Book Review: The Brevity of Roses – by Linda Cassidy Lewis

Book: The Brevity of Roses

Author: Linda Cassidy Lewis

Publisher: Two-Four-Six Publishing

Date: April 2, 2011

Genre: Women’s fiction

Pages: 362

Price: $13.55 paperback; $3.99 on Kindle

My Rating: A satisfying story that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let her/him go.

I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my! When I finished reading The Brevity of Roses I felt as if I had spent an enjoyable afternoon viewing a delectable movie! Even yet, several days later, I woke one morning with that sense of having just been there.

This story pulled me in from the beginning and held me till the end. Linda Cassidy Lewis’ characters come across as genuine with their human struggles – emotional pain, loss, fear, tenderness, misunderstanding, desire, avoidance, family strife, anger, hope, love, and I may have missed mentioning a few. The romantic scenes are well-written, not explicit or over the top. There is some cursing in the story, mostly the ‘f’ word, but it was not out-of-place as you get to know the characters, and I could get past it after the first couple of times. It is not excessive and did not detract from the story at all.

There are three main characters: Meredith I liked, even though the turn of events surrounding her shocked and disappointed/saddened me. Jalal I grew to like; I wanted to follow him closely throughout the book because he was intriguing, although I wanted him to stop being stubborn about his relationship with his father and be mature about it so he could gain perspective for his life. Renee I didn’t appreciate at first – when she showed up where it seemed she shouldn’t be – but then the situation is clarified and she grew on me.

The other characters intertwining around the main ones add so much to the story and help make it well-rounded, believable, down-to-earth. Conversations are natural and easily understood, as if the reader is standing in the room listening in.

A lovely strength in The Brevity of Roses is the importance of family, food, and traditions, with cultural differences finding their place, their blend, in the preparation of meals and recipes – whether for two or twenty.

There is so much that makes this fiction seem like the true story of a few people, but I cannot say more about it or I will give too much away. If you enjoy romance novels that are not x-rated, and real-to-life women’s fiction, you will probably really enjoy this one.

Linda Cassidy Lewis delivered a debut novel that satisfies and also left this reader-reviewer hoping for more from this talented author.

You can find The Brevity of Roses listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Book Review: Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic training for your money – by Steve Repak, CFP

Book: Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic training for your money

Author: Steve Repak, CFP

Publisher: RFS Publishing

Date: January 2, 2012

Genre: Non-Fiction; Personal Finance

Pages: 166; paperback

Price: $14.95

My Rating: Excellent for anyone wanting to get out of debt and have enough to live on now and in retirement.

I received this book from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review.

I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book! With clarity and ordinary language, Steve Repak shares from experience how to get out of debt, how to save money and still have enough to live on, and how to prepare for a financially secure retirement – starting now.

In Dollars and Uncommon Sense you will find sound information and advice. The author, who is now a successful financial adviser, came out of the army with over $32,000 in credit card debt. He struggled to break free of that and eventually figured out how to efficiently pay it all off and still get ahead. In his well-written book – which is as easy to read as it would be to sit down and talk with him – he tells it how it is while helping the reader set up a plan for wise financial transformation. At the end of each chapter is a summary of the main points.

Part 1: Basic Training

Chapter 1 – Change the Way You Think

Chapter 2 – Build Your Foundations

Part 2: Spending

Chapter 3 – Principle: If You Spend Less, You Will Have More

Chapter 4 – Priorities: Give, Pay Yourself, Pay Everybody Else

Chapter 5 – Plan: A Plan for Your Paycheck

Part 3: Debt

Chapter 6 – Principle: Debt Puts Your Financial Health at Risk

Chapter 7 – Priorities: Quit Charging and Start Saving

Chapter 8 – Plan: Uncommon Sense Steps for Getting out of Debt

Part 4: Saving and Investing

Chapter 9 – Principle: It Doesn’t Take a Million to Make a Million

Chapter 10 – Priorities: “Life Happens,” Then “I Quit!”

Chapter 11 – Plan: Invest in Your Future

At the end, Steve Repak has a section called Useful Websites, a Glossary of the words perhaps hard to understand, and Worksheets that can also be downloaded from his own website. He seems to have made every attempt in this book to help the reader understand how debt can be handled, and how to live with adequate funds while also saving for enough to live on comfortably in retirement.

It is never too late to apply his methods. For anyone too young to even be considering retirement, this is the very time to begin the plan! You won’t regret it.

Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money is not a book to read, say “that was helpful,” and lay aside. This is a book with a step-by-step strategy to live free of the burden of debt and the worry of ‘will I have enough to live on?’ I urge you to “take the steps necessary to change your financial future.”

You can find Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

How My Savior Leads Me … and the winner is …

Today we have a winner who has already responded!

This evening our young grandson was visiting and asked to be the one to draw the name out of the basket, so at 5:00 PM EST that is what happened. The winner receives the copy of How My Savior Leads Me by Terri M. Stellrecht, generously donated by the author for one of my readers to win. Thank you, Terri.

