A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White

A rich, beautiful novel about three unlikely, complex characters who meet in a chic Manhattan café and realize they must sacrifice everything they ever knew or cared about to find authenticity, fulfillment, and love.

A Place at the Table tells the story of three richly nuanced characters whose paths converge in a chic Manhattan café: Bobby, a gay Southern boy who has been ostracized by his family; Amelia, a wealthy Connecticut woman whose life is upended when a family secret finally comes to light; and Alice, an African-American chef whose heritage is the basis of a famous cookbook but whose past is a mystery to those who know her.

As it sweeps from a freed-slave settlement in 1920s North Carolina to the Manhattan of the deadly AIDs epidemic of the 1980s to today’s wealthy suburbs, A Place at the Table celebrates the healing power of food and the magic of New York as three seekers come together in the understanding that when you embrace the thing that makes you different, you become whole.

My thoughts: Just reading about the book, I could hardly comprehend how in the world do such seemingly different characters possibly come together. I'll tell you, they come together by the magic of Susan Rebecca White's storytelling.

The novel mostly centers on Bobby. I will be honest and say I've never read a story about a gay male protagonist. I wasn't sure what to expect. The story begins when Bobby is just a little boy, even before he is understanding himself. I found myself falling in love with this little boy and cheering for him as he began to stand up for himself. Even as he becomes an adult, I felt so parental for Bobby! Oh and such an awful time, the 80s during the AIDs epidemic--I won't say more.

I felt so much for Alice, she had seen, lived and lost so much over her lifetime. Really liked her and had so much empathy for her. The story of Amelia--seemed out of sync with the rest of the novel. I will say it ended up coming together beyond my expectations! I have mixed feelings about the end of the novel. I would have liked a little more closure with one of the characters. However, it was simply a wonderful novel. I would highly recommend it. I also would have loved some more recipes in the back of the book :) everything sounded so yummy!!!

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Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James + Giveaway

"Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow...."

In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?

Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman… or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.

My thoughts:
This is the first novel by Simone St. James I've read and I can tell you I will definitely read more! The novel is historical, supernatural and a mystery all in one. Kitty Weekes is running from her past and finds a hiding place at Portis House. Portis house is home of a number of men who are mentally weak after the war. While there, she finds there is something sinister happening and a mystery to what happened to the family who once owned Portis House.

Silence for the Dead is one of those novels where you are swept away into the story. I was fully engaged with every written word. A number of times my heart was racing, as I read. I had no idea how this was going to play out. As the novel drew to a close, I thought I had put some of the pieces together...I was wrong.

I loved Kitty and Jack! I was very suspicious of where their story line would go--I think you will too, so I won't share! Actually, I enjoyed all the characters! I almost felt like I was right there during the story and I don't always get that feeling from a novel. I'm going to have to say one of my favorite books this year!

If you are in the US, then I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky winner! Giveaway is open to US (no Po boxes). Just fill out the form below!

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What Inspired Me To Write Steal the North by Heather Brittain Bergstrom

I wrote short stories for years before trying my hand at a novel. In my short stories, the main characters
are usually trying to leave eastern Washington, just as I did only days after I graduated from high school. My stories are far more autobiographical. It wasn’t until I’d been away from my homeland for over a decade or more that I slowly began to miss it. I thought why not write a character, for the first time, who misses eastern Washington instead of another one who is desperately trying to flee it. What if a California girl, who attends an art high school in Sacramento and lives in a midtown apartment surrounded by theatres and ethnic restaurants is suddenly sent north for the summer to eastern Washington to live with her fundamentalist aunt and uncle in a trailer park surrounded by sagebrush and potato fields? And what if, instead of hating it, the girl falls madly in love with the landscape, her aunt and uncle, and the Native American neighbor boy? I wanted to write a novel about a woman who had turned her back completely on her past, including her family, her faith, and the landscape that had shaped her. In doing what Lot’s wife had been unable to do, however, this woman left her daughter without any connections and no sense of herself. Steal the North is a novel of reclamation: a daughter’s journey to steal back her birthright. The idea of birthright—I believe that was the spark.

