The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught (#5) by Neta Jackson

 

Synopsis :

For the Yada Yadas, gettin' caught up in troubles isn't the problem; it's how to get free.

Only weeks ago, we Yadas toughened our prayer knees when one of our own was the victim of a vicious racial attack. Now it seems each household is being thrown into even bigger and badder circumstances. It especially worries me, Jodi Baxter, because I'm a fixer by nature, and the prayer list is getting out of control . . .

Ruth and Ben are caught up in an unplanned pregnancy--in their fifties! Chanda is deluded by the glitter of her lottery dream come true. Florida wants to move her family, hoping to leave trouble behind, but it looks like it may catch up to her anyway. And I'm finding that even good things like prayer group can consume me in no time flat.

If there is an upside, it's that all this trouble is revealing the subtle lies we Yadas believe about God, ourselves, each other, and life. Maybe our best hope is to catch on to what God's doing--and catch on quick!--before the enemy can take any prisoners. That'd be a freedom worth celebrating. And celebrating is what my spiritual sisters and I do best. 

This is what I say :

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught is a Christian novel on the power of prayer.  It's actually the fifth book in the series but it's still readable as a single book by itself.  

It's not my first time reading what Neta Jackson wrote.  The last time was ten years ago when I read Who is My Shelter?  

It was really nice reading such book at this time.  Reminded me of the importance of prayer and the need to pray at all times for all things.  Something positive and edifying God that speaks on the power of God.  It would have been nice to be able to read the titles in sequence in order to follow the lives and developments of the characters but even if not, the single book alone is a blessing in itself.

I don't mind reading the other titles in the series in future if I can get hold of them.

The Devil and The River by R. J. Ellory

 

Synopsis :

When Sheriff John Gaines is called to the riverside, it is to supervise the recovery of the body of a teenage girl. The corpse is perfectly preserved, she could have died yesterday. But the locals of Whytesburg are in for a shock. For Nancy Denton, missing for two decades, has come back to them from the cold embrace of the riverbank.

This is what I say :

I wasn't really sure what I would be in for when I decided to start on this title.  Actually, I had meant to start on this title for quite a while but I kinda favor other titles over this until about a month ago that I decided to just go ahead with it.

This is my first time reading R. J. Ellory.  I was pleasantly surprise as I quite like the way this author writes.  He is quite eloquent with his writing and thus with an interested premise of a body that was preserved naturally for twenty years by nature itself, I thought this title as great potential.

Indeed, it was a good read.  Again, I really like the way this author writes and the way he described situation.  That is the saving grace for the book, for as the story develops, the plot kinda took a downward dive and I didn't like the progression of the story as much as when I first started reading it.

I didn't like the way the sheriff investigated the case. To me he didn't do much investigation. He practically just zeroed in on his hunch and bulldozed his way through without much consideration.  He kinda thought this person was the murderer and tried for the most part of the book to proof himself right.  Well, he was wrong!  Extremely annoying person!

Anyway, The Devil and The River is worth reading just to experience the way R. J. Ellory writes.

October Musing

 

Image from web

To think that it's October already and in less than 3 months, we would say good bye to this year.  I have been wfh on and off too these few months since June and life rhythm has been pretty disrupted these few months and life was actually starting beating to a new tune and rhythm.  

Couple of months ago also saw a shift to the current norm that we have been experiencing in the homefront and things will continue to change and shift again.  This is especially so over the last two months to say the least and honestly I have not really come to terms with the change.  Maybe as I slow down to think and muse, I can be in touch with myself. Maybe I am being dramatic here but whatever it is, I just want to keep note here as a note-to-self.

I might be back to update this post and to correct my thoughts again.

I also wasn't aware that October is the National Book Month.  So, ya happy national book month to all!  I really should catch up with my reading again. It's not that I stop totally but I have been slowing down in my reading habits and a book that used to take me about 1 week to complete is now taking me about 3 to 4 weeks.

I also want to start to declutter my books again.  I used to be able to sell them at my local flea market but I have not been doing so for the past 2 years due to covid.  I used to post them to sell at social media but I have not done so for quite a while.  I should start again soon. It's a lot of work to list them and post them but I guess there's no choice unless I can come up with another way to sell them.  Let me muse further on this.

Hopefully I can post on a book review  by the next post within the next few days as I have a book that I have almost finish reading.

The Girl in the Woods by Camilla Lackberg

 

Synopsis :

A MISSING CHILD…
When a four-year-old girl disappears from in the woods just outside Fjällbacka, the community is horror-struck. Thirty years ago, a young girl went missing from the exact same spot, and was later discovered, murdered.

A MURDER…
Back then, two teenage girls were found guilty of the killing. Could it really be a coincidence that one of the girls – now a world-famous actress – has just returned to Fjällbacka? Detective Patrik Hedström starts investigating, with his fearless wife, Erica Falck, by his side.

A TRUTH BURIED LONG AGO…
But as Patrik and Erica dig deeper, the truth becomes ever murkier. For centuries ago, a woman burned at the stake for witchcraft cursed the Fjällbacka families who accused her, and now it seems the past may be coming back to haunt them…

This is what I say :

This is the tenth title in the universe of Erika and Patrik of Fjallbacka.  I am happy to share that I have read all ten titles and the crime thrillers by Camilla Lackberg are all very good.  They are well written with just enough excitement and also give an opportunity to sleuth out the killer(s).

However, in The Girls in the Woods, it got a bit confusing at times and the back story of yesteryear do not really linked to the current timeline story.  The author try to justify the linkage at the final chapter but I find it rather vague. I mean she can use almost any backstory and it might have worked equally well.  If she had only linked it in earlier chapters and elaborate on it, I feel it might have worked better.  I always loved all this back stories from yesteryear from Camilla so this time round, I am super disappointed.

I also do not know her intention with the story on the refuge (maybe she just want to highlight the plight of refuges) but I can't find the connection to the story and it could have been omitted totally.

Having said that, it was a good story anyhow. It wasn't the best but it was still nice.

I think at this point, there are no other new titles under the Fjallbacka series. By the way, all her titles under this universe are stand alone titles and you can just read them independently.  However, you might then get confuse on the development of the personal stories of the regular characters  but that's quite ok. 

I will be checking out Camilla's other titles which is independent of this series soon. Stay tune!

Forever In Blue (The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood) by Ann Brashares

 

Synopsis :

With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.

Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again.

Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing.

Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.

Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.

Join Ann Brashares's beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.

This is what I say :

At one point in my reading habits, I felt like collecting all the titles in the Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants Series just because.  And I want to purchase them second hand and they have to be in pristine condition.

I started with the fourth book because it's the only copy that fitted my conditions.  For a while, I will faithfully be on a lookout for the other titles but after a while I got bored and I ended up with just this sole copy and the last book of the series.

Having spent the past few years living in my bedroom shelf (yes, I have a a book shelf in my bedroom, I have a couple in the study room and I have one in the main hall. Don't judge me.)  I just felt like giving it a read to see if I can just read this last story without knowing the earlier stories.

It was doable.  It will not be the ideal thing to do if you happen to be emotionally invested in the characters but since I was not and with totally no expectations, Forever in Blue was a rather ok read.

It is the last book in the series and the girls are more grown and more matured in their thinking and in dealing with lives.  There are characters who popped out for a while (must be from the other titles) probably to give everything a closure.

It would be advisable for you  to read from the first title, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants which was made into a motion picture and then progress on from there for different reading experience.

Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

 

Synopsis :

How can you know someone you’ve never met?

Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood. It's the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time.

When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of déjà vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why … 

This is what I say :

Cecelia Ahern delivers when it comes to interesting and unexpected whimsical plot.  Thanks for the Memories is no difference.  There's something magical in what she wrote and I meant that literally and figuratively.  That's her magic formula I think, to take something ordinary like blood donation (in this case) and something simple like missing socks in A Place Called Here and turn it into something magical through her writing.

Joyce and Justin never really met except for a short while  in the har saloon but the story is about them and they only met like towards the end of the story.  I can't say I really like the plot.  I would have like it better if he know how she felt and what she went through instead of just her knowing how he felt and what he went through.  I also didn't like it when he didn't turn up for the opera and went to the dinner date instead.  I didn't like it when he told her off on the phone and left her feeling sad (even though he made up for it.).

It's not my favourite title out of Cecelia's titles that I have read over the years but it's not the worst either.

The Ice Child by Camilla Lackberg

 

Synopsis :

SEE NO EVIL
It’s January in the peaceful seaside resort of Fjällbacka. A semi-naked girl wanders through the woods in freezing cold weather. When she finally reaches the road, a car comes out of nowhere. It doesn’t manage to stop.

HEAR NO EVIL
The victim, a girl who went missing four months ago, has been subjected to unimaginably brutal treatment – and Detective Patrik Hedström suspects this is just the start.

SPEAK NO EVIL
The police soon discover that three other girls are missing from nearby towns, but there are no fresh leads. And when Patrik’s wife stumbles across a link to an old murder case, the detective is forced to see his investigation in a whole new light. 

This is what I say :

First of all, it wasn't really a young child that was described in sypnosis above and as shown in the cover image.  It was a girl, a teenage girl and the title The Ice Child...I have a feeling it wasn't referring to her but to the child of years ago.

That musing aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Ice Child.  I read it over the weekend when I was quarantined at home awaiting the result of a family member who came in contact with a covid positive person.  Thank God the family member was cleared of covid and while it was a stressful weekend, it was good to direct the tension into the book.

This is the 9th installment in the series of Erika and Patrik, wife's a nosy writer and husband's a police investigator extraordinaire and as both are good in getting cases solved.  This happened months after the incidents of Buried Angels .

Camilla Lackberg is just amazing in her plot development and I think this is a winner too.  She is just so good in lacing all characters and different plots together and then at the end of the book, even right up to the last chapter, she would throw a whammy that causes one to recoil back in surprise and in the book, she did just that when we are least expecting it.  

I thoroughly enjoyed The Ice Child.  Next is The Girl In The Woods.  Let me take a breather and be back with that review soon.

In the meantime, stay safe.