books

The Books of my Childhood That I Could Not Get Enough Of! (Still Can’t)

Angela20 Comments

One of the joys of having children, or nieces and nephews, friends with kids, neighbors with kids, or just knowing young kids, is that you get to introduce them to the stories you loved when you were young. I may or may not have used my kids as an excuse to go back and read all of my favorites, over and again. There were numerous trips to the library, and I have bookshelves full of stories I can pick up whenever I want a quick read to take me back to my childhood.

These stories are timeless; at least to me. I wish I could remember the first book I ever read that put me on the path of loving books. It does not matter now, but I would love to read it again.

This is certainly not like any cover I had growing up!

The first series I recall reading was “The Boxcar Children“. Gertrude Chandler Warner wrote the first 19 stories in this series, but there are now over 130 titles! I am positive I have not read any of them written beyond Mrs. Warner’s stories, and am unsure at this point if I would want to go back and read further into the series when she did not write them. The series has its own website, and you can visit it here: http://www.boxcarchildren.com/content.cfm/boxcar-children-books

“Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators” by Robert Arthur is another series that I have read over-and-over again. I have not had the time to do it lately, but I would often go to the library and check out as many of these books as they would let me, and spend my weekend reading them for the umpteenth time!

From The Screaming Clock cover, courtesy of http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/
From The Screaming Clock cover, courtesy of http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/

There is a website dedicated to collectors and fans of these books, with a lot of other great information, including forums. If you enjoyed these books as well, be sure to visit the site here: http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/

If you loved The Three Investigators stories, you must have read “Encyclopedia Brown” as well. Donald J. Sobol had every young reader wanting to be the neighborhood detective. A fun series to read, for those of us who could just not figure out the solution, you could always find it in the back of the book. I know I had several “A-ha” moments reading these stories.

The covers on the books I read did not look like this!
The covers on the books I read did not look like this!

I have to admit that I never read the Narnia series of books by C.S. Lewis until I was an adult. I have no idea how that ever happened, but it is truly one of my favorite sets of books to read. I was fortunate enough to get to read Harry Potter right along with my girls, and J.K. Rowling is probably as responsible as I am for the fact that I have 4 daughters who truly love reading.

What books did you read as a child, and do you ever go back and read them now?

Murder Is Binding – Lorna Barrett

Angela4 Comments

The first book in another series by Lorna Barrett, these books are sold under the “A Booktown Mystery” tag line. Set in Stoneham, New Hampshire, Tricia Miles is one of many bookstore owners who finds herself caught in the center of this small town’s first murder in decades.

Murder is binding Cover Image

Stoneham is a sleepy town on the coast, where in order to boost the tourism and economy, Bob Kelly, president of the Chamber of Commerce, had the idea to rebuild the center of the town and have various bookstores that cater to the tourism from neighboring cities and states.

Tricia Miles owns “Haven’t Got a Clue”, a bookstore devoted to mystery novels. There is also “The Cookery”, devoted to cookbooks, and “History Repeats Itself”, specializing in historical novels. Who wouldn’t want to live in a town with so many great little bookstores? Well, except for the murders, that is.

Apparently Bob Kelly is putting the pressure on one of the bookstore owners, threatening to raise her lease amount when it is time to renew. Tricia wants nothing more than to run her store, and not get involved in all of the issues going on around her. When her sister, Angelica, decides to come for a visit, Tricia knows her peace and quiet is officially over. Questioning what the ulterior motive is for the visit from Ange, Tricia’s days of calm and quiet are about to end.

As is my policy, about 98% of the time, there will be no spoilers here. What I can tell you though, is that this story is a fun read, full of twists and turns, and it will keep you guessing until the end. It also includes recipes that are mentioned throughout the story, and the antics of the shop cat, Miss Marple, will have you smiling!

If you love books as much as I do, you certainly will not want to pass up the opportunity to read a story about books, bookstores, murder, and mayhem! I do have 7 of the 8 books in this series, so you will be hearing more about this fun series in the near future.

A fun cartoon from Lorna's website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com
A fun cartoon from Lorna’s website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com

You can visit her website here: http://lornabarrett.com/

I was So Thrilled to Post This Book Review…and Now I Feel Like a Complete Jerk because I Did!

Angela11 Comments

As some of you know, some of my best books read and reviewed (in my opinion) are the ones I stumbled upon, chose to read, and am grateful I did. I will say straight-off that I do belong to a free ebooks website, and get 5 books a month through there. I also pick up random books at Barnes and Noble in their clearance bins, and buy books through Amazon because I like the cover.

I put myself out there (and many of you did as well), when I offered to read, edit, and review your works for free. I have met some amazing authors, made some great literary friends, and am glad I could help out others in a way that means so much to me!

