For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

Hello everyone.

 Long time since we've been here. I was very fortunate to get to go on a business trip with my husband. He developed a new process for the company he works for and he is actually being awarded a patent for it. Can you believe it? My hubby, an inventor!  I wish he could invent something for me like a dust-free house or something that makes all the clutter go away. Geez, ever look around and swear there is something on every single surface of your house? I don't mean something decorative but something that doesn't belong there. That is how my house is right now and it really gets on my nerves. We have almost 4,000 square feet for two people there is no excuse for so much junk...or beloved belongings without a home. Still, a home, full of stuff or maintained by a neat-nick that I strive to be, is a wonderful thing. A home is someplace you can relax, heal, reenergize, think and plan. I suppose at its most basic it is shelter and safety. What happens though when you learn that someone that you thought was your safety net may not be or when someone you love tells you something terrible has happened to them? You spend that cocooning time in your home with doubt and with constant unease, those annoying butterflies in your stomach. Beautiful to look at, not so nice for lunch.

The feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty is at the center of the book For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt. The book blurb tells you about a married couple that met in law school and discussed how to get away with murder. Now for the record, I met my darling, inventor husband in college and I can assure you we did NOT discuss murder. So from the beginning, the story grabs your attention, unless of course murder talk is your primo dating move, then you'll likely be bored. As the story moves on, something bad happens to this lawyerly couple's son. Now, I don't usually restate book info but this story, a thriller, asks a question that if I was a mom, what would I do?  I don't know how I would answer. If someone hurt your child what would you do? What if they were going to be in a position to do it again, even if you remove your child from the situation this person could hurt someone else? What would you do? Forgetting what is legal, what do you morally do? I'm telling you honestly that if it were me, I don't know. I would like to think I'd handle something terrible with a dignified grace and have forgiveness, but...but...someone you love dearly is hurt on purpose. I don't know but I really doubt I would be able to control myself. Which, let's face it, is stupid, I'd end up in jail and the situation would just get worse. In this story, these parents are faced with that decision. This could make for a heartbreaking story, well it is, but Margot Hunt also makes it into a heart racing thriller. Nothing is ever as simple as it looks, as the couple in this novel quickly find out.

This book is quick paced, stays on the plot with quite the roller coaster ride. It even has a good to the last drop ending.

We Hope For Better Things

Hello everyone. Hope you are having a good day.

Part of my life as an average, everyday housewife, is dealing with an average, everyday husband. Now, I've known my husband for gosh more than thirty years. (no age comments) Wow, I am overdue for a halo, seriously! Anyway, despite this long time together and knowing all his quirks and having heard endless (and I mean endless) "guy" stories, I still don't get men.  Let's start with the guy stories, why are they so often about air coming out of some part of the body at some inappropriate time? Why do they seem to suffer from hearing loss when certain topics are brought up?  And why, please someone tell me why, they notice and comment on the breast size of every woman they see? Men, let me give you some valuable advice, we don't care what you think about the breasts of the woman on the panel giving commentary on CNN. You know they might be talking about some apocalyptic event, but all we hear is "wow, she's got a nice set". Honestly, I shake my head.

What brings up hubby talk? I told you we received a new gaming system for Christmas. He is playing some military game, he is on the beach at D-Day and then fight against the Germans in World War II. So, I hear endless gun fire, only to have it silenced by his loud cussing. I say "if you're not enjoying this we can return it."  No, he wants to play. Now, two hours later, I hear the game talking amongst the gun fire, and hubby talking back to the characters, saying things like "I can't find the amo, is this a budget cut?" Then more cursing, by both him and the game, yes, the game curses too. I remind him he must go to the office tomorrow, doesn't he believe it would be wise to start thinking about going to bed, no, he has to play a big longer. Again, with the head shaking. Men are giving me a neck ache! As we all know, all women are perfect in every way. Now that I've insulted half the population perhaps we should talk about a book. A story that discusses differences not between men and women but in race.

I recently received a copy of We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels. This book is remarkable and beautiful and haunting and.....and.....I don't know. I can't think of an adequate way of describing it. This story follows a house outside Detroit that has three generations of the family live in it for different reasons and at different times. One thing they all have in common is that all three of the women are white and fall in love with an African-American man. One takes place during the civil war, one in the 1960's and one in present time. They each have their own story line and, of course, they intertwine. The telling of each of these characters lives is really interesting but the point is really to show how racism has changed and not changed. It shows how love can be anywhere, with anyone...an inter-racial marriage, mother and child or between aunt and niece. The chapters are short and it changes between time periods frequently. For those who don't like that kind of change, please know that is it smoothly done and not irritating. Also, know that this book touches on racism and police brutality but does not preach. I promise you will not feel like you are reading some kid's history paper or being lectured to. This is simply a perfectly told story from start to finish.

I have one problem with this book. I regret that I read it so early in the year as I fear it will be my favorite for the entire year and, if that is the case, then I have nothing to look forward to that can beat it. Okay, I am willing to look and read for something better, but this book was incredible.

The Silent Patient

Hello everyone.

I hope you are enjoying the winter weather and not too snow bound. Last time I was talking about the big storm that was coming and how my sister in upstate NY was due for something like eighteen inches. I admitted I was a little bit evil because I had a smirk on my face while writing about it. Hey, my family teases me about moving south when I complain about the humidity, fair is fair. Only I guess it isn't really. My sister slid while walking on the ice and really hurt her knees, like x-rays and Cortisone shots under both kneecaps hurt. Rrrrr, gives me the willies just thinking about it. Thankfully for her, she is much stronger than I am. Anyway, now I feel terrible, like a horrible rotten person. We were supposed to get a little ice and snow but had pouring rain and bad wind for a couple of hours, that was it. Just enough to make everything in our old house creak and groan, especially as the temperature dropped and the wood shrank. It was both creepy and annoying. I swore I heard dripping on the third floor, in the storage-rafters part. Of course I woke up hubby and sent him from bed to literally crawling all over to find no dripping. Phew, I would rather be wrong on that issue!

While all this "weather" was going on last weekend and we were hunkered down, I finished a book. I received an arc of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides from Celadon Books. It is available for pre-order and is released February 5, 2019. You all have busy lives so I'll cut to the chase, it was great, I loved it. See ya later!

Okay, just kidding. Figures huh, spend 45 minutes yammering on about the weather and family issues and one sentence about the book. Seriously, this is my favorite, a thriller. A husband and wife seem like everything is fine, one day she shoots him in the face several times, killing him. Then she never speaks again. Instead of jail she is in an institution. The story is told as a new doctor arrives and is very interested in this silent patient's case and is determined to help her. Now you mystery and thriller readers will agree that when you read a lot of these types of books you think you can beat the author, figure out the "who dun it" or the big twist. Sometimes we get it right, which is fine if you enjoy the story. Sometimes, however, the author shocks you and you, as the reader, are wrong. This story has an enormous twist, HUGE, as I am ashamed and delighted to tell you I didn't see it coming. I've been trying to get hubby to read it. I'm wondering if I missed signs, was this twist obvious? But I keep telling myself that I have read so many thrillers I would have seen it coming. Nope, boys and girls, you can cross the butler off your list in this one, he definitely didn't do it.  You've got to love when a book can make you gasp out loud and that is what this one did.

One more thing, I hate medical stuff so the title had me a little leery, but rest assured that is not an issue here at all. Also, know that this book is nicely paced and certainly keeps you turning pages before and after the "gasp". Get ready for February 5th, see if you figure it out!

Addicted to Love by Nicola Niemc

Hello everyone.

