Xpressions!

The Twelve Children of Christmas has all the beguiling elements of a fairy tale. Equally important and like all great fairy tales, the story has an underlay of age old philosophical and spiritual concepts such as hope, faith, love.

In just a few pages, I was transported to the North Sphere, Care for All Colony where I experienced a unique and refreshing Christmas Eve with a mystical like white tiger named Baihu that saves Christmas!

I highly recommend this entertaining short story that also makes for a great read for children at Christmas and look forward to reading Mr. Chalk's recently published novel, The Meat Market.

Voodoo, Politics, Murder, & Romance!

This book held my attention from start to finish! Consistent with its title, 'Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center' delivers the chaos and much more! As a reader and someone with a health care background, I was fascinated by the author's ability to effectively integrate complex healthcare issues and policies into her well developed plot and story line.

Dr. Rocchiccioli makes it easy for readers to understand the relationship of healthcare policies to the political process and more importantly to the relationship of quality of care for patients in need of medical services. Her opinions on the topic are clearly presented as she incorporates her perspective into the novel.

To top it off, the author adds a healthy dose of voodoo; a dusting of the challenges of running a hospital; a sprinkling of romance and the intensity of a murder investigation. The effective combination and interplay of these ingredients make this a great read!

Author Linda Watkins intrigues readers at the onset of her novel when they are introduced to secrets, blood and the possibility of betrayal! Readers quickly learn that unemployed Bill Anderson is relocating his family to a new home and life that may be troubled by spirits of the past--spirits grounded in Native American folklore.

In weaving her tale of suspense and drama, Watkins portrays her characters and the intricacies of their relationships in a manner that intensifies the reader's emotional attachment to each. Readers' efforts to analyze the underlying psychology of these interrelationships are thwarted when they are forcibly reminded that the island spirits are alive and well!

This novel is a great read!

This is my first read by author, Suzanne Steele and I was not disappointed. This short story is face paced and filled with intrigue. Lovers of psychological drama, suspense and the unexpected will not be disappointed. The clock is ticking and you will not want to miss out on the action!

I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.

This novel raises some important questions about the value of life, its relationship to death and the quality of life as people age. "We want to hope,” Betty Frost said. “But I suppose we spend our time going from one useless dream to another. Dreams we know that will never be fulfilled, dreams that in truth only take us farther and farther away from the truth.”

Betty is one of many residents of a small nursing home counting the remaining minutes and hours of her less than satisfactory and downright disappointing life where the author epitomizes life, 80 Plus style, as a choice between daily green peas and death.

The author’s vivid description of the joyless nursing home environment encourages readers to observe day to day resident life in a typical nursing home where the highlight of the day more often than not is another tasteless meal that culminates with residents trashing their green peas on the dining hall floor…again!

Disheartened and equally discouraged Nurse Steel struggles with the day to day nursing home issues such as limited staff and restrictive laws as well as her personal desire to make sense of her life and its purpose.

The novel explores the concept of truth as understood and experienced differently by the characters. Resisting the inevitable, “…we are useless,” as expressed by one resident, author Robert Swisher invites readers to join his characters in their search for meaning.

This novel is a great commentary on our need to find ‘purpose’ in our lives. Without it, we have no hope.

A Gathering of Twine (The Spirals of Danu )is a gripping novel; one that some might find challenging to read but is well worth the effort. The author's writing style and techniques make this a page turner. As reader, you find yourself determined to unravel the complex story that alternately takes you back, across and forward in time in search of truth.

At the onset of the novel, the writer uses his fictional author, Freeman, scriptural references and vivid characters to remind readers, "A chain of events has been set in motion..." . These unnamed events are shrouded in fear, deceit, and supernatural forces that seem to be overpowering the world. The reader becomes an integral part of this attention commanding chain of events in search of answers. Questions of good and evil; free will versus pre-destined fate; and reality versus fantasy cause the reader to question and evaluate personal beliefs as they might be influenced by such powerful forces.

The author's style is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock. When reading I felt an overriding sense of doom but anticipated an unexpected twist in the story line. That unexpected twist was revealed at the end when I learned that the conclusion of the story is in the author's next novel.

I commend Mr. Adil-Smith for this page turning novel and can't wait for mystery to reveal itself in the next novel in his series!

The Meat Market is my introduction to cyber punk and I admit I didn't quite know what to expect when choosing to read this novel. The author promotes his novel as "pulp, cyberpunk, and a techno thriller...with an atheist protagonist, aka Jonathan Harkon. This novel is the first in the author's imaginary future known as the Great Solar Diaspora; a colonization of the solar system. A world where space colonization becomes a reality.

First of all, I am really impressed with Mr. Chalk's observations about the predictability and characterization of large scale space habitation.
Secondly, I was introduced to Jonathan Harkon in the author's short story, The Twelve Children of Christmas where Jonathan appeared to be a seemingly benign and lovable character with a "thousand watt smile" so I couldn't wait to read and find out how and why Jonathan was different from the endearing character in Mr. Chalk's Christmas story.

Although the substance of The Meat Market is significantly different from that of the author's short story, this book is very well written and Chalk's envisioned future and alternative world is realistically portrayed. Laws, rules, policies and practices governing accepted and unaccepted behaviors such as those described in vivid detail in this novel have permeated societies (and continue to do so in many) from the beginning of time in some form or another.