When I first started writing Steal the North, I planned to narrate the entire book in the voice of Emmy, my sixteen-year-old protagonist. That didn’t last long. Reuben, for instance, the Native American neighbor boy, jumped off the back steps of his sister’s trailer and insisted I let him tell his own story. His chapters were the easiest to write because I just let him speak. I think he brings much to the novel, and I am so glad he insisted. If Emmy and Reuben’s love story—the beating pulse of the novel—had been narrated solely by Emmy, the tale would have been too one-sided, as would have been my representation of eastern Washington. Reuben brings a whole culture to his chapters and a richer, more complex look at the eastern half of my home state. Their love kept me inspired and moving forward.


I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church. A few of my short stories deal with this large aspect of my childhood. But they didn’t quite get it out of my system. I needed the length and depth of a novel to further explore this. Spirituality is a strong theme in Steal the North. Oddly, I kept coming across parallels while writing this novel between the Christian church and Native American spirituality and culture. The healing ceremony that brings Emmy to eastern Washington for the summer doesn’t seem as bizarre after Reuben explains that his people still have healing ceremonies at the end of the twentieth century. Reuben admits he is a “sweat lodge junkie.” His confession makes Emmy’s conflictions with purity seem not as ridiculous.  I did not set out to equate these two very different religions and cultures, but I kept finding parallels. If nothing else the Native American spirituality in Steal the North tempers the harsher Christianity. In reality, many tribes have melded their native religion and Christianity. This melding drove the early missionaries nuts. I find it beautiful.

Steal the North by Heather Brittain Bergstrom

A novel of love in all its forms: for the land, for family, and the once-in-a-lifetime kind that catches two people when they least expect it

Emmy is a shy, sheltered sixteen-year-old when her mom, Kate, sends her to eastern Washington to an aunt and uncle she never knew she had. Fifteen years earlier, Kate had
abandoned her sister, Beth, when she fled her painful past and their fundamentalist church. And now, Beth believes Emmy’s participation in a faith healing is her last hope for having a child.

Emmy goes reluctantly, but before long she knows she has come home. She feels tied to the rugged landscape of coulees and scablands. And she meets Reuben, the Native American boy next door.

In a part of the country where the age-old tensions of cowboys versus Indians still play out, theirs is the kind of magical, fraught love that can only survive with the passion and resilience of youth. Their story is mirrored by the generation before them, who fears that their mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves in Emmy and Reuben. With Louise Erdrich’s sense of place and a love story in the tradition of Water for Elephants, this is an atmospheric family drama in which the question of home is a spiritual one, in which getting over the past is the only hope for the future.

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The Collector of Dying Breaths: A Novel of Suspense (Reincarnationist ) by M.J. Rose

A lush and imaginative novel that crisscrosses time as a perfumer and a mythologist search for the fine line between potion and poison, poison and passion…and past and present.

Florence, Italy—1533: An orphan named René le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medici’s perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France, René brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and potent medicines—and a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potential to reanimate the dead. In France, René becomes not only the greatest perfumer in the country but the most dangerous, creating deadly poisons for his Queen to use against her rivals. But while mixing herbs and essences under the light of flickering candles, Rene doesn’t begin to imagine the tragic and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be responsible.

Paris, France—The Present: A renowned mythologist, Jac L’Etoile, is trying to recover from personal heartache by throwing herself into her work, learns of the 16th century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomes obsessed with René le Florentin’s work—particularly when she discovers the dying breathes he had collected during his lifetime. Jac’s efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover, Griffin North, a linguist who has already begun translating René le Florentin’s mysterious formula. Together they confront an eccentric heiress in possession of a world-class art collection. A woman who has her own dark purpose for the elixir… a purpose for which she believes the ends will justify her deadly means. This mesmerizing gothic tale of passion and obsession crisscrosses time, zigzagging from the violent days of Catherine de Medici’s court to twenty-first century France. Fiery and lush, set against deep, wild forests and dimly lit chateaus, The Collector of Dying Breaths illuminates the true path to immortality: the legacies we leave behind.

