Out of the Easy / Ruta Sepetys / 346 pages / April Challenge Rain

"Besides humming, reading was the only thing that blocked out Mother, the Quarter, and allowed [her] to experience life outside New Orleans."  It is the 1950's and seventeen year old Josie Moraine's mother is a whore.  Josie works in a local bookstore where she has lived since she was eleven.  She also cleans Willies cat house where her mother works.  Her mother is involved with Cincinnati, a ruffian, who has ties with the local mob.  Josie's life is filled with troubles.  Charlie Marlowe, who has taken care of her since she was little and in whose bookstore she lives/works, has lost his mind after a break-in.  A wealthy customers from Tennessee has died in the Quarter and Josie's mom is believed to be involved in his death.  Josie would love to attend Smith College in Massachusetts and has the support of her friends.  To what lengths is she willing to go to make her dream come true?  Does she love Charlie's sons, Richard, or mechanic, Jesse?  In this amazing coming of age story, Rita Sepetys has skillfully created a rich tale of "secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny"...a peon to true friendship, integrity, and the necessity of being true to oneself.

"Decisions, they shape our destiny."

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

To Be Perfectly Honest: a Novel Based on an Untrue Story / Sonya Sones / 480 pages

Colette is an "unreliable narrator", an unreliable friend, and her mothers says "Pinocchio's skills pale in comparison to [hers]."  When her famous movie star mother, Marissa Shawn, informs her on the first day of summer vacation that Dreamworks just asked her to star in a new comedy and that they would leave immediately for San Luis Obispo - somewhere between Borington and No Wheresville, she is chagrined to say the least.  She was supposed to spend the summer in Paris with her three best friends in her mother's house that was bigger than the Louvre.  On the way to San Luis, they encounter Connor who roars up next to their car on a motorcycle.  Colette is drawn to him and he enters her fantasies and prevarications.  This is a close-up, humorous look at first sexual relationships and family dynamics.  Written poetically, To Be Perfectly Honest is entertaining, amusing, and cautionary...Loved little brother, will!!

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-6

This Song Will Save Your Life / Leila Sales / 276 pages / 12 Drummers Drumming/ Rain Challenge

Elise Dembrowski was born to be unpopular.  She was uncool by fourth grade.  The summer after her freshman year she decides that she is going to remake herself.  She is going to become cool.  After sacrificing hours of sunshine to magazines and Internet research, working really hard at being cool, she realizes that "this should have bee a red flag."  "Working really hard on anything is, by definition, not cool."  When she discovers Start, an underground teen/YA nightclub and its DJ, Char, her life is indeed changed.  Is it for the better?  This novel embraces divorced parents, shared custody, blended families, teenage snarkiness, cyber bullying, a vast compendium of musical expertise, and an indomitable heroine who just wants to have a friend and to be one.

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

All Our Yesterdays / Cristin Terrill / 360 pages

The world has crumbled like a house eaten from the inside by rot.  The government has developed a massive particle collider called Cassandra.  Using Einstein's theory of relativity, it can punch a hole in the space-time continuum, allowing time travel.  The story opens with Em and Finn imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base.  They have been tortured so that the Doctor can discover their secret.  Em is fascinated by the drain in the floor, imagining horrific reasons for its presence in the middle of the cell.  Inside the drain is a piece of paper detailing fourteen previous attempts to alter the course of time that resulted in terrible changes around the world, the diabolical transformation of their friend James, and their own imprisonment.  All Our Yesterdays is "a wrenching brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice."  Awesome!!

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Living / Matt de la Pena / 311 pages / April Challenge Rain

Wow!  What an adventure!  This book has it all...luxury ocean cruises, suicide leap, earthquake, tsunami, pandemic, shipwreck, evil scientists, young love, Hispanic hero, spoiler/snarky/wealthy white girl, rejected lover with seven carat diamond, sharks...  Young Shy takes a summer job with a cruise line to earn some money to help his mom pay the bills.  His grandmother, who used to pay half, just died of the dreaded Romero disease.  When he witnesses a suicide leap and is the last person to talk to the victim, Shy becomes the center of unwanted attention.  When tragedy strikes - repeatedly, Shy proves to be a resourceful hero.  The ending is somewhat open-ended.  Is a sequel in the works?

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Bones Never Lie/ Kathy Reichs/ 323 pages

Dr Temperance Brennan is busy fighting off a cold in Charlotte, NC when she is called in to consult on a cold case involving a child.  As Tempe digs deeper into the files she finds they are eerily similar to a case she and Andrew Ryan worked in Montreal.  Anique Pomerlaeau slipped through their fingers years ago.  Tempe wonders if there is tie between the old case and the new.  Before she can get to work on the cases she must hunt down Andrew Ryan, AWOL from his police job in Montreal.  Together they work the case filled with twists and turns.  Kathy Reichs continues to write in the style of her earlier works.  The book was a satisfying read with the right mix of police work and personal lives.

The Program / Suzanne Young / 405 pages / April Challenge Rain

The program is a solution for the teen suicide pandemic.  One in three teens ultimately commit suicide.  The program targets teens exhibiting symptoms and mandates mandatory removal of the teen to a safe environment.  Sloane has lost her brother to the international epidemic but has his best friend, James, to help her through the debilitating effects of his death.  Sloane knows that to exhibit symptoms of sorrow/depression publicly will land her in The Program - which supposedly cures depression, but erases memories.  Are you still you if all your memories are gone?  Sloane and James make a pact to protect each other from the The Program.  Is this possible?  This was certainly a mesmerizing book, fraught with tension, and fueled by the determination and the clear-headedness of the protagonist, intent upon preserving her individuality, and ultimately her love.

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Out of Time/ A Time Travel Mystery/ Monique Martin/ 294 pages

Professor Simon Cross is interested in the occult.  He even teaches classes in the subject.  Elizabeth West is his assistant, drawn to him after attending his class.  One night Elizabeth arrives at Simon's house as he examines items once owned by his grandfather.  As both examine an unusual watch they are suddenly transported to another time.  In 1929, Simon and Elizabeth find themselves needing jobs as they try to solve the mystery of the watch.  The book was an interesting mix of historical fiction with a bit of the occult tossed in as well.  Along with solving the mystery, Simon and Elizabeth learn something about themselves.

The Truth That's In Me / Julie Berry / 274 pages / April Challenge Rain

This is a most unusual puzzle-like novel.  The main character, Judith, is addressing the narrative to the love of her life, Lucas.  Judith was abducted when she was fourteen and held captive for two years.  Another young girl, Lottie, from the same somewhat mysterious community disappeared around the same time.  Before her captor released her, he cut out half Judith's tongue, seemingly making it impossible for her to speak.  When Judith arrives home, she discovers that Lucas plans to marry another.  Her mother treats her as if she has disgraced the family.  When the community is attacked, Judith knows her captor has the wherewithal to save the village.  Should she enlist his help?  At what cost?  The author has done a masterful job of breathing life into her main character and compelling the reader to sympathized and empathize with her.

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Bruised / Sarah Skilton / 274 pages / 9 Ladies Dancing/7 Swans a Swimming Challenge

Imogen has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is very proud of her hard work, accomplishments, and commitment.  She is caught inside a diner with her brother's ex, Gretchen, a strange young man, and the cashier when a 28 year old man wielding a gun enters to rob the establishment.  Instead of using her skills to disarm the bandit and help the cashier, she hides under a table - as does the young man.  Gretchen, who had gone to bathroom, calls 911.  When the police arrive, a shoot out ensues and Imogen is covered with blood and guilt.  She struggles through her junior year, failing classes, losing her best friend, being suspended from Tae Kwon Do, and dealing with her Dad's newly diagnosed diabetes.  Imogen needs to fight back - to prove all her training is not useless.  She lets loose on Ricky, the young man in the diner, willing him to give her the fight she disparately needs.  He gives her much more.  Although this book did not keep me up all night, it did keep me reading nonstop, hoping that Imogen would get the help she needed...  Beware of inappropriate language and sexual activity, but beautiful descriptive passages and multiple themes certainly make this a worthwhile read.

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Proxy / Alex London / 379 pages

If you lived in Valve, lawlessness wasn't a vice, it was a life skill.  Syd Carton, a proxy, knew this well.  He still had two years debt to pay of the eighteen years he originally owed.  "The Benevolent Society charged ten years for rescue from the desert and another three for installing datastream into your blood.  Three more years got tacked on for foster care, and two more just to get into school.  That made eighteen years altogether."  Syd's patron, Knox Brundle, was born into one of the wealthiest families and was a playboy who indiscriminately borrowed whatever struck his fancy.  When he borrows a fancy car, drives recklessly, and kills his passenger, Maria, Syd is to be punished for Knox's crimes - theft, trespassing, destruction of property, and homicide.  Knox's father had purchased Sydney's debt and when Knox broke the rules, Syd was punished.  "He was just a body for the rich to use and discard when it suited them."  He was to be shocked, branded, and sent to Sterling Work Colony for sixteen years.  "There was no escape.  The Mountain City was the only civilization on the continent.  The rest was swamp and desert and ruins..."  But escape they do...  This is a 'fast-paced thrill ride of a novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship - just as moving as it is exhilarating..."

"Using the poor to control the poor kept everyone in the Valve at one another's throats and kept them from working to far up the sky scrapers and private communities."
"You cannot nourish the soul with data."

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Nazi Hunters / Neal Bascomb / 245 pages / April Challenge Rain

The necessity of the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann was not solely justice, revenge for the atrocities suffered by the Jews under his watch.  The new German government after World War III had numerous sympathizers.  A new Kristallnacht had occurred during which 685 Jewish locations throughout the country were vandalized.  Schoolteachers were found to be teaching incorrect information about Hitler's regime.  Textbooks had been rewritten to minimize the Jewish Question.  If Eichmann, one of the leading organizers of the Holocaust, was caught and punished "the world would be forced to remember what had happened, and it would be reminded that such horrors must never be repeated."  This book describes the new nation of Israel's detailed plan to find, capture, and transport Adolf Eichmann for the purposes stated above.  Well-researched, extraordinarily well-written, and filled with photographs, this engaging nonfiction book should be part of any well-developed Holocaust collection.

Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Obsesssed / Ted Dekker 400 p.

Two pregnant women are granted life by the evil Nazi commandant Gerhard Braun.  The story alternates between these two women life in the concentration camp and their adult children resolving unfinished business.  Stephen Friedman is making a good living.  His life takes a big turn when he learns that he is the child of a Holocaust survivor who lived not far from him in California.  His mother leaves him a clue that only he and one other may follow; a clue that leads to the stones of David; a fabulously valuable prize that disappeared during World War II.  First he has to get his hands on Rachel's legacy.  Serial killer Roth Braun is after the same prize.  He is willing to do anything to get it.  He knows about Stephen.  Both are obsessed with the treasure.

Panic / Sharon M. Draper / 262 pages / 9 Ladies Dancing December Challenge

"Do what you know is right for you."  If Diamond had heeded this excellent advice, or if she had remembered not to talk to strangers...Layla is in an abusive relationship with Donovan and eagerly awaiting her father's return from prison.  Justin is the only male in the dance company and is an excellent dancer with intense feeling for Layla.  Donovan hates to see Justin dance with his Layla and strikes out in a reprehensible, illegal way. This awesome book by the irrepressible Sharon Draper, focuses on each character individually and alternately, with each chapter featuring a quote from Peter Pan.


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Out of Nowhwere / Maria Padian / 337 pages / 7 Swans a Swimming December Challenge

Tom Bouchard, a high school senior in Enniston , Maine, has it all.  He's top of his class (currently #3), top of his game (soccer), dating one of the hottest girls in school, has great college prospects (if he ever gets his applications in), a supportive family, and a crazy best friend.  His soccer team rocks because of the infusion of several Somali players who have fled their war-ravaged homeland and arrived in Enniston due to secondary migration.  Although this is fantastic for the team, the number of refugees have strained school, town, and citizen resources and patience.  Suspicion, a residual of 9/11, exacerbates an already tense situation.  Tom's best friend, Donny, convinces him to repaint the spirit rock at a rival high school and both are sentenced to one hundred hours of community service at a local center providing assistance to refugees.  This book has so many themes:  sportsmanship, what it means to be a team player/captain, cultural differences, integrity, friendship, family dynamics, religions' impact on attitudes and behaviors, etc.  It is an engaging read that "offers a compelling glimpse into how the choices we make, or don't make, come to define us."  Beware!  Objectionable language present.


"It's hard to fear someone, or be cruel to them, when you know their story."


"There's one thing you can say about luck:  It's not fair."


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Rules for Disappearing / Ashley Elston / 312 pages

Sissy's nickname is really important because it's the only thing anchoring her to her past.  She and her younger sister, Teeny, have become the M & M girls (Meg & Mary) in their latest transformation for the witness protection program.  They have been so often and so suddenly moved that Anna Boyd (Sissy) has learned to keep a go-bag of essentials packed and ready at all times.  She records their experiences in her journal.  After a make over that involves cutting her long blond hair, a dye job, and contacts that turn her blue eyes brown, she is resigned to staying in the neglected creole house in north Louisiana as she begins her senior year of high school.  She first encounters Ethan Landry in the school office her first day.  Ethan is to play a prominent role in her future, as will a mysterious, ubiquitous FBI agent.  This is a page-turner - very realistic, although somewhat predictable.  As is often true of YA novels objectionable language is present.


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Thousand Words / Jennifer Brwon / 284 pages / 7 Swans a Swimming December Challenge

"It was okay to want to be desired.  Every one did right?"  Ashleigh Maynard Coats and Kaleb met on the cross country team, became an item, and were inseparable.  Now a graduated senior, Kaleb insists that he needs to spend time with his baseball buddies before he leaves for college.  When this is the reason he misses the biggest party of the year, Vonnie's pool party, Ash follows snarky Rachel's somewhat dubious advice that she should send him a nude picture of herself to show him what he is missing.  Since she was drunk, her reasoning was befuddled and her inhibitions significantly impaired.  The shot goes viral and the repercussions are legion.  With the help of a friend, Mack, in Teens Talking, Ashleigh realizes that her mistake, or other's reaction to it, do not define her.  This is an excellent cautionary tale warning against the danger of potential social media abuse.


"You can get past a mistake, but it's much harder to get past being a cruel person."
"A picture is worth a thousand words, but it doesn't tell the whole story."


"Sending nude photos of minors is distribution of child pornography."


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

In the Shadows of Blackbirds, a Novel / Cat Winters / 387 pages / 3 French Hens December Challenge

Mary Shelly Black is a sixteen year old in the fall of 1918.  Her mother, a physician is deceased and her father was arrested for protesting the war (World War I).  She is sent to live with her aunt who works in the shipyards.  The Spanish Influenza and the war are constantly on every one's minds.  Mary's beau, Stephen, who inherited his father's photography studio along with his brother Julius, is headed off to war.  Stephen is a photographer like his father, while to Julius photography is just the way he makes money - to support his drug habit.  He takes doctored photos of individual with their relative's spirits.  When word comes that Stephen has been killed in France, Mary Shelly is devastated.  When she can no longer stand the isolation imposed upon her by her aunt's attempt to keep her safe from the flu pandemic, she volunteers at a local shelter for wounded soldiers.  What she finds out there changes many lives.  This is an excellent atmospheric piece.  1918 really comes alive in the harrowing, suspense-filled haunting of a determined, indomitable young woman. 




Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Icons / Margaret Stohl / 428 pages / 2 Turtle Doves December Challenge

The aliens have landed...and they are called The Lords.  Devastation accompanied their arrival and Los Angeles is now called The Hole.  The Lords dropped thirteen icons in various cities.  The icons regulated everything with electrical impulses, including people.  Doloria was a baby when the Lords arrived.  She has several gray freckles which set her apart from others.  A padre took Doloria to his mission after the deaths of her parents and she grew up there with her best friend Ro (who also has those freckles).  The mission is raided, the padre is killed, and Doloria and Ro are kidnapped.  The Lords, through their ambassadors have expressed a desire to see them.  Rebel sympathizers are also interested.  There are two additional teenagers with the unique marks and one is the ambassador's son.  Whom should Doloria and Ro trust?  What can they possibly hope to accomplish in the messed up world?  This first in a series is a creative twist on earth's dystopian future with compelling notes from an esteemed doctor on The Humanity Project and a secret/traded journal.


Gateway Award Preliminary Award Nominee 2015-16

Redshirts / John Scalzi / 319 pages / RAT-Science Fiction

When Andy Dahl is assigned to join the crew of the Universal Union Capital Ship, Intrepid, his excitement quickly turns to fear as he learns to avoid "Away Missions" at all costs.  Low-ranking crew members' lives are lost on every trip, but not once is an officer killed by Borgovian Land Worms, Merovian Plagues or other treacherous alien beings.  After comparing notes and discovering new, life-changing, world-shaking, brain-frying information, Andy and friends embark on a quest to an alternate universe and back again with amazing results and the addition of two surprising twists to the storyline.  A hilarious romp that will especially entertain Star Trek fans, Redshirts is a truly enjoyable, fast-paced, escape.  Not for sci-fi readers only! 

Read-alikes include Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez and Phule's Company by Robert Asprin.

Heroes are My Weakness/Susan Elizabeth Phillips/367 pgs.

Annie Hewitt is down on her luck. She's recuperating from an illness; her mother passed away leaving Annie with large debts, but also telling her that her "legacy" awaits her at the cottage on Peregrine Island. Annie arrives on the island in the midst of a winter snow storm. Annie needs to stay on the island 60(?) days or else she loses the cottage. In addition, Annie meets up with author Theo Harp, who betrayed her in her teenage years. Did I mention that Annie is a ventriloquist and has internal conversations with her puppets? Some readers might find this creepy, but I thought it quite funny! Anyway, someone wants Annie off of the island, sparks fly between Annie and Theo, and it all results in a happy ending. This book received mixed reviews on Amazon, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are flawed characters, humor, and a touch of mystery. Recommended!

Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty / 480 p.

WOW! That's how I would sum up this book in one word. It is full of humor (I LOVE Madeline!) but it is a serious book about serious issues...and quite a few secrets. AND somebody (?) gets killed. It is set in Australia, but this could just as easily have been the U. S. It centers around a group of parents of new kindergarten students. Jane: a single mom who's child is accused of bullying from the first day. Madeline: struggling to deal with having her ex's child in the same kindergarten as her o...more WOW! That's how I would sum up this book in one word. It is full of humor (I LOVE Madeline!) but it is a serious book about serious issues...and quite a few secrets. AND somebody (?) gets killed. It is set in Australia, but this could just as easily have been the U. S. It centers around a group of parents of new kindergarten students. Jane: a single mom who's child is accused of bullying from the first day. Madeline: struggling to deal with having her ex's child in the same kindergarten as her own kindergartner with her 2nd husband--not to mention problems with the daughter they share. Celeste: who has the biggest secret of all. Terrific storytelling! For readers of realistic, contemporary family fiction that centers on the family in all its forms.

Song of Susannah / Stephen King / 413 pages

This is the 6th book of King's Dark Tower series.  I was really disappointed in this book.  I willingly went along with King bringing storylines from his other novels into this series, but in this book, he inserts himself and allows his characters to realize they aren't real.  There is an unwritten contract between fiction writers and readers: the writer will try to provide believable characters and an entertaining story if the reader will willingly suspend disbelief for the length of the story.  King had me invested in these characters for five books only to let them come into the "real world" and realize they are only fictional characters.  The only reason to read this book is to keep up with the movement of the story and the characters.  I'm hoping the last book of the series will be better.

Archetype: A Novel / M.D. Waters / 369 pages / RAT-Science Fiction

   A debut novel that has you by the throat from the beginning. Emma wakes up in a hospital with absolutely no memory. She doesn't even know this man who claims to be her husband. And these dreams that haunt her. They aren't nightmares but they still bother her and haunt her constantly. Her husband Declan very patiently begins to teach her about their lives together and what she is capable of doing. Before long Emma is home from the hospital, painting glorious landscapes and exercising with long punishing runs. But there is a voice that warns her not to talk about her dreams or are they memories? Emma isn't sure who or what to trust and starts to find answers to her questions. She isn't sure what is reality and those answers only seem to be confusing everything.
  This book is set in one possible future. Women are a rare commodity and the birth rate is falling off drastically. There has been a war and the United States had been divided in two: West is the free zone and the East is a policed society where women/young girls are put in work camps. The more Emma begins to remember the more the tension is wound tighter and tighter. The plot pulls you along and the pages just keep turning faster and faster. There is some language but not off-putting. There is a sex scene or two between Emma and her husband. All together this is something anyone can read - I even thing Young Adults might like it.

Six degrees of Reading:  My Real Children by Jo Walton, Lock In by John Scalzi, Clone Three by Patti Larsen.

Mean Streak/Sandra Brown/409 pages

Emory, a well known doctor, disappears while training for an upcoming marathon. Her husband doesn't immediately report her missing. Meanwhile, Emory awakes in a stranger's cabin.  As she spends time with her captor, she begins to question the morality of some of the things that he causes her to do.  Things are not always what they seem.  This book is  a fast-paced read with believable characters and enough plot twists to keep you interested till the end.

The Catch/Taylor Stevens/358 pgs.

This is Stevens' fourth book in the Vanessa "Michael" Munroe series. At the end of the last book, The Doll, Michael left for Djibouti, Africa, to decompress. Life is fine until Michael's boss, Leo, pressures her to become part of his team of armed guards on a ship headed for Kenya. Once on board the ship, Michael learns that things aren't what they appear to be: it's a gunrunning operation--something she wants to have no part of. The ship is attacked off the Somali coast, and Michael saves herself, and the ship's unconscious captain. As it turns out, the ship wasn't the target--it was the captain. Michael needs to find out why the "pirates" want the captain, in order to have a chance at rescuing the crew, and keeping herself alive. It's a complicated story--not unlike the character of Michael. This is a very good series, but one that needs to be read in order. Michael is similar in character to Lisbeth Salander (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) but not quite as rough around the edges. She is a formidable character!

The Blood of an Englishman/M.C. Beaton/294 pages

When Agatha Raisin attends a play, you have to expect a murder as the finale. One of the leads is killed, and Agatha is on the case. When another actor is another play is also murdered, the mystery only deepens. What do the murders have in common, and will Agatha be able the solve them before anything else happens? More importantly, will Agatha stop trying to find love and maybe even a husband? Not likely on that account. Agatha's alternating self-doubt and confidence is part of the charm of the series.

This is the twenty-fifth installment of the series. Someday, I hope Agatha will find love but still find time for mysteries.

Too Close to Home/Linwood Barclay/404 pages

When the Cutter's next-door neighbors are murdered in their home, Jim and Ellen are understandably scared and concerned. Their son Derek's reaction to losing his best friend is more strange than sad. The police start focusing on Derek, so Jim starts looking into a old computer that was a gift and may hold answers to why the family was killed.

Good solid mystery by Barclay. Several stories threads come together, and the ending is satisfying.

Wolves of the Calla / Stephen King / 714 pages

This is the 5th book of King's The Dark Tower series.  We continue to see characters from King's other books leaking into this story, most notable is Father Callahan from Salem's Lot.  Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy the billy-bumbler come in a small town (which King now calls a Calla) named Calla Bryn Sturgis.  The town is upset because they have just learned the wolves will be back within a month and the wolves always take one of every set of twins.  Considering the women in this town almost always have twins, this results in about half the town's children being taken.  About a month later the children return, but are roont.  Roland and crew decide whether to help and then bear the consequences.

The House of Hades / Rick Riordan / 596 pages

This is the 4th book of the Heroes of Olympus series.  Riordan's writing style is again superb in the blending of details with the action of the story.  The heroes continue their trek to the Doors of Death, Percy and Annabeth through Tarturus and the rest over land and sea.  We find out why Nico has been such a loner the last few years.  Mild parent warning here, you might want to read this book before letting your kids read it.  I am anxiously awaiting The Blood of Olympus to finish out this series.

Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer / John Grisham / 263 pages

This is the first John Grisham book tha I have read.  There is a plot, but so much more.
There seem to be complete tutorials on the court system, mortgages, forclosure and bankruptcy law, how to beat a drug arrest or dui and much more.  Maybe this is John Grisham's mission in life to prepare kids for the world legally, but none of it actually advanced the small plot of the murder trial.  It was not my usual book choice. The "How-to's"
in the books I read are more on the order of how to build a log cabin or get supplies for winter in the 1800's.  On the whole, the book was ok.  When I need to learn more legal stuff, I'll check out book 2.  I understand that it will be everything you want to know about abduction.

Circle of Bones, Christine Kling, 526 pages

Maggie Reilly is enjoying the Caribbean on her sail boat.  In a week she will be working on a new job in Dominica.  What a surprise when she rescues a naked man in the middle of the sea.  Maggie and Cole, now clothed, work together to solve the mystery of a long missing French submarine that is somehow tied to the Skull and Bones secret society.  Along the way many secrets are revealed about Maggie's family and their connection to the sub.  Of course the book has a villain or two or three to complicate matters.  This was an enjoyable read and a good page turner.  Having been twice to the Caribbean including Dominica, this was a fun book to read.

The Picture of Dorian Gray/ Oscar Wilde/ 221 pages

I have to say this is the worst book I have read in a long, long time.  If it had not been for book club, I would have put the thing down before I finished the first chapter.  I can't even say at this point that I'm glad I made myself read it.  It's boring and slow and I think people were maybe trying to have it banned because it was so painful to read not because of Wilde's personal life.

Heroes Are My Weakness / Susan Elizabeth Phillips 367 p. 5 Gold Rings Dec. Challenge

Annie Hewitt moves into her late mother's place on a Maine Island.  She arrives during a snow storm.  She's broke.  She needs a place to recuperate from an illness.  She aspires to be an actress.  At 33 that looks like it won't happen.  She is working as a children's ventriloquist.  Even though her puppets are packed in their red suitcases, they pepper her with advice, comments, and taunts.  She returns to the island where Theo Harp lives; the same Theo once tried to kill her.  And the girl who saved her, Jaycie Mills, works as his housekeeper.  All Annie wants is to find her mother's legacy and leave without meeting anyone.  She is drawn into the island life and especially to a very young mute child.  She realizes that the teen Theo Harp is different from the adult Theo.    This is a contemporary romance that sparkles with humor.  It has shades of the Gothic novels like Whitney, Stewart, and  Du Maurier, the villain lives alone and secluded in a castle atop a hill; and who's sister died sailing.  The puppets are characters in themselves.  They take on helping the mute girl.  They, through Annie, convince Theo that he isn't the villain but a hero in disguise.

The Colorado Kid / Stephen King / 184 pages

I picked up this book because the television series Haven was so heavily advertised as being based on it.  In that I was disappointed.  The characters Vince and Dave are roughly the same, but no one else from the series makes an appearance.  The town is similar, though in the book it is called Moose Lookit.  The Colorado Kid is about a young upcoming journalist who is completing her internship in this backwater Maine town.  She must decide whether to stay and convince the two owners of the paper that she is worth keeping.  They share a mystery that has perplexed the two of them for decades.  Spend an afternoon reading about the mystery and see if you can be the one who solves it.

The Black Hour/Lori Rader-Day/331 pgs.

Sociology professor, Dr. Amelia Emmert, is returning to her college classroom after having spent the last ten months recuperating from a gunshot wound that left her walking with a cane, and the shooter, Leo Lehane, dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound. The most puzzling item for Amelia, is that she didn't know Leo Lehane--he wasn't in any of her classes, and had no reason to shoot her. Amelia acquires a new teaching assistant, Nathaniel Barber, who is new to the college, but also has his own agenda in wanting to be Amelia's assistant. The story is told in alternating chapters through Amelia and Nath's voices. As the book moves along, more background information is provided, and additional characters muddy the water. Just when you think you have it all solved, a new piece of information enters the mix. This is a great mystery/suspense book from a very promising debut author. Highly recommended!

Margot/Jillian Cantor/338 pgs.

Imagine Anne Frank's sister, Margot, survived the Holocaust, moved to the United States, and assumed a new identity. That is the premise for Jillian Cantor's Margot. Margot Frank, now known as Margie Franklin, has been living in Philadelphia, working as a secretary for the law firm of Rosenstein, Greenberg and Moscowitz. Her boss is Joshua Rosenstein, the son of Ezra Rosenstein. The year is 1959, and movie, The Diary of Anne Frank, has just been released. No one knows that Margie Franklin is Jewish, let alone the sister of Anne Frank. The book is told through Margie's voice, and depicts her struggles with survivor's guilt, shame, all the while trying to make a new life in a new country. On the one hand, Margie wants to forget her past, but on the other hand, she realizes that her past helped shape her present. It's a very engrossing book, but the ending was just a little too "pat" for me.

Old World Wisconsin, Kathleen Ernst, 325 pages,

Chloe Ellefson is trying to start her life over.  As the new Collections Curator, she is responsible for the artifacts at Old World Wisconsin, a living history museum (that really does exists http://oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org/).  A missing ale bowl sets Chloe on an adventure that takes her away from her museum duties and involves her with Officer Roelke McKenna.  This book shares some of the behind the scenes goings on in the living history museum as well as the care given to artifacts.  It was an enjoyable read, and being the first in a series there were many potential bad guys.

Big Little Lies/Diane Moriaty/460 pages

Something terrible happens at the primary school's annual trivia night. The police have been summoned and are investigating. But, first we must go back 6 months before to trace what really happened or, at least, why. It all begins on kindergarten orientation day when Jane, the newcomer to the community, meets Madeline, one of the alpha moms. Their fateful meeting and subsequent friendship is just the beginning of the story. Soon all the moms, and even some of the dads, are taking sides after Jane's son Ziggy is accused of choking and then bullying a little girl in the class. Ziggy unrelentingly denies all charges, and since no one ever sees him near Amabelle (that's not a typo), the school cannot take sides, but the parents can and do. Soon Jane and Ziggy are shunned by one group while Madeline takes up for her new friend.


Another delightful story from Moriaty! Anyone who has or had children in school can relate to this situation and can recognize the parents in the story. I stayed up much too late just to finish it and then was sad when it was over. Now who knows how long I'll have to wait for her to publish another one.

The Gods of Gotham/Lyndsay Faye/414 pages

Set in New York in the 1850s, this is the story of Timothy Wilde who was one of the first
"copper stars" or police officers in the newly forced police force. His older brother, Valentine, is politically connected and himself a volunteer firefighter and pulls strings to get his brother on the force after a huge fire burns down not only Tim's residence but also his place of employment. The police force is untested and unwelcomed by part of the community as the beginnings of a police state. Almost immediately, Tim gets pulled into a murder investigation that delves into the seediest part of the city.


Eventually, the story gets moving, but the first 55 pages are excruciatingly slow. When Faye finally around to the plot, the writing gets more economical. Every so often, she falls back into too many words to tell the story, but then she gets back on track. Faye did a lot of research, and I can appreciate that, but I place the story above the setting, so this book sometimes drags for me.

School Spirtis / Rachel Hawkins / 297 pages / 12 Drummers Drumming December Challenge

For centuries the Brannicks have hunted Prodigium, magical creatures - vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches.  Fifteen year old Izzy Brannick is the last of the line and not nearly as adept at the family business as her missing sister, Finley.  Izzy's mom decides to give her the comparatively easy job of ridding a high school in Ideal, Mississippi of its resident ghost who has recently stepped up her manifestations to include violence.  Izzy has always been home-schooled so she and a four hundred year old warlock who is trapped in a mirror in her house watch videos to help Izzy cope with the rigors of high school.  Luckily (?) the school has a ghost hunting Club, PMS (Paranormal Management Society), and Izzy quickly becomes friends with its three members, especially Dex, who may or may not be a prodigium.  This is an amazing page-turner, spiced with clever dialogue, and a heroine who puts friendship and safety above business.  Unfortunately, it is also spiced with inappropriate language.  While the ending is satisfying although a bit unbelievable, loose threads suggest a continuation of the story in future books.


"Books were the best for research.  Even the Internet can't know everything."


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Tandem: Book 1 The Many Worlds Trilogy / Anna Jarzab / 428 pages / 5 Gold Rings December Challenge

This book grabbed me from the very beginning with its fairy tale like prologue and a princess escaping her planned marriage to the enemy and her difficult stepmother.  When Thomas goes through the Tandem in search of the princess's analog, Sasha, he takes with him Toggles - a sweet chocolate candy with a fruit center, and he meets his heroine in the parallel universe of Chicago in a bookstore, two of my favorite things - chocolate and bookstores.  Thomas is a universal transporter and Sasha is the princess's analog.  She is a look alike for Princess Juliana, but because of her different setting and experiences, is a different person.  Sash's parents were killed in an accident when she was small and she lives a quiet life with her physicist professor grandfather.  She has always had somewhat enigmatic dreams about a princess.  Turns out that princess is Juliana.  Thomas has come t form Aurora, exchanging places with an acquaintance of Sasha's.  He invites her to prom then whisks her away to Aurora where she is to stand in for the runaway princess for six days, meeting the princess's betrothed.  She is promised a return home if she co-operates.  The switch is called Operation Starling, involves the KES, and is represented in the provocative cover art.  Although this book is intriguing, given the age of the protagonists and the rather mature language, I think this book inappropriate for Truman readers (grades 6-8), but would recommend it for Gateway (high school.)


Truman Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Naturals / Jennifer Barnes / 308 pages / 7 Geese a Laying December Challenge

Seventeen year old Cassandra is not normal.  She's a natural and the FBI wants her.  She's what is known as a profiler.  She pieces together tiny details and uses them to read people - to make highly accurate, intuitive predictions about the person's personality, who they are, and what they want.  The FBI has five such young people who they are training to work cold - or unsolved, cases.  Cassie is highly motivated because her own mother's murder is yet unsolved.  When a serial killer begins mimicking the MO of her mother's murderer, Cassie, of course, wants to work the case.  The twists and turns at the end, the surprises, and the satisfying ending make this well worth the read.


Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Sidekicked / John David Anderson / 373 pages / 7 Swans a Swimming December Challenge

Andrew Bean belongs to his "school's highly selective environmental club, otherwise known as the Highview Environmental Revitalization Organization, or H.E.R.O.  There are only six in the club.  Basically it's a training program for would-be sidekicks, who would then become would-be Supers for kids with kids with powers who hope to use them to someday fight the forces of evil..."  Drew was born with hypersensatia.  He "possessed super senses.  His magical hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell are the most powerful on the planet.  He's literally the sensitive kid in school.  He is a sensationalist."  Unfortunately, his Super, Titan, has abandoned him, and turned to drink, let himself go to fat, and ceased to be a crime fighter.  When the suits, three Jacks, escape from prison with the believed-to-be-dead Dealer's assistance, all sidekicks are placed on ready reserve status.  They are almost immediately disbanded as their ID's are compromised and their Supers are kidnapped or MIA.  Only Jenna's Super, Fox, is left.  She is in favor of relieving the sidekicks.  She claims she can handle the problem.  Although Margaret Peterson Haddix raved about this book on the jacket endorsement, I was a bit disappointed.  The beginning was a bit slow...She is right, however, that the middle and end "will make you wish you could turn pages faster than a speeding bullet."


"You can't pick and choose which rules you live by."


"Every gift has a price."


Truman Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Neptune Project / Polly Hollyoke / 341 pages / 8 Maids a Milking December Challenge

Global warming has wreaked havoc and devastation around the world.  The Tyrox outbreak killed most of the population of the LA over forty years ago.  Nere Hanson's mother was abandoned as a baby in the chaos following the Eugenics War.  It was assumed that one of her parents must have been a genetically altered supersoldier which resulted in Nere's and her mother's telepathy.  "If anyone in the government ever found out they are both telepaths, they'd end up in a Western Collective work camp, or worse.  Nere's mother is a scientist, with a secret illegal lab, computer, and radio.  She and Nere work and communicate with, and train dolphins.  Her father was washed overboard in a storm two years ago and his body was never recovered.  Her brother disappeared one year later.  when the government announces that all citizens of Goleta are to be moved further inland and the fishing fleet is destroyed, Gillian (Nere's mom) informs Nere that she, Robry (Cam's brother), and Lena (Nere's former best friend) are part of the Neptune Project.  They have been genetically altered to live in the sea.  They are to flee their home and make their way to a colony founded by her father for the Neptune kids.
This is an action-packed adventure filled with facts about the sea and spiced with romantic tension that will spark controversy on the ethics of eugenics, global warming, and biological research.


Truman Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

Rogue: a Novel / Lyn Miller-Lachmann / 290 pages / 12 Drummers Drumming December Challenge

"The X-men are mutants who don't fit into society.  They're like [Kiara Thornton], but all of them have special powers.  [Kiara's} trying to find [hers]."  She has Asperger's and has recently been suspended for hitting a fellow student with a lunch tray.  She desperately tries to strike up a friendship with every new kid but so far hasn't met with success.  Her mother, Mami, used to tell her how to act but she has left after the family band collapsed to perform as a back-up signer.  Kiara asks Mr. Internet how kids with Asperger's can find friends.  He has 255,000 answers for her.  Unfortunately, her newest prospect for friendship, 7th grader Chad, a new neighbor whose family moved into what used to be the Mackenzie Music Store, has a father who is making meth and uses Chad to procure Sudafed.  He is a musician like her father and together they make awesome music.  Kiara is faced with a dilemma.  She had to be a superhero like her heroine, Rogue, one of the X-men.  Will Chad be her Gambit?
This is a moving, insider's view into the ramifications of having Asperger's  Syndrome, the minefield of middle/high school  friendship, and one young girl's determination to do the right thing, make the world a better place, and to a friend...and a hero.


Truman Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16

The Weight of Blood / Laura McHugh / 302 p.

I was drawn to this book by a review because of it's setting in rural southwest Missouri, an area with which I am familiar. Mid-way through I was excited to learn that the author would be making an appearance at one of our branches in the near future. I also recognized the news event from which I am sure the author got the idea for this novel.

It is a good debut novel set in the Missouri Ozarks. Teenage Lucy has always had questions about her mother's disappearance when she was just a baby. When a classmate goes missing, Lucy begins to make disturbing connections between the two. Because the dangers that often face women are real, I found some of the book to be more "horrifying" than a Stephen King novel. The mystery plays out well. The community is realistically clannish and secretive. But I was somewhat dissatisfied with the ending. Lucy behaves heroically; still I expected a bit more.

I think the setting makes it of interest to most Missourians.  Mystery readers would also like it as well as those interested in women's issues.  Recommend for those who enjoyed Gone Girl and Room.

Midnight Before Christmas, William Bernhardt, 224 pages

Lawyer Megan McGee has plans for a quiet Christmas with her adopted bulldog when Bonnie Cantrell shows up at her office.  Claiming to be a battered wife, Bonnie wants a restraining order to keep her ex husband Carl away from her and her son.  When the reader meets Carl he seems to be everything that Bonnie describes.  As Megan interacts with Bonnie and Carl, she develops some doubts about the couple.  This book was a interesting read with some twists and turns that the reader may not see coming.

His Kidnappers Shoes, Maggie James, 334 pages

Laura Bateman is in custody in a mental health facility.  Daniel Bateman, her 'son' is very angry.  The reader follows parallel stories of Laura's past and Daniel's present.  We learn that Laura kidnapped Daniel when he was four years old.  From Daniel's story we learn that he can no longer be with the person he loves now that his past has been revealed.  The story presents a thought provoking look at abuse and it's effects through generations.  Daniel meets someone who helps him come to terms with his past, and he in turn helps Laura come to terms with her present.

The Unwanteds / Lisa McMann / 390 pages

     This 2014 Mark Twain award winner reminded me of Harry Potter.  The "unwanteds" are children (teens and tweens) who live in a magical world and learn magic from various odd teachers.  They even have an old mage rather than a wizard for the Dumbledore role.
     The unwanteds are any children who show creativity and don't fit into the Quillian world where there is extreme lack of goods, water, and technology which was apparently lost at some point.  The unwanteds are sent to off to die, but Marcus, the mage, actually has made the magical world to save them in.  The inevitable conflict will arise between rigid Quill and the magical world.
     While quite interesting, it still wasn't Harry Potter even though a British guy did the CD and could aproximate a Draco Malfoy voice for one of the characters.  I guess I still miss that thrill of a new Harry Potter book coming out.

Mark of Athena / Rick Riordan / 586 pages

In the third book of the Heroes of Olympus series, we finally learn what Annabeth's mom, Athena, said to upset her.  We find out she has the "Mark of Athena" and that it just might destroy Rome if the prophecy is correct.  We get to see all seven heroes in action as they learn more about their powers and each other.  Can Greeks and Romans put a 2,000 year-old grudge behind them or will they start a new civil war?  Can Reyna forgive Jason for leaving her behind?  This installment of Heroes of Olympus is the best yet.

Son of Neptune / Rick Riordan / 560 pages

This is the 2nd book in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series.  In this book, Percy Jackson is back, but remembers nothing except Annabeth.  Percy suffers a Hera-induced amnesia similar to Jason Grace's in The Lost Hero.  Percy slowly makes his way to the Roman version of Camp Half-Blood, called New Rome.  Will Percy accept his fate as a Roman hero and forget Annabeth and the Greek Camp Half-Blood?  Read this book to find out.

Star in the Forest / Laura Resau / 144 pages

    This is a very timely book about an 11 year old girl who lives in a run down trailer park in Colorado.  She is in fifth grade and wants to have friends and tries to fit in.  Her name is Zitlally and she is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.  Her family is far from rich, but they are together until that fateful day when her father is pulled over for speeding and is deported.  
    This begins to tear the family apart.  Her mother has to start two jobs and is not able to watch the kids as well.  Some men must move in to help with the rent so the family spends most of the time in the mom's bedroom.  Zitlally's older sister is absent and edging toward trouble.  Her younger sister is with a babysitter.  Zitlally is lost.  She can't focus at school.  She has no one to talk to about her father and her deep pain over his loss.
    She finds a dog chained in the junkyard behind her trailer park and this dog becomes the help for her life.  She also finds that another trailer park girl, Crystal, is a true friend despite her many issues.  This story makes a very satisfying circle where all elements tie in together by the end.
      On the author's website www.lauraresau.com There is also a teacher's guide for this book.  She is not writing out of the blue.  She spent 2 years in Oaxaca as a teacher and anthropologist and then 10 years in the southwest teaching English to immigrants.  The issue of illegal children living in the U.S. is not going to go away.  Reading this book would be a good way to start the discussion.

Plain Girl / Virginia Sorensen / 151 pages

    This thoughtful book written by Newbery winner Virginia Sorensen gives an insight into the Amish life.  Although the book was written in 1955, most of it would be true today as the Amish community hasn't changed that much.  
    The conflict is the daughter Esther who has other thoughts than the approved thoughts for Amish girls.  She questions things, wants to go to school with "English" children, and even would like to try on an "English" dress.  She is devastated that her brother Daniel has left the Amish and cannot return unless he is willing to be "Amish".  Even if he returns, can there be forgiveness by the family?  Esther hopes so.
    It is a good book with a good ending.

For All Time/Jude Dexeraux/383 pages

This is the second book in the Nantucket Brides Trilogy.  The story begins at a wedding where the groom’s cousin, Prince Graydon Montgomery of tiny Lanconia, meets bridesmaid Toby Wyndam.  Toby is able to tell Graydon apart from his identical twin brother, Rory, and according to Lanconian legend, this trait indicates that she is his true love, even though he is practically engaged to another woman.  There is some "time travel" in this story - characters returning to an earlier time - which I really don't like too much.  Otherwise the story is pretty predictable but enjoyable.

Someone Else's Skin/Sarah Hilary/405 pgs.

This is the start of a new series, and already I can't wait for the next installment! Detective Inspector (DI) Marnie Rome and her partner, Detective Sergeant (DS) Noah Jake, are searching for Ayana Mirza--an abuse victim living in a women's shelter. Upon reaching the shelter, they find the door unlocked, and one of the other abused women, Hope Proctor, holding a bloody knife in her hand. She is standing over the bloody body of a man, Leo, her husband. There are several witnesses, but each tells a different story; however, they believe Hope acted in self-defense. Both Hope and Leo are taken to the hospital--Leo recovers from his injuries, while Hope escapes from the hospital with help from another women's shelter resident, Simone Bissell. While the search for Hope and Simone is on, someone abducts Ayana from the shelter. There are multiple story lines in this debut novel--each giving insight into the main characters. The book is wrought with suspense, twists and turns, and very strong, flawed, main characters. Highly recommended!

Downtown Green (Gone to Green Series), Judy Christie, 258 pages

This was the fifth book in the series, but was able to stand alone.  Lois Craig has relocated from Dayton, Ohio to small town Green, Louisiana.  Along the way she has bought the local newspaper, gotten married and has just given birth to her son.  The challenges facing Lois and Green include a thick weed cover choking the local lake and a down turn in the downtown business now that the bypass has opened.  Lois takes on a new project of saving the old ice cream shop in an effort to revitalize the down town area.  This was a quick read without much complexities.  The story revolves around the lives and deaths of the towns people.

A Lesson Before Dying / Ernest J. Gaines / 256 p.

Wrong place and wrong time? Or guilty as charged? Doesn't matter. For a young black man in the South in the late 1940's the outcome of the trial was a forgone conclusion. Jefferson has been sentenced to die. Then a young teacher, Grant Wiggins, has been asked to help mentally prepare the young man for his execution.  Despite having gained an education, Grant feels the weight of inequality and oppression and questions his ability to help this young man--or any of his students for that matter. 

Her Last Whisper/Karen Robards/333 pgs.

Not realizing that this is the third in a series, I was still able to get a handle on the characters. Dr. Charlotte "Charlie" Stone is an expert in the psychology of serial killers. Evidently, Charlie narrowly escaped death in a previous novel, and is already back at work in Her Last Whisper. Girls have gone missing in Las Vegas--one of them being FBI agent Lena Kaminsky's sister, Giselle. She has requested Charlie's help--Charlie can, for some reason, communicate with the dead; she has also started hearing voices. On top of all of this, Charlie has Michael Garland, a ghost, who has to be in proximity to her. I'm not opposed to paranormal novels, but having the main character in love with a ghost--a hunky one at that, is a lot to swallow. It was an entertaining read, but I don't know if it was good enough for me to want to read the two previous books in this series.

The Girls of August/Anne Rivers Siddons/223 pages

The original "girls of August" were the wives of four med students/doctors. Although their husband's careers took them to different cities, the women vacationed each year in a beach house until one was tragically killed one winter. After that loss, the remaining three could not bring themselves to reunite each summer. Three years later, the widower remarries and wants the girls to reinstate the tradition with his new wife on her family's property on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast. The three reluctantly agree, and they begin to reacquaint themselves with each other and learn to like the new, much younger, member of the "girls of August."


This was a delight to read. I enjoyed the antics of the women fending for themselves on this remote island. I've always wanted to visit this part of the country, so the setting appealed to me. I wish Siddons had fleshed out the situations more. The story could have easily filled another one hundred pages. I find myself thinking I need to finish the book when, in fact, I already have.

Until We Touch/Susan Mallery/376 pgs

This is another entry in the "Fool's Gold Romance" series--a series I really enjoy. Larissa Owens is Jack McGarry's personal assistant; Jack is a partner in a public relations firm. She runs the aspects of his life involving charitable activities, in addition to being the firm's masseuse. They are good friends--he depends on her and enjoys her company; she doesn't mind being "one of the guys" and enjoys the friendship they share. This is fine until Larissa's mother claims that Larissa will never find someone to settle down with until she leaves Jack's employment, since it's obvious Larissa is in love with Jack. Her mom asks Jack to fire Larissa so that she will leave town and have a chance at love and marriage. From then on, Jack and Larissa begin seeing each other in a different light. It's obvious how this is all going to turn out, but the fun is watching them get from point A to point B in their relationship. This series has more depth of character than that of other contemporary romance series.

Cut and Thrust/Stuart Woods/307 pages

Stone Barrington saves the day for Katharine Rule Lee who is seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination. He also is instrumental in helping his friend Ed Eagle take care of an ongoing personal problem. What would the country do without Stone?


Woods' formula for Stone is tried and true. If you have a spare 5 hours and enjoy Stone's ridiculously easy life, you'll love this one.