What Lies Beneath by Marissa Doyle review

As many of may or may not know, I sometimes review books for Librarything's Early Reviewer Program. I love getting sneak peeks at books most won't get out for a couple of months. It makes me feel a little special, especially when the book is autographed. Anyway, I won What Lies Beneath by Marissa Doyle last month. Below is the Official Blurb.....

 It’s 1917, and everyone is doing their bit now that America has entered the Great War—everyone except 17-year-old Emma Verlaine. Her overprotective dad won’t let her go to nursing school while he’s off doing war work; instead, she’s been sent to stay for the summer with her Gran on an island off Cape Cod, and the most she’ll be able to do for the war effort is knit socks. Socks!

As it happens, island life isn’t so bad. There are the seals that seem even more fascinated by her than she is by them. There’s the new Navy Air Station that guards the coast from German U-boats where she’s determined to get a job. But most of all there’s Malcolm, whose family owns a resort hotel on the island and who gives her swimming lessons and delicious kisses.

But danger lurks in the waters off the island. Only Emma can save her new home—if she accepts that everything she thought she knew about her life is a lie, and that the seals are following her for a very good reason… 

 

There are a several of things I adored about this book. First of all, the early 1900's is one of my favorite time periods, so this book already had much going in it's favor. Secondly, Ms.Doyle did a wonderful job alternating between two point of views so that we can get a wider scope of the story. Emma and Malcolm almost seem to come alive as you read. The cover art just tells you it's going to be awesome.

 What Lies Beneath is simply captivating. I'm putting it on my re-read shelf and recommending it to YA Fantasy lovers. I don't think it will disappoint.

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The Lego Movie and War and Peace

 My little brother talked me into playing it for him last night. I was tired but he can be very persuasive. I'm just happy it wasn't something ridiculously long, like War and Peace. My other brothers want me to find that for them. So much fun. I love War and Peace, I do. I just don't want to go looking for the 1960 version.

As always, feel free to leave a message below.

Spilt Soup & The Untouchables

I was trying to eat and surf online when I gave myself a soup bath. White Bean soup is not fun to bathe in.Upside is I smell awesome. 

The weekend before last, I found twenty-four episodes of The Untouchables. My dad is now working his way through them all. My father absolutely loves this old series.

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When your kitchen is a wreck

 Today was a deep clean day for the kitchen and everything was topsy-turvy.  Even now, things are barely set to rights. Make cooking dinner anything but fun. But, we will prevail.

Dinner was something thrown together and quickly devoured. I honestly feel like I just stepped off a merry-go-round. This was not my plan for today. 

On a final note, those donuts were positively perfect. As always, feel free to leave a message below.

Donuts anybody?

 As you all know, my mom and I taught my younger siblings how to cook. Never was I more happy about that than this week. Earlier this week I was sick so lb#3 cooked dinner two nights in a row. Now lb#2 is going to make homemade donuts tomorrow!

Next week I will let you all know how they come out. I have always wanted to try making my own but due to either laziness or fear, I never got around to it. Lb#2 is a tad more daring when it comes to food. Makes sense. He always was a foodie. That's not to say I don't have my own food adventures. They just happen less often. I blame it on the daily food grind of keeping a large family fed. It drains you real quick.

 

If any of you out there have any tips, please feel free to leave them below. 

Never Boil Yuca Fries

 Well that goes without saying, you shout. Well reader, I'm not talking about the ready-cooked ones, I'm talking about the pre-prepared that Goya sells in the frozen food section. It doesn't go over well.

My mom and I were craving yuca sautéed with onions and garlic in olive oil. But the only yuca we had on hand was the aforementioned yuca fries. We figured it would fine and boiled it. When we strained it, we got a thick, starchy mess. My mom thinks we boiled it too long. I don't share that theory.

I will never do that again. If you want baby food smooth yuca, I advise you to boil yuca fries. It was so goopy that I closed my eyes for the first bite. It tasted the same but it was so weird.

Now you know. Feel free to tell me about your cooking misadventures below.

I'm sorry

 Due to circumstances outside my control, I may not be able to post every week for a bit. I will try to find ways to get a post up here but may not happen. So I will try to flood my blog with missing posts each time I do get online.

Before I go, I just want to say that Bree Wolf's new series Whickertons in Love is absolutely delightful. Also, if you haven't seen Netflix's new series Shadow and Bone, you got to check it out. It's based of Leigh Bardugo's  two book series, Shadow and Bone Trilogy and Six of Crows Duology. Also my mom has finished all of Jane the Virgin. I'm still stuck on season 1.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below.