Above is our happy dachshund trio, Harold, Holly, and Hermann. Holly was adopted from a breeder and is a former breeding Mom. We got her when she was four and she is now 7. We got Hermann from the same breeder as a puppy. We were told he wouldn’t exceed 12 pounds. He’s 20 pounds (and he’s not fat!). But he’s 20 pounds of love and energy and we adore him. He just turned 3 years old.
The story of how we got Harold is amazing to us. We weren’t planning to get another dog. We had our two dachshunds and weren’t planning to adopt anymore. However, my husband had always wanted a wire-haired dachshund, which seem to be hard to find. Around January of 2020, we saw a dachshund breeder who had some wire hair puppies who had just been born. They had named one little boy Harold. I was immediately drawn to him because we had always wanted a wire-hair and my late Dad’s name was Harold! My Dad had passed away in March of 2019. It seemed meant to be, but we had a big expense come up and didn’t think we could afford him. We were sure that he would be adopted quickly and we were sad we could not get him.
Fast forward to early March. I happened to see a post from the breeder and Harold was still available! It seemed to us that Dad was saying, “Here, I saved him for you.” We had the funds available this time. A few texts later, and Harold was ours. Cute, cuddly, and smart as can be, to us he is our little gift from my Dad.
Harold
My husband runs an Instagram, Pupdate with Harold. There are always some cute pics of all three dogs.
Ally has come to Pine Hollow to temporarily help her grandparents run the town dog shelter after her grandmother is injured. Ben is struggling to handle single-parenthood after his sister and her husband died two years ago, and he became guardian of his niece, Astrid. Their worlds collide when Ben casts the tie-breaking vote in the decision to cut funding for the dog shelter. Anger turns to friendship, as they join forces during the Christmas season to try and find funding for the shelter and adopt out the 12 dogs who need homes. But is there something more?
This is such a cute romance, which immediately transports the reader into the Christmas season. That is my top rule for Christmas novels. The reader must feel as if they are surrounded by Christmas, whatever time of year it might be. Besides Ben, Ally, and Astrid, there are many colorful characters living in this close-knit town. This includes the dogs, who were very much a part of this story, and whose individual personalities are so well described. This is a story about recovering from loss and heartbreak and having the courage to take a second chance. The dogs reinforce the idea of second chances as well, because they are in the shelter waiting for new families to adopt them. I would recommend this for dog lovers, fans of Christmas romance novels, or anyone who appreciates second chances.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.
And as this is dog-themed, I couldn’t resist including a picture of our wire-haired dachshund, Harold, who will be turning 1 in January. He wishes everyone a Merry Christmas! I’ll get a Christmas picture of all three of our dachshunds up later.
EDIT: Here’s all three of our dachshunds: Holly is the red and white piebald, Harold is the black and white wire-hair, and Hermann is the chocolate and cream young man who was supposed to be a miniature dachshund, but ended up weighing 20 pounds!
Vera (Vera Xochiquetzal of Adowa) is a somewhat vain and spoiled teenager in the mythical world of Zerahlinda. She has a huge weight on her shoulders. Born with lavender eyes, she is known as a “lavender soul,” someone who will either save her world or devastate it. Protected by her guardian Yateem (Yateem Rukan Wulfgar of Xipili), she embarks on a journey to face the evil pursuing her and test her very soul. Along the way, she travels through magical lands full of fairies, pixies, moving trees, a shapeshifter, and more.
This is a well-written, highly descriptive tale of a magical world and its inhabitants. Although I do not normally read high fantasy, I feel that fans of young adult fantasy of this type are going to be thrilled with this land and its creatures. Although the character of Vera is a little selfish and spoiled, we get to watch her grow and learn along this great adventure.
The are only two things I did not like: First, Yateem is often described as Vera’s “handler.” I found this to be a very controlling term. I would prefer, guardian, advisor, and protector, because that those are the roles he serves. Secondly, I feel the cover of the book is a little subdued. It should be as colorful as the world of Zerahlinda.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
I received a free digital copy of this book from BookTasters. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.
Gardening to Eat: Connecting People and Plants by Becky Dickinson is such a helpful book for home gardeners who want to eat healthy. Part One talks about the basics of organic gardening. Part Two, Grow and Eat, is broken down by type of vegetable or fruit, and tells you how to plant it, grow it organically, and keep pests away, and then follows it up with recipes. For example, after walking the reader through the process of organically growing green beans, a recipe is immediately provided for Thai green bean curry. After the process of planting, growing, and protecting blueberries, recipes for Yogurt and Blueberry pancakes and blueberry cheesecake are provided. Garden to plate instructions for tomatoes, garlic, kale, leeks, onions, carrots, and a lot more are provided in this book.
I love the way this book is organized and is geared towards healthy growing and eating. From seed to plate, everything you need for healthy family gardening and eating is right here.
I received a free digital copy of this book from White Owl Publishing via Netgalley. However, as a home gardener who tries to eat healthy, I will be buying this book in hardcopy. My review is voluntary. This book will be released May 5, 2021.
Learning about Tanka poems today. Tanka poems are Japanese poems. They are 31 syllables, 5 lines. The first line has five syllables, the second 7, the third 5, and the last two lines have 7. The first three lines are supposed to evoke an image, and the last two describe an action based on that image.
Since I found out I have to get a biopsy today for a possible cancer scare, I wrote my first Tanka poem about it. Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing, but here are the thoughts in my head:
What If?
