Nancy Bush - Hush

87. Hush by Nancy Bush (2011)
Length: 426 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 12 September 2014
Finished: 15 September 2014
Where did it come from? From my mailman's wife who was getting rid of some books.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 7 September 2014
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Nancy Bush is a new author for me.  

In the summer before their senior year, Coby Rendell and her classmates take a beach trip together. While this group were technically friends, they didn't necessarily consider themselves the best of friends; the teenagers' fathers had all been friends since high school, and were always hopeful that their children would have equally strong friendships with each other. So it was that around a campfire one foggy June night, Coby, Rhiannon, Yvette and the others find themselves sharing their darkest secrets; just before a tragic accident shatters the bond between them...

Twelve years later Coby attends a birthday party reunion that ends in horror when Yvette's sister's lifeless body is found in the hot tub. Soon other tale-tellers from that original group meet with similar fates - unfortunate 'accidents' that are shrinking their number one by one. Someone seems to be taking the saying: "Cross your heart and hope to die," dead seriously...

Increasingly conflicted by her growing feelings for the investigating detective, Danner Lockwood, Coby races to unravel a mystery buried deep in the past. But someone is watching her every move - someone who is prepared to kill again and again to protect a shocking truth...

This was the first book by Nancy Bush that I've ever read. Actually, I'm not quite sure how to grade this book, overall. It was certainly very well-written, I just found that there were so many characters that I had trouble keeping all the names straight. 

I thought that the mystery was incredibly convoluted and I had some difficulty getting into the flow of the story. The book was enjoyable in parts, but I had certain niggling issues about the plot that never completely resolved themselves in my mind. I may read another book by this author in the future, but I give Hush by Nancy Bush a B+! I'd be curious to see how others who have read this book found it - did you enjoy the story, or did it not quite live up to your expectations?

B+! - (89-85%)
             
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Debbie Macomber - Twenty Wishes

86. Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber (2008)
The Blossom Street Series Book 5
Length: 360 pages
Started: 10 September 2014
Finished: 12 September 2014
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 21 November 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Anne Marie Roche wants to have some joy in her life. At the age of thirty-eight, she is living the sort of life that she never expected nor intended for herself - she's childless, a recent widow, and alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle's Blossom Street, but despite her numerous accomplishments, there's still an inescapable feeling of emptiness...Anne Marie is terribly lonely and desperately unhappy.

On Valentine's Day, she and several other widows get together to celebrate...what exactly? Hope, new possibilities, the future? Maybe...But what would you want most in the world? The ladies each begin to write a list of twenty wishes for themselves, things they always wanted to do but never did.

Anne Marie's list starts with: 'Find one good thing about life'. This includes learning how to knit, doing something good for someone else, falling in love again. So, she begins to act on her wishes. When she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. Their relationship becomes far more involved and time-consuming than Anne Marie had originally intended. It also becomes far more important to her than she ever could have imagined. 

As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true - just not necessarily in the way you might expect.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found it to be a true feel-good story; comforting and emotionally satisfying for me. Kind of like a warm and cozy bubble bath for the senses. I would give Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber an A+! She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

A+! - (96-100%)
    
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Douglas Kennedy - The Big Picture

85. The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy (1997)
Length: 374 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 7 September 2014
Finished: 10 September 2014
Where did it come from? From my mailman's wife who was getting rid of some books.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 7 September 2014
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Douglas Kennedy is a new author for me.

Ben Bradford is a successful Wall Street lawyer living a comfortable life: living in the affluent suburbs of Connecticut; married to a beautiful woman named Beth, father to two healthy, handsome little boys, with a partnership in a prestigious law firm. His life certainly seems enviable, but scratch the surface of Ben Bradford's ostensibly perfect life, and you'd find a deeply unhappy man - teetering on the precipice of a mid-life crisis. His job is an absolute snore; he'd much rather be at home, in his private darkroom, pursuing his true passion of photography. In fact, Ben is completely worn down by living the corporate daily grind, and Beth seems like she simply doesn't like him anymore.

