Shadow Girl by Patricia Morrison

Shadow Girl by Patricia Morrison

This is a sad but powerful book about a 12 year old girl in Canada whose father is an alcoholic, her mother left when she was 4 so it has been just the 2 of them for years. The story starts out with Jules trying to keep her dad happy even when she knows he’s been drinking but no matter how bad it gets Jules still loves her dad. When she is left alone she goes to the shopping center and hangs out in the toy department in Zellers there she meets a very nice salesclerk who lets her play and read and is nice to her, something Jules is not used to. When the sales lady Mrs. Adamson starts noticing something isn’t right with Jules and she gets Jules to admit her dad has been gone over a week so she calls social services and so begins Jules’ journey into the foster care system.

This book started a little slow for me but from page 40 I read over a hundred pages in one sitting and had to force myself to go to bed and quit reading. I felt so bad for Jules the foster home she ends up in is a nice home but the family never makes her feel very welcome and she still feels very much alone, social services does find her dad but his visits are sporadic at best and he doesn’t seem to want to make the changes he needs to make to fix the situation and bring their family back together. The hard part in this story is how much Jules loves her father and just wants to go back to how it was before.

Jules walks through life feeling like a shadow

     “To be loved, to be happy, to be cared for, nourished body and soul. These things were never granted to shadows. And that’s what she was—a shadow being.”

You can’t help but care for Jules, I do wish I knew what happened to her after she grew up did her upbringing affect her for the rest of her life especially in her relationships with others? I think this is a good middle grade book that will make kids think and care. I recommend this book for school and public libraries.

4 Stars

I received this book from Librarything Early Reviewers Program for a fair and honest review.

Out of The Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Out of The Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

My Review:

This book was so hard to put down, it grabbed me immediately and didn’t let go till the very last page and I was sad it was over. In New Orleans in 1950 we meet Josie she lives above the bookshop she works in but she didn’t always live there, she used to live with her mother at a brothel her mother still lives there, Josie started sleeping in the bookshop after she had had enough of the icky men and her mother stealing from her. When her boss Charlie figured out she was sleeping at the shop he put a room together for her and she has lived there ever since.

I loved Josie, her spirit was great and her dreams big, she wants to go to Smith College but can the poor daughter of a prostitute be accepted to a fancy school like that? But Smith College is expensive if she is accepted where will she get the money. Josie wants this so bad that she gets herself if a few situations that found me screaming at the book and hoping beyond hope that certain things don’t happen to her!

The supporting characters in this book are such a memorable bunch including her mother’s Madam Willie who is actually more of a mother to Josie than her own mother ever could be. The driver Cokie who always believed in his Josie girl and even gambled his own money to try to help her pay for college because he had no doubt she’d be accepted he was one of my favorites in this book. Then we have the 2 boys, Patrick, Charlie’s son who knows all of Josie’s secrets but does she know all his? And Jessie, badboy mechanic with a somewhat similar upbringing to Josie and will do anything for her. Then there is Josie’s mother what a piece of work this woman is she makes you cheer for Josie even more once you get to know her!

I truly enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to anyone and everyone young adults to adults will enjoy this book, I have already pre-ordered this for our library. I will now be going back and reading Ruta Sepetys first book and will be looking forward to anything else this author writes!

4 ½ Stars

Touch & Go by, Lisa Gardner

Synopsis from goodreads: 
#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner, author of Catch Me and Love You More, returns with a heart-thumping thriller about what lurks behind the facade of a perfect family. 
This is my family:  Vanished without a trace…

Justin and Libby Denbe have the kind of life that looks good in the pages of a glossy magazine. A beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, Ashlyn. A gorgeous brownstone on a tree-lined street in Boston’s elite Back Bay neighborhood. A great marriage, admired by friends and family.  A perfect life.

This is what I know:  Pain has a flavor…

When investigator Tessa Leoni arrives at the crime scene in the Denbes’ home, she finds scuff marks on the floor and Taser confetti in the foyer.  The family appears to have been abducted, with only a pile of their most personal possessions remaining behind.  No witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive.  Just an entire family, vanished without a trace.

This is what I fear:  The worst is yet to come…

Tessa knows better than anyone that even the most perfect façades can hide the darkest secrets.  Now she must race against the clock to uncover the Denbes’ innermost dealings, a complex tangle of friendships and betrayal, big business and small sacrifices.  Who would want to kidnap such a perfect little family?  And how far would such a person be willing to go?

This is the truth:  Love, safety, family…it is all touch and go.

My Review:
Lisa Gardner cements her title as the queen of suspense this is another edge of your seat, keep you guessing, oh why didn’t I see that coming, kind of book.

