Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home By Rhoda Janzen

Blurb:

An hilarious and moving memoir—in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron—about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis.

Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her brilliant husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her with serious injuries. What was a gal to do? Rhoda packed her bags and went home. This wasn’t just any home, though. This was a Mennonite home. While Rhoda had long ventured out on her own spiritual path, the conservative community welcomed her back with open arms and offbeat advice. (Rhoda’s good-natured mother suggested she date her first cousin—he owned a tractor, see.) It is in this safe place that Rhoda can come to terms with her failed marriage; her desire, as a young woman, to leave her sheltered world behind; and the choices that both freed and entrapped her.

Written with wry humor and huge personality—and tackling faith, love, family, and aging—Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move ahead.

Review:

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is a delightful, heartfelt, and revealing personal account by the woman who lived it, inside and out. It gives immense and detailed insight into the interesting history and environment that formed her. The author, Rhoda Janzen, writes in first person and uses prolific humor that cleverly pokes fun at herself, and her Mennonite culture with warm sincerity and without being disrespectful in any way. She obviously appreciates and adores her quirky family, even if she disagrees with many of their ways. She grows into the understanding and enjoyment of their good qualities. Although I was not able to identify closely with any particular character, I was able to treasure her family for all their differences.

Janzen is hilariously descriptive in sharing her personal journey; a difficult journey that she chooses to ponder on the light side. Her story is set in contemporary America and not only recounts her own emerging selfhood, but also considers the evolving Mennonite society. She is an excellent writer, and a pleasure to read. This author made me laugh on almost every single page through Chapter Nine; not with flippant jest, but rather with the humor of real life. The tone begins to change with Chapter Ten becoming more serious and almost preachy in a sudden odd and deliberate, yet not unwelcome, way. She needed to evaluate her chosen path beyond her own raw experiences and she relates her thinking and conclusions adroitly to her readers. Her unique humor begins to ease in again in Chapter Ten, and she attains a rich balance. Writing this book seems to be a cathartic release for this author as she comes full circle. Reading it might also be helpful for some readers.

I highly recommend this book, especially to women who may be on their own rocky road with undesirable relationships and unpleasant life events. If nothing else, read it for the laughs; I did!

Length:  272 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $14.00

Digital:  $9.99

Buy Link: http://us.macmillan.com/mennoniteinalittleblackdress/RhodaJanzen

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory. You can download your books onto your computer using “Save As” to a “Books” file you create and sort them into sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to your Kindle. That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle

A Saint’s Salvation by Beverly Ovalle

Blurb:

Corporal Nicholas “Saint” Santiago needs to go home to reclaim the man he used to be—the man he was before Operation Enduring Freedom hardened his heart. He needs to reconnect to the values and the reasons he does what he does. Saint also needs to try to forget the courageous woman he knows was meant to be his.

Petty Officer Angelina Jones' life changed the moment Saint saved it. She survived the blast, but now has to deal with the fact she’ll never be whole. Knowing Saint received a “Dear John” letter, Angelina has no intention to be his rebound romance. She needs to be loved for herself. She needs to forget about the one man she knows was meant to be hers.

They each try to find someone to help them forget.

But what does fate have planned for them?

Review:

Okay, prejudice rears its head here again.  I confess, a book about a Marine and the Hospital Corpsman in his unit would have to be pretty bad for me not to like it.  After all, I was a Hospital Corpsman who fell in love with a sailor.  But, Ms. Ovalle not only gave us a pair of courageous service people to admire, a romance to cry over, and a bit of steamy sex to spice up the pages, she did so in a way that grabbed me on the first page and held my attention right through the last tear.  She didn’t even distract me with any glaring grammar errors.

Ms. Ovalle—we apparently don’t live too terribly far apart.  If you ever find yourself at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Illinois next to Great Lakes on a Monday or Thursday, please stop by the My Health eVet kiosk in the pharmacy area and say hi.  That’s where I volunteer twice a week to give back what I can to those who served in combat while I enjoyed my duty in Oakland, California and at Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i.

