The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn

The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads: Just as in the original Bar Code Tattoo, the year is 2025 and the mysterious, ubiquitous, and seemingly omnipotent multi-national corporation, Global 1, is in power through their agent President Loudon Waters. But now this ominous situation is experienced through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Grace Morrow.

When Grace finds out that she's adopted, her biological father, who's the head of the Global 1 nano-bot injection project, urges her against getting the bar code tattoo when she turns seventeen. Stunned by the revelations, she goes home to find her adoptive family vanished, and she's determined to find them, turning to the anti-bar-code group Decode. As they uncover more information about tracking, Grace must hide deep underground and under cover, trying to discover information that will allow Decode to figure out what Global 1 is up to, and trying desperately to shut the organization down for good.
My thoughts: The plot thickens as our protagonist proves to be a most important player in the Bar Code Prophecy. She goes to get the tattoo which also includes, perhaps, a small tracking device. Not only that but she discovers who she really is. Well, her parentage. Answers are still floating around and not tangibly expressed but the fat lady has not sung.

Looking forward to the final installment. It really is just getting exciting.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch -- Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods by Jennifer Reese
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Description: When Jennifer Reese lost her job, she was overcome by an impulse common among the recently unemployed: to economize by doing for herself what she had previously paid for. She had never before considered making her own peanut butter and pita bread, let alone curing her own prosciutto or raising turkeys. And though it sounded logical that “doing it yourself” would cost less, she had her doubts. So Reese began a series of kitchen-related experiments, taking into account the competing demands of everyday contemporary American family life as she answers some timely questions: When is homemade better? Cheaper? Are backyard eggs a more ethical choice than store-bought? Will grinding and stuffing your own sausage ruin your week? Is it possible to make an edible maraschino cherry? Some of Reese’s discoveries will surprise you: Although you should make your hot dog buns, guacamole, and yogurt, you should probably buy your hamburger buns, potato chips, and rice pudding. Tired? Buy your mayonnaise. Inspired? Make it. With its fresh voice and delightful humor, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter gives 120 recipes with eminently practical yet deliciously fun “Make or buy” recommendations. Reese is relentlessly entertaining as she relates her food and animal husbandry adventures, which amuse and perplex as well as nourish and sustain her family. Her tales include living with a backyard full of cheerful chickens, muttering ducks, and adorable baby goats; countertops laden with lacto-fermenting pickles; and closets full of mellowing cheeses. Here’s the full picture of what is involved in a truly homemade life—with the good news that you shouldn’t try to make everything yourself—and how to get the most out of your time in the kitchen.

My take: Jennifer Reese is a girl after my own heart. I had a similar experience only I didn't write a book about it and I forgot to get the chickens. Mostly because I have an aversion to eating animals I grow, even if it is only eggs. Don't even get me started on growing up on a farm and eating the cows that wandered through the field. Vegetarianism is so under-rated.

So Reese experiments with what can be made at home and what can not. It is hilarious and right on. I agree with her on so many levels. On the title alone, I stopped buying Rhodes rolls over 5 years ago. I can whip up rolls and 5 different artisan breads for pennies thanks to hard economic times. I did, however, have some extra cream and attempted to shake it into butter. Like Reese proposes, it's not worth it.

In a world of changing economic times, Reese takes into account cost and time, economizing both for a fun, entertaining, and educational read.

***Edit: Okay, I have a confession to make. I didn't read the whole book when I wrote this review. I still haven't. I skipped around and read about the foods I was most interested in. Specifically, I read about eggs. I may have laughed so hard I wet myself just a little bit. Just kidding but only because I have an iron bladder. I'm not quoting verbatim but she said something like, "Our city allows up to 12 hens. We got 19." She then tells how her husband found out about the chicks and what he said. That's about where I needed to go to the bathroom. I can't quote it because I try not to swear in my reviews (keeping it to real life), but I would think my husband had similar thoughts. He does not verbalize his cuss words but I think he might have thought those.

Just to add to this portion of the book, my experiences have been incredibly similar and her summary of chickens is sickeningly accurate. The difference between the author and myself is that when I found the chicken corpses after my dog got a hold of them, I may have had a slight psychotic break. This is also the time when my cussing mouth took off all by itself.

