Welcome to Book Readers Heaven! Find Books, Reviews, Short Stories, Authors, Publicity, a little poetry, music to complement...and other stuff including politics, about life... "Books, Cats: Life is Sweet..."
It's a pretty sunny morning. Got to get going to take care of business.
Later on stopping for a while at the water and drop some tobacco.
How are you all doing on this new day?
Some people have good medicine.
Some people have bad medicine.
Some people have no medicine.
Some people just like to talk like they know something.
Today is a good day to give thanks for this breath of life for ourselves, and for others.
And for this sick world, to heal.
May this day be a grateful one. A happy one.
Nin jiaksi jiba euwate.
~~~~
A smile a Day
This elderly woman
Lived on the corner of
South Jupiter and Comet Street
in a nice big mobile home
She kept sparkling clean outside
No weeds or litter on the grounds
Frail and pale
She was
Hair white as snow
Gently
Slowly
Step by Step
Hunched over
She kept on
Going
I remember when
I first waved at her
in passing how
She never waved back
As she was glancing
I tool it personal for a long tme
But I kept on
Waving anyway
Whenever I passed by.
One day
She finally smiled
At me and waved
It made my day brighter
And from then on
She always did
Just Wondering
How would life be
All around for everyone
If time were devoted
To examining ourselves
To see where our humanity
Is stacked up against
Decency
Respect
Patience
Love
Forgiveness
Charity
I fall short
On things I never noticed about me
But I try to change
The unhealthy
Unspiritual things
Within me
Day by day
Growth is like a blade
Of sweet grass I planted
Years ago
And continue to water
Change is a slog
Doesn't happen overnight
Hurts and scares
Fears the unknown
I challenged myself
It was worth the sacrifice
I have more
Respect for myself
For life
More careful
How I walk
Daily in the World
A common man
~~~~
Donations. ( Art and books) - The Elder- A Tribute / 12.00 / 4.00 shipping
@monolin
thank you.
Folks, I agree with one of the men who spoke that our Native tribes are the least of who should be considered an immigrant! Yet, Trump who is indeed an immigrant by his heritage, as are all of us, cares only that they are NOT White! This type of discrimination has got to stop...or else all the rich white supremacist men will be the only ones living in the United States! May God Be with ALL His Children...
Right now, I'm in almost as much of a mess as the US government!
I'll be writing more about it, but I wanted to alert you that my posts may be irregular in the next week or so.
But I'll be back!
Ooops, no mushy stuff today...
Without even verifying, I can tell you that 3 women voted against the Voting Rights Court decision made by the Republican Controlled Supreme Court... Bought and paid for... by those with lots of money who want all rights which have been fought for over hundreds of years to be removed so that white male supremacists can once again rule... Only this time, all people will become slaves to the MAN...
Yikes, did I just say that?!
Actually I'm pretty happy today... You know why?
Because I received much help from two DEI individuals I met with yesterday regarding the newly discovered AFib heart condition I now have... Within the last month, I went into the emergency room and learned that I now had a heart condition. Yes, Up until now, my heart was going along fine... Sure I had to check out my brain and have a tumor removed... and a hip replaced...lost a few toes... lost some major vision abilities... but I was moving along each day... Now the most important part of my body had decided to cause a little flurry of panic...
But you know, having people caring for you during those times is so very important. You may recall I even wrote about it... talking about singing in the Walmart's Women's Rest Room! Geesh! How does these things keep happening in my life! LOL
You may recall that my singing partner was a Black Woman... Yesterday both of my professionals were non-white... Personally, I cannot imagine a world--a United States without my Black friends--my neighbors from across the world, who I've never met before, but, on the occasion I needed somebody, they were there to guide and support me... Sure, there were some who I had problems with--tragically, they were white. What has gone wrong in the United States?!
Besides MAGA? Because surely those with lots of money, and which is now being openly demonstrated, there are white men who are willing to do anything for money and power!
A Quick Note. Biden's son's job was NOT a conflict of interest. He was hired individually, whether or not he was paid more than he should? How can that be proven, and remember, he was not indicted for that...
