October Book Review

October was an interesting month at the Captain Freeman! We started to slow down- a little- the weather has been beautiful and warm and suddenly…….Donna had the most intense desire to clean and reorganize. During the past few weeks we have fall cleaned the kitchen, basement, private area and the first floor of the inn along with winterizing all of the outside.

I think the craziness was a combination of having so much stuff- disorganized from our summer business and from moving everything over after the sale of Brewster by the Sea last November. I just never had the chance to organize things. So- for the full month of October- I have been busy cleaning and reorganizing the inn. Thankfully, all of our staff has been troopers helping me with this project. Long story short- after getting up early for breakfast, visiting with guests, going on my cleaning/organizing binge for the day- put me to sleep around 7pm- leaving little awake time for reading. I strive to read 5 books a month and give myself a little slack over the summer when things are so busy. Well this month I read two and am tickled pink with the two books I read because they were romantic, fun and easy reads. I am also pleased with how clean and organized the inn is. Out kitchen is shiny and all of our supplies and “stuff” are very well organized in the basement. This momma, innkeeper and wife is VERY happy!

Would  highly recommend the following trilogy by Santa Montefiore. I enjoyed the first two in the series and am looking forward to reading the third this month.

The story line is amazing and swept me away to the rich, wonderful land of Ireland in 1910. The story starts with Kitty Deverill and Bridie Doyle as 9 year old girls. Kitty lives a privileged life in the castle and Bridie is the daughter of one of the cooks, and they form a deep friendship. Kitty’s mother, Maude is English and so the family is called Anglo Irish – this sets them apart during the Irish uprising. The story is filled with some mystical, folklore angles, is rich with history and in the end- a story about friendship and love! Knowing that this was part of a trilogy I immediately ordered the second book – Daughters of Castle Deverill.

The story line in the second book takes place in 1925 when the war is long over, but much has been lost.  Castle Deverill, cherished home to the Deverill family in the west of Ireland for hundreds of years, has burned to the ground. But young and flighty Celia Deverill  (the cousin to Kitty Deverill) is determined to restore the sad ruin to its former glory. Celia married well and has the wealth to keep it in the family. But again, hard times are coming as the financial markets start to shake, and everything that felt so certain is thrown once again into doubt.

Three character, beautifully developed, and a perfect read for this tired innkeeper needing to be transported to beautiful Ireland.

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of the third book in this trilogy.

We are off to visit our children and have closed the inn for the next few weeks. Check out our Instagram and Facebook pages for pictures of our travels. First, we are stopping in Boston to visit April, who will be watching Harrison for us.

And then Monday we are flying  to Dallas to visit our older daughter Jennifer and to meet our new grandson Josh….we are so excited.

And the BIG p.s. for those that know about Nathan…..our soldier is coming home for Christmas! We could not be more delighted. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Wishing all of our friends a wonderful turkey day filled with family and lots of blessings! This momma feels VERY blessed.