At Her Fingertips {blog tour + book review}

Today's the dayyyyy!

Kellyn Roth's newest book, At Her Fingertips, is officially available now! 


And because she's the sweetest person and sent me a review copy, you get a review too, yay!


At Her Fingertips


(isn't this cover gorgeous?)

Author: Kellyn Roth
Genre: Historical fiction
Content: A few mentions of unsavory things, but nothing explicitly shown
Main character: Alice Knight

Synopsis:
Debutante ​Alice Knight has a plan: have her first social Season in London, meet her husband, and marry him. As the Season begins, Alice’s feelings and common sense both begin to undermine her goals. But she must stick to her plan—and everyone, including God, had best stay out of it.
The plan looks even less appealing when a childhood friend reappears, an American author shows her a different kind of faith, and a charming gentleman is not all he should be.
The life she longs for is finally at her fingertips, but how can she know it's the right one?

What I Thought:

I don't even know how to describe my love for this story.
This was exactly what I wanted and not at all what I expected.  I didn't really read the synopsis, I just kind of wanted to go in blind and see what was behind that gorgeous cover.  Turns out it's a really sweet, twist-filled romance that gave me vibes of [the adaptation of] Jane Austen's Emma (I say the adaptation because I haven't actually read the book yet).  It was just what I was in the mood for, and I'm so glad of it.

The Characters:
Alice Knight - She's such a fun protagonist!  Seeing the world through her eyes was so fascinating.  I'm not much older than her now, and knowing that she had all that expectation on her even when she's just trying to figure herself out, I don't envy her a bit, lol.  But she was so witty and smart and not afraid to speak her mind, and I can appreciate all of that.

Peter Strauss - Okay, so, when he was first introduced, I thought he was old.  Like, in his forties or something.  So then certain plot points started occurring, I was confused because "isn't this dude forty or something?".  Come to find out, he's actually perfect and amazing and I love him and I spent the second half of the book shipping it so hard, y'all.

Kirk Manning - Sweet, innocent Kirk.  He deserves the world.

Gibson Ashfield - ew do I have to talk about him at all?

Favorite Quote:
"I've learned that if you can weather the hard times, more often than not the sun will shine when you need it most."

Overall Rating: 5 paint brushes out of 5

About the Author:

Kellyn Roth was born and lives on a cattle ranch in North-Eastern Oregon. Always fascinated with telling stories, she created crazy games to play with her little brothers as a child. Today, she writes Christian and Historical Fiction with a focus on truth and family.

Connect with Kellyn: Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Google+ ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Youtube ~ Amazon ~ her personal blog ~ her review blog


ALSO there's a giveaway going on over at Kellyn's blog! 

Definitely go check it out! (Because don't those covers look so beautiful together? *heart eyes*)

Thanks so much to Kellyn for sending me a review copy of her lovely book!  I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it to all of you! 

~ Abby

What I'm Currently Reading

Today I just have a short post.  I've been working on my novel quite a bit lately and thus, when I realized that I should probably write a blog post, my creativity was quite dry.  So today I thought I'd just take a look at my Goodreads "Currently Reading" shelf and give y'all some of my impressions so far. 

Let's jump in!

A Light in the Window

{Jan Karon}

 

sequel to At Home in Mitford // feel-good // relatable // small town // sweet romance // 24% done

Little House in the Big Woods

{Laura Ingalls Wilder}



 

re-read // childhood favorite // happiness from the nostalgia // sibling love // 33% done

Love's Rescue

{Christine Johnson}

historical fiction // romance // pretty cover but meh inside so far // merchant ships // Florida setting // 10% done

The Mark of Athena

{Rick Riordan}

 

re-read // squad goals // all the ships // including an actual ship // favorite // 55% done

Miracles

{C.S. Lewis}

 

deep thinking // fascinating points // slow going // gorgeous cover // 21% done

Reintegration

{Ashley Bogner}

cover love // new book boyfriend // blogger friend's book // cool worldbuilding // 60% done

So there you have it!  Yes, I am in the middle of way too many books right now.  Yes, I'm floundering a little bit.  But hey, it gives me options, so it's not too terrible. 

 

What are you reading right now?  Ever been in the middle of way too many books?  Let me know in the comment section below!

