more meaningful profession.

After a lucky interview with an employment agency, Kellan suddenly finds himself working as Beatrix’s intern. But with Beatrix convinced Kellan is a fraud, he wonders whether embarking on a career in science might be incompatible with his future happiness.

***

Beatrix Mackenzie lives her life by the facts. She loves her job as a scientist because of the clear-cut answers it can provide. So when she meets Kellan, she is reluctant to fall for his act.

However, Kellan quickly proves himself to be an intelligent, and oh-so-attractive adversary, causing Beatrix to question everything she knows.

Can two people with such differing worldviews find common ground?

If they’re soulmates, it might just be possible. 

 

My thoughts about Mind Reader ~~

(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—"I can have anyone I want."

This was such a fun read! Kellan and Beatrix are as different as night and day, one is a scientist and the other one can envision someone's soulmates. Beatrix doesn't even believe in the idea of soulmates so how can she think that what he does is a real thing?

It was so much fun watching these two develop a friendship.... or not. Beatrix does everything she can to debunk Kellan's gift and to put a barrier up between the two of them. But something—chemistry perhaps, fate maybe—keeps bringing them together.

I first came across Kirsty's books when I read I Thought It Was You, part of the delightful Oceanic Dreams series. Mind Reader is a wonderful, entertaining story that have you pondering the idea of soul mates and have you rooting for these two people who really do belong together.

I highly recommend this fun story and I look forward to reading more of Kirsty's books.

I received a copy of Mind Reader from the author and this is my honest review.

About the author

Kirsty McManus

Kirsty McManus was born in Sydney, Australia and moved to Queensland when she was 14. When she was 25, she lived in Japan for a year with her partner Kesh and worked as an English teacher. This was the inspiration behind her debut novel, Zen Queen. She also spent a year in Canada and then settled back down on the Sunshine Coast in 2008. She now writes almost full time, designs the occasional website and looks after her two little boys. ~ Author website

Connect with Kirsty

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas from The Book Bag!


Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas
and Happy Holidays!


Monday, December 23, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? December 23, 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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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

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Mind Reader
by Kirsty McManus
Such a fun read!
Pub date 12/27

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Witch Song
(Witch Song #1)
by Amber Argyle
Narrated by Melissa Reizian Frank

Thankless in Death (In Death, #37)
Thankless in Death
(In Death #37)
by J.D. Robb
Narrated by Susan Ericksen

What I recently finished

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The Book Charmer
(Dove Pond #1)
by Karen Hawkins

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Winter Solstice
(Winter #4)
by Elin Hilderbrand
Check out my giveaway for book #1 in this wonderful series HERE.

What I am going to read next

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The Last Mystic
(Singularity #4)
by Susan Kaye Quinn
Not my usual genre but I really love this series!
Pub date 1/7

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!

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Book Spotlight #Giveaway! Chronicles of a Radical Hag by Lorna Landvik #ChroniclesOfARadicalHag


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 read Chronicles of a Radical Hag recently and posted my review here. I love the wisdom and humor of this author. I hope you'll enjoy it too.  

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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Chronicles of a Radical Hag

Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes) by Lorna Landvik
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published March 26th 2019 by University of Minnesota Press

A bittersweet, seriously funny novel of a life, a small town, and a key to our troubled times traced through a newspaper columnist’s half-century of taking in, and taking on, the world.

The curmudgeon who wrote the column “Ramblin’s by Walt” in the Granite Creek Gazette dismissed his successor as “puking on paper.” But when Haze Evans first appeared in the small-town newspaper, she earned fans by writing a story about her bachelor uncle who brought a Queen of the Rodeo to Thanksgiving dinner. Now, fifty years later, when the beloved columnist suffers a massive stroke and falls into a coma, publisher Susan McGrath fills the void (temporarily, she hopes) with Haze’s past columns, along with the occasional reprinted responses from readers. Most letters were favorable, although Haze did have her trolls; one Joseph Snell in particular dubbed her “liberal” ideas the “chronicles of a radical hag.” Never censoring herself, Haze chose to mollify her critics with homey recipes—recognizing, in her constantly practical approach to the world and her community, that buttery Almond Crescents will certainly “melt away any misdirected anger.”