Other similarities is the cost of the eggs is astronomical when factoring in the start-up costs; coop, run, food, light/heat, shock collar for dog, etc., etc. Difference is that I quit keeping track of the cost long before she did.

My children complain when I call out to the hens, "Ladies! Come here, Ladies!" Also, when they can't find me in the house, they look in the garden where I may be found digging up worms with the shovel, chickens surrounding me.

They bring us joy. They're cute. They come when I call. I'm their person. They are my ladies.

 *I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Underside of Joy by Seré Prince Halverson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very well writen novel with underlying message that in order to fully feel joy, one must also know pain. It is also a beautiful tribute to a mother's love in spite of a past not conducive for love. Above all, through the journey, mothering does not have to include giving birth to love a child.

The story is told through the point of view of Ella, a stepmother who stepped into theshoes and life of another wife and mother who left her own when post partum depression became too much to bear. Ella loves her family completely but is soon confronted hard realities when her husband dies and the children's birth mother returns and makes a compelling case for Ella to see her choices in a different light.

The author starts with Ella's semi charmed kind of life and shifts the balance of the scales subtly in order for Ella to see how Paige was wronged by her husband and may have a legitimate claim to the children she left three years ago. Beatifully executed and compelling. Heartbreaking and hopeful.

The Shortest Way Home: A Novel by Juliette Fay Review and GIVEAWAY

The Shortest Way Home: A Novel by Juliette Fay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: Sean has spent twenty years in Third World war zones and natural disaster areas, fully embracing what he’d always felt was his life’s mission. But when burnout sets in, Sean is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me. There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny. Completely relatable, The Shortest Way Home is another perfect serving of a slice of life from the irresistible Fay.


My thoughts: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's not a fast moving story nor is it evocative or highly moving. It quietly educates the reader on a number of common and uncommon maladies along with a message of looking close to home for the best place to serve.

The protagonist is Sean, a 43 year old man, who has been spent the past couple of decades running himself ragged in war torn and health ravaged countries. As a registered male nurse, he has dedicated his life to help the less fortunate and put himself in harms way to better the lives of others. Sean believes he is a ticking time bomb. His mother was diagnosed with early onset Huntington's Disease and died young. His father then abandoned the remaining three children for the Merchant Marines and the bottle. They grew up with their mother's sister, a spinster satisfied with keeping others distant and cold.

Huntington's Disease is genetic and not found statistically higher in either gender. Children of people with Huntington's Disease have a 50% chance of having it themselves. The age of onset is typically by early forties. It is degenerative and uncurable. It affects the body but especially the mind. There is now a test for the disease but this is one aspect that was not covered in the book, there are repercussions for possibly having it before onset. One family I knew had five children before the mother was discovered to have the disease. The impeccably dressed and beautiful young woman with all the social graces spiraled to an obsessive, bad tempered and overweight woman with no memory of her husband and children and threw food at her caregivers. The father wanted to plan for the children and the care of his wife was financially ruining him. He didn't dare have them tested for fear they would be uninsurable once the results were revealed to the insurance company. Eventually, he divorced his wife so she could be placed into the custody of the state and drove the children to Canada where they were tested. Only the father knows which of the children will develop Huntington's Disease.

Sorry for the detour.

So Sean is summoned home. He is now confused and reasonably certain he dodged the Huntington's bullet. So what does he do now? At this point, Sean grapples with faith in God, the bigger picture, and "now what". His aunt seems to be developing possible Alzheimer's. His younger sister is tired of being the caregiver and wants to have a life. His younger brother, who lived life hard, died of pneumonia years before but has a son who is now 11 years old. The boy has some interesting quirks. Kevin is a great vehicle for educating the readers on a few different differences of the nervous system that are not uncommon and affect many children and adults. I loved the way the information was presented. Sean wants to understand Kevin better and ends up discovering more about his brother. For good measure, the grown children's father makes an appeal to enter their lives again.

For having a male protagonist, the book is still perfect Chick Lit. There is a romance developing and a couple of mild sex scenes thrown in for good measure. Nothing blush worthy, just good, clean fornication.

