Morning Glory by Sarah Jio

Morning Glory is exactly why I enjoy Sarah Jio’s novels. Engaging characters, interesting story line, a hint of mystery and romance. Plus it’s set in Seattle on a houseboat. I really enjoyed Morning Glory.

Morning Glory alternates between Ada in the present and Penny in the late 1950’s. Ada lived a perfect life in New York. She was an editor of a magazine with a wonderful husband and an adorable daughter until tragedy strikes. Ada moves to a houseboat on Lake Union, to grieve, to escape. Penny meets Seattle’s most eligible bachelor, Dexter Wentworth. After a quick, whirlwind romance, Penny and Dexter marry and move to a houseboat on Lake Union. But married life isn’t what Penny had in mind especially when Penny meets Collin, a handsome boat maker. Ada becomes intrigued with Penny’s life when she finds a chest of Penny’s memories and the mystery surrounding Penny’s disappearance.

I really liked both Ada and Penny. Penny loves Dexter but Dexter’s depression causes Penny and Dexter to drift apart. Ada is so broken. When she moves to Seattle she wanted to move away from the memories of her husband and daughter. When Ada meets Alex, another houseboater, she finds someone she can share her grief and pain with. I loved how Ada and Alex’s friendship and romance grew. I also liked Penny’s story. I wish Jio would have spent a little more time on Dexter’s depression. Mental health issues aren’t really addressed enough. I did like that Dexter sought help-a therapist and was taking meds. But it’s set in 1950’s so depression probably wasn’t talked about a lot back then.

Overall, I loved Morning Glory. It was a quick read in a month were I feel like I’ve been slogging through books. I always enjoy books set in Seattle especially since I knew most of the places the characters visited. Others who shared their thoughts on Morning Glory: The Lost Entwife, Review From Here, We Still Read, and Book Queen Reviews.

Mini Reviews-The Graphic Novel version

I wanted to highlight a few graphic novels I've read recently. I can't seem to write a long post about one graphic novel so here's a medium size post about a few.

Level Up

Gene Luen Yang seems to be THE name in graphic novels today. When I saw the cover of Level Up I was hooked. The story follows Dennis, a young man who prefers playing video games to attending his college classes. One day he's visited by 4 angels who encourage him to follow his destiny: to become a doctor. The story weaves family expectations with cultural expectations and personal freedoms. I enjoyed this one. 

You Have Killed Me

I grabbed You Have Killed Me off the library shelf because I was hoping it would be a good detective/film noir piece. It was. The story had all the right components-a good looking dame, a broke hustler, a mystery, a good detective just trying to do his job. I enjoyed it.

The Property

The Property is the story of a young woman and her grandmother traveling to Poland. The young woman believes that her grandmother has returned to claim a piece of property her family owned before WWII. The grandmother has other ideas. The Property was a beautiful story of love, family, and history. The story was so rich. Amazing, one of my favorites this year. 

Have you read any great graphic novels recently?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Snapshot

I found Snapshot on Goodreads. I think it was featured on the sidebar for a while. Sounds a little different that what I normally read.

The Last Dragon

I was browsing the graphic novel shelves and came across this one. I've only read one Yolen book and really enjoyed it. I had meant to look for more of her work and was really glad to stumble on to this graphic novel.

Mercury

Another one I grabbed off the shelf based on the author. I recently read her Wrinkle In Time Graphic novel and was interested in reading more. 

What did you get this week? Claire's got Mr Linky this week.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Everywhere, from he window seat in the apartment to the little cafe on Fifty-Sixth Street, memories linger and taunt me. "Remember when life was perfect?" they whisper. "Remember when you were happy?"

pg 7 Morning Glory by Sarah Jio

Clara and Mr Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

I picked up Clara and Mr Tiffany because I've enjoyed Vreeland's Girl In Hyacinth Blue and I heard good things about Clara and Mr Tiffany. But I wound up having a love/hate relationship with Clara and Mr Tiffany.

