A couple of months ago on my FB thread, I saw a post about a restaurant that has great food and all customers get to leave with 3 books each. They have shelves all over the restaurant for people to choose from. Since my birthday is this coming week, I thought it was the perfect weather and opportunity to drive the 2 1/2 hour trip to Union, CT. It’s located right off the highway and who could miss the big yellow sign and yellow roof? We had a fun old time looking through the fun menu that has wrap options named after books or authors. We were also seated by the windows with a beautiful view of a bird feeder , bird bath and got a glimpse of hummingbirds drinking water. I highly recommend you make a trip to this famous restaurant. The Today Show was actually interviewing the restaurant owners yesterday, since they have heard the buzz about the restaurant. Here is a link to interview https://www.today.com/video/inside-the-connecticut-restaurant-serving-up-a-side-of-books-59733573506?fbclid=IwAR3dQ1f-EojHA4olnS8w-9OYr_rFZx-4bVIx5uujJIUQp6_53_cqvxPBwOM

I had to go very bookish and dropped two books off for someone to enjoy.

Go and visit Traveler food and Books 1257 Buckley Hwy # I-84, Union, CT 06076

Grumpy cat has left us to be with the angels. She will be greatly missed with her fun memes.

My calendar for this year was Grumpy cat. She just had a birthday last month.

I got to meet the adorable Grumpy cat a couple years ago at Bookcon in NYC. I waited on a long line but it was worth it. You will be greatly missed my cutie pie. RIP Grumpy Cat

Goodreads Blurb

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. 
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing. 

Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage – and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.

My Review

Wow a twisted story filled with secrets, lies, deception, love and forgiveness. Marriage can come filled with secrets that will drive anyone mad. Vanessa fought to the very end even if that meant she might get hurt or die. A twisted love triangle with no ending will make you think twice before you decide to marry. This is truly an eye opener story that many could learn from. Staying in an abusing, scary relationship is not good for your health. Seek help and fight till the end. I definitely didn’t see this ending coming. Secrets from ones past can come back to haunt you!!! I rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are the co-authors of the blockbuster New York Times bestseller, THE WIFE BETWEEN US, as well as the forthcoming, AN ANONYMOUS GIRL. AN ANONYMOUS GIRL has been optioned for a television series by eOne, with Sarah and Greer executive producing. THE WIFE BETWEEN US has been optioned for film by Amblin Entertainment, with Sarah and Greer screenwriting the adaptation.

Goodreads Blurb

To be admired by someone we admire—we all yearn for this: the private, electrifying pleasure of being singled out by someone of esteem. But sometimes it can also mean entry to a new kind of life, a bigger world.

Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer—madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can’t quite place—feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she’d always imagined.

Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.

My Review

Can ambition change your way of thinking and friendships?  Meg gave us a story with deep friendships, love and heartbreak. Each character is fully evolved in their beliefs of what they want for their personal life and for everyone around them. Faith was viewed as the goddess of change, strength and power. She was seen as strong and equal but Greer thought that worshiping her would bring her to equality for what she believes in. Unfortunately, Faith is human and has flaws that Greer didn’t think were there. I was heartbroken with the heart-wrenching loss in this book. A loss unexpected and accidental truly changes everything. Friendship took a few turns of deceit and hurtfulness but true friendship always finds it’s way to forgiveness. I felt that the book didn’t give women anything new that wasn’t already thought off. It just added a plot of characters working to make a difference in the world for women to find a voice and be heard. I rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. She is also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar. Wolitzer lives in New York City.

Goodreads Blurb

For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls, this powerful novel of fate, resistance, and family—by the international bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting and When We Meet Again—tells the tale of an American woman, a British RAF pilot, and a young Jewish teenager whose lives intersect in occupied Paris during the tumultuous days of World War II.

When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, her marriage begins to splinter, too.

Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans roll into the French capital, their sinister swastika flags snapping in the breeze. After the Jewish restrictions take effect and Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, Charlotte can’t imagine things getting much worse. But then the mass deportations begin, and her life is ripped forever apart.

