From the Library of Mrs. Gardner

Huge thank-you to TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I've read other works by Ms. Ladd, and she has a wonderful talent! I love her characters! Synopsis: Kate's loyalties bind her to the past. Henry's loyalties compel him to strive for a better future. In a landscape torn between tradition and vision, can two souls find the strength to overcome their preconceptions? Loyalty has been at the heart of the Dearborne family for as long as Kate can remember, but a war is brewing in their small village, one that has the power to rip families asunder--including her own. As misguided actions are brought to light, she learns how deep her father's pride and bitterness run, and she begins to wonder if her loyalty is well-placed. Henry Stockton, heir to the Stockton fortune, returns home from three years at war seeking refuge from his haunting memories. Determined to bury the pa...

Happy book birthday to The Hurricane Season!  🎉 Okay, okay.. So, technically yesterday  was the release date. But I'm close! And I'm excited to feature this novel in all its gorgeousness. Check it out! Synopsis: Betsy and Ty Franklin, owners of Franklin Dairy Farm in southern Alabama, have decided to put life's disappointments behind them. At least in theory. Ty manages their herd of dairy cows, while Betsy busies herself with the farm's day-to-day operations and tried to forget the longing for motherhood set deep in her heart. But when Betsy's free-spirited younger sister Jenna drops her young daughters off at the arm to attend a two-week art retreat in Florida, Betsy's carefully constructed wall of self-protection begins to crumble. As those two weeks stretch much farther into the hot Alabama summer, Betsy and Ty learn to navigate the new additions in their world and revel in a home that's suddenly filled with the sound of laughter and life. Me...

😮 The Illuminae Files are complete! I really didn't mean to buy this book at full price right when it released (I have plenty of other neglected, unread books on my shelves), but man, am I glad I did! I feel like I waited 5 years for this book to come out which is absolutely ridiculous, but that's how much I was looking forward to it. It was probably tied for most anticipated release this year for me (tied with A Reaper at the Gates), which of course means there was major potential for letdown. But, I am relieved to say this final installment delivered! I absolutely love that the cast from books 1 and 2 reappeared for this book, and I loved reading their interactions! There were also a few new characters, and somehow I fell in love with them too! None of the relationships or friendships feel forced or in-genuine through the writing, and despite the rather large number of main characters, it actually wasn't too difficult to follow. I did not reread books 1 and 2 ...

I'm so sad that I missed this book-birthday, but better late than never! Thank-you, Emma, for sending me this beautiful book in exchange for a review! Although I haven't had a chance to dive in yet, it adorns my shelf and winks at me from time to time.. 😉 I think this will be an amazing spring/summer contemporary read! So, friends, check out the synopsis below and let me know if you'll be picking up a copy! "Julia thinks her life is pretty good. She loves her job as a teacher, and she's starting a business on the side with some friends to raise money to provide solutions for women's issues in other parts of the world. But when she returns home after some time away to find her nemesis Nick living in her Edinburgh flat, she discovers perhaps her life isn't as well put together as she would like it to be. And then there's the problem of how she might not hate Nick so much after all..." Cross My Heart is a Contemporary Romance with Chris...

Katharine. Arsinoe. Mirabella. They're baaaaaaaack! The triplet queens from Three Dark Crowns return in the sequel, One Dark Throne, and deliver a creep-tastic and slightly more romantic tale. I'll try to stay non-spoilery! Click to add to your Goodreads! Overall, this was a great sequel. The pacing was quick, the characters developed, the relationships developed, and there were a couple of good 😱 OMG! moments. My one complaint? The ending. I truly feel that this could have successfully gone two other ways. With about 50-100 more pages, the story could've continued and been wrapped up completely, resulting in a very solid fantasy duology (which is rare!), or it could've ended exactly as it did but  rather than leading into a third and possibly even fourth installment, a companion novel following a very significant side character could've been written. I truly don't know which character is my favorite, and I love that! It's very "This ...

