The Comforts of Home

Interesting choice of title. Harmony seems to be disaster prone. Last outing it was a prairie grassland wildfire, this time a tornado. Harmony seems not so Harmonious. (groan)

Of the original romances alluded to Noah has declared an intent to settle down with Reagan when he finally gets the rodeo circuit out of his system. His sister Alex married her fire chief Hank. Ty, the funeral director is on the road to making his online romance a reality.

Strays keep showing up in Harmony to enhance the gene pool lest the three founding families get overly inbred. There have been a few more marriages and old romances renewed and new ones sprouted up.

Cowboys of the Texas Panhandle tend to be tall and wear big hats, belt buckles and boots but few are three hundred-pound mountains of muscle like the Biggs Brothers. There seems to be a place for everyone who would find a home in Harmony.

Midnight Wrangler

Second in a series. Follows my observation that Romance Novel Covers provide modelling opportunities for body-builders. Somehow I doubt a largely sedentary 44-year-old rancher looks like the cover model on this book. We rejoin the widowed rancher from book one and are introduced to Bonnie Martin, an old flame from his past who has returned to settle her deceased Father's estate. At least in the opening chapters we are left guessing as to what happened to cause his daughter to leave home after graduation never to return. His curmudgeonly behaviour caused his wife to leave and divorce him. The side of him his neighbours reflect is at odds with this insider's view.

So the plot is fully telegraphed from the opening pages. If the characters were not fully developed and the background filled in this book would not be worth reading. As the story continues we bounce back and forth between the present and the summer of 1990 twenty-five years past while Bonnie sorts through the ghosts of her past in her Father's home.

Guilt weighs heavily on someone who feels their sins cannot be forgiven and forgiveness can only come with confession. Even with this hanging between them chapter 18 is devoted to a lengthy description of their love-making. It didn't seem to hinder the Biblical David and Bathsheba either. Even at this point the reader hasn't become privy to the true nature of Bonnie's guilt though by now we have our suspicions.

The climax, pun intended, doesn't come until the closing chapters when all is revealed.

Somewhere Along the Way

Depending on your point of view book 2 or 3 of the Harmony Series picks up almost exactly where the last book left off. Reagan is a year older and working in town and her adopted uncle's health is beginning to fail. We are introduced to new characters but Reagan's relationship with Noah becomes complicated, but then there are 6 more volumes for that to get sorted out. The final chapter read like a thriller.

Indeh

Meaning The Dead.

Down-loaded a preview not noticing I'd selected a different book with an identical title on the same subject. Ethan Hawke's book is a so-called graphic novel. I haven't read a comic book since Watchmen. Won this hardcover edition by entering a contest on Goodreads.

What comes through most clearly is the cultural divide between the Apaches who had no word for deceit or untruth, had no understanding of or need for money so they could not be bought, and no conception that anyone could own the land.

The inevitable clash between First Nations and an unending tide of White Settlers could have only one conclusion. 

And yes there is profanity, mind you history is profane. 

Ice by Azelin Philips

[Spoiler Alert]

In chapter one we meet old man Crealy who rails Scrooge-like about the poor reminding me of my own experiences. A welfare mother of 32 already twice a grandmother, a drug-addled women who let a fridge full of food spoil because she failed to close the door. A neighbour who had 10 children in 8 years the progeny flow stopped only by “the pill” and the departure of her husband. Contrast with a bank president who makes $500,000,000 a year while his tellers make $50,000.

In chapter two we meet 14-year-old John Crealy who attempts suicide because the parish priest is sexually abusing him and leaves home at 16 because he catches his father out at sleeping with another woman while his mother fails to do anything about it. Where is this headed?

The author's past in social work shows in this work. Expect no fairy tale endings. The child is father of the man and his unresolved and untreated traumas manifest in the adult. Even living in small communities with unsophisticated staff it is difficult to credit no one questioning a string of 5 dead wives. There are a few editing errors that detract only slightly from reading enjoyment.

The Golden Spruce

Haida Gwaii or the Queen Charlottes is a place of myth, awe, and superlatives where the normal laws of nature seem not to apply. Trees in the West Coast Rainforest grow to colossal proportions and ages. As Churchill is quoted as saying to cut these trees to make newsprint seems a crime but logging companies see dollar signs and Natives in areas of high unemployment see jobs.

