Instagram story viewer> @read.write.janis> Posts

Janis

@read.write.janis

2.6K

followers

908

following

Colorado
Book reviews and recommendations-sharing the love of good books 📖💕

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne by Darcie Wilde

Book 9 in the Rosalind Thorne mysteries, this one sees Rosalind and her former policeman fiancé called to investigate a friend’s father’s new girlfriend, whom the friend suspects of being a conwoman. The family is currently spending the summer in Bath, and shortly after their arrival, the father who was being worried about is found dead, and the conwoman (indeed she is one) turns to Rosalind for help, certain once her background is known that she will be accused of murdering him. The plot is even bigger and broader than Rosalind or her friend imagined, and before it’s all over, more dead bodies will pile up, and Rosalind and Adam will have to effect a daring escape from captivity, or be added to the tally of dead bodies themselves.

As with the other books in this series, this one was so well done and crammed with excitement and intrigue. Rosalind is such a wonderful main character, and if you enjoy the Lady Darby books, I think you’ll like these, as Rosalind and Keira remind me greatly of each other.

Would you try to look for an escape if held captive or wait for rescue and hope for the best? by @read.write.janis

16

7

3 days ago

The Patchwork Players by Jennifer Chiaverini

I’ve dipped in and out of this Elm Creek Quilts series for years, and this new installment is maybe the coziest of them all! Famous actress Julia wants to see her fellow actors stick around for more seasons of their hit 1800s Western that centers around her character, a talented quilter, but she’s hearing rumors that most of her costars are ready to jump ship and work on other projects. She has the great idea to take the whole cast to Quilt Camp for a week to encourage bonding and help them see how good they are together and that they should keep the show going. Everything seems to be going to plan right until the last day of quilt camp when Julia makes a misstep that might not only see her lose future seasons of the show, but also lose people who have become very close friends- can she repair the relationships in time?

Perfectly set in fall, when the leaves around us remind us that change can be a beautiful thing, Julia’s character arc in this one is fabulous, as she learns that same lesson. I’ve often wondered if I wrote a novel full of all the cozy things and a low-stakes problem, would anyone read it? Would it actually be enjoyable, or just boring and maybe saccharine? This book proves it can be done, and can be completely enjoyable and completely readable. If you need a book to soothe your nervous system and allow you to escape into a world where it’s fall in the northeast on a beautiful country estate, full of kind people, beautiful soft quilts, and mouthwatering food descriptions, with a story that will grow your heart a size or two, this is the perfect fit!

Do you know how to quilt? by @read.write.janis

29

16

5 days ago

Starting off the week with a forecast of a deluge of rain (they’re saying like 3 inches, which will be enough to set off flash floods in our dry climate) and a deluge of library holds 😳 What have I gotten myself into? There may need to be some priority assessments made, and some may get returned unread because this is just too many books 😂🤪 What are you reading this week? See any here I should prioritize? How’s your weather? by @read.write.janis

38

12

6 days ago

A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan

If you’d have told me a fantasy book would be vying for my favorite book of the year, I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are! This one is a masterpiece! Set during WWII, a specially formed coven of British witches has been organized to help end the war and fight the Nazis. Their number one task is to recover and destroy a grimoire of powerful black magic spells, which Hitler’s German coven is also seeking, the spells in it powerful enough to bring about an end to the war, to end all wars, to end humanity.

Lydia is a young witch of especial powers, recruited to The Academy of Witches in London as a young teenager. She’s now stepping into her full powers, the right hand assistant to the Grand Mistress, the highest ranking witch in England, and is leading the search for the grimoire. The search soon brings her in contact with others who become found family, united in their cause to keep the book out of the Nazi’s hands even if they aren’t witches themselves, but it also brings them in contact with the Nazi coven, who are more powerful than Lydia expected. A kidnapping reveals a betrayal, and escaping (and saving the world) will require all Lydia’s power, both witchy, and that of her heart and her family.

