Quilts and Books

Since I prefer to write about the books that were especially memorable for me, and since I am reading fewer books on average, I am preserving the alliteration in my title by only mentioning four books this month. Everything else that I read was pretty enjoyable and three of the books books were re-reads so not mentioned here. It was a good month. 4. Promoted: To Wife and Mother by Jessica Hart . TBR Day hostess SuperWendy reviewed this book  and her enthusiastic review combined with a most excellent price point for Kindle convinced me to buy this book. I ended up reading it almost right away and I'm glad I did. I'm not going to bother with much description; Wendy does such a good job in her review. I will tell you why I liked it though: hero and heroine in their 40s, teenagers (I have one of my own), dealing with the failing health of a parent, and finding time for romance between job and family responsibilities--that last one is darn hard. I thought Hart put all of these th...

5. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker . I wish I knew where I saw a recommendation for this book. It's YA, I genre I really tend to avoid. But the story intrigued me so much I had to read it and once I started I couldn't put it down. This is the story of Julia, an 11-12 year-old girl who writes about the year the Earth's rotation began to slow down. The earth's 24 hour rotation slows to over 72 hours by the end of the book. The magnetic fields of the earth have shifted, people's circadian rhythms are disturbed, and the world slowly begins to die. Be warned, this is not a book with a sudden miraculous happy ending. Julia, already a lonely only child, finds ways to cope with the changes around her. She's resilient and determined to move forward. This first novel by Walker is compelling and emotional. Thank you to whoever mentioned it online. I'm so glad I read this. 4. Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey . This dystopian story is set on earth at an unspec...

I'm trying to remember what the heck I was doing in September that kept me so busy. Because apparently I only read 8 books and a small collection of 4 very short stories. Weird. Because all it did was rain. It's not as if I went outside and did something active or useful. I didn't finish a quilt either. Oh well. But that leaves me with only 4 books that I want to talk about this month. And they are: 4.  The Unmentionables  by Karen Ranney . Here is the product description from Amazon:  The Unmentionables is a collection of short stories told by Victorian undergarments, from the under appreciated pair of drawers belonging to a countess, to the corset owned by a young miss, to a pair of enthusiastic stockings, and finally to a maid's shift.   This collection of very short stories barely took me 30 minutes to read--about 5-10 minutes per story. It's a fine piece of whimsy that was both romantic and interesting as I considered how different the Victorian clothing was ...

5.  Waking Up with the Duke  by  Lorraine Heath . When I finished this book, my immediate reaction was to admit that I was simply impressed by the risks Heath took in writing about a couple who deliberately commit adultery. I'm writing this several months after having read it, and I'm still ambivalent as to whether I consider it a "phave" or not. In case you missed it, Jayne is married and her husband (Wolfort) is paralyzed from a carriage accident several years previously. His health is (conveniently) declining as well. Wolfort wants Jayne to be able to have a baby and he suggests that Jayne and his cousin (and best friend, Ainsley, the Duke) have an affair in hopes that she would become pregnant. Since this is set in a time when divorce was this close to impossible, you know going in that Jayne's husband will have to die in order for there to be a happy ending between she and Ainsley. And how happy a future can you envision when a relationship begins in such a w...

You know, if I don't catch up on these posts pretty soon, I'm going to totally forget what I read. 5. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen . Allen's unique lyrical story-telling made me a fan with her first book, Garden Spells . Like her previous books, there's a touch of mysticism, a touch of romance, and several quirky, interesting characters. Allen certainly manages to do a lot with just a few words (her books are relatively short compared to most novels). The themes in this book include the nature of friendship, forgiveness, tradition, and secrets. It's hard to describe this book, so I'll just say go read it! 4. The Orchid Affair  by Lauren Willig . This is another solid entry in Willig's Pink Carnation series. Laura Grey, a graduate of the Selwick spy school, goes to Paris and poses as a governess in the home of Andre Jaouen, an official in Bonaparte's Ministry of Police. Laura had hoped for an assignment a little more dramatic than watching...

