Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN.com: Lucas Vermontez was a proud firefighter like his father. Now, not only has he lost his father and his best friend, Zach, in the fire at the Grove Street homeless shelter, but the devoted rookie can no longer do the work he loves after being crippled in the tragic event. When friendship with his buddy’s beautiful widow turns into more, he wonders, what could he possibly offer Jenna? Jenna Morgan is trying to grieve her husband’s death like a proper widow, but the truth is, she never really loved Zach. His death feels more like a relief to her. But that relief is short-lived when she loses her home and the financial support of her in-laws. Now the secrets of her past threaten to destroy her future. Can the two forget the painful past and discover new reasons to live and love? There's quite a few things to like about this book. Firefighters, dogs, romance, conniving in-laws. Ok maybe not so much the last thing, but the other three definitely play a big role in...

Summary from BN.com: Three grown Southern sisters have ten marriages between them—and more loom on the horizon—when Ginger, the eldest, wonders if she’s the only one who hasn’t inherited what their family calls “the Grandma Gene”: the tendency to like the casualness of courtship better than the intimacy of marriage. Could it be that her two sisters are fated to serially marry, just like their seven-times wed grandmother, Mrs. Lillian Irene Harper Winslow Goldstein Carey James Bobrinski Gordon George? It takes a “girls only” weekend, closing up Grandma’s treasured beach house for the last time, for the sisters to really unpack their family baggage, examine their relationship DNA, and discover the true legacy their much-marrying grandmother left behind . . . Angela Hunt has always been one of my go to authors ever since I started reading Christian fiction. What I love about her books is that even though they are written from a Christian perspective, she tackles subjects that aren't...

A cranky, atheistic philosophy professor loves to shred the faith of incoming freshmen. He is chosen by a group of scientists to create a philosophy for a computer-generated world exactly like ours. Much to his frustration every model he introduces—from Darwinism, to Existentialism, to Relativism, to Buddhism—fails. The only way to preserve the computer world is to introduce laws from outside their system through a Law Giver. Of course this goes against everything he's ever believed, and he hates it. But even that doesn't completely work because the citizens of that world become legalists and completely miss the spirit behind the Law. The only way to save them is to create a computer character like himself to personally live and explain it. He does. So now there are two of him—the one in our world and the one in the computer world. Unfortunately a rival has introduced a virus into the computer world. Things grow worse until our computer-world professor sees the on...

Bryn Hennesey, a volunteer at the Grove Street Homeless Shelter, was there the night the shelter burned to the ground and five heroic firefighters died at the scene. Among them was her husband, Adam. Like the rest of the surviving spouses, Bryn must find a way to begin again. But Bryn must do so living with a horrible secret.… Garrett Edmonds’s wife, Molly, was the only female firefighter to perish in the blaze. As her husband, it was his job to protect the woman he loved.… How can he go on in the face of such unbearable loss and guilt? And what started the fire that destroyed the dreams and futures of so many? Investigators are stumped. But someone knows the answer…. What would you do if you found out that you were the reason why something bad happened? Would you be able to own up to it, knowing that forever your life was going to change possibly negative for the rest of your life? Or would you hide it and hope that you could get away with it? That is the dilemma Bryn faces in this bo...

When the ominous Thunders roll into Dr. Amanda Bell Brown's town, the sassy sleuth sees a storm brewing. Disgraced playboy preacher Ezekiel Thunder and his seductive first lady, Nikki, are on the comeback trail, but Bell is less than charmed by the pair. When their toddler, Baby Zeekie , is found dead from an accidental drowning, forensic psychologist Bell suspects foul play in the fatal family, especially after the mama in mourning flirts with Bell's estranged husband, Jazz. Bell is sickened by the woman's behavior and the thought of someone murdering an innocent child -- or is it morning sickness that's plaguing her? Between babies and bodies, she pushes past the limits to discover the deadly truth. As a huge fan of the other books in the Amanda Bell Brown mystery series, I have been looking forward to the long awaited released of the third book in the series. My eagerness was not in vain as this was another outstanding book from Burney . I don't think she's...

On Thanksgiving Day, Douglas DeVore kissed his beloved wife good-bye, unaware that it would be the last time he'd see her -- or their precious daughter Rachel. Left with five kids to raise on his own, and already juggling two jobs to make ends meet, Doug wonders how he'll manage moment by moment, much less day after day, without Kaye's love and support. When Mickey Valdez, a daycare teacher, hears of the tragedy, she offers to lend a helping hand. After all, it isn't like she has a family of her own waiting for her at home. Her brothers are all happily married, but love seems to have passed her by. Then a spark ignites...but will the flame be too hot to handle? For one last time we get to return to Clayburn. This time we are introduced to Doug, a grieving widower with 5 children who recently lost his wife and daughter, and Mickey, a single schoolteacher who yearns for love. The story involves seeing how Doug struggles to get through every day life by himself and realiz...

