This Perfectly Imperfect Life

#partner / #freebook Thank you to Haley at  Wunderkind PR  and  HarperCollins  for reaching out to me about Jenna Blum's newest novel, #TheLostFamily, just released this week! I can't wait to start this one. That cover?! I read #ThoseWhoSaveUs (by Jenna Blum) several years ago, and it's still with me; one of my all time favorites. And once I'm finished with this new one, I have a special surprise for all of you... So stay tuned!  Head on over to my Instagram to enter to win a copy of this book! Click here . Publisher Synopsis:  "In 1965 Manhattan , patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its brisket bourguignon and impeccable service and to admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin. With his movie-star good looks and tragic past, Peter, a survivor of Auschwitz , is the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the parade of eligible women who come to the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. He has resigned himself to ...

I finished @maryalicemonroe's #BeachHouseForRent earlier and I'm still 😩💔 because this is my favorite series of hers and it's over 😢 But I loved it, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! Classic MAM writing, transported me right to the Lowcountry, making me yearn more than ever to take that trip back which we just haven't gotten around to yet. So grab your copy starting 6/20! #bookrec #digiARC #reading #amreading #readinglife #bookblogger #bookreview #readersofinstagram #bookish #booknerd #bookworm #bookstagram #kindle  #springreads #summerreads #beachreads #fiction #womensfiction #frommyshelf #southernlit #junereads #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife @gallerybooks

With everything going on, (see prev post) I forgot to post this 🤦🏻‍♀️ With Memorial Day now behind us, aka the unofficial start of Summer, it's officially time for Summer Reading y'all 🎉 And while beach reads are pretty great, lakeside reads are pretty sweet too ☺️ Happy Summer Reading!  #summerreads #lakesidereads #summerreading #bookish #booknerd #bookworm #bookstagram #bookclub #bookblogger #readinglife #readersofinstagram #reading #mayreads #junereads #frommyshelf #beachreads  #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife @mgablewriter @stmartinspress

Mama kitty says it's time for #fridayreads! We're #reading @maryalicemonroe's newest #BeachHouseForRent, (coming out 6/20), what are you reading this holiday weekend?  #digiARC #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #bookstagram #readinglife #bookblogger #readersofinstagram #fiction #womensfiction #beachreads #springreads #summerreads #mayreads #junereads #frommyshelf #southernlit #sillykitty #calico #furbaby #simplepleasuresgreatestjoy #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife @gallerybooks

Out 5/16 is The Simplicity of Cider by @aereichert! My thoughts in a nutshell? Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book! A transportive read about the magical transformation that comes from loving others and the land. I can't wait to read her other books now! Thanks again to @gallerybooks for the digi-ARC. #bookrec #bookreview #bookblogger #bookstagram #booknerd #bookworm #bookish #readinglife #frommyshelf #mayreads #springreads #fiction #womensfiction #readersofinstagram #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife 

My goodness, this book! Just finishing @elliegg's latest #TheForbiddenGarden (out now) and Loved It! As a gardener myself, the gardening/gardener aspect would've been enough to engage me, but add a well-woven mystery along with a dash of romance? And I couldn't put it down! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️+ Exceptional fiction! #bookrec  #bookreview #bookblogger #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #bookstagram #frommyshelf #readinglife #readersofinstagram #springreads #mayreads #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife

What is the one book you would recommend reading this Winter? Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts on The Chilbury Ladies' Choir A Novel by Jennifer Ryan, my first 5 star read of 2017, and my recommendation for the SheReads #OneBookWinter book rec across social media day today! Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction Source: NetGalley / Crown Publishing (e-edition ARC) Release Date: Next Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Synopsis from NetGalley: ""Just because the men have gone to war, why do we have to close the choir? And precisely when we need it most!" As England enters World War II's dark early days, spirited music professor Primrose Trent, recently arrived to the village of Chilbury, emboldens the women of the town to defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to shutter the church's choir in the absence of men and instead "carry on singing." Resurrecting themselves as "The Chilbury Ladies' Choir," the women of this small vil...

My #bookmail haul from this week! A Gentleman In Moscow was a treat to myself. The Marriage Lie is from the #southernlit chat with Deep South Magazine and author Kimberly Belle - thank you to Book Sparks sending the book! What books found homes on your shelves this week? #winterreads #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #bookish #fiction #historicalfiction #womensfiction #suspense #wonontwitter #readinglife #frommyshelf 

It's time for #fridayreads! #parisforone is my current & so far so good! What's everyone reading? #novemberreads #fallreads #autumnreads #fiction #shortstories #bookworm #booknerd #bookish #frommyshelf 

And the library holds just keep rolling in 😊 This was worth going out in the nasty rain for! Of course after having to climb the stairs up to the library because it is housed in a raised structure (we live in a coastal area flood zone) I was whooped, thanks to the mono, so once I got home it was time to snuggle up on the couch for a little rest & rainy day reading 💙  And speaking of rain, did I mention? Finally! It's Bean Boots weather! 💙  How was your Saturday?

