Carol's Notebook – Page 414

Audiobook Review: Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace by Marion Chesney

May 28, 2013May 29, 2013 by Carol1 Comment

Title: Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace (The Poor Relations #3) Author: Marion Chesney Reader: Davina Porter Category: Romance- Historical Audio Published: June 1, 2012 by AudioGo (First published 1993) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon Lucy Budley, one of the indigent gentlefolk who pooled their resources to create the Poor Relation Hotel, is prompted by her co-proprietors to travel to Delacourt Castle in Warwickshire. Once there, they plan, she will pretend to be a distant relative and relieve the dotty old Marquess of Peterhouse of enough trinkets to support herself back in London. The plot is foiled, however, when the old Marquess dies and is replaced by his sharp-witted and darkly handsome nephew. Exposed as a liar, the widow Budley tells all and begs his forgiveness, only to discover that the new Marquess may have plans for her; he needs a wife to keep both prying neighbors and ambitious London mothers at bay. In Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace by Marion Chesney, the proprietors of The Poor Relation hotel are,...

Performer or Bystander

May 26, 2013May 28, 2013 by Carol5 Comments

Do you consider yourself the outgoing performer or the appreciative bystander? Why? I consider myself the appreciative bystander. I'm not one to get up on stage but I love watching others perform in plays or musicals or even sports activities. I will clap and cheer and love every minute of it. However, I've been playing the organ at church on Sundays lately, definitely performing, but it's still a behind-the-scenes performance. The congregation hears the music but, for the most, doesn't see me since the organist is partly hidden by a wall. I play the piano for the choir anthems, but it's also rather tucked away. I'm not out there on the stage, and that's fine with me. What about you? Performer or bystander?...

Snapshot Saturday: Pirates Game

May 25, 2013May 24, 2013 by Carol8 Comments

I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Yes, we haven't had a winning season since I was in high school, but there's hope this year. I love to go to the games, and last weekend I got to sit in the best seats I've ever had. I got to tag along with my husband and some of his folks from work and our seats were right behind home base and the tickets include all the food. It was an awesome evening! Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy....

Review: Clockwork Mafia by Seleste deLaney

May 24, 2013June 17, 2013 by Carol6 Comments

Title: Clockwork Mafia (Badlands #2) Author: Seleste deLaney Category: Romance- Steampunk Published: April 29, 2013 by Carina Press Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon Inventor Henrietta Mason is retiring from airships and adventuring to return home to Philadelphia. Determined to erase all trails leading to her late father's duplicity, she dismantles his lab and removes all records of the Badlands gold. While in the city, she can't resist the lure of a charity gala but winds up regretting the whole experience. Well, everything except a heart-racing dance with a certain U.S. Marshal. His career and vengeance on the line, Carson Alexander must prove a connection between Senator Mason and the mafia. He lucked out happening across Mason's strikingly beautiful daughter, only to have her slip through his fingers. On a desperate hunt to track her down, he never expects his search to take him into the brutal Badlands. With a mechanically enhanced enforcer after them, only Carson knows the extent of the danger they face. He'll have to...

Thursday’s Tale: The Red Shoes

May 23, 2013 by Carol9 Comments

"The Red Shoes" was written by Hans Christian Andersen and first published in 1845. Andersen's fairy tales tend to have a distinctively moralistic and Christian bent, but usually I enjoy them for the imagery and phrases. "The Red Shoes," however, may be my least favorite of the fairy tales I've read. A pretty peasant girl named Karen is so poor she has to go barefoot in the summer until an old shoemaker's wife takes pity on her and makes her a rough pair of shoes from red cloth. On the day of her mother's funeral, Karen is adopted by a rich old lady who promises the clergyman to take care of her, but she grows up vain and spoiled. The old woman burned the red shoes, but Karen tricks her adoptive mother into buying her a new pair of fancy red shoes fit for a princess. Karen repeatedly wears them to church, without paying attention to the service. She ignores the anger of her adopted...

Audiobook Review: Miss Tonks Turns to Crime by Marion Chesney

May 22, 2013 by Carol4 Comments

Title: Miss Tonks Turns to Crime (The Poor Relations #2) Author: Marion Chesney Reader: Davina Porter Category: Romance- Historical Audio Published: May 8, 2012 by AudioGo (First published April 1993) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon The oddly assorted group met some time ago. All of them were poor relations, the genteel paupers of society, living on little more than their dignity. They banded together and started The Poor Relation hotel, hoping to be bought out by their embarrassed relations, but as the hotel prospered, they began to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But once more they are in need of funds. To stoop to crime in their days of poverty was one thing, but to turn to it again when they have enjoyed a certain amount of success is quite another. But they all agree. The hotel must go on. And so poor, faded Miss Tonks has been persuaded to steal something valuable enough from her rich sister to set the poor relations...