Lovely Love Books 🥰💝✨❤️

Happy Valentine's Day, Friends! 😍💕💕

A wonderful Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow book by Molly Clavering!

How has February been treating you so far? It's still pretty cold here in New Hampshire 🥶❄️ (single digits at night and highs of 30s during the day) and we've still got over a foot of snow on the lawn. Trying to go to the backyard compost area is a challenge because the snow is literally up to (or over!) my knees 😂 

I've been loving chatting with Liz (@pony.books) about our upcoming trip to London in April (yippeeee!), buddy reading vintage YA and romances with Andrea (@sorrythankyou79) and talking to Gina (@gina.stanyer.books) about our planners/traveler's journals and all things cozy! 

Stories for Lovers by the British Library Women Writers Collection!

On Saturday, Ian and I are planning on going to our favorite local coffee shop (Sunny Cafe!), watching a show together (Downton Abbey...again!) and maybe getting Thai for dinner (yumm!). I'm sure Ian will also want to spend some time with his new-to-him pinball machine, Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man (Did I ever mention that Ian has an arcade/pinball/movie room in our house? See end of post for a photo of his pinball machine. Let me know if you want me to share a video or more photos of his arcade room!) and I'll probably knit on my Harry Potter-themed scarves while re-watching a favorite movie. 

Full of poignant short stories of so many lovely British Women Writers!

What are YOUR plans for V-Day this year? ☺️💓🎁 

Okay...onto the BOOKS! 

Here are all of the books in my collection that have "LOVE" in the title! I know I post a lot of these subject/season themed collections, but it's definitely a passion of mine - lol. Do you like having books organized by theme or season? I also like to organize my bookshelves by author or genre (vintage middle grade, children's, holiday, etc.). So...for now...here are my love books with ratings—I will add links to my reviews on Goodreads soon!

Beautiful Emma Bridgewater mug from Gina and Lovepop card from Ian!

LOVE BOOKS & RATINGS:  

💝 Love Comes Home by Molly Clavering 4🌟
💝 Stories for Lovers by British Library Women Writers 4.25🌟
💝 How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry 4.5🌟
💝 Paris—And My Love by Mary Burchell 4🌟

Lovely vintage Harlequin romances by Mary Burchell and some of my vintage makeup collection!

💝 The Love Child by Edith Oliver 4🌟
💝 Love by Elizabeth von Arnim 4.5🌟
💝 Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark 4.5🌟
💝 Love by Susan Branch 5🌟

Susan Branch books never fail to make me happy!

Best book everrrr! It's one of my all-time favorite books!

💝 No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym 3🌟
💝 The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 4🌟
💝 Book Love by Debbie Tung 5🌟

Such a sweetly illustrated book about book love!

💝 Love is in the Earth by Melody 4🌟
💝 Caitlin Love Trilogy by Francine Pascal 4🌟
💝 The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman 5🌟
💝 A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott 5🌟
💝 The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love by Joan Medlicott 3🌟
💝 Paris in Love by Eloisa James 5🌟
💝 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 3🌟
💝 Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith 4🌟
💝 Peony in Love by Lisa See 3🌟
💝 Live with the Things You Love by Mary Randolph Carter 2🌟
💝 No Lovelier Spring by Lida Larrimore 3.5🌟

Lida Larrimore's vintage romances are so thoughtful!

The cutest book in the whole world!!

💝 Raggedy Ann: A Thank You, Please and I Love You Book by Norah Smaridge 5🌟
💝 Come Back to Me, Beloved by Kathleen Norris 5🌟

A 5🌟 Kathleen Norris novel - sooo perfect! A buddy read with Gina Stanyer.

💝 French Girl in Love by Maysie Greig 3.5🌟
💝 Odds on Love by Maysie Greig 4🌟
💝 The Laurel Bush: An Old-Fashioned Love Story by Dinah M. Craik 4.5🌟
💝 Love and Friendship by Jane Austen 3.5🌟
💝 The Book of My Beloveds by Esmerelda Little Flame 5🌟

I have poetry in this lovely book! Available on Amazon! 

💝 A Fine Romance: Falling In Love with the English Countryside by Susan Branch 5🌟
💝 Enid Blyton's Nature Lover's Book 3.5🌟
💝 Learning To Love Yourself by Gay Hendricks 4🌟
💝 The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Moyes 5🌟
💝 The Demon Lover by Victoria Holt 3🌟
💝 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 4🌟
💝 Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith 3🌟
💝 Sweet Valley High books by Francine Pascal (too many to list with love in the title - lol!) generally all 3-4🌟

Love-titled books on a pink bamboo lace shawl that I knit myself!

