It's Monday! What Are You Reading? January 30, 2023 #IMWAYR

    

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

Mothered

by Zoje Stage

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ March 1

Not Your Father's America

by Cort Casady

print ARC

Pub date ~ January 17

The Forgetting Time

by Sharon Guskin

Narrated by Susan Bennett & David Pittu

audio-book

What I recently finished

Lucy in the Sky 

(Hart's Ridge Book 2)

by Kay Bratt

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 13

When We Believed in Mermaids

by Barbara O'Neal

print from my bookshelves

Missing: A Memoir

by Cornelia Maude Spelman

Read my thoughts here

Golden in Death

(In Death #50)

by J.D. Robb

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

audio-book

What I am going to read next

The Last Beekeeper

by Julie Carrick Dalton

print ARC

Pub date ~ March 7

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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

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

This OR That #Giveaway № 89 ~ The God Game by Danny Tobey OR Remember by Patricia Smith #TheGodGame #Remember

 

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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

The God Game

by Danny Tobey

ARC ~ Published January 2020

You are invited!

Come inside and play with G.O.D.

Bring your friends!

It’s fun!

But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.™ Lose, you die!

With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God. Through their phone-screens and high-tech glasses, the teens’ realities blur with a virtual world of creeping vines, smoldering torches, runes, glyphs, gods, and mythical creatures. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them with expensive tech, revenge on high-school tormentors, and cash flowing from ATMs. Slaying a hydra and drawing a bloody pentagram as payment to a Greek god seem harmless at first. Fun even.

But then the threatening messages start. Worship me. Obey me. Complete a mission, however cruel, or the game reveals their secrets and crushes their dreams. Tasks that seemed harmless at first take on deadly consequences. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them, appearing around corners, attacking them in parking garages. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win?

And what of the game’s first promise: win, win big, lose, you die? Dying in a virtual world doesn’t really mean death in real life—does it?

As Charlie and his friends try to find a way out of the game, they realize they’ve been manipulated into a bigger web they can’t escape: an AI that learned its cruelty from watching us.

God is always watching, and He says when the game is done.

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

Remember

by Patricia Smith

ARC ~ Published October 2019

A riveting debut psychological thriller about the power memory has over us.

Portia Willows was a senior in high school in Los Angeles when her world fell apart. While dealing with the aftermath of the accident that took the lives of her mother and sister, she finds herself forced to face her own memory―which may not be quite what it seems. But Portia suffers from severe social anxiety disorder that prevented her from having any sort of life, while her little sister, Piper, was her best, and only, friend.

Now, five years later, Portia is forced to recall the events of the past while being questioned about a horrific crime she doesn’t remember. During those years, Portia had created a toxic, agoraphobic, life with her father, cigarettes and alcohol her only companions, unable to cope with her loss. That is, until Ethan Torke moved in across the street and changed Portia’s perspective in ways she could not possibly comprehend. But the truth always catches up with you, and fantasies never last. An unforgettable tale of memory, love, and strength through the darkest of times, Remember announces a brave new voice in psychological suspense.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways! 

Missing: A Memoir by Cornelia Maude Spelman ~ My Thoughts #Missing @SpelmanCornelia

Missing: A Memoir by Cornelia Maude Spelman

Memoir, 176 pages

Published July 15, 2022 by by Jackleg Press 

Acclaimed children’s book author Cornelia Maude Spelman’s memoir of her family springs from a meeting and subsequent friendship with the late, legendary New Yorker editor William Maxwell. In the 1920s, he and her parents had been friends as undergraduates at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When Spelman hints at what she thinks of as the failure of her parents’ lives, he counters that “in a good novel one doesn’t look for a success story, but for a story that moves one with its human drama and richness of experience.”

At their final meeting, Maxwell encourages her to tell her mother’s story. Missing is Spelman’s response to Maxwell’s wisdom. With the pacing of the mystery novels her mother loved, and using everything from letters and interviews to the family’s quotidian paper trail—medical records, telegrams, and other oft-overlooked clues to a family’s history—Spelman reconstructs her mother’s life and untimely death. Along the way, she unravels mysteries of her family, including the fate of her long lost older brother.

Spelman skillfully draws the reader into the elation and sorrow that accompany the discovery of a family’s past. A profoundly loving yet honest elegy, Missing is, like the woman it memorializes, complex and beautiful.

My thoughts about Missing ~~

(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—"When I was growing up, I'd heard William Maxwell's name spoken with respect that Pop reserved for very few people."

I used to read a lot of biographies and autobiographies but have not read them since my much younger years. It was kind of nice to pick one up again and read a captivating story about an interesting person who was able to track down a lot of information about her family. 

I was not familiar with Cornelia Maude Spelman or any of her work before reading this book. She has written a number of children's books that help them get through emotional, tough times. At some point she decided to delve into the lives of her family, in particular her mother, who lived a hard life and died an untimely death. 

There were plenty of questions surrounding the whole family over the years and I was struck by how lucky the author was to be able to find so much information about her mother and the past generations of her family. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to have so much information available when they start researching their family. 

Missing was a very enjoyable story that was easy to get caught up in as the author dissected the different personalities and issues within the family. 

I received an ARC of Missing and this is my honest opinion.

"Memoir Writing at its Absolute Finest."

Cornelia Spelman's gentle, lyrical prose belies the haunting nature of her story, a searing, honest search for the lost pieces of her family's story. Missing is a book that both comforts and astounds. It's memoir writing at its absolute finest. ─Alex Kotlowitz

A long, intimate journey; the very honest accounting of the way old pain works its way through the generations. One of the fascinations of the whole story comes from the vicarious satisfaction of seeing someone who actually does discover every bit of what is still discoverable, and then who dares to speculate with candor about how it all fits together, not to mention how it's affected her. ─Rosellen Brown

About the author

Cornelia Maude Spelman, MSW, is a writer, artist, and former therapist who writes about emotions and relationships. Her memoir Missing, about her search for her mother's past, is now in paperback.

Cornelia has been writing a daily diary for 35 years, and is presently writing Volume 250. Her diaries (closed until 2070), her mother’s teen-age diaries; family photos, letters, and papers (open for researchers), are being archived at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America in Cambridge, Massachusetts https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu

Connect with Cornelia

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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

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

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? January 23, 2023 #IMWAYR

   

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

When We Believed in Mermaids

by Barbara O'Neal

print from my bookshelves

Missing: A Memoir

by Cornelia Maude Spelman

e-book for review

Golden in Death

(In Death #50)

by J.D. Robb

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

audio-book

What I recently finished

The Sound of the Sea 

(Sail Away Series Book 2)

by Jessie Newton

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 1

No More Secrets

(No More #3)

by Kerry Lonsdale

print ARC

Pub date ~ March 14

Maureen

(Harold Fry #3)

by Rachel Joyce

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 7

What I am going to read next

Lucy in the Sky 

(Hart's Ridge Book 2)

by Kay Bratt

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 13

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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

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

This OR That #Giveaway № 88 ~ The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan OR My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley #TheFirstToLie #MyExLife

 

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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

The First to Lie

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

ARC ~ Published August 2020

USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author and investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan delivers another twisty, thrilling cat and mouse novel of suspense that will have you guessing, and second-guessing, and then gasping with surprise.

We all have our reasons for being who we are―but what if being someone else could get you what you want?

After a devastating betrayal, a young woman sets off on an obsessive path to justice, no matter what dark family secrets are revealed. What she doesn't know―she isn't the only one plotting her revenge.

An affluent daughter of privilege. A glamorous manipulative wannabe. A determined reporter, in too deep. A grieving widow who must choose her new reality. Who will be the first to lie? And when the stakes are life and death, do a few lies really matter?

Read my thoughts here

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

My Ex-Life
by Stephen McCauley
ARC ~ Published May 2018

The time for Stephen McCauley's breakout novel has come and My Ex-Life is it in a major way. A delicious novel for fans of Tom Perrotta, Maria Semple, and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney about how sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back.

David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams. His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7.

The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him.

Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal. And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her 17-year-old daughter.

That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices.

When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago―they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences. But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix.

In prose filled with hilarious and heartbreakingly accurate one-liners, Stephen McCauley has written a novel that examines how we define home, family, and love. Be prepared to laugh, shed a few tears, and have thoughts of your own ex-life triggered. (Throw pillows optional.)

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? January 16, 2023 #IMWAYR

       

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

No More Secrets

(No More #3)

by Kerry Lonsdale

print ARC

Pub date ~ March 14

Love this series!!

Maureen

(Harold Fry #3)

by Rachel Joyce

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 7

Golden in Death

(In Death #50)

by J.D. Robb

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

audio-book

What I recently finished

The Maid

by Nita Prose

e-book

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

(Harold Fry #1)

by Rachel Joyce

print

Uncharted Waters

(Sail Away #3)

by Tammy L. Grace

e-book ARC

Pub date ~ February 8

What I am going to read next

When We Believed in Mermaids

by Barbara O'Neal

print

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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

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

This OR That #Giveaway № 87 ~ Island Girl by Lynda Simmons OR Seeds of Intention by Andrea Thome #IslandGirl #SeedsOfIntention

 

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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

Island Girl
by Lynda Simmons
Paperback ~ Published December 2010

There are people who try hard to forget their problems. All Ruby wants to do is remember...

Ruby Donaldson has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease, and she'll be damned if she won't straighten out her troubled family before she no longer knows how.

Ruby spent years fighting to hold on to the home her grandmother built on Ward's Island. The only way she can ensure that her younger, mentally scarred daughter Grace can live there for the rest of her life is to convince her older daughter, Liz, to sober up and come home.

Ruby always thought she'd have a lifetime to make things right, but suddenly time is running out. She has to put her broken family back together quickly while searching for a way to deal with the inevitable- and do it with all the grit, stubbornness, and unstoppable determination that makes Ruby who she is...until she's Ruby no longer.

Read my thoughts here

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

Seeds of Intention

(Hesse Creek #2)

by Andrea Thome

ARC ~ Published August 2017

Is it more important to have roots, or wings?

Garrett Oliver has just settled into his job as heir apparent to one of the most renowned master gardeners in the country. After a difficult few years, he’s found a home and a renewed purpose at a famed resort in the secluded Smoky Mountains. The stars seem to be aligning for Garrett as he plans a future with his college sweetheart and envisions a simple life with her in the mountains of East Tennessee.

Willow Armstrong, fresh off a painful breakup, is coming home to Knoxville to care for her ailing father. She finds herself in the right place at the right time, landing a dream job alongside Garrett—as his boss. As they are thrown together by their work, an undeniable magnetism grows between them, despite the fact that Garrett is ready to start a future with someone else. Circumstances persist in drawing them closer, and an unexpected opportunity in Colorado prompts Willow and Garrett to wonder if a life together out west might be beyond anything either of them had dared to imagine.

Read my thoughts here

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!