From the Family Bookshelf

It doesn’t seem possible that three weeks has passed since my July From the Family Bookshelf post, but it has. We celebrated the Lil Diva’s birthday yesterday by adding another furry creature to our crazy home. She had been asking for a kitten for a few years and I finally broke down and decided it would be okay to add a little kitty to this chaos. Well, except that I doubled my trouble by letting the Lil Princess adopt one too. As of tomorrow there will be five cats and four people living here.

I swear summer just started, but the girls return to school in 14 weekdays. The Lil Princess met her goal for the library’s “Go Green” summer reading program. In addition to the many weekly prizes she received, both girls got to attend a roller skating party to celebrate the readers who met their goals. It won’t surprise me if the Lil Princess decides to do it again next year.

While I won’t list the 27 books she read, the last couple were The Adventure of Oliver the Clownfish books by Stephanie Guzman, which we reviewed here.

Dad came home from North Carolina reading Vince Flynn’s The Third Option. This is a counterterrorism thriller. I like these kinds of books too, but they’re not my favorite. He’s still reading this one. He hopes maybe this weekend he might get more than five minutes to sit down with it.

The Lil Diva is trying to hold onto summertime play by not reading. Regular reading will pick up as soon as she starts school, so I’m not too worried.

I, on the other hand, have been a reading wizard. If you stop by The Book Connection, you’ll see I’ve posted several reviews. This list doesn’t include any books I mentioned in July’s post:

Drawing Strength from the Names of God by Catherine Martin (Christian living)

Drawn to the Land: The Romance of Farming by Elizabeth and Barton Cockey (historical nonfiction picture book)

The Big Ten of Grammar by William B. Bradshaw, PhD (reference)

For the King by Catherine Delors (historical novel set in Napoleonic Paris)

A Woman’s Heart That Dances: Keeping in Step with God’s Design for You by Catherine Martin

My reviews for When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty by Jackie M. Johnson (Christian relationship book) and Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey (memoir) by Diana M. Raab will be posted at The Book Connection on August 17th and 24th, respectively. I am currently reading Paula Deen’s Savannah Style and The Chill of Night by James Hayman.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest edition of From the Family Bookshelf. Until next time, keep reading!

From the Family Bookshelf

After almost a month long hiatus, this column is back. North Carolina was wonderful. I worked some of the time promoting virtual book tour clients, read some great books, and wrote two chapters of my WIP along with almost two full chapters of my first ghostwriting project. Since I read the most while we were away, I guess I’ll start with me. This is the list of books I brought with me. I also had my Kindle: 

Lingering Spirit by Marilyn Meredith (romance with supernatural flare) *

The Last Operative by Jerry B. Jenkins (Christian thriller)*

Keeping the Wolves at Bay Media Training  by Jonathan Bernstein (Business)*

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James (psychological thriller)*

Plan B by Steven Verrier (this review will appear at this blog) YA*

Bowdancer III: Warrior Women by Janie Franz (providing back cover blurb)*

When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty by Jackie Johnson (Christian relationship book) – reading now

Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey by  Diana M. Raab

Harvest Moon by Chastity Bush (paranormal)

State of Reservations by Elysabeth Eldering (this review will appear at this blog) (Children’s)*

Evenings on Dark Island by Rhett DeVane & Larry Rock (Southern fiction with vamps)*

All the titles with an asterisk are ones I read while we were away. I also read the romantic suspense novel Capturing Karma by K.M. Daughters. This is the fourth installment of The Sullivan Boys series. I love these books.  Reviews of all those I’ve read are either posted or soon to be posted, so keep an eye out for them. 

Dad finished the Christian historical, The Return to Zion, by Bodie and Brock Thoene while we were away and started a counterterrorism thriller by Vince Flynn, The Third Option. 

The Lil Diva seems to be over her desire not to read anything and picked up one of The Boxcar Children books today. 

The Lil Princess is moving along with her summer reading program. She goofed off while we were away, but she’s polished off 9 of the 25 books she needs to read by August 5th. We visited the library today and she’s already read all of those, so we’ll be going back tomorrow for more.

That’s it for now. I would love to hear what you’ve been busy reading this summer.

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Vacation Time Reading

Well, I’m packing up for the Outer Banks, and as usual, I am bringing a ton of books with me. Thankfully, this year I have the Kindle so my bag will be lighter and less bulky.

Here’s what I’ll be reading while we’re away:

• Lingering Spirit by Marilyn Meredith
• The Last Operative by Jerry B. Jenkins
• Keeping the Wolves at Bay Media Training  by Jonathan Bernstein
• Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James
• Plan B by Steven Verrier (this review will appear at this blog)
• Bowdancer III: Warrior Women by Janie Franz (providing back cover blurb)
• When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty by Jackie Johnson
• Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey by  Diana M. Raab
• Harvest Moon by Chastity Bush
• Reservations by Elysabeth Eldering (this review will appear at this blog)
• Evenings on Dark Island by Rhett DeVane & Larry Rock

Unless noted, these reviews will appear at my main blog, The Book Connection. 

I hope you have a great couple of weeks. I’ll try to post at least once while we’re away.

Thank you for all your support!

Cheryl