Book Review - What in the World?!

If you are not yet familiar with Leanne Morgan, scurry your precious little thumbs over to any social media platform and watch her. But definitely do it on a thoroughly empty bladder and take off your mascara, because it will be streaking across your darling little face, anyway. Also, I recommend watching in the privacy of your own home, because people tend to look at you askance when you snort laugh in public. Or do it in public because you are middle aged and have figured out God and your husband are the only ones whose judgement matters. That is just how I roll.

Now, I could have suggested you go straight into the book, but I cannot even imagine tackling it without having her Appalachian drawl in my head the whole time. I have read this book cover to cover and, so help me, I will snatch up the audiobook like a deviant possum if she narrates it. (The deviant possum is a real story from my own life. You can ask my momma.) I have no love for memoirs, but Leanne tells her life story with her signature wit, from growing up with her loving and hardworking family in small town East Tennessee to the less than stellar decisions of young adulthood. We tromp alongside as she says yes to Chuck, bless him, and raises their three children while trying to find herself. And giving God the glory. Plan ahead and bring the tissues, because I snort laughed and ugly cried all the way from cover to cover. I personally recommend reading this one with your book club. That way you can snort laugh and ugly cry all over again when you discuss it with your people.

What in the World?! by Leanne Morgan releases September 24, but go ahead and preorder it now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Christian Book        Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Just for the Summer

There are some authors I trust to deliver exactly what I expect when I pick up their books. For example, let’s say I am seeking a novel with a character who is at a crossroads in life, experiences an unexpected event that offers self exploration and understanding, meets a man who challenges and encourages her, and we have a happy ending. That’s when I pick up Melody Carlson. It is the kind of predicability I can rely on when the real world begs an escape, but don’t think that makes her predictable. The craftsmanship that delivers this comfort while creating completely different novels every time is worthy of great respect. On that note, I offer you my take on her latest, Just for the Summer.

Ginny Masters has worked her way up from the bottom to become manager of a posh boutique hotel in Seattle, but her life is not the glitz and glam it seems on the surface. Jaqueline Potter longs for glitz and glam, but instead manages her grandfather’s Idaho fishing lodge. Seeking a change of pace, both sign up to participate in a job swap. Just for the summer. But with the job swap comes a bit of a life swap. Jaqueline finds that the posh hotel daytime only scratches the surface of reality, and Ginny finds that the simple life just might be the life for her. At a crossroads, each has to make a serious decision about what happens in their lives at the end of the swap. With her trademark skill, Carlson delivers relatable characters and a satisfying storyline that will keep you reading.

Just for the Summer by Melody Carlson is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House      Christian Book      Amazon       Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - The Lady with the Dark Hair

Art and family history come together in The Lady with the Dark Hair, an exploration of the her-story of said lady and its impact on a modern day art history major with a passion for a specific painter. Esther Markstrom is a descendant of Francisco Vella, curator of the museum which houses a collection of his paintings, and caretaker of her mentally ill mother. All of these components of her identity also carry the heavy burden of responsibility. The most prized Vella painting does not reside in the museum, however, but in her family home. Never seen by anyone other than Esther and her mother, never questioned beyond her mild curiosity about the identity of The Lady with the Dark Hair, never challenged. Then Esther invites her former professor to visit La Dama del Cabello Oscuro, kicking off a chain of events she could not have predicted for her mundane life. Events that not only shake up everything anyone knows about Francisco Vella, but also everything Esther has ever known about herself.

Told in dual time fashion, The Lady with the Dark Hair delivers the stories of Esther and La Dama. Their own relationships with Vella are brought to light, as history opens itself to explore the struggles and expectations of women in the late 19th century and its parallels with those Esther faces in her own experiences. Characters in both eras leap from the page as the author has painted her story so vividly that its pull is inescapable.

The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.