Robert Pickton by Chris L. Swinney

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RobertPicktonThe True Story of the Pig Farmer Killer
Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2015
Type: True Crime ~ Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 100
Read: 2015-07-02
Rating: Liked it ♥

This was a book I got through Kindle Unlimited, which is a borrowing service, kind of like Netflix for books. This was a short book in the Crimes Canada: True Crimes That Shocked The Nation series. This is book 1.

This is a very concise account informative and well written, but very sketchy. I was left feeling rather disappointed that there was not more information. It felt to me more like a short story than a book, but at 100 pages I guess that is what this is. I would still recommend it if you want to know what happened but don’t want a lot of graphic details.

Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw New Mexico by Ron Franscell

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OurlawNewMexicoFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2014
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 120
Read: 6/30/2015
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

Have you ever wanted to find the burial site of your favorite Wild West outlaw? I did until I saw that picture of how big centipedes get in the Southwest, now, not so much. All kidding aside, this short book contains accounts of crimes that were committed in New Mexico, some recent and some a long time ago, along with pictures and GPS locations for either the crime site or burial sites. The author cautions anyone wanted to go to these sites that some are on private property, considering that 11 out of 9 people in the Southwest carry guns, you don’t want to trespass.

~~~ Musical interlude ~~~

Billy the Kid
I’ll sing you a true song of Billy the Kid
I’ll sing of some desperate deeds that he did
Way out in New Mexico long long ago
When a man’s only chance was his own forty-four

When Billy the Kid was a very young lad
In old Silver City he went to the bad
Way out in the West with a gun in his hand
At the age of twelve years he did kill his first man

There’s Mexican maidens play guitars and sing
Songs about Billy their boy bandit king
Ere his young manhood has reached his sad end
With a notch an his pistol for twenty one men

Was on a sad night when poor Billy died
He said to his friend I’m not satisfied
There’s twenty one men I have put bullets through
Sheriff Pat Garrett must make twenty two

I’ll sing you how Billy the Kid met his fate
The bright moon was shining the hour was late
Shot down by Pat Garrett who once was his friend
The young outlaw’s life is now come to an end

There’s many a man with a face fine and fair
Who start out in life with a chance to be square
Just like poor Billy they wander astray
They’ll lose their lives in the very same way

Song Author Marty Robbins – used without permission (shh don’t tell!)

When I was a girl I learned this song, don’t ask me why, but I am ¼ Mexican, the second half of this book is about Billy the Kid, I was finally able to find out if the song was true! I kind of suspected it wasn’t. The author takes us through Billy’s childhood, including his real name, the aliases he took, family members, his life of crime and death. He was shot by Pat Garrett, that is if he was really shot, if you want to know what I mean, read the book.

A quick read, informative and interesting. Loads of pictures, just what us TC readers LOVE.

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Library of Souls

Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #3)Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hardcover, 400 pages
Expected publication: September 22nd 2015 by Quirk Books

400 glorious pages but I have to wait until September? OK I can do that. . . . NO I CAN’T!!!

Need this book NOW.

OK I’ll wait.

Patiently.

**chews the linoleum**

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My Life, Deleted by Scott Bolzan

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MyLifeFormat: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2011
Type: Non-Fiction, Memoir ~ Library Book
Pages: 304
Read: 6/7/2015
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

December 17, 2008 started like an other day for Scott Bolzan, he went to the men’s room in his office building, something he had done thousands if not a million times, slipped and hit his head on the floor. It changed his life, he woke in an emergency room of a hospital with no memory. He didn’t know his name, he didn’t know the woman there with him was his wife, he didn’t even know what a wife was. His life was deleted. The hit to his head had caused total and permanent amnesia.

What followed was Scott had to rebuild his life, it was hard on him, his family and his friends. It was interesting to see he retained muscle memory, he was able to drive a car, and what he called ‘heart’ memory, he ‘felt’ who he could trust and not trust, that he was close to his daughter but relations with his son were strained. That he could trust his wife. Beyond that, everything was a blank slate.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable memoir, Scott is very candid in his retelling, he doesn’t sugar-coat things, he doesn’t make himself to be a hero. He is unstinting in his admiration of his wife, her strength and patience, with no memory, Scott ‘forgot’ he was in love with her and had to fall in love with her again. He tells about non-stop TV watching to ‘learn about life’. His frustration with doctors who kept saying there was a ‘psychological’ reason for the amnesia, since they couldn’t find a physical one, when his family and friends told him there was no trauma he had suffered, just the seemingly minor injury when he fell.

An account that could have been heart-breaking but with his persistence and the love and support of his family, along with searching for the right doctors for answers makes this an uplifting tale.

On a personal note, several years ago my father fell running across a wet parking lot an broke his wrist and tore a tendon in his knee. Every since then I have been very careful on wet surfaces, especially when I am wearing ‘slippy’ shoes. Now I am even more paranoid about slippery conditions.

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Widow Walk by Gerard Lasalle

WidowWalkFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2012
Type: Fiction, Historical Fiction ~ Received free for honest review
Pages: 224
Read: 5/30/2015
Rating: Liked it ♥♡
Widow Walk is historical fiction depicting real and fictional characters and events.

Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey (Isaac Evers in the story) did take a company to the Palouse to fight.

Captain George E. Pickett, who later achieved enduring fame during the War Between the States, almost provoked an international war with his standoff of the Brits at San Juan Island.

