Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Real Murder Author: Lauren Carr ISBN: B00KMMQT6K Publisher: Acorn Book Services Part of a Series: Lovers in Crime Type of book: Crime, West Virginia, small towns, second marriages, pets, families, cooking, secrets, getting along, mysteries Year it was published: 2014 Summary: When Homicide Detective Cameron Gates befriends Dolly, the little old lady who lives across the street, she is warned not to get lured into helping the elderly woman by investigating the unsolved murder of one of her girls. “She’s senile,” Cameron is warned. “It’s not a real murder.” Such is not the case. After Dolly is brutally murdered, Cameron discovers that the sweet blue-haired lady’s “girl” was a call girl, who had been killed in a mysterious double homicide. Meanwhile, Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton is looking for answers to the murder of a childhood friend, a sheriff deputy whose cruiser is found at the bottom of a lake. The deputy had disappeared almost twenty ...

Title of the book: Dinosaurs without bones; dinosaurs lives revealed by their trace fossils Author:  Anthony J Martin Publisher: Pegasus books Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-1-60598-499-5 Summary: What if we woke up one morning all of the dinosaur bones in the world were gone? How would we know these iconic animals had a165-million year history on earth, and had adapted to all land-based environments from pole to pole? What clues would be left to discern not only their presence, but also to learn about their sex lives, raising of young, social lives, combat, and who ate who? What would it take for us to know how fast dinosaurs moved, whether they lived underground, climbed trees, or went for a swim? Welcome to the world of ichnology, the study of traces and trace fossils—such as tracks, trails, burrows, nests, toothmarks, and other vestiges of behavior—and how through these remarkable clues, we can explore and intuit the rich and complicated lives of dinosaurs...

Title of the book: Ripples Along the Shore Author: Mona Hodgson Publisher: Water Brook Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-307-73114-2 Summary: Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God’s grace? Ripples Along the Shore Change is brewing in St. Charles. A group of brave souls are preparing to head west on the Boone's Lick Wagon Train, led by the mysterious and handsome Garrett Cowlishaw, who served as a Confederate soldier in the war that killed Caroline’s husband. Despite her dislike for him, Caroline is tempted to join the wagon train and start fresh somewhere new, but when Mr. Cowlishaw forbid...

Title of the book: Dandelions on the Wind Author: Mona Hodgson Publisher: Water Brook Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-307-73114-2 Summary: Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God’s grace? Dandelions on the Wind When Maren Jensen took a job on Elsa Brantenberg’s St. Charles, Missouri farm, she never expected to call the place her home. As she grows to love Mrs. Brantenberg and her granddaughter, Gabi, Maren is transformed from a lonely mail-order bride-without-a-groom to a beloved member of the Brantenberg household. But when Gabi’s father, Rutherford “Wooly” Wainwright, returns to the farm un...

Name of Book: Miracle Man Author: William R. Leibowitz ISBN: 9780989866217 Publisher: Manifesto Media Group Part of a Series: The Austin Paradox is sequel Type of book: Medicine, money vs noble efforts, chances, love, family, friends, relationships, helping, faith in humanity, tough questions Year it was published: 2014 Summary: MIRACLE MAN by William R. Leibowitz has been unanimously heralded by reviewers and readers. With numerous 5 Star ratings in the United States and overseas, and WINNER OF A NATIONAL "BEST THRILLER" AWARD, the enthusiasm for this unique novel has been overwhelming. MIRACLE MAN is a medical/conspiracy/psychological thriller that explores extraordinary genius, Big Pharma corruption, CIA machinations, metaphysical forces, and one man's tireless quest at terrible cost to validate his life. ---The victim of an unspeakable crime, an infant rises to become a new type of superhero. Unlike any that have come before him, he is not ...

Title of the book: Bending toward the sun Author: Mona Hodgson Publisher: Water Brook Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-307-73114-2 Summary: Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God’s grace? Bending Toward the Sun Dedicated to her education and to helping her father in his general store, Emilie Heinrich is convinced she doesn't have time for love. But when a childhood friend returns to St. Charles, Missouri, after serving in the Civil War, his smile and charm captures Emilie’s eye and her heart. Will she be forced to choose between honoring her father and a future with a husband and family of he...

Name of Book: The Roses Underneath Author: C.F. Yetmen ISBN: 978-0-615-86836-3 Publisher: Ypsilon &Co. Press Part of a Series: Anna Klein Trilogy Type of book: Post WWII Germany, 1945, Monuments Men, paintings, art, families, mother/daughter relationships, translation, filing, scarcity, mystery, Lebensborn, Hitler's museum, complicity Year it was published: 2014 Summary: It is August 1945 in Wiesbaden, Germany. With the country in ruins, Anna Klein, displaced and separated from her beloved husband, struggles to support herself and her six-year old daughter Amalia. Her job typing forms at the Collecting Point for the US Army’s Monuments Men is the only thing keeping her afloat. Charged with securing Nazi-looted art and rebuilding Germany’s monuments, the Americans are on the hunt for stolen treasures. But after the horrors of the war, Anna wants only to hide from the truth and rebuild a life with her family. When the easy-going American Captain Henry Coop...