Framed by news stories of half a century and annotated with the town’s chorus of voices, Haze’s story unfolds, as do those of others touched by the Granite Creek Gazette, including Susan, struggling with her troubled marriage, and her teenage son Sam, who—much to his surprise—enjoys his summer job reading the paper archives and discovers secrets that have been locked in the files for decades, along with sad and surprising truths about Haze’s past.

With her customary warmth and wit, Lorna Landvik summons a lifetime at once lost and recovered, a complicated past that speaks with knowing eloquence to a confused present. Her topical but timeless Chronicles of a Radical Hag reminds us—sometimes with a subtle touch, sometimes with gobsmacking humor—of the power of words and of silence, as well as the wonder of finding in each other what we never even knew we were missing.


About the author


Lorna Landvik is a mother of two and wife of one. She is the author of eight novels, including the best-selling ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and OH MY STARS. Also an actor and playwright, Lorna has appeared in many stage productions. She is a new and passionate neophyte to the practice of yoga, which is a fine antidote to her long established practice of lounging. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Lorna





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

Monday, December 16, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? December 16, 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!

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

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

What I'm currently reading

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Winter Solstice
(Winter #4)
by Elin Hilderbrand
Okay, so I pretty much binge-read this series this weekend. Don't judge me. 😏😍

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Witch Song
(Witch Song #1)
by Amber Argyle
Narrated by Melissa Reizian Frank

Thankless in Death (In Death, #37)
Thankless in Death
(In Death #37)
by J.D. Robb
Narrated by Susan Ericksen

What I recently finished

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Winter Storms
(Winter #3)
by Elin Hilderbrand

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Winter Stroll
(Winter #2)
by Elin Hilderbrand

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Winter Street
(Winter #1)
by Elin Hilderbrand

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Lies that Bind
by Ashley Farley
Pub date 1/14

What I am going to read next

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The Book Charmer
(Dove Pond #1)
by Karen Hawkins

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!

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Book Spotlight Giveaway! Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand #Giveaway #WinterStreet


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 just finished Winter Street and am currently reading book #2, Winter Stroll. I have the other two books in the series waiting on the shelf for me to devour. These are the perfect stories to read right before Christmas. 

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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Winter Street

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand
Series: Winter #1
Hardcover, 249 pages
Published October 14th 2014 by Little, Brown and Company

In bestseller Elin Hilderbrand's first Christmas novel, a family gathers on Nantucket for a holiday filled with surprises.

Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all of them grown and living in varying states of disarray. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a French housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines.

As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus (or the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party), utter chaos descends. With the three older children each reeling in their own dramas and Bart unreachable in Afghanistan, it might be up to Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.

Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling, in this heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays.


About the author

Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Elin


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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Release Day! True to Me by Kay Bratt #TrueToMe #NetGalley

Happy Release Day!!

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Congrats Kay
on the release today of
True to Me!

True to Me by Kay Bratt
Print and e-book, 270 pages
Published December 10th 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

From the bestselling author of Wish Me Home comes a breathtaking novel about the secrets that families keep and one woman’s illuminating search for the truth.

Quinn Maguire has a stable life, a fiancé, and what she thinks is a clear vision for her future. All of that comes undone by her mother’s deathbed confession—the absentee father Quinn spent thirty years resenting is not her real father at all. With that one revealing whisper, Quinn embarks on a journey to Maui, her mother’s childhood home, a storied paradise that holds the truth about her mother’s past and all its secrets Quinn is determined to uncover.

But settling on the island has its complications, and with the fiancé she left behind questioning every choice she makes, Quinn’s quest for her truth is even more difficult than she expected. As time passes and she digs deeper into her family history and her own identity, one thing becomes clear: Maui is as beautiful as she’d always imagined, and its magic is helping uncover the woman that Quinn was always meant to be.

 

I read True to Me and was blown away by the story. You're really going to want to read this one! I'll be posting my full review soon. 

About the author


Kay Bratt is the author of eleven full-length novels and two children’s books. Her writing became her solace and support while she navigated a tumultuous childhood, followed by a decade of abuse as an adult. After working her way through the hard years, Kay came out a survivor and a pursuer of peace—and finally found the courage to share her stories. A wise man once told her to “write what you know,” which resulted in Kay’s pet project and her bestselling series, The Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters.

Connect with Kay

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Newsletter

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

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