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Hello world!

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Let’s talk about books. What type of book do you like to read? Do you stick to the same authors or are you willing to take a chance on something radically different from your norm? I have a cluster of authors that I gobble up the new books they put out like a binge eater…all in one sitting. And in between waiting for said authors to put out the next book, I have a group of “fill in” authors. And then there are the ones I read because I am so very curious about everything. It has been pointed out to me that my reading list is probably linked to Homeland Security but how can you have an opinion on anything if you haven’t fully researched it?

On my bookshelf you will find every James Patterson novel, every Laurell K. Hamilton, every Stuart Woods, Harlan Coben, Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, Anne Rice, Laura Childs, Tom Clancy, George R.R.Martin, Kim Harrison, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Karin Slaughter, Don Winslow, Sara Blaedel along with all the classics. I don’t do romance books, no heaving bosoms or glistening abs for me.

Reading is a magical thing that can take you places you would never have access to in the living world. I love everything about books. The cover, the feel, and smell of the paper, it all has to come together for me.  Books are like a good friend who stays around.

So here we are going to be talking about books. What we’ve read, what we are reading and what we hope to read. I find it so interesting that two people can read the same book and have totally different takes on it. But that is the fun of books and imagination. Everyone is different and I am intrigued by those different opinions.

Stick around for some really good, new authors I have found and feel free to make suggestions and comments!   On Twitter, @GaPirate  Email me at piratepatty@hotmail.com. Have your Marketing people or Publisher contact me for reviews. Top 1000 Reviewer for Amazon. Vine Voice on Amazon. Follow along on Instagram @PatriciaFairweatherRomero

CARE FREE BLACK GIRLS by ZEBA BLAY

Carefree Black Girls

This book is a look and a celebration of black women’s identity and impact on pop culture by HuffPost critic, Zeba Blay.

Blay was the first person to give us the #carefreeblackgirls, in 2013 on Twitter.

This is a series of essays that took me longer than normal to read. This isn’t my story and I wanted to really absorb what she was saying.

Blay takes us on a journey to meet black women who were significant throughout history. Each in a different way. Starting with Josephine Baker, Michelle Obama and Cardi B and Lizzo!

She shares her own story and experiences as well as those women she writes about.

I think what I was left with in the end was a celebration of women who defy stereotypes. Women who stand up and stand out. Black women get things done. They are strong because they have had no other choice.

What a beautiful look at the women who changed history really.

NetGalley/ October 19th, 2021 by St. Martin’s Griffin

THE MOTHER NEXT DOOR by TARA LASKOWSKI

The Mother Next Door

Big Little Lies has nothing on The Ivy Five. These women are pros. The only thing is they are now one short of five. What happened to the other member? Stay tuned.

Every year the Ivy Five have their annual block party on Halloween. Ivy Woods Drive is the place to be. The perfect cul-de-sac for the perfect families who live there. The envy of the town. But not for one person. This person knows their secrets and is about to spill them all.

When Theresa moves into the exclusive street, she is eager to fit in. To be accepted by these perfect women and their perfect lives. She finds herself volunteering or everything and soon she is one of them.

Then the threats begin. Secrets run deep in this town and especially in this group. They’ve done some pretty awful things and now someone is threatening to out them all. But who is it? Could it be the new girl?

While they all rush to cover their own backsides, Theresa has secrets of her own. Secrets that will intersect with the Ivy Five and may blow up all of their lives.

These were just despicable women. Which is a compliment. They were so horrible that you had to keep going to see who did what to whom and why!

This is a really good domestic suspense tale and I’m glad I read it!

NetGalley/October 12th, 2021 by Graydon House

MUHAMMAD, THE WORLD-CHANGER by MOHAMAD JEBARA

Muhammad, the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait

I was very eager to read this book. It is so well-researched and easy to read. The topic is one I have long been interested in and yet everything I read was contradictory. Not this.

I am quite certain Muslim academics knew and understood the subject of Muhammad, the rest of us were a bit confused. Who exactly was he and what shaped his view of the world?

This was nothing like any other book I have read. It was researched and what came out of that was a man I could understand. Surrounded by women, some Jewish and Christian, He was inspired by the experiences he had and the people he met. I understood why there are no images of him. He truly was an inspirational man who believed in a world view and had a vision of what the world should look like.

Did he change the way the world moved forward? I would say he did. From his birth to his death he was a most remarkable man. With all the translations having different meanings, it is difficult to sort fact from fiction. This was an eye-opening work for me.

NetGalley/ October 12th, 2021 by St. Martin’s Essentials

THE LAST GUEST by TESS LITTLE

The Last Guest

I think my favorite character was Persephone. As she didn’t drone on back and forth.

I expected a locked room mystery but the dialogue was just too much. Actress Elspeth has been invited to her ex-husbands birthday party. She has made it clear she will only attend if their daughter is with her. When her daughter is a no-show, things get weird.

There were a whole bunch of odd people invited. Including her ex-husband’s current lover. They were having dinner and then drinks and then, lights out.

Elspeth wakes up to a dead ex and a room of sleeping guests. The police are suspicious of all of them. The story doesn’t make sense. And it really does not.

I honestly only liked the octopus. The rest of them were just self-involved.

If you are a fan of weird things, this is for you.

NetGalley/October 5th, 2021 by Ballantine Books

THREE SISTERS by HEATHER MORRIS

Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #3)

From the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey, comes the latest from Heather Morris. Three Sisters.

The story of three sisters. Cibi, Magda and, Livia, who in 1929 Slovakia, make a promise to their father that they will always stay together no matter what comes.

It is years later when the youngest, Livia, is told to be at Temple the next Friday night to go work for the Germans. While Magda is in the hospital ill. Cibi is working with a group to get to Palestine and is shocked when she visits home and finds that her little sister is being sent to the German Camps. Remembering their promise to their father, Cibi volunteers to go with Livia. With Magda safe in the hospital, maybe she will be safe.

Loaded like cattle into box cars and stripped of all they own, the girls are only teenagers and have no idea that they are headed to Auschwitz to work for the Nazis. As they struggle to survive and stay strong, Magda is taken as well. The horrors they endure will make you weep. But when they find Magda, they make each other a promise. To live. No matter what they have to do and make it back home.

These girls fought everything the Nazis threw at them and they came out alive. Traumatized, but alive. Now their home is under Communist control and they decide to travel to Israel. To a new home.

This series of Historical Fiction with some facts, is one of the most heartbreaking you will read. But if they could live it, I could read it. I wept, I was so angry on their behalf. The courage of these girls and the unbreakable bonds they shared was inspiring.

With two of the sisters still in Israel with their families, they shared their story with Morris. While a lot of these people were real, and the unspeakable things that were done to them were real, this is Historical Fiction.

It is a wonderful thing when a book is so well done you feel as if you are there. You can smell the awful smells in the camps. You can feel the fear of the people treated so cruelly. While this book is full of heartache it is also full of love, courage, and determination.

Well Done!

NetGalley/ October 5th, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press


Well-Offed IN VERMONT by AMY PATRICIA MEADE

Well-Offed in Vermont (Pret’ Near Perfect Mystery #1)

Stella and Nick are making a huge move. From Manhattan to small-town Vermont. To their own farmhouse. Stella isn’t quite sure she is cut out for this life, but Nick’s energy is infectious.

When they arrive they stick out like a sore thumb in their little Smart car. With a U-Haul full of their belongings they open their door to find their real estate agent has laid in some bubbly and a blow up bed. How sweet. Unfortunately it will be a while before they move in. As Stella gets a glass of water she is pretty sure it isn’t supposed to be red.

When they find a body floating in the well, they meet the Sheriff. Sheriff Mills is a good guy but it seems like everyone they meet is nice but a bit sketchy on the dead guy. Allen has rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way and the suspect list is long.

So while they wait to get back into their house they, and I mean Stella, decides they should solve the murder themselves.

Stella and Nick reminded me of the Nick and Nora series my dad used to watch. They were hilarious and so was this. I do hope this is only the first of many as this couple is a hit!

NetGalley/October 05,2021 Beyond the Page Publishing

LAST GIRL GHOSTED by LISA UNGER

Last Girl Ghosted: The latest gripping psychological thriller from international bestseller Lisa Unger!

Always a wild, dark ride with Ms. Unger. The Blurb:

Secrets, obsession and vengeance converge in this riveting thriller about an online dating match turned deadly cat-and-mouse game, from the New York Times bestselling author of Confessions on the 7:45.

Think twice before you swipe.

Dating Apps. The new thing in hunting victims. Pressured into at least trying one, Wren, decides to at least meet the guy. He’s a mysterious guy who is into the same things she is. Or so he says. The date goes so well she is excited about seeing him again. There is just this connection there. Or so she thought. Now, he’s just gone.

Did she scare him off? Was she too forward? The things we all think when we are being ignored.

Wren isn’t one to let things go so she starts digging. And she isn’t the only one who fell for his lines. But these girls are missing. And her digging is making people uncomfortable. But she has her own secrets and now he knows at least one. And that could be very bad for Wren.

Dark, Disturbing, and Believable! What could be more terrifying than knowing this is happening every day? Well Done!

NetGalley/ October 5th, 2021 Harlequin Park Row

Still no Autumn…but wait, is that thunder?

