An Open Book: March 2021

In For Eden's Sake by T.M. Gaouette, Isaac is working hard at his first job out of college.  Having grown up in a rural area, his job in a big city brings both new opportunities and new challenges.  When celebrating a work accomplishment with fellow coworkers, Isaac is encouraged by them to drink much more than he is used to.  Little did he know that this night of drinking would lead to much more than a bad hangover.  The choices he made that evening are life altering.  The author masterfully explores the impact that an unplanned pregnancy has on the father of that child.  

I have been reading Natasha Metzler's blog for a while now, but little did I know she is also an author of quite a number of books.  Emma and the Reasons is the first in the Women of Promise series.  Emma and her two roommates are all single and their reasons for being so are as different as they are.  The three roommates all attempt to discern God's will for their lives, knowing that it may not be what they had wanted for themselves.  When their meddling married friends attempt to intercede in their relationship status, all three learn to deepen their reliance on their faith.   This was a well written and delightful read and I look forward Natasha's other books.

A couple of years ago I needed a plant for my Easter decorations, but the grocery store had a limited selection of lilies and other spring flowers that all looked a little worse for wear.  Not having time to run to any other store, I grabbed the nearest flowering plant, a yellow specked orchid.  And, that, as they, is history.  We were hooked.  Our orchid collection has grown to over a dozen plants.  I decided that I needed to learn more about the care of these beautiful flowers, so I bought a copy of The Orchid Whisperer: Expert Secrets for Growing Beautiful Orchids  by Bruce Rogers.  This book provides great information that a novice orchid collector needs.  The many parts of the plants are explained, the care needed is detailed, and many varieties are explored.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: February 2021

 

Last year I seemed to have found plenty of time for reading, as the over one hundred and fifty books on my GoodReads 2020 list will attest.  But writing, not so much.  I think there were things I wanted to write, but not ones I wanted to publish.  It's a weird world that we are living in now.  It seems like a good time to jump back into the blogsphere and books seem to be a good, and safe, place to start.

In Unstable Felicity: A Christmas Novella by blogger Cat Hodge, Jill is summoned to her small hometown in Ohio.  It seems that the family inn is struggling and Jill's accounting skills are needed to help save it from going under.  Family drama makes this task even more difficult than it already is.  Jill hasn't spoken to her mother since her father's funeral four months prior.  Her sisters, an ex-boyfriend, and a local real estate mogul all add to the chaos.  This is the author's first novel, which is witty and entertaining.  I look forward to reading more of her works.

A year or so ago I read One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith, the story of Richard Proenneke's time spent in the Alaskan wilderness.  In First Wilderness the author recounts his own time in spent in Alaska and how he came to meet Richard.  Having served in the Marines during World War 2, Sam went home to New England to get is degree and find a job.  Unhappy with the employment he found, he decided to seek adventure in Alaska where he worked as a laborer on the Adak Navy base.  His great love nature and the outdoors is clearly evident in his writing.  The manuscript was found ten years after Sam's death by his son-in-law, and, along with photos and excerpts from his journals, letters, and notebooks, was compiled into a story of a grand adventure.

Always You is the first in the Murphy Brothers series by Jennifer Rodewald.  Lauren and Matt, each running away from parts of their lives, meet in an messy, unfortunate accident.  They strike up a friendship as they help revive a local inn and resort.  Their love of God and their promise of respect for each other both helps them navigate their feelings for each other and the situations in which they find themselves.  This is a pleasant read for a cold winter's day by the fire.

I discovered author Marie Bostwick on a PBS episode of Sewing With Nancy.  At the end of each show, Nancy Zieman interviews someone whose daily life somehow intersects with sewing.  In The Second Sister, the author tells the story of Lucy Toomey, a political campaigner whose boss is about to be elected to the highest office in the country.  The night of the elected, Lucy receives news that her older sister, Alice, has been rushed to the hospital.  By the time Lucy makes it from her home in Colorado to her small, Wisconsin hometown of Nilson's Bay, it is too late, her sister has died.  Lucy spends time there learning who her sister really was by meeting her diverse group of friends and their sewing circle.  

