The Princess Plan by Julia London

July 17, 2020July 16, 20204 Comments

The Princess Plan. Finished 7-1-20, 3.5/5, historical romance, pub. 2019
Book 1 of A Royal Wedding series

Nothing gets the tongues of London’s high society wagging like a good scandal. And when the personal secretary of the visiting Prince Sebastian of Alucia is found murdered, it’s all anyone can talk about, including Eliza Tricklebank. Her unapologetic gossip gazette has benefited from an anonymous tip about the crime, prompting Sebastian to take an interest in playing detective—and an even greater interest in Eliza.

With a trade deal on the line and mounting pressure to secure a noble bride, there’s nothing more salacious than a prince dallying with a commoner. Sebastian finds Eliza’s contrary manner as frustrating as it is seductive, but they’ll have to work together if they’re going to catch the culprit. And when things heat up behind closed doors, it’s the prince who’ll have to decide what comes first—his country or his heart. from Goodreads

Eliza had been rebuffed by society because when she was young she dared to believe a gentleman and his honorable intentions toward her. She now helped her blind father, a judge, and liked to fix clocks. I liked her independent spirit. Prince Sebastian was on his way through town to finalize a trade deal and find a wife. He was entitled and Eliza let him know it. His best friend is murdered and no one seems all that interested in finding out who did it except for him and then Eliza.

As I said, I liked Eliza and am happy that she got her happy ending. I thought mystery moved the story along and Sebastian was a fine enough hero. It was missing something for me, but it was an enjoyable listen during these stressful times.

This Week – Catching Up

July 11, 2020July 11, 202024 Comments

Fave Pic PVGF5334 We went to a park last week and played Ticket to Ride New York before our nature walk.

Highlights of the past few weeks I took off last week for my mental health. As the COVID numbers rise and many of our friends going back to some semblance of business as usual, I’ve had to take a step back. As adults who like spending time together the issue isn’t really about us, but Gage, nine, who has friends who are going to camp and playing together in their neighborhoods. Mask-free of course. Trying to balance a childhood between social development and physical health is a challenge. And we received the plan for his private school, either you’re all in or your 100% at home with live streaming of the classroom only. I’m now considering other options. Stressful decisions need to be made.

On the plus side, our library opened. I used to spend hours there multiple times a week, but with local COVID numbers on the rise, I’ve decided to focus on a different way. I go in, grab a few bags of books, bring them home and try to sell them on our FB page. I go back to the library to put the holds for customers on the shelf and grab more books. Keeps my exposure lower, but it involves more trips to the library. I’ve also been filling our local Little Free Libraries with books from the library.

Gage had a bike play date with a friend this week with another one with a different friend planned tomorrow. I think I enjoy the time with the moms maybe even more than he enjoys the biking.

Because the numbers in the area have been going up for weeks Jason has been working from home full-time again. I admit that I like the arrangement. He ordered himself new office furniture this week so I think he sees it as the new normal. He also gave himself a haircut which frightens me. He has a Zoom call with a new client on Monday so hopefully my mom can fix the damage.

Books finished A Desperate Fortune Kearsley was delightful, as always. Title: The Princess Plan, Author: Julia London The audio was a nice diversion to the real world.

Books reviewed Title: Such a Fun Age, Author: Kiley Reid review, Title: The Ask and the Answer (Reissue with bonus short story) (Chaos Walking Series #2), Author: Patrick Ness review

Currently reading Salvation Station It’s intriguing so far. This Blessed Mess: Finding Hope Amidst … Back into my morning devotionals and this one is perfect for the time we’re living in.

Currently listening Title: Evvie Drake Starts Over, Author: Linda Holmes Fun!

Read to Gage Who Was Galileo? Jason and Gage love to talk about space, so I think Gage knew more about Galileo going into this book than I did!

On the TV We breezed through Bosch season 5 on Amazon Prime. We started the second season of Hanna on Prime and watched a few more episodes of Dead To Me season 1 on Netflix

Movies watched Ready Player One (film).png I never got around to reading the book but we liked the movie.

