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Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Category Archives: Book Reviews – Fiction


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Does ‘Bridges of Madison County’ Sequel Deliver?

A Thousand Country Roads: An Epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County

By Robert James Waller (John M. Hardy Publishing, 2002)

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 181

Via: Library Book Sale

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner…

A professional photographer who’s spent his entire life on the road “chasing good light” all over the world, Robert Kincaid* is reclusive and reserved. But he has his memories. Especially memories of a lonely farm wife he met sixteen years ago at a bridge in Madison County, Iowa.

Fast forward to 1981. Robert Kincaid of Bellingham, Washington is now sixty-eight years old. His best friends are a ’54 Chevy pickup truck named “Harry” and a golden retriever named “Highway.” As the years pile up, memories of four summer days in Iowa that had to last a lifetime begin to swirl. Robert decides to find them.

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‘Letters From the Saddle’ Rides Tall!

 

Letters From the Saddle

By Michael Wegner (Indie author, 2024)

Genre: Historical fiction/Western/Love Story/Action & Adventure

Pages: 193 (print)

Via: Author request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Saddle up and get ready to ride into action and adventure in this delightful new fiction tome by Michael Wegner.

The 4-1-1

Dateline: Arkansas 1868. 

Dewey Slocum is a young man who just wants to work the fam farm and some day marry the Jager girl who lives nearby. But when his father is beaten and robbed, Dewey’s hot-headed bro Darryl takes out after the gang of gun-slinging desperadoes who done the deed.

Dewey’s Ma wants both boys home. So she sends Dewey to bring Darryl home. While Dewey is searching for Darryl, he meets up with Phyllis Stillwater. She’s part African, part Cherokee former slave. Phyllis is trying to find her Ma Ayita, who was sold to another slave owner before the end of the war.

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‘The Queen’s Men’: Perspicacious or Peanut Butter?

 

The Queen’s Men

An Agents of the Crown Novel

By Oliver Clements (Leopoldo & Co., an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. , 2012)

Genre: historical fiction

Pages: 399

Via: Library

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

There’s plenty of both in this Double-Oh-Seven type drama set in 16th century England and the court of Queen Elizabeth.

Dr. Dee, an alchemist who doubles as “the original MI6 agent” is assigned a dangerous mission to re-create a weapon from antiquity. But if it falls into the wrong hands, it could threaten the crown and bring down the Empire.

Is this historical fiction thingy all it’s cracked up to be?

‘Hark! Methinks I heareth yon dragon in thy far-off forest.’ (You’ll get that if you read the book.)

Kimber Klue: If She Who Must Be Obeyed (sort of) has to invent ways to avoid finishing or resuming a book, that’s a sign. As in, nothing good. So it was with The Queen’s Men. Here’s the 4-1-1:

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‘Kill Zone’: High-Tech Suspense or Dull as Dirt?

Kill Zone

By Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason (Forge/Macmillan Publishing, 2019

Genre: Fiction/thriller

Pages: 318

Via: Library

Following a suicide plane crash by an anti-nuke activist into a supposedly hardened nuclear waste site that’s running at way over-capacity, a scheming and conniving Department of Energy Assistant Secretary puts his career aspirations above public safety and common sense in this “high-tech thriller.”

Main Characters:

  • Adonia Rojas, site manager for Granite Bay nuclear waste storage facility. (Mom: I’m seeing’ Zoe Saldana.)
  • Senator Pulaski, a pompous, egotistical dimwit who controls the purse strings for just about every DOE and/or nuclear waste facility. (Mom: I’m seeing’ Charles Durning here.)
  • Dr. Simon Garibaldi, Ex-DOE employee turned-whistleblower. He’s now an environmental activist and head honcho at Sanenergy. (Is George Clooney busy?)
  • Dr. Stanley Van Dyckman, DOE Assistant Secretary who has a habit of stealing credit from others’ successes and making himself scarce when something goes sideways on his watch. This guy gives pond scum a bad name. (Mom’s seein’ Peewee Hermon. And that ain’t good.)
  • “Regulation Rob” Harris, a by-the-book military officer and security officer. He’s the Hydra Mountain site manager and Special Access Program supervisor. (Wait. Is that Denzel Washington?)
  • Air Force Col. Shawn Whalen, military aide to the president and expert on all things nuclear. Also Adonia’s main squeeze. (Paging Chris Hemsworth…)
  • Victoria Doyle, DOE undersecretary and former Van Dyckman paramour.(No idea.)

