PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Birds Of Passage by Joe Giordano

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Birds Of Passage by Joe Giordano was an interesting book to read.  I loved following along with immigrants as they came here from Italy and the things they did once they got here.  I did get bogged down in details from time to time because there were tons of characters and at times trying to keep all the characters separate was a challenge.  This is a book that you have to pay super close attention when you are reading it so you don’t get lost.  Even with all that being said I did enjoy this book for the most part.  I did like how the author was able to make me feel like I was there with the characters and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction.

Birds of Passage by Joe Giordano

About The Book

What turns the gentle mean and the mean brutal? The thirst for wealth? The demand for respect? Vying for a woman? Birds of Passage recalls the Italian immigration experience at the turn of the twentieth-century when New York’s streets were paved with violence and disappointment.

Leonardo Robustelli leaves Naples in 1905 to seek his fortune. Carlo Mazzi committed murder and escaped. Azzura Medina is an American of Italian parents. She’s ambitious but strictly controlled by her mother. Leonardo and Carlo vie for her affection.

Azzura, Leonardo, and Carlo confront con men, Tammany Hall politicians, the longshoreman’s union, Camorra clans, Black Hand extortion, and the Tombs prison.

Joe Giordano

About The Author

Joe Giordano was born in Brooklyn. His father and grandparents immigrated to New York from Naples. Joe and his wife, Jane have lived in Greece, Brazil, Belgium and the Netherlands. They now live in Texas with their shih tzu Sophia. Joe’s stories have appeared in more than sixty magazines including Bartleby Snopes, The Newfound Journal, and The Summerset Review.

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Galerie by Steven Greenberg

Welcome to the Galerie Tour with

Author Steven Greenburg

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Galerie by Steven Greenberg was an amazing book.  I love that this book goes between modern days and WWII.  I loved everything about this book.  It was fast paced right  from the start and I loved that about this book because it makes reading it seem like it is faster.  From the first page I loved Vanesa and I loved seeing her unravel the mystery around her parents and the things they went through during WWII.  I loved this authors writing and he is one I am going to be adding to my list of authors to read more books by him.  If you love historical fiction and/or WWII I know you will love this book as much as I did.

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About The Book

Every family holds to secrets, but some are far darker, reach deeper, and touch a rawer nerve than others.

Vanesa Neuman is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and her childhood in the cramped intimacy of south Tel Aviv is shadowed by her parents’ unspoken wartime experiences. The past for her was a closed book… until her father passes away and that book falls literally open. Vanesa must now unravel the mystery of the diary she has received—and the strange symbol within—at all costs.

Set against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation and the Jewish Museum of Prague—Adolf Eichmann’s “Museum of an Extinct Race”—Galerie is fast-paced historical fiction in the tradition of Tatiana De Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key. From Jerusalem’s Yad V’Shem Holocaust research center, to the backstreets of Prague, and into the former “paradise ghetto” of Theresienstadt, Vanesa’s journey of understanding will reveal a darker family past than she ever imagined—a secret kept alive for over half a century.

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About The Author

Steven Greenburg is a professional writer, as well as a full-time cook, cleaner, chauffeur, and work-at-home Dad for three amazing young children, and the lucky husband of a loving and very supportive wife. Born in Texas and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, following graduation from Indiana University in 1990. In 1996, Steven was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, where he served for 12 years as a Reserves Combat Medic. Since 2002, Steven has worked as an independent marketing writer, copywriter and consultant. To find out more about Steven Greenburg, find him on Facebook, Goodreads and his website.

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A Respectable Actress by Dorothy Love

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A Respectable Actress by Dorothy Love was an amazing historical fiction book.  I have read several books by this author and I loved each of them so this book had big shoes to fill and in short I loved everything about this book.  I love this authors style of writing because she can make you understand how the characters are feeling and why they do the things that they do.    I also love that she uses just enough details so you don’t get lost in the details but you also can understand why and what is going on with the characters.  I liked India throughout the entire book and I wanted everything to work out for her.  If you love historical novels than you aren’t going to want to miss book.

A Respectable Actress by Dorothy Love

About The Book

When the illustrious India Hartley is accused of murder, she has to uncover the deceptions of others to save herself.

India Hartley, the famous and beautiful actress, is now alone in the world after her father’s death and embarks upon a tour of theaters across the South. Her first stop is Savannah’s Southern Palace. On the eve of the second night’s performance, something goes horribly wrong. Her co-star, Arthur Sterling, is shot dead on stage in front of a packed house, and India is arrested and accused of the crime.

A benefactor hires Philip Sinclair, the best—and handsomest—lawyer in Savannah to defend India. A widower, Philip is struggling to reinvent his worn-out plantation on St. Simons Island. He needs to increase his income from his law practice in order to restore Indigo Point, and hardly anything will bring him more new clients than successfully defending a famous actress on a murder charge.

Because India can’t go anywhere in town without being mobbed, Philip persuades the judge handling her case to let him take her to Indigo Point until her trial date. India is charmed by the beauty of the Georgia low country and is increasingly drawn to Philip. But a locked room that appears to be a shrine to Philip’s dead wife and the unsolved disappearance of a former slave girl raise troubling questions. Piecing together clues in an abandoned boat and a burned-out chapel, India discovers a trail of dark secrets that lead back to Philip, secrets that ultimately may hold the key to her freedom. If only he will believe her.

