24 Hour Readathon Opening Meme #readathon

Good morning readathoners

Hope everyone has their coffee/tea beside them and is ready to go.

1) I am reading from Abbotsford, BC
2) I don't know which book I am looking forward to the most to reading, but probably What Happened later tonight.
3) Probably the golden arches that I will get later tonight or the homemade soup I made yesterday.
4) Spent 2 years living in Brazil as a child
5) I'll be working later this morning for a few hours and then volunteering at my church afterwards, which will hopefully give a little more jump later on this evening.

Path of Lucas - Susanne Bellefeuille

Title: Path of Lucas: The Journey He Endured
Author: Susanne Bellefeuille
Pages: 350
Published: 2015
Genre: Fiction
Edition: Paperback
Source: I chose to read this book after receiving a free copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Description:  
 Lucas Clarkson is a simple man, a family man, and a hard working farmer's son. From a small town in Eastern Ontario, the author, Susanne Bellefeuille, brings us on Lucas's journey through the trials and tribulations of his life. Lucas's path is not as simple as the man he's portrayed to be. From the days spent working on his dad's farm to becoming a successful mechanic, with a genuine heart and his incredible strength, Lucas faces many difficult decisions. The choices he makes may be the difference between realizing his dreams and keeping his family together. (via Goodreads)

 Thoughts: 
When I received The Path of Lucas, I didn’t know what to expect.  What I did find was a heartwarming story between Lucas and Isabelle, characters based on the author’s parents. 

Starting with Lucas and Isabelle’s courtship, the book navigates through the numerous choices that Lucas has to make between his own personal dreams versus the responsibility for his family.

While there is heartache, struggle and sadness, there is also happiness, love, and the devotion that one finds in Lucas and Isabelle’s life journey.   Life isn’t perfect, but the fact that they have each other seems to be all Lucas and Isabelle need.  By the end of the book I found myself crying a little bit.

Even though I enjoyed the book, there were a few criticisms that I had with the book.  The first one being that the author needed a better editor.  The reason for this was that the dialogue seemed to be silted, as did the transitions. The language seemed too simplistic and if there had been a decent editor, I believe that the grammar would have been much better than it was.  Another criticism I have was that there was no indication as to what time period the story was in and took me a bit to clue in. 

Bottom line:

Overall it was a good book, despite my reservations about the book. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Bout of Books 20

It's almost that time of year again. Time to get on with Bout of Books and a week of reading bliss. 

If you have forgotten what Bout of Books is, here is a little reminder:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team


Here are my reading goals for the week:

• The Fellowship of the Ring
• Winter (Luner Chronicles #4)
• By Gaslight
• Outlander

I will likely expand my reading goals as the week progresses.

I hope you are able to join me.

High Summer Readathon 2017

I realize that this is really late, but I am doing this nonetheless. 

Here are the book I hope to read during the readathon:

• Victoria by Julia Baird
• The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• The Essex Serpent
• The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
• Brooklyn by Colm toibin
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

I don't know how much I will get done out of the books, but I hope most will be read.

20 Books of Summer 2017

Welcome to the 20 Books of Summer reading event, hosted by Cathy of 746 Books. This event involves reading 20 books over the course of the summer. It runs from June 1st to September 3rd. Learn more about the event here.

I realize I am a few days late on starting this challenge, but I suppose that better be a little late is better than discovering this on September 4.

I have more than enough books to get me through the summer.

Here is my list:
1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
3. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
4. Voyager by Diana Gabldon
5. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
6. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
7. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
8. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
9. Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thein
10. Victoria by Daisy Goodwin
11. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
12. Alexander Hamilton  by Ron Chernow
13. Neurotribes  by Steve Silberman
14. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
15.  Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
16. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
17. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
18. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
19. An Uncomplicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
20. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Of course there will be other books that I will read during the summer, but these are the main books that I want to tackle.  Happy reading.

The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher

Title: The Princess Diarist
Author: Carrie Fisher
Pages:257
Published: 2016
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a (sort-of) regular teenager.

With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher’s intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time—and what developed behind the scenes. And today, as she reprises her most iconic role for the latest Star Wars trilogy, Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity, and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into the type of stardom that few will ever experience. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I quite liked the book.  It was a fairly quick read, but also informative.  I generally don't read celebrity memoirs but due to the publicity that the book got this past fall and the author's death this past December, I felt the need to read the book.  She clearly was a very good writer and with help from an editor, it became a well-received book.  I haven't read her other books, but clearly she had a talent for the written word.

Bottom line: If you enjoy reading celebrity memoirs, I would definitely recommend the book to you, if you haven't already.  If you haven't, you might enjoy this one.  Recommended.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

Title: The Woman in Cabin 10
Author: Ruth Ware
Pages: 352
Published: 2017
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description: In this tightly wound story, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong… (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  I thought it was a good read.  It wasn't Girl on the Train or Gone Girl by any means, but it was still tense enough to keep me reading at a fairly fast pace.  There wasn't exactly anything literary about the book, but it had a good pace to the book and things seemed to move nicely along.

Bottom line: A decent book and something that could be read quickly for most readers.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5