If you are in the US I hope you okay during our weekend of terrible weather. Tornados in the south and a blizzard in the north. In the middle, we are getting squeezed with a huge temperature and pressure change, going from a pleasant 65 degrees this morning to a teeth chattering 19 tonight, with 35 mph winds. It's basically a headache in the making!  I have been glued to the weather channel since I have family in the path of 24 inches of snow (yes, I am an evil person as I have an ever so slight grin as I type that). What I often see, but haven't in the last few days, is the weather around the world, I'm sure there are difficult patches of weather everywhere. I hope you are ALL safe and out of harms way. Now that I've given a meteorological rundown, feeling like I should be standing in front of a map gesturing wildly with my hands, I'll say this...lousy weather is a great time to read! Yep, you can't feel guilty about not painting the house, or pulling weeds in the garden, or all those uncompleted errands. It is as if those snow clouds parted and a beam of sun shone down on our pile-o-books, like part of an Indiana Jones movie, beckoning us to read. So I say "READ WE MUST!"

Tired of looking at your to be read list, feeling guilty about buying so many books and not knowing where to start? Not to be an enabler, but sometimes you need something new even though you have a ton to read already. I know that makes no sense and is just an example of how I buy way too many books and can attempt to justify anything, but sometimes my TBR piles have me running like a puppy. Each book surrounds me, calling my name. I feel like I am running back and forth between them "I'll read this next, no this...no this...wait maybe this should be first."  Pretty soon I'm gonna be like that little puppy and piddle right on the floor from complete confusion. So as I tiebreaker I'll get a new book. Shhhh, I know that just complicates the problem and is probably a clear sign of addiction, but YOU are supposed to be on my side! Anyway, I bought a new book a bit before Christmas, during one of these episodes. I read the beginning but had to put it down because of the holidays.

I've read several books lately, great ones, The Red Address Book, An Anonymous Girl, and The Silent Patient. To be honest, these books will likely all be huge blockbusters...HUGE. During all these, in the back of my mind, the book I'd read the first few pages of kept calling me. That book is Addicted to Love by Nicola Niemc. Now I'll let you in on a little secret, Nicola reads this blog. Yes, she does, and you'll often see her commenting! To have a blog less than a year old and have someone so kind as to read it often and take time to comment, well, I really appreciate it and count myself as very lucky and honored. So, when you see her comments, you know she is an author! You can purchase Addicted to Love on Amazon in both paperback and kindle. You know, with a kindle purchase, you don't even have to leave your house...you can hit that little buy and download button and, despite the blizzard we currently have outside, you could have this book in the nick of time.

Addicted to Love is the perfect bad weather read (course it would be a great beach read too). It is a romance between Lexi and Robert; she is in her early twenties and he his forties. Now you would think that Robert would be very mature and Lexi less so, but that doesn't hold true in all cases. Sometimes, things in our past require us to grow up more than we should have to. Sometimes this is visible, sometimes it remains hidden below the surface to be dealt with later. Both Lexi and Robert have their pasts to deal with in a physical and emotional way. This story follows these two people in their May-December romance as they uncover these issues and deal with them. Most romance novels follow a pattern where the characters meet, fall in love, have some kind of earth shattering problem, and get back together for a happy ending. This novel breaks with that a bit, with a more character driven story. Instead of someone literally hanging off a cliff, you keep reading because you want to know why Lexi acts like that or what Robert was thinking. One thing this book does, like a typical romance, and it does very well, is build the sexual tension between the two characters. The naughty bits might well keep you warm during the snow, another advantage of a purchase this weekend. Hell, it might melt the snow off your roof! One of the things that makes this book so completely enjoyable (besides the tension) is the writing. Nicola, you can write! Seriously! The dialog in this is so good. I've just read three books that are bound to be New York Times Bestsellers, yet this book, Addicted to Love still held my interest. Now that is saying something! It is due completely to the writing! It is quick witted, sometimes sarcastic, never drones on, never repeats and again, the dialog is excellent.

