DJ

This is such a touching story. I will be looking for more from this author. I especially loved the ending. The whole thing is well thought out.

Sometimes when you are going through hard times it helps to read about someone else that is going through harder times and still keeping their head up through it. Cornelia lost her mother on her 12th birthday and she hates God for taking her away. She keeps that inside though and doesn´t tell anyone. She just keeps writing in her dairy. When she is older a young man named Henry from the city comes to spend the summer with some family and help on their farm. Henry and Cornelia fall in love and everything seemed perfect until Henry decides to join the military. Cornelia is heart broken when he is killed in an accident before he even makes it to the war. Things get even worse for her but something unexpected happens and changes her perspective and that helped her through the toughest and loneliest times. This story has a ripple effect and Cornelia´s legacy affects many others, including me.

I had a really hard time getting into this book and then about half way it got better. I really had an issue with the beginning because it didn't seem plausible and then captain obvious showed up a few times and I almost stopped reading it. I bet some people did but I hate giving up on a book so will stick it through when others won't.

A defense attorney, Dobbs, was representing a client charged with a gang related shooting that killed a man and his younger sister. He is told there is a witness in lockup that claims he was there and saw the shooting and that his client wasn't the shooter. He interviews the 18 year old who is scared to death and realizes he is lying when he got key facts of the case wrong. He told him he couldn't put him on the witness stand because he'd purger himself. He feels bad for the kid though because he can tell he's being threatened by the gang and he is obviously just desperate to get away from them. Later when he is in court for a bail hearing for another client he sees the same kid sitting next to his client. When he is in chambers with the judge and other lawyer he asks for the judge to let that boy out on his own recognizance to help him out. That didn't go well because the kid had other outstanding warrants so he dropped it. After that he is learns he is being charged with suborning perjury because the kid claims he said he would put him on the stand to lie for his client.

I had a really hard time believing that would really happen. If that was all it took I think there would be no lawyers left to defend anyone. I could see it maybe if the lawyer actually had him listed as a witness for the trial but that didn't happen. It was just the word of a kid who was obviously scared to death.

A young lawyer, daughter of a retired judge, agrees to represent him and he drives over to meet her at her father's Christmas tree farm. While he's there an old army buddy of her fathers is arrested for attacking a young boy. He agrees to defend him against a dirty cop that planted evidence and he knows has done so before. Things get pretty intense as he tries to learn more about what happened and it seems like the evidence is pointing to the judge instead.

I enjoyed all of these tales of witches and other magical things, some more than others. I actually got this book specifically to read the story by Jim Butcher but books like these are great for finding other authors you might like to read. I think my favorite was The Witch in the Wood by Delia Sherman. I wish that was a whole book.

A young heiress who's family died in an accident when she was young is being raised at a school to develop into a proper lady until she is of age to be married. She knows no one outside of school except an aunt that doesn't seem to care for her and the lawyer handing her funds. She knew there was enough money for things but she didn't know she was exactly wealthy because no one informed of anything. Women had no control over their property and the lawyer handled her funds until it could be transferred to her husband. After her schooling was complete her aunt came to pick her up to get her prepared for meeting suitors. She soon found her aunt was a hateful woman who did not care about her at all. She also found the Lawyer, who always seemed nice, really didn't care either. Her aunt was setting her up to marry a man she'd been warned about by a old school friend. She was told about about a family curse where all the wives died in childbirth, including his own mother. She was afraid of him but she had no choice but to go and soon found herself in a creepy mansion called Greygallows with no one to talk to but the servants and a few other people. There she was told of dark legends and the White Lady, a ghost which is only seen by the women who soon die. Her husband becomes violent at times and she has no way out, no one or no where to run to.

I am 46 years old and love these books. Lauren St. John writes in magic ink. I want to read every book she has ever written, minus the golf books. I just can´t get excited about those little balls. White giraffes, dolphins, leopards etc are a different story. I think everyone should read these books. Her stories are pure magic.

I found this book a bit cheesy but I did enjoy reading about Alaska. This wasn't just a book that said it was set in Alaska and then used a bunch of made-up places. This book mentioned real places, buildings, and roads; places that I've been to. It really bugged me when it mentioned the bear researcher that was mauled by a bear, especially when I read that this guy never carried a gun. People just don't do that in Alaska but something niggled in the back of my mind and reminded me of one particular guy who did just that. I did some googling and remembering. The book seems to be referencing the late Timothy Treadwell who loved bears so much he couldn't bear to even use pepper spray on them so he wouldn't carry it or a gun. In the end, he and his girlfriend were killed by a hungry bear in 2003. The spooky part is this book is copyrighted 1993. I read that Timothy spent 13 summers in Katmai National Park schmoozing with the bears and other wildlife. This means that this author could have known of him and predicted the ending. It's sad but... it seems to have come true. Sometimes you can see the end coming for someone and you can't do anything about it.

Jack and the Lean Stalk is a fairy tale story with a twist. I enjoyed the new spin on the old story with a fresh new addition to the story that reminds kids that bullying is not cool. When a young giant comes around the townsfolk and children are very unkind. They say he is “ugly” and that he “stinks”. Jack was trying to help his parents with the bean crop, which was failing, and they were worried about the future of their farm if they lost the crop. Jack decide to use his own unique talents to help them and set out one evening to see what he could do. He found a very sad Giant and drowned crops caused by the giants tears. Everyone can do something though and Jack helped to make the situation better by being a friend and using his own two hands to help the giant.

This is a wonderful story that a lot of kids need to hear right now when so many kids are being bullied. Some kids don't understand just how painful those mean words can be. Maybe this book will open the eyes of young kids and prevent them from becoming a bully in the future.

I am so happy to be able to share this book with the kids in my neighborhood through my Free Little Library! Thank you Raven Howell for sharing your book with Box of Books Free Little Library!

#Giveawaywinner

This book is exactly what I needed right now. I was looking for information about perimenopause and menopause and how to deal with the side-effects. She gives a lot of information with a little wit to keep it interesting. She explains what is happening in your body, what you can expect and what you can do to feel better. She explains pharmaceutical, natural and surgical options with the pros and cons so you can make the best decision for you. I'll be keeping this book for reference.

I really enjoyed the pictures in this book and the details of their trek through Africa. The photographs were amazing and the details about the subjects were fantastic. I loved the pictures of the African people and their amazing clothing and costumes. The waterfalls were majestic and wish I could see them in person. Thanks so much for this wonderful book. I plan to share it in my Little Free Library.

I read this “Vook” about 9 years ago and was disappointed. A “vook” was supposed to be an ebook enhanced with text, pictures or video etc but none of the “vooks” I read had anything but text. The cover is the only image you will see. They are strangely, just like regular books that only have text. I thought I would check one last time, hoping they had been updated and made better aka “enhanced”. No such luck. This “vook” is exactly the same as it was in 2011. I did enjoy the information and maybe got a little bit more out of it than I did the first time. It just takes a lot of visualizing of the information and some images would have been very useful. I do understand the information better this time around because of other print books I have (with illustrations and photographs) and from classes I have taken. Now I get it. I'll be deleting this one off of my kindle now to make room for more valuable texts.

This ebook has been on my kindle for 10 years. I had started reading it and obviously got sidetracked and forgot about it. I finally sat down and read it.

I'd say this book would be a good place to start if you are an absolute beginner. It is a general overview of Genealogy and will give the beginner an idea of the process and how to get started. It talks about the kinds of records that can be helpful in the search but doesn't really tell about specific programs or websites available. If it did provide those details in 2010 it would have been out of day now anyway. If you have already started using an online source like Ancestry.com and Familysearch.com you probably already know everything mentioned in this book.

This is a beautiful book full of lovely artwork and snips of poetry. It explains the origins of the flowers meanings whether from history, mythology or religion. I mainly love it for the artwork which I could look at for hours. With each page I turned I was more and more impressed by the artist. This book was originally published in France under the title Le langage des fleurs by Editions du Chene–Hachette Livre. I will certainly be keeping this book in my permanent library.

Arden was an FBI profiler before everything went wrong; before her parents were murdered by the killer she was trying to stop. She complately closed herself off and ran. She went to a small town where no one knew anything and she could be someone else for a while. Dr Harris had tried to help her forget those horrible memories by a process called Bleaching but it didn't work. Arden forgot some of the good stuff along with the bad.
Now she wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't. Then the man responsible for the murders was executed and she thought it was over until Agent Fury showed up. He said he got a letter from the killer saying he didn't kill her parents. The killer is still out there and copycatting the original murderer's MO. Agent Fury wanted her to come back to the program, project TAKE (Through a Killer's eyes), designed to help the agents get into the mind of the killer using solitary confinement and sensory deprivation. She had to go even though she hated the place. She had to find the murderer and stop him.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is beautiful and poetic and the pictures are stunning. I love the idea of a gratitude journal and writing down the things you are thankful for. It is too easy to only focus on the negative and in these days when everyone is always rushing through their days it is easy to forget to slow down to even see these gifts.

I feel like I just got back from a trip to Africa and I had such a good time. This may be a children's Chapter book but I really enjoyed it. What a fantastic way to learn about such a far away place that never seems so beautiful in the news. I didn't just fly through this book even though I could have. I stopped to look up every new term, plant or animal. I look up African words and places and gazed at pictures of Tabletop mountain. I loved every bit of the story.

This is the first book by Martina McAtee that I've read and it is totally outside of my usual genres. I was just so drawn in by the unusual covers of her books. She won the 2016 Reader's Favorite Gold Medal for her first book, Children Shouldn't play with Dead Things. This book, Loving You with Teeth and Claws, is a prequel to the series. Martina McAttee's books are Young Adult and Paranormal with a bit of Romance to keep things simmering. I loved this book and can't wait to read Book 1, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

This story starts with Neoma, a young girl who is being chased by Dylan (a wolf shifter). She hides from him but he can smell her. She is so scared of him but she can't remember why exactly. She just knows that if he finds her, he will take her to the woman again and they will hurt her. She finds a place and tries to make herself very small. He finds her though, he always does, and in her frightened state she feels power coming up to her from the ground and then Dylan is dead. At least she thinks he is. She runs to the woods and runs into Wren. She was so relieved because Dylan had told her that Wren was dead and couldn't save her.

Wren doesn't know what has been going on but he knows something isn't right. He left Neoma with his family to look out for her but they let someone hurt her. He took Neoma and ran. They had to get as far away from there as they could before his dad found out they were gone. They go to an old witch who tells him that someone has been hurting Neoma but he can't see the scars because she has been glamoured. There were also many other spells on her, some blocking her memory. The witch showed Wren a glimpse of what Neoma really looked like and it was awful. He couldn't believe someone would do such a think to such a sweet little girl. Then the witch suddenly told him the little girl has a passenger and is attacked by someone Wren can't see. The witch told him to get out of there and go to a town that is hidden by magic to see his betrothed. He grabs Neoma and runs thinking maybe this person and her pack can help protect them from his father who desperately wants Neoma back. Wren doesn't understand why his father wants Neoma so badly but he plans to do whatever it takes to protect her. Meanwhile, Alpha wolf, Isa McGowan, is trying to get four pre-teens out the door for school so she can get to work on time. She is only 22 but can't live her life like she would like to. She has to care for these kids and run a restaurant to stay afloat. Her pack isn't what it used to be but she is doing all she can. She also has no idea of the mess that is heading her way.

Wow, this story was amazing. I have spent a lot more money on books that were no where near as good. I´m so impressed! I will definitely be reading any future books by Linda Hilton. The story was so well thought out and every part was carefully crafted right down to the perfect ending. It had many different facets to keep things interesting. There were the ghosts, the physical repeat intruder and saboteur who could some how get in when the house was locked up tight, the forbidden love story small town drama and family secrets. Combine those elements with the detective work that went into figuring out the details and I was hooked. This book also got me wanting to get back to my own family research although it can´t be nearly as exciting. I´d love to find a few ghostly ancestors.