Christmas Memories

By

Nancy Carey Johnson

If I could fill my  Christmas stocking with goodies and stories it would be filled to over flowing with all the wonderful vignettes and recipes that are between the covers of this book.   What a wonderful holiday treat to pick this book up and go down memory lane with Ms. Johnson.  In doing that with her, so many of my own childhood memories and nostalgia came to the surface to be relived in my heart and mind again.  What a Christmas gift that is!  

I'm not so much on cooking or baking but the recipes in this book are a treasure trove of yumminess sounding creations I'd be willing to give a go at!  My mouth watered at so many of them like "Chewy, Ooey-Gooey, Chocolatey Dense Brownies".  MMMmmmm!   Or the mysterious "Indian Pudding"...whatever could that be? Kahlua Crackles....bring 'em on!  YEAH!   Then the traditional Christmas foods like the perfect roasted turkey and "exclaimed over garlic mashed potatoes".  Makes my tummy growl just thinking about this!  The book is so full of tasty-sounding recipes that not only sound delicious but had a way of bringing pictures in my mind of the food laden tables at holiday gatherings when I was growing up.  

Reading this book was a virtual walk down memory lane of holidays past.  From the first chilly evenings in fall to the fresh fallen snows of winter, this is a reminiscence with Ms. Johnson's beautiful writing, humor, and wisdom she shares from her heart.  The titles at the beginning of each  of the memories creates a curiosity as to what it's going to be about.  "Red and Greens", Tougher Than Alligator Baggies", "Stumblebummers"....just a few of the many, many stories that I read and reflected on.  It's a book to journey through at a leisurely stroll and take in each and every word and keep them in my heart.  And bringing the memories I have in my heart back to remember.  It was like going into the attic and opening the long forgotten chest and having the gift of those memories back to live again.  I want to thank Ms. Johnson for the joy of reading her treasured memories, thoughts, perfected recipes and that she shared them in this book.  YES!  "Life is Good" and for me this book is a traditional Christmas read that I would gather around a warm cozy fire and share from it with my family and friends.  Thank you so very much!!!   All thoughts and opinions in this review are my heartfelt own.

 

 The Betrayal
By
Terry Lynn Thomas

There is almost no worse feeling than that of being betrayed unless you're betrayed by the one person you love with all your heart. Believing your love for each other is forever. This is what Olivia has believed her 32-year marriage to Richard has been. True love. "True love isn't about romance. True love, the kind of love that withstands the test of time, is what you have when the romance wears away. True love is knowing your spouse has your back no matter what. It's about devotion and family. I thought I had that with Richard." But Olivia gets an annoymous text message on her birthday with an incriminating video of Richard and his secretary and her world comes crashing down.

Ms. Thomas then creates a psychological suspense novel that pulled me in. I don't read many books in this genre so I was suspicous of almost every character that was involved in Olivia's life. Not only was Olivia betrayed by her husband but she's been set up to take the fall for his secretary's murder. Olivia is then dependent on herself to clear herself of the murder. Ms. Thomas had me turning the pages to find out how Olivia was going to manage doing that. She adds diverse and intricately developed supporting characters that had me guessing if they were actually on Olivia's side or if they were betraying her, too. All that is except Brian. His story had my heart and his desire to help Olivia was so honest. "Brian was an old-school cop who believed in working his cases on a personal level."

There is so much that kept me reading the book. The fast pace, the twists, turns, the clues that surfaced from surprising places, the vivid details within the scenes....it's a well written novel. Olivia is a very well developed protagonist and I felt connected to her the entire time. It was nice to read about a character who's age is very close to my own, too. The plots in the story are realistic and plausible.

I want to thank the author, Terry Lynn Thomas, for the honor of reading this thrilling book. I'm excited this is the first novel of the series! Can't wait to jump into the next one! All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own.