Thomas Clarke joins the British Royal Air Force to protect his country, but when his beloved mother dies in a German bombing during the waning days of the Blitz, he wonders if he’s really making a difference. Then he finds himself in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and he discovers a new reason to keep fighting—and an unexpected road home.

When fate brings them together, Ruby, Charlotte, and Thomas must summon the courage to defy the Nazis—and to open their own broken hearts—as they fight to survive. Rich with historical drama and emotional depth, this is an unforgettable story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

My Review

I am left heartbroken. This was an unforgettable story that lets us remember all the courage’s people that fought against the Germans in WWII and risked their life to save the innocent and the allies. I loved how Kristin used Virginia’s story to create all her characters. I was so attached to each character and was hoping everyone made it through. Ruby was a protector in every sense of the word. She fought for everyone she loved. Charlotte was young but strong willed. Reading this novel really made me feel like I was in Paris, living through this nightmare. I learned love, hope and strength fights off evil. I rated 5 out of 5. A superb read that I highly recommend.

Author Biography

Kristin Harmel is the international bestselling author of THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE, THE SWEETNESS OF FORGETTING, THE LIFE INTENDED, WHEN WE MEET AGAIN, and several other novels. Her latest, THE WINEMAKER’S WIFE, is coming in August 2019 from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster. A former reporter for PEOPLE magazine, Kristin has also freelanced for many other publications, including American Baby, Men’s Health, Glamour, Woman’s Day, Travel + Leisure, and more.

Kristin grew up in Peabody, Mass.; Worthington, Ohio; and St. Petersburg, Fla., and she graduated with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida. After spending time living in Paris, she now lives in Orlando, Fla., with her husband and young son.

Goodreads Blurb

Six months after vanishing into an underground silo with sixty others, Wynter and Chase emerge to find the area abandoned. There is no sign of Noah and the rest of the group that was supposed to greet them when they emerged—the same people Wynter was counting on to help her locate the IV antibiotics her gravely ill friend, Julie, needs in order to live.

As the clock ticks down on Julie’s life, Wynter and Chase embark on a desperate search for medicine and answers. But what they find is not a nation on the cusp of recovery thanks to the promising new vaccine Wynter herself had a hand in creating, but one decimated by disease. What happened while they were underground?

With food and water in limited supply and their own survival in question, Chase and Wynter must venture further and further from the silo. Aided by an enigmatic mute named Otto, they come face-to-face with a society radically changed by global pandemic, where communities scrabble to survive under rogue leaders and cities are war zones. As hope fades by the hour and Wynter learns the terrible truth of the last six months, she is called upon once again to help save the nation she no longer recognizes—a place so dark she’s no longer sure it can even survive.

Fast-paced and taut, A Single Light is a breathless thriller of nonstop suspense about the risks of living in a world outside the safe confines of our closely-held beliefs and the relationships and lives that inspire us.

My Review

The apocalypse has continued. This next book in the series will have you running for your life to the very end. This book was action packed. Wynter is a fierce woman who learned to fight and survive in just a few days from being released from the enclave, which was a cult. In just a few days she was in the middle of a war zone needing to fight to survive in order to save those who she love, while being creative and burning and exploding her way out of towns that had overpowering and cruel leaders. Wynter and Chase were under attack throughout most of the book. Wynter was determine to save Julie at whatever cost. The evil in the world has increased due to the virus that gives you advance dementia. Everyone left in the towns are starving and looking for supplies to survive. Wynter and Chase had to work together to survive and find the antibiotics to save Julie. We lost some wonderful characters throughout the story. I loved how my beautiful island of Puerto Rico is part of this story. Wynter finally saw the ocean. 

I felt like the story abruptly went from Puerto Rico to the enclave. I think the ending needed a little more feedback on whats to come. Will the disease keep spreading, will it evolve and will they live to survive? We will have to wait and see. I rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Book will be released on September 17, 2019, plenty of time to read the first book The Line Between, which I highly recommend. Thank you Atria Books, for allowing me to read and review early.

