All that Matters Is the Story

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. The weather has turned colder, so we’re in hibernation mode once again. But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about writing. I haven’t written about this subject in a minute, and I thought I should.

https://allthefreestock.com/

The thing I like about writing is all that matters is the story. That’s right. I’ve seen writers achieve publication who don’t have a social media presence and barely have any followers on Twitter. How do they do it? It’s simple. All it boils down to is they wrote a good story.

The story is the final product after many tweaks and rewrites. The thing no one tells you though, it may take years to make your story good enough for publication. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers,” it takes at least ten thousand hours to become an expert in any field. So, writers must do a lot of writing before they become experts at writing.

However, most don’t get paid while they’re becoming experts unless they’re a journalist or a technical writer. That’s where the rub is. A programmer gets hired into a company and is paid a wage while he’s honing his skills. The same with a plumber, builder, or construction worker. They get paid while they improve. However, a novel writer doesn’t get paid while they’re creating their masterpiece. They don’t get paid while they’re increasing their skill level, but they persevere and get those hours in any way.

Writers must have the grit to push forward when they’re not getting any recognition or payment for their work in the hopes, they’ll be able to sell their finished product. Nothing is guaranteed, and that’s why very few writers find an agent and make it to publication. They give up before they get there.

https://allthefreestock.com/

Writers have to have the courage to suck and keep on writing. Especially when you finally finish your work, and the market has changed. No one’s interested in a story about living on Mars because that’s old news. It’s been done so many times before. That’s why writers also need to be visionaries and predict the future as well.

So, it all boils down to whether you as a writer have the grit to push forward when the going gets tough? What do you do when you can’t see your writing path clearly? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

What I’ve Been Reading

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. Both are going well. I also finished reading a book that a colleague recommended to me, and I must say, I loved it. I haven’t read a book like this before, and it amazed me, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

The book is titled, “We are Called to Rise,” and it’s a suspenseful story bringing three unrelated characters together. It’s the story of heartbreak and redemption. How one action can change the course of your life. I read this book in two days. It was that good.  Below are the cover and blurb.

 

“Your heart will break…then soar” (Redbook) when, far from the neon lights of the Vegas strip, three lives collide in a split-second mistake and a child’s fate hangs in the balance.

Avis thought her marriage had hit a temporary rut. But with a single confession in the middle of the night, her carefully constructed life comes undone. After escaping a tumultuous childhood and raising a son, she now faces a future without the security of the home and family she has spent decades building.

Luis only wants to make the grandmother who raised him proud. As a soldier, he was on his way to being the man she taught him to be until he woke up in Walter Reed Hospital with vague and troubling memories of how he got there. Now he must find a new way to live a life of honor.

Every day, young Bashkim looks forward to the quiet order of school and the kind instruction of his third grade teacher. His family relocated to Las Vegas after fleeing political persecution in their homeland. Now their ice cream truck provides just enough extra income to keep them afloat. With his family under constant stress, Bashkim opens his heart to his pen pal, a US soldier.

When these lives come together in a single, shocking moment, each character is called upon to rise. “You’ll be thinking about these characters long after you finish this haunting, heart-wrenching, and hopeful book” (Houston Chronicle).

My Thoughts:

This book spoke to me on many levels. It’s a mother’s story. It’s the story of one mother confronting the darkness in her son, and what she has to do to face it. It’s the story of another mother who failed her daughter, and because of that failure she raises her grandson. It’s the story of another mother who tolerates both physical and emotional abuse to protect her children, and last but not least, it’s the story of redemption. It shows us that even broken people can come together and do the right thing. That broken people can still love with all their hearts.

I highly recommend this story. I related to all the characters on some level, and it’s not very often that happens. It was hard for me to put it down.

How about you? Have you read any great books you’d recommend? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Artificial Intelligence in the Writing World

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of work and writing. Summer is winding down, and I’m sad about that. It just doesn’t seem like there’s enough time to do all the summer things I want to do. Summer just goes by way to fast, but enough about that. Today, I want to talk about what’s going on in the writing world, specifically Artificial Intelligence.

https://allthefreestock.com/

First of all, what is Artificial Intelligence? That’s a good question. Apparently, it is the ability of a computer, or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment.

https://allthefreestock.com/

It seems there are some unscrupulous people out there who’re using artificial intelligence to create books, then claiming a well-known author wrote the story. I’ve heard of more than one author who has to fight this when the books appear on Amazon under their name. These people get the money from the sale of these books while using the author’s name to sell them.

https://allthefreestock.com/

This is extremely frustrating and time consuming. The real author must communicate with Amazon to take the books down, and Amazon doesn’t always comply. The real author’s hands are tied. They have no way of communicating with their fans that these books are not written by them.

https://allthefreestock.com/

In my opinion, this is on Amazon. They should be making sure the author is who they claim to be. They could do what Twitter and Facebook do, and verify the account, or they could put the author’s picture with each book. But what about author’s who use artificial intelligence in their work? According to the US Copyright Office, this is acceptable.

