Inheriting Edith ~ Great Read

Inheriting Edith

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (October 18, 2016)

A poignant breakout novel, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Elin Hilderbrand, about a single mother who inherits a beautiful beach house with a caveat—she must take care of the ornery elderly woman who lives in it.

For years, Maggie Sheets has been an invisible hand in the glittering homes of wealthy New York City clients, scrubbing, dusting, mopping, and doing all she can to keep her head above water as a single mother. Everything changes when a former employer dies leaving Maggie a staggering inheritance. A house in Sag Harbor. The catch? It comes with an inhabitant: The deceased’s eighty-two-year-old mother Edith.

Edith has Alzheimer’s—or so the doctors tell her—but she remembers exactly how her daughter Liza could light up a room, or bring dark clouds in her wake. And now Liza’s gone, by her own hand, and Edith has been left—like a chaise or strand of pearls—to a poorly dressed young woman with a toddler in tow.

Maggie and Edith are both certain this arrangement will be an utter disaster. But as summer days wane, a tenuous bond forms, and Edith, who feels the urgency of her diagnosis, shares a secret that she’s held close for five decades, launching Maggie on a mission that might just lead them each to what they are looking for.

REVIEW

I found this book to be an enjoyable read from the very beginning, it grabbed my attention and did not let go. Though the story is sorrowful it is also uplifting and funny. After Liza killed herself Maggie took a chance with her own life moving with her two-year-old daughter Lucy for a fresh start even though it includes taking care of Edith who has Alzheimer's. This is a quick read however it still contains a deepness to it. Such as, both Maggie and Edith had to engage in dealing with hard decisions, taking chances with unknown outcomes yet, both of them were surprised by such positive conclusions at the ventures they took. In addition, a deep bond was formed between the character's, creating a much-needed misfit family.

Everything had gone well until Edith had walked into the store. It was her own fault, she knew-she had been feeling far too smug about her successful drive, so the Alzheimer’s was showing her who was boss. Instead of gathering her ingredients, now she was hiding in the cookie and cracker aisle, attempting to collect herself for the drive home.

This book is full of surprises. It is a beautiful story that I am sure that many will love. Zoe Fishman did a great job creating an inspiring and flawless plot touching both on the character's past and present lives. Therefore, each character had a journey to undergo and I was delighted to go along on it with them.

“Mommy, no singing,” Lucy said, cutting her off. Sadly, it seemed that Lucy had finally realized that Maggie did not have the voice of an angel, but rather the voice of a thirty-seven-year-old former smoker who could not hold a tune.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Zoe Fishman is the author of Driving Lessons, Saving Ruth, and Balancing Acts. Her books have been translated into German, Italian, Dutch and Polish. She’s the recipient of many awards, including Target’s Breakout and Emerging Author Picks, a New York Post Pick, and has been featured on NBC’s “Atlanta & Co.” as well as in Publishers Weekly and The Huffington Post. She is currently at work on her next novel, as well as teaching writing at The Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Zoe lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons.

Find out more about Zoe at her website, follow her on Twitter, and connect with her on Facebook.

📚📚 Tour Stops 📚📚

Sunday, October 16th: #redhead.with.book

Tuesday, October 18th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Thursday, October 20th: BookNAround

Monday, October 24th: Reading is My Super Power

Tuesday, October 25th: The Book Bag

Tuesday, November 1st: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, November 2nd: bookchickdi

Thursday, November 3rd: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Friday, November 4th: Books and Bindings

Monday, November 7th: Broken Teepee

Tuesday, November 8th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Wednesday, November 9th: she treads softly

Thursday, November 10th: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, November 17th: Tina Says…

Friday, November 18th: Art @ Home

Tuesday, November 22nd: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, November 28th: Becklist

Wednesday, November 30th: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, December 1st: Readaholic Zone

ᐧ

The Break up Support Group Book Blitz

The Breakup Support Group
Cheyanne Young
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: November 22nd 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

