Tag Archives: what are you reading

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Posted on by Lori Crane

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It’s Monday! What are you reading?

 

 

I just finished “Roanoke: The Lost Colony” by Angela Hunt.

 

 

 

910gx90keKL._SL1500_Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this book. As you can see, the cover is absolutely stunning, but it has nothing to do with the story, not even a little bit. As the title indicates, the story is about the missing colonists of Roanoke, and I always enjoy seeing personalities put to historical figures. While I sincerely appreciate the time and energy that went into researching the documents and the history, the characters in this story weren’t very likeable. Reverend Thomas Colman was pretty much a jerk, and his wife Jocelyn starts as a sassy woman who speaks her mind but becomes weak and spineless as the story progresses. The book is touted as a romance, and the two finally get together in the last pages of the book, but it was too little too late and completely out of character for him, seeing as he had been a jerk for the first 98% of the book. The other characters were hit or miss, most disappearing before you even got a chance to know them. The one thing that kept me reading was to find out the author’s impression of what happened to the colonists, but nope, we didn’t. Not even a theory. Nothing. The book just ended.

There were a couple things that drove me to drink. There were no upholstered chairs in the 1500s and certainly no tea in the colonies. Historical inaccuracies like that make me wonder how true the rest of the history-part of the story was. Also, I understand the characters speaking with ‘twas and ‘tis, but it really didn’t need to be ongoing ad nauseum throughout the narrative. ‘Twould be better if it ‘twas written without all the ‘tis and ‘twas. ‘Twouldn’t it?

In general, I wanted to like it, but I really, really wanted an ending.

Amazon link

Ms. Hunt’s website

 

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

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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.

It’s Monday! What are you reading? “A Newfound Land”

Posted on by Lori Crane

2a2I’m reading yet another of my favorite authors…

Anna Belfrage

“A Newfound Land”

 

 

 

 

 

91lWunghvPL._SL1500_“A Newfound Land” is the 4th in the Graham saga. I would suggest you start at the 1st book, “A Rip in the Veil,” and set aside some time, because once you get caught up into the world of Matthew Graham and his time-traveling wife Alexandra, you will not want to stop reading. This story takes up where the 3rd book left off. Matthew and Alex were having trouble in their homeland of 1670 Scotland. Religious and political turmoil gave them no option but to pack and leave, and what better place to travel to than the new world – the Colony of Maryland? Unfortunately, some of their former adversaries make an appearance and the reader is left gripping the arm of the chair as the suspense builds, and new complications arise to increase the tension. We know these two are strong and steadfast, but we wonder how in the world they will make it through. It is a pleasure to see their children growing, and I look forward to reading the 5th book in the series, “Serpents in the Garden.” Keep ’em coming!

 

“A Newfound Land” blurb

It’s 1672, and Matthew Graham and his family have left Scotland. Having taken the drastic decision to leave their homeland due to religious conflicts, Alexandra and Matthew hope for a simpler, if harsher, life in the wilds of the Colony of Maryland.
Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out as you want them to, and the past has a nasty tendency to resurface at the most inappropriate moments. Both Matthew and Alex are forced to cope with the unexpected reappearance of people they had never thought to meet again, and the screw is turned that much tighter when the four rogue Burley brothers enter their lives.

Matters are further complicated by the strained relations between colonists and the Susquehannock Indians. When Matthew intercedes to stop the Burleys from abducting Indian women into slavery he makes lifelong – and deadly – enemies of them all.
Once again Alex is plunged into an existence where death seems to threaten her man wherever he goes.

Will Matthew see himself – and his family – safe in these new circumstances? And will the past finally be laid to rest?

A Newfound Land is the fourth book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.

downloadAnna Belfrage

As a child, I spent a lot of time trying to find ways of travelling through time – always backwards – and somewhere along the way I concluded that while real time travelling is as yet (sadly) not possible, it is always possible to leap through time by using that most powerful tool, imagination.
I don’t know how many hours I’ve whiled away submerged in one daydream after the other, all of them set in the misty past, all of them starring yours truly. As a matter of fact, I still daydream, and my hourly walks with the dog tend to be one long delicious escape from the world of today to another place, another time.

The books in The Graham Saga (so far I’ve published A Rip in the Veil,Like Chaff in the Wind,The Prodigal Son, A Newfound Land, Serpents in the Garden and the NEW Revenge and Retribution – more is to come)are the products of very many hours of daydreaming – although at times I’m not entirely sure who is doing the actual daydreaming, my characters or myself. Alex(andra) Lind and Matthew Graham have grown into most tangible beings, people with likes and dislikes – and very exciting lives, putting it mildly. Which is why the story developed into a whole series, six of which have now been published (two more to come).