But, now, we have a major conflict of interest which moves into the billions!!! for the Trump family men!
We hear a lot of discussion related to why the war in Iran was even started... NOW we know!!!!
Of course we have already seen the moves of the president to put money into planes, gold, new ballrooms... Yeah, but nothing related to actually helping support THE UNITED STATES CITIZENS!
You know, while congress, the supreme court and practically the entire government administrators have been making money through one way or another, to the detriment of the United States!
Jen worked in the Government at one time. She was able to meet people who are involved with its inner workings... BUT, other than this report, NOBODY ELSE IS TALKING ABOUT WHY THE WAR IS CONTINUING!
WHY IT WAS STARTED...WHY THEY WANT TRILLIONS MORE TO BUY DRONES AND EQUIPMENT...WELL...NOW WE KNOW!!!
THE TRUMP FAMILY IS BRINGING IN SUFFICIENT MONEY TO MAKE THAT FAMILY THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD...BY STARTING WARS ALL OVER THE WORLD, KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND LYING TO THE WORLD ABOUT IT!
I never watch any speeches by our president. But I was thrilled to see the King of England speak to our full congress...
Because of the response!
It was quite clear that our congress may indeed know what is going on, because the King made specific points, such as Ukraine, that caused full applause... Is there hope of more republicans who have been refusing to go against our criminal president actually, after listening to a real leader of people, have gained some semblance of the common sense that once was routine for the majority of our Congress? Perhaps, then, they would not permit the leader of the House to tell everybody to go home and stay and so no response can be made to the needs of the United States, rather than to one man?
But let's get back to the action by the Supreme Court, with just one of my own immediate thoughts... Will the loss of voting rights for women be next? For surely this government has proven, especially during the Epstein investigation, that there is little regard for women other than as sexual bodies to breed... That, I hope you realize, is NOT sarcasm, but, rather, looking back at just how long women's rights took. Remember that Black men were given the vote before women. Perhaps that's why conservatives made such a big deal about the supposed Right to Life rule while, once born, not caring how those children actually were forced to live in poverty, abuse, and more... Think about it... Right now, consider who you are... Are you a woman or a non-white individual? Has the rules such as DEI affected you? Has the removal of funding for Medicaid, public education, and so much more, affected you? Then when you do say yes... Realize that MAGA ACTUALLY MEANS MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN FOR WHITE MEN AS IT ONCE WAS WHEN THEY HAD ALL THE RIGHTS NOW SUPPOSEDLY AVAILABLE TO ALL..
ONLY REASON TO LOOK BACKWARD IS TO MEET PERSONAL NEEDS AND DESIRES OF THOSE WHO LIKED PRIVILEGE FOR THEMSELVES AND NOBODY ELSE. How Selfish!
I think of myself as being like most US citizens who spent the majority of our lives dealing with our own lives' turmoil and expecting the government to move along as it should without our involvement.
How greatly I regret my mistake!
Nor can I understand just how for 250 years that nobody has saw that, as it is now, that at some point, some rebel group within our own government could conceivably have tied up every branch of the government, totally being permitted to bypass supposed safeguards and actually getting away with it! It boggles my tired mind daily as to how we could ever have reached the point in which we find ourselves...
When I first started working in the technical field of facilities, I soon learned that I needed to plan ahead to ensure that mistakes are immediately identified, admitted, and worked on to ensure the issue was eliminated before it actually became a problem or, worse, reality. When I started supervising, the first thing I taught was to not be afraid to come to me when a mistake occurs so that we could work together to ensure solution before it actually meant that two groups showed up for a meeting both in one room...
So, I fume, wondering... How in the world of efficiency have we reached this crisis situation where for the first time ever, our president is being aggressively acting in foreign countries, is ignoring our citizens needs, and with no concern for accountability is skimming millions from OUR TAX DOLLARS on a daily basis!? And, unless a majority of our citizens agrees with me and ensures we vote, no matter what scam Trump has devised to prevent us actually having our votes placed and counted, the Democracy which was guaranteed to us through the Constitution, will be lost through a verification by a corrupt Supreme Court!