Title of the book: The Myths of Safe Pesticides Author: Andre Leu Publisher: Acres USA Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-1-60173-084-8 Summary: The chemical-based conventional agriculture industry claims that the synthesized concoctions they sell as pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides are safe when used as directed, but does the scientific evidence truly support their assertions? Organic agriculturist and lecturer André Leu delves into a wealth of respected scientific journals to present the peer-reviewed evidence that proves the claims of chemical companies and pesticide regulators are not all they seem. Leu translates technical jargon into layman's terms to break down the five most repeated myths about pesticide use: independent scientific analysis shows that pesticides are not at all as safe as industry leaders and regulatory agencies claim. The pesticide industry argues that human agriculture, and thereby the global population itself, cannot survive without u...

Name of Book: The Captive Queen Author: Danny Saunders ISBN:  9781497462434 Publisher: Self published Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Political schemes, religious partisanship and unbridled love shake the Royal Court of Scotland at the end of the Stuart dynasty. Witness to sordid murders, spy for Her Majesty among the Protestants of the infamous preacher John Knox, forced to give up her one true love, thrown out onto the streets then ruthlessly attacked by a drunkard, Charlotte Gray will do everything in her power to remain the sovereign’s lady-in-waiting. As for the Queen of Scots, she faces turmoil of a completely different kind: prisoner in a castle under the command of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Mary Stuart learns that she is the victim of a vast conspiracy and that her English counterpart has ordered her imminent execution. Despite their hardships, Mary and Charlotte will keep their dignity throughout the storm. The two women will fi...

Name of Book: Landline Author: Rainbow Rowell ISBN: 978-1-250-04937-7 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Type of book: 2013, christmas, juvenile, marriage, "adult" family, LGBT supporting character, relationships, career, love Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point. Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her. When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally ...

Name of Book: The Budapest Romance Author: Rozsa Gaston ISBN: 978-1-4801-4063-9 Publisher: Stay Playful Press Type of book: Budapest, Europe, Hungary, clean romance, purpose, faith, relationship, hope, winter, long distance relationship, being together, one year, activities to do together Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Publishers Weekly says "The traditional healing properties and beauty of the thermal spa baths...are the true stars of this thoughtful romance." Manhattan businesswoman Kati Dunai lives a life of international glamour. Unfortunately, she's too busy to enjoy it. But when she visits Budapest to settle her father's estate, the city's leisurely culture speaks to Kati's soul. While luxuriating in her hotel's sensuous thermal baths, Kati is drawn to another foreigner: a rugged Dutchman named Jan. As Jan shows Kati Budapest's unhurried pleasures, Kati introduces Jan to a slow pace of intimacy that fuels the fires of...

General Information: Name of Book: Human Acts (Soneun i eundae) ISBN: 978-1-101-90672-9 Publisher: Hogarth Publisher Year it was published: 2016 (original 2014) Summary: From the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian, a rare and astonishing (The Observer) portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice. In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed. The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho's best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice. An ...

Title of the book:  The Stages of Grace: Life and Love in the Face of Alzheimer's Author:  Connie Ruben Publisher: Xlibris Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-1-4990-5347-0 Summary: This book was written in part to honor Grace Ruben as a profoundly important person, but it was also born of a desire to share with others who have loved ones with Alzheimer s disease what Connie Ruben experienced as Grace s caregiver and friend. Connie wanted to capture the emotions, the expected and unexpected issues, the painful times, as well as the humorous and loving moments that she and Grace have shared as a result of this disease. This book is not meant to be a handbook for dealing with Alzheimer s disease, but Ms. Ruben hopes that by sharing her feelings and experiences, readers may recognize that they are not alone on this particular journey. Author Info: (From iRead Book Tours) Buy the Book:   Amazon   ~   Amazon.ca ​ Meet the Author: Connie Ruben i...

Name of Book: The Madonna of Notre Dame Author: Alexis Ragougneau ISBN: 978-1-939931-3-99 Publisher: New Vessel Press Type of book: Mystery, murder, Paris France, 2000s, church, Notre Dame, secrets, identities, motives, behind-the-scenes, The Feast of Assumption Year it was published: 2016 (original 2014) Summary: Fifty thousand believers and photo-hungry tourists jam into Notre Dame Cathedral on August 15 to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. The next morning, a stunningly beautiful young woman clothed all in white kneels at prayer in a cathedral side chapel. But when an American tourist accidentally bumps against her, her body collapses. She has been murdered: the autopsy reveals disturbing details. Police investigators and priests search for the killer as they discover other truths about guilt and redemption in this soaring Paris refuge for the lost, the damned, and the saved. The suspect is a disturbed young man obsessed with the Virgin Mary who spends his d...