Marti Chabot-Down Home Writer: December 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

An Apple for Piggy

Under a late-July sun I stood with three other boys inside the fence, waiting for Mr. Symonds to blow his whistle. I’m thinkin’, how could one little larded piglet evade the four of us tryin’ to catch it? With the countdown finished, the whistle blew, scarin’ the slicked up pig quite near to death. It darted here and there looking for a place to hide. My feet slipped in the mud chasin’ after the thing. Hank grabbed its tail. It squealed and darted off to the corner of the blocked off area that Mr. Symonds had set up for the annual pig chase. The other three of us waved our arms to keep it there.

On the other side of the fence Nell giggled.

Piggy darted out of its corner. I jumped in front of it to block its progress, but it snuck between my legs. I slid as I turned to grab it, and down I went, face first. I picked myself up, the mud reluctantly releasing me. Sticky, smelly muck clung to my shirt and pants. Thick globs of it stuck on my sneakers, and my arms and face were smeared with the stuff. Was this pig really worth the trouble? Through semi-blocked-up ears, I heard Nell laughing herself silly at my dilemma. Bet she couldn’t do any better if she wuz in here. I shook my head. Girls.

Benny and Sandy shouted at the baby porker hopin’ it would be intimidated and stay put. But no, it continued to run around the outer edge of the pen. By this time, I was huffin’ and puffin’ and workin’ to keep my focus on the runt. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw an apple drop on the ground next to where the pink porcine stood. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. Hey! It was an apple. Next thing I knew, piggy gobbled it down, and Nell picked up that squealin’ package, yellin’ that she’d won it.

I grabbed my hat off’n my head, threw it in the mud and stomped on it. The other boys shouted “No fair”, but it didn’t do no good. Mr. Symond said Nell had paid her fee just like the rest of us, and she had indeed won it fair and square.

I plucked up my hat and headed out of the pen. I glared at Nell. She just smiled back at me, cuddled the little piggy, and fed it a slice of apple.

Writing prompt: "The four of us were chasing it."

Recent Reads

November 2013 Wieland: or the Transformation, an American Tale, by Charles Brockden Brown, published 1798. This is supposedly the oldest book published in America. It is written as a letter from Clara Wieland to an unknown person, and relates the mystery, suspense and horror of a few months in Clara’s life in PA. It uses plenty of $10 words throughout, and is written in a style current readers are not used to. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing story that follows Clara, her brother, his wife and children, his wife’s brother, and for a short time a character, Carwin, recently arrived from England who will not speak of his background. All very mysterious to be sure. Whodunnit?
October 2013 Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington, by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss. Lots of interesting facts about life as a Rosie the Riveter during World War II. Set in Seattle at the Boeing Plant, a girl, Rosalie, and her partner, Birdie, prove that women can work as fast and faster than men, and they beat the daily record of rivets installed. That move puts Rosalie on the front page of the newspaper and into a budding relationship with the reporter, Kenny, who’s been instructed to follow Rosalie around for a week for a new series of articles. But Rosalie hates reporters because her absent father was one, so any involvement between the two of them is unlikely. Beside that her fiancé was killed overseas a year before. Only thing is, she’d never told him she didn’t really love him and now her guilt is piled high. I liked the book okay, but it seemed to drag on emotionally for a long time, particularly toward the end. I got bored reading all their inner fears holding them back from their obvious attraction to each other. But I did love the historical information. Published 2010
October 2013 Maid to Match, by Deeanne Gist. I loved this book. It was fun to read, full of historical detail set at the fantastic locale of the Biltmore Estate. It's obvious she did a lot of research to write this. (Some of the details were even TMI, but nevertheless portrayed life as it probably really happened.) This was a story I didn't want to give up when I reached the last page. Published 2010.
October 2013 Measure of Mercy, Book 1 in the Home to Blessing series, by Lauraine Snelling. Ms. Snelling has written 50 or more books, but this one surprised me in what, to me, came across as less than a stellar novel. I enjoyed the theme of the book-small North Dakota town in 1903 with an in-training doctor, Astrid Bjorklund, and her doctor sister-in-law who run a clinic. Astrid can't decide if she should go off for 6 months to Chicago to train at a medical school or stay home and continue her work at the clinic. Before she can decide she 1) meets a man who's running from his past in Iowa and 2) she hears a missionary talk at church about the medical needs in Africa. What should she do? She ends up going to Chicago; her man, Joshua, returns to Iowa; she decides to go to missionary training in Georgia. The book ends as she sits on the train waiting for it to leave. And . . .? And, you have to get the next book in the series to find out what happens next. I learned a lot about small town farm life and even more about medical school in the early 20th century. What tripped me up was all the names of the Norwegians in town. I couldn't pronounce them nor remember who they all were. When it came to barn dances or holidays I skimmed over the numerous character names: Ingeborg, whose granddaughter was Inga-why would you have two such similar names in a novel? Her husband Haaken, son Thorliff, someone named Trygff. I also tired of the lengthy prayers contained in the book. Published 2009
October 2013 Hide in Plain Sight, Book 1 in the Three Sisters Inn series, by Marta Perry. A corporate-climbing woman rushes home to small town PA to help her mother open an inn after her sister is seriously hurt in a car accident. She is surprised to find a man occupying her mother’s barn and running a carpentry shop there. Someone in town doesn’t want the inn to open and will go to no end to prevent it from doing so. I enjoyed this sweet little romantic suspense. Published 2013
September 2013. A Town Called Hope, Book 1 in the Prairie Rose series, by Catherine Palmer. This is the third book by Ms. Palmer that I’ve read, and even though it is an older story, she has hit another one out of the park. This historical romance is set in Kansas in 1865. Rosie Mills, abandoned as a newborn at a Christian orphanage in Missouri, is nineteen when she volunteers to be a caretaker to a widower and his 5 year-old son. They travel to Kansas where Seth Hunter has built a “soddy” –a home built into a hill with sod squares making the rest of the walls. Rosie intends on finding a husband in this new land, with German neighbor, Rolf Rustemeyer, as the likely candidate, overlooking the man who’s right in front of her day after day. I found this an enjoyable story, as I have the other books of hers I’ve read. Published 1997
September 2013 Sons of Thunder, by Susan May Warren. I couldn’t get in to this story the first two times I tried reading it, but I was bound and determined the third time to read the whole thing. It started on the Greek island of Zante in about 1925 where bad circumstances arise and cause brothers, Markos and Dino, and friend, Sophia, to flee the island. They end up in Chicago living with and working for the boys’ uncle, Jimmy the Greek. Poor choices force the three of them to flee again. Dino and Sophia end up in Minneapolis. We don’t know what happened to Markos. Dino is taken in by a kindly doctor and is himself encouraged to study medicine. Sophie lives by her wits in various tenements and situations. When WWII is in full force, Dino joins the medical corps and goes to Europe where he meets up again with his brother, and dies in his brother’s arms. Markos returns to Zante where he finds Sophia, now with a young child, living with his mother. The island has been taken over by the Gestapo and Sophia does what she has to to survive and have her and her son’s needs met-even if it means in the arms of an SS colonel. I’m glad I persevered and read this. I may not have understood everything that happened through the course of the book, but I skipped over those details and read for the greater enjoyment. Published 2010.
September 2013 The War Inside, by M. Kirchner. This is written by a friend of my daughter’s from college and is an e-book. It is the first book in the Horizons Trilogy, and I understand the second book has been picked up by a publisher. It is young adult fantasy. It’s about life in the future after humanity has so polluted the world that the sun no longer shines through to the earth, and it rains or is gray all the time. People have lost all compassions for each other, mothers kick their children out of the house at a young age and most people live alone in shacks on stilts, fighting for every morsel of food, of which there is very little. Thea is the main character, living in squalor. One day she sees a bloodied girl lying in the mud as two teens fight nearby. A voice out of the darkness speaks to her and tells her to keep the girl alive. She ignores the voice the first few times it speaks to her, but eventually, going against her natural instincts, she drags the girl into her shack and attempts to nurse her back to health. She discovers that the girl, Viviana, has wrapped her body to cover a patch of light emanating from the middle of her chest. Soon after, Thea’s hands glow with the same light, which she covers up with gloves. Without medicine Viviana won’t survive, so she, Thea, and Caden, a young man from the village set off on an adventure to find a city they’ve only heard about that should have the medicine she needs. They meet up with Rain, a teen living in the woods and he joins up with them also. I didn’t care much for the book at first, but it grew on me as I continued reading. Although written by a Christian, there is no religious material in it, so I feel sure, kids would enjoy this story. I hope the author does well in her sales. Published 2013.
July 2013 Tales of the South Pacific, by James Michener, 1947 Pulitzer Prize winner. Not a bad read, except for the many sexual references and scenes, but I guess that should be expected from a bunch of Navy men stuck on south sea islands during World War II. I wish I'd known going in that the book is not your normal novel. with relationships that go through the whole book, and troubles that challenge the relationships. Instead it is a book of true-to-life vignettes of life and people for a time during the war. Published 1946.
June 2013 One Summer, by David Baldacci. My co-worker loaned me her book and said she loved, loved, loved this book and told me to have my tissues at hand. So, it was okay-light fare for summer reading, with tragedy and love and growth and reconciliation all in the mix. I got hung up by the big miracle and that's why I marked this review down a little, and didn't use any tissues. I've never read any other David Baldacci books so can't compare, but for a guy he writes pretty fair chick lit. Re-issued May 2013
June 2013 Soon, Underground Zealot Series, by Jerry Jenkins. When I started reading this I felt like I'd been dropped into an unknown world. I couldn't get my bearings with the story for at least the first third to half of the book. I loved the Left Behind series and read every book published. Yet, this book was a disappointment. I didn't really care for any of the characters on a personal level, and I have no desire to bother to continue on with the series. Published 2004.
June 2013 The Oak Leaves, by Maureen Lang. I really enjoyed this story that combined the present day life of Talie and her family in America with that of her multi-great grandmother in Ireland and England. Talie reads a journal that had belonged to her father that was written by this great-grandmother. Grandmother had a "dimwitted" uncle and two brothers, and everyone believed the women in the family were cursed to continue to produce such offspring. Grandmother set a goal to never marry, but her parents agree to an arranged marriage for her, and she goes from Ireland to England to get to know the prospective groom, his family and most of all, his friends. She also meets her grandmother for the first time. Back in current times, Talie begins to compare her own son with his peers and wonders if he also has the same problem as her ancestors. She gives in and has him diagnosed, which turns out to be Fragile X. I don't want to give away much of the storyline and ruin it for others, but if you like historical romance, you will enjoy this book. The only negative I have, and I can't give any suggestions as to how it could have been handled differently, is that it was annoying to have settled down in a chapter in one of the story lines, only to be yanked out of it in the next chapter to go to the other story line, then back to the first in the following chapter and so forth for the whole book. If you know that going in, though, it probably won't bother you. Published 2007
May 2013 Book One Cape Light and Book Two Home Song, in the Cape Light series by Thomas Kincaid and Katherine Spencer.
April 2013 A Daughter's Inheritance, Book 1 in the Broadmoor Legacy series, by Tracie Peterson & Judith Miller. I have only myself to blame that the end of the book came suddenly and without closure, but I hadn't realized when I started reading it that it's part of a book series. Drat! Set in Rochester NY and on one of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, and set in 1897, it is a glimpse into the vain life of the rich and famous. Parties, winter in Rochester, summers at the castle on the island, servants, life of plenty and nothing. Fanny Broadmoor is the only sensible one in the group. She loves Michael, but he's part of the servants on the island and her uncle, who is now Fanny's guardian after her grandfather died, will not allow her to have a relationship with him. He gives Michael a deal-become wealthy and he'll let Fanny marry him. Michael heads off to Alaska to find gold. In the meantime, Fanny's uncle spends all his time devising ways to disinvest Fanny from her 1/3 share of the estate. All diabolical, indeed. I liked the book okay, but wouldn't bother obtaining the next books in the series, unless they are free on my Kindle. Published in 2008.
