Category Archives: reviews

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

This week I read “One Giant Leap” by J.T. Sterling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

imagesThis story takes place in modern times and is the tale of party-boy Harlan Jasper who suddenly becomes the patriarch of the powerful Jasper family. We learn through very, very lengthy history lessons that the Jasper family has been around for thousands of years, and between the fictitious House of Jasper, the Plantagenets, the Iscariots (as in Judas from the Bible), and the Pope, they pretty much run the whole world. Looks like our party-boy is going to have to lay off the coke to be able to lead a family with this kind of power. I found the story to be a lot of fun—a mixture of genealogy, world history, and “The Da Vinci Code.”

From a creative standpoint, the book is full of grammatical errors such as “you’re” instead of “your” and “fowl play” instead of “foul play,” but the story moves pretty fast so you’ll skip right over most of them. One jarring thing is that the point of view changes on a dime, so you’ll abruptly find yourself in the head of a character on the other side of the parking lot.

If you like world history and conspiracy theories, you will love this book. It’s chocked full of them!

If you’re interested, check it out here on Amazon.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

This week I’m reading “Redemption Ridge” by Lottie Brent Boggan.

This story takes place in post-Civil-War Mississippi. Well, that’s right up my alley!!

 

 

 

 

 

redemption ridge jpegI was so excited to read this story and am about 20% through it on my Kindle, but the formatting is so bad, I’m struggling. There are no indented paragraphs and no spaces between the block paragraphs, so when it gets into heavy dialog, it all runs together, and it’s difficult to figure out who is saying what without re-reading three times.

Honestly, I think the characters and the story are good so far, but I don’t think I’ll finish it. I just don’t have enough energy to sort out who said what. It’s a shame. Maybe the paperback is formatted better.

If you’re a fan of Southern history, this book is for you. Perhaps you will have more patience than I.

Amazon link

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

 

“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens!!

 

This is one of those classic works of literature that I somehow missed, so I decided to get caught up to the rest of the world.

It’s amazing how our contemporary thought process has changed from not long ago. We’ve become a 30-second sound-bite society, more interested in the quick information than in the whole story. I realized while reading this book that I tend to read quickly. I just want the story. Dickens made me slow down. He took me back to the days when reading was for savor and pleasure, not merely to finish the story. His descriptions are lengthy and vivid, and he breaks nearly every current-day writing rule, but you won’t be able to say you couldn’t see precisely what he was relating. It’s like an old movie where the human relationship and the dialog are prominent, instead of one where things are blowing up in a flaming ball of excitement.

If you have the time to savor a classic work and have not yet read this, I highly recommend it.

It is available for FREE on Amazon…click HERE!

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I just finished “Firefly Hollow” by TL Haddix.

firefly hollow jpegWhat a sweet story this was! The characters were rich and compelling, the setting was beautiful, and the story was magical.

Set in the mid 1950s, Sarah lives in Kentucky, a place called Firefly Hollow. As a teenager, she trespasses onto her neighbor’s property and discovers a pond where she likes to be alone and reflect. The owner of the property, Owen, admires her beauty from afar, but doesn’t want her getting too close and learning his secrets. As the years pass, the two find themselves thrown together as young adults and they quickly fall in love. His secrets almost destroy them, but eventually he trusts her enough to let her in on his family heritage. There are adult situations, violence, and sex in this book.

Filled with Appalachian folklore, Firefly Hollow is a magical romance.

Check out her website HERE and her books on Amazon HERE.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

 

 

This week, I read Shades of Honor by Wendy Lindstrom.

 

 

 

91DLpJR01ML._SL1500_I really, really enjoyed this book. It’s set post-Civil War, yet the only thing that really ties it to the time is the hero having trouble adjusting to post-war life. The rest is simply a rollicking good romance.

Radford Grayson returns home years after the war with hopes of joining his brothers in the family business and getting back to an easier way of life. The minor crisis of the story comes when his brother resents his return. The major crisis is when Radford falls in love with his brother’s fiancé…and she with him. I love books where you wonder how in the heck they will ever make this work, but it does, they do, and everything is shiny and happy in the end. This book is a great ride with fantastic characters, following a man’s desire for the one thing he can’t have.

The Grayson Brothers have their own ongoing series, so if you like the characters, you can follow this with other stories.

Visit Ms. Lindstrom’s website

Shades of Honor is available at Amazon

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you Reading?

 

 

This week I read “Behind the Bar” by PC Zick.

