Personal Historian

I have decided to turn my writing skills towards becoming a personal historian. This is a person who helps others turn their life stories into beautiful books. I will be starting my own business and I'm looking forward to working with people and helping them write their little piece of history.

For more information about personal historians, you can go to the national Association of Personal Historians' website: http://www.personalhistorians.org/

Book Review - Venom by KC Grant

I recently read KC Grant's new book, Venom. I haven't read any of Grant's other books, so I really didn't have any expectations about the book or about Grant as an author. I am pleased to say that I liked it! It is very well written and it kept my interest, which is probably saying a lot, considering I am easily bored and have a pretty busy life.

 

Here's the blurb from the back cover: "Samantha Evans is determined to make a name for herself in the cutthroat world of advertising. Newly hired by a prestigious ad agency, she volunteers to work on location in Mexico City as a personal assistant to the beautiful and driven creative director Katrina Edwards. At first the association seems promising. But Ms. Edwards seems preoccupied in a way that makes Samantha increasingly uneasy. In fact, may in the group seem like they are not being completely open about the project--including David Ayala, the mysterious and moody photographer for whose attention the two women find themselves competing. After several strange accidents and numerous appearances by an unknown man, Samantha discovers the truth: not everyone on the team is in Mexico to create a stellar advertising pitch. When her sleuthing leads to her abduction, she is brought to the pyramids of Teotihuacan and comes face to face with the venomous evil of the South American crime boss known as 'The Serpent.' Now Samantha must not only fight for her life, but she must also discover if she can trust the man she's come to love."

I love that the book and the language used in it are clean. That gets big kudos in my corner. The story does get a little travelogue-esque, but I really didn't mind because I have never been to Mexico, so I found it interesting. Perhaps some would find it tedious if they were already very familiar with Mexico City and surrounds. This is not an action/thriller, but it has enough intrigue and romantic interest to move the story along nicely. The characters are nicely developed, and the protagonist is easy to sympathize with.

So, yes, I would recommend this book to a friend. In fact, my husband is reading it now and the kids have lined up to read it too. I look forward to reading Grant's other books and hope she continues to write.

You can purchase a copy for yourself or someone else at This Site.

You can learn more about KC Grant and her books at Her Website.

My Story Printed in Jan 2012 Friend Magazine

I am so excited! I submitted a story to the Friend magazine about four years ago. They purchased the story and said they would probably publish it in 2007 or 2008. When they didn't, and after talking with Josh Perky, I decided they probably never would. Well, they finally did!

We were surprised when the doorbell rang this morning before 10:00 am. These are the "dead days" between Christmas and New Year's Day and not much happens at our house except a lot of relaxing and playing. We were not expecting visitors. The door was opened to the Fed-X man with a package. In the package were two complimentary copies of the Friend. My story is on page 8-9.

Here's a link to the online version of my story

One funny thing about this is that we got the regular delivery of our church magazines a week or more ago. We gave the Friend to the younger kids. My 9-year-old son read my story, but never noticed who the author was!

Book Review: Faithful, Fit & Fabulous

I recently read Connie Sokol's new book, Faithful, Fit & Fabulous, get Back to Basics and Transform your Life in Just 8 Weeks! Unfortunately, I didn't have 8 weeks between getting the book and posting my review to complete the program, but I still really liked the book.

Sokol has an easy-to-read conversational writing style that I enjoyed. It was like chatting with a friend. As I read, I felt like she had been there, done that, and understood where I was coming from. She has six kids; I have seven. She gets it. Her program is broken into easy, doable steps and you start at the level where you are right now. The book is filled with inspirational quotes by LDS leaders and sometimes humorous, always memorable anecdotes. The program is high on encouragement and low on guilt.

The book has a section at the back of each chapter that has suggested goals and, work-book like, also has places throughout, where the reader can jot down notes. One of the best features of the book is Sokol's philosophy that effort and progress ought to be rewarded. How fun is that? I get to treat myself when I accomplish a goal!

I think busy moms everywhere will benefit by reading this book. Whatever level of fit, faithful and fabulous they are at right now, this book will gently, cheerfully inspire them to take steps towards feeling better, looking better and being better.