D Today I’m sharing with you The Things We Wish Were True by SheReads.org co-founder Marybeth Mayhew Whalen , the SheReads.org Fall bookclub selection , and my fourth 4 star read of the year. Genre: Fiction Synopsis from publisher, Lake Union Publishing , paperback, release date September 2016: “In An Idyllic Small-Town Neighborhood, A Near Tragedy Triggers A Series Of Dark Revelations. From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.  Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts – until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of neighbors’ intertwined lives begins to unravel.  During the course of a sweltering summer, the long-bu...

Happy Friday all! Apologies for a slack in posts for I've been under the weather as of late, and unfortunately will be for some time to come (more on that soon - trying to gather my thoughts enough for a couple of blog posts to catch everything up to speed)🍁 Front porch sitting today on this perfect October afternoon with my #Fridayreads 🍁 Since mono is putting my plans to see the movie version of #GirlOnTheTrain on hold, I thought I'd finally give the book a whirl 🍁 What's everyone #reading this weekend? 🍁 #jojosmonodiaries #fallreads #octoberreads #autumnreads #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #readinglife #frommyshelf #spoonie #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife

What's everyone #reading this weekend? Library holds are rolling in on top of all those #READSavannah books 😩😁 But I'm having a rough time getting through everything with not feeling well 😷🙄  💛 #rainyday #fridayreads 💛 #fallreads #weekendreads #spoonie 

What's everyone #reading this weekend? My first from that #READSavannah stack I brought home (see prev post on Tues) is Ann Hite's latest! #fridayreads #weekendreads #southernlit #southerngothic #bookworm #booknerd #fallreads

#READSavannah has come & gone, and I have so much to tell you, but first I have to finish wrapping my mind around it all.  A big shout-out to Marybeth Mayhew Whalen and Ariel Lawhon of SheReads for making it happen! What an amazing and inspiring experience. The people I met - readers and authors alike! If I go on there will just be too many "!!!" right now. (And please send some healing love & prayers out to Marybeth who hit a "bump in the road" so to speak on her way home from Savannah). *I already had Truly Madly Guilty, but since #LianeMoriarty was the keynote and it's her latest, I had to include it here! (She signed The Husband's Secret).

Today I'm sharing with you The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker, my fifth 5 star read of the year! Genre: Fiction Synopsis from the publisher, Grand Central Publishing, first trade edition paperback March 2013: "In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire-heartbroken over her high school sweetheart-who marries him.  Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen...

The Gilly Salt Sisters - Review coming soon! What's everyone #reading on this #summer #Sunday?  Any recommendations for coastal lit with a great sense of place?  #bookrec  #bookworm #booknerd #bookstagram #bookphotography #summerreads #summerreading #julyreads #booksofsummer #readinglife #frommyshelf #thisperfectlyimperfectlife 

Today I'm sharing with you Last Ride to Graceland by Kim Wright , one of the SheReads.org   Books of Summer , and my fourth 5 star read of the year. Genre : Fiction (Southern lit) Synopsis from the publisher, Gallery Books, first trade paperback edition May 2016 : "In Kim Wright's delightful novel, blues musician Cory Ainsworth is barely scraping by after her mother's death when she discovers a priceless piece of rock 'n' roll memorabilia hidden away in a shed out back of the family's South Carolina home: Elvis Presley's Stutz Blackhawk, its interior a time capsule of the singer's last day on earth. A backup singer for the King, Cory's mother, Honey, was at Graceland the day Elvis died. She returned home pregnant to South Carolina and married her high school sweetheart. Yearning to uncover the secret's of her mother's past - and possibly her own identity - Cory decides to drive the car back to Memphis and turn it over to Elvi...

Today I'm sharing with you No One Knows by J.T. Ellison , one of the She Reads.org Books of Spring , and my third 5 star read of the year. Genre: Fiction (Thriller/Suspense) Synopsis from the publisher, Gallery Books , first hardcover edition, March 2016, 362 pages: "Madness, deceit, murder -  his death was only the beginning... The day Aubrey Hamilton's husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring the closure she needs to move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn't want to move on, she wants Josh back. It's been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marraige - they were happy, weren't they? - screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in her husband's disappearance. Five years of emptiness, solitude, loneliness, questions. Why didn't Josh show up at his best friend's bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysteriously, yet stra...

Hello everyone! A bit of catching up for today. Belated Happy Birthday to me from Hubbs, and happy Pub Day to author Karen White, whose Flight Patterns was just released this Tuesday. We picked it up on what was also our 12 year anniversary together! Then we headed to our camper to spend the rest of evening, and Wednesday, our 11th wedding anniversary, at the lake.  Of course there was book mail this week! More about Last Ride To Graceland and The Fifth Avenue Artists Society coming soon. And thanks to the weather turning from chilly 50s to summery 80s, the roses have begun to bloom! Well, it is nearly Memorial Day, so I guess it's time. (How did it get to nearly be Memorial Day already?!) I'm so far behind with my writing, and reading, since Mom's recent stroke in Marrch, and the domino affects it's had on all of our lives, but, things may be leveling out to some degree, so it's time to play catch up, and create a new normal for our family. What are you currently r...