Rainy Days And Random Reading

I am so proud of me!!!

I am sticking to my plan...alternating between Amazon Vine and NetGalley books until I put a sizable dent in my stacks...one stack virtual...one stack real.

Other than that...I am sort of randomly choosing from each pile! I am not letting dates bother me...I am reading...writing a review...and moving on..

I am on a roll!!!

Really into this book from NetGalley...not out yet...but I loved his book Matrimony.

This one is a family saga...intense...I am into it already...but it mostly takes place in a place I love...the Berkshires...

It's a beautiful rainy cleansing day...out to dinner tonight...date night!!!




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A Summary...Sort Of...

It has been just Lucy and me this week...Den has been away for work...but he is home now.

I sort of cleaned and sort of cooked...cheerios, toast, eggs...that was dinner...and read really a lot.

I did tons of laundry.

I sorted through summery clothes.

I got my nails done.

I went to Whole Foods...again...apparently my new hangout...

I went to lunch with a friend.

My sister wants to rent a house in Key West next March with my brothers and me...we are in...but she won't let me have the big bedroom...meanie Paula. She says when I do all the work then I can have the big room...hmmmm.

My shaded reading glasses came and they made reading on the deck easy and relaxing.

Lucy determined the time that we went upstairs every night so I was able to read even more...lol...after playtime of course...Lucy determines that, too...

Last night she herded me upstairs when it was still daylight and after we raced and romped and played she went downstairs for alone time and abandoned me...

I felt manipulated!!!

Totally...

I got great new books from Amazon Vine...this week they even had refrigerators to review...I wasn't fast enough...so I got more lovely books.

Finished this...really good...


Choosing my next book in minutes!!!

Happy start to the week end!!

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Gone? A Review...

This was..

a story of a really messed up marriage.

My thoughts...

The story was told in unfolding alternating chapters...by Nick and Amazing Amy. I love when an author does this...and also the book was divided into three yummy parts...the before, the going on now, and the what happens next.

This book was very intense...Nick and Amy...two very flawed people...lose everything...jobs, lives in NYC, townhouse, and Amy's trust fund. She is the beloved only child of a writing team who have based their best selling books on her life...thus she is...Amazing Amy. Only snippets of her life within the book reveal how messed up this has made her...whew!!!

This book was a tense nail biting ride...Amy disappears one morning and of course Nick is under suspicion. Everything he does and says incriminates him...he is stupid and reckless and cocky. He is a mess. He tries to help his new police buddies and only digs himself deeper and deeper into being the suspect. He smiles inappropriately, he acts inappropriately...he does everything wrong...including an affair with a student...a young student.

It's as though Nick is being pulled along a tortuous path by someone who is dastardly and devious and manipulative...I wonder who that could be?

Hmmm.

This isn't a book that I can reveal to you...it was laden with twists and turns and chilling surprises. Once I thought I knew what was happening I was knocked down by another surprise...and not a good one.

I started this on Sunday night...and literally read it all night long...it is so gripping I could not put it down...there was never a point when I wanted to stop reading...I actually could not stop.

This book is that great.

It has brilliant writing, amazing characters, an unfreakingbelievable plot...one of the best books I have read this year...

It was so much more than a mystery...it was an event. It was a long soulful look into the lives of two destructive people who are supposed to love each other. It was a ride with a character who was so evil and so determined to get revenge on the other...amazing stuff.

Truly a wonderful book. Every single page I spent with these two weird people...every chilling eye opening event was mesmerizing...mesmerizing.

This book had the most flawed, evil, dangerous, engrossing and creative characters that I have encountered in a long time.

It was an unforgettable book.




Sent from my iPad2 by Patty Magyar!!!


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Hmmm...

Patty's thoughts...

Can I live a happy and fulfilling life without this?

This object?

It's from a favorite store in California called Napa Style...

Right now I have dozens of ideas...magazines, laundry, plants, quilts, extra storage?



Lucy's thoughts...

Naps, fun, Patty and Den can move me into all of my favorite sun spots...fresh hot laundry for napping on...this is a must have!!!




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Spring Cleaning...Sort Of...

I am spring cleaning...my books...physical and virtual...
I have a plan to stay on top of Amazon Vine books...and read as many NetGalley books as I can until June 20th.
The first official day of summer!!!
Then on the first day of summer I will be free to read whatever I want to read all summer long.
June 21st until the first day of school...I will read the old fashioned way...whenever and whatever I want...
I like my plan...don't you?




