Sunday, January 31, 2021

Mailbox Monday! 2/1/21

 


Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.
Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!
Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
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Here’s a shout out to the administrators:
Leslie @ Under My Apple Tree 
Serena @ Savvy Verse And Wit
Martha @ Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf 
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                THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive. 
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I hope you had a good mailbox.
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I received on January 26th:
1: THE STILLS by Jess Montgomery
Courtesy of NetGalley & St Martin's Press Minotaur Books
Received on January 29th:
1: HER DARK LIES by J.T. Ellison
Courtesy of NetGalley & Harlequin MIRA
2: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN by Erika Robuck
Courtesy of NetGalley & Berkley Publishing Group




It's Monday! What are you reading? 2/1 - 2/7

 

I hope you had a great reading week.

********************
This is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at BOOKDATE
Post the books completed, the books you are currently reading, and the books you hope to finish at some point.
************
What I read and reviewed this past week:
1:THE UNWILLING by John Hart
Review posted 1/26 
2: THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah
Review posted 1/30
Currently reading:
1: POSSESSION by Katie Lowe
Will be reading:
1: HADLEY & GRACE by Suzanne Redfearn
2: 
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN by Erika Robuck
3: 
UNTIL WE ARE LOST by Leslie Archer
4: 
PRETTY LITTLE WIFE by Darby Kane
5: 
WAITING FOR THE NIGHT SONG by Julie Carrick Dalton
6: 
DO NO HARM by Christina McDonald
7: 
ONE PERFECT GRAVE by Stacy Green
8: 
THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN by Viola Ardone
9: 
THE FAMILY SHIP by Sonja Yoerg
10: 
RUNAWAY JUSTICE by Chad Zunker
11: 
EVERYWHERE TO HIDE by Siri Mitchell
12: 
THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD by Melanie Benjamin


Week of reading!

 

1: THE UNWILLING by John Hart
Reviewed
2: THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah
Reviewed
3: POSSESSION by Kate Howe
Review to follow
4: HADLEY & GRACE by Suzanne Redfearn
Review to follow
5: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN by Erika Robuck
Review to follow


January 2021 reading!

 

1: WRONG ALIBI by Christina Dodd
Reviewed 1/15
2: THE WIFE UPSTAIRS by Rachel Hawkins
Reviewed 1/5
3: Bloodline by Jess Lourey
Reviewed 1/6
4: NOT MY BOY by Kelly Simmons
Reviewed 1/5
5: LITTLE WISHES by Michelle Adams
Reviewed 1/10
6: WHAT'S WORTH KEEPING by Kara McLaren
Reviewed 1/22
7: THE UNWILLING by John Hart
Reviewed 1/26
8: THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah
Reviewed 1/30


Saturday, January 30, 2021

THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

 


One of "27 of 2021's Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Novels That Will Sweep You Away"Oprah Magazine
One of "The Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2021"Parade
One of the "Books Everyone Will Talk About in 2021"PopSugar
One of "The 57 Most Anticipated Books Of 2021"Elle
One of "The 21 Best Books of 2021 for Working Moms"Working Mother
One of "The Most Anticipated Winter Books That Will Keep You Cozy All Season Long"
Stylecaster
One of the "Most Anticipated Books of 2021"Frolic

"Through one woman’s survival during the harsh and haunting Dust Bowl, master storyteller, Kristin Hannah, reminds us that the human heart and our Earth are as tough, yet as fragile, as a change in the wind." 
Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing

From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.

My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”

Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.
My thoughts:
I have to admit this is my very first Kristin Hannah book. I am truly ashamed to admit that but it will not be my last. There are so many and each sounds so good. I even own a couple. How's that for crazy.

This book is so good. It made me laugh, cry, get angry, yell and cry some more. It will give you so many emotions. That is what makes a book great in my opinion.

