Colletta's Kitchen Sink: My Weekly Bookishness ~ 3/6/2025

All things bookish!

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What I Finished:

Click HERE to read my REVIEW!

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What I'm Reading/Listening:

"Beyond Ivy Walls" by Rachel Fordham is the March selection for the Good for the Soul Women's Bookclub.

Blurb:

Beauty and the Beast meets A Light Between Oceans in historic small-town America where a wealthy reclusive bachelor and an unlikely ally join forces to solve a family secret and inadvertently find belonging along the way.

Early 1900s. When an accident leaves Sadie West's family in dire financial need, she nervously leaves the land she loves to work in the Hoag duster factory. But sending all her money home means that she has nowhere to board, and she's forced to take up residence in an abandoned building--a choice that throws her in the path of the town's mysterious bachelor.

Recently returned from exile, and determined to keep his arrival a secret, Otis Taylor makes the impulsive decision to hire the woman he finds hiding on his family's property with the strict instructions she tell no one he has returned. The dark halls of his boyhood flood him with memories he's long tried to forget. The only bright light is the woman he has hired. Can the optimistic Sadie teach the wounded Otis to trust again? To love? Can the pair unravel the family secrets that have long cast a shadow over the mansion and those who reside within?

With the same heart as Rachel Fordham's fan-loved previous historical novels, Beyond Ivy Walls takes readers on an emotional journey full of character development, historical nuance, and a deeply satisfying happily ever after.

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What I'll (Probably) Read/Listen Next:

I started listening to "When the Day Comes" by Gabrielle Meyer a few weeks ago and would like to get back to it next. I saw the cover reveal for the author's next release and it looks amazing. I have some catching up to do with this series!

Blurb:

How will she choose, knowing all she must sacrifice?

Libby has been given a powerful gift: to live one life in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other. While she's the same person at her core in both times, she's leading two vastly different lives.

In Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives--and any hope of love--are put in jeopardy.

Libby's life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about--women's suffrage--is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe only complicates matters.

Blurb:

It’s been eight years since hairstylist Lacy Brown drove into town in her ancient pink Cadillac and set the town on the map. Now, she’s hired a new stylist, Izzy Cranberry, who is happy to be in the town that’s made history with its everlasting “Wives Wanted Campaign” that is still running even now. But she’s not looking, she’s just intrigued by her two sweet grandmothers who’ve followed the story of Mule Hollow from the beginning until they took their last breaths and left her to fulfill their dream of moving to the tiny town for them… Unable to disappoint them, she’s here—but not for long. Just to let her grams watch from above as she joins Lacy Brown Matlock in Heavenly Inspirations fixing hair—not being a match made by the Matchmakers of Mule Hollow.

Styling is all she’s here for…and maybe a laugh or two from the legendary matchmakers who sit in her styling chair and think they have her on their target board.

Horse trainer Luc Asher has taken a job in the town he’s heard a lot about but has no plan to be one of the “matches”. He’s a loner, with good reason, and as far from looking for love as a man can get.

Making him the perfect target…at least that’s what Esther Mae, Norma Sue, and Adela, the town matchmakers, believe the moment he strides into Sam’s Diner looking as handsome and alone as a man shouldn’t be.

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Book Haul: