This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. It will be released Friday 15th March.

Synopsis from GoodReads:

“The stories in this linked collection are set in a small village in the Northwest of Ireland in the early 1980’s and 90’s. A by-pass around the village has rid them of their once busy traffic. The residents feel forgotten by the world. The need to reach out and be heard is explored in every story, from the young woman who starts to have phone conversations with her husband’s gay lover, to the dyslexic man who confronts his cruel teacher years later. 

The collection is not only about the characters need for salvation but it is about a society that is unraveling. In Amends, we hear about the Bishop who has fathered a child. A priest is beckoned by a dying man to be mocked…

Welcome to Week 39 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.  First of all, a great, big thank you to all of you wonderful participants who made week 39 the biggest and best week yet!  Clearly, the theme of Cold grabbed each of you in one way or another and tickled some creative instinct to produce such wonderful entries!

Of course, the logical progression in themes after all this cold work would be to opt for hot, but that might just be a little too straightforward for this creative crowd!  So, this week’s challenge is Fire!  Keeping in mind that this doesn’t have to be physical fire, but could be allegorical or cleverly imagined in any of many ways, go out and create something novel.

To kick off your creative processes on this one, here’s something a bit abstract that may just bring forth the fires of creation in a galaxy…

While the chill may be continuing off an on in New England, I was not surprised that this past week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge Theme of Fire lit up the responses!!  Our weather may be all over the place, but the level of creativity in your entries into this challenge has been steady and very high!  Thanks to all for participating and making this so much fun for me.

I strongly encourage all of you to check out each of the posts, as you’ll be both entertained and educated, while enjoying the lovely creative thoughts that are in the responses!

Here’s another little bit of fire to warm your hearts…

Chestnuts Roasting

I captured this rather wintry scene with classic tones (actually, they were roasting marshmallows 🙂 ) during our visit to Tower Hill Botanic Gardens in Boylston, Massachusetts this past December.

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge…

Welcome to the 57th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Wow, wow, wow!  You have travelled all over the world and lots of places that I would love seeing.  The variety of images and posts is nothing short of mind-blasting!  There’s lots of viewing and reading in these posts and I enjoyed it all!

Thank you for your wonderful participation!!

I thought I’d share this image with you that is from yesterday…

Chiusdino in the Distance

This view was from Sunday’s drive through the hills of Tuscany, as we were closing in on the beautiful little town of Chiusdino.

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge with links to their posts:

• Xenia managed to presage this week’s topic by posting a wonderful Haibun and photos in Whippetwisdom, all about passing places!
• Wow, ladyleemanilla all the places that you have been to!  And so many great photos…

Welcome to the 150th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Amazing to get 50 contributions again this week! Thank you all for such great posts, which made creating this Round Round Up a lot of fun. It was wonderful to see how you perceive the world around you and the gorgeous photos and poetry that you produce!

Thank you for all your effort and thought that you put forth!

Here are some rolls of hay in Tuscany…

These rolls of hay in the rolling fields of Tuscany were just too much to resist!

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge with links to their posts:

1. Starting things off this week, Ken brings us a mystical round in his post in Pictures without Film!
2. There’s a bit of humor in this week’s contribution in pensivity101, which takes me way back to when I received…

The official banner for the blog tour was designed by the wonderful Mana, feel free to check out her amazing portfolio right here!

Hi everyone! Today, I bring you my review and playlist for Small Town Hearts as part of the blog tour for the book. I received an ARC from the author in exchange of an honest review. A big thank you to Lillie Vale for the ARC and to Lili from Utopia State of Mind for hosting the blog tour!

Title: Small Town Hearts

Author: Lillie Vale

Published by: Swoon Reads

Publishing date: March 19th 2019

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 336

Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy. 

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of…

Wow! The everywhere art in Valparaiso Chile exceeds it’s reputation for being arguably the best street art in the world.

There is so much amazing talent to share with you, but let’s start here, this is the front door of the ‘Café of the Artist,’ painted by a male Chilean art student depicting everyday scenes from the town of Valparaiso.

The waiter explained to me that the art in this restaurant was painted by two art students, one a French female whose mind boggling talent you are looking at now. (Please click to enlarge).

Since internet is slow, I can’t look these artists up, but I will when I can.

Maybe you can find out for me?

All I know is pure talent when I see it.

The first two paintings of the café sign and the entry door were done by the Chilean student, and are depictions of Valparaiso…