Review of Like Sisters on the Homefront

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Goodreads Synopsis:

When Gayle gets into trouble with her boyfriend, her mother sends the street-smart 14-year-old-and her baby, José, down to Georgia to live with Uncle Luther and his family. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one around except kneesock-wearing, Jesus-praising cousin Cookie. Then Gayle meets Great, the family matriarch-and her stories of the past begin to change how Gayle sees her future.

My review:

I was rather disappointed in this. I listened to it on audio through Hoopla. It is less than 200 pages and just over 5 hrs. Gayle, the main character is 14 year old with a baby less than 1 year old. At the beginning, she finds out that she is pregnant again. Her mother is fed up and forces her to get an abortion and then sends her off to live with her brother a pastor and his family, whom Gayle has never met. She is basically miserable and wants to go home, where she and Troy (i think) can make a new baby to replace the one lost. This book was written in the mid90s and seems dated and I don't think it portrays a positive image of Black Americans, I don't see that she really learned that much from the experience and if anything corrupted her cousin, who was square in Gayle's eyes, because she was overly religious, wore knee-hi socks and although a few years older never slept with a guy or messed around with a guy in anyway. It is suppose to be YA, but I really don't recommend it to anyone.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6/15

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

I have been somewhat distracted with all the things going on. Even my little suburb held a B*L*M* peaceful protest this previous weekend that we participated in, it was really nice to see all the solidarity

What I read last week:

Last week, I read Breakfast at the Honey Creek Cafe and listened to The Inn at Hidden Run, No Angel, Coming Home, Like Sisters on the Homefront

What I am reading now:

I am listening to My Banihing Country  and reading Ghost o Sangju

I just requested my library get My Vanishing Country a week ago and got this already. They must have already been planning to get it and no one else had requested it before me.  Ghost of Sangju has been on my TBR and hanging out on my Kindle for just over 4 years; I am so glad to get to this it's long overdue! 

Not sure if I will readCowboy Strong next or lave it for the following week,  Have you read any of these or want to?

April Reading Update -

Sorry, this is so late!

In April, I read a total of 9 books. 

Breakdown:

5  audiobooks 

4 kindle books. 

6 library books

1 Audible

 2 ARCs

My Favorite Book This Month

I had an a very good reading month again; even better than last month.  I had 3  5 star books, 3  4 star books, and 3  3 star books. It was a littlr difficult, but I'd have to ay The Blackbird Girls came out on top this month, I couldn't wait to get back to it .  The story was incredibly engaging and informative.  I'm so glad to have read it!

Least Favorite Book

None of my books were under 3 stars, but I think Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons was the lowest-ranked

Books that I'm currently reading

I've ben reading on my kindle and since the audio was available, I decided to listen to it alternately.

June Wrap-Up

Wow, I thought May was a good reading month with 12 books that I finished, but in June, I read even more 15 books finished.  Unfortunately, they were a mixed bag with book ratings ranging from 5 stars down to 1 star and at least one that I DNF'ed.  Quantity, definitely does not equal quality, But here is what I read and my review for them.

I listened to this as an audiobook. Although parts of this book were interesting, it was not quite what I was expecting or what I hoped for. A good part of the book (about a third to half) discussed the history of Japan and also, China to a lesser degree. I was hoping for a lot more people's personal experiences before, during, and after the Japanese internment. For this reason, I can't give this more than 2 stars, maybe 2.5, but Goodreads doesn't allow half stars to be reflected in each person's rating. Overall, I was disappointed in this book.

2 stars

I listened to this book on audio. This was my first book by Jill Shalvis. For the first half of the book, this book was merely OK, but I enjoyed the second half and will continue reading this series. I will be listening to the 2nd book in this series in July.   3 stars

My first 5 star book of the month

Excellent book! I listened to this as an audio book. At first, I didn't care for the narrator, but either she improved as the book went on or I just got use to her. It was a very interesting story of growing up in amidst war.in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her life was good and normal for the first nine years of her life, but then her family had to flee from the war-torn country.  She had to deal with several family deaths, moving to several African countries, and finally resettlement in the U.S. (Rochester, NY) through the refugee program. She thought life in America would be perfect and learned there were many unexpected challenges. 4.75 stars.