April 2013 The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather. Every once in a while, each of us should read a classic novel. This was my most recent foray into that realm. What a different style of writing from books of today. So much detailed description of everything: “The waiting room was carpeted and stiffly furnished, something like a country parlor. The study had worn and unpainted floors, but there was a look of…the doctor’s flat top desk was…the papers were in orderly piles…Behind the stove…It was filled with…On the top shelf stood…” This is in the very first paragraph of the book and it’s not even the main character’s home, but the doctor’s. We meet Thea Kronberg at age 11 in about 1884 in Moonstone, CO, on page three of the story, and follow her, sort of, for the next 25 years. She is, to a degree, the black sheep of the family, in that her ideas and world are different from her siblings. Her parents indulge her talent as a pianist and eventually she is sent to Chicago for further training, using funds initially saved up by a railroad man who had hoped one day to marry Thea, but who is killed in a train accident and who leaves his money to Thea. In Chicago her vocal talents are recognized and encouraged over her piano skills. She meets a young man who befriends her and during one summer sends her to rest at a family retreat in the desert in AZ. They play in cliff-dwelling caves for a good part of the summer, and in a carefree moment he asks her to marry him, which offer she accepts. He never expected her to say yes, so he has to admit that he is already married, but in name only. That takes us to about the halfway point of the story. The rest of the novel is from the point of view of either Fred, the already-married man, or the town doctor, who we met on the first page of the novel and who has been Thea’s friend since we first met her. Thea apparently went to Germany to study and the story picks up in New York where she is an accomplished opera singer, living in a hotel in the city. We get a few up front and personal scenes, but then the story relates from Thea’s aunt’s point of view how Thea and Fred got married and she went to Kansas City to the wedding, and that later Thea got to sing for the King of England. While I wouldn’t call myself a fan of the book, I’m still glad I read it.
April 2013 Waiting for Morning, by Karen Kingsbury. Wonderful, relevant story about a wife and mother whose husband and one of her two daughters are killed by a drunk driver, the other daughter having survived the crash. The mother then goes on a crusade with M.A.D.D. and the district attorney to make the offense of drunk driving that kills someone a first-degree murder charge. In the meantime, she leaves her surviving daughter struggling on her own, but a tragedy stops her in her track and has her re-thinking her priorities. Kingsbury also writes portions of the story from the point of view of the drunk driver, which caused me to have compassion for him. God’s grace is revealed throughout the story. My second book by Kingsbury and I’ve loved both of them. I’m thrilled to have discovered that my local library has a dozen or more or her stories. Published 1999.
April 2013 The Preacher’s Bride, by Jody Hedlund, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though admittedly when I started it, I groaned as I didn’t think I liked novels set in Puritan times, but after just a few pages I was caught up in the story of John Costin, whose wife died two weeks after their fourth child is born. A fellow Christian’s daughter offers to become his housekeeper and take care of the children. Set in post-Cromwell times in the early 1600’s in England, there is tension between the official Anglican Church and the Independent church whose pastors weren’t officially licensed. Elizabeth sets about finding a wet-nurse for the baby, against the orders of Mrs. Grew, an influential woman in the church who had convinced John to give the baby away, setting off a contest of wills between the two women for the rest of the book. John, the children’s father, is an itinerant preacher and on the black list for being one of the unlicensed preachers. A man shows up at the cottage while John is away and threatens Elizabeth to give him information about John, his writings and his preaching or he will spread gossip around the church that will ruin John’s ministry and her own future. When he returns to get the information, Elizabeth has nothing to give him so he beats her and threatens her again. Elizabeth loves the four little ones, and has fallen in love with their father, though she is betrothed to another. Will their love have a chance, or will she fulfill her obligation to her fiancé while John marries another to whom he has pledged himself? I learned a lot about the time period and the danger of being a believer then, which danger eventually sets the stage for the Puritans to head to the Americas. Published in 2010.
