Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publish Date: January 7, 2010
Hardcover, 240 pages


My rating: 4.5/5.0


My Review:

Leaving Gee's Bend is a marvelous debut book by Irene Latham. I was immediately consumed by the book and kept turning the pages. I found the look at Ludelphia's life to be fascinating. The 1930's are something I know very little about, and this book gave me just a slice of life then. The funny thing is is this book could easily take place now - as there are some rural areas that are just that poor. So with that in mind it was really easy to get into the novel.

I really loved how quilting tied everything together. I love to quilt and sew so this book interested me because of that. Well I got a look at the quilting and the book gave me so much more. I will definitely be checking out the Gee's Bend quilts soon.

Ludelphia as a character is inspirational. This is a child who will do anything to help out her family and knows the one place she wants to be is home. So she embarks to find medicine to help her mother and she doesn't even understand the outside world. All she really knows is Gee's Bend. She gets a quick education and flows with all that happens. She is amazing and resilient. I enjoyed watching her grow throughout this book.

Leaving Gee's Bend was very enjoyable and entertaining. It took me out of my world for a little while and put me into Ludelphia's and that is the trade mark of a great book.

About the Book:

A young girl sets out to save her sick mother and records her
adventures in quilt pieces.

Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but she can still put in a good stitch. Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things go wrong.

But when Mama goes into labor early and gets deathly ill, it seems like even quilting won’t help. That’s when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic—leave Gee’s Bend for the very first time. Mama needs medicine that can only be found miles away in Camden. But that doesn’t stop Ludelphia. She just puts one foot in front of the other. What ensues is a wonderful, riveting and sometimes dangerous adventure. Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mother proud, and ends up saving the day for her entire town.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book through Other Shelf Tours for the purpose of review and my reading enjoyment.  My review is my own feelings about the book.  I do not make money on reviews or through my Amazon links (NC does not allow money to be made through Amazon associates).

Genoa Bay by Bette Nordberg (FIRST Wild Card Tours)

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Bette Nordberg

and the book:

Genoa Bay

Monarch (December 15, 2009)

***Special thanks to Cat Hoort of Kregel Publications for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A professional author, Bette Nordberg has published many books, plays, and articles. Her previous novels have been published by Bethany and Harvest House; this is her sixth. Her best known, Serenity Bay, has sold over 22,000 copies. She lives in Washington and she and her husband, Kim, have four children.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Monarch (December 15, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0825462967
ISBN-13: 978-0825462962

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Prologue:

February 8th 2004

God talks to me.

Now, hear me out. Before you put me in the same category as the loony folks who hear voices just before they go on a shooting rampage at the local shopping mall, remember: In general, I don’t have visions. I don’t hear voices, either—at least not audible ones.

Still, sometimes, even in the most mundane of moments, I hear the voice of God.

Most recently, it happened down at Waterfront Park at Navy Point, right here in Pensacola. I’d taken Gabby, my seven-year-old and Liz our golden-doodle for a walk. Gabby rode her new bike, a fluorescent pink Speed Demon complete with training wheels, and Liz trotted along on a leash. By the time we began the final loop toward the car, my daughter had begun a serious meltdown.

“I don’t want to ride anymore,” she said, climbing off the silver seat. “It’s too hard. The wheels get stuck.”

She had me there. It seemed her bike’s only demon resided in the five inch balancing wheels that wobbled and froze in every quarter-sized pothole along the trail. Her short legs had powered their way through nearly two miles of these freeze-ups; she’d had enough. Who could blame her?

If Timothy were still alive, he’d have figured out a way to fix the wheels. Me? I’m no tool man. Instead of fixing the bike, I hoped that Mags would out grow the need for wheels.

“We’re almost to the van,” I said. “You can make it that far, can’t you?”
Gabby shook her head as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Crossing stubby arms across her chest, she said, “Go get the car!”

Wanting to avoid yet another battle, I resigned myself to pushing the bike back to the parking area. I wrapped the dog’s leash around my wrist, threw my purse strap across my back, and bent over to push the bike down the pavement. Glancing over my shoulder, I discovered that Gabby and the dog had chosen not to follow. Instead, Gabby—with both arms around the dog’s neck—was enjoying a face washing of sloppy dog kisses.

“Come on you two,” I called. “We don’t have all day.”

