Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: was watching Christopher dance and was sad when he stopped. But then he was a race car and now playing baseball. What a fun little guy :).

Currently Playing in the Background: The Hot Dog Dance – do it, you know you wanna ;).  Moving from Daisy’s Dance to Donald’s Balloon [yes, he should be asleep – I don’t watch these on my own :p]

I had planned on reading Code Triage by the fabulous Candace Calvert, but only got part of it read today :(.  Will finish it tomorrow and then post it next week.  Have been working on getting the books due back tomorrow reviewed so I have plenty in the queue.  Today, I’m going with the sequel to the previously reviewed One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury [and the book of hers I’ve had on hold since June is FINALLY ready for me to pick up].

From the back of the book:

Well, it has no copy on the back of the book so here’s the description from Zondervan’s website:

The hope-filled sequel to the bestselling One Tuesday Morning In this new novel by Karen Kingsbury, three years have passed since the terrorist attacks on New York City. Jamie Bryan, widow of a firefighter who lost his life on that terrible day, has found meaning in her season of loss by volunteering at St. Paul’s, the memorial chapel across the street from where the Twin Towers once stood. Here she meets a daily stream of people touched by the tragedy, including two men with whom she feels a connection. One is a firefighter also changed by the attacks, the other a police officer from Los Angeles. But as Jamie gets to know the police officer, she is stunned to find out that he is the brother of Eric Michaels, the man with the uncanny resemblance to Jamie’s husband, the man who lived with her for three months after September 11. Eric is the man she has vowed never to see again. Certain she could not share even a friendship with his brother, Jamie shuts out the police officer and delves deeper into her work at St. Paul’s. Now it will take the persistence of a tenacious man, the questions from her curious young daughter, and the words from her dead husband’s journal to move Jamie beyond one Tuesday morning.

What I Liked:

• I liked this one better than One Tuesday Morning.  That one was too clichéd for my taste.  This one was better.
• I liked Jamie’s work at St. Paul’s.  I hope it’s still going on if it’s still needed.
• I still love her daughter.  I love her daughter’s questions.
• I love Clay Michaels.  I liked him in the last book, but I loved him here.  I loved how he came to the rescue of those in need, when in need – including Jamie.
• I liked Aaron.  I wish we’d seen more of what happened to him.
• It was fairly obvious to me who Jamie was going to end up with – her late husband’s boss or the brother of the man who looks just like her late husband.  However, the ‘will they or won’t they’ aspect was still interesting enough.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Nothing in particular.

Overall:
This book was better than the first one in my opinion.  It wasn’t fabulous but it was worth a reread from time to time – probably without having reread the first one first.  It can stand on its own after reading One Tuesday Morning once.  Tom Clancy books I feel the need to reread through the whole series before the new ones come out, but this one I won’t.

7.5 out of 10

Let’s hope there’s no Volume 2 of this edition =D.

I had hoped to finish rereading Disaster Status last night but didn’t and it’s unlikely I’ll be able to today so instead of waiting on it, I’ll pull another review out of the archives and post it.  I plan on Disaster Status next week :).  Of course, I have about 16 books still sitting on the table next to me to either be reviewed or be read [mostly reviewed] and some editing to do, but I’m sure I can finish it again – especially as I’m giving a test on Tuesday ;).

In honor of last weekend’s anniversary of 9/11, I’m going to post the review I wrote a couple weeks ago of Karen Kingsbury’s One Tuesday Morning.

Review:
I’m fascinated by all things 9/11 [more or less] so when I saw Karen Kingsbury had a 9/11 series, I had to check it out [literally – from the library; the budget doesn’t let me buy near as many books as I’d like so I have to read them first – surely someone out there can relate, right?].  Her first series of books had been recommended to me by a friend, but there’s only one copy of the first book in the series in all of our county library system, so while I was waiting, I moved on to other stuff.  One Tuesday Morning is one of the other things I read [as was everything else reviewed on the blog to this point plus all those others waiting to be reviewed – two and a half months later I’m still waiting…]

Front Cover

A devoted fireman and a driven businessman, strangers with the same face. On that fateful Tuesday, one will leave the Twin Towers alive–but will he ever find his way home?

From the Back Cover

I’m a firefighter, God, so I know I’ve been in some tough places before. But this . . . this not knowing the people I love . . . this is the hardest thing I can imagine.

The last thing Jake Bryan knew was the roar of the World Trade Center collapsing on top of him and his fellow firefighters. The man in the hospital bed remembers nothing. Not rushing with his teammates up the stairway of the south tower to help trapped victims. Not being blasted from the building. And not the woman sitting by his bedside who says she is his wife.

