Kat Bryan's Corner

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T00:17:00.000-06:00

I haven't taken the time to do much reading this month. I have been crocheting hats both for Christmas presents and to donate and it's hard to read or use the computer when doing that. It had been years since I crocheted but seeing some cute ideas on Pinterest got me inspired again. I tried several different hat patterns and it was a lot of fun. I've also done some holiday baking which the family really enjoys - pumpkin bread with dates and black walnuts, cherry chocolate cookies, and homemade dinner rolls. I'm sure everyone will find something they like. Our son and his wife will be here for dinner later today (Christmas Eve) and then they'll go to her folks'. Jim and I will head to my sister's for a soup supper. It's nice to spend the holidays with the family.

I've also been fighting a bad pain in my right leg. I went to the doctor about it several weeks ago and she gave me a steroid which really helped. Only problem is once the pills were gone, the pain came back. I guess another visit to the doc is on the calendar after the holidays. Limping around is NO fun.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Spend it with those who mean the most to you, enjoy your presents and don't eat too many goodies.

Second Nature

2011-12-02T02:51:00.000-06:00

Written by Alice Hoffman
© 1994 Published by Berkley
ISBN: 0-425-14681-2
290 pp.

From the book cover: "He was beautiful. He was innocent. And in the locked room where the psychiatrists kept him, he was treated more like an animal than a human being. Robin Moore, coping with a divorce-in-progress and a troubled teenaged son, surprised even herself when she impulsively rescued this man, who'd been raised in the wilderness and had no more sophistication than a child. She spirited him home to her suburban town where she could keep him safe. But with the strange, uncivilized man's arrival came a streak of wild, uncontrollable events that disturbed the peace in this perfectly ordered neighborhood - and changed all of Robin's ideas about love and humanity...."

Hmmm, what would you do? The person referred to as 'Wolfman' who has been locked up for months in a mental hospital and who had never spoken to anyone before, quietly asks you to help him. Without even thinking, Robin Moore takes him home and hides him. She slowly learns some of his background and how he came to live in the wild. She also, of course, falls in love with him. She has plenty to deal with - her estranged, cheating husband who's also a local cop, her love-sick 16-year-old son, her contankerous, ailing grandfather, her very limited income as a landscaper, and now the strange man in her guest room. Adding to that, some sicko is killing the town's pets, including Robin's much-loved cat, Homer.

This book was an easy read and I read it in one day. There weren't too many surprises in it but it was a good story. A little bit romance and a little bit mystery, the ending was kind of sad but there wasn't really any other way to write it.

I picked this book up at a flea market. (I apologize for the poor photo. I'm having camera problems and didn't find a good photo on line.)

Dark Mountain

2011-11-29T02:36:00.000-06:00

Written by Richard Laymon
©1987 by Leisure Books
ISBN: 0-8439-6138-4
321 pp.

From the book cover: “For two families, it was supposed to be a relaxing camping trip in the California mountains. They thought it would be fun to get away from everything for a while. But they’re not alone. The woods are also home to two terrifying residents who don’t take kindly to strangers – an old hag with unholy powers, and her hulking son, a half-wild brute with uncontrollable, violent urges. The campers still need to get away – but now their lives depend on it!”

I’ve never been much of a camper. A long time ago we had a pickup topper and went to Mt. Rushmore and a few other places but we never tent-camped. To me a tent always seemed so vulnerable and after reading this book, you’ll NEVER find me in a tent.

Buddies Scott O’Toole and Arnold ‘Flash’ Gordon decide to take their families on a backpacking trip. The group includes Scott’s girlfriend, his teenage daughter and his younger son and Flash’s wife, teenage son and younger twin daughters. They’ve all camped before but not together and not in this area. They plan on making a week of it, hiking up the mountain trails by day and camping by different lakes at night. They spend their evenings telling spooky stories around the campfire. Big mistake, right there! LOL Before they know it, they’re living a worse story than any they could have made up.

I didn’t enjoy this Laymon book quite as much as After Midnight (reviewed here) even though it started out great. It was good as far as the spook factor but I thought he was a little short filling out the story. He didn’t give hardly any background on the old woman and her son like where they came from or what they were doing in the mountains. He gave some background on Scott and his girlfriend and the Gordons but I feel he could have told a little more to flesh out the story.

After Midnight

2011-11-25T18:52:00.000-06:00

Written by Richard Laymon
© 1997 by Leisure Book
ISBN: 0-8439-5180-X
438 pp.

From the book cover – “Alice has quite a story to tell you. That’s not her real name, of course. She couldn’t give her real name, not after all the things she reveals about herself in this book. All of her … adventures. And all that killing. She wouldn’t want the police to find her, now would she?

It started out so nice. Alice was house-sitting for her friend, enjoying having the whole place to herself, with the sunken bathtub and big-screen television. But everything went wrong that first night, when she looked out the window and saw a strange man jumping naked into the swimming pool. Alice just knew he would be coming to get her, like all those other men before. But she would never be a victim again. Not after she remembered the old Civil War saber hanging in the living room …”

Oh … my… God! This book is one of those that genuinely gives you the creeps and makes you get up and pull your curtains and check your locks. Have you ever gotten up to lock the door and been SURE someone was just on the other side? That’s the feeling I got from reading the first chapter. No spooks, no aliens, no four-legged creatures … just real people who can sometimes be real monsters.

I have to say this author has quite the imagination, even more so than King or Koontz. Alice is her own worst enemy making herself scared which causes the death of the first person. Then she tries to cover that death up and one thing leads to another and another. The methods of death in the book are very graphic and made me squirm at times but I loved the book. I have another Laymon book to read next, Dark Mountain. I hope it’s just as good.

I borrowed the books from my sister who shares my taste in books. Thanks Anne.

In Her Shoes

2011-11-22T20:05:00.000-06:00

Written by Jennifer Weiner

ISBN: 0-4165-0334-X

521 pp. followed by questions with the author

From the book cover – “Rose is a thirty-year-old attorney with a secret passion for romance novels. She’s going to start exercising next week, and she dreams of a man who will slide off her glasses and tell her she’s beautiful. Maggie is twenty-eight and drop-dead gorgeous. Although her stardom hasn’t progressed past her hip’s appearance in a music video, she dreams of fame and fortune. These two sisters claim to have nothing in common but DNA, a childhood tragedy, and a shoe size, but when they’re forced into cohabitation, they may just learn that they’re more alike than they thought.”

I love Jennifer Weiner’s books. She doesn’t hesitate to tell it like it is and In Her Shoes is no exception. Rose and Maggie lost their mother at a young age and Rose has always tried to look out for her sister. That’s hard to do when Maggie has such a different lifestyle. She’s dyslexic and to make up for poor performance in school, she uses her looks to get what she wants. When she does have money, she spends it on partying, makeup and clothes. She can’t hold a job or keep an apartment, has a bad habit of snooping whenever she can and doesn’t hesitate to ‘borrow’ money or clothes without asking. She ends up on Rose’s doorstep at a very inopportune time. On the other hand, Rose is somewhat of a stick-in-the-mud. She packs a few extra pounds, dresses very conservatively, and only splurges on great shoes and romance novels. The last thing she wants is her unreliable sister intruding in her life again just as she’s finally found a boyfriend.

I couldn’t live with someone like Maggie without wanting to throttle her daily. I was surprised Rose put up with her as long as she did. When something happens that blows their relationship apart, you have to wonder if they’ll ever speak again. Throw in a ‘wicked’ stepmother, a long-lost grandmother and her retirement community buddies, an unlikely suitor, and a few dogs and you have a great story.

I bought this book at a flea market. Jennifer Weiner is also the author of Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes.

What the Night Knows

2011-11-11T13:02:00.001-06:00

Written by Dean Koontz

©2010 Published by Bantam Books
ISBN: 978-0-553-80772-1
442 pp.

From the book jacket: “In the late summer of a long-ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months, he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family – his wife and three children – will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.

Here is a ghost story like no other you have read. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent than any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground. Of all his acclaimed novels, none exceeds What the Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and in sheer mesmerizing storytelling."

This book is pure Koontz – fantastic suspense, horror and lots of gore thrown in to keep you looking over your shoulder. If you don’t like detailed descriptions of torture and murder, this is NOT the book for you. I happen to think it adds a lot to the fright-factor.

Alton Turner Blackwood was a deformed and abused boy who grew up to be the abuser. Only by killing did he feel powerful. John Calvino put a stop to his murderous rampage 20 years ago but now a copycat killing has taken place. Is John right to think his family is in danger, and why? Has Blackwood returned from the dead? The answer is yes AND no – you'll have to read the book to understand what that means.

I purchased this book at the Albia flea market.

Dark Road Home

2011-11-08T17:37:00.000-06:00

Written by Karen Harper

©1996 Signet
Published by the Penguin Group
442 pp.

From the book cover: “Attorney Brooke Benton comes to the Maplecreek Amish community to escape the stalker who terrorized her after her last murder case. She feels safe running a friend’s quilt shop, but the homespun Amish frown on her worldly ways. Daniel Brand, returning to his Amish people after years in the outside world, knows he should have a good Amish wife, but it is the wildly attractive and accomplished Brooke who catches his eye.

When a mysterious hit-and-run driver kills four Amish teenagers, Brooke fears the isolated Amish community may also be in jeopardy, and she plunges into an investigation. When Dan joins her chase to pin down the killers, the trail takes them to Las Vegas, where they find more than they bargained for: Brooke and Dan find love – and its power to break through all barriers. This compelling novel of romantic passions, clashing values, and riveting suspense brims with verve and authenticity.”

This book has such a sad beginning – four young Amish people on their way home at night in a buggy, are victims of a hit-and-run driver. Three are killed outright and the fourth dies at the hospital. The Amish believe it’s the will of God but Brooke is determined to find who did it. She’s in Maplecreek hiding from a stalker and doesn’t want any publicity that may give away her location but she feels very strongly about the loss of the young Amish people. Daniel Brand had returned to Maplecreek just that day and along with Brooke, is the one who hears and finds the accident. One of the victims is his niece and the daughter of one of Brooke’s Amish friends.

I found this book to be very interesting and I learned a lot about the Amish community. We have much smaller groups that live in areas of southern Iowa but they pretty much keep to themselves. It would be quite an experience to live and work with them. The author did a good job intertwining the romance of Brooke and Daniel, her quest for the killers, and the everyday lives of the Amish. I enjoyed reading about their ways and the bits about the quilt store was interesting, too.

I bought this book at a flea market. Most of my books are then recycled by donating them to a local resale shop that serves the community food bank.

Hauser Decoy Mail Service SUCKS!

2011-10-24T14:13:00.002-05:00

I was a mail decoy for Hauser Track Mail Service for several years. It's very easy to do, just input the data on the day you received the mail, then keep it for six months in case it's needed. After that, discard the oldest month and start another month. It paid .25 per piece of mail, paying 3 months at a time. Sometimes you had to mail something back to Hauser but you were reimbursed for the postage when you got paid the next time. Sounds like easy money and it was,. The only problem was getting paid. At the beginning, Dave Hauser was pretty good about paying. Then checks started being a few weeks late, then months. Dave was full of excuses - the checks were always 'on the way', he was waiting for a line of credit at the bank, he had a new bookkeeper, and on and on. I had to repeatedly ask for the money I had earned. More excuses were made and I still waited. Finally, I said enough and told them I was quitting at the end of the pay period which was about 2 weeks away. They wanted me to keep going until they could clear my name from their list. I said no, I'd had enough. Then they asked me to keep the mail that was still coming and send it back as one bundle. I said no. I was quitting for lack of payment but they wanted me to continue working for them. Why would I continue doing something that I wasn't getting paid for? At that time my payment was behind several months. The last check I received was on May 20, 2011 and it was for payment through August 2010. I have emailed Dave Hauser and his bookkeeper several time since asking to be paid and they don't even reply. I'm still getting decoy mail (two pieces just today) and I quit 5 months ago. I just throw it in the trash. Hauser Track Mail Services SUCK!

My advice to anyone wanting to be a mail decoy - go with someone other than Hauser!

If you have experience dealing with Hauser Mail, I'd like to hear about it. Please leave a comment here. Thanks.

Prejudice (not a book)

2011-10-18T02:22:00.000-05:00

I got into a little discussion on a Facebook page the other day. It was a public site where local people and school alumni can reminisce. Someone was talking about a problem at their job and one thing led to another and finally someone else blamed everything on those towel heads. I didn't say anything right then but as the afternoon wore on, I kept thinking about the term he used and it bothered me more and more. I finally went back to the site and that post and I told him I found his use of the term towel head to be offensive. He apoligized at that time but came back later to ask if the terrorism acts of 9-11 hadn't bothered me. I don't see how one thing has to do with the other but I responded by telling him that I was as patriotic as the next person. My brother fought in both Desert Storm and Operation: Iraqi Freedom. I told him I had had the priviledge of having Korean, German and American Indians in my immediate family and blacks and latinos in my extended family. I told him I was a very tolerant person but I didn't tolerate intolerance. He never did get my point. He finally told me I was entitled to my opinion and he was entitled to his. (The next day that entire post was deleted.)

These day we all know not to use the 'N' word when referring to blacks. We don't call Asians chinks or slant eyes or Italians wops. (At least I hope not!) How is calling the Iraqis towel heads any different? It's referring to a whole nationality in a very derogatory way. I know that their entire country was raised to hate the Americans. Are we going to raise our children to hate them in return? In my opinion, that just brings us down to the level of the terrorists. I never questioned his right to hate the ones who terrorized New York or the ones who continue to injure and/or kill our soldiers. I was only objecting to his use of the term towel heads. A couple of other people spoke up but no one really sided with me. One said that the other poster was free to say what he wanted on his own Facebook page but probably should watch what he posted on a public page. Someone said we should only make comments pertaining to the site. Someone else said they'd had job training to be more polically correct which his term wasn't. Only one told him he was entitled to his opinion even if it was wrong. I'm sure most people just didn't want to get involved and in my opinion that's a major part of the problem with predudice....people won't speak up. Maybe it's because I'm older now but I do speak up more often and I'll continue to do so. I hope you will, too, when you see someone doing or saying something that just isn't right. Speak up!

On a slightly different but related subject, we all talk about how patriotic and all-American our soldiers are (and I'm not saying they aren't). But did you ever stop and think that those same soldiers bring a LOT of non-Americans into our country by marrying the people they meet in other countries? They certainly do their share in diversifying America even as they help protect it and spread democracy. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

........climbing down off my soap box now........

Claim of Innocence

2011-09-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Written by Laura Caldwell

© 2011 by Story Avenue, LLC
438 pp.

From the book cover: “ Forbidden relationships are the most tempting. And the most dangerous.

It was a crime of passion – or so the police say. Valerie Solara has been charged with poisoning her best friend. The prosecution claims she’s always been secretly attracted to Amanda’s husband . . . and with Amanda gone, she planned to make her move.

Attorney Izzy McNeil left the legal world a year ago, but a friend’s request pulls her into the murder trial. Izzy knows how passion can turn your life upside-down. She thought she had it once with her ex-fiancée, Sam. Now she wonders if that’s all she has in common with her criminally gorgeous younger boyfriend, Theo.

It’s Izzy’s job to present the facts that will exonerate her client – whether or not she’s innocent. But when she suspects Valerie is hiding something, she begins investigation – and uncovers a web of secret passions and dark motives, where seemingly innocent relationships can prove poisonous….”

Lawyer Izzy McNeil goes from civil court to criminal court when her friend Maggie needs help. Valerie Solara has been accused of poisoning her best friend while teaching her how to cook a Mexican dish. The grieving husband says he saw her put something blue in the mix. Another friend says she asked her about poisons. . . why? Valerie’s own father was convicted of murder and executed years ago. Is she following in his footsteps?

The characters in this story are normal, everyday people with normal problems. Izzy is 30 with an ex who, although engaged, thinks he may want to get back with her. She also has a 22-year-old hunk of a new boyfriend. Maggie is a partner in her grandfather’s law firm and he’s starting to show his age. Valerie is a widow with a 19-year-old daughter she’ll do anything to protect. How these women all come together to try and save Valerie from a murder conviction makes an interesting story. The story takes an interesting twist at the end after the verdict is in. Is she guilty or innocent? Read the book and see. Easy to read, short chapters, and good dialogue.

I won this book from one of Book Trib’s weekly contests.

The Map of Time

2011-09-11T19:50:00.001-05:00

Published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster
609 pp.

From the book jacket: “Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time is a page-turner that boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence.

What happens if we change history? Felix J. Palma explores this questions in The Map of Time, weaving a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting – a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.”

I put off reading The Map of Time because of its large size. However, once I started reading it, I hated to put it down. In the story, H. G. Wells writes a book about time travel that fascinates 1880’s London. Imagine his surprise when an acquaintance opens a business supposedly taking people to the future world of 2000 where they’re able to secretly observe a battle between humans and automatons (robots) that are destroying the world. One thing leads to another and ‘future’ and present people get involved in numerous ways. It was sometimes hard to follow the twists and turns as different characters would try to explain what would happen if they would do this or change that, would the other still happen? What would happen if they were to run into themselves in the future or past? Could they travel to the past and change things for the better or would the world be better off left as it is? The book really made me think as I was reading it. Here's just one example from the book - if you could travel to the future to arrest a person who had killed in the past, have you prevented the murder, and if you did, was a crime still committed? If the crime wasn't committed, why would you need to arrest the person? It's just one big circle that never ends!

In places I thought the story was a little wordy but I just skipped ahead a few paragraphs when that happened. It was written in 3 parts and the author did a wonderful job tying them all together. Some of the characters were real authors including H. G. Wells and Bram Stoker. It was fun reading how the author wove them into the story. If you like Jules Verne or H. G. Wells you’ll enjoy this book. For more information you can visit http://www.mapoftime.com/ .

