Deadline by Chris Crutcher

This is a book written for teen boys, but I think that I got more out of it than my teenage son. I think a person has to have lived life (longer than the teenage years for sure!) to really appreciate the message of this story. My son thought it was "boring" in places. I thought it was thought-provoking.

Ben Wolf is a senior in High School, as is his younger brother Cody. Ben started his education late because he was such a small child. So instead of attending school one year ahead of Cody, they started together. Ben is a track star. Cody is a football star (quarterback). Their mother has significant mental health issues and their father simply exists. He lets life just pass him by, knowing that he can't change anything since it's out of his control. It's because of this that Ben forms a deeper relationship with Coach, even buying and driving Coach's old car.

After having his sports physical exam, Ben is told by his doctor that he has an aggressive form of blood cancer. In order to live longer than a year, he would have to undergo aggressive treatment, which may extend his life a bit, but would obviously affect his quality of life. Ben decides to skip treatment and live the final year of his life to the fullest. This includes joining the football team (with his brother), bravely asking out the girl of his dreams (Dallas) who is considered out of his league (she says yes!), befriending the town drunk (Rudy) and challenging his history/civics teacher nearly every minute of every class. The kicker here is that he decides to keep his diagnosis a secret from everyone. He wants the last year of his life to be "normal".

Ben's journey brings him to a state of "self-awareness". As he develops new relationships with people, like Dallas and Rudy, who share their own heart-breaking secrets with him, he discovers how painful it is for people to live with secrets. In other words, Ben figures out that he is being selfish for keeping his diagnosis from the people who love him. He is not giving them the time to process that he will not be in their lives after the year is up and that there is no future for him/them.

Ben wants to make an impact before he dies, and he definitely does. There are a lot of sad stories in this book involving physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, alcoholism and death by suicide, accident and illness. But I loved Ben, Cody and Coach - and I loved their relationships, which included full acceptance and unconditional love. In the end, Ben's deterioration and death come fast, and I definitely shed some tears.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark

This story is about a con artist, Meg Williams, but she is more of a "Robinhood" con artist. Meaning, her marks are not innocent, vulnerable people, but rather unscrupulous characters who have harmed others. Meg returns to her home town after 10 years and her mark is the man who stole her and her mother's inherited home out from underneath them - and then gloated about it. This man, Ron Ashton, is now a candidate for state senator. Meg returns to make him pay for what he did to her mother.

Meanwhile, Kat Roberts, a reporter, has been waiting for Meg to return so that she can expose her for the con artist that she is. Ten years previously, Meg had anonymously given Kat a "tip" regarding a source on a story involving a principal preying on his students. Kat met the source, but the source raped her. So Kat blamed Meg for this traumatic event. Another element in Kat's life is that her boyfriend, Scott, plunged them into debt because of a gambling addiction, but which he is undergoing treatment for. So you could say that Kat & Meg both have trust issues, for good reason.

What's great about this story is the relationship that builds between these two women. They hold each other "close" so they can keep an eye on each other. Kat uses a fake name and background when she introduces herself to Meg so that Meg doesn't know that she is researching her for the "big story" she is writing. Meg is too smart for that though. She figures out quickly enough who Kat really is, so then gives her a part-time job to keep her close. Scott  does not trust Meg at all and he keeps warning Kat how seductive con artists are and how good they are at lying. Meg doesn't actually trust Scott and keeps voicing sympathy to Kat about her gambling-addicted boyfriend when someone starts messing with her bank account and opening up a credit card in Kat's name. Kat really doesn't know who to trust.

This is an engaging story and I very much enjoyed it!

Wendy's Rating: ****

Lodestar: Keeper of The Lost Cities, Book Five by Shannon Messenger

As usual, a lot happens in Book 5 of this series. The kids figure out that the different symbols they are discovering in various places (like Keefe's cloak and the former Neverseen hideout where Sophie & Dex were held) are sections of the Neverseen Lodestar.  Each piece of the Lodestar leads to a different Neverseen hideout. Since Tam is a shade, they are able to go to these secret hideouts without being discovered. Sophie, Fitz and Tam end up at an occupied hideout however, and although they are initially trapped by a force field, Tam is able to get them out of it and they are successful in capturing both Brant and Ruy. Keefe refuses to come with them though, still trying to earn the trust of the Neverseen, including Alvar (Fitz' brother).

War is pending. No one trusts the other groups. King Dimitar wants to leave the treaty and he wants the ogres to simply be left alone. A band of rebel ogres however, attack Lady Cadence. Brielle (Grady's goblin bodyguard) ends up being killed. An Exillium Camp is set up at Foxfire and all of the elves start training in skills taught by Exillium teachers.

Wylie gets kidnapped. Sophie & gang figure out that Wylie's mother, Cyrah, was actually murdered. Wylie's kidnappers think that Wylie knows more than he does about his mother. We also find out that Dex' mother, Juline, is actually working with the Black Swan Collective and one of her disguises is Squall.

Sophie is invited to attend the Peace Summit at Lumenaria. The Neverseen end up destroying Lumenaria unfortunately, and one key character ends up dying. I am still sad about it so I won't reveal who it is here. Keefe is able to steal Fintan's & Kenric's caches from the Neverseen, but I guess we don't know if they are the authentic caches or not.

Finally, in this very brief summary, the ending goes in an direction I wasn't expecting. Sophie searches for her human sister, Amy/Natalie, and finds her in a closet in Amy's home. Oddly enough, Amy recognizes Sophie, even though her memory had been wiped clean.

This is already a complex story, but it's even harder to explain because of all the different "disguises" and roles that various characters play.

Wendy's Rating: *****

Ceremony in Death by JD Robb

This is the 5th installment of the Eve Dallas mystery series. Eve is pulled into the world of Wiccans and Satanism. Wiccans don't believe in harming anyone or anything at all and Satanists find happiness and joy in sacrificing animals and humans. Eve doesn't trust either group, but Peabody trusts the Wiccans, which causes a strain in the relationship between Eve & Peabody. Roarke also takes measures to protect Eve due to his beliefs and Celtic origins, which Eve thinks is foolish. Eve pretty much drove me crazy in this book! As a cop, you need to keep an open mind - and trust the people around you. She was hell bent on telling everyone else they were foolish for "believing" in the concepts presented to her and she was focused on trying to find evidence that a Wiccan was responsible for some gruesome deaths, simply because his father had been a mass murderer. She just seemed very narrow-minded, which is unlike her. I think the point was that she was undergoing personal turmoil because of who her own father was, but you would think that she would have been more trusting of the Wiccan who was trying to escape the horrors of his parentage, since she is trying to do the same thing!

The first death was a former police officer, which everyone knew and loved. Frank's death was originally thought to be from a heart issue, but after his granddaughter, Alice, is murdered, Eve believes (rightly so) that Frank was murdered as well. Alice worked at a Wiccan shop called Spirit Quest, but previous to that she was caught up with the Satanists, Selina & Alban. Selina used heavy drugs on her "minions", which resulted in memory loss for her followers after the satanic rituals (including sacrifices) and it also encouraged her followers to do horrible things since they didn't really know what they were doing in their drug-induced state. Alice contacted Eve after Frank's funeral because she felt like her life was in danger.

I'm hoping that Eve learned a few things before the next book! First of all, she puts a lot of trust in Peabody & Roarke normally, so why not listen to what they have to say?? She doesn't have to follow what they think blindly, but it bothered me that she so determinedly ignored what they were saying.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

On the back jacket cover, it compares this book to A Man Called Ove (which I loved!) and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? (which I did not care for). So I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. I almost hate to admit that I did not care for this book. It's a well written book. It's charming and funny. But it's always a bad sign when I check repeatedly to see how much I have left to read. It just seemed to go on and on. Another issue I had (and couldn't seem to get over, no matter how charming the book), is how ridiculous it was. I can read sci-fi and dystopian novels and not even think about how implausible something might be. But I could not do that with this book.

This story is about five elderly people living in a retirement home who decide they would rather live in prison than their current living situation. They had the idea that they would be better cared for, with better food, more sunshine & outdoor time, etc. in prison than the retirement home. So the ringleader, Martha (79) decides the five of them should commit a robbery so that they would be arrested and spend time in prison. Their first major theft (or what they called a "kidnapping") was stealing a Monet and a Renoir (worth 30 million kroner) from the National Museum. They hold the paintings ransom, (their ransom note is written with letters and words cut from a newspaper) demanding 10 million kroner. The story goes on for about another 250 pages as they succeed in their plan, lose the paintings, lose half the money (that the National Museum left in two shopping carts on a cruise ship), hide money, fall in love, spend time in prison, get out of prison and decide they love the life of crime. It just goes on and on - every single minute of it implausible. It's just too much for me!

