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It's Close to Christmas, and Time (for me) to Read (and review!)

Writer's picture: Claire O'SullivanClaire O'Sullivan

I read a beautiful Christmas devotional by Annie Yorty, "25 Symbols of Christmas: Finding Jesus - a Devotional." I am wont to post my reviews from Amazon and here is no exception. This is a laugh- out-loud and a tear-provoking read.


"25 things I love about this Christmas devotional - what a beautiful way to integrate the matters of life especially during Christmas and weaving spiritual truths with the Scripture. From the gingerbread house and forced smiles (laughed and laughed about that) to driving through Bethlehem PA following the signs *loved that!* and freezing on the merry-go-round and how frightening it was and how we, all the time, but especially at Christmas, remember why Jesus was born. This is a book one should have to place on the shelf to read a chapter per day in December. And I agree with the author - putting the Christmas decorations is a letdown - and I've always thought, we ought to keep the nativity scene up, next to the cross, for all to see. Well done."


And I meant it. Even if my 2 a.m. grammar is horrific. Heck, I have 2 a.m. grammar 24 hours a day. Just ask my editor!


Click the cover to the Amazon page !!
Click the cover to the Amazon page !!

I just finished a clean crime/comedy, "Finlay Donovan is Killing It," by Elle Cosimano. Admittedly it's been languishing on my Kindle for quite some time, but I finally got around to reading this - and wished I'd read it earlier. Finlay is a writer and in trouble with her agent. She has writer's block, and advance she'd about to lose. She's inches close from losing her home, custody of her kids, and suddenly finds her ex-husband - her landlord - fired her babysitter.


After a failure of a meetup with her agent, she finds a note on the table next to her. She's to call the woman who'd been listening in (who misunderstands the convo). She almost tossed the note but for the amount of money on it. $50,000. *The book wouldn't go anywhere without her making the call out of curiosity.* Funny and disastrous moments prove to be a great mystery for her agent. Hired as an assassin. Of course, the offer (demand) is real. Things get more interesting when the police become involved. I give this book a five star for being hysterically funny, completely disastrous, romantic, and with a sassy sidekick and a bartender with an attorney's ear.



Another book, "A Date With Danger," by Jessica Fayeth (a new favorite author for me) is both a rom/com and mystery suspense. My favorite of genres. It's a clean rom/com/mystery etc., however it's hysterical from page one. You'll fall in love with the main characters and their zany ways. I'm the kind of gal who would stop pestering a guy, but Amelia ... is definitely not. And Caleb? As Amelia says, he's always "in a different position of despair. Or maybe constipated." Hey, her words, not mine.


Needless to say, she's always in more trouble than he is, and quite a menace.



And last, a few samples of Shanghai Road




 
 
 

Comments


Shanghai Road, a Whiskey River Mystery, Book 3

Shanghaiing is history. Now, transportation is the key.

 

Allie Espinoza, a private investigator with questionable methods, is eager to make a solid reputation in Whiskey River.

 

On her first job, on a less-than-legal search for evidence for fraud, she uncovers more than she bargained for.Now she’s on the run—until she’s apprehended by Deputy Ben Johnson, one of Whiskey River Police Department’s finest. At the police station, Allie’s true identity is uncovered.

 

Desperate for extra staff, the PD hires her to help investigate a now complicated case, and it’s not all champagne.

 

As she and the PD unravel the secrets of spidery intrigue, time runs short while lives hang in the balance. Allie Espinoza must dodge those finer points of the law, a cranky homicide detective, and uncover the evil. While Allie and Ben confront their own demons, one of them may become the next victim. And Whiskey River is where love, danger, and redemption collide.

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