#sandras_story

I received an ARC of this book quite awhile ago, but never got to read it. In the meantime, I have been able to get an audio version of it on Overdrive. It was really good and kept my attention and wondering what it was that made her flee her North Carolina home and sever all ties with her family after her father's death from Multiple Sclerosis. The only thing that I really didn't like in the book happened in the very beginning of the book. when she and her husband were interviewed by a social worker, because they were wanting to adopt a child. The social worker asked her and her husband why they can't have "children of their OWN'. Being an adoptive parent, any "good" and professional social worker with any knowledge of adoption should know that this is not an appropriately phrased question to ask. A more appropriate question would have been to ask why they could not have biological children. When you adopt, the adoptive child(ren) become your OWN children, just not biologically. Other than this, the adoption storyline was very enjoyable and appropriate. I recommend this book and will look into other books by Diane Chamberlain.

4 stars.

Wow! What an excellent book! I don't think I ever heard of these "radium girls" and there was even a company here in Illinois that employed these dial painters, who used paint containing radium. Ths book was extremely well-researched and although this is nonfiction, most of this reads as fiction, but it is true. It was a page-turner and often kept me up somewhat later than I usually do. Definitely 5 stars.

This book was just barely ok. There were times when it was interesting, but those times were too few; overall, I really would have been fine not even reading this. I can't say much without giving something away, but I feel it was totally unnecessary to include in the story in the first place. If you've read the book, you should know what I'm alluding to. Also, I feel authors sometimes include certain storylines because it is the in thing at the time.

1.5 stars

This is a really good book that I listened to on audioI never read anything by this author before and with this author marked as writing Christian fiction, I wasn't sure what to expect. This was also one of the free selections in this summer's Sync audiobook teen program. But I was pleasantly surprised that this was a very good suspense and I would never have known it was a Christian author who wrote this if I had not read that she was. Kaycee finds her friend murdered and ends up the main suspect, so she flees the state in hopes of figuring out how to bring the killers to justice. This is actually the first book in a series and ends in a cliffhanger. 4.5 stars

A solid 3 stars. This book was interesting, but nothing particularly memorable about it. It was written, as well as narrated by the author, Garry Marshall, who has a thick New York accident, which at times made it hard to understand for this Midwesterner. He was the creator of Happy Days, in addition to directing some other tv series and many movies, the most famous of which was Pretty Woman. I also just found out he had passed away last year (2016) at the age of 82.

I first heard of this book on Raul's BookTube channel, The Latin Lector. He raved about this book and I really enjoyed it. It is set in the early 60s in Cuba and the U.S after Castro was in power. I never really learned about that period in history in school so it was very interesting and informative. I just loved the ending. Since this book was released last year, maybe the author will write a sequel.

4.5 stars

This was a totally mediocre book. The premise was good, a librarian's attempt to save a small town library, but the delivery fell flat for me. Very disappointed.

2 stars, but that may be generous.

Another winner by Emily March in her Eternity Springs series.  I was a latecomer to the series, starting with the 7th book and trying to catch up on those first 6 ones that I missed.  Because there are 4 books that I have not yet read, I was confused at first with all the names and where they fit into the series, but for the most part I figured it out before long and enjoyed the series.  The synopsis on Goodreads is a bit misleading, since it says Brick's ex-girlfriend shows up unexpectedly, which never happens.  There are several storylines in this book and all of them are enjoyable.  I look forward to the next book in the series.

4 stars

This was barely even an okay book; I listened to this on audio in one day, otherwise I'd have DNF'ed it long before I finished.  Even a day and half after finishing when I was writing my review, my memories of what this book is about are waning and as I type this up several weeks later, I can't really remember much at all.  It wasn't until the last third of the book that it became somewhat interesting.

2 stars on Goodreads, but that's generous!

