Brothers of Belle Fourche, books 1-3 written by Kari Trumbo, read by Scott Bennett

"Teach me to Love"

After Lizzy's abusive and demeaning husband dies, rather than returning to her parents home she leaves town to go and visit her best friend from school, Lulu. At this point, Izzy is only a fraction of herself, having been so emotionally downtrodden by her husband that she cannot believe in herself or trust that she is worth better.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story and enjoyed it. The male narrator wasn't as strong in differentiating the different voices of the male characters as some narrators, but it wasn’t too difficult to tell who was supposed to be speaking at any point. The story was good, and the reasons behind the character motivations came through clearly.

The story was short for this one, but as there are 3 books in this collection, it should even out once I've finished listening to all three.

"What the Heart Holds"

In this book, the new school teacher Stephinia appears to have fallen for Arnold after he and his brothers rescued both her and Lizzy from an irate kidnapper. Unfortunately, his heart still belongs to a girl who had died in an accident years before. 

Thus was another shorter seeming story, but one that I also enjoyed listening to as well as the previous book. This story flows perfectly from where the previous book ended.

"Deep Longing of the Soul"

In this third book in the series, Eli, who had shot and killed the man who had kidnapped Lizzy, has been having a very difficult time since that day. He views himself as a murderer, though he had been protecting and saving two women when it had happened. 

This book was about the same length as the previous two, and reaches a good stopping point in this series. It was just as enjoyable to listen to, and while the voices used for the three brothers may be difficult to distinguish at times from each other, the personalities of the characters eases any confusion of which brother happens to be speaking. (Plus it helps that each book focuses mainly on a different brother.) Overall, I enjoyed listening to this trilogy.

"The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse: How to Build a Net-Zero Energy Greenhouse" by Lindsey Schiller with Marc Plinke

My husband and I are planning on turning an old gazebo into a greenhouse to extend our growing season this year. I read this book to see if it could help me with the planning stages of a greenhouse. (It's currently winter here, so nothing can be done for a few more months.) 

Reading this book gave me a lot of information that I didn't know anything about previously. While much of what I learned won't work for what we want to do, I did gain a lot of ideas that should work and will get us a long way towards actually building our greenhouse and having it work without needing to use electricity to keep it warm enough as the temps begin dropping in the fall and allow us to start our plants earlier in the spring.

In other words, while this was not a step by step guide on how to get our DIY greenhouse built, it did provide a lot of help in understanding what we'll need to do and how to go about doing it. Will we still run into other unconsidered problems along the way? Most likely, yes. But after reading this book, we learned what won't work for us and why, as well as providing us with a lot of ideas about what will work. 

So I would recommend this book for anyone who needs to learn about different types of greenhouses and is considering buying or building one for themselves. I found it to be very helpful overall.

"Wonderly Wroth" by Scott Telek

Book 5 of Mr. Telek's Swithin series, starts where book 4 left off. A 14 year-old Arthur, having forgotten his foster brother Kay's sword and needing to bring him one, had pulled the sword from the stone not realizing at the time that it was the one that would determine who was the rightful King. After much confusion, and being asked to repeat the act multiple times, it seems that the church believes he is the rightful king, though even Arthur doesn't seem too convinced about it.

This book tells the tale of young Arthur's training to become a knight, as well as of many other things that he will be expected to know. And while all of this is happening, we get to see not only what influences the young man's decisions along the way, but we get to learn more about some of the other characters that have yet to take center stage in this tale as well. It gives us a fascinating look into what drives and motivates them, as well as how each of them came to believe as they do.

As is no secret, I love a good King Arthur story, and this series has been one of my favorites. Mr. Telek has done a wonderful job of telling the familiar tale of King Arthur in a unique way. While those of us familiar with the basic story can usually make a pretty good guess about what is to come, Mr. Telek still manages to throw in a few surprises along the way that keep the reader riveted. It was very difficult for me to put this book down at night, as I kept wanting to keep reading to the end. (And when done, I was honestly surprised to find that this book was longer than it had felt while reading it.)  

If you enjoy a good King Arthur story, you will want to read this book/series. I loved it and think many of you will enjoy it as well. It is well worth taking the time to enjoy this one.

“Wisteria Witches” written by Angela Pepper, Narrated by Tiffany Williams

When Zara & her daughter move to a new town, they run into quite a few surprises, not the least of which is the sudden awakening of Zara’s magic on her daughter’s 16th birthday. Soon after, they find themselves drawn into a mystery and discover/reconnect with a long lost aunt that they weren’t aware lived in town. Zara’s aunt is also a witch, though she had discovered her own gifts at a young age, and is now trying to rapidly teach Zara and Zoey about magic (though as of yet Zoey doesn’t seem to have any powers of her own.) Then there are the interesting neighbors and a whole other cast of characters in the small town of Wisteria.

Rather than reading this book, I listened to the audiobook version as I was walking. It was a nice, lighthearted little cozy mystery that kept me quite entertained for a few days. I expect that had I been reading it, it would have been a quick read, but that doesn’t take away from the fun of the story.

The narrator did a very good job of making sure that each voice was distinct enough that there was no confusion between which character was speaking at any point, and also managed to convey quite a bit of personality into each character’s distinct voices. I enjoyed listening to her portraying each of the various personalities.

If you enjoy listening to a nice, lighthearted cozy mystery that has been read by an entertaining narrator, then you should enjoy this audiobook. And if you prefer to read the physical book or kindle edition, I expect that you would find it just as entertaining.

"Last Night with Tokyo Rose' by Alexa Kang

Tom Sakai was a 2nd generation Japanese-American living and growing up in America. His life has been difficult because in many ways he and his older brother are trapped between two worlds. No matter how hard they tried, many only saw them as only Japanese, rather than as Americans, and unfortunately they were often treated poorly because of it.

This was Tom's story. The tale of his life and the choices he made, many of which appeared to be because he had no other options left available to him at the time. People looked at him and saw a Japanese man, ignoring that he was born an American. And unfortunately things only became even more difficult after Pearl Harbor was attacked & thus brought the United States into WWII.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book. It easily captured my interest and held it, leaving me barely able to bring myself to put it down so that I could sleep at night. The characters were complex and well-rounded. The story was well thought out, and I loved the way in which the reader learns all the complexities of what is unfolding as the story progresses. 

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially those stories set during WWII should read this book. I happened to read the 2nd book in this series before this one, but as each book is a stand alone novel, it didn't lessen my enjoyment of either book or give away any spoilers. I would definitely recommend giving this one a try. You won’t be disappointed.

"Flawed and Loved" by Florence Linnington

Ellie was supposed to marry the banker in Red Canyon, but when the bank was robbed and she was taken hostage, her fate seemed to be pretty much sealed. But one of the gang members does not want that to happen and goes out of his way to keep her safe from the others until he can get her free of them and back to where she can be rescued. After that, the gang leader has David take a job in the town so he can listen to learn when and how the safest way for them to get away with the stolen money will come about while the rest of them hide in the woods.

This was another enjoyable story told by Ms. Linnington. In this one, both Ellie and David have secrets that they hide from each other. (His, an effort to keep him from returning to jail and hers… well, that would be too much of a spoiler to give away at this point.) This was an enjoyable tale of change from within as well as of possible redemption.

I don't want to give away too much, but do remember that this is a mail order bride tale, (though it was more of an arranged marriage from a nearby town rather than one arranged through a catalog.) So as is usual, you can probably feel safe in expecting a happy ending of some sort.

If you've enjoyed reading any of Ms Linnington's other books, mail order bride stories, or are just looking for a light quick read to enjoy, I think you'll enjoy reading this one.

“Dangers and Empty Mangers” by Trixie Silvertale

In this 17th book of the Mitzy Moon series, you guessed it, there’s another body found as the story begins. But this time it’s not Mitzy who finds it. As expected, she does wind up involved in the investigation to find the killer (would there be a story here if she didn’t?) while at the same time trying to solve a seemingly unrelated crime by finding the missing statue of baby Jesus from the local church’s manger scene. Oh, and her ghost-ma needs her to locate a coat that had gone missing before Mitzy arrived in town. The coat has at least as much of a sentimental as real value to it and Grams is heartbroken by it’s loss and needs Mitzy to find it, though she won’t tell Mitzy why.

This was another fun-filled installment in the series. Despite being the 17th book, there are still plenty of new dangers, problems, and other adventures for these characters to discover, as well as plenty for them to still learn about and from each other. And of course there are still more than a few secrets to be discovered/resolved.

As with the others in this series that I have read, I enjoyed this book just as much as the others. Mitzy is a fascinating character who is far from perfect, but it is her faults that make her relatable. If you’ve enjoyed any of the other books in this series, whether in order or not, you should give this one a try as well. You will not be disappointed. This is also a good series for anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist.