Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Color me a litle wackadoodle… but ever since One Flew Over The Coocoo’s Nest, I have had a little thing for books and movies centered around insane asylums.  And if you also are drawn to such topics… you know they are few and far between.  Nobody…. quite literally…

wants to go there.

Well, until now.  When Iris Dunleavy during Civil War time is convicted of madness for being willfull (and yes, I should watch my back!), she is sent to Sanibel Asylum – not a nice little r and r at a local country club, nope… a full fledge asylum with a plethora of interesting, and colorful, characters. 

The plan is that Iris is to work the program and be restored to the obedient woman her hubby thinks she should be and then she will also be restored to her wifely duties.  Iris of course knows she is not mad, simply strong willed and standing up for her rights.  However… mad may be preferable to her life she had…

And then there is Ambrose Weller, a war-haunted Confederate soldier who is calmed only by the color blue.  Iris finds herself drawn to him and as she plans a way out of this dreadful place she ponders if she could possibly make a break for two, bringing Ambrose along with her to a life she knows nothing of…

I have been reading a few lighter more “summery” reads as of late and Blue Asylum is quite a bit different from that genre.  Quite truly Historical Fiction Blue Asylum is a book with a back bone, and that backbone is named Iris Dunleavy.

I was happy to meet the strong and witty Iris within the pages of this book.  She is just the type of female character that keeps me turning pages.  Having heard how well Kathy Hepinstall writes, this brilliant protagonist did not surprise me… however, what did, was the surrounding characters who also felt three-dimensional, and actually made me feel for them.  I like that.

Feeling.

A cast of fun characters burst forth from Hepinstalls mind – a woman who like to swallow things… really anything… rings, whatever.  Another who believes her husband is beside her as she talks to him and walks with him day in and day out…  another, a man whose feet are too heavy to move… and of course Ambrose, who is haunted by a war that only the color blue seems to sooth…

What I really enjoyed is how Iris interacted and even helped each person in a way.

a little bit historical… a little bit romance… for me a pleasant mix that left me thinking after that final page was closed.

Little bonus for Asylum enthusiasts…. I found this site for famous Asylums

Thank you TLC for sending me this review copy

that kept me reading and cheering Iris on!

Morning Meanderings and A Giveaway you will not want to miss!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)58 Comments

Good morning and happy Wednesday! 

Looks like it will be a rainy gloomy day here today – sky is hazy gray….

I wanted to announce that I have a new giveaway!  I reviewed The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty last week and so enjoyed it!  Now I have been told that I can offer a SIGNED copy here of The Chaperone – and that my friends is SSSQQQUUUEEEEE worthy!  😀

Here is what is being said about The Chaperone:

  • “It’s impossible not to be completely drawn in by The Chaperone. Laura Moriarty has delivered the richest and realest possible heroine in Cora Carlisle, a Wichita housewife who has her mind and heart blown wide open, and steps–with uncommon courage–into the fullness of her life. What a beautiful book. I loved every page.”–Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

  • “What a charming, mesmerizing, transporting novel! The characters are so fully realized that I felt I was right there alongside them. A beautiful clarity marks both the style and structure of The Chaperone.”–Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife and Adam & Eve

  • “The Chaperone is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting you to another time and place, but even more importantly delivering a poignant story about people so real, you’ll miss and remember them long after you close the book.”–Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers

  • “THE CHAPERONE is the enthralling story of two women… In this layered and inventive story, Moriarty raises profound questions about family, sexuality, history, and whether it is luck or will – or a combination of the two – that makes for a wonderful life.”  –O, the Oprah Magazine

  • “A fun romp” –Good Housekeeping

  • Laura’s fanpage

SO what to do to enter…..

1.  Leave a comment here telling me when you were a teen, what your “Big Dream” was for your life.  If you are a teen, share what the dream is for your life.  😀

2.  Leave a comment on my review of The Chaperone, and if you already have just let me know here. 

That’s it.  I will draw a winner on the last day of May!

 

Have a super day – I am at work, and hopefully a workout and a meeting tonight….but this ends my evening commitments for the week and I am THRILLED about that.  😀

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Before I Fall was my first Lauren Oliver read and I remember

LOVING it.  I thought it was brilliant, and now that Camryn has

read it too, I am considering a re-read….

