There was a cold lady who swallowed some snow by Lucille Colander
Love this kids book especially for those who do not get a lot of snow. It starts out with a woman who swallows some snow and then other items.
I only listened to the story, I had no pictures in front of me. Sounds like a great story and questions you can ask the child before things happen on next pages asking what the child knows by looking at the picture.
Love the elements, snow, pipe, coal, hat and a stick and a scarf. Love all the rhyming words as well, makes this a silly story for any child. You do find out at the end why she did what she did....
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Trains and Lovers by Alexander Smith
Various stories from people who share the train and their life experiences.
Loved the travel each had described and loved the jobs of a few of them: fisherman who lost his oar and the one who had picked up the steam train in a art setting where trains had not even been invented when the painting had been finished.
I have done both things and felt a bond. Didn't care much for the travel to and in Australia, just no bond for me there, seems like such a foreign country with the culture.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Why Mars and Venus collide: improving relationships by understanding how men and women cope differently with stress by john gray
Love the series and know I will gain a lot of knowledge from this one even if some of the problems don't relate to me directly.
Lot of technical information about the parts of the brain and in each how they effect us.
So much hormone discussions and how to achieve the highest level possible and what actions you can take to help yourself and your spouse.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Blind Spot by Robert Parker/ Reed Coleman
Love this series and I can just picture this as a movie being played by Tom Selleck as Jessie Stone.
This one involves a woman who was killed at one of the mansions and we are given clues to try to figure out who really killed her.
There is another story during this where an old friend shows sexual interest in Jesse and she has ulterior motives to gain information from him for someone.
Love the twists and turns.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray
Love the series of books as I find some parts of it directly relate to what I'm going through or have recently solved on my own.
My problems are put into his words with solutions that will work for everybody.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Four Friends by Robyn Carr
This is the story of 4 friends who live near one another and have for years as their lives have progressed through various stages of love and relationships.
The past events have come to light for some that lead them to upheaval.
Like especially the friendship of the woman who run every day, their lives as they do all they can for their families. Teens dealing with drugs, drinking and their parents breakups along with date rape that brings the parents together to deal with it.
Follows the spouses side to the stories as well as you get a well rounded opinion and can select a side to stick with.
Liked the confrontations and how they were handled.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Against the Tide, the fate of the New England fisherman by Richard Adams Carey
Love hearing how the fisher people survive. Risky and arduous work and the reasons why the industry is declining.
This is about a story where the man is followed as he goes from company to yet another over the years, each a different fish industry.
Love learning how the trades are done. Politicians and rules and regulations come to light to help me understand what happened to the downfall of the industry.
Especially like the stats that bring it all together.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Fruitcake weather and a nice warm memory of why it's made and with who.
His cousin Mrs. Falk is remembered fondly. Detailed descriptions of the scenes as they are brought into the picture.
I can just imagine the smells as the baking starts. He's only 7 and she's in the 60's.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
After her husband dies she struggles on to make her three daughters strong and keep them together as a singing group.
Each want the fame and fortune and deals are talked about but they'd leave some of the group out of the loop.
The past catches up with them as time goes on and their careers are on different paths.
Lots of twists and turns as things are revealed from the past. Easy to keep the characters straight. good read.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Story starts out with the pearls and they have been examined and the results are told to Catherine, the Mona Lisa of Wall Street and her sister Monty, the rockstar have lost their father and pearls have magically shown up under their pillows.
Love the clues of the pearls themselves....they hire a PI to find out why their father killed himself.
The story then goes back to when James, their father was alive and his wife would rarely spend time together, but he was heavily involved in the girls education, even when Monty got caught smoking.
Liked antics of the girls while attending boarding school with nuns teaching them...
Gets a bit confusing at times as the story follows the older days of the father growing up and the kids in their lifes growing up.
They find many secrets as the story goes back to reveal them. They find ways to get out of how society has placed them in their roles.
Like the story especially the world wide travel and facts about the pearls, xrays and what the rings mean... book was over 24 hours listening to the tapes.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
The Return by A.L. Parks
This book starts out with a woman leaving Newport, RI where she is a judge and heading to the family home in Colorado.
Most everything goes wrong, the flight, delays, noisy kids and then the snow and an accident. Eve does get rescued, by Jake the fire chief.
