Until Next Summer by Ali Brady

 "...there's something magical about summer camp."

How it begins:  "When I was a kid, I had a button on my backpack that read I LIVE TEN MONTHS FOR TWO. When people noticed it, I'd get one of two reactions: total confusion, or a knowing smile. The ones who smiled would inevitably ask one question. A question that let me know without a doubt, that they were my kind of people:  'So where'd you go to camp?' "

The plot:  For Jessie, Camp Chickawah always felt like home...the one place she truly belonged. It's where she met her best friend, Hillary, though the two aren't in touch any more. So being Chickawah's camp director has been her dream job. Only the camp hasn't been making money. And now the owners want to sell it to developers. And Jessie has only one summer left. To make the most of it, she invites all of  Chickawah's past campers to come back for a memorable and nostalgic adult summer camp experience. Every week will have a different theme. They'll relive all their favorite camp moments. And when Hillary shows up with an idea that could save Camp Chickawah, Jessie is all in. 

"(Because) once a camp person, always a camp person." 

My thoughts:  There is something magical about summer camp. My summer camp experiences were never eight weeks long, but they were always fun. And I always wished I could go to a place like Camp Chickawah with a lake, swimming and canoeing, archery, arts and crafts, hiking, scavenger hunts, color wars, and summer camp friendships and memories that last a lifetime. That's probably why I love reading books with a summer camp setting so much. And this one really captures all that magic. It has both humor and heart. I loved seeing Jessie and Hillary rekindle their friendship. Jessie's romance with a reclusive writer named Luke, and Hillary's summer fling with the camp chef were both sweet and swoony. And all the camp activities were so fun. This book just made me happy. To quote Jessie, "It was Chicka-wonderful!" And one I wouldn't mind owning so I can read it again every summer. 

"...camp people never say goodbye; we say 'see ya next summer.' "

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Haiku Reviews...

 

Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner

Suspended NHL star

coaches youth league--falls for player's 

cute older sister.

Hockey romance .... 267 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(I loved Mitch's personal journey to work through his anger issues and become a better person, one worthy of Andie's love.)

Love, Naturally by Sophie Sullivan

City girl, outdoor guy.

One week at the Get Lost Lodge.

True love, or just a fling?

Romance .... 309 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(Funny and sweet! Presley's humorous thoughts on hiking and biking made me laugh out loud.)

The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull

Again and again

Edward tries to find a way

to do in his aunt.

British Library Crime Classic .... 208 pages .... 3.5/5 stars.

(Darkly funny with a great twist at the end!)

Happy Reading!

Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin

 

The main characters:

FRANKIE O'NEILL--a graduate student grieving the death of her father and struggling to finish her master's thesis; she's come to her family's small summer cottage on June Lake to try and pull her life together. 

"Bird song, wind in the trees, the rhythmic lifting and clanking of the dock in the waves, the water lapping the shore. Sounds as familiar as her own breath. It was a comfort to hear them, as she'd hoped. But the feeling wouldn't last....Because she was not a girl at home in the woods and falling in love with birds for the first time. She was twenty-six, homeless, and staring down a host of uncomfortable new firsts in her life. She was unemployed and unemployable. Bereft of friends and allies, she was out of options, out of ideas, and out of places to go."

ANNE RYAN--Irish musician, young wife and mother; she's dealing with her own grief and struggling to connect with her five-year-old son, Aiden, who no longer speaks to her or her husband, Tim. She, Aiden and Tim have come to June Lake hoping to reconnect. 

"Nobody tells the truth about having children, Anne knew. ...Nobody ever admitted that being a mother is an epic of failure. There were just so many opportunities to fail: when your baby won't eat, or sleep, or stop crying, or won't look at you, or won't speak to you. Or stares at his hands and won't respond when you say his name. Or screams unconsolably for some unknown reason. Or when you take your attention off him for one minute and he vanishes into thin air."

My thoughts:  I loved this book. The quietness. The beautiful prose. The tentative friendship between Frankie and Anne's young son, Aiden. The baby crow Frankie saves and returns to its family. Hers and Anne's separate journeys through loss and grief, and the friendship and healing they find along the way. I loved the remote setting, and all the talk and descriptions of crows. It's such a transporting and captivating novel. A perfect read for the end of summer. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  

Happy Reading!

 

I also really enjoyed reading Garvin's The Music of Bees. 

August's Bookish Art...

 

Jean Baptiste Armand Guillaumin -- Madame Guillaumin Reading 

"You are never alone when you have a good book."

Freya Sampson, The Last Chance Library

Two Quick Recommendations...

