April book pick

For some reason, as the winter turns to spring, I just want to read a book with a vacation-like vibe. As soon as I started this one, I wished I had saved it for Spring Break (less work) week. Looking at the cover I expected the general fiction book of romance on a beach or something. What I got was a book about two almost has-been movie stars trying to make another hit movie like they did years before. The male lead, Cole, is full of himself and his ex-wife, Stella On the movie set is a young girl, who is a social media influencer, that wants nothing more than to make a name for herself, at any cost. We also get to meet a producer who doesn't really have patience for any of the actors, because she may have been violated and has no memory of the event. Oh yes, and there is a hurricane coming ashore and a possible murder. The Siren is a great book!

March book pick

 I have been waiting to share this book with you for a little while now.  I can finally say that you will be able to read this on March 8!! Woo hoo!!  I admit I have never read "Little Women", but supposedly this book is a retelling of that book by Louisa May Alcott in a more modern sense.  All the events take place during World War II and each one of the sisters does something to assist in the war effort.  Some girls will be on the front line, while others are holding down the fort. There is romance, grief, and a little plot twist.  

I am excited to hear your take on this and see how it compares to the real "Little Women", please drop me a line and let me know.  

Don't you just love the cover?  Enjoy!!!!

February Book Pick

I am in a book club where just about everyone in the group simply adores a Fiona Davis book.  It is pretty much a given that our club will read this book and I hope you will too.   

If you have never read a Fiona book, please get started right now! If you have read the entire catalog you will find that this one fits in nicely with all the others.  As usual, Fiona gives us a book set in an NYC landmark, in two time periods.  This book gives us Angelica/Lillian who is trying to rebuild her life after the Spanish flu ruined everything for her.  She is a woman who will drop a false identity of a nude model and live life anew under her legal name, Lillian, as a personal secretary to Helen Frick.  Helen's dad is Henry Clay Frick, a very wealthy man who has put it in his will that on his death his home and his thrilling art collection will become a museum.  

The modern part of the story has another model that finds herself on a job at the site of the Frick Museum.  Here she meets an intern who will help her solve a mystery that dates back to the days of the infamous Angelica.  As a reader, we are pulled back and forth between the two time periods watching a murder mystery unfold before our very eyes. 

You're going to love this one!! 

First book pick of 2022

 A few months back, I was lucky enough to get my hands on this book a few months before it was published.  It wasn't my first Julia Kelly book, but it became my favorite Julia Kelly book. 

 This book introduces us to Lily, a young woman that doesn't want to be in the last group of debutates, but her grandmother and mother demand it so she must.  We will follow Lily on the journey of parties, presentations, and dances, a typical debutante life until her world turns upside down by a family secret.  I love books like this, you know the ones, where you expect something and the story gives you something so different.  

This is an excellent read for the start of those 2022 reading challenges.

The last book pick of 2021

 This month's book was an easy pick for me. I read every single book that Gill Paul writes! She is creative, entertaining, and somehow picks topics that are so very interesting.  

This book is called The Collector's Daughter and it is about Evelyn Herbert.  Evelyn's father is an archeologist that is on a team desperately wants to find the tomb of Tutankhamun.  On one fateful day, Evelyn happens to be in attendance on the hunt when they find it!!  The tomb was erected to have curses put on anyone who disturbs the burial place.  The team abandons all superstitions, each member takes a token home before they tell the public they have found the tomb.  Fast forward through time and you can see how the "curse" affects each of the team members. The book takes place over the course of about 50 years, and they are 50 wild years.  

  

November Book Pick

 I had so much trouble picking the book for November.  Why?  Well, I try to pick a book that I read the month before and make it be one that I loved.  That is easy most months because I usually only read one great one a month, but this month was completely different.  During the month of October, I read 5 books that I wanted to share with people.  FIVE books that I think are worth your time.  I decided that I don't have to do the same thing that everyone else does, I can pick a TOP FIVE book pick and you can choose any of them and I think you will have a GRAND time.  

1.  Dave Grohl-The Storyteller

This book is all about rock n roll, but not sex and drugs.  This is a book to celebrate music.  A book that shows love, devotion, and a slight coffee addiction.  I loved every single part of this book and if I have to pick a favorite of all 5 this month, it is this one.  

2.  Taylor Jenkins Reid-Malibu Rising 

I love all of Taylor's books, and this one is even better than the last one (Daisy Jones and the Six).  This one features June and Mick and shows us their relationship and marriage.  We will then be transformed to the future where we meet June and Mick's kids and see how they cope with his stardom and mom and dad's choices.  I won't say anything else, except this one is hard to put down. 

