August's Book of the Month

 

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories... 

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. August's Book of the Month is:

Love in Bloom: A Novel by Sheila Roberts

  Published as: Love in Bloom in March 2009

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Birth Name: Sheila Rabe Roberts

Born: 1942 in Washington

Canonical Name: Sheila Roberts
Pseudonyms: Sheila Rabe

Love in Bloom: A Novel by Sheila Roberts was the fifty-third book that I read in 2015. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since June 1, 2015 and it took me four days to read. I sent this book off to another good home on November 23, 2015.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sheila Roberts - Love in Bloom: A Novel

53. Love in Bloom: A Novel by Sheila Roberts (2009)

The Heart Lake Series Book 2

Length: 320 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Started: 26 August 2015

Finished: 30 August 2015

Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 June 2015

Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Sheila Roberts is a new author for me.

It all begins with an advertisement in the Heart Lake Herald. Hope Walker is definitely a fighter; a survivor who has always met the various adversities of life with a sunny disposition and a smile. She had survived breast cancer at just thirty years old, yet a mastectomy had left her with a lot of physical scarring, and a seriously battered self esteem. After all she has been through, Hope is perhaps understandably, fearful of dating.

She owns Heart Lake's most popular flower shop - 'Changing Seasons Floral' - and is renowned for her charming flower arrangements. Yes, when it comes to love and relationships, Hope is able to work a special type of magic through her expert flower arranging...for everyone else except herself. Then one day a handsome contractor starts coming into her shop - he's good-looking, charming, funny, even slightly flirty. In fact, he seems inordinately interested in flower arrangements, but Hope knows he'd rather have a whole woman than someone like her.

When Hope stakes a plot of ground in Heart Lake's community garden, she finds out that a woman can grow all sorts of things there: flowers, herbs, vegetables, and even friendship. As Hope gets to know the two women - Millie Baldwin and Amber Howell - who share the neighboring plots, all three women discover that they can learn a lot from one another. Their friendship may have started out swapping gardening tips, but it quickly blossoms into a strong and lasting bond - not just about gardening but also about life. And Hope realizes that in order to order to truly live life to the fullest, sometimes you have to take a chance on love.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I don't usually read romance novels, but this book was a different case, in my opinion. Yes, there was light romance, but the story also had a well-developed and intriguing plot to go with the romance. I was caught up in the story right away, and found it to be fairly easy reading for me - not too complicated or intricate. I would give this book an A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Belated Birthday Celebrations and Surprise Puzzles!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, since at least Sunday morning, August 23rd, I've been having some horrible health issues - nothing serious enough to go into hospital for, I suppose, but definitely serious enough to knock me out of commission for a while. One diabetic episode, a twenty-four hour (or is it forty-eight hour?) stomach flu, arthritic flare ups in my hands and knees, and painful cricks in my neck and back. Granted, each illness doesn't last all that long, but it just seems that they have hit me all at once - one after the other.

As regards my current jigsaw puzzle, I started doing the early twentieth-century puzzle with the picture of the horse-drawn carriages and vintage-style automobiles on Tuesday night, August 18th. Actually, I just finished that puzzle this morning and am hoping to start doing the panoramic puzzle of the lighthouse looking out over a stormy sea next. At 750 pieces, this puzzle does look rather daunting, but I have actually done it several years ago. So, it's not too difficult!

As for my reading, I finally finished reading The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young on Wednesday morning, August 26th! Despite my making it sound like I didn't particularly enjoy reading this book; I actually did. The only thing that perhaps was a problem for me - and this was entirely a personal preference - it just seemed to me like the book was a rather long and involved story. Very, very intricate!

By Wednesday afternoon, August 26th, I had started Love in Bloom: A Novel by Sheila Roberts. I'm still not quite sure how far into the story I am - perhaps a third or halfway through - but compared to The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young, this book is such an easier read for me. Granted, I don't usually enjoy reading romances all that much, but I'm finding Love in Bloom: A Novel by Sheila Roberts to be so different.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

William P. Young - The Shack: A Novel

52. The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young (2007)
Length: 248 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 9 August 2015
Finished: 26 August 2015
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 9 April 2014
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and William P. Young is a new author for me.

Mackenzie Allen Phillips had never considered himself a particularly religious man; he was always fairly content to leave the life of prayers and heavenly praise to his wife of almost thirty-five years - Nanette. Mackenzie - known as Allen to acquaintances, and Mack to family and close friends - had endured a difficult and painful childhood. Living with an abusive, alcoholic and tyrannical father had forced him to mature quickly, and he had become estranged from the rest of his family at age thirteen. Mack had reconciled with his family as an adult, but his relationships with his mother and sisters were never the same as before.

Mack and Nan themselves had lived a relatively trouble-free life together: Thirty-three mostly happy years of marriage, and five unusually beautiful, yet terrific children. Secretly, Mack had always considered that Nan had paid a high price for loving him; however, he cherished his wife and family immeasurably. Their love was what sustained him and gave him the greatest joy in his life.

Then, tragedy strikes. The Phillips' youngest daughter, Missy, is abducted during a family vacation to the Oregon wilderness. After a desperate and exhaustive search, evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in a ramshackled, abandoned shack. However, the child's body is never found. The entire family is sent into an unending maelstrom of grief and despair that threatens to overwhelm them completely.

Four years after Missy's disappearance, Mack is still trapped in the period of what he terms his 'Great Sadness'. He is utterly heartbroken and benumbed by the loss of his daughter, still unable to fully grasp the enormity of what has happened to himself and his entire family. This is when the most mysterious event occurs: Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that infamous shack to spend the weekend. Mack is alternately stunned and enraged by what he clearly reads as irrefutable evidence of someone's demented sense of humor.

However, on a bitterly cold wintry afternoon Mack decides to return to the place where his family was so irrevocably changed. Against his better judgement, he will come back to the same shack that holds such tragic memories for him; deliberately stepping back into his worst nightmare. What he finds there - in the place of his darkest torment - will ultimately change Mack's world forever.

In my opinion, this was a remarkable book to read. It was very well-written and thought-provoking; and I avidly wanted to find out what would happen to Mack and his family. I can certainly understand why this book became so popular with so many readers. However, while I did enjoy reading this book very much, I'm not exactly sure if it was my cup of tea. I would still give this book a definite A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

The Best Laid Plans of Birthdays and Books...

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, the plans that Mareena and I decided on to celebrate my birthday have unfortunately been put on hold for a while. The plan of watching a movie and having a special dinner together is still a go, but my health doesn't seem to want to cooperate with us. I've suffered from Type 2 Diabetes for several years now and have kept my blood sugar levels in check most of that time.

Yet, on Sunday, August 23rd - the day after my birthday - Mareena and I were on our way to the radio station, and I was feeling slightly wobbly. I just put it down to rushing out the door and the stress of getting to the station. Well, I was so wrong: by the time we got to where we needed to go, I began to realize that I was going into a full-fledged diabetic episode! :( Hoo Boy, not good at all!

Thank goodness that my friend Pamela was there! Actually, she is our downstairs tenant and always drives us to wherever we need to go. She's also a volunteer firefighter and a retired EMT. Anyway, she helped to get us both situated, and then she rushed out to Dunkin' Doughnuts to buy me a doughnut and a bottle of orange juice. After I got my sugars topped up again I started feeling so much better.

As regards my current jigsaw puzzle, I started doing the early twentieth-century puzzle with the picture of the horse-drawn carriages and vintage-style automobiles on Tuesday night, August 18th. I think I'm almost finished with this particular puzzle, but I've noticed that it is missing about ten pieces. I suppose that means I'm going to have to go through my collection of missing jigsaw puzzle pieces. They're all kept together in a plastic bag, and every so often I'll go through the bag to see if I have certain pieces that belong with a jigsaw puzzle that is missing some pieces.

