Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN .com: An unlikely attraction occurs between two passengers on a steamboat journey up the Missouri River to Montana... She is a self-centered young woman from a privileged family who fears the outdoors and avoids anything rustic. He is a preacher living under a sense of duty and obligation to love the unlovable people in the world. She isn't letting anything deter her from solving a family mystery that surfaced after her mother's death. He is on a mission to reach the rejects of society in the remote wilderness regions of Montana. Miss Fannie Rousseau and Reverend Samuel Beck are opposites in every way... except in how they both keep wondering if their paths will ever cross again. I've enjoyed almost all of Stephanie Grace Whitson's historical fiction novels simply because of her writing. She is able to draw the reader into the story and write about characters who you care for. This novel is no different as we meet two very different people wh...

It's 1876, and 20-year-old Mattie Flynn is determined to make a fresh start after fleeing from her sinister boss in the gambling house where she was employed as a singer. Mattie travels to Deadwood, South Dakota, in search of her younger brother, who went ahead of her in hopes of making a fortune in the gold mines. All Mattie wants is a safe and respectable life for the two of them, but that doesn't seem to be her destiny as she faces more heartache and trials. Will the suspicious bottles of gold dust from her brother's claim be the key to her future...or does the handsome street preacher, who is always turning the other cheek, truly hold the answers to her deepest longings? Deadwood. The name sounds hopeless and depressing (and it brings to mine the TV show). Only the promise of gold could bring people out to the prairie wilderness. Two women are out on the prairie with different personalities trying to survive. I felt that the book starts off a little slow. It took me a...

Dreams can come true Irmagard Friedrich was living the life her mother wanted. She seemed destined to live the life of a proper lady with finishing school in her future. That all changes when Buffalo Bill come to town and Irma leaves home to fulfill her life long dream of become a rider in his show. With a new name and a new life ahead of her, Liberty Belle travels across the country and become the center of attention of two possible suitors. It's more than she could have ever dreamed of. Who wouldn't want to star alongside Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley as trick rider in the Wild West show? I enjoyed seeing a young female be independent and following her lifelong dream in a time where women were supposed to be submissive and genteel. Maybe it's because in the West people had to focus more on survival than putting on airs. Either way it's always nice to see when a woman can stand up for her own self. Irma is a likable character. The time period is one that is very...

No parent should have to bury their child Pam and Michael have just received the worst news that no parent ever wants to hear. Their only child has been killed. The estranged couple now must deal with coping with their son's death, and their feelings toward the man who killed him. Their relationship together also requires a second outlook. Everything in their lives must be reexamined from past battles with cancer, to affairs, to matters of faith, to dealing with Jacob's "second family." Then there is the matter of Jacob's list- the things he wanted to do before he died and how they will now accomplish these tasks for him. This was a really thought provoking and sad book. It shows all the parties that are affected by an accidental death, from the parents to the man who caused the accident, to his wife, to the officer who found the accident, to his family, to even the grave keepers. The characters really stay with you after reading. You feel their struggles and...