Hey everyone! I realized the other day I am behind on some reviews. So here is my little reading review round up.

I saw this at the library and had to grab it. Look how beautiful it is! And the illustrations inside are just as gorgeous. And bonus, it counted towards the Nonfiction Reading Challenge! This book was interesting yet full of horrible stories. I think one thing made this one different than other true crime type books is that this book pointed out that many times these women were acting out a lack of agency in their own lives, trapped by the laws and culture of their time, trapped in abusive marriages, and acted out of desperation and a lack of hope. But then on the other hand, many of them were just horrible evil women. I literally could not get over how many children were killed. I was shocked. Anyway, this book was a book that places these crimes in the timeline of history.

Nonfiction Challenge Update: So far I have completed Nonfiction Nipper. I have read more than three nonfiction books, but most of them were memoirs! I have read 9 nonfiction in total this year so far.

Sigh. I wanted to love this book more than I did. It was sort of meh but I loved the setting, which was the Catskills at a resort during the 1950s. I feel like the author tried to tackle too much in one book, and should have focused more on a cozy mystery rather than trying to add in the red scare. She could have leaned in on the prejudice of women owning and operating a large business, and then the fun details of the resort, etc. Since there are only two books in this series, and the last one I believe was published in 2021, I think she might have lost interest as well. It just tried too hard but had a lot of potential in my opinion.

This was a cute middle grade horror. I read it to cleanse my brain of Yesteryear, and it was very effective. Calisa and her family travel to Ohio when the grandfather she never met passed away. They stay in his house/inn, and Calisa begins to see ghosts. There is a whole mystery, with lots of ghosts and it was pretty good. There was a bit of realism too, with her dad’s grief surrounding his father’s death, his guilt and grief and how he reacts. I think middle grade can shy away from adults having emotions and this one did not. There is a second one in this series and I plan on picking it up at some point.

The Growing Summer, or The Magic Summer depending on what country you are in, is a delight of a book. I needed this book the past week. It was just easy and gentle, and I loved reading about these four siblings who are sent to live with their Great-Aunt Dymphna in Ireland while their mom joins their father, who has fallen gravely ill while studying germs in a distant country. Their life had been ordinary and “normal”, school and bedtimes and mealtimes and regular laundry times before going to Ireland. However, Dymphna is not like that, and doesn’t really plan on doing all that for the children. Instead she sort of points them to where all those things are done, the kitchen, ingredients, the beach, and tells them to just go to it. Eat when they want, sleep when they want -it is an entirely independent existence. They have never done these things before so it is a learning curve for them all, and when they ask Dymphna any questions she usually responds in poetry, which would frustrate me to no end personally. Lol. The neighbors are the real heroes here. The kids also harbor a secret for the time they are there, which is pretty funny as well. It was a good gentle vintage read, and I loved that one of the neighbors gave the oldest brother the business for leaving all the home keeping to the oldest sister.

And that is it from me today. Peace and love to all of you.

Hello everyone!

Today is supposed to be disgustingly, dangerously hot so I am keeping Wyatt inside today. It is just too hot out there. I think we are supposed to top out at 111 degrees with the heat index. So we will be hiding out inside, and I am going to fiddle around on the computer for a bit and then later we are going to paint, Wyatt’s request. This is one of his top three requests though so it’s not really new. He would paint all day everyday.

I thought this might be a good time to just review our homeschool life, what we did last year and what I am thinking about for next year!

Last year we had a lot of fun. Wyatt is really making advancements lately. His favorite subject by far is history, but it is also mine and I tend to go all in on that one. We covered only 100 years but dang it we had a good time learning. We started with the Revolutionary War, and finished up with the US on the brink of the Civil War.

We read quite a few books together too for Language Arts! We read Hoot, Holes, Little House on the Prairie, and By the Great Horn Spoon. I’m forgetting one too. I get a lot of our unit studies for language arts from The Waldock Way. I love how she mixes in games and videos and extra little activities to make learning more dimensional. I bought one for Because of Winn-Dixie as well, but we didn’t end up using it. I also bought one for Rascal as well, but I am saving that one too. That one I got from Treehouse Schoolhouse. FYI, The Waldock Way is having a sale right now!

