This Perfectly Imperfect Life

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

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...

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 Flight Of Dreams , the second novel by She Reads.org co-founder Ariel Lawhon , my first 5 star read of 2016 ! Genre: (Historical) Fiction Synopsis from the publisher, Doubleday, 2016 Advance Reading Copy Not For Sale paperback edition, 324 pages:  "With everyone on board the Hindenberg harboring dark secrets, Flight of Dreams is an utterly suspenseful, heart-wrenching examination of one of the most enduring mysteries of the twentieth century. On the evening of May 3, 1937, Emilie Imhoff boards the Hindenberg. As the only female crew member, Emilie has access to the entire airship, from the lavish dining rooms and passenger suites to the gritty engine cars and control room. She hears everything, including rumors circulating about bomb threats, but Emilie is more focused on her feeling for Max, the ship's navigator... and keeping her own plans under wraps. What Emilie can't see is that everyone - from the sweet cabin boy to the high...

Welcome to my first official post as one of the new members of the She Reads Blog Network! (Click here if you missed my announcement about being a part of this incredible group of women). In today's Off The Shelf, I'm sharing with you The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young , one She Reads' Books of Winter . Genre:  Fiction Synopsis from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House L.L.C., 2015 hardcover edition, 410 pages: "Her Gift Can Save A Child... If It Doesn't Destroy A Family First. When New York Journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte "Charlie" Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children in danger, she's sure that she's lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent. They are warnings that will help her and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them. After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie's dreams, asking her for help, she fin...

Book mail! With a few extras. Flight Of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon. 1/25/16  Book mail! The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young. 1/26/16 That exciting news I mentioned at the end of my previous post?  I didn't know how to go about announcing it here. Until the book mail arrived that is! (Silly, I know, but y'all know how I can be from time to time. And for those who don't? You'll get used to it!) On January 12th, She Reads.org announced the newest members of their Blog Network ( here ) and I'm thrilled to announce that I've been included! Around the holidays they announced they were accepting applications for new members and I decided to throw my name into the hat. "Why not?!" Because I'm not a book blogger, and not what I consider a traditional book reviewer, I didn't expect to be among the chosen, so I was very surprised and excited to receive the email saying I was!   What is She Reads? Click here . For The Books of ...

This last weekend, I finished reading my first book of 2015, and what a delightful read it was!   Synopsis of A Good Year For The Roses by Gil McNeil , from the 2014 Hyperion/ Hachette Book Group paperback edition: " Life hasn't been a bed of roses for Londoner Molly Taylor lately. Newly divorced and struggling to find a new home and a way to support her three boys, she's astonished when her beloved Aunt Helena dies and leaves her Harrington Hall, a three-hundred-year-old manor house on the Devon coast, where Molly grew up. But does Molly really want to run a bed-and-breakfast in an old house where the only thing which doesn't need urgent attention is Helena's beautiful rose garden? And what about Uncle Bertie, who's been a few sandwiches short of a picnic for years, and fires his cannon from the cliff tops at random moments? Or Betty, his rude parrot who is not averse to biting people who annoy her? Yet, Molly's best friend Lola is all for it....

I have been biting my tongue for a couple of weeks now, until all of the details were worked out, but now it's time to let y'all in on a little ( BIG! ) secret:  Southern author Sarah Addison Allen is going to do a chat with my Southern Lit Lovers group on Goodreads *and* we have 3 ARC's of her upcoming novel, First Frost , to giveaway to 3 lucky members on November 4th!  I believe First Frost is a followup to her debut novel Garden Spells . Holy cow have I been excited to share this news!! For all of the info on the chat and giveaway rules, click here .  I can't thank Angie from Sarah's publisher enough for reaching out to me to set all of this up with Sarah and for sending me my own ARC of First Frost!!! Now, these sweet looking little candies came with my copy of First Frost and they were supposed to be a part of the photo above, but... Just before I set everything up, Mama kitty decided to make herself comfy and in the p...

