New-Yorker-blog-karenrobbins

Remember Scarlett O’Hara? She is still one of my favorite characters from the books I’ve read. In The Quaker and The Rebel by Mary Ellis those days of the Civil War come to light again. Ellis has made her female protagonist the antithesis of Scarlett. Emily is a transplant to the south and coming from a Quaker background, she is bound to get in trouble.

In 2008, local officials raided a cult ranch in Texas and removed all the children putting them into protective custody because of reports of abuse and underage marriages. The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman by Carole Brown brought to mind all those news reports as the Texas story unfolded. Brown's story is fiction but glimpses what a cult of that sort might look like from the inside.

Caralynne Hayman is a strong woman forced to endure abuse all in the name of religion. Women must be taught submission says Elder Simmons who sanctions and encourages the abuse. Her eldest daughter dies during her "breaking in", the ritual to prepare young girls
for marriage. When Cara's abusive husband has a heart attack, instead of giving him his medicine she allows him to die. Enter Dayne, the new minister who was sent to seminary only to return with a new perspective on what the Bible really teaches. Dayne was Cara's first and only love. Together they try to change the cult's ideals and rules but each approaches it from different directions. Cara seeks revenge. Dayne seeks salvation.

This is a suspenseful read--a page turner. It's a sensitive topic handled well by Brown, one that could make your travel time pass by quickly.

On our recent road trip to Florida I downloaded two books to listen to as we drove the 18 hours or so it took us to get to sunshine and warmer temperatures (note: We arrived to cloudy skies, strong wind gusts, and cool temps predicted to have wind chills in the 30s at night. No snow though!) The first book we listened to was The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and read by Carrington MacDuffie. It was very good.

The Paris Wife is the fictionalized story of the early years of Ernest Hemingway when he met and married Hadley Richardson. They lived in Paris the five years or so they were together and the story includes many of the writers and artists of the day that were gathered in this clutch of intellectualism. It is told from the point of view of Hadley who was entirely in love with Ernest despite his quirks. It reminded me some of the movie  Midnight in Paris that also portrays this group partying in Paris and our trip when we visited The Shakespeare and Company Bookstore where many of the writers were offered space to use as they created their literary works.

Next we plugged in Cover Of Snow by Jenny Milchman and read by Cassandra Campbell. The story line was good, a mystery to solve involving the apparent suicide of a police officer but right away I knew I wasn't in for a good "read." In the opening, as the protagonist discovers her husband's body, the reader was overly melodramatic and slow. Really slow. At a point where the heartbeat of the wife should have been racing, the words were slowly coming out. So slow I wanted to shout, "Get on with it!" Not having another book to plug in at the moment, we continued on and were hooked on the plot enough to want to see it through but I would have much rather read this at my own pace than listened to it.

Now I need to find a book with a good story line and a male reader. My husband has tired of the female readers. Time for a good suspense thriller with a male protagonist and a reader who keeps you awake on the highway.

When you don't have a lot of time to read and need something to at least past the time while you are getting from point A to point B (usually sitting in an airport), a novella fills the bill nicely. Here is one I read recently that is worth a look: A Soldier's Heart by Tamara Lynn Kraft. It is actually #13 in a series called Murray Pura's American Civil War Series.

Kraft is from Ohio and she writes with authority as she has studied and researched the historical background of the civil war and Ohio's part in it. A Soldier's Heart surprised me as I had no idea that post traumatic stress syndrome was recognized back then but that's what they called a soldier's heart. The story is one man's struggle to overcome the awful things he experienced during his service and how his family and community helped him. It is interesting reading and short enough to get you through that layover in the airport and you can get a glimpse of Ohio albeit in the days of the Civil War.

This is a little break from my New Zealand Diary postings. I wanted to share a book I finished while on the trip. It's called Far From My Home, Never To Return - A Polish Child's WWII Memoir by Nadia Seluga. It came to my attention through the Martin Sisters Publishing group to which I belong (In A Pickle is published through them.) I've been intrigued lately with some of the WWII memoirs and stories I"ve read and this is a fascinating one. We all know of the Holocaust and the interment and execution of Jews but this is the story of one family's interment by the Russians who invaded Poland at the start of the war and took thousands of Poles from their homes to relocate them in labor camps in Russia where they were to work for the Russian government.

Seluga's youth and native Polish language come through in the narrative. I suspect she relied heavily on her diary from the time. She tells of how her family was deported by the Soviets from their small village in Polesie, an area that used to be a part of Poland, and were forced into labor camps where they struggled to survive. Once they are freed from the Siberian labor camp, the struggle continues as they are relocated several times in Asia and Africa before finally going on to England.

