Book vs. Film: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

My son, unfortunately, is not as big a reader as I am. He's a good reader and does it every night for homework, however he never actively seeks out reading for entertainment even though he sees me doing it every single day for that very reason. We've read together since he was little, but from the very beginning it was at my request and not his. I've come to realize that he's more like my husband in this respect and I can appreciate our differences. However, that does not mean I'll give up trying to convert him!

To this end, I recently made him a deal: if he would read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with me than I would take him to see the movie version that he was excited to see. We would then compare the two and see which we preferred. The lure of an afternoon out with a movie, popcorn, and soda swayed him and he agreed to my deal. So, we set out to read 20-30 minutes a night, taking turns reading aloud. Below you'll find our opinions of both the book and the movie version. In case you haven't heard of either, here's the synopsis:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Book

Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #1
Publisher: Quirk
Pub. Date: June 7th, 2011
Pages: 352


As I stated above, the reason my son agreed to read this particular story with me was because he wanted to see the movie and I said I would take him only after we read the story first. I'm shameless in my pursuit to make him a bigger reader! As we started to read the story I quickly realized that this book was targeted towards an audience a little older than my son (he's eleven). There's quite a bit of cursing and crude humor that I wasn't expecting which, probably not surprising to anyone familiar with preteen boys, my son found HILARIOUS! I made a deal with him that, although we don't allow him to curse, I would allow it in the context of reading the story. Needless to say, these aspects of the story were possibly his favorite parts, along with the humor that the author naturally and effectively incorporated into the storyline and within the various teenage characters. All of the characters are so unique and well drawn that it was easy to visualize them throughout this fantastical story, helped along with the fascinating and sometimes eerie photos sprinkled amongst the narrative (something else my son very much enjoyed). We laughed quite a bit while reading to each other, which is always a pleasure when reading together!

On the downside, it did take quite a bit of time for any real adventure or action to occur (about 100 pages). For a reader like my son, this slower progression became somewhat daunting and there were a few times he almost wanted to throw in the towel. With a little persuasion we kept reading and were pleasantly surprised once the main character, Jacob, discovered the mysteries behind Miss Peregrine's home and the wonderful friends he discovered there and, towards the end, fought to protect. There are some frightful creatures that add danger and depth to the story and towards the end we often read past our 30 minutes allotted to reading just so we could see what would happen.

Overall this was an interesting, uniquely told story that both my son and I enjoyed. The photos, sometimes crude humor and language, and fantastical world created were by far my son's favorite aspects and I found the whole story different than my typical read and quite entertaining. The story left off on a cliffhanger, making for the perfect stepping off point for the upcoming book in the series. However, after much discussion, we aren't completely sure we want to continue with the series, at least not right now. The fact that the writing styles is slightly too old for my son and YA isn't something I naturally gravitate towards myself, we've decided to hold off for a while and pick another book or series to read together. But I'm sure we will return to Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children in the future!


Rating: we both rated the book 3.0/5.0

The Movie

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: September 30th, 2016
Length: 127 minutes


The filmmakers did an outstanding job of bringing this story to life. Some of the harder concepts for my son to understand within the story - such as time loops and the female Peculiars who protected the children, called Ymbrynes - were easier for him to process when explained and shown visually. The graphics were phenomenal and some of the more fantastical creatures were quite scary (they didn't frighten my son but I mention this as they might scare younger children).  

As with any movie there were changes and cuts from the story due to time constraints and story flow. There were some changes that I found unnecessary, however, and I always prefer when they keep the story and the characters as close to the original story as possible. My son, when asked, much preferred the movie (which didn't surprise me) and was only disappointed that the crude language and humor was dulled down in the movie (also not a surprise).

As with the novel, the movie left off on a cliffhanger and perfectly sets up the story to continue in follow up movies. I can definitely see my son pressuring me to take him to the next film long before he volunteers to read the next novel. However, I enjoyed both forms of the story even if neither blew me away. Maybe by the time the next movie is set to come out my son will be that little bit older and will enjoy the next installment in the book series that much more!


Rating: 4.0/5.0 (my son)  3.0/5.0 (me) 

Has anyone else read the story or watched the movie? If so, what did you think?

Cover Crush: The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself!  A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful! 

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Flashlight Commentary, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. I've decided to join in this year and will link to their posts down below.

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

Like last week's pick this book is the third in a series and all of the covers have been beautiful! I've read the first book in the series (as well as a number of other books by the author) so having her name so large and right at the top is a big draw for me. The greenery and brightness leads me to think this installment takes place in England, which is awesome because the sister I'm most interested in is from there. The Armillary Sphere plays a huge part in the series so I'm glad to see that centered in the picture. All in all a pleasant and eye catching cover!

