3. Dead of Autumn by Sherry Knowlton

listened on Audible (purchased)

286 pgs.

2014 (first audio recorded 2020)
Adult mystery
Finished 1/14/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle/Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

My comments: Pretty cool that this book takes place in Carlisle, PA - where I live!  There's much mention of streets, locales, and public lands that I know of quite well, with a few that I don't....so that was really fun.  The story was okay, though incredibly predictable, the protagonist is feisty but somewhat dull-witted at times, and there were a few ways that the reader read that didn't appeal to me 100%.  But I enjoyed it for the locale.  There are others to follow, so I'm hoping some of my problems with the story will smooth out as the stories continue.

Goodreads synopsis:  The Alexa Williams novel that started it all.

An ethereal blonde sprawled by a mountain stream.

Three young girls on a blanket in the woods.

Decades separate the discovery of these dead bodies, but the lesson they offer is the same. Evil can lurk much closer than you'd ever imagine.

Alexa Williams is a successful lawyer, volunteers weekly at a women’s clinic, and has a sexy weekend boyfriend—not to mention an endearing best friend in her giant English mastiff, Scout. But one autumn day, when Scout takes off into the Pennsylvania woods, Alexa discovers a nightmare she’d never imagined. From that fateful day, Alexa becomes entangled in a murder mystery—one that she tries to unravel by linking it to experiences and symbols in her own life.

Dewilla Noakes, a child of the Depression, has recently lost her mother. Her father, packs up the girls—and their attractive cousin, Winnie—and hits the road to look for a job on the east coast. Along the way, money becomes tighter, food becomes scarcer, and relationships become strained. Dewilla’s father fears he’s failing his daughters. Running out of options, he begins to consider the unthinkable to end the misery he’s brought upon his family …

Alexa soon finds herself amidst violence aimed at the clinic where she volunteers, brought on by pro-life extremists. In a bizarre turn of events, she’s almost raped, ambushed by religious zealots who wish to convert her, then taken by surprise as another romance enters her life. Plus, she seems to be seeing quite a lot of the local law enforcement these days.

No matter what else happens in her life, Alexa can’t shake feeling some sort of connection to the mysterious murder victim. She thinks back to the stories she heard as a child, about the Babes in the Woods, who were murdered close to where the victim’s body was found, wondering if that might be why she draws the connection. But when the murderer strikes again, Alexa must rely on her knowledge of local history and terrain in order to save her own life.

DEAD of AUTUMN ties together the struggles faced by females, young and old, past and present, and the degrees of power they embrace to combat their situations.

18. Bright Side by Kim Holden

listened on Audible

423 pgs.

2014
Contemporary "New Adult" romance
Finished 4/16/2025
Goodreads rating: 
My rating: 5
Setting: 

My comments: The first half of this book was really great with an incredibly personable protagonist with the most positive attitude - totally refreshing.  But little by little hints were given that made me realize the story was not going to end without some really sad feelings, and even, maybe, tears.  This was correct.  The whole story was beautifully written, although the end tended to go on and on and on a little too much.  Maybe I say that because there was sadness and grief that was heaped on top of even more sadness and grief.  It also made me think a lot of Steve's last days.  It was definitely a good read, but I HATE tearjerker books. So my rating is tainted a bit....

     SYNOPSIS:  Kate has just moved from San Diego to Minneapolis to begin her college degree.  She speaks with her best friend, Gus, at least once a day.  He is closer than a brother.  They were practically raised together and their banter is exceptional.  His band, of which he is the lead singer and songwriter, has just gotten a record deal and is on the road.  They're hitting it big, fast.  She is making great friends in Minneapolis.  She is positive, friendly, happy, and helpful to all.  And then...

Goodreads synopsis:  Secrets.

Everyone has one.
Some are bigger than others.
And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you ...
And some will end you.

Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.

They both feel it.
But they each have a reason to fight it.
They each have a secret.

And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you …
And some will end you.

75. A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

listened on Libby

370 pgs.

