First Review of the New Year: The Phantom Vale by Alfred M. Struthers

Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Nathan Cole and Gina McDermott are quickly becoming two of my favorite book characters. Nathan's family inherited a bookcase full of old book from his grandfather. Each book is an old unsolved mystery. In the first book, "The Case of Secrets" we are introduced to Nathan and Gina and this special bookcase. After Nathan and Gina solve a 150 year old mystery in the first book, they and their families are hounded by the media. Their parents decide they need to get away from them all. They head up to a cabin owned by Nathan's uncle.  Before he can get everything packed a book from his dresser falls to the floor. Nathan tries a variety of things to get the book to stay. It isn't until they are in the car that he sees the book in the window and rushes back in to grab it. For some reason the book is letting him know he needs to take it with them.

His first night in the cabin he reads part of the book and discovers that the town they are staying in has its own mystery. In the late 1800s a railroad car went missing.  Nathan and Gina set out to figure out what has happened to the car. Along the way they are given clues by an old man named Wynn. What is his connection. Why does the city officer constantly follow them and Wynn around?  How can they solve this mystery when everyone in the world is looking for them and thinks if they find them they will become famous?  The clues are give through the research the kids conduct. Gina is a fan of puzzles and this mystery is a great puzzle. I wasn't as quick to make the connections as some may be.  Once I started the book I could not let it go.  This is a series you must read. I just hope the author can pop them out fast enough.

Plans for 2018

This next year promises to be great. I have spent the last week reflecting on how my year went.Last year's school year was very stressful. We had a large turnover, especially in the office/administration side. That was the negative part. On the positive side, in April I learned I had been one of five teachers in our state selected to spend three weeks at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Manasota Key, Florida. I spent three glorious weeks in a cottage on the beach working on revision of my latest book and starting a new one.  That was the happiest I had been all year.  This school year has been great. However, I signed up for two book challenges besides the one I participate in on Goodreads. I accomplished nothing on either one. I did reach my 150 book goal on Goodreads. It is only because I got behind on reviews of picture books that I was able to reach it. I had started putting weight back on after losing so much for my double knee surgery.  So when I reflect back on last year to make plans for this year I have made some decisions that are all about me.

My Health
My goal for this year is to stick closer to my paleo diet. I had lost so much weight and still have a long way to go. I felt so much better. Before the next school year starts I want to drop 50-70 pounds.  This means not only sticking to my paleo lifestyle, but putting more exercise into my life.

My Reading Life
I was stressed by struggling to read and write this year.  You know you have slacked off when publishers and authors contact you to see if everything is okay.  I am dropping my Goodreads goal from 150 to just 50 books.  I am not officially signing up for any reading challenges. I want reading to be fun again and not feel like a chore.

My Writing Life
I want to spend more time working seriously on my own writing. One thing that has been a hindrance is that I currently have no personal computer of my own. I have been taking my school laptop back and forth from school. This means all of the programs I own for reading and writing have been unavailable to me because so many things are blocked by my district. I can't download anything. In February that will be remedied. We were an "A" school this year and so with part of my bonus money I will be purchasing another laptop.  My goal is to write a minimum of three times a week for a minimum of an hour. I say a minimum because with school teaching and testing things can quickly get out of control.

My Creative Life
I plan to start painting and quilting again. There are a couple of projects that I began a year or more back and just never got back to them. When I stopped doing some of the creative things I loved I became a stressed out cranky person.

My Family Life
A few months back my husband and I started going to "Pop Craft", a gourmet popsicle place, on Saturdays. This was our weekly "date". We need to spend more time together, just us. My mother lives with us so we go very few places.  We have to start making time for US.

My Work Life
This is the one I know I struggle with the most. As a teacher I am always putting my job first. This has led to problems in many areas of my life. I get to work an hour to an hour and a half early. I leave 1 - 2 hours later than others.  I bring work home.  I have gotten better. However, this next year, unless there is a critical deadline for the next day, I must stop bringing work home. That will leave me several hours for the things I listed above.

My Plan
One way I am going to do this is to journal each week. I want to take a look at these areas and see how I did and what I need to improve. That is what I do with my job. If it is important enough for me to do this for my job, then it is even more important and valuable for me to do it in other areas of my life. I need to keep a calendar of my activities like I do for school, or reviews I agree to do. I believe with these things in place at the beginning of 2018 that my life will be better.

If you have any suggestions or would like to share what your plans are for the new year please leave me a comment.

The Marker by Diana Savastano

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Suspense

Source: I purchased a copy

The book starts off in the middle of action. A battle is going on and Dr. Bradley Taylor, a doctor during the war is treating the injured. Although he is a Confederate, he upholds his oath and treats men on both sides.  He gets shot in the back and his friend drags him into the woods where he dies. Several valuables are taken from him. As he lays dying he has a vision of a woman with a grave marker in her hands.  We then switch to present day. Jennifer Beasley works for a magazine in New York. She is being sent to Florida to interview several people for a story. She insists on doing the story only if she gets two weeks of vacation afterwards. While in Florida, she stops at an antique shop to purchase a gift for her father’s birthday. She finds a unique marker from the civil war period.  She is told the seller’s son found it at a Civil War graveyard in Louisiana. She starts hearing voices and seeing things. Once she is back in New York, her cousin who was raised by her dad brings a friend who makes several predictions about the marker. Jennifer has another vision where she meets the ghost of Dr. Bradley Taylor.  This spurs her on to Louisiana to the gravesite where she meets Dr. Bradley’s ghost again. She interviews him and gets information she needs to help him. She learns he is in a Union graveyard when he is a Confederate soldier. She calls on all of her friends, makes some new ones, and even finds true love and danger as she tries to keep her promise to help Dr. Bradley.  This was full of so much mystery. She uncovers, lies, betrayal, murder as the book progresses. I read the book in less than three hours, it was that good.  Highly recommended to anyone who loves thrillers, suspense, and mysteries.