Success Is Never Final

As someone who loves to travel and enjoys staying in hotels, I was delighted when my friends at Shadow Mountain Publishing asked me to read Success Is Never Final, the biography of Bill Marriott, by Dale Van Atta. I read a lot of fiction and mystery novels, but I also enjoy biographies and memoirs and this book was no exception.

As familiar as I was with the Marriott hotel chain, I knew nothing about Bill Marriott, who had led the company for many years. I came away with an appreciation for a man devoted to his business, but also to his family and faith and to philanthropy.  What I don't generally read are "business" books, and Success Is Never Final is a business book, as well as a biography. Though I probably won't add the genre to my preferred reading list, I found those sections concerning the hotel business very informative.

I was moved to tears by the discussion of the World Trade Center Marriott and the events there on September 11, 2001. Though I am very familiar with most details of that day, I was unfamiliar with all that happened at the hotel that stood next to the World Trade Center. The story of that day was well told and especially poignant as we enter the month of September.

I'm pleased to have added Success Is Never Final to my summer reading. Many thanks again, friends at Shadow Mountain for the opportunity.

I'm enjoying the long weekend, and not having a lot of plans. I spent the afternoon visiting with a friend who broke her leg. It was great to see she is doing well and equally fun to meet her cats. Tomorrow I hope/plan to return to the gym and do several hours of decluttering. Not exciting, but I both worthwhile before the busier days of fall arrive. What are your Labor Day plans?

As ever, thanks for visiting. Again, prayers for safety for those in Dorian's path.

Please note: I was given a copy of Success Is Never Final by Shadow Mountain Publishing for review. The opinions are all mine. .     

We've Got a Wild Winter Weekend Giveaway!

I don't know about your house, but here in Buttercupland we're getting a little stir crazy. I'm sure the junior citizens of Buttercupland are especially restless. Thanks to our friends at PBS Kids we've got a treat to make these winter days livelier. I'm doing a weekend giveaway of Wild Kratts Wild Winter Creatures. Join Martin Kratt and Chris Kratt on four snowy winter adventures. Meet rare wildlife and have fun, too! Thanks, PBS Kids.

This is a weekend giveaway and it closes Sunday night, January 7 at 11:59 p.m. I'll announce the winner on Monday, January 8. Please be a friend of Buttercupland on Bloglovin, Google+ or Google and leave a comment about your favorite winter activity. Easy, peasy!

On cold winter days I like cooking/baking. I like curling up in an afghan and drinking coffee and reading magazines or doing a crossword puzzle. I'm also especially enjoying blogging this winter. I've gotten a new spark and have lots of thoughts to share.

The snow stopped here last night and most of the sidewalks have been shoveled. It was nippy today, but I got to Central Park to see the snow and it was lovely. I'll be sharing my pictures over the weekend. It was cold, but worth bundling up to see the scenery.

As ever, thanks for visiting. Take good care and keep cozy.
 

Lies Jane Austen Told Me

Calling All Jane Austen fans


I thought I would be really calm this month. I didn't schedule a lot to do and had almost all of my shopping done by the end of November. But despite all of my pre-planning, somehow the usual holiday season anxiety took hold. Maybe it was too much coffee or too many things on my to-do list, but I was not the calm and carefree woman I had so hoped to be.

But thankfully there is reading and fun romance books to read. Thanks to my friends at Shadow Mountain Publishing I had the pleasure of reading Lies Jane Austen Told Me. It took my mind off my infinite list of errands and it a terrific and fun read.

I am a Jane Austen fan and I've read a good number of the books that use Pride and Prejudice/Emma/Sense and Sensibility as their bases. Lies Jane Austen Told Me does the genre proud. Julie Wright has created a perfect Austen heroine with Los Angeles marketing executive Emma Pierce. She's read every word of Jane Austen, but hasn't found her Mr. Darcy. After discovering her boyfriend with another woman -- not too spicy, dear readers -- she decides to focus on her career and meets her now ex-boyfriend's brother, Lucas. As another British author wrote, "The course of true love never did run smooth," but in Lies Jane Austen Told Me, you will enjoy following its course.

If you're still searching for a gift for a friend who enjoys reading or a book to settle in with on a cold winter day, I highly recommend Lies Jane Austen Told Me.

