Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch ~ 389 pages ~ published 5/3/16 by Simon Pulse
“I made the wrong choice.”
Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.
Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon ~ 328 pages ~ published 3/6/18 by Blink/Harper Collins
Olivia Brownlow is no damsel in distress. Born in a workhouse and raised as a boy among thieving London street gangs, she is as tough and cunning as they come. When she is taken in by her uncle after a caper gone wrong, her life goes from fighting and stealing on the streets to lavish dinners and soirees as a debutante in high society. But she can’t seem to escape her past … or forget the teeming slums where children just like her still scrabble to survive.
Continue reading “Book Review: Olivia Twist + Once Upon a Bookclub Unboxing”
It’s time for another monthly wrap-up! I know I’m a little bit late to the game on this one. I totally wasn’t thinking last week, and didn’t do this one last Friday like I intended. So, I’m talking about June at the end of the first week of July!
I read eleven books in June!! That was a huge step up from my May total of eight!
Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey ~ 325 pages ~ published 4/17/18 by Swoon Reads
Shy aspiring artist Imogene Chively has just had a successful Season in London, complete with a suitor of her father’s approval. Imogene is ambivalent about the young gentleman until he comes to visit her at the Chively estate with his younger brother in tow. When her interest is piqued, however, it is for the wrong brother.
Charming Ben Steeple has a secret: despite being an architectural apprentice, he has no drawing aptitude. When Imogene offers to teach him, Ben is soon smitten by the young lady he considers his brother’s intended.
I have discovered that I have a little problem. I checked the number of books on my ‘Want to Read’ shelf over on Goodreads (you should come be my friend over there, btw!), and I have 663 books on it!! Oh. My. Goodness! That is a lot of books! So, I decided to look up which books are rated the highest on my TBR pile to see which ones I should be prioritizing. I have listed the 10 highest rated books on my TBR below! Enjoy!
The Orphan’s Wish by Melanie Dickerson ~ 352 pages ~ published 6/26/18 by Thomas Nelson
From the streets to an orphanage in a faraway kingdom, Aladdin has grown up alone. Until he meets Kirstyn. With a father who is the duke of Hagenheim and a mother who is the patroness of the orphanage where Aladdin lives, Kirstyn is a member of the most powerful family in the land . . . and way out of his league. Despite the difference in their stations, Aladdin quickly becomes Kirstyn’s favorite companion for taking walks in the forest, and their childhood friendship grows along with them.
Whit Reads Lit 