Caught in a Cornish Scandal by Eleanor Webster

March 25, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Caught in a Cornish Scandal by Eleanor Webster
Publisher: Harlequin
Genre: Historical, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Will saving a stranger

Start a scandal?

With her family facing ruin, and desperate to avoid an arranged marriage, Lady Millie Lansdowne must work with smugglers. Millie knows smuggling isn’t going to be plain sailing, but rescuing a mysterious gentleman in a storm embroils her in a thrilling family drama! Helping handsome stranger Sam recover is a risk to her plans—and her emotions. He makes her feel alive, but she will be gambling on her family’s future if she goes with her heart…

I traditionally pick a book based on its synopsis. Caught in a Cornish Scandal’s synopsis had words like: “smugglers, rescue, a mysterious gentleman, a storm, family drama” etc. I felt my eyes bug out and my “must read” radar maxed out. I was full of anticipation when I got the book and prayed I wouldn’t be disappointed. When I say “I LOVED it”, that is putting it mildly and bluntly.

After I finished reading the story, I was curious about the author so I Googled her. Wouldn’t you know it, this was not my first Eleanor Webster novel. I previously reviewed a book by her called “A Debutante in Disguise”. I found that review and I wasn’t surprised that I wrote “This was my first Eleanor Webster book and it won’t be my last”. Well, now I can say this was my second one written by her and I need to stop picking books by the synopsis and pay attention to who the author is because once again, I loved Eleanor Webster’s writing style.

The little four-year-old girl that I nanny for has a new saying, “Holy Fruit snacks”. Hearing her say it cracks me up but it’s an appropriate saying for Caught in a Cornish Scandal. There are more plot twists going on with each page. I was like “Holy Fruit snacks!” My interest was captured on page one and left me wanting more on the last page. The characters were well developed which made it easy to connect with, relate and follow them through the pages.

The hero, Sam? “Holy Fruit snacks!” He made my book boyfriend collection. I loved how he was portrayed as a true handsome hero. If only he’d come to save me from scrimping, saving and sacrificing my life away. Sam was handsome, strong and had chemistry to boot. His gentlemanly ways were something to behold.

The heroine, Millie, was a hoot. She was independent, stubborn, and had a heart of gold. Millie was always trying to do for others. I can’t think of a better match between Sam and Millie. They got my heartstrings cheering for a Happily Ever After for them.

I couldn’t put this book down and I definitely suggest to readers to pick it up. It was an entertaining, heartwarming and sweet/sensual read. It made me feel exceptionally happy for a few hours afterwards.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , ,

Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s by Sandra Murphy (editor)

March 25, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s by Sandra Murphy (editor)
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, LGBTQ, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Rebellion, revolution, and rock and roll defined the ‘60s. As music moved from country to folk protest songs, rock became the voice of the “turn on, tune in, drop out,” generation. Peace, love, and harmony were the goals. Meditation, mysticism, and psychedelic drugs were the way to enlightenment. Peace, love, and crime were often the result, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly.

And the music played on. As Harold says in The Big Chill, “There is no other music, not in my house.”

Spinning their chosen tunes and the tale of its matching crime are: Earl Staggs, Jack Bates, Linda Kay Hardie, Jeanne DuBois, Terrie Farley Moran, Heidi Hunter, Merrilee Robson, Claire A. Murray, Michael Bracken, Maddi Davidson, Joseph S. Walker, Dawn Dixon, Karen Keely, Paul D. Marks, Wendy Harrison, Mary Keliikoa, Maxim Jakubowski, James A. Hearn, C. A, Fehmel, Catina Williams, Josh Pachter, and John Floyd, talented writers all.

There’s a story behind every song.

In “Cooking with Butter,” Amanda decided to murder her ex-husband. All she needed to do was to figure out the best way to go about it while hopefully avoiding detection. Her personality grew on me as I got to know her better and figured out her reasons for wanting him to die. She was a complex character who gave me plenty to think about, especially once I realized exactly how much thought she’d put into her plan.

