julie

Portraits of Celina Bayley is a teen girl whose family tries to pick up the pieces and move on after they have suffered a great loss . She happens to get the bedroom that her mom's cousin used to use, who came up missing at the same age Bayley is , 40 years previously. Her disappearance was never solved . Celina, the missing girl decides to contact Bayley from the afterlife and get her to help solve the mystery of her disappearance. I really liked this book. It kept me interested throughout the story and had a very intense ending ! Well done !

Well written and a wide variety of cases. Would have liked the book to be longer with more details.

Dial M The Murder of Carol Thompson A very good book about the murder of a beautiful young lawyer's wife ,and mother of 4 ,that happened in Minnesota back in the early 1960's . She was attacked in her home early one morning and managed to collapse on her neighbor's front porch, while they called for help. Sadly, they were unable to save her . This story was written well, told in detail, easy to follow . It's a story of greed, infidelity , and a man so self-centered , he can't even be truthful to himself . I liked this book because it went into lots of detail about what happened to the family afterwards .How the kids all turned out in their adult lives and what they chose to feel regarding the murder of their mother when they were all still kids at home. Thankfully, they had a wonderful family backup system that gave them as normal a life as they could possibly have under the circumstances .

Who Killed Chrissy?: The True Crime Memoir of a Pittsburgh Girl's Unsolved Murder in Las Vegas If you like true crime, then don't waste your money on this one . The author spends about 85 % of the book talking about HER life ,which isn't really all that interesting . Supposedly in the beginning of the book, she lets on that the murder of "Chrissy " , 30 some years ago ,has been such a traumatic event in her life, that she has never been able to think about it before and has had to block it out or it would devastate her . THEN come to find out, they were neighbors , barely more than acquaintances .Chrissy asks her one day to go on a trip to Vegas with her and she agrees , but for the biggest part of the book, she has bashed this Chrissy for being stupid, not that great looking, naïve, making bad choices with men (although she never got to KNOW any of them ... It's just irritating, because you'd think if you had been friends or even neighbors with someone ,whose murder was never solved ,and you cared enough about it to write a BOOK ,then you'd try to find something good to say about the victim. All she does is bash her ,say she's afraid of her ,say she has a violent temper and foul mouth and gets too friendly with the strangers she meets in Vegas .. Then in the next sentence, this author says that she sees a guy at the pool who is not THAT bad-looking , and they have a "sex act" in the pool together right after meeting . ALRIGHT .. enough is enough . I have over 300 more books to read , I don't have time for nonsense like this .

Don't Know Where She Gets That From The author, Alex wraps up her family story in this book. I'm hoping one day she will resurface with adventures as a grandmother . This book talks of her parenting years, having a new baby , going to school functions, and dealing with her zany parents and in laws who stay just as funny in this book as in the previous ones . These 4 books were the funniest I've read in a long time. The author and I are almost the same age, so much of what she talked about was familiar to things at that time of my life . Very good little books. all very short. I could read these stories again, but will save them for another time when I need a really good laugh again .

Don't Blame Me, It's Everybody Else Book 3 in the continuing series ,and by far, the funniest. They have all made me chuckle, but this one literally made me laugh so hard there were tears in my eyes . This one is all about the planning and execution of the wedding .Seems that her family were quite odd ,but she was marrying into one that was equally as strange. Neither set of parents got along ,so the wedding turned into quite an adventure ,but OH SO FUNNY ! Only one more yet to go in the series . I sure hope this author writes some more books. She is a gem .

Hi Pixie ! Great to see you too !

The Nurses Having been a nurse , years ago, I thought this book quite interesting. I worked in ER for a time myself, but mainly on the Medical ,and occasionally on the OB floor. I wish the book would have covered nurses who work in more areas of the hospital to get a wider scope of things. I no longer work, (unfortunately), I've been a patient several times in the past few years, in the same hospital I worked in. The nurses tell me how much it has changed now, how the working conditions are. Understaffing, a big company bought out several hospitals in our area, so they treat their employees very poorly .. It makes the nurse's job so much more stressful . Nursing is the most wonderful , fulfilling career you could ever have . I wish the book would have stressed that a bit more. I know it was mentioned many times, but the majority of the book tended to lean on all the BAD things happening in the nursing profession. I realize those thing need to be brought to the forefront . I'm just afraid there was such a negative spin on nursing, it could deter future nurses from even attempting the job ! Are some doctors rude, sarcastic and disrespectful of nurses ? Yes . Are some nurses taking drugs illegally ? Yes, but a VERY small minority ( in my experience ). Do you have long hours, sometimes crappy treatment, and not the greatest working conditions ? Yes. But I wouldn't trade my years as s nurse for all the money in the world. Best thing I've ever done with my life .

