Current and Upcoming Reads

In the summer of 2015 I found a gem of a book at a used book store.  It is the first book of a trilogy and is called The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly.  The setting is London, 1888 and the story was about a young woman, Fiona Finnegan whose goal in life was to marry her sweetheart, Joe, and together open a tea shop in London.  Now of course a novel has to contain some struggle and difficulties otherwise there is no story to tell and the characters certainly do have their share of troubles but the author does a good job keeping the reader interested in the story and the characters.  I rated this book four out of five stars on Goodreads.

This week I picked up the second book in the trilogy called The Winter Rose.  Normally I find that the second book in a trilogy is my least favorite, however, I am absolutely loving this book and the characters.  I love how it has two different main characters but that Fiona and Joe from The Tea Rose play quite a large part in the second book so we get the ongoing story of what is happening in their lives.  It is quite a long book – the trade version is 707 pages – so I don’t think I will finish it this weekend but I am enjoying it immensely.  I do not care for the “bodice-ripping type” romance books but I find that this trilogy is perfect in that it has just enough romance/love but there is actually an interesting storyline.  The Winter Rose’s main character is Dr. India Jones, a female doctor in London in the year 1900.  It has been very interesting to not only read about the difficulties of being poor in England during that time period but also what it was like for a woman in a traditionally male role.  This character was responsible for saving patients’ lives but still didn’t have the right to vote. Incredible.  I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes historical fiction with a touch of romance.

Another book I am very intrigued about is a new release coming out February 15, 2016 called “A Mother’s Reckoning:  Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy” by Sue Klebold.  Sue is the mother of Dylan Klebold, who along with Eric Harris, killed twelve students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado.  A few years ago I read the book Columbine by Dave Cullen which was about the tragedy and found it very interesting.  I am looking forward to reading Sue’s story and I understand that Diane Sawyer has an interview with Sue that will be aired on ABC around the same time that the book is released.

So I plan lots of reading for the weekend ahead but I am also looking forward to going out Saturday night for dinner and then the theatre.  I have season tickets to the Globe Theatre company in my city which is a “theatre in the round”.  Their current production is The Hound of the Baskervilles which sounds really good.

Have a good weekend everyone and happy reading.