Not familiar with the story? Here's the synopsis:

Travel through the lush English countryside and explore the magnificent estates of the British aristocracy in this next spellbinding love story in The Seven Sisters series by #1 internationally bestselling author Lucinda Riley.

Star D’Aplièse is at a crossroads in her life after the sudden death of her beloved father—the elusive billionaire, affectionately called Pa Salt by his six daughters, all adopted from across the four corners of the world. He has left each of them a clue to her true heritage, and Star nervously decides to follow hers, which leads her to an antiquarian bookshop in London, and the start of a whole new world.

A hundred years earlier, headstrong and independent Flora MacNichol vows she will never marry. She is happy and secure in her home in England’s picturesque Lake District—just a stone’s throw away from the residence of her childhood idol, Beatrix Potter—when machinations lead her to London, and the home of one of Edwardian society’s most notorious society hostesses, Alice Keppel. Flora is torn between passionate love and her duty to her family, but finds herself a pawn in a larger game. That is, until a meeting with a mysterious gentleman unveils the answers that Flora has been searching for her whole life...

As Star learns more of Flora’s incredible journey, she too goes on a voyage of discovery, finally stepping out of the shadow of her sister and opening herself up to the possibility of love.

The Shadow Sister is the third in the sweeping Seven Sisters series, “soaked in glamour and romance” (Daily Mail) and perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and the novels of Kate Morton.

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week:

Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede

Erin at Flashlight Commentary

Heather at The Maiden's Court

Stephanie at Layered Pages

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired

Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede

Guest Post by Elizabeth J. Sparrow, Author of The Irish Tempest

My appreciation to Colleen for her very kind invitation to write this guest post. The Irish Tempest is my second novel. The first one, like some marriages and houses, was a starter novel. While it had some lively dialog and interesting characters, it was self-indulgent in style with predictable prose. My literary guardian angel – yes, I have one of those and his name is Jack Kerouac – suggested in his crabby way that I wait for a sign to unleash an epiphany of “true thoughts’.

Several years later (signs do take their time), I was dusting and reached for a framed photograph of myself around four years of age, dressed in a bright tartan plaid dress with a crisp peter pan collar and drooping knee socks. It is Christmas at my aunt’s home and in the foreground, you can see hints of the holiday madness with shredded wrapping paper and dismembered boxes. Above my head and slightly to the left, on a well-polished credenza, are the three wise men. Balthasar is staring down on me with what I believe, to this very day, is a frown of disapproval.

I am flashing an over the shoulder sneer of defiance because once again, I am made to stand in the corner for being NOSEY. This is not a word befitting a budding writer. Curious…inquisitive…even snoopish would be a more flattering choice. Being “nosey” was regarded by nearly every adult family member as a sin on par with lying, stealing and possibly, felony murder. Once I reached the age of reason (that would be seven), it formally became a crime to be confessed weekly. How could an inquisitive four year old resist all those lovely presents in their sparkly disguises? This is what I know to be true about writers: we snoop…we eavesdrop…we plunder. We do this to create characters, loveable and loathsome, who wallow in a world of our imagination and manipulation.

Holding that photograph inspired a brief visual of an adolescent boy, with dark curly hair and an Irish accent, caressing the child’s face and whispering, “Greedy little lamb.” That fleeting “true thought” gave birth to Court and Lacey in The Irish Tempest. Writing a historical novel does not follow the established dictum to “write what you know”. Basic research took a year during which I mentally mapped out the significant threads of the plot. Writing was painfully laborious and what sustained me were those moments when my characters seemed to write their own dialog and behave in shocking ways. By the time I was more than halfway through, I hit a wall and put it aside…for three years.

In the spring of 2013, another sign appeared. On an unusually mild March evening, I was walking by a park three blocks from my home. There are always neighborhood guys hanging out, playing music and checkers. Sitting on a small crate, away from the others, was a middle-age man not so discretely sipping a beverage from a paper bag. We made eye contact and he smiled as if he knew me. “Hey! How’s that story you’re writing about that family?”

Had he smacked me across the face with a dead carp, I would have been no less astonished. “You’re confusing me with someone else.” As soon as I got home, I called my sister because when you’re dreaming, you cannot dial a number for some wacky reason. I needed her to bear witness to this sign. Three years later, The Irish Tempest was published.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Publisher: Waxing Gibbous Press

Pub. Date: October 17th, 2016

Genre: Historical Fiction

Ireland, 1911: After seven centuries of unyielding oppression, there is a tempest rising, a national yearning for Irish independence. It threatens to sweep away all that is precious to the very privileged O'Rourke and de la Roche families. Seismic changes are but a whisper away.

What begins as a squabbling friendship between the wastrel Courtland O'Rourke and the defiant, mischief-making Lacey de la Roche matures into a deeply passionate, tempestuous love, fraught with secrets of lethal consequences and sins of omission.

In this debut historical novel, The Irish Tempest beckons the reader into a world, where landowner and tenant farmer, the well-off and the working-class are chafing under the chokehold of British domination. 

Pulled apart by personal and social conflicts, Court and Lacey experience the world from perspectives both transformative and destructive. Court, compelled to accept a commission in the British army, initiates a disastrous affair with rippling aftershocks. Lacey, fueled by the arrogance of adolescence, is beguiled by a charismatic but sociopathic horse trainer.

The Irish Tempest thrusts the reader into the anguish of the 1916 Easter Rising and beyond as Ireland seethes on the cusp of revolution. Deftly paced with vividly drawn characters, The Irish Tempest embraces historical elements while preserving the essence of evocative storytelling.

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

Elizabeth J. Sparrow is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Hunter College and New York University. She is working diligently on the sequel to The Irish Tempest. Visit Elizabeth on her website and connect with her on Facebook.

New Release: Just Listen by D. Breeze + Facebook Giveaway!!

Depression is just a word. It means less to me than it does to you and I’m the one who’s living it.

I live. I love. I laugh.
And you’ll believe all my lies.
Because she does too.

The world is a stranger.

But everyone thinks they know me.

My body has all the answers.
But my mind can’t understand them.

I’m drowning everyday.
But I never go near water.
The air in my lungs is toxic.
But I’m breathing all the time.
You’ll think you understand.
But how can you?
Even with her, I'm alone.

Buy the Book

Amazon

* Get your copy now for the special release day price of 99p/$1.29 before it goes back to full price tomorrow *

About the Author

D Breeze is a British contemporary romance author who lives for the angst and lives of her characters. A filthy-minded dreamer. A fantasist, with a penchant for writing stories to push your

boundaries.

She loves losing herself in books, revelling in sarcasm, and making people blush.

If she’s not at the bar, handing out shots to unsuspecting victims, you can usually find D hunched over her laptop at four in the morning, still trying to piece together the lines of fantasy vs reality.

Failing that, she’ll be curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth and cursing over the characters arguing in her mind!

Connect with D on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

It's Giveaway Time!!

Head on over to D's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDBreeze/ to be in with a chance of winning a $10 Amazon Gift Card and an ebook of Just Listen. All you have to do is like her page and comment on the pinned post. Good luck!

Spotlight on The French Orphan Series by Michael Stolle

THE FRENCH ORPHAN (BOOK ONE)

Publication Date: June 12, 2012
388 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

The year is 1640, and Louis XIII is on the French throne. However, as far as you’re concerned, this is all pretty meaningless. After all, as a teenage orphan living in a monastery school in Reims, all you have to worry about is dodging the unpleasant advances of a few unsavoury monks and looking forward to a life of penniless and celibate servitude in a religious order.

After a childhood and adolescence plagued by a constant longing to know who he really is, orphan Pierre has not the slightest idea that his questions are about to be answered. But you know what they say – be careful what you wish for…

Suddenly finding out who you are can bring with it not only happiness and fortune, but danger, friendship and the sort of swift education that the monastery could never have provided! The discovery of who Pierre really is affects not only Pierre and his friends, but has ramifications for the French nobility, the English crown, and most dangerous of all, the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and his fierce ambition for the Church and for himself.

Buy the Book

Amazon

THE SECRETS OF MONTRÉSOR (BOOK TWO)

Publication Date: November 12, 2012
298 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

The Secrets of Montrésor is the eagerly awaited sequel to The French Orphan, and continues the story of young Pierre de Beauvoir…

Coming into a fortune at any age brings huge responsibility, but when you’re an inexperienced teenager, it seems that surprises are waiting for you around every corner.

