Cheryl's Book Nook

From HOME BY MORNING by Alexis Harrington Cole found the coffee, ground the beans, and soon the room was filled with its rich redolence as it perked. Without help, he also located the cups, cream, and spoons. He searched for something to go with the coffee—Granny Mae was right, they had to eat. The best he found was a loaf of bread and a square of butter on a saucer. Jessica hadn’t been wrong about her lack of food. But then as Amy had often reminded him, Jess had never had much talent in the kitchen. He’d never cared. Although the bread looked more like scraps by the time he’d butchered it, he was glad for the distraction. But he could feel Jessica’s eyes on his back as he puttered. “Eat your sandwich,” he said over his shoulder. “The coffee’s about ready.” Satisfied to see her nibbling on the chicken, he balanced the cups, coffee pot and other stuff to carry to the table. He’d never had much talent in the kitchen, either. “Sorry about the bread,” he muttered, putting it down. Jessica...

Price: $4.99 Release Date: Available Now – Apple’s iBookstore Available Now – NOOK Book Store Platforms: iPad, iPhone, iPodTouch, NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color, NOOK app for iPad Watch and listen as adorable children pose real questions about Santa and his mysterious workshop. Mrs. Claus takes a break from her very busy schedule to answer and invites readers on a tour of the North Pole. Learn some of the best-kept secrets of Christmas from the person who knows it all. If you’ve ever been baffled by questions like “How does Santa get into houses that don’t have chimneys?” and “Where do elves come from?” then sit down with your precocious child and share MRS. CLAUS EXPLAINS IT ALL. Her answers are precisely what inquisitive children want to know come Christmas! Luminous illustrations by David Wenzel, bestselling illustrator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, accompany this enhanced e-book, which contains the full original text as well as fun and engaging audio that elevates the reader experien...

Review by Nancy What do you want to know today? How about “Six Works of Literature That Were Really Hard to Write?” or “Moons of the non-Gluteal Variety”. This book can tell you all that and so much more! In a really funny compilation of various subjects the folks at Mental_Floss tell us of things odd and odder but all interesting. The introduction in itself is worth a chuckle or two and the following chapters make this a great gift for anyone on your Christmas list you haven’t shopped for yet. After all, where else can you find out about Bumpy, Hickey, Chesty and Seven Other Rejected Dwarf Names? If not for someone else, treat yourself, you’ll enjoy it thoroughly How well do you think you know your inner child? Now’s the time to test your knowledge! Visit the mental_floss Facebook page to take a quiz testing your knowledge and be entered to win a special mental_floss prize package! This quiz is inspired by mental_floss: The Book: The Greatest Lists in the History of Listory, availabl...

Imagine a world where you lived in a gated community. It was you and your closest friends and neighbors. Sounds nice…so what is the catch? The catch is that you can not venture outside of the walls. For what lies beyond the walls are the remains of another world, where other friends and family may have once resided but they have all turned into zombies. Welcome to Eden. While, I don’t really judge a book by its cover, I admit that the cover for this book was a bit corny and so, I thought the story would be as well. Nope, the story was better than I expected it to be. While, there were some flaws, I did find myself drawn to the main character Harris. He was just a normal guy, trying to survive. He was smart and had a good personality. Some of the other characters I did find uninteresting and this did take away from the story. On that note, there was a lot of jumping around between the time lines of past and present and many different characters coming at me that in beginning I was confu...

Review by Nancy In an aptly named book, Liz Adair addresses why we shouldn’t go by first impressions and how, in a small town in the Pacific Northwest called Limestone things aren’t nearly as odd as they seem. Except for some of them. Mandy Steenburg, well-educated young administrator has been hired by the town of Limestone to manage their School District. A new adventure, well-timed for her departure from a married man who won’t take no as an answer and the opportunity to get out of Albuquerque. She expects Limestone kids (and parents) to be typical small town kids and they are, to a point. Her first welcome isn’t. Glares, sneers, small whispered conversations and a total lack of respect greet her. They all want the “old administrator”, Grange, who is now the Assistant to Mandy, back in the saddle and aren’t afraid to let her know that. She tries her best but it isn’t good enough. Then things start happening. She rents a beautiful cabin from the manager of the town “C” store and immed...

