Happy Tuesday bibliophiles!

Excited and delighted to share with you my review for this beautiful story that I will not soon forget! This was a group read with all the Besties and we all loved it! I seriously still have a book hangover from this one!💕☁️

My Thoughts

A stunning story that enveloped me completely and pulled at my heartstrings!

Every once in a while when you finish a book you know it’s going to stick with you for a long time, this was one of those books. There was just something about this story that touched me deeply, and I really can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps it was the fact that this is a beautiful love story and tribute to teachers everywhere, my mother was a teacher, my daughter is in school now to be a teacher, they hold a special place in my heart. Or perhaps it was watching Katya and Sasha’s emotional struggle dealing with a sick child Yuri. It could have even been Yuri’s incredible passion for baseball, a game he himself will never be able to play. Regardless of what it was that completely captivated me, this was one lovely and emotional story!

Maggie is excited for the start of the school year when her principal reaches out and asks if she would be willing to tutor a boy who cannot come to school due to illness. At first Maggie is a bit hesitant afraid it might dredge up some old ghostss, but Maggie has too much compassion not to help a child in need. In the beginning Yuri was not receptive at all to Maggie, until they bonded over baseball. We also got a glimpse of Katya and Sasha’s lives in the Ukraine. Katya was a ballerina and Sasha an engineer, they both were in the Ukraine for the Chernobyl disaster. Their guilt over it perhaps being there exposure to nuclear power leading to Yuri’s heart defect was palpable. This story was also peppered throughout with family, food, romance, friendship, Art, and the violin.

Yuri really stole the show and my heart in this book. There was just something so innocent yet so wise about him, and I loved his bond and relationship with his parents, Maggie, and Finn. The mom in me could not help but put myself in Katya’s shoes and the human in me could not help but put myself in Maggie’s, I felt this emotional journey with the hearts of both these wonderful ladies. Maggie was such an energetic passionate teacher I enjoyed every minute I spend with her in the classroom and out. Katya was such a lovely loving mother and I loved that we got to see pieces of her past. Sasha was a remarkable man and husband, and I found it interesting how differently these two dealt with their son’s illness. There’s a part in the story regarding an assignment and letters that will make your heart both sing and cry. I could go on and on, but I will spare you all! Just read it!

Beautiful, evocative, and emotional, absolutely recommend!

🎵🎵🎵Song Running Through My Head

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and ferries wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I’ve looked at love that way
But now it’s just another show
You leave ’em laughing when you go
And if you care, don’t let them know
Don’t give yourself away
I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It’s love’s illusions I recall
I really…

*** many thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

From the #1 international bestselling author of The Lost Wife and The Velvet Hours comes an emotionally charged story about a mother’s love, a teacher’s promise, and a child’s heart…

Katya, a rising ballerina, and Sasha, a graduate student, are young and in love when an unexpected tragedy befalls their native Kiev. Years later, after the couple has safely emigrated to America the consequences of this incident cause their son, Yuri, to be born with a rare health condition that isolates him from other children. Maggie, a passionate and dedicated teacher agrees to tutor Yuri at his home, even though she is haunted by her own painful childhood memories. As the two forge a deep and soulful connection, Yuri’s boundless curiosity and unique wisdom inspires Maggie to make difficult changes in her own life. And she’ll never realize just how strong Yuri has made her — until she needs that strength the most…

A novel that will make readers examine what it means to live life with a full heart.

The Besties

Jennifer @ Tarheel Reader

Mackenzie @ Phdiva

Holly @ Dressed to Read

Kendall

💕Be sure to check out all the Bestie book love!

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Have a Beautiful day!☁️✨

Berit☀️✨

Hello again, I’m so pleased to bring you this review for a fantastic series that had me flipping those pages and staying up late to finish!

Why did I pick it up? – HELLO …Tarryn!!!!! As you all probably already know by now, I am a sucker for a Tarryn Fisher book, she writes the most messed up characters, and they all have depth to them.

In this book Ms Fisher has collaborated with Willow Aster and created a world where the Women are in charge, in fact Men are on the verge of extinction!

Think of this book as a little like a reverse take on the Handmaids Tale and you will be nearly on the right track.

Men are no longer in charge, in fact there are barley any of them left, this is why they started the “End Men” 12 men who’s sole job is to save the world, their sole purpose is to repopulate the Regions.

The rich people can afford to buy Folsom for a day, however the poor are not so lucky, they must rely on a national lottery to have their numbers pulled out, and to have the opportunity of maybe becoming pregnant by one of the End Men, if you do, well your life will change for the better, you will become a celebrity, coveted by others.

Folsom actually hates being and End Man, although he gets to have meaningless sex with strangers all the time, it isn’t as fun as it sounds, he is unhappy, empty and lonely.

Gwen’s number finally comes up! She gets to have the chance at something she has always wanted, a child of her own, she has seen Folsom in the fancy magazines and on the TV, and now she finally gets the chance to actually meet him, not only to meet him, but to potentially bare his child.

Only she finds much more than a man looking to have mindless sex with her, she sees the person underneath, she sees the injustice of what is happening to him, and she does her best to save him.

By looking at the blurb of the book, and the picture, you probably will already have guessed that there is going to be sex in the book, this is necessary to the story, you can’t have a story about men having sex with people, to not have sex in the book.I loves me some smexy times in my books, but if lots-of-lovin’ isn’t really your thing, then maybe look in the other direction, but you will be missing out on a great read, I can’t wait to read book 2.

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About the book

The nation as we know it is a thing of the past. With the male species on the verge of extinction, a society called the End Men is formed to save the world. Folsom Donahue is one of twelve men whose sole purpose is to repopulate the Regions. The endless days spent having sex with strangers leaves Folsom with an emptiness no amount of women, money, or status can fill.
Until Gwen.
Gwen has wanted a child for as long as she can remember, but when she finally gets a chance to have her own, she uncovers a long-hidden truth. The injustice she sees moves her to help save the men whom no one else believes need saving.
A forbidden love, grown in a time of despair, ignites a revolution. Folsom and Gwen, torn between their love for each other and their sense of duty, must make a choice. But some will stop at nothing to destroy them.

Folsom is book one of the End of Men series.