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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Waiting on Wednesday #160





Come from Away by Genevieve Graham


Come from Away
From the bestselling author of Tides of Honour and Promises to Keep comes a poignant novel about a young couple caught on opposite sides of the Second World War.


In the fall of 1939, Grace Baker’s three brothers, sharp and proud in their uniforms, board Canadian ships headed for a faraway war. Grace stays behind, tending to the homefront and the general store that helps keep her small Nova Scotian community running. The war, everyone says, will be over before it starts. But three years later, the fighting rages on and rumours swirl about “wolf packs” of German U-Boats lurking in the deep waters along the shores of East Jeddore, a stone’s throw from Grace’s window. As the harsh realities of war come closer to home, Grace buries herself in her work at the store.

Then, one day, a handsome stranger ventures into the store. He claims to be a trapper come from away, and as Grace gets to know him, she becomes enamoured by his gentle smile and thoughtful ways. But after a several weeks, she discovers that Rudi, her mysterious visitor, is not the lonely outsider he appears to be, but someone else entirely—someone not to be trusted. When a shocking truth about her family forces Grace to question everything she has so strongly believed, she realizes that she and Rudi have more in common than she had thought. And if Grace is to have a chance at love, she must not only choose a side, but take a stand.

Come from Away is a mesmerizing story of love, shifting allegiances, and second chances, set against the tumultuous years of the Second World War. 


Why I'm Waiting: 

I've reviewed Genevieve Graham's books here and there over the past several years and every time there's a new book coming out I know it has to be on my WoW post. I still have to review her last novel Tides of Honor (LOVED IT) and cannot wait until Come From Away is released. Fun fact: I've me Genevieve Graham and she's super nice and hilarious!

Publication Date: 

April 24th 2018 by Simon & Schuster Canada


Playing to the Gods: Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the Rivalry that Changed Acting Forever by Peter Rader


Playing to the Gods: Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the Rivalry that Changed Acting ForeverThe riveting story of the rivalry between the two most renowned actresses of the nineteenth century: legendary Sarah Bernhardt, whose eccentricity on and off the stage made her the original diva, and mystical Eleonora Duse, who broke all the rules to popularize the natural style of acting we celebrate today.


Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamored to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon—and she gave them their money’s worth. The world’s first superstar, she traveled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing everything from aperitifs to beef bouillon, and spreading rumors that she slept in a coffin to better understand the macabre heroines she played.

Eleonora Duse shied away from the spotlight. Born to a penniless family of itinerant troubadours, she disappeared into the characters she portrayed—channeling their spirits, she claimed. Her new, empathetic style of acting revolutionized the theater—and earned her the ire of Sarah Bernhardt in what would become the most tumultuous theatrical showdown of the nineteenth century. Bernhardt and Duse seduced each other’s lovers, stole one another’s favorite playwrights, and took to the world’s stages to outperform their rival in her most iconic roles.

A scandalous, enormously entertaining history full of high drama and low blows, Playing to the Gods is the page-turning account of the feud that changed theater forever. 


Why I'm Waiting:

I love reading about the beginnings of Hollywood and I think both these women were ahead of their time. I've read a little bit about them both and have always been fascinated by their feud so I'm looking forward to reading a book that the author has specifically done research on the topic.

Publication Date: 

August 21st 2018 by Simon and Schuster

What are you waiting on? 



Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday #102


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.


Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Read:


AmityZom-B (Zom-B, #1)Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse, #1)The Sword, Vol. 1: FireScalped, Vol. 1: Indian Country (Scalped, #1)Never Let Me GoSamurai SummerIn the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)
Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)Natural Selection


I chose these because these are the top ten books I can't believe I read because I cannot for the life of me fathom how I was able to make it through these without giving up. In looking through my old notes there was absolutely nothing redeemable about these reads for me but I powered through. Do I regret finishing them? No, many of these were the first in the series. Some of them were new to me authors so I think that me, reading them start to finish was a good thing because I know that these are authors I am not going near again. If I didn't finish these chances are I would have tried something else by the authors but I don't want to waste my time reading books I know I won't like because the authors left such strong impressions on me. 

Monday, January 29, 2018

It's Monday! What are you reading? #139



Hosted by Kathryn @ Book Date


The RuinsTrapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine. Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation–sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site . . . and the terrifying presence that lurks there.


Alice Close Your EyesWith haunting prose and deft psychological insight, Averil Dean spins a chilling story that explores the dark corners of obsession–love, pain and revenge.
Ten years ago, someone ruined Alice Croft's life. Now she has a chance to right that wrong–and she thinks she's found the perfect man to carry out her plan. After watching him for weeks, she breaks into Jack Calabrese's house to collect the evidence that will confirm her hopes. When Jack comes home unexpectedly, Alice hides in the closet, fearing for her life. But upon finding her, Jack is strangely calm, solicitous . . . and intrigued.
That night is the start of a dark and intense attraction, and soon Alice finds herself drawn into a labyrinth of terrifying surrender to a man who is more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. As their relationship spirals toward a breaking point, Alice begins to see just how deep Jack's secrets run–and how deadly they could be.




