Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier

Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lucy is the mom of 5, works on the small town newspaper, and is highly involved the school activities. After one the regular meeting of the group of 4 (moms who have been raising their kids and helping others for years) decide there is a need for a bake sale to help kids in need with school supplies, Lucy is sent off to round up the moms who used to bake. Problem: they are all into other things or have moved, are empty nesters, etc. Next meeting, it is decided it is time to involve the new moms that have moved into Lucy's neighborhood.

The meet and greet and bake sale planning is held at Lucy's house and all goes well. Next meeting is a taste and decide on the best products and who's going to make what and all the other details involve.

Comes the day of the bake sale and all the women schedule to work the first half of the day show up. Except for Mimi who works for the city and is a royal pain in the butt who reports everyone's slightest offences except her son's roaring motorcycle.

Lucy is sent off to find out what is going on as Mimi is also not answering her phone. What Lucy finds is burning cookies and smoke and Mimi slumped over the counter. As she goes to pull Mimi out the of the smoke filled house, she discovers Mimi's problem is not due to smoke inhalation but a carving knife embedded in her back.

Ah but that is not the only mystery in town. Someone is sending unsigned note to the paper about hazing of the JV football team and the cheerleaders (one of whom is Lucy's daughter). And then there is the tramp who shows up for Mimi's funeral only to show up dead himself.

While this is one of a series of books, don't worry, everything is nicely wrapped up (not who I thought 'did it'). There is an starter for the next book. BUT most importantly, there are some good recipes at the end that were referred to in the novel. You could jump to the end and start a batch and read while they are cooking unless you are one of those people who block things out while reading.

This is another that I would call a "cozy" mystery. So fix yourself a cuppa, curl up in your favorite chair, and enjoy yourself.

(This is an e'book I got for my Mac Kindle.)

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Oh, Hachette, I can't thank you enough  for letting me listen this book for you! I don't know why you have an abridged version of this book.. It is so beautifully written. The descriptions are so necessary for the settings and the people!

I can say Katie is new to a small rural town in North Carolina; that she is reserved and lovely and has moved into a small cottage in the 'boonies'. But that doesn't really describe her. It doesn't show her reservation or give you any feelings of something ominous in her past; that she may be running from something or why.

An abridged version might not build her slow friendship with her new neighbor, Jo, in the only other cabin near hers or her relationship with the grocery story owner and his 2 kids.

This is a cosy mystery. The start is gentle but the writing makes it worthwhile as we start to learn about Katie as she makes friends we learned to love. That gentle pace picks up as we learn who and why Katie is on the run  and we run with her to the end.

It was nice to take on a story that builds and builds and builds to a strong ending.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as DH and I!

The Red Church

The Red Church by Scott Nicholson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As most of my friends know, I am not a fan of the 'horror' genre. So why the heck would I read this one? I've been following Scott Nicholson's Kindle tour and as I read his postings, I found I liked them. While some were very lengthy, I didn't mind reading them because of the way he wrote. And then he wanted his fans to push his ebook sale of "The Red Church" up to the 100 mark. Well, I have Kindle on my Mac and 99 cents was a good price to help a friend....yes, I went to Amazon and got it.

I had just finished my last book and thought I would see what I had gotten for 99 cents. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have to finish it.

Next think I knew, it was time to go to bed. I had met 2 brothers, who while walking home from school had to pass the old red church (which like most from it's time, had a grave yard beside it). The younger brother (not knowing all the history of the church or ghost stories) saw something that drew his attention (a 'girly' magazine) and called his reluctant brother over to see the findings. Next thing you know, an almost dead person grab an ankle with causes much screaming as the ankle get unhooked and the boys race home to tell their parents of the gruesome happening!

The parents meanwhile are at home fighting. It seems a evangelical preacher from the area had left several years ago for California with the wife and a few other woman to start the Church of the Two Suns. The husband had 'rescued' her from them and brought her back to the mountains. But the preacher was back and the wife seemed to have come 'under his spell' again.

Two more strange deaths occur.

The church bell rings but how....there is no bell cord.

Yep. I was hooked. I finished it this morning.

There are ghosts and monsters terrible happenings but maybe because it is primarily told through the 13 year old big brother, it is not a gory as it might have been.

But I think my friends who lean that way will enjoy it as much as I did. 'Definitely right for this time of year~

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Agatha Christie Marathon

Ok, I know it looks like I've been off books. But it is not true! We have been listening to lots of shorts by Agatha Christie from Audible.com.

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Dramatised) 44:17
After the Funeral (Dramatised)    1:27:20
The Blood-Stained Pavement (Unabridged)    22:52       
Cards on the Table (Dramatised)  1:27:28     
Endless Night (Dramatised)    57:19     
The Golden Ball (Unabridged)   22:19     
The Gypsy (Dramatised)   27:46     
Hallowe'en Party (Dramatised)   1:27:39   
The Herb of Death (Unabridged)  30:48   
The Market Basing Mystery (Unabridged)  20:26   
The Plymouth Express (Unabridged)  30:23   
Sleeping Murder (Dramatised)    1:27:05  
The Thumb Mark of St. Peter (Unabridged)   28:43
The Tuesday Night Club (Unabridged)  27:34
The Wasp's Nest (Unabridged)  20:36

All but one we really enjoyed. "Endless Night" just didn't seem to match up as well as the others and I am sorry to say I can't tell you why. It wasn't bad, it just was not as good as the others.  But the prices were right for a wee splurge. 

The Bride Collector

I have to thank Libby of Libby's Library News for putting this book up as a giveaway and Hachette Audio for offering it to her!

When the audio arrived, I thought "Why don't we (DH and I) just listen to the first disc and see what we think. We can listen to the rest of it later (12 disc set)."

Well, that was Friday and this is Sunday and disc 12 has finished. What does that tell you? Yes, we did like it...a lot!

This is how Hachette described the book:
FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted. 

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body. 

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.


There is more to the description than this but I am choosing stop here because that last sentence is a salient part of the book. Where is the line between sanity and insanity? Is the line clear? Blurred?

I think the book does well in delving into those questions as it takes you through a hunt with the help some wonderful characters!

I could not see this book abridged without significant loss.

John Glover does a superb narrating job!

Audio or paper version, I think mystery/suspense lovers will enjoy this book!

Cynthia Roberts answers a few questions

It's lovely when an author will take the time to answer a reader's questions. As Cynthia Roberts was nice enough to do so, I want to share them with you. 


Romance novels are easily set in any time or place. Why did you chose to set yours among Indians?
I chose to write an historical Indian romance because the first fiction I ever read was a novel from Cassie Edward’s Savage series. I read her entire sequel and since most of her books were mostly based on the Plains Indians, I wanted to focus on a tribe indigenous to my area. My series of 5 consists of the original tribes that made up the Iroquois League of Nations here on the East coast. 


Where did your love of Indians come from?
I've always had a fascination for Native Indian culture since as long as I can remember. I think it started back when I was a little girl and use to watch all the John Wayne movies with my dad. Even at such a young age I felt they was no justification as to how they were treated by our forefathers. As my passion for writing grew, so did my desire to portray them for who they really were. 


I've not done a lot of fact checking about your representation of the Indians of the time but it does seem to "ring true". Where does your information come from? How did you research it?
I spent hundreds of hours sitting upon uncomfortable wooden chairs at the state museum library handwriting notes on multiple legal pads as I researched their folklore, religion, language and culture. I personally feel that if I'm using a culture in one of writings and benefiting from it, it's important to pay tribute to the true essence of who they are as a people. For far too long Native Indians have been painted in a savage light and not the honorable, respectful and reverent individuals they truly were.


Will your next novel continue with the tribes of the north east?
Book #2, "Captive Heart", actually picks up where my female villain is banished to the tribe of the Oneida as punishment. The very fate she has mocked her entire adult life sends her on a dangerous journey that tests the very essence of who she is and the woman she secretly wishes to become.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver

While tooling around in ITunes, I came across a podcast of Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver that was narrated by Sir Ian McKellum. While I could listen to him read just about anything, I found myself intrigued with the story (as was DH).

The story came to a nice conclusion but I just could not let it go! I wanted to know more about what would happen to this young boy who lost his father and became linked to a wolf.

This is the summary from GoodReads:
Six thousand years ago. Evil stalks the land. According to legend, only twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf-cub companion can defeat it. Their journey together takes them through deep forests, across giant glaciers, and into dangers they never imagined. Torak and Wolf are terrified of their mission. But if they do not battle to save their world, who will?

I gotta tell you, while this series may have been written for a young adult audience, this little old lady and DH enjoyed all 6 books as told by Sir Ian McKellum. Hardback or audible, if you too are young at heart, you might want to check this series out.

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My mom (91) recommended this book to me. I had already put it on my wish list but as she has good taste in books... When I found I had Audible.com credit and the book there, I went for it.

The joy of this audio version is hearing the voices of the our hero in his 90+ year old as well as in his 20s.

Just prior to taking his finals to become a vetranarian, his parents die leaving him nothing as it appears they spent everything they had to send him to a Cornell. After burying his parents, he returns to take his finals only to walk out on them and walks and walks until ultimately he ends up in the circus...not THE CIRCUS but 'the circus'. THE CIRCUS would be one you would know today. 'the circus' would be one of less known circuses of the depression era that did not survive.

Between the different time zones we learn of different love stories...human love, animal love, circus love as well as the evolusion of a man.

I am afraid to say much more for fear of giving away too much. So let me just say, my mom made a good recommendation which I think others will find equally enjoyable.

Wind Warrior by Cynthia Roberts

Cynthia Roberts

I love reading stories about Indians and have since probably since the 5th grade when I heard the legend of the blue bonnets. I searched our school library for more myths and legends and stories about people who could come up with such beautiful stories. When the book mobile came around, I checked every time! The pickings were slim. Most of what I have found has been about the plains Indians. And most was a sad history of mistreatment at the hands of the white man. But occasionally I found stories the before times of how they lived.

When I had the chance to win a copy of Wind Warrior, I jumped at the opportunity. When I was told I had actually won, I was ecstatic. It is the story of 2 people who have visions of one another. Leslie is a white woman who has lived through the lose of her beloved husband and child and is living with her cherished father in the wilderness. She is strong of mind, heart, and spirit. As a new horror descends upon her, those characteristics help her fled for her life..

Enter the second dreamer, an Indian war chief, Winnokin, the head chief of the Senecas (a north eastern tribe). He will find and heal her only to have to deal with the horror she was fleeing from when they met. They must win out for the book to continue to educate both Leslie and readers about the ways of the Seneca; a truly evolved and civilized people.

While I truly enjoyed the basic love story, I especially enjoyed the vision of the Seneca Nation and its people.

Oh, good news! Cynthia Roberts plans to come out more books about the Indians of the north east. And if like this one, they will stand alone.

Jeanne Robertson "Don't send a man to the grocery store!"

Jeanne Robertson "Mothers vs Teenage Daughters"

Jeanne Robertson "Flight attendant deals with a bad potato"

Ramona

Ramona by H. Jackson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was first published in 1893. I think I read it before I went to college but I am not sure. What I am sure of is how it has hung in my memory. I think I saw recently that TTN had a movie version with Loretta Young playing Ramona.

What did I learned from this book? About prejudice. About why I need to watch out for it within. Looking without I am sadden to feel that much has not changed in 100 years.

I do remember thinking it a good love story.

I think I would like reading it again.

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Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


drat rat it! i had a lovely well thought out review that the computer gods ate up! so now all you get is the condensed version: my dad banned me from seeing the movie...'might destroy what religious beliefs you have!' college, first review assignment...grabbed.


piffle! may have effected him but ...he had to be kidding.

recommend...no. oh, it is well written but not a mind bender...well, not mine anyway.

FYI, this is the summary GoodReads posted:

Today universally recognized as a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized readers when it was first published, causing Sinclair Lewis to be "invited" to a jail cell in New Hampshire and to his own lynching in Virginia. His portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rises to power within his church - a saver of souls who lives a life of hypocrisy, sensuality, and ruthless self-indulgence - is also the record of a period, a reign of grotesque vulgarity, which but for Lewis would have left no record of itself. Elmber Gantry has been called the greatest, most vital, and most penetrating study of hyposcriy that has been written since Voltaire.

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Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Noki...

Character Interview w/ Percy Parker! {Strangely Beautiful Series by Lean...

A true story

We were traveling down to the Panama Canal Zone by boat as that was where my father was stationed (by the way, his 3 daughters were born there during two earlier tours of duty). As I did not remember any childhood boat trips, I was excited and curious to find out if I would be subject to "mal de mer".

Turns out I was not. My problem was the boat not only went up and down, it rolled side to side at the same time! For a person with little sense of balance to start with, this was a challenge!

Baby sister (newly graduated from high school) was victimized. As the dutiful 'big sister' (OK, so she is way taller than my 4'8"), I got her as settled as I could with a damp cloth on her head and trash can close by the bed before going to find my father, THE DOCTOR.

