“Green River Killer:  A True Detective Story” by Jeff Jensen and Jonathon Case

This book is actually a Graphic Novel.  This was my first Graphic Novel I have read, and I enjoyed it IMMENSELY! 

The author of this story happens to be the “original” police detective who spent decades of his career looking for this serial killer, The Green River Killer.  This story is a ‘true story’ that took place over approximately two decades, if I recall correctly, from seeing it on television.  It was also on TV News Reports..  This ‘story’, not this Graphic Novel, has even been made into a ‘Made for TV movie’, which I enjoyed very much.  Since I had heard of this serial killer and then saw the movie based upon this case, it was the deciding factor for me to read this story.

What this detective, Jeff Jensen, went through to find the Green River Killer is amazing.  This case was in his blood.  HE was going to solve it no matter what he had to do.  When the case died down and went cold, this man continued to look for this serial killer.  I would go so far as to say this detective became obsessed with this case.  This case is the type that does get into your blood and you could easily become obsessed with finding the killer because this detective was such a caring man.  He cared so much that even though the women this serial killer killed were Prostitutes, he didn’t care.  These women were ‘people’.  They were “real people”, despite their careers.  That, is a dedicated Detective as many officers, so it might seem, may toss these cases aside.  Not Jeff Jensen.  It may take a decade or just a little longer, but he does figure this case out and gets the Green River Killer.

This was a neat Graphic Novel to read, again, as I said my first.  Very different than what I am used to, but it was a fun read, as I knew how this story would turn out.  I highly suggest anyone who has not tried out a Graphic Novel, to try at least one!

I received this book for “FREE” from Dark Horse Publishers, through NetGalley, through their Book Reviewer’s Program in exchange to read and write a review about this book.  It is NOT required for my review I write to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was NOT provided with “ANY” monies to accept this book, “NOR” to read it, NOR were “ANY” monies given to me to write the review for this book.  All that was ‘expected’ of me was to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it.  Again, the opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. 

Want to buy this Graphic Novel?  (NOT for anyone under the age of 18.)  Click on the image below to the left!  Think Christmas!

"The Journey" by Wanda E. Brunstetter

This is Book One in The Kentucky Brothers Series.  It is called The Journey.  Titus has a twin brother name Timothy who has already settled in Kentucky.  Titus’ girlfriend, Phoebe, had plans of her own, and they were NOT to stay in Pennsylvania and marry Titus.  She wanted to travel, and far, all the way to California.  She had a girlfriend of hers, also Amish, who had the same dream she did.  Phoebe breaks up with Titus, breaking his heart beyond repair, and she moves to California.  In the meantime, a family friend, Allen Walters, comes through Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on his way to Kentucky.  Titus takes him up on his offer to let him ride along to Kentucky with him to relocate and help him get over Phoebe.  Allen even knows of a job available for Titus in construction.  Off he moves to Kentucky, and he will be living near his twin brother Timothy.  This does not make his own mother very happy, but Titus is of age, and a baptized member of the church, entirely able to make his own decisions about his life.  When he reaches Kentucky, he meets a woman named Suzanne, who looks so much like Phoebe; he pushes her away from him.  Little does he know how right they could be if they were together.  A running joke among Suzanne’s family and friends is she cannot cook no matter what she does.  She would much rather be out in the barn doing the families woodworking business than cooking.  She also loves to fish.  Both things that Titus loves to do.  There is also a woman named Esther.  Suzanne pushes Esther to date Titus, but they seem like an unlikely match.  We don’t know who Titus picks until the end of this story.  There is no way to even guess at who dates who.  The author does throw a good wrench into the story in which she brings Phoebe to Kentucky to visit Titus.  She has a change of heart after her girlfriend moves back to Pennsylvania and Phoebe is left by herself in California.  She decides to move back as well, but to stop and see Titus in Kentucky first, assuming he will take her back immediately.  Does he?  Or does he choose to date Suzanne or Esther?

I used to really like Wanda E. Brunstetter, but lately, I feel as if her books are to predictable.  You can guess ahead of time what is going to happen, how the storyline will play out, even who the characters choose to marry.  I am starting to get a little tired of reading her books. 

Book 3 of The Kentucky Brothers is called “The Struggle”, due out in October, but we are past that and it is still up for preorder at Amazon.  Hmmm?  At least this book was a nice escape from the realities of life, at least, as are all of the Amish books Wanda E Brunstetter writes.  Book Two I have already read, so, yes, I read them out of order, but I have done a review on that one as well, called “The Healing”.

Just from the name of the third book in this series, “The Struggle”, makes it sound interesting, so I will most likely read that one as well, and finish off this series, whenever it becomes available.  I can never start a series and NOT finish it!

I know she has just written a new book which is NOT an Amish book, but a book of 3 MODERN Romance stories, called “Love Finds a Way, 3 Modern Romances Make Falling in Love Simple and Sweet”, due out January 3^rd, 2012.  She missed the Christmas mark?  This book is most likely available for pre-order.  I don’t know if this has the Amish woven into this series of books or not?  The last words of the name of the book are Simple and Sweet, so maybe it might be Amish?  I honestly don’t know.  Perhaps she is getting a little tired of writing the Amish books as well?  I’m not sure.  She also has a new series of Amish books called “Sisters of Holmes County Omnibus”.  From reading at Amazon, evidently she wrote those while she was writing The Kentucky Brothers Series.

I received this book for “FREE” from Barbour Books, through NetGalley, through their Book Reviewer’s Program in exchange to read and write a review about this book.  It is NOT required for my review I write to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was NOT provided with “ANY” monies to accept this book, “NOR” to read it, NOR were “ANY” monies given to me to write the review for this book.  All that was ‘expected’ of me was to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it.  Again, the opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

You can purchase all 3 of these books by clicking on the photos to the left side below!  It'll take you directly to the Amazon page!  Think Christmas presents! 

OVER OVER OVER OVER OVER

It's HERE!

 "BLACK FRIDAY BOOK BONANZA"

GIVEAWAY HOP

NOV 25th - NOV 27th! 

Special thanks to our sponsors!  Heather from Book Savvy Babe, Jenn from The Bawdy Book Blog, and Lisa from Alive on the Shelves.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

You will find it by scrolling down AFTER the Gratitude Giveaway Hop!

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     HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  
TODAY I AM GIVING THANKS FOR THIS AUTHOR'S BOOK!  SO MUCH SO, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO:
            
                 VOTE!
                                   for
"My Cheeky Angel" by Mimi Barbour


          A Paranormal Romance!


The LINK to VOTE for THIS BOOK is: http://www.ibookbuzz.com/Vote-for-Next-Book.html  Please do so BEFORE 11-29-11


Go there, sign up with your EMAIL ADDY so they can make sure you ONLY vote once, and this book is at the bottom of that page! 
       
                VOTE FOR THIS BOOK!

A Paranormal Romance!  Check out the book trailer!




WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT and WHY are you voting for it?  Check this out!


     Annie Hynes is a tomboy. Naïve and love-starved, she’ll soon to be celebrating her big 3-0. Something needs to be done! Celi, her ‘down-to-earth’ guardian angel appears to help kick-start Annie’s big change—her looks, her job, her whole life. By taking a managerial position with a sophisticated shoe manufacturer, Annie becomes embroiled with her new associates and hooked on the power of big business. Unfortunately, her exhaustion from overwork forces her to ignore old friends, and her lapse places someone she cares about in terrible danger.

