What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted September 20, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 16 Comments

Hello there!

I can’t believe I’m getting this post done on a Sunday afternoon! That’s almost a miracle for me lately. 🙂

Hope you’re all well. All’s well here. I managed to avoid 2 other “Stupid Ass Things” for the week. The bang cutting I think took precedence and I avoided the other two. Either that or they’re delayed! lol

Have you all seen the book cover for Carolyn Crane’s (aka our own wonderful CJ from The Thrillionth Page) book Mind Games that comes out on March 23 2010?

Isn’t it gorgeous?? I love it and I can’t wait to read her books!

Ok – on to what I read this week:

I started with To Seduce A Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt. This book 2 in the Legend of the Four Soldiers series but I didn’t read book 1 first. I certainly didn’t feel like I was missing anything that’s for sure. I decided to try and read some of the DIK books that others had brought to the island. I chose this one after reading Renee’s quick blurb about it and I’m so glad I did. It was a wonderful story of love and healing and I will definitely be getting the next books in this series. Thanks Renee! 4.5 out of 5

Next up was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. You can read my thoughts here. Good book! 5 out of 5

After that I read Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann. I had started this book last week but put it down when it was just dragging for me. It ended up being a pretty good read once I got past the first 100 pages but I didn’t love it. It was very descriptive of blood and gore – it definitely didn’t shy from descriptions of massacres and that’s a tad off-putting to me. 3.5 out of 5

A novella was next called Screen Shots: Seduced by Willa Okati. This one was recommended by Tam and it was a cute little read. It had a tad more “I love you, man” in it than I generally care for but I liked it. 3.5 out of 5

After that I read Beyond the Rain by Jess Granger for review on The Book Binge. I will let you know when my review posts in case you’d like to read it.

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for the week (yes, I almost forgot to do one!) was You Slay Me by Katie McAlister. My friend Jen gave this entire series to me about 2 years ago and there is has sat. I finally decided to pick one up and it I liked it. I thought that the heroine, Aisling, was a huge bumbling idiot and did some completely retarded things but overall the story held my interest and I read it quite quickly. Since I have the rest of the series I’ll read the next book and see what I think. If Aisling is too much of a bumbler I’ll call it quits but I’ll give it a chance. Has anyone read this series and if so what did you think? 3.75 out of 5

Happy Reading!

16 Comments

Tagged: Annie Barrows, Carolyn Crane, DIK Blog, Elizabeth Hoyt, Jess Granger, Katie MacAlister, Mary Ann Shaffer, S.A. Swann, The Book Binge, Willa Okati

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Posted September 16, 2009 by Tracy in Reviews | 18 Comments

I first heard about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society over at Amy’s blog, Romance Book Wyrm. Amy was at her Romance Book Club meeting and another woman who also ran the Historical Fiction Book Club was talking about her next selection – which was TGLaPPPS. Amy decided to pick it up and read it and she was so glad she did. After reading the book Amy decided to send TGLaPPPS on a book tour. It finally made its way to me and I finished reading it yesterday and wanted to share some of my thoughts.

TGLaPPPS is a collection of letters that are written between many people. The main character and the person who writes most of the letters is Juliet Ashton. She is an author who lives in post WWII England. She shares letters back and forth with her best friend Sophie who lives in Scotland and Sophie’s brother, Sidney, a close friend and also her publisher.

One day Juliet receives a letter from Dawsey, a man who lives on Guernsey in the Channel Islands. He happened to have a book that was once Juliet’s and since her address was in it he thought he’d write and see if she could help him find a bookstore in London since there wasn’t a bookshop on Guernsey any longer. That one letter starts a friendship between the two as well as an idea (by Juliet) for a new book about the German Occupation and how it effected Guernsey and the people who lived there. Juliet goes on to correspond with other members of TGLaPPPS and ends up visiting Guernsey to meet all the wonderful new friends she’s made.

This book is just a charming, lovely, humorous, sad, heartwrenching, lovely, charming (did I already say that?) book. I truly enjoyed almost every moment while I was reading it. I laughed, I cried, I was horrified, but it was so good I just couldn’t put it down. Most of the time I felt like I was wherever the character was whose letter I was reading. If Juliet was talking about her bombed out flat in Chelsea I could almost see it. If Dawsey or another member was talking about Guernsey, I was there. It was fascinating. I even read the “Afterword” by Annie Barrows which was delightful and sad as well (and I don’t normally read those). I did have a few issues with some of the letters sounding similar in tone but it in no way detracted from the pleasure of the read. In fact, I’m going to go out and buy my own copy of the book (since I have to send this one on to the next reader on the book tour) so that I can share it with my family and friends locally…and of course have it to re-read myself.

This was definitely not a book that I would have picked up on my own but I’m so very glad that I read it. There was a bit (and I do mean only a bit) of romance in it so of course it soothed that romance lover in me.

I can’t recommend the book enough – “I loved it” just doesn’t seem adequate. Maybe you’ll just have to see for yourself. I hope you do.

Rating: 5 out of 5