the_castle_library's reviews
85 reviews

Loretta is my Mom's oldest and best friend! She is an inspiration to her family, my family, her communities in DC and Maryland, the African American community, and the Alzheimer's community!! This is her Memoir to recounting her journey with her Mom, Ms. Doris AKA Wonder Woman, during her life with Dementia.

This book provides the history into their relationship, joys, and struggles as well as tips for caregivers (present and future). This particular copy with this specific picture is her completed edition. She has two other editions from 2014 & 2019 as well as "Refreshments for the Caregiver's Spirit" and "Colors Flowing From My Mind". 

Dementia is such a terrible disease, not only for the individual, but for their family and friends as well. It is heartbreaking for your loved one to lose themselves and the person you knew.

This is such an amazing story! I can't believe I've never read it or have even watched the movie! This is a book of finding yourself, trying to belong, dealing with grief, guilt, racism, love, acceptance, and making your own family. 

It is 1964, the start of the Civil Rights Movement and Fourteen year old, Lily Owens, runs away with her Nanny, Rosaleen. They were in their way to town for Rosaleen to register to vote for the very first time. On the way, they ran into some no-good racist bastards who started harassing Rosaleen when they found out what her mission was. She retaliated against them, which ended with her being beaten and hauled off to jail. While in jail, the men came back to beat her some more and landed her in the hospital. Lily went to the hospital and broke Rosaleen out. They left and hitchhiked to a town on the back of a picture that belonged to her deceased Mother.

When they arrived, she immediately got a sign that led her to the owner of the picture, August Boatwright. August is a beekeeper who lives with her two sisters, May and June. August opens her home to them and asks Rosaleen to help around the house and Lily to assist in her beekeeping in exchange for her hospitality. They aren't there long when they start to blend together as a family.

Book #3 in "The Invisible Library" series. 

⚠️SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ BOOKS 1 & 2!!!
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Irene and Kai get caught in an alternate Revolutionary France when their gateway back to The Library goes up in flames. Kai has to fly them out and find another world to find another gateway to The Library to return the book for their mission. When they make it back, The Library is on high alert as multiple gateways have been closed off and rendered unusable.

Irene makes it her mission to stop Alberich from destroying The Library. He is working to recreate and replace The Library with a highly Chaotic world that he plans to connect to other existing worlds to tip the balance in favor of more Chaos.

I didn't want to put it down and I'm left craving more of this story. What happens now? What does the future look like? I love and hate books that leave me with the feeling of wanting more because the authors almost never give more unless there is an over the top demand from its fan base. My rating for romance is 💖

This has love, betrayal, heartbreak, loneliness, abandonment, finding yourself, second chances, and new friendships. It was so good I didn't want to put it down and almost finished it in one sitting 😅

Fourteen years ago, Tate and her grandmother, Jude, go on a 2 week trip to London as a graduation present. They immediately befriended Sam, and his grandfather, Luther. Tate tries to talk herself out of a summer romance because she came to break out of her shell and get the most out of this experience before she has to go back to her small town and then college, but that suddenly changes as she starts hanging out with Sam at night. Love blooms and secrets are shared, but will it last?

Now present day, Tate is on a path she only dreamed of and entering a role that will change her life, but she's forced to relive some of what happened 14 years ago. She gets clarity on details of what happened from a different perspective and that will alter everything she's known all these years. My ratings for romance and spice are 💖💖💖/🌶️🌶️

If you're a fan of "Six of Crows", you'll like this! 

This takes place in a futuristic, alternate history Beijing. Walls are built around the Palace and amongst the city to divide it into Rings. The farther out you go, the poorer the civilians. Teenage Zhong Ning'er, lowly 6th Ringer and ex thief, has no foreseeable hope of a prosperous future. She has a prosthetic 🦾 and 🦿 that she's had to pawn for rent money. She lives alone even though she's still a minor because she had to get away from her Dad, who is a Complacency addict.

Ning'er struggles with agreeing to the biggest heist yet in order to change the future of her city for the better. The payout is expected to be big, but rent is due before the date of the heist and her Dad just drained her account. Once she meets the crew she'll be working with and learns what, or rather who she's stealing, she's all in.

Jeannette Walls talks about her life growing up with her alcoholic dad, wild with free spirit and not quite parent material, along with her quiet mom who goes along with the schemes and doesn't seem fit either, and her 3 siblings that are along for the ride as well.

This is a cute, romantic story about how family isn't always blood, but sometimes made up of people you've met who take you in as theirs and love you all the same. My ratings for romance and spice are 💖💖💖/🌶️🌶️

This is book 2 in "The Invisible Library" series. 

Kia gets kidnapped by two Fae that want to start a war with the Dragons so they take him to a high chaos Venice to auction him off to the highest bidder in hopes that the Dragons retaliate. Irene finds her way to that Alternate Venice and finds herself cut off from the Library so she has to find and rescue him all on her own.

This book was...... devastating, infuriating, and horrible, but it was also a beautiful must-read and I don't regret a second of it. I have always admired Harriet Tubman and wished I lived in a time where I could have helped, so I do my best in this day and age to help as much as I can because the world is not where it should be and that is not up for a debate.

This is a historical fiction giving the Underground Railroad a literal meaning. It follows Cora and the allies/traitors she makes along the way through her journey to find a life of freedom, off the plantation and out of the South for a better, humane life.
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