Scribble and Scrambles ~ Can't Resist

So I occasionally enjoy e-mail forwards. One that arrived today had a picture that I must share.

It was entitled, "How to Know if Your Feet Stink."

Ha.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Daniel's Den

Daniel's Den
By Brandt Dodson
Published by Harvest House Publishers
ISBN# 978-0-7369-2477-1


Go here to read another review and to read the first chapter of Daniel's Den.


Back Cover:

Daniel Borden and Laura Traynor live two different lives…Daniel is a successful stock analyst in New Orleans.

Laura operates a bed and breakfast in Shenandoah Valley.

He is wealthy, enjoys racquetball and lives with Elvis, a black lab.

She is a struggling single mother, works two jobs and lives with her young son, Andy.

But, when unseen forces send hit men after each of them, a twist of fate drives them together as they are forced to flee their common enemy.

In high stakes game of cat-and-mouse, they learn just how big the cat can be.

And that it's no game.

My Review:

Daniel's Den is a tense, terse read. Told in multiple almost narrative voice the story unfolds in New Orleans and the Shenandoah Valley. Daniel lives in a controlled environment, from the truth of the numbers he deals with as a stockbroker to the regimented life he's created for himself, everything is defined and in place. Until he is given the files of a dead co-worker and stumbles onto a big mess.

Laura is hanging on to a dying dream and has run out of hope and faith. When a bizarre and frightening man begins to hound her to sell her property fear and despair take hold.

Daniel and Laura unite in the worst of situations and end up running for their lives. Andy and Elvis, a young boy and a dog complicate matters.

I read the advanced copy and hope that several typos were taken care of in the final edit. One secondary plot thread threw me a bit but only briefly. The story is the driving force in this novel, so the characters, though rich enough, took a back seat to the action and plot.

If you like page turners, or Dodson, you need to look further into Daniel's Den.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Oops....

You may bristle at this video females. But it hits a little to close to home. Let me tell the truth about one particular female driver...moi.

I crimpled the side of my van while turning around a large cement slab wall in a parking garage.

I scraped a yellow racing stripe down the side of my green pick-up truck when I stopped to get gas and forgot about the yellow poles keeping the gas tanks safe from drivers like me.

My brother still laughs at another gas station stupid human trick, which I have blocked from my memory, so I can't share it. Apparently it was hilarious.

Because my driving scared my Mom, I pulled over to hand the wheel over to her. Unfortunately, I pulled directly into the ditch.

I blew past a state trooper's car going thirty over the speed limit. I don't know who was more surprised...the state troopers who shined their flashlights over every inch of my pick-up bed, likely looking for beer cans, before discovering a teen girl and two little boys, or me that I actually got a ticket. Sobbing does help. Or maybe it's the eruptions of slick wetness that flew during the sobs. Who knows.

Super Cinema Saturday ~ Ghost Town

Ghost Town is one of the more charming/clever movies I've seen in awhile. Due to an unfortunate glitch during a routine colonoscopy a crotchety, nasty dentist (Gervais) suffers from ghost harassment. One slick ghost (Kinnear) makes a deal with the dentist. If said dentist will mess up the Kinnear's widow's romance with a new man, Kinnear will keep the other ghosts at bay.

In the process lives are changed, non-lives are changed and the laughs come often. There are definitely moments that are not child appropriate. A few F-bombs, an affair, an oft mentioned male body part joke, and some double entendres/outright sexual comments make it mature viewing only.

Despite the few negatives as mentioned above, Ghost Town has a deep message and is charming and almost old-fashioned in the romance department. The colonoscopy prep and hospital check-in alone are almost worth the price of a rental. Then you have the quirk of Tea Leoni's laugh and two pretty hilarious prat falls. If you are into sarcasm, quirky romance where making a woman laugh is high on the list of romantic qualities, physical humor, ghosts or the idea of ghosts, or just fun character pieces, I recommend Ghost Town. It's on my to buy list. I will watch this one again.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Report Card Time

Lily and Lola Report Card/Update.

Bouncing. Yep. Check. Satisfactory.

Walking on leashes. Well. Needs work.

Unsupervised in-house behavior. Oh, not good at all. Unsatisfactory.

Unsupervised outside behavior. Ha. Ask the UPS guy. And the neighborhood squirrels.

Digestion and food habits.
Rug -- chewed, swallowed, deposited in back yard.
Peanut Butter. Good. Will do anything for peanut butter -- humans best friend (and they say dog is).
Dog food. Science Diet and Iams weren't expensive enough. We have now moved on to organic allergy free. Lily developed an allergy to her food (interesting since she has eaten things that would kill a lesser being). How do we know? The ears swelled and turned red and her sister licked them until she developed little scabs. Surely she had ear mites. Nope, the vet said it was a food allergy. The new food has been an adventure. The lamb and potato or maybe the venison and barley blend leaves an after odor. Like some folks have garlic scent that oozes from sweat glands and pores... Lily and Lola smell a little like a down-and-out drunk man in an alley. So, in an attempt to deal with this unpleasant side effect, Doggy Mama purchased the vegetarian flavor. Guess what that does? Think fiber and bubbles...very, very bad bubbles.

Cuteness. Life saving A+
Tardies. Never late for dinner.
Enthusiasm. Over the top.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Hoping

Hope and courage...words that resonate with me.

When I'm struggling spiritually, my hope, my Pollyannaish rosy outlook tends to shrink and dwindle into hopelessness. My courage during spiritual testing becomes anemic and wobbly-kneed in my darkest moments of faithshaking.

Even when I realized that discouragement is a lie. It has to be. How can it be anything else? If, as a believer in Christ, I am to be an encourager and an encouragee in the body of Christ, then I am far, far away from encouragement if I am discouraged. If God talks about taking courage, standing strong, and being all the strength I need, then discouragement steals from courage.

How can I, a vessel of the Holy Spirit -- the very heart of Jesus, Himself, how can I be hopeless when I possess all I need to hope?

Today. I choose to hope. Even in the impossible.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Gingham Mountain

Mary Connealy is back with a new tangled-Texas-tale.






All aboard for a delightful, suspense-filled romance, where a Texan is torn between his attraction to a meddlesome schoolmarm and the charms of a designing dressmaker. When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, she's determined to keep him from committing her orphans to hard labor on his ranch. How far will she go to ensure their welfare?

Grant Cooper is determined to provide a home for the two kids brought in by the orphan train as runs head-on into the new school marm, who believes he's made slave labor out of eight orphaned children. He crowds too many orphans into his rickety house, just like Hannah Cartwright's cruel father. Grant's family of orphans have been mistreated too many times by judgmental school teachers. Now the new schoolmarm is the same except she's so pretty and she isn't really bad to his children, it's Grant she can't stand.

But he is inexplicably drawn to Hannah. Can he keep his ragtag family together while steering clear of love and marriage? Will he win her love or be caught in the clutches of a scheming seamstress?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Gingham Mountain, click HERE

My Review:

Mary Conneally has a charming voice. She manages to give petticoats and prairie dust a hint of breezy chick-lit. Her western series has been an entertaining and a quick and satisfying read. Gingham Mountain follows previous characters and creates new situations in which she tortures her characters. Hannah and Grant and a whole passel of orphans burst out of the Gingham Mountain pages and into my affections.

If you are looking for authentic western historical details and language, you may want to look further into this series before plunking down your money. But if you are looking for entertainment, creative storytelling, charming characters and downright as much fun as a barn raising, get yerself to yer favorite book store.

More from Mary via a previous visit to the dregs, click here.