August 2013 - Nightstand Book Reviews

“The Southern Living Garden Book”

Many of you have seen photos of a variety of flowers and shrubs in my garden. “The Southern Living Garden Book” is my go-to gardening reference whenever I want to expand the beds and need to research compatible plants and shrubs.

My hectic travel schedule defeated any year-round gardening plan I had while living in perpetually drought-stricken north Texas. The intense heat required me to partner with neighbors or landscapers so that thirsty plants could be nurtured during the many 100+ degree weeks I was away. Eventually, I downsized the gardening attempts to a few pots on the patio.

Interestingly enough, the most successful arrangement involved two enthusiastic neighborhood children – eight and ten year old boys. I can only imagine the wild water fights on my patio while the flowers were getting their daily drinks, but my plants never looked better than during that summer.

But, now that I’m in North Carolina and my traveling days are severely reduced, I am ready for more extensive gardening adventures once more and my savvy cousin-in-law (a Master Gardener) recognized a need. “The Southern Living Garden Book,” contains over 7,000 plant listings, more than 1,000 color photos, additional color illustrations and new plant hardiness maps.

An important part of any gardening book is a “What-can-I-grow-in-my-garden-with-its-special-needs?” chapter. The category is tackled nicely in the section referred to as the ‘Plant Selection Guide.’ There are thirty-four plant lists (with photos) that help with areas such as hedges, screens or borders and other specialty spots. There are pages devoted to showy perennials, attractive plants for birds, and a wealth of other information – all keyed for climate hardiness, sun and water needs.

If you are not fortunate enough to live within driving distance of a nursery, a list of mail-order garden suppliers is included in the resource directory contained near the end of the book.

“The Southern Living Garden Book” is a substantial coffee table size, meant to be studied and used as a planning guide. Great investment of less than $30. if you have a gardening vision in mind; a beautiful and practical addition to my shelves.

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“Running from the Devil” by Jamie Freveletti

2 Comments / Bestselling Author, Thriller

“Running from the Devil” was Jamie Freveletti’s bestselling debut novel, the first of four (so far) with Emma Caldridge as the terrific lead character.

Emma Caldridge, American biochemist and endurance marathon runner, falls asleep on a plane to Bogota, but is rudely awakened when the pilot announces that they should assume crash positions. The plane has been hijacked and it has been ordered toward an airstrip that is too small for the commercial airliner. When the plane crashes, it breaks apart and Emma’s seat lands outside the airliner, away from the others.

The survivors are herded together by a poorly trained, badly funded, dangerous group of guerilla fighters, more interested in a quick cash return than in protecting the passengers. The infighting is barely controlled by the leaders, and may be even more hazardous to the hostages than their forced march through the mine-filled jungle.

Emma helps a young prisoner escape while attempting to grab some apples and she is helped in turn by an injured passenger, a secret government agent named Cameron Sumner, who distracts the thugs while she runs into the tree line to safety. After the plane is blown up, Emma is forced to follow the survivors through the jungle, rather than waiting to be rescued.

What follows is a pulse-pounding page-turner with near misses, communication mishaps, captors turning on each other, land mines exploding and passengers being murdered because they are too weak to keep up. Complicating the plot? Neither Sumner nor Caldridge has revealed the truth about their motives for being in the country. The on again/off again rescue operations by the government agencies as well as the international politics of drugs and oil add to the tension.

Caldridge and Sumner are well-drawn, sympathetic, intelligent characters, each up to the physically challenging situations, but forced to rely on each other to make it out alive. Freveletti has woven the positive and negative uses of plants into the storyline, giving us a how-to survival manual along the way – just in case we ever get stuck in the jungle with maniacs.

One of the scenes that sticks with me is the early one with Emma crab walking across open ground near the downed jet, then scrambling over truck beds in order to steal apples and a phone. I rooted for Emma through her harrowing, high-risk attempt to grab some kind of food for the trek ahead. The tension was palpable and the reader is made aware just how desperate Emma’s journey will be.

A top-flight thriller, a strong female character. While I can’t possibly run 100 miles in the heat, or do some of the other interesting bits I can’t reveal (plot spoiler info), all of what Emma Caldridge pulled off is possible. Whether anyone would ever be asked to do them in the time span that EC had? Well, that’s half the fun of reading a thriller. Pretending that they would.

The most recent Emma Caldridge book, “Dead Asleep,” has reached #1 on the Kindle list.

In addition to her Emma Caldridge series, Ms. Freveletti has written a novel for the Robert Ludlum books, “Janus Reprisal.”

For more information about Ms. Freveletti and her work, please visit www.jamiefreveletti.com

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“Unlikely Praise” by Carla Rossi

2 Comments / Christian

“Unlikely Praise” features Candi Canaberry, a terrific musician who leads the Praise & Worship team in a small, but growing, evangelical Texas church. She is a Worship Leader with lots of rules, a teacher at the local college, always dresses in skirts or suits, wears high heels even though they hurt, and she likes to be in control of every aspect of her life.

Pastor Charles is like a father figure to Candi and wishes to prepare for the growth that will occur when the church building expansion is complete. The Pastor knows that Candi will need help with her mounting duties and that she would never ask for it, so he invites someone new to the congregation to help out. One problem. The Pastor neglects to tell Candi and she feels her leadership role in the church is being threatened.

Candi wants to follow God’s plan for the church as well as for her life, except that the ‘new guy’ is former rock star, Samuel Blackledge, who arrives complete with long hair, tattoos, holey jeans, and musical expertise grounded in years on the road.

Hmmm…did someone say ‘oil and water’?

In addition to the obvious style clash, both musically and personally, they both have secrets. The Pastor knows the secrets, but lets them deal with telling each other – with occasional nudging.

In a clever nod to the role of technology in the modern church, Rossi begins the chapters with emails from the Pastor, communicating to Candi and Sam his grand plans for everything from music competitions to youth ministries. The two musicians are not completely comfortable with the ever-growing ‘to-do’ lists, but each has trust in God to show the way.

“Unlikely Praise” is a faith-based book, with some serious, very current, occasionally funny, topics at its core. Rossi’s novel peeks at behind the scenes church dynamics, with a Pastor that has to balance disparate gifted members of the congregation, a Worship Leader who works hard to bring out the best in her quirky talented band, and a handsome newcomer/outsider thrown into the mix.

There are no murders, but “Unlikely Praise” is a book about second chances and forgiveness for serious past mistakes, with a little romance and mystery thrown in. Some of those mistakes? Out-of-wedlock children, embezzlement, jail time, and drugs. Rossi’s Pastor Charles Littleton challenges Candi and Sam to act out their faith, not just give it lip service.

Please visit www.carlarossi.com for more information about Rossi and her other books.

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“Split Second” by David Baldacci

2 Comments / Bestselling Author, Thriller

King and Maxwell are two Secret Service agents who were disgraced after their assignments to protect unpopular presidential candidates went horribly wrong. The man King guarded was killed while standing a few feet away. Maxwell’s charge was kidnapped from the next room. All it took was a split second for these two dedicated agents’ lives to change.

Michelle Maxwell is a former Olympian, from a family of law enforcement officers and before the kidnapping, on a fast track to promotion within the Service. Now, she might be slated for a permanent vacation. King, having left the Service after the assassination, is practicing law in a small Virginia town halfway between Charlottesville and Lynchburg. That is, until one of King’s employees is found murdered in his office and then the body of a former client is found hanging on the back of his bathroom door. King’s law associates can’t dump him fast enough.

The two agents never served together and the professional gaffes occurred eight years apart, but Maxwell senses a connection and obsessively researches her suspicions. Notwithstanding an initial reluctance to dredge up the past, King realizes that people associated with him are dying, his peaceful lifestyle is rapidly disappearing, and Maxwell seems to be an ally when he needs one. They join forces to investigate/unravel the cases.

Old hatreds erupt anew, former loves pop up, and as the body count mounts, an almost Shakespearean feeling permeates the storyline.

Baldacci’s “Split Second” entertains the reader with an elaborate plot, well-drawn likeable characters, an insane villain, explosive revelations, twists, and surprises that kept me turning the pages all day to find out what could possibly happen next. Betrayals and lies and misdirection, that's what.

The popular new TNT TV series, King & Maxwell, is based on the bestselling five-book series. “Split Second” is the first book in that series.

In addition to being a prolific writer with 26 published books since 1996 in 45 languages in 80 countries, Baldacci is involved with several charities. The Wish You Well Foundation® was established by David and his wife, Michelle, and supports family and adult literacy in the United States. The Foundation has partnered with Feeding America to launch Feeding Body & Mind, which has collected almost one million new and used books and distributed them through area food banks.

For more information about Baldacci, his books, movies based on his books, and his charitable work, please visit www.DavidBaldacci.com

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“Hearse and Buggy” by Laura Bradford

4 Comments / Bestselling Author, Cozy, Mystery

Claire Weatherly has left a fast-paced New York life and a wealthy, absentee husband, to live in a quiet Pennsylvania town in Amish country with her aunt. Aunt Diane runs a bed and breakfast for tourists curious about the Amish and she always knows what’s going on in both English and Amish communities. As Claire settles in to her new, simpler lifestyle, she opens Heavenly Treasures (a gift shop featuring Amish creations), employs Esther (a local Amish girl) and earns the respect of both business owners and Amish alike. After just a few months, Claire is happily rediscovering who she is.

A new police detective, Jakob Fisher, comes to town (a detective who is a former member of the Amish community) and heartbreaking secrets are revealed. When Amish friends are cheated, misunderstood, denounced as something other than they seem, accused of murdering the man who cheated them, Jakob is at a loss to investigate, since he has been shunned and the Amish are not allowed to speak to him directly.

How will fairness and justice be served? Claire becomes a liaison between Jakob and her Amish friends and is soon actively involved in the pursuit of the truth. What’s at stake is more than catching a killer – trust must be restored between the two communities.

Bradford weaves an absorbing look at the Amish culture and value system into the murder investigation. We learn about Ordnung and Rumspringa, about clothing and transportation, as well as the misconceptions outsiders might have. Bradford presents a balanced view, including both defense and criticisms of this way of life, making “Hearse and Buggy” a fascinating read.

There are several love stories and family conflicts and surprises in this well-written, character driven cozy. Relationships do not go smoothly for anyone, but resolutions are realistic and satisfying, even when the pairings don’t work out.

“Hearse and Buggy” is the first book in the Amish Mystery series, followed by “Assaulted Pretzel.”

Visit www.laurabradford.com for more information about Bradford and the Amish Mystery series, as well as other books she writes under a pseudonym.

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