SYNC Summer Audiobook 2018 week 11

I just wanted to take a quick moment to remind you about SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for young adults but you can do this to.  From April 26th to July 25th, SYNC gives away two complete audiobook downloads a week –pairs of high interest titles, based on weekly themes. Sign up for email or text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to download at www.audiobooksync.com.

I have always wanted to give audio books another chance and what better way then through SYNC Audio Books. These are actually both books I have never read so I am excited to give them a try.

The audiobooks this week are:

by Sarah Thebarge | Read by Kirsten Potter

Published by Oasis Audio, LLC.

A girl scarred by her past. A refugee mother uncertain of her future. Five little girls who brought them together. After nearly dying of breast cancer in her twenties, Sarah Thebarge fled her successful career, her Ivy League education, and a failed relationship on the East Coast and started over in Portland, Oregon. She was hoping to quietly pick up the pieces of her broken life, but instead she met Hadhi and her daughters, and set out on an adventure she’d never anticipated. Hadhi was fighting battles of her own. A Somali refugee abandoned by her husband, she was struggling to raise five young daughters in a culture she didn’t understand. When their worlds collided, Hadhi and the girls were on the brink of starvation in their own home, “invisible” in a neighborhood of strangers. As Sarah helped Hadhi and the girls navigate American life, her outreach to the family became a source of courage and a lifeline for herself. Poignant, and at times shattering, Sarah Thebarge’s riveting memoir invites listeners into her story, finding connection, love, and redemption in the most unexpected places.

by Gail Giles | Read by Lauren Ezzo, Brittany Pressley

Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Publishing

A 2015 Schneider Family Book Award Winner! With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world. We understand stuff. We just learn it slow. And most of what we understand is that people what ain’t Speddies think we too stupid to get out our own way. And that makes me mad. Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school’s special ed program, but they couldn’t be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they’re thrown together as roommates in their first “real world” apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone, the two of them realize that they might have more in common than they thought—and more important, that they might be able to help each other move forward.

Review/ A Snicker of Magic

Review/ A Snicker of MagicA Snicker of Magic (Scholastic Gold) by Natalie Lloyd
Published by Scholastic Press on April 28, 2015
Pages: 336
Goodreads

A Snicker of Magic  joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!
Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.
But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector," Felicity sees words everywhere---shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears---but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home." And then there's Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity's never seen before, words that make Felicity's heart beat a little faster.
Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first, she'll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that's been cast over the town . . . and her mother's broken heart.

I am thrilled to have discovered author, Natalie Lloyd!  Her stories have brought such pleasure and delight to my reading.   Her words are chosen with purpose and each one creates a unique feeling for her readers.  For example, the way a word feels on your lips when you say it or how the syllables sound when put together.  Many words are simply fun to say repeatedly while others have a hint of magic to them.  I read, “A Snicker of Magic,” about six months ago. I soon followed with Natalie’s second novel, “The Key to Extraordinary.”  A novel just a wonderful as the first.  I’m also pleased to announce that Natalie Lloyd has started a new series called, “The Problem Children” which I can’t wait to get my hands on.

We all desire a place to call home and Felicity Juniper Pickle is no different.  When her mom parks the van in a place called Midnight Gulch, Felicity knows that this is where she is meant to stay.  Felicity feels that this is the home that she has been longing for.  Now, how can she convince her mom, who leaves at the slightest hint of a breeze, that this is her last stop?  Perhaps what Felicity and the town of Midnight Gulch needs is a snicker of magic.

I truly enjoyed meeting each character in this book.  Every one of them has a unique personality and quirk.  Despite their individuality, Natalie Lloyd ties each one together in that special way that she does so well.  Some connections even took me by surprise.

I like the fact that I couldn’t figure out the whole story on my own.  I take guesses and know where things are heading but some turns, I didn’t expect.  I am grateful for this.  I love reading a book and experiencing the journey with the main character. As Felicity was trying to figure out a story from the past and how it is affecting the present, I was literally travelling on this same journey.  A journey of melding the past to the present while deciphering her own feelings about where her heart belongs.

Natalie’s description of Felicity’s surroundings is wonderful.  I could breathe in the scents of the flowers and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.  Natalie’s use of words is as beautiful as the mural painted on the building that stands in the middle of Midnight Gulch.

The question is, will they stay, or will they go?

 

Can’t Wait Wednesday July 4th

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here, at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.
If you’d like to join in, you can use the image above, the one below, or make your own. Please link back to Wishful Endings in your post and also add it to the linky widget posted each week so we all can come see what you’re excited about. If you’re continuing with the Waiting on Wednesday feature, feel free to link those up as well!
The Art Of Losing
A debut novel called The Art of Losing by Lizzy Mason is coming out February 2019.

The Art of Losing is a compelling debut that explores issues of addiction, sisterhood, and loss.

On one terrible night, 17-year-old Harley Langston’s life changes forever. At a party she discovers her younger sister, Audrey, hooking up with her boyfriend, Mike—and she abandons them both in a rage. When Mike drunkenly attempts to drive Audrey home, he crashes and Audrey ends up in a coma. Now Harley is left with guilt, grief, pain and the undeniable truth that her ex-boyfriend (who is relatively unscathed) has a drinking problem. So it’s a surprise that she finds herself reconnecting with Raf, a neighbor and childhood friend who’s recently out of rehab and still wrestling with his own demons. At first Harley doesn’t want to get too close to him. But as Audrey awakens and slowly recovers, Raf starts to show Harley a path forward that she never would have believed possible—one guided by honesty, forgiveness, and redemption.

Review/ Small Town Rumors

About the Book

Title: Small Town Rumors
Author: Carolyn Brown
Release Date: July 3, 2018
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Summary

Everyone is talking about Jennie Sue Baker and the mess she made of her life in New York. The former high school queen bee—and wealthy darling of Bloom, Texas—has returned home after all these years, riding on a common bus and bearing two bounced alimony checks. In a town that thrives on gossip, Jennie’s fall from grace has shamed her mother, set the town buzzing, and caused old, jealous enemies to whisper in delight. They say she’s taken a job as a housekeeper, gotten a garage apartment, and might be crushing on Rick Lawson, a simple farmer with modest dreams.

As romance starts to bud, Jennie relishes what it means to follow her heart, find real new friends, and finally be herself—regardless of all the lying town chatter. But fate has another twist in store. Rumor has it that Jennie now stands to lose what matters most . . . unless she can convince Rick of one true thing—and that’s love.

I quickly have to thank Montlake Romance for sending me a eArc of Small Town Rumors by Carolyn Brown for my review today.

I realized as I was sitting down to write this review that this is only my second book I have read of Carolyn Brown. She has written roughly a hundred books in various genres such as historical romance, cowboy romance, women’s fiction and contemporary romance which is one of my favorite genres to read when I get the chance.

Back in 2009 I read Lucky in Love and I did enjoy reading but at the time I wasn’t reading a whole lot of romance books so I never continued to read her books but I have to say that this is possibly one series I want to continue reading but as of right now I see that this is only a one time book but I can clearly see that there is so much more to this small town of Bloom, Texas and its residents.

I was instantly sucked into Small Town Rumors right from the get go and breezed through it fairly quickly although I think it needs to come with a have tissue on hand warning because you will definitely need it in the last 1/4 of the book. This literally came out of left field and I was crying as I was reading it. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.

Having spent almost 20+ years living in a small town I can honestly say that what Carolyn wrote was the god’s honest truth. Everyone knows everyone’s business almost before you even have the chance to take a breath. The rumors and gossip people would spread about their neighbors was crazy and trust me I have heard my fair share that was about my family and about other family’s and this was all before social media was around. If you had a party line then there was nothing off limits as your neighbors could pick up the phone and listen it.

I have to say that this small town gossip was the premise behind the book and it all worked well within the book and it was funny the things that would be said because everyone would believe a little lie or an exaggerated version of a situation.

The main character is Jennie Sue and for her entire life she has lived to please her parents and her husband but in all honesty it was never enough and Jennie Sue was beginning to realize that. Her mother is a true definition of a southern woman who has been taught her way of life from previous women and that is you be the perfect daughter who will eventually marry the perfect man and live happily ever after and you do nothing that will disgrace your name or your family’s.

Its not until Jennie Sue’s marriage ends in a divorce because her husband is a jerk in my opinion. He was a liar, cheater, control freak, abuser who took over on Jennie Sue life in New York. When she signed the divorce papers she was expecting so much more but ends up with basically nothing and is forced to go back home to Bloom, Texas on a bus. Which I have to say appalled her mother and she made it a point to let Jennie Sue know that she was bringing disgrace to the family name and it all comes to a head when her mother continues to belittle her that she can’t take it anymore.

Jennie Sue decides to leave the house and look for a job, since she isn’t allowed to work in her father’s company (because women don’t work) she decides to take any off job she can to make a living for herself just until she can figure things out because she really has no desire to stay in Bloom any longer then she needs to. Which all this upsets her mother and makes it known that what Jennie Sue is doing is causing rumors to be spread about her.

Jennie Sue is content with the way her life is going and more so when she starts making friends especially when she catches the eye of Rick who is someone she knows from high school who also has his own issues with life and the world in general and its nice to see this budding relationship grow between them and even between Nadine, Cricket and Lettie. Will Jennie Sue decide to stick around or will she ball the first chance she gets?

As the story progressed you got to see what a jerk her ex husband was and I am so happy that he actually left so that she could go back and rebuild the life she wanted even if it was against what her mother had wanted.

There is so much more I could say but I can’t because I will end up spoiling the ending so all I will say is that if your looking for a fun summer read I highly recommend this book.

Book Spotlight/ Small Town Rumors

About the Book

Title: Small Town Rumors
Author: Carolyn Brown
Release Date: July 3, 2018
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Summary

Everyone is talking about Jennie Sue Baker and the mess she made of her life in New York. The former high school queen bee—and wealthy darling of Bloom, Texas—has returned home after all these years, riding on a common bus and bearing two bounced alimony checks. In a town that thrives on gossip, Jennie’s fall from grace has shamed her mother, set the town buzzing, and caused old, jealous enemies to whisper in delight. They say she’s taken a job as a housekeeper, gotten a garage apartment, and might be crushing on Rick Lawson, a simple farmer with modest dreams.

As romance starts to bud, Jennie relishes what it means to follow her heart, find real new friends, and finally be herself—regardless of all the lying town chatter. But fate has another twist in store. Rumor has it that Jennie now stands to lose what matters most . . . unless she can convince Rick of one true thing—and that’s love.

About the Author
Carolyn Brown is a New York TimesUSA TodayPublishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and a RITA finalist with more than ninety published books, which include women’s fiction and historical, contemporary, and cowboys-and-country-music romance. She and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma—where everyone knows everyone else and knows what they’re doing and when—and they read the local newspaper on Wednesday to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.

Rafflecopter Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Top 5 Biggest Scandals in Bloom, Texas by Carolyn Brown

Welcome to Bloom, Texas, where the gossip is hotter’n than the peppers in Rick’s garden. Bloom is located just north of Sweetwater where the land is so flat that you can see all the way to where the earth curves. Well, maybe not that far but it goes out there for miles until it finally meets the sky. It always reminds me of a child’s drawing. He/she makes a line on their paper. Above it is sky with fluffy clouds. Below it is grass with wild flowers. The streets are wide and the bus comes through on the way to Sweetwater once a day.

If you want to hear the local gossip, just stop by the Main Street Café. You’ll love the burger baskets and sweet tea, but if you listen closely, you can learn who didn’t come to church on Sunday and why, who died, who had a baby and whether or not she was married. The list goes on and on, so don’t bypass the café as you wander up and down Main Street. Oh, and ask Elaine, the owner, to fix you up with a large sweet tea to go when you leave.

