Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea–returning home
Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea
by Liz Eeles
Called home from her life in sunny Spain by her mother’s sudden death, Rosie returns to the chilly English coast and Driftwood House, her family home. Rosie never felt like she fit in when she was in high school where the popular kids called her Weirdo Rosie Merchant.
In Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea, we learn that some of her former classmates have matured and some remain bullies. Liam, the high school lothario was dumped at the altar. Belinda is the local center of information, i.e. the town gossip. Nessa, formerly called Loch Nessa Monster, was rarely seen during her high school years because her mum was terminally ill. Nessa is the survivor of a bad marriage with a little girl and is employed at a hardware store. The little town is full of characters who all want to know of Rosie’s travels and when she will be leaving again.
Most of the plot centers around secrets her mother had kept from her. It seems she didn’t know her mother as well as she thought she did. There were many life changing repercussions from these secrets. To delve into the plot further would disclose too many spoilers.
Rosie is a hard-working, determined, likable character. She changes and grows in the story. Liam is a reluctant love interest. What would be the point? Rosie will be retuning to Andalusia, her two jobs, and her boyfriend as soon as she sorts out her mother’s affairs.
Of course, the author has other plans for Rosie. I think you’ll enjoy watching the story unfold. There are several major plot and character surprises. Even the antagonists experience turn arounds that will have readers smiling happily at a very satisfactory conclusion.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Women’s Fiction
Notes: #1 in the Heaven’s Cove Series
Publication: February 18, 2021—Bookouture
Memorable Lines:
Tea, the British answer to everything from disappointment to grief to crashing guilt.
…it would be good to feel…something. Something positive, rather than the sadness, humiliation, anger and anxiety that had become the four horsemen of his personal apocalypse.
The village was still shrouded but higher up, on the cliffs, the fog had been burned away by the sun, and Driftwood House was now an island in a sea of mist that swirled far below her.
Farm to Trouble–saving the family farm
Farm to Trouble
by Amanda Flower
Amanda Flower has written several series that I enjoy very much. Her new series, the Farm to Table Mysteries, has some room for growth. Farm to Trouble is only the first book in the series. So far, there are very few characters that I like. The memories of Shiloh’s (Shi’s) deceased grandmother depict her as a woman of strength and character and a great role model for Shi. The protagonist, Shi, is well-meaning, but as she returns to her childhood town she struggles to find her place as most of the residents view her as an outsider. Her father and her cousin are not nice to her, and her deceased fiancé’s best friend Quinn is still struggling with emotions he should have dealt with fifteen years ago. There are a few old friends who truly welcome her back, and some new residents who are quite hateful. Quinn’s daughter Hazel finds a kindred spirit in Shi because they both lost their mothers as children, and they both love animals. My favorite character is an empathetic pug, Huckleberry. The author has great descriptions of him and of Shi’s interpretation of what he is thinking. This is a cute approach to having Huck as an active participant throughout the story.
Shi’s father has let the family farm go to ruins and resists her plans to transform it into an organic farm. She has naively signed a contract with a businessman who is buying up property in Cherry Grove so that he can inundate the area with wind turbines. The terms of the contract are not favorable to Shi, but she is desperate. When she signs the agreement, she has not yet seen the extent of deterioration on the farm. Her pushing forward with this bad deal, after throwing lots of money into the farm over the years to cover her father’s debts, does not seem to be in line with the persona of Shi, a successful Hollywood television producer.
The book deals with murder and identifying the killer, the survival of the Bellemy Farm and of the town of Cherry Grove, lots of liars, the restoration of the local theater, and unresolved feelings of guilt and resentment. There are plenty of plot threads in this book. I’m hoping for more positive character development in the next book in the series, Put Out to Pasture, which is scheduled to be published on February 22, 2022.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Farm to Table Mystery Series
Publication: February 23, 2021—Poisoned Pen Press
Memorable Lines:
Now I realized the effort I’d have to put in to care for my ailing father, save the farm, and face the memories that I had buried in my tinsel town life for the last fifteen years. It would be no small feat.
