Tag Archive: memoir


Review: Chasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and Justice by Robert Hilland

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September 30, 2025

Chasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and JusticeChasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and Justice by Robert Hilland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Robert Hilland (Author, Narrator) and John Edward (Author, Narrator) told a frightening story. And it is a nonfiction. It isn’t a ‘who done it’ as they knew who. They just needed to catch the guy in a legal way to stop his serial murders.

I made the mistake of trying to read this at bedtime and found I couldn’t sleep. The book opens the imagination and sets you in the detective seat, trying to figure out what is happening and how to catch the guy in the act before more deaths.

If you are a skeptic, this book challenges you. I must admit to my share of “Come on! No, WAY!” but then I still believe there is energy out there. Ghosts? Angels? Who knows until we get to the other side? I can see this book becoming a movie.

I was lucky to find this audiobook on Libby.

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Review: The Book of Sheen by Charlie Sheen

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September 29, 2025

The Book of SheenThe Book of Sheen by Charlie Sheen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Charlie Sheen is okay. I wouldn’t avoid a show cause he’s in it. Neither would I go out of my way to watch something he’s in. As a narrator he’s too fast, but I got used to his rhythm. And as memoirs go his was just, meh.

I would have rated this book with two stars, but he is clever with his phrasing in a way that makes me laugh. That brought my rating to three stars. Ah, but maybe others will love it. Heck, maybe I’d love it in another time or mood.

This audiobook is on Libby.

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Review: My Grape Village by Laura Bradbury

Filed under: Kindle, Reading, Reviews — 2 Comments
September 25, 2025

My Grape Village (The Grape Series, #6)My Grape Village by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series, but I’m not a fan of this book. It’s not horrid, but I felt it didn’t live up to the former books. Part of this is my need for linear storylines. The couple are recently newlyweds, and suddenly they have two girls. We lost a lot of their life. This book is full of real estate, food, and wine, but lacks significant character development. I missed the family unit of grandparents and Mimi. I miss the time we could have seen growth while they were in Canada.

What holds true to the series is the feeling of travel, learning about France, and watching the couple navigate the wine country.

This series is the only one I am taking my time with, reading by sight on my Kindle, bit by bit as my eyes allow. Everything else, I use audiobooks or text-to-speech. I’m already into the next book, My Grape Cellar.

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Review: My Next Breath: A Memoir by Jeremy Renner

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August 14, 2025

My Next Breath: A MemoirMy Next Breath: A Memoir by Jeremy Renner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s always hard to rate memoirs. It is a life experience through another’s eyes. And for what Jeremy Renner went through to have so much gratitude and love and enjoyment of life is a miracle.

Jeremy Renner not only wrote of his experience but also narrates the book well.

I think my biggest issue is the repetition. Still, I think it is through enthusiasm and need to school his own spirit that these phrases and stories repeat.

I am grateful to have listened to this audiobook on Libby.

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Review: From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley

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August 11, 2025

From Here to the Great UnknownFrom Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

With Riley Keough and Julia Roberts as narrators and including recordings by Lisa Marie Presley, I thought this would be quite the interesting read (listen). Instead, I found it confusing, if not just boring. Rich people’s problems.

Still, the family issues were common enough and pulled me along. And of course, meeting the music people who were famous in my youth.

I’m sure there are people who would fight with me about my opinions, but I was never an Elvis fan, even if my mother-in-law ( who saw him in concert in Long Beach) once saw him walking to a car, incognito as a woman. Who am I to question her? I did like some of his songs and even mastered one on the ukulele. (Love Me Tender) Oh, his gospel songs were pretty, too.

But the book just didn’t do it for me. Sorry. I was glad to get it from Libby. I’m sure others will love it. Enjoy.

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Review: This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear

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July 11, 2025


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This Time Next Year We'll Be LaughingThis Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has to be my favorite memoir. I love how Jacqueline Winspear takes us through her life. It is perfect in that she does her own narration.

If you were lucky enough to read or listen to the Maisie Dobbs series, you are rewarded in this autobiography by the glimpses of a real life beneath the fictitious murder mysteries. Ms. Winspear leads us through her childhood in England and to adulthood in Ojai, CA. We meet her family and see how their lives blended with the events in history and how they survived.

If you get the chance, Libby has this audiobook. It is a great way to ease away from the mystery series. Her life’s story helps me look at my own life and how to bring in the bits I have left out of my story without hurting others. Just tell your story. Now, if only I had a wonderful English accent!

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Review: Don’t Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing Happiness by Keira D’Amato

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July 6, 2025

Don't Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing HappinessDon’t Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing Happiness by Keira D’Amato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At 75, with bad knees, I find myself pulled to read books about running and jogging. Go figure. But no matter what condition you find yourself in, stories like Keira D’Amato’s are uplifting and help you discover your healthier self.

Listening to Ms. D’Amato recount her wins and trials while pursuing her passion was not only inspiring, but she also has a great sense of humor, which will have you laughing out loud. That’s not ideal if you’re reading this as a bedtime book, as the giggling may wake your partner. It might be more fun to listen to this book while riding the stationary bike. At least, that doesn’t hurt my knees. Who knows, maybe the peddling will make me strong enough to jog?

I was very happy to receive this book from NetGalley.

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Review: The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora by Elena Sheppard

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July 3, 2025

The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban DiasporaThe Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora by Elena Sheppard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Living under a dictatorship and miserable conditions, the author’s family must leave their beloved home in Cuba, many friends, and relatives. Elena Sheppard takes us through her family history, and we see how difficult it is for her to separate herself from her genealogy.

The story takes us back and forth in time, inner feelings and memories pitted against global occurrences. A little poetic while trying to be accurate.

I found reading or listening to this on Kindle’s text-to-speech feature less than ideal, even though I felt I followed the author’s tale well. I would have loved it more with a narrator, preferably the author. One thing TTS does horribly is other languages. Even though Ms. Sheppard translates her few statements and poems gracefully, I would rather hear the language of Elena’s life. Then again, I am not fluent in Spanish. I’d still need the translation.

I was lucky to get this copy from NetGalley.

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Review: Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates

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June 16, 2025

Source Code: My BeginningsSource Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun read as it took me through my family’s history of computer ownership, from the Commodore 64 through the Tandy Sensation, and so on. My kids will tell me of another pre-computer, gaming thingie, but I always forget what it was called. I remember my first Bulletin Board note to my friend, both of us mothers of future computer geeks.

Another enjoyable aspect of the book was the geeky, nerdy tone that Wil Wheaton’s voice brings to Bill Gates’s life story. Many of my friends were not part of the “in” crowd, but rather the smarter, more interesting people. We tried to be trendy, but we were more into science, and the ones I envied, math.

I thought Bill Gates’s life was far different than mine, making it a very interesting read.

You can find this audiobook on Libby.

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Review: My Grape Escape by Laura Bradbury

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June 8, 2025

My Grape Escape (The Grape Series, #6)My Grape Escape by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series so much! It is the only series I am reading without text-to-speech or narration. On my old phone, on the Kindle app. Each book is just the right size for me, and by being Kindle, I can adjust the font and background. And when French words appear that I don’t know, I can highlight them, and the app will translate them for me.

This book was enjoyable to read as Laura and her husband, Franck, fix up an old home in hopes of making it a profitable vacation getaway. Somehow, my review is falling short. But this book is anything but. I always feel that I am not only traveling to France, but also learning a bit of history and enjoying French vocabulary.

Each of these books is enjoyable and personable. I’ve already moved on to the next book. I think I’ll try to read these again, but I’ll also look for the audiobooks. I want the sound of the French to help my education.

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