I’ve decided to join in on the Top Ten Tuesday posts over at The Broke and the Bookish. I love lists and bookish things so this seems like a Win-Win to me!
This week the topic is:
Top Ten Books I Thought I’d Like MORE/LESS Than I Did
The top row is the 5 books I thought I’d like MORE than I did (sad face) and the bottom row is the top 5 books I thought I’d like LESS than I did:
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: November 30, 2010
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Source: Purchased
From Goodreads: A young woman abandoned as an infant on an Alabama porch is horrified to discover that she is the missing heiress to a vast Connecticut fortune–a birthright she is desperate to reject in favor of her Peachtree Lane roots.
Gracie Lynne Calloway–once left in a coal bucket on a front porch in a small Alabama town–discovers on her twenty-fifth birthday that she is the kidnapped daughter of a late New England financier and heiress to a fortune. When the tabloid press and her unwanted greedy relatives descend on her, she has to admit the quiet secure life she’s known and loved is gone for good. As Gracie struggles to stabilize her world and come to terms with her new identity, she learns that belonging is not about where you came from but who you are.(
My thoughts: This book was in the clearance section of Half Price Books on one of my last trips. The cover looked summery and pretty and it was only $1, so into the bag it went. I don’t even remember if I read the back cover blurb. I love when a completely unresearched book buy turns out to be a 5-star read!
Gracie was completely happy with her life and the only family she’s known when the madness of reporters and new relatives descend upon her after the news of her heritage is released. Her emotions swirl throughout the novel trying to figure out who she is now that the big mystery of her life has been solved. She doesn’t believe it, she refuses to acknowledge it, and then is forced to tackle it head on after some sad news arrives to those who have raised her.
The theme of what family truly means flows throughout these pages and it left me emotionally engaged to Gracie and her small Southern town. Speaking of the setting – it was written so beautifully and powerfully that I was transported into the heat and comfort food.
If you’re looking for a Southern setting or just a great story with a little romance – read this one!
Publisher: Philomel Books
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 346
Source: Library
From Goodreads: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.
She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.
With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.
My thoughts: This was my first Ruta experience, but it won’t be the last. I plan to snag Between Shades of Gray from the library in the very near future.
I have never visited New Orleans, but it is certainly on my short list of places to travel to so I started this book with high expectations. I was not let down, not even a teeny, tiny bit. I was IN The Big Easy while reading this. I could feel the heat, the swanky-bordering-on-skanky aura of the brothel, and the mystery.
And Josie, well, she’s a character that I wanted to cheer for her successes, cry over her failures, and dream her dreams along side her. Her understanding of her limited world in a town where everyone knows who her mother is has her dreaming of getting away and starting over at college, but that takes money which is something she doesn’t have much of. However, she doesn’t give up, even when her mother comes trashing up her plans like a tornado.
And the supporting cast of characters were fabulous too. The scummy thugs were rotten, of course, but the brothel was full of women who cared for Josie and who weren’t just complete drug addicted prostitutes. Not that I’m advocating that profession, but I did appreciate how the women had personality and characteristics that went beyond the expected and customary. I think it kept the novel from being trashy, moving it more towards compassion and interesting, at least for me.
I highly recommend this book! I’d love to hear from someone who has read this book and visited New Orleans. Did the book live up to reality? Did it capture the essence of the city?
This morning my local library branch posted the following image on Facebook:
(And yes, I follow my library on FB…so should you)
I have loved this quote for years, but especially more so since I became a parent. Every month Sammie brings home a Scholastic book club order and every month we buy her a few new books. Since I’m now a Stay At Home Momma, our book budget is drastically diminished but there almost always a few lower price ($1 or $1.99) books in each order. Even if we only get two or three new books, each time the order comes in it is an exciting day for Sammie. (and for me, if I’m being honest)
These book order days look like this:
Aren’t they cute? And I truly hope to have an entire childhood of these types of pictures of them – reading. And I hope the prevalence of books and reading in our home help them fall in love with reading the way Brett and I have.
Publisher: Ember
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Pages: 260
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
From Goodreads: “I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a cosmic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
My thoughts: A few months ago I asked my lovely twitter followers for some good winter/cold weather recommendations and this was one of the suggestions I received. I wanted to really embrace the whole snow, ice, and freezing temperatures thing and since, at the time, we hadn’t received much of that here in Missouri I opted for the book route. Since then, we’ve had around 15 inches of snow and it’s last weeks. I’m kind of over it. However, I read this book before it hit so I was still able to appreciate the beauty of winter.
The story is every book lovers dream – a message in a book leading a back and forth scavenger hunt of sorts. Dash and Lily were both, individually and together, quirky and hilarious giving the story a fun undercurrent. The supporting characters were great as well. My favorite part of this story, hands down, is the location – New York City at Christmas time. It’s somewhere I’d love to experience first hand, but for the interim this book made me feel like I was there seeing the window displays and holiday lights.
I highly recommend this book for its ability to make a setting into a character in the plot. The conversations between Dash and Lily are laugh-out-loud funny, but also heartfelt and sweet.
I am a book lover of new and used books so any trip to Half Price Books is sure to make me happy. Brett and I headed there a few weeks ago while Sammie was at preschool so Emmett got his first trip to HPB before he turned 5 weeks old!
I can spend hours in the clearance section where almost every book is $1. My kind of paradise!
This trip we came home with quite a few books, including a gardening book for Brett. While putting these up on my bookcases I found some other books I want to sell to HPB so we might make a trip this week in honor of my 30th birthday coming the 14th. :)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
From Goodreads: Buckhanon takes us to Chicago, 1992, and into the life of fifteen-year-old Shivana Montgomery, who believes all Black women wind up the same: single and raising children alone, like her mother. Until the sudden visit of her beautiful and free-spirited Aunt Jewel, Shivana spends her days desperately struggling to understand life and the growing pains of her environment. When she accidentally becomes pregnant by an older man and must decide what to do, she begins a journey towards adulthood with only a mysterious voice inside to guide her. When she falls in love with Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, together they fight to rise above their circumstances and move toward a more positive future. Through the voice of the unborn child and a narrative sweeping from slavery onward, Buckhanon narrates Shivana’s connection to a past history of Black women who found themselves at the mercy of tragic circumstances.
My thoughts: Do you ever open a book and after reading two pages you know without a doubt that it isn’t going to be something you like? Well, this was that book for me. I bought this (I think) in one of B&N’s $1.99 clearance sales because it sounded decent and I get trigger finger during those online sales. I wish I hadn’t spent the money.
The story itself was depressing and at this point in my life – newborn, lack of sleep, preschooler – depressing just isn’t something I’m interested in reading. I kept hoping for a twist or surprise that would really change the course for the characters, but instead the story ended pretty much as bleak as it began.
Basically, skip this one or borrow it from the library.
