The Band That Played On by Steve Turner

Book Description:

The never-before told, inspiring stories of the 8 brave musicians who played as the Titanic sank.

When Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, the eight members of the band had already retired for the evening. Still, they put on overcoats and came out to play in the lounge. When most of the First Class passengers had taken to their lifeboats, the musicians moved to the deck and continued to play as the ship sank. One passenger said: “Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.” But who were they? What journeys brought them to this deck on this icy ocean? Who did they leave behind? Historian and biographer Steve Turner delves into the lives of these brave men, revealing eight unique portraits of bravery.

My Thoughts:

Like so many people I am interested in all things Titanic. So when I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it even though it was non-fiction. I don't read a lot of non-fiction because for some reason it takes me forever to read. But this was an interesting book about the men who played while the Titanic sank. If you find all things Titanic interesting then I recommend you check out this book.

**I received my free review copy through booksneeze.com

Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"A sound came behind her, and she assumed it was Goldia until she smelled a man's cologne. She half turned at the furtive, sliding noise, but before she could see who was joining her, hard hands seized her from behind."

--The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble

Happy Easter!

Easter Joy

Jesus came to earth,
To show us how to live,
How to put others first,
How to love and how to give.

Then He set about His work,
That God sent Him to do;
He took our punishment on Himself;
He made us clean and new.

He could have saved Himself,
Calling angels from above,
But He chose to pay our price for sin;
He paid it out of love.

Our Lord died on Good Friday,
But the cross did not destroy
His resurrection on Easter morn
That fills our hearts with joy.

Now we know our earthly death,
Like His, is just a rest.
We'll be forever with Him
In heaven, where life is best.

So we live our lives for Jesus,
Think of Him in all we do.
Thank you Savior; Thank you Lord.
Help us love like you!

By Joanna Fuchs

A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell

From Goodreads:

The elegance of Madame Forza's gown shop is a far cry from the downtrodden North End of Boston. Yet each day Julietta, Annamaria, and Luciana enter the world of the upper class, working on finery for the elite in society. The three beauties each long to break free of their obligations and embrace the American dream--and their chance for love. But the ways of the heart are difficult to discern at times. Julietta is drawn to the swarthy, mysterious Angelo. Annamaria has a star-crossed encounter with the grocer's son, a man from the entirely wrong family. And through no intent of her own, Luciana catches the eye of Billy Quinn, the son of Madame Forza's most important client. Their destinies intertwined, each harboring a secret from their families and each other, will they be found worthy of the love they seek?

My Thoughts:

Before I read A Heart Most Worthy I had read a few reviews and in a lot of them they complained about the omniscient point of view that the author writes in. To be honest, the reviews had me worried I wasn't going to enjoy it. Well, I think this was a good reminder to myself that sometimes you just have to make up your own mind about a book because I absolutely loved it! I actually enjoyed the omniscient point of view and never found it confusing. This is a story about love and also about hate and how it can destroy the people harboring it. It reminded me of a line in one of my favorite shows (Lark Rise to Candleford), "Hatred is like swallowing the poison and waiting for the other person to die." I might not have gotten it 100% correct but you get the point.

The romance in this book was so touching and had me a little teary eyed at times. We meet three very different girls in this book and see them grow, learn and fall in love. As the back of the book says there is fiery Julietta--there were times I wanted to yell at her, shy Annamaria--I felt for her and was rooting her on, and then there is secretive Luciana--and what a secret she has!

Siri Mithcell has wrote another great book (one of my favorites this year) and I can not wait to read her next book. Please don't let the omniscient point of view scare you off because this is a great read.

