GoodReads Blurb

A delightfully devious Christmas story from beloved librarian Betsy Bird and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat.
Freddy Melcher is Santa’s #1 Fan. He has Santa posters, Santa action figures, and even Santa underwear. But there is one prize Freddy desperately wants: A photograph taken with Santa, fresh out of the chimney.

Oh, is it risky! It’s awfully hard to sneak anything by someone who can see you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. That’s why Freddy has been extra good this year . . . at hiding his plans.

Will Freddy get away with his delightfully devious scheme to outwit Santa Claus himself and capture the ultimate selfie?

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Operation capture Santa is underway with little Freedy. I must say, me and Freedy are huge fans of Santa. He dresses like Santa for every holiday and birthday, which might be a little out of hand. But he owns everything Santa related from posters, paintings, figurines, etc., but he doesn’t have a picture with Santa after arriving in his home through the chimney. Will Freedy outwit his favorite idol or will Santa be prepared to out win Freddy? You will need to read to find out. The story has a great plot that many can relate too, because we all at some point have went to extremes to get a glimpse of Santa leaving our gifts. I mean wouldn’t you want to thank him for the gifts? The illustrations were so cute, colorful and vibrant. Cute book to read to children, so they can start planning their own operation Santa trap.

Author Biography

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, undisputed center of the universe, Betsy Bird (nee Elizabeth Ramsey) grew up and promptly left Michigan the moment her legs could propel her southward. She didn’t get far. Obtaining a B.A. at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana (home of recorded jazz and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise) she set her sights on Portland, Oregon. When that didn’t pan out it was Minneapolis, Minnesota. Then New York, New York. In the midst of all this she somehow managed to get a library degree and a job at New York Public Library, eventually becoming their Youth Media Specialist (a.k.a. the person who bought all the kids’ books for Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx). She created the children’s literary blog A Fuse #8 Production and schmoozed as no one had ever schmoozed before. The result? A non-fiction text for library students, a picture book called “Giant Dance Party”, a behind-the-scenes title for adults co-written with two of her favorite bloggers called “Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature”, and now an anthology of some of the most hilarious women writing for kids today called “Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever.” Betsy Bird is now the Collection Development Manager of Evanston, IL. Stop by. We’ll have lunch. It’ll be nice. 

The book festival will be even better than last years. My first time attending was last year, but the event has been held for 6 amazing years. They will have books for all ages. They have put together an amazing schedule of authors who will speak in panels and then sign books. The event is free to attend. Books will be on sale for purchase. The event will kick off on Oct 11, with the keynote speaker Preet Bharara. This will be a ticketed event. The cost is 55.00 for adults and 25.00 for students. The adult ticket will come with a signed copy of his book. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.mayoarts.org/shows/morristown-festival-of-books-presents-an-evening-with-preet-bharara?utm_source=keynote-page&utm_medium=cta-btn&utm_campaign=2019-keynote

The main event is held on Saturday, October 12. They will have fiction, nonfiction, young adult and children panels. The authors will be interviewed and audience will have a chance to ask questions. Then the authors will go to the autographing area to sign. They will have an amazing schedule for children and activities. Main event page https://morristownbooks.org/

Here is the list of authors who will be attending: Information was taken from https://morristownbooks.org/2019-authors/

NONFICTION AUTHORS

 

RICK ATKINSON

 

SAFI BAHCALL

 

TENA CLARK

 

BENJAMIN DREYER

 

DAVID EPSTEIN

 

GILBERT M. GAUL

 

PAUL GOLDBERGER

 

JJ JOHNSON

 

MICHAEL KRANISH

 

DR. IBRAM X. KENDI

 

ANDREW S. LEWIS

 

T KIRA MADDEN

 

CARL ZIMMER

FICTION AUTHORS

 

KATHERINE ARDEN

 

TESSA BAILEY

 

MARIE BENEDICT

 

SARAH BLAKE

 

MEG CABOT

 

S.A. CHAKRABORTY

 

BEN COES

 

ANDREW GROSS

 

ROB HART

 

PAM JENOFF

 

JEAN KWOK

 

MADELINE MILLER

 

TÉA OBREHT

 

JULIE ORRINGER

 

JOANNE RAMOS

 

JENNIFER ROBSON

 

WHITNEY SCHARER

 

BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY

 

CHUCK WENDIG

 

LAUREN WILKINSON

 

BEATRIZ WILLIAMS

YOUNG ADULT AUTHORS

 

VAL EMMICH

 

HEIDI HEILIG

 

CLARE LEGRAND

 

ELIZABETH LIM

 

JEN MALONE

 

ASHLEY WOODFOLK

CHILDREN’S AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS

Plus music, crafts, writer’s workshop, and lots of activities! Full KidFest schedule coming soon.

 

KWAME ALEXANDER

 

KATHERINE ARDEN

 

SUDIPTA
BARDHAN-QUALLEN

 

MEG CABOT

 

ANIKA DENISE

 

AME DYCKMAN

 

STAR WARS READS

 

KARINA YAN GLASER

 

PAUL NOTH

 

JAMES RILEY

 

HEATHER ROSS

 

JESSIE SIMA

Special Event: Book Club Girl Luncheon at the MFOB
Meet and mingle with some of your favorite book club authors at an exclusive sit-down lunch at the festival.
Jean Kwok ⋅ Beatriz Williams ⋅ S.A. Chakraborty ⋅ Jennifer Robson

Authors will visit with each table, sharing stories, answering questions and signing books — and you’ll take home an amazing swag bag filled with books plus an exclusive advance copy of a Winter 2020 title from William Morrow.
Tickets: $30 (includes lunch + swag bag!)
You can purchase tickets here https://m.bpt.me/event/4316288?utm_source=mfob-site&utm_medium=cta-btn&utm_campaign=bcg-tickets

I was super thrilled to know that Book Club Girl will have an event also. I attended my first event at BookCon this past year and was happily surprised at the amazing line-up of authors, free tote and books, plus snacks which is included with ticket purchase.

Goodreads Blurb

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. 

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Hands down to J.K. Rowling’s for writing another continuation of Harry Potter in a different format. I loved that it’s a manuscript, which gives each character a higher purpose. Makes the story much more fun especially when you get to act each character out differently. I loved how she brought us so many scenarios in which Harry Potter’s success and turmoil could have changed in a blink of an eye. As a reader, I was able to cherish the moments from the past, but also the present. Yes, I would have loved to see a different outcome especially with Voldemort and all the terror he brought to Harry. Sometimes, the past just can’t be changed, even if it’s for the better. This was the perfect beginning and ending to knowing what happen nineteen years later. I highly recommend this amazing story.

Author Biography

Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, “No one ever called me ‘Joanne’ when I was young, unless they were angry.” Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King’s Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother’s maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother’s paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling’s sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael’s Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael’s, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: “I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee.” At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said “taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind,” gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford’s autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling’s heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, “I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life.” She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, “Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Pottercharacter] is loosely based on me. She’s a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I’m not particularly proud of.” Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as “not exceptional” but “one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English.” Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.

Book Lovers Unite for

World Suicide Prevention Day

Event begins today. Please follow the FB event page and check out Eva Pohler’s page also. She has a giveaway and when my day comes up, I will have a giveaway also. I copy and pasted from Eva Pohler’s page. You can see this post and enter the blogs from this page https://www.evapohler.com/world-suicide-prevention-day

So many people don’t understand mental illness. They think that sadness and clinical depression, or nervousness and clinical anxiety, are the same things. Well-meaning people say things like, “Suck it up,” and “Overcome,” and “Choose to be happy.” Or, “Focus on your blessings,” and “Put a smile on that face.” I’ve even said things like that–before I came to understand.

And so many people feel alone and misunderstood and have given up on fighting their mental illness. They need to know about resources. They need to know to keep searching for the right meds or the right doc. In this modern day, there is no reason why anyone should be living a life of despair or debilitating anxiety. Sometimes mental illness is the root cause–a chemical imbalance. And sometimes it’s something else, like a weak thyroid. But for some reason, many people think of mental illness as a personal weakness rather than as an illness like high blood pressure or cancer.

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The first annual Book Lover’s Unite for World Suicide Prevention Day Tour will kick off on Sunday, September 1st and will culminate in a twelve-hour Facebook Live Event on World Suicide Prevention Day, Spetember 10th.

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Here’s the exciting line-up for the tour:

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September 1st:

September 2nd:

September 3rd:

September 4th:

September 5th:

September 6th:

September 7th:

September 8th:

September 9th:

September 10th:

Buy a t-shirt for $20 to support the International Association for the Prevention of Suicide https://www.bonfire.com/world-suicide-prevention-day-2019/

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Please follow my blog and leave a comment below. Good luck!

Goodreads Blurb

Harvard librarian Hester Thursby knows that even in the digital age, people still need help finding things. Using her research skills, Hester runs a side business tracking down the lost. Usually, she’s hired to find long-ago prom dates or to reunite adopted children and birth parents. Her new case is finding the handsome and charismatic Sam Blaine.