So … congratulations to Rebecca Carney who replied: “Thank you so much!! I look forward to reading this book.” I will put the book into the mail this week for you, Rebecca.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Are you a spoiler?

Today the question on my mind is … are you a spoiler?

By that I mean, when you pick up a book to read it, do you go to the last page and read the ending of the story before reading the beginning and middle?

If so …

why do you do that?! Why do you spoil it for yourself?

Are you impatient? Can you not wait to know how it ends? Does it bug you too much to have to read through from the beginning?

Okay, I admit to having done that a few times. I have skipped ahead to know if it’s worth the build-up of anticipation and suspense, or if I will be disappointed. Or I’ve quickly flipped through if I simply couldn’t stand the too-many-words-in-between until I could find out what I was waiting to know. I have occasionally found a book that became too wordy or slow resulting in the story losing its magic for me, making it very hard to wade through all the blah blah blah’s without skipping a few pages to move ahead.

On the most part, though, I make myself resist the urge to peek. The times I have read the last page out of turn were usually when I was almost there anyway.

Are you one of those people who just has to start at the end of almost anything you are reading? Do you read magazines or the newspaper or brochures from the back to the front, too?

Would or does reading the last page first spoil your appetite for the main part of the book? Do you ever not read the rest after doing that?

Speaking of appetite, do you eat dessert before the main course? Some people do, you know. I knew a family whose daughter always wanted to do that. It didn’t spoil her appetite for the rest of the meal so they let her.

Oh dear, that’s making me hungry. Back to the main point …

When I am looking for information on a book before I buy it, I don’t like reading spoilers. I like some info but not too much. But, it seems I am almost the opposite with movies. I like a certain amount of information, especially to know if it gets overly violent or vulgar or stupid. I consider those to be a waste of my time and I usually choose to not watch something that will really bother me. But, on the other hand, spoilers of movies that interest me tend to draw me in and I accept knowing more ahead than if it is a book. I’m not sure why that is, unless because when reading one’s own visuals are formulated and if it’s out of order that gets all messed up. (Does that make any sense?)

It’s funny how we form habits. I wonder why do we have to rush ahead, and why do we find it so hard to take things in order?

Maybe there is another very simple explanation for this, and not just impatience or having to know it all first. If so, please clue me in to what it is.

I know, I asked loads of questions this time, (which I hope you will think about and tell me what your habits are, because I find it very interesting) but they all boil down to the main one.

Are you a spoiler? Why or why not?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: How My Savior Leads Me – by Terri M. Stellrecht

Book: How My Savior Leads Me

Author: Terri M. Stellrecht

Publisher: WestBow Press – a division of Thomas Nelson; another publisher for upcoming revised edition

Date: October 21, 2011

Genre: Inspirational non-fiction

Pages: 192

Price: $13.95, paperback; less on Kindle

My rating: hard story to read, yet a sincere sharing of pain and hope.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

How My Savior Leads Me is the true story of a family’s loss, the sudden and unexpected death of one of its children in February 2011. The author writes from a place of pain, all the while trying to trust God in her grief.

Trent Stellrecht is a twelve-year-old boy who loves life as a young boy does, being adventurous, fun-loving, and outgoing. We are not told what exactly happened that tragic day, except that he died in a skiing accident while on a day trip with the youth group.

Terri Stellrecht, Trent’s mother, tells about the shock, the grief, the steps the family went through in preparing to let him go. She tells about how the family ministered to the many who came to express their sympathy and own personal loss. She shares Scripture and asks the challenging question, “If it had been you, do you know where you would be now?”

But Terri is a woman who is still working through her own mourning, and has yet to find that place where life is still good. Having experienced loss in my own life, I know how hard it is to keep on when it seems the world should stop and take notice .. but it doesn’t. My other children needed me, perhaps even more, and I had to be there for them because life continued on. In How My Savior Leads Me, Terri Stellrecht shares while still in that place, so it is a read like no other you will come across.

While I do not agree with all of the author’s theology, the age-old question people come up against has been raised and she has found some answers that work for her. As I read this book, it seemed the writing and sharing of her son’s death is serving as a way to work through a mother’s grief, that the shock has not completely left, and there is much healing yet to come.

Terri Stellrecht uses her own photography throughout the book as she tells the story of Trent’s life. Also, if you are interested in listening to an interview with her please click on this link: radio interview Once there click on blogtalkradio on the right of that page.

NOTE: For those of you who would like to read her book, How My Savior Leads Me, Terri Stellrecht has generously offered an extra copy for me to give away to one of my readers. If you want a chance to win this copy, please leave a comment and answer one of the following tough questions: ‘In your life tragedies, to whom do you turn?’ OR ‘If you were to die tonight, do you know where you will be?’