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: September 2020

Back in May, I read Joseph Pearce's article about Dean Koontz. While Pearce is not a fan of current fiction, and that is what I prefer, I did agree whole heartedly with his attitude about what we read in general.

We only have so many years allotted to us and we know that we will die with a long list of unread books, which would have nourished us had we read them. We need to be selective.

A book that was recommended to Pearce was Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas, the favorite of the author's.  Remembering an interview I saw with Koontz on EWTN a number of years ago, I decided it was time to give this author a try and start with his favorite.

Odd Thomas is not only the name of the book, but also is the main character's real name.  How he came to be named Odd is up for debate, but he does manage to live up to it.  Odd is a short-order cook in a small dessert town, Pico Mundo, from which he has never traveled very far.  He also sees spirits.  They don't talk to him, but still manage to engage his help.  When a stranger comes to town, he is accompanied by dark, hyena shaped shadows, which seem to feed off of fear and evil.   Odd races against time to thwart an evil that threatens his small town.

Dean Koontz's has an engaging and challenging writing style which sent me to the dictionary on more than one occasion.  His Catholic faith is quietly present in the story.

Most people desperately desire to believe that they are part of a great mystery, that Creation is a work of grace and glory, not merely the result of random forces colliding. Yet each time that they are given but one reason to doubt, a worm in the apple of the heart makes them turn away from a thousand proofs of the miraculous, whereupon they have a drunkard’s thirst for cynicism, and they feed upon despair as a starving man upon a loaf of bread.


I am an optimist about our species. I assume God is, too, for otherwise He would have scrubbed us off the planet a long time ago and would have started over.


A wonderful poet, now all but forgotten because modern universities teach nothing but self-esteem and toe-sucking.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: April 2020

I have been reading a lot, even before all of "this" hit, and now since I am not driving into work everyday I suddenly have an extra hour or so to fill.  Thankfully, with my Kindle in hand, that hasn't been hard to do.  What has been even better is finding authors I enjoy that have good, interesting, clean stories with characters that are real.  These are just two of my favorites.


In The Life I Dreamed by Kari Burke, Emmy O’Brien is stressed out.  Stay at home mother to four young children, she is overwhelmed by hours chores, child raising, and trying to manage a meager household budget.  When her husband insists on helping a sixteen year old young women in their church's youth group, she is at her breaking point.  Grudgingly she helps and finds her heart changed as a result.






In A Channel of Your Peace  Erin Rafferty thought she knew how her life was going to go.  Engaged to her fiancé for a number of years, she figured a wedding was in her future.  That is until he came home one day to tell her that he was in love with someone else and that he was leaving her.  Devastated, she returns to her parents house to pick up the pieces.  A chance encounter with Mark is the start of a friendship that could lead to something more.  Both Erin and Mark, though, have pasts that they must deal with in order to build a future.  This was an enjoyable and captivating read which has me hoping that author Veronica Smallhorn has more books in her writing future.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: Enough

Of the over one hundred books I read last year, only two were non-fiction.  Both books have something in common - they explore what it means to have enough and live with less stuff.

The Grace of Enough, by Haley Stewart, looks at the spiritual effects that the pursuit of trying to obtain more and more things has on ones life.  The time and effort to acquire and maintain these can impact our relationships with family, friends, and, mostly importantly, God.  In each chapter she explores ways to live more intentionally, with less, and develop and nurture your relationships.  The book was inspired by the year Haley and her family lived on a farm in a 650 square foot apartment with no flush toilet.  

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders is the story of the author's year of not buying anything other than consumables - groceries, toiletries, and gas for her car.  She was inspired to attempt this when, after getting herself out of consumer debt of over $30,000, she was returning to the same bad habits that got her there in the first place.  Her story explores her use of shopping, alcohol and food to deal with emotionally difficult situations.