An Unkindness of MagiciansThere is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city’s magicians’ power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.
In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney—a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn’t want to help the system, she wants to destroy it.
Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians. 



Sunday, January 28, 2018

The Sunday Post #67

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
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Welcome to the first Sunday Post of 2018 and my first Sunday Post in over a year! As you may have guessed, I am in fact back blogging (after a 7 month hiatus) and couldn't be happier. If you want to know what has kept me away from all you wonderful bookish people there's a blog post I did that explains where I've been which I included below.
I have a busy week ahead of me with appointments and meetings almost everyday so I'm hoping to get some reading, crocheting and blogging time in.
By the way what do you think of my new logo? That's right, Turning the Pages is going to be crochet and bookish this year! I hope you'll stick around even if you don't crochet.
Grab My Button!



The post in which I explain my absense
Top Ten Tuesday #101
Waiting on Wednesday #158
Review: The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
Review: Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs



Who knows!
No, seriously I'm not sure how much computer time I'm going to have next week so I'm hoping to do at least 2 posts. Things are so up in the air at the moment that planning to much will only backfire on me.


Courtesy of Netgalley I received these ARCS:

Crochet Kaleidoscope: Shifting Shapes and Shades Across 100 MotifsSummertime Crochet: 30 Tops, Bags, Wraps, Hats & More for Sunny Days & Balmy NightsWool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and InnovationDuty Bound (Angelbound Origins #0.5)

Have a great week everyone!


Friday, January 26, 2018

*[[Review]] Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson #10) by Patricia Briggs





Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10)In the #1 New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson novels, the coyote shapeshifter has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy's bond with the pack and her mate is broken, she'll learn what it truly means to be alone...

Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...

Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise...
 
Length: 371 pages (Hardcover)
Source: Toronto Public Library
Available Formats: Print/E-book/Audiobook
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Add to Goodreads: Goodreads
Rating: 




Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Is there no end to the kerfuffles that our favourite coyote shifter gets herself into? With Patricia Briggs behind the wheel I find that doubtful. I finally got around to reading this one a few weeks ago, and it popped up as available from my library at just the right time for me. 

I had so much fun reading Silence Fallen, being back at Mercy's side was a real treat and I have to say she was in fine form in this installment of her whacky adventure filled, accident prone life. It was filled with the usual hilarity and light hearted moments that I love about this series but we also learned a lot about Mercy and her abilities as a shifter in this one as well which lead to a very balanced read.

Can I just say that it was great to see Mercy on her own though? With Adam stuck in the USA due to werewolf politics in Europe, we were able to get a bit of the old Mercy back. Not that new Mercy is bad, she's not. She's just as great with Adam as without him by her side but I really do miss when Mercy was on her own left to her own ingenious, reckless wits to depend on for survival. 

True to form, Mercy did use all her wits to survive kidnapping, rogue vamps, werewolves with centuries long grudges and older forms of magic than they have back stateside. We learned more about not only the vampire politics but how things in both the human and supernatural worlds are changing. There's tension and a good amount of political scheming from everyone and it  really calls into question where are humans going to fit into the world in the long term?

I enjoyed how this installment was written in different timelines and view points. Sometimes it would be Adam, others Mercy. We might start off in the current time but the next time might be 4 days in the future or 8 hours in the past. It took a bit to get used to but I found it to be a very effective technique in keeping me interested. It was very fast paced and I loved the details that were given about the surroundings and it was also nice that some side characters made some appearances that surprised me as well. 

Overall, this was just another perfect installment in one of my favourite series. I look forward to a new book being published every year. I love that it was full of Doctor Who references, lots of laughter and a fair bit of snarkiness. I can't wait for book 11. If you haven't read this series or this book in the series than I hope you do soon. It's not one that's to be missed and I'm sorry I put off reading this one so long.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

*[[Review]] The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking







The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy LivingPenguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Little Book of Hygge, written and read by Meik Wiking. Denmark is often said to be the happiest country in the world. That's down to one thing: hygge. 'Hygge has been translated as everything from the art of creating intimacy to cosiness of the soul to taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things. My personal favourite is cocoa by candlelight...' You know hygge when you feel it. It is when you are cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one, or sharing comfort food with your closest friends. It is those crisp blue mornings when the light through your window is just right. Who better than Meik Wiking to be your guide to all things hygge? Meik is CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and has spent years studying the magic of Danish life. In this beautiful, inspiring book he will help you be more hygge: from picking the right lighting and planning a dinner party through to creating an emergency hygge kit and even how to dress. Meik Wiking is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. He is committed to finding out what makes people happy and has concluded that hygge is the magic ingredient that makes Danes the happiest nation in the world.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 3h 13 minutes (Audiobook)
Source: Toronto Public Library 
Available Formats: Print/E-book/Audiobook
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 
Add to Goodreads: Goodreads

I'll admit I'm a little late to the Hygge (pronounced Hoo-Gah) bandwagon but, hot damn am I on bored.  For those who do not know what Hygge is it's basically the danish way of being, kind of like the North American word cozy but with more feeling. During this past holiday season I was doing so much running around, cleaning up and stressing out because we brought my Dad home from the nursing home for a couple of days that I didn't  have anytime to sit down and just read, so I downloaded The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking and away I went.

