Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Another "We've Seen Santa" Review
This is a cute, short children's book that I will be sharing with my 2 year old grandddaughter if I can get her to sit still long enough. The illustrations are well-done for children this size to relate to and since most pages rhyme together, it should hold her interest. I think just the fact that these children in the story are catching Santa in the act will capture most young children's attention.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a Christmas picture book to share with a 2-4 year old.
I won this book through The Christmas Spirit blog and this is my honest review.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/199457674
Monday, August 15, 2011
Found...
Recently, I was going through a box of my old books that I got from my mother's shed when we helped her clean it out. I was determining which books to pass along (or loan) to my son, now 13, and which books to hang on to for my daughter.
I was pleasantly surprised when I made it to the bottom of the box and found 5 floppy binders stacked beneath the books. These binders contain every poem I wrote during my high school years. Unfortunately, the poem I previously mentioned about friendship was not in there. My mother is currently searching for it in the scores of school papers she has from my sisters and me. Hopefully, she will have some luck in locating it.
I have not read through the poems that I found in the box, yet. I really cannot recall what is in there. But, no matter what they say, or how good they may or may not be, poetry was my form of journaling back then. So, it will be a walk down memory lane, good or bad. I thought that these books of poems were lost forever. What's the chances that they had spent all these years at the bottom of a box in my mother's shed all these years?
I am looking forward to reading them, and seeing if I actually had any real talent back then. The musings of a 15 year old mind...LOL. Perhaps, if I like any of them, I may post them or have them published. Time will tell. The truth is, no one has ever read any of them before. I always kept them close to the vest, just as any young girl's diary is private and unshared.
I was pleasantly surprised when I made it to the bottom of the box and found 5 floppy binders stacked beneath the books. These binders contain every poem I wrote during my high school years. Unfortunately, the poem I previously mentioned about friendship was not in there. My mother is currently searching for it in the scores of school papers she has from my sisters and me. Hopefully, she will have some luck in locating it.
I have not read through the poems that I found in the box, yet. I really cannot recall what is in there. But, no matter what they say, or how good they may or may not be, poetry was my form of journaling back then. So, it will be a walk down memory lane, good or bad. I thought that these books of poems were lost forever. What's the chances that they had spent all these years at the bottom of a box in my mother's shed all these years?
I am looking forward to reading them, and seeing if I actually had any real talent back then. The musings of a 15 year old mind...LOL. Perhaps, if I like any of them, I may post them or have them published. Time will tell. The truth is, no one has ever read any of them before. I always kept them close to the vest, just as any young girl's diary is private and unshared.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Finding Love and Coming Home
Lainie Johnson travels to the Lone Tree ranch in West Texas after her mother's death in order to meet her maternal grandfather--who doesn't even know she exists. Because of the twenty-five-year estrangement between her mother and grandfather, Lainie doesn't tell him who she is, wanting first to find out what kind of man he is before inviting him into her life.
But she finds that he isn't the only man she must contend with. Reed Smith, the bossy and cocky ranch foreman, figures that Lainie is the woman for him the first time he lays eyes on her. She feels the same about him but because of the secrets she's holding she fights it. So...just who's going to blink first?
I had the pleasure of reading Bobbie O’Keefe’s Lone Tree. As a Texas girl myself, it was like having a taste of home for me. I loved reading some of the things those guys would say, certain phrases that are so Texas. Later in the book, when Lainie returns to California, and everyone notices her accent, put a smile on my face. Having been well into my talking years before my family moved to Texas, I know how easily that accent is picked up, and all these years after leaving Texas, I still have my twang and key phrases that mark me as a Texas girl.
Lainie’s reason for visiting Texas was a powerful one. Every encounter between her and Miles leaves you holding your breath. You anticipate how this meeting will go. You may be wrong, but you are never disappointed. You are suspicious of everyone’s motives, actions and thoughts. At times, you want to scream at Lainie for the choices she is making, but she seems to have a good reason for each of those decisions.
