Hi dear readers,

In previous blogs, I’ve shared some fun reads with you and I’ve been reading a few as the summer season is starting. I love Amazon Kindle, including their Kindle Unlimited option. No, this isn’t a paid promotion. 🙂 I really do recommend their subscription as a way for bookworms to read. 20 book checkouts and 3 magazines subscriptions are allowed at one time. Borrowing is unlimited, so once you’re finished with a book, you can return it and select a new one. There are several authors that write exclusively for Kindle, and their books are well-written, thought provoking, and entertaining. We always hear the downside of technology, but I think this is one of the positives. Click HERE to subscribe and for more information.

Mental Health Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness month. Millions of people suffer from anxiety and depression, and for some it can be very debilitating. The stigma associated with mental health prevent many from seeking professional help. My beautiful and brave friend, C.K. Tuttle, wrote an intimate memoir in order to help break the stigma of bipolar disorder, chronic depression, postpartum depression, and debilitating anxiety . Finding Beauty in My Brokenness is her personal journey that so many people, including myself, can relate to.

C.K. is a wonderful wife, mom, daughter, friend and advocate of mental health. Her love for the Lord shines through in all she does, and her book, Finding Beauty in My Brokenness, is no exception. Her story is encouraging and provides hope for those that struggle or have a close relationship to someone struggling with mental health.

Title: Finding Beauty in My Brokenness
Author: C.K. Tuttle
Publisher: Westbow Press
Publication Date: November 2021
Click HERE to visit the author’s website and purchase the book.

Laura Story’s new book, So Long, Normal, is for those that struggle with always searching for life to be without hardships and disruptions. In the past I have probably created additional stress just by trying to not create ANY stress! Story delves into God’s word to answer why life here on earth will be imperfect and why we crave routine without unwanted disruptions. I learned so much about why we struggle and how to prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed by situations out of our control.

Story is a wife, mom author, bible study leader, worship pastor, and an award-wining music artist who understands when life is disrupted in ways we don’t want. Her husband, who was also her high school sweetheart, was diagnosed with a brain tumor after their first year of marriage. She shares their personal story and how God has worked through her ministry to provide comfort to others. Click HERE to visit her website, listen to her podcast, read her bio and shop.

Ella’s Book Nook #2!

Ella has been reading and listening to her books so much! We signed up for the reading program at the public library, which is a great way to encourage reading during break. She wrote the paragraphs below, with mom editing. 😉 She does a great job, and I’m happy to share her reviews with you.

Title: Kit: An American Girl
Author: Valerie Tripp
Narrator: Therese Plummer
Publication Date: January 2007
Click HERE for additional details.

I have been reading Kit’s Story Collection (discs 1-7). There is a added disc because the stories are so long, but my opinion is that it’s a great book. I like when Kit gives the little homeless kid her old coat. It just shows kindness and caring.
(Mom’s note: Ella has been listening to the Kit collection and really enjoys it. The audio for American Girl books are usually good. We usually borrow them from the library, but they are also available on Amazon Audible.)

Title: Farmer Boy
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 1953
Click HERE for additional details.

I also have been reading Farmer Boy with my class. It’s also a great book. I like when Alice covered the splotch of black paint on the guest area wallpaper. It also showed kindness. I give this book a 10/10, it is a great book and I love the ending.

Title: Little House on the Prairie
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Publisher: HarperOne
Publication Date: September 2010 (Anniversary Edition)
Click HERE to for additional information.

I love Little House on the Prairie. I love traveling and adventuring. Little House is a fun book to read, but sadly I have not finished it yet. I would like to read more. I can’t wait to finish it.

Title: Inside Out and Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 277 pages
Click HERE for additional information.

I read Inside Out and Back Again this last month. It’s a good book although it has some words that are from a different country, which is ok because I got 10/10 on my reading score for it. I would give it a 8/10 on it, fun to read but long sentences.

What I’m liking this month…

Joe and I are going on a mini road trip this weekend and we usually listen to podcasts or audiobooks when we are in the car. I found an Amazon Audible original drama based on a true story from 1980’s Hollywood titled The Miranda Obsession and written by famous playwright Jen Silverman. Rachel Brosnahan ( lead actress in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) stars as Miranda alongside Josh Groban and Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls, This is Us). The drama has great reviews and I’m looking forward to listening. Click HERE to listen.

From the producers:

Imagine a 1980s world of sumptuous hotel rooms, restaurants, New York City penthouses, and the powerful men who move easily between these pinnacles of luxury. They are music producers, rock stars, writers, and restaurateurs. They are household names like Billy Joel, Art Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, and Sting. And yet, each man has an entire aspect to his life that he doesn’t talk about publicly—his depression, his rocky marriage, his feelings of shame and failure, his private loss of faith. And now: The phone rings. Imagine the woman who has each of these men at her beck and call. Late at night, on the other end of the line, she projects a confidence and glamour that immediately disarms them. They don’t know her, but she intimately understands the feelings they’ve never articulated to anybody else, and she muses—low and soft, never making them feel uncomfortable—on what it means that they feel this way, and why. When these men talk to Miranda, they never feel alone. And when she talks to them, she feels alive. Before long, they’re giving her insider tidbits—on new mergers, movies, albums, restaurants—and she’s collecting this information like the currency it is. Then she vanishes, sometimes for weeks at a time, while they wait on edge for her to call again. 

Her name is Miranda Grosvenor, and the telephone persona that she has invented—a desirable, connected, compassionate, power player—is the person she lives to be. But who is Miranda, really? As the relationships between Miranda and the famous men she calls escalate, it becomes clear that Miranda may not be who she says she is and that her game is no longer a game at all.  

Jessica Biel of 7th Heaven fame stars in Hulu’s new drama, Candy, based on the true story of two 1980’s Texas housewives and the murder that ensued from a love affair. The book that inspired the drama, Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs, is written by journalists Jim Atkinson and John Bloom. I’ve started reading the true crime novel and it’s very well done. Jessica Biel never seems to disappoint and so I’m looking forward to her new drama.

Click HERE for additional information about the book.

I love to give beautiful editions of books as gifts and the blog, beautifulbooks.info, makes it easy to see what special editions are out on shelves and about to be released. Books are organized by author, artist and genre. Click HERE to visit the site.

Happy reading!