Firstly, can I just say how refreshing it was to have an author narrate their own book? While I was listening to the Little Book of Hygge I just could not get over how perfect Meik Wiking was at reading it aloud. I couldn't imagine anyone else reading it and I found his diction to be perfect. He was warm, and friendly and was just want this little book needed and made this a fun, easy and addictive listen.

While I am new to the term Hygge I would like to say that I'm not new to the concept. I love the idea of cozy living. I don't believe in spending vast amounts of money in the pursuit of happiness mostly because I don't have a lot of money and because money doesn't buy happiness. I was raised in a low income family and I suppose I still am in a low income family situation but to me that is a benefit. I've got to give it to my parents who put family togetherness before everything. We grew up thrifty and to me that is comfort, and comfort is hygge.

Food is a main focus of Meik Wiking's guide to hygge and I couldn't agree with him more. Food is where I find a lot of my hygge. Is it because food uses so many senses? The human sense of smell has the strongest memory retention. When we smell something it is what helps us remember more than any other sense. Though it is not alone, taste, sight and the action of doing all make food hygge. For example, I lost my mum a little three years ago and when I want to shut the family in, have everyone all snug in the house after a rough week I make her spaghetti. We all bundle up and either eat together or go to our own corners of the house, and remember how she used to cook and keep her memory with us. It sounds silly to put an element of hygge so simply, however to me that is what hygge is it's simplicity. It is coziness, it is contentment, it is being in a large group of friends or it is being alone. It is spending a weekend away, or a weekend in. It is as different in what in means to different people as there are different people in the world.

Besides giving some tips on how to find hygge in our ever more hectic, high speed, ultra connected, impersonal world, Wiking spreads a message of happiness, gives an interesting look into the Danish way of life, and  lays out some ways one might try to capture hygge.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his tips on creating hygge, little factoids about happiness and how it is measured in his job at the Happiness Institute, and sharing some personal stories about himself and some of his particularly hygge memories.

The audiobook of The Little Book of Hygge was only 3 hours 13 minutes long but it felt longer, and I don't mean that in a bad way. While it did seem like time flew by while I was listening to this, it certainly made an impact on me and now I find myself on a quest to be more hyggelig in the future and made me think about how I can be more hygge in my life. I feel as though there was a lot of personal reflection that happened after I finished this book, that I will be reading more books about hygge soon which is why I can't recommend this audiobook enough. Get some tips, add a few new recipes to you're recipes, and remember how to laugh and be happy without spending an arm and a leg.





Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Waiting on Wednesday #158






Eat Up: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want 

by: Ruby Tandoh


Eat Up: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want
Think about that first tickle of hunger in your stomach. A moment ago, you could have been thinking about anything, but now it's thickly buttered marmite toast, a frosty scoop of ice cream straight from the tub, some creamy, cheesy scrambled eggs or a fuzzy, perfectly-ripe peach.

Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. Food nourishes our bodies, helps us celebrate our successes (from a wedding cake to a post-night out kebab), cheers us up when we're down, introduces us to new cultures and - when we cook and eat together - connects us with the people we love.

In Eat Up, Ruby Tandoh celebrates the fun and pleasure of food, taking a look at everything from gluttons and gourmets in the movies, to the symbolism of food and sex. She will arm you against the fad diets, food crazes and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden and expensive, drawing eating inspiration from influences as diverse as Roald Dahl, Nora Ephron and Gemma from TOWIE. Filled with straight-talking, sympathetic advice on everything from mental health to recipe ideas and shopping tips, this is a book that clears away the fog, to help you fall back in love with food.

Why:

While I didn't particularly like Ruby on her season of The Great British Bakeoff, I do love her love of food, and she is very creative so I feel like I have nothing to lose in giving this a try.

Publication Date: 

February 1st 2018


The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1)

by: Melissa Albert


The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.


Why:

The cover of The Hazel Wood is what got me interested in reading it, but the synopsis make it sound like this one is going to be a bit of a mind binding, angsty read and I can't wait to get my grubby hands on it.

Publication Date: 

January 30th 2018

What are you waiting on?

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday #101




Top Ten Books I Loved But Don't Remember Much About

Captivated by You (Crossfire, #4)The Tiger Queens: The Women of Genghis KhanThe Golden City (The Golden City, #1)
Bird BoxThe Last Dragonslayer (The Chronicles of Kazam, #1)Baudelaire's RevengeHadrian's WallThe AbominableThe Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1)Killer of Men (Long War, #1)

I loved each and every one of these books when I read them and while I do remember reading them and have the faintest, vaguest idea about them, if I didn't have my reviews or my old notes to look back on I couldn't tell you why other than generalizations. 

if-youre-here-blinkie