Sheila

Before I Fall

Before I Fall is a book written by Lauren Oliver. The main character, Sam, is a senior in high school. In the beginning of the book, you witness Sam’s death-by-car-crash. Sam lives the day of her death over and over again, each time realizing the mistakes she’s made with her life. Sam’s best friends, Lindsay, Elody, and Ally. They are the most popular girls at school, and bullies at that. Sam realizes that how she treats people isn’t a good thing. Sam and her friends main target, Juliet Sykes, or “Psycho” is constantly picked on at school. When Juliet commits suicide the same day Sam dies, Sam thinks that she has to stop Juliet from killing herself in order to stop her reoccurring death day. Problems such as Sam’s boyfriend, Rob, who is getting impatient with Sam and turning into a jerk right before her eyes, old conflicts with her best friends, particularly Lindsay, and feelings for her childhood best friend, Kent. Can Sam save herself, and Juliet? Or is the process more complex than she thinks?

 

Before I Fall is now one of my (many) favorite books. It is written extremely well, and the story is great. I almost kept my eyes dry on this one, but not quite. I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s really great. Seriously. Read it! You won’t be sorry…….

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

You can find Camryn’s other reviews here

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)58 Comments

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too!  As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

This past weeks winner:

Sharon’s Garden Of Book Reviews

Congratulations!  Please email me your book choice out of the recently cleaned up and LOVELY Reading Cafe at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com. 

holy smokes!  I bet you were wondering where I was!  Just a week or so ago I was saying how since I took over this meme in February 2010,  I had never missed a Monday!  And then…. this… I almost missed it.

SO… if you followed my posts going into Saturday morning you know I was going to the cabin on the North Shore with our College son Justin.  We left Saturday morning, and the plan was to come back this late afternoon (which we did).  However – I also brought laptop along – and while I do not have internet at out cabin, we planned a couple outings that would have internet and I was going to put up an abbreviated Monday What Are You Reading as I just did not have enough time to prep it before I left.

On Sunday afternoon we landed in Ely Minnesota at a fun little cafe – WIFI accessible and I grabbed a coffee, Justin a hot cocoa and I pulled out the laptop I had just carried up and down the streets if Ely while we checked out stores, and looked for a place to land.  I could not get their internet to connect.  No worries I thought, we are having dinner in Schroeder Minnesota at Blue Fin, they will have internet!  And they did, but I could not hook up to it.  It just would not connect.

Now while this disturbed the anal OCD side of me…. it was also a life lesson.  I never go unplugged and get away from it all.  I take laptop anywhere and have sent posts and Monday memes from Florida, Chicago, Wisconsin, and frequently Honduras.  Being forced to unplug….

was actually nice.  😀

I sat back and enjoyed 100% my time with my son. 

Now home, I have put in a load of laundry, completed unpacking, did the dishes, started supper and NOW am sitting down feeling satisfied, relaxed and ready to chat with all of you and catch up on emails and comments and visits… and yeah….. 😀

So – now that you know where I was and what I was doing – here is what happened here last week:

Lets Pretend This Never Happened by Jennifer Lawrence

The Chaperone By Laura Moriarty

Viola In The Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

 

Over the weekend we (son and I) finished an audio book we listened to and from the cabin) and I finished a book for a tur later this week.

As for this week… here is what I have planned:

 

Amid the mayhem of the Civil War, Virginia plantation wife Iris Dunleavy is put on trial and convicted of madness. It is the only reasonable explanation the court can see for her willful behavior, so she is sent away to Sanibel Asylum to be restored to a good, compliant woman. Iris knows, though, that her husband is the true criminal; she is no lunatic, only guilty of disagreeing with him on notions of justice, cruelty, and property. On this remote Florida island, cut off by swamps and seas and military blockades, Iris meets a wonderful collection of residents–some seemingly sane, some wrongly convinced they are crazy, some charmingly odd, some dangerously unstable. Which of these is Ambrose Weller, the war-haunted Confederate soldier whose memories terrorize him into wild fits that can only be calmed by the color blue, but whose gentleness and dark eyes beckon to Iris. The institution calls itself modern, but Iris is skeptical of its methods, particularly the dreaded “water treatment.” She must escape, but she has found new hope and love with Ambrose. Can she take him with her? If they make it out, will the war have left anything for them to make a life from, back home?

