I can't believe it is the end of June! Summer is sneaking by me. Summer is always when i do the most reading of the year because i usually spend a week on the beach somewhere fun. No major beach plans this year but i do have a week at the end of the July with no plans at all! Maybe I'll get some reading done then!
I have 2 books to review and both are written as multiple stories and in multiple time periods.
Let start with History of Bees. This book is by Maja Lunde and was originally written in Norwegian and then translated to English. The first story is in 2098 where Tao spends her days hand painting pollen on trees since bees are now extinct. Then 2007 focused on George who is a Beekeeper in the US and finally 1852 where William is a seed merchant who builds a new type of beehive. The common theme is Bees but in truth the story really revolves around the relationship with the sons. Each story has a son who plays a critical part. The Father/Son relationship and Mother / Son (for the Tao story) is really where the struggle and emotion of the stories happens. I started off really liking the Tao story and struggling with the George story. In the end i wanted to know what would happen in the George story, still really liked the Tao story and was over the William story.
I'd give this 4 stars because the story was interesting and the characters well thought out.
The Secret of Paper and Ink is by Lindsay Harrel. This popped up as a recommendation for me because i do love a story set in a bookstore! Similar to History of Bees, the store rotates between 3 characters. 2 of these are set in modern times- Sophia, who just lost her fiance suddenly and is struggling to move on. He wasn't what people thought and was abusive which just complicates the matter. Ginny Rose is running a bookstore that she bought with her husband who has since walked out. The third story is discovered in a journal by a woman named Emily who is determined to be an author and is in love with a man who is out of her reach. Sophia moves to Cornwall England to escape her past and ends up working with Ginny to save the bookstore They search for Emily's identity and try to figure out what happened to her.
I enjoyed the book. It is a really easy read and i liked all 3 stories though I did want to kind of smack Ginny and tell her to move on. She kept waiting for her husband to come back and it was obvious that he wasn't. The end got just a little weird with some references to God and faith which I don't mind except it felt a bit unexpected. (i realized later it is tagged as Christian Fiction on Goodreads )
Overall a fun and easy read which is what I need to snap me out of my reading slump! I'd give this 3.5-4 stars.
I made Bran muffins coated in Honey and Molasses after reading the History of Bees. They are delicious and you coat the muffin pan with the honey and it makes a nice sugary coat over the muffin. It is the Mimi Cafe recipe! https://www.loulougirls.com/2015/10/mimis-cafe-honey-oat-bran-muffin-copycat.html?spref=pi
I have 2 books to review and both are written as multiple stories and in multiple time periods.
Let start with History of Bees. This book is by Maja Lunde and was originally written in Norwegian and then translated to English. The first story is in 2098 where Tao spends her days hand painting pollen on trees since bees are now extinct. Then 2007 focused on George who is a Beekeeper in the US and finally 1852 where William is a seed merchant who builds a new type of beehive. The common theme is Bees but in truth the story really revolves around the relationship with the sons. Each story has a son who plays a critical part. The Father/Son relationship and Mother / Son (for the Tao story) is really where the struggle and emotion of the stories happens. I started off really liking the Tao story and struggling with the George story. In the end i wanted to know what would happen in the George story, still really liked the Tao story and was over the William story. I'd give this 4 stars because the story was interesting and the characters well thought out.
The Secret of Paper and Ink is by Lindsay Harrel. This popped up as a recommendation for me because i do love a story set in a bookstore! Similar to History of Bees, the store rotates between 3 characters. 2 of these are set in modern times- Sophia, who just lost her fiance suddenly and is struggling to move on. He wasn't what people thought and was abusive which just complicates the matter. Ginny Rose is running a bookstore that she bought with her husband who has since walked out. The third story is discovered in a journal by a woman named Emily who is determined to be an author and is in love with a man who is out of her reach. Sophia moves to Cornwall England to escape her past and ends up working with Ginny to save the bookstore They search for Emily's identity and try to figure out what happened to her.
I enjoyed the book. It is a really easy read and i liked all 3 stories though I did want to kind of smack Ginny and tell her to move on. She kept waiting for her husband to come back and it was obvious that he wasn't. The end got just a little weird with some references to God and faith which I don't mind except it felt a bit unexpected. (i realized later it is tagged as Christian Fiction on Goodreads )
Overall a fun and easy read which is what I need to snap me out of my reading slump! I'd give this 3.5-4 stars.
I made Bran muffins coated in Honey and Molasses after reading the History of Bees. They are delicious and you coat the muffin pan with the honey and it makes a nice sugary coat over the muffin. It is the Mimi Cafe recipe! https://www.loulougirls.com/2015/10/mimis-cafe-honey-oat-bran-muffin-copycat.html?spref=pi
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| The muffins! delicious |
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| Bran, honey, Molasses and powdered milk! All the normal stuff you have in your cabinet! |