“I haven’t read a book since college. It’s a complete waste of time when everything you need to know is on the internet.” That’s when I knew Laurel and I could never be friends.
I set the pug on the grass. He looked up at me and cocked his head one way and then the other. Even when I was in the worst spots, Huckleberry had the power to cheer me up.
The Hour of Peril–The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln before the Civil War
The Hour of Peril
by Daniel Stashower
This nonfiction account of an assassination plot against President-elect Abraham Lincoln required extensive research as much was written about the plot at the time, but many of the primary source documents present conflicting perspectives. I don’t think the author of The Hour of Peril, Daniel Stashower, had any intention of creating a tome that parallels current events, but it is hard not to make comparisons as we watch history repeat itself.
The politics of the elite to gain money and power is certainly a theme as well as inciting ordinary people to take extra-legal actions. Good and bad, ethical and immoral, slave vs. free, states’ rights or federal control—they all play a role in the politics of that time.
The rights of men to live freely and the rights of states to determine their own laws clash as the Union begins to disintegrate. Lincoln’s position is that new territories being added must be free, but that he would not advocate changing the slavery laws as they currently existed in the various states in the Union. This position incited those who felt Lincoln went too far and those who decided he had not gone far enough. There were just too many people unwilling to compromise.
As Lincoln headed to Washington, he wanted to greet as many people as possible and was not concerned about his safety. When Allan Pinkerton, a detective with a reputation for being “fierce and incorruptible,” was hired to secure the rail lines the president would be traveling on through Maryland, he discovered that there was a plot to assassinate Lincoln. At that time the focus of his investigation changed. He used the same techniques he had used for years to infiltrate groups planning railway robberies, but his operatives had to intensify their efforts because the time frame for discovery was very short. Pinkerton devised an extremely complicated plot that was successful but did require some last minute changes.
A lot of The Hour of Peril was about Pinkerton and included some discussion of Kate Warne, the first female detective in the United States. Pinkerton requested absolute secrecy of the very few people who were informed of the plot and countermeasures. He was dismayed when he discovered that Lincoln and several people close to the president-elect had, in fact, disclosed information about the travel plans, possibly endangering Lincoln’s life.
The Hour of Peril is not a quick or easy read, but well-worth the time invested. There is much information about and insight into the Civil War era and politics in general to be gained.
Rating: 5/5
Category: History, Nonfiction
Publication: 2013—Minotaur Books
Memorable Lines:
Among those attempting to defuse the crisis was the recently defeated candidate, Stephen Douglas, who selflessly carried a message of unity to hostile audiences in the South, attempting to calm the secessionist fervor and broker a compromise.
He would have been wary of revealing too much in a letter, especially one sent to a politician. As Pinkerton had told Samuel Felton at the start of the operation, “on no conditions would I consider it safe for myself or my operatives were the fact of my operating known to any Politician—no matter of what school, or what position.”
As far as Pinkerton was concerned, there would be no future disclosures. He had sworn the main participants to secrecy, and arranged matters so that the minor players had no sense of the larger plan. In many cases, even those directly involved in carrying out crucial elements of the detective’s design were ignorant of the roles they had played. Once again, secrecy had been the lever of his success.
Academic Curveball–FREE NOW AND FROM A VARIETY OF VENUES
I have enjoyed the Braxton Campus Mystery Series by James J. Cudney. The first book in the series, Academic Curveball is now free and available for a variety of e-readers/platforms. The post, available through this link, also includes an excerpt so you can sample it right now. Enjoy!
Texas Homecoming–not too late to try again
Texas Homecoming
by Carolyn Brown
He broke her heart and moved away. He had good intentions and spent the next twenty years becoming Dr. Cody Ryan, and serving patients in distant, war-torn countries of poverty. A few years younger, she picked up the broken pieces of her heart to achieve success as Dr. Stevie O’Dell, veterinarian. When both move back to Honey Grove to help aging and ailing parents, Stevie avoids Cody until they find themselves trapped together for four days in the tack room of a barn by a snowstorm. At that point, they have to work together to survive, but Stevie won’t let her guard down.
Of course, being a romance, you know the attraction is going to re-emerge, but it is fun to watch their relationship develop. Both are spunky characters; no longer teenagers, they learn to tease and flirt with each other on an adult level. Both have past and present hurts they have to deal with. Just as things begin to move smoothly, there are several major plot twists; you wonder just how much more Stevie can endure. Some readers might think there are too many difficulties to be realistic, but I find that a series of calamities in life is not unusual. In this case, the challenges, good and bad, draw them together.
Cody’s family takes Stevie under their collective wing, always willing to help, but careful not to smother or judge. They make it clear that they are not perfect, but they know how to stay the course and work things through.
Carolyn Brown’s Texas Homecoming is a romance, not intended to be great literature. I found it to be a quick read, and one that I enjoyed.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance
Notes: 1. #2 in The Ryan Family Series. It could be read as a standalone, but I’ve already put a copy of #1 (Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch) on hold at my library so I can get the backstory of some of the Ryan family members.
2. Clean romance, but does use “d—n” frequently as a slang expression
Publication: January 25, 2022—Forever
Memorable Lines:
“I would never get in between a woman and her chocolate.”
Stevie remembered coming home crying because some little girl had made fun of her height or of her curly red hair, and her mother telling her that the important thing was to be beautiful on the inside. The kids who were mean to you are ugly on the inside. You are pretty and smart, and they’re jealous, Ruth had said.
“…marriage is not another word for sex. Marriage is a sacred agreement between two people to live together and love each other through good times and bad and through poverty or riches. It’s about sticking together side by side even when you want to shoot him and throw his sorry carcass out for the coyotes’ supper.”
The Trouble with Reading (Part II)—Reading to Learn
I recently had some eye-opening experiences regarding reading that I want to share. I love to read, have a reading specialist credential, and am a retired educator of 34 years. I also love to learn, and I did just that this week in reading two different books. I gained a new appreciation of the struggles some readers have with reading. If you want to read Part I of The Trouble with Reading which deals with dyslexia, click here.
The other book I read that was a learning experience was a printed copy of a nonfiction book I purchased to read with my book club. It is a well-researched book that focuses on a part of my country’s history. Reading it was a great reminder of the differences in reading a fiction and a nonfiction work. “Work” is an appropriate word here, because of the extensive research effort of the author and the extra time and focus the reader needs to devote to reading the book. There are so many historical figures that play into the book along with settings of note. It is hard, but important, to keep track of them all. It is a very good and well written book and appropriate for book club discussion. I had to schedule reading it into my day so that I finished it by the time of our meeting. In other words, reading it was a chore; to do it justice, I took extensive notes and found the process tiring. Also, it did not focus on a subject that is my primary strength which makes the book intrinsically less interesting and more difficult to read. I brought less background knowledge to the table.
The book was not entertaining, but I am glad I read it. Although nonfiction varies widely, in general it is not my favorite genre. As all teachers should know, I was reminded that nonfiction, which is the foundation of most subject area texts, requires a different set of reading skills and those should be explicitly taught after students master the general reading process. Early elementary focuses on “learning to read” and grades above that should focus on “reading to learn.” Some middle and high school teachers believe that students leave elementary school with the skills they need for content area reading. This knowledge, however, is developmental; what is needed to process a middle grade text is not sufficient for comprehension of a high school text. Unfortunately, many students do not leave elementary school reading on grade level, making the gap even larger. To some degree, all teachers must be reading teachers.
The Trouble with Reading (Part I)–Learning to Read
I recently had some eye-opening experiences regarding reading that I want to share. I love to read, have a reading specialist credential, and am a retired educator of 34 years. I also love to learn, and I did just that this week in reading two different books. I gained a new appreciation of the struggles some readers have with reading.