By the time we reached the van, my back ached, and sweat rolled down the space between my shoulder blades. I unlocked the car, started the engine and turned up the air conditioning. After settling Gabby in her safety seat, I loaded the little bike inside the passenger compartment. At last, holding the dog’s leash, I opened the back hatch and called for Liz. “Come on Liz,” I called. “Jump!”

The dog circled around behind me, as if to gain speed for the leap into the cargo space. But, just as her front paws touched the bumper, she balked, as if to change her mind. Liz jumped back to the ground, and sat down, whining. “Come on,” I pleaded. “Just get in the dumb car. We’re already late!”

Once again the dog circled. This time, instead of leaping for the cargo area, she stopped dead and circled back the other way. Apparently changing your mind is not a prerogative saved only for women. “Please, just get inside,” I begged, losing what little patience I had. After two more false starts, I began to exert my position as leader of the pack. This time, as Liz approached the car, I dragged her forward by the leash. Why wouldn’t the stupid dog just get into the car? How hard could it be?

That’s when I heard God speak. “Don’t be so critical,” his voice clearly said. “You’re not all that different from the dog.”

The problem with hearing from God, I’ve discovered, is that sometimes, he gives you an answer before you are even aware of the question. Such was the case that day at waterfront park. From the day Liz refused to enter the van, until I clearly understand his meaning, nearly four months passed. And until I put the pieces together, I felt as clueless as a blind man at the bottom of a deep well.

Waiting on Wednesday - March 10

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Penitence by Jennifer Laurens 

due out sometime this summer I believe.

I reviewed the first book in this series, Heavenly, recently and loved it so much.  I was thrilled to hear there would be a sequel.

Not too much out there about this one - there is a book trailer here - but don't watch it if you haven't read Heavenly because then you'll know the big surprise at the end (at least it surprised me).  If you haven't read Heavenly and love YA, run find it now and be prepared for the release of Penitence this summer.

Teaser Tuesday - March 9

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

That kind of knocked Jenna for a loop.  Where's your dog?  How did he know?  But then again, why wouldn't he know.  So many weird things had happened to Jenna so far, why not this?

From Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein

Magic Hands by Jennifer Laurens (It has a teenage jock who does women's nails in it)

Magic Hands by Jennifer Laurens


Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing
Publish Date: February 1, 2007
Paperback, 216 pages


My rating: 3.25/5.0



FTC Disclosure: ***I received this book through Around the World Tours.***  I also do not receive money through the links provided to Amazon.com.  The Amazon Associates program does not pay out to residents of NC.

This is my third Jennifer Laurens book and it's another book I enjoyed. However I did not like this one as well as Nailed or Heavenly.

The story was enjoyable - popular girl who stays away from jocks and really dating in general,catches the eye of the biggest jock and most popular boy in the school. Of course, she doesn't want anything to do with him, at first. Then she becomes intrigued by him, especially since he is doing a very non-jock guy job of doing nails. And he's good at it.

It's a cute story and I really like the characters of Cort and Rachel. The nail salon job also makes things interesting. I enjoyed reading the book, but just was left with a less than fulfilled feeling. The characters grew some but not a lot and everytime I thought the plot was going somewhere it went there but a little too quickly. Things moved the story along but nothing was really that consequential. I'm used to a little more meaning and meat to Ms. Laurens' stories.

That said I did enjoy the book and wish it could have been longer to develop things with Cort and Rachel more. I also liked that this book made virginity out to be a prize, without the characters seeming like saints.

It's a good book and an entertaining read for an afternoon.

Mailbox Monday - March 8

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.  I'm not able to link up this week because of a death in the family but I am able to post what I received this week.  I will also check out your mailboxes when I get back.

 It's been another good one and I wish I could start all of them right away!

 

 

 

Mailbox Monday

Crystal's favorite books »

Out of Touch for a little bit

My grandmother passed away Friday night so I won't be able to post much for a few days.

I guess this is why I need to stay ahead in my posting so I have things scheduled to post, but I'm a procrastinator. I do have a few posts done scheduled to go up, but will run slightly behind on reviews, but I will catch up.  I should be back to posting on Wednesday, so I will see you then.

I have a bunch of great books coming up for review and I'm looking forward to reading my kindle more too.
Have a good beginning of the week all.

My grandmother "Ma" will be greatly missed. I will hold memories of her close and know that one day I will see her again and at least she is no longer suffering. At least that's what I tell myself in between crying spells :) It's true but the hurt is so fresh now that I have to keep reminding myself that she is much better off. I love you Ma!