The Heart is Where the Angels Sing by Kenny Miller

Genre: Adult, Short Stories
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in a small town in the American Midwest? Maybe you grew up in one and moved on. Would you like to take a little break and go back there for a while?

You can with The Heart Is Where The Angels Sing. It's a warm, often very emotional book about life in a small town during the 1950-1960 period. Get ready for the Beatles. Go to camp with the Boy Scouts. Be part of a school's first band. Be there as Walter told us about the dreadful events in Dallas and the loss of a President who was putting us on a new path to the moon.

The Heart Is Where The Angels Sing will grab your heart so have some tissues close by. It's a journey in time where you can take all the time you want to enjoy it. Each story takes you to a new place. You won't have to keep reading to find out what's next. It's the perfect night stand book that will send you off to bed with a smile on your face or maybe, a tear in your eye.
Either way, you will have a wonderful journey into the heart of America. Welcome home.


My Thoughts:
Although this book starts out a little slow it is still a very good book. It is a collection of short stories about a boy’s life as he grew up in a small Nebraska town. From polio at a young age the possibilities of his life are laid before him. I liked the way his father always believed he could do anything. He had a lot of encouragement throughout his life and learned some great life lessons along the way. I was born in the late fifties and grew up on a farm in the Midwest. I could relate to so many of his “memories”. It made me stop and think about those times and how they shaped me just like they shaped him. This is a good book to read for many reasons. It gives you a peak through memories of that time period. It especially showed how kids were raised so much differently then and often had more freedoms. We had the freedom to experiment with life and learn lessons often the hard way. It also showed that a lot of the experiences kids have today are not so different from how he grew up. A great look back into times gone by.

Lawyers Never Lie by Teri Kanefield

Genre: Adult, Realistic Fiction

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I have read several of Teri's books. She is very adept at writing multiple genres. I really enjoyed this book. My father worked construction for years. He and his brothers owned their own company in Indiana. When I got out on my own and started looking for my own place, I looked with a critical eye. My father had taught me well. I had a parent this last year who could definitely identify with Eric and Cassie. They were having their floors re-done. The job was botched. They ended up in a motel for four months and are still in the throes of a legal suit. It was traumatic enough to my student that she used the experience as her Tropicana Speech topic. 

Reading this story made me realize what Cassie and her husband did right and what they did wrong when searching for a contractor. He seemed to have all the correct credentials. When they asked for references he took them to a house that was being worked on and showed them the work he'd supposedly done. They checked with the Better Business Bureau and they checked his license and everything seemed to check out. When things started to go downhill, they didn't react the same way others had. This meant the contractor Tom had to take things to another level. I've never seen anyone so crooked. He hurt so many people. The lessons that Eric and Cassie learned when a long way. This not only affected them, but their children as well. While dealing with all of this, Cassie had started her new job as a lawyer, her children were in middle school, and since I teach middle school I know what kind of issues that can bring on its own. Through all of this, their children seems to learn from what their parents were going through and was able to apply the lessons to situations in which they were involved. I loved the way each of the twins tried to find themselves. At times it was very funny the way they interpreted what they said to their parents and how their parents responded to them. I would highly recommend this book just like I have all of her others. She is an excellent writer.

Good Intentions by Pembroke Sinclair

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Summary:

Katie has been through Hell—literally—and discovered that it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be.  In fact, she kind of enjoyed it.  She got to be with Josh, found out about her past, and discovered who she wanted to be as a person.  Katie didn’t care that her actions went against social norms.  She was happy.

But things are changing—again.  Wes has come back into her life, and that can only mean trouble.  His presence threatens to unravel her new-found happiness.  She can’t allow that.  She won’t let him back in.  Yet, Katie can’t push him away.

Thrown back into a state of confusion and uncertainty, Katie is once again forced to pick sides, and in the process, she may lose herself.