Now, hold on to your hats, this is after all a book review, I have to say something negative...I want more. Yes, I have to know the future of Lexi and Robert. So now that I'm addicted to Addicted to Love, I need more. While we are all reading during bad weather, maybe Nicola could start working on a sequel.

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow

Hello everyone.  I hope you are well.  I am still struggling with this creeping crud of a cough I picked up at Christmas. Such a nice present, wish I'd read the gift tag before I opened it! Hubby, who has had a worse version, seems to be doing much better. I am grateful for his improvement! Because of feeling so lousy we haven't begun to take down the holiday decorations. Okay, let me be honest, we wouldn't have begun anyway...I am a strict believer of Christmas decorations down by St. Patrick's Day! Well, maybe not that extreme, but I'm not in any hurry. I keep thinking I'll come up with some excellent new way of organizing all that "stuff" that will make it much easier later this year to put it all back up, but alas, I always get fed up with it all and start shoving stuff in boxes willy nilly. You know, I have heard of people that design closets in their homes that they push their holiday trees in...whole...and just pull them back out the following year. I'm starting to think they have the right idea that all these decorations are kind of like dusting, you just have to repeat over and over. Not that I'm not happy to be able to put up holiday decorations, we all know plenty of people in this world are not able for many reasons, so I guess I'll learn to enjoy the process. I refuse to enjoy dusting though, just for the record.

While downing my zillionth cup of hot tea and cough drop this week I finished the book Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend. This is the second of what I hope is going to be a long running series. The first book, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, I loved. While not a big fantasy reader, I am totally into this story line. I always seem to like books that it doesn't take time to "get into", probably why I like thrillers so much because of their pacing. It seems like fantasy would take longer because you have to describe the location and characters so much. Don't get me wrong, I love the description in something like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath....heck I'm still thinking about that turtle on the road. (Read it if you haven't it is a classic, though somewhat depressing, still a classic). Then there is the description in a book like Maguire's Wicked about the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz story. I adore Elphaba and all her glorious green-ness, but the description of the world, Geez! I was reading that book out loud to hubby one time in the car on a long trip and the words the author made up gave me a tongue cramp! (settle down all you perverts) Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of wasting valuable story time in so much description, I want to get to the plot. Wundersmith, like Nevermoor, spends only necessary amounts of time on description and has a strong plot. It has been likened to Harry Potter. I honestly thought it was just because of the fantasy, its popularity, and being written for an audience a bit younger than myself (no comments necessary). However, I've started noticing more and more similarities, is the villain a little Voldemortish? Do any of the building descriptions remind you of the Weasley's house. I don't know, I might be reading things that aren't there. Once thing is for sure, this is a classic good against evil. Wundersmith is every bit as good as Nevermoor, frankly, I cannot wait for more. Its almost 550 pages fly by way too quickly!

By the way, in my review of Nevermoor I told you about my fabulous artist niece. I saw her a Christmas and she took Nevermoor back to art school with her. So happy this will be something else we can share. I might even be willing to stand in line at midnight, ala Harry Potter, to get her another Morrigan Crow installment.

The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg

Hello everyone.

I hope you are all well and had a fun New Year's celebration. We, of course, were sick. I hope you don't catch this "thing" that is going around with a cough that just will not leave. Poor hubby is starting to sound like a seal when he coughs. I want to tease him, maybe toss a beach ball for him to spin on his nose, but I feel so horrible for him. It actually breaks my heart to hear him in distress. No, those of you that are medically inclined, he does not have whooping cough or pneumonia, but thanks for your concern. Doesn't it seem like every winter there is some stubborn virus going around? Luckily we usually avoid it but guess it was our turn. Oh well, we've seen lots of Netflix and Hulu (both I am angry about the story lines but that is for another day).

