Dames and Diamonds

 MJ Kinman - Dames and Diamonds

I had the pleasure to meet MJ at the Paducah Quilt Show 3 years ago. When I saw her quilts, they stopped me in my tracks, so gorgeous! When I saw that she was offering an all day class "Dames and Diamonds," at the Mancuso Quilt Show in Oaks, I jumped at taking the class. There were five students in the class and we received individual attention. I chose the pattern, The Clark Diamond as my block to sew. 

Pink is not my color, so I chose an alternate color way.  The Clark diamond was owned by Huguette Clark and has a pinkish hue. 

To learn more about Hugette's life  and her jewels, visit:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2627292/Never-seen-photographs-copper-heiress-Huguette-Clark-reveal-childhood-Paris-lavish-properties-languished-chose-live-final-20-years-Manhattan-hospital.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2114472/Revealed-The-stunning-19million-hoard-diamond-jewels-owned-reclusive-heiress-Huguette-Clark-auction.html

Using MJ's patterns and method, the gems are not difficult to recreate. 

I'm not sure how I will quilt it, stay tuned...

Kinman's large quilts are exquisite and I can't imagine making a large one after completing the 17 inch one. The technique is the same and these quilts are amazing in person.

Information about MJ Kinman and her quilts:

https://mjkinman.com

Follow me on IG at kathy.nester

Mad Honey

 

Mad Honey: a Novel  by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Boylan. New York: Ballantine Books, 2022. 464 pages. *****+

Told in the alternating voices of Olivia McAfee and Lily Campanello, both women are starting over hoping for a better life. Olivia thought she had it all, married to a successful cardiothoracic surgeon, raising her son, Asher, fast-forward to now living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.

Lily and her mother move to New Hampshire for Lily to complete her high school education in a new school. 

Olivia and Lily cross paths when Asher and Lily fall in love. Everyone has a secret past and a trust issue, however, nothing prepares them for Asher being arrested as a murderer. 

I received an ecopy from Netgalley for a review.

Heavy on bee information, some may find it superfluous, however, the nature of the bees and their life in the colony adds dimension to the story. Since reading this book, I have heard about "mad honey" on the news (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nVg_ZOfCso)

Not for everyone, readers will either love or hate this book.  I hope that you will stick with it, I can't stop thinking about everything that I learned and understood by the end especially about a society that rejects you based on who you are. The Author's Note as written by each author takes the story in another direction. The fact that the story is collaborative adds depth to the whole and now I really want to know who wrote which character's story.  Jodi Picoult does not shy away from controversial societal issues and there are many in this story. An early ad for the book touts it as one "sure to be banned" which elicited negative comments before it is even published. While true, I hope it does not discourage libraries or readers from purchasing it. Highly recommended for Book Clubs, there are so many topics and points of view for discussion 

Information on Mad Honey -

 https://bigthink.com/health/mad-honey/

https://modernfarmer.com/2014/09/strange-history-hallucinogenic-mad-honey/

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire. For more information on Jodi, click here

Jennifer Finney Boylan is the bestselling author of more than a dozen books. She is the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer-in-Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University and a 2022–2023 Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. A nationally known advocate for human rights, she is a trustee of PEN America. For many years she was the national co-chair of GLAAD as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She lives in New York City and Belgrade Lakes, Maine, with her wife, Deedie. They have a son, Sean, and a daughter, Zai. For more information on Jennifer, click here

Follow me on IG at flamazing_books. 

#beesfiction  #bullyingfiction  #spousalabusefiction  #transgenderfiction #bookstagram

Klara and the Sun

 

Klara and the Sun by Kazu Ishiguro. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. 303 pages. ***

Klara is a robot (an Artificial Friend) who spends her early days observing the world beyond the store window. Klara enjoys the sun's nourishment as well as the children who stare at the AFs with wishful glances. When Klara and her friend, Rosa, have a turn in the store window, they are surprised to see that there are very few AFs walking with their children or walking by themselves. Life becomes complicated when Josie and her mother chose Klara as Josie’s friend and take her home. Klara and Josie are fast friends and Klara tries to find ways to help Josie heal and become stronger. 

 

This book is my Book Club's choice for September. While I enjoyed it, the story was not a wow for me. I haven't read any other books by this author or other AI storylines, so it may have been my lack of understanding. I enjoyed Ishiguro's writing style and Klara's perspective of human interactions. There is sadness in purchasing a friend for your sick child and then having the artificial friend learn the mannerisms to step in if your child dies. Reviews are mixed and I am ambivalent, I'm glad I read it, however, it's not one that I want to discuss or recommend to my friends. 

 

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954and moved to Britain at he age of five. His eight previous works of fiction have earned him many honors around the world including the NobelPrize in Literature and the Booker Prize. He was given a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. 

For more information click here

Follow me on IG at flamazing_books.

#klaraandthesun  #arttificialintelligencefiction #artificialfriend 

2022 Monthly Challenge - August

August - Cinnamon

 

The pattern for this month is available at Patterns by Jen

Cinnamon is the spice for this month and it has many health benefits.

Health Benefits of Cinnamon;

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/benefits-of-cinnamon/

Sometimes it's hard to choose which fabric to use.

The background fabric goes well with either of the two fabrics.

  

One of my favorite tools when making flying geese!

Not perfect, however, neither am I!

Check out the other bloggers this month:

Jen at Patterns by Jen

Kate at Katie Mae Quilts

Anja at Anja Quilts

Fawn at Quilty Creations by Fawn

Sandra at Textile Time Travels

Raylee at Sunflower Stitcheries

Follow me on IG at kathy_nester

#2022monthlycolorchallenge #Augustblock

I’m missing a few blocks and will need to catch up! 

 

Before She Disappeared

 

Before She Disappeared: A Novel (A Frankie Elkin Novel Book 1) by Lisa Gardner. New York: Dutton, 2021. 383 pages. ****

Frankie Elkin has made it her mission to find those who are lost and missing. A recovering alcoholic, Frankie goes from town to town researching cold cases and asking questions. Haitian teen Angelique Bodeau is missing from her high school and seems to have vanished into thin air. Frankie travels to Mattapan, a rough Boston neighborhood, and applies for a job as a bartender to get to know the locals and find Angelique. She soon discovers that no one wants her there including Angelique's family and the police. 

Being accepted is not necessary, however, discovering and uncovering secrets, draws Frankie into a world of drugs, fake IDs, counterfeiting and murder. Frankie has her own demons to fight, and her mission is complicated by her attraction to Detective Dan Lotham. Frankie has found 14 people prior to Angelique, and she is determined to bring her home alive. 

This is the first of two Frankie Elkin's novels, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in two days. I needed to mentally escape, and Gardner's books always fill that vacuum. Frankie is raw, real, and determined not to fail. There is a certain sadness and desperation in Frankie that others can relate to and makes them believe in her and at the same time want to protect and unburden themselves to her.  Can she succeed and stay alive? Will this case bring her the closure she needs, or will she move on to the next missing person? 

The second book is One Step Too Far and I can't wait to read it.

Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of internationally acclaimed novels, published across 30 countries. 

Lisa lives in New Hampshire where she spends her time with an assortment of canine companions. When not writing, she loves to hike, garden, snowshoe and play cribbage.

To learn more about Lisa and to enter her annual “Kill a Friend, Maim a Buddy” Sweepstakes, click here

Follow me on IG at flamazing_books

#suspensefiction #kidnapping 

The Last Letter from Your Lover

 

The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Moyes. New Your, Penguin Books, 2010. 390 pages. ****

Reader's Guide, Questions for Discussion. 

It is 1960, Jennifer Stirling wakes up in a hospital to discover that she has been in a car accident and has no recollection of the accident or her previous life. Everything feels wrong about her life, something keeps eluding her and no one wants to talk about it. While going through her things, she finds a love letter tucked away in a paperback novel that suggests a clandestine affair. Unsettled, Jennifer sets out to discover the identity of "B" and to reclaim her lost love.

In 2003, while researching a potential news story, Ellie Haworth finds the same letter in the newspaper archives. Ellie becomes obsessed with finding the lovers and learning their story. Did they eventually end up together and why is this letter filed with seemingly unrelated documents on asbestos? Trying to salvage her own relationship with a married man and her flailing newspaper career, Ellie searches for Jennifer and "B." 

I received The Last Letter from Your Lover as my July book in the Book Hive Book Club: Colony of Readers. One thing that I really love about this book club is receiving books to read that either I missed or probably would not choose on my own. This is one of those books. In addition to romance, this is a story of chance encounters and coincidences. Through their parallel stories, Jennifer and Ellie are survivors looking for love.

Moyes has a way with words that helps the reader understand her complex characters and their circumstances. We often read about tragic events that cause people to re-evaluate their life choices and are brave enough to change them. An excellent Book Club and summer reading choice. Many discussion points, or,  if you want to fall into a book and escape for a few hours. 

The Last Letter from Your Lover was released on Netflix in select territories on 23 July 2021, in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2021, by StudioCanal, and in Scandinavia on 30 July 2021, by SVENSK.

Jojo Moyes is a novelist and journalist. Her books include the bestsellers Me Before You, After You and Still Me, The Girl You Left Behind, The One Plus One and her short story collection Paris for One and Other Stories. Her novels have been translated into forty-six languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over thirty-eight million copies worldwide.

Me Before You has now sold over fourteen million copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. Jojo lives in Essex. For more information about Moyes and her books, click here.

Follow me on IG at flamazing_books

#romancenovel #colonyofreaders #bookstagram 

The Secret Witness

 

The Secret Witness by Victor Methos. (Shepard & Gray Book 1) Thomas & Mercer, 2022. 301 pages. Kindle edition. ***

"This is Reaper speaking." Has the Reaper returned to continue his killing spree or has a copycat perfected his killing technique? Local Toole County, Utah, Sheriff Billie Gray realizes that she needs help stopping a killer. Solomon Shepard was an outstanding and dedicated homicide prosecutor until a defendant stabbed him in the back while in the courtroom. Solomon stopped practicing law and walks with a cane, however, his resolve at putting murderers behind bars has never left him. The two join forces to identify the Reaper, profiling him to find a missing teen. 

I received this book as an Amazon Prime free book choice.

The Secret Witness is a quick, fast-paced read. Methos kept me guessing with just enough hints thrown in to keep me reading. I have many books in my TBR pile, however, I wanted engaging and entertaining without too much thought. A perfect book for beach/summertime reading! 

At the age of thirteen, when his best friend was interrogated by the police for over eight hours and confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, Victor Methos knew he would one day become a lawyer. After graduating from law school at the University of Utah, Methos sharpened his teeth as a prosecutor for Salt Lake City before founding what would become the most successful criminal defense firm in Utah. In ten years Methos conducted more than one hundred trials. One particular case stuck with him, and it eventually became the basis for his first major bestseller, The Neon Lawyer. Since that time, Methos has focused his work on legal thrillers and mysteries, earning a Harper Lee Prize for The Hallows and an Edgar nomination for Best Novel for his title A Gambler’s Jury. He currently splits his time between southern Utah and Las Vegas. For more information - https://www.victormethos.com

Follow me on IG at flamazing_books

#mystery #psychological thriller #serialkiller