It takes a little while to get used to Seluga's voice but once you do, you are transported to those years of struggle as seen through the eyes of her youth. The ingenuity and courage of her family are a fine example of how so many of that generation coped with the hardships the war placed on them. It is well worth your time to read whether on the road or at home. You will have a whole new appreciation for home and travel and those who inspire us.

I haven't read a whole lot of Janet Evanovich though I have met lots of her fans. I have overheard many speaking of her "crazy" stories and characters. So, I figured it was time to try another one of hers and I downloaded The Heist.

The Heist is all about an FBI agent, Kate O'Hare who's main goal in life is to put notorious con man, Nicholas Fox behind bars for good. Too often he has made a fool of her and she's out to get him. Unfortunately she finds herself terribly attracted to him as well and when the department decides to work a deal with Fox, Kate ends up working with Nicholas to con another con man. The results are both hilarious and fascinating.

Evanovich and Goldberg keep you page turning and their tongue-in-cheek humor adds lots of surprise chuckles. The characters are lovable and enjoyable. The plot intriguing and the Toberlone incident near the end had me wondering as much as Kate O'Hare. Cleverly done. A good read for the road or the airplane or wherever else you may be
.

I read. A lot. By the end of this year I will probably have read well over 50 books. My goal is always a book a week. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I don't. A lot depends upon the length of the books and the amount of travel time I have to fill on planes and in
airports where a lot of my reading gets done. If I were to count the books that I start and don't finish, the list would probably be much longer and I will have met my goal for the year by the end of summer. Why start and not finish? Because there are some books that just set my teeth on edge with their language, violence, graphic descriptions, and sex scenes which often don't have anything to lend to the story but sensationalism.

Movies have helped viewers to choose what they want to see with their ratings of G, PG, PG13, and R. X is not on the table for discussion. Not only do they have the general rating but now they explain briefly why the movie earned the rating so you can choose to put up with bad language or sexual innuendo or references to drugs. It surely helps.

Books are a whole different ballgame though. While the online stores allow you to take a peek inside and the brick and mortar stores allow for browsing, there is not a good way to tell what you might discover midway through or in one case, as I discovered, almost to the end. I was reading what was a good mystery and all of a sudden the author decided that some graphic sex scenes were needed. They had nothing to do with the mystery or even the characters' relationships. I ended up returning the borrowed ebook to the library thankful that I hadn't spent money on it.

What do you think? Should books have a rating system to help us choose what to read? Would it be effective? Or would it be considered censorship?

How do you choose your books for the road?

It could happen to anyone. Sudden loss of income. Catastrophic loss of savings, maybe through illness. All of it leading to loss of home and security. Have you ever wondered, what if it happened to me? What if I found myself homeless? Lois D. Carlson takes the what if and turns it into a tender story of survival in Street Lady.

Left destitute by the death of her husband, Ella Martin must find a way to make it on her own. Milton, her deceased spouse, accrued his wealth at the expense of unsuspecting investors and then lost it all amid charges of fraud and deceit. Ella now must cope with the loss of her home, her possessions, most of her devoted friends, and her only son, from whom she has been estranged for several years. Living on the street and having to find a way to survive, she must confront her fears and draw upon her inner resources. Chance encounters along the way bring new hope and unexpected outcomes for her seemingly impossible dilemma.

There is only a little woe-is-me in this story. While Ella may feel sorry for herself at times, Carlson has let Ella's inner strength show through as the story moves along. Not only is Ella helped by others, even one who appears to be a guardian angel, she reaches out to those in her path and extends a helping hand as well. Just for flavor, Carlson has also added a bit of a mystery where Ella's son is concerned and in the end, mother and son have both discovered courage they didn't know they had.

A nice story. Good ending. And a book you might want to pack along for the road.

A couple of months ago we had the privilege of seeing War Horse while it was on national tour and stopped in Cleveland. The puppetry was amazing and the story touching. The play comes from the book War Horse by Michael Murpurgo. I was curious to know what the book might be like so I downloaded a Kindle version. When I saw it was published by Scholastic and suggested for grades 5-8, I wondered if I would enjoy it. I needn't have worried. It was as strong a story as the play version--more so.

The story is told from the first person view of the horse, Joey, who is bought and used as a farm horse even though he wasn't bred for that work. From the time he reaches the farm, he is cared for and loved by the farmer's son, Albert. At the beginning of World War 1, Joey is sold by the farmer as a war horse. Albert, too young to join up and take care of Joey, is devastated. Joey goes on to become a prisoner of war and is used by the Germans to pull ammunition wagons. He returns to the English side by luck of a coin toss and ends up in the veterinary hospital where Albert who has finally been able to enlist finds him again.