 

~ Abby

The Get to Know Me Tag: Writer's Edition

I have another tag to do!  YAY!

The lovely Gray (go check out her blog, guys, she's so cool) tagged me for this... tag... I've been writing all day, okay, I need more words. xD  Anyway, this one is super fun because y'all get a glimpse into my writing! :D

The Rules

~ Link back to the person who created the tag ~ that would be Savannah (whose blog I also love)

~ Thank the person who tagged you ~ Thank you, Gray :D

~ Share the tag graphic (optional) ~ I made my own, but the original is gorgeous o.o

~ Tag eleven bloggers ~ oh dear, do I even know 11 people? xD


LET'S DO THIS

Vital Stats / Appearance

[pen] Name: Abigail McKenna

Nicknames: Abby is technically a nickname, but it's what I've been called by most people since birth, so a lot of my close friends/close family friends will refer to me as Abs, which I find hilarious as it's a nickname of a nickname.  xD

Birthday: September 29

Hair color and length: Dark brown with a good amount of red, that goes to just past my shoulders as of now, but I may get it cut after all the end of the year dance stuff that's easier with longer hair is done.

Eye color: It changes depending on what I'm wearing, but on normal days, it's blue-green with brown around my iris.  My eyes are special, but I love them.

Braces/piercings/tattoos: Never had to have them, don't have any, and no.

Righty or lefty: Righty

Ethnicity: Caucasian (very, very white)

Firsts

First novel written: It was a story about three siblings who discovered something cool in their grandmother's attic... I don't remember what it was, actually...

First novel completed: ^ that's it.

Award for writing: I've never won one, so I guess I'll have to get back to you on that one xD

First publication: Also have to get back to you on this one...

Conference: The One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop last year.  It was fantastic, and I absolutely recommend it if you're an OYANer.

Query/Pitch: None yet! (in case you haven't figured it out, my writing has always been pretty personal.  I rarely even share it with my family... honestly OYAN is one of the few places I've openly posted it to be read by other people)

Favorites:

Novel (that you wrote): I have a feeling it might turn out to be my WIP... but I haven't completed a novel in so long that I don't really have one.  I have special places in my heart for several of my stories, but none of those have actually been finished, so....

Genre: I know it's not so much a genre as it is an age category, but anything and everything middle grade!

Author: Ohhhh lots.  Melanie Dickerson, Avi, Lois Lowry, C.S. Lewis, Rick Riordan...

Writing music: Whatever I'm in the mood for at the moment.  Or my story's playlist.  Or movie soundtracks, or Broadway soundtracks, or Disney soundtracks, or... I listen to a lot of music.

Time to write: I wish I could say midday or morning or something but no, my brain always decides it's writing time at night.  Which does not help with sleeping because then I'm thinking about plot twists and next thing I know it's three and while I've gotten a lot of words down, I'm also exhausted.  *sigh*

Writing snack / drink: Anything salty (or candy) / water, for the most part.

Movie: uhhhhh at the moment, it's probably Star Wars... or Narnia... or pretty much anything Disney, but to be honest, I haven't watched many movies lately, so...?

Writing memory: It's not really about actually writing, per say, but it's probably one night when I was driving with my dad and we were talking about our stories to each other, and he was saying how he'd love to take me to a writer's conference someday, and it was just very peaceful and gentle and it's a nice memory to hold onto now. :)

Childhood book: I was obsessed with all things American Girl, so I guess I'll go with that, but I had too many to list here in any sort of timely fashion.

Currently

Reading: Rereading "The Mark of Athena" and loving it.


Writing: A story about a girl whose mob boss father has her infiltrate the palace, but she and her best friend become close to the princess and she doesn't want to betray the royal family.  Which is a terrible way to explain it, but I really love this story, y'all.

Listening to: my spring-themed playlist :D


Watching: Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street, The Autobiography of Jane Eyre (which is a YouTube vlog-style adaptation of Jane Eyre and it's really good so far), and the usual suspects (MacGyver, Bull, OUAT, etc.)

Learning: Spanish! (or rather, trying to learn)

Future

Want to be published: I'd love that!  If it's in God's plan for me, of course.

Indie or traditional: I'm going to copy Gray's answer here and say that I'm cool with indie, but traditional would be a dream come true.

Wildest goal: I kinda want to write a non-fiction Bible study book at some point? (which, I know, that's just wild xD)

I Tag...

Genuinely, I don't know who to tag, so I'm just going to tag YOU lovely people!  Tell me down below the answers to the "Currently" section!  Inquiring minds (okay, actually, it's mainly just me) want to know!  If you could recommend to me one song that you've been listening to recently, what would it be? :D

~ Abby

YouTube, Flowers, and Easter Songs {a look back at March}

March is over, and I... feel better about it than I have about past months...

HAPPY EASTER, YOU LOVELY PEOPLE



He is risen indeed :D

((and yes, I'm posting this a couple of days late but you can celebrate Resurrection Day all year round soooo))

So March.  It went by rather quickly, and to be honest, I spent most of the month really tired, but I got a lot done by ignoring sleep, lol. 

Some things that happened this month include:
~ I read a lot and I wrote a lot and I spent a lot of time at Disney World and with my family.
~ I found some cool plot twists for my story and my characters finally gave up more information that I needed so I'm happy with that.
~ Also on the writing front, I wrote [slash edited] all of the narrations for our church's Easter musical program and I can't tell you how happy I was when I finished.  (kind of surprisingly, it's hard to find different things to say about the cross when 11 songs have a similar theme -.-)  But I'm really proud of them and I think they came out pretty good. :D
~ Speaking of the Easter program, I sang in five songs and danced in one and ran a video on two songs and all of this to say, I tried to do everything I could with the gifts God gave me.  I feel blessed (and also tired... but really blessed)
~ And the big news of the month: MY SISTER AND I STARTED A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!  *confetti fanfare*  It's mostly about Disney, but we post vlogs and other fun stuff and it's mainly just us being dorks and having a grand old time.  So if you'd like to check it out, here's the link!

~ What I Read ~

(click on the collage for a link to the Goodreads shelf where you can see further reviews of all of these books :D)
~ The Lost Hero ~  This was the only Riordan book I got through this month *winces*  But I really loved rereading this and I've missed Jason, Piper, and Leo.  {5 stars}
~ The Story of Doctor Dolittle ~  I enjoyed reading the source material behind the musical (which I've loved for a long time).  It wasn't my favorite, but it was still fun.  {4 stars}
~ Dissemble ~  Oh my word, I adored this book.  I need book 3 asap, please.  {5 STARS}
~ As Easy as Riding a Bike ~  Adorable, heart-warming, fluffy, and comfortable, this felt like a Hallmark movie in a book and Bell's books have captured my heart.  I loved it.  {5 stars}
~ The Night Gardener ~  This book freaked me out in the best way.  Probably should have saved it for Halloween, but I couldn't put it down.  {5 stars}
~ Bound ~  I really loved this book!  Such a powerful story.  {4.5 stars}
~ Greetings from Nowhere ~  This had the potential to be a new favorite but unfortunately fell a little short for me.  Still an enjoyable, super fast read, though.  {4 stars}

~ What I Watched ~ 

Bull:

(yes, he is talking about a child xD)  This showwww.  all the feeeeels.  ahhhhhh.

The Greatest Showman:

I FINALLY SAW IT.  I wasn't one of my favorites, but it was still really really fun and the songs have pretty solidly been stuck in my head since I saw it.  (And none of my family has seen it so... it's kind of awkward singing it around them, lol)

Black Panther:

yes hello i love my son T'Challa and my daughter Shuri and I cannot wait for Infinity War.

~ What I Listened To ~

So many wonderful Broadway-related things came out, obviously I listened to The Greatest Showman soundtrack a lot, I watched a few other movie musicals, and overall just had a great music month.

~ What I Posted ~ 

Thoughts on the Psalms  {about some of the things God has been showing me}
My Life in Books {book tag}  {about some of my old favorite books}
When It's Too Much  {about when it's overwhelming and you need a promise}


And with that, three months of the year are over!  Wow...
So who's doing Camp NaNo this month?  I'm going to attempt it, we'll see how it goes.  Let me know in the comments if you'll be participating!

~ Abby