On March 15, 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office announced that works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) may be copyrightable, provided the work involves sufficient human authorship. Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence, 88 Fed.

So now we have to define what is “sufficient human authorship.” Does anyone know? I sure don’t. I don’t want to read any books that were written using artificial intelligence. I want a real book. Don’t you? I know I won’t be using artificial intelligence in any of my stories.

https://allthefreestock.com/

There must be some way authors can protect all their hard work and their reputations. As soon as fans find out the book wasn’t written by the author, they’re going to be upset and most likely stop buying those author’s books.

What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence in the writing world? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

It’s National Book Lover’s Day!

Happy National Book Lover’s Day!! Let me know your favorite book by leaving a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

I’ll start with a couple of my faves!

                        

What I’m Reading

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Here we are the weekend before Christmas. I hope you have your shopping done. I do, but I haven’t wrapped anything yet. 😊

Saving that for Christmas Eve. 😉

But enough about that, I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been reading in between moments of busyness. It’s a very busy time of year, so I haven’t gotten very far into it, but it is very good. It’s so good in fact, it should be a movie. I’ll give you more of a run down when I finish it.

 

 

 

One of the Ten Best Books of The New York Times Book Review
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Now a miniseries from Hulu starring James Franco

ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, THREE SHOTS RANG OUT IN DALLAS, PRESIDENT KENNEDY DIED, AND THE WORLD CHANGED. WHAT IF YOU COULD CHANGE IT BACK?

In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963—turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

My Thoughts:

So far, I’m totally into this story. I wish I could take a couple of days and just devour it. It’s that good. If you’re looking for a book to just disappear into, this one is for you.  I’ll write a review on it when I finish it. 🙂

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks so much for reading my blog and giving me all the support you’ve given me all year!

 

What I’ve been Reading

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and writing during these snowy winter days, so I thought I’d share with you the latest book I’ve finished. It was action packed and full of twists and turns. Without further ado, here it is!

 

 

 

 

Kate’s genes say she’s a rebel; will her heart tell her the same?

Katherine Dennard was supposed to go back to a perfect life in The Institute with her fiancé, Saul Goodman, but her amnesia is making that wonderful life harder than she hoped. When that crazy guy, Micah Pennington shows up and tells her everything she knows is a lie, she doesn’t know who to trust, but one thing’s for sure: it isn’t Micah. The thing is, Micah might be crazy, but Saul is definitely hiding something.

Kate must sift through the mysteries of her past to uncover who she is, but unraveling the truth unearths secrets that threaten to destroy the only life she can remember. If Kate can’t remember who she was, how can she figure out who she’s supposed to be?

 

My Thoughts:

This is the third story in the Young Adult series Destiny by Design. I’ve read the first two books and this one is my favorite. The story line is exciting and full of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. The characters are realistic and complicated which makes for a better story. The science in the story is well-thought out and believable and that made the story intriguing as well. If you are a dystopian lover, I highly recommend this series. The books are well-written, and the plots are realistic.

 

If you want to start the series from the beginning, here are the first two book covers and blurbs.

 

 

When Katherine Dennard is selected to become a “Creation Specialist” in Sector 4, the opportunity sounds like a dream come true. But Kate soon discovers the darker side of her profession – the disposal of fetal organs and destruction of human life. It makes sense, really. In a society where disease and malformations don’t exist, human perfection demands that no genetic “mutants” be allowed to live. For Sector 4, “survival of the fittest” is not just a theory – it’s The Institute’s main mission.

When Kate discovers that The Institute is using her DNA to create new life, her work gets personal. In order to save her unviable son, she’ll have to trust Micah and his band of underground Natural Born Rebels. The problem is, if The Institute discovers her betrayal, the next body tossed in the trash could be hers.

“This is a powerful story about the meaning and value of life–we don’t have enough of those.” ~ Terry Trueman, Printz Honor author, Stuck in Neutral

 

Seventeen-year-old Katherine Dennard will risk the freedom she fought so hard to gain to rescue the man she loves, even if it means making an unthinkable deal with Saul, a high-ranking military officer determined to capture her and destroy all Natural-Born rebels. But the arrangement may forever strip her of the quiet life she desires with Micah and her newborn son and thrust her back into the dangerous world of The Institute — where only perfect, genetically-modified babies are allowed to survive.
Natural-Born rebel, Micah Pennington, will die in prison before he gives up information that would put Kate and her child in danger or reveal the secrets of the Hidden City. And if by some miracle he does escape, he must find a way to obliterate The Institute and their genetic engineering practices once and for all.
Saul Goodman fosters trust with the rebels in order to infiltrate their society, reveal intel, and devise a way to eliminate them. Kate holds the key to the downfall of The Institute, and Saul will use her baby against her, stopping at nothing to protect The Institute’s future.
Will Kate choose to save Micah even if it means placing the life of her baby in Saul’s hands?

New From Iris Blobel! Check it out!

INNOCENT TEARS
by Iris Blobel

 

I’m excited to tell you all about the re-release of INNOCENT TEARS,
The book has enjoyed a rewrite and an awesome new cover.
I hope you’ll give Flynn and Emma’s story a chance.
THANK YOU

♥♦♥ ~ OUT NOW ~ ♥♦♥
FREE for KU Subscribers

AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
AMAZON AU

 

♥♦♥ Blurb ♥♦♥

Becoming a parent can be daunting at the best of times, but for Flynn McCormack, a business lawyer in Melbourne, it pulls the feet right out from underneath him. He’s become a father to six-year-old Nadine literally overnight. He didn’t know about her existence, and the news throws him into chaos, even more so when he is asked to take over custody.

With the help of Emma, an employee at the hotel where Nadine and her grandparents are staying, Flynn tries to do the right thing. Yet, the right thing in his eyes differs from his parents’ ideas, and Emma is voicing her opinion, too, leaving Nadine right in the middle of it all, still grieving the loss of her mother. There’s no doubt she’s afraid about where and with whom she will settle.

Will a letter Flynn receives help him decide what to do?

Social Media Links:

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What I’ve been Reading

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. It’s Father’s Day weekend and it’s my last week of school. I’m so ready for the summer break. So today I thought I’d share with you a book I finished some time ago. It was very good and I’d recommend it to anyone who feels like escaping into a good story.

 

Before We were Yours

 

 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale comes a “thought-provoking [and] complex tale about two families, two generations apart . . . based on a notorious true-life scandal.”*

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

*Library Journal

Praise for Before We Were Yours

“A [story] of a family lost and found . . . a poignant, engrossing tale about sibling love and the toll of secrets.”—People

“Sure to be one of the most compelling books you pick up this year. . . . Wingate is a master-storyteller, and you’ll find yourself pulled along as she reveals the wake of terror and heartache that is Georgia Tann’s legacy.”—Parade

“One of the year’s best books . . . It is impossible not to get swept up in this near-perfect novel.”—The Huffington Post

“Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.”—Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of Circling the Sun

My Thoughts:

 

This story was a heartbreaking tale of a family broken apart by a money-hungry, evil woman. Although the characters are fictional, this story is based on actual events. It’s based on the real life scandal of Georgia Tann who kidnapped poor children and sold them to wealthy people. She defended her actions by stating that these children had better lives, but she never addresses the heartache she caused and the destruction she left in her wake when she tore these families apart.

The main character, Rill is a fighter, but she’s left with the guilt of not being able to keep her family together. How horrible to grow up and know you’ve got brothers and sisters, but not know where they are or what happened to them. I didn’t want to put this book down.

This is a must read for everyone. It will make you appreciate your family, especially your siblings.

What I’ve been Reading

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I thought I’d share with you two books I’ve recently read. After a couple of serious posts, I thought I’d lighten things up with a fun one. Well, fun to us bookworms!

The first book is “The Girl in the Blue Coat.”  It’s the story about friendship and betrayal during WWII when everyone was living in fear.  One woman hides a Jewish girl in her back room and one day the girl disappears.  She seeks out the assistance of Hanneke to find this girl and so the story begins.  Hanneke is pulled into the situation and reluctantly does what she can to find the girl.

