I am really not happy with the lack of sunshine we have been having and I long for some proper Summer weather. Due to this I have chosen a poem named Summer.
This poem is by John Clare (1793-1864) who was an English poet who celebrated the English countryside in his poetry.
Summer
Come we to the summer, to the summer we will come, For the woods are full of bluebells and the hedges full of bloom. And the crow is on the oak a -building of her nest, And love is burning diamonds in my true lover's breast; She sits beneath the whitethorn a-plaiting of her hair, And I will to my true lover with a fond request repair; I will look upon her face, I will in her beauty rest, And lay my aching weariness upon her lovely breast.
The clock-a-clay is creeping on the open bloom of May, The merry bee is trampling the pinky threads all day, And the chaffinch it is brooding on its grey mossy nest In the whitethorn bush where I will lean upon my lover's breast; I'll lean upon her breast and I'll whisper in her ear That I cannot get a wink o'sleep for thinking of my dear; I hunger at my meat and I daily fade away Like the hedge rose that is broken in the heat of the day.
The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good day today. I have been at school all day but I have managed to read a page of my book every 20 minutes when my students change over. I read this page whilst marching on the spot to get my step count up, this got me a very strange look from the head when she walked in to collect something from the room.
What I am Currently Reading
I am thoroughly enjoying The Hedgerow! Parrish’s writing style just reminds me of Dorothy Whipple and I love it. Lord of Chaos is still plodding along but the story is getting slower and slower.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I could not put this book down and pretty much devoured it over the weekend. Review will be appearing this week.
What I Think I will Read Next
I’m doing quite well with my reading so far this month and I really hope it continues as I am so behind with my challenges. Hopefully, one of these books will be my next read.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Destination Maisie is the perfect balance of adventure, joy, sadness and humour. A trip full of emotional twists, turns, and hope. The journey begins in 1960 when an illegitimate baby girl named Maisie Florence, is born in a London nursing hospital. Following a disrupted adoption and ten years in foster care, Maisie, aged 17, discovers a hidden letter from Ellen, her birth mother. In 1977 Maisie absconds from care, making an anxious journey to Manchester, where she reunites with Ellen and meets her characterful half-sisters. But does she truly belong? Decades later, in 2019, Maisie discovers her birth father was born in Crete. Encouraged by granddaughter Fran, fuelled by fantasies of long-lost birth family reunions, the women embark upon a road trip through Paris, Florence, and Athens to reach Heraklion. Both women find love on the idyllic Greek island, which changes their lives forever. When Fran has to return to England, Maisie connects with her Greek aunt by birth. Dark secrets are revealed, leaving Maisie stunned at past revelations. She is lost, alone and adrift on a Greek island wondering if she’ll ever find her true self. With her emotional scars exposed, the consequences for Maisie are devastating.
Review
Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to Mel Frances for sending me a copy of her book in exchange for an honest review.
At first I struggled with this book because of the jumping around of time periods but once I got used to this I really started to get into this book. Although this book is called Destination Maisie it focuses on so many other characters and I loved their character development, especially Fran’s. For me Fran was the star of this book and I felt so proud of her development. Fran is Maisie’s granddaughter and decides to help her beloved grandmother as much as she can and takes her grandmother on an epic adventure to find her past. Fran is a young woman with big plans for her future but she puts everything on hold to go on the big trip and with this trip she discovers her true self and that maybe her plans for the future are not exactly what she wants. Fran is so brave, she knows Maisie has scars and is traumatised by her past but she is right there to help Maisie through it.
Maisie has not had an easy beginning in life. In fact it is a beginning that could throw some people completely off the rails but Maisie always pushes through. Maisie is unbelievable strong but as the book goes on we witness just how strong she is and just what her past and present life put her through. Maisie has real trauma in her childhood and it could have been so easy for her to stay put with her foster family safe and secure but she never gives up and at 17 years of age, and a sheltered 17 at that, she embarks on a journey to find her real mother. Thankfully, that journey ends up happily with Maisie finding her birth mother and her half-sisters. However, Maisie still feels something isn’t quite right and needs more answers and so the big adventure in Crete begins. So often in this book I kept crying out for someone to help Maisie. Yes she is strong but also she is bruised and keeps getting bruised and she just needed someone to help guide her, to comfort her but as so often happens with strong characters people don’t see below the strong facade the struggle and the damage.
