1001 Dark Nights: Haunted House

 Shirley J.                   Adult Fiction              Hauntings, Salem, MA, Killers, Skeletons

1001 Dark Nights: Haunted House: A Krewe of Hunters Novella     123 pages

Another series.   However, it might be interesting to explore.   This story takes place at Halloween in Salem, MA.   It involves the fiancee of one of the Krewe members, Kylie Connelly who is contacted by a friend who has just bought a "haunted" house in Salem, MA.    She gets more than she bargained for when she accidentally falls through drywall into skeletons and a fresh body on the other side!  Apparently someone has been stashing dead bodies in the wall for a long while but now there is a newly killed corpse of a tourist.    The story will explain the connection to the killer that Kylie has paranormal experiences with via remote viewing through the killer's own eyes!  The book does a good job of surprising you in this Halloween who done it.   I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.

She's Come Undone

 

Shirley J.     Adult Fiction            How a girl then a woman copes with trauma throughout her life.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb   480 pages

At first life is pretty good for Delores Price, then her Dad leaves her and her mother for another woman.  Then there is the creepy guy with a thing for Delores feet that grows into full fledged pedophilia, then Delores insulates herself with food and an off-putting manner and size.  Her mother dealing with mental problems of her own tries to steer Delores to college to get away from their living situation back in her grandmother's house with hyper critical but meaning well Grandma.   Delores is ostracized over her weight and her former pen-friend/ soon to be college roommate who shared a great bestie thing with her until they actually met in person turns out to be the biggest jerk of all to her.   And if you can believe it, that was probably the better parts of her life.  Yup, it gets worse, but, Delores has this sweet try to make the best and believe the best attitude during her adult life after college and she is treated like a doormat by the man who professes love for her while diddling young girls.    It is worth the read.   I am waffling on whether to recommend this one for the younger set, but, on the other hand it is a cautionary tale.   I will say I recommend it for mature middle schoolers on up.         

Belly Laughs

 Shirley J.                Adult Non-Fiction                           The nitty gritty reality of pregnancy    

Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy   192 pages

I like Jenny McCarthy she is a hilarious comedienne.   So when I saw this book I had to check it out.  Girlfriend pulls no punches, she tells it exactly like it is from beginning to end of her pregnancy.  She tells women what to expect, what to watch out for and give women tips on how to make the difficult parts of pregnancy even the humiliating parts (eye openers here no woman usually ever speaks of but Jenny does!).   As hard a time as she had she still says she would do it again in a heartbeat.   This is enlightening even if you aren't pregnant and never will be, she lays bare the real world of what pregnancy is all about and in a witty, comical way.   She tells off on herself like crazy.   I recommend this book to high schoolers on up, learn what to expect girls!   It is an enjoyable read and told in Jenny's unimitable style.

A Lullaby for Witches

 “A Lullaby for Witches” by Hester Cox   320 pages 

Wow! Somebody is as bad as math as I am.  This is a dual-timeline story (one of my favorite plot structure!): 1876 and 150 years later. Well, 150 + 1876 = 2026. I don’t think it was meant to be futuristic. The story doesn’t give any indication of that. 

In 1876, Margaret Harlow is the daughter of a wealthy New England family in Tynemouth, Massachusetts, a town not terribly far from Salem. It is time for Margaret to marry. Her father has picked her husband, but Margaret has other ideas. Margaret isn’t like all the other girls. She does not want to do needlework all day and raise a passel of children. 

Margaret likes to roam the cliffs and the nearby woods. She learns about plants and their natural healing powers...both positive and negative. It isn’t too long before the word “witch” becomes synonymous with her. Women with a variety of aches and problems seek out Margaret, meeting her in her little cabin in the woods in the late evening/early morning hours. 

Fast forward to what I will call contemporary times. Augusta Podos has a job as a tour guide at the Old City Jail, in Salem. She hates giving the same tour day after day after day. When a dream job as a curator at Harlow House (Margaret’s ancestral home), Augusta jumps at the chance to work there. 

As she is getting the grand tour, Augusta sees a painting that is Margaret. Little is known about Margaret as she had fallen off the family tree. Augusta takes on the challenge of uncovering Margaret’s story. Along the way, Augusta dumps her fiancé and falls for one of her co-workers. 

Augusta feels Margaret’s. When she enters certain rooms, she is transported back to 1876 and sees what is happening through Margaret’s eyes. As time goes by, the hallucinations become stronger and stronger. 

