Looky at what I got!

Little...younger sister sent me a wonderful check for my birthday which allowed me to indulge myself with something on my wish (but doubtful) list.
It came from Teavana and is called a "Amandine Decanter".

Want to see what it looks like?

Ok, look:

Isn't it lovely?! Can you imagine how lovelier it will look with one of my flowering tea bulbs in it?

Don't you wish you had a loving, enabling sister like mine?

Book Review: I Gave You My Heart, but You Sold It Online by Dixie Cash

I Gave You My Heart, but You Sold It Online by Dixie Cash


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


They said:

If you love smart, sassy fiction with some downhome Texas humor, you'll love this smashing follow up to Dixie Cash's hardcover debut, MY HEART MAY BE BROKEN, BUT MY HAIR STILL LOOKS GREAT.

Fans of Mary Kay Andrews won't be able to resist Dixie Cash. Description: Debbie Sue Overstreet and her best pal Edwina––the Domestic Equalizers––have one motto: don't get mad, get evidence! So when these hairdressers/private eyes get wrapped up in a new mystery you just know there's going to be trouble. Quint Matthews, an old beau of Debbie Sue's and a heart–breakin' rodeo rider, comes to town asking for their help––his identity's been swiped by a woman he met on the internet. They agree to get to the bottom of things, and get into a whole heap of trouble. As for Quint, he's never one to learn a lesson. He's got a date in Salt Lick, Texas, with a woman he met, yep, online––but what he doesn't know is she was put there by her own daughter!

Hearts are about to get broken all around Texas, but not before Debbie Sue and Edwina make things right for everybody.

My thoughts:

The girls are at it again! And I laughed as much as I did the first one!

That Audible.com sale was really irresistible...i bought lots of books by Dixie Cash!

Book Review: Ceremony in Death by J. D. Robb

Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I may have a bit of bias here as I really like J. D. Robb's writing in this series which is just a little sic-fi but a lot of good old fashioned action mystery. I also like the main characters. Dogged detective Eve Dallas is a bit OCD as she has to get to real conclusions. Off 'the streets' she is the Walmart woman rather than the fashonesta...I would bet she has mostly jeans and sweats.While she has many make friends (well, she is a cop!), she is very distrustful of anything beyond...well, until Irishman Roake invaded her world.



Roake is a rich, handsome rogue with more than a shady past. With his insitfulness and intelligence, a well as his pals from the past, he is her equal who helps out with some of her sleuthing. He sees inside her ostrich thick shell and 'handles' her gently and persistently. Think Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man movies only make it more Nora and Nick as persue the bad guys as well as a lusty romance.



Dallas has new partner who always calls her 'Sir'. Roake has his disdaining butler.



Along with a good mystery there is much dry humor.



Am I reading these in order?



Of course not! For which I must thank author Robb who makes each story come to a conclusion with no cliff hangers! (Yes, the romance aspect not conclude, who cares? I think it's like when a friend tells you about what happened yesterday and then as you talk, remembrances are interjected.



Listen to it as you drive to the beach or while you are watching the kids play. The reader is great with voices clearly detected!



Damn Audible.com and the great summer sale!





View all my reviews

Summer Cleaning

I want to read more, listen more, and watch more. I also have become a doctor follower and you know those guys, they like tests and stuff.

Therefore, I am narrowing my rss following if I a) am on your email list b) I follow you on twitter, c) I follow you an facebook, d)goodreads. All others will remain on the list.

Please don't let your feeling be hurt! If I follow all, there is much repeating and I am going mad trying to read all sites and still have room for other things. I really do not know how people who follow thousands of people on all  sites do it!

Movie Review: For Colored Girls

A new premium channel came to the line up with a sampling of what they were going to offer. One of the movies I selected was Tylor Perry's For Colored Girls.

Parts of it sounded like a Greek chorus. All of it was poignantly powerful.

The casting was perfect and all the women were believable. I've known, heard or read similar stories of women of different ethnicities but this is the best of the lot.

I don't think I could read the book, if there is one, as I know if I did it would depict even more than my heart could handle.

So why am I recommending this movie to you?

If I could give out Oscars, each of these women would get one for best actress. As would Tylor Perry. As would the writer. I would recommend this to aspirering actors, writers, and directors, people who like to watch great movies/stories that may make you hit you hard. Who like strong acting. People who want to leave a movie with their minds and hearts imprinted, as mine is right now.

For Colored Girls is for girls/women of all colors, races, and creeds as we are all parts of the rainbow of the sisterhood.

Book Review: By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


While reviewing what I should read next, I realized I never read or reviewed this book because it never arrived. Feeling most embarrassed, I contacted Mr. Kaplan to explain why I had never written the review. Nice man that he is, he asked if I still wanted to read it. Silly man. To save us both time, I suggested he send me an electric copy as I have both Nook and Kindle loaded on my Mac. Within 24 hours it was on my computer and ready for reading!

Less than 36 hours later, it was finished (who needs sleep when you have a good book!)

"Good book"...so inadequate a phrase to describe this book! Time: just before Christopher Columbus sets off to the new world. Place: Spain during the riegn of Queen Isobel and King Ferdinand. Subject: The early beginnings of the Spanish Inquisition and its effects on the Muslims and Jews (both converted and unconverted) and maybe some answers to "why".

The historical value of By Fire, By Water was tremendous as this was an area of my knowledge base filled only by movies. Again I had my computer set up so I could quickly check facts and gain a bit more information.

There is such a reality to the characters (both real and imaginary)! I had no difficulty moving from on character's point of view to the other.

While lots of questions arose as I read, at its completion I found myself comparing those times to times of today. What answers did I come up with? We'll discuss that after you've read By Fire, By Water and come to your own conclusions first.

Now this may seem trivial to others but I must give the author koodos for giving me translations when writing dipped into another language! That is one of those knit picking things that has driven me nuts for puppies years!

Mitchell James Kaplan, I must thank you for giving me the chance to read and review your novel! It's now one of my "but have you read this one!" list. I know it has been out for a while and can only hope this small review reignites interest! You took a chance that I might be the one person who didn't like it and would say so.

PS I went and searched for this in my blog and could not find it...sorry for the delay...so rush back to GoodReads and copied it out so I could post it here!

Update on Mommy

She fought the cancer with everything within her and the results of her last tests were there were no cancer cells anywhere to be found! That was the grand news!

The sad but good news was she got pneumonia less than a week later which took her away in 3 days.

What's good about that!??

She did not want to live so long that she had to live in a nursing home. Her mind was clear up to the last moment of life. My most wonderful niece-in-law took up some whiskey so they could all have a last toast...her own hail and fairwell. Well, my mother decided that one toast was not enough so whenever any came in the room, she toasted them (no matter how many times they came in). And that, my friends was the good news...she left in good spirits...still full of love and laughter!

Yes, I miss her a lot but I have such a boatload of memories!

So if you are sipping some wine or beer or other beverage, give her a toast and she will send you a smile of thanks.

Book Review: One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




Publisher's Summary

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the Western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians.

The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world.

Toward that end, May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetimes.

Author Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.

©1998 Jim Fergus; (P)2006 BBC Audiobooks America

What the Critics Say

"Fergus lets his imagination go wild and creates a journal of one of his ancestors who became one of those brides in 1875. Laura Hicks renders this imaginative work splendidly. She is vivacious and expressive as May Dodd." (Audiofile)

My Thoughts

I stumbled onto this one in Audible.com. I read the above and listed to a snippet. I knew I had to know this story as it was a bit of history I knew nothing about.

The narrator was a grand voice for Mary Dodd.

What heroic women these were to agree to the plan and travel so far to meet and marry Indians for two years. When you think about the time and the articles in newspapers about the 'red man', how, why would they even consider such an adventure?

I not only learned about the women but also about life in one Cheyenne village.

This is indeed a book I would recommend to anyone else who doesn't know the history behind it, who wonder about some of the roles of women in the west, and life of a group of Indians of the plains! I think this would be a good book  for teachers and home schoolers to recommend to  students or school book clubs.

Even my husband found it intriguing.

Book Review: Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

The Captive Queen by Alison Weir
Unabridged
Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book dove tailed nicely as the first book I read about Eleanor of Aquitaine as it was of her early life up to her meeting with the man who would be her second husband (Henry, Duke of Normandy, King of England).

Publisher's Summary

Renowned for her highly acclaimed and best-selling British histories, Alison Weir has in recent years made a major impact on the fiction scene with her novels about Queen Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey. In this latest offering, she imagines the world of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the beautiful 12th-century woman who was queen of France until she abandoned her royal husband for the younger man who would become king of England.

In a relationship based on lust and a mutual desire for great power, Henry II and Eleanor took over the English throne in 1154, thus beginning one of the most influential reigns and tumultuous royal marriages in all of history. In this novel, Weir uses her extensive knowledge to paint a most vivid portrait of this fascinating woman.