2014
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 10/9/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 2.5
Setting: NYC 1911 & 9/11

My comments: Not a huge fan of this book, for a couple of reasons.  Told in two voices, one of a nurse, Clara, who survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 to "hide" on Ellis Island and a quilt shop fabric-lover, Taryn, who lost her husband on 9/11.  The majority of the story is told by nurse Clara ... whom I didn't like.  At all.  Her inconsistent personality (she flip-flops between a mamby-pamby-scared-everything watcher-of-the-world to a brazen in-your-face do-gooder) drove me nuts. A minority of the story was told by Taryn, ten years after 9/11, still bruised and barely living, which was more powerful and believable.  But not enough!  And the connection of this scarf was feeble, to say the least.  I didn't rate it lower because I enjoyed the history it shared and the 9/11 portion, but the 1911 lengthy section didn't work for me at all.

Goodreads synopsis:  A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries …and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her? 

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers …the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?

1. The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

#6 Ruth Galloway (Forensic Anthropologist)

listened on Audible

2014
374 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Series
Finished 1/1/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.13
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England

My comments: I continue to enjoy Ruth Galloway, a feisty, believable archeological anthropologist who lives in Norfolk, England. In this episode, two major plots intertwine to tell the story, much of it set in Norwich (where I visited for a day, on foot, and have many pleasant memories, so I could picture it a bit...). Notorious Jemima Green's 150 year-old bones have been excavated, and an American TV company has come to film it. Ruth unwillingly becomes involved -she doesn't like any limelight - because she's the expert on the case. At the same time, the police are pursuing the possibility that a mother has killed her babies ... and then there are two kidnappings of one-year-olds nearby. This keeps the familiar police team of Nelson, Clough, Judy and Tim harried and busy. Good storytelling, fun going back and forth between points of view. Great narration with enough of a British accent to keep it very British, but not so much that you cannot understand it.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of what might be a notorious Victorian child murderess and a baby snatcher known as "The Childminder" threatens modern-day Norfolk in the latest irresistible mystery from Elly Griffiths.

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of a Victorian murderess while a baby snatcher threatens modern-day Norfolk in this exciting new entry in a beloved series.
Every year a ceremony is held in Norwich for the bodies in the paupers' graves: the Service for the Outcast Dead. Ruth has a particular interest in this year's proceedings. Her recent dig at Norwich Castle turned up the body of the notorious Mother Hook, who was hanged in 1867 for the murder of five children. Now Ruth is the reluctant star of the TV series Women Who Kill, working alongside the program's alluring history expert, Professor Frank Barker.

DCI Harry Nelson is immersed in the case of three children found dead in their home. He is sure that the mother is responsible. Then another child is abducted and a kidnapper dubbed the Childminder claims responsibility. Are there two murderers afoot, or is the Childminder behind all the deaths? The team must race to find out-and the stakes couldn't be any higher when another child goes missing. 

32. The Legacy Human by Susan Kaye Quinn

#1 Singularity

listened on Chirp

narrated by Nick Podehl

Unabridged audio (10:05)
2014
413 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 4/6/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 1247 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Future/Fantasy America

First line/s:  "I want to ascend so badly, I can taste it.:

My comments: Eli/Elijah is a painter.  He's 17.  He's not even a great painter, except when he mysteriously disappears into what he calls a fugue state, where he crazily paints masterpieces although he can't remember any of it. He is a human, the extreme lower class of current world society.  He very badly want so become an ascender, and the only way that can happen is he he wins the artistic Olympics.  Most of the book is what takes place once he gets to Los Angeles and the current Olympics, the dancer he meets there, his best friend, Cyrus, and his devious sponsor Marcus.  The story ends abruptly as Eli is helping transport his very ill mother to a place that can perhaps cure her.  Oh yes, I'd like to read the sequel asap!  Note:  The Duality Bridge, book 2 in the series, is available in Chirp of $12.99.

Goodreads synopsis:  What would you give to live forever? Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.

20. No Time Like Forever by Zoe York

listened on Chirp

narrated by Rebecca Roberts
Unabridged audio (5:58)
2014
211 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished 3/7/2021
Goodreads rating:  4.04 - 885 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: 

First line/s: "Mari Beadie used to love bartending weekend shifts at Danny's, Wardham's only pub."

My comments: Another fake girlfriend-to-lover novel, this time an NHL hockey player who's profession was squashed at 33 when he was in a card accident, and a 24-year old bartending, aspiring singer-songwriter.  Set in Canada, just north of Detroit, this light-hearted rom was fun.  It's a riot how they all follow the same outline, these steamy romances!  If I had knows I'd be reading these even five years ago  I would've absolutely, positively denied it, lol!

Goodreads synopsis: It started with a kiss...
          Mari Beadie needed a boyfriend, and former NHL hockey star Chase Miller happened to be in the right place at the right time. The kiss that followed wasn't necessary, strictly speaking, but it sure was hot.
          Hot enough that when the tables are turned, Chase knows just the pretty bartender to ask to be his pretend girlfriend. Only this time, it's not a one-time deal.
          The pub was slammed, strange for a Sunday night, but it was one of the last weekends of the summer. The tips would make up for the sore feet.
           Mari was pouring a tray of pints when the phone rang. She hopped over and stuck the ancient handset under her ear, pinning it in place as she pulled the long cord back to the taps with her.
“Danny’s.”
“You sound busy.”
Her heart didn’t leap a little at the sound of his voice. No, it didn’t. “Yep.”
“What time do you get off?”
“We close at ten tonight, then I need to do some clean up. Probably ten thirty, but I’m not sure.”
“Okay. See you later.”
She frowned as she hung up the phone. Two hours later, she was still confused when he sauntered in after last call. Instead of taking his regular stool, he started straightening chairs.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what boyfriends do?”
She looked around. They were alone. “Uhm…”
“Because that’s what friends do?” He shrugged. “Don’t overthink it. I actually just wanted to give you my cell phone number, but when I called you sounded swamped, so I thought it would be easier to stop by. And I’m not going to watch you sweep, that would be a dick move.”
“You watch me tend bar almost every day.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Give me that.” He took the broom from her hand, and she ignored the little thrill she got at the brief, hot press of his fingers against hers. 

48. Unexpectedly Mated by Milly Taiden

listened to audio/Audible Escape
narrated by Lauren Sweet
Unabridged audio (4:17)
2014 Latin Goddess Press
216 pgs.
Adult Steamy Romance
Finished 3/7/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 2639 ratings
My rating: 1.5

First line/s:  "For crying out loud!  Nicole Acosta tugged the earpiece out and glared at it."

My comments: Shoot, I didn't write a review immediately after reading this.  I do remember it's about a pack of wolves that shape shift, so I guess you'd consider them werewolves, right?  This is number three in the series of "Sassy mates."  I remember that for the most part I liked it, it was one of those triple X-rated with a story.  There's a large family that's sort of hard to keep track of all the outlying siblings, wolves, and non wolves.  You can tell that other books of some of the characters have come before, and you're expected to know them.  Oh well.  I won't be reading any others in this series.....

Goodreads synopsis:  After years of lusting over Jake Wolfe, Nicole finally got a taste of the dirty-talking bad boy. During the scenting ceremony, he showed her how explosive things can be between them. But Nicole doesn’t do love. She doesn’t even know what love is. So how can she know if a relationship with Jake would be the right path to take?
          Jake Wolfe wants Nic more than his next breath. She’s curvy, mouthy and so hot his blood boils just thinking of her. But Nic’s been keeping him at a distance. And Jake is tired of her games. One fateful trip to Sin City and all bets are off.
          After a fun night of drinking, Nic wakes up married to Jake and with a second shifter wanting her for himself. She'll have to finally face the feelings she has or shut them out forever. Their newly formed bond will either allow her to open her heart to love or leave Jake without a mate to call his own.
          Warning: If you don't like sex of any kind, this is probably not the book for you. There's graphic language (yes, he tells her how he likes it), sassy humor (come on, it's a Milly Taiden story) and women that won't allow a man to browbeat them into doing what they say (unless they're naked). This book is intended for adults that have no problems with dirty sex, humor and action. If that's you, enjoy!

42. Sacrificed to the Dragon by Jessie Donovan

#1 Stonefire Dragons
Listened to Audible on Chirp
narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies
Unabridged audio (6:29)
2014 Mythical Lake Press
258 pgs.
Adult Fantasy Steamy Romance
Finished 3/2/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.89 - 7062 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting:  United Kingdom

First line/s: "Melanie Hall sat in the reception area of the Manchester Dragon Affairs Office, tapping her finger against her arm, and wishing they'd hurry the hell up."

My comments:  (The interesting concept here is that a dragon lives INSIDE the shifter, not that the dragon and the person are one in the same.)  The narrator changed voices a lot, depending on the person he was speaking for, but he made Tristan's dragon sound like an imbecile.  Very offputting.  You got to know the two protagonists' characteristics pretty well, but all the others were pretty flat.  I woldn've also liked a bit more description of the setting.  Yes, there were steamy parts, but there was a lot otf talking, thinking, discussion about the same things over and over again.  It did seem to go on and on, there were absolutely no surprises, and everything seemed....well, flat.  Even the actufaal shape shifting couldn've used a lot more description.  Oh well, I did not expect much.

Goodreads synopsis:  In exchange for a vial of dragon’s blood to save her brother’s life, Melanie Hall offers herself up as a sacrifice to one of the British dragon-shifter clans. Being a sacrifice means signing a contract to live with the dragon-shifters for six months to try to conceive a child. Her assigned dragonman, however, is anything but easy. He’s tall, broody, and alpha to the core. There’s only one problem—he hates humans.
          Due to human dragon hunters killing his mother, Tristan MacLeod despises humans. Unfortunately, his clan is in desperate need of offspring to repopulate their numbers and it’s his turn to service a human female. Despite his plans to have sex with her and walk away, his inner dragon has other ideas. The curvy human female tempts his inner beast like no other.          
NOTE: This is the entire first story arc of the Stonefire Dragons, complete with a HEA and no cliffhangers.

31. Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown

listened to audio/Audible
narrated by Heather Henderson
Unabridged audio (11:00)
2014 NAL
368 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction (based on a real person)
Finished 2/16/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.96 - 811 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: 1676+ Massachusetts Bay Colony

First line/s:  "Later, Mary will trace the first signs of the Lord's displeasure back to a hot July morning in 1672 when she pauses on the way to the barn to watch the sun rise burnt orange over the meetinghouse."

My comments:  Historical fiction, based on a factual person, Mary Rowlandson, who was captured by Indians in the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1670s.  Though loosely based on the facts, we get a good glimpse of King Phillip's War and Puritanism in the New England in this time period.  Such harsh religious fervor!I would've never made it living in this time period without being beheaded.  I enjoyed listening to this, though I think there were many repetitious segments that could have been deleted.  I've been enjoying some well written historical fiction lately, and I hope I'll be able to continue to find more.

Goodreads synopsis:  She suspects that she has changed too much to ever fit easily into English society again. The wilderness has now become her home. She can interpret the cries of birds. She has seen vistas that have stolen away her breath. She has learned to live in a new, free way.... 
          Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson is captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the on-going bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.
          Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meaning of freedom, faith, and acceptance.

98. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

listened on Audible/own
narrated  by Christopher Ragland
Unabridged audio (22:41)
2014 Atria/Emily Bestler Books
612 pgs.
Contemporary thriller
Finished 10/9/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.25 - 105,039 ratings
My rating: 5

First line/s: "There are places I'll remember all my life - Red Square with a hot wind holwing across it, my mother's bedroom on teh wrong side of Eight Mile, the endless gardens of a fancy foster home, a man waiting to kill me in a group of ruins known as the Theater of Death."

My comments:  This was a long one, over 600 pages and took about 22 hours to listen to the audio.  I think it is the way that it's written that most fascinates me.  the crux of the story is the hunt for a terrorist, but it gives all sorts of background and form to both the protagonist and the antagonist.  It is the story of an incredibly brilliant empathetic man who is also very lucky.  The story is a woven one, and it's woven brilliantly.  It gives you background without going from point A to point Z in order.  and every tiny detail is interesting...and believable.  AND well written.  I was mesmerized.  I loved this book, this story, this protagonist, this narrator.  22 hours well spent.  It looks like from skimming the reviews of this thriller that you either love or hate this book.  I just can't imagine hating it for some of the reasons given, and when I read the reviews I wonder if, for the most part, I read the same book!
     NOTE: Quite a bit of the book takes place in Bodrum, Turkey, a city I have visited.  Many of the descriptions really took me back and I could picture it perfectly.

Goodreads synopsis:  A breakneck race against time...and an implacable enemy. An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.

Picture Book Biography - The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan

Illustrated by Hadley Hooper

2014, Roaring Book Pres/ A Neal Porter Book

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.06 - 1586 ratings

My rating:  4.5
Endpapers:  bright, solid orange-red

1^st line/s:  The book appears to all be one sentence!!!!   "If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France where the skies were gray/ And the days were cold/ And you wanted color and light/ And sun, / And your mother, to brighten your days,/ Painted plates to hang on the walls/ With picture of meadows and trees,/ Rivers and birds, ...."

My comments: Patricia MacLachlan, one of my favorite authors, has written a simple book about Henri Matisse and where his artistic inspiration came from.  Hadley Hooper has used simple, beautiful illustrations to accentuate the story that MacLachlan tells.  This book is totally charming, especially if you are an admirer of Matisse's art.  Yup, he's also one of my favorites...

Goodreads:  If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France, what would your life be like? Would it be full of color and art? Full of lines and dancing figures?
          Find out in this beautiful, unusual picture book about one of the world's most famous and influential artists by acclaimed author and Newbery Medal-winning Patricia MacLachlan and innovative illustrator Hadley Hooper.

71. Reasonable Doubt by Whitney G.

Volumes 1 - 3.25
Listened on Audible (purchased)
read by Sebastian York and Erin Mallon
Unabridged audio (8:46)
2014 for book, 2015 for audible
313 pgs.
Very Adult Romance
Finished 8/3/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 7013 ratings (Vol. 1, 2, 3 each have over 26,000 ratings well over 3.10 - amazing!
Steaminess rating:  4/4
Setting:  contemporary Durham, NC and NYC

From the first page:  "My rules are simple.  One dinner.  One night.  No repeats.  This is casual sex, nothing more, nothing less.  At least it was until Alyssa....  She was supposed to be a 27-year old lawyer, , a book hoarder, and completely unattractive.  She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades."

My comments:  Triple X rated for the most part, though there is some actual story mixed in mostly near the end.  These kinds of stories are incredibly unratable for me and I do wonder why I read/listen to them.  You have to be in just the right mood, I guess  I couldn't get past the fact that he was 32 and she was 22, because he acted older and she acted younger, so it seemed like the age difference was even more than 10 years, which was really quite disconcerting...

Goodreads synopsis:  The complete New York Times Bestselling serial, now available in one book! 
          My cock has an appetite. 
          A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar...(Although, that's a story for another day.) As a high profile lawyer, I don't have time to waste on relationships, so I fulfill my needs by anonymously chatting and sleeping with women I meet online. 
          My rules are simple: One dinner. One night. No repeats. 
          This is only casual sex. Nothing more. Nothing less. 
          At least it was, until "Alyssa"...She was supposed to be a 27 year old lawyer, a book hoarder, and completely unattractive. She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades. 
          But then she came into my firm for an interview--a college-intern interview, and everything fucking changed...

Poetry Picture Book - Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Rick Allen

2014 Houghton Mifflin Harcoart

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.24 -  1179 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers: Solid purplish-gray

My comments:  There are twelve lovely poems in this collection, and each of them has a qualifying, informative explanation in prose (example follows).   Very nice for the winter-hater and poetry-lover in me!

Goodreads:  In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman (Song of the Water Boatman,Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow. Paired with stunning linoleum print illustrations by Rick Allen, that celebrate nature's beauty and power.

What Do the Trees Know?

What do the trees know?
          To bend when all the wild winds blow.
          Roots are deep and time is slow.
          All we grasp we must let go.
What do the trees know?
          Buds can weather ice and snow.
          Dark gives way to sunlight's glow.
          Strength and stillness help us grow.

"Trees, the giants of the plant world, survive winter in two very different ways.  Coniferous (evergreen) trees have thin, was-covered needles that tolerate freezing temperatures and remain on the tree all year round.  Deciduous (leafy) trees, on the other hand, sprout large, flat leaves every spring that are perfect for gathering sunlight to produce energy.  Deciduous trees grow like mad while the weather is warm, but in winter they essentially shut down.   They shed their luxuriant leaves, which would freeze anyway and suck much-needed water from the tree.  The tiny buds, which will hold next year's leaves, develop a tough, scaly coating to protect them all winter.  As the temperatures drop, the living tissue in the tree's trunk undergoes a process called hardening, in which cells lose water and become more resistant to freezing.  An early cold snap - before a tree has hardened - will damage its branches.  But after hardening, the tree will spend the winter months dry, cold, and protected - waiting for spring to swell those hardy buds."

Poetry - Outside the Box: A Book of Poems by Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Diane Goode

2014 Margaret K. McElderry Books

HC $17.99

172 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.85 - 221 ratings

My rating:  4.5 

My comments:  In this homage to Shel Silverstein, funny, clever, rhythmic poems (including poems with no flabby rhyming) are not only dedicated to the great children's poet, but they even look and sound somewhat like his creations.  Such fun!  A few follow...

Goodreads: This laugh-out-loud poetry collaboration from a New York Timesand Publishers Weekly bestselling author and a Caldecott Honor illustrator is anything but ordinary.
          Dive in to Karma Wilson's latest collection of more than 100 poems: some humorous, some poignant, and all of them Outside the Box. Illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Diane Goode, Outside the Box has something for everyone. Appealing to kids and parents alike, poems such as Sick Day, My Pet Robot, Balloonaphobia, and Aliens Under My Bed are sure to delight and entertain.

Bubble Trouble

I bought myself two packs of gum.

I chewed and chewed some more.

I blew a bubble round a fat,

and bigger than ever before!

I blew and it grew

and grew

and grew

and grew!

None of my friends could believe it.

The biggest bubble ever blown,

and I was the kid to achieve it!

I kept on blowing, it kept on growing.

When would it ever stop?

It all seemed like such an awesome plan

till my sister made it

POP!

Man in the Moon

When you look at the face

of the Man in the Moon,

what kind of face do you see?

Is it aged and wise, sad, surprised,

or happy and beaming with glee?

Is it angry and stern, full of concern,

wistful, or filled with delight?

What mood do you see

in the face that shines down

and kisses the darkness with light?

A Lump of Clay

It’s just a lump of clay,

that’s it.

But pick it up

and squeeze a bit.

Now roll it, pat it,

poke it, too.

Pinch the clay

a time or two.

With imagination

and elbow grease,

you’ll create

a masterpiece

Pound it down

to a lump, and then

pick it up and

start again.

Shades of Gray

The shadows of trees, the clouds in the sky.

The wings of a wren as she flutter on by.

The face of the moon as he watches the night,

not quite black, but not quite white.

The hue of the world

when the sun slips away.

Beautiful shades of gray.

Moose on the Bus

There’s a moose on the bus,

and he caused quite a fuss

when he clambered aboard, big and brown.

We screamed for police

to restore general peace,

but they weren’t anywhere to be found.

The moose thought awhile,

then strolled down the aisle

and sat in the seat next to me.

He is kind, more or less,

and I have to confess,

he makes for polite company.

But one thing I’ve found

while the bus drives around

and I sit with a moose at my side,

He’s friendly and all,

but he’s really quite tall,

and his antlers are rater too wide.-

PICTURE BOOK - The Book With No Pictures by B. J. Novak

Illustrated by NO ONE!  There are not pictures, duh!

2014 Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Group

HC $17.99

44 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.35 - 18,099 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Silly words in light gray on white

Illustrations:  None!

1^st line/s:  "This is a book with no pictures.  It might seem like no fun to have someone read you a book with no pictures.  It probably seems boring and serious.  Except..."

My comments: This books BEGS, BEGS, BEGS to be read aloud!  What a fun, funny book.  Three cheers!

