Beyond Justice by Cara Putman

Beyond Justice by Cara Putman is the next novel out by this mystery writer.
Miguel Rodrigus is a Mexican who crossed illegally into Texas and was caught.  He was housed in the juvenile detention and was murdered while there.  Texas is trying to sweep it under the rug but when Miguel's mother, a Mexican immigrant who is raising her other son legally in one of the surrounding towns of Washington DC.  She is poor but working steadily to keep food on the table for herself and Jorge.  Someone had anonymously sent her pictures of Miguel's dead body and she went to a law office, Elliott and Johnson, to get justice.  Miguel's mother, had readily talked to one of the partners, Gerard, but now she refused to give anymore information to anyone.  Gerard assigned the case to a rising young female attorney, Hayden, but Hayden was getting no help from either Gerard nor Miguel's mother.  Then someone breaks into both Hayden's and Gerard's office and killed Gerard.  Hayden had gotten into Gerard's office and took Miguel's file and had a clerk, Angela copy it and send it to her home.  Then Angela is fired and Hayden is offered no help from the remaining partners and is told her job is also on the line.  Why did everyone suddenly clam up? Why did Miguel's mother refuse to help even though she appears to want Hayden's help?  Hayden realizes she can't win this case in Texas and tries to get the case moved but first she must go investigate in Texas where the crime occurred.  Suddenly she has no expense account to fly down there.  Why is the firm trying to keep her from winning this case?  Why hadn't Miguel who was a minor immigrate with his mother?  All these questions swirl around in Hayden's brain as she fights for the young Miguel's justice and 'accidents' suddenly start happening to Hayden and anyone who tries to help her.

Great murder mystery from this author.  You will love reading this page turner and find it hard to put down.  I would recommend this as good reading for anyone high school age and over.  There is some violence as there would be in any murder mystery, no cursing, no explicit sexual content.
I received this book from Booklook for this review.

The Ebb Tide by Beverly Lewis

The Ebb Tide by Beverly Lewis is the newest book by this author. Ms Lewis' next Amish love story centers on the last summer of Sallie Ruehl before studying for her baptism and joining The People of her Amish community.  Sallie has been planning this last summer for years and has saved up for her trip to Australia.  Then she hears that her beloved nephew needs an important surgery she feels pulled by God to donate the trip money to his fund to pay for the needed surgery.  Just afterwards she finds an opportunity to be the nanny for the summer for a well to do family while they vacation on the beach at Cape May in New Jersey.  She would be spending the summer caring for their daughter Autumn  while the mother cares for her new infant son.  She feels that this might be Providence that this happened right after donating her trip money to the fund.  Her aunt, Essie, feels much the same way but her mother on the other hand is obviously disappointed that Sallie won't be taking her lessons on her baptism this summer as she had hoped.  Sallie knows that she won't be going without her father's blessing but he surprises her by okaying the trip.  In no time at all Monique Logan shows up in her car to whisk her away to the Jersey beach.  Sallie loves the beach as she expected and she loves working for the family as she expected, she is even learning all the workings of the thoroughly modern cabin that the Logans are letting her stay in during the summer---but what she didn't expect is to fall for the Mennonite boy, Kevin, she met on the beach who is a summer intern working on a boat as a tour guide.  Sallie is torn by her growing feelings for Kevin and her guilt about Perry who is waiting for her at home.  What will she do?  Can she put off her baptism again?  She is not baptized so the church won't shun her but can she live happily outside of The People.  Read this book to find out Sallie's solution to this dilemma.




I loved this book about the Jersey shore.  This book brings out the importance of baptism in the Amish church but also the love that the families still have for each other even when choosing life outside the fold of the church.  It brings out some of the decisions that the young Amish must make in order to either stay in the church or the shunning that occurs if the decision to stray from the church is made after the baptism.  Timing is everything in all communities and the Amish are no different.  It also tells of how one may straddle the fence so to speak in order to avoid irritating the family and avoiding the shunning while still staying our of the church membership.
I received this book from BethanyHouse for this review.

