Since I was a little kid, Machu Picchu has been a faint buzz in my ear, as if the mountain itself were sending whispers on the wind to summon me. Thank you, National Geographic! So of course I had to read, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time…
“… a delightfully witchy YA romance…” Did you ever wonder why witches are ugly, green and have warts? Well… It’s not their wickedness showing through. It’s their punishment from Zeus for using their powers for self-serving purposes. Which leaves nerdy 15-year-old Zoe Miller, who is a witchwiz at STIRRING UP TROUBLE trying to resolve more than…
Tornado Warning: a Memoir of Teen Dating Violence and Its Effect on a Woman’s Life by Elin Stebbins Waldal is the beautifully told story of the author’s survival of horrific domestic violence as a teenager. Ms. Waldal uses journal entries from those years to paint a picture for readers of how easily someone can slide into an abusive situation,…
“…a poignant and moving story…” While I was reading this warm and wonderful novel I had an atlas of England close at hand and kept track of the progress Harold Fry was making on his walking journey. It added another element of enjoyment to this simply fascinating story. Every once in a while my husband…
Winston Churchill once said: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Truer words have never been spoken, though in my case, and in the case of the author of this personal journey, Nancy Shulins, it would be the inside of a woman. “Falling For…
One of the best biographies I have read is William Manchester’s Winston Spencer Churchill – The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932, the first volume of a three volume biography. The second volume covers 1932-1940. The final volume, covering World War II and the post-war years, will be published this fall. But three volumes? Really?…
The subtitle “Who is trying to kill the boss of bosses” clues you into its thriller plot and the gangster hat on the cover points you to its Canadian crime family subject. The authors J. E. Mathieson and A. A. Guest describe their riveting, well written and thoroughly researched novel as a “docu-novel” (fictionalization of…
I tend to stay away from police related mystery novels. I read them like chocolate before I became an officer/detective but now they leave me frustrated. Drawn in Blood did just the opposite. This book was a pleasure to read and I wasn’t screaming, “No, they don’t do it that way.” Instead I asked the…
The media dubbed 2008 the year of the woman because of Hillary Clinton’s and Sarah Palin’s historic runs for political office, but it really was the year millions of ordinary women from both parties were “rudely awakened” from their political complacency and found their voice. The backlash we received in response showed us the ugly…
Want something a bit unusual? Something funny and unexpected? I’m not interested in supposedly funny books about “life in the suburbs,” or books about “aren’t we all really just stupid,” or particularly those about “aren’t we all just awkward” or something “existential-ly humorous.” What about the nuttiness of the people who work in hospitals? What…
It is hard to keep your dreams alive when you live under a Dark Cloud in a colorless world and have to eat twig soup every day. But such is the life of Blossom, a young caterpillar with a big heart and an even bigger dream. She wants to find the last Moonbeam Tree in…
Admit The Horse by P. G. Abeles is a fictionalized retelling of the 2008 primary and general election. Not the public story developed and created by the political gods and marketed 24/7 by mass media. But the back story of ordinary citizens engaged in a historic election and participating in ways they never dreamed possible. Each…
We women are routinely underestimated and overlooked by both ourselves and the other half of the human species when it comes to our mental and physical capabilities. In our youth we strap on our resiliency and bravado to help us face down the prejudices. By the time we reach middle age, that resiliency and bravado has…
For a compelling environmental mystery and a spunky heroine in the best tradition of women’s fiction, look no farther than Tamara Ward’s debut novel – Storm Surge. Jonie Waters is the prodigal daughter forced to return to her home town of Wilmington, North Carolina after more than a decade away. Wearing her independence on…
This was a fun read and I give it 4 and 1/2 stars. First you have three men, Corbin, Collin and Cohen, or is it one psychotic man who has a personality disorder? Mix this with a kleptomaniac grave digger, Gretchen, who the main story is about and you have pure delight in a book.…
READING & WRITING CAFE 