Many lives of Mama Love

At first, I was not sure how to perceive this book. Being a memoir, you never really know what to expect. But now that I’ve finished it, I am happy to have chosen it for my book of the month back in August of last year.

Book of the month is a really great subscription service that lets you choose the book you want for about $18.95, and it’s the only one I have found to let you cancel or skip a month without charging you. If you get to stick with them long enough to earn their BFF status, you get a free tote bag and a few other perks.  Go get it if you haven’t already.

From the standpoint of being married to someone who had trouble with the law as a teen and has friends who are/were addicts as well as friends who are in jail from it, this book is on a more personal level.

I used to judge people like him because my parents did , but not now. I’ve learned that these types of people can be some of the most loyal friends you will ever have. In my experience, the most disloyal friends are the popular, the rich, the church-goers.

Take this review however you choose, but if you do decide to read it, let me know.

Harmony of Lies

This is the sequel to Harmony of Fire by Brian Feehan (aka Christine Feehan’s son), and once again, I was not disappointed.

You can definitely tell that he gets his style and talent from his mother.

I won’t go into details because I have to leave something to make you want to go pick up both books.

I will say that I am of no surprise and that if you love his mother’s work, then you will surely love him.

The Jane Austen Society

The first thing that caught my attention was the cover. Very beautiful cover, in my opinion. The next thing that got me was the title. Being a huge Austen fan myself, I was curious as to what the story was about, so I got it at this nice used book store (https://www.prettygoodbooks.net/) and If anyone wants to check the place out I definitely recommend it. Their Harry Potter section was under the stairs, totally appropriate, lol!

The more I read the book, the more I fell in love with it. If you’ve read any of Austen’s books, then you’ll understand when I say the pacing and the flow of the story, plus the characters are almost like they were written by Jane Austen herself. It was just too perfect. I think the author,herself, is a fan of Jane Austen, too.

I do hope you will get this book and read it for yourself. I also suggest reading all six of Austen’s books before reading this one because they do discuss them in great detail. I have yet to read Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park, and that’s a shame. I will definitely be picking those two up after reading this book.

Happy Reading 📚

Do you like classics?

Hello, one and all!

I am curious about something. How many of you actually like reading classics? How many read it because of school or college? How many read it just for fun?

Personally, I enjoy classics either way. Especially Jane Austen. Although I haven’t read Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park yet. I’m looking for very specific editions of those two. That is only because the other editions I have are Canterbury classics wordcloud editions. If you have not seen those, I highly suggest you go look them up.

My current read is a book that mentions a lot of Jane Austen in it.

It makes me want to reread her books. I love the way they discuss her books. The setting is in a small town where she’s from, which is pretty cool. As of right now, I haven’t finished this book yet, but I’ll give a review once I’m finished. 

Weird feelings

Have you ever been excited to reread a series due to forgetting ( or at least you think you forgot) key details?

Only to find yourself going a sort of slumpish, weird feeling when you pick up your book. When reading, you either start to remember or you just want to move on already. It’s almost like it’s taking too long to finish current reads.

For me, I would read a book or two in a day, two days max. I would beg my parents for new books because I go through the ones I already own so quickly. Now, it feels the opposite.

I feel like either I or my husband buy the books too much and don’t read them quickly enough. I want all the new books by my auto-buy authors, but at the same time, I want to do a little rereading and sometimes catching up on the ones sitting in a stack just waiting patiently to be read.

I am afraid that if I don’t get the new books, I’ll never find them or I won’t be able to find the editions I saw and liked. Like Canterbury Classics, they have some beautiful wordcloud editions of several classics I would love to own. In fact, I’m only missing Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey in those editions to have all of Jane Austen’s books. Anyways…

I also am a subscriber to Book Of The Month ( if you aren’t a member, I highly recommend you to be) and have severely fallen behind on reading them. Why, for my March box, I bought three books that I haven’t even touched yet. (I mentioned them in my last post if you’re curious)

I have noticed that now my husband has started reading more and buying more books. It’s funny because when we met, he was not much of a reader. He would always say that books are a waste of time, but now he has found some on his favorite topics and even some by his favorite YouTubers.

He is the perfect example of there is a book out there for everyone. No matter their preferences.

In your opinion, would a book buying ban do me any good? Let me know in the comments.

“But I don’t read”

This I find sort of funny because when my husband and I first got together, he would make fun of my wanting to read all the time. He just couldn’t see how I would want to read over playing games (some anyways), and he would beg me to play COD (call of duty) with him a lot or some football game.

Jump to now, and here we are, thirteen years into our marriage, and he now actually wants to read books. Granted, they are mostly nonfiction and are survival stuff, but the point is that he now wants to sit and read. He will spend a few hours wanting to read a book, especially if he likes it.

Our reading styles are vastly different, and we are both picky about letting the other read a book that the other has.

My reading habits are: 1. Loves having music playing when I read, 2. Can sit in the living room with his game going and kids playing and still read my book, 3. Love to read outside 4. Will sit anywhere and read.

His reading habits are: 1. Sits in the same room 2. Hates are around others since they act the way they did. 3. Claims that everyone bothers him too much to let him  read in peace. 4. He does not want anyone else to read when I can not do so.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I can relate to this book on a lot of things. The first is the main family’s last name. (Allbright) that was how my ancestors spelled the name when they first came to the U.S from Germany (Albrecht to Allbright) then after a time the name started showing up as spelled with one L instead of two. (Albright), which is how I spelled my name until I married at nineteen.

The father of the main character, having spent time in the military, in the Vietnam War is another relation. My grandfather was there too. Now, he was never abusive as far as I know, but he has been gone from this world since 2018. I miss him like crazy.

The description of Alaska makes me want to pack my things and go there. It all sounds so beautiful.

Needless to say, Kristin Hannah won yet again with this book. So far from my backlist reading of her books, I have found only one to be disappointing.

Let me know your thoughts on this book. I’m curious to know.

Long Live the pumpkin queen

This book……

I have no words except to say that if you’ve read the nightmare before Christmas book and have watched the movie countless times, then this book is one hundred percent absolutely one to pick up!

It is freaking amazing. I literally find nothing wrong with it. My biggest wish right now is that I hope like hell that Tim Burton does this movie like he did Nightmare Before Christmas. This book deserves to be made the sequel!

Sally needed her own story, and believe me when I tell you that she finally got it. I have never read anything else by this author, and I might not pick up anything else due to not wanting to ruin the good that came from this just finished one.

To further show how much I am a fan of the original Nightmare Before Christmas, my husband got me this as an early gift for Valentine’s.

I also have several blankets with Jack on them and a poster I had up, which shows Jack on Spiral Hill ( the poster also glowed in the dark). I am shameless when it comes to things I love.

If you liked the same movie, please let me know!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Ok, at first, I could decide if I had wanted to read this book or not. I have read Beach Read by this author, and I was not too thrilled about it. However, I am really liking this one.

*spoiler alert*

I really resonate with Charlie saying that he likes how one can be anonymous in NY, but places like his small town, you never shake off what people already think of you. Since I have grown up and still live in the small town I grew up in, I completely understand this statement. There could not have been a more truer quote for me from any of my books than this one.

I am happy that I picked this up. A romance between two literary agents, what is not to love? Especially since my love of books has me wanting to write one some day.

Comment with your favorite Emily Henry book.

I want it.

So I was sitting here listening to one of my favorite podcasts, and I felt myself be happy over the thought of being paid to review books. Then I realized that since writing a book has become difficult for me right now than I would want to be paid to review books whether it is by new authors or by someone who has been an author for awhile.

If you would love to help me start this dream job and would love to see your book reviewed on this blog, then please feel free to email me ( craven.lori91@gmail.com), and we can talk details there.