The Duck Commander Family by Willie and Korie Robertson

The Duck Commander Family by Willie and Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach

If you love their show, Duck Dynasty, you will absolutely love this book.  

Willie and Korie, along with the rest of the Robertson family, own and run the multi-million dollar company Duck Commander where they make and sell duck hunting products.  This book is their story.

We learn the roots and secrets of the Robertson family that are not portrayed on the show.  Phil was pursuing a college education and played football and had a teaching degree but gave it up to hunt ducks and once left his family but eventually he found God and thankfully his wife, Ms. Kay, forgave him and accepted him back into their lives.  Phil invented the double reed duck call and that is how Duck Commander got it's start.  Phil and Kay ran Duck Commander out their home for years. 

We also learn of the childhoods of the family members, specifically Willie and Korie.  They didn't come from the same backgrounds but they learned to use both to their advantage.  They went to college, married, had kids, and eventually took over the family business Duck Commander and later opened a second branch called Buck Commander where they sell deer hunting accessories.  

And finally we learn of the failures and successes of each person in the family, their faith in God, their hopes for the future, and their passionate love for family and ducks, and food!!  They love food and there are quite a few family recipes in the book.

I love these guys.  My husband and I watch every episode and even watch the mini-marathons when they come on.  We also have some of the episodes recorded on our DVR.  If we are feeling down we put it on.  It seems to take you away from your worries and troubles for just a little while and is sure to make you laugh.  We all know laughter is good for the soul!  

One of my favorite Bible verses from the book is this:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty   I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. 

- PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13

My favorite character from the show is Ms. Kay.  I just love Ms. Kay.  I want to give her hug and help her cook.  I also want to try her cornbread.  I'm going to give it a try asap!  

Published in October 2012 by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Reunion by Dan Walsh

The Reunion by Dan Walsh is a story of an Vietnam veteran who has been all but forgotten.  After returning home from Vietnam, Aaron Miller loses everything, his family, his home and his old life as he struggles with depression while the whole country turns their backs on the war and the soldiers who fought in it.  Aaron turns to the streets and drugs and alcohol.  After several years he finds God and gets himself cleaned up but his family still refuses to accept him.  

Dave Russo is a reporter who is writing a book about Vietnam vets.  He contacts a famous vet to interview him for the book but the vet, John Lansing, tells Dave that the story should not be about him but about a war buddy who had saved the lives of three men in their platoon and who had won the Congressional Metal of Honor.  His name was Aaron Miller.  John and his two buddies insist that Dave find Aaron and bring him to their reunion. 

Dave agrees to search for Aaron and is excited about including such a hero in his book.  But what he doesn't know is that his life and the rest of the men's lives will be forever changed.  Especially Aaron Miller.  

Dan Walsh pens a story as if he is telling it to his best friend. There is heartbreak, love, and faith and eventually hope which will pull at your heartstrings throughout.  The book left me with such a good feeling that I highly recommend it. I couldn't put it down.  I love a good book that captures your interest right away and captivates you until it's all you can think about until it's finished.  I cried and I laughed. I really loved it!  I hope you check it out!

Published in September 2012 by Revell.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

For One More Day by Mitch Albom is the story of a mother and son and the relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond.  

Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father that he could either be a mommy's boy or a daddy's boy and of course he chooses to be a daddy's boy playing baseball and spending most his time with his father until one day his father leaves home unexpectedly.  Chick grows up with just his mom and sister but has irrefutable damage to his psyche due to the divorce and becomes a bad husband, a bad father and an all around broken man who is even shunned by his own family.

He begins drinking heavily and one day decides to just end it all and commit suicide by driving his car off an embankment and into a billboard sign but his plan goes awry and he is thrown from the car and knocked unconscious.  While unconscious, he gets a visit from the spirit of his dead mother where he learns of things about her life and the sacrifices she has made for him.

What would we all give for just One More Day with a loved one?  I have personally wished for it many times.

Published in 2006 by Hyperion, For One More Day, despite mixed reviews from critics, made it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. 

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray is a novel about Clover, a mom in her early fifties whose family never looks at her face.  They speak to her and have meals with her but they never actually see her.  This predicament becomes evident when she wakes up one day and she is gone.  She literally disappears.   And if that's not bad enough, weeks go by before her family members, particularly her husband, even notice.  Luckily, her neighbor  and best friend Marjorie, notices right away dismissing her feelings of insanity.   Clover goes about her days as usual, unnoticed by the general public until one day she finds an ad in the paper for an "Invisible Women's Club" which she attends and learns that her invisibility is caused by certain medications she has been taking.  