All of the stories in this anthology had clever premises that were worth reading, but there were a few that I thought would have benefitted from a little more development. “Mercy” was one example of this. It followed a young woman named Lila as she grieved the death of her brother, came out of the closet, and tried to figure out what to do with her life. There was so much going on in her life that she didn’t have enough time to explore any of those subplots in detail. It would have been nice to get to know Lila better as she was a fascinating character in general.

Jerry had to find out what caused his father’s sudden and frightening chest pain in “Spirit in the Sky.” The relationship between these two characters was genuine and nuanced. They didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but they did always love each other no matter what. I had a wonderful time peeling back the layers of their personalities. They were both far more complex than they appeared to be at first glances for reasons I’ll leave up to other readers to piece together for themselves.

Anyone who loves ’60s music should give Peace, Love, and Crime a try.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories by Christopher Griffith

March 22, 2021 By Leave a Comment


William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories by Christopher Griffith
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

‘Come, Manou, this is superstitious clap.’ So says William Ottoway to his island’s priest, for the modern world has surely extinguished any notion of the supernatural? But some who have lived before our technological revolution hold grave concerns about this new reality which has all but supplanted the numinous element of human existence. Despite warning from his best friend’s mother against attempting to replicate paradise, William puts faith alone in idealism to create a utopian society in the tropics. All seems well, until his serpent brother appears with temptation…

William Ottoway’s Utopia concerns the dream of a man who seeks to escape stresses of everyday life for promised ease in this world’s tropics; to his dismay, he is unable to flee influence of the one appliance which has arguably shaped all our experience in the last half century, the humble television set! William is a good man, but will he be ravaged and ruined by his brother Tom who brings discord and disharmony to his island paradise?

Rick With A (Bipolar) View details the experience of a young man suffering from bipolar disorder who wants to be a professional DJ. Unsure whether or not the repetitive beats of electronic music and his obsession with trance and techno may be the cause of his illness, he nevertheless accepts offer of a Friday night gig and ‘takes the roof off’ the nightclub, coming down back at home in glow and reflection of his achievement.

If all this sounds too intense then do please head over to Break Out the Bubbly!!, a comic piece set in a supermarket whose Manager is acting in very strange manner indeed. The initial boredom felt by our hero Emily is quickly shattered by Carol’s arrival and subsequent farce as she seems intent on closing the shop during opening hours to conduct inquisitions in the boardroom! The champagne keeps going missing, you see, and she needs to find the culprit. Is he, or she, a little closer to home than everyone thinks?

Fantasy for the next story, Saman’s Revenge, in which our titular hero is seriously miffed with the Earth-goddess Thera; she’s punished him an aeon ago for misdemeanour which he firmly believes really wasn’t his fault at all. Anyway, when you’re immortal and old as the hills themselves it doesn’t bother you too much to wait a few millennia before exacting your revenge on modern day teenagers Jack, Roxie, her boyfriend Mark and his brother Norman. But what is the young people’s relation to Thera, and temple ruins on top of the village hill, Shadyridge?

Which leaves Young Shakespeare, my imaginative retelling of some of Will’s ‘lost years’ when he reached London; after all, who wouldn’t want to fall in love with Anne, listen in awe to Sir Walter Raleigh’s perorations on, well who knows, meet his future friend and rival Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe, then cogitate at length upon the Reformation against whose profound change the budding writer begins to conclude he might wish to work?

This is an excellent time to begin using your imagination.

I struggled to understand “William Ottoway’s Utopia” because of how sparsely it was written. So many of the sentences in it were either fragments or extremely short, and it wasn’t always clear to me how they fit together. It would have been helpful to have more details of the plot and character development. The bits and pieces I figured out about the island and the serpent were intriguing.

The main character in “Rick with a (Bipolar) View” wondered if his Bipolar disorder was going to affect his dreams of becoming a DJ. Like the first tale in this collection, this one was also so sparsely written that I had trouble following it at times. With that being said, I liked the main character quite a bit and hoped he’d figure out a way to follow his dreams. He certainly had the determination to do so!

