Books 5-9

Without Fear or Favor by Robert K, Tanenbaum 

When a New York City police officer shoots a seemingly unarmed teenager, tensions between the police force and Harlem black rights activists ignite.  The community, believing that the teen had no weapon is outraged and demands that the officer be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  But this is no ordinary call for justice-someone is conspiring to bring down the city's entire police force in cold blood.  Only District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp, his crime-fighting wife, Marlene, and his band of truth-seekers can unravel the mystery without fear or favor-and find out the unthinkable truth.

It took me a while to get into this book but I did enjoy it.

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding

When Marcy Taggart goes to Ireland after divorcing her husband of twenty-five years, a chance encounter catapults her life into turmoil.  Years earlier, her daughter, Devon, disappeared in the icy waters of Georgian Bay after a canoeing accident, her body never recovered.  But on a day trip to Cork, Marcy is certain she spots Devon walking down the street.  When her daughter disappears into a crowd, Marcy begins a desperate search to find her-and to uncover the disturbing truth that might, in the end, be her only salvation.

The main character, Marcy, for a 50 year old woman comes across as immature, gullible, very unrelateable and therefore it was hard to sympathize with her plight. She seemed to be blinded by her desperate need to find her daughter and some of the decisions she made were extremely dangerous.   It made you wonder if she was of sound mind and could probably benefit from counselling!

I've Got My Eye on You by Mary Higgins Clark

When 18 year old Kerry Dowling is found dead at the bottom of the family pool, her devastated family faces the horrifying realization that Kerry might have been murdered by someone she loved.

The obvious first suspect is Kerry's boyfriend, with whom she'd had a bitter argument at a party she threw while her parents were away.  But suspicion falls upon the Dowlings' neighbour, an intellectually disabled young man named Jamie.  Was a lack of invitation to the party enough to set him off-and is the pile of wet clothing his mother found in his room a sign of something sinister?

A guidance counselor at the local high school, Kerry's grieving older sister, Aline, is bent on unveiling the truth.  Working closely with the detective assigned to the case, she turns up helpful clues.  But the more Aline digs, the more she's putting her own life in grave danger.

Well, this was an easy read but I think MHC is losing her touch.  It was so predictable and really didn't have much suspense.  It was so easy to figure out who the 'bad guy' was very early on in the book.  

The Stars Below by David Baldacci

 

From the beginning, the fight was coming.  Vega Jane fought her way out of the village where she was born, crossed a wilderness filled with vicious creatures., and raised a ragtag army behind her.  But each triumph earned through grit and pain only brought her closer to him.

Necro.  A sorcerer whose unspeakable evil is matched only by his magical power. 

Vega and Necro are on a collision course  The clash between his awesome power and her iron will is going to shake the stars down.  Their fight will seal their fates....and determine the future of the world.

The battle rages in the furious conclusion to the Vega Jane series.

I really enjoyed this final book in the series, but you have to be a fan of fantasy fiction. I'm kind of disappointed that this is the last book in the series. My only complaint would be that there was such a long time between books three and four being published so you really had to rattle the memory banks to remember who some of the characters were.

Winter's Daughter by Kathleen Creighton

Nothing stirred Tannis Winter like the plight of the homeless, and she'd devoted herself to aiding the street people she'd chosen for her research. But when a mysterious-looking derelict began following her in her bag-lady disguise, she felt a moment of terror--then knocked him to the ground and got him arrested! How was she to know he was the new town councilman, working undercover to expose the city's failure to help the poor? Dillon James was bewitched by her courage and her compassion, but it was the summer in her skin and the fire in her eyes that made him want to ignite a hidden passion in the enchanting crusader. Tannis felt the hunger of need erupt inside, but could she trust this darkly handsome man with a heart once betrayed? Dillon stalked her with fierce desire and a yearning to be cherished, but the pain of his past echoed her own. Could he make her see that once they'd touched, he'd be part of her life forever?

