Book Review: Return the Heart

Book Review for: Return the Heart
By: TK Richardson

You may recall TK Richardson (Website & Blog) from our author swap some time back. Well, guess what? She’s been busy writing and publishing her first book, Return the Heart. And you know what? It’s fabulous. This is a gal who has invested in her skill and it shows.

Lilly, the heroine, is well-developed, as is the rest of her ‘gang’ of new friends that have special, top secret talents. You know what motivates them, what their internal conflicts are, and all that high-tech writerly mumbo-jumbo. In other words, you totally get why each character acts the way they do and totally understand (and empathize) with the push-pull they feel at any given moment.

So, what’s up with Lilly anyway? Well, Lilly can read hearts. That is, she can look at someone (or a photo of someone) and read their feelings, histories, desires, and most telling, their secrets–good and bad. Her friends have similar, but unrelated talents, and together they mesh to create a powerful group that is wanted by agencies (both good and bad) around the world. But I’ve already told you enough. TK slowly doles out information in a way that intrigues the reader and causes them to want more and I don’t want to spoil that for you.

Watch for more from TK, and more in the series. (After reading the last chapter I emailed her and asked, so you totally led up to a sequel–is there one? The answer is yes. Yay!)

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Book Review: The Secret Life of Bees

And finally, one more for book review week. It’s a book I’ve put off for awhile, but found I really quite enjoyed it! (I’d probably even watch the movie. Oh, heck. Who am I kidding? I would totally watch it.)

Book Review for: The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd

I liked the twists and turns as well as the never-really-knowing-the-answer to certain things in the character’s life. She doesn’t know, so neither do we.

The main character (I love her moxi) breaks her housekeeper out of jail (yes, you read right) and runs away. But wait, there’s more. Her housekeeper is Black and it is during the civil rights upheaval. And she’s White. And just a kid. And she pulls it off. And that’s just the beginning.

She has one destination in mind when she runs away, and no real plan. But somehow things work out like her ‘trip’ was preordained. Not only does she find a home, but she finds some of the answers she’s always been seeking.

I think the reason I steered away from this book for so long was the bee part. Being raised a beekeeper, I often find that books about bees or beekeepers are often incorrect. This one had one thing that wasn’t quite right, but otherwise, she did a fantastic job of working bees and their world into this novel. Without the bees the book just wouldn’t have been quite as sweet.

P.S. Thanks to my mother-in-law for handing this book down to me some time ago. Thanks! I enjoyed it immensely. And, er, sorry about the spaghetti I spilled on page 106 and 107. I gather you were giving the book to me, but if you want it back, I’ll buy you a new copy. Sorry about that. (Who let me become a keeper of books–aka librarian–anyway?)

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Book Review: Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

We’ve got a lovely bit of a British story (written by a Canadian) next up in Book Review Week…

Book Review For: Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
By Alan Bradley

There is something about an 11-year-old heroine who is charmingly British that caused me to fall in love with this book.

Flavia, an 11-year-old with a frightening passion for chemistry and all things poison-related, stumbles upon a dying man in her family’s cucumber patch. Instead of fainting or running off screaming, she gets involved in solving the mystery not only of whom this odd stranger was, but also who killed him.

Flavia is a bit of a loner gal with no mother and a father who has his head in postage stamps. (Wow, can we say geek? That’s even geekier than me!) She has two older sisters, but they take turns ganging up on each other in most unusual and inventive ways. I dare say those bloody British kids are bloomin’ brilliant. When her father is arrested for the murder of the man left in the cucumber patch, Flavia gives her sisters reprieve from her tortures and jumps on her bike to track down clues faster than the billies can say “Steady on.”

There are more promised in this series and dare say this ol’ gal will read them.

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Book Review: The Girls

Here we go… book three in book review week.

Book Review For: The Girls
By: Lori Larsens

The Girls are conjoined twins, Ruby and Rose, who grow up in Southern Ontario. The book is written from their perspective–they each take turns writing chapters about their history and what is going on in their lives right now. I’m not going to tell you too much about this one as it will totally spoil the book for you as it has some unique twists, turns, and elements that are a nice surprise for the unsuspecting reader.

The author must have done a fair amount of research as well as immersed herself in what the everyday difficulties must be for two such characters. While the odd spot dragged a bit, it is more than made up for in the way she conquers the mundane and how she gives unique voice for these two characters.

