Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan


Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Historical
Rated 5 stars
Review by Snapdragon

When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she’s shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can’t resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking.

Everly’s research leads her to the astounding history of a family of eleven who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who was never found, along with her child. These aristocratic women were part of Savannah’s society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions. This is a moving and powerful exploration of what women will do to endure in the face of tragedy, the role fate plays, and the myriad ways we survive the surviving.

You order viagra online can get pregnancy naturally by recommending the herbal pills to reverse the aging effects and enjoy intimate moments with her. He registers into a india viagra for sale surfing contest only to make it big while having fun. As time wears on, these physical signs worsen, but you attribute it to stress or getting continue reading over here now pfizer viagra pharmacy older. Depression is defined as pamelaannschoolofdance.com viagra buy best a medical illness. Author Patti Callahan assures us that stories are ‘best understood in the landscapes where they happen,’ and proceeds to bring us to a wonderful, novel place, that we recognize as if we’d joined her there. Throughout the book, she brings us subtly to new landscapes: to a wreck a hundred feet below the sea, through intricate iron gates to the family plot, to cities described so vividly we see them as if they were an entirely new concept. Somehow, although the main character is powerful and the tone of Surviving Savannah is endlessly enthralling, the places we move to and through become endlessly important.

The moment-to-moment interactions of the characters are unpredictable, and this is certainly true for the overall story. Everly is a strong main character, with surprising interests and skills, but more importantly, a depth of feeling she shares ever so gently. We feel her mourning even as she is moving forward. Events of the past filter in with Everly’s discoveries; they are somehow no less heart-wrenching for being part of the long-ago.

This has the flavor of the American south, and a hint of endlessly reminiscing. Surviving Savannah is one of those novels you will read, and then re-read as if touching the life of an old friend.

Patti Callahan’s writing is no less than simply brilliant. “Sunlight cast him in gold” she describes at one point, and I would say, reading casts this novel in gold.

Do read Surviving Savannah. This is a venture away from the common time and place, yet familiar: warming and wonderful and worth every one of those five stars.

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig


Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig
Publisher: William & Morrow
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.

Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned.

Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.
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With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?

A war, women and danger…it’s all in this book.

I’ve never read anything by Lauren Willig before this book and I’m glad I rectified that. This was an interesting book. It’s not for everyone, in that it describes war times and could be a trigger for some readers, but honestly, it’s a fascinating read.

The plot moves along well and kept my attention. I rooted for these women. They’re in a difficult place trying to make the world better, in their own little fashion. I liked the variety of characters, despite the fact that there are a lot of characters and it can be a little confusing trying to keep them all straight. Still, the story plugs along just fine and kept me interested.

There is a lot of description about war and the destruction that comes with it. As I’ve noted, this might be a trigger for some readers, as there is mention of injury, death and the death of children. Read with caution, but do let the story take you away.

If you’re interested in a book that’s a good mix of history, war and a little bit of romance, then this might be the book you’re looking for.

The Tumor by John Grisham


The Tumor: A Non-Legal Thriller by John Grisham
Publisher: Focused Ultrasound Foundation
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

John Grisham says THE TUMOR is the most important book he has ever written. In this short book, he provides readers with a fictional account of how a real, new medical technology could revolutionize the future of medicine by curing with sound.

THE TUMOR follows the present day experience of the fictional patient Paul, an otherwise healthy 35-year-old father who is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Grisham takes readers through a detailed account of Paul’s treatment and his family’s experience that doesn’t end as we would hope. Grisham then explores an alternate future, where Paul is diagnosed with the same brain tumor at the same age, but in the year 2025, when a treatment called focused ultrasound is able to extend his life expectancy.

Focused ultrasound has the potential to treat not just brain tumors, but many other disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer.
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For more information, you can visit The Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s website. Here you will find a video of Grisham on the TEDx stage with the Foundation’s chairman and a Parkinson’s patient who brings the audience to its feet sharing her incredible story of a focused ultrasound “miracle.”