From Tuesday December 13th – Friday December 30th the following eBooks will be priced at $1.99 at all online e-tailers. Whether you like Darcy as a tortured vampire, a modern day rock star, a Texas rancher or anything and everything in between! There truly is a Darcy for everyone! A Darcy Christmas – Carolyn Eberhart, Sharon Lathan and Amanda Grange Darcys & the Bingleys – Marsha Altman Darcy’s Voyage – Kara Louise Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star – Heather Lynn Rigaud The Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice – Abigail Reynolds Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One – Sharon Lathan Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard – Belinda Roberts Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife – Linda Berdoll Mr. Darcy, Vampyre – Amanda Grange Pemberley Chronicles – Rebecca Ann Collins Pemberley Ranch – Jack Caldwell Searching for Pemberley – Mary Lydon Simonsen Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy – Sara Angelini Darcy and Fitzwilliam – Karen V. Wasylowski You can find all of the titles and information here :

Review by Nancy In this oddly thought out book, Jonathan Chamberlain tells us many stories. There are brothers Joe and Jack; Joe’s friend Wash; several women who die sadly; a Vietnamese poetess named Ho Xoan Houng who wrote beautiful poems for us; Maddie, Benjy and Alice. Joe dies purposefully. He did it himself. Dove under a train. It usually works well and did this time, too. Jack is delivered a set of notes that completely changes his hum-drum existence. “Go find Maddie and my baby and get them away from Wash before they die.” Pretty straight forward. Well, Jack found Wash, Maddie and barely more than a zygote Benjy in the hills of the Eastern Mountains. Maddie was a slave to Wash and to Joe. She wanted to escape and it was up to Jack to make that happen. However – it didn’t quite work that way. Jack wants to learn what Vietnam did to his brother but doesn’t particularly want to know what Joe did in Vietnam. He learns anyhow. He travels there – sees what Joe saw and thinks on that. ...

Review by Nancy When you work in Singapore, a lot of friends and business associates believe in Luck. Good luck, bad luck, luck of all kinds is sent you by spirits and affects how your life runs. Ursula Formosa, formerly of the UK but born in Asia; has skipped to Malay. She leaves behind no love life, deceased parents and has enough to “get by”. But she didn’t like to be idle so picks up a job from Fiona Li at the Check Your Luck Agency. Problems with a lease? Lover dumps you cold? Things that go bump in the night? Ursula is on it for you! She actually can see things that you and I can’t but has tried her entire life to ignore them. Seems as though her boss and a co-worker knows she can see things but they don’t discuss it. Fiona does, however; put Ursula into a rather odd situation as co-partner of a new television show called “Hunting Hantu”. “Ghost Hunters.” Her anchor in this endeavor is a much-sought after male model named Shariff Kadir. Once she meets him, she knows why everyone ...

Review by Nancy When your first introduction to someone is being tackled you in the middle of a meteor crater, it may give you pause. Or, if you happen to be Dr. Carin Gonzales; you turn around and whack them upside the head before asking “why?” Jake Sabio heard the fragment of space before it was visible and felt the need to ground everyone around him. Something in the fragment changed them all. No one but Jake and Carin would handle the change and they were dying as well, only slower. They just may die of “lead poisoning” before the new disease kills them as they are now being hunted by the CIA, and a very elusive killer named Crowbar. Backstories have Jake’s children and ex-wife killed by Crowbar as a way to take out her new husband in his “master plan” to control the CIA and all of its various parts. Carin has worked with MI (Mechanical Intelligence) and has reconstructed a robot named Fred who is much more advanced that R2-D2 (and smaller). Jake has justice on his side and Carin h...

Gwen and her boyfriend, Richard have been dating for a while, Gwen has a feeling that Richard is going to propose to her on her birthday. Instead of a ring, Gwen receives a pair of pearl earrings. After Gwen’s Aunt learns that Richard did not propose to Gwen, she figures that this is the best time to tell Gwen that she and Gwen will be traveling to Europe. There is just one catch. Gwen and her Aunt will be joined by Gwen’s Aunt’s S and M club members. While in Europe, Gwen meets Emerson. Emerson is teaching Gwen the finer things to life and all that Europe has to offer. I enjoyed this book. It had all the things I liked about Mrs. Brant…humor, interesting characters, and a scenic location. I was laughing at the antics of Gwen’s Aunt’s S and M club. It just goes to show you that no matter what age you are, you can be into S and M (sudoku and mah-jongg that is). In the beginning, I was not feeling Gwen so much. She was in Europe and all she wanted to do is complain and compare the dashin...

Maggie Larkin was trying her hardest to put up with reality, rich snob, Rafe de Luca but he touched her butt one too many times. Plus, Rafe’s comment about the Larkin sisters has made Maggie see red. The next thing Maggie is giving Rafe a bloody nose. Cal Drummond was watching Rafe. He knew what Maggie was going to do before she did it but he was too late to stop her. Cal makes his way to Maggie and rushes her out of the bar before the paparazzi get to her. Cal has been tracking Rafe for a while. It seems that one of Rafe’s hobbies involves killing the women that he has been with. One of those women is Cal’s sister. Cal will not let the same fate fall upon Maggie. What I like most about Mrs. Ambrose’s books is her humor. Maggie was the one that brought the laughs. She did it with her strong personality when it came to Cal. She never would admit when Cal was right. She always had to put in her two cents and this would cause for some entertaining, witty banter. The romance between Cal an...