I am calmly ANGRY. While I worked to succeed and live in my professional career, there was then, and is now worse, men who seem to be able to do anything they want whether or not the power has been given to them. Can we accept this for our future, knowing just how easily one party with lots of outside money support has corrupted our federal government and is daily doing more destruction to dismantle and take it just like kings did way back even before Christ? (B.C.)
Having another shooting in the US last night was just another way to point out that there is something wrong in our country and it's affecting the entire world... Indeed, there have been many more books written at this time, it seems to me, than ever before that is spotlighting the events now occurring in our Culture...
No, I'm not talking about the choice to create what I call a "treasure hunt" book that centers on the Bible. There have been and will continue to be, I am sure, many books written with that book as a central focus. What I'm talking about is "how" and "why" if was written. You see, for me, the use of another book as a basis for creating a new book requires some basic considerations. For instance, in the copyright for the book, it refers to "historical fact" as being a basis for some of the material... Yet, for many of us living in today's United States, we have become abundantly aware that (1) there is at present a determined plan to eradicate historical fact--or change it! (2) there is at present those in politics who are working to deny what we actually see to be true with our own eyes, yet it is denied to the point that legal actions are reflective of that inaccurate set of lies and (3) the insertion of religion within the political arena has become so extreme that any book written at this point is subject to question... or at least to garner closer attention.
But that is not why I decided to explore this book in an essay fashion. I think it is the very first time that I have rejected the use of some characters created for this adventure. My only rational thought was that the author refers to the book as an adventure, thought it would be interesting to younger readers, and decided to include a set of individuals who are actually supposed to be "the good guys..."
From an "adventure" standpoint; i.e., they handle the action and interaction with villain groups well. The problem is that these are individuals who are part of a new government oversight group (I surmised) called HARPA--‘The Heritage, Artifacts, and Relics Protection Agency. Sounds like it would require a group of talented professionals in various fields. What the reader got, however, was an almost constant barrage of dialogue of what you would expect from a group of high school students throwing jabs at each other, and more... For me, it was so inappropriate that it was disruptive to being able to sink into the depth this book required readers in order to follow it. Specifically, this book is heavy with ancient history of "secret" this or that group, together with present-day groups following the trail of the "treasure" for the power that it could or would provide the new owners.
Especially since it centered on the Book of Revelations from the Bible and it's supposed message. In this case, the writer of the Book, John, for some reason, decided to hide the last book he wrote, as given to him directly from God. (I don't know about you, but if God had dictated a book to me to share, I'd have shared that last chapter no matter what it said...)
You know folks, I started this post with a wonderful and enthusiastic praise song by a group who obviously are excited about God! The song they are singing is from Revelations 19. It seems to me that this is the main crux of where the divide really is for people at this point in the United States and perhaps across the world. The corruption of the meaning of words, especially from religious books.
In fiction, if a mean of a word is corrupted, such as for the fantasy genre, it is up to the writer, AND the reader to decide whether they want to read an entirely new, possibly, vocabulary from another world. Personally, I find it tedious for an entire book, although I learned many different languages from Star Trek when it first was written... LOL
But that was pre-2015, especially, when a master manipulator entered the national political world and began to lie. So much so, that what was true then became false, and what was false was true as long as one individual decided it was, or he used his "power" to change it. He fought about fake news consistently, except for those news stations who chose to play his game and support his lies. And where are we now? Mass shootings at every level of America's culture...
******
‘The stories in the Bible are just that – stories. Scary stories designed to keep gullible people like you in line.’--Russian Treasurer Hunter
Neverov was former KGB and he’s been relic-smuggling for thirty years! We have to presume he already knows about Gallo.’
Whoever was involved in these things was always well-armed.
‘Wait for just a second,’ Quinn said. ‘Isn’t the real question why we’re trying to unearth something that might trigger the Apocalypse?’
It’s considered a matter of vital national security. We have been chosen because we don’t officially exist and any mission we undertake can be totally denied. If we get caught, we get disavowed.’
‘We’re not just chasing relic smugglers any more, Hunter,’ Jodie said. ‘If this has something to do with the Revelation and the Apocalypse, then sure, that scares me.’ ‘Revelation and Apocalypse are the same thing,’ Lewis said, mouth full of ham and cheese.