I received this book unexpectedly from Simon & Schuster; I think it came from a contest I entered.

Judas Kiss

2011-08-30T23:34:00.000-05:00

A Taylor Jackson novel by J. T. Ellison
© 2009, Published by MIRA Books
395 pp.

From the book cover: “SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. It was a murder made for TV: a trail of tiny bloody footprints. An innocent toddler playing beside her mother’s bludgeoned body. Pretty young Corinne Wolff, seven months pregnant, brutally murdered in her own home.

Cameras and questions don’t usually faze Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, but the media frenzy surrounding the Wolff case is particularly nasty….and thorough. When the seemingly model mommy is linked to an amateur porn Web site with underage actresses and unwitting players, the sharks begin to circle.

The shock is magnified when an old adversary uses the sexy secret footage to implicate Taylor in a murder – an accusation that threatens her career, her reputation and her relationship.

Both cases hinge on the evidence – real or manufactured – of crimes that go beyond passion, into the realm of obsessive vengeance and shocking betrayal. Just what the networks love.”

Lieutenant Taylor Jackson finds her hands full with the murder of a young, pregnant mother. Who beat the woman to death and then left her baby daughter alone with the body for 2 days? The husband/father was supposed to be working out of town but his alibi doesn’t add up. A secret room is discovered in the basement where home movies have been made – but not the ones you would show your friends and family. And to top it off, secretly filmed sex videos of the Lieutenant and an ex-lover show up on the internet. Someone is out to destroy her. How is she supposed to do her job if she’s suspended? She’s also being stalked by an international assassin who wants to kill her in order to hurt her boyfriend. She’d better keep looking over her shoulder!

Great story that kept me guessing until right close to the end of the book. Jackson was a likeable person who just tried to do her job the best she could despite all the obstacles thrown at her. She has a great team working with her and they do a good job solving the murder. The deeper they dig, the more involved the crime becomes. Well-written, good dialog and interesting characters.

The story continues in the next Ellison book, Edge of Black.

I bought this book at a garage sale.

Prayers for Rain

2011-08-22T22:45:00.000-05:00

Dennis Lehane

375 pp.

From the book cover: “ Private investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why a former client, a perky woman in love with life, could, within six months, jump naked from a Boston landmark – the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction. What he finds is a sadistic stalker who targeted the young woman and methodically drove her to her death. A monster the law can’t touch. But Kenzie can. He and his former partner, Angela Gennaro, will fight a mind-twisting battle against this psychopath even as he turns his tricks on them.”

Prayers for Rain is Lehane’s fifth book featuring the Boston investigative duo of Kenzie and Gennaro. The book opens with Karen Nichols hiring Kenzie to make a stalker leave her alone. He roughs the guy up and threatens him and things seem to be under control. A few weeks later there is a message from Karen on Kenzie’s answering machine but he’s too busy to return the call and later forgets about it. The next thing he knows she’s jumped off the top of a building. He feels somewhat guilty for not getting back to her and wonders if he could have done anything to prevent her death. When he starts investigating, he finds there’s more to her suicide then people think. Someone made her life so miserable that she couldn’t stand it any longer but who and why?

Patrick Kenzie puts television PI’s to shame. He doesn’t hesitate to put a criminal in his place using (sometimes) unorthodox methods. His buddy Bubba isn't too smart but he has a collection of illegal weapons and is built like a tank. His sometime-partner Angela has mob connections which can come in very handy. The main villain has a VERY sick mind. There's quite a bit of violence and some bad language so I guess you could say this would be an 'R' rated book. Good story, interesting characters, and psychological twists and thrills. What more could you want?

I picked this book up at a garage sale. Can’t wait to read more Lehane novels.

A Painted House

2011-08-14T02:11:00.000-05:00

John Grisham

From the cover: “Until that summer of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers – and two very dangerous men – came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke’s world. A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born…and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives – and change his family and his town forever.”

John Grisham does a wonderful job telling the story of a poor cotton farmer’s family from the viewpoint of a 7-year-old boy. The Chandler’s are poor, barely making a living from their rented 40 acres of cotton. The family is made up of Pappy and Gran, their son, his wife, and their grandson Luke. They hire migrant workers each year to help pick the cotton by hand. In 1952 those workers include 10 Mexican men and the Spruill family from the Ozarks who pick cotton to supplement their income - Mr. and Mrs. Spruill, oldest son Hank who's a mean S.O. B., daugher Tally who's cute and 17, teen sons Bo and Dale, and the youngest, Trot, who's 'not right'. The Mexican men are housed in the barn loft and the Spruill family of 7 sleep in tents in the Chandler’s yard. Life is hard for all of them as they work sun-up to sundown 6 ½ days a week. Even Luke is expected to do his share in the field, as well as helping his mother in her large garden and doing chores. Their main recreations are going to town on Saturday afternoons to shop and catch up on local gossip and to church on Sundays.

Luke learns a lot as he watches the actions of others on the cotton farm and in town. He sees things he shouldn’t and is told to keep quiet. He has to decide to tell about them or keep secrets for the good of his family. Any trouble could cause the migrant workers to leave, the cotton wouldn’t get picked, and the family wouldn’t have any income. People are killed, others disappear, a baby is born, and the crop is threatened by bad weather. Things aren’t easy on the farm but you’ll enjoy getting to know the Chandlers and learning about their lives.

A short while after I started reading this book, I realized I had read it before. I went ahead and read it again and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. I bought this book at a garage sale.

Divine Justice

2011-08-14T00:16:00.000-05:00

David Baldacci

From the book: “Known by his alias, “Oliver Stone,” John Carr is the most wanted man in American. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone’s life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.

But his freedom comes at a steep price. The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U. S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Yet behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now as the hunters close in, Stone’s flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D. C., to the coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia – and into a world every bit as bloody and lethal as the one he left behind.”

This book is a sequel to previously written books about Oliver Stone and the Camel Club which I didn’t know when I picked it up. Mr. Baldacci evidently expected his readers to have read the previous books because parts of this plot weren’t clear until quite far into the book. I did enjoy the story and the characters who reminded me of a good TV drama or movie. Lots of action, different story lines, and interesting characters. A little too much violence for my taste but that goes along with this type of story, I guess.

Oliver Stone, AKA John Carr, is a heroic Vietnam vet later drafted by the government for undercover work, mainly carrying out assassinations. When he gets married and has a child, he wants out but finds out it’s not that easy….he knows too much. His wife is killed and his young daughter disappears. He goes into hiding but finally seeks revenge. This is where the book starts and it continues as he goes further into hiding and ends up in a little town in Virginia. Things go downhill from there for Oliver.

I picked up this book at a garage sale.

Fear Nothing

2011-08-08T13:44:00.000-05:00

by Dean Koontz

From the book cover: “Christopher Snow is different from all the other residents of Moonlight Bay, different from anyone you’ve ever met. For Christopher Snow has made his peace with a very rare genetic disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. His life is filled with the fascinating rituals of one who must embrace the dark. He knows the night as no one else can – its mystery, its beauty, its terrors, and the eerie silken rhythms that seduce one into believing anything – even freedom – is possible.

Until the night Christopher Snow witnesses a series of disturbing incidents that sweep him into a violent mystery only he can solve, a mystery that will force him to rise above all fears and confront the many-layered secrets of Moonlight Bay and its strange inhabitants. A place, like all places, that looks a lot different after dark.”

Christopher Snow suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum which is a rare genetic disorder that leaves him vulnerable to even brief exposure to the sun or any ultraviolet rays from other light sources. His body lacks the ability to repair any damage from UV rays which will cause cancer, blindness, etc. Any time he leaves the house, it has to be between sundown and sun up, fully dressed, with sunscreen and a hat. Taking these precautions, he has already out-lived all expectations at the age of 28. His skin is extremely white as you might expect but he is not an albino. His nickname is 'Snowman'.

When the story starts, Christopher’s mother, a scientist, has been dead for 2 years following an auto accident. His father lays dying of cancer in the hospital. Shortly after his father’s death, Christopher’s life changes forever. This is the type of book you don’t want to read alone on a dark night. The people Christopher grew up around are not who he thought. Animals are acting strangely. He doesn’t know who he can trust anymore. Everything seems to lead back to the closed military base where his mother worked. It was truly a frightening book when you think of what genetic testing might entail. I definitely recommend it to any fan of Koontz and others who like a good scary tale.

This is an older book but I buy a lot at flea markets where they’re affordable. I’m sure a lot of other people do, too. Or you can probably find this book at your library.

The Remains of War

2011-08-01T10:50:00.000-05:00

Surviving the Other Concentration Camps of World War II

Written by G. Pauline Kok-Schurgers
©2011 iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-4502-9671-7
186 pp.

From the book cover: “When the Dutch army surrenders to Japan in 1942, nine-year-old Sophia is imprisoned with her mother, younger brother, and two baby sisters in different concentration camps on Sumatra, Indonesia. Her father is sent to work on the Burma-Siam railroad, and the family doesn’t know if he is dead or alive. In this memoir, author G. Pauline Kok-Schurgers narrates a story of hate and torture, starvation and disease, and physical and psychological abuse experiences during her internment.

The Remains of War tells of Sofia’s toils through those years, taking care of her younger siblings and trying to prevent her mother from sinking deeper into depression. Sofia longs for her father’s return and her mother’s attention and love. The gruesome years in those camps, the loneliness, and the loss of dear friends transform Sofia into a silent, inward person, scarred for the rest of her life.

Written from the perspective of a young child, The Remains of War touches the core of human suffering caused by the senselessness and evil of war. The voices of all who died and were left behind without a name or a cross on their graves will be forever silent. This memoir testifies to their courage.”

I hate saying I enjoyed reading this book because it sounds bad to enjoy reading about other’s troubles, but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it in the way I enjoyed reading Anne Frank’s Diary. I think people need to know these things that happened, good and bad. I was amazed that any of the prisoners survived the terrible living conditions and treatment they received. It hurt to read of what they went through. I had no idea there were other concentration camps during the war besides those in Europe. The ones ran by the Japanese in Indonesia were every bit as evil as those ran by Hitler and these Dutch settlers would have been exterminated if the war hadn’t ended when it did. This is definitely a book that everyone should read even if just to improve your knowledge of WWII. It was brave of Ms. Kok-Schurgers to write the book and relive all thos horrible memories.

I was provided with a copy of the book to read and review.

Milestones

2011-07-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

There are many milestones in life if we live long enough – first day of school, graduation, first job, marriage, children, their marriage and grandchildren, and retirement are just some of them. My husband has been lucky to reach one of those milestones today. He retired after working at the same job at Grip-Tite Manufacturing for 40 years, 3 months and 3 days. His job varied but for the most part he ran a metal press. The company he worked for was small. At the most over the years, they employed less than 20 people in the shop, running two shifts for a time. These days it’s down to 7 with Jim gone and that many more in the office. Funny how it now takes as many to run things as to actually put out production. It used to be president, vice-president and secretary/bookkeeper. Now they also have an engineer, an internet/computer specialist and separate secretary and bookkeeper. The company makes parts for basement stabilization repairs and also in-ground anchors for big poles. They also hold on-site training seminars for companies who want to use Grip-Tite’s products.

Jim just came home with a load of things out of his locker; just like a kid on the last day of school. His 66th birthday is tomorrow so it’s quite a week for him. Guess I’ll have to start a list of things to keep him busy. ☺

Bumblebee Products Prize Win!

2011-07-21T02:13:00.000-05:00

I was lucky enough to win a contest earlier this month on The Bargain Shopper Lady's blog and the prize arrived yesterday. It's a box of Bumblebee Tuna and Salmon products, an apron, and a cute inkpen. I'm looking forward to trying the different tunas - Spicy Thai Chile, Sundried Tomato and Basil, and Lemon Pepper. I've never tasted seasoned tuna before. If you're looking for coupons, bargains, and ways to save money, make sure you stop by The Bargain Shopper Lady.

Lonely Deceptions by D. R. Willis

2011-07-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

From the book cover: “When Nick Davis, a forty-something small town machinist, spots an intruder’s shadow through the mist of an early morning storm, he is oblivious that the seemingly random occurrence will lead him on a path that will change his life forever.

After Nick accidentally overhears a conversation between Lou Evans – his boss and the owner of Lou-Paul Machine Shop – and a mysterious person, he unwittingly becomes a pawn in a game of international proportions. When Lou gruffly asks him to take possession of prototype blueprints, Nick has no idea that the blueprints contain a dark secret – a secret with the potential to kill. Combined with unwanted attention from a local police officer as well as a skeletal, dangerous former FBI agent, Nick’s normal life is suddenly not that at all, and no one can guarantee his safety – not even the beautiful FBI agent who has been assigned to the case.

Lou may not be who he says he is, and unfortunately for Nick, his downfall may be that he is the best machinist around and the only one Lou can count on to help him carry out a perilous mission.”

The author of this book, D. R. Willis, is former machinist who is now a full-time Chocolatier who writes during the summer months. I’m glad because I really enjoyed Lonely Deceptions. Nick Davis is a very likeable character who is proud of the work he does and who loves his father and sister. He unexpectedly gets drawn into a deadly game of international intrigue and falls for the lovely FBI agent who helps him. The chapters are short and I loved the way almost every one had unexpected plot twists. The story kept me guessing who was the ‘good guy’ which made it very interesting.

I was provided with a copy of the book to read and review.

What makes a good blogger?

2011-07-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

I took a LONG vacation from blogging and I apologize to anyone who missed me. I'll try and make fairly frequent posts now that I'm back. I don't have any weekly posts or certain things that mean I have to keep a schedule but I know I have to post to keep someone's attention. I appreciate any feedback and try to answer any comments. Speaking of that, I wanted to mention a blog that I follow. It's a 'foodie' blog and I enjoy reading about dining experiences and other recipes. One blogger in particular posts almost every day. She's quite popular evidently because she gets free trips to conventions, has get-togethers with other bloggers which are sometimes video broadcast, and she quite often gets free products to try. Sounds great, huh? So why doesn't she ever respond when people post comments on her blog? I and others have asked her out-right questions and she never answers. I don't think this is good blogging. What do you think? If you have any suggestions to make MY blog better, please don't hesitate to let me know.

That Certain Summer by Mary Verdick

2011-07-16T22:53:00.002-05:00

©2011, Published by AuthorHouse
ISBN 978-1-4520-4744-7
164 pp.

From the book cover: “That Certain Summer” tells the story of Sally Grimes, a feisty girl from Iowa, who gets a dream job writing the life story of famous actress, Diane Fenwick. She moves to a Gatsby-esque community in Connecticut and meets the actress’s adorable twins, Megan and Alec, and Rufus, a special dog, who is more intuitive than a lot of humans. She also falls in love with Ricardo, the handsome hunk next door, who is an honest-to-god count and a Princeton graduate, but is working as a handyman for the reclusive millionaire Morley-Watts, who suspects Diane is hiding something he desperately wants. What is Ricardo’s connection to Diane, and why is Sally suddenly plunged into danger by a situation she has no control over?"

This book is good for a summer read. It’s not too long, has romance, intrigue and a goofy dog who likes to stick his nose in where it’s not wanted. Sally falls for Ricardo but is he too good to be true? If he’s a count and a Princeton grad, why is he wasting his time as a handyman? Something suspicious is going on at the millionaire’s home next door and Sally hopes Ricardo isn’t involved. Then someone turns up dead……is Sally in danger, too?

This is the second book I’ve read and reviewed by Mary Verdick. My first review was for “As Long as He Needs Me” and you can read it here . Mary is also the author of the young adult series, Pal Paperbacks, several children's stories and 3 other novels.

I received my copy of That Certain Summer directly from the author to read and give my unbiased review.

June 2011

2011-06-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Veggie garden June 10

On today’s noon news the weatherman said we’ve had the sixth wettest June on record. The only problem is it’s been a constant wet. I’ve been lucky to have one day a week to try and keep the yard mowed but some parts of it never dry out. There is no really level place in our entire yard so the lower places are really wet. That’s why I decided to build a raised, enclosed vegetable garden a couple of years ago. This year it’s planted with peas, onions, carrots, lettuce, green beans, 3 hills of potatoes, a tomato, cabbage and broccoli. The green beans are climbers so they go up an old garden gate along one side. The peas grow up a shorter fence on another end. I also have a separate potato patch and other tomatoe plants and a large planter box with onions and radishes. I actually have a lot more tomatoes than what I planted. We have a bare place where we tore down an old shed. One day I threw out a bad tomato towards that place thinking maybe the birds would eat it. I was very surprised a few weeks later to see tomato plants coming up! I decided to let them grow and just weeded around them. I also have green peppers and grape tomato plants in pots. I can’t wait for the fresh produce! All I've had so far is radishes and green onions.

June 28, 2011

I walked around the yard today picking up sticks which fell after the last thunderstorm. I ended up with a garden cart full. The sun is actually shining for the second consecutive day but parts of the yard are still like walking on a wet sponge. I did find and pick a handful of wild raspberries down by the old corn crib. They’ll taste good sprinkled on some ice cream later.

We are so lucky to have a swarm of bees living in an old shed wall. I love having them around to pollinate the plants and they've never been any trouble.

********************************

Our son and his wife were here for the weekend so he could attend his 20th high school reunion. (Has it really been that long?!) Our house is tiny. His bedroom has been turned into storage and we got rid of our hide-a-bed and replaced it with a loveseat. They camp occasionally so they brought their tent and put it up in the most level place, our front yard. Unfortunately, their air mattress deflated and then it rained early Saturday morning enough that the tent leaked and they ended up inside. Saturday night, I made them a multi-layered blanket bed on the living room floor. While they were here, Jay helped his dad replace our kitchen faucet that had been leaking. The old faucet was a single-lever that was supposedly guaranteed to never leak. HA! The new one has double handles but it’s so nice to have that drip stopped. Thank you Jay!