LOVE BOOK TBR:   

Here is a list of all the books I'm hoping to read within the next year or less. Any favorite books listed here? See above photo to see some of the covers!

Photo from Dean Street Press Ltd. website. 

❤️ Love in a Mist by Susan Scarlett
❤️ First Love by Gay Head    
❤️ Look Back with Love by Dodie Smith
❤️ All for Love by Tasha Tudor
❤️ The Lovely Day by Dorothy Evelyn Smith  
❤️ The Long Love by Pearl S. Buck
❤️ How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh  
❤️ The Love Child by Fiona Hill
❤️ A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
❤️ Love for Lydia by H.E. Bates 

I would LOVE to know your favorite books with "love" in the title or any books that just give you that loving feeling 😊💓 

Wishing you the most wonderful Valentine's Day (no matter who you're with or even if you've taken a self-care day of your own!) and sending lots and lots of love from meeeeee! 

As always, I'll try to keep this list updated as the months (or years!) go by. If you ever use my list for anything fun, please tag me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or anywhere on social media. You can also email me: babsbelovedbooks at gmail dot com! ☺️✨🌸 

Ian's new-to-him 1980s pinball machine is so cool!

Ian playing his new Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man pinball! 

50+ Vintage Summer Books Extravaganza! 🤩💛☀️🌼✨

Hello Friends! Happy Mid-September! 

Before the summer comes to a close, I wanted to share all of my Books with Summer in the Title. This post is just in the nick of time because Summer ends in just a little over a week! As always, I'll try to update this book list as I find (and read) more summer-titled books! 

What I Love About Summer 

☀️ Bright golden sunshine
☀️ Farmer’s market flowers, veggies and fruit
☀️ Queen Anne's Lace, roses and wildflowers
☀️ Reading at the beach
☀️ Sound of the waves crashing
☀️ Daylight until late
☀️ Not having to wear a coat
☀️ Bird song
☀️ Watermelon, corn on the cob and garden veggies 

What do YOU love about summer? 

 

(Note: If you're on Goodreads, you can read all of my summer-titled book reviews! Also, a some of the books on this list are not shown—either they were from the library, audiobook reads, or I donated them.) 

Maybe someday, I will create a Summer Book PDF with notes and suggestions, too. Would you be interested in that? Let me know in the comments!

 

Until then, here is my Summer-Titled Book List by STAR RATING 😄📔🌟 

5 STARS 🌟

• The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
• Black Forest Summer by Mabel Esther Allan
• The Summer Book by Susan Branch 
• Summer Story (Brambly Hedge) by Jill Barklem 
• An Edwardian Summer by John S. Goodall

 4.5 STARS🌟

• Milestone Summer by Nicolete Meredith
• Holiday Summer by Decie Melwin
• Voices in Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
• Stories for Summer by British Library Women Writers/Simon Thomas
• Barbie’s New York Summer by Cynthia Lawrence
• Showboat Summer by Rosamond du Jardin  
• Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden 

4 STARS🌟

• Summer Pudding by Susan Scarlett
• Summer at Fairacre by Miss Read
• Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer by Molly Clavering
• The Adventurous Summer by Mabel Esther Allan 
• The Tucker's Turnabout Summer by Jo Mendel 
• Summerhills by D.E. Stevenson
• The Summer House by Marcia Willett
• The Enchanted Summer by Grace Gelvin Kisinger 
• Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
• Paris Summer by April Lynn Kihlstrom
• Blueberry Summer by Elisabeth Ogilvie 
• Sierra Summer by Doris Schroeder 
• Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
• Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

3.5 STARS🌟

• The Swiss Summer by Stella Gibbons
• Barbie’s Candy Striped Summer by Eleanor K. Woolvin
• Showboat Summer by Rosamond du Jardin  
• Honey Bunch: Her First Summer on the Island by Helen Louise Thorndyke 
• In A Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor
• The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
• Champlain Summer by Marjorie Vetter
• Summer of Surprise by Helen Reynolds
• Deadly Summer by Francine Pascal
• Perfect Summer by Francine Pascal
• Malibu Summer by Francine Pascal
• What to Look For In Summer by Elizabeth Jenner

Photo from Dean Street Press Ltd.

3 STARS🌟

• The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfeild
• Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shin
• Patty’s Summer Days by Carolyn Wells
• Summer by E. Wharton  

Sadly, I wasn't able to find the credits for this book photo. All other photos are my own.

 

 2 STARS🌟

• A Poem for Every Summer Day by Allie Esiri

ROMANCE TBR:

1. The Most Marvellous Summer by Betty Neels
2. Uncertain Summer by Betty Neels
3. One Summer's Day by Catherine Airlie
4. The Summer Wife by Flora Kidd 
5. Summer in December by Essie Summers
6. A Summer in the Country by Marcia Willett
7. Seven Days in Summer by Marcia Willett 
8. Summer on the River by Marcia Willett
9. Indian Summer by Marcia Willett 

  

VINTAGE/HISTORICAL BOOK TBR:

1. Midsummer’s Eve by Philippa Carr
2. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
3. Summer Half by Angela Thirkell

MIDDLE GRADE TBR:

1. Laura’s Summer Ballet by Linda Blake
2. The Amethyst Summer by Bianca Bradbury
3. Fantasy Summer by Susan Beth Pfeffer 
4. Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson  

  

NON-FICITON TBR:

1. Mrs. Appleyard's Summer Kitchen by Louise Andrews Kent
2. My Summer in a Garden by Charles Dudley Warner 

If there are any wonderful summer-titled vintage books that you have enjoyed or can recommend to me, please comment below! I'm always searching for more! Thank you! 

 

I'm so grateful to all of my friends who gifted me summer books in the past five years...including Caro (@carosbookcase), Liz (@pony.books), Marjorie (@marjoriepaper), Beth (@littlebookbelle) and also my husband Ian (for the Barbie books!) and my daughter, Rose (for the Susan Scarlett books!)

 

Have a fabulous rest of the month and keep an eye out for a blog post including My Favorite Autumn Books. Many many hugs, friends! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕

 

Help Me Tackle My TBR! 😱📚✨

Yay! It’s Furrowed Middlebrow Friday! 🥳💜

Books, plus some of the toys from my vintage Fisher Price collection!

Which Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow book should I read in June? 🤔 

Love my disco ball table and plant pot! Thanks to Home Goods & TJs!

First, Happy May! May is my absolutely my FAV month of the year (followed closely by October) ☺️💕

My little tulip garden!

I love May because: 😊🌸🌼🌿🌱

• My Birthday! (I'll be 52 this year...but I feel 32!)
• My Daughter, Rose's Birthday! (she turned 32 this year 😱)
• Lilacs and Tulips (I have a lovely little 4' x 4' tulip garden...when the blooms don't get eaten by our resident Groundhog Mamma) 
• Beautiful Weather (sunshiny days, cool nights, breezes!)
• Bird Song (love to wake up to singing outside our bedroom window!)
• Mother's Day (Ian took me to a bookstore, coffee shop and out to lunch and the "kids" gave me the sweetest cards!)
• Prepping My Garden (also, putting out our outdoor furniture on the patio with canopy!)
• The Start of Spring Reading (including all of the books I put aside that have new beginnings, gardening, and/or Spring as a theme)

Sweet smelling lilacs from my New Hampshire garden...my fav!

Anyway back to BOOKS!!!

Here is my current DSP Furrowed Middlebrow collection...though, not including my lovely Moray Dalton books (half of which were gifted to me by my Bestie, Caro of @carosbookcase!)

Books I've Read:

(not including my 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 books, which I only have on my Kindle at the moment 😭)

Sorry about the dusty arcade room carpet! I should have vacuumed first - lol!

 

My TBR:

• The House Opposite by Barbara Noble
• Summer Pudding by Susan Scarlett
• A House in the Country by Ruth Adam
• Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck
• The Foolish Gentlewoman by Margery Sharp
• Peter and Paul by Susan Scarlett

NOTE—I also have a bunch of other e-book titles on my Kindle. So, I'll need to sort those out next! 

My DSP Furrowed Middlebrow TBR books on Ian's arcade room carpet!

So, Friends...it's time for you to comment below with which book you think I should read next! (I feel like I might be able to read them all by the end of the year. I hope!!)

Also, please tell me which of these authors AND which books are your favorites! 

 

Don’t forget to check out my Instagram post, too! (@babsbelovedbooks)

You are so amazing for reading this far, for supporting my blog and for being YOU! Thank you!!!! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕

Molly Clavering Book Collection (and Ratings!) 🤩🌟📚

It's my favorite day of the week— Furrowed Middlebrow Friday! Woo-hoo!

Today, I'm celebrating this awesome spring-time day with my Furrowed Middlebrow Molly Clavering book collection from Dean Street Press! Yay! 

The only reason I have this gorgeous collection of books is because my awesome husband, Ian, bought me all of the books the very day that they were published by Dean Street Press! (I'm so lucky!) 😍

I first heard of Molly Clavering through Emma's YouTube Channel, The Bookish Princess, where she mentioned Near Neighbors. At that time, you couldn't easily find a copy of this book (which was very sad). But, in July 2023,  I found a used, hardcover copy of Mrs. Lorimer's Quiet Summer on eBay, read it and really liked it.

Then, thank goodness, the amazing team at DSP republished EIGHT of her novels under the Furrowed Middlebrow collection. Yippee!

Besides reading the interesting and helpful introduction in the DSP Molly Clavering books, I also found tons of great information about this fabulous author in Scott's blog post. I highly encourage you to check it out! 

So, without further ado, here are my book ratings! Click on each title to read my full review on Goodreads 😁

 

MY BOOK RATINGS: 

5🌟 Because of Sam
5🌟 Susan Settles Down
5🌟 Near Neighbors
4.5🌟 Dear Hugo

4🌟 Touch Not the Nettle
4🌟 Love Comes Home
4🌟 Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer
3.5🌟 Yoked with a Lamb 

These three books are on my to-be-read/wish list—I hope to find more of her stories in the future!

 

MY TBR: 

• From the Border Hills (own, see pic below)
• Result of the Finals  
• Dr. Glasgow's Family
  

As you know, I love making lists of my thoughts instead of writing long, detailed descriptions for my reviews. So, I'm going to stick with my usual pattern 😂

WHY I LOVE MOLLY CLAVERING'S BOOKS:

💛  Beautiful, cozy settings in Scotland (usually in small villages)

💛  Female protagonists with common sense, intelligence and kindness

💛  Likable characters that have deep inner strength and help others generously

Keeping that in mind, here are some aspects that I struggled with while reading this author's novels:

❊ A level of written Scottish dialect that was unfamiliar to me and, sometimes, lasted for a whole page or more. I've never been to Scotland, so it took me a bit longer to try and understand what the character was trying to say. In the end, I understood it all...but those parts were not quick for me to read.

❊ Nature descriptions that I could picture in my head. Again, I'm absolutely sure this is because I have never visited this country and some terms are just unknown to me. Although Molly Clavering's words are wonderfully written, I did find that reading these sections to be slow going (especially if they were longer in length).

MOLLY CLAVERING vs. D.E. STEVENSON:

These talented (and favorite) authors were not only neighbors in Moffat, Scotland for a time, but they were also close friends. I know that some readers prefer one writer over the other, but I find that most usually love both!  While I definitely could not choose which author's work I like best, here are my general thoughts:

💙 Joy - DES' books bring me more joy overall than MC.

💙 Lovely Prose - MC's novels take the win for beautiful and thoughtful writing.

💙 Laughter - DES makes me laugh often and giggle uncontrollably.  

💙 Safety - For some reason, MC's writing gives me a sense of safety, protection and stability.

💙 Ratings - Overall (for me), MC writes books that are predictably steady and solidly VERY GOOD. While, DES writes stories that seem to be all over the place—either 5🌟 favorites or 1🌟 duds. There's a huge range of value in her finished writing.  

NOTE:

Keep in mind that DES has published at least 50 novels, while MC has around 38 (most of which were published in serialized/pocket novels and lost in the abyss somewhere 😭) .

Now that I have read these 8 Furrowed Middlebrow titles, I'm hoping that more will crop up in the future! Until then, I have her non-fiction book, From the Border Hills, and I can re-read the books I own as many times as I like (which is very cheering)!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Please comment below with your favorite Molly Clavering titles and any thoughts you have about her books vs. D.E. Stevenson's books! 😄

Some of my Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow Collection!

So many thanks to my dear friend Caro (@carosbookcase) for buddy reading three of these books with me (including Touch Not the Nettle,  Susan Settles Down and Yoked by a Lamb) and to the lovely Chelcy (@cbstutzman) for reading and discussing Love Comes Home last year!

By the way, if you love the lace shawl in the background of some of these photos, it's my own knitwear design—the Maitri Shawl! It's available for purchase here on Ravelry and I used the most beautiful Albireo organic cotton/bamboo yarn from VeganYarn.com 🥰❤️🧶

Happy Friday, Friends!!! Many hugs! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕 

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!! 💕❄️🤗❄️💕