So, what did I like? Certainly the author is very creative. She has an engaging writing style and I did chuckle out loud from time to time. The story definitely flowed nicely and the characters were unique and quirky. So in the end, if you like this kind of book, it's a good read. Again, I feel bad giving it only a three-star rating because typically I only rate poorly written books three-stars. But this book was not for me. Glad I'm done. :0)

Wendy's Rating: ***

Rapture in Death by JD Robb

Book 4 of this series. Eve and Roarke are now married. Roarke is still doing his own thing, but he helps Eve with her investigations more and more. He has much better equipment than the police department. In this story, various people are committing suicide, even though they did not appear to be at risk for it. The police department is fine with calling them suicides, but Eve is not. So, she starts looking into these unpredictable suicides herself, with Peabody's faithful assistance of course. She is especially affected when she tries to talk one of the victims off a ledge (being on the ledge too) and is not able to. The woman jumps to her death with a smile on her face. All of the victims have a smile on their faces.

Eve suspects that the people who committed suicide did so because of the virtual reality programs they were watching before they died. Of course Roarke owns the company that makes the virtual reality programs that are of concern, so he assures her that the programs cannot make someone do something they wouldn't ordinarily do. He introduces her to Reeanna and her husband, William. Reeanna not only works for Roarke in his virtual reality division, but she also counsels Eve in a different direction than Mira (Eve's regular therapist) as Eve battles her own childhood demons.

Mavis and Leonardo are still in love. The second story running through this book is Mavis' opportunity to become a star. Jess Burrow is in the music and entertainment industry and he tells Mavis that her demo disc is ready and that it's going to be a big hit. He wants to throw a big party and have her sing at it. Of course this big bash is hosted by Eve and Roarke, and there is a shocking twist at the party.

It takes everyone awhile to figure this one out, but they do in the end and everyone I mentioned above is involved in some way. ;)

Wendy's Rating: ****

Work Horse by Zach Olstad

This is actually a remarkable story. It shows what sheer determination, perserverance, courage and a high tolerance for pain can do. This young kid living on a small Amish farm in Minnesota (his parents bought it from an Amish family when Zach was 6 years old), had a passion for sports and even though he was only 130 lbs when he was in High School, he made the decision to shoot for the stars and try to play football in the NFL. Craziness.

He and his family worked hard on the farm of course, but Zach created his own "work outs" in addition, to try to get stronger and bulk up. He was incredibly self-motivated. He eventually put on weight, built up muscle and grew to 5' 11'' - which is still not very big for a professional football player. He was 245 lbs going against guys that were 300 lbs. 

He managed to get into a Division II college (Winona State) and spent six years there. Two of those years he was red-shirted (Freshman year and then his third year due to an injury). He suffered significant injuries and just kept playing through the pain. His goal was to reach the NFL. He was called up by the Buffalo Bills and got a spot on the roster. Unfortunately, during his second game as a pro, he succombed to his injuries. He just couldn't hide his number of injuries and the amount of pain he was in any longer. The Bills let him go. BUT, he made it to the NFL!

His positive attitude and work ethic is incredible. He went as far as he could possibly go, and then when he could go no further, he switched directions. He now owns a fitness studio in Nashville TN. Although this isn't the best written book, I am rating it four stars because of how impressive Zach is.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Immortal in Death by JD Robb

Book #3 in the Eve Dallas series. More murder and mayhem. Ha! Eve's good friend, Mavis, is charged with the murder of her current boyfriend's (Leonardo) ex-girlfriend, Pandora. Pandora happens to be one of the top models of the planet. Eve absolutely has no doubt that Mavis is innocent. Mavis, and her wedding planner entourage, end up staying with Eve & Roarke. While Eve (& Roarke in a background kind of way) search for the answers regarding Pandora's real murderer, Mavis, Leonardo and the rest of their unique crew invest in the preparations for Eve & Roarke's pending wedding. So, there is a lot going on!

People in the 2050's are super obsessed with their looks - and youth. They take pills, have surgeries, do whatever it takes to remain young and beautiful. (I hope this is not what our world is actually coming to!) Anyway, it's discovered that Pandora found out about a new drug called Immortality, which could give her what she was always seeking: vitality, sex, power, beauty and wealth. Unfortunately, there were some significant and fatal side effects from taking this drug. Someone wonders (in the book) why people would purposefully take a drug that will cause their early death. The response was so accurate: people do all sorts of things that will most likely hasten their death, like smoke tobacco, drink, take illegal drugs. It's called addiction. Immortality (the drug) is highly addictive.

It doesn't take long for Eve to start connecting the dots between Pandora's death and a couple of other deaths, that don't seem related, but are. Eve has a new "right hand woman". She requests that Peabody be her aide while she investigates these murders. She is a good addition to Eve's "team".

In this book Eve starts remembering - and finally dealing with - the trauma in the first 8 years of her life. So we get a better understanding of what she went through as a child. There may also be a very minor "softening" of her hostile relationship with Summerset. I am surprised that Eve & Roarke's relationship proceeds as quickly as it does, but they do indeed get married at the end of the book. (I am used to the main character in mystery series taking years and many, many books before tying the knot with someone!)

Wendy's Rating: ****

Glory in Death by JD Robb

This is the second book in the Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas mystery series. This story is set in 2058. (The book was written in 1995.) Eve is called to the murder scene of Prosecuting Attorney Cicely Towers, who was found is a really bad part of town with her throat cut. Since Cicely works often with the Police Department, she is well-known and well-liked in the law enforcement community. In fact the Commander of the Police Department is the godfather of Cicely's son, David. The second murder is of a up-and-coming actress, who was well known to the public due to a successful TV series she was starring in. Eve starts to think that the murderer is someone either close to these women or someone who hated that they were strong independent women. The third murder seemed to cement that feeling.

Meanwhile, Eve continues to have a significant issue with comittment. Roarke gets super frustrated with her because she insists on living in her small apartment instead of moving in with him. He has vocalized that he loves her several times, but she refuses to say it back. She even treats him as a "suspect" early on because he knew the first two murder victims on a personal level. She keeps telling him that she doesn't believe that he had anything to do with their murders, but questions him like she is investigating him. Eve simply cannot deal with her abusive past, which even the police department psychiatrist would like her to.

Eve has a solid support system, including Roarke. She is a good investigator and is a loyal friend to those she trusts. I love how fiercely independent she is and how tenacious she is when trying to discover the truth. This is an entertaining series.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I can't believe that I have never read this book, especially considering I was an English major in college and I was in a Classics book club after college. This book was written in 1953. It's set in a time where "joy" and "fun" and "happiness" is the focus of life. A very interesting concept. Of course if it seems too good to be true, then you can bet it is!

Guy Montag is a fireman. He is a fireman who starts fires, not puts them out. His job is to burn books - and to burn homes of people who have books. It's illegal to own a book or read a book. Books contain knowledge. Books contain history. Books contain unhappy events. If the idea is for the entire population to only feel happiness, then books must be destroyed. It took awhile for me to understand Guy's living environment. He is married to Mildred, but he certainly doesn't seem to love her. He doesn't even remember when and how they met, which is odd. Mildred spends her time with her "family" in the walls of their home. Eventually I figured out that the walls of their homes were like huge TV screens which were on all the time and filled with happy "entertainment" - I guess to bring only joy to people.

The problem is, Guy isn't happy. He meets a young girl (17 years old) named Clarisse who "thinks differently". She seems happy and carefree and is a free-thinker. She is bold enough to ask Guy if he is happy. But, she "disappears" and her family moves away suddenly. Guy believes that she was killed for her thoughts - and unwillingness to conform to the narrow vision of an "entertainment only" life. He goes home from work one night (his work was only done in the middle of the night) and kicks an empty pill bottle in the dark. Mildred has taken the whole bottle of 30 pills. He calls for emergency help and they pump her stomach. Mildred doesn't remember taking the pills or anything that happened as a result of it. The final straw is that one night the firemen go to a house full of books and the woman who owns them chooses to burn with her books and her house.

Guy has been stealing books and hiding them in his home. When Mildred finds out, she reports him. She leaves him as the firemen come to burn their house down. Guy manages to escape his doomed future by running away (with the help of a former professor). I wouldn't say there is a "happy ending" or anything, but it's a more positive ending than Nineteen Eighty-Four! I think I need to take a break from these classic stories of dystopian futures.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

This was certainly the most depressing dystopian novel I have every read. (The book in second place is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.) Orwell wrote this book in 1949 - and died in 1950 at the age of 46. He certainly had a dismal view of what the future held for our world.

The main protagonist is Winston Smith, who works for the Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth was responsible for re-writing the news, books, history. So in reality, it was the "Ministry of Lies". This is a book of opposites. It is set in London. The slums are referred to as the "Victory Mansions". The Ministry of Peace was responsible for maintaining a prolonged state of war. The Ministry of Love spread hate. The Ministry of Plenty made sure that no citizen ever had enough of anything. The Party, who oversaw all of these Ministries, had three slogans they lived by: 1) War is Peace; 2) Freedom is Slavery; 3) Ignorance is Strength.