A winner will be selected in a week, the evening of June 12.

You can find How My Savior Leads Me listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Secret Daughter – by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Book: Secret Daughter (A Novel)

Author: Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers

Date: March 9, 2011; paperback April 5, 2012

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Pages: 356, paperback

Price: $13.99; less on Kindle

My rating: An extraordinary read, very convincing, with an ending that is both satisfying and disturbing.

I won this book, probably on Twitter, and promptly added it to my huge TBR (to be read) pile. Had I known what I was in for I would not have waited so long to read Secret Daughter. Oh my!

Canadian first-time author Shilpi Somaya Gowda has written a compelling story that had me from the beginning. Born in Toronto, Canada, to parents from Bombay, India, she had insight and good understanding of both cultures. She mostly told the story from the perspective of three women – the adopted daughter, the adoptive mother and the birth mother. It was involved and interesting and hard to put down once I started reading.

I don’t want to give away too much and spoil it for you, but for anyone who has adopted from another country, or is thinking about it, this book gives a different view of some of the things to take into consideration.

The characters are well-developed, their life situations are convincing and detailed, and the reader gets to share in the story of their lives over a span of twenty-five years. It was easy to care about them. In fact, I experienced a range of emotions as I read this international bestseller.

I liked how the author headed her chapters with not only the title, but also the location, date, and name of the person the reader was visiting in that chapter. Each chapter is only a few pages long which made it easy to read when having only a few minutes. It also helped the reader get oriented right from the start and occasionally helped the author step over a span of several years to move along in the story. It was well done.

The only thing I did not like is the way the author chose to end this novel, although it is quite believable the way it happened. Obviously the ending did not interfere with the book’s success. Even so, if you are one who likes to read the end of a book first … in this case DON’T! Please, do yourself the favour of not peeking. It is well worth the wait.

There has been criticism that the author ignored or changed some things about the culture of India to fit her story, but I don’t agree. In a couple of places I had questions, too, but since I have never studied their culture nor have I visited that country, I accepted that perhaps it was something that is changing there with the times. I believed the author would know that, so I didn’t let my lack of information get in the way of a great read.

Originally, this is not a book I planned to review, but having experienced it I wanted to introduce it to you to add to your TBR list. You won’t be disappointed.

You can find Secret Daughter listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: On the Bright Side: The Starling series, Book 1 – by S.R. Johannes

Book: On the Bright Side

Author: S. R. Johannes

Publisher: Coleman & Stott

Date: February 15, 2012

Genre: tween paranormal (directed at ages 9-12)

Pages: 256 paperback

Price: $8.99; less on Kindle

My rating: an interesting, unusual paranormal with humour for young readers

From the author I received an electronic copy of On the Bright Side to read on my pc kindle in exchange for an honest review.

I began reading this book as I usually do, with a serious take-it-all-in attitude. It didn’t take me long to discover that, for one thing, there are few, if any, similarities to the real Heaven.

But, let me back up a little.

This story is about a teenage girl who dies suddenly and is transported to Haven (that’s not a misspell), otherwise known as Cirrus. So begins her afterlife as a ‘Bright” and her training to be a guardian angel. Knowing that people do not become angels (since angels are angels and people are people), at that point I began reading this story with a different attitude, one of simply enjoying the author’s amazing imagination and the world she created based on good and evil. It was quite interesting, entertaining, and captivating.

The main character, Gabby, is now a BIT (Bright in Training) and being prepared to protect a former friend she would rather ignore. To add insult to injury, that friend is strongly interested in Gabby’s still living almost-boyfriend. ~~The added frustration is that the angel she befriends in Cirrus is assigned to~~ … ahh, but I must be careful to not spoil the read for you. I will just say that Ms. Johannes has written a story that young readers are sure to enjoy as they follow Gabby defiantly – and not without serious mishap – set out to earn her wings.

A few things of note:

There may be young readers who will take parts of this book seriously, therefore misunderstanding what Heaven is really like.
There are many puns and plays on words, such as Skyfone, and there is much technology used in Cirrus (amusingly, there is not a perfect cell phone connection there either), and skyolations for when rules were broken (violations).
The outcome of the battle between good and evil is dependent upon the actions and abilities of the Brights.
The characters’ personalities are very flawed (meaning jealous, temperamental, scheming) as they live in death with much the same human attitudes and problems as they did in life.

I did find S.R. Johannes’ imagination to be intriguing as she came up with ingenious inventions, humourous situations, and surprising plot twists. It became obvious that she was not trying to use Cirrus as an actual perfect setting but a fictional, imaginary, outlandish one which made for quite a different easy-to-read story.

If you want your young reader to enjoy a fantastical fictional experience, this could be a good book to pick up. It had me pulled along as I kept wanting to find out what’s going to happen next.

On the Bright Side by S.R. Johannes is the first book in a planned series called The Starlings, so start with this one.

You can find On the Bright Side listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