Tag: poor

Posted on

#BookReview: A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans

Heart Filled Novella Packs A Compelling Story In Short Form. This is one of those novellas that by the time you’re finished, you’re going to *think* there *had* to be at least twice as many pages given just how much story Evans manages to pack in here. And yet because it *is* barely 100 pages, its *actual* brevity makes it a great holiday read while you’re waiting for things to cook or you’re waiting the 5 minutes of commercials between every possession in a football game or you’re needing five minutes of peace from the chaos of so many family and friends around or… you get the idea. Quick books make great books to read in limited time slices, and this is absolutely that type of tale. Also great for those looking to add a quick easy read (with a lot of heart) to help with those annual reading goals.

Oh, and Evans shows a love of pizza here I honestly didn’t know she had. This entire novella is almost as much a love story for the hole in the wall pizzeria our couple winds up working together at as it is a romance between the couple themselves. Both play off each other well in all the best ways, and along the way everyone from foodies to Hallmarkie types will be quite pleased with the results.

Very much recommended.

This review of A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans was originally written on December 4, 2024.

Posted on

#BookReview: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

All Too Identifiable. Ok, so the first version of this review was basically comparing my life to Vance’s as he relates in in this book, but let’s face it – y’all don’t care about the details there. 😀 Suffice it to say that as a trailer park kid from the southern Appalachian foothills outside of Atlanta, who also spent time “in the country” (though Atlanta has now fully taken over that region since my childhood) at his family’s farm and who also became the first person in his immediate family to go to – and graduate from – college… yeah, there was quite a bit I could identify with in this book. There was also quite a bit where we diverged, specifically in that while the hardships Vance lived through within his own family were frequently seen in my *friends’* and *schoolmates’* and *neighbors’* lives… *very* little of it was ever as immediately in my face for me, even back in the trailer park.

I read the Audible version of this book, actually as I was driving from my home in Jacksonville, FL to my homeland north of Atlanta over the weekend, so I don’t have any information about the breadth of any bibliography here. What I can say is that Vance’s words, from his perspectives of his experience, ring true with my own observations and experiences in a similar-ish background, time, and region.

I can also say that Vance describes his time in the Marines much as I’ve seen and heard others of our generation describe them, particularly as it relates to being crystal clear that while he served in the Green Zone in Iraq, he never directly saw enemy fire or fired on the enemy.

Overall there is truly little if anything to fault here. The writing style – and reading style, in Audible form – were very easy to flow with, it is clear that Vance is actively examining his life and not simply making excuses for himself or anyone else, and in the end, again, this truly does ring all-too-true to my own observations as a contemporary in a similar ish region of the country.

Very much recommended.

This review of Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance was originally written on August 19, 2024.

Posted on

#BookReview: One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day

Lots Of Moving Pieces, Yet Feels Slow Somehow. I think a growing peeve of mine- maybe not yet a pet peeve, but certainly a major annoyance – is using a “hurricane” bearing down on a location and yet using it poorly… which is what happens here. Why a hurricane when a normal storm system would have worked just as well for plot purposes??? Hell, here in *Florida* (much less Maine, where this is set and where they get far fewer hurricanes), our daily thunderstorms (particularly in the summer) are generally worse than many of the hurricanes I’ve lived through here in North Florida (including Irma, just a few weeks after I moved here).

Beyond my irritation with the misuse of the hurricane though, which is admittedly a personal thing, the story works reasonably well, if seeming a bit slow and perhaps a touch unrealistic/ idiotic with some of the moves some of the characters make. But hey, we’re all idiots at some point, right? It just seems like our supposed “heroes” in this particular tale are particularly stupid at times… which grates some people more than others. (Indeed, reading over the other reviews, it seems like many have a hangup on this similar to my hurricane one above.) And yet the stupidity ultimately works to make this novel work, and perhaps that is the reason it is here – this near 400 page book may have been reduced by at least a third and perhaps as much as a half had one or two characters made even a single better decision, perhaps a couple of better decisions. And maybe Day had a word or page count to meet.

Still, there’s nothing objectively wrong about this book, and it *is* an enjoyable read that is *certainly* better than other books and is a solid way to lose a day or a few afternoons in a fictional world… which is becoming so much more important as election season ramps up in the US again. So forget the politics for a bit and pick up this book. You may be disappointed a bit in it, but it will still be better than spending that time watching the news. 🙂

Recommended.

This review of One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day was originally written on August 1, 2024.

Posted on

#BookReview: One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Twisty Interconnected Suspense. This is another one of those tales where Tony Stark’s snark about Nick Fury in The Avengers rings true: his secrets have secrets! Or to use another movie connection… Now You See Me: Come in close, because the more you think you see, the easier it’ll be to fool you. Yes, this is one of *those* books, the kind where the WTFs per minute rise and you begin to get whiplash from whipping your head back and forth trying to follow all the twists and turns, particularly late in the tale. Ultimately a satisfying read… if you like that kind of story. For those that don’t… you’ve been warned. Very much recommended.

This review of One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan was originally written on February 9, 2024.

Posted on

#BlogTour: It All Comes Back To You by Melissa Wiesner

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a strong atypical romance. For this blog tour, we’re looking at It All Comes Back To You by Melissa Wiesner.

Here’s what I had to say on the review sites (Goodreads, Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph, BookHype):

Strong Long-Form Romance. You know those romance tales where someone meets on a plane on their way to their (separate) vacations that happen to be in the same place, fall in love on the plane, and are damn near married by the time they get on the plane back home?

Yeah… this isn’t that. At all. This one takes more like 15 years, and has a LOT more growth of both of our lead characters between the initial meeting and the proposal. There is a strong coming of age element here, there is a strong sense of destiny here, but more importantly and one of the strongest features of the tale is that there is a strong sense of “[S]he’s *right there*! Get your FUCKING act together!”… except that it truly does take both of them the entire time frame to really get to the point where they *can* be together.

And you know what… sometimes… sometimes that happens in real life too. And those real life stories deserve to see their fictional counterparts too. So I’m glad Wiesner wrote this one, so that these types of stories *can* get out more. Because let’s face it, these kinds of romances aren’t exactly the typical ones in the genre – and that makes them all the more refreshing and interesting when you *do* find one like this. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: It All Comes Back To You by Melissa Wiesner”

Posted on

#BookReview: Mystic Wind by James Barretto

Strong Legal Thriller Debut. As a former District Attorney’s Office employee (I worked on their tech) and (mostly) former police accountability activist who also happens to be a former trailer park kid… I have quite a bit in common with our hero of this new series. Which may have made this particular book have a bit more impact for me – while not having these *exact* experiences, I’ve been close enough that they all rang all too true. And what experiences we have, from having (and losing) it all in order to truly find yourself (which to be clear, never really happened in my own life) to crime lords not caring about the “little people” they are destroying to cops, prosecutors, and judges – who are *supposed* to care about those very people – placing their own profits and aspirations ahead of truly serving the people and truly seeking justice. Of course, Barretto also does himself a few favors in setting the book in the early 80s, before American police – and the entire “justice” system – became as militarized as it now stands, and before activists really rose in response to such militarization. For example, data does not exist for the period in question, yet American police are known to have killed over 10,000 people within the last decade as I write this review. In setting this story (and likely series?) in such a “simpler” time, Barretto manages to be able to tell his tale(s) without having to worry about such issues. Overall truly a solid legal thriller that also provides a solid look at some areas many might prefer not to see. Very much recommended.

This review of Mystic Wind by James Barretto was originally written on September 5, 2022.