20 Books of Summer and Other Reading …

Summer Reading can be a fav option for spending time
and definitely is my go to if I have a choice.
Time now to make some Summer Reading choices
from the annual options I’ve discovered available and happily sharing with you.

Host, Sue Jackson, invites readers to tackle her annual BIG BOOK Challenge.
Reading 400+ page tomes, often works well for extended reading times
whether beachside or inside should weather turn overcast!

My first of the summer was Karen Swan’s new release.
[at 432 pages]

Have you read this one?  Suspense and intrigue play their roles ….
What did you think?

Not sure which biggie will be next . . .
became –

Delighted when my library reserve deposited this #BigBookSummer debut read of
The Chilbury  Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan
into my downloads.  Anticipated reading, recommended by fellow reader,
author of “Fictional 100”, Lucy Pollard-Gott, I expected enjoyment.
Not disappointed, 418 pages to introduce and develop background
and characters of this historical fiction set during 1940’s wartime
England in the village of Chilbury, Kent.
Written in epistolary style of letters and journal entries,
readers are treated to character insights, actions, and development
in a pleasing and personable manner.
Pleased to have had the opportunity to read and add this one to both
#BigBookSummer and my #10BooksofSummer.
Is it on your reading list or have you read it?
Do you enjoy epistolary novels?  What is one you’ve read?
Share your thoughts with us !

My third #BigBookSummer?

Had to give myself the first 25 pages to decide whether or not to continue this one. And it did take til that point to get a positive response from me. From there on, it definitely proved worth the read . Including Horowitz’s writing insights on the one hundred thirtieth to thirty first pages.  Suspense intensified the conclusion.
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
READ * July 7-8

Any reader responses on this one?  Have read varied reviews and I’m wondering if
anyone else responded like I did…

Are you a BIG BOOK reader?
Maybe this is the Challenge made for you!
Remember.  It only takes reading 1 BIG BOOK to participate…
Which one needs to come off your shelf to be counted ?
Would this be enough to inspire your reading?

~*~

Another annual for me is Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer at 746 Books blog.
This comes with a 10 – 15 or 20 Book option !  Your choice and so are the book choices
should you happen to want to change them once reading is underway . . .

My 10 book list will eventually include
choices and completions.  Maybe some changes?
A wee bit of motivation for this gal!

A Tiding of Magpies – new Birder Murder series release by
Canadian author and birder, Steve Burrows –
Story setting  is Northern Norfolk England has a uniquely talented
Canadian Detective Chief Inspector leading investigations
along with a quirky team adding colour and commentary.
A do not miss for this reader.  Have you read any of this series?
READ * July 3

Then, due to other reading challenges, a noticeable focus on Paris
for #ParisinJuly2018
[Feel free to join us!]  All francophones or lovers of all things Paris!
This may be the summer reading motivation you are looking for …

Nichole Robertson’s photographic colour tour of Paris

Nina George’s novel of 2nd chances, on audio with Emma Bering
Are you an audiobook listener?  Have you enjoyed this story?
How about her Little Paris Bookshop?

Mark Pryor’s intriguing mystery from history …. fini !
READ * July 12th
then
a Cara Black contemporary mystery – both from series
Are you reading this award winning series ?
This will be my first. I always look forward to meeting new mysteries!
Do you stick to standby favs or venture into the unknown?

This 2018 release has me intrigued.
Love the book and bookstore theme plus more mystery …
I have it on order at the library once it’s available.  Ah, the waiting !

Great.  A collection of Jojo Moyes’ shortstories, perfect for filling in time gaps.
Which JoJo Moyes books have you read?
Paris for One  READ * July 1st

Loving the focus of this book – “An inspiring tour of the city’s creative heart“!
Looking forward to Janelle McCulloch’s tour… Currently Reading * July 13 –
It is very beautifully photographed.  A positive addition for me.
How do you respond to artistic illustration of books?  Yay or Nay ?
{The library just notified me it’s now on the Holds shelf waiting for my pickup- yay!}

and…  an absolute discovery!
I LOVE
hearing Janice MacLeod’s life experiences during her year in Paris.
READ *  July 6th – 9th

This book is absolutely gorgeous!  Artistic journal entries featuring
photography, calligraphy, painting
each enhancing the descriptions and anecdotes of life in Paris.
Loving a slow perusal . . .

