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Christmas in Harmony–fun seasonal novella
Christmas in Harmony
by Philip Gulley
This sweet novella will put just the right touch on your Christmas season. Author Phillip Gulley returns his readers to the fictional town of Harmony to join the citizens celebrating Christmas. Even if this is not a return visit to Harmony, readers can quickly jump into the nostalgic small town feel. The narrator is a Quaker pastor, and he infuses his tales and reminiscences with both humor and gentle inspiration. Probably the most interesting (stunning?) idea that his congregation tries is a progressive Nativity scene, kind of like a progressive dinner but harder to wrap your mind around! You really should read this novella to find out how parishioner Dale Hinshaw’s money making Nativity scene idea pans out. What a great start to the Christmas season!
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Humor, Christian
Notes: #2.5 in the Harmony Novels, but could be read as a standalone
Publication: October 15, 2002—Harper One
Memorable Lines:
Every Christmas she would send the cards she’d received the year before back to the very people who’d sent them. She’d add her name below theirs, and write, We return your greetings and wish you a Merry Christmas. She’d written up the idea and sent it to Heloise as a hint, under the pseudonym Cautious Christian.
“I want you to know I love you, son. I’m proud of you, awful proud of you. Have been since the day you were born.” Then he hugged me. It was the best Christmas present he ever gave me, those words.
The old-timers walked in, saw the hordes of people sitting in their pews, and were appalled. Pews, which had been in their family for generations, now occupied by total strangers!
My Three Dogs–rescue dogs
My Three Dogs
by W. Bruce Cameron
If you enjoy a good dog story, you’ll like this one. Three rescue dogs—Riggs, a miniature Australian shepherd; Luna, a Jack Russell; and Archie, a Labradoodle puppy—take center stage in My Three Dogs. Their humans are Liam, a builder, and Sabrina, a schoolteacher. Liam’s brother Brad has a major role too. He has been Liam’s rock since Brad was sixteen and is still trying to protect him. Their parents were unstable and in and out of their lives.
The author does a good job of describing what the dogs are thinking, what motivates their actions. The book gives the perspective of the dogs as they navigate life in the shelter, on the streets, and with adoptive parents. None of the options are good, and they all just really want their people back. Life changes dramatically for all of the humans and the dogs after there is an automobile accident. The dogs, unfortunately, learn that not all humans are good and kind and safe. If you are not drawn in by the dogs, which I think you will be, there are some plot twists that will keep you reading.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction
Notes: 1. Contains four instances of minor swear words and is clean otherwise.
2. Cameron has written a lot of books, and most have dogs as the main characters. Humor abounds in many of his books. His website says, “Cameron is most famous for his novel A Dog’s Purpose, which spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.” That book and several others have been made into movies. Although this book is written for adults, Cameron also has several series of children’s books about dogs.
Publication: October 29, 2024—Tor Publishing Group
Memorable Lines:
Sabrina was on what she called a keto diet, though she still ate several small squares of chocolate fudge every night, and Liam had learned that to comment on this fact was considered treason.
The dogs went on full alert when the doorbell rang. It didn’t ring very often, and when it did, it was incumbent upon the dogs to alert every human in the room that there was something going on that needed their attention.
Liam wasn’t here and might never come back—a dog’s singular most dreaded fear, but one that occupies all canine minds when they’re alone without their people.
The Memory of Old Jack–evocative language
The Memory of Old Jack
by Wendell Berry
Author Wendell Berry is loved and even revered by many of his readers. This is the third book I have read by him with my book club. He has written a series of novels describing the land and the people of the fictional Port William community in rural Kentucky from shortly after the Civil War to 1952. As a part of this series, The Memory of Old Jack’s timeline is a little jarring as it jumps repeatedly between Jack on a special September day and the memories he dredges up from a lifetime of experiences. A hard working farmer, he soaked in wisdom about farming and about life from an older neighbor.
My opinion of the character Jack also bounced around as I read about the various events of his life; sometimes I found him admirable and at other times an enigma. He is a rough man, tied to the land he loves so much. He has some regrets about his choices in life, but doesn’t seem to be able to make different choices or fix past mistakes and still stay true to himself.
