Waiting on Wednesday

This meme was hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on. I'm choosing to continue the tradition even though she has stopped.

Float Plan by Trish Doller.

The book is being released by St. Martin's Griffon on March 2, 2021.

The book's jacket copy says: Heartbroken by the loss of her fiancé, adventurous Anna finds a second chance at love with an Irish sailor in this riveting, emotional romance.

After a reminder goes off for the Caribbean sailing trip Anna was supposed to take with her fiancé, she impulsively goes to sea in the sailboat he left her, intending to complete the voyage alone.

But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.

In Trish Doller’s unforgettable Float Plan, starting over doesn't mean letting go of your past, it means making room for your future.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Another two weeks at one stretch because I lost track of time. This pandemic has messed with my sense of time on the daily! This meme is hosted by Kathryn at Reading Date.

Books I completed over the past two weeks are:

Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin
Love Is Blind by Lynsay Sands
Saving Miss Oliver's by Stephen Davenport
Refining Felicity by M.C. Beaton
Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams
Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson
Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by Sean Dietrich

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

More Confessions of a Trauma Junkie by Sherry Lynn Jones
Jane in Love by Rachel Givney

Reviews posted this week:

Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
Minus Me by Mameve Medwed
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Initiates by Etienne Davodeau
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
The Arctic Fury by Greer MacAllister
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
Austenistan edited by Laaleen Sukhera
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin
Love Is Blind by Lynsay Sands
Saving Miss Oliver's by Stephen Davenport
Refining Felicity by M.C. Beaton
Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams
Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson
Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by Sean Dietrich

Review: The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

I still have my original Scholastic copy of Jane Eyre, the one that I convinced my mom to buy me out of those joy inducing book order forms that were sent home from school in elementary school. Why Jane Eyre was included in the elementary version (and unabridged at that), I cannot say but it kicked off a long fascination with everything Brontë. I have read the sisters' books. I have read criticisms of the books. I have read re-imaginings. I have read responses and prequels. So when I saw Catherine Lowell's The Madwoman Upstairs, a novel centered on the last living Brontë descendant, I knew I wanted to read it.

Samantha Whipple is an American who has come to Oxford to study English literature. She's a bit older than a traditional student, having been homeschooled haphazardly for a long time by her brilliant, Brontë scholar father who also happens to be a descendant of one of Patrick Brontë's siblings. After her father's death in the fire that destroyed his library and long estranged from her mother, Samantha was sent to a small boarding school in Vermont, her first experience with traditional schooling. And somehow from there she ends up at Oxford, in the college her father always wanted her to attend to read English, which she doesn't seem to actually like very much. And she claims she certainly doesn't like the Brontë sisters and the attention her relationship to them brings her although her actions would dictate otherwise. Samantha is determined to find the family legacy, the Warnings of Experience, from her father, using the scant clues he's left her, starting with the inherited bookmark that she receives in his will. As she embarks on this slow, literary scavenger hunt, she also meets with her professor, Orville, who is clearly modeled on Mr. Rochester. Orville is young, handsome, aloof, disapproving, and enigmatic and the two of them spar over literary discussion and analysis. There's also her father's literary rival, a friendly-ish fellow student, Samantha's mother, the college porter, and a disapproving administrator making mostly brief appearances in the story but the bulk of the novel is Samantha on Samantha and her journey.

The novel is slow and meandering, not quite a scavenger hunt nor a mystery nor a love story. In an appropriately gothic setting, Samantha's room at the college is in a windowless tower where a strange portrait glowers on the wall and which cannot be removed because it is a part of the college tour. Books from her father's burned library mysteriously appear on her bed and she sees a fleeing figure at least once. Samantha is a loner who, it would seem, interacts with almost no one at the college and certainly has no friends. She is an odd combination of intelligent and completely cowed by her professor. She is, however, 100% insufferable, disaffected mess. Her interpretations of her famous ancestors' works are definitely different, almost completely based in biographical history. Interestingly, she is convinced that Anne is the sister whose work is the most misunderstood. The tone of the novel ping pongs between light and academic pretension and back again but it doesn't quite balance both successfully. There's zero chemistry for the love story and it can get a bit tiring to be entirely in Samantha's head for the duration of the book. Most of the twists were quite expected and the whole thing felt strangely ponderous. Lowell does insert some clever allusions to various Brontë works, not least of which is the ending which echoes the end of Charlotte's The Professor. The novel is fine but will probably lose all but the most avid Brontë fans.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme was hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on. I'm choosing to continue the tradition even though she has stopped.

