This is a short, sweet story about Jimmy, a singer/songwriter who gets a bit caught up in success to the detriment of his relationship with his girlfriend Charlotte. Success means Jimmy is on the road singing while Charlotte stays back at home working as an interior designer. She’s happy with her work and helping plan her best friend’s wedding. Not being able to see Jimmy very often is just part of dating a musician, but when the phone calls become less frequent Charlotte isn’t happy. Jimmy isn’t happy about it either but he is advancing his career. When Jimmy gets a chance to do a nationally broadcast show on Christmas Eve he is very conflicted since that will cause him to miss his brother’s wedding.

The story is told by a narrator and she unfolds the story starting on a Thanksgiving Day when Jimmy writes his perfect love song. She reveals what Jimmy and Charlotte go through as they try to make their long distance relationship work. Jimmy and Charlotte are both pretty sympathetic characters. He’s a good guy just trying to make a living and advance his musical career. She’s a nice person too, often helping out her friends and volunteering. You want them to be able to work everything out, but they have some obstacles to overcome.

In short, it’s a sweet story of love set in the Christmas season. The characters seem like real people that you would want to be friends with if you met them. Jimmy and Charlotte are the brother and best friend of the main characters in Henry’s novel When Light Breaks. You don’t have to read it first though (I didn’t), The Perfect Love Song works fine as a standalone.

There are several extras included in the back of the book. First is a recipe for shortbread and then there are directions on how to make a southern garland. Also included are a Q&A with the author and a discussion guide for reading groups.

book received from publicist for review

“Love, Piracy and Science at Sea.” That subtitle really caught my attention right off the bat. It sounds like it has something for all tastes. It delivers on it too. It’s a touching memoir of an engineer who, when his marriage was falling apart and his job dissatisfied him, found out that helping others also helped himself. When his life was at a low ebb, a small magazine article asking for volunteer sighted guides for blind sailors changed the course of Fisichella’s life. By helping blind people sail he was also making friends and connections and even started his own business to provide adaptive devices to the blind.

I loved all the details about living on a ship at sea and performing oceanographic research. I’ve always had an interest in oceanography and the world’s oceans and I think that many people are fascinated by the seas. They are so large and still so unexplored beneath the surface. I think that appeals to our spirit of adventure and it was great to read about people that are going out there and exploring areas of the world most people will never see. It was also fascinating to read how a legally blind woman could be the scientist in charge of an oceanographic research trip. Fisichella does an excellent job of explaining things in nontechnical terms and his easy narrative style made this book a pleasure to read.

Besides the love, piracy and science mentioned in the title, the author’s equator crossing ceremony and the occasion when his dog gets sprayed by a skunk right before a trip were quite memorable. There’s a lot going on for a book this size. It was so absorbing that I read it straight through.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys memoirs or is fascinated by tales of adventure at sea. A superb memoir, it is a very human story about how one man’s dissatisfaction with the state of his life led him to make the changes that turned his life around.

eARC for review provided through NetGalley

The story begins with the adult Cornelis in Germantown, Pennsylvania Colony in 1699. He begins telling the tale of how his family came to move from Amsterdam to Niew Netherland years before and all that happened to them once they arrived. They wanted to form a community of people with the same religious beliefs on their own land and have their businesses be profitable. Wars between the colonial powers interfered with these plans.

The seventeenth century style of spelling and capitalization helps set the scene. I found the descriptions of colonial life very interesting. I enjoyed reading about the different occupations and skills of the colonists. Cornelis was a hose maker and made plain and fancy hose that he sold. His mother and aunt were both weavers. The details of the meetings that were held and the work that was done to build the community was quite absorbing.

Cornelis was quite an intriguing character. His blindness makes him notice scents more and he associates certain aromas with people or events in his life. Some were good memories while others were so bad that he had to avoid them or risk becoming sick. The book covers many years starting when Cornelis was a child. Over the years you can see him mature as his experiences shape him. I was so into the story that the end of the book surprised me. I pressed the button to turn the page and there wasn’t another page.

The battery of my Sony Reader ran down while I was reading the ebook, and rather than waiting a few hours for it to recharge, I continued reading on my laptop. Once I started the book, I just had to continue reading all the way through! The story just draws you in and won’t let you go. I would recommend Flesh and Grass to anyone that enjoys reading historical fiction of the colonial period.

In 1932, a group of German industrialists and financial leaders supported Adolf Hitler’s rise and the rearmament of Germany as a way to increase their wealth. They conspire to get Karl von Schagel appointed to the position of deputy minister of finance. In 1938, a group of six graduate students gives a presentation on their theory of “The Power Cycle.” The leader of the group is Jacques Roth, the heir to the Roth banking empire. The other members of his group all have similar privileged backgrounds, although they come from many countries. They claim that their theory shows that Germany is heading for war in Europe. They suggest a watchdog organization be founded to avert these situations in the early stages.

The book picks back up in 1943. With the war going against Germany, the industrialists are anxious to get their riches out of the country. A member of the old student group finds out about the money being moved and the whole group goes into action. They conceive and implement their own plan: block the German’s access to the money and steal some of it to fund their group. They want to have a group of sentinels that can watch for these events so they can stop them earlier in the future. The Sentinels put their plan into motion and get their hands on millions of dollars belonging to the Germans. Once the Germans find out about the theft the game is on. The Germans hire people to track down their stolen money. The Sentinels are either on the run or in hiding. The war is coming to a close. The action heats up.

The Sentinels: Fortunes of War was a riveting historical thriller. Set during the World War II years, the plot revolves around the powerful money men backing the Nazi regime and the Sentinels that try to shut them down. The Robin Hood type good guys go after the Nazi-backing bad guys. It makes for a great book and kept me up late reading. Overall, there was plenty of action and suspense for any thriller reader. Especially recommended for any thriller readers that like the World War II setting.

review copy (ARC) rec’d from publicist – Planned Television Arts

In 1926, at thirteen years of age, Sanford Clark was given away by his mother to his uncle, Gordon Stewart Northcott. Northcott took the boy from Canada and illegally brought him into the United States where he was used as slave labor on a chicken ranch and sexually abused. Northcott also brought other boys to the chicken ranch to sexually abuse and murder. He forced Sanford to help him dispose of some of the boys. He used that and the fact that the boy was in the US illegally to keep Sanford from reporting Northcott for his crimes. While Sanford was held captive on the chicken ranch he was not allowed to go to school or play with local children. His only escape was in reading books in secret.

The abuse finally ended when a visit from Sanford’s sister scared Northcott into fleeing. Once the police found out about the murders, they captured Northcott and after his trial he was executed. Sanford was sent to Whittier Boys School and then released at age seventeen. He went back to Canada and lived a normal life.

Due to the title, I expected more of the book to be about Sanford’s life after his uncle was caught, but the bulk of the book deals with his time spent with his uncle on the chicken ranch. I was quite impressed that Sanford managed to make a good life for himself despite all he had gone through. One often hears about criminals claiming that childhood abuse is the reason why they are criminals. Sanford proves that this does not have to be true. It depends on the person. He was an amazing person to be able to have such a good productive life after the torture and abuse he endured.

Flacco writes a riveting recounting of the horrors endured by Sanford Clark as his uncle’s captive and his recovery and adult life. It is also an uplifing tale in that Sanford had the strength of character to shape his own life rather than allow his uncle’s abuses to shape him. A well written book, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading true crime books.

Before reading this book, I had no idea that California produced so much of the wine enjoyed in the US. I also had no idea of the amount of wine they produced overall. The statistics mentioned at the beginning of the book were enlightening. I found out that almost 70 percent of the wine consumed in the US is from California. This book really opened my eyes to the amount and quality of wines from California.

The book contained many helpful features. The cheat sheet located in the front of the book was loaded with good information. One section that I found most helpful was the pronunciation guide. I was unfamiliar with some of the wines so this section should help me avoid embarrasing pronunciation errors when trying a new wine. Another great feature was the inclusion of websites for locating availability and prices of wines. The definitions of regulated terms and explanations of unregulated terms and other information found on wine labels helps one to understand the language of wine labels.

After decoding the wine label, the authors include a short history of wine making in California. Descriptions were given of the major wine regions in California. They even include information about visiting California wineries, such as information on winery tours and local accomodations and restaurants. Descriptions of varietals and listings of the author’s recommended wines to try is another helpful feature.

McCarthy and Ewing-Mulligan explain everything clearly while not being condescending. I enjoyed reading this book and enjoyed putting my new knowledge to work the next time I bought wine. The authors credentials in the wine field gave me confidence in their writing. The authors also give websites for locating availability and prices of wines. Overall, I thought it was a fairly comprehensive first guide to California wines. It is quite a lot of information in one book and a great place to start for people that want to learn more about California wines.

I would recommend this book for anyone that is interested in learning more about California wines.

Not Another Bad Date continues a series comprised of: Sex, Lies and Online Dating (2006), I’m In No Mood for Love (2006), and Tangled Up In You (2007). The books are about the romances of a group of friends. However, this book works fine as a stand alone novel.

The story is set in small town Texas where Adele Harris, a science fiction and fantasy writer, goes to help out her sister. While there she meets up with Zach Zamaitis, a former pro football player, now a high school football coach. Adele and Zach have lives full of responsibilities and difficulties. Zach has a teenage daughter from his marriage and Adele is looking after her niece during her sister’s hospital stay for a difficult pregnancy. The two girls become friends and this leads to Adele and Zach spending time together.

They have a history together. Fourteen years ago they dated in college. They broke up when a previous girlfriend of Zach’s found out she was pregnant. Zach married the pregnant ex-girlfriend, but now she has been dead for three years. Zach and Adele are still attracted to each other but their romance does not go smoothly. Zach’s late wife tries to keep them apart from the afterlife. Her actions tend to have consequences she did not intend. Her part of the story is amusing as her plans keep going awry.

The characters are believable and likable. I liked the small town Texas setting and I found the book enjoyable. Overall a very good contemporary romance with some paranormal elements mixed in.

Laugh out loud funny.

I have read the first two stories and the humans are kicking alien butt!

The rest of the stories are similar. The smart humans outwit the dim aliens. These stories were first published in scifi magazines in the fifties and sixties.