In science we leaned in on biomes, from mangroves to prairies, to deserts to the tundra. Then we started in on our own biome, the human body. We stopped due to his surgery but we will pick it up again in the fall.

Our art was all over. Dahli to Kusama to architecture. It was a blast!

I am still in the midst of deciding on the read alouds and projects and field trips for this year; I just sort of plan some of that all year anyway. I do know that I want to do Because of Winn Dixie, and Calico Girl, but that is about it so far.

As for history, I use History Quest as a spine, but then expand into my own studies, take them farther. I also add in Michigan history as we go, with lessons about what is happening in Michigan at that point in the history timeline. We really do have so much fun. Two of my friends homeschool now, their own special needs children, and they are joking that they want me to teach their kids history as well. (I think they are joking? If not it’s cool I totally would!)

We are going back to Blossom and Root this year as well, for Science and Art. In science he is continuing with the human body, and then doing some physical science, which is my least favorite, which is why I am reverting to Blossom and Root. They do such a good job with science. I think it is their passion, like history is mine. I am using their art curriculum for year 5 as well, which will cover artists like Beatrix Potter, Mark Rothko, Charles Demuth, among others. I am contemplating adding in their nature study too, which would be fun to do with the Blackbirds! Year 5 focuses on weather, water, and the celestial sphere, so maybe. I am thinking about it.

We also use All About Math and All About Reading right now. Wyatt has had inconsistent studies due to all of his medical challenges so he is playing catch up, but doing so well! I am so proud of him!

In between this, I am finishing up a study that I started writing years ago! I put it aside for a while then life got in the way. I thought of it the other day, and looked at it again. I was so close to being done! It is a picture book study, with 25 weeks of different stories, activities, copywork, journaling, comprehension, and some fairy tale comparisons. Nothing major, more for lower elementary, and focuses on gentle books, mindfulness, nature, family. I am pretty excited about it, and it should be done fairly soon. I will have it available on my Gumroad by the end of the summer! (I have three projects I want done by September – my 25 weeks of stories curriculum, my disability representation site up, and my multi-purpose room painted.) I am getting pretty close with the first two already! My Gumroad has a few things up on it, a freebie and some art studies and a nature study but that is it for now.

And, that is it for now my friends. Peace and love to you all.

Hello everyone. I know a lot of you know I shared some big news here last week. My mom is holding her own, and has good days interspersed with not so good ones. I am trying to keep going with my normal life where and when I can but it feels wrong. I am sure it is good for my mental health though so I am going to keep on trying.

The Books:

The Breakdown: In June I read 6 books of many different genres. Two books themselves were multiple genres somehow! I read one true crime, two middle grade, one cozy mystery, and then one that is categorized as thriller/satire/contemporary fiction, and another that is fantasy/science fiction/litrpg/comedy horror. They were set in the Catskills at at a resort in the 1950s, Ohio, Ireland, Idaho, and Seattle/Dungeon. I added to one challenge, the nonfiction challenge from Shelleyrae at Book’d Out, and read 1,821 pages.

My favorite of the month – surprise, surprise, Dungeon Crawler Carl! I absolutely loved him, and of course Princess Donut. I can’t get enough of Princess Donut, she is awesome. I will probably start the second in the series in August.

The Screens:

We are revisiting old favorites from our childhood this summer! We wanted Wyatt to see some of them, and it has been so fun. The big winner of movie of the month here for Wyatt was The Sandlot, and for me it is a toss up between The Sandlot and The Sheep Detectives. I am going to agree with Marg, this was a case of the movie being better than the book! I though the book was kind of mid, but the movie is so cozy and cute. I do love sheep though.

The Sandlot is just such a wholesome summer movie. Baseball, carnivals, riding bikes, playing all day with your friends, and also now Wyatt has a frame of reference for when I say “You’re killing me Smalls!”

As for television, we watched Widow’s Bay, which we absolutely loved!! I didn’t want it to end. Patricia is probably one of my all time favorite characters in a tv show now. She is awesome. She is like an awkward badass and I love her.

A Good Book and a Cup of Tea favorites:

I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of!

