Happy Easter

However you celebrate - I hope you have a very peaceful and special day!

Nature

As a child, my family often went camping.  We also went hiking and fishing.  As teenagers, my dad took my brother and I hunting and dirt biking.  Although admittedly, that was during my very early teen years.  I took a long break from all of these activities once I got busy in high school.  I lived and went to college in New England and definitely went on some beautiful Autumn hikes while there.  Later, once I met my husband, I started hiking and camping again with him.  Not all of our camping trips were succesful; once we nearly froze in Northern California in October.  What were we thinking? I admit that I really do want a bathroom nearby, too.  We did (and do) enjoy being in the outdoors together.  In fact, we got teased quite a bit about our wedding registry because of the camping gear we had placed upon it.

Now we have children of our own.  While they were infants and toddlers the idea of going camping with them just did not sit well with me.  We have taken them on hikes though, and they love that.  Now that our children are well beyond the toddler stage, my husband and I want to take them camping.  I love fishing and one child wants to do that while the other absolutely does not. 

All of this being said, we are on the hunt for wonderful places that are relatively local to fish, hike and camp this summer - with a nearby bathroom, of course.  I am also trying to locate some books on the topic in order to immerse the imaginations of my children into the possibilities of nature vacations.  I am excited about this and hope it all comes together the way we'd like it to.

Booking Through Thursday - Spring

Booking Through Thursday is a fun, weekly, bookish question and response event. This week's question is:

Happy Spring, everyone! What book are you choosing to celebrate with?

I've been in a thoroughly frustrating book rut.  However, I started reading the latest by Victoria Alexander last night and it captured my attention immediately.  It is called The Importance of Being Wicked.  Also, if my friend is ready to start our next book club selection, I will begin The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

Teaser Tuesday's - The Importance of Being Wicked

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read

- Open to a random page

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is from Nook page 7 of Victoria Alexander's The Importance of Being Wicked:

"Fortunately," he continued, "everyone in the house escaped unharmed.  And no one was injured battling the blaze."

Teaser Tuesday's - Return to Sullivan's Island

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read

- Open to a random page

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is from page 3 of Return to Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank:

The house knew everything about them, and being there made them believe that they were safe from the outside world.  In their case, telling family tales was what they seemed to do best.

Wordless Wednesday - Handmade

Teaser Tuesday's - Entice by Ella Frank

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read

- Open to a random page

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is from Nook page 499 of Ella Frank's fabulous Entice:

"I called this my dreaming tree.  I would come down here and dream of where I wanted to escape to and who I wanted to meet."

Musing Monday's - Recent Purchase

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I recently purchased The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.  I'd been hearing a lot of good things about this book.  Then, last weekend, it was an extremely reasonable price for my Nook, so I snatched it up.  I love Historical fiction, which this book is; plus, I think it'll be a great book club read.  I'm looking forward to reading this one - hopefully in the near future.

Book Review - Exquisite by Ella Frank

I ran across a review of Exquisite by Ella Frank a couple of weeks ago.  Then, within a couple of days, it seemed that it was being talked about at nearly every bookish place I visit online.  So, I read the description on GoodReads, which is as follows:

Her heart was guarded…

Tormented by self-imposed guilt, Dr. Lena O’Donnell has spent the last nine years in survival mode. Struggling through days that seem to blend together and battling her way through each horrifying night, she’s determined that this is what she deserves…

Until he tore down the walls…

Mason Langley’s life is going exactly the way he planned it, until her. A confirmed bachelor and the successful owner of the hottest restaurant to hit Chicago, he never expects to be blindsided by an angry woman in a pair of scrubs. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to shake the doctor, and he finds himself liking the way she makes him feel.

Almost over night Lena finds her world turned upside down by Mason and the sexual desire they discover together. Slowly, she lowers her guard and invites him inside but when tragedy strikes she begins to believe that sometimes it’s better to be alone and safe than to love and lose.

I decided I would read this book - at some point.  It turned out that this and Entice (the second book in this series) were really good prices for my Nook so I got them and then went on to read a few other books.  Yesterday, after finishing a book set during World War 2, I decided I wanted to come back to the present and saw this on my Nook.  What the heck, I thought and started the book.  I stayed up until nearly 3:00 in the morning to finish the book!

I started Lena and Mason's story and they got under my skin.  Lena's self-imposed misery due to her guilt was heart breaking but I loved seeing Mason slowly but surely get through to her.  They don't like each other too much at first but they're funny in the way they go about dealing with one another.  And once they decide to actually try to get to know one another without all of the snarkiness the sparks fly even hooter and they eventually settle into a very sweet relationship.

Of course, then there is tragedy and a seemingly complete meltdown to things between them.  I went through a range of emotions with these characters; I laughed, cried, got mad and irritated, sighed in a good way more than once.  I finished the book with a very happy, albeit tired, smile on my face.

The secondary characters in this book are just as fascinating.  In fact, I'm going right into the second book, Entice.  The third book is due out this summer and I have a feeling it's going to feel like a long wait for it.