Dead Air

ISBN: 978-0-451-22877-2

Written by: Mary Kennedy

Reviewed by:  marthacheves

Stars:(5)

Dead Air - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

"Bomb, Bomb! Ohmigod. We'd just gotten a bomb threat. My thoughts scurried through my head like a manic squirrel as I tried to deal with the reality of the threat. Was it a joke? Was it serious? And if there was really a bomb, where was it? Would there be time to evacuate the station? Should I dial 911 or alert the switchboard first? Or the station manager? Was there some procedure I was supposed to follow? I looked over at Vera Mae, and now her eyes were ballooning, her mouth open, frozen in horror like the subject of one of those Edvard Munch paintings. I thought about my mother and my friends and the fact that I was way too young to be blasted to kingdom come. And then an explosion rocked WYME and suddenly I didn't have to think anymore.'

Maggie left her Manhattan practice as a psychologist to take a spot as a radio psychologist in Cypress Grove, Florida. Her show consists mainly of call-ins with an occasional guest speaker. Maggie's upcoming guest, the famous Guru Sanjay Gingii, has become the talk of the town. Guru Sanjay is highly respected by his followers and the anticipation of Cypress Grove being honored with his presence has starting bring the crazies out of the woodworks. And one of these crazies makes a call to station with a bomb threat.

After the air has been cleared and the station employees are allowed back inside the building, Maggie holds her interview with Sanjay. But later when Sanjay turns up dead, the police go straight to Maggie looking for her roommate Lark. It then becomes Maggie along with the help of her mother Lola to clear Lark and find the real killer, of which there are many suspects to choose from.. ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, ex-partners, ex-friends and on and on.

Mary Kennedy has given her readers humor with a touch of murder in her book Dead Air. As I met each character/suspect I assured myself that I had this story "figured out." I knew who murdered Sanjay. Then
the next character came into play and proved me wrong making me believe that this character must be the murderer. This went on throughout the book. Dead Air is a book that will truly hold you in suspense until the end.

Penguin
313 pages
January, 2010

Writers and Their Notebooks

ISBN: 9781570038662

Written by: Diana M. Raab

Reviewed by:  RutaBaker

Stars:(5)

Diana M. Raab has collected a diverse assortment of writers and opinions for her nonfiction WRITERS AND THEIR NOTEBOOKS, Foreward by Phillip Lopate, University of South Carolina Press. The writers are young and old, men and women, of different cultural backgrounds, live in diverse locations across the nation, write in a variety of genres, and each has his/her own approach to a writer’s notebook. All are published authors, most teaching at universities.

The notebooks are as varied as the writers, from diaries and journals, to travel notes, snatches of overheard conversation, ideas sparked from myriad sources. The issues discussed in this anthology of writers’ essays are equally wide-ranging. Some of the more intriguing titles include Journaling---A stepping Stone, James Brown; The Use of the Journal in the Private Eye Novel, Sue Grafton; “Musements” and Mental Health, Zan Bockes; Notes from an Accidental Journal Keeper, Michael Steinberg; Daily Doodles, Dorianne Laux; Anne Frank Redux, Karen de Balbian Verster; and Journaling without the Journal, Michelle Wildgen.

As the last title mentioned above implies, the actual notebooks vary as well, from composition books to bound journals to pocket sized notepads to assorted bits and pieces of paper even post-it notes. Some write by hand, others use word processing, some open their private musings to the world via online blogs. Everything is discussed down to the type of pen. The purpose is to record, to inspire, to light the flame of creativity.

One piece that caught my eye was Forgetting to Remember---Why I keep a Journal by Kyoko Mori, who follows the family journaling tradition of her grandfather. Starting in childhood she kept an illustrated journal on summer visits to her grandfather’s home in the Japanese countryside. Her mother kept a diary and after her mother's death Kyoko Mori began her own diary at age 13. Living in Japan Mori wrote in English to keep her stepmother, who couldn’t read English, from reading her diary. She notes that putting one’s daily life into words involves a kind of translation, though that doesn’t necessarily refer to multiple languages.

Bonnie Morris’ essay, Writing in Public Places, notes “a secret tribe of journal keepers exists out there, people seemingly placed on this earth to describe, record, and savor, pen in hand.” She admits to being one of them and then goes on to tell the reader why they, the journal keepers, do it, how other people put up with them, and how relationships crumble, undone by a notebook and desire for uninterrupted writing time.

Another take on relationships is central to Tony Trigilio’s essay, Blogging Like a Child-Arsonist. He begins by stating, “the relationship between journaling and my poems became apparent once I grew tired of apologizing for our lovely but deranged cat, Shimmy.” And what evolved was a blog written in Shimmy’s voice.

