I first heard Cassandra Good’s name earlier last year as she released First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, exploring the first American president’s family. That was just the latest of Good’s accomplishments in the field of American History though – she’s taught at several renown universities (currently Marymount University), released articles … Continue reading America’s Founding Women
The Big Apple has always been a refugee’s safe haven and a melting pot of cultures. The 1920’s saw the city full of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the ongoing Harlem Renaissance, and the white upper-class – all bringing their own culture, bias, and fears with them. What should have been an opportunity to learn from … Continue reading Ragtime
If you met Jenny Lawson at the grocery store, you’d think she’s just another mom trying to keep her family in motion. What you might not notice is the battle going on inside her. According to her biography on Wikipedia and what she’s shared in her writing, Lawson lives with “rheumatoidarthritis, depression, anxiety, avoidant personality … Continue reading Furiously Happy
As we enter the back-to-school season, I've been thinking a lot about my favorite school librarians and the books they introduced me to. So many of them had animals on the cover and so do so many of my favorite books of the past few years! Do you have a favorite book with an animal … Continue reading This Week: August 4th
Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. Where would you go if you could have the chance for a new beginning? A place where whatever sins were in your past didn’t make people cringe or look at you with pity when they see … Continue reading A Season of Perfect Happiness
Night at the Fiestas is Kirstin Valdez Quade’s masterpiece of a short story collection. Each chapter in the book visits a different family in the New Mexico desert and showcases their family ties and traditions. These stories are full of reckoning for sins of the past and hope for the future. This is a book … Continue reading Night at the Fiestas
Rill’s family has lived on the Mississippi River for years, calling a shantyboat home. They’ve made friends in their nomadic life and always made the best with the very little they possess. But that all unravels when her mother is lost during a difficult labor and their father, in the middle of his grief, signs … Continue reading Before We Were Yours
We are back from vacation and back to reviewing some really good books this week! We really had a blast visiting some great landmarks around the Bristol area - the caverns, historic sites, and lots of independent bookstores. We came home with so many new-to-us books! How did you spend this last week? Here's the … Continue reading This Week: July 28th
Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. This was not the way Addie wanted to be spending her time. Back in her hometown of Starlight, Alabama, with her aunt and half-sister…and all the drama of secrets and lies left behind when she moved … Continue reading A Certain Kind of Starlight
Miri and her friends are coming into their own as teens in Elizabeth, New Jersey. There’s school, parties, sleep overs, and adult topics like buying their first lingerie and dealing with the sins of their parents’ pasts. But what marks this time for the girls is not the standard coming of age activities, but the … Continue reading In the Unlikely Event