Readers will get a taste of the narrative they expect from Grisham, but this short book will also educate and inspire people to be hopeful about the future of medical innovation.

The name John Grisham is sure to catch eyes; however, this work, The Tumor, is completely unrelated to his previous books. Grisham states that this is his most important work. He presents the case of a family man born in 1980 who develops brain cancer, and his story is a sad one. Next, Grisham rewinds the tale in a fascinating way and asks the question, What if this man had been born ten years later?

In a form of reimagined history, he goes through this man’s altered history, one that is brighter due to his updated birth year. How is this so? Well, a new medical procedure is available to this man of a later generation: focused ultrasound.

This medical technology is real. Grisham offers this story to give patients hope. He explains through the use of a fictional man’s story how his life would change through the use of the new technology. He would live longer, his ordeal in the hospital would be quicker and easier, and he would save a lot of money.

This is a quick story but an interesting one. It is bringing to light a new medical breakthrough that people could ask their doctors about.

Do No Harm by Christina McDonald


Do No Harm by Christina McDonald
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Women’s Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

Emma loves her life. She’s the mother of a precocious kindergartener, married to her soulmate—a loyal and loving police detective—and has a rewarding career as a doctor at the local hospital.

But everything comes crashing down when her son, Josh, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

Determined to save him, Emma makes the risky decision to sell opioids to fund the life-saving treatment he needs. But when somebody ends up dead, a lethal game of cat and mouse ensues, her own husband leading the chase. With her son’s life hanging in the balance, Emma is dragged into the dark world of drugs, lies, and murder. Will the truth catch up to her before she can save Josh?

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Nate decides to crack a case so he could get a promotion to be better able to pay the escalating hospital bills. The trouble is that he must investigate Emma’s brother and try to bring down a drug ring in their town. Many people have been dying from overdoses. He is a complex character and extremely likeable. He has must face demons from his past as he tries to solve the case facing him.

Emma is great—at first. She is a desperate mom who will do anything to save her child. How does one go about getting a large sum of money in a short time? She enters a world she thought she never would and becomes darker in the process. She constantly faces hard decisions and does despicable things, for a good cause—to save her child. However, does the end justify the means? That is the big question, the point of the book. Her character is well drawn as well, and her demons from the past are even greater than Nate’s. By the end, readers will either understand her decisions or hate her. The secondary characters are described enough so that we understand even their motivations.

Tension constantly builds in this nail-biting drama. Emma tries to keep her activities away from her husband, and it is getting ever more difficult.

Other themes come into play: family, friendship, right versus wrong, health care, and addiction. These themes are treated with sensitivity and respect and offer readers much to think about. The decisions are complex, for all the major characters.

Christina McDonald has done a great job writing an entertaining book while giving it depth. I recommend this book for those who want a page turner with substance.

Camino Winds by John Grisham


Camino Winds by John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Welcome back to Camino Island, where anything can happen—even a murder in the midst of a hurricane, which might prove to be the perfect crime . . .

Just as Bruce Cable’s Bay Books is preparing for the return of bestselling author Mercer Mann, Hurricane Leo veers from its predicted course and heads straight for the island. Florida’s governor orders a mandatory evacuation, and most residents board up their houses and flee to the mainland, but Bruce decides to stay and ride out the storm.

The hurricane is devastating: homes and condos are leveled, hotels and storefronts ruined, streets flooded, and a dozen people lose their lives. One of the apparent victims is Nelson Kerr, a friend of Bruce’s and an author of thrillers. But the nature of Nelson’s injuries suggests that the storm wasn’t the cause of his death: He has suffered several suspicious blows to the head.
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Who would want Nelson dead? The local police are overwhelmed in the aftermath of the storm and ill equipped to handle the case. Bruce begins to wonder if the shady characters in Nelson’s novels might be more real than fictional. And somewhere on Nelson’s computer is the manuscript of his new novel. Could the key to the case be right there—in black and white? As Bruce starts to investigate, what he discovers between the lines is more shocking than any of Nelson’s plot twists—and far more dangerous.

