Author Profile/Book Review: Against the Edge by Kat Martin

kat martinKat Martin is a New York Times bestselling author of over fifty historical and contemporary romance suspense novels.  She currently lives in Missoula, Montana with her husband.  Kat is a graduate of the University of California where she majored in Anthropology and studied History.  Before starting her writing career in 1985, she was a real estate broker.  That’s where she met her husband, Larry Jay Martin, author of more than 20 westerns and mysteries.

Most of her ideas for books just pop up in her head, but she does occasionally get ideas from newspapers and television.  Her books are published in twenty foreign countries.

Against the Edge is book number eight in the Against series.  You  don’t need to read the others in any order as they stand alone just fine.

Former Navy SEAL Ben Slocum receives the shock of his life when a stranger appears on his doorstep announcing that a child he didn’t even know he had is missing.  Claire Chastain is a friend of the boy’s late mother and is desperate to find him and seeks Ben’s help.  They band together to track down the kidnapper, all the while trying to fight the attraction they feel for each other.  Ben enlists the help of his fellow private investigators and end up traveling through several states in search of an off grid survivalist group who might have his son, Sam.  To add an interesting twist to the story, Claire’s old boyfriend shows up with his own trouble that Claire gets drawn into.

This book is filled with drama, suspense, action, romance, and likeable characters.  It is fun to watch Ben and Claire’s relationship take hold.  The author weaves a believable story of both characters’ pasts that adds great interest to the book.  The secondary characters (some have been introduced in past Against books) add another enjoyable layer.

Top Twenty Book Club Picks

book clubBelow is a list of the top 20 favorite books for book clubs.  How many has your club read?

  1.  The Help – Kathryn Stockett
  2. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
  3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer
  4. Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay
  5. Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
  6. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
  7. The Art of Racing In The Rain – Garth Stein
  8. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
  9. The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
  10.  Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jami Ford
  11.  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
  12.  The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
  13.  The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
  14.  Little Bee – Chris Cleave
  15.  Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese
  16.  Life of Pi – Yann Martel
  17.  The Memory Keepers Daughter – Kim Edwards
  18.  The Paris Wife – Paula McCain
  19.  Still Alice – Lisa Genova
  20.  The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

It’s Time to Get Your Lawn Healthy!

wheel barrowFinally, the snow is gone!  Flowers and tree buds are starting to bloom and those nasty weeds are starting to show up on your lawn.  Here are a few of the books the Cheshire Public Library has to help you get your lawn in shape.

Lawn Gone! – low maintenance, sustainable, attractive alternatives for your yard

The Complete Guide to Organic Lawn Care

Ortho’s All About Lawns

Lawn Geek

The Organic Lawn Care Manual

Lawns 1-2-3

Scotts Lawns

The Lawn Bible

Tauton’s Lawn Guide

Better Homes and Gardens Step-By-Step Yard Care

Easy Lawns

BOOK REVIEW: All You Could Ask For by Mike Greenberg

Is it possible for the anchor of a highly popular ESPN sports show to write believable women’s fiction?  The answer is YES!

mike greenbergMike Greenberg joined ESPN in September 1996 as an anchor for ESPNEWS.  He is  usually seen each Monday evening on SportsCenter.   He was named co-host of Mike & Mike in the Morning (along with Mike Golic), a weekday morning drivetime show, in 1999.  He has various other responsibilities within ESPN that include play-by-play for Arena Football League games, various hosting duties, and TV specials.  He is a New York Times Best Sellers author and was nominated for a Quill Award.  He is married with two children, and lives in Connecticut.

All You Could Ask For is about three woman traveling different paths who become connected when each is diagnosed with cancer.  Brooke is happily married to her college sweetheart, Samantha finds out on the second day of her honeymoon that her husband is cheating on her, and Katherine is 40, single, and has a high-power job and salary in New York City.  The book is written in the first person and in two parts.  The first part sets the stage to allow you to learn about these three women.  Part two delves into how these women deal with their cancer diagnosis and life around them.

The format of the book may not be to everyone’s liking, and you probably think a man could not write such a sensitive story from a woman’s perspective, but the author delivers this novel with grace, humor, compassion and insight.

Mr. Greenberg was inspired to write this book after a friend of his wife, Stacy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.  He watched in amazement at the depth to which her circle of friends gathered around to support, love and nurture this woman.  Mike and Stacy have created a foundation called Heidi’s Angels to honor Stacy’s friend.  All of the profits from this book will be donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research to combat breast cancer.

BOOK REVIEW: What She Wants by Sheila Roberts

This is book three of the Life in Icicle Falls series.  I didn’t read the other two and do not feel like I needed to.  This book took me completely by surprise.  Most romances center around the angst of women trying to find true love.  This book centers around men!  It was very refreshing to read a story from the man’s perspective.

Jonathan Templar and his poker buddies are single, married, separated, height challenged, balding, overweight and geeky.  Not your typical romance heroes!  But they all have good hearts and no knowledge on how to get the love of their lives, or keep the loves of their lives.

The main character of this book is Jonathan who has been in love with his childhood neighbor his whole life.  She only sees him as her “good friend”.  Their 15 year high school reunion is coming up and he is determined to change from geeky, skinny, computer nerd, to stud-muffin he-man.  He’s also determined to learn how to talk to women and learn what they want.  His poker buddies also have their women challenges from Adam who thinks he’s in love with someone at work, to Kyle whose wife kicks him out for taking her for granted, to Vance who has known love and lost love and has quite the surprise!   Ms. Roberts deftly weaves their stories and other secondary characters around Jonathan’s.  Jonathan’s sister starts planting the seed of reading romance novels to learn about women.  They attend their local library’s book sale and Jonathan ends up buying a ton of romance novels.  He approaches reading them as if they were textbooks, highlighting passages and taking notes.  He ends up actually enjoying them!  His poker buddies accidentally come upon his new hobby and he hooks them into reading the romance novels too.  It is quite interesting, humorous and thoroughly engaging to watch these men transform.

This book will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for the underdog.  It is very well written, with great character development and scene setting.  You’ll fall in love with the Town of Icicle Falls and all its characters!