14. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tinterra

listened on Libby, but it returned itself (early!) so I had to buy it on Audible to finish.

352 pgs.

2024
Adult Mystery
Finished 3/21/25
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary small town Texas

My comments: Well, that was certainly an entertaining listen.  You never knew who to believe, including the protagonish, who heard voices in her head.  Many violent people, many nutso people, and a whole lot of extra marital screwing going on in this little town in Txas.  I've never enjoyed a podcast-based story before, but this was not bad, the interruption of the podcast kept things moving along perfectly, pushing it in the right direction.  

Goodreads synopsis:  What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

       Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
       It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.
       The truth is out there, if we just listen.

10. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

listened on Libby 

2022
309 pgs. (11:24)
Genre/Level
Finished 1/25/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Houston, TX

My comments: SHE'S the bodyguard!  The perfect book to read when you need a break from the darker stuff.  The two protagonists were SO clever/incredibly good looking/funny that it should probably be labeled a farce!  HEA of course - gotta throw in a romcom every now and then.

Goodreads synopsis:  She’s got his back.

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

40. A Chance Inheritance by Carolyn Brown

listened on Audible Original

narrated by Brittany Pressley

Unabridged audio (1:51)
2021
100 pgs. (guessing, only on audio)
Adult romance - clean, if I remember correctly...
Finished 4/16/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.50 - 317 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Pleasant River fishing area, Texas

My comments: A very sweet story about three female cousins and the recently deceased grandmother they all adored.  She had left them equal shares in her baitshop/general store on Pleasant River in Texas.  This story tells about how they gather together after Lizzie's death and decided, together, how to go on while grievine her death together.  There was a fourth major character, a love interest for the eldest cousing named CHRIS ADAMS!!!!

Goodreads synopsis:  What do a runaway bride, a free spirit, and a corporate exec have in common? Besides all being down on their luck, Lainie, Jodi, and Becky are Lizzie Cornell's granddaughters. Upon inheriting their grandmother's home and family bait shop, the three cousins return to Catfish, Texas, grieving Lizzie's passing and hoping to find the fresh start they all need.
          Turns out cohabitating together and running the Catfish Fisherman's Hut isn't at all like the idyllic summers they spent as children on the banks of the Red River. The days are long and hot, the tourists demanding and rude. And then there's Chris, a local river guide who seems to have eyes only for Becky.
          But Lizzie's death has set in motion a chain of events that will cause a new generation of Cornell women to come together. And thanks to this chance inheritance, some local fishermen, and the love of their Granny Lizzie, the Cornell cousins discover that sometimes an ending is really the beginning of a brand-new happily ever after.

141. The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

Audio

2013

304 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 11/13/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.85
My rating: 3.9
Setting: contemporary Texas

My comments: Don't like the title of this, it was misleading.  There were so many things I enjoyed about this story and just a few things that I didn't.  The protagonist went from an almost-whiny, afraid of everything kind of woman to a much braver, smarter one a little bit too rapidly.  She went from immediately wanting to scrub her hands after meeting O'Connor to never mentioning the original grumpy feeling for him again.  The big secret that her aunt and mother had kept from her, including the history of the "haunted house" wasn't such a big secret if she had had any kind of sense at all.  The frustration of having your child bullied over and over again and the helpless feeling that goes along with it were very real and written quite well.  And...I'm still not sure about Sunshine, the tabloid bimbo who is now a goth weirdo, close friend, confidant and coworker....I think Ms. Center wanted to create as many quirky characters as she possibly could.  It WAS good reading.  Not quite a 4.

Goodreads synopsis:  "Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for -- Dear Lord! -- two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who, after the sudden death of her husband, Danny, went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape, a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.