Jay & Dianna, June 25, 2011 at class reunion

Do you remember..........?

2011-06-24T02:10:00.001-05:00

Tamarisk (taken at night)

Finally a dry day today and I decided I'd better mow while I could. As I sat on the mower I observed how things were growing. In my front yard, I have a tamarisk tree which is covered in tiny pink blooms right now. The only reason I have it is because my paternal grandparents had one in their yard and I always liked it. As I was thinking about it I wondered if my siblings remembered Grandma's tree. I know my younger sister probably doesn't and my brothers probably do. Then I wondered about my other sister Pam who's been gone for over 3 years now and I realized one of the things I miss the most. She's not here to ask, "Do you remember.....?" "Do you remember wading in the creek in Arkansas?" "Do you remembr the big family reunions?" "Do you remember when we went to the beach and threw Ritz crackers to the seagulls?" "Do you remember all the late nights we chatted online after everyone else had gone to bed?" I do. I remember all this and so much more. Miss you Pam.

My sister Pam
9-10-55 to 3-9-08

My first Jeffery Deaver novel

2011-06-22T00:47:00.000-05:00

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

© 2007, Pocket Star Books, a division of Simon & Sshuster

From the book cover – “California Bureau of Investigation agent Kathryn Dance, a kinesics expert and master interrogator, locks into a “dazzling mental contest” (The New York Times) with a modern-day Charles Manson in this heart-pounding thriller.

Serving life in maximum security for masterminding the slaughter of a wealthy Carmel family, the unrepentant Daniel Pell may also be linked to another killing, a cold case that will heat up quickly if Kathryn Dance can get the confession she seeks. But when Pell escapes, a harrowing manhunt takes off – and Kathryn will race to uncover the secrets of the past from the lone survivor of Pell’s bloodlust: a teenager now, the little girl who hid in her bed to save her own life, The Sleeping Doll.”

I have heard a lot about Jeffery Deaver but this is his first book that I’ve read. Mysteries and thrillers are my absolute favorite genre of books and this was a good one. Kathryn Dance is an agent for the CBI ( I kept thinking of The Mentalist) and she specializes in kinesics which is the study of body language. She’s often able to tell if a person is lying just by the way they react to her questioning. She is hoping to pin an unsolved murder on Daniel Pell but he escapes with the help of an accomplice. He is a brilliant person and is able to stay one step ahead of the police most of the time. Then just when you think the story is done, Deaver throws in a twist and then another and finally leaves you hanging – just a little bit – ready and anxious for the next Kathryn Dance story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will look for more Deaver books. The only problem I had was with the title. The girl called “The Sleeping Doll”, although an important part of the plot, was just a tiny bit of the whole story. I don’t think it warranted being the title of the book.

Starting up again...

2011-06-18T14:21:00.000-05:00

It's been a LONG year. I kept thinking I would start blogging again and just never had the oomph to do it. Losing Buddy hit me harder than any other pet, I guess because she had been such a large part of our lives. She left quite an empty place in our hearts and home.

The bad economy hit close to home also. Jim was laid off June 17, 2010 from the job he has had for the past 40 years. We are lucky it's such a small, hometown company though. They let hime work one day a week to keep the insurance and savings plans paid. The $20 a week he actually brought home and the unemployment have kept us going. We aren't hurting for money but neither do we have much extra. Better off than a lot of people, I know. He went through his 6 months of unemployment and got an extension for another 6. He has recently been called back to work for a few weeks so that will extend his benefits even longer. He is old enough to retire but if he does, we will lose the company paid insurance on me so he keeps on working. He has applied for Social Security so financially we will be okay one way or the other.

I have another house cat, not a replacement for Buddy exactly as Cooper is completely different in all aspects. He was just one of our outside cats and I had NO intention of bringing any of them in. However, in January he caught his back leg between two boards and broke it badly. The vet set it but it got infection in it and it ended up having to be amputated. He was so sick with the infection he spent almost 3 weeks at the vet's. I can't say enough for the care he received. The doc and all his nurses babied him and spent SO much time with him! Yay, Madison County Vet Clinic!! You're the best! Doc Hollen knew Jim wasn't working and he donated his surgery fees and only charged us for the daily care!

I'm surprised at how well he gets along on 3 legs now. He goes up and down stairs, jumps on the bed, and plays with his toys like a regular cat.

**********************************************

I'm not reading as much as I did....maybe only 2 books a month. I will try and review the ones I DO read and maybe start accepting the books I'm offered again. Thanks to everyone who has read my blog and commented in the past year.

Kat

My heart is broken

2010-05-12T23:48:00.000-05:00

My wonderful, smart, and loving cat Buddy has died. That’s her pictured in my blog heading. She was with us for over 11 years and was very much a member of our family. She had an amazing understanding of words. When we said “Mousie,” she would go look for her favorite toy. If we said, “Birdy,” she would jump up and look out the window. If asked, “Do you want candy (treats)?” she would meow in response and paw our leg for more. If we asked, “Are you hungry?” we’d better be heading to the kitchen because she would be. Her favorite pastime was playing fetch with her mousie and she did it better than any dog. We'd toss it and she would run and get it and bring it back and drop it in front of us. She would do this over and over until she got too tired and then she would just lay down indicating she’d had enough. As our son Jay said when he learned of her death, “She was an awesome cat with a person’s personality.”

Buddy had a window seat where she could watch us when we went outdoors or watch the outside cats as they went about their business. If we were gone, she was always sitting on the seat waiting for us when we arrived home. When the door was unlocked, she would be there asking, “Where have you been? It’s time to feed me!” Now we come home to an empty house. She was always with us when we were home. It got to be a joke that we couldn’t go to the bathroom alone. She loved to get in the sink and drink from a stream of running water. I finally put a small fountain on the kitchen floor and she loved getting her water from it. She had her own piece of furniture, an old upholstered hassock that she literally shredded. It sits by Jim's recliner and she would sit there beside him when she wasn't napping on his lap. She had several major health problems over the years including having most of her teeth pulled and feline hepatitis, so I’m surprised she lived as long as she did, but I wanted her to live forever.

I buried her surrounded by her mousies including Squeaky that Jay got her for Christmas, and one of Jim’s old gloves that she liked to wrestle with and lay on. Mom gave me a solar-lighted dragonfly for Mother’s Day and I used that to mark her grave until we can get a proper pet marker.

I find myself hearing a little noise and turning around to talk to her but she’s not there. I think I see movement out of the corner of my eye but when I look, she’s not there. I go outside and look up at the window but she’s not there. But she is forever in my heart.

Taking a break for a while......

2010-03-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

I don’t know if I’ve done something to upset the publishing gods or what, but I haven’t received any book review offers for almost 2 months. A couple books that were offered have never arrived. So…….I have decided to take a break from book blogging. I won’t say I’m done blogging completely; I haven’t decided that yet. I want to thank everyone for all the support you’ve given me this past year. It has been fun even though I didn’t start to the blog to be entirely about books.

I guess I must have OCD. When I start something, that's ALL I want to do, whether it's reading a book, playing an online game, or doing a craft. Recently, I have been addicted (REALLY) to Facebook games and I'm paying for it. I sit so long at my desk, I get stiff and sore, and I'm staying up way too late at night. Consequently, I'm gaining weight, I ache all over, and I've been really grouchy lately....just ask Jim. Something had to give. Today, I quit playing the Facebook games - sorry, Egg Buddies - and I'm going to eventually delete everyone from friends that I do not know. I'm going to continue trying to rid my house, mind, and body of unwanted junk. Wish me luck.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

2010-03-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

The Friday Night Knitting Club

ISBN: 978-0-425-21909-6

Publisher: Penguin Group
SRP: $14.00
360 pp. plus readers’ study guide

About the book: “Once a week, an eclectic group of women comes together at a New York City yarn shop to work on their latest projects – and share the stories of their lives…

At the center of Walker and Daughter is the shop’s owner, Georgia, who is overwhelmed with juggling the store and single-handedly raising her teenage daughter. Happy to escape the demands of her life, she looks forward to her Friday Night Knitting Club, where she and her friends – Anita, Peri, Darwin, Lucie, and K.C. – exchange knitting tips, jokes, and their deepest secrets. But when the man who once broke Georgia’s heart suddenly shows up, demanding a role in their daughter’s life, her world is shattered.

Luckily, Georgia’s friends are there for encouragement, sharing their own tales of intimacy, heartbreak, and miracle making. And when the unthinkable happens, these women will discover that what they’ve created isn’t just a knitting club: it’s a sisterhood.”

This book is great if you like stories about adult women’s friendships, problems and triumphs. Ms. Jacobs does a wonderful job of digging deep into the characters feelings and showing their strengths and weaknesses. She made me get to know these ladies and wish they were my friends. The book hits all the highs and lows of emotions and I was almost reaching for a tissue at times. No mystery or thriller here, just a very good women’s story with an unexpected ending. I hope you’ll love it as much as I did.

I borrowed this book from my sister Anne.

The Weatherman

2010-03-17T01:18:00.000-05:00

I don’t have any new books to review right now so it’s back to ones I picked up second hand.

The Weatherman
© 1995 by Steve Thayer

ISBN: 0-451-18438-6
Publisher: Signet, the Penguin Group

410 pp.

About the book: “Andrea Labore is a beautiful, ambitious Twin Cities TV newscaster, hungering for an anchor chair, and with two men hungering for her. One is Rick Beanblossom, a star reporter who hides his disfigured face behind a cotton mask and his scarred soul behind a cynical shield. The other is the channel’s uncanny weatherman, Dixon Bell, a gentle bearlike genius whose claws are as concealed as his past.

When Andrea goes after the story of a serial killer of pretty young women, it becomes clear that the monstrous murderer is after her. Trusting the wrong man with her love can cost her life. And as the clouds of suspicion darken, the only sure forecast is that death will strike like lightning again and again…closer and closer…”

This book has an interesting and different plot. The killer strikes young women once per season usually around the time of a big storm or weather change. The press starts calling him the Calendar Killer. The only clues are a partial fingerprint and size 14 shoe prints so the police are baffled. The characters in the book were unusual, too, with Rick Beanblossom wearing a blue cotton mask all the time to cover burn scars suffered in Vietnam. He surrounds himself with beautiful things but doesn’t have a mirror in his home. I kept thinking of the Blue Man Group. Can you imagine being like that ALL the time? And Dixon Bell is never wrong with his weather forecasts even when the National Weather Service disagrees. The author worked at a TV newsroom for 3 years to do research and does a great job describing what goes on behind the scenes. The book kept me guessing (wrongly) right up to the last few pages and I was totally surprised.

I picked this book up at a flea market.

It's all TOO MUCH!

2010-03-11T13:12:00.000-06:00

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m somewhat of a hoarder. Oh, not like those on TV that barely have room to walk through their homes because of piles of garbage, but I have way too much stuff nonetheless. And I have finally decided it’s time to get rid of some of it. I started yesterday by listing all my paperback review books on Freecycle. Then I flattened and discarded the cardboard boxes stored on the back porch. I went through my file drawer and got rid of paid bills and bank statements (yes, I shredded them) that were several years old. I threw out birthday, anniversary, Mother’s Day, and Valentine cards from year’s past. Who but me would ever be interested in those anyway? Little things add up. I have 25-30 bookmarks and use the same ones all the time. Why? I have a sack of VHS tapes to be donated – some never opened but certainly not new. I have come to the conclusion this type of hoarding is kind of like weight gain – it just creeps up on you until one day you realize it’s TOO MUCH! This wouldn’t be that big of a problem if I didn’t live in a tiny house. ‘Stuff’ is stored in my one-room upstairs. ‘Stuff’ is stored on my back porch. ‘Stuff’ is stored in my basement, although not so much since the floor sometimes floods down there so that's basically wasted space. (We're working on that) ‘Stuff’ is stored in my garage and in my shed and that’s now a major concern because the shed roof has a big leak and the shed isn’t worth fixing and must come down. Where am I going to put that ‘stuff’?

So, I’m going to continue to discard more and more and maybe while I’m at it, some of the body weight will disappear also. If you don’t see me here for a while it will be because I’m not reading as much. Wish me luck.

Absolute Power

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-06:00

Absolute Power
© 1996 by David Baldacci

ISBN: 0-446-60358-9
Publisher: Warner Books
SRP: $7.99
505 pp.

About the book: “ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION - In a heavily guarded mansion in a posh Virginia suburb, a man and a woman start to make love, trapping a burglar behind a secret wall. Then the passion turns deadly, and the witness is running into the night. Because what he has just seen is a brutal slaying involving the President of the United States.

ABSOLUTE DANGER – Luther Whitney is the career break-in artist who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alan Richmond is the charming U. S. President with the power to commit any crime. And Jack Graham is the young attorney, caught in a vortex between the absolute truth – and…….

ABSOLUTE POWER – A tale of greed, sex, ambition, and murder, this is the novel everyone has been talking about….the shattering, relentlessly suspenseful thriller that will change the way you think about Washington – and power – forever.”

This is the second Baldacci book I have read, the other being First Family. That was good but I liked this one even better.

I totally enjoyed this book. It had just the right mix of interesting characters and a suspenseful plot that captured my attention from the start and held it until the last page. It’s not a whodunit because you know from the beginning who commits the crimes and the suspense is in the outcome. It starts right out with a crime being committed by the President and members of his staff and witnessed by a man who just happened to be burglarizing a home at the same time. Knowing no one would believe what he saw and heard the burglar waits for his chance and escapes but not without being noticed. The story progresses with the President and his Chief of Staff trying to keep things quiet and the burglar trying to figure out how to expose them. More and more crimes are committed and people assassinated as the President uses the power of his office to escape detection. Just how far are the Secret Service willing to go to protect the President?

This book was a flea market purchase. The edition of my book is different than the one shown.

The Lumby Lines

2010-03-03T11:13:00.000-06:00

The Lumby Lines
© 2005 by Gail Fraser

ISBN: 978-0-451-22139-1
Publisher: New American Library
SRP: $14.00
315 pp.

About the book: “Nestled in the Northwest is a quaint little town that its quirky residents are proud to call home. With charming shops lining its one main thoroughfare, Lumby has the oldest apple tree in the county and the smallest bank in the state. And though it's hours from the nearest big city, you'll always find Lumby close to your heart . . .

Nearly destroyed by fire, Montis Abbey remains a ruin on the outskirts of Lumby. Once home to a resourceful order of monks, it stands abandoned, surrounded by its overgrown orchards. Then Mark and Pam Walker, a vacationing couple from the East Coast, stumble upon it -- and upon the answer to their prayers. Leaving behind their hectic lives to restore the monastery and turn it into an inn is a dream come true.

But some residents of Lumby take a while to warm up to outsiders. One of them is irascible William Beezer, owner of The Lumby Lines -- the newspaper "worth the paper it's printed on." At every turn, he tries to hinder the Walkers' efforts. The couple soon learns that for every citizen like William, there are many more willing to lend a hand, and that Lumby isn't just a place -- it's a way of life.”

I’ve lived all my life in and around small towns but nothing quite like Lumby. The beautiful northwest setting and the 'quirky' people are brought to life wonderfully by Ms. Fraser. She does a good job showing how sometimes it’s hard for newcomers to fit in until something happens that breaks the ice. After reading about the town and restoration of the Montis Abbey and orchard, I wish it was real so I could stay there. This was a very well-written novel with likeable characters, a good story-line, and it’s the first in a series. You can read more about them at http://www.lumbybooks.com/

This book was provided for review by FSB Associates.

Lost Love Found

2010-02-26T18:18:00.000-06:00

Lost Love Found
© 2010 by Tim Gomes

ISBN: 978-1-4401-4867-5
Publisher: iUniverse
SRP: $15.95
211 pp.

About the book: “Although two years have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dan Jagger is still fraught with grief over the loss of his wife who was killed in the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Dan buries himself in work, family, and gardening while facing the harsh reality that he may never again experience another love like Alia.

One day Dan receives a phone call from Charlene, his high school sweetheart, whom he hasn't heard from since she broke his heart and sent him into the arms of Alia. Against his better judgment, Dan agrees to meet his former lover for dinner and soon learns that Charlene has lived a sordid life—twice married to a drug dealer and incarcerated herself. Despite all he has learned, Dan becomes involved with Charlene once again, setting in motion a course of events that leaves him vulnerable to danger. As he is unwillingly drawn into life-threatening scenarios executed by Charlene's former husband, an ex-convict focused on revenge, Dan receives the shocking news that his only son, an Army Reservist, has gone missing in Iraq.

As fear, unease, and peril surround Dan, he must act decisively before he loses everything he has ever loved.”

I think most romance fans will like this book. I liked the plot, it was interesting enough I wanted to know what happened, and it had a different ending, but there were several things that detracted from the story for me. There were too many acronyms which all had to be explained (CIB, CO, FSB, RTO, OCS, FNG, NVA, LZ, VC, FNG, PO, PTO, DEA, CONUS among others), too many street names every time the characters went somewhere (who cares about street names?), and I just didn’t think the main character was too believable. Yes, he was a great guy but how many people these days think it’s terrible to date after your wife has been dead for 2 years? And I wondered how he ever became such a business success when he let people walk over him like he did when it came to Charlene. AND, how many sons could walk into their dad’s home and bedroom unannounced, catch them in bed with a girlfriend, and the dad doesn’t react? Just not very believable to me but please remember, this is just MY opinion.

This book was provided to me for review by Bostick Communications and Tim Gomes.

She-Rain

2010-02-24T14:26:00.000-06:00

She-Rain

ISBN: 978-1-60037-702-0 (paperback)

Publisher: Morgan-James Publishing

SRP: $24.95

345 pp.