Jamie Bryan will do anything to help her beloved husband regain his memory, and with it their storybook family life with their small daughter, Sierra. But that means helping Jake rediscover the one thing Jamie has never shared with him: his deep faith in God.

Jake’s fondest prayer for his wife is about to have an impact beyond anything he could possibly have conceived. One Tuesday Morning is a love story like none you have ever read: tender, poignant, commemorating the tragedy and heroism of September 11 and portraying the far-reaching power of God’s faithfulness and a good man’s love.

What I Liked:

• The same 9/11 stuff I think most of us would.  The descriptions as realistic as possible from someone who wasn’t there [and using a made-up group of firefighters as her characters].
• I liked Jamie and Jake Bryan.  They were real.  Flawed.  He loved his wife more than anything but his God.  He loved his daughter the same way.  He loved life.  He loved his job.  Jamie knew and accepted that.  She could deal with that.
• The family and friends of the Bryans.  Also real.  Also flawed.  Also hurting after the towers came down.
• The same is true of Laura and Eric.  Real.  Flawed.  At the end of their marital rope.
• Clay – Eric’s brother.  A strong Christian.  Falling for his sister-in-law after 9/11 [and maybe even before].  An all around good guy – there when you need him.

What I didn’t like:

• The plot seemed… clichéd.  Very predictable and very… trite?  Very uninspiring [in the plot sense, not the ‘inspirational’ part of ‘inspirational fiction’ sense].  The book itself was well-written and entertaining enough that I didn’t put it down but the overall plot was a bit too… sort of… blah or something.

• That’s about it – but that’s enough.

Overall:
Would I read it again?  Yeah, probably.  Would I buy it?  Not at full price.  Maybe if I saw it used for a really good deal and needed to fill up an order on Amazon or something and didn’t have any other options in the budget, but it’s unlikely.  Am I totally put off on Karen Kingsbury?  Not by this.  I’ve already read the other two and will review them in the future and am still waiting on the first in the Baxter series.  However, I was really not that impressed based on this book alone.

6 of 10 stars.

So it’s not overly creative and it’s based mainly on whether or not I would actually buy the particular book in question [gotta love libraries!] but since tomorrow is ‘What I Read Wednesday’, here’s how I’m using a 10 star rating :).  I reserve the right to change this at any time – because, hey, it’s my blog and therefore my prerogative ;).

10. This one goes to the top of the Amazon wish list, to be purchased at my earliest convenience, will be reread regularly and gushingly recommended to friends.

9. This book will be put on the Amazon wish list to be purchased when finances allow, will be reread fairly often and highly recommended to friends.

8. This book goes on the Amazon list but with no special rush on it.  It will be reread as the mood strikes and recommended to friends I know have an interest in the particular genre.

7. This goes on the Amazon list but only if it’s a good deal.  It will be reread on occasion and mentioned to friends with an interest.

6. This one may or may not go on the Amazon list to be purchased if it’s a good deal, there’s nothing higher on the list to purchase or I need to reach $25 for free shipping without going over and it fits the bill.  It will get reread if the mood strikes, which may not be often.  It may or may not be recommended to others.

5. Unlikely to go on the Amazon list.  Probably won’t be recommended unless a friend has a strong interest in the subject.  I finished it and it may have had a redeeming quality or three but I won’t reread it unless I’m bored out of my mind.

4. If by some chance, the book is already in my possession, it will be a. donated; b. given as a white elephant gift; or c. used for an object lesson of some sort.  Unlikely to be recommended.  I probably finished it, but it took some effort.

3. If by some chance, the book is already in my possession, it will be a. donated; b. used to put under a wobbly leg; or c. used to kill the spiders that frequent the basement in the summer.  Very unlikely to be recommended.  I likely finished it but it was probably torturous to do so.

2. If, by some chance, the book is already in my possession, it will be a. donated; b. used to line the bird cage we don’t have; or c. given to someone who has a bird cage.  I will strongly warn against it because it’s so bad.  Recommend it?  Really?  I probably finished it only because I hate not to.

1. If, by some chance, the book is already in my possession, it will be a. donated; b. used to raise the height of the top of the cabinets in the kitchen so that the decorative items on top can be seen better; or c. used as kindling.  I will recommend friends steer clear for the sake of their own mental health.  If I finished it, it’s only so I could rant about how bad it is.

0. This book gives credence to the idea that printing books kills trees and should be avoided at all costs.  It has no redeeming value.  At.  All.  It’s doubtful I finished it.  And donating it would just subject someone else to it.  Kindling is a far more likely use.