Miss Julia is just getting over the shock of her banker husband's death, who left her surprisingly wealthy, when a woman shows up with a little boy who belongs to Miss Julia's husband. She leaving the boy with Miss Julia so she can go to North Carolina to become a beautician to support herself and her son. Now Miss Julia is saddled with a skinny 9 year-old boy. While she resents the boy, she still feels sorry for the innocent little thing.

Living in small-town southern USA, she can't escape the nosiness of her neighbors and especially her Presbyterian pastor who chides her for taking in an "orphan." When the boy's uncle comes to claim him, offering to return him to his mother, Miss Julia gladly turns him over to the uncle. After her house is ransacked and learning a bit more about the uncle, Miss Julia comes to regret her decision to let the boy go.

Although Miss Julia is rather naïve, she has plenty of grit. Unfortunately, Miss Julia has had decisions made for her all her life. She was taught from youth that her husband and the Pastor always knows best, even so far as being a submissive wife to a philandering husband. Miss Julia is beginning to see the hypocrisy that has surrounded her whole life. Though coming to this revelation, and desiring to live in her new-found freedom with the death of her more-than-frugal husband, at times it is difficult for her to always be able let go of the old paradigms and to see what's going on. When the pastor ambushes her with a Doctor of Psychology who makes a play for her, then blames her for being vulnerable to his advances, Miss Julia reverts to her fears of what will people think. They have played on these fears, threatening to tell all unless she lets them be appointed her guardian - all to get her money. However, there are twists and turns at the end.

This is an amusing and fast read.

American Dirt

 by Jeanine Cummins

I normally read the jacket covers before reading a book, just to get an idea of what the book is about. I didn't on this one, and I am so glad I made that choice. I was hooked from the first page forward. I loved reading of Lydia's bookstore; the bathroom scene at home was gripping. When Lydia realized she needed to take her son, Luca, and disappear, every scene was well thought out, and I found relying on gut instinct amazing, and learning the ways of migrants along her journey helped in making her choices.

I will be the first to admit that I have always felt that illegals entering the States is not right, but I was forced to admit that sometimes there is no other way. I never saw that coming.

Lydia and Luca's trek is filled with danger as they jump onto and from the tops of trains, along with encountering people they run into and away from throughout their trip. Lydia finds that everyone is not who they say they are, making it difficult to know just who to trust making choices from the best of bad.

I cannot imagine living in a third-world country that is filled with corruption on every level. I cannot imagine the danger that even middle-class people encounter on an every-day basis.

I consider this book life-changing, mind-blowing and a must-read.

 

The Ghost

by Danielle Steel

I would have given this at least four stars, but it was difficult to get past that it was so poorly written. I have read a few of Danielle Steel's books, but had never noticed the repetitiveness, nor the editing being this poor.

I'm not normally into love stories, but I did like the story line of three fragile people who had been hurt by previous spouses and that they met new people. I could definitely understand the fascination with the diaries written by the "ghost." I was kind of hoping that the owner of the bed and breakfast was at least the great- or great-great-granddaughter of the ghost. Her character could have been more highly developed.

A concept that could have been five stars, unfortunately became for me a struggle between two or three stars. I chose three just to be nice.

The Innocents Abroad

by Mark Twain

I found the book boring at times, but if I "muddled" through those parts, I came across passages that were so delightful it was worth the boring part. As he traveled through Europe, I found myself wishing he had traveled with a camera, but I soon realized that his description of the lands and the people were almost as good as having a camera. He He was only 20-21 at the time he made the trip, so I enjoyed his antics off-shore, sneaking into places and stealing grapes. I enjoyed his cynicism at being a tourist in Europe and the Holy Land. He often mentioned how he knew things were true about the objects he saw because he'd seen the same elsewhere - each guide stating it was the "one" true object.

As the described the peoples I found myself relieved as he left the filthy areas to go to the nicer areas of the towns and villages. I had no idea that in so many towns the houses were so close together that the sun barely reached the streets. I had no idea that the building that houses the Vatican was so huge.

I took Art Appreciation in college and loved it, so I could understand a little of how he felt when he described early Christian paintings; I agreed that the Renaissance era was much more beautiful. I mean it has to be - enlightenment is always so much better than being stuck in the Dark Ages. It made me wonder - is something beautiful just because it's old and ancient? They both tell their story. Freedom always wins.

When he got to the Holy Land, I cringed almost all the way through that trek. His description of the ruined horses he rode that had never been allowed to rest, never given enough to eat, and never ever having their saddles removed made me sad. I wondered why there were so many malformed people who were always surrounding them, calling "bakeesh"! Constantly asking for money. Why did such an area have so many poor and sick people? Incest? Small gene pool? His description of children with fly-encrusted eyes made me sick at times, as it did him.