June Movies post

Plans for the weekend Our good friends finally have their pool ready and we’re probably going to go since it’s big and everyone can stay socially distanced and still have fun.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

July 10, 2020July 9, 20209 Comments

Such a Fun Age. Finished 5-23-20, 3.5/5 stars, fiction, pub. 2019

Unabridged audio

In the midst of a family crisis one late evening, white blogger Alix Chamberlain calls her African American babysitter, Emira, asking her to take toddler Briar to the local market for distraction. There, the security guard accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, and Alix’s efforts to right the situation turn out to be good intentions selfishly mismanaged. fromGoodreads

This story had a great start. Emira, at a club celebrating a friend’s birthday, is called to help the family who she babysits for several times a week. She takes Briar to the local grocery store to kill time while the police are at the Chamberlain home. Emira and her friend are dressed for the club and not the posh grocery store and things turn ugly when another customer and the security guard accuse Emira of stealing the child. A cute guy tapes the whole thing on his phone and the police and Mr. Chamberlain are called. This scenario is full of possibilities.

What happens next is a lot of coincidence. I mean more than makes any sense. Kelly, the guy who tapes the scene, finds Emira again on the subway and they start dating. Alix feels so much guilt over getting Emira into that situation that she becomes fixated on her, determined to show how un-racist she really is. I don’t really want to say more so as not to spoil any big reveals.

We read this for my book club and it led to a great Zoom discussion. What was the consensus? Alix was a terrible mother and person. Emira seemed a little lost. Most of the ladies didn’t understand the issues with Kelly, but I got it. Most felt the like ending was incomplete, but for me it seemed perfectly fitting for Emira. What I took away from this novel is that the issues that Alix and Kelly made about race were often not seen the same way by Emira, there was a lot of projecting of their take on the other person, but Emira didn’t have an issue with either of them (at least for most of the book). It’s a great discussion book, but I didn’t love it.

June’s Movies & Money for Charity

June 30, 2020July 1, 20204 Comments

You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.

We’re at $47 right now. Your charity could be next

E.T., 1982 (Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Henry Thomas, Drew Barymore, C. Thomas Howell) Grade A-

Fun trip back the 80’s!

Will Always Love This Movie! Vicki

The Cincinnati Kid, 1965 (Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margaret, Karl Malden, Tuesday Weld) Grade A-

A true gambler never folds.

Soul Surfer, 2011 (Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, AnnaSophia Robb, Carrie Underwood, Lorraine Nicholson) Grade B

Truly uplifting true story.

She is such an inspiration! Vicki

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, 1989 (Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Marcia Strassman, Kristine Sutherland, Amy O’Neill, Robert Oliveri, Thomas Wilson Brown, Jared Rushton) Grade C+

80’s ridiculousness at its finest.

Fun for the whole family. Vicki

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

June 29, 2020June 28, 20203 Comments

The Ask and the Answer. Finished 6-11-20, 4.5/5 stars, dystopia YA, 536 pages, pub. 2009

Book Two of the Chaos Walking trilogy (1-Knife of Never Letting Go)

We were in the square, in the square where I’d run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her – But there weren’t no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men…

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor’s new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode…

from Goodreads

The appeal of the first book of the series lay in large part with the relationship between Todd and Viola as they learn to trust each other to stay alive. This book has them separated most of the book, so it’s the hope they’re holding on to and the trust that they have in each other that sell the story.

Todd is being kept captive, watched, and groomed by the man he’d spent all of the first book trying to escape. He also is being partnered with Davey Prentiss, the same Davey who has been trying to kill him. Viola is put in a hospital for and run by women and when she recovers must figure out what is going on in the town and how she can reach Todd. The two end up on opposite sides.

I loved continuing the journey of these two teens and hope that the next book brings them the happy ending they deserve, but I’m skeptical. Way too many of the bad guys seem to survive and desperate times call for desperate allies, so it’s hard to say what lines will be drawn and crossed in the finale. I look forward to finding out!

This Week – Nothing much going on here

June 27, 202013 Comments

Fave pic IMG_E4886 (2) We saw these babies twice on our walk last night and they let us get pretty close. So, so cute.

Highlights of the week I sold a lot of books for the Friends of the Library. I’ve been posting them on our FB page and making deliveries on Friday. I had 7 stops yesterday and people bought anywhere from 3-20 books. The deliveries are supposed to be contact-free but one mama sent her 5 year old running out with a check as I got ready to leave 😦 One person stiffed me $4 but another overpaid by $15. Last weekend I had 6 people come over and shop the books in my garage. I feel like I’m running a book business right now, but I’m not paying myself.