Lewis laughed. ‘Right, so that’s what you think is in store for us? The holy spirit of an enraged god bursting out of an ark and melting us all down?’
‘This can’t be about revenge, Colonel,’ Amy said. ‘That’s not the goal of this team. HARPA is here to secure the Revelation relic, Revelation 23 and the Tabula Dei and bring Kandarian to justice.’
I included this particular video because it is easy to follow and does not make an effort to go deeply into the Book of Revelation. But, especially, because he says what it is not... For instance, all the individual pieces that he mentions that can be found in the Bible, none of those issues are included. Except about the Apocalypse. Instead a "lost" last chapter is created which includes symbolic statues of different living things such as an eagle... To me, this is a routine expectation in fiction so I enjoyed reading the background provided for each along with its supposed message... Still there was the continual assumption that doom and gloom follows...
And, of course, that depends upon what choices you as a reader have made as a part of present culture...
Take for instance, if you support war and violence against others, such as is happening right now with the attack on Iran by the President...
You may find that you support war, indiscriminate murder, such as on the streets of Minnesota, or by governmental officials at various levels against citizens... There will always be differences of opinions. And, opinions might change for an issue, such as Abortion, based upon each different circumstance...
What each of us have accepted merges into one culture, normally. A democracy also allows groups or states to have different rules and regulations; however, as a nation, such as with the Covid Pandemic, normally a nation-wide action would and should have been declared to prevent as many deaths as possible. However, when power overrides the good of the common man, a major division ultimately will occur and must be dealt with.
Actually, if I had not been disrupted by the type of dialogue, I'd have recommended this book as a good "treasure hunt" novel...
Wrapping his arms around Amy’s waist, Hunter said, ‘Can we stay for just one song?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Go down!’ ‘All I wanted was a dance!’ he said. ‘To the next balcony, Max!’ But he was already leaning over the wrought-iron balustrade and scanning for the next way down to the sidewalk.
Those who think using jokes or sexual innuendo during a business, or, particularly, a tense time, for many will be going too far... Sorry to say, all of these jibes, even if playful, toward one another was just a reminder of what we are seeing on the news daily... Like J.D. Vance suggesting that The Pope should consider what he is saying as opposed to our so-called president!
So I hope you all understand just how easily this book, mixing death and destruction with references of the Bible, may instinctively result in a need for a writer, in my personal opinion, to better consider the setting of a book in relation to the culture at any given time. Many have pulled out, for instance, the book 1984 to consider in light of today's chaos. There is much that was projected in that fictional novel that appears to reflect today's world, only in this century not the last. Sooner or later, I'll take the time to read this one and perhaps do a similar essay...
Books have a very important role in every culture. They play either a positive or negative role, not necessarily because of how the book was written at the time it was, but because of whether or not, it reflects what we are experiencing in daily life...now...
For instance, for a time, especially in Florida, th governor was pushing for banning books, changing what was being taught, and more...Now it has spread upward and but been pushed behind the scenes due to bigger crises such as tariffs, food and gas prices, loss of medical assistance...and insertion of war into our lives for no acceptable reason, especially from a minority! But this does not mean that a governor such as DeSantis, who was recently in the news, is still trying to negatively impact the cultural lives many have lived for most of their lives.
Feedback on this type of indepth analysis of books in relation to today's cultural issues are always welcome...
Saint Augustine of Hippo spent his career warning the church about a particular and recurring temptation: the use of God’s name to sanctify what God has not sanctioned.
In The City of God, written as Rome collapsed around him, Augustine drew a stark line between the earthly city, which pursues power in the name of justice, and the City of God, which pursues justice even at the cost of power. Sixteen centuries later, the distinction has never felt more urgent. The United States is at war with Iran, and the men directing that war have repeatedly invoked divine endorsement.
Augustine, who gave Western civilization its first coherent framework for evaluating the morality of war, would not be impressed. He would be appalled.
The Framework and the Facts
Augustine’s just war theory rests on several interlocking criteria. A war must be declared by legitimate authority. It must be pursued for a just cause. It must reflect right intention, meaning the purpose must serve the common good rather than private ambition. It must be conducted with proportionality and restraint. And the moral responsibility of those who fight must be clearly defined and honestly owned. These are not suggestions. For Augustine, they are the theological gatekeepers between a justified use of force and what he called libido dominandi, the lust for domination that he regarded as the root sickness of fallen civilization. Let us apply each criterion to what actually happened.
Legitimate Authority
Augustine was unequivocal: only duly constituted authority may declare war. The purpose of this requirement was precisely to prevent powerful individuals from laundering personal ambition through institutional office. It demanded transparent process, accountable governance, and the consent of the body politic through its legitimate representatives.
The 2026 strikes on Iran were launched without congressional authorization. Multiple legal scholars have concluded that the Trump administration bypassed the constitutional war powers framework. The administration’s own Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged questions about the War Powers Resolution while simultaneously questioning whether it was legally binding. Legal experts have further distinguished these strikes from prior unauthorized military actions by noting that the justification offered was, in the words of one analysis, “speculative and pre-emptive” in a way that comparatively weakened any prior domestic legal rationale. This was not legitimate authority acting through established process. It was executive will asserting itself above the framework designed to constrain it. Augustine would have recognized the pattern immediately. He had watched Rome do exactly this for decades.
Just Cause
A just cause, in Augustine’s formulation, must aim at punishing wrongdoing, protecting the innocent, or restoring peace. Critically, it cannot serve “selfish ambitions.” The cause must be singular, coherent, and honestly stated.
The rationale for the Iran war has been none of those things. Investigators and analysts have documented that the Trump administration offered shifting and contradictory explanations in the weeks surrounding the strikes: to prevent an imminent Iranian threat, to preempt Iranian retaliation after an expected Israeli attack, to destroy missile capabilities, to prevent nuclear acquisition, to seize Iran’s oil resources, and to achieve regime change. These explanations are not merely inconsistent. Several of them directly contradict one another. An “imminent threat” and a “speculative pre-emptive strike” cannot simultaneously be the justification for the same action. A just cause, by Augustine’s definition, does not require a rotating menu of rationales. When the stated cause changes depending on the audience, the cause itself has become a performance rather than a principle.
The strikes were also launched during active negotiations between Iran and the United States. International legal scholars have noted that initiating military action during ongoing diplomatic talks violates the good faith principles embedded in the UN Charter. The bishop of Hippo, who argued that war must be a last resort undertaken only when peace has genuinely failed, would have had a great deal to say about that timing.
Right Intention
Here the analysis becomes theologically explosive. Augustine insisted that the purpose of war must align with God’s will, with justice and moral order rather than personal gain. He was particularly contemptuous of the performance of piety in service of power, the use of the divine name to bless what the divine law condemns.
On April 6, 2026, President Trump asserted that God supports the American and Israeli war on Iran “because God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth went further, describing the conflict in terms of a holy war and, in a moment that strains credulity, likening a military rescue operation conducted on Easter Sunday to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the biblical command to exterminate the Amalekites as theological authorization for striking Iran.
Augustine specifically condemned the manipulation of sacred language to mask the libido dominandi. He argued that cloaking conquest in divine rhetoric was not piety. It was blasphemy. A war entered for mixed, contradictory, and self-interested reasons does not become just, simply because someone prays before launching it. The invocation of God’s endorsement is not evidence of right intention. In Augustine’s framework, it is the single most dangerous form of self-deception available to the powerful, because it forecloses the capacity for moral examination at precisely the moment when that examination is most necessary.
Proportionality and Restraint
Augustine was explicit: excessive cruelty, the lust for revenge, and the targeting of those who cannot harm you are moral disqualifications regardless of how just the original cause might otherwise be. Force must be calibrated to correct evil and restore peace. It must not become an expression of the will to dominate or destroy.