After four years of first love bliss, Isla Rush just got dumped.
Any hope she has of winning her ex-boyfriend back is shattered when the town rezones her neighborhood, forcing her to spend senior year at a wealthy high school in the next town over.
With a broken heart consuming her soul, Isla can’t focus on anything, except maybe Emory Underwood—a ridiculously hot guy who dates a new girl almost every day. She can’t help but crush on him, even though it’s wrong.
When memories of her ex make her cry in second period, the school counselor sends Isla to a club that meets during lunch. The Break-Up Support Group is a collection of broken-hearted misfits who are all helping each other heal.
Just when Isla’s heart is finally on the mend, Emory shows up, forced to atone for all the broken hearts he’s caused over the years. While hiding her massive crush, she helps him understand the seriousness of breaking a heart.
In turn, Emory offers to help Isla get back on the dating scene by agreeing to be her fake date for the homecoming dance. Isla gladly accepts the ruse, because if anyone can make her into a desirable girlfriend, Emory can! There’s just one small problem.
Isla’s little crush on Emory might be exactly full blown. And a homecoming fake date with him could push her over the edge to possibly uttering the “L Word!”
Isla can’t afford another heartbreak so soon after the last one. She will have to resist his charms, refuse to look into those dreamy eyes, and above all else, not make the mistake of letting him kiss her.
If only she hadn’t let her guard down at the end of the night, under the light of her porch in a toe-curling kiss moment of weakness. And now, after months of Break-Up Support Group therapy, and with a heart fully on the mend, Isla has just handed it over to a guy who knows full well just how to break it.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

The first time Nate and I went to the movies was during eighth grade. His dad had picked me up and dropped us off since we weren’t old enough to drive, and I still remember how hard my heart pounded from the backseat of Mr. Mile’s Tahoe. Even over the country music his dad blasted everywhere he went, I feared Nate would hear my heartbeat doing jumping jacks and know I was freaking out. This was an official date after all. My first.

It was the start of December, and it was freezing cold outside. I wore a denim skirt and leggings in an effort to be cute, but the cold had me shivering like a maniac while we waited in line to buy tickets. And then thirteen-year-old Nate took off his jacket, a junior high letterman, and draped it over my shoulders. It didn’t do anything to stop the cold from crawling up my legs, but I was warm all the same. A boy had given me his jacket. I still have that jacket to this day, hanging somewhere in the back of my closet. It officially became mine on that first Christmas we spent together.
We weave our way into the theater, which is oddly packed. Even on a Friday night, this place is usually dead. The theater survives on grant money and Mr. Hasting’s massive trust fund.
The concession stand is whimsically lit up with an old-fashioned marquee hanging overhead. All of the items and prices are meticulously labeled with black plastic letters, and a strand of clear lightbulbs light up the border of the menu, the lights chasing each other around the rectangle. Nate stops at the back of the line, and I take his hand again, glad that we’re finally alone.
The smell of popcorn makes my mouth water. “Large popcorn with butter,” Nate says, taking his VIP member card out of his back pocket. It’s what gets us free concessions. “And two drinks.”
“Two?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow. The large popcorn makes sense—we usually get a medium, but I’d said I was starving. But one drink with two straws is how we’ve always done date nights.
Nate shrugs. “I want my own drink tonight.”
I don’t know why that stings, but it does.
“Is everything okay with you?” The words are out of my mouth, all nagging and whining at the same time. I instantly regret that I even asked. Especially when his reaction is anything but ideal.
He shrugs again and leads the way toward the theater on the left, popcorn in one hand and his own personal drink in the other. “I’m fine.”
My brows draw together as we walk. “You seem weird.”
“Well, I’m not.” He doesn’t even look at me. And when the movie starts playing, we eat our popcorn and we drink our separate drinks. And we don’t kiss, not even once.

Author Bio:
Cheyanne Young is a native Texan with a fear of cold weather and a coffee addiction that probably needs an intervention. She loves books, sarcasm, and collecting nail polish. After nearly a decade of working in engineering, Cheyanne now writes books for young adults and is the author of the City of Legends Trilogy. She doesn’t miss a cubicle one bit.
Cheyanne lives near the beach with her daughter and husband, one spoiled rotten puppy, and a cat that is most likely plotting to take over the world.
Be the first to know when Cheyanne has a new book out & get access to exclusive giveaways.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Brave New Weed ~ Wonderful Book

• Hardcover: 288 pages

• Publisher: Harper Wave (October 4, 2016)

The former editor-in-chief of Details and Star adventures into the fascinating "brave new world" of cannabis, tracing its history and possible future as he investigates the social, medical, legal, and cultural ramifications of this surprisingly versatile plant.

Pot. Weed. Grass. Mary Jane. We all think we know what cannabis is and what we use it for. But do we? Our collective understanding of this surprising plant has been muddled by politics and morality; what we think we know isn’t the real story.

A war on cannabis has been waged in the United States since the early years of the twentieth century, yet in the past decade, society has undergone a massive shift in perspective that has allowed us to reconsider our beliefs. In Brave New Weed, Joe Dolce travels the globe to "tear down the cannabis closet" and de-mystify this new frontier, seeking answers to the questions we didn’t know we should ask.

Dolce heads to a host of places, including Amsterdam, Israel, California, and Colorado, where he skillfully unfolds the odd, shocking, and wildly funny history of this complex plant. From the outlandish stories of murder trials where defendants claimed "insanity due to marijuana consumption" to the groundbreaking success stories about the plant’s impressive medicinal benefits, Dolce paints a fresh and much-needed portrait of cannabis, our changing attitudes toward it, and the brave new direction science and cultural acceptance are leading us.

Enlightening, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Brave New Weed is a compelling read that will surprise and educate proponents on both sides of the cannabis debate.

REVIEW

Brave New Weed has to be the most outstand book ever written regarding Cannabis. It touches on every aspect of the plant, including the body's endocannabinoid system (ECS) which has been “called “the body's supercomputer” because one of its functions is to keep every other bodily system in check”. I find it disappointing that since Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug American doctors are not taught about the ECS consequently very few know about it thus placing us far behind other countries in the treatment of diseases with a plant that has no harmful side effects. The author goes into great detail about how cannabis has changed such as the increased THC levels in today's Cannabis, the modification of the plant for different types of highs, including the various new ways of using.

The amount of material, including how superbly written this book is stunning. You will never guess what country is dominating in cannabis research and has the world’s largest state-run program. Yes, I am pro-cannabis yet I do not partake, though not because I do not want to. I have many autoimmune diseases and cannabis would be extremely beneficial to me. It would allow me to come off of a lot of the medications that are harmful to my body, consequently due to the cannabis ignorance, most doctors have, it is not an option for me even though I live in a state that medical marijuana is legal. The way my state's system is set up it is very hard to get. Nevertheless, what is stopping Cannabis from becoming completely legal? Well, that is an easy question that the author answers pharmaceutical companies, the liquor manufacturers, including a few others.

I plan on giving this book to my doctors for Christmas hopefully, they will read it and become more educated on cannabis. In addition, I think this book is perfect for everyone to read even people who are against cannabis not to change their mind, but to educate them on what they are against.  

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ᐧ

Joe Dolce is the former editor in chief of Details and Star magazines and has written for many of the world’s leading publications, including the New York Times, Gourmet, and Travel + Leisure. He is the CEO and founder of Joe Dolce Communications, a presentation and media-training company based in New York City. He is not a stoner.

  💚💚💚💚💚💚   Tour Stops:

• Tuesday, November 1st: Dreaming Big
• Monday, November 14th: Ms. Nose in a Book
• Friday, November 18th: Show This Book Some Love
• Friday, November 18th: Based on a True Story
• Monday, November 21st: Readaholic Zone
• Tuesday, November 22nd: Sapphire Ng
• TBD: Becoming SuperMommy

THE QUALITY OF SILENCE

The Quality of Silence

by Rosamund Lupton

Published February 16th, 2016 by Crown

ISBN 1101903678

Hardcover, 384 pages

The gripping, moving story of a mother and daughter’s quest to uncover a dark secret in the Alaskan wilderness, from the New York Times Bestselling author of Sister and Afterwards.

Thrillingly suspenseful and atmospheric, The Quality of Silence is the story of Yasmin, a beautiful astrophysicist, and her precocious deaf daughter, Ruby, who arrive in a remote part of Alaska to be told that Ruby’s father, Matt, has been the victim of a catastrophic accident. Unable to accept his death as truth, Yasmin and Ruby set out into the hostile winter of the Alaskan tundra in search of answers. But as a storm closes in, Yasmin realizes that a very human danger may be keeping pace with them. And with no one else on the road to help, they must keep moving, alone and terrified, through an endless Alaskan night.

I am a bit torn about this book. I did enjoy it even though the story is a bit sluggish. In addition to, finding the author's writing style awkward at certain times. The ideas the plot entailed were very good such as Ruby being deaf this gave the book a fascinating trait. Therefore, finding it enthralling how Ruby could visualize words, describe what they taste like and explain how they feel.


Words Without Sounds @Words_No_Sounds
650 followers    
ANXIETY: Looks like a chessboard with tiny squares quickly moving about; feels sweaty and shivery; tastes like prickly ice cream


The story jumps back and forth from the present to the past which is not only interesting, but it would have been stagnant if most of the book took place in the cab of a big rig. An interesting situation throughout the book is someone actually after Yasmin and Ruby (have to read the book to find out) but why? It did feel a bit monotonous having someone just following them in the darkness of Alaska. Whereas, there is another situation that did keep me interested and guessing. I very much relished in all the Alaskan animals described in tremendous detail regarding how they survive in such harsh conditions, including all the distinctive lowdown about each one. My favorite is the Raven after learning such fascinating details about it. The last part of the book brought up an issue that is very important. The greediness of multiple levels of people involved and how easily some individuals or groups can be duped into doing the wrong thing. This is far from a bad book and I would recommend it to others who love Alaska.

PURCHASE

PENGUIN/RANDOM HOUSE | AMAZON | B&N | BAM!

*The Quality of Silence Reader’s Guide Link

Rosamund Lupton is the internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed author of the novels Sister and Afterwards. Her New York Times bestselling debut, Sister, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Target Book Club pick, and has been translated into over thirty languages with international sales of over 1.5 million copies. Her new novel, The Quality of Silence, is forthcoming from Crown in 2016. Lupton lives in London with her husband and two sons.

http://www.rosamundlupton.com | Twitter | Facebook

Thanks to Blogging For Books & Netgalley for

allowing me to give an honest review

Sensing Light

Sensing Light: A Novel

by Mark A. Jacobson

Published July 5th, 2016 by Ulysses Press

ISBN 161243570X

Paperback, 288 pages

March 1979, a young street hustler in San Francisco stumbles into an emergency room with lungs so congested he can barely breathe. Seen by a perplexed young medical resident, the patient becomes the first of many thousands to die from a yet-to- be named plague. Sensing Light is raw, compelling novel that reveals the personal and professional lives of men and women on the front lines of the emerging AIDS epidemic.

This breakout book by Mark Jacobson, a leading Bay Area HIV/AIDS physician, follows three people from vastly different backgrounds who are thrown together by a shared urgency to discover what is killing so many men in the prime of their lives. Kevin is a gay medical resident from working-class Boston who has just moved to San Francisco in search of acceptance of his sexual identity. Herb, a middle-aged supervising physician at one of the nation’s toughest hospitals, is struggling with his own emotional rigidity. And Gwen, a divorced mother raising a teenage daughter, is seeking a sense of self and security while endeavoring to complete her medical training.

PURCHASE
Amazon | B&N | BAM!

I really enjoyed this book it might be fiction, but the author was a doctor who was on the front lines when AIDS hit so it read more like nonfiction. Therefore, you learn a lot about how the disease started, the research for finding medications to treat it, also how researchers found how to test people for the disease. In Addition to, the politics behind the disease, how it was first called GRID = Gay-Related Immune Deficiency to changing it to HIV and AIDS.

The doctors who were on the front lines when the disease first presented itself were very invested in every aspect of this disease. These characters are highly developed and as a reader, you can feel how caring they are. This book is an amazing learning experience for people who love science or just like learning new things. Additionally, it explains what diseases presented first in patients such as Pneumocystis and Cryptococcal meningitis, how AIDs genetically replicated itself in an infected person's body, including how the disease was originally medically treated. One of the best books that I have ever read about HIV/AIDS.  It is an intriguing, well-written book.

Mark Jacobson, a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco and attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital, began his internship in 1981, just days after the CDC first reported a mysterious, fatal disease affecting gay men.

Deadly Medicine

by Jaime Maddox

Published September 15th, 2015 by Bold Strokes Books

Paperback, 240 pages

BLURB

Successful ER doctor Ward Thrasher uproots her life and her flourishing career in a busy Philly hospital to the mountains of Pennsylvania to follow her partner of 6 years, Dr. Jess Benson, another ER doc. But after a few months, they grow increasingly apart, especially after the death of Jess' mother from cancer, and eventually separate over a freak incident, though neither of them have officially called it quits.

Ward still nurses a flame and can't bring herself to return to Philly. So she takes up temporary doctor duties in several hospitals near to Jess. A chance meeting with the CEO of one of them, Abby, brings romantic possibilities. But what about her unfinished business with Jess? Is Abby a temporary rebound romance? What chance does it have against a 6-year relationship? Meanwhile, a psychopath is on the loose. Not on the streets of Pennsylvania, but inside the halls of its hospitals. His MO is chillingly effective and virtually undetectable. Will he ever be discovered and stopped before he reaches his avowed goal of breaking all serial killer records?

