Home by Julie Andrews

Title: Home
Genre: Biography
Plot: Julie Andrews, an entertainer, tells about her early days on the stage.
Distributor: Hyperion
Length: Long
Rating: G
Author: Julie Andrews
Starring: Julie Andrews, Tony, Rex Harrison, Blake Edwards, Mum, Pop, Dad, Carol Burnett, Walt Disney, Rogers and Hammerstein, etc
Theme: Up and coming star
Comments: This book was an impulse buy from Big Lots. I love biographies and as I was leaving the store it was face out and only $3. Okay, I bit. Truth is, I loved it from page one. It was well paced and engaging. She didn’t make herself out to be perfect and also she was honest (and a talented enough writer) without straying to a ‘dirty secrets’ type of tell-all. I now have the urge to see both My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. Good job, Julie.

Vanished by Kristi Holl

Title: Vanished
Genre: Young Adult
Plot: Girls go missing at a boarding school and one student solves the crime
Distributor: Zonderkidz
Length: Short
Rating: G
Author: Kristi Holl
Starring: Jeri and her friends
Theme: Girl detective
Comments: This was a free download from Kindle. When I saw it was YA, I almost didn’t click on it, but I actually like YA and haven’t read any for awhile. I think if an 8 – 12 year old read this, they’d like it.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Title: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Genre: Present-day Literary paranormal
Plot: A man who because of genetics goes back and forth in his own time – his past and his future, seldom random – meets his future wife at both age 6 and age 20. He has to deal with the pain of never being constant but also knows what one true love really means.
Distributor: McAdam Cage
Length: Long
Rating: R
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Starring: Henry, Clare, Alba, Gomez, Alicia, Cherice, Ingrid
Theme: Urban
Comments: I tried to read the book, at least three times. People kept telling me: READ IT. Finally, I check the audio book from the library. The first disc and a half almost made me give up. Then, disc three: magic. For twelve more discs I was hooked, spell-bound. I knew the characters and they were important to me. I wanted the ending to be much much more. If Audrey writes Alba’s story, it’s a definite sale.

A Taste of Magic by Tracy Madison

Genre: Paranormal
Plot: Divorced woman overcomes her sorrow via both imagined and real witchcraft.
Distributor: Dorchester
Length: Just right
Rating: Mild
Author: Tracy Madison
Starring: Elizabeth Stevens, Nate, and Grandma
Theme: Chick lit
Comments: This was a free download from Kindle. It was an easy read, just took me three days. My favorite part of the book was the dedication in the back. I saw my good friend Lisa Mondello mentioned! Then, too, I had to laugh that I was reading about a quirky witch who was named Elizabeth Stevens. Hmmm, first name taken from Elizabeth Montgomery who played the quirkly witch Samantha Stevens on Bewitched. Hmmm.

The Crossroads Cafe by Deborah Smith

Title: The Crossroads Cafe

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Plot: Two very, very wounded people find each other as they’re spiraling into darkness - just in time.

Distributor: Belle Books

Length: Long

Rating: Hot

Starring: Cathryn, Thomas, Delta

Theme: Southern

Comments: This was a free download from Kindle. I am commenting on it today because the theme assigned from the SuperLibrarian is ugly ducklings and after the heroine is burned, the theme is definitely ugly duckling – literally, although the character growth would be figuratively turning into a swan.

Serendipity by Cathy Marie Hake

Plot: Capable woman steps in and makes the world right: Maggie Rose cares for Todd Valmer’s mother and soon winds up caring (both literally and figuratively) for him. True love comes slowly thanks to an unhappy mother.
Genre: Historical
Distributor: Bethany House – who provided this book for review.
Length: Tradesize
Rating: Just right.
Author: Cathy Marie Hake
Starring: Maggie Rose, Todd Valmer, and the mother.
Theme: Love conquers all
Comments: It's been awhile since I've read an historical. Cathy's went back to a familiar setting in Texas and gave us quite a few characters. One of the things I like the most about this book was the mother-in-law. She really made me think about the ways people act in order to either get their way or to make it so they feel better about themselves. There was a part where Ma actually told Maggie to iron the sheets while they were not quite dry, and Maggie put them on the bed wrinkled. The visual was priceless (and as someone who always puts sheets on that are wrinkled, I didn't have to imagine too much). I also enjoyed how the simple act of bartering made the hero and heroine have to learn about each other - think Maggie trading jelly for medical purposes and a discussion following about whether the jelly was yours, mine, or ours.

Night of the Living Deed

Plot: Woman and daughter move into fixer-upper. Andrea Kirby almost immediately realizes someone or something wants her gone. Yup, both real and un-real. Andrea needs to figure out who killed the previous tenant before she and her daughter meet the same fate.

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Distributor: Electronic

Length: about 50,000 words

Rating: Just right.

Author: E.J. Copperman

Starring: Andrea Kirby, daughter, mother, a history teacher, two bad guys, and two ghosts.

Theme: Bed and Breakfast.

Comments: I'm on a kick where I want to read ghost stories. This one worked well enough for me. I liked the heroine... she reminded me a bit of Juliet Blackwell's heroine in If Walls Could Talk.