My thoughts

As the oldest of only two girls, her father raised her to be able to rule after her he died. Thus she was not only a great beauty but intelligent and well educated but a desirable mate for most men of rank. One look between Eleanor and Henry and they were in lust. A bit more and they were in a love match that while contentious lasted for most of the rest of their lives in one form or another. Read the book for the expansion of the story.

I listened to this one from Audible.com using my monthly credits.

Book Review: The Sugar House by Laura Lippman

 The Sugar House by Laura Lippman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Their summary:

Jess Monaghan's life is back on course. She is beginning to make a name for herself as a PI, she's even banking good money. And then her father asks her a favour: to investigate the death in prison of a friend's brother convicted of killing an unidentified girl, otherwise known as 'Jane Doe'. Tess's search leads her to 'the Sugar House', a brutal institution where she discovers Jane Doe's real identity. And then Tess's father begs her to drop the case ...It is not until her parent's house is set on fire and a body pulled from the wreckage, that she realises that her life may have taken a very wrong turning indeed - one from which there is no going back.

My thoughts:

Is there a series of books based on the character of Jess Monaghan? Of course there is!

Have I read any others in the series? Of course not?

Why no? Because Audible.com had this one on sale and something about it made curious. For some reason, it reminded me of visit I had one week in Arkansas when I read every single Nancy Drew book! What a joyful experience it was! And so was reading The Sugar House. Jess is more mature but she manages to have some of those 'oops moments'! And then too, this is set in today's time and today's issues.

Why the comparison to Nancy? Because she is not getting shot at all the time or knocked out or hard drinking like some of the other mysteries that are out now.

Whoray for the author! She get added points for writing a book when I don't really need all the back story and bringing to it to a nice conclusion!

PS: DH liked the book as well!

Book Review: Scent of Danger by Autumn Dawn

Scent of Danger by Autumn Dawn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A friend suggested we read it together. I agreed. We got our copies from Amazon.com for our Kindles.

If you find yourself in need of a good romance (romances?), with nothing too scary, pick it up and enjoy. It's a light, fun, fast read that had me wanting to keep reading to the end.

I do have to give the writer koodos as you know how I feel about series books that leave you hanging, waiting for the next book which probably won't be out for a year.

You might want to read the others in the series but if this one is your first, don't panic! I liked the beginning and the clean end.  Think of this as a fairy tale where boy meets girl, problems occur, boy saves girl and they live happily ever after! Or maybe a modern take on one of Shakespere's comedies.

Would I read the other books in the series? Yes!

Would I suggest it to my husband? No!

Grace took me to Thailand!

It has been so long ago, I don't know when I started following Grace's blog: Sandier Pastures.  She is an expat (someone who is from one country who lives and works in another country).  What's more, whenever she goes somewhere, she takes her camera to accessorize the words about her trip.
This is her posting from Thailand.  If all the pictures don't come through, click on the blog name to zip over there...in Dubai.  Without further ado, take it away Grace!

201120Jun

by GRACE

** This is a part of a series of posts about my blog trip to Thailand. **

Day two and we are still in Hua Hin, Thailand. After our visit to the Hua Hin Train Stationand Flintstone Hill, we went to Wat Huay Mongkol. In our itinerary it says, “home of the sacred Luang Pu Thuad statue revered by the locals” – of course we don’t have any idea what it means till we got to the place.

Wat Huay Mongkol houses the largest statue of Luang Phor Thuat in Thailand in a park-like setting. From far, the size of the statue is already obvious, much so when we got near.

And nearer:

There were lots of visitors there, including foreigners like us and local Thai people.We all went up the stairs to get nearer. I was curious what the people were doing there.

The Luang Pu Thuad statue sits on a pedestal with four other smaller images in niches where the faithful pastes gold-leaf in honour of the monk. Here are the people with thin pieces of gold leaves pasting it on one of the the smaller statues.

An excerpt from Luang Pu Thuad’s life story and as told by our tour guide:

Luang Pu Thuad became famous during the 16th century when he saved the people from draught. There was the time where there was not enough drinking water, and the weather deteriorate day after day. According to an account related by villagers, a monk was sighted in a small boat which moving along the river. He was in deep meditation and prayer. After he’d finished chanting, he lowered one of his legs into the river, and within short while, the river is filled with clear and clean drinking water. A miracle had happened. This bit of good news spread throughout the province and to other parts of Thailand. The monk was no other than Luong Pu Thuad himself. The people highly respected and graciously revered him from then on.

Also, it is said that amulets in the likeness of the monk (with varieties impossible to count) bring great protection and good luck. If you are amulet collector, dont forget to buy the amulet there. I didn’t buy any because I was not listening to the guide regarding the protection and good luck part. I could have bought one to keep. Maybe next time!

Going down again, there’s this three headed elephant at the foot of the statue where people walk under. Locals say walking under the three headed elephant will make some of your wishes come true. I do remember, walking underneath it wishes for a baby soon.

Little did I know I was already with child here! Anyway, Thailand really loves elephants, even the water fountain has got elephants on it. How cute are these?

We saw a monk in meditation in the shelter nearby. Local people gathered around him but I have no idea what they were doing. They must be praying?

At the other side, there are statues where people paste the gold leaves.

A golden statue.

Up next: Hua Hin Hills Vineyard for wine tasting and lunch. Yes, there’s a vineyard in Thailand!

* Photos taken using Canon EOS 550D and Canon PowerShot SD960IS 

Book Review: Harry Bosch Box Set by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch Box Set by Michael Connelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Would you believe the box set was on Audible.com!? AND they were spring cleaning so bought it as Charlie and I love his books...and this was 3 in one! Especially the character of Harry Bosch! He's a really good cop who won't give up on a case even if everyone else in the department has. And don't mess with his daughter or he will 'hunt you down'!

The thing I like about Mr. Connelly's books are you can read them in any order, as they all have a beginning, murder, and an ending.

Yes but what about the back story?

The salient parts are there to add to the character of the man, so what if you know something is going to happen to the family in the future...the important thing is how Bosch is going to solve the mystery!

Yes, I do highly recommend this trio of books if you like a good mystery!

Book Review: The Seventh Son

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm stuck! I've lost the words...which you know is abnormal for me!

There is a seventh son with special abilities, a watchful guardian (sort of) who also has abilities, a hell fire and damn nation minister, and a wondering story teller. I tend to think of Seventh Sun as mystery (well, there are a lot of dead people), then paranormal.

I found the book to be very compelling with many lessons; some of which linked the past and present. It's a good story even if you don't get the lessons and links I felt.

The ending is clean but I did wonder what will happen as this boy grows up. (Good news, there is a follow up!)

I want to tell you more about the story but every time I start, I feel I'll give away too much! My best advice is to read the summary anywhere you can find it. Reading the summary and listening to a snippet on Audible.com was enough to use a monthly credit for it.

I really do recommend this book!

I got two funnies today, so you get them too!

From YouTube,

George Lucas Strikes Back {HD Trailer}

From KSki,

Thought this was interesting...

The Year 2011, is the year of Feng Shui and Luck.

The month of July this year has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays.  This combination arrives only once every 623 years. The Chinese call this phenomenon  “The Sacs of money” .

If you pass on this message, Chinese  tradition says you will receive money in 5 days. And according to Feng Shui, those who do not pass on this message will have financial problems for the rest of the year.

This year is a bit special. We will have 4 unusual dates:

1/1/11,  11/1/11,  1/11/11,  11/11/11

...and that is not all.

Take the last two digits of the year of your birth and the age you will have or have this year, add them, and the sum for everyone is 111  !

Ex:    63 + 48 = 111

This year is the Year of Money and Wealth.  The month of October will have 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays and 5 Mondays !  This combination arrives only once every 823 years !  These years are called the years of Gain.

Book Review: To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitain

To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Christy English

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Can you imagine my surprise when Christy English asked me if I would like to review her book? I was leaping up and down inside but had to rail myself in as I warned her she must expect a honest review...she expected nothing else. Now all I had to do is wait for the book to arrive!

Who would I meet? Would it be the lady depicted in "Becket" who was not beautiful in her brief appearance as a shrewish looking and acting woman surrounded by a passel of young children. Or it be the strong, Eleanor of "Lion in Winter" (but a younger version)?

As I read "To Be Queen", I saw Katherine Hepburn's Eleanor, the child and young woman of "Lion in Winter". She was smart, quick child who adored her instructor father who taught her more than reading and writing. He taught her statesmanship, as she would one day be the ruler of his vast estates. She was taught critical thinking as well as controlling her facial expressions.