A couple of doors down, you’ll see a used book store. Go right on in and Amos will tell you the whole history of Bloom. If you have a seat on the sofa inside the front door, he’ll entertain you until all that sweet tea is gone with stories about the folks in town. Don’t be shy, now. He loves company.

As a stranger, you probably won’t be invited to one of the Sweetwater Belle’s club meetings, but even their exclusive meetings aren’t so secret in Bloom. After all everyone knows everything about everyone. They know what they did with whom, where it happened and what time they got home afterwards. Then they read The Bloom Daily News to see who got caught!

After all, gossip is the life blood of the community. It’s what drives the people to get out in the blistering hot sun and go to town. It’s what sets the phone lines to smoking, and why there’s more than one cell tower pretty close to the town.

There were, have been, are will be many scandals in Bloom. But five come to mind. First is the fact that Jennie Sue’s dad has been having affairs for years and every year the mistress gets younger and younger. He has his reasons but Jennie Sue doesn’t know them until she comes home. Second would be the fact that she arrives in town, right there on Main Street on a bus. Not in a rented car from an airport. Not even in her own little fancy sports vehicle, but a bus! That alone will put a strain on the phone company. Third is that she intends to be independent and since her father won’t give her a job in the oil company, she agrees to clean houses for two elderly sisters, Lettie and Nadine, who are the biggest gossips in Bloom, Texas. Fourth is that she’s seen with Rick, a local farmer, and even worse that she’s working on his farm for no money but for vegetables as pay. And number five that she has a baby buried in an unmarked grave at the Bloom cemetery. Now when that last one hits the gossip vine, it really will be hotter’n the peppers in Rick’s garden!

“Well, well, well! Are you leaving us already? You only got here yesterday.” Lettie shoved the suitcase over and sat down across the table from Jennie Sue. Short, as round as Mabel, and sporting a kinky hairdo that had gone out of style years ago, Lettie hadn’t changed since Jennie Sue was a little girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jennie Sue answered. “How have you been, Miz Lettie?”

“Elaine, I’ll have a big stack of pancakes and two orders of bacon,” Lettie called out across the café.

“Got it,” Elaine yelled.

“So where are you going?” Lettie turned back to Jennie Sue.

“To find a job,” she answered.

“What kind of skills and experience do you have?”

Elaine crossed the floor and set Jennie Sue’s breakfast in front of her. “Millie will bring out your order shortly, Miz Lettie.”

“No rush. Just send me a cup of coffee, and I’ll be happy until it gets here.” Lettie waved her away with a flick of the wrist and turned back to Jennie Sue. “Now, you were about to tell me about your work experience.”

Jennie Sue picked up the saltshaker and applied an unhealthy dose to her eggs. “I have no experience, but I do have a business degree. The only thing I’m good at is keeping a clean house and organizing fund-raisers and parties.”

“Hmm.” Lettie pursed her lips. “So why didn’t you have a housekeeper up there in New York?”

“Percy was never pleased with the way they cleaned.”

“Was?” Lettie asked.

“Been divorced for over a year.”

“Oh, really?” Lettie cocked her head to one side.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Me and my sister, Nadine, lost our housekeeper a couple of weeks ago. The lady that worked for us cleaned for me on Friday and Nadine on Thursday. You interested?”

Charlotte would probably go into cardiac arrest if Jennie Sue became nothing more than a maid for her archenemies. But hey, it was a job, and Jennie Sue damn sure knew how to clean a house so well that it would pass judgment in the courts of heaven.

“I might be interested if you could point me in the direction of an apartment or a rental house of some kind that wouldn’t be too expensive,” Jennie Sue answered.

“I got an apartment over my garage. It’s pretty small, but it’ll work for a single person. I’d be willing to rent it to you furnished. You’ll clean for me on Friday each week, but the last week in the month, you won’t get paid. That’ll be your rent,” Lettie said.