Perhaps it is because of my own creeping age or the recent deaths of many loved ones, but I found the book very sad. Another member of my book club called it “grim,” and I must agree. It is not sprinkled with uplifting light spots, nothing to raise the heavy veil. There are some supporting characters that I liked, but they did not make up for the melancholy of this tale. Wendell Berry is a good writer in the sense that he effectively writes what I will call poetic prose. A few chapters into The Memory of Old Jack, I was struggling to want to finish this book. I made an attitude changing decision to do a read/listen and that made all the difference. The written language took on a beauty when it became oral.
There is no plot per se; the book moves along from anecdote (in this case memories) to anecdote. Although Berry tells his tale through the main characters, I never found them likable. To like this book, the reader would need to find the characters engaging. For me, it was more a matter of waiting for the next shoe to drop as the story moves to its inevitable conclusion.
The Memory of Old Jack is a vehicle for Berry’s expression of his philosophies about preserving the land and the customs and knowledge necessary for self-sufficiency. Berry was a farmer for forty years in addition to expressing his ideas through environmental activism. A poet, novelist, and essayist, he also worked as a professor. His use of story to promote socio-political thought is reminiscent of the writings of Sinclair Lewis.
This dichotomy of beautiful language in a novel that plods along makes reviewing and ranking it difficult. It deserves five stars, top in my rating system, for eloquent, descriptive language. For elements such as plot and character, I can only award it three stars as a book that I would never read again and am unable to recommend.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Notes: 1. #3 in the Port William Series but all can be read as standalones.
2. Some profanity
3. Narrator Paul Michael of the audio version produced by Christian Audio is good with women’s voices as well as men’s.
Publication: October 8, 1999—Counterpoint
Memorable Lines:
That is what Old Jack has always given him—not help that he did not need but always exactly the help he has needed.
His vision, with the the finality of some physical change, has turned inward. More and more now the world as it is seems to him an apparition or a cloud that drifts, opening and closing, upon the clear, remembered lights and colors of the world as it was. The world as it is serves mostly to remind him, to turn him back along passages sometimes too well known into that other dead, mourned, unchangeable world that still lives in his mind.
…it is hard to keep his mind, ranging around the way it does, from crossing the track of his hard times.Though he would a lot rather let them lie still and be gone, once his mind strikes into his old troubles there is no stopping it; he is in his story then, watching, as he has helplessly done many times before, to see how one spell of trouble and sorrow led to another.
The Bletchley Riddle–young code breakers
The Bletchley Riddle
By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Written specifically for Middle Grade students, The Bletchley Riddle will appeal to those interested in World War II but not ready for the torturous aspects of the conflict. This book deals with code breaking efforts that were a critical support to the military in winning the war.
Jakob, with mathematical talents, has been recruited from Cambridge and becomes part of the secretive code breaking team at Bletchley Park. His much younger sister Lizzie, who prides herself in being straight forward, escapes from Fleetword, her chaperone who is supposed to escort her from England to live with her Gram in Cleveland, Ohio. Lizzie wants to stay in England to investigate the death of her mother Willa as she does not believe that she died in an explosion in Poland.
This novel becomes very involved as the two youths form relationships with a variety of other interesting characters who live in the area. It’s hard to determine who is a spy and who is not, but Jakob also needs to restore his relationship with Lizzie.
The Bletchley Riddle deals with official decoding using the Enigma machine and with personal riddle solving of secretive messages the pair receives. The book is well written and appropriate for middle grades; the authors knew their audience. While some books written for young people can be captivating for older readers as well, The Bletchley Riddle is not one of them. I have enjoyed other books about Bletchley Park that are more interesting and engaging for adults.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Middle Grades, Historical Fiction
Notes: Appropriate for Ages 10+ and Grades 5+
Publication: October 8,2024—Penguin Group (Viking Books)
Memorable Lines:
“Do you always speak your thoughts aloud?” “I do. I’m half American. I’m straightforward. Does that make you uncomfortable?”
She looks with disapproval toward the crumpled papers on the floor. And she’s right. It’s sloppy. I get up to gather the scraps. Even our rubbish is secret here. All of it must be burned.
