Review: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace by Lesley Crewe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This writer impressed me. She could take a very horrible topic and bring us to the brink, but then turn it around to the point that we felt hope.

Amazing Grace has lived for fifteen years in a trailer with her friend, Fletcher. It is a platonic relationship, but she is contented.

Over the many years she has often tried to find her estranged sister and mother, having been abandoned in a commune when she was a child.

The story takes us through Grace's life and its turmoils. I love how no matter how bad things seem, Grace always can pull herself up and make the best of things.

A great read.

View all my reviews

Review: Flee, Fly, Flown

Flee, Fly, Flown by Janet Hepburn
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Audrey and Lillian have alzheimer disease and are living in a long term care home in Ottawa Ontario. They are fed up and decide they would like a holiday.

They have a plan to get a car and escape and have a nice holiday away from the humiliations of the nursing home.

Their plan was all but over until they met up with an unsuspecting young fellow named Rayne whom they ask to drive them. Since his father is in BC, he offers to drive them there and in so doing also has transportation to get himself home to reconcile with his family.

It was awhile before the innocent Rayne became aware of the two ladies memory issues but by that time he was under their spell and felt responsible for them and their care. The police caught up with them in Saskatchewan and this is when the ladies discovered that they were not prisoners and had not done anything wrong and didn't have to answer to anyone.

My feelings were very mixed; at times funny, if it wasn't for such a sad disease. I could put myself in the shoes of Carol, Lillian's daughter, who was out of her mind with worry for her mom.

This was an excellent debut novel. I know that some people found it humorous, and it could have been cute, except for the seriousness of the topic.

An excellent read.



View all my reviews

Review: High Five

High Five by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was quite a mad cap story. Stephanie Plum Rides Again. Stephanie's uncle Fred goes missing after he had an altercation with the garbage department.

If you have been reading the series, you would get quite a laugh out of this story. Even gramma is involved and what a funny scene when Stephanie is hired to chauffeur a sheik to the aiport.

The story involves all the usual players, Joe Morreli the undercover cop, Ranger the bounty hunter and we have the homicidal rapist Benito Ramirez. And then of course we have Lula.

An enjoyable and fast paced story.

View all my reviews

Review: A Painted House

A Painted House by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since John Grisham is one of my all time favourite authors, I was probably going to love this book no matter what. Well, there was "no matter what" because I did love the book.

It is 1952 in Arkansas and seven year old Luke Chandler is picking cotton along with the Mexican workers and other hired pickers. His goal is to save enough money to buy a shirt from his favourite baseball team. The immediate family includes his grandparents and his uncle who is a soldier and is away fighting in the Korean War. Everyone is very tense and worried about him.

During this period Luke deals, very maturely, with some serious issues including a brutal murder. When the rains ruin the cotton in the fields, Luke's parents have to make a decision, hopefully to change their circumstances for the better.

An excellent read.

View all my reviews

Review: Saint Christopher and the Gravedigger

Saint Christopher and the Gravedigger by Catherine Cookson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication. I was excited to read another Catherine Cookson book as she was a favourite author and I have read many of her books numerous times. The first book that I read was The Fifteen Streets and for any new readers of Ms. Cookson I would suggest that would be a good place to start, although it would be hard to choose a "wrong" place with these collections.

John is a grave digger in a small village. He is a family man with a loving wife and with a lot of comings and goings from his family and from his neighbours. His mother also lives with them and she could be a very hard person to cope with. I felt that John's wife, Florrie, was a saint herself with just putting up with her mother in law.

One thing that has struck John in his job is that many of the deceased were in possession of a Saint Christopher medal when they died in accidents. John seemed to dwell on this and when he was hit with a cricket ball and injured, this Saint Christopher medal started to really play on his mind.

Ms. Cookson is still speaking to us and what a gift this book is to her fans. A great read.

View all my reviews

Review: Q Is For Quarry

Q Is For Quarry by Sue Grafton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book that I have read in this series and I have been reading them out of order, which seems to work just fine. I love this private detective. She is so human. Also, since I have been "reading" them through the audio books, I love the reader, Judy Kaye. Each time I get my hands on another audio of Kinsey Millhone, I look forward to hearing Judy Kaye read.

A very cold case has caught the interest of a couple of police detectives. One has terminal cancer and his friend knows that this unsolved case had always bothered him. So, he decides to get Kinsey interested and the three of them to launch a new investigation. It is the case of a young girl whose body had been found and never identified.

There are quite a few twists and surprises in the case. A very satisfying and interesting read.

View all my reviews

Review: Britt-Marie Was Here

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Britt-Marie is different. She has left her wayward husband, Kent. She pushes her way into a job as caretaker in a community rec center in a small, dying town called Borg. She is possibly OCD, and she does have a very soft heart underneath it all.

I feel unqualified to review this book as I couldn't get involved. The characters made me feel like I wanted to run and never see or hear from them again. I couldn't become involved with the characters and this made the reading of the book very hard going.

I am in an extreme minority with this story and I do feel bad that I can't give a better review. I loved A Man Called Ove and will still be reading books from this author.

View all my reviews

Review: The Room

The Room by Jonas Karlsson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am going to do something that I said I wouldn't do, give this 3 1/2 stars. This book really gives you food for thought. At first I was reminded of the fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes.

Bjorn works in an office and sticks to his own rules of timekeeping and doing his work without any dilly dally. One day he discovers a room. The room is private and quiet. He is the only one who ever goes into the room and he goes there for solitude and to catch up on his work.

The problem is that nobody else acknowledges that the room exists. His coworkers are quite freaked out by his antics of standing and staring at the wall and try to have him fired.

What a strange and thought provoking story.

View all my reviews