Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..
This is a very funny book, and I liked both Harriet and Chase. Harriet is refreshingly commonsensical (is that a word? I remember it from a Heyer I read). She knows that pride has no place in the if-we-don’t-work-we’ll-starve predicament of her family, so she gets the whole family to roll up their sleeves. Her personality is strong without being overbearing, and Ms. Hawkins adds a nice touch of wistfulness to her heroine’s personality. Chase is pretty engaging, once he sobers up, although his constant I’m-not-worthy hand-wringing got a little old after a while. The humor of the faked-amnesia scenario, however, compensated adequately for that.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
We hear so much in the media about families that don’t work. Well, I’m here for stories about those who do! We gave this very funny book at DIK.
The Jacobsons must now figure out what family means, try to fix their lives, figure out what to do with the family home – and do it all by themselves, without their late mom Sylvia to guide them. Who will survive?
The family itself, naturally, though it’s touch and go for a while there. Jackpot Summer does a great job balancing each sibling’s point of view, ladling on observational humor, and not sacrificing honesty and emotion in the process.
Each of the siblings has their flaws, and they’re each worth rooting for. All the while, the book has a great message about how money can’t heal your wounds. Jackpot Summer is laugh-out-loud funny and had me chortling along as things became wilder and well-meaning gestures of kindness fell apart. It’s an easy-breezy beach read that will make you smile as you snuggle within its covers.
It’s on sale for 1.99 here.
WWII stories continue to call to us–in no small part because they remind us of the best of ourselves. This one packs a wallop.
I find stories in which characters have meaningful, fulfilling jobs very attractive. And in Goodnight in London, Ms. Robson has done an excellent exploration of journalism as it was practiced in England in the 1940s. The dangers, the daring, and the finessing of interviewing are superbly depicted. But I also appreciated that while journalism was deeply important to Ruby and her editor, Kaz, they had lives and concerns that were beyond it; they were complex individuals. And the same goes for Ruby’s love interest, Bennett.
It’s on sale for 2.99 here.
For me, there are few series that shaped my sense of modern American history more that the Little House books. Sarah Miller was inspired to write Caroline’s story, Laura’s pioneer mom. It’s a winner.
The story begins with Caroline Ingalls learning that her husband Charles has managed to sell their property in Wisconsin, because he dreams of traveling to the prairies of Kansas. And the sooner they leave, the sooner they’ll own their own land in Kansas. Caroline is pregnant and has two small children to take care of, but she can see how invested Charles is in this, emotionally as well as financially. So even though it’s wrenching to leave her parents and siblings, and even though she has no idea what life in Kansas will be like – or even whether there’ll be a woman there who can help her with the birth – she makes the best of it.
It’s on sale for 2.99 here.