The world was separated into three sections: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia.The goal was ultimate control, or reality control, of people's minds, memories, emotions, bodies and language. The official language of Oceania was Newspeak. Newspeak was developed to support English Socialism. Oldspeak, which the Party wanted phased out completely, was Standard English. Newspeak eliminated much of the English language. The purpose was to limit individual thought.

Big Brother watched over every member of the Party. There were cameras everywhere, so absolutely no privacy. People's thoughts were also monitored by the Thought Police. Doublethink was the goal for each person, which means that each citizen needed to believe in opposites - or believe in whatever they were told: black is white; two plus two equals five.  If people were caught thinking differently, they were taken and tortured until they were completely and unequivocally brainwashed.

Winston starts thinking outside the box. Since his job is to re-write history, he knows that actual history is being lost. He wants to fight against the Party. He understands that the proles (the non-Party individuals who made up 85% of the population of Oceania) are the only ones that could destroy the Party. But they are not conscious of their own strength. Winston starts fighting the Party the only way he can. He starts journaling in private (which is dangerous because owning paper and writing utensils is forbidden). He falls in love with Julia and finds a "safe haven" for them to meet. They are of like minds and want to rebel against the Party. He trusts a man by the name of O'Brien, who he thinks also wants to destroy the Party.

I guess I don't have to say that this dystopian story ends badly. The entire book is depressing. Let's hope that our world never comes to this! It was certainly time that I read this classic however. Done.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Naked in Death by JD Robb

This is the first book of the "In Death" series by JD Robb (Nora Roberts). I really enjoyed it. I like the protagonist, Eve Dallas, a lot. She is tough, intelligent, brave and doesn't care what other people think of her. She cuts her own hair even - and she wears it short. Yikes! She has a pretty significant trauma history of abuse, which she hasn't dealt with and doesn't like to talk about. She is a New York police lieutenant and has been on the job for 10 years.

This series is set in the future, which is unique for a mystery series. The police don't use guns. Guns are a thing of the past. Their weapon of choice is more like a laser. Prostitution has been taken off the streets. Now women and men can apply to be a "Licensed Companion". They accept appointments in their own residence and keep a electronic log of all their clients. Of course some things are the same in this future: politics (liberals against conservatists) and drugs. Apparently, nothing solves the drug problem, even in the future.

Eve is called in as the "primary" on a case involving the murder of the granddaughter of a Senator. The granddaughter, Sharon, happens to be a Licensed Companion. The Senator's politics is extreme right, so having a granddaughter who is a LC is problematic. The Senator states that "blood is blood" however and he demands (often) that his granddaugter's murderer be found. Since the murderer leaves a note at the murder site (Sharon's bed) that states "One of Six", Eve knows there will be more murders - and two more murders of LCs happen in short order.

Hard, cold, non-trusting Eve also finds herself attracted to one of the suspects. Roarke is intelligent, handsome, self-motivated, driven, bossy and wealthy. He actually reminded me of Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey (which yes, I read, although the writing was terrible!) I kept picturing Christian Grey whenever Roarke was involved in the story. Anyway, Eve has her hands full between trying to find the murderer before he kills again, dealing with the Senator and dealing with her feelings for Roarke.

A very entertaining read.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Handbook of Us Understanding and Accepting People with Autism by Matteo Musso

Matteo Musso wrote this book when he was 13 years old. He lost his ability to speak at age 15 months and was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3. This book was written one letter at a time by Matteo pointing to a letter on a letter board and his mother recording it on paper. Matteo communicates using SOMA RPM (Rapid Prompting Method). Matteo was first able to communicate using this method in April 2015. He told his mother that he wanted to write this book in August 2015. A fast learner for someone who was "silent" the first 12 years of his life! It's remarkable.

I had the priviledge of hearing Matteo (& his mother) speak at an ARRM Conference a few years ago. (ARRM stands for Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota.) Matteo is an intelligent and talented young man. He writes poetry, which is included in this book. What I love most about Matteo is his positivity. His best friend is Jesus. He feels called by God to speak for those living with autism. His comments and observations are extremely helpful since I work with people on the Autism Spectrum.

Six key things he wants people to know when communicating with people living with autism:

1) Talk to everyone in full sentences and assume they understand, even if they can't respond to you.

2) When someone has brain damage, other parts of the brain can make up for the damaged part, so please give them age-appropriate, stimulating information, no matter what their age or situation.

3) Challenge people living with autism with enthusiastic support and confidence that they can always learn new things.

4) Please know that we are all extra sensitive to emotions; our own and those around us.

5) Challenge yourself to be totally present with us.

6) Believe that we have joy in us.

Matteo states that we CHOSE to help them live better lives. "Having choices is a luxury of the human condition but it also comes with responsibility. People do choose their paths in some respects, and in others, they only choose their reactions to circumstances." (Pg 109) Wise beyond his years.

Wendy's Rating: *****

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

This novel includes the stories of two women: one in 1791 and one in present day. Nella is an Apothecary in 1791. She has become a bitter woman living in a dark, hidden home off of a back alley in London, England. She was betrayed by a man she loved and she now spends her time and energy helping other women who have been betrayed by their men by expediting their deaths using poisonous concoctions. Her physical health is suffering along with her mental health. This is a perfect example of how living in anger, bitterness and resentment can lead to a shortened physical life.

Caroline is excited to go on her 10-year anniversary trip to London with her husband, James. Shortly before their expected departure, she finds out that James has been having an affair. She is devastated and heads to London alone. Caroline & James have been trying to have a baby, and Caroline fears she may be pregnant and is obviously upset about the timing of everything. Caroline starts a journey of self-reflection in London that shows her she has been living her life for everyone else (her husband, her parents) and forgoing her own passions and interests. Before she married James, she had applied to Cambridge for school with the intent of being a historian.

These two stories connect when Caroline finds an old Apothecary bottle with the crude etching of a bear on it. The repressed historian in her decides to figure out where the bottle came from. This leads her to "the Apothecary Killer". Meanwhile, James decides to follow her to London, which she was not expecting.

Caroline goes to the British Library to do some research and finds a friend in Gaynor, a British Librarian. Gaynor helps her navigate the system to find old papers from the 1700s. Nella also finds an "assistant" in her work. She is a 12 year old named Eliza who comes to the Apothecary for a poison to kill her mistress' husband who is continuing his pattern of raping the young housemaids (such as Eliza).

Nella, Eliza and Caroline all make decisions that affect the rest of their lives. Their futures are a product of their beliefs. This is a pretty fast read and I enjoyed it for the most part. There were a couple of parts that I felt myself raising by eyebrows about (concerning Caroline & her thoughts when doing research), but all in all, I liked her journey.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

This is the 6th book of the Cormoran Strike series. Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling continues to be one of my all-time favorite authors. Her storytelling and intelligence astounds me. This latest installment of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott's detective adventures is a very complex story. I can't even imagine how Rowling keeps her details straight. She must have an amazing "story board".

Strike & Robin are finally making some money. They are becoming well-known private detectives. The problem is lack of help, not lack of cases. Personal issues always seem to interfere with their work lives as well. Strike pushes himself too hard, which is never good for his amputated leg/prosthetic. Reading how much pain he is in makes me grit my own teeth! And then there is Strike's personal life. He is still dealing with Charlotte. Heavy sigh. I am hoping after what she (and her soon to be ex-husband) put him through in this book, he will finally be rid of her forever. Strike also got involved with another woman named Madeline. I am still waiting patiently (impatiently??) for Strike to just admit to Robin how he feels about her and stop getting entangled with these other woman who sincerely don't interest him more than beauty and good sex. Honestly. Robin, who knows she loves Strike, can't bring herself to admit it either. So.... maybe in book 7??

This story brings us into the world of gaming. Edie Ledwell and Josh Blay develop a cartoon (a deep, dark cartoon) called the Ink Black Heart. This cartoon is a "hit" and inspires an impressive number of fans. Anomie & Morehouse decide to develop a game featuring the characters of the Ink Black Heart, called Drek's Game. Then things get crazy. Edie & Josh get attacked in a graveyard. Edie is killed and Josh is wounded so severely he is paralyzed after the attack. Strike & Robin are hired to find out the identity of Anomie who was terrorizing Edie online before her death. (She attempted to kill herself once.)