Mr Tiffany employs a few women at his factory because he believes women are better at selecting colors of glass than men. Clara has worked for Mr. Tiffany on and off because Tiffany has a policy against women being married and employed. Clara loves creating beautiful works of art. First windows and mosaics and later lamp shades. So when her first husband passes, Clara comes back to Tiffany and begins to help Tiffany design lamp shades. Slowly the number of women at Tiffany increases and Clara becomes the  supervisor of the Women's department.

First I loved the detail Vreeland put into Clara and Mr Tiffany. Clara designed a lot of Tiffany glass and never received any recognition. Tiffany's name was on the building and all the glass. Clara longed to be recognized but Tiffany refused to acknowledge any other designer and society didn't recognize women working outside the home. I kept getting angry about the conditions the women had to work in and the way they were treated. Sometimes I couldn't read anymore and needed to set Clara and Mr Tiffany aside. But I enjoyed reading about Clara and how she saw life and art. For anyone interested in art especially American art in the later 1800's/early 1900's, Clara and Mr Tiffany would be a great read.

I loved the details of the art Clara made. I wish there would have been pictures included. I found this picture of the dragonfly lamp online:

You can really see the detail that Clara and the other women added to the lamp as well as the base. Others who shared their thoughts on Clara and Mr Tiffany: What Women Write, Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews, Joyfully Retired, and The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader.
Clara and Mr Tiffany satisfies the Forename or names category of the What's In A Name Challenge.

What To Eat This Week

Welcome to my latest feature-my weekly menu plan. Each Sunday I post what we'll be eating this week.

Breakfasts: For me, I'm going to make this Cinnamon Date and Walnut Baked Oatmeal for the week. Tai's taking these muffins.

Lunches: Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs Osso Buco with pasta, Teriyaki steak with Lemon and Wasabi served with rice, and egg salad sandwiches.

Dinners:

Monday: Chicken Bacon Wild Rice Soup served with sautéed snow peas and garlic.  I'm on a huge wild rice kick.

Tuesday: Stuffed Italian turkey meatballs with spaghetti (for Tai and me) and with spaghetti squash for Dad. Served with roasted broccoli

Wednesday: Stuffed Flank Steak with lemon quinoa.

Thursday: Steak and Vegetable Skewers with a Soy-Ginger Marinade  served with butternut squash gratin

Friday: Chicken Avocado Soup with corn/Beanito chips and salad.

Saturday: Hamburgers with protein topper hash and sweet potato fries.

Sunday: Thai Style Peanut Stuffed Flank with coconut rice and a salad.

What are you eating this week?

Boy21 by Matthew Quick

I added Boy21 to my library hold list after reading April's review. I enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook so I knew I wanted to read more books by Matthew Quick. Boy21 is one of the best books I've read this year. It's going to be hard for me to not read more of Quick's books this year.

Finley is going to be a senior this year. There are only two things that he loves-baseketball and his girlfriend, Erin. Finley is a man of few words. It's hard to see at the beginning if he's unwilling to talk much or if something is restraining him. This summer is like no other at the start. Finley and Erin spend each day practicing for the upcoming basketball season. All is normal until Coach asks Finley to help a new student, Russ aka Boy21. Boy21 is moving to Finley's school after his parents were murdered. In order to cope with their sudden passing, Russ imagines that he's an alien and his parents are coming in space ship to take him away. Russ is also a basketball player and, according to Coach, one of the best. Will Finley be able to help Boy21? Will Boy21 take Finley's spot on the basketball team?

I don't read many books with male protagonists so this one was kind of unique for me. And even though I watch basketball, I didn't know much about the positions and the techniques. Quick does a great job about drawing you into Finley's world. It's all basketball and Erin. Erin is an absolute sweetheart. Also a basketball player, she helps push Finley. The two of them have a plan to get out of where they live and find a better life. Finley lives in an area controlled by violence, drugs, and gangs. Neither him or Erin want to live in that world.