This book has elements of so many other stories that I love- echoes of A Discovery of Witches in Lydia’s character growth, the power of ancestors like in Disney’s Coco, a daughter discovering the amazing woman her mother really is like in Disney’s Brave, a main character of integrity and courage who reminded me of Claire Fraser from Outlander, a supporting found family of varying abilities united by their cause like in Shadow and Bone, magic + a special witch + WWII + an ultimate magic showdown like in my other favorite witchy book The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston- it’s just so many good things plus more that are all its own- I can’t sing its praises highly enough. I give it all the stars

Have you read this one? by @read.write.janis

22

9

10 days ago

A Deadly Clue by Victoria Gilbert

The third installment in the Hunter and Clewe mysteries, this one sees personal librarian Jane go to the home library of a recently deceased tobacco magnate to procure a few items from his library for that of her boss. One of his nephews handles the sale, but as she’s leaving, he slips her a note asking her to look into a family death from 20 years earlier that was called a suicide. Within a couple of days he too is dead, and Jane and Cameron can’t resist looking into it. What will they find as they peel back a wealthy family’s secrets?

This is such a fun series, and I especially adore the dynamic between middle aged Jane and young wealthy anxious Cameron. Their strengths are called upon again as Cameron has to confront a scorned woman from his past from this wealthy family, as well as decide what to do about the woman he truly loves now who seems to be getting away. As always in Gilbert’s books, the setting comes to life and the clues masterfully unfold.

Have you visited the Blue Ridge mountains? Or made any pumpkin baked goods yet this season? by @read.write.janis

33

8

11 days ago

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See

Historical fiction about Los Angeles’s Night of Horrors Chinese Massacre in October of 1871, Lisa See yet again brings an important piece of Chinese American history to life. She tells the story from the perspective of three women- the respected doctor’s wife who immigrated years ago and has adopted many western standards of dress and who works with her husband in his clinic, a young woman prized for her beauty who is bought and brought from China to be a wealthy man’s second wife and arm candy, his first wife remaining in China, and a young woman sold by her father for a pittance to a brothel to become a prostitute, one of only 34 Chinese women in a community with thousands of Chinese men. See brings to life the challenges each of these women face, what is going on in their hearts and minds and lives, and how they end up an unexpected tightly bound sisterhood and crucial support for each other, especially following the massacre. She also brings to life the underground world of the tongs, or rival Chinese gangs, who regularly butt heads and get into fights, using the women as pawns to exact their revenge on each other in their small community in fledgling Los Angeles. All in all, it was a look into so many parts of LA’s history I’d never heard about, and am glad to now know. Tears were shed and my heart expanded, and I closed the book and hugged it, so a standard Lisa See reading experience. Read this one- it will break your heart, inspire you, and leave you changed ❤️❤️❤️

Have you heard of the Night of Horrors massacre before?

CW- features a brothel and prostitutes so some frank sexual acts are discussed as is sexual abuse by @read.write.janis

41

32

13 days ago

The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw

Having inherited her grandmother’s cabin and candle shop, Carrie Morgan returns to her small town after years away. She’d left in a flurry, leaving her fiancé at the altar, and has wandered across Europe ever since. In her absence, he married and had a child with her best friend, which has served as another reason for Carrie to stay away. She feels the mountains calling to her, though, and as she begins working with a man also living on the mountain to renovate the cottage for sale, her feelings about maybe staying, and rebuilding her life in Woodsmoke, grow complicated. Overlaying it all is her great aunt’s reputation as a witch, and she’s certain this mountain man Carrie has fallen for is nothing more than an illusion of magic who will only stick around as long as there is frost on the ground. When he disappears as the frost thaws, Carrie can’t bring herself to admit her aunt may be right…

What an absolutely delightful book! Going on my short list of favorite stories I’ve read this year, Greenlaw handled the magic and the mystique in this one with the perfect touch. Woodsmoke charms even those of us who didn’t grow up there, and the characters were all so lovable. The best part, though, is the ending- a reader couldn’t ask for a better one 🥰 If you’d enjoy a super cozy tale with real main character growth and a hint of magic, definitely pick this one up.