Rowling's knowledge of gaming is impressive. There are eight moderators of Drek's Game. The moderators talk (in the book) to each other in the Moderator Channel and also talk to each other using the Private Channel feature. They also use Twitter. The reader does not know who anyone is - and the moderators are not supposed to know who each of the other seven are. ("Rule 14") These chats are formatted within the book. It's super hard to keep everyone straight, especially since we don't know who anyone is, and we don't even know their genders. In order to figure out who Anomie is, Strike & Robin need to get into the game. Anomie, who admits online that he killed Edie, is wary of the police getting into the game, so he refuses to let new players in. Robin manages to figure out a way to get into the game.

Like I said earlier, this is a very complex storyline with a lot of characters! The book is over 1,000 pages long too. Despite the length, I am always sad when I get near the end. I really love Strike, Robin and their relationship. There are supposedly only four more books left in this series. I will treasure every word of them, because I will be super bummed when it's all over.

Wendy's Rating: *****

Uniquely Human by Barry M. Prizant, PhD with Tom Fields-Meyer

Barry M. Prizant has worked with children on the autism spectrum and their families for over 40 years. He is an international consultant. Many of his ideas in this book are based on the SCERTS Model, which stands for Social Communication , Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support. "SCERTS provides specific guidelines for helping an individual become a competent and confident social communicator and an active learner, while preventing problem behaviors that interfere with learning and the development of relationships."

Dr. Prizant seems to have amazing listening and observational skills when first meeting a new family who is struggling to understand autism. He also seems to bring a very calming presence to every situation. One thing he explains is that there is no such thing as "autistic behavior". There are "human behaviors" and "human responses" based on a person's experience. I remind people all the time when teaching crisis intervention that people react to situations based on their own perception of what's happening. People on the spectrum often fixate on one thing or subject because that's what is calming for them, or what grounds them.

When people experience emotional dysregulation, they are not available for learning and engaging with others. They experience more feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and confusion than others. They have more difficulty learning how to cope with these feelings and challenges. When these people demonstrate the so-called "autistic behaviors", these behaviors are actually strategies used to feel emotionally regulated. We all use rituals or have habits that help us regulate (deep breathing, pacing).

We need to meet people where they are at. We need to use a person's particular interest as a tool for learning and creating. If we can engage people by using their own interests in the process, they will continue to progress. We need to stop and ask ourselves, what is motivating the behavior? We need to know what is underlying the behavior. 

Autism can be seen as a disability of trust. People with autism have difficulty trusting their own body, trusting the world around them, and trusting other people. "The opposite of anxiety isn't calm, it's trust." All humans can feel anxious and we can react with fear while seeking ways to control our lives, surroundings and relationships. We can help people with autism develop trusting relationships by acknowledging their attempts to communicate, practice shared control to build self-determination, acknowledge the person's emotional state, be dependable, reliable, and clear and celebrating successes.

This is an incredibly insightful book filled with important messages and techniques. I highly recommend it to all families, therapists, teachers and anyone else that is supporting someone on the Autism Spectrum.

Wendy's Rating: *****

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I am still giving it four stars because of the writing, but I thought it would be a five-star book. I love books about literature, writing, book stores, books. I like how this story was set in a independent book store (that actually exists) - and certainly that it was set in Minnesota, which is where I live. (This is the second book I have read in the last month set in Minnesota.) This story was entertaining to a point, but I guess I didn't know where it was really leading. Obviously, I knew before I started the book that the book store was haunted for one year, and I assumed we would know why by the end of the book. 

But in addition to that storyline, the author reminds us how scary it was in March of 2020 when Covid took over our lives. It was interesting to me to read about all the things we did to protect ourselves from the virus (keeping newly purchased items outside, wiping everything down, etc.) As time passes, I forget all those little details. I know that Covid-19 and its seemingly unlimited variants, is still wreaking havoc today, but it's interesting to remember how the world initially shut down.

In addition to Covid, the author reminds us of the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It was a scary time in Minneapolis, with all of the riots and protests - all in the midst of Covid-19. I thought Erdrich captured these two significant events very well.

As far as the haunting of the book store by Flora, this was less interesting to me. I loved learning about Native American culture, their beliefs and rituals. And I loved the growth of Tookie in her relationships with her husband, daughter and grandchild. Tookie did not have an easy life and she made some really poor decisions. The arrival of her grandchild was life-changing for Tookie. It's the first time she truly knew what unconditional love was. This changed her relationship with her daughter and her husband, Pollux. Tookie was finally able to address what Pollux had done to her (arrested her), forgive him, and accept his love. Tookie's growth and the realistic portrayal of Tookie's struggles with relationships, is why I give this book four stars.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni

This book is focused on building a solid, healthy leadership team. It explains why organizational health is more important than anything else in business. Having short-term and long-term goals, great communication, accountability and simply a "cohesive leadership team" built on mutual respect and trust, are key elements. Easier said than done, right? Right. This book lays out how to accomplish the above.

Organizational health is built using the Four Disciplines Model. 1) Build a cohesive team; 2) Create clarity; 3) Overcommunicate clarity; 4) Reinforce clarity.

1) Build a Cohesive Team. A leadership team is a small group of people who are collectively responsible for achieving a common objective for their organization. (Pg 21) There are five behavioral principles that leadership teams must embrace: Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results.

Trust is a difficult thing to accomplish. I live this difficulty. It has to be a vulnerability-based trust, which means everyone has to be 100% comfortable being transparent. There has to be a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team.

Conflict. When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer. (Pg 38) There has to be a willingness to disagree around important issues and decisions that must be made. One way to raise the level of healthy conflict at a team meeting is for the leader to mine for conflict. The leader must demand that people speak up when he/she senses disagreement.

Commitment. People will not actively commit to a decision if they have not been given the opportunity to provide input and if they don't understand the reasoning behind the decision. At the end of each meeting, decisions must be clarified and understood by each team member before leaving.

Accountability. Peer-to-peer accountability is the primary and most effective source of accountability on a leadership team. (Pg 54) When team members know that their colleagues are truly committed to something, they can confront each other about issues without fearing defensiveness or backlash.

Results. The leadership team must have a greater affinity to and loyalty to the team they are collectively serving instead of their individual departments. If the organization rarely achieves its goals, then it simply doesn't have a good leadership team.

2) Create Clarity. There has to be so much clarity that there is no room for confusion, disorder and infighting. Lencioni says to skip the "mission statement". Instead, the leadership team must answer six critical questions: 1) Why do we exist? 2) How do we behave 3) What do we do? 4) How will we succeed? 5) What is most important, right now? 6) Who must do what? He suggests using a Playbook template to outline the thematic goal and objectives.

3) Overcommunicate Clarity. There is a great need for repetition. Effective communication requires that important messages come from different sources and through various channels, using a variety of tools.  The leadership team needs to come up with a clear message, and then take the message immediately back to their direct reports, who then take it to their own direct reports. This is called "cascading communication". Top-Down Communication is the most common direction that key information travels in an organization.

4) Reinforce Clarity. The six critical questions must be embedded in the fabric of the organization. Every process within an organization involving people should be designed to reinforce the answers to the six questions. Human systems give an organization a structure of tying its operations, culture, and management together, even when leaders aren't around to remind people. (Pg 155)

Finally, the one thing that is central to reaching, maintaining and sustaining organizational health is meeting on a regular basis. There are four types of meetings: 1) The Daily Check-In/Administrative (5-10 minutes); 2) Weekly  Staff Meeting/Tactical (45-90 minutes); Adhoc Topical/Strategic (2-4 hours); 4) Quarterly Off-Site Review/Developmental (1-2 days). [A] great deal of the time that leaders spend every day is a result of having to address issues that come about because they aren't being resolved during meetings in the first place. (Pg 186)

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

It's always good to read "beach books" in the summer. Elin Hilderbrand books are always a fast and entertaining read, and this one is no exception to that. She does a nice job of describing and developing her characters.

The main character of the story is Hollis Shaw. From the outside, she has a cushy life. She is married to a doctor and her food blog has become a hit, so they are not hurting for money! She and her husband built her "dream home" on Hollis' family land on Nantucket, which is where she spends her summers. (Her husband, Matthew, works during the week and then goes to Nantucket on the weekends.) They have one daughter, Caroline, who is a young adult and a "daddy's girl".

Matthew dies unexpectantly in a car accident, which sends Hollis & Caroline into different tail spins - moving away from each other. This story really picks up about six months after Matthew's death. Hollis, after grieving for six months - and being estranged from Caroline during that whole time - decides to have a "Five-Star Weekend", an idea she gets from an article that she read. She invites women (4) from different parts of her life to gather for a weekend at her home on Nantucket. She also invites Caroline to film the weekend. (Caroline is a budding "filmographer". I'm not sure that's an actual word, but I can't think of a better one right now!)

