Cate Campbell

I’m still a sucker for books that tout themselves as Downton-esque so I picked this one up & dove right in. Set in Seattle just after WWI the story takes us to Benedict Hall & the family & servants who reside there. I won’t spoil here but I will say this, I liked Margot and that she was a doctor quite determined to practise when it wasn’t considered a proper job for a woman. She was smart, sometimes awkward, most often sensible and very relatable. I also liked Frank Parrish, the Major back from the war where he’d lost an arm. He never gave up and despaired and still remained kind even when he was feeling ill at ease or unsure of his place in the world. I had no problem investing in and rooting for the two as a couple.

Preston was a nasty piece of work but he kept me page turning in a macabre way. I still want to know what made him so hateful and twisted. Margot is quite clear about him always having been that way and having tried multiple times when they were children to kill her with Blake being the only thing that stood in his way. So, I wondered what happened to make him that way. It’s not answered but I hope there’s some further insight in the next book (which I have on my desk to read). I’m still not sure how I feel about what is hinted at as his fate and I really didn’t know what to do with the “mystical sapphire” turn but still, I enjoyed reading this story for the most part. The scene setting was well done & gave a clear picture of Seattle at the time. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for another series to get into. It’s a fairly quick read & engaging enough to breeze through on the weekend. A 3.5 star read for me.
… (altro)

I really enjoyed this second book in a series that is set in Seattle in the 1920's, following the lives of two young women. Allison, a teenager who is nearing adulthood, is struggling with gaining some measure of independence from her controlling parents, who send her to Seattle to stay with cousins, aunt, and uncle there. Margo Benedict is a physician who is just beginning to establish her practice in Seattle, and hoping to continue a relationship with a young man who was severely wounded in the Great War. Margo and her family welcome Allison to stay with them, but there are many issues in this family as well. Margo became a favorite character, as she battled many of the prejudices against women, championing the suffrage movement, and access to birth control for all women, setting up her clinic in a neighborhood that would help her to serve Seattle's poorest. I plan to go back and read the first book in this series. I would give this one 3 and a half stars. This was a First Reads win for me, from Goodreads.… (altro)

11 Betties is a hip but welcoming website and blog created to be an “online math resource” for young girls in mathematics no matter their skill level. It fights the stereotype associating math with men, and gives women a platform on which they can increase their math skills and connect math to their lives in meaningful ways. The website searches for math in the beats of popular songs, in the angles of modern art, and in story-lines on cult television shows. Although there are currently only three Betties (that is, three women) behind the site, founder Cate Campbell chose the number 11 because of its symmetry and because it just so happens to be her favorite number.
The website may be very new, with many sections remaining to be filled, but the potential for 11 Betties to be a great resource is already apparent. There are several opportunities its audience to contribute ideas, content and questions. Adults should promote this website to the young women in their lives so that 11 Betties may grow and reach the audience that so needs it. As their mission statement proclaims, “Our lives are bursting with pop culture and vintage clothes and hashtags and guys and art and music and cats and our bodies acting trippy and love and madness and math is just going to have to get comfy smack in the middle of the beautiful cacophony.” Now if that does not make you want to go out and get mathematical, then who knows what will.… (altro)