Pierre, former orphan and now Marquis de Beauvoir, may have claimed his inheritance, but life is never that simple. For a start, he needs to learn pretty quickly exactly who to trust and who to keep at arm’s length. For example, how do you work out (and survive….) the changing motives of the most powerful man in seventeenth-century France, Cardinal Richelieu? And then what do you do when the people you should be able to trust try to deliver you into the hands of your worst enemy? And then there’s the small matter of a sacred quest to Italy…

Fortunately for Pierre he has his best friend Armand to support him as he gets to know his chateau at Montrésor, its people and… its secrets. (Armand, of course, has his own agendas to pursue, usually involving a pretty face and a willing smile.)

Far from being certain, Pierre’s future has yet to be settled and Pierre will have to draw on his own innate talents as well as those of the people around him to ensure he survives, as his enemies are just waiting to seize their opportunity.

Buy the Book

Amazon

UNDER THE SPELL OF THE SERENISSIMA (BOOK THREE)

Publication Date: December 15, 2013
302 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

The third in the French Orphan series follows the exploits of Pierre, former penniless orphan who discovers he is heir to the de Beauvoir inheritance.


So far, Pierre has found friends in unexpected places, been surprised by love, learned the true meaning of friendship, discovered the extent of human cunning and depravity and dodged numerous attempts by his closest family member to despatch him to the next world.

In Under the Spell of the Serenissima Pierre’s search for the third Templar ring continues, but as ever, his path is not a smooth one. Pierre and Armand, along with Jean and Edoardo, are making for Venice, unaware that others too are racing towards the beautiful city, some intending to help, others with far more sinister motives.

As the various characters are drawn inexorably towards Venice, a conclusion will be played out that must decide Pierre’s fate, one way or another…

Buy the Book

Amazon

THE QUEEN’S MAID OF HONOUR (BOOK FOUR)

Publication Date: March 31, 2016

300 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

The year is 1643. The scheming Cardinal Mazarin is now Prime Minister of France, but on the other side of the Channel, unrest in England grows daily, as civil war is erupting. As the political situation in England deteriorates, the royal court flees London for Oxford, and King Charles is desperate to secure both funding and troops to come to his aid.

Mazarin, every bit as devious as his predecessor, Richelieu, engages the services of François de Toucy to save the Queen of England, a former royal princess of France. François and his friends will set sail for England, in a quest to ensure the safety of the queen.

Whilst François is walking a diplomatic tightrope across the political cauldron of the royal court, his friend Armand falls desperately in love with the Queen’s Maid of Honour, a lady as beautiful as she is cunning.

Soon the friends find themselves deeply entangled in a deadly combination of cut-throat politics, disasters on the battlefield and bitter machinations at court over love and war and the struggle between Protestants and Catholics that threaten to spell only death and disaster.

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

Born and educated in Europe, Michael has always been intrigued by the historical setting and the fact that what makes us human was as true in the 17th century as it is now.

He has been reading and writing about history for longer than he cares to recall…

It's Giveaway Time!!

To win a paperback copy of The French Orphan (Book One) by Michael Stolle, please enter via the Gleam form HERE. Three copies are up for grabs!

Rules

Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on February 11th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

Giveaway is open to residents in the US, UK, and CANADA only.

Only one entry per household.

All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.

Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Good Luck!!

The French Orphan Series Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, January 23

Blog Tour Kick Off at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, January 24

Review at Books, Dreams, Life (The French Orphan)

Wednesday, January 25

Spotlight at Just One More Chapter
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views (The French Orphan)

Thursday, January 26

Review at Book Nerd (The Queen’s Maid of Honour)

Friday, January 27

Spotlight at What Is That Book About
Review at Clarissa Reads It All (The French Orphan)

Monday, January 30

Review at Books, Dreams, Life (The Secrets of Montrésor)
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views (The Secrets of Montrésor)

Tuesday, January 31

Spotlight at A Literary Vacation
Review at Clarissa Reads It All (The Secrets of Montrésor)

Wednesday, February 1

Review at 100 Pages a Day (The French Orphan)

Thursday, February 2

Spotlight at Broken Teepee
Review at Turning The Pages (The French Orphan)

Friday, February 3

Spotlight at A Bookaholic Swede
Review at Turning The Pages (The Secrets of Montrésor)

Sunday, February 5

Review at Books, Dreams, Life (Under the Spell of The Serenissima)
Review at Clarissa Reads It All (Under the Spell of The Serenissima)
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views (Under the Spell of The Serenissima)

Monday, February 6

Review at 100 Pages a Day (The Secrets of Montrésor)

Tuesday, February 7

Spotlight at Kinx’s Book Nook

Wednesday, February 8

Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews
Review at Clarissa Reads It All (The Queen’s Maid of Honour)

