A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson

Marnie MacGraw is a bit of a matchmaker--she believes in love and sees sparkles in the air when she meets two people who are meant to be together. Of course, she's already found her match. She loves Patrick--even though they are complete opposites--and she wants to have a baby with him. But she also knows she needs to be ready to accept whatever the universe brings her way.

Patrick Delaney is an introvert. He used to be a up-and-coming sculptor, but then a fire ruined his hands, scarred his face, and killed his girlfriend. That was seven years ago, but he thinks about it everyday. And even though he loves Marnie, he guards his heart from loving her too much because he can't risk the pain of losing her. And he thinks he's too empty inside to ever be anyone's father. 
 

Then along comes Fritzie. She's eight. She loves doing cartwheels and asking too many questions. And she's Patrick's daughter. A daughter he never knew he had. And she's about to change Marnie's and Patrick's life forever. 

My thoughts: I enjoyed everything about this book. It alternates between Marnie's and Patrick's POV, which worked well because the two of them are so different and I liked being able to see the same situation from both of their perspectives. I thought Patrick's struggle to get over his grief and guilt, figure out how to be a dad to an extroverted eight-year-old, and embrace the chaotic joy of having Marnie in his life was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. His and Marnie's relationship is messy, diverting, funny, flawed, hopeful and full of heart. I was rooting for them to make things work because I liked them so much. For me, A Happy Catastrophe turned out to be a sweet and charming romance. 

Happy Reading!

Summer TBR List...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week there's a different theme. This week's theme?

Books on my Summer 2022 To-Read List:

The Wedding Plot by Paula Munier

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

The Hidden One by Linda Castillo

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Mulberry Hollow by Denise Hunter

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

The Dark by Sharon Bolton

Sleeper 13 by Rob Sinclair

Turn to Me by Becky Wade

Winter's Mourn by Mary Stone

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

I like to read a mix of mystery & suspense and fun romance in the summer.

What about you? What's on your summer reading list?

Happy Reading!

Primordial by David Wood and Alan Baxter

"Something terrible lives beneath the dark waters of Lake Kaarme, and it's hungry."

 Isn't that a great cover? I couldn't resist checking this one out. And Primordial turned out to be an entertaining summer read. Marine biologist Sam Aston has been hired by billionaire Ellis Holloway to search for a reported monster living in Lake Kaarme in Finland. The locals there tell lots of stories about this deadly predator, but Sam is skeptical. He's not excited about TV host Jo Slater and her film crew joining them, or filming him, but he needs the money Holloway has promised to pay him. And Jo turns out to be an unexpected ally when things on their expedition start to go wrong. And they do go wrong!

This book is what I like to call a good popcorn read. You know going in that lots of people are going to get chomped and only a few will survive, but that's what makes these books fun. There's not a ton of character development, but I thought Sam and Jo were both very likable. Holloway, on the other hand, was not only obsessive and crazy, but monstrous, too. (There's one scene in the book with some sheep that still makes me cringe.) The locals are hiding some dark secrets, too. This book is fast-paced, and there are some very intense underwater scenes. And the prehistoric lake monster is not only relentless, but vicious. If you like these kinds of books, then this is a good one. 

Happy Reading!

Road Trip!

I'm taking off on a very short road trip up through Wyoming for the next few days, so I'll be away from my blog. I'm going with my sister and her husband and my nephew. We plan on visiting a few fun sites, like Independence Rock:

 And Devil's Tower:

We also want to check out the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Lovell:

And Martin's Cove:

And my nephew wants to tour the old Frontier Prison in Rawlins which is supposed to be haunted:

It'll be a short trip, but it should be fun. 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Haiku Reviews...

 

Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie

A blind date with a 

cute cop leads to Abby's help

on his next murder case.

Mystery .... 295 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(This is a fun one! I really liked both Abby and Det. Dutch Rivers.)

A Wagon Train Weekend by Stephenia H. McGee

Can a trip back in time

save Seth and Collette's relationship?

They're about to find out.

Romance ....214 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(A sweet, lighthearted, just-for-fun romance set both in the present and in 1857. Thanks, Ashley, for recommending it!)

Devoted by Dean Koontz

A boy who can't speak.

A dog who can hear his thoughts.

Evil that must be stopped.

Suspense .... 369 pages .... 3/5 stars.

(Koontz's Watchers, which is also about a really smart dog, is a much better book.)

To Win Her Heart by Karen Witemeyer

Books brought them together,

but secrets from Levi's past

just might tear them apart.

Romance .... 347 pages .... 5/5 stars.

(A librarian and a blacksmith falling in love...you were right, Cindy, this was a good one!)

Happy Reading!

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

 

This is the seventh novel by Thomas Hardy that I've read. If you've seen the movie, then you know that the two main characters are Bathsheba Everdene and Gabriel Oaks. Of the two, I thought Gabriel was the easiest to like. He's a simple, hardworking, unpretentious farmer when he first meets and proposes marriage to Bathsheba. But then his fortunes change, as do hers, and she ends up owning her uncle's large farm while Gabriel ends up working for her as her shepherd. There is no guile in Gabriel. He's solid and and steady and honest, though not exciting or handsome enough to tempt Bathsheba.

As for Bathsheba, she's a more complicated character. She's young and pretty and a little vain. She's also independent, spirited, and determined to hold her own in what is essentially a man's world. I admired her daring in deciding to run her uncle's farm on her own, but her youthful vanity made her do things at times that I didn't love, like when she sends an anonymous valentine to the handsome bachelor Farmer Boldwood to tease him just because he had the temerity not to notice her at the market-house. I guess there's nothing that draws a woman's attention like a man's indifference, at least in Thomas Hardy's world. Of course, when Boldwood then falls feverishly in love with her and asks her to marry him, Bathsheba finds she must refuse him because she does not love him back.

Sergeant Troy finishes the triangle of suitors encircling Bathsheba. He's handsome and charming and full of flattery. "He was perfectly truthful towards men, but to women lied like a Cretan." He also has another girl he's in love with, but he can't seem to stay away from beautiful Bathsheba. And Bathsheba, unable to resist his attentions, finds herself foolishly falling in love for the very first time. More drama then ensues. 

Almost all of the Thomas Hardy novels I've read seem to have a tragic ending, but while many tragic events do occur in this novel, there's actually a happy ending for both Bathsheba Everdene and Gabriel Oaks. Which made me like this one even more. Hardy's descriptive powers are also on full display in this novel. I like the way he writes, but sometimes his descriptions do slow down the narrative. Still, I'm very glad I finally read this one. Far From the Madding Crowd was first published in 1874 and counts as my 19th Century Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge.

Happy Reading!

Other Hardy novels I've reviewed on my blog:

Two on a Tower

A Pair of Blue Eyes

Under the Greenwood Tree

My three favorite Hardy novels:

    

June's Bookish Art...

 

Mary Cassatt -- Woman Reading in a Garden, 1880

"Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes place for that."

--John Green