As soon as I began reading “Break Out the Bubbly,” I began wondering what really happened to the missing champagne in Sheila’s struggling shop. Each character had their own opinion on this matter, and some of them expressed their views sharply. The more I read, the more curious I became to figure everything out. This tale was well written and included just enough mystery elements to keep me guessing.

Mr. Griffith’s writing style worked well with the fantasy elements of “Saman’s Revenge,” especially in the beginning when the narrator observed a battalion of mythological creatures fleeing a foe too terrible to describe. There were times when the plot wandered so far away from the original theme that it took me a while to figure out how it was all connected, but I did appreciate putting the pieces together once I had more information about what was going on with the characters.

“Young Shakespeare” was a tantalizing look at what Shakespeare might have been like as a young man. There was a twist here that I can’t mention without giving away major spoilers. What I can say is that it perfectly fit the opening scene that explored Shakespeare in his youth. I smiled when I made the connection between these two things and patiently waited to learn more about it.

William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories was an eclectic mixture of tales that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys reading a little bit of everything.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman

March 4, 2021 By Leave a Comment


The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Genre: Historical, Non-Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

The thrilling and definitive account of the Abdication Crisis of 1936

On December 10, 1936, King Edward VIII brought a great international drama to a close when he abdicated, renouncing the throne of the United Kingdom for himself and his heirs. The reason he gave when addressing his subjects was that he could not fulfill his duties without the woman he loved―the notorious American divorcee Wallis Simpson―by his side. His actions scandalized the establishment, who were desperate to avoid an international embarrassment at a time when war seemed imminent. That the King was rumored to have Nazi sympathies only strengthened their determination that he should be forced off the throne, by any means necessary.

Alexander Larman’s The Crown in Crisis will treat readers to a new, thrilling view of this legendary story. Informed by revelatory archival material never-before-seen, as well as by interviews with many of Edward’s and Wallis’s close friends, Larman creates an hour-by-hour, day-by-day suspenseful narrative that brings readers up to the point where the microphone is turned on and the king speaks to his subjects. As well as focusing on King Edward and Mrs. Simpson, Larman looks closely at the roles played by those that stood against him: Prime minister Stanley Baldwin, his private secretary Alec Hardinge, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang. Larman also takes the full measure of those who supported him: the great politician Winston Churchill, Machiavellian newspaper owner Lord Beaverbrook, and the brilliant lawyer Walter Monckton.

For the first time in a book about the abdication, readers will read an in-depth account of the assassination attempt on Edward’s life and its consequences, a first-person chronicle of Wallis Simpson’s scandalous divorce proceedings, information from the Royal Archives about the government’s worries about Edward’s relationship with Nazi high-command Ribbentrop and a boots-on-the-ground view of how the British people saw Edward as they watched the drama unfold. You won’t be able to put down The Crown in Crisis, a full panorama of the people and the times surrounding Edward and the woman he loved.

A complicated love and a complicated situation all the way around.

I had no idea how complicated and what a deal it was when Edward decided to abdicate. This was just simply history to me. Something that happened, but this book makes the situation come alive.

I will be the first to admit I didn’t know much about the abdication. I didn’t know much about the people involved beyond knowing their names. That was it. By reading this book, it brought the situation to life for me. Wallis was more than a name on a page. She’s complicated and cunning. She’s also in love with Edward–it seems sort of that she’s in love with his status and his position, but there also seemed like genuine love there. Edward was in love. He wanted Wallis because she seemed to be everything he loved in life–her freedom, her coolness and her ability to worm her way into situations. She knew how to be someone. She could be vain and snotty, though, too.