Given some Dramamine, I returned to save the green sister. Ah, magic! Not long after taking said pill, her green hue turned back to its normal porcelain beauty and she dozed off to sleep.

I returned to the report the good news to my father, THE DOCTOR. Happy parent proceeded to give me the same medicine!

"But Daddy, I am not sea sick!"

"Ah, but preventative medicine is a good thing."

In obedience, I returned below to take said pill, recheck sister's comfort, and read.

That, good friends, was about the last thing I remember until shortly before we landed. No joke, I slept for 3 days and 3 nights (trip took 4 days). (Little sister was never again sea sick. And I missed a lot of really, really good food!)

Moral: Sometimes my father,THE DOCTOR, was fallible. Sometimes preventative medicine is not a good thing. I dearly love my father, THE DOCTOR stories! ('Just wish he was still alive to share the laugh.)

My Father, the doctor

He said "preventative medicine is a good thing." I know, you didn't have a father to say this. You've read it. You've heard it. So why am I talking about it? Because they are talking about it right now on TV.

I have probably lived 35 years past my father's best expectation because I listened to him. I found good doctors that will communicate with me.

The number one killer of women is heart disease. It took my grandfather and father. I've had high blood pressure since my early 30s and have been treating it that long. I never could check my blood pressure with a cuff and stethoscope but when my doctor told me about new machines that didn't require a stethoscope, I got one. I used to use it daily. Now I listen to my body all the time and know when I need to check it daily and keep a record for my doctor.

Ah, they just said it....listen to your body and push your doctor to hear what it's saying. If you have a doctor that does not listen to you, FIRE THE DOCTOR! The program is called "Speak up to save lives". That's your job, to speak up.

Did you know that women do not exhibit the symptoms you have so often heard? Check it out! Knowledge can save your life. DO NOT LET ANYONE TELL YOU, YOU ARE TOO YOUNG TO THINK ABOUT IT!  My dad's first heart attack was in his early 30s.

Take care of yourself! And share what you learn with your family and friends!

Why do so many books I read get such high ratings?

Easy...I read books I expect to really enjoy! Why else take the time to read (or listen) to them.

But how can you rate a book like say The Kitchen House as highly as The Secret History of the Pink Carnation?

Again, easy. They are different genres. Think of it like food....how would you compare a great steak with a great pie? I wouldn't. I would appreciate each in it's own category. Like food, my book appetite varies. Consequently, my expectations start high (5) and if they meet my expectations, that's what they get. Rarely do books go below 'good' which means just that...I enjoyed them for what they are but...

Do you ever give anything less than a 'good' (3) rating?

Unfortunately, yes. It makes me sad when I do. Sometimes even angry. I've wasted time I could have spent with a book I could have really enjoyed! I wonder at my sanity...how could I not have seen before hand this would not meet my escapist need? Why didn't the person that wrote the blurb write the book? What happened to my writer who normally gives me so much pleasure?

One didn't ring, it clunked but I couldn't figure out why. It was after all, 'fiction'. Half way through the book, I read every review I could find; every interview. Everyone else liked it. What was I missing? I read some more. Still not likening it but still wanting to like it. Then I researched the historical foundation. I talked to my 90yo mom about human nature of her youth and what she had learn about what it was like for her parents. Now I knew why the story did ring for me.

FYI, it is permissible to dislike a book. It's also OK to write a negative review. Reviewers should try to explain why it was 'amiss' for them. Authors should not take personal affront as the review just one person's opinion about the book, not about the writer.

I really want to enjoy books I read! I want to share my excitement as I do! When I do get into one that does not come up to my expectations, I will share that with you...hopefully with good reasoning for my opinion and with the knowledge that I may be in the minority. Sometimes broccoli is really good, but some times it just tastes bad!

Snapea Crisps

After finishing with the vampires in preparation for my doctor's appointment next week, DH took me to Sprouts (who have opened a store just down the road from us...YEA). I love them as they are so nice to me when it come to helping me pick the best of the best fruit!

While whizzing around the store, I came to am abrupt halt in front of a display of Snapea Chips...original flavor baked made by Calbee Snack Salad.  Isn't that a good looking product? And it looks like it should be crunchy. And I was craving a good salad with lots of textures. So I bought a bag. I recommend you break them up when using in a salad.

These are so good! Even without the salad or dip or anything! But I have to warn you...very addictive! I looked them up on the web, you can see all their products here.

No, I am not getting any rewards from Sprouts or Calbee....but I do so like both!