Kiosk
And, if you would like to purchase a copy of this book, or any of thousands of other titles, you can find great books for great prices in the PBS Market. Here is the link: PBS Market.
In this haunting and richly imagined dual-narrative tale that echoes the eerie mystery of Rebecca and The Little Stranger, two women of very different eras are united by the secrets hidden within the walls of an English manor house.In 1933, naive twenty-two year-old Alice – pregnant and unmarried – is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother’s old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor’s owners, the Stantons, live abroad, and with her cover story of a recently-deceased husband Alice can have her baby there before giving it up for adoption and returning home. But as Alice endures the long, hot summer at Fiercombe awaiting the baby’s birth, she senses that something is amiss with the house and its absentee owners. Thirty years earlier, pregnant Lady Elizabeth Stanton desperately hopes for the heir her husband desires. Tormented by the memory of what happened after the birth of her first child, a daughter, she grows increasingly terrified that history will repeat itself, with devastating consequences. After meeting Tom, the young scion of the Stanton family, Alice becomes determined to uncover the clan’s tragic past and exorcise the ghosts of this idyllic, isolated house. But nothing can prepare Alice for what she uncovers. Soon it is her turn to fear: can she escape the tragic fate of the other women who have lived in the Fiercombe valley…
ISBN 9780062332950, Paperback
1 lucky member will win a brand-new copy.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this Blog post. You must be a PaperBackSwap member in good standing to win.
We will choose 1 winner at random from comments we receive here on the Blog from PBS members.
You have until Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 12 noon ET, to leave a comment.
Good Luck to everyone!
Note: All the books given away on Free Book Friday are available in the PBS Market. We have thousands of new and new overstock titles available right now, with more added hourly. Some of the prices are amazing – and you can use a PBS credit to make the deal even better!
I read The Sometimes Sisters on a whim. I’ve never read anything else by Carolyn Brown even though she is a rather prolific writer with 90 novels. I was a bit unsure since it was labeled as contemporary romance fiction and I don’t read much romance, but I decided to give it a chance since the story sounded complex.
The ‘Sometimes Sisters’ are Tawny, Harper, and Dana. Dana shares a father with Tawny and Harper, but their lives have been very different and their relationships with one another are strained. Raised separately, the three sisters find they have little in common and each sister bears resentment for the others. Their only opportunity to spend time together was during the summers when they were younger and they would spend with their grandmother Annie. It has been years since they have all seen one another and none of them have visited their grandmother Annie regularly in recent years, for fear of disappointing her with what has happened in their lives.
Now their grandmother has passed away and the sisters are back at Annie’s Place to help run the small lake resort, café and store. Guiding them through their grief and teaching them about the business is Uncle Zed, the best friend and business partner of their grandmother. Through their grief, each sister confides in Uncle Zed about why they stayed away and why they have a hard time opening up to the other sisters. There are tears, arguments, misunderstandings, and heartaches along the way but will the sisters find a way to live together to keep their grandmother’s business?
I liked the overall story of The Sometimes Sisters and the romance (thankfully) was secondary to the plot. I liked the characters but did find it a bit disappointing how their stories were revealed in a rather formulaic way. Some plot points were rather predictable and I think there were missed opportunities that could have offered more depth. The dialogue was a bit stilted and just didn’t seem to have a natural flow. Not being squarely in the romance column made this book more enjoyable for me but I think there were missed chances to take this novel to the next level of complexity with the characters. I’m settling on 3 out of 5 stars for ‘I liked it’ since The Sometimes Sisters was enjoyable even with its faults. This is not a book I would read multiple times but I am willing to read another book by Brown.
And, if you would like to purchase a copy of this book, or any of thousands of other titles, you can find great books for great prices in the PBS Market. Here is the link: PBS Market.
A renowned biographer compares the lives and times of American outlaw Billy the Kid and his Australian counterpart Ned Kelly — The oft-told exploits of Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly survive vividly in the public imaginations of their respective countries, the United States and Australia. But the outlaws? reputations are so weighted with legend and myth, the truth of their lives has become obscure. In this adventure-filled double biography, Robert M. Utley reveals the true stories and parallel courses of the two notorious contemporaries who lived by the gun, were executed while still in their twenties, and remain compelling figures in the folklore of their homelands.
Robert M. Utley draws sharp, insightful portraits of first Billy, then Ned, and compares their lives and legacies. He recounts the adventurous exploits of Billy, a fun-loving, expert sharpshooter who excelled at escape and lived on the run after indictment for his role in the Lincoln Country War. Bush-raised Ned, the son of an Irish convict father and Irish mother, was a man whose outrage against British colonial authority inspired him to steal cattle and sheep, kill three policemen, and rob banks for the benefit of impoverished Irish sympathizers. Utley recounts the exploits of the notorious young men with accuracy and appeal. He discovers their profound differences, despite their shared fates, and illuminates the worlds in which they lived on opposite sides of the globe.
ISBN 9780300227123, Paperback
1 lucky member will win a brand-new copy.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this Blog post. You must be a PaperBackSwap member in good standing to win.
We will choose 1 winner at random from comments we receive here on the Blog from PBS members.
You have until Sunday, September 22, 2019 at 12 noon ET, to leave a comment.
Good Luck to everyone!
Note: All the books given away on Free Book Friday are available in the PBS Market. We have thousands of new and new overstock titles available right now, with more added hourly. Some of the prices are amazing – and you can use a PBS credit to make the deal even better!
This is the third 007 novel, published in 1955, after Casino Royale and Live and Let Die. Though it has a brisk pace, it doesn’t hurtle and careen and rock and roll like those two do.
In fact, the novel eschews the exotic scenarios and takes place entirely in England. Bond – who apparently goes on an overseas mission only in exceptional cases – works the normal work of an espiocrat. But it happens that his boss M. asks him a favor: it is suspected that a member of his club, Hugo Drax – war hero and self-made millionaire about to give England a very sophisticated missile system – though famous, admired and esteemed, will cheat while playing bridge. Would you, Bond, mind so very much checking if this caddish behavior is so and make sure that it does not tumble out in a scandal? During an unforgettable card game, 007 reaches the conclusion that Drax indeed cheats at cards and inflicts on him, by cheating on him in turn, a memorable stinging lesson.
The incident would seem closed, but a doubt remains: why does such a well-respected man give into the wayward impulse to rob his fellow club members by risking his reputation with cheating at bridge? So Bond infiltrates the missile project.
A compelling story follows, which holds several surprises. Granted, the ethical and political horizon of the English writer is sharp and stark. But his characters are in fact complex and full of motivations. Starting with Bond, he is anything but a cynical adventurer and always ready to risk his neck for his country. He is a tough man, sure, aware of the ruthlessness of the game in which he is immersed, but he suffers no illusions. He knows that he is unlikely to reach the age of forty-five. In the meantime, try to live as best you can, at least as a consumer of vodka martinis, tasty viands, bespoke duds and, of course, Ursula Andress look-a-likes.
Worth reading if one likes Bond novels and one doesn’t mind Fleming’s run-on, break neck sentences.
And, if you would like to own a copy of this book, or any of thousands of other titles, you can find great books for great prices in the PBS Market. Here is the link: PBS Market.