Russ or Boy21 was an amazing character. A star basketball player with offers to play at some of the most prestigious colleges in the country. One day his parents are murdered and he turns to space to help him get through the tragedy. Boy21's pain and confusion are hard for Finley to take. But I loved the friendship between the two of them. They help each other in so many ways.

Overall, I loved Boy21. Fantastic story, great characters. An amazing read. Others who shared their thoughts on Boy21: Good Books and Good Wine, YA Love, I Like These Books, and Read Many Books!.

Awesome and Awkward Thursday

Awkward:

-My new love of World Market. I could spend hours in there. All the foods from all over the world. The wine selection. The awkward part is the bill.

-Our internet. So slow sometimes. Makes blogging hard. 

-Dad and I are in the midst of cleaning out his old house. I want to keep everything! Fighting my hoarding tendencies hard. 

Awesome:

-Menu planning. I love knowing what I'm going to make in a given week so I can not worry about it on the way home. So much easier. Did you see my new weekly post about menu planning?

-I've been on a cleaning kick. I cleaned out my closet. I've been cleaning out my kitchen. Goodbye spices from 2009! 

-Last night's Paul Simon/Sting concert. Amazing. 

What's been awesome and awkward for you lately?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.


A lot of historical fiction this week!

Cinders & Sapphires

The buzz around Cinders and Sapphires caused me to grab it off the shelf.

Double Enchantment

The second in the Relics of Merlin series. 

A Mad, Wicked Folly

It feels like I'm seeing this one everywhere. 

The Perfect Rake

I think Goodreads recommended this one. I do love a good rake.

Wild Desire

The second in the Wild series. What a cover!

What did you get this week? Add your loot to Mr Linky!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

A top-heavy omnibus pulled by two lathered Clydesdales stopped at the corner, heading uptown. I got on. The clop-clop of the heavy hooves sent up a languid rhythm as we passed the shops of Ladies' Mile and then the mansions of Fifth Avenue. 
pg 40 Clara and Mr Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Paris Was The Place by Susan Conley

I snatched Paris was the place off the library shelf because many other bloggers had sung its praises. I do enjoy books set in Paris but Paris was the Place didn’t work for me.

Willow moved to Paris after her brother relocated there. A friend of hers was able to secure a job at a detention center for young girls looking for asylum. Willow is excited to bring poetry to these girls and hopes to help them tell their stories. Willow wants to make a difference in these young girls’ lives. She also wants to help them stay in France.

My first problem with Paris Was The Place that I could not connect with Willow. It’s 1989 and Willow isn’t a cool name so she goes by Willie. It bothered me that she had this cool name and went by Willie. All I could think of was Willie Nelson. Secondly, Willow loves poetry. I don’t like poetry so the poems interspersed through the book did not add to my enjoyment. Conley’s writing was excellent so she did a great job of describing Paris. I really felt like I was there. But I couldn’t get interested in Willow and what was happening with her.

Conley also switched quickly between what was happening now in Paris and Willow’s childhood. Sometimes it was hard for me to tell where Willow was. And there was a lot of unresolved issues with her parents but not really explained or fleshed out enough for me. 

I did like the secondary characters. I loved Willow’s brother and his partner. I definitely enjoyed the scenes with them. I also liked Willow's friends, Sarah and Rajiv. I would have liked to hear more about their story. Also the girls in the detention center had interesting stories too. Honestly I would have liked this book more if it had been about anyone but Willow.

Sadly I can't recommend Paris Was The Place. If it's on your to be read list, I would say give it a shot. Many other people enjoyed it. Others who shared their thoughts on Paris Was The Place:  Chocolate & Croissants,  Walkie Talkie Book Club, and From L.A to LA.

What To Eat This Week

What To Eat This Week is a new feature on my blog. To help me meal plan better, I'm posting what we are eating this week on Sundays.

First the winner of last week: Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad. This was the crowd favorite. I will be making this one again.

The loser of the week: Mexican Chicken Lime Soup. The flavor was delicious but it was so hot. I tempered it with sour cream and corn chips but it was still pretty spicy.