Well, if I'd read the above before I read the book I probably wouldn't have read it.  You don't get any blurb about the book when you read it on your phone.  It makes it sound like a Harlequin Romance, which is not my bag! I got the blurb from 'Goodreads'.  Parts of it were okay but the rest fit more into the Harlequin Romance realm.  It was okay for sitting waiting at appointments!!

Beginning of Summer

With a combination of these two I think things are growing!!

The hanging baskets are doing well.

Beautiful Martha Washington geraniums and lobelia in my very special little animal pots.

Lots and lots of petunias.

I planted 3 alium bulbs over 30 years ago.  Now they are all over the garden.  I think the birds or squirrels must move them around.  I probably have over 50 blooms this year.

The hostas are doing really well.

 The peonies are well over 5 feet tall and have over 100 buds.

 Lots of daisies. Often too many and I have to pull them out as they self seed all over the place, even in the lawn.

 The pansies are growing among the roses.

 A couple of my solar lights.

 And then I had to move the hanging baskets and M.W. geraniums under cover last night as big storms were threatening.  They're moved back out this morning to get watered as we are to have rain the rest of the week.

Bye for now!

2019 Books 1-4

Frozen Out by Quentin Bates

The discovery of a corpse washed up on a beach in an Icelandic backwater sparks a series of events that propels the village of Hvalvik's police sergeant, Gunnhildur, into deep waters.

Although under pressure to deal with the matter quickly, she is suspicious that the man's death was no accident and, once she has identified the body, Gunnhildur sets about investigating his final hours. The case takes her away from her village and into a cosmopolitan world of shady deals, government corruption and violence.  The police sergeant finds herself alone, less than welcome in this hostile environment, as she tries to find out who it was that made sure the young man drowned on a dark night, one hundred kilometers from where he should have been-and why. 
I enjoyed this book, although, as usual, struggled with all the Scandinavian names!  I didn't know at the time of reading that this is the first book in a series by this author.  The main character Detective Gunnhilder - Gunna for short a detective in a small rural office with three people!  She's very determined and once you get into the story it makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens.  I would probably read more books in this series.

Don't Let Go by Harlan Cohen

Suburban New Jersey detective Napoleon 'Nap' Dumas hasn't been the same since his senior year of high school, when his twin brother, Leo and Leo's girlfriend, Diana, were found dead on the railroad tracks-and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation.  For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death.  And now, it looks as though he may find what he's been looking for.

When Maura's fingerprints turn up in the rental car of a suspected murderer, Nap embarks on a quest for answers that only leads to more questions-about the woman he loved, about the childhood friends he thought he knew, about the abandoned military base near where he grew up, and mostly about Leo and Diana-whose deaths are darker and far more sinister than Nap ever dared imagine.
I enjoyed this book.  It had lots of twists and turns. The ending was surprising but when you think back on the story, not so much.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace.  He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He's a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener, and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister.  Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all.  You might not want to like them, but you do.  You're hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw.  You'd like to get to know Grace better.

But it's difficult, because you realize that Jack and Grace are inseparable. 

Some might call this true love.  Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone.  Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn't work.  How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim.  

Or why  she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen.  Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what's really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed. 
This book includes abuse of women, including intended abuse on a handicapped girl. It's dark to say the least.  So many things can happen in the life of a married couple and we wouldn’t know it.  I found the ending a little anticlimactic but wondered how else the situation could be resolved given everything that had happened previously.

The Paris Wedding by Charlotte Nash

It's been ages since Rachael West has seen the man she once believed she couldn't live without.  Receiving his wedding invitation is bittersweet-she's oddly touched he asked her to come but knows that facing him at his wedding would be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.

But her friends and family convince her to attend.  After all, it's an all expenses paid trip to Paris!  Surely she can get through that one day and spend the rest of the time discovering all the delights of that magical city.