Love? Children? Work? Family? Strangers? Transportation? Education? It’s all shown and conquered by Larsens. (I’m totally not doing this book justice, however if I tell you more I will spoil it all!)

Book Review: Mary Schaffer

And now for a quick-read biography of an American female explorer for Independence Day and book review week...

Book Review For: Mary Schaffer: An Adventurous Woman’s Exploit’s in the Canadian Rockies
By Jill Foran

Take one well-off woman who can barely walk up a hill in the late 1800s and early 1900s and take her out to the Canadian Rockies. Introduce her to a man in love with botany and the great outdoors. Teach her to ride a horse. Let her imagination go wild and allow her to become the woman she was meant to be and soon you’ll have her hiring guides with other adventurous widows and exploring the Canadian Rockies.

Mary was an amazing woman pushing the boundaries of exploration for not only men, but most definitely for women in a time when most women wouldn’t venture further from their fine-boned china than a step or two. And here’s Mary treking through mountain passes, building rafts and exploring fabled lakes–and sleeping in a tent. On the ground. In snow, heat, bugs, etc.

The more Mary followed her dream, the more she didn’t fit into her ‘home’ in Philadelphia’s high society. Over a hundred years later, I can kind of relate… (Even though I don’t own any fine-boned china.)

Book Review: Made to Stick

Something a little different than yesterday’s beach read for my book review week.

Book Review for: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By: Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I’ve mentioned this book before due to its thought-provoking tidbits (See Core Ideas and Intent). This nonfiction book is a gem in how to make ideas stick. It doesn’t matter if you are a writer trying to create a story that will be deep and meaningful, a mother trying to get it through your child’s thick head about looking both ways before crossing the street, a marketer, a teacher teaching math, or a supervisor trying to convince your minions that your way is indeed the way to go, this book is for you.

Made to Stick is simple, easy-to-read with an entertaining approach. They make it easy to figure out what your core idea/intent of your message is as well as provide simple step-by-step approaches on how to convey your idea, make it meaningful, and of course, make it stick. It could be a simple message for your family, or it could be something complex and of national security. Not convinced? They break down a nice little urban legend many of us have heard of and explain why it sticks. Have you heard of the urban legend about kidney heists? (You wake up in a bathtub of ice to find someone has stolen your kidneys.) Memorable isn’t it? Why? Because it is meaningful, simple, unexpected, emotional, credible (it happened to a friend of a friend, doncha know?), and it is all wrapped up in a little story. They’ll teach you how to do that.

You think there were a lot of urban legends before? Just wait until I’ve applied this book to my imagination. Mwa-ha-ha!

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Book Review: Certain Girls

First up in my book review week is a light beach read.

Book Review for: Certain Girls
By: Jennifer Weiner

Certain Girls is a sequel to Good In Bed, but can be read as a stand alone novel. Cannie is a novelist who pretends she is nothing more than a stay-at-home mom and a perfect housewife. In reality, she is the best-selling author of a tell-all memoir (okay, fictional memoir based on her evil ex who got her pregnant and left) that shook up the world years ago. Now she hides behind a pen name writing for a science fiction series and pretends her best-selling book never happened. Except her just-hit-puberty daughter–which she has devotedly and painstakingly sheltered all her life–has just found the book… and read it. And she’s got questions. Lots of questions. About her conception. About her father. About her mother’s past. And most of all–was she even wanted?

In the meantime, Cannie’s husband is urging her to consider expanding their family through the use of a surrogate and her editor is pushing her to peek out from behind the shelter of the pen name and be ‘Cannie, best-selling author of the fictional expose’ once again.

What’s a gal to do?

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Summer’s Here! Let’s Read!

That’s right. Summer’s here. Holidays. Sunblock. Girly drinks. Floppy hats. Bathing suits. Shorts. Flip flops. And black vinyl seats that sear your buttocks.

That’s right. We made it to summer once again.

It’s time to make a dent in those To Be Read (TBR) piles you’ve got lying around your house. If you don’t have a TBR pile, let me help you out. This week–I know it is Thursday already, but it’s summer and the days of the week don’t really matter anymore–I’ll be posting reviews on my blog for a few books I’ve recently read. So keep checking back, I’ve read some good ones!

Any summer must-reads you want to share with others? Pop the title (and author if you know it) in the comment section and help us grow our TBR piles.