My Thoughts: Even though THE COLLECTOR OF DYING BREATHS is part of a series, you can read this novel without having read the previous works. I've only read two of the books from this series and I have found M.J. Rose to be an amazing writer. The novel is just one part historic, part suspense, part mystery, part gothic, with a bit of a love story and all together fantastic. While reading, THE COLLECTOR OF DYING BREATHS, I found myself engrossed in the story--losing time.

During most of the novel, I had a distaste for René le Florentin. No real reason why, yet the further I read the more compelling he became. Really, as the story grew my interest in all the characters, their secrets, everything grew! A Novel that begs you to consume it! I absolutely loved THE COLLECTOR OF DYING BREATHS and I am highly recommending it. I honestly feel like the novel is an actual piece of art--it is breathtaking!

The Collector of Dying Breaths: A Novel of Suspense (Reincarnationist ) by M.J. Rose

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M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of fourteen novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors – Authorbuzz.com. The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype. She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com.

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.

For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

THE FIVE W’S and HOW Of Kimberley Freeman

WHO? Who are you besides a writer? 
I'm a senior lecturer in writing at University of Queensland (what you'd call an Associate Professor in the States). I teach two courses a year in creative writing and editing, and research in the field of medieval studies.

WHAT? What do you enjoy doing other than writing in your spare time?
I am a mad keen cyclist, putting in about 7 hours a week of cycling. I also have two kids that keep me busy, and I like to hang out with friends. And of course I love to read.

WHEN? When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
From birth. I'm not even joking. I never wanted to be anything else.

WHERE? Where do you write? 
About 30% at my desk, and about 70% in bed on a laptop. Writing in bed is very relaxing, though not great for my back.

WHY? Why do you write?
Because it's still fun after all these years.

How? Has your writing success changed your life?
I get to meet awesome people who love books all the time. I get to spend all my time reading books, thinking and talking about books.

Kimberley Freeman has a new book out, Ember Island! I am personally very excited to read it and wanted to share. I will hopefully get reading it very soon and will share my review once it's done, until then here is a bit about it!

Ember Island: A Novel

by Kimberley Freeman

1890: Orphaned as a small child, Tilly Kirkland found a loving, safe home with her grandfather in Dorset. But nineteenth-century England is an unforgiving place for a young woman with limited means and as her grandfather's health fails, it seems perfect timing that she meets Jasper Dellafore. Yet her new husband is not all he seems. Alone in the Channel Islands, Tilly finds her dream of a loving marriage is turning into a nightmare.

2012: Bestselling novelist Nina Jones is struggling with writer's block and her disappointing personal life. Nothing is quite working. After a storm damages Starwater, her house on Ember Island, she decides to stay for a while and oversee the repairs: it s a perfect excuse to leave her problems behind her on the mainland. Then Nina discovers diary pages hidden in the walls of the old home. And a mystery unravels that she is determined to solve.

Though the two women are separated by years, Starwater House will alter the course of both their lives. Nina will find that secrets never stay buried and Tilly learns that what matters most is trusting your heart.

See, doesn't it sound amazing! I'm adding links so you can buy your copy!

A Novel Review of Ember Island by Kimberly Freeman

Ember Island: A Novel by Kimberley Freeman

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Keeping Backyard Chickens Meat, Eggs, and Fun

My chicken journey started in 2013. I was experimenting with gardening, and learned from a library book that chicken manure is prized as a fertilizer. As I investigated further, I learned more about the conditions in which chickens are raised on industrial farms and was very surprised. Partly in protest, partly for the fertilizer, partly in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to try raising a small flock.