Although we often think of dyslexia as letter reversals, it is actually a problem that is much wider than that one symptom. Dyslexia is an impaired ability to read and is not correlated with IQ. It can manifest itself in many ways. I don’t have dyslexia, but an Advance Reader Copy I read this week made me feel like I do. Anytime certain pairs of letters should have been present on the page, they were omitted. Here are some examples of the defective text along with what should have appeared on the page.
stu ed-full (stuffed full)
e fat one (The fat one)
on re (on fire)
e notes owed (The notes flowed)
“at’s a rst.” (“That’s a first.”)
BUT MY FAVORITE was a character named “Cli.” It seemed like an unusual name; about half way through the book, I started laughing at myself. I applied the missing letter pattern and discovered that the character is probably named “Cliff.”
The missing letters were: th, ff, fl, fi. Spacing was not always consistent with missing letters. Without context and my understanding of the importance of context, I would have been totally lost. Being able to pick up the pattern was also important. As it was, I had to make myself finish reading the book for the purpose of reviewing, but the experience was less than enjoyable and quite tiring. I put myself in the place of readers who have reading difficulties—letter reversals, words moving across the page, etc. I have renewed sympathy for their struggle. Professionally there are still arguments over causes and remedies, but being given more time to process text and learning coping strategies are helpful to many readers. Those who find reading “natural” and easy can remind themselves that we all have strengths and be thankful that reading is so accessible for them while being supportive and understanding of those for whom reading is a fight for meaning.
Let me assure you that Advance Reader Copies rarely have that many problems and that reviewers are warned that these ebooks have not always undergone the final editing process when they are presented to reviewers. The published book should be and usually is free from errors.
Check back in tomorrow for my reflections on a different type of difficulty I experienced with the other book.
A Three Book Problem–deductive reasoning in the style of Holmes
A Three Book Problem
by Vicki Delany
Jayne and Gemma, recurring characters in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series, are invited to a retreat at a local mansion. Jayne, who runs a tearoom, is required to cook for the group, and Gemma, who has a Sherlock Holmes shop, is requested to provide atmospheric props. The focus of the event is to be Arthur Conan Doyle’s works about the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Oddly, it seems the participants do not like the host, know each other, or necessarily have an interest in Sherlock Holmes lore.
There is a murder right in front of the two ladies by an unusual method. Gemma, an expert in deductive reasoning, applies her skills in a Sherlock fashion as she tries to ascertain which one of the invited guests benefited from the death of their host.
As I jumped into the series with the seventh book, I think the character development must have occurred earlier. I could not find much appeal to the recurring characters or to the ones who are clearly only a part of this one book. None are likable. The pace of the book is slow and any exciting action is limited to two scenes. I did not guess the identity of the murderer until the end; the climax was handled well. On the whole, this book is missing a zing that a good mystery should have. Sadly there is nothing that makes me want to go back to read other books in the series.
I have read two cozy mysteries by Vicki Delany in her Tea by the Sea series that I enjoyed very much. Delany has experienced success with her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series, so A Three Book Problem may not work as a standalone or just may not have been the right book for me.
I would like to extend my thanks to Netgalley and to Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 7th in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series. I don’t recommend it as a standalone.
Publication: January 11, 2022—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
It was a beautiful fall day, the rising sun shining through trees ablaze in shades of rusty orange, yellow, and red, leaves crushing underfoot, the air crisp and cool, full of the whisper of winter soon to come.
Humiliation, I’ve found, is one of the most powerful motives for murder there is. More powerful than money.
“Are you going to climb the fence again?” Jayne said. “Absolutely not. I have a rule to seek illegal ingress to a property only once.” “What does that even mean?” “It means that in case I had to return, I learned the code.”