I thought this book might be interesting.  It discusses how education, especially college education, keeps lower-class children from reaching their potential.  But this book is very academic and is full of statistics that one does not remember after reading/hearing it.  (I listened to the audio version.)
There were a couple of examples/studies of actual people that were interesting.  Ashley's story was told in the first chapter of the book and I figured there would be a wrap-up at the end of the book; that was the only reason I continued to listen to the entire book.  By the time I finished the book, there had not been any wrap-up to Ashley's story and I felt cheated. 
The book was way too long and seemed to repeat itself, but just used different words to do so.  Also, the audiobook was read by the author and I found him an extremely boring and dry narrator. 

1 star.

I have enjoyed the Book Samplers which were provided by Buzz Books showcasing a variety of their books for the next two seasons, so I was extremely excited when I saw that St. Martin's Press was doing this also. But to be honest, I really did not love any of these samples. The last one in the book, Stars Over Clear Lake looks like one of the more promising, as well as The Last Place You Look, but I am not that excited for any of them. I actually was somewhat disappointed in these selections and I have enjoyed the Book Samplers which were provided by Buzz Books showcasing a variety of their books for the next two seasons, so I was extremely excited when I saw that St. Martin's Press was doing this also. But to be honest, I really did not love any of these samples. The last one in the book, Stars Over Clear Lake looks like one of the more promising, as well as The Last Place You Look, but I am not that excited for any of them. I actually was somewhat disappointed in these selections and St. Martin's Press is one of my favorite publishers. I received this book as an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

2 stars

I haven't read a Dorothy Garlock book in over 15 years, but I found I still enjoy her. I listened to this one on audio. This is not my favorite historical era, Prohibition, but I did find it pretty good.

3 stars.

I read/listened to a several excellent to very good books, a few stinkers, and some that were good  and others were only okay.  My favorite book that I read in June was The Radium Girls, which I definitely recommend!  How Dare The Sun Rise was my favorite book that I listened to in June, followed closely by If I Run.  I also recommend these, either as audios or actually read.

Sorry  this June Wrap-Up is so late this month.  I think, I will be stepping back a bit with my overall blogging.  I want to of course keep up my wrap-up, but I may not be posting every Wednesday and Friday, as I have been doing.  I'm feeling a bit burnt out and will from time to time post on these days, but I want to post because I want to not because I feel I have to!  Blogging is suppose to be fun and lately, I haven't been enjoying it as much and since I don't get paid to do it, I really need to make sure I'm enjoying myself

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme/original feature created at The Broke and The Bookish this weeks list are Ten New-To-Me Authors you read for the 1st Time in 2016.  For more information check it out here.

These are in no particular order, other than the order I read them this year.

Ransom Riggs

I was a late comer to these books and decided in the spring of this year to finally pick up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I really was unsure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed the book and went on to read Hollow City this fall.  I'll tackle the final book in the series, Library of Souls in the spring again.  Hopefully, he will come out with a new book soon!

Annie Rains

I discovered this author through NetGalley and have read the Welcome Home series, she put out this year.  She is starting a new romance series next year and I look forward to it.

Harlan Coben

I had been hearing about him for several years, but never read any of his books. Finally, I decided to listen to one of his books on audio through the Overdrive app from my library, Caught.  I really liked it, but think that next time, I'll read it rather than listen so I won\'t miss any of the details to the story.

Martha Hall Kelly

Ms. Kelly wrote her debut novel, Lilac Girls and it is up for the 2016 Goodreads award for Debut Author and I definitely think she stands a good chance of winning.  It revolves around 3 women during WWII, the only female doctor at Ravensbroucke concentration camp, a young woman interned at Ravensbroucke, and an American debutante involved in the war effort at home.

Kristin Hannah

I've been meaning to read Kristin Hannah and even have had her Firefly Lane on my Kindle for the past few years, but this year I listened to the audiobook, Home Front.  I now need to move Firefly Lane up in my TBR.

