Christmas with the Alexanders The Alexanders, Book 3.5 Written by: M. Malone

Hello readers, second book of the Christmas season, and oh how guilty I feel simply because it's not even December yet, but seeing as my parents are here and I don't see them that often and never see them at Christmas time we decide to celebrate out Xmas right after Thanksgiving we're creating a new family tradition just for us especially since my brother is rarely if ever around for the Holidays since his line of work demands him to not be around for the Holidays. So, where am I going with this? Well, I downloaded a Christmas book that I now realize was part of a series, but it was a cute tale all the same. We are introduced to the Alexander family, from what I read of this family they are the perfect example of all that is good and perfect with a family, and Kaylee Wilhelm at some point made a connection to this family. Kaylee wants Elliott Alexander to notice her, but it seems that he doesn't like her much, so she's spending the holidays with her disapproving parents. Some event occurs and Elliott Alexander is finally in the position to come home for good, but for Alexander this means bittersweet memories and the only woman who makes him feel things he isn't ready for. Then readers a bad storm and a lack of diapers causes Kaylee to reach out to Elliott and Elliott finds himself wishing to protect Kaylee. As I said readers I just completely dropped myself into this series and it's clear a whole lot of back story and perhaps some past references, but the the author Malone was really good at keeping me up to speed. This was a charming Christmas tale that showed it is more than gifts it is about those who you love be they family or friends. Not a complex or overly in depth story, but cute all the same, I may try to check out this series from the beginning and continue learning about this new cast of characters, but a good story to keep me on the Christmas season path.

The Christmas Train Written by: David Baldacci

Hello readers, well we're approaching another season, yup that special time of year, granted I love all the seasons and all the holidays, but for a lot of people this is the one, and this is the time of year for a lot of people that talking to that complete stranger isn't such a weird idea. Why not get to know a complete stranger and let them into your life? It's funny reader, when you become familar with an author you grow to know their cadence their style of writing how they will have the words flow how the plot will develop and conclude... I've only read one book by David Baldacci actually I listend and so I borrowed another book from my Father in laws audible library. I didn't even look at the author I just went "Christmas" okay I can trust Bruce it will be good, and well after a few chapters I knew just KNEW this was David Baldacci. Mr. Baldacci must also have a type of person that he likes to read his book because Tim Matheson the narrator of this story had such a similar voice to the other book I listened to by Baldacci. The people who created this audio book did an amazing job with music, sound affects, and background noise. The story itself was something of a story within a story within a story I was very happy to take a journey with every one of these passangers on the trains crossing the United States. We are introduced to the ex war journalist .... whom is looking for something in his life, he's without family and is feeling lost he's not quite sure what he is missing, but he does believe what he has to show for his life is pretty sad. Baldacci does at times become preachy about train travel, but he does share some interesting facts with us. The crazy cast of characters are so fun to be around and the story as a whole is just something that is truly fascinating and awesome in it's grand and fun design. This is a feel good let's get in the Christmas holiday mood, and will have you ready to be with your loved ones and want to perhaps spread some of your own holiday cheer.

Moonlight Mile Written by: Dennis Lehane

Why hello readers, only one more day until Turkey and I am counting down the hours, I love Turkey absolutely loooove it (at least I do until I eat way too much of it every Thanksgiving)…and it’s the one Holiday I’m never traveling somewhere for, my family comes to me and It’s awesome. It seems readers I randomly stumbled into a sequel, and into an acclaimed authors world. I had the pleasure of listening to Moonlight Mile written by Dennis Lehane. What a setting this author creates I found myself walking down the streets of my town the darkness falling early so I try to walk in the light but in my area there are always shadows, and having this book inside of my head really added some extra ambiance to my experience especially in the windy cold and rain. I admit I really didn’t recognize the name and it wasn’t until after that I realized this was the sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone… oh boy, or that this author wrote Mystic River, The Given Day, or Shutter Island…which I’ve read none of these, but I’ve seen Shutter Island and thought hm..that looks like a book I’d like to read. Okay, so this book…wowza what a fun book…okay if the underbelly and depressing truth about Boston and its suburbs is fun, but in a way Lehane made it so. I was introduced to Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro this is quite the suspenseful book and is an explosive story of vengeance and redemption. Years ago Patrick and Angela turned over a little girl to a highly neglectful mother and quite the depressing environment even though they knew they were returning her to a bad home they did their job. Now though Amanda McCready 16 years old is missing. Patrick and Angela have to work together and put aside old issues and focus on the now and hopefully they won’t have to make another rough decision concerning Amanda’s future and life. The main character and voice of the book Patrick, you just felt for this guy and really like him readers, the guy is savy and a bit slick, and clearly is good at what he does, but he's in a young mans game, and it seems Patrick though good isn't quite so young anymore. I really liked Angela too she's oh so sexy and yet oh so down to earth she can be the bad girl or the computer genius a deadly combination. I loved this book readers! It takes place in my backyard and I go to quite a few of the areas mentioned in this book and the writing was just so real so crisp and sure brings a lot of the city that I loves underbelly into play. It’s also a tale that deals with the problem with the black and white world there’s a whole lot of gray in the world and sometimes doing the right thing isn’t doing the right thing. No one I know lives in a perfectly happy world readers, there’s always something there to remind you that the World has a very dark side a very scary side and it can invade your world no matter how well you live or how good you behave. But, this book also shows that sometimes you can wade into the gray of things and still sleep just fine at night afterwards, because you did do the right thing, maybe on black and white paper it wouldn’t look it, but in your heart you knew it was your only choice. This audio book was voiced by Jonathan Davis and I admit I was put off a little bit by this voice actor, his voice itself was awesome, but his accents were all over the place I mean just all over and sometimes he lost which character he was and had to slip back into the voice he was doing. The slip ups in voice acting didn’t take away from the writing or the story the book was just fabulous and I definitely didn’t see a lot of what was coming in the plot even at the very end this author held just the right amount of mystery in his hands and unleashed it in an electrifying ending that fizzles out with a grace I could really appreciate. I may just have to read those other books I spoke of earlier. Oh also readers forgive me this book takes place right before Christmas, I know! It’s not quite Turkey time, but…I didn’t know! Still Thanksgiving comes into play too so perhaps it was just the right book to make you truly appreciate what you have and could lose.