The Invisible women then form a plan to force the pharmaceutical company to take the meds off the market and research a cure for their newfound disease.  

This book is insanely humorous and reflects the feeling of being invisible by most middle aged women who feel overlooked or faded into the background.  I liked it very much. 

Published in 2012 by Crown Publishing.  Go read it!

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom is a story about the meaning of time and the first man who tries to measure it.  

It's the beginning of the history of man, when Dor, a young boy, discovers time and invents the world's first clock.  But such a discovery comes with a price and not only is he banished from his town for a time but he is also punished by God and sent to live in a cave for centuries where he must hear the voices of all who desire more years, more days, more minutes....

Eventually he is offered a chance to redeem himself by saving the souls of two earthly people, one who wants to end her life and the other who wants to live forever.  And so he appears in modern times with an hourglass that when turned upside down, can stop time and attempts to save these lives and in turn end his eternal curse. 

This book is fantastic and the characters are likable and relatable as well.  It's a fast paced page turner and I liked it very much.  Another great story from Mitch Albom.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“It is never too late or too soon. It is when it is supposed to be.” 

“There is a reason God limits man's days.” 

“When you are measuring life, you are not living it.” 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone:  Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a true story of the life of a 12 year old boy, Ishmael Beah, during the Civil  war in Sierra Leone in the 1990's.  Ishmael comes home from a journey to find that his village is under attack by the RUF (Revolutionary Unit Front) or rebels and flees to find safety with his older brother and other children his age.  After a year or so of traveling around, scrounging for food and water, and looking for a place to go, he finds out that his whole family has been slaughtered by the RUF.  Ishmael and his friends are soon after recruited by the Sierra Leone Army and forced to become soldiers.  The boys are brainwashed and forced to become brutal killers in the name of the government even carrying out scouting expeditions and capital executions of rebel prisoners.  After a few years in the army, some of the boys, including Ishmael are rescued by UNICEF and taken to a rehabilitation center to try and learn to be boys again.  Eventually, Ishmael is rehabilitated and travels to America to give interviews and speeches on his experiences during the war.

This book intrigued me and infuriated me all the same time.  It's hard to imagine the life of child in such a way  as Ishmael had lived his.  The hardships even before the war much less after his family was killed and he became a boy soldier.  Also astounding is the fact that he went on to live a successful life after such atrocities and to work for the cause of the betterment of children everywhere.  It just proves that people can change even in the face of adversity.  When he first became a soldier, he was the same age as my son is now.  I read this book really quickly and highly recommend it.

A Long Way Gone was nominated for a Quill Award in the Best Debut Author category for 2006 and was published by Sarah Crichton books in 2007.  

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

I read a review about this book online somewhere that said it was pretty good so I put it on hold at the library and I have to admit that for the first few chapters I was slightly bored but I'm glad I kept at it because I ended up enjoying this book very much and falling in love with the characters.  It became a quick read, a page turner for me. 

June Elbus is 13 years old when her uncle Finn, her best friend and her godfather, dies of Aids in 1982.  She is hurt and angry and feels left behind until she finds an unlikely friend in Finn's "other half", Toby whom she had not known during Finn's life.  It was a family secret kept from her because her mother felt like Toby gave the Aids to Finn and refused to have any relationship with him or let her family know him.  But we know that love always prevails and the family does come together full circle in the end. 

I felt like I could relate to both loner June and her outgoing sister Greta and having a sister myself, the tension and love between them. The characters in Tell the Wolves I'm Home come off as real and honest and I liked that.  

Published in June 2012 by the Random House Publishing Group.

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent

Heaven is For Real:  A Little Boy's Astounding Story of his Trip to Heaven and Back.

I have to admit that when I first picked out this book at the library, which I put on hold and had to wait quite a long time for, I was skeptical.  I opened it right to the middle and starting reading which is totally out of character for me because I wanted to skip the technical stuff and get right to the little boy's comments about Heaven.  I was immediately charmed by his simple way of describing what it was like in Heaven.  So I started back at the beginning.

Todd and Sonja Burpo are on a family vacation when their 3-year old son Colton becomes violently ill.  They rush him to the hospital and soon after find out that he has an erupted appendix which requires emergency surgery.   After much prayer by Todd, a pastor, and his congregation, Colton recovers from surgery and all is well.

Shortly after they are home from the hospital Colton tells his parents that during the surgery he had actually died and that his soul astrally traveled to Heaven.  He tells his parents of things he learned that he couldn't possibly have known about such as relatives he met who had passed before he was born and a sister who had been miscarried.  He said that he had wings and that he sat on Jesus' lap.  He saw the throne of God and the gates of Heaven.  

This book is a fast read and I enjoyed it very much.  I do feel like I have a sense of renewed faith after reading it because I don't think it is possible for little kids to make up stuff like that.  It is possible that the parents read more into his visions than he proposed but all in all I believe his story.

Heaven is for Real was published in November 2010 by Thomas Nelson and was on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is about a eccentric young girl named Stargirl Caraway who comes to Mica High School after being homeschooled all her life.  She is carefree, funny, and free spirited and immediately loved and liked by all. That is until the student body figures out how "different" she is and as we all know, different in high school is not always a good thing.  In Stargirl's case, it becomes a very bad thing as she is soon shunned and anyone who associates with her becomes shunned as well such as  a young man named Leo who finds himself in love with her.  Leo is torn between loving her the way she is and wanting her to be normal so that the two of them can fit in with everyone else.  He convinces her to act normal, which she does try to do, but it doesn't work.  The other students continue to treat her as invisible until .....

Well, you'll have to read the book to find out what happens in the end but I have to say, not being a huge fan of young adult or juvenile fiction, which I did not know this was until I was deep into the first chapter, this book is captivating and very well written.  I found myself unable to put it down and finished it within a day or so.  Fantastic for adults and children alike.  Read it then give it to your child to read.  I think we will all learn a thing or two from this novel.

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is interesting to me in that it falls into so many different book genres such as historical fiction, suspense, romance, and even perhaps a little on the dark side.

Jacob Jankowski is a veterinarian major in college when his parents are killed in an accident.  Left penniless, with only a few weeks left to finish school, he runs off and joins the circus, The Benzini Brothers Greatest Show on Earth.   He is hired on as head veterinarian (despite his failure to obtain his degree) and soon falls in love with Marlena, the beautiful equestrienne star who happens to be married to the boss.  When the show, which is set in the 1930's Depression era, begins to falter financially the boss buys an elephant named Rosie who brings the characters together in an unexpected way.

The characters are believable, whimsical, sometimes dark and you either love them or hate them.  I think my favorite character was Rosie the elephant who at first refuses to do anything the trainers tell her to do until Jacob discovers her secret.  The case of the animals as a whole is not unlike the feeling of how circus animals are portrayed today and I feel like that is a major influence in the book.

The book as a whole, toggles between the present and the past, not unlike Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook where the main character, in this case Jacob Jankowski who is either 90 or 93, is a nursing home resident remembering his past in one chapter then revealing the hardships of his present state in the next.

I found the book to be a fast paced, suspenseful novel that was well researched and written.  I enjoyed it very much and now I must see the movie.  The Redbox didn't have it though and it's no wonder since the movie came out in 2011.  I'm way behind in the times on this one.

Published in 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Water for Elephants remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for six weeks, and was nominated for numerous awards including the illustrious Quill Award, the Entertainment Weekly Best Novel award, and won the BookBrowse award in 2007 for most popular book.

The Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir by Donna Johnson

The Holy Ghost Girl; A Memoir  by Donna Johnson

Donna Johnson's father left the family when she was very young.  Donna, her mother Carolyn, and her little brother Gary join up with a tent revivalist, David Terrell, where Carolyn plays organ.  

The children are placed in the care of Brother Terrell's wife, Betty Ann who has two children by Brother Terrell during the revivals and are rowdy and full of mischief.  The story tells of growing up poor in the tents even sleeping on the chairs until wee hours of the night and traveling from town to town living in rented houses and eating scraps of food, sometimes fasting as well.

The revivals are full of exorcisms, healings, and speaking in tongues and at times, Brother Terrell has to fight off the KKK as the story is set during the civil rights movement mostly in Mississippi and Alabama.  

As the evangelist grows larger and traveling is more intense Donna and Gary are sent off to live with whoever  her momma can dump them on, sometimes abusive  people.  Eventually, the scandal of the affair breaks and Brother Terrell moves them into their own house where he makes regular visits and they even have more kids together but later on Carolyn finds out that Brother Terrell is having other affairs and has other "families". 

