Reading, Writing & Pondering

The Inklings Detective Agency by John R. Kelly is a mystery with what I would say is a bit of magical realism as we see literary legends work together to solve a crime. I enjoyed this book with main characters who comprise the Inklings Group and their consultants: C. S. Lewis and his brother Warren, J R R Tolkien, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and more.  The Inklings Detective Agency started and met in 1936 Oxford, England to work together to catch a killer. This whodunit is a bit dark as it features a leader of the occult and his group from a cult of dark evil forces. The Inklings Detective Agency is a story of good versus evil. I figured out the way the victims were killed but I did not figure out who the killer was before they were revealed. This book certainly kept me guessing, turning pages, and I enjoyed trying to figure it all out. This author is a professor of religion and the occult so that aspect was spot-on in its history. There is also history of the England area an...

    Scent of Hope by Susan May Warren is the second book in the Call of the Wild series. As a dog lover, I love that dogs are a main character in each book of this series. Along with that, this book is a fast-paced action-packed book. Harley Tatum is a private investigator who came home to Copper Mountain, Alaska, with her job to catch a bad guy she has been trying to catch for a long time. Coming home is painful as a drug dealer destroyed her family and she is the lone survivor. This is the bad guy she is trying to find and her family history fuels her search. Jericho Bowie is back in Copper Mountain after serving in the military and working in search and rescue in Montana. His family owns a hotel that his dad hoped  Jericho would run one day. Instead, he ran away after his parents were killed in a plane crash. But before the crash, he had words with his dad that lingered in his heart and drove his decisions. At one time, Harley and Jericho were neighbors and supported ...

    If you are someone who likes to read stories of people learning to live with challenges, you may enjoy Fearfully and Wonderfully Broken by Sydney Anne Bennett. This book could be especially helpful to someone else who lives with a chronic illness or disability. Sydney doesn't learn to overcome her disability but she does learn to live her truth with God every day. This book reads autobiographically and is easy to read and understand. Are you battling chronic struggles—whether physical, mental, emotional, relational, or social? Are they eating away at your faith? Sydney Anne Bennett has been there. She knows what it is to live in a body that is unraveling, a world that doesn’t understand, and a church that doesn’t always know what to say. With compassion, wit, and quiet strength, Sydney invites you to remember that some of life’s fiercest battles are fought flat on your back—and not one of them is wasted. In  Fearfully and Wonderfully Broken , Sydney shares h...

  My health care provider has encouraged me to do intermittent fasting so being the reader that I am, I have been reading books on the subject. I have actually read a several books on this subject, including Intermittent Fasting Transformation by Cynthia Thurlow. Intermittent Fasting Transformation is divided into three parts:  Part One explains intermittent fasting for a healthy body and hormones. This section explains what intermittent fasting is and why it could be helpful with various hormones. It also explains how it may benefit readers at various life stages and ages. Part Two explains what the Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle is. This section includes what to eat for when you aren't fasting for optimal nutrition, supplements that you may want to consider if you adopt an intermittent fasting lifestyle, and how to prepare for success while intermittent fasting. Part Three offers a 45-day plan to use intermittent fasting to change your lifestyle. There are food lists and m...

  Spies, Lies, and Alibis by Natalie Walters was a fun read. This rom-com has romantic tension, suspense, action and was an all-around fun read. Cybil Langford works as a spy for the SNAP agency. She hides behind a polished business facade as she works for her crime boss and gathers intel for SNAP. Ben Bradley is working undercover for the FBI and gathering intel on his crime boss.   Neither Cybil nor Ben know the others real situation and they both suspect the other of having gone over to the dark side from when they met years before. They run into each other, literally, at a black tie affair reeking of crime and corruption. Originally, they knew each other as kids and Ben was Cybil's early crush until something went wrong and they parted ways. Little did Cybil know, but she was Ben's crush too. With everything going on, can they sort out their feelings for each other? Spies, Lies, and Alibis was a fast-paced adventure. I have read all of Natalie Walters' books up unti...

  I was already familiar with Dr. Kelly Flanagan as I read and reviewed his first book, Loveable , in 2017. I remembered finding that book helpful so looked forward to The Road Less Triggered . The Road Less Triggered has a lot of good advice in it for improving your relationships on your own. I think it could also be helpful book to use with a therapist too. Dr. Flanagan divides this book into three parts: Get Calm Get Free Get Connected You have to read  The Road Less Triggered to understand what those three parts really mean.  There are three chapters in each section. Through the stories of others who have followed this advice, the reader can then apply that information to improve their own relationships. Dr. Flanagan especially follows one couple through the book to best see the ups and downs of learning this strategy. The key concept throughout the book is that the reader works to have an open heart. Dr. Flanagan explains how to do that and how to use this concept ...