As for my reading, I'm fifteen days into this book, The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that it's taking me this long to finish a book. The story is only 248 pages long, but is also rather complex, so it doesn't really lend itself to a "speed reading session" I suppose. Yet, I just don't think that I have ever spent quite this long reading a book that is less than three hundred pages.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Horse-Drawn Carriages and Public Houses Win the Day!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, as tomorrow marks a significant birthday for me, Mareena and I have been discussing what I want to do to celebrate. I'm not quite sure what I want to do just yet, but I know that I want it to pass relatively quietly. So, no huge surprise birthday parties for me, thank you! :)

I'm thinking about watching a movie with Mareena and perhaps having a special dinner together as well. That sounds like a relaxing day spent just the way I want it. Perfect! :)

Well, on Tuesday night, August 18th, I started doing the early twentieth-century puzzle with the picture of the horse-drawn carriages and vintage-style automobiles. So far, this is actually a fairly tricky puzzle to try and do - it's very colorful and there's a lot going on in the picture! I foresee spending quite some time finishing this puzzle.

As for my reading, I'm twelve days into this book, The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young. I'm still enjoying the book very much, but have to say that the story is not quite turning out the way I was expecting. I can't even put my finger on what is bothering me about the storyline, but there is something that seems slightly off about it.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Turn of the Century Puzzles Seem to be my Thing These Days!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, I'm just about finishing up the puzzle of the Victorian-era girl sleeping with a kitten on her bed. Doing this puzzle actually seems slightly easier then the last time I did it. Not that much easier I'll admit, but maybe a tiny fraction easier. I think I have my eye on four different jigsaw puzzles to try after this one.

There's the 1000-piece puzzle of an early twentieth-century city or townscape; I can't really tell if it's supposed to be a town in the old West or not - since there is a bar or public house in the picture, but it doesn't really look like a saloon. There are horse-drawn carriages and vintage-style automobiles, and people who are dressed in clothing styles from the 1900s. I have a panoramic puzzle that is 750 pieces. This one is of a lighthouse overlooking a stormy sea.

I also have a 500-piece puzzle of a piano recital. Again, the picture seems to be Victorian-era or at least early twentieth-century. I also have a jigsaw puzzle with a variety of hot-air balloons; I think it might be a picture of a race or something, I'm not sure. Decisions, decisions, Decisions!

As for my reading, I'm nine days into this book, The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young. I'm always afraid that a book that starts out so well, will inevitably slide off the rails at some point. That isn't quite the situation with this book, but I am beginning to have a bit of a problem getting through the story. I'm just really having to concentrate on my reading.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I'm Slowly Wading Back Into the Jigsaw Puzzle Pile!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I've mostly been sticking to doing various crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and word jumbles - basically any style of math and language puzzles. I have several jumbo-sized books of variety puzzles to keep myself busy for months on end, actually. I'm starting to feel the desire to do jigsaw puzzles come back again, but I think that I will handle it exactly like I do whenever I emerge from a reading slump - redo an old favorite jigsaw puzzle. I have to say that the Victorian style puzzle of the sleeping little girl with the kitten lying beside her in bed is the jigsaw puzzle that seems to be calling me the most.

As for my reading, I'm six days into this book, The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young. I can honestly say that the story is poignant and stirring; and seems to have started off rather brilliantly. I will also say though, that while this story is still an intriguing one, I'm finding it slightly heavy reading for me. I'm not quite sure if this is due to the author's writing style or my slowish reading pace, but this is definitely not a story that I would classify as light reading fare.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Adding Sudoku to my Repertoire of Puzzles!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I haven't been doing any jigsaw puzzles for several days, ever since I stopped doing that one puzzle on Wednesday, July 29th! Actually, I had started this particular puzzle on Saturday afternoon, July 25th and two days later was starting to wonder if I should put it aside for a while. I had promised myself that if I hadn't finished a substantial portion of this particular puzzle by Wednesday afternoon, July 29th, I would put it away for a while. And that's exactly what ended up happening.

As for my reading, I finished reading On the Ropes: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery by Tom Schreck on Saturday, August 8th and immediately started reading The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young the next day - Sunday, August 9th! Three days into this book, I can truly say that the story is poignant and stirring; and seems to be starting off rather brilliantly. I just hope that it continues to be so good.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Tom Schreck - On the Ropes: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery

51. On the Ropes: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery by Tom Schreck (2007)
The Duffy Dombrowski Mysteries Series Book 1
Length: 326 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 30 July 2015
Finished: 8 August 2015
Where did it come from? My friend Pamela gave it to me as a gift.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 18 July 2015
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Tom Schreck is a new author for me.