In my opinion, the book was a little slow, but I kept at it as it is interesting and there is a surprise in the end but I'll leave that to you dear readers to find out for yourselves.  I find it fascinating how Brother Terrell can heal people through the power of faith in the Lord and he does.  He makes the blind to see and the crippled to walk right in front of thousands of people and people would come from near and far and line up to be healed.  I don't know if it's true or not, but what Donna makes very clear is that the Lord speaks through him even though he is a sinner and cheater and a liar. 

The book was published in 2011 by Gotham books. 

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Miss Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan lives a mundane life in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's playing bridge with the girls she grew up with and writing the newsletter for the Children's Benefit.  Skeeter dreams of a bigger and better life as an editor for a publishing company or for a magazine.  She writes to many places but the only job she can get is writing the domestic column for the local newspaper.  Skeeter doesn't know anything about domestic housekeeping as she has been raised in the south with a housekeeper who does all the house cleaning and all the cooking.

Since she doesn't know anything about housekeeping, Skeeter takes her column questions to her friend Elizabeth's housekeeper Aibileen.  Aibileen, reluctantly at first, answers all her questions and helps her with the column.  Soon they become friends and Aibileen tells her about her son who passed away and how he had dreams of writing a book about how blacks are treated by their white counterparts which gives Skeeter the idea for the book "The Help".  She hires Aibileen and twelve of her maid friends to tell stories for the book of working for whites in the South.  The stories tell of mistreatment, abuse and heartbreak but also of love and attachment for the children they help to raise.  And the telling of the stories itself is dangerous as it is set in the time of the civil rights movement and there are laws against whites and blacks conspiring together for any reason.   They have to very careful and meet in secrecy or someone could get hurt or worse.

I loved the dialogue of the book because you get the true nature and character of each of the maids through their voices.  Particularly Aibileen because she tries so hard to teach the white children she cares for to not be racist.

“Once upon a time they was two girls," I say. "one girl had black skin, one girl had white."
Mae Mobley look up at me. She listening.
"Little colored girl say to little white girl, 'How come your skin be so pale?' White girl say, 'I don't know. How come your skin be so black? What you think that mean?'
"But neither one a them little girls knew. So little white girl say, 'Well, let's see. You got hair, I got hair.'"I gives Mae Mobley a little tousle on her head.
"Little colored girl say 'I got a nose, you got a nose.'"I gives her little snout a tweak. She got to reach up and do the same to me.
"Little white girl say, 'I got toes, you got toes.' And I do the little thing with her toes, but she can't get to mine cause I got my white work shoes on.
"'So we's the same. Just a different color', say that little colored girl. The little white girl she agreed and they was friends. The End."
Baby Girl just look at me. Law, that was a sorry story if I ever heard one. Wasn't even no plot to it. But Mae Mobley, she smile and say, "Tell it again.” 

I think this is an important book, even in modern times, because it shows not only how far we have come towards racial improvement but how far we still have to go.  I laughed and I cried and I gobbled the whole thing up in less than a week. 

Published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (February 10, 2009).

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

After reading Stephen King's colossal 11/22/63, The Notebook was like a decadent, rich, and smooth midnight snack.  I read the whole thing in about three hours.

The setting is coastal North Carolina, 1940's and Noah Calhoun is haunted by the ghost of a girl he once loved.  Everywhere he looks and everywhere he goes he is reminded of the love they once shared.  But she has been out of his life for more than a decade.

Allie Nelson is also haunted by the past and passions lost.  She is engaged to be married to another but she cannot go through with it until she is sure that is what she really wants.  So makes a trip back to New Bern, North Carolina to flirt with the past and see where her heart takes her.

She finds Noah sitting on the porch of his family home, alone and over the next few days, the two try to rekindle the flame that never went out. Will Allie follow her heart and stay with the man she never stopped loving or will she return to the socialite lifestyle she is expected to live?

"I would love to tell you that everything will work out for us, and I promise to do all I can to make sure it does.  But if we never meet again and this is truly good-bye, I know we will see each other again in another life.  We will find each other again, and maybe the stars will have changed, and we will not only love each other in that time, but for all the times we've had before."