3.  Jessica Anya Blau-Mary Jane

This is probably my second favorite of all 5 books.  This one shows us a teenage girl on the verge of womanhood.  She is a nanny for the summer to a doctor and his wife.  While working she experiences a whole world different than the life she has with her parents and feels she is living a double life.  Things keep getting stranger when she meets her television idol and her rock star husband.  

4.  Patti Callahan Henry-Once Upon a Wardrobe

I could feel the magic all around while reading this book.  Meg finds herself interviewing C.S. Lewis about how he created Narnia for her invalid brother, George.  George is a very creative child that draws pictures of the stories Meg tells him from the information she gathered from C.S. Lewis.  The tale is almost as magical as Narnia itself.  

5.  Laura Dave-The Last Thing He Told Me

I knew this book would be a type of thriller but had no idea how this book would twist and turn.  I am not sure what I can tell you that would not give it away. I will just say it is a book about a woman that marries a man.  This man has a child from a previous marriage and he is a widower.  I do believe that is all I can tell you, sorry about that, you just need to be surprised.  

On my monthly book shelf that I keep, I will record The Storyteller as the book of the month and the other 4 as bonus reads, but please don't let any of these pass you by.  

October book picks, yes PICKS

 I have chosen two books this month.  Two vastly different books.  

Early Morning Riser is a general woman's fiction book.  We meet Jane who is living the life of a school teacher and everything is going great until her mother has a car accident and it completely changes Jane's life.  Her life goes like most of us, she gets married, has children and it wouldn't be a good book without some drama.  I won't spill the secrets of the book, I will just tell you that this book is a great book for fall break.  

The second book won't be released until October 21, but it is worth checking out once it is released. Even though she was a child,  Maria worked for the resistance.  She gets caught and is thrown into Auschwitz. Anyone who has heard this name knows that it was one of the most dangerous places that a prisoner could enter. Maria's life is spared because a guard loves the game of chess and Maria is an excellent player.  This is not a light and fluffy book like the one above....this is heavy and heartbreaking in spots, but these stories need to be told as some of the supporting characters were real-life people.   

Enjoy.  

September Book Pick

August has been a slow reading month for me. I had Jury Duty, worked two jobs, and of course the start of school.  I am pretty excited to say that as of August 27, I can breathe a little bit so I have cranked up the reading.  This week I decided to make the decision on what book I will recommend for the September book pick.  I have read a couple of good ones the last two weeks but have decided that Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson was worth every second I put into it.  It was a book that was sort of hard to put down. The book starts with a bachelorette party weekend and ends in an affair that leads to loads of suspense and a few twists.  I hope you like it.  

August Book Pick

 Alva Vanderbilt wants nothing more than to fit in society, but society says she is "new" money and no one feels that status has any value.  The chief society lady who is shunning Alva is Caroline Astor.  Caroline runs all social functions, events, and controls who is in and who is out.  

There are no murders here, but you will see tons of drama.  Picture the mom from the Titanic movie times ten and that is what these characters are like (and remember the characters are based on real women).  They are trying to one-up each other and tear each other down, they are complete MEAN GIRLS.  

All that being said, I found this a fun, and worthy book pick.  It is such a departure from my normal reads as it is set in the last 19th century New York City and features no war.  

Renee Rosen always knows how to give us a story that is unique and interesting and she does not fail with this one.  

July Book Pick

  I love a good cozy mystery and this one has a neat vibe.  It is set in a family restaurant that has fallen on hard times.  The restaurant needs updating, but at the end of the month when the bills are paid, there is just no money left to do the updates.

 Lila has just experienced a bad breakup and has come home from the city to help her family save the restaurant (and maybe modernize).  Things are going well until one of Lila's ex-boyfriends dies right there in the restaurant.  This event will set the reader on a who-dun-it adventure where our Lila will get into many things that she really needs to stay out of (but this makes the book fun :) ).  I just adore these kinds of books!!! This one is perfect for a day at the park, a stormy afternoon, or to read while your toes are in the sand.  

June Book Pick

 The second I started reading this book I had visions of Baby and Johnny dancing in the big hall to "Time of my life" and I knew in that second I wanted everyone to read this one.  This book will require no thinking, no sleuthing, no stressing...this book is just a book to sit down and enjoy!  

