March challenge

[Sheila]

Well, I won't be around for a little while during the beginning of the month but I'll be back by the middle. But I'm leaving the challenge for you.

1. Read an author whose surname begins with J.
2. St. Patrick's Day is coming so read something set in Ireland.
3. First day of spring is coming so read a book set in spring or with spring in the title.
4. March is National Women's Month so read a book by a woman.
5. March 15th is the Ides of March so read a book set in Italy.
6. The Iditarod starts on March 3 so read a book about Alaska.
7. March 14 (3/14) is National Pi Day so read a book with a pie on the cover.
8. March 26 is Purple Day so read a book with a purple cover.
9. Your choice

[Sheila]

I was in Disney World at the beginning of the month and came home with a cold. But I'm better now.

3/9, 6 books

1. Read an author whose surname begins with J.
2. St. Patrick's Day is coming so read something set in Ireland.
3. First day of spring is coming so read a book set in spring or with spring in the title.
4. March is National Women's Month so read a book by a woman--Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy--finished 3/25/18
5. March 15th is the Ides of March so read a book set in Italy.
6. The Iditarod starts on March 3 so read a book about Alaska.
7. March 14 (3/14) is National Pi Day so read a book with a pie on the cover.
8. March 26 is Purple Day so read a book with a purple cover--Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave--finished 3/5/18-- .
9. Your choice--Born in Death by J. D. Robb--finished 3/18/18

BONUS:
The Vegetarian--Han Kang--finished 3/26/18
Love in the Afternoon--Claude Anet--finished 3/28/18
All the Right Places--Ava Sterling--finished 3/28/18

[Rachel]

Sorry, I haven't been getting in the laptop lately, which is where I prefer to access Goodreads. So, here are March's reviews that I finally got done.

-Elizabeth Kelly 3-8-18
This was a truly intriguing coming-of-age novel that was partly thriller and partly mystery as we gradually learn the history and secrets of Riddle's family and how her family is tied to Michael's in several convoluted ways. The characters were fully developed during the course of the story, and the novel was written well. The reason, however, that I gave this book 3 stars rather than 4 is because of how many swear words littered the pages, many of which were truly profane, and while I usually ignore such things in a book from the general market like this one is, it just bothered me in this book because I felt that much of the swearing was used to hide a lack of effort in the vocabulary on the part of the author and not because it always truly fit the scene and dialogue in the story. Otherwise, I really did enjoy the novel.

-Lisa Wingate 3-14-18
This novel was well written and truly interesting although quite heart wrenching throughout the course of the story, and what makes it worse is that although the specific plot is fictional, the heart of the story is based on a real life historical scandal and the cruelty of a real, "classist" woman who traumatized hundreds of children and their parents. As the granddaughter of a "stolen" child learns about the secret history of her family, she finds out not only that her family tree is bigger than she thought but that she doesn't want to follow her father's legacy as a politician after all, and in addition, she finds a new love. Despite the dual plot lines, I felt that all of the main characters were fully fleshed out in both time lines, and although it made me want to cry by the time I had finished the book, I did think it was a great book.

-Mary Hoffman 3-30-18
"Lucien is seriously ill but his life is transformed when an old Italian notebook gives him the power to become a stravagante, a time traveller with access to 16th century Italy." As this first line of the book's description provided by Goodreads shows us, this book certainly exists under the umbrella term "speculative fiction" [For a definition, please read the article here: http://annieneugebauer.com/2014/03/24...], combining elements of fantasy and sci-fi to create a fairly interesting story. While it took me a while to really get into the story, I ended up getting interested in the story's premise and plot, and the reason that this book is 3 stars rather than 4 is because the characters weren't as fully fleshed out as I would have liked, which is one of the reasons why it took me so long to finish reading the book; however, I did discover today that this book is the first in a series, so perhaps the characters have more life to them further on in the series.

-Rick Warren 3-29-18
My church read this as a devotional accompaniment to our sermon series going from February 18 to the last week of March this year. This was the second time I have read the book.

-Kim Vogel Sawyer 3-31-18
This was a sweet and humorous historical Christian romance novel full of multiple matches. The plot is a mail order bride scenario with a few twists. It is well written for its genre, and the characters were well drawn. In addition, I loved how much Abigail matured throughout the book becoming a quite lovable character fully deserving of the true match she found with Mack. I really had a blast reading this book, and I truly needed the humor in it after having read Before We Were Yours earlier in the month.