Rounding up some books
and reviews from the readers in our family.
Hope you find one of these as your next summer read!
We've mentioned this series before but, if you haven't discovered the Emma M. Lion series, start today! It won't disappoint!
Set in the late 1800's, Emma is a girl of little consequence who quickly becomes a true friend and influence to her friends and the town. Her crazy uncle and demanding aunt have their own plans for Emma but as she becomes more of her own person things seem to fall into her favor. A few chapters in and you'll be hooked with the character, the cleaver writing/conversations, love triangle, revealed secrets, characters of St. Crispian's and their adventures. Book 8 came out a few months ago and there is more to come! G rated.
Wow! Follow Hyeonseo as she recounts her true-life story.
This is an amazing, crazy and an eye-opening account of life in closed off North Korea.
Interesting and scary the control of the government by promoting fear, skepticism, total devotion, brutality and a no compassion for others mentality from the time kids enter school. It's incredible that Hyeonseo is alive as she navigates struggles at home, family secrets, innocent thinking at times, crossing into China, being stuck there, making it to South Korea, then going back to China to help her family to Korea and eventually making it to America. I don't even know how she was brave enough to deal with the situations she was put in. Great read.
After losing her job at a library and boyfriend,
Gladwyn moves in with her grandmother and becomes a reporter for a small town.
She starts reporting on some strange and dangerous activity in town
leading her to investigate some town mysteries.
Join this vintage style girl in solving the crimes, meet her fun-loving energetic grandma,
see how she deals with tricky family relationships and potential love.
A fun mystery with a sprinkle of romance.
Nora and Duke randomly cross paths at a basketball game
and have a night fulfilling bucket list items before
Nora moves three days later.
When they reconnect 3 years later,
their friendly banter and flirting is still there.
Can Nora overcome emotions from the past that affect
how she approaches life and relationships?
Great beach read, witty dialog, clean romance.
Misconceptions, not listening to parent's advice and choices as teens can lead us into different directions. A story of life altering decisions, getting out of domestic violence and trying to start over. Blanche learns what matters most, how to move on and even to trust and love again.
Two book series.
How do you deal with the death of a loved one?
How can you move on? Yuri hears the story of a man on a mountain who has an old phone booth with a disconnected phone in his garden. It gets the reputation as being a place where you can talk to your loved ones who have passed on. People come from miles to use the "wind phone" and walk in the gardens. Follow Yuri's journey to come to terms with her mother and daughter's deaths, as she works through all her thoughts and feelings while developing new relationships with those, she meets in the phone booth garden.
Learn about our amazing first president with a focus on the American Revolution. Washington changed the world forever. Great stories of America's fight for freedom to form a republic. It's miraculous how several events played out to save Washington and America.
Beck dives into Washington's character, morals, ethics, manners, choices and the events that shaped his life. We can "be George Washington" as we incorporate his example and behavior into our own lives.
Based on the incredible true story of the Kurk family during WWII in Poland.
From Sibiria, to the Jewish Ghettos, lost in foreign lands and camps each of the 5 children and parents were able to survive! Every family member had their own set of experiences to overcome. Fascinating the events that happened in Poland as at one point the Russians occupied one half and the Germans the other and what that meant to the Polish people, especially the Jews. Inspiring to see their bravery, determination, miracles that helped and how they slowly were reunited. (one cuss word is repeated a few times in association with one of the characters)
Rom-com for your next vacation. Kelsy goes home have one more summer home before she gets married. As she plans her wedding, things don't seem to be coming together. Mainly because she is distracted by her childhood nemesis Cade and their tradition of always pranking each other. When he's hired to work on her family farm for the summer, the gloves come off as plans are made on how to get pay back for all the jokes and pranks that have been played over the years.
Jewel moves back to her childhood farm with her parents to start fresh and to get her daughter Cooper away from some not-so-great influences. Her dad CT suffers from dementia, is a beekeeper and retired farmer. Her mother Honey is overwhelmed with CT's constant care and keeping up on the farm. They quickly find that banning together can change their lives for the better. With their neighbor Miguel's encouragement, Jewel turns the family home into a B&B. A look into the daily struggles of someone with dementia and their care givers. We currently have a family member in this circumstance, so it really hit home how we need to support the care givers as much as we can. It's a sad disease to see your loved one's personality slip away. But this is a good read with a little romance thrown in.
There was a lot of hype about this book, so we decided to give it a try. [language and graphic injuries-it's war,] You follow Frankie as she volunteers to be an Army nurse during Vietnam. This was a war with controversy back home, without recognizing the service of our men at arms and the fact that women served too. Unpacking what it would be like as a nurse in combat, the mental and physical toll it takes. Also a look at the time period after the war. The new diagnosis of PTSD and the sad way a lot of our troops delt with what they experienced in war and the ignorance and unacceptance of people at home
Based on the true story of Elizabeth Smith Friedman who was one of the best code, cipher and cryptanalysis in the country during Prohibition and WWII. In a time when women's abilities were often undervalued and thought nonexistent, she was key in cracking smuggling rings, even testifying in court. She was called on to break Nazi codes to save lives. What dedication some give to our country, even doing work that threatens their lives. The book is fiction but uses several experiences of Elizbeth, her husband and code breakers during this time period. (Check out the fact vs. fiction portion of the book in the back) There is some language in the book. This was a book that I couldn't put down- so fascinating.
Inspiring me to read more about Elizabeth so I'm picking up this book next!Happy reading!
We'd love to hear in comments any of your book recommendations.
So I have been looking for new link-ups to participate in and sort of get myself out there more and meet more bloggers, etc. and I stumbled on to this one from another blog (and now I forget which one) and I saw my book cover on this post and forgot about the link up. I am so giddy!!! You have two of my books on your list and I feel like crying. Actually I am crying a little bit. You have no idea how much this means to an indie author who just started writing to take my mind off some trials in my life. Thank you so so much. Just having people read and enjoy my books has meant the world. They aren't top sellers and I don't even care because when even one person recommends it or enjoyed it, it makes all the crying and stressing I do over them (not always of course) worth it. Thank you again! I just messaged a friend all weepy about it because I was so excited.
ReplyDeleteLisa- I'm so glad you saw our post. You're a talented writer and we've enjoyed the adventures of Gladwynn Grant- can't wait to see what she is up to in your next book!
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