Enter in the sexy, Texas cowboy. I love the way O’Keefe introduced him to the story. I wonder if she always planned for him to be a major part of Lainie’s adventure or if he was originally meant as a piece of eye candy for her to get a taste of Texas. Whatever her original intent, she did a wonderful job building his character and the secondary (or was it the primary) storyline.
Night after night, I hated to put Lone Tree down. I found myself lying in bed, speculating on where the Lone Tree Ranch was going to lead me tomorrow. When the story lines began to explode, one right after the other, it was in a totally unexpected way. I was caught off guard when Lainie was caught off guard. This is what makes a story all the better to me.
I try to anticipate where a writer is going; sometimes I have the whole story figured out within the first few pages. This was definitely not the case with Bobbie O’Keefe’s Lone Tree. She left me wanting to see more of life on Lone Tree Ranch. This is not to say the story is incomplete, rather that more stories could be told.
O’Keefe did an excellent job with this story. I recommend it to all who love a good romance or a good story of coming home again.
But she finds that he isn't the only man she must contend with. Reed Smith, the bossy and cocky ranch foreman, figures that Lainie is the woman for him the first time he lays eyes on her. She feels the same about him but because of the secrets she's holding she fights it. So...just who's going to blink first?
I had the pleasure of reading Bobbie O’Keefe’s Lone Tree. As a Texas girl myself, it was like having a taste of home for me. I loved reading some of the things those guys would say, certain phrases that are so Texas. Later in the book, when Lainie returns to California, and everyone notices her accent, put a smile on my face. Having been well into my talking years before my family moved to Texas, I know how easily that accent is picked up, and all these years after leaving Texas, I still have my twang and key phrases that mark me as a Texas girl.
Lainie’s reason for visiting Texas was a powerful one. Every encounter between her and Miles leaves you holding your breath. You anticipate how this meeting will go. You may be wrong, but you are never disappointed. You are suspicious of everyone’s motives, actions and thoughts. At times, you want to scream at Lainie for the choices she is making, but she seems to have a good reason for each of those decisions.
Enter in the sexy, Texas cowboy. I love the way O’Keefe introduced him to the story. I wonder if she always planned for him to be a major part of Lainie’s adventure or if he was originally meant as a piece of eye candy for her to get a taste of Texas. Whatever her original intent, she did a wonderful job building his character and the secondary (or was it the primary) storyline.
Night after night, I hated to put Lone Tree down. I found myself lying in bed, speculating on where the Lone Tree Ranch was going to lead me tomorrow. When the story lines began to explode, one right after the other, it was in a totally unexpected way. I was caught off guard when Lainie was caught off guard. This is what makes a story all the better to me.
I try to anticipate where a writer is going; sometimes I have the whole story figured out within the first few pages. This was definitely not the case with Bobbie O’Keefe’s Lone Tree. She left me wanting to see more of life on Lone Tree Ranch. This is not to say the story is incomplete, rather that more stories could be told.
O’Keefe did an excellent job with this story. I recommend it to all who love a good romance or a good story of coming home again.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Readers Favorite Review of "We've Seen Santa"
Tiffany Higgins created a wonderful story about a childhood happiness in seeing Santa Claus. This story takes me back to the time when I was a child, so filled with happiness in the excitement of Christmas coming. The biggest fear was knowing that there were times your behavior wasn't the best and how would Santa think about leaving you presents and knowing your behavior was not good? The child was certain that a bad action would give Santa the reason to leave a lump of coal under the Christmas tree. So because of how you wanted presents under the tree, there would be Christmas cookies and milk on the table for Santa. And of course the child would never get caught in seeing Santa.
This picture book is easy to read and a preschooler will enjoy the simple words and the wonderful illustrations throughout the story. The preschooler can learn to read the story along with you and it will be a delight to add some creativity to encourage the child to read along with the adult. I think this book is an excellent story for the preschool age genre, the story is exciting and is just right for a storytelling family gathering on Christmas Eve night before the preschoolers are in bed. I would also suggest a family time activity in helping the preschooler bake the cookies and set out the milk for Santa, so the story can be brought to life. This story can be the beginning or ending of an exciting night.
Reviewed by Lisa M for ReadersFavorite.com
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