More Than Friends Written by: Aria Grace

Hello readers, well let's jump right in shall we? We find ourselves viewing Ryan Edwards life he has recently become a free man as in no longer attached. Ryan had been until recently in a four year committed relationship, but after three years of trying to juggle a long distance relationship, school and work, it just didn't work out. Now, Paul...Ryan's co-worker who is quite the horn dog is trying to get Ryan back into the dating game or at least the casual hook up game. Ryan is ready to get out of this single funk, more than ready, but he's just not interested in other girls it seems. So one night Ryan thinks perhaps he just might have found a girl to get out of this single funk, but Drea though quite attractive just isn't doing it for him and somehow Ryan finds himself more interested in Zach, Drea's cousin. Drea's Gay cousin as Ryan later learns. Ryan isn't gay, but he is drawn to Zach and finds himself wanting to spend more time with Zach and maybe just maybe something is there? What is Ryan to do? A very hot and exploitative read my fellow readers and oh so sweet. I very much enjoyed this book and you might just find yourself becoming a bit hot and bothered about these romantic and oh so graphic moments.

Shadow Tag Written by: Louise Erdrich

Hello readers, have you ever heard a tune and knew just knew this song will not have a happy ending? That is how Shadow Tag the audio version begins. We begin on a day in November, Irene America is a mother of three children two boys and a girl and she is quite the descriptive woman. Irene is the wife of an successful artist whom is handsome and she is beautiful they have a wonderful home and live an artist life. But, it seems readers looks can be quite deceiving, what appears to be a loving marriage filled with passion it seems is without trust. Irene has discovered that her husband Gil, has been reading her diary, and to Irene this is the last straw the break in her trust, she is Gil’s muse his subject matter in all of his art she bares her body, soul, and life to the world through Gil’s paintings. And yet, Gil wants more he wants to be inside of his wife’s  very mind, and to prove she’s keeping a secret affair from him. So, Irene begins to keep a secret Blue Notebook, she has stashed this book safely in a safe-deposit box. There Irene records the truth about her life and marriage. But, Irene continues to write inside of her Red Diary where she knows Gil will find it and turns this Diary into a manipulative piece of work. Both Irene and Gil are trying to keep up appearances for their three children, but their home is becoming a place of increasing violence and the children are noticing these events more and more. Irene it seems is turning more and more to alcohol and it seems is bent on her own destruction. This readers is a sad tale, it’s written quite poetically but it is just sad when you see these stories over and over again. Both Gil and Irene are clearly lost individuals and need help, but it appears they don’t know how to even admit that to themselves, there is a lot of blame going on and a lot of denial and a whole lot of lies. This story was so frustrating too readers, the relationship Gil and Irene has is almost text book in the abuse and failed attempts to heal a broken relationship. This book also brings a bit of the Native American culture and questions of identity into the mix as well as the struggle with coming from a rough background and trying to realize that it is okay now we can be happy now we can move on… So many people I know readers never realize when it is okay to just be to just accept the good when you have had a life full of so much disappointment and so much pain it becomes a part of you. So, when that pain is gone when it’s not part of the now, how do you separate it from you? That pain, that life before the one you created for yourself is who made you whom you are today, so how does someone survive that and just leave it all behind? Perhaps you don’t have physical scars from these events and perhaps you don’t share them with the world, but they’re there and they were you at one point, and sometimes we pass that pain on. We’re following Irene, but this muse, this wife, this mother has a lot to overcome and yet she can’t let go of Gil and Gil refuses to let go of her after all he loves her. Narrated by Coleen Marlo whom really brought this story to life and gave Irene such a real voice and all the characters a life of their own...I especially loved her becoming unhinged Irene voice. Not exactly the tale of family one usually wishes to read before the Thanksgiving Holiday, but it does put some things in life into perspective readers. Erdrich really created a good and uneasy read that was quite graphic and hits a lot of issues right on the head.