This may be the story of a specific Golden Spruce but it is also the tale of the West Coast Forest, the logging industry it supported, and the way of life of the men who worked it, the home of the First Nations People who honoured it.

Early settlers found the primeval forests of North America a thing that had to be beat back to enable civilization to follow. Those forests were believed to be limitless. The logging industry has found their limits. Environmentalists now fight to preserve the last remnants of Old Growth Forests that remain. Just as the Japanese Whaling Industry would say, what's the point of a whale if we can't hunt it a logger finds a tree pointless if he can't fell it. Somehow they're like Canada's Symbol the Beaver who upon hearing the sound of running water is determined to dam it.

So the book goes on to document the trade between the Haida and Europeans, a history of exploitation, deception, and destruction. First in sea otter pelts and then in wood. For anyone being an environmentalist such as myself this makes depressing reading.

With regard to the specific mutant sitka spruce whose legend the book describes it is symptomatic of the forest as a whole. As to the whereabouts of Grant Hadwin, alive or dead he has become as mythical as the tree in which he has become bound.

The Bad Beginning

The second of this author's books I've read I fear I don't get the popularity of this series which now extends to at least nine. Obviously I'm not the targe audience but I had difficulty ploughing my way through the pages. Oh Well.

Welcome to Harmony

Having begun this journey with the prequel, A Place Called Harmony, I was surprised to discover that book one jumps nearly 2 centuries to the year 2006, close to present day. The population has jumped from 14 to 14,000. Lighting has progressed from lanterns and candles to traffic lights and compact fluorescents.

I hung in there and the book grew on me. No town can prosper if its residents don't procreate so the book follows three romances. First young Noah McAdam, tall and lanky, is confident that once his complexion clears and he gets some muscle on his bones he'll be a ladies' man. He courts Reagan Truman who lives with her ancient dour Uncle Jeremiah. Noah's Sister, the redoubtable Alexandra, the town Sheriff is courted by Hank Matheson, the town Fire Chief – when they aren't fighting. And finally Ty Wright, the town's forty-something Undertaker has an E-mail Romance with a woman in another State he met on one of his collection runs.

The town's centre is not the courthouse, but the local coffeeshop, the Blue Moon. The Trumans, Mathesons, and McNabbs represent the three founding families we met in the prequel. Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon on the Texas Panhandle are real places, Harmony is fiction. The fear of Grass Fires on this flat land prairie is very real.

Tribe

This is a disturbing tome that should be required reading for every bank president, politician, and captain of industry in America. A society where CEO's of major corporations make exponentially more than their lowest paid employees, a quarter of all children go hungry, where a reduction in the unemployment rate causes a drop in the stock exchange has lost track of the egalitarian tribal society that was supplanted when Europeans settled America. As North Americans become more independent and comfortable they become more isolated and less self-fulfilled. It is this dislocation that is seen as contributing to difficulty veterans have in reintegrating into society when they get back home. What this book has to say is damning to the political rhetoric splashed across our media in the present political campaign. Lest you attempt to dismiss the arguments here presented the author cites 40 pages of reference materials to back his premise.

I Am Number Four

A coming of age high school drama with a difference. This fifteen-year-old's an alien with what on earth would be considered superpowers and other aliens who are tracking him have killed one through three. Add to hormones and boy meets girl developing abilities to be mastered. The story progresses to the ultimate fight scene.

Made for the movies. 

Commeth the Hour

Being book six in the Harry Clifton Series. I broke down and read it as it concludes the series save for book seven yet to be published. Most of the characters are the kind of people one would rather not have dealings with. Either underhanded or English peers confident of their rank and privileges. The concluding chapters resolve most of the outstanding issues save whether Harry's Father's body lies within a double-hulled freighter about to be cut up in his wife, Emma's shipyard. We'll have to wait until November to have that confirmed.

A Place Called Harmony

Set in the Texas Panhandle North of the frontier city of Dallas this is a book about homesteading and serves to remind one that half those settlers were women who not only worked beside their husbands but gave birth to and raised the next generation. The book is part romance, part adventure and just plain hard work, and pleasure to read.

Dead Wake

To my eyes luxury liners such as the Lusitania and Titanic both of which sank in different circumstances appear pretentious, ugly, graceless. They are obviously large targets for icebergs, mines, torpedoes. They were also testaments to hubris and greed. One of the mysteries of WW#2 is the fact that the Queen Mary and Elizabeth both converted as troop ships managed to make multiple Atlantic crossings unscathed.