I usually don't go in for romance novels but I knew that this book was a bestseller for over a year, all over the world and that it had been made into a movie and I found it at a thrift shop so I thought, why not?  I'm glad I did.  Every girl wishes for such a passionate romance and soul partner that Allie has found in Noah.  This is one of the greatest love stories ever told.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Al Templeton, owner of the local diner in Lisbon Falls, Maine, has accidentally found a porthole to the past in his storage room.  Every trip through the porthole takes him to Lisbon Falls, Maine on September 9, 1958 at 11:58 AM.  And every time he comes back, no matter how long he stays, it's always two minutes later in the future.  Al makes many trips through the porthole and devises a plan to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.  Unfortunately, Al develops lung cancer and cannot continue on with his plan so he recruits the help of a local high school English teacher, Jake Epping.  Jake is of course skeptical at first but once he makes his first trip through 'the rabbit hole' under the alias of George Amberson and helps to save the lives of a friend's family he becomes a believer and agrees to make the journey through the porthole and on to 1963 where he would attempt stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK.  But the past is obdurate.  It doesn't want to be changed and there are many many, sometimes dangerous, obstacles in his way.

I don't want to give away too much about the story but Jake or George, whichever you prefer does fall in love, makes many friends, and also helps to save the lives of others on the way.  You must remember there is a butterfly effect going on and every single life he touches changes the future.  The ending is totally unexpected but I wouldn't say a cliffhanger, thankfully.

At first I was intimidated by the book's size(849p.) and it sat on my shelf for many months.  But once I got started with it, I was quickly hooked and finished the whole thing within a week.  I think Stephen King fans will love this tale of 'natural meets supernatural'.  Classic Stephen King.  I have to say the last several books I read by King were, to me,  not of his nature and left me slightly disappointed.  But I'm glad to say he is BACK!!  Go get it!

Published in 2011 by Scribner.

Shelly

Electric Barracuda by Tim Dorsey

This is Tim Dorsey's 13th book starring the ever practical yet psycho Florida fugitive, Serge Storms.  This time Serge takes on us on a fun and frolicking "fugitive tour" of Florida.  He keeps a blog and of course he has his faithful, yet stoned sidekick Coleman by his side every step of the way.

Serge is, as usual, being hunted by Federal agents, a bounty hunter, a whole caravan of characters, and his ex-wife in a Turquoise colored T-bird.   We take a trip throughout the sunshine state to see the back streets and "under belly" of Florida including The Everglades, Orlando, Venice, Myakka River, Tampa, and so on.

Besides the "fugitive tour", Serge has a mission this time to help his Grandfather's old gang on the Loop Road to recover funds stolen by a shady lawyer.  Will Serge complete his mission? Will the trackers catch up to him this time?  Will Agent Mahoney, his nemesis, track him down?  Go get this fun, laugh out loud, comedy and found out for yourself.

I can't help but wonder who would play Serge and Coleman in a movie?  Or Agent Mahoney?  I think it would a great movie!

Tim Dorsey is an ex-writer for the Tampa Tribune.  Electric Barracuda was published in 2011 by William Morrow.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt

Eli and Charlie Sisters are killers.  Hired gun killers.  It's 1851, Oregon City and the brothers are hired by the Commodore to kill a man who concocted a formula to make gold glow in the rivers for an easy strike.  Their mission is to travel to California, San Francisco to be precise, to kill Hermann Kermit Warm and steal the formula.  Their travels are long and dark and sometimes comedic.  Most of the book, narrated by Eli Sisters, is about their adventures during their travels and the characters they meet on the way but they finally do reach San Francisco and they do find Hermann Kermit Warm. But things have changed for the Sisters Brothers along the way and the ending takes a twisted turn that is not to be expected.


I found the book to be a little too dark and maybe a little descriptive however I was hooked early on and it became a quick read.   Mr. Dewitt is a fantastic story teller with a smooth flow of words that I can appreciate.  Plus I just like Westerns.  Always have.  I'm a huge fan of Larry McMurtry but I wouldn't exactly compare the Sisters Brothers to anything by McMurtry but more so like maybe a Charles Frazier novel such as Cold Mountain.  Seducing, riveting, grotesque, and funny all at the same time.  I can't wait for more from Patrick Dewitt!


Published in 2011 by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publisher and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize  Also published in paperback in 2012.

