Review: The Bodyguard Affair

 

In her spare time, Andi writes romance novels. Three years ago, she and her boyfriend broke up. Her best friend starts dating him. Andi meets a guy at a bar and they have the best night together. He encourages her with her writing.

Now she's working as an assistant to the wife of the Prime Minister of Canada. She barely has time to write anymore. The Prime Minister and his wife Gretchen are having a rocky time. After a dinner that doesn't happen, pictures come out of Andi and her boss's husband. Rumors swirl that they're having an affair. Even though she writes under a pen name, it isn't long before people connect Andi to her pen name. She insists she didn't write the books.

The only person who knows the truth about Andi and the books just happens to be the Prime Minster's new bodyguard. Andi makes him swear up and down that he won't tell anyone. She's worried that Gretchen will fire her. But after Gretchen catches her talking to Nolan, Gretchen gets the wrong idea. An idea that Andi runs with leading her to fake date Nolan for the summer.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this romance. I enjoy the fake dating trope. I love how Andi started the novel not wanting anyone to know she wrote romance novels because everyone around her thought they were trashy. I love how she became proud of her writing and the romance genre. I felt terrible for Nolan and his family life, but I love how he struck around during the summer to help, to learn, and to grow. I loved his moments with Cody. This is my first Amy Lea book, but it won't be my last. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: A fun romance for your public library collection

Booklists: Horse Books

 

I've always been a suck for a good horse book.

Here are a few YA and Middle Grade horse books:

YA Books:

Racing Savannah

Even If It Breaks Your Heart

Love Canter Action

Trail Rides and Starry Eyes

Middle Grade:

Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins

The Trouble with Sunshine

Horse Girl

Rose Legacy

Not pictured but I loved these graphic novels:

Review: Love & Saffron

When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter--as well as a gift of saffron--to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she's never tasted fresh garlic--exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives. - Summary from the publisher

My Thoughts: This book is a couple years old, and I hadn't heard of it. It took me a beat to get into this book, but pretty quickly I was hooked. I love how the two ladies talked about food, recipes, and gardening. I loved the looks into their lives and how they shared so much about themselves in their letters. I love epistolary novels. I didn't want to put this one down.

Cover Thoughts: Charming

Source: My Library

Why I read this book: After reading The Correspondent, I wanted more epistolary novels. I found this one from a list and tried it. And almost immediately, I was hooked.

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your fiction section. 

 

Picture Books: Women's History Month

Some picture books perfect for Women's History Month and also the rest of the year

Someone else tried to take credit for her work, but Eunice Foot's curious nature led her to the discovery years prior.

Woman scientist getting her flowers. I love how the author asks questions of the reader. There's a timeline in the back of the book for readers.

A young girl is on her way to a march for Women's Rights with her mother, but after what happened at school, she's not feeling very hopeful.

I love how she learns to use her voice and makes a plan to stand up for herself. The signs are all fantastic in this book. I love how everyone comes together. 

Women's history through the alphabet. 

I particularly love K is for knowledge and for teachers and librarians. I love how this book is so inclusive and offers so much information - including the back matter of the people mentioned. This is a great book to share. 

Rose loved art; she worked at an art museum in France. But when the Nazis invaded, they stole art. Rose stayed, never letting them know that she spoke the language. She listened. She plotted. She wrote extensive notes about all the art she saw come through the museum. She did what she could to save the art and thanks to her notes, she knew where it belonged.

This is a fascinating story about WWII spies, art, and flying under the radar. It's a fantastic biography for older elementary school readers.

Paintings are still missing today.

* Book sent for review

Lilly found a job at Disney studios as an inker. She liked being behind the scenes and she liked being part of the team. She helped out wherever she could. She liked spending time with Walt too. After they were married, they worked together projects. But the studio was still in danger. No one liked the first Mickey Mouse movie. 

I really enjoyed this book about Lilly, although I'm sad there's not more knowledge about her. She really did keep to the background. I bet there are many more stories we don't know about her influences, ideas, and creations.

* Book sent for review

Mary Oliver loved nature; it spoke to her.

I didn't know anything about Mary Oliver, but this book inspired me to look up her poems. I wish there had been some poetry in this one. The story is sweet and illustrations are lovely.  I hope this book inspires readers to create their own poetry after being outdoors.

* book sent for review

Top Ten Tuesday: Royal Reads

 This week's topic is a genre freebie. I love books about royals, so I'm sharing some royal reads

Adult:

YA:

Want to read:

Are you fan of royal reads? Is there any you'd like to recommend?

Middle Grade Review: Wrong Friend

One day, Charise and Casey are best friends. It didn't matter that Casey was older. But the next day, Casey ghosts Charise. Charise is heartbroken. She needs a new best friend ASAP. 

My Thoughts: Friendship break-up books are super hard to read, but they're super important. And it's hard making new friends. I wanted to give Charise a hug; she needs one. I do like how Charise tries new things - some stick and some don't. I liked the addition of Charise's grandmother and how their relationship progressed. Another winner from Frist Second

Cover Thoughts: Perfection

Source: My Library

Give this to: Readers who love Real Friends from Shannon Hale 

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your graphic novel collection

Picture Book Review: Nature Picture Books

 

A poetry book about woodpeckers. 

The illustrations are lovely and even though there is not a lot of text, there's plenty of information. There's also a lot of back matter in the book that rounds out the book. 

A tree falls down in the forest, and it changes and helps everything.

The illustrations are soft and there's so much to pour over in this book. The fallen tree helps so many parts of the forest and lives on. There's a lot of back matter in this book too for further learning. 

Marcus isn't sure about gardening, but his Grandma loves it. She shares her love and knowledge about plants with him. Soon, he's taken to gardening too.

Marcus is funny and clever. I love how he relates to the plants and the garden. This one is perfect for PLANT A SEED theme.

One boy walks with his dog and collections questions about all the things they see. 

The seasons change in this book. The paper illustrations are amazing. This book asks a lot of questions but doesn't answer all of them. This might lead to more research to discover the answers. There is a lot of vocabulary here and a lot to talk about.