If you’ve counted, and I trust you did 😉 ,
you’ll know I was one short of ten.  And there’s rhyme to the reason.
Choice.
If I came upon one I just had to read…
You know it.  I’d have had room to add it.  Yep.
Exactly what temperamental readers do.
No apologies.

Any other mood readers reading this?
How do you approach the dilemma of choosing books for challenges?

Here’s a 10th addition I add with pleasure
having anticipated this read for about a year!

The Chilbury Ladies Choir debut by Jennifer Ryan

READ * July 5
see review and responses above for #BigBookSummer

Thanking Cathy for being the understanding host she is on these things.
Her guidelines accomodate changes and this reader appreciates that.
Thanks for hosting , Cathy.
And, to everyone participating…
Cheers to a successful Summer of Reading!

Let us know how your 20 Book Challenge is going so far…
If you’ve made any changes or are firm in reading your choices !

Any other challenges that motivate your reading?

 

Discussing books with Nicole and Shannon.. Join us?

It’s Coming ! . . .

 

 

Join us in Paris this July 1st to 31st
Celebrating French food, friendship, books, travel, art, music, photos . . .
blog, tweet, pinterest, instagram #ParisinJuly2018
~ add yours and discover others’ participation ~
Enjoy the Party in Paris!
Hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea

My #ParisinJuly2018 Reading ?

 

 

 

Grateful for a well stocked public library, I have a great variety of Paris reads.

If you’re a reader, please be sure to share your recommendations or less than favs
to help us determine reading time.  I’ve already knocked some out of queue that I
thought would be interesting.  Feel free to share your experiences.

Thanks to Tanya of MomsSmallVictories for sharing hers with us over on instagram.
It’s all helpful when we only have a limited amount of time each day!

Do join us via #ParisinJuly2018 to create the ease in finding each others’ posts
on instagram, twitter, blogs.  It’s a huge time saver – Thank You!

 

THANK YOU to Tamara for hosting this choice morsel each year.
Your love for and  posts of Paris are excellent inspiration, Tamara!
LinkUp your posts at Thyme-for-Tea

Have you been inspired to discover and discuss the Paris life?
Perhaps you have travels to share with us?
Recipes, art, anecdotes, history, music…?

We’d love to hear more ~
Thank for sharing.  A bientot !

 

Sharing and discussing linked here –

Join us?

A Maigret Christmas

My introduction to the Maigret mystery series set in Paris, France. A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon, translated by David Coward adds foreign intrigue to holiday reading.  I am now on an inspired book hunt searching out additional titles. . .

Intrepid Inspector Maigret’s Christmas day is interrupted by the arrival of 2 neighbour women telling an unusual story of Father Christmas’ visit the night before.  Maigret’s attention is secured, his visit to the scene follows, and readers’ interest is piqued.  Interplay between Maigret and his wife adds to both plot and humanity of this couple as allusions are cast regarding something unspoken between them; a mystery in its own right.
First of three engaging short stories, the second offers intense policing drama involving two brothers and a young boy in jeopardy.
The third, accurately titled, A Christmas Story for Adults, presents a Christmas Eve tale of unusual human kindness in an unexpected setting.

All episodes fortify the mystique of Paris life and locales.

Available as paperback, hardcover, ebook – Penguin Classics.
Connect at inspectormaigret.com
#AMaigretChristmas

 

Christmas Spirit Readathon WrapUp

Successfully completed
and Fun Enjoyed !

Books I read ?