Books read Such a Fun Age We had our book club discussion on Thursday and none of us loved it.

Reading A Desperate Fortune Love this author and all of her books.

Listening The Princess Plan (A Royal Wedding, #1) A nice diversion for the car or cleaning.

Posted Absolutely nothing.

Read to Gage The Moon Lady Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Sayonara, Mrs. Kackleman It was fun to visit China, India, and Japan. After we read Rikki we watched some videos on real cobras and mongooses which was pretty cool.

Watching Bosch We made it through season 4 this week.

Plans for the weekend No big plans, but I think I’m going to try and convince my guys to make tomorrow Screen-free Sunday. We’ve all become a little to connected to our chosen devices and a day off would be a good thing. What are your plans?

This Week – Venturing Out

June 20, 2020June 20, 202015 Comments

Fave Pic IMG_E4764 (1) Last weekend I went to the Botanical Garden to pick up supplies for Gage’s week of at-home camp and found that some of the participants in theParade the Circle decided to get together even though the popular event was cancelled. There were more participants than this but aren’t they cool? They put on a parade for the 40 people who just happened to be there. I was lucky to be one of the few to have our own personal parade 🙂 This also counts for a highlight of the week.

Highlights of the Week Gage had his first play date – outside at the school parking lot riding bikes. I shopped at a store other than a grocery store the first time since February. I needed a Father’s Day gift and Tuesday Morning was having a going out of business sale. Everyone but one person was wearing a mask so that was good. I had a fellow Friends of the Library member come over to go over some plans. We sat on our patio about 10 feet apart. Baby steps and it’s pretty much all I’m comfortable with right now. It was nice to get back to some sense of normalcy.

Finished reading Flawed

Currently reading A Desperate Fortune

Currently listening Such a Fun Age

Reviews posted Flawed Flawed Title: Long Time Coming, Author: Sandra Brown Long Time Coming

In the mail After I saw this on Instagram I mentioned to Jason that if he ever needed a gift idea for me this was it. This week he surprised me with it. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to have a Keanu coloring book 🙂

Movies watched Last Saturday night we started our first family movie night. We started at 8pm and Gage could stay up as long as he could stay awake. You can see we chose come classics this first time. He made it through all three beating Jason and me. He went to bed at 1:30am and wants to do it every weekend, lol. We’ve decided to make it a monthly thing.

Watching We started season 4 of Bosch on Amazon Prime and did watch the pilot of Dead to Me. I’m interested in watching more, do any of you watch it?

Flawed by Andrea Dorfman

June 18, 2020June 17, 20206 Comments

Flawed. Finished 6-16-20, 4.5/5, graphic novel, 88 pages, pub. 2018

National Film Board of Canada Collection

From the Emmy-nominated, PBS-aired animated short.

Flawed is a true story of self-acceptance, adapted from the Emmy-nominated film of the same name.

In Flawed, author Andrea Dorfman tells the true story of how she falls head over heels for Dave, “the nicest guy in the world.” But she is conflicted about her feelings for her new love. He’s a plastic surgeon; she hates plastic surgery and its power to make people feel flawed.

Dorfman joins Dave in the operating room to watch him fix a man’s badly injured hand. She sees for herself the difference between plastic reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Dave truly is an artist. She knows she’s falling in love. But when Dave performs a cosmetic surgery on a healthy boy so he won’t be teased at school, Dorfman questions everything she thinks she loves about him. Her discomfort with Dave’s decision to operate on the boy sends her on a journey of self-reflection that forces her to confront her own fears about the way she looks. She feels flawed.

Dorfman’s playful and colorful illustrations along with her deeply personal writing takes readers through the genesis of her self-image — from the carefree days of her childhood to the gut-wrenching awkwardness of her adolescence, and beyond. When she realizes that her negative self-perception is stopping her from being happy, Dorfman makes the bold move to accept herself as she is — imperfections and all. As Dorfman concludes, it’s our flaws that make us extraordinary. from Goodreads

I loved this quick graphic novel based on Dorfman’s real life. When do we start to think of our various body parts as flaws? For most of us it’s early on and the struggle to self acceptance starts with us thinking a different way about ourselves and our bodies.

The story and drawings are put together in a quality hardcover that you will want to share with friends or family who are going through issues with self love. After reading the book I watched the film short it was based on and thought I’d share the link. Tale 12 minutes and enjoy 🙂 Highly recommend both the book and the short.

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/08/24/flawed/

Long Time Coming by Sandra Brown

June 17, 20203 Comments

Title: Long Time Coming, Author: Sandra Brown Long Time Coming. Finished 6-1-20, 1.5/5 stars, romance, pub. 1988

Unabridged audio

He arrived out of the blue—a flesh-and-blood phantom from the past in a sports car as sleek and sexy as Law Kincaid himself. The world-famous astronaut was as devastatingly attractive as the first time Marnie Hibbs had laid eyes on him, seventeen years before. But she well knew the perils of falling for a ladies’ man like Law. And this time she had someone besides herself to protect. Law is determined to discover who is sending him anonymous letters claiming he’d fathered a son he knows nothing about. Showing up at the Hibbs’s return address from the letters seemed like a step in the right direction. Marnie swears she isn’t the guilty party, but when Law meets her son, it’s like a one-two punch to his solar plexus. The boy is nearly the spitting image of Law. Law can’t remember sleeping with Marnie—then again, he can’t remember much about his crazy past. But there’s more to it than that: Marnie claims the boy isn’t biologically hers.

As the tension between them becomes unbearable and the attraction undeniable, Marnie is forced to reveal a long-held secret…one that might cause her to lose both the boy she loves more than anyone—and the man she desires more than anything. from Goodreads

My teen years, such as the year this was written, were filled with romances. I loved those short teen romances, then the romantic suspense, and finally the historical romance. I remember reading Sandra Brown’s romances and liking them even though she wasn’t a favorite. So, what’s changed? We have. As a society we’ve largely moved from accepting these sexist relationship views. Trust me, I still see plenty of it, but there’s no denying that things that changed for the better. I can still read an 80’s romance and enjoy it, but this is not one of them. The two main characters are weak and reprehensible. I’m considering trying some of my old 80’s faves (McNaught, Deveraux, Joyce) to see what I think now. Hopefully they will fare better than this one.

This Week

June 13, 202018 Comments

Fave Pic Was able to spend some time alone in the woods this week.

Highlights of the Week Gage had online Lego camp this week for 2 hours everyday this week and he really liked it. It also gave me two hours where I wasn’t responsible for entertainment. A win/win. I went to my first social distanced gathering as a few of us got together outside to say goodbye to a Library Friends board member. She was our newsletter editor so now I need to find a replacement. And I’ve been selling books for the Friends on our FB page. The library’s not open but since I’ve been listing online every day we’ve made some money and gotten rid of some books. Of course, I’m running this operation out of my garage so that’s fun, lol. All of the deliveries are contact free so it works for me. Jason worked two days downtown this week and it feels weird. I like having everyone home, even if I’m going a little(lot) stir crazy. Spent a few hours in nature a few days this week and that helped. We also had another drive by birthday parade for another friend in Gage’s class. I’m not sure what it means that I’ve put that under highlights 🙂

Review posted The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels here

Books Finished Title: The Ask and the Answer (Reissue with bonus short story) (Chaos Walking Series #2), Author: Patrick Ness Can’t wait to start the third book of the trilogy.

Listening to Title: Such a Fun Age, Author: Kiley Reid Book club read, I’m on the fence about it so far.

In the Mail Title: Salvation Station, Author: Kathryn Schleich Title: Dance Away with Me (Signed Book), Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips Title: The Daughters of Erietown, Author: Connie Schultz

Puzzles Finished QDPS5958 So challenging. 1000 pieces. If anyone wants to give it a try I’ll send it on to you 🙂

On the small screen Jason has been obsessed with season 3 of Bosch this week and we’ve watched nothing else.

Plans for the weekend I need to replenish some local Little Free Libraries with books from our Friends of the Library and I’m headed to the Cleveland Botanical Garden at noon to pick up a pack with stuff for Gage to do camp from home next week.

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy