DARE TO DIE--Carolyn Hart. I DARE you not to LOVE IT!

DARE TO DIE by Carolyn Hart--I dare you not to LOVE it!

"She came in the rain. Alone. On a bicycle" and Iris Tilford's arrival will open old wounds and scare someone into committing murder to hide old sins.

Annie and Max Darling are back! This time they are thrown into the middle of an investigation into the death of a former Broward's Rock resident who has come home after a decade away to put things right--one of her twelve steps to sobriety--when she is murdered at a party Max is throwing for Annie to celebrate their new home.

Someone doesn't like the Darling's meddling and chooses arson to try to put a stop to it, but it'll take more than that to derail Annie and Max from finding out who killed Iris.

With the help of her husband and Broward Rock's own resident "Jessica Fletcher"--famed mystery writer Emma Clyde--Annie manages to draw the ire and attention of some very powerful people who for their own personal reasons want events of the past to remain buried. That just isn't how life in a small town in the South ever works, but someone is willing to commit murder to keep the past in the past. Will the one of the Darlings be the next victim?
Carolyn Hart is a master at her craft. Her books are perfect How-to-Write-a-Mystery-Novel Textbooks. Ms. Hart breathes life into her characters and makes them as real as relatives we all have (and a few we all avoid at the family reunions) endearing them to fans of cozy mysteries and just great stories as well. A wizard with words, Ms. Hart never disappoints and DARE TO DIE is another must read in a long list of the great reads she has provided to us. Thank God for Carolyn Hart and her love of a good mystery, a great story, and a fantastic sense of humor. She blends those talents with ease and we all reap the benefits.
DARE TO DIE--I DARE you not to love it!

New Blog No New Concept

I've started a new blog. I want to keep this one clear for my book reviews and things, so I started one where I can put my opinions about those things that really don't belong here so much.
This one is along the lines of a Dear Abby kind of thing, people can ask me questions and I'll share my wisdom on the topic with them. I do have people asking me what I think a lot, so why not blog it?
If you want to check it out, go to http://dearlaine.blogspot.com/
If you want a question answered, just leave it in the comment section. If you wish to comment on any of my previous answers, go ahead!

Just remember, follow my advice at your own risk! I do not even pretend to be right about what you should do in your own life. I can and will offer my opinion and you are free to follow it OR NOT. If you don't and wish you had, don't blame me! If you do and realize you shouldn't, also DON'T BLAME ME. I fully believe in free will principle! :)

Until I have something to report,
Laine

What makes a celebrity? And other questions to ponder...

I was flipping channels on the boob tube the other night and came across some reality tv monstrosity caught my attention somehow. I was trying to figure out exactly what this stupidity was and wondering why anyone would pay money to put it on the air in the first place, when the kid unit (aka my walking IMDB) saunters in the room and asks, as only a teenager can, "MOM, WHY are you watching THIS? Do you even KNOW who those people ARE?" And suffice it to say I did not know who most of them were, I did recognize a Baldwin though so I'm not a TOTAL waste of space on the planet, right? LOL
Which brings me to my question to ponder--
Is someone REALLY a celebrity if YOU have never heard of them? What does it take for YOU to consider someone a celebrity? Are those 'over rated' celebs really over rated or are they really pseudo-celebrity types who actually do not deserve the title? Who gets to decide if someone is a celebrity or not?
Ok...there are more than one question to ponder, but it takes more than one to fully appreciate the scope of the inquiry! LOL What do YOU think? Enquiring Minds Want To Know! LOL

Until the next wild hair,
Laine

I really need to stay out of the crack houses!

Now don't go getting all knicker-knotted over that title. My crack house is not THAT kind of crack house. I'm talking Barnes and Noble and my local libraries! Books are like crack to me--no matter how many I have, I need more!

I 'own' a group on CafeMom called I LOVE A LITTLE MYSTERY and one of the joys of that group is our monthly BOOK OF THE MONTH discussions. This month we picked an author instead of a specific book and the winner of the poll was MARY KAY ANDREWS. I happened to have one of her books on my shelf, SAVANNAH BLUES. This was in my 'goody bag' from when I attended Malice Domestic a couple years ago. I got home, added it to my collection and forgot all about it, until last week.

The main character, Eloise Foley, Weezie to her friends and family, has recently suffered a great blow--her marriage to Talmadge Evans III, Tal, was usurped by a floozy from up North with no class, tact or sense of how things are done Down South. Weezie is forced out of her home in Savannah's Historic District--a home she found and lovingly restored herself, and is living in the carriage house that was to be her antique store someday. She is living in the backyard of the house she once owned while the woman who stole her life is living in 'the big house' with her husband. That's enough to make any woman boil, but a Savannah woman makes the best of it and plots revenge over wine and chocolate with her best friend.

Weezie is also a 'picker' meaning she picks through garage sales and sometimes the trash to find items of value, fixes them up if needed and sells them to make her living. She's quite good at it as well! When a grand plantation house in Savannah is scheduled for an estate sale, Weezie can't wait to get a look at what is inside. She finds more than she bargains for when she opens a closet and finds the dead body of none other than Caroline DeSantos--the floozy from up North whose death Weezie had been known to think about from time to time. Weezie is arrested and she and her friend BeBe (pronounced Bay Bay) along with her uncle James (a priest turned lawyer) and an old high school beau and new love interest Daniel work to prove Weezie innocent and point the finger of the law in the direction it belongs!

This story is rich and smooth--like a good banana puddin' on any Sunday in the South! Full of body and character and nothing left to chance. Ms. Andrews even gave me an ending I could smile about reading!

People, I LOVED that book! Ms. Andrews even made Savannah as much a character as any of her other characters! She so obviously understands the fact that if you are going to set a story in a place like Savannah, then you had better make it a character unto itself because that's how life IS down South! Where you are from and who your 'people' are matter!

The characters in this book are somewhat stereotypical, but are far from caricatures--perfect blend of familiarity and individuality and not easy to pull off! Ms. Andrews does it with skill.

This was the first of her books I've read, but it won't be the last--which means another trip to one of my crack houses! I'm thinking Barnes and Noble because I doubt I'll want to return this one!

Until next time,
Laine

Kid Unit and The Piano Recital

The Kid Unit had her piano judging on Saturday and the recital on Sunday and did very well! Those songs had been giving her fits for 2 months, but she played them well enough to get a Superior at the judging!

She only had to play one of the songs at the recital because another child had also chosen one of her selections. Her director didn't want them both playing the same song and the Kid Unit was NOT unhappy about that decision. The song she didn't have to play in the recital was the one she was having the most difficulty playing. The fact that she memorized it at all is amazing enough to me!!

All the kids did an outstanding job at the recital! Every one of them were graded on the Superior scale. We heard classical, pop, ragtime, and even a cartoon theme song. Those kids never cease to amaze and thrill me with what they can do!

I send my congrats to them all and I'm so proud!!

Until next time,

Laine

Just an update on life in Laineland

Not a lot going on is better than being dead! Laineland is all in 'coast' mode right now. We are just trying to get the kid unit finished up with her school work for the year, get the band concert and the piano judging and recital behind us and that is about all we have on our plates right now.

There was a tad little bit of discord in Laineland recently due to the incredible insensitivity of one set of neighbors who think that their dogs should be allowed to bark from daylight to dark for days at a time and we should just accept it because 'they're dogs and dogs bark!" NO! Dogs do not bark without a reason! Even if that reason is "HELP! I have a stupid owner who never walks me, never trains me, only feeds me and has no clue what being a responsible pet owner means!" that dog has a REASON.
I tried to do the neighborly thing and give them a chance to rectify the situation before I called anyone other than animal control (which would have made my 3rd attempt at calling them). I spoke to the husband and I admit to being a tad irritated and I said, "I thought I'd let you know that your dog is barking his head off since you obviously cannot hear him yourself!" That is an exact quote of what I said. If the man had enough sense to know, he would have realized that the easiest way to make nice with the mad neighbor lady is to shut his dog up! But....instead he wants to know who I am. I tell him. He asks where I live and I called him Darlin' and said I lived right behind him. He said something that sounded like 'alright' and we hung up.
Two minutes later, his WIFE calls back to "handle me." Yeah, that went over real well. I'm not the type to be 'handled' by anyone. I did my best to be calm, cool and collected. I spoke in an even tone. Tried not to get angry at her. She, on the other hand, was irate and screaming at me over the phone. When I told her my dog didn't bark she came back with "For all I know you cut your dog's throat!" I assured her my dog is capable of barking, but she's been trained not to bark and when she does, she is immediately told NO.
The conversation ended with her telling me she wouldn't do anything about her dogs and there wasn't anything I or the sheriff's office COULD do about it. I said 'we'll just have to see." and hung up.
I did call the county sheriff's office and a deputy came out to my house about an hour later. He heard the dogs barking (the neighbors had left for work and had left the dogs outside again). He went to their house and left something letting them know a complaint had been filed. Hopefully, now, they realize I am serious. After listening to this for over a YEAR, another day of it is just too long. The deputy advised us that anytime the noise was a bother, to call them. I hated doing that. They have so many more important things to deal with than a barking dog.

That is all the excitement I've had to report of late. And if that is all I have this year, I'll be happy for it!

How's life in YOUR neck of the woods??

Until next time,
Laine

WOE IS US! The Blizzard of 09--will we EVER thaw out?

These are just a few shots of my backyard and the neighbor's yard too after the Blizzard of 09 rolled through here yesterday! Terrible, isn't it?

My poor puppy didn't know how to act. She ate some snow, she rolled in the snow and then she trotted back inside with a look of "are you people crazy sending me out in that stuff' look on her face. Silly dog!

I know I have friends who live in places like International Falls, MN and family in Vermont who will laugh their hineys off at seeing what I call a 'blizzard', but they forget, winter in North Carolina is sort of like SUMMER to them. So you have YOUR blizzard and I'll take MY VERSION! Thank you VERY MUCH! LOL

Here's my deck--see how DEEP it was?? Those are kid unit footie prints and furbaby ones too!

SO, until I have something interesting to say again or I get another wild hair...

Have a good one..stay WARM...enjoy the day!

Laine