There were a lot of levers being pulled in this situation and so many players. It’s a complicated read, but it’s also worth the time. Pick this one up and go for the ride.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Clockwork, Curses, and Coal: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales by Rhonda Parrish (editor)

March 1, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Clockwork, Curses, and Coal: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales by Rhonda Parrish (editor)
Publisher: World Weaver Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Action/Adventure, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

​Fairies threaten the world of artifice and technology, forcing the royal family to solve a riddle to stop their world from irrevocable change; a dishonest merchant uses automatons as vessels for his secrets and lies; a woman discovers the secret of three princesses whose shoes get scuffed while they sleep. These and so many other steampunk and gaslamp fairy tales await within the pages of Clockwork, Curses and Coal.

Retellings of Hansel and Gretel, The Princess and the Pea, Pinocchio, The Twelve Dancing Princesses and more are all showcased alongside some original fairy tale-like stories. Featuring stories by Melissa Bobe, Adam Brekenridge, Beth Cato, MLD Curelas, Joseph Halden, Reese Hogan, Diana Hurlburt, Christina Johnson, Alethea Kontis, Lex T. Lindsay, Wendy Nikel, Brian Trent, Laura VanArendonk Baugh and Sarah Van Goethem.

Automatons come in all shapes and sizes.

In “A Future of Towers Made,” Zela was trapped in an abusive marriage. Her only avenue for possible escape involved trying to prove her husband had stolen credit for her latest invention, and success was anything but certain for her. I emotionally bonded with her immediately and eagerly kept reading to find out if she’d be freed from the many years of pain he’d put her through. She was such an intelligent and brave character.

Amber needed to bring her cat, Hunter, and as many people from her town as she could persuade to come alone with her on a daring trip to escape their dying planet in “Father Worm.” I was fascinated by how she figured out that their world would soon become too cold to sustain life and looked forward to discovering if her plan to save those who wanted to be saved would be successful. She had so much riding on every decision she made, and she only had a short amount of time to accomplish it all.

The plague that settled upon a small town in “Necromancy” was one of the most unique ones I’ve ever heard of. It was brought to that community by a young woman named Natalie who had gone away to seek her fortune. I was as fascinated by the unusual symptoms of it as it was by how her mother, neighbours, and former friends reacted to the sudden changes in her. This was one of those tales that only grew better with each plot twist, none of which I dare divulge today.

Clockwork, Curses, and Coal accomplished something pretty special. For the first time in all of my years of reading, I adored every single story in an anthology. I hope other readers love them just as much as I did.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Undercover Outlaw by Gini Rifkin

February 25, 2021 By 1 Comment


Undercover Outlaw by Gini Rifkin
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Historical, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Jesse is determined to track down the man who killed his brother in cold blood. Impersonating an outlaw, his quest for justice becomes a living, breathing, part of his soul.

Trinity is heading to Denver to escape her vicious guardians. When her stagecoach is robbed, Jesse kidnaps her, and all her well-laid plans collide with his, leaving them both in danger.

Trapped in Prairie Ridge by a flood, Jesse and Trinity’s feelings soon run as high and wild as the river. When Jesse is accused of murder, Trinity stands by his side, and they take on the town’s tyrannical leader. As the city cowers in fear, help comes from an unexpected source, but can it save Jesse from a hangman’s noose?

Undercover Outlaw is a quality written piece of literature that walks the fine line between a quest for justice and a thirst for revenge. I teetered between the two as the story took me on a journey mixed with romance and danger.

The leading characters, Trinity and Jesse immediately brought the book to life on page one. It was impossible to put the book down. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see what happened next. I felt the instant connection between the two. In fact all the characters were well developed. It was easy to hate the town’s tyrannical leader. Hard not to love the townsfolk in Prairie Ridge.

The romance between Trinity and Jesse was more sweet than sensual but regardless they were definitely entertaining. I laughed when I read the word “dimwit. I haven’t heard that word in ages. My mother used to use that word.

Undercover Outlaw was a fast paced, plot twisting, emotional provoking story that pleased me greatly. I especially enjoyed the epilogue. I applaud Gini Rifkin for such a wonderful read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam

February 23, 2021 By Leave a Comment


A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Publisher: HarperAudio
Genre: Non-fiction, Historical
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

Rehana Haque, a young widow, blissfully prepares for the party she will host for her son and daughter. But this is 1971 in East Pakistan, and change is in the air.

Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution; of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism in the midst of chaos—and of one woman’s heartbreaking struggle to keep her family safe.

This is an action-packed story of one family’s experience during the Bangladesh War of Independence from Pakistan. As events unfold, we get a personal understanding of the war’s effects on everyday people.

Rehana Haque is a widow with two children who just wants to live a good life with her children. When they become young adults, trouble starts because Rehana’s children get involved with the war. Of course this creates much trouble and worrying for Rehana. She gets surprises such as when a former Pakistani army officer turned freedom fighter becomes injured and is brought to Rehana for nursing. She is concerned. This is so dangerous.

Themes such as how women get along during wartime, a love of one’s country, and motherhood underlie every page. It is a serious story but is entertaining and engaging. This is the first of a trilogy but can be read by itself. I recommend this book for anyone who likes history or learning about other cultures.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Drowning Land by David M. Donachie

February 18, 2021 By Leave a Comment


The Drowning Land by David M. Donachie
Publisher: CAAB Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Action/Adventure, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The world is drowning.

Edan’s tribe has always survived by knowing the land and following its stories.

But now their world is changing, and they must change with it, or die.

When young fisherman Edan rescues the troll seer Tara from Phelan wolf-touched, he makes a powerful enemy. But Tara’s visions bring them hope that the world might still be saved.

Edan must break away from tradition and cross the Summer Lands in search of a new future, but where does that future lie? With Phelan’s wolf clan? With the Fomor sea-devils? Or with Tara’s uncertain hope for salvation?

The Drowning Land takes us back eight thousand years to the Mesolithic Period when a lost land, Doggerland, still connected England to France across what is now the North Sea. Inspired by the extensive research conducted by archaeologists over the past two decades, this is a story of our distant ancestors and how they confronted the climate catastrophe that overwhelmed their world.

Salty ocean water is seeping into the meadows and forests and destroying them. There are fewer animals to hunt or plants to gather with each passing season, so how can Edan and Tara hope to survive?

The world building in this novel was phenomenal. Mr. Donachie created several different tribes among the humans and Troll People that each had their own complex cultures, histories, taboos, rituals, and legends. Figuring out the differences between them was nearly as rewarding as taking note of all of the ways in which they were more similar to one another than most of them would probably have cared to admit. The author also created well-developed and logical settings that helped to explain why one culture might fear a forest while another couldn’t imagine life outside of it. I couldn’t have been more impressed with all of the work he put into making Doggerland come alive in my imagination.

I loved the way the romantic subplot was handled. The characters involved in it were dealing with multiple conflicts at the same time, so any hint of love or romance between them needed to develop slowly when they found moments here and there to catch their breath. This gave them plenty of time to get to know each other as individuals first. It also made me eager to find out if one of them would finally make the first move and push that part of the storyline forward!

The pacing was strong and steady from the first scene to the last one. No matter how many chapters I’d already read on a particular day, I always wanted to read just one more. It was exciting to imagine what might happen to the characters next. The storyline always struck that perfect balance between action scenes and brief moments of reflection and rest when needed.

One of the things I enjoy the most about prehistoric stories like this one is how they translate real scientific discoveries about the lives of ancient people into fiction. Mr. Donachie did an excellent job of explaining some of the most recent theories about what life in the real Doggerland was like eight thousand years ago and what probably happened to the people who had to flee it as the sea levels rose and all of that land was swallowed up by the ocean. Without giving away spoilers, I was also mesmerized by the author’s explanation of who the Troll People were and why it’s possible they truly existed thousands of years ago.

I can’t recommend The Drowning Land highly enough, especially to anyone who adores stories about hunter-gatherers and prehistory.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

St. Louis Sam and the Desperados by Pinkie Paranya

February 17, 2021 By Leave a Comment


St. Louis Sam and the Desperados by Pinkie Paranya
Publisher: Five Star Publishing
Genre: Historical, Romance, Suspense/Mystery/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

Going from St Louis, Missouri, in 1874 to the Arizona Territory is a frightening step for brother and sister, Garth and Samantha. They need to prove their uncle Millard Tremayne’s treachery in their father’s financial ruin and subsequent suicide. So far their uncle holds all the cards, their guardianship and inheritance. Since the uncle is secretly setting up a dynasty out west, eventually to rid himself of his family and waspish wife, Grace, Sam and Garth follow his trail to a town called Powder Keg in Arizona. The brother and sister collect a band of misfits to help them sabotage Uncle Millard. Mayhem, treachery, intrigue, humor, and romance follow.

Their mother died in the birth of her brother. Her Uncle stole money from the business and left their father broke. He committed suicide. The children’s money is gone. They are in their twenties now and decide to go west and steal back from him. He’s been investing there and intends to move there, leave his wife behind, and marry the gal that runs the saloon for him. They plan on stopping him.

They buy a boarding house and ask their aunt on the other side of the family to join them. Samantha can’t cook. The aunt comes and then Sam and Garth get started trying to develop a gang to help them stop the stage coaches. They find a big Indian, a small Mexican, a dandy and a man not long out of jail.

In the meantime, Garth has been visiting the various businesses the Uncle owns and gathering paperwork that will show his crooked dealings. All is going their way until they hear their Uncle is coming to town to find out who is robbing him.

This is a well written western with remarkable characters. The desperadoes care about what happens to Sam and Garth. Sam is saved by one of them and finds herself falling in love. Garth is also finding love. Neither one was looking for it. It has a nice pace, keeps your attention, and makes you read faster at the end. The only unhappy one is the Uncle but he deserves it.

This is an enjoyable read that will stick with you awhile.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Terry Fox and Me by Mary Beth Leatherdale

February 17, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Terry Fox and Me by Mary Beth Leatherdale
Publisher: Tundra Books
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope, this picture book biography tells the story of a friendship defined by strength and love.

Before Terry Fox become a national hero and icon, he was just a regular kid. But even then, his characteristic strength, determination and loyalty were apparent and were the foundation for his friendship with Doug. The two first met at basketball tryouts in grammar school. Terry was the smallest – and worst – basketball player on the court. But that didn’t stop him. With Doug’s help, Terry practiced and practiced until he earned a spot on the team. As they grew up, the best friends supported each other, challenged each other, helped each other become better athletes and better people. Doug was by Terry’s side every step of the way: when Terry received a diagnosis of cancer in his leg, when he was learning to walk – then run – with a prosthetic leg and while he was training for the race of his life, his Marathon of Hope.

Written from Doug’s perspective, this story shows that Terry Fox’s legacy goes beyond the physical and individual accomplishments of a disabled athlete and honors the true value of friendship.

What does it mean to be a hero?

The best scenes in my opinion were the ones that explored the friendship between Doug and Terry, especially after Terry had to learn how to walk again after losing his leg to cancer. They provided an excellent example of what it means to be someone’s friend when they’re going through a scary and difficult experience. Not only was Doug kind and supportive, he did everything he could to help his best friend achieve something that would be pretty difficult for any athlete to accomplish.

I do wish this picture book had covered what happened to these characters while Terry was running his Marathon of Hope from one coast of Canada to the other. It stopped right before this part of his life started up. While many Canadian adults already know of what happened during that long marathon, most young kids will probably not be. This will be even more true for anyone who isn’t already aware of this part of Canadian history.

There were some wonderful anecdotes from Terry’s early life included in the first few scenes. He learned how to keep trying no matter how low his chances of succeeding were long before he was diagnosed with cancer. I liked the fact that the author gave so many examples of how Terry persevered in life. Most people will never have bone cancer, but everyone should learn from an early age how to remain determined and hopeful no matter what obstacles they may face in life.

Terry Fox and Me was a heartwarming true story about a true hero.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,
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