Book Reviews - The Hard Way Home/ The Grudge by

 

What do you do when you're an American soldier in the Vietnam War and you've been taken prisoner by the enemy, you're fellow country men have left you behind, and the Vietnamese government wants to kill you to save face?  Well, you take The Hard Way Home. Dennis Wesley Clark has created a gripping story of what our service men face as POW's. His book starts out in Vietnam and takes us on a journey across a continent with the brave a group of courageous young men that set out to fight for the freedom of others and democracy only to see those values turned against them. I have read many books - fiction, non-fiction, political, etc. - from that era, but for me this was the first time I have been really given a face, a real person. His characters are fictitious, but he has done such an amazing job of making them three dimensional and real.

In The Hard Way Home, begins with thirteen American POW's and MIA's who have managed to escape their encampments and have started a journey together to make their way back to America. They divide into three groups and formulate three escape plans: one by sea, one to the refuge of Thailand, and one a trek across the Asian and European continent. Not everyone will make it, but each will have to come to terms with their choices. It will be an arduous journey that will span years. For the ones that make it, they will discover the world before their capture has changed in unimaginable ways. How many will survive and will America welcome them home with open arms or scheme to save face at the expense of the soldiers they abandoned.

Clark continues the sage of the men who survived and made it home in The Grudge. It has been decades since the Vietnam POW's returned home and each has come to terms with their past and made a new life. But for one government official, the contempt of being forced to help them create these new lives, has never gone away. Twenty years after he was forced to pay the POW's settlement money, he is retired from public office and decides to exact his revenge. He enlist the aide of his loyal zealots and government connections with the IRS and FBI to attack the men. Being law-abiding citizens and holding to their soldier's code of honor, they are forced to take the defensive to remove this new threat. Is there anyone they can truly trust except each other? Will they be able to isolate this new threat before he destroys the lives they have so carefully rebuilt?

When I first received these two books, I was not sure I was going to like them. I love history, but Vietnam is not my favorite era. I was born during the Vietnam war and raised during a time of peace and excess, so it is not easy for me to relate. I watch movies, read books, see historical documentraies of the time, but have never felt drawn into the the lives of those who lived it. These books changed all that. Clark's way of story telling has you walking along side these men. He has created characters and a journey so strong, that you see what they see and feel what they feel. Because he has woven so many real life facts into these novels, one has to question what is real and what is fiction. Having studied political science in college, and having a little knowledge of what certian government agencies and individuals were involved with during that time, I know that many of the things he writes about actually took place. The names and locations may have been changed but many of the events were real.  The stories are powerful and these books are gripping page turners that take you through the gamet of emotions. They are a great read for anyone, but with Christmas just around the corner, they would make a wonderful gift for the men in your lives. Definitely 4.5 out of five medals of honor.

*These books were provided by the author.

Children's Book Review - Messy Tessy by Leah Orr

Messy Tessy is inspired by Aly, Camy & Ashley (Leah's children), written by Leah Orr and illustrated by her mother, Josephine Lepore. Tessy is a charming bundle of curls who gets into mischief while her aunt is babysitting. Orr has written a warm and fun loving adventure that sends a great message. While Tessy does make more than one mess while her babysitter is napping, in the end the end she has fun helping her aunt straighten it all up before mom comes home. Messy Tessy is an adorable book that little girls will love and that will bring a smile of remembrance to her parents.

While this book is adorable, what really makes it charming, is that all proceeds from the sale of this book are generously donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. ABC's Health Watch did a segment with the Orr Clan. You can watch it here and check out Leah's You Tube Chanel. Be sure to check out her other books, Kyle's First Crush and Kyle's First Playdate.

*This book was provided by the author.

Book Review - Murder in the Magick Club by Byron A. Lorrier, Esq.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I was intrigued and excited about reading it. I had been reading a lot of non-fiction, children and fantasy books. I love a good mystery and this was not only a mystery but was about a murder in a Pagan Nightclub in Florida. How cool! Bound to be a page turner. When the book arrived it, the cover reminded me of a classic horror film movie case. It was subtle, unlike the mellow-dramatic posters of horror movies today. Then I opened the book, and read the dedication, "To all the warty toads who hopped across my path". Here was a man with imagination. I started to read, then began to yarn, then forced myself to keep reading, it had to get interesting soon; it held such promise. Lorrier gives you the dark and seedy side of The Magick Club's personnel. Unfortunately they are neither fascinating nor likable enough to sustain the story which focuses mainly on long drawn out and unnecessary descriptions. The story just seems to go in circles around more descriptions and loses the reader, at least this one. Also unfortunate, is that he never gives you a character you can relate to or even care about. Your left feeling, "what was the point of this book?" After sludging my way through this, I looked up other reviews to see what people thought and was shocked at how many good reviews have been posted. I don't get it. For me it was not well written and was a snooze fest, which is sad because I really wanted to like it. I can only give this book one knife in the back out of five.

