A Good Animal by Sara Maurer

 

My thoughts

It's hard to believe this is a debut. It is so beautiful and heartfelt. A story that will capture your heart.

Do you remember what first love felt like? Was it good? Was it heartfelt? Hopeful? Did you end up with that first love? Or was it a bad experience? Sad? Hurtful? This story is so full of love and hope. Hope for a future. A first love that is told from the young man's point of view. From his feelings. His heart. And what a story it is. 

Everett met Mary during the summer before their senior year in high school. Mary had just moved to  Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and couldn't wait to leave. She only had one year left and she could do whatever she wanted. She had plans to move to California and be an artist. 

Everett was a farm boy. A young man who loved everything about being a sheep farmer. He had big plans too. To buy his own sheep and make his life as a farmer. Then he met Mary. He feel hard and fast. They were young and threw caution to the wind. It was such a pure and sweet time for them. 

Mary told Everett from the very start that she was not staying. She told him about her plans and she meant every word. But Everett truly thought he was in love. And possibly he was. Sometimes first loves are the strongest. The deepest. The most intense. But something went wrong. Something unexpected. 

This book is truly beautifully written. It's just one that will keep you turning the pages. I cried so much reading this book. I did laugh a few times too but mostly it brought tears to my eyes. Not just from the love between a boy and a girl but from what happens to sheep. Things I didn't know that happened when you show animals. 

I learned a few things reading this book. All about sheep, but still I did learn some things. This author knows sheep and she knows what that first love feels like. From a boys POV at that. 

This book was a quick read for me. 

I received an audio arc also and have to say that the narrator, Michael Crouch, did a fantastic job of making this book flow just right. Of bringing each character to life. Of giving it the feeling it needed. 

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Macmillan audio, for the arc. Also it was my BOTM last month. 

4.75 stars... 

About

A heart-wrenching coming-of-age debut novel by a stunning new voice in fiction, for readers of Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Patchett.

In the farm country outside Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan—a border town where life moves slow and dreams run fast—most kids want out. Not Everett Lindt. He’s set on staying put, rebuilding his family’s sheep farm, and carving a future from the land he loves.

Then he meets Mary, a new girl in town with restless energy and bigger plans. When their relationship reaches a crossroads, Everett sees a life together; Mary, however, is desperate to find a way out. Together, they make an impulsive choice—one that will change everything.

Tense, lyrical, and deeply felt, Sara Maurer's unforgettable debut breathtakingly captures the ache of first love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become.

Watching Over Her by Jean Baptiste Andrea

 My thoughts

This review is a bit harder to write than my usual reads. This book absolutely stole my heart. It touched me in a way that no other book ever has. It's beautifully written and heartbreaking, while at the same time it will give so much more. I laughed, cried, cringed. All the feels and maybe some we never expect. 

I went into this book completely without knowing the first thing about it other than I loved the title and cover. What I got was a lesson in love. Forgiveness. Peace. So much that I honestly can't begin to say it all.

This is told by a very old gentleman who is dying. He's living, well dying, in an Italian Monastery. He's lived there for many years. Before that he was a very poor man. Born a dwarf and abandoned as a young boy by his mother. Yes she did abandon him. She went to find money and it took twenty years for her to finally come back to him. That was not a good choice. But for him maybe it was. 

Michelangelo or Mimo as he liked to be called was a dwarf. He was bullied horribly. He was loved unconditionally. He was lonely even when around others. At times. He worked hard and also drank away his money. But only after he had been let down by the one woman he truly loved. 

Viola. Viola was the daughter of a very rich family. Also a very powerful family. She never wanted to get married and have a family. She wanted to fly. To become a pilot. But her father had different ideas. A female could not do this. She was expected to marry and make their family stronger.

Mimo and Viola met as children in a cemetery of all places. They became fast friends. They were the same age and just hit it off. As they got older Viola grew but Mimo stayed at a little over four feet tall. Viola didn't seem to care at all. Mimo was her friend and that was all that matter. 

Their's is a story to be heard. Though they are seperated many times they are also there for each other. When a tragedy hits it makes Viola see things differently. For some crazy reason she no longer wants to see or hear from Mimo. Mimo goes and works hard. He makes so much money that he doesn't have to worry. But he also drinks to much. 

This book is so beautifully written. It describes the areas and the people so well. The love that Mimo feels for Viola. The anger they both have at times. The fall that makes it impossible for Viola to ever do what she wanted. The hurt. All the emotion you'll feel reading this book. It's definitely one, or the, most beautiful stories I have ever read. 

I started this book and almost didn't keep reading. I still have no idea why. The beginning make me scratch my head. Then it just clicked. This book took my breath away. It's so worth reading.

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster for this ARC.  

Five stars 

About

In an Italian monastery, a sculptor named Mimo lays on his deathbed. For decades, he has lived among the monks who watch over his masterpiece, an arresting statue that haunts all who see it.

During his final hours, he reveals his life his impoverished childhood, brutal apprenticeship, and most importantly, his meeting with Viola Orsini, the only daughter of a powerful and dangerous aristocratic family. A chance meeting, Mimo and Viola are instantly drawn to one another, viewing themselves as outsiders—Mimo for his dwarfism, and Viola for her ability to remember everything she has ever read or experienced. Together, they traverse the unrest of the 20th century, from the rise of fascism to the violence of the world wars. While Mimo strives to become a celebrated artist, Viola chases her own dreams of becoming an emancipated woman. Over the decades, they will lose and find each other time and again, but never will they give up on the love they share.

Immersive, moving, and at times hilarious, Watching Over Her is a dynamic love story and timely exploration of the power of creativity during the rise of fascism.

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz

 

My thoughts

This was a pretty good debut. I hated how often the main character, Cady, said Dana. Dana was her sister's name. Her twin sister. Dana was killed in an auto accident. Dana was also ten weeks pregnant. It was horrible and I do understand where Cady was coming from as she navigated her life without her sister. Though I do believe she should have shown the man who hit her sister's car a little sympathy. Especially after reading the ending. 

It took me the whole book to understand Cady's obsession with Morgan. Seemed like Cady had a great life. With the exception of losing her twin she did have it all. She ran her own event planning business and was doing extremely well. She was married to the love of her life. She had not been able to have a baby and had miscarried not that long ago. But she could try again. She could learn to stop lying. I hated that about her. She was a horrible lying person. She convinced herself it was all for whoever's good. Whoever she was doing wrong at the time. The way she treated her husband was unexceptable. Maybe I should give her a little slack but good grief she was so busy stalking and sticking her nose in other people's business she just didn't have time to keep her business afloat. Her great employees were doing so much for her. But did she appreciate them? And always accusing Matt of infidelity. The poor man was so worried about her he didn't know what was happening. Until he did...

This book was pretty well written. I could picture Cady as she sat in her car. As she convinced a group of her losses. As she yelled to Matt. She should have put her life first. Her marriage that is. But the whole book is about the crazy things she is doing. It didn't all start after losing her twin either. That was why I didn't find it so believable that she just flipped after that accident. She was always sort of weak and possessive. Always a kind of control freak. I would have felt bad for Cady but when she did what she did and I read about it I just wanted to smack her. Wake up. See what you have. Dana would have wanted her to hold on to her life and do the right thing.

Turn back around and take responsibility.....

Great narration. The narrator kept the story flowing great. Did pretty good with each character. 

Thank you St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARCs. 

4 stars 

About

A deft and immersive psychological suspense debut about a luxury party planner who becomes obsessed with a woman she encounters in a hospital waiting room.

Cady has worked hard to have a good life. She has a thriving luxury event-planning business, the man she’s loved since she was seventeen, and a social calendar she can barely keep up with. She also has Dana, her identical twin, her beyond best friend, her most trusted confidante. When Cady gets a call that Dana has been in a serious accident and arrives moments too late to say goodbye, her world falls apart.

But to Cady’s family’s growing concern and confusion, it’s not Dana’s death that consumes her. It’s Morgan, a grieving mother Cady encountered in the hospital waiting room, the day her sister died. It can’t be a coincidence, that they both experienced tragedy at the same moment, in the same place—Cady doesn't believe in coincidences. Instead, she is convinced that she must help this stranger overcome her tragedy, in order to come to terms with her own.

Or...is there more to it? Is it possible that Cady wants something else from Morgan? Something she can’t even admit to herself?

Slyly twisted and deeply provocative, Good Intentions captures the moral ambiguity that can arise in the face of impossible choices. Like the aftermath of a car accident—and against your better judgment—you won't be able to look away.

An Unconventional Lady by Sarah E. Ladd

 

My thoughts

A first for me by this author. I enjoyed it so much and hope to read more of her work.