I loved the descriptions of "camping" through the Holy Land. He'd been camping before and knew it would not be like being in a hotel, but he had to eat those words as he told of the wonder of finding tents with wash basins filled with clean water and beds made up with soft white sheets. A breakfast seemingly fit for a king. Their guides apologizing that it wasn't better. I sensed as they traveled further, the guides weren't quite so accommodating as it wasn't mentioned again. I felt fear as they tried to make sure they were hidden from the "Boudain" (Arabs who might or might not have been chasing them).

I loved that he told it like he saw it, the beauty and ugliness alike.

I enjoyed the biblical references (he seemed to know the stories plus he was traveling with several ministers and teachers).

So he was able to go from boring parts that I really don't remember, to wonderfully descriptive segments that made me feel that I was there with him and could almost smell the dirt and sweat and tears of those with him.

I wanted to read this because I had just finished Jonathan Cahn's The Oracle where the book is mentioned several times. I really need to reread both again. Jonathan's book was difficult to get through also mainly because it was so repetitive. I thought that he mentioned early on that Mark Twain was in a Jewish service where he heard certain passages read from the Old Testament about the Holy Land, but I don't remember that in Innocents Abroad. If I re-read Innocents, I want to be sure and do so with Google Earth readily available to see how the countryside has either remained the same or changed.

All Around the Town

by Mary Higgins Clark

Four-year-old Laurie Kenyon was abducted from her front lawn and then released two years later in the early morning hours at a school house where she was found by the caretaker.

When she is picked up by her parents, they are just glad to have her home and deny that she might need counseling. Her sister Sarah had vowed to keep Laurie safe hoping it would make the "gift" of her own birth as wonderful as the "miracle" of Laurie's birth. The nuns had told her a miracle was always better than a gift.

It is now 15 years later; Sarah and Laurie's parents have been killed in an automobile accident. It has become evident that Laurie's parents made a mistake by not allowing her to go through counseling. She is now a senior in college and has been accused of murdering her English professor, Allan Grant. She has no memory of the murder. The investigation reveals Laurie exhibiting other personalities that have been hidden these past years. Each personality takes turns to protect Laurie, making find the truth more difficult.

Did Laurie kill Professor Grant or was it one of her other personalities that murdered him? Sarah, who is now an attorney has quit her job and decided to spend her time investigating the crime and representing her sister in court.

While much of the story is predictable, there are a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. I found it quite enjoyable.

The Second Mrs. Hockaday

by Susan Rivers

Seventeen-year-old Placidia, a bride of two days, is left to care for her husband's farm and his small son when Major Gryffth Hockaday is called back to the Civil War. Coming from a well-to-do family, she is unprepared to run a farm or raise a child and must depend and trust the very few servants who also live on the land.

Two years later when Major Hockaday returns, he is hurt and angry at the rumors that his wife bore a child and murdered it. He immediately demands that she be arrested. Alone at home while Placidia is in jail, the Major comes across pages of a favored book where the true story has been handwritten in the blank end pages. The secret she tried to hide is now brought to light.

Based on a true incident, we see order and relationships amongst Southerners in a new way. Wartime has brought its own desperate order. This is a love story that reveals how the Civil War brought about the beginning of changes in the country's racial divide.

As I read this book, I was struck by the sometimes difficult relationships between land owners and their servants or slaves. People were either ruled by attitude of the day or they could go against it and be ruled by what was just and right. It takes a lot of courage to go against convention to protect those who may need it most. 

Vinegar Hill

by A. Manette Ansay

James had always been interested in Ellen's sister, but since she rejected him several times, he decided to take Ellen out on a date. On the way home, they were stranded in his car by a snowstorm. When it finally ended the next morning, they knew that marriage was the only option for both of them.

But now James has, with no warning, quit his job. He's just announced that he's moving his family in with his parents. Ellen has no idea how much her life is about to change.

Helen and her two children have moved into a house filled with hate, bitterness, cruelty, greed, false piety and horrifying secrets. The only time I found myself cheering was when she finally got enough backbone to leave.

The only thing I can say about this book is it was the most depressing book I've ever read. I don't care how the characters came to their circumstances, I don't care that it has the Oprah Book Club seal on the front cover, getting through the book was like going through hell with these characters.

Halfway through the book I was tempted to trash it, then I started skimming and skipping through the pages enough to get the gist of the rest of the story. By the time I finished, I actually ended up with a headache.

All I can say is that the book is aptly named.