It was great to see Tessa Leone again (I would highly recommend reading Love You More before this book so you understand Tessa’s background) it was a nice follow up so we we’re able to see how her and her daughter are doing since the events in Love You More. Tessa is now working for a private security firm and one of their top clients seems to be missing and not just him, his whole family.

As always with Lisa Gardner’s books it is very hard to review without giving anything away, but I will try…I really enjoyed Tessa in this one and her interaction with Wyatt a small town sheriff whom I also really liked and hope to see more of the two of them in future. We get a little touch of DD but that was all that was needed, I will admit to hoping when the FBI swooped in it might be one of the Quincy’s but no such luck! Then there is the kidnapped family who we get to know intimately flaws and all and you can’t help but hope everything works out for them. The kidnappers are interesting too she doesn’t give us cardboard cutouts but fleshed-out characters who we also get to know. As I said Lisa Gardner knows how to write a great suspense filled novel, I was up until 2 am for a few nights in a row and had to force myself to go to bed because I didn’t want to stop reading!

Another hit for Lisa Gardner highly recommend!

4 ½ stars

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013

 It is International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013

 To honor this day I’d like to spotlight the book Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor, & Lisa Rojany Buccieri. Eva is an amazing woman you can learn her story here on her Candles Holocaust Museum Site. So important to never forget and make sure these atrocities never happen again. This book is available at the library.

 Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele's twins were granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiements or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp. In a narrative told with emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child's endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue on Eva's recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

My Review:

I was interested in this book because I have watched the documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele and as a librarian I am always looking for non-fiction books written for middle grade or young adult. I also have found that now I want to read the stories from the survivors, everyone knows the story of Anne Frank she is the go to book about the holocaust especially for this age group and I am glad to have a found this compelling story from a survivor I think that is what makes Eva & Miriam’s story so important is they survived the awful things this lunatic Mengele did to them and so many others. Her letter forgiving what Mengele and the Nazi’s did to her and countless others is an amazing act of compassion and courage.

This quote from the Declaration of Amnesty Eva wrote for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is so powerful I love that she chose not to be a victim anymore and how forgiving liberated her too-

“I hope in some small way, to send the world a message of forgiveness, a message of peace, a message of hope, a message of healing. Let there be no more wars, no more experiments without informed consent, no more gas chambers, no more bombs, no more hatred, no more Auschwitzes.”

-----------------Eva Mozes Kor

That is the reason this book is so important for young people the telling of the story and the learning to live with the atrocities done to you and in the end to find the strength within you to forgive, that is what makes this a powerful read. It is a short book but sure packs a lot into it.

Another thing I found fascinating was how the guards and such at the camps said the twins were the lucky ones because they got the special attention from Herr Doktor but what these poor children went through was not special, it is horrific when you read in Eva’s own words what was done it is horrifying, the experiments and tests he did we won’t allow on animals let alone children. That is another reason this book is so important is so we never forget, be always vigilant so nothing like this ever happens again.

I recommend this to all middle grade & young adult readers and for the adults that want even more of the story try Echoes From Auschwitz: Dr. Mengele's Twins: The Story Of Eva And Miriam Mozes by Eva Mozes Kor, Mary Wright and also the documentary I mentioned above Forgiving Dr. Mengele as of this writing it is streaming on Netflix.

4 Stars

I received this book from netgalley & the publisher for a fair and unbiased review

Cross Posted on MissSusie’s Reading & Observations Blog

Book Club Musings~~Little Bee by, Chris Cleave

Little Bee by, Chris Cleave narrated by, Anne Flosnik

We read this for our library bookclub as you can see from my review below I loved this book I thought Little Bees spirit and hope were amazing however nobody else liked this book all they saw were the horrors while I saw the beauty and it got me wondering; is it because Anne Flosnik humanized everyone so beautifully that I had a completely different experience with this book because everyone else read it in paper form and I listened to it on audio: it was like we read 2 different books. I wonder if they would think differently if they listened to it too.

So, I would say, listen to it on audio to truly experience the beauty of this book.

The audiobook for Little Bee is available on Library2Go website.

I have also added some of my favorite quotes from the book that may give you some idea of what I found beautiful.

My review:

“People wonder how they are ever going to change their lives, but really it is frighteningly easy.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

This was a beautiful story and I fell in love with Little Bee, her attitude on life ,the storyteller and the scars were such beautiful metaphors for life be happy you survived and don’t let what happened to you dictate your whole life. I loved this quote;

I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

I liked the way the author made these distinctions in language and speech the way Charlie puts things and the halting way Little Bee talks I thought said volumes about these characters (see below how great this is on audio!). When Little Bee changed her name I thought she changed it to something beautiful and strong and she picked it herself and for me it felt like her first step to freedom, a freedom she never stopped believing she would have I think that’s what I loved about her she is a survivor but she doesn’t just survive she lives. I also enjoyed what she said about proverbs where if she tells a little story then says “that is a proverb in my country” people will suddenly shake their head yes, yes and look solemn. This cracked me up because I could see this working!

I kind of wish there hadn’t been the Lawrence storyline, I guess it made Sarah more human? more flawed? But maybe I didn’t like this storyline because I didn’t like Lawrence, even though we never really get to know Andrew I can’t help thinking he was a better person than Lawrence could ever be but that’s just my opinion of him. Andrew was such a huge part of the story yet we never really get to know him we only have the reasons the people left behind have deduced as to why he died the way he did we never get to hear from him what led him to that end. There I times Sarah does annoy me it’s in the little things it gets a little better in the scene with Charlie at the river but then she rides off and I felt just leaves Little Bee to fend for herself with the police. I felt she was at times self-centered but then there were times of such huge compassion Sarah was kind of an enigma there were times I liked her and many times I didn’t.

I loved Charlie/Batman too I felt so sorry for him but I loved watching his relationship with Little Bee grow and couldn’t help wondering if this growing relationship was one of the reasons when Sarah thought about sending Little Bee away is that she was jealous with no one to blame but herself.

Audio production: I not only fell in love with Little Bee I fell in love with her narrator Anne Flosnik ,she was perfect in her narration, her voices for Little Bee, Sarah and Charlie were fantastic I thought she did great on Little Bee’s broken Queen’s English and the odd way Charlie talked was that much more enhanced by her narration, her accents and inflections were so great! I will be looking for many more from this wonderful narrator!

4  Star book

5  Star narration

“You travel here and you travel there, trying to get out from under the cloud, and nothing works, and then one day you realize you've been carrying the weather around with you.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive. The next thing you know something fine will happen to her, something marvelous, and then she will turn around and smile.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“I’m telling you, trouble is like the ocean. It covers two thirds of the world.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“If I could not smile, I think my situation would be even more serious.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“Isn't it sad, growing up? You start off like my Charlie. You start off thinking you can kill all the baddier and save the world. Then you get a little bit older, maybe Little Bee's age, and you realize that some of the world's badness is inside you, that maybe you're a part of it. And then you get a bit older still, and a bit more comfortable, and you start wondering whether that badness you've seen in yourself is really all that bad at all. You start talking about ten per cent."

Maybe that's just developing as a person, Sarah."

I sighed and looked out at Little Bee

Well," I said, "maybe this is a developing world.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“At some point you just have to turn around and face your life head on.”

― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight # 7~ The Cove by Ron Rash narrated by, Merritt Hicks

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #7~ The Cove by Ron Rash narrated by, Merritt Hicks

 Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators.

Synopsis: Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel. Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe-just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch. Alone except for her brother, Hank, newly returned from the trenches of France, she aches for her life to begin.

Then it happens-a stranger appears, carrying nothing but a beautiful silver flute and a note explaining that his name is Walter, he is mute, and is bound for New York. Laurel finds him in the woods, nearly stung to death by yellow jackets, and nurses him back to health. As the days pass, Walter slips easily into life in the cove and into Laurel's heart, bringing her the only real happiness she has ever known.

But Walter harbors a secret that could destroy everything-and danger is closer than they know. Though the war in Europe is near its end, patriotic fervor flourishes thanks to the likes of Chauncey Feith, an ambitious young army recruiter who stokes fear and outrage throughout the county. In a time of uncertainty, when fear and ignorance reign, Laurel and Walter will discover that love may not be enough to protect them.

This lyrical, heart-rending tale, as mesmerizing as its award-winning predecessor Serena, shows once again this masterful novelist at the height of his powers.

My Review:

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. Set in the Appalachians during WWI and hate towards Germans is running rampant with the help of one fervent recruiter Chauncey who is on a witch hunt for anything German. At the same time on a farm in the cove lives Laurel a young woman with a wine splotch birthmark that people in town say is a curse and call her a witch and the townspeople won’t let her go to school because she may harm their children. A superstitious lot they are, that makes for a lonely life for Laurel, she does have her brother Jack who is back from the war missing a hand but alive. When one day she hears the most beautiful flute music and sees a raggedy man a few days later she finds him covered in bee stings and brings him home. Walter recovers but seems to be a mute but that doesn’t stop sparks from flying between him and Laurel.