First, I have to say the author’s choice of title threw me. I guess he expected that since he gives a definition in the front of the book. “She-Rain. Scraps of fog, adrift on the ridges of Appalachia. It appears as lacy mist blown off the clouds of a high-mountain rainy day. The expression comes from the lexicon of folklore. I heard it during my early boyhood from my grandmother, Dovie Ella Crowe Keys, who adored and seemed to draw peace from the sight of it. “A little tear off a heaven gown. Fine as it can be. A little lace off the rain.”

About the book: “In the early 20th century, a pair of North Carolina mountain children sow the seed of a love that becomes their only solace in the hard yet beautiful world they know. They grow it from steep ground of poverty, ignorance, and violence. A landscape so brutal it can kill hope before claiming life.

Bloodshed years later finally sends Frank Locke on the run, deep into wilderness, abandoning his extraordinary love, Mary Lizbeth. When a whitewater river washes this desperate soul into the hands of Sophia, he discovers a luminous woman steeped in mystery, trapped in a tragically brilliant life. Far ahead of her time. Secreted from the world. As she awakens Frank’s mind, they rise to meet a love that binds three people for a lifetime.

This love triangle forms a beauty no one sees coming. From the wilds of Appalachia, crossing nearly a century, it runs deep into a lush American fortune, and lives in letters of adoration and hope of the least expected.

In a rhapsody of Southern voices, mingling hilarity and sorrow, She-Rain speaks of lives soaring beyond heartbreak, fundamentalism, and self-destruction. Through the most graceful longing, two women in love with one man ultimately prove the power of human hearts to answer high callings. They show us all how to heal – and thrive – to the very end.”

If you are a fan of Southern novels, stories of redemption and survival, you will like this book. Coghill’s portrayal of a southern mill town full of people struggling to eke out a living in the 1930’s is very vivid. Add to this the racial intolerance of the times, illiteracy, and domestic abuse. In all this chaos, Frank finds love and hope. The lessons Sophia and Mary L. teach Frank about friendship, love, respect, compassion, and tolerance help him as he tries to overcome a childhood of poverty and abuse. The book was excruciatingly sad at times and the plot turned in ways I didn’t expect towards the end but altogether it was an enjoyable story.

Michael Cogdill, the author, grew up in North Carolina and does a wonderful job setting the scenes of his book. He also had an abusive, alcoholic father (who later achieved sobriety) and was able to add so much realism to the character of Frank’s drug-addicted father.

This book was provided for review by FSB Associates.

A Simple Plan

2010-02-18T13:01:00.000-06:00

A Simple Plan
© 1993 by Scott B Smith

ISBN: 0-312-95271-6
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
417 pp.

About the book: “Two brothers and a friend find $4 million in the cockpit of a downed plane. The pilot is dead. No one is looking for the money. To keep it, all they have to do is wait. It all sounded so simple…

But from the moment their plan is set in motion, Hank Mitchell’s well-ordered life spins out of control, sending him on a downward spiral of deceit, treachery, and blackmail – total chaos leading to the unthinkable…cold-blooded murder. Doomed keep the secret of the money safe, Hank will kill and kill again, helped by the most calculating accomplice of all – his pregnant wife, Sarah.
A Simple Plan plunges you into the world of a seemingly rational man whose descent into madness and murder will chill you to the bone. A masterpiece of psychological suspense, it will leave you wondering how far YOU would go to hold onto a dream.”

This story starts out innocently enough as Hank, Jacob, their friend Lou, and Jacob’s dog are headed to the cemetery. They swerve to miss a fox, the dog goes after the fox, and the men go after the dog. They find a lot more than they expected when they come across the downed plane. When they find a duffle with more than $4 million all in $100 bills, it doesn’t take long for them to make plans to keep it. Hank, the only educated one of the three, decides to hold the money for 6 months and if no one finds out they have it, then they’ll split it up. Can you imagine living your life wondering each and every day if someone is going to find out you have over $4 million stashed under your bed? Who would you trust? Lou has gambling debts and doesn’t want to wait 6 months. Jacob wants to buy back the family farm and stay in the area with his share. Can Hank hold things together long enough to spend the money? There is a wonderful twist at the end that finished the book off well. After reading this book, all I can say is, if you find something, give it back! Money may not buy happiness, but it can certainly buy a lot of hell.
This book was a flea market find. ( FYI, the cover pictured is different than my copy.)

Dolores Claiborne

2010-02-12T14:30:00.000-06:00

I am finally caught up on my review books and while I’m waiting for more to arrive, it gives me a chance to read some of the books I picked up at flea markets last year. Here is the first one.

Dolores Claiborne
© 1993 by Stephen King

ISBN: 0-671-84452-7
Publisher: Penguin Group
SRP: 23.50
305 pp.

About the book: “By her own account she’s an old Yankee bitch, Dolores Claiborne: foul temper, foul mouth, foul life. Folks on Little Tall Island have been waiting for thirty years to find out just what happened on the eerie dark day her husband, Joe, died – the day of the total eclipse. The police want to know what happened yesterday, when rich, bedridden Vera Donavan, the island’s grande dame sans merci and Dolores’s longtime employer, died suddenly in her care.

With no choice but to talk, Dolores Claiborne talks up a storm. “Everything I did, I did for love, “ she says, and this spellbinding novel is at once her confession and her defense. Given a voice as compelling as any in contemporary fiction, her story centers on a disintegrating marriage’s molten core, where the mind’s unblinking eye becomes huge with hate and a woman’s heart turns murderous. It unfolds the strange intimacy between Dolores and Vera, and the link that binds them. It shows, finally, how fierce love can be, and how dreadful its consequences. And how the soul, harrowed by the hardest life, can achieve a kind of grace.”

For me, this book didn’t fit the usual Stephen King mode. There was nothing supernatural or chilling about it, and no real plot surprises, but it did tell a good tale. It was also written in a different way with no chapters, just the entire book with Dolores at the police station telling what happened concerning the death of both her husband many years ago and her employer yesterday. Good story as expected of Stephen King.

The Warrior: Brotherhood of the Sword

2010-02-09T20:26:00.000-06:00

The Warrior: Brotherhood of the Sword
© 2007 by Kinley MacGregor

ISBN: 978-1-06-079667-9
Publisher: Avon Books (Harper Collins)
SRP: $6.99
344 pp.

About the book: “Lochlan MacAllister was born to lead. Ruthlessly groomed to take control of his clan, he has given his life to his people. But when he learns that the brother he thought was dead might still be alive, he embarks on a quest to find the truth.
Catrina wants a life of freedom. But now Catrina’s royal father wants to use her as a pawn to ensure a treaty between conflicting lands,. So much so that he’s willing to kidnap his daughter to force the issue. But when she escapes, fate throws her into the path of a man she loathes.

Lochlan is stunned to find the shrewish Cat being hauled away by unknown men. Unwilling to see even her suffer, he frees her only to learn that she has her own demons to fight. When their fates intertwine, two people who know nothing of trust must rely on each other, and two enemies who have vowed their eternal hatred must find common ground, or see their very lives shattered.”

I don’t usually read historical romance but I won this from The Book Trib. (They have a daily and a weekly giveaway. Check them out if you haven’t yet.)

Lochlan and Catrina are two very strong personalities. Lochlan is a Scottish laird who does his best to take care of his clan and prove to people that he’s not the drunken, cruel womanizer his father was. Catrina is a strong-willed princess who wants the freedom to choose her own way of life. When Lochlan rescues her from her won father’s kidnappers, sparks fly. This was a fun read and the conclusion was heart-stopping.

We have a winner!

2010-02-02T01:30:00.001-06:00

Wow! There were 33 qualifying entries for the Michael Palmer contest! Thank you to everyone who entered.

I assigned each entry a number (including 3 extra for Mindy by referral) in order of the posts and then had Jim choose a number. He chose #2 so the winner is Karen K….congratulations! I’ve emailed Karen and she has 48 hours to respond. If I don’t hear from her within that time, I’ll select an alternate winner.

Cult Insanity

2010-02-01T13:39:00.000-06:00

Cult Insanity
A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement
© 2009 by Irene Spencer

ISBN: 978-0-446-53819-0
Publisher: Center Street, a division of Hachette
SRP: $24.99
330 pp.

About the book: "In Shattered Dreams, Irene Spencer told the devastating story of her arduous life in a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sect, sharing her husband with nine other women (and fifty-six children) in abject poverty and intense mental and emotional anguish. As harrowing as the story was, it was only just the beginning.

Cult Insanity delves deeper into her story, focusing on the terrifying acts of Ervil LeBaron, her brother-in-law and a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he had been called to set the house of God in order.

The older brother of Irene’s husband Verlan, Ervil LeBaron had a zeal for living and teaching that was at first admired but soon took on a sinister tone. Ervil’s ambitions quickly turner lethal when he uncovered a doctrine concerning blood atonement – the act of redeeming a sinner’s soul by taking his or her life. Seeing himself as God’s avenger, he used the role as a means to terrorize and destroy those who challenged him.

Irene quickly became enveloped in a dark cloud of fear and anguish. Survival for herself and her ever-growing family turned into a constant flight from one desert camp to another across the harsh badlands of Baja, California. Food was scarce and living conditions abhorrent. Irene didn’t see her husband for months, never knowing if Ervil would make good on his vow to kill him.”

Cult insanity is right! Ervil LeBaron was like so many others who see themselves as the one true leader – egotistical, charismatic, and deadly, and he was doing it all in the name of God. If the scriptures didn’t work for him, he would turn them around to meet his needs. Exceptions were always made when it came to him because he made the rules, and heaven help you if you disagreed with him.

Irene Spencer grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon family believing plural marriage was okay. She willingly became Verlan LeBaron’s second wife and sister-in-law to Ervil, but she had no way of knowing what the future held for her and her family. Her account of what took place in the Mexican desert is truly frightening because things like this continue to take place. Ervil LeBaron was no better than Charles Manson but everything he did, he did under the guise of doing God’s will.

Ms. Spencer now lives with her second husband in California. I wish the book would have told a little more about how she got on with her life.

I won this book from Luxury Living. Thanks again Vera!

H.E.A.V.E.N.

2010-01-29T13:59:00.000-06:00

H.E.A.V.E.N.
© 2009 by Nan Becklean

ISBN: 978-1-60145-747-9
Publisher: Nanbooks
181 pp.

About the book: “Sarah, a gorgeous, older woman, Lionel, a handsome, older man, Zack, a shy free-lance pilot madly in love with Melody, a luscious wanna-be songwriter-singer, Huxley, a cool, womanizing band leader whose mother, Harriet, thinks is gay and Ben, a lovable robot who observes and tries to understand all, interact in this wild eschatological caper/murder on an idyllic island in August 2073 as the day of reckoning for one of them approaches.”

(Word for the day is eschatological. I had to look it up as I had NO idea what it meant. Here's the definition - of or relating to or dealing with or regarding the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world.)

In the year 2056 with all the new medicine, healthy habits and scientific breakthroughs, people are living a lot longer. The country is going broke paying Social Security benefits. The governent decides to offer people the chance to live the last 10 years of their life in complete relaxation with rejuvenated bodies in resort-like compounds in return for agreeing to voluntarily die a peaceful death at age 95. These ‘resorts’ are called H.E.A.V.E.N. – Homeland Equitable Alliance for a Victimless Economy and Nation. Now in 2073, Sarah’s turn is coming in about 2 weeks and she’s decided she isn’t ready to die yet. It was all her husband’s idea in the first place and he’s already gone. As she’s searching for a way out of her predicament, she gets into a fight with an employee who later ends up dead. Sarah is one of many suspects.

Ms. Becklean does a wonderful job with her characters and storyline, and the addition of a thinking, 12-foot-long robotic crocodile guard adds just the right touch to the story. Even though the book touches on some very serious matters, it has humor, romance, science fiction, mystery, and gives you something to think about, too …enjoyable all-around.

Author Marketing Experts, Inc sent me a copy of this book for review.

Future Hope

2010-01-27T12:27:00.000-06:00

Future Hope
© 2009 by David Gelber

ISBN: 978-1-934572-34-4
Publisher: Emerald Book Company
SRP: $23.95
350 pp.

About the book: “Earth 2156. The fate of the world rests in the soul of a daring adventurer.

Future earth has forgotten God. Science and technology reign supreme. A benevolent government banishes hunger, poverty, and disease and provides a luxurious lifestyle for an ever-increasing population. However, even science has its limits, and the world faces a crisis of diminishing resources.
Dr. Deborah Tennyson, a brilliant mathematician, devises the only answer for humankind: Discover new resources through the Interdimensional Transport Protocol (ITP). A brash, self-centered but remarkably talented astropilot, Major David Sanders, takes the responsibility of making the first ITP flights and determining the fate of the earth. Will he find the fame he so desperately craves or much more?

Sanders’ journey through interdimensional space takes him to a world he could never imagine and a spiritual destiny he could never expect.”

Earth 2156 and the government provides for almost everything. The trouble is, earth and the surrounding moons and planets are running out of natural resources. Dr. Tennyson’s idea for interdimensional travel would mean that places that were once unreachable because of the time involved to get there, could be reached in a matter of hours, thus unlocking new solar systems for exploration. Major Sanders is chosen for the first manned fight. Something goes wrong when he goes through the portal and he doesn’t come out the other side. Sanders is lost in another dimension. What he finds there debunks modern government’s agenda that the Bible is just a myth.

I guess you would call this genre Christian science fiction because there is definitely a moral to the story. . It was very well written with an interesting plot and characters but just a tiny bit too much Bible re-telling for me to enjoy this entirely as a novel.

PR by the Book provided me with a copy of this novel to read and review.

Meandering Thoughts

2010-01-26T18:10:00.001-06:00

I enter a lot of contests and I’ve won twice before from Martha Stewart so I got a little excited when I found an email from her in my Hotmail junk folder. Here's the subject line - "You've been selected for the Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home Giveaway" Wow, right? So I marked it as 'not' junk and hurried to open it. It was just a magazine promo wanting me to refer friends for a CHANCE to win a book and tote. You know, it’s just not right to get people’s hopes up like that.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We had another 6” of snow Sunday night and Monday with very strong winds that caused blizzard conditions again. Not good but better than the ice storm we had last week. We were lucky that our electricity never went off but thousands of others were without for hours and even days. So far this is the 2nd snowiest winter on record and we still have several weeks of winter left. More snow is forecast for tomorrow. Wonder what’s next. The sun is shining today and it looks good but it’s only 20°. I was going to take some photos of the squirrels having breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the bird feeder but my camera batteries are dead.

Isn't this a nice paved road? It's actually a gravel road paved with ice!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I haven’t had a cold all winter and I usually get a bad one with a cough that lasts for weeks. I’ve been inhaling those wonderful, little clementines, at least 2 a day, and I’m sure the vitamin C has helped. I also run a vaporizer full-time in the house that is good for the houseplants and us. Jim and I went and got the H1N1 flu shots Saturday. There have been a couple of people locally who died from flu complications and I figure why take the chance.

The Cold Room

2010-01-25T00:20:00.001-06:00

The Cold Room
© 2010 by J.T. Ellison

ISBN: 978-0-7783-2714-1
Publisher: MIRA Books
SRP: $7.99
401 pp.
Available in March

About the book: “Acclaimed thriller author J. T. Ellison returns with a thoroughly-riveting story in The Cold Room, the fourth book in the Taylor Jackson series, following All the Pretty Girls, 14 and Judas Kiss. Homicide Detective Taylor Jackson thinks she's seen it all in Nashville—but she’s never seen anything as perverse as The Conductor. Once his victim is captured, he contains her in a glass coffin, slowly starving her to death. Only then does he give in to his attraction. Later, he creatively disposes of the body by reenacting scenes from famous paintings. Strangely, similar macabre works are being displayed in Europe. Taylor teams up with her fiancé, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, and New Scotland Yard detective, James “Memphis” Highsmythe—a haunted man who only has eyes for Taylor—to put an end to The Conductor’s art collection. Has the killer gone international with his craft? Or are there dueling artists, competing to create the ultimate masterpiece? “

Okay, here’s your word for the day – necrophilia. The killer (killers?) in this book slowly starves his victims to death and only then, does he make love to them. Talk about sick! It makes for a very different criminal for sure. This is the fourth book in the Taylor Jackson series but even without reading the previous ones, it’s quite a good book. The only part I didn’t like were the references to ‘The Pretender” who was evidently part of the previous stories and will be in the next. I needed to know more of his background to really understand what that was about. If you like crime stories which are a little off the beaten path, this is for you. Lots of good detecting skills, interesting characters, a little romance, multi-continent locations, plot twists … just a good-all-around en-GROSS-ing crime story.

I received an ARC of this book from Planned Television Arts.

Fireworks Over Toccoa

2010-01-23T03:20:00.000-06:00

Fireworks Over Toccoa
© 2010 by Jeffrey Stepakoff

ISBN: 978-0-312-58158-9
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
SRP: $ 22.99
272 pp.

About the book: “Every so often that story comes along that reminds us of what it’s like to experience love for the first time—against the odds, when you least expect it, and with such passion that it completely changes you forever.

An unexpected discovery takes eighty-four-year-old Lily Davis Woodward to 1945, and the five days that forever changed her life. Married for only a few days before her husband was sent to fight in WWII, Lily is anxious for his return, and the chance to begin their life together. In honor of the soldiers' homecoming, the small Georgia town of Toccoa plans a big celebration. And Jake Russo, a handsome Italian immigrant, also back from war, is responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned. But after a chance encounter in a star-lit field, he steals Lily's heart and soul--and fulfills her in ways her socially-minded, upper-class family cannot. Now, torn by duty to society and her husband--and the poor, passionate man who might be her only true love--Lily must choose between a commitment she's already made and a love she’s never known before.

Fireworks Over Toccoa takes us to a moment in time that will resonate with readers long after the book’s unforgettable conclusion. A devastating and poignant story, this debut novel will resonate with anyone who believes in love.”

