So Many Books, So Little Time

War and Me by M.A. Wood Publication Date: September 26, 2013 eBook; 200 Pages ASIN: B00FGJLG08 Genre: Young Adult/Historical Fiction/Romance Flying model airplanes isn’t cool, not for fifteen-year-old girls in the 1940’s. No one understands Julianna’s love of flying model airplanes but her dad. When he leaves to fly bomber planes in Europe forcing Julianna to deal with her mother’s growing depression alone, she feels abandoned until she meets Ben, the new boy in town. But when he signs up for the war, too, she has to consider whether letting her first love drift away would be far easier than waiting for the next casualties. Amazon US | Amazon UK About the Author Marcy Blesy is the author of several middle grade, young adult, and new adult novels and short stories. Her picture book, Am I Like My Daddy?, helps children who experienced the loss of a parent when they were much younger. She has also been published in two Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as various newspapers a...

The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C.W. Gortner Publication Date: February 9, 2016 Ballantine Books Hardcover, Ebook, Audiobook 400 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Infamy is no accident. It is a poison in our blood. It is the price of being a Borgia. Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized 15th-century Renaissance Italy. Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? With the ascension of the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, the new pope’s illegitimate children—his rival sons, Cesare and Juan, and beautiful young daughter Lucrezia—assume an exalted position in the papal court. Privileged and adored, Lucrezia yearns to escape her childhood and play a part in her family’s fortunes. But Rome is seduct...

From Goodreads:  This is the true story of Aethelflaed, the 'Lady of the Mercians', daughter of Alfred the Great. She was the only female leader of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is the tale of one family, two kingdoms and a common enemy. Born into the royal house of Wessex at the height of the Viking wars, she is sent to her aunt in Mercia as a foster-child, only to return home when the Vikings overrun Mercia. In Wessex, she witnesses another Viking attack and this compounds her fear of the enemy. She falls in love with a Mercian lord but is heartbroken to be given as bride to the ruler of Mercia to seal the alliance between the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. She must learn to subjugate her feelings for her first love, overcome her indifference to her husband and win the hearts of the Mercians who despise her as a foreigner, twice making an attempt on her life. When her husband falls ill and is incapacitated, she has to learn to rule and lead an army in his stead a...

Blech! I'm so glad that January is over.  The whole month always feels like a giant holiday hangover and it just felt especially crappy this year.  I didn't even touch the blog because I was so burned out on everything. In this post, I'm going to combine my #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks and #FitReaders wrap up since I've been pretty bad about updating.  In January, I read 5 books toward my goal of 52 for the year so according to goodreads I'm right on track. It felt really slow to me because usually I read so much more in any given month.  I had a hard time focusing on books plus I'm taking a class this semester so even though I'm reading whole books, I am reading a lot of articles and book excerpts. Out of the 5 books I read this month, only 2 were books I own and 1 was a re-read so I didn't do that great with reading my own books.  I am currently reading a ebook I own (a move in the right direction!) but after I'm done with it, I really need...