Lamberto Lamberto Lamberto by Gianni Rodari

Lamberto Lamberto Lamberto A Modern Fable By Gianni Rodari

Baron Lamberto is ninety three years old and lives on the island of San Giulio in the middle of Lake Orta in the mountains of Northern Italy.  Lamberto is very rich as he owns 24 banks around the world and on each continent and he is also very sick, having 24 ailments, one for each bank that he owns.  Only his butler, Anselmo, remembers them all.

Baron Lamberto is told by an Egyptian mystic that the secret to youthfulness is to have your name repeated over and over so he hires six people to chant his name twenty four hours a day.  "Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto,...." Surprisingly, this works and Lamberto's health begins to improve and soon becomes the epitome of youth.

But his life is at risk because not only does his only heir, his nephew Ottavio, want him to die but then a group of terrorists shows up at his castle to demand a ransom from each of his 24 banks.  Soon the 24 bank managers arrive and negotiations begin.

Lamberto Lamberto Lamberto was originally written in 1980 by Rodari and has been translated to English in 2011 by Anthony Shugaar.  The original story is a great Italian Fable and Gianni Rodari (1920-1980) is a great Italian author and journalist most famous for his books for children.  He won the Hans Christian Andersen award in 1970.

I am extremely happy to have found this book in the new book section of my local library and to have read it and I highly recommend it to adults and children alike.  It is filled with shenanigans, amusing characters, and is highly unpredictable.... I think you'll love it!

Books I Want to Read

The Sisters Brothers: A Novel by Patrick deWitt

The Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Absolutist by John Boyne

Once in a House on Fire by Andrea Ashworth

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Happy reading!

Gator A-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey

Gator A-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey

Serge A. Storms and his drug-addicted sidekick, Coleman, are on a mission to make a documentary of Florida's history and the origins of Spring Break in Panama City Beach and other sunloving cities around the state.  In the midst of their fun and sometimes dangerous shenanigans, they stumble upon a young spring breaker who is being hunted by the hitmen of a Miami Kingpin, Madre, and the FBI.  Turns out the boy is the son of a former drug runner turned state's witness from the 80's.  The Kingpins want revenge and what better way  than to kill the guy's son.  But these guys don't know who they are dealing with when Serge steps in and takes matters into his own psychopath hands but only with help from his two gorgeous ex-coeds turned cons on the lamb, City and Country and the four 90-something old lady escapees from the Bayshore Convalescent center,  the G-Unit.

This is the hilarious type of book that you hate to love!  This is also the second book that I have read starring Serge and Coleman by Tim Dorsey.  Can't wait to get the others!  LOL!

The Magic(The Secret) by Rhonda Byrne

In the book's predecessor,  The Secret, Rhonda Byrne teaches us about the Law of Attraction.  Like attracts like.  So if you think positively, you attract positive things to you.  If you think negatively, you attract negative things to you.  It's the law of the Universe.

In The Magic, Rhonda advises the reader to practice saying "thank you" and meaning it.
Say thank you deliberately and with meaning.
The more you say thank you, the more you feel gratitude.
The more gratitude you give out, the more abundance you will receive.  

With practice, the book could teach you how to improve your life in the areas of love, health, wealth, and happiness. 

If you think, "I don't like my job," "I haven't got enough money", "I can't find my perfect partner," "I can't pay my bills," "I think I'm coming down with something," "My child is a problem," "My life is a mess," or "My marriage is in trouble," then you must attract more of those experiences.

But if you think about what you're grateful for, like, "I love my job," "My family is very supportive," "I had the best vacation," "I feel amazing today," "I got the biggest tax refund ever," or "I had a great weekend camping with my son," and you sincerely feel the gratitude, the law of attraction says you must attract more of those things into your life.  It works the same way as metal being drawn to a magnet; your gratitude is magnetic, and the more gratitude you have, the more abundance you magnetize.  It is Universal Law!

I believe and I think you should read this book.  What could it hurt?  

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

I have to admit when I first started reading this novel, I almost lost interest.  The first few pages seemed like young adult and as I've stated in previous book reviews, I am not into young adult fiction but I kept at it and within the first chapter, I was hooked.

Alice Grace Ripley is a dreamy librarian who always has her nose in a book and is always wishing for a happily ever after story of her own. She finds it when she loses her librarian job in Illinois due to the Great Depression and goes to Kentucky to deliver donated books to a library in a poor mining town. Her life becomes the story when she stumbles onto the scene of murder, betrayal, family feud, and true love.