I cared so much about these characters that towards the end my stomach was knotted with worry and when events played out I was bawling (should not have been listening to this at work!). This book evokes the times and the place I felt like I was there. It is a love story but so much more it is about the human condition and how people can be so incredibly hurtful towards others. I loved Laurel and felt so bad for the way she was treated and even though I figured out certain things about Walter, it didn’t matter, he was one of the few people to show a kindness towards laurel and I think it was what they both needed.

Merritt Hicks’ narration was spot on her southern accent was great and her characters were all very distinct I always knew who was talking. I will definitely listen to this narrator again!

As I said this novel is beautiful and heart wrenching all at the same time, this is my first book by this author and will not be my last! I think fans of southern fiction and historical fiction will like this one.

4 ½ Stars

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #6~ A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by, Joshilyn Jackson

Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators.

Today's Spotlight is also a book that is in my Top 5 of the year I gave it a 5 Star Rating for writing and narration and in a very uncommon case this authors narration of this book was flawless I would have thought it was a professional narrator.

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty written & narrated by, Joshilyn Jackson

Synopsis: A powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb-spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood-is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

My Review:

This is my first book by Joshilyn Jackson and I will be remedying that ASAP. This was such a great book I listened to it on audio and sat in my car in the parking lot for an extra 20 minutes just to get to the end of a chapter. What great characters I loved them all! This book is about family and what it means to be family. The 3 generations of women in this book will make you smile, cry and cheer.

This was narrated by the author and I know audiobook junkies like me cringe a little when we hear this (unless you are Neil Gaiman) but I must say Joshilyn Jackson narrates this book like a pro and I think if you didn’t know it you wouldn’t think twice of recommending this narrator so I see that she narrates most of her book so I will continue with this author on audio!

Once the first bombshell is dropped in this book you will not be able to turn back or put this book down! Oh my, it would be so easy to give away too much in a review but I want you to know how much I loved this book! Big, Little & Mosey are all great women in their own right, I loved how each chapter was told from each woman’s perspective so you knew what each was thinking and hiding and revealing to the other and how the other reacts to it. As you may be able to tell I fell in love with this family of women and I just want to gush on and on. Maybe I better just stop here and say READ THIS BOOK!!

5 Stars

New Books This Week

New Books This Week:

The Forgotten by, David Baldacci

The Black Box (Harry Bosch #18) by, Michael Connelly

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by, James Patterson

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by, Ayana Mathis

Cross Roads by, William P. Young

A Winter Dream by, Richard Paul Evans

Whispers in the Wind #2 by, Lauraine Snelling

A Dog Named Christmas & A Christmas Home by, Greg Kincaid

The Perfect Hope by, Nora Roberts

Hard Country by, Michael McGarrity

The Swan Thieves by, Elizabeth Kostova

Non-Fiction:

My Happy Days in Hollywood A Memoir by, Garry Marshall

Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by, Dolly Parton

A Gift of Hope: helping the Homeless by, Danielle Steel

The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love & God Save the Sweet Potato Queens by, Jill Conner Browne

Library2Go Spotlight #5~ An Apocalyptic Tale

Since the world didn't end today I thought I'd share an apocalyptic tale that will make you wonder are we safe or did the world just just slow down?!?

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker narrated by, Emily Janice Card (Also available in e-book) 

Synopsis:Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.

My Review

This was an intriguing first novel; the authors imagination is pretty amazing, the way she describes the things that were happening to the world were frightening real. This story is beautifully written and is a slow boil with no running around trying to save the world, there is nothing to run from or run to, it is just living in a mixed up world where days and nights have become confused and the earth has slowed and is de-magnetizing/losing gravity. Just to go on trying to live your life when everything has changed but these changes are not seen and only sometimes felt. As she says it’s not that there are explosions or war or rioting in the streets, the world is not on fire it is just quietly changing.

“Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different—unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.”

― Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

This is such a different dystopian because it’s well, quiet, is the only word I can come up with, it is a quiet dystopian, yes that describes it. And even as that I was enthralled with this book I didn’t want to stop listening I wanted to know what happened next. It ended just as quietly and it was a satisfying ending.

I don’t know how old Julia was supposed to be (listening on audio must have missed it) but I thought Emily Janice Card did a good job at the narration she made her sound not too young or too old. Her narration was very well done.

4 Stars

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #4

When deciding which book to read next most people know what they are looking for in print form what this column will highlight is a different form of reading, and that is listening to the audiobook. I love audiobooks whether it be traveling in the car, cleaning the house or working I listen to audiobooks all the time.

Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators.

Todays Spotlight is a Non-Fiction Title: Catherine The Great by, Robert Massie narrated by, Mark Deakins~ Also available in E-Book

Synopsis: Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.”

My Review:

This was a great biography it is non-fiction but reads like fiction and kept my attention all the way through. Catherine is a very fascinating woman, one of the great Empress’ of Russia even though she was not Russian. I learned so much about her and her life and what kind of a strong woman she was.

This is a very thorough look at Catherine’s life and I really enjoy the authors writing style and I will be reading his other books. When I was younger I loved Russian history and have always been fascinated by the Romanovs but haven’t read anything about them in a long time and now I think this will begin a re-immersion into Russian history.

Even if you are a reader who usually reads historical fiction and not non-fiction I highly recommend this book it reads like fiction and Catherine had a very fascinating life. It has everything from wars, fights for power, love, jealousy just everything a fiction reader loves in a book but what is great is it’s all true!

This audio book is 23 hours long but I enjoyed every minute of it, Mark Deakins did a great job on the narration and would definitely listen to others by this narrator.

4 Stars

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #3

When deciding which book to read next most people know what they are looking for in print form what this column will highlight is a different form of reading, and that is listening to the audiobook. I love audiobooks whether it be traveling in the car, cleaning the house or working I listen to audiobooks all the time.

Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators. 

Todays Spotlight is : The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom narrated by, Dan Stevens

Synopsis: In Mitch Albom's newest work of fiction, the inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years. Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.

He returns to our world--now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began--and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so.

My Review:

I haven’t read Mitch Albom’s other books, they aren’t in a genre I usually read but after seeing the great write up this audiobook got in Audiofile magazine this one sounded like something I would like, and I wasn’t wrong!

This book is very relevant to the world we live in because it seems everyone is in a rush to get where they are going and wanting more time to get it done, but be careful what you wish for. As Dor found out the hard way, 100’s of centuries ago he designed the first clock but God (or some such person) is not happy with him for this and banishes him to a cave for centuries where he becomes Father Time. Now centuries later God (or some such person) has a deal for him if he can save 2 people he can have his freedom. The 2 people he chooses are a teenage girl, Sarah, who wants to give up her time because she has gotten her heart broken and an old man, Victor, in kidney failure who wants more time, can he save these two people and in turn save himself?

“When you are measuring time you are not living it.” So very true! A very well written cautionary tale about time and not taking it for granted or wasting it, loved the epilogue. Actually I just really liked this whole book. I have seen some reviews saying this book was choppy but I never got that feeling at all and that may be because I listened to it on audio. I thought the story was great and felt like any “choppiness” just made me feel more of what Dor was feeling being in this new world and to really explore it he had to slow time because our world moves so fast. I think this book will appeal to a different audience than Albom’s previous books, yes people who liked his past books will probably like this one but because of the fantasy element of Father Time I think this will appeal to people who read fantasy or enjoy fairytales re-told.

Dan Stevens narration of this book is fabulous! Every voice is spot on, you never question who is talking each voice has its own inflection and tone. I see why this performance has won a well-deserved earphones award and would not be at all surprised if this one wins big at the Audies too! I just can’t say enough about how great the narration of this book is. If you are thinking of reading this one I highly recommend it on audio! Dan Stevens will be a narrator to look for in the future!

4 ½ Stars

5+++ Stars for the narration

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #2

When deciding which book to read next most people know what they are looking for in print form what this column will highlight is a different form of reading, and that is listening to the audiobook. I love audiobooks whether it be traveling in the car, cleaning the house or working I listen to audiobooks all the time.

Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators.

Today’s Spotlight  Title is: Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery #1) by Juliet Blackwell narrated by, Xe Sands .

This is a very cute little paranormal cozy mystery I hope you will enjoy as much as I did. You will be seeing more books narrated by Xe Sands in this spotlight column as there are quite a few books she has narrated available on Library2Go!

I am hoping the next books in this series will soon be available through Library2Go!

Sysnopsis:

Lily Ivory is not your average witch. Her spell-casting powers tend to draw mischievous spirits while keeping normal humans at a distance. But now her vintage clothing store could give her a chance to make friends in San Francisco....

Lily hopes for a normal life when she opens Aunt Cora's Closet. With her magical knack for vintage fashion -she can sense vibrations of the past from clothing and jewelry—her store becomes a big hit.

But when a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area, Lily may be the only one who can unravel the crime. She tries to keep her identity a secret while investigating, but it's not easy—especially under the spells of sexy "mythbuster" Max Carmichael and powerful witch Aidan Rhodes. Will Lily's witchy ways be forced out of the closet?

My Review:

I really enjoyed this paranormal cozy mystery. Lily is a witch who owns a secondhand store and hopes she can just live a normal life without using witchcraft, but things don’t quite work out for her. While buying a collection of clothes from an elderly lady a child goes missing and Lily feels like Mrs. Potts’ life is in danger and her premonition is right on the money and the next day she is found dead. Lily tries to find out what happened to the little girl and Mrs. Potts.

There is also a mythbuster, a male witch, a ghostly spirit and a goblin that turns into a pig familiar who are all interesting characters in their own right with the pig being my favorite! San Francisco and the area of the Haight were kind of a character too, you really get a feel of the bay area and I felt like a tourist discovering it all.

This was the best of two genre’s I enjoy, paranormal and cozy mysteries, it was a great first book in the series and will definitely be a series I continue reading, however I so enjoyed the narration by, Xe Sands that I want to wait till I can listen to the rest on audio so I hope Tantor Audio will get them all recorded soon!

If you enjoy a good cozy with magical elements I highly recommend this series!

The audio production of this was great Xe Sands does such a wonderful job and she is well on her way to becoming a favorite narrator! Xe’s voice has this soft smooth quality that I just love, I enjoyed her slight southern accent not over done just the hint of it and it was perfection!

4 Stars

Library2Go Audiobook Spotlight #1

When deciding which book to read next most people know what they are looking for in print form what this column I will highlight is a different form of reading, and that is listening to the audiobook. I love audiobooks whether it be; traveling in the car, cleaning the house or working I listen to audiobooks all the time.

Most of you know our new Library2Go service makes it easy to download ebooks but what some might not know is there is also a great selection of audiobooks available for download too. So, I will spotlight some of my favorite audiobooks and narrators.

Today’s title is narrated by one of my favorite narrators Karen White she has narrated many of the wonderful audiobooks on our Library2Go site today we will spotlight:

The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo narrated by, Karen White

Length: 10 hours, 34 minutes

Description: Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women—an unbroken line of daughters—living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California.

Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin. Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women: the eldest two are defying longevity norms. Their unusual lifespans have caught the attention of a geneticist who believes they hold the key to breakthroughs that will revolutionize the aging process for everyone.

But Anna is not interested in unlocking secrets the Keller blood holds. She believes there are some truths that must stay hidden, including certain knowledge about her origins that she has carried for more than a century. Like Anna, each of the Keller women conceals her true self from the others. While they are bound by blood and the house they share, living together has not always been easy. And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company. Her return and the arrival of the geneticist who has come to study the Keller family ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.

Told from varying viewpoints, Courtney Miller Santo's compelling and evocative debut novel captures the joys and sorrows of family—the love, secrets, disappointments, jealousies, and forgiveness that tie generations to one another.

My Review:

This is a story of family, resentments, age and secrets. It shows how resentments affect generation after generation and in this family there are 5 generations of first born women with a 6th generation on the way, the oldest being Anna who is 112 and strives to become the oldest living human being, especially since she still has her mind and her body is still pretty spry too. Then there is Dr. Amrit who is on a mission to find out more about super-agers and thinks he has hit pay dirt with the The Keller women but with his research secrets are uncovered that the women would all rather stayed buried.

I really liked this story even though the ending was a bit rushed and not as satisfying as I had hoped. The Keller women are not always likable but you still can’t help falling in love with them, flaws and all. Every mother and daughter has had their share of troubles some more than others, however they all still live in the same house which has become tense as these women move about their days without ever really connecting with each other. But with the youngest coming back home with problems of her own and Dr. Amrit’s research dislodging lost (or best forgotten) memories these women are all doing some soul searching.

Karen White’s narration was fantastic all her different voices and accents were spot on; you always knew exactly who was talking. Her voice took on so many different characteristics of each of the women as they told their story and her delivery held my interest all the way through.

I thought this was a great first novel it is set in California but has a southern fiction feel to it so I think if you are a fan of Southern Fiction I would suggest giving this one a try.

4 stars

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society: A Novel by Amy Hill Hearth

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society: A Novel by Amy Hill Hearth

Synopsis from goodreads:A brilliant debut novel from a New York Times bestselling author about a transplanted wife from Boston who arrives in Florida in the 1960s, starts a literary salon, and shakes up the status quo.

In 1962, Jackie Hart moved to Naples, Florida, from Boston with her husband and children. Wanting something personally fulfilling to do with her time, she starts a reading club and anonymously hosts a radio show, calling herself Miss Dreamsville.

The racially segregated town falls in love with Miss Dreamsville, but doesn’t know what to make of Jackie, who welcomes everyone into her book club, including a woman who did prison time for allegedly killing her husband, a man of questionable sexual preference, a young divorcee, as well as a black woman.

By the end of this novel, you’ll be wiping away the tears of laugher and sadness, and you just may become a bit more hopeful that even the most hateful people can see the light of humanitarianism, if they just give themselves a chance.

My Review:

This was so much fun! I loved every character in this book so much I didn’t want it to end! This gang of misfits turned Naples on its heel and I loved every minute of it!

Mrs. Jackie Hart is a northerner transplanted to Naples in the early 1960’s and since she’s a Yankee she doesn’t really fit in so she starts a Women’s Literary Society and the group that shows up is also on the outside, we have a divorcee, a woman just out of prison for killing her husband, a colored (their words) girl, a man who they let join because they all know he is a homosexual, a woman the whole town calls Plain Jane and the librarian, this group of outsiders and misfits ends up being about so much more than reading books.

This book had humor, drama, and life lessons what I loved about it was the way these and women (and Robbie Lee) came together as strangers with nothing in common and ended up the best of friends and truly involved in each other’s lives. I just wish it had been longer or maybe has a sequel in the works! I liked the historical details of the time, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the KKK, women’s rights and women trying to find their place in the world, civil rights. The Cuban Missile Crisis chapter I thought was well done and really gave a feel to how people in Florida must have felt.

I also liked in the acknowledgments finding out that Jackie was modeled after the authors MIL who was the actual Miss Dreamsville. And this author’s non-fiction work about the Delany sisters’ is one I have been meaning to read for awhile so will be bumping that up on the TBR pile. I hope she will write more fiction because I will be first in line to read more from this author.

4 Stars

Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Cass feels the long winter shadows on her heart. Her mother died of cancer and her father has remarried a woman who has moved into their old Manitoba house with her nasty, babyish daughter and an attitude that's very hard to take. Christmas promises to be a miserable time.

More than a century earlier, Christmas is proving to be difficult for Beatrice, too, for she has shadows of her own. Some are cast by her circumstances. She sees the growing prejudice against people like her who are of mixed Cree and Scottish backgrounds. And like Cass, she has a stepmother. Her father's new wife is threatened by Beatrice and is driving a wedge into the family. Beatrice can only be sure of her beloved Cree grandmother, relegated to a room upstairs. When a way of escape presents itself to Beatrice by way of an eligible bachelor, she is torn by the choice it offers her. Should she settle for a man she doesn't love or address the problems at home? Through her journal, she explores the answer and, at the same time, inspires Cass to find the strength she needs to face her own situation. Margaret Buffie's great skill as a storyteller creates a splendid, engaging novel that offers readers a rich combination of fine history, suspenseful shifts in time, and unforgettable characters.

My Review:

This book shows that step families have been hard for a very long time. The parallel stories of Beatrice in the 1856 and Cass in the present both have a new step mother after their mothers have died and the relationship is not an easy one. I like this time travel/shadow travel/ ghost/spirit story? With a dash of romance. It is kind of hard to categorize. 

It is set in Manitoba in 1856 Beatrice is not happy to have come home after being away at school and found her father married to Ivy a sour woman and Aggatha, Beatrice’s Cree grandmother, is not being taken care of, this sets off a chain of events that makes a relationship between Beatrice & Ivy very tense to say the least. Cass’s mother has died and her father has re-married to an unhappy jealous woman named Jean who also has a daughter Daisy who seems to do her best to annoy Cass. Suddenly these two girls’ centuries apart are seeing flashes of each other’s lives and Beatrice’s diary appears to Cass and she reads about Beatrice’s life.


I enjoyed this book and think that a lot of young people will relate to it, because blended families are hard but what I loved about this book was the reveal of the new wives past and what made them react to these girls the way they did and how when they found a happy medium to their feelings, that was when healing starts.

The “romance” between Beatrice & Kilgour was sweet I liked the way she never realized how he felt about her and how she fought her feeling tooth & nail without even realizing what she was doing. I also liked how Daisy & Cass’s relationship grew, these two stories were very true to life about how hard a blended family can be.

I totally see why this book has won awards in Canada and since Winnipeg Manitoba is only a couple hours from where I live it made it even more special. I liked the history of the Cree in this area and how they blended with the new immigrants into a thriving community.

I highly recommend this book.

4 Stars

Full disclosure: I received this book from the Librarything Early Reviewers Program for a unbiased review.

The Secret Keeper by, Kate Morton

The Secret Keeper by, Kate Morton

Synopsis:1960 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world.

My Review:

Another great book from Kate Morton; she sure knows how to weave a story. This one is a story of secrets, family, murder and of learning the truth before its too late. When Laurel was a child she witnesses something very disturbing and now 50 years later her mother is dying and she sets out to find the truth behind what happened. But what she finds isn’t what she expects does she even know her mother at all. Her mom always said they were her second chance but from what or who?

As always Kate Morton blends the past and present story together with masterful ease, I had such a hard time turning this off (audio) I did not want to stop listening for a minute, this one grabbed me in the first 5 minutes and never let me go right up to the end. I started suspecting certain things **No Spoilers** and was glad when it confirmed I was right. I think the biggest lesson Laurel learned in this one was that the mother she knew and loved all her life was still that same woman even with all her secrets laid bare, it really didn’t change anything in her feelings towards her mother and I liked that.

The story of Dorothy’s past gave such a great feel of England during the blitz, how even with bombs dropping people tried to keep their chin up. I really felt the atmosphere of the time.

There was also a Doctor Who reference that made me love this author all the more!

If you can’t tell I love this author and will read whatever she writes and look forward to another book very soon!

4 ½ Stars

Our teen library patrons Read Banned Books

Our teen readers chose books they were surprised had been banned and thought that banning books as a whole was a very silly idea! Proves there is hope for the future!
The books they chose were:
Ashley- The Hunger Games by, Suzanne Collins
Joanna-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by,Mark Twain
Sandra- Snakehead by, Anthony Horowitz

Eddy-New Rockford Library Reads Banned Books

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Bantam. Challenged in the Manheim Township, Pa.

schools (2007) due to sexual references. The book was

retained in the ninth-grade English curriculum, but it was

decided to teach the book later in the school year, after a

public forum was held with parents to discuss that book

and the entire literary canon of the English department.

Challenged in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho School District

(2007). Some parents say the book, along with five others,

should require parental permission for students to read

them. Source: July 2007, pp. 149-50; Sept. 2007, p. 181.

We Read Banned Books!

It is Banned Books Week come in and check out a book from the table and have your picture taken reading a banned book!

Throughout the country, most children are starting a new academic year. Teachers are sending out their lists of required readings, and parents are beginning to gather books. In some cases, classics like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "The Catcher in the Rye," and "To Kill a Mocking Bird," may not be included in curriculum or available in the school library due to challenges made by parents or administrators.

Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, including 513 in 2008. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four are to material in public libraries. OIF estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded.

It is thanks to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, and students that most challenges are unsuccessful and reading materials like "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," " The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," the Harry Potter” series, and “The Hunger Games” series, also a couple by, Jodi Picoult remain available.

The most challenged and/or restricted reading materials have been books for children.  However, challenges are not simply an expression of a point of view; on the contrary, they are an attempt to remove materials from public use, thereby restricting the access of others. Even if the motivation to ban or challenge a book is well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental. Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. For children, decisions about what books to read should be made by the people who know them best—their parents!

In support of the right to choose books freely for ourselves, the ALA and Eddy-New Rockford Library are sponsoring Banned Books Week Sept.24-Oct.1 an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. This year's observance commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society—the freedom to read freely—and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted.

The Cove by, Ron Rash

The Cove by, Ron Rash

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. Set in the Appalachians during WWI and hate towards Germans is running rampant with the help of one fervent recruiter Chauncey who is on a witch hunt for anything German. At the same time on a farm in the cove lives Laurel a young woman with a wine splotch birthmark that people in town say is a curse and call her a witch and the townspeople won’t let her go to school because she may harm their children. A superstitious lot they are, that makes for a lonely life for Laurel, she does have her brother Jack who is back from the war missing a hand but alive. When one day she hears the most beautiful flute music and sees a raggedy man a few days later she finds him covered in bee stings and brings him home. Walter recovers but seems to be a mute but that doesn’t stop sparks from flying between him and Laurel.

I cared so much about these characters that towards the end my stomach was knotted with worry and when events played out I was bawling . This book evokes the times and the place I felt like I was there. It is a love story but so much more it is about the human condition and how people can be so incredibly hurtful towards others. I loved Laurel and felt so bad for the way she was treated and even though I figured out certain things about Walter, it didn’t matter, he was one of the few people to show a kindness towards laurel and I think it was what they both needed.

As I said this novel is beautiful and heart wrenching all at the same time, this is my first book by this author and will not be my last! I think fans of southern fiction and historical fiction will like this one.

4 ½ Stars