Do you love the mountains? You know I do! by @read.write.janis

34

17

15 days ago

Is the fall decor up at your house yet? I put mine up over the weekend and am enjoying it so much! I added to it some seasonal reads from the library today, and am just having all the fall feels- yay! See any here you’ve read or want to? by @read.write.janis

39

23

19 days ago

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

A Cinderella retelling, we get the “wicked” stepmother’s side of the story in this book, and there was much I enjoyed about it. Ethelreda is the motherless daughter of a village brewmaster, who learns to keep a falcon to keep up with her father and brothers. She’s surprised to fall in love with the son of the local landed gentry, and is even more surprised to find he loves her back, despite a woman of far superior birth pursuing him aggressively. They are married and have two daughters before tragedy befalls him. Following his death, she is forced to remarry or her in-laws are going to arrange marriages for her much-too-young daughters, so she marries a sad man still grieving his wife who has a daughter of similar age (and a title and a seemingly well off estate). Unfortunately, he soon perishes too, and Ethelreda is left with an estate not nearly as well off as she’d been led to believe it was, and three growing girls, one of whom can’t stand her. Years later, the palace announces a ball where the prince will choose a local girl to wed and become a princess, and you think you know the story from there, but this book asks what if the stepmother wasn’t the wicked one in the tale?

Hochhauser’s prose is gorgeous, and I especially loved her rich nature descriptions. Ethelreda is a beautifully developed character, and I love that she gives us so much of what is in her heart, and that she showed how the grief of losing the love of your life can impact everything remaining in your life for years and years to come. I was really enjoying it, and was considering passing it on to my bird-loving daughter who also dreams of becoming a falconer, when I got to the last quarter or so- the evil in this story is VERY evil, and ultimately I closed the book with an icky feeling, and it’s definitely not a book I’ll share with my teenage daughter upon reflection. It’s an engaging read, I just wish my feelings about the first 3/4 weren’t overshadowed by my dislike of the last 1/4.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Have you read any retellings this year? This is my second, which is definitely a record for me by @read.write.janis

44

32

20 days ago

Have you visited a thrift store with a good used book section lately? Yesterday my daughter only had to be at school for 45 min, so I popped into a nearby Goodwill and found these gems while waiting for her. It was not a bad way to pass the time at all! I am looking forward to reading the top two and am happy to add the bottom three to my shelves for a reread when the time is right 🥰 by @read.write.janis

41

16

23 days ago

A meetup with a friend at the GF bakery in town @sweetelizabethsorganics was a delight! And, an extra treat was a new shelf of books with the cutest Blind Date With A Book display in the entryway to the bakery. Very gently used books for sale, the selection was great, and I found this one, highly recommended by @apuzzledbooklover as we discussed our book club book last month, Where The Wildflowers Grow, written by the same author. If you happen to be in the area, pop in and give @theelephantbooks display a browse!

Do you enjoy a bakery near you with books available, either via LFL or for sale? It’s one of my favorite combinations! by @read.write.janis

43

16

25 days ago

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

In the Depression-era South, life is especially hard for single women. Left infertile by a mumps infection, Birdie takes on whatever she can around their household since her father’s death instead of pursuing love and marriage for herself. Her younger sister seems to have it all, though, married to a wealthy banker in Mississippi. When things become so desperate that not even Birdie’s hard work and fix-it skills can see them through, her mother and grandmother send her to her sister’s house to ask for a loan.

Not long after she arrives, Birdie learns that her sister’s luxurious lifestyle is built on a house of cards, and soon she’s trying her best to keep that household afloat as well, now that her brother in law has run off. Additionally Birdie fell hard for one of the orphan girls at the care home where her sister volunteers, and in alternating chapters we get Meg’s story, a daughter of a single woman also pushed to the point of desperation by the economically strapped times. Who are you, and what will you do for your family and for survival when pushed to the brink?

Overall, I liked this one. I particularly like this time period, and have read quite a few books set during the Depression, so wasn’t surprised at the way the women in the story decided to make the needed fast cash. I was very impressed with Stockett’s beautiful character development and her varied portrayals of the women in the story, as well as with the bravery and fortitude displayed by Birdie as she carried the responsibilities of two families, plus an orphan girl, on her young shoulders. I did feel it was overly long, and I skipped a hundred plus pages in the second half as the plot dragged. It won’t go down as a favorite I’ve read this year, but am not disappointed to have read it.

Have you read this one? Are you handy? I’d more call myself capable than handy- if taught, or with detailed printed instructions, I can do things like change a flat tire or build flat pack furniture, but I don’t have a mechanically inclined brain for fixing broken things like some others in my life do by @read.write.janis

35

13

a month ago