Review: When Life Throws You Lemons, Make Cranberry Juice, by Shari Bookstaff

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When Life Throws You Lemons...
When Life Throws You Lemons…Make Cranberry Juice
Shari Bookstaff
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Product Description (from Amazon.com):
When my kids were learning to walk, I remember walking behind them, ready to catch them if they stumbled backward. I never dreamed that thirteen years later my kids would be walking behind me, ready to catch me if I stumble backward. I was 42 years old when I was diagnosed with a benign, operable brain tumor in July 2006. Doctors predicted a short hospital stay followed by a speedy recovery. Complications arose, giving me lifelong obstacles that I never could have prepared for. A divorced mother of two beautiful, talented, wonderful children, I had high hopes for a bright and happy future. I tried online dating, which got me a few cups of coffee, but no real dates. A couple of dating disasters later, my dating karma was beginning to change when my brain tumor was diagnosed. My life since that fateful day has been focused on regaining basic human functions: breathing, swallowing, walking, etc. I am working again, and trying to be a good mother to my two beautiful, talented, wonderful children. Putting a positive spin on life’s disasters doesn’t always work, but looking for, and accepting, positive things in spite of life’s disasters works. Instead of making lemonade out of lemons, I add life’s sweet sugar and cranberries to my lemons. This makes life much more palatable.

First I have to say that the title When Life Throws Lemons…Make Cranberry Juice, is perfect. It completely conveys author Bookstaff’s feisty attitude. She’s been through a hellish experience and is still dealing with it, but she’s retained her sense of humor, and that’s admirable.

What I really loved about Bookstaff’s book was that she’s really candid. She talks about how her brain tumor affected her life, her work, her family and while she isn’t bringing us into the bathroom with her, we still get a really good picture of her life, with situations that probably everyone with any kind of disability foes through – friends not knowing how to act, or merely drifting away, having to re-learn to do some of the things most of us don’t even think about, and having to be a support system for her children while needing support herself.

While I enjoyed Bookstaff’s voice in this book, however, there were times when the structure felt a little uneven, as if she’d taken us from point A to point R and then we were backtracking to point C and heading for point W, before getting to the end.

That aside, however, I found this book to be entertaining, educational, and enlightening.

Also, it made me want cranberry juice, with lime.

Goes well with a tall glass of cranberry juice and a slice of lemon pound cake.

Review: Once Wicked Always Dead, by T. Marie Benchley

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Once Wicked Always Dead
Once Wicked Always Dead
T. Marie Benchley
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Summary (from Amazon.com);
Molly Madison is unaware of the Sociopath who is on the loose, creating havoc with a sense of their own justice. Her life is shattered by the sudden death of her beloved parents and the revelation of her husband Phillip’s affair – with another man – Molly leaves the life of Country Clubs and the luxury of city life in Florida and heads west to Montana, resolved to run the family ranch, and to move on with her life. Her attraction to Clayton Leatherbe, the ranch foreman, is instant, but before a romance can blossom, the ranch falls prey to sabotage by wealthy land developers determined to drive Molly out, and Clayton learns of a family secret and collides with the Sociopath that could put the ranch – and Molly’s life – in jeopardy.

A sharp mystery that swirls with family secrets, betrayal, love and loss, Once Wicked Always Dead is a strong debut from an author with literary blood in her veins.

I love a mystery, and have been devouring them lately, so when I was offered a copy of T. Marie Benchley’s debut novel, Once Wicked Always Dead, I jumped at the chance.

Let me just say, if there’s anyone who needs to consider buying affordable health insurance, it’s Molly Madison: first her parents die tragically, then her husband’s lover/assistant outs him, and then she has to deal with the pressure of going back to Montana after a less-than-happy life in Florida. Oh, and then there’s that pesky sociopath who spends most of the book murdering men before we actually meet her. It’s enough to make anyone sick.

From any other author, this collection of events would be preposterous, but Benchley manages to weave it all together into a mystery/thriller that also does equal time as a romance novel. While Molly frustrated me at times, I know that there are women like her in the world, who let their husband’s dreams obscure their own. I alternately disliked and pitied Molly’s husband Phillip – hiding your sexuality for so long would twist a person – and loved Clayton Leatherbe, the ranch foreman/manager.