They do share wine together and a few meals as they get to know one another. She's only there for the Christmas holidays for 3 weeks time then she'll head back to RI to resume her job.
He is totally taken with her and he's put life back into her, she's cooking again!
What really fascinated me about this book was seeing how they do their jobs, and learning how they do them. Love the sex, romance and rip roaring laughter. Easy read with twists and turns.
Very easy to keep track of the characters as they dome and go in the book. Can't wait to read the next several books in this series. Love they complement one another's actions.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
An Ocean Apart by Robin Pilchner
Loved this book after I found out the author has a relative that is also an author.
This one is about a man who has lost his wife and he helps run a whiskey business with his father. He still has 3 kids and his mother looks after them as he wraps his head around his loss.
The kids think it is also a good idea for him to go to the states to get his mind back on track. Business things he finds are not going as planned and he uncovers many inconsistencies.
He has no mind for the business so hires himself out as a gardener but is so much more to the family. They treasure him being there and when he is summoned home to tend to the family business due to his father's medical problem he
knows he must make his decisions. The children were able to be with him for a short time as he introduced them to NY long island during the summer.
Loved learning so much more about gardening and all the travel involved, such details.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
The Christmas Garden Affair by Anne Rigley
Love the holiday and gardening and thought this would be a good read.
Louise and 47 others have been invited to visit with the first lady at the annual Christmas Garden Party. Bonnie Banfield was also invited-a rival that is trying to take over her PBS show from her.
Bonnie talks to her audience in a sexual demeanor and dresses with very few clothes on and that is causing her ratings to go sky high. Louise is losing her ratings...
There are many others who also don't like how Bonnie is sexulizing the garden industry and want her gone. When she is discovered dead at the party there are many who point to Louise and others.
Love the garden tips throughout the book and the clues as they come to lead us to the person who did kill Bonnie. Hard at times to keep track of all the people involved as there are so many of them.
Enjoyed the read so much I will be finding the other works of the author to read.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
All He Wants for Christmas by Lisa Plumley
Difficult reading this book in July and it's about the cold times during the holidays.
Story follow Danielle who has 3 kids and works at the toy store. She's so determined to get the promotion, she knows she deserves it as their store is deemed the best model store of the chain.
Story also follows Jason who is the head guy but one party might land him out of that job. Pictures are on the net with not such a great rep with what's being shown in them. He now has to go visit all the stores and try to promote higher sales in order to keep his job and that's still up in the air.
Part I liked the best was the family plans where he flies in to meet up with his family at a new location to them all. Love family time she and her family get to spend together and I just imagine all the toys during the time-bring back so many happy memories of my own childhood.
They do meet up and get to share time among other things. Sleigh ride is the ultimate and will reveal the whole hidden truths. Loved the recipes at the end, what a surprise.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review
French Pastry Murder by Leslie Meier
Wanted to read this book in hopes it'd have tips on how I can make my husband his favorite apple turnovers-healthy style.
Have read many of the author's other works and have enjoyed the books.
Have been to Paris once and can't wait to see the characters view. Book starts out where Lucy Stone and her husband along with other couples have won a trip to Paris for 2 weeks and participate in a cooking class because of their charity work with the hat and mitten fund.
Her daughter, Elizabeth is in Paris studying under a world famous chef and is excited about the visit. The accommodations are a let down but they are in the city of lights! Glad when Bill and Lucy strike out on their own to discover new things. When the chef is found stabbed their passports are all held from leaving the country.
The place they are staying is ransacked from the police-they think the chef might have been laundering money or some other black market schemes and now they are all drawn into the investigation. Lucy gets help from the others as the clues come in and they start to make sense of it all.
Murders and more investigations and help from their reporter friend Richard. Book wasn't really what I thought it would be, because I read the prior books. Mentions a lot of locations but doesn't describe what they saw and did at the locations.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review
Wolf of Wall Street
1987 This is the story of Jordan Belfort and he's new on the job at Wall Street where commodities are bought and sold continuously during the day.
Follows his life as he learns from others how to get ahead. Many marriages, hookers, drugs, liquor help him succeed.
Liberties that come with power he feels are his and thus that gets him in trouble on many fields.