Both books are thought provoking and offer insight into a living a life of enough in culture where bigger, newer and more is thought to be the norm and ideal.   

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: December 2019

The cold, darker evenings have made snuggling up with a book my go-to entertainment of choice lately.  Some of the more memorable ones are below.

A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci is the second in the Atlee Pine series. The FBI agent takes some mandated time off from her job to help deal with her unresolved anger at the abduction of her twin sister some thirty years ago. With her assistant, Carol, Atlee heads back to the scene of the crime, a rural small town in Georgia. While investigating the decades old crimes a series of new, ghastly murders take place. Are they related or just coincidence?

Gifts: Visible and Invisible by eight different authors is a collection of short stories that explore the true meaning of the Christmas and holiday season.  Each of the stories is entertaining and well written.  What a joy to read such positive and uplifting prose!

The Christmas List by Hillary Ibarra is a sweet story of a poor Tennessee family facing a austere Christmas.  Parents Jack and Karen Hoyle barely scrape by living off what they can earn harvesting a variety of items found in the mountain wilderness.  When an unexpected event limits their source of income, the holiday appears to be bleaker than anticipated.  This is a perfect read for this Advent season for both teens and adults alike.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: November 2019

I have been reading a lot lately, closing in on doubling my GoodReads goal for the year.  Generally, what I have been reading has been entertaining, but, in all honesty, not very memorable.  I like mysteries and thrillers and, given that I've read almost ninety books this year, I have perused a lot of them.  So it was refreshing to come across a book that is not only interesting and well written, it has kept me thinking about it long after I finished it.  

All in Good Time by our linkup hostess, Carolyn Astfalk, is that book. Brian Perella is admittedly a serial dater.  Most women don't get past the first date, but those that do rarely develop into a real and serious relationship.  He's done with dating and lays it all out before the Lord.  When God seems to answer his prayer in an almost literal fashion, he seems to be afraid to believe that single mom Melanie Lombardi might feel the same way about him.

As Brian slowly pursues his relationship with Melanie he has to come to terms with a vice that has gripped him in the past, and if reignited, could impact their future.  This temptation is put to the test when he deals with a serious illness.

I have to admit, part of the story made me mad. It is something that I wrote about once before. Not to give anything away, I won't mention it here, but the main character's family felt the same way.  And that is part of the charm of this novel.  I was annoyed at Brian, but still felt for him.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: July 2019

Well, I think you can tell it is summer by what I am reading.  Since the few television shows that I do watch are just showing reruns, if they are on at all, I seem to have substituted some easy reading in their place.  I have been binge reading a favorite author, Kendra Elliot, catching up on a couple of her other series I haven't yet read.  And, of course, there's always more Nero Wolfe to be read!

Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout
Archie Goodwin is now a Major in the Army and they want him to enlist Nero Wolfe's help in finding the murderer of two of their own.  While this was a good story, it has probably my least favorite ending of any books in this series.  However, as all good Nero stories go, it was plum full of great descriptions and one-liners.

It was the first time I had ever seen the top mackaroo of United States Army Intelligence. He was in uniform and had two chins and a pair of eyes that wasted neither time nor space.

Then I sat on the step again. I looked at my watch and it was 10:40. An hour later I looked again and it was 10:55.

“Not without Major Goodwin. I use his memory. Also for years I’ve found his presence an irritant which stimulates my cells."

Wolfe was in his chair behind his desk, leaning back with his finger tips meeting at the spot where the ends of no one-yard tape measure would ever meet again.

The Silent Speaker
When a powerful government official, scheduled to speak to a group of millionaires, turns up dead, it is an event worthy of the notice of the great Nero Wolfe.   Balancing on the edge of financial ruin, the orchid-loving detective grudgingly accepts the case. Soon a second victim is found bludgeoned to death, a missing stenographer’s tape causes an uproar, and the dead man speaks, after a fashion.