 

 

 

81G7RBonO5L._SL1500_The first thing that came to mind while reading this story was the movie “The Breakfast Club” –except ten years later. The relationships are intricate and sometimes painful as there tends to be a lot of psychological baggage carried from teenage years into adulthood, especially when done in a group like these characters. Sometimes one must forgive and forget to move on, but in the case of Susie Williams, one must remember in the first place. Susie is a young woman who has blocked out a majority of her abusive childhood, until her friends help her piece the puzzle back together.

I absolutely loved these characters, especially Sally Jean, and the final conversation between Susie and Sally Jean literally brought tears to my eyes.

“Behind the Bar” is the second book in the “Behind the Love Trilogy.” If you start with this book, you’ll find the first few chapters move pretty fast, and you’ll have to figure out who everyone is, which I’m sure is explained in more detail in the first book. That being said, you can start with this book and catch up quickly, not feeling as if you’ve missed anything because this is a stand-alone story. I guarantee you will love this group of misfits and find yourself going back to the first in the series “Behind the Altar.” The third in the series, “Behind the Curtain,” will be released soon, and I can’t wait!

For those sensitive to adult language and situations, there is a little bit in this book, but not enough to curl your hair.

088eb14324190ad8956eff.L._V146807737_SX200_Check it out at Amazon!

Visit Ms. Zick’s website!

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2This week, I read Sisters in Love by Melissa Foster. It is the first in the Snow Sisters series. I enjoyed Lovers at Heart, the first in the Braden series, so I thought I’d give another of her books a read.

 

81bwpEZY1vL._SL1500_Sisters in Love is the story of Danica Snow, an uptight therapist, and Blake Carter, a player, who after the sudden death of his friend decides he needs to become a better person. He makes an appointment with Danica and…well, you can already see where this is going. There are also a handful of other characters: Danica’s whorish younger sister, a young goth girl with too many issues to count who Danica is playing ‘big sister’ to, the young girl’s grandmother and alcoholic mother, the dead friend’s angry wife and moody son, and the dead friend’s old girlfriend and illegitimate son who no one knew about. See where I’m going with this? The characters all have heavy, dark sides which is not the light, romance novel I was anticipating. There was also a moment when Danica spoke with the alcoholic woman’s therapist, who gave Danica tons of private information about the alcoholic woman. That moment was so wrong from an ethical standpoint, yet I could have overlooked it if Danica hadn’t spent the whole book telling herself she couldn’t fall for Blake because it would be unethical. For someone so concerned with ethics, she must think they apply only to her, yet she spends the entire story explaining how she’s the smart one of her family. Not too smart, if you ask me.

Ms. Foster’s writing is awesome, and I read the whole book, waiting for the payoff of Danica and Blake getting together, but it came way at the end of the book and there were no fireworks. The issues with the plot and the host of dark, dreary characters didn’t make for good romance. In the end, none of the issues were resolved except for Danica and Blake ending up in bed. She’s needy, he’s a jerk. I’ll give ’em six months.

I think I’ll go back to the Braden series, where the men are super hot, and there are no medical ethics to muck up the relationships.

If you want to give it a shot, you can pick it up here – Sisters in Love on Amazon.

 

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2It’s Monday! What are you reading?

 

I just finished “Letters to Kezia” by Peni Jo Renner.

 

 

 

 

 

24512890This is one of those rare books you cannot put down until you’ve finished it, and I read it in one sitting. The characters are based upon known facts of the author’s ancestors, and she has transformed them into a ripping tale of trust, lies, and deceit. Mary Case was a colonial woman of Connecticut, seduced into trusting a man who almost became the death of her, literally. Her daughter, Kezia, was the product of that tangled web, and Mary ultimately faced the task of telling Kezia the truth about her life and her father. The characters are rich and compelling. Their adventure is fascinating.

Author’s blurb:

It is 1693 in Hereford, Connecticut, when Mary Case, the spinster daughter of a Puritan minister, finds herself hopelessly smitten by the roguish thief, Daniel Eames. Betrothed to a man she does not like or love, she is soon compelled to help Daniel escape from jail. Suddenly, she finds herself on the run, not only accused of being Daniel’s accomplice, but also of murder.

The fugitive pair soon finds solace-and a mutual attraction-among the escapee’s Algonquin friends until two men from Daniel’s dark past hunt them down. After Mary is captured and returned home to await trial, a tragedy takes the life of her younger sister, revealing a dark secret Mary’s father has kept for months. But just as Mary learns she is pregnant, she makes a horrifying discovery about Daniel that changes everything and prompts her to develop an unlikely bond with his mother, Rebecca, who soon saves Mary from a shocking fate. It is not until years later that her daughter, Kezia, finally learns the truth about her biological father and family.

Letters to Kezia shares a courageous woman’s journey through a Puritan life and beyond as she struggles with adversity and betrayal, and discovers that loyalty can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

Letters to Kezia on Amazon

Author’s Twitter page

Author’s Facebook page

 

It’s Monday! What are you reading? The Gerson Therapy

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2

I just finished reading

The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses

by Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker

 

 

coverThis is a different book than the sort I usually talk about. It’s a juicing book to heal your body. Dr. Max Gerson (1881-1959) was a pioneer in using nutrition to HEAL every chronic illness from arthritis to diabetes to cancer. After losing my son-in-law to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in February, I spoke to so many people who knew people who beat cancer using this program. They swear this program works. I also saw a TV special on Dr. Gerson and found him quite amazing. Well, heading into the second half of my life (if I live that long), I have some health concerns and thought I’d take a look at this book. I’ve fought blood sugar problems my whole life and was told by a physician that I would probably be an insulin dependent diabetic by the time I turned 50. I hasn’t happened yet, but I do feel it sneaking up on me.

I found the 2-year-long nutrition program to be quite intensive, but if it’s a matter of dying of cancer or following a strict diet for two years, I’ll go with the diet. There are some quirky things like coffee enemas that I won’t go into, but the science that backs it in the book is quite convincing.

My only problem with the book is what it said at the end. It said the diet should NOT be followed by healthy people. I don’t get that at all. You have to come down with a chronic illness before you can get healthy? I understand it’s a radical diet, but something about that didn’t make sense to me, and they could have told me that BEFORE I bought the book.

So, long story short, I’m sticking with my basic pyramid diet and hoping for the best.

5-star review for ELLY HAYS!

Posted on by Lori Crane

Readers’ Favorite is one of my favorite sites. Click HERE to visit them. If you look down the left side of their page, you will find the genre of books you like and can spend hours and hours looking at great reviews of books. The site is a gem! One of their reviewers, Brenda Casto, gave my book ELLY HAYS a 5-star review! I’m tickled!! Here’s the LINK if you’d like to read it on their site or it is copied and pasted below. ELLY HAYS is the third book in the Okatibbee Creek series, but the books do not need to be experienced in order. Writing about Elly was very dear to me as she is my 5th great grandmother. She was one amazing woman! ♥

********************************************************

elly cover_webReviewed by Brenda Casto for Readers’ Favorite

Elly Hays is a story that takes place in the early 1800s. The book opens with a speech from Tecumseh urging the Creek Village that lives in the Mississippi Territory where Tafv and his son live to join forces and go to war against the white man. But many of the Creek have started adopting the white man’s ways, even marrying their women, so Tafv is torn about how to handle the problem. Meanwhile in Tennessee, James Rodgers has heard about cheap government land in Creek territory and convinces his wife Elly to move their eleven children there. When they arrive, they are faced with aggravation from the Creek, because Tafv’s plan is to run them off instead of killing them, hoping that they will go away and tell other whites how difficult it is to live on Creek land. The Rodgers are a tenacious bunch, though, and don’t go easily. But when Tafv’s only son is killed, he vows to seek revenge against the Rodgers.

Elly Hays by Lori Crane is a rare gem because it’s a fictionalized story based on a real family that lived during the 1800s. What makes it so unique is the way Ms. Crane portrayed the Indians in this story. Instead of portraying them as savages, she allows us to glimpse them as real people with real feelings, who grieve over losses just as the white man did. Tafv was a brave warrior, but more than that he was a caring individual that felt hurt and grieved deeply for those he lost. She provides insight into the plight that the Native Americans must have felt during this time period as they desperately tried to figure out a way to hold onto their way of life. Unfortunately, the Rodgers family found themselves in the middle of this struggle. Smoothly written, the chapters easily transition between Elly and her family and the issues with Tafv and his clan. Ms. Crane really did her research because she provides rich detail that truly allows the reader to feel as if they are part of the time she is describing. A historically rich tale where there are really no bad guys. Instead the author allowed me to see both sides. The epilogue and author notes added to this story in my opinion because it allowed me to learn what happened after the story. Historical fiction where there is plenty of truth woven in made Elly Hays a page-turning read for me.

********************************************************

Lori Crane Books at Amazon