The French Art of Living Well had a strong beginning and end but it lost me a bit in the middle. As a lifelong Francophile, I was impressed with the amount of tidbits and information that was new to me and found many things to dive into deeper. The middle of the book, I felt, went into too much detail on a few topics, and I would have preferred to let the reader look into those things more if they…
The Child Thief by Brom 2/5 StarsI like the idea of exploring the origin story of a dark, true-to-the-original Peter Pan. I would have liked for the majority of the book to be about that with more details of the past and a magical/faerie way of life. Instead this book was entirely sad: bad things happening to bad people and horrific descriptions that felt gratuitous. It also jumped around in time and was difficult to follow that because there wasn’t…
The Little Village of Book Lovers is an extraordinary story. It’s the first book I’ve ever started rereading immediately, and I haven’t reread that many books overall because it feels like there are too many books out there waiting to be read. What I love most about this book is the unique perspective of Love. The entire book is Love telling the story, with some points-of-view of an ancient olive tree; both of which Marie-Jeanne has a special connection with….
Deerskin by Robin McKinley 5/5 StarsThis book cements my new obsession with the fantasy genre, and I love that this is a historical fantasy/magical realism combination. Lissar had a really weird upbringing for a princess; after her mother dies it nose-dives and she ends up fleeing her home with her beloved dog and best friend, Ash. The experience they have in the mountain cabin is, though still a very difficult time for them, a magical realism cozy transformation of my…
Carnival Quest has been the long-coming finale to The Candy Shop War trilogy. It’s been many years since I’ve read the first and second books and I was able to easy jump right back into the world. Despite being a middle grade reading level, I was engrossed in and excited for the adventure that Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon found themselves on. The premise of the carnival reminded me so much of Meow Wolf in Santa Fe (which I absolutely…
An American in Provence is a special book. It combines almost all of my most favorite things: France, cooking, motherhood, photography, seasonal living (I mean what am I missing from this list… cats and books? That’s a pretty good ratio). The book is divided by season and each season has essays, photography tutorials, and recipes. On every page are the beautiful photographs you know to expect with Jamie’s work. Each page is such a delight and a treasure. The first…
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5/5 StarsKristin Hannah sure can write to play with your emotions. There were a few things I didn’t like about this book, mostly excessive details in the beginning. It took me a while to get into this book as an audiobook and I absolutely could not get into it reading on my kindle. In the beginning it was really irritating how immature Isabelle was and how uptight Vianne was. My absolute favorite part about this…
Happy Wednesday! I’m here to share a few French-related items that have been keeping me going through a very cold New England winter. An American in Provence by Jamie Beck has been inspiring me in every possible way. I enjoyed reading the physical book the first time around, savoring the essays and getting lost in the photographs. I also got the audiobook version and have been re-listening to my current favorite sections, finding something new each time. I will have…
Destroyer (The Shattered City #1) by Meg Smitherman 4/5 StarsThis is a delightfully engrossing and unique book. The world it’s set in is explained simply and clearly, which I’m always thankful for in a fantasy novel. I love the fact that the main character, Ru, is an archeologist and an underdog, and I really like all of the supporting characters. The first half has some clunky phrases or wording that distract from the story and fade as it goes on;…
I try to make the first and last books of a year special ones, and I was really happy to have this one be the last one I finished in 2022. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries is a wonderful lady-explorer adventure book (can we get that made an official genre?) which is one of my very favorite types of books. I love the journal format, the adventure, the mystery, the traveling to a faerie world, and we even get a…