Heather Burch

I got her book One Lavender Ribbon, a couple years ago as part of Amazon's Kindle First program where a few books that will be released the following month is made available early on Kindle format, but I kept putting the book off until later.  But earlier this year, I finally read it and just loved it.  I have just noticed, a new book by Heather Burch was available on NetGalley as an ARC and was able to get it.  Since it will come out in January, I hope to get to it by then or at least before the end of the  month.

Nicholas Sparks

Surprisingly, I don't think I ever read any of his books until this year and quite recently at that.  I saw a couple of his books that became movies, but never read them.  I listened to The Best of Me on audio at the end of August and really enjoyed it.  I definitely plan to pick up others.

Shelley Shepard Gray

Ms. Gray is a Christian author and writes Amish mystery/romances.  Although I do not mind Christian fiction at all, I am always a bit leery, because I like them more on the lighter side than in the ones where it seems as if the author is preaching to you through the characters.  These books did not have that feel and although the story took place in an Amish community, one did not feel the story was preachy.  I would consider reading or listening to more by Shelley Shepard Gray in the future.

Lee Childs

I've been hearing about the Jack Reacher novels for years and they just never highly appealed to me.  But since they are making it into a movie, my interest kind of was piqued; although I cannot really see Tom Cruise as a convincing Jack Reacher.  Isn't Jack Reacher suppose to be well over 6 feet, while Tom Cruise is about 5 foot 5 or 6?  The first book, Killing Floor while very long, at over 500 pages also kept my interest and I have put the next book on reserve.

Leila Meacham

I very recently listened to her book, Roses on audio and loved it.  I look forward to reading the prequel, Somerset and have an ARC of Crowning Design which is being released.

October Wrap Up

Compared to some of my previous months, I didn't read as much as I have, but really not a bad month.  Mainly, it was just that I did not listen to as many audiobooks.  In fact, I only listened to one book and even then, I ended up switching to the hardcover version and ended up enjoying the book more.





These 2 books have excerpts (the first chapter or two) of several books that will be released.  Some have already been released due to the date I read this.  I only read a few stories from these books - the ones that appealed to me and weren't in the middle of a series.  I got both of these books through NetGalley from the publisher.  It's a great idea to have these available for preview.  Buzz Books 2016 Romance is available for free on Amazon for the Kindle, so download it to your Kindle e-reader, Kindle Fire or use the Kindle app to download it to your phone, tablet or computer.

It has been several days since I read this, but I did not have the time to give it a review. This book, like the first in the series is not in a genre I typically read. Other than these 2 books, I can't think of the last time that I read fantasy. Probably back in high school or even grade school and then most likely, it was required reading, a so-called classic as well as a book I did not really enjoy. But I am really enjoying this series and I find Ransom Riggs a very interesting author (that is said in a most positive way.) He's got a great imagination and writes in a way that someone who usually only reads and enjoys realistic fiction or nonfiction will enjoy the story. I read this particular book on my Kindle, unlike the first which I read in hardcover. Reading it in hardcover, I was able to see the pictures more clearly than I was in Kindle format, where the pictures were somewhat smaller. I look forward to reading the 3rd book, Library of Souls in hardcover early next year.

This is an okay short story, which is a prequel to Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things. Small Great Things is a fantastic book. This one is only about 30 or so pages and really is not necessary to read. It is nowhere as good and thought-provoking as Small Great Things.



I very much enjoyed this book. I started out listening to this book, but one did not have much time to listen and wasn't crazy about the narrator and felt somewhat confused at times. I ended up switching to the hardcover from the library since there was a wait for the Kindle version. I ended up enjoying it a lot more in the written form. It was not the typical Grisham that I read in the 90s, but learning about coal mining, Appalachia, etc was quite interesting. It was nice not to read just about corporate lawyers and the corporate world, but a story that revolves about a formerly corporate lawyer, having the chance to finally do work that effects the so-called "little people" and learn about law from a civil perspective and finally see the inside of a courtroom. The ending was somewhat disappointing in that things didn't totally get resolved, but hopefully the author wrote it that way, so that there can be an eventual sequel.