Gone , Just Gone A good idea , but poorly executed . I love reading about these unsolved mysteries ,of people who disappear and are never heard from again , or people whose bodies are discovered and no one ever identifies them. So very sad for the victims and their families ,but interesting to try to figure out what happened and why . I'd say this book had maybe half the book of stories I found interesting, most of them ones that I'd heard of previously. Some of the cases chosen were just plain boring . The writing needs some work . It drives me bonkers to read a book with misspellings and this had several. Another thing that irritated me was that they would write a few sentences, then put in parentheses , every single source they got their info from. That's fine to show where it came from, but it would have made the book much easier to read if these would have been placed at the end of the chapters or the book .

Don't Tell My Mum ! Part 2 of the continuing adventures of a girl growing up in the 70's . In this book ,she is in her teens ,so she talks a lot about high school , friends, dating, and more funny antics with her family. Another really cute book !

To Soften the Blow This memoir is written by a woman who grew up in an extremely abusive household . On the surface, they probably looked normal to everyone , being a Catholic family, having 6 kids ,both parents worked respectable jobs and were married . Underneath, there was alcohol abuse by the Father and some insanity issues to compound the problem . It was a very in-depth and eye opening look at life inside an abusive home, where no one is safe and abuse comes from everyone. The family had become abusive to each other ,because of one person abusing them all , and the mother doing nothing to stop it .One night it all came to a head with disastrous results . The story is told by the second to youngest daughter ,She tells mainly the story of herself trying to come to grips with the abuse and learning how to deal with all she has been through in life ,and how to come out on the other side ,a much more emotionally healthy person . She also tells of the struggles of the remainder of her family and how each one copes with the effects , It was a very interesting book. At times, I felt it could have been a bit shorter , but by the end, I think the author felt as though she needed to purge all of this from inside her ,and writing the book was her way of doing that . I hope she is now at peace and happy in every area of her life .

Don't Look at Me in That Tone of Voice ! What a cute book this is ! I think the author is a bit younger than me, and from England, but a lot of her growing up years sounded like mine, especially the really bad hairdos (thanks to Dear Old Mom ) and the stupid looking clothes that she picked for me .Only thing missing were the "Dame Edna" glasses. This book was so hilarious. I'm going to purchase the others in the set now , This author should be a stand-up comedian if she's not already ! Hilarious stories about her whacky mom, her dad's desire to "decorate" the house in as many colors as possible , and her funny little baby brother. What a HOOT !

Thanks Yep, been reading my BUNS off lately ..... I hear The Returned is a pretty popular show ... Not quite the type I'd watch ,but I bet lots of other people like it !

Southern Haunts Interesting little short stories and photos of a few haunted houses down south. Just wish it would have been longer.

The Miracle Girl Anabelle is a 7 year old girl who goes with her Dad one day in the car. A drunk driver hits their car, injuring Anabelle seriously. Her parents are told that she has had severe brain injury and she is in a coma. They have no information on whether she will ever come out of it or not . What follows is the story told by her mom, who insists on giving her care at home rather than putting her in a nursing home type place. Her father, who just can't handle the situation ,and feels helpless. so he leaves and wanders from place to place ,always thinking about his wife and daughter from afar ,and even small parts are told y Anabelle herself ,as she was before the accident . Somehow, word gets out that she can heal people and help them with their problems, whether it be illness, family problems, or many others . Soon, there are crowds lining up at their door each day. Then the news gets ahold of the story . All this time, the crowds grow larger each day. Her mother lets people in, one at a time to see her , not knowing is she believes that her daughter has any special powers , but she feels sorry for the people who have so many unresolved problems of their own. Eventually, the Catholic church steps in to study the situation . They draw up a report close to the end of the book about whether they think this girl was a "true Miracle Girl " or not . I liked the book because in some cases, people's prayers were answered , maybe not because of any divine guidance, but by having HOPE . A good book that makes you question these things yourself .