The characters are endearing and you feel yourself becoming involved with them early on in the story.   Mack, the librarian and his 100 year old roommate and former slave, Lillie, four packhorse librarians, Ike the fiddle player, Belle (Lillie's horse),  as well as various troubled and colorful townspeople of Acorn Kentucky.  Also, I'd like to note that there are similarities to Alice in Wonderland in the story.

This is one of those books that you wish would never end.  There are laugh out loud moments, tearful moments, and sitting on the edge of your seat moments in this book that I won't forget for a long time.   I can't wait to read more by Lynn Austin.  I give this book 5 stars!

Published in 2011 by Bethany House Publishers.

*Note:  President Franklin Roosevelt founded the relief program, the New Deal in 1933 to help alleviate the effects of the Great Depression.  One of the most innovative programs of Roosevelt's Work Projects Administration was the Packhorse Library Project.  The program employed mostly women to deliver books on horseback to neighbors and school houses in rural and remote areas of Kentucky.  The packhorse librarians provided not only entertainment in the form of books and magazines, but they also offered practical help on home health care, cooking, agriculture, parenting, canning hygiene, and machinery.  They also opened the world to these isolated people allowing them to learn not only about their own government and country, but of lands and people across the globe.

When Elves Attack by Tim Dorsey

When Elves Attack:  A Joyous Christmas Greeting from the Criminal Nutbars of the Sunshine State by Tim Dorsey

It's Christmas time in Tampa, Florida.  Criminal mastermind and modern day Peter Pan, Serge Storm and his pot smoking sidekick Coleman are doing Christmas BIG this year.   Dressed in elf costumes and with help from their warranted lady friends City and Country and the G-Unit, a foursome of elderly escapees from a Bayshore convalescent center, they set out to end the war on Christmas.

Some of their escapades include flattening the mansion of a disgraced hedge fund manager so that the insurance could be used to pay back all the people he ripped off, poisoning a criminal who stole and scrapped memorial plaques from a VFW, beating up a mall cop for yelling at little kids, and decorating their rented South Tampa house with the biggest Christmas display ever!

This fast read is absolutely hilarious and was written by a former reporter for the Tampa Tribune.  I can't wait to read more of his shenanigans!  Just don't read it in public or your giggles will illicit oogles.

Published by Harper Collins in 2011.

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

Twenty three year old reporter, Reuben Golding, is doing an interview for the sale of a huge mansion when he desperately falls in love with the place and the owner, thirty year old Marchent Nideck.  While in the house, the woman is killed by thieves and Reuben is bitten by a wolf man.  In classic Anne Rice form, he soon turns into a glorified werewolf, killing only the evil hearted. He can only hide so long until he is hunted by authorities but then he is saved by the "pack".

I was decidedly disappointed with this book because I couldn't ever feel a connection with the characters and I quickly grew bored with the overload of detail at every turn.  But it is Anne Rice and we all know she is a true master of the art of writing so I persevered and all in all, I'm glad I did.  I wouldn't have wanted to miss it even if I wasn't left howling at the moon.

Published in 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. New York.

Grace by T. Greenwood

Where to begin?  Thirteen year old Trevor Kennedy has been bullied at school for as long as he can remember but now his fear has turned to rage.  But he isn't the only troubled Kennedy as his father, Kurt, is consumed with a failing business, a wife who wants more than he can give, and an aging father with a hoarding problem.  His mother, Elsbeth, has a lustful need for things and is stealing from the local stores and dotes all her attention on Gracy, Trevor's six year old sister.  The only one who sees the trouble this family is going through is eighteen year old Crystal who works at the local Walgreens where Elsbeth has been stealing.

I normally wouldn't read a book with the flair of young adult fiction but I persevered and I'm glad I did.  Miss Greenwood has complete control over this book as it twists and turns at every chapter.  She leads you to expect the complete opposite of what actually happens.  That got my attention early on and kept me reading.

This book was published by Kensington in 2012 and was selected as BookSense76/IndieBound pick for 2012.

The Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Kimberly Cutter

It's the fifteenth century during the Hundred Years War and Jehanne d'Arc is a dirty abused daughter of a farmer in Domremy France who is spoken to by God and the archangel Micheal and the saints Catherine and Margeret.  She is instructed to drive the English from French soil and restore the rightful heir to the French crown to King Charles VII.  We all know that Jehanne or "Joan", as we know of her, succeeds in her mission from God but how she gets there had me spellbound in this delightful graphic novel from Ms. Cutter.