Duffy Dombrowski - a tough-talking, no-nonsense social worker from a small town in upstate New York - may not suffer fools kindly, but he also isn't your typical sort of caseworker. When he isn't counseling chronic sex addicts and frequent drug users, people can usually find him crooning Elvis tunes, getting 'bombed' with his friends, or challenging ex-Olympians in the boxing ring. Actually, for a man who absolutely dreads doing any type of paperwork, Duffy lives for his extracurricular activities - particularly his time spent in the ring as a part-time professional boxer. As a matter of fact, those extracurricular activities tend to get in the way of his career more often than not.

When a schizophrenic, crack-addicted prostitute named Walanda comes to Duffy and asks him for help, he can hardly deny her. He solemnly pledges to take care of her basset hound, Allah-King, and to find her missing stepdaughter, Shondeneisha. While Duffy isn't quite sure how much of Walanda's fantastic story to actually believe: that she believes her stepdaughter Shony has been kidnapped, and that someone actually wants Walanda herself dead; he can certainly recognize a troubled mind when he sees one, so is determined to help ease her worries if he possibly can.

However, when Walanda's prediction tragically comes true and she is murdered, Duffy begins to believe that she may have been telling the truth about other things as well. In order to assuage his own guilt about doubting Walanda's story, Duffy promises himself that he will find Shondeneisha as soon as possible. But how can a not-so-social social worker who moonlights as an underdog boxer possibly hope to save the girl and solve a murder with only the help of a semi-housebroken, fully disobedient basset hound and four drunk friends at his disposal?

I have to say right from the beginning that I probably wouldn't have chosen to read this book for myself, considering that I've never been all that interested in learning the particulars of the sport of boxing. Yet, I will also say that this book was still surprisingly good, in my opinion. There was a thread of sarcastic humor running throughout the story which I enjoyed, and the mystery was very intricate and intriguing to me. While this is perhaps not the typical kind of mystery that I usually read, it was still a very interesting mystery to read for its genre; I would give this book a definite B+!

B+! - (85-89%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Guess I'll Stick to Doing Crosswords and Word Jumbles For a While!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, for the first time in my jigsaw puzzling (!) history, I haven't finished a puzzle. Yes, I said 'jigsaw puzzling' history! It's a new term, I just coined it. You're welcome, folks! lol!!! ;)

As for my reading, I've been trying to decide for some time what I was going to read next. My friend Pamela happened to buy me a gift back in July, and she just gave it to me fairly recently. I'm delighted that she gave me a contemporary mystery, but I'm curious to find out why she thought boxing would be an interesting theme for me.

Anyway, I started reading On the Ropes: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery by Tom Schreck on Thursday, July 30th and so far, I'm finding the book to be surprisingly good. Granted, I probably wouldn't have chosen this particular book to read for myself - but then it's always good for me to stretch my literary horizons. LOL!!! ;)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For July at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out July with 1,054 books lying around the house and ended the month with 1,047 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch, Paperback Swap and a friend.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Other Worlds by Barbara Michaels
- The Secret Keeper: A Novel by Kate Morton
- The Art of Mending: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg
- The Dead Hour: A Novel by Denise Mina
- Timepiece by Richard Paul Evans
- Eye Contact: A Novel by Cammie McGovern
- Breathing Lessons: A Novel by Anne Tyler

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- Land of Echoes by Daniel Hecht
- Good Girls Gone Bad by Jillian Medoff
- On the Ropes: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery by Tom Schreck
- Deadly American Beauty: A True Story of Passion, Adultery and Murder by John Glatt

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- The Christmas Promise: A Novel by Donna VanLiere
- The Secret Keeper: A Novel by Kate Morton
- The Bridges of Madison County: A Novel by Robert James Waller
- The Art of Mending: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg
- A Song For the Asking by Steve Gannon
- Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers by Joseph P. Lash
- Phoenix by Amos Aricha and Eli Landau
- Guilt by Association by Susan Sloan
- The Human Factor by Graham Greene
- The Dead Hour: A Novel by Denise Mina
- Twice Kissed by Lisa Jackson
- Rose Madder by Stephen King

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 7
Pages Read: 2,132
Grade Range: A+! to A!

So, there you go! The reading month that was July. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight