Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

 

What book has Instagram or other social media convinced you to read?  I kept seeing Yesteryear everywhere, so I read it last month.

Natalie Heller Mills is an Instagram “trad wife” living a seemingly perfect life. She lives on a beautiful farm in Idaho with her cowboy husband and six kids.  Behind the scenes nannies, farmhands and a producer keep the perfect life alive for social media.  When Natalie wakes up one day in the past and must live without modern conveniences, will she make it?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I see mixed reactions to this book online.  People seem to love it or hate it.  I liked it, it was a unique story, and I couldn’t stop reading it.

·       The characters are not likeable, but I did want to see what would happen next.

·       The twist in the story was interesting, I had suspected it, but I was not one hundred percent sure how it would work.

·       It is interesting to think about the power of social media and how it can show things to be 100% different than reality.  It seems like a lot of problems now are that people believe in “realities” that don’t really exist such as the “perfect” life you see in pictures that is not actually reality.  This book also showed how politics and social media are intertwined.

·       I find the “trad wife” trend confusing.  Do women really want to the live the life of our ancestors without having rights and modern conveniences?  I am 100% behind women that want to stay home and raise their kids, but I am not behind women who think that their lifestyle is the only way that women must live.  I didn’t think I would be living in a world that is talking about taking away women’s right to vote.

·       The book show the hypocrisy that even the women who say they want traditional roles are not really following them themselves.  It reminded me of Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale.

·       Natalie’s point of view moves through time to show how her and her husband got together initially and their life leading up to the start of the book.

·       This would be a good book for a book club discussion.

·       This book is hard to classify – maybe contemporary, mystery, speculative, psychological thriller.

·       SPOILER ALERT – I did feel like Natalie is made out to be the villain when she was more the victim of her upbringing, postpartum depression, and from being drugged.

Overall, Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke was a unique and thought-provoking novel that I think would be great for a book club discussion.

Book Source:  Review copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

Happy Place by Emily Henry

 

Title:  Happy Place

Author:  Emily Henry

Narrated by:  Julia Whelan

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hour and 3 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible

Where is your happy place?  Is it a place or a person?

Harriet and Wyn have been a couple since college and are a fixture in their group of friends.  They broke up five month ago and have not told their friends.  Now it is the annual getaway for their friend group in May and they are sharing a bedroom.  Will they be able to make it through and keep their friends?  Will they find love again?  Why did they break up?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I am a mood reader, and I was not in the mood for this book.  I listened to it on audiobook.  The narrator was great, but the storyline and characters did not engage me.  I was annoyed at Harriet and Wyn for lying to everyone.  I really hated miscommunication in books.

·       This was my first Emily Henry book.  She is raved about on Instagram – is there a better book by her that I should read?

·       I did not really like the characters.  The side characters were all one dimensional and Wyn was not a great hero.

·       Spicy scenes were included.

·       I was let down when the book finally told why they broke up.  I was like, really?

·       This book could be classified as contemporary, fake relationship, second chance romance.

·       I loved that Harriet loved to read cozy mysteries.

·       This was the June pick for the Rogue Book Club and the July pick for the Page-turners book club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  Is this a great book club book?  I didn’t think so.  It was a book of mostly angst with not much action.

·       I thought the ending was a part of the living in a different world of privilege.  SPOILER ALERT:  Harriet is going to school to be a doctor and decides to leave it all to become a potter.  Most people I know would not be able to do this.  That’s a lot of money and loans to throw away and somehow must be paid back.  I do believe in second chances and making a change, but most people would need to finish up and work as a doctor for awhile to pay off this debt.

Overall, Happy Place by Emily Henry was an angsty book that wasn’t for me.  What book has disappointed you lately?

 

Not Your Founding Father by Nina Sankovitch

 

Title:  Not Your Founding Father

Author:  Nina Sankovitch

Narrated by:  Em Grosland

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hour and 27 minutes

Source: Physical Book Review copy from Simon & Schuster #HistoryBuffsBookClub. @History_In_Five Thank-you!  Audiobook purchased on Audible.