Oh, my….. I don’t read romances too often because I find most of them are cookie-cutter stories and you always know how they’re going to end. This book was different. It really got my emotions stirred up. Lily is the daughter of a wealthy southern family who marries Paul just days before he goes off to war. She’s only seventeen and he’s gone for almost 3 ½ years. Days before Paul is to return home, she meets and falls in love with Jake who’s in town to put on a big fireworks display. Although Lily loves Paul, she realizes that what she feels for Jake is much, much more. What’s Lily to do… stay with Paul out of a sense of duty knowing that the passion she shares with Jake will always be missing from her life, or abandon her husband and family for her one true love? I was almost crying along with Lily as she struggled to make a decision. The author does a fantastic job reminding us that not all love stories have perfect endings. I love the cover, too.

My copy of this book was an ARC but I actually have no idea where it came from.

Full Moon in December

2010-01-20T02:16:00.000-06:00

Full Moon in December

ISBN: 978-1-897532-84-3

Publisher: Club Lighthouse Publishing

151 pp.

About the book: “Kayla was so young when her new mom took her. Now she is sixteen and wants to have a real man in the basement. Her new mom, who tells her she can call her Elle now that she's sixteen, says she can pick the next one to collect. Sam was not the one she wanted. She wanted Kelly, the handsome football star. He was something to think about, and Kayla does. All the time. If only she could convince Sam to tell her more about Kelly. Kayla knows that Sam doesn't want to be in the basement, but she also knows that what Elle is doing is important. Kayla doesn't want Elle to die, but what can she do? Elle is changed. She is special. Kayla doesn't want to be changed, but she doesn't want to lose Elle either. All she wants is to know the world. She'd never even seen a highway until a week ago. That was when she had to bury the bad man Mike in the earth with the roots of the plants. Elle and the Aunties and Uncle Bingo all say her abilities with the earth are unique. Kayla doesn't know what that means. In this second book of the night person series, Sam must face his fears and his strength. Will he ever again find the peace of the moonlight? Will his captors ever let him go? What does this "changed" person want from him anyway? He only has time to figure all this out. Kelly, the young night person he instructed so long ago, may still come to his rescue without him having to do anything he doesn't want to. But if circumstances change, what decisions will he make?”

This book picks up a few years after Sam the Night Person ended. It has some wonderfully interesting characters and plots but it took awhile for the story pieces to come together. Dall, Jeffrey, and Rose are in Montana, Sam and Kelly in North Carolina, and others elsewhere with different story lines that are seemingly unrelated until late in the book. Everything is explained and everyone gets together eventually but it’s a twisty tale to get there. Good book for fantasy lovers. I do recommend you read Sam the Night Person first. It really helped to understand this one.

I was provided with an ebook copy by Lisa Rusczyk.

Book Giveaway! Michael Palmer's The Last Surgeon

2010-01-18T16:56:00.000-06:00

As promised, I have another book giveaway. Michael Palmer has generously offered an autographed copy of his new book, The Last Surgeon that will be available on February 16. You can read my review here. The book will be sent by Mr. Palmer so be sure to include your email address in your post so I can contact you. The contest will run until February 1 so you have 2 weeks to get your entries in.

Contest rules: I’m keeping this very simple. Post a comment for one entry. You MUST include your email address in your post…if not, your entry will not count. If someone enters and clearly says who sent them, (and their entry is valid), the referrer will get another entry, so spread the word. Contest ends February 1, 2010 at midnight central time. Entries will be numbered and winner will be selected randomly, notified by email, and asked for their mailing info. They’ll have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected. I’ll forward the mailing info to Mr. Palmer and he will send the book after publication. Good luck

Dino Vicelli, Private Eye in a World of Evils

2010-01-16T23:55:00.000-06:00

Dino Vicelli,

Private Eye in a World of Evils

ISBN: 978-1-4349-0294-8

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

SRP: $10.00

91 pp.

About the book: “This story transports the reader to an alternate-reality version of New York City, in which talking dogs interact regularly with humans. The hero, Dino Vicelli, is a private investigator who just happens to be a sharply dressed Italian greyhound with a great fondness for cigars. He takes on what initially appears to be a routine missing person case but soon finds himself in the midst of a sinister plot that involves kidnapping, murder, and bizarre scientific experiments aimed at controlling the world. As he investigates this strange case, Dino repeatedly encounters mortal danger, while also finding romance with a beautiful blonde Afghan dog.

With its unusual twists on the traditional detective story genre, this book blends elements of humor, suspense, and fantasy.”

This was definitely a different book. I’m not sure who the intended audience is, but I suspect teens or a little younger as I found the book rather juvenile and it has several illustrations. Some of the characters are dogs and others are humans and sometimes it was hard to remember who was who. The plot was good but the story skipped around a bit. If you like fantasy stories with a different twist, you may like this. It wasn’t one of my favorites.....but then again, I'm a cat person.

This book was provided to me for review by Carol Fass Publicity and Public Relations.

Sam the Night Person

2010-01-13T12:45:00.000-06:00

Sam the Night Person
© 2009 by Lisa Rusczyk

A Club Lighthouse Publishing E-Book
177 pp.

About the book: "Sam stays up all night, drinks coffee without pause, chain smokes cigarettes and secretly talks to the moon. Azzy knows it, but doesn’t know why or how.

Azzy has been having a series of obsessive daydreams about a young man named Sam. He seems to be a magician of sorts. All she knows is that she can’t eat, sleep, drive or work. All she can do is think of Sam. She is in love, and she must find him.

She follows a daydream to a Colorado lodge where she has seen Sam in her mind. To her astonishment, he appears there the very next day. He doesn’t believe her, but who would? Is she crazy?

Sam and Azzy have a connection. Where did it come from? And who is behind it all? Of course, there’s always a reason for everything. Azzy’s daydreams were no accident.

Will they be able to withstand the man behind the torment? After years being apart, they find themselves facing the most destructive man of water magic they have ever known. He threatens their love. Together in heart and apart by necessity, they must find a way to stop him."

I have to admit I was hesitant to read this. The title suggests yet another vampire story and I am NOT into vamps. I was pleasantly surprised to find a hero and heroine of a completely different nature. Yes, Sam is a night person, but he draws his supernatural abilities from the moon, not from the blood of innocent victims. He’s one of a small race of people who live under the radar. There are others who are day people and derive their powers from the sun, and water and earth people. Although not necessarily friends, they co-exist peacefully for the most part. Azzy is a special kind of psychic who can get into the minds of these people but she doesn’t realize it yet. All she knows is she’s going crazy because all she does is daydream about the unknown Sam. The daydreams she has don’t make any sense to her and yet she’s fallen in love with him. She travels to Colorado, meets him, and finds out her daydreams are true. But does he believe her and return her feelings? And why did someone make her dream about him in the first place? I can’t say too much more without giving away the plot but I did enjoy the story. The characters are interesting with lots of good dialogue, the plot different, and the ending dramatic. I’m looking forward to reading more in Lisa’s next story, Full Moon in December.

I was provided with an ebook to review by Lisa Rusczyk

The Brightest Moon of the Century

2010-01-12T02:03:00.000-06:00

The Brightest Moon of the Century
Christopher Meeks © 2009

About the book: “In Christopher Meeks’s The Brightest Moon of the Century, Edward, a young Minnesotan, is blessed with an abundance of “experience” – first when his mother dies and next when his father, an encyclopedia salesman, shoehorns Edward into a private boys school where he’s tortured and groomed.

Edward needs a place in the universe, but he wants an understanding of women. He stumbles into romance in high school, careens through dorm life in college, whirls into a tornado of love problems as a mini-mart owner in a trailer park in Alabama, and aims for a film career in Los Angeles.

In nine chapters, the reader experiences Edward’s life from ages 14 to 45. This is the first novel from Christopher Meeks, which follows his highly acclaimed collections of short stories, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons.”

I enjoyed this coming-of-age story following Edward as he made his way through the boys school, college away from home, trying to become a film maker in California, and especially, when he and his friend were running the mini-mart in Alabama. Although a jerk at times, he was also a hard worker and had definite goals he wanted to achieve. He struggled to find his niche both in business and with the right partner. There was no perfect ending to the book. It pointed the way and then left you to draw your own conclusions as to where Edward would go next in his life’s journey.

ISBN: 978-0-615-24914-8
Publisher: White Whisker Books
319 pp.
SRP: $18.95

I won my copy of this book from BackwordBooks.com.

Fatal Gamble

2010-01-10T11:11:00.001-06:00

About the book: “Twenty years ago a group of doctors formed a partnership to build a medical office plaza in Massachusetts. While it wasn’t the most above-board deal ever made, the doctors have found continued profit and success – until now.

Someone wants the doctors dead, and he or she has already succeeded in murdering two of them. The identity of the killer remains unknown. It is a madman with a vendetta against the medical profession, a small-time bookie seeking revenge for a shady real estate deal, or a disgruntled former construction manager who was unjustly fired?

The widow of one of the slain doctors has a clue – but she’s too afraid to tell the police. She hires Boston private investigator Daniel Gallagher to help track down the murderer. But as Gallagher begins to unravel the mystery, he finds himself entangled in a web of danger and political intrigue.

With the stakes growing higher, Gallagher faces a growing threat to keep him quiet before he reveals the damaging truth. But when push comes to shove, has Gallagher made a Fatal Gamble?"

I read JP O’Donnell’s second Gallagher book, Deadly Codes last month and reviewed it here. Fatal Gamble is the first in the series. While I wish I had read this one first, both are good stand-alone stories. Gallagher is a very likeable person and puts all his effort into whatever case he is working on. Unfortunately, that can lead to trouble for him and those close to him. In this story, he gets mixed up with crooked politicians, the Las Vegas underworld, and cops who want him to stay out of their way. O’Donnell keeps the reader’s interest well as Gallagher searches for clues. There are no huge surprises but lots of action and tense moments as Gallagher races to solve the mystery before the killers decide he’s next on their list. Mr. O’Donnell is currently working on book three of the Gallagher series and I look forward to reading it.

ISBN: 978-0-595-51409-0

Publisher: iUniverse
SRP: $17.95
258 pp.

Fatal Gamble is also available as a free audio book at http://www.podiobooks.com/ .

I received a complimentary copy of this book from JP O’Donnell.

Note to Mother Nature - ENOUGH ALREADY!

2010-01-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

This is part of my front yard this afternoon. There's a sidewalk going out to the road and I had shoveled once before this photo was taken, but it filled right back in. The drifts on either side are about 4 feet high. We were lucky that a neighbor came down and plowed out Jim's parking place across the road later. (His truck won't fit in the garage.)

We are having one of the worst winters in history here in central Iowa. In December we had about 2 feet of snow, which is a lot for us. Yesterday we got another 6” of light, fluffy snow and today the wind is blowing about 25 mph with gusts up to 40 or 45 mph and the snow is drifting high. The decision to cancel our schools was made last night and travel isn’t advised today because of drifting and poor visibility. Of course, that didn’t mean people didn’t go to work, including my hubby…no work, no pay.

Jim drives a 4-wheel-drive pickup but that doesn’t guarantee he’ll get where he’s going. He spun out coming down the river hill on the way home last night and barely kept it out of the ditch. Luckily, on-coming traffic was able to get out of his way and the guy behind him dropped back. It scared him badly and he was pretty upset when he did finally get home. He said the road was so snow covered, you couldn’t tell if you were on it or off.

Added to the snow and wind are very cold temperatures. Tonight’s windchills are going to be about –40°. Tomorrow night it’s supposed to get about –20° actual temperature. We’ve had it that low already this winter here on the river bottom so it will probably be colder here. The cold water at the kitchen sink has frozen up every night for about a week. The kitchen was added on and only has a crawl space under it. Winter is just a pain in the butt!

Abandoned and Forgotten

2010-01-04T01:40:00.000-06:00

Abandoned and Forgotten:
An Orphan Girl’s Tale of Survival During World War II
by Evelyne Tannehill ©2006

About the book: “Much has been written about World War II, but not often do we hear about the immeasurable suffering of the Germans who wanted no part of Hitler’s regime.

Abandoned and Forgotten is the memoir of a young girl growing up in the then-German province of East Prussia by the Baltic Sea. Orphaned at the age of nine and left to fend for herself in a hostile world, Evelyne Tannehill witnessed firsthand what happens when law and order break down and self-preservation becomes the only thing that matters. Her journey is a poignant example of how resilient the human spirit can be, even in the face of war’s greatest horrors.

The author, Evelyne Tannehill, was born in January of 1936 in the German province of East Prussia. She was a dual citizen of Germany and the United States due to the US citizenship of her father. She lived and attended school in Germany until the age of sixteen at which time she came to the United States.”

I’ve heard the history and seen photos of what Hitler’s army did to the Jews, as you probably have. This book, however, tells another side of the story – what happened to the German citizens when first the Russian army and then the Polish people took over what was then East Prussia. It’s told from the viewpoint of a little, orphaned German girl and what she went through will break your heart. I know I never could have survived the things she did and the fact that she did survive and live to tell about it is amazing. The book is written in a very straightforward way and pulls no punches. As Ms. Tannehill’s friend Georg said to her many years later, “The cruelty of war spares no one. Good and evil have no nationality. In war, atrocities are committed on all sides.” Read the book and hopefully, you’ll take something good away from it. I know I’ll be thinking about it for some time.

For more about the book visit http://www.abandonedandforgotten.com/ .

ISBN: 978-1-58736-693-2

Publisher: Wheatmark
SRP: $29.95
431 pp.

I received this book in return for doing a review from Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

The Last Surgeon - Michael Palmer

2010-01-01T18:05:00.000-06:00

I’ll start the new year with the review of a really great thriller, one of the best I’ve read in quite a while. I hope you like it as much as I did.

About the book: “Everyone told Jillian Coates that her sister’s suicide was just that – a suicide. Everyone told Dr. Nick Garrity that his best friend, Lieutenant Umberto Vasquez, had simply disappeared, battling the demons of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jillian doesn’t believe it. Nick doesn’t believe it. And soon, they discover a chilling connection between these two seemingly random events…a common denominator that will lead a killer to the next victim…. and the last surgeon.

The Last Surgeon, like each of Michael's books, is built around a medical ethical issue. Two years ago, Michael met a Marine veteran with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Moved by their conversation, Michael began thinking about weaving a story around this sad, frightening condition.

The result is The Last Surgeon--the terrifying tale of Army trauma surgeon Nick Garrity, working on a mobile medical van caring for vets and the homeless in D.C., while he tries to conquer the fallout from the suicide bomber who killed everyone in Nick's field hospital in Afghanistan except Nick and his best friend Umberto. When Umberto, whose PTSD is even more virulent than Nick's, disappears, Nick is brought into the crosshairs of brilliant psychopath Franz Koller, the remorseless master of the non-kill-murder that does not look like murder."

As I've said before, mysteries/thrillers are my favorite genre. This novel fits that label perfectly. It has a very interesting story line, likeable good characters and a really evil bad one, tie-ins to the current political scene, loads of drama and suspense with a little romance thrown in, and a tense build-up to a great ending. It was interesting in that you knew who the killer was early in the book, but not the reason for the killings. The book will be released on February 16th but you can pre-order the it now from http://www.michaelpalmerbooks.com/. Michael is also releasing exclusive material to his followers via Facebook and Twitter. You can win exclusive prizes for becoming involved. I'll also be having a contest soon for a personalized copy of The Last Surgeon so be sure and watch for that.

ISBN: 978-0312587499
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publish: Feb 16, 2010
Pages: 384
S.R.P.: $26.99

Bostick Communications and Michael Palmer provided an ARC of the book to me for review.

Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

2009-12-31T23:26:00.000-06:00

I never thought when I started my blog on Valentine’s Day 2009 that it would develop into mainly a book review site. I just wanted to have a place to vent occasionally, write a few simple poems, and share my passions of reading, family, hobbies, and cats. Somewhere along the way, the reading has definitely taken over, due in large part to J. Kaye of J. Kaye’s Book Blog. Thanks to her generous recommendation of me (and many others ) to book publishers, I’ve been the recipient of many free books in return for my review of their offerings. That’s also why I have a box of un-read, used books that I never seem to get to. :-)

With the start of a new year, I’m looking forward to reading many more books and sharing my reviews with my readers. There will be another book contest soon for a new autographed copy of New York Times best-selling author Michael Palmer’s latest medical thriller, The Last Surgeon. I’m reading it now and I think you’ll enjoy it very much. If you want a sneak peak, you can get one here. Mr. Palmer has lots of great interactive content on both his Facebook fan page and Twitter account. He’s hosting weekly Q&A's, book giveaways and other exclusive contests so make sure you check it out.

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Congratulations to the Iowa State Cyclones

for winning the Insight Bowl!

Books I've read this week - Conflicts with Interest

2009-12-30T12:33:00.002-06:00

ISBN 978-0-615-30599-8

PUB Date: January 30, 2010

Publisher: Rodeo Publishing

Price: $15.95

336 pp.

About the book: “Sometimes, life can be a poker game with a fortunate stroke of serendipity. Sometimes, it’s nothing but incessant bad luck. T.R. Morgan is playing such a game with his most feared situation as a builder. Defect litigation. It isn’t enough that his is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife. Now, he finds himself caught in a nasty lawsuit against Steve Sanderson, a ruthless Bay Area lawyer.

The problem – it seems, is when will T.R. lose his company and home over this lawsuit and how many times over? Or will his own gambling habit be his downfall? Can the insurance companies out-play him? And is his new girlfriend, Catherine, actually who she seems? T.R.’s story comes to an explosive climax that no one could have foreseen – least of all T.R. himself.”

T.R. Morgan and his son Ryan own Morgan Homes. Now they’re being sued for several hundred thousand dollars over what started as a simple leaky window. Not only that but the insurance companies are giving them a hard time about whether they’ll stand behind them or not. It doesn't seem to matter if the Morgans are willing to fix the problem or if they were even at fault in the first place. The plaintiffs' lawyer will stop at almost nothing to win the case and the price to settle keeps going up. In the end it all comes down to T.R. to try and get them out of the mess.

