Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 

Title:  Beach House Rules

Author:  Kristy Woodson Harvey

Narrated by:  Cassandra Campbell, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Suehyla El-Attar Young

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 4 minutes

Source: Thank-you to @simonaudio for the review copy.

Do you like to visit the beach?  I love the beach, but I live on Lake Michigan so the beach to me is the Great Lakes rather than the ocean.  I am trying to finish up my summer beach reads this week.

Charlotte’s husband has been arrested for a white-collar crime.  She and her daughter Iris are locked out of their home during the investigation.  A kind woman from church, Alice, invites them to stay with her.  She lives in a B&B on the beach and has a community of mothers living with her.  Will Charlotte and Iris be able to move on?  What links all the mothers living in the “momune” together?  Is Charlotte’s husband guilty?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I liked the mystery woven throughout the story.  It was tied up perfectly at the end.

·       The story is told through the viewpoints of Charlotte, Iris, and Alice, which was interesting.

·       I liked the two different generational viewpoints of a mother and a teenage daughter.

·       @JuniperShoresSocialite has a snarky Instagram account which details all of the goings on of both the moms and the teenagers in the Juniper Shores community.  Who is running the account?

·       I enjoyed all the characters.

·       Alice is a widow with three husband who died in accidents.  Is she a black widow or can she move on with handsome Elliot?

·       The narration of this audiobook was great with three narrators.  It was enjoyable to listen to.

·       I also liked the second chances in this book for life and love.

·       This book was light and entertaining.

·       It was not spicy.

·       I loved the beautiful setting on the coast of North Carolina.

·       I loved the “momune” and women helping each other and their kids working through difficult times.  I always enjoy stories of found families.

Overall, Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey was a great story of second chances and found family.  It was a great summer beach read but is also a great read for any time of the year.

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney

 

Title:  Jane Austen’s Bookshelf

Author:  Rebecca Romney

Narrated by:  Rebecca Romney

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 46 minutes

Source: Thank you @goodreads for the physical copy.  Thank-you to @simonaudio for the audiobook.

Do you know what books your favorite author liked to read?  I always find it interesting to find out what authors like to read.

Author Rebecca Romney is a book collector and devotee of Jane Austen.  As she researched Austen and her works, she concluded that she wasn’t a lone female genius author.  She had wrote her books at a time of other great female authors who have been left out of the canon over time.   Who are these authors and what are their works?

My thoughts on this book:

·       JASNA Northwoods picked this book for an August selection.  We all enjoyed it and decided that we will pick some of our future book club picks from the classic female authors discussed in the text.

·       The author has read many of the male authors that were Austen’s favorites, but not the women authors.  Why were these women left out of the canon?

·       There are clues sprinkled throughout Austen’s work from women writers that she admired.  It was interesting how different phrases such as “Pride and Prejudice” in Austen’s works came from other works published at that time and would have been familiar to contemporary reads.

·       The women covered in this book include:  Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth.

·       The book is split up by author.  Each author has a short biography of their life and details about their works. Romney describes her search for each authors works.

·       I loved the author’s nerdy obsession with collecting books.  As a lifelong collector myself, I felt this book.

·       I have always wondered why certain authors are on the canon and not others.  I have collected American and British literature books through time and have noted how authors drop out, especially women.  This book wants you to read beyond the canon.

·       There is an index, book collection list (and notes) at the end of this book.  It’s a great reference.

·       I loved that author Rebecca Romney narrated the audiobook.  It was a very enjoyable book to listen to.

Overall, Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney is an interesting, informative, and enjoyable read.  The audiobook is read by the author and great as well. I recommend this to all lovers of Jane Austen.

The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor

 

Did you have any favorite short stories that you read in high school?  I read a few Flannery O’Connor short stories in both high school and college American Literature classes and enjoyed them.  They were well written and had surprise endings that were unlike most other stories.  I picked The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor for the July pick for my Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  We watched the movie Wildcat (2023) in August about the life of Flannery O’Connor.

My thoughts on the short stories and movie:

·       I don’t think the ladies of my book club enjoyed the stories as much as I did, but I enjoyed reading it.  The movie was strange and hilarious in ways.  I learned a lot about Flannery O’Connor and enjoyed seeing some of her short stories on the screen.  We enjoyed watching the movie as a group.  I did not think a Flannery O’Connor story could make me laugh, but it did.  One member said that the stories reminded her of The Twilight Zone and that is a great description.  Another recommended looking up each story online to really understand the religious subtext of the stories, which is a great recommendation.

·       O’Connor seemed to really target mothers and grandmothers in her stories that try to control their offspring or are stuck in their old ways and unable to adapt to a changing world.  I found this to be fascinating.

