Books I've Read In May

1) The Witch's Daughter, by Paula Brackston
My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins…

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories--and demons--long thought forgotten.

Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, The Witch’s Daughter is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality to remain true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.


2) Kill Alex Cross, by James Patterson
The only wayDetective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he's ever been part of. The President's son and daughter have been abducted from their school - an impossible crime, but somehow the kidnapper has done it. Alex does everything he can but is shunted to the fringes of the investigation. Someone powerful doesn't want Cross too close.
To stop Alex CrossA deadly contagion in the DC water supply threatens to cripple the capital, and Alex sees the looming shape of the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. He is already working flat-out on the abduction, and this massive assault pushes Cross completely over the edge.
Is to kill himWith each hour that passes, the chance of finding the children alive diminishes. In an emotional private meeting, the First Lady asks Alex to please save her kids. Even the highest security clearance doesn't get him any closer to the kidnapper - and Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes. A full-throttle thriller with unstoppable action, unrestrained emotion, and relentless suspense, Kill Alex Cross is the most gripping Alex Cross novel James Patterson has ever written.


3) Deep Dish, by Mary Kay Andrews
After years of hard work, Gina Foxton, chef extraordinaire and former runner-up Miss Teen Vidalia Onion, is hosting her own show, Fresh Start, on Georgia public television. She's also dating the producer. But when Fresh Start goes bad—and her boyfriend is caught in flagrante delicto with the boss's wife—Gina decides it's time to pursue bigger dreams. Namely a gig on national television.
Gina knows she's destined to be the Cooking Channel's next superstar. But the execs also have their eyes on Tate Moody, Mr. "Kill It and Grill It" himself, host of the hunting, fishing, and cooking show Vittles. The ultimate man's man, Tate is a tasty side of beef with a large, swooning female fan base. Gina's loyal devotees consist of her free-spirited college-dropout sister and her mother . . . who calls every single day.
When the smoke clears there can be only one TV chef standing, and Gina and Tate are ready for the cook-off of their lives.


4) The Sixth Man, by David Baldacci
Edgar Roy-an alleged serial killer held in a secure, fortress-like Federal Supermax facility-is awaiting trial. He faces almost certain conviction. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called in by Roy's attorney, Sean's old friend and mentor Ted Bergin, to help work the case. But their investigation is derailed before it begins-en route to their first meeting with Bergin, Sean and Michelle find him murdered.

It is now up to them to ask the questions no one seems to want answered: Is Roy a killer? Who murdered Bergin? With help from some surprising allies, they continue to pursue the case. But the more they dig into Roy's past, the more they encounter obstacles, half-truths, dead-ends, false friends, and escalating threats from every direction. Their persistence puts them on a collision course with the highest levels of the government and the darkest corners of power. In a terrifying confrontation that will push Sean and Michelle to their limits, the duo may be permanently parted.


5) Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate, Book One), by Gail Carriger
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.


6) So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore, by Wayne Jacobsen
What would you do if you met someone you thought just might be one of Jesus original disciples still living in the 21st Century? That's Jake's dilemma as he meets a man who talks of Jesus as if he had known him, and whose way of living challenges everything Jake had previously known. So You Don't Want to Go To Church Anymore is Jake's compelling journal that chronicles thirteen conversations with his newfound friend over a four-year period and how those exchanges turn Jake's world upside-down. With his help, Jake faces his darkest fears, struggles through brutal circumstances and comes out on the other side in the joy and freedom he always dreamed was possible. If you're tired of just going through the motions of Christianity and want to mine the depths of what it really means to live deeply in Christ, you ll find Jake's story will give you hope for your own. This book probes the difficult questions and offers some far-reaching answers. It just might turn your world upside-down as well!

Goal for the year: 60     Year to date: 28

Sleepless Nights

I've been having a lot of sleepless nights this year, and this is shaping up to be yet another one. Some nights I don't really know why I wind up not sleeping, but tonight I've got a really good idea.  Earlier in the evening, I spoke with someone who hadn't been aware that George had died--and talking about it again brought it all rushing back.