Some of the women know each other, some don't. Some like each other. Others don't. One woman, Gigi, is a stranger to all. So, an interesting group to throw together for an entire weekend. As the weekend unfolds, we get to know each woman and their background stories. We get to know their strengths and their insecurities. We get to see why they have made the decisions they have in their lives - and how it's affected each of them. One thing I love about this story is Caroline discovering who her mother is as a person, and not just as a mother. As Caroline interviews each of the women separately about their experiences with Hollis during the different times of her life, she develops an understanding of who her mother actually is. It really strengthens their relationship tenfold.

This is a story about friendship and forgiveness - and love. What's not to like?

Wendy's Rating: ****

Jelly's Gold by David Housewright

This book is the 6th book in the Rushmore McKenzie series - and the first that I have read. McKenzie is independently wealthy but spends his time solving mysteries (very similar to the Charles Finch series about amateur detective Charles Lenox!) The story of Jelly's Gold starts back in 1933. Back in the 1930s, St. Paul, Minnesota was the sheltered home for many gangsters and other corrupt people, including the "upper crust" of society and the police force. There was an understanding that as long as no crime was committed in St. Paul, the St. Paul police force and others in authority would turn a blind eye to crimes committed outside the city of St. Paul. So, St. Paul was a gangster "safe haven".

This is the story of Frank "Jelly" Nash who steals cash and gold bars from a bank in 1933 and then stashes the gold bars in an unknown location. The gold was never found. (By the way, Frank Nash was a real person, but he didn't commit this particular bank robbery. He had an alibi.) Anyway, McKenzie is made aware of this undiscovered gold and asked to help find it. McKenzie finds out promptly that there are several people who are trying to find the gold (worth $8,000,000 now). It's difficult to know who to trust and who to work with (for McKenzie and the reader!) McKenzie cuts lots of "deals" trying to get information and track down the details of what Nash and his fellow criminal friends were doing in the 1930s.

Since I live in Minnesota, the history of St. Paul, and the criminals that sheltered there, was fascinating. I didn't actually know that St. Paul was so corrupt back then. Housewright describes the lifestyles and crimes of a lot of well-know gangsters, like John Dillinger and and Baby Face Nelson. While researching what everyone was doing in 1933 - where they lived, who they associated with, etc. - McKenzie was being followed by people, warned off, asked to partner-up with various people. All of this, and no one really even knew if the gold bar stash still existed. I certainly didn't know myself how it would all end!

I won't spoil the end, but it was an entertaining read. Housewright has a writing style that I am not 100% fond of, but to each their own I guess. (He uses an inner voice in addition to dialogue between people.)

Wendy's Rating: ****

Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities #4) by Shannon Messenger

I continue to be engaged by this series. This is only Book 4 - and apparently there will be 10. I honestly can't imagine where it's all going to end up. The author has an incredible imagination and a fluid writing style, so even though the books are close to 700 pages long, it reads quickly. (At least for an adult.)

The Neverseen are the enemies of the elves, and pretty much every other creature other than the ogres. They are a secret organization with some shocking members. We found out in Book 3 that Keefe's mother was a leader in the Neverseen. She is "off the grid" in Book 4, although Keefe spends a lot of time and emotional energy trying to figure out if she is still alive or held captive. There is another surprise "reveal" of a Neverseen member in this story, but I won't ruin it for anyone reading this first. We also find out who some key members of the Black Swan are - finally. There are so many disguises, it's hard to keep track at times.

In this book, Sophie, Dex, Biana, Keefe and Fitz are banished to Exillium, which was way different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be like a punishment, especially after the kids were told that there is no interaction between students at the school. They were also told that they had to earn a token in order to return the next day. The kids' experience there - and the training they received - were actually beneficial to them once they left. Plus, Sophie was able to make some positive changes to the school, which had pretty much been "abandoned" by the Council.

Since Sophie and friends are banished from their homes & school (Foxfire), they are taken to live with the gnomes in two tree houses. The gnome that helps them most is Calla. A plague struck a gnome colony and no one understands what was causing the plague or how to cure it. Calla wants to save the gnomes who are ill - and prevent the plague from spreading. So there is a "Collective" which works together to try to figure out what's going on and who is engineering it all. They suspect the Neverseen of course, with help from the ogres.

Since the kids are considered fugitives, all of their actions are done on the sly - with the help of the gnomes & some of the Council members. While at Exillium, they met Tam and his twin sister, Linh. Tam is a Shade (meaning he can shade himself & others in shadow so they can move around unseen) and Linh is a Hydrokinetic (meaning she can move water). These two join the others in their attempt to steal the "cure" for the plague from King Dimitar, the king of the ogres.

It's really difficult to summarize everything that happens in these books because the storyline is complex. A lot happens for a lot of different reasons. I highly recommend this entertaining series!

Wendy's Rating: *****

Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities #3) by Shannon Messenger

I really love this series. It's creative and engaging and I never know what's going to happen next. The series was written for 8-12 year olds, but I'm not sure all 8-12 year olds would appreciate how well the "lost cities" and the people who live there are described. I actually looked up the age range for the Harry Potter series and it's almost the same (9-12). I have said this before (in my review of the first book) but this series reminds me of HP in so many ways. And I love the HP series!

In this installment, Sophie spends a lot of time with Keefe. Keefe and Sandor (Sophie's goblin bodyguard) accompany Sophie on most of her quests for the truth. Not everyone can be trusted and not everyone is who they seem to be. Sophie suspects that Jolie (Grady & Edaline's daughter who had died 16 years previously) was connected to the Black Swan, but she doesn't know how. She tries everything she can think of to discover Jolie's secrets, but Jolie certainly didn't leave many clues for Sophie to follow. At one point Sophie and the Black Swan suspect there is a leak within the Black Swan, and because of this, they stop communicating with each other, which makes things more difficult.

Sophie's friends start manifesting their own special abilities. Biana is a Vanisher and Dex is a Technopath (which is great because he comes from Talentless parents, so he could have easily been Talentless himself. His family is pretty much treated like "second-class citizens".) By the end of this book, Sophie, Keefe, Fitz, Biana and Dex are a solid group. Their abilities compliment each others and that helps them build a solid team for fighting against evil. Although Keefe travels a lot with Sophie, Fitz is the one who helps Sophie when she tries to heal Fintan, the evil Pyrokinetic. Since Sophie and Fitz can speak telepathically, they learn to trust each other implicitly.

Everyone is still trying to figure out who the Pyrokinetic is that killed Jolie. Fortunately, Sophie finally figures it out at the end of the book. This book introduces a lot of questions about what is really happening in the lost cities and who is behind it all. The Councillors turn against the Black Swan. Sophie makes a serious mistake which results in severe consequences. The elven "capitol" is destroyed. A beloved Councillor is killed, and has to be replaced immediately (so there are the required 12). The school gets a new Principal. Lots and lots of changes. We get a few answers too, which is always nice.

As this fabulous story unfolds, the books get longer and the details more complex. I have already started book #4. Keep them coming!

Wendy's Rating: *****

Pretty Reckless by LJ Shen

This is apparently the first book of three in the All Saints High series. The main characters are Daria (the wealthy, spoiled, popular, neglected girl) and Penn (the poor, neglected, talented athlete boy). They both come from dysfunctional families and they both have anger issues. They hate each other. They love each other. They live in the same house, even though they go to rival schools (rich vs. poor). 

This is simply not my kind of book. I read a lot of youth fiction and young adult fiction. I certainly don't mind reading about dysfunctional families or troubled teens or teenage love from two sides of the track (like Grease or West Side Story!), but this was too over the top for me. Daria is downright mean and vindictive with no endearing qualities. Yes, she is lonely and doesn't feel loved by her mother, but that doesn't excuse her behavior. And her "relationship" with the school principal? ICK. Seriously. What is that about. Super creepy and he should be arrested. I liked Penn better, but not enough to redeem this story for me.

I don't mind sex scenes in books, but I guess I'm not a fan of reading graphic sexual experiences between two kids still in High School. I know I sound like an old prude, and maybe I am, but it was just all too much: the "hate", the awful things people did to each other, the jealousy, the over-the-top threats by Daria's father toward Penn, the language, the sex. If this is really what High School is like these days, then I was raised in an extremely sheltered household. I didn't even experience these type things in college after I was on my own.

I won't be finishing the series, needless to say. ;)

Wendy's Rating: **1/2

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

It's no secret that I absolutely love reading about World War II. Not because I enjoy reading about death and suffering, but because I am amazed and awed at the courageous people who lived in Nazi-controlled countries and risked their lives, and the lives of their family members, to help those that were hated by the Nazis. This particular book was set in Poland during the early years of the 1940s. The main character is Alina Dziak. She is 15 years old and engaged to marry Tomasz Slaski. Tomasz had left their home town of Trzebinia to attend college in Warsaw. He wanted to be a doctor like his father. Alina lives with her parents and twin brothers. They run a small farm. Alina has an older sister too, but she is married and lives in town with her husband. Tomasz' mother died in childbirth, but he has a young sister, Emilia, who lives with their father.

There is a current day story that is also told in alternating chapters. Alice is the mother of two young children. Her son, Eddie, is on the more severe side of the Autism Spectrum. He can only communicate using AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). He communicates by pointing at images on his iPad screen. Alice's oldest child is Callie, who is 10. She is brilliant - and easily bored. Alice is married to Wade, who works a lot, favors Callie, loves Alice but doesn't seem to know how to best support her as she tries to manage Eddie's severe behaviors.

These two families are connected, although they don't know it until Alice's grandmother, Babcia, who is 95 and has lost her ability to communicate because of suffering a stroke, asks Alice to go to Poland "to find Tomasz". She communicates this by using Eddie's iPad. She can't really explain anything else though, so Alice is at a loss as to what she is supposed to do. Time is running out through, and since Babcia was Alice's primary caregiver and biggest supporter (since Alice's parents were always working), Alice wants to fulfill Babcia's dying wish. This is a true dilemma though, since going to Poland would mean leaving Wade to take care of Eddie & Callie by himself. Wade has no clue how to handle Eddie.

This is truly a well-written story. I definitely got caught up in the characters and their personal stories. I loved how each and every character grew in a meaningful and relevant way as both stories unfolded. I certainly shed a tear or two at times! I would absolutely recommend this book!

Wendy's Rating:*****

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

This was an entertaining read. Sometimes I am put off by the title of the book, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It's the story of three sisters, Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina. They all have secrets. They don't really get along with each other. They were raised in Britain, but their heritage is India. Rajni is the oldest (by several years). She has a teenage son who is involved with an older woman in her 30s. Rajni is extremely upset by this news, especially after she finds out she is going to be a grandmother. Jezmeen is an actress. She is having a difficult time getting her "big break" in the industry. She made a huge error in judgement, which is all over the internet. Everyone seems to know about it except her sisters. Shirina lives in Australia with her husband and mother-in-law, who controls her every movement. Shirina chose to enter an arranged marriage and live an authentic India culture-style life. Since Shirina's husband is wealthy, kind, and handsome, Jezmeen and Rajni assume that Shirina is living the "good life".

When the sisters' mother dies, she leaves written instructions to her daughters, asking them to embark on a pilgrimage to India together. She has their trip agenda all prepared, with several stops that have significance to her. She wants them to spread her ashes at one of the locations. Their mother hopes that this pilgrimage will bond her daughters together and that the trip will be meaningful to each one of them since India is their heritage. The sisters feel duty-bound to comply with their mother's wishes, so they each leave their homes (with their secrets) to travel to India.

The trip to India allows all three sisters to think about their own lives and the decisions they have made. Their forced togetherness also gives them a chance to repair their relationships and share their secrets with each other. In the end, blood is thicker than water. I really enjoyed this novel!

Wendy's Rating: ****

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

This is a young adult novel. The two main characters are teenagers who fall in love, but can't be together. Maddy is 17 years old and is living with SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). She is "allergic to the world". This means that she lives in a sanitized environment. Everything is sanitized before it enters her space. The only people she actually sees in person is her mother, who is also her doctor, her nurse Carla, and occasionally a tutor (after he goes through a hour-long decontamination process. There is no one else in her life, except for on-line. Maddy's dad and brother were killed in a car accident when Maddy was just a few months old. Maddy spends her days reading and her evenings playing games with her mother. Her two best friends are her mother and Carla.

Olly and his family (parents and sister) move into the house next door to Maddy. Maddy watches them move in from her bedroom window. She spends a lot of time watching the family. She figures out that Olly's dad is abusive and the family fights a lot. She eventually develops a relationship with Olly by emailing. Sometimes Olly communicates with Maddy be writing backwards on his window. She notices that Olly climbs out his window at night and spends time of the roof of his house. Maddy finally tells Olly why she can't leave her house - ever.

For obvious reasons, Maddy is incredibly lonely. She really wants to see Olly in person. Carla surprises her one day and invites Olly over. He goes through the decontamination process and they get to spend time together in the same room - although on different sides of the room. Once this "door is open", Maddy and Olly want to see each other more and more - and they want to touch each other, kiss, etc. Once Maddy's mother finds out, she is incredibly angry and fires Carla, Maddy's "best friend" and confidante. Maddy's world gets even smaller.

Maddy needs to make the decision to stay in her sterilized environment or take a significant risk by breaking free for her love for Olly. I don't want to explain more than what I have because of what happens after she makes her decision. Let me just say that sometimes we make well-intentioned decisions in our lives that deeply impact the people we love in a negative way. It's a good book and an easy read for an adult. 

Wendy's Rating: ****

Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius with Megan Lloyd Davies

This is an incredible, deeply disturbing and deeply inspiring story, as told by the man who experienced it all. Martin was a healthy, carefree 12 year old from a loving family (parents and a brother and a sister) when his body betrayed him. His body and mind shut down completely. He lived in a vegetative state until he was 16 years old. Then his mind woke up - but only his mind. Martin could not move any part of his body except his eyes. He could not talk. He could not read. He could not communicate. Martin absorbed everything going on around him, but no one knew he was aware for another 9 years. Talk about a living Hell. He was abused emotionally, mentally, physically and sexually by his caregivers over the years at a variety of "care homes" that he attended during the day when his parents worked and for respite when his parents travelled. At times Martin wanted to die and I don't blame him. I can't imagine the horror he experienced with no ability to communicate what he was going through and no ability to stop it. Martin didn't mention it in the book, but I have wondered several times since finishing the book (and listening to his TED Talk) what his parents' reactions were when they found out about the abuse and whether the abusers were held accountable for their actions? Did the Pistorius family report them to the authorities?

Martin's family members were pretty incredible too. First of all, his father, who was his primary caregiver all those years until Martin started his communication journey at age 25. His father was persistent and ceaseless in his care for Martin. It made me teary-eyed reading about it. Talk about unconditional love! Martin's mother was less steady in those years, but she really stepped up once Martin started learning how to use alternative communication. She spent hours and hours with Martin, entering words and phrases into his system so that he wouldn't have to continue using his alphabet board and painstakingly spell out each word. Martin's brother, David, dragged Martin up to the top of a sand dune just so Martin could fill a small jar with sand. And his sister, Kim, was a positive spirit in his life throughout. Really, a remarkable family who lived through a terrible tragedy. Then there is Joanna, the woman who fell in love with Martin and never wavered in that love. She was able (from the start) to see the man inside, instead of the wheelchair and Martin's numerous challenges that he faces every minute of every day.

The "hero" of this story however is Virna van der Walt. Where would Martin be today if it wasn't for her? Virna (an aromatherapist) was the person who suspected that Martin could track what she was saying and doing despite his "locked body". Martin would follow her with his eyes. How incredible that she took the time to notice that! She is the one that talked to Martin's parents about AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) and encouraged them to bring him in for an assessment. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Wendy's Rating: *****

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

Life is messy. This is a story that shows how complicated life events are. Misinterpretation. Preconceptions. Misunderstandings. Judgements. Assumptions. I teach a Crisis Intervention class and the following sentences come right out of the text book I use in class: "People hear what they expect or what they are sensitive to. When people expect others to judge them, they interpret the actions of others through the lens of their expectations." I could not sum it up any better than that!

This is a story of a 16 year old black boy, Tariq Johnson, who gets shot by a white man in the street after a chain reaction of events that occur because of misunderstanding and preconceived notions. It's set in motion by two men. One is a shopkeeper who knows Tariq and his family really well. The other is a white man who walks out of a different store and mishears the shopkeeper when he is calling Tariq back to give him his change from his recent purchase. The white man thinks (assumes?) the shopkeeper is yelling, "Stop thief!" when really he is yelling, "Stop Tariq!" As the white man grabs Tariq to stop him, he sees the "flash of a gun". Another white man stops the car he is driving, assumes Tariq is threatening the first white man and shoots Tariq dead in the street.

As the story unfolds, everyone explains what they "saw" and what they "know" about Tariq. Depending on who is talking, Tariq was actually holding a Snickers bar for his little sister, Tina, OR he was holding a gun. Tariq was a good guy who did not want to join the Kings (gang) ever, OR he was already Brick's (gang leader) right-hand man in the organization. Tariq owned a blade (a key feature of the Kings gang members) OR he was holding on to a knife for a friend who was sent to prison for killing someone. (The friend actually didn't kill the person - he cut them though. He then took the fall for the actual murderer.) Tariq was wearing gang colors when he was killed OR he wasn't.

This story shows what's wrong with our society. No one takes the time to listen or to see what is actually right in front of their eyes. People jump to conclusions based on someone's supposed connections/affiliations, or skin color, or the clothing that is being worn. The saddest thing in the book for me though is Tariq's best friend, Tyrell, and his little sister, Tina, (who has a developmental delay), misunderstanding a deed that Tariq did for a friend, which implicates Tariq and makes their understanding of him different than what they knew to be true.

