The End of Summer

Summer is over!  It flew by.  But, I was able to sneak in a final week in Hawaii which was lovely!  I sat on the beach 5 hours a day and read, napped and thought about life.
I also read a few books!
I'm going to review the first 2 and save the remaining for the next post.

Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight
this is a story of a young widow named Holly who runs a bakery, cake shop.  Her husband has been dead for 2 years but she is still struggling to move on.  She sees him and talks to him daily.  But then Ciaran Argyll walks into her life.  He is completely opposite of her and changes everything.
I enjoyed the story but it was pretty predictable.  I really enjoyed the characters and especially the side characters, her assistant, his father and her sister.  The writing

was good and it was fine for a beach read.  Plus, I love a story that revolves around food!  I'd give this 3.5 stars.

Since you've been gone trailer



The Flower Arrangement by Ella Griffin
Lara owns a flower shop in the middle of Dublin.  She knows exactly what flower each person needs.  We find out early on that Lara has lost a child and is still in mourning.  This story jumps around to a whole bunch of characters.  Sometimes that drives me nuts but I liked this one.  Lara's story and that of her brother are the main ones but all of the others are connected.  I really enjoyed this.  The flowers felt magical and I liked how they were weaved in each story. 
The only bummer was the end.  It is not neatly wrapped up which is what i like.  You are left wondering what will happen and it's over.  But, I'd still give it 4 stars just because of the great characters and the journey they go on.

Next time I'll review the other beach reads! 

Books about Books!

I  love Books about Books!   Anyone who calls themselves a reader, loves to read about other readers.  I've read a bunch of them recently.   Here are the most recent;

Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpren.  I really liked this one.  It started out a bit slow for me but by half way, i really wanted to know what would happen.  It jumps back and forth a bit from a woman's,  Kit, relationship and eventual marriage to present day.  We know in present day she is alone but not sure what happened.   Meanwhile a young girl , Sunny, is caught stealing a dictionary and her punishment is to spend the summer working in the library.   Kit is the librarian and they form an unexpected friendship.  Eventually they are joined by Rusty who is suddenly a regular hanging out daily in the library.  The book isn't  really about books as much as it is about the library and how it brings people together and is in someways the heart of the community.   I thought the characters were well thought out and interesting.    Kit was so damaged and needed help and these new friends were critical to her getting better.  .  I gave it 4 stars.

.Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her life by Anne Spence   .   I love an epistolary book but this one didn't really do it for me.  It is individual letters to the books or authors of different books.  While some of the letter were funny and i enjoyed the one's related to books i had read, some didn't do it for me.  Not many of the letters made me want to run out a read a book she wrote about with the exception of the Virgin Suicides.  I put that one on my TBR list.  I kept putting this book down.  i would read a few letters and then read another book.  Then pick it up and read a few more.  She does have a real love for books and for that, I gave it 3 stars.

Until next time, happy reading!