·       The stories really seemed to focus on the Southern myth and how people were stuck in their own thoughts of past grandeur and are unable to move on to the present (example their ancestor had a plantation and 200 slaves, but they themselves live in poverty).

·       The stories pick on the racist thoughts that were prevalent at the time and bring them to the forefront for the reader to really think about.  People say her works are racist now because of her use of the N word.  The stories instead made me really think about race.

·       The stories tend to focus on that people or things were not what they appeared to be.

·       Hypocrisy was a major theme.

·       Pride, idolatry over family heritage were also themes and people thinking they are better than others.

·       The stories overall really made me think.  Some of the stories stood out more than others.  My favorite is still A Good Man is Hard to Find.

·       I thought it was interesting that it appears that the Boomer generation in my book club did not read her in school.  My children (Gen Z) also did not read her.  I did as a Gen X.  O’Conner did discuss race frankly and use the N word.  As she says in the movie, that is how people talked in the South at that time.  Her stories on race ring true sadly still now, but minus the N word.  Unfortunately, I have heard people I know talking about classifying people based on race and economics as is discussed in the stories.

·       I also listened to the audiobooks, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories narrated by Marguerite Gavin and Everything that Rises Must Converge narrated by Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and Lorna Raver.  Both were excellent and well worth listening to.

·       I kept a notebook with notes on each story so I could go on for quite a while, but this is my general review of the book.

Overall, I have thought about The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor long after I have turned the last page.  They are brilliantly written and unique Southern Gothic short stories.

Book Source:  I purchased The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor at a used book store many years ago.  I also purchased two short story collections on audible this summer.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy

 

Title:  The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America

Author:  Kostya Kennedy

Narrated by:  Johnny Heller

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 15 minutes

Source: Thank-you to #Netgalley for the review copy. 

Who is your favorite historical figure?  I enjoy reading about all historical figures.  I find that I learn so much more than I did back in school when you only were able to kind of skim over the personalities as you learn about the overall picture of history.

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, a Boston based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British operative set out on a dangerous mission to let American colonists know that British troops were on their way. 

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       Revere had 18 previous rides to report about British movements, but the one we know about had consequences across the war.  He was paid for these rides, and it helped to supplement his income.

·       I listened to this audiobook back in July on a trip to visit colleges with my son.  We both enjoy American history and this audiobook.

·       This year is the 250^th anniversary of Paul Revere’s most famous ride.

·       The audiobook had a good description of Paul’s family, Paul Revere himself, politics, and important figures of the time.

·       I was intrigued learning the story of Joseph Warner, Paul Revere’s friend who was killed.

·       William Dawes rode with Paul Revere and many people are angry that he doesn’t get more credit.  The book discussed a poem about Dawes that stated that this name was not as poetic as Revere and that his why he is not famous.  Revere’s ride was more impactful, and he was more important in the revolution movement.  Dawes is known today because of Revere.

·       The ride was intense and dangerous.  The book detailed the ride and made me feel the danger.

·       I liked the unique gravely voice of the audiobook narrator.

·       The book included detail on how Longfellow was inspired to write his famous poem.

·       It also explored Revere’s legacy and impact on popular culture.

·       It was interesting to learn that Revere rolled copper and helped keep the country going in the war of 1812.  Some historians think this is Revere’s most important contribution to the country.

Overall, The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy was an intriguing audiobook that gave the background of Revere’s ride and why it was important in history.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  One, Two Buckle my Shoe

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: Harper Collins

Length: Approximately 5 hours

Source: Thank-you to the Kewaunee Public Library.  I checked this out using #Libby. 

Do you like nursery rhymes?  I always enjoyed them as a kid and reciting them with my own children.  I love how Agatha Christie incorporates them into her fiction.

Dead bodies turn up everywhere for Hercule Poirot.  He goes to the dentist one day and his dentist ends up dead.  Was it suicide or was murder involved?

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       I read One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie for my August selection for #ReadChristie2025.  The August theme is medicine or medical professionals.  The victim is a dentist, Mr. Morley.

·       This is the twenty third Hercule Poirot novel.  I think it would be fun in the future to read all the Hercule Poirot novels in a row.

·       Hugh Fraser was a great audiobook narrator as usual.

·       It was interesting that this novel has a nursery rhyme title like other Christie books.  The buckles on shoes do play a part in the plot! This novel was first published in the United States in 1941 as the Patriotic Murders and then in 1955 as An Overdose of Death before finally being published with the original UK title.

·       I did not guess the ending of this one.

Overall, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie was a short read that kept me intrigued.

 

 

The Mesopotamian Riddle by Joshua Hammer

 

Title:  The Mesopotamian Riddle

Author:  Joshua Hammer

Narrated by:  Matthew Lloyd Davies

Publisher: Simon Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 32 minutes

Source: Thank-you to #HistoryBuffsBookClub @History_In_Five for a review copy of the hardcover book.  The audiobook was purchased on audible.

Do you listen to audiobooks on family trips?  We like to listen to nonfiction books on history on family trips.

The Mesopotamian Kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia used a system of writing call cuneiform.  Its meaning was lost over time, but in London in 1857, three different people worked to crack the code.  They were archeologist Austen Henry Layard, soldier Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, and clergyman Edward Hincks.  How did they figure it out?

My thoughts on this nonfiction book:

·       We listened to this audiobook on a summer family trip.  The kids were not interested so only my husband and I ended up listening to it.  The narrator was a tad dry.

·       There was a lot of history of Mesopotamia in the text, which was very interesting.

·       It seemed incredible to my husband and I on how these linguists were able to figure out the meanings of the dead language.

·       The book described the history of the ancient civilizations as well as the Victorian time period.

·       The book was also critical of the British removing ancient artifacts ad taking them back to the British Museum.

·       In 1857, the Royal Asiatic Society hosted a challenge to four people to decipher writings and that set the stage for this book. When all of the translations matched, it verified that they had cracked the code.

·       The book jumped around in time a lot.

Overall, The Mesopotamian Riddle by Joshua Hammer was an interesting look into ancient civilizations and the Victorian scholars who worked to crack the ancient writings from these great civilizations. 

The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth by Barbara O’Neal (TLC Book Tours)

 

Title:  The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth

Author:  Barbara O’Neal

Narrated by:  Andi Arndt

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 59 minutes

Source: Thank-you to Lake Union Publishing for a review copy of the paperback book as part of the TLC Book Tour and thank-you to @netgalley for audiobook review copy.

How do you communicate with friends?  Emails, texts, social media, or old-fashioned letters?  I would say all the above for myself.

Victoria is going through a divorce.  She and her husband had seemed closer than ever until he ended it all for a much younger woman.  Fifty and suddenly alone, Victoria must get a job fast to survive. She gets a job as a companion to Mariah, a young woman with an injury who is going to travel the world tracing the footsteps of her mother’s last unfinished project in London, Paris, Morocco, and India.  Her mother, Rachel, was a good writer, and she also left behind letters she had written her sister.  As Victoria and Mariah make their journey, they learn more about Rachel and themselves.

My thoughts on this novel:

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

·       I liked Victoria’s character growth throughout the novel.

·       I really disliked Victoria’s ex-husband.  He seemed to want his cake (new younger wife) and eat it too (keep his ex-wife on string.).  I kept wondering why he didn’t get in trouble for not paying his alimony.

·       Why can’t Victoria’s family change their tradition of skiing every year as a family so that Victoria gets to have a family Christmas at least every other year?  It’s strange to me that this is a family tradition since Victoria doesn’t ski or snowboard.

·       Rachel was killed in a mas shooting while grocery shopping with her daughter.  Mariah survived but can no longer snowboard (she was an Olympian) with her handicap.  The PTSD from this tragic even still impacts Mariah.

·       A handsome middle-aged photographer, Henry, accompanies them on the trip.  He is a father figure for Mariah (one of Rachel’s ex-boyfriends), and a love interest for Victoria.

·       I liked how both Victoria and Mariah had a coming-of-age storyline as they came to terms with their new realities and worked towards moving forward with new dreams.

·       I loved the descriptions of all the different countries, foods, and cafes.

·       I didn’t see how the cafes, countries, and Rachel’s story were all linked until the very end.

·       I am close to Victoria’s age of fifty and she gets picked on by her kids for being old and treated as an old lady a lot on their trip.  I suddenly felt very old!!

Overall, The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth by Barbara O’Neal was a great story with unforgettable characters, growth, and travel.  I enjoyed it!

A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Title:  A Mother Always Knows

Author:  Sarah Strohmeyer

Narrated by:  EJ Lavery, Karla Serrato, and Reena Dutt

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 31 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer. Audiobook purchased from Audible.

Do you like reading about cults?  I do, I always find them fascinating.

Stella O’Neill is a librarian living a normal life until a true crime obsessive posts her current name and address online.  Suddenly everyone knows that as a child she lived in a Vermont commune of “diviners” and that her mother, Rose, was murdered when she was ten years old.  Her murder has remained a cold case. Will Stella be ablet to solve her mother’s cold case?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The cover of this novel is great and fits in well with the story!

·       This was a riveting thriller and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook.  Great narrators.

·       Multiple narratives between Rose in the past right before her murder, Stella in the future, Priti the wife of a suspect in future.

·       The three POV’s worked well together.  Priti is the outsider trying to piece things together.

·       Rose’s chapters detailed the inner workings of the cult.

·       Stella has vague memories of living in the cult from age three to ten.

·       I enjoyed the novel, We Love to Entertain, from this author previously.

·       There was a great twist at the end of the book that I did not guess.

·       The parts of the story in the commune were creepy.  Radcliffe MacBeath is the guru in charge.  Rose has started to realize that he is fake and a hypocrite.  She wants out, but how can she escape with her daughter?

·       Stella may have divining powers where she can sense dead bodies by walking over their graves.

·       There were great twists and turns in the book.

·       I was only annoyed with one item when Rose wouldn’t leave the commune when the opportunity arose, and she had a way out. 

Overall, A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer was a twisty thriller with a unique premise.

The Summer that Changed Everything by Brenda Novak

 

Title:  The Summer that Changed Everything

Author:  Brenda Novak

Narrated by:  Courtney Patterson

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 39 minutes

Source: Thank-you to @netgalley for review copy.

Do you have one summer that was more memorable than the rest?  Why?  I’ve had a few the summer I was at college in grad school, the summer I got married, etc.

As a teenager, Lucy Sinclair’s father was tried and convicted of murdering three people that she knew, including a teenage girl that was described as her rival, Aurora, for her boyfriend, Ford.  The town shunned her, and Lucy moved away.  Now fifteen years later, she has returned, and she wants to figure out if her Dad was really guilty or not.  Ford is also back for the summer and sparks fly.  Who killed Aurora and why?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a Brenda Novak Book Group Read for June, and it was another great book club meeting on Facebook.  I finished it up in early July.

·       The plot for this novel was intriguing.

·       Lucy and Ford had a second chance romance, a trope I usually enjoy.  Ford was expecting a baby with his not quite ex-wife, which threw me off from this romance.

·       I just overall couldn’t get behind the romance.  I don’t like married leads dating people while saying that their spouse just doesn’t get them.  Get divorced, spend some time on your own, and then date. 

·       There was good suspense in the story.

·       I liked the small-town Virginia coastal town setting.

·       The audiobook was interesting to listen to.  It had a good narrator.  She acted out all the parts.  There were multiple POVs including males.  It would have been nice to have additional narrators.

·       The mystery was slow burn.

·       There was a good wrap-up and ending.  I really liked the suspense at the end.

Overall, The Summer That Changed Everything by Brenda Novak was a good romantic suspense novel.  I liked the story and mystery, but I didn’t care for the romance.

The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay (Get Red PR Book Tour)

 

Title:  The Harvey Girls

Author:  Juliette Fay

Narrated by:  Cassandra Campbell

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 47 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @getredprbooks and Gallery Books for the review copy of physical book copy of The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay.  Thank-you to @simonaudio for the audiobook and @netgalley for e-book review copies.

What is your favorite restaurant?  I have a lot of favorites but tend to favor local restaurants that are family owned.

Two young women from very different backgrounds start work as “Harvey Girls” in the 1920s.  Harvey Girls were well paid female employees that worked for a chain of restaurants that spread through the west every one-hundred miles or so and served quality, inexpensive meals.  Charlotte was born into a wealthy blue-blooded family, but after she ran away to marry her husband, she feels she has no where to turn to escape him when he turns abusive.  She changes her name and strikes out on her own as a Harvey girl.  Billie needs the money to support her family with eight younger siblings.  She pretends to be older than her years to get a job as a Harvey girl and sends her money back to her family.  As both girls are assigned to a restaurant in the Grand Canyon, will they be able to keep their secrets and their jobs?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Cassandra Campbell is an audiobook narrator that I enjoy, and I thought she did a great job narrating this book.  It was enjoyable to listen to.

·       I loved how a large part of the book took place at the Grand Canyon as it developed into a tourist destination.  It was interesting.

·       Both main characters had very interesting love stories in this novel, and I enjoyed them.  The book was told through their dual POVs.

·       Violence against Catholics was portrayed in the book as Billie attended mass with Hispanic friends who are attacked.  She is also dismayed when she is assigned to work at the Grand Canyon and discovered there is not a Catholic church in the area for her to attend.  She also has much to decide when she realizes that her potential beau is not Catholic.

·       This novel also took a hard look at abusive marriage.  It was hard to divorce at that time and to support yourself as a woman.  When a woman was trapped in an abusive marriage, what could she do?  A job as a Harvey girl was a very well-paying job at the time for a woman.

·       Charlotte as a learning moment as well as she realizes her inadvertent racism towards Native Americans at the Grand Canyon.

·       The novel has an interesting Part II which flashes forward to 1996 and the reader learns what happened to the characters in the novel.

·       There is a great foreword and Author’s Note at the end which give details about Fred Harvey’s empire and other historical details in the novel.

Overall, The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay was an interesting historical fiction novel about a unique time and place in American history.