This is the story of Ella Wilde. Ella lost her mother at the age of ten. Being raised only by her father Ella was well educated and well loved. Ella's mother wanted her to be educated as she was. Ella wanted to prove that her mother did not commit suicide and she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps in other areas. 

Ella's father became sickly and thought it best for Ella to be married so she would not lose the school for boys that her mother's father started so many years ago. He thought if Ella married a man who could take it over and take care of her things would be ok. Ella had different thoughts about this though and fell in love with a different man. She didn't want to be in a loveless marriage to a much older man. 

This book has a few things going on. Ella's best friend falling in love with a bad man. Of course she didn't know he was bad but Ella had her suspicions. Also a friend from the past comes and turns Ella's world upside down. Well sort of. She falls in love with him. Confides in him. 

There is suspense in this story, love, kidnapping. It's one that will keep you turning the pages to find out what comes next. To see if Ella can find her true love and solve her mother's mysterious death. Helping her best friend who was taken in by a house guest of the Wilde's. Just being there for her. Phoebe and Ella have been lifelong friends and let a man come between them. The faces of love.

This was a fun read that taught me about phrenology. A subject I had not heard about. It was the main setting for this story. The Phrenology is the theory that a person's traits and intellectual abilities can be found by learning the shape and size of their skull. How ridiculous is that? But at this time it was believed to be true. 

A very enjoyable read/listen. This is a clean romance story. At times it was intense. Other times it was a bit romantic. A well written regency era story.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for the ARCs. Also thank you to Uplit Reads for choosing me for this.

4.5 stars 

About

One woman works to expose a scientific fraud while also finding love in the latest sweet Regency romance by Sarah Ladd. Perfect for fans of Julie Klassen, An Unconventional Lady delivers what Publishers Weekly calls Ladd's "pitch-perfect blend of suspense and sweetness" (The Cloverton Charade).

She faces the worst ultimatum possible for a woman--marry a man she detests or lose the future she's always imagined.

Charming and headstrong, Ella Wilde always knew she was different than other women. Thanks to her unorthodox upbringing as the daughter of Keatley Hall School for Young Men's headmaster, Ella has long dreamed of opening a school for girls that would meet the needs of inquisitive, brilliant, unconventional young women just like her--girls who longed for the education exclusively reserved for boys. But there's just one Unless she marries before her father dies, Keatley Hall will pass into the hands of a distant cousin. In that case, Ella will be left destitute, and at this point her only option appears to be an undesirable marriage.

Ella's family had long been proponents of phrenology, the belief that an individual's personality and dispositions were predetermined by the shape of their head. Shortly before her death, however, Ella's mother's views on phrenology changed, and she endeavored to expose phrenology as nothing more than a fraudulent parlor trick. Consequently, she earned the wrath of phrenologist community, who called her "unstable," "bizarre," even "dangerous"--and branded her daughter the same.

Now, renowned phrenologist Thomas Bauer is about to arrive at Keatley Hall to speak at the Natural Philosophers' Society gathering, and Ella embraces the opportunity to clear her mother's name--and her own--once and for all. And her partner in crime? None other than her childhood friend Gabriel Rowe, who's grown into an ambitious, handsome London solicitor.

Gabriel has his own scores to settle, and when he learns that Thomas Bauer is visiting Keatley Hall, he jumps at the chance to prove himself and right past wrongs. As he is drawn deeper into the unusual happenings, it's clear that he and Ella must work together if they want to unmask the truth. Over time, Gabriel's attraction to Ella's beauty and wit becomes impossible to ignore, and as the lines between professionalism and passion blur, they both must decide what they're willing to risk for happiness.

Dawn of the North by Demi Winters

 

My thoughts

Book three of the Ashen Series and boy is it good. Another jaw dropping book. And with three love stories what more do you need. There is of course the edge of your seat battle. It also has some parts to make you laugh. And others to make you shed tears. Some happy tears and some not so happy tears. 

You don't mess with a sister. You better watch your back if you do. You should know that sisters will die for each other. Fight to the end. Even ones who have been apart most of their lives. Sisters are a whole other force of nature...

In this book you get to know more about Silla and Rey. Saga and Kass. Hekla and Eyvind. 

Three women and three men. They all battle demon's of their own but together are a force to be reckoned with. Love knows not bounds. Though Hekla swears she will never marry again she does have strong feelings for Eyvind. 

You'll read about flying horses and a whole colony of female warriors. A squirrel who only wants to free his mistress and needs help. The undead and how to stop them hopefully. There is a lot going on in this series.

This book was fun and very intense. Parts had me holding my breath and others made tears come to my eyes. It's a full on fantasy, romantasy, romance, fiction story that will keep you wanting more. 

This whole series has been a joy. There is more coming too. More battles it seems. 

The Volsik sisters still have more to come. 

Thank you Ballantine/Delacorte Press for this ARC.

About

A new age begins in the Kingdom of Íseldur in this sizzling third installment of the Viking-inspired Ashen romantasy the series.

The lost Volsik heir has finally returned to the people of Íseldur, and even with the warrior who’s captured her heart standing by her side, Silla’s task is monumental. She must earn the loyalty of the northern jarls to drive Ivar Ironheart from the throne and restore peace in the kingdom. But the secret she vigilantly guards threatens to ruin all her plans: A shard of a god lives in her mind, twisting her thoughts and deeds to His will.

Meanwhile, held captive on the mysterious isle of Zagadka, Saga Volsik fights to return to her sister in Íseldur. But when King Ivar sets his sights on the Zagadkians, she’s forced to make an impossible choice: fight for the man who stole her—and is now hell-bent on marrying her—or let the innocent people of his kingdom die.

As a poisonous mist threatens the realm, the sisters will delve into the unknowns of their magic to battle against evil. Return to the land of ice and fire, where a god awakens, a queen finds her power, and sisters must unite against the darkness threatening their realm.

Women Of A Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart

 

My thoughts

Another winner from Donna Everhart. This one is a heartstopping, heartbreaking, historical about how females were treated when the government decided they were causing servicemen to catch STDs. Not the men being treating any such way, just the females. Even in cases of rape and incest. All those innocent men.... Right!!

In this story you meet several females from various ages. Each placed in a detention center for being promiscuous. Or possibly being promiscuous. They all seemed to have STDs even if they had not done anything of a sexual nature. They were just taken and placed in a place where they were treated lower than the lowest. Some even being sterilized without consent. Sometimes it was a spouse who put them there. I guess they just weren't cooperating enough. Not doing exactly what they were told by their husbands. 

Stella was a child. A fifteen year old who did nothing wrong. Her father impregnated her. Forced her to do what he wanted. She was a very poor girl. Her mother was a basket case who was not there for her. Her dad was the lowest excuse ever. 

Ruth was a single woman who was minding her own business. Walking to work. When a cop approached her. He forced her to go with him to a doctor who said she had a STD and had to be taken away. To protect the service men. She was only twenty four. She was just a single woman who had not done anything wrong. 

There are several females in the Colony. You'll meet a few and hear parts of their stories. The main ones though are Stella and Ruth. And some of the staff. 

Dorothy Baker came to work at the Colony after losing her job at another home that had been set on fire. She was a hard hearted woman. She tended to blame all women for what her ex-husband did. She caught him in their bed with another woman. She was the type to blame women instead of standing by them and fighting for women. I didn't like her at all. Even after hearing her entire story I did not like her. The only thing she did that was possibly kind was being kind of nice to Stella.

This author did a wonderful job of making me feel the pain these females went through. She did great research and put her heart into this story. You can feel the pain of these young women. How hard they tried and what they felt at their weakest periods. The isolation they felt when put in rooms for extended lengths of time to think about what they did. All the emotions are so raw and realistic. It hurt to read this book. It's heartbreaking. 

To think that this actually happened is beyond comprehension. More than my mind can take. It can happen again too. Never think it can't. 

Well written. Realistic. Real. Heartfelt. Heartbreaking. Sad. There is so much going on. So much emotion. 

Thank you Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. 

About

The day Ruth Foster’s life changes begins the same way as many others—with a walk through her North Carolina hometown toward the diner where she works. But on this day, Ruth is stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health clinic. Women like Ruth—young, unmarried, living alone—must undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.

Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some, like 15-year-old Stella Temple, are brought in at their family’s request. For Stella, even the Colony’s hardships seem like a respite from her nightmarish home life.

Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.

But some refuse to be cowed. Against Mrs. Baker’s dogged efforts and the punishing weight of authority, Ruth and other inmates find ways to fight back, resolved to regain their freedom at any cost . . .