This is a powerful story - and definitely relative to the things happening in our nation today. Initially it is confusing because each chapter is a different person's voice - and you don't really know who is who and how they connect to Tariq. It's like different puzzle pieces that you have to put together as you read to understand the bigger picture.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

I really loved this book! I was a tad hesitant to read it initially because I hate reading about people who are abused and suffering. Once I started it though, I pretty much read it straight through. It is well-written and engaging and I developed strong feelings for the main characters, both negative and positive. Some people seem to be born evil - and some born kind & compassionate, no matter what their circumstances.

It's interesting what people will do to survive, especially if there is a child involved. People will make huge sacrifices for their children, even if they are suffering and scared all the time. The main character, Pheby Delores Brown, (who is based on a real person, Mary Lumpkin) was bi-racial. Her mother was a slave on a plantation and her father was the white plantation owner. Pheby was sent away from the plantation on the day of her mother's funeral by the plantation owner's wife. (Who was a nasty person indeed.) She was taken away to be a "fancy woman". "Fancy women" were sold to the highest bidder at auctions after being taken to a slave jail. Pheby was sent to one of the worst slave jails, owned by one of the cruelest jailers. Pheby refers to this man as The Jailer throughout the book.

The Jailer takes an interest in Pheby and instead of selling her, keeps him for himself. Pheby makes a decision to do what she has to do to survive. Upon arriving at the jail (called Devil's Half Acre), she figures out she is pregnant by the man, and fellow slave, she was in love with (Essex) on the plantation. Since she is worried about her unborn child (who would be born into slavery), she makes a deal with The Jailer. She will live as his "yellow wife" if he doesn't send her son away. She pretty much makes a deal with the devil. He is evil.

This is the second book I have read over the last few months where bi-racial, or very light-skinned black people, make the decision to live as white people in order to avoid racial bias and prejudice and so they can live a better life. In order to do this, they have to leave behind their heritage, parents, history. It's incredibly sad that people were forced to do this. 

Wendy's Rating: *****

The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers

This book was different than I was expecting. This is more of a coming-of-age story of a young girl in the mid-1940s than it is about the wives of the tobacco industry. I really liked it. We find out a lot about the tobacco plantations and factories as well, but 15 year old Maddie Sykes is the main character. Maddie's father dies in the war and her mother, wanting to find a new husband to take care of her, drives Maddie to North Carolina and drops her off at her great aunt's home. Her aunt, Etta, doesn't know Maddie is coming of course, so everyone's life changes instantly. Etta is a well-respected seamstress for the tobacco wives. She custom makes all of their fancy dresses. Etta also re-fits - or adds special custom touches - to ready-made dresses as well for the "second-tier tobacco wives" (the wives of the men with lower management positions within the Bright Leaf tobacco industry.) Fortunately, Maddie also has a great passion for sewing (and fashion/designing, including sketching her own ideas) and has been Etta's "apprentice" for a few years already.

There are two key factors in this story. The first one is that with the war ending (it's 1946), the surviving men are returning to the US and wanting their jobs back. So the women who have been working since the men left for war are being fired from their jobs and told to go back home where they belong. (Barefoot and pregnant, so to speak.) The working women are also being paid less than their male counterparts for doing the same job. Maddie attends a meeting of women (black and white) one night because she believes in equality for women and the meeting is about the organization of a strike against Bright Leaf. Since she works for the top management of Bright Leaf though - and her involvement affects her aunt and her aunt's livelihood (being a seamstress for the tobacco wives), Maddie tries to keep her attendance at this meeting a secret.

The other important element of this story is the executives knowing the harmful effects of tobacco on people - especially pregnant woman (in this story) and their unborn babies - but they continue to market their mint-flavored cigarettes specifically to pregnant women and young mothers because the mint "soothes their nerves". Maddie discovers this information by accident and wants to make it public knowledge. She has seen all the underweight and premature babies at the local hospital. In addition to the that, the tobacco wife who takes her under her wing when Etta falls ill, has already had one miscarriage and is struggling with her current pregnancy.

These are tough issues for a teenager to deal with. Things are initially more black & white for Maddie, who wants to do the "right" thing on all counts. She finds out the hard way that life isn't that simple.

I really didn't know what was going to happen at the end. Maddie is certainly disappointed, but she eventually develops an understanding of how complicated life can be - and that a lot of people's lives are lived in a gray area.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Inheritance by Charles Finch

This is the 10th installment of the Charles Lenox mystery series. One thing I love about a mystery series is the continuous development of relationships between characters. Of course this makes it all the more tragic when something awful happens to a favorite character. I was worried about Dallington in this book. I didn't want him to die like Molly did in the last book. Or Lenox' Scotland Yard friend/contact. Too much death!

We get to meet one of Charles' old school friends, Gerald Leigh, in this installment. Charles had befriended him many years ago, despite Leigh being a fish out of water, at school. Charles saw something in Leigh that no one else did, although not even Charles realized how brilliant Leigh was and how successful he had become in adulthood. Leigh reaches out to Charles for help, and Charles is always ready to help an old friend - especially if it involves a mystery (the "MB" - mysterious benefactor), an attempted murder and a murder. 

Leigh was able to attend Charles' school only because of a "mysterious benefactor" who funded his education. Otherwise Leigh never could have gone to such a prestigious and expensive school. Charles got his first taste of detective work way back then, when he and Leigh tried to figure out who the benefactor was. They never did back then. I have to admit that I was surprised at who it was, once Charles finally figures it out in "present day".

Leigh was lured to London by a solicitor who tells him he has inherited some money. He and Charles wonder if it is the same mysterious benefactor who paid for his education. Once Leigh arrives in London however, he starts fearing for his life. That's when he sends a message to Charles and goes into hiding. Before Charles can help Leigh, he has to find him first.

I was happy to see that the detective agency finally started making some money! It was so depressing for Polly to be so worried and negative (and hard on Charles) in every book since they went into business together. Let's hope this continues. I feel sad about Charles & Lady Jane having trouble conceiving another child. I knew that Jane was quite a bit younger than Charles, and it didn't occur to me that she would still be in her 40s. Here's hoping that Sophia does indeed get a sibling in a future book.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Other Wes Moore, One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

This was a compelling autobiography of the narrator, Wes Moore. Wes also researched the history, family background and life events of the "other Wes Moore" by interviewing him, his friends and family members that were close to the other Wes when he was growing up. This analysis begs the question: are we a product of our environment?

The narrator Wes was being raised in a two-parent household with two sisters when his dad suddenly died. His father's death was a result of medical malpractice. His mother settled out of court for a specific sum of money, which she actually did not keep for her own family. She donated it to make sure all first responders were properly trained in administering CPR. This shows you a bit about Wes' family, since Wes's family was poor and they could certainly have used the money. Wes' mother, Joy, eventually moved to Baltimore with her children to live with her parents for the extra support. Joy's parents were strict and protective, but also older. Joy tried to give her children every possibility in life to make something of themselves. (Wes' father had been a journalist before he died.) Wes still managed to get into trouble, blow off school, resist his mother's attempt at giving him a better life. Joy finally takes a drastic course to "save" Wes from himself: she sends him to Valley Forge Military Academy. This decision comes at great cost for Wes' family, especially his grandparents. They fund his first year of school by giving everything they have. Wes has no idea about their sacrifice however.

The other Wes Moore was raised by his mother, Mary. Mary ended up having three sons by three different men. Tony was Wes' oldest brother. Tony lived with his father a lot of the time, but was Wes' "father-figure" since Wes did not have contact with his own father. Tony thought he was doing what was right for Wes, which meant teaching him to be tough and to never back down from a fight. Tony ended up being a fierce contender on the streets. No one messed with him. Mary tried to do right by her sons, and was even enrolled in school when Wes was little, but when the program that was funding her schooling was discontinued by the government, she couldn't continue. She tried to keep Wes on the "straight and narrow", so to speak, for awhile, but in the end she pretty much gave up. Soon Wes was making money the same way Tony did: selling drugs. This is a lucrative business of course, so the money started rolling in. The babies started rolling in too. Wes had two children with one woman at a very young age, and then two from another (who happened to be a heroin addict). Once he had to support all of these people, it was too difficult for him to get out of the drug business. He ended up in prison for life after engaging in armed robbery, which ended with a police officer's death.

Both Weses grew up poor and were raised by single mothers. They grew up in the same area - the crime & drug infested streets of Baltimore. One made is out. The other did not. Parenting? Environment? Mentorship? Self-Determination? All of the above?