I really enjoyed the sense of the paranormal and Augusta’s hunt for Margaret through the paper trail. However, in the last fourth of the book, the story took an evil and twisted spin that came from nowhere. It was a three-hundred-sixty degree turnaround that was not smooth. “A Lullaby for Witches” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

A World Lost

A World Lost by Wendell Berry, 151 pages

Andy Catlett was nine years old when his favorite uncle and namesake was shot and killed.  The murder left a void in little Andy's life, family, and community, a powerful absence strongly felt but unspoken.  As the decades pass and Andy becomes a man, he explores this loss in many dimensions, even as he gradually comes to recognize that he will never really know why his uncle died.

A World Lost is short, powerful, and mysterious.  Mysterious not because it is a whodunnit - the identity of Uncle Andrew's killer is never in doubt - but because it touches on deeper mysteries, mysteries involving the human person and the nature of sin.  Berry does not try to solve these mysteries, he tries to understand them, and that begins with accepting that they cannot be solved.  Who Uncle Andrew was is ultimately a question just as unanswerable - and infinitely more wonderful - as the questions surrounding his murder.

I'll Take You There

Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                    Hollywood Movie Stars, Silent Films, Ghosts

I'll Take You There: A Novel by Wally Lamb     272 pages   

I loved this story.  It reads like it is reality not fiction because the hero, Felix Funicello, talks about his cousin, Annette Funicello and so many other stars and happenings as though he is relating facts, and even though the story is fiction, the facts Felix divulges are true.  Maybe that is because he is a film scholar who hosts a Monday night movie club, that might be the answer as to why the facts he relates are accurate and historically true.   It is a delicious story and when Felix encounters ghosts from Hollywood's past even from the Silent Film era, the tale unfolds with such joy and no fear of the paranormal.  Actually these ghosts help Felix work out his current life situation by taking him back cinematographically to view his life and see why he is who he is and how he got to be that way.   It is a joyful read.   I recommend this book to middle-schoolers on up.  It is funny and poignant and everything in between.   And when you come to the end, you will smile for having shared the events with Felix.    

The Little Book of LIfe Hacks: How To Make Your LIfe Happier, Healthier, and More Beautiful

 

Shirley J.             Adult Non-Fiction                         Self-Help Tricks to Make Life Easier & Better

The Little Book of Life Hacks: How To Make Your Life Happier, Healthier and More Beautiful by              Yumi Sakugawa      208 pages

 Loads of useful tips to be found here for so many different categories one has to deal with in life from improving your health to improving your looks to improving your living environment.  A very enjoyable read with illustrations on every page along with several hacks or shortcuts to improving your entire world.  Some of the lettering on the illustrations are hard to read as the author/illustrator uses read ink on a pink background in exceeding tiny print or the same with green ink on a green background.  It looks fun but makes those parts force you to get a magnifying glass out.  Other than that the book is hugely useful with shortcuts to getting stains out of clothes, improving your overall appearance, recipes for easy peasy drinks (sangria for one), food and facials, how to make your current clothes turn into a multi-verse of new outfits just by pairing them in new ways with accessories and in different combinations.   She even tells you how to make the best scrambled eggs ever (honestly, Yumi, I find microwave scrambled the fluffiest best tasting so far, but, I'll take your word for it).   She has an endearing way of sharing environmentally and world friendly ways in her unique style to common every day issues we all deal with.   I highly recommend this book for all the fun things you will learn from it and be able to save time and be more cheerful while attacking those former frustrating problems.  I recommend this book to middle-schoolers on up.  Might as well learn shortcuts early on kids!   

The Children's Blizzard

“The Children’s Blizzard” by Melanie Benjamin   368 pages

January 12, 1888, it was a balmy day in Minnesota. It was blessed relief for the immigrant homesteaders following a nasty cold spell. Heavy coats, mittens, scarves, clothing were all left at home as children made their way to their one-room schoolhouse. 

As the close of the school day neared, children, and even the teachers, were eager to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. As they prepared to go home, black clouds raced into the area with hurricane-force winds, heavy snow mixed with icy pellets, and the temperature plummeting.   

As they noticed the impending storm, some of the children ran outside, determined to get home before it. Others lingered behind, unsure what to do. Teachers weren’t really sure either. Send the kids home and hope they made it or take shelter in the schoolhouse and pray that the storm would either blow over or not be as severe as it appeared. 

Melanie Benjamin’s latest novel focuses on the storm and its aftermath. The two main protagonist of the story are Raina and Gerda, two schoolteachers who made the opposite decisions. At Gerda’s school, she kept the children inside. Raina had her children tie themselves together with the girls’ apron strings and out they headed. No one lived too far away, and Raina was sure they could all make it. One group of children froze to death; the other suffered deaths and frostbite. 

The story opens on that warm day several hours before the storm hits. The storm is the novel’s antagonist. It is a formidable foe bent on claiming as many lives as possible. I didn’t realize how many different ways a wordsmith like Benjamin could describe the storm. 

While the storm may have been the main character, the heart of the story is the life of immigrant homesteaders. It is a story of the people who settled the Great Plains and their daily struggles to survive.  

Benjamin based her story using actual oral histories of the survivors, but the characters are fictional. It is based on the store that hammers the Great Plains on that January day in 1888. The actual storm took 235 lives, many of them children, and many were not found until spring.  “The Children’s Blizzard” is a compelling and heartbreaking story. It receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Take My Hand

“Take My Hand” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez   368 pages

Poor. Young. Black. Screwed. That’s the theme of this unflinching novel that takes a look at women’s reproductive issues in the 1970s. Primitive to say the least.

Civil Townsend is fresh out of nursing school and wants to use her training to make a difference in the world. Her father, who is a doctor, wants her to follow in his footsteps. Civil has worked with him in his clinic and believes that nurses can make more change than doctors because they are the ones on the front lines.

She obtains a position at the Montgomery (Alabama) Family Planning Clinic. A woman of her times, Civil believes that she can help women take responsibility for their own bodies and can decide if they want to have children or not. The clinic is overseen by a white woman, Mrs. Linda Seager, who has her own ideas about the issue.

The structure of the novel is dueling timelines and toward the conclusion, a triple timeline. When the story opens, it’s 2016 in Memphis. Civil is ready to retire after a forty-year career in medicine. She is getting ready to undertake a trip back to Montgomery and is relating the story of what happened there to her daughter, Anne. 

The story shifts to 1973. Civil has been assigned her first case with the clinic. She is to make a home visit to the Williams’ family and give India and Erica their quarterly Depo-Provera, a contraceptive injunction, which was used instead of the Pill. Many thought that it was more effective at preventing pregnancy because it lasted for three months instead of having to rely on a daily dose. 

When Civil arrives at the William’s shack, she is appalled by their living conditions. It’s a one-room cabin with inadequate ventilation, a dirt floor, a hole in the floor for cooking, clothes lying in piles, and dogs running in and out.  It smells worse than it looks. It is inhabited my two young girls, their father and their grandmother. 

What shocks Civil even more is that the India is only eleven years old and Erica is only thirteen.  They smell worse than the cabin. They haven’t even kissed a boy, much less had sex. It’s not even on their radar. I don’t remember how long the girls have been on the drug, but India hasn’t even begun her menstrual cycle. 

Civil’s sense of justice takes over. She cannot, and will not, allow those young, motherless girls to grow up like this.  She begins a crusade to take them off the shot and puts them on the Pill, get them into a subsidized apartment, on food stamps, and get dad a job. 

As Civil fights for the girls, she enlists the community to help. Eventually the girls’ case lands in federal court. This novel is based on the real case of Relf vs Weinberger. 

I could not book put this down. Some of the courtroom scenes were hard to read because they were based on law and were confusing.  That didn’t matter really, and I give “Take My Hand,” 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

 Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver 437 pages

Anatomy of a Murder is a book that talks about a legal case from beginning to end, not unlike John Grisham's books.  It begins with Paul Biegler who is an attorney in Michigan's U.P. (upper peninsula) answering the phone in his law office after he comes back from a fishing trip.  On the other end is Laura Manion whose husband Lieutenant Frederic Manion is in jail after he shot the man who beat and raped her.  She asks that Biegler meet with her husband and take his case.  Biegler was once the District Attorney in Iron Bay but did not win a recent election to continue in that position.  He goes to talk with Lieutenant Manion to decide if he will take the case.  Once he makes the decision to take it, he enlists his secretary and his lawyer friend to help him in gathering information including visiting the location where the murder/killing took place.  What follows is a detailed view of meetings with his client and other potential witnesses, gathering evidence and finally the trial. 

I thought the book was well written and enjoyed reading an early legal story.  I had to make sure I remembered the time period the book was written in at times since there were some slurs and other situations that would not be appropriate in 2022.  I gave this four of five stars on Goodreads.