Ahoy there! 💦 (No idea why I felt like greeting you that way... But I did.) I just had to gush on two particular things today: 1. My Shelfie 2. My Shop Item #1 on the agenda: The shelfie I posted yesterday! Click the image to visit my bookstagram! I gotta admit.. I really  like the way my shelves look right now. Unfortunately, in order to showcase some of my favorite covers of the moment, I had to hide about half of my books behind  other books. Which is kind of fun because next time I rearrange my bookcase and take them all out, I will have undoubtedly forgotten about many of them and it'll be like re-discovering lost treasure. 😂However, it also means I simple don't get to enjoy the visibility of about half my books. 😔 Sad times. At this point, nearly every single little cubby has books behind books. So, I mean, I can't just keep doing that forever. Eventually, I will need to get a new bookshelf to add to my bookcase. The problem is, I really want a whi...

Asdfghjkl. All the stars!! 5/5 Three Dark Crowns blew me away! To be fair, I had been warned by several people that the pacing could be rough and the rapidly changing POVs throughout the book would make it difficult to follow at times, so maybe I went into it with lowered expectations, but I truly loved this book! Click to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! I have no complaints. Each of the three queens (by the way, love  that they are called queens instead of princesses) was unique in her own ways and had interesting supporting characters around her. A couple of reveals/twists at the end had me like 😱. One of them was foreshadowed, but I didn't know exactly how it would come about. Overall, this book was neither flat nor predictable and when you read a lot of fantasy, it gets pretty hard to feel like you're reading anything truly original. This. felt. original. The world was interesting, and the book contained a great map that made it easier to follow where e...

Well, well... It's about time! I haven't finished a book since January until this past weekend. And FINALLY I am on a roll. I've actually finished two this week, but we'll get to that later. My first read was The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Now, I have to admit, this was one of those "Bookstagram buys." You know what I'm talkin' about... Yes, I liked the synopsis too, but overall this was really bought because I saw the beautiful cover all over bookstagram. I had never read this author before, and I decided to give her a shot. There was a lot of buzz surrounding this book and although I enjoy the fantasy genre as a general rule, I have been let down by a lot of over-hyped books.. especially  young adult fantasy. Click the image above to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! So, what did I think of this one? Did it live up to the hype? Yes and no. Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. Pretty good, right? Let's back up. Let's st...

What a beautiful spring day to feature a beautiful book! 💗 From author Lindsay Harrel comes a refreshing contemporary novel about taking a risk, seeking adventure, and falling in love with life. Click to see this image in my bookstagram feed! Synopsis: Megan Jacobs always wished for a different heart.Her entire childhood was spent in and out of hospitals, sitting on the sidelines while her twin sister Crystal played all the sports, got all the guys, and had all the fun. But even a heart transplant three years ago wasn't enough to propel Megan's life forward. She's still working as a library aide in her hometown and living with her parents, dreaming of the adventure she plans to take "once she's well enough." Meanwhile, her sister is a successful architect with a handsome husband and the perfect life-or so Megan thinks. When her heart donor's parents give Megan their teenage daughter's journal-complete with an unfulfilled bucket list-Mega...

What a beautiful day for the birth of this beautiful chick-lit! I am so excited to be on TLC's Book Tour's line-up for this novel. Four friends. Twenty years. One powerful secret. Everyone remembers where they were on August 31st, 1997, the day Princess Diana died. Sophie, Emily, Amy and Melissa certainly do - a beautiful cottage in Southwold at the start of an annual tradition to have a weekend away together. Every year since, the four best friends have come back together. But over time the changes in their lives have led them down very different paths. And it's when those paths collide that the secrets they've been keeping come tumbling out. One Day meets Big LIttle Lies in the unputdownable read about four friends, one long-buried secret and the histories we all share. Doesn't that sound amazing?? Don't miss out! "The Story of Our Lives" is available today on Kindle and in bookstores! Click my bookstagram pic above to add it to your G...

