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#BookReview: Dead On Arrival by Pandora Pine

The Cop Becomes The Accused. This is the latest chapter in Pine’s long running and expansive Cold Case Psychic universe, back in the “main” storyline once again. And as with most of these tales, it can work as a first book for you, if you don’t mind coming in and already seeing an established relationship(s), rather than the initial building of one. In this particular tale, Ronan and Tennyson’s relationship is put to its biggest test to date when Ronan walks in on Tennyson kissing another man… and that man is dead hours later with his blood all over Ronan’s body. A solid look – from the eyes of a cop – at the issues of when a cop becomes the accused, though in at least a slightly Hallmarkie way. (ie, this *is* still a romance book, and follows RWA conventions to that point.) Yet another great entry, and very much recommended.

This review of Dead On Arrival by Pandora Pine was originally written on February 8, 2020.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Character Still Counts by James Merritt

This week we are looking at a book of nuanced fire from a former Southern Baptist Convention President. This week we are looking at Character Still Counts by James Merritt.

Outside of my own pastors over the years, there is no single preacher I’ve listened to more over the years than Dr. James Merritt. Among those preachers I don’t personally know, he is easily the singular one I respect the most. I grew up listening to Dr. Merritt’s sermons on TV as our family was getting ready for church, and I’ve been known to download his sermons from time to time in the years since. Nearly a decade ago when I listened to him for the first time in roughly that long, I discovered that this man who had been the SBC President at the time of the 9/11 attacks and was known to be quite cozy with then-President George W. Bush had mellowed quite a bit and had developed quite a bit of nuance to his preaching.

This level of nuance continues into this book, where Merritt makes it quite clear that we are all in the same boat, no matter our stage or position in life. In speaking of integrity, Merritt does not negate his own by taking partisan sides and instead condemns the adulteries of both former US President Bill Clinton and current US President Donald Trump in the same breath. He uses jokes and anecdotes both to illustrate his points and to provide a bit of levity in the midst of some at times very hard hitting passages where he is pulling no punches… even while his fist is wrapped in a velvet glove.

One geek out moment for me, and a moment that had to be very cool for his son, was when Dr. Merritt actually quoted and cited his son Jonathan’s most recent book Learning To Speak God From Scratch at one point. Behind the scenes, Jonathan has had a bit of a situation that caused a fair amount of drama in some circles, and this moment was a very blatant case of the father publicly standing beside the son. Truly, it nearly brought tears to my eyes, and I only know the very barest of hints of the details of the overall situation. (Indeed, 90%+ of what I know comes from when Jonathan himself addresses it in Scratch.) While not a “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased” level moment, it was instead a very subtle yet public simply stepping up beside the son and making it clear that the son has the father’s support. In a book all about character it was an excellent display of the father’s character and faith in the son’s character.

On the whole an excellent book, no matter whether you agree with Merritt’s own conservative evangelical American Christian mindset or not. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Dating the Quaterback by Maggie Dallen

Interesting Conclusion. The first thing to know about this book is that it really does need to be read second, after Charming the Cheerleader. Why? Because the timelines start at roughly the same points and you get two people’s views on a lot of the same events – even while telling their own story about their own high school romance. Also, there are some pretty decent spoilers for Charming the Cheerleader if you attempt to read this book first, so be forewarned there. Beyond doing my best to ensure that you read this particular book second, I can tell you that they are told in a very similar style and both involve very similar topics and issues, though with a few particulars based on individual characters. In other words, all four of these people in these two couples have normal-ish high school issues, but the particular issues are specific to each individual. As always, if you’re looking for a fairly light, low drama HS romance… Dallen has you covered. Very much recommended.

This review of Dating the Quarterback by Maggie Dallen was originally written on February 2, 2020.

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#BookReview: Big Lies In A Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

Solid Tale Solidly Told. This is a solid story of two women and two timelines. In 2018, a young lady is released from prison on parole on the condition that she restore a mural from the 1940s. In the 1940s, another young woman is painting this mural. The present day timeline is told in first person and the past timeline is told in third, which makes it easy to pick up and know which period you’re in. I personally suffered some family tragedy and what felt like a pretty significant reading slump while reading this book, but I managed to get through it and finish the book within the month. And let me be clear, I do not feel that this book itself had anything to do with the slump, it really is a solid tale with an interesting curve at the end. Very much recommended.

This review of Big Lies In A Small Town by Diane Chamberlain was originally written on February 1, 2020.

