Wednesday, March 30, 2011

No Safe Haven by Kimberley and Kayla Woodhouse


No Safe Haven
This book was written by a mother/daughter team.  It is a Christian Fiction/Suspense book.  It starts out where Jenna and Andie (the mother and daughter) are in a small plane and it crashes into the side of a mountain.  Cole, another passenger, but stranger, knows someone is after them to kill them.  Apparently they are on the side of the largest mountains in Alaska.  Andie, the daughter, has some spunk to her, being a teenager.  You gotta love that.  It was the treacherous track of trying to save themselves from whomever it was, and wherever they were they did not know, from the people who were after their lives.  This book is filled with action and circumstances well beyond their control.  It is how they do or don’t deal with these occurrences that they get through this all.  This book was okay.  I probably would not have chosen to read it on my own.  The story is a little far-fetched in what ‘the bad guys’ wanted.  I really didn’t understand why that was woven into the story.  The story could have gone many ways, even just a plane crash and trying to survive from it, but did they throw in the part about someone trying to kill them to make the book ‘suspense’?  It would have been suspense enough just trying to get off the side of the mountain with a strange man they didn’t know, and didn’t know if his abilities to help them could be trusted, let alone throwing into the plot someone trying to kill them.  I did forget to mention this part in my other reviews, but Kayla, the daughter, has a rare nerve disease in which she can't necessarily feel pain nor regulate her body temperature.  This is why I feel it would have been suspense enough just to get off the side of the mountain.
I do have to give the mother/daughter team writers credit for writing a flowing book.  The book was not choppy at all.  It read smoothly and nicely.  I could see more books coming from this writing team, but please don’t throw in the type of suspense of someone trying to kill the characters.  As stated, I would have enjoyed this book just as much had they just tried to get off the mountain to safety.
This book does get 'religiousy' with a 'Have you been saved by Christ' statement. That turned me OFF immediately! I believe in God, have my own religion I follow, but when 'this' is thrown into a book of ALL places, come on! I don't know if these authors felt they could make that a statement to get out to the public, or if these two are THAT religious, they HAD to include it??? I don't want to know the answer, either. I felt it was NOT a place to put into a book. NO ONE would have expected 'that' to be IN this book!
I give this book 3 star.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Katharine A Russell's NEW BOOK!!!

Katharine A Russell's NEW BOOK!!! Buddy's Tail!!!
Please be patient with me!  I'm trying to learn how to download the photo of it!
I 'will' figure this out!
Laurie

Friday, March 25, 2011

Links for Katharine A Russell (also known as Kath Russell)

Hi!  I wanted to make sure you had access to Katharine A Russell's links for her novels!  Especially for the "Deed So" book!!! 
Kath also has a mystery series called The Pointer Mysteries! That link is posted here, and, her NEWEST BOOK IS CALLED:  BUDDY'S TAIL!!!
It's a NEW Children's Book!  She sent me a bookmark with the cover of the book on it!!  If I can figure out how to add the photo of her new book, I'll do so!  For now, you can click on the link and it will take you right to her website that shows the book!  It looks SO cute!!!   My favorite pets are dogs, so . . . !!!!
Enjoy!!


http://www.deedsonovel.com/
http://www.pointermysteries.com/
http://www.buddystail.com/

Thursday, March 24, 2011

"Deed So", by Katharine A Russell




My Review of:

Deed So by Katharine A Russell

In ‘Deed So’, meaning ‘we know the truth’, written by talented author Katharine A Russell, writes a very beautifully captivating, descriptive, and very hard to put down book about a young, innocent, twelve year old girl, named Haddie, with whom you will fall in love with, and almost feel as if you are her as she goes through life in the 1960’s.  Haddie is far more mature for her age of twelve by the life experiences she lives through in her short life so far, in Wicomo Corners, Maryland, the town she wants so much to get grown up so she can move out of.  She has dreams and they don’t fit in her town.  With it being the 1960’s, with such turbulent times going on around her, she is living through history-making moments and does not know it.  All Haddie knows is that a lot of things do not seem to be fair, nor does justice seem to fit in, in many different situations.  She has witnessed a murder, of which she ends up having to testify to in court regarding what she saw.  What she saw was racism, and that is when she learns so much more about it; that it exists.  She knew some things were not fair, but it was after certain things happened that she really learned what it was.  Haddie was brought up not having a clue that racism existed.  Black people were her friends, and her neighbors, and this was encouraged.  She knew no different until unfair things started happening to them.  It was not until she matured and saw the way daily life was occurring around her, the way bad things kept happening, that she learned this was racism.  During the trial, as she had to testify, she learned lawyers aren’t always cut and dry, that she couldn’t say the things she wanted to say and the things she said were twisted around.  She learned lawyers often have an agenda of their own, regardless of the truth.  This trial brought protestors to town from all over the country, protesting, sometimes dangerously so, and there had been fires deliberately set throughout the town as well, at this same time.  She lost a boy whom she secretly has a crush on, to the Marines, as the Vietnam War was going on.  She also learned that people who she thought were her friends may not be, and they may have secrets she has no comprehension of.  Haddie goes through so much more than any teenager has gone through since those turbulent 1960’s.  There is so much more to Haddie’s life and how the rest of this story unfolds.  You can’t help but to love this character and to feel like her as she goes through life.  I loved this book very much I did not want it to end.  I slowly devoured every word of it.  This book is a must read, and should be a ‘must read’ for teenagers today.  Most teenagers today have no idea what the Civil Rights Movement is, or was, or what it was like to live through the history making moments of that time which was right outside Haddies’ front door.  Many thanks go this more than talented author for writing such a book that pulls you in to where you feel like the main character, Haddie, as the story of her life takes place.
Laurie

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Eleanor Roosevelt Volume 1 The Years from 1884-1933 by Blanche Wiesen Cook

Hi everyone! 
My computer had been in the shop for most of March, and I just got it back last Friday. That is why you have not heard a 'peep' from me! My hubby has a computer, but you know how it is when it is not 'your' computer!
**Here is a book I read a little while ago that I felt was worth mentioning. There is a Volume 2 that accompanies this book, but I have not read that book yet. I seriously think I should reread this book once again, to get the dates and relatives fresh in my mind because there are so many, before moving on to Volume 2. I read this book about 1 year ago. That is how much information is contained in this 'one' book! 
I would say when I use quotes, I use Eleanor Roosevelt's quotes the most! Next to Helen Keller! I have a book on Quotes, which I will write a review on. It is my 'favorite' book! Look forward shortly to a review on that book!
Excellent book all about Eleanor Roosevelt. Everything you ever wanted to know about her and her family, and of course, all about Franklin's family as well. This book is so detailed, it is Book 1 of 2. I always wondered if they were related how and why they would marry. It is all explained in the book that there were two separate families of Roosevelts, each not related to the other. This book is very detailed in all circumstances. You learn all about Eleanor, from her childhood to every member of her family; all her cousins, etc., right down to family friends. This book takes us through the courtship of her and Franklin, to their marriage, to when he gets elected to the White House. This is Volume 1.
I learned so much about Eleanor. I have always loved her quotes which is what sparked my interest in her in the first place. She volunteered for a lot of different causes and was quite active in many of them. Eleanor is truly a woman to look up to for all she stood for. She 'is' part of our countries history. She stood up for so many women's special interest groups that we truly owe her a lot. Without her, I don't believe we would be where we are today had it not been for her. Eleanor was a woman of great circumstance. There has not been another wmnan comparable to her since. I do have great respect for this history changing woman.
Laurie!!
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