Random Musings of a Bibliophile

I love this weekend. I look forward to it every year. I was unable to participate a couple  years ago and it made me all kinds of sad. I won't be able to participate as wholeheartedly as I ordinarily do this year. Usually I sacrifice sleep and leave the complete and total care of my children in the hands of my husband. However, we just moved to a new city. We've been here one whole week so that's not quite as possible. I'm exhausted and eager to explore our new city with  my family. But I have a small goal and will read as much as I can. I tried to keep with the #weneeddiversebooks theme as much as I could, but I didn't have access to a library until Wednesday and had no way to put some of the books I wanted on hold. Here is what I hope to get read this weekend: The books on my Nook: Minion, The Things We Kiss Goodbye, Capturing the Silken Thief That is an 8 book goal which works out to a book every 6 hours. I think I can manage that. Happy Reading!

I read Sarah Jamila Stevenson's The Latte Rebellion  earlier this year and enjoyed it. When I discovered she had a new book coming out this year that took place in Wales and had a ghostly element to it, I couldn't wait to read it. The Truth Against the World  delivered nicely on its promise.  Synopsis: When Olwen Nia Evans learns that her family is moving from San Francisco to Wales to fulfill her great-grandmother's dying wish, she starts having strange and vivid dreams about her family's past. But nothing she sees in her dreams of the old country--the people, the places--makes any sense. Could it all be the result of an overactive imagination . . . or could everything she's been told about her ancestors be a lie? Once in Wales, she meets Gareth Lewis, a boy plagued by dreams of his own--visions he can't shake after meeting a ghost among the misty cairns along the Welsh seaside. A ghost named Olwen Nia Evans. Wyn is fascinated by the history and folklore...

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill of  Breaking the Spine , that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Emilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived, determined to raise Teo according to his late mother's wishes-in a place where he won't be discriminated against because of the color of his skin. But in 1930s America, a white woman raising a black adoptive son alongside a white daughter is too often seen as a threat. Seeking a home where her children won't be held back by ethnicity or gender, Rhoda brings Em and Teo to Ethiopia, and all three fall in love with the beautiful, peaceful country. But that peace is shattered by the threat of war with Italy, and teenage Em and Teo are drawn into the conflict. Will their devotion to their country, its culture an...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: Books in my Beach/Pool Bag As a  mother of two children, the youngest of whom isn't a strong swimmer, I actually don't get to spend a lot of my time at the beach and pool kid wrangling. When I do get the chance to read, it has to be a book I don't mind being pulled out of or interrupted during, which means I have to stick with rereads when I'm waterside. Here are some I plan on toting along with me this summer.  What books will you be taking with you waterside this year?

Hey Everyone! I am taking the week off from the blog. Remember that moving stress I talked about? Yeah. It completely overwhelmed me this week. I have read very little, and what I have read I do not want to write about. Hopefully this will only be a one week break and not two. I still have not arrived at my house with my stuff yet so we shall see....I'm hoping to get at least some things read and written this week so I'm expecting to be back to business as usual by June 2. I am stock piling some of my most anticipated reads for this: This year's challenge will be June 6th-9th and you can sign up at Mother Reader here . 

Sometimes I read a book, and I even enjoy it, but I don't have much to say about it. I jot down a few thoughts and then I move on. When these start to pile up, I put them together in one post. Here are some reviews of fun romantic contemporary YAs perfect for summer reading. The Art of Lainey  by Paula Stokes I really enjoyed this. I'm all about these light fun contemporary YA reads right now. I liked how Lainey acts like a typical teenage girl. Her post break-up self is full of drama and overreactions and a little bit selfish. All of us who have been there and lived that can relate and know how it feels. I like when books for teens have real teens in them, and not adults masquerading as teens. This book does a good job of that. I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between the romantic leads in it too. I loved the best-friendship between Lainey and Bianca as well.  Review of ARC received by  publisher, Harper Teen, via Edelweiss. Taste Test  by Kelly Fiore Th...

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill of  Breaking the Spine , that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. New York City, 1899. Clara Stole, the mayor's ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother's murder, she has secretly trained in self-defense with the mysterious Drosselmeyer. Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes. Her home is destroyed, her father abducted--by beings distinctly  not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas, bound by a wicked curse. If they're to survive, Clara has no choice but to trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets--and a  need  she can't define. With the dangerous, seductive faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won't leave Cane unscathed--if she leaves at all. The Nutcracker plus Claire Legrand's amazing writing? YES! YES! YES! Winterspell  co...