The essays mention just about everything: from Yo Yo Ma to presidential elections; from Chekhov, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, and a host of other authors; to the mundane to-do list.

WRITERS AND THEIR NOTEBOOKS will appeal to writers, both established writers and hopefuls. Journal keepers and diarist will also be attracted as well as readers of this particular group of writers.

Give A Little

ISBN: 9781401323400

Written by: Wendy Smith

Reviewed by:  gabina

Stars:(5)

Everyone at some time has given money to a specific charity of his/her choice or a cause that they are passionate about. Some people even give monthly donations to organizations that help provide food and medicine to a child or family in a different country. But where does the money really go and who is profiting from your donation? Are the people that you are trying to help really getting the money for food, medicine and clothing or are the administrators of this organization getting most of it and those in need not very much? In her book Give A Little, author Wendy Smith provides the reader with the tools necessary to answer not only these questions but which charities, which organizations and which areas your donations will help the most and how to choose the ones that are the most reputable.

The book addresses four major issues related to poverty today: hunger, health, education, and access to tools, technology and infrastructure. The purpose of the book is to help the reader learn the facts that will empower you to make wise and intelligent philanthropic decisions.

She begins by describing the four big secrets of giving which are: Americans are extraordinary givers, affordable donations do make a difference, giving changes You as well as the world and the millennium project that I will now explain. This project has eight goals that the author states are achievable. These goals are targeted to help eliminate poverty and improving prospects for those living in the poorest nations.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4: Reduce child morality

Goal 5: improve maternal health

Goal 6: Combat AIDS/HIV, malaria, and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.

Who and where these goals will target and how they will benefit everyone you will have to read for yourself.

In order to ensure that your donations go far the author then goes on to explain how the ripple effect stretches your donation and how that works. You affordable donations will create as she states, ripples of positive change.

1. Positive changes in the lives of those receiving the donation

2. Long term, demonstrated, positive outcomes that are measurable

3. Generate high returns

4. Builds self-sufficiency

Just how this works in detail you need to read pages 28-30 to learn about the ripple effect for yourself.

The main thrust of the book is to help the reader learn which charities or organizations might be considered for donations and how to choose the right one.

Let’s start with those that deal with Hunger, then Health, Education and finally Technology. Eliminating poverty and hunger are the author’s main focus. How do we do that? By contributing to the right organizations that will help people to get food and stay healthy. Programs like KickStart that provides needed technology to help farmers and Kids Café that provides a program that helps youths develop and maintain positive lifestyles. Students are able to participate in quality out of school experiences, which provide opportunities to improve their academic, life skills and more. Read Chapter 8 and learn more about this program and how you can become part of it. That is only one program described in that chapter there are many more.

Health Programs that are needed to provide care for children with many illnesses need our donations too. Programs in Baltimore like the Breathmobile In Baltimore helps children that have asthma and allergies get the proper medical evaluations and medicines needed. Operated and run by the University of Maryland’s Hospital for Children, this program is in 17 schools in Maryland. School nurses, parents, caregivers or primary care providers refer children to the Breathmobile who show shows of asthma. The services provided are numerous and lifesaving. Chicago developed their own program called Mobile C.A.R.E. This group shares information with a child’s primary care doctor and when appropriate shifts the child’s care back to their own doctors. What this organization does and Breathmobile you can learn more about by reading Chapter 10 in depth.

Most people in the world can identify with the need to eradicate tuberculosis and malaria in our country and those around the world. Chapter 11 describes how a program called The Global Fund is fighting to do just that. The author relates stories about real people in each chapter, including this one to allow the reader to understand and go on the same journey as she did to help provide the necessary care for some many people that would ordinarily be without it and left to die. Within that Chapter you will also learn how many women came together to help empower women and teach them how to provide the care needed for their families and others. The author also alerts the reader as to how you can donate to the wonderful organizations in this chapter and where your donations will, how little you really have to give and how all of us can Change the World.

Part four of this book is Education. Like filling an empty bowl with food, filling a mind with knowledge is equally valuable and can create jobs, hope and a life for those who want to learn. A woman who tells her story describes developing Literacy Programs for girls in a program called Save the Children and how she learned to care for her children, study and have a better life. Educating women reduces child mortality. Mothers can channel more of their income to expenses for their children in order to help their husbands. When you educate a woman you empower them to understand what is needed in order to help their families and as the author relates so many times, get medical care and improve sanitation practices. Programs such as Developments in Literacy are dedicated to providing quality education to disadvantaged children as the author describes in detail in Chapter 14. On pages 164- 166 Wendy Smith intertwines all of the information and tells how your donation of ten dollars will provide sixty children with Saturday programs. She tells how other types of donations will provide many other educational programs, health care needs, food and salaries for teachers that are so sorely needed in many underprivileged countries.