Life on Aunt Jean's goat farm is both more wonderful and more mysterious than Libby could have imagined. Beyond the animals and the strenuous work, there is quiet, deep, country quiet. But there is also a shaggy, gruff (though purportedly handsome, under all that hair) farm manager with a tragic home life, a formerly famous feed-store clerk who claims she can contact Danny "on the other side," and the eccentric aunt Libby never really knew but who turns out to be exactly what she's been looking for. And despite everything she's lost, Libby soon realizes how much more she's found. Libby hasn't just traded one kind of crazy for another; she may actually have found the place to bring her little family, and herself, back to life.

120. Running from A Rock Star by Jami Albright

listened on Audible
narrated  by Jennifer Grace
Unabridged audio (9:45)
2017, Jami Albright
290 pgs.
Adult Romance, with steam
Finished 12/3/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.20 - 3076 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary - mostly Texas

First line/s:  "Light seared through Scarlett Kelly's eyelids.  She buried her face in the cool pillow to block the glare, but even that slight movement caused an explosion of agony.  Pain and nausea crashed into her like a train on fire."

My comments: Adjectives for this book:  stupid, sweet, over-the-top-funny, stereotypical, cute, ridiculous, eye-rolling, and entertaining.  A little too "Texan," interesting settings in Las Vegas and on the southern California coastline, as well as Texas.  A fun listen.

Goodreads synopsis:  She’s a good-girl control freak. He’s a bad boy in need of a clean image. Will these opposites attract or self-destruct?        
          Scarlett Kelly is the poster child for responsible living. Growing up as the daughter of the town floozy she’s made it her mission to be the exact opposite. So when she wakes up naked and hungover in bed with a bad-boy rockstar, Scarlett bolts immediately. But she never expected him to follow her home… and tell her they’re married!
           Gavin needs to repair his image or his music career will go down the tubes. He’s also just learned he has a son he never knew existed! Gavin wants to settle down, and bribing his new wife to stay married may just fit everything into place.
          Scarlett agrees to the ruse to help her family’s financial troubles even though she can hardly control herself around the rock star. As they search for Gavin’s son, will the cross-country adventure give them exactly what they’ve been missing or send them packing?
          Running From a Rock Star is the first book in a series of comedic contemporary romance novels. If you like zany characters, razor-sharp wit, and unlikely love stories, then you’ll love the first book in Jami Albright’s Brides On the Run series.

82. The Dime by Kathleen Kent

#1 in Betty Rhyzyk, Dallas narcotics cop - #2, The Kiln, will be published in the spring of 2019
listened to Audio - borrowed from Pima Library
2017 Mulholland Books
352 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 8/19/18
Goodreads rating: 3.81 - 1051 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary Dallas, Texas

First line/s:  "From my position in the hallway - on my ass, head pressed against the door frame, legs drawn up with my gun two-handed against my sternum - I try to recall the layout of the room: three sets of bunk beds, four corpses sprawled across bloody sheets, my partner, shot three times, lying motionless by the nearest bunk, and, somewhere in there, one lunatic, a screaming infant in one hand and a semiautomatic pistol in the other."

My comments:  This looks like the beginning of another decent murder mystery/police procedural series!  Female protagonist who is also a lesbian.  5 foot 11, strong, red-haired, and smart.  Although she's from Brooklyn, which the author uses as a bit of the setting in reminisces, her new home in Dallas is a large part of the story.  Killing off the good guys doesn't phase this author, and much of the action is pretty violent.  That said, I still look forward to a second installment!

Goodreads synopsis:  Brooklyn's toughest female detective takes on Dallas-and neither is ready for the fight.
          Dallas, Texas is not for the faint of heart. Good thing for Betty Rhyzyk she's from a family of take-no-prisoners Brooklyn police detectives. But her Big Apple wisdom will only get her so far when she relocates to The Big D, where Mexican drug cartels and cult leaders, deadbeat skells and society wives all battle for sunbaked turf.
          Betty is as tough as the best of them, but she's deeply shaken when her first investigation goes sideways. Battling a group of unruly subordinates, a persistent stalker, a formidable criminal organization, and an unsupportive girlfriend, the unbreakable Detective Betty Rhyzyk may be reaching her limit.  NOTE:  I do not agree that Betty's girlfriend is unsupported, this simply isn't true!

