Monday Moments - Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham

 As bubbly as a bottle of champagne, Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham is a silly quick poolside read. It has no redeeming value and I paid only fifty cents at a library book sale. But I was amused. 

Back cover:   Roxanne - glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - a married man

Maggie - capable and high achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood

Candice - honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up

These three ladies meet every month at a swanky bar for cocktails. Of course they all work at a glossy fashion magazine. Of course they travel, live well, and are dressed for success. They are best friends and having the time of their lives. But all three have a secret. Friendship unravels for awhile as this romantic tale with a splash of scandal plays out.

Sometimes you just have to kill time with a ridiculous book. 

Finally Friday - The Five Star Weekend

 This is a classy junky read.  I really enjoyed The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand as brain candy.

It's just fun. Total poolside read with no redeeming value. and that's okay in the summertime/fallish time. 

Four friends are gathered for a ridiculous weekend in Nantucket.  So many interconnected stories. So much dirt. I loved it. 

Who's cheating on whom?  The daughter filming this - she digs deep  and learns a lot about  her  mother. 

What  is the price of success?

This book is trashy in all of the right ways.  Perfect for an end of summer read.  Go for it!

Drink something crazy while you read it.       Trust me.   It helps.  

Wednesday Whatever

 'Nuff said.  I am so disgusted with Texas schools. 

Ugh

My mother  knew what I was reading.  That's up to families.  Don't keep the general public, kids, etc, from reading what  they want.  Was I ahead of my age?  Yes?  Did I totally get The Thorn Birds, for example?  Probably not.  But my mother (extremely modest) allowed it and I thank her. 

Allow kids, people to READ!!!!!!

I am going to say it - Jesus Christ.  What is wrong with people today?  

All this crap about "woke" or whatever.  Stop.  Just stop. 

And more power and respect to all teachers.   They are working so hard and being thwarted in so many directions.  I can understand why so many are bailing just when they are needed the most. 

All of the above is strictly my opinion.   

Monday Moments - The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is almost as sprawling as the setting in Alaska. 

cover blurb  It's 1974 and the Allbrights are a family in crisis. They are alone, living off the grid, in a harsh and unforgiving wilderness. 

Ernt is volatile ever since his return from Vietnam. He can't hold a mechanic's job, distrusts America, and is impulsive.  Cora loves her husband madly, deeply and will follow him anywhere. Leni, age thirteen, is caught in the middle. 

Now - Alaska. That's going to be the answer for their lives. Ernt is convinced they can make a new life in this wild free land on property given to him by a Vietnam buddy who didn't make it back. The three months of summer seem promising. But alas, darkness and winter comes and stays and stays. The peril from wild animals - some outside, some in your own home. 

Kristen Hannah explores human frailty and resistance. Her story will chill you as you watch Leni grow into her destiny as a kid in 1974 to a young woman with a baby in 1986. Alaska is wild and wonderful  in this well written family saga. 

Finally Friday - A Castle in the Backyard

A  Castle in the Backyard by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden was a very fun read.   Perigord in the Dordogne district of France has castles everywhere.  This couple  fell in love with a stone house that became their summer home  and it  was in the shadow of a castle. 

OMG

so romantic. So perfect.  Their story of dealing  with realtors  in France.  Of actually finding this dream home and then making it work is  amazing. 

You will love the locals.  You will want to  eat at every restaurant they visit.  You will want to love this whole region as they did. 

A Castle in the Backyard - the Dream House in  France is a very fun read.  I was ready to move there at the word croissant!

 

Whatever Wednesday - Kinsey and Me - Sue Grafton

 Sue Grafton     RIP

Kinsey Millhone    ABC Murder cases. 

She was an awesome writer.   This book has  some of her beginning stories - just crafting the Kinsey character.  It also involves some autobiographical material

Insights into the woman behind a HUGE bestselling series. 

Thank you Sue Grafton.  'Nuff said. 

Monday Moments - Crooked Hearts by Lissa Evans

 Crooked Hearts  by Lissa Evans was a tricky little  read. I spent fifty cents at the library  book sale  for this and it was totally worth it. I wasn't convinced at first that I liked the characters, but then I was hooked. Poor Noel - age 10, no  family is evacuated from  London to a northwest suburb. It's WWII.  Vera Sledge takes him in. Her  life is a mess and she  needs this smart young man to help her collect money for "widows", or whomever folks will fall for.  The two of them scheme. Let the games begin. 

I won't give away more.  Let's just say this is a very unconventional story in the middle of a very serious war. They are bombed.  They are skirting the law. It's amusing, touching, and a really good story.  Thumbs up.