 

 

Anne Blythe has a great life: a good job, close friends, and a potential book deal for her first novel. When it comes to finding someone to share her life with, however, she just can’t seem to get it right. When her latest relationship implodes, and her best friend announces she’s engaged, Anne impulsively calls what she thinks is a dating service—only to discover that it’s actually an exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriage service. Anne initially rejects the idea, but the more she learns about the service, the more she thinks: Why not? After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world; maybe it could work for her.

A few months later, Anne is traveling to a Mexican resort, where, over the course of a weekend, she meets and then marries Jack. And initially, everything seems to be working out. . . .

 

 

 

That brand-new physique you’ve been waiting for, the leaner, fitter, healthier body you thought you’d never had. Eat This, Not That! 2011–the latest, most up-to-date book in the best-selling weight loss franchise–is ready to start stripping extra pounds from your body today. And once you lose that weight, you’re going to keep it off. Forever.
 
That’s because Eat This, Not That! is a tool. It’s designed to make smart food choices easier, no matter where you’re making them. Consider just a handful of real stories from real people who’ve shed 25, 50, 75 pounds–or more!–and you’ll understand why Eat This, Not That! is “The no-diet weight-loss solution”:

* Michael Colombo of Staten Island, New York, shed 91 pounds in just over 8 months and conquered life-threatening sleep apnea, after picking up a copy of Eat This, Not That!. “My confidence has sky-rocketed!” he says.
* Erika Bowen of Minneapolis, Minnesota, dropped 84 pounds–without dieting. “I feel like I’ve always wanted to feel,” Bowen reports. Once she discovered the truth about her food, she learned she could lose weight and never feel hungry.

Hiking into the remote Utah canyonlands, Aron Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beauty of the natural world. Then, at 2:41 P.M., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron’s right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Through six days of hell, with scant water, food, or warm clothing, and the terrible knowledge that no one knew where he was, Aron eliminated his escape option one by one. Then a moment of stark clarity helped him to solve the riddle of the boulder–and commit one of the most extreme and desperate acts imaginable.

That’s the week… not sure what next weekend holds yet, so far I don’t think we have plans… but haven’t chatted with hubby yet since my return today as he is still at work.  I am however hoping some of you still will link up this late and I hope to stop by and see what you are reading!  Add your link below where it says click here.

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

 

and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please also link your post here:

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

You would not recognize that Sylvia at 17 in Bohemian clothes and long flowing loose hair was the same Sylvia 38 years later who was a pressed suit wearing, hair dying, prim and proper politician’s wife.  Life was a ritual of making her husbands schedule, getting his coffee and being by his side as the perfect cookie cutter political wife.

Then a very public scandal rips Sylivia’s marriage wide open and make’s her question everything she has become.  Retreating to her mothers unoccupied seaside home, Sylvia works at distancing herself from the mess her life has become and creating a life she can move forward in.

Sylvia’s daughter Diane is dealing with her own marriage issues.  Her husband Gary’s whiney nasally voice has trampled her last nerve.  He wants nothing more than to stay at home and play games on his laptop while Diane thirsts for more… and more is what she finds in a man she works with at the hospital who seems to be everything that Gary is not.Lizzie, the youngest daughter has already led a troubled life.  Having battled addictions already of drugs and alcohol at her young age, she fights to stay clean and sober, when a man comes along who seems to good to want someone the likes of her. Eventually, all three women wind up at the seaside home… each dealing with major curve balls in their life and trying to process through what the next step should be. 

 

Author: Jennifer Weiner

I think somewhere along the line of mountains of books and authors I enjoy, I forgot how much I enjoyed Jennifer Weiner (pronounced Why-ner).  Listening to this audio just reminded me that she is not an author to miss.

Usually when a book has several strong protagonists, I usually find myself favoring a story line and going with that.  That is mainly because when you split the top billing character, many times they lack depth and development. 

In Fly Away Home, I have to say I enjoyed all three-story lines.  Sylvia’s story was painful and honest and I loved how she handled herself, even allowed herself to change out of that stiff molding she had placed herself in.  Diane’s story also felt real and captivated me wondering what she would ultimately do, and Lizzie, who never really seemed to live up to anyone’s expectations suddenly finds her own worth.

Really, Fly Away Home is an impressive heartwarming read that does not end with everything tied up in a neat little bow.  Instead it feels real that some questions remain to be answered – and some choices, are still being processed through.  Yet I was satisfied with the way it all ended.

I recommend Fly Away Home as an excellent summer read or listen.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Audible.com

Check out these great bloggers thoughts:

Write Meg!

The Girl From The Ghetto

Confessions Of A Bibliophile

Morning Meanderings… Events the past couple of weeks

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Saturday!  😀 

The past two weekends I have had bike rides, and in honor of Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots I thought I would post a few pics I took from these rides.

This is us pulling into the Ironman bike ride on May 6th. The weather was a bit gloomy….

 

The first thing we have to do is go in and let registration know we are there, get out wrist band and then we are free to ride. This ride was a 17,30,50,68, or 100 mile ride

 

Myself (left) and my friend Amy prior to the ride.

 

I let Amy choose what route we would take – the weather was supposed to storm all day. she chose: 50!

 

At the lunch stop we could gather around this little baby…. I love it! It looks like a cauldron and makes me think of Harry Potter!

 

We finished that 50 mile ride without a drop of rain on us.  No idea how that happened – we just missed it. 😀 

 

Then last Saturday I drove to meet us with my MS team for a 50 mile ride in the Cities.  This time the weather was awesome!

These are the girls I rode with: Me (Left), Belinda, Sheila, and Diane

 

One of the pit stops on this ride

 

I did not take a whole lot of pics on this ride -f or some reason when I rode I felt awful – I ached, my neck, my legs, my arms…. the total opposite of the weekend before when I felt great.  A friend (ex -friend) of mine said, “Well Sheila, as we get older our body does not recover as quickly….”

*fingers in ears*  LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

LOL.  So that is what I have been doing these past two weekends when not enjoying a good book.  😀 

 

This weekend, my College Son and I are heading up to our cabin on the North Shore.  We are both looking forward to this.  It is about a 3 and 1/2 drive from our home. but we will stop in Duluth for lunch, maybe Barnes and Noble… and then continue on up. We are planning some biking, hiking, board games, movies…  and we are not coming back until Monday afternoon. 😀 

 

Stop over to Alyce’s At Home With Books and see what everyone else is posting for Saturday Snapshot!  😀

I do have posts prepped…. so please stop and see me – I will totally catch up with ya all early next week 😀

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Naomi Feinstein is afraid of losing.  She is afraid of losing her parents – her dad with a weakened heart…. her mom who is deeply depressed.  She is afraid of losing her friend Teddy who she confides everything…

Setting her mind on becoming a doctor, Naomi buries herself in her books, hoping to be accepted into the college of her dreams, Wellesley.  When Teddy does (as she had feared) departs from her life, the blow is too hard and too deep, and seems larger than she can handle – even when the hopeful acceptance letter from Wellesley arrives.

Hoping that college will fill all the gaps in her life where fear and loneliness seep in, Naomi heads straight into the school she believes will become her security.  But, college is not what she had dared hope, and while Naomi finds herself surrounded by hundreds of other young women… at the same time she feels unreachable and alone.

When Naomi witnesses a girl fall into a freezing lake, things began to change.  She learns of a mysterious society – called the Shakespeare Society with all the lure a secret society would have – rituals and secret meetings, and students with a canny passion.  Finally Naomi believes she has found something that makes her feel a part of life and fills all those gaps.  As Naomi grows into this new person, hard lessons are brought forth and Naomi is about to learn the most important lesson of her life.

