My Favorite BEA Bag

I have been meaning to feature this bag on my blog ever since I came back from the BEA.

It is my favorite bag from the event because of the saying on it.

Now when I see someone without a book, I question their trust.  :)  

I am just kidding, but I do LOVE that saying.

What do you think about that TERRIFIC saying?

Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf

A social worker charged with child negligence?  A ten-year old left alone?  What do Ellen and Jenny have in common? 

The common thread has built a beautifully written story by Ms. Gudenkauf.  It deals with social services from the adult and the child's side and what can easily happen both good and bad​.

​You will feel Ellen's pain as she deals with an accident she herself as a social worker deals with every day but with a situation she never thought she would have to personally deal with.

You will want to hug Jenny and take her home with you.  ​How could a ten-year old have to deal with so much?

I was a bit worried LITTLE MERCIES was going to be too intense for me when I first started reading, but the author's writing style is so amazing along with the storyline that you don't want to stop.  You "must" continue to see how things turn out.

LITTLE MERCIES allows the reader into the world of social services and lives of children that most of us don't know about and don't have to live through.

LITTLE MERCIES is a book that tears your heart apart, but has wonderful lessons about life and things to think about.  The meaning of the book's title is explained as you read, and I enjoyed the meaning because it is so true.  I started looking for "little mercies" in my own life.

I would put LITTLE MERCIES on your must read list. It is a book that will take you to a world people actually live through and make you glad you do not, but it will also make you realize that family is the most important element we have, and we should count our blessings.

My rating is a HUGE ​5/5.

​This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.​

Top Book Club Picks in June

The following were the most popular book club books during June based on votes from more than 100,000 book club readers from more than 39,000 book clubs registered at  

Bookmovement.com:


1. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (Morrow)
2. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
3. The Goldfinch: A Novel by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton)
5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Penguin)
6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Broadway)
7. The Light Between Oceans: A Novel by M.L. Stedman (Scribner)
8. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking)
9. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay)
10. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (Back Bay)

Rising Stars:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Ballantine)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]

I took this content from a Shelf Awareness e-mail dated July 10, 2014, to share.

ENJOY!!!!

Which ones have you read?  

Sweet Water by Christina Baker Kline

From New York City to Tennessee?

Was Cassie making the right move?  She thought so, but meeting family members she hadn't seen since she was three was frightening as well as disillusioning.  She had to find out her roots, to find out what happened to her mother, to find out why her mother really didn't want to live in Sweetwater, Tennessee, and to find out why her grandfather left her the family home and 60 acres​.  What could the reason possibly be when she never knew him?

Cassie is an interesting character that you will love and one that pairs up with an absorbing story that unfolds as alternating ​voices from one generation to the next tell their tale in this splendid story.  SWEET WATER smoothly flows from Grandmother Clyde's narrations to Cassie's retelling, reliving, and revealing of the secrets the Clyde family held.
 
Ms. Kline has this time written a marvelous book about families, roots, and life-changing secrets. Every family member was good at keeping secrets especially the one that Grandmother Clyde kept for 20 years and the secret that ate at her for her entire life.  Did Grandfather Clyde want Cassie to find something out?  Perhaps the secret?

I really enjoyed ​SWEET WATER because of the characters and the way Ms. Kline ​just pulled you in with her terrific, creative, thought-provoking storyline.

My rating is a 4/5 because SWEET WATER is a read you won't want to stop reading once you get going.​  If you have read any of Ms. Kline’s other books, you know what a treat you are in for when you read SWEET WATER.
         
The only thing that is holding me back from giving the book a 5/5 is that it was difficult to figure out who the one narrator was until a number of pages into the book and also because of the peculiar love story.  I am not sure how this love story fits in with the storyline except perhaps to prove how dysfunctional the Clyde family was.

Don't miss reading this newest addition to Ms. Kline's already fantastic lineup. 5/5
​
I received this book free of charge and without compensation from the publisher in return for an honest review.​

Hunted by Elizabeth Heiter

Haunted, hunted, completed.

The Bakersville Burier definitely gave Evelyn Baine, an FBI profiler, a run for the money. The BAKBURY case as it was called and as he was called was a master at abducting his victims as well as avoiding the police. The Bakersville Burier had a grudge against women and a background that made him dangerous along with a background that fed his horrible desire to hurt.

HUNTED will keep you turning the pages as the "hunted" and the "hunter" keep eluding each other. HUNTED is an excellent thriller and a great debut novel for Ms. Heiter.

HUNTED kept me awake reading to find out what happened and also kept me awake with every light on because of the fright factor.

You will love Evelyn but want to tell her to lighten up and take care of her personal life as well as her professional life. Evelyn had a piece of herself in every murderer she profiled because of something that happened in her own life when she was younger. 

I haven't read a thriller for a while and enjoyed the chase and the tension of HUNTED.  You will be tempted to leave the lights on as you read and look behind you and around you when you are out.  There is also a sweet romance hidden in all of this terror.

HUNTED is a book you will want to read if you like to delve into a criminal's past and try to figure out what caused him to want to murder and harm others.

Don't miss reading HUNTED.  4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

What are your thoughts?  Will you read HUNTED?
 

Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman

Out of work and no where to go, Minna had no other recourse but to ask her sister to take her in.

Minna knew the household wouldn't be calm with six children and a household staff​, but she managed.  In fact, she managed very well.  The children fell in love with her and so did her brother-in-law.  Or did he really fall in love with her or was she simply a convenience?​
                   
Sigmund Freud ​betrayed ​​his wife, ​and Minna betrayed her sister.  The affair started out with ​early evening and some ​late night meetings that included flirting and drugs.  Did his wife know about the affair or was she too addicted to opium to even notice?

You will definitely dislike Sigmund Freud as a person and question his thinking about why people develop psychological disorders. He was arrogant, a smooth operator, apparently quite good looking,​ and he used his field of study to his advantage. He was not a kind man especially to women, but he knew how to seduce Minna.  He had no regard for his wife who had six children with him.

Minna, “the mistress," was actually likable because even though she knew she couldn't stop herself about wanting to be with Freud, she did feel guilty. ​ It was funny to be reminded that women of that era were so set on only finding a husband and no career per say except as domestic help, a companion for another woman, or caring for children.

FREUD’S MISTRESS was enjoyable and very well written. The book flowed nicely, and you could actually visualize everything and feel the characters' emotions and moods because of Ms. Mack’s and Ms. Kaufman’s marvelous writing skills.​
                
Some of the characters and some of the situations were comical. Love, infidelity, history, comedy, Freud's theories, ​and social issues were the main themes.​
    
It is always interesting to​ look into the life of a famous person especially during the 1800's. ​If you like historical fiction, you should enjoy FREUD'S MISTRESS.  4/5

The ending notes from the authors that contained information about Sigmund Freud's life was quite interesting and helpful.

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.​

Which Number Are You?

I am #3.  I am normally pretty conservative and quiet, but sometimes I am a rebel.  :)

I am also #4.  I am a very compassionate person.

Which number describes you?