The Fair Maid of Kent {Giveaway}

A Triple Knot by Emma Campion
Published: July 8, 2014 by Broadway Books
I've read so many books about English royalty, but I believe this is the first I've read from the 1300s. Although I'm sure it won't be the last since there's several, Katherine by Anya Seton and The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper specially, that I've been wanting to read for a while now.

Going into this I knew nothing of Joan of Kent or Edward III and while I wouldn't call myself an expert now, I know far more than I would have expected. This book is so detailed, and feels so well researched. It's hard without something to compare it to, but it really did ring true to the period.

But with all that detail sometimes the story gets lost. Yes, I was invested in Joan's life and I couldn't wait to see who'd she'd end up with, but it seemed to take forever to get there. There seemed to be page after page, again full of details, but ones that didn't move the story forward.

Which is why is almost surprising how quickly everything developed in the last 100 pages. It almost seemed a somewhat lengthy version of an epilogue. I still enjoyed the overall story, but I think it would have been better if the first 300 pages or so were shortened and the last 100 lengthened. I just think it would have felt a little more balanced that way.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed my visit to the 1300s, and I'm actually anxious to get back. There are so many interesting characters, Edward II's Queen Isabella especially, that I was a bit fascinated by and am hoping to find more books that delve more into their history.

3.5/5

If you're ready to escape to the 1300s, I have a copy of this book for you! US or Canada only. Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter.
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Disclosure: I was provided this book through TLC Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.

Orange You Glad I'm Here

You may have noticed posting has been a bit light this past week. With good reason though since we spent the week of 4th of July in Orange Beach, Alabama.
On a vacation like this is doesn't really make sense to do a full day-by-day recap. Instead there was a lot of time spent laying out and tanning,

looking for shells,
playing in the sand,

swimming the ocean (which I don't technically have photos of since I was little scared of getting my camera too close to water),
and of course, getting buried in the sand.

All in all, a pretty relaxing trip for the whole extended family.

What are your favorite types of vacations? Those full of lazy days or ones where you're out doing something each day?

Mailbox Monday (83)

I may have missed posting my Mailbox Monday last week (more on that tomorrow), but this week, I'm back...
From Goodreads
Will You Love Me by Cathy Glass
I hadn't heard of this author before winning this but turns out she's written a number of books. This one, like many of her others, is about one of the children she raised. This daughter she adopted although it looks like most books are about her foster children. I have a feeling this will be a bit heartbreaking, but we'll see if I wind up picking up any of her other books after finishing it.

From Paperback Swap
The Birth House by Ami McKay
I've heard such great things about this book. Plus I loved The Virgin Cure, the only other book I've read by this author. I'm not completely sure what this is about, although it looks to be a historical fiction during WWI. Needless to say, I'm excited about it.

For Review from TLC Book Tours
2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
This one is about a nine-year-old aspiring jazz singer who goes looking for The Cat's Pajamas, a famous jazz club in Philadelphia. I was actually thinking this was historical fiction, but I think it actually takes place in the modern day. Either way it sounds like a lot of fun, and hopefully it's one I'll enjoy.

Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn Dingman
This one looks like the perfect summer chick-lit type from the cover, but I'm not sure that's actually the case. Instead it takes place after the death of the main character's mother, where she takes a road trip to the South with her sister to scatter her mother's ashes. This definitely hits close to home for me, but I'm hoping it will be more healing than anything.

What did you find in your mailbox this week?

Graze it Up

Yes it's that time again, it's my monthly graze box. I will say that so far nothing has been as good as my first box, but I'm still having fun with it.
After last month's mango chutney I was a little skeptical of trying the My Thai since it looked similar, but I actually rather enjoyed it. It's official description is a sweet chilli sauce with baked soy bites.
I thought the sauce had the perfect amount of spice, and while I liked the bites, they definitely tasted better with the sauce.
Next was the Jalapeno Fiesta with an official description of jalapeno peanuts, roasted sunflower seeds, salsa mesquite almonds, and roasted pumpkin seeds.
Again this was enjoyable, but felt like something you could easily pick up at the grocery store at a lesser price.
Like last month, I did wind up with a flapjack. This time it was a summer berry flapjack described as a rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry-infused cranberries.
I really do enjoy these especially since they don't really taste like another other granola bar out there.
Unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan or the dessert-y pick, chocolate pecan pie with chocolate fudge, chopped dates, and pecan nuts.
While I did wind up eating pieces of everything, it wasn't really hitting the dessert craving I was going for, and buy the end I just wound up eating the fudge pieces.
Overall I think it was only kind of an "ok" box. I actually didn't wind up rating a single thing as "Love." But I'm not quite ready to cancel, especially since you can't deny how fun it is to get things in the mail. Although I did push my next box back a month, so hopefully by the time it comes around it will be an awesome selection!

If you want to try out graze you can sign up here to get your 1st and 5th box free! This post is not sponsored by Graze, however if you sign up using my referral link I'll receive $1 off my next box. All opinions expressed are my own.

17 Weeks Bumpdate

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of the Baby: A turnip

Maternity Clothes: I currently only have one pair of shorts that fit. At least shorts that aren't athletic type shorts. They're the ones I'm wearing in this weeks photo, as well as last week's, and since most Sundays I'm out watching the boy play baseball where shorts are a necessity, you'll likely be seeing them a bit more.

Nursery: Still no progress here.

Stretch Marks: Still none.

Sleep: I have a night once a week or so where I'm more tired than normal, but for the most part I'm back to my normal pre-pregnancy sleeping habits.

Movement: Still none.

Cravings: Which Wich! I could easily eat it ever day if necessary. Although unfortunately, it's on the other side of town, so I don't get there as much as I'd like to.

Symptoms: I've been breaking out lately. Although I realize my breaking out is nothing for a lot of people. But whenever I have even a small issue I notice it. And while it may or may not be related, I'm definitely attributing this to the pregnancy.

What I Miss: Nothing too crazy actually. Yes, more caffeine would be nice and a fruity summery mixed drink would be fun, but I'm not really missing them either.

Looking Forward To: I'm more than ready to make some progress on the nursery. So hopefully the next time you hear from me, something will have happened there.

6 Weeks ~ 7 Weeks ~ 8 Weeks

9 Weeks ~ 10 Weeks ~ 11 Weeks

12 Weeks ~ 13 Weeks ~ 14 Weeks

15 Weeks ~ 16 Weeks

From the Hungarian Gold Train

Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
Published: April 1, 2014 by Knopf
I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, but never anything quite like this. Normally it's a tale of the time leading up to the war and how they made it through. Once the war is over it's in someways "a happily ever after" because they survived, but nothing ever goes into what happened afterwards. You'd hope that things went back to normal, but knowing all the hate still around logically you know that can't be the case. I've never read anything that explored this time, which is one reason why I so enjoyed Love & Treasure.

The book starts off after the end of WWII with the story of Jack, an American soldier, tasked with the responsibility of looking after the Hungarian gold train. Except instead of gold and jewels the train is full of belongings of the Jews of Hungary. Jack's story could have easily been enough for an entire novel, but instead the book is divided into 3, somewhat connected, almost novellas. After Jack's story, which was my favorite, the book followed Jack's granddaughter in modern day. But the story that surprised me the most, and was my second favorite, took place in Hungary in 1913.

It was interesting reading this book after Degrees of Courage. Until then I hadn't read a thing about Hungary, but with it as a background I felt things made a little more sense in Love and Treasure. They didn't explain a lot about the structure of Hungary, or the fact that Budapest is made up to two cities (Buda and Pest) which could have been confusing. But since I read Degrees of Courage I felt a bit in the know.

I'm still a bit undecided about how I feel about the book's structure. I didn't dislike it necessarily, but I felt a bit surprised by it. Especially since I think each novella could have stood alone fleshed out. Part of me wonders how it would have worked if the stories were intertwined, but I'm not sure if it would have worked that way. Either way it is about a captivating subject with a somewhat unconventional way of telling it.

4.5/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.

Robots in Disguise

Transformers: Age of Extinction
If you go back and read my review of the last Transformers movie this one will read relatively the same. Too long, but great previews. This time we saw the trailer for Mockingjay Part 1. We also saw the new trailer for The Giver, and while I had seen the first one, I was excited to see parts of it WILL actually be in black and white as the book was.

As for the movie, again they could have cut out a lot of the actions scenes and made them a lot shorter. I wanted to like Mark Wahlberg's daughter, Nicola Peltz, but it seemed all she did the entire movie was scream. I was excited for the dinobots, but they were only in a small bit of the movie and didn't show up till the very end.

In some ways I want to say I was disappointed by this, but it actually was just as I expected it to be. And even with all my complaints I'm sure I'm still likely to see the next one in the theaters.