Two of my favorites last month were re-reads. In some respects it was a flat month for reading with the busy-ness of Christmas, traveling, etc., etc. I read a non-fiction book that had me in stitches and I just loved. I'm a fan of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning  and Mike Greenberg wrote a book a few years ago called Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot : the Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad . He writes about becoming a father and it was a fun read. That book actually came out 3 or 4 years ago. 5. Sold to a Laird by Karen Ranney . This was a "phave" back in November of '09 . Here's what a wrote then (and it was still how I felt when I read it again):  If you've read this blog for any length of time, it's no secret I'm a big Karen Ranney fangirl. I love her work. It's emotional and there's usually a plot twist I never see coming. This book is no different. Lady Sarah is the daughter of an autocratic, ruthless duke. The duke i...

Blog? I have a blog? Goodness, but I have a lot to catch up on. Before I get into the phaves, I do want to mention that I began reading Barry Eisler's John Rain series in July. I met Eisler at RT and purchased the 3rd book in the series there. He told me the 3rd book was a good place to start, but I decided to go back to the first one, Rain Fall , and got it at the library. I'm glad I did. I've read 2 of the books so far and they were a nice change from romance. I liked them both. But when it came to the phaves, romance won out. 5. One Season of Sunshine by Julia London . I have become a big fan of London's contemporaries even though I first began reading her historicals. I frequently find her books to be emotional and sometimes thought-provoking. I was intrigued by this story of Jane, a woman adopted as an infant, who is seeking her biological family. I once watched a close friend struggle with the same questions; that fact made Jane a believable and sympathetic char...

I have to look back and thank March 2010 for being an unusually pleasant month. Normally, March is anything but pleasant around here. It's usually cold and damp and busy. Yet after our record-breaking snows of February, spring burst upon us. We had quite a bit of sun. I had ample time to read. I even liked most of what I read. And then I made a happy quilt for the Brenda Novak auction . Really, I do hate to see April arrive. Because there's that little matter of my taxes... Before I list my top 5, I have to give an honorable mention to The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie , a re-read that I liked just as much this time as I did the first time around. Another book that almost made the cut was Karen Ranney's A Promise of Love . This is one of her earlier books. Twice widowed, Judith is a woman who has suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her second husband. She is unwanted by her family, so her father sends her off to Scotland to a man who survived Culloden and has watch...

5. Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl . I have to admit I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book. I read some reviews that seemed to over-emphasize Jane's snobbiness and so I thought I wouldn't like the heroine. But instead I was interested in what made her tick, how long she would be able to maintain tight control with so many pressures on her, and how she would finally learn to resolve her past with the woman she wanted to be. I found her to be very interesting and very human. And I also liked Chase. He comes across as a normal guy who was very patient and persistent. Yet he was not without issues of his own. I found them to be a believable couple and it made for an entertaining read. I am glad I decided to read it after all. 4. Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed by Jo Beverley . This was Ms. Beverley's first published book (1988) and it was recently reprinted. It's a sweet traditional regency. Lord Wraybourne needs to marry and he chooses the daughter of a wealth...

All-in-all, November was a pretty good month. Thanksgiving weekend was extremely quiet with only 3 of us here at home. I left the house for no more than 20 minutes on Black Friday, just long enough to pick up my Daily Diet Coke. Bring on Christmas. I'm ready! 5.5. I have to give a shout-out to "Christmas Promise," a novella by Carla Kelly appearing in the anthology A Regency Christmas (2009). Another wonderful story by the awesome Carla Kelly. Not everyone can pull off the format of telling a complete story in 100 pages, but Kelly can. A war-weary naval captain reunites with a woman he had always loved and never thought to have. 5. Broken Hero by Anne Whitfield . I started the month reading this ebook that I'd had on my PDA for ages. The book is set along the Yorkshire coast of England during WWII and involves a family that is allowing their home to be used by the British Army as a convalescent home for soldiers suffering from what we would probably now label as PTS...

I was going to write this up on Tuesday, but then I started reading Jo Goodman's Never Love a Lawman and, well, I just had to finish that first! 5. Never Romance a Rake by Liz Carlyle . This was one from my TBR pile that I've had for a year now. The hero, Rothewell, is one of those heroes who is about as dark as they come. A horrific childhood combined with a boatload of guilt over the circumstances of his older brother's death have filled him with a lot of self-hatred. He gambles with some very disreputable people and finds himself agreeing to a wager that, should he win, commits him to marry the illegitimate daughter of his gambling partner. Camille is desperate to be married, period, and makes it clear she supports this wager. The two are drawn to one another immediately, and must learn to make their marriage work, despite their secrets and their pasts. This was another beautifully drawn book by Carlyle that focused on the relationship between Rothewell and Camille. Ca...

Many of us readers have particular authors that we gravitate toward. Their writing and their stories have that certain "something." It was no surprise as I compiled this list to realize that the 5 authors represented here are among the ones I most look forward to reading. I have gushed over a few of them in this blog previously. Without further ado, last month's Phaves: 5. Loving a Lost Lord by Mary Jo Putney . When I started reading romance again about 6-7 years ago, Putney was one of the first authors I discovered. Her Shattered Rainbows is one of my top 10 reads of all time. Putney took a detour into the paranormal (with mixed results in my opinion) and then a publisher switch meant a two-year gap between books. It was with a great deal of anticipation that I read her first straight historical in some 5 years. The hero of this story is the victim of an accident that leaves him with amnesia. He suddenly appears in Mariah's life just when she's in the need of ...

I read quite a few good ones last month and it was hard to narrow it down to just 5. So as a bonus here 3 honorable mentions that didn't make the cut: The Last Rake in London by Nicola Cornick, Flashpoint by Jill Shalvis, and Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy by HelenKay Dimon. Fun reads all. But the 5 best of the month were: 5. Never Lie to a Lady by Liz Carlyle . This one came out last year, but I waited for all 3 books in the trilogy to be published before starting in on it. It was worth the wait. I liked this story of two people who felt very much on the outside of the society in which they lived. They had much in common and their story was very believable. The plot involves some interesting intrigue that pits the hero and heroine against one another at first and I enjoyed the way it was resolved. And I swear, Liz Carlyle gets the best covers. 4. The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran . This is the author's first book. It was the winner in a first chapter contest held by gathe...

There are times when I read a book and I marvel at the mind behind the words. A mind that’s able to evoke so many different ideas and emotions that I continue to think about the book long after I finished reading it. I am left unwilling to start another book because I want to continue to enjoy what I just read, by thinking about it or going back to re-read various sections. This is what happened to me after I read this month’s TBR installment, Tapestry by Karen Ranney . I’ve gushed over Ranney’s books before . And it is worth noting that she has a new book out on Tuesday. I am so all over that one. It’s already available to pre-order on Fictionwise . But back to Tapestry. Here’s the blurb: Tapestry is the story of first love/only love. Laura Blake has been in love with her next door neighbor, Alex Weston, ever since she was a child. The Seven Years War separated them, however, and in the intervening years, Alex lost his youthful enthusiasm for life while Laura grew into a woman--more c...

I don’t really have time to review as many books here as I’d like, but I think I’d be remiss if I’d let this one go by. Once again I’m in awe of an author’s ability to not just write a novel, but to carefully craft it so that each word is important and if you read it too quickly you might miss an important point. The Scottish Companion is Karen Ranney’s latest book. I have a couple of her recent books on my TBR pile, but decided to read this one out of order as I’m not aware that it’s connected to any of her previous books. TSC is the story of Gillian and Grant—two people who’ve known tremendous loss. They are thrown together when Gillian, the paid companion of the title, accompanies her employer on a visit to Grant’s estate. Gillian’s employer, Arabella, is a very strange young woman who is obsessed with medicine to the point that she has absolutely no interest in anything that goes on around her unless it has to do with a medical ailment. Grant needs a wife and as he has no interest ...