Tag Archive: Fiction
Antics! by Cathi Hepworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A couple of friends recommended this fun little treat. After their great reviews knew I had to find a copy.
Okay, so it might be a little advanced compared to other alphabet books. Still, the pictures and one word per page make it a quick memorized book. It may be more fun for older siblings to read to younger ones with a more advanced vocabulary. And parents and teachers can find a lot of conversation starters on each page.
First of all, ANTS! Hey, you could obtain a good ant farm for the kids to watch or a walkout to see ants in their true habitats. Hopefully, you haven’t been inundated by the ones that love your kitchen. But, heck, there’s another educational moment for you and the students.
The illustrations are so much fun! Who knew ants could be so expressive? This brings me to the choose your favorite page. My friends chose Deviant and Chant. I do like both of those. But my favorite is a psychological thriller with personal history. Hesitant. I remember graduating to the level of the high dive. I remember the first time actually climbing back down the ladder to my shame and embarrassment. I gave myself speeches for days and was determined to do it the next time. I did get all the way out on the board—no diving for my first few times. Even the first jump, I felt hesitant. I don’t remember ever getting confident on that dive. I preferred the sturdy diving platform, and I could dive from and reach the other end of the pool in one breath.
I think I will donate this to our little library.
Saving Snow White by Gita V. Reddy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really needed this story. After the stress of the last book I read, I needed a bit of a child’s adventure, Not that this is a childish story. Adults can appreciate this story, as can middle grades. There is a sweet nod to the Snow White story, but mostly this strong young girl had to figure a way to survive this evil stepmother. This would have been a great book to read to my kids at bedtime. I think there are many points that could have been conversation starters.
What I like best about this tale is how the author chose to let the child/children work out their own answers to their dilemmas. They were in positions where the adults were not to be trusted. It is good to teach your children to think for themselves about what they might do in the worst circumstances. As much as I would love the kind of world where that wouldn’t be needed, not teaching a child to think and act would be a disservice. We need to help our children feel strong enough to handle themselves while remaining respectful and still have the fun of being a kid. We all need that.
When you let yourself imagine yourself like this child, what would you have done? I don’t think I would have had the tools within me to survive much. I was so naive and gullible. I hope I raised mine with more gumption. If you need to set your inner child on a semi-scary adventure, this is one for you and yours.
The Carolina Diaries: Belle
The Carolina Diaries: Belle by Darlene Winters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I don’t know. This was hard to read. It is hard to review. It feels autobiographical. Though it–
I don’t do this often as I figure people will go read the blurbs themselves. But this and the reviews make me wonder if I read the same book.
“Her cousin wants to die. She has the whole roadtrip to convince her otherwise.
Darlene only knows of one way to help her cousin Belle after a life of disappointments–go with her on a cross-country road trip, head back to California where Belle was born… and where she intends to die.
But deep family resentments and drama rides with them across the country, shedding light on heavy themes like sexual abuse and depression, as well as religion and politics. Growing up in North Carolina, these cousins have a lot of stories to share: some sad, some comical, and some just down right disturbing.
If you enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine and Girl, Interrupted, you’ll want to read The Carolina Diaries with its unique blend of dark humor and even darker perspectives of life past, present and future; the real take-aways being how to cope and heal.”
I found no humor. I wish I hadn’t picked it up. It was exactly what I don’t want to read before bed. All the reality of our daily news lives during this pandemic. And though I agree with the author on a lot of stances, I couldn’t deal with it in my bedtime fiction.
My fault. I saw road trip, my first name, and didn’t read the description.
Maybe if I read it during the day I could see the humor in a suicidal cutter who had lived with so much abuse, of every kind, during a pandemic during the political turmoil of 2020. No. I don’t think so.
The reason I am not giving this a lower rating is the list of good books and ideas the author presents. Unfortunately, the way it’s presented makes me sure the ones who need the information will not see it. Still, there’s a chance I could be wrong.
