Educational Book for Children About Big Tractors

Farming is big business. Big tractors are required to do the planting and harvesting on large commercial farms. Big Tractors gives an overview of how these tractors look  and what they do in language a child can understand.

The pictures are outstanding. They show off the tractors and implements to good advantage. In fact, the pictures are so good Daddy or Grandpa may be interested in looking through the book.

Another feature I liked is the timeline showing how tractors have changed to adapt to the new farming methods. I highly recommend this book if your child is interested in tractors. Even if you live on a small farm and your child is familiar with tractors, the pictures of monster tractors give another perspective on farming.

I reviewed this book for PR by the Book. 

A Coming of Age Story in a Closely Knit Barbados Community

When their mother feels unable to care for them, Dionne and Phaedra are sent to their grandmother Hyacinth in Barbados for the summer. Natives of Brooklyn, the girls find Barbados a strange place. Dionne, the elder, interested in boys and becoming a woman hates it. Phaedra, the younger sister, finds the place strangely attractive. She makes friends and feels at home there, something she never felt in Brooklyn.

The setting is beautifully written drawing the reader into the exotic local of Barbados. The girls characters are believable. You can't help feeling excited for Phaedra who is discovering a place where she feels at home and is eager to learn the culture. Likewise you can feel Dionne's pain as a teenager uprooted from her culture.

The plot while not exciting is filled with the drama and tragedy of real life. The prose draws the reader into the world of the girls and their grandmother and makes you see the beauty of love and the allure of the island.

If you enjoy coming of age stories in a different culture, this is one you'll enjoy.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley

A Biographer and His Subject on the Lam

Jack Dillon needs a good writing assignment. His work isn't selling, and his wife thinks he's a failure. Then miraculously he meets with Walt Stuckey, a famous TV comedian. Walt has a secret. He left his show suddenly and no one knows why. Now he wants to tell the story, and he chooses Jack to do it.

Since childhood, Jack has been a fan of Stuckey. They're both from Jersey, and as the work progresses, that bond turns into friendship. Tragedy strikes when Walt suffers a stroke. His greedy son, Garrett, tries to take over the biography project and mold the book to suit his ideas, but Jack isn't having it. He can't let Walt down even if helping him means doing something illegal.

The opening of the book moves slowly as Jack and Walt get to know each other. However, after Walt's stroke and Jack's decision to get him away from Garrett, the story devolves into a chase scene. Here the pace picks up substantially. However, much of what happens is hard to believe.

I found Jack a rather flat character. He does some heroic things, but he seems to remain the potential failure of the first section of the book. Walt is an interesting character, but plays a smaller role than Jack. Garrett is a stereotype of the greedy son.

If you enjoy mysteries that are primarily a chase scene, you may enjoy this one. It's not one of my favorite plots so I can't recommend it highly. The first section is boring,

and after that almost too much is happening.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.

A Montana Mystery Populated with Quirky Characters

Looking for a quiet place to write, Max Gallagher rents a cabin in the Crazy Mountains of Montana. His quiet is immediately disturbed when he tries to light a fire in the fireplace, fills the cabin with smoke, and discovers a dead girl stuffed in the chimney.

The girl turns out to be Cinderella Huntingdon who has been missing for five months. The teenager and a teenage boy who worked at the Huntingdon ranch disappeared at the same time and the speculation was that they were together, but only Cindy has been found.

Since it's not clear that Cindy was murdered, Sheriff Martha Ettinger's resources to pursue the investigation are limited. She suggests that Cindy's mother, Etta Huntingdon, hire Sean Stranahan to find out. Stranahan is an artist, fly fisherman and sometime detective. From this point on it's his story.

The plot has interesting twists, the Montana scenery is breathtaking, and the characters are suitably quirky for people living in a small town is in the wilds. However, the book moves very slowly, and the viewpoint shifts between characters making it difficult to identify with one character.

I enjoyed the mystery. If you're looking for a good mystery in an unusual location, you may enjoy this book, but be ready for a leisurely ride.

I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vine Program.