Length: 61 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=4&products_id=824&zenid=0273b80c166317bb654c8145d5a109c2

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society By Amy Hill Hearth

Blurb:

Eighty-year-old Dora, the narrator of a story that began a half century earlier, is bonding with an unlikely set of friends, including Jackie Hart, a restless middle-aged wife and mother from Boston, who gets into all sorts of trouble when her family moves to a small, sleepy town in Collier County, Florida, circa 1962.

With humor and insight the novel chronicles the awkward North-South cultural divide as Jackie, this hapless but charming “Yankee,” looks for some excitement in her life by accepting an opportunity to host a local radio show where she creates a mysterious, late-night persona, “Miss Dreamsville,” and by launching a reading group—the Collier County Women’s Literary Society—thus sending the conservative and racially segregated town into uproar. The only townspeople who venture to join are regarded as outsiders at best—a young gay man, a divorced woman, a poet, and a young black woman who dreams of going to college.

Review:

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society is my favorite kind of novel. It combines wit and wisdom in a lively and credible tale of friendship and bonding with the perfect touch of humor. I could identify with every single character in this book in one way or another. This was a first for me. The story is narrated in first person and set in South Florida in the ‘60s, a time of great social and political challenge in America.  The author, Amy Hill Hearth, uses her special literary technique to bring her characters to life both individually and collectively. “There’s an old southern saying that if you’re worried about your weight, your clothes, or getting old, then you don’t have any real problems,” is just one of many gems shared with the reader through the main character, a common-sense, kind and simple woman searching for her own individuality. Each character is portrayed as multi-dimensional as every live human being is in reality. Unique analogies are effectively used with humor throughout the book, as in, “There was a miserable silence, like when you’re at the dentist and you’re waiting for the novocaine to work.”

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society is a delightful and smooth read. I highly recommend it, and think it would appeal most to women, especially those who enjoy an escape from routine through good fiction.

Length: 272 Pages

Prices:

Print: $15.00

Digital: $10.93

Buy Link:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Miss-Dreamsville-and-the-Collier-County-Womens/Amy-Hill-Hearth/9781451675238

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory. You can download your books onto your computer using “Save As” to a “Books” file you create and sort them into sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to your Kindle. That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle

Blue 52 by Elaine Cantrell

Blurb:

"First Lady Kills President Lovinggood"

December 29, 2018

Thirty years later Hank Lovinggood embarks on a quest to prove his mother's innocence and punish the killers who took his family from him. Together Hank and lovely physicist Kathryn Sinclair confront an implacable, twisted, merciless enemy who'll do whatever it takes to hide the truth forever.

Review:

Hank Lovinggood was only three when his mother apparently shot his father and then herself. That would be traumatizing enough for most kids to grow up with, but when your father, Richard Lovinggood, is the most beloved president since Kennedy and your mother, Elizabeth, was a movie star before she gave up her own career to become the First Lady, people don’t let you forget. Hank is raised by his grandparents in a mausoleum dedicated to the memory of Richard. His grandfather, still a U.S. Senator in his nineties thanks to life-prolonging therapies, doesn’t believe Elizabeth killed Richard. His grandmother does and won’t allow anyone to speak of Elizabeth in her presence. Hank doesn’t quite know what to think about his mother, but he doesn’t believe he’ll ever measure up to either of them. Someday, he’d like to learn the truth.

Someday sort-of comes when Hank meets Dr. Kathryn Sinclair, a quantum physicist who has invented a time machine. She offers him the chance to travel back in time and not only prove his mother’s innocence, but possibly even prevent his parents’ murders. Unfortunately, Hank doesn’t believe time travel is possible. Despite the chemistry between them, the couple can’t quite connect. Hank doesn’t think Kathryn could possibly care about a man who’s mother may have killed his father, and Kathryn denies being able to love a man who doesn’t respect her work. Meanwhile, Hank pursues more mundane investigative methods to clear his mother’s name. But when people around them start to die, he finally turns to Kathryn’s machine.

Blue 52 grabbed me at the beginning and wouldn’t let me go. I found myself reading it when I should have been working on other projects, a sure sign of a winner. Let it grab you, too.

Length:  308 Pages

Price:  $4.99

Buy Link: http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1171&zenid=7ee065abee43cd5c2db2ccc9285b5f13

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory. I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there. That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle