February 2022 Photo A Day

The February prompts were pretty easy once I actually got started on them. I initially just looked around for interesting things in the house or while I was out and literally everything I came up with started with a C. Coffee! Candles! Custard at Culver's! Camera! Candy! And the list goes on. 

But once I started working off the list itself most of the photo ideas came pretty easily! I got kind of stuck on U, so I just photographed my new book, Until Leaves Fall in Paris, since the title started with a U. I was even surprised I came up with an actual item for X - an xacto knife!

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January 2022 Photo A Day

How was your February?

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin Book Review

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

From back cover:

Paris, 1940

When Nazis march toward Paris, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. The Germans make it difficult for her to keep Green Leaf Books afloat. And she must keep the store open if she is to continue aiding the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. But in order to carry out his mission, he must appear to support the occupation-which does not win him any sympathy when he meets Lucie in the bookstore.

In a world turned upside down, will love or duty prevail?

I thought this was a well done book. I think I liked When Twilight Breaks a little more, but that is just because I really liked Evelyn and the plot line a little better. I would still say this was a solid 4/5 star book though!

I thought both Lucie and Paul were great, well rounded characters. For instance, there were times when Lucie came across as maybe childish or juvenile, but we are also able to see her rise to the occasion with her resistance work as well as see what a strong and caring person she could be. Likewise, we see multiple sides of Paul as he deals with being a somewhat reluctant double agent, his struggles with being a parent, but also his deep love for his daughter Josie. And while Josie is more of a secondary character, it was hard not to love her! She'd been through so much in her life yet her personality and creativity were so fun to read.

The plot of this story was very interesting and unique. I feel like so may WWII-era books have the exact same plot line, so I enjoyed the fact that this one was different in the fact it takes place prior to the US joining the war and closer to the beginning of the occupation in Paris.

I've read all of Sarah Sundin's books and one thing I really like about her writing is that you can tell she really knows her history and writes with just enough detail so you can understand what is going on but without it feeling like you're reading a textbook. 

As with When Twilight Breaks, I felt as though this story was so well described that I could almost imagine it as a movie in my mind. There is just enough detail that you can easily picture what is happening, but not so much it feels overly descriptive. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to whatever comes next!

I received a complementary copy of this book from Revell. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Year of Flowers - 2021

In 2020 I kind of made a goal to buy a bouquet of flowers each month. I really enjoy how bright and cheery flowers are and it gave me something fun to look forward to buying each month. 

Most of these are just the $6.99 bouquets from Trader Joe's, with, I think, one being a $5 bouquet from Wegman's. So overall they're very inexpensive but sure make a big difference in brightening up the kitchen!

A Year of Flowers 2020

Do you enjoy buying flowers?

What Matters Most by Courtney Walsh Book Review

 What Matters Most by Courtney Walsh

From back cover:

Emma Woodson is hoping the cobblestone streets of Nantucket and the charm of her late husband’s family cottage will be the fresh start she and her young son, CJ, need. Securing a dream job at an art gallery is one more step along the path to a new life . . . and away from a piece of her history she hopes will never be revealed. Falling in love with the kind and handsome guy she hires to clean out the rental apartment above the garage wasn’t part of the plan.

Jameson Shaw came to Nantucket for one reason: deliver his letter to Emma and never return. But when he sees an opportunity to help her, he takes a chance, desperate to atone for his past. He never planned to keep his connection to her husband a secret or to fall in love with her. After all, he knows that their new relationship might not survive the discovery of who he really is.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought or hoped that I would. I think for me I really just didn't connect with either of the characters. They weren't bad or anything, there was just nothing about them that I could really relate to.  

I felt like Emma and Jamie fell in love way too quickly. It was like instant romance with too much thinking about feelings, then the "big secret" drags on forever (like a little bit longer than I thought it should have). There were a lot of moments that could have been better utilized (like how CJ didn't feel like he really fit into the story. He was just there when it was convenient for a cute moment but most of the time he was just an afterthought. And I liked Emma's relationship with her in-laws, but their conversations about faith were just glossed over and not well used.)

And maybe this is just me, but while the theme of forgiveness is prevalent throughout the book, I did find it odd that Emma seemed to really want Jamie's forgiveness for what she'd done. Especially since she didn't do anything to him. I mean, they needed to work through it but she didn't need his forgiveness, just his acceptance. Meanwhile, Jamie really did need Emma's forgiveness, so that part was played out well.

So while I really enjoy other books by this author, this particular one just wasn't for me. I would instead recommend the Harbor Point series!

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

What Matters Most releases on April 5, 2022.

Top 10 Most Read Blog Posts of 2021

Today I thought I would share my most read blog posts from the past year! I know I say this every year, but I am always surprised at which posts were the most read as it usually isn't posts I would expect. But this year it looks like shopping, book reviews, and photography/travel type posts were the most viewed. 

Granted, I didn't post as much this last year so that is basically the main three topics my posting revolved around, but I'm glad at least a few people seem to enjoy reading them too!

So for this roundup I skipped Five for Friday/Friday Favorites posts (since those are linkups and always tend to get the most pageviews.) and any Year in Review posts from 2020.

10. Recent Purchases 9

9. Cherry Blossoms at the National Arboretum Part 1

8. Norfolk Botanical Garden Part 1

7. Norfolk Botanical Garden Part 2

6. Recent Purchases 10

5. Is It Any Wonder by Courtney Walsh Book Review

4. Visiting Luray Caverns

3. Hiking in the DuPont State Recreational Forest

2. Currently

1. When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin Book Review

10 Most Read Blog Posts From 2019

10 Most Read Blog Posts From 2018

What kinds of posts do you enjoy reading? Is there anything you would like to see more of? Do you have any post suggestions? Let me know! I'm always up for ideas!