I can't just justify that last sentence.

It's a great book to savor on vacation or cozy nights under a quilt. I really enjoyed it.

*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody by Ludworst Bemonster

Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody
by Ludworst Bemonster**

My thoughts: I loved Madeleine as a child. It was so French and tragic.

Well, along the same lines, little Frankenstein wakes up in the night and is found because something is not right. It is a little boy's dream book and a little girl's nightmare. Unsettling as it may seem to a mother or girlie stomach, my little boy loved it. We read it together, taking turns reading a page at a time. I enjoyed the parody. He has never read Madeleine which is tragic.

Although perfect for Halloween, I would add this to any little boy's library. It is complement to the prim and proper Madeleine that needed to be written years ago.

**Ludworst Bemonster is a pen name. The actual author's name is Nathan Hale. I don't know him, but he is apparently living nearby. Maybe I will stalk him. And walk like a zombie while doing so.

Because I'm weird like that.


*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

My thoughts: Beautiful prose and the lighthouse is an analogy for so many things. I wish I could have nailed it down to a specific analogous person/object. Is it safety, danger, a person? I almost grasped it but not quite.

That aside, I underlined many sentences and passages that were poetic and/or caused me to gasp in surprise that I had not noticed something so obvious before. The author is brilliant with analogies of light, lighthouses, and keepers.

Part III nearly tore me in two. Obviously, the book description states the conflict; a child washes up on an island where a lighthouse keeper and his wife are living. Unable to carry a child to term and life they are in a quandary. Doing the right thing according to the law or seeing it as a gift from God and keeping her? Incredibly, the author deftly writes compelling arguments for both sides in such a way that my heart ached for all interested parties. I understood why all of them did what they did.

If there is one analogy I understood, it is that there is no universal right or wrong when a heart is broken and a soul is crushed. The analogy is coupled with the little island of Janus where the lighthouse sits, a hundred miles from civilization. On one side is one ocean. On the other side is another. Both are crushing and ever changing. Both are forces to be reckoned with. Neither can be crossed by one small man and boat. Much like a mother and her child.

Compelling.



*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Julie Andrews' Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year by Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews' Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year by Julie Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thoughts: This book really is a keepsake. Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, have collected, written, and organized a wonderful collection of poetry to serve every season. Not only the seasons of the year, but seasons of life. As I picked it up to peek at it, I found myself on my second poem. My heart was lightened, my soul awakened, and I found I was grinning.

Sometimes I forget to grin.

But the endorphines were flowing and I kept reading. And now I am sharing.

Bruce Lansky wrote a poem on New Year's Resolutions:

Last year I did some rotten things.
This year I will do better.
Here are some resolutions
I will follow to the letter:

I won't make dumb excuses
when my homework isn't done;
when the truth is that I did no work
'cause I was having fun...

... I will not do these rotten things;
my heart is full of sorrow.
But I have got some brand-new tricks
to try in school tomorrow.

A snippet of Jack Prelutsky:

I made my dog a valentine,
she sniffed it very hard,
then chewed on it a little while
and left it in the yard.

On Christening, David McCord wrote:

When I was christened
they held me up
and poured some water
out of a cup.

The trouble was
it fell on me,
and I and water
don't agree.

A lot of christeners
stood and listened:
I let them know
that I was christened.

And some more serious like Myra Cohn Livingston on the Passover:

Out of a land
that held us slaves,

Under the wings
of the angel of death,

Over hot sands,
across the seas,

We sing again
with freedom's breath.

Don't you feel just a little lighter? Don't you have at least a pleasant smile gracing your face?

It's missed you. Read this one and welcome that smile back.



*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Thankful Book by Todd Parr

The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love books by Todd Parr. This, like the others, are short, colorful, and fun. The illustrations are simple yet succinct. This is perfect for emerging readers. Their concentration is usually short and easily diverted by complicated illustrations. My son read this book all by himself. The words are short and simple. The concept is being grateful for every day niceties like hair (fun picture, by the way).

Highly recommend for the emerging reader.


