The Jane Austen Society was written by Natalie Jenner.  Having never actually managed to read any Jane Austen, but being a fan nonetheless, I was intrigued by this novel about a small town in England where Jane Austen once lived. It was definitely a slower read, but no less enjoyable that the fluff type books I've been reading lately.  Jane Austen and some of her extended family lived in Chawton and now, a few years after the Second world war, the villagers begin a society in her honor to preserve some of what is left of her legacy.  We follow their trials and tribulations as well and even meet some interesting characters from London and America.  There are also a few unexpected surprises, which I will not spoil for you.  and at the end of the day, will their plans succeed? This is well worth a read, and actually makes me want to finally read some Jane Austen.  In fact, some of the references in this book may have made more sense had I read all of Jane Austen's books.  I think

My daughter picked Rabbit and Bear - The pest in the nest by Julian Gough and Jim Field from the early chapter book at the library and read it while we were on vacation at the beach last week.  She enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd quickly read it at lunch time one work day.  And what a delightful little book. Reading through this book, I at first thought it was a good story for spring because Rabbit is waking up from his winter slumber with bear.  And then, I found myself thinking that this book was teaching me a lesson about where to look for what is troubling me.  Rabbit finds that he's not so much irritated with everyone else and the noise they are making, but with himself more than anything.  And perhaps Bear can show Rabbit how to feel better and teach him how to keep or repeat that feeling.  Feels almost more like an adult self help book disguised as a children's early chapter book.   And then when I looked it up I realized it's 1of 4 books available in the

Belong to me is book 2 in a 4 book series by Marisa de los Santos.  You might remember my review for book 1, Love walked in , earlier in the year.  I added the other 3 books in the series to my TBR list since I enjoyed book 1 so much, and book 2 did not disappoint. This book follows Cornelia Brown's life in her new suburban house, a couple of years after where Love walked in finished off.  We meet a few new characters in her neighbors, and also get reacquainted with her pseudo-daughter Claire, srom book 1.  Cornelia's new 'friends' Piper and Lake are from different worlds and add different interest to her life.  And there's obviously also a mystery which we and the characters are also trying to figure out.  And without spoiling the story, I can tell you it will not disappoint.  We'll see how 3 different histories collide in the most surprising ways. This book was a little more substantial that a pure summer read and took me a week to read.  I can highly recomme

Duncan the story Dragon is a delightful picture book written and illustrated by Amanda Driscoll.  We received this book a couple of years ago in a BookRoo box and it's one of my favorites from those boxes. Duncan is a sweet dragon who loves books, but can't seem to finish any because when he gets excited, he breathes fire and sets his books on fire.  So he goes on a mission to find someone to read his books to him.  Initially it doesn't look like he's going to find anyone, because everyone is scared of him, or mad at him, but when he does find someone to read to him, it's the start of a wonderful friendship of shared reading. This is the book I have chosen to read to my kids' classes on more than 1 occasion, and have gifted to at least 1 friend.  I highly recommend requesting this from your library.

This novel from bestselling author of The Escape Room , Megan Goldin, was selected by a Facebook bookclub I joined hosted by Kate from The Small Things Blog and her sister Lauren from Lauren Loves blog.  It sounded interesting so I requested it immediately from my library and proceeded to read it within 3 days of picking it up. This is another mystery story which follows a court case in a small American coastal town.  A true crime podcaster arrives to cover the case which revolves around the rape of a teenager (warning if that is triggering for you).  She is approached by another person about a 25 year old murder in the same time.  Only in the last 30 pages does it all come together and we understand how the cases are linked and what the full story is.   This 340 page novel is a great, fast paced and riveting read, which I imagine most people would be able to read in a week.  I will be adding The Escape room to my TBR (to be read) list now too.

Every year I check out some of the newest Caldecott picture book winners, thanks to learning about this illustrator award from Everyday Reading .  It's fun to look at and read books that are wining awards for their pictures.  And invariably the kids really enjoy these. This year, I checked out a huge haul of books from Janssen's mock Caldecott list , and we actually had the winner in there - We are water protectors - which we did enjoy and find beautiful, however it wasn't my overall favorite.  Outside In , written by Deborah Underwood and Illustrated by Cindy Derby was my favorite book in terms of story and illustrations that are beautiful and add to the story so well.  I just wanted to read this one everyday we had it, and couldn't resist adding it here in case you're looking for a truly beautiful picture book that all your kids will enjoy.  When looking it up to write this post, I see this picture book did win a 2021 Caldecott Honor award and that the author has

Katherine McGee has written American Royals and American Royals II: Majesty in the last couple of years and they are wonderful.  If you, like me, are a fan of the British Royal family then I would highly recommend these 2 books.  I listened to them both on audiobook version, and they were super fun to listen to. American Royals follows the story of America's royal family, the Washingtons, who were offered a monarchy after the Americans won the Revolutionary War.  And now, two and a half centuries later, the King has an heir and a spare.  The states are Earldoms and Dukedoms based on their joining the union, and interesting points like that.  And who will be queen one day when the current king dies?   Princess Beatrice is expected to be Queen one day, since succession laws have changed and now her younger brother is not first in line to the thrown.  Her younger sister is the spare, and nobody seems to care about Princess Samantha except for how much she seems to be messing up.  And

Gosh, I seem to be on a roll at the moment.  The Stolen Daughter is ReShonda Tate Billingsley's 51st novel, and first that I have read.  I will definitely be finding more of her novels to add to my TBR list. Jillian had a tough childhood with her single mother Connie.  Even though they didn't have money, Jillian always felt loved and Connie did everything she could for her only daughter.  Now Jillian is married with a young daughter of her own, and Connie has early onset dementia.  Now it's Jillian's turn to take care of her mother. But now Jillian doesn't know what to believe since her mother is rambling and a mysterious stranger comes into her life claiming to have information that could turn Jillian's life upside down.  As Jillian goes on a journey to find out the truth about her past, she must decide what is most important to her.   It is a thrilling story, which I could not put down, and read in under 48 hours.  I really enjoyed the writing and how the sto