March 2013 There is a Season, by Gary Allison Story of a dad whose wife has died from a rare form of cancer, and then he finds out his young daughter has the same cancer. What a promising premise, and what a disappointing product. It is evident this was self-published without editing. A couple of examples: sitting on a bench and "the pedals of the cherry tree fell on them." That must have hurt... One time God is spelled with a lower-case g. Portions of the book are tedious to read through. On the other hand, the daughter is adorable, and I got the sense the author knew someone who went through this. From a technical perspective, this is a poorly written book. There are point of view changes (head-hopping) throughout, lots of passive voice, and telling instead of showing. This was an in-your-face dose of reality for me to never self-publish without paying for an editor! Published in 2012
March 2013 My Heart Remembers, by Kim Vogel Sawyer. What a good story. Kept me turning the pages wondering if three siblings who were separated in 1903 would ever find each other again. Recent immigrants from Ireland, the children, Maelle, Matthew and baby Molly, were sent west from New York on an orphan train after a fire in their apartment building took the lives of their parents. Although they tried to stay together, the foster families didn't want all three children. The oldest, Maelle, divides the family property-a Bible, a packet of letters and a family photograph-between the three of them. This story follows each one of their lives over the next 15 or 20 years. It's an exciting tale and has a sweet ending.
February 2013. Redeeming Grace, by Ward Tanneberg. This was a modern political mystery/thriller and a good one it was, too, though I had to suspend logical belief for a portion of the story and pretend something like this could have really happened. Grace and her two friends go to Savannah for some innocent pre-graduation fun. They are approached by a man who wants to give them money to buy fancy new clothes and then attend a gathering of political figures on a yacht. Nothing will happen, he assures them. Right... The two friends enthusiastically agree, so Grace reluctantly agrees to go along. Too bad as it all goes downhill from there. Murder, cover-up, false identity, intrigue in high political places all create a page turner (or an arrow pusher for the Kindle) that kept me from making meals, doing dishes, writing my own novel. Not going to give any more details in hopes you will read this on your own. Published 2013.
February 2013. The Visionary, by Pamela S. Thibodeaux. I got this free from amazon.com and according to part of its blurb, "The two share a childhood wrought with lies and deceit and the kind of abuse that's disgustingly prevalent in today's society. Can the love of God and the awesome healing power of His grace and mercy free the twins from their past and open their hearts to the good plan and the future He has for their lives?" I thought the story would deal with the trauma of the past more deeply. As it is, although we could suspect what kind of abuse took place, it was nearly halfway through the book before we got an inkling of what the abuse was, and nearly to the end before we actually were told the gory details of what happened. I kept waiting for the shoe to fall, so to speak. It wasn't nearly psychologically deep for me. I was disappointed. Published 2011.
January 2013 Her Good Name, by Ruth Axtell. Set in 1892 in the fictional town of Holliston on the coast of Maine. Espy Estrada, a Portuguese woman, lives with her large family on the poor side of town. Her former classmate, Warren Brentwood, son of the town's bank president and owner of a lumber company, has returned from traveling the world to take over the lumber company. Espy gets a job as a maid for Professor and Mrs. Stockton. Unfortunately Mr. Stockton can't keep his hands to himself and Mrs. Stockton finds Espy in an embrace with her husband. Espy was terminated on the spot, and proceeds to tarnish her name around town. She returns to work at the cannery with the intention of saving enough money to move to a new area and start over. Warren and Espy were asked by their pastor to start up a young adult group, but the kids that go with Espy don't exactly have much in common with the friends that come with Warren. They do manage to pull off a charitable lobster feed on the 4th of July, but the gossip and tension sends Espy off to Bangor where she hopes to get work as a secretary. She gets lost, assaulted and robbed and ends up living at a mission. In the meantime Warren is convicted by God to go into the ministry. He moves to Bangor to begin his studies and after several months runs into Espy. They spend their lunch time together, Warren meets the Christian couple that run the mission and learns what serving the Lord really means. When Warren is asked to preach at their home church, he asks Espy to join him. While they are home, a woman admits that Mr. Stockton made advances to her during her employment with them. That clears Espy's name and paves the way for them to commit their lives to each other and to break the ice with Warren's parents who had opposed both Espy and Warren's new avocation. Published 2012. I didn't enjoy this story as much as I've enjoyed other books written by Ruth. She lives on the coast in downeat Maine. She's a link at the bottom of my blog, so check out all her selection of books.
