Hour 0 Prep/Getting to Know Me.

Good Morning Happy People.

The sun is not out yet, the birds are singing and it is earlier than I would ever consider waking up under normal circumstances 



...but these are not normal circumstances and I am so happy to be doing this.  

So to answer a couple of get to know me questions:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Salt Lake City, Utah
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Toss up between "The Accidental Empress" by Allison Pataki or "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell"

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I didn't go all out on the snack front this year, just popcorn, swedish fish, little spearmints to get me going. So I'm pretty chill.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm living with a couple of roommates who aren't huge readers but who are wonderfully supportive of the read-a-thon plans. I really shouldn't be doing this this week as I'm going to Europe with a couple of friends on Tuesday...so I should be prepping for that...
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
This is not my first rodeo. I have done at least 4 other read-a-thons in the past. This time I will be a little more lax in the timing and probably will end up taking a nap somewhere between the 8-12 hour mark (not the whole time but for a bit) so that I can stay awake longer. I really do want to participate in as much as I can so I figured that for me this was the best way to go.


Anyway. Happy Reading everyone!

It's that time of year again!!!

It's time for the Dewey 24 hour Read-a-thon!!! I have done this several times in years past and I am so excited to get back to it. I have been prepping, stocking up on caffeine and popcorn and have a deep pile of books I'm hoping to get through.

I check in regularly and also be trying to get a handle on the whole instagram thing....I know I should be able to do that by now but hey, I'm late to the party social media-wise.

Anyway I hope you check in occasionally and I also hope that you read along - doesn't have to be for the full 24 hrs, but still feel free to join in and let me know what you are reading!

In the Shadow of Lakecrest

By: Elizabeth Blackwell
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Gothic
Rating: 3.5 stars
Summary:
The year is 1928. Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.

After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

My Thoughts:

I will start out by saying that Gothic stories are not my favorite. I don't have much patience for the woman going mad story. I prefer to cut to the chase, figure out what is going on and actually having problems that you are capable of facing. Ghosts are not my things, thinking that you are being driven insane is also not my thing, being put in a position where you feel that all of your power is taken away from you - MOST DEFINITELY NOT. MY. THING.
 
I read it in just 2 days - so it was compelling. Irritating as anything, but compelling.

Kate makes a case for not marrying a man until you know who your mother-in-law is going to be. The first Mrs. Lemont is controlling, cold, manipulative and really I couldn't find anything redemptive about her. She is the spider and everyone in her family is caught in a web of her design and she comes across - at least to me - as flat out evil. Emphasis on the "flat" there wasn't enough of a development of her character to make her compelling. 


With all of the frustration from the MIL I will say that this was a book that made my lunch hours fly by. I was entertained by it and I needed to read it faster so that the book would actually get to the part that it had been hinting at so heavily.

If I find more of Elizabeth Blackwell's work I will definitely give it a go though this isn't a book that I would buy for my shelves. 


I was given a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.