Three Reviews For The Price of One

Sorry for the lapse in writing. I have still been reading, just very slowly. I finished another audio book, The Cross Gardener by Jason F. Wright. Somehow I managed to choose two audio books about a man dealing with the death of his wife. In this book John loses his wife in a car accident. He is left to cope with her loss and the life of their unborn son. His daughter lives but is left traumatized from the accident. John succumbs to the sadness and sinks into a depression. He is barely able to take care of his daughter. He spends most of the time at the scene of the accident tending to the crosses he made. John meets a mysterious man at the crosses. This is the Cross Gardener and he begins to help John heal. John has questions most people face: How do we carry on? Who will show us the way? I give the book a rating of 2. It seemed like it was a different take of The Shack. The journey taken to find answers about God. It was a good enough story to listen to in the car. Easy to see where this book was going early on in the story.

On Monday I borrowed the book, Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich. I used to buy all her books. I used to buy them on the first day they came out. I would devour the story as soon as possible. Laughing out loud enjoying everything about the characters. That stopped a few books ago. Now the series needs to end. There is nowhere else to take the characters. Now it feels like same old, same old. I would have had more respect for the author if she ended the series and found a new series to start. She is a talented author who is now selling out to the masses. She had a unique writing style. Many authors copy her style now. The humor, the interesting characters. When I read One For The Money, it was so unique. Watching the characters develop through each book was so much fun. I just wanted this book to end so I could start something new. Please Janet Evanovich, end the series. Have Stephanie pick her man. We will all live happily ever after. I give this book a 2 out of respect for the series.

I needed to read something to get the bad taste out of my mouth after Sizzling Sixteen. Grabbed a little book off my stack of recently purchased books from our used book sale. It is one of Debbie MaComber's early books called, The Matchmakers. This was just what I needed. Quick read, sweet little love story. A boy decides he needs to find a husband for his Mom and a Dad for himself. His Mom has been a widow for 5 years. I am not going to pretend this is not an obvious, sappy story. It is. Sometimes I love an obvious sappy story. That has to be said. Dori's son sets his sights on a retired pro-football player with a daughter that also wants her Dad to get married. The two kids join forces to make it happen. Dori & Gavin (perfect name for a sappy, romantic book) decide to date and pretend to like each other to get the kids off their backs. We all know where this is going. I still enjoyed the book. If the story is cute enough I don't mind seeing the end coming. I am going to give it a 3 because it made me smile. That is worth at least a 1/2 point extra. If you want a sweet, quick read, I recommend it.

Here is the big question, what to read next? So many books, so little time. Alright, maybe I have plenty of time to read. Just not sure what to pick next. I have two on my e-reader and stacks in my library. Looking forward to Wednesday. We are having our book club meeting one week early. I am very excited to discuss, The Help. Our discussion should be amazing!!!! I started my discussion last week. Cannot stop talking about this book!!! Stay tuned for our meeting review......