Jennie Sue could imagine Charlotte throwing whatever she could get her hands on at the wall when one of the Belles called her with that bit of news. Even if she was angry with her mother over trying to mold her into another Wilshire woman, she couldn’t do that to her mother—or could she? How else would she be independent?

She picked up a piece of crisp bacon with her fingers and took a bite while she thought about the offer. It was a job that she could do. It was a place for her to live. She didn’t have to live in a shelter or sleep on a park bench. However, her mother would never speak to her again, and the rumors would be so hot that they might burn down the whole town of Bloom.

Review/ Playing Her Secret Crush

All her life, Katie has been chosen last for everything: the last picked on the playground, the last picked by her absent father, and definitely the last picked by boys—even her secret crush, Alex, friend-zoned her. This senior year, Katie is determined to come first.

But then Alex asks her to help him find a date?!

Alex has been living life in the fast lane, but he’s ready to slow down—with a girlfriend. The last person on earth he’d consider? The girl his brother developed serious feelings for before he died: Katie. The only way Alex is going to get over Katie is by falling for someone new. And who better to help him find his new crush than the girl he can’t stop thinking about?

What can possibly go wrong?

 

Before getting into my review I quickly have to thank Chapter by Chapter blog tour for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and to Entangled Teen for sending me a ecopy of the book to read for my review and participation in the tour.

I know I probably say this every time when I am taking part in blog tours, but I love being asked to be a part of a book tour especially for new to me books and/or authors. It’s a great way to expand perhaps a new genre or a new author and this was the case today. I got exposed to a new author that I’m not sure I would have gotten to read otherwise. After reading this I am curious about Casey’s previous books.

One thing that took me by surprise that I didn’t know before hand and this in no way alters my thoughts on the book but it’s about gamers and this is new to me as I don’t recall every reading about book that had involved gaming. It was actually fun and interesting to read.

Katie is our main character and she is just your regular girl who just happens to be crushing on her best friend Alex who is completely oblivious to this but what Katie doesn’t know is that perhaps Alex is feeling the same way and you can tell something is holding him back but what? As the story progress we learn more about Alex and what he is really thinking and feeling and it all makes sense.

But before getting there Alex asks for Katie’s help in finding a real girlfriend that will last instead of what he was doing in the past with going through girls like they were kleenex. This breaks Katie’s heart, because you can tell she just wants him to know that hey your looking at her and that she is in for the long run. She manages to put that all to the side because she wants him to be happy even if that is with another girl so be it. But can Katie truly be happy with that decision?

Katie is a totally reliable character and I could relate to her. As I am reading the book certain aspects I was sitting there and saying hey that was be 20+ years ago in high school and at times you feel like you were always meant to be just the friend and nothing more. I know I personally love reading Friends to lovers in books. I mean who knows you better but a friend?

This was a pretty quick read and I did enjoy it. Although I am curious to know if there could be a second book in the works that deals with Lexie?

 

Blog Tour/ Playing her Secret Crush

All her life, Katie has been chosen last for everything: the last picked on the playground, the last picked by her absent father, and definitely the last picked by boys—even her secret crush, Alex, friend-zoned her. This senior year, Katie is determined to come first.

But then Alex asks her to help him find a date?!

Alex has been living life in the fast lane, but he’s ready to slow down—with a girlfriend. The last person on earth he’d consider? The girl his brother developed serious feelings for before he died: Katie. The only way Alex is going to get over Katie is by falling for someone new. And who better to help him find his new crush than the girl he can’t stop thinking about?

What can possibly go wrong?

Purchase Links:

Amazon | Amazon Australia | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

Link to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35890154-playing-her-secret-crush?

Tour Schedule:

http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/tour-schedule-playing-her-secret-crush-by-casey-griffin/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Casey Griffin can often be found at comic conventions on her days off from her day job, driving 400 ton dump trucks in Northern Alberta, Canada. As a jack of all trades with a resume boasting registered nurse, English teacher, and photographer, books are her true passion, and she is currently busy writing every moment she can.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

 

 

 

Giveaway Details:

– $15 Amazon Gift Card (INT)

Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway