Teaser Tuesday 2/6/18

- Ambrosia 19 Comments

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

This one is part of my read it before I see it challenge that I committed to several years ago. They are making so many movies and shows from books these days, more then usual or maybe it’s just me?

“For most of my life i have been adored by fools and hated by people of good sense, and they all make up stories about me in which I am either a saint or a whore. But I am above these judgments, I am a Queen.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Other Queen

Musing Monday 2/5/18

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Random Question: Why did you become a reader?

I have always wondered what it is that makes some of us fall totally in love with reading and what makes some only read what they have to through school. So I thought it would be a good musing for the day. Do you know what it was that made you into a reader? For me it was being told as I grew up that we had a distantly related to Mark Twain. It felt like some family thing. From there I just really found I loved being lost in these worlds created on the page. I love meeting new characters and new stories. I just love all of it. There is something so truly enjoyable about being able to set your own problems and life aside for a little bit and enjoy another story in another time or land ect.

Book Review: Mozart’s Last Aria by Matt Rees

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Award-winning author Matt Rees takes readers to 18th century Austria, where Mozart’s estranged sister Nannerl stumbles into a world of ambition, conspiracy, and immortal music while attempting to uncover the truth about her brother’s suspicious death. Did Mozart’s life end in murder? Nannerl must brave dire circumstances to find out, running afoul of the secret police, the freemasons, and even the Austrian Emperor himself as she delves into a scandal greater than she had ever imagined. With captivating historical details, compelling characters, and a real-life mystery upon which everything hinges, Rees—the award-winning author of the internationally acclaimed Omar Yussef crime series—writes in the tradition of Irvin Yalom’  When Nietzsche Wept, Louis Bayard’s The Pale Blue Eye, and Phillip Sington’s The Einstein Girl to achieve the very best in historical fiction with Mozart’s Last Aria.

This book for me had a series of unfortunate events so it took me a while to get through it, but I was excited for it Sadly, I ended up not really enjoying this book as much as I hoped I would. It wasn’t a bad book, but it also wasn’t one that I would say is riveting. The hardest part for me to deal with in this particular book was the way Mozart’s sister Nannerl was written. I have read other books with his sister ad maybe that is why I am having an issue with it, she just really didn’t stand out as a character I could connect to in this book. She was the “Sherlock” of this book and I just wasn’t really feeling I could believe that.

I know this is historical fiction, but a lot of it just felt a little off the believable scale for me. It might be fiction, but if it is based on real events and people I would hope it would follow that path. For me, I felt this one went a little too far afield. Again, it was not a bad book, it just didn’t really get me into the good book area either. If you want to give it a try go for it you might like it better than I did.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 1/30/18

- Ambrosia 18 Comments

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

This one is part of my read it before I see it challenge that I committed to several years ago. They are making so many movies and shows from books these days, more then usual or maybe it’s just me?

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her~is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Musing Monday 1/29/18

- Ambrosia 1 Comment

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Random Question: None..call its a free space day?

Sorry this is so late and there is no question today. My internet has been a real pain in the rear end all day. I swear it has something against me most days. Back to normal next week.

Book Review: Swim by Jennifer Weiner

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The short story that inspired Jennifer Weiner’s forthcoming novel The Next Best Thing.

Ruth has left her job writing for a hit television show for reasons she’d rather not discuss and is supplementing her increasingly dwindling savings with freelance writing projects—namely, helping anxious high school students craft a perfect college essay and lonely souls craft captivating online dating profiles. When she’s not working, she’s swimming—lap after lap at the local indoor pool, in a desperate attempt to wash away the sting of professional failure and heartbreak that she can’t seem to shake. It takes an unexpected client to show her that appearances can be deceiving, and that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is simply dive back in.


I had hopes for this one, I have enjoyed other books by Jennifer Weiner but this one for me was just a bomb. It was on my TBR on the E-reader for a while and when I finally got to it I really felt bored with it. I think maybe Jennifer Weiner should stick with full length books and stay away from short stories. I do seem to be in the minority with this book as others have enjoyed it. I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t enjoy it either. For me this was one of those books I finished reading to get it done and out of the way and I doubt I will remember much about it in the long term. They can’t all be winners in the end. I know others have liked it, the characters weren’t bad, so maybe someone else will enjoy it better than me. I was just not grabbed and bored, so I am glad I got it out of the way and it’s on to another book.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Shack by William Paul Young

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his “Great Sadness,” Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!

Okay, so my friends who know me know I am a Pagan so they might get a little chuckle out of me reading The Shack but the idea of it made me curious. Not only that, but I wanted to see the movie as well and I am a big one for the read it first challenge after all! The bottom line is I really liked this book, I can only imagine that kind of grief that a parent must feel when something like this happens. Not only the loss of a child, but the horrific way that it happened. There is just no way I can see how I would handle that, so I was interested in how Mack dealt with it. How it seemed he had all but died right along with this youngest during what happened. It is getting that mysterious note from Papa and actually having to deal with the grief that brings him back to life. How easy it is to allow our pain and grief to control us, it’s harder to learn to live again. Whether you believe in God or don’t whether you think there is more than one God or none this book will make you think, it can also truly help if you are looking for a way to understand things in your own life. It might be a work of fiction, but I truly feel it has a place in the real world as well.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 1/23/18

- Ambrosia 23 Comments

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

This one is part of my read it before I see it challenge that I committed to several years ago. They are making so many movies and shows from books these days, more then usual or maybe it’s just me?

“Who would have thought at this time in our lives that we’d still have something like this. That it turns out we’re not finished with changes and excitements. And not all dried up in body and spirit.”
― Kent Haruf, Our Souls at Night

Musing Monday 1/22/18

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Edited cause I made a boo boo on the date, lol sorry about that.

Random Question: Do you prefer true Biographies or fiction that tells the life of someone?

This question was inspired by a conversation about a movie, but it can be applied to books as well. I know I have read my fair share of historical fiction after all, but I also read biographies. This question came to mind during a conversation where someone was having a hissy fit about The Greatest Showman not being historically correct. That P.T Barnum wasn’t a super fantastic guy ect. Fair enough a little research shows that yes indeed he did some questionable things, like many people of the age. The movie does give a little look of that through the eyes of the critic and even P.T himself, saying he hoodwinked people,but yes, it is a very tamped down version because the movie isn’t meant to be a bio pic. I got some compliments from others in the conversation for explaining how I saw it. The greatest showman is P.T Barnum’s basic life story if P.T was telling it. No one is the villain of their own story and say what you will about some of what he did, he did create something that was special and was a place for the outcasts of the world to feel like they had some family.

I digress, I got to thinking about all the historical fiction I have read and how often there are plenty of facts but there is more that could be fact and might not be. Honestly, I think I prefer the fiction because life is tough enough sometimes. I like the escape. Now granted my curious brain will often dive into research on a new topic once I see it in the fiction, but it is often the fiction that get’s me curious in the first place. I like the combination of knowing the players involved along with the entertainment of the fiction. So which do you prefer?

Teaser Tuesday 1/16/17

- Ambrosia 22 Comments

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

“People who claim that they’re evil are usually no worse than the rest of us… It’s people who claim that they’re good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

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