The Books I Read - Just for Fun - In February

Started 2/22/21                                                    Finished 3/2/21
I saw Chloe King on TV back in 2011. It was a fun series, at least in the beginning, so I bought the set – The Fallen, The Stolen, and The Chosen. The books  were way better than the series, as expected.
I still like it because it’s a fun, coming of age story. Think Twilight with a dash of Romeo &  Juliet, a side order of Cats for good measure. I’m on Book 2, chapter 24, the Stolen. Girls, no matter their age, still love to have fun!
 
Amazon’s Description:
Chloe King is a seemingly normal girl. She goes to class (most of the time), fights with her mom, and crushes on a boy…or two. But around her sixteenth birthday, Chloe finds that perhaps she isn’t so normal after all. There’s the heightened night vision, the superfast reflexes—oh, and the claws.

As Chloe discovers who she is—and where she comes from—it is clear she is not alone. Someone is trying to get her. And they will stop at nothing until they do. Chloe has nine lives…but will nine be enough?

First released as a trilogy in 2004, this bind-up edition arrives just as the new ABC Family original series The Nine Lives of Chloe King, based closely on the original novels, premieres in June 2011.
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Started 2/17/21                                                Finished 2/21/21
I was looking for fun and fantasy, and I remembered picking this up in 2019. The plot is a mix of mystery and romance, ghosts and second sight. It was a fun read then, and now! This time –  4 days from start to finish!
PS – It appealed to me because the first story I wrote had the ghost of Herman the German and 3 missing Roman legions. No one knew where the battle took place until the 1990’s. That’s when retired British Major Tony Clun found it, armed with a metal detector. 

​Amazon’s Description:
Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea, in this darkly romantic novel of historical fiction by bestselling author Susanna Kearsley.
The invincible ninth Roman Legion marches from York to fight the Northern tribes, and then vanishes from the pages of history. When Verity Grey goes looking for them in modern-day Scotland, she may find more than she bargained for.
Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it—not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.
Here on the windswept Scottish shores, Verity may find the answer to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the historical record. Or she may uncover secrets from the romantic past that were buried for a reason.
 

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Started 2/11/21                                      Finished 2/17/21 
I bought and read this book when it came out in 2017. It’s not my normal read, but I saw Ken on Tucker Carlson. He talked about being a longtime Democrat, and he decided to write about the other side of the aisle.

Back then it gave me hope that Democrats and Republicans could work together. I picked it up again this month, looking for that hope again. It still has great insights, tells a few good stories, and has statistics that make sense to me and my point of view. They also helped me understand the other side.

​The first 4 chapters made me sad. Nothing’s changed since 2017. In fact it’s worse. I feel like there is never going to be a way for Biden  and Trump voters to look at , or listen to each other, with respect or even kindness. I hope I’m wrong, that I won’t be attacked, and that someone will read my words and pick up this book. I guess hope springs eternal.
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Keep reading, especially if you’re a conservative like me. You’ll find some things that make you feel better about yourself and the future of this country.

Amazon’s Description:
Ken Stern watched the increasing polarization of our country with growing concern. As a longtime partisan Democrat himself, he felt forced to acknowledge that his own views were too parochial, too absent of any exposure to the “other side.” In fact, his urban neighborhood is so liberal, he couldn’t find a single Republican--even by asking around.
So for one year, he crossed the aisle to spend time listening, talking, and praying with Republicans of all stripes. With his mind open and his dial tuned to the right, he went to evangelical churches, shot a hog in Texas, stood in pit row at a NASCAR race, hung out at Tea Party meetings and sat in on Steve Bannon’s radio show. He also read up on conservative wonkery and consulted with the smartest people the right has to offer.
What happens when a liberal sets out to look at issues from a conservative perspective? Some of his dearly cherished assumptions about the right slipped away. Republican Like Me reveals what lead him to change his mind, and his view of an increasingly polarized America.

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Started 2/7/21                                             Finished 2/11/21 
I wanted to find out what happened to Lou from ME BEFORE YOU. I’m already 8 chapters in. If I hadn’t bought the book, I might have quit. The first chapter threw me. Lou didn’t appear till page 3 or 4., but it got better!

Done! JoJo added in two new characters. They kept me guessing on where the plot was going, till the very end. And yes, I’ll DEFINITELY go onto book 3.

Amazon’s Description:
How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?
Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.
Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .
For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

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Started 1/30/21                                                  Finished 2/6/21
This is the Pride & Prejudice variation I thought I had last time. It made an impression on me. It all starts when Elizabeth received those 2 letters from Jane, but Lydia didn’t run away with Wickham this time. She died in an accident. It deepens into a mystery as Elizabeth learns about Lydia’s last days. This version struck a chord with me because of the way Elizabeth grows as a character. She remembers Lydia’s flaws, but she also finds a value in her that hasn’t been acknowlged in any other book.
 
Amazon’s Description:
Jane Austen’s beloved Pride and Prejudice is readapted in this regency tale of love in the face of tragedy. Mr. Darcy is thwarted in his attempt to propose to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford when he encounters her minutes after she receives the sad news from Longbourn of her sister’s death. His gallantry and compassion as he escorts her back to Hertfordshire begins to unravel the many threads of her discontent with him. While her family heals from their loss, Darcy must search London for answers – answers that might bring justice, but might also just mark the end of his own hopes with Elizabeth. Is it true that nothing can be lost that love cannot find?
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