President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s bridges and power plants and warned that “a whole civilization will die” if Iran refused his terms. Military and legal experts noted that targeting civilian electrical infrastructure would compromise hospitals, clean water access, and the civilian population’s basic survival. A professor of military law told PBS that such rhetoric, if carried out, would constitute measures of intimidation against a civilian population, which is prohibited under United States law. International criminal law scholars have characterized the broader military campaign as a war of aggression. The founding chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court drew a direct comparison between this conflict and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Augustine, who condemned not only unjust wars but the spirit in which wars are fought, would have found no cover in the performance of restraint. The threats themselves matter morally. The intention to annihilate civilian infrastructure is a violation of just war ethics whether or not the infrastructure is ultimately destroyed. The soul of the commander, Augustine would remind us, is judged by what it is willing to contemplate.
The Augustinian Who Stood Up
Which brings us to the irony that Augustine’s ghost would find most instructive.
When Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pontiff and a scholar formed in the Augustinian tradition, spoke out against the Iran war on grounds of conscience, Gospel, and the Church’s historic commitment to human dignity, the response from Washington was immediate and contemptuous. The President of the United States called the Pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” He falsely accused Leo of supporting Iranian nuclear weapons. He suggested, with characteristic indifference to the boundaries between the sacred and the political, that Leo owed his election partly to Trump’s own influence.
Vice President Vance, himself a Catholic, counseled the Pope to “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Let that sentence sit for a moment. A politician who has described a military operation as analogous to the resurrection of Christ, who serves an administration that has framed a war as divinely endorsed, advised the successor of Peter to be careful about theology.
Pope Leo XIV responded with the composure that Augustine himself commended: “I have no fear of neither the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message in the Gospel.” He was applying, with precision and courage, the very framework that Augustine built: that the Church’s role is not to consecrate the wars of earthly rulers but to hold them accountable to a standard of justice that transcends national interest.
This is the deepest Augustinian irony of this entire episode. The man most schooled in Augustine’s thought, the man most equipped to apply his framework to the present crisis, was attacked as weak and uninformed by the very administration that has been most aggressive in using religious language to justify its conduct. Augustine understood this dynamic as well. In the Confessions, he observed that those who misuse God’s name are rarely able to tolerate those who use it honestly.
The Verdict
Saint Augustine did not formulate just war theory to make war easier to conduct. He formulated it to make war harder to justify. The criteria are demanding by design. They require honesty about motivation, transparency about authority, coherence about cause, restraint in conduct, and genuine alignment between stated purpose and actual intent.
The 2026 Iran war fails each test in sequence. The authority was contested. The cause was incoherent. The intention was performed rather than genuine. The rhetoric surrounding the conflict embraced the language of annihilation. And the one voice that applied Augustine’s own principles with theological precision was denounced by those who claimed to be fighting in God’s name.
Augustine spent the last years of his life watching the Vandals besiege his city. He died with the walls under siege. He understood, from the inside, what it looks like when civilizations convince themselves that their violence is holy. He left us a framework to resist that conviction.
The question is not whether the administration has invoked God. The question is whether what they have done can bear the weight of that invocation. Augustine’s answer, applied to the evidence at hand, is unambiguous.
It cannot.
Dr. Michael A. Smith is an independent historian, theologian, and PhD candidate at Liberty University, where he is completing an intellectual biography of Nobel Laureate Dr. Charles H. Townes. He has taught at the college level for nearly four decades and served in pastoral ministry for more than forty years. He is the author of From Christian Fundamentalism to Christian Nationalism: A Primer Detailing the Danger to America (2024).
I had to add this...When those who try to claim something that is not true, as factual (see pic on video above)
it reveals either supreme ignorance, or a conman who lies for his own benefit.
But learning that a Godly Black man's race was changed???
That, too, just like this superb essay by Dr. Smith reveals!
A princess escaping her ivory tower. Racing toward the awaiting prince in another kingdom.
If you haven't yet read a book written by one of the best storytellers I've read, I recommend you start with today's presentation. Midnight! Although I can't remember the name of the first book by Sala that I read, I can still remember my emotional response. That response which nudges me whenever I get a notice that she has a new book available. Midnight was written for avid readers like me--you know, I'm the one that normally responds to the question of "what is your favorite book" by responding "The one I'm reading right now..." No, that's not always true, but it covers a high percentage of the books I've written about here at Book Readers Heaven where no more than 10 a year are selected as a personal favorite... And, more importantly, only a very few are selected as favorite author... Sharon Sala became a favorite author with her first book I read!
