Madaris Bride For Christmas by Brenda Jackson

This is a fun read for the Christmas season. It's wonderfully romantic as well as full of suspense. The magnetism between Lee and Carly took my breath away. Their love travels from Vegas to Dubai. I especially liked the idea of Lee's grandmother Laverne. She is the matchmaker in the large Madaris family. However, the grands and great grands want to find their own loves. So Lee ducks away to find the perfect woman on his own without any help from his great grandmother.

I enjoyed reading about Carly's career. She traveled to Paris to learn Culinary Arts. It is a surprise for whom she finds herself working.It is also surprising to find Lee cooking more meals for her than she cooks for him. He not only knows how to kiss Lee also knows how to whip up a delicious, attractive dish for dinner.

Really interesting is the reason why Carly is afraid to enter a love relationship. Finding out the reason why she is avoiding Cupid's bow and arrow is painful and an eye opener into how much our family can have to do with our love choices. I look forward to reading more novels about this big family. It's a family full of love. Always there to help one another in a time of trouble. Believe me there is enough trouble in this novel to cover the top of a mountain. I stayed glued to my seat. So it is with sadness I leave this novel and look for my next holiday escape.I think next time Nolan's love story is going to be told. brendajackson

The Madaris Bride by Brenda Jackson

Given the amount of time it had taken to get here, she figured they were somewhere in a cabin near the (Toiyabe) National Forest."

Quest For The Giant's Treasure by Gerry Gaston

I felt like a child again as I traveled with the little boy searching for the king's treasure and crown. He had to pass a troll, goblins, etc. The book is interactive. Therefore, it's possible other readers might see what I didn't see on my picked route. It made me think of the fork in the road. Which way do I go? Do I take the way less traveled? It's a wonderful book for children. It's exciting and spooky. It's also a learning tool showing it's not always fun or exciting to follow the old routine instead of the more interesting journey. I'm sure a child would beg for more titles by this author.

Getting a Way with Murder by Ralph McInerny

Although these mysteries have been published for a long time. This is the first one I've read with Father Dowling. Ralph McInerny made his characters interesting including the detectives. This mystery is mostly about insurance claims and embezzlment and of course, murder. I found the explanations for embezzlement very interesting. Since I've never really understood anything about insurances, that part went a bit over my head. Still, I understood that people can use a false person's name over and over again and then, retrieve the money themselves.

I would have liked a better or more specific description of Father Dowling. Perhaps, I will get to know him better in the earlier novels. This novel is the ninth in the series. Plus, I didn't get a clear picture of Fox River. The mystery had the power to draw me back to the present. I remembered a recent money theft of big money which left people reeling with feelings of being scammed and once rich now broke.It was painful to watch the people who were involved by accident in this White Collar crime.

I was shocked how many people were murdered in this one tiny novel. Anyway, I enjoyed it. Liked Sally Wise, Patricia and Downs, etc. Will look forward to reading another Father Dowling mystery.fantasticfictionralph-mcinerny/

Murder On The Down Low by Pamela Samuels Young

I think this whole tragedy and the good which might have come from it originated with the romance between Maya and Eugene Nelson. We never meet Maya except as others talk about her and eulogize her in the novel. Compassion and empathy for her comes from the deep feelings shared by Special, her cousin. Her Cousin Special can't believe the why for her cousin's death. I suppose this novel might be called Gay fiction, but ithere are so many issues in this novel including most importantly what it means to be on the down low, how it effects the Black church, etc. Just looking at the life of Maya is to get a glimpse of the possible lives of many African American women. If they aren't made aware of what is happening in the African American community, the community is responsible for their deaths.

To put it bluntly African American men are deceiving Black women by living double lives. The secret of their lives come home to hatch when women find themselves carrying HIV/Aids. The story is sad from the beginning, to the middle and at the end. However, it's a story that must be told and retold. The author Pamela Samuels-Young in Murder On The Down Low gives quite a bit of credit to Oprah Winfrey for sharing the facts about this situation on her talk show. Oprah Winfrey interviewed  R.L. King, the author of a book titled On The Down Low. Pamela Samuels Young's emotions after seeing and hearing Oprah Winfrey's interview with R.L.King are the same emotions I felt while reading this novel. "My emotions during that sixty-minute program, went from shock to anger to fear."

I am grateful to these three people Pamela Samuels Young, Oprah Winfrey and R.L. King for opening my eyes to the very important situation facing our community today. I am learning hiding "stuff" under the rug doesn't make difficult problems disappear it only gives problems more power to destroy lives. So education is most important. It's not a cliche. Education is the way to give focus and make our vision stronger.
http://pamelasamuels-young.com/

 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/44517.J_L_King

Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant

Maggie and her Aunt Clara live in Durham, North Carolina. Maggie has come back home because she's been charged with embezzling funds from the bank where she worked. Thank goodness she likes pies. Baking a dozen pies a day is what her aunt's life is all about. The name of Aunt Clara's shop is Pie In The Sky. Sadly, Maggie comes home with troubles following behind her. There is murder and all sorts of troubles like break ins, stolen laptops, etc. You know. It's the typical cozy. I waited anxiously for a dead body. Didn't have to wait long. A dead body is found outside of the pie shop.The dead man is a person Maggie knows very well.

I enjoyed the characters in this cozy. I especially liked the ending where Ellie Grant leaves a cliffhanger. I have my fingers crossed this is where the next cozy will start.

I love North Carolina. So I waited anxiously for Ellie Grant to write about sights around town. Unless I missed it. I didn't see any named in the book. Sorry, but it was like being plunked in the middle of Nowhere, USA. Other than that I enjoyed the cozy. I rediscovered the importance of family support. Maggie had no one to hold on to except for Aunt Clara. Finally, of course she made friends with Ryan and other people. Looking forward to another Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant although with a different title. Since this is a Cullinary cozy, there are pie recipes in the back of the book. This is a wonderful treat just before Halloween.joyceandjimlavene.com/EllieGrant