Book Blogger Hop - June 24, 2016

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No short answer for this week's Book Blogger Hop question from Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer! Picking favorites is always hard for me.

Who is your favorite fictional couple? 

The first couple that came to mind was Darcy and Elizabeth, because - of course! But that's an easy way out answer, and because their creator didn't continue their story past the wedding day, I decided that a favorite fictional couple should be one whose long-term relationship continues past the courtship. And because I am notorious for not being able to give just one favorite in any category, I've got a list.

Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane in the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn - Julia meets Brisbane when she hires him to investigate the death of her husband in the first novel in this series. Julia thinks of herself as the most ordinary member of her eccentric family, but as her relationship with the mysterious Brisbane develops, she discovers her own ability to defy convention and pursue what she wants. Brisbane is a wonderfully enigmatic leading man, with a sketchy past and a dark side, and out of his love for Julia he initially tries to protect her from himself. Of course she manages to break through that defense, and they have a passionate and adventurous marriage relationship as she insists on being involved in solving mysteries with him. Deanna Raybourn is one of my favourite authors (see all my posts featuring her books HERE), and her other books feature quirky and unusual heroines and couples as well.


 


Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage in the Lady Darby Mystery series by Anna Lee Huber - another couple that solves mysteries together in a Victorian setting, they also meet in the course of investigating a murder. Kiera is an eccentric, widowed artist, and her past experience in illustrating anatomy for her late husband means she has an observant eye for details needed to solve the case, but also means she is a suspect. Sebastian is the investigator, and the simmering attraction between them is evident from the first. Their relationship is full of ups and downs as they move towards marriage and try to find the balance in respecting each other and working together. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the next book in this series - just a couple of weeks away now! (Another of my favorite authors - see all my posts about the Lady Darby Mysteries by Anna Lee Huber.)


 


Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves from the Lady Emily Mystery series by Tasha Alexander - seeing a trend yet? Victorian setting and mysteries. And that's not the only similarity, because once again the couple meets as a result of a murder investigation. In this case, the series opens with Lady Emily newly widowed and raising some questions about whether there had been foul play. Colin is one of her late husband's friends who steps in to help - and possibly protect - Emily, and a relationship develops between them. As the series goes on, Emily and Colin marry and continue as partners in investigation. The next in this series is slated for release in October! (Yes, another favorite author - see all my posts about the Lady Emily Mysteries by Tasha Alexander)






Jamie and Claire from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon - For the sake of naming at least one fictional couple that I love that are NOT Victorian detectives! The love story between a Jacobite highlander and the 20th century nurse unexpectedly sent back in time is unique in its development and the challenges faced by the couple. I started reading the series a few years ago, and have not yet finished, but I'm hoping to do so this year.




Who are your favorites?

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday - Sunset

This post is linked at Wordless Wednesday, hosted by Life at Rossmont.

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - The Pharaoh's Daughter

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jenn at Books and Beat. 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!
• Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers! 

"There's a difference between not wanting a baby and not wanting to give birth, Ankhe." The truth was, the moment Anippe realized she might never have a baby, she wanted one all the more.
~The Pharaoh's Daughter: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews, page 89

  

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First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is a weekly link-up hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or two) of a book you're reading, or thinking about reading. 

PROLOGUE
[The angel of the Lord] replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." 
-Judges 13:18

   The royal linen closet is a dark hiding place, but I'm a big girl -- almost five inundations old -- so I'm trying not to be afraid.

   I wonder . . . is it dark in the underworld? Was Ummi Kiya afraid when she and the baby inside her crossed over this morning?

   The priest ordered me and my little sister to the birthing chamber. Ankhe is only three. She wouldn't go.

   The priest was angry, so he came to our chamber and grabbed Ankhe's hand. "You must see the beauty of Tawaret -- goddess of childbirth!"

   Instead we saw Ummi Kiya's blood poured out on the straw under her birthing stool. Her light-brown skin was white as milk. The midwives pulled out a baby boy, but he was as gray as granite.

Here's the blurb:

Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt's good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment that awakened in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to become the bride of Sebak, the kind but quick-tempered captain of Pharaoh Tut's army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives -- women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.

When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt's gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son, Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.

As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan for them all?

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

What I'm Reading - June 20, 2016

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This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! I also link up with Tales of a Pee Dee Mama for D.E.A.R. Monday (Drop Everything And Read).

I finished reading . . .

Nothing finished this week, but I'm close on a couple of the books on my "currently reading" list!


I'm currently reading . . .

Dawn at Emberwilde (A Treasures of Surrey Novel)by Sarah E. Ladd - loving this one, and will be finished very soon!





Lady of Ashes by Christine Trent - this keeps getting better!




My Mother's Quilts: Devotions from a Legacy of Needlework by Ramona Richards - will be finished this soon as well. I already posted a review though, because it has info on a giveaway. You can read my (p)review HERE and get the link to the drawing for one of the quilts featured in the book.




 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy - took a bit of a break from school last week, so we didn't really work on this.




Next on the stack...

The Pharaoh's Daughter: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews
Charity's Cross (Charles Towne Belles) (Volume 4)by MaryLu Tyndall
Lady in the Mist: A Novel (The Midwives) by Laurie Alice Eakes

  

   

  
On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - Father's Day 2016
Book Blogger Hop - June 17, 2016
My Mother's Quilts - Win a Friendship Quilt!
Wordless Wednesday - Rain
Teaser Tuesdays - Dawn at Emberwilde

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Homeschool Weekly - Kittens Edition
Progeny Press - The Scarlet Pimpernel Study Guide
Virtual Refrigerator - A Scarlet Pimpernel
Flag Day 2016
From the High School Lesson Book - Transitioning to Summer School

What are you reading?

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Scripture and a Snapshot - Father's Day 2016

I am writing to you, dear children,

because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children,

because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

because you are strong,

and the word of God lives in you,

and you have overcome the evil one.

~ I John 2:12-14~

Happy Father's Day!

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

Let Us Grow is hosted by Let Us Walk Worthy

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Book Blogger Hop - June 17, 2016

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Here is this week's Book Blogger Hop question from Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

Do you have your photo in your profile? 

Do you know, I had to double check?! I know my photo appears on my homeschool blog, but I wasn't entirely sure it was displayed here on Just A Second. It is - under "About Me" on the right-hand side. And if you go to my Google+ page, the cover photo is a bigger picture of me and my goofy family. Both the photos are a couple years old now, but they work for me.

©2008-2016 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/