Life in Bits by Harper Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mothers and daughters, family relationships, strokes, photography, charity, wealth, and war. These are some of the topics this lesbian May/December romance covers. For the most part I loved the whole story.
However. The grumpy old lady and the perfect ingénue trope was quite upsetting. It seems a dysfunctional relationship in the making.
Still, there is enough meat to the story to keep the reader interested. And the erotica was kept to a minimum just spicy enough to feel real.
I always want to know what happens afterwards. How will they make the relationship work?
Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you like urban fantasy, this will do the trick. The main character, Joanne Walker, is tough with faults making her human enough to believe. She pulls from Native American shamanism and mythology to get the spirit world jobs done.
I got a little annoyed with how often she was getting injured in what seemed like hot temper issues or emotions flying. But it was in character with the auto mechanic of the police department. The female cop is not being respected enough to get a beat. Suddenly the shaman in her starts waking, and all hell breaks loose as she tried to solve a string of murders.
It was a good read, and I may read others in the series sometime.
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was an adorable tale! The little girl, Baby, as Big Mama calls her, sees it as her mission to catch every chicken. But one eludes her.
Shelley Jackson makes the story come alive with illustrations that seem real yet whimsical with a bit of collage throughout the book.
My children and I would have loved this when they were 5-8ish years old. It might have helped as educational moments as we had chickens back then. Learning that you must chase down a chicken every now and thing to medicate or isolate certain ones. But chasing, as fun as it could be, frighten the chickens and can be bad for them. My kids never found that a goal. Instead, they learned to gather eggs and mostly leave the chickens to live their own lives. They saw hens clutch and babies hatch and follow mothers around.
This fits in the Black Lives Matter category as the child, and her mom are black. It is incidental. This could have been any race living in rural areas. I like that. I can’t wait until things like this book become commonplace. Books and the arts should reflect our lives. All kinds of people live on this earth. Why not enjoy the variety?
Now that I am finished reading this book, I will donate it to the local library as I think it might be a good addition.
The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was different! And fun!
After so many problems with the text-to-speech and a miraculous fixing, I got to hear the whole book. Here let me share the blurb that brought me to diving in.
“The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Jesperson, and Lane are turning the Victorian era upside down in this bewitching series from John W. Campbell Award winner Lisa Tuttle.”
As much fun as this adventure was, I did get angry with how the women were treated. And how they accepted the treatment. But it was that era, so I guess it wouldn’t be right to have a down-right rebel, though Bridgerton is doing a good job of bending the historical rules.
I was lucky to find this on NetGalley.
The Setup by T.B. Markinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What have I said about mysteries and romances? Travel. In this romance, I got to go to London. Through the main character, Rory, I got to take a job in London and meet with an old friend who sets her up with a new friend.
This was another Kindle Unlimited, so it was a free, sort of, read. I read it in one night. Yes, that was with text-to-speech.
I found the main character okay. I like her new friend, Imogen, boring, but Rory loved her, so that’s not for me to care. I was in London.
Anything more gets into spoilers, and the book is too short for that. It was fun. Give it a try.
The Searcher by Tana French
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
What do romances and mysteries have in common? Bodies. But the other thing is to travel deep into another area where I am not. This book is an exception because we have no idea if there is a body or not—just a missing person. Still, we got to go to Ireland for this one. And we see it from an American’s point of view.
I am happy that it wasn’t a murder mystery. I find those kinds of mysteries boring and morally deficient. Can’t we find something that is suspenseful without it being murder? I find missing my favorite pen a good mystery. Maybe the freezer? It could happen!
Anyway, I found this book refreshing in a lot of ways. Though it didn’t come up to my reading goal of a female author, featuring a female main character (who was male). Still, I found the main character interesting, especially when he made friends with the brat who was throwing stuff at him.
Is it because of reading with text-to-speech? I found I couldn’t stay with the story. I found myself bored. But then the brat would do something, and I was back to caring for the outcome.
Maybe you will love this more than I. Still, it isn’t the worst. A beach read or waiting room occupation?
Darswords 
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