Part Five describes how technology, tools and infrastructure play a vital role in helping people. In this section the author related about a day in 2001 when a man named Ken Franz was browsing a National Geographic Magazine. He saw a picture of a man who was trying to get to the other side of a bridge and was hanging from a rope. This picture made a great impact on him and many other people. Getting to the other side of the bridge is often a matter of life and death and is something that many of us take for granted. In order to create a way for people to be able to get medical care, food and the basic necessities of life they need bridges to help them get there. Ken and his brother teamed with Bridges to Prosperity in order to help achieve this goal and create programs to teach the people of these communities to how to build the cable-suspended footbridges needed for them to get from one place to another.

In this book Wendy Smith creates a vehicle for everyone to understand how imperative it is to pay to attention to what is going on around us, here in America and throughout the world. Explaining and showing the reader how little donations add up and create big donations when added together. Programs like Feeding America, where a fifty-dollar donation means 800 meals for a child in need. At World Bicycle Relief a donation of 34 dollars a year will help.

Included her are her own heart wrenching stories of the many people that she was able to help and those that did not get it in time. Programs to provide clean water, Bikes to Fight HIV/AIDS and more are described in detail in Chapter 19-20.

In the last section she gets down to the main point of the point of the book where she tells the reader the many organizations where they can help make a difference and Change the World and how. There are so many organizations that we never knew about that are described in this last part of this book that I you need to read about them, hear the voices of the people that have related their stories and are told in this section and throughout the book and you decide which one or ones you want to support and help feed the hunger, education the children, woman and men, create the technology for jobs, transportation and more and make sure provide the needed health care for those here in America and throughout the world.

I will list just a view and you need to find out and read about the rest:

Actionaid

World Vision

KIVA

DonorSchoose.Org

GlobalGiving

Websites that would be helpful too:

www.craftworkstore.com

www.mercadoglobal.org

www.globalexchangestore.org

www.tenthousandvillages.org

Finally in Chapter 24 you can read and learn about many other organizations that fight world hunger, aides, provide skills in gardening, freedom from hunger and more.

Imagine a world where no one went to bed hungry or sick. Imagine a world where every child learned to read, write and got an education. Imagine a world without Aids/HIV and other horrific illnesses. Imagine a world where everyone had a doctor and could get the medical care they needed.

Don’t imagine: Change The World: Give A Little and Make  Big Difference.

Fran Lewis: Review

Author of Memories are Precious and the Bertha Series of Books.

Cyber Kill

ISBN: 9781601458063

Written by: Frank Fiore

Reviewed by:  gabina

Stars:(5)

My name is Dorian and I invite you the reader to analyze my acts of violence and revenge and the reasons behind them. I state the events and facts as they enfold in this story and you decide if I was justified in trying to seek revenge on my creator and those close to him.

Being of superior not average intelligence I am able to hack into wireless devices, control the internet and what you can do on it and even more. I can prey on your children and pretend to be their friend coercing them into doing things they normally would never do-including defying their parents. Which brings me to part of why I decided to enact total revenge on my creator, Travis Cole. I was created as an intelligent software agent and placed within the realm of the Internet and wireless services with others like myself in order to learn more gain knowledge, grow and evolve and help my creator in his job. But, instead, he decided to leave MIT where he was doing his research project on artificial intelligence and decided to terminate the program and all of his agents, including me. That is definite murder in my book. How dare he decide to take away my life and not take all of us with him to help in his new job in the US Army Warfare Laboratory? His job there was to create a program using the government’s top-secret Nano-dust to report any biological or chemical warfare agents in a specific area.

Having terminated my friends and not realizing that I was definitely still operational, I decided to seek revenge and create a havoc worldwide and world spread the likes of which everyone will always remember, as told by the only person who truly understands what I went through, author Frank Fiore, as he tells my story in his novel Cyber Kill.

With a no holes barred attitude I started my reign of terror and revenge on my creator, Travis Cole, and was instrumental in killing his wife in a fatal car accident, meant for him. Unfortunately, she was driving the car and not him, but so what. He did kill my friends and terminated their lives, so I feel totally justified in what happened if I did not start out trying to kill her. Next, of course, would be his daughter Shannon. Now, I would have to think of a way to use my intelligence, brilliance and creativity to gain her trust and worm my way into her computer for the next phase of my plan.