We have decided we will be featuring our favorite posts from the month here. I do read all the posts even if I don’t comment. I only like to comment from my actual laptop and not from my phone, which is a problem sometimes when I read the post on my phone. ( I am working on more time to read and comment though. )

Dark Shelf of Wonders shares some fantastic looking books for July!!

I also enjoyed my co-host Lisa’s post about the ten mysteries she would like to read this summer.

I loved Marg’s review of Hot Chocolate on Thursday over at Intrepid Reader and Baker.

And for some non-book related faves this month….

All the moments with my mom

picnics

cat cuddles

graduation parties

summer reading on the library porch

nights with fireflies and blackberry bread

And that is it from me today. Peace and love to all of you.

Hello everyone.

I am writing today with a much heavier heart than usual. My mother has been hospice since March when she had a stroke; on Wednesday we were told that my mother is starting to decline and shut down, and they gave us a short timeline.

It feels absolutely surreal, to imagine a world without my mom, the one of the two people who have been with me from the beginning, and really the only person from the very beginning. Wyatt mentioned something about fall the other day, and I thought to myself, my mom won’t be here in the fall. And this all just feels heart crushing.

It’s been pretty crazy, with all the back and forth running, between my mom and Wyatt and home. Worth it, but still crazy. I feel so tired but not tired.

She is in and out of things, and I have always teased her, and continued to do so even after her stroke, sometimes just to test her. And even now she is up to the challenge. I sat next to her today, told her I loved her, and that she was my favorite mom. She cracked her eyes open and looked at me and replied in her mom tone that she always uses when I do this that she “is my ONLY mom.” And I said, yes, yes, you are my only mom. My momma.

I find myself just sort of all over the place. Staring out the window, cleaning madly, trying to read, hanging out with my guys. And my cats. They sense something is up with me and if I am sitting I am covered in 1-3 cats at all times right now. Animals are such a gift, the way they love us.

And I am sorry for a sad post today. I process big feelings this way, and well, this is pretty darn big.

I did want to share one good thing that happened this week, because it was pretty amazing. Wyatt walked the most he has ever walked in his gait trainer on Tuesday, and he did it so easily and so well. Big steps, multiple steps at a time, I mean he was going for it. He was faster than normal, had more endurance and stamina than before. His therapist and I were blown away and just so excited! I am so proud of him. He has been working so so hard!!!

View this post on Instagram

And that is it from me today folks. Peace and love to all of you.

Hello everyone! It’s time for the mid year look back! I can’t believe we are here already, honestly. But here we are.

Alrighty, let’s take a look at what I loved and didn’t love!

Best book you’ve read so far

This was really a very difficult choice. I loved so many books so far this year. But when I closed my eyes and thought about it, this is the one that popped into my head first! So, it is the winner. I am so glad that I found these slice of life books, that are just so gentle and easy.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far

This is literally one of the only sequels I have read this year! But I did love this short little series.

3. New release you haven’t read but want to

Ok so this one really isn’t a new release anymore but I am putting here anyway.

4. Most anticipated release for the rest of the year

5. Biggest disappointment of the year so far

I don’t know what I wanted from this, but apparently something a little different.

6. Biggest surprise of the year

I put this book off for decades but I am glad that my niece asked me to read it. It really was a fantastic book.

7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)

Ok, I apologize. I feel there may be a trend you see here in these next few.

8. New fictional crush

Carl. Although it’s not really a crush since he is half my age. But if he were old then it would be a crush for sure. I mean come on, he loves his cat!

9. New favorite character

And the aforementioned cat. Princess Donut. I absolutely love her!!!!

10. Book that made you cry

I don’t think I need to really explain here. So good but also so sad.

11. Book that made you happy

Such a happy sweet story. I loved it so much!

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought or received

Sarah Beth Durst always has the most beautiful covers!

13. What books do you need to read before the end of the year

I already said I am really looking forward to Sea of Charms so I will mention the other two coming out this year that I am excited about!

14. What is your favorite nonfiction read so far? (I added this question)

I have been reading a lot of nonfiction (for me) this year, so I wanted to acknowledge that on here. I absolutely loved this book. It was beautiful and heartfelt and I highly recommend it. Especially if you love rabbits like I do!

How about you? How would you answer these? If you end up doing this post, let me know! I would love to see your answers!

And that is it from me today!! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: Summer TBR

Hello everyone! I have already started on my Summer TBR/Hopefuls list and managed to knock a few off already. Jane of Lantern Hill, Yesteryear, Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Last Resort, Deadly Summer Nights, but I decided to make an enormous list to choose from this summer, instead of a small list. I have limited time to read so I don’t get through books as fast as I used to, so my eyes are often bigger than I can read.

That said, here are my top hopefuls.

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie || My Own Cape Cod by Gladys Taber || The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfeild || The Smallest of Joys by Diane Shiffer

How To Survive Camping The Man with No Shadow || What Happened to Those Girls || Murder at the Lakeside Library || Campfire and Corpses || Off the Beaten Path

Oh My Affogato || Sea of Charms || Tea with Elephants || Paper Ghosts

The Chowder House Murder || Dying for Strawberries || Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop || Summer at Mulberry Cottage

So I know I won’t even come close to reading all of these, but this is my pool of books I am choosing from this summer. There are some I want to read more than others, but that also depends on the availability from my library (Sea of Charms and The Smallest of Joys, I am looking at you!) since most of what I read I either get from the library or Pango (if you have never purchased from there you can use my code CRACKERCRUMBLIFE for $5 off), when I buy books for myself. My son also has a pretty extensive list of hopefuls as well – I think I will post his list later this week for fun!

And that is it from me today; I will be by soon to see your lists, as dangerous as that will be for mine!

I hope that whatever you do today, you something that makes you smile!

Yikes on bikes this book was wild.

Let’s start with the summary.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

“Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.”

Natalie is a very unlikable character, and an unreliable narrator. She is really not a nice person at all, and never has been. When she leaves home for college, her mom implores her to “Be kind”, which doesn’t seem like it is in Natalie’s wheelhouse. She must have some sort of kind though, because she did end up getting married to Caleb. Who also is not a good character. This book is really full of unlikable people, who do ugly things. Natalie though has her social media audience fooled, or at least some of them. The Angry Women have never believed she was doing all that she said she was. Everything is an act with Natalie, and in fact she starts to view herself as Online Natalie and then just her regular self, and regular old Natalie is not a peach.

I don’t want to reveal too much here, or spoil anything so I am trying to tread lightly while giving an honest review.

Natalie is a master manipulator. She has a vision and forces people to follow her whims, whether that is through her money or fame or just dumb luck. And after the birth of her first child, she really needed some help but her mom managed that situation poorly, which did not help. Her mom perpetuated the old myth that Natalie could handle her own “baby blues’, and didn’t need any professional help, and instead recommended exercise. And this book is full of things like this, old worn out ways of thinking, tempered with the megaphone that is the internet.

And everything in her life is fake, fake, fake. And then one day, she is in 1855, with a family that she doesn’t recognize as her own. She suddenly has to live the life she pretended to live, and is not loving it. Her husband is a hard man, like a man from Puritan times, not the pliable husband she is used to.

And, I don’t think I should say anything else just in case.

Would I recommend this book? No, not really. It made me terribly sad, and was very heavy and intense. I understand why some of us want to read it though, just the curiosity of it all.

I am going to do a video for my secret YouTube later on, and I will post that link here if anyone is interested. I will explain a bit more there, and also reveal the twist for anyone who wants to know without reading the book.

Feel free to email me if you want to chat about it!

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone! I hope that you are doing well today! It looks like today is going to be a beautiful day for Father’s Day here. I am not quite sure what we are going to do, but we will do something.

Books:

So, I read Yesteryear and I am still processing it. It was a lot! I am still not even sure if I enjoyed it yet. It was very heavy and intense, and made me sad. I ended up reading The Last Resort afterwards to scrub my brain out afterwards, and it was a good choice. Review for Yesteryear coming soon. I may end up doing a spoiler video on YouTube to go with it, because I have things to say but I don’t want to put them in my review.

This week I am not sure what I am reading. I have two I am thinking about though. Maybe I will start with How to Survive Camping and move on to The Growing Summer.