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#BookReview: Humble Pi by Matt Parker

The Daily Show for Math. In this hilarious and sometimes tragic book about math in the real world – some instances discussed include the deaths of hundreds of people, but most discussions are of a humorous bent – Parker does a truly phenomenal job of showing just how easy it is to get math wrong, and what can happen in the real world in that situation. From bridge collapses to programming errors to planes running out of fuel midair and all kinds of other situations, Parker truly does an excellent job of looking across the spectrum of math errors and showing both what should have been the correct result and what happened with the wrong one. Truly hilarious, and very much recommended.

This review of Humble Pi by Matt Parker was originally written on February 1, 2020.

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Featured New Release of the Week: Snow Job by Beth Bolden

This week we’re looking at a solid if tropey MM romance. This week, we’re looking at Snow Job by Beth Bolden.

As I said in the intro, this is a solid MM romance. It has a decent enough overall plot of ex step-brothers who almost could not possibly be more different getting set up to be in the same place at the same time by their parents… and then getting trapped in that location for a couple of days via the mechanism of this iteration of the Valentine’s Inc marketing ploy: being snowed in. As far as Valentine’s Inc itself goes, this particular book only mentions them once, in passing. (Others in the series make a bigger deal of the organization.) Sometimes a hot, fast, and not overly angsty book is just what the doctor called for, and this certainly hits those notes.

Since I don’t think I’ve really discussed it in this blog, let me mention how brilliant I think the overall idea of Valentine’s Inc is. With this – as much a marketing collective as an actual book series – you get authors who generally write in the same genre (in this case, MM romance) with varying degrees of “fame” (some authors in any iteration of the collective are more well known than others) to come together and write books on their own but with some loosely connecting theme. This is at least the third time it has been done with this loose grouping within the past year, beginning last Valentine’s Day with the original Valentine’s Inc books, then late summer with Valentine’s Inc Cruises, and now Valentine’s Inc – Snowed In. (There is a fourth series, A Snow Globe Christmas, which worked a similar idea with at least some of the same authors, but I am unsure at this time if it was part of this same effort.) And it is a brilliant idea to pool marketing resources together and try to enhance everyone’s sales and fan bases while still allowing near total freedom to the author to write nearly anything they want. I’ve seen the idea replicated somewhat in similar arenas, such as with last summer’s Boys of Summer series, and particularly for established yet not necessarily as well known as they’d like authors, this seems like a solid way to work with authors in the same field to benefit all.

Overall I very much recommend this particular book, Snow Job by Beth Bolden, as well as both the general approach (for authors) and the actual series (for readers) discussed here. 🙂

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore

Dark And Depressing Period Accurate Love Story. This is a seemingly period accurate story of the travails of one woman circa 1855. Told in dual timelines of her time in prison awaiting execution for certain crimes and the tale of how those crimes came about, the overall tone here is fairly depressing but an overall intriguing read. (And at least the second story of this type set as historical fiction Lake Union has published in the last few months.) Set mostly in winter, this is a near perfect deep winter fireside read. Very much recommended.

This review of The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore was originally written on January 15, 2020.

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Featured New Release of the Week: Cat Tale by Craig Pittman

This week, we’re looking at a wild and maddening tale of the fight to save the Florida Panther. This week, we’re looking at Cat Tale by Craig Pittman.

This was a tragic story of how humans actively brought a particular sub-species to the brink of extinction, how human involvement and greed kept the sub-species at that point until it was too late to come back without dramatic human intervention, and how even that intervention nearly didn’t work due to human politics. It is yet another tale that will turn a person into an anarchist, as it shows just how inept and even corrupt government is at all levels. The narrative mostly focuses on the last 50 years or so, and indeed includes data up through 2018.

But the style of the narrative is forthright and even funny, with puns and other humor rampant, including one pun that apparently the author’s wife thought of. Overall simply a well told, compelling tale, and it is thus very much recommended.

Continue reading “Featured New Release of the Week: Cat Tale by Craig Pittman”

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#BookReview: Charming the Cheerleader by Maggie Dallen

Another Solid HS Romance from Dallen. This one perhaps has a bit more internal drama than many of Dallen’s stories, but overall is typical of her style – short ish (less than 200 pages on this one apparently) and Hallmarkie. She dives deeper into the issues her characters are facing – including new schools, new families, and other new dynamics – than she usually does, and it works well here. Very much looking forward to seeing more in this world. Very much recommended.

This review of Charming the Cheerleader by Maggie Dallen was originally written on January 12, 2020.

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#BookReview: When The Stars Align by Isabel Jolie

Solid Debut Romance. This is a solid second chance romance that happens to apparently be the author’s debut. It does touch on some difficult subjects – sexual harassment in the work place primary among them – but it does a good job of working that element into the overall romance. (No, the harasser is not one of the couple.) Very much looking forward to more from this author. Very much recommended.

This review of When The Stars Align by Isabel Jolie was originally written on January 9, 2020.