fashion and retribution.

Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage gets a sweet, sweet revenge on the people of her hometown in Australia when she returns after twenty years a successful dressmaker that no one can resist employing. You see, Tilly was banished from this place as a small child, and when she returns to help her ailing mother, she decides to stay, and sell her dresses anonymously. But once tragedy strikes, and the town shuns her again, Tilly won't leave until everyone who has wronged her has paid.

Set in 1950's rural Australia, The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham is the epitome of small town life, and all of the quirky characters that you find in them. A fun read with a great ending. And I cannot wait to see Kate Winslet as Tilly.

kick ass giveaway!

Happy Friday! Here's your chance to win a FREE copy of Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings!

....all you have to do is email your name, address, and this book title to: jenileerose@yahoo.com to enter!

Giveaway ends on 11/5 at midnight!

Good luck :)

for the visual gamers.

Although I am a non-gamer, I do think the Batman Arkham series is pretty cool. This gaming series began in 2009 and was significantly influenced by the DC Comics. There are storylines and everything, each ending with Batman saving the day, if you're a good enough gamer that is.

Enter Batman: Arkham Universe by Matthew Manning, a visual guide that is to work as a companion for those who enjoy the Arkham series. Manning gives fans an inside look into the Arkhamverse, with cool images and fun facts on the characters you will come across while gaming. Now when your mom kicks you off your Xbox and tells you to pick up a book, you'll have it covered.

food and books, my favorite things.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I love EVERYTHING about Cara Nicoletti's Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books. I love books more than I love pretty much every person I have ever met, and then Cara goes out and pairs delicious recipes with some of my very favorite novels. Bah, it's so magical. Especially To Kill a Mockingbird's Biscuits with Molasses butter's recipe. I mean, I named my cat Atticus, so you can image. Just think of all of the classic books you've read and enjoyed in your life. A few of them are bound to have made it into Voracious. The Secret Garden? Charlotte's Web? Anne of Green Gables (another one of my favorites) paired with a Salted Chocolate Caramels recipe. And of course stories from Cara's childhood were icing on her poppy-seed cake.

faking it by elise lorello.

Remember that time when I was super picky and couldn't find a novel I wanted to read? Well I found one, and I'm still pretty surprised at how much I liked it considering it's about a writing Professor who trades writing lessons for sex advice from a male escort. Or maybe that's exactly why I liked it?

After a pretty harsh breakup, Andi Cutrone moved back home to Long Island and started working at a university in Brooklyn. While attending faculty events, she meets Devin, an escort who goes on dates with many of the women Andi works with. After she meets Devin, Andi just couldn't stop thinking about him. And she knows she definitely can't afford him. So she calls to make a deal. She will givev him lessons on writing rhetoric, and he will give her advice on sex because she has about zero experience on the subject. Sounds like a fair trade. Devin's beauty is a bit distracting, and Andi obviously falls for him (I expected that), but what I didn't expect is how this little arrangement turned into a pretty adorable friendship making BOTH of them more confident and ready to follow their dreams.

a book lovers book.

If you enjoy reading about romance, adventure, and mystery, but also like a laugh or two, First Impressions by Charlie Lovett is perfect for you. Take my word.

First Impressions is a novel with two storylines. Half of the book takes place in Jane Austen’s time and the other half of takes place in present day London with a book lover named Sophie Collingwood who works at an antiquarian bookshop, a job she took to solve the mystery of her uncle's death, which she does not believe was an accident since his precious book collection disappeared. The other story follows Jane Austen and her unlikely friendship with the 80-year-old Richard Mansfield in 1796. Both stories were good, I just liked Sophie's better.

a psychological thriller for kids? yes.

I am loving all of these middle grade books I've been reading recently. I love even more that they are all spooky, with amazing illustrations will make getting a book in your kid's hand that much easier. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel is a psychological thriller written for grades 5-7, and it is super haunting and a little unsettling, probably in a good way.

Steve isn't your typical hero. He's a kid with some serious anxiety and maybe some OCD thrown in there. He's definitely on the spectrum. But anyways, his baby brother is sick which begins to cause stressful dreams for Steve. Dreams about wasps, and their queen, and his only solution, their offer to save the baby. When things start going south, and with actual wasps in a nest at the house, Steven worries about what the wasps will do to his brother. The story is definitely creepy, but there are morals, so I recommend reading the book before your child to help them understand the author's message.