A Ride Into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick by Ann Rinaldi

   I have a thing for historical fiction and the Revolutionary war is one of my favorite time periods.   This book hit on both counts.   This is the story of a young woman, Tempe Wick, and her cousin Mary who do what they can to survive the war and aid the Patriots.

The story takes place in Pennsylvania, not too far from Valley Forge.  It is the true story of the Pennsylvania line and the mutiny that almost happened.  Tempe is a legend for refusing to give her horse to the mutineers.  This is her story.

As a side note   I love the symbolism in the book - the way that so may assocaited Tempe's horse, Colonel, with Freedom.  The imagery of riding so fast that you "ride into morning"  really gives you an image in your mind of what that horse must have been like.   All and all it was an enjoyable read.  4 out of 5 stars.

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz

    This is the endearing story of Haruko, a commoner, who marries the Crown Prince of Japan in the 1950's.   It's about a departure from tradition,that isn't as much of a departure as one may hope.

I loved the beginning part of this book - parts 1 and 2.   These describe Haruko's childhood, her education and most importantly, her relationship with her parents.  The interactions between Haruko and her father are especially endearing.   Enter the Crown Prince.  They meet at a tennis match.   He falls in love with Haruko because of her independent spirit but, even so, it is obvious from the beginning that a relationship between them will face challenges.

The biggest of these challenges is the current Empress of Japan - one of the most odious characters ever captured in print.

My biggest critique of this book is that I wanted MORE.  I wanted more details.  I wanted the characters, other than Haruko, to be fleshed out a bit more.  I wanted to know how an independent woman could let certain things happen?  The book could have been twice as long and I think would have been improved by more heft.  Still,  I enjoyed.  3 out of 5 stars for a skimpy second half.

The End of an Era, Why I'm Leaving Barnes and Noble for Good....

I have been a loyal Barnes and Noble customer for more years than I can remember.  My membership card is older than my 16 year old daughter and I have been a Nook customer since the first edition came out in 2009.  This is it.  The end of an era.  I am leaving Barnes and Noble for good.

It all startd with an order of 6 books for my daughter's birthday.  I ordered them on the 5th of July and by the 15th they still hadn't shipped.  I had, however, been charged 4 times for the same order.  So essetially Barnes and Noble had over $200 of my money somewhere out in limbo for an order that wasn't even on it's way to me.  No problem,  I called customer service expecting a quick and speedy recovery of my funds.   Not so.   I called and was assured by their sales audit department that my money would be put back into my account.  Two days later that still had not happened.  I called back and talked to a sales audit supervisor, named Odell to rectify the situation.  He was outright RUDE.  He told me that I hadn't been injured by the fact that his company had my money for an order they hasn't even filled.   I warned him this would happen.  Poor customer service is just not something I can tolerate and this was the absolute worst.  It took me going to my bank and telling them that these charges were unauthorized to rectify the situation.  Almost 5 days after the initail report of the incident.  Unacceptable.
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I finally had to cancel the order and place it with Amazon.  Two days later, my order was delivered.  It was that simple.  No extra charges.  No bullshit.  Just DELIVERY of the product that I ordered.  This seems really simple but somehow Barnes and Noble was incapable of it.

Still, I had my Nook and I loved it.  I had 60 unread books on it, so I continued on.  Then something catastrophic happened - who knows what - and my nook broke.  Of course it was past it's warranty.  S So, I began to research the benefits of an Amazon Paperwhite.  It turns out there are many:  connectivity to social media, faster connections to dictionary lookup, battery time equivalent or better to that of glowlight, bigger memory storage, cheaper books ( 6 out of 20 randomly selected from my TBR list were significantly cheaper at Amazon, the others were the smae cost at both) and the list goes on.  So I ask myself, why should I be loyal to a company that clearly doesn't deserve it?  The answer is simple - it doesn't.  So I'm shredding my membership card, taking my over $500 a year in books alone and moving my business to Amazon.  Sorry Barnes and Noble, you had your chance. And you blew it.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leilia Sales

   Well, my Nook is STILL busted so this was one of my Better World Books selections.  I gave it a 2 out of 5 stars, which some may think is a bit harsh, but I have my reasons.

This is the story of  Elise Dembowski, an awkward girl looking for her place to fit in. She struggles in highschool, not because she isn't smart, but because she is socially inept.   The beginning part of the book is about her attempt to take her own life, which even she realizes at the time that she does't actually want to do but that she is just seeking attention.  Months go by and she starts sneaking out of the house at night... just wandering when she comes across a warehouse nightclub where she seems to fit in.



I didn't like this book beacuse Elise engages in all sorts of harmful behaviors all for the need to fit in.  One of the worst, in my opinion  is engaging in a "relationship" of sorts with a boy/ that she knows is a snake. I'm so tired of female characters needed to be validated in some way by a man.  Hell I'm tired of it for real women, too.   The target audience is YA but I feel that this book is just too simplistic to have much in the way of real value.  I would not encourage my teenage daughters to read it.

Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee

  My Nook died and I have been forced to read what was on hand.  Thankfully, this absolute treasure was in my TBR pile here at home. This was a powerful and uplifting book about second chances.

Sany Portman isn't a great guy, he's all charm and bluster.  His wife, Emily, is desperately in love with him but Sandy just can't keep it together.  He's going to ask for a divorce.... but then fate intervenes.

I don't want to go into the story too much, or give too much away.  It was wonderful - from start to finish.  I loved Emily's generous heart and her strength.  I highly recommend this book, and I give it 5 out of 5 stars.  It's like A Wonderful Life meets Marley and Me.  Have your kleenex handy but in a good way.

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

  I picked this one from Better World Books mainly for my daughter.  Then, my Nook died and I got desperate for something to read.  It is exactly as it appears: a simple, quick, quasi enjoyable YA novel about friendship and relationships.  It doesn't take a brain trust to read it and it will never change the world, but it was an entertaining way to spend an afternoon by the pool.  3 out of 5  stars.

Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargrove

   I have been reading this book for a while.  It took me some time because it was very difficult for me to read.  It wasn't difficult because of the writing style, to the contrary, I found it extremely well written.  No, rather it was difficult because of the subject matter and I could only go so far at one time.

I know that SeaWorld was quite upset with this book, even going so far as to release decades old video of the author without his consent in an attempt to discredit him.  All that aside, I believe that John Hargrove went out of his way to be honest and fair.  This isn't a bash SeaWorld book but rather a real discussion on exactly what happens to Orcas in captivity and why.

The book starts off with a starry -eyed young man who dreams of whales.  Oh how I could relate!  I've always dreamt of whales and loved them, from the time I was a child.  Seeing them is like magic that every person, I believed, could experience.  Even as a child though, deep in my heart of hearts, I knew that being able to experience that magic wasn't right, that what brought me so much joy, brought them so much sadness.

John discusses in detail what it was like to be a trainer -the background necessary, the tests and education you had to have, the experiences.  It was very eye opening.  I loved how he talked about every interaction between whale and trainer had to be documented at SeaWorld - a practice that he believed and stated promoted safety for both parties.  But the other things - the food deprivation, the processes of artificial insemination, the boredom of those poor whales.  It was all just so horrific.

I know and have always know that Orcas are simply too big, too socially complex and much too intelligent to be held in captivity.  I know it's right to empty the tanks.  If you doubt any of that, this book truly is an honest evaluation of the treatment of Orcas by SeaWorld.  Read it and judge for yourself.   5 out of 5 stars.