OCTOBER 2019

Hello All,

I wasn't able to be at our latest Bookshare gathering, but I did get a list of some of the books that were reviewed.  Thanks to Sue De Martini for hosting at the last minute. 

MARYANN STEVENS:

"ME BEFORE YOU" by Jojo Moyes. 4 stars. Louisa Clark is 27 years old & still lives at home with parents, grandfather, her sister & nephew. She’s been working at a small cafe in a British village with an ancient castle. Suddenly the cafe owner is called away to Australia to assist with deteriorating elderly parents. Lou, as she is called, finally finds new employment but just for six months. She’s to be the daytime caretaker of a bright, wealthy, & handsome young man in his mid thirties who has been confined to a wheelchair for the past two years as the result of an accident. Will Traynor had been athletic, a world traveler,a connoisseur of fine food, wine & women, and the owner of a very successful business when a motorcyclist plowed into him while he was crossing the street. He has decided to end his life but his mother has begged him to keep hanging on for six more months. Lou sets about to change his mind...and his heart. In their six months together Will opens the world beyond the village to Lou, but is she enough to change his mind? Tough subject with a Hopeful ending. A little non-graphic sex. A little mild profanity.

After You by Jojo Moyes. 1 star. Beginning of book 2 of the series did not fit hopeful ending of first book. I read a few chapters & stopped.

THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING by Bill Clinton & James Patterson. 3.5 stars.

Mind-boggling pressure, soul-wrenching dilemmas, this novel gives an insider’s view of what it’s like to live in the White House & preside in the Oval Office. The US is threatened by terrorists to take down the internet but only the President knows. Able to confide in only a few aides he reluctantly but adamantly chooses to go incognito to meet the terrorists without the normal secret service protection. He literally goes missing just days before he’s scheduled to testify in Congress to a committee bent on his impeachment. Can he stop the threat in time? As he unwinds the plot, other, closer to home, conspirators are unmasked. Full of action & suspense. No sex. Very little mild profanity.

THE LION AND THE ROSE by Kate Quinn (Alice Network)

3.5 Rodrigo Borgia aka Pope Alexander VI family. Mindless desire for power leads to Murder & Adultery.

Beyond the Borgia family we see a window on Kindness & True love. A Surprising twist at the end leaves you with a satisfied smile in your face. Some profanity. Some sex.

SUE DE MARTINI

CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese. The story of Shiva and Marion, twin brothers whose mother dies in childbirth and whose father abandons them. Raised by the gynecologist who delivered them and her surgeon husband. Raised and educated in a mission hospital in Ethiopia. A story of loss, betrayal, redemption and forgiveness. 4.5 stars

THE LAST CHILD by John Hart. Fiction. 14 year old Johnn Merrimon's twin sister was abducted a year ago and the police have no leads in her disappearance. His mother blamed his father and the father has left. Johnny is determined to find his sister. Some violence but not graphic. The author uses the Lord's name inappropriately. If you like the genre I would give it a 4. 

I then read the sequel, THE HUSH by John Hart. It started out well but became totally unbelievable towards the end. 2 stars.

GERI CHRISTENSEN

THE HIDING  PLACE  by Corrie Ten Boom. The amazing and touching story of how a family in the The Hague in Netherlands was able to help many Jews take refuge and then escape from the clutches of the Nazis until they were themselves arrested and sent to a concentration camp. It is a beautiful true story of love,sacrifice and forgiveness. Some parts are hard to read, but there is so much of goodness in the book that it is inspiring to read. A story of true Christian love and kindness. 5 stars.

SPEAKING FROM AMONG THE BONES by Alan Bradley. Another delightful Flavia de Luce mystery. Flavia is on the hunt for a murderer after a body is found in the crypt of St. Tancrids in the local church. She uses her amazing knowledge of chemistry plus her own wits to outsmart the police and come up with the solution. It is such fun to read the books in this series just to enjoy his incredible mastery of the simile. 3.5 stars. 

FIRE AND STEEL: THE RISING GENERATION by Gerald N. Lund 

This is the first book in a series written by the same author who wrote Hope and Glory. This book is about a German family who became converted to the LDS Church before the start of World War I. It helps to explain some of the history that was taking place at the time. The author has done a lot of research to make the book believable and interesting.  I will be reading the further sequels to the book as it delves more into the time of World War I and II.   4 stars.