**Thanks to Bethany House for sending me my free review copy**

Wordless Wednesday

The Great Squirrel Escape

I have a cat fence so my cats can go outside but I don't have to worry about them getting into trouble. I also have some cats that I've rescued through the years that are strictly outside cats and three of them have decided to hang out in the backyard. So this morning I saw that they were on the back deck (waiting for their breakfast) so I decided to let the dogs go out into the cat area. But since Hope likes to chase the cats I had to make sure that the couple that run when they see her weren't out there. What I saw was Luke (pictured above) up on a tree going around it. Oh, we have these things on the trees that prevent the cats from climbing all the way up the tree. Then I realized that somehow a poor Squirrel had found it's way inside the cat fence but can't get out. Luke was very happy about that too. Since there were about four cats outside I had to start grabbing them up and putting them inside until finally it was just Luke outside. I was headed towards Luke when the squirrel makes a run for it on the ground. He hit the fence, bounced off and Luke pounced. I'm freaking out cause you can hear the poor squirrel squealing. Everything happened so fast but I remember seeing Luke pick up the squirrel by the hind in and starts to carrying him while I'm telling him to drop it. Luckily, the squirrel gets away and I scoop up Luke and put him in the house. I went and opened up the gate and slowly herd the squirrel towards the open gate and freedom. Talk about a squirrel's nightmare! I'm sure if my neighbor saw me out there she might have thought I'd gone nuts.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

From Goodreads.com:

"Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave."

These ominous words are the last threat that Sir Edward Grey receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, he collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward's death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that her husband was murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers damning evidence for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring the murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

My Thoughts:

I decided to get this book for two reason 1) seen a lot of great reviews about it and 2) I was able to get the first three books in this series as a bundle for my Kindle..three books for $9.99! Love getting a bargain. :) I now know why so many people rave about this series because Silent in the Grave was a great read. One night I ended up staying up until one reading and had to force myself to go to bed. Yes, it's that good. I will say I had started to guess who was the murderer but the whys and hows totally took me by surprise. If you enjoy a good mystery then I highly recommend Silent in the Grave.

Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"By some sleight of hand or dark magic, her dusky complexion seemed to have lightened and, with her shoulders rolled back, she seemed to have grown several inches. She had shed the very essence of her self." --A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell

It's Party Time!

This week Renee @ Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot is celebrating her dog, Coco's birthday! She has lots of guests (including myself) and some great giveaways. I'll be sharing Hope's story (the dog pictured below) so I hope y'all will stop by. :) The adorable cat is my Luke and I just had to include a picture of a cat. :)

Happy Birthday, Jake!

My baby boy turns 12 today! I can't believe he's twelve, seems like it was just yesterday that I was bottle feeding him. I found him and his siblings in an abandoned car and had to bottle feed them. Jake is the only one who survived and he's one spoiled rotten cat! :)

Wordless Wednesday

The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall

From Goodreads.com:

Lena Kauffman is a young Old Order Amish schoolteacher who has dealt all her life with attention raised by a noticeable birthmark on her cheek. Having learned to move past the stares and whispers, Lena channels her zest for living into her love of teaching. But tensions mount as she is challenged to work with a rebellious young man and deal with several crises at the schoolhouse that threaten her other students. Her lack of submission and the use of ideas that don’t line up with the Old Ways strengthen the school board’s case as they begin to believe that Lena is behind all the trouble.

One member of the school board, Grey Graber, feels trapped by his own stifling circumstances. His wife Elsie has shut him out of her life, and he doesn’t know how long he can continue to live as if nothing is wrong. As the two finally come to a place of working toward a better marriage, tragedy befalls their family.

Lena and Grey have been life-long friends but their relationship begins to crumble amidst unsettling deceptions, propelling each of them to finally face their own secrets. Can they both find a way past their losses and discover the strength to build a new bridge?

My Thoughts:

The Bridge of Peace is the second book in the Ada's House series and I would probably recommend reading this series in order. When I first started reading this I really wasn't in the mood to read it but I knew I needed to get it read to write my review. Well, I'm happy to say that it didn't take long before I was enjoying reading about Lena and Grey. I actually had a hard time putting it down. It was one of those books where you say to yourself, "one more chapter and then I'll go to bed." Before you know it you've said that to yourself about five times and still haven't gone to bed. I was happy to see a lot of the characters that I read about in the first book, The Hope of Refuge. We didn't just see them in passing but their story continued in this book which is why I think this is one of those series that needs to be read in order. I don't read that much Amish fiction but I really enjoy Cindy Woodsmall's books. The characters are great and you feel like you know them...you will laugh and cry with them. This is a great series that I would highly recommend.

**I received my free review copy from the publishers through Blogging for Books.