Month: February 2014

The Enemy

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The Enemy (8th of 18 Reacher Novels) by Lee Child

Goodreads Synopsis:

Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier’s son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army’s brightest stars. But in every cop’s life there is a turning point. One case. One messy, tangled case that can shatter a career. Turn a lawman into a renegade. And make him question words like honor, valor, and duty. For Jack Reacher, this is that case.

New Year’s Day, 1990. The Berlin Wall is coming down. The world is changing. And in a North Carolina “hot-sheets” motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Jack Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. But this situation can’t be controlled. Within hours the general’s wife is murdered hundreds of miles away. Then the dominoes really start to fall.

Two Special Forces soldiers—the toughest of the tough—are taken down, one at a time. Top military commanders are moved from place to place in a bizarre game of chess. And somewhere inside the vast worldwide fortress that is the U.S. Army, Jack Reacher—an ordinarily untouchable investigator for the 110th Special Unit—is being set up as a fall guy with the worst enemies a man can have.

But Reacher won’t quit. He’s fighting a new kind of war. And he’s taking a young female lieutenant with him on a deadly hunt that leads them from the ragged edges of a rural army post to the winding streets of Paris to a confrontation with an enemy he didn’t know he had. With his French-born mother dying—and divulging to her son one last, stunning secret—Reacher is forced to question everything he once believed…about his family, his career, his loyalties—and himself. Because this soldier’s son is on his way into the darkness, where he finds a tangled drama of desperate desires and violent death—and a conspiracy more chilling, ingenious, and treacherous than anyone could have guessed.

 

My thoughts:

This the eighth Reacher novel is set eight years before the first novel ‘The Killing Floor’. ‘The Enemy’ is an emotional thrilling roller coaster ride and it’s become my favourite Reacher novel so far. This book sucked me in, it was extremely intense and I raced through the last chapters dying to know the outcome. I kept getting cranky with my husband for interrupting me while I was reading, I NEEDED to get to the end.

 

Two very big things happen to Reacher in this book, he loses his mother and he loses faith in the people who govern him. We see Reacher start to change and you can see how he eventually turns into the drifter vigilante we all know and love. I really enjoyed seeing Reacher in his army days, reading familiar names that pop up in later books and seeing him interact with his brother.

The ‘case’ is a big one and the who-done-it will keep you entertained and guessing. Mr Child doesn’t disappoint he gives us another action packed thrilling adventure to go on Reacher with. Five out of five stars.

 

 

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

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Post 41 of 365: Today’s post ask us to write about something we know we should do but don’t.

This is the first 365 Writing Prompt Post I’ve managed to do for February, so maybe I should say; I Should do my 365 daily post to stretch myself and improve my writing. In my defense I’ve just had way too much going on and my writing has taken a back seat.

There are endless things I should do but don’t:

  1. Exercise more – I don’t think I need to explain this one.
  2. Wash my dogs more often – Poor dirty doggies, I think the effort that has to go into washing Buster has something to do with it. Our three year old female wolfhound cross Ellie loves water, be it swimming or rolling in puddles, so washing her isn’t an issue. Our fourteen year old male wolfhound cross Buster on the other hand hates water. If you’re walking Buster past a body of water larger than a small puddle he will pull at full strength in the opposite direction to get away from it. At full strength Buster is stronger than me, regardless of his age he is a big strong dog, who has a wonderful temperament and is very loving, except when it comes to water. We have to tie him to the clothes line to wash him and you always end up tangled in the rope yourself. He will run around and around the clothes line until there is no rope left. He bucks and barks and really doesn’t enjoy it. He has gotten better as he’s gotten older, he’ll give up after a while on fighting getting washed now as long as he get heaps of tummy rubs during the event to keep him calm. Buster was already six years old when I first met him, as my husband already had him before we met. My husband purchased Buster from a mate’s farm when he was about two, he had been a working dog. Shane says that Buster has always been this way with water. I think that maybe as a young pup he might have nearly drowned in a dam or something.
  3. Try to Swear less – I’m fucking terrible, ask anyone who knows me personally not professionally. I do try and keep my language in check at work. If I’m with people I’m comfortable with or I get a few drinks into me or I hurt myself, then the ‘Bad Words’ come flying out.
  4. Put money aside for a raining day – My husband is a Spend Now Worry Later kind of person, it drives me nuts. Trying to get savings in the bank is nearly impossible these days, it’s always one thing after another. I have set my husband and myself some strict rules of late so we can attempt to rectify this one.
  5. Look after myself better – I don’t think I need to explain this one either. Most mothers put their own needs, health and wellbeing last, hell most women put their own needs last.
  6. Drive slower – Now I don’t fly around doing 100 in a 50 zone or anything and I DO slow down for school zones,  but If I’ve got to get from A to B I just want to get there immediately!! I don’t try to speed, but I do. I’m not going to give you a list of bullshit excuses. I know it’s bad. The end.
  7. Clean my car more often – It’s filthy. I love the way it looks with a freshly washed exterior and vacuumed interior, but I don’t love the having to do it part.

