The heart of a king is well written. It seem to be about the life of King Solomon. We see it though the view of the his wives. This is what I got though reading the book. It seem like book that tell the story of the king.

It starts out with him with his father being King of Israel and his son a prince. We see how he becomes King and what he wants. Do his wives get what they want? I believe this is a story about King Solomon and his god. We are brought back to ancient Israel.

We also see him struggle with himself and his god. He seem to questions if he is doing what is right by his god. His he not following God commands or comments?

If you are into reading the bible, but in a simpler way. This book is good for you. This is what it kind gave me as I was reading it. I enjoyed it, do not get me wrong. It seem better then reading the bible it self to get the history or story of King Solomon. Wish is best for me to understand.

I am not into reading the Bible for say but learning about ancient Israel is something different and the lives of King Solomon and his wives. This book did have look up a bit about King Solomon on google. Which is interesting say the least.

Ah, Ireland! I was contacted by the author, Eileen O'Finlan for a review of Kelegeen and of course since it was about Ireland, I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen health issues, it was a year before I actually got time to read it.

The Great Hunger, or An Gorta Mór1845-1849, was a time of starvation and despair. Crops failed because of disease. As people were running out of food, they started getting ill from the diseases that come from starvation. In the book, Meg O'Connors family is one of the families that was affected by the blight. They tried to stay upbeat looking toward getting married, Meg and Rory Quinn found ways to help support the family during this terrible time. Meg, her mother, and her sisters took in sewing and Rory carved little trinkets and other pretty things out of wood. An unfortunate accident for Rory takes that talent away as his hand is smashed.

Father O'Malley the parish priest for Kelegeen is one of those priests that should be a saint. He does his rounds to all the families as they become ill along with an English doctor, Martin Parker. These two men become friends and they both do what they can to help the people suffering from hunger and disease. Father O'Malley has demons of his own, he had been engaged to be married to Siobhan. She was murdered by an English soldier and after that Father decides to become a priest. 

Not only did the residents of Kilegeen have to deal with the potato blight, but they also had the English. Their land was taken away and they had to pay rent, if they did not have the money to pay, their homes, which in most cases were hovels, were torn down. The Irish language was outlawed, and the Catholic religion barely tolerated. 

After the famine went on for years, Meg and Rory decided that she would go to America if their crops failed again. By this time there had been so many deaths for their own families and others in the community, that this is what people were doing. Go to America and send back money and bring their families over. This was how the book ended, I sure hope the author continues the story as I want to see how the O’Connor and Quinn families fare. This book is so well written that the story of the famine and how the families are affected just tugged at the heartstrings. The characters are well written and the story very well researched.

I am of Irish descent and doing my ancestry tree and there are a lot of people in the family that were in Ireland during this time frame. As I got further into the story I could almost feel the emotions and the heartbreak. Looking for a historical fiction read? I think you should put this one on your TBR stack, preferably at the top! I read this book in only a few sessions and I really enjoyed it! 

Discovering the Duke by Madeline Martin - Julia was so sweet and William was so adorable that I did not want to stop reading this story. I loved how he went out of his way to win his wife's love. Together, these two found that love conquers fear when with the right person.

Love Letters From a Duke by Gina Conkle - Charlotte and Nathaniel were such a wonderful, steamy couple. I kept turning pages as they tried to avoid what was in front of them. With his determination to have what he truly wanted, Nathaniel ignored convention and the age difference, and went for what he wanted most in life, Charlotte. His mother was an interesting touch to the story.

I have yet to finish all the stories and I look forward to adding to this review. If the others are like these two, this is a good collection. I received a copy as a gift, and this is my unsolicited review.

a big step outside of my comfort zone, which is something that I think does a mind, body and soul good from time to time. 

So what was so different about this story for me, you might ask yourself...well there are two things...

1. It's narrated by a woman.

2. It's a f/f story of which I've only ever read one other. 

f/f stories as a rule just aren't my thing which is the biggest reason why I haven't listened to many...ok, any female narrators. I tend to listen to audiobooks from the m/m genre and for me listening to a woman do the voices for an audio book that's predominantly m/m doesn't work any more than listening to a man do a f/f story would...so this is totally on me...personal preference and nothing else...no good or bad involved here.

And now here I sit having listened to an audio book that for a few reasons caught my attention...

The first one being the narrator...seriously this was the FIRST TIME EVER!!! that I listened to the full audio sample on the first try with a female narrator...so good on you, Jill Smith... I was impressed and my attention was captured.

The next reason being the story...it sounded sweet and pretend girlfriend/boyfriend is  one of those tropes that I like and in this case it was more like pretend spouses giving it the potential for some really cute and humorous moments to balance out the more serious issue which was Rachel's struggles with anorexia.

As with any story there were things I liked and things I didn't...I liked Pari and I especially liked the relationship between her mother and her. It wasn't perfect but there was a definite sense of a strong and positive mother/daughter bond between them even when they were not of like minds.

I liked that while Pari might have been living in America we were given a successful and strong female character who wasn't 'simply an American' but an immigrant who came to the the United States to follow her dreams...novel concept there...I'm sure it's never happened in the real world, right? ;)

Ok, so as much as I like Pari and her mom and I also enjoyed some of the interactions between Pari and Rachel...what I struggled with was Rachel. I really wanted to love this character. I know I felt bad for her...she struggled with her anorexia and she was trying so damned hard to beat it and maybe if the story hadn't come strictly from her perspective I would have seen her as a really courageous young lady rather than having her turn into someone who for me started to sound a bit whiny and seemed to be experiencing a bit of 'poor me' syndrome. I really, really didn't want that image of her but that's what I ended up with.

Even more than the overkill on the anorexia, sorry but really sometimes less is more and if Rachel had a bit more diversity to her thoughts than 'musings on her anorexia' and all the reasons that she was attracted to Pari...because yes we have a case of insta-lust with a good dose of GFY going on here. Rachel was straight...not bi...straight as can be attested to but the considerable number of men she's slept with...hey, those are basically her words not mine.

I actually finished this book a couple of days ago and was left with a ratings quandary because if I rated this with total honesty and accuracy it would probably go something like this...

Story concept...4 stars

Story execution...2.5 stars

Narration...5 stars (ok, a little biased here because first time ever female narrator that I liked enough to listen not only to the sample but the whole damned book!!!)

So at the end of it all I'm calling it a day with an overall average of 3 stars which still when you think about it for someone who rarely and I do mean rarely ventures into the world of f/f and who was listening to an audio book narrated by a woman for the first time EVER!!! I think this ended fairly well...will I suddenly start listening to this genre on a regular basis...I doubt it...will I venture out of my snugly little m/m box to try something else in future...why not? One never knows what they'll find if they just step out side of the box.

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An audio book of 'Far From Home' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Spinelli’s Sophie’s Masterpiece is a work of compassion, though it might spark a bit of hesitation from only the cover, given that the protagonist (Sophie) is a spider. This book is great for character education as well as setting the tone of a safe space in the classroom, as it promotes kindness, acceptance, and not to judge a book by its cover. The guided reading level, according to Scholastic, is “L” and is best for grades from Kindergarten to 2nd.