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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jul 13, 2021 (Updated Jul 13, 2021)  
Watch a video interview with author Susie Finkbeiner, and enter the giveaway to win a $10 Starbucks gift card, a print copy of the Christian contemporary fiction novel The Nature of Small Birds, and a puzzle on my blog!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/07/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-nature-of.html


**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
In 1975, three thousand children were airlifted out of Saigon to be adopted into Western homes. When Mindy, one of those children, announces her plans to return to Vietnam to find her birth mother, her loving adopted family is suddenly thrown back to the events surrounding her unconventional arrival in their lives.

Though her father supports Mindy's desire to meet her family of origin, he struggles privately with an unsettling fear that he'll lose the daughter he's poured his heart into. Mindy's mother undergoes the emotional rollercoaster inherent in the adoption of a child from a war-torn country, discovering the joy hidden amid the difficulties. And Mindy's sister helps her sort through relics that whisper of the effect the trauma of war has had on their family--but also speak of the beauty of overcoming.

Told through three strong voices in three compelling timelines, The Nature of Small Birds is a hopeful story that explores the meaning of family far beyond genetic code.
     
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Merissa (13086 KP) rated Forsaken Dream (Forsaken Destiny #1) in Books

Dec 17, 2020 (Updated Aug 8, 2023)  
Forsaken Dream (Forsaken Destiny #1)
Forsaken Dream (Forsaken Destiny #1)
Maya Daniels | 2020 | Erotica, Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
FORSAKEN DREAM is the first book in the Forsaken Destiny series and we start off with Echo. She is a Seelie Princess with a betrothed she has no interest in. Plus, she doesn't want to be puppet her father wants her to be. So she leaves and hides in the human realm. Sixty years later, trouble arrives in the form of three mates...

Echo is exactly the kind of female you expect from a Maya Daniels novel. She is strong and feisty, certainly not the kind of female to just accept and obey. Out of the three males, Tyler is my favourite so far. There is something so endearing about the 'Hulk'. Only trouble is, I couldn't pick him out of the book cover! Still, the three males are working out nicely together but a spanner was thrown in the works right at the end. I can't say it was a surprise but I look forward to seeing how it all works out.

This was a great start to a new series with a small cast of characters that I look forward to reading about. Definitely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 17, 2020
  
The Husband's Secret
The Husband's Secret
Liane Moriarty | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.7 (31 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Husband's Secret focuses on three main characters. Cecelia Fitzpatrick, married to John-Paul with three beautiful daughters. Tess O'Leary who owns a business with her husband, Will and cousin, Felicity and has a son, Liam. And Rachel Crowley, who is still mourning the death of her daughter nearly 30 years after the fact. How do these women's lives intersect, well....Cecelia finds a letter from her husband, not to be opened until his death...she opens it anyway. Tess finds out that her husband and cousin(yes her business partners) have fallen in love with each other. So she takes her son and heads to Sydney and enrolls him in the school which, Rachel Crowley is the secretary and Cecelia is the mother all other mothers love and hate.

The news Cecelia finds in the letter, the thoughts Rachel has about her daughters killer, and the actions Tess take after leaving her husband would make for one exciting story.

I'm afraid this story feel short of the exciting mark. When I first picked it up and started reading, I was dying to find out what was in the letter, but I would have to wait for that. Once the secret was out, I wanted to know what was going to happen next, with everyone's story. But the excitement wasn't there. This wasn't a book, that I had to hurry to get back to, which was very disappointing. I couldn't abandon the book, though because I had to know.

Would Rachel find her daughter's killer? Would Cecelia be able to live with her husband's secret? Would Tess and Will be able to work through their marriage? But getting those answers was not page turning and gripping.

I gave the book three stars because the whole premise behind the book was good, I enjoyed the story as a whole, but there was too much in between the good parts. Don't tell me about a secret letter at the beginning of the story and take three days to tell me what was in it....it's not fair. And what was happening in those three days was not exciting enough to make me wait. The moments just before the opening were the most thrilling.

Don't know if I will read more from Ms. Moriarty or not.
  
A Heart Most Worthy
A Heart Most Worthy
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Siri Mitchell's books always seem to have the most beautiful covers, and, like the last one I read, She Walks in Beauty,I was originally attracted to this book for the cover alone. Before I read the book, I skipped to the back and read the "Note to the Reader," which detailed the historical background of the book, referencing the Great Italian Emigration and the Spanish Influenza. This perked my interest in the book even more so, since I did not know anything about these references before this book. The Italian aspect also interested me since I have some Italian blood in me.
One of the first thoughts that occurred to me when I began the book was how little the three girls and their separate subplots had in common. The characters do not seem to intersect at all, and all three girls are very different from one another, with the exception of the dress shop. It felt almost like three different stories that the author took turns telling. As the book progresses, that proves to be incorrect, as the different characters intersect in the most unusual ways, such as one of girl's love interest driving the delivery truck for the shop where another girl's love interest works. This aspect of the book became the most interesting for me, since Mitchell does not make a big deal of pointing out where the connections are, and I enjoyed tracking them.
The owner of the dress shop, Madame Fortier, had her own subplot as well, but I was a bit dissatisfied with how hers played out, since very little about her circumstances changed - even though it was this that made her unhappy in the first place.
All three girls were very likable for her own reasons, though each one's subplot ended somewhat differently. Luciana seemed to get the best deal of the three girls, though all were very happy by the end. Annamaria's ending was bittersweet, but it gave the reality of the Spanish Influenza more impact. I did not like Julietta overly much in the beginning, but the lessons she learned made me like her that much more by the end.
Overall, the book was at times intriguing, romantic, suspenseful, and even frustrating, but it was definitely worth the read.
  
The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events #13)
The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events #13)
Lemony Snicket | 2006 | Children
6
8.2 (25 Ratings)
Book Rating
Writing Style (0 more)
Character development (0 more)
Mixed Feeling
I had quite mixed feelings reading these books. On the one hand, I loved the writing style. It was atmospheric. However, there were times when the repetitiveness was just too much.

I enjoyed the Violet, Klaus, and Sunny as characters and the three Quagmire triplets. The rest of the characters i hardly liked at all.


I think the book could be shorter. I liked the first three and the last four books but the middle could be taken out without much consequence. Towards the end I felt like I was just reading it because I had already come so far and I couldn't wait to finish them. On the other hand, I'm glad I read the ending because I enjoyed it.


I go into a lot more detail on my blog. Link is in my bio if you want to check it out.