Author: Elizabeth Percer

 

Does anyone remember Dead Poet’s Society?  It was a movie from the late 1980’s starring Robin Williams as an unconventional Professor of English, John Kleets.  While I adore this movie and love all that John Kleets stood for, the best part of the movie to me, was the secret society of The Dead Poet’s.  (Even as I type this my mind is thinking… do I still have this movie in my collection?  Is it DVD or VHS?  Please be DVD….)

I mention this now, because when I first read the synopsis of this book… that is what stood out to me.  An ancient secret society…. sorry, I never went to college – I think I crave the whole secret sorority thing….

In An Uncommon Education, Naomi’s back story (prior to college) is a slow tedious start.  I picked the book up.  I put it down.  I picked it up again.  I believed it had a story within its pages that I wanted to read.  I just had to find that story. 

I hung in there.  I found the book detailed, well-developed, I had a good feel for who Naomi was and what she stood for.  I liked her.  These are the things I clung too while I slogged through the first part of this book. 

And then…

Wellesley.

Bringing Naomi to the school, the book picked up more of a heartbeat pace.  It had rhythm… it had life.  More importantly, I no longer wanted to sett he book down and move on.  I think Naomi as well finds her heartbeat.  When things get rough and a scandal is resented – Naomi then is forced into some hard truths that really bring this book full circle.

In a few words:  Give the book some time to warm up, it is worth the wait.

In a word:  WOW.

 

Thank to to TLC Book Tours for a gorgeous, thought provoking  read

Morning Meanderings… Ladies Night Out Happenings

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Happy Friday!!!!  Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day and I can not wait to get in it!  😛

Last Night is what our happy little town calls “Ladies Night”, and it’s actually, from this first time participants perspective – a brilliant idea.

How it works:

Prior to the event you stop at one of the participating businesses to pick up a card that will later be stamped by all the businesses.  Then, between the hours of 3 and 8 pm, you go and visit each of these businesses on this given day – that day was yesterday, and myself, and my friends Amy, Laura, and Kerri all rode together to the 27 stops to get our card stamped.

Many of the stops had additional giveaways you could sign up for, spa packages, gift cards, oil changes, discounts, catering, etc…. and many of the stops had snacks:  hor duerves, cupcakes, cheese, wine, bottled water, pizza, slushies, fresh fruit…

For every stop you go to, you get a stamp and at the end of the event you turn in your card for a ticket per stamp – that ticket then goes into a huge box with the other participants tickets and then this morning, on a local radio station WJJY, at 8:15 they announced the grand prize winners which were for:

A $300 pair of ear rings from EL Menk

A $500 spa package out at Craguns Resort

and the grand prize, $1000.00 cash

Last night was a lot of fun – not only just hanging out and running into these businesses and getting the stamps with friends but there are a couple newer businesses in town that I had not been in before that really caught my eye and I must go back in there.  Honestly, the idea to do this is brilliant – these businesses just brought TONS of women traffic in their door, they usually gave you a gift certificate for a nice percentage off if you come back and purchase within the next couple of weeks… and they have time to shine….

we  were on a deadline so we did not have time to stop and browse and as we discovered that it does actually take quite a bit of time to get around to all these businesses which are stretched out between two towns we made a little list of sort of rules:

1.  No longer when we see people we know do we have time to say hi and chit chat…. just wave and role on by….

2.  No browsing!  No matter what you see!  (We were slowed down by purses, jewelry, chairs and plants that we wanted to know more about….)

3.  And finally, and this one is my bad… no asking the Jewelry store owner if they fix music boxes and getting caught in a conversation!  We are on a deadline people!  😯  😛

SO this morning, I had to sit in my garage and listen to the radio at 8:15 am….  I do not have a radio in my home and I could not figure out how to make it work on line.  😀

None of us won the big prizes.

However, I am sitting here this morning smiling because I had a wonderful time just running around and being silly with three girls who are not only all in my book club…. they are all my friends. 

Today… I have some reading to do and some prep work for weekend posts.  I am thinking maybe a bike ride this afternoon now that I have finally finished the lawn and gardens. 

Morning Meanderings…. Feeling RaNdOm

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning!  It is Thursday and I really have no one topic in my head but fractured pieces of several.  Bear with me… (bare with me?  No, that doesn’t sound right either….)

