Free, and not so free November 2, 2019

November 2, 2019November 2, 2019 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

I have a few books for you today. Just like yesterday, there are several free and three not so free. I like the authors and wanted them. And I have to share. That’s why we have the not-so-free again today.

The first one is a BookBub suggestion and it’s $0.99 Threads of Suspicion a Dee Henderson book (she appeared on yesterday’s list.)

Threads of Suspicion

The next one came up for me on Amazon for $1.29 Heart of Stone by Lyn Cote. (we had one of her books yesterday, as well.)

Heart of Stone

Amazon again for all of the rest.

One Thursday Morning is $1.35 by T.K.Chapin. I don’t know him as well as the other two authors but have read a few of his books. I wanted to take a chance on this one too.

One Thursday Morning

The next two are FREE. They are among my previously read books from 2014 and 2016 but I don’t remember a lot about them. I suspect I liked them though, if my vague recollections are what I think they are.

A Mystery, Gone The Next Ben Rehder

Gone The Next

A Fantasy, Dreamlander K.M Weiland

Dreamlander

I hope you find some of these enticing.

Happy Reading!

Leftover Girl

September 22, 2019 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

A little Fantasy is a nice change of pace.

Leftover Girl – C.C Bolick … Jes is used to being the new kid in class. Her family is on the move again – to yet another school. Maybe this time, moving to her adopted mother’s home town, she will get to complete the school year in one place and maybe even make a real friend.

She has no memory of life before her adoption, although small fragments are beginning of surface giving her clues to the truth of her abandonment.

Her life is built on lies causing Jes to push everyone away in order to keep her secret. Meeting a strange new student who might know about her past and where she comes from has her drawing closer than ever before. He is in town looking for a certain girl and he thinks she could be the one.

Remembering is starting to happen more and more but knowing is going to come at a cost to her. Once those doors are opened there will be no going back, life will never be the same.

This story was tough to put down, and it was great. Now I need to read the sequel.

Another assortment of awesome books

The Camfield Legacy – After the Rains book 2 – Deborah Raney

Annabelle's Ruth The Kinsman Redeemer Series – Annabelle’s Ruth book 1 – Betty Thomason Owens

Wings if the Dawn Wings of the Dawn book 1 – Kristen Hogrefe

Charlie' Angel Street Justice – Charlie’s Angel book 1- Samantha Fury

The Isaac Project – Sarah Monzon

The Hot Headed Patriot – Jennifer Youngblood

Happy reading!

The Shell Collector’s Daughter

September 15, 2019September 10, 2019 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

There are many TV shows that could possibly qualify as one of my favorites.

Touched by an Angel is one of them. A team of three angels is assigned to help a human in a difficult situation. They must appear undercover, assuming a persona and occupation that will allow them to become a regular part of life for their assignee. They’re allowed to be friendly, as long as they don’t reveal who they really are … unless their person has figured it out first. They can help things along a little by using their heavenly powers but it would have to be done discreetly.

The angel personalities are so different and that’s a big part of the appeal. The older lady is bossy, the younger is tender hearted and helpful. The sweet guy fills two roles; he is also the angel of death. Most of the time, though, he just makes himself useful. When the three of them have trouble seeing eye to eye, as often happens, the carrying out of their assignment is a challenge — so much fun to watch.

Twice in a Lifetime is another of my favorite TV shows. There is just one angel this time. He’s been given advanced warning and he’s already in place waiting for the event. It is always a premature death of someone who has managed to made a mess of their life. Sometimes the cause will be bad attitudes, bad choices, or both. The angel (a cute young guy) will take the newly deceased person before a heavenly judge (an older man with a twinkle in his eye and a heavy hand on his judge’s gavel). To address confusion about why they are there he will show flashbacks of their life, highlighting their bad choices. If they exhibit understanding and remorse they will qualify to attempt a do-over. If they agree to his terms they will be sent back (accompanied by the cute angel) to an earlier date in their life. They won’t go back as themselves but in some other role meant to cross paths with them. They have several weeks to convince their younger self (without direct influence) to change their ways. If they are successful their life path will change, avoiding the dreaded death scene. Of course, this is never as easy as it sounds. So many things can go wrong, and usually do. The angel’s patience is severely tried at times, as he attempts to coach them toward a good ending.