Camino Winds is an irresistible romp and a perfectly thrilling beach read—# 1 bestselling author John Grisham at his beguiling best.

There are twists, turns and that’s just the storm! The story has it’s own punches and a thwack with a golf club!

I’d read the first book in the Camino series, Camino Island, and wanted to get back to Bruce’s world. Honestly, I liked Bruce, even though he’s portrayed as older than his seemingly 47 years. I got the idea he was in his sixties. Oh well. I liked him as the hero of this story. He’s got rough edges, he’s not perfect and he’s a bit of a pistol. I rooted him on.

Now I have to admit this book has so many twists and turns. There’s the hurricane that comes in and there is the dead body. Now a dead body in the midst of a storm isn’t all that shocking–it happens–but this is murder. I liked how the author wove the story of Nelson’s demise and kept me riveted throughout. I honestly didn’t see the end coming.

If you’re looking for a slower moving story with a cast of characters you’ll want to have as friends, then this might be the book for you.

The Salty Rose by Beth M. Caruso


The Salty Rose by Beth M. Caruso
Publisher: Lady Slipper Press
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rated: 3.5 stars
Review by Rose

Marie du Trieux, a tavern keeper with a salty tongue and a heart of gold, struggles as she navigates love and loss, Native wars, and possible banishment by authorities in the unruly trading port of New Amsterdam, an outpost of the Dutch West India Company.

In New England, John Tinker, merchant and assistant to a renowned alchemist and eventual leader of Connecticut Colony, must come to terms with a family tragedy of dark proportions, all the while supporting his mentor’s secret quest to find the Northwest Passage, a desired trading route purported to mystically unite the East with the West.

As the lives of Marie and John become intertwined through friendship and trade, a search for justice of a Dutch woman accused of witchcraft in Hartford puts them on a collision course affecting not only their own destinies but also the fate of colonial America.

The story starts off slowly, with first person chapters from Marie du Trieux telling her granddaughter about her life (my favorite part of the story) and chapters in third person describing the relationship and mentorship between John Tinker and John Winthrop Jr. There was a lot of detail given to Tinker and Winthrop and, at times, I felt lost and wondered where the actual story was going.

However, once the author got into the heart of the story – the witchcraft trial – the pacing picked up. I am not very familiar with the witch trials in Salem, and this was an interesting look at the same period. This middle section was my favorite part of the book. I wasn’t familiar with the telling of this purported witch’s story, so I was anxious to learn her fate and how John Tinker and Marie played a part in the trial.

Can I first say that I loved the character of Marie. She made the book for me. It was interesting to read the author’s notes at the end of the book and discover that she, along with the other major players, were actual people. The author did a good job of taking the historical facts of the characters’ lives and creating an interesting story about witchcraft in the early colonies.

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The Code by Jacqueline Ruby and Marcellus Moses


The Code by Jacqueline Ruby and Marcellus Moses
Publisher: Tellwell Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

The story of the two entangled stars is well known.

Albert Collins, entomology professor, becomes a social media sensation; the sensation becomes a giant celebrity; the celebrity becomes the “Manliest Man” alive.

The small time gangster, Memphis Smith, becomes a prisoner; the prisoner becomes the new Tupac Shakur; the new Tupac takes the world by storm.

Their parallel rise to fame and their fateful meeting on the Tonight Show all played out in real time before their legions of fans and detractors.

Now, for the first time, their inside story, their secret story, is told by those who were closest to them.

Jacqueline (Jack) Ruby, super agent, reveals the methods that allowed Albert Collins to become the most desired man in the world. She takes us behind the scenes to the bankers, film producers and heiresses that made Albert into the very definition of manhood in the 21st. century.

Marcellus Moses does the same for Memphis Smith. He shows us the arrests and prison fights, the raw racism and brilliant talent that made Memphis Number One With A Bullet.