Goodreads:   A book with no pictures? 
     What could be fun about that?
     After all, if a book has no pictures, there's nothing to look at but the words on the page.
     Words that might make you say silly sounds... In ridiculous voices...
     Hey, what kind of book is this, anyway?
     At once disarmingly simple and ingeniously imaginative, The Book With No Pictures inspires laughter every time it is opened, creating a warm and joyous experience to share--and introducing young children to the powerful idea that the written word can be an unending source of mischief and delight. 

Picture Book: Emily's Blue Period by Cathleen Daly

Illustrated by Lisa Brown

2014.  A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press

HC $17.99

56 pgs. (5 tiny short chapters, still reads as a picture book)

Goodreads rating:  405 - 1204 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  pale slate

Illustrations:  Lots of white, very much like

1^st line/s:  "Emily wants to be an artist."

My comments: An excellent picture book for kids who live in a divorced-family situation as well as a nice introduction to the artwork of Pablo Picasso.  Written in five teeny, tiny short chapters and although there are 56 pages, it still reads as a picture book in one easy sitting. Lots of discussion and art projects (including collage-making) can be created after reading this....

Goodreads: Emily wants to be an artist. She likes painting and loves the way artists like Pablo Picasso mixed things up.Emily's life is a little mixed up right now. Her dad doesn't live at home anymore, and it feels like everything around her is changing.
          “When Picasso was sad for a while,” says Emily, “he only painted in blue. And now I am in my blue period.”
          It might last quite some time.

31. Lamb to the Slaughter by Karen Ann Hopkins

read on my iPhone (Kindle Unlimited)
2014 self-published
293 pgs.
Adult Contemporary Murder Mystery
Finished 3/22/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.03 - 2998 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Blood Rock, Indiana

First line/s: "Hugging myself, I tried to stop shaking.  I'd burned my last bridge.  Forward was the only way to go."

My comments:  I have very mixed feelings about this book.  The first thing I must mention is it needed an incredible amount of editing.  It was very disconcerting to have so many errors.  I enjoyed the setting, the small town Amish/Englisher countryside of Indiana being very similar to where I live in Pennsylvania.  Character development is where I'm scratching my head the most.  The story is told from the point of view of the three main characters - one being the female Sheriff, Serenity Adams, the third being her probably-soon-to-be-suitor, Daniel.  Naomi is a self-centered, very unlikable young lady right from the start.  There are only a few glimpses of someone we feel sorry for in her own point-of-view scenes.  It's not until after she dies and you learn more about her from her two boyfriends that you really understand what she's been going through and feel sorry for her extremely difficult life.  However, the "mean girl" personality portrayed earlier keep continuing to overshadow new information about here.  It's a back-and-forth ride that doesn't make sense.  Serenity is smart and impetuous.  I don't really like her, or even understand her.  And I don't think she's well suited for the job of sheriff.  Daniel's cool.  I get him.  But I don't get his attraction to Serenity.  At least not yet - maybe in the upcoming book?  And now the story...the mystery... the way it all come together....not super strong, but it worked, with holes.
     I enjoy books about the Amish community, especially this type that shares the non-Amish and Amish point of view.  Even with all my questionable points about this first in a series, I do think I will continue on and try another.

Goodreads synopsis:  "A well-crafted tale of murder begotten by the collision of two incompatible worlds."-Kirkus Reviews
           The death of a teenage Amish girl in a cornfield looks like an accident, but sheriff Serenity Adams suspects foul play. To solve the murder, she must investigate the nearby Amish community with the help of a man who was shunned years ago. 
          Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest. 
          Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidentally shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting. Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.

1. The Bear Trap - Paul Doiron

#4.5 Mike Bowditch
read on my iPhone
2014, criminalelement.com
20 pgs.
Adult Mystery (and in this case, short story)
Finished 1-1-2019
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 411 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Middle-of-nowhere, Maine, contemporary, though the actual story told within the story takes place in the early 1970s.

First line/s:  "The wind moved across the surface of the lake like breath upon a mirror."