Dorothy Love

About The Author

Before returning to her writing roots in historical fiction, Dorothy Love published twelve novels for young adults. Her work has garnered numerous honors from the American Library Association, the Friends of American Writers, the International Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and many others.

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week has gone by and that means we are one week closer to Christmas.  Like I have been saying a lot lately I am not sure where this year has gone.  It amazes me how much faster times goes when you are an adult then it goes when you are  growing up.  I wish there was some way to make time go slower as an adult.  Anyway let’s get onto the posts from this past week.

Miracle Drug by Dr. Richard Mabry

Isaac Bashevis Singer-Quote Of The Week

The Boys Of The Dixie Pig by Stacy Childs

Waking Up To Love by Katie O’Boyle

Welcome To Hickville High by Mary Karlik

Those are all of the posts from the past week.  Next week I have mostly book reviews coming up so if you are looking for something to read make sure you check back then.  I also have a post I am hoping to have up tomorrow morning about a new Multiple Sclerosis charity that was brought to my attention and I figured that it would be something that might help someone so I should have that up tomorrow at some point.

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Welcome To Hickville High by Mary Karlik

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WELCOME TO HICKVILLE HIGH by Mary Karlik is a sweet, sassy, and deeply emotional YA romance about starting over, rediscovering what really matters, and learning how love conquers all – no matter who you are or where you live. You’ll be drawn in by the plucky heroine and charming hero in this upside down Cinderella story. When you go from riches to rags, finding what truly matters becomes all the more special.

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About The Book

Title: Welcome to Hickville High

Author: Mary Karlik

Series: Hickville High

Genre: YA Romance

Release Date: October 15th 2015

Publisher: Indie Published

Print Length: 292 pages

Format: Paperback and Digital

Senior Kelsey Quinn loses it all when her dad relocates the family to Hillside Texas, population Hick. She’ll do whatever it takes to return to the good life, even if it’s just for one night of dancing at a gala with the boyfriend she left behind. She trades her designer dresses for an apron to work as a dishwasher in a redneck diner. But she doesn’t plan on six feet of pure Texan, Austin McCoy entering her life. He teaches her to love the farm life she’s been forced into, but will he convince her that it’s the farm boy that goes with that life that she really wants?

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About The Author

Following a career as a nursing instructor, award-winning author, Mary Karlik earned an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. A native Texan, Mary loves horses, dogs, cats, country music, and small town diners. Although she has recently relocated in northern New Mexico, her heart remains in the Lone Star state.

Connect with Mary: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

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Waking Up To Love by Katie O’Boyle

 

Contemporary Romance
Date Published: October 21, 2015
Kyle Pennington broke Lyssa’s heart when he let her go, rather than interfere with her budding career. An ocean away now, Lyssa has fallen under the spell of golden-tongued Rand Cunningham who’s in a hurry to marry her. But Kyle is miserable without her and is willing to risk everything to get her back. Will Lyssa wake up in time to ask who she really loves?
EXCERPT
“So you didn’t bring along a mate of some kind—husband, wife, lover?”
“Just me and my broken heart.” Lyssa was secretly pleased that her heart didn’t clench with pain at the words. Just a mild ache.
“Ah, you’re on the rebound?” Rand sidled closer.
“I am that.”
“It’s dangerous territory, they say.”
“Reboundville?” She brought her fingernails to her mouth and chattered her teeth in mock terror.
“And I’m a pretty dangerous guy.” He reached a hand down to her. “You might be in trouble.” He pulled her up from the floor and looked hungrily at her lips.
With a knowing grin, she pushed him away. “Let’s go out for food. My tummy’s rumbling.”
“That’s the second time you’ve been close to kissing me and pushed me away. A guy could get a complex.”
“I?” She laughed. “Was close to kissing you? Admit it, Randall, you initiated both those close contacts, on the terrace before my interview and right here in my bedroom.” She tsked.
“Wrong. It’s Bertrand, not Randall. My father goes by Bert.” He moved closer and, before she could push him away, grabbed her wrists. “And I’m a very good kisser,” he told her, his voice husky.
She could have broken his hold, might have, if she hadn’t been so curious about what kissing him would be like. Rand’s devilish smile made her laugh. It had been two years since she’d kissed anyone on the lips.
He let go of one wrist and pulled her against him. When she stroked the back of his neck with her free hand, he teased her lips with his, then kissed her—lightly, insistently—and nipped her lower lip. She pressed closer, enjoying the feel of his toned, sexy body against hers. His kisses grew firmer, more arousing. When he released her, she swayed and stepped back with one foot to steady herself.
“Very good kisser.” She touched her hot cheeks with trembling fingers.
“I think you needed a good kissing, didn’t you?” He wore a self-satisfied smile.
“I guess I did.” Damn, I wish it had been Kyle.
About the Author

Born in the upstate-New York village known as the Birthplace of Women’s Rights, Katie O’Boyle loves the Finger Lakes in every season. She enjoys lunch with friends at quaint inns, and she cherishes the lakeside porch as a place for intimate sharing, laughter, and inspiration. To the outside world, she’s a tech-savvy college professor. In her soul, she’s a passionate author of warm-hearted romance.
 
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