Book Review Time!! Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline 

  
This book did not let me down.  I started reading it because it was recommended to me by my good friend, the Goodreads app! Now if you are partial to scenes of history and a little fiction mixed together then you will love this book! It’s almost like the American Girl series books (yes, I read those books in my early years!) but BETTER! As an adult, I can relate more wholly to the premise and commiserate with the underlying issues. 

I have read many reviews on this book and some I’m surprised with and some I can see the point of view. 

My review is this: I loved that this book gave us a view of a piece of history that is not illuminated even in our American History courses growing up. It touches on a time when Americans were shipping orphans off to be used as indentured servants when they couldn’t find a home. How sad that the only way these children would get a home is if they were built for work, whether that be on the farm or as a seamstress, these children are put on a platform and picked like cattle. I read a review about how adoptive parents of previous orphan children are given a bad name in this book. I didn’t see it that way. I saw it as pointing out some realities in a different time. Realities such as abuse, malnourishment, and resentment. There were also good scenarios painted in the book as well. It gave us a look at the good, the bad, and the hideous! 

If you are the type to be overly analytical of each individual character, there are some characters that may not meet your fancy. If you read a book purely for the story, the painting of a different life, and an escape into a different time then this book will make you feel all different emotions through its quick pages! 

A quick yet powerful read! 

I recommend this book to you! 

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Landline 📞


BOOK REVIEW! 

Okay!  So I am, of course, a member of GoodReads (those of you readers that don’t have it….Get It!) This application helps you to track goals, get in touch with other readers and be able to get reviews at your fingertips! I absolutely love this app & you will too if you love to read as much as I do!
Anyways! This application also has a section for best books of the previous year & the best fiction book of 2014 was rated as Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I decided to give it a shot.
!!Of course this review is totally of my opinion!!
I liked this book. I couldn’t say that I loved it or even felt like I couldn’t put it down. I got through it. Maybe after Eleanor & Park by the same author I was expecting more. While Eleanor & Park was more “young adult” I still felt more of a connection to the book.
Landline is about a working mother that was feeling the pangs of being successful while having a family and trying to juggle the balance of work, play, and even the possible resenting husband at being left at home while his wife is successful outside of the home. This book had a lot of great elements built within it. Intrigue, success, bitterness, odd love connection, possible love triangle, & even a little bit of magic! Hence the Landline!
I would not say that this book is a waste of time!! It was a fun read! It was a quick read. You don’t know if it will end up a happy story or a sad one until the end. Great writing style.
Would I have given it the BEST fiction book of 2014? Probably not, but I definitely have read some books that were nowhere close to being as good.
This book definitely would make someone evaluate the importance of family. Which is a reminder that I’m sure we can all benefit from getting.

BOOK LUST! 

Okay! So, if I may, I am an AVID reader! I am a book-aholic! I am a worm of all worms that need to feed off of the pages of a book. Get the picture yet? You can ask my family, friends, anyone that knows me!! about my love for books. My cousin said the earliest memory he has of me is with a book. I’d rather be alone with a good book than surround by a ton of people. 

A room without a book is like a body without a soul!

My Louis Vuitton is constantly bogged down with books. It is like a security blanket of sorts. I can’t go anywhere without a book. Even to work! I know I can’t just sit at my desk and read all day while at work, but I can’t leave my house without one. JUST in case I find myself at lunch or stuck out in the middle of nowhere by my broken down car (everyone knock on wood!) I need to make sure I have a book with me. 

&& I have to have a book! I have all kinds of technology, but there is nothing like having a physical book in your hands and turning the page. I love the feeling of turning the page, of the rubbing my thumb and forefinger together with paper in between them to make sure that I only have one page. 

It’s love. 

& so, I will post book reviews! Of course they are my own opinion. My own views & they may not always be great reviews! However, I LOVE reading so I would love to share the books I’m reading with you! 

Let me know if there is a book you recommend me to read! I always take suggestions!  

 

First time for everything!

HELLO, you wonderful, you!

As I sit here writing this, I feel compelled to tell you that while I am an avid writer, reader, texter, eater, photographer, and pretty much any other activity that you can add the suffix “-er” to (and even some that maybe you just shouldn’t), I am new to the whole keyboard-to-blog deal. For as long as I can remember, I have been writing something! [However, more of a pen-to-paper format.] From writing in a pretty journal with blue and purple butterflies on the cover when I was 10 years old; to a zebra print journal full of teenage angst in my adolescence (I’ve never liked that word much); to a sophisticated, obscure, floral printed journal that I purchased from one of those modern chic printing companies that only produce here in the United States most recently. I adore the idea of writing about my ideas and feelings in one place. Never thinking that my ideas and feelings would want to be heard or read, for that matter, but as I recently found out, maybe they should be expressed.

As previously stated, I have never really shared my writing with anyone, but I have found that I express myself so much more fully in writing than I will allow in speaking. I am a “twenty-and-some-change” young woman from Texas. I am married and that alone seems to be an anomaly at my age these days. I got married at the age of 23 (and no, for all of those skeptics, or possibly just “curious” folks out there, I was not/am not/have not been pregnant). I find that it is hard for me to relate to people my own age, or some even older than I, and it is not because I think that I am ‘oh, so very special’, but rather that I am different, I’m in a different place in my life. I hope that this blog will allow those with similar interests, or possibly similar attributes to relate to someone who may not be in their immediate circle of friends, but is also a friendly outlet.

On that note, I am still a “twenty-and-some-change” –years old-young lady, and as most of you who have been there done that (and even you guys that haven’t quite gotten there yet) can venture or would guess, my life can be a bit everywhere. I have a full-time job, with a full-time crazy boss and some pretty insane coworkers. I have a husband that I would NOT go so far as to say is my “better half” as I think that we are more equal in that capacity, nonetheless, he is my rock and center. I have an amazing family that supports me in everything, even when I may not deserve it or may not have great reasoning for some of my choices. I am well-educated [if you consider having a couple of degrees ‘well-educated’ or not], I have been afforded numerous opportunities that I am forever grateful for. I am also, again, an avid reader, so part of my blog will be “what I’m reading now.” I go through life just like anyone else does! One day at a time, but as I always say: Life is for the living! I am going to do what I want and not think about what society says that I should be doing, and for that reason, I bring forth to you, you lovely you, my blog.