Christine's Book Corner

Summary take from Goodreads A racial divide threatens to split apart a small southern town in 1967: a white child disappears, a community market burns to the ground, and a young black man stands accused of both crimes. When an elderly grandmother attempts to hide an old family secret, she unwittingly pushes her grandchildren into the middle of a dark tale of violence, deception, prejudice, and redemption, as Boo Radley's shadow appears in the less innocent 60s. My Review: 5 Stars for Only A Hummingbird Flies Backwards, a historical fiction novel by John J. Quick, that takes us back into time during the 1960's when the Civil Rights movement was going on in America and innocent people were being blamed for crimes solely for the reason of their race. Chapters A Shift In The Wind - Lanny's Fall :  At first, I couldn't take to the characters, especially parts that Quick had written of the boys setting caterpillars on fire, or the part of dogs being poisoned.  Being...

Summary from Goodreads How deep can you love? Passion and danger collide in the explosive finale to Emily and Shane's story. After tragedy strikes, Shane hovers on the edge of being consumed by darkness. He will fight for the woman he loves. He will destroy his enemy. He will not back down. As shocking twists, dark secrets, and explosive betrayals within the Brandon family come to the light, Shane must fight harder than ever before. Every thread weaves a dangerous web. Emily and Derek. Brandon Senior. Maggie and her affair. The leader of the dangerous cartel who's wedged itself inside the Brandon Empire. It all comes to a head in the shattering conclusion to the Dirty Money series. My Review: It's 4 out of 5 Stars  for End Game, a contemporary romance novel that is full of action and suspense with many twist and turns that will be leaving your jaw dropped at points. Chapters 1-9:  Jones grabs your attention within the first chapter with action happening imme...

Summary from Goodreads “Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart.” Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mother’s abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, she’s intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmother’s isolated cabin and wait for something—anything—to make her next choice for her. Instead, she is confronted by reflections of her own troubles wherever she turns—the recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elena’s own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to question her understanding of cause and effect, reexamining the tragedies she’s held on to and the wounds she’s refu...

Summary from Goodreads Challenging perceptions of discrimination and prejudice, this emotionally resonant drama for readers of Lisa Wingate and Jodi Picoult explores three different women navigating challenges in a changing school district--and in their lives. When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray--the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser--faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jones--the first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridge's to...

Summary from Goodreads A unique set of quirky short stories, told in a humorous style somewhere between Reader's Digest funny one-liners and Christopher Moore's laugh-out-loud novels. My Review: Run far as you can from the crazy world in The Fiction of Marlon,  a collection of short stories from Marlon Pearson. I've read many books that contained short stories before and have never enjoyed what I read.  I was hoping it would be different reading this book from Marlon Pearson, but unfortunately, it was the same as other books that were full of short stories. I was expecting funny stories as the summary stated and yet, I didn't find one of them to be funny.  In fact, most were confusing and hard to follow along.  I ended up skimming through a majority of them, feeling like it was a chore to get through them.  There are times when you read short stories in a book and they seemed to be tied in with one another.  I didn't get that feeling with Pearso...

Summary from Goodreads It took Lauren and her husband ten years to achieve their dream—reaching primitive tribes in remote regions of Nepal. But while Sam treks into the Himalayas for weeks at a time, finding passion and purpose in his work among the needy, Lauren and Ryan stay behind, their daily reality more taxing than inspiring. For them, what started as a calling begins to feel like the family’s undoing.  At the peak of her isolation and disillusion, a friend from Lauren’s past enters her life again. But as her communication with Aidan intensifies, so does the tension of coping with the present while reengaging with the past. It’s thirteen-year-old Ryan who most keenly bears the brunt of her distraction. Intimate and bold , Of Stillness and Storm  weaves profound dilemmas into a tale of troubled love and honorable intentions gone awry. My Review: Everyone wants their dreams to come true.  What happened when they do and the person you share your life with i...

Summary from Goodreads From the New York Times bestselling author of A Dog Named Christmas comes this heartwarming Christmas story about the power of family and the strength and love that comes from our pets.  In this installment of the poignant stories of the McCray family and their lovable canines in rural Kansas, matriarch Mary Ann McCray is determined to shake up Christmas by accepting the role as Crossing Trail's first woman Santa Claus. Mary Ann, always a bit of a rebel, is looking to offer a more progressive voice in the staunchly conservative town at Christmastime and has a few ideas up her red velvet sleeves.   My Review: This was the first book I've read about the McCray family, but hearing about A Dog Named Christmas and seeing that this book was about another dog, I had to read it.  As a dog parent myself, any book that involves dogs.  Most of the time I'm not disappointed in the story and this is one of those times, except for a few things...