The day is here! I am honored to feature Colleen Coble's newest novel (and the start of a new series!), The View from Rainshadow Bay, on my blog and my bookstagram today. What an absolutely stunning cover this novel has, and what a great spring read balancing romance and suspense! Synopsis : After her husband, Jack, dies in a climbing incident, Shauna has only her five-year-old son and her helicopter charter business to live for. Every day is a struggle to make ends meet and she lives in constant fear of losing even more than she already has. When her business partner is murdered, his final words convince Shauna that she's in danger too. But where can she turn? Zach Bannister was her husband's best friend and is the person she blames for his death. But right now, he seems her only hope for protecting her son. Zach is only too happy to assuage his guilt over Hacks' death by helping Shauna any way he can. But there are secrets involved dating back to Shauna...

It's time!! I am honored to be a part of TLC's book tour for Steal Away Home by Billy Coffey. Published by Thomas Nelson, Steal Away Home is a newly released work of Christian fiction that is told through the eyes of minor league baseball player Owen Cross. As Owen is offered his first big time shot, he reflects back on the journey that led him there. I can truly say several things about this book: The language used and writing style overall is breathtaking. It's poetic. The characters are well-developed and dynamic. The story unfolds in a way that creates tension and mystery. By the end of Steal Away Home , I was dying to see how the flashbacks of Owen's life leading up to the big game would connect to his present state and how far the story would go beyond the game.  Did I mention the cover? 😍 Take a look again, and click the image below to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! Don't forget to add it to your to-read shelf. Steal Away ...

This re-read was so satisfying. The first few times I read this, years ago, I didn't have a blog. It was likely even before I began utilizing Goodreads. Thus, I've never written a review for it before! I'll try to be non-spoilery, but that may prove difficult. Here goes... The Maze Runner is one of the few YA book purchases I've made in my life that was not  a cover buy. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the original cover. In fact, though that was the original format in which I read the series, last year (or maybe the year before) I actually bought the UK versions on Amazon. The main reason I bought the first MR book was due to the blurb on the back and the first chapter. I remember when I first came across it at Walmart. I stood in the aisle and looked it over, read the first chapter, and thought "I've gotta get this.." Keep in mind, this was before there was even talk about a movie. This series was flying way under the radar.         R...

*Sigh* You know when I begin a review with a sigh, it's either really good... or really bad. This one is exceptional. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read this book in the last 10 years and never has it ever disappointed me. In fact, after a few rough days recently, I was looking for a reread that would be quick and reliable for giving me the feels and making me melt. This book (and entire trilogy) always  does that for me. It's a great beach read, but even now, in the middle of January, while I am nowhere near a beach, it still was the perfect dosage of sunshine, romance, and escapism. Click the cover to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! Now, I know what you might be thinking. "The Summer I Turned Pretty?" Kind of a silly-sounding name. But that's really what this book is about! Isabel (Belly) spends every summer the same way-in a beach house with her mom and brother, Steven, shared by her mom's best friend and her two sons, Jeremi...

Hello, friends! This going to be fairly short. I've decided not to do "full" reviews for books that I do not finish; however, I still want to share my overall thoughts. When I polled my followers on bookstagram, many of them (you?) said that sometimes DNF reviews are helpful in deciding whether you want to pick up a book or not, or even whether to prioritize it as your next read. So, here goes! Click to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! After DNF-ing Dorothy Must Die a couple of years ago, I decided to give Danielle Paige another shot. At first, I was hesitant. Honestly, this was really a cover-buy and I found it for $4 in the bargain section of Books-A-Million, so I thought, "Why not?" It started off very promising, to my surprise, but by about page 50 it was plunging downhill at a rapid pace. I stuck it out until about page 120 or so, then decided it wasn't worth my time to finish. For me, the characters did not have chemistry at all. The wri...