Murpurgo has used the historical significance of the war horses in WWI to tell a compelling story. Horses were enlisted in the cavalry of both the English and Germans. Cavalry attacks were still one of the preferred methods of warfare. Eventually though trench warfare became more popular with the use of machine guns and that, along with the laying of barbed wire, led to disastrous effects on horse and rider. In one cavalry attack it was said that out of 150 horses only four survived.

War horse tells the story of bravery and survival, loyalty and love. It's a great read for the road for preteens, teens and adults.

Something old is new again! Twenty-three years ago I wrote and published Divide The Child. The cover was ugly and my picture on the back made me look like a real estate agent. But the story was too good to let go of so I pulled it out of the recesses of my computer, dusted it off and brought it up to date with cell phones, Google maps, and several other new popular techo-fangled things that weren't around in 1990. And added
a new cover and author picture.

Here is the teaser:

A mother's worst nightmare. Her child is snatched.

The kidnapper is Sebrena Warner, the child's real mother. Or is she? It has been six years since their rescue of a baby girl who was born alive after a botched abortion and Julie and Rick Sierra had begun to relax. No one questioned the adoption papers and their move out of the area to avoid being discovered. Now they are about to become embroiled in a custody battle only the wisdom of Solomon could decide.

Sebrena vows to use all the power her politically aspiring husband, Wynne, will bring her. But Wynne's life is complicated further by a reporter, Michael Boston, who threatens to expose Sebrena's past.

Judge Helen Belmonte must decide Kathy's future. She turns to the only place she knows she will find true wisdom, her Bible.

Here's an excerpt:

Grace's Pictures by Cindy Thomson is the story of an Irish immigrant who arrives in New York and struggles to find her way as she seeks a job and way to earn money to be able to bring her mother to America as well. It is rich with the history of the times not the least of which is the introduction of the Brownie camera by Kodak which gets Grace into all sorts of trouble as she photographs some people she shouldn't have.

Thomson gives a great picture of New York during the early 1900s, the immigrants, the police scandals, the organizations that reached out to those seeking a new life,
the newsboys on the corners. It truly is a wonderful step back in time.

I was privileged to read a rough draft in the early stages of the novel and love the way that the author developed her characters further as well as adding a richness to the plot. It was a good read then and it is even a better read now.

Take a trip back in time and tuck this gem into your suitcase or a spot on your ereader as you hit the road or the beach or wherever your summer plans take you.

The Case For A Creator explores the other side of the debate over how our world all came to be. After seeing the Darwinian side I opted to read Lee Strobel's book. I have to admit I am biased. I believe in a Creator not accidental origin and development but it's nice to hear from experts in the field of science who agree with there being an intelligent designer bringing us into existence.

As in his other The-Case-For books, Strobel uses his background as a journalist to investigate and ask the hard questions. He approaches leading creation theory scientists, many who were Darwinians and atheists or at the very least fence-sitters before they did their research and decided that what composes our world had to have come from an intelligent source who designed and planned it all.

One of the amazing facts I found was that there is three feet of DNA in each cell in our bodies. Imagine! But biology is only one of the areas Strobel explores with the experts. He also delves into cosmology (not cosmetology), astronomy, physics, and biochemistry among other areas that were beyond my reach at times for understanding. A more scientific mind would probably appreciate the depth more than I did. Still, it was affirmation for me that there were minds even greater than mine who accept the Master Designer as the reason we are all here.

Just to see what's trending I take a look at the NY Times best seller list on occasion. There was a book there by Charles Todd called Proof of Guilt, but when I looked for it, I discovered that it was one of a series featuring a detective from Scotland Yard, Ian Rutledge. The wait was horrendous to download from the library so instead, I went to the first book of the series, A Test of Wills. Besides, I thought, if I like the bestseller, I'm probably going to end up reading the whole series. Might as well start at the beginning.

Ian Rutledge is quite a character that Charles Todd has come up with. A veteran of WWI, he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and a broken heart. He and his sweetheart parted ways when he was hospitalized. Ian only wishes the voice in his head he calls Hamish would depart as well.

Rutledge is given an assignment to investigate the murder of a war hero and the suspected murderer is another war hero. Rutledge's superior has given the assignment in the hope that he would fail or at least be the fall guy should a political fallout over the whole mess occur. Rutledge comes through though and solves the murder and lives to see himself go on to the second book in the series.

