Book Review - Saving Grace and Leaving Analise by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

I recently became familiar with a fantastic writer, Pamela Fagan Hutchins, and an awesome series. Saving Grace is only 99 cents on Amazon today. If I were you I'd snatch it up, and settle in for an enjoyable read with more to come. I've already read the second in the series, Leaving Analise, and it's just as good as the first. To buy Saving Grace on Amazon for only 99 cents, click here.

Read on for my review!

Poor Katie. She's having a rough time getting over her parents' tragic deaths, and in addition to that, there's this guy at work that she can't get out of her mind. This leads to some self-destructive behavior, which in turns leads to a hopefully healing trip to The Virgin Islands. The only snag in that plan is that her parents died in the Virgin Islands, and Katie is not convinced that it was an accident. So of course she wants to investigate.
This is simply the beginning of the story, and it only gets more compelling from there. Soon Katie is fixing up a house that communicates with her (believe me, in this story, it works), and she's dealing with all sorts of demons. But Katie is a likable character who never loses her sense of humor, and I was rooting for her the entire time. The mystery of the story only adds to its appeal.

Ghosts, Mirrors, and Ted Cruz

There's a new post by Lucy on November Surprises Political Blog. Learn why Lucy attended the Ronald Reagan dinner/ Republican fundraiser, and how Jack's bathroom is haunted, by clicking here.

Book Review - Until It's Over

I never would have picked this book if it wasn't for road construction. You see, due to closed freeway exits my daily commute to and from work has become much more complicated, and to make it more pleasant I decided to get some audio books from the library, and listen to them in my car. I chose Until It's Over because it sounded interesting, although I'm not usually into mysteries.  But the selection of audio books at the library isn't that great, and I thought, "why not?"

Well, I loved 90%  of it. The narration is excellent, and the suspense had me gripping the steering wheel most of the time. There were several afternoons when I considered taking an even longer way home because I wanted to find out more about Astrid, her housemates, and these mysterious murders that seem to be following Astrid around. She's worse than Jessica Fletcher.

It's also steamy. Astrid, a bike courier, is unknowingly the object of affection of all her male housemates. But which one is killing people, just to get her attention? You don't find out until two thirds of the way through the book, when it switches to the killer's point of view. I think the revelation was supposed to be shocking, but I saw it coming several miles away. And I don't read mysteries very often, so probably other people saw it coming too.

But it didn't ruin the story at all. The only part I didn't like was the end, which left me thinking, "what was the point?" However, I still strongly recommend this book, because now that it's over, my daily drives feel empty, without that British voice leaking juicy secrets about murder and intrigue.

John Boehner, Ideals, and Really Bad Guacamole

There's a new post on November Surprises blog! To read about Lucy's struggle between loyalty and ideals, click here.

Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, and the "Opt-Out" Generation

There's a new post on November Surprises, Lucy's political blog. To read more about working moms, political wives, and Lucy's move to Iowa, click here.

Blue State

There's a new post on November Surprises, Lucy's political blog. Will Lucy and Monty's marriage survive if she moves home to Iowa? To read part one, click here.

Or, to download the whole thing off of Amazon for 99 cents, click here.

 

Love. Family. Growing Older. They’re all part of the state we live in.

Lucy has left her home in Seattle and possibly her marriage too, because her father’s stroke has turned things upside down. When she’s not at her dad’s bedside, she’s at her mother-in-law’s house, caring for her children while avoiding her husband’s calls. Re-examining her professional goals and staving off heartbreak is only part of it; Lucy has to decide where it is that she belongs. But when Monty returns early from his month-long trip to Botswana, she’ll also have to decide which is more important – the life she has made for herself, or the life she left behind.

Blue State is a short(ish) story written for fans of November Surprises blog (www.NovemberSurprises.blogspot.com), November Surprise the novel, and the novella Campaign Promises.  As a special bonus the first two chapters of The Hold Out are previewed in the back, which continues the saga of the Bricker family, this time with Jack and Monty’s younger cousin, Robin.

 

 

Book Review - Widow Woman by Julia Tagliere

Widow Woman, by Julia Tagliere, takes place in the early 60s, and it’s the story of Audrey, a woman whose mother has just died. Plus, she recently found out her husband was cheating on her. Reeling from both events, Audrey must make sense of the world around her and decide what she wants. But that’s only the beginning of the story. As she learns more about her mother’s life and the secrets she kept, Audrey comes to question all her firmly held beliefs and her life begins to spiral out of control.

 

Julia Tagliere’s writing is engrossing and well-done. This is an author who obviously knows what she’s doing as she weaves character and plot into a moving story about love, loss, and hope. Fans of Mad Men might also connect with some of the issues women faced back then, and how far we’ve come in the meantime. I highly recommend this book.