Season's Meetings

Season's Meeting is a good book. The characters are very well developed. It is about Catherine Birch who works all the time and hates Christmas because she lost her family around that time as a child. She has everything she could want money wise and is quite the hard ass at her job that she is very good at. This is the first Christmas for Catherine without granny Birch. With no family left she just want's to be alone. Her best friend from college Beth finally gets her to relent into coming to her house for Christmas but she misses her plane and has to ride with Beth's wife Katie's cousin Holly Daniels. Holly and Catherine are different as night and day. Holly is outgoing and loves her job owning her own bakery and is as poor as Catherine is rich. Holly is younger with tattoos and piercings and still burgeoning where Catherine is more conservative and reserved and set in her ways. On the road trip to Beth & Katie's house, a monster snow storm rages and they end up stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. I thought the book was going to be more about their survival and if they lived or died. Unfortunately the story did not focus on that struggle. They where rescued after not much time and had to spend time in a little town. It was during that time that they fell for each other. But it is complicated because they are such different people. Basically this is a romantic story about two people falling in love. Falling in love is a beautiful thing and the book is full of that beauty. I get falling for someone so fast. That is what lesbians do..... bring the U-Haul on the second date. But completely changing your whole life was a little much to grasp. Plus Beth's set-up for Catherine what was she thinking? If she has been her best friend so long you would think she would want better for her. I wanted to give it more stars but those things held me back from that. It is an enjoyable book especially for the hopeless romantic. 

"Thank you NetGalley & Bold Strokes Books for allowing me to review this book"

Check out the links below:

Season's Meetings page
Bold Strokes Books page                                                           

                     

Louisiana Fever

Louisiana Fever by D.J. Donaldson was a great Read. The book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved how there are so many aspects to the story that all tied together perfectly. The author always got to the point and did not drag anything out which I really appreciated. What is this book about? Most of the story is told by two people in the book; chief medical examiner Andy Broussard and psychologist Kit Franklyn who works with Broussard in the medical examiners office. One day Kit goes to meet a secret admirer who dies at her feet. Broussard learns not soon enough that this admirer is a carrier of a lethal pathogen similar to the deadly Ebola virus. People are now starting to turn up at the morgue, dead of corpse, with this virus. This book has really good writing about the process that takes place in the morgue and the science was flawless. I loved that the virus actually had a voice in the book by saying what it had to do and the situations it was in. Very cool and original. Broussard where is Kit? She has has not showed up for work. Hmm... Kit has been taken by the bad guys. Her boyfriend Teddy goes looking for her and then vanishes too. Let me add I was so happy that it just spoke very little of their feeling for each other and not a bunch of romance added in. Thank You Donaldson. The description of the bayou was told in such a way you felt as if you where there among it. Now this is where the review gets tricky because I do not want to give anything away. Remember me mentioning bad guys? Well, these guys are cold blooded killers who are trying to make a quick buck smuggling in the the U.S. birds. Are they only bringing in birds? Believe me it all ties together so nicely. Who lives? Who dies? Not going to tell you but I will say this is a book you should not miss. Louisiana Fever is action packed, book gripping, cannot stop reading so you will be up all night type of book!

"Thank you D.J. Donaldson for allowing me to review your book" 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D.J. Donaldson is a retired professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology.  His entire academic career was spent at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, where he published dozens of papers on wound-healing and where he taught microscopic anatomy to thousands of medical and dental students.

He is also the author of seven published forensic mysteries and five medical thrillers. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife and two West Highland terriers. In the spring of most years he simply cannot stop buying new flowers and other plants for the couple’s prized backyard garden.

Purchase Louisiana Fever Here:

•  Astor + Blue : http://bit.ly/1vTJlyh
•  Amazon : http://amzn.to/1oUoO6T
• Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1xtuqu3

Reading = Breathing

Mind Over Manners

If you are interested in medical issues this is a book for you. It is also has a wonderful message about never giving up. Mind Over Manners is about Laura Claridge and her battles with cancer. Laura started to have severe mental issues and was admitted into St. Vincent's which is a hospital for people with mental problems. During that time doctors found out that she had a very rare type of cancer Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma. PCNSL was what was making her act like she had a mental problem. The book goes into great detail about what PCNSL is and what Laura had to go through. It has great medical detail. Not only did she have to deal with PCNSL but also many other dangerous diseases arouse. I do not want to give away the whole book and tell you very much that happens to Laura since the book is not that long. Laura Claridge is an amazingly strong and brave person. She endured more than I could ever imagine in one lifetime. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read detailed books about medicine. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is going through a hard time. It defiantly gives you a different look on life.  

THE MARTIAN ROCKS!!!

I think that The Martian by Andy Weir is amazing! If I could I would give it extra stars. The Martian is about astronaut Mark Watney who is apart of the first crew to land on Mars. On the first day landing on Mars a huge dust storm erupts and the crew needs to leave before the MAV (Mars ascent vehicle) tumbles over and they get trapped on Mars. On the way to the MAV Mark gets hit by a piece of flying debris and gets separated from the crew. When the crew could not find him and thought he was dead, they left Mars without him. But there would not have been much of a book if he really died. So now Mark is stranded on Mars all by himself. Mark now has to keep himself alive until NASA can figure out if they can even rescue him. 

This book is full of great science that is correct, which is hard to find in a book. Except for two parts; one that I am not sure of and that was flipping the rover. But the second one really Mr. Weir canvas cannot be good enough even if it was made by NASA to be a heat shield. The main character Mark is laugh out loud hilarious. At no point does this book ever lag. I felt like I was the one on Mars it is so full of great detail. Mark is a botanist not an engineer and has to keep every machine that gives him air, water, heat, etc running perfectly or he would die. You will laugh out loud at the things he comes up with to stay alive. I think this book would be a great read for everyone. There is so much that I would love to go on about but I do not want to give away anything I do not have to. It is a read multiple times kind of book. I wanted to restart reading it right after I finished. 

"I would like to thank Blogging for Books for allowing me to do this review."

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