A Better Ten Commandments

Title: A Better Ten Commandments

Author: James Miller

Publisher: self-published, 2017

Pages: 77

Genre: self help

Obtained: from author in exchange for an honest review






Summary: The author provides the reader with ten commandments to follow to live life with, and on purpose.

Thoughts: This book starts out with an introduction that really turned me off.  The author stated that his intent "is not to offend any person of faith", but offending people of faith is exactly what he does.  He states on page xv: "Last, and certainly not least, I'm not afraid to have an opinion on the matter, as I don't believe in imaginary friends (insert random god) meting out justice in the here and now or deciding my fate after the death of my brain."  The introduction is filled with statements like this one.  The author is obviously not a person who believes in a god, but I believe he could have shared his opinions more respectfully to those that do.  Once I got to chapter one, I found his words to become less insulting, but the damage of making me not want to be like him, or live a life following commandments that he does, had already been done.  I would suggest whether you are a person of faith or not, it is better to skip the introduction unless you are just looking for ideas to contemplate.  It is not helpful.  I don't think the path needs to be cleared to accept the author's commandments.

Starting in chapter one and in all of the following chapters, the author states a rule to live by, gives inspiring quotes and historical and scientific examples to back up his rule, and then explains how and why to follow this rule.  I loved the quotes and his rules to live by were good ones.  In my opinion, they even went along with the ten commandments, not against them, so I don't understand why the majority of his introduction is necessary.  This book could have been named something totally different and been helpful to people of all different beliefs.  So, his commandments, if called "alternate commandments" or "additional commandments" or something much more creative than I could ever come up with, could also help most people of faith.

The author writes in a simple, easy to follow way and is well organized.  He puts a bit of humor in, although some of it may not be humorous to everyone.  His examples are relevant to his commandments, but sometimes, he tries to over explain specific exceptions.  If anyone has ever tried to make a list of rules, they know that there are always exceptions to them.  The book was thought provoking, but I did find myself wanting to point out to the author that at times his statements were going against his own commandments.  This was distracting.

All in all, if you are interested in thought provoking books, this is one.  If you can ignore the religious bashing, underneath are some very helpful rules to live by.





                                                            

Company: Plum Deluxe

Tea: Pineapple Pop Herbal Tea

Obtained: free sample with tea of the month club subscription







I obtained this sample of Pineapple Pop Herbal Tea with my June tea of the month club delivery from Plum Deluxe.  This tea contains no caffeine.  The ingredients are green rooibos, pineapple bits, apple bits, mango bits, apricot bits, rosehips, lemongrass, orange peel, calendula, cornflowers, and pineapple essence.

I love pineapples, but I wasn't sure how I would like pineapple in tea.  The leaves were long and rectangular in all sizes and in colors of greens, browns, and off white.  Chunks of fruits were mixed in.  The leaves had a sweet pineapple scent.  I put one teaspoon of leaves into my teapot and poured eight ounces of water that had been boiled over the leaves.  I let this steep for three minutes.  The liquid was a light yellow with a slight fruity scent.  The taste was also very light and fruity with a hint of floral.  The pineapple did not stand out for me.  I tasted more of a fruit blend.  This was a delicious, calming, relaxing tea with the feel of chamomile tea, but with a slight fruity taste instead.  This would be perfect at night to wind down at the end of a hard day.

Shadow of a Spout

Title: Shadow of a Spout (#2 Teapot Collector Mystery)

Author: Amanda Cooper

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group, 2015

Pages: 296

Genre: cozy mystery

Obtained: purchased






Summary: One of the members of the International Teapot Collectors Society is found dead in the inn where their annual convention is being held.  When the murder weapon seems to be Sophie's grandmother's teapot, Sophie rushes to the Stone and Scone Inn to clear her grandmother's name.

Thoughts: How could you not love the setting of this book- an International Teapot Collectors Society conference at the Stone and Scone Inn?  The author does a great job putting a picture of this setting in the reader's mind.  The characters from the first series return, along with many new ones.  The characters were all ages and both men and women, and boys and girls, which I liked.  I enjoyed Rose and Laverne- the main character, Sophie's, grandmother and best friend.  I also liked Thelma, the trouble maker of the group of older ladies.  Sophie herself still seemed inconsistent to me - sometimes well mannered, sometimes forward and rude.  I just couldn't seem to connect to her.

The writer's style was organized, but I felt that it was even more repetitive than in the first book.  The pace was slow, which was fine, but the repetition of information bogged it down.  I kept thinking, let's move along here.  This book could definitely be read as a stand alone.  The story was entertaining, and not a bad whodunit.  I will continue with the series.

If you think you might like this setting, and like cozy mysteries with a bit of humor, this is worth a try.  If realistic characters are important and repetition drives you crazy, this is not for you.




                                                                        

In the back of Shadow of a Spout, there is a recipe for these cherry blossom cookies.  They were easy to make and didn't need many special ingredients.  I mixed up the batter, put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, and then just  rolled it into balls adding cherry pieces and almond slivers on the top before baking for 10 minutes.  My family thought they were "fancy", but they were easy and quick to make.  They tasted pretty good too- buttery with a hint of almond flavor.  There was also a couple of pages about different teas and how to steep them.

The Dire King

Title: The Dire King (Jackaby #4)

Author: William Ritter

Narrator: Nicola Barber

Publisher: Recorded Books, 2017

Format: 7 compact discs, approximately 8 hours

Genre: YA Fantasy

Obtained: library




Summary: This is the conclusion to the Jackaby series in which Jackaby, supernatural private detective and his assistant Abigal Rook, along with their colleagues, must save not one world, but two, from a powerful, evil enemy.