What we have here is a hotel in the Catskills that used to be the hot spot where all the celebs visited, the rooms were booked years in advance and everyone knew everyone.  What exists now is a hotel that while still nice, needs upgrades, to connect with the young folks and frankly some guests.  The hotel was founded by Benny Goldman and Amos Weingold.  Benny has passed and Amos can't keep up anymore, so his son Brian is running the place. The book starts with Brian receiving a call from a big casino operation, saying that they want to buy the hotel.  Brian calls all the families up to the hotel to vote on do they sell or do they upgrade?  Things can't be that simple so here is where family drama, romance, selfies, and lots of social media posts, enter the picture giving us a fun-filled book.  A perfect book for the beach, the car/plane ride, or an afternoon on the deck. 

Review: Last Summer at the Golden Hotel

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

It's Gonna Be May----Book Pick

 The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a book I fell in love with the minute I began chapter one.  Let me try to sum this up without ruining any plot lines for you.  

  The book takes place in two time periods, the late 1790s and the present day.  In the past timeline, we meet an old woman that makes poisons to kill men and only men.  These men would have wronged a woman in some way or they would not have been poisoned.  

The present-day timeline introduces us to a woman that is very unhappy in her lot.  She is looking for something to complete the empty spot in her life when she joins a group and discovers a vial that once belonged to an apothecary.  This little action starts a journey to discover the past and creates a new problem as well.  

I thought this book was perfect from start to finish. I would not change a thing from the cover to the last page.  

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April Book Pick

The book pick for April is......

 I will admit I had no idea what this month's pick was about when I put it on hold.  I only knew that anything Susan Meissner writes, Michelle will read. I loved this one from the first page.  

Imagine a mail-order bride traveling across the country to an unknown place knowing she will become a wife and mother almost the minute she steps off the train in San Francisco.    Martin (her new husband)  will, at first, seem like a perfect husband, gentle, patient, giving, that will soon fall as Sophie sees he is a bit standoffish with his child, a bit evasive with her, and not willing to share much about his life.  He is a man with a secret, but then she is a bride with a secret, and the child will also have a secret.  Secrets tend to have a way of revealing themselves, and come out when you least expect them to.  Throw in a natural disaster like an earthquake and you have lots of drama that will literally keep you on the edge of your seat.  

I don't think there is anything about this book that you won't like.  

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March comes in with a book pick

 I know that March is still a bit away, but I simply could not wait to share this book with you.  

Ruth had a grand life in Chicago, America was on the brink of Barack Obama becoming the 44th President, and Xavier, her husband, wants a baby and possibly a career like Barack.    A life that is vastly different from where Ruth grew up. Ganton was a town full of depression, racial injustice, and unemployment.  Ruth loved her family, but she wanted out.  

Ruth went to Yale, landed a great job as an engineer, and a good husband, but she has a secret she has told no one and it is time to make amends. Ruth had a child in her youth.  A child she has not seen since the day it was born.  She doesn't even know what happened to the child.   To move on, Ruth must go back to Ganton and face her past.  

I loved this book for the first moment I read the first paragraph.  So much so that I have been excited all weekend to tell you all about this debut novel by Nancy Johnson.  Like Obama's motto, this book is full of HOPE.  

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February book club pick

Time has flown, we are now approaching the end of January.  I am shocked at how fast this month has flown by.  I have gotten so many great books off my TBR as I tend to read more in the months before spring.  I know, I know most folks read more as summer gets here, but that is my busy time at work so I take massive advantage of the winter slow down.  

The book for February is Stories from Suffragette City.  A novel that was written by many big names in the world of historical fiction.  

Lisa Wingate

M J Rose

Steve Berry

Paula McLain

Katherine J Chen

Christina Baker Kline

Jamie Ford

Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Megan Chance

Alyson Richman

Chris Bohjalian

Fiona Davis

The events of this book take place on October 23, 1915.  What is special about that day?  It was the day that over one million women marched for the right to vote in New York City.  We, as women, have come so far, and yet we have so much more to accomplish.  #votesforwomen

I hope you enjoy this read as much as I did.  

Read with Michelle first book pick(s) of 2021---a new classic and a new release

  The January book pick is On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

In September 2009 I discovered this little book, basically because the cover gripped me the second I saw it sitting on the library shelf.  I took it home that day and finished it before I went to bed (September 20 according to my book journal).  The story was riveting and I may have shed a tear or two during my journey.  I have picked it up a few times since that first reading and every time I love it a tad more.  

It is the story of Henry Lee, a Chinese American man, who in present-day sees that inside the Panama Hotel are found trunks of belongings from families that were sent to internment camps during WWII.  He wonders if he knows anyone whose belongings are in that basement.  He flashes back on Keiko, a Japanese American girl that he loved.  During the war, Keiko and her family were sent to an internment camp in the USA, yes they existed here on American soil).  