Heartbroken by the sudden revelation that Beth is having an affair with the next door neighbor, Ben begins to panic. Desperate to keep his crumbling marriage together, he tries everything he can think of to reconcile with his wife. However, all his efforts at reconciliation are rebuffed; Beth wants a divorce. When an unexpected confrontation with his wife's lover suddenly turns ugly, a split second is all it takes to change Ben's life forever, leaving him with only one way out of his predicament. But if he takes it, there will be no turning back...

While this is the first book that I've ever read by Douglas Kennedy, I do have one more of his books sitting on my bookshelf. I absolutely loved The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy - it was well-written, edgy and dramatic - in my opinion, just an overall thrilling story. I give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)   

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Literary Suprises on a Sunday

Hello Everyone! How are you on this fine Sunday? I'm doing just fine. :)

Perhaps one and a half to two years ago, our mailman had mentioned in passing that his wife had a whole box of books that she was getting rid of, and would I be interested in reading them (he noticed that we get a lot of books through the mail! LOL! :)) Anyway, Mareena and I returned home from being out this afternoon, and we were met with a giant plastic bin and a plastic bag full of books on our doorstep! :)

There are probably between 60-70 books all together. We actually just did a cursory examination later on this evening and so far there's 67 books in this package of books! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Alma Katsu - The Taker

84. The Taker by Alma Katsu (2011)
The Taker Trilogy Book 1
Length: 440 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 2 September 2014
Finished: 7 September 2014
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 June 2013
Why do I have it? I like horror and Alma Katsu is a new author for me.

In the tiny town of St. Andrew, Maine, on a freezing wintry night, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting a quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute - just your typical midnight shift at Aroostook County Hospital. That's until Lanore McIlvrae - Lanny - walks into his Emergency Room, and completely changes his life forever. Lanny is unlike any woman Luke has ever met - a mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets. He is inexplicably drawn to her, sure that they have met somewhere before...despite the fact that she is a murder suspect and currently in police custody; under armed escort. 

A stranger and apparently new to town, Lanny is accused of a bizarre crime: allegedly killing a man and leaving his body in the Great North Woods. Lanny insists that while she committed the killing, the man had wanted to die. Always a practical man - a man of science - Dr. Luke Findley witnesses something which he can't explain - a miraculous impossibility that confounds him, and leaves him enthralled by this woman, whose very existence defies all reason. And so, as Lanny begins to tell her story - a tale of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke Findley finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, at the time that it was a Puritan settlement. As a child, Lanny finds the love of her life in Jonathan St. Andrew, the privileged son of the town's founder. She promises herself that she will do absolutely anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is too steep - an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. Now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and salvation lies in the hands of Dr. Luke Findley.

I must say that Mareena actually chose this book for me at the Library Book Sale that we went to in June of last year. While I would technically classify this book as horror, in my opinion, the story actually wasn't all that horrific - creepy or eerie perhaps, but not scary. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have chosen this book to read for myself - as this is not my usual choice in horror - although I still thought it was very well written and an interesting story nevertheless. 

I was certainly fascinated by this particular story; some aspects of the plot which seemed utterly implausible to me, actually made perfect sense within the story. In my opinion, The Taker by Alma Katsu was just the slightest bit too long, although I still enjoyed it very much. I give this book an A! 

A! - (90-95%)
 
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Joan Rivers and Richard Meryman - Still Talking

Reread. Still Talking by Joan Rivers and Richard Meryman (1991)
Length: 285 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Originally Read: 7 October 2010
Reread Finished: 2 September 2014
Where did it come from? Originally from a Library Book Sale, then from my "keeper" shelf.