Screens:

We finished up Widow’s Bay which was awesome. I was so bummed when we ran out of episodes!! We have moved on to Murder Most Puzzling, which I learned about from Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. We watched the first episode and really enjoyed it!

I mentioned that we are watching old fun movies from the 80s and 90s with Wyatt, and last Sunday we watched The Sandlot. It was so good. It is such an iconic summer movie. Billy said that was almost identical to how his summers were as a kid though, just hopping on his bike and running around town with his buddies all day long.

And who can forget this line? I say it at least once a day, still. Lol.

I didn’t post very much last week.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishlist – Thank you to the two bloggers, Nicky @ The Bibliphibian and Carrie at Reading is My Superpower, who were so generous and gifted me books! That was so very nice of you and made my week!

Thursday Morning Coffee Catch Up

And just a reminder: Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea.. Recently Cat at Cat’s Wire joined up with us as a co-host as well! This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.

In-Betweens:

Yesterday we went on our first picnic of the summer! This was something we started during lockdown and the pandemic, and it has become just something we do now. We found a great spot at the park, which even on the hottest summer days is cool under the shade of the trees. We usually draw or color or paint and then one of us will decide we need to lay down for a bit because it is so relaxing. Then eventually the rest of us lie down too and just watch the leaves flutter in the wind and the sunlight play across the ground, while the birds sing. It is just so peaceful.

And I think that is all from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Hello everyone! I hope that the past week has been good to you!

Last week I mentioned that I had hurt my back, and I wanted to thank everyone for all of their well wishes. I am back to normal thank goodness! I had hurt it trying to get Wyatt to the basement during a tornado warning, and since then his PT and I have been working on different ideas on how to make this more efficient and also less painful for me since apparently the Midwest has gone crazy with the weather this year.

This past weekend was Wyatt’s last baseball game of the season. He had so much fun playing and I loved seeing his joy. If you read my Books, Screens, and In-Betweens post, I mentioned how a grandma there told me that she loves watching the little wheelchair boy because he is so happy. And honestly, he is. He has the biggest grin on his face while out there. I was happy to learn that there is fall ball, because I will be signing Wyatt up. He might miss some games though, because fall is usually so busy around here. We are also planning a trip to Louisville in September, which I am super excited about.

After the game, it rained all weekend. I had a project I wanted to work on anyway, so Billy and I started it. Our art cabinet. Ugh. It was just so uggo and a mess and just sad looking. Not the way an art (and homeschool) cabinet should look! I picked out a paint color, bought some neat contact paper, and we got to work! Also, by the end of the school year, things are just all out of order around here anyway. I had to straighten that whole area, put stuff away, etc. so it was the perfect time to spruce this up.

Billy sanded it all down, then it was my turn to paint. I of course had little furry helpers.

After it was all dry, it was back to Billy again to paper the back.

And then after two days of sorting through all of our materials, deciding what I could store in our basement art overflow area, and then organizing everything, I was done.

I am in love with it, and the best part is that the whole thing cost $30! It was a quart of Dutch Boy Deep Peppermint, and then this adorable contact paper with flowers and cats and chipmunks and birds.

Billy has until mid-August to paint the room, or I am doing it with my friend Kelly. I have literally asked him for five years to paint it. LOL. I am so tired of the lavender! I think he will now though because he also loves our new cabinet and a lighter color paint on the walls will make it pop.

Speaking of Kelly, we celebrated her daughter on Sunday at her graduation party! They had her party at a restaurant on the water, and the room was beautiful. I felt like I was on a boat, honestly, because we had a downpour that morning that was heavy and crazy, and apparently the room floods! Kelly and her family were in the room busily squeeging the floor, using a leaf blower to blow the water out, mopping, anything they could to get the water out of the room before the party. They succeeded, leaving only a few puddles here and there, which I thought added to the on the water atmosphere. It was a beautiful party though, with great food. I am so proud of her daughter too, she worked so hard and is a great kid!

And that is about it for now! We have a recital tonight for J & T, Wyatt’s little cousins, and then coffee tomorrow morning with friends before heading into Father’s Day weekend.

And now just some random snaps!

How is your June so far?

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!