*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads: “It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It’s possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”

Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world

My thoughts: Evocative language about the subtle slow of the earth's rotation as threats and nights lengthen Julia, the 11 year old narrator, continues through 6th grade. The reader experiences the tearing of societal fabric as Julia finds herself socially marginalized, then acceptable for the company she keeps, rejected by her best friend and has tastes first love.

Meanwhile, Julia's family is falling apart and people disappear to Circadian colonies or simply disappear. The earth's magnetic field changes and plants and animals die. It is kind of a doomsday cautionary tale written with enough scientific background to be believable but also terribly depressing. Although more subtle and readable, it felt too Al Gore for my tastes.

Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens

Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens


I usually try to temper my negative reviews. I can't make any promises here. It was really that bad. I don't even know where to start. The characters were flat and under developed. The story was told like like reading a sophomore English student's fiction assignment that got out of control. There was no depth to the story. It was like reading a sexually awakened college girl's fantasy with no idea what reality looks like.

The rest of my review is full if spoilers so consider yourself warned. Here is the story according to me, summarized by the flat characters with no moral compass:

Ariel: I am such a lucky 21 year old. I am moving across the country to finally LIVE with my extremely hot, amazing loverboy. He's Australia. He's perfect. He has an internship in Seattle.

Denny: G'Day, Mate! Chuckle.

Ariel: After a long drive and a couple of rest stops (*giggle*), we're in Seattle. There's our roommate. He's totally hot and also perfect. He's a rock star in a band. He's sexual. I want him. Well, back to our new place where my Australian and perfect boyfriend and I will have sex!

Oh, no! Denny is going to Tucson! But I love him so much! I'm going to pout, cry, and blush. New roommate is so hot! His name is Kellen. We're best friends. We hold hands, snuggle, and kiss. Denny just called. I'm really mad at him. I'm getting drunk on Tequila with Kellen. Oops. We ended up sleeping together. Now I'll blush and cry. But look at Kellen's great hair! And his bod is so hot! Maybe we can just be friends. I'll keep telling him that we're friends that do everything except that. Oops. We did it again. Oh. And my boyfriend came back. Now I'll have graphic sex with him.

Kellen: She tells me she wants to just be friends, then she keeps sidling up to me and snuggling with me. She touches me. She makes advances. She makes me all hot and bothered, whispers sweet nothings, then pulls back and blushes and cries. Then I can hear her upstairs with her boyfriend having sex. She is the worst kind of tease. I'm sexually frustrated. Now I will become a man whore. I am bringing home different women every night. I don't even know their names. I am performing sex acts that are illegal in 8 states. And having them performed on me. Wait. Why is Kiera hitting me? Now she's kissing me. She's letting me touch her. We're about to do it. Finally! Wait. Now she's crying and blushing again. What is up with her? I think I will chuckle.

Denny: I'm a clueless and pathetic handsome Australian. I think I'll propose to Kiera because she's so moody and depressed. Now I will chuckle.

Kiera: I'm so conflicted (although I don't use the word "conflicted" because I'm not smart enough to know it)! I love two beautiful men. And they love me! And nobody burps or farts or drools in their sleep. Everybody is just so perfect! Whatever shall I do? I know. I'll have graphic sex with Kellen and tell him I love him. Then I'll have graphic sex with Denny and tell him I love him. Then I will cry and blush. Maybe this time I will even "pale."

Kellen: I had a sad, sad childhood. Nobody has ever loved me. I've never loved anybody. My parents, in their one dimensional characterization, hated me. Then they died. I only find solace in sex. But I love Kiera. Kiera loves me. We base that love on absolutely nothing because all we've done is objectify one another but somehow I know it is true love. I'm about to take Kiera again. We're really into it. Oh, crap. There's Denny.

Denny: Why, you little man whore. I'm going to beat you up.

Kiera: No, Denny! I love him! But I love you, too! I didn't know how to tell you! I'm just so plain and not exceptional. How did such a plain and non-exceptional girl get the love of two perfect guys? Sex, anyone?

Big ending with someone getting hospitalized and everyone finding a happy ending....[Ariel: I am such a lucky 21 year old. I am moving across the country to finally LIVE with my extremely hot, amazing loverboy. He's Australia. He's perfect. He has an internship in Seattle.

Denny: G'Day, Mate! Chuckle.

Ariel: After a long drive and a couple of rest stops (*giggle*), we're in Seattle. There's our roommate. He's totally hot and also perfect. He's a rock star in a band. He's sexual. I want him. Well, back to our new place where my Australian and perfect boyfriend and I will have sex!

Oh, no! Denny is going to Tucson! But I love him so much! I'm going to pout, cry, and blush. New roommate is so hot! His name is Kellen. We're best friends. We hold hands, snuggle, and kiss. Denny just called. I'm really mad at him. I'm getting drunk on Tequila with Kellen. Oops. We ended up sleeping together. Now I'll blush and cry. But look at Kellen's great hair! And his bod is so hot! Maybe we can just be friends. I'll keep telling him that we're friends that do everything except that. Oops. We did it again. Oh. And my boyfriend came back. Now I'll have graphic sex with him.

Kellen: She tells me she wants to just be friends, then she keeps sidling up to me and snuggling with me. She touches me. She makes advances. She makes me all hot and bothered, whispers sweet nothings, then pulls back and blushes and cries. Then I can hear her upstairs with her boyfriend having sex. She is the worst kind of tease. I'm sexually frustrated. Now I will become a man whore. I am bringing home different women every night. I don't even know their names. I am performing sex acts that are illegal in 8 states. And having them performed on me. Wait. Why is Kiera hitting me? Now she's kissing me. She's letting me touch her. We're about to do it. Finally! Wait. Now she's crying and blushing again. What is up with her? I think I will chuckle.

Denny: I'm a clueless and pathetic handsome Australian. I think I'll propose to Kiera because she's so moody and depressed. Now I will chuckle.

Kiera: I'm so conflicted (although I don't use the word "conflicted" because I'm not smart enough to know it)! I love two beautiful men. And they love me! And nobody burps or farts or drools in their sleep. Everybody is just so perfect! Whatever shall I do? I know. I'll have graphic sex with Kellen and tell him I love him. Then I'll have graphic sex with Denny and tell him I love him. Then I will cry and blush. Maybe this time I will even "pale."

Kellen: I had a sad, sad childhood. Nobody has ever loved me. I've never loved anybody. My parents, in their one dimensional characterization, hated me. Then they died. I only find solace in sex. But I love Kiera. Kiera loves me. We base that love on absolutely nothing because all we've done is objectify one another but somehow I know it is true love. I'm about to take Kiera again. We're really into it. Oh, crap. There's Denny.

Denny: Why, you little man whore. I'm going to beat you up.

Kiera: No, Denny! I love him! But I love you, too! I didn't know how to tell you! I'm just so plain and not exceptional. How did such a plain and non-exceptional girl get the love of two perfect guys? Sex, anyone?

Big ending with someone getting hospitalized and everyone finding a happy ending.... (hide spoiler)]

Ugh. I'm angry at myself for wasting the hours reading this drivel that I will never get back. Maybe I'll go off and blush and cry. Afterwards, I might chuckle.

View all my reviews
 
*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: 1959 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world

My thoughts: I had this mystery figured out at least five different times throughout the book. Because I'm smart like that. But then new information came to light so I had to change my mind. I did get one major part right but I completely missed the big shocker. Wow.

Typical Kate Morton style, there are double meanings in the sentence structure. Additionally, Morton is gifted in her transitions. Different time periods and different points of view left me hanging at the end of each chapter but only a short while but kept me reading. Slow starting after the initial shocker in the first chapter but impossible to put down once I was in the rhythm.

View all my reviews

*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

My thoughts: I was surprised by how much I wanted to read this book once I really got into it. Admittedly, it took a few chapters to get past Evie and her self centered nature. She quickly became my favorite character despite being self centered and, surprisingly, because of it. She has the best lines and is the most fleshes out. She's hilarious and snarky and once I stopped stumbling over the flapper vernacular, loved her.

There is so much going on in the book with the central theme being the murders. On the side, we are also getting to know other Diviners and frankly, it is unclear if they are operating from an altruistic or selfish standpoint. Not all questions are answered yet the end is satisfying enough to put away. There are characters and questions that are left hanging for follow up books but the author wisely allowed these to be secondary stories that don't need answers to finish this book.

