I am Finished!

Nine rolls.

Eight prompts filled.

Five books off my physical reading shelf read.

No ladders, yet also no snakes. 

Previous Rolls

1. Space 1: Author is a Woman

A Distant Melody (Wings of Glory #1) by Sarah Sundin, 355 pages (worth 2 rolls) - Finished 4/9/2020

2 You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:43:11 UTC

Space 11

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:44:57 UTC

Space 19: Set in UK

The Scandalous Suffragette by Eliza Redgold, 234 pages, set in London, Manchester, and the Kent countryside (worth 2 rolls). Read April 9th-14th. 

3. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:56:05 UTC

Space 24

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:57:14 UTC

Space 28: Written between 1900 and 1999

The Final Days: The Classic, Behind-the-Scenes Account of Richard Nixon's Dramatic Last Days in the White House by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, originally published in 1976 (456 pages without the index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/16-4/22.

 4. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:31:33 UTC

Space 32

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:32:04 UTC

Space 41 - Characters involved in politics

Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis - Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols (286 pages without notes or index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/17-May 11.

 5. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:28 UTC

Space 48

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:48 UTC

Space 59 - Book published more than 10 years ago

I am using a book that I read during the game. The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby (285 pages without notes and index). Read 4/25-4/27. Worth two rolls.

6. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:35:41 UTC

Space 70

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:36:02 UTC

Space 73 - Categorized as YA

Another book I read during the game is Beauty Queens by Libby Bray (396 pages; I listened to the unabridged audiobook). Read 4/25-26th. Worth 2 rolls.

7. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:03 UTC

Space 78

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:24 UTC

Space 82 - Urban Fantasy

The Dead & the Gone - 309 pages.  Read 5/15-16. Worth one roll.

8. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:27:52 UTC

Space 94 - Nonfiction

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh. Read 5/13-14. Worth 2 Rolls.

9. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:41:19 UTC

Space 100 - Right on the nose, how 'bout that?

1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal (234 pages of reading material).

Title: When Tides Turn

Series: Waves of Freedom #3

Author: Sarah Sundin

Publish Date: March 14, 2017

Publisher: Revell Company

Format: Trade Paperback

Page Count: 385 pages

Source: Library

Date Read: February 8-11, 2020

Review

A wonderful end to the Waves of Freedom trilogy. I wasn't really into Tess or Dan in the prior books, but their story was so engrossing just like the two books prior. 

Tess Beaumont is tired of being a pretty face and being used by men. So she decides to join the WAVES to find a better version of herself she can respect and garner respect from others. Tess is not one for conspiracy theories, but she finds herself trying to solve a possible spy case that is putting her friend Yvette in danger. All the while fighting her attraction to straight laced-buttoned up Navy man and brother of her friend Lily (heroine in book 2) Lt Dan.

 Lt Dan Avery has had to shoulder family obligations since he was young due to a misinterpretation of a situation from childhood. He has no time for dames, okay? He is trying to work his way up the career ladder while holding onto his principles, he has a ogre of boss, figure out how to better the radar equipment on ships, and he loses his mentor to a heart attack - all the while fighting his attraction to Tess.

There is respect between the two as military members serving in a time of war, but there is also friendship that deepens into love, and that is where the attraction comes into play. Longing and lust and love - feed it into my veins! And neither loses sight of their respective careers or friendships with others - their lives are full and fleshed out. 

The French resistance sub plotline kept me turning pages when the love story wasn't the focus. I honestly didn't know how the players worked out, who was double crossing who - and isn't that realistic in resistance groups, much less one that is fighting the Nazis from the US soil? It made an existing end to the plotline right before the HEA scene.

I love this series and it was fun to spend time with these characters. 

Title: A Distant Melody

Series: Wings of Glory #1

Author: Sarah Sundin

Publish Date: March 1, 2010

Publisher: Revell

Format: Ebook

Page Count: 355 pages

Source: NOOK store

Date Read: April 4-9, 2020

Review

I believe this is Ms. Sundin's debut novel and it read like a competently-written debut. I have read other books by Sundin and loved them, so I had high expectations for this book. While it didn't reach the quality of those other books, I still enjoyed the book overall and I am eager to get to book two in the series. You can see the author's voice and the research and care she brings the writing craft that will make her books stand out for me in this book, but it suffers a bit at the end.

Allie, our heroine, is the daughter of a wealthy business owner and his beautiful (and shallow as fuck) wife. Allie is not the conventional beauty her mother is, at least not for the 1940s Southern California. Allie is searching for meaning and passion in her life; rather her parents are forcing a relationship with her and a possible gay man who works in the C-suite of daddy's company. 

Allie cute meets our hero, Lt Walter Novak, on the train heading for NorCal town and their mutual friends' wedding. He is on furlough between ending his pilot training and heading to his first base in England. During the week leading up to the wedding, they become friends and decide to write to each other. As their friendship deepens, Allie finds herself questioning her life's choices; those choices were made based on her obedience to her parents. Her parents suck - point blank. The sexless robot (Baxter) she's been dating to please them has more of a back story and reason for his choices then her parents' have. 

Allie makes some changes at home while keeping the flame (of FRIENDSHIP *wink wink*) going with Walt via letters and homemade cookies. As those changes make her happy and more independent, the tensions between her and Baxter and the parents come to a head. Baxter surprises/boxes her in by proposing to Allie in front of her parents at Christmas - Allie breaks the engagement and the relationship the day before Valentine's Day. My petty heart really enjoyed her timing, not going to lie.

Allie and Walt dance around each other some more until Walt is involved in a tragic bombing mission. When he recovers enough to come home, there is more metaphorical dancing around. Allie is disinherited and disowned by her parents by not marrying Baxter, and she decides this is a perfect way to make the major changes she needs to be happy, Walt or no Walt. My problem with this last part of the story is that it goes in a predictable, mediocre, romance-genre approved way. IF Walt and Allie had a real conversation at the hospital, there would be twenty-thirty pages less and the storytelling would have been stronger. Open up your face hole and talk already. 

The secondary characters were fleshed out but not intrusive to the main story. The sequel bait seemed more subtle than in Sundin's later works. Overall, a solid start to the series.

Hoping to get A Distant Melody done this weekend. I want to get through another chapter of Pox. If all goes accordingly, I can start Beauty Queens for IRL book club - our last meeting for our "year" is in a few weeks. 

March 27, 2020

As noted in MR's post in the discussion thread for this week, here's my #FridayReads:

So this weekend it is all about my NOOK and getting caught up on some Reading Assignment Challenge books that had been put to the side. I'm trying to finish Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist (about 40% left), then it is on to Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist. For the week ahead, I will take a break from Gist to read A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin. All COYER eligible if I can get my butt motivated to write reviews.