In 2013, Jamie published a digital read called Middle, Lost and Found.  It is a little small work that talks more about the lunch lady (who is one of my favorite characters in OTCOB&S).  If you can find this, I highly recommend it to you also.  I met Jamie in 2014 and I had printed off this digital book (because he likes physical books) and bound it for him.  Actually, I made two, one for him as a gift and one I wanted him to autograph for me.  My autographed Jamie Ford books are some of my prized possessions.  

In 2015, my husband and I went to Seattle and we both looked and looked for the Panama Hotel. I know we were close, but my husband got sick (drat that Norwalk virus) and we had to abort the plans, I went to the first Starbucks instead.  

Please don't stop with this book, Jamie has other books that are simply divine.  Songs of Willow Frost and my second favorite of his, Love and Other Consolation Prizes.  Also, there is a movie being filmed, or maybe has completed and Covid has screwed up its release too (stay tuned).  

I also want to give you a currently published book in case you have read this or only want to read new releases.  I have not read this one, but I have read every book by the author and she has never let me down.  So the bonus January pick is Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson.  I admit I have no idea what this one is about...I just know that I will read it because (as I said I love all of her books) she is a fantastic writer.  I actually was granted the right just today to read it before it was published so stay tuned.  

December book pick

 Here we are at the last month of our 2020 reading journey.  When we began this ride, I never dreamed we would spend most of the year trapped by a global pandemic.  My expectations were for us to carve out more time in our lives to read and keep our minds sharp.  I did achieve my goal by watching less tv along with less social media and I used the extra time to craft, work on my house, and read.  I hope you have had a good reading year too.  I plan to do this again next year and hope you will read along.  

For our last pick of 2020, I wanted you to choose which of these two lighthearted books (or any other book that is less pressure than the "real" world) you would like to read.  I am going to read them both because they are both highly recommended but "Wow, no thank you" will be the one I read in December. I do think whichever one that you choose will be fun, and a little escape from a pandemic that is wearing us all down in so many ways.  Happy reading and thanks for a great reading year.  

November Book Pick

I just realized today that I forgot to post this on Halloween, what a dork.  I wasn't sure of any of you would read this or not, but it is a very good book and I very much hope you will.  Senator McCain is a giant hero to me.  It started when I learned of his time as a POW and then his new career in government.  I have always felt he tried to do his best for all his fellow Americans and often that meant crossing the aisle.  Read this book and you'll see how dedicated his was to this country he loved so very much. 

The Luckiest Man  starts with Senator McCain's birth and is speckled with stories from his life that he never shared in the books he had penned some good, some bad. 

I cried a few times about his death, the missed opportunities and because he would have made a wonderful President. Some of my prized possessions are the books he.autogrpahed for me.  

A couple of days after the book was published I got to participate in a Zoom call with the author, Mark Salter and Senator Joe Liberman.  What a wonderful opportunity to ask Mark and Senator Liberman what it was like to work alongside someone like Senator McCain.  Mark said "exhausting" and Senator Liberman agreed.  

November Book Pick

I normally pick brand spanking new books for you to read, but I have been wanting to shake up some things so I thought I would start with my book pick.  

This month I am going back to the bookshelves and dusting off an old favorite. I actually just re-read this one the other day and it is very good. 

 My November pick is Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly.  Why pick a book from 2012?  Well, if you have read any of this series you know that they are all written like a book report, facts, facts and more facts; the text flows like a fiction book, you can read it quickly and still retain that history aspect.  

Killing Kennedy will take you back to what made Jack, "Jack" and how he rose from the second son to the "chosen son".   You will also see a parellal world about a guy named Lee, who wasn't really a fan of his life, his country or much else. You will also follow a young Jack Rubenstein and his career and how proud he was of his country.   As time goes on you will see how the worlds collide in an almost countdown fashion.  You will learn things about these three men that you may not have known before.  There will be lots of suspence about that fateful week in November 1963 even though we all know how Camelot ended.

If you have read the book I encourage you to try the audio.  The audio adds another layer onto the tale and to me adds to the suspense.  

If you like this one I encourage you to pick up any of the other books in this series. I do have a ranking system of favorites.

1. Killing Kennedy

2. Killing Lincoln

3. Killing Patton

4. Killing Reagan

5  Killing England

6. Killing the SS

7. Killing the Rising Sun

I am just now getting to Killing Crazy Horse and I have not read Killing Jesus.  I wish he would do one called Killing Roosevelt (and I would like one on each man),  Killing Garfield,  and finally Killing Aaron Burr.  

"In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot."