Patty Pick is “No Place I’d Rather Be” by Cathy Lamb

This was such a good book! It had it all - love, mystery, suspense, and family relationships. All the parts of a great read are found within these 402 pages. You will love the quirky characters, or as I refer to them, my sisters by another mother. 

Olivia Martindale ran away and left her home, family and husband in Montana, but she is forced to return. She needs help and she is bringing two little girls, who she desperately wants to adopt, with her. She is struggling to retain guardianship of the girls, whose grandmother left them in her hands to protect them from their jailed, abusive, drug-addicted mother.

Olivia’s family has missed her, her mother, sister and grandmother are excited to have her back. This crazy tribe of strong women work together to figure life out as best they can. I loved the way they used cake and cooking therapy to solve the problem of the moment. They teach us in quiet ways and in loud-in-your-face ways how to handle tough issues like abuse, mental illness and autism. This book will make you cry, laugh, and keep reading until the end. 

With her return home, Olivia also has to face her estranged husband, Jace. She is still in love with him and the very sight of him drives her crazy, but the reason she left will break your heart. While staying in her grandparents cabin, she discovers an ancient cookbook that belongs to her grandmother and reveals amazing and shocking parts of her grandmother's history. Read this book to find out what happens. You will be glad you did
and you will be singing it's praise! A solid 5 stars!

Life Changes for Everyone . . .

As we experience life it changes constantly for each of us and in the process we are changed by it. Recently when I attended the visitation to honor a friend's father who had recently passed away, I was thrown back into memories of my own father's visitation and funeral. There were so many memories - watching my father pass away in a hospital room and not being able to do anything about it, the blur of the many faces of friends and family afterwards, my daughter's hand holding mine tight through everything, and my husband holding me up through it all.

When my mom passed away, we all knew she was going to die. Hospice was in and she was sinking into more sickness than her body would be able to recover from. My dad's death however, seemed sudden and unexpected. Looking back I probably knew it was coming sooner than later. I just didn't want to believe it. All though both of my parents are deceased now, I often wish I could call them or buy them one more birthday present or just have one more face-to-face conversation with them. I have a brother and a sister, but sometimes I feel like I am an orphan set adrift in the world. We need our parents and family to feel part of the larger group of our relatives. Thank goodness I have a good family to anchor me down. My husband and daughter have always been there for me and when my writer head dwells too long in the wishes I have for my parents to still be here, my husband and daughter remind me of the wonderful memories that we all shared. The time we spent camping together in an actual tent when I was a kid, the family cookouts and softball games with my aunts, uncles and cousins, or the long Sunday drives in the back seat of that huge Impala with a huge ice cream sundae to eat and a book on my lap, these are some of my favorites. Watching the slide show of my friend's life and times with her parents and their family, brought back some of the times I had forgotten with my own. The clothes, the cars, the TV's, they all looked like the generation in which I grew up.

We share so much as a human race, but sometimes we forget that we have more in common than not. We may grow up in different states, different countries even, but we all are human and we all have a family somewhere of some kind. Your family doesn't have to be blood related to you, just share your life. The things that make us the same, the love of our parents and extended family, secure us to life and the things that matter to us the most. Too often we are so busy living that we forget to live, to enjoy, to listen, and to love.  If you are still making memories with your parents, then you are truly blessed. My mother-in,-law will be celebrating her 92nd birthday in a week or so. Even though she has Alzheimer's now, she still knows us. She gives us more memories to cherish with each visit, even though we know one day we will not be able to make new ones with her.  What memories of your childhood or parents do you cherish? What would you tell them if you had one more hour, one more day to enjoy their company? What is your favorite memory? Cherish those memories and the ones you get to make every day with the ones you love. This life as we know it is too short, so live every single minute and make lots of memories! Let me hear from you on your favorite ones!

Easter is My Spring Forward Renewal Day

In the search for one's dreams, there are many paths that you can take. Some people forge right into them from birth. It seems like they start to conquer their hopes and dreams from the minute they
leave the womb. Others stumble around their entire lives and never really find what they are looking for. Hopefully they connect and live a fulfilling life but they may wonder about the “what if they had” concerning other decisions in their lives. Most of us fall in the middle of the pack. We start and stop along the path of life, running in a straight line sometimes, walking backwards at others and striding into the future with confidence when we can.

To sit and really think about the opportunities that our lives present to us is pretty awesome. There are those moments when you are right on point and in stride like when you land your first job - the one you really wanted, but didn't think you would get. Or when you have your children, and the miracle of birth stares at you with innocent eyes and clings to just your finger with their tiny fist. Watching your spouse, friend or child making the steps that lead them to bigger and better things in their lives. These all make us realize that life itself is pretty amazing.

Since I have been following my dream of writing and churning out books and stories and a lot of mess, I realized that there were times I missed an opportunity. A chance to make a dream come closer to reality. There are so many what ifs that sometimes I have let those overwhelm my actual life.
So I am trying to take a deep breath and go on, go on blogging even if I am the only one reading some of them. Go on writing, even if no one has broken my door down to fight over my manuscripts. Go on living, because each day is by itself pretty awesome.

My mind may get overwhelmed with reality at times, but along comes a wake-up call and you remember that life is great. Some days just the act of putting one foot in front of the other is all I can do, but that makes the other days of wonderment, joy, happiness, and overwhelming contentment all that much better. My mother told me you have to go through the down years in your life, because they make the up years, moments, hours, minutes, all that much sweeter. She was a wise woman.

Go on now, why are you sitting there thinking about what you want to do, go do it. Don't wait until the half century point of your life has passed you by, before you get back to one of the things that you love to do. Easter is my Spring Forward Renewal date. The time of year that I think about all the blessings I have in my life and feel Everything is possible. So go on, get started. My pen is waiting on me.

Patty Pick for 03/15/18 is "Redemption Road" by John Hart

John Hart became one of my favorite authors when I read his first book, "The King of Lies". He had my attention and the fact that he is a North Carolina author kept my attention. I couldn't wait to see if his next book lived up to the first, and it did. Now I cannot wait to read his new book, "The Hush" which came out February 27, 2018. 

Recently I read “Redemption Road”. The story is centered around the two main characters, this time a woman and a man. Elizabeth Black, a police officer on the brink of losing her career and maybe her freedom is fighting for both when her ex-partner, Adrian Wall, walks out of prison a free man. They have a very complicated history. Adrian, out of prison after serving a thirteen year sentence, left a  prison ran by a very corrupt warden and his staff. They are not ready to leave Adrian alone to tell tales. 

Elizabeth likes to rescue children at risk. She feels that her parents let her down and she wants to help the ones she can save. She is trying to save Gideon, a local child, whose mother has died when she is pulled into the kidnapping of Channing Shore. Channing, the rich daughter of a powerful local family, was kidnapped and tortured. Elizabeth saves Channing and their relationship develops throughout the story. The characters interweave their stories and leave you, the reader wanting to know more.  

This book is filled with rich, full characters that will draw you in or make you want to run as far as possible from them as you can go. Oh, by the way, there is a serial killer in the town looking for his next young woman victim. The characters will be trying to decipher the answer to what is going on in different ways and their reactions will guide them in their interactions with each other. It will keep you guessing what is coming on the next page and leave you reading as quickly as possible until the last word. If you take away anything from a John Hart novel, it is the thirst for more of his writing and you will remember them for a long time. A resounding 5 Stars! 

Patty Pick for 2/8/17 is "The Woman in the Window" by AJ Finn

I had heard and read very good press about this book, but as you all know sometimes a book may not live up to it's hype. "The Woman in the Window" will grab you by the heart and proceed to squeeze it with fear until you can't take it any longer. Then it proceeds to pluck those same heartstrings and make you cry.

Anna Fox, renown child psychologist, can not leave her home due to the agoraphobia she now suffers. She is doing therapy, taking medication, talking to her family, anything and everything to help her find the courage to leave. In the meantime, she spends her days watching the neighbors through the windows of her home. She is watching the vacant house across the park when a new family moves in with a teenage son. She did not know she would soon put herself in their cross hairs.

Anna slowly unravels her story to you when she communicates with her tenant living in her basement, shares her wine with the neighbors, participates in her computer community and interacts with the few people she allows into her house. But don't think this is a slow, winding read, because that could not be further from the truth. This "woman in the window" will grab you and twist and turn you until you are not sure who is alive, dead, or guilty. I don't want to give too much away, but there are surprising twists and turns and the finale kept me reading it so I could finish it during the first quarter of the Super Bowl. I could not put it down! You need to meet Anna and live with her a few days or however long it takes you to read this book. Believe me, you will not want to put it down until you are finished! 5++++ Stars! 

The Girl without a Name by Sandra Block

Zoe Goldman is at it again. She is being drawn into the mystery of one of her patients and doing things she shouldn't to uncover the girl's identity. In "The Girl Without A Name", the patient, Jane Doe, does not know who she is or what she was doing when the police found her. She only remembers chasing a car. The authorities take Jane Doe to the hospital and the search for her identity begins. Zoe is tasked to help Jane Doe solve the mystery of her identity. Zoe, with her  coworker Jason and her new attending boss Dr. Berringer, works as an intern on the psych floor of the Childrens Hospital in Buffalo NY.

Her boyfriend is an Emergency Room Doctor who is ready to take the next step in his career. While Tom and she are working out their future, Zoe's old flame is texting her his doubts about marrying the woman he dumped Zoe for. All of this is distracting her from studying for the exam that will make her a doctor. She flunked it once when she was attacked by a different patient, who turned out to be her sister. The sister who killed her birth mother. With the fact that her step mom has recently succumbed to Alzheimer's disease, poor Zoe has been having a rough time in her life lately.

Jane Doe presents a mystery that captures her interest and Zoe can't help herself from trying to figure out who she is. The staff call her Candy, Jane Doe's gentle personality. 
Then Candy turns into Daneesha. Daneesha is a tough, firebrand who takes no prisoners and refuses to take the meds they prescribe. Neither identity can remember what happened to her or who she is. When for no reason Candy returns to her catatonic state, Zoe realizes time is running out to find out who she is.

I love Zoe Goldman, a complicated but endearing woman who struggles with her own self doubts and anxiety. In the end, she must rely on her instincts with the help of her detective friend to find the answers, but will it be in time to help Candy/Daneesha? 
Loved this one as much as the first in the series and looking forward to the third, "The Secret Room", which was published in April of  2017! A solid 4.5 Stars!!

The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash

Earlier this year, I impatiently looked forward to the next novel by Wiley Cash. So you can imagine my excitement to hear that he would be the keynote speaker at the NC Writers Network 2017 Fall Conference. The fact that his next book would be published right before the conference made it even more of a reason not to miss his keynote address. I really enjoyed the conference, learned a lot, and met some amazing writers. I ordered "The Last Ballad" from my local bookstore, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest. We all need to support our local bookstores. They are so valuable and important to our communities. Wiley Cash was kind enough to sign it and I was thrilled to hear his address to the conference, a win-win. 

The novel portrays the life of Ella Mae Wiggins based on true accounts of her life. Ella Mae was a special woman who was ahead of her time. She fought for many rights including the right to be home with her children when they were sick and to make a fair wage in her job at the local mill. She was not a radical communist as some parts of society portrayed her at the time of the Loray Mill strike which took place in Gastonia, North Carolina in 1929. The fact that I, a native North Carolinian, have never heard of this strike and social unrest in the early 1900's seems unbelievable to me. No state likes to advertise their messy history, so these type of events seem to be swept under the table of history and not widely discussed.

Ella Mae was a poor young woman working in Tennessee with her parents when they both died and left her with no one at the age of 16. With a small amount of money in her pocket, she drew the interest of a swindler who took her money and her virginity. After she became pregnant they moved to find work at the textile mills in South Carolina. Struggling with her loss and uneducated she found work in several mills, but was left alone to provide for herself and her children. Living in a shack, working 70 hours a week at her job, she took a chance and went to hear a union organizer. From there she would become one of the most influential people in the struggle to organize the workers, both white and black. She wrote and performed songs, organized her fellow workers and attended rallies. The mill owners and their minions did not like the largely Northern group of union organizers who came down South to stir up trouble and they fought hard to put down the organizer's ideas by using fists, clubs, guns and other ruthless tactics. 

Ella Mae's story, while true, is a fictional account written by the wonderful storyteller, Wiley Cash. His novel, as usual, provide a vivid picture of life in North Carolina when this was taking place. You can feel Ella Mae's pain and we mourn along with her losses. You can't go wrong reading any of Wiley Cash's books. The stories they tell and characters you meet will stay with you long after the last page is turned. A solid 5 stars!