Enjoy Life!

Earlier this year I made a one-word resolution for 2016, that word was appreciate. 
I have been trying to apply my resolution as best I can through thick and thin. Sometimes 
I am successful and sometimes not so much. When the real life you lead gets in the way, 
appreciating anything seems hard to do. But there always seems to be a story or event 
that brings this word back to my reality, and I do appreciate every little thing I am fortunate enough to have or enjoy. 
Just remember that no matter how you feel, there is always someone worse off than 
you are. That is an old wive's saying, but oh so true. Once a few years ago after my 
father had passed away, I was in the grocery store picking up a few things. I was 
trying not to cry just picking out ice cream. An elderly gentleman stopped beside 
me and asked if I liked one of the flavors in the case because his wife loved them. 
His attitude was so positive and he was so manner was so happy that he rubbed off on me and instantly lifted my spirits. I left my Harris Teeter's feeling so much better and thankful that I had run into this fine man with his amazing view of life. I got to see his 
whole family and he told me all their accomplishments and he was so proud of them that 
I could see my own Dad when I graduated college. The first person in my family to do so. 
He was that proud. I have not run into that wonderful man ever again so I am not sure if 
he was an angel sent to lift me up and just a wonderful human being who enjoys every minute if his life. Whichever he was, he made me appreciate my life! 
So appreciate everyday, tomorrow is not guaranteed. :)

Patty Pick for 4/14/16 is "The Life We Bury" by Allen Eskens

Joe has a problem. He has a major assignment in his English class and he needs to find someone to write it about. He can't use his own parents, since his father is gone and his mom is not your best up-standing citizen. He lucks into finding an elderly man in a local nursing home that was released from prison to die in the facility. The man, Carl, was convicted of the gruesome murder of his teenage neighbor many years earlier and is now knocking on death's door. 

Carl refuses to admit he killed his neighbor and as Joe digs deeper into the circumstances of the conviction, he is determined to get to the truth before Carl dies. At the same time, Joe's personal life is pulling him back home to take care of his autistic brother. His mom is once again leaving Jeremy for days and bringing home a man that hits Jeremy. Joe must rescue him at the same time that he and his neighbor, Lila, are tracking down the leads to the real murderer. 

As Joe comes closer to the truth, his own life and that of someone he cares about is at stake. He must figure out the identity of the killer to save them both. This has a slow start but it sets you up for a fast ending. Do you think Joe can figure it all out in time? 

Happy Thursday!

Just finished this wonderful finale to The Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron! 

Now trying to watch the finale to American Idol! Boo Hoo! 

Be back soon!

Patty Pick for 04/01/16 is "Fool Me Once" by Harlan Coben

I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book from the Penguin First To Read Program! I read it in two days only because my 101 degree fever kept getting in the way. This is a good one!

Maya has a problem, her husband has just been killed and the mystery of his death is leading to more unanswered questions. Maya is a former pilot in the army and suffers from PTSD over the tragic choices she made in battle. 

She is trying to raise her 2- year-old daughter, Lily, and deal with the vicious murder of her own sister months earlier, when she is forced to witness the death of her husband, Joe, during an apparent robbery. Claire was murdered, while Maya was serving in Irag and now someone shoots Joe for no apparent reason. 

Maya is overwhelmed with more questions than answers and then she finds out that the same gun killed both Claire and Joe, her husband. As she speeds along with two odd companions - the biggest whistle-blower on the Internet and her best friend Shane, helping her, she uncovers bigger and bigger pieces of the pie.The ultra-rich Burkett family likes to keep secrets, but Maya keeps digging. Put your seatbelt on for this one and enjoy the ride! Harlan Coben has another big hit on the way!
Bookreaderforlife.blogspot.com 

Patty Pick for 03/24/2016 is "I Shall Be Near to You" by Erin Lindsay McCabe

If you like feisty female characters, Rosetta is for you. She definitely does  not 

act the proper lady for her age or the times. She noticed Jeremiah one day and 

after he helped her defend herself, she was all his. It took a while to move Jeremiah 

to recognize that fact and act on it, but he always had Rosetta in mind for his future too. 

This love story starts when Rosetta and Jeremiah marry. Not too long after they are wed, he joins the army to earn money so they can be able to buy a farm of their own. No one really knew what the war was like or what they would be subjected to. Everyone thought the Civil War has marching and then they would be home before you knew it. Rosetta sets off after him within a few days. She cut her hair and altered a set of his clothes to make 

her look like a man so she could be near him in the Army. Nowhere did she feel safe but by Jeremiah's side. They struggle to keep her identity a secret and manage to steal time together.  

I didn't know there were real women who served in battle in the Civil War. This is a love 

story between Jeremiah and Rosetta. The setting just happens to be during the final 

days of the Civil War, but don't let their surroundings sway you from reading this book. 

And by all means, read the authors notes and her sources from the end of the book. Erin 

Lindsay McCabe did her research for this book and that helped this story become as much 

a historical account as a love story. I always love to learn something new when I read, and this novel taught me more about the woman who fought in the Civil War. 

Patty Pick for 3/17/16 is "The Gates Manor Band" by Jan Hemby

A wonderful part of this book is it's uplifting quality. The story will pull you along with well-written characters and mysterious happenings. As we start our story, Julia is dealing with a family scenario, like a lot of us, where her mother has dementia and her father is the primary care-giver. After her mother passes away, Julia is visited by a series of confusing surprises, a strange phone call and a flashback to her high school days. Someone is sending her a message and that someone is God. 

Sometimes He takes a more direct route and that route is prodding Julia to locate her best friend from high school, Margaret. As one event leads to another, we witness the chain of life situations that can follow one good deed after another. With Julia leading the way, she finds Margaret and helps her to deal with the tragic horrors she endured as a teenager and that in turns leads Margaret to finding a way to deal with her addictions and sharing the lie she has been living with her brother, Preston.

The cast from the past and the present come together to solve problems and delve 

deeper into their faith. They find out that by listening carefully, they can find the way 

that life wants to lead them. And in turn, they will go forward to be a help to others. 

Pay it forward is the theme that runs through this tale and you will enjoy solving each 

character's dilemma as they come along. Watching the ending take place will renew your 

faith in others. Take the ride..... 

Missing Pat Conroy

The following is one of my favorite quotes from Pat Conroy. All though to be honest, all 
his words, whether quoted from him directly or written in one of his books, are some of 
my favorite quotes. 

“The world of literature has everything in it, and it refuses to leave 
anything out. I have read like a man on fire my whole life because the 
genius of English teachers touched me with the dazzling beauty of language. 
Because of them I rode with Don Quixote and danced with Anna Karenina at a 
ball in St. Petersburg and lassoed a steer in "Lonesome Dove" and had 
nightmares about slavery in "Beloved" and walked the streets of Dublin in 
"Ulysses" and made up a hundred stories in the Arabian nights and saw my 
mother killed by a baseball in "A Prayer for Owen Meany." I've been in ten 
thousand cities and have introduced myself to a hundred thousand strangers 
in my exuberant reading career, all because I listened to my fabulous 
English teachers and soaked up every single thing those magnificent men and 
women had to give. I cherish and praise them and thank them for finding me 
when I was a boy and presenting me with the precious gift of the English
language. ” 
― Pat Conroy

I think all writers have this same passion, some of us just take longer to get 
to the actual point in our lives that we put it all down. Some of us tell stories 
in our head and never get them out to share with the world. I do think the 
wonderful and amazing English teachers that I had over the years, that 
inspired me to never quit writing and to always do your best work. I hope 
my first written book, A Distance Between Us, will live up to that standard.