Connect Five Books - A Colorful Title

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The Book Date is hosting the Connect Five Books challenge throughout 2019, and the challenge is to look for connections between books we read. Some examples would be five books of the same genre, five books by the same author, five books with a similar theme, five debut books, and so on.

It's taken me six full months, but here is a Connect Five from me! Five books with a color in the title.

The White City by Grace Hitchcock

The White City: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime is the first in a fascinating new series of historical novels based on true crime stories. While attending the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, Winnifred Wylde witnesses what she believes is a kidnapping. She tries to convince her father, an inspector with the Chicago police, to investigate, and he eventually concedes to letting her go undercover as secretary to the suspected kidnapper -- if she takes her pistol for protection and Jude Thorpe, a policeman, for bodyguard.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

The Blue Castle tells the story of Valency Stirling and her discovery of a new world of love and happiness. She escapes the influence and control of her overbearing family and pursues her own interests and new friendships.

The Golden Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse

The Golden Bride is part of the Daughters of the Mayflower series. Olivia Brighton is a young window working her brother's restaurant in San Francisco during the gold rush. Her brother's friend Joseph Sawyer is involved in local politics and especially in trying to help the Chinese that are trapped in forced labor. The more Joseph gets pulled into investigating crime in the city, the less Olivia sees him, and the greater the dangers to both of them.

The Pink Bonnet by Liz Tolsma

The Pink Bonnet: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime is part of the same series as The White City. Widowed in Memphis during 1932, Cecile Dowd struggles to provide for her three-year-old daughter. She has a neighbor babysit little Millie Mae, but the woman unwittingly gives the little girl over to Georgia Tann, the corrupt Memphis Tennessee Children's Home Society director suspected of the disappearance of hundreds of children. Eventually, a sympathetic lawyer helps Cecile search for Millie, which uncovers a deep level of corruption that affects hundreds of families and threatens their lives.

The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson

The Red Door Inn is set on Prince Edward Island, which is what drew me to the book. Marie Carrington is running from bed memories and looking for safety on PEI, where she agrees to help Jack Sloane decorate his bed-and-breakfast in time for the tourist season. Seth Sloane is the nephew that is helping Jack while trying to forget about the fiancee who broke his trust. Marie and Seth don't trust each other, but they do agree that they need to work together to get the Red Door Inn up and running on time.

This post will be linked at Connect Five Books June - August

#connect5books2019

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Recent Reads - The Red Door Inn

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The Red Door Inn (Prince Edward Island Dreams Book 1): A Novel by Liz Johnson - Marie Carrington is on the run from her past, and hopes that she can find a refuge on Prince Edward Island. When an elderly man named Jack strikes up a conversation with her and then offers to pay her ferry fare to the island, she doesn't want to accept, but doesn't have much choice. Jack quickly realizes Marie knows something about colors and decorating, and he's determined to get her help in opening up his bed and and breakfast. Marie is hesitant to accept his offer, but can't help but like him and feel safe.

That is, she feels pretty safe until she meets Seth, Jack's nephew. Seth is overly suspicious of Marie and thinks she may be trying to scam Jack somehow. Turns out Seth also has past hurts that he is trying to forget and overcome, so he and Marie are both uneasy and not willing to trust. They go several rounds of one step forward and two steps back before being able to let down their guards and begin to consider the possibility that they might belong together.

 The longer Marie stays at the Red Door Inn, the more she feels at home, but the trio runs into several snags and setbacks. A major setback means Jack is out of start-up money, and Marie knows she can help but it will also give away her location and make it easy for her past to catch up with her. Will she run away from the home she has come to love, or will she face her fears - and her father - and stay?

This was a pretty good story and I enjoyed the premise of the unlikely partners working together to open the bed and breakfast. I loved the setting as well. However, there were some weak spots in the plot that bothered me, particularly the lack of information at the beginning. The story jumps right in with Jack starting up a conversation with Marie, with no context or introduction, and I felt that it took too long to even get hints about why Marie was on the run. Character description was another aspect that was odd. Over and over again during the first half of the book, it was emphasized that Marie was so tiny and seemed so frail. It was in the narrative, and Jack and Seth both comment on it, and I found it repetitive and overdone. All things considered, however, an enjoyable cozy type of contemporary read.

This is outside my genre for the 2019 Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge.

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Scripture and a Snapshot - Lead Me To the Rock

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
For you, God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

~Psalm 61:1-5~

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Monthly Bookshelf Review - June 2019

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June has been a busy whirlwind of a month, which I hadn't quite expected. We had days jam packed with appointments and meetings and outings of all kinds, and we finished off the month with a bit of travel. But I did some reading along the way - just not as much as I thought I would. The To Be Read stack is large! I also thought this would be posted on Friday, but something didn't go as planned so I'm a bit late.

