Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is Beachy Reads. It can be books that take place on the beach, or with beachy covers, or anything else connected to the beach.
Of the ten, I’ve read six. For some of the others, I just like the covers, and I definitely want to read the Emily Henry book one day. I haven’t read her books before, but I hear they are funny.
Which cover do you like? I still like Hotel Laguna, both the book and the cover, best. My review of Hotel Laguna is here.
It’s all about the grandkids this month, as they are staying with us all through the end of July. It’s been great to see them, but I am exhausted! It’s been a long time since I’ve been this tired! Above are two of my grandchildren. The oldest is busy playing Roblox. LOL. Their Dad is picking them up the end of July, and August will be all about resting. And blogging!!!
In gardening news, my tomatoes are going crazy! I’ve been freezing them to can in August when I have time, but also eating delicious BLTs. The cucumbers aren’t doing so well, but I am getting some nice jalapenos to go in my salsa. I have a huge crop of basil, and my mint is doing well.
I did pick up some new books this week. See below
The Last Wizard’s Ball: The final book in the Gunnie Rose series. Lizbeth Rose’s sister Felicia attends the Grand Wizards’ Ball, and as one of the most powerful—and beautiful—death wizards in a generation, she is highly sought after as one of the belles of the ball.
However, war and violence are on the rise in Europe as German and Japanese wizards are also courting Felicia…and some are refusing to take no for an answer.
As the façade of genteel wizard society turns deadly, Lizbeth must learn to not only protect her sister, but also navigate the arcane world that is pulling her sister and husband into a dangerous dance with death that could change the world as they know it.
My Great-Aunt’s Diary (Bookouture book tour in August) – Heartbroken and searching for a new beginning, Emily is shocked to learn she has inherited her great-aunt Violet’s cottage. She remembers summers spent running through its rose garden, but she hasn’t seen her great-aunt in years… So why did she leave her Clifftop Cottage?
Deciding this is the fresh start she needs, Emily travels to the seaside village of Dovecote. Not long after she arrives, she bumps into her childhood love, Will. As he runs his hand through his chestnut-brown hair, she can’t help but think of what happened between them all those years ago…
When Will offers to help redecorate the cottage, Emily is unsure. He broke her heart once before; could he do it again? But she is soon distracted when she finds a leather diary dating back to the Second World War hidden inside an old desk. Turning the pages, she discovers a wartime romance she knew nothing about. Why did Violet keep this secret?
As Emily and Will grow closer while investigating her family history, she wonders if Dovecote could be the place she finally calls home. But can she trust Will to help her uncover a long-buried family secret? And, if she does, will this forgotten diary mend her broken heart, and give her the happy ending she’s looking for?
Murder in Miniature– In post-WWII Vermont, Maple Bishop has a thriving dollhouse business and a new career as a crime scene consultant for the local sheriff’s office. On the surface, she seems to be doing well, but deep down Maple is still reeling from the death of her husband. When the body of an aspiring firefighter–who was close childhood friends with Kenny, the sheriff’s deputy and Maple’s confidante–is discovered in the charred remains of a burned cabin, Maple is called in to help determine whether the fire was an accident or a case of murder by arson.
Realizing there’s more to the crime than meets the eye, she sets out to unearth the discrepancies from the scene by re-creating the cabin in miniature. The investigation leads them to Maple’s old Boston neighborhood, forcing her to confront the past she’s desperately trying to forget.
As Maple and Kenny sift through clues, they uncover dark secrets that hit close to home, unraveling in unexpected ways—and putting their lives in danger.
Next week I’ll be doing some reviews and spotlights as well, in between wrangling kids. 🙂 I’ll try to do Top Ten Tuesday if time permits.
It’s Release Day for 19 Doors, a short story collection featuring a wide variety of genres. A book description, purchase link, and author bio are all below. I will provide a review at a later date.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
From the author of Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel, shortlisted by the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 19 Doors ranges far and wide, diving into magical realism and science fiction, then adding a dash of steampunk and surrealism for extra flavor. The collection ricochets from the poignant to the comically absurd, each short story a work of imaginative fiction.
• A community remembers the lives they have yet to live. • An intergalactic tour bus arrives in Hollywood … Montana. • A shopping network super-fan relives every infomercial scenario he watches. • The first sentient being in the universe applies for a job as a sous chef. • A preternatural wind comes to collect a long-owed debt.
Through 19 Doors, we are immersed in the unraveling lives of characters who are just like us and nothing like us. Whether they succeed or succumb, conform or rebel, we are treated to a compilation of stories that are frequently fraught, often fun, and always fantastic.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
**The author’s bios are so funny that I found two and added them both:
The story of Rob Roy O’Keefe’s birth goes that he was born in the same Irish cottage as his grandfather and in the same year, which led to a time paradox so cataclysmic that he would never finish th–Fortunately, the truth is much different. Turns out he was not born in a cottage or in Ireland, but in a Howard Johnson’s in Bayonne, which may explain his lifelong habit of ending each day with 28 flavors of ice cream.
In his twenties, he went through a period of crisis and self-doubt upon learning he was not named after a Scottish folk hero, but rather a mixed drink featuring scotch whisky and sweet vermouth. Years of counseling eventually enabled him to resume his place in society. That, and the realization that his siblings, Mojito, Daiquiri, and Gimlet, had it much worse than he did.
Rob made his way in the world as the inventor of several nonexistent colors and is living a life of leisure thanks to the royalty checks he receives for creating the descriptive names found on garden hose nozzles. His favorite is “Mist.”
Rob Roy O’Keefe was raised in the Antarctic by a colony of emperor penguins, which explains both his love of fish and his intense anxiety when in the company of sea lions. At the age of 12 he left to go on walkabout, but upon learning that Australia was over 3,000 miles away, he took the more expedient route from Cape Melville, Antarctica to South America’s Cape Horn.
He wandered north through the Andes, accumulated an abundance of practical knowledge, such as how to convince a hungry condor that you are not carrion. He eventually stumbled upon the hut of an Incan shaman who took him on as an apprentice. After a decade of immersion into the mysteries of the unseen world, Rob departed, fully prepared for his eventual success in the fields of pizza delivery, local politics, and brand consulting.
Today, Rob resides in New England’s Merrimack Valley, where he lives in a tree house made of Good Humor popsicle sticks held together by the discarded dreams of retired sailors.
I’m happy to share Liz Gauffreau’s Cover Reveal, Description, and preorder links to her new book, The Weight of Snow and Regret, which comes out in October. Liz is a talented author who combines historical and literary fiction into beautiful, well-written, and impeccably researched novels, as I discovered when I read her book Telling Sonny. Please be sure and check out her post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.