 

Last night Bookcloseouts.com emailed me a 50% off audio books sale.  Way to go Book Closeouts… much of my supposed “mowing in the evening” time went to browsing and drooling over great titles that were $7.99 and less…. many around that $4.00 mark.  17 audio books later, I came out the other side.  I averaged less that $5 per audio.  No kidding – check this out.  (And I finished mowing at 9:15 pm, thank you Book Closeouts!)

 

Shelf Awareness posted this morning that the Pooh House is for sale and for several reasons…. I visualized it as mine for a few seconds…  one reason being, how funny it is called the “Pooh” house…. and the looks you would get – HOWEVER it is called the Pooh House because it used to belong to Christopher Robin Milne, son of Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne, and more recently – a Rolling Stone… not a rolling rock, but a rock man… errr, a member of the Rolling Stones.  😛

The “Pooh House”

I picture myself in England, no doubt wearing long flowing dresses and carrying around a cup of tea as I think that is what the English do… with my pinky in the air because I think that is a “must” as well.  Tally ho and all that…. I think that’s what you say…..

 

Tonight after work I get my hair cut (always frightening!) and then I am going on a town walk – a bout thing which sounds a little cheesy but a lot of fun.  A few of my friends and I are participating in a thing where you go to local participating businesses and get your card stamped – some of the businesses will have treats to sample, and drawings, and one person will win $1,000 dollars, announced tomorrow morning on the radio.  My friend Amy was the winner of that $1,000 the first year she participated. 

Sounds just silly enough to be fun.

Have to run – have to work…. have a wonderful day…. our weather has gone from delightful the past three days where I have been busy mowing the lawn and preparing the garden to now – when I have time to be outside…. windy and cold.  GAH….  Hopefully $1,000 will take the edge off the weather…LOL..

hey, a girl can dream can’t she?  😛

Viola In The Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

It is no secret that I adore Adriana Trigiani’s books.  While I have read Viola In The Spotlight and LOVED it, I have yet to get to this one.  Thank you to Camryn who spied it on my shelves and took it out on loan and now having reviewed it… I want to read it right away!  ~  Sheila

Viola in the Spotlight

Viola in the Spotlight is written by Adriana Trigiani. Viola Chesterton just came home from her school year a Prefect Academy, a boarding school in South Bend, Indiana. When Viola finally comes home to her Brooklyn, New York, she is relieved and more than ready to catch up with her best friends, Caitlin Pullapilly and Andrew Bozelli. Even if Viola is surprised that her BFFAA (Andrew) and Caitlin don’t have a totally free summer, she still feels like this summer will be the best yet. Trouble arises when Caitlin falls in love with the son of Viola’s parent’s tenant, Maurice. Maurice’s dad, Les Longfellow, is in Brooklyn only for the summer to direct a Broadway play, featuring Viola’s grandmother (Grand) and her boyfriend (George). Caitlin’s strict mom would never approve of Caitlin’s relationship with Maurice, so they keep it a secret. Viola gets an internship with the lighting designer of Grand’s play, which Grand got for her so Viola would have some way to spend her time that summer. Problems occur when Viola’s BFFAA, Andrew, starts acting weird around her. Viola brushes it off as nothing, but starts to second guess her judgement later on. As Caitlin and Maurice start getting closer and closer together, Viola knows it’s not right to keep this from Caitlin’s mom, but keeps the secret against her better judgement.

Viola decides to invite her Prefect roomies, Suzanne, Romy, and Marisol to the opening night of Grand’s play. After a few exhilaratingly happy days, they give a tearful goodbye and go their separate ways. When a sad tragedy hits Viola, she is forced to realize that she has the best of friends, and the best family she could ask for. With many not-so-easy decisions ahead of her, Viola realizes that this could be one of her most exciting summers, ever.

 

Viola In Reel Life is the first book

I ♥loved♥ this book. I read the prequel, Viola in Reel Life, a year – or a couple – years ago. I don’t remember exactly. I would recommend this book to anyone who read the first one. Or who wants a good series to read. It was a really great book, and the prequel was even better.

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.