Book Review of The Little French Bistro by Nina George

Sixty-year-old Marianne Messmann has had enough of her loveless, one-sided marriage of forty plus years. Lothar Messman is an overbearing oaf who has no idea how to show Marianne the love and affection she so desperately wants. For far too long, Marianne has blamed herself and when she becomes overwhelmingly despondent during their Paris vacation, she wanders off to end it all. When her suicide doesn’t go as planned, Marianne uses the near death experience to embark on an adventure of self-discovery and reinvention.

I read Nina George’s “The Little Paris Bookshop” and was less than enthusiastic about it. In it, George writes from the male perspective and I couldn’t find it convincing or compelling. The Little French Bistro, by comparison, was fabulous. Writing from the female perspective, to me, makes the author’s voice so much more believable and enjoyable.

The Little French Bistro brings a lovely cast of characters together. The 60+ crowd has great deal of experience with life, love and loss to teach younger generations and this theme shines through beautifully in this book. I loved every single character here. The author does a wonderful job of creating believable, likable characters that peel away layers to reveal their genuine hopes, dreams, thoughts, feelings and faults.

I can’t say enough good things about The Little French Bistro. It’s definitely worth reading and the characters will stay with you long after you’ve finished. Thanks to the publisher and the now defunct Blogging for Books for a complimentary copy.

5 of 5 Stars, Review by Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog

Summer of Spies by Abigail Hornsea is a Tech-Savvy Children's Book that Promotes Girl Power!

Here's another AWESOME book that promotes girl power. I can highly recommend "Summer of Spies" to middle grade girls and boys! 

Isabelle Bright (Belle for short) is an eleven-year-old girl who loves spending time on her computer, which is keeping her from enjoying her summer vacation. That is until Belle and her brother Moz spy a satellite on their shed’s roof. Belle puts her techie skills to work and leads the family on a magical adventure.

This story is told in first person, present tense, which I usually dislike. But since this is a children’s book and a strong sense of action is ideal here, it works. As I’ve stated many times in the past, I love books that place female characters at the center of a story and this one does that nicely. Belle is an extremely likable, strong character.

The plot is full of up-to-date techie matter, which will be easily relatable to today’s tech-savvy kids. The vocabulary is perfect for the intended age group and includes a nice mix of easy and challenging words for children to learn. Some important environmental lessons are included here as well. Highly recommended!

5 of 5 Stars, Review by Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog

Why and How I Made the Transition from Law Enforcement to Authorship by Anita Dickason, Author of Sentinels of the Night

I LOVE books that feature strong female characters, so when I heard about Sentinels of the Night by Dallas police officer turned crime author Anita Dickason I knew I had to highlight this awesome woman! 

I reached out to Anita to ask her how she made the transition from law enforcement to book series author and she kindly obliged with an author guest post. Anita has lots to share about her journey - it's certainly a fascinating one - so read on!

After retiring from the Dallas Police Department, I started an accident reconstruction business. I received a phone call from a California film company. They were looking for an accident investigator and had found my website. A new reality TV series was being filmed about unsolved mysteries. One episode dealt with the death of a witness to the Kennedy assassination. Lee Bowers was killed in a car accident in 1966.

The date to film was set, and the company had obtained permits from the Texas Department of Transportation to shut down the southbound lanes of a highway outside of Midlothian, a small town south of Dallas.

At first, I wasn’t receptive to their offer. I knew nothing about the accident and had little time to research. The company representative asked if I would at least look at the documents and I agreed.

The packet I received included the location of the shoot and a video of a Geraldo Rivera show that had aired in the middle 90s on the same topic. In the video, a man stood on the highway pointing to the bridge that Bowers vehicle had hit. It only took a few seconds to realize everyone had the wrong location. The bridge and highway didn’t even exist in 1966.

That got my attention. Could I find the actual accident site? By the time I had researched documents at the county courthouse and located the right bridge, I was hooked. I decided to attempt a reconstruction of the accident.

I wrote a book that detailed my research and conclusions, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy. The project became the springboard to a new career as an author and publisher. I closed the accident reconstruction business and started Mystic Circle Books & Designs, LLC, providing manuscript and cover design services to help other authors publish their books.

As for my books, I have published two fiction novels, Sentinels of the Night and Going Gone! The stories are suspense/thrillers with a touch of paranormal and light romance. I set up a new FBI unit, code name—Trackers. Each of the agents has a unique gift drawn from Native American myths or Irish and Scottish folklore. I am on my third Tracker novel and hope to have it published by the first of the year.

For more information on Sentinels of the Night and the second Tracker novel, Going Gone!, please see my website, Amazon author page or the book trailers: 

Anita Dickason Website

Amazon Author Page

Sentinels of the Night Book Trailer

Going Gone! Book Trailer