This is a rather dark and involved book. Diviners are those with special gifts that seem to be neither good nor evil but can serve either purpose. Good and evil do exist and that is somewhat of a debate within the characters throughout the book. The supernatural is explored to intriguing ends as is religion and occults.

Do be prepared for some grisly murderer and past sexual exploits. Nothing is shocking about the past exploits but the darkness of the supernatural and creepiness made me take my daughter outside with me to turn off the light in the chicken coop for the night. Not that I was scared or anything. I'm just a good mom teaching responsibility. Yep. That's my story.

*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie

Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads: When everyone thinks you’re dead, how do you start your life over again?

Emma Tupper, a young lawyer with a bright future, sets out on a journey after her mother’s death: to Africa, a place her mother always wanted to visit. But her mother’s dying gift has unexpected consequences. Emma falls ill during the trip and is just recovering when a massive earthquake hits, turning her one-month vacation into a six-month ordeal. 

When Emma returns home, she’s shocked to find that her friends and colleagues believed she was dead, that her apartment has been rented to a stranger and that her life has gone on without her. Can Emma pick up where she left off? Should she? As Emma struggles to recreate her old life, everyone around her thinks she should change – her job, her relationships, and even herself. But does she really want to sacrifice everything she’s working so hard to gain?

My thoughts: I love Catherine McKenzie's books and writing style. I find her incredibly talented and well rounded. This is the third book by her I have read. Once again, she has surprised me with her knowledge base as this time around the protagonist is an attorney who, before leaving for Africa, is up for partner. She has sacrificed and put in her time, sweat, tears and given up everything else except her lawyer boyfriend and one good friend when her mother succumbs to cancer and she is handed an inheritance that includes airfare and a month long safari to Africa.

Six months later she returns to her life. There was a supernatural experience that may be chalked up to a feverish illness, a promise to return to pick her up later and, a day later, a devastating earthquake. Emma is stranded in a remote village with no contact with the outside world. Slowly, she adjusts her expectations and helps with the service work. When the airport opens six months later Emma goes home. When she gets there, however, she discovers that she has been presumed dead and life continued without her. The life she spent three and half decades building is gone.

Emma tells the story of Africa intermittently in her head and through dreams as she tries to put her life back together. She didn't know the earthquake was devastating in the capital. But something within her changed while she was in Africa. The timing of Africa revelations perfectly lines up with her current circumstances. The author is still one of my favorite because I love the way she tells the story, whatever story she tells, and the voice she tells it in. The reason for the three stars instead of a higher rating is simply due to the fact that I lacked the understanding of the connection of Africa and the new Emma. I saw the changes with Emma and I liked them. I liked the romance, too. I liked Emma's take charge personality like many of McKenzie's previous protagonists. I simply didn't feel as moved by the conclusion of the book as I have in other books by this author.

On the other hand, this is a much cleaner read than her previous two books so I didn't have to hide from my kids while I was reading it. Catherine McKenzie is articulate, hilarious, and and writes strong yet human protagonists. I guess my real hang up with this book is that I wanted to be more in Emma's head when she makes the decisions she makes to change her life. Why she changed certain things and didn't change others. I also felt disconnected from Dominic, the potential love interest. I wanted more of a back story on him. I liked him but never really connected to him beyond the fact that he had a broken heart and was exiting a bad relationship. Beyond that, I wanted to know his motivations for his actions. In fact, I think I hungered for understanding everybody's motivations and they didn't meet my expectations.

Still - good read. One of my favorite authors. It's her own fault for entertaining me so completely with her first two novels.

View all my reviews

*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Crewel by Genifer Albin Review

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars Low 4 stars but not 3.

Goodreads: Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

My thoughts: This is a new flavor of dystopian. The setting is an alternate reality built from the raw materials of earth, mined from the defunct planet and sitting over it, woven by the Creweler and Spinsters. Naturally, there is a control freak maniac who sees himself as different from the earthly leaders in days of yore. Shocker alert: There is a love triangle with both boys not completely trustworthy. Also included are social climbing women.

My problem with the books was the lack of clear segue between one person's comments and the protagonist's conclusions. Her name is Adalice, by the way. She's smart mouthed and quite spunky yet surprisingly pliable for having so much spunk. There are also a couple of holes in the story like why the life of certain people are taken and others are secretly not and I failed to follow a clear line of reasoning even in a single scene. That bothered me because I consider myself snarky and sarcastic.

On the other hand, the idea is original. The world constructed can be manipulated by certain women who can see the weave on a loom (or around them but that's a secret). Each thread or weave represents a life, a family, a community. I had a hard time visualizing it but trusted the gifted ones in the book were able to see it and manipulate it. That said, it seemed that the vindictive did not have to follow the same rules as the other Spinsters.

The ending was satisfying yet left a brand new adventure to be explored. I liked it. I didn't love it. I will read book 2 if it falls into my hands but won't wait for it with bated breath. Although, to be fair, I read much of it on a Kindle which lacked proper format. Perhaps the connections would have been more clear on my print version.


*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

American Ghost: A Novel by Janis Owens

American Ghost: A Novel by Janis Owens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: An engrossing novel inspired by a true event about unresolved family history and racial tensions that threaten a Florida community.

With American Ghost, Janis Owens offers an evocative southern novel continuing in the tradition originally established by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and brought into the new millennium by writers like Karen Russell and Kathryn Stockett. Inspired by Owens’s extensive research on a real lynching that occurred in the 1930s, American Ghost is a richly woven exploration of how the events of our past can haunt our present.

Jolie Hoyt is the daughter of a Pentecostal preacher living in small-town Florida. Disregarding her family’s closet full of secrets and distrust of outsiders, she throws caution to the wind when she falls in love with Sam Lense, a Jewish anthropology student from Miami in town to study the region. But their affair ends abruptly when Sam is discovered to have pried too deeply into the town’s dark racial past and he becomes the latest victim of violence. Years later, Sam and Jolie are brought together again, and as they resolve the mistakes of their early love, they finally shed light on the ugly history of Jolie’s hometown.

A page-turning blend of romance and historical gothic, American Ghost is a triumph—the novel that this outstanding Southern author was born to write


My thoughts: I hate to compare this book to blockbuster success, but it evoked the same emotions I felt when I read The Help. It's a book about Southern hypocrisy, but that's not what makes me compare the two. When I bought The Help, I was simply looking for something good to read and saw it at Costco. I hadn't heard anything about it and there were few reviews. I bought it hardback version. It's the kind of book that sneaks up on you and you realize you should have gone to bed hours ago.

Like the previously mentioned book, the story is intriguing but not its strongest point. The strongest point is the character development as each one brings a unique chemistry to the mix. The lines they each deliver at the right moment enveloped me right into the book. The book needed the Jewish Sam Lense, the mixed blood of Jolie and Carl Hoyt with all their kin, and Scandinavian style Lena with her bikini tops and devotion to Jolie and Carl. The story needed the aging sisters and their slow shuffles to get the eggs or change for a twenty. Uncle Ott was somewhat of a mystic in his smaller statue while older brother Ray was a mythic giant with his cast eye and humility in preaching.

The central theme is the mystery regarding the lynching of a black man from the turpentine camp in 1938. Horrific crimes were committed that night and when the details are revealed, it did turn my stomach. The book is loosely built on a historical event in the backwoods of Florida, the last documented collective lynching quite late in American history. This is where the hypocrisy sneaks in as the Hoyts claim to be white folk but a pedigree search quickly reveals their Irish blood making a lot of babies with native Indians then intermarrying. But ask them about the Injuns that live in the woods and they will give a true look of puzzlement.

The backwoods town of Hendrix, where the crime first began, is a well written story of collective secrecy, guilt and shame. It is a society that holds their ancestor's sins close to the chest and sabotage themselves from true betterment which is the case of Jolie, although there were extenuating circumstances that occur that facilitate her self sabotage.