The Shack by William P. Young is a book that reminds me of an extended and expanded episode of Touched by an Angel. The similarity is in the part heaven plays in changing lives and it always takes patience on the part of the angels. They can’t cause, or convince anyone to do anything. They need to find loving ways to influence, but not force, people to make changes and good choices. Fortunately, for the struggling humans, angels do not give up easily.

The Shell Collector’s Daughter reminded me of these past enjoyments and I had to share them as an introduction to this heart warming story.

The Shell Collector's daughter

Surf’s Up Series – The Shell Collector’s Daughter – Beth Wiseman

Carianna has an unusual and close relationship with God… has had all her life. Every Thursday she has afternoon tea with Him, and they talk. She listens to him every other day, too, but Thursdays are special. The rest of her routine for the week, Monday to Friday, has her catching the early ferry to Shell island. She stays until she has her day’s quota of beautiful gleanings for her father’s shop

Her kindness is legendary. She is loved by everyone in the village, and they take her safety personally. Her father is grateful because Carianna is very beautiful and has gained the unwanted notice of many men, young and otherwise. As protector, he has a fierce reputation with the men of the village and beyond. So far, not one of the local men has ever gained his approval and they value their life too much to make any unsanctioned moves toward his daughter.

Carianna is oblivious to all of the drama. She’s never shown any interest in a boyfriend, never mind a husband. This is going to have to change. Her father has been diagnosed with cancer and time is quickly running out for him. He’s worried. He’s trying to plan a safe future for her life without him.

Reporter Dominic is spending time on her beach researching an article for a travel magazine. There are a number of beaches in the country popular for shell collecting and this is one of them. He’s writing a fluff piece, really, but since he’s still grieving the death of his mother he appreciates the simple distraction of an easy subject. Other than work, he has nothing on his mind, not even attractive women. The very last thing he wants to consider right now is love. That’s why it’s such a shock when he encounters a beautiful young woman; feeling an instant and strange bonding with her. She is unlike any one he has ever met. He can’t quite find a way to adequately describe the aura of puzzling innocence about her. The unsettled feeling each time he sees her has him attempting to escape. It never works. Somehow he finds himself drawn back into her life instead.

This afternoon she’s insisting on taking him home to meet her father. Dominic is trembling in his boots. A fellow passenger on the ferry to the beach told him what would happen if her father ever saw him showing interest. Now he’s in shock; her father has just issued an invitation for him to stay and share a meal with them … a confusing, and scary development.

She’s not surprised at her father’s invitation. God has been whispering in her ear. He’s shared with her the description of a man … this man.

Beth Wiseman has done an awesome job, telling this beautiful and unusual story.

Now comes a varied selection of interesting, sometimes scary, sometimes compelling, books. Hopefully you will find them enticing too.

Dakota Brides Series – Temporary Bride book 1 – Linda Ford.

Lady Katherine Regency Mysteries – An Invitation to Murder book 1- Leighann Dobbs and Harmony Williams

the bridge beween An Edisto Novel – The Bridge Between – Lindsay P Brackett

Medic-7 Series – Paramedic Killer book 2 – Pat Patterson

To Claim Her Heart – Jodie Wolfe

The Tox Files – Conspiracy of Silence book 1 – Ronie Kendig

Strong Women, Extraordinary Situations – Deadly Night, Silent Night book 8 – Margaret Daley

Happy Reading, ’til next week.

Stealthy Steps

June 21, 2019 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

This sci-fi, Stealthy Steps, was my favorite read this time. It was well written, believable, and it took me on a wild ride. Judging by the lengthy list of references at the end, the idea of nanophysics is not just a figment of someone’s imagination. That’s cool. This book was intriguing and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Nanostealth Series – Stealthy Steps book 1 – Vikki Kestell …. Gemma Keyes is unremarkable. With a degree in business and little-to-no knowledge of science she find herself employed in a high level nanophysics research center and she’s not sure how or why it happened. The lab is housed in an abandoned military weapons storage facility built into the side of a mountain, with unobtrusive escape tunnels and multiple security fences. Her duties are to care for the administrative needs of two researchers – physicists who seem to hate each other.

