Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 69

"Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson

I remember liking this book as a pre-teen, and I own a couple different movie versions because I love pirates (Disney's 1950 classic and the 1990 one with Charlton Heston and Christian Bale, if you're curious).  So I was excited to re-read it as an adult, and I decided to go ahead and read it aloud to my kids while I was at it.  They love pirates too because one of the few computer games we own is Sid Meier's Pirates, and they all love playing it.

This book did not disappoint. ...

"Letters of a Woman Homesteader" by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (again)

I first read this just a little over three years ago, and I loved it immediately.  I'm happy to report that I love it still.  How absolutely delightful it is!  I smiled and chuckled and cheered throughout it.

Elinore Pruitt Rupert, a widow with a young daughter, took a job keeping house for a man named Clyde Stewart out on the plains of Wyoming in 1909.  She wanted to try homesteading for herself, but knew she'd need some way of keeping herself and her daughter until she ha...

"The 100 Dresses" by Eleanor Estes

There are some stories that I think of as Important.  I don't remember the first time I thought of a story that way, but I know that by the time I read this, probably around the age of ten, I already had the idea that some stories were Important.  Capital I, bold letters, and all.  

Important stories are ones that each me to look at some aspect of my behavior or the world around me in a new and different way.  They teach a moral lesson, but without preaching.&nbsp...

Join Me for We Love Shakespeare Week!

Over on my other blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy, I host a week-long blog party of some sort the week of Valentine's Day every year.  This year, the subject is Shakespeare!  If you love the Bard, check out this post to find out all about this year's celebration and how you can participate.

"Old West Christmas Brides: 6 Historical Romances Celebrate Christmas on the Frontier"

This was a fun collection!  My own personal Cowboy said that he thought this was the most Hamlette-ish book he'd ever heard of, since Christmas and the Old West are two of my very most favorite things :-)

Here's a bit about each novella,  and how I liked it:

+ A Pony Express Christmas by Margaret Brownley featured a stubborn young woman trying to find her brother, who used to be a Pony Express rider.  She rescues a man from lynching and gets him to help her on her quest.&nbs...

"Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," a FREE New Story!

I've written a new short story, and you can read it for free right here on my website, www.rachelkovaciny.com.

"Blizzard at Three Bears Lake" retells Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a western, with Mary Rose O'Brien from my book Cloaked as the heroine.  But you don't have to know Cloaked to enjoy this story, though obviously it does kind of give away who survives to the end of Cloaked. 

Adventurous, imaginative Mary Rose simply wants to explor...

Wrapping Up Mount TBR 2018 and Signing Up for 2019

I signed up to reach Pike's Peak by reading 12 books I already owned in 2018, and I actually read sixteen!  Hurrah!

My Reader's Block, which hosts this challenge, has once again provided a fun little "complete the phrase" challenge where you use the title of a book you read this year to complete a commonplace saying.  Those are always fun, so here's my attempt at it:

A stitch in time...  The Harvest Raise(s)
A penny saved is... Twenty and Ten
All good things must come... If I'm Foun...

My Ten (?) Favorite Books of 2018

Today, I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for the first Top Ten Tuesday of 2019!  The subject this week is Best Books I read in 2018.  I read sixty-nine books this year!  And reviewed the vast majority here or on Goodreads.  That astonishes me.  Wow

The title of this post is a lie.  I read so many wonderful books this year that I've got two lists of ten here, one of new-to-me reads and one of rereads.  So in reality, this is my TWENTY favorite bo...

"The Innkeeper's Wife" by Savannah Jezowski

Awwwwwwww.  This is such a lovely story!  As someone who struggled with getting pregnant initially, though I've since had three healthy babies, I really identified a lot with things going on in this book.

Ginny and Caleb are in their mid-thirties.  They own and run a bed-and-breakfast.  They've wanted children for years, but never conceived.  In the middle of a Christmas snowstorm, a young couple arrives at the b&b, which is full.  The young woman is great wit...

"Holiday Grind" by Cleo Coyle

This was an engaging, fun mystery.  I liked the main character, coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi.  The mystery itself kept my interest, too.  Clare's friend who dresses as Santa and collects money for charity gets murdered, and the police think it's just a mugging.  Even Clare's NYPD detective boyfriend thinks so.  But Clare is sure there's more going on, and of course she uncovers the truth after many mishaps and missteps.

While I did enjoy this mystery while reading it...