My girlfriend, who started the Wednesday evening bookclub, is a teacher and she is doing a presentation on reading for the teachers at her school tomorrow (after the kids go home for the day). She asked me if I could send her a photo of myself either holding a favorite book or in front of one of my bookcases because I am the inspiration for who she wants her students to be as readers! Is that awesome and humbling or what?! I'm not much of a fan of having my picture taken or of taking my own, but, I was so touched by her request (choked up in fact) and the reason for it, I couldn't say no! This is the photo I took today to send her: Often we don't think we make an impact on those around us. Often we do, but we don't usually find out. Imagine what a difference it could make to that person if we did tell them?! I can tell you it's made a difference with me. Have you told that person who inspires you that they do and why? Well go on then and go ...

Last Friday, I started re-reading Courage and Craft by Barbara Abercrombie and the following  To Do from the book really stood out to me this time: "Try writing a description of what's outside your window for twenty-one days. Train your eye as if you were looking through a camera or had a paintbrush in your hand." This helps you to really see what's going on around you and not let the writing be only about what you're feeling at any given time your journal. While I've been making it a habit to make myself journal during times of upheaval (something I used to do, but then quite suddenly stopped in 2010), I thought this would be a great exercise for me to challenge myself with. Barbara's book is a great resource and source of inspiration! On Saturday 3/15, I sat at the kitchen table, where I do a lot of my writing in general, looked out of the patio doors, which essentially combine to make one enormous window, and wrote: Outside my window - #1 - ...

Taken from a 2012 post, which you can find here . You all know I am a big fan of purging - the de-cluttering and simplifying of ones surroundings - because it truly does a mind and soul a world of good. I can't recommend it enough! Well, I've been holding on to some specific items for years. Why? For many reasons, but mainly because I truly liked these things and I had hoped over time they would lose the negativity of situations and people from my past they were associated with. They didn't. It's been in the back of my mind since the end of November to finally get rid of these things. I was ready but, with a sick and passing kitty, and all the emotions I was going through with him, I wasn't ready. If that makes sense. This Saturday afternoon, I finally purged them. Hubbs and I had a spat just before I went back down to the basement to put a load of laundry in the dryer and start another in the wash. I was ticked off, to say the least. Plus I had been ...

Apologies for dropping off the face of the Earth! I've been sick since Halloween, battling an upper respiratory infection that's taken over my throat, sinuses and ears, and I've really had a rough go of it since the day after Thanksgiving. It's rearing its' ugly head once again too, as I was back at the doctor just yesterday and have started a third round of antibiotics. It's likely the upper respiratory infection is a viral infection, but with my immune system, or lack thereof actually, the antibiotics are more of a precaution to keep me from coming down with a secondary bacterial infection along with this upper respiratory infection.  I would say I'm exhausted to tears, but I'm so utterly exhausted, I don't think I have the energy to cry anymore! This happens every few years. I get sick during the Fall and can't shake it until Spring. I'm under strict order to REST this week and I am obeying them. Not that I have much choice in the ma...

Greetings fellow Southern Lit Lovers : First off I'd like to welcome all of our new members!  Please drop by the "Come Sit For A Spell & Tell Us About Yourself" thread and say hello here .  No worries, we're a great bunch of folks who don't bite! Our May group read of Lee Smith's The Last Girls   is under way!  Join us here .  I've posted the thread for July group reads noms.  Please read my initial comment in the thread before you post your nom (I've added a new guideline).  Click here .  All past group reads are now archived in the Archived Group Reads folder here . Feel free to comment on any of the past group reads if you're reading one now! We've got lots to chat about in the following sections: Classic & Gothic Southern Lit Genres Within The Genre Set In The South, but... Buddy Reads & Favorite Authors We have a Midwest Authors & Book Discussions folder here .  What are you currently reading, just f...

As many of you know, I love Southern Lit! I have a Southern Lit Lovers group on Goodreads and I recently created a Twitter for it as well.  Today I decided to share here the monthly Happenings Newsletter I send out to members when it's time to ask for new group read nominations as a way to get the newsletter visible in a more creative way than via a Goodreads message.  Perhaps it will even encourage a few of you to join me there! I invite everyone, member or not, to click and see what we're all about.   Southern Lit Lovers Happenings, April 2013 Newsletter It's that time again! And what time is that you ask? It's time for (May 2013) group read noms! Please read my initial post in the thread before posting your noms here . Our April read & chat of Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is going on now!  Click here to join us. If you're new to Southern Lit Lovers, please click here to drop in and say "Hello!" Are you on Twitter?  Well s...