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Showing posts from April, 2016

Review: "The Northern Queen" by Kelly Evans

From Goodreads:  St. Brice’s Day, England, 1002. At the order of King Aethelred, thousands of Danes are murdered in a frenzy of ethnic cleansing. Outraged, the Danish King, Sweyn Forkbeard, swears he will take Aethedred’s head, and his crown. But Sweyn needs allies. Chief amongst his supporters is Aelfgifu, an English noblewoman and head of a once great family. She has her own reasons to hate Aethelred, and as a pagan, she is sympathetic to the Danish cause. When Aelfgifu marries Sweyn’s son, Canute, war is inevitable. But if Aethelred is weak, his Norman queen is not. And Emma will stop at nothing to destroy the woman at the heart of the Viking army. Love, ambition and revenge combine in an epic struggle for justice during the most turbulent period in England’s history. My Thoughts:  This book was such a surprise to me!  I had no idea what to expect going into it but I ended up really enjoying the story.  I have read very little about this period in English history but n

Mailbox Monday (56)

I'm linking up with Mailbox Monday again this week.  I've been trying hard not to buy books but yesterday, I completely failed.  It's so hard to resist a kindle sale! I participated in Dewey's Readathon yesterday and got in a decent amount of reading (though not as much as I would have liked).  I'm getting ready to start week 3 at my new job so it was nice to relax a little bit with a good book this weekend. Purchased (for kindle):   Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First Class Passengers and their World by Hugh Brewster The Lost Empress by Steve Robinson The Commandant of Lubizec by Patrick Hicks From the Library (ebook and physical): The Beast by J.R. Ward The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christoper Browning   What books did you pick up this week?  

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon April 2016 - Master Post

Hey y'all, it's that time again!  The first readathon of 2016 is here!  I'm feeling pretty nervous about it right now because I'm not sure how much reading I will actually get done but it's such a fun event that I can't help but participate.  Julia has swimming lessons in the morning and we have lots of errands to run so I'll try to do most of my reading while riding in the car. I don't have a fun stack of physical books to showcase but I have four books on my kindle that I plan to choose from.  I've started The Beast but I'm not really feeling it right now so I'll probably begin the day with something else.  I do have some reading to do for the class I'm taking so even though I won't be reading a book during that time, I will be reading. : ) On my stack: The Virgin's War by Laura Andersen The Beast by J.R. Ward The Midnight Watch by David Dyer The Tsarina's Legacy by Jennifer Laam Most of my che

Mailbox Monday (55)

Hey y'all!  I haven't linked up with Mailbox Monday in a long time but I kind of went overboard on NetGalley this week so I have to show off what I got! For Review (from NetGalley):     The Imperial Wife by Irina Reyn Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen by Alison Weir The Virgin's War by Laura Andersen The Tsarina's Legacy by Jennifer Laam The Midnight Watch by David Dyer  Purchased (for Kindle):   The Secret Healer by Ellin Carsta The Last Highlander by Sarah Fraser Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyel What books did you get this week?

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts (15)

Hey! I'm linking up with the Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts at Bookishly Boisterous today! 1.) I want to read ALL the things right now despite having almost no time for reading.  I have been beefing up my library and goodreads lists and I'm so ready for work to die down and for my class to be over so I can jump into a ton of good books. 2.) I'm currently taking a class on the Holocaust right and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  I'm learning about it in a way that is completely new and it's really fascinating.  That being said, it's more upsetting than I thought it would be.  Now that I have a kid, seeing pictures of children in ghettos or lined up with their mothers to be shot or go to the gas chambers is just a bit more than I can handle.  It makes it seem even more unimaginably awful then before.  (Sorry for that depressing tidbit.) 3.) I got a new job (!) and I start on Monday.  I'm now frantically trying to tie up all kinds of loose

March 2016 Wrap Up

I am so late in posting this but since I skipped February, I decided to go for it anyway.  March was a very busy month!  The hubs, toddler and I went to California to visit my family and we had a blast.  Traveling was a bit tricky but once we got there, it was great.  It made me miss them even more than I already do!  I also applied and interviewed for a new job which I start next week.  It's exciting but I still have a ton of stuff to do to get ready.  I just need to keep swimming (the toddler has been watching a lot of Nemo lately!). I am right on track with my reading goal this year.  I haven't been reading as many books as in passed years but I am taking a class this semester with a pretty heavy reading load so I am still doing a lot of reading.  I have read 14 books this year (out of my goal of 52) and goodreads.com says I am 1 book ahead of schedule.  Here is what I read in March: 1.) At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier 2.) The Virgin's Daughter by La

Book Blast and Giveaway: "The Tapestry" by Nancy Bilyeau

The Tapestry (Joanna Stafford #3) by Nancy Bilyeau Paperback Publication Date: March 22, 2016 Touchstone/Simon & Schuster Paperback; 416 Pages Series: Joanna Stafford Genre: Historical Mystery " Fans of the Tudor era, you're in for a treat " --InStyle magazine Henry VIII's Palace of Whitehall is the last place on earth Joanna Stafford wants to be. But a summons from the king cannot be refused. After her priory was destroyed, Joanna, a young Dominican novice, vowed to live a quiet life, weaving tapestries and shunning dangerous conspiracies. That all changes when the king takes an interest in her tapestry talent. With a ruthless monarch tiring of his fourth wife and amoral noblemen driven by hidden agendas, Joanna becomes entangled in court politics. Her close friend, Catherine Howard, is rumored to be the king's mistress, and Joanna is determined to protect her from becoming the king's next wife--and victim. All the while, Joanna trie