Book Journey

Yes, this is a re-read. No… I don’t care. I adore this trilogy of magical strong female protagonists. Revisiting this book is like visiting with old friends. ~Sheila

After an abusive marriage leaves her with nothing to lose, drastic measures are taken and Nel finds herself starting over with a new name and hopefully a new change in life on Three Sisters Island. Falling in love with the quaint town, easygoing residents, and a job that is custom fit for her, Nel begins to relax and feels she can finally say she has found her home.

Yet a darkness is coming, Mia, the beautiful Book Store and Cafe owner with magical skills feels it, and Ripley, the Sheriff’s sister with her own magic abilities (even if she denies it) feels something is coming as well. 
What steps will need to be taken to keep Nel safe, and what magical forces that surround not only the island, but the three women as well. 

Probably my third time through this series. Possibly four. I do not typically re-read books unless something magical happened in them … and to me by reading them. Honestly the re-read shelf is small…
Harry Potter Series – yes, falls into that category (although it has been YEARS since I have read this whole series)
Summerhouse by Jude Deveroux is another one…. (looking at the archives here looks liek I have read that one 4 times as well)

Interestingly enough… all of these books have a couple things in common: Strong Characters, and some sort of magic. Hmmm….. I have a type…

For those of you new to the book/trilogy… I am not a fan of many of Nora Roberts’s books but this trilogy – HIGHLY recommended. If you like strong female protagonists, a little romance, a little magic/ suspended belief – I encourage you to give this a try. 
Reading it again, it was still just as good as the first time. 

“A road trip of discovery and friendship building, a mild, enjoyable ride”. ~ Sheila

When 21 year old Tanner Quimbley suffers an injury that ends her dream, she turns into a recluse, living in her parents home, holed up in her room playing video games. At about the time that Tanner’s mother has had enough of her “Failure to Launch” daughter; 83 year old Louise Wilt slips on the rug in her home and her daughter insists she has someone stay with her. 

What starts out is a win-win for all involved…. Tanner moves out of her parents and takes a room in Louise’s home, still playing her videos games and only showing her face when she drives Loise to an appointment or the store, and Louise still loving her independence and enjoying her crossword puzzles and self appointed happy hour. 

Yet in a short time, Louise’s occasionally strange behavior has Tanners attention, and when a news report flashes an artists rendition of what the mastermind behind a jewelry heist from years ago looks strangely like the woman she is carrying for…

Tanner is about to realize that her ward has a little more to her than what meets the eye, and for that matter…. so does Tanner.

I listened to this book on audio while painting the front room to my home… for the record, it is Sherwin Williams, Peppercorn (I love paint names!)

This book was selected by the Bookies Book Club for our January read. I personally found the book to be enjoyable, but light. It’s a good smooth story that is both heartwarming and interesting, but there is no big wild happening, and I questioned what our book club would discuss. In a word… it was fun and on a scale of 1 – 5 I gave it a 3, an average read.

While my rating for the book was a 3, the Bookies discussion was a 5. We had a great discussion around friendships and shared some stories of first impressions (and being wrong ;P ), as well as friendships that survive the test of time – and where age does not matter. 

The Bookies, for the most part gave the book a higher rating than I did, giving it an above average rating over all.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are looking for something easy to get into and enjoyable all around – pick up The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise.

Every year we have a few that come in New Years Day – here is the update to yesterdays post with another group of first books being read into the new year :) For the full list of books and photos – see the First Books Of 2024 post.

Hey all -how is January going for you? Minnesota is as expected… SNOWY. Not my favorite time of year by any means however it does lend itself as more “indoor girl” time which means… more reading. While I have nothing impressive to report yet – (my days have been filled with work, meetings, event planning, article writing, and Kylie time!) – I do have vacation starting at the end of this month which I hope to fill days in the sun… with great reads 🙂

Here is the update to our First Book entrees for 2023. Thanks to all who participated – for the full list of books (linked) as well as all the pics for 2023 (this is just the update) – see the original post.

Have an amazing rest of your weekend!

~Sheila

This is definitely the most disorganized First Book event I ever hosted. Yet despite my lack of creating the event, posting my intention on Good Reads, and overall communicating – many of you came through with a first book! HUZZAH!
That said – if you did not get in on this year, I am extending photos to come in through January 7th. You can Facebook Message me (Sheila DeChantal) or email me sdechantal@gmail.com) I will update this post next Saturday.

For those of you who sent in – thank you! I believe I captured all of you in the following photos – if I missed you let me know. Below the photos, you will see the list of the books selected this year with links for you to find them yourself. You will also find several authors in the mix – and for myself… I show up twice as I could not make up my mind. 😀
It was an interesting year with few duplicates unlike past years – a diverse set of reads!

Thank you again! Happy New Year!

• Look Back by Tatsuki
• Josie and Vic by Debra Thomas
• Keeper Of The Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
• The Book Of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
• The Last Summer by Karen Swan
• Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan
• The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharina
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• The Book Haters Book Club by Gretchen Anthony (2 selected)
• The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
• A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
• A Wish For Winter by Viola Shipman
• Lavender House by Lev AS Rosen
• The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
  Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (2 selected)
• In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
• A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Anne Fowler
• Fairy Tale by Stephen King
• Fallen by Linda Costello
• Part Of Your World by Abby Jimenez
• Breath-Less by Amy McCulloch
• Babel by RF Kuang
• Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (2 selected)
• The Shoemaker’sWife by Adriana Trigiani
• The Address by Fiona Davis
• Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
• Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• A Million Things by Emily Spurr
• Hang The Moon by Jeanette Walls
• The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson
• City Under O8ne Roof by Iris Yamashita
• The Choice By Nora Roberts
• Spearhead by Adam Makos
• The Sound Of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan
• The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
• The Return Of The Gods by Jonathan Cahn
• The Chef by James Patterson
• My Heart Is A Chains8aw by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris
• All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
• They’re Going To Love You by Meg Howrey
• A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
• We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
• Beyond The Point by Claire Gibson
• Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide To Happiness
• Verity by Colleen Hoover (3 selected)
• It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
• The Last Chairlift by John Irving
• The Ski Jumpers by Peter Geye
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey
• The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
• The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar
  The Circus Train by Amita Parakh
• Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
• Country of Glass by Sara Katz
• How Not To Die by Michael Greger MD
• Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
• The Story Of Edgar Sawtell by David Wroblewski
• The Secret Bridge by Amy Le Feuvre
• Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
• Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover
• A World Of Curiosities by Louise Penny
• BREATH by James Nester
• Murder In An Irish Village by Carlene O Conner
• The Little Red Riding Book by Brandon Royal
• Brood by Jackie Polzin
• LIVID by Patricia Cornwell
• Night Flight by Antoine de Saint Exupery
• How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
• HORSE by Geraldine Brooks
• The Art Of The Catapult by William Gurstelle
• Well Read. Well Fed.
• Parenting From the Inside Out by Daniel J Siegel
• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
  

It’s Happening! I am excited to announce that this is the 10th Year of The First Book Event! If you put “First Book” in the search on this page you can bring up the years of fun posts and pictures of people all over the world with their first book of the year that they are planning to read or are reading into the New Year! It’s a great way to get ideas on what is being read and what to add to your own To Be Read list!

So what is First Book?  First Book is the first book you plan on reading in the New Year.  It can be a long-coveted read you have not had time for, a guilty pleasure read like a re-read of a favorite…  really it can be anything – it is…after all…YOUR First Book.

Make it AWESOME.

Then, once you have picked what it will be, email/ Facebook message/ text me a picture of you with the book (send it to sdechantal@gmail.com).  This adds to the excitement of the First Book.  You have between now and December 31st to send in your choice.  On January 1st I will post all the pics in a collage format of all of you around the world that are doing First Book.  I do hope you will join me – friends, family, fellow book lovers, a friend of a friend of a friend… you there in the corner looking at this crazy site for the first time – you as well.  I enjoy putting this together every year and seeing all the great books and pics come in really makes my heart smile.

Here are just a few of the over 100 books that came in last year:

It’s fun. It’s easy to do.
1. Take a photo of you with the first book you plan to read for 2023

2. send it to me – sdechantal@gmail.com – or if you have my number text it to me or send it on messenger through Facebook.

Have FUN!!!! Happy Christmas!!!

~Sheila

In 1860, When Elizabeth Packard didn’t believe in religion in quite the same way her husband did, having her own beliefs and speaking her mind – her husband did what he had every right to do – he had her put in an asylum.

Mother of six, intelligent, and independent Elizabeth was sentenced on her husband’s word alone – no trial – to the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland. The conditions are horrific, and unclean, with the inability to go outside. Elizabeth quickly discovers she is not the only sane woman in the asylum – imprisoned for such things as – laziness, opinionated, and crazy – decidedly so by no court – but an opinion.

Elizabeth stays strong in her beliefs, fueled by the reality of what she is seeing, and makes it her mission to not only secure her own freedom – but of those who are also wrongfully accused – not only for the present but for the future as well.

My book club read this book for our September 2022 discussion. I for one was amazed I had never heard of Elizabeth Packard and the great strides she made for women. The book was engrossing and at times hard to read. I found myself looking things up to go deeper into the research of what had happened – including the list I found of things that women were sent away for. By that list, as you can see in the above picture of my book club that was present the night of the discussion – we all could have been put away for something.

I have been talking about this book to anyone who will listen. An important read that brought forth a deep discussion of the current changes in our world. Highly recommended. This was my favorite book discussion so far this year.

Sheila