Mr. Mercedes – Stephen King

I absolutely loved this book! I can honestly say this is one of my favorites by Stephen King. I have not read all of his stories, but I have read most of them. I still think my all-time favorite of his is “From a Buick 8”. Have you read it? If not, you need to go to your local library and check it out (pun intended)! From what I understand, this is not the only story we will be seeing involving Bill Hodges. That makes me a very happy reader!

photo courtesy of www.liljas-library.com
photo courtesy of http://www.liljas-library.com

Bill Hodges is a retired detective, not coping well with sitting at home. When the perp (perk if you’ve read the story) decides to send him a letter, it gives Bill a new sense of purpose. This is one that he cannot let go, nor turn over to his former partner.

He goes back over everything he did involving this case, and the things he ignored that he shouldn’t have. You get to see Bill come to terms with the mistakes he has made, both at work and in his personal life. He tries to right the wrongs, when he can.

Brady Hartsfield (the jacket sleeve said Brady Hartfield, the spelling error surprised me. On the sleeve? Really?) is a brilliant mind from a troubled childhood. Still living at home with his alcoholic mother, he works two jobs while planning his next big kill.

Bill has two unlikely people working with him, which makes this story even more interesting. It is full of suspense, mystery, and even a few laugh out loud moments. I was literally holding my breath more than once while reading this! There were a couple spots where Mr. King mentioned two of his previous books; it fit right in with the story and was a nice touch.

If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it. If you have, I would love to hear what you thought about it!

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Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories – Part 2

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PIERRE MILLE

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The Miracle of Zobéide – When a Christian and a Muslim cannot agree on the power of God, one offers a challenge to the other. Is it really God at work, first making the turtle called Zobeide larger, and then smaller until she disappears all together? Or is it a splendid trick and the Christian never catches on? This is a great short story that will stop and make you think; about the power of influence, and the strength of one determined to defend his beliefs, in a clever, non-criminal way.

VILLIERS DE L’ISLE ADAM

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The Torture by Hope – A man condemned because he refuses to renounce his religion sees the opportunity to escape on the eve prior to his (and 43 others) scheduled execution. His escape does not go as planned, and one might even suspect the opportunity to escape was intentionally provided, just to torture one by hope.

EMILE ERCKMANN- ALEXANDRE CHATRAIN

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The Owl’s Ear -A man, appearing to be a hobo, bum, vagabond, is arrested for no good reason other than he refused to tell the town constable what he was doing in that deep, dark cistern.

Full of despair in prison for only part of a night, the hobo hanged himself. Only later would the cousin of the constable discover the true meaning of what the hobo was doing. Out of anger at such a brilliant life and mind cut short, he refused to tell the constable the truth, or ever visit him again.

The Invisible Eye – What I would consider a bit long for a short story, this one was definitely a bit strange and disturbing. What appeared to be a haunted room at the local Inn was capable of driving each of its guests to hang themselves from the outside crossbeam before morning light. A painter who lived across the street seemed to be the only one to take notice of the local hag, called Fledermausse. Being convinced it was her driving these victims to suicide, the painter kept a close eye on her, until he saw the opportunity to even the score, and stop the curse. He was able to give the hag a taste of her own medicine, which was the last taste of anything she would ever have again.

The Waters of Death – a quick read about a cavern of mineral water that seems to have healing powers; yet after skeletons of various animals, and humans, are purged from the cavern, no one dares drink or swim there again. Except for one unlucky soul. I found this story okay enough, but more boring than what I had previously read.

There are a few more stories in this book, and I will share those that I find of interest. There are a couple I have read that are not worth mentioning, but all-in-all, I am pretty happy with this book!

Hope Reborn – Caryl McAdoo

Another fantastic story by Caryl; if you have not had a chance to read some of her novels yet, you have got to pick one up and read it, as soon as possible.

Yes, like right now. You should get on your Amazon account, search her name, and just pick a book. Any book will do. They are all great, and it is a perfect day to start a new story.

Hope Reborn Cover Image

Okay, back to the story…Hope Reborn is a historical romance novel, set in Texas in the 1850’s. It centers around Millicent May Meriwether, but do not call her Millicent. She writes romance novels, and decides to make her way to Texas both to research for future novels, as well as help a family friend.

Receiving a warm welcome into Texas, May and her personal assistance and Man-of-All-Things-Needed, Chester, end up taking temporary residence at the estate of Henry Buckmeyer. A widower with a brood of children, and a staff to help run his estate, May is afraid she may have indeed found what she has been looking for; a man to spend the rest of her life with. Afraid because she has lost and suffered so much already.

May and Henry both seem to have secrets to hide, and May needs to decide if she can give her whole self to this man who lost so much when he lost his wife. A man of Faith might just be the undoing of May and her hopes and dreams. She never could understand why anyone would believe in fairytales like God and Jesus.

As storylines intertwine, May and Henry are not the only ones who find answers to questions long asked. More than one situation finds the resolution needed and desired.

As I try to never give away spoilers, this is one book you will need to read for yourself. It is well-written, clean, and has you hoping and cheering for everyone involved.

You can get this story free on Amazon for the next 5 days! Do not miss out on this great opportunity here: http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Reborn-Texas-Romance-Book-ebook/dp/B00RASZWEY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421018283&sr=8-1&keywords=Hope+Reborn+Caryl+McAdoo

Author Caryl McAdoo
Author Caryl McAdoo

 

Any Day I Get To Read Is A Day Where I Achieved Something Positive!

After a Thursday I would rather forget, and a Friday spent at home that I was not happy about, I managed to get motivated and get some things done around my house.

Yesterday we had a Winter Storm Warning starting at 11 am and I seriously considered leaving work to beat the storm, since I had to stop and get cat food and milk. Against my better judgment, I stayed for my whole day, and left work at 3pm. By now we had 50 mph winds, white-outs, and as I was cleaning my car off to leave work, my driver’s side wiper broke off my car. Already frozen after 4 minutes outside (wind chills were about -15) I was in the parking lot, cussing up a storm, holding my windshield wiper in my hand.

I am in Muskegon. It is a blessing being this close to the lake in the Summer, and a curse in the Winter.
I am in Muskegon. It is a blessing being this close to the lake in the Summer, and a curse in the Winter.

I found someone who was able to zip tie it onto the arm, and scared out of my mind, I began my treacherous journey home. I was afraid to leave the wipers running for fear it would break off while I was driving, so I would turn them on when I absolutely could not see anything, which was basically like leaving them on non-stop.

I got to the nearest auto parts place about 30 minutes later, and half-way to my home. I bought a new set of wipers, but they could not put them on for me. He really wanted to help me out, but it was against company policy. So by now I am in tears, frustrated, stressed, and angry. I get back in my car and continue my journey heading home, still knowing I have got to stop and get milk and cat food.

After that horrible journey home, I just needed to hug Benny!
After that horrible journey home, I just needed to hug Benny!

After an hour and a half, I made it home. I can get home from work in less than 15 minutes on a warm day. So after only working 4 days in this new year, I had to use a vacation day for today. I would not be able to get my new wipers put on before today, and I was pretty sure my car would be snowed in anyhow (it was).

So after avoiding doing anything for the majority of the morning, including getting out of bed, I figured I had better get some use out of the day. After doing some cleaning and organizing, I was able to finally begin reading Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King. I am not very far into it, but I am loving it so far. I have read mixed reviews about this story for the past few weeks, but until I get further into it, I will not have a good idea of what I really think about it.

photo courtesy of www.liljas-library.com
photo courtesy of http://www.liljas-library.com

So my chores are done; unfortunately for my girls, who have had school closed for the last two days, I cannot say the same 🙂 I am making a big pot of spaghetti and garlic bread, and then I have nothing to do the rest of the night except continuing to read Stephen King!

If you are under a Winter Weather Warning yourself, I wish you warmth, comfort, and a great story to keep you busy!

Murder Is Binding – Lorna Barrett

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.

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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 Wrote How Many Book Reviews?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?)

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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!