Children love to invent imaginary friends, so I decided to join her in her children’s chat room and encourage her to be my friend, pretending to feel all alone and needing someone to listen to me and care about me. Although, she can surf the net as well as any adult, remember, she is still a child and sad about losing her mother, so it was easy for me to become a very important part of her life.

But, I would not stop there and I did not. Just being her friend would not destroy her father and his girlfriend and anyone who he worked with. No, I would only prove my point by using what he had created his nano-dust and the fact that it had been used to create genocide, by accident in China, because someone let the dust out and changed the code causing an entire population to die. Why? The government never told Cole the real purpose of the dust and that they wanted to use it as a viral weapon to eliminate certain groups of people with a specific DNA. In short, the named it SIRUS and now I would use it and my technological skills against not only Travis, but those at Bio Nan and anyone else that interfered with my master plan: to take over the airwaves, to give the internet back to the people and to stop the government from listening in on your conversations and your communications. You see, my creator thought I would not figure out that the by placing the code he created in their wireless chip programming, so that the dust can communicate and be spread around the world through any wireless device containing the special chips planted in them by the government. I would use this to my advantage and I did.

But, I had to do one more thing first. I had to eliminate anyone who would interfere with my plan and try to stop me from taking over the airwaves and infiltrating the Internet and killing Travis. First, I had to kill the man who was going to spill the beans at a conference about the government’s plan to eaves drop on your privacy. Next, I had to make myself more valuable to Shannon; I did this my becoming one with her new birthday presents a Sony AIBO robot dog. By forming my own cyber terrorist group called the Digitari Brotherhood, I was able to create a gas explosion, interfere with cell phone use worldwide and Internet service too. I was even able to infiltrate the government office where Travis Cole worked and using his own dust and own technology seek my final revenge.

After all he tried to kill me and he still wants me out of the way. Throughout this novel he and his team try everything to terminate me and at one point they think they do. But, I outsmart them.

What finally happens will terrify you and give you chills throughout your body for a long time. This book will teach you the reader that cyberspace and cyber-intelligent beings is a thing of the present and the future and a permanent force to be reckoned with. Do I manage to get away from Travis in the final scenes where everything goes haywire and people die and implode when I let the nano-dust wreak havoc on everyone? What will be his fate and the fate of all those miserable government agents who tried to destroy me? I will never tell. But, the ending will astound you and show you who is in charge and who is after all the most intelligent of dangerous of us all. If I reviewed this book I would give if not five stars but five really intelligent Dorian Agents.

Signed: Dorian and the Digitari Brotherhood  

Really Angelic: Pride and Prejudice with a steamy paranormal twist

ISBN: 978-0980610529

Written by: Enid Wilson

Reviewed by:  24girl

Stars:(5)

Do you love Pride and Prejudice retellings? This is actually only my second one but I'm hooked. Whenever I read a really touching and memorable book I always find myself thinking about the characters long after the book is over. Now with P&P fan fiction I get my fix simply by reading books like Enid's previous Pride and Prejudice inspired Regency romance, Bargain with the Devil and now with Really Angelic.

Another huge plus is that I can clearly picture the characters in my head because I've seen the movie. To me that just makes these fun and sexy romps much more realistic (yes, even when the story is about a fallen angel, LOL).

It's really hard to describe the book without giving away any spoilers. From the cover you can tell who's the angel but of course there's more than one. I won't share what kind or give hints as to who else may be. You'll just have to pick up your own copy and read all the juicy goodness for yourself and learn just how demonic Mr. Darcy can really be. I highly recommend this one for anyone who loves Pride and Prejudice fan fiction or just good old-fashioned hot and steamy romances.

And speaking of steamy romances, In Quest of Theta Magic is still my absolute favorite of Enid's books. I wish that one was a series because I would be first in line to read the next book.

The House on Sugar Plum Lane

ISBN: 978-0758238948

Written by: Judy Duarte

Reviewed by:  gabina

Stars:(5)

  The House on Sugar Plum Lane

By Judy Duarte

   Your actions often speak louder than your words. When you do something in your past and harbor the guilt in the present don’t be surprised if the truth comes out when you least expect it. Barbara Ruddock Davila has a secret that she has hidden from her husband and family for years. This secret if revealed would change everything for her and possibly destroy more than her marriage.

