Wordless Wednesday - Peeps Art

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Last week we attended the annual Peep Show in Wesminster. It's a fundraiser for the county arts council that features sculpture and other artwork created from or inspired by the marshmallow treats.

I don't like Pink Floyd at all, but had to admit this piece based on their album cover was very well done.

Musical inspiration much more to my personal taste - Twenty One Pilots

This post is linked at Wordless Wednesday, hosted by Life at Rossmont; and at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea's Scribble Pad.

©2008-2018 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.

Recent Reads - The Pirate Bride

This post contains affiliate links.

The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo - This novel begins with eleven-year-old Maribel Cordoba on a ship bound for Cuba with her Spanish nobleman father. She's precocious and loves to read, especially books about sailing and pirates, but hardly knows her father and is still reeling from the abrupt recent changes in her life - her father took her from her home in Spain and told her that her mother and grandfather were gone. When the ship they are on comes under attack from a French privateer, Maribel is taken onto the French vessel for her safety and as a possible hostage.

Jean-Luc Valmont lives a double life - he is a New Orleans attorney, but he also has Letters of Marque and sails as a privateer under the name Captain Beaumont. He has long sought revenge on Antonio Cordoba, but found that it was not as sweet as he had expected. Instead he has the young daughter of his enemy on his ship and under his protection, and despite his misgivings, the young girl has proved herself a good sailor and an excellent lookout. She also quickly becomes a favorite of his crew members. Then one day his ship is attacked and destroyed, and only he and a few others survive. Maribel is one of the survivors, but Jean-Luc doesn't know this. His first mate takes Maribel to an island orphanage where she is nursed back to health and grows up.

Twelve years pass, and Maribel's family finally locate her and bring her to their new home in New Orleans, where she and Jean-Luc meet again. Now of course, she is grown up, and is trying to save her grandfather from bankruptcy, and first encounters Jean-Luc in his role as a lawyer. Something about the financial dealings of her family is strange though, and as she and Jean-Luc investigate, their safety is threatened again.

This adventure story is the second in the Daughters of the Mayflower series, and Maribel is the great-granddaughter of Mary Elizabeth Chapman from The Mayflower Bride. Maribel's childhood adventure accounts for about the first half of the book, and develops the two main characters, especially Maribel's innocent hero worship of the Captain. I thought the intrigue they encounter as adults in the second half of the story is a little vague at times, and the romance between them seems quite sudden, although completely expected. It's a good adventure story with a little romance thrown in; with a good-hearted pirate captain and an unconventional young woman, and a fanciful plot that is clean but perhaps a bit light on detail. The connection to the first book in the series is based on the family tree, so this book can be read as a stand-alone.

From the Publisher:

Maribel, Captive of the Caribbean,

Has Returned to Society Seeking Answers

The last time New Orleans attorney Jean-Luc Valmont saw Maribel Cordoba, a Spanish nobleman's daughter, she was an eleven-year-old orphan perched in the rigging of his privateering vesel proving herself as the best lookout on his crew. Until the day his infamy caught up with them all and innocent lives were lost. 

Unsure why he survived but vowing to make amends, Jean-Luc has buried his past life so deep that no one will find it--until a very much alive and very grown up Maribel Cordoba arrives on his doorstep and threatens all he now holds dear.

Twelve years after Maribel was pulled from the sea and deposited in an orphanage, hazy memories and vaguely recollected stories all collide in the presence of a man she never really forgot.

Other books in this series: The Mayflower Bride
Book Two in the Daughters of the Mayflower series.

Visit Barbour Publishing for more info on where to buy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

©2008-2018 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.

What I'm Reading - April 9, 2018

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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!

This is two weeks worth again, since I posted my Monthly Bookshelf review last week.

I finished reading . . .  

The Innkeeper's Daughter by Michelle Griep - plenty of intrigue and some plot twists in this historical romance. Johanna's instincts are to trust Alex, even though he seems to be a rogue and a gambler. Alex does his best to protect her from any danger that comes from associating with him, but if he tells her that he's working undercover to find a traitor, he'll put his entire mission at risk. (Read my full review HERE.)

I'm currently reading . . .

The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo - A French privateer seeks vengeance for the deaths of his father and brother, and winds up taking the young daughter of a Spanish nobleman on board his ship for several months. When their ship is attacked, some of the men that escape take young Maribel to an orphanage for her safety. But it's inevitable that she will meet with the privateer captain again . . .




The Weaver's Daughter: A Regency Romance Novel by Sarah E. Ladd - Kate's father is a traditional weaver and very opposed to the machines and modern improvements that Henry favors in the competing Stockton Mill.




As Death Draws Near (A Lady Darby Mystery) by Anna Lee Huber - Kiera and Gage are in Ireland investigating a murder at the request of Gage's father.

 


Next on the stack... 

In Places Hidden (Golden Gate Secrets) by Tracie Peterson
A Treacherous Curse (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Reybourn
Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi (Experiencing God) by David Crowder
Delilah: Treacherous Beauty by Angela Hunt
Downsizing The Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go by Marni Jameson




   

   

On my blogs recently . . .

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - Look to the Lord
Recent Reads - The Innkeeper's Daughter
Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - The Pirate's Bride
Scripture and a Snapshot - He Has Risen!
Monthly Bookshelf Review - March 2018
Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - The Innkeeper's Daughter

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Institute for Excellence in Writing (Blogging Through the Alphabet)
Homeschool Highlights - Springtime Edition! Week 31
Virtual Refrigerator - Marker Doodles
Homeschool Diploma - Celebrating Homeschool Graduations (A Homeschool Coffee Break Review)
From the High School Lesson Book - Third Quarter in Review
Homeschool Highlights - Holy Week Edition, Week 30
Writing Fiction in High School (Blogging Through the Alphabet)
The Benefits of Homeschooling Co-operatively on The Homeschool Post
Virtual Refrigerator - Holy Week

What are you reading?

©2008-2018 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.

Scripture and a Snapshot - Look to the LORD

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

~Psalm 105:1-4~

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

Sunday Scripture Blessings is hosted by Peabea Scribble Pad.

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

©2008-2018 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.

Recent Reads - The Innkeeper's Daughter

This post contains affiliate links.

 

The Innkeeper's Daughter by Michelle Griep - Since this story opens with Johanna Langley trying to figure out how she will manage to pay the rent to keep her family's inn in business, it seems like a simple economic struggle drama and romance, but when we're introduced to Alex Moore, we realize that there will be more going on in the story. Alex is a Bow Street Runner, and is being sent to Dover posing as a wine merchant and gambler in order to identify a traitor to the Crown. Alex is unhappy with the magistrate's insistence that he stay at the Blue Hedge Inn, since it's out of the way, and rather run-down, but it doesn't take long for him to form a bit of an attachment to Johanna and her little brother. And then the intrigue begins!

It's apparent to Alex that the inn has been used as a meeting place for supporters of the French, but who is involved in the plot? There are some very odd characters staying at the inn, and any of them may be suspect. In addition, Alex is supposed to be ingratiating himself with the viscount and his daughter, presumably because someone in that household may be involved in the plot. And as he walks the line between playing his part and getting to know Johanna, he regrets not being able to tell her everything. He knows that taking her into his confidence could put her in danger and put the entire mission in jeopardy, so what can he do?

Johanna is weighed down with the responsibility of keeping the inn operating and keeping her family out of the workhouse, and when her little brother is seriously injured her worries increase. She's grateful for Alex's help and realizes she is falling for him, but since he is convincing as a gambler she isn't sure she can trust him. But who can she trust? It seems like everyone, perhaps even her own mam, has something they are hiding.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot as Alex works to discover who is involved in the traitorous plot and what connection there might be to the inn or its guests, or to the smuggling that is commonplace in Dover. Both Alex and Johanna find themselves in dangerous situations more than once before the mysteries are solved and they can discover the truth.


From the publisher:

A London officer goes undercover to expose a plot against the Crown

Dover, England, 1808: Officer Alexander Moore goes undercover as a gambling gentleman to expose a high-stakes plot against the king--and he's a master of disguise, for Johanna Langley believes him to be quite the rogue . . . until she can no longer fight against his unrelenting charm.

All Johanna wants is to keep the family inn afloat, but when the rent and the hearth payment are due at the same time, where will she find the extra funds? If she doesn't come up with the money, there will be nowhere to go other than the workhouse--where she'll be separated from her ailing mother and ten-year-old brother.

Alex desperately wants to help Johanna, especially when she confides in him, but his mission--finding and bring to justice a traitor to the crown--must come first, or they could all end up dead.

By the same author: The Captive Heart

Visit Barbour Publishing for more info on where to buy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

©2008-2018 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.

Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - The Pirate Bride

This post contains affiliate links. 

Teaser Tuesdays 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!

From her place in the lookout post high up in the rigging, Maribel studied the stars overhead. Thought to most of the sailors on this vessel, duty in the lookout post was considered the worst assignment, it was her favorite.
~The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo, page 68

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

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is a weekly link-up hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. To participate, share the first paragraph (or two) of a book you're reading, or thinking about reading.

CHAPTER I
Aboard the Spanish vessel
Venganza near Havana

Mama may have been named for the great-grandmother who traveled from England on the Mayflower, but that fact certainly did not keep her in the land of her birth. Twelve-year-old Maribel Cordoba sometimes wondered why Mama refused to discuss anything regarding her relations in the colonies beyond the fact that she had disappointed them all by marrying a Spaniard without her papa's blessing.

The mystery seemed so silly now, what with Mama gone and the father she barely knew insisting she accompany him aboard the Venganza to his new posting in Havana. Maribel gathered the last reminder of Mary Lytton around her shoulders--a beautiful scarf shot through with threads of Spanish silver that matched the piles of coins in the hold of this magnificent sailing vessel--and clutched the book she'd already read through once since the journey began.

Here's the blurb:

Maribel, Captive of the Caribbean,
Has Returned to Society Seeking Answers

The last time New Orleans attorney Jean-Luc Valmont saw Maribel Cordoba, a Spanish nobleman's daughter, she was an eleven-year-old orphan perched in the rigging of his privateering vesel proving herself as the best lookout on his crew. Until the day his infamy caught up with them all and innocent lives were lost. 

Unsure why he survived but vowing to make amends, Jean-Luc has buried his past life so deep that no one will find it--until a very much alive and very grown up Maribel Cordoba arrives on his doorstep and threatens all he now hold dear.

Twelve years after Maribel was pulled from the sea and deposited in an orphanage, hazy memories and vaguely recollected stories all collide in the presence of a man she never really forgot.

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

©2008-2018 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.

Scripture and a Snapshot - He Has Risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners; be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words.

~Luke 24:1-8~

Who is a God like you, 

who pardons sin and forgives the transgression 

of the remnant of his inheritance? 

You do not stay angry forever 

but delight to show mercy.

You will again have compassion on us;

you will tread our sins underfoot

and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

You will be faithful to Jacob,

and show love to Abraham,

as you pledged on oath to our ancestors

in days long ago.

~Micah 7:18-20~

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

Sunday Scripture Blessings is hosted by Peabea Scribble Pad.

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

©2008-2018 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.