The Lighthouse Keeper by Cynthia Ellingsem

Realized I finished this last week and never reviewed it. It was more or less an average read, which I actually listened to on Audible. Not particularly memorable and I don't think I'll continue with the series. Somewhat mystery, somewhat romance, and somewhat woman's fiction.

Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe

I found following these 4 girls lives particularly interesting. Primarily Marisela and Yadira, who were brought over from Mexico as children and did not have documentation, since they came to the U.S. illegally with their parents. The two other girls were citizens, I believe having been born here, although I'm not entirely sure if each of their parents were here legally. The lives of the two girls who were legal U.S. citizens, Elissa and Clara were not covered as indepthly as the lives and family of Marisela and Yadira were. All of the politics kind of bored me at times and were somewhat confusing and caused my mind to wander at times, while reading. The storylines involving the girls kept my interest much more. This is my the second book I read by Helen Thorpe, the first one, Soldier Girls, I listened to on audio. I have the author's third book, The Newcomers that I hope to read later this year

It Had to Be Him by Tamra Bauman

Overall this book gets 3.5 stars raised to 4 on Goodreads. There were a few things in the story that I just found either hard to believe or rather stupid. All in all, I really liked the premise of the story and plan to continue on with this series. I listened to this book through Kindle Unlimited and have the two of the books as ARCs from NetGalley, but plan to get them through KU in order to listen to them. The narrator, Kate Rudd was very good with using different voices for the different characters

Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager

Not my favorite book, but not bad and slightly interesting. Some of the hi-jinks that was portrayed in the press may not have been necessarily all it seemed to be, but then this is written by the Bush twins, so they may not truly want to admit to all that was reported on. They do admit to some unflattering behavior, so it would not shock me for the press to exploit situations, but who knows for sure. This is a relatively short book that I listened to. I've really not been that intrigued by the Bush girls, nor the Bush family in general. I did like the older Barbara Bush, but if this book had not been so short and that it met a challenge I was working on, I probably would not have read it. 2.5 stars

Witch Chocolate Fudge (Bewitched by Chocolate #2) by H.Y. Hanna

4.25 to 4.5 stars. What a refreshingly quick read! After the previous (much shorter book) taking so long this was really nice to get done in a few days. I was introduced to the author several years ago when she was writing contemporary romances set in Australia. I decided to try these cozy mysteries and I really enjoy them. Can't wait to read the next book in the series

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

For a 288-page book, it took me way too long to read this. I figured it would take me less than a week, probably a lot less than that. Although there were quite a few parts that were interesting, it was written in a way that was very slow reading. Parts, she wrote directly referring to her unborn child that she never had as a teenager, unlike past generations of her family, which kept up the cycle of poverty.. Like many others who have reviewed this book, this device was not really necessary and was a nuisance or distraction n to the story. She also seemed to blame the cycle of poverty on the system that held people back , which may be somewhat true, a good part of the continuing cycle of poverty for many, including her family are bad choices made during life. Although economically poor, she always had people who loved her and a roof over her head. Maybe it was not the ideal home, but she always had a place to go. One other thing that I feel would have helped me and possibly other readers,, past and future, would be a family tree since there were so many family members. At times, I found myself struggling to remember, who was who, since so many husbands and boyfriends were in and out of the story. It is difficult to properly rate this story. Overall, I feel it deserves 2.5 stars on Goodreads, but of course, Goodreads does not allow that and I have to decide between lowering it 2 stars (an OK rating) or raiding it to 3 stars (a good rating). Based on how long it took me to read a relatively short book and what I have mentioned above 2 stars seems more realistic as far as what I've felt while reading this and the day and a half since I finished the book before actually writing this review.

Christmas in Good Hope by Cindy Kirk

I listened to this book as part of the Kindle Unlimited special they were running in which you could have 3 months of KU for 99 cents. The first half of the book, I was having my doubts, but once it got past the halfway mark, it improved and I will continue with the series. The 1st 4 books are available with free narration through Audible. I often find that the 1st book in a series, is weaker than the rest of the books. The story ended up being average to better than average and the narrator was pretty good. The one thing, I found kind a cheesy about this book are the names of the 4 sisters in this series. They are named after flowers and no, not the expected names, such as Rose, Violet, Lily and Iris, but Amethyst (shortened to Ami), Primrose (Prim), Marigold, and Delphinium (Fin); and of course we can't forget their last name, which is Bloom. Other than that the series seems promising.

Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present by Hank Steuver

I had hoped to like this book more than I did and although it was interesting in parts, it is only a 2.75 in my eyes and raised to 3 stars for Goodreads, not that 3 stars is really a reflection of a bad book. 3 stars actually signifies a good book, but it just wasn't great or that remarkable. I enjoyed it for the most part, but not as much as I expected. I did like the fact that the book took place in the suburbs of Dallas, particularly Frisco with mentions of Plano and some other suburbs or nearby communities.

Titans by Leila Meacham

I loved Leila Meacham's Roses and enjoyed her other books, Somerset and Tumbleweeds very much. Although I liked this book, it wasn't quite up to the same caliber as the other three. One thing, I think this book could have been shorter, even 50 pages less. The book topped out at just a bit over 600 pages and probably 18 hours long as an audiobook. I think this book deserves 3.5 stars, but since Goodreads doesn't have half star ratings, I have to give it 3 stars since 4 stars seems too high for this book in comparison to the other 3 books that I mentioned. Don't get me wrong, it is a good book, just not up to the same level as her others that I read

Elle & Coach: Diabetes, the Fight for My Daughter's Life, and the Dog Who Changed Everything by Stefany Shaheen

I got this book as an ARC through NetGalley way back in 2015. I don't know why this book took me so long to read. It really is fabulous. I have always been a dog person and believe the great majority of dogs are very smart, smarter than the many people give dogs credit. But I'm always in awe of dogs that are service animals be it in the form of being a police dog, a drug or bomb-sniffing dog, a seeing-eye dog or less identifiable service dog, such as in this case, where Coach can detect high or low blood sugar. This was such an enjoyable read. It was well-written and provided the necessary information, but was never boring. Most ARCs do not include the photos that are included in the published book, but this one did and I appreciated that they included them. Regardless if you want to learn about Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, although it does not affect only juveniles or if you are a dog lover and want to learn more about a wonderful certified diabetes dog, this is a great book.

The Shimmering Road by Hester Young

This is the 2nd book in the Charlie Cates series and also only the 2nd book by author, Hester Young. I really enjoyed this book just as I did the first. This was almost 5 stars, but like the previous book, The Gates of Evangeline, I got confused a few times who they were speaking about. I also listened to this book on audio which may play a part, but there are also quite a few characters in this book. There are some elements of paranormal or maybe it's called magical realism, which I usually don't enjoy, but did in this book. There were twists in the story that I didn't see coming. I look forward to reading the 3rd book, which will be published later this month.