Loved the action and descriptive details on furnishings and surroundings. Travel and adventures are great to read about and the downfall and every element
that happened to them both and the outcome.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Beachcomber by Karen Robards
Love books about the seashore and with mystery intwined I though this would be a really good read.
Set on outer banks - can't wait to visit here myself, love the detailed descriptions.
Story follows the killer and their thoughts as they watch the woman in bikinis and they are his prey.
He was most taken with Liz and he stalks her as he has done to others. Also Christys' story is being told at the same time.
She's on a vacation in the outer banks when the other women have been killed on the beach. Luke is also following her as he's with the FBI and he wants information on a lot of money she had when she traveled south and left her boyfriend who was just handed a grand jury indictment.
She only delivered the suitcase so it would ensure her family would remain safe from now on....
Very real detailed action and frightening scenes. Loved hearing of the touristy things to do. Sex scenes really add to the story line.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Stars by Mary Lynn Ray
Brought this book on tape with me on our visit to our grandson on the west coast but we didn't get to read it. He would love it as he pointed out to me all the stars in the sky when we stepped out of the car about 1am the day we arrived.
He was so hoping to see the Northern Lights as they were to be seen at our house on the east coast the week before.
Love how it doesn't feel so dark with so many of them in the sky.
Love the idea of having your own star in your pocket. Such great ideas.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
Love learning how things are done and how some can get away with it, forging art.
This book is about Claire and 25 years later a stolen painting from a big heist has arrived at her studio. She has been hired out to repaint originals so she can have a showing.
Til the painting shows up....travels overseas and dealings with the Mob appear in this book, such an action packed book. Loved hearing of the way the painting is done, such definite procedures.
Felt story could've been told in ascending chronological order and been a great read. This book jumps around in town and I felt it was hard to follow that way. Few characters, easy to keep track of the main ones.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Against the Wild by Kat Martin
Have read most of this series and this one is about Lane Bishop and how she's ready to move on with her life. She's a design expert in the lodge industry and accepts the job in Alaska. She's there after she's lost her fiance and arrives with Flynn the rescued dog.
Arrives in Alaska to renovate the 1930 fishing lodge and meets up with not only Dylan Brody but the girl Emily who is not talking any longer, since her mother abandoned her and ran off with a lover.
Ghosts haunt the place and he loves the atmosphere for running the fishing lodge. Love the scenes described in detail, love true nature.
She uncovers many secrets and mysteries...sexual attraction to one another...hot spicy sex scenes. Love how they gather clues as to what's haunting the place...can't wait to read more of the family's books.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
What Your Mother Didn't Tell You and your father didn't know, advanced relationship skills by John Gray
Wow what a fantastic book. Starts out with what men /women are like and answers all the questions in how to deal with it in today's hectic lifestyle.
I found myself listening to what is happening in my life and my spouse and saying I do that and didn't realize why I was doing it and why he escapes into cave mode and why.
Very enlightening and can't wait to read parts of this book together. So much of it stems on how we were raised, which adults, nurturing or not, etc
Can't wait to also listen to more of these tapes.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
The Collector by Nora Roberts
Lila Emerson, writer and professional house sitter has everything she wants, she takes it with her.
Love how she becomes familiar with the window people. She witnesses the woman being murdered.
Ashton Archer, an artist, knows his brother couldn't have killed his girlfriend. He will find out the truth and they are sexually compatible.
Julie her friend helps piece together other information she knows about those involved. Mysteries abound as they unearth other treasures. Love the connection between them all.
More killings and the plot thickens....action, adventure, travel and sex, what a great combination for a great read. Loved learning new things about art.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Promises by Judith Arnold
This is one part of the trilogy that starts out with 6 that get together, 2 male, 4 females to form the Dream magazine.
15 years later they regroup and celebrate. This is at the time of the late 60's where I was only 16 so many of the life events I still recall and how they have made an impact on my current life.
This story concentrates on Laura and her daughter-Rita and Seth who was also a founder of Dream.
Love the travel and treasures they find as they seek adventure in their travels. Love their work choices and can't wait to read the other two books, concentrating on the others.
Like choices they make and what the options are.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Low Fat Recipes in 30 Minutes
Love checking out new recipes as we have changed our whole life plan now since my husband's heart attack.
Lean products and mostly fresh vegetables and fruits are the order of daily life for us. Nutritionist gave us guidelines on fat content so excited to see how meals are made in this book that we can adapt in our plans.
Lots of different categories a few that surprised me. Especially love the substitution list of food. Found intro to have useful helpful information on what to do to plan meals, shopping trips from a list, etc
Like the idea of 14 day plan ahead, cook many meals at one time which is what we do every week. Found colorful photos at the beginning of each section to leave my mouth watering for more but there are few color photos in the book.
Content of the recipes is dead on. We already use fat free products and I found many recipes that we currently use something very similar. So happy to see that we are also on the right track as far as our healthy eating goes.
Love page at the end of every section where you can post your own notes on the recipes. Can't wait to try the beef stew as we just bought some the other day and trimmed it of all visible fat. Recipes also come with nutritional information at the end of every recipe so you can check there also if in doubt if you can use the recipe according to your dietary concerns. One problem is I do not see what a serving size is.
Very appreciative of the Asian dishes as my husband loves the spices and flavors. A treat to find desserts, chocolate! Really enjoyed this book and keep it around as I have very few low fat books on hand-got rid of all the other ones that didn't cater to low fat, low sodium cooking. Attended a webinar entitled swapping healthy choices and this book fits right into everything they discussed.
I received this book from Library Thing Early Reviewer Program in exchange for my honest review.
Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
The two woman meet when they are rooming together in college. Abby takes it upon herself to help out Maybelle and invites her to her home.
When you become a certain age the family allows you to pick a cottage and it's up to you to prove you can make it liveable. With all the servants May can't understand why because of how she grew up.
We are able to meet Jennifer's sisters and brothers and rest of the family. May feels so privileged to be given this opportunity to bump elbows with royalty.
Loved hearing how the other side lives and how May is able to unearth all kinds of information about the family compound and how it all came about, to preserve itself for the family to yet be born.
Blood money and how it plays a part in this book, interesting.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Thanksgiving by Margaret Baldwin
Story of how the Pilgrims came to be in the US and their journey across the water, the preparation beforehand.
Also includes of the first one and the celebrations of the day today.
Legends of the harvest and how other countries celebrate it then and now.
Love hearing what games the children played while on the ship that can be used today. Recipes of the food used then and how it can be made today.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Mallory Hale, a retired congressional aide, marries Daniel Anderson and it comes with a stepson. His new boss, Jack upsets her and she finds out things about him that substantiate it.
Love quotes at the beginning of each chapter. After they finally arrive in TX at Moses Lake she wonders if she has made a mistake. Daniel is traveling to work and she's often by herself, dealing with varmints and his son.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Moses Lakes, TX, Heather returns to her hometown, she's lived in the big cities as an architect.
She hopes to get her mother and uncles to sign off on the property but when she arrives she wonders who is the crook here, her relatives or her once boyfriend who is the banker, Blaine Underwood. She learns so much about her father's death and that leads to more questions.
Just when she gets answers more questions arise. When you think you know who is the culprit there are more surprises.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Always interesting to read about Appalachian people and lives of the miners.
This is a story of a woman her doctor husband and infant daughter, via her journal.
Such a proud set of people/community and stubborn. 1949 Cold Mountain, WV hard times...
Follows their lives as they go through daily events, glad they get to experience it first hand.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Mars and Venus in the Workplace, a practical guide for improving communications and getting results at work by John Gray
Found this book interesting and all the differences between a man and a woman in the work place. I still think a lot of the communication between the two are misleading
where a woman would dress to get what she wants along with touching and becoming very personal: crying, bringing up family issues, etc. Liked the discussions on how to substantiate asking for a raise.
Loved hearing male side of how they perceive things and point system, glad to hear of this.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Chasing Cezanne by Peter Mayle
Travel, adventure and photography, art world, via world wide fascinates me and love the tale and trails.
Andre is the photographer and his place is ransacked and all photo equipment, film, etc is gone but other electronic things remain intact.
All relates to the pictures of the item he was sent overseas to photograph.
Food and how those in Paris can eat all the meals they do for hours and not get fat.
Love the car chases.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Mars and Venus in the Bedroom by John Gray
Have liked the series and thought I'd just read all of them. Found it funny how a woman dresses what goes through the man's mind at the time.
Lot of helpful information that is easy to understand about how things are going and how you can make a difference.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