The project is top secret and of great interest to a hard nosed, two star general who happens to be an elegant but shark-like woman. It’s no secret she has a hidden agenda for her presence in their offices and what she has in mind will not be good for their country.

Tension is high in the lab this morning and Gemma finds herself in a life threatening situation with Dr. Bickle. Feverishly working to pack up his invention and run, he’s convinced the General is about to swoop in and take possession of his work. He will do anything to keep his nanobots from falling into the wrong hands.

Time is up, the army can be heard running toward his lab. Desperate to hide them, he smashes the glass wall of the cage and commands the released cloud of nanobots to hide. Expecting the enemy to burst through the door with guns blazing, he orders Gemma to run. “Hide, Gemma run” he yells.

Soldiers and guns are everywhere, Dr Bickle said run but he didn’t seem to be behind her. The bots fled their cage but she didn’t see if they managed to hide in time.

When Gemma becomes aware of her surroundings, she has no idea how she managed to escape the facility. She’s found her car and on the way home, distressed to think the doctor perished in the gunfire. She can’t imagine how he could have survived.

Heart-sick over Dr. Bickle, she glances in her rear view mirror… and…

Her face is not there.

A Reluctant Melody Reluctant Melody – Sandra Ardoin … Joanna is anxious to sell her rundown property after the death of her husband. Partly for lack of upkeep funds, partly to escape vicious rumors. There are some who think she was responsible for her husband’s death. Joanna’s willingness to sell disappeared when she discovered the prospective buyer is a mistake from her past. How did he know where she was, or did he know?

Be Mine Be Mine – Rick Mofina … Molly has been waiting at Jake’s Bar & Grill for over an hour. It’s not like Cliff to be late without calling. Something is really wrong.

A shocking murder scene greets her as she checks out his apartment. Shock made worse by the message left for her… written in blood.

The homicide department is up in arms at the senseless execution of one of their own. It looks like Molly is a target but she’s determined to do her part in tracking down the killer, hoping her fellow crime reporters will help.

She’s unaware of the strange flowers that show up in her office on the heels of another killing.

A tense psychological thriller.

Conclusive Evidence – Al Macy … Garrett Goodlove used to be an arrogant defense lawyer and he’s lost the stomach for it. Family Law is easier to live with. His twin sister, Carly, finds herself in need of a good defence lawyer and insists she wants him. He’s worried he’s lost his edge and won’t be able to give her the defence needed. He may be right.

The police detective assigned to the case has a grudge against Carly and will do whatever it takes, legal or not, to make sure she is convicted in the death of her husband.

A Preston Barclay Mystery – Murder Mezzo Forte book 2 – Donn Taylor … Two professors stop by a colleagues office, as requested, and discover she has been murdered. This time they have witnesses to prove they aren’t the killers. Unlike their first involvement in discovering a body.

They’re determined to find the killer and someone is nervous. False evidence pointing fingers at them is showing up in their offices, the police are delighted. The uptight university administration is nervous. To protect the school’s reputation from perceived harm, the decision is made quickly to relieve them of duty. Proof of guilt is unimportant. At least they haven’t been outright fired and they sill have their campus privileges. On the bright side – they have more time and freedom to figure this out.

The Lazarus File – Donne E. Taylor … Undercover Agents are dying and they don’t know how it’s happening. Even off-the-books, deeply embedded agents no one is supposed to know about are having their covers blown. The challenge is; to stay alive – and uncover the person behind these killings. Everything points to insider information but how is that possible with only a handful of trusted knowledgeable people? It’s time to involve an outside agency as handlers, keeping inside information to a minimum. It looks like they are trusting a double agent but who.

Secrets and Wishes – Kathleen Rouser …. Maggie, and Thomas, each widowed, struggle to do their best as single parents. Maggie goes to great lengths to avoid Thomas. It’s hard to see her husband replaced by the new pharmacist in the store he loved.

The choice to make a change is taken out of her hands. Their sons have gotten into a school yard tussle and the situation must be addressed. Her son needs to face the father of his opponent and apologize. The surprise of the whole encounter is how quickly the boys figure out they want to be friends.

