My Dad Got Hurt. What Can I Do? by Dr. Jerid Fisher

Genre: Children's Picture Book
Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Jackson and Sally's father is in the military. They live on base. He plays with them and coaches their baseball team. One day dad comes in with his bags packed. He is being deployed.  An accident happens to their dad while he is deployed and injures his brain.  He spends a lot of time in the hospital. The family is so happy when he gets to come home. After a while, they realize their dad has changed. He is short-tempered, distracted and they don't know how to handle it.  They meet with a doctor who helps explain to them what has happened to their father. She also gives them some tips for helping them and their dad.  This is a very important book because there are so many families out there who are suffering from this problem.  This is highly recommended to any family with children to help them understand what has happened to their parent or another relative. This is a most important book. 

30 Red Dresses by Johan Twiss

Genre:  Adult, Realistic Fiction, Thriller

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

This was a phenomenal book. The main character is an author. His books don’t sell well in the United States. However, Cambodia can’t seem to get enough of him. While on a book signing tour in Cambodia a natural disaster occurs.  He and his translator Munny trying to survive find themselves in an area they really should not have ventured into. However, this turns out to be a most fortunate occasion for the other main character, eight year old Veata.  She calls  him her giant. When their paths cross, lives will be changed forever.  This book takes you into one side of human trafficking.  The writing was so smooth that I had to keep reading from beginning to end. I was right there fearing for the characters in this book. I found myself reading faster to find a resolution. There were so many things I hoped for.  The ending was very satisfying.  I found myself talking to my students about this book since we have been discussing “causes” and how horrible people can be to each other. I think this would make a wonderful book for high school.  I will not only recommend this book to everyone I meet, I will remember it and its message for a long time. This is one of those stories that just sticks with you.  I absolutely loved it.

Read about the author here.

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The Penitent Part II Blog Tour and Giveaway

Genre:  Young Adult, Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy

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

From Goodreads:

The next novel in The Immortality Wars series continues . . . Her parents are viciously murdered by a band of killers. Hidden in the bottom of a roadside ditch as a baby in swaddling clothes, Evangel is only steps away from them. An old hermit, Matthew Greatworth, finds her the day after this tragedy unfolds. She is touched by a rare spiritual power and raised by Matthew in the heart of a sylvan wilderness. Evangel grows up in the quaint hermitage Matthew built years ago. In her 17th year, outlaws terrorize Matthew while she is away. The young girl reaches him just as his eyes are carved out of their sockets and placed on a stump before him. The miracles and struggles against those seeking to kill her, as well as those disbelieving the power of her presence, all come together in a battle of good versus evil. In a vision of clarity and prescience amidst her struggle for survival and meaning, she finds her future soul mate, Pall Warren, on a battlefield of death, and casts a prayer of protection around him. Evangel's remarkable journey to save herself, her newfound friends and then those who believe in her, brings to the reader a hauntingly beautiful and startling tale of wonder.

My Thoughts:

This book far exceeded my expectations, I loved the premise when I read it. The characters are so well developed. It is extremely believable.  I love both Matthew and Evangel.  Their spiritual growth and strength are what you want to read about in a book like this. At one point, Evangel sees a wolf give birth. The mother and all but three of the pups die. She takes the pups home where she and Matthew raise them.  It was at this point as the story began to unfold I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe".  The wolves had a role I had not foreseen which made this so endearing.  I really don't want to say too much. I had not read the first book in this series. I did purchase it because I loved this one so much and I wanted to find out what came before. This one reads as a stand-alone book, so if you have not read the first one you will be pulled in from the very first page. I had not heard of this author before. I will definitely recommend this book to others.

A. Keith Carreiro's Bio: A. Keith Carreiro earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education, with the sequential help and guidance of three advisors, Dr. Vernon A. Howard, Dr. Donald Oliver and Professor Emeritus, Dr. Israel Scheffler. Keith’s academic focus, including his ongoing research agenda, centers upon philosophically examining how creativity and critical thinking are acquired, learned, utilized and practiced in the performing arts. He has taken his findings and applied them to the professional development of educational practitioners.

Earlier in his teaching career he was a professor of educational foundations, teaching graduate students of education at universities in Vermont, Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor of English at Bridgewater State University, as well as teaching English, philosophy, humanities and public speaking courses at Bristol Community College.

He lives in Swansea, Massachusetts. He has six children and 13 grandchildren. He belongs to an eighty–five–pound golden retriever, an eight–pound Maltese, and an impish Calico cat.

Due to his love of family, he has seen his fervor for history, as well as his passion for wondering about the future, deepen dramatically.

Starting on May 23rd until October 9th of 2014, he sat down at his computer on a daily basis and began writing the first book of a science fiction/fantasy thriller in a beginning series about the quest for human immortality. 

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