I was so happy a good portion of this book was set in Crete because Frances’ descriptions of Crete were wonderful! Frances’ details of the scenery, the ruins, the history, the culture, even the shopping centre were beautifully detailed and I could imagine myself there sitting on the beach listening to the sea reading a good book between going for a swim. This book really was a joy to read and I was constantly routing for Maisie and Fran. I can’t wait to read Frances’ next book and enjoy some beautiful scenery again. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
🐲🐲🐲🐲
About the author
Mel grew up within a large extended family in North East England. She is married with two adult sons. After a period of study, Mel settled in Lancashire for fifteen years, before returning to her beloved city of Newcastle. Following a career in Children’s Social Care, Mel has fulfilled her passion for writing contemporary fiction. When she is not spending time with family and friends, she can be found at her desk planning her next novel.
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week so far. We have building work starting on the house tomorrow and I’m not entirely sure how peaceful our house will be over the next few weeks.
My chosen book to feature is one I’m really interested in because I studied this topic when I was doing my Masters in Classical Studies so I’m really intrigued to read about it in a different period of history.
In her previous two bestsellers, Professor Alice Roberts powerfully and evocatively revived people of the past through examining their burial rites, bringing a fresh perspective on how they lived. In Crypt, Professor Roberts brings us face to face with individuals who lived and died between ten and five centuries ago. The stories in this book are not comforting tales; there’s a focus on pathology, on disease and injury, and the experience of human suffering in the past. We learn of an episode of terrible brutality, when hate speech unleashed a tide of violence against an ethnic minority; of the devastation caused by incurable epidemics sweeping through medieval Europe; of a protracted battle between Church and State for the heart of England – a battle that saw the most famous tomb in the country created and destroyed; and a tumultuous story, forged in the heat of warfare, that takes us out of the Middle Ages into the sixteenth century and the reign of Henry VIII. In the Middle Ages, there’s barely a written note for most people’s lives. The information we can extract from archaeological human remains represents is an essential tool for understanding our history. Most of these dead will remain anonymous. But, in the thrilling final chapter, Professor Roberts introduces an individual whose life and bones were marked by chronic debilitating disease – and whose name might just be found in history… Beautifully written, vividly drawn, and expertly researched, this is a brilliant and unexpected portrait of modern Britain.
I was really pleased with how I did with my May TBR, reading two out of my four books was a big improvement on how I usually do with my planned TBR. I’m really hoping I manage to do the same with my June TBR or even better.
Where the Crawdads Sing and Queens of the Age of Chivalry are both books off my 24 Books in 2024 list. The Hedgerow and Klova are both books very kindly sent to me by publishers. The Household is the book I will hopefully read if I manage to read the first four.
I hope everyone’s planned reading for June goes well.
My chosen quote today is by the English author Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970). The quote is from A Room with a View.
“It isn’t possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal.”
The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have actually managed to finish a book today which felt good as it seems to be such a rare occurance for me at the moment.
What I am Currently Reading
I’m about 50 pages into Where the Crawdads Sing and so far so good. I’ve always been a bit nervous about reading this book because of the hype it has received and I am so often let down by books with a lot of hype. Fingers crossed it lives up to the hype. Lord of Chaos is still plodding along but I’m only managing about 10 pages a night before I fall asleep.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I finished this book this morning and the review will follow soon. I enjoyed the book but there were a few areas I wasn’t keen on.
What I Think I will Read Next
I really need to get moving on my reading challenges so most of my planned reading is from my 24 Books in 2024 challenge currently.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Lady Book Dragon 