Novelas Romanticas Gratis

Somehow I've let my reading list from the library become completely unglued and out of control.  In my quest to cut down on buying every book I want to read, and supporting the fabulous library system in my community, I've added a large number of books to my "Hold" list.  Only problem is, they all come in at once.  So I've taken advantage of my library's option of suspending some of my holds until I can read what I've got already checked out.  This is keeping me out of the bookstore for a little bit, and keeping me from spending money for a few weeks.  All good! Here's a taste of what I'll be reading in May.  Of course I have a few that I won't list, but should pop up as reviews.  It looks like I've picked a bit of historical fiction, with sprinkles of contemporary here and there: Listening to this on my commute.  Ah, the food! Don't let the title fool you:  this is a bit of a thriller! Three women cope with a changed Germany after Worl...

My friend Mad loaned me her copy of this novel, otherwise I would have missed it completely.  It took me awhile to get around to reading it, but it is a quick read once you start.  It is funny, sad, and captures the stress of trying to take care of an aging parent while still attempting to have a life. Tig Monahan is a woman in the middle of a whole lot of change.  Her job as a therapist is ending, her boyfriend Pete is moving to Hawaii and expects Tig to come along with him; her mother Hallie is suffering from dementia and has just been moved to a nursing home.  Tig is unhappy, and the world is moving way too fast for her to cope.  It's especially hard for Tig to reconcile the woman her mother is now with the woman she used to be.  A successful veterinarian with her own practice; a single mother bringing up two girls after her husband's unexpected death.  A take charge, no fear kind of lady.  But that's all gone now; Hallie is lost in her memorie...

Black Rabbit Hall was a spur of the moment reading choice for me, and I buzzed through it in a few days (even though I've had it checked out of the library for almost 3 weeks).  My "due back" notification had everything to do with my rush to read this, but I'm so glad I didn't just return it unread to the library.  It was just what I needed to read this week.   This is a novel told in two voices:  Amber Alton, a fifteen year old girl in 1968; and Lorna Dunaway, over thirty years later. Amber's family owns Black Rabbit Hall in Cornwall, and the family spends holidays there.  Amber's parents are madly in love, and she has a twin brother Toby, a younger brother Barney, and a little sister named Kitty.  They are a very happy family, and the heart of the family is Amber's mother, Nancy.    There's something about Black Rabbit Hall that speaks to Amber and her whole family.  It's wild, it's crumbling; it's full of creaks and groans and sits ...

I'm continuing my quest to read more mysteries, and thanks to Penguin Books, I was able to try a mystery series that took me to Aix-en-Provence, France.   There are five previous mysteries in this series, but I didn't have any problems starting this far into the series.  I may go back and read from the beginning, if only to see the backdrop to Verlaque and Bonnet's romance.   Antoine Verlaque is a French judge; Marine Bonnet is a law professor.  They are enjoying life as newlyweds and have the pressing problem of deciding what to do with two apartments.  An appreciation of good food and wine adds a lot of charm to these characters and I felt immediately at ease with them.   In this mystery, a new restaurant has opened in town called La Fontaine, run by Siegbert "Bear" Valets.  It's a hit, but Bear has created a stir by getting approval to have outdoor seating that nestles up against a private courtyard shared by the surrounding apartment buil...

It took me ages to read this book.  I had to renew it from the library three times.   Why?  I like Sophie Kinsella's novels; well, most of them.  The Shopaholic novels are the exception.  I read the first one years ago, and found the idea of a chick lit novel that centers around a woman who has a spending addiction not very entertaining.  Especially when she gets the guy and the happy ending.  What does that say about being responsible?!  But I have read some of her other novels, and I have enjoyed them very much.   I did end up liking this novel, too.  I had a very hard time getting into Katie's story.  It is, after all, very much like other British chick lit plots:  country girl yearns to be a London ad agency superstar; falls for the handsome director, has a perfectly perfect sophisticated boss with a seemingly enchanted life.  But of course life hands Katie some setbacks and she has to find her real, authentic self....

This was a book that I'd looked at a few times--purely due to the cover, which I just love.  I finally got it from the library and jumped into an English version of magical realism that was perfect for the Easter weekend. Anthony Peardew is a elderly gentlemen of secure financial means who lives in a wonderful home called Padua with a glorious flower garden and a quiet housekeeper named Laura who keeps everything in tip top shape.  Laura has grown to love Padua as much as Anthony has, and finds refuge from a horrible marriage and divorce within its peaceful environment.   Anthony has a study that is full of objects he's found on his daily walks.  He takes them home, labels them with the date and where he found them, and keeps them all locked up in his study.  He is the "keeper of lost things" and writes stories imagining the people and the stories behind the objects.  They range from a puzzle piece, to a single blue glove, to a chil...

I've been a fan of Charlie Lovett since reading his first novel The Bookman's Tale a few years ago, and I just couldn't wait to read his latest. I'm happy to say it did not disappoint. I'm a fan of ancient manuscripts, King Arthur and tales of the holy grail, and, of course, glorious old libraries.  All of Lovett's novels are love letters to books and their magical powers, and also to the people who both today and in centuries past have been stewards to the written word. In The Lost Book of the Grail , not only do we see the history of one cathedral's library, but we see all the people who have (in some instances, given their lives) committed their lives to protect precious manuscripts and the secrets they hold.  Arthur Prescott lives and works in Barchester, England as an English professor at Barchester University. He's not terribly fond of his job, but is in complete and total rapture over Barchester Cathedral's library, where he spends most of hi...