     Social Worker, Tyler Jones, previously hurt in two relationships, signals disinterest in women, and only wants Annie in his life as a good buddy. Oh yeah! And to help with his mixed-up street kids. Perversely, once her life alters, he misses her like hell.  In one sweet night of loving everything changes. But, due to an overabundance of nightcaps, she doesn’t remember the night he can’t forget.

Reviews:

"Once again, Ms. Barbour has woven a love story into the paranormal without diving into the darker side of the genre. " -- Amazon

"The characters were believable, the plot moved along ever so nicely and I would easily reccomend this romance to anyone wanting a feel good read." -- Amazon 

" -- a fun, fast read. I love stories about friends who become something more. And Mimi Barbour delivers with My Cheeky Angel." -- Amazon

Author's Website:  http://www.mimibarbour.com/
Author's Blog:      http://mimibarbour.blogspot.com/
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/@mimibarbour 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mimi.barbour#!/pages/Mimi-Barbour-Fan-Page/203964072966134  
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/mimibarbour 


You can get this book at this LINK from Amazon for ONLY 99 cents!!  Click on the ICON to PURCHASE THIS BOOK!   (This book is Adult Paranormal Fiction and should be read by people over the age of 18.)  READ AN EXCERPT BELOW!!!

WANT TO READ AN EXCERPT?  HERE YOU GO!

Excerpt:    My Cheeky Angel

Every time he closed his eyes, a strange image of Annie in trouble took on such realistic tendencies it seemed surreal. Sick of his own company, Tyler decided a walk would do him a world of good, clear his head, and help to get his mind off his tomboy gone rogue.

     Once the idea appeared, it became a fixation. No choice, no dragging his feet, he had to get out of his apartment. Either he needed hallucination treatments or a curt, gravelly female had taken up residence in his brain and urged him to hurry and get his butt moving.

     The elevator, not ever on his floor, awaited him with the door open and no one else inside. He shivered. Strange and stranger! The ride down lasted only seconds. When it slowly opened, a nightmare unfolded. One look at his Annie clinging to her evening’s escort and his rage superseded common sense. Without thought, he ripped her from the scumbag’s groping fingers and shoved the conceited-looking, puffed-up character against the wall. All Tyler’s six feet two inches of anger intimidated. He watched the coward evaluate, then shrink back.

     Within seconds the smooth prick spoke. “Anna had a bit too much to drink. I was seeing her safely home.”

     “Not a problem. I’ll take her up,” he growled. By this time, Tyler had a supportive arm around the wobbly woman. He looked down at her. “Say bye-bye to your date...Anna.” His spitting out her newly chosen name would have set worry bells ringing, if she’d been in her normal state of mind. Blitzed out of her head, she just jiggled her fingers and said, “Bye-bye, date.”          

     With everything happening so fast, Tyler knew Annie hadn’t had a chance to fully appreciate the change in her situation. One minute she was leaning drunkenly against the slimy character whose hands were all over her body, while her unfocused eyes gazed at him adoringly. The next minute, Tyler had taken over.

     As the elevator doors closed, leaving Sergio shrugging off his disappointment, a fuming Tyler lifted Annie into his arms.

     At ease, Annie wrapped her arms around him, snuggled her face into his neck, and then sighed. His familiar expensive cologne, one of her gifts that he regularly used, seemed to soothe her. “I love how you smell.”

     The groan started deep, frustration forcing it out, chasing away his righteous snit. At her door, he lowered her to her unsteady feet, but she refused to unwind her arms from around his neck. They clung, her body glued to his.

     He reached up for the hidden key she kept stashed above her door, while balancing her with one arm. The lock took forever to get opened. Not that she noticed. Busy familiarizing his ear with her lips kept her amused. Swinging her back up and into his arms, he kicked the door closed behind them and carried her carefully into her bedroom, a room which seemed to have undergone huge changes since the day he’d helped her paint the ivory walls.

     Pillows of all shapes, in all shades of turquoise, some beaded, some embroidered, were strewn helter-skelter over a new satiny brown duvet. He swiped at them one-handed, clearing a space as he lowered her body to the side of the bed, letting her flip backwards. Trouble was, she had his neck imprisoned by her strong, clinging arms, and she wasn’t about to let go. He fell over her, half covering her body.

     “Please,” she whispered. “Kiss me. I have to be kissed at least once tonight, I just—have to.” She pushed upwards, pressing against his chest.

      Her desire sparked his, and her admission that she hadn’t yet been kissed assuaged most of the gut-wrenching rage he’d felt at seeing her in the arms of another man. Besides, he couldn’t resist her pushy invitation. Drunk or not, his name on her lips would go a long way to restoring his humor.

     “Honey, do you know who’s with you? I need to hear you say my name.”

    Her needs were clear; she wanted him. But his needs were just as clear. Not this way.

     God knew how long it had been since he’d had a woman, and here she was offering him every man’s dream. But taking advantage of her drunken state didn’t sit well with him. It wouldn’t sit well with her, either, in the morning. He knew it, even if right now she didn’t.

     He slowly began to rise, halted again by her gripping arms. Tired of waiting for him to take the initiative, Annie shocked him by lifting herself, twining her arms tighter around his back, and fusing her lips onto his.

     She was sweet. So sweet! Her inexperienced mouth caressed like a little girl. Small puckered kisses zeroed in on his hunger. She struck at his nose, cheeks, lips, wherever she could reach. 

     Obviously frustrated by his lack of co-operation, Annie became more inventive. He guessed she’d sensed him stalling, and so she doubled her efforts to get him involved in her love play.

           “Tyler, pleeasse! Don’t stop. Kiss me again. I love your kisses.” Caught in the throes of passion, her body undulated with each word. He watched as her mouth opened a fraction in order to suck in her bottom lip so her teeth could bite down on the plump pinkish mound. 

          “I can’t.” Good side just had to get his two cents in there.

     “I bloody want her more than my next breath.” Come on, bad side!

     “It’s not right.” Gravelly-voiced idiot side? Where did she come from?

  AWESOME STORY EXCERPT!

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REVIEW:


"Anything" by Michael Baron

This book was FABULOUS!  Michael Baron grabbed me from the start of this book and has never let me go, still!  I keep thinking about this story.  Michael Baron’s writing is most ecsquisite!  The Publisher compared him to that of Nicholas Sparks.  I highly agree!  The emotion portrayed in the characters was real.  You could feel it.  The characters came to life jumping off the pages as they devoured my heart.  It is as if you are a part of them, or vice-versa.  He has something special in his writing and it is undeniable.  I truly enjoyed this story.  This story was a little on the Paranormal side, too, which I usually tend to stay away from, but there was something that pulled me right into it in this book.  Something must have happened to this author because in the Prologue of this book he writes a special note to the Reader explaining in love, anything can happen, even things one cannot explain.  Hmmm?  Typically, when I read a love story such as this, being female, I prefer a female author as they tend to be able to portray more into the ‘feelings’ than a male author.  This is NOT the case with Michael Baron.  His writing talent is outstanding!  His words are like music!  The plot line is so smooth and very well thought out.  He can write from the point of view of both sexes equally as well.  The story flows beautifully.  He has such a talent with story telling that touches the heart.  I HIGHLY recommend this book if you are looking for a love story you won’t likely forget!