You will find that Midnight, as a romantic suspense--heavy on the renewal of the relationship between Asher and Nora--just might fulfill every single hope
Sharon wins the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award RITA from RWA (Photo Credit: Jan Goldstoff)
you might have for every book you read. And, in doing so, Sala also ensures that every single wish you'd want to close out each book is, indeed, fully responded to... You will have NO questions in your mind about what happened to this person or that... I, quite simply, loved this book! It provided a contentment that only can be provided by a writer that writes books that they personally want to read... And does that job perfectly!
Indeed, I wasn't surprised when I discovered that Sala had been presented a lifetime Nora Roberts' Award. Roberts is also one of my favorite writers, especially with her J.D.Robb series! Plan, therefore, to find the same quality of writing as Nora when you select a book by Sharon Sala!
Now, let me share a little about this story!
Asher Kingston didn’t thrive in disorder. He needed to know what was happening, what his part in it was, and what needed to happen next, and he hadn’t had one solid day of order since the phone call from his dad, telling him about Nora. At that moment, every carefully planned aspect of his life blew up in his face. It was Brenda’s fault. She’d disrupted all of their lives when she ended hers. But it was also the wakeup call that he’d needed, and now he couldn’t imagine any aspect of his life without Nora in it. Finding out about her stalker had been a shock. Learning how she’d saved herself, then found a retreat in her ivory tower that gave her the safety and space to continue her work without giving up what she loved, turned on every protective instinct he had. He knew she wasn’t helpless. Far from it, but he wanted to be there for her when she needed it. To make that happen, they first had to put the Brandt brothers in prison, and that was uppermost in his mind as he came out of Belker’s with a bouquet of flowers. Three minutes later, he was pulling up into Nora’s driveway. He loved her. He wanted her. Every part of him ached to take her to bed. He was saying it with flowers, but if she was slow to get the message, he was willing to strip naked and let her see it for herself. He traded his Stetson for the flowers and left it in the front seat. Then he was out the door and running up the steps with the wind at his back. He knocked, waiting for the sound of her footsteps, then all of sudden, the door swung inward and there she stood. A vision in pink wearing fuzzy socks and slippers. The smile on her face was all it took to pull him over the threshold. He shut the door and laid the flowers in her arms. “Asher! I love them. I never get flowers. They’re beautiful.” “Like you,” he said. “Go put them in water so I can kiss you.” She laughed. “Come help. I’m still making messes with this one,” she said, waving the hand with the stitches. He shed his coat on the sofa and followed, got a vase from the etagere, filled it half full of water for her, then watched her put them in the water and arrange them. “The fall colors in this are just perfect. I love them, and they’ll make a nice focal point on the dining table. I’m signing a contract with a realtor tomorrow and she’s using the existing furniture for staging.” As soon as she finished the arrangement, he carried it to the dining table for her, and as he turned, he caught a wistful expression on her face. “Are you sad, darlin’… About selling the house, I mean?” She shrugged. “A little, but realistic about it, too. It’s not the same with them gone, you know? I keep thinking about the us we resurrected. That’s where my hopes are. They’re already with you.” The look in her eyes. The words she’d just said. Like turning a cog and watching it fall into place. With her there was no discord, only peace. He brushed a kiss across her lips, then cupped her face, feeling the softness of her skin against his palms. “You are my touchstone. You always were. You always will be. I will always love and protect you.” “My darling, Ash. Through no fault of your own, you are the one who was left in charge, but you’re also the one who needs to be cared for, and tended to, and loved harder…loved more. Let me be that person for you, too. I know you still have to clear the deck for your dad, but spare me enough time for this. Come to bed with me. It’s going to take the rest of our lives to catch up with what we lost. Now is as good a time as any to start refilling the well. Make love now. Make babies with me later.” Then she was in his arms, moving through the shadowed halls, and once again, into her bedroom. Inhibitions came off with their clothes. They were as frantic for the joining as they had been when they were young and crazy wild for each other, but old enough now to savor the sweet heat of building a slow fire. One that engulfed, instead of flashed. Asher