Jane Litte's Blog, page 161

REVIEW: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

[image error]Dear Kate Clayborn,

I have a feeling I might be a bit of an outlier in this but it took me a little while to get into Love Lettering. Meg Mackworth, known as “the Planner of Park Slope” hand letters planners and journals for clients. I didn’t even know that was a thing. But then, I’m not much into planners or journals (*cue gasps of horror from at least half of the DA readership*). She used to do wedding stationery but stopped after it became unsatisfying for her.

A previous client, Reid...

Sirius’ Best 0f 2019

I thought I had a decent reading year, I don’t usually have a lot of A books and this year was no exception, but I did have several B+ and for me grade between B+ and A may often end up being relative anyway.

[image error]1. “The House of the Sundering Flames” ( Dominion of the Fallen #3) by Aliette De Bodard

The multi-award-winning author of The House of Shattered Wings and The House of Binding Thorns concludes her Dominion of the Fallen saga, set in a Paris devastated by a magical war.

The great...

Janine’s Best of 2019

I was tempted to make a list of my favorites among the 2019-published books I read this year. In the end I decided to focus on my favorite 2019 reads (first time reads; I didn’t include books I had read / reviewed in prior years) without regard to their year of publication. It made narrowing the list harder but allowed me to include more of my favorites. The order they are ranked in changes from day to day, but here they are, ranked by a combination of how high I’d grade them now and how much...

REVIEW: Days of Sugar and Spice by Clément Loïc, illustrated by Anne Montel

[image error]

Rose is not a happy young woman; she is closed off and angry and she hates her job. But her life changes drastically when she inherits her father’s bakery in a small town in Brittany. Returning to a place that brought her both joy and grief forces her to confront painful memories of her past and find the courage to open her heart to a new, happier life that awaits her if she will just let it. A story about new beginnings, filled with small town charm, delicious pastries and the warmth of...

REVIEW: Can’t Buy Me Love by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

[image error]

It turned out hell was a small town in the Scottish Highlands. Oh, sure, the locals called it Invertary, but Agnes Sinclair knew better—the town even had an old woman everyone called Satan. If that wasn’t a sign she was in hell, she didn’t know what was. All Agnes had ever wanted was to get out of Scotland, and now she was stuck there with no escape. And all because of one teeny, tiny incident (he totally deserved it!) that got her blacklisted in the hotel industry.

Now, her only career...

REVIEW: A Suitable Husband by Jude Knight

[image error]

As the Duchess of Haverford’s companion, Cedrica Grenford is not treated as a poor relation and is encouraged to mingle with Her Grace’s guests. Perhaps among the gentlemen gathered for the duchess’s house party, she will find a suitable husband? Marcel Fournier has only one ambition: to save enough from his fees serving as chef in the houses of the ton to become the proprietor of his own fine restaurant. An affair with the duchess’s dependent would be dangerous. Anything else is...

Holiday News Bits and a fun video

Let’s read and watch some good things.

A merry tradition: Christmas dinner free at Tennessee diner— Wow, can’t afford a meal? Don’t have anyone to eat with on Christmas? Here’s a group of people making a difference.

A Tennessee diner serves up a free Christmas Day meal to anyone who walks into the restaurant and it delivers to those who otherwise can’t make the trek.

O’Brien’s Southern Diner owner Candice O’Brien Beasley knows what it’s like to go without food or to have nothing in the...

Kaetrin’s Best of 2019 List

This year I decided to do my best of list a little early. I don’t have any new releases on my list until next year so I felt it was safe.

I had a fantastic reading year; I met my Goodreads challenge with more than a month to spare and I met some personal goals about increasing the diversity of my review pool and my reading (and listening) generally. Best of all, I read some great books. Here, in no particular order, are my top 10 for 2019.

[image error]Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik – I could easily...

Open Thread for Readers for January 2020

[image error]Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?

REVIEW: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

[image error]

Laughs abound in this bestselling Christmas classic by Barbara Robinson! The Best Christmas Pageant Ever follows the outrageous shenanigans of the Herdman siblings, or “the worst kids in the history of the world.” The siblings take over the annual Christmas pageant in a hilarious yet heartwarming tale involving the Three Wise Men, a ham, scared shepherds, and six rowdy kids.

Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys Herdman are an awful bunch. They set fire to Fred Shoemaker’s...