august, now that's more like it

August was more like it.  I liked August a lot better.  The kids went back to school, fair was over, father-in-law was no longer sick ( went to heaven, RIP), VBSs are over, weather went back down to a nice 90+ instead of 100+.  Things calmed down.  We are now doing Football and band, a  little 4-H, work hours are decent, and I might even take a little thing called a va-ca-tion.  Whatever that is.  I read 11 books this month.  9 real books, one digital, and one audio.
The Kennedy Club- GP Schultz
The Hand of a Woman- John Morris (interesting take on the Jack the Ripper mystery)
The Lost Years- Mary Higgins Clark
The Winter Palace- Eva Stachniak
When the Soul Mends- Cindy Woodsmall
Hope Road- John Barlow
Bees in the Butterfly Garden- Maureen Lang
The Fiddler- Beverly Lewis
Bad Luck & Trouble- Lee Child
Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edwards
The Next Best Thing- Jennifer Weiner (highly recommend)

Lewis does it again

"The Fiddler" by the Beverly Lewis, the Great Lady of Amish Fiction has done it again.  In a tie-in story to the Katie Lapp series, "The Fiddler" tells of a Englisher violinist named Amelia and her on-the-fence Amish new love Micheal.  Micheal and Amelia meet by chance in a cabin in the woods when both have "run away" from their lives to contemplate their futures.  That meeting brings their futures into one.  Needless to say, it doesn't go over well with their families.
The Katie Lapp series is the best series that Beverly Lewis has ever written, well, in my opinion, anyway.  Since then there has been a reoccurring theme of Amish women misplacing their babies.  "The Fiddler" has no babies.  So this is a refreshing change, but still written in the style and formula from the Lapp books that put Lewis on the map.  The romance is fresh and innocent, yet still mature and adult.  Micheal will make you wish more men were like him.  There should be a Micheal tree out there somewhere.  I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishing.

Bees in the Butterfly garden review

"Bees in the Butterfly Garden" by Maureen Lang centers around Meg, the daughter of a thief and con-artist who has been raised by elite boarder schools and their matrons.  She had no relationship with her father to speak of and now he has died.  Ian, an Irish immigrant, was raised and trained by Meg's father to be a thief as well.  Meg is unaware of her father's career.  When her father dies, she goes to his home and discovers his secrets.  She decides to prove her worth to his band of thieves, a sort of pre twentieth century mafia.  Needless to say, she doesn't have the stomach for it.
I didn't especially like this book.  It was incredibly predictable.  A little boring and wordy.  Not a bad book really, but I wasn't hanging in on their every word.  I received this book for free from Tyndale   Publishing.

hope road review

"Hope Road" by John Barlow is the story of a used car salesman, who is the white sheep of the family.  His father and brother were rackateers and general criminals.  Well, not general, they were at the top of the heap.  John Ray is the 'good son' who goes to college and tries to make good.  He is running his father's former front business of selling cars, when his saleman gets arrested for murdering a prostitute and dealing fake money.  John Ray must solve the crime to get his salesman/friend out of jail and the right person fingered so that the crime boss (who happens to be the hooker's father) can kill the right guy.
"Hope Road" is written in the style of Lee Child and David Ellis.  Tough as nails main character who you don't wanna mess with and he, of course, can figure out even the most cunning of plans.  It's a pretty good book.  The end I didn't especially like, but the rest was good.  I might mention that it is British, which really doesn't matter except the phrasing and slang is a bit different.  Sometimes I would have to read some of the wording a second time to make sure I got what was said. I recieved this e-book for free from www.librarything.com.

The Kennedy Club review

"The Kennedy Club" by GP Schultz was given to me free from www.librarything.com.  I received it in the beginning of May and kept putting off reading it.  Well, I shouldn't have.  It was a pretty good book.  There were only two things I didn't like about this book:  Schultz used the word ambition waaaaaay too much.  I started to think about getting a thesarus and finding a new word for ambition, but I was too lazy.  I just let it annoy me.  The other is I never came to like, Jack, one of the main characters.  Jack is a Harvard student who has set his life, and the life of all of his friends, to become president of the United States.  Everything about everyone he knows is built around that goal.  All the members of the Kennedy Club, the group of students who are dedicated to his presidency, live for this.  Literally.  I kinda hoped he wouldn't get president.  Emily is the main character.  Emily is in love with Jack and he with her.  But alas, he is too much of a slut to keep it together.  Jack is designed to be like John Kennedy.  The parallels are all there and written.  However, I kept thinking of the Clintons.  That's my era.  If fact I hadn't realized there were so many similarities between the two. 
This is a very well written book.  Some of it takes place in Kansas, so you know, I liked that.  I could tell the author was midwestern from the wording used.  Checked the printing, and yep, it was copywritten in Overland Park.  My neck of the woods.  The characters are exptremely well written and you feel you honestly know them all.  Good book.

july book list

July was a bit of a bummer.  It was over 100 every freakin day.  I had to take kids to swimming lessons, the fair, lead a VBS, have my sitter go to band camp for a week, my father in law died, and well, let's just say it was busy. Oh, and the Olympics.  I must watch them. I only read 7 books.  Three were digital, four were real.
11/22/63- Stephen King (that's a long one)
The Face of Heaven- Murray Pura
Raising Holy Hell- Bruce Olds (love john brown)
Arms of Love- Kelly Long
A Grown up Kind of Pretty- Joshilyn Jackson
The Enemy- Lee child
Custer- Larry McMurtry