A Must for Your Summer Reading List: Hurricane Season by Lauren K. Denton

Happy Monday, My Lovelies!  I hope you escaped the storms over the weekend.  We had a couple of neighbors with storm damage to walls and roofs, but luckily for us we only had a few branches blown down. 

Speaking of storms: I read another wonderful release published by Thomas Nelson Publishing recently entitled Hurricane Season by Lauren K. Denton.  If y'all haven't read any of Thomas Nelson books yet, truly you should.  I have yet to be disappointed by any of them.  Here's a LINK to their website.

According to Goodreads:

Betsy and Ty Franklin, owners of Franklin Dairy Farm in southern Alabama, have decided to put life’s disappointments behind them. At least in theory. Ty manages their herd of dairy cows, while Betsy busies herself with the farm’s day-to-day operations and tries to forget the longing for motherhood set deep in her heart. But when Betsy’s free-spirited younger sister Jenna drops her young daughters off at the farm to attend a two-week art retreat in Florida, Betsy’s carefully constructed wall of self-protection begins to crumble.

As those two weeks stretch much farther into the hot Alabama summer, Betsy and Ty learn to navigate the new additions in their world and revel in a home that’s suddenly filled with the sound of laughter and life. Meanwhile, record heat promises to usher in the most active hurricane season in decades.

Four hundred miles away, Jenna is fighting her own battles. She’d once been free to travel and pursue a career in photography, but all that changed with the appearance of two pink lines on a plastic stick and a boyfriend who hit the road. At Halcyon art retreat, she finally has the time and energy to focus on her photography. As the summer continues, she wonders how her rediscovered passion can fit in with the life she’s made back home with her two children.

When Hurricane Ingrid aims her steady eye at the Alabama coast, Jenna must make a decision that could affect both her and her children’s futures, and Betsy and Ty find themselves protecting their beloved farm as well as their own hearts.

My Review:

First of all, I must disclose that I loved the Alabama setting.  Almost all of the locations mentioned in Alabama are real, and the author lives in Homewood, Alabama, a very quaint suburb where I take art classes each week.  As a Southerner, I appreciate Southern fiction with a sense of place, and Denton nails it in this book.  I felt the oppressive heat and humidity that's a thing during late summer in Alabama.  I also enjoyed reading about Betsy and Ty's backstory as undergrads at Auburn.

Much of the story concerns the sisterly relationship of Jenna and Betsy.  One seems to be rebellious and a free spirit more than the other, yet both disappoint their overachieving parents in different ways.  It's all about perspective in family dynamics, isn't it!  And for those of you who've read my blog for a long time, y'all know how fascinated I am about sisters, especially family dramas centered around them.  When Jenna drops-off her daughters Addie and Walsh at the Franklin Dairy Farm, she's oblivious to Betsy's hurt over not being able to conceive.  Once close, Jenna and Betsy no longer confide in each other.  This is where the conflict of the story is centered: Just what kind of mother is Jenna?  How could she drop of her girls and then extend her stay at the Halcyon Art Retreat for basically the rest of the summer?

Ty and Betsy's relationship is perilous because neither discuss their disappointment about not being able to start a family.  The nieces are reminders of their failure, and as the summer progresses, Ty's resentment of Betsy's agreeing to keep the girls without his consent festers.  Both are stubborn, and they annoyed me due to their their lack of communication.  Of course Betsy did the right thing for her sister, and she didn't really have time to discuss it with Ty.  As Hurricane Ingrid approaches, preparations for the storm consumes their time, and they drift further apart.

In the meantime....Jenna is progressing at Halcyon, and she's producing beautiful photographs.  Opportunities are opening for her, and she has tough decisions to make as the end of summer approaches.  I love how Denton weaves the Greek myth of Halcyon and Ceyx into the story.  I read the myth while reading the book, and the story applies to both sisters.  If you don't know this myth, you should read it.  Also, you should add Hurricane Season to your summer reading list because it's a very well-written, sweet story.  

Lauren K. Denton

Connect with Lauren

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Disclosure:  I received an ARC of Hurricane Season from the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Below is an IndieBound affiliate link for purchasing Hurricane Season. 

