Tag Archive | Oliver

Oliver’s Opinion: Killing Spring (Book Review)

May29
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Oliver’s Opinion: Killing Spring (Book Review)

One of my mom’s favorite authors is Anita Klumpers and she has written another steller suspense/mystery novel with Killing Spring. This takes two characters from her amazing debut novel, Winter Watch.  You can find a review for that novel here, written before mom asked the dogs to take over reviews. While Killing Spring is somewhat of a sequel to that book it stands alone quite well. However, I doubt anyone would regret reading if they haven’t already.

The entire story is told from the standpoint of Claudia Alexander and takes place in Portia, Illinois. Claudia is on a holiday with her fiance and while he’s working she’s exploring, and she’s supposed to be planning their wedding but gets distractedd and instead finds herself in a spot of mischief. She meets a Korean War vet, Harvey Kaluza, and soon after that he disappears. In spite of the police supposedly searching for him, she launches her on inquiries, making new friends along the way and uncovering deep and quite disturbing secrets from their past. She must struggle with her own inner wounds while helping others face theirs. Not much wedding planning gets done on this trip, and Claudia is fortunate if she can survive to plan a wedding, much less get married as danger strikes with frequency. Brave and intrepid, Claudia is not one to let a matter go, and will uncover the truth–no matter what the cost.

This cozy mystery is filled with enough suspense you’re guaranteed to loose some sleep when you can’t put the book down. Since my mom loved it I need to give it five bones, because I’m a dog and that’s how I roll.

 

Oliver’s Opinion: Love’s Gift (Book Review)

Mar7
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Oliver’s Opinion: Love’s Gift (Book Review)

My mom told me that there is a rogue dog in this Penelope Marzec’s latest novel, Love’s Gift. This dog loves to eat flowers. I’m not sure why because flowers don’t seem that appealing to me. Having said that, a book with a dog in it is always aces in my opinion!

I learned something new reading this historical novel set in 1903 in the United States. There was a Chinese Exclusion Act that President Chester A. Arthur signed in 1882 that forbid the immigration of Chinese laborers. It was the only law that ever excluded one ethnic or national group from coming here.

The main character of this book, Amaranth, is of Chinese origin but born in the United States. Because of this law, however, she lives in fear of being deported to a country with a culture and language foriegn to her. She was raised by nuns as she had been abandoned at birth. Now as a young adult she’s stepping out into the real world to face the discrimination and trying to have a job to support herself in the midst of strong bigotry against anyone Asian.

Amaranth is hired by Mrs. Tildon of Sea Haven, New Jersey, as a secretary. She soon discovers there are deep secrets in this family including a rude maid who is never fired for her words or behavior, a degenerate father, a brother who appears out of nowhere, and the oldest son, William who is obsessed with helping his mother’s asthma and concerned about status.

A lot of things go wrong as Mrs. Tildon, a leader of a suffragete movement, is vilified and other tragedies occur. Amaranth holds to the faith she was raised with in spite of it all and prays for this family she is now a part of, even if only as an employee. Can God heal the divisions in this family? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

The sweet dog, named Tulip, isn’t a horrible dog, but a sweet one. I won’t tell you what happens with her but I loved her character in the book.

I highly recommend this historical novella. It is timely given the current discussions and debates over immigration and the fears that some might have about being deported even if they were born and have lived her all their lives. While that fear may not be rooted in truth now (and yes, some might debate me on that, but remember, I’m a dog), it gives the reader a sense of what that might be like but also how faith can preserve even in the midst of real and imagined fears. I recommend Love’s Gift and give it five bones, because I’m a dog and I don’t have thumbs.

This is me, Oliver, keeping watch so my mom can read these great books (and write awesome ones as well!) It’s what dogs do.

Author Confessions: Author Pets

Oct14
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Author Pets

One of my fave pics with Spatzle. I had him for 10 wonderful years.

Funny, I almost typed author pests. Maybe there is some truth to that because I sit and write I sometimes have a puppy plop into my lap or pull at my pants for attention. Sometimes they can be a pest.

Benji with my hubby, Ben. He picked us and we loved him for a short 18 months.

Some authors use their animals in their fiction. I did model a dog after my Spatzle when I wrote Donuts and Detours. That was the image I had in mind when I did that. Of course, my book reviews have been done by my dogs for many years now and that has been fun.

The sad part was when I had to say good-bye to a dog.  We got Benji to help Spatzle in his old age and it worked but he passed away in early 2022 and never had a chance to write for me as Spatzle did such a great job. Then we adopted Cooper because Spatzle was grieving and that gave us many more months with my sweet dog. Spatzle passed away at the end of 2022 Cooper took over for Spaztle on the blog. We never got him a companion because he was happier as an only dog. Cooper died February of this year (2024) as his health deteriorated so rapidy.

Cooper was silly and fun, we miss his antics.

Marley was with us for too short a time. We were sad to lose him too.

Oliver keeping watch. He reminds me so much of Spatzle, but is far more hyper and affectionate.

The day after we put Cooper down, I found Oliver. A 6 month old, and the same breed as Spatzle had been. Because our grief was great, we adopted the puppy. I didn’t want a puppy. Too much work. I wanted it potty trained. I discovered that “mostly potty trained” meant I still had messes in the house. Ah but Oliver is a cute little shenangiator and we’ve come a long way since we got him after we put Cooper down.

Two weeks later we adopted a senior dog, Marley, to help Oliver learn how to “dog”. It helped a lot but we only had a few short months with sweet Marley. Anticipating Marley’s death, we got an Amish puppy mill rescue who was three. Minnie was terrified. She’s come a long way since then but we hope that these sweet pups will be with us for a long time to come now. Marley had been our fourth senior dog to  be put down in a little over two years. That’s a lot of heartache.

Minnie has a lot to learn but she’s getting there!

Now these younger pups bring life and laughter to our days. When my hubby is off working on his various projects, they keep me company and I can’t sit at my computer for hours like I used to before dogs came into my life. That’s a good thing although I do find it sometimes annoying.

Many authors do have pets. But then, many humans do. Being an author can be isolating and having a devoted fuzzy friend can be a comfort on any day and a delight on many of those with their shenanigans.

Since I’ve started adding Oliver and Minnie and having them share the book reviews here on the blog I figured it would be good to let you know where the other ones have gone. They may not be in our home any more but they are forever in our hearts.