Joan is a fierce warrior who leads ten thousand of France's best men into war and slaughters the mighty English army.  But as the voices have warned her she would die in less than two years and she is taken prisoner by the English and thrown into prison to await her sentence of death by burning at the stake.  She tries to kill herself by throwing herself over a tower 70 ft tower but is uninjured.  The restored King has turned on her and refuses to pay her ransom and she is ultimately burned.

When I first saw this new book at the library, I walked right past it because I normally wouldn't read a war novel but the picture on the front cover got me.  I went back to the shelf the book was propped up on and picked up, went home and started reading and didn't put it back down til I was done.  I highly recommend this book even to those who wouldn't normally read historical fiction.  It is fascinating, divine, and gruesome all at the same time.

Published in 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

From the author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons comes a new and thrilling suspenseful novel called Nightwoods.  A young woman named Luce, the caretaker of an old lodge in small-town North Carolina, becomes the guardian of the twin children of her murdered sister. In turn, she must defend them from Bud, their former stepfather, who killed their mother while they watched, and who believes the traumatized children know the location of some stolen money.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Lodge has died and his young grandson, Stubblefield, has shown up to claim his inheritance which includes the lodge and other various businesses and lands around town.  Stubblefield is soon smitten by the young Luce and becomes her ally in protecting the children and Luce.

I loved Cold Mountain and I think this book is a lot like it in it's settings, plots, and flow of writing.  And although the book, to me, is a cliffhanger, I did enjoy it very much and was disappointed that it ended so quickly.  Hopefully, there will be a sequel in the near future.

Published September 27th 2011 by Random House Publishing Group.

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

In the Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda is based on the true story of a young Afghan boy named Enaiatollah Akbari who, with the help of his mother, escapes Taliban rule in 2000.

It tells the story, in first person, of how his father, in Nava, is enslaved by the Taliban and sent on a mission to retrieve supplies in another city and told that if anything goes wrong, his family would be killed.  Things did go wrong.  His father was killed.  The Taliban threatened to take the two young boys in payment for his father's wrong doing so his mother takes him across the border to Pakistan and leaves him there to fend for himself.

The young Enaiatollah suffers through some very harrowing circumstances as he, alone, finds his way from Pakistan all the way to Italy where he later seeks and attains political assylum.  The situations that he finds himself in are extreme and life threatening such as dangerous border crossings, traveling across bitter cold mountains on foot, crammed into the false bottom of a truck with hundreds of other immigrants, traveling across violant waters in an inflatable raft.

Fabio Geda is an Italian novelist who works with children under duress and helped Enaiatollah put his story in words.

This book was originally published in Italy as Nel mare ci sono i coccodrilli by B.C. Dalai editore, Milan, 2010 and translated to English by award wining translator Howard Curtis and published by Double Day books in 2011.

This book really puts into perspective, for me, what it must have been like for Afghans during the last decade.  I had a different view on how people lived and had been treated in the middle east during the war and even now it's not safe for Enaiatollah to return to his family.  For the record, he has contacted his family,  paid for them to travel and live in Pakistan and plans to visit them soon.

It's OK to Tell by Lauren Book

This is a true story about Lauren Book, a 11 year old girl who was sexually, physically, and mentally abused by her nanny, Waldina Flores, for five years.  She endured extreme abuse at the hands of this awful woman including rape, beatings, and torment.  Finally at the age of 17, with the support of her boyfriend, Lauren gets the courage to speak out against her abuser.  Her father then fired Flores who fled to Oklahoma.  Later Flores was arrested and tried and sentenced a life in prison.

 Lauren and her father have fought and succeeded in passing laws to protect innocent victims of child abuse.  She helped pass a law eliminating the statute of limitations for victims of child abuse under the age of 16.  She has also founded Lauren's Kids to educate and prevent child abuse and let others know that it's OK to tell.

There are more than 39 million survivors of sexual abuse in America.  OMG!

1 in 3 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.

1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.

1 in 5 children are sexually solicited while on the internet before the age of 18.

30% of sexual abuse is never reported.

I read this whole book in less than 3 hours as I was completely enthralled by it.  Through most of it, I had tears streaming down my face at the sheer shock and horror of what happened to this girl.  I hope you read it! 

95% of sexual abuse is preventable through education!