Words from the Heart

How I wish I could have had a book like this when I was raising my four daughters! I Can't Wait to Love You Forever by Patricia Eckerman Ambas is a delightful and heartwarming story of how a wise mother helps her child prepare for the birth of their sibling.  Eckerman does a superb job of showing just how games and positive reinforcement can teach children to deal with situations that, for the child, can be confusing, scary, or sad.  In addition, Amira Daaboul's illustrations make this book come alive! Her soft colors and gentle portraits of mother and child bring a feeling of peace and harmony. My favorite page was the last of the story. No spoilers...you will simply need to read the book to understand why! I highly recommend I Can't Wait to Love You Forever for anyone expecting an additional child in their family. This book will become a treasure in your home library! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patricia Eckerman Ambas loves sharing stories - everything is a story waiting to ...

Barbara Barth's memoir is by far one of the most fun reads I have had in a long time.  T he Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later is a compilation of stories about the resilience, the confusion, the fear and the enjoyment of Barth's life.  Woven throughout the memoir are glimpses of her great love for dogs, her life as a writer/antique dealer and her sometimes questioning belief in serendipity. I really enjoyed how Barbara laughs at herself, sees her own foibles and quickly points out the talents and gifts of other people. A dog lover, myself, I fell in love with the four-legged family of this book. When I got to the last chapter, I felt like my new best friend had just moved across the ocean.  I wanted to know more about this gregarious woman and her dogs.  I highly recommend this book for everyone who believes the fun really starts after the first century of life. My thanks to Barbara for sharing her life in such an open and enjoyable memoir.    ...

What a pleasure it was to read my dear writing buddy, Madeline Sharples' new book, Papa's Shoes . I love novels that are historic, that tell realistic stories, that include dialogue that really makes the characters come alive and that leave you feeling like you just had a long visit with an old friend. Madeline does all of this in Papa's Shoes .  Without giving the plot away, I can share that if you have never heard Yiddish spoken in context, this book will give you that treat. I grew up in the city surrounded by people of various cultures and backgrounds, so my vocabulary is international. What a delight to read words like tuchus, goy, and kvetch. I could hear the accent clearly in my head, which made the characters come alive.  I knew these people! Madeline has a gift for dialogue, something many writers struggle with. However, the dialogue in this book feels real and rolls smoothly off the tongues of the characters.  I highly recommend this book to everyone w...

Historic fiction is one of my favorite reads, so I didn't hesitate to accept the offer to review Black Madonna: A Pope's Deadly Obsession by Linda Lee Kane . This story takes the reader from present time into the past of the Catholic church and back. A bit reminiscent of Dan Brown's stories, Black Madonna , uses the history of Tarot to help inform the story. That said, I will add in capitals, TRIGGER WARNING . There are some very explicit sexual passages (rape) as well as graphic violence. For me, this took away from the story and I had to put the book down several times to get through it.  However, the story, sans the above, was interesting and I found that I was curious to see what was truth and what was fiction. The author, cleverly, adds this information to the end of the book.   Therefore, while I had a difficult time with the sex and violence, the book has inspired me to do more research into the Cathars and Tarot.   Read other reviews and post...