*This book was provided by the author.

The Good The Bad & The Ugly Wednesday

Welcome to a new week of The Good The Bad & The Ugly. If you missed the previous post, this meme each week covers three blogs or websites. Despite the sound of the title it is not to bash these sites merely to introduce sites you may not have heard of and tell you a little about them. The "good" is just a general okay site, the "bad" is a little bit better/more interesting and in theory, the "ugly" is awesome and you should check it out. If you only have time to check out one, go with the "ugly".

This week is slightly different in that not all are blogs or necessarily sites you will want to visit. They are really an experiment, based on one site I have a bad habit of accidentally ending up on. Ever had your fingers type faster than your brain thought they were and instead of going to the website you wanted you end up on some other page? Sometimes you get junk and sometimes you find something nifty. So here are some mis-typed sites to check out.

In the Good category we have the generic sites which turn out to be link sites to other sites and not that exciting or informative. If you accidentally type in blogspoy instead of blogspot or wordpredd instead of wordpress you get link pages that supply links to blog related content or website related content, respectively. Not very titillating but who knows you may end up finding a great site from one of their links.

In the Bad category, we have a variation of Livejournal.com. When you mis-type it as livejournla you get redirected to specialreport.com. This site gives you the breaking news from around the globe. They have all categories of stories, and while some of the stories seemed a bit dated it was an interesting site. I caught some stories I hadn't seen before. If you are a news junkie, definitely check it out.

Finally, the Ugly. The "Ugly" site this week is the one that inspired this weeks research as I end up on it all the time when I mis-type gmail.com. I'm sure several of you have ended up there as well. The site is gamil.com, an insider look at design. Gamil is a small design company in Raleigh, NC. After noticing that they were getting a lot of unexpected traffic, they realized that people were coming to their site by mistake. Unlike most sites that would just let that information get filed away. Gamil decided to create a blog as their home page to say "hi" to those who accidentally stumbled upon them. Their blogs are random post on different subjects, some interesting, some not. But what a great idea to acknowledge and spark some interest in people who would otherwise just retype Gmail.com and go on. One of my favorite post was the one about Alchemy bags. Bags that use old bicycle tubes to make handbags. They also have several great "green" website links to check out. Two of my favorites were Treehugger and being a gadget girl, Gizmodo. Not a bad site for an accidental stop.

Photo Tuesday (meme created by L. Diane Wolfe)

Welcome to another photo Tuesday. I have to admit my photo skills are not as great as Diane's, but I loved the theme so I'm going to run with it. I like to keep a camera handy and take photos of things that inspire me to write. So here are a few photos I've taken recently....




This is a photo I took with my cell because the batteries were dead in my camera. It is of a Pirate ship coming down the Cape Fear River and shooting it's cannon for the Riverfest Celebration in Wilmington, NC. There are endless possible pirate stories this one can inspire.



Dragons always inspire me. I am Medievalgrrl after all. One of the things I love about dragons is that because they are mythical, they are timeless. This little guy is Riogon. He is the protector of my car. Actually he draws more attention than he repels, but I love him.



This is a photo I took from my office window yesterday. It's One Tree Hill filming in the rain. For those of you who don't know me, I used to work in the film industry, so seeing a set always brings back happy, exhausting memories. What most people don't know is that a film set is like a story within a story. There is always behind the scenes drama to inspire a creative writer.



Here is a rainbow I took outside my house about a week ago. Rainbows have always inspired people. Where would the Wizard of Oz be without a rainbow? Where would the leprechauns hide their pots of gold? Where would we find hope after a devastating storm. (if you look carefully you will see this picture has not one but two rainbows)




Searching the sky has inspired more than just a few writers. How many of us as children or adults have wondered what's beyond? I'm sure an equal number have looked for shapes in the clouds. Ever imagined a world that exist in a realm of clouds?

Book Review - Let go by Sheila Walsh

Sheila Walsh's Let Go is like a breath of fresh air. While it lives up to it's title and will help you learn to let go, it also teaches you how to accept and love yourself. As women, we take on so much, much more than we need to and often more than others expect us to. We are own biggest critics and our own worst enemy. We beat ourselves up for every little real or perceived flaw. Even when we have big enough hearts to forgive others, we often can't forgive ourselves. The words are so simple, Let Go. But how many of us can actually do that? How many of us have the courage to put ourselves in higher hands and believe that things will happen as they are supposed to? Believe, another simple little word that has such huge shoes to fill. Let Go is a book about faith and it makes you believe in a higher power and yourself. Walsh examines the many issues women face. She uses biblical references, famous quotes and personal stories to show you how to walk a life filled with grace. Her words and point of view are decidedly Christian, but her message is universal and can be adapted to your personal faith. You don't have to be religious to appreciate the words of wisdom she imparts in this book. So many inspirational self-help books come across as preachy and have an air of judgement about them. Instead of helping you, they end up making you focus on the negative. Walsh has a self-depreciating approach that instantly draws you in. Reading her book was like sitting down with an old friend. You know the one who you haven't talked to in awhile but who knows what all your hopes and dreams were, and probably a few of your dark secrets as well. That friend whose arms you may have cried in when you needed support; who didn't sugar coat it when you were headed down the wrong path or messed things up; who never once judged you even when she didn't agree with your views or choices. I could give you a synopsis of what each chapter entails, but my words would not do it justice. This is a book that you just have to read for yourself to absorb the hope and peace it offers. This book deserves all five stars and then some.

Her book talks about deliverance but I don't think she is aware the God has delivered all of us a gift in Sheila Walsh.

*This book was provided by the author

Reminder: L Diane Wolfe's Virtual Tour Starts Tomorrow!!!!

One of my favorite authors is gearing up for the release of the newest book in the Circle of Friends Series, Book IV...Mike with a virtual tour. Don't miss a chance to get to know her better.

THE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, BOOK IV … MIKE
A prisoner of guilt for so long…
Mike Taylor is the epitome of stability. His family is proud of
his academic and athletic achievements at Georgia Tech, and
despite the temptations of college life, he has maintained his
moral standards.
Yet beneath the peaceful surface, Mike is consumed with guilt,
fearing condemnation and rejection. A former girlfriend’s
abortion and the intense love he feels for his roommate’s wife
constantly remind Mike of his failures. Unable to forget and
full of shame, he refuses to forgive himself.
When Danielle enters his life, he realizes he can no longer hide
the past. Will she be able to reach him or is Mike past the point
of redemption?

Release date: October 6, 2009
$19.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 300 pages, Fiction/YA
ISBN 978-0-9816210-4-3 / 0-9816210-4-X

“Book IV…Mike is such a powerful, engrossing, incredible, beautiful
novel. But it still manages to be light hearted, funny and heart felt.
There is real emotion and real people in these pages…”
- The Book Pedler

“Book IV will grab you where you live, and will not leave you disappointed.”
-Michael Douglas

The virtual tour for this book begins soon! This includes interviews,
articles, reviews, and chances to win a free copy!

Oct 3 - http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com Book Muncher
Oct 4 - http://www.spunkonastick.deviantart.com/ week-long tour on Deviant Art
Oct 5 - http://www.booklandheights.blogspot.com/ Bookland Heights
Oct 6 - http://www.popsyndicate.com/booksPop Syndicate
Oct 7 - http://wwwsimplymegan.blogspot.com/ Simply Megan
Oct 8 – http://www.theoldsilly.com The Old Silly’s Free Sprit Blog
Oct 9 - http://siamckye.blogspot.com/ Sia McKye’s Thoughts Over Coffee
Oct 11 - http://writersinbusiness.blogspot.com/ Writers in Business
Oct 12 - http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com/ God Uses Broken Vessels


Make sure you check out the book trailer for The Circle of Friends, highlighting all five books in the series! Please check it out on YouTube –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn7tSWQqdYc
or on her website.

And don't forget to stop by her blog, Spunk on a Stick. It's a better pick-me-up than a cup of coffee.

Contest and Winners!!!!

Thank you to all my new followers and to those who left comments for my first two book giveaways! A special thanks to the two fabulous authors who participated in my interviews and offered autographed copies of their books!

And the winners are:

S.M. Carriere won an autographed copy of Anna L. Wall's King by Right of Blood and Might.

Raspberry won an autographed copy of Preetham Grandhi's A Circle of Souls.

Congratulations to the winners!! I will be sending you an email to get your mailing address.


Now for some shameless self-promotion and a new contest...... earlier this week my combined Follower's and Networked Blog Follower's reach 50. In honor of that, I used "The Hat" software to pick a random winner for a prize. Networked Blog follower "Barbara" you have won this set of beaded bracelets crafted by moi. E-mail me your mailing address and I will ship them out to you.



When that combined total reaches 100, I will be drawing the name of one of those followers to win the one of a kind, made by yours truly, Dragonfly Necklace and Earring Set pictured below. (The dragonflies are silver, the beads are etched green glass and filigreed silver. Note: I didn't make the individual beads and dragonflies. I'm not that good. I just put the elements together.)