June's Books Completed and Reviewed

The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse - Jackie Rivers is managing a Pony Express station when Elijah Johnson shows up looking for clues to the whereabouts of his employer's long lost daughter, and it raises questions about her own past. (Read my full review HERE)



The Pink Bonnet: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime by Liz Tolsma - With the help of a sympathetic lawyer, widow Cecile Dowd is trying to find her three-year-old daughter who has fallen into the clutches of a corrupt adoption agent. (Read my full review HERE)

A Dangerous Collaboration (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - Veronica and Stoker look for answers regarding the mysterious disappearance of a bride on her wedding day, and foul play is definitely suspected! (Read my full review HERE)

The Noble Guardian (The Bow Street Runners Trilogy) by Michelle Griep - After saving her from a highwayman attack, horse patrol captain Samuel Thatcher winds up escorting Abigail Gilbert across the moors to her fiance's home.  (Read my full review HERE)

During June I started reading:

 An Artless Demise (A Lady Darby Mystery) by Anna Lee Huber - Lady Kiera and her new husband Sebastian Gage find themselves in difficult situations when body snatchers strike in London and Kiera's past is raked up.

The Red Door Inn (Prince Edward Island Dreams Book 1): A Novel by Liz Johnson - Marie Carrington and Seth Sloane are both trying to escape their painful memories and wind up on Prince Edward Island helping Jack get a bed and breakfast up and running.




A Caribbean Mystery: A Miss Marple Mystery by Agatha Christie - Miss Marple is vacationing in the Caribbean and is intrigued by an old soldier's story of a man that seemed to have gotten away with murder.

Coming Up in July!

The Heart Changer by Jarm Del Boccio
Unshakeable: A Story of Unwavering Faith and Conviction by Elizabeth Wiens
The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country by Helen Russell
A Study In Scarlet Women (The Lady Sherlock Series) by Sherry Thomas

    

  

This post will be linked at:

Feed Your Fiction Addiction - June 2019 Wrap-Up Round-Up & Giveaway

©2008-2019 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/ 

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Share Four Somethings - June 2019

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I feel a bit rushed thanks to a busy week and way too many deadlines happening all at once! Hopefully it won't take me too long to share Something Loved, Something Said, Something Learned, and Something Read during this month, and I'm sure it will be a bright spot in my evening!

Something Loved

As always, so much to love and be thankful for! But one achievement that stands out is my daughter earning her driver's license. She looks like it's no big deal in this photo, but really it's just that she's a little annoyed that she had to wait for her actual card to arrive in the mail.

As we neared the end of the month, the hubster and I were able to take a short vacation to southern Ontario to visit friends and family. We had enough time to spend an afternoon and evening at Port Dover. And no trip to Port Dover is complete without having a meal of Lake Erie perch, and it was especially delicious this time!

Something Said

Fitting in, it turns out, is changing who you are to be accepted. But belonging is being accepted for who you are. ~Sabbath Society

Conversation, random encounters with strangers, the majesty of nature, once had more opportunity to draw us into self-confrontation. Today, their power is reduced by a screen so pervasive and compelling we feel bereft without it. The degree to which we remain hooked to the constant flow of diversion is the degree to which we avoid knowing ourselves. . . Only by having the courage to focus can we grow. Otherwise, we are forever wandering in circles, our eyes glued to a vision of life that glows but, in the end, leads nowhere. ~Dean Abbot, in the article "Self-Denial in an Age of Distraction" at The Imaginative Conservative

Something Learned

One of the things I'm very busy with is trying to get lesson plans plugged in for the two classes I'll be teaching at our homeschool co-op starting in September. I want to get them done and printed out so I don't feel compelled to renew my subscription to my online planner. Anyway, as a result I've already started learning background on the novels and authors we'll be studying in the Literature class.

This week I'm also getting a little preview experience of what our empty nest might be like. Our daughter is working at camp this week, and our boys went to Creation, so the hubster and I have the house to ourselves. It's not a bad thing, but at the same time I'm so glad that the kids aren't moving out just yet!

Something Read

I completed four books in June, and I've got quite a stack I'm working on now. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for June 2019. (Will be posted on June 28th)

The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse
The Pink Bonnet: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime by Liz Tolsma
A Dangerous Collaboration (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn
The Noble Guardian (The Bow Street Runners Trilogy) by Michelle Griep

This post is linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

©2008-2019 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/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.