Posts Tagged ‘books’
- In: Books | guest posts
- 21 Comments
A wonderful article featuring the Amanda Travels series as a Christmas gift suggestion.
Click on image to go to her site and see links to buy the books (this is not a sponsored link)
The Christmas season is an important time for we Seniors to present gifts to our grandchildren. And some of us even produce these gifts. A great example is the Amanda book series by Darlene Foster, who began her writing career in her mid-50s. Her book series will encourage your young relatives to read, read, and read some more! That is the beginning of wisdom and a fulfilling life.
The Amanda book series has six members so far. Each takes place in a different location where Amanda Ross, the title character, learns about that location, meets new friends, and pursues a bit of a mystery. Charming and educational in a fun way. So far, the locations are: New Mexico (the latest), the Danube river, Alberta in Canada (where Darlene was…
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#BadMoonRising: Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind by Darlene Foster #childrensbooks #supernatural
Posted October 27, 2018
on:Just in time for Halloween, I am part of Teri Polen´s Bad Moon Rising series. I hope you have your costume ready, candies bought and pumpkin carved. If not, That´s OK. Just have a pumpkin spiced latte, sit back and enjoy the post! Happy Halloween!!
Today’s guest is the author of a wonderful series of children’s books. Readers call them ‘delightful armchair travel’ and a ‘fantastic adventure’. As a bonus – they’re educational! Amanda in New Mexico touches on the supernatural, and that’s the book Darlene Foster shares with us today. She also tells a Ouija board story that will send tingles down your spine. Welcome Darlene!
You’re in a horror movie. Are you the final person, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer?
I would be the comic relief. I’m usually the first one to crack a joke when things are tense. This can be annoying to some people who think it is no laughing matter.
Have you ever played with a Ouija board?
My aunt and I played with one when we were children. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I do…
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We Have Winners!!
Posted October 7, 2018
on:- In: Books | contests | special occassions
- 17 Comments
Thank you so much to everyone who entered the recent Amanda in New Mexico giveaway. And a huge thank you to all of you who shared and promoted it. It was fun and using Raflecopter made it very easy and fair. I was pleased that there were so many entries that I had Raflecopter pick two winners. So drum roll, please…
The two winners of a copy of Amanda in New Mexico-Ghosts in the Wind are –
Lynn Davidson
Bette A. Stevens
Congratulations to both of you. I have contacted you via email.
Amanda in New Mexico-Ghosts in the Wind is available at most bookstores, although it may need to be ordered in, and online on the following sites
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family! There is so much to be thankful for. Among many other things, I am thankful for the followers of my blog.
In Canada, picking a pumpkin is as important as picking a Christmas tree. The trick is to find a sincere pumpkin patch.
Watch this space, there may be more giveaways!
- In: Books | contests
- 54 Comments
To celebrate the one year launch of Amanda in Mexico-Ghosts in the Wind and just in time for Halloween, I am giving away a copy. Your choice of a print or digital copy if you live in Canada, US or the UK. If you live anywhere else, the prize will be a digital copy. Simply fill in the Rafflecopter form below. The contest is from September 30th to October 7th, 2018.
Amanda Ross is on a school trip to Taos, New Mexico with several of her fellow creative students. Join Amanda, Cleo and their funny friend, Caleb, as they visit an ancient and beautiful landscape where a traditional hacienda, an ancient pueblo, and a haunted and spooky hotel all hold secrets to a wild and violent past. Does Cleo really see ghosts? Can Amanda escape the eerie wind that follows her everywhere? Perhaps the Day of the Dead will reveal the mysteries of Taos in this latest adventure of Amanda’s travels.
This is what one reviewer had to say about Amanda in New Mexico.
Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind finds student Amanda Ross on a school trip in Taos, New Mexico. While there, her classmate Cleo thinks she sees ghosts. Amanda feels anxious too, sensing that something or someone is watching her. An engaging adventure ensues during their visit to the Land of Enchantment in this sixth book in the fun and educational series for early middle-grade readers. 5/5 Literary Soiree
Click here to enter
Good luck!!