Thursday, February 9

Review at Turning The Pages (Under the Spell of The Serenissima)

Friday, February 10

Review at Turning The Pages (The Queen’s Maid of Honour)
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession (The French Orphan)
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views (The Queen’s Maid of Honour)

Saturday, February 11

Review at Yelena Casale’s Blog (The French Orphan)
Review at Books, Dreams, Life (The Queen’s Maid of Honour)

Audiobook Review: The Plague and I by Betty MacDonald (Narrated by Heather Henderson )

Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press

Pub. Date: April 8th, 2016

Author: Betty MacDonald
Narrator: Heather Henderson

Length: 8 hours 48 minutes

Genre: Humor, Memoir

Book Series: Betty MacDonald Memoirs #2

Synopsis

The Plague and I recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly.

What Did I Think About the Book?

I have to admit that I had never heard of Betty MacDonald before listening to The Plague and I, her memoir regarding her experiences in a tuberculosis sanitarium and her sometimes serious/sometimes comical adventures in health and illness. I'm so glad I decided to listen to this audiobook as the author's world, told through this wonderful story and by a remarkable narrator, was really interesting and gave me a view into an experience and setting I never would have been able to experience otherwise.

The story begins with MacDonald's recap of the opposing attempts at health education and application between her father and grandmother as she and her siblings grew up. Her father was quite strict regarding exercise and diet while her grandmother sort of made up her own rules regarding health and illness and classified the children's illnesses into set diseases regardless of their symptoms. Ironically, in the end her most serious illness, tuberculosis, was inflicted on her by no fault or lack of discipline of her own.

The bulk of the story takes place in the sanitarium and it was fascinating learning the odd yet strangely effective treatments and rules employed to hopefully cure the many patients at The Pines. I was amazed at the humor MacDonald was able to demonstrate given her situation and what she was expected to do - or not do - in the name of a cure. They were made to spend the vast bulk of their time lying in a cold bed without speaking or coughing and without making any relationships that could hinder their progress. I'm so glad that MacDonald played a little loose with the rules and we were invited along for the ride.

My favorite part of the narrative would have to be the many quirky and therefore humorous characters MacDonald met at the sanitarium. Her roommates, especially the soft spoken Kimmy with the biting wit, made her time in bed as fun as possible. The other patients were a myriad of the absurd - from hypochondriacs to Negative Nancy's to unusually optimistics - and it was so fun watching them on their own journeys through this memoirist's eyes. The nurses and doctors were not very friendly (with the exception of a few) and their strict rules became almost comical as they seemed to think they were working with robots instead of social creatures like humans. This insulated world and its strange cast of characters were unlike anything I'd seen before.

The narrator (Heather Henderson) was excellent. My favorite qualities of a good narrator are their ability to alter their voice based on the various characters and to express the emotions appropriately that the author meant to express with their words. Henderson did an excellent job of changing her voice up based on who was speaking, which is amazing because there is quite an extensive cast of characters. I never had to guess at who was speaking and I really appreciate that when listening to an audiobook. Henderson also easily expressed the humor intrinsic in each line of the story and it kept the mood light and breezy when it could have easily taken on a darker tone.

The Plague and I was the perfect story for an audiobook. It's interesting, informative, and oh so funny. I'm curious to learn more about the author and am definitely planning on listening to more audiobooks by this narrator. All in all a very pleasant listening experience.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

Sadly the cover does nothing for me. It very plain and, other than having the picture of the author in the bottom corner, doesn't really offer anything of interest to look at. I'm not even a very big fan of the color scheme. So much more could have been done to make it appealing.

My Rating: 4.0/5.0

Thank you to Audiobookworm Promotions for a free audiobook copy of The Plague and I in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own. Please see below for more information about the author, narrator, and the rest of the blog tour.

About the Author: Betty Macdonald

Betty Bard MacDonald (1907–1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs.

Piggle-Wiggle children’s books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, andThe Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald’s vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters.

MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional memoirs: The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters on Vashon Island).

Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald’s archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, the first official biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona.

About the Narrator: Heather Henderson

Heather Henderson is a voice actress and audiobook narrator with a 20-year career in literary and performing arts. Her narrations include the NYT bestseller (now also a feature film) Brain on Fire; and Sharon Creech's The Boy on the Porch, which won her an Earphones award and was named one of the Best Children's Audiobooks for 2013 by Audiofile Magazine. She earned her Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the Yale School of Drama, and is co-curator of AudioEloquence.com, a pronunciation research site for the audiobook industry. In 2015, Heather was a finalist for a Voice Arts Award (Outstanding Narration, Audiobook Classics), for her narration of Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I.

The Plague and I Blog Tour Schedule

Jan. 11: A Page To Turn (Giveaway, Spotlight, & Audio Excerpt)
Jan. 12: Dab of Darkness (Review & Giveaway)
Jan. 13: The Pursuit of Bookishness (Review, Giveaway, Spotlight, & Audio Excerpt)
Jan. 14: terriluvsbooks (Spotlight)
Jan. 15: Kristine Hallways (Review, Giveaway, & Audio Excerpt)
Jan. 16: Blogger Nicole (Spotlight)
Jan. 17: Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Jan. 18: Ali the Dragon Slayer (Review)
Jan. 19: The Bookworm Lodge (Spotlight)
Jan. 24: Never 2 Many 2 Read (Review & Giveaway)
Jan. 25: Country Girl Bookaholic (Giveaway, Spotlight, & Audio Excerpt)
Jan. 26: He Said Books Or Me (Review)
Jan. 27: Bound4Escape (Review)
Jan. 28: Working Mommy (Review & Giveaway)
Jan. 29: Avid Book Collector (Review, Giveaway, Spotlight, & Audio Excerpt)
Jan. 30: A Literary Vacation (Review)
Jan. 31: January Gray Reviews (Review)

The Tip of My Wish List - Covers with Water

If you're anything like me you've got a book wish list so long there is no way you will ever be able to read through it all. And, on top of that, it's never ending because you just can't stop adding more books to it! To try and organize myself I'm sharing 5 books from my wish list that I'm most excited to get to, usually with a common theme, on the last Friday of each month. I know a number of excellent bloggers who do similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new books to your own wish list. I'll also link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy of the books if they sound like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list.

When going through my wish list I noticed that a good number of covers have water incorporated in the image. Sometimes this seems to denote some sort of mystery or can be symbolic of a changeability or flow to the narrative. Or, you know, the story might literally have to do with water. Regardless it seems to be a part of many novels, and here are the top 5 novels with water on the cover that I'm excited to read as soon as I can!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon The Girl on the Train returns with Into the Water, her addictive new novel of psychological suspense.


A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.

With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.


Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.

Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.


When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.


From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.

The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen

Nine-year-old Louis Drax is a problem child: bright, precocious, deceitful – and dangerously, disturbingly, disaster-prone. When he falls off a cliff into a ravine, the accident seems almost predestined. Louis miraculously survives – but the family has been shattered.

Louis’ father has vanished, his mother is paralysed by shock, and Louis lies in a deep coma from which he may never emerge. In a clinic in Provence, Dr Pascal Dannachet tries to coax Louis back to consciousness. But the boy defies medical logic, startling Dannachet out of his safe preconceptions, and drawing him inexorably into the dark heart of Louis’ buried world.

Only Louis holds the key to the mystery surrounding his fall – and he can’t communicate. Or can he?

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Suspenseful and cinematic, Bittersweet exposes the gothic underbelly of an idyllic world of privilege and an outsider’s hunger to belong.


On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it’s the kind of place where children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour. Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she’s ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs.

But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact - and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family’s dark secrets and make Ev’s world her own.

Napoleon's Last Island by Thomas Keneally

From the bestselling author of Schindler’s List and The Daughters of Mars, a new historical novel set on the remote island of Saint Helena about the remarkable friendship between a young woman and one of history’s most intriguing figures, Napoleon Bonaparte, during the final years of his life in exile.


In October 1815, after losing the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was banished to the island of Saint Helena. There, in one of the most remote places on earth, he lived out the final six years of his life. On this lonely island with no chance of escape, he found an unexpected ally: a spirited British girl named Betsy Balcombe who lived on the island with her family. While Napoleon waited for his own accommodations to be built, the Balcombe family played host to the infamous exile, a decision that would have devastating consequences for them all.

In Napoleon’s Last Island, “master of character development and period detail” (Kirkus Reviews) Thomas Keneally recreates Betsy’s powerful and complex friendship with the man dubbed The Great Ogre, her enmities and alliances with his remaining courtiers, and her dramatic coming-of-age. Bringing a shadowy period of history to life with a brilliant attention to detail, Keneally tells the untold story of one of Europe’s most enigmatic, charismatic, and important figures, and the ordinary British family who dared to forge a connection with him.

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Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list: 

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired

Stephanie at Layered Pages

Heather at The Maiden's Court

Erin at Flashlight Commentary

Magdalena at Bookaholic Swede