Ok so the list isn’t endless – These are the first things that popped into my mind.

My son is going to be an artist?

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I just finished cleaning up after my seven month old son Riley made me a finger painting, on the bathroom tiles, with his own spew.

I was in the bathroom and Riley was sitting on the floor next to me, right when I was unable to grab him he vomited (milk spit up) and proceeded to rub it around the tiles and make patterns. He made a rather large mess on the floor and was looking up at me smiling proudly.

He just frowned at me as I picked him up and moved him then continued to clean up his ‘art’.

Oh the Joy of Parenthood.

 

 

Here Among The Ruins

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Here Among The Ruins by Regina Puckett

There is no Goodreads Synopsis with this one, just a line stating that it is a poetry collection, then a sample of one of the poems.

Drink Our Fill:

Ever once awhile and again

I think back to where it begin

A tracing of a fingertip

A momentary trip and slip

Goosebumps and shivers

Moments sliced into slivers

A pause and then a glance

Wondering if there could be a chance

If only time could somehow stand still

While our hearts drank their fill

 

My Thoughts:

This is the second poetry collection I’ve read by Regina and yet again she has put together another appealing collection. I find Regina’s poems to be elegant, easy to read, understand and enjoy. There is rhyme and sing song and the pages are filled with heart felt emotions, the good and the bad.

I found in this collection as with the previous one I’ve read (Reaching for the Moon) that her poems flowed beautifully and I could really connect with the emotions in most of them and enjoyed reading them all.

You can find out more about Regina and her multiple published works here > >

http://reginapuckettsbooks.weebly.com/index.html

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Selfie

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When I hear or read the term ‘Selfie’ I immediately think of drunk young women taking photos in pub toilets with their girlfriends or little teenagers dressed like underage prostitutes taking photos of themselves in their bathroom mirrors or even muscle bound men wanting to so off their guns.

So it’s was nice to see some more artististic versions like the photo given as an example for this weeks challenge (Link Bellow).

I hate my photo being taken and my form of a selfie is more like this, me just being silly >>IMG_5724

 

I’ve had to learn to get over my photophobia though as i’m always taking selfies with my son these days. So here is a Self Portrait I just took, I really couldn’t think of anything very artistic to do with it, I don’t have any interesting reflective surfaces etc around me at the moment.

. Selfie Me

 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/weekly-photo-challenge-selfie

The Mark of Athena

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The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus) by Rick Riordan

Goodreads Synopsis:

Annabeth is terrified. Just when she’s about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon masthead, Leo’s fantastical creation doesn’t appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.

And that’s only one of her worries. In her pocket Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving demand: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?

Annabeth’s biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he’s now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader, but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side.

Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. Climb aboard the Argo II, if you dare….

My Thoughts:

You’d think what with four different demigods narrating the story it would get a bit confusing, but even though the story keeps jumping between the characters Riordan manages to make it flow so that you don’t get lost. I think if you weren’t familiar with the story and hadn’t followed the whole series you may find this the third instalment rather overwhelming with so much going on. The extreme pace and non-stop action of the story propels you forward, the story races over the pages. I’m only dropping it to Four stars instead of Five because in places I felt like some events got rushed as Riordan was trying to fit so much in. The hard work for our favourite demigods has only just begun! Unfortunately the story ends and the cliff-hanger with Percy and Annabeth will have you racing out to get the next book (the House of Hades).

I will add though that I really missed Tyson and Mrs O’Leary, their presence always warms my heart, I am rather hopping we will see them back again in the last book (The Blood of Olympus) for the final battle.

Four out of Five Stars – Bring on the House of Hades!!

Midnight Sun

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Midnight Sun (Twilight #1.5) by Stephenie Meyer

Goodreads Synopsis:

Midnight Sun is the much anticipated retelling of Twilight from Edward Cullen’s perspective. An unedited partial draft was illegally leaked onto the internet in 2008; consequently, author Stephenie Meyer put the project on indefinite hold.

Shortly afterward, she posted a letter to her fans on her website including a link to the entire partial draft of the book so that those who wanted to read it could do so legally and with her consent; see URL for more information.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

My Thoughts:

Before I start I am going to point out that I am a Twilight Saga fan, I have the four books as well as the Bree Tanner novella and the official guide with all the character background stories that Meyer’s put out.