I've tried to stuff all the emotion down, and haven't really ever dealt with it. Part of me feels like I don't have any right to feel sad, and that my responsibility is to stay upbeat and positive, and make sure that Amy's getting all the support and love she needs. So when I start to feel sad, and think I might cry, I lecture myself and shove it down a little further. I know, I know....that's not good for me--physically, emotionally, or mentally...and it's probably part of the reason I've had almost constant health problems for the last two months.

But, like I said, there's that part of me that says I don't have the right to mourn, at least not where people can see me.  After all, I'm the EX -wife....the one who cheated on him, the one who left him. But I'm also the one who loved him, the one who's the mother of his child, the one who spent almost thirteen years of her life with him. And yet, I'm also the one who put up with the constant drinking, the times he hit me, the months of no electricity because beer and cigarettes were the first priority. So there's guilt, love, anger, and a million other emotions that run through me at any given time.

The biggest emotion, though, is probably regret. Even though I was at the hospital several different times the week before he died, I never found the courage to really talk to him, to tell him that I forgave him for all the bad stuff. For the most part, I put all that behind me a long time ago, and focused on remembering the good times, the memories that can still make me smile. And that man is the one I miss, the man I wish was still here for Amy, to walk her down the aisle, to spoil our grandchildren, to sing to them.....

And now, finally, the tears are falling, fast and hard....I miss you, George, and you will always be in my heart!!!

My Father

(I'm using some " writing prompts" on occasion this year, to try to keep myself writing on a more regular basis. Today's prompt is "If you could switch places with anyone in the world for 24 hrs., who would you want to be?)

I've been thinking about this one for a while now, and I've had several answers pass through my mind, but none of them seemed really satisfactory. In one case, I wouldn't be happy with just 24 hours, and in another 24 hours might be too long. But, I think I finally came up with an answer, even though it would require just a tiny bit of time travel. :)

If I could change places with anyone for 24 hours, I would want to go back about 15 years and change places with my father. The reason? I'd love to know what was going on in his mind at that point in time, to understand why my family and I moving out of town made him treat us as though we'd never existed. I'd like to know how he could just walk away from his only grandchildren, the youngest of whom doesn't even remember him now, and the other two who probably wouldn't recognize him--or he them--if they ran into each other on the street. (And he now has a great-grandson he doesn't know anything about and will never get to meet.) I was "Daddy's little girl" from the time I was born...and even after my parents divorced, I was the child who worked at keeping that relationship alive, in spite of opposition from my mother.

And this loss of contact was all a one-sided decision. After we moved, I wrote letters to keep him informed on what was going on with all of us, and I tried to call him on many different occasions. My letters went unanswered, and my calls went unreturned. Eventually I gave up, and now he gets a Christmas card every year...and I get a card in return, with a check enclosed. Three years ago, his card didn't come, and I wondered if that meant what I fear the most...but the following year it came again, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But I learned recently that he had a stroke in the past, which probably explains that missing year, and it breaks my heart that NO ONE near him thought to contact me to let me know...not his wife, not any of her children...apparently they've all written us out of the family.

So, I have to wonder now if, when that day comes that I lose him forever, I'll get the news from my mother, when SHE reads about it in the local newspaper. And then I wonder how I'll handle the situation...will I go to say goodbye, and feel ignored and unwelcome, or will I stay away and feel forgotten and betrayed? Only time will tell!

My Favorite Subject

No, not my favorite subject to talk about, or blog about...my favorite subject in school. Since I've been a poet/writer since I was ten, I'm sure it won't come as much of a surprise to learn that my favorite subject through elementary school, junior and senior high, and even college, was English...although over time that narrowed to Literature and Creative Writing.

I'm also a voracious reader, and have been since I learned to read...which was, according to my mother, somewhere between three and four. I know that by the time I was six, I was going to the library every Saturday and checking out a stack of books, and that by the time I was in fifth grade, I was reading at a high school level....and comprehending what I was reading.

