Audio books, audio books, and MORE audio books!

I was given the great gift of an audible member ship for my birthday and Christmas. Now I'm ready to select out a bunch of books...

Here's what's on my list so far:






Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins












The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson















The Magicians by Lev Grossman

To Review: "In the Shadow of Denali" by Tracie Peterson & Kimberley Woodhouse

I love Alaska and wilderness books...so I'm happy to say I'll soon be reading and reviewing In the Shadow of Denali by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse! It's book one of The Heart of Alaska series. I can't wait to share my review with you!

"Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance

I haven't read much nonfiction lately, so I am looking forward to reading and discussing Hillbilly Elegy with a book club through my church. I'd had a few people mention how much they enjoyed the book, so when it was announced as our January book club selection, I was ready to jump in right away.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

What were the best books you read in 2016?

I read a lot of good ones! If I had to choose, these would be the top-tier of my 2016 reading!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Door that Led to Where by Sally Gardner
This Is Not the End by Jesse Jordan
Dark Places and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Whispers in the Reading Room by Shelley Gray
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

And, what are you looking forward to reading in 2017?

Review: "A Proper Drink" by Robert Simonson

A Proper Drink tells the story of "the contemporary craft cocktail revival" in more than 300 dense pages. The story weaves through 36 chapters, many of which feature at least one cocktail recipe. The recipes go beyond the ingredients to include background information such as the year, place, and person involved in the creation.

The book also includes an extensive index, which I think is very useful. I think many readers may be more inclined to seek out a chapter on their favorites, rather than reading cover to cover.

Personally, I enjoyed reading about the Aviary in Chicago and the Trident cocktail. One of my friends told me of her visit to the Aviary and the incredible cocktails she saw served there. I never tried it myself, but still hope to someday. The Trident cocktail contains aquavit, which is an alcohol of particular interest for me and my husband after we learned about linet aquavit, the liquor that travels around the world before being sold.

However, I found much of the book dry and unengaging. I guess the expected audience (bartenders?) would be much more enthusiastic about the history and people. I was hoping for lighter snippets of stories combined with recipes. As is, the cocktails are on the complicated side as far as ingredients and require a well-stocked bar.

I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books, but was not required to write a positive review.

"From This Day Forward" by Lauraine Snelling

From This Day Forward by Lauraine Snelling is the fourth book in the Song of Blessing series. I hadn't read any of the other books in the series, but that did not cause me any trouble. If you're familiar with the series though, you may already know some of the side characters.

In this story, Deborah MacCallister is a lovesick nurse who can't get any attention from Toby, the man she spend the whole book (and most of her life since childhood) pining over. Toby is a construction foreman who spends all of his time trying to build a new school for deaf children. Between her own busy hospital shifts, Deborah tries a few desperate measures to win his affections. She takes him food, does his laundry, and even enlists the help of the women of the town to help push the two together. When a handsome new school teacher arrives in town, Toby is suddenly very concerned that he might lose Deborah, though he doesn't really act upon those fears until she goes away for a month-long hospital-training trip in Chicago.


Though the main point of contention in the novel is "who will Deborah choose?" between her childhood crush and the school teacher, the latter doesn't arrive until two-thirds into the book. Further, she doesn't really even seriously consider him as an option, which ends up leaving the main story of the book "when will Toby and Deborah get together."

The book also features several in-depth side stories, some of which seem to get as much if not more page space than Deborah and Toby. There's wild dogs that must be hunted, a spat between siblings, and a nonverbal mother raising her infant child with the help of other women of the community. Though all of these sub-plots add to the picture of Blessing as an idyllic Christian town, it also just takes up a lot of extra pages, obscuring the main point of the book. I really liked some of the characters and was invested in the Deborah-Toby-school teacher romance, but it took way to long to for anything to actually happen.

The book gives a nice overview of a Christ-focused community and includes several prayers and mentions of Bible passages. Perhaps those already familiar with the Blessing series will be much more entertained by the sweeping descriptions of everyone else's lives in the community. For me, I'd have to pass as there isn't enough of a story here.

I received a free copy of this book, but was not required to write a positive review.

Wee Alphas: 26 A to Z Postcards, from Angelfish to Zebra

Wee Alphas: 26 A to Z Postcards, from Angelfish to Zebra are a set of postcards that fold out of a book accordion style. Each card features an adorable, simple animal on a white background. The animal is in the shape of the letter its name begins with (F for fox, P for Panda, T for turtle, etc).





On the reverse side, there's a simple activity to fill out that features the letter. There are some that use six check-boxes to describe the person the post card is addressed to (You are: Incredible, Imaginative, Inventive, Intelligent, Interesting, Itchy). Some prompt you to draw a picture of your favorite thing that starts with a letter. Each has a PS that asks if you can find the hidden letter in each elephant. The third type of card is a few lines for a fun fact or a statement (Did you know? Just wanted to say...).

First of all, I absolutely love the idea of sharing this with a child. I've been sending the postcards to my three-year-old niece. I think she may be a little young to fully appreciate them, but she'll understand most of it. The illustrations are creative with the letter worked into the animal design, and the colors are simple and colorful but not overdone.  I do wish there was more variety in the activities outside of the three templates.

I received a free copy of this book, but was not required to write a positive review.