79. The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh

read on my iPhone
2017, Eco
382 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished August 13, 2018
Goodreads rating:  3.73 - 4054 rtings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary rural east Texas, middle of nowhere

First line/s:  "She's old enough, at thirty-six, to remember flashes of other places, other lives, but her son is only eight years old, which means he was born right here in the Blinds."

My comments:  For the first half of this book I kept comparing it to City of the Lost, which I read a few months ago and very much enjoyed.  I kept wondering which one had been written first.  Copy cat?  It appears that this one was written about a year after City of the Lost.  But after the first half, comparisons were less and less relevant, the story taking its own quirky turns.  Or, twists and turns, I guess I should say!  I was certainly kept on the edge of my seat, and read the whole book in pretty much one big swallow.

Goodreads synopsis:  A blistering thriller from the Edgar-nominated author of Shovel Ready—a speculative modern Western with elements of Cormac McCarthy, Jim Thompson, and the Coen brothers that is wickedly funny, razor-sharp, and totally engrossing
          Imagine a place populated by criminals-people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who’ve been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don’t know if they’ve perpetrated a crime, or just witnessed one. What’s clear to them is that if they leave, they will end up dead. 
          For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace—but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town’s residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her—and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down. The more he learns, the more the hard truth is revealed: The Blinds is no sleepy hideaway. It’s simmering with violence and deception, aching heartbreak and dark betrayals.

65. Blooming at the Texas Sunrise Motel by Kimberly Willis Holt

read on my iPhone
2017 Henry Holt & Co.
336 pgs.
MidGrade CRF
Finished 7/19/18
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 317 rtings
My rating:   5
Setting: contemporary just-outside Dallas, TX ad rural LA

First line/s:  "My name, Stevie Grace, was tattooed inside a giant sun on my dad's back."

My comments:  Definitely another winner by Kimberly Willis Holt!  Though touched throughout with sadness, it isn't a sad story. It's about blooming where you're planted, making the best of everything, seeing the good things there are to see, and learning from the mistakes of your parents and grandparents. And it has a wonderful array of cool characters.  I so enjoyed this story! (By the way, she's actually an eighth grader and says she's thirteen at one point...)

Goodreads synopsis  Twelve-year-old Stevie's world changes drastically when her parents are tragically killed and she is forced to live with her estranged grandfather at his run-down motel. After failed attempts to connect with her grandfather, Stevie befriends the colorful motel tenants and neighbors. Together, they decide to bring some color and life to the motel by planting a flower garden, against Stevie's grandfather's wishes. It will take Stevie's departure before her grandfather realizes just how needed she is by everyone.

MOVIE - Hell or High Water

R (1:42)

Limited release 8/12/16

Viewed Sunday morning, (a great time to see a movie!) 9/11/16 at Park Place

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  90
Critic's Consensus:   Hell or High Water offers a solidly crafted, well-acted Western heist thriller that eschews mindless gunplay in favor of confident pacing and full-bodied characters.

Cag:  I'm going to go all out and give this a 6/Awesome, this was a wow movie, one that I won't forget.  Chris Pine (not one of my previous faves) was SO good, as was Ben Foster, who played his brother.  They made it seem real. And I'll take Jeff Bridges playing any part any day....

Directed by David Mackenzie

Film 44

Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

My comments:  This was a terrific movie.  Incredible acting from all four of the major players.  Intriguing, gut-wrenching storyline.  West Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexican real towns (I just traveled through some of them, so I know they're depicted completely correctly).  Humor.  Love.  Family ties.  Conservatism vs. Liberalism.  Big guy vs. Little guy.  Rich vs. poor.  Powerful and powerless.  Overwhelming sadness and jubilant yeeha moments.  Everything done right....