While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart.

The book is being released by Grand Central Publishing on February 23, 2021.

The book's jacket copy says: One woman must make the hardest decision of her life in this unforgettably moving story of resistance and faith during one of the darkest times in history.

Santa Cruz, 1953. Jean-Luc is a man on the run from his past. The scar on his face is a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi occupation in France. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door.

Paris, 1944. A young Jewish woman's past is torn apart in a heartbeat. Herded onto a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope.

On a darkened platform, two destinies become intertwined, and the choices each person makes will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.

Told from alternating perspectives, While Paris Slept reflects on the power of love, resilience, and courage when all seems lost. Exploring the strength of family ties, and what it really means to love someone unconditionally, this debut novel will capture your heart.

Review: Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colòn

When the recession of 2008 hit, we were moving from one state to another for a job change. It was hard but we were lucky. Although we lost a lot of money selling our house, financially we were okay and still had a paycheck coming in. Suzan Colòn, a writer and journalist, was laid off from her job, having to rely on sporadic freelancing and her partner's paycheck. This pushed her to be more frugal and thoughtful in her purchases, especially groceries, and Cherries in Winter is her memoir of that time, of looking back at the recipes her family has loved and used in previous lean times and of finding a way to push through and find hope for the future.

Colòn goes through her grandmother's recipes, using them to economize even as she bemoans the loss of the ability to shop in an expensive grocery store and to buy whatever struck her fancy without considering the cost and that cost's impact on her weekly bottom line. Buying whatever she wanted was a sign that she'd moved beyond her family's long history of living paycheck to paycheck and the need to stretch their meals as far as possible. So when she lost that ability, it was hard for her to accept. But as she cooked the economical recipes from her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother, she learned not only how to make it through but also about the strong, resilient women from whom she came. The dishes she recreates, some not entirely faithfully, come with family stories attached and there is wisdom imparted along with the stories and food. She weaves tales from her own life and from the women who came before her into the almost diary like narrative. It is possible to see Colon's magazine background in the spare, straightforward writing. Each chapter is started with a recipe or a snippet from her grandmother's column that leads her down memory lane as well as into her current situation. She is undoubtedly privileged and far from destitute, which will make her unhappiness with her situation tough for some to stomach (a little pun to lighten the mood), but she's honest about the difficulty she faces and the reason why it takes such an emotional toll on her. This is a very quick read. The family stories are heartfelt and illustrative; it was nice to see Colòn realize what is most important in her life, and it's surely not where she can afford to buy her groceries.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme was hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on. I'm choosing to continue the tradition even though she has stopped.

The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn.

The book is being released by One More Chapter on February 16, 2021.

The book's jacket copy says: VE Day 1945: As victory bells ring out across the country, war bride Ellie Burgess' happiness is overshadowed by grief. Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action.

Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries.

Travelling to a distant country to live with a man she barely knows is the bravest thing Ellie has ever had to do. But nothing can prepare her for the harsh realities of her new home...

September 11th 2001: Sophie Parry is on a plane to New York on the most tragic day in the city's history. While the world watches the news in horror, Sophie's flight is rerouted to a tiny town in Newfoundland and she is forced to seek refuge with her estranged aunt Ellie.

Determined to discover what it was that forced her family apart all those years ago, newfound secrets may change her life forever...

This is a timeless story of love, sacrifice and resilience perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley, Lorna Cook and Gill Paul.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme was hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on. I'm choosing to continue the tradition even though she has stopped.

The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams.

The book is being released by Avon on February 9, 2021.

The book's jacket copy says: She's single. But it can still be complicated...

Penny Bridge has always been unlucky in love.

So she can't believe it when she meets a remarkable new man.

Followed by another.

And then another...

And all of them want to date her.

Penny has to choose between three. But are any of them The One?

The bestselling author of Our Stop will have you laughing, crying and cheering Penny on in this funny and feel-good exploration of hope, romance and the trust it takes to finally fall in love. Perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane's If I Never Met You and Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Kathryn at Reading Date.

Books I completed over the past two weeks are:

Minus Me by Mameve Medwed
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Initiates by Etienne Davodeau
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
The Arctic Fury by Greer MacAllister
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
Austenistan edited by Laaleen Sukhera

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Saving Miss Oliver's by Stephen Davenport

Reviews posted this week:

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Wild Women by Autumn Stephens

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
Minus Me by Mameve Medwed
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Initiates by Etienne Davodeau
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
The Arctic Fury by Greer MacAllister
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
Austenistan edited by Laaleen Sukhera