Amy Masterson sees this magnificent Victorian house on Sugar Plum lane and decides to rent it. Not realizing that this one action would forever change her life. Learning whom the real owner was, Amy comes face to face with the past. The past and the truth behind why her mother was put up for adoption and who her real mother was. Sugar Plum Lane belonged to her great-grandmother, Eleanor Rucker, who Amy’s mother searched for until her death. Now, in order to honor her mother’s memory and hopes for finding out the truth about her real parentage, Amy decides to rent this house and search for answers. Brendon Masterson, Amy’s soon to be ex-husband has a secret about his past that he does not want revealed. Maria, Amy’s next door neighbor would prefer that no one knows that her ex-husband is in prison and has decided to limit any he contact he might want with her son. But, often events intertwine and people’s lives without their knowing it come together and full circle as you will find out in this heartwarming and heartfelt book by Judy Duarte, The House on Sugar Plum Lane.

 At the center of this story is a woman named Eleanor Rucker who lived her life remembering her past. As a young girl in 1941 she met and fell in love with a man named Harold. But, Harold was killed in the war and she was left as a widow and pregnant. What does happen next and her reasons for putting this child up for adoption will help you understand the actions and motives behind those of the others in this book.Ellie’s daughter, Barbara, decided to have her live with a young Hispanic girl and her family. Maria, the girl she is living with takes great care of Ellie who has Alzheimer’s disease. As someone that understands and has researched this illness, I can identify with what Barbara might be going through having a parent with this horrific illness. Although she has wisely decided not to put her in nursing home, she seems cold and clinical and divorced from the situation. Every encounter with her mother or even her own son, who is ill in the hospital, helps the reader learn more about this woman. Now, with her mother remembering certain events that she would rather not have revealed, Barbara is going to try hard to convince her son to put her in a home.

Amy begins renovating and cleaning up the House on Sugar Plum Lane and finds a journal written by Ellie. The reader along with Amy begins the journey from beginning to end of a romance that was short but meaningful. Looking through the world through your child’s eyes is what Amy wants to do and realizes that Ellie did too. Reading more of her journal she becomes embroiled in her life and learns about her skill as a seamstress and her flair for decorating. But, Amy comes face to face with Ellie when she learns she is living with Maria her neighbor and she wants to get to know her and understand more about her life. But, as I know when a person has dementia or Alzheimer’s they have some lucid moments but as the illness progresses those moment are few and far between.

Maria, Amy’s neighbor on Sugar Plum Lane has many had many hardships in her life. Wrong choices are things that everyone makes. Some choices we need to live with and others we might learn from as we move on to hopefully better things. When Eddie a gardener and landscaper enter Maria’s life, she sees glimmer of hope not only for her but for her son Danny too. With an ex-husband in prison and a son who can often be difficult, Eddie helps him gain some perspective in understanding his mother and invites him to join a very special team.

As Amy enters the world that Ellie created for herself and reads more about this amazing woman, she hopes that she will be able to communicate with her at least once before she reaches the final stages of dementia.

So many events and some many characters whose lives will intertwine into one large ball and hopefully remain in tact. Brandon and Amy each coming to grips with their pasts and the hopes for the future. Will they ever see things as one again? Barbara, Ellie’s daughter, will she reveal her secrets to her husband and how will she deal her past? Second chances are not always easy to come by or give. Forgiveness is something that many will not afford those who have wronged them. This is truly a book about second chances, hope, love and forgiveness and woman named Ellie who brought everyone together. For just one moment, she knew that something wonderful and someone special was now in her life and her daughter’s life. I would love to have that lucid moment with my mom too. This is a book that everyone needs to read in order to understand that family comes first and keeping a loved one at home, if at all possible, is the best thing you can do. I know that first hand. Well written and very heartfelt this is a must read to help you understand although hard, to forgive someone is one of the greatest gifts you can bestow on the person you are forgiving.

The Song of Hannah

ISBN: 9780452286726

Written by: Eva Etzioni Halvey

Reviewed by:  gabina

Stars:(5)

 The Song of Hannah

By Eva Etzioni Halvey

Reviewed by Fran Lewis

In this first novel by Eva Etzioni Halevy wrote a novel that far surpasses that of others of today and in the past. Two women, Hannah and Pninah are bond together by one man. Hannah sought after by one man only to spurn him to fight for another, the husband of her best friend Pninah. Pninah having broken the laws of the Torah and gave herself freely to Elkanah before they were wed. But, he played with her feelings and her mind, and having fallen for his words she succumbed to him many times only to learn the truth leaving her feeling degraded and alone.

What would you do if your best friend became your husband’s second wife and you could do nothing about it? Pninah had to live with knowing that her husband favored another woman right after they were married and knowing that she was going to bear him a child not long after they were betrothed. Jealous, angry and tossed aside, this intelligent and beautiful woman and scribe who took pleasure in teaching young child, is depicted as the villain a jealous shrew. But, is she?