The Revenge of Magic

 Shirley J.                  Juvenile Fiction                                 Ancient Creatures with Magical Abilities

The Revenge of  Magic (Book 1 of 5  The Revenge of Magic Series) by James Riley    432 pages

Sort of a Manhattan Beach meets Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.   You have mad scientist Oppenheimer, students with magical abilities for healing and/or destruction up against ancient long forgotten creatures tunneling up from below the ground.   With the finding of magical books alongside dragon bones throughout the world as puzzle enough the U.S. Military is trying to find out what connection the creatures who claim to have been teaching humans how to use magic for the betterment of the world may have been subjugating the humans instead.   Throw in that the magic books found cannot be read by adults but the words can be seen by children born on what becomes known as Discovery Day the month and day all the children capable of seeing the words are all born on that is until Fort Fitzgerald comes along.     Lots of pulls from lots of other sci-fi paranormal tv shows, films and books that the reader will catch reference from or of.   The story isn't a bad one, it just isn't all that good of one.   I'm not inspired to want to continue the series but just because I didn't particularly care for it, doesn't mean that someone younger might not enjoy it.   I can't recommend it but I will offer that pre-teens who enjoy sci-fi and paranormal stories might think it was o.k.    No great shakes here though.

      

SLPL December totals

 

This month four people read 25 books for a total of 7374 pages.  Both Shirley and Julie had bonuses, but Shirley read the most with 19 books as 5623 pages.  Thanks to everyone for their reviews!

Don't Come Back

“Don’t Come Back” (Book 2 of 2 in the Molly Donovan series) by Tower Lower   255 pages  

I didn’t read Book 1 in this series, and that’s okay, as this is a complete standalone. I have read both book of author Lowe’s Cotton Lee Penn historical mysteries and really enjoyed them. This novel suffers the same problem as those two though. Lowe needs to invest in a good editor; there are so many typos it is almost embarrassing. 

Now that I have that out of my system, let me tell you about what I like the most about all of Lowe’s mysteries. Her protagonists are non-ablest, but that doesn’t stop them. Their disability is like hair or eye color. Important to the reader experience, but not a game-changer. They aren’t written with pity. 

In this novel, the prologue sets up the mystery and creates that “gotta keep reading to find out what happens” feeling.  In the prologue, an elderly Navajo woman is kidnapped. The book’s characters believe she has taken off for a few days with her friend, Eduardo. When Alicia misses her dialysis appointment, which she needs to survive, her daughter calls the sheriff who brings in the FBI. 

The FBI agent, Ray Yazee, is a native of the area with a Navajo father and a white mother. His mother took him away from the area when he was a small child. Ray is curious about his Navajo heritage. He takes the case in the hopes of reconnecting to his roots and to learn the identity of his father. As he gets closer to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ray begins to hear voices and chanting; he is sure it is the mountains calling him to come home. In one of his dreams, he is told to “find the one-armed Irish woman.” 

Maggie, on the other hand, has problems of her own. Her boyfriend, Miguel, took a three-week trip to Spain to help his cousin battle a drug addiction. But now he’s been gone for three months, and when he does, he brings his “cousin,” Isabella with him.  Cousin, yeah right. 

Ray and Maggie team up to find Alicia and get her to a life-saving dialysis treatment. The suspense is excellent and had me staying up past my bedtime to find out what would happen next.  

Although I complained about the errors earlier, this is really a top-notch suspense thriller. Lots happens in the six days over which the novel is set. Therefore, I’m going to give “Don’t Come Back,” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

The Women of Pearl Island

 “The Women of Pearl Island” by Polly Crosby 352 pages

 If you are looking for a page-turner, you’ll want to pass on this beautiful, atmospheric novel. The plot builds steadily and gives lots of surprises, but it is the land and seascapes that make this novel a must-read. 

Tartelin Brown is having trouble moving past the death of her mother. She needs to get away from London and accepts a position as a personal assistant to an elderly woman in a wheelchair on an island off the British coast. 

The island is owned by the Stourbridge family. The elderly woman who calls it home is the last of her lineage. Miss Marianne was raised on Dohhalund (name of the island). Her family made their money from the herring trade and the pearls that are farmed off the island’s rugged coastline. It is a primitive place to live---no cell service, no electricity, and no phones. 

Tartelin’s main job is to collect a variety of butterflies so that Marianne can study them. Something happened on the island during World War II. Something that involved the nuclear testing done there, but no records have survived. Marianne is sure she can find answers in the butterflies that she has been collecting since 1955. 

The book has two timelines: 1955 and 2018. In 1955, a young girl comes to live with the family. Marianne distrusts her as she seems to steal all of Dad’s attention. But there is a bigger secret that Marianne uncovers. In 2018, as Tartelin roams the island in search of butterflies, she meets many people who help her discover the secrets.  

I enjoyed the scenery a lot, but the plotline was a tad slow for me. The book’s title was a mystery until near the story’s end when the island is referred to as Pearl Island. If that sentence had been deleted, the reader would never get it.  Or at least this reader wouldn’t.  Therefore, I’m going to give “The Women of Pearl Island,” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Wish You Were Here

 Shirley J.               Adult Fiction Murder Mystery                   Murder solving cat and canine

Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown   242 pages

Finally!   I lucked into the 1st book of a series!  This is book 1 of the Mrs. Murphy series which I will now be glad to check out more of.  Mrs. Murphy is a female tiger cat (a Ginger) and one of two beloved pets, the other a female Welsh corgi dog named, "Tucker," belonging to Mary Minor Haristeen, nickname, "Harry," living in Crozet, Virginia.  Lots of great characters here, Harry and her furry kids being my favorites.   Harry is going through a divorce with her philandering husband, but, at least it isn't ugly, just unfortunate.  Harry is a good soul, among other things the local postmistress of her small town who loves to read the postcards she sorts into locals' mail slots.   When postcards with famous people's gravesites start showing up, Harry notices they all say, "Wish you were here,"  then, oddly enough the recipients of said postcards end up murdered.   Too good a mystery not to speculate on and with a bent for amateur sleuthing and a pal in the local Sheriff, it is game on for Harry.   Her pets are already 3 steps ahead of her in their own investigation of things and with enhanced sensibilities of smell, they are one up on her and all the cops in town.   Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and their overweight neighbor cat, Pewter investigate murder sites and follow scent trails and more in their discovery of who done it.   Fun story.   I'm hooked.   Mrs. Murphy and Tucker are my new Stephanie and Lula.   On to book 2!   I recommend this one to murder mystery fans of all ages.   An enjoyable read with laugh out loud moments.    

Ricochet Joe

Shirley J.                             Adult Fiction Suspense                          Time Travel, Alternate Realities

Ricochet Joe by Dean Koontz    142 pages

A dip into science-fiction for Dean Koontz.   I always associate him with horror themes, but, this one is more science fiction with aliens and time travel even alternate realities.   A good short story, but, you have to really pay attention to what is going on because maybe you are hearing about the real, Joe, or at least the one we know as of this writing,  but, what of the other Joes existing in alternate scenarios living lives similar but different from the one being observed.  Choices take us in all kinds of directions which can lead to cross-overs at interdimensional intersections.   Pay attention.   Sci-fi fans will love this one.  Koontz fans, too.   I liked the story and would recommend it to older teens who will get it.  I think younger readers would be looking for bigger punches and be put off by the romance of it all.   

The Sweetest Remedy

 Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction Romance                                           Being Bi-Racial, Nigeria    

The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo   320 pages    

Really good story of a young woman, Hannah Bailey, who after growing up at home with her (white) American mother is presented with an invitation to attend her Nigerian father's funeral.   Hannah had never know her father and always wondered why he didn't want her.   Her parents never married and when her mother told her father she was pregnant he left.   He began sending Hannah's mother money to help support them, but, ghosted them otherwise.   Hannah's mother finally convinced him to come see his daughter when she was 8 years old.   Hannah couldn't understand why he didn't want to be with them.  She never saw him after that but the void in her life where her father should have been deeply affected her and her future relationships.   Then all of a sudden after all the empty years, her mother is notified Hannah's father has died and in his will he asked that Hannah attend his funeral in Nigeria.   Hannah was not planning to attend but her mother hounded her for days that she should go.  Finally, Hannah relented and went.  She gets the surprise of her life when she gets there!   The book really takes off at that point.   A good story told well.   I highly recommend this book it will take the reader on a journey to Nigeria.  The author, herself, is Nigerian and offers a familiarity with the culture, language, cuisine, and night life to be found there.    I couldn't put it down.   It is a "and then what happened?" feel that keeps you so involved with the story you will be pleased where it takes you.   Well done, Jane Igharo!  I recommend this book to middle-schoolers on up.

Joy to the World: Christmas Around the Globe

 Shirley J.        Juvenile Non-Fiction                  Christmas traditions observed in various countries

Joy to the World: Christmas Around the Globe by Kate DePalma    40 pages

When I first started reading the verse (it rhymes in the first part of the story geared to the kindergarten set),  which tells of Christmas celebrations in 13 different countries, I thought, whoa, wait a minute these traditions must be embellished because these are not country-wide happenings as some of the cultures are not known for their leanings toward Christian/Pagan observances, however, in the second part of the book which is geared toward kids through the 4th grade it goes back and gives stats on the percentage of the population in each of the 13 countries mentioned (Ethiopia, Serbia, India, Egypt, Lebanon, the Phillipines, Argentina, Italy, Canada, Columbia, Iceland, Mexico & Australia) that celebrate the holiday in the ways mentioned.   It is a little odd to present it the way it is, making it appear that the entire country does celebrate the day but the disclaimer style explanation sets the record straight.   A bit awkward, but, informative and told in a fun way.    Yes, I think it would make a great read aloud then discuss after book for teachers, children's librarians, parents and grandparents (aunts, uncles, big brothers, big sisters, cousins, babysitters...everybody in fact!)  I recommend it for kids but do think a discussion should follow so they realize it is a choice not a blanket worldwide concept.  Good for listeners (babies) who will enjoy the rhyming sounds of the stories on up to 4th grade and beyond.  Everyone will learn something here about other cultures.

Flora & Ulysses

 Shirley J.                 Juvenile Fiction                           a vacuum cleaner, a cynic, and a typing squirrel   

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo   256 pages

When Mr. Tickman buys his wife a Ulysses Super Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner and they are testing it out on multi-terrain, Mr. Tickman sucks up a squirrel!   Local 10 year old self-proclaimed cynic, Flora Belle Buckman sees what happens and rescues the poor thing.   Flora Belle is a little lax on friends and becomes attached to this new friend whom she dubs, Ulysses (after the vacuum cleaner).   Now throughout the world there are many reports of people undergoing near death experiences that once they return to this plane of existence find they have developed psychic abilities and after Ulysses harrowing escape from suction oblivion he and Flora find that he has flying squirrel abilities, appears to have gained super strength and who knows what other superpowers and oh yes, he starts typing out poetry.  A fun story for young and old maybe both at the same time.  Text and some of the storyline told in graphic novel illustrations.   I hear Disney has done the movie, too.   I highly recommend this for all ages from listeners (babies) on up.   A great read aloud story, too, I think.  Fun from beginning to end.

Lakeshore Christmas

Shirley J.               Adult Fiction                                  Librarians, Child Stars, Community Service

Lakeshore Christmas: Lakeshore Chronicles Book 6 by Susan Wiggs  384 pages

Maureen Davenport, town librarian, and, former child star, Eddie Haven are like fire and water or a steel wool pad and chenille.   They are working on the town's upcoming Christmas pageant, Maureen out of happy inheritance of the role, Eddie is supposed to be doing community service for an infraction he committed several years ago in the town.   Maureen acts like a pissed off cat that somebody tried to bathe, constantly all claws, fluffed out fur like she stuck her finger in an electric socket just an old biddy with a terrible attitude.   She treats the guy like he is a total jerk all through the book, even though the reader finds out what a good guy he is and that she is too tightly wound to see.   They both have back stories but her prior poopy relationship and aftermath had nothing to do with him.   His backstory is he grew up with hippie show-biz parents who never celebrated Christmas they stayed on the road doing shows throughout the season so he never had a normal home life nor a normal Christmas at home and never got any presents.  He says he doesn't like Christmas but every year he shows up to help out with the Christmas pageant and does everything he can to help make it wonderful for everybody, of course, he had been assisting the former Christmas pageant director who was a wonderful motherly lady who basically let him do whatever he wanted.   Not so much with Maureen now taking over the event.   She is bossy, opinionated and she certainly does not like Eddie nor any of his ideas.   She says she loves Christmas but with that hateful attitude she would stop Santa in his tracks!  I did not like Maureen even after I found out what caused her to be the way she was.  Then for her to play, I hate you, I love you, just didn't sit well with me when Eddie was a descent guy trying to get along, offering his all for the town and the show only to be shot down at every gesture.   And then he falls for her.  Whaaaat?????  He must have dominatrix issues liking someone who is constantly mean to him but that is just my opinion.   The story kept me interested and there are some surprising twists and characters that really keep the story interesting.   It is a good story regardless of the fact that Maureen is such a crabapple.  I would recommend it to all who love Christmas stories, it would make a great movie on the Hallmark channel.