Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey
Published by The Story Plant
ISBN-10: 1611880386
ISBN-13: 978-1611880380
At the request of The Story Plant (Spread The Word Initiative, an ARC EBook edition was provided, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

  Synopsis (from publisher): Betty Craven is the epitome of elegance, class, and perfection. Her prize-winning garden is the envy of her neighbors; her impeccable manners and epicurean skills have made her the “hostess with the most-est.”

But all is not what it seems.

The truth is that this fifty-eight year old’s seemingly idyllic world is quickly disintegrating. Widowed and left with a modest income, Betty’s Colorado gourmet chocolate shop has gone belly up, leaving her floundering for purpose and meaning. Tied to a house in disrepair that she can’t sell, and mired in unrelenting grief for her dead son, this patriotic former Texas pageant queen comes to the shocking and debilitating conclusion that her entire life has been wasted. As that realization hits her hard between her well-manicured brow, the rebellious spirit that Betty has silently kept under lock and key, explodes to the surface.

When that happens, her staunch conservative world changes drastically, causing Betty to question every belief and opinion she’s ever had. The path she chooses is paved with secrecy, eccentric characters, toe-curling love, life-changing events, and a connection to her unconventional garden that she never could have imagined. No matter how hard she tries, Betty Craven will never be the same again.

My Thoughts and Opinion: Where do I start?   There were so many components within this book.   A fictional story, an extraordinary amount of compiled research, factual statistics, educational, instructions; personal development, values, moral, social, and some governmental issues, life lessons, friendships, relationships, principal passions, and even a very little bit of spiritual/paranormal.   This is definitely recommended and a must read if you are in a book club due to the multiple and vast discussions that this book will trigger.   I tend to write reviews that are concise but I just can’t with this book and I apologize in advance and will try to touch upon all the aspects that this book offers.

The author and the fictional side: I was first introduced to this author during a Partners In Crime Tours, reading her Jane Perry novelettes, Unrevealed and Promissory Payback, which I enjoyed.   This book is so different compared to those stories, premise wise, about a topic that has many pros, cons, truths and fallacies but the writing style the same.   Solid, fluid, descriptive, life like character development with palpable emotions, flaws and relatability.   The settings likewise. It was very easy to create my imagery due to the depictions and narrative picture the author conveyed with her written words.   The actual plot and story line will definitely have the reader turning the pages.

As a former nurse, I found the subject matter quite interesting, to the point that due to the accumulation of detailed facts and gathering of related material evidence, it was also an education.   A lesson, that created some very personal thought provoking questions, a different mind set and possibly a change of personal opinion.

The plot with reality slant: Engrossing!!   Are we being told the truth by our government, lobbyists, politicians, pharmaceutical companies?   With the information, that the author has done an enormous amount of research on and shares with the reader, makes one wonder?   This is one part of the book that I can’t stress enough. Ms. Dewey, definitely did her homework with the collection of facts. However, at times, it was so minutely described and technical that, and this is my opinion only, that it took on a bit of a non fictional story.

With that being said, the overall book was compelling, emotional, at times humorous, controversial, heart wrenching, inspirational, and definitely leaves the reader confronting one’s own personal viewpoint after the last word is read.   Highly recommend!!

(2012 Challenges: EBook, Off The Shelf, FreeReads, Where Are You, A-Z, 52 in 52, Outdo Yourself, 100+)

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Welcome to another FB Sunday Salon.  If this is your first time visiting, Thank you.  Hope you like what you see.   Since I’m taking a break from Dewey’s Read-A-Thon to write this, I am going to get it started right away!!

Reading:  As I stated, I am participating in Dewey’s Read-A-Thon.  This is my first time ever to participate and am enjoying it, even though I thought I was going to be sidelined when I woke up.  My left eye was swollen and in pain…great…never fails…I sign up for a read-a-thon and RL has other plans for me!!  Did you ever get that eyelash stuck somewhere inside your lid and it’s scratching the cornea?  Yup…that was me.  So the 8am kick off didn’t happen.  I have heard much about “Dewey”, but was not a blogger then but from what I heard, I felt that I wanted to give my time to her memory.  I might not be doing what I am if it wasn’t for her!!  But by 11am, even though painful and blurry, I started and it got better throughout the day.

Reading this week was a bit slow.  I finished The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan and just couldn’t decide what mood I was in for my next book, so I picked up a few, read a few pages and then received one from The Story Plant for it’s Spread The Word Initiative Program, Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey and decided on this one.

I received some great books this week but will post those tomorrow.

Blogging:  Another week that I spent more time at the computer than I should have. I have a lot of guest author showcases and giveaways coming up and I like to prepare my drafts way in advance.  Since I am not the quickest when it comes to the computer, it does take time to pull these together.  And not only that, I feel that if for some reason, RL interferes, I don’t have to scramble at the last minute.  Am I the only one that is OCD about showcases or does anyone else prepare their’s ahead of time?

Real Life:  Highlight…spin cycle on my favorite appliance let go.  At first I was YES!!! no laundry, then looked and saw the hampers and got on the phone for repair service. I just don’t understand…even though it’s just my husband and I living here, the boys out of state, my laundry multiplies like rabbits.  But all fixed!!  Back to normal, wash, dry, fold.

Not a very exciting week here, the next 2 will be though….stay tuned to what is coming up!!

How was your week?

http://24hourreadathon.com/

This is my first year participating in Dewey’s 24 Read-A-Thon so am not sure what to expect.  In the past, I have seen and read about this wonderful blogger, who is no longer with us but it is done in her memory (if I am right, she hosted and created  it when book blogs were just starting…if I am wrong..I apologize).  

Not sure how well I am going to do, and probably shouldn’t have entered because of  RL issues that need to be done this weekend, but didn’t want to miss our on another year.    Because of that, I am going to track my progress by the number of pages/% on Kindle (wish it had page numbers) on this post and update when my I need a short break from reading.

Good Luck to all that are participating!!!

My Plan:
*Getting up at my usual time (5-6 am)
*Try to complete my daily computer tasks before 8am, which when it starts here in New England.
*Have plenty of coffee on hand with maybe some toothpicks to keep the eyes opened lol.
*Read-I will be starting with my current read, an ARC from The Story Plant–Spread The Word Initiative,  Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey (450 pages).

Updates:
06 am:  Murphy’s Law–Never fails..I sign up for a read-a-thon and RL interferes.  Woke up 30 min late and with one of those annoyng situations where an eyelash is stuck inside your eyelid causing pain and interference with reading.  Hopefully it will work it’s way out with the  application of eye drops.  Plus my spin cycle on washing machine is not working so have reapirman coming at 11am.

10:30am:  Still haven’t been able to start reading due to an above.  Have been putting in drops to flush it out and can’t.   HELP!!   Any suggestions?

2pm:  WooHoo…finally started reading at 11am.  Straining, still painful and a little blurry but I AM reading!!!  Had to get up and do something so I wouldn’t doze off.   Hubby is running errands so he is on a Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee run for me!!  Making progress with the book I am reading, slower than usual due to the eye, but making progress.  Starting point was 36% (Kindle…why can’t they have made page numbers?).  Since I have time to make up…going back to the recliner to read.  TTYS!!   GL all.

5:30pm:  Still at it.  Had to take a couple of walks around the house though.  The eyes are getting heavy, but then they didn’t start off that great.  Plus the weather seems to be changing here in New England, well at least that is what my back is telling me.  So the past 1/2 hour or so, am having trouble getting comfortable due to pain.  Been munching on grapes. pretzels, grapefruit fruit cup and a few twizzlers.  Still reading Betty’s (Little Basment) Garden.  Not sure what page (Kindle) but am at 72%.   I am determined to finish this!!!  I just hope my eyes heard that  lol.

9pm:  Had to take an hour breather.  On phone, taking care of some Partners In Crime Tours business but am headed back to read.  Ohhhhh…how I remember those all nighters while in college, the problem is, that was a long, long time ago  lol.  Not sure when age is going to kick in tonight lol.

Thank you to those that have stopped by and left encouraging comments and being cheerleaders!!

3:00am:  Finished reading or should I say had to stop.   Fell asleep. Almost, but not quite made it.  However did finish reading Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey and started Permanence by Vincent Zandri.

7:30am:  Wrap Up Post
**Which hour was most daunting for you?
My tough periods were around 4-5pm yesterday and then around 2:am.

**Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Since I only completed 1 book, I will have to say the one I finished.  I am sure there were bloggers that finished multiple books, but I only finished one.  Either due to that I am a slow reader, it was a large book, or the eye incident slowed me down.

**Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Since this was my first time participating in this Read-A-Thon, I have nothing to compare it to for improvements.  Personally,  I will need to start on time, plan better for snacking, stadegy and being able to do the mini challenges.  I only did one since I didn’t know the procedure. 

**What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Nothing to compare to so will say everything.  I really appreciated those that stopped by with encouraging comments.  Thanks for cheering me on!!!!

**How many books did you read?
Finished one and began another.

**What were the names of the books you read?
Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey and Permanence by Vincent Zandri (started)

**Which book did you enjoy most?
Since I only finished one, it would have to be that one.

**How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
100%.  Sign me up!!  Since this was was my first time participating, I do have a question.  Is this a Read-A-Thon annually or biannually?  It was fun knowing that so many people were reading all over the world at the same time in an organized manner.  Awesome!!  

Great job from the hosts and cheerleaders!!  Thank you for all your hard work!!

…of CARING LESSONS by Lois Hoitenga Roelofs

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An email has been sent to the winner and she has 48 hours to respond with required information stated in the Congratulatory Notification or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

……..of The Hunt For KSM by  Josh Meyer and Terry McDermott

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An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

Today we have a very adventurous and talented author, stopping by to tell us about his debut book, as he tours with Partners In Crime Tours.  So please help me welcome Jeremy to the CMash blog.

ABOUT JEREMY BURNS

An avid reader since the age of three, Jeremy Burns was devouring novels by the time other children his age were still learning their ABCs. Blessed (and, at times, cursed) with a decidedly active imagination and an insatiable curiosity for nearly everything, Jeremy made learning and storytelling two of his chief passions. After earning his degree in History from Florida State University, Jeremy accepted a position teaching literature, creative writing, political science, and philosophy at an international school in Dubai. Like the characters in his books, Jeremy is an intrepid explorer whose own adventures have taken him from Mayan ruins in the Yucatan to the pyramids of Egypt, from medieval castles across Europe to the jungles of Bangladesh, and beyond. To date, Jeremy has traveled to more than twenty countries across four continents, seeking adventure, discovery, and ideas for future novels. When not exploring a new corner of the globe, Jeremy lives in Florida, where he is working on his next thrilling novel.

Connect with Jeremy:  Website~Facebook

GUEST POST

Happy Birthday, Hitler
By Jeremy Burns

Adolf Hitler was a very bad man. Today marks the 123rd anniversary of his birth, and, excepting staunch neo-Nazis and vehement anti-Semites, there really is very little debate on this point. Few individuals in recent history (or indeed, in any period of history) are viewed as universally negatively as Adolf Hitler. What historians do debate, however, is whether Hitler was himself the architect of his own evil rise to power or whether he was a product of a certain volatile climate in which the rise of a man such as Hitler was inevitable.

An oft-asked question by people today is how on earth a country as traditionally logical and grounded as Germany would go along with what, to our retrospective minds, seems to be a series of insane and wholly immoral ventures. The answer is twofold: pride and fear.

In the period between the First World War and Hitler’s assuming control of what would become the Third Reich, Germany was consumed with a strong nationalistic pride, with popular myths hearkening back to a gilded age in which she was the dominant force in Europe in both cultural prowess and military might. These myths stood in stark contrast to the very real problems that ravaged the people on a regular basis: national humiliation on a global stage following the end of World War I, a revolving door of incompetent and corrupt leaders, and mass poverty spurred, among other factors, by hyperinflation. The Germany the people lived in was nothing like the Germany they were sure had once been.

One of the main groups blamed for this dysfunctional version of Germany was the Jewish people. Occupying many positions of cultural, academic, and financial influence, the Jews made a viable scapegoat as they had in Europe many times before. It was said that foreign influence, particularly that of the Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, and other groups of eastern European descent, were the cause of this rift between the Germany that should have been and the Germany that actually was. It was because of the Jews and foreigners living among them that the unstoppable German war machine had ground to a halt. It was because of the Jews that the proud German nation was humbled at Versailles. It was because of the Jews that the ideals of German culture, innovation, and industry were corrupted and cast asunder. German leaders were viewed as weak-minded puppets for foreign powers that sought to destroy all that the German people held dear. Fear of these treasonous conspirators and their plots to bring the German nation down from within was another of the key elements that fostered the atmosphere of the day.

Into this volatile climate was born the National Socialist German Worker’s Party – later shortened to National Socialists and then simply to the Nazis. Originally a small and insignificant group of political upstarts in Bavaria, they got their boost from a frustrated Austrian painter and decorated military veteran named Adolf Hitler. Hitler would soon use his powerful oratory skills and personal presence to give life to a twisted and grandiose vision welcomed and shared, in many regards, by much of the German populace of the time.

In Germany as in America, there was a clash of extreme ideas at the time. The Great Depression cast both nations, as with most of the western world, into turmoil, proving to the minds of most that the old ways simply didn’t work. Change was needed. Radical change, many believed, because the failure of the old systems was so radical. Extreme right-wing and left-wing movements sprang up across western world, each offering their answers to the problems that plagued their modern world. Communism and Fascism were at war long before Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Their battlegrounds were the streets of Berlin and Washington, New York and Munich. The prize: the preservation or destruction of all that one way of life or another held sacred.

The year is 1932. You are not a time traveler. You do not have the hindsight that the passage of time gives us. You do not know what will transpire in this war between extreme left and extreme right. Both appear to be hulking behemoths that would smash the old order and usher in something new and terrifying. You have the means and opportunity to do something to influence the outcome of this war of ideals. What would you do? How would you choose which side to take?

What if one man did have that opportunity? What if John D. Rockefeller, Jr., scion of the vast Rockefeller empire and one of the richest and most influential men of the last few centuries, had been presented with this choice? And what if he chose very, very wrongly?

This dilemma and its aftermath provide the historical backdrop for my hit thriller FROM THE ASHES, an action-packed novel that poses the above question and answers it in a chillingly plausible manner. In my study of history, the official version of events rarely conveys all the underlying conflicts and tensions, the shadow wars and the buried secrets… in short, the sordid controversies and dark conspiracies that grease the wheels of progress. The rise of an obscure washed-up artist to the commander of the greatest military machine the world had ever seen may well have been the product of his time. He may have been simply an evil genius who seized upon the zeitgeist of the day to fulfill his deranged fantasies. Or, perhaps, there’s still more of the story to be told.

Today, on a date that’s become associated with the Columbine massacre and college kids getting high, Adolf Hitler would have been 123 years old. Despite all the horrors Hitler unleashed upon the world, he did leave us some good things: a universal enemy that even today remains the quintessential embodiment of evil, an opportunity for American industry to get its economic footing back and establish itself as a world power (and counterbalance to the Soviet Union), and more than a few shocking and mysterious secrets buried in the closets of the Third Reich. So, happy birthday, Hitler. May you rot in Hell.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Graduate students Jonathan and Michael Rickner, sons of eminent archeologist Sir William Rickner, are no strangers to historical secrets and archeological adventures. But when Michael is discovered dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment, Jon refuses to believe the official ruling of suicide. Digging deeper into his brother’s work, he discovers evidence that Michael was murdered to keep his dissertation research buried. Joined by Michael’s fiancée Mara Ellison, Jon travels to New York where he uncovers the threads of a deadly Depression-era conspiracy – one entangling the Hoover Administration, the Rockefellers, and the rise of Nazi Germany – and the elite cadre of assassins that still guard its unspeakable secret. Finding themselves in the crosshairs of the same men who killed Michael, Jon and Mara must navigate a complex web of historical cover-ups and modern-day subterfuge, outwitting and outrunning their all-powerful pursuers as they race through a labyrinthine treasure hunt through the monuments and museums of Manhattan to discover the last secret of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before their enemies can bury the truth – and them – forever.

Book Details:
Purchase Links: Amazon ; Barnes And Noble
Publisher: Fiction Studio Books
Pub Date: January 17,2012
Pages: 394
Direct Tour Page Link

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I am providing this link solely for visitors
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From An Island Life:
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, visit An Island Life answer the question and then post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

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