Benchley’s book could easily have been dumbed down and labeled with a Harlequin symbol, but instead, she made the romantic elements take a backseat to the mystery/thriller part of the story, which results in a gripping story, and a fast, entertaining read.

If you love a mystery, you’ll love Once Wicked Always Dead.

Goes well with a perfectly grilled steak and a bottle of wine (I like syrah, but your mileage may vary).

Review: According to Jane, by Marilyn Brant

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According to Jane
According to Jane
Marilyn Brant
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Summary (From Amazon.com):
It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett’s teacher is assigning Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. From nowhere comes a quiet ‘tsk’ of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who’s teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author’s ghost has taken up residence in Ellie’s mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane’s wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go – sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane’s counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love – perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie’s head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending.

I have to confess: one of the reasons I chose to read According to Jane was that I got it free for my Kindle, and I like free. I’m really glad I downloaded it though, because this was a delightful novel, and totally worth its real cover price.

As someone who dabbles in fan-fic from time to time, I really liked the concept of an author or character taking up residence in someone’s brain and spouting off advice, and Brant managed to take that concept and spin a delightful story. Imagine having Jane Austen herself whispering in your ear when you most need it, or just making curt observations about the people in your life. Lead character Ellie doesn’t have to imagine, it happens to her, and while the version of Jane who has moved into her brain restricts her advice to love and personal relationships, and not general info (like acne rosacea treatment, for example) they end up in a very special kind of long-term relationship.

Of course this is a contemporary piece of fiction that skirts the lines between women’s fiction, chick-lit and true romance, so it has to have humor and it has to have sex, and Brant delivers just enough of each to keep the reader satisfied. There’s also nice character growth, particularly from Sam (the main male lead in the novel, and Ellie’s love interest) and Ellie’s older sister, who starts out as a bully and ends up as a friend.

This isn’t the type of novel people are going to write long treatises about, or debate in classrooms, but if you’re looking for an entertaining read that can be devoured in a single rainy afternoon, this book is for you.

Goes well with: hot chocolate and Milano cookies.

Booking Through Thursday: Travel

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btt2

On Thursday, October 7th, Booking through Thursday asked:

When you travel, how many books do you bring with you?
Has this changed since the arrival of ebooks?

There are three things that determine how many books I bring with me on a trip: why am I going, where I am going, and how long I will be gone. If I know I’m going to be spending ten days on one of those Royal Caribbean cruises, for example, I know that having books to read is essential so I’ll bring as many as I can. On the other hand, when I was in San Francisco for a novel-writing workshop I only brought a couple of books, because I knew I’d need to be either writing or sleeping in my down time. When I visit my mother in Mexico, I bring a mix of books I haven’t read, which I’ll read in the evenings or while sunning on the deck, and then leave, and books I’ve already read, because she lives in a town where finding English-language books is difficult and Amazon deliveries aren’t possible.

I’ve only had my Kindle for a month, but I’m already in love with it, so chances are I’ll choose it over real books in the future, unless there’s something that a) I want to bring to my mother or b) isn’t available. I will say that it’s the lighted leather cover that really MAKES the kindle for me. Without the cover, it’s nice; with the cover, it’s phenomenal.

Review: The Wedding Gift, by Kathleen McKenna

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The Wedding Gift
The Wedding Gift
Kathleen McKenna
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Summary (from Amazon.com):
17 year old Leeann Worthier is the perfect girl in town – or so she says. George Willets is the heir to a booming petroleum business. When they announce their engagement, George’s controlling mother is unimpressed, and Leeann absolutely refuses to live with her mother-in-law. So George gives his new wife a house as a wedding gift. Thirty years before, the same house hosted a grisly scene: George’s uncle and cousins were all slaughtered and his aunt Robina accused of both murder and suicide. The house is a gorgeous, well-maintained mansion, but has stood empty since the tragedy. It’s intimidating, but who is Leeann to turn down a free house? When the ghost of Robina begins to haunt Leeann, she realizes she’s made a huge mistake.

When people ask me to try their product, whether it’s a book or something else, I always have a moment of pause. After all my first instinct when someone says, “You should try out wholesaleinsurance.net… you will like them :),” is to run in the other direction. It’s the same with books – I love to read, and I review a lot of books because publicists ask me, but when authors contact me directly I always worry that I won’t like the book, and then their feelings will be hurt.

Fortunately, I did NOT have this problem with The Wedding Gift, when the author asked me if I’d review it. In this novel Kathleen spins a story that is equal parts silly, sappy, and spooky, and she does it well. From observations about what really goes on behind the Piggly Wiggly (it’s a southern grocery store chain, I swear!) to when Leeann snubs a rude waitress in the funniest, most horrible way, to the interactions between Leeann and George, and Leeann and her parents, this book is wonderful. I read it in the bathtub (as I often do) and at one point I had to get up and confirm that the window behind me was secure, while at another I realized the water had gone cold and my feet were completely pruney.

The Amazon.com page for The Wedding Gift mentions that this novel is the first in a trilogy. I look forward to parts two and three, and many more of Ms. McKenna’s books.

Goes well with chicken fried steak and sweet tea.

Review: The Naked Gardener, by L B Gschwandtner

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The Naked Gardener
The Naked Gardener
L B Gschwandtner
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Summary (from Amazon.com):
In a remote forest of northern Vermont, Katelyn Cross takes five women on a wilderness canoe trip where they hope to come up with ideas for saving their dying town. Although the river is not always what it seems and the women have not left their problems behind, a painting ritual creates a new way to look at the world – and themselves. Artist Katelyn Cross loves Greg Mazur and he loves her. He wants to be married but a previous relationship that went sour has made Katelyn overly cautious about any permanent commitment. And what about Greg’s first wife? He lost her to cancer and Katelyn worries that he’s only looking for a replacement. What’s a girl to do? Canoe down a river with five gal pals, camp out, catch fish, talk about life and men. The problem is, a river can be as unpredictable as any relationship and just as hard to manage. On their last day, when the river turns wild, the women face the challenge of a lifetime and find that staying alive means saving themselves first while being open to help from a most unlikely source. As Katelyn navigates the raging water, she learns how to overcome her fear of change in a world where nothing stays the same. When Katelyn returns to her garden, she’ll face one more obstacle and the naked gardener will meet the real Greg Mazur. What readers are saying about The Naked Gardener: Lyrical … Scandalous … Empowering … Exhilarating … Honest … Sensual … Fun … Gentle … Pleasurable … Transporting … Timeless In her first novel, award winning writer L B Gschwandtner explores the push and pull of love, a woman’s need to maintain her individuality within marriage, and the bonds that can make women stronger even when the world feels as if it’s breaking apart.

I’ve known L B Gschwandtner through her wonderful website The Novelette for several years now, but only in the very cursory way that people who occupy overlapping circles do. I’ve participated in her contests, she’s visited my blog, etc. Even so, when she announced the publication of her first novel, I had to read it. Lucky for me, it’s available for the kindle for less than a dollar, though it’s totally worth the print-edition price of $10.99.

I actually started reading The Naked Gardener the day I downloaded it, a couple of weeks ago, but I had a stack of review books with deadlines that had to come first. I revisited it over the weekend, and ended up staying up to the wee hours because the story caught me, and held me so tightly that I had to finish it immediately. I really loved the idea of Katelyn naked in her garden – it struck me as something my mother would do, and I liked the women Katelyn befriends. I think Maze could be interesting but we heard about him more than we heard from him, and while that’s fairly normal in a story that focuses on women, I hope he’s a bit more present in the next novel.

If you’ve ever wanted to run away to a rural farm, have a canoe adventure, or just share stories with a bunch of new friends, or even if you’ve already done all those things, this novel is one you’ll enjoy, both for the obvious story, and the deeper one, about finding yourself, facing your fears, and learning to accept and love yourself as you are, not as you wish you were. I can’t begin to speculate about the best diet pill for women, but I am fairly certain that Katelyn, Erica, and the rest of the women in this novel would never touch them, but would instead take off down the river, or start a project, or have another candid conversation, and never care that dieting might be in order.