December 2012 Midnight Rider for the Morning Star, by Mark Alan Leslie. My pastor loaned me the book, and I was blown away by the dedication and self-sacrifice displayed by Francis Asbury's life. He was a man on fire for the Lord every day, always trying to reach just one more person, whether through one-on-one conversations or in large group meetings. I wish there were more men like him today, but it is a hard row to hoe, as the saying goes, to give up family, home, personal comfort for the cause of Christ. To go where you aren't wanted, to share a message that's not welcome. And I'm talking about right here in the US, not in some foreign country. The only thing that tripped me up a little was wondering throughout the book how the author knew so much of the thoughts and general conversations of Francis Asbury. (I thought it was all entirely true, but maybe it was move novel-like than 100% true.) A good book, and thoroughly enjoyable, even though I'm a Baptist and he was a Methodist! Somehow the differences don't seem so great between me and him as there are with his counterparts today. Published 2008.
January 2013 Christmas at Barncastle Inn. Four delightful romance stories each written by different authors. The first, and my favorite, was written by Susan Page Davis, formerly of Belgrade, ME, and sets up the storyline of a theme-centered inn in VT where people can rent out the entire inn, and the owners will cater everything, food, clothing, and activities around a theme of the guests' choice. The second story had a post-WW II theme, and the third story a children's pirate theme. The final story didn't involve the guests much, but was a love story about two local residents who participate in the Christmas program at the Inn. The other three authors were Lynette Sowell, Janelle Mowry, and Darlene Franklin. Susan Page Davis is a link at the bottom of this blog, so be sure to check it out. Published in 2011.
December 2012 Dear Lady by Robin Lee Hatcher. In 1897, Elizabeth, an English lady who was matched by her now-deceased father to marry an unsavory man, instead sails to America to meet the little girl who was her pen pal. She'd written to say their school had lost their teacher. Elizabeth takes a train to Montana where, with no experience, she is determined to become the new one. She becomes attracted to Garrett but gets engaged to Owen. Two spinster sisters in town have long had their eyes on those men, so how will Elizabeth's presence affect their plans? A storm, an unruly student, a compromising situation, even a bear all get thrown in the mix, but true love triumphs. Published in 2001.
December 2012 Miryana, by Amanda Guy, published by Author House. Seventeen-year-old Miryana in the fictional land of Numeria set in the early 1800's, I would guess. Her mother is dying after having given birth to a son, and they have no money for a doctor. Miryana goes to the hospital to sell herself as a slave so she can get medical help for her mother. She succeeds in becoming a slave for a rich old man, and her brother is given away to a couple whose own baby just died. She travels with Mr. Bucklin, her owner, to his various estates and assists him in bookkeeping. In one town, there is going to be a hanging and she hears her father's name. She tries to get through the crowd but is only able to briefly make eye contact with him before the crowd prevents her from getting any closer. A man approaches her and tells her he is her father's friend, but in reality he is his enemy and he keeps Miryana for himself and she is raped repeatedly. She is rescued by Mr. Bucklin's employees and they all return to Mr. Bucklin's home, an exclusive university he founded with few students coming from the aristrocracy. There are only three seniors and maybe 25 total in the lower grades. Miryana falls in love with Robin, one of the three seniors at the university, and who is rumored to be Mr. Bucklin's favorite student. His family runs one of Mr. Bucklin's estates, and his sister and her husband are the couple that got Miryana's little brother. Miryana knows she cannot have a relationship with him because of his status and her slave status. Plus she has now discovered she is pregnant from the rapist. Long story short, which is nearly impossible with this 400 page book, Mr. Bucklin had secretly freed her from slavery, had adopted her to be his heir, accepts her daughter as his own granddaughter, approves of her marriage to Robin, receives his grandchildren to Manilla (the university campus) whom he'd never seen before because the woman he had a relationship with eons before never wanted to see him again after she became pregnant and turned her own daughter against him. They all live happily ever after-finally. I found myself looking at what page I was on-Page 165. I was getting bored with the story at that point, and then it happened again at about 2/3 of the way through the book. I wondered when it would be done. When I was finished reading I felt a sense of disappointment, but I can't really put my finger on why I feel that way. Certainly there was plenty of excitement, of mystery and intrique, of travel and experiences. But, something that I can't put my finger on, would make me grade this a 7.5 out of 10. I just can't explain why. The author, Amanda is an English teacher at Lewiston High School, ME, with my daughter, and is writing a sequel to this book. I borrowed the book from my sister-in-law who also works with Amanda at the high school.
