Bookshelf Review - January 2017

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January's Books Completed and Reviewed

The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen - Widow Jane Bell faces many challenges in trying to run the inn left to her by her husband, and hopes that her mother-in-law will be a help even though Jane has never felt her approval. (Read my full review HERE.)

The next morning, Jane crossed the yard to the inn, determined to tell Thora her decision. She wasn't certain how her mother-in-law would react but knew Patrick would not be pleased. She swallowed her dread and entered the office.

The Mark of the King by Jocelyn Green - Historical novel about a French midwife who was among the convicts brought to settle Louisiana. (Read my full review HERE.)

But Julianne's heart had been carved up and buried in the riverbank, in three different coffins of wood, weighted with rocks and covered in earth. And Marc-Paul knew it. "How could any man be satisfied with the little I have left to give?"

A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - The first Veronica Speedwell mystery, in which the intrepid Veronica enters into a partnership with the mysterious Stoker to solve a murder and discover how it was related to the truth of Veronica's birth. (Read my full review HERE.)

Sir Rupert looked at me intently. "Miss Speedwell, whether you like it or not, these documents prove that you are, in fact, the most dangerous person in the British Empire."

During January I started reading:

A Perilous Undertaking (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - The newly released second novel in this series, and Veronica and Stoker are investigating another murder and stumbling into all sorts of trouble and intrigue along the way.

"If you are expecting me to brandish a pistol and go haring off with you, crying 'Excelsior!,' you will be waiting until the crack of doom," he warned. "I am only doing this because I know there is no point in attempting to talk you out of it, and you will need someone to watch your back with a murderer on the loose."

  

Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owen - A YA fantasy in which three young men are surprised to find that they have been named the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of the lands of story and legend.

The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow. "It is the world, my boy," he said. "All the world, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the world, and it is yours to save or lose."

A Note Yet Unsung (A Belmont Mansion Novel) by Tamera Alexander - Rebekah is a talented musician, but it's still socially unacceptable for women to play in orchestras, so her attempt to audition for the Nashville Philharmonic didn't get very far. But I suspect she and the Maestro Whitcomb will meet again . . . 

She began playing, and he fell silent. Not because the music she played was so exquisite - though it was beautiful - but because he could see her fingers trembling as she played, yet the music itself reflected none of that fear.

Coming Up in February!

Rules of Murder (A Drew Farthering Mystery) by Julianna Deering

All in Good Time (The Gilded Legacy) by Maureen Lang

Sanditon by Jane Austen

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

   

     

This post will be linked at:

5 Minutes For Books - What's On Your Nightstand? Jan. 31st

The Book Date - January 2017: Reading Month In Review

Biblical Womanhood - All Things Books Linkup

©2008-2017 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 - January 30, 2017

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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 completed this week, but I've got three books on the go!


I'm currently reading . . .

A Note Yet Unsung (A Belmont Mansion Novel) by Tamera Alexander - This one is about a young woman who is a gifted musician but isn't accepted into the Nashville Philharmonic because at that time (shortly after the Civil War) it was considered unseemly for women to be in orchestras.




Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owen - a YA fantasy in which three young men become the caretakers of an atlas of the lands of imagination.



A Perilous Undertaking (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - the long-awaited second novel in this series, with Veronica and Stoker investigating a murder that leads them to quite a few unsavory discoveries.

  

Next on the stack... 

Rules of Murder (A Drew Farthering Mystery) by Julianna Deering
All in Good Time (The Gilded Legacy) by Maureen Lang

Sanditon by Jane Austen
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

    

     

 On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - Your Love, Lord
Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - Here, There Be Dragons


And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Homeschool Highlights - Another Quick Update
What We Love About Homeschooling
High School Literature for Reluctant Readers on The Homeschool Post
Virtual Refrigerator - Big Ben (Blogging Through the Alphabet)
What a Wonderful World - Virtual Curriculum Fair Week 4

What are you reading?

©2008-2017 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 - Your Love, Lord

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

~Psalm 36:5-9~

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

Glimpses is hosted by Embracing Every Day, a lifestyle blog by Barbie Swihart.

Sunday Scripture Blessings is hosted by Peabea Scribble Pad.

©2008-2017 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 - Here, There Be Dragons

This post contains affiliate links. 

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. 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! 

The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow. "It is the world, my boy," he said. "All the world, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the world, and it is yours to save or lose."

~Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owen, page 20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

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.

CHAPTER ONE
The Adventure Begins

   The slim, cream-colored note may just as well have been inserted into a bottle and tossed into the ocean rather than sent by post, for by the time John received it, the professor was already dead.

   For perhaps the hundredth time, John took the note out of his pocket.

My Dear John,   Please make all haste to London. There is much, too much I'm afraid, that should have been explained to you well before now. I only pray that this letter finds you well enough to travel, and that you will bear me no ill will for what is to come. I do not know if you are ready, and that is my own burden to bear. But I believe you are able, and mayhap that is enough. I hope it is,                            Professor Sigurdsson

Here's the blurb:

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

An extraordinary journey of myth, magic, and mystery, Here, There Be Dragons introduces James A. Owen as a formidable new talent.

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

©2008-2017 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/