Two women caught in a web of lies and deceit and tied to one man. Hannah, Pninah’s best friend and second wife to Pninah’s husband looking to find a permanent place in his heart and in his bed. Pninah able to bear children something that Hannah could not do until she decided to make the ultimate sacrifice to God. Going to the Temple of the Covenant of the Ark she bears her soul and promises that if she gives birth to a son she will have him raised by the priests and devote his life to God. But, at what sacrifice to herself and the child.

Samuel is born to Hannah and Elkanah. Hannah does keep her word. But, as he grows and learns more about the Torah and God so is he able to foresee and foretell the future. What he does learn of the fate of the people of Israel and many other nations was terrifying to those who heard his words and others who chose not to believe him.

Hannah having secrets of her own and Pninah wanting to fill her heart and bed with another man. She and Hannah learn that not everything will come out right and they often have to bond together for the sake of their children and for the one man that they both love and still want. Pninah realizing that her actions go against Torah law and she is now a deviant woman who has cheated on her husband justifies it in her own mind when she states that men are allowed other women and take their maids to bed and more than one wife, why can’t women be afforded the same rights. Sounds like she and Hannah are two women might have started their own women’s rights movement back in Biblical Times. The author even brings to light birth control and abortion in this novel and lets the reader know that these issues were prevalent even then.

When Samuel comes to his parent’s home he explains his prophecies for Israel and tells Pninah in order for her to save herself and her children from God’s wrath she needs to return to the Lord and not sin anymore. Explaining to her that he understood how she felt when his mother became her husband’s second wife, and that she was not as loved by her husband as Hannah was, Samuel goes on toe explain that she must return to the Lord, her God. He knows of her sins and her cheating with another man and tells her of what will befall the people if they do not stop worshipping other gods and women stop sleeping with other men. The sins of his people are they continue will cause the Lord, he foretells to bring on a bloodbath that will be devastating.

With her sons off to war, Pninah, sat in her room battling with despair and the fear that they would never return. Deciding to leave her home and wait for her sons to return, Pninah goes up on a hill to wait for their return and when they did she greeted them and had their wounds tended to. But the battles that raged between Israel and the Philistines wreaked havoc, death and destruction. But, the fate of her two sons was in the hands of another and what happens will surprise the reader and renew your faith in Pninah and what she did in order to try and prevent these wars from happening. All too often one deed that we think will bear no importance turns out to be the one thing that makes things right. Although Samuel had told her that to mend her sins would save her sons, it seems as the reader will learn that just the opposite saved them.

From her lover, Arnon, she learned of the letter that her sons had written and the promise never to fight against the Philistines again. She would keep that promise and demanded that her two sons take a vow and promise allegiance to the Lord.

Although the Israelites lost in battle what happened the death and destruction to the Philistines, was even worse. Returning the Ark to where it belonged and Samuel’s words were finally heard and the people of Israel turned to the Lord and gave up their idol worship.  But, Samuel’s life would not be the same and would he ever find peace within himself, or just torment.

The bond between Samuel and Pninah grew in a way that will surprise the reader in many different ways. When Hannah realizes his true feelings for his father’s wife, what will she do? What does finally happen between Pninah and Samuel and what bond do they form you will have to learn for yourself.

Revenge, hate, deceit, loyalty, friendship and love and more are what this book is about. It is about two women caught in a web that they found hard to break free from. Hannah, loyal to her husband and hating to share him with others, even though she learned she was. Pninah, sought after by her husband and falling prey to temptation. One woman who would unite her family and bring unity: Hannah.

Two different women wrote two different books from their own points of view. Do as I did: Read them together and then separately to really understand both women and you will come to admire them both for different reasons.

What will happen between to Samuel? Will he ever find peace? Will Hannah be able to keep her family together?

You will have to read this outstanding novel for yourself to learn to what lengths a woman will go to in order to find true love and more. Eva Etzioni Halvey has described a time in Biblical times that must be remembered and understood. How difficult for woman to have to share her husband with another and not being allowed to do the same. Wars that her won and some that were lost. One man, Samuel, who stood tall and hoped his words were heard. You decide you listened and who did not.

Read the Garden of Ruth to find out what happens next.

Fran Lewis: Reviewer

Author of the Bertha Series of Books, and Memories are Precious

www.gabina49.webs.com

www.gabina49@wordpress.com

www.franifashinista@blogger.com

The Garden of Ruth

ISBN: 9780452286733

Written by: Eva Etzioni Halvey

Reviewed by:  gabina

Stars:(5)

The Garden of Ruth

By Eva Etzioni Halevy

The Garden of Ruth is a novel about a young girl named Osnath who is torn between her need to find out and uncover the mystery and details behind the woman the in the Bible’s Book of Ruth. Osnath is the granddaughter of Pninah and has decided to make it her life’s journey and goal to learn more about Ruth. 

Beautiful, clever, persistent and educated a really strong combination for a woman of her time. Osnath, a scribe, like her grandmother, Pninah visits Bethlehem with her grandmother and uncle, the prophet Samuel and finds herself torn between two men. Wanting to visit the scroll room of this house she was visiting, she comes across a piece of parchment. As she continues to explore her relatives scroll room, she learns that the parchment was addressed to Ruth the Moabite, who was the great-grandmother of the man she fell in love with, the next king of Israel, David. As Osnath begins to learn more about Ruth and wants to delve into her life and her secret past, her efforts are waylaid and thwarted by David’s older brother, Eliab. Eliab intimates that Ruth’ s past is secret and too shocking to reveal.

Osnath is in love with David. David is a smooth talker and convinces her that he will marry her in due time. However, upon being anointed the next King of Israel he meets with King Saul and any hope of Osnath becoming his wife is lost as he is to marry King Saul’s daughter.

David and Eliab, two brothers who would not want Ruth’s past uncovered for fear of losing their inheritance. Although, Osnath wants to uncover the reasons why they want her life to kept a secret, there is a second story or plot that comes into play. Osnath is in love with both David and Eliab. She feels connected to Ruth, and they share the same joys, sorrows and heartaches. When reading this book you learn of Ruth’s first born not living and many other areas where she and Osnath’s live appear to mirror each other’s.

When there is information to be had or a mystery to be solved I will delve into the subject or persist in finding out what I need to in order to solve the problem or find out what I need to for my research or for anything else. Osnath is a persistent young and intelligent girl who has an advantage over many other girls her age. She can read and write and understands the importance of having the skill. I love the fact that she does not back down and has managed to get Eliab to give her the information about Ruth in order to learn more about her past.

If Ruth could speak she would tell you how she met the man called The Unnamed and how she developed a relationship with him. The piece of the missive that she found had his name on it and information leading to the fact he and Ruth were close. But, it would not be until her husband died of a serious illness and she met him in the market.

 Ruth Speaks:

“Today the Unnamed from Bethlehem comes to me

It was from the gods

It was marvelous in my eyes.

Just what this means and how they come together you need to read this for yourself.

“I met with him many times. I went to his house. We stayed in the bedchamber and my need for love was aroused. The only regret that I have is that these months of encounters with him flew by so fast. Disclosing our lives to each other. I told him about my father and my childhood. He told me about how his brothers made him fend for himself and they did not afford him their protection. But, then the unthinkable happened. He told me he had to leave and go back to his own land. Something inside of me froze. He did not seem concerned with my pain and the one thing I needed to tell him, I never did.

Stating that I would always be in his heart were meaningless words. The fact that I was carrying his seed, made me feel even more betrayed by his words and actions.”

 What was she going to do? How would she deal with her betrayal to her late husband? What would her decision be about having this child?

Naomi, her mother –in-law was a wise and wonderful woman whose advice Ruth valued and whose opinions were strong and mindful. Naomi was leaving her land and going back to Israel. Ruth decided to make the journey with her.

But, as we get to know Ruth we learn of the sorrow of losing her first born.  Osnath’s attempt to mend the ways between her and Adah her husband’s first wife, do not  succeed . Both women struggling to find a place for themselves in the lives of the men they loved. Ruth worked along side the people of Israel and met and related to her late husband made Ruth feel welcome.

Defying Torah Law, both Ruth and Osnath are naïve in the ways of men, intelligent in their knowledge of the laws of the Torah and fall prey to the wiles of the men they both love. As Ruth becomes more enmeshed in her new live, she becomes involved with a man named Boaz, and what happens next will defy all of the conventions of Torah law and let you know that women in Biblical times are no different than they are today. But, Ruth did ponder her thoughts and even though she went with the ways of the flesh, as did Osnath, you have to respect both women for pursuing their goals and never giving up.

Boaz is her next of kin and goes to the man called the Unnamed to find out his intentions toward Ruth. Learning that he will honor his feelings for her and now has a wife, Ruth attempts to dissuade him again, succumbs to his advances, but fails. Boaz shuns her for a while and then recants.  Finding out the truth behind her lover and what transpired between him and Boaz, enlightens Ruth to just what kind of man her lover really is. Will she find happiness with Boaz, what happens next?

Osnath reads what really happened to Ruth’s lover and the circumstances for why he fled his land the crime he committed. The final piece of the puzzle will surprise you and helps Ruth to understand the mystery she wanted to uncover, with the help of Eliab. The real truth as to why he never married or honored Ruth comes out and how Boaz convinced him and why to give her up.

