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Books · Down The TBR Hole Tag

Down The TBR Hole #13

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down the tbr hole book books blog diary of difference

Hello again. The first Down the TBR Hole post for this year – I am so excited to see what progress I will make in 2019.

Credit for this tag goes to Lost in a Story.

How it works:

❤ Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
❤ Order on ascending date added.
❤ Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
❤ Read the synopsis of the books.
❤ Decide: keep it or should it go

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Here’s the next patch:

down the tbr hole book books book review blog diary of difference downthetbrhole

➥ Agent to the Stars by John Scalzy

I haven’t heard about this book, and I don’t know what it’s doing on my TBR honestly.

Verdict:  REMOVE ✖

➥ Sandstorm (Sigma Force, #1) by James Rollins

I have heard mixed reviews about this one, and usually it’s either a 1 star or a 5 star. Not sure what to do with it.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

➥ Strong Poison (Lord Peter Wimsey, #6) by Dorothy L. Sayers

It’s book number 6 in a series, and I haven’t read the previous one. But I have added the first book of the series on my TBR instead.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

➥ Walk on Earth a Stranger(The Gold Seer Trilogy, #1) by Rae Carson

I have heard so many great things about this book, but some of my friends really trashed it, so I am not sure what to do. I will keep it for now, and hopefully will come back to it later in the new year.

Verdict: KEEP ☑  

➥ Obsession (Talisman, #1) by Sofia Grey

Interesting plot, but I am not sure if this is the right genre for me at the moment.

Verdict:  REMOVE ✖

➥ Love’s Prophecy (Prophecy, #1) by Brenda Dyer

A paranormal vampire fantasy book? GIVE IT TO ME! I haven’t heard about this book or author before, and I am not sure when/how this ended on my TBR, but the synopsis is so intriguing, I want to read this book so bad!

Verdict: KEEP ☑  

➥ The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

I have a thing for lighthouses. It’s true. And I still don’t know how I haven’t picked this book up yet.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑ 

➥ We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

A hard book to read, and I am not sure if I want to dive into it.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

➥ Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1) by Susan Dennard

With too many witch books right now, this one seems to have so many bad reviews. I will pass on for now.

Verdict:  ☑ REMOVE ✖

➥ Currawong Creek by Jennifer Scoular

Um, who are you and how did you end up on my TBR?

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

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I managed to remove 7 this time. My TBR is looking happier already!

Let me know if you have read any of these, and if you want me to keep or remove any of these books from my list! I look forward to see what you think!

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Book Review · Books

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth [BOOK REVIEW]

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all these beautiful strangers by elizabeth klehfoth book review blog diary of difference books blogging blogger reading novel goodreads netgalley summer author writer diaryofdifference

★★★★

A beautiful story about families, love, betrayal, the difference between the rich and poor, and a girl that tries to discover what happened to her missing mother, while discovering herself.

Charlie Calloway has a life most people would kill for – a tight-knit family, a loyal set of friends, and top grades a privileged boarding school. But Charlie’s never been interested in what most people want. Like all Calloways, she’s been taught that she’s different, special – better. So when her school’s super-exclusive secret society extends a mysterious invitation, Charlie’s determination to get in is matched only by her conviction that she belongs there.

But their secrets go deeper than she knows.

Charlie finds herself thrust into the centre of a decades-old mystery – one that implicates her family in not one terrible crime, but two. Uncovering their past may destroy everything she knows – or give her the answer she’s always craved: Who or what was behind her mother’s disappearance ten years ago?

I haven’t heard about this book until I received it as a birthday gift from my sister. The cover is just – gorgeous! You can feel the raindrops on the cover, and the sides are painted black, and you can read out ”I KNOW”. They have been thinking of all the little details.

The story is a bit slow at the beginning. It took me a while to get into it, as they delay the plot for a while, but once you get past that little hill of boredom, it gets better and better. I could imagine myself climbing a mountain with my bike, struggling while climbing, just so I can enjoy the great fast downhill and wind in my face.

The story is told by many people’s perspective, and it changes after each chapter. The amazing thing was, the stories go back in the past as well, but the story keeps flowing in one direction, event by event, which I really enjoyed. If this was poorly made, the book would’ve been so confusing, but fortunately, it wasn’t.

Even though I didn’t expect, this turned out to be a great mystery-solving novel, with wonderful and unexpected plot-twists, and a cliffhanger until the end. Is the mother dead or alive?

