Reviews with TLC

I'm fairly certain Dance with a Gunfighter by Joanne Pence is the first western I've ever read. I'm not sure what I expected, but reading it reminded me why I hate genre labels... I would've missed this gem simply because it's a western if I hadn't been asked to review it. Pence drops the reader in the middle of an Old West desert landscape complete with throats parched from thirst, pounding heat from the sun, and cold nights. When Gabe and McLowry meet at a town dance, they never expect to see one another again. After all, she's an innocent teenager and he's a gunfighter. Years later when Gabe finds herself alone and seeking revenge for her family, McLowry reappears and becomes her reluctant protector. As they grow closer, Gabe's inability to behave like a "lady" coupled with her innocence of how the world works confounds McLowry. They travel together looking for the people Gabe seeks to kill for revenge for her family all the while McL...

  All the Dancing Birds by Auburn McCanta set my heart aflutter and my mind to dancing as it immersed me in Lillie Claire's struggle to hold on to herself. McCanta's lyrical prose wrapped me in the story like a comforting blanket as we traveled through Lillie Claire's good days and bad days. I cringed as Allison, Lillie Claire's daughter, struggled accept the reality of the changes in her mother as Lillie Claire lost her hold on her memories, her life, and her self. I blinked back tears as Bryan, Lillie Claire's son, gently but efficiently guided Lillie Claire through the necessary steps to preserve her dignity as much as possible. The letters Lillie Claire wrote for her children explaining her "failures" as she saw them and giving them their ancestral heritage left me clamoring for more as I'm sure her children felt when they finished reading them. Lillie Claire's "woman" aka Jewell made me appreciate how precious caretakers for those ...

Click to purchase book from Amazon.com Click to purchase movie from Amazon.com I watched the movie, Chocolat, several years ago, so I recently decided it was time to read the book. Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention when I watched the movie, but I expected something very different when I sat down to read the book. I expected the book to be more... romantic, sensual... Instead I found it to be an exploration of the effects of intolerance. Harris takes the intolerance so rife in our world and concentrates it in one small community showing how limiting we can be when we refuse to see beyond that which we've always been taught. She deftly explores the effects of exclusionary behavior and the harm of not bothering to get to know other people. With the story set around a newcomer who opens a chocolate store during Lent and the priest who opposes not only the chocolate shop but her mere presence, the town seems divided down the middle with people willing to bli...

Blue Ice by I.C. Enger introduces Brooke Breckenridge and Homeland Security Special Agent Jack Strickland as each embarks on quests that will soon intersect. Brooke searches for a quiet, peaceful place to recover from the death of her finance and dog while Special Agent Jack Strickland searches for a lost friend. When Brooke ends up housesitting Stickland's missing friend's house, she finds herself under Jack's watchful eye. Brooke tends to unintentionally make herself look anything but innocent as she goes about trying to live in a small, lake community with Homeland Security camped in the house she's housesitting. Hiding secrets of her own, Brooke invites ever more scrutiny with her reluctance to discuss her past and her tendency to act recklessly. Danger, espionage, and death have infiltrated the small lake community leaving everyone at risk.

Ann Iverson occupies a definite space in the pages of Definite Space . Her words explore her emotions about her son's deployment in war. She writes about the effects on family and the way life goes on even when it feels like it shouldn't. She explores the feeling of standing in a space while the world keeps moving at its pace without pausing to notice she's no longer moving with it. Iverson's poems are touching and honest. Definite Space paints a picture with words that immerse the reader without feeling overly complicated.                                                                                              < />

Millionaire Women Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. left me amused by the thought that the typical millionaire woman next door he describes would be unlikely to read his book - or at least buy it. He covers his bases and describes attributes of myriad types of millionaire women, which is nice because it leaves hope open for anyone. Yet, there's an undercurrent to what he says that feels a little off-putting. Perhaps it's because there are moments when he talks in absolutes that feel like over-generalizations. The theme of the book seems to be the same for any millionaire next door; live below one's means, don't worry about impressing others, and be persistent. The writing is often dry and academic, but that's to be expected as it is a book reporting on research. I searched the pages for inspiration but ended the book without having an major revelations. Overall, I'd say it's an interesting look at accumulating wealth and avoiding the pitfalls of consum...

Taken by Robert Crais immerses the reader in the search for a missing girl in this Elvis Cole/Joe Pike book. Cole and Pike search for the girl and her boyfriend on behalf of the girl's mother. As they encounter human traffickers, kidnappers, murderers, and drug dealers, the dangers mount and take them on a series of twists and turns that leave the reader squirming. Even the most faithful Cole/Pike fan will find Crais takes them into doubts of whether or not Cole will rescue the girl when he finds himself taken by her kidnappers. Then the reader is left to hope Pike will rescue Cole and the girl before they die. The discovery of who the girl's boyfriend is ratchets up the danger bring on more suspense.The tension drives the reader to the edge even though die hard fans never truly doubt either Cole or Pike. As Cole faces danger, Pike hunts. As is always the case, Pike is a man of few words and Cole wisecracks in the face of danger. Crais's Taken is an enthralling and danger...