Last month while perusing my free ebooks, I came across a story that I had to get. It was “The Scimitar and the Glory Boxes”, by Fred Morse. I love reading religious stories, factual, fiction, and whatever else may fall between the cracks. This story was fantastic, and I was so excited to post a review and also wanted to make sure I let Mr. Morse know. This book was too good to be on a free ebook site.

The Scimitar and the Glory Boxes Cover image

For the past couple of years of doing this blog, I would often post these types of reviews; but it was as of late that I thought I really need to make sure these authors know their stories are being read, and appreciated.

So as I have been so often doing now, I posted the book review, and sent an email to the author letting them know I reviewed their book, and included the link so they did not have to search for the review.

And then I was checking my email. I will admit I was anxiously awaiting to hear from Mr. Morse, and hoping he liked my review.

It was from his wife. He had passed away in September, and she wanted to let me know she appreciated me reaching out, and was happy I enjoyed his writing.

So many things ran through my mind. I was sad I never got to communicate with this great writer about his works. I likely opened afresh the pain his wife was trying to control during the Christmas holiday season. And more than anything, was I looking for approval from someone whom I did not know because I liked their writing?

I asked in my email that he let me know of any other books he had written, because I wanted to buy and review them. His wife was gracious enough to let me know, and with her permission, I will indeed be reading and reviewing them.

I never ask favors of anyone, but I would truly like any of my followers who enjoy this same type of genre to look up this book and read it. You will not be disappointed!

And to his wife, I would like to wish a Blessed, Happy New Year full of warm memories and comfort on how her husband’s writing truly did make a difference.

You can find my original review here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/12/24/the-scimitar-and-the-glory-boxes-frederick-morse/

You can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Scimitar-Glory-Frederick-Morse-ebook/dp/B006ZB39R4

It is the best 0.99 you will ever spend.

Gene.Sys – Aaron Denius Garcia

Angela1 Comment

A spectacular YA novel, this Dystopian story will have you waiting anxiously for the next book by Aaron Denius Garcia.

Gene.Sys cover image

Being a fan of religious fiction and biographies (do NOT panic if you are not religious, this story is not either) I was immediately drawn in to read the story about Atom and Ev, and how they were created to create a new life for everyone, in E.D.E.N.

Created much like I would assume a test-tube-infant was created (no offense intended here, I am not a Science or Biology student), Atom and Ev live in a secluded, monitored, high-security environment.

They are on the ‘inside’; the rest of the human race is on the ‘outside’. A select group of Doctors and Scientists are tasked with creating a new race of humans, whatever the cost. The humans on the outside are barely alive, fighting wars, famine, and plagues.

There is a lot to this story, but it is an easy read that you will not want to put down. You will immediately feel empathy to the drones, those who are genetically modified to do nothing other than protect the Gene.Sys, even at the cost of their own lives.

For Atom to befriend one, called nothing more than #80, could be the beginning of the end for all of them.

Aaron denius Garcia Cover image

Once again, no spoilers here. To find out more about the author, you can find him on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Aaron-Denius-Garcia/e/B00L8H6VGQ

I Wrote How Many Book Reviews?

Angela3 Comments

I thought I should do a final post for 2014 of how many books I actually read, how many of those resulted in book reviews I posted, and anything else I may have thrown in.

Frosted Leaves and books 10-19-2014 063

I could really tell from my blog activity what months were the most busy for me. Or should I say, what months I was working on the toughest MBA college classes.

I did a whole lot of nothing in the summer months when it came to posting book reviews. I was really busy from September to December, and although I have every good intention of reading at least 3 more books when I finish the one I am currently on, I thought this would be a good time to do this post.

As a side note, I am off work until January 5th, and am kid free until January 4th. Which means I have a whole lot of reading-in-bed-writing-reviews-playing-with-the-cat-nap-time planned 🙂

For the year as a whole, I posted to date, 67 book reviews.

Of those 67 reviews, 18 were of books I had previously read, so for 2014 I read 49 new books. Not too shabby for being a single Mom of a whole lot of girls, working 50+ hours a week, and going to college for my MBA. The 18 on books I previously read were a combination of Halloween features, Christmas features, and books that I had read in the past that had a great impact on me.

The Cricket on the Hearth

June was the only month I did not post any book reviews, and October was my busiest month, with 12 book reviews posted. I have to add that for December I am currently at 7, and do plan on at least 5 more before the New Year, but certainly do not expect it to exceed October.