While this book is written for mature audiences (Mr. Chalk acknowledges this in his preface to the book), the issues and concepts presented will not be unfamiliar to the 'mature and sophisticated' reader. Repression and violence against women and children are common themes in many cultures today where many oppose and continue to fight against them.

I look forward to the evolution of Mr. Chalk's Diaspora in his next novel in the Jonathan Harkon series.

Something Old, Something New gives readers exactly what they might expect from a book of this title but if you know anything at all about the fictitious town of Henry Adams, the setting for author Beverly Jenkins' Blessings series, you know to prepare yourself for a few unexpected twists and turns on the aisle to matrimony.

In this, Jenkins third book in what she calls her 'Blessings' series, Bernadine, the town's fairy Godmother, wants to underwrite the cost of a wedding that would compete with some of the world's finest despite Lily's, the bride and Bernadine's assistant, desire for a small, no frills wedding. The story line is familiar; bride and groom want a small wedding but their wishes are repeatedly overlooked and even challenged by well meaning family and friends who want the biggest and the best for their loved ones.

Unfortunately, Lily and Trent, (the town's mayor and Lily's husband to be), begin to have little time to focus on wedding details when they are forced to contend with other more pressing issues. Lily cannot figure out how best to deny her nine year old preacher man's/foster child's request to marry his new foster mom to his soon to be step-dad. Trent's workload multiplies when he is 'unexpectedly' expected to spear head a new family's move to the small town.

Just when it seems that Lily and Trent are able to find some time to manage the day to day preparation for their wedding along with their job crises, they are suddenly confronted with all the previously unthought-of issues that often accompany second and third time marriages such as theirs.

Lily's expecting that they will live as a family in her house; Trent has expected that they would live in his. Out of the blue, their respective children are no longer getting along and are actually physically fighting each other; as are several of the local residents! Trent learns that his extended family is not only planning to attend the wedding but also to spearhead a three day long traditional family wedding ceremony!

Needless to say, Lily, Trent and the residents of Henry Adams find that all things do seem to come together nicely once residents accept that they have to work together.

Jenkins uses her fictional town of Henry Adams to showcase historical cultures of African Americans in the mid west interspersed with real issues faced by parents and children who are a part of the adoption and foster care systems in this country.

The novel is entertaining and a refreshing read!

In her most recent and fifth book, New York Times Best Selling Author, Jane Fonda shares her blue print for living: Prime Time. In this book, as with several of her others, Ms. Fonda delineates the interrelationships between body, mind and spirit. Her goal in writing the book is to share her evolution in life. Fonda promises readers an 'A to Z' guide to living and covers a range of topics including love, health, fitness, friendship, sex and spirit.

Fonda reveals intimate details of her childhood and three marriages in support of her operating premise that one must "look back in order to clearly see the road ahead." According to the author, she purposely made several painful decisions including the break up from her third and last husband, Ted Turner, in order to better prepare and equip herself for the second and final half of her life.
Fonda's underlying theme is best expressed by the Carl Jung quote she cites in one of the introductory chapters: "The greatest potential for growth and self realization exists in the second half of life". The author uses this quote as the underlying foundation for her discussion 'how to set the stage for the rest of your life.' Sub-topics within this theme include: 'becoming whole, a time for gathering, a time for building, etc'.

Fonda challenges readers' conception of human life by offering an alternative model to what she calls the traditional biological life pattern (depicted as an arc) which begins with childhood, peaks in middle age and declines to infirmity and death.
She offers an alternative model depicted by a rising staircase that reaches into infinity with an ever narrowing flight of stairs. According to Fonda, this alternative concept on aging shows the potential for an individual's upward progression toward 'wisdom, spiritual growth, and learning'. She believes that this progression should be viewed as a natural part of the aging and maturation processes.

Readers who are comfortable and familiar with Ms. Fonda's prior works will not be surprised at the thrust or depth of the material she presents in Prime Time. The material, as intended, is a continuum of the life lessons the author has previously presented in her other works.
The book is well written, includes pictures of Ms. Fonda, her family, her friends and husbands at the various stages of her life, and technical information and resources to support her concepts.
For those readers who may be searching for light reading, this may not be the book for you. If you are interested in learning more about concepts related to physical, emotional and spiritual growth and how they relate to the aging process, you may be intrigued by Fonda's discussions on active aging. As she points out at the conclusion of her book, commensurate with increased life expectancy rates, individuals must approach aging from a different perspective; one that can accommodate as much as an '80' year life span. And in the author's words, deciding whether to confront and prepare for these additional periods of what she calls 'second adult life time, is the challenge of this and subsequent generations.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

It is evident when you read the book that Joel's seven part 'happiness' recipe has been 'kitchen tested'! Joel's personal lifestyle and Ministry is based on his scriptural insights and experiences that have worked for him and made his world wide Ministry one of the fastest growing in the World. From his smiling face on the front cover, to his sometimes 'corny' jokes and stories, readers are able to sense the sincerity of his personal message that is premised on 'faith and a positive attitude'.

When Mr. Osteen writes, "faith is always in the present.... Your attitude should be, 'I'm excited to be alive at this moment. I am excited to be breathing today....I have reason to be happy'.", if you've seen him on TV delivering a sermon, you can envision the smile, see him raising his Bible and quoting, 'I am what it says I am....'. You also realize that Joel Osteen is probably happy all seven days of the week!

His recipe may be worth a try!