Ken and Melissa are so much in love and are only a week away from their wedding.  Each week they visit Melissa’s parents, have dinner, then Melissa’s mother gets out the photo albums of Melissa as she was growing up and she pours over the memories of Melissa with Ken.  Ken loves this.  He wants to know everything there was to know about his Melissa before he had met her.  Everything. 

One night they went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and their fortune cookies they each got both had very special messages for each one of them which will take us further into the future of this story.  They pretty much disregarded the fortunes by stating the fortune cookie fortunes aren’t even really fortunes anymore as they are statements.  Well . . . this time is does turn out that they are a type of fortune to come true!

One day he went into their favorite store near where they live in Washington D.C., as he was looking for a special wedding gift for Melissa.  They had found this store together one Saturday afternoon and both had agreed they had found the most original and unique store full of the most beautiful things that no other store ever had.  It was their favorite store.  They always knew they could find anything special they wanted here.  As Ken was looking for that special wedding gift for Melissa, the owner, Stephon, told him he had some more things Ken would be very interested in, coming in two days.  Stephon told Ken to come back then and he would have something spectacular for him.  He also told him, in the meantime, to think about what type of fantasy would Ken like for him and Melissa.  Ken had to think about this one.  He wasn’t quite sure what Stephon meant.  Ken knew what he wanted instantly.  He would continue to think about it and tell Stephon when he came back in.

Ken went back into the store and saw Stephon’s new items.  Stephon was right.  Ken found the perfect gift.  As he and Stephon were talking, Stephon asked Ken if he had given any more thought as to what fantasy he had for himself and Melissa.  Ken still knew what he wanted, and it had not changed.  Ken told Stephon he wanted to see more of Melissa as she was growing up.  Stephon said he ‘could’ do it, but Ken could not do anything to alter the history during this trip through Melissa’s history.  All I will say is there is so much more to this story that it is a MUST read!  You don’t want to miss this one! 

This story was so touching.  I felt everything Ken felt for Melissa.  Ken’s love for Melissa is so deep and touching that he would do “Anything” for Melissa.  Come along on the ride with this author’s story and find out how great this story is and what happens!

I received this book for “FREE” from Story Plant through NetGalley, through their Book Reviewer’s Program in exchange to read and write a review about this book.  It is NOT required for my review I write to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was NOT provided with “ANY” monies to accept this book, “NOR” to read it, NOR were “ANY” monies given to me to write the review for this book.  All that was ‘expected’ of me was to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it.  Again, the opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

You can purchase this "99 cent" ebook through this link! Just click on the photo of the book and it will take you directly 'to' Amazon so you can get it 'right NOW'!  Scroll down for a HUGE TREAT!  The link for his NEW BOOK is right here also!  "A Winter Discovery" by Michael Baron!

Michael Baron's NEWEST release:  "A Winter Discovery" is ONLY '89 cents' as an ebook!  Click on this link to get it now, right in time for holiday enjoyment!  (ANY purchases made from this blog helps to support ALL giveaways!!  Thank you for helping to support it!)

My review of this book will be coming soon!

While you are on the page for "A Winter Discovery" by Michael Baron, if you scroll down, there is a runner of books that says "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought".  Well, if you click on the right arrow and go to page 5 out of 25, the first book in that row is "My Twelfth Christmas" by Linda Ash.  Click on that book.  THAT book sounds GREAT!!  Scroll down to see that runner again!  THIS TIME THEY ARE "ALL" CHRISTMAS BOOKS!!  There are 25 MORE pages of ALL Christmas Books which vary in price, but most ALL of them are 99 cents!  If you like Debbie Macomber, her books are generally around $4.79.  I think there is only '1' book by another author that is about $8'ish.  I did not see any higher than that!  Not bad!!  You can stock up from there and get ALL your Christnas reads ALL IN ONE SPOT!!!  You will also be helping to support this blog as well!  THANK YOU!!
ANY questions about this, such as "I can't find them?", please feel free to leave a COMMENT "or" EMAIL ME  and I will try to help you out!
My email addy is laurieisreading at gmail dot com!
Also, as ALWAYS, authors LOVE when you leave a review on ANY book you have read!  Of course, it is NOT required, but it helps other people when they are trying to decide what to read!  Thanks!
Okay!  For now, I'll see you later!  I'm going shopping for some Christmas books!  Christmas is my FAVORITE time of the year!  I LOVE reading Christmas books!

REVIEW:

“You Don't Need a Prince: A Letter to My Daughter” by Cheryl Shireman

"5 STARS!"  KOODLES TO CHERYL SHIREMAN!!!

 

Don’t let this cover of this book fool you!  It is NOT a book for “little girls”, just the "reality" for the little girl in us who grew up believing there really is a “Prince Charming”!  ‘Lo and behold’, if there ‘is’ a Prince Charming, we had better stay away from him!

I only wish my own mother had been brave enough as to be as open, honest, and frank enough about love and men like this mother was with her daughter.

This mother/author sat down and wrote an email to her daughter about love, after she found out her daughter who was away from home and in college had met a new man from Denmark, when she was currently already in a long-term relationship.  She did not know what to do and talked to her mother about it.  Her mother was so worried about her daughter, she could not sleep.  It was 3:00am and she had to sit down and write an email to her daughter all about love.  Her daughter was so open to this letter she embraced it and forwarded it to all of her friends.  Thus, this book was born.

We all may face this same or similar situation in our lives where we may not know what to do, and question what love truly should be.  This letter is a complete description of the ‘reality’ of life and love and what one should honestly expect from it and put into it.  We all should be armed with the information from this book as it is needed to be able to confront love head on and allows us to make realistic decisions about love like her daughter did.  It would alter our lives like it did her daughter’s.  Love and life could turn out completely different for us.

Her daughter chose the man from Denmark.  Not the man she had been in the long-term relationship with.

I HIGHLY suggest EVERYONE purchase this book for their daughters, or even your son’s, and for yourself!  Why shouldn’t the young men learn what part ‘they’ need to play in being a “good man”?  If everyone could all truly know what love is and isn’t by learning from this book, just think if everyone on earth loved in this manner?  Imagine!

I found this book during the Women’s Literary Café Blog Hop that we just had on Wednesday, November 11^th, this week.  After reading the description on the Blog it was featured on, I couldn’t help but to go to Amazon and purchase it immediately and dive right in and read it!  I LOVE this book!  It will go a LONG way in your daughter’s life, or anyone’s, for that matter.

I am purchasing a paperback copy of this book for my daughter for Christmas.  She is in college right now, as well!  I can only hope my daughter will be as open and embracing to this book/enmail as this daughter was to her mother.

The opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Meet:  Cheryl Shireman

(From Amazon.com)  The author’s Amazon Author Page link: http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Shireman/e/B004K3IJIS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Biography:

Cheryl Shireman lives in Midwest on a beautiful lake with her husband, Bruce. "One of the things I like best about writing is that I can do it from home in my pajamas." She started writing as a teen, probably inspired after reading one of her favorite books, My Friend Flicka. Through the years, amid marriage, the birth of three children (Rocky, Lee Anne, and Scarlett), divorce, and her second (and last!) marriage, the one thing that has remained constant is her love of writing. She has written many "practice novels" through the years("the kind that get stuffed in a box and shoved under your bed or clutter your hard drive"). With her last child married, she is now ready to spread her own wings. Her first novel is entitled Life is But a Dream. She has just published a second novel, Broken Resolutions. Right now, she is hard at work (probably in her pajamas and staring out the window at the lake) on her third novel - a sequel to Life is But a Dream.  You can follow Cheryl Shireman on 

Follow on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/cherylshireman
Follow on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/cherylshireman

To PURCHASE THIS BOOK AS AN EBOOK (99 cents 'right now' 11-19-11, 'OR' as a PAPERBACK (currently $6.99 as of 11-19-11), CLICK ON THIS AMAZON PHOTO LINK!

 IT'S HERE!

GRATITUDE GIVEAWAY

BLOG HOP

Nov 17th to Nov 27th

I want to give a VERY special THANKS to Kathy at  http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/ and co-hosted by All-Consuming Books (you can click on the name and it will take you there!) for this 'special' Gratitude Blog Hop!  This is a time to give extra special thanks!
It is close to Thanksgiving, and I want to take a special moment to thank Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for ALL the work she does ALL year long hosting ALL these Blog Hops!  It is a LOT of work, and she does it beautifully EVERY time!  She always makes sure we get our reminder emails, emails to sign up, directions on how to do each and every Hop, and adds/corrects anything we need her to for our Blog spot!
I really cannot thank her enough!  She does this for "US" Book Bloggers, and never asks a thing from us!  She does this from the bottom of her heart!  Thank you SO much, Kathy!  Your work does NOT go unappreciated, believe me!  We LOVE you for ALL you do for us!  You make Blog Hopping a LOT of fun for SO many people!  Even regular readers get to join in these Hops and enter the Giveaways!  Believe me, EVERY Hop that comes around, I give you thanks!
I would also like to thank ALL the Co-Hosts that do this throughout the year with Kathy an extra special HUGE THANK YOU!
And to EVERYONE else, especially ALL the visitors to my Blog for ALL  the Hops you come and enter,  a VERY EXTRA SPECIAL "HAPPY THANKSGIVING" to YOU!  Thank YOU!


I need to keep this Giveaway to the US and Canada  for reasons beyond my control.  I am giving away

        3 SEPARATE WINNERS!


     1- $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD

                         OR
     1 of 2 CHRISTMAS BOOKS to get you in the mood for Christmas and the New Year!
          YOUR CHOICE OF:


        *Baby, It's Cold Outside by Susan May Warren

                                OR  
          *A Lancaster County Christmas by Suzanne Woods Fisher

                 YOUR CHOICE!!
        YOU WILL CHOOSE WHICH PRIZE YOU PREFER ON THE ENTRY FORM!

            
              JUST CLICK "HERE"
          TO GO TO THE PAGE WITH
               THE ENTRY FORM!
         GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!
            
          AND, TO "ALL" OF YOU
    A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

  AUTHOR GRATITUDE BLOG HOP!

Wednesday, November 16th ONLY!

Click HERE to see MY POST!  http://lauriehere.blogspot.com/2011/11/author-gratitude-blog-hop-to-author.html

  

AUTHORS ARE GIVING BACK TO "US" FOR SUPPORTING THEIR INDIE AUTHOR SUCCESS!

YES!!  THERE "IS" A GIVEAWAY!

"3" Books - 1 each to 3 different Winners!  Winner's choice of book!" by PATRICIA ROCKWELL!!!

Make SURE to LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN CASE YOU WIN YOU CAN BE NOTIFIED!   This is  ALL YOU have to do for YOUR CHANCE to win one of her books, YOUR CHOICE!

WE HAVE PATRICIA ROCKWELL GIVING UP A PERSONAL AUTHOR POST ABOUT HER WRITING CAREER AND HER BOOKS!  My Post will have EVERYTHING you need to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Let's read all about Patricia and ALL of HER BOOKS, so click on MY LINK FOR MY POST:  http://lauriehere.blogspot.com/2011/11/author-gratitude-blog-hop-to-author.html   

For more info on this you can go to:

http://www.womensliterarycafe.com/content/wlc-authors-give-back-blog-hop

"The Healing"
(Kentucky Brothers)
by 
Wanda E. Brunstetter

“The Healing” (Kentucky Brothers) by Wanda E. Brunstetter

This book is second in a series of the Kentucky Brothers.  This book picks up where The Journey (Kentucky Brothers) left off.  I read this book as a stand alone book, not reading the first book and had no problem picking up however the first book left off and how this second book picks up.  It is very easily read as a stand alone.  There are many references to the first book which helps tremendously. 

This book starts off in Paradise, Pennsylvania, with our main character named Samuel has just lost his wife, Elsie, and their unborn baby in an accident inside their own home.  Elsie fell down a staircase and died.  Samuel cannot get over the grief of her death.  It is so bad he goes into a very deep depression.  His only hope he can see is to move to his brother, Titus’ house in Kentucky.  His family in Pennsylvania gives him a little heat as the only family he has in Kentucky is his brother, Titus.  This is where Titus will live until he can find his own place, only problem is he has four children that will need to move in with them all.  Titus has a 3 bedroom home, which is not very large for everyone.  Titus and Suzanne are not married yet.  When Samuel arrives, he finds a woman by the name of Esther is more than willing to watch his children for him while he goes out to work.  Esther falls in love with Samuel’s children, and even starts to fall in love with Samuel.  Will Samuel fall in love with Esther when all he can still focus on is his dead wife, Elsie?  In the meantime, an Englischer, Bonnie hires Samuel to work on an old farmhouse of her grandparents she wants to refurnish into a Bed and Breakfast.  Esther starts to wonder if Samuel is falling in love with her, as he is over at his house so much.  Hmmm?  Just who will Samuel fall in love with, or will his deep depression prevent him from ever overcoming Elsie’s and his unborn child’s death?

I think this book was easy to second guess what would happen next.  Brunstetter does throw a loop in the book, but it wasn’t till it was towards the end.  The loop went too quickly and was predictable.  You will have to read for yourself and see if you agree with me!  It is a worthwhile read for Amish Fiction, as it was still very enjoyable.  It is always nice to escape into these books and get away from it all back to the Simple Life.

I received this book for “FREE” from Barbour Books, through NetGalley, through their Book Reviewer’s Program in exchange to read and write a review about this book.  It is NOT required for my review I write to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was NOT provided with “ANY” monies to accept this book, “NOR” to read it, NOR were “ANY” monies given to me to write the review for this book.  All that was ‘expected’ of me was to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it.  Again, the opinions expressed for and about this book are ‘of my own opinion’.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The Author:

 From Amazon:

Wanda Brunstetter is an award-winning romance novelist who has led millions of readers to lose their heart in the Amish life. She is the author of almost 50 books with more than 5 million copies sold. Many of her books have landed on the top bestseller lists, including the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, CBA, ECPA, and CBD. Wanda is considered one of the founders of the Amish fiction genre, and her work has been covered by national publications, including Time Magazine and USA Today.