Until next time...
Happy reading! Ricki Jill

Literary Friday: The Cruel Prince

Happy Friday, My Lovelies!  As our daughters have gotten older, I'm not reading as many YA novels.  The reason I've read so much YA is because I enjoyed discussing books with my girls, and that's what they were reading.  Now they're reading more "new adult" and sometimes I read along with them, but they're so busy with their studies it leaves little time for them to read for fun.

I read The Cruel Prince by Holly Black during the winter, but I keep forgetting to write about it here on the blog.  Both of our daughters love Holly Black, but each loved a different series, so I've read many of her books.   ;D    I enjoyed The Cruel Prince so much because it's so well-written, and it's understandable why Holly Black is one of the best YA writers.  The photo above is the first entry in my new reading journal, and as you can see from the date, I'm a wee bit behind on blogging about my reading, but I'll catch up, no worries!

According to Goodreads:

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.


In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.


My Review:

If you enjoy books about the fae, then you will love the kingdom Holly Black has built in this book.  I  also love that mortal Jude wants to be recognized at the High Court of Faeire for her skills in the hopes that she will be chosen as a knight.  She diligently trains, and she makes a few daring choices to get noticed by powerful members of The Court.  This is shocking to me especially in light of the circumstances of her parents' brutal murders.

As interesting as the characters are, the plot is what totally kept me entranced.  There are many plot points I was not expecting, and I read this book quickly over a couple of days.  If I hadn't had life interfere, I probably would've read it in one sitting.  Jude's relationship with Prince Cardan and how each views the other is interesting to say the least, and the book ends with many more questions than answers.  I'm already very impatient waiting for Book Two in what promises to be the best YA series I've ever read.  The Cruel Prince is Book One in The Folk of the Air series.

This is the beautiful cover of book two in the series, scheduled for release January 8, 2019.

Sidenote:  I'm trying to read more stand alone novels than series because the older I get the less patient I am in between installments!  ;D


Below is an IndieBound affiliate link for purchasing The Cruel Prince.

Until next time...
Happy reading!
Ricki Jill

What I'm Reading Wednesday: Love Walked In

Happy Wednesday, My Lovelies!  After a rainy and cold weekend, it's been a beautiful sunny week (although unseasonably cold).  Today I'm sharing the first book in a series by one of my favorite writers Marisa de los Santos:  Love Walked In.   I've already shared book two (Belong to Me) and book three (I'll Be Your Blue Sky) here on the blog, so I thought I should probably share the first book, too.

According to Goodreads:

When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs--eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother--goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.

My Review:

Cornelia Brown is a thirty-one year old underachiever.  She's wicked smart, yet she quit graduate school before she'd completed a semester.  She's dreamy, a romantic, and has a great big heart.  Cornelia also loves classic movies, and when Cary Grant lookalike Martin Grace walks into her coffee shop she's immediately smitten.  But Martin's introduction into her life isn't the big story in this novel.  This story is more concerned with eleven year old Clare (whose mentally unstable mother is missing at Christmas) and Cornelia's friendship with Clare at the most vulnerable time in her young life.

In spite of Cornelia's slacker lifestyle, I love her character.  Sometimes she feels a wee bit overshadowed by her geneticist sister who happened to marry Teo, Cornelia's best childhood friend.  Teo travels to Philadelphia for a conference during Christmas while Cornelia is trying to help Clare find her way (and her mother).  They decide to spend Christmas with Cornelia's family in Delaware, and Clare is happy and content spending time with the Brown family.  Reality sets in as the holiday comes to a close and school is set to begin.  How can Cornelia continue to care for Clare without the school becoming suspicious, and should she or should she not contact the police?

Although this is a sweet story,  Marisa de los Santos does an admirable job depicting the devastating affects of bipolar disorder on individuals who suffer from the mental illness and their family members.  Santos sugarcoats nothing, yet she's also respectful and handles the plot point with dignity.  If you enjoy family drama with lovable, quirky characters, an interesting plot, and plenty of references to classic films, then you should enjoy Love Walked In.  

Below is an affiliate link to IndieBound for purchasing Love Walked In.

Until next time...
Happy reading! Ricki Jill