Vacation Week for Me!!

I will more than likely be away from my computer and this blog for the next week or so. We are going on a family vacation to the Black Hills!! And when I say family, I am talking about not just my immediate family; spouse, kids and grand-kids. They will all be there (11 of us) but this vacation will also include all of my sibs and their families. So 11 + 6 = 17 + 1 (good friend for part of the week) = 18. Craziness!!

My brother so graciously sprung for the rent on a lodge out in the Hills for all of us for a week. I can't remember when all of us have been together when it hasn't been for a wedding or a funeral. And those aren't normal times, are they? So this will be a very interesting week and hopefully a lot of fun. 

I wonder if we will fall back into our sibling roles? I know there will be a lot of reminiscing, story telling and loving ribbing going on. Oh, the stories the younger generation is going to learn about their elders! 

Happy reading everyone!! 

WWW Wednesdays July 27

 

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading  

To play along, just answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am just about done with The Septavalent Stone by J.O. Jones and I am just starting Count Down to Love by Julie N. Ford.  

I just recently finished reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (so  funny!!) and The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagán (LOVED IT!!) You can read my thoughts about The Art of Forgetting here. 

As an aside, my book group went out to dinner to discuss Sedaris' book. Well, a local gentleman who has his own vineyard (and who happens to be loaded, money-wise) came into the restaurant while we were enjoying our drinks, before ordering dinner and discussing the book. He started talking with us, maybe a little flirting was going on, and he ended up buying each of us a glass of his very own wine. What a nice guy!!  So you can imagine how hilarious we thought Sedaris' book was after 2 drinks. Most of us are light-weights when it comes to alcohol anyway. We had a great time laughing about the book.

Next I will be reading whatever books I have been excited to get to from my TBR pile. We are going on a weeks vacation and I always have high hopes that I am going to do a lot of reading on vacation. I usually don't, but I pack the books anyway, just in case. 

And now I have a ton of e-books I can read too, just in case I get thru all of my hard copy books. These are a few that I am going to take along cause I really, really want to read them.

• Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown 
• Hatteras Girl by Alice J. Wisler
• The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry
• Mothers & Daughters by Rae Meadows

I am not really sure which one to start with. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I got them all read?

So many books! So little time!!

Happy reading everyone! 

The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagán

Marissa Rogers never wanted to be an alpha; beta suited her just fine. Taking charge without taking credit had always paid off: vaulting her to senior editor at a glossy magazine; keeping the peace with her critical, weight-obsessed mother; and enjoying the benefits of being best friends with gorgeous, charismatic, absolutely alpha Julia Ferrar.

And then Julia gets hit by a cab. She survives with minor obvious injuries, but brain damage steals her memory and alters her personality, possibly forever. Suddenly, Marissa is thrown into the role of alpha friend. As Julia struggles to regain her memory- dredging up issues Marissa would rather forget, including the fact that Julia asked her to abandon the love of her life ten years ago- Marissa's own equilibrium is shaken.

With the help of a dozen girls, she reluctantly agrees to coach in an after-school running program. There, Marissa uncovers her inner confidence and finds the courage to reexamine her past and take control of her future.

The Art of Forgetting is a story about the power of friendship, the memories and myths that hold us back, and the delicate balance between forgiving and forgetting. ~~synopsis from Goodreads.com

This book first caught my eye because of... yes, you guessed it.... the cover. I think this cover is so beautiful and elegant. 

I love to read stories about women that have friendships with other women or form a strong bond with other women because of a crisis in their lives. These kids of stories usually evolve into how those women support each other and how their relationships change them, usually for the good.

Well, that is exactly what this book is about. The relationship between Marissa and Julia has always been sort of one-sided, with Marissa following Julia and whatever she suggest. After Julia's accident, their relationship has to change and grow into something else. I loved watching Marissa come into her own and grow as a woman and individual that knows what she wants, no matter what Julia or anyone else thinks.

This was a fast read for me, I lost myself in the story and did not want to stop reading it. I even stayed up way too late reading it just so I could finish. Work was tough the next day, but I just had to keep going!

This is a debut book by Camille Noe Pagán and she did an excellent job. I will be watching to see what she writes next. 

Author's website  http://www.camillenoepagan.com

 

WWW Wednesdays July 20

 

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading  

To play along, just answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading The Septavalent Stone by J.O. Jones and When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. So far they are both pretty good.

I just recently finished reading I'll Have Who She's Having by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke and Blank Slate by Healther Justesen. You can read my thoughts on both of these books by clicking on the linked titles. Both of them were great reads!

Next I think I will be reading......... hmmmm......... I don't know......... there are so many good books to choose from. 

What do you recommend for my next read?  

Happy reading everyone! 

Book Tour: Blank Slate by Heather Justesen

Adrianna Mueller may be a world-renowned concert pianist, but when she wakes from her coma after a serious car accident, her ability to perform has disappeared as completely as her lost memory. 

As she recovers from her injuries, she struggles with the expectations of everyone—her family, friends, and fiancé, Brock—who all want everything to go back to the way it was.

Everyone except Gavin, Adrianna’s brother’s business partner, who finds himself drawn to the woman she is now. But he has his own problems. As he tries to get a handle on a former employee’s embezzlement, he fights his growing feelings for Adrianna.

And then a trip to the emergency room shakes everything up, leaving her to stumble as she tries to regain her footing all over again. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads 

Okay, so this books starts off pretty predictable. I could see right from the get-go where this author was taking me, the reader. And I was thinking, 'Oh no, why can't this author be a little more original? This is going to be a long, boring read - I've got it figured out already, in chapter one, for gosh sakes!' 

Hang on, though, Ms. Justesen takes you on a ride you don't want to miss. Yes, you can figure out where the story is headed and you can pretty much predict the outcome but you just want to keep reading. The journey is in getting the characters where they need to be in their lives. 

There were parts of the story that were comical as Adrianna tries to fit back into her life and things just don't seem to fit. And there were parts, and characters, that made me so mad when they were faced with disappointment and wanted innocent people to suffer. And there were sweet parts as some of the people tried to rediscover those that they thought they knew.  

And yes, there were even parts that brought me to tears! That is a true sign of a good book for me - when I get so involved in the lives of the characters in a story, that I cry when they cry, I hurt when they hurt, and I am happy when they are happy. Job well done, Heather! 

Ms. Justesen has 3 published books already and has another one in the works. I will be checking out her other 2 published books and will be keeping my eyes out for any new books she writes in the future. 

And ........ I love the cover!! 

Author's website http://www.heatherjustesen.com 

Author's blog http://heatherjustesen.blogspot.com/ 

Purchase links for Blank Slate -- Paperback on Amazon, Kindle and Smashwords -- from now until the end of July, if you go to Smashwords and enter code WV49Z, you can download the book for only $1.49! What a deal!!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Tristi Pinkston Book Tours.