Wanda's fascination with the Amish culture developed when she met her husband, Richard, who grew up in a Mennonite church, and whose family has a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. Meeting her new Mennonite sister-in-laws caused Wanda to yearn for the simpler life. In their travels, she and her husband have become close friends with many Amish people across America. Wanda's desire to explore their culture… Read more 

Purchase your book OR ebook here: 

                     See my note below!

***One quick note here!  You may be thinking I’ve had a LOT of Amish Fiction reviews lately!  I have!  I belong to the 2011 Amish Reading Challeng!  You can find it here:  http://www.reviewsbymolly.com/2011/01/2011-amish-reading-challenge-first-ever.html which is hosted by “Reviews by Molly”!  You can still join in!  We must read 15 or MORE Amish books for the year 2011!  I have to see where I am now and how many more I will have to read before the end of the year.  I do have 4 more from NetGalley I have to finish up, so be prepared for MORE!  At least 4, anyway, regardless of how many I have or have not read by the end of the year!  Any of you belong to this?  Send me an email at laurieisreading at gmail dot com if you are and talk to me!  See you soon! Hey - guess what book I just got from NetGalley?  "An AmishWedding" by Beth Wiseman!  I was SO hoping NetGalley had this book, and they do!!  I'm SO happy!  I'll be back in the future with 'this' review!  Thanks for reading!

Laurie

       AUTHOR "GIVE BACK" 
     GRATITUDE BLOG HOP!
      Wednesday, November 16th ONLY!!!
      It's HERE!!  NOW!!   Today!!!

 This Author Give Back Gratitude Blog Hop is sponsored by the Women's Literary Cafe, for thanks for the HUGE kick-off NEW BOOK RELEASE for Melissa Foster's "Come Back to Me" and in conjunction with The Indie Author 99 cents Book Sale!  This hop is a THANK YOU AND A GIVE-BACK from that event to EVERYONE, and I am SO appreciative to be a part of this! Thanks to ALL of you for stopping by today!


             WELCOME AUTHOR
           PATRICIA ROCKWELL!!!

Patricia, it's SUCH a pleasure to have you highlighted here on my Blog!  It is wonderful to have such an accomplished author like yourself, here on my Blog for the "Author's Give Back Gratitude Blog Hop" for "ALL" my Readers to enjoy hearing from and about all 'your' accomplishments HERE!

READERS, YOU HAVE A CHANCE AT WINNING "1" OF 4 BOOKS with "3" DIFFERENT WINNERS just by leaving a comment WITH your email address so we can contact you!!


***(Everyone - there are even MORE accomplished authors like "Patricia Rockwell" at the Blogs listed at the END of this Post after Chapter 1 of "Sounds of Murder"!

There are:
**FREE BOOKS
AND 
**MORE RAFFLES TO ENTER TO WIN FREE BOOKS!

We ALWAYS give ALL these authors the BEST ATTENTION to their works, and sometimes it is a thankless job!  It doesn't pay us money, or anything else, we do this from our hearts!  So ALL these Authors are THANKING US with this "Author's Give-Back 'Gratitude' Blog Hop"!  


ALL these Blogs listed below are featuring FREE BOOKS AND RAFFLES FOR THEIR BOOKS TO WIN *OR* GET THE BOOKS ABSOLUTELY FREE!  HOPEFULLY WE WILL HAVE A LOT OF "YOU" BECOME THE WINNERS OF THE RAFFLES THE OTHER BLOGS and get SO MANY FREE BOOKS at the other Blogs!
I know I am going to go and  surely 
GRAB THE FREE BOOKS AND ENTER THE RAFFLES FROM THE OTHER BLOGS POSTED AT THE VERY END OF THIS POST!!!
  
With the holidays coming up, as I have already said, I have 'purposely' scheduled "ME TIME only" for reading and writing reviews for a Christmas gift to me from me!  Time 'for just ME'!  I can't wait!  Every author has some sort of giveaway to enhance !

When?  Wednesday, November 16th ONLY!
  
A HUGE thank YOU, my Readers, for coming here today, and showing your support!  Plus, possibly WINNING ONE OF ANY OF PATRICIA ROCKWELL'S BOOKS!  I am SO happy to have you! 

Patricia, we ALL want to learn MORE about YOU and YOUR BOOKS!  Can you please tell us a little about yourself, please?  I would LOVE to hear how you came to write these "cozy" mystery books!  Mysteries are one of my FAVORITE Genres!  I could not be paired up with a better author!  From what I hear in your reviews, we CANNOT POSSIBLY guess who the culprit is!  So, tell us ALL about it, Patricia Rockwell, please!!!

                  Patricia Rockwell, Author

I’m really thrilled to be interviewed here on your blog as part of Melissa Foster’s Gratitude Blog Hop.  As an author, I am especially grateful for all of the people who assist authors like myself to get the word out about our books.  Book bloggers are a unique group of people who work tirelessly to help readers select the best books available--and they do this with virtually no personal reward.  So, I’m really especially delighted to be able to express my gratitude to you, Laurie, and bloggers like you, for all that you do to help both authors and readers.

I don’t know if my adventure in becoming an author is so remarkably different from that of many other authors, but I will tell it to you anyway.  I am retired and I got bored being retired.  That’s the short version of what led to me becoming a writer.  I’m a life-long teacher, spending the last thirteen years of my life as an academic researcher and professor of Communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  My specialty areas of research were deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues.  In order to study these behaviors, I had to become proficient using acoustic technology--that is, the measurement of sound.  When I retired, I took this expertise and developed a fictional character (much like myself) Pamela Barnes, who is a Psychology professor and acoustics expert, who becomes embroiled in various murders in her community that can only be solved through the analysis of sound clues.  The first in this series is SOUNDS OF MURDER and has Pamela figuring out who killed a colleague in her department.  She finds a recording of the actual strangling death of the woman on a master computer console and is able to extract information from the murder sounds to identify the killer. This book is followed by two other Pamela Barnes’ mysteries--FM FOR MURDER and VOICE MAIL MURDER.  In the first one, Pamela solves the murder of a local disc jockey who is shot on-air and in the second one, she solves the murder of the university’s football coach, from the voice mail messages left by his mistresses on his cell phone.

Just recently, I published the first in my new Essie Cobb senior sleuth mysteries--BINGOED.  This series will follow an elderly lady who lives in an assisted living facility as she solves various mysteries in her community.  In this first book, she figures out why an elderly gentleman collapses and falls into a coma after winning a dollar at Bingo.  I’m presently working on the second book in this series to be called PAPOOSED.  In this story, Essie and her group of friends will be asked to babysit for a newborn baby until the mother returns.  Unfortunately, the mother disappears and the women have to hide the baby because the facility does not allow children--particularly babies. 

I have a fourth book in my Pamela Barnes series that will be out in 2012, not to far away now! It’s called STUMP SPEECH MURDER and concerns a local politician who is accused of murdering his wife.  Pamela will be called in to help clear his name.  In addition to writing and publishing my own books, I also publish mysteries of other authors through my own publishing company--Cozy Cat Press.  My company only publishes cozy mysteries, which are gentle stories with exciting plots and engaging characters.  What cozy mysteries don’t have is lots of blood, violence, and gore.  They are similar to those mysteries written by Agatha Christie.    I have two other authors at present that I publish.  Diane Morlan’s books are TOO DEAD TO DANCE and SHAKE DOWN DEAD.  I’ve just signed a third author--Allen Boyer--whose cozy mystery GUMSHOE GRANNY INVESTIGATES should be out next year.

All of the Cozy Cat Press mysteries are available in paperback and ebook format on Amazon.com, CreateSpace, and Smashwords.com.  The Cozy Cat Press website is undergoing a transformation but you can check out how it’s coming along at:  www.cozycatpress.com.

I don’t always know what sorts of questions readers would like to have answered.  I’d be delighted to answer anything you’d like to know.

Best wishes, 

Patricia

You can find Patricia Rockwell on Facebook by her name!

You can find Patricia Rockwell on Twitter at:  par2323

I am going to post what Amazon has to say about Patricia because I think there is MORE great information that is super cool to know about!  Here it is:

From Amazon: Patricia Rockwell is the author of the Pamela Barnes acoustic mystery series. This amateur sleuth solves crimes using her knowledge of sound. The series includes SOUNDS OF MURDER, FM FOR MURDER, and VOICE MAIL MURDER. Her new series, Essie Cobb senior sleuth, features a 90-year-old assisted living facility resident who solves mysteries. The first book is entitled BINGOED.

Dr. Rockwell has spent most of her life teaching. From small liberal arts colleges to large regional research universities--and even a brief stint in a high school, her background in education is extensive. She has taught virtually everything related to Communication--from a fine arts speech-theatre orientation to more recently a social science research approach. Her Bachelors' and Masters' degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona in Communication. She… Read more by clicking on this link:  http://www.amazon.com/Patricia-Rockwell/e/B003MR9BMG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

I would like to interject I am very familiar with the University of Louisiana Lafayette!  I have not 'always' had this disability of a neurological muscle disease, and I have traveled quite extensively throughout the United States!  The University of Louisiana Lafayette is SO beautiful!  I'm jealous!   Plus, I LOVE books that take place in the deep south!  Now I am not sure if these take place there, but, if they do, it's a HUGE PLUS for me!  There is just something about southern characters that have makes the characters SO exciting! We'll see, huh?!

Currently Patricia Rockwell

is the author of two cozy mystery series.  Her Pamela Barnes acoustic mysteries include SOUNDS OF MURDER, FM FOR MURDER and VOICE MAIL MURDER.  Her Essie Cobb senior sleuth series begins with BINGOED.

(I wanted to know what a "Cozy Mystery" was, so I asked Patricia.  She said they are mysteries that do not have all the gore that some mystery books could tend to have.  These are nice and 'cozy' books that do not describe the gruesome details about the murder.  They stay away from any of that so as not to bother people.  I hope I relayed the information correctly as she told me!  Thanks!)

Patricia has spent most of her life teaching.  Her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona.  She was on the faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirteen years, retiring in 2007.

Her publications are extensive, with over 20 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, several textbooks, and a research book on her major interest area of sarcasm, published by Edwin Mellen Press.  In addition to publications, she served for eight years as editor of the Louisiana Communication Journal.  Her research focuses primarily on deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues. 

Dr. Rockwell is presently living in Aurora, Illinois, with her husband Milt, also a retired educator.  

Now, for the books Patricia Rockwell has written, keep scrolling down to see them all, AND don't forget to leave your COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so you have your chance to win one of ANY of her books in this GIVEAWAY!!  There will be 3 WINNERS!  
 (If you are concerned with leaving your email address in a comment, do it like I'll demonstrate mine here:  laurieisreading at gmail dot com.  I 'hear' that those programs that 'prowl' the internet for email addresses CANNOT pick up our emails when written in this format!  Or, mix it up even more like this:  laurie is reading at gmial dot com  (I have left my email like the first format ALL over the internet and have NEVER had a problem.)
See, you don't even have to Follow Me on GFC OR TWITTER!  If you'd like to, that would be GREAT!!!  You can join GFC (Google Friend Connect) above in the right side column at the TOP of my Blog!  Twitter is there also!  My Twitter handle is @laurieisreading  Here's to wishing YOU, MY READERS, THE BEST OF LUCK IN WINNING ONE OF THESE WONDERFUL BOOKS!  GOOD LUCK!!! Gee?  I wonder if "I" get to enter??  "I" didn't even get a book!!  LOL!!  I think I will enter myself!!  Check out MY COMMMENT!!!

And, without further ado, here is Chapter One of "Sounds of Murder"!
THEN, SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THIS BLOG HOP!
ENTER THEIR RAFFLES FOR FREE BOOKS!!!
***GET YOUR FREE BOOKS THE AUTHORS ARE JUST GIVING AWAY AS A THANK YOU TO "YOU"!!'
Thank YOU for coming by my Blog to participate in this wonderful event!  I LOVE events like this, and it's NOT possible without ALL OF YOU COMING TO MY BLOG!  A "HUGE" THANK "YOU"!!!!


Chapter 1

It was getting dark and the wind was picking up when Pamela Barnes roared into the small parking lot on the side of Blake Hall on the campus at Grace University.  Barely missing nicking the tail light on Dr. Swinton’s old Buick, she found one remaining spot at the far end just minutes before her graduate seminar was scheduled to start at 6 p.m.  She was just locking her Civic, when her graduate assistant, Kent Drummond, appeared.

"Hi, Dr. B," he greeted her, his ear stud gleaming in the last rays of sunlight.  "Got the last space, I see." 

"Yes," she smiled.  "Lucky me."  She tightened her jacket around her body.  The wind snapped her fine blonde hair briskly in front of her face.  Kent stepped beside her and the two of them strode purposefully towards the side entrance of the building. 

"Those were some hard articles you assigned for tonight, Dr. B," he noted, holding the door open for her as Pamela zipped inside before another gust of wind whipped up her skirt.

"It’s graduate school," explained Pamela, laughing.  "You don't expect it to be easy, do you?"  Kent chuckled weakly in response.

"Come on, Dr. B," he moaned, "Those articles were overkill."  Pamela registered his word choice with amusement.  Kent’s all black outfit with a blood-spattered machete design on the front of his t-shirt would never scream “conscientious graduate student” to the rest of the world, but she knew his “look” was all bravado.  He was one of her best students.

"That’s material you’re going to have to know," responded Pamela.

“If you say so. Oh, Dr. B, I ran that second group of subjects through the protocol.  You want me to enter the data tonight?” he asked, his sneakers squishing as he walked.

“You mean they all showed?”

Their footsteps echoed in the high-ceilinged main hallway of the ancient old building.

“Sure thing, Dr. B.  That’s what extra credit in a hard course like Dr. Clark’s will do for your turn-out,” he chirped.  How true, she thought.  Charlotte Clark was famous and with fame came popularity.   Students across campus wanted to take her courses on addiction, whether they were Psych majors or not.  And Charlotte always made her students participate in research.  Too bad she didn’t allow them to participate in animal psych research too.  Then her friend Arliss, who taught animal psychology, could benefit from Charlotte’s largess.  However, Pamela was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  She would use her participants however she got them.

 She turned to the young man beside her, saying, "You can hold off on data entry until tomorrow.  Then, changing the subject, she added, “Kent, are you sure you locked the lab up properly when you left this afternoon?"

