Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

This week's topic is your Spring TBR list - I have a lot of these as usual. But since I'm doing my picks for MAY tomorrow, I'm going to list only April and June books, so I don't duplicate them. And of course, I'm separating them out because otherwise there's too many! SO many great looking books coming this Spring, I'll need a time turner to read them all!

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

Kids:

Tween:

Teen:

Adult:

Wish Me Luck!

Today I begin a new journey - as a Youth Services Librarian for the Cragin Librarian in Colchester, CT. I really missed the library world. I've never worked primarily with younger kids and I'm excited about the possibilities. Of course it means, I still get to work with teens!  So many new ideas to explore...

From their Facebook Page

What that means for the blog: 

Not much, although I might be talking more and more about pictures books in round-up type post. I might talk more about Children's books or Children's Librarianship, but mostly things here will remain the same.

What that means for my writing:

Not much, I'll still have some time to write in the mornings, but not the whole day. I might have to lessen my word count goals

Summer Reading: Movies

Movies are an easy program for the summer - and they can help form a bond with teens. It's the perfect place for them to cool down on a hot afternoon/evening. And there are SO many great sports movies. Here are a few of my favorites:

Mysterious Saturday Review: On Thin Icing

* Book 3 in the Bakeshop Mystery series *

Winter is tough in Ashland after the tourists leave. The locals come together to support each other. Jules and her mother are looking to branch out their business at Torte, so Jules is happy to receive a catering job.

She and Sterling head to a resort to provide the food for a board retreat. After arrival, they love the kitchen set-up, but it's clear this business might be too much for the owners. The place needs some serious work and the bartender should be fired immediately.

Jules is ready to make the best of the situation. Then her husband arrives, six months after they separated. A major storms hits the resort, knocking out power. To top it off, Jules discovers the body of the bartender stuffed in a freezer.

My Thoughts: I really enjoy this series - for the bakeshop knowledge, the food details, and the small town charm. I like watching the new relationship unfold between Jules and her mother. I like learning more about Jules' past and how it relates to her future. 

I really like how the characters were snowed in for the majority of the novel. It helped build tension in the mystery. You could feel the cold in the air - and of course the warmth of the fire. 

The characters pull the story together and leave you wondering what's going to happen next. I'm eager to see what happens with the Professor and Jules' mother. Jules herself has some life choices to make. I admit that I'm not a huge fan of Carlos, but I'm interested to see what's going to happen next in their relationship. I liked learning more about Sterling; he's a great character. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Cover Thoughts: Love it -from the winter wonderland to the fireplace - so many details
Source: My Library

Final Thoughts: A mouth-watering read with lots of relationship drama and plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end. 

About Me: Traveling

One of my resolutions this year (and to be honest almost every year) is to talk more about myself on the blog. Me in a nutshell: I'm a Librarian. I'm a blogger. I'm a reader. Here's a little bit about me outside the bookish world.

Of course I travel anywhere in the world through books, but they also inspire places I wish to travel.

I'm lucky enough to have traveled to a few places: England, Wales, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Venice. But there are places I'd like to return to, places I didn't explore properly, and places I'd like to see with my husband.

I spent four months studying abroad in Bath and it was one of the happiest times of my life.  I followed the footsteps of Jane Austen. I would love to travel back to Bath with my husband. But I also want to see London, I've never really been there. Of course there are several places I'd like to visit. Chatsworth being one of them. When I was there, foot and mouth disease was everywhere, and some places where closed. When the powerball was huge, I bought a ticket ad said if we won, we were going to go on a Pride and Prejudice tour

Bath - this was almost my view

During this time, I traveled again to Wales to visit my sister who was doing her Masters work there. I've been there twice and would love to go back and visit friends.

Luckily our Spring Break fell in the same weeks and we went off to Paris and Nice. BUT this is one of those places I'd like to return to with my husband. Mostly for the romance of the city. But also because some of the major places were closed for strikes. I have a list of places I want to see, but also I just want to get lost of the streets of Paris and eat some great food.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/183099541073186428/

We went to Italy on a tour, but I wish we had more time in Florence and Rome - so much more there to see, but we say so many great pieces of art. Although the food we had - was terrible. I suspect that's more because we didn't have time to search for it and because the tour took us to certain places.

Other places I want to travel:

Grand Canyon

Hug one of those Giant Trees

Machu Picch

Scotland

Alps

Austria (Sound of Music tour anyone?)

New Zealand - hobbiton

I'm sure there are other places, but off the top of my head, that's it.

Where would you travel if you could go anywhere?

Review: Zero Day

Eight years ago in the Governor's mansion, a girl disappeared. Now, she reappears with a story. Her father's currently the President.

Once they've determined it's Addie and after several hours of questions, she's allowed to return to her family and return home.

Of course, Addie seems different than the girl she was before, but everything will get back to normal once things settle down. At least that's what everyone's hoping will happen.

Her father's term as President has been tainted with would be terrorist attacks that seem incredibly violent, but then appear to cause panic, but not damage.

Could the first daughter's return have anything to do with these attacks?

My Thoughts:  It reminded me a book as I read and loved as a middle school student about the President's daughter being kidnapped. So I was nostalgic for that book, but of course this novel was VERY different.

I loved this book - and couldn't put it down. I had to know what happened. I loved the multiple perspectives.I loved the flashbacks from eight years ago to more present times.

As the book continues, there seems to be two sides to Addie - one is the quiet girl from before and the other is the strong girl who survived during. Now, she starts to come into her own during the aftermath. But she's not sure who to trust when everyone around seems to be lying to her. 

I would have like a little more at the end and a little more details on the hacking, but other than that, an amazing debut.

While this is written for a stand - alone, there is room for a sequel. Or dare I say a companion novel from Ellie's perspective?

Cover Thoughts: I like out it ties in the with story
Source: My Library

Final Thoughts: Pick this one up when you have an afternoon free because you're not going to want to stop until you finish reading it.

RJ Julia's: Natasha Friend

Last night, I attended an author event for Natasha Friend for RJ Julia's bookstore. It was a packed house for the local author.

I've seen Natasha speak before, she came to talk at a library event at Otis Library.

Her brand new book, Where You'll Find Me came out yesterday. I've only read the first chapter, but it's great so far!

Natasha spoke about her memories from middle school (those dreaded terrible years.) She talked about how her clothes weren't right, the trouble with friends, and how she remembers it all like it was yesterday. These memories come in handy for her writing.

At the previous author event, she had told a story about meeting Judy Blume and how wrong it went. Here she retold the story, adding how she met her again. The meeting was a little better than the previous meeting, but what happened after is amazing! 

For more details - check out the back of the book!

Book Summary from Goodreads:

In this powerful and buoyant YA novel, a thirteen-year-old girl learns to navigate the shifting loyalties of friendships in middle school and deals with challenges at home.

The beginning of the eighth grade is not what Anna thought it would be. Her lifelong best friend has ditched her for the cool kids, and her mom is in the hospital after a suicide attempt. Anna finds herself where she least expects to: living with her dad, his young new wife, and their baby, and starting a new year at school without a best friend. With help from some unlikely sources, including a crazy girl-band talent show act, Anna learns that sometimes you find what you need to pull you through in the most unlikely places.

Sounds great right? I can't wait to read more!