Honestly, I have to start out by saying I'm surprised this book (and its movie adaptation) weren't a bigger hit. I went in with fairly low expectations and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it and how quickly I was able to fly through it. I picked this up after finishing a contemporary, a fantasy, a sci-fi, and a historical fiction already this month and being unsure of what genre I was in the mood for next. I flipped through this book (which I had purchased on a whim at a thrift store for 50 cents a few months back) and noticed that it had some unique inserts including lists, asides, and what appeared to be scripts (you know, like for a movie or play). Once I saw that diversity in writing, I knew this was my next read. I love when novels have enhancements like that. It varies the story-telling and keeps me from getting bored. But enough of that, I guess I should save it for the review.  So, here we go! Click the cover to read the full synopsis on G...

This will be brief. I did not finish this novel; however, I did read the first 100 pages. Thus, I have enough of an opinion to share my thoughts. Let me preface this all by saying, if you enjoyed this book/series, please know that I completely respect your opinion. Just because it was not to my taste does not mean that I think it was trash or that no one else should read it. However, if you haven't read the book, I hope my ramblings here will help you as you decide whether to read this or put it off. Click the cover to read the full synopsis on Goodreads. 1. Characters: I did not connect with any of the characters, and I did not feel there was a good variety of personalities/characteristics with which I might later develop an interest in. 2. Story: I was intrigued by one aspect of the story- it involved faeries. Beyond that, nothing about what was happening in the first 100 pages interested me. 3. Author's Writing Style: I felt that the style was less YA and more mi...

Oh, happy day! This weekend I read two entire books, and today on my lunch break (still currently on, btw) I completed my homework for the week! What a wonderful feeling!! If you took a glance at my first review over the weekend, for Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller, thank-you so much! If you missed it, you can click here  to read it. It's spoiler free! Now, on to the main event- Dragon Teeth!! Can I gush about this cover, first? Look at it! At first glance you might see the dragon skull but miss the man on the horse. Or, you might see the man on the horse but see him as standing on a cliff. But together-oh man! Together, these images make for an awesome cover! Don't you think? Anyway, this story is an epic adventure taking place across the West and Mid-West territories of the US in 1876. You'll fall in love with the characters, and the pacing of the story-telling is perfection. I am still heartbroken that Mr. Crichton has passed on and there will be no more...

Book number 4 of 2018 was a success. This probably won't be a super lengthy review because I don't feel very strongly about it, but I will say it was worth the read! And I really appreciate this cover. Also, who knew Jason Segel wrote books?? I had no idea. Click the cover to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! 1. Characters: This is where I don't have very strong feelings. I simply couldn't relate to the protagonist. His attitude, his personality, his lifestyle, his family.. We had very little in common. However, once I got used to the writing, I didn't mind reading the story from his POV. He was an interesting character. As for the rest of the cast, I liked everyone but didn't love/hate anyone/ 2. Story: Great unique plot. It's only been a couple of months since I read Ready Player One and I was afraid this was going to feel too similar to that due to the overall theme of virtual reality/gaming as a lifestyle and the idea of artificial intelligenc...

You guys. I'm dying. Book 2 (Rage) does not come out til June and Roar was FANTASTIC!!! My non-spoilery review is below, but if you don't have time to give it a full read, let me just sum it up by saying this: ALL THE STARS!! 5/5 Stars +infinitely more. I'm overtaken by this novel. And by the cover. I mean.... 😍😍😍😍😍 Click the cover to read the full synopsis on Goodreads! 1. Characters: I love them all. Even the side characters! The main character was not whiny or annoying, but on the other hand she wasn't unrealistically mature or settled either. She is a dynamic character who grows at a natural-feeling pace according to the circumstances she goes through. As for the side characters-Even the ones you aren't supposed to like, I'm so fascinated by. And the great thing is that since the POV changes, you get a better understanding of various characters' motivations, desires, and thoughts. 2. Story: Gaaaahhhhh, I love this story so much! It definitel...