was stretched out beside her, tracing the shape of her cheek, to the shallow beneath her throat, to the weight of her breasts in his hand. Watching her eyelids flutter as he rolled her nipple between his fingers. Hearing the catch in her breath when he slid his hands between her legs, then leaving a trail of kisses from her chin to her belly button. Nora’s heart was racing as he moved over her, then in her. It was the beginning, and she already wanted more. She knew what turned him on. It was her. Sex between them had always been magic. A quickening of souls as well as bodies, and this time as he began, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper. It was ecstasy, and a kind of agony as he began to move. One minute, then another and another, and she could feel it building—wanting it to go on forever, then suddenly desperate for a release. It came without warning. Shattering focus and concentration as the blood rush hit. They lay in each other’s arms until there was nothing left of the ride but the intermittent ripple of aftershocks. Asher buried his face in the thick fall of her hair, groaning softly at the thought of having to move. “God, Nora, you destroy me.” Nora looked up into his face, at the high cheekbones and stubborn chin. A mouth for laughter, and kissing. And the clear-blue color of his eyes. “I will lose sleep thinking about this, and doing without you…without this wild madness you turn on inside me, but you are so very worth the wait. I love you. And I also know you haven’t finished what you came to do.” He rolled over, taking her with him, and pulled her close as she pillowed her head upon his chest. “Yes, we do, and there’s still work to do. Reddick agreed to the press conference. Once it airs, we go on lockdown.
~~~~
I chose to share a later excerpt on purpose, although I don't think it gives enough away that I would not be saying anyway. It seems to me that those writers who declare their books as "clean" have decided to leave out the full range of emotions that the majority of people have. I often wonder why... In any event, there is much emotional angst and happiness in this book, and the setup for the story takes only a few short pages of the early chapters...
Brenda, the wife of an owner of a bar and the mother of three boys, was involved in both a sexual and criminal way with a theft that took place many years ago. Brenda who realized they would be caught had taken the suicide way out, emptying a bottle of pills which allowed her death to occur before the police even had a chance to interview her. What she also succeeded to do, perhaps unwittingly--was ruin her family's lives in many ways.
Nora and Asher, the oldest of the sons, were already in love, but Asher had to immediately assume the role of caretaker for the younger boys, as well as maintaining the home which was attached to the bar.
Although the thieves had been killed or caught, little was done to close the case since none would talk. Years passed and the three young boys were now grown. Asher the oldest and Gunner, the youngest, and the most emotionally impacted by his mother's betrayal, had both gone into law. The other, Dylan, now was a contractor and the only one married. Life was moving along and the owner of the bar continued on to begin to establish and confirm that he, also, was not involved in the robbery of around $1M!
And it probably would have continued on except that death interfered... The leader of the gang who had done the robbery was dying. Nora's parents were now both gone and she had come back to town to sell the home they had lived in for most of their lives. Nora had moved, but worked out of her home, anyway, so she was able to go back, set up to keep her work going, and begin to prepare the house for sale, which would include repairs...
Readers will know the entire set of events from page 1, including the mother's lament, Brenda's cry of remorse
When Jacob slipped into bed beside her, she heard his weary sigh as he pulled up the covers and turned out the bedside lamp. He was such a good man. Oh God, oh God… What have I done to this family?
Until the other death was near, the leader of the gang called in his two sons, told them where the money was, and they soon were planning just how to proceed. The first act was for them to assume fake names, walk into the bar run by Jacob, spend some time there and finally explained they'd been looking for a bar to buy and wanted to know if Jacob was interested in selling. When he said no, they left... They brought a gun the next time they broke in. And even though they didn't plan on murder, Jacob was shot, badly, and close to death...
The entire town was in an uproar, not understanding why Jacob was attacked. Nothing was taken so it wasn't a robbery... Soon, the three boys arrived... And they weren't leaving until this entire mess, including the connection to the death of the gang leader, was cleared up and solved. Fast and furious action begins!
.jfif)