Still reluctant to have contact with this man, Maggie is horrified when the local doctor requests she nurse the deathly ill pharmacist. She’s the only one equipped for the task and the doctor won’t take no for an answer.

It turns out, Thomas isn’t the only one needing her. His family is in desperate need of parental attention while he is out of commission. The downside to all of this…. his children are learning to love her.

I hope you are feeling inspired, maybe even enough to read some of these books.

Happy Reading!

A Heart Set Free on Flight 259

May 11, 2019 / For the Love of Books / 2 Comments

Before we get started I need to mention…. a new page has been created with the sole purpose of keeping track of authors showing up in these blog posts. I hope some of you will find the new list helpful and inspiring. Personally, it is useful already. I’m gaining a much clearer overall picture of who and what I’m reading. It’s mindboggling to see how many little-known authors are showing up on the list. I find that pretty exciting. The world of writing has changed so much in the last decade or two. It’s now possible for an impossible number of books to be published. The overall quality of writing is consistently higher too, I’m finding. Amazing, and encouraging.

We all go through different seasons of reading in our lifetime, at least I hope we all do. My current season is discovering new things. New and different story ideas as well as authors. I’m happy to see publishers embracing the idea of allowing authors to write outside the box of the last best seller (theirs or someone else’s.) I’m glad, because that kind of thinking helps with a supply that will feed my hunger.

A Heart Set Free – Janet S, Grunst …… Heather Douglas is desperate for a new start after the death of her father, and the betrayal of both her intended and her brother. Left with no resources, fleeing an unjust scandal, she books passage to America as a seven-year indentured servant.

Matthew Stewart is in town to visit his children and stock up on supplies. It is a new and unwelcome idea when his friend Maggie suggests he should look over the indentured servants on the new ship just in. His children could go home with him if he had someone there to look after them.

He has no intention of following through with this suggestion but one of the women draws his attention. She seems different than the rest. Maybe…..

Heather watches him watch her and wonders what he could be discussing with a well dressed gentleman. When Matthew steps up to bid on her she is expecting he has arranged for a servant. He accepts possession of her but doesn’t share he’s made arrangements for a hurried wedding before they leave town. What happened to her right of freedom?

The children have just been told and they are as shocked as Heather. They aren’t ready for any of this either.

The Hope Series – Flight 259 book 1 – Staci Stallings …. Three years and Jenna is still reeling from the loss of her father, husband, and daughter. Claustrophobic living with her mother, she decides on a drastic change. Missing her flight by seconds, she can’t turn back or she will lose the courage to try again. A ticket on the next available flight anywhere, as long as it’s East, is what she has to do.

Single parent, Scott and Lane, his two-year-old, are headed home after a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Lane is not happy about leaving them. Struggling to cope with an uncooperative child, Scott is not winning any friends among the other passengers. Life begins to look so much better when a new crop of passengers board for the second leg of the trip. A new seat mate makes him feel like an angel has been sent to help them survive. Jenna seems to have the right touch when it comes to unhappy little boys.

Everything seems to be going so much better and they will soon be home. A welcome relief…… until they encounter an unexpected, horrific storm. There’s a terrifying explosive cracking sound and the plane begins to go down.

Midnight is My Time – Mike Dellosso …. Andy Mayer is struggling to survive. Just like everyone else after The Event, the one that saw many people mysteriously disappear. War has broken out between animals and the remaining humans. The animals seem to be winning.

Missy, sees with all of her senses, just not with her blind eyes. She sees Andy sleeping in a drainage pipe. She would leave him there but she can tell he has a story and somehow it is supposed to connect with her story, so she wakes him.

They both have a story, a past, and special gifts they haven’t learned how to use. There is an old man who keeps showing up, and somehow, he seems to be helping them get to where they need to be. The old man is not the only one though. Opposition appears in unexpected places, taking them unaware. Someone wants to stop them but why is still a mystery.

The Bargain – Aaron D Gansky ….. Connor Reedly is devastated, his beloved wife is dying of cancer, and he doesn’t want to miss a minute of the time she has left. They’ve made the long trip to visit Nadine’s sister because there is an urgency about her dying wish. He thinks they would be better staying home but he can’t deny her anything.