More Books I Read This Summer
Posted September 20, 2018
on:- In: Books | reviews
- 52 Comments
I was pleased to see that everyone enjoyed my list of book recommendations, so following my previous post, I wish to share three more books I read and enjoyed this summer. I have included a children´s book as I believe everyone should read a children´s book once in a while. It is amazing what you can learn.
No More Mulberries
by Mary Smith
No More Mulberries is a story of commitment and divided loyalties, of love and loss, set against a country struggling through transition.
British-born Miriam’s marriage to her Afghan doctor husband is heading towards crisis. Despite his opposition, she goes to work as a translator at a medical teaching camp in a remote area of rural Afghanistan hoping time apart will help are see where their problems lie. She comes to realise how unresolved issues from when her first husband was killed by a mujahideen group are damaging her relationship with her husband and her son – but is it already too late to save her marriage?
A Marriage of Convenience
I Am David
David’s extraordinary odyssey is dramatically chronicled in Anne Holm’s classic about the meaning of freedom and the power of hope.
Books I Read This Summer
Posted September 16, 2018
on:- In: Books | reviews
- 65 Comments

The Artisan Heart
by Dean Mayes Hayden Luschcombe is a brilliant paediatrician living in Adelaide with his wife Bernadette, an ambitious event planner. His life consists of soul-wrenching days at the hospital and tedious evenings attending the lavish parties organized by Bernadette. When an act of betrayal coincides with a traumatic confrontation, Hayden flees Adelaide, his life in ruins. His destination is Walhalla, nestled in Australia’s southern mountains, where he finds his childhood home falling apart. With nothing to return to, he stays, and begins to pick up the pieces of his life by fixing up the house his parents left behind. A chance encounter with a precocious and deaf young girl introduces Hayden to Isabelle Sampi, a struggling artisan baker. While single-handedly raising her daughter, and trying to resurrect a bakery, Isabelle has no time for matters of the heart. Yet the presence of the handsome doctor challenges her resolve. Likewise, Hayden, protective of his own fractured heart, finds something in Isabelle that awakens dormant feelings of his own. As their attraction grows, and the past threatens their chance at happiness, both Hayden and Isabelle will have to confront long-buried truths if they are ever to embrace a future. My review I am already a fan of Dean Mayes and am impressed with his ability to write in diverse genres while at the same time maintaining consistent quality. This book is a wonderful read, filled with incredible characters that jump off the page. I love how the characters play off each other so well. My favourite being Genevieve, a seven-year-old deaf child with spunk. I just wanted to hug her so many times. And then there is the wonderful setting of Walhalla, a cozy Australian mountain village, which is actually the main character for me. While reading this book, I felt myself walking the streets, smelling the freshly baked bread, smiling at the residents, listening to the birds and admiring the gardens. This is a place people come to get away from it all and discover who they are meant to be. A feel-good book with some tense moments, full of emotion and real people. I highly recommend this book. One I would read again.
A Place Called Winter
by Patrick Gale In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens scandalous desires never acknowledged until now, however, Harry is forced to forsake the land and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperiled by war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism.My review
I purchased this book after hearing the author speak at the Winchester Writer’s Festival. His books all sounded interesting but I was drawn to this one as it takes place in the early 20th century in the Canadian prairies. This is where I’m from and my great-grandparents were among the many immigrants who settled this part of Canada. I was not disappointed. The land, the people and the impossibly tough life were described so well, I felt like I was back there working alongside these individuals. It was all there, the unforgiving terrain, the threshing crews, chokecherries, bachelors’ balls, country churches and dashed hopes. The story centres around Harry Cane, a British gentleman who had never worked a day in his life. After being disgraced, he leaves England to stake out a homestead in Winter, Saskatchewan. Little does he know what awaits him. The story is so well written, you can feel the isolation and the cold. “As for the cold, he had never experienced anything like it, a dry, iron clamp upon the land, like death itself, full of unexpected beauty, like the hard crystals that formed on the inside of the windows. The cold did something to the quality of sounds around the farm, deadening all background noise so that the smallest scratching or whisper was emphasised.” Harry’s story is filled with incredible characters, pain and heartbreak. But it is also filled with love. A beautifully written book, well worth a read.