Thoughts: I guess I wasn't paying attention when I picked up this book on compact discs from the library because I should have gotten Ghostly Echoes, the third book in the Jackaby series, first.  I wanted a story for a long car ride with my family and didn't have time to make an exchange, so listened to it anyway.  Luckily, I still enjoyed it, but will definitely go back and listen to Ghostly Echoes, especially for Jenny's story.

I love the narrator who does fantastic voices and really gets into the characters and story, showing emotions and reading at a wonderful pace.  The only thing that was annoying was that every once in a while it would sound like she took a sharp intake of breath and it was clearly not part of the story.  This was distracting.  I didn't notice this in the first two books.

The author created a magical world with fantastical characters.  The characters are my favorite part of the series.  They are developed and seem real even though most of them are not even human.  It takes a gift to make characters like this work.  In this fourth book, the author brings back the characters I loved in the previous books, but also adds some new ones.  He continues to use humor in his writing, along with having some great lines in his dialogue that I sometimes read twice because they were just perfect.  In The Dire King, the author has Jackaby talk about "people" referring to all the fantastical beings in the book, and how they are being discriminated against because they are being locked up since they are not human.  I loved this!   Also, the author showed how diversity is a wonderful thing that makes life full, interesting, and colorful.  So, for a light book it covers some heavy topics.  Everything is wrapped up at the end and this book definitely finishes with the biggest culmination of the series.  There were also some unexpected surprises.

William Ritter is a clever, entertaining author with a wonderful imagination.  If you like magical mysteries, the whole series is a must read.  I would definitely start from the beginning if you think you might read them all, but it is not really necessary.  Just a warning that this is a YA book. Even though it has really cool characters that young children would love, it has a couple of bad words in it and some violence- and this book has a bit more of both than at least the first two.  My ten year old listened along, which was a mistake.  I would say this is more appropriate for those aged 12 and older.


                                                                   

Company: Plum Deluxe

Tea: Raspberry Revitalizer Lemon Mate

Obtained: free sample with tea of the month club



Today I tried Raspberyy Revitalizer Lemon Mate from Plum Deluxe.  I received this as a free sample with my July tea of the month club tea.  The raspberries in my garden just started ripening, so I felt like this tea sample came at the perfect time.  This is an organic tea containing caffeine and is made up of green mate, lemongrass, lemon peel, rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, and raspberry essence.  The loose tea was very pretty with red and yellow chunks, light grassy leaves and small dark leaf pieces, and had a faint raspberry scent.  I poured eight ounces of boiling water over one teaspoon of leaves.  I let this steep for three minutes.  The liquid was a pale pink with a raspberry scent that was barely there.  The taste was a delicious, delicate raspberry lemon with a floral background- the perfect tea for summer and spring afternoons.

The Fifth to Die

Title: The Fifth to Die (#2 4MK Thriller)

Author: J. D. Barker

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018

Pages: 526

Genre: thriller, mystery

Obtained: advance reader copy from publisher










Summary: Young girls begin to go missing in Chicago, their bodies found soon after.  Can the killer or killers be caught?  At the same time, Porter continues his search for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer.  Could the Four Monkey Killer have something to do with the missing girls?

Thoughts: This second book in the 4MK series is due to be released on July 10, 2018.  There are a few days before it is available to start by reading the first in the series, The Fourth Monkey.  I highly encourage reading this series in order.  Although I did read this second book without reading the first, I now want to go back and start from the beginning.  It was not confusing and made sense, but I wanted the background information as I was reading and still wanted it after finishing the book.

This was a fast paced, gripping, thriller / mystery with similarities to the murder mysteries written by James Patterson and Thomas Harris, but not a copy of either.  The writing style was similar to some of James Patterson's in the way Barker moved the story and created suspense by telling his tale by jumping from character to character and showing it from different perspectives.  It was similar to Thomas Harris' writing in that the villains in this story were horrific, yet intelligent like Thomas Harris', and the writing was quite graphic.

This was a long book, over 500 pages, but a quick read.  It was one of those books where I couldn't wait to get back to reading to find out what was going to happen next.  The characters were somewhat developed.  Again, I probably would have felt I knew them better if I had started at the beginning of the series.  There was so much going on.  I mean a lot.  I love complicated stories and plots.  The descriptions did not weigh the story down, but were detailed enough that I could picture what was happening in my mind.  I felt the suspense and horror and found myself routing for the good guys.  There are twists and turns and the ending leaves the reader shocked and hanging on for the third in this series.

If you like serial killer murder mysteries that aren't cozy, but scary, chilling, horrific, and creepy, this book is a must read.  Just be aware that you will feel a need to read the third in the series, but will have to wait for it to be written!


                                               

Company: Davids Tea

Tea: Forever Nuts

Obtained: purchased



I purchased the Davids Top 12 sampler.  Today I tried Forever Nuts which is a caffeine free herbal blend.  The ingredients are apple, almond, cinnamon, beetroot and artificial flavouring.  The tea was made up of large chunks of fruit and nuts.  It had a sweet, nutty scent.  I poured sixteen ounces of water that was near boiling over two and a half teaspoons of leaves.  I let this steep for four minutes.  The liquid was a beautiful, bright pink which I loved.  The scent reminded me of oatmeal cookies.  The taste was of sweet almond and cinnamon with apple in the background.  It was very smooth and sweet, and tasted like a watered down oatmeal cookie.  This tea wasn't for me.  It just seemed to be missing something.  It was like liquid dessert more than tea.  It was almost identical to Almond Cookie Tea from Joy's Teaspoon.  If you are looking for a sweet dessert tea, and like cinnamon, almonds, and apple, this is for you!