"Sure, Dr. B," he answered, "I'm always very careful with the lab."

"That's good," she replied, sounding a note of caution.  "We can't be too careful, really.  That lab has some of the most expensive equipment on campus or even in the state.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who’d like to get their hands on it."  She hated playing campus cop like this, but her Chair had been pounding the faculty lately about lab security.

"Like I said, Dr. B," he repeated, "You can count on me.  I always lock it when I leave and I double check to make sure all the equipment is put away and safe too.  Don’t worry."  Kent waved good-bye and trekked across the hall towards the seminar room on the right. 

Pamela noticed her colleague Phineas Ottenback coming out of the departmental office across the hallway on the left.  He locked the door behind himself. 

"Oh, Dr. Barnes," he said turning, eyes popping open as he saw Pamela, "Did you need to get into the office?  I'm sorry I just locked it."  A shock of wispy, red hair flopped down over his forehead.

"That’s all right, Phineas," she responded.  She thought it amusing that Phineas was always so formal, even when there were no students around.  "I'm on my way to my seminar.  I assume you’re on your way to class too."

"Oh, yes, upstairs." he said, in that quaint, nasal voice that Pamela found just slightly irritating.  As he started towards the large central staircase further down the hallway, he suddenly turned back to her.

"Oh, Dr. Barnes, " he confided, "You're on the Tenure Committee, aren't you?"

"Yes, Phineas," she sputtered, "but…but I can't, in good conscience, discuss anything about the committee or its procedures with you, seeing as how you’re a candidate."

"Yes, Dr. Barnes," he said, hesitating, "but, I was just wondering if I…about the possibility of …what you would think if someone removed their name from consideration for tenure?"

"Phineas," she responded, "You surely wouldn't want to do that.  I mean, I can't say anything officially, but I believe your chances of getting tenure are as good as the other two candidates.  I really can't and shouldn't even say that."  She now felt horrible for even having this conversation with the man.  Tenure was a serious and private matter.  It was a make or break moment for young faculty members such as Phineas.  Get tenure and you had a job for life.  Be denied tenure and you were essentially fired.

“It's just a thought, you know," Phineas said, "I was only wondering what would happen—hypothetically--if someone were to drop out of the running, so to speak..."  He pulled himself from deep thought with a strange jerky motion and suddenly changed the topic.  "Anyway, thank you very much, Dr. Barnes, for your honesty.  I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention this conversation to anyone."

"Of course not, Phineas," she answered, befuddled.  He took her hand gingerly and shook it very formally, then quickly headed up the central staircase without another word.

How strange. She hadn’t studied the tenure portfolios for the Psychology Department’s three candidates yet.  She needed to get down to Charlotte’s office—Charlotte was Chair of the Tenure Committee—and study the files.  But from what she knew of Phineas’ work, he would likely be granted tenure.  He and his research partner, Rex Tyson, churned out several solid articles each year in top-notch journals, and tenure decisions were typically based on research productivity.  It didn’t make sense for Phin to even contemplate removing his name from consideration for tenure.

She stood there, staring after him for a moment.  Then, selecting her key to the department’s main office from her key ring, she quickly opened the glass-windowed door and entered the darkened insides. Just a narrow beam of light from the hallway illuminated the faculty mailboxes on the wall. As she reached into her cubby hole for her mail, she heard voices coming from the office of the Department Head, Mitchell Marks, which was located through a second small office where the departmental secretary worked. 

Pamela stood frozen as the two voices rang out behind Mitchell’s closed door.  It was unusual for Mitchell to be in his office this late in the day.  Pamela couldn’t make out the gist of what was apparently an argument, but it soon became clear to her who the combatants were—obviously Mitchell, the Head of Grace University’s Psychology Department, and, no surprise to Pamela, Charlotte Clark, the department’s prima donna, star grant-getter, and world-renown expert on addiction.  Pamela cocked her ear closer to the intervening office door, trying to decipher the cause of the fight. 

"For God's sake, Mitchell," she heard Charlotte Clark bellow. "I’ve brought this department millions of dollars in research funding, a beautiful state-of-the-art experimental computer lab, and hoards of fame.  The Dean had damn well better consider that, and the multi-million dollar grants I’ve brought and will bring to Grace University." 

"Now, Charlotte, calm down," said Marks. It was a request, not an order.

“Don’t try to calm me down, Mitchell!” Charlotte yelled.  “Remember, I have tenure so I don’t have to do his bidding.  And I’m not some boot licker like the rest of this gutless faculty,” she said, “not wanting to jeopardize an upcoming promotion or book deal.  I can say what I think.  And what I think is that this entire department is full of cowards.  And Mitchell—you’re the worst of the lot, the biggest coward of them all. You let the Dean walk all over you.  It’s time somebody stood up to him. All you care about is avoiding conflict.  But I don’t care about avoiding anything and I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.” 

 Pamela could hear Charlotte’s voice getting louder as she came closer to the door, then, evidently, turning back to Mitchell as he called out to her.

“Charlotte, for heaven’s sake, don’t do that!”

“Just try and stop me!” Charlotte screamed back at him, and her voice suddenly became even louder as she opened the door between Mitchell’s office and the secretary’s office.  Pamela could see the outline of her body highlighted in the door frame.  Charlotte was a striking, middle-aged woman, with a beautifully styled head of blonde curls.  Her designer suit and Monolo Blahnik heels looked elegant enough to be featured on the cover of Vogue.  As she turned to leave, she tossed a final comment over her shoulder:

“And, Mitchell, you can forget that stupid Chili Cook-Off of yours that you so foolishly think of as a departmental fundraiser.  I won’t be participating this year!”

As Charlotte’s footsteps stormed toward her, Pamela quickly grabbed her mail and headed out the main office door and across the hall toward the seminar room.  She slipped into the room just as she heard Charlotte slam the main office door shut and storm down the hallway.  The last thing she wanted was to get in the way of an angry Charlotte Clark steam-rolling in her direction. 

What in the world had caused such a fight between Charlotte and their Chair?  And where was Charlotte going now in such a huff?  To the Dean as she’d threatened?  And if so, what for?  She’d love to be able to find out, but Pamela was sure the gossip mill would supply the answer tomorrow. 

Right now, she had to concentrate on conducting her Tuesday night graduate seminar in acoustics.  She looked around the room.  She could smell the old wood paneling and the faint scent of leather in the worn, but comfortable arm chairs situated around the long conference table.

Kent had positioned himself in his favorite location on the side of the table near the windows.  Two girls were already in the room and were talking to Kent.  He was cheerfully responding to their eager questions.  Luckily, it appeared the students had not heard the horrific argument between Mitchell and Charlotte that had just occurred across the hall. 

Pamela went quickly and quietly to the end of the long table at the front of the room and sat down.  Then she began to review the articles she’d assigned her class—the impossibly hard ones according to Kent--while she waited for her class to arrive.

Soon, three more female students and three male students arrived and Pamela began the class.  In no time at all she had forgotten—well, almost forgotten—Charlotte Clark and her tirade in Mitchell’s office.

"Okay, class," she announced, rising and getting their attention, "you read three articles about acoustics for tonight's class.  Who can tell me, in a nutshell, what these articles had in common, and how they were different from each other?"