Many of the topics covered are very relatable. The difference between children raised in rich families versus the children raised in not-s-rich families. Their thoughts and mindsets, their beliefs, and the people they hang out with. And when a girl like Charlie, who has a father from a rich family and a mother from a poor family, is on the cross-road, it is amazing to see this character develop and make choices for herself, that reflect on both her backgrounds.

A lovely read, fast-paced novel, with a beautiful cover and even more beautiful reading material, this is one of the stories that I would recommend for you to read on a rainy day, covered in a blanket, with a hot chocolate – despite the summer theme on the cover, this was a winter book for me.

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Postcards

Postcard Haul #2

innah9621 Comments

postcard haul blog diary of difference

Hello my wonderful people!

I haven’t posted a Postcard Haul in a while, so I have a lot to cover! I have received 11 amazing postcards, all of them so lovely and beautiful, and from so many different countries as well.

To all of you that have sent me postcards that are in this post, thank you very much! You are all amazing people, and I am in love with every single postcard I have received!

Are you ready? Here we go!

Postcard haul pt 1

  • The Butterfly and the Squirrel postcards are from Rift from Goodreads, for the Goodreads June and July Monthly Postcard Swap!
  • The lovely colourful card is from /u/TurdQueen – Allison from RAOC on Reddit!
  • The lady that plays the instrument postcard is from India, from /u/scoobyishere, again from RAOC on Reddit.

Postcard haul pt 2

  • Popular English Art by Noel Carrington and Clarke Hutton comes from UK, from a group called JBUK, on the mobile app Litsy. I have met some amazing people there, and Helen is one of them!
  • The amazing deer postcard came from India. I won this postcard from a Facebook Lottery.
  • The Dante card comes from… You guessed it, Italy! This one is from Postcrossing.
  • The last card on this picture comes from Berlin, Germany, from Christian. I am so lucky to be able to understand when people would write to me in foreign languages. I love that feeling!

Postcard haul pt 3

  • Postcrossing postcard coming from Belarus. Thank you Irina!
  • This amazing San Francisco comes from Reddit, RAOC. Thank you to /u/DaenerysWon from USA
  • Cute cat postcard from Russia. Thank you Nataliya!

 

Now, a question for all of you:

When was the last time you have sent a postcard?

 

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Books

The Night Raid – Clare Harvey [BOOK REVIEW]

innah963 Comments

If you are a fan of drama, history, romance, World War II related books, heartwarming read and words that will make you laugh and cry at the same time – The Night Raid from Clare Harvey is the perfect book for you.

In the time of the World War II, in a factory in England, women work their way to earn a bit of money for themselves and their families. All of these women have their own stories and their own secrets.

When a woman comes to the factory to paint the ladies working the night shift, a lot of secrets will reveal itself. The stories of love, broken hearts, never-haves, hopes and dreams for the future will be painted on that canvas.

Full with passion, mystery, warmness and moments that will stay with you forever, Clare Harvey captures all of these and more in this amazing book.

She describes the characters in a unique way, she gives them life and meaning, and in a page or two you will already be inside their world, going through their happiness and pain.

This book was quite fast paced – in the meaning of, the story goes on smoothly, and there aren’t any sideway streets where you can get lost into. It was easy to keep track of what is happening from the very first beginning and easy to stay on track as well.

Clare managed to capture the World War II period in England quite well. I would never know how it was then, of course, but by reading the book, I could find myself being there, stuck in that time, stuck with those principles that we don’t believe in now. Stuck in a time where people believed that if a woman becomes pregnant during her working time, she has to either give up the baby, or live in a house full of other women that ended up the same way as her. Stuck in a time where gender equality is not a thing, and how could it be?

I would definitely recommend The Night Raid to every one of you, because it is a perfect blend of history and romance, of sadness and happiness, and of such powerful women that fought against all odds to survive and achieve in what they believed in!

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Books

The Help – Kathryn Stockett [BOOK REVIEW]

innah967 Comments

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

This is a book where coloured maids in 1963 are afraid to speak up.

This is a book where they gain the courage to tell a white lady what actually happens inside their lives.

No one is ready to hear the truth, everyone is scared for their future, but bravery is a strong attire to have, and the maids prove they have what it takes.

Lot of courage, lots of excitement, anxiety and me biting my nails over and over again, but definitely book that’s worth reading. And definitely a book that will open your eyes about what actually happened back then.

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