The two statements above were taken from the book, I edited them to remove any potential spoilers. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is well written fictionalized account of a historical event. I enjoyed reading it. There were some questions that remained at the end of the book, but there is a follow-up book Isthmus which I haven’t read. I would think some of these unanswered questions will be answered in the follow-up book.

Having lived in the Northwest, the setting of this novel, I have been on Whidbey Island, I have stood on the bridge over Deception Pass so it was fun reading about places I’ve been even though the events took place several generations before my family lived there. I am a little embarrassed to admit I know very little about the history of the area, but it is obvious that Mr. LaSalle has done his research.

The first few chapters introduce us to the main characters, each chapter from the point of view of one person. This allows for excellent character development, it doesn’t take long for us to get to know the characters in the book. At the same time we are ‘meeting’ the characters, we are also learning about the area, and the relationship between the settlers and the indigenous people. There is a good mix of people in this book, good, bad, mentally ill, courageous, greedy and unscrupulous. Mr. LaSalle has done a good job with the people in this book, he does not resort to making them stereotypical characters. You feel for the characters, bad and good, and even though I thoroughly disliked some of them, I understood why they did the things they did.

The history of the actions of the settlers vs the natives is also explored, showing the good and bad on both sides. It is a fact that the whites or “the men from Boston” as they are referred to in this book, tried to wipe out the native population. It is touched on briefly in this book.

I believe this book will appeal to readers of historical fiction, those who are interested in the history of this country.

Cress by Marissa Meyer

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CressThe Lunar Chronicles #3

Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2014
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book
Pages: 550
Read: 4/27/2015
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

If you have not read the first two book: CINDER and SCARLET, this review will contain spoilers. Also, it is best to read this series in order.

Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet and Wolf (who are characters we met in Book #2) are on the run, from the authorities (who want to arrest them) and Queen Levana’s soldiers (who have orders to kill her, sort of). They realize their only hope of survival is to overthrow Queen Levana’s army. When they learn about Cress, they realize she is their best hope, she can give them the best chance of survival. The only problem is she is imprisoned on a satellite by the Lunars. The group of fugitives decide to rescue her. Unfortunately things don’t go quite as planned. Which means they have to change their plans.

Their new plan is not completely successful, and now Cinder is facing the possibility of war with the Lunars.

So lets just say at the end of this book, Queen Levana is super pissed and we meet the next fairy-tale character, Winter, an incredibly beautiful Lunar, one who doesn’t need Glamour, she is Queen Levana’s step-daughter.

The next book is due to be published November 10th 2015. I cannot wait.

This book continues the character development, the action continues, what I like it is there is pacing in the action, its not non-stop; there is romance, but it is not central and actually sweet, progressing gradually and subtly. And there are plot twists and a major cliff-hanger. LEt’s hope the next book is also not disappointing.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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ScarletThe Lunar Chronicles #2

Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2013
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book
Pages: 452
Read: 4/24/2015
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

If you have not read the first book: CINDER, this review will contain spoilers

In this book we meet Scarlet Benoit, a French farm girl who’s grandmother is missing. She has red hair and her favorite item of clothing is a red hoodie. The police are not looking for Scarlet’s grandmother, so she decides she will. She meets Wolf, and learns he has information about her grandmother, he’s a street fighter and rather shady, she doesn’t know if she can trust him.

Meanwhile, Cinder has broken out of prison, she and Scarlet meet up, the connection is Scarlet’s grandmother, that could be considered a spoiler, but it was hinted at in the first book so I hope it is OK to mention it.

Soon all of them are on the run from Queen Levana, who really wants to capture Cinder for reasons known to those who have read the first book.

All I can say is WOW, this book is as good as the first. I think this may because it focusses on Scarlet while continuing Cinder’s story. The action is intense, the characters are likable, for the most part, except for the ones you aren’t supposed to like. I noticed no glaring mistakes or inconsistencies. A stellar second installment in the Lunar Chronicles.

Kiss of the She-Devil by M. William Phelps

KissSheDevilFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2013
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Scribd Book
Pages: 320
Read: 4/13/2015
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

When Martha Gail Fulton left her part-time job at the library and discovered she had a flat tire, she drove back into the empty parking lot, upon leaving her vehicle, a car with three people drove into the parking lot, a man got out, approached Gail and shot her to death.

From the very beginning it was obvious this was not a random shooting, Gail was targeted by persons unknown. Two obvious suspects were her husband George and George’s mistress Donna Kay Trapani. Both however, had alibis. As police investigated however, they uncovered a conspiracy and a mistress that was quite the woman scorned. You know what is said about a woman scorned. Donna Kay Trapani would do whatever she needed to ‘get her man’.

Despite the lurid title, this is a solidly told tale of an adulterous mate, a long suffering wife and how it led to murder for hire. M. Phelps has done his usual solid job of research and his narrative is captivating and compelling. He has little respect for men who mistreat women and lets you know it, this includes unfaithful husbands. Although George had nothing to do with Gail’s murder, his affair set events in motion that led to it. I don’t want to say any more. Just know this is a very interesting account and M. Phelps has told it well.