I don’t think you have to garden naked to appreciate The Naked Gardener, but I’m certain that it will inspire many of us to try it at least once. I don’t have a garden, but I do have a very private back yard with just the right amount of sun (at least at this time of year)…this book reminded me of why I love that privacy so much.

Goes well with freshly-baked artisan bread and local honey.

Review: Body Work, by Sara Paretsky

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Body Work
Body Work
Sara Paretsky
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Summary (from Publishers Weekly):
Paretsky’s superb 14th novel featuring PI V.I. Warshawski (after Hardball) delves into Chicago’s avant-garde art scene. At the trendy Club Gouge, where Warshawski is keeping an eye on Petra, a young cousin who caused trouble in the previous book, performance artist Karen Buckley (aka the Body Artist) invites members of the audience to step on stage to paint her nude body. The intricate design that one woman paints on Karen’s back provokes a violent outburst from Chad Vishneski, a troubled Iraqi war veteran. When two nights later, someone shoots the woman who upset Chad outside the club, Chad is the logical murder suspect. Hired by Chad’s estranged parents to clear his name, Warshawski straddles a minefield that reaches from the Windy City’s neighborhoods to the Gulf War battlefields. Scenes with her aging neighbor and a new love interest give a much needed balance to the serious plot. This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive.

I’ve been a fan of private investigator V. I. “Vic” Warshawski ever since my mother and I discovered her at the San Jose Public Library on one of the ritual Saturday trips we used to make. Books, coffee, a “little something” in honor of my grandmother, and then back home. Perfect mother-daughter weekends. In any case, I’ve now read more of Vic’s adventures than my mother has, simply because she lives in a place where English-language fiction is difficult to obtain.

Body Work, the most recent of author Sara Paretsky’s novels about the fictional female detectiv,e is one of the most satisfying novels I’ve read in a long while. It had everything from Vic using her picklocks to enter a crime scene (evidently they weren’t Kwikset locks) to Vic babysitting her pesty younger cousin Petra, to Vic sharing meals with her downstairs neighbor/adopted family member Mr. Contreras, to Vic getting brutally beaten while on the job.

Even better, Body Work also has an interesting plot that involves edgy performance art, the blogosphere, the Gulf war, corporate politics, unrequited love, illegal drug running, and international money laundering, and it shows that Ms. Warshawski is comfortable working with 21st century technology even though she has a special affection for old-world pleasures like a proper cappuccino, a soaring Italian aria, and a steaming hot bubble bath at the end of a hard day’s detecting.

And yet, Paretsky gave us even more: she gave us Jake, the classical bass player who is not only Vic’s neighbor, but also her current lover, and one who – we hope – will stick around for another book, even if he is squeamish about the sight of blood – something to be concerned about when you’re close to Victoria Warshawski.

Review: Driftwood Lane, by Denise Hunter

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Driftwood Lane
Driftwood Lane
Denise Hunter
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Summary (from Amazon):
Meridith can handle anything: guardianship of three distant siblings, a dilapidated Bed-and-Breakfast, even an ever-present handyman who’s dismantling more than her fireplace–or can she?

When the death of Meridith’s estranged father leaves her with custody of three siblings she’s never met, she reluctantly goes to Nantucket to care for them–but only until their uncle returns from his trip. Little does she know, the uncle is already there under the guise of her friendly handyman, with plans of his own.

Will the love that grows between them be strong enough to overcome the secrets that brought them both to Driftwood Lane?

After a summer spent devouring everything Elin Hilderbrand had ever written, you might think I’d had enough of novels set on Nantucket Island, but as a 3rd generation beach baby, I can never get enough of seaside settings. For me, reading about the beach is like a wannabe modern nomad comparing rates on rv loans: I can never get enough of them.

Denise Hunter’s Driftwood Lane is, in many ways, the perfect seaside romance. 25-year-old Meridith shows great strength and great love in giving up her life in St. Louis to act as caretaker for the three half-siblings she’s never met – or even heard of – until the day she’s informed that her father and his second wife have died in a tragic accident. The bed-and-breakfast where the kids live, Summer Place, while desperate for some TLC, is on the beach, and perfectly represents those too-cute beachfront homes I’ve always wanted to rent, and never have.

Then there’s Jake, the dashing handyman/love interest. He’s fiery and passionate, a bit mysterious (at least to Meridith), and kind of a rogue, but also tender, and his scenes with Meridith are full of hilarious bickering, misunderstandings, and a requisite number of warm, friendly, almost tingly moments.

The children, Noelle, Max and Ben, are well-written, also, with the right blend of brattiness covering their fear, but a sweetness to them as well.

I enjoyed the quick pace of Driftwood Lane. I’m generally a fast reader, anyway, but this book moved along at a really nice clip, and though I had moments where I found certain plot points a bit implausible, I merely reminded myself that this is a romance novel, and some level of willful suspension of disbelief was therefore required.

It should be noted that though this book is categorized as Christian fiction, and references God in the back-cover blurb, there was nothing in it that felt overwhelmingly religious, and nothing at ALL preachy. A few characters mentioned church, or leaving things up to God, but, speaking as someone who isn’t particularly Christian, I didn’t find any of it off-putting, though non-religious readers will want to avoid the Reading Group Guide at the end.

All in all, I thought Driftwood Lane was an entertaining, escapist read, and while I have not read any of Denise Hunter’s previous three Nantucket novels, I wouldn’t object to doing so in the future.

Goes well with strong tea and oatmeal-raisin cookies

Review: Divorced, Desperate and Dating, by Christie Craig

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Divorced, Desperate, and Dating
Divorced, Desperate, and Dating
Christie Craig
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Just as people with healthcare jobs probably like to read about characters who work in their profession, I like to read novels and watch movies with writers as main characters. It makes sense then, that when I read about Christie Craig’s fun, flirty novel Divorced, Desperate and Dating over on KindleIQ.com, where it was being offered for FREE, I had to have it. After all the protagonist of this novel, Sue Finley, is a mystery writer.

Despite the fact that I don’t read traditional romance novels all that often, I found myself completely engaged by this book. Maybe it was the element of mystery, or maybe it was the fact that the author made a point of having her characters bring up birth control, or maybe it’s just that Ms. Craig is that talented, but I found the story – Sue is being stalked by someone using incidents from her as-yet-unpublished book, and developing feelings for a cop who happens to also be a friend of a friend, as well.

While I haven’t read any of Craig’s other work, this one feels like a sequel, and, once I have a slightly smaller to-be-read stack, I’ll most likely snag the others.

Until then? If you want fun, escapist reading that is still smart and sexy, I recommend this book.

Goes well with strawberries dipped in chocolate.

Second Attempt: Touchstone, by Laurie R. King

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Touchstone
Touchstone
Laurie R. King
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I’m struggling with the reading of Touchstone, by Laurie R. King, and I’m not certain why, because I love her writing. I mean, the woman can make asset based lenders seem like interesting fodders for novels, and her contemporary detective series set in San Francisco is as much a favorite of mine as her wonderful Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series.

But this is my second attempt at reading Touchstone and while the premise is right up my alley, I just can’t get into the book. If this were an author whose work was unfamiliar to me, I’d discard the novel, but since it’s someone whose writing I always enjoy, I feel like the fault is mine, like I’m missing something important that is preventing me from getting lost in the story.

In any case, here’s the Publishers Weekly description of the novel (via Amazon.com):

Set shortly before Britain’s disastrous General Strike of 1926, this stand-alone thriller from bestseller King (Keeping Watch) offers impeccable scholarship and the author’s usual intelligent prose, but a surfeit of period detail and some weighty themes—the gulf between rich and poor, the insidious nature of both terrorism and the efforts to curb it—overpower the thin plot and stock characters. When Harris Stuyvesant, an investigator for the U.S. Justice Department, arrives in London to look for the mastermind behind a series of terrorist bombings on American soil, he tells Aldous Carstairs, a sinister government official, that his prime suspect is Labour Party leader Richard Bunsen. Carstairs suggests Stuyvesant should talk to Bennett Grey, whose brush with death during WWI has heightened his sense of perception to the point that he’s a kind of human lie detector (he’s the touchstone of the title), and to Lady Laura Hurleigh, Bunsen’s lover and a passionate advocate of his brand of socialism. The threat of violence at a secret summit meeting held at the Hurleigh family’s country house about preventing the strike provides some mild suspense.