Elsa had a hard life. From the time she was fourteen years old she was told she had a weak heart and was kept from doing anything that she truly wanted to do. Not because her parents really loved her enough to protect her but because they were somewhat ashamed of her. She was not like her two sisters. She was not like all the other girls. She was so much more though. You will get to know the true Elsa and how incredibly strong she really is. You will love her too. Or at least I did. I think she is probably one of the strongest females in any book I have ever read. She's a daughter, mother, wife, friend. She's a hard working woman who has given so much to others. Her life is hard but she is not one to give up. She fights for her children. She works so hard for them. She's all they have and they are all she has.

This book is based on an awful time in America's history. When crops died and there was no rain. No rain. Can you imagine that? Absolutely no rain for so long. Things go from bad to worse when the dust storms hit too. This is a deep historical fiction book based on real life in the early to mid thirties. What families went through. What they did to just survive. How cruel some people could be. It's a book that will keep you turning pages until the very end. Then you have to read the Author's Notes.. I'm so very sorry for the loss of you and your husband's friend Ms Hannah. I've lost a few too and it hurts. 

This book makes you feel the desperation that the people in this era went through. The hopelessness they felt. The need they felt. You will feel Elsa's pain in different places. When she is alone and thinks it's all her fault. When she feels love and finally knows she is worthy. When she feels so much pride for her children. When her daughter finally looks at her as if she is a human being. You know teenagers. They are always the same....

This is a great book. A very deeply touching book. One that will stick with you. It's just a great all around story of hope, loss, love and forgiveness. Of seeing your hard work pay off.

Thank you #NetGalley, #KristinHannah, #StMartin'sPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars and the highest recommendation to you all. Grab this book as soon as possible and read it.


Friday, January 29, 2021

My Book Beginning Friday & Friday 56% 1/29/21

 

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader

The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice

Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

MY BOOK BEGINNING:
Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love. There were times in my journey when it felt as if that penny and the hope it represented were the only things that kept me going.
56%:
She stepped into the tub and crouched down. The water was lukewarm, but still it felt heavenly. Using their last scrap of soap, she washed her body and her hair, trying not to care that in places she felt only her scalp.



Blogger Hop 1/29/21

 

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: 
Do you share books? If so, do you have system to keep track of whom you lend them too? 
This week's prompt submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews.
MY ANSWER: 
I do not. I use to but found that other people just do not take care of books that don't belong to them. I mean bending the page corners instead of using a bookmark. How dare they. I take very good care of my books and I expected anyone else to also. Since they don't then I just stopped. Also I had to many that I never got back. How do you lose someone's book you borrow?? 


Tuesday, January 26, 2021

THE UNWILLING by John Hart

 

“We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful.” —Unknown Soldier

Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart's singular style.

Gibby's older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.

Jason won't speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn't known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother's hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra's murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

This is crime fiction at its most raw, an exploration of family and the past, of prison and war and the indelible marks they leave.
MY THOUGHTS:
What a book!! This author knocked this one out of the park. Out of this world. He made a big impression on me for sure. This was my first John Hart book and I will be reading more... 

This book is set in the mid to late sixties. During the Vietnam war. Reading this gave me a whole new respect for what soldiers go through who actually have to go into combat. Some are not the same when they come home. Some are beyond our way of thinking. Some have seen things that no young man or woman should see. During the Vietnam way this was more true than ever I do believe. This book only touches on that war slightly. In a very profound way though. It's about a boy who lost one brother there and is losing another after he came back to the states. A family torn apart by a war. 

This book is so well written. It will make you take a few deep breathes and head shakes. It's just a story that will certainly make you stop and take a look at things. Life for instance. How much do we take that for granted. This story is about a boy. An eighteen year old boy but still a young boy. His name is Gibby French. He's almost eighteen and will have to sign up for the draft once his birthday arrives. He's still in high school. His best friend is Chance and his girl is Becky. He has his whole life ahead of him. But before that there is a lifetime of things going on.

