The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.

My Review:

You can’t beat this clever read for the tension, suspense, and riveting pacing. The author has managed a brilliant masterpiece of unreliable voices.

Who are you to trust? The voice of Fern, on the autistic spectrum, is super sensitive, reticent, intelligent but socially inept. She often views simple concepts literally and it’s confusing to her. Her sister, the slightly older twin, has been successful in life. Marrying, holding a responsible, well-paying position, and always,

…always,

watching over her vulnerable sister.

The sisters, however, have had a chaotic childhood and suffered traumas along the way. They both hold devastating secrets. Rose, through years of therapy, has been advised to keep a journal, chronicle her thoughts and the reader is spoon-fed her entries, alternating with the direct, open, and cloistered life of the librarian, Fern.

When Fern discovers Rose appears incapable of conceiving, she decides this is what a good sister would do—surrogate a baby for Rose. But Fern also decides it’s she who must decide who the sperm donor will be and when she meets Wally (the name she assigns to him), it seems he will be the perfect donor. Wally (Rocco) has issues of his own and understands Fern so it might appear these two are a good match. Indeed, it’s easy to invest in these characters.

While the head might be saying…”wait a minute…there are problems here,” the heart is nodding with joy that these two people, damaged though they might be, found each other and make a happy match.

In the meantime, Rose is beginning not to look so rosy. Doesn’t ring true. She’s manipulative—all those years taking care of Fern—protective? Or controlling.

In the meantime, the well-plotted narrative takes alternate dark and light turns, yanking sensitivities, emotions, pushing boundaries and begins to sneak in a few little revelations—twists you wouldn’t have suspected and the rug starts gently being pulled out from under you.

These two are so different. In looks. In character. In their memories. How could they view the same event with such diverse recollections?

Not prepared for the ultimate reveal, this one knocked the wind out of me. WOW. Have I just been played or what?

I received a review copy of this audiobook from my local lovely library and the narrator did one very fine job—totally had me hooked. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Family Life Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B089XJLJ43
Listening Length: 8 hrs 31 mins
Narrator: Barrie Kreinik
Publication Date: April 13, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Good Sister [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Sally Hepworth is the bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives (2015), The Things We Keep (2016) The Mother’s Promise (2017), The Family Next Door (2018), The Mother In Law (April 2019), The Good Sister (April 2021) and The Younger Wife (April 2022). Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler, has optioned The Mother In Law for a TV series.

Sally’s books have been labelled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing”. Sally’s novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 10+ languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children.

V Williams

#throwbackthursday

Death by Didgeridoo (Jamie Quinn Mystery Book 1) by Barbara Venkataraman – #BookReview – #cozyanimalmystery

Book Blurb:

Attorney Jamie Quinn is on a six-month hiatus from practicing law to deal with her beloved mother’s death. Rarely leaving the house, she shares most of her days with her late mother’s cranky cat.

But soon, Jamie is forced into action by a frantic call from her Aunt Peg, whose autistic son Adam is in police custody and suspected of murdering his music teacher, a once-famous rock star named Spike.

It’s up to Jamie to find the real killer. The problem is, Spike seems to have had more enemies than he had friends, and Adam had confessed to the murder already. Can Jamie piece together the evidence and bring the murderer to justice before it’s too late?

A delightful, light mystery set in the small town of Hollywood, South Florida, Death By Didgeridoo is the first book in Barbara Venkataraman’s Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries series.

My Review:

That’s a fun word—Didgeridoo—of course, a wind instrument originating and common to Australia. But, yeah, so both the title and the cover are a serious draw.

Fortunately, the short story following delivers the implied promise. It’s both unique and vaguely familiar.

A cozy mystery with an attorney protagonist (shudder), practicing family law until her mother’s death leaves her devastated and almost literally unable to function. Six months has not seen her return to her former active lifestyle, now barely capable of leaving the couch long enough to feed her mother’s cranky cat. The cat is on a formidable mourning period of its own.

When she receives a hysterical call from her Aunt Peg about her son, Adam, Jamie is forced to get up and deal with it—it’s family—and Adam cannot handle being pulled in and suspected in the murder of his music teacher with his own musical instrument. Adam has Asberger’s Syndrome. He is shutting down–and this trauma could make it permanent.

Jamie is forced to swing her focus on her cousin and her aunt—she is not a criminal attorney—but is smart and resourceful and it doesn’t take too long (this is a short story after all) to first, get her cousin calmed, and then invoke the help of her best friend and a PI.

