Books ‘n’ Strawberries – Such Fun!

Show of hands – who among you consumes books and strawberries at the same time????

Okay . . . maybe nobody. I mean, you’d hate to get strawberry juice on the book, so . . .  Yeah, but there’s a reason I brought up the both of them. I mean, yum.

Reason for the strawberries: We are going strawberry picking tomorrow. Yippee! We found what is supposed to be a real nice farm about an hour away, so we’re packin’ up and headin’ out to stock up for the long winter. 🙂 If you want to hear all about our adventure, I’ll be posting on the Diary on Saturday with the details!

Reason for the books: I just finished reading Athol Dickson’s The Cure. That’s reason enough.

The Cure was a hidden gem and a rare find. And the ending . . .  Oh, the ending! But I won’t betray it, or skip ahead. This book is about a man named Riley Keep, former missionary and presently an alcoholic beyond all hope. At the end of his road, he discovers a packet of “medicine” with a note explaining it to be a cure for alcoholism. But sometimes the cure is more dangerous than the disease . . .

OH WOW, was this story a winner. I was so engrossed and so blown away. Athol’s characters – Riley, Hope, Bree, Dylan, and the list goes on – are incredible. So well-fashioned and so brilliant. His writing is doubly so. And the book just happens to take place in a coastal Maine town, so . . .

You cannot go wrong in reading this book. Amazing.

And so, without further ado, we’re off to pick strawberries on the morrow! It ’tis summertime, after all.

So, my friends, what are your plans now that summer is officially underway? What books are you reading? Do tell!

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Bookish Things – a Review of the Well Spring Series and an Update

Hello, friends!

Today we’re delving into the three-book series I recently completed reading, James Rubart’s Well Spring Novels. My review in short? I was left both amazed and refreshed.

James’ writing is more brilliant than anything I’ve read in a long time. While in structure I’ll say the dialog was a tad rough in spots, the stories were seamlessly crafted, and the characters beautifully created. Every character had something to overcome, something to face in their lives, and the author took them through that brilliantly.

But I’m skipping ahead. If you’ve never heard of these books, you’re likely wondering what I’m babbling about. 🙂

Okay, okay. So, book one, Soul’s Gate, begins the journey with Reece Roth, a man who has been trained to enter the souls of others and fight for their freedom. He will go on to train the “four” prophesied to battle against the enemy in ways never before seen.

These books are remarkable, and as I mentioned, brilliantly written. I was kept reading from the first page of book one to the last letter of book three, Spirit Bridge. It is not an easy feat for me to be sucked into a story. I was vacuumed into this one.

And if the review wasn’t enough, how about that cover? Isn’t that cover just, like, crazy cool? I mean, if a cover alone could drag you inside the pages it conceals, that one does the job.

And now . . . for the update! Just a small note of no importance. 🙂  I’m currently reading Athol Dickson’s The Cure, and there was a gargantuan spider inside the house this morning. Uh, yeah, like baby tarantula size. We, like, freaked. It was swept out of the house and deftly squished in the driveway.

Ooohh, and in other news, my recent story done for Faithwriters took sixth, which you can read here. And you must read the winning story for that topic. It was fantastic.

And I suppose that’s about it for today. The next post will feature the second installment in our little blog series, the non-fiction musings of a goat herdess, and it bears just that name. Stick around!

And you must tell me, friends . . . what is your present reading venture??? Any gargantuan spiders crawling ’round your house??? Don’t be shy! Pour yourself a cup of tea – or coffee or, even better, apple cider – and let us chat.

Bookish Things – a Review of Winter Haven by Athol Dickson

I didn’t post yesterday because it was Sunday – I don’t blog on Sundays. That’s the one day of the week to just . . . rest. I don’t even write on Sundays. But anyway, I’m back now, and here is today’s bookish thing: a review of one the best books of the century.

There, done. I reviewed it. The “best book of the century.” Bye.

Ha, ha. Whatever. Okay, for a coherent review, read on. I’ll have more to say about it now than I did on Goodreads. Blog reviews are more fun.

Here goes. Okay, so my mom read this book last year and absolutely loved it. I couldn’t resist getting it out of the library this year, since I was behind on my reading goal anyway. Thanks to my own procrastination and schedule, it took longer than it should have to finish reading, but that was no fault of the story. I’ve never – never – read a book or a style of writing that held me so fully to its prose.

Winter Haven takes place in Maine – sweet! – on a tiny island way off the coast. It follows the story of Vera Gamble, a young woman who has just learned that her brother, who ran away thirteen years earlier, has been found dead on the island of Winter Haven. She leaves Texas to take the body home, but what she finds is far from what she hoped.

Her brother hasn’t changed in thirteen years.

As Vera awaits resolution to the mystery, more are mounting. She is being followed by the most terrifying noises that no one else seems to hear, hallucinations she had as a child are returning with a vengeance, a widow is preaching stories of witches and shipwrecks, and a mysterious man living alone on the other side of the island seems to know more about a lot of things than he’s letting on.

In the words of the synopsis, “. . . will Vera’s desperate questions lead to answers, or will her story become one more dark Winter Haven legend?”

*eerie drum roll*

You will have to read it to find out! But I mean, really, this thing is aawweessoommee!!! Please forgive the fan-girl-y reaction, but I can’t help it. Athol Dickson is a genius of the written word, and Winter Haven is without fail the best book of the century.

So why are you still sitting here reading my blog? Go. Read. It.

Ahem. Well, now that that’s over with . . . I have nothing more to say. You are reading it now, aren’t you? Of course you’re not. You’re reading the review. Well, I must direct you. If you’re not convinced, go to Goodreads and read those reviews. Ignore anyone who batted it down.

If you’re already convinced – as I know you are, my friend – go to Amazon and buy it!

Okay, done. That’s Winter Haven for y’all. I’m on my way to put it on my book list on the For Readers page.

. . . *whispers* are you reading it yet???