Gibby's brother Jason has been to Vietnam, spent time in prison and is now out. He want's to know his little brother but his mother forbids it. Let me say that I honestly did not like the mother, Gabrielle. I think it's ok to want to protect a son from another son when it's the right situation but... To say it should have been him, when you lose one son is just unacceptable. No mother should have that much favoritism toward one over the other. Jason is troubled. He is trouble in many ways. He's set up, framed, for a brutal murder the likes of which no officer in this Charlotte, NC town has ever seen. But did he do it? Nothing is kept from you in this book. You will know who is guilty and who is not. It's not a book where you try to figure out the who did what to whom. It's a story of what happens between people. Both in and out of prison. Both in and out of Vietnam. Between family members. Between a mother and son. A father and his wife. Between two brothers. 

This book hits deeply. Right in the heart. It's a heartbreaker and an edge of your seat story. It will keep you turning pages and wanting more. It's like reading the most horrific thing but you just can't stop. There is a lot of detail in this book and you will cringe many times. You will want to slap a few people along the way. You will wonder what makes a person do such horrible things to another. Why would anyone be so cruel. What could have possibly happened in a person life to make them seem to not have a soul. All your questions and thoughts are answered. 

This story pretty much left me feeling better yet with a heavy heart also. I didn't feel sorry for Reece or X. They were very messed up people. Deserve anything that may come their way. I did root for Jason though. I really loved him. He is quite a big brother and deserves more than people will possibly ever know. People in the town that is. Maybe someday!!

My favorite paragraph from this book is: He felt a hundred different fears: the fear of war and mutilation, of falling now, just now, or of diving wrong, and breaking. He feared his friend might not forgive him, that the wound would fester and that the cracks ran all the way through. Most of all, he feared whatever life waited at the bottom of the trail, the future if he walked instead of dove, the man he might become. That was the devil inside, a demon with a face as familiar-soft as Chance's own. Maybe it was fate that brought him to this place, or fate that people called it the Devil's Ledge.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JohnHart, #StMartin'sPress for this ARC. This is my own thoughts about this book.

5/5 stars and I highly recommend this one. It's intense and a bit scary in places. So worth reading.


Monday, January 25, 2021

Mailbox Monday! 1/25/21

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.
Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!
Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
 ************
Here’s a shout out to the administrators:
Leslie @ Under My Apple Tree 
Serena @ Savvy Verse And Wit
Martha @ Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf 
 ************
                THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive. 
************
I hope you had a good mailbox.
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Received January 18th
1: ONE PERFECT GRAVE by Stacy Green
Courtesy of NetGalley & Bookouture
2: LADY SUNSHINE by Amy Mason Doan
Courtesy of NetGalley & HARLEQUINN Graydon House





It's Monday! What are you reading? 1/25 - 1/31

 

I hope you had a great reading week.

********************
This is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at BOOKDATE
Post the books completed, the books you are currently reading, and the books you hope to finish at some point.
************
What I read/reviewed this week:
1: WHAT'S WORTH KEEPING by Kaya McLaren
Reviewed January 22nd
Currently reading:
1: THE UNWILLING by John Hart
Review following
Will be reading
1: POSSESSION by Katie Lowe
2: EVERY WAKING HOUR by Joanna Schaffhausen
3: HADLEY& GRACE by Suzanne Redfearn
4: THE SPINSTER by Tess Thompson
5: UNTIL WE ARE LOST by Leslie Archer
6: PRETTY LITTLE WIFE by Darby Kane
7: THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah
8:  WAITING FOR THE NIGHT SONG by Julie Carrick Dalton
9: DO NO HARM by Christina McDonald
10: THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN by Viola Ardone
11: ONE PERFECT GRAVE by Stacy Green
12: THE FAMILY SHIP by Sonja Yoerg
13: RUNAWAY JUSTICE by Chad Zunker
14: THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD by Melanie Benjamin
15: EVERYWHERE TO HIDE by Siri Mitchell
After this I should be caught up through February. If I can read all of these. 










A Court Of Mist And Fury-Audio by Sarah J. Maas (Parts One & Two)

  My thoughts I listened to both audios. Parts 1 and 2 in graphic audio. They may very well have ruined regular audio for me. It was amazing...