Happy 130th Brooklyn Bridge!

How can I not say something about this wonderful bridge. I like bridges, especially old and wonderfully built ones such as the Brooklyn Bridge – one of the oldest suspension bridges in the US. I know it has been and is currently under repair, but still, to last 130 years surrounded by all that pollution and with all that use.  I was glad my kids and I were able to walk part of the promenade when we were there last August, though the promenade is no longer made of wood as one of the older photos shows. It took a bit to figure out how to get to it, (You have to go a few blocks from the water’s edge) but it was worth the effort. A must see for any New York vacation!

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It took 14 years to build at a  cost of 1 million dollars at the time (late 1800s) and approximately 12 lives. It was dedicated on May 24th, 1883

Photo Phriday Surprise!

My husband and I were surprised by this wonderful (to some) surprise.

That date stamp is wrong, but being the techno genius that I am, I don’t know how to change it.

 

We have never seen morels on our property before, so I’m not sure how we got them. But there they were not 50 feet from our front door. And we are going to give them all away to some morel fanatic – and you know, there are lot of you out there.

Viloteta with her first morels. She’s not impressed either.

We have tried cooking morels every which way these morel lovers have lovingly explained to us, but neither of us see the draw. It just tastes like… well… a mushroom. Their appearance is very impressive but that is about all I can say for them. So we will give them away to a morel lover and hopefully make their day!

The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber and Predator by Patricia Cornwell

I am putting these reviews together because of the stark differences in these two books and the similarities.

Genres:  Macomber – (romantic?) fiction, Cornwell – murder mystery

Blurbs: (Goodreads) Macomber: Jo Marie Rose first arrives in Cedar Cove seeking a sense of peace and a fresh start. Coping with the death of her husband, she purchases a local bed-and-breakfast—the newly christened Rose Harbor Inn—ready to begin her life anew. Yet the inn holds more surprises than Jo Marie can imagine.

Her first guest is Joshua Weaver, who has come home to care for his ailing stepfather. The two have never seen eye to eye, and Joshua has little hope that they can reconcile their differences. But a long-lost acquaintance from Joshua’s high school days proves to him that forgiveness is never out of reach and love can bloom even where it’s least expected.

The other guest is Abby Kincaid, who has returned to Cedar Cove to attend her brother’s wedding. Back for the first time in twenty years, she almost wishes she hadn’t come, the picturesque town harboring painful memories from her past. And while Abby reconnects with family and old friends, she realizes she can only move on if she truly allows herself to let go.

Cornwell: Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, digs into a case more bizarre than any she has ever faced, one that has produced not only unusual physical evidence, but also tantalizing clues about the inner workings of an extremely cunning and criminal mind.

She and her team — Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy — track the odd connections between several horrific crimes and the people who are the likely suspects. As one psychopath, safely behind bars and the subject of a classified scientific study at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital, teases Scarpetta with tips that could be fact — or fantasy — the number of killers on the loose seems to multiply. Are these events related or merely random? And what can the study of one man’s brain tell them about the methods of a psychopath still lurking in the shadows?

What didn’t like: I read Predator first and was so disturbed by it that I wanted to pick something more low key to listen to next, and I picked just the book. The Inn at Rose Harbor is so low key and idyllic that it was not very interesting to listen to. Don’t get me wrong, I like low key. I really enjoy Jane Karon’s Medford series (I’ve read 2 or 3 of those) but the characters in Karon’s stories seem more real, more fleshed out and the endings not always so boxed up with a pretty bow that you could see coming a mile away. Where “pretty bow” is as far from Predator as any book I have read. It was so horrific and graphic it almost seemed it was written for people who enjoy that short of  lunacy in real life. I would say Cornwell’s writing was better – less stilted, less of the passive voice than Macomber’s. But I had a hard time following Cornwell’s story line at times with it switching back and forth between different points of view. Macomber does the same switching but since the story is easier to follow, I got lost less often.

What I liked: I was looking for low key with Macomber’s book and I got it. It was a sweet story with lots of happy endings. Lorelei King narrated it and did a wonderful job. Predator was well written overall with a good plot and the nastiest characters I’ve read in a long time (thank goodness) so she did well with that. I also couldn’t guess who the bad guy was so the ending was a surprise.

Rating: 3/5 for both with the caveat that Predator was the better written story but too disturbing for me to like.

Envy by Sandra Brown

I picked up this audio book because I really enjoyed the last Sandra Brown book I read (Rainwater). This one…

Genre: fiction

Blurb: (from Goodreads) Living on a remote island under an assumed name, novelist Parker Evans guards his secrets well. Fascinated by this reclusive genius, publisher Maris Matherly-Reed decides to pursue him. But this new project threatens an old commitment, a commitment at the very center of her life. 

What I didn’t like: Compared to Rainwater, this wasn’t half the book that was. The plot was a little thin – the main bad guy (Todd, M’s husband) was a bit too stupid for my taste. He kept thinking his villainous plans would work, even after his wife caught him cheating, and he threatened her.  It bothered me that M fell for the crude — character. It’s a bit hard to understand how an educated, savvy business woman would do that, but I guess it could happen. I also thought Brown made him – the supposed good guy in the story – too crude. A bit crude, sure, but not as raunchy as she made him. The other thing that bothered me is the sex in the book, mostly because I wasn’t expecting it. Neither the back audio blurb nor the blurb you read above give you any idea of this. And having read Brown’s Rainwater before this, I wouldn’t have expected it from this author. It seems more like a book about the act of sex with a revenge story as a back drop vs the other way around. Plus when Parker Evans is injured in the ocean as badly as he was injured, he would have bled out and died if the sharks didn’t get to him first (if there are sharks around the Florida Keys). And on a personal note:  as a writer, I don’t like to read books about writing. I use reading as an escape, and reading about writing is not an escape for me.

What I liked: Not a whole lot, as you can see from above. It has good dialogue and flows well even with a thin plot at times, but I was expecting more of a story after reading Rainwater before this one. If you like to read sex scenes, Brown does a good job with those and there is plenty of them throughout the book, but I didn’t pick this book up looking for that. Victor Slezak did the narration for this audio book and he did a fine job. I wonder how he kept his cool through all those sex scenes!

Rating: 2/5

Photo Phriday

I am sharing this photo because I have had 11 male goldfinches at our feeder this week – at one time! (and I can count only three females – what a ratio!)

From Jeffrey Foltice’s blog – photo nature blog

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Book II in the Infernal Devices series

Genre: YA fantasy

Blurb: (goodreads) In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

What I didn’t like: There were two things I wasn’t too thrilled with but they were both minor. One was the odd ending. It actually confused me. Very close to the end Clare, after the big dramatic fight scene, seems to end the book when someone special shows up at the Institute’s doorstep – I won’t say who. I don’t want to give anything away for those who want to read it.  Then she adds a bit that I would guess will be clarified in the next book, but it’s just confusing to me. The interesting bit for book III is the person who shows up. She should have left it at that.  The second was in the audio version, two different people did the reading, one male, one female (sorry, I forgot to write down their names). They both did a wonderful job, I just wished they would have stuck to one person. It is kind of disconcerting to switch back and forth.

What I did like: The book has the usual good dialogue, good character and plot development, but what I have to give her kudos for is a scene about 3/4 of the way through that allows Tess and Will (the two main love interests) to let their feeling go when they shouldn’t have. It was brilliant! It is a wonderfully seductive scene as well, for teens and non-teens alike. I really like how Clare makes a scene steamy without being raunchy. Very important for a YA audience and I appreciate it myself. The woman (Clare) knows how to build sexual tension.

Rating: 4/5

Photo Phriday

In honor the the first flowering shrub in our yard – it’s got a ways to go yet, but I can wait for that wonderful fragrance and soft, purple color. It’s one of my favorites!

The Plague of Doves by Louise Edrich

I picked this out of a hat. I had never read any of Edrich’s stuff before.

Genre: fiction

Blurb:  (goodreads) The unsolved murder of a farm family still haunts the white small town of Pluto, North Dakota, generations after the vengeance exacted and the distortions of fact transformed the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation.

Part Ojibwe, part white, Evelina Harp is an ambitious young girl prone to falling hopelessly in love. Mooshum, Evelina’s grandfather, is a repository of family and tribal history with an all-too-intimate knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.

What I liked: The writing is wonderful, poetic, inspiring as a writer, and  just lovely. The story is intriguing… in places. The beginning story of the young girl, Evelina and her interesting grandfather, who like many elders, has a story to tell gets you to want to learn more.

What I didn’t like: Unfortunately Erdrich doesn’t stay with that initial story. She brings it back later, but there are confusing things in between. You find out that these other people and stories ultimately mean something but I think the story would have been wonderful if Louise could have made the transitions between the different people’s stories more understandable, more logical. She does bring the stories together at the end, but the end seems anti-climactic. It left me thinking: what was she trying to get across in this story? I listened to this and the narration switched between Peter Francis James and Kathleen McInerney. They both do a good job, I just prefer one narrator or a group of narrators that play a specific character. I get used to hearing one voice and it is startling for me when the switch happens. Oh well.

Rating: 3.5/5

Photo Phriday

Isn’t this a wonderful photo? The colors of the men in a colorless backdrop, the dark of the sky… it is just lovely. I picked this picture up on facebook, from Varga Mihaly, and I couldn’t distinguish the artist or location of the photo.

April Joke

I know it’s past April 15th but I saw this on speedbump.com and thought it was funny. It really is funny sometimes, what we think is valuable. (Thanks speedbump! I can’t read the scribble in the left bottom corner to see who the artist or I’d give them credit too)