In a Different Key by John Donvan and Caren Zucker

In a Different Key by John Donvan and Caren Zucker is an extremely interesting book on autism.  The book manages to take a subject of which I had no direct knowledge of and hold my interest from the very first page.  The book begins by drawing the reader into it with the story of Donald a little boy growing up in Mississippi.  His mother, Mary was just exhausted with caring for him.  She kept him home which was not the norm of the 1930s but when he was joined by his little brother she begins to accept that maybe the doctor is right and maybe an institution would be good for him.  Beaman, his father is a very involved father especially of the 1930s but Donald was a boy who would not interact with anyone. If you tried to hug him he pulled himself away.  He rarely spoke to anyone and if he did answer a question it most likely had nothing to do with the question.  He appeared to enjoy being alone most of all.  Both parents agree he is not normal but are beside themselves for what to do.  Donald wouldn't eat, he preferred to wear no clothes, it seemed as if he couldn't feel the cold weather, and though at an early age he could sing many songs and recite from memory he quit talking to people in a meaningful way between 2-3 years old.  For a year Mary and Beamon left Donald in the institution but what few smiles Donald had they noticed were gone and finally Mary had enough and the family came back and took Donald home.  Still they struggled with all of Donald's oddities and didn't know what to do until Donald was given into the care of Dr. Leo Kanner.  Dr. Kanner eventually diagnosed Donald as "autistic disturbances of affective contact".  Donald was the first diagnosed case of what became known as autism.
The book then tells of other cases and scientific trials, exams, and treatments rounding out the progress of the treatment of autism until the present day.  The book holds the attention though I have only a passing acquaintance with the disorder I read many parts of the book 2 and 3 times because of the interesting way the authors have of telling the story.  I would recommend this book to any of those who have children with autism spectrum disorder or work/interact with these children.  This book explains many things of the difficulties that these children and their family faces on a daily basis in an honest and interesting way.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Home is Wherever Mom Is

Home is Wherever Mom Is  is a delightful adult coloring book especially for Moms. With Mother's Day coming up I would think that this would be a good gift for the woman who has everything, creativeness and some time on her hands.  The pages are mostly intricate small spaces to fill with the color of pencils, pens or markers.  Be aware that there is a small amount of bleed through using regular markers so if you're picky you will be sacrificing the back of the page that you color with markers.  I think that the colored pens do a great job if you are wanting the jewel tones of the markers but I like colored pencils the best.  I like the way that pencils fill the small spaces for a more impressive picture and I don't mind the more muted color of the pencil.  The more expensive pencils resharpen best to points for the nicest outcome rather than the colored pencils mostly used by schoolchildren.  I love doing these books and this is one of the better ones.  There are pages also included which are mostly lettering to color in for those who like that or for less intricate pages to color.  These books are a nice way to wind down in the evening after a rough day at work.  I would highly recommend this book for gift giving or to use yourself.  Some of these books are quite expensive and this one is quite reasonable for the nice thick pages that is contained within the covers. 

An Amish Home by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kathleen Fuller

An Amish Home by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kathleen Fuller is 4 novellas by these 4 well known authors.  In the 1st, A Cup Half Full by Ms. Wiseman, the reader is introduced to Sarah who when only a week into her marriage was in a car vs. horse and buggy accident.  Sarah would never walk again. Sarah would always be confined to a wheel chair.  Sarah had worked through that it was not Abram's fault that she would never again walk though Abram was still working on not blaming himself.  Sarah has been told that she can have children but she is afraid that she won't be able to properly care for a child safely.  Sarah has many things to work through but when she is afraid that Abram is unfaithful and doesn't want her anymore Sarah finally finds her courage to face all her fears and begin to live life--it won't be the perfect one that she first thought that she would have but it will be a good one.

Chace and Mia have had it rough and now was the worse time of all because now they were homeless.  Chace had grown up in foster care but had decided that Mia and the baby would always have everything that they needed but now that they had been evicted Chace was beginning to feel like the failure that Mia's parents had always called him.  Mia had always had all the material items that she ever needed but when she told her parents that she was going to marry Chace and have his children they disowned her.  But when Chace was offered the daadihaus that his Amish boss owned they thought that at least they wouldn't be homeless but that was before Mia tried to live without electricity.  There was no switch to turn up the heat--they had to add coal to the fire.  There was no light switch they had to light candles or else use the Coleman for light at night. The young couple start to bicker endlessly.  But when the baby got sick and there was no money to go to the doctor Mia left.  How does this young couple figure out what to do?

Thomas and Noreen King were hopelessly in love when they married 15 years ago but what had happened to that love?  Noreen had been cooking the meal and had run down to the cellar to get preserves to make a dessert and when she came back upstairs the kitchen was engulfed in flames and Noreen was trapped.  Then something hit her in the head and she fell and her hip was hurt and she couldn't move just in time Thomas ran in and saved her.  The community came in to help them put out the fire but it had burned the house up completely and most of the corn crop. The next days and weeks were spent cleaning up the site in order to rebuild.  The bishop had offered them their daadihaus to live in until their house was built.  Thomas and Noreen's marriage had continued to flounder however.  Both Thomas and Noreen had never before had their problems so public before but now all the advice that they receive is to pray for each other and their marriage. Then just when they begin to once again hope their home site is robbed.  They killed the pigs, stole Thomas' tools, and take the money that Thomas had hidden in a tin box.  It was all the money to rebuild.  Now what would they do?

