The Glass Castle Headed to Hollywood

Casting Call: The Glass Castle; Walter Mitty

In the good old days when I was a bookseller, there were several months when my response to the question "Can you recommend a book for me?" was "The Glass Castle". It is a great memoir that engages you from the very first sentence. I can't wait to see how Hollywood screws it up translates this to the big screen.

The Kitchen Diva's Diabetic Cookbook

150 Healthy, Delicious Recipes for Diabetics and Those Who Dine With Them


by Angela Shelf Medearis


I've been a fan of Angela Shelf Medearis since she came to a booksigning at the store that I managed at the time, with actual food made from recipes from her book The African-American Kitchen. Her Texas Caviar (a cold black-eyed-pea salad) was sooooo good. You could tell that her commitment to great food was so strong that she brought that food with her on the plane from her home in Texas. 


Motivated by several members of her family diagnosed with diabetes, Medearis has created and re-created recipes that are healthy and sensitive to insulin imbalance. She shows you how to set up and stock a healthy kitchen including using sugar alternatives. Her cooking has always included the use of lots of fruits and vegetables and this book is no different. Also, the recipes are easy on the chef and the wallet. Nutritional information is included with every entry and there are beautiful color pictures throughout. 


My favorites are the Seafood Burgers and the Veggie Lasagne. Part of the focus of the book is to make cooking at home easier and more fun, since it's harder to have control when dining out. While I didn't like that a lot of the recipes relied heavily on using the microwave, I still recommend it.

Ada's Rules

A Sexy, Skinny Novel
by Alice Randall


This was a fun book to read. Ada Howard has just received an invitation to her college reunion and, like most of us, uses it to motivate her weight loss journey. But there are other reasons as well: her marriage has hit a sort of roadblock as she has to share her preacher husband with his flock (and is he sharing too much?), taking care of her aging parents and running a daycare business is taking its toll, and she wants to be a better example to her two adult daughters.


So Ada comes up with some rules for shedding the pounds and balancing her life. We follow her successes and failures as she strives to set up a healthy life for herself, physically, emotionally, and even financially. The best thing about this book is that the rules really work. So if you are looking for a great novel and a weight loss book in one, this is the book for you!

Octavia E. Butler Comes to E via Open Road

Octavia E. Butler Comes to E via Open Road

I'll admit that even though I love Octavia Butler, I haven't read all of her work. I gotta get on that. The news that Open Road Media will publish more of her titles as e-books means that I may get to them sooner than later. 

Always In My Heart

by Kayla Perrin


The three Hart sisters have been estranged for years because of an argument between Natalie and Deanna (oldest sister Callie didn't want to choose sides). When their Aunt Jeannie, who raised them after their mother dropped them off and disappeared, dies, they reunite in Ohio for her funeral. Dealing with the death of someone so dear to them forces the sisters to confront what has kept them apart and that includes the secret that Callie, who years ago ran away to live in Florida, has kept from everyone. Losing her beloved aunt and almost losing her life in a car accident convinces Callie that she must come clean with her childhood sweetheart and let him know that he is the father to her nine-year-old son Kwame. Detective Nigel Williams is stunned to learn that he is a father and works to put aside his anger at Callie for disappearing 10 years ago and keeping his son away. He and Callie are also stunned that they still have feelings for each other, but all the secrets may just be to much to overcome.


This is the beginning of a series telling the stories of the Hart series and Always in My Heart is a strong start. The hints at the disagreement between Natalie and Deanna will be interesting to read about in future books as well as the unfolding mystery behind their mother's abandonment.

Diamond Dreams

by Zuri Day


You know I love a good romance series!  Diamond Dreams is the first in a new series by Day featuring the Drakes of California. This one is set in the Napa Valley, wine country, as the Drakes own a vineyard there on land owned by one of their ancestors. Diamond is the only girl in her family and the marketing director for the vineyard and works hard to prove that she is just as good as her brothers and father. Jackson Wright is a contractor working on a new hotel on the Drake property and his initial meeting with Diamond is interesting as they are attracted to each other but neither is especially keen on mixing business with pleasure. That's a battle they eventually lose. 


Although Diamond and Jackson get together early in the story, the real plot comes from the secrets to be revealed from his past and convincing her family that their relationship is real. This was a quick read and I wish there was a little more substance to the story, I look forward to reading others in the series.

Sultry Nights

by Donna Hill


The Louisiana-based Lawson family have been the subject of a few novels by Donna Hill. In Sultry Nights  the attention is placed on the one of the twins, Dominique. After kind of coasting through life, and spending obscene amounts of money on clothing, Dominique is inspired to prove that others' opinions of her as a spoiled rich girl are false. She gets focused and starts her own business, First Impressions, using her love of fashion to help less fortunate women who need clothes to start new lives. Having done pretty well, she decides to expand to offer other services that the women need, like job training. Dominique hires contractor Trevor Jackson to work on transforming the extra space in her building and while their first impression of each other is less than stellar, they are drawn together. They must overcome Dominique's desire for independence and Trevor's disdain for rich women in order to be together.


Every book about the Lawson family is enjoyable and I will admit that I didn't care for Dominique as she is portrayed in the other stories. It was good to have her character fleshed out and shown to be more than the one dimensional party girl.

Sweet Southern Nights

by Rochelle Alers


The Eaton clan is an extended family of mostly teachers and doctors. In this installment, Levi Eaton has left his Manhattan practice to spend some time volunteering at a clinic in Kentucky (the wealthy Eatons are also dedicated to philanthropy). His colleague asks him to escort his sister, Angela Chase, to a family wedding and the sparks fly. But since Levi is only in town for a short time and Angela has sworn of men for a while, the two agree to just have fun and enjoy each other. Of course, this being a romance novel, that doesn't hold up for long. 


I really enjoy Rochelle Alers' books and am currently reading some of her older ones that I missed. This one was just okay, though, and the big secret that Angela was keeping from Levi was sort of a letdown. I'm glad I read it, however, as I'm sure there are more Eatons to be written about in the future.