One girl quickly raised her hand.

"Dr. Barnes," she declared, "Those articles were very technical, more than any other articles you’ve assigned.  Truthfully, I was lost."  She looked a bit sheepish, until several other students chimed in, in agreement.

"Let’s look at it this way," responded Pamela.  "Eventually you’ll need to understand how to use the acoustic technology described in these articles if you intend to find careers using sound analysis.  You won't necessarily need to understand how the technology works.  Even so, it's a good idea to start with a discussion of the workings of a piece of equipment with which you’ll all need to become very familiar—the spectrograph."  She stopped and looked around the room.  Everyone looked a bit terrified.

"Consider this," she said, turning to the chalkboard and taking a piece of chalk and dragging it firmly down the board, making that unmistakable sound that makes a person's teeth clench.  The class cringed noticeably.

"Now," she asked, turning back to them.  "What was that?"

"Torture!" yelled one blond man near the door.  The class laughed in relief.

"In addition to torture?" asked Pamela.

"I’d call it—just noise," ventured one young woman sitting close to Pamela’s end of the table.

"Just noise?" Pamela prompted.

"Yeah," added another male near the far end of the table, close to the door. 

"So, what is noise?" she asked.  In her mind, she couldn’t help but recall the noisy shouting match she had witnessed just moments ago in the main office.  She was still mystified by its severity and its reason.  Charlotte was notoriously hot tempered, but this was the angriest she had ever heard her--so angry, in fact, that Mitchell had seemed almost overwhelmed by her fury.

Another young woman raised her hand.  Pamela nodded towards her.

"I’d say that noise is a sound that isn’t attractive."

"And," continued Pamela, "what constitutes 'attractive'?"

The class was seemingly stumped.  Pamela waited.  Then, she picked up one of the assigned articles.

"If you remember in this article, the author presents a rather detailed discussion of the difference between 'sound' and 'noise.'  Would anyone like to describe that difference?"  No one raised their hand. 

"All right.  Here's where all that technology comes in."  She turned to the chalkboard and drew a wavy, measured line, and next to it, a very choppy, disjointed line of the same length.  "What did I draw?" she asked.

A tentative hand peeked up over an open textbook. 

"Helen?"

"I believe those are drawings of a vowel and chalk being scraped over a chalkboard."  She smiled sweetly at Pamela.

"That’s actually more detailed than even I was hoping for, Helen.  Bravo! I’m just guessing at the vowel or screeching chalk characteristics of these two masterful paintings I’ve just created for you."

The class giggled.  She liked to make them laugh.  All teachers, she realized had a bit of stand-up comic in them.  Even so, she was quite good at covering her true feelings when she lectured—and right now her true feelings were centered on the battle she had overheard earlier in the main office.

"What makes the first drawing different from the second?" she asked.

"The first one is smooth and regular and the second one is all over the place," said one young man.

"Right," answered Pamela.  "The first one is regular; it forms a pattern, just as does any ..."   She looked directly at the girl who’d brought up the "attractive" argument.  "Just as does any attractive sound, such as speech.  The second drawing is erratic; it has no regular pattern—it’s the pattern of noise." 

The class contemplated this distinction for a while.  The old analog clock on the wall audibly ticked off the seconds.

"Now," said Pamela, "let's take a look at some other characteristics of speech--our patterned sound.” 

She drew another wavy line on the board. 

"Let's assume," she said, "that this is the acoustic output for a portion of speech. We have sophisticated software that can analyze many acoustic features of speech and other sounds--even of noise."  She smiled and they all laughed.

"Let's say that this wavy line represents the word 'cat.'" She pointed to the line and she then added a horizontal and a vertical axis.  "Now, what types of features of a speaker's voice can we possibly determine by looking at this acoustic output?"

A hand rose.  "I believe if the word begins on the left and ends on the right of the line, that you could measure how long it took the speaker to say the word."

"Absolutely right," announced Pamela.  "That is, this acoustic wave provides us a measure of time--how long it takes to produce a sound or sounds.  What else?"  She looked around the room, hoping for someone else to volunteer.

Kent raised his hand.

"Mr. Drummond?" she asked.

"Not sure here, Dr. B., but I think the height of the wave is a measure of how loud the sound is."

"Right again!" she claimed.  "Excellent, class!  It appears you did read those impossible to understand articles after all.  The height of the wave is a measure of the sound's amplitude or intensity--or in layman's terms--loudness."  She drew some dramatically larger wave forms and some dramatically smaller forms and demonstrated the difference in their loudness.

"There's one more feature you can extract from looking at this form.  Anyone know what it is?" she coaxed.

"Dr. Barnes, please don't jump on me if this is wrong," offered the shy girl who had hidden behind her book, "but I think the third feature you’re looking for is the number of waves within a certain space."

"Yes, Peggy," said Pamela, "and what do we call that?"

"I think it's pitch--or rather—frequency," responded the girl.

"A perfect score for my brilliant class," announced Pamela.  The students were all looking around the room, smiling and proud.  Maybe, some were hoping, the “brilliant” label would continue through until final grades.  That’s what she loved about graduate students; they often didn’t trust their own instincts and they needed good instincts to be linguists or have careers in acoustic technology—as many of them wanted.  She knew that.  You had to be able to listen to sound and extract meaning from it other than just the words--like the words she’d heard shot back and forth between Charlotte and Mitchell earlier.  Now what meaning could she derive from that interchange?  From the volume?  The tempo?  The pitch?

"Yes," continued Pamela, "what we perceive as pitch is really the number of waves or frequency of waves within a certain space.  That is, a high pitched sound," and Pamela sang a very high note, "would have far more waves within a certain space," and she drew many evenly spaced waves together, "than a low pitched sound," and she sang a low note, "which would have the waves longer and spread out more like this" and she drew in the same space, fewer evenly spaced waves together. 

Pamela continued to explain acoustic technology and soon, before she realized it, several hours had whizzed by.  With some final words and an explanation of next week’s reading assignment, she dismissed the class for the evening.  As she was gathering her belongings, she called to Kent to come over.

"Kent," she said, "please, don't consider me an old fogy, but would you be so kind as to go down and check on the lab one more time?  Just be sure it's locked."

"Sure, Dr. B.," he answered, "I'm on my way."  He headed out the door, taking his book sack with him.  Pamela followed the last few students out the door, and then turned and closed the seminar door.  This door, she mused, didn’t need to be locked because there wasn't anything in this room of value--at least not of value to most thieves who were looking for equipment and devices that they could sell readily on the black market.  The department was more than worried about possible theft in their multi-million dollar computer lab, but the rest of the old dilapidated building contained little worth stealing.  She headed down the hallway towards the lab and the parking lot entrance.  Just then, Kent came running back towards her from the lab, yelling.

"Dr. Barnes!  Dr. Barnes!" he screamed, "Come quick!  Come to the lab!  It's horrible!  Hurry!

Patricia, it has been an HONOR to have you here today!  THANK YOU!!

**ONE QUICK NOTE ABOUT TOMORROW!  IT'S THE BLOGGER'S GRATITUDE BLOG HOP!  IT STARTS TOMORROW, November 17th to November 27th till 11:59pm! I hope to see you come back to enter this giveaway, too! I LOVE seeing you here at my Blog!  Thanks SO much!