And sort of accidentally yesterday I picked up this book...
Sent to me by two lovely friends...




It is beautifully written and delightfully engaging. The story is quite mysteriously mischievous and easy to follow. Middle graders will love these characters. They are all quite interesting. I love Fairday and her baby sister Margo. I love her best buddy Lizzy and new friend Marcus.

And their adventure was spot on.

Fairday's family moves to a new house that is old and unique. It has lots of hidden rooms and one amazing mirror that leads them to an amazing adventure.

Some surprising adventures involve an unusual pair of sparkly high heeled sneakers and a wardrobe that follows directions. Add these to the plight of the unlovely Ruby Begonia (prior resident of Begonia House) and you have good clean scary fun and a great adventure.

Oh...I can't forget a very nasty willow tree and a very mean gypsy and bagpipes...lol...bagpipes!!!

Scary good fun...

I won't tell you any more...this has to be an adventure that awaits you!!!

I also loved the messages to bullies within this book...it was done perfectly...the authors did a beautiful job!!!

This was a really cool book...I am hoping there is more for the DMS.

That would be the Detective Mystery Squad. They are just too good at solving mysteries.

Tis' The Season...

This is the time of year for outside reading...none of our deck furniture is really out yet except for one comfy swing on the sun side of the deck...that always stays out but it's enough to lure me to swing and read and read and swing...

Normally I have to make a choice...reading glasses or sunglasses...but I found these at Anthropologie...OMG!!!

Shaded readers!!!

I love solving problems!!!



Onto books...yummy ones...

What is it about covers...certain ones just draw me in...

















Don't these look inviting?

I have some of them...thank you NetGalley!!!

I am reading Gone Girl...it is drawing me in word by word...


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Saturday At Whole Foods...

Well...the day apparently everyone in our area has been waiting for finally came...a Whole Foods that is less than an hour away!!!

Happy day!!! It was a few days after the grand opening so we thought it would be a fun and calm trip.

Yikes...wrong on all counts...

We parked miles away...the lot was full...people were everywhere. It was festive.
There was a Whole Foods "team member" stationed in the store almost every 5 steps. I quickly learned to not look as though I was not looking for something lest I be "helped" too much...these team members have been trained.

Really trained...

We really didn't have a list...this isn't a big cooking week but we left with an over abundance of stuff...

Yep...a little of that eyes way bigger than your tummy feeling...lol...but it was such a beautiful store...and my brothers and my sister and...yep...me...have this thing about grocery shopping...we freaking love it...

We came out of there with an amazing variety of local and yummy foods...

Here are a few of our purchases...

a tomahawk/cowboy steak...dinner tonight...it looks like a dinosaur bone!!!
a local salsa, a feta cheese local salsa, and store made guacamole
organic breads
4 mini Key Lime Pies...OMG!!!
two cornbread stuffed little pork chop things...I had to freeze them because we weren't hungry after lunch...explanation to come...
hand made lavender soap...no clue why...
berries...blue and red
heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil to eat with our dinosaur steak...
juices
baby kale...it was so tiny and sweet...
jams
tea...jasmine flowers...hand packed...I loved the box...
yummy bottled teas to have with lunch...I loved the bottles...
roasted chicken BLT's on whole grain buns...and the reason why we didn't have dinner plus Den sampled everything they put in his hand...

It was so much fun!!!

The store is beautiful and big and the fish guy will throw your fish if you want him to...we passed...

The only thing I will never buy there is the bulk stuff that you dip a scoop into...I saw a shopper dip in a scoop and eat some of the stuff...not all of it...and then pour her uneaten stuff back in the bin...oh...after passing the scoop to her husband and child...

I think I am a fan of things pre packaged? Hermetically sealed? Untouched by many human hands?

There is also an innovative bottle your own maple syrup, honey, and agave nectar bar...people were circling it but no one had the courage to try it...I can't even get honey bear honey into tea without a mess...I was imagining a store full of sticky!!!

Finished this...loved it way more than the first one...it was the academy, young love, teens with weird powers kind of book but really good...


Reading this...three women with a hidden shared secret in their past...I can't put this down...



Other than figuring out how to grill our dinosaur bone...life is good...
What's up with you?