First Chapter: Windy City Blues by Renee Rosen

Windy City Blues, a novel by Renee Rosen, February 28, 2017, Berkley.

First chapter:
Prologue: 1933

She did her worshipping from the hood of a rusted-out Chevrolet in a junkyard on Twenty-ninth and State Street across from the church. Leeba Groski felt closer to God there than she ever did in a synagogue. It was a Sunday morning and she had tagged along with the neighbor boys, Leonard and Phil Chess. They sat three in a row on the hood, their feet resting on the bumper while they listened to the gospel music pouring out of the church's open door and windows. Even in Chicago's August heat, the piano music and voices gave Leeba goose bumps as she clapped and sang along to "Jesus Gave Me Water". Leeba didn't have a great voice, but when she sang you couldn't hear her accent. If she could, she would have said everything in a song.

Book description:
In 1960s Chicago, a young woman stands in the middle of a musical and social revolution - the rise of the Chicago blues. A new historical novel from the bestselling author of White Collar Girl and What the Lady Wants. 

MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon

Sunday Salon: Ebooks Galore

Because it's been raining so much, I got a lot of reading done last week, and finished 

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, 5 stars
Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon, 5 stars
The Boy in the Earth by Fuminori Nakamura, 4 stars
I am usually generous with ratings!

Current reads include The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White for an upcoming book tour.

New books: 

The Breakdown, a thriller by B.A. Paris, July 18, 2017, by St. Martin's Press and

One Good Thing by Wendy Wax, April 25, 2017, Berkley. 
"... a story of four women trying to rebuild more than their lives..."

I also have the audio version of The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, thanks to my library. The historical novel is set in Warsaw during WWII, and I'd like to read/listen to it before I see the movie!

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan I liked but was disappointed when the plot started to include the magical and the ghostly, not genres that I normally read. The novel will appeal, however, to those who like an intriguing plot that incorporates the supernatural. 

What are you reading this week?
Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also visit Mailbox Monday.

Book Beginning: The Forbidden Garden by Ellen Herrick

The Forbidden Garden: A Novel  by Ellen Herrick, April 4, 2017, William Morrow Paperbacks

...the heart of a mysterious English country garden, waiting to spring to life." The second book featuring the Sparrow Sisters.

Book beginning:
Graham, Lord Kirkwood put the phone down and turned to his wife, Stella. 
"Fiona says she's found a gardener," he said.
"In America? What good does that do us here? Stella asked, looking up from her book.
"Fiona thinks this person may be willing to travel - something about a bad summer in her village, a child's death, townspeople on edge, not a good thing. It's been nearly a year, but apparently everyone's still a bit shell-shocked." Graham tapped away at this laptop for a moment in silence. 

Page 56:

... With just six weeks to research, select and plant the early stages of the Kirkwood garden, to cheat the soaking rain that swept through weekly (not to mention look at a bunch of dusty tapestries that might tell her nothing more than she already knew from her own research,) Sorrel barely had time to register the face of London or what it would be like to know the stories. 

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

First Chapter: Losing Me by Sue Margolis

Losing Me, a novel by the English author Sue Margolis,  published July 7, 2015 by NAL

First chapter:
As she sipped her coffee in the early-morning calm, there were no augurs or omens to suggest that before lunchtime, her life would be in the toilet. Her breakfast egg was boiling on the stove. Through the kitchen window the sky was streaked optimistic orange. The elderly heating boiler was roaring away. In a moment the pipes would start their reassuring ticking and knocking. She relished this time to herself - before the day kicked off, before everybody began demanding bits of her. She would have relished it even more if it hadn't been for Mark Zuckerberg. 

Book description:
Knocking on sixty, Barbara Stirling is too busy caring for her mother, husband, children, and grandchildren. But when she loses her job, everything changes. Barbara is forced to face her feelings and doubts. Then a troubled, vulnerable little boy walks into her life and changes it forever.

MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

Sunday Salon: Current Reads

Finished this week:

The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy, a memoir, May 14, 2017. Kindle edition.
My thoughts: 

The plight of the modern woman is outlined in this memoir: what happens or could happen when you want it all - all of life, together, at the same time, without necessarily making the sacrifices and trade-offs required for more predictable, stable outcomes. Revealing, honest. Still reading:  I Shot the Buddha by Colin Cotterill, The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon. New book on the shelf: Mangrove Lightning by Randy Wayne Wright, Doc Ford Mystery #24, March 21, 2017, Putnam Sons The ghosts of a 1925 multiple murder stalk Doc Ford in a new novel in the New York Times-bestselling series.Setting: Key Largo to Tallahassee The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White, April 11, 2017, Berkley ...a young single mother discovers that the nature of friendship is never what it seems.. The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green, June 6, 2017, Berkley. ... a mother asks her three estranged daughters to come home to help her end her life. Ebooks on loan from the library have dropped into my Kindle: The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney The Dressmaker's Dowry by Meredith Jaeger What are you reading this week? Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also visit Mailbox Monday.

Book Beginning: Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon

Death at Breakfast, a novel by Beth Gutcheon, May 10, 2016.

"... a stylish and witty mystery series featuring a pair of unlikely investigators—a shrewd novel of manners set in small-town New England." Featuring recently retired private school head Maggie Detweiler and society matron Hope Babbin in a psychological mystery. 

Book beginning:
Maggie Detweiler, new-minted woman of leisure and not at all sure she was going to like it, had no sense of impending tragedy as she posed in front of the broad stone veranda of the Oquossoc Mountain Inn that bright October morning. She didn't really know what made her say to Hope, "When your picture's being taken, don't you always wonder if it's the one that will run with your obituary?"

Page 56:
"I'm sorry. I know it's been difficult. I will have Cherry take the dog for a walk, and please apologize to the staff for me. There was an accident, this morning, you know, and we're all upset."

What are you reading this weekend?

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

First Chapter: Flight Patterns by Karen White

FLIGHT PATTERNS, a novel by Karen White, paperback published March 28, 2017.

See my review of the hardcover edition, May 2016.

First chapter:
Georgia April 2015
New Orleans

Memories are thieves. They slip behind you when you least expect it, their cold hands pressed against your face, suffocating. They blow icy-cold air even on the coldest days, and pinch you awake in the middle of the night. My grandfather had once told me that memories were like a faucet you could turn off or on at will, and that after I got to be as old as he was, I'd have figured out how it works. Maybe I just wasn't old enough, because my memories always had a way of getting stuck on the "on" position, flooding my mind with images and snatches of conversation I'd rather not relive. 

Book description:

Georgia Chambers' work as an expert on fine china—especially Limoges—requires her to return to her family home on the coast of Florida. She finds solace in seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled. 

MEMES: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by The Purple Booker, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.