It's been fun visiting with all of you and chatting about books. I'm going to make a cup of tea -- perhaps peppermint, my new winter favorite -- and devote myself to card writing.

Take good care, dear friends. As ever, thanks for visiting and have a sweet Sunday.
 

Deadly Proof by Rachel Dylan

Yesterday I wrote that today's post would be about a mystery novel. But the term mystery novel doesn't do justice for Deadly Proof by Rachel Dylan. When I was reading about this fast paced title I noticed the description of "legal, romantic suspense," and that sums up the book much better than the generic of mystery novel.

Deadly Proof features attorney Kate Sullivan who serves as the lead counsel in a major case involving corporate cover-up. Romance enters with Landon James, retired Army Ranger, who is hired for an investigation after the death of a whistle blower. The issues at stake are topical, thoughtful and could be taken from the front page of any newspaper. The plot and characters held my interest and I am pleased that Deadly Proof is the start of a new series. Eager to get to become better acquainted Kate and Landon in the future. Many thanks to Litfuse Agency for the opportunity to become familiar with Rachel Dylan's work.

Tomorrow we begin our first day of the Buttercup Fair, featuring fun gifts from two of my favorite bloggers. Please stop by for gift inspiration.

As ever, thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Thursday.
 

Christy by Catherine Marshall

Sometime in the 1960's I watched the movie "A Man Called Peter." It was based on the story of Catherine and Peter Marshall, the beloved Scottish minister. It was both inspirational and a deeply touching love story. I wept buckets watching this beautiful couple and the sorrow of Dr. Marshall's early death. Years later I was working in the Cokesbury Book Store in Nashville. One of my responsibility's was books about religion, both text books and more popular books. One of our best selling authors was Catherine Marshall, who wrote very popular inspirational books. I was delighted to find Catherine Marshall again and read many of the thirty books she wrote. A number of them are still on my bookshelf, underlined and filled with notes.

For some reason I cannot comprehend I didn't read Catherine Marshall's best known book, Christy. It was a best seller when it was published fifty years ago and it later became a successful television show. In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Christy my good friends at Litfuse Group gave me the opportunity to enjoy this beautifully told and highly engaging story.

Christy is based on Catherine Marshall's mother's experience of teaching in Appalachia in the early years of the last century. She taught the children of the fictional town of Cutter Gap, Tennessee. The impoverished Cutter Gap is very distant from Christy's comfortable life in Asheville and her faith is challenged throughout the difficulties of her experience there. There is romance, there is history and there is a well-plotted novel that will hold your interest.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to make up for what I missed fifty years ago. My great thanks to Litfuse for filling a gap in my reading and bringing Catherine Marshall and her spirit and writing back to my life. Christy would make a perfect gift for the person on your shopping list who enjoys fiction.

I'm back tomorrow with another book discussion. I hope you'll join me for a very different, but engaging modern mystery.

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care!

 

Yes, I Know It's Tuesday

One thing I've found since retiring is that while I know what day it is, I don't always know the date. I had planned to do a Maker Monday giveaway and a feature for Monkey Monday and had a slight problem loading the pictures yesterday. So we're just moving right ahead and doing our Monday giveaway on Tuesday. I don't think anyone will mind.

 

Thanks to my friends at Maker Media I'm happy to host a giveaway of Make: Musical Instruments by Kathy Ceceri. The Maker Movement encourages innovation, creativity and learning. This fun book has hands-on projects for family time to make musical instruments. They include the Pizza Box Radio and the Thumb Piano. There are photographs and step-by-step instructions for each project. Kathy Ceceri is a home school parent and educator who has put together a number of hands-on activity books on topics as diverse as robotics and geography. These are great activities to encourage non-screen time for long winter afternoons. 

 

This is an easy peasy to enter giveaway. Just leave a comment -- favorite musical instrument -- and I will choose one person to receive the book. Please leave your comment by Sunday, November 26, 11:00 p.m. and be a Citizen of Buttercupland/Google+ friend/Bloglovin friend.

 

Pep joined a brunch party on Sunday. He wore his winter fleece -- holiday attire coming up -- and showed a definite preference for apple pie pancakes. They looked fabulous, but in the interest of wearing the clothes I already own I went with a more sensible choice of eggs.

 

We begin holiday pictures tomorrow. I've got my first photographs ready to post and I'm hoping you will enjoy them. 

