My Reading Radar 2/1/2014

My Name is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner hit the wishlist this week. Love the title and the premise.


Nancy Turner burst onto the literary scene with her hugely popular novels These Is My Words, Sarah’s Quilt, and The Star Garden.Now, Turner has written the novel she was born to write, this exciting and heartfelt story of a woman struggling to find herself during the tumultuous years preceding the American Revolution.

The year is 1729, and Resolute Talbot and her siblings are captured by pirates, taken from their family in Jamaica, and brought to the New World. Resolute and her sister are sold into slavery in New England and taught the trade of spinning and weaving. When Resolute finds herself alone in Lexington, Massachusetts, she struggles to find her way in a society that is quick to judge a young woman without a family. As the seeds of rebellion against England grow, Resolute is torn between following the rules and breaking free. Resolute’s talent at the loom places her at the center of an incredible web of secrecy that helped drive the American Revolution. Heart-wrenching, brilliantly written, and packed to the brim with adventure, My Name is Resolute is destined to be an instant classic.

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A Whole New Ballgame by Caryn Rose was brought to my attention via email. It's on my kindle. Love the women and baseball theme.

A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME is the story of a 20-something woman who finds comfort and solace in baseball as her carefully ordered world starts to unravel.

26-year-old Laurie Nicholson thinks she’s beginning to sort things out when it comes to life, work, and love. When a sudden declaration from an on-again, off-again boyfriend inspires her to take a risk, only to meet with crushing heartbreak instead, Laurie finds herself searching for refuge.

A chance encounter with Eric Morris and Peter Ellis, two friends spending their summer visiting every ballpark in America, offers Laurie an unexpected way to salve her wounds.
Despite growing up in Boston surrounded by Red Sox fans, she wasn’t a fan of the game–until Eric and Peter’s enthusiasm turn that around and she falls in love…with baseball.

Life throws Laurie a curveball when she gets laid off from her career-path ad agency job, and then again when her former suitor tries to reclaim her attention. Joining up with Eric and Peter for the remainder of their cross-country baseball odyssey lets her dodge her ex’s efforts as well as look for a new job.

Along the way, Laurie and friends encounter Citizens Bank Park and the Philly Phanatic; Fenway Park, the front row of the Green Monster and Wally the Green Monster; the Pirate Parrot and PNC Park; Southpaw and US Cellular Field; the grandstand and bleachers at Wrigley Field; Jacobs Field and that creepy Cleveland Indians mascot; Busch Stadium and Fredbird; Sluggerrr and Kaufmann Stadium; Shea Stadium and the 2006 post-season.

But as the season and the journey draws to a close, Laurie realizes that there’s a new set of decisions she’ll need to make: where she’ll live, who she’s in love with, and what team she’s going to claim allegiance to!

If you love baseball and best friends, rock and roll and road trips, heartbreak and happy endings, A Whole New Ballgame is for you.