There’s a mass they said Tests and doctors await me Hospital is cold
I start to wonder what if? Drawing up plans for battle.
The image I’m trying to evoke is of of course waiting to have tests done in a hospital or doctor’s office. The action would be my “plans for the worst” running around in my head.
The photo above is not of me. I hoped it could look like any woman, waiting.
The photo below is of my very favorite place, Deep Creek, part of the Smoky Mountain National Park and located in Bryson City, NC. That’s where I go in my mind to stay calm and where I go in person when I can.
Photo by Doug DeMoss
Hopefully I’ll find out in a few days that this was all nothing, but I wanted to get my thoughts down. My next poem will be about how waiting for medical news sucks.
I’ve just starting writing poetry after many years, so any feedback would be great.
BOOKS READ THIS WEEK FOR THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY
I am currently reviewing several books for Historical Novels Review Magazine. This is the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. I am including the cover and the book description from Amazon. My reviews will not be posted until after the magazine comes out in February 2021. The books I have read/am reading for them this week are:
Twelve-year-old Adam is whisked away from his imperfect but quiet life with the arrival of a stranger and a magical promise in this time travel mystery.
Amazon Description: It’s 1999 and Adam doesn’t mind living at his uncle’s bakery, the Biscuit Basket, on the Lower East Side in New York City. The warm, delicious smells of freshly baked breads and chocolate croissants make every day feel cozy, even if Adam doesn’t have many friends and misses his long dead parents very much.
When a mysterious but cheerful customer shows Adam a snow globe and says that adventures await him, it’s too strange to be true. But days later, an unbelievable, incredible thing happens. Adam finds a similar looking snow globe and immediately travels back in time, first to Times Square in 1935, then a candle factory fire in 1967.
But how are these moments related? What do they have to do with his parents’ death? And why is a tall man with long eyebrows and a thin mustache following Adam’s every move?
Book 9 in the Carpenter & Quincannon mystery series. It is the late 1800’s, and Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon are partners, both as detectives and in life.
Amazon Description: Quincannon’s pursuit of two con men who have absconded to Hawaii with a considerable sum of his employer’s assets dovetails nicely with Sabina’s vision of a second honeymoon.
But neither is wont to stay out of trouble, and Sabina inadvertently becomes involved in a locked room/dying message murder in Honolulu.
Amazon Description: April 1944, the fifty-fifth month of the war in Europe. The entire island of Britain fairly buzzes with the coiled energy of a million men poised to leap the Channel to France, the first, riskiest step in the Allies’ long slog to the heart of Germany and the end of the war.
Lieutenant Eddie Harkins is tasked to investigate the murder of Helen Batcheller, an OSS analyst. Harkins is assigned a British driver, Private Pamela Lowell, to aid in his investigation. Lowell is smart, brave and resourceful; like Harkins, she is prone to speak her mind even when it doesn’t help her.
Soon a suspect is arrested and Harkins is ordered to stop digging. Suspicious, he continues his investigation only to find himself trapped in a web of Soviet secrets. As bombs fall, Harkins must solve the murder and reveal the spies before it is too late.
Amazon Description: Headstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.
Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility. Most patriotic citizens want nothing to do with German soldiers laboring in their fields, and they’re not afraid to criticize those who work at the camp as well. When Johanna describes the trouble to her friend Peter Ito, a language instructor at a school for military intelligence officers, he encourages her to give the town that rejected her a second chance.
The Historical Novel Society provides a quarterly magazine, Historical Novels Review, with reviews of many different genres of historical fiction. The reviews are both online and in the hard copy magazine. They also provide interesting online articles and hold conferences and other events. My reviews for them which appeared in the November 2020 issue can be found here
Five children are abducted during a daycare outing. Three and a half years later, four of them are returned. Only Ivy, the granddaughter of homicide detective Kate Wakeland, is still missing and presumed dead. Not allowed to join the investigation, Kate is unofficially following the case while working on a separate murder investigation.
This is the first in a series about 64 year old Detective Kate Wakeland, and I can’t wait to read the next book. There are twists and turns and a completely unexpected ending. I read this through in a day because I could not put it down. It grabs your interest, your imagination, and your heart. If you love murder mysteries, stories about family conflict, and stories with strong female characters, you will enjoy this book. Anni Taylor has done an amazing job with this book.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My review is voluntary. Now the book is available on Kindle Unlimited at no extra charge for KU members. It’s the first of the Tallman’s Valley Detective Series, and Book 2 is also on Kindle Unlimited. It’s an amazing value for KU members, and a chance to read two books from a talented writer for free. Book 3 is due out in September 2021.
This is a great one from Danielle Steel. Meredith White, an iconic actress, has retreated from the world after her husband’s betrayal and her son’s death. She is almost completely cut off and relies on her live-in housekeepers for companionship. Then a devastating earthquake occurs and Meredith finds herself rushing out to help her neighbors.
I really liked this one from Danielle Steel. An icon herself, she can write about a star who has that kind of fame with great understanding. She also tackles the tough subject of domestic violence in a believable way. I very much enjoyed and appreciated the theme of a recluse slowly opening up again through the act of helping others.
There are several different storylines in this book as we see into the lives of Meredith’s neighbors. We also see into the thoughts, daily lives, and motivations of her housekeepers, and we see what you can miss if you withdraw from the world.
If you want to read a romance that tackles the issues of domestic violence, self isolation, and loss, you should check this one out. Highly recommend.
I received a free copy of this book from Random House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.
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