Hello Everyone! I hope you are all well. I am still trying to settle back in to the rhythm of work and blogging after my girlfriend getaway last week. So I apologize for such delays. But today I went to our local Job Lot store to pick up some really great hard candies my girlfriend Ashley introduced me to on our roadtrip and I came across some great book bargains. So you know me, I had to stop and take a peek.

I found four great deals. I haven’t even removed the sale stickers off them before sharing them with you it was just a great haul that I only paid about $10 total.

The first was a book I have been wanting to read since last year called, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. I got the book for $2.99 and you know it goes for $16 in Barnes and Noble so it had to come home with me. I’m pretty sure a box of tissue will be needed while reading this book. Here is the description from Good Reads:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The second book is called, Some Dream for Fools by Faiza Guene. I never heard of this book before but I knew it would be a perfect read for one of my reading goals. Which is to read a book that is set in a country from each of the 7 continents (Asia, North American, South America, Europe, Africa, Antartica, Australia). It also a very short book so I should breeze through it. Here is the description from Good Reads:

Ahlème, a young woman living on the outskirts of Paris, is trying to make a life out of the dreams she brought with her from Algeria and the reality she faces every day. Her father lost his job after an accident at his construction site. Her mother was lost to a massacre in Algeria. And her brother, Foued, boils with adolescent energy and teeters dangerously close to choosing a life of crime.

As she wanders the streets of Paris looking for work, Ahlème negotiates the disparities between her dreams and her life, her youth and her responsibilities, the expectations of those back home and the limitations of life in France.

With the same laugh-out-loud, razor-sharp humor that made Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow an international hit, Some Dream for Fools shows Faïza Guène’s evolution as a novelist and reminds us of her extraordinary talent as she explores what happens to people when a lid is put on their dreams.

So Easy: Healthy Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Ellie Krieger is the third book I picked up. I love cookbooks and when I see one for under $5 that has some good food inspiration and recipes, I am all over it. I remember watching Ellie Krieger on the Food Network and loved her fresh clean take on recipes. I am looking forward to some of the new breakfast ideas from this cookbook. Here is the description on Good Reads:

Grab-and-go breakfasts for hectic days, as well as easy breakfast options for more leisurely mornings
Lunches to go, each road-tested in a cooler pack, along with at-home lunches for when you have the luxury of eating in
A month’s worth of different rush-hour dinners-fabulous meals you can whip up in less than thirty minutes-as well as dinners for days when you have a little more time to marinate or roast, but still want it all to be effortless
Decadent desserts, some ready in minutes, others truly worth waiting for-all easily pulled together
As a mom with a full-time job, Ellie knows how busy life is when you’re juggling your family’s needs. Now, you can stop stressing over whether to eat healthily or to eat fast.

The Last book I bought isn’t really a book it is a collector’s magazine from Essence Magazine called, “A Salute to Michelle Obama“. Can’t say enough about this woman and this book includes the most amazing wardrobe she has graced the public with while attending to world affairs. Simply stunning and for $1.50 I should have picked up one for my sister!! (Hope she isn’t reading today!) Here is the description from Good Reads:

Through her commitment to her family and community, professional pursuits and personal passions, First Lady Michelle Obama is redefining possibilities and opportunities for women in this century. ESSENCE has chronicled Mrs. Obama before she ventured into the national spotlight. Now, in First Lady Michelle Obama, ESSENCE editors will recapture those early moments and illuminate her current role as First Lady today in a special commemorative book that charts one of the most incredible personal journeys in American history.

A Salute to Michelle Obama will document Mrs. Obama’s life from the South Side of Chicago to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This lavishly illustrated title will explore the social, cultural, and political impact of the First Lady’s education, health, and military family initiatives; her national and international causes and campaigns, and her broad fashion sense that connects with both Seventh Avenue and Main Street.

I hope you all are enjoying a great book and I will be back again with more book happenings.

Belinda