Breakfast this week: More of the Banana Quinoa Bars for me. Tai decided he wanted bagels with lox so we picked up some bagels from Blazing Bagels.

Lunches: I got a good deal on chicken quarters so I'll make Spicy Honey Chicken, Herbed Chicken, and Brown Sugar Butter Roasted Chicken.

Dinners:

Monday: Tai requested Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp for dinner. I'll pick up a nice baguette and serve it with a salad.

Tuesday: Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps. I love lettuce wraps for a weeknight meal.

Wednesday: Spaghetti with quinoa pasta for me and Tai. Dad will have it with spaghetti squash. Served with salad.

Thursday: Tai also requested Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps this week. These and the shrimp are 2 of his favorite dinners so they'll be on this list once or twice a month. For Dad, I make the bacon wraps with Sweet Heat Bacon and leave off the brown sugar. I'll serve it with a kale salad.

Friday: Hamburger Wild Rice Casserole with sautéed green beans.

Saturday: Savory Citrus Chicken with roasted broccoli.

Sunday: Taco Pie maybe with some guacamole.

The Love List

What I'm loving this year:

Photo Found Here

♥Getting lost in a good book

♥Laughing 

Photo found here

♥Naturebox

♥Popcorn

Photo Found Here

♥Listening to 80's music

♥Spending time with Taiki

Photo Found Here

♥Hugs

♥the Seattle Seahawks

Photo Found Here

♥Apples with homemade caramel sauce

♥Prime rib

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.


Seeing everyone else's Comic February posts made me want to read more comics and graphic novels. So this Library Loot's a little graphic novel heavy.

A Game Of Thrones vol 1

I haven't read A Game of Thrones because the size of the books intimidates me. Maybe the graphic novels (which are still pretty thick) will inspire me to read them or satisfy my need to read them?

A Game of Thrones vol 2

And I got the second volume too. 

Brain Camp

A horror story set at a camp. Sounds great.

Level Up

The cover alone made me want this one.

Alice in Tumblr-land

While looking for graphic novels, I stumbled upon Alice in Tumblr-land. It looked cute so it got added to my library queue.

Head over to Claire's blog to link up!

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"A love I've never understood until now. Here it is out in the open and based-like all love is, maybe-on some amount of abiding affection and on some other amount of need.

pg 56 Paris Was The Place by Susan Conley

Enchanting The Lady by Katheryne Kennedy

Linda recently reviewed the fourth in The Relics of Merlin series. The fourth one sounded good but I like to try to start at the beginning of the series if I can. So I put Enchanting the Lady on hold at the library. I'm really glad I did. A great historical paranormal romance.

Felicity (I love that name) is about to take her test to see if she will inherit her parent's title. She has only small glimpses of her magic so she's not sure she's going to pass this test. Since Felicity is so plain, not having a title will lessen her chances of marrying. Her aunt and uncle are kind and provide a place for her to live but Felicity is looking forward to marrying, having babies, and running her own household.

Sir Terrance is one of the Prince's spies but that does not elevate him in society. Terrance is the perfect spy as he is a werelion. But society looks down on weres. Terrance is perfectly happy to let society hang but when he meets Felicity he's very interested in attending balls and finding ways to see her. Terrance is attracted to Felicity's beauty but she also seems to have the aura of relic magic around her. Terrance is charged with finding and destroying Merlin's relics. Will Felicity lead him to another relic?

I really liked both Felicity and Terrance. Felicity has been told she has no magic and no beauty. But when she meets Terrance, her whole life changes. Part of that is Terrance but a lot of it is Felicity believing in herself and making things happen. I loved the magical aspect along with the weres. I will enjoy reading the rest of this series. Others who shared their thoughts on Enchanting The Lady: The Demon Librarian, Fictitious Escape, and Books Like Breathing.
This is my third read for the Romance Reading Challenge.

What To Eat This Week

I'm starting this new weekly feature on my blog. I'm attempting to be better at meal planning so I thought I'd post my meal plans for the week here every Sunday.