I am still reading this book and should finish it in the next couple days. I had been on the waiting list for several months and unfortunately not enjoying it quite as much as I hoped to.  You'll find out my final view in the November wrap-up.

Let me know if you read any of these or if you are planning to start some holiday reading in November. Also in November, I plan to read a couple holiday books and listen to some audiobooks. 

September Wrap Up

I enjoyed listening to this book. It kept me listening and although there is an overlying mystery, there are other active storylines in this history. This book does not tie anything up neatly and you will have to continue on with Book 2 in the near future and I expect Book 3 as well. Also, although Shelley Shepard Gray is a Christian author, the story is not preachy and can be appreciated by non-Christians or those who do not enjoy a story with strong religious overtones.

A solid 3.5.



I posted a review of Small Great Things here.  I really enjoyed this book and cared about the characters.  The author does a great job on the characterization of each of the characters.  Even though, you don't like what the parents stand for, she still is able to make you understand some of the feelings the parents are going through.  This is probably my favorite of the Jodi Picoult books that I have read.

5 stars.



Back when Jon and Kate Plus 8 was on TV, I enjoyed watching the show at first, but after awhile, although I liked seeing what the 8 kids were up to I just felt turned off by the parents. This book is the same way, except I started disliking John and Kate quicker. This book is all about their pregnancy up through the sextuplets 1st birthday. Nothing new, I'd be more interested in how the kids are doing now as pre-teens and the twins as teens. But I'm glad they are getting to live more or less normal lives and not be in the spotlight. There was really nothing that I hadn't read or seen before. I listened to this on audio and it was pretty short, not quite 5 hours.

2 stars

This book was marked DNF.  I tried to stay with the story and got almost a third through it but I just was not caring about any of the characters. There were many conflicting reviews, but it sounded like it still might be interesting and I wanted to judge for myself. But I just can't go on anymore. I of course won't give it a star rating since I did not complete the book. I do recommend Jodi Picoult's 19 Minutes for a fictional book about a school shooting and the non-fiction book, Colimbine.

I actually feel guilty about only giving this 2 stars, but I really only felt it was okay. When I was not reading this book, I did not feel that anxious to return to it and continue, except merely in order to get to my next book. The kidnapping and the years she was imprisoned were horrific and it is remarkable that she was able to survive and endure such a life and , but at the same time, I can not sugar coat my reading experience and say this book is 4 or 5 stars.

2 stars

2/3 to 3/4 of the book I found very interesting, but the remaining 33% to 25% was kind of boring, I still give the book 4 stars as for the most part I found it interesting all that he was able to overcome. It almost feels like 2 different people wrote this book. I do wish there would have been a couple photos of his family and the area.

4 stars

When I started listening to this book, I found it interesting, but it just kind of went downhill after awhile. The narrator was good, but the length of the book was way too long. I feel like it took me forever to listen to this, partly because it was over 17 hours long and it did not call me to keep listening to it. By the time, I decided I wanted to quit the book, I was over half done and thought of all the time I would have wasted if I didn't finish, but now looking back I ended up wasting that much more time. Since I enjoyed hearing some of the backstory of when they were growing up and before they made it to the news, I will give it 1.5 stars. 

I'm participating in the blog tour for this book.  I will be posting my review on that day along with an excerpt and a link to a coloring page.  Check on October 2nd for the blog post. 

I finally got The Underground Railroad after waiting quite  awhile for this book.  Since this was an Oprah Book Club pick and Usually have not enjoyed the books Oprah chose for her book club, I had doubts on whether to even read this in the first place, but it sounded interesting and had lots of good reviews, so I decided to give it a try  and put it on reserve at several places.  Lately, I've seen quite a few reviews by people who did not enjoy the book and some who just DNF'ed it.  I started reading it yesterday and am not enjoying it for several of the reasons that others did not.  I am debating just DNF'ing it.  I do not care for his writing and have found myself re-reading paragraphs several times, which I rarely have the need to do.  I have a long list of other books that I want to read.  So many books, so little time!