This was a fascinating book although a little heavy-handed with the litigation details. I’ve never been involved with a court case and I admit I had a hard time following some of the technicalities. The author spent over 40 years in the construction industry and that gives the book a great deal of realism from the builder’s viewpoint. The ending took a very surprising twist and was completely unexpected.

I was provided with an ARC of the book for review by The Cadence Group.

Dryer Balls - Thumbs DOWN

2009-12-28T15:23:00.000-06:00

One thing I got for Christmas was dryer balls. You’ve all seen them – those bumpy plastic balls that are supposed to replace fabric softener, save you lots of money, reduce drying time, and fluff up your clothes. Well, I don’t know about ALL dryer balls but the ones I got are plain and simply, a joke. I first tried them with towels because it says they “naturally fluff up and soften without chemicals.” When I removed the towels from the dryer, I could hear the snap and pop of static electricity. I put them back in the dryer for a few minutes with a softener sheet. I then tried the balls with a load of whites. I pulled a knit shirt out of the dryer and one of Jim’s white hankies was plastered to the front of it. I peeled it off and put those clothes back into the dryer also with a softener sheet. No more dryer balls for me!

The ones I used are Handy Trends Dryer Mate brand and were bought at Menard’s.

Anyone else get a present that didn't perform as expected?

Books I've read this week - The Heart of the Buddha

2009-12-26T23:41:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 978-1-934572-30-6

Publisher: Emerald Book Company

Price: $14.95

231 pp.

About the book: “When Marian, an earnest romantic and idealist, goes missing in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, her prim and pragmatic sister, Ruthie, journeys from Canada to search for her. When Ruthie uncovers Marian’s passion for a Bhutanese monk and her hazardous trek over a mountain pass to Tibet, she fears the worst. And those fears only intensify when a sinister Tibetan reveals he is also in pursuit of Marian. As the sisters struggle to reach each other, they must overcome the demands of their own hearts and spirits.

In easy, poetic prose, Elsie Sze paints an enchanting picture of Bhutan as she spins a tale of mystery, adventure, and romance, recounting the two sisters’ physical and spiritual journeys to find each other and their true selves.”

Marian and Ruthie are fraternal twins born of a Portuguese father and Chinese mother. After their mother died, the family immigrated to Canada. Now Marian has gone to Bhutan to help organize a small, local library. When her 6-month work visa is up and she doesn’t return, and her letters stop coming, her sister Ruthie decides to go to Bhutan to find her. With the mind of a sleuth and the help of a wonderful guide, Ruthie follows her sister’s trail around Bhutan. Ruthie finds more than she bargained for when she discovers her sister has fallen in love with a Buddhist monk, but where is she now?

I didn’t know anything about Bhutan before reading this book. Including so much detail about the natural beauty of the area, its people, their clothing and food, and the Buddhist religion really brought the story to life. It would be a fascinating place to visit.

This book was provided for review by PR by the Book.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2009-12-24T00:39:00.001-06:00

I hope you celebrate the holidays,

in good health and with someone you love.

Wishing you joy at Christmas
and good books for the New Year.

Books I've read this week - Deadly Codes

2009-12-18T01:58:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 978-0-595-5411-3

Publisher: iUniverse

216 pp.

Price: $15.95

About the book: “Daniel Cormac Gallagher, Jr., a Boston private eye, is hired to investigate the death of Jennifer Clark, tragically killed in a car bombing in her own driveway.

Gallagher has been commissioned by Jeanne Campbell, Jennifer’s twin sister, to find a mysterious woman – Jennifer’s secret lesbian lover who vanished immediately after the bombing. While the authorities continue to pursue their suspicions that the terrorist act my have been intended for Jennifer’s husband, Bill, who holds a top- secret position in the counter-intelligence division of the National Security Agency. Jeanne reveals intricate details to Gallagher that intrigue him enough to take on the case. While Gallagher begins searching for the missing woman, he has no idea that a bounty has been placed on his won head – two hired gunmen are plotting to kill him. Gallagher’s search takes him to Washington, D. C., where he discovers that the car bombing is only a backdrop to a complex, treasonous scheme to sell code-breaking formulas to a hostile enemy nation.

As the violent mystery unravels, Gallagher finds himself under deadly attack from two shocking but powerful forces – one he knows and another he never suspects.”

I really enjoyed the action and suspense of this book. Gallagher is a good investigator who happens to trust the wrong person at times. After he and his wife narrowly escape death, he promises to retire from P.I. work. As he’s trying to close his office, Jeanne Campbell comes in, tells him about her sister’s death, and asks him to find her sister’s lover. After hearing the details, he agrees to ‘just one more job.’ Of course, he uncovers more that he bargained for, once again putting his life in danger. The book was well-written, full of action and plot twists. It’s a shorter book but it doesn’t compromise on content. I hope the author brings this character back.

J. P. O’Donnell is also the author of Fatal Gamble.

The book was sent to me for review by Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

Books I've read this week - The Final War and 3001 - Birth of a Political Renaissance

2009-12-15T20:20:00.000-06:00

The Final War and 3001 – Birth of a Political Renaissance
©2009 by Priscilla Andrea Herochik

ISBN: 978-1-4392-1514-2

Publisher: BookSurge

pp. 437

Price: $17.99

About the book: “What would happen if unrestrained religious fanaticism expanded worldwide: Could two religious zealots – a self-aggrandizing Baptist preacher and a Catholic Cardinal scheming to become Pope - subvert our Constitution and rule with Biblical dogma? Add the enemy of Christianity – Islamic despots from the Middle East and Africa – to this terrifying scenario, and we have the war to end all wars. In Pricilla Herochik’s convincing and unsettling futuristic novel, The Final War and 3001 – Birth of a Political Renaissance, these scenarios unfold with disturbing ease.

Reverend Rob is a Baptist evangelical who will stop at nothing to seize power and control. Cold and sinister Cardinal Richard Caldas will do whatever it takes to become Pope. When these fundamentalist tyrants join forces, the result is catastrophic for the world. In her novel, Ms. Herochik adds the final ingredient to concoct this calamity: the rise of Islamic theocracies in the Middle East and Africa, and the ambition of each of these religious factions to dominate the world. The result is a global war fought to the very last bomb. Only a handful of survivors remain. Humankind struggles to bring order out of chaos. A small number of people must made decisions that will either lead the world toward peaceful coexistence….or final annihilation. This is a rare novel that forces us to consider our future…and our continued existence.”

This book definitely did make me think. I didn’t necessarily agree with the author’s take on what could possible happen but she had many good ideas. I also didn’t like how the book was written. It’s supposed to be a novel but much of the book was just a narrative explaining how things were at that time period. When characters were included with a story line and dialog, the book was very interesting. The parts that were just narrative were a little less interesting and I wish the author could have developed a way to tell the story with more characters. I personally think her idea of a futuristic utopian society with little crime or illness, and everyone working for the good of everyone else is very far-fetched and leaves little room for individualism. If you want a book that will make you think, check this one out.

This book was provided for review by Author Marketing Experts.

Books I've read this week - Savage Days Haunted Nights

2009-12-09T04:11:00.002-06:00

ISBN: 978-1-4196-5502-9

Publisher: Arnone Press, BookSurge Publishing

268 pp.

About the book: “Savage Days Haunted Nights portrays Dorian, a man trapped in a harrowing struggle between good and evil, striving now perilously day after day to conquer this. It’s an arresting tale, suspenseful and driven by forceful action from the first page to the last. Criminals, professors, socialites, prostitutes, poets, and ordinary people animate every chapter of this saga, revealing some of the darkest secrets of the back streets of Chicago and New York and, in one chapter, a breathtaking adventure on a bleak, forbidding tundra in the wilds of Alaska. Revealed here also are the very deepest recesses of human character and the agonies of love amidst the moral challenges of our age.”

This entire book centers on the main characters struggle about right and wrong. As a child, he doesn’t learn to read and is picked on mercilessly. (He’s later determined to be dyslexic.) He learns to fight back, drops out of school and joins a gang in Chicago. As an adult, he finds he’s still full of anger and he has to deal with it. What he did as a youth colors his adult life and he becomes his own worst enemy. It reaches a point where it becomes a life and death situation. It’s not a great book but I sympathized with all he went through and could understand why he acted like he did.

This book was provided for review by Ariel Publicity.

Would you post a 'bad' review?

2009-12-07T13:59:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I fixed a 15 pound turkey hoping to have LOTS of leftovers but it went fast. I did freeze enough for one meal and made a turkey and Stove Top stuffing casserole. The rest was just eaten as leftovers and sandwiches and some went home with our son. We usually get an Amana ham from Jim's boss and have that as our Christmas dinner.

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Now about book reviews...... I haven't posted any reviews this week but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. One book I just finished was an anthor's debut book and I thought it was very poorly written. The story lacked good continuity and was hard to follow at times. Conversations took place without me being able to tell who was speaking until a few paragraphs later. At one time, one of two brothers was killed and in the next chapter, it was the other brother who was dead. The author seemed to make a point of some things and then said just the opposite a few pages or chapters later. I emailed the author and pointed out a few obvious mistakes but I just couldn't bring myself to post a review of this book knowing it wouldn't do the author any good. I searched for and read other reveiws of the book on line and it got good reviews so maybe I'm super critical. How about you? Would you post a 'bad' review?

Books I've read this week - The Edge of Forever

2009-11-29T01:38:00.000-06:00

I did find time to get some reading in this weekend after all. I hope you enjoy this book.

ISBN: 978-1-4389-5657-2

Publisher: Author House

About the book: "After Michael Hanson saves a young woman from a violent encounter with her abusive husband in a small Nevada town, they attempt to find refuge in another city. But, as they flee, the couple doesn’t realize that they’re about to be pulled into a life-threatening adventure in an event that will change the course of human history in less than a week.

Michael, his two brothers, and a brilliant scientist piece the puzzle together and realize that the bizarre and frightening changes occurring at Yellowstone National Park are simply the tip of the iceberg, and that man is now facing something that is truly beyond comprehension – something millions of times more powerful than anything the Earth has seen in 65 million years when the dinosaurs faced extinction.

The three brothers and their families are caught in a desperate struggle to survive amidst a political cover-up and the panic that ensues when the details of the event are revealed to the world. The group must somehow summon the courage and intelligence to beat the ticking time bomb that will soon convert the United States into a wasteland and claim over a billion lives worldwide."

Wow! After reading this book, I'm thinking of the Yellowstone Naional Park area in a whole new way! I realize that this is just a novel and a ‘what-if’ scenario but it was scary. Dr. Chimenti’s scientific background lends much realism to the story and makes you wonder if it could happen. It was also full of emotional drama as the main characters have many close calls as they’re fighting against time and human adversaries to escape sure death. This book should appeal to many different readers as it has sci-fi, romance, action (with some graphic violence), and is a total thriller. I loved the short descriptive chapters depicting what happened to random people as disaster struck.

A sequel, The Edge of Forever, Brink of Extinction, will be available early in 2010.

I received this book from PR by the Book to read and review.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T15:40:00.000-06:00

Ummm. Yesterday the house smelled like spices from the pumpkin pies and today the aroma is fresh baked bread. I think the smells of holiday cooking is one of the best things about it. They also bring back lots of memories from past years. My paternal grandmother always baked dinner rolls and to me, eating it was better than having a piece of cake. Those rolls more than made up for some of her other cooking mishaps.

Our daughter-in-law, Dianna, has to work part of the day on Thursday so I’m fixing an evening meal. I like it that way because I’m not rushed to get everything done by noon or one o’clock. We’re having a traditional meal with roast turkey and all the trimmings.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and are able to be with your family and loved ones. I won't be reading much this weekend so look for new reviews next week.

Books I've read this week - The Long Sleep

2009-11-22T01:51:00.000-06:00

Published by Samarcand Books, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

About the book: “It was meant to be a great day. The New Argo has been sent to colonize a distant planet – code-named Gamma Six. The day it got there should have been a great one for humanity. Instead, upon reaching the planet, the New Argo blows up.

But why don’t the members of the ruling Executive Committee want to investigate? And what really happened to the New Argo? These are the questions that Lize Carr, youngest member of the Committee, wants answered.

When she employs private detective Kem Logan she unwittingly starts a chain of events that will mean danger for a great many people, including Kem and herself.”

This was a different book. It’s a sci-fi story written in the UK. If I remember right, it takes place in the twenty-seventh century. Much of the earth’s population and plant life has been wiped out but there are huge advancements in computers with holograms, AI assistants, and drones everywhere. An executive committee rules the earth. Thirty-five years ago, a spaceship full of hopeful people left on a 30-year-long trip to colonize a new planet. They had been in suspended animation to make the trip, hence the name of the book, The Long Sleep. Just as they were ready to set down on the new planet, their spaceship blows up. Lize Carr’s father was one of the colonizers and she can’t believe it when the head of the Executive Committee, who is also her stepfather, refuses to investigate the explosion. She decides to do so herself with disastrous results. Some of the futuristic ideas in the book are amazing; others are ‘big-brother’ like. Although the book jumped around a little that made it hard to follow at times, the plot was interesting.

I won this book from Stone Soup. Thanks Katrina!

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Just a reminder - don't forget to check out the book contests and reviews on the blogs listed to the right.

And the winner of Sanctuary is......

2009-11-18T23:04:00.000-06:00

Thank you to everyone who entered my first giveaway.

There were a total of 12 comments. I assigned a number to each comment according to the order they were made. I asked Jim to pick one and he picked number 7 which was a comment by Terry. Congratulations! An email was sent and I heard from Terry already.

Books I've read this week - Breaking the Bank

2009-11-18T15:01:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 978-1-4391-0253-4

Publisher: Downtown Press, a division of Simon and Schuster

SRP: $15.00

About the book: “Mia Saul is down on her luck. Dumped by her husband, jettisoned from her job, and estranged from her adored older brother, she and her young daughter, Eden, have had to make a downscale move to a crummy apartment, where their neighbors include a tough young drug dealer and a widower who lets his dogs use the hallways as their own personal litter box. Juggling a series of temporary jobs, wrangling with her ex-husband over child support, and trying to keep pace with Eden’s increasingly erratic behavior have left Mia weary and worn out.

So when a seemingly functional ATM starts handing Mia thousands and thousands of dollars – and not deducting the money from her account, because it sure isn’t in there – she isn’t about to give it back. Her newfound cash stash opens up a world of opportunity, and a whole lot of trouble. Worried friends, family, and in-laws start questioning her judgment about everything, and the cops really, really want to know where all that cash is coming from. And then there’s Patrick, a man Mia most definitely would never have met if things hadn’t spun out of control. Mia is beginning to think that maybe somebody, somewhere, is trying to teach her a lesson about what matters in life, and what doesn’t…”

This was a magical story. Mia’s groceries are stolen and when she goes to the ATM machine to get money to buy more, the machine gives her $200 instead of $100. She just figures it’s a mistake that the bank will catch. When she gets her next statement and the error isn’t there, she decides to go back to the bank and see if the machine will make another ‘mistake’. It does but this time it gives her $1000! Who wouldn’t want an ATM like that! Later the machine gives her even more and tells her to ‘use it well.’ Mia tries but gets into all kinds of trouble. She has to deal with her family, her ex, her boyfriend, her job, her daughter, and the money…it all gets to be too much and she ends up in trouble with the law. How she gets out of her predicament is anything but predictable. Very enjoyable story.

I won this book from Drey’s Library. Thanks Drey!

Books I've read this week - The Piano Teacher

2009-11-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 978-14-311653-0

Publisher: Penguin Group

SRP: $15.00

About the book: “This is the haunting story about a man and two women whose fates collide in Hong Kong During the Japanese invasion of World War II and it’s aftermath ten years later.

This sweeping tale of romance, secrecy, and betrayal alternates between the lives of two vastly different women whose destinies are linked by the man they both love. In 1941, Trudy Liang is a beautiful Eurasian soialite who falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Will Truesdale, a newly arrived Englishman. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Will is sent to an internment camp, where he and other foreigners struggle daily for survival. Trudy remains outside, forced to form dangerous alliances with the Japanese – in particular, the malevolent head of the gendarmerie, whose desparate attempt to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art lead to a chain of terrible betrayals.

Ten years later, Clair Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter’s piano teacher. A provincial English newlywed, Claire is seduced by the heady social life of the expatriate community. At an elegant cocktail party, she meets Will, to whom she is instantly attracted. She soon begins an affair…only to discover that her over is hiding a devastating past. As the threads of this spellbinding novel intertwine, impossible choices emerge – between love and safety, courage and survival, the present, and, above all, the past. Claire learns that sometimes the price of survival is love”

This story is told in two parts that intertwine. The first takes place right before WW II starts and during the takeover of Hong Kong by the Japanese, and the second, 10 years later, as Hong Kong is making its recovery. Some of the characters overlap and it’s their experiences that make the book. The author grew up in Hong Kong and also did a tremendous amount of research that is proven by the detail in the story.

There is a lot more to this story than just the love affair between Claire and Will. Claire isn’t even in Hong Kong as the relationship between Will and Trudy begins before the start of the war. When the Japanese invade, Will is injured and imprisoned with the other Europeans and Americans. Trudy, who is half Portuguese and half Chinese must make her way on the outside dealing with the Japanese. Will survives the war but at what price? What secrets is he hiding? What part does Claire have in bringing some of them to light and can she survive when her own secrets are uncovered? The descriptions of what the people went through during the invasion and after are graphic and vivid. It was a very gripping story and one that will stick with me for some time.

This book was provided to me for review by Penguin Books.

Books I've read this week - Eddie's Bastard

2009-11-15T12:56:00.001-06:00

ISBN: 0-06-109825-6

Harper Collins

SRP: $14.00

About the book: “Eddie’s Bastard” is William Amos Mann IV, know as Billy – the son of a heroic pilot killed in Vietnam and an unknown woman. The last in a line of proud, individualistic Irish-American men, Billy is discovered in a basket at the door of the dilapidated mansion where his bitter, hard-drinking grandfather, Thomas Mann, has exiled himself. Astonished and moved by the arrival of his unexpected progeny, Thomas sets out to raise the boy himself – on a diet of love, fried baloney and the fascinating lore of their shared heritage. Listening to his grandfather’s whiskey-tinged tales of the family’s gloriously checkered past, Billy sets out to capture the stories on paper. He is a Mann, Grandpa reminds him daily, and thus destined for greatness.

Through the tales of his ancestors, his own experiences, and the unforgettable characters who nhance and enliven his adolescence, Billy learns of bravery and cowardice, of life and death, of the heart’s capacity for love and for unremitting hatred, eventually grasping the meaning of family and history and their power to shape destiny. Steeped in imagery and threaded with lyricism, Eddie’s Bastard is a novel of discovery, of a young man’s emergence into the world and the endless possibilities it offers.”

I won this book from Katrina Stonoff’s blog, Stone Soup. When she sent the book, she included a hand-written note expressing her desire that I enjoy the book as much as she did. Well, Katrina, I truly did; thank you.

Written as a narrative by Billy, this book follows his fascinating and somewhat convoluted journey through childhood. After a serious financial mistake years before, his grandfather had become the laughing stock of the town and a recluse, slowly drinking himself to death. His wife had walked out on him and his only son had been killed in Vietnam. Thomas thought he was the last of the Mann family and he had given up. He was delighted to find Billy on his doorstep because it gave him something to live for and someone to carry on the family. As Billy grows up, he has lots to learn about his family and its relationship to the town. There are loads of secrets about the Mann family that come together in bits and pieces. I thoroughly enjoyed following along with Billy as he made his way through many difficult times in his journey to adulthood. As he searches for answers about his parentage and his family, he discovers that the past can sometimes provide very important clues to the future. It was a very enjoyable book.

Hey, hey, hey! MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

2009-11-13T01:33:00.001-06:00

Since I’ve been writing my blog for nine months (since February 14th). I think it’s time my blog gave ‘birth’ to its first giveaway! (That and because my bookshelves are getting full.) The prize will be my gently read copy of Sanctuary by N. E. Julian. You can read my review here.

RULES HAVE BEEN EDITED FOR MY READERS' BENEFIT. For your first entry, you must be a follower and/or subscriber of my blog and make a comment saying so and include your email. Since Veteran’s Day was this week and one of the main characters in the book is a serviceman, for another entry tell me if you have a family member or friend in the military (or not) and where they're serving. For one more entry, share the contest and leave the link telling me where. (NO tweets…I’m a Kat, not a bird.)

Contest is open to U.S. only, 18 and over. Deadline is Wednesday, November 18 at 10 p.m. CST. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Winner will be chosen randomly and must be verified before any other entry counts. Winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond so make sure I have a way to contact you. If winner can’t be verified or doesn’t reply, an alternate will be drawn. Good luck.

Books I’ve Read This Week – The Cost of Dreams

2009-11-09T10:03:00.002-06:00

Publisher: Decent Hearts Press

Hardcover: 10 ISBN: 1-936073-01-3 / 13 ISBN: 978-1-936073-01-6 / $26.99

Trade Paperback: 10 ISBN: 1-936073-00-5 / 13 ISBN: 978-1-936073-00-9 / $15.99
E-Reader: See Amazon books for Kindle Version

About the book: Set against the vivid backdrop of a Central American country in turmoil and a desolate Mexican wilderness, THE COST OF DREAMS introduces a masterful new writer of fiction. Gary Stelzer, a retired Midwest physician, draws upon an ordeal of one of his most memorable patients for a novel that's both a powerful, compelling page-turner and a poignant illumination of a woman's-and a people's-struggle to survive.

"Years ago," recalls Stelzer, "a foreign-born woman appeared at the ER of my small city hospital dreadfully injured by her drug-dealing brother-in-law. She had been shot at her family's home in the southwestern U.S. and her husband had driven her and their two small children to this northern Midwest locale. There I cared for her and directed her protracted rehab. Then the husband abandoned them all.

"She drifted away in the years following. But I always recalled how badly I felt for her and her children. Then one day in southwestern New Mexico, I watched as dozens of freight trains passed by and I began asking myself, 'what if...?'"

Thus the indomitable Flora Enriquez came to life.

Flora, a Mayan teenager, has escaped Talapa, her civil war-torn Central American village where her parents have been slain-and where even being seen in native wear could result in summary execution. Following her dream with nearly superhuman determination, she makes her way to San Diego, and against all odds, becomes a wife, mother and teacher. By hard work and shrewdness, she even obtains legal U.S. status.

Her life takes a horrific turn when she's shot by her drug-dealing brother in-law. As she lays unconscious and bleeding in front of her house, Mexican immigrants traveling on a freight train kidnap and claim her as their daughter, caring for her on a long, grueling cross-country flight.

Nearly a year later, still gravely wounded and disfigured, a freed Flora arrives at the Lake Michigan home of Kate Bowman, an American aide worker who had previously befriended Flora in Talapa. Kate's nephew had vanished on that mission, leaving Kate devastated and overwhelmed with guilt for permitting him to remain in a civil war ravaged Central America while she returned home.

Now Flora, eager to heal her injuries and desperate to restore what remains of her family, reignites in Kate a fire to learn the fate of her long lost nephew. The two women embark on a harrowing journey that takes them to the ancient caves of northwestern Mexico in the Barrancas del Cobre, an exceedingly vast abyss of canyons, in search of a storied Indian healer. The cost of healing borders on the unendurable.

With breathtaking suspense, pulse-pounding action and authentic Indian culture, THE COST OF DREAMS is peopled by fully realized characters facing overwhelming obstacles and moral dilemmas. In short, it's a riveting and believable first-rate thriller.

I don't like the idea of illegal immigrants, but I know almost all of them are here just trying to make a living to survive. This was the story of one of those immigrants and all that she had to endure to make her way to American and what she went through to survive once here. I do believe her story is very extreme even if the basic idea came from a real person. I doubt anyone could have lived through what Flora and others did in this book but it did make a gripping story. I felt the author rushed through the ending and then tied things up a little too neatly. but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey that the book led me on.

I was provided this book to read and review by Dr. Stelzer and Carol Fass Publicity and PR.

Books I've read this week - The Silent Gift

2009-11-06T14:09:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 978-0-7642-0363-3

Publisher: Bethany House

Release date: October 2009

368 pp.

S.R.P: $13.99 U.S

A bittersweet story of hope in the midst of suffering, The Silent Gift follows the story of a devoted mother and her disabled son trying to survive the Great Depression - and the discovery of the boy's unusual gift. "We wanted to tell a story to illustrate that one's worth isn't dependent upon what society deems valuable, but that our intrinsic worth comes from our Creator;' said Landon Jr. and Kelley. Yet the book explores another theme - one that isn't often found in the pages of fiction. And one that the authors didn't take lightly. "The uniqueness of this story is that it focuses on a child who is both deaf and mute, but everyone believes has the gift of prophecy;' said the authors. "It was intriguing to delve into the spiritual gift of prophecy and its own unique implications." With prophecy as a hot-button issue with some denominations, Landon Jr. and Kelley wanted to give an accurate but thought-provoking portrayal of this special gift. As a result, they conducted in-depth research as well as interviewed some of the top theological minds of today. "The challenge was trying to find clarity between actual prophecy and what we typically call 'psychic' today;' they said. With research balanced by story, Landon Jr. and Kelley weave a beautiful narrative of love and enormous sacrifices that lingers long after the last page has been read.

From the book cover: The decade of the thirties was a time of enormous uncertainty – for the world, for America, and in particular for one lonely, struggling mother and her disabled son. Their story is one of unyielding love and incredible sacrifices in the face of circumstances beyond belief.

But then The Gift appears…Where has it come from, and why? How can a young boy who cannot communicate provide comfort and direction to seekers who learn of his special ability? Whatever the source, its presence brings a single shaft of light and hope to Mary and her beloved son, Jack…Will it be enough?

Oh, my! This book pulled at my emotions over and over. Mary struggles trying to take care of Jack. She just wants people to accept him and treat him normally, and she wants to provide a good home for him. When he suddenly appears to have the ability of prophecy, is it a good thing or bad? Without speaking, Jack has the chance to touch and change so many lives. Mary and Jack are taken under the wing of some wonderful people and taken advantage of by others who put them through hell, but Mary’s love and belief in her son never wavers. What she goes through to protect Jack and keep them together is almost unbelievable. Read it and let me know what YOU think.

This book was provided by Edify Media for me to read and review.

Books I've read this week - Dark Paradise

2009-11-03T18:14:00.000-06:00

ISBN: 0-553-56161-8

Bantam Books

About the book: New Eden, Montana, is a piece of heaven on earth where one woman died in her own private hell. Now it’s up to ex-court reporter Marilee Jennings to decipher the puzzle of her best friend’s death. But someone has a stake in silencing her suspicion. Someone with secrets worth killing for – and the power to turn this beautiful haven into a dark paradise. And as Mari digs deeper beneath New Eden’s picture-perfect exterior, finding the truth is suddenly no longer a matter of justice. It’s her only hope of staying alive.

Marilee Jennings is sick of her job and when her boyfriend dumps her, she impulsively decides to drive to Montana and spend some time with her friend Lucy while she decides what to do with her future. When she arrives, she finds out Lucy was killed 10 days earlier in what was called an accidental shooting. In a few day’s time, Mari finds out her friend is dead, she’s inherited everything, and the hot cowboy who owns the next place doesn’t like outsiders. The local land is being bought up by Hollywood-types and the ranchers are having a hard time holding on. One of those outsiders confessed to killing Lucy and got off with a slap on the hand. That doesn’t sit well with Mari and she decides to look into the circumstances of her death. She has a run-in with her neighbor and the sparks fly in more ways than one.

This was a good book with many interesting characters and storylines. There’s the conflict between the locals and the outsiders, the lust between Mari and J. D., the twisted relationship of Bryce and Samantha, the hell of Del and his demons. It all comes together in a very well-written novel.

I purchased this book at a flea market.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition Iowa Casting Call

2009-11-01T23:22:00.000-06:00

I'm posting this just in case anyone in Iowa is interested or you know someone who lives in Iowa and would benefit.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is doing an Iowa casting call. THE DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 10th.

Interested families or those who wish to nominate another family should e-mail a short description of their family story to iowacasting@gmail.com. Nominations/Submissions must include:
1. The names and ages of each member of the household
2. A description of the major challenges within the home.
3. Explanation of why this family is deserving, or a positive role model in their community.
4. Photos of the family and a photo of the home
5. Don’t forget to include a contact phone number.
And again, the DEADLINE is November 10, 2009.

Books I've read this week - The Manufactured Identity

2009-10-31T15:51:00.000-05:00

ISBN: 978-1-60696-550-4

Tate Publishing & Enterprises

$16.99

About the book: Months after his mysterious disappearance from a routine fishing trip, no one really expects over-the-hill Texas housewife Lory Latchley to find her missing husband – especially her husband. The Manufactured Identity is clinical psychologists Heath Sommer’s ever-escalating immersion into the world of unlikely friends who each awaken to find their faithful companions missing without warning or reason. Desperate to find meaning in their pain, they are thrust by the auspices of fate into a common thread of mystery and human frailty. In the end, the fate of all may reside in the unstable hands of rookie pastor John Joe, but ultimately Lory and her newfound partners will uncover a truth so unnerving it makes even infidelity look palatable.

The first 18 chapters of this book skip back and forth between different characters and I was beginning to wonder how the author was going to tie them all together. I had my suspicions about the disappearing husbands and it turned out I was right in a way. The story was much more involved that I would have thought. You can definitely tell the author is a psychologist because a lot of his expertise comes out in the book through the discussions of the counseling pastor and his patient. The book really delved into the reasons the man did what he did.

The only thing I didn’t like were the few occasions when the author felt he had to use grandiose or novel words in place of every day ones. In one instance instead of saying her teary eyes, he says ‘moist corneas’. In another, the man takes a drink of his ‘ethyl liquid’ instead of just saying liquor or whiskey. In yet another when Lory suddenly snaps out of her depression he says “she pulled out her sword and cut through the aggregated flaxen of her depression”. And what the heck is a-proprioceptive? Is this a clinical phrase? Guess I should keep a dictionary close so I know exactly what he’s saying.

I did find the story fascinating and the author did a great job tying up all the loose ends. The ending was not what I expected and added yet another twist to the book.

This book was provided to me by the author to read and review.

It's Called Fall for Good Reason!

2009-10-29T17:11:00.000-05:00

Rain, please quit coming down.
Farmers needs to harvest their crops
But the rain just keeps coming
In a multitude of drops.

The creeks are running over;
My basement's getting damp.
If the rain keeps on falling
I'll have to build a ramp.

Gravel roads are muddy messes;
Feed lots turned to pools.
If the rain keeps on falling
We'll have to get the cattle stools.

Where was the rain when needed
The farmers want to know.
Now it just keeps on falling
They'd rather have it snow.

© 2009 by Kat Bryan

Books I've read this week - Sanctuary

2009-10-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

ISBN: 978-1440133091

Publisher: iUniverse

Pages: 332

S.R.P.: $19.95

About the book: Nineteen-year-old Lea Kostovic, a cynical and emotionally fragile former university student, has been abandoned by her family at the outset of a Balkan civil war during the late 1990s. Major Ed Russell is a gruff yet idealistic divorced American army officer stationed in the former Yugoslavia on a peacekeeping mission. While manning a border checkpoint, Russell learns that Lea intends to head south to find her family and must convey to the young woman that the borders will not reopen until spring. Lea realizes that as a person of Croatian descent, neither the Serbs nor the Muslims will take her in. The thought of roaming the countryside for months—freezing, starving, and alone—prods a wary Lea to accept Russell's offer not only to work for him as an interpreter, but also to stay with him. There's just one condition to their simple bargain—Lea must trade sex for protection and survival. A complex relationship ensues and as Russell and fledgling artist Lea begin a new life in America, they attempt to build a marriage from a barter that originally had nothing to do with love and respect. As Lea learns to love and trust Russell they must try to form a marriage in the face of strains caused by the demands of his career and both of their emotional scars.

I didn’t think much of Major Russell’s conditions at first when he offered Lea a safe place to stay in return for sex. However, he was basically a decent person who treated her well, protected her from the other men, paid her to be his interpreter, and then fell in love with her. Lea had been mistreated much of her life and wasn’t so quick to show her emotions or let her feelings evolve. She was very depressed after being abandoned by her family. The story does a wonderful job of showing how two people have to work hard to make a relationship work. My brother has been in the Army since 1984 and I think this book did a good job of portraying some of what servicemen and their families go through. The story was humorous at times and very sad at times but it came together well and I enjoyed it very much.

This book was sent to me courtesy of N. E. Julian and Bostick Communications for review.

Books I've read this week - Peaches and Screams

2009-10-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

About the book: Plus-sized private eye Savannah Reid is about to discover the answer to that age-old question: What could be worse than going back home to the Deep South in the height of August humidity? It’s going home to a wedding – not your own – without a ring on your finger or a date on your arm. But a hideous bridesmaid’s dress is the least of Savannah’s problems after her kid brother is arrested for murder….

As the oldest of nine siblings, Savannah has attended her share of family weddings south of the Mason-Dixon line…several of which have featured her sister Marietta as the bride. But before the fickle Southern belle can traipse down the aisle with her latest Mr. Right, the youngest of the Reid brood is thrown into the slammer. At first, Savannah wonders if unruly Macon really is responsible for killing the Honorable Judge Patterson. But when she learns that the ornery old geezer had more enemies than Marietta’s had husbands, Savannah is convinces that her brother’s been framed.

Shaking the Patterson family tree nets Savannah an assortment of embittered ex-wives, spurned mistresses, and illegitimate offspring – but no real leads. Now, with hapless Macon stewing in a steamy cell and Marietta pouting about her postponed nuptials, it’s time for Big Sis Savannah to turn up the heat and show a cleverly concealed killer that this is one Georgia peach who ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie….

G. A. McKevett is the author of several novels featuring the plus-sized P.I. Savannah Reid. The titles all feature food in some way – Just Desserts, Killer Calories, Cooked Goose, etc. Food also featured somewhat prominently in this book as the entire dysfunctional Reid family was always sitting down to a fantastic southern meal. I guess you would say this was a chick-lit mystery and it was full of humor along with the whodunit story line. Savannah was once a cop and now has a private investigation business in California. She goes back home for her sister’s third wedding only to find out her baby brother has been arrested for murder. The town’s deputy is her old flame Tommy Stafford who broke her heart years ago when he wouldn’t commit to a relationship. Now she has to try and get him to help her clear her brother. More bodies turn up before the case is solved. It was a fun, quick read.

I purchased this book at the Des Moines flea market.

Books I've read this week - The Murder of King Tut

2009-10-26T00:37:00.001-05:00

Little, Brown

$26.99
ISBN: 9780316034043

About the book: A secret buried for centuries

Thrust onto Egypt's most powerful throne at the age of nine, King Tut's reign was fiercely debated from the outset. Behind the palace's veil of prosperity, bitter rivalries and jealousy flourished among the Boy King's most trusted advisors, and after only nine years, King Tut suddenly perished, his name purged from Egyptian history. To this day, his death remains shrouded in controversy.

The keys to an unsolved mystery

Enchanted by the ruler's tragic story and hoping to unlock the answers to the 3,000 year-old mystery, Howard Carter made it his life's mission to uncover the pharaoh's hidden tomb. He began his search in 1907, but encountered countless setbacks and dead-ends before he finally, uncovered the long-lost crypt.

The clues point to murder
Now, in "The Murder of King Tut," James Patterson and Martin Dugard dig through stacks of evidence--X-rays, Carter's files, forensic clues, and stories told through the ages--to arrive at their own account of King Tut's life and death. The result is an exhilarating true crime tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal that casts fresh light on the oldest mystery of all.

James Patterson became interested in and then somewhat obsessed with the story of King Tut and what had happened to him. He set out, along with Marty Dugard, to research everything he could about the boy king and his life. This book is the result of what they think could have happened. The book is written in three parts which are spread throughout the story - Patterson's reasons for writing the book and his conclusions; the story of the pharoahs' lives as they MAY have happened; and the story of Howard Carter, an Englishman who went to Egypt and spent his life searching for pharoahs' tombs. His exploration party was the one that eventually found the tomb of King Tut after others had given up hope.

The cover of the book says this is a 'nonfiction' thriller. I think using the research they did, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Dugard did an excellent job of writing the story of the pharoahs and it makes a good novel. The part about Mr. Carter is based on his own journals so much of it is known fact. Putting the two together makes a very interesting book but what really happened to King Tut is still very much unknown and the book's conclusion is just the author's own theory and not fact. Read the book and draw your own conclusions.

I won this book from The Tome Traveler blog. Thanks Carey!

Ladies' Night Out

2009-10-22T23:04:00.000-05:00

Monday night was ladies’ night out as I met with my three former bowling team members for supper. Only one of us is still bowling but we try to keep in touch about once a month to catch up on everything. It’s amazing how much we have to say to each other even though we run into each other occasionally outside of our get-togethers. This time was no different and there was some big news to share. Jo is going to be a first-time grandmother. Dee and her hubby are a recent retirees and going to Arizona for the winter (first-time), living in a camper for several months. She has kept us in stitches telling us of their recent travel misadventures with their fifth-wheeler so I hope everything goes smoothly this trip. We’re going to miss her this winter. I was happy to let them know my son finally found a job after being off work since last November.

We’ve been trying to eat at different places in the area and this week was no exception. We decided to try The Little Dublin Pub in Winterset. It’s a relatively new and somewhat cozy little bar with a good menu. Since it was Monday night there were only about a half dozen drinkers sitting and talking at the bar. There was a giant TV at one end and a football game was on but no volume so it didn’t intrude. We got a booth and had a look at the menus. Three of us decided to try the shepherd’s pie (not your typical bar food, huh?) and we were thrilled with our choice. It came with choice of soup, (salmon soup that night which none of us was brave enough to try), salad, cole slaw, or cottage cheese. I had a salad and it was a bit disappointing, just lettuce with a tomato wedge, but Nancy ordered the cole slaw and said it was the best she had ever eaten. The main dish was wonderful. It was ground beef , peas, and I’m sure other things, in a wonderful sauce topped with real mashed potatoes and just the right amount of grated cheese. It came with a side of 2 slices of toasted French bread. YUMMY! Dee ordered the grilled chicken breast and it came with choice of potato, peas (frozen, not canned), salad, and toast. Our meals were right around $10. We all loved the food and made sure to tell the cook. They also offer steaks, sandwiches and have a child’s menu and lunch specials. I can’t wait to eat there again.

We spent 3 hours eating and talking with no hassle from anyone and really enjoyed our time together. Where to next?

Books I've read this week - Through the Triangle

2009-10-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

Through the Triangle by C. P. Stewart

ISBN: 9781432740368

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of publish: Aug 29, 2009

Pages: 388

S.R.P.: $21.95

About the book: For decades, tales of mysterious disappearances and strange phenomena in the Bermuda Triangle have captivated the public. Now, a fascinating new science-fiction novel offers a plausible explanation for this enduring enigma.

Through the Triangle, from physics educator C.P. Stewart, packs a high-energy roller coaster of a story into a well-researched and fascinating book that might make you think twice before boarding that next flight or boat through this extensive region of the Atlantic Ocean. The book follows Jake Myers and his teenaged son Nathan, whose fishing trip to Florida takes a detour when their boat runs into a major storm. Little do they realize when they emerge that they're in the right place, but at the wrong time-the Florida coast, nearly 300 years in the future.

Now, this group is about to confront a terrifying part-human, part-animal species that can see in the dark. Together with a loose association of other humans, they'll have to rely on instinct and cunning to survive while they discover the frightening truth that has occurred over the past centuries. But an even greater threat might be one of their own.

Stewart's first book takes readers through the Bermuda Triangle to the other side and, while fictional, is based on research. He analyzed writings of well-known physicists on the subject of spacetime and M (formerly string) theory, along with reports by some of the fortunate people who were caught in the Triangle and survived to tell about it. The result is Stewart's conviction that people and objects don't cease to exist, but rather are propelled into another time.

It all combines for a savvy time-travel thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the shocking finale.

Before I started reading this book I didn’t have too high of expectations. I figured it would be more of a “men’s” book. I have to say I was VERY pleasantly surprised. The only thing I didn’t like was when the book ended – I wanted more! We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle and the book used that idea as a starting point. A fishing boat is caught up in a strange storm and ends up almost 300 years in the future. The author’s imaginative ideas about what had happened to the world in that time were very well developed. His characters and the dialog were interesting and drew you into the story. There was a twist towards the end that made me go, “Oh, no!” but the story finished well. I think this may be one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Thanks to Bostick Communications, Outskirts Press and C. P. Stewart for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

Books I've read this week - The Laceyville Monkeys: Say the Right Words

2009-10-21T14:55:00.000-05:00

The Laceville Monkeys: Say the Right Words by Harriett Ruderman
Illustrated by Beverly Luria
ISBN: 978-0615264820
Publisher: Illusion Press
Date of publish: March 1, 2009
Pages: 32
S.R.P.: $15.95

About the book: Thirty years ago author Harriett Ruderman entered into the fairytale world of Laceyville. As she listened to her mother tell her daughter the stories that would later inspire her to write the first in a series of books for children based on Grandma Ethel's stories.

It all began at bedtime; Grandma Ethel was telling one of her stories about an imaginary town filled with memorable characters and three very special monkeys who possessed amazing talents. Their names were Eva, Keva and Sheva and the town was called Laceyville. Over time, the Laceyville characters grew in numbers and the stories just kept coming. The story came from Grandma Ethel's creative spirit and Harriett's daughter's anticipation and requests for more.

The Laceyville Monkeys: Say the Right Words teaches children the importance of warm words to others, and also tells a fun story about three talented monkeys. The Laceyville Monkeys stars Eva the ballerina, Sheva the singer and Keva the gymnast. Their owner, Miss Hepzibah Mott, brings her beloved monkeys to Laceyville for the big talent contest.

Readers will meet George the Gorilla, who plays the piano, Jake the Snake who charms all with his Cobra Dance, and silly old Granny Scott, who 'says the wrong words,' and is utterly embarrassed at the results. These characters, and others, are part of the Laceyville cast, created to entertain and amuse children with their antics and fun while emphasizing the importance of warm, caring words of encouragement and love.

This was a very cute story with nice colorful illustrations and although it gives a great moral lesson about speaking nicely to others, it does it in a very gentle way. It would be a great read-aloud book for story time leading into discussion about the lesson it gives.

Thanks to Rachel Rausch at Newman Communications for sending me the book to review.

Wins

2009-10-19T11:57:00.001-05:00

Winning has been slow this fall but then I haven't been entering as many contests since I started blogging and got on Facebook. Here are the prizes I haven't posted about yet.

A DVD, Jonas Rockin’ the House from Here and There. Thanks Pat! This will go to my niece for Christmas.

Green products from Val’s Views, that included one-use bamboo leaf plates and ‘silverware’made from wood, and Skoy cloths, which I really like. The cloths are washable and re-useable many times. Thanks Valerie!

Friends Like These by Danny Wallace from A Bookworm's World. Thanks Luanne!

So Into You by Sandra Hill from Bookin’ with Bingo. Thanks Karen! My review is here.

Provenance by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo from O’s Summer Reading Giveawy. Thanks to Oprah and O magazine.

The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson from The Tome Traveler. Thanks Carey!

Books I've read this week - Evil at Heart

2009-10-17T23:32:00.001-05:00

About the book: Gretchen Lowell is on the loose. A sensationalist media has turned her into a star. Her face graces magazine covers…women get “beauty killer” manicures…there are sightings of her worldwide….even kids wear t-shirts that read, “Run, Gretchen.” Most shocking of all, a fan club has formed – counting the number of days Gretchen Lowell has been free.

Archie Sheridan has hunted her for a decade. He lived and breathed her crime scences, only for her to be right there in front of him, all along. He’s suffered long and hard…and been left near death. After his last attempt to capture her went spectacularly wrong, he’s been hospitalized for months. When a dead body is found with Gretchen’s signature heart, Archie is forced into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her ways…or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?

I won this book from goodreads.com way back on August 1 and had been waiting for it. It arrived this past Tuesday but I didn’t get a chance to read it until Thursday. Once I started, it was hard not to finish it in one sitting. I didn’t realize when I started reading this book that it was #3 in a series. (The others being Heartsick and Sweetheart.) While I wish I had read the others first, there was enough flashback information in this one to fill in the story and it was good enough to stand on its own.

Detective Archie Sheridan is obsessed by the beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell even though she almost killed him, too. The book opens with Archie in a psychiatric hospital being treated for vicodin addiction and attempted suicidal. When bodies start showing up with signs pointing once again to Gretchen, he can’t resist getting involved in the case. Helping him in his search are fellow cop, Henry Sobol, and a journalist looking for a scoop, Susan Ward. Is Gretchen the killer or are there copycats? Is Archie still obsessed with her or can he stand up to her this time? This book was gory, gross, and fascinating. I couldn’t put it down.

This book was an ARC from goodreads.com and Minotaur Books

Books I've read this week - Don't Look Down

2009-10-14T00:59:00.000-05:00

ISBN: 978-0981003757

Publisher: Bridgeross Communications

Date of publish: Aug 17, 2009

Pages: 194

S.R.P.: $19.95

About the book: Four men, age 18 to 81, have murdered, and now share a room in the secure forensic psychiatry ward. Who better to get inside their heads, and find both the tragedy and comedy of their lives than psychiatrist and novelist David Laing Dawson.

Frank has just completed a ten year sentence in a Federal Prison for manslaughter. He is remanded for an assessment in the Forensic Ward of a Psychiatric Hospital. On this ward Frank shares a four bed room with Joseph, a man suffering from severe depression and delusions of jealousy, David, a young schizophrenic man, and Henry Thornton, 81 years of age, sometimes confused, and possibly guilty of the mercy killing of his companion and lover.

Dawson explores the comedy as well as the tragedy of these four lives as they intersect in a dramatic way in a place none of them wishes to be.

This story has the ring of truth and insight only an insider can provide. And though the characters and events are tragic, the author finds many moments of shared humanity, warmth and good humor.

Although this book tells the story of 4 murderers, you can't help but feel sorry for them. The circumstances leading up to each killing, such as childhood abuse or mental illness, is very different and each man kills for a different reason. They all end up in a room together at a psychiatric hospital. The author does a great job exploring their backgrounds and letting the reader into their minds as he tells the story. I like the way he tied up all the loose ends at the end of the book, too.

Books I’ve Read this Week - Embellish

2009-10-13T08:34:00.002-05:00

ISBN: 9781432740368

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Date of publish: Aug 29, 2009

Pages: 388
S.R.P.: $21.95

About the book: As a young girl, Solis Burkes is raped at the hands of ruthless school bullies-an incident that haunts her into young adulthood. Then she meets Nacio, a strikingly handsome man who seems to know everything about her-including the painful past Solis hasn't told anyone about. But what Solis doesn't know is that Nacio has been with her every step of the way, protecting her ever since that fateful episode.

It's a destiny he's been working up to for the last 257 years.

Now, as Solis enters a dark world of vampires, voodoo, and passion, she'll need all the protection she can get. Unbeknownst to her, those responsible for Solis's rape have returned. Connected to the evil voodoo Priestess Auldicia, they'll stop at nothing in their plans to spew violence and mayhem throughout the city. And an old family feud dating back centuries puts Solis first on their list of targets. But not if Solis can unravel the clues fast enough, and inflict her own brand of revenge...

Embellish mixes sexy romance with high-stakes paranormal intrigue for a keeps-you-guessing, fast-paced and savvy thriller, right up until the shocking finale.

Before I say what I thought about the book, I just want to remind everyone that I only write MY opinion. Someone else may have a completely different take on the book. That said, I thought the story idea good but poorly written. The premise of a young woman finding out she has a vampire who loves her and vows to protect her from her enemies has the makings of a very good, paranormal romance. However, the book didn’t deliver (IMO). Solis had been raped as a child. Her mother died young and her grandparents raised her. She tells us she acted out by sleeping with so many guys she couldn’t remember their names. Then along comes Nacio, the 257-year-old vampire, who swears his love for her and does she have sex with him? Nope, just lots of passionate kissing. Not very believable.

There were too many unneeded bits of drivel in the book like the fact that Solis’ biology professor spit when he talked. That had nothing to do with the story. I think the author tried too hard when it came to descriptive phrases, too. Like this sentence, “He pulled me in close to his chest and slowly glided his tongue over the muscle and pulsing vascularity that warmly established my life force within me.” Why not just say, “He slowly licked the pulsing vein in my neck”?

Let’s just say this book had all the elements for a really good story but it didn’t come together for me. If I was rating on a 1-5, I’d give it a 3.

EEEK!!

2009-10-12T16:32:00.001-05:00

We were home all day Saturday because of the crappy weather and in between cleaning and playing on the computer, I drank way too much coffee. I paid for it later by being up until 3 A.M. playing games on Facebook. When I did go to bed, I had trouble getting to sleep. I was just dozing off about an hour later when I heard a rustling noise in the plastic bag of the wastebasket that is right beside my bed. I reached up and turned the bedside light on, leaned over, and even before I put my glasses on, I could see that there was something gray in the bottom of the once-empty bag. "What the heck? Jim was awake by now and was as surprised as me when I told him there was a LIVE MOUSE in the trash bag! When I tried moving the wastebasket , the little devil tried to jump out. Just what I needed - a mouse trying to get in bed with me! Jim has a slightly smaller wastebasket on his side of the bed, so he brought it over and put it inside of mine and smashed that rodent dead. I gave Buddy all-get-out Sunday morning for laying down on the job, too. She caught one on the porch on Thursday but I don't know how this one got in the bedroom.... or in the wastebasket for that matter.

The saga continues……

I'm lying in bed asleep this morning just before 5 and I'm woken up by this very quiet scratching (gnawing?) noise. Jim is already up getting ready for work and comes to the bedroom when I turn the light on. He's wondering what's wrong and I tell him but he can't hear the noise with his hearing loss. I'm still on the bed looking warily around but I tell him it sounds like a mouse is behind the door. He swings the door back and I decide the noise is in the closet the other side of the wall.

At this point, I get up because I can't sleep hearing that noise. I turn the living room light on and calling Buddy, open the closet door. I don't see any mouse droppings but after a minute, Buddy and I both hear the scratching noise resume. Now, since this is the only closet in the house, it's FULL. I removed a couple of boxes and a pair of winter boots and Buddy sits down to wait. In the meantime, I get somewhat dressed because the house is chilly and I don't know how long the mouse hunt is going to take. I'm now wide-awake so I get a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer. About 5 minutes pass and I hear a loud noise and Buddy comes out of the closet with a field mouse in her mouth! Yay, Buddy!! Of course, it's still very much alive and I holler at Jim and follow Buddy into the dining room. (What better place to eat a mouse, right? LOL) We’ve done this before and I knew to grab an empty wastebasket and hold Buddy over it. She dropped the mouse into it and Jim killed it. Buddy got LOTS of praise and now we wait for the next one that, hopefully, won't be anytime soon. Oh, the thrills and excitement of living in an old country house! BTW, that's Buddy napping in my header photo.

Books I've read this week - The Recipe Club

2009-10-10T00:58:00.000-05:00

The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship
By Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel
Published by Polhemus Press
October 2009; $24.95US/CAN; 978-09823492-0-5

About the book: Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic -- and surprisingly ambitious -- struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true.

In childhood, "LillyPad" and "Valpal" vow to form an exclusive two-person club. Throughout the decades they write intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets -- and recipes, from Lilly's "Lovelorn Lasagna" to Valerie's "Forgiveness Tapenade." Readers can cook along as the girls travel through time, facing the challenges of independence; the joys and heartbreaks of first love; and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred.

But no matter what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart, Lilly and Val always find their way back together through their Recipe Club . . . until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal.

Now, decades later, while trying to recapture the trust they've lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more -- only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer?

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a very nice mix of novel and cookbook. Val and Lilly were childhood friends and then pen pals. They decided to start a recipe club for two and when they wrote back and forth they included a timely recipe. I liked the way they named the recipes according to their moods or circumstances at the time, like ‘Good For What Ails You Ginger Ale’ or ‘Mighty Math Muffins’.

The story was full of emotion as neither girl had any trouble saying what she felt in her letters. Val’s mother suffered from agoraphobia (fear of going outside) that caused her to have panic attacks and never leave their home, and Lilly’s father was a psychiatrist who treated her. He spent long hours at Val’s home and encouraged Val in her studies and later paid for her college. She always seemed what he wanted in a daughter while Lilly wanted to forgo college and have a career singing. This caused some problems between the girls and their parents. Things come to a head one day and they didn’t speak again for 26 years!

The book starts in 2000 with Val emailing Lilly to let her know Val’s mother had died and in part two it goes back to 1964 and relates the girl’s relationship and what led up to their split. Park three returns to the present. Are the women able to regain the friendship they had when younger? There’s a dramatic turn of events that will either help reunite them or split them forever. I highly recommend this book.