1. 1. Back Roads to Bliss –Ruth Glover

2. The Beginning –Karen Kingsbury/January LeVoy – audio 
3. Little House Christmas – Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. A Matter of Justice – Charles Todd
5. The White Feather Murders – Rachel MacMillan-
6. The Christmas Train-David Baldacci/Tim Matheson-audio
7. A Christmas Hope – Stacy Henrie
8. Skipping Cmas – John Grisham 
9. This Side of Murder – Anna Lee Huber
10. A Patchwork Love – Stephanie Grace Whitson
11. A Family for Christmas – Mona Ingram 
12. A Cmas Kiss – Elizabeth Mansfield/Colleen Prendergast – audio
13. Seams Like Love – Judith Miller
14. The Bridge-Karen Kingsbury
15. The Greatest Gift – Ann Voskamp
16.Christmas Angel Project– Melody Carlson
17. The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas-Madeleine L’Engle 
18. Jane and the Waterloo Map-Stephanie Barron

I’m carrying on with the
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge
til January 6 2018

Add your Reading and Movies to the
Christmas Spirit Pinterest board HERE.

~*~ Join the Fun ~*~

SignUps continue HERE

 

Christmas Spirit Readathon 2017

This Year’s Christmas Spirit Readathon 
runs an Xtra week for our Xtra reading enJoyment!
November 20th to December 3rd midnight CDT

Your choice of reading selections are unlimited –
Christmas tales to mysteries
Childrens’ Christmas to Dicken’s !

Find all the details at Michelle’s Seasons of Reading
for SignUps NOW OPEN

Use #CSReadathon to connect to other social media opps
on Twitter, FB, Goodreads, Instagram, YouTube

2017’s prize will be a donation to a charitable organization
helping those in need.  Find details as linked above.
Thanks to Michelle for continuing to host this Annual Event!

Are you ready…?

Almost time for all those Christmas Favourites ….

Ready.  Set.  Read!

2017 Christmas Spirit #ReadingChallenge November 20 – January 6

SignUps Now OPEN 
for this Annual Feature
with Michelle of truexmasspirit blog

Running from Monday November 20 to Twelfth Night/Epiphany
{ Saturday January 6 2018 }

Lots  of opps for sharing your favs in movies, stories, books
{for children and adults}
full variety of genres – crafts, poetry, novels to short stories.
Looking forward to hearing your recommendations
and surprise discoveries

From Candy Cane Level –  Reading 1 book
Mistletoe – 2-4 books
Christmas Tree at 5-6 books

Add some Films you’ve viewed for Optional Levels
FaLaLaLaLa Film Fun
and
Visions of Sugar Plums
by reading books with children and sharing with us.

EnJoy this fabulous Season of Reading !

My Christmas Spirit Reading?

Anticipating…
Last Christmas in Paris – Hazel Gaynor
A Lady Most Lovely – Jennifer Delamere
A Highland Christmas– MC Beaton
[annual read!]
The Greatest Gift – Ann Voskamp
Jane + the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Being the First Jane Austen Mystery –Stephanie Barron
Back Roads to Bliss – Ruth Glover
Doc Martin – Mistletoe & Whine – Sam North
At Legend’s End-Diane Moody
Elderberry Days: A Season of JOY – A Holiday Sequel
-Becky Doughty
The Christmas Journey – Donna VanLiere
Bookends – Liz Curtis Higgs
Mistletoe & Murder – Carola Dunn
A Very Merry Christmas – Lauren Cecil/Andrew Grey
[ 1 of many children’s books]
The Christmas Candle [movie] – Max Lucado

 

October’s Season of Readathons

It’s an Annual Event hosted by Michelle,
now extended to the entire month of October.
A major reading time for me as days cool and the invitation
of a waiting mystery lures me to stay in and enjoy the reading …

Library requests and Little Free Library finds kept my time full.
My hoped for ‘scary’ [mystery] reads for me :
Now Completions :

Cruel Winter – Sheila Connolly – 2017 release completed Oct .1√
A Purely Private Matter – Darcie Wilde/Sarah Nichols – 2017  audio release 10.2√
The Cracked Spine – Paige Shelton/Carrington McDuffie –
new to me audio mystery series set in Scotland – 10.1√
Of Books and Bagpipes –  book 2 of this audio series era 60s pub’d 2017– 10.2  √
Mortal Arts – Anna Lee Huber – audio suspense, again a Scotland series – 3-4.10 √
Manna from Hades– Carola Dunn/Wanda McCaddon-series audio mystery set
in 60s era England–5.10√
Death of a Dyer– Eleanor Kuhns excellent 1700s era mystery series set in Maine  – 6.10√
A Grave Matter – Anna L Huber/Heather Wilds- audio 1800s era series
this novel exposing grave robbing in Scotland– 7.10 √
The Story Girl – LM Montgomery –a shortstory collection of Canadian childhood
of an earlier Prince Edward Island era – 8.10 √
Miss Marple’s Final Cases – Agatha Christie – more English mystery shortstories
8.10 – 17th √
The Art of Life – Edith Schaeffer – completion of a nonfic read
set in  Switzerland – 9.10 √
The Message- Proverbs – Eugene H Peterson –my 12^th  Canadian read
for this year’s Canadian Book Challenge which begins
July 1st annually.  nonfiction – 8.10- 22.10√
The Moving Finger – 4th Miss Marple – Agatha Christie/Richard E Grant –
excellent audio narration and suspense in this English WWI era mystery– 9.10 √
The Borrowers – Mary Norton – childhood fav, genre fantasy
England era 1890s – 9.10  √
Twice Promised – Maggie Brendan –mailorder bride era for this 1880s series
set in CO– Oct 9-10.10 √
12 Days at Bleakly Manor – Michelle Griep/Nan McNamara – 2017 audio release
of this 1st entry of a very creative mystery series – era 1850 England– 11.10 √
A Murder is Announced -Miss Marple 5– Agatha Christie/Emilia Fox-
audio version era rural England series of mysteries – 12-13.10 √
The Secret Adversary – Agatha Christie/Alison Larkin –
audio version of Russian suspense filled hostage taking of
Tommy and his partner Tuppence’s efforts at solving this couples’
intro as sleuthing detectives.
The Space Between Words – Michelle Phoenix – 2017 release –dual timelines,
both scary suspense filled eras.  1600s barbaric actions of the King toward Hugenots
along with current description of recent terrorist attacks in France –
A top year’s read for me!  – 16-17.10 √
A Casualty of War – Charles Todd – 2017 pub of WWI era1918 series
excellent suspense in newest entry of series set in France/England – 18.10√
To Whisper Her Name – Tamera Alexander/Tavia Gilbert – audio version
of an insightful series set in Tennessee era 1860s dealing with prejudices
of class, attitudes and expectations  – 21.10 √
A Study in Death – Anna L Huber/H Wilds – audio continued this mystery series
1800s era featuring female investigator in Scotland – Oct 21-2 √
Death of a Cad – MC Beaton/Antony Ferguson – audio of this Hamish Macbeth
police inspector series set in Highlands of Scotland – always enjoy the
accented narrators of audios – Oct 22 √
The Essence of Malice –Ashley Weaver/Alison Larkin- audio series takes
readers to investigate in France with unexpected family trouble – 23.10 √
Rosemary’s Glove – Shirley Raye Redmond – fun Regency era England– 24.10 √
Perfectly Matched – Maggie Brendan – 1800s era Colorado series completed– 27.10 √
The Divide – Jolina Petersheim/Tavia Gilbert –apocalyptic era series completion
on audio Montana winter setting- pub’d 2017– 28.10 √
Countdown in Cairo –Noel Hynd/Dick Hill – Russian Trilogy has kept the suspense
and my interest through murders, bombings, espionage, deceptions and disappearances.  Series conclusion traveled America, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt 28-29.10 √
The Storyteller’s Collection: Tales of FarAway Places – various authors and far off
locations featured in this collection of short stories– 30-31.10 √
Concluding the month with
Seeds of Deception-Sheila Connolly/Marguerite Gavin- audio –
while MCs leave for a brief time of travel , murders interrupt their plans and family involvement creates concerns in this American set mystery series – 31.10-1.11 √

A great month of reading as part of Michelle’s Seasons of Reading
#FrightFall Readathon
1 requisite scary read to participate – any variety from Gothic to suspense.
After that, it’s all about the reading!

Thanks for motivating the reading, Michelle!

 

It’s a JaneAusten #Bookstagram Challenge

Day 2 of our Celebration of Jane #AusteninAugustRBR
And we’ve only just begun…

Adam at Roof Beam Reader is hosting this annual event
now in it’s 5^th year.
I am a happy participant.  Whether reading Jane Austen novels
or checking out the variations, this month’s for Jane.

Today is an intro to a new feature for 2017 ~
Austen in August on Instagram
[+ twitter – pinterest – fb – etc]
Adam has invited me to share the daily Jane Austen prompts
I have created to inspire those participants who do enjoy
or who might enjoy the creativity of book photography.
You may be joining us as an instagrammer,
or may already be a #janeausten #bookstagrammer joining us.
Each of you are most welcome to participate at your level of interest.
Cheerleaders are definitely valued!

The #Bookstagram Reading Challenge follows as listed.
Participants post a photo for the listed prompt,
tag it @faith.hope.cherrytea  as host, and hashtag it
#JAusteninAugust – #AusteninAugustRBR – #JaneAusten
so everyone can find and follow the new photos of JA related prompts.

Choose the prompts that inspire you.  Take your photos anytime,
then post your bookstagrams corresponding to
the day of the prompts you’ve chosen.
[Or use a scheduling service such as Later.com to post for you]
I’ve found it a creative focus that increases enjoyment of
my books on a new level.  This month, it’s our Jane Austen collections.

This also works for those who prefer to post photos to twitter, pinterest or fb.
Be sure to identify them with the same #hashtags as above.
Share your love and spread the word for Jane Austen in August.

Are you ready?

 Jane Austen in August 2017

1 – Ready Set Go – 1^st #JA book you’re reading
2 – Resources – TBR stack for #JAusteninAugust
3- Travelin’ Band – fav JA roadtrippin’ reads
4- Silver Screen – any 5* JA movie recs?
5- 2^nd Time Around – 2^nd hand JA book find
6- Faith & Family – your fav JA quote
7- #BookmarkMonday – show your JA bookmarks
8- Tops – your top pick[s] of JA books
9- Party Time! – Anne Elliot’s 230^th Birthday!
10- JA Geometry – worst JA love triangle[s]
11- Shopaholic – Best ever bookstore JA find
12- What’s New?- new JA  library find
13- Let’s Get Poetical – JA book spine poetry
14- On Deck – JA you’re reading right now
15- Day Out – show us your JA outdoors
16- Wordless Wednesday – JA book illustrations
17- Get Serious – nonfiction Jane
18- Showtime – show off your JA bookshelves
19- Most Wanted – your ‘must have’ JA novel
20- For Openers – fav JA chapter opening line[s]
21- Surround Sound – JA audio book lovers
22- Comfort Zone – your fav JA reading spot
23- Waiting on Wednesday – JA you’re anticipating
24- Unfinished Business – JA/variations you dnf
25- Up to Now – #JAusteninAugust read so far…
26- Villainous – least liked JA character[s]
27- Favouritism – most liked JA character[s]
28- Memorabilia – JA items / memorabilia
29- News – what’s new in the world of JA ?
30- Last Word – have your say #JAusteninAugust
31- That’s a Wrap – your #JAinA completions

      #JAusteninAugust     @faith.hope.cherrytea      # AusteninAugustRBR

I’m thrilled to be participating with each of you in the
#AusteninAugustRBR event and
so pleased to offer this new month long addition.
My “Thanks to Adam” for generously including me in the lineup of activities.

Cheers to each of you for beginning this
Jane Austen reading journey through August!

We’ll be watching for your
#JAusteninAugust   #AusteninAugustRBR   #JaneAusten
posts wherever you’re active on social media.

Jane Austen in August 2017….

WILL YOU Be READING 

JANE AUSTEN This AUGUST ?

TIME for 2017’s Version of this ANNUAL CHALLENGE!August 1st opens the 5th year of individual Jane Austen
marathon reading during the month of August – info HEREand group reads,
this year’s choice being Northanger Abbey – details HERE
~SignUps remain OPEN until JULY 31st
for participation in any Austen in August events, giveaways, etc.
though reading Jane Austen, of course, is encouraged all monthand doesn’t require signing up.
~We look forward to sharing all things Jane together !
Hoping you’re part of the Celebration of Jane Austen.~*~THANKS to our returning host,
Adam at Roof Beam Reader ! ~Find us connecting using #AusteninAugustRBR
on Twitter and Instagram,
where we also have a NEW #Bookstagram Challengeusing #JAusteninAugust via @faith.hope.cherryteaBe sure to follow if you’re on both or either .
We’ll be looking for your Jane Austen tweets and photos !~*~ FIND MORE FHC on BOOK DEPOSITORY | PINTEREST | TWITTER | GOOGLE+ | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | NETWORKED BLOGS | | | INSTAGRAM | LIBRARYTHING | Follow |

20 Books of Summer…

20 Books of Summer Challenge
2017

Accepting Cathy’s annual Summer Reading Challenge
and, once again, I’m aiming for success
reading at least 10 of the goal of 20!

Find all the details at 746 Books blog
and sign up HERE
for your own 20 Books of Summer relaxed reading for 2017.

Sooooo…..
Here are my first 10 choices for the June 1st start…
though, being a capricious reader, they aren’t in any reading order!

Storms of War ~ Celia, on the brink of adulthood, secretly dreams of escaping her carefully mapped-out future and exploring the world. But the onslaught of war changes everything and soon the de Witts find themselves sidelined and in danger of losing everything they hold dear. As Celia struggles to make sense of the changing world around her, she lies about her age to join the war effort and finds herself embroiled in a complex plot that puts not only herself but those she loves in danger. With gripping detail and brilliant empathy, Kate Williams tells the story of Celia and her family as they are shunned by a society that previously embraced them, torn apart by sorrow, and buffeted and changed by the storms of war.

On Rue Tatin ~ Susan Loomis arrived in Paris twenty years ago with little more than a student loan and the contents of a suitcase to sustain her. But what began then as an apprenticeship at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine evolved into a lifelong immersion in French cuisine and culture, culminating in permanent residency in 1994. “On Rue Tatin “chronicles her journey to an ancient little street in Louviers, one of Normandy s most picturesque towns. With lyrical prose and wry candor, Loomis recalls the miraculous restoration that she and her husband performed on the dilapidated convent they chose for their new residence. As its ochre and azure floor tiles emerged, challenges outside the dwelling mounted. From squatters to a surly priest next door, along with a close-knit community wary of outsiders…

The Tide Watchers ~ …fast-paced, deeply-researched, and richly imagined novel, The Tide Watchers explores a long-hidden, chapter of Bonaparte’s history.

Bury Your Dead ~ “Few writers in any genre can match Penny’s ability to combine heartbreak and hope.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review) It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City,Canada, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful…yet even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society– an obsessive historian’s quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly four hundred years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it? Meanwhile, Gamache is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. “It doesn’t make sense,” Olivier’s partner writes every day. “He didn’t do it, you know.” As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive a terrible event from his own past before he can begin to bury his dead.

A Desperate Fortune ~ Canadian author Kearsley writes a riveting novel that deftly intertwines the tales of two women, divided by centuries and forever changed by a clash of love and fate. For nearly three hundred years, the cryptic journal of Mary Dundas has kept its secrets. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas travels to Paris to crack the cipher. Jacobite exile Mary Dundas is filled with longing-for freedom, for adventure, for the family she lost. When fate opens the door, Mary dares to set her foot on a path far more surprising and dangerous than she ever could have dreamed. As Mary’s gripping tale of rebellion and betrayal is revealed to her, Sara faces events in her own life that require letting go of everything she thought she knew-about herself, about loyalty, and especially about love. Though divided by centuries, these two women are united in a quest to discover the limits of trust and the unlikely coincidences of fate.

Suite Francaise ~ Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Francaise falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Francaise is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places… In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Nemirovsky’s death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, Suite Francaise, would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.

Saving Sophie ~ powerful story of the lengths a father will go through to protect his daughter and an action-packed thriller that will take you on an unforgettable journey of murder and deception, testing the bonds of family and love. Jack Sommers was just an ordinary accountant from Chicago-that is, until his wife passed away, his young daughter was kidnapped, and he became the main suspect in an $88 million dollar embezzlement case. Now Jack is on the run, hoping to avoid the feds long enough to rescue his daughter, Sophie, from her maternal grandfather, a suspected terrorist in Palestine. With the help of investigative team Liam and Catherine, and a new CIA operative, a secret mission is launched to not only rescue Sophie but also to thwart a major terrorist attack in Hebron. But will being caught in the crossfires of the Palestine-Israeli conflict keep their team from accomplishing the task at hand, or can they overcome the odds and save countless lives, including their own?

Part of Read the Nobels Challenge, I’ve chosen

Night ~ Nobel Peace Prize winner, ‘Wiesel has taken his own anguish and imaginatively metamorphosed it into art’ Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor’s perspective, Night is among the most personal, intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust. A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope, it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century. Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. After the war, Wiesel studied in Paris and later became a journalist. During an interview with the distinguished French writer, Francois Mauriac, he was persuaded to write about his experiences in the death camps.The result was his internationally acclaimed memoir, La Nuit or Night, which has since been translated into more than thirty languages.

I enjoyed Helen Simonson’s The Summer Before the War, so this year I’m prepped for

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand ~ Major Ernest Pettigrew is perfectly content to lead a quiet life in the sleepy village of Edgecombe St Mary, away from the meddling of the locals and his overbearing son. But when his brother dies, the Major finds himself seeking companionship with the village shopkeeper, Mrs Ali. Drawn together by a love of books and the loss of their partners, they are soon forced to contend with irate relatives and gossiping villagers. The perfect gentleman, but the most unlikely hero, the Major must ask himself what matters most: family obligation, tradition or love? Funny, comforting and heart-warming, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand proves that sometimes, against all odds, life does give you a second chance.

and the one I’m beginning with ?

This gorgeous New Release won during the 1 day Savvy Readathon in May

Good Night from London ~ by Canadian author, Jennifer Robson, this story is inspired in part by the wartime experiences of the author’s own grandmother, a captivating, heartfelt, and historically immersive story that readers are sure to embrace.
…a lush historical novel that tells the fascinating story of Ruby Sutton, an ambitious American journalist who moves to London in 1940 to report on the Second World War, and to start a new life an ocean away from her past. In the summer of 1940, ambitious young American journalist Ruby Sutton gets her big break: the chance to report on the European war as a staff writer for a news magazine in London. She jumps at the chance, an opportunity not only to prove herself, also to start fresh in a city and country that know nothing of her humble origins. But life in besieged Britain tests Ruby in ways she never imagined. Although most of Ruby’s new colleagues welcome her, a few resent her presence, not only as an American but also as a woman. She is just beginning to find her feet, to feel at home in a country that is so familiar yet so foreign, when the bombs begin to fall. As the nightly horror of the Blitz stretches unbroken into weeks and months, Ruby must set aside her determination to remain an objective observer.When she loses everything but her life, and must depend upon the kindness of strangers, she learns for the first time the depth and measure of true friendship-and what it is to love a man who is burdened by secrets that aren’t his to share

Ready to read with us?

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