Breakfasts:
I've been loving these quinoa peanut butter banana bars.

Link
They are so delicious.

Lunches:
These will be for one half the week: Gluten Free Pizza Bites


Link
And these will be the other: Orange Sriracha Chicken Wings

Link
For dinners:
Monday: Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad


Link
Served with corn chips/Beanito chips.
Tuesday: Hamburger Soup
Linda Phillips's pin on Pinterest.

Link
Served with a green salad.
Wednesday: Chicken Marsala

Link
Served with green beans.
Thursday: Creamy Mushroom Meatloaf


Link
Served with roasted broccoli or creamed spinach.
Friday:
It's a Valentine's Day Tradition for us to have aged steaks and bacon wrapped scallops at home.
Saturday: Chipotle, Lime, Avocado, & Chicken Soup in the crockpot.


Link
Served with corn/Beanito chips.
Sunday: Crock pot Cheesy Mushroom Chicken


Link
Served with a green salad.

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

When I spotted Sense & Sensibility on The Lost Entwife,  I was immediately interested. I adore the movie version with Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. I've attempted to read Austen's version a few times but the movie keeps rattling around in my head. I usually stop reading it so I can watch the movie again. I thought perhaps the "updated" version of Sense & Sensibility would be easier/more interesting to read. I was half right.

Trollope takes the same story, the same characters and drops them into modern day England. I enjoyed the feeling that these were the same characters I enjoyed before. But some of the things they do and the reasoning is harder to fit in modern society. The ladies Dashwood are displaced from Norland because Mr & Mrs Dashwood weren't married and his son, John, is the legal heir. Despite that John and Fanny have a home, they decide to reside in Norland. In Austen's book I could see that as a sign of wealth and privilege. Here it seemed selfish and rude. Fanny retains all her horridness and I delighted in despising her again. I enjoyed Marianne and Elinor as well. Margaret was hard for me to relate to. Sometimes I wished she'd just stayed silent.

I took me about half the book to get into Sense & Sensibility. Trollope's writing style reminded me a lot of Austen's. I think she remained very true to the spirit of the original while bringing into modern day. This is the first of Trollope's books I've read and I would like to read more by her. I'm also going to check out more the Austen Project. Others who shared their thoughts on Sense & Sensibility: The Lost Entwife, A Spoonful of Happy Endings, Novel Escapes, Laura's Reviews, and A Bookish Way of Life.
This is my second read for the Romance Reading Challenge.

January Book Tally

Cornerstone by Kelly Walker
Ten Ways To Be Adored While Landing A Lord by Sarah MacLean
Stumptown vol 2 by Greg Rucka
The Wild Adventures of Jasper Renn by Kady Cross
Parasite by Mira Grant
Joyland by Stephen King
The Property by Rutu Modan
Lazarus vol 1 by Greg Rucka
Eleven Scandals To Start To Win A Lord's Heart by Sarah MacLean
Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold by Deborah Moggach
Wild Heart by Lori Brighton

A great start to the new year. Twelve books this month. A bunch of great reads.

Stats:

Romance Reading Challenge This month: 1 (Wild Heart) YTD: 1

Historical Reading Challenge  This month: 1 (Wild Heart) YTD: 1

What's In A Name Challenge This month: 2 (Ten Ways To Be Adored While Landing A Lord and Eleven Scandals To Start To Win A Lord's Heart) YTD: 2

Yearly Total: 12

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

I don't know why but a bunch of holds have come in. My library pile has doubled!

Morning Glory

I've been waiting for Jio's latest since before it was released!

Walking The Gobi

A friend recommended this one ages ago. 

Clara and Mr Tiffany

Another one I've been wanting to read. I've enjoyed Vreeland's other books.

A Dawn Most Wicked

Can I just say how utterly excited I am that my library has novellas for download? This makes me ridiculously happy.

Rivers

I'm glad this dystopian novel set in Mississippi has finally arrived. I put it on hold after Beth Fish Reads mentioned it.

What did you get this week? Add your link to Mr Linky below!