They arrived just hours ago and Aida has someone she wants Conner to visit now?

Mason is looking for an award winning journalist to write ten articles. The dying town of Hailey needs to be saved from destruction by a tornado. If he writes articles proving there are ten good citizens the town will be spared and Nadine will live. He has ten days to write ten articles and he will be paid twenty five thousand dollars for each one.

Of course, Conner thinks this guy is a crazy and wants nothing to do with him. He is tempted though. Between rising medical debt and pressure from the two women in his life, he is at least considering it. An emergency trip to the hospital makes him consider a little faster.

The interviews he must conduct for these articles are not turning out as expected. Some of these people seem to have more bad than good in their lives. It’s a challenge to write an article proving there is anything good in this town, he has to look pretty hard to see it.

The whole thing is overwhelming and time consuming. The aspect he resents most is having to leave his dying wife. It all feels like a complete waste of time but whenever he gets discouraged and tries to stop Nadine gets sicker. Her best days are when he is writing.

He can’t quit and nothing about this is easy, in fact it’s downright life threatening. Not only by tornados. Someone is trying to kill him, and the people helping him.

There are some rather different books this time, each one going in unexpected but welcomed directions.

Everard – Not-So-Fairy Tales

November 10, 2018 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

Everard Everard – Not-So-Fairy Tales – Chautona Havig

The awesome narrator (I’ll tell you why she’s so awesome, later) is telling us the Terrible War is finally over and the surviving soldiers are allowed go home.

Brave and courageous, Everard of Havilund is one of the first allowed to leave the battlefield. He knows he is ahead of the others, and they will likely be at least a half day behind him. He also knows the people in the villages will be unaware of their victory and he is excited to share the news with them. This is uncharacteristic for him because, despite his bravery, he finds it difficult to hold simple conversations and will go out of his way to avoid them.

He’s been travelling four days without seeing another person so when he comes upon a farm house with someone in the yard, he’s fairly bursting to share the news.

Roana has a brother in the war and is desperate to know what’s happening, She is as excited to hear the good news as he is to give it. So excited, in fact, that she flies into his arms, and in the emotion of the moment he does something he has never, ever done before. Something that leaves him totally stunned.

He kisses her.

Of course, she has flown back into the house to share the good news with her dad, completely unaware of Everard’s state of mind.

In the weeks following his arrival back home he comes to a decision. After wrestling with his guilt over what he considers his compromising of her good reputation – he feels honour bound to marry her.

Normally, in this situation, because of his status as a prince, he could simply ask for her hand and it would be given to him. His sense of fairness won’t allow him to do that. He has decided that he must ask for her hand and she must be freely willing to give it.

This is where it gets a little sticky. You would think a father would be thrilled to have a prince asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Not this father. For reasons we have yet to understand, he decides the prince must fulfil a challenge first, to earn the right to ask for the hand of his daughter. It wasn’t just any old challenge either, he had to slay a dragon, and he had to do it alone.

Everard negotiates to have one person accompany him so that when he is killed there will be a witness to take word home to his family. You can see he is not expecting this situation to go well for him and yet he is willing to try anyway.

This challenge does not go the way you might expect, her father keeps changing the rules.

I liked this story because, while it is the retelling of a fairy tale, it is a loose retelling. It’s more like a mash-up of several fairy tales. This makes it impossible to predict where it is going next. It seems like it should end in a wedding but there are times when it looks a little doubtful.

That brings me to the Narrator. She is hilarious, in my opinion anyway. She thinks it is her duty to stop and explain certain things, and she has definite opinions on the type of things the reader needs to know. She also wants to avoid misunderstandings, and is apt to stop suddenly, to clarify some detail she thinks may confuse someone. I like the way she thinks.

She also has opinions on some of the decisions Everard makes; but he’s not listening to her. He is bound and determined to stick to the course he has set out for himself.

Everard’s strong sense of responsibility for the wrong he thinks he has committed makes his task that much harder to complete. And, when it gets right down to it, things are not always what they seem either.

He is so likeable you can’t help but cheer him on.

This was a fun read. If you like fairy tales I’m sure you will like this one too.

There are more books to talk about…. soon.

Happy reading!

Rogue Wave

October 30, 2018 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

Last post ended with this comment: Speaking of addictions: that reminds me….. of a idea which I will save to talk about in the next post……… This subject that has been on my mind, often, since that post, and as it won’t seem to go away, I’ll share what I was thinking that day….

I heard an interesting commentary on addictions the other day. It was in regard to things that – in and of themselves – are not bad for you. Things like work, sports, reading…. activities that, if taken too far, can cause us to neglect obligations, and the significant people in our lives.

The speaker was describing a way to enjoy an activity while encouraging it to shrink back to healthy levels. The gist of her thought was this – We need to expand our happiness base. Adding to the number of activities we enjoy will do this, and the hold any one activity has on us will be lessened.

This commentary belongs to award winning lyricist, Gloria Gaither, and she was giving it in response to a question from Mark Lowry on Monday’s With Mark, (Mark Lowry’s live video interviews on You Tube.) (Mark is funny, real, and wise beyond his years. Check him out, you might like him). The addict Gloria was speaking about is workaholic Bill Gaither, who agreed – he is an addict. He also agreed that expanding his happiness base has made a big difference in it’s hold on him. Interestingly enough, reading has become one of his new favorite activities. We are cheering you on, Bill!

After hearing this interview, I’ve been taking an honest look at the activities in my own life. It seems I bounce back and forth between four or five different things (sometimes all in one day). Maybe that’s a good sign my happiness base has broadened…. at least a little. There is this compulsion though, in the back of my mind, always looking for openings to snatch a few diversionary moments, doesn’t matter how big or small they are. I think my happiness base expansion still needs some work.

Addictions and stress levels are never as simple as all that but even now, several weeks later, I can still see the value in the point Gloria was making. I have been making an effort to vary the way I spend time and it has been making a difference. It is getting easier to make myself get up and get going when I need to.

This time the book is …. fantasy.

Deep sea adventure, intrigue, death threats, bombings, rogue killer waves, green men …. really….. a good book for the addictive reader

Rogue Wave – Christopher Cartwright

A killer wave that can sink massive ships without leaving evidence of what it is, or where it came from.

A mystery solver dragged into a sinister plot for reasons that are unclear. Someone notices and now his life, and that of his crew, is in danger.

His business associates have fallen for the promise of a payout in the millions, but with his personal wealth and laser focus on new inventions – the lure of money has no effect on him. He votes to reject the lucrative deal, he can see what this takeover is really all about – a threat to life as we know it.

His rejection of this deal is a threat to life as he knows it.

In the meantime, his father’s shipping business has been taking a hit with mega tankers disappearing and he wants his son to figure out what’s going on.

Are any of these things related? Are they all related?

He has a talented crew, with sophisticated equipment, ready to take on the challenge. He’s not confident they will live through the experience so he makes plans.

He decides their best hope is to disappear while they investigate discretely. That’s when the fun begins.

I love a good book, don’t you? 🙂

Happy reading, everyone

YA books for my grandsons

July 12, 2018 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

It was a lot of fun to come across a book store well stocked with young adult books suitable for boys. The boys in our family are becoming avid readers and I wanted to get a jump on Christmas and birthdays if I could. It’s often hard to find things geared to boys tastes in books when you have a deadline.

I haven’t read any of these books yet myself but my daughter gave the first series by Bryan Davis a 3 thumbs up when I checked to see if it had her approval. She probably checked reviews to form an opinion. The rest of the books were also suggested by a very helpful and well read young lady working in that part of the store.

I am excited about these great finds so I’ll just share them all with you now and comment later on to let you know what the boys thought of my selections.

If you have read and enjoyed any of these maybe you can jump into this conversation too and let us know what you think.

I was going to stock pile the new books for future gifts but changed my mind when I started thinking about the excitement level if their summer started out with many books to choose from, especially since they also have a book loving boy cousin visiting for a coupe of weeks soon. I think I might be as excited about this as they will be when they see the stack I have for them.

So, here is the first complete series in my collection… Children of the Bard

Song of the Ovulum bk 1 Song of Ovulum book 1 – Bryan Davis

From the Mouth of Elijah bk 2 Mouth of Elijah book 2

the Seventh Door bk 3 The Seventh Door book 3

Omega Dragon bk 4 Children of the Bard – Omega Dragon book 4

Another Bryan Davis series is Dragons of Starlight

Dragons of the Starlight series – Starlighter book 1 – Bryan Davis

There are 4 books in this series and I picked up the first one. The four are Starlighter, Warrior, Diviner, and Liberator.

Then there is a series by Wayne Thomas Batson that looks interesting. It’s called The Door Within Trilogy.

The Door Within bk 1 The Door Within book1 – Wayne Thomas Batson

The Rise of the Wyrm Lord bk 2 The Rise of The Wyrm Lord book 2

The Final Storm bk 3 The Final Storm book 3

I did get the first three and see now that there is also a fourth one.

Another series by Wayne Thomas Batson is called The Dream Treaders Series.

Dream Treaders is book 1 and I bought that one as a starter, Search for the Shadow Key is book 2, and The War for the Waking World is book 3. Book one will be an experiment to see how we like it.

I picked up four random books just to see what they were like. We can go back for more if they are a hit with the boys.

Hood bk 1 Hood is book one in Stephen Lawhead’s The Raven King Series. Scarlet is book 2 and Tuck is book 3. This series was inspired by the legend of Robin Hood. I’ve read other books by Stephen Lawhead and enjoyed his fantasies. We’ll see what the boys have to say about this one.

We will also try out The White Lion Chronicles by Christopher Hopper.

Rise of the Dibor is book 1 in this series, books 2 and 3 are The Lion Vrie. and Athera’s Dawn

The adults in the family haven’t been left out. I picked up four books for them too

Son of God (based on the major motion picture) by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. I am not familiar with the movie or the authors but the young lady helping me thought highly of it.

The Prodigal – a Ragamuffin Story by Brennan Manning and Greg Garrett was also highly recommended. A modern telling of the parable.

The next two are by Joel C Rosenberg and are thrillers. The Third Target and The First Hostage. These fall into the what could happen category. They aren’t the books she originally recommended by this author but I an a sucker for a sale and thought it would be a safer way to try someone new to me.

If you have opinions on any of these books, you will have to share them with us, we would like to hear what you thought.

I will share more about the store itself another time. They have a huge selection of new and gently used books and I hear they have an online presence selling books as well.

The store is called House of James in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada …. in case you want to check it out sooner rather than later. It took seconds to come up when I Goggled House of James, so happy hunting.

And happy reading too. Until next time.

Poets, and their stories

May 27, 2018 / For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

Four Days With Hemingway’s Ghost was so much fun that I’m feeling pumped.

Usually I bask for a little while in the afterglow of a good book and then quickly move on to another one. By the time I get around to mentioning it here the glow is long gone, never to be felt again

This time I’ll try to talk about it while I’m still feeling it.

As I run through this experience in my mind, trying to make sense of it for you, I recognize that it is the emotional experience, more than anything, that makes me categorize a book as great.

It’s wonderful if the subject is interesting and the book is technically well written. It helps if the characters are relatable and the plot flows well and is easy to follow. Everything about the book can be perfect but in the end it’s evoked emotions that leave me loving a book.

This story was a perfect. There was a full range of stirred emotions, with laughter and giggles at the top of the list.

There are many things that could be said about what it takes to write in a way that will stir emotions, but that’s a post for another day. By someone else. I recognize those times when I’ve been made to feel but I can’t tell you how to write to make it happen.

Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I do know that you have to be real to write like that. It has to flow out of the authentic you. The emotions have to be inside the writer before they can be poured out on the page.

The flow of this whole consideration led me to think about actors. They can make me feel things when they are pretending to be someone they aren’t. At the same time though, their strategy is to conjure up whatever emotion they need, to play the part. In that regard it’s real. Pretend (when it comes to emotions) doesn’t work well for actors either.

So getting back to Hemingway. This story was fantasy, similar to some of the second chance TV shows we’ve seen.

I will admit, as a disclaimer, I have heard of most of the great poets but have not read much of anything they’ve written. I haven’t paid much attention to their lives either. That means I have no idea if the biographical material contained in these stories is accurate in any way. I just know I liked these books, accurate or not.

Four Days With Hemingway's Ghost Four Days With Hemmingway’s Ghost – Tom Winton ….. Jack Phelan had been spending a lot of time reading everything he could find about his favorite poet, and Hemingway was on his mind when a serious accident put Jack in a coma. Imagine the shock, to find himself standing outside of one of Hemingway’s houses, talking to an old man he suddenly recognizes.

The next four days were a real trip. They were days chock full of amazing experiences, places and people. They were also days full of angst. There was uncertainty about how this experience would play out for Jack. Would he pass the test and live?

It could be, that the purpose of this book was to show Hemingway in a different light. Or, it could be that it was just for the fun of it. Either way, I liked it.

Unlike the Hemingway novel this next one is written as Historical Fiction, no fantasy involved.

As mentioned earlier, I have no background knowledge to decide if any of the details set forth are true. For the first time I can remember, I was wishing I did know.

I do know it was immensely enjoyable and it made me think about reading his poetry sometime. Preferably in a book I could hold.

The Lord Byron Series – A Strange Beginning book 1 – Gretta Curran Browne …. a stand alone novel

So…. I decided to do a little research in Wikipedia. It seems the author stayed pretty close to the truth of Byron’s life, although there are differing opinions on several points in the historical accounts. It’s not clear what the truth would be there.

The story has been cleaned up quite a bit too, there was no mention of his debts and only veiled references to his dalliances.

Ms Browne set out to create a work of fiction, loosely based on Lord Byron’s life, so it was the author’s prerogative to write whatever she felt would make it an interesting story. In my opinion, she succeeded admirably.

Now that I’ve read up on Byron, I think I’m glad I didn’t know much at first. There were no comparisons happening in my head as I read. There was even sympathy for the abuse suffered at the hands of his mad mother.

With a clearer understanding of the circumstances of his life and the direction of his thoughts, I seem to be having some doubts about reading his poetry. We’ll see…. maybe.

I did love the book and stand by my assessment of it. Read it if you can, I think you would like it too.

Happy Reading.

The Man He Never Was: A Modern Reimagining of Jekyll and Hyde

April 22, 2018 / For the Love of Books / 3 Comments

I have been thinking a lot, this week, about the good men in my life. I’ve never thought like this before, not really. It seems like the after-effects of the bad men in my life have completely taken over; you can tell this because I’ve mentioned them to you more than once with nary a word about any of the good guys.

I’ve never before thought to question how I knew from an early age that not all men were bad. Now, I realize there has to be experience behind the knowledge, it doesn’t just happen.

There are very few childhood memories left to give me clues, however, I do have adult memories of Mom’s stories. She talked often about leaving us with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Donald. Uncle Donald was Grandpa’s brother. He was kind, smiled a lot, and cared about kids. I have teenage memories of him and can see how the little me would have loved being with him. Grandpa was reserved and didn’t smile a lot but I felt safe with him too. I could let down my guard, and did, when we lived with him as young teens.

There were two separate camps in my early life. The good guys, and the bad guys. Now. as I take the time to think about it, I realize how blessed I was. Not everyone has the privilege of experiencing the good with the bad.

Since then, there have been other good guys in my life, too, and I treasure them all.

I am going to leave you with just one book this time.

James L Rubart is a favorite author and I hope to do a feature on him soon. There are a number of his books in my kindle collection and I need to tell you about them sometime.

He has a unique style of writing but is not alone in it as there are several others sharing a similar style. Frank Peretti is one of them. There is always a bit of fantasy in his stories.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The Man He Never Was – James L Rubart….. Toren Daniels wakes up one day and feels like a different person. And has no idea why.

He was a professional football player with a raging temper that finally got him kicked out of the league. Without the usual outlet, his family bore the brunt of his temper tantrums and they were about to kick him out too.

Toren disappeared one day, was gone so long everyone thought he was dead, and his family moved on with a feeling of relief. They were not happy to see him on the doorstep eight months later.

Now, he has two things to figure out:

Where was he for eight months and what has been done to him?
How does he convince his family he has changed, so he can get them back?

A story well worth the time.

Happy reading!

I hope you have some good people in your life too.