The reasons people raise chickens at home are varied, and the trend is growing. No one tracks chicken ownership statistics, but my own experience suggests that the trend is exponential. When I bought my first set of chicks, no one I knew in my suburban community was raising backyard chickens. Twelve months later, five families in our immediate area have started small flocks. Before joining the trend, prospective chicken owners should consider the following points: Click on the link for the rest of the article. http://voices.yahoo.com/keeping-backyard-chickens-12604753.html?cat=53

Week 15 of 52

Overview:

For single mom Shandi Pierce, life is a juggling act. She's finishing college, raising her delightful son Nathan, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents. She's got enough to deal with before she gets caught in the middle of a stickup in a gas station and falls in love with a man named William Ashe when he steps between the armed robber and her son to shield him from danger.

Shandi doesn't know that William has his own baggage. When he looked down the barrel of the gun in the gas station he believed it was destiny: it's been exactly one year since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn't define destiny the way other people do—to him destiny is about choice.

Now, William and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head-on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

Giveaway winners must be 18 years or older unless posted. 

Many of the giveaways are extended from publishers, we simply send them your information. If you do not receive your prize within 6-8 weeks please email us and we will contact the publisher. We can not guarantee delivery. 

If we are sending out the book, again we are not responsible if the post office doesn't deliver it or the package is damaged. 

We have never had any issues from giveaways, but as a reviewer I have not received books and have had packages opened. We love sharing great books with you and hope to never have any of the above issues :)

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The Memory Child by Steena Holmes

Brian and Diane have a ten year plan.   They plan to wait ten years before they discuss having a baby, twelve years have passed and Diane is pregnant.   Brian is thrilled and cannot wait to be a father while Diane is struggling with being a mother.   The timing isn’t great.  Both Brian and Diane have been offered great opportunities in their jobs. 

When Grace is born, Diane is thrilled.  She doesn’t want to let her out of her sight.   Brian is travelling for his job and hasn’t even met his daughter yet.    As things start to happen in life, Diane realizes that things may not be exactly as they seem.  

My Review:

The Memory Child is unlike any book I had ever read.  I am going to be very careful not to give anything away in my review but it will be difficult.  

Knowing that Diane was not wanting to have children, I assumed that after the baby was born she would either fall head over heels in love or really struggle with the care of Grace.    As the story unfolds, I was aware that things were not quite what they seemed but was unsure of exactly what was off.   The truth is told as the story goes on and I was amazed but not surprised.   

I enjoyed that the story was told from both Brian and Diane’s point of view.  There were stories from the past and of the present.   Brian went above and beyond trying to ease Diane’s discomfort with being pregnant and the idea of becoming a mother.    He was so attentive and understanding that I knew he was to be a great father.   I did love that he shared when he was overwhelmed and afraid also, but was careful to hide it from Diane so as not to add to her stress.  

I loved this book.   It was a page turned and pulled me in from the very first page.    I know that The Memory Child will not be a book that I forget.   I highly recommend this book.

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When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon

On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of characters come together in a lushly atmospheric story about past and present, family and fate, love and dreams that poignantly captures the deep bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother

The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne aspires to the American Dream, yet feels as if she's been sleepwalking through life. Caught between her family's old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career, she cannot seem to fin
d her place.

Only her beloved grandmother on Erikousa, a magical island off the coast of Greece, knows her heart. Daphne's fondest memories are of times spent in the kitchen with Yia-yia, cooking and learning about the ancient myths. It was the thought of Yia-yia that consoled Daphne in the wake of her husband's unexpected death.

After years of struggling to raise her child and pay the bills, Daphne now has a successful restaurant, a growing reputation as a chef, and a wealthy fianc?-everything she's ever wanted. But across the ocean, Yia-yia can see through the storybook perfection of Daphne's new life- and now she is calling her back to Erikousa. She has secrets about the past to share with her granddaughter- stories from the war, of loyalty and bravery in the face of death. She also has one last lesson to teach her: that security is not love, and that her life can be filled with meaning again.

My Thoughts:

When The Cypress Whispers is a beautifully written story of the love between a young woman and her Yia-yia. I really enjoyed the flashbacks into Daphne's childhood summers spent with her grandmother. The warm feelings Daphne easily recalled of the time spent watching her grandmother cook, made me recall my summers with my grandma (nothing like beautiful exotic Greece!). Ms. Corporon's descriptions were so perfectly written I almost felt the breeze and tasted the food.

