Blog Reminder

This is just a reminder to you readers that I will not be posting Wednesday, January 2. 

As I've mentioned recently, my blog is being worked on on Tuesday. 

I'm not sure how long the changes will take to complete. I should be back the following day unless the updates take longer.

10 Best Books I Read in 2017

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#1. No Exit

Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. 

Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper.

#2. The Dying Hour

Jason Wade is a rookie crime reporter with The Seattle Mirror.

Karen Harding is a college student whose car was found abandoned on a lonely stretch of highway in the Pacific Northwest.

The Dying Hour is a bone-chilling, mesmerizing page-turner that introduces readers to an all-too-human young hero who journeys into the darkest regions of the human heart to confront a nightmare.

#3. Stillhouse Lake
Gina Royal is the definition of average. 

But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. But peace will remain illusive.

#4. The Force

NYPD detective sergeant Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. 

Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves. 

#5. The Woman In Cabin 10
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins.  

Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for. 

The ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

#6. The One And Only
Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football. 

Shea was raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach.

When an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended. 

#7. My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward
Mark and Giulia’s life together began as a storybook romance.

Then Giulia suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. And then another and another.

This is a love story about giving your all to the person you love, in sickness and in health.

#8. The Day I Died
Anna Winger can know people better than they know themselves with only a glance—at their handwriting.

But when she is called to use her expertise on a note left behind at a murder scene in the small town she and her son have recently moved to, the crime gets under Anna’s skin and rips open her narrow life for all to see. 

#9. Little White Lies
The opening morning of Beth March's nightmare seems like just another day. Then her husband David drives his car at full speed into the path of a lorry. He is killed instantly.

From the moment that Beth learns of his fate, her world begins to shatter around her. Nothing in her life can ever be the same again.
 

#10. Pretty Girls 

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teen-aged sister Julia vanished without a trace.

Neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them?

***

What were some of your favorite books that you read in the past year? 

Which books are you looking forward to reading in 2018?

Book Review: What Remains True

Author: Janis Thomas
Book Title: What Remains True
Genre: Fiction
Published: December 1, 2017
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 348

Amazon Excerpt:
From the outside, the Davenports look like any other family living a completely ordinary life—until that devastating day when five-year-old Jonah is killed, and the family is torn apart. 

As the fury of guilt engulfs them, the Davenports slowly start to unravel, one by one.

My Review:
"What Remains True" truly touched my heart. 

This book is told from alternating views of everyone involved, even the family dog. 

Jonah has died and needs to move on to wherever humans go when they leave this earth, but he is too worried about his family to complete his journey. 

His family members, deep in the throes of divisiveness, can't move through the necessary stages of acceptance in order to grieve. 

Jonah has to find a way to help them do this so he can finally depart this earth.

This is a book that will leave clear imprints on your heart.

***

About The Author: 

Janis Thomas is the author of three critically acclaimed humorous women’s fiction novels.

She has written two children’s books with her father and more than fifty songs. As well as being an author and musical performer, Janis is also a writing advocate, editor, workshop leader, and speaker.

Janis lives in Southern California with her family and two crazy dogs.

Learn more about Janis at www.JanisThomas.com.

A Look Back At 2017...

My sister and I found one another. 

We still have not met, as we live in different states. We talk on the phone. I've been learning about her life. Her childhood. 

I've learned more about two of my sisters, and I wrote about that here.

This is Marietta. Doesn't she have a beautiful smile?

I wrote about how we found one another here. We have found that we're actually quite a bit alike, though she is younger than I am. 

I wrote about our similarities here. 

Our family is complicated. I imagine most are. 

We were separated early on. Six siblings, who really know next to nothing about one other. I wrote about that here.

I wrote about sisters here and here and here. 

And speaking of family, then there's precious Andrew...

I wrote about a day in the life of a little boy here.  

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails, that's what little boys are made of.

In the middle of the night my bed broke. Right at the front right where my head was. I wrote about that here.

So I had to get a new bed. Abi is showing it to you.  

I decided to take the removable wallpaper off the wall behind my couch. Was that ever a chore! I wrote about that disaster here.

We had a power outage and it broke my beloved Breville Smart Oven. So I had to get another one. 

I wrote about the Breville here.

Abi managed to corner a huge possum out on the patio in the middle of the night. Boy, that was a sight! 

I wrote about that here.

Charlie Ross learned how to chew a bone at age 11. I wrote about that here. 

They finally cut down the two trees that were pushing my fence down. 

This got me to thinking about growing trees in containers. 

So I went to Southwood Nursery, just to look around, and ended up coming home with Jade, a Jade Butterfly tree. 

I wrote about that here.

Just before Christmas I woke up to snow. It was beautiful. 

We don't get snow around here often. Especially not right at Christmas. I wrote about that here.

So now it's a week later and the new year will be here in just a few days.

Another calendar taken down. 

Another year of possibilities.

Another year when I will write to you from my cozy little home and sharing my life with you.

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

We are all capable of so much more than we think we are. 

There are times we want to throw up our hands and admit defeat. 

But a little vein of purple defiance springs up and tells us that we can stretch whatever we have, whatever we are, just a little bit farther. 

We aren't going to break. We aren't made of glass.

Mothers lift monstrously heavy cars off their offspring in moments of sheer panic with jolts of adrenaline. Before they did it, they'd have said they couldn't. 

But they didn't give it a thought because there simply wasn't a choice. 

Sometimes life is just that simple.

At the end of the year, I tend to get a bit philosophical. 

I like to think back on what I learned the past year, what I came to understand about myself.

We don't get do-overs. Life is lived minute by minute. Every second we hesitate is another second we agonize over a decision.

And really, the right thing is the thing you end up doing. 

If you don't take a road, then you don't know where that other path might have taken you. 

You can't be in two places at one time.

So that other road, the one not taken, is irrelevant.

Do you ever wonder what price is yours to pay? 

I think if I learned one important little nugget of fine-spun gold knowledge this past year, it is that I don't have to carry every load. Every bit of baggage that I've acquired in my life's journey.

That baggage weighs you down, wears you out. 

So I'm going to tell it to you straight. 

Put it down. 

Place it at the side of the road. Hide it in the recycling bin. Cover it with a tarp.

Set it down right now before you even have time to think about it. There's no need to keep carrying it. It doesn't do anyone any good.

Least of all, you.

I've learned that peace is priceless. And sometimes that's what the choices in life come down to. 

So make it easy on yourself. 

You can have it one of two ways. 

Do you want peace in your life? 

Then do away with whatever is standing in your way. In front of peace. 

Take your fork and stand over the trash and scoop it right off your plate into the bin. 

Let it go.

Take the suffering or guilt or pain or whatever it is and just subtract it from your life's equation. Throw it into the wind and watch the forces of nature lift it up into the sky. 

Out of sight. Gone for good. No turning back.

The choice is yours to make.

Take that little girl by the hand, the one you used to be. Tell her everything is going to be all right. 

Give her hand a little squeeze for courage. 

Protecting her is your biggest and most important job in life. 

Because no one can take care of the child in you better than you can.

Last but not least: Be tender with her always.
 

This is where the rubber meets the road.

This is what truly counts.

This is for you.

Plants In A Beverage Stand

Now that my little Christmas tree is put away, I have the prayer plant in the red beverage stand. I figured that's a pretty good place to display plants.

The red stand was getting faded hanging on the fence in the outdoor sun, so I think I'll keep it inside for now.

When I woke up this morning, I had the feeling that I might have turned the corner on being sick. I could breathe in deeply again. Not coughing as much.

Maybe it's due to being the third day of using the NeilMed Sinus Rinse that reader Ruth wrote to me and told me to find, which I promptly did.

I'd never heard of it. But I was sure willing to give it a go. So thanks Ruth!

Another reader, Joan, who lives here in town, offered to bring me whatever I needed. Food, medicine, whatever. Thanks so much, Joan, but I'm fine.

I'm hoping I can get out and about for myself soon. 

Sara, the person I found to transfer my blog to the different blog platform, will be doing so on Tuesday, when hopefully most will be back at work from the holidays.

We're waiting until the holidays are over to get things situated with the ad network. So hoping it all goes smoothly.

I'm not anticipating any problem. I'm a little anxious though, just because this blog has been my baby since April of 2009. 

I've been averaging a book every day or so. Reading them, that is. A steady supply has been coming in. 