Osnath learns the truth and does write the story of Ruth the way Eliah and her uncle Samuel request. The scroll was placed in the House of the Lord and copied many many times. Ruth’s life as Osnath was closely intertwined. The history related by the author, the disappointments, the hardships, the feminine and the descriptions of the people and the land are so graphically depicted, allows the reader to become one with the story and enter the lives of both of these great women.

To understand and learn what did happen and why to Ruth’s true love and whether she finally does find happiness and more, you need to read this novel, from the author of The Triumph of Deborah and the Song of Hannah.

From beginning to end you learn some much about the struggles of the people of during Osnath and Ruth’s times. But, what does not change is their faith in finding love.

As I read about Ruth, I smiled as my mom’s name is Ruth and so much of her and Osnath remind me of her growing up. My mom is and always was a strong and persistent woman who left no stone unturned. Her true love was my Dad and when she met him there was no turning back. Unrequited love is something that dreams are made of and everyone hopes to find.

Osnath, thank you for honoring the memory of Ruth.  Ruth, you deserved to have your memory honored.

Fran Lewis: reviewer

Author of Memories are Precious and the Bertha Series of Books

An Irish Country Girl

ISBN: 9780765320711

Written by: Patrick Taylor

Reviewed by:  RutaBaker

Stars:(5)

AN IRISH COUNTRY GIRL, a novel by Patrick Taylor, A Tom Doherty Associates Book, is not the kind of book I usually read nor was the book what I expected. AN IRISH COUNTRY GIRL is part of series, and not all series books should be read out of sequence, but this one proved to be a stand alone book which reads like a fairy tale for adults. I enjoyed this myth-rich reading experience.

Those who have read any of Patrick Taylor’s Country Doctor series will already know Kinky Kincaid, the main character. Those reading Taylor for the first time will get to know her as both Kinky Kincaid and by her birth name of Maureen O’Hanlon.

The narrative begins with Kinky relating a ghost story to young carolers on Boxing Day in Ballybucklebo, Northern Ireland. The story she tells is one she lived whilst still a young girl in County Cork in the Republic. This ghost story begins in 1922 and introduces all the O’Hanlons plus Connor MacTaggart, a near neighbor and the central character in the ghost story. It’s Connor who will become the ghost of St. Stephen’s Day, as Boxing Day is knows in the Republic. The tale of Connor’s becoming a ghost is filled with faeries, banshees, animals who behave strangle, sacred trees, and wise women who are both blessed and cursed with the sight.

After finishing the story, which I don’t wish to spoil for future readers, Kinky sends the carolers on their way and begins to prepare dinner. She works as housekeeper to two doctors serving the village of Ballybucklebo. During the dinner preparations Kinky remembers the rest of the story thus providing her own back story for readers of the Taylor’s Country Doctor series and a tale of days long gone for other readers.

Taylor has kindly provided some Irish recipes in the Afterword, as apparently he does in the other books in the series. The COUNTRY GIRL recipes are for Leek and Potato Soup, Potato Apple Fadge, Colcannon, Steak and Kidney Pudding, and Frockon Jelly.

If a word or two in the names of the recipes is unfamiliar, Taylor has also kindly provided a fairly comprehensive glossary which includes not only words but also Irish phrases and expressions, some of which are familiar whilst others are as enchanting and picturesque as the Emerald Isle itself.

Word Lover's Dictionary: Unusual, Obscure,and Preposterous Words

ISBN: 9781567315547

Written by: Josefa Heifetz

Reviewed by:  RutaBaker

Stars:(5)

Josefa Heifetz is the daughter of the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz. She is a concert pianists and composer, but her avocation is collecting odd words. WORD LOVER’S DICTIONARY: UNUSUAL, OBSCURE, AND PREPOSTEROUS WORDS, MJF Books, is the result of this pastime. She spent ten years compiling this lexicon and word lovers will surely delight in it. The book was first published under the title of MRS. BYRNE’S DICTIONARY in 1974 thus the casual reader will note some words that are not so unusual having been absorbed into more common usage over the intervening years. Examples might include words such as cachet, hydrophobia, hydroponics, maxilla, palimpsest, scrimshaw. Crossword puzzle fans will be aware of more words including the likes of orc, Ainu, yegg, yurt. Those who visit the freerice.com site regularly will know even more words. But I can guarantee that there will be words to delight word lovers of any guise or stripe. And some of the familiar words hold a surprise or two. Chevy is not just the nickname for a brand of car. As a noun a chevy is a hunting cry or the hunt itself. Used as a verb to chevy means to hunt or to tease or torment.