Her father's home was one of "courtly love" with troubadours who sang songs in tribute to a woman's attributes as well as did most men. The court was lively with music, dancing, and innocent flirtations (well, ok, some were not so innocent). What better muse could there be but the duke's daughter, Eleanor (think of the young Elizabeth Taylor's startling beauty).

As Eleanor was to be his inheritor, it was important to father and child that a great marriage be arranged. What greater prize for the largest land holder than Louis of France (future King Louis VII)! Their goal will be obtained, but at what price?

Louis, unlike his queen, was not raised to rule. He was raised by very devout catholic churchmen to be the most devoted of the devout. They therefore were his most trusted advisers; necessitating Eleanor to practice all the lessons learned at her father's knee. Though he loves her, Louis's catholic guilt is most strong in the bedroom causing him to visit there infrequently.

If Aquitaine is brightness, freshness, joyous, and musical, Paris is its opposite! It is gloomy and smelly. Between the priests and the court, Eleanor must be on constant guard as they would all destroy her if they could. In many cases, it is more than dislike and disapproval, it is hate.

Yes, this was the Eleanor I wanted to meet! The woman of strength and passion who will leave her husband, the King of France, to marry the future King of England, Henry, a man who saw her as an equal in all things.

There is so much more to this story but I don't want to spoil it for you! It is well worth you time!

Book Review: The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

UNABRIDGED

Narrated by Will Patton
Length:8 hrs and 22 minutes

Audible.com is addictive! Especially when they have sales!

Publisher's Summary

"New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series.

In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker."

Will Patton gave Robicheaux that Micky Spilane type voice of a gruff, tough, hard bitten cop, while James Lee Burke words gave the detective intelligence and doggedness. This is a cop who still "gives a damn" about all victims when others, do not.

Na'alens (New Orleans, for those who have not heard the natives) is characterized as a multifaceted city.

Put these two main characters together with a murder and you are in for mystery fun!

View all my reviews

Book Review: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1 by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1 by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Narrated by Roy Dotrice, 33 hrs and 53 minutes, Unabridged

Normally a 2 credit book on Audible.com but available for just 1 (can you say 'sale'?) AND coming to HBO as a series, I snatched it up!

There is a wee irritation that cannot be blamed on the narrator or the author but the editing. When a book is recorded, it is generally done in many sittings. Several times the start was not dubbed over the last sentence or started with the next but rather repeated.

Roy Dotrice did a grand job with well defined vocal characters which helped the listener know who was speaking. There's a HUGE cast!

If you like lots of plots and subplots; good guys that lose, bad guys who lose; the evolution of characters as life changes; people who are sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes deluded then insightful...OH, AND wolfs, dragon eggs, spell casting, and some undead, you might enjoy this one as much as I did.

Remember while it is 33 hours and 53 minutes long (probably a thick book but faster read), it did hold my attention the whole time!

NOTE: This is fantasy for ADULTS ONLY as there are explicate violence and sex scenes!

The British Babes Book Brigade

Look at what I just found on Facebook!


The British Babes Book Brigade!  


It's the place to meet, learn, enjoy writers of British fiction!  And if you are really lucky, you might win a book by one of your favorite writers or find a new one!  


Yea, Source Books!!!

Book Review of Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler

Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I obviously had enough time to finish my "patient" book (one you carry around to read while patiently waiting). A perfect book it was too, as the story left such an impression that it was not necessary to go back a page or two to remember what was going on.


What a cast of characters! A young woman preparing for her wedding, talking to her mother who committed suicide. Her intended and his manipulating daughter and, by extenuation, his ex-wife. Her murdered father and his wife (who is accused of his murder). Her beautiful troubled sister with a controlling boyfriend. Her first love who is the appointed council for the stepmother. A powerful judge who has an extremely mentally challenged son who likes to play with matches. The town sheriff and deputy; hard drinking reporter; the sexy owner of the popular eatery/tavern and staff; heroic fire fighter; tribal Indian chief; murderer; arsonist. And the sleepy little town itself in the state of Florida.


There is a book before this one but I didn't feel the loss as the characters were complete. If there is another following book, I hope Irene Ziegler follows with the same clarity of characters as this one and makes it (or them) have the same ability to stand alone!


If you think that reading the cast of character you know story and how it will go and who "done it", guess again! There are plots within plots! This would probably be a faster read if read uninterrupted but I have strict rule about my "patient" books,ie, they are to stay in the purse and not removed unless "waiting"!


I bought this book on Amazon for my Kindle but it is available in other formats and places...well, not as an audible. But I have told the author I hope it does appear in that format!