What book do you still plan to finish in July?  It’s hard to believe we only have one week left of this month!

On October 9, 1776, Jemima Wilkinson died on her small farm in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Public Universal Friend was born.  Public Universal Friend started to preach about their rebirth as a genderless disciple of God.  Will they be able to start their church in this new land?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I thought this book would be a great read to help celebrate the 250^th birthday of the United States of America.

·       Friend followed Galatians 3:28 that “there is neither male nor female in Christ.”

·       Friend helped empower women.  Friend preached that women should “obey God rather than men.”  Women took on leading roles in this church.  The church also advocated for freeing of slaves and the inclusion of children.

·       I liked that the author wrote about Friend having no role in politics, but living the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the new land and testing the boundaries of this idealism.

·       What would our country stand for as it was first being formed?

·       Does our country allow for freedom of religion?  At the time of our founding, it did.  Christian Nationalism now tells a different version of history.

·       I wouldn’t call Friend a “founding father,” but more an influential pastor of the time of the founding of the United States.

·       At times I wondered, were Friends followers a cult?

·       This book really showed me that trans/nonbinary people have always existed. Friend didn’t want pronouns used. 

·       Friend’s near-death experience changed the entire course of their life.

·       Author Nina Sankovitch did great research to bring this forgotten part of history to life.

·       There were great notes, bibliography, and index in the physical copy.

·       The audiobook had a good narrator and was interesting to listen to.

Overall, Not Your Founding Father by Nina Sankovitch was an interesting nonfiction book that brought out a forgotten part of the history during the forming of the United States that tested the boundaries of what the new nation would stand for.

The Bachelor Spy by Pepper Basham

 

Who is your favorite spy in literature or film?  I really liked George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre, and now I can add Stephen Blake as a new favorite spy from this novel

Stephen Blake is a spy for England and his work is incredibly important for the war effort (WWI). After surviving a devastating betrayal and the sinking of the Lusitania, he finds himself assigned to his cousin’s home that is being used as a convalescence hospital, Havensbroke Hall.  His mission is to try to find the German spy known as the Midnight Angel.  Will he succeed?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a delightful historical mystery and romance with espionage and spies set during WWI.

·       This is the fifth novel in the “A Freddie & Grace Mystery” series.  This is the first book I have read in the series.  It can be read as a standalone, but it would be great to read the series in order.  I was confused on Zahra and her background in the story. Is she adopted?  Is she Freddie’s biological child?  Something else? I need to read the rest of the series to figure it out. 

·       I read that this may be the last book in the series.  I definitely need to read the first four books!

·       I loved the banter and enemies to lovers romance between Stephen and Evie.

·       Grace is home alone at the estate trying to keep it and the convalesce hospital running while her husband, Freddie, is off fighting in WWI.  She begins to suspect that all is not what it seems and there is a spy or two in the midst.  How will she keep everyone safe and solve the mystery?

·       I loved that Freddie is in the royal engineers.  I enjoyed Freddie and Grace’s relationship and want to see the buildup in the previous books.

·       This was a fun story with even a treasure hunt involved.

·       I loved the characters, adventure, suspense, and humor in this novel.

·       It was also an inspirational, Christian, and clean read.

·       There were plenty of red herrings and the mystery kept me guessing.

·       I enjoyed the epilogue and conclusion of the story.

Overall, The Bachelor Spy by Pepper Basham was a delightful historical mystery and romance set during WWI with humor, suspense, spies, espionage, and great characters. 

Book Source:  Thank-you to @pepperbasham @barbourbooks @greatreadsbookpromo for a review copy of the novel as part of the Great Reads Promo Book Tour.

The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee

 Title:  The Making of Asian America

Author:  Erika Lee

Narrated by:  Emily Woo Zeller

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Length: Approximately 15 hours and 51 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com and physical book from @History_In_Five #HistoryBuffsBookClub Thank-you!