I hope you don't get tired of book reviews. Cause I sure don't get tired of reading books! 

I'm currently reading this book... 

I'll never tire of reading. 

Ever since I learned how to sound out words in the first grade, I have been smitten with books. Always had my nose in a book, as they say.

I remember my excitement when I could finally recognize letters and know what they spelled out. 

Since I was quite small I had been squiggling things on paper and pretending the squiggles meant something.

Then there I was actually stringing words together into sentences. It was like a revelation.

They say if you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day. But if you teach the man to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime. 

I feel similarly about books. 

If someone reads to you, they will entertain you for a day. But if someone teaches you to read, they've essentially handed you the key to unlocking all the information in the world. 

From that day forward, given that most precious of gifts, you will be able to fend for yourself in the world. Because you are in a position to partake in the opportunities that life has to offer.

All because you can read.

I don't know where this frigid cold blast has come from. But I think I understand more what it must be like to live up north. 

I sure hate the heat when it comes and lingers on and on. But this cold may be something for the history books. 

I will sure be relieved to see more temperate weather in the forecast.

Book Review: Most Wanted

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Book Title: Most Wanted
Genre: Fiction, Crime Mystery, Suspense
Date Published: February 28, 2017
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 448

Synopsis:
Christine Nilsson and her husband Marcus desperately want a baby, but they are unable to conceive. Finally they decide to use a donor. 

After a few months, Christine is pregnant and the two are ecstatic about becoming parents.

Then, just a few months into the pregnancy, she sees a TV broadcast about a man who has just been apprehended for a series of murders. 

Shockingly, the man bears a very strong resemblance to her donor.

Donor 3319 Profile:
Tall 
Blonde 
Blue eyes
Medical Student

Could he also be a serial killer? 

Christine cannot get past the idea that her child's biological father could possibly be a serial killer. 

She immediately begins to delve into who this man is.

She seeks out studies involving genetics and what the experts think in determining whether genes can predispose traits such as violence.

Christine's marriage suffers due to her obsession with finding out all she can about the biological father of their child. But she's come too far to stop now. 

She has to know.

Is her donor also a murderer?

***

I read this book in just two days. I quickly became immersed with this story and all its possibilities.

As soon as I'd learn a little bit of the puzzle, I was rushing ahead to find out more.

Lisa Scottoline is a master at crafting thrillers that keep you reading. This one did not disappoint.

About The Author:

Lisa’s books have solidly landed on all the major bestseller lists including The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. 

Lisa’s novels are known for their warm and down-to-earth characters, which resonate with readers and reviewers long after they have finished her books.

Lisa is also a regular softie when it comes to her furry family. 

Nothing can turn Lisa from a professional, career-minded author, to a mushy, sweet-talking, ball-throwing woman like her beloved dogs.

 

Book Review: My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward

Author: Mark Lukach
Book Title: My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward
Genre: Memoir
Date Published: May 2, 2017
Publisher: Harper Wave
Pages: 320

Synopsis:
Mark and Giulia met at 18 and married at 24. They began their dream life in San Francisco. Mark as a teacher and Giulia, who had always excelled at everything she did, in marketing.

At age 27 Giulia had an unexpected psychotic break and was in the psych ward for about a month.  

One day Giulia was fine, upbeat, striving at her job. And then she'd plunge into the depths of despair and become delusional and suicidal. 

Giulia was medicated and finally stabilized. She regained her footing and began another job. 

The couple decided to have a child and their son Jonas was born. 

Soon thereafter Giulia had another breakdown. And then another.

Mark and Giulia Lukach are proof that love endures, despite all the obstacles. 

"My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward" is a testament to Mark's love and devotion. And what it's like to sacrifice everything for the person you love.

About The Author:

Mark Lukach is a teacher and freelance writer. His work has been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, Wired, and other publications. 

He is currently the Ninth Grade Dean at The Athenian School, where he also teaches history. 

He lives with his wife, Giulia, and their son in the San Francisco Bay area.

Mark first wrote about Giulia in a New York Times "Modern Love" column and again in a piece for Pacific Standard Magazine, which was the magazine's most-read article in 2015. 

"My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward" is a heart-wrenching yet hopeful memoir of a young marriage that is redefined by the effects of mental illness.