Anyway, while plopped firmly in a chair with a blanket on my lap, hubby safely recovering on the sofa, fire in the fireplace and Christmas tree lights on, I finished another great book. I just completed The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg. I received an advanced copy but the actual release is this coming Tuesday on January 8, 2019. If you like wonderful stories that span a lifetime, this is the kind of book you would like. It tells the story of a ninety-six year old woman, Doris, who is writing her life story for her niece. Doris is using her address book as a prompt for her memories. The story is lovely, moving from Sweden to Paris to New York...you get the picture. This is nicely paced, thoroughly telling the story but not lingering on any one part for too long.

Now I am about to be nitpicky and most likely completely wrong, so take this for what it is worth....which is probably a negative amount. One of the people listed in Doris' address book is someone that is in her life a short time. She would never have an address or phone number or need to contact them. So why are they in the address book at all? It just left me wondering why. The author is from Sweden, I am in the USA. I have no idea how address books work in Sweden so having this character listed may well be completely normal. In any case, this does not distract from the story and, again, the character is necessary. Also, like when I have objections to certain things Stephen King does, please remember Sofia Lundberg, has a major hit novel that is going global and I have a cold and dirty kitchen floor. Judge for yourself!

Seriously, The Red Address Book is wonderful. If you like good stories, this delivers.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Hello everyone.

I hope you had a nice Christmas, or Tuesday, however it was you spent it last week. My Christmas was disastrous, despite my early start and incessant list making. We didn't get all our decorations or trees up. Our company arrived a day later than originally planned which gave us more prep time, yet still we were cleaning after they arrived and remained without the last tree and several critical decorations. In addition, I forgot to bring out several of the "snacks" we had purchased. We play games, lots of them, so we serve a nice breakfast but no lunch just snacks, then dinner, of course. Anyway, I forgot to put out lots of the snacks we had purchased...like a platter of assorted Italian meats my brother-in-law loves, or the nuts he loves, or the cheeseball that is tradition.

We were so lucky that from all my siblings, as a group present, hubby and I received a Play Station 4. Now before you think we are juvenile let me tell you my mother was the first in line to get an Atari, oh so many years ago, which she loved and played often. In addition, my artist niece has now declared her major as "game design". Since I bothered to learn all the words to Blue Clues in an effort to be a favorite aunt, you can bet your fanny I'm going to play a game she thinks is interesting. (BTW, I spent a good hour begging her to make a game of the book Nevermoor.) So we were being taught how to use the new game machine when my family packed up, leaving quickly after we finished. I forgot to give them treats that we usually do, and we will never eat, like dozens and dozens of spectacularly decorated sugar cookies (can you guess who made them...hint...I'm pointing at me) and a container of homemade fudge so big you could soak in it. Oh well, I guess they had a good time and that is all that matters, right? Successful family time. Unfortunately, my husband came away sick and now I'm getting the creeping crud. We both feel absolutely awful!

One good thing, after Christmas I was so tired, besides sleeping the only thing I've done is read. Hooray! I just read An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. If they sound familiar it is because they are the writing team that brought readers the thriller The Wife Between Us. I greatly enjoyed The Wife Between Us, but An Anonymous Girl is even better! This new book is about trust and lies. When is it okay to lie and when has it gone too far?  How do you tell if someone is lying? What are your moral values? It starts when a young makeup artist sneaks into a psychological study about morals because it pays well and she needs the money. Right there you are wondering about values, as she is lying to get into the study....but what if she needs the money for a noble reason? Is it bad then? Anyway, when the book starts you might think it is going to be slow or dry as a girl answers questions on a computer screen. You'd be wrong. It is strangely compelling, the story calls to you to push on just one more chapter. The story quickly morphs into something completely different, something personal and unpredictable. Someone is a master manipulator but the reader remains unsure who. As this plot becomes more and more of a true thriller, we realize that not only is their a whole lot of mental twisting going on but actual physical danger. Who is the target and who is the perpetrator? It is well told, quickly paced and certainly holds your interest. In addition, it has an oh so satisfying end, which you know I adore.

If you have a bookstore gift card, An Anonymous Girl is released January 8, 2019 and would really start your reading year out on the fast track!