What book have your read recently that taught you a lot?

Asian Americans are the fastest growing group in America (I’m not sure how the last year has impacted this statistic).  This book tells the story of the deep roots Asian Americans have in the country up to present day.

My thoughts on this book:

·       I read this book in May, and it was one of my favorite reads of the month.

·       I am sad to say that I am very lacking on my knowledge of Asian Americans in the history of the United State.  This book did a great job of catching me up on the basics.

·       Asian Americans have been settling America since the very beginning of our country.

·       We should all be worried about how the 14^th amendment has ended up in the news again.  In the past, groups tried to void this amendment to keep out citizens born in our country that were Asian or non-white.

·       Asian Americans are from many different countries from immigration through the centuries.  They all have their own story and this book tried to give brief accounts of many different types of Asian Americans.

·       Asian American are “model immigrants” that are highly successful, but it also true that they are immigrants that struggle and are among the poorest.

·       I never knew about Hmong people and how they helped the US military during Vietnam until I was in college and my Wisconsin roommate told me about them.  They have settled primarily in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  An image from the immigration crackdowns in Minneapolis this past winter was of an old Hmong legal immigrant being arrested in the bitter cold in his underwear.  I am still haunted by this.

·       Hispanic immigrants are constantly in the news, but the number one immigrants in the United States are Asians including illegal immigrants.  Immigration needs to be reformed.

·       I will be thinking about this book for a long time.  I learned so much and is it just the surface of learning about Asian Americans.

·       This book has been recently updated for modern times including the violence against Asian American that has surfaced in this decade.

·       The audiobook had a great narrator, and I didn’t want to stop listening to it!

Overall, The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee is a thought-provoking book to learn about history of Asian Americans in the United States.  I will be referencing this book in the future.

These Empty Places by Sarah Loudin Thomas

Title:  These Empty Places

Author:  Sarah Loudin Thomas

Narrated by:  Pilar Witherspoon

Publisher: Recorded Books

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 9 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com and physical copy from @sarahloudinthomas @bethanyhousefiction @greatreadsbookpromo   Thank-you!

Do you have a favorite story that involves forgiveness?  The Hiding Place by Carrie Ten Boom is one of my favorites and this book, These Empty Places by Sarah Loudin Thomas was another great story of forgiveness.

These Empty Places by Sarah Loudin Thomas is a story of two women.  One woman, Claire Roth, is a widow in her 40s that has a second chance of love.  Will she take it?  The other woman is Lena Hawkins, a socialite who married a man of lower social standing.  When things do not go as planned in either of their lives, will these two woman be able to help one another?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I read and enjoyed this book in May and I’m finally getting my review posted.

·       This story was set in North Carolina in the 1930s.

·       I loved the imagery of the dam bursting at the start of the novel and a woman waiting for years with the belief that the lake she loves will be refilled.

·       There is a mystery in the story of Claire’s first true love who she didn’t marry, but who threw a box with an item in it that was important to starting their life together, in the lake.  Does this box still exist?  What is in it?

·       Claire hires Lena to be her assistant, but also to be a new librarian for the library she wants to build.

·       Claire’s daughter contracts polio and it is a good reminder of how terrifying it was before the polio vaccine. 

·       Lena’s husband Preston is a speculator which is how they lost their money.  When he starts to perhaps be involved in underground deals, what will Lena do?

·       The story really shines in the second half with a theme of forgiveness and of moving on in life from past hurts.

·       What is important in life?  Chasing treasure or appreciating what you have?

·       There is also a great theme of pursuing your own dreams.  What makes you happy and fulfilled versus what you are told should make you happy.

·       This book could be classified as a second chance romance, later in life romance, inspirational, dual POV, and friendship novel.

·       I loved how Claire helped so many people.

·       This was great on audiobook and kept me entertained.  I enjoyed narrator Pilar Witherspoon.

Overall, These Empty Places by Sarah Loudin Thomas was an inspirational book of forgiveness, love, friendship, and chasing your own dreams.  It was a lovely story.

Don’t Upstage the Body by Naomi Stephens

 

What is the weather like by you?  We’ve been hit by a heat wave in Northeast Wisconsin with temps hovering near 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  I am not a fan of this type of weather and would rather be in the cool foggy weather of England.

Hippolyta Halfpenny and her family are professional mourners.  They show up to a funeral with disguises and characters to make sure the deceased is properly mourned.  When Hippolyta discovers the undertaker’s body in the library, she inadvertently becomes an investigator as the estate is cut off from the world by a washed out road.  With the help of the new Lord Montfort, Crispin, will Hippolyta be able to solve the crime before the murderer strikes again?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel is set in 1957 England and has a unique and fun story.

·       This is a cozy mystery, historical mystery, and historical romance.

·       I loved the characters, especially Hippolyta and Crispin.  They had great chemistry and fun and witty banter.

·       The side characters were great as well.  I particularly liked Tula, Crispin’s sassy and eccentric American aunt.

·       This was the book I needed last week to escape from the stresses of the world.

·       This is a Christian book with light faith elements.

·       I need to read more mysteries by this author.  I loved how it was an Agatha Christie type mystery.

·       It was a satisfying mystery – I did not guess the ending!

Overall, Don’t Upstage the Body by Naomi Stephens was a very engaging novel, and I did not want to put it down. I haven’t felt this invested in a story in a long time!

Book Source:  Thank-you to @authornaomistephens @bethanyhousefiction @greatreadsbookpromo for a review copy of the novel as part of the Great Reads Promo Book Tour.

Ladies in Waiting by Adriana Trigiani, Sarah MacLean, Eloisa James, Elinor Lipman, Audrey Bellezza, Karen Dukess, Emily Harding, Nikki Payne, Diana Quincy

Title:  Ladies in Waiting

Author:  Adriana Trigiani, Sarah MacLean, Eloisa James, Elinor Lipman, Audrey Bellezza, Karen Dukess, Emily Harding, Nikki Payne, Diana Quincy

Narrated by:  Shiromi Arserio, Billie Fulford-Brown, Fiona Hardingham, Angel Pean

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hour and 14 minutes

Source: Audiobook Review copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

What secondary character in fiction would you like to see get a happy ending?

Ladies in Waiting is a short story anthology celebrating Jane Austen and her classic novels. Written by a variety of best-selling authors, it was put together to honor her for her 250th birthday.

My thoughts on this book:

• I read this in June for a selection for the JASNA Northwoods book club.  Sadly, I missed the club due to an illness.

• This was a great collection of stories featuring Austen’s secondary characters finally getting their chance in the sunlight.  

• This is a perfect read for those that loved the Other Miss Bennett and are looking for something new.

• Characters such as Margaret Dashwood from Sense & Sensibility, Lydia Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, Miss Bates from Emma, and Caroline Bingley from Pride and Prejudice get second changes.

• I loved the story of the widowed Lydia finding a chance for love and redemption with a local clergyman.

• I also enjoyed the story of Margaret Dashwood realizing her childhood friend Hugh may be more than a friend.

• Another favorite story was about Miss Hetty Bates and learning about her scandalous past and one true love.

• The worst part was that I wanted more stories, especially secondary characters Jane Austen’s other novels.

• I liked how it focused on lesser-known characters in the stories, but wish it would have included characters from all six Austen books rather than just Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Emma.

• Why were there two stories on Miss Bates?  I enjoyed the second Miss Bates story much more than the first story.

• The stories were sometimes set in different time period and places.

• Each story started with a quotes from the original novel, a brief description of the character and a preview of the short story from the author.

• I thought the last half of the stories were the best of the bunch!

• This was great on audiobook.  I enjoyed the narrators and music between each stories.

Overall, Ladies in Waiting was an entertaining mix of stories on intriguing Jane Austen characters who deserve their own day in the spotlight.

The Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull

 

What fictional or real-life person do you think would make a great detective?  I don’t know why, but I would love to see a book with Eleanor Roosevelt solving crimes.

Young Jane Austen is enjoying a ball when a milliner’s dead body is found locked inside a cupboard during the middle of the ball.  Jane instantly becomes a part of the case as she identifies the victim.  When her brother George becomes the prime suspect, Jane works tirelessly to solve the case and free her brother.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was the June pick for the JASNA Northwoods book club.  I finished it before book club, but unfortunately had to miss the meeting due to a lingering illness.

·       This was a fun story and is the first book in the new series, “Miss Austen Investigates.”  I enjoyed the second book in the series, which I read before the first.

·       It felt like Jane Austen as a character was flightier or more apt to go against convention (secretly meeting with Tom LeFroy) than I always imagined.  It might be because I was an avid reader of the “Being A Jane Austen Mystery” series by Stephanie Barron for twenty years and I loved the characterization of a more serious Jane in that series.

·       I did love that it felt like the book was firmly set in Jane Austen’s world with her family and neighbors as fully formed characters.  I did miss some of Barron’s characterizations.

·       This was a cozy mystery that also included romance.

·       Jane had a bad habit of gossiping and speculation.

·       I did enjoy the final resolution of the mystery even thought I had guessed the ending earlier.

Overall, The Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull is a fun new cozy mystery series for lovers of historical mystery and Jane Austen.

Book Source:  Purchased at Barnes & Noble

Miss Bates: Emma Revisited by Catherine Cliff

 

What is your favorite flower?  One of my favorites is the peony.  Mine just finished blooming for the year, or have they?  I still see a few buds left out there.

Happy Release Week and #bookbirthday for Miss Bates: Emma Revisited by Catherine Cliff.  I just finished this book today and am posting my review today a well.

Henrietta “Henrie” Bates is known from the book Emma by Jane Austen as a very boring elderly and poor spinster.  What was her life before this that brought her to a spot in life to be looked down upon by Emma?  This book tells the story of her life from her early childhood until after the events of Emma.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel did a great job of really delving into what life would be like for a woman of limited means during the late 18^th century and early 19^th century.  It was disheartening to see how Henrie was reduced as she grew older as her means kept decreasing.  When your father does not save money to leave to his female heirs, they are left in dire straits.

·       It really made me think about what life would be like for such women in that time period and thankful for the rights we have today.  This is the life that Jane Austen lived and feared.  Luckily, she was never reduced as much as Henrie, but it could have happened if things had turned out differently.  This is what Mrs. Bennet feared for her daughters in Pride and Prejudice.

·       I liked how Henrie was a sharp person who was well aware of everything that was happening around her.  She put on a mask of happiness and silly prattle in order to survive in her world.  She needed extreme gratitude to help people to remember her as their gifts were often the only food she had.

·       Her love for Jane and having to give her up to ensure that she could have a better life was heartbreaking.

·       This is a well written literary novel and a good character story.

·       This is a dark take on the story of Emma and best for those that really hate the character of Emma.  While it was dark and I like Emma, I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to see what would happen next.

·       The very last couple of pages were the perfect ending for this book.

Favorite Quote: 

“But we, we undistinguished and unmarried women – we are like imaginary beings to the rest of the world.  We only have substance when we are before them.  What is it to forget someone imaginary?  - there can be no consequence. While to use it is the difference between living and dying.  The humiliation!”

Overall, Miss Bates:  Emma Revisited by Catherine Cliff is an intriguing and literary character study of Miss Bates and the plight of a poor single woman trying to make it in the past.

Book Source:  Thank-you to @catherinecliffwrites @pegasus_books @greatreadsbookpromofor a review copy of the novel as part of the Great Reads Promo Book Tour.