August 2012 Finders Keepers by Catherine Palmer. This is the second Catherine Palmer book I've read in a month, but I enjoyed this story ever so much more than the other one, probably because I identify with Elizabeth's love for old things, steering away from change and remembering the long ago past. Elizabeth and her adopted son, Nick, live in a small town in Missouri. She owns an antique shop called Finders Keepers on the town square and lives in the apartment in the back. All is tranquil in her life until Zachary from Jefferson City inherits the old mansion next door. His plans are to tear the hundred year old house down and build a modern structure for his architectural firm and other businesses. Elizabeth and Zachary find themselves at odds, but Nick has decided that he needs a dad and Zachary is going to be it. The disposition of the mansion divides the small town until Zachary recommits himself to the Lord, sees his need for family and his heritage, and decides he needs both Elizabeth and Nick and the old mansion in his permanent future.Published March 2005
August 2012 Steppin' Into the Good Life, by Tia McCollors My first "black" romance. It was a little different experience for me in that I'm not used to the vernacular or customs of the black culture. This is about a single woman who sneaks into her former boyfriend's wedding, only to meet Jesus instead. She's fallen on bad times having lost her job and not been able to find a new one. But God has better plans for her. She makes friends with the owner of a Christian book store, gets into a good church, makes some bad decisions, meets and the man of her future. Over the course of the rest of the book, she grows spiritually by leaps and bounds. When I first started the book, I didn't care for the main character very much. Such a shallow person, focusing all her attention on her perfectly put-together clothes and spike heels and checking out every man who walked by her, but she grew on me as she grew in the Lord. Published in February 2011
August 2012 Murder in the Abstract, by Susan C. Shea. This author's debut novel about murder in the art world. Dani O'Rourke works at an art museum and on the night of a big showing, the man whose artwork is being featured falls out of a fifth floor office window to his death. But it's Dani's office he falls from.And he has an email from Dani in his pocket which tells him to meet her in her office that evening. All fingers point to her, so she must dig out who the real culprit is. The story takes her from San Francisco, where the museum is, to Sante Fe. Two more art-world people die, a friend of Dani's is seriously hurt in a non-random accident on a remote road in Sante Fe and Dani herself is confronted in a darkened part of the museum before the story wraps up, clearly vindicating Dani from all involvement in the crimes. The book is a little slow-paced for me and there seem to be a lot of characters I have to keep straight throughout the book, but it's not a bad storyline. Published 2010.
August 2012 A Kiss of Adventure, by Catherine Palmer. A wild-eyed story of high adventure in Africa. Tillie lives in Mali and is working on a project to reclaim agricultural land from the encroaching desert. One day while walking with her almost-fiance in the marketplace, a boy runs up to her and places a necklace with an antique amulet around her neck. Within an instant a fully robed man on a white camel races down the street and swoops her up and kidnaps her. A total stranger seeing the incident chases them and drags her away from her captor and pulls her to safety in his Land Rover. And away we go! Racing through the desert or paddling dugouts down the Niger River surrounded by alligators and hippos always on the run from the caravan whose leader rides a white camel. All he wants is the treasure spoken of on a piece of paper concealed in the amulet. All Tillie wants is to figure out which man she now loves . If you like Indiana Jones-style stories, you'll love this book. But if you have a hard time buying that two people can successfully survive the wild animals, a sandstorm in a dilapidated truck, sneaking out of hotel room windows just in the nick of time, being dropped by a rope into an ancient dry well and actually finding the two hundred year old box that is the cause of all this drama, and then be dramatically rescued by a small airplane in the middle of nowhere in the desert, then don't try this book. The best part for me is that I discovered at the end of the book that the underlying plot line of the book is based on the life of a real person. The author did an excellent job researching out those fact to create this fascinating, but predictable romance story. Published in 1997.
June 2012 Directed Verdict, by Randy Singer. A legal thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat-reading, reading, reading. Didn't want to go to bed, or back to work, or even home from work since I can read during my receptionist work in the afternoons. This book was good! I got mad several times when an inknown "villian" provided inside information to the opposing counsel. So this author successfully brought out a whole range of emotions in me. That's a good writer! This story involves an American missionary in Saudi Arabia who was tortured along with her husband, and then brings suit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and their police, the Muttawa, in an American court, although the storyline itself doesn't focus much on the missionary, but on the lawyer and his staff as they put together the case. Published April 2009.
May 2012. The Pastor's Wife, by Jennifer AlLee. A modern-day romance about a pastor's wife, Maura, who had walked out on her husband six years earlier, but has been called back to Granger to deal with the conditions of a will. If she is willing to live with her husband, Nick, for six months, the church will receive $10,000 and Maura will receive the title deed to a broken down theater. What do you think happens? Yeah, pretty predictable, isn't it. But Maura keeps a secret right to the end of the book that brings an unexpected twist to the story. Published 2010.
May 2012: Before the Season Ends, by Linore Rose Burkhard. Wasn't planning to enjoy this book as I didn't care for Pride and Prejudice and this had been compared to that. But I actually did enjoy reading this Regency era story. Yeah, it's not based on today's reality, but that's the point. It takes you to another era of years long past. The story actually reminded me of Jane Eyre which I did find entertaining. I learned much about London society and the coming out season, finding a husband and the lavishness, and shallowness, of the parties and the whole courting business. Fortunately for me, I liked Ariana, a middle class girl from a village, taken under the wing of her childless and well-to-do aunt to be presented to London society. She thinks she loves the aging bachelor village preacher. Time will tell whether she gets matched up with a society man or stays true to the pastor. Published in 2008
April 2012: Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer. A grave, but enlightening historical romantic fiction about the Jews in Denmark between October 1943-June 1944. The main characters are a Jewish nurse and a Lutheran pastor, whose brother is a member of the Underground. Hanne, the nurse, and Steffen, the pastor, cross paths frequently until she is caught trying to escape to Sweden. She is then sent to a concentration camp in Terezin, Chezchoslovakia. Steffen gets himself assigned to a Red Cross team which travels to the camp to view the conditions. The story carried plenty of intrique and on-the-edge-of -your-seat tension. Learned so much about a country I had never known was affected by Nazi occupation. Published May 2010.
April 2012: The Note by Angela Hunt. A reporter facing her replacement as the author of a lackluster weekly column is challenged to find the intended recipient of a note salvaged from the ocean after an airplane crashed off of Tampa, Florida. The story line was a little slow moving and I didn't grow to care as much about the main character as I would have liked. Yet, the people she interviewed as possible recipients and the sweet ending carried the story above the initial mediocrity I feared the book was going to be. Published May 2001.
March 2012: Stuck in the Middle (Sister-to-Sister Series Book 1) by Virginia Smith - An ok quick-read romance. I'm not really a fan of romance novels since they are so predictable, but it was free so I downloaded it on my Kindle. The first part of it plodded along so badly I thought I was going to die of boredom. I trudged valiantly on and eventually it turned into a sweet little story. Published in June 2010.
Feb. 2012: Frasier Island by Susan Page Davis - Awesome Navy-themed story about a 4-person outpost on a remote island in the north Pacific. Contains mystery and romance. Way cool book, Susan! Published in March 2007.