REVIEW

This is an incredible book. I was blown away by all the twists and turns and the unusual events that occurred in the plot. This was not one of those lesbian mysteries that contains more romance than the mystery itself. It had a great plot that included a serial killer and spot-on medicine. It kept me on my toes and clenching my Kindle. Just because it is labeled a lesbian book I think that this would be wonderful for any reader who loves a great mystery. In addition, this is a great little weekend read. Also, if you are left wanting more there is a sequel!

PURCHASE

AMAZON | B&N | Bold Strokes Books

Jaime Maddox grew up on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As the baby in a family of many children, she was part adored and part ignored, forcing her to find creative ways to fill her time. Her childhood was idyllic, spent hiking, rafting, biking, climbing, and otherwise skinning knees and knuckles. Reading and writing became passions. Although she left home for a brief stint in the big cities of Philadelphia, PA, and Newark, NJ, as soon as she acquired the required paperwork—a medical degree and residency certificate—she came running back.

She fills her hours with a bustling medical practice, two precocious sons, a disobedient dog, and an extraordinary woman who helps her to keep it all together. In her abundant spare time, she reads, writes, twists her body into punishing yoga poses, and whacks golf balls deep into forests. She detests airplanes, snakes, and people who aren’t nice. Her loves are the foods of the world, Broadway musicals, traveling, sandy beaches, massages and pedicures, and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Thanks to Netgalley I was able to give this book an honest review

Dear Almost

Louisiana State University Press

Publication Date: September 1, 2016

88 pages, $17.95

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Dear Almost is a book-length poem addressed to an unborn child lost in miscarriage. Beginning with the hope and promise of springtime, the poet traces the course of a year with sections set in each of the four seasons. Part book of days, part meditative prayer, part travelogue, the poem details a would-be father’s wanderings through the figurative landscapes of memory and imagination as well as the literal landscapes of the Bronx, Shanghai, suburban New Jersey, and the Japanese island of Miyajima.

As the speaker navigates his days, he attempts to show his unborn daughter “what life is like / here where you ought to be / with us, but aren’t.” His experiences recall other deaths and uncover the different ways we remember and forget. Grief forces him to consider a question he never imagined asking: how do you mourn for someone you loved but never truly knew, never met or saw? In candid, meditative verse, Dear Almost seeks to resolve this painful question, honoring the memory of a child who both was and wasn’t there.

“Matthew Thorburn’s Dear Almost is a meditation on our lives and their impermanence, the miracle that we exist at all. The ghost of an unborn child hovers like a breath over these supple lines, but Thorburn finds room for food and prayer, for work and love, for keen observation of the twin worlds we inhabit, the one inside us and the one where our daily lives take place. I am glad to have Dear Almost in both of these worlds.”  —Al Maginnes, author of Music from Small Towns

PURCHASE

AMAZON | B&N | BAM!

REVIEW

This is a new form of poetry for me. Written in haibun-like free verse. Free verse poems do not follow the rules and  have no rhyme or rhythm or any particular structure. Basically, it is a long stream of sentences, whereas the context of the poem is broken up by the four different seasons.

How can I love you without ever knowing you? And there’s no answer, finally, none at all-but I still do.

Moreover, from the blurb above the poem is about the author mourning for the daughter he lost to a miscarriage, but is also explaining the world to his lost child as he experiences it. As a reader, I did find the loss that the author endured sorrowful in other respects I felt the poem to be eloquent and vivid. Consequently, this book is perfect for readers who enjoy poetry also for individuals who have gone through a miscarriage.

Matthew Thorburn is the author of six collections of poetry, including the book-length poem Dear Almost (Louisiana State University Press, 2016) and the chapbook A Green River in Spring (Autumn House Press, 2015), winner of the Coal Hill Review chapbook competition. His previous collections include This Time Tomorrow (Waywiser Press, 2013), Every Possible Blue (CW Books, 2012), Subject to Change, and an earlier chapbook, the long poem Disappears in the Rain (Parlor City Press, 2009). His work has been recognized with a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, as well as fellowships from the Bronx Council on the Arts and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. His interviews with writers appear on the Ploughshares blog as a monthly feature. He lives in New York City, where he works in corporate communications.