Faith is grieving the loss of her grandfather as well as she had just broke up with Silas when she found that she just couldn't live with someone that she couldn't rely on.  Faith had always loved working with wood with her grandfather in his shop and would like to be a carpenter but it is not a proper job for a girl and so her father said no.  Silas is her ex-fiancé and he has found that he needs to be more reliable because his mother who had him late in life now has dementia.  Now Silas needs to help his father care for her in addition to working in the carpentry shop with him.  Silas had to grow up and grow up fast.  Then Faith and Silas both got hired for the same job--making the cabinets for a couple's kitchen who were soon to be wed.  Faith needs the reassurance that she can be a real carpenter and Silas needs the money so they decide to work together but can they do it and on time?

This book was a delight to read and I would think that any woman or girl would love reading it. No sex, no violence.  The reader's attention is held from the moment that they start to read.  I received this book from Booklook for this review.

The Women of Easter by Liz Curtis Higgs

The Women of Easter by Liz Curtis Higgs has the subtitle of Encounter the Savior with Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene and there are stories of the women aforementioned but also there is so much more in this study for Easter.  There is Salome. There is Martha.  The spirit and the courage of all these women who were seeking to minister to Jesus in his time of need are the center of this study book.  Until reading this book I had no idea of the courage that it took to follow Jesus all the way to the cross.  I had no idea that just being present at Jesus' crucifixion could have gotten them the same punishment. The 3 Marys have the starring roles in this book but there is surprising information also found about the other women and I found out so much about Martha.  Martha is the woman of the stories of Easter that I can most identify with and understand and I was pleased to see so much written of her in this study.

This book is of course an Easter study but included into this study is a more in-depth Bible study.  All of these studies can take place over the course of Lent picking the study that is more in line with how deep into the Bible you want to delve.  One study takes place only on Sundays of Lent and one takes place daily.  But if you only wanted to read the book and just look up interesting Bible verses mentioned along the way you could easily do that also and completely enjoy your study. This Bible study is one of the most flexible one that I have participated.  The only thing is that it is centered around the women of Lent.  Though there is nothing bad said about the men of Easter it certainly centers on Jesus and his women followers and because of that I would recommend this study for teens and women.  This study is very well written and I highly recommend it.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Harvest of Thorns by Corban Addison

A Harvest of Thorns by Corban Addison is the author's 4th novel, the other 3 were best sellers.  If you are wanting to read a book that will change the way you view the world, the way you shop for your clothing, or the way you view the corporate world than read this book. The novel  catches the reader's attention in the first chapter with the fire which trapped the factory workers inside the building which only had one door and the windows that were barred.  Somehow a few of the workers managed to through the window and a few escaped the fire to either die in the fall or suffer many lifelong injuries.  Needless to say the factory was not following the rules that the United States companies had laid down but it was also found that the US companies had overseers who did know and were just turning a blind eye to the atrocities found in the factories.  This factory was a subcontractor for a supplier that the US company did know.  These people who managed to survive were not covered by any workman's compensation nor any other insurance.  When the US company found out that it was their products that were being made they also did little or nothing to help the victims of the fire or their family.  This novel is about how the person sent to investigate the fire for the US corporation was changed.  When he reported the abuses going on in Bangladesh and other countries' factories working for them the corporation chose to continue to ignore the abuses taking place and just strengthen the rules that the inspectors would oversee. Cameron the senior officer of the corporation sent to look into the could not live with that plan and went to a reporter, Josh, who he knew was also married to a lawyer in hopes of starting a law suit to defend some of the victims. 

 Mr. Addison was changed by a fire in 2012 in a Bangladesh fashions factory named Tazreen.  In that fire the factory was manufacturing clothing for Walmart but they also manufactured clothing for Target, Sears, Gap, Zara, and many more.  This fire was similar to the one described in the novel and just as in the novel the press made a big story out of it for a short time then went on to the next big thing.  In the novel it is fictionalized as to what could have happened.

As I read this book I was aghast at how blasé I am about the clothing that I wear and where it comes from.  I had known that my clothing was now carrying the Bangladesh label and were a now Viet Nam and others.  One thing these labels have in common is that they are all developing countries.  I hope that I am a better consumer and do not just forget these people who make my clothing when the next big thing catches my attention.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.