A Stranger in Wynnedower Written by: Grace Greene

Hello readers, brr it’s getting brisk in this area, and I absolutely love all the wonderful small and crisp smells. I tell you I have the pleasure of passing a shop that has fresh baked break in the morning that combined with the aromas of people’s coffees and teas from their respective coffee shops is just so tantalizing. The smells and crisp cool winds just make me want to walk on by my office and loop my walk and keep on walking. Have you guessed yet that I adore this season? So, I decided with this time of year when the flowers are fading, the days becoming shorter, and the shadows lengthening perhaps it was time to read a tale with mystery involved. A Stranger In Wynnedower was the most recent book I had the pleasure of reading, though readers this was an interesting book in the fact yes it was a mystery, but it was also a bit of a love story. I found myself reading about Rachel Sevier, a thirty two year old inventory specialist with the most striking golden brown eyes and a no nonsense haircut who has a jack of all trades knack for life. Rachel my dear readers is looking to change her life, she’s hoping to surprise her brother at the Southern Gothic estate called Wynnendower in Virginia, but before she visits her brother he stops returning her calls. Rachel is perplexed and quite worried and upon arrival Rachel discovers her brother Jeremy has vanished and now she finds Jack Wynne the mansion’s bad tempered and short spoken owner. Jack is not at all happy to have Rachel at his home and is angry with her brother for taking off from his care taker responsibilities without a word. Jack Wynne is a large man who is quite grisly in his nature and demeanor but there’s a certain attractiveness in his form, and Jack has his own plans concerning his life. Jack is tired of being responsible for everyone and everything, and he wants to be free of those obligations.  Now, he has this woman Rachel snooping around searching for her irresponsible brother, but Jack allows Rachel to stay and wait for Jeremy. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes and even though Rachel has a knack for taking inventory and organizing things it appears there is quite a bit she’s not being told about Wynnedower. It’s a cute read my fellow book readers, there’s some interesting things going on in the background, but the author leaves so much for us to imagine and keep the air of mystery thick that some of the plot seems to have been lacking where some detail and dramatic moments could have been added, and for as hard Greene tried to keep the truth from surfacing I figured out what was going on pretty darn quick but maybe some of you will or would take longer to discover the secrets Wynnedower has to share? A wonderful read to pass these beautiful fall mornings, afternoons, and evenings readers.

The Twelve Book 2 in the Passage Trilogy written by: Justin Cronin

We’ve gone round in a circle…well more like a figure eight well more like a figure eight on acid.  What is life worth to you fellow readers? How much would you fight for a better life? Would you join your enemy? Would you fight them at the cost of your life of the ones you love life’s? Would you just shut all the bad away and escape within your mind? What would you do?  It seems that after everything the end of the world was only the beginning and we’ll have to live in past, present, and future. In Justin Cronin’s The Twelve, book two in the Passage Trilogy. Every character readers will be important every event will interlock and become part of this world’s both old and new story. In the present day we are following a woman called Lila who is an expectant mother who is so shattered by the spread of the government made infection and violence that she ignores reality to a degree of constantly painting and prepping for her unborn baby. There are others readers an ex solider whom will be known as “Last Stand in Denver.” Will also be warped into this new reality and become someone he never planned to be. Then there’s April a teenager is fighting to protect her little brother and all three will realize something that should bring comfort they are not fully abandoned they are not alone, but what If what’s coming for them isn’t the salvation they need? What if their salvation will bring about more darkness?  Then we morph to the future a hundred years to be precise, and we are faced with Amy, after the last book I thought readers maybe things would be better for this poor girl? It seems that way, but there are always the Twelve and Zero. Amy and the others fight on for humankind’s salvation, but even they can’t realize the enemy has changed the rules. The monsters are evolving and humans are losing hope some are even joining the monsters for just a promise of more life. This readers is where the ultimate sacrifice will be made as the future that the Twelve are trying to make for the world is more horrifying than man’s extinction. If these Twelve man made monsters are to be vanquished then someone or some people will need to make even more sacrifices. This book was absolutely thrilling readers, I had to pay extra close even though Scott Brick the reader was so crisp and clear in his dialogue truly an excellent narrator, but the words Cronin uses the sheer detail and interlocking plots are just so vast that you need to really pay attention.  My mind felt like it was floating at times readers living in multiple times and through multiple people and at times the same people Cronin does a wonderful job at evolving his characters and the plot, but sometimes things became just a tad jumbled especially towards the end, what the heck was that all about? What is going on? What exactly happened? I am not sure readers, but I absolutely cannot wait to find out.