Where Is Your Bookmark? (Goodbye Dreadful Week, A Peek Into A Royal Holiday & My Winter TBR List)

It has been a long week, and I am very much looking forward to the week off from work and school (my daughter's). It was a difficult week at work in more ways than one. If you have children, please check in with them. Make sure they are okay. I know it isn't as simple a solution as that, but please do it anyway. Some of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter may have already heard me talk about my coworker who lost his life because of COVID-19 on Tuesday. It feels like it happened so fast. Two weeks ago he was all smiles and his kindhearted positive self. It just doesn't seem real that he's gone. I also got news this week that my grandmother tested positive for the virus. You may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago about how it had been spreading around the long-term care facility in which she resides. You can imagine my concern for her well-being--and all the other residents and staff there. I know so many have been impacted by the pandemic, whether losing loved ones, suffering their own health (physical and mental) issues, or having financial difficulties. It all sucks. I hate it and I am tired. Oh so tired. 

My daughter has been giving me an overdose in hugs (not a bad thing, mind you), which I appreciate. And I am taking comfort in my current read. It's an escape out of my head for a little while, anyway. It's my first Jasmine Guillory book, although I believe the 4th in the series. Each one stands alone well, so I wasn't worried about that. I am enjoying reading a Royal Holiday, and like that it features a romance between two middle-aged people. There's something refreshing about that. It is sweet so far, and I am enjoying it.

 

New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory makes her hardcover debut with a heartwarming Christmas romance. 

Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie's work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can't refuse. She's excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn't expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain Private Secretary and his charming accent and unyielding formality. 

Malcolm Hudson has been the Queen's Private Secretary for years and has never given a personal, private tour...until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling. 

Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy fling come New Year's Day...or are they? [Goodreads Summary]

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

Vivian nudged her daughter as they walked out of the customs area at Heathrow Airport.

"Um, Maddie? Do you think Ms. M. Forest and Ms. V. Forest are us?"

Vivian gestured at the man in the suit, holding a sign with their names on it.

Maddie turned in the direction Vivian was looking and grinned at her mother.

"Let's do this, Mom." [opening of Royal Holiday]

Initial thoughts: I like how the novel jumps right in with Vivian and her daughter arriving in England, and I'm right there with Maddie when she says, "Let's do this, Mom." I was ready!

A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

She never should have stayed. Why had she listened to her daughter? [excerpt from 56% of Royal Holiday]

My thoughts: Uh oh. What's happened?! As I write this, I have not reached this point in the book, and so I haven't a clue what is going on. Last I left Vivian, she was having a marvelous time. I must find out!  Excuse me while I get back to my reading.

Have you read Royal Holiday? Does it sound like something you would enjoy? 

Following the example of  Maria from ReadingMaria who started 

the Last Year I Was Reading feature, I will be looking back to what 

I was reading around this time last year and comparing it to what I am reading now. 

A year ago this week my daughter and I were catching up on the Ivy + Bean series  by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall. We also re-read this little gem, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon written by Patty Lovell & illustrated by David Catrow. It is one of my favorites of Mouse's picture books about having confidence in oneself and celebrating our differences. 

My daughter is much less interested in books meant for younger readers these days and so Molly Lou is out and Nikki Maxwell (Dork Diaries) is in. Fortunately for me, she still enjoys reading with me from time to time. She's been introducing me to Nikki and friends as we read through the Dork Diaries series together (her second time around and my first). We have read the first two books together so far. Whereas Molly Lou was full of confidence, Nikki has very little. But both girls learn the value of being true to themselves. Well, maybe Nikki in a more round about way . . .

And of course I am also reading this month's TBR List poll winner, Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory, which is proving to be a delightful read. It's quite different from Mouse's and my reading.

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Five Years Ago I Was Reading: 

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share 

a list of five books, read or unread, or bookish things, that 

share a common theme. Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

Winter is coming. It is just a few days away. I am not the best at sticking with reading lists even as much as I enjoy making them. But this time of year seems like the time for making lists, and so here are five books I would like to read this winter. At least as of this moment.  

The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles #1) ~ I have wanted to read this series since it first came out. I cannot resist a novel about witches. Coming in at 601 pages, I have been putting it off though. Winter seems like a good time for long books--so perhaps it's time. 

A new Black Witch will rise…her powers vast beyond imagining.

Elloren Gardner is the granddaughter of the last prophesied Black Witch, Carnissa Gardner, who drove back the enemy forces and saved the Gardnerian people during the Realm War. But while she is the absolute spitting image of her famous grandmother, Elloren is utterly devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above all else.

When she is granted the opportunity to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an apothecary, Elloren joins her brothers at the prestigious Verpax University to embrace a destiny of her own, free from the shadow of her grandmother’s legacy. But she soon realizes that the university, which admits all manner of people—including the fire-wielding, winged Icarals, the sworn enemies of all Gardnerians—is a treacherous place for the granddaughter of the Black Witch.

As evil looms on the horizon and the pressure to live up to her heritage builds, everything Elloren thought she knew will be challenged and torn away. Her best hope of survival may be among the most unlikely band of rebels…if only she can find the courage to trust those she’s been taught to fear. [Goodreads Summary]

Circe by Madeline Miller ~ The Song of Achilles was my first book of 2019 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's tempting to make Circe my first book of 2021. It's certainly a contender for the spot!

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child - not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power - the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. [Goodreads Summary]

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson ~ A must read if ever there was one. I had hoped to get to this one this past summer. Perhaps now is the time.

An unforgettable true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to end mass incarceration in America — from one of the most inspiring lawyers of our time.

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned.

Just Mercy tells the story of EJI, from the early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice.

One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching — a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent. [Goodreads Summary]

A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1) by Elizabeth George ~ This has been on my TBR shelf forever. I think I have the entire series. At least most of it. And all but one in the series are unread. How does this happen?! It has been awhile since I dived into a police procedural mystery, and as I was pulling books from my shelves to donate, I came to this one and decided I really need to read it!

To this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale's lush green valleys. Three hundred years ago, as legend goes, the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they'd hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell's raiders.

Now into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry."

Yet as Lynley and Havers wind their way through Keldale's dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a shattering series of revelations that will reverberate through this tranquil English valley—and in their own lives as well. [Goodreads Summary]

The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister ~ This sounds like an intriguing winter read given the setting. I enjoyed Macallister's The Magician's Lie and Girl in Disguise and am eager to read more by her. 

A dozen women join a secret 1850s Arctic expedition—and a sensational murder trial unfolds when some of them don't come back.

Eccentric Lady Jane Franklin makes an outlandish offer to adventurer Virginia Reeve: take a dozen women, trek into the Arctic, and find her husband's lost expedition. Four parties have failed to find him, and Lady Franklin wants a radical new approach: put the women in charge.

A year later, Virginia stands trial for murder. Survivors of the expedition willing to publicly support her sit in the front row. There are only five. What happened out there on the ice?

Set against the unforgiving backgdrop of one of the world's most inhospitable locations, USA Today bestsellng author Greer Macallister uses the true story of Lady Jane Franklin's tireless attempts to find her husband's lost expedition as a jumping-off point to spin a tale of bravely, intrigue, perseverance and hope. [Goodreads Summary]

Have you read any of these? What did you think? What books are you hoping to get to this winter season? 

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Stay safe and take care.  Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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