The storyline necessarily moves at a good pace and along the way develops the characters sufficiently that the reader becomes invested in a positive outcome. The victim of the didgeridoo was not particularly viewed with love but the numero uno suspect is entirely innocent and naïve and almost becomes victim number two. It’s easy to become invested in the characters.

A quick read, engaging, and entertaining. I received a (now permanently) free review copy of this book as an introduction to the series after a request from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery, Women Sleuths, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Next Chapter
ISBN: ‎ B099KZ3XX8
ASIN: B00GVJ4WOY
Print Length: 102 pages
Publication Date: November 13, 2013
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Award-winning author Barbara Venkataraman is an attorney and mediator specializing in family law and debt collection.

She is the author of the Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery series, as well as: Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person; The Fight for Magicallus; If You’d Just Listened to Me in the First Place; Quirky Essays for Quirky People; and the Flash Fiction Shorts series.

She has won the Indie Book of the Day award twice, the Book of the Day Award, a gold medal for memoir in the Readers’ Favorite Competition, was a finalist in the Kindle Book Awards twice, and won first place in the Amateur Detective category of the Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Mystery Writing Competition.

Her popular Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery Series includes: Death by Didgeridoo, The Case of the Killer Divorce, Peril in the Park, Engaged in Danger, Jeopardy in July, and Malice in Miami.

Her recent non-fiction: Accidental Activist: Justice for the Groveland Four, a memoir she co-authored with her son about lessons he learned while working to exonerate four men falsely accused of a terrible crime in the Jim Crow South.

Pryor & Cummings: The GAIA Incident by Rod Pennington – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Late at night, a hacker sneaks into the subterranean lab of a celebrity scientist known as the “Earthquake Whisperer.” There he makes a startling discovery which gets him murdered. The police soon learn surveillance video shows no one had left the facility since the homicide and a thorough search for the killer comes up empty.

To solve this locked room techno-thriller-mystery, an old-school detective and his retired K-9 reluctantly partner with a young high-tech rookie. This quickly escalates from a cut-and-dried homicide to something much more ominous.

This story is populated with relatable characters with interesting relationships. The dialogue is witty, there are whiplash inducing plot shifts and it has a surprise twist ending you won’t see coming.

My Review:

This book starts out with quite the hook but then settled into the plodding of everyday investigative work. Of course, it’s a locked-room mystery, although that part is discoverable fairly soon and becomes a techno-thriller—which is okay by me—an opportunity to learn.

First, I had a problem with Pryor, mid-life macho coming off a suspension well deserved. He can be short, rude, and sometimes reminded me of the Bosch character in the TV series of the same name. Once linking that image, it was tough not to see Welliver in scenes involving Pryor.

I’m pretty torn on this one, about evenly distributed between liking and not. Interesting plot premise (note the cover), but since I wasn’t a particular fan of Pryor, it was tough to balance that with those characters I did like. Pryor is also ex-special ops military. Cummings is young, a grandson of Pryor’s academy instructor and, wait for it: formerly dated Pryor’s daughter. (How small IS this world?) Cummings is also sharp computer, technology generation. I had the promise of an active canine in the storyline as well, even if a retired police dog, and it wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped.

The murder of the hacker in the special underground computer lab links Pryor through the ownership of the lab, who is the second husband of his ex-wife. Just too many close links here to buy.

With any threat to the country, the FBI will get involved and because the consensus this might be (a threat), they did. More characters and they all tend to clash with Pryor. When the technology kicks in, I get a chance to read what currently exists and that projected. The plot steers into the future of bots and the manipulation we’ve confronted before. Then postulation goes beyond that.

I did enjoy some of the dialogue as it produces more than one chuckle and lightens the serious mood, although there again is tempered with soapbox discussions that veer into current political hotbed issues. Relationships tend to get entwined and there are plot puzzlers that eventually get channeled into a satisfying conclusion on a twisted plot course.

Interesting and well-paced, however, a protagonist not everyone will love with espoused philosophies sure to raise eyebrows.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Technothrillers, Hard-boiled Mystery
Publisher: Integration Press LLC
ASIN: B09T3VTLZP
Print Length: 267 pages
Publication Date: May 24, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Rod Pennington writes a mixed bag of suspense stories filled with quirky characters, rapid-fire dialogue and whiplash inducing plot shifts. With his off-beat sense of humor and original storylines that do not fit comfortably into any established genre, he has developed a hard-core group of fans.

In addition to fiction, Pennington has either sold or has had optioned seven screenplays and also writes regularly in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal.

You can reach Rod at AuthorRodPennington@Gmail.com

[truncated—see the list of Books by Rod Pennington in the author’s bio: The Fourth Awakening Series, The Family Series, Stand Alone Books]

#TuesdayBookblog banner

A Home for the Lost by Sharon Maas – #BookReview – Historical Literary Fiction @Bookouture

A Home for the Lost by Sharon Maas

Book Blurb:

A gripping and heartbreaking read, based on the true story of the Jonestown cult, one of the darkest chapters in American history.

When journalist Zoe Quint loses her husband and child in a tragic accident, she returns home to Guyana to heal. But when she hears cries and music floating through the trees, her curiosity compels her to learn more about the Americans who have set up camp in a run-down village nearby. Their leader, Jim Jones, dark eyed and charismatic, claims to be a peaceful man who has promised his followers paradise.

But everything changes when Zoe meets one of his followers, a young woman called Lucy, in a ramshackle grocery store. Lucy grabs Zoe’s arm, raw terror in her eyes, and passes her a note with a phone number, begging her to call her mother in America.

Zoe is determined to help Lucy, but locals warn her to stay away from the camp, and as sirens and gunshots echo through the jungle at nightfall, she knows they are right. But she can’t shake the frightened woman’s face from her mind, and when she discovers that there are young children kept in the camp, she has to act fast.

Zoe’s only route to the lost people is to get close to their leader, Jim Jones. But if she is accepted, will she be able to persuade the frightened followers to risk their lives and embark on a perilous escape under the cover of darkness? And when Jim Jones hears of her plans, could she pay the highest price of all?

His Review:

The sixties were a time of cultural revolution in the United States. Disaffected people fled the country and joined a cult headed by Jim Jones called Jonestown. In the US, schools and cities were burned and cultural divisiveness was rampant. Jonestown in Guyana was where young people could escape and return to the roots of civilization.

Reverend Jones had taken a thousand or more men, women and children to his ‘utopian stronghold” so that they might live the good life. They were to be free from want as they were working together to establish the perfect colony. The problem was that Jim Jones was a megalomaniac who was out of touch with reality. He felt that he was the only man on earth who should be breeding the women of the planet.

Zoe is a freelance investigative reporter who wants to go to Guyana and report on the enclave and the people living there. What she finds is far from the utopia promised! A few of the people control everything and all of the others are peons whose sole function is to grow the food and support the community.

Zoe is assisted by a U.S. Congressman named Ryan. He has been hearing rumors of a very different and frightening encampment in the jungle. He and an entourage are going on behalf of the U.S. Government to investigate the rumors and accusations. Zoe worms her way into the compound to write an honest exposé on the community. Her reputation for honest journalism garners Jones’ trust.

The living conditions are adequate but the society is very rigid and structured. One of the residents begs Zoe to help her escape Jamestown and return with her three children to the U.S. and her family. Zoe’s adventures spread a bright light on a very despotic environment and the mental problems with Jim Jones. The book shows the horrendous results of a planned utopian community gone very wrong.

This is a very dark exposé of a footnote in American history in the 1960s. Read the book and weep over the nearly 700 that drink poisoned Kool-Aid to escape this troubled world and join Reverend Jones in a utopian paradise. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Detective Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction
Publisher: Bookouture
ASIN: B09VTKKM2V
Print Length: 453 pages
Publication Date: June 23, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: A Home for the Lost [Amazon]

The Author: Sharon Maas was born into a prominent political family in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951. She was educated in England, Guyana, and, later, Germany. After leaving school, she worked as a trainee reporter with the Guyana Graphic in Georgetown and later wrote feature articles for the Sunday Chronicle as a staff journalist.

Her first novel, Of Marriageable Age, is set in Guyana and India and was published by HarperCollins in 1999. In 2014 she moved to Bookouture, and now has ten novels under her belt. Her books span continents, cultures, and eras. From the sugar plantations of colonial British Guiana in South America, to the French battlefields of World War Two, to the present-day brothels of Mumbai and the rice-fields and villages of South India, Sharon never runs out of stories for the armchair traveller.

[truncated—please see the author’s page for her full bio]

Rosepoint recommended

The Last Saxon King: A Jump in Time Novel (Book 1) by Andrew Varga – #BookReview – #historicalfiction

The Last Saxon King by Andrew Varga

Book Blurb:

Life is progressing normally for sixteen-year-old Dan Renfrew when he accidentally transports himself to England in the year 1066. He soon realizes that he’s trapped there, and that’s not his only astonishing discovery. Dan learns that he’s descended from a long line of time jumpers—secret heroes who travel to the past and resolve glitches in the time stream that threaten to alter subsequent history. The only way Dan can return home is to set history back on its proper course in the Anglo-Saxon age. This is no easy task. A Viking horde is ravaging England in the north while a Norman army threatens to invade from the south. In between and desperately struggling to hold on to his throne is Harold Godwinson, the newly-crowned English king. Dan is fighting to ensure that events play out correctly when he finds himself plunged into an even more lethal conflict. To save history, Dan must battle a band of malevolent time jumpers whose lust for wealth and power threatens the entire future of the world.

His Review:

Daniel’s father is being attacked by an assassin in their living room. A six-inch rod with a forgotten set of symbols is thrown to him by his father. He is given a phrase to say and is thrust back into the time of the Battle of Hastings. His adventure begins with Sunngifu who first meets him, telling him how inept and uneducated he is. His day goes down from there!

The rod seems to be a translation device and having it placed next to his skin allows him to talk to the people in the village. At 16 years of age, Dan is expected to join the local authority and fight for the kingdom. He has fallen into a time of great conflict. There is no choice; when the king or lord commands you, you must join and fight.

The class system is well described in this narrative as are the problems Daniel faces. The leaders in this part of the world are either royalty or the most-wealthy individuals. Peasants are required to fight for the royal and will be killed gruesomely if they do not comply but Daniel manages to become a companion to Edward and the future king of England.

The description of society as well as the interactions with the various characters describe a very colorful existence. Conscripted into the service of the overlord being mandatory, the conscripts must supply their own weapons. A farmer is not given a weapon but rather brings a pitchfork or hoe or some other farm implement.

Additional weapons are prizes of battle such as swords, lances, and poleaxes. A running count of the casualties inflicted on the other side is bragged about by the victors.

This author has developed a very fine example of life in the middle-ages and the dangers faced. Modern man is not equipped for these dangers. Can Daniel save himself long enough to return to his own time? Or, does he want to? 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy and the opportunity to read this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Fiction, #timetravel, YA Fiction
Publisher: Imbrifex Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1945501820
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1945501821
ASIN: B0B1CBGDRV
Print Length: 316 pages
Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Last Saxon King [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble

Andrew Varga - author — Andrew Varga – author

The Author: I am a YA historical fiction author who takes great pains to ensure historical accuracy in my books, while still ensuring that I tell a great story. Although I enjoy reading and writing about all history, I have a particular fondness for European history from Greco-Roman times until the crusades.

I hope you enjoy my stories.

Have a great Sunday!

Tom Clancy Zero Hour (A Jack Ryan Jr Novel Book 9 by Don Bentley – #BookReview – #warfiction

Tom Clancy Zero Hour by Don Bentley

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

in Military Thrillers

Book Blurb:

Jack Ryan, Jr. is the one man who can prevent a second Korean War in the latest thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

When the leader of North Korea is catastrophically injured, his incapacitation inadvertently triggers a “dead-man’s switch,” activating an army of sleeper agents in South Korea and precipitating a struggle for succession.

Jack Ryan, Jr. is in Seoul to interview a potential addition to the Campus. But his benign trip takes a deadly turn when a wave of violence perpetrated by North Korean operatives grips South Korea’s capital. A mysterious voice from North Korea offers Jack a way to stop the peninsula’s rush to war, but her price may be more than he can afford to pay.

His Review:

North Korea has a cadre of renegade operatives working to overthrow the South Korean regime. Explosions are felt in Seoul as large crowds begin to crowd the capital. Escape is very difficult with the people frantically searching for places of safety. Meanwhile, the North Korean insurgents continue to plant many more bombs.

The ”Supreme Leader” has been missing for a number of days and the suspicion of a successful coup is rampant. The renegades are intent on initiating a war between the South and American advisors. They gather a detachment of soldiers intent on exacerbating the chaos.

A leading medical advisor to the “Supreme Leader” has him placed in a safe bunker near the border between the North and the South. The bunker is also a top-secret research facility for developing a new and very deadly chemical weapon to destroy the South Korean army and thousands of its’ people.

Jack Ryan Jr. joins up with a group of U.S. Navy Seals to attempt to thwart the potential of WW III. The Seals and Jack have a healthy disdainful respect for each other. Jack believes the Seals are effective but not very eloquent in the execution of plans. The give and take between the two is humorous. Can the plans of the radicals in the North Korean military succeed in starting WWIII?

Don Bentley writes a very convincing saga of cold war tensions and events. The Supreme Leader is only incapacitated for a week which appears long enough to start WWIII. The insurgents hope to eliminate the leader of North Korea and put themselves in power.

There is not a dull moment in this novel, it’s fast-paced and filled with action. The protagonist is self-confident, independent, and efficient. The narrative is gripping and the conclusion satisfying. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced the CE’s review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Military Thrillers, War Fiction, Historical Thrillers
Publisher: G P Putnam’s Sons
ASIN: B09FNW2FV4
Print Length: 492 pages
Publication Date: June 7, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Tom Clancy Zero Hour [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Don Bentley is the NYT bestselling author of the HOSTILE INTENT and Tom Clancy ZERO HOUR. Don is a former FBI Special Agent, SWAT Team member, and Army Apache helicopter pilot. Learn more at http://www.donbentleybooks.com

Have a great weekend!

Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Book Blurb:

When life gets your goat, bring in the herd

Jennifer McGaha never expected to own a goat named Merle. Or to be setting Merle up on dates and naming his doeling Merlene. She didn’t expect to be buying organic yogurt for her chickens. She never thought she would be pulling camouflage carpet off her ceiling or rescuing opossums from her barn and calling it “date night.” Most importantly, Jennifer never thought she would only have $4.57 in her bank account.

When Jennifer discovered that she and her husband owed back taxes—a lot of back taxes—her world changed. Now desperate to save money, they foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a one-hundred-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. Soon enough, Jennifer’s life began to more closely resemble her Appalachian ancestors than her upper-middle-class upbringing. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land.

Told with bold wit, unflinching honesty, and a firm foot in the traditions of Appalachia, Flat Broke with Two Goats blends stories of homesteading with the journey of two people rediscovering the true meaning of home.

My Review:

OMG, so many reviewers disliked this memoir! And I must admit I had to agree with most of the arguments presented. I can’t even imagine not knowing you haven’t filed with the IRS in years. Robbing Peter to pay Paul until Peter drops a foreclosure on you.

From living well above your means and having your children in private schools to eating gourmet and drinking expensive craft beers. You can’t tell me there wasn’t a hint.

Well educated, this couple made every stupid financial decision you could make. And he was an accountant? Thinking he was handling the finances, she works part-time and plays homemaker, rearing the children, and caring for multiple animals.

Sounds nice—few women get to do that (or even want to) anymore. She tends to blame him for all their financial woes—but how did she miss all the dun letters or calls? Creditors can drive you crazy.

When they make the decision to let foreclosure happen as well as default on the second with their close friends, they flee to the Appalachians to live in an abandoned cabin in a North Carolina holler.

I’ve lived in tar paper shacks—they can be populated (depending on where you live) by spiders (especially black widows), snakes, and every manner of bug or mammal that can find a hole from the size of a pin to a dime. And their old cabin is no better. It takes a while, doing what little they can with what they saved by not paying their last several mortgage payments. UGH! I see a lot of beans in their future.

Gradually, however, she begins to think about chickens. She could raise them, gather and/or sell eggs. Then goats. GOATS! Not an animal I would have considered—remembering how well they perform head butts. And BTW, chickens do have personalities.

Here is what I don’t understand, however; where did they get the money to be buying chickens and build their coop, much less the appropriate provisions and feed for goats? For that matter, chicken feed isn’t cheap and chickens can waste almost as much as they eat. Descriptions of breeding the goats were penned in detail and don’t get me started on the vet bills.

You have to say that listening to this audiobook is like listening to an impending train wreck. They learn the hard way, not having had experience with animals other than canines, and make some big mistakes along the way. There are regrets, embarrassment, shame, loss, recriminations, and a lot of soul-searching. Plus, you gotta love the title.

Sometimes the decisions become outrageous. It’s easy to castigate others’ actions, particularly when so many people have experienced extreme financial conditions and similar hardships and found a way to work through them honorably. Still, the narration is excellent and the author’s wit and sense of humor shine through. As maddening as it can be, it’s also engaging, entertaining, at times enlightening. For one thing, I’ll never try to breed a goat.

The conclusion comes rather abruptly; guess there was nowhere else to go, but pretty much sums up the journey to living happily off the land.