And Be a Villain
When a guest on Madeline Fraser's radio talk show drops dead after drinking a glass of the sponsor's beverage, Nero is hired to determine who would want him dead.  When everyone connected with the case lies about the circumstances of the event, the detective also needs to determine what secret is worth killing for again.

As a result the eight o’clock temperature permits him to have his tray on a table near the window without bothering to put on a dressing gown. Seated there, his hair not yet combed, his feet bare, and all the yardage of his yellow pajamas dazzling in the morning sun, he is something to blink at, and it’s too bad that Fritz and I are the only ones who ever have the privilege.



The Callahan & McLane series 
Kendra Elliot writes engaging and suspenseful stories that keep the reader guessing as to "who done it" until the very end.  Throughout each story the characters and their relationships develop.  Unfortunately, it seems each book usually contains a sex scene that comes across as soft core porn and a somewhat liberal use of God's name taken in vain. Because of this, as good as they are, I can never give these books five, or even four, stars on Goodreads.

Vanished
Eleven-year-old Henley is abducted on her way to the school bus stop and the FBI jumps in to lead the search.  Local detective Mason Callahan is the ex-husband of the missing girl's step-mother and volunteers to be the spokesperson for the family with the growing media presence.  As he works with Special Agent Ava McLane to help the family, he finds himself drawn to the woman.

Bridged
When dead bodies are found hanging from area bridges, Mason Callahan and Ava McLane know they are after a serial killer.  While in the midst of a tense manhunt, Ava's mentally ill twin spins out of control.

Spiraled
Ava McLane is used to solving crimes, not being a witness to one.  As a series of mass shootings occur in the area, she teams up with her beau, Mason  Callahan, to hunt for a reason so many young men are turning to such devastating violence.

Targeted
When Detective Mason Callahan is on a fishing trip with the guys, he wakes p one morning to find his friend and boss murdered outside their cabin.  As more law officers are murdered, he and his fiance, Ava, team up to discover what is going on.





Bone Secrets series

Buried
Many years ago a busload of school children vanished.  Two years later a sole survivor, Chris Jacobs, walks out of the forest.  Eighteen years later the remains of the rest of the children are found and the hunt for the kidnapper resumes.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: June 2019

As busy as June was, I still found time to read as much as I usually do.  I am thankful for that as I find reading very relaxing and calming.  If it is not, I am not reading the right books.

I think someone recommended Tortured Soul by Theresa Linden in their Open Book post a few months ago. To whomever that was - thank you!  Theresa Linden has written a thoroughly engaging novel that I had a hard time putting down.

Jeannie is forced to leave the only home she has ever known and shares with her brother and his family.  Learning to live in a new place and on her own for the first time has its challenges.  But when she starts having visits from a tortured soul, her family begins to question her sanity.  With the help of a new friend, she faces her fears and learns how she can help her spiritual visitor.



I won Next Girl to Die by Dea Poirier via a First Reads giveaway on the GoodReads website.  Detective Claire Calderwood has made a life for herself as a homicide detective in Detroit.  When murders similar to her sister's start happening in her hometown, she returns to the small island in Maine in hopes of solving not only the current murders but her sister Rachel's as well.   

No month would be complete without a couple of Nero Wolfe stories. I think this month gave me both my most favorite and least favorite books in the series so far.  

Black Orchids contains two stories in which the title flower plays at least somewhat of a role.  The first story has Nero making one of his few expeditions out of his Brownstone house.  A new, rare black orchid has piqued his curiosity and he must view it for himself.  While at the exposition center where the plant is on display, a murder takes place, seemingly in front of a large number of people without their knowledge.  Nero agrees to solve the case, for a price - the black orchids.

The second story is completely unrelated to the first with the exception of the black orchids making an appearance at the funeral of a party planner that has been murdered after coming to Nero for his assistance in finding who was blackmailing her.

While the stories were good, they weren't great as I have come to expect from Rex Stout's writing.  Even still, he did manage to come up with a few great quotes.

Fritz’s saucisse minuit would make Gandhi a gourmet. 

You bounce, Mr. Huddleston, from wrath to indignation, with amazing agility. 

Some Buried Caesar, on the other hand, was a fun read from start to finish.  Once again, Nero's love of orchids has enticed him to leave the sanctuary of his beloved Brownstone in New York.  On the way to an expo, the roadster Archie is driving experiences a problem and they come to a crashing halt on a country road.  While crossing a pasture to get to the nearest house, Nero and Archie encounter Caesar, a large, prize-winning bull that isn't exactly happy to see them.  While waiting for assistance at the farmhouse, someone is found dead in the pasture, looking like Caesar didn't like him either.

I like to stay at home, and when I am away I like to get back. 

“Confound it. Nothing. Return.” “Nothing at all I can do here?” “No. Come and help me admire stupidity.”

Not a word of honor. I don’t like the phrase. The word ‘honor’ has been employed too much by objectionable people and has been badly soiled. I give you my word.

Morning Glory and Always, both by Sarah Jio, are easy, entertaining reads.  Both books move seamlessly between the present and the past to give the reader a complete picture.  

In Always, Kailey is enjoying a romantic dinner with her fiance at one of Seattle's finest restaurants.  As she leaves the restaurant she encounters a homeless man whose identity shocks her.  She now has to reconcile her past life with the present, which is much harder than she thought.

In Morning Glory, Ada rents a houseboat in Seattle, fleeing a tragedy that had occurred back east.  When she opens a trunk left behind by a previous tenant, she finds a story she works to uncover. 

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: April 2019

One of my "Donna-isms" is that life is too short to drink bad coffee and cheap beer.  I recently added to that litany, that it is too short to read bad books.  This month I kept to that adage and started and stopped several books.  I generally don't like dystopian stories or ones of vigilantism and revenge.  I recently discovered a couple of new-to-me authors, but some of the books in their series fall into those categories. So, there was a lot of starting and stopping of books this month.

Murder in an Irish Pub by Carlene O'Conner is the latest edition in the Irish Village series.  Just after the start of a big poker tournament being held in the small village of Kilbane, the favored player is found hanging from the end of a rope in a locked room.  What are the odds that this was a murder and not just a simple suicide?  Gardas Siobhán and Macdara set out to find the truth.  This was a fun and easy read.




In League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout, Paul Chapin’s college classmates never quite forgave themselves for instigating the tragic prank that left their friend a twisted cripple.  They had every reason to believe that Paul himself had forgiven them—until a class reunion ends in a fatal fall, and the poems, swearing deadly retribution, begin to arrive. Nero Wolfe is enlisted to prove who is behind the threats and put a stop to them.

"As it turned out, the name of Paul Chapin, and his slick and thrifty notions about getting vengeance at wholesale without paying for it, would have come to our notice pretty soon in any event; but that Friday afternoon the combination of an early November rain and a lack of profitable business that had lasted so long it was beginning to be painful, brought us an opening scene—a prologue, not a part of the main action—of the show that was about ready to begin."

"I do read books, but I never yet got any real satisfaction out of one; I always have a feeling there’s nothing alive about it, it’s all dead and gone, what’s the use, you might as well try to enjoy yourself on a picnic in a graveyard."

"But the fact remained that what chiefly attracted Wolfe about food in his pharynx was the affair it was having with his taste buds, whereas with me the important point was that it was bound for my belly."


In Where There's a Will by Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe is hired to investigate the  recently changed will that leaves the bulk of a multimillionaire's estate to his mistress and nearly nothing to his three sisters and estranged wife.  However, most of his time is spent solving several murders.

"It says that Mamma was an amazing woman because she was the mother of four extraordinary children. I have never understood why, in cases like this, it is assumed that Papa’s contribution was negligible, but there’s no time to go into that now."


In Stalking Willow by Fay Lamb, ad exec Willow Thomas is followed by someone at her home in New York City.  She is plagued by unwanted emails, phone calls, and photographs, but when her apartment is trashed, she heads back to her hometown in North Carolina to hide out for a while.  When the danger seems to follow her south, she has to learn to get along with those she had left behind ten years prior.  This is a great story of second chances and forgiveness, though at times is a wee bit preachy. 



I have been greatly anticipating the last book in the Hudson Sisters trilogy and The Goodbye Café by Mariah Stewart did not disappoint.  Each book in the series is told from the point of view of one of the sisters.  Allie, the oldest of the three sisters, is still trying to get her life back in order after a divorce and job loss has left her on the verge of bankruptcy.  Reuniting with her estranged sister, Des, and meeting Cara, the sister she didn't know she had, changes her in ways she hadn't thought possible. 



Veiled by Kendra Elliot has forensic investigator Lacey Campbell and her fiancé, Jack Harper searching for the killer of a woman left floating in a hot tub in a wedding gown.  At first it seems like her ex-husband may have done the deed, but when he turns up dead as well, Lacey and Jack determine something more is going on.  This was a quick read and had me guessing to the very end as to who had "done it."

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG

An Open Book: March 2019

The binge reading continues, mostly Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series and the rest of the Mercy series by Kendra Elliot.

In Too Many Cooks, Nero Wolfe actually leaves the confines of his New York brownstone and travels to West Virginia to speak at a gathering of the world's great chefs.  When one of the chefs is murdered, Nero is called upon to determine just who did it.  This is probably my favorite of the series so far.  And, as with all of the books, there were some really great lines.

"He hated things that moved, and was fond of arguing that nine times out of ten the places that people were on their way to were no improvement whatever on those they were coming from."

In Too Many Clients, a bidding war for his services interrupts Nero Wolfe's attempts to solve the case of the businessman who died in his love nest

“That’s not official yet, but there’s a hole in the side of his head that he didn’t make with his finger."

Besides, I’m offering a deal. If you’ll forget about my curiosity about Yeager until further notice, I’ll put you on my Christmas card list. This year it will be an abstract painting in twenty colors and the message will be ‘We want to share with you this picture of us bathing the dog, greetings of the season from Archie and Mehitabel and the children.’ ” “You haven’t got a Mehitabel or any children.” “Sure, that’s why it will be abstract.”

“Pfui. How often have I told you that impetuosity is a virtue only when delay is dangerous?” “Oh, six thousand.”

The door was standing open, and out she went. I could have kissed her on both chins.

Trouble in Triplicate is a collection of three short stories.


"He is a retired architect named H. H. Hackett, out of funds, and an unsurpassed nincompoop with the manners of a wart hog."

"It is a well-known fact that clowns have the biggest and warmest hearts on record except mothers and three characters in books by Dickens."


Murder at an Irish Wedding by Carlene O'Conner is the second book in the Irish series.  A famous fashion model decides to have her wedding in a castle in the small town of Kilbane.  When the former best man, who had been causing all sorts of trouble for the wedding party, is found dead, Siobhan sets out to find who did the deed.  As with the others in this series, this is a pleasant, fun read that is well written and engaging.

A Merciful Truth, A Merciful Secret, and A Merciful Silence are the last three books in the Mercy series by Kendra Elliot.  FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick is busy in rural Oregon solving a number of brutal crimes.




Hidden, also by Kendra Elliot, is the first book in the Bone Secret series. Lacey Campbell, a forensic odontologist, is called to the scene where a pile of bones has been found. Items found with the bones lead her to immediately identify them as those of her best friend who disappeared more than ten years prior at the hands of a serial killer. This is a well written, engrossing story.

While I like Kendra Elliot's storytelling, I had a bit of a problem with Hidden.  All her stories have strong, though flawed, female leads who at some point meet and fall in love with another of the main characters.  In Hidden, however, there was a scene that read like soft core porn.  It was unnecessary and disappointing.  It took away from the storyline.

Head on over to Carolyn's for more An Open Book.

AMDG