My Father’s House by Rose Chandler Johnson

June 18, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

My Father’s House by Rose Chandler Johnson was a book I wasn’t sure if I was going to like when I started it. I always hate when I am not certain if I will like because I hate forcing myself to read books that I don’t like but let’s get on to this book. By the end of the first chapter, I didn’t want to put the book down. I did feel so sorry for Lily, and I had to keep reading because I had to know how things worked out for her in the book. I love that this book covered a good amount of time, but it wasn’t super long and didn’t leave me feeling like things were rushed or as if things were missing in the story. I have read other books that they cut things out to keep the book shorter, but they didn’t in this book, and I loved that about it. I felt terrible for Lily most of the book, and I think that is because I can see a lot of myself in her. If you love books that seem like they are real stories than you need to pick this book up because it is one that I could see happening.

About The Book

My Father’s House (March 2016)

Growing up, life is idyllic for Lily Rose Cates due to one constant — her father’s love.

But in her sixteenth summer, all that changes without warning. There begins Lily’s struggle to find herself and the life she’s lost. . . . Marriage promises fulfillment, but her happily-ever-after barely survives the honeymoon. Her husband’s sophisticated façade hides a brooding man with even darker secrets.

When all illusions shatter, Lily must make hard choices — abandon her husband or risk losing much more than her marriage. She flees their home in Detroit and sets out on a fearful journey to a house in Georgia that her husband knows nothing about. This is one woman’s compelling tale of love and survival as she finds her way back home to who she’s meant to be . . . in her father’s house.

About The Author

Rose Chandler Johnson is the author of the award winning devotional God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea: Experiencing God in the Midst of Everyday Moments. My Father’s Houseis her first novel. She happily makes her home near Augusta, Georgia.

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Weekly Wrap-up

June 17, 2016

Another week has come to an end which means that it is time for another weekly post. Let’s get straight into the links from this past week.

Joseph Brodsky-Quote Of The Week

Dawn At Emberwilde by Sarah E. Ladd

Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman

7 Things I Would Rather Be Doing This Summer

Those are all of the post from this past week in case you missed any of them. I hope I will see you back here next week!

7 Things I Would Rather Be Doing This Summer

June 16, 2016

I wish that I was a child again because I would love to have the whole summer free. I hate that because I am an adult I get stuck having to work all summer long. I think everyone should get a few weeks off each so we can do something fun. If I did get a break, these are the seven things that I would rather be doing.

I would love to go to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It is one of my favorite places to go, and it changes all the time. We used to go all the time when I was growing up, and it is something that I miss. Even though when we went the last time, I couldn’t do some of the hikes and what not because of the MS.
I would love to have two weeks off that I could do nothing but read. I would love to be able to pick a few books of my own or even read some of the ones I have found over the years but never had any time to read. ( I might just take a break because I am dying to finish the 3rd book in the Divergent series. I started it, but I haven’t had time to finish it, and I have to know how it ends lol.)
I would love to go to a different country on vacation and get to meet new people and explore new places.
I would love to go to Florida and go to all the parks that they have in Orlando.
I would also like to take time off and catch up on all the movies I had missed over the past few years because I never have the time or energy to go and see them when they came out.
I would love to be able to sit at home and do absolutely nothing all day long.
I would also love just to get in the car and take a road trip somewhere. I am a huge fan of taking road trips because I like to find and see new places.

Those are seven things I would rather do this summer instead of having to work all summer long. What would you like to do if you could do anything you wanted to do?

I got the idea for this post from Mama Kat. If you are looking for things to write about you can click here and get some great ideas.

Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman

June 15, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman wasn’t the right book for me. When I first started reading this book, it reminded me of the book “Defending Jacob by William Landay” even though they aren’t about the same things the writing reminded me of that book but that is about all because I found myself getting lost in all the details. I couldn’t sit down and read this book for extended periods of time because I got distracted and just couldn’t keep my focus on this book. I am sure this book will be great to some people but for me it just bored me, and I couldn’t wait until it was over.

About The Book

A tour de force about three friends affected by a campus murder, for readers of Donna Tartt, Meg Wolitzer, and Jeffrey Eugenides

Georgia, Charlie and Alice each arrive at Harvard with hopeful visions of what the future will hold. But when, just before graduation, a classmate is found murdered on campus, they find themselves facing a cruel and unanticipated new reality. Moreover, a charismatic professor who has loomed large in their lives is suspected of the crime. Though his guilt or innocence remains uncertain, the unsettling questions raised by the case force the three friends to take a deeper look at their tangled relationship. Their bond has been defined by the secrets they’ve kept from one another—Charlie’s love and Alice’s envy, Georgia’s mysterious affair—and over the course of the next decade, as they grapple with the challenges of adulthood and witness the unraveling of a teacher’s once-charmed life, they must reckon with their own deceits and shortcomings, each desperately in search of answers and the chance to be forgiven.

A relentless, incisive, and keenly intelligent novel about promise, disappointment, and the often tenuous bonds of friendship, Bradstreet Gate is the auspicious debut of a tremendously talented new writer.

From the Hardcover edition.

About The Author

ROBIN KIRMAN earned a BA in philosophy from Yale College and an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where she served as a writing instructor in the English department. Robin lives in New York City and Tel Aviv.

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Dawn At Emberwilde by Sarah E. Ladd

June 14, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Dawn At Emberwilde by Sarah E. Ladd was an okay book. I have read quite a few of Sarah’s books and I always in enjoy them but do find them to be predictable, but that just comes with reading every book that an author has written. Even though I knew what was going to happen in this book I still really enjoyed it, but I assumed I would because I have enjoyed all the other books I have read by Sarah. I enjoyed the setting of this book and the characters in this book. If you love historical fiction, then you need to pick up this book because I know you will love it.

About The Book

Dawn at Emberwilde (Thomas Nelson, May 2016)

Isabel Creston never dared to dream that love could be hers. Now, at the edge of a forest filled with dark secrets, she faces a fateful choice between love and duty.

For as long as she can remember, beautiful and free-spirited Isabel has strained against the rules and rigidity of the Fellsworth School in the rolling English countryside. No longer a student, Isabel set her sights on a steady role as a teacher at the school, a safe yet stifling establishment that would enable her to care for her younger sister Lizzie, who was left in her care after her father’s death.

The unexpected arrival of a stranger with news of unknown relatives turns Isabel’s small, predictable world upside down, sweeping her and her young charge into a labyrinth of intrigue and hidden motives.

At her new family’s invitation, Isabel and Lizzie relocate to Emberwilde, a sprawling estate adjacent to a vast, mysterious wood rife with rumors and ominous folklore—along with whispers of something far more sinister. Perhaps even more startling, two handsome men begin pursuing Isabel, forcing her to learn the delicate dance between attraction, the intricate rules of courtship, and the hopes of her heart.

At Emberwilde Isabel will discover that the key to unlocking the mystery of her past may also open the door to her future and security. But first she must find it—in the depths of Emberwilde Forest.

About The Author

Sarah E. Ladd received the 2011 Genesis Award in historical romance for The Heiress of Winterwood. She is a graduate of Ball State University and has more than ten years of marketing experience. Sarah lives in Indiana with her amazing husband, sweet daughter, and spunky Golden Retriever.

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