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Fall is almost here! Officially the first day of Fall will be September 23rd, but I’m going to change the blog colors in anticipation, hopefully today or tomorrow. Below is a picture of previous early Fall colors in Bryson City NC. That was last year, I think.

Hard Winter?

I’ve seen a lot of predictions of a hard winter for this area. Locals here have been saying the signs are there: wooly worms of darker color, thunder in July, and squirrels all over the place, collecting as much as they can before winter, even more than usual. Then the weather forecasters started backing them up. El Nino may cause a lot more snow and cooler temperatures. As you can see from the image below, we are in the “Battleground Area.”

Coming Up On The Blog

I haven’t been posting as much, but I plan to post a lot of reviews, starting with tomorrow. I will also participate in Top Ten Tuesday if time permits.

Indie Reviews Coming Soon

Book Description

It’s Christmas Eve in Townlee, New Jersey and the small town’s hopes are riding on Bailey Hatchell, an overworked AI/hologram designer who’s made a walking, talking Charles Dickens that spins tales and spurns fools like the famous author of A Christmas Carol. Bailey’s invention, 7 years in the making, could revive the town if the presentation to a billionaire gaming mogul goes well, but he wants to alter Bailey’s invention for his own gain. And while the town is excited about the potential tourist attraction, Bailey’s 9-year old daughter, Hayley, is preoccupied with bigger problems as she heads into a Christmas Eve storm to find Santa Claus. Faced with restoring Hayley’s belief in Christmas or rescuing his hijacked hologram, only the arrival of a man claiming to be the real Charles Dickens can help Bailey unlock a magical Shorte List and save his daughter and the town. What follows is a high-stakes race against the clock, with Dickens and Santa leading the charge. Lively, funny, and full of heart, this is a story about the true meaning of family, and the power of believing in each other. **My reviewwill be posted September 26th or 27th.

Spice merchant Thomas Tallant returns from India to find his city in turmoil – desperately overcrowded, ravaged by crime and seething with sedition. A bitter struggle is brewing between King Charles I and Parliament, as England slides into civil war.

A wealthy merchant is savagely killed; then his partner plunges to his death in the Tallant household. Suspicion falls on Tom, who finds himself sucked into London’s mire of deceit. As he struggles to clear his name, he meets the enigmatic Elizabeth Seymour. Her passion for astronomy and mathematics is matched only by her addiction to tobacco and the gaming tables. Can her brilliance untangle the web of lies that threatens to drag Tom under?

A thrilling murder mystery, set in the murky streets of Stuart London, RAGS OF TIME is an intriguing tale of murder and deception amidst the search for enlightenment, that will keep you guessing until the final dramatic scene. **My review will be posted on or before September 30th.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

**This is another book I reviewed for The Historical Novel Society’s August issue.

Book Review

This is the saga of a Slovakian American family that begins in 1907 in Hungary and ends in 1965 in America. The family is fictional but loosely based on the author’s family. The story begins with our protagonist, Mira, living in her beloved village in Hungary with her husband, Janos, and their son. Things are tough for Slovaks at the time, because of the Hungarian policy of Magyarization, aggressive assimilation of other cultures, including the Slovaks. After the Cernova massacre, when villagers protesting Hungarian interference in the consecration of their new church are murdered, Janos decides it is time to move to America. Mira is resistant and does not want to leave her family, although her sister has already departed for America. Janos goes without her and promises to send money and visit as often as he can. This starts a long period of separation, trials, and loss for both of them. When Mira finally agrees to go to America, more trials await, including the start of the Great War and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

This is an honest, realistic, and captivating family story. The characters are well developed and deeply relatable. This is a story of love, but also heartache, tragedy, loss, and betrayal. Both Janos and Mira show periods of selfishness that affect their marriage. Along the way, they experience tough times, and family secrets begin to surface. I enjoyed the descriptions of Slovakian traditions, customs, and food. There is an honest look at racism at that time, including discrimination against Mira’s friends, who are Jewish, and Janos’s horror at the East St. Louis Massacre in 1917. As the family changes and grows, so does the country and the world. Recommended.

About the Author

A native Arizonan, P.L. Jonas has traveled all over the US and ten other countries. Her stories draw from personal experience, a fascination with history, and a love of research. When she’s not writing or editing, she is reading and painting while her beloved cat looks on.

