Secret Keepers by Mindy Friddle

What is more alluring than a secret? Can you keep a secret?

Ms. Friddle entices her readers with a variety of secrets, new and old, real or imagined, disguised, and those we keep from ourselves. She insists you can’t keep a good secret down. Especially the scarlet flower, Secret Keeper.

Her tale of discovery starts with the accidental death of Emma Hanley’s husband and threads its way through the life of her sons, Will and Bobbie, and daughter, Dora, her grandson, Kyle, and friends near and dear.

Jake is a broken man trying to put the pieces back together with a landscaping business. The business becomes the vine threading its way through the life of the town, pulling them all together. Jake, with the help of his friend Gordon, plant beautiful and unusual plants that soon attract the attention of national media. But what price fame for the drifters who comprise his crew of Blooming Idiots?

Dora carries a secret that has turned her life to misery. In paying the price, she bequeaths this misery to her family. As she spins slowly downward, her eyes open to what is happening around her.

Emma has lived with her choices in a responsible way. But now, when she should be free to do what she wants, finds herself tied to another--a debilitated son who she loves dearly.

Kyle is trapped in his family’s misery. To escape, he concocts a plan to spend time at his grandmother Emma’s. In the company of his Uncle Bobby, his world opens up to confidence and healthy relationships.

Ms. Friddle's choice of words are powerful. Visiting her friend in a nursing home, Emma describes the encounter. “The sweet stench of aged humans slowly gummed to death in the maws of an institution.”  You understand many things about Emma in just this one line.

Refreshing and truly novel. How cool is that?

Duma Key by Stephen King

A friend suggested I read this book. But he prepped me with the words, “He’s really grown in his work.”  Because of my friend’s remark, I was open to Mr. King’s writing as I had not been in the past.  I marveled at the skill he used to describe the aphasiac experience, being that I grew up with an aphasiac parent. Aphasia being that condition that generally results from a stroke, but in my father’s case, a shrapnel wound to the head in the Battle of the Bulge. I did not look for scary weirdness in the beginning and I sunk so deep into this book, I didn’t realize that the weirdness had already begun.

This first-person narrative from Edgar Freemantle tells the story of a man wounded in a crane accident. It explores the devastation wrought on family and friends, and shows the strength of will to overcome both mental and physical shortcomings. If you lost that connection between your mind and your speech, what would you do? If you had to start all over, how would you feel? If you realized great evil worked through you to get to your family, what would you give up?

Mr. King has long been known as a master storyteller in the science fiction/horror genre. He has gone a step further in this book with emotional and physical drama that bridges the fantasy life with realism at its darkest; a realism that many in our society face with the same emotional struggle.

This is a book worth reading to discover how Mr. King ‘pulls it out of his hat’ yet again.

Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

Would it surprise you to learn that J.D. Robb is actually Nora Roberts? No, I thought not. Fans of both know who the author really is. How can they help but find out when they go to the library for their Nora Roberts fix?  

While she uses distinct styles for each name, it’s easy to spot the genius that is Nora Roberts--and true fans know that. Just as Eve Dallas knows how to track down her killer, so does J.D. Robb know how to weave a story that rocks. 

A futuristic thriller, Rapture in Death, pits the beautiful-yet-brooding, heroic cop, Eve Dallas, against a beautiful and charming sociopath out to use everyone and everything for her own, fiendish benefit. Robb’s blunt and funny approach to life, in the mansion and the station house, is a fresh change from the “Nick and Nora” type of setting. Her cast of characters are charming and off-beat, but be warned: you’ll want to cuddle them like teddy bears. Delia Peabody, Eve’s sidekick, is an intelligent cop mentored by the brilliant Ms. Dallas. Although the dynamic is reversed when Ms. Dallas plays straight-man for the witty Ms. Peabody. 

When the day is done, poor Eve goes home to her mansion and gorgeous, sexy, and seriously-rich husband, Rourke. And ladies, Rourke has an Irish accent that melts butter, a past that is way past choirboy, and a love for Eve so deep, it tugs the heart. 

Pick up a J.D. Robb book. You’ll be glad you did. Better yet, pick up the book on CD and let reader, Susan Ericksen, lull you into a fantasy with her sharp portrayal of these rich characters.

One Year Alone With God, 366 Devotions on the Names of God by Ava Pennington

Ava Pennington is a clear, concise, and gifted writer. Maybe that's because she is a clear, concise, and gifted speaker. With a background in Human Resources, she has led the employment direction of many firms, some international. Ms. Pennington also provides guidance to women of faith through Bible studies, and in the process, explains the everyday practices of a faith-based life.


     But why does He have so many names? Used as a daily devotional, the reader discovers, over the course of the year, just how God fits into their life in so many ways.  This study goes further by de-codifying the Bible for the average reader. What do the Apostles mean when they relate a story about Him? What does it mean to the reader?


     Through Ms. Pennington, the Lord has reached out His hand to you, the reader, and offered a personal escort to His door.

The Genius in All of Us, by David Shenk, a book on tape

Nature versus nurture? The question has been on the tip of scientists' tongues since it was first coined by English Victorian polymath Francis Galton, cousin of the famed Charles Darwin.

Shenk challenges this simplistic philosophy that has been used and abused by scientists, politicians, and the media. And instead asks, “How smart can you be?” With annotations to studies, scientific trials, and educating facts, he highlights the public frenzy to recognize "geniuses" and the fallacy behind the heredity-versus-environment controversy.

Creating dynamics between the two is not as simple as it looks. In an attempt to map the human genome on the double helix, scientists are learning what mental or physical characteristic each determines - or are they? According to Shenk, a protective coating around each, called an epigenome, can be changed by environment and affect the characteristics. The resultant characteristics can be passed on, thus changing future generations.

Shenk uses his voice to make a complicated subject understandable. Heady stuff in this day and age. Shenk puts it so simply, I wonder if life will change as we simply know it.

If you like to listen to books on tape, this is a good one to try while you are in the middle of a mundane task. Both will fly by!

Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues by Blaize Clement

Ms. Clement has succeeded in the fun-romantic-mystery genre.

Think Sue Grafton - the main character is always on the move, being dragged by or chasing the bad guy. Cross it with Charlaine Harris - stuck in a woe-is-me situation. Add a little Janet Evonovich - poor gal has two guys after her.

The story moves at a fairly good pace. Though clues are obvious, they aren't so obvious that it spoils the fun.

The main character, Dixie Hemingway, is a cat sitter. Had I known you could make a living at it, I would have tried it a long time ago. But Dixie isn't just any cat sitter. She's a cat sitter that used to be a cop. Why, you ask? Because of tragedy, I say. What cop can stay a cop when she can no longer hold a gun with confidence? Not Dixie.

So here she is - a cat sitter. Can she help it if taking care of cats leads her right back into the thick of things she shouldn't be in? Shouldn't she have known better?

If you want a fast read with not too much thinking involved, this is your book. A friend of mine calls it a "bubble bath book." And truthfully, I would read more of her books because sometimes, I just enjoy a good bubble bath.

Recovering from the War by Patience H.C. Mason

When I read a book, I like to sit in a comfy spot, put my legs up, and disappear into the plot. But then, I usually read fiction.

Patience Mason’s book is a documentary. Well written, it narrates the accounts of Vietnam vets when they are finally able to talk about it - thirty years after their return. Mason interviewed by mail, email, phone, and video whoever would respond to her queries. Various vet centers helped by asking for participants.

It’s not an easy book to read. I found myself picking it up and putting it down. The descriptions were graphic, the atrocities horrific, their treatment a crying shame.

I am married to a Vietnam Veteran - a veteran of an undeclared war, a police action. I knew a little about what went on. I had listened to a few stories and watched from the safety of my home while a generation was abused and used for political ends, but nothing prepared me for the depth of the trauma. So much corruption, So much blood. So much bullshit. And so little human consideration.

Mason tells it like it is. What she went through with her husband - a helicopter pilot. What other vets revealed to her. She quotes from their books as well.

The first half of the book recounts different incidents described by these heroes. What psychological nightmares they lived - and couldn’t get out of. Then she goes on to paint a picture of PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. A natural reaction to the unnatural horror they lived. Finally, she describes the methods of help and healing for the vet and his family.

If you are at all curious about this time period, read this book. Read it even if you are not. It goes a long way to explain the difference between this war and WWII. This war and WWI. This war and the Korean War.

You probably know parts of it if you have watched a Vietnam war movie or read a Vietnam war book.

But this is the rest of the story.