Kathleen Norris Book Collection! 🤩💙🦋📘

Happy Book Friend Friday, Friends! 🥳 

Today, I’m sharing my (current) Kathleen Norris Vintage Book Collection! 🎉

QUICK INFO ABOUT KATHLEEN NORRIS:

❀ Born: July 16, 1880 in San Francisco, CA
❀ Died: January 18th, 1966 at 85 years old

BOOK BIO:

❀ Wrote 91 books total
❀ 72 standalone books
❀ 7 short stories/novella
❀ 4 collections
❀ 1 play
❀ 7 non-fiction books   

NOTE: There is another Kathleen Norris (born on July 27, 1947 in Washington, D.C.) who is a poet, writer, and oblate of Assumption Abbey. This post is about the author Kathleen Thompson Norris.    

I adore my one 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 of 'Mother' (no dust jacket)! I cannot believe I found an affordable copy (yay Ebay!) actually signed by the author herself! 😱 (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

I’ve only read 12 of her books so far, but I can’t wait to read more! (Just in case, you want to start at the beginning, here's a list of her books in order of publication and also here at Fantastic Fiction.)

WHY I LOVE HER BOOKS:
💙 The most appealing and descriptive details (especially of home, food and clothing)
💙 Wonderfully easy-to-read stories
💙 Usually happy endings 
💙 Unexpected and crazy twists
💙 Always has a little something that makes me think long after the I finished reading the book

STAR RATINGS: (Click on title for full review on Goodreads.)

❊ Younger Sister 4.5🌟
❊ The Lucky Lawrences 5🌟
❊ Angel in the House 4.5🌟
❊ Come Back to Me, Beloved 5🌟
❊ Shining Windows 4.95🌟
❊ Secret Marriage 4.5🌟
❊ Mystery House 4🌟
❊ Red Silence 4.25🌟
❊ Wife for Sale 4🌟
❊ Walls of Gold 3.75🌟
❊ My Best Girl 4.5🌟
❊ Mary-Jo 4.25🌟 (a middle grade book!)

Don’t forget to check out Andrea’s (@sorrythankyou79) awesome collection! I’m always so excited for our vintage Kathleen Norris (along with other vintage authors) buddy reads!

I'm very grateful to Gina (@gina.stanyer.books) for giving me at least 20 of her mother’s Kathleen Norris book collection—it was one of the most thoughtful and generous gifts she's ever given me! 😭😍❤️

Also, endless thanks to my amazing friends—Andrea (@sorrythankyou79author) for gifting me at least 4 KN books and Marjorie (@marjorie.paper) for gifting me 3 books! I'm so lucky! 🥰 I've also been so happy to spread the love and share some of my duplicates with Caro (@carosbookcase), Andrea, Marjorie, and Jen (@jensreadinglife)!

Please comment with your favorite book cover in my collection! 😍

Have you read any of Kathleen Norris’ books? 🤔 If so, let me know which ones!

I have a few more KN books on the way, so stay tuned! (I'll try and update this with more photos/ratings/reviews as time goes on...) 

Happy Friday! Have the most awesome weekend! 💛🌼🤗🌼💛

P.S. Much love to Gina S., Carla (@c.brown685) and Beth (@beth.bonini) for these gorgeous Emma Bridgewater mugs! 💖💖 

Love Comes Home by Molly Clavering 👩🏻🏡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💖

Happy Furrowed Middlebrow Friday and Happy Valentine's Day, Friends!! 😍❤️📕💝

Before I share my review of this lovely book (spoiler! 😂), I'd love to know—What's your favorite thing to do on Valentine's Day? Is it spending the day alone doing everything you love to do, going out with your favorite person/best friend/partner, or just hanging out with family and furry friends?

Last weekend, Ian and I had an early romantic Valentine's Day and it was so awesome! Here's what we did:

• Morning at a Favorite Coffee Shop - Vanilla latte with almond milk for Ian and Chai latte with almond milk and coconut for me...mmmm.
• Daily Sketchbook Practice - Creating patterns and art (See photo below!)
• Antique Shopping - So much fun! Ian found a vintage comic book and I came home with pink balloon animal earrings...not vintage...lol.
• Nepalese Dinner Date - I love Dunbar Square in Portsmouth, New Hampshire! I always get the vegan sweet potato chili with basmati rice and it's sooo delicious!
  
• Late Night Movie - This late 1800s Music Hall used to be a Victorian theater and is absolutely gorgeous inside. I love seeing movies there! The velvet seats and unique bathrooms are so fancy! Unfortunately, the movie was a gore fest and I was more than slightly traumatized (eeek!) If you're a sensitive person, do not see this film! 

Cat Head Lady inspired by the art of Terry Runyan and her Painting Happiness book!

Anyway, on to the book review!!!

4🌟 It's always a joy to read a Molly Clavering novel, especially in the Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow edition!

This book centers around the Cranstoun family of Scotland and, specifically, the daughters of the family...Jane and Love. Jane is a thoughtful, dependable and careful young lady who is in the middle of a sticky situation with two young men, "Perry" and John. Peregrine Gilbert is shy, unsociable and nature-loving political man who buys the property next door to Sir Mangus and Lady Cranstoun. John Marsh is a flirty, charming and passionate friend of Jane's friends, Kitty and George (who live in England).

Love is Jane's younger sister just returning from finishing school. She is willful, self-centered, immature and lively, but also very likable and beautiful. Love decides to make her own plans for Jane's love life—with possibly dire results.

This story is a mixture of witty conversations, misunderstandings, jealousy, gossip and young love. Although this type of situation usually makes me feel very frustrated, I really liked Love Comes Home. There was a bit too much nature description for me (some of it went on for more than a page)— I find it hard to picture in my mind landscapes and plants that are unknown to me. But, I still adore Molly Clavering's writing and this novel totally charmed me!

Many thanks to my new book friend and Instagram cheerlader, Chelcy (@cbstutzman on Instagram), for buddy reading this book with me. 😍❤️ We had such a nice chat on Wednesday night about this book and tons of other fun topics. I hope we'll get to read and discuss another cozy book soon! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

I only have Yoked with a Lamb left to read and then I'll have read all of the republished novels by DSP. Yay! I'll definitely read through all of them again next year. They're just SO GOOD! Highly recommended author!!

Do you love Molly Clavering's books as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

All my love to you!! 💕❄️🤗❄️💕