Posted in Personal, Reading, reviews

What I’ve been Reading

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of work and writing. My pinched nerve is slowly but surely getting better. But enough about that. Today, I want to share what I’ve been reading because I’ve been reading more because of my injury to my neck.

The last book I read was Laine Moriarty’s “Apple’s Never Fall.”

The blurb and cover are below.

From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.

The Delaney family love one another dearlyit’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

My Thoughts:

This was a great story about a family, and the sacrifices and the mistakes parents make with their children. It wove a tale of a family-owned tennis school run by the Delaneys. They are now in their twilight years and have sold the school. They’re struggling with the transition into retirement and dealing with their kids. Then one evening a young girl named Savannah knocks on the door and turns their world upside down.

When Joy disappears and Savannah is nowhere to be found all eyes turn to Stan. This is a great story that weaves a tale of