But the past months have shown that circumstance can be the thief of choice.
Lessons in Love at the Cornish County Hospital–many faces of love
Lessons in Love at the Cornish County Hospital
By Jo Bartlett
This series is the fictional account of several of the workers at St. Piran’s Hospital. It focuses specifically on two couples: Gary, a staff nurse, and Wendy, the head of housekeeping; and Danni who works in emergency medicine and her boyfriend Charlie, a children’s book author. Working on the fourth book in this series, Jo Barlett presents a lot of background about the various characters. Sometimes I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a soap opera; and at other times, I admired Barlett’s handling of characters and situations that are serious.
Wendy had been married to Mike, unquestionably a philandering, narcissistic jerk who was the father of her two young adult girls. Now he is in a relationship with the much younger Chloe. Wendy struggles with doing the right things for her daughters as they form bonds with Chloe who is pregnant. Danni is also pregnant and is carefully cared for medically as an older mom with a first child. Both Gary and Charlie are caring and loving mates, but the women take the stage in this novel.
With relationship and medical issues, there is both trauma and drama for Chloe. Eating disorders affect several characters. Wendy struggles with jealousy over Chloe even though Wendy no longer loves or is attracted to Mike. It hurts that her daughters see Chloe as the fun “mom.” Meanwhile Chloe suffers from a deep seated and unfulfilled desire to be loved.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. #4 in the Cornish County Hospital series, but could be read as a standalone.
2. Only 6 instances of swear words and no open bedroom doors.
Publication: October 3, 2024—Boldwood Books
Memorable Lines:
…borrowing tomorrow’s trouble was a sure-fire way to suck all the joy out of life.
If death could come from a thousand small cuts, so could the death of a relationship and it felt like that day was getting closer and closer.
Everything they’d been through had taught her that love really could be found in the most unexpected of places. There was no such thing as loving too many people, or being loved by too many people in return.
Frank and Red–healing tale
Frank and Red
By Matt Coyne
Frank is a curmudgeon and a recluse. Red is a precocious six year old. Both have had a rough life in the last few years, but they approach their situations from very different perspectives. Frank is in such pain when his beloved Marcie passes away that he creates a dysfunctional relationship with his son. Red’s parents divorce causes upheaval in his life with a new home, new school and new neighbor Frank. Red faces life with enthusiasm despite the tough times. When Frank’s advice to Red about bullies has some unfortunate consequences, Frank finds himself taking on caregiving responsibilities for Red. Frank has a lot to learn from Red. Although some may initially find the plot predictable, the last part of the book is anything but predictable with lots of adventure and humor.
Frank is the ultimate grump, and Red is totally lovable. Together they make an interesting pair. The book is replete with crude language, but being British English it somehow doesn’t seem as offensive to the American ear. Short chapters are entitled “Frank” or “Red” with alternating perspectives moving the story along quickly. Red’s interactions with his new classmates are both sad and funny; it’s hard to be a new student. Red’s mother is a hospice nurse, a very caring woman who is devoted to Red and tries to shield him from an indifferent father. A fence separates Frank and Red, but its physical toppling brings about a metaphorical destruction of the barriers between Frank and Red and between Frank and the outside world that he fears.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Humor
Notes: Offensive Language
Publication: February 1, 2024—Wildfire
Memorable Lines:
He had once heard a saying that went something like: “You don’t need a parachute to skydive once.” That’s what he was thinking about: that falling in love with someone, and allowing yourself to do so, was like falling without a parachute. And that’s okay when it’s the love of your life, because you only intend to skydive once.
And Jake, of course, whom he had absolutely no intention of playing with, inside or outside, on account of him being a dangerous cycle-path.
“You’re comfortable being miserable. You wear it like a pair of slippers.”
Home to Harmony–gentle, inspirational humor
Home to Harmony
By Phillip Gulley
Some readers compare the Harmony series to Jan Karon’s Mitford books with their gentle humor, others to Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon with a dry-humored look at a small town, and still others see the folksy Mayberry in this collection. I glimpse some of all of those attitudes in Gulley’s novels along with a lot of emotion from passages that are laugh out loud funny to others that are so touching they will bring tears to your eyes.
Phillip Gulley is a Quaker pastor, thus giving some authenticity to his main character Sam Gardner who is a Quaker pastor in Harmony, the little town he grew up in. The author peoples Home to Harmony with some extreme characters living out their ordinary lives in unspectacular ways. Despite the ordinariness of the events in the book, Gulley manages to pull all the plugs of human emotions. There is Dale Hinshaw, the tight-fisted elder who has a firm opinion about everything. Miriam Hodges is a leader who manages to get church business accomplished despite elders who would rather discuss things than get them done. Topics range from plumbing to spelling bees and lots in between. The characters manage to get into some hilarious situations and certainly are not perfect. But they try, and Sam Gardner works at being his best and guiding his flock with the kindness and gentleness of Jesus while standing up for what is right in day to day decisions. As Jesus taught through stories, Gulley tries to instruct in the same way using characters we can relate to even if they are somewhat exaggerated. We get to know the characters through various anecdotes that compose the chapters and which generally end with an inspirational line or two that sum up the take aways that Gulley is aiming for.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Christian, Fiction, Humor, Inspiration
Notes: 1. #1 in the Harmony Series
2. Audiobook narrated by Norman Dietz. I listened to the book and also read some of it. Dietz is a good narrator for Home to Harmony.
Publication: March 16, 2004—Harper One
Memorable Lines:
There’s danger in thinking joy is a matter of location. If we can’t find joy where we are, we probably won’t find it anywhere.
When love takes you by the hand and leaves you better, that is home. That’s the place to stake your claim and build your life.
In the end, that is what we all must do. Stand where we feel led. Stand straight, stand tall, and try hard to remember that other folks might be led to stand elsewhere.
A Killer Clue–rare book dealers
A Killer Clue
by Victoria Gilbert
Jane Hunter, a librarian forced into an early retirement, works for Cameron Clewe who has hired her to catalog his books and other literary collections. Cameron is wealthy, generous, intelligent and very nice, but he does have quirks. He avoids crowds and becomes anxious in certain situations. Jane is a good, calming influence, gently reminding him of social cues such as saying “thank you.” He is in his thirties and she is sixty-one. Together they have formed an informal sleuthing team. Jane does not want to be involved with murder investigations, but she ends up doing just that. They are helped by various contacts, but one of the most valuable ones in this book is Jane’s landlord Vince, a retired investigative reporter.
The mystery in A Killer Clue begins with a rare book seller, Eloise, approaching the pair to exonerate her mother who recently died in prison. She had been found guilty of killing Eloise’s father. Eloise, unfortunately, discovers a murdered former detective in her bookshop. He was the one who was on the case that sent Eloise’s mother to prison. This is just the start of a novel with multiple threads and lots of twists and turns. It is also very bookish because in addition to Cameron’s library, there are two competing rare book stores featured.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #2 in the Hunter and Clewe Mystery Series. I have not read the first in the series, but I don’t feel like that hindered my reading of this book.
2. Clean
Publication: October 24, 2024—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
I couldn’t change my past, but I could banish negative memories and focus on all the positive aspects of my current life.
I knew my reaction was because I’d felt ambushed. That had been a tactic my ex-husband, Gary, had frequently used on me—publicly forcing me to agree to some action or event because there was no graceful way to say no.
Before We Were Us–romance in New Hampshire
Before We Were Us
by Denise Hunter
From the moment Lauren Wentworth arrived at Pinehaven Resort and met Jonah Landry, they were at odds with each other. Lauren was hired to temporarily manage the small resort of eight cabins to help out the owners for 9 months as they transition into retirement. It is an opportunity to prove her worth to Olivia, the owner of Glitter, a top of the line corporate event planning organization in Boston.
Lauren, a product of the social services foster system, had a hard life growing up and feels she has a lot to prove. She is creative, a hard worker, and talented. Jonah is the son of the resort owner and is finishing a college degree in business with an eye to take over the resort when his parents retire. He has personal baggage also as his former girlfriend broke his heart to move to New York City. He sees Lauren as another “princess,” but is surprised to find her quite capable and unafraid to get her hands dirty.
An accident waylays their growing romance as Lauren loses her memory of four months of her life and their relationship. Jonah has to begin wooing her again.
A strong character-driven romance, Before We Were Us, moves back and forth between current events and what happened in the relationship before the accident. The reader is invited along as Lauren and Jonah struggle to find the compromise that will lead them both to a happy future. Will it be together or will Lauren pursue her dream job in Boston while Jonah manages Pinehaven Resort in New Hampshire preserving his family’s heritage? Does either one of them have sacrificial love for the other?
A nice touch and integral to the story is the renovation of an old barn on the property that Lauren wants to turn into an event center for weddings and other events. Imagine a rustic barn with fresh paint, fairy lights, and tulle. The barn project is just one of many successful ideas Lauren has to bring more money into the resort. Another fun part of the book is Lauren’s adopting of a stray dog, part Jack Russell. She names him Graham (Cracker) and he adores her.
I enjoyed this book and wanted the best for Lauren and Jonah. At times Lauren and Jonah seem “hard” and unfeeling, but there are reasons for their distancing themselves. There are certain plot lines that I would have enjoyed the author exploring more—Lauren’s mother; Carson, an intern at the hospital; and the community opening of the barn event center on New Year’s Eve.
Also, both characters have friends who support them, and it would be interesting to learn more about them.
Jonah proves himself to be a great listener and uses that skill in choosing gifts for Lauren. Have as much patience as Jonah and in the epilogue you will discover the sensitive meaning behind the book’s title.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Notes: standalone; clean
Publication: September 10, 2024—Thomas Nelson
Memorable Lines:
What if she was no good at this job? At life? What if she wasn’t meant for anything more than the trailer park from which she’d come? What if all the people who’d told her she wouldn’t amount to anything had actually been right?
“Sweetheart…we need to talk.” A weight dropped like a cement block in her stomach. Nothing good ever began with those words. She should’ve known better. This thing between them was too good to be true.
The feelings roiling through her were as powerful as a riptide. But undertows were dangerous and so was love. It was seductive and spellbinding. It held the power to drag you away from what mattered most.
The Storyteller’s Tale–making words come to life
The Storyteller’s Tale
by Judith Bouilloc
translated from French by Madeline S. White
You’ve heard the expression “make words come to life”? In The Storyteller’s Tale, the librarian Iliad Livrani can do that. She is so talented that the queen invites her to come to the palace to perform. During this same period, a messenger arrives from the palace with an offer of marriage from Lord Tarlyn. The immediate complication to this generous offer is that there are several gentlemen at court with that name. Which one might he be? Iliad is chaperoned by her fire-breathing Granny Cassandra as they travel to the castle and have many adventures.
Iliad can create visible words that become images and this talent is useful to the king as he tries to transform his kingdom into a parliamentary monarchy. There is the usual infighting in the court and within the royal family. Magical creatures like a flying bird-deer populate this story. Lovers of literature will find pleasure in the various classical choices Iliad makes for her readings. Lord Tarlyn is a mystery man, and there are difficulties because of his character, abilities, and goals. There are reasons for his secrecy, but they are only gradually revealed.
I enjoyed the fantasy world the author created, especially the magic with words. The various creatures and plants were also interesting. There is a romantic hero and a villain, a mystery and a challenge. Iliad and her sisters are strong women with an equally strong sense of right and wrong. Democratic principles are important to them as are reconciliation and feelings. One of the themes is that character is more important than outward appearance.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Middle Grades, Fantasy, Teens and Young Adult
Notes: All of Iliad’s book choices have footnotes to note the author and explain briefly what the work is about.
Publication: August 21, 2024—Rivka Publishing
Memorable Lines:
“The term snatchwords refers to a person who can make sentences detach themselves from paper by reading them aloud. They internalize each word turning them into moving figures and setting by sheer force of imagination.”
The Livrani women were known to express their feelings with great exuberance. Some might say it was their greatest weapon against ill-fortune.
“What I think is that Balthasar is an aristocrat by birth but a democrat by opinion, and as such, he is likely to change things.”
education pathways 