Sam has no desire to be found. As a teenager, he fled his small New Hampshire town with his friend, Gabe, after a haunting incident. For a dozen years, Sam and Gabe have traveled the country, reinventing themselves as they move from one mark to another. Sam has learned how trusting wealthy people can be—especially the lonely ones—as he expertly manipulates his way into their lives and homes. In Wendy Richards, the beautiful, fabulously rich daughter of one of Boston’s most influential families, he’s found the perfect way to infiltrate the milieu in which he knows he belongs—a world of Brooks Brothers suits, Nantucket summers, and effortless glamour.

As Hester’s investigation closes in on their brutal truth, the bond between Sam and Gabe is tested and Hester unknowingly jeopardizes her own safety. While Gabe has pinned all his desperate hopes of a normal life on Hester, Sam wants her out of the way for good. And Gabe has always done what Sam asks..

My Review , 4 out of 5 stars

A brilliant story that will have you thinking until the very end. Edwin gave us a story that slowly unraveled on what exactly Hester was going up against? The characters will have you screaming for more. I loved that the story didn’t give you a lot of information on the reason for finding both Gabe and Sam. The story slowly gave you a little more with the postcards from Sam to Lila his sister. They were beautifully thought out on the images and the movie quotes. Loved how Hester solved that mystery. Hester was such a super woman. She might be tiny and have a little girl name Kate under her care and a dog named Waffles, who doesn’t love waffles? But she truly knew how to kick ass. She went into danger even with a little girl, but she fought her way out of it. I felt terrible for Gabe, such a lonely soul that was constantly being used and abused. I wish he had more of a back bone and seen the terrible things he and Sam did were unforgiving. Sam only thought of himself and the power and status he longed for no matter the cost. This book will leave you with chills, fear, and fright on what will happen next? Serial killers come in many forms. The person who you least expect will be that person you should fear the most.  If you are looking for a mystery with hidden secrets, change of identity, and status seeking serial killers, then look no further.

Author Biography

Edwin Hill is the author of the critically-acclaimed Hester Thursby mystery series. His first novel, Little Comfort, was nominated for an Agatha Award for best debut. The second in the series, The Missing Ones, will be available in September of 2019. 

Visit his website for more information. 

(A note from the author on rating other writers: I used to be more critical of writers’ work but these days only rate books that I’ve read and liked, and mostly give fives. Once in a while, I’ll throw in a four to a well-established author whose earlier work was even better than their current work. Anything below a four, I keep to myself.) 

I was super excited to meet Candace again. Sex in the City is one of my favorite shows. The first Sex in the City movie is my favorite, I have watched it so many times that I can tell you word for word each thing the characters say. Check out her new release Is There Still Sex In The City.

Goodreads Blurb

Twenty years after her sharp, seminal first book Sex and the City reshaped the landscape of pop culture and dating with its fly on the wall look at the mating rituals of the Manhattan elite, the trailblazing Candace Bushnell delivers a new book on the wilds and lows of sex and dating after fifty. 

Set between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? gathers Bushnell’s signature short, sharp, satirical commentaries on the love and dating habits of middle aged men and women as they continue to navigate the ever-modernizing world of relationships. Throughout, Bushnell documents 21st century dating phenomenon, such as the “Unintended Cub Situation” in which a sensible older woman suddenly becomes the love interest of a much younger man, the “Mona Lisa” Treatment—a vaginal restorative surgery often recommended to middle aged women, and what it’s really like to go on Tinder dates as a fifty something divorcee. Bushnell also updates one of her most celebrated stories from Sex and the City, “The Bicycle Boys,” a breed of New York man who was always trying to bring his bike up to women’s apartments. Once an anomaly, Bushnell charts their new ubiquitousness, in addition to where, and how to do your own man stalking via bicycle (and whether or not it’s worth it).

In Is There Still Sex in The City? Bushnell looks at love and life from all angles—marriage and children, divorce and bereavement, as well as the very real pressures on women to maintain their youth and have it all. This is a pull-no-punches social commentary and an indispensable companion to one of the most revolutionary dating books of the twentieth century.

Goodreads Blurb

An executive’s corpse is discovered in a Minneapolis wetland, and with it the photo of a girl. Is she unconscious or dead? Detective Erik Jansson takes on the investigation and is mismatched with a new partner, the imposing Detective Deb Metzger. They soon learn that the murdered man worked for a reputation management firm that serves wealthy clients. Other employees from the firm have also vanished, but information is withheld from the detectives by a corporate cover-up.

Erik and Deb pursue promising leads about the identity of the photo girl. When these leads take them to a down-and-out family and a Northwoods cabin, they seem to be dead-ends–or are they?

Despite informants who lie, the online targeting of another girl, and threats to their own safety, Erik and Deb delve deeper. The story becomes stranger and more unsavory as intensely private and deadly secrets come to light.

My Review : Rated 3 out of 5 stars

This story had a great plot. I felt like the story was slow. I was hoping to have some action and thrill and it ran short of that. The author is great with details and humor.

Author Biography

Priscilla Paton writes mysteries set in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Priscilla grew up on a dairy farm in Maine. She received a B.A. from Bowdoin College, a Ph.D. in English Literature from Boston College, was a college professor and taught in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Minnesota. She has previously published a children’s book, Howard and the Sitter Surprise, and a book on Robert Frost and Andrew Wyeth, Abandoned New England. She married into the Midwest and lives with her husband in Northfield, Minnesota. When not writing, she participates in community advocacy and literacy programs, takes photos of birds, and contemplates (fictional) murder.

Goodreads Blurb

Growing up, Liz Westmoreland dreamed of taking over her grandparents inn located in the small mountain town of Angels Creek only for it to be sold before she ever got the chance. While browsing the internet, she stumbles upon a listing for what looks to be the picturesque inn and it’s set to go to auction. Liz places a bid, and by a miracle, wins the auction. But when she gets there she finds the property in significant disrepair.

When Matt Hardy narrowly lost the inn and property that butted his land, he just hoped it wasn’t another city slicker coming to make matters worse after the previous owners gutted the place for an art gallery. But the minute he recognized the sweet, freckle-faced girl from his childhood and heard her plans to reopen the inn, he jumps at the chance to help his childhood crush restore a place where he made so many fond memories.

While working on repairs, Liz and Matt discover her grandmother’s collection of angels in one of the cabins. When the angels start mysteriously showing up all over the inn, she begins to look at them as reassurance—that restoring the inn is what she’s meant to do. But when an accident leaves Liz feeling like she made a mistake, will Matt—and the residents of Angels Creek—be able to show Liz that she’s found a home? And possibly true love as well?

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This heartwarming story will melt your heart. A Christmas story that brings memories of the past to the present. Angels Creek is exactly where I want to live. A small town filled with loving, amazing, friendly and supportive neighbors. The magic of Christmas at its best. Liz was the happiest when her grandparents were alive and running Angels Rest, which she always dreamed of owning when she grew up. That dream quickly evaporated, when her grandparents sold it. A chance of a lifetime showed up that Angels Rest was being auctioned and she didn’t care of the current status of the home, but she hoped her dream would come true. The chemistry between Liz and Matt was very adorable. I loved how they played snow bowl “which I never heard of and seriously want to play”, they made a snowman and snow angel. I loved how they took advantage of Winter and what fun games and activities you can do during Christmas. Nancy once again gave us a story that gives us hope, love, inspiration and Christmas magic. Definitely, a future Hallmark movie that will bring joy to everyone.

Author Biography

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Nancy Naigle, writes love stories from the crossroad of small town and suspense. 

With a career spent on the cutting edge of technology in the banking industry, she never let go of her dream to write. Now she works full-time writing stories that are a calming blend of community, family, and the simple things in life. She writes the kind of stories she hopes will provide an escape from the hectic day-to-day in the make believe worlds she creates.

Look for Nancy’s titles in the Adams Grove series. 
Sweet Tea and Secrets
Out of Focus
Wedding Cake and Big Mistakes 
Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies 
Mint Juleps and Justice 
Barbecue and Bad News
~coming soon Porch Swings and Promises

Nancy also has co-written books with:
Phyllis C. Johnson ~ inkBLOT
Kelsey Browning ~ The Granny Series
Book 1- In For A Penny
Book 2 – Fit To Be Tied
Book 3 – In High Cotton 
Book 4 – Under The Gun
Book 5 – Gimme Some Sugar

Boot Creek Novels
Life After Perfect
Every Yesterday
Until Tomorrow

Christmas Books
Christmas Joy
Hope at Christmas
Christmas in Evergreen
Dear Santa

Aside from writing she enjoys hunting for treasures in junk and antique shoppes, and getting crafty no matter what the medium from painting and digitizing embroidery designs, to weaving pine needle baskets. She also enjoys horseback riding on her palomino, Tooter.

A Virginia native, and spending most of her life in the Tidewater area, she now calls North Carolina home.

If you haven’t read NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, then you serious need to pick it up. AMC just aired the first season of NOS4A2 and I loved it. In June, at Bookcon, AMC had a booth, where everyone can take a picture to look like Charlie Minx and then we would get a candy cane and a gift. They were recording the event and you can see video below of me and my mom opening our gifts and me taking a selfie http://www.themill.com/portfolio/5034/nos4a2-%7C-behind-the-scenes