The Winter Family Blood and guts and gore, Oh My ! I'm sorry. I tried. I really did . I like Westerns, I like Civil War stories, and I read true crime frequently. Something about this book just didn't do it for me . Too many characters, who were too hard to keep track of . Parts of the story made little sense to me. Kinda like the author poured a bunch of words in a tin bucket, then threw them all over the floor . It just wasn't my cup of tea .

The Safe Room What a pleasant surprise this book was ! It was a quick read ,about an old house that was a part of the Underground Railroad. The story is told by the 17 year old girl who lived in the house at the time, and also by her great,great,great,great Granddaughter , whose Grandmother is getting work done to the house to donate it to the Historical Society . It's well written and easy to follow the story, as each girl tells a part of her life story . There's a mystery, a possible murder, a ghost ,and old diary that gives clues to what happened 150 years previously . I enjoyed the book ,although some might find it a little unbeleivable. I thought it was a good book .

One More River I wish I could say I liked this book, but it was a bit too disjointed for my liking . I guess the idea for the story was ok .. The main character is Mickie Moe, who starts out the story in Vietnam during the war . Then it goes back to how he and his wife first met, her family's disapproval of him because he didn't know his Family's background . His mother never told him anything . He seems to think that he needs to do this before marrying his girlfriend ,since her parents want more information on his family before giving their permission . He goes off on a quest to find out his family history and finds out quite a few surprises. He finds out in the end that his father wasn't a saint, but he did the best he could with what life gave him . The whole story of the father was a bit too unbelievable . This all happened down south, and had a lot of racial issues thrown in ,mainly the treatment of the Blacks and Jews . I just thought the whole story was sort of pointless. Not written in a manner that was easy to follow, it kept jumping around from one time frame to another . Too disjointed to follow well . I guess,in the end, it made no sense to me that these 2 young people were apparently so in love. The girl was 20 --she ran off with him twice . It would have made a lot shorter book if they would have just ran off and got married instead of all the rest . Sorry, not that impressed with this one .

Hissing Cousins What a couple of interesting ladies ! I have to say, I knew very little about either of them at the beginning ,but the title interested me, and I love history and biography type books , so this one was right up my alley . It was well researched and must have taken quite a long time to compile, with so much information . Eleanor and Alice were first cousins who were playmates as children and seemed to get along ok when they were small, but as they grew up, their relationship was strained .It was quite an odd one, because in times of tragedy, they came together and supported each other . I kept trying to figure out what the seed of the problem was between them. In my opinion, Eleanor was just a GOOD person. really kind and caring and always trying to help out those less fortunate than her . Alice was exactly the opposite. She was number one, she was spoiled rotten ( by herself if no one else was around to do it ) and had quite a barbed tongue about almost everyone . No one was safe . Oddly ,they both had so many similarities in their lives : both had mothers who died when they were children, both had stepmothers who were difficult to get along with. Both married philandering husbands , both stayed with them . Both who had husbands in politics, both had mother-in-laws from the Black Lagoon . The book mentioned both their LOOKS in their younger years, so I had to search for pictures of them both on their wedding day. I thought they were both handsome women, but neither was stunningly beautiful. Neither one aged well ,so I think they both came out even in that area . Alice was pretty wild for her times and didn't seem to care what she did, or what people would think of her .Eleanor was just the opposite, being very conscious of her decisions, making good choices, and just being a good , nonjudgmental person who was in a position to help others, and DID . I think, in the end, it boiled down to the fact that Alice would have liked to live in the White House forever and always be the center of attention . Once her father, Teddy was replaced, she HAD to move out ,but was always hoping to make it back there to live someday. Her husband never succeeded in becoming president, but Eleanor's did , therefore, the jealousy came into play. It was mentioned in the book that Alice was actually interested in Franklin in their earlier years, but I doubt that marriage would have worked any better than her own did. She would have at least made it back to the White House ,and that would have made her day ! This was a fascinating look at a family that I now want to read more about ,so shall do so .

Lacy Eye What a good tale of suspense this was ! The story of a couple who had an intruder come into their bedroom one night while they were sleeping. Her husband was bludgeoned to death and she was very close to death, with brain and facial damage . At the trial , her youngest daughter's boyfriend was found guilty of the crime . After several years go by, and an appeal is coming up ,with the possible chance of a new trial, her daughter suddenly reappears in her life . A very suspenseful story, told just right. By the last few chapters, you are turning the pages faster and faster to find out how it will all end . Very good book !

The Returned The writing in this book is good, but the subject matter is just not my cup of tea. I'm not into sci-fi or fantasy or the undead and zombies . Just all a little too unbelievable to me . It starts out interesting, but just gets weirder the further along you read . Apparently some of the people in this town that have died previously come back to the town .Some of their family and people in town are glad to see them, and have trouble believing they are back and among the living again... ( huh, I can't understand WHY .... ) Some of the zombies (?)who come back are wanted by their families, while others are evil and just take up doing evil as they did while they were alive. I don't know, not to be rude, but this was just a bit too much for me . Graphic and disturbing in parts ... I wish I could think of more good to say about it , As said previously, it just isn't my kind of book, but I'm sure for horror fans and such, they would probably enjoy it .

A Wilder Rose This is the background story of how the "Little House " books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were first written. It seems that her daughter Rose , played a big part in their writing .She was an accomplished writer of her own . Her and her mother had a very difficult relationship ,so it was hard for her to work with her to write the books when Laura REALLY didn't think she needed the help, but found that she didn't quite have the talent on her own to write them. The book told a lot about Rose's life ,which was certainly different than her mother's . She had some female and male affairs , one marriage , and one child who died at birth. she seemed to spend most of her life searching for happiness, and it sounds as if ,in the end, she did find things that made her happy. The LAST place she wanted to be was stuck on the family farm, being married and tied down ,but for several years she was, mainly due t her guilt and feelings of duty to help her parents. A good ,interesting tale of the REAL story of Little House on the Prairie .

The Bullet Probably best of the year so far . How would you feel if you were in your mid 30's and discovered you were adopted ? Add to that the fact that your Dr found a bullet lodged in the back of your neck and you had no recollection of ever have even been around anyone who owned a gun ! This story started out with a unique story such as this ,and kept on building from there . I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait til the author writes her next one ! Read it and see what you think .

The Wrong Man The Final Verdict on th Dr Sam Sheppard Murder Case Did he or didn't he ? In 1954, Marilyn Sheppard, wife of Dr. Sam Sheppard , was brutally attacked while sleeping . Her husband had fallen asleep downstairs and heard her yelling for him, so he came up to help her . He was knocked unconscious . He insisted that day that he had nothing to do with her death . The entire investigation , trial, etc was a disaster from start to finish. Everything that could go wrong ,did . Sheppard was tried and convicted of murder with no evidence linking him to the case . He wasn't really a very likable sort of fellow. He had a "cold" personality ,and had multiple affairs during the marriage ,so he didn't find many people sympathetic to his cause . He spends 10 years in prison, then a young ,new lawyer called F Lee Bailey became involved with the case and fought hard to get a new trial , A new judge looked at the case and aid he felt that they should have a new trial, At his second one, he was found not guilty and released . His life was ruined by this time. He had another marriage that failed, he tried being a surgeon again but had several botched surgeries. He began drinking a lot, and finally died at the age of 46 . Years pass, and his son decides to come back and get his father's name legally cleared of all charges, Another trial was had, but he lost the case , A new suspect shows up during this time ,and a lot of the evidence seems to point in his direction . I'm not convinced myself. I've read all the books I can find n the case and I think it was someone else . This guy was a possibility, but he seems to be too much of a scapegoat to me . Anyhow, most of the original players in this are all long gone at this point. An interesting book with many twists and turns. Very well researched . Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this in exchange for a review .

Young Blood Murder in the Woods What a waste ! 4 young teen boys. One has a grudge against another because of a girl . 2 of the boys lure the other 2 out into the woods ( they only planned on taking the one, but the other came along for the ride, not knowing what would happen ). This is a very short book, so I can't tell much more or you'll know the whole story without reading the book. Let's just say the writing was good, it was a very senseless crime and in different ways, 4 lives were ruined that day by one stupid idea. I always wonder about these young teens who commit such horrible acts of violence. How do they feel when they turn 30, then 40, then 50, knowing what a STUPID thing they did when they were young ? Anyhow, good quick read if you enjoy true crime books .