The novel is filled with love, memories and ancient myths. After Daphne has lost her parents and her husband she works hard to make a future for her daughter and herself. She seemed to have ignored most of the world around her. In those years after her husband's death, she doesn't return to her safe place, to Yia-yia. She didn't want to feel alive. When she does finally return to Erikousa years later it is for her wedding. She returns to her grandmothers world, where she still has much to learn.

I felt the story started off a little slow, but it really shines with descriptions. I really have never given thought to visiting Greece, but after reading When The Cypress Whispers I would love to visit. To see the people and customs that came alive in the novel! The story isn't just about Daphne or Yia-yia but what family means and why legends and history are so important. I very much enjoyed the story, I would say I wasn't very pleased with the ending. It was a bit unexpected and I was disappointed. I won't say more than that! I will say it is worth the read, especially for a warm weekend (if we ever see those again!)

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Tuesday, April 1st: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Tuesday, April 1st: Savvy Verse & Wit

Wednesday, April 2nd: BookNAround

Thursday, April 3rd: A Bookish Affair

Monday, April 7th: Sweet Tea and Lollipops

Tuesday, April 8th: From L.A. to LA

Wednesday, April 9th: A Novel Review

Thursday, April 10th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, April 14th: Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesday, April 15th: BoundbyWords

Wednesday, April 16th: The Infinite Shelf

Thursday, April 17th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, April 21st: Always With a Book

Tuesday, April 22nd: Doing Dewey

Wednesday, April 23rd: Kahakai Kitchen

Thursday, April 24th: Broken Teepee

Monday, April 28th: Book Dilettante

Tuesday, April 29th: Dwell in Possibility

Cover Reveal : WHAT THE LADY WANTS: A Novel of the Gilded Age by Renee Rosen

In late 19th century Chicago, visionary retail tycoon Marshall Field made his fortune wooing women customers with his famous 

motto:“Give the lady what she wants.” 

His legendary charm also won the heart of socialite Delia Spencer, and led to an infamous love affair. 

The night of the Great Fire, as seventeen-year-old Delia watched the flames rise and consume what had been the pioneer town of Chicago, she couldn’t imagine how much her life, her city, and her whole world was about to change. Nor would she have guessed that the agent of that change would not simply be the fire, but more so the man she met that night…

Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field reopens his well-known dry goods store and transforms it into something the world has never seen before: a glamorous palace of a department store.  He and his powerhouse coterie— including Potter Palmer and George Pullman—usher in the age of robber barons, the American royalty of their generation.
But behind the opulence, their private lives are riddled with scandal and heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness, but as their love deepens, they will stand together despite disgrace and ostracism, through an age of devastation and opportunity, when an adolescent Chicago was transformed into the Gleaming White City of the Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893.

Praise for Dollface 

“Intoxicating....Fans of Boardwalk Empire will love Dollface.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Sara Gruen

“A lively, gutsy romp of a novel that will keep you turning pages.”—Karen Abbott, New York Times Bestselling Author of Sin in the Second City

Pre-order you copy of WHAT THE LADY WANTS

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

From Goodreads: 

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

My Review:

As the story starts A.J. Fikry is a lonely sad man.   He has lost his wife and owns a book store that is barely making ends meet.  He is extremely opinionated and never hesitates to tell whoever asks exactly what he thinks.   I had a hard time connecting with A.J. Fikry.   He was not a person that I liked, I did feel bad for him living such a sad life.  As the story continues I begin to understand A.J. a little more.  As people start coming into his life, I see him coming out of his sad world a little more.   One thing that I always liked about A.J. is his absolute love of books, even if I didn’t always agree with his tastes.

My favorite thing in this book is the bookstore.   I would love to find a small and hometown bookstore that stocks only books that will sell, but not always the most popular books.  Imagine finishing a book, walking into your own home (which is the bookstore) and just picking up another.  Never having to worry about what to read next.  You can change your mind at a whim and pick up another book.   That would be dream like to me.   This bookstore seemed to bring in people, not just readers, but people who were looking after A.J. and the bookstore.  People who cared about what happens to their town and want the bookstore to succeed.  These people became friends and some even family.  

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Spotlight: The Island of Doves by Kelly O'Connor McNees + Giveaway

Vivid and enthralling, Island of the Doves tells the story of a courageous woman who is desperate for freedom and of those who will risk everything to help her…




Susannah Fraser lives in one of Buffalo’s finest mansions, but her monstrous husband makes the home a terrible prison. When a local nun offers to help her escape, Susannah boards a steamship headed for Mackinac Island and a chance at freedom.

Magdelaine Fonteneau has seen her share of tragedy—a husband murdered before her eyes, two sisters lost—and she sees offering Susannah refuge in her island home as atonement for her many regrets. This act of kindness changes Susannah in ways she never could have imagined as she finds solace in the company of others who carry their own secrets and scars. Only together can they untangle their pasts—and find a future bright with the promise of new life.


Buy your copy of The Island of Doves by Kelly O'Connor McNees

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I am so excited to read Kelly's newest book and I am thrilled to have an opportunity to give a copy away to one US winner (no po boxes)!

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Best Present for 40th Birthday: 40 Pounds of Flesh Gone

When I wrote my piece for Yahoo I didn't add a before and after picture. I honestly didn't think the change in my size was overly dramatic. Then I got to thinking it wouldn't hurt to just see what a side by side would look like. So I went through some photos---harder than you may think as I delete most that showed my lower half. I put the side by side together and even I was shocked!

Writing about losing weight wasn't easy. It's not easy to share about losing so much weight, it's embarrassing. Now that I've written the article, I've got some encouraging feedback. Even looking at the pictures reignites my desire to get to my target weight.

If you haven't read my article please do! Best Present for 40th Birthday: 40 Pounds of Flesh Gone.

Ember Island by Kimberely Freeman

Reviewed by Charlotte Lynn

2012: Bestselling novelist Nina Jones is struggling with writer's block and her disappointing personal life. Nothing is quite working. After a storm damages Starwater, her house on Ember Island, she decides to stay for a while and oversee the repairs: it s a perfect excuse to leave her problems behind her on the mainland. Then Nina discovers diary pages hidden in the walls of the old home. And a mystery unravels that she is determined to solve.

Though the two women are separated by years, Starwater House will alter the course of both their lives. Nina will find that secrets never stay buried and Tilly learns that what matters most is trusting your heart.

My Review:

2012: Bestselling novelist Nina Jones is struggling with writer's block and her disappointing personal life. Nothing is quite working. After a storm damages Starwater, her house on Ember Island, she decides to stay for a while and oversee the repairs: it s a perfect excuse to leave her problems behind her on the mainland. Then Nina discovers diary pages hidden in the walls of the old home. And a mystery unravels that she is determined to solve.

Though the two women are separated by years, Starwater House will alter the course of both their lives. Nina will find that secrets never stay buried and Tilly learns that what matters most is trusting your heart.

My Review:

This novel is written in two time frames.  I am finding that I am enjoying these types of books more and more.  They come to me as bonus stories.  Instead of being told one amazing story, I get many tales that interweave with each other.    Kimberley Freeman is great at writing these types of stories.   She manages to keep each story seperate but yet makes them part of one bigger tale.

Tilly and Nina were amazing characters.    I related to both and found them both to be engaging.  I had a feeling where Tilly was heading and wanted to steer her away, but knew that she had to go there to find the path her life was suppose to take.     Nina was a surprise to me.   I loved her interactions with Joe and with Stacey.    Her ending surprised me but made me very happy.

Being historical fiction and set in current times, Ember Island has something for everyone.    I will recommend this book.

Purchase Links
Amazon   |   Goodreads   |   Barnes and Noble
Author Links
Website

Purchase Links

Amazon   |   Goodreads   |   Barnes and Noble

Author Links

Website