A Stranger’s Game–from the boardroom to a boardgame
A Stranger’s Game
by Colleen Coble
Torie Berg introduces herself at Jekyll Island Club Resort as their new IT specialist. In reality, as the daughter of the owner of a huge resort chain, she spent her early childhood there. After eighteen years she has returned to find out what happened to her best friend Lisbeth who recently died while tracking down leads on Torie’s mother’s death.
Someone recognizes Torie and wants her to abandon her investigation. Who knows how far this creepy person will go in intimidating her and what their motive might be. Is it personal or does it have anything to do with the war games the Navy is conducting? Is Torie getting too close to the truth or does this involve the many important visitors the hotel is expecting for a major financial meeting?
Joe Abbott trains dolphins to intercept saboteurs and lives at the resort with his eight year old daughter Hailey in exchange for providing security. He is caught up in issues with the Navy when Simon, a dolphin he is training, catches a diver planting a bomb. As Torie’s neighbor on Jekyll Island, Joe becomes involved in protecting her from a mysterious stalker. He has not been interested in dating in the three years since his wife died, but he is attracted to Torie and she is drawn to his daughter Hailey as they share a sense of loss that both experienced in losing their mothers as children.
A Stranger’s Game is a fast-paced mystery that includes some psychological creepiness and suspense, but not enough for me to classify it as a thriller. It has a touch of clean romance, but the emphasis is on the plot. The Jekyll Island Club Resort setting is critical to the story. The characters are allowed to develop as the story progresses. The novel contains adventure and three major plot lines along with cross threads that give the book both color and cohesion. I did not guess the identity of the criminals behind the detailed plotting of various crimes or those who executed the plans. Well done! Colleen Coble has created a standalone that will send you looking for more of her books.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery, Christian Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Notes: Standalone
Publication: January 4, 2022—Thomas Nelson Fiction
Memorable Lines:
“It’s hard to understand even for adults. But evil things happen to all of us, honey. Hard things, bad things. We don’t understand and a lot of the time, we can’t understand because we aren’t God. When those times come—and they come to everyone—all we can do is trust that God loves us.”
“By its very nature, life involves loss. If we stop taking chances, stop living our lives, we might as well crawl in the grave and let someone kick the dirt over us. Real life is worth the risk.”
The reserve she’d donned all her life had made ruts through her soul, tracks she followed like a mule plodding a well-worn trail.
Pianos and Flowers–stories birthed from photos
Pianos and Flowers
by Alexander McCall Smith
It is not uncommon for teachers to present students with a photograph and ask them to write about it. The result is usually nonfiction and descriptive of what is seen in the picture. The Sunday Times asked Alexander McCall Smith, the Scottish writer famous for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series set in Botswana, to select photographs from their archives of everyday people in everyday settings. He then created short stories, one for each picture, which fictionalized what was happening to the people in the picture as well as their background. The result is a collection of unrelated stories that bring these people to life. Naturally some appealed to me more than others. “Sphinx” is a gentle romance set in the 1930’s. “Pianos and Flowers” is about Brits working and living in China and how it affected their families. “Architect” had interesting observations about family relationships and culminated in a surprise ending. “Urchins” contained sad stories about the plight of the pictured street urchins and what the future held for them. I smile as I recall “St. John’s Wort,” the story of a retired man who was worried about everything. A friend of the wife gave her some timely advice. As you can see, each story in Pianos and Flowers is unique. There was only one story of the fourteen that I actually noted as not liking.
I read these at the rate of one or two stories a night at bedtime. They were a nice way to end the day on a calm and gentle note.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Knopf Doubleday (Pantheon) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Short Stories
Publication: January 19, 2021— Knopf Doubleday (Pantheon)
Notes: The subtitle is Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind, but I found that to be a misnomer. The stories are fictionalized snippets of life so there is some romance, but not very much.
Memorable Lines:
Parents are inexplicably embarrassing to sixteen-year-olds—they always have been.
We belittle the things we secretly want ourselves.
“A metaphor must be strange—it must make us sit up and take notice in a way in which a literal expression does not.”
education pathways 