There are a bunch of stories going on in the book and spanning seventy years. The lynching is a secret because those who perpetrated the violence (beyond the first killing, which was of a shopkeeper in the camp), are respected members of society, such as it is. Sixy years later, their children are still trying to keep their game face on. But one black worker lost two of his fingers in the scuffle and his sons, now elderly, enter the ring in an entreaty to retrieve their daddy's "fangers." The middle two. But that only brings up the guilt of the town which is a bad thing. And another newer act of violence that Jolie never solved. Better to carry the secrets and never mention them than to bring them all to light and discover the crimes are not enough to carry through the generations, you see.

The story is intriguing. The characters are unbelievably real and well fleshed out. The writing style is succinct yet beautiful. I ended up writing down words that struck me. I know them in context but on their own, they are just fun to say like sonorously, anathema, vaudevillian, purloined, cacophony, sanguine, temerity, anachronistic.

Excellent book that I expect to see a lot more of in the next couple of years.

View all my reviews

*I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler: A True Love Story Rediscovered by Trudi Kanter

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler: A True Love Story Rediscovered by Trudi Kanter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads: The astonishing true journey of Trudi Kanter, an Austrian Jew, whose courage, resourcefulness, and perseverance kept both her and her beloved safe during the Nazi invasion is a rediscovered masterpiece.

In London, in 1984, Trudi Kanter's remarkable memoir was published by N. Spearman. Largely unread, it went out of print until it was re-discovered by a British editor in 2011 and now, for the first time, it is available to readers everywhere. 

In 1938, Trudi Miller, stunningly beautiful, chic, and charismatic, was a hat designer for the best-dressed women in Vienna. She frequented cafes. She had suitors. She flew to Paris to see the latest fashions. And she fell deeply in love with Walter Ehrlich, a charming and romantic businessman. But as Hitler’s tanks roll into Austria, the world this young Jewish couple knows and loves collapses leaving them desperate to find a way to survive. 

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler is an enchanting true story that moves from Vienna to Prague to blitzed London, as Trudi seeks safety for her and Walter amid the horror engulfing Europe. In prose that cuts straight to the bone, Trudi Kanter has shared her indelible story. Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler is destined to become a World War II classic.

My thoughts: The overall story is interesting but the writing style is horrible. Difficult to follow direction of thought as situations require interpretation that is not common knowledge in today's society and country. There is a lot if self promotion of author's sexual prowess and desirability. It didn't relate to the storyline, in most cases and seemed self congratulatory. At the same time, the author's "true love" tended toward vanity as well. She didn't trust him with fidelity and it seemed to almost be a contest to see who could garner the most attention from the opposite sex. Very distracting from the other storyline.

The storyline of how Trudi figured out how to save herself and those closest to her is interesting. I was also unaware that England interned possible enemies of the state in deplorable camps in Liverpool.

Quick read and educational. I found the extraneous information to either exhibit a great deal of vanity and misguided drama or a huge cultural chasm.

 *I received a free copy of this book from publishing company in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Breathe by Sarah Crossan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads: Inhale. Exhale. 
Breathe. 
Breathe. 
Breathe . . .
The world is dead. 
The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

Alina
has been stealing for a long time. She's a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she's never been caught before. If she's careful, it'll be easy. If she's careful.

Quinn
should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it's also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn't every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

Bea
wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they'd planned a trip together, the two of them, and she'd hoped he'd discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

My thoughts: In the not so distant future, there was a Switch. Apparently, the people of the world saw no good reason to preserve resources and killed the trees. Now there is not enough oxygen. The lucky ones moved into pods which are differentiated between classes. The lucky ones like Quinn get preferential treatment and extra oxygen. But there is a price he discovers later in the book.

Bea is an optimist who believes her life can improve with the proper test scores behind her name. This dream is shot to crap as there is more governmental control than originally believed. Still, Bea believes in Quinn who sees Bea as a lovely friend. That's all.

Now the mysterious girl who appears and needs to desperately get out of the pod and into a secret haven. Quinn totally digs her. He follows. Bea follows, and all that they knew of the reality they'd grown to accept is completely destroyed.

Although all about keeping the earth green and not giving away too much power to the government, the book is a solid story with well fleshed out characters. They are flawed but growing and it feels a little suffocating reading the books while they are struggling for air or stifled under oxygen tanks. There is much more to their world than they ever knew and the government is happily taking control.

I'll be reading book 2.