Frosted Leaves and books 10-19-2014 060

Some notables for 2014 for me:

I made the very tough decision to begin working on my MBA. After working non-stop for 2 years straight to get my BBA, I did take the entire year of 2013 off, as I promised my girls, and did not start college again until January 4th, 2014.

Girls 10-12-2014 012

After many months of contemplating, searching, and debating, I became the very proud owner of Beeblebrox Bare Bottom Benjamin Blu, or Benny to me! He is a Hairless Sphynx cat and I am not ashamed to say that little ball of wrinkled-velvety-soft skin has changed my life! I like to tease my 4 girls about their “little brother’, but believe you me, that little guy has gotten me through a lot of weekends when I was wide awake all night long from being a 3rd shift worker and having the weekend off.

Benny Christmas Eve 12-24-2014 002

I made the decision to leave my Supervision position with my company and go back to a Materials Coordinator position that I had previously worked in for almost 5 years. I have worked for my company for over 18 years, and am so thankful to have such a wonderful employer.

I joined the Editorial Freelancers Association, and am currently working on getting myself set to begin editing and proofreading books for new and current authors. I have a love for books and the English language that I would probably have a very difficult time putting into words in order to get anyone to understand. (Now that is ironic, right?)

EFA_logofull_80T

I would personally like to thank each and every single one of you for liking, following, or just commenting on a random blog post. I could not begin to tell you the excitement I have when I see that someone liked a post I made, and even better yet, left a comment, or followed my blog!

I will be setting some goals for myself for 2015, and there will be more to come on that!

Darkness Falls (Submit to Darkness Series Book 2)- AJ Spencer

Angela5 Comments

I had the great pleasure and enjoyment to read AJ Spencer’s second book in her Submit to Darkness Series. I reviewed the first book here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/11/18/edge-of-darkness-submit-to-darkness-book-1-aj-spencer/

One of the first things I noted about her first story was that I had it read in less than 24 hours, it was that good. This second installment, Darkness Falls, I had read in less than 8 hours.

Darkness Falls Cover Image

This second book continues with Detective Natasha Stolt trying to get into the mind of the serial killer known as Grimm. Her partner, Giovanni Tagliente reveals the reason he has something to hide. Natasha finds herself being held captive by this monster of a man, only she sees something other than the horrible, un-human being the country seems to know him as.

Natasha is forced to look deep inside herself at thoughts and feelings she would rather not admit she has. Can she control the monster known as Grimm, before he truly gets 100% control of her?

This is a heart-pounding adventure, full of twists and turns, and its fair share of erotica. This is not your cookie-cutter story seeking fame on the coattails of previously released erotica stories. This series stands well on its own, and puts the others to shame!

(The first novel has a well-earned warning due to the graphic nature of the story. The same holds true here. There is descriptive violence against women and children in the most depraved sense of the word. It justly serves the story, and is necessary to the telling of it. As I said in my first review; if this is something you cannot handle, this is not the series for you.)

It’s Time To Stop Stalling…

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…and start reading!

That sounds odd, especially coming from me. I usually never stall when I know I have some reading to do. I think it is more the fact that I also know I need to finish my laundry, get gifts wrapped, and other chores that I do not have the motivation to do.

So when I know I have these chores waiting to be done, I always feel that I have got to do them all before I can sit down, relax, and read a story.

Luckily, I have been asked to complete a book review on a story that I have not quite finished yet. So from where I am sitting, it looks like the most important thing I need to do today is finish that book, and get the review wrote.

That makes perfect sense to me 🙂

Wishing you a Sunday full of Blessings and great stories!

Shelfari – hosted by Amazon.com – And All That Other Social Media

Angela2 Comments

I was kind of surprised that I stumbled upon this new book recommending site while reading someone else’s blog, seeing as how I have been using Amazon a few times a week to update book reviews.

It states it is a “community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers.”

Well; that certainly applies to me. And yet; it reminds me a bit of Goodreads.com. So I have to say that I did not register with this site yet. I may, or may not. I have no shame in saying I have enough electronic sites that I struggle to keep up with as it is, so I certainly do not need to add another one right now. If this is a site that takes over the internet and becomes a platform for authors, I will then be left no choice but to sign myself up.

Right now I am going to continue trying to keep my blog(s) alive and thriving, keep better track of my about.me account, finish my profile for my brandyourself.com account, make sure my Google+ account is current, and while I am at it, I may even learn to use my Twitter account so that it is actually an effective tool for me. I have not been on my Pinterest account in who knows how long; my Instagram account has one picture on it after being live for months, and I am pretty sure I created a Flickr.com account for my photography, but as I have not checked back in since I did create it, I am thinking a month or two ago, I hope I remember my log in name.

So how do you handle the Social Media overload? Do you control it, or does it control you?