IMBd Summary:  Two brothers -- Toby, a straight-living, divorced father trying to make a better life for his sons; and Tanner, a short-tempered ex-con with a loose trigger finger -- come together to rob branch after branch of the bank that is foreclosing on their family land. The hold-ups are part of a last-ditch scheme to take back a future that powerful forces beyond their control have stolen from under their feet. Vengeance seems to be theirs until they find themselves in the crosshairs of a relentless, foul-mouthed Texas Ranger looking for one last triumph on the eve of his retirement. As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their plan, a showdown looms at the crossroads where the last honest law man and a pair of brothers with nothing to live for except family collide.

33. Where There's Smoke - Sandra Brown

Audio read by Natalie Ross
14 cds (16:44) unabridged cds
Read in car between Tennessee and Pennsylvania
1993 - Brillianc Audio edition 2009
417 pgs.
CRF/Mystery
Finished 6/2/16
Goodreads rating: 3.92 (5523 ratings)
My rating: 1.5 (2 for goodreads; 1 as I recollect)
Setting: contemporary tiny Texas town and unknown (because the name is changed) Central American country.

First line/s:  "He'd never like cats.  His problem however was that the woman lying beside him purred like one."
        This alone should have tipped me off.....

My comments:  I've always shied away from Sandra Brown, but recently read Deadline, which was pretty good.  So when I saw the chance to nab another - unabridged on cd - I went for it.  Big disappointment.  Simply put: not enough characters to like, and plenty to not like.  Too many unanswered ridiculous maneuvers and happenings.  Bullying and meanness.  Way too much romance for me.  Couldn't wait until it ended.  (And probably should have given it a "1".)

Goodreads synopsis: No one knows why Lara Mallory opens up her medical practice in the rowdy Texas town where Tackett Oil owns everything. But everyone remembers her role in the well-publicized scandal that caused the downfall of White House hopeful Senator Clark Tackett. Now the ironfisted matriarch of Tackett Oil intends to use her money and power to drive Lara out of town…especially when Lara meets Key, the hell-raising, youngest Tackett son. Before long, this determined woman doctor and brash, daring flyer find themselves hurtling on a soul-searing quest for the one secret that can destroy the Tackett empire, as rumors start flying that…Where There’s Smoke.

PICTURE BOOK - All Different Now - Angela Johnson

Juneteenth; the First Day of Freedom
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

2014, Simon & Schuster

32 pgs.
HC $17.99

Goodreads rating:

My rating:

Endpapers: mottled light green
Very little white on pages!

1^st line/s:   "A June morning breeze off the port blew the smell of honeysuckle past the fields, across the yard, and into our room to wake us up."

My comments:  As usual, E. B. Lewis's illustrations are breathtaking.  He tells about their creation in an Illustrator's Note at the back of the book.  The first 24 pages tell the story of Juneteenth - June 19th - the emancipation of slavery - with simple verse and these incredible paintings.  The last five pages are more information - resources, reminisces, timeline, history, glossary.  Wow.  A huge piece of US history, simply and beautifully told and referenced.

Goodreads:  Through the eyes of one little girl, All Different Now tells the story of the first Juneteenth, the day freedom finally came to the last of the slaves in the South. Since then, the observance of June 19 as African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. This stunning picture book includes notes from the author and illustrator, a timeline of important dates, and a glossary of relevant terms.

28. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality - Elizabeth Eulberg

2013, Scholastic

paper $9.99

265 pgs.

YA Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Finished 5/18/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.65

My Rating: 3/ I guess I'd have to say I liked it

TPPL

Setting: Dallas suburb

1^st sentence/s:  "Applying butt glue to my sister's backside is, without question, not the first way I'd choose to spend a weekend."

My comments:  This story definitely got its point across.  There were some parts that were a little difficult to handle (the mom was such a mess!) that I was just plain pissed part of the time I read this. There are so many parents out there that use their children.  This is really a story of abuse and bullying.  It also has the component of learning about yourself as your grow older, a "coming-of-age" sensibility, with all character-types covered - the gay kid, the great friend, the bully, the crush, the perfect-person-for-you-but-you-don't-see-it-till-the-end, the difficult sibling that you really do love - no minority, though.  But this is coming from an adult.  I wonder what teenagers will think of this book?
     There was another element that made me wonder.  Lexi's mother doesn't listen to her, or her sister Mackenzie, but she is clever and strong and at the end comes up with an in-your-face-no-holes-barred way.  But why doesn't she take a stand - a real stand - before that?  Just saying no.  She wants to please, I guess.  This book really does get one thinking - enraged, too.....