I first read this book from October 1st, to October 7th, 2010 and decided to refresh my memory about Joan Rivers' life after hearing that she was so ill in hospital. The reread took me three days - from August 31st, to September 2nd, 2014.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For August 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 August with 944 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 931 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch, Paperback Swap, a Library Book Sale that Mareena and I went to on the 16th and friends.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Rereads
- Guilt by Association by Susan R. Sloan

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- The Diary by Eileen Goudge
- Kiss and Kill by Karen Young
- Sandcastles by Luanne Rice
- Sleeping Tiger by Rosamunde Pilcher
- Prized Possessions by Avery Corman
- Behind Closed Doors by Susan R. Sloan
- A Nice Place to Live by Robert C. Sloane 
- The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine 
- A Perfect Divorce by Avery Corman  
- Blood Beast by Don D'Ammassa 
- The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman
- Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- Domestic Affairs: A Novel  by Eileen Goudge
- Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge
- Blessings by Anna Quindlen
- Blood in the Water: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith
- Bloody Irish: Celtic Vampire Legends by Bob Curran
- Breaking the Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford
- Cold Justice by Jonnie Jacobs
- The Collection by Bentley Little
- The Country Diary Book of Crafts by Annette Mitchell
- Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris by David King
- Do no Harm by Don Donaldson
- The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver
- The Evidence Against Her by Robb Forman Dew
- Fly Away Home by Judith Kelman
- Forces of Change: A New View of Nature by Daniel Botkin
- Forever by Pete Hamill
- Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway
- Ghost Light: A Novel by Joseph O'Connor
- A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber
- Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
- Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
- House of the Hanged by Mark Mills
- The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
- I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
- The Jewels of Tessa Kent by Judith Krantz
- Kill Her Again by Robert Gregory Browne
- The Law of Similars by Chris Bohjalian
- Mister X by John Lutz
- The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan
- The Newgate Jig by Ann Featherstone
- No Naughty Cats by by Debra Pirotin and Sherry Cohen
- Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons
- One Ball Knits Purses: 20 Stylish Handbags Made with a Single Ball, Skein, Hank or Spool by Fatema Habibur-Rahman, Khadija Habibur-Rahman and Hajera Habibur-Rahman
- Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller
- The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult
- The Perfect Wife by Shari MacDonald
- The PMS Outlaws by Sharyn McCrumb
- The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty
- Return to Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
- The Second Silence by Eileen Goudge
- Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
- Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer
- Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult
- Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
- Suddenly by Barbara Delinsky
- Taboo by Casey Hill
- Then Came Heaven by LaVyrle Spencer
- There But For the Grace of God: Survivors of the 20th Century's Infamous Serial Killers by Fred Rosen
- Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason
- Twilight Whispers by Barbara Delinsky
- What Happened to Sophie Wilder by Christopher Beha
- Where the River Ends by Charles Martin
- Philomena: A Mother, Her Son and a Fifty-Year Search by Martin Sixsmith  
- 100 Years, 100 Crosswords: Celebrating the Crossword's Centennial by Peter Gordon
- The Queen's Fool: A Novel by Philippa Gregory

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))  
- A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias
- The Hanging Tree: A Novella by Michael Phillip Cash
- Time Bomb by Jonathan Kellerman
- My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel by Robin Oliveira
- Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge
- The Bad Place by Dean R. Koontz
- When the Wind Blows by John Saul
- Hunter's Blood by Jere Cunningham
- Sliver by Ira Levin
- Into Thin Air by Stan Washburn
- An Isolated Incident by Susan R. Sloan
- The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
- Kiss and Kill by Karen Young
- Watcher in the Dark by Beverly Hastings
- A Patchwork Planet: A Novel by Anne Tyler
- Victims by Jonathan Kellerman
- Nell by Nancy Thayer
- Class Reunion by Rona Jaffe
- Just Ask the Universe: A No-Nonsense Guide to Manifesting your Dreams by Michael Samuels
- Family Pictures by Sue Miller
 
Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 13
Pages Read: 4,514
Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was August. 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