Todd masterfully makes you feel you are reading one of the old classic detective mysteries like Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Chrisite, etc. You won't find any CSI technology. It's all done on intuition, collecting facts from those involved or surrounding the murder, and putting it all together at the last possible moment. It feels like a step back in time and is a fun read in that respect.

So if you're up for a "trip" to England, open A Test of Wills and meet Ian Rutledge. I'm on to the next book, Wings of Fire.

Baseball season is upon us. The opener is March 31 this year. I cannot tell a lie. I've been waiting all winter for this! I love baseball. So when a novel called The Mentor by Ryan Shelton came to my attention, I couldn't pass it up. You see, it's all about baseball!

The Mentor tells of a teen who has just graduated high school and has lots of talent that hasn't been displayed on the field because his coach has showcased his own son and benched Vincent Preston more times than not. Having no one to believe in him--kids make fun of him, he's essentially a loner, and has absentee abusive parents, he is about to give up on ever getting to go to college with a scholarship. His English teacher has noticed something special in him though and introduces Vincent to her husband, a former scout for a professional team. Grandpa Dean coaches Vincent and mentors him. Vincent learns more than just how to pitch and it serves him well as he faces some challenging times off the field as well.

It is a good wholesome story for teens and adults and I enjoyed all the baseball talk. Learned a lot about fastballs, too. So if you want to feed your baseball fever pick up a copy!

Our church book club likes to read a variety of books and when we were introduced to When You Come Home by Nancy Pitts, it became our biography/memoir choice for this year. The story of Daphne (Kelley) Gavin and her young soldier husband was featured in Tom Brokaw's book, The Greatest Generation. Pitts is Daphne's daughter and she tells the complete story in When You Come Home.

You meet Daphne just as she is about to meet Raymond Kelley and fall in love. Pitts takes you through their love story and the beginning of their married life which coincides with the beginning of WWII. It isn't long before Raymond is called to duty and finally shipped overseas. Daphne sends her soldier husband a poem called When You Come Home and it becomes a link between them when Raymond is killed in action. While sad, it shows the complexity of emotion and the plunk which made Brokaw call this the greatest generation.

Well written, it is a great glimpse into the emotional and factual everyday life that went on while America fought for its ideals in that great war. If you like WWII genre and want a warm-hearted story this is for you. A few tissues might be needed along the way though.

It is always a delight to discover a new release from Janice Thompson in my mailbox waiting for a review. I love her sense of humor which she so keenly infuses into her writing and Picture Perfect was just the perfect book for this time in my life. You see, it's got a lot of Irish heritage in it and well, my birthday is St. Patrick's Day. . .you get the picture.

Picture Perfect is related to the Bella series (Weddings by Bella) Thompson wrote but her new leading character, Hannah McDermott, is a photographer who specializes in weddings and thus the connection to Bella who owns the popular wedding center in Galveston. Of course life is complicated by her arch rival photographer, Drew Kincaid, who just might be of a line of ancestors her father claims feuded with the McDermott's in the past. Add to the mix Bridezilla and Hannah's life gets very complicated. Lots of tongue-in-cheek and wonderful Irish sayings make it a delightful read.

Download it to your ereader or pack the paperback into your carry on. It's a great easy read for the road.

The advantage of posting for the Barn Door Book Loft is that I get a heads-up when a new book has hit the market. When I did the spotlight for Johnnie Alexander Donley's historical romance, Where Treasure Hides, the excerpt caught my interest and when she told me it was on sale at Kindle for $1.99, I couldn't resist. Am I glad I grabbed it!

The story is of a young woman from Rotterdam during the World War II days. She meets a young British soldier in London and it is love at first sight. Of course the war is going to come between them and Alison Shuyler isn't so certain an old family curse might not as well. Alison's family has an art museum and the suspense builds as you see them preparing to hide the old masters in their possession to keep the German Nazis from taking them and destroying them. Add to the mix a German officer in love with Alison and you have an exciting edge-of-the-seat read.

One of the things I liked most about Donley's story is her descriptive quality in the scenes she drew. We have visited many of the places she describes and I could picture myself there even though it was a WWII era.

If the romantic element in the story doesn't tug at your heartstrings the backdrop of the plight of the children of the war will. As a matter of fact, the first scene where Alison meets Ian Devlin portrays Jewish children arriving in London, sent there for safety by their parents.

I could not put this book down once I got into it. Can't say that about a lot of books I've read lately. You won't be disappointed--even if you have to pay full price for it. It's worth the money and the reading time. A fantastic book for the road!