Goodreads Summary:  A hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom.

          Don't mess with a girl with a great personality!
          Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup).
          Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection.
          The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it.

MOVIE - Bernie

Funny - not ha, ha, ha, but he, he, he
Limited release 4/27/12
Viewed Tuesday, 6/5/12 at El Con
PG-13 (1:44)
RT Critics: 90 Audience: 87
cag:  Liked it
Director:  Richard Linklater
Millennium Entertainment
Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey

Hey...this is basde on a real, true-life story!  And all three of those main actors, as well as the many who played town residents, were TERRIFIC!

Bernie Tiede is a 39 year-old almost-genderless/somewhat effeminate undertaker.  He has charisma, not a mean bone in his body, and a penchant for elderly women - at least caring for them, there seems to be no sexual innuendo at all in his compassion and relationships.  He sings (beautifully), is very active in his church, cares for everyone and anyone with the same 100% compassion, and comes to befriend an affluent, sour, mean new widow named Marjorie Nugent.  For some reason, although she hates everyone, she is quite taken with Bernie.  He travels with her, cleans her counters, cuts her toenails, and advises her about giving her money away to charities.  However, after a time, she gives him a beeper and expects him to be constantly at her beck and call. She's a really mean woman, too. Then, to his shock and surprise, she pushes him to far one day and he picks up their armidillo-shooting shotgun and shoots her in the back. Instead of turning himself in, he pretends....for nine months...that she is still alive, though failing and in and out of the hospital and nursing homes.  When he is discovered, Sheriff (?) Danny Buck  (McConaughey) goes after him tooth and nail.

The movie is put together like a documentary, with lots and lots of interviews of the townspeople of Carthage, Texas.  They are a riot.  I wonder if any of them are the REAL townspeople?  It's really cleverly done and full of humor all over the place.  It's surprisingly complex and though-provoking, too.  Thoroughly enjoyable.

At the end of the credits you see the real people, first in photos and then a video of the real Bernie in prison - sitting across from Jack Black, the fake Bernie.

18. Irises - Francisco X. Stork

2012, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
288 pages
Rating: It was okay/2

1st Sentence/s: (Prologue) "Kate had finally agreed to pose under the willow tree. Mother came and stood behind Mary at her easel. She placed her hand on Mary's shoulder. 'It's beautiful!'"
Setting: Contemporary El Paso, Texas
OSS:  Two sister try to figure out how to survive when their preacher father dies leaving them homeless and fully in charge of caring for their mother, who is in a permanently vegetative state.

Both 18 year old Kate is about to get accepted with as a premed student with a full scholarship to Stanford and 16 year old Mary, who has an incredible artistic gift, have had very religious, protected lives.  And since their mother's accident two years previously, their lives have been pretty joyless.  Their father, who truly loved them, was a preacher of a small protestant congregation in El Paso, had no car, no money, and lived simply.  Hand-me-downs and Walmart...no trips to the mall.  Painting was a frivolous endeavor, and the University of Texas at El Paso was nearby and the only acceptable choice of college.

And then he drops dead of a heart attack, and there's more and more problems dropped on top of the two girls.  Tough choices.  Interesting relationships with boys, best friends. their aunt and only living relative, and the new young preacher that has been hired to take their father's place.

I read this book in one four-hour gulp.  I knew that if I put it down I probably wouldn't come back to it.  Why?  I like the way that Stork developed his characters.  The plot was plausible.  I could relate to both Kate and Mary.  There was just something....missing....for me, I'm not sure what.  I was expecting to be blown away like I was with Stork's previous Marcelo in the Real World, and I wasn't.  I wonder what I would have thought about this if I hadn't read Marcelo. I'll have to read some reviews and see how others feel.

