"Saving CeeCee Honeycutt" & "Gilt by Association"

320 pages

From Booklist

Momma always told CeeCee (short for Cecelia Rose) that “being in the North isn’t living—it’s absolute hell.” Of course, having to live with Momma—Camille Sugarbaker Honeycutt, that is, Vidalia Onion Queen, 1951—doesn’t make it any more heavenly, especially when Momma starts standing in the front yard blowing kisses to passersby. You know this is going to end badly, and so it does, when the erstwhile onion queen is run over by a speeding Happy Cow Ice Cream Truck. Before you can say “sweet magnolia blossoms,” 12-year-old CeeCee is sent off to Savannah to live with her elderly great aunt, Tallulah Caldwell, and her wise African American housekeeper and cook, Oletta. It being 1967, you know there will be one dark episode of racial hatred, but it’s quickly—and conveniently—resolved offstage, leaving all the characters free to continue being relentlessly eccentric, upbeat, sweet as molasses, and living, as CeeCee puts it with a straight face, “in a breezy, flower-scented fairy tale . . . a strange, perfumed world that . . . seemed to be run entirely by women.” Light as air but thoroughly pleasant reading.

I really liked this book.
I don't know what else to say about it.
You should read it.
Told ya I wasn't a very good book reviewer! lol

256 pages

"......But a superb, gilt-edged 18th-century French armoire she purchased for a song at estate auction has just arrived along with something she didn't pay for: a dead body.

Suddenly her shop is a crime scene--and closed to the public during the busiest shopping season of the year--so Abigail is determined to speed the lumbering police investigation along. But amateur sleuthing is leading the feisty antiques expert into a murderous mess of dysfunctional family secrets. And the next cadaver found stuffed into fine old furniture could wind up being Abigail's own."

This was my bathtub book this week.
Yes, I have specific books for reading in the tub. Ha!
I have a Kindle, which I use for most of my books.
However, my nightly indulgence is a bubble bath and a book.
That's where PaperBackSwap.com comes in.
I use my credits to buy paperbacks for the bath. :-)

This is the second book in this series.
I have the same complaint about it as I did about the last one.
The language.
I don't like bad language in a book, especially when it seems to be used for no real reason.
I find the language in this book very unnecessary.

This is supposed to be in the "cozy mystery" genre.
I don't think it should be labeled as such.

The definition of a cozy is as follows:
"Cozies very rarely focus on sex, profanity,or violence. The murders take
place off stage, and are often relatively bloodless" (from Wikipedia).
(Click here for more on cozies).

Granted, this is still a mild book, but I would not label it a cozy.

My second complaint is that this is supposed to be a Southern novel.
Other than saying "ya'll" and various characters complaining about yankees (which I have NEVER heard a southerner seriously do), you would never know these characters are supposed to be from the south.
It's obvious that a non-southerner (dare I say, a yankee?) wrote this book.

All of that being said, I didn't hate the book.
It was an ok read.
To be fair, I loved the author's Penn-Dutch Inn series.

2010 total: 9
Currently Reading: "The Help", "Death of an Outsider" (Hamish MacBeth), and "The One Year Chronological Bible"

Recent Reads

O Pioneers!- Willa Cather

110 pages

"Alexandra, daughter of a Swedish immigrant farmer in Nebraska, inherits the family farm and finds love with an old friend."

I liked this book.
It was not as good as "My Antonia."
It was different, not as poetic or descriptive.






Larceny and Old Lace- Tamar Myers

224 pages

"As owner of the Den of Antiquity, recently divorced(but never bitter!) Abigail Timberlake is accustomed to delving into the past, searching for losttreasures, and navigating the cutthroat world of rival dealers at flea marketsand auctions. Still, she never thought she'd be putting her expertise in mayhem and detection to other use -- until crotchety "junque" dealer, Abby's aunt Eulonia Wiggins, was found murdered!

Although Abigail is puzzled by the instrument of death -- an exquisite antique bell pull that Aunt Eulonia never would have had the taste to acquire -- she's willing to let the authorities find the culprit. But now, Auntie's priceless lace is missing,and somebody's threatened Abby's most priceless possession: her son, Charlie. It's up to Abby to put the murderer "on the block.""

This was my "bathtub book" last month.

Tamar Myers has always been one of my favorite writers.
I loved her Penn-Dutch Inn series and I have read a few of these Den of Antiquity series.
I was shocked at the language in this book.
I don't like that.
The other books I read by her had little to no bad language.

Other than that, it was a fun read.
Not as funny as the Penn Dutch Inn series, but enough to keep a person interested.




The Principle of the Path- Andy Stanley

178 pages

"Your Direction, not Your Intention, Determines Your Destination.

There is often a tension between where we want to end up in life and the path we choose to get there. We fail to see that having good intentions is never good enough. Like Charlie Brown, we wrongly believe there's something to be said for trying hard. We need to understand why, in spite of our good intentions, we may have ended up at the wrong destination with our finances, our marriages, our careers, or a host of other dreams. So how do we get from where we are to where we truly want to be? The Principle of the Path is a road map to proper direction and discipline."

Here are some of the highlights
* "To get from where we don't want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction."
* "Direction-not intentions, hopes, dreams, prayers, beliefs, intellect, or education-determines destination."
* "We should break the habit of drawing a circle around individual decisions and events and dismissing them as isolated occurrences. These are steps. Steps that lead somewhere."
* "Prudent people look as far down the road as possible when making decisions."
* "Christians start talking about forgiveness as if somehow forgiveness serves as an escape hatch from the outcome of bad decisions."
* "When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that's when really smart people start doing really stupid things."
* "Your heart can't be trusted... The truth is, if you let it, your heart will direct you down a path that leads to the very spot you most want to avoid."
* "The choices are now. The outcomes are later. The decisions you make today have ramifications down the road."
* "One never accomplishes the will of God by breaking the law of God, violating the principles of God, or ignoring the wisdom of God."
* "I am constantly amazed at how resistant folks are to take their cues from people who are where they want to be."
* "We don't drift in good directions. We discipline and prioritize ourselves there."

Simple principles in this book, but their implications have an enormous impact on the outcomes of our lives.



I Scream, You Scream- Wendy Lyn Watson

320 pages

"Recently divorced Tallulah Jones is mortified when she's stuck scooping sundaes for her two-timing ex-husband-and his bodacious new girlfriend, Brittanie-at his company luau. But when Brittanie drops dead, Tally is suddenly the prime suspect in her murder investigation. To catch the killer, Tally will have to dip deep into her small Texan town's darkest secrets and churn up stories some would prefer to keep in the past. But can she uncover the real culprit before a murder charge puts her dreams on ice for good?"

I didn't like this book very much. It was just a'right (to quote Randy Jackson).
I didn't find myself being drawn into the story line, or caring about the characters.
This is the first in a series. I don't think I'll be reading any more.


Currently Reading: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
2010 total: 7 books (Yikes! That's not many at all! I need to get on the ball)