Posted April 7, 2021 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
A Castaway in Cornwall by
Julie Klassen Publisher: Bethany House (2020 (December 1))
eARC (400 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Also by this author: The Painter's Daughter,
The Secret of Pembrooke Park Reading Challenges: Read 2020 Synopsis
Laura Callaway daily walks the windswept Cornwall coast, known for many shipwrecks but few survivors. She feels like a castaway, set adrift on the tides of fate by the deaths of her parents and left wanting answers. Now living with her parson uncle and his parsimonious wife in North Cornwall, Laura is viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong somewhere again.
When ships sink, wreckers scour the shore for valuables, while Laura searches for clues to the lives lost. She has written letters to loved ones and returned keepsakes to rightful owners. She collects seashells and mementos, and when a man is washed ashore, she collects him too.
As Laura and a neighbor care for the castaway, the mystery surrounding him grows. He has abrasions and a deep cut that looks suspiciously like a knife wound, and he speaks in careful, educated English, yet his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Their attraction grows, and while she longs to return the man to his rightful home, evidence against him mounts. With danger pursuing them from every side, will Laura ever find the answers and love she seeks?
Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon
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Tagged as 4 star, Read 2020
Posted October 31, 2016 in Life, Reading / 0 Comments
Things that Happened in October
- First of all, is October really over already!! Where did October go?
- I had my first really bad glutening in quite some time yesterday. It was terrible. People have also been questioning my food choices which prompted this Twitter thread.
- As I am working on this, I have such a terrible headache that I hope this manages to look half-way decent when it posts.
- Grad school has been exhausting me on top of teaching and everything else I do.
- I just started a Facebook page for the blog but there isn’t a whole lot there yet.
- I didn’t get as much read as I should have this month. I am falling behind on grad school reading and ARCs.
My Favorite Book of October
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
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Tagged as Monthly Wrap-Up
Posted October 27, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Secret of Pembrooke Park by
Julie Klassen Publisher: Bethany House (2014)
Paperback (451 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Painter's Daughter,
A Castaway in Cornwall Reading Challenges: 2016 Backlist Books,
Read 2016 Synopsis
Abigail Foster fears she will end up a spinster, especially as she has little dowry to improve her charms and the one man she thought might marry her--a longtime friend--has fallen for her younger, prettier sister.
When financial problems force her family to sell their London home, a strange solicitor arrives with an astounding offer: the use of a distant manor house abandoned for eighteen years. The Fosters journey to imposing Pembrooke Park and are startled to find it entombed as it was abruptly left: tea cups encrusted with dry tea, moth-eaten clothes in wardrobes, a doll's house left mid-play . . .
The handsome local curate welcomes them, but though he and his family seem to know something about the manor's past, the only information they offer Abigail is a warning: Beware trespassers who may be drawn by rumors that Pembrooke contains a secret room filled with treasure.
Hoping to improve her family's financial situation, Abigail surreptitiously searches for the hidden room, but the arrival of anonymous letters addressed to her, with clues about the room and the past, bring discoveries even more startling. As secrets come to light, will Abigail find the treasure and love she seeks...or very real danger?
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Tagged as 5 star, Read 2016
Posted November 30, 2015 in Reading / 8 Comments
Tagged as Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Catholic, Catholic Book, Color Coded Challenge, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Finishing the Series Challenge, Jesus, Mary, Monthly Wrap-Up, Mythology Reading Challenge, Pope Benedict XVI, Religious Education, School, Sister, What's In a Name Reading Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted November 25, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Painter's Daughter by
Julie Klassen Publisher: Bethany House (2015)
eARC (464 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Also by this author: The Secret of Pembrooke Park,
A Castaway in Cornwall Reading Challenges: 2015 Color Coded,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Sophie Dupont, daughter of a portrait painter, assists her father in his studio, keeping her own artwork out of sight. She often walks the cliffside path along the north Devon coast, popular with artists and poets. It’s where she met the handsome Wesley Overtree, the first man to tell her she’s beautiful.
Captain Stephen Overtree is accustomed to taking on his brother’s neglected duties. Home on leave, he’s sent to find Wesley. Knowing his brother rented a cottage from a fellow painter, he travels to Devonshire and meets Miss Dupont, the painter’s daughter. He’s startled to recognize her from a miniature portrait he carries with him–one of Wesley’s discarded works. But his happiness plummets when he realizes Wesley has left her with child and sailed away to Italy in search of a new muse.
Wanting to do something worthwhile with his life, Stephen proposes to Sophie. He does not offer love, or even a future together, but he can save her from scandal. If he dies in battle, as he believes he will, she’ll be a respectable widow with the protection of his family.
Desperate for a way to escape her predicament, Sophie agrees to marry a stranger and travel to his family’s estate. But at Overtree Hall, her problems are just beginning. Will she regret marrying Captain Overtree when a repentant Wesley returns? Or will she find herself torn between the father of her child and her growing affection for the husband she barely knows?
Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository
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Tagged as 4 star, Color Coded Challenge, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