So Rachael leaves her small town, setting off for the City of Lights with her best friend, two feuding neighbors, and a suitcase full of home-sewn couture.  She's determined to let Paris work its magic-and it does by way of a handsome photojournalist.  Before her adventure is over, Rachael will be faced with yet another choice.  But this time, hers isn't the only happiness at risk....
Racheal really annoyed me.  Some of the decisions she made just made me shake my head.  This is a typical romance story so you can probably figure out the ending.  Probably the best part was the setting.

Finally!!

Sunday we had our first day of above 0degreeC since January 31st!   We have had temps ranging from -3 to -31 and that doesn't include the wind chill that has sometimes sent it to the lower -40s!! It's been damn cold and we've had a few big dumps of snow as well.  Sunday was +1, Monday +12 and right now it's +3.  It's supposed to be between +2 and +13 during the day for the rest of the month-we'll see.  As I'm writing this it has started to snow and we are supposed to get 3-5cm.  Can't have everything.  Hopefully with the warmer temperatures it wont stick around too long.  We still have over a foot of snow on our covered deck roof.  DH will try and pull some of that off later today.  We still have over 4' on the lawns where I have had to shovel it.  
Sure hope the forecast for the day time temps. are right!

Eggnog Fruit Bread

This recipe is originally from 'Taste of Home' an American magazine that has lots of good recipes

Eggnog Fruit Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Oven 350F

3 eggs

1 cup veg. oil

3/4tsp. vanilla extract

3/4tsp. rum extract

1 1/2cups eggnog

3 cups flour, divided

2tsp. baking powder

1/2tsp. salt

1/2tsp. gr. nutmeg

1 cup glace cherries and pineapple combined

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In large bowl beat eggs and oil.  Beat in sugar, extracts and eggnog.

In another bowl combine 21/2 cups flour, b.p.,salt and nutmeg.  Gradually add to eggnog mixture.

Cut cherries and pineapple in half, toss with remaining flour.  Stir into batter.  Fold in walnuts.     Pour into 2 greased 8" x 3" loaf pans.Bake 60-65 mins. 'til toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 mins. then remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

This is great to use up all that eggnog we bought for Christmas, that I said we didn't need!!  Eggnog freezes well.

OMG!!

It is soooooooo cold!!  -29C with a wind chill between -40-45C!!  Thank goodness our neighbour shoveled the front this morning.  I had shoveled the driveway yesterday when it was only -19C and there has only been about an inch since so it can stay until it warms up a bit!

Took a picture the other day of me au natural.  This is for my sister so she remembers what I look like, haha!!

Decided to do some baking.  These are eggnog loaves with glace cherries and pineapple!  Quite good.

Always love scones.  These are made with dried cranberries and blueberry yogurt.  Really good!

 Beautiful sunset the other night when we were coming home.  Too bad I had to take the picture over an industrial area.

The trees looked beautiful, from inside the house, yesterday.

Trying not to freeze here.  Take care.

Books 19-25 for 2018

Last of the 2018 books read.  Don't seem to get beyond the mid twenties every year!
The Moon Trilogy by C.L.Bevill

Donovan is a werejaguar sworn to fight against his enemies, the dreaded werewolf clan - the Whitelaws. Isabella is an uncommon librarian, a member of the Committee. When she faces down the Whitelaws to retrieve a very dangerous book, she encounters Donovan and their lives will never be the same. 

Mirie is a Committee agent and sent to watch a handsome elvish prince. The prince allegedly has the Eyes of the Amber Moon, a magical artifact, that can be used to destroy the world. She quickly learns that all is not as it seems and the mystery of who she really is is connected to the enigmatic elfish realm. She must fight for herself, the relic, and her love for the halfling prince. 

Jack Drake must discover what the secretive third part of the moon relic is and destroy it before it can be used to decimate

the world. The mysterious Asta is hot on Jack’s tail, eager to

gain his trust and find the Silver Moon’s Mystery. Together the pair must endure a trial of fire, dragons, and werewolves. 

These were 3 novellas that I read on my phone.  They were total fluff.  Very far fetched but at the same time kept you reading.  Not something I would buy but okay for reading when I was waiting at an appointment or in the car.

Hope this colour of green is easier to read than the previous one.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.

I have to say I wasn't crazy about The Girl on the Train and I wasn't crazy about this book either. There's definitely a reason for the cast of characters at the beginning of the book.  I kept having to refer back to it to keep everyone straight. It  doesn't focus  on any one character, but rather moves between the perspectives of many members of a British town. On the whole I found it very disjointed. It is about who drowned, when they drowned, and why they drowned. After bouncing me around from one character to the next through the first half of the book, my interest quickly started to wane. At no time did I feel any suspense building nor could I form a connection with any of the unlikable characters. I found the ending was very lackluster. I don't think I will read another book by this author.

The Girl Before by J P Delaney

 

The Girl Before spins one woman's seeming good fortune, and another woman's mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.

Emma: Reeling from a traumatic break-in. Emma wants a new place to live and discovers One Folgate Street: an architectural masterpiece sleekly designed with soaring ceilings.  But there are rules for tenants.  The house's enigmatic architect likes to retain full control of the surroundings, mandating, among other things, no clutter of any kind.  The space is ingeniously crafted to transform its occupants.

Jane:After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start.  She is instantly drawn to One Folgate Street-and to its aloof but seductive creator.  Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home's previous tenant.  As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same pattern, makes the same choices, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

Both women look alike, and both were involved with Edward Monkton, the architect and mastermind behind One Folgate Street--both also happen to bear an eerie resemblance to Edward’s deceased wife. Jane begins to investigate Emma’s death, and by doing so, puts herself in danger.  The women in this story were rather annoying.  They put up with so much crap and still didn't get the hell out of there.  They just annoyed me.  Parts of the book were intriguing but on the whole-stupid!

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London,uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? As Elodie pursues these clues, the lives of the many people who have passed through the house are revealed.  There is Radcliffe, whose love affair with his model and muse consumes him; his sister Lucy, who opens a school for young ladies; Leonard Gilbert. a soldier and scholar who retreats to Birchwood after WW1 to heal and to write a biography of Radcliffe; Juliet. a young widow who takes refuge there with her three small children during the Blitz; and, in the present day, Jack Rolands, who has come from far away to search for lost treasure and who meets Elodie when she eventually arrives at the house.

Intricately layered and told by multiple voices across time, this is a kaleidoscopic story of murder, mystery, and thievery, of art, love, and loss.  And flowing through its pages like a river is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clock maker's daughter.

I have to say I have read all of Kate Morton's books and for the most part, really liked them. This one, not so much.  I had a difficult time following the jumping time lines and in turn, connecting with the characters. With so much going on I had a hard time connecting to the characters and story. Quite often I wouldn’t know who I was following and had to keep looking back. In the end I’d say this one just wasn’t my cup of tea but I’m sure some readers will love it.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, Prospero Books, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda's twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother, and Miranda doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy—and one final scavenger hunt.

When Miranda returns home to Los Angeles and to Prospero Books—now as its owner—she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her inside novels on the store’s shelves, in locked drawers, in mailed packages. Miranda soon finds herself drawn into a journey where she meets people from Billy’s past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda’s mother has kept hidden—and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.

Bighearted and trenchantly observant, The Bookshop of Yesterdays is a lyrical story of family, love and the healing power of community. It’s a love letter to reading and bookstores, and a testament to how our histories shape who we become.

I actually enjoyed this book even though the ending was very predictable.  I loved the premise of the scavenger hunt and there were enough twists and turns to keep it interesting.

Well, that's it for 2018. 

I think my favourite books for the year were  

The Cuckoo's Calling,  The Silkworm and  Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith.

I also enjoyed

What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan  

Gray Mountain by John Grisham  

Name of Dead Girls by Eric Rickstad  

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter 

I hope I have more favourites in 2019 than in 2018.