Books read Aug 31

Summer Days by 4 authors: Elizabeth Bass, Mary Carter, Holly Chaberlin and Lisa Jackson
Knew this would be a good read because of the 4 authors who contribute a short 100 page story. All seem to be based on the same theme.
Man and woman break up to only find later in life their paths meet again and they reunite after hashing over the days gone by.
Love the places each of the stories takes us to: Peru, Maine, NH Beach, and
and the different careers each has that we can learn from.
Last book His Bride to Be is when Hale who runs a company has a position open and he wants to hire a woman to be his bride to be on a cruise up the western coast. The man he's trying to impress wants his daughter married and Hale wants no part of that...
Money goes a long way when you have none....Lot of misunderstandings and you wonder if the wrongs can be righted....
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review

The Photographer's Apprentice by Dan Eitraim
Started out reading this book out loud to my spouse as he used the elliptical machine at home. He is into photography but I'm learning so much more by the books I'm reading about them, out loud.
This one starts out in the 1860's and Jake and his father have been released from the prison and travel homeward to Ohio but the ship wrecks and catches on fire. Seth is lost or dead and Jake is saved by a photographer.
Veronica, a widow, takes care of him and brings him back to life and offers him a job as her apprentice. He picks up the routine as he's only a young man and is fascinated by what takes place when she travels to a new town, sets up a place to take others portraits and makes a living.
Love learning all the technical things about how the pictures are taken, back in the 1800's.
They must go into hiding. The story then follows many groups of people during the same time as events occur. Some are in hiding, some are hiding others, some are hunting...
Love extras at the end of the book.

Does This Taste Funny? A Half-Baked Look at Food and Foodies
Funny, at times hilarious look at a guy and how he cooks, improvising the tools and ingredients.
Starts out when he first cooked at college and went from there.
Lot of disasters along the way but edible food was the outcome in most cases. Few pictures of the calamities and new inventions.
My favorite story is when he uses the girlfriends chocolate to make a pie!

Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and the Loose Change Collection Agency: An Illustrated Children's Picture Book for Ages 2-10
Robert wakes up and finds he's lost the remote control for the TV. In his haste to reach for it, he knocks over the lamp and it breaks. He gets down to find the control and discovers a magical creature there that will take him to another place and time.
Drawings of the scenes as they occur and kinda on the scary side for a child. Adults will find the story funny as it's about missing coins and missing socks...

Tommy Goes Trick-or-Treating (Bird Brain Books Book 4)
Children's colorful story about Tommy who is a bird and how he observes the humans in the neighborhood as they go out for trick or treating on Halloween.
He is able to talk to other animals and finds out it is a special night. from the humans just being ordinary girls and boys.
They find out the codeword to get candy and then realize they have to wear a costume.
They have a plan and get tons of candy then eat it. all of it.....
Bonuses at the end of the book and the author's other works are highlighted.

Hawks' Rest a season in the remote heart of Yellowstone by Gary Fergerson
Love hearing of the collection of tips when hiking in the park. Also the timeline of how the wolves were introduced back into the parks and why some are against, and some are for this action.
Love discussions of salting and other practices. Indian legends are a favorite also.
Beautiful nature descriptions.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Rick has woken up from his injury on the football field and has no recollection as to why he was even in the game. He had been in many football teams and didn't even register the latest one.
Only 28 and he's told to retire....he is about to be served for paternity suit, his investments are failing and he's made bad choices...
He runs away to Italy where they play mostly for the love of the game and the pizza after the game as the big prize...
Love hearing of everything that happens, being an American on foreign soil. So much detail in the descriptions.

Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
Wanted to read this book when a book I loved written by DJ Wilson was compared to the female counterpart of this author.
Starts out with Anatashia and she has to step in for the editor and get an interview with Grey who runs a huge company.
Christian Grey is under 30 and has fascinated her. She knows nothing of him but has the interview questions to ask him.
He runs a teleco company and is in charge of many people and loves the power. Chapters alternate between the two of them.
The agreement has many rules and she must obey them. I found this to be a bit over the top, it's just not normal to me, being whipped, tied up etc.
Grey has an erotic taste and a dark background full of demons. Hard to follow at times as I'm listening to a book on tape. not sure when it's a thought or if it was spoken out loud.
Like the back story more as it's about her working in the publishing field.  Surprised at the ending as it goes into the next book.

.Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
This picks up where the first book in the series ends. They have broken up and he still wants her and she needs to think more about it.
She has started a new job...and they get together to travel to her friends art show in Oregon. She has a fear of being punished and he has a fear of not being loved.
We learn more of their darker hidden secrets over time. Erotic sex scenes and most of them are not my cup of tea. Just don't get the beatings, whippings and hitting.
Lot of mysteries that also come to light, stalkers, etc. Sex scenes are quite intense and 99.9% are nothing I'd even want to do-just not into torture and pain. Their pasts are coming to the forefront as we learn more about them.

Fifty Shades Freed by EL James
Love the travel and other surprises as they leave on their honeymoon.
Lots more exotic sex scenes.  Turmoil and stalkers as they arrive back in the states...
She learns more things when she tries to help out...and so many that want them dead, or is it just him they want gone, or just her....
More stalkings and medical family tragedies among other drama....lots of fast paced action scenes.