Words are my "thing," I guess you could say. I'm better at writing them than speaking them, because when I'm writing I can go back, delete something that doesn't sound just right, and keep working at it till I find just the RIGHT words to express myself.  When speaking, I don't generally have the luxury of time to put the words together in the perfect way, so I tend to be a better listener than a talker.

When I look back, I fondly remember four teachers who helped foster my love of the words. The first two were my junior high English teachers, Robert Lawson and Dennis Fravel. The other two were college professors: Jack Hart, who taught my Creative Writing class, and Joanne Ford, who taught several Lit classes I took. Without the four of them, I don't think I'd be half the writer I am today.

Books I've Read In April 2012

1) The Widows Of Eastwick, by John Updike
More than three decades have passed since the events described in John Updike’s The Witches of Eastwick. The three divorcées—Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie—have left town, remarried, and become widows. They cope with their grief and solitude as widows do: they travel the world, to such foreign lands as Canada, Egypt, and China, and renew old acquaintance. Why not, Sukie and Jane ask Alexandra, go back to Eastwick for the summer? The old Rhode Island seaside town, where they indulged in wicked mischief under the influence of the diabolical Darryl Van Horne, is still magical for them. Now Darryl is gone, and their lovers of the time have aged or died, but enchantment remains in the familiar streets and scenery of the village, where they enjoyed their lusty primes as free and empowered women. And, among the local citizenry, there are still those who remember them, and wish them ill. How they cope with the lingering traces of their evil deeds, the shocks of a mysterious counterspell, and the advancing inroads of old age, form the burden on Updike’s delightful, ominous sequel.


2) The Christmas Wedding, by James Patterson
The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays. 

But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.


3) The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks
In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life. 

After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph -- his lucky charm. 

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the woman in the photograph out of his mind and he sets out on a journey across the country to find her. But Thibault is caught off guard by the strong attraction he feels for the woman he encounters in North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother -- and he keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate love affair, his secret soon threatens to tear them apart -- destroying not only their love, but also their lives. 

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love. 


4) The Resolution for Women, by Priscilla Evans Shirer
Written in partnership with Sherwood Pictures' film, COURAGEOUS, in The Resolution for Women, popular speaker and author Priscilla Shirer challenges all women to be intentional about embracing and thriving in God’s beautiful and eternal calling on their lives. 

Like the men in the movie who resolve to fully accept their responsibilities before God, Shirer explains how today's women can and should live out their own resolution. It is "a defining banner that hangs over your life, written in the ink of your own choices." A woman's banner should be an accurate reflection of who she desires to be-someone completely Christ-centered who blesses and changes things in her world for the better. 

The Resolution for Women inspires women with intentional, spirit-filled living from three unique angles. Section one, entitled, "This Is Who I Am," helps a woman define herself as "authentically me, purposefully feminine, surprisingly satisfied, and faithfully His." Section two, "This Is What I Have," invites her to value "my best, my blessing, my honor, and my heart." And Section three, "This Is What Matters To Me," focuses on joyfully honoring God as a wife, mother, and family member while resolving to live with the grace that leaves a godly legacy. The Resolution for Women is designed to inspire a revolution.


5) Good Christian Bitches, by Kim Gatlin

The GCBs of Hillside Park Presbyterian are praying for Amanda Vaughn--or so they claim. Will their evil gossip destroy her reputation, or will she show them exactly how to turn the other cheek

Amanda Vaughn needs some heaven-sent help. She’s divorced her cheating husband and fled, along with her two teenagers, back to her hometown, Hillside Park, a Dallas suburb so upper-class that the question isn’t where to bank, but whose family owns the bank. Amanda is thrilled to be back in Texas—after twelve years in Southern California, she’s ready to leave behind her shallow, Godless life and return to the welcoming Christian world where she grow up. Or at least that’s the plan . . .