We have had no rain in a long time. We have had lots of sunny and hot days.

Since OU Boy is now the head chief in charge, his hours are 8 to 4. And week-ends off. This is very different for us and we are learning to adjust. The good part is we still have time to get in a couple of hours at the lake.

Saturday we went to Lake Overholser. Specifically to the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. We had about 50 kayaks and 15 paddle boarders and it was about 90 degrees. We explored every nook and cranny and found some deer and dozens of turtles who quickly plop into the water if you speak.

The rock formations are so pretty. We did about four hours of that and then went to Pride Fest where I got a lap dance from a guy who had better eye makeup than me. OU Boy just kept his head down eating his chili fries. But it was a blast. Lots of singing and dancing and good food.

OU Boy had his yearly heart check up as last year this time he had 5 stints put in. For the first time his cholesterol was high. 160. He was in shock. He has never had an issue with cholesterol before. He had also gained some weight which the doc said was muscle mass from all the kayaking we do. But now he has to change his diet. And lord you would think his dog died. He wasn’t happy that I tossed the chicken fry steak and went with a lentil stew. He did not eat it. He had an Eggo. Last night I made pinto beans and brown rice. 0 cholesterol. He loved that. But this is going to be a long battle I think.

People here are still fighting over their right to not get the shot. One of my neighbors said it made you sterile. I’m good with that. Stupid people should not procreate. Our grandfather had a stroke and had to wait over eight hours for a bed anywhere in the state. 80 percent of patients are unvaxxed people. Now, I’m sympathetic to sick folks ( NO, she is not) but my grandfather isn’t dying because you were stupid. Finally we found one fairly close to home and after a week he is back home and getting stronger. One of my neighbors came over to tell me her friend had died after only a few days of being in hospital with Covid. I asked if she had been vaccinated and the neighbor said, NO. Whereupon my smart mouth said,” Oh well, that’s one less idiot in the world”. And honestly that is how I feel. If you aren’t willing to protect your children and family that’s on you.

So this was a long rant and now I hear thunder so either it is finally going to rain or the big guy upstairs wants me to hush.

I hope you are all well and keeping yourselves safe. What is everyone reading? Has anyone seen Midnight Mass on Netflix?

xx P

Darjeeling Inheritance by LIZ HARRIS

Darjeeling Inheritance

Charlotte Lawrence loves living in Sundar. She follows her father around learning all she can about the tea plantation. It’s all she has ever wanted.

After eleven years in England, Charlotte has finished her studies and is coming home by boat with a suitable companion named Ada Eastman. Arriving home to find her father has just died and has left her the plantation with the current manager to stay on.

The current manager, Dan, is everything a good man should be. And while Charlotte’s father may have arranged for his daughter to marry his best friends’ son, Andrew, who is a lazy womanizer and gambler, Charlotte is a stubborn girl and intends to put off marriage as long as she is able to.

Her companion is married within days of setting foot in Sundar. To a much older man with money. And within days she is looking at Andrew like a juicy steak. All the while Charlotte has no idea and really doesn’t care.

She intends to learn everything about tea and follow her heart.

As a tea reviewer, this book was heavenly. I learned so much about growing tea and the history of the area.

A lovely read!

NetGalley/October 1st, 2021 by Heywood Press

MADAM by PHOEBE WYNNE

Madam

Light a fire they can’t put out…

This story takes place in Scotland. High on a cliff, stands Caldonbrae Hall. Built 150 years ago by Lord William Hope to become a boarding school for girls. He had a lot of them. With names like Temperance, Charity, and on and on.

The goal of the school is to turn out girls who are educated and ready to fulfill their role in society.

When Rose, a young Classics teacher is hired to work there she is shocked by the invitation and honored, as she is the first new hire in about 10 years.

At this point you want to ask yourself why. And it will become abundantly clear.

The girls are not at all interested in learning anything and there is quite a mystery over Rose’s predecessor. She may or may not have had an inappropriate relationship to a student or she may have just moved, no one will say and the girls aren’t even looking at her.

Rose should have listened to her own instincts and never come to Scotland, but now she’s in and it is made clear that she is going nowhere. With overt threats about her mother and the town people hating all of them, she is truly alone.

At first I thought maybe this was a ghost school. Where everyone is dead except Rose. The girls were rude and cruel to her and each other. When they finally tell her why they are all there, she is horrified and sets out to right the situation.

I have to say I did not care for Rose at all. She was rather slow in the beginning and I thought about skipping to the end as it just plodded along.

This may be a great Netflix, Handmaid’s Tale type of thing but the book itself bored me to death. This isn’t feminism at all. More like sex trafficking.

NetGalley/ May 18, 2021 St. Martin’s Press