 

Forgotten Trail by Claire Kells

This is the third mystery with ISB agents Felicity Harland and Hux Huxley. This one takes place at Pinnacles National Park in California. I really enjoy the National Park setting in this series, especially when it introduces me to parks I've never heard of before, like Pinnacles. And Felicity and Hux are such engaging characters. They make a fun team. I had one problem with the mystery and how the murderer knew to be there, which I felt was never satisfactorily explained, but I liked everything else about it. Especially the suspenseful moments in the park and those unexpected twists along the way.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Season on the Wind by Suzanne Woods Fisher

"Ben Zook had only two loves in his life. Books and birds."

No longer part of the Amish community, Ben has returned to his childhood home of Stoney Ridge in search of a rare bird. He's hired shy Micah Weaver as his guide. But it was Micah's sister, Penny, who first taught Ben to love birds twenty years ago, when she was just twelve. Too bad he doesn't remember her. 

"She looked at his profile. Him. Ben was her spark bird."

I loved this book because of Micah, Penny, and Ben. And that Amish setting. But most of all, because of the birding! This is an enchanting and heartwarming romance.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme is PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES--a top ten list of books featuring travel in them. I've added BOATS to my list this week as well as cars, planes and trains. Enjoy!

Drowning by T.J. Newman

(Takes place on a downed plane.)

City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

(The main character is an aviatrix.)

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes

Helen And Troy's Epic Road Quest by A. Lee Martinez

(One of the funniest road trip/quest books I've ever read.)

Are We There Yet? by Savannah Scott

(Four friends on a cross-country road trip down Route 66.)

A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey

(Another favorite road trip read.)

A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh

(Cute Christmas road trip romance.)

Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde

(This one involves traveling by motorhome.)

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

(A novel I read while actually traveling down the Nile River.)

Float Plan by Trish Doller

Oops...I think I just listed eleven books instead of ten. 

Oh, well. These are all fun books involving planes, trains, automobiles & boats.

Happy Reading!

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

 

JULY 1980:  Three girls enter the Minnesota woods at the end of their street to go swimming in the creek one summer afternoon. Only one girl comes back out, so traumatized she can't remember what happened to her two friends. Was it the Bendy Man who took them? Or someone else?

SUMMER 2022:  When the body of a woman who was buried alive is found, the small gold heart found with her connects her to the Taken Ones. Minnesota's BCA brings in cold case detective Evangeline "Van" Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck to investigate. And Van is determined to figure out what happened to those two missing girls, no matter how many people she angers in the process. 

My thoughts:  I really loved Jess Lourey's book The Quarry Girls, and this one is equally good. But I don't know how to talk about it, because so much of this story just needs to unfold on its own. Especially with Van, her past, and all her secrets. She's a complicated character, with flaws and vulnerabilities, and a special talent that helps her know things she shouldn't. I liked her. And Harry is great, too. I think his secrets might come out in the next book. Another thing I really liked is Lourey's writing; she has a gift for adding poetic touches to her prose. If you like character-driven mysteries with atmosphere and suspense, give this one a try.

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Be kind anyway...

I have a favorite quote from Mother Teresa, and I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It's engraved on the wall of her home for children in Calcutta. Her words are thoughtful and wise...words to live by. If we all did, what an amazing world it would be. 

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. 

--Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Two Quick Recommendations...

 

Hunting Time by Jeffery Deaver

This is the fourth Colter Shaw novel. He's one of my favorite characters! Raised by survivalist parents, Colter works as a rewardist:  collecting rewards for finding lost things and people. His job makes for some interesting and fun adventures. There's always lots of action and suspense. I've enjoyed all four books in this series, though I recommend starting with the first one, The Never Game.

I also recommend checking out the TV series, Tracker, which is based on these books. It's awesome! Justin Hartley plays Colter Shaw, and he does such a good job of portraying this character. It was my favorite TV show last year, and I'm very much looking forward to watching the second season of it this fall. The new season begins on October 27th. 

Happy reading...and viewing!

Randomness...

I recently finished reading this fun science fiction sequel:  Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton.

The previous book, Mickey 7, was one of my favorite reads last summer. And this one is an equally entertaining adventure.

My library haul for August:

The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull

Operation Pineapple Express by Scott Mann

Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin

A Rip in Time by Kelley Armstrong

Murder Road by Simone St. James

On the Wrong Track by Steve Hockensmith

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Love Unscripted by Denise Hunter

5 things that made me glad last month:

• My sister's back surgery went well; we're hoping her nerve pain will subside as she continues to heal.
• The Paris Olympics started! (My favorite sporting event.)
• I took a fun jewelry class on enameling with my niece and made a cool & colorful necklace.
• Salt Lake City (my home town) was chosen to host the Winter Olympics again in 2034. (I've already started saving to buy tickets.)
• I've been listening to (and loving!) Pop Evil's album Skeletons, especially their song Worth It. There's such a great message in it:  "You're the reason and the purpose; I promise you, you're worth it." 

What about you? What's made you happy lately?