The Life and Death of a House

The House on Moody Avenue is supposed to be the story of the house, but in reality it is a scattered series of tales about the people who lived in the house.

Lisette, the first mistress of the house, has a tragic history. Her mother and siblings died. Her father felt he could no longer manage the farm, so he migrated with her to New York City. There he abandoned her. Lisette experienced life on the streets, but didn't let it shake her strong faith. In a fairy tale like twist she meets and marries a wealthy man. The house was his wedding gift.

After Lisette, the house passes through a series of residents from boarders to beatniks over the ninety years of it's life. The opening story is fairly well done, but after that the stories become less and less polished and therefore less interesting. It seemed rushed as though the author felt she needed to finish the book quickly.

This book has a great idea, the life and death of a house, but misses the mark. I believe the story would have been stronger if the house were the focus rather than the residents.

The writing is archaic, reminiscent of writers like Louisa May Alcott, but without Alcott's perceptive character descriptions. I can't recommend this book. The plot is too scattered, and the characters aren't interesting.

I reviewed this book for BookLook Bloggers.  

An Arranged Marriage Against a Background of Post Civil War Throughbred Racing

Maggie Linden has trained a very special Thoroughbred, Bourbon Belle, but women are not seen as appropriate horse trainers. This is the time just after the Civil War. Landowners in the South are struggling to keep their property. Maggie's father is no exception. They are faced with foreclosure.

If Bourbon Belle wins the Peyton Stakes, they could pay off their debts. Maggie is sure she can do it, but her father isn't convinced. When her jockey, a small black boy, is forced to leave the area with his family because of racial incidents, even Maggie begins to have doubts.

Cullen McGrath has come to Tennessee from England. He's Irish and like the blacks, the Irish are not welcome in the post Civil War South. Cullen wants to buy property, but no one will sell to him. He is even forbidden to bid on property going up for auction. He reaches the Linden farm in his search and offers to buy the property, but Maggie's father has a better idea: marry my daughter.

This is the second book in the Belle Meade Plantation series. The setting around Belle Meade Plantation is beautifully described and the actions, particularly the racial tensions, are true to the period. If you're interested in Thoroughbred racing, the book has good historical detail about racing in the period. However, horses don't overpower the story. This is about Cullen and Maggie.

In the early chapters, Maggie is a spoiled brat. She's agreed to marry a man to save her farm, but she's ashamed of him and let's him know. She's more concerned about losing her social position than in learning to be a good wife. Cullen is a much stronger character, and I loved Maggie's father.

For a Christian romance, this book has a lot of sexually explicit content. If that bothers you, you may want to give it a miss. However, it is not as explicit as books in romance or mainstream categories

. I enjoyed the book, but can't recommend it wholeheartedly because of the sexual content.

I reviewed this book for BookLook Bloggers.

A Quirky Detective, Gauguin, and Murder

Although Pont-Aven is not his territory, Georges Dupin is assigned a brutal murder case because the Commissaire for that area is on holiday. Dupin isn't enthusiastic about the case. A famous hotelier has been murdered in the bar of his hotel. There are few clues, but the pressure is high to find the murderer, particularly since it's almost tourist season in Pont-Aven

Pont-Aven is a delightful small town in Brittany that was once home to a famous artist's colony who premier member was Gauguin. The area is beautifully described. It makes you want to visit. The history of the art colony is another plus. I enjoyed learning the history of this group.

Dupin is a somewhat grumpy character. He dislikes authority, likes to work alone, and is sometimes difficult for the inspectors who work with him to keep up with. He loves long walks, coffee, and cafes.

He works very hours, forgets to eat, and is often hungry. However, when he does eat the food is lovingly described.

The other inspectors are good foils for Dupin. Le Ber, who works most closely with him, has learned to do what Dupin wants and not ask too many questions. Labat is much more formal and finds it harder to deal with Dupin's quirks.

For me, the delight of this mystery was driven by the descriptions of Brittany and the history of the artist's colony. The murder itself is not hard to figure out because there aren't many suspects, but the motive is much more interesting. If you enjoy a mystery in an exotic setting, you'll enjoy this one.

I reviewed this book for Amazon Vine.