The latter half of the seventeenth century is rife with dangers, and even more so when you’re a woman who has been yanked out of your comfortable, modern timezone and dropped into 1658. But Alex is lucky; she lands at the feet of Matthew, a man most women would give an arm and a leg to get to know closely. Things, however, are complicated by the general political unrest of the times and Matthew’s present status as convicted (but fugitive) royalist. Phew; at times I almost feel sorry for all the situations I land Alex in.
“Tell me about it,” she sort of growls, “and it’s not you who’s got the bruises to show, is it?”
Erm, no; but I’m the author, remember?
“We can trade anytime,” she says.
Ooh yes, please! I nod eagerly, throwing Matthew a longing glance. Alex follows my look, and two well-formed brows come down in an impressive scowl.
“He’s mine,” she says.
Matthew raises his face and looks at her. Those magical hazel eyes shine gold in the afternoon sun, and a slow smile spreads across his face. She sort of dances towards him and I sigh; he’s definitely hers, I can see it in the way his fingers graze her cheek, in how he laughs at whatever she’s saying. Shoot…

The Graham Saga is a heady mix of romance, swashbuckling adventure and emotional drama. while each book has been written so as to make it possible to read them as stand-alones. I believe the experience is enhanced by reading them in order. Alex and Matthew have more than their share of adventures, both in Scotland and in the New World – more specifically the Colony of Maryland.

I like my female protagonists strong and capable, and Alex is nothing if not resilient, no matter what full blown punches fate throws her way – and they are many. And as to Matthew, well… the man is stubborn and brave, rarely back downs when it comes to issues of faith and integrity and is at times more than a little frustrated by his opinionated, time travelling wife.

It isn’t always easy, to bridge the divide of three centuries in perceptions and ideas. Some days, Alex wants to kick Matthew in the butt for being a old-fashioned jerk. Other days, Matthew is sorely tempted to belt her, this woman with eyes the colour of the deep sea. But the moment his fingers graze hers, the instant she steps into his arms, none of that matters: She is his woman, and he is her man – that is the way things are, that is the way things will always be!

Oh; BTW. For those of you that want to know when the next book in the Graham Saga, Wither Thou Goest, will be out, it is planned for November 2014. (The paperback will probably be available somewhat earlier than the e-book version)

I hope you choose to buy my books and that you find the reading as enjoyable as I’ve found the writing!

Anna’s Amazon page

Anna’s blog

Anna’s website

 

It’s Monday! What are you reading? “Live from the Road”

Posted on by Lori Crane

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I’m reading one of my favorite authors…

PC Zick

“Live from the Road”

 

 

 

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“Live from the Road” is a story of two friends, Meg and Sally, and their road trip across Route 66. They are escorted by their grown daughters, and the four women each have their own personal demons to face during the trip. Some of their struggles are shared with each other, some kept private.

There were idiosyncrasies in this story that made me giggle. At each stop, they invite whomever they ran into to join them, and a lot of people strangely took them up on the offer. I would never be that open to invite strangers to join my vacation, but I have some girlfriends who would do something that crazy, so it’s not all-together impossible. At one point, they had four or five cars in their caravan. I thought the concept of strangers joining on one’s vacation was a little weird, but then I realized I had joined them, too. I was traveling the Route with them, experiencing the sites and sorting through the personal problems. The road trip mimicked the trip through life – the inner journey. The part I loved best was Meg’s 50-year-old brain struggling with her own mid-life crisis. I found myself thinking her thoughts many times. Perhaps these are the thoughts of every mature woman.

 

“Live from the Road” blurb

Live from the Road takes the reader on an often humorous, yet harrowing, journey as Meg Newton and Sally Sutton seek a change in the mundane routine of their lives. Joined by their daughters, they set off on a journey of salvation enhanced by the glories of the Mother Road.

Along the way, they are joined by a Chicago bluesman, a Pakistani liquor store owner from Illinois, a Marine from Missouri, a gun-toting momma from Oklahoma, and a motel clerk from New Mexico.

Death, divorce, and deception help to reveal the inner journey taking place under the blazing desert sun as a Route 66 motel owner reads the Bhagavad-Gita and an eagle provides the sign they’ve all been seeking.

Enlightenment comes tiptoeing in at dawn in a Tucumcari laundromat, while singing karaoke at a bar in Gallup, New Mexico, and during dinner at the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, Arizona.

The trip isn’t always easy as laughter turns to tears and back again. However, the four women’s lives will never be the same after the road leads them to their hearts – the true destination for these road warriors.

088eb14324190ad8956eff.L._V146807737_SX200_PC ZICK – Author

P.C. Zick began her writing career in 1998 as a journalist. She’s won various awards for her essays, columns, editorials, articles, and fiction. She describes herself as a “storyteller” no matter the genre.

She’s published five works of fiction and two nonfiction books.

She was born in Michigan and moved to Florida in 1980. She finds the stories of Florida and its people and environment a rich base for her storytelling platform. Florida’s quirky and abundant wildlife – both human and animal – supply her fiction with tales almost too weird to be believable.
Her fiction contains the elements most dear to her heart, ranging from love to the environment. In her novels, she advances the cause for wildlife conservation and energy conservation. She believes in living lightly upon this earth with love, laughter, and passion.

“This is one of the most exciting times to be an author,” Ms. Zick says. “I’m honored to be a part of the revolution in writing and publishing.”

PC’s website

PC’s Amazon Page

PC’s blog