Jacqueline and Marcellus tell their insider accounts to the award winning novelist, Susan Brown, who weaves it altogether in the thunderous adventure of The Code.

This book purports to be an insider account, and the author does a great job at weaving these two very different stories together. The chapters alternate between Jaqueline Ruby’s story with Albert Collins and Marcellus Moses’ work with Memphis Smith. The voices in each chapter are distinct and there is absolutely no confusion about which is which.

I’ve heard before of people who “the camera loves” and Albert Collins is one of those people. It was intriguing to see his rise to fame and the issues it brings into his private life. He was already having issues, so it didn’t take much to convince him to jump wholeheartedly into all the glitz and glamour that Jack Ruby offered. Unfortunately, this read very real to me, because I know people just like Albert – unhappy with their own life and thinking that if they jsut do this, they will be happy.

Memphis, on the other hand, had a whole lot of anger issues. He too jumped at the chance to change his life, but soon found out that the grass may not really be greener on the other side.

The book as a whole raises a lot of questions as to what it means to be a man… two very different looks at what “the code” is… and two very different outcomes. Or are they all that different? This is a story that will stay with me for a long time. I could so see this on the screen. Hollywood, are you listening?

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Book of the Month Poll Winner ~ Tangled in Tinsel by N. Jade Gray


Tangled in Tinsel by N. Jade Gray
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Voted BoM by LASR Readers 2013 copy
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Sugar Plum fairies eat your heart out. Madison Reynolds has visions of a different kind dancing in her head. Home for the holidays in Cedar Bend, Colorado, Madison must focus on helping her bedridden pregnant sister, not fantasize about the one who got away. But how is she supposed to forget about her high school crush when she bumps into him at every turn?

From the moment Ryder Sanders untangled the reindeer antlers from Madison’s hair his Christmas season appeared brighter. The time spent in her company leaves him more smitten. So, why does she still treat him as if he has cooties? They’re not in high school anymore.

Can the two find a forever love? Or will their wishes melt away like icing on a Christmas treat?

FIND THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

The Whistler by John Grisham


The Whistler by John Grisham
Publisher: Dell
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity is the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the flow of justice. But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe?

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. It is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.
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But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout United States history. And now he wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. When the case is assigned to Lacy, she immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous. Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.

Nothing is ever as easy as it seems and there are always layers.

I admit it. I love John Grisham’s books. I do. I got into this one thinking it would be one thing and was pleasantly surprised the book became more. The writing is sharp, but like talking to a friend and sucked me right in.

Lacy isn’t the character I thought she’d be. Then again, this wasn’t the book I thought it’d be. I expected something more straightforward, but the story is layered and complex. There is always more than meets the eye. Lacy comes across rather simplistic, but through the story she grows and it was nice to see it. I hated what she had to go through, but the struggle was worth it.

If you’re looking for a story where there’s a bad guy, some not so bad, but not so good guys and lots of good guys, then this might be the one you’re looking for. Give it a shot.

Book of the Month Poll Winner ~ Forever in a Moment by Charlotte O’Shay


Forever in a Moment by Charlotte O’Shay
Deerbourne Inn Book 8
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Voted BoM by LASR Readers 2013 copy

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Samantha DeMartino’s Christmas wedding is two weeks away when her fiancé calls the whole thing off. Word on the street: his cold feet are being heated by an old flame. With her well-ordered world in complete disarray, Sam’s friends convince her to go on her honeymoon—alone. A week at a charming Vermont inn away from the city and her demanding corporate career could be just what she needs to figure out her next steps.

Between his twenty-four seven work schedule on his family’s dairy farm and teaching tourists to ski, Jed Armstrong’s too busy to think about how lonely he is…until Sam sings her way into his life during a Christmas blizzard. Now he has to figure out a way to convince her to stay.

Can a vivacious city girl find forever with a reclusive farmer?
Will her secret keep her from trying?

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!