What I've been reading...and viewing

This post was supposed to be a review of one of the many library books I checked out this month. And while I have been reading, I just couldn't make myself actually sit down and write a review. So you get this rambling post instead. 

I've been binge watching the first few seasons of Cobra Kai...and completely loving it! So fun to see Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence back together, still sparring. I also love all the homages to the original Karate Kid movie, which has been a favorite of mine since it first came out. All the 80s music in it is great, too. I'm looking forward to watching the last three seasons soon. 

I also just finished reading Eric Jay Dolin's well-researched book Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. I did not know how big a role privateers played in the American Revolution or their importance in helping to defeat the British armies. This book was very informative, and I learned a lot. I thought Dolin did a good job of making all these facts and historical figures interesting, and the book is very readable, though there were a few long chapters at the end that I found myself kind of skimming. Still a 4-star nonfiction read for me. 

I've been slow reading Hosanna Wong's lovely book Uncomplicate It. It's wonderful. I love her views on how anyone can connect with God in their own way. So many of the chapters seem to speak to me and where I'm at in my life right now. It was Cindy's review that first brought this book to my attention and I'm so glad! It's one I think I need to own and read again and again. 

And in a completely different vein, I just started reading Rob Hart's second Assassins' Anonymous book, The Medusa Protocol. I'm not very far in it yet, but am liking it so far. I also have Nick Petrie's latest Peter Ash thriller, The Dark Time, waiting for me to read next. Along with Her Time Traveling Duke by Bryn Donovan and Love At First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi. So maybe I'll manage to review one of these books next week. But I make no promises. 

Happy Reading!

Haiku Reviews...

 

Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart

One year, no kills. Mark 

is making amends. Then a

killer comes after him.

Action/Thriller .... 306 pages .... 5/5 stars.

(Loved the main character and the dark humor. Can't wait to read the sequel.)

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Sasquatch. Cthulhu.

Black Witches. A missing town.

And werewolves. Oh, my!

Urban fantasy .... 358 pages .... 5/5 stars.

(Anna and Charles head to the mountains in Northern California to investigate an ancient mystery; lots of magic and suspense. I loved it.)

Tell Me True by Carina Taylor

Can this marriage of

convenience take two roommates from

"just friends" to much, much more?

Sweet romance .... 316 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(Cute, clean and humorous. While I do not love the cover, I did love Miles's and Lucy's friendship, and their banter. Miles's family was pretty great, too.)

Happy Reading!

April's Bookish Art...

 

Edwin Harris -- A Quiet Moment

"Throughout her life, books had always been welcome companions, offering wisdom, inspiration, and a wondrous sense of adventure as one journeyed to the world of imagination."

--Andrea Penrose, Murder at Somerset House

Sarah's Orphans by Vannetta Chapman

 

The plot:  First her father dies, then her mother leaves. And 23-year-old Sarah Yoder must care for her four younger brothers and manage their household, too. Though two of her brothers, Andy and Henry, are grown enough to work the farm. But there are debts to pay. And they are struggling. Then Sarah discovers a young Hispanic boy and his 3-year-old sister living on their own in town, and she decides she and her brothers have room for two more. Luckily, they are not alone. Their Amish community is there to help, as is their new neighbor, Paul Byler, a 30-year-old bachelor who finds he might have room in his life not only for Sarah, bur for all her charges. 

My thoughts:  This is a lovely novel about found family, community, God, faith, and love. That Amish setting is one of my favs, and I liked Sarah and her brothers and their interactions with young Mateo and his little sister, Mia. Paul was a great character, very thoughtful and kind. I enjoyed the quiet romance between him and Sarah. All in all, this is a charming and heartwarming novel.

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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 a fun one: BOOK TITLES THAT DESCRIBE ME AND MY LIFE.

Here are the titles I chose from books I've read:

Quiet

by Susan Cain

Sister

by Rosamund Lupton

Buried in a Book

by Lucy Arlington

Practice Makes Perfect

by Sarah Adams

The Happiness Project

by Gretchen Rubin

A Walk in the Woods

by Bill Bryson

Lost Among the Birds

by Neil Hayward

So Many Books, So Little Time

by Sara Nelson

The Magic of Ordinary Days

by Ann Howard Creel

All Shall Be Well

by Deborah Crombie

What book titles describe you?

Happy Reading!

A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly

 "It's the Titanic, sir," (First Officer) Dean interrupted, his voice nearing a frantic pace and pitch. "We've just received an urgent distress message. She's struck ice and is sinking fast. She requires immediate assistance."

(Captain Rostron's) eyes darted to the chart, marking his position in relation to the Titanic with a stub of a pencil. They were not as close as he would like to be, not nearly close enough, but he wasn't about to let that stop him.  Other boats would have heard the call and replied to her message as well, so all he had to do was get his ship there as fast as he could and be prepared for whatever they might face.

"...we must have order, discipline, and quietness, and we must avoid all confusion. We must be better sailors, better crew, and better men than we have ever been."  

I'm sure the story of Titanic is familiar to everyone. But what about Capt. Arthur Rostron and the valiant crew of the Carpathia who took extreme and heroic efforts to go to her rescue as fast as they could? They are the ones who pulled the 705 survivors from the icy sea that night. Rebecca Connolly tells their story in this compelling and poignant novel. I was familiar with Carpathia's name, but knew nothing of her Captain and the decisive actions he took that fateful night. He was truly a remarkable man...though he would tell you he just did what anyone else would have done in his situation. Connolly also weaves in the story of Kate Connolly, an Irish lass and third class passenger on the Titanic who managed to survive. I liked reading their contrasting perspectives of that night. Altogether, this was an amazing novel. I loved it. 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Top Ten Tuesday

 

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

This week's theme is a fun one:  BOOKS SET IN PLACES ON MY BUCKET LIST.

The hardest part for me was narrowing my list down to just 10 titles because there are SO many places in the world I want to visit someday. But here are my top 10:

1. A Thousand Days in Venice by Malena de Blasi

2. A Street in Marrakech by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea

3. Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes

4. The Dubrovnik Book Club by Eva Glyn

5. A Castaway in Cornwall by Julie Klassen

6. The Orkney Scroll by Lyn Hamilton

7. The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

(Wales is high on my bucket list, but I couldn't find any good book titles with the word Wales in them, so I had to go with Welsh instead.)

8. The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro

9. Cry of the Kalahari by Mark & Delia Owens

10. The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood

(I've actually already been to Paris, but I really want to go back, so that's why it's still on my bucket list.)

Happy Reading!