Very interesting read.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch

The 9th installment of this series. I wasn't happy about the death of a significant character in the last book, and I am definitely not happy about another sudden (and surprising) death of a significant character at the beginning of this book! I am starting to wonder why Charles Finch is killing off some of his characters! Maybe it's just a "sign of the times". These stories are set in the 1870s after all, and people die of illness all the time. (Cops also get shot too, obviously, referring to book #8.)

Anyway, other than a wonderful person dying, I really liked this book. First of all, Charles spends a lot of time with his brother, Edward, and we get to see that relationship up close and personal. They are like any other brothers I know, close & supportive for the most part, with bits of sibling rivalry thrown in from time to time. I like when Charles spends time at the Lenox House and in the town he grew up in. The townspeople are hilarious with him, always assuming he is back to stay forever. (Because honestly, who would want to live in London!) Ha! Their comments provide some of the humor in this book (and other books when Lenox visits his hometown.)

The mystery is interesting. In this case, it starts with a childish drawing, a stolen dog, a stolen bottle of port and ends in an attempted murder/murder. We get to meet a lot of the townspeople and see how they are connected to each other. Meanwhile, in London, Dallington & Polly (and Scotland Yard) are trying to figure out the sudden disappearance of a renowned German pianist who disappeared after performing at a theater, leaving behind his dead "sister". Charles is also connected to this case in London, and returns to London a couple of times to put his two cents in. The new detective agency is still struggling financially, but I am hoping after solving these two cases, things will be looking up by the next book. I want Polly to stop worrying so much and working herself so hard.

Wendy's Rating: ****

On Managing Across Cultures by Harvard Business Review

Cultural intelligence is related to emotional intelligence, but it picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another. A person with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of a person's or group's behavior those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this group, and those that are neither universal mor idiosyncratic. The vast realm that lies between those two poles is culture. (By Earley and Mosakowski, Harvard Business Review.)

I read this book to gain some insight into how to teach people from different cultures - considering each person's unique learning style in addition to that - so that everyone is receiving the same message. The majority of my company's employees come from diverse cultures, which can cause communication issues on the job. Some of this book was outside the scope of the small company I work for, but it was interesting in and of itself. I like the way the book is set up because each chapter is written by different authors, concerning a different topic, and there is an "Idea in Brief" embedded within each chapter for easy reference.

One thing I learned is that challenges are not simply due to verbal communication styles. There are four challenges: direct vs. indirect communication; trouble with accents & fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy & authority; and conflicting norms for decision making. There is also a gap between what is said and what is heard. The words are the same for two people, but the meaning may be different. We need to be able to "de-code" another person's expressions and expectations.

Thomas and Ely talk about the emerging paradigm: connecting diversity of work perspectives. They talk about eight preconditions for making the paradigm shift. 1) Leadership must truly value different perspectives and approaches to work; 2) Leadership must recognize both the challenges & learning opportunities that different perspectives presents; 3) The organizational culture must create an expectation of high stands of performance from everyone; 4) It must stimulate personal development; 5) It must encourage openness; 6) It must make workers feel valued; 7) It must have a well-articulated and widely understood mission; 8) It must have a egalitarian, nonbureaucratic structure which promotes the exchange of ideas.

Managers who have helped their organizations make the change successfully have consistently demonstrated their commitment to the process and to all employees by setting a tone of honest discourse, by acknowledging tensions, and be resolving them sensitively and swiftly. (By Thomas and Ely, Harvard Business Review.)

I believe all people in leadership roles would find sections of this book relevant to their individual circumstances. It certainly highlighted for me what I need to focus on in my leadership role.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch

The 8th book in this series, Lenox definitely struggles in this installment. The road back to being a full-time detective is not as easy as he thought it would be. Lenox, Dallington, Polly and LeMaire have opened a detective agency. Unfortunately, Lenox has had a setback in his renown as a respected detective, thanks to a couple of negative interviews slandering him in the newspaper. What really hurts is that the two interviewed were his "friends" from Scotland Yard. Lenox doesn't seem to hold grudges however, especially toward Jenkins, who he worked many cases with. Lenox feels incredibly bad about not pulling his weight in the agency. Since he and Dallington are independently wealthy, he is not used to working for money. Since Polly and LeMaire need to earn money to survive, hard feelings seem to develop pretty quickly. LeMaire leaves the agency after three months in fact, which puts the other three under more pressure to simply "survive" in the business, much less thrive.

Fortunately, despite Jenkins harsh words in the press, he '"saves" Lenox's reputation as a detective by handing him a murder case. I can't bring myself to tell you who it is, because it made me sad. Never-the-less, one murder leads to another murder and it ends up all being connected. I really do love the partnership between Lenox and Dallington. I was happy that LeMaire left the business so quickly. Polly was offered another position as well - with yet another start-up detective agency - which seemed a lot more lucrative, but in the end, she turned it down. I guess I would have been fine either way. It's interesting to me that there is a sudden interest in detective work (in 1876), when prior to that it was looked down on.

I love how Lenox's mind works. He is always thinking. Suddenly pieces will fall into place in his head and he knows either who is involved and/or why it happened. I also like his close relationship with his brother, Edmund, and best friend, Thomas McConnell, the doctor. In this book, Lenox develops a relationship with another Scotland Yard detective, Nicholson. So he continues to be well-connected at every turn, which is helpful when solving crimes - especially murders.

Lenox's career as a detective is back on track by the end of the book, thank goodness. I didn't want him to go back to Parliament! Ha!

Wendy's Rating: ****

An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch

This is book #7 of the Charles Lenox mystery series. This book gets back to what I love about this series (and was missing from book #6). First of all, there are some laugh-out-loud moments. Not only did Lenox remind us that he has a sense of humor, but his "partner in crime", John Dallington, also had some humorous comments. Lenox also proved his loyalty to the people he cares about, even when public opinion was entirely negative and outward appearances seemed to support the rumors. Lenox doesn't jump to conclusions (which is a really important characteristic if you are a detective!) even when things don't look good at all. This happened twice in this book, once with Graham and once with Thomas.

Dallington pulls Lenox into this latest mystery by asking him to cover for him. Dallington is ill for a lot of this book, which gives Lenox an excuse to play detective. Lenox still has his increasing responsibilities being a member of the Parliament, but you can tell that his true love is crime-solving and not spending hours and hours reading political blue books. Lenox meets a young woman who is being blackmailed, but no one seems to know by who and what the end goal is. Then there are two surprising murders, which makes it even more unclear about who the murderer is and what the murderer wants. What I liked about this story is that the clues are all there. When Lenox figures the majority of it out, he connects all the clues together for our benefit, but he is repeating things he found odd when he first saw them. 

Even after the "bad guys" are caught, there are always follow-up inquiries and research that must happen to truly figure out why things happened the way they did. This seems more unique to this series than other mystery series I read. Realistically, some things are hard to prove. This book supports that. I look forward to the next book since Lenox will be back full-time doing what he loves most.

Wendy's Rating: ****

A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch

This is the sixth installment of the Charles Lenox mystery series set in Victorian-era London. My favorite, so far, was #5, A Burial at Sea, and that still holds true. I enjoyed "catching up" with Lenox, now that he is married to Jane and has a daughter, Sophie, but in this book he is heavily into politics and his political position instead of "sleuthing". Obviously, Lenox gets caught up in a case, though, otherwise it wouldn't be a mystery.

Charles, Jane & Sophie take a trip to his uncle's estate, Somerset, so that Charles can write an important political speech without interruption. It just so happens that his uncle had previously invited him to come for a visit because there was some vandalism going on in town that the local police couldn't figure out the significance of. So, this visit was a "kill two birds with one stone" kind of thing. Once Charles gets to Somerset and gets settled in, there is a murder in town. So then the local police really need his help. Charles alternates between interviewing townspeople, assembling clues, riding a horse to start each day refreshed, and writing his speech.

There were a couple of things that were too repetitive for my taste in this particular book. First of all, Lenox goes on and on and on about how beautiful Somerset is, how beautiful and freeing it is to live in the country (vs London), how much he loves the fresh air and taking Sophie for walks. I kept thinking that he was considering a move out of London - for the health of his family. He also was very upset that his uncle was planning to leave Somerset soon, giving it to his heir. Even Jane couldn't persuade Charles to "let it go". That got to me after awhile. I mean, who is Charles to dictate what his aging (60! Ha!) uncle wants to do? Maybe he is not up to maintaining a huge estate anymore. Maybe he simply doesn't want to!!

Anyway, Charles solves the vandalism case and the murder case, which were connected of course. But why it all happened was a little too "out there" for me. Were there clues? Yes, of course. Did I pick up on them? Not really. They were too varied and not attached in my mind. So it's always fun to see how it all comes together, but in the end, Charles, Jane and Sophie return to London and Charles presses on with his political career. Apparently, no matter how much they love the country, they have no plans to buy something in the country. (So why go on and on about how much they love it?)

Wendy's Rating: ****