Author Biography

Tosca Lee is the award-winning, New York Times, IndieBound, and Amazon bestselling author of ten novels including THE LINE BETWEEN, THE PROGENY, FIRSTBORN, THE LEGEND OF SHEBA, ISCARIOT, and the Books of Mortals series with New York Times bestseller Ted Dekker. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and been optioned for TV and film. A notorious night-owl, she loves movies, playing football with her kids, and sending cheesy texts to her husband. 

You can find Tosca at ToscaLee.com, on social media, or hanging around the snack table. A SINGLE LIGHT, the highly-anticipated sequel to THE LINE BETWEEN, releases September 2019 and is available for pre-order now.

Goodreads Blurb

From sloths to spoonbills and panda ants to pangolins, little geniuses will love learning about all of the unusual, adorable animals that live on this planet. More than 50 little-known flyers, swimmers, and crawlers are included in this book, whimsically illustrated by artist Hsinping Pan. Cuddly Critters for Little Geniuses will remind you that nature contains many wonders–and these cute and curious creatures are no exception!

My Review

This book was so much fun. The animal illustrations are amazing. A mixture of real animals and make believe. The colors are wonderful and vivid. I loved the descriptions for each animal. The images and descriptions were on point. A fantastic book that everyone can enjoy. I rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

Susan Patterson has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Big Words for Little Geniuses is her first book with her husband, best selling author James Patterson.

James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today, with his Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Private, NYPD Red, Daniel X, Maximum Ride, and Middle School series. He has sold over 380 million books worldwide and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers. In addition to writing the thriller novels for which he is best known, among them The President Is Missing with President Bill Clinton, Patterson also writes fiction for young readers of all ages, including the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. He is also the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on the New York Times adult and children’s bestseller lists.

Goodreads Blurb

From the #1 New York Times bestselling creative team of Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell comes a timely picture book about immigration. Raising important identity issues like “Where did we come from?” and “Who are we?” This Is Me is as delightful as it is important, sure to stimulate dinner table conversation.

In This Is Me a teacher tells her class about her great-grandmother’s dislocating journey from home to a new country with nothing but a small suitcase to bring along. And she asks: What would you pack? What are the things you love best? What says “This is me!” With its lively, rhyming language and endearing illustrations, it’s a book to read again and again, imagining the lives of the different characters, finding new details in the art, thinking about what it would be like to move someplace completely different. 

It’s an interactive book, too: Tucked into the back cover is a sturdy pop-up suitcase. And as a younger reader fills the suitcase, he or she learns a lot about what really matters: Now YOU take this case/ and imagine it’s true,/ that you’re leaving and needing/ to choose what says YOU.

My Review

An absolutely fabulous book that we could all relate too. If we only had one suitcase to travel to another Country what would you put in it? I definitely was thinking long and hard. I am a collector of many things books, stamps, shoes, clothing. So I would have a combination of all those things. I loved the illustrations in this book. If you look closely you will find things out of place like snails or something that is funny. My all time favorite is the surprise at the back of the book. It has the reader thinking about what would they choose to bring with them. I loved that this book brought our modern technology, events and the usual things you would find in a kids room today. A fun book for all to read.  I rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

Jamie Lee Curtis is a two-time Golden Globe-winning, BAFTA-winning, and Emmy-nominated American film actress and an author of children’s books. Although she was initially known as a “scream queen” because of her starring roles in many horror films early in her career such as Halloween (1978 film), The Fog, Prom Night (1980 film) and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that covers many genres. She has received an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Awards. Her 1998 book, Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, made the best-seller list in The New York Times. She is married to actor Christopher Guest (Lord Haden-Guest) and, as the wife of a Lord, is titled Lady Haden-Guest, but she chooses not to use the title when in the United States. 

Hoping to get through these books in a month or so. Two of them are for Barnes & Noble book club. Check out your local Barnes & Noble for date and time.

My birthday is coming and you get to win a gift. Please join my blog and leave a message below. Good Luck!