#SoldonaMonday – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews – October Recap – Snow? On Halloween? Uh oh…

Rosepoint Reviews-October Recap

Hoping that early snow is not a portent of a long, hard winter, we did have flurries on Halloween. I guess we had just a bit of the same in 2019, but usually when we had an early snow in California, we were hurting for decent skiing conditions even in December. I’m still getting used to the different weather climate out here.

I took advantage of a slight warming last week to get my yard stripped of the last vestiges of both the veggie and flower gardens. Not much to bring in, as we’d used most along the way and, sad to say, the tomatoes just sort of petered out. Crazy summer!

In the meantime, strongly feeling the absence of our Frosty and the encouragement of our kids (and the neighbors!), we began looking for another dog (as I mentioned last month)—this time a mature one (no puppies). I was looking for a small companion—the CE fell in love with an ex-breeder. Punkin, the Pomeranian A Pomeranian—one I never would have considered and she is proving to be the problem I expected she might. A 4 ½+-year-old with absolutely no history has apparently never been introduced to a house, never mind house training, commands, or even knows what treats or pets are. While she is extremely human shy, she doesn’t seem to have that problem with other dogs. Perhaps lived in a kennel all her life just turning out puppies? Who knows? This kind of shelter/rescue dog will take months of patience, kindness, and consistency. We’ve been at it now three weeks. According to the 3-3-3 rule, the first two big hurdles done. Hopefully, progress by three months. How do you go about house-training a dog that was never turned out to potty and won’t allow you to take them?

So you might have guessed where a bulk of my time went in October. Even deleting one post per week, I’m still backlogged and playing catch up. We did manage thirteen books in October, always including NetGalley books. I’ve experienced fits and starts with audiobooks but you’ll note one at five stars in the list below. (And as always, links below are to my reviews that include purchase or source info.)

Rosepoint Reviews-October Recap

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Danger in Numbers by Heather Graham (audiobook)
The Constant Soldier by William Ryan (CE 5* review)
Out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown
Quarter to Midnight by Karen Rose (audiobook)
Closure by Garrett Addison (CE review)
The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman (5*)
Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt (5* audiobook)
Rescuing Crockett by David Pyke (CE review)
Secrets of the Greek Revival by Eva Pohler
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris (audiobook)
Head Case by Bonnie Traymore (CE review)
Death by Cutting Table by Susie Black

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE greatly enjoyed several of his books and I always enjoy my auto go-to Rosenfelt books (audiobooks especially). My vote for October, however, is going to Jonathan Kellerman’s The Ghost Orchid. Love the way the author plays off the main characters and maneuvers two negative victims to sympathic.

Book of the Month for October—The Ghost Orchid

My Reading Challenges page… I have 122 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (at this point two books ahead of schedule) and still at a 97% feedback ratio in NetGalley. My Reading Challenges page has suffered from neglect–again.

Up for Discussion

In another move of the social media upheaval separating from each other, I got a notice that Goodreads will no longer connect with your Facebook account. First the change of Later for Instagram scheduling, the disconnection from Twitter (BIG BLACK X) and the push to sign up for paid accounts, then the change in Canva with an eye on providing all that scheduling if only you’ll go “Pro.” Soon the privilege of sneezing will require a paid account or risk the redoubling of the work and effort to continue a simple blog. Any change at my age is difficult, but change that comes with increased expense, more so. How are you coping? Signed up for paid accounts formerly free?

As always, welcome to my new subscribers! And I never stop appreciating those who read and comment.

Goodbye October

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Teachers’ pick

Book Blurb:

A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes the story behind the picture is worth a thousand more.

2 CHILDREN FOR SALE.

In 1931, near Philadelphia, ambitious reporter Ellis Reed photographs the gut-wrenching sign posted beside a pair of siblings on a farmhouse porch. With the help of newspaper secretary Lily Palmer, Ellis writes an article to accompany the photo. Capturing the hardships of American families during the Great Depression, the feature story generates national attention and Ellis’s career skyrockets.

But the piece also leads to consequences more devastating than he and Lily ever imagined – and it will risk everything they value to unravel the mystery and set things right.

Inspired by a newspaper photo that stunned readers throughout the country, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of ambition, redemption, love, and family.

My Review:

Okay, if you want to cry foul, I’ll understand. It’s not fair to come in third or fourth on the same theme and be discounted because it’s become so familiar. I get it.

And really, when the CE read The Ways We Hide last year, he loved the writing style and the storyline (historical fiction but not this premise).

The narrative begins with a sign that journalist Ellis Reed comes across in his search for a story. He takes a picture of two children on a porch with a for sale next to them. Then he doesn’t think too much more about it until Lillian Palmer working for the same newspaper sees the photo and it grabs her. She has a four-year-old herself, and single and struggling, can identify the heartbreak that must have ensued with the decision.

Lillian shows the picture to their editor who feels it could be built into a good topical story—it’s 1931 after all—and everyone can speak to the desperation the Great Depression has spawned. The problem is, the photo is destroyed. It’s the quest for getting another shot of the kids that starts the whole ball rolling with the discovery that the kids are gone. Sold?

I was listening to the audiobook. The plot was familiar and the pace was slowed somewhat by the relationship between Ellis and Lillian. While they pursued the whereabouts of the children, they made a few gut-wrenching discoveries, something all too true at the time. (Guess I could identify just a little here as my own mother was taken to an orphanage when my grandparents found themselves unable to care for two young girls. My mother’s experience was one that left her a bit embittered the rest of her life.)

I confess there were times when I felt more of an emotional connection than others regarding the children, but never really did fully engage with either the male or female MCs. As usual, I felt the romance in some part let down the main thrust of the story. Who were the kids? What happened to their mother? Where did the kids go? Not so young they didn’t remember their circumstances—how are they coping?

The author does paint a circumspect picture of life during those depression years. There were some interesting support characters and for the most part a good ebb and flow of tempo. The conclusion pulled most strings together and provided a happy resolution for the budding couple.

This novel was a book club choice for the quarter. I didn’t tie it to the review the CE wrote last year at first, although it was apparent from the blurb that it would mirror Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours and Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds both of which I loved.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library for the club read. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mysteries, Family Life Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1492663999
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1492663997
ASIN: B07GL3G1DX
Listening Length: 9 hrs 48 mins
Narrator: Brian Hutchison
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Sold on a Monday [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: KRISTINA MCMORRIS is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of two novellas and six historical novels, including the million-copy bestseller SOLD ON A MONDAY. The recipient of more than twenty national literary awards, she previously hosted weekly TV shows for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program, and owned a wedding-and-event-planning company until she had far surpassed her limit of “Y.M.C.A.” and chicken dances. Kristina lives near Portland, Oregon, where she somehow manages to be fully deficient of a green thumb and not own a single umbrella. For more, visit KristinaMcMorris.com.