When you're in the trenches, sometimes you're up to your neck in mud. That's the not-so-glamorous life of a pastor's wife. Felicia's family is...complicated. That's putting it nicely. Now they're flying in from LA -- all at once -- to stay with her...just when her brother-in-law, Javier, and Mama aren't even speaking to each other. And the whole church will be there to witness the feud. Mimi has a lot on her mind with her four energetic kids -- especially Milo the screamer, with his Pavarotti voice. Then her live-in alcoholic dad starts to mow their lawn at midnight. Lisa has her hands full with loudmouth Tom Graves and the other troublemakers at Red River Assembly. Then vicious rumors start to fly about the Barton family...and the attacks and threats get increasingly personal. Jennifer is pushing her adopted daughter, Carys, in a stroller, when she notices a black town car -- the same car she's seen several times over the past week. Could someone b...

Please forgive me if I act a little strange Vienne Kenney has returned home after flunking the bar exam twice. Jack Linder has returned home also after completing a session in rehab. The two have plans to start anew in their hometown. Vienne is opening up a fancy coffee house while Jack paves the way for a new art gallery. Both of them face the trials of running a new business in a town and find themselves migrating towards the other for company. A relationship begins to grow until Vienne finds out about Jack's past. She has wounds that run deep involving alcoholism and and the relationship begins to fray. It takes a true act of forgiveness before all can be well again. Clayburn is a town I would like to visit. I could see myself visiting both the art gallery and the Latte- dah . In fact I would probably be a regular visitor at Vienne's coffee house since I love frequenting places like that. It sounds like a great place to hang out with a book and a cup of mo...

These women need a V8! The feisty foursome of pastors' wives are back! This time the gals are battling new adventures in their lives of serving God and their church. Felicia has to adapt from being a career woman to a stay at home mom. Jennifer continues her quest to become a mother with surprising results. Lisa is battling with a rebellious teenage daughter. And Mimi is struggling with a colicky baby and an attraction to her kids' principal? On top of all that, mega PW Kitty Katt is still trying to outshine her fellow PWs and still getting on everyone's nerves. Will a PW retreat finally manage to bring all the women together? I enjoyed this book A LOT better than the first book in the series. I felt that the characters were developed more and they weren't just a cleaner Christian imitation of the ladies from Sex and the City. There was a lot more communication between the husbands and the wives, something that I had felt was severely lacking in the first book. So...

It's Hard Knock Life for Us Being a pastor's wife is tough. Everyone judges you, tells you what to do, and you're always in the spotlight. You can't complain about this to anyone else because you're supposed to be a spiritual leader in the church with no problems at all. That's what it's like for Mimi, Felicia, Lisa and Jennifer. The foursome get together bi-weekly to share their problems, frustrations, stories and laughter. This is their chance to let it all out because no one else understands what life is like for them. This book was a refreshing realistic view into the hardships of what it's like to be a pastor's wife. Reading books about members of a pastor's family are always difficult for me to read. It really irks me about the absurd expectations people place on the the pastor and his family. Why do we as church members think that the pastor's family should be perfect and that we have a right to judge every move they make? We'r...

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair The Friday Afternoon Club can't believe it. Perfect Mary Alice has been keeping a secret for years. The always together mom has been hiding the fact that her parents were hippies and her real name is Maya. The FAC gets together again to unlock the secrets of the VW bus given to Mary Alice by her father. The women take a blast to the past trip back to a time where peace, love, and rock and roll was the national creed. But in between the love beads and bell bottoms is the story of a woman who discovers the father she never knew and the power of forgiveness. The 60s are my absolute favorite decade. I love the culture of that time period especially the music. I would have killed to be alive when the Beatles were popular. So when I heard about the premise for this story, I was excited to read it. And I was not disappointed. This story will give Baby Boomers and fans of the decade a time capsule of the events that happened. From the Bea...

Books + food= YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I've said before, I love reading books about food. Reading a novel that has the recipes it mentions is even better. As soon as I'm done with the book, I want to start making the food. What's even better is when the recipes are super easy for non cooks like me. Dying to Decorate has all this and more. I really want to be able to find friends like the ladies in the Friday Afternoon Club when I reach that age. The friends meet every Friday (hence the name) for a time of fellowship, fun and food. Each woman has a very different personality that meshes well and doesn't clash with other. One of the members inherits a Civil War era house from her great aunt and the FAC goes to help her renovate it. During their stay, they discover the history of the house and how it will eventually change their own outlook of life. I enjoyed the book tremendously. My favorite scene was when John and Liz go out to dinner and stop by a coffeehouse. They or...

Hip Mom Lit I'm neither married nor pregnant but reading about Becca Joy's (i love that name) situation was a fun ride. I could relate with her about her relationship with her sister. The children are not annoying and the husband actually helps out around the house instead of acting clueless. Also reading about the spa trip was fun since I've always want to go to one but haven't' had to the chance too. A way to live vicariously through the characters. My only gripe is the perfect neighbor. While there's nothing wrong with seeing someone who appears to have it all together, Becca's neighbor seemed a little too perfect. By the end of the story there appears to be not one single flaw with her. That didn't seem real. Other than that a great fun read for anyone who enjoys light chick/mom-lit. Tight Squeeze by Debbie DiGiovanni is published by Howard Books (2005)