I received a complimentary review copy of this audiobook from my local lovely library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Agricultural & Food Sciences, Biographies of Women, Agricultural Science
Publisher: Tantor Audio
ASIN: B078WZVJSF
Listening Length: 9 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Pam Ward
Publication Date: January 23, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Flat Broke with Two Goats [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four stars

The Author: A native of Appalachia, Jennifer McGaha lives with her husband, five dogs, twenty-three chickens, and one high-maintenance cat in a tin-roofed cabin bordering the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina. Her creative nonfiction work has appeared in Brooklyner, Toad Suck Review, Switchback, Still, Portland Review, Little Patuxent Review, Lumina, Literary Mama, Mason’s Road, Now and Then, and others. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running, mountain biking, sampling local beers, and playing with dogs.

#throwbackthursday

The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey by Patricia Black-Gould – #BookReview

The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey by Patricia Black-Gould

Book Blurb:

A Star of David or a rosary? Lalka, a young girl, must reject one and accept the other without understanding why. Her mother makes a heartbreaking sacrifice to keep her daughter safe.

Poland, 1939. It’s no longer safe for the Jews. Lalka’s mother makes the excruciating choice to teach her the ways of Catholicism and send her to a convent for safekeeping. Little Lalka doesn’t understand why her mother would give her Crystal beads (a rosary) in exchange for her prize possession, her Star of David, a special gift from her father, or why she’s learning new songs and prayers. Lalka and her mother journey to a Convent, where the brave nuns take her under their wing and continue her Catholic education. When the Nazis come looking, will the training be enough? When forced with a difficult decision, will Lalka follow her heart or follow her mother’s directions? And will it be enough to save her life?

A beautiful story of sacrifice and bravery, The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey, highlights a piece of the Holocaust – the hidden children – told from the innocent perspective of a child. Readers also come to understand how people can come together, despite differences, when it really matters.

My Review:

Such a compassionate and realistic view of one of the ways in which a mother discovers how to keep her daughter safe in a treacherous and deadly time in 1939 Poland.

Lalka’s mother makes the choice to teach her seven-year-old daughter about Catholicism. It is not an easy choice to make. Before Lalka’s father died and left the two of them, he gave his daughter a Star of David—something she wore all the time—her treasure, his last gift to her.

Her mother, however, begins gently by playing a “game” with her daughter in which she exchanges the Star of David with a new necklace—that of crystal beads, a rosary. She then builds on that with prayers and songs, preparing her for the journey to a convent where the nuns will care for her and continue her education.

Lalka is left at the convent in a heartbreaking goodbye. Her mother promised to visit; and does for a while. When Sister Teresa calls Lalka to the office, Lalka is sure her mother is back but is greeted by two men who believe Lalka is a Jew. Lalka follows the instructions her mother gave her and is saved from being taken away.

The story is written for children between the ages of 5-12 years. It is beautifully illustrated with soft pastel colors and drawings that help a child to see and understand the circumstances and the wisdom given Lalka to survive. It’s a short and touching story of the Holocaust—a teachable moment—and unfortunately one that must continue.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Beautifully written and illustrated. Currently on pre-order. Recommended.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Children’s Holocaust Fiction Books, Children’s Jewish Fiction, Children’s Judaism Books
Publisher: Purple Butterfly Press
ISBN-10: ‎ 1955119201
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1955119207
ASIN: B09Z6SY3T9
Illustrator: Katya Royz
Print Length: 40 pages
Publication Date: June 14, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Pat Black-Gould, PhD , is a clinical psychologist, author, and playwright. Her short stories have appeared in several literary journals and anthologies.

Many years ago, Pat heard a powerful story that haunted her until she committed it to paper. The Crystal Beads was first published in Jewish Fiction. net in 2020. The short story then won first-place honors in two writing competitions conducted by the National League of American Pen Women, Inc., Washington, D.C. The first was an award by the Pen Women Florida State Association. Pat then received the Flannery O’Connor Short Story Award as part of the National Biennial Letters Competition.

Pat felt it was important to bring the story to a younger audience. At that point, she rewrote it as a children’s book. She hopes that The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey will do justice to the story she once heard and carry its message to younger generations.

Pat’s writing explores topics such as compassion, tolerance, and diversity. She continues to examine these themes in her upcoming novel, Limbo of the Moon, written with her co-writer, Steve Hardiman.

In addition, Pat (under the name of Patricia Black) has published a book chapter and journal articles on Deafness and Mental Heath with co-author, Neal Glickman, PhD.

Rosepoint Publishing