 

The national bestseller and winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person-a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, gripping novel about bravery, grief, and love in impossible times.

My Thoughts:

This story was well written and an accurate portrayal of what happened during WWII. I loved Hanneke, she was such a strong girl, even though she didn’t see herself that way. There’s a twist at the end that took me by surprise. A well written historical YA novel. I’d recommend this to both adults and young adults. It was a great read.

The next book I read is also a WWII novel and it’s based on a true story. The title is “Beneath a Scarlet Sky.” It’s the story of Pino and his family during WWII and how Pino helps the resistance by joining the Nazi army. It’s a depiction of the bravery of the Italian people who joined the resistance and helped Jewish families escape into Switzerland.

Soon to be a major television event from Pascal Pictures, starring Tom Holland.

Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, the #1 Amazon Charts bestseller Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.

Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.

Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love.

 

My Thoughts:

While this is the story about the bravery of the Italians who joined the resistance, it’s also the story of love and loss. The story of Pino and Anna. Pino falls for her hard after he joins the Nazi party and begins spying for the resistance. The war ends and Pino believes he and Anna can now marry and start a family. However, Pino suffers the devastating loss of his love at the very end of the war. It’s incredibly sad and frustrating because he feels incredible guilt that he did not save her.  This is an incredible story and the bravery of the Italians involved in the resistance illustrates that good does triumph over evil. I’d recommend this book to both adults and young adults alike.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Do you have any books you’d recommend? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

 

What I’ve been Reading…

 

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a wonderful Christmas season with my family. For some reason, I looked forward to Christmas this year more than I have in the past. I’m not sure why, maybe because I started shopping early and this season was less stressful. Or it could be because we were all healthy this Christmas and I was thankful for that.

 

Photo by mclcbooks on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

Anyway, whatever the reason, I had a great Christmas and I hope you did, too.

This is my last blog post of 2017. It’s kind of anti-climactic because I don’t have the “I’ve figured out the meaning of life” post I thought I’d have at this juncture in the game, and I haven’t figured out my New Year’s resolutions yet or my One Little Word for 2018. So as I struggle for something to write, I fall back on one of my favorite hobbies and that is reading. I’ve finished a couple of excellent stories I haven’t shared with you yet so I thought this might be a good time to discuss them. One was recommended to me and the other one is one of my favorite authors. Both books were excellent. So without further ado, here they are.

 

THE CITY OF THIEVES:

 

 

From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival — and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.

During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, the New York Times bestseller City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.

 

My Thoughts:

 

I love a good World War II story, especially the ones where good triumphs over evil. In this story, two unlikely men become friends in occupied Russia during the Nazi invasion when they are captured by the Nazis. Instead, of death, they are tasked with finding eggs for the Commander’s daughter’s wedding cake in a time when eggs are nowhere to be found. The two characters take us on their journey where we run into some dangerous characters and some heroic ones.  I absolutely loved the ending. It’s one of hope and shows that even in the most horrible of circumstances love triumphs over all.

 

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

 

 

 

The runaway New York Times bestseller

Named a Best Book of the Year:
People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Book of the Month, Paste, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, and many more!

“I am loving Little Fires Everywhere. Maybe my favorite novel I’ve read this year.”—John Green

“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting.” –Jodi Picoult

“Witty, wise, and tender. It’s a marvel.” – Paula Hawkins

“To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” – Reese Witherspoon

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town–and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides.  Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

 

My Thoughts:

 

Celeste Ng has become one of my favorite authors. I fell in love with her first book “Everything I Never Told You” and her second book is right up there with her first one.

“Little Fires Everywhere” is the story of the Richardson family and the quiet life of Shaker Heights and how one addition to this little town can turn everything upside down. The addition I’m talking about is Mia and Pearl. Mia is a photographer who’s been moving from town to town for quite some time, but she wants to stop and put down some roots for her daughter Pearl.

They rent a home from the Richardson’s and the Richardson children befriend Pearl and soon Mia begins working for the family to help pay the rent. Their lives become intertwined and fires start. It’s a great story of family dynamics and explores issues of adoption, abortion, and parenting. If you like human drama stories you’ll love this one.

 

So there you have it, my last post of 2017.  If you’re snowed in, these two books are a must read…even if you’re not snowed it. They’re great stories. Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I’m putting together a reading list for 2018 do you have any recommendations for me? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!