CAN WE DESIGN OUR OWN LIVES? — INTROS/TEASERS: BLUE JEANS & COFFEE BEANS — FEB. 12

 

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today’s featured book is Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans, by Joanne DeMaio.

 

Intro:  Long Island Sound’s lazy breaking waves chase her back onto the sand.  She watches them carefully, believing they are truly after her.  Upon the waves’ retreat, her little legs dare to step back toward them, never to  quite within their reach, while never far from her mother’s reach, either.  She is only a toddler, the girl in the blue and white ruffled bathing suit, her light brown hair falling with a salty fluff to just below her tanned shoulders.  The last of an ice cream bar clings to its stick, melting slowly and dripping on her toes.

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Teaser:  Eva fills the coffee pot with water and measures in the scoops of coffee.  The house is still, so still, now that the guys left.  It’s that same kind of stillness that falls upon a steamy, humid summer day, the kind that makes you alert, that draws attention to something happening that you can’t really see yet. (p. 79).

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Goodreads Description:  After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But a forgotten home movie tucked inside a dusty attic box leads to an unexpected summer … One of uncovering family secrets while settling her father’s estate, one of inheriting a forlorn German Shepherd, one of reconnecting with old friends on a weathered boardwalk, beneath starlit skies on a beach nestled in a crook of the Connecticut coast.

Her design career had become a shell, curving around her like the intricate whorls of a conch, shielding her until now. Until fried clam dinners and carousel rides beckon a lost love. But can Maris ever really go back? Can these beach friends ever be who they were to each other all those summers ago? Now one of her circle is dead; another unemployed and struggling in a tenuous marriage; another regretting a fateful decision; while one is missing a mother, ever seeking a connection she longs for….

To the backdrop of seaside cottages and a boarded up beach hangout, to the soundtrack of whispering lagoon grasses and a vintage jukebox, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans asks if we can really design our own lives, or if our fate lies somewhere in the stars.

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What do you think?  Would you keep reading?

GUILTY PLEASURES CAN BE NECESSITIES: WAITING ON “THE THINGS THAT MATTER” — OCT. 3

Welcome to one of the more pleasurable bookish events of the week; Waiting on Wednesdays, hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine, is our chance to drool about the delicious books we’re awaiting.

I love all things stylish and beautiful, and I’m a bit obsessed with feathering my nest.  Hence my home is filled with books with glossy pages (as well as all the other kinds of books I read).

Today’s feature is from that Maven of Style, Nate Berkus, whose book The Things That Matter will be released on October 16.  Yay!  Not long to wait.

 

Does your home tell the story of who you are?

In The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus shares intimate stories from his life, introduces us to people who influenced him and helped him forge his sense of style, and opens up about the remarkable experiences that have left him forever changed, all of which find expression in how he lives today. From his most cherished flea market finds, to his beloved books and photos, to the many extraordinary mementos he’s collected in his travels, every piece defines who he’s become and what endures in his world.

Berkus invites readers into his own home as well as into twelve others, including a sleek steel-and-glass high-rise that soars above Chicago, a rustic cottage in the Hudson Valley, an ultra-chic atelier that maximizes every inch of space, a Greenwich Village townhouse that holds multiple art collections, and a study in meaningful minimalism in Marfa, Texas. The distinctive interiors beautifully displayed in this book offer revealing portraits of their owners’ lives and the inspiring choices that have made them who they are today.
 
The Things That Matter convincingly lays out Nate Berkus’s philosophy that things do matter. Our homes tell our stories, they reflect the places we’ve been and the people we’ve loved along the way—and there can be no more beautiful design for living than that.

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I can’t wait!  And I’m featuring this book on my “guilty pleasures” blog because I love to showcase the beautiful things I love.  Now I’m off to see what you’re awaiting.

PLEASURABLE MOMENTS, NEAR MISSES, AND THE ABSENCE OF GUILT — MARCH 10

Guilty pleasures don’t have to be mimosas…or even chocolates.

They can be cozy interiors and curling up to read in them.  Especially on a Saturday. 

Do you think of Saturdays as a day for chores or errands?

I love being able to dismiss those chores and errands for a good book.  Or just to visit lots of blogs.

Today I’m reading a wonderful memoir by a favorite author. In Anna Quindlen’s Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake , we “hear” Quindlen’s unique voice as she reminisces about youth, aging, and the near misses of life.

Sometimes the road not taken is a near miss.  What disasters might have awaited us if we’d turned left instead of right?  What if we hadn’t gone to that particular party, or attended that college?

I know that I often ponder these things.  In 1970, a friend persuaded me to attend a party that I thought might not be such a good idea.  But I went, all dressed up in my “hippie” garb…and met my second husband.

Yes, I know that the marriage didn’t last.  But it did go on for almost ten years and produced two wonderful children.  And the grandchildren!  Bliss….

So I wouldn’t change a thing about that night.  Or even the subsequent years, but I do wish I’d shown a bit more dignity along the way…lol

The other thing that Quindlen talks about is the “illusion of control.”  We think that, if we do this or do that, we will have control.  But there is very little we can control.  I’ve learned, over the years, that I can really only control inanimate objects…or my attitude and reaction to things.

But lest we veer away from pleasures, I love visiting my stylist every four weeks to “invigorate” my hairstyle.

The other day, I was perusing old photo albums and looking at pictures of me back in the day.  Who did that woman’s hair?   That thought crossed my mind, and I had to share it with my stylist.  Who, incidentally, is my daughter.

Who knew that the little pre-teen girl on the left would grow up and take mercy on me and my locks?

She has the stylin’ thing goin’ on here:

Heather and a co-worker

Oh, and lest you think that I’ve been totally lazy today, I did go outdoors and clean off the patio.  But just so I can loll about there later, with a glass of wine and a good book.

Where do your guilty pleasures take you?  What special moments do you enjoy on a Saturday?

GUILTY PLEASURES: AN OLD HOTEL, A LIVE-IN GHOST, & ROMANCE — A REVIEW

The Montgomery brothers are renovating an old historic hotel in Boonsboro, Maryland, and when it is finished, a gorgeous Bed and Breakfast Inn will stand in its place.

The opening chapters of this beautifully descriptive tale also show us other residents of the small town, like Clare Brewster, the bookstore owner who has returned home with her three sons after the death of her husband.

Beckett Montgomery has had a huge crush on Clare since they were teenagers. Watching the attraction between them develop is a large part of the fun of The Next Always: Book One of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy. I also enjoyed seeing the small-town unity of other characters, like Avery, a friend of Clare’s from way back. Reading about the family that surrounds the primary characters is a bonus, adding to the feel-good nature of the book.

I am a big fan of interior design, and I was thoroughly engaged by how the author brought the reader along, showing each stage of the renovation, and then finally, bringing its beauty to light for us to enjoy.

Other characters in this book, the first in a trilogy, include a ghost named Lizzy…and a darkly malevolent presence of the human kind.

Roberts has a gift for bringing the reader into the lives of these very real and down to earth characters; and showing us the romance as it comes alive is a breathtaking side effect of this story.

This one earned five stars from me. I’m eager for the next book!