#BookReview “SIDESHOW” Brian Kindall

Now for the review. "SideShow" takes place before "Delivering Virtue" and "Fortuna and the Scapegrace". As I have read the latter two it was really fun to get a picture of who Didier was before those two great adventures take place. "SideShow" is both a great introductory and companion to flesh out the world of Didier Rain. If you start with "SideShow" you'll be hooked. For so little pages, it does a great job of showing the complexities of the world through the eyes of my favorite swashbuckling dandy.

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“An Authentic Experience” Kelly Wittmann #BookReview

"An Authentic Experience" is one of those books that I call a builder. At the beginning I didn't like Silver. Not even a little. She seems hollow, selfish and shallow. BUT....(and here is why I call this book a builder) by about the middle of the book I realized that her initial shallowness was part of her evolution as a character. This is one of those books about growing up. It's about gaining wisdom through experience. "An Authentic Experience" is really about how lifes challenges (whether they be our own challenges or those closest to us) morph us into someone different. Someone deeper. Someone wiser. Someone who is actually authentic.  

“Artemis” Andy Weir #BookReview

In "Artemis", we are also introduced to some judicial ethics that, if not carefully considered and worked out now, will plague us as we've already experienced with the explosion of tech and our judicial systems sluggish pace in keeping up. Is it ethical to deport someone to a planet they haven't been on since they were a young child knowing that it will cause them severe health issues? Is it ethical to deport someone to a country they know nothing of since they didn't grow up there? What constitutes a persons citizenship? As humanity becomes ever more connected is it ethical to continue to divide us into countries? How we move forward with these issues now and later will have a huge effect on our momentum technologically. 

“Pete the Cat – Sir Pete the Brave” Kids Book Review

I recently noticed that the book can also determine how many he remembers. Realizing this, I started to make a note of the books he seemed to put more interest (which seems to equal memory) into and have been adding books similar into our routine. So far, the "Pete the Cat" series has been doing wonders for his reading. He absolutely LOVES these books!

“Teach Us All” – You Should Watch It.

I'm pretty sure that most of us in the US have heard at least something about the segregation issues we have with our public school systems. I remember my step-father telling me about it when I was a kid. My mother in law was in school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas when they desegregated. She told …

Kids Book Review “The Nest” Kenneth Oppel

For some kids summer is a sun-soaked season of fun. But for Steve, it’s just another season of worries. Worries about his sick newborn baby brother who is fighting to survive, worries about his parents who are struggling to cope, even worries about the wasp’s nest looming ominously from the eaves. So when a mysterious wasp queen invades his dreams, offering to “fix” the baby, Steve thinks his prayers have been answered.

“The Liar” Nora Roberts

The book opens with Shelby's abrupt drop into widowhood and the realization that her now dead husband deceived her in almost everything.  Crushed by millions of dollars worth of debt Shelby gets clever. She takes stock of the fancy home with it's ugly expensive furniture and begins to sell it all off. This brings further realizations of her late husbands lying which is a reoccurring theme throughout the book. The guy really was a total douchebag.

“When Wolf Comes” John Pappas

Historical adventure, 1801. A survivor from an attack on a trade ship is sold as a slave to the Makah tribe of the Northwest Washington Coast. In a beautiful hostile land of people with strange spiritual ways he will become teacher and student, find friendship and even love, and realize escape comes in many guises, and survival is not always as simple as saving your own life.

“Emotive” Kevin Laymon

Sam will boggle your mind. He's a total psycho, of that I have no doubt, but he also has one glimpse of remorse for poor Linus. I had a bit of hope for our little K9 hero but that hope was quickly dashed when Sam fell deeper into his obsession and paranoia. It was hard to see Sam discard Linus from his affection. It was hard to see Linus' basic needs not be met and realize how animals must feel when us humans don't make them a priority. When we forget to feed them on time or their water bowl doesn't get refilled or we make them wait hours and hours on end before we let them out to potty. It was eye opening to see how emotionally devastating it is to animal kind to be at the absolute mercy of someone else's compassion......or lack there of.

“Naveed – Through My Eyes” John Heffernan

After a bomb took away his father and severely injured his sister, Naveed's family lives in a hovel and their situation is precarious. The land lord is a bad man who has even worse friends and cares for no one but himself. He sets his eyes on Naveed's mother and I held my breath with worry about Naveed's family and how or if they would find a way out of that nasty man's reach.