Novelas Romanticas Gratis

I don't know about the rest of you, but here in Iowa we got about 4 inches of snow last night (Halloween Eve) and the kiddies are out and about tonight in temperatures that are dipping into the 20's. Yikes! Not the Halloween folks around here were hoping for--usually it's fairly moderate and lovely. We're prepared for snow and cold, just not in October. More like December.  So, not only are my fellow Iowans confused, annoyed, and just plain ticked off, but oh golly, the poor trees! Still fully loaded with leaves, and I don't think we're going to get much of a chance to rake 'em up as they fall. Usually, I think you'll agree, we've got a little time to ease into thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I think it's safe to say we're all a bit perplexed as to how we should actually be feeling. I'm not ready to even think about turkey, gifts, or decorating. Nope. Not yet.  I am, however, putting my December reading list together. I lov...

I am a fan of Jojo Moyes. I've read most of her novels, which are usually contemporary. She's written a few historical novels, and I love them just as much as the contemporary novels.  The Giver of Stars  is an historical novel focusing on a group of ladies who created quite a stir during the 1930's, and all these decades later, their stories are popping up again. I'm talking about the horseback librarians of Kentucky. These were some badass women.  There is another novel out, that I've reviewed--as a matter of fact, I said it was one of the best novels I'd read in 2019, and it still is-- The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek.  Click on the title and you can read my review from May. It is also about the horseback librarians of Kentucky, but this novel is quite different from Jojo Moyes' novel. There has been some kerfuffle about both authors writing about the same subject mere months apart, and how similar the novels appear to be. Well, I've read the...

I've been writing about books for quite a few years. I've loved every single thing about having a blog. I started my blog because I loved to talk about books, and talking about them at work just didn't seem like enough for me. It also helped that I had a friend starting a blog, and she got me interested in the blog world.  I've had years where I read like a fiend. It was effortless, and I devoured books. I've had years where school and family issues kept me from reading at my usual pace, and sometimes I didn't find solace in reading, when it usually always does comfort me and center me. Heck, sometimes you just have to stare at a wall and chill. Even though I read every day, without fail, some days it's only a chapter, while others I can really dive into a book. Some days I only get to read just before I shut the light off. Reading every day is the one habit I've firmly established and have kept at it without fail for at least 10 years. Now, if I could o...

I was eager to revisit Kristin Kimball's life on her farm after reading her first memoir, The Dirty Life way back before I started this blog. I absolutely fell in love with her story about making the big leap from living in New York City as a writer, to owning a 500 acre farm near Lake Champlain, New York with her soon to be husband, Mark. How does one change their life so drastically? Well, falling in love had something to do with it. That, and recognizing what makes your heart happy, even through all of the ups and downs that farm life delivers.  Now, 8 years later, Kristin is back with a follow up. Hey, guess what? Farming is still incredibly difficult work. Heck, i live in Iowa; farms are everywhere. My partner's cousins are all farmers. You can drive just a few miles out of town and yep, there's a farm. Even children who grow up in our few bigger cities know what a cow looks like; know what corn and soybeans look like from very early on. They're all around us. And...

Well, if I've done anything in 2019, it was to finally read some Agatha Christie. Another author I've admired from afar, but never felt compelled to read. This new short story collection caught my eye, and I'm so glad it did.  First, I'll say this book isn't a casual, read it in a few hours collection of stories. It's actually quite lengthy--over 350 pages. Just goes to show how prolific Agatha Christie was in her writing career. Only one of the stories had never been published in the U.S.: The Wife of the Kenite. All the other stories had been published multiple times in short story compilations and magazines over the years in both the U.K. and the U.S. The publishing reach of Agatha Christie was astounding.  There are twenty short stories in The Last Seance, and each was gripping and smartly written. I quickly fell victim to Agatha Christie's style of writing, and I couldn't even begin to pick one of the stories as my favorite. Some were straight out m...

I was excited to finally dig into this novel, the second by Hester Fox. Her first novel, The Witch of Willow Hall , was published last year, and it was outstanding. So of course I expected her sophomore novel to be just as good.  While I did enjoy reading The Widow of Pale Harbor, it didn't match my expectations. Gothic, yes, certainly. A small town--Pale Harbor, Maine is the backdrop for this tale of a woman who lives in a large mansion, alone with her companion Helen, who is reviled and treated poorly by the townspeople. Four years before, Sophronia's husband Nathan had died in a carriage accident, and the town blamed her for his death. The town didn't know Nathan was a cruel, vicious husband.  It's 1846, and Edgar Allan Poe's short stories are wildly popular. Sophronia has taken over running her late husband's magazine, and deciding which stories will be published. So many Poe copy cats are out there, trying to make it into this popular magazine, and Sophroni...

A friend loaned me her copy of this novel (months ago, I shamefully admit) and I decided now was the time to read it. Jennifer McMahon has had me curious for quite some time. I know her novel The Winter People received great reviews, but of course I didn't get a chance to read it.  I've been tussling over what to read for my book group this next week. I'm supposed to read something that scares me, and I've got to tell you, not much scares me in the reading world. It's a rare book that unnerves me. I was hoping The Invited would at least make me slightly uneasy at night, but it didn't. However, it was an excellent tale and I couldn't put it down.  Helen and Nate are two school teachers that decide to leave their jobs and move to Vermont to pursue their wish to start over. Using Helen's inheritance money, they purchase some land outside the small Vermont town of Hartsboro. Forty acres of mostly woods and bog, and one perfect spot to build their dream hous...

This was an excellent mix of thriller, history, antiquities, libraries, and action-adventure. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this, after picking it up at the library on a whim.  Carys Jones is a rare book authenticator who works for an auction house. She's worked on tracking down British Dark Age manuscripts for John Harper, a super rich man who has created a one of a kind library at his estate.  Harper has been committed to an insane asylum because he's been hallucinating and insisting he's talking to a monk who was the personal holy man to the man known today at King Arthur.  Carys has been called in to look over the collection and to catalog it and prepare it for sale. Harper's son JJ is selling the library, along with the estate.  Carys thinks she's just there to prepare the library for sale, but her meeting with Harper reveals something a bit too hard to believe: a rare manuscript written by a monk telling the true story of ...

I finally sat down and finished this novel after having it checked out from the library for quite some time. Sometimes I get in trouble starting too many books and then have to finish them all in a big readathon. Part of my lagging on this novel was due to my hot and cold feelings about the plot.  The plot switches back and forth between four families who have each lived in Rawlingswood, a rambling old mansion in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Moving from the early 1930's through 2018, each family has had plenty of bad experiences. The Rawlings family built the home, and Walter Rawlings overextends himself, and the failing stock market dooms his financial security. His wife and young son pay the ultimate price for his failings, setting the state for the dismal history of the home. The Klussman family also deals with tragedy. Frannie's marriage has ended with her husband leaving because he can't cope with their special needs child, Benny. Benny has to be locked in hi...