So this is the first books story again but from Edwards point of view. While I was reading it I couldn’t help thinking that I needed to read Twilight again as I don’t remember the events happening the same way. I found that Midnight Sun dragged on in some places. But I must admit I did like the parts where Edward was with his family, the bits we didn’t get to see, that we could only guess at when Bella was telling the story. I’m really upset that Meyer’s doesn’t intend to finish it because completed and polished up it could be quite good and would fit really nicely into The Saga to be read after Twilight.

My advice is; if you thought the first twilight was ok, don’t bother reading this, but if you loved the first Twilight than you’ll enjoy this to. There really are some amusing bits where we get to “hear” what everyone around Edward is thinking.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Writing Workshop

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Today I attended a Newcomers Writing Workshop run by The Hunter Writers Centre. We talked a lot about different forms of writing, finding our own voice, practice exercises and ways to improve our writing.

We did a Memoir Exercise in which we had thirty minutes to write out a memory, then we read them aloud and dissected them as group. I really enjoyed hearing all the different things we’d all dredged up from our memories. The memory I picked out, well I’ve just posted it as its own post – http://sarahalison27.org/2014/02/01/learning-to-drive/

We did a Random Photo Exercise where a bunch of photos were spread out and we had fifteen minutes to write a short piece drawn from one of the photos. It took me awhile to pick a photo. The photo I did go with was of a man wearing a hat in a 1950’s style convertible automobile. I just focused on the guy and his hat >>>>

I slid down and slumped back into the cars seat. I was wearing a black bowler hat pulled down to partly obscure my face, but not so far down that I couldn’t see. I has hiding out in an anonymous looking black sedan with out of town number plates.

I was keeping tabs on a young girl named Audrey for my boss, she was his daughter. She didn’t like her father interfering with her life, so I was tasked with the job to tail her from time to time and keep tabs on who she was hanging out with

He was at her place again, that boy named Bob Brown. That filthy no good rat was harassing her again. I could see him through the window. I drove off. I’d report what I saw to my boss later tonight.

She was a lovely young girl, but she had terrible taste when it came to men. Her last boyfriend had put her in hospital, then my boss and I had put him in an underwater grave.

My boss was a powerful guy, not a fella to be messed with.

<<<< And that’s as far as I got.

I really did enjoy myself today and everyone there seemed to get something out of the workshop. Now I’ve just got to sit down and write out the scribbled notes and advice I took down and look into some of the things we talked about. I think I’ll definitely be joining the Prose group run by the HWC. Today was a fun, entertaining and interesting day :-).

Learning to drive

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Memory: Learning to drive.

My father is a very calm man, but I’ve never seen him as stressed as when he was trying to teach me to drive.

He was in the process of fixing up an old Manuel Toyota Corolla for me, when I first got my learners licence. He had previously let me drive around in country paddocks in his 4WD Patrol. But after the first time we took his rather wide and powerful Nissan Patrol on the road he decided he was going to get me a small automatic car with power steering and he quickly sold the Corolla and got a Ford Laser. The Laser was immaculate once he was done fixing it up. I loved that Laser. It was nice and easy to drive.

I should add that my dad is a panel beater and this was back in the day when you could buy a write-off and repair it, which is exactly what he did with the Corolla and the Laser.

My dad refused to try and teach me to park, so he paid a driving instructor with a Toyota Rav4 to do that.

There was a time in-between him fixing up the laser that he took me for a lesson in my mother’s Holden Commodore, which for a 16 year old with not much driving experience was an army tank, big and powerful. I loved it. He gritted his teeth the entire time, I think it made him get the laser fixed quicker.

It was a fine day and we heated up to visit my grandfather at Kurri. A lot of the roads on the way the speed limit is 80/90, but I doubt I was going anywhere near that as it was one of my first times on the road. My dad would keep getting me to pull over to the side of the road so all the cars behind us could go past. I can remember on one of these pull out of the way stops, I was gliding to a nice smooth stop before a road marker and he was jumping up and down in his seat saying STOP! I was very cranky because I thought I did a beautiful smooth breaking job just like the paid driving instructor had been teaching me. I explained this to my father and his response was ‘’Break harder and faster when you’re in the car with me” The more I think about it, I think that was the only time he took me out in my mother’s car.

The difference between my mother and fathers teaching Technics where like night and day. My Dad would freak out and tell me to slow down and STOP!! and the radio was always off!! My Mum would sit in the passenger seat, relax and tune out to the music on the radio as I drove around collecting my minimum hours.

I would also like to point out I got my licence first go and scored 98% on my test, losing only two points for my reverse park (which is really amusing as I nearly always reverse into parking spots these days). So both my parents’ methods of teaching me to drive worked. The fella in the Rav4 paid off to, as neither of my parents had to try to teach me to park.