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‘Mother Country’ a Mixed Bag

Mother Country (St. Martin’s Press, 2019)

By Irina Reyn

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 274

Via: Library

Short & Long

Okay, peeps. There’s the short version of this book review and then there’s the longer version. The short version: This is one of those books everyone’s supposed to go all ga-ga and googly-eyed over.

So of course we’re doing None of the Above.

Cuz frankly, we’ve seen better “programming” on a TV test pattern. Here’s why. Aka: The Longer Version:

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And ‘The River’ El Rio Runs Through It…

The River

By Aminita Colon; Illustrated by Sergio Drumond

Genre: Children/Inspirational (Ages 3 to 12 years)

Pages (paper): 42

Via: Author/publicist request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kimber: Okay, okay. The headline for this post is a really bad take-off on one of our favorite novellas. Hint: Norman Maclean. Mom’s idea. So blame her, okay?

Anywho, we had mixed reactions to this short and to-the-point children’s book. The main reason we had mixed reactions is because one of us just finished plowing through a read that was as dense as peanut butter. And not nearly as tasty. The other was just being her Ole Curmudgeonly self. Hi, Mom.

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Our Shortest Review Ever

Ready for a new Pages and Paws world record? Good. Here it is. Our shortest review ever. For Blue. By Caroline Allen:

We don’t do books that promote tarot card reading. Not for the neighborhood powder puff. Not for adults. And certainly not for middle grade readers.

Bye!


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‘Searching for Lucky’ Heartwarming and Hilarious

Searching for Lucky #3002: A Ben and Blue Mystery

By Keith Garton, 2024

Genre: Chilldren’s Fiction

Pages; 168

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Questions. Curiosity. Confusion. Secrets. Telling the truth, even when it hurts. A dastardly villain. The best detective dog in the world. You’ll find all this and more in Keith Garton’s new novel for middle grade readers, Searching for Lucky #3002: A Ben and Blue Mystery.

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Wolf Meets Whups in ‘Greed Beneath the Empire’

The Greed Beneath the Empire: Vol. 1: Golden, Lamar, Golden, Liana: 9781960976499: Amazon.com: Books

The Greed Beneath the Empire, Vol. 1

By Lamar and Liana Golden, Indie authors (2024)

Genre: Fiction – Action/Suspense

Pages (print): 81

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Sometimes, the only way forward is to let it fall apart and start over.”

Kimber: Speaking of “sometimes…” You know I love everyone, right? But sometimes – like once in a blue pork chop – I come across a book dude or dudette that I simply can’t stand. They’re like, Yuck! And double yuck with Meow Mix on the side. I want to bite them. But Mom says “no.” Silly Mom.

Anyway, Victor Clayton is that kind of yuck-meister. I’ll let Mom fill you in on The Green Beneath the Empire, Vol. 1. Take it away, Mom!

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All the Ways* ‘Christmas In Bethel’ is NOT a ‘Christmas Book’

Christmas in Bethel

By Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster/Thorndike Press, 2024)

Genre: Fiction

Via: Library

Pages: 314

Listen up

There are two things you oughtta know about Christmas in Bethel right out of the kennel says I, Kimber the Magnificent. 1) This isn’t a “Christmas book.” 2) Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. Like:

Regarding #1, this isn’t a “Christmas story” in the usual sense. Yes, it includes Thanksgiving and the holidays and Christmas. And all that good stuff. But its message of love and grace and forgiveness works year round. Besides. We put this book on order at the library in early November. It didn’t arrive until after New Year’s. So there!

King of Christmas Fiction

Still with me, Cupcake? Arf!

Now, regarding #2 and that Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs thingy? That’s Her Momness and Richard Paul Evans books. A master storyteller who’s penned an entire galaxy of finely crafted, clean and uplifting fiction, Evans has been one of Mom’s favorite authors since just after the Ark made landfall. Or at least since 1993. That’s when a perennial seasonal fave, Evans’ The Christmas Box, first came out. Evans topically publishes a new book every year coinciding with the Christmas season. That’s why RPE is called “The King of Christmas Fiction.” Mom’s read ‘em all. That Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs thing.

Why? Well, dear reader, keep reading:

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