About the Author (from page 149 of the book): Connie E. Sokol is a mother of six, a national and local presenter, and a regular speaker at BYU Education Week. She is a former TV and radio host and columnist for Deseret News. Despite having her hands full, and with her left toe, she has recorded several talk CDs and authored Life is Too Short for One Hair Color and Life is Too Short for Sensible Shoes. Mrs. Sokol delights in time spent with her family and eating decadent treats.

Here's a link to purchase the book: Faithful, Fit & Fabulous

Here is Connie Sokol's website.

Book Review: The Key of Kilenya

I just finished reading The Key of Kilenya by Andrea Pearson. Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon--evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn't know he possesses--powers they desire to control.

The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key--and Jacob's special abilities.

I found this an interesting book. Andrea's imagination is evident in her tale, with some fun characters and landscapes for the reader to enjoy. The writing is not the best I've seen, but for the most part, the pacing of the story was enough to keep my interest. There were quite a few unexplained matters, such as how Jacob got his powers and abilities, and why his family didn't think it was strange to be visited by beings from another world. I assume that since this is the first book in a series, some of these matters will be explained in later books, but the recurring lack of explanation did annoy me a little.

The book was clean, which if you follow this blog, you know I like. It is appropriate for middle grade and older readers, and I will be sharing my copy with my school-aged children, who are avid readers and I expect will like the book.

Andrea graduated with a bachelor of science degree in Communications Disorders from Brigham Young University. She currently teaches orchestra to elementary school students.

Andrea is an avid reader and outdoor enthusiast who loves traveling. She is recently married and very much in love.

Here is a link to Andrea's Blog

You can purchase the Key of Kilenya here.

Tristi Pinkston's New Book - Hang Em High

Author Tristi Pinkston is excited to announce the release of the third novel in her Secret Sisters Mysteries series.

Titled Hang ‘em High, this novel takes place on a dude ranch in Montana. When Ida Mae’s son invites her to come for a visit, of course she brings Arlette and Tansy along with her. They are expecting to spend the week looking at horses, avoiding the cows, and making amends in Ida Mae’s relationship with her son. What they don’t expect is to be stuck on the ranch in the middle of a blizzard and to be thrust headlong into the middle of a mystery.

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Help Tristi celebrate her new novel in two ways. First, come participate in the two-week-long blog contest, where you can win a book nearly every single day! All the details are up on Tristi’s blog.

Second, come to the book launch!

You are invited to an

August Authorama!

Saturday, August 13th

Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem

12 – 4 pm

Games, prizes, balloons, face painting,

and Dutch oven cobbler

prepared by world champion cook

Keith Fisher.

Authors Tristi Pinkston, J. Lloyd Morgan, Cindy Hogan,

Nichole Giles, and Heather Justesen

will all be there to sign books.

This is one book launch event

you will not want to miss!

The Tale of the Chocolate Covered Undershirt

It was Easter Sunday and I had my crew of five kids and a husband at Mom and Dad's house, with a few extended family members. We had just finished a nice Easter feast and were visiting when my youngest son, age nine, came into the dining room with his undershirt in his hands. There were chocolate smears (at least I hoped they were chocolate!) all over his undershirt. He asked Grandma if she had a rag so he could clean his shirt up.

"Ben," I said, "How did you get chocolate all over your undershirt?" His white dress shirt, which he had properly buttoned, looked fine.

"Oh," Ben said, "You know those chocolate eggs they gave us in Primary today?"--the Primary leaders had given each of the children a miniature Cadbury egg, the kind with gooey egg-like insides--at the end of Primary.

"Yes," I said.

"Well," Ben said, "I ate part of mine but I didn't want to eat it all, so I decided to put it in my pocket." He indicated the breast pocket of his white Sunday shirt. "But, I missed my pocket and accidentally put the egg down my shirt." He pantomimed sticking the egg down the neck of his shirt.

"How did you discover what you'd done?" I asked him.

"Well, I was rubbing my stomach and there was this lump there. I looked inside and there was my egg!"

And, the rest is history. When we left for home, we couldn't find the undershirt. Mom brought it to me the next day--still covered in chocolate.