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The Haunting of Reindeer Manor – Kevin Michael Guest

October 8, 2014October 9, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

This appears to be one book of a series of books about haunted houses

Looking for some more quick Halloween reads, I found The Haunting of Reindeer Manor, by Kevin Michael Guest. Reindeer Manor is a real Haunted Attraction in Dallas, Texas.

A professor looking to end his career with the publication of 9 hauntings, Professor Anderson forms a team of 4 others to investigate, not letting them know the history of the house, Reindeer Manor, so he could get their honest feelings, input, opinions. Jessie is a college student who has no Psychology or paranormal experience. Professor Anderson also has his secretary/mistress Mary attend, for no reason other than his own comfort I would imagine. Professor Fletcher is hard up for the money, and the Dean promised him a full time job if he does this favor for him and Professor Anderson. Amy is a medium with very strong powers that seem to be blocked by some entity in the house. These 4 comprise the team along with Professor Anderson, and convince the current owner of Reindeer Manor, who is using it as a Halloween Haunted House attraction, to restore it to its original form so they can examine it for 5 days and nights. For the sum of $100,000.00, the owner knows the dangers, and that he should refuse, but money wins out.

I am halfway through this story, and it is great reading so far. It is full of suspense, frights, and nothing too blood-and-guts gory that I would be concerned about my teenagers reading this and freaking themselves out! I will have this finished by tomorrow, and give my final report.

Smooth Moves and Switching Over

September 25, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

I Hope This Goes Better Than I Am Expecting! Probably not what you expected either, from the title!

I am moving my blogs to a self-hosted website, so I can have more control over how my pages look, as well as what add-ins are displayed. I am hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. So, I will be absolutely devastated if my followers don’t get redirected to my new website as it states it will do.

I know several of you are following two of my blogs, and one of you is following all 3 ( J ). I do not know how long this transition may take, but I will definitely keep them open where they are at until I know I can export everything over.

So, if I disappear for a while, I apologize, I will just be sitting in front of my laptop, crying because I messed something up!

Irish Tweed – Andrew Greeley

September 24, 2014October 9, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

I absolutely love the “Irish” series of books by Andrew Greeley. He was the subject of one of my Author Information posts, and is absolutely one of my favorite authors. He was a Catholic Priest (he has passed away) and wrote many books that were full of mystery and suspense. You would never know he was a priest from reading his books, so if you have never read his work before, you should really try one of his books. It is not all religion and scriptures. At all!

His Irish series are centered on Nuala Anne McGrail, her husband Dermot Michael Coyne, and their children. The number of children increases as you continue through the series! There is always mystery, danger of lives lost, and also a good amount of history about Ireland. Not the boring history though, just the good stuff!

In Irish Tweed, Dermot is pouring over the memoir of a woman from Galway, who came to America after her family died in the famine. While Dermot is doing this, Nuala and her teenage daughter are knee deep in taekwondo classes, thanks to the bullies at the school across the street from their home.

The backstory of the Galway woman weaves in with the current plot of the story, which seems to put the family right in the middle of tensions from days gone by.

I have to say, I read so many of these books right in a row, that I began talking with the Irish dialect that is prevalent throughout the Irish series of books. It took a while to stop doing it, and people looked at me weird when I said something that sounded off-the-wall to them. Such as, instead of saying “yes”, I would say “’tis true.” People who irritate are called eejits. It was rather embarrassing, but there are 12 books in this series and I read them within less than a couple months.

I highly recommend giving one of the books in this series a try. Once you do, I promise you will need to read them all!

To Heaven and Back – Mary C. Neal, MD

September 21, 2014October 9, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

Mary C. Neal, a highly skilled Orthopedic surgeon, drowned in a kayak accident. A trip down a waterfall found her pinned underwater, unable to be rescued by her companions before she drowned. This trip led to another profound trip that would change her life forever.

Mary wasn’t raised in what some may consider an overly-religious environment. She knew who God and Jesus were, but her family’s religious activities did not move beyond attending church on Sunday. The divorce of her parents at a time when divorce was still uncommon, 1971, filled Mary with embarrassment and an overpowering desire to drive away any man who was interested in her mother.

Allowing her life to spin out of control, drugs and alcohol became a part of her teenage life until an automobile accident would change her life. A missionary trip to Mexico would put her on the path to her future medical career.

As an adult, Mary had the ideal family life; the white picket fence with all the extras. After the kayaking accident, her brief trip to heaven had her feeling joy and love that she still finds difficult to describe. She was saddened when she was told it was not her time, and she had to return to Earth, and her body.

This was the beginning of a very difficult, very intense healing process for Mary, both physically and emotionally. Like others who have had this experience, Mary did not want to be on Earth, she wanted to be in her heavenly home. It was not that she did not love her family, it was due to the profound feelings she experienced while in heaven.

A premonition from her son that he would not reach his 18^th birthday indeed came true, and brings another aspect to this story of how her experience helped her accept and handle such a devastating situation.

This book is one of several detailing life-after-death experiences. It does have a fairly strong religious overtone to it, but it is certainly not bashing you over the head telling you to “repent and be saved!” I do have a strong faith, but have also had others who are not religious read this book and tell me they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Better Than I Hoped, and Not What I Expected

September 18, 2014October 9, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith

Being a huge fan of all things Abraham Lincoln, I was a little worried when I first picked up this book that it was just going to be horrible, and ruin my penchant for Abe forever. Boy was I wrong!

Even persons vaguely familiar with Abraham Lincoln are likely aware of the love he had for his mother. Her passing was devastating to the young Abe, and although he loved his step-mother very deeply, no one could fill that void.

That is where this journey begins. It begins with Abe finding out a vampire is responsible for his mother’s death. He discovers a vampire colony that is responsible for numerous unsolved deaths. And then he meets Henry Sturges. Vampire extraordinaire, Henry has the same goal as Abe. Henry teaches Abraham the ins-and-outs of vampires, and Abe is a willing student.

What did the vampires have to do with the Civil War and the reshaping of our nation? More than you would ever believe. This story is told from the 3^rd person perspective, with the journal entries of Abraham Lincoln dispersed throughout.

We all know who won the war, and what became of Abe, so I will not spoil the story any more. But if you like history, Abraham Lincoln, or vampires, you definitely need to read this book!

Reading Things you Would Really Rather Not…

September 15, 2014Angela3 Comments

…I have been doing a lot of this lately. Being about halfway done with my MBA has me reading textbooks, data, statistics, charts and graphs, and the occasional book written on leadership. I am happy with how far I have gotten so far, and that I made the decision to take this journey for myself.

I just always seem to forget how much time I do not have for reading, until I am no longer able to do it. It just took me a month to finish a book I could have read in one day. A month! Anyone who knows me knows that me needing a month to finish the book means one of two things; either the book was absolutely horrible, or I was just too busy.

Luckily I have gained the courage to stop reading horrible books. You know what I mean, right? You start reading a book, and it is terrible, yet you feel terribly guilty for leaving a book unfinished. I have finished my fair share of not-so-great books because I was not brave enough to close it without ever knowing how it ended. Well not anymore. Not for me. I have finally started to realize the value of my time, and it is much too valuable to read some of the garbage I have come across lately. It almost makes me feel sad to think of the number of books I have not been able to finish lately. Did you see my blog post (okay, rant!) on self-publishing? You may want to check it out. It’s right here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/08/05/do-you-self-publish/

I have a stack of books I want to read, sitting next to my stack of school books. I have a few days break between classes, and am wondering how many books I can get read in that amount of time. I am not a fan of wishing my time away, but I cannot wait until it gets closer to the holiday season, and I have some extended time available to do my favorite thing: sit in a reclining chair with a good book, my cat, and read myself into oblivion.

Murder at the Cherry Festival – Richard Baldwin

September 14, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

Another great read by Richard Baldwin, this Michigan-based story takes place in Traverse City, one of Michigan’s more beautiful towns if you have never been there.

I have seen some reviews to Mr. Baldwin’s books that are pretty harsh, critiquing the fact that the local police would never let a citizen assist in any cases, etc. etc. This story is fiction. Fiction. It is an easy read, and flows nice right from the beginning, to the middle, and the ending is something that you usually don’t expect or see ahead of time.

This story concerns the murder of Tom McNutt, Grand Marshal for the Cherry Festival, and winery owner with a score of enemies. There is one witness, a teenage girl, and a list of suspects as long as your arm. The descriptions are spot on, and the characters are well developed.

There is nothing too complicated here, and is a good story to read on a cold and rainy weekend, which seems to be the current season in Michigan.

This is the 3rd book by Mr. Baldwin that I have read, and I will definitely be getting more!

Friday Fun Facts!

August 15, 2014AngelaLeave a comment

Patricia Cornwell

Born: June 9, 1956

Wrote: numerous Kay Scarpetta novels, starting with Postmortem, as well as The Body Farm, Potter’s Field, and numerous others, with the latest being 2014’s Flesh and Blood. She has also written a couple other series, but no where to the extent of the Scarpetta series.

Awards: Too many to list them all, but they include the Edgar Award, Sherlock Award, and British Book Awards.

Personal: Patricia married one of her professors shortly after graduation, and divorced 9 years later. She was in a relationship with a married female FBI agent before meeting and marrying Staci Gruber in 2005.

She suffered with Anorexia Nervosa and depression, as well as bipolar disorder.