Website

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo

Book Description

Book Review

Mariah, Ashley, and Sarah Grace have been estranged a long time.  Mariah left Sugar Gap, Tennessee, long ago, searching for her self-worth and fleeing her mother’s reputation. She worked hard and built a career as a well-known and respected chef.  Ashley also left to pursue her career, and Sarah Grace stayed, determined to help their grandmother keep her bakery open. Now their grandmother has passed away but has left the three sisters a set of 15 tasks to complete, along with the incentive to do so.  To further complicate matters, Sam Jenkins, whose heart Mariah broke when she left town, is now the Sheriff and has been appointed to help them.

This is engaging small-town fiction.  The ending is not hard to figure out, but the experience of spending the Fall holidays in a picturesque mountain town makes up for that.  The cast of characters makes Sugar Gap come alive.  There is a sweet, slightly spicy, romance and revealed secrets, but the messages of forgiveness and overcoming self-doubts are the most important parts of the story. The series of tasks is entertaining, enhanced by the townsfolk and the complex relationship of the sisters. Don’t pass on this chance to spend the holidays in Sugar Gap, a place of new beginnings and second chances. This is Book One of the Sugar Gap Romances series.

I received a free copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

Michele Dunaway is a best-selling contemporary romance author who writes happily-ever-afters set in small towns with unique quirk, where life is “Hometown Sweet with Hints of Spice.” Describing herself as a woman who does way too much and never wants to stop, Michele writes about finding forever love and second chances. She’s a proud mother of two grown daughters. As an avid pet lover, Michele shares her home with far too many rescued cats, who of course completely rule the roost.

Connect With Michele

Instagram | Facebook

Purchase Link

**Click on the cover to see the book on Amazon

Thank you to Zooloo’s Book Tours.

Here we are in August already. It’s the last real month of summer and the beginning of Fall, in my opinion. It’s been a summer that has been rainy at times and sunny at times, and so has life. We lost a family member unexpectedly and remembered that life is so, so short and fleeting. We are praying for another family member who has been diagnosed with cancer. On the sunnier side, we also had good times with the grandkids, and we are enjoying the beauty of the mountains and produce from our garden.

A while back, Doug simply scattered some sunflower seeds on a bank in front of our house. Below is the result:

LAST WEEK ON BONNIE READS AND WRITES

On Thursday, I posted a review of The Luckiest Man Returns, a beautiful baseball story.

On Friday, I posted a review of A Family Affair by my favorite author, Jodi Taylor.

NEXT WEEK ON THE BLOG

I will review Beneath A Radiant Moon by P.L. Jonas and Hypocrite’s Row by Eliot Kleinberg. I may participate in Top Ten Tuesday if time permits.

BOOK HAUL

I received Netgalley widgets for all three of these, and I’ll be reviewing them for The Historical Novel Society.

The Woman Between by Francine Rivers
The Three Daughters of Annam by Phong Nguyen
The French Innkeeper’s Daughter by Diane C. McPhail

I hope you’re having a wonderful summer. Believe it or not, Christmas is only 138 days away!

Thank you to The Caffeinated Book Reviewer for hosting Sunday Post and Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting Sunday Salon.

Today’s topic is: Books that live rent-free in my head. They can be books that you love or hate, books that scared you, etc. Basically, they are books you can’t forget. I listed four series and one book, and that adds up to many more than ten books.

1. The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Series: The characters in these books have become old friends, with many, many re-reads. One of my favorite quotes: “He was calm and soothing and had a reasonable explanation for everything. No woman should have to put up with that.”
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: Quotes from these books still stay with me after all these years. One I really like is from The Horse and His Boy: “Child,” said the Lion, “I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but their own.” Another one is: “Do not dare not to dare.”
3. The Time Police. Again, I will list the whole series. This is a spinoff of Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s. There is a whole spiel around the “f” word, because timid Jane can’t say it, so she says “fire truck,” and everyone starts doing it throughout the series. It’s hilarious.
4. The Harry Potter Series: I love these books and revisit them often. The world-building was so good it actually became part of our world. Quidditch became a real sport. There are Muggle Quidditch leagues all over the world (no flying that I know of. 😉 “Muggle” was added to the English Oxford Dictionary. And there are many other examples.
5. The Door Into Summer: This was when I first became interested in time-travel fiction. This quote about trusting people stayed with me: “I had taken a partner once before—but, damnation, no matter how many times you get your fingers burned, you have to trust people. Otherwise you are a hermit in a cave, sleeping with one eye open.

My review of book 14 in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, The Good, The Bad, and the History.

What about you? What books have lived in your head?

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.