Larson brings to the topic his usual penchant for thorough background information while making the text thoroughly readable.

Until the modern nuclear submarine a submarine was a surface vessel capable of temporary submersion. Capable of launching an attack from stealth they were instruments of torture for their crews that often proved to be their coffins. As Canada's white elephant diesel-electric subs have proven there are hundreds of things that can go wrong with them. Nuclear submarines can remain submerged indefinitely and are launched with all the fuel they'll ever need. Russia's concrete subs can rest on the bottom totally undetected.

On the other hand the grey ghosts that are the subject of this book were eminently sinkable. The story here is that of the inevitable meeting of Lusitania and U-20. The outcome is no spoiler, it is history and the loss of life served in no small measure to drag America into WW#1.

To invest the reader emotionally in the eventual outcome of the tale Larson devotes considerable attention to describing various passengers and crew members. To place the reader vicariously on board considerable attention is paid to details of daily ship-board life--the meals, the games, the feuds, the gambling.

The one mystery still unsolved. Did the Admiralty deliberately leave the Lusitania to the wolves in a deliberate attempt to force the US into the war or were they just inept?

Quicksilver

This is a child's picture book that has the verisimilitude of an actual happening in the author's life. The illustrations being an integral part of the story I'd like to know more about Joshua Allen beyond his name. This book having been loaned me by the author I will be asking her. The book is available for purchase from online booksellers.

The Raven King

Fourth book in the series by Maggie Stiefvater begins with the fortune telling gals in their parlour as a sort of backgrounder since it's been nearly two years since the book three came out. Next we meet the boys at school. Ronan the wild child who dreams things into existence, Noah the sentient presence who materializes out of thin air, and Jane Sargent--Blue who amplifies magical things. The reader may be in the dark as to what is happening here but so are the actors in our story.

The storyline here is not linear. This is a world where people are not what they seem, even greater than they seem. Where dreams are real and people and things, even forests are dreamed into existence. Where people are one with trees and the dead come back to life as more than ghosts. The perspective shifts constantly reading the 400 pages here becomes an effort. This is a world of magic, seances, hallucinations, dreams where logic ends and waking dream takes over. To enjoy this world one must embrace it and leave reality behind.

Out of Bounds

Twenty-year-old Jesse, a 5-10 geek is placed in a dorm room with twenty-four-year-old Nick, a 6-6 heavily muscled jock when Jesse gets beaten to a pulp by his former roommate after he gets the wrong signals and puts the moves on him--his gaydar obviously not working. Jesse cringes every time this goliath twitches a muscle.

Since this is a YA Gay Romance the plot would seem to be set. Do opposites attract? Can this hunk be gay and how could this bouncer be intimidated by anyone? The text is well-edited and quite readable. The sample provided moved me to spend the asking price to buy this novel.

Aside from homophobia gay romance introduces the reader to new terms and issues of compatibility. A hairy older male is termed a Bear, a boyish looking blond such as Jesse is a TWINK. When both partners have the same body parts issues of dominance involving two male egos aside to be compatible one partner is usually a bottom and the other a top. When you bounce at a gay bar you deal with the additional stress of which dance partner leads.

Although questions of physical dominance are obvious when one partner is 8 inches taller and 80 pounds heavier psycho-social issues may surprise you. If descriptions of male on male sexual intercourse offend you please look elsewhere.

The Lesser Blessed

Turns out this novel involves high-school-aged teens in a community in Northern Canada. Added to the usual themes of coming of age, raging hormones, girls, sex, and parents are issues of gasoline sniffing, drugs, alcoholism, poverty, whitey vs native.

Told from the point of view of Larry, a Dogrib, the picture painted is not pretty. The narrative is violent, depressing, drug-filled, and despondent. Children grow up fast in this environment. We read about suicide rates in Northern communities, here we hear about the culture that spawns them from the point of view of those youth.

Mightier than the Sword

Being book 5 in the Clifton Chronicles. Jane Smiley's multi-generational trilogy is so full of characters it becomes hard to keep track of them all. Archer solves this issue by regularly killing off his people. Since book 4 ended with a bang that seemingly involved his entire cast it seemed obvious that he had to come up with some sort of rescue or he'd have no one to write about.

Write what you know is a standard dictum. Given his checkered past what this author knows has become a thing I no longer feel comfortable sharing. The machinations of Bond or Wall Street hold no charms for this reader. Having run out of likeable characters to follow I've lost interest in reading further in this series. However as usual Archer leaves the reader with a cliff-hanger ending. Since I'm borrowing this series from a library and I've already read the first couple chapters of book six....

In the Unlikely Event

Miri is growing up Jewish, at least culturally Jewish in a Gentile world. Child of a single mother her grandmother, with whom they live, is not pleased to learn she's dating a goy boyfriend with an Irish name. Miri is mortified to learn that her fancy clothes are well-preserved hand-me-downs charitably donated by her Mother's acquaintance. Fortunately the original wearer is not like my cousin who greeted me at church with the declaration--you're wearing my suit.

Elizabethtown where they live has been hit by three plane crashes. This book is not easy reading. It's 402 pages seem to stretch on and on, progress seeming extremely slow. I could use a character list to keep all the people and their inter-relations straight.

End of the Innocence by John Goode

Book 4 is more than 100 pages longer than the first three combined. This is not a stand-alone book so read books 1-3 first either as Tales from Foster High or individually, first.

As the boys discover there is a vast difference between what the law allows and requires and what a small-minded closed society accepts. Mercifully for our pair high school students have short attention spans and today's sensation rapidly becomes boring history and matters settle down to a dull roar. As with any high school romance theirs has its ups and downs. What no one saw coming was the prom queen's settling for friendship. Seems she isn't the vapid air-head one might have thought, but then neither is the jock she once dated.

Having grown up poor on a rural Nova Scotia farm I have trouble identifying with kids who get a car at 16, obviously have generous allowances and/or part time jobs, and are sexually active.

My one major complaint with this book is that the point of view changes so often it is hard to keep track of who is doing the narration, Brad or Kyle.

The book takes on so much more than the coming of age story of two gay teens in a small, close-minded, bigoted North Texas Community. It also tackles the issues of involuntary outing, cyber bullying, gay suicide, conversion therapy--the so-called straight camps, and the moral argument against homosexuality. Kyle knows his Bible, chapter and verse better than I do.

The latter part of the book needs some editing for grammatical errors such as subject/verb agreement. Brad's Christmas gift of 3 quarters, a nickel and a penny adds up to more than 4 coins. Those quibbles aside once I got into this book it was difficult to put it down.

The Nest by Kennety Oppel

Ironic that I now have two novels signed out that have the title "The Nest"

Much fantasy writing is overly derivative of the master, JRR Tolkien. The present writer is one of a select few I account as being truly original. There are times in reading this book that I have to remind myself that this isn't Neil Gaiman, another of my select few.

Fantasy requires suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. I can buy into this fantasy save for one detail. I can't believe a child old enough to be left home without a babysitter but too young to be responsible for his siblings was left home alone with an unhealthy baby.

Where Nerves End

Tucker Springs is yet another Romance Novel Series by an author named L. A. Witt. So I've become somewhat hooked on romance, gay in this instance. This one involves Jason who hooks up with single-father acupuncturist Michael. Single parents seem to be a theme running through these novels, hetero and homo, though this series is not of the cowboy genre.

I was disappointed in this read. Once more overly wordy by far and angst ridden. This pair don't know what they want. Jason's aching shoulder gets more play than their love life. Dylan, the seven-year-old boy is a cut-out figure who appears to play video games and in the final analysis comment on the affairs of the adults in his life. The kid has his priorities straight. He wants a stable home life and loving parents, their sexual orientation is immaterial to him, after all "girls are gross".

Midnight Ride

The first in yet another Cowboy Romance series by author Cat Johnson. The cover art pictures a husky model with massive shoulders and biceps. Tyler is a happy go lucky ranch hand out for good times when he runs into the widow Janie from the ranch next door. Hard to believe this hunk ran from anything but they meet up when she finds him hiding from trouble in the back of her dual-wheeled diesel truck. And so the adventure begins.

Like red tape so-called because the clerks who wrote it were paid by the word this novel is unnecessarily wordy. It may make for greater drama in these tales but the women in them seem terribly needy and insecure about themselves and their relationships. At the slightest pretext they seem to doubt themselves and the commitment of their perspective mates and lapse into an orgy of fretting and brooding. Given this lack of confidence their eventual agreements to marry these guys seem rather insincere. If a woman expects a man to account for every moment he's out of her sight before marriage what's to expect matters to be any different after?

The Creed Legacy

The prodigal has returned and despite a decade of separation the identical twins Brody and Connor still resemble two peas in a pod and Brody unabashedly helps himself to his twin's wardrobe. Since book 6 Connor and Tricia got married and a baby Creed's arrival is imminent. At issue in book 7 is the path to matrimonial bliss Brody and Carolyn will take. If a certain ennui creeps in here you're reading me correctly.

If you're familiar with the joke about what happens when you sing a country music song backwards these novels seem to follow a similar pattern:

You get your dog back=generally a stray

You get your truck back=generally brand new

You get your house back=often newly built

You get your wife back=generally newly wed though past flirtation is often the case.

The sex is always good, marriage and a baby follow, these boys are virile, and succeeding babies, to quote Davis in this outing, take nine months.

And a rodeo past is often part of these boys' history. They never seem to lack for money though I can't imagine most make a killing on the rodeo circuit.

Perhaps I should admit that the law of diminishing utility is coming into play here.

As the series winds up I predict the next Creed will arrive in under nine months.

Raise a Glass

Monday morning and the young pair prepare to face the music heading back to school. The point of view switches between our two principals. The author prolongs the agony with lengthy passages of introspection making extensive use of sports metaphors in Brad's case. We know the lad's a jock but the author's knowledge of baseball play and the intimate details such as the use of a "cup" may not be shared by all his readers especially bookish nerds such as Kyle.

Book three describes going back to school on Monday and everything one could dread about that day seems to hit these two. As the day ends their two mothers spring into action and little is more fearsome than a lioness defending her wounded cub.

End of the Beginning

In book 2 of this series the narration switches to the jock, Brad. If you've been reading so far you're aware that Brad outed both himself and Kyle in rather dramatic fashion at the end of book 1 before the entire school. Kyle has suddenly ceased to be invisible and Brad has abdicated his position as the golden boy.

Brad talks about the sports experience in the locker room, on the field, and in the dugout in rather homoerotic terms, though of course most jocks would staunchly deny having any gay tendencies. Book two is full of introspection which tends to slow the pace down considerably. What becomes apparent is the fact that even in one's darkest hour help may come from the most unlikely of sources.

The action takes place over the course of a Friday and the weekend following.

Creed's Honor

For this branch of the Creed Family we move to Lonesome Bend, Colorado to another sprawling ranch owned jointly by Steven's identical twin cousins Brody and Connor. Connor personifies the good son who stayed home to keep up the family heritage while his brother Brody, older by 4 minutes, is the black sheep of the family who ran off to join the rodeo circuit and play the field with buckle bunnies. This book follows Connor's journey to matrimonial bliss with Tricia, who lives with her Great-Grandmother. I cannot be accused of spoilers because, as usual, the entire plot is telegraphed from the opening pages. As is generally true of Romance Novels the story here is the rocky road to true love.

Maybe with a Chance of Certainty

What does the brilliant high school nerd have in common with the Letterman jock? Surprise, they're both gay and they both have an alcoholic parent. Tough to think who has the bigger problem here.

Without throwing hip language at one or resorting to profanity and bad grammar the author manages to perfectly evoke the insecurities and tensions of those high school corridors. Behind that confident exterior the high school jock and the prom queen have the same raging hormones and insecurities everyone else shares, they just have more to lose.

The story is told from the point of view of the nerd. Girls have long been portrayed as besotted and struck dumb in the presence of the object of their overwhelming affection. Here we learn that boys can experience similar emotional paralysis.

Near the end of this book Kyle lays it on the line for his high school prinicpal:

 

The teacher is struck dumb.

Ask Him Why

This novel is about what happens when a sibling gets accused of wrongdoing. The media frenzy that gathers outside your doors hounding your family and inconveniencing the neighbours as well. The graffiti painted on your walls by vandals. The bullying classmates who make life difficult, the boyfriends whose parents refuse to be associated with you. The work your father loses due to the notoriety. The people who shun all members of your family. The hurtful press and social media commentary. The sense of hurt and loss that a person you loved, looked up to, and idolized could so fall from grace.

The novel takes a turn for the truly weird in the second half and then jumps forward nearly 10 years.

The sample provided interested me sufficiently to move me to buy the whole. The author can seem a little preachy but the story pulls you in.

Finishing a book is like losing a friend. One is saddened to have lost the relationship but glad to have had the experience while it lasted.

A Creed at Stone Creek

Steven's name is Creed but he's only distantly related to the Creeds we've already met. This family seems to have a lot of lawyers. It's his adopted son five-year-old Matt, orphaned by Steven's best friends and former partner who initially tugs at one's heart strings.

A word about the conventions of Romance Novels, in this case Cowboy Romance. The male is always a magnetically virile hunk of manhood and his romantic interest equally sexually attractive. The two are introduced in the opening pages and the remaining story involves the path to marital bliss. Happy endings seem guaranteed. At some point there will be a detailed description of their coital encounters. Well-written romances such as this one rise above these conventions or I wouldn't be reading them. They also seem to be wildly popular, just ask Harlequin.

This one seems to have more drama than most and introduces us to the protagonists in the following entries in the series.

A Creed Country Christmas

Well I asked for a prequel but the author's done me one better and gone back an entire century to the Creed family patriarch who homesteaded the original family ranch. Life is rugged and Montana Christmases are cold and snowy but romance blossoms in the wintry cold or the generations wouldn't follow. I may not read this for the romance but there's enough added to satisfy the need for a good read.

Montana Creeds: Tyler

Being book 3 in a series that runs to 7 volumes. If it has yet to be written this series cries for a prequel that would follow the lives of the wild Creed boys, their alcoholic father Jake, his three wives-their various mothers, and their “grandma” Cassie in her Teepee.

As usual the romance at the centre of the tale is telegraphed from the opening pages. The men in these tales are always described as R-rated eye candy with prodigious 'equipment'.

More bedroom gymnastics in this outing, indeed splendour in the grass but enough other things going on to make it interesting.

Being book 3 in a series that runs to 7 volumes. If it has yet to be written this series cries for a prequel that would follow the lives of the wild Creed boys, their alcoholic father Jake, his three wives-their various mothers, and their “grandma” Cassie in her Teepee.

As usual the romance at the centre of the tale is telegraphed from the opening pages. The men in these tales are always described as R-rated eye candy with prodigious 'equipment'.

More bedroom gymnastics in this outing, indeed splendour in the grass but enough other things going on to make it interesting.

Montana Creeds: Dylan

This is book 2 in this series of Romance Novels. The essential romance at the centre of things is telegraphed from the opening chapters. It is the character development and all the side issues that get in the way that make this good reading and I wouldn't be spending my time if it wasn't engaging reading. Not great literature of course but well written, well edited text to beguile an evening.

Scorch Trials

Being book two of The Maze Runner Series. Since I've seen the movie based on book one it's hard to read this without picturing Dylan O'Brien as Thomas and Ki Hong Lee as Minho in his runner harness looking oh so brawny. The 370-page book has 65 brief chapters that give the story a choppy episodic nature. The trilogy extends to over 1000 pages.

I read book one in the series to see what all the fuss was about before watching the movie version in part because I knew Dylan O'Brien from Teen Wolf. Book two comes off as overly wordy, even turgid. I can't get sufficiently interested in it to spend the time to finish reading it. I would also note that inventing words to replace profanity I would not be allowed to use in an Amazon review is still swearing, it just sounds more awkward.

Chasing Fireflies

Took me several chapters to get involved in the storyline. “Sketch” is a non-verbal abused kid who ends up in hospital where he is met by Chase Walker a reporter who also happens to be a foster child. Chase's challenge is to get through to this child and establish his identity. Sketch communicates by drawing, a skill he has mastered magnificently at his young age.

The story is narrated by Chase who in telling Sketch's story relates his own parallel history as an orphan. Side-issues are the rivalry between brothers for a rich inheritance, the mystery of a triple murder, and a fortune in disappeared bearer bonds.

In the end this story seems overly contrived and stretches belief but its heart is in the right place.

Montana Creeds: Logan

The author writes Cowboy Harlequin Romances. This series begins with Logan Creed and introduces his brothers Dylan and Tyler. Logan is, of course tall, raven haired, brown eyed, handsome with high cheek bones and you can bet his brothers will be equally virile sexually attractive males, all of them rodeo stars. It is one of the clichés of the genre that ordinary-looking men never get any action. That quibble aside these books are always well-written and edited, easy to read. I sat down and read 100 pages at one sitting.

The scene is a 10,000-acre Montana ranch and conveniently the love interest lives in one of the three ranch houses on the property. A single Mom with two wrangling sons 8 and 10 plus an estranged, divorced husband lurking around the edges. Throw in an old pickup, a dog, and a retired rodeo bull.

The romantic plot-line may seem predictable but the characters are well developed and the back-story never seems contrived. No one will call this great literature but it makes light reading when one needs relief from heavier topics and it comes with the assurance of an eventual happy ending.

This one turns out to be more mystery thriller than romance and keep the bedroom gymnastics to a minimum.

Be Careful What You Wish For

This is book four of the Harry Clifton Series. More than any book yet this one is set in the world of business. An author who likes cliff-hanger endings to entice the reader to buy the next in the series gives this book an explosive ending.

Keep Quiet

If you've read Reservation Road or seen the movie based on it then you have an idea of the plot for this book. Another movie in a similar vein would be I Saw What You Did Last Summer. It may be possible to hide a crime but living with it is quite another proposition. The fact that the wife and mother here is a judge adds an ironic twist. At the heart of this tale is the fact that the relationship between father and son is one of parenting not buddy, buddy; parenting is not a popularity contest. Somehow the book comes off as less than satisfying and the snapper ending seems somewhat contrived.

His Whole Life

At first glance everyone in this novel appears to be on a guilt trip. The protagonist we follow in His Whole Life is Jim whose family is visiting his uncle, his mother's brother, who lives in Lanark south-west of Ottawa, Canada, Jim's family lives in New York City. Jim and his mother, Nan, move back to the winterized log cabin to live when the owners die leaving Jim's father behind in New York. Most of the action, such as it is takes place in Jim's mind.

This is a Canadian novel despite its part-time location in NYC and Quebec Separatism and Referendums work their way into the storyline. The story follows Jim from age 8 to 17. Somehow as much as I enjoyed reading it this book was tough going.

The Life We Bury

Joe Talbert's mother is a typical alcoholic--manipulative, predatory, self-centred. Reading about how she treats her son will make you understand how one can love someone and want to throttle them at the same time. His brother Jeremy can't help the fact he's autistic. No matter how many times Joe thinks he's escaped his mother does something to drag him back.

The story grabs your attention and keeps it. Turns out to be one part murder mystery, one part thriller.

Common Ground

I can remember when Justin Trudeau was born on Christmas Day 1971. There followed many pictures of he and his brothers peering between the legs of world leaders when his father took them along to Commonwealth Conferences or State Visits. When he decided to run for office Maclean’s Mag published a multi-page spread in which they interviewed his skiing buddies and anyone else they could persuade to talk. In the most recent election the Tory Party ran some very un-Canadian attack ads. History will judge whether or not he was “up to the job” but if a son learns his trade by watching his father Justin had a unique training ground. So far there have been no pictures of him pirouetting behind the back of the Queen or saying fuddle duddle. This autobiography serves as his attempt to set the record straight.

The book is well-edited and very readable. After trying out the generous sample first chapter I was moved to want to read the rest.

When I reached the section documenting the electoral machinations I got bogged down. First Trudeau persuaded the Liberal members of his riding to select him as candidate over the party leader’s approved choice. Then he persuaded the voters of Papineau to unseat their elected representative in his favour. Then he persuaded the Liberal Party of Canada to select him as party leader. Finally helped elect a majority government making him Prime Minister.

Even if the cachet of the name Trudeau didn’t work in his favour the family fortune enabled him to conduct his electioneering with a sense of comfort. It takes $2 billion to elect a president of the US. The record of donors and their contributions are a matter of public record in Canada. Trudeau’s maternal grandfather was a bagman for the party. He gets mention but in slightly more flattering terms. These final chapters are more political statement than biography. I happen to agree that the Harper Tories needed defeating. Ploughing through Trudeau’s policy statements makes for dry reading unless you’re a politico junkie.

Best Kept Secret

Book Three of the Series. Book two ended with another cliff-hanger as the House Of Lords returns a tied vote on the matter of Harry vs Giles.

Britain’s highest court of appeal may have established in law that the two were not brothers but doubt remains. Harry becomes a writer and Giles an MP. A fourth generation of Cliftons and Barringtons continue their adventures here with just as many plot twists and as much excitement. The story continues to be told from multiple points of view at times back-tracking when the centre of attention shifts.

So is it a spoiler to say that Sebastian’s younger sister Janice may be his Aunt. Is this anything new in Britain’s inbred aristocracy. As a biographical aside it might be noted that the author has personal prison experience. The author continues to keep the reader in suspence with cliff-hanger endings.

If books one and two sparked your interest you’ll love book three and probably want to read book four.

The Sins of the Father

Second in a series that at time of writing stretched to seven volumes. Book one had a cliff-hanger ending as young Clifton learned that assuming the identity of someone whose past one doesn't know can be fraught with unknown hazards.

Somehow it took some time for my interest in this book gain hold but after a few chapters it becomes difficult to put it down.

Once more we are faced with a cliffhanger ending as the House of Lords returns a tied vote in the matter of Giles vs Harry.

The Story of the Other Wise Man

This is a small book published in 1895 of which I only recently heard and today read. This little morality tale makes it plain that the success of a quest often lies not in attaining the goal but in how one makes the journey.

Any Means Necessary

For me a book like this is guilty pleasure offered by one E-Book seller as a free weekend read. Described as a thriller it depicts the kind of black ops most would rather not know about or admit are carried out and certainly not on American soil. As a moral conundrum does using our enemy's tactics against them make us like them and are such black ops justified under any circumstances.

This book proves that action-adventure can be depicted without the text being laced with profanities. The text is also well edited, grammatically correct, and easy to follow.

The action sort of drags in the middle before picking up for an unsatisfactory ending that leaves much unresolved. Proving that this book one is offered for free in hopes you'll buy book two to find out how it all comes out.

Only Time Will Tell

A story set in Bristol, England. First in a series charts the life of Harry Clifton born in 1920 to the wife of a dock worker killed before he was born. The same events are covered from the points of view of several of the actors in the story. For those with a sense of outrage at the abuse of power and privilege in class conscious England of the period this series will ring true. The series stretches to seven volumes.

Some of Tim's Stories

S.E. Hinton's juvenile delinquents have grown up. In this series of tales one of them is doing hard time. Set in Oklahoma these are good ole boys who party hard, have hangovers the next morning, then drink hair of the dog. A small short story collection the interviews with the author that make up more than half the book are for rabid fans only.

Duplex

I've tried reading this several times but just can't get into it. Maybe at a later date. After persevering to the midpoint just couldn't justify pressing on.

Golden Age

[This is book three of a trilogy. This review presumes the reading of book two.]

Book two ended with Frank discovering that his nephew Tim fathered a son before his death in Vietnam the family had no knowledge of. The family tree that indicates that Tim sired a child by Charlie's wife is surely a misprint.

The reader will contine to need to consult the family tree in an attempt to keep all the family members and their relatsionships straight. This continues to be meat for several books all rolled into one. This fictional story continues to incorporate historical events including the 9/11 terrorist event.

The book is rewarding reading but the text is densely packed and takes some time to plough through especially with back-tracking to consult the family tree. In that regard a paper copy would probably be easier to manage.

The final chapters are placed in the future.

Rules for a Knight

When I tried to watch Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State I found the actor so obnoxiously self-absorbed I couldn't finish the movie. I was not inspired to read the book nor have I gotten to Ash Wednesday. Who knew the actor had a decent book in him.

Rules for a Knight is a commentary on the seven virtues with a few extra bits thrown in for good measure. Could it be the actor has finally matured into a thoughtful man?

The Book of Three

This is obviously a YA novel and as with so many of its ilk derivative of JRR Tolkien. It is also a good read and curled up by a winter fire it would be quite possible to complete it in one evening. First of a series.

Early Warning

Book two begins in Iowa on the farm with Walter’s funeral, then switches to East Coast Washington and West Coast California to follow family members. Walter and Rosanna had four children who married and had offspring. By 1953 the third generation has appeared on the scene and what with duplicate names and nicknames the reader will need to consult the family tree to keep them all straight.

Although Joe and Claire remain in farming country the East Coast branch of the family become involved in business and government agencies. The Vietnam War and three assassinations figure in the storyline. Henry has gay partners and continues in higher education eventually becoming a professor of Medieval English Chicago. One character sees a charlatan psychiatrist/therapist who has sex with his patients and another couple experience a religious cult and have a bi-racial relationship. AIDS gets mention.

Year by year we jump between the various families who in typical American style gather for funerals, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; celebrate the occasional birthday, graduation,or wedding.

This book continues the family story begun in book one and as such is not a stand-alone volume. At nearly 500 pages it is a major reading investment. Compared with book one in the series and many other books I’ve read this was a tough read.