I have joined this website that allows people with a Kindle or a Kindle app to borrow approved books for free. Through that medium I found this book by Lizzie Church. Definitely a regency in the Jane Austen sense of the genre and NOT a bodice ripper. The main character is a young woman called Lydia who has lost both her parents. Her father to war and her mother to illness. This left herself and her younger sister Susan alone and basically paupers. So what else is a young woman to do but go to live with family as a poor relative and basically an unpaid companion.

As a poor relative Lydia does not have a lot of freedom with a tyrannical Aunt intent on insuring she “know her place”, an absentee uncle (hiding from the aunt), a female cousin to chatter with and a male cousin to avoid. Enter the love interest and his brother. What I love about this story is that the pace. Though there is a rather jarring encounter with the male cousin I found a little over the top. Though I am sure the author had her reasons for using that particular experience to solidify his character flaws. 

The romance is gentle and of course there are a couple misconceptions on both parts… the locations change through the story and you meet a variety of interesting characters. If you enjoy a CLASSIC regency romance… well this is a definite read. 

Regency Romance

I figure one of the best pick me ups ever is time out with a good friend. Wednesday afternoon was my first chance in AGES to enjoy the company of a friend (FEMALE friend) without kids and outside the house. Bree met up with me here at the house in the middle of the afternoon and then off we went to Applebees. A first time in years for BOTH of us. With appetizers half price and a quiet restaurant we were in heaven! 

Gavin sneaking in some mommy time before I headed out

Well over an hour later we drove over to Target to do some shopping and wandering before heading back to the house to say good bye to Ken for his gaming with the guys. Bree stuck around to get to know Echo better and talk to the kids (and beat dinner time traffic). Quite the wonderful evening for us all! AND I was able to get her godmother’s gift we had saved before we drove down. 

Getting to know her American Godmommy

Which reminds me… we got our new Moo cards with this address and current information! So now every letter we send out, package, etc will go with one as well! We figure since we ARE going to be here a while and they had a major deal (no cost just ship which here was 5.00) getting them was not a horrible thing. I am not in any of the pictures and Ken is WAY in the background of one but there are 5 great and varied pictures of the kids. 

Now not to forget about the kids… today we had a nice chunk of our day filled up with HOMESCHOOLING! I am so pleased that we found our math books. Zander dove right in (somewhat willingly) while Gavin opted to work hard on his butterfly cross stitch. His plan is to finish this piece as soon as he can. I am not sure if that will lead him to moving back to the other unfinished piece or start a new one but I am so glad he is this interested in stitching. 

Hard at work

Add to that colouring, talking about Thomas trains and Daddy being in the thick of it and I consider our time a success… of course we topped that off with a family walk around the neighbourhood. It really is a lovely neighbourhood. Though we did find a few mosquitoes. And took a few pictures.

Start em young

The weather was beautiful for our walk and after that the kids went into the backyard to play with the neighbours, and apparently help them garden. Seriously this is a GREAT area. 

Gavin on left

RUN

I am still working on sorting through the last randoms of our stuff. I have found all the school supplies that survived the evil downsizing (seriously in need of UP sizing now… time to watch the sales and hand-me-downs) and my personal craft supplies. Now to make concrete wish lists to purchase once one of these companies pans out for Ken… two or 3 more companies have asked for further information from Ken! 

We ended our day with the adding of Gabriella and Zachary to our already active household.

All the cousins

This weekend is Joe’s birthday so the kids are here potentially until Sunday. Of course we have our own plans as well… Saturday afternoon we are joining the Novaks to celebrate Andrew’s 12th birthday and then Sunday… Sunday Ken and I are going SOLO to the Renaissance Fair. I am so excited about that one! Not much of a spending budget but we are dressing up AND I am taking my camera with!!

Learning something new every day

I have downloaded the Kindle app for our iPad and searched through for some free books. After all, with a library card in hand (free here in our area of Minnesota) buying more books in a digital form just isn’t reasonable. Well… I finished one of the freebies… Opal Fire, A Stacy Justice Mystery – #1. This is written by Barbra Annino. The description on Goodreads calls it a paranormal mystery with a splash of romance and a helping of humor. 

I have to say I had the feeling reading this one that there was a whole story or two that I was missing BEFORE this book, though it is a first novel for this writer. The main character Stacy Justice is a decedent of witches and an unwilling practitioner of the art. The book starts with a fire in her cousin Cinnamon’s bar. When the insurance adjuster decides it is arson Stacy starts to dig deeper. 

Not only does she have to contend with a quirky extended family, a current boyfriend (the police chief) a dishy ex boyfriend but also her job at the town paper as a reporter. This is definitely not a book that takes itself overly seriously and honestly for me the solution to the murder was a big surprise.

So if you are looking for a good giggle, a mystery to solve, some magic to experience and lots of witty banter… check out this first in a series! Even with the feeling that I needed a prequel I really enjoyed this one. 

Opal Fire