I am linking up with Steph and Jana again to show you my books.

Right now, these are the books I am thinking about:

It’s Book Fair week in my school library and all of these books are taking over my day. I loved Book Fair week as a kid and I love it just as much as an adult. There are some great kids books out there and I read one this month. We were fortunate to meet Jason Reynolds a few weeks ago. My local bookstore is AMAZING and brings the best authors to the students at my school and members of our community!!!

I read Ghost by Jason Reynolds and I am planning on reading the other three books in the Track series. Ghost is a kid that happens upon a track team practice and talks his way on to the team. He is living in a tough situation and really wants to do the right thing. However, he keeps messing up and disappointing the people who care about him, Coach and his mom. He does have to face the consequences for his actions and he is learning from the lessons Coach and his mom teach him. The series continues telling the stories of three other track athletes. My son Jack is 9 and he read the book, but we read it together and really talked about the book. There is a tough scene at the beginning and I recommend pre-reading before you give it to your middle grade kids to decide if it is a conversation you want to have. I give it ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️.

I read Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand. I love Elin’s books and enjoyed this one too. When I read Elin’s last winter series I waited until all three were published and read the back to back to back. I’m not sure which way I prefer. In this story, Irene gets a call telling her that her husband was killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of St. John. Irene didn’t even know that her husband was in St. John! She and her sons travel to the island to try to find out what happened and what their husband/father was doing there. They get tangled up with a few locals and discover more about themselves than the cause of the accident. The book ends on a major cliff hanger and we’ll have to wait until October 2019 to see what happens! I give it☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️!

I just finished Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this book. I have read other books (southern, realistic fiction) by Patti Callahan Henry and enjoyed them. This historical fiction account of how Joy Davidman Gresham met and fell in love with C.S. Lewis or Jack as she called him. Everything I read about the book had me super excited to read it. It is a long book, over 400 pages, and while I found the whole book interesting the beginning was a little slow. But the second half was so worth making it through the first half. In the first half, Joy leaves her family to go to England to rest and regain her health. As a mom I couldn’t imagine leaving my children for months at a time to go heal, write, and travel. Upon her arrival at home, Joy realizes that this is not the life for her. She’s so unhappy and feels she must go back to England and her Jack. I loved watching Joy and Jack’s relationship evolve and seeing her boys flourish at The Kilns, Jack’s home with his brother Warnie. Theirs is a love story for the ages. It’s a long book, but definitely worth the read for historical fiction fans, C.S. Lewis fans, and Patti Callahan fans. Enjoy! **I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.**

I have been reading a ton of Karma Wilson books to the kids at school. We were lucky to host her at our school in October. (I’m telling you, my local bookstore is amazing!!) I love her Bear books and we loved hearing her newest book, Bear Can’t Sleep, the day before her pub day. What an incredibly talented storyteller Karma Wilson is. If you can go hear her tell her story, do it!!

Since I’m telling you about our amazing bookstore, A Likely Story, I’ll let you know what I have going on this week. I am excited to meet Natasha Solomons on Thursday night. She is here to talk about her newest book, House of Gold, and I can’t wait. I read The Song of Hartgrove Hall last year and am looking forward to meeting Natasha and hearing what she has to say.

That’s it for this month. I’ve started reading a Christmas book that reads like a Hallmark movie – It Started with Christmas – and I am still working through Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret. I am hoping to share a bunch of Christmas books, for children and adults, with you next month.

Have a great day filled with sunshine and books!

☀️ 📚 😎