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care! 

 

 

Her Secret

Fans of Amish novels, there is a new series in town, The Amish of Hart County.  Written by Shelley Shepard Gray, author of the Charmed Amish Life Series, Her Secret is the first book in the new series.

Her Secret introduces Hannah Hilty, a charming and engaging heroine. After a serious stalking incident Hannah and her family move to Hart County, Kentucky to begin a new life. There is suspense, there is romance and there are the novel is set against the rich fabric of details of Amish life.

As much as I enjoyed Hannah and the other characters, the pace moved slowly for me. I liked Her Steps, but it wasn't a favorite read. I do think that readers that enjoy Amish novels will still want to read it. It was worth reading, but not one of my favorites.

I've got most of my packing done and in a few hours I'm off to my mystery destination.

As ever, thanks for visiting and happy reading!

Please note: I was given a copy of this book from the Litfuse Publicity Group in an exchange for my thoughts. The opinions are all mine.

The Elusive Miss Ellison

I know I do review romance fiction often in Buttercupland, but it's not my favorite genre. I've come to read it, and have more appreciation of it because of my association with Litfuse Publicity Group. Because I especially enjoy reading historical fiction, my choice of romance novels leans to novels set in periods I find most interesting to read about.

One of my favorite periods is the Regency Era in England, which we often know it best in literature due to Jane Austen's novels. I am delighted to announce that I've found an engaging read in this era, The Elusive Miss Ellison, by Carolyn Miller. Fans of Regency fiction, this is one for you. Fans of romance and historical fiction, this is one for you, too.

I do a lot of my reading on the subway and several times while I was reading The Elusive Miss Ellison, I found myself transported back two hundred years ago to the English countryside to follow the story of Miss Lavinia Ellison and Nicholas, the Earl of Hawkesbury. They are two complex and engaging characters and were very enjoyable company for my subway rides around New York City.

Though we may tend to think of life as simpler and less complex in historical periods, human emotion was equally complicated and the search for love had many twists and turns. Carolyn Miller gives us two main characters in which I was very much interested. Their story engaged me and kept me reading. I enjoyed the historical descriptions of this period very much.

It's back to winter today in New York, though thanks to the Elusive Miss Ellison, I'm transported to a balmy spring afternoon in England two hundred years ago. I wish we could all get together for a cup of tea.  My thoughts are also very much on today's London and my heart goes out to those injured in today's incident and the families of those who were killed.

As ever, thanks for visiting and take very good care.

Please note: I was given a copy of this novel in exchange for my thoughts. My opinions are all mine.
 

It's Thanksgiving in Buttercupland

I realize Thanksgiving came and went in Canada last month and the rest of the United States won't be celebrating Thanksgiving until next week, but thanks to my friends at Dunkin' Donuts it is officially Thanksgiving in Buttercupland.
 

The Dunkin' Donuts Turkey Feast Sandwich...turkey, stuffing, Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce on a ciabotta roll. The presentation wasn't elegant, but it made the perfect quick lunch.

I generally write about companies that are local to New York City, but I also try to keep up with national trends. As a New Englander I grew up with Dunkin' Donuts. There is a branch just a block from where I live, as well as many throughout New York City. They've added some specialty coffees to the menu -- yes, macchiatos that are really good -- and tasty sandwiches that make good lunch treats.

I love Thanksgiving and can -- and do! -- happily eat turkey and cranberries any time of the year. I bought cranberries today to make my cranberry ginger relish for Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little skeptical when I was asked to sample the Turkey Feast Sandwich for Buttercupland. But I found it a very nice taste of Thanksgiving when I'm too busy/on the run/savoring the flavors of Thanksgiving. Thanks, Dunkin' Donuts friends for a delicious lunch and a great start to Thanksgiving. 
 

I save doughnuts for a treat, but it's hard to resist the display at my local branch of Dunkin'. The Candy Cane Crunch Doughnut is calling out to me.

Today we're still in autumn in New York. Actually it feels like early autumn today. Tomorrow is supposed to turn cooler and I will take out my gloves for real. I plan to be out in the next few weeks with scarf and gloves taking pictures of New York decorated in holiday splendor.  

As ever, thanks for visiting and have a lovely Saturday!

Please note: I was given the Turkey Feast Sandwich by Dunkin' Donuts for my review. The opinions are all mine.