So tell all your fellow bloggers and blog readers to become a follower and they'll have a chance to win it also. There will be a prize for every 50 increment of combined followers. (Haven't decided on future prizes yet.)

Entertainment Meme

I was tagged by Diane from Spunk on a Stick for the Entertainment Meme.....

Covering books, movies, music, and more!

1. What book is your favorite?
I don't think I could pick just one as a favorite. I do have a set of antique books that is a collection of all the classic authors (Wilde, Dickens, Poe, Browning, etc.). It is most treasured because my father bought them for me when I was a child and they sparked my love of books. After thinking about this overnight, if I did have to choose just one it would be Timeline by Michael Crichton (movie didn't do it justice, although I did enjoy the movie, too. Gerard Butler is so hot!!)

2. Oldest books you own?
I have an original edition of Paradise Lost illustrated by Gustav Dore. I also have a signed copy of one of the original printings of Gone With The Wind and an old architect book from the early 1800's of a building in England that has hand-written notes from the architect in it. One of the funnest is an instructional book from 1890 on how to be a wife and homemaker. I have tons of old books, I'd have to check the publication dates to know which one was truly the oldest.

3. Any autographed books?
L. Diane Wolfe, Preetham Grandhi, Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gone With The Wind.......

4. Biggest name author you've ever met?
Unfortunately I am terrible with names and most of the authors I met were when I ran a bookstore back in the 90's and coordinated all the marketing and book signings. Most were historical authors from NC. I have their books packed away and don't recall their names. The most recent author I have met in person is the wonderful, L. Diane Wolfe and she is fabulous!

5. How many books do you own?
Roughly a little over 2000

6. Favorite movie?
Too Many to name just one....Willow, The Dark Crystal. Legend, LOTR trilogy(sensing a trend here?), the original Star Wars trilogy (before they must it up with all the CGI stuff)

7. Favorite Disney movie?
Sleeping Beauty

8. Movie that always makes you cry?
You know in my younger days I never cried at movies or much at anything really. I was a tough chick, but in the past few years I tear up at movies more. Can't think of one in particular though.

9. Scariest movie?
I'm jaded, I've seen so many horror movies, none of them are scary to me anymore. I have to say Exorcist 3 did give me nightmares (the figure draped in white that floats across in the background with the huge shears was so creepy, you never saw what that figure did, it was very subliminal) and the original Nightmare on Elm Street was scary to me when I watched it as a teenager.

10. Most romantic movie?
Manon of Spring. It's french and the most poignant movie.

11. Favorite musician or band?
There are so many I love, but if I have to name just one, I'm going with a classic... The Eagles

12. Favorite genre of music?
That's hard,I love the music from the 70's (great lyrics and songs that had soul) and the 80's (wild & fun, big hair, crazy make-up and outfits- what wasn't to love)

13. Musician you've seen the most in concert?
I Don't really go to concerts much so each would tie for one each.... Elton John, Billy Joel, The Eagles, Lifehouse, Dillon Fence, Bad Brains & Slayer(yes, I was dragged to those last two)

14. Favorite song?
Iris by the GooGoo Dolls

15. Saddest song?
Against All Odds by Phil Collins

16. Favorite TV show?
hhmmmm, yet another hard one, I'm a sci-fi and crime show junkie and there are just so many good ones to choose from... If I have to pick one, I'm going to go with Fringe (although it's a really close call with The Closer. I love Brenda Lee Johnson.... Thank You, Thank you so much)

17. Favorite reality-based show?
I really don't like "un" Reality TV Shows, but I must say I am getting hooked on Project Runway.

Check out http://facebook.com/chrismcarter for some video clips of the show I wrote & directed that makes fun of Reality TV, or see lots of pictures on http://myspce.com/merlynsnymph Here is just one picture from the zaniness:
"Contestant Brock, the Jock and former single guy from the show "I Wanna Wife" accidentally catches his pan on fire during the Satan's Diner round with Chef Lambert in Reality Bites"

18. Favorite TV sport?
Football (one of the few sports I actually know what's going on)

19. When traveling, entertainment of choice?
Site-seeing. I love to explore old places, preferably the non-touristy ones.

20. Favorite home entertainment outside of books, movies, music, and TV?
You mean there is something else that could be entertaining? Seriously, I love playing board games or sitting around telling stories with friends.

I'm tagging:

Crystal @ Crystal Clear Proofing
Kristen @ Bookworming in the 21st Century
Raspberry @ Two and A Half Book Lovers