Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Author Archives: Eowyn


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‘The Nurse’s Secret’: Compelling Historical Fiction

The Nurse’s Secret

By Amanda Skenandore

Published by: Kensington Books, 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Via: Book Blog Tour

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Una Kelly has been living by her wits and her sticky fingers since she was a child. A grifter in the mean streets of 19th century New York City’s slums, Una is on the run from the “coppers” for a murder she didn’t commit. She lies her way into an unlikely refuge: the Bellevue Hospital Training School for Nurses. Based on Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of its kind in the country. But for Una, it’s a place to hide.

An Expert Blend

Then an inebriated ex-friend shows up at Bellevue and threatens to expose Una’s secret past. Una caves to Deidre’s extortion scheme. But when Deidre winds up dead in the hospital’s alcoholic’s ward where she’s drying out, Una gets suspicious. Did Deidre die from an overdose of laudanum, or was she murdered? A certain tall, handsome young doctor also enters the picture in this expert blend of historical fiction, whodunit, romance, and murder mystery.

Gripping & Intense

Emotionally gripping and intense, The Nurse’s Secret is propelled by masterful story-telling, an engrossing plot and lively, three-dimensional characters within a unique historical setting. Think A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Oliver Twist meet Florence Nightingale and The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

A Second Chance

We almost missed this book. It arrived well past our deadline for a review. We just don’t have time for late arrivals. So we were inclined to put it aside. But one us – the four-legged one- said, “C’mon Mom! Let’s shoehorn this puppy into our calendar! I’ll help!”

So we gave it another chance. Glad we did. Cuz The Nurse’s Secret is a winner.

Our Rating: 4.0


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TEASER TUESDAY: ‘Black Ice’

Welcome to another edition of TEASER TUESDAY!

Mom and I decided we don’t like the usual rules for Teaser Tuesday. You’re supposed to “grab your current read, open to a random page” and “share “two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page that are spoiler free.”

Too restrictive, we decided. (Well, it was mostly me. But Mom helped. A little. You know how Moms are.)

Anyway, some books/plots just don’t lend themselves to “two sentences.” Sometimes a really compelling thought or plot element can be conveyed in three words. Sometimes it takes three or four or five sentences for same. Sometimes several brief, pithy sentences can fill the bill. But they have to be strung together in context to make sense.

So we’re making up our own rules today. Basically, we’re adding some flexibility regarding the number of sentences used to convey an idea or plot element. We’re keeping the rest.

Ready? Great! Let’s move on to today’s TT feature: Black Ice, by Brad Thor.

 

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TEASER TUESDAY: ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’

Welcome to another edition of one of our most popular features, TEASER TUESDAY! We’re pretty excited about today’s feature. It’s a twist on one of our favorite authors/novels. Read on for more!

Here are the rules for Teaser Tuesday:

1: Grab your current read 2: Open to a random page 3: Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page that are SPOILER FREE.

Today’s Teaser Tuesday features Death Comes to Pemberley. By P.D. James. Jane Austen fans, unite! Like this: Continue reading →


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‘Radio Ha Ha’ is on The Air

Radio Ha Ha: The most sparkling and heartwarming romcom you will read this year by [Kiltie Jackson ]Radio Ha Ha

By Kiltie Jackson

We’ve been asked to “spotlight” this book. So here ya go:

About the Book

Will a blind date on the radio blossom into romance on the airwaves?

DJ Marky Sparks is hanging onto his career by a thread – he needs a miracle.
Steven Byrne has an invite to his brother’s “Couples Only” party – he needs a date.
Matilda ‘Mats’ Davidson has dumped her cheating boyfriend – she doesn’t need anything.

A drunken email brings these three strangers together and changes their lives in ways they couldn’t have foreseen.

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7 Summer Hits & Misses

Kimber the Magnificent: It’s summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime! Finally!!

The weekend forecast is for boatloads of sun and temperatures skimming the upper 80s/low 90s. That’s unusual here in the soggy pacific Northwest. But after months and months of drooling skies and overcast, Mom and I are ready for sunshine and warmer temps! Yea, Lassie!

One of us is so excited about summer that she’s been slacking on posting (Hi, Mom). So we’re gonna take care of that today, catching you up on what we’ve been reading.

We’re gonna include some Seriously Pawsome Reads and some Kitty Litter Box candidates. Seven in all. In no particular order.

Ready? Set? Let’s go!

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Teaser Tuesday: ‘Here, There Be Dragons’

Kimber’s Kommentary:

Hello and welcome to another Teaser Tuesday! As always I hope you’re well this Tuesday and loving on your four-legged friends (even if some of them are felines. Nobody’s perfect again.) We’re enjoying sunshine and some warmer weather. Finally. 


Here are the rules:

1: Grab your current read 2: Open to a random page 3: Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page that are SPOILER FREE.

Today’s Teaser Tuesday features The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, Here, There Be Dragons. Written and illustrated by James A. Owen.

Ready? Great! Here we go!
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TEASER TUESDAY: Beyond the Stars

Hello and welcome to another Teaser Tuesday! As always, we hope you’re well this Tuesday and loving on your four-legged friends (even if some of them are felines. Nobody’s perfect.)

We’re enjoying sunshine and some warmer weather. Finally. 

Anyway, here’s how Teaser Tuesday works:

1) Grab your current read. 2) Open to a random page or two. 3) Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on those pages that are SPOILER FREE.

Today’s Teaser Tuesday features Beyond the Stars, by Doreen D. Berger.

Ready? Great! Here we go!

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Action Abounds in ‘Revenge on a Cruel World’

Revenge on a Cruel World by [Rick Clements]Revenge on a Cruel World

By Rick Clements

Via: Reedsy Discovery

Genre: Thriller

Summary:

If you thought the Great Depression was bad, think again. How about a computer theft by a mathematical genius that mangles the worldwide banking system, causes a financial tsunami, and threatens to topple governments around the globe?

That’s the main storyline in this fast-moving, action-packed novel.

Note: We received a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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‘Stirring Up Love’ Serves Up Heaping Helping of Fun, Romance

Stirring Up Love

By Chandra Blumberg

Montlake Publishing, 2022

Via: Author Request

Release Date: July 26, 2022

Genre: Fiction – Romance/Humor

Pages: 372

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

A sassy, saucy story about a feud-fueled romance where two rivals with a passion for food and community come together in ways they never expected.

Simone Blake and Finn Rimes are as different as it gets. Simone has just returned from a corporate stint in Chicago where everything went sideways. She’s inherited her grandfather’s barbecue restaurant, Honey and Hickory. Determined to make a go of it and prove that she’s a competent professional who knows what’s what, Simone plans to put her restaurant and her hometown on the map.

So does Finn Rimes. Only from a different angle. A chef thinking big, Finn dreams of opening his own culinary school.

Sparks soon fly like fireworks on the Fourth of July when Finn shows up on Sim’s turf – the local farmer’s market – to market his own brand of barbecue sauce and hopefully raise some cash for his would-be culinary school.

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‘Waterbury Winter’ Warms Hearts

Waterbury Winter

By Linda Stewart Henley

She Writes Press, 2022

Genre: Fiction

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: Two lost souls reach for love and second chances during a freezing New England Winter.

“The transformative value of art is in making the ordinary extraordinary.”

Basic Plot

It’s Christmas Eve. Barnaby Brown thinks back eighteen years when he lost his teaching job. His twin passions, painting and his wife Anna, also died that year. Now forty-five years old, a widower and an alcoholic, Barnaby’s working a dead-end job at the local hardware store.

Once a promising young artist, Barnaby has been on a downward spiral since loss and alcohol dragged him down. He’s lived a reclusive life after the deaths of his parents and his wife. He now prefers the company of his wise-cracking parrot, Popsicle, to companionship with other humans. Yearning to start over, Barnaby dreams of going to California and resurrecting his dreams of a painting career.

“It’s like painting. You have to reach beyond the vanishing point on the horizon for something important you can’t quite see, but know is there.”

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