But when she arrives, she’s met with some Texas-sized trouble. Her old friends, neighbors, and fellow church members treat Amanda like a long-lost friend . . . until her back is turned. Then the claws come out. Amanda finds herself trapped in a world of salacious rumors, secret affairs, and Bible-study sessions gone terribly wrong. And what’s even more puzzling is that a secret admirer is sending Amanda lavish gifts. Why, she wonders, would anyone send a Mercedes when a simple dinner invitation would do?

Packed with schemes, drama, and a Southern setting more fun than a barbecue at Southfork, Good Christian Bitches has humor, sass, and an unforgettable cast of characters.


6) Don't Look Behind You: Ann Rules Crime Files #15, by Ann Rule
Walking home on a dark night, you hear footsteps coming up behind you. As they get closer, your heart pounds harder. Who is closing in with dangerous intent—a total stranger? Or someone you know and trust? The answer is as simple as turning around, but don’t look behind you . . . run. Ann Rule, who shared her own nerve-jangling account of unknowingly befriending sadistic sociopath Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me, chronicles other fateful encounters with the hidden predators among us in this riveting collection, fifteenth in the bestselling series drawn from her personal files. First in line is a stunning case that spanned thirty years and took a determined detective to four states—ending, finally, in Alaska—where he unraveled not one but two murders. A second case appears to begin and end with the hunt for the Green River Killer, focusing on a Washington State man who was once cleared as a suspect in that deadly chain of homicides. But the millionaire property owner believed he had successfully buried his own murderous past and the awful truth behind his young wife’s disappearance. She vanished soon after she left for a day at the Seattle World’s Fair, and her three small children grew up believing their mother had abandoned them. But one amazing witness remained—the missing woman’s best friend, who heard her last words in a frantic phone call—“He’s coming!”—before the line went dead. Only since Robert Hansen’s suicide has the monster within been revealed. In another true story, a petite woman went to a tavern, looking only for conversation and fun. Instead, she met violent death in the form of a seven-foot man who had seemed shy and harmless. You’ll feel a chill as you uncover these and numerous other cases of unfortunate victims who made one tragic mistake: trusting the wrong person—even someone they’d known intimately, or thought they knew.


7) The Best Of Me, by Nicholas Sparks
"Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She'd believed in it once, too, back when she was eighteen."

In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?


8) The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.


9) Toys, by James Patterson and Neil McMahon
James Bond and Jason Bourne have just been topped! A battle for the world is set into unstoppable motion and Hays Baker is the only one who can save it.

Hays Baker and his wife Lizbeth possess super-human strength, extraordinary intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do--they're Elites, endowed at birth with the very best that the world can offer. The only problem in their perfect world: humans and their toys!

The one with the most toys--dies

The top operative for the Agency of Change, Hays has just won the fiercest battle of his career. He has been praised by the President, and is a national hero. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overturns everything he thought was true. Suddenly Hays is on the other side of the gun, forced to leave his perfect family and fight for his life.

Now a hunted fugitive, Hays is thrown into a life he never dreamed possible--fighting to save humans everywhere from extinction. He enlists all of his training to uncover the truth that will save millions of lives--maybe even his own. James Patterson's Toys is a thriller on a hyper plane--with a hero who rivals both James Bond and Jason Bourne.


10) Explosive Eighteen, by Janet Evanovich
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.
 
Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.
 
Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.
 
Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. The bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment. And everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?

Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii.  And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.

Goal for 2012: 60   Total so far: 22

Z Is For Zero

Zero is for the number of posts left in the challenge after this one. Zero is also for the number of ideas I have for writing a post this morning!  I suppose I could have written about zaniness, or zebras, or a zillion other things, but nothing really appealed to me. So, from the zenith of my creativity, I decided to just write a few sentences about my writer's block. Zounds, this Z is one tough letter!   :)

Y Is For Years

Today is a pictorial blog....Teresa through the years.  Hope you enjoy!!!

This is me as a baby...about a week old.

This me at around 10, with my younger brother.


Me around 20, Christmas morning.

 
Me at 31, with Amy...her first Christmas, and she was NOT happy!!!


Samantha, me, Amy, and Barry....Mother's Day, when I was 40.


With Barry, just prior to my 50th birthday.