Novelas Romanticas Gratis

Hello All!  I can't believe tomorrow is May. I think we can all agree March was never-ending, and April went by so quickly I'm shocked. As always in times of stress for myself, I turn to books. It's usually a sure bet for me. But I learned one thing in the past 6 weeks: I cannot make myself read whatever comes my way. There have been times in my life where I definitely avoided certain books, or put a book down and never returned to it because I was reading it when something significant happened. I'm afraid that's already happened to me in the past month.  One such book was my much anticipated read of Alma Katsu's The Deep. Oh, I couldn't wait to dig into it. But dammit all, I tried for weeks to read it and I just couldn't do it. I am so bummed. It was not my only book casualty of the past few months. I spent a few sleepless nights pondering the irony of not being able to focus long enough to read when it was usually the only thing that kept me on a even ...

This novel caught my eye when I read the short description on the dust jacket--post Civil War? Yep. Sign me up. I continue to be fascinated with the Civil War and the years after, when quite frankly, the U.S. was still a mess. This novel was even better than I had hoped.  Dual storylines tell the stories of 1875 Hannie Gossett, former slave and now sharecropper at Goswood Plantation, and 1987 Benny Silva, first year English teacher at an impoverished school in Augustine, Louisiana. The same   place where Hannie's story begins. Little does Benny know it, but she will be instrumental in uncovering Hannie's story, long forgotten under the burden of poverty that haunts Augustine.  Hannie knows her former master had a mistress, and a daughter: Juneau Jane. His wife knows, too, and is a cruel woman, along with her daughter Lavinia. Juneau Jane secretly travels to the plantation one night to find paperwork that will prove her father has given her land of...

I finished a book! I'm still trying to find my pandemic comfort reading. I think it's trending towards lighter reads. If I can't focus on a book right away, I put it aside. Sunnier days ahead will send those books back to me and I'll happily read them then.  So, Beach Read.  Emily Henry is an author I haven't read before. She writes YA novels and I think this is her first adult novel. I was excited to read it because it looked like a rom-com and I was all in! This is, however, one of those novels where the cover does not match what's inside. For one thing, the two main characters (Gus and January) only actually sit on the beach near the very end of the novel. They aren't beach people, especially when the beach in on Lake Michigan and the water is cold.  For another, I found this novel to be less rom-com and more a tale of two damaged people who are really struggling to come to terms with their pasts in order to move on. January is 29 and it's been a year...

This book has been so patient with me. I bought it in 2017, and it has had a place of prominence on my bookcase. The bookcase that I walk past multiple times a day; the one just outside my kitchen. The bright cover always catches my eye, and I think "I've got to read that someday".  It took a pandemic, but here we are--it's read, and I'm so glad I waited until now to dive into it.  I read Abbi's novel The Bookish Life of Nina Hill    last August (click on the title for my review) and loved Abbi's style of writing: a bit of snark, a bit of humor, and a whole lot of heart. Contemporary women's fiction that I really enjoy, and sometimes have a hard time finding just the right fit. Abbi's writing fits me perfectly. So when I realized this was the same author, I really wanted to read it--and I needed something a bit lighter, and something that had to do with gardening.  Lilian Girvan is a single mother of two young girls: Annabel and Clare. Her hu...

This novel has had me curious for months. I thought twice about reading it now, in the middle of all this state of unknowingness. After all, it is about a father and a daughter, the only two people left on the planet. But I decided to read it anyway, and once again book magic happened, just when I needed some in my life.  It's a short novel, but packs a punch. Father and daughter live in a small home set deep in a vast forest. They are the only two humans left alive, many years after something happened that ended life for humans. Animals of every kind flourish, and nature has reclaimed everything for itself. Father and daughter live in harmony with the land; everything they have they receive from the trees, the plants, the river and the animals. Except for one precious pane of glass, and a few books, nothing really remains of civilization. Father has only known this life and just a handful of people--including daughter's mother, who died when daughter was a baby. He has t...

Apparently I need to read a thriller about a wedding and a murder on an island to get into my reading groove. But it worked, and I discovered a new author I like. Win win.  The Guest List is Lucy Foley's latest novel; her previous novel  The Hunting Party (which I will read as soon as I can), which was published last year, got a lot of buzz. I received an advanced copy of The Guest List  from Willian Morrow (HarperCollins) and wow am I glad I did--it was a quick read and full of twist and turns.  Guests are gathering on a small island off the coast of Ireland for the wedding of digital magazine creator Jules and her devastatingly handsome fiancé, Will Slater. He's a rising star in television with his survival series (think Bear Grylls). Jules picked this location to honor her Irish roots, and also because it will make good copy--and she got it at a bargain price. The first wedding to take place on this remote island, it's run by wedding pla...

Yes, we're all in this together, aren't we? And the one thing that always gives me comfort isn't working all that well for me: reading books. I find myself having a very hard time sitting still long enough to read more than a few pages, and when I'm reading, my mind is just racing. Getting through my TBR pile seems so darn insignificant right now.  I hesitated to even write an April "What I'm Reading" post, but decided maybe it would help me focus a bit. So here are a few that I'm working on this month. I tend to reach for comforting reads--yes, some cozy mysteries, some romances, and historical fiction that grabs me. And sometimes I read about that thing that really worries me--in this case, the pandemic. I am that person who sits on a plane and thinks about it crashing, so I guess I'm also that person who wants to read novels about the world in a medical crisis. It's my way of saying "you don't scare me!" even when it does.  So,...