74. All the Wrong Moves - Merline Lovelace

A Samantha Spade Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (paper), 2009
230 pages
Rating: 2

The setting of this book is El Paso and just east of there, with a foray to Tucson and Sahuarita. I love it when the protagonist hits I-10! I enjoyed the setting a lot.

Sam Spade joined the Air Force after her quickie Las Vegas marriage disintegrated and ended up getting a pretty cushy job - the head of a unit that tests all sorts of new inventions/contraptions that people all over the country cook up, possible technology for the government. While trying out a robot (by being strapped inside it), she discovers two corpses in the desert.

There are lots and lots of acronyms here, as well as humor, hormones, and all the things that belong in a "cozy" mystery. Unfortunately, cozy mysteries are not really my cup of tea. The book went fast, but I must admit this isn't my genre and I won't read this author again. Oh well. It was the setting I went after, and I enjoyed that part a lot.

MOVIE - Whip It

Thoroughly enjoyable entertainment
Released Oct. 2, 2009
(I can't believe it's in the cheap movies already!)
PG-13 (1:51)
Halloween 10/31/09 just me
RT: 82% cag 93%
Director: Drew Barrymore

Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Drew Barrymore

Bliss Cavendar, a senior in high school, wears fancy white dresses pagent-ing with (for) her mom. She works at a local piggie-themed diner than serves "squealers" and longs to get out of her small town.

Nearby is Austin, Texas. So many possibilities there. And she decides to take advantage of them - by pretending she's 21 and trying out for one of the roller derby teams that are popular here. She's fast. She's lithe and athletic. She still has her Barbie skates - and she's a natural on them. She begins to live a double life - dutiful daughter by day -- nd Babe Ruthless of the Hurl Scouts Roller Derby team by night.

Totally delightful, enjoyable, fun. The parents, Marcia Gay Harden and a bit-of-an-overweight Daniel Stern are wonderful and real. And Ellen Page pulls off this role beautifully and believably. Don't miss this one on the big screen.

57. Confetti Girl - Diana Lopez

for: Middle Grades
Little Brown, June 2009
200 pgs.
Rating: 4

Lina Flores is tall, skinny, and motherless. She has a huge sock collection, a best friend that she shares everything with, and a dad who's still grieving his wife's death and seems more interested in his books that he is in Lina. Her reaction is to blow off English (her dad's an English teacher), and she begins to fail. A sixth grader, she also acquires her first boyfriend.

She's lucky that her best friend, Vanessa, lives across the street. Vanessa's mother has been a man-hater since her divorce, and spends every free moment she has making cascarones from eggs, filling them with confetti and accumulating them. It's a good story about friendship, and the loss of a parent. Also included are lots of dichos: Los amigos mejores son libros - Books are your best friends, En boca cerrada no entran moscas - Flies can't enter a closed mouth....etc.

It started out great, petered out a little toward the end. Nevertheless, a good story that many girls will adore.

Bubba the Cowboy Prince - Helen Ketteman

A Fractured Texas Tale
Illustrated by James Warhola
Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4

Bubba lives with his wicked StepDaddy and his hateful stepbrothers Dwayne and Milton. One day Miz Lurleen, who was purty and rich and owned the biggest spread around, decided to throw a ball to find herself a feller that was "cute as a cow's ear."

You know the story. This one is cute and the illustrations are really cute. And who was his "fairy godmother?" Well, let's see: "Now, Bubba figured he'd bonked the bejeebers out of his bean, 'cause the voice was coming from a cow. She chewed her cud for a moment, then said, "I'm your fairy god cow, and I can help you go to the ball."

Yee ha!

The illustrations are full page, edge-to-edge and give a whimsical old west feel.

Note: The illustrations include a lot of saguaros. I've become quite sensitive to this, living in the Sonoran Desert which is the only place in the world where saguaros grow naturally. They are NOT native to Texas, and won't be found in the wild there.....