DJ

This wasn't what I expected. I was hoping for more detail. A lot of what was in this book was obvious like how you can grow your own food in a garden to save money and cook your own meals rather than buying prepared foods. The information that actually pertained to couponing was vague. I'm going to delete this one from my kindle library.

I really am surprised at myself that I finished reading this book. This is not the type of book I would normally read at all. I mostly started reading it because it was labeled “Classic” so I decided to check it out. It says it was first published in 2004 on goodreads and amazon doesn't say anything at all but it is obviously much, much older. I finally found out it was published in 1919. This book reads like a TV soap opera/drama and deals with the subject of divorce which was still considered taboo by many at the time. There is some womanizing talk by some and a touch of racism but not too much. It also hits on some other controversial topics but I don't want to spoil the book. I actually think the first part of the book was very dull. I think the only reason I made it through that was because of the beautiful descriptions of the area which made me wish to be there. If you like historical romance and drama tv you would probably like this a lot more than I did.

This is such a great book. I had read this book several years ago and it had been long enough that I couldn't remember how the story went. I did remember that this was one of my favorites in the series. I love the characters in the story which are Lydia, the owner of the knitting shop called “A Good Yarn” and Brad her man in brown who delivers UPS packages to the area. It took a lot to get Lydia to relax and accept Brad's request to take her out for a drink because she was afraid the cancer would come back. She had survived cancer twice, the first time when she was only 16, and she wasn't sure she would be able to go through that again. They are dating now but there are some rocky waters ahead for them. Lydia's sister, Margret, who recently warmed up to her sister since her last cancer scare is having some financial trouble and is in danger of losing her house. She keeps all her troubles buried inside and doesn't confide in her sister but the news finally comes out and Lydia is hurt that she didn't confide in her but also wishes there was a way she could help.

Lydia offers another class, this time on knitting socks, and the three people who sign up are all different ages and dealing with their own problems. It didn't seem possible that this class could work. Courtney is a teen that recently lost her mother in a car accident. She has to move in with her grandmother in Seattle and attend a new school for her senior year while her dad works overseas to try to make ends meet. Then there is Bethany, who is about the age Courtney's mom was and is recently going through a divorce which completely turned her world upside down. She also has two teen-aged kids who are having a hard time dealing with their father leaving them, especially her daughter Annie who is full of anger towards the other woman. Elise is the third student and about the age of Courtney's grandmother. She put her retirement money into having a house built and the company went under. She isn't sure she will ever get her money back and currently has to live with her daughter. She is upset when she learns that her ex-husband, who is a professional gambler, comes back to Seattle and moves in temporarily with his daughter so he can be closer to her and his grandchildren. Elise still has feelings for him but she is still hurt and doesn't want to have anything to do with him. She knows he is a charmer and that it will be hard to resist him. There is something she doesn't know though... about why he has come back.

These people are all very different, much like Lydia's first class but a lot happens in this story and their friendship grows.

This story is great for anyone who has experienced divorce, either as the other spouse or as a child involved. It is also about love and about random acts of kindness.

This didn't have anything I actually want to make. This is the 2nd time I've looked through it so I'm going to delete it. This is a free ebook that is still available on amazon for free. It looks like the projects are pretty simple and good for beginners. There are a few afghans, several pillows, and a few wreaths. I wish the pictures were better. They are very small so you have to enlarge them but the resolution is bad so you still can't see very clearly.

This book has a lot of good information about different types of intermittent fasting, although some of it is redundant. Just in case you need to refresh your memory they do provide links to information in previous chapters when only brief information is given in chapters about each type of IF. I like that the book has links to helpful information and youtube videos but some of the videos I skipped because of excessive cursing and F bombs before anything useful was even said. I still plan to keep this book on my kindle for reference.

This author definitely seems to have a formula and uses the same one every single time. It's a little irritating that you can predict what will happen. The handywoman will always find the dead body, always. Then, the police will come and not think it's strange at all that she found another body. Next the police will drag an innocent person to jail and say they have evidence. As that person is being hauled off to jail they look at this handywoman and ask her to help them. “You've got to help me handywoman! I didn't kill them!” So then she is honor bound. She goes around asking questions and basically asking the killer to come after her (going alone when no one knows where) and then her cop boyfriend comes in at the last minute and saves her.

I will say though, that once I got past the irritating predictable part the story started to get more interesting and it didn't seem as short as the other books. I got sucked into the story and all of a sudden I realized I was enjoying it. This one was a bit better than the previous books even though the author doesn't seem to understand what a “smirk” is. Definition of smirk: smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way. “a weary smirk” just doesn't sound right.

This is a very sentimental story and I'm glad I finally read it. I'm not a mushy book kind of reader so that's why I only gave it 3 stars. I had a hard time getting through the middle of the book but I had to know how it ended. I had a great time talking to my son about how it would end if he or I were writing it. We are a little off keel.

This book was very short but interesting. I guess I'll keep reading more of the 15 books I have bundled together on my kindle. I wonder if the books will get longer or if they are all this short.

I kind of like the idea of the main character being a handy-(wo)man in a small town, but wish she didn't pull the “dumb girl” thing with her walking into dark alleys/places or other dangerous situations. She says this person could have a good motive for the killing but she's known them all her life and they can't possibly be a killer. So, I'll go ask them about it... alone. The main character knows one of the people in the small town is probably a murderer but her quest for information is more important than using her head. Of course, she had to be “saved” by one of the few handsome men around her that she may, or may not, be interested in.

I wonder how old this author is. I feel like these stories could be good if she just had a bit more life experience and writing experience. There are just too many things that are just not accurate but that a person would learn in the process of living. I don't know anyone that can replace kitchen cabinets in 20 minutes (considering that one of the two couldn't help because of a risky pregnancy) or that would leave all the windows in their house open in the winter when it's freezing outside. The pipes would freeze. It was also interesting reading about how Mrs. Fix it applied plastic film insulation and used a blow dryer to “melt the tape into the plastic.” Most people that have used this know that the tape doesn't melt. All of these small errors are things that could have been quickly googled. Anyway, my point is that while these books have a lot of these errors I think they also have potential and with a little more life experience she could write stories that people will love.

Ugh, there are not screws on door knobs on the outside. Anyone can go look at their own doors to see that. The screws are on the inside for a reason - to keep Mrs. Fix it or thieves out. It's also crazy that she broke into someone's house with her baby in a carrier on her back. Come back to planet earth.

“Should she have at least told someone where she was going?” Nah lol

I really am tired of “pump and dump”.

So this lady goes into people's homes and steals hats, hair from combs and toothbrushes and takes them to the forensics lab at the police department so they can run DNA tests on them. She asks them not to tell her husband who is the police chief. They are okay with that as long as she pays for it. So the DNA in the hat she stole doesn't match the hair on the toothbrush she stole from the same apartment so that somehow clears the lady they have in jail and they let her go. Later the husband gives her a lecture about not doing things “legally”. Dude, you have to follow proper police procedure or it will get thrown out in court.

This was a really interesting story that I got really hooked into. I just had a bit of a problem with the character of Jennifer. It just seemed that she was really dumb or childlike at times. It wasn't consistent. Also, at the end when they were on the boat (I'm not spelling it all out to avoid spoilers) but I wondered what they could possibly do to protect themselves in that situation. It was like they didn't think that out very well.

I got this book because I wanted to read Debbie Macomber's story called “What Amanda Wants” which connected with her Blossom Street series. It is a story about a teen-aged girl who finds out the cancer she had when she was 7 has come back in her senior year. This story takes a look at the different challenges teens dealing with cancer face. Hospitals are set up for children, where clowns visit the kids, or for adults where it is really quiet. Teens are different and need an area where they can be themselves.

This story and all the others are based on real women who started real charities who have made a difference to the people who need them in their community. The other stories were all romance stories but weren't horrible. Some of the stories were good and some were okay. The last one actually made me cry and that doesn't happen very often. Each story is a quick read and worth the time. Run a bath, grab a drink and read a short story.

Jonah Dereham is a bloodstock agent. He helps find good horses for people that suit their needs and for an honest price within their means. He is hired to find a horse for a woman to give to the son of a man she is hoping to marry. He finds a good horse and they go to the auction and buy it but then they are accosted in the parking lot. A couple of men want the horse they just bought. The woman now needs another horse in two days. Jonah manages to find another one and they get it but the same two men try to take that horse too. Jonah manages to fight them off that time but odd things keep happening. One night his horses get lose and he has to go chase them down in the night and in a busy road. He realizes that the horses were let lose intentionally and begins to wonder who is messing with him. He finds out soon enough. The other independent agents that require kickbacks and use other dishonest dealings to make more money are threatening him to do the same and join their group or he'll be sorry. Jonah refuses and starts thinking of how he can get back at them.

This book was not great but it was better than some others. This one has a character that is an alcoholic and is depressed so that made the story mean more to me. I have a brother who is an alcoholic and he means a lot to me. DF does not make light of those issues and really seems to understand how it is to love someone dealing with alcoholism. The ending did seem a bit abrupt though and I wish there was a little bit more.

Traci Depree is one of my favorite authors. Somehow I had tucked this book away and forgotten all about it. I just found it this weekend and read it in one night. This was such a touching story which was actually two stories intertwined. One story was a light-hearted almost comical story about two brothers fighting over a dog and that alternated with a more serious story about a family that was going through some very hard times alone. A woman who had recently lost her husband and then found her college age daughter was suffering with leukemia had chosen to close herself off from everyone she knew, including her church family and God. Kate, wife of the new pastor of Faith Brier Church decided to try her best to break through the walls this woman had built up around her.

I've been sick and needed something easy to read that didn't require too much thinking. This did the trick but left me with so many questions. This story was a little light on logic. I could see where having this kind of “gift” would be more of a curse when you had to go to high school surrounded by kids asking questions. Still, I think this book needed more details filled in. Also, this girl, Aria, goes from being no one's friend to suddenly having the attention of both of the most popular guys in school and why? I have no idea. Also, a girl from school that was missing was found murdered and a bunch of the students blamed one of the boys she'd been dating. The girl had been with two boys separately during the past few days so why did no one suspect the other guy? Why was Aria so willing to believe one of them and not the other? Then there is the ending which was way too abrupt. This book could have been good if the author had taken a bit more time to round it out.

I bought this book when it first came out and it's been on my shelf every since. I started to read it at least twice and just couldn't get into it. I finally finished it, 30 years later. I found a piece of paper inside this book that was from my first job. The story was okay but I thought it was pretty sluggish. I'm glad I'm done with it now and can pass it on.

What a great story. I was so emersed in this story I didn't even notice it was after 2 am. I'm glad I finally read it. I really enjoyed the weaving of this tale with fictional history and ancestry and then tying it all together with the present. There's some true love and love not so true. It's definitely a must read.