My comments:  Short and sweet, a story told by old-time game warden Charley Stevens to his good friend, new game warden Mike Bowditch, when they were out fishing.  The story that Charley tells takes place when he was a new game warden over 35 years previously and had captured a notorious hermit nicknamed "Sweet Tooth" who had been 19 years living and stealing in the Maine woods.

Goodreads synopsis:  Legendary Maine woodsman and bush pilot Charley Stevens tries to convince young Mike Bowditch of the dangers awaiting rookie game wardens.

83. Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne

#1 Jessica Blackwood, FBI agent and magician
read on my iPhone
2014 Bourbon Street Books
368 pgs.
Adult murder mystery/police procedural
Finished 8/24/18
Goodreads rating:  4.02 - 2604 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary spots in the US

First line/s:  " 'You're going to die.' I tell her this not to be cruel, but out of compassion."

My comments:  Well, that was a fascinating book.  After enjoying a couple of books by Andrew Mayne about Professor Theo Cray and his somewhat outlandish escapades, I thought I'd try this book about a female FBI agent who is also a talented magician.  I couldn't put it down.  A magician definitely wrote this book, and although I am not a big fan of magic, I've become a big fan of Andrew Mayne, also a magician in "real life."  Looking forward to the next Jessica Blackwood.

Goodreads synopsis:  FBI agent Jessica Blackwood believes she's left her complicated life as a gifted magician behind her . . . until a killer with seemingly supernatural powers puts her talents to the ultimate test.
          A hacker who identifies himself only as "Warlock" brings down the FBI's website and posts a code in its place that leads to a Michigan cemetery, where a dead girl is discovered rising from the ground . . . as if she tried to crawl out of her own grave.
          Born into a dynasty of illusionists, Jessica Blackwood is destined to become its next star—until she turns her back on her troubled family to begin a new life in law enforcement. But FBI consultant Dr. Jeffrey Ailes's discovery of an old magic magazine will turn Jessica's world upside down. Faced with a crime that appears beyond explanation, Ailes has nothing to lose—and everything to gain—by taking a chance on an agent raised in a world devoted to achieving the seemingly impossible.
          The body in the cemetery is only the first in the Warlock's series of dark miracles. Thrust into the media spotlight, with time ticking away until the next crime, can Jessica confront her past to stop a depraved killer? If she can't, she may become his next victim. 

80. A Road Unknown - Barbara Cameron

read on my iPhone
2014 Abingdon Press
304 pgs.
Adult Amish Fiction
Finished August 16, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.3 - 214 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Paradise, Lancaster County, PA

First line/s:  "Some people say that if you look at a map of Goshen, Indiana, you'd see almost all Amish country roads lead into the town."

My comments:  My second foray into Amish literature, a bit of a better choice than the first.  A young woman in her very early 20s flees her home and family in Goshen, Indiana, because, as the eldest of eight, all she does is care for her siblings.  She does not depart from the Amish way of life, but does travel by bus to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to share a small apartment with an Englisher. She soon finds a job in an Amish gift shop, run by a young Amish man she met on the bus. These are not the super-strict Amish, but a sect that hires drivers to transport them from place to place when needed and even carry a phone.  Part of the plot it about "dating," all very understated, and I think this is a pretty reasonable depiction of some of the Amish's way of life in Lancaster County.

Goodreads synopsis:  Elizabeth is at a crossroad. Will rumschpringe lead her away? Or bring her home?
          She's been given the chance to experience life outside of her community, away from the responsibility to care for her eight younger siblings, but Elizabeth Bontrager can't decide which road to take. Goshen has its charms and pressures, but Paradise, Pennsylvania, sounds . . . well, like paradise. And it's also home to her Englisch friend, Paula. Decision made. Elizabeth is Paradise bound.
          But will the small town live up to its name? When Elizabeth meets Paula's friend, Bruce, she quickly learns he wants more than a friendship. And the same might be true of Saul Miller, her new boss at the country story that sells Amish products to the Englisch community. As the two compete for her attention, Elizabeth is surprised to realize she misses her family and becomes even more uncertain about where she belongs. She has a choice to make: return home or embrace this new life and possibly a new love?