About two months ago, the reading bug suddenly bit me again, with such force, that I went from not having really read a complete book in years, to inhaling through books in the month of July.
I thought that my love for reading had completely disappeared, and though it saddened me, I couldn't figure out how to get out of the funk I was. Where once I would open a book, dive into the pages and completely immerse myself in it's story, I just couldn't get into it. I was too distracted, too bored, too something.
Anyway, that all changed and since then I've been reading through my bookshelves, which have been filled with books over the years.....oh, yeah, because while my actual reading mood was gone, the buying books mood wasn't. I'm still very much a book bargain hunter and aside from a new book here and there, I mostly peruse thrift stores online and in person, swap books, or raid the sales and clearance racks at local stores. There just never seems to be enough books have, just ask my bookshelves ♥
I will say, the month of August didn't render as much reading as I would have liked to, I was just so busy with the end of summer and things happening around here, and also, is it just me, but did August come in with a bang, and immediately come to an end? How are we days away from the 1st of September? Just how?
I don't think we give books the due credit they deserve. We've become a society so stuck on technology that we forget the pleasure of sitting with a good book, of going on an adventure, letting yourself completely into it's pages. With books we learn, we have fun, we travel, there is not enough good things to say about books and reading.
Now that I have my reading mojo back, I am returning to monthly reading goals, and hoping to be able to stick to them all.
With that in mind, I went through my bookshelves and picked the next reads for the month of September. Since I still have a few days left in August, I actually also picked out a small book to read in the next few days, it's only 184 pages so just right for the amount of time I have left in this month.
But, let's see what I have in my stack for September. I tried to pick books that looked like Fall, even if they didn't take time in that specific season, I grabbed those with cover pages that either screamed Fall to me or just had pops of color that I usually will associate with the Fall Season.
Park Lane by Frances Osborne
London, February 1914. Eighteen year-old Grace
Campbell arrives in London from Carlisle, her family's hopes pinned on
her becoming a secretary. The only job she can find is as a housemaid in
the mansion that is Number 35, Park Lane, and soon she is entangling
herself in an ever-thickening web of lies. Upstairs, a jilted and
humiliated Beatrice Masters is determined not to return to the New York
of her childhood before she has salvaged her pride. She secretly joins
Emmeline Pankhurst's militant suffragettes and is steadily drawn into
the violence rocking the city. But Grace and Beatrice's existences are
not as parallel as they seem. Little do they realize that their hidden
lives and emotions will soon be revolving around the same man - or that
the coming war will change the boundaries of both their worlds for ever.
Fair Game by Carol Cox
Dinah Mayhew takes on more than just a job at
the Chicago World's Fair when she sets her cap for Seth Howell. As Dinah
and Seth team up to help Chicago's unfortunates, romance fairly
blossoms. But matters take a turn for the worse when Cousin Gladys
appears on the scene and starts looking for love in all the wrong
places. Upon Gladdie's sudden and mysterious disappearance, Dinah and
Seth begin searching for answers, only to find themselves trapped in a
maze of secrecy and deception. Will they live to expose the truth or
find themselves facing the point of no return?
With Love from Bliss by Ruth Glover
Kerry Ferne, a precocious orphan taken in by her Aunt
Charlotte, finds happiness for the first time and friendships with her
maid, Gladdy, and her new sister, the frail Franny. ...
The Tender Vine by Kristen Heitzmann
Aching from the recent loss of a constant companion, Carina
DiGratia Shephard longs to return to the shelter of her close-knit
family. Her husband, Quillan, is bent on proving his devotion, and they
begin the arduous journey to the home of her youth nestled in the
vineyards of Sonoma, California. But their arrival at the DiGratia
estate is not the joyous occasion they expected. Will a confrontation
with the past pull them apart--or will the love they once embraced be reignited?
Rose's Pledge by Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford
Step back into the early days of America, where
Rose Harwood and her sisters become indentured to the highest bidders.
When Rose’s new owner takes her deep into Indian Territory, a young
frontiersman named Nate Kinyon tags along, hoping to save Rose from the
machinations of a grubby trader and the appraising looks of young
braves. How much is he willing to pay—in dollars and sense—to redeem the
woman he loves? And how much is Rose willing to sacrifice for his
protection?
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
When a new highway threatens to bypass the town
of Rossmore and cut through Whitethorn Woods, everyone has a passionate
opinion about whether the town will benefit or suffer. But young Father
Flynn is most concerned with the fate of St. Ann’s Well, which is set at
the edge of the woods and slated for destruction. People have been
coming to St. Ann’s for generations to share their dreams and fears, and
speak their prayers. Some believe it to be a place of true spiritual
power, demanding protection; others think it’s a mere magnet for
superstitions, easily sacrificed. Not knowing which faction to favor,
Father Flynn listens to all those caught up in the conflict, and these
are the voices we hear in the stories of Whitethorn Woods —men and women
deciding between the traditions of the past and the promises of the
future, ordinary people brought vividly to life by Binchy’s generosity
and empathy, and in the vivacity and surprise of her storytelling.
Temptation and Surrender by Stephanie Laurens
Handsome, wealthy, and well-born, Jonas Tallent
has everything a gentleman needs to enjoy London society to the fullest -
and he has. He's played cards until dawn, flirted with eligible young
ladies, and made love to some ineligible ones.
But now he's
restless, bored with the mindless frivolity and careless pleasure, so
its with a sense of relief that he takes up the reins of his family's
estate in rural Devon. His most pressing need is to hire a new manager
for the inn--the center of village life. Such a small task, yet he
discovers few decent applicants are willing to live in a quiet country
backwater.
Then genteel but impoverished Miss Emily
Beauregard applies for the position. Jonas's initial response is an
emphatic "no!" Ladies, especially one as attractive as Emily, belong in
the ballroom or the bedroom, not running an inn. But with no
alternatives, he grudgingly allows Emily to try, and she rapidly proves
herself worthy, resurrecting the inn with tact and skill.
But Em
has a secret. Its not only the need to provide for herself and her
orphaned siblings that has brought her to Devon. She's surreptitiously
searching for a family treasure hidden in the village, the only clues to
its location a cryptic rhyme handed down through the generations. Emily
is determined to solve the puzzle, find the treasure and reinstate her
family to its rightful place in society.
Yet Em hasn't bargained
on Jonas. His experience is temptation, his attentions irresistible,
and he's determined to aid her in her quest. He eventually persuades her
to trust him, and together they unravel the clues . But someone else is
watching, waiting, and once the family legacy is unearthed, the villain
strikes, threatening Em, her family, and the love she and Jonas have
discovered in each others' arms.
