Join The First Book Of The Year Fun

Join Sheila from Book Journey at the link in the last line of this post, and add your name and photo to the list.

This is a lot of fun.

As you can see from last year's post, Sheila creates a collage of all readers reading their first book of the year.

Don't miss out on the fun.

Head to Sheila's Blog Post to add your name and photo to the collage.

Quotation of the Day

A perfect quote for book lovers and especially book bloggers.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read. Mark Twain (1835-1910) Discuss

*Taken from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ - December 18, 2014

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

Peter Morrow hadn't returned after the year he and Clara had agreed upon for his return so the search for Peter began. Of course, Armand Gamache was asked to be involved even though he had retired from the police force.

THE LONG WAY HOME has the well-known, well-loved residents of Three Pines we all are familiar with and the residents that make Louise Penny's books ones I enjoy reading.

THE LONG WAY HOME was a bit different from her other books.  Instead of solving a murder, the Three Pines residents were working together to find Peter.

This book was different because of the way the investigation took place.  Gamache actually was not in charge; Clara was.  It discussed muses and different art terms.  It was more about artists than the solving of a regular murder mystery, but the characters as always worked beautifully together.

​I can't say I didn't like THE LONG WAY HOME, but it is quite different from her other books and took a bit of getting used to.  Regardless of the style and plot, though, THE LONG WAY HOME still had the pull all of her books have on you. ​

​Ms. Penny's books usually involve emotions. THE LONG WAY HOME was specifically about happiness, sadness, and finding oneself.​  4/5

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

After The War Is Over by Jennifer Robson

Charlotte graduated from an elite college, became a governess,​ worked as a nurse during the war, ​worked in an office with a female boss who was a suffragist, and then​ became a journalist.

​Charlotte's job as a governess turned out to be quite unpleasant, but she did meet a man she could never forget​
but wasn’t able to marry him because of her class.

​AFTER THE WAR IS OVER goes back and forth between Charlotte's younger years as a governess and then her present-day situation.  I do enjoy books that move into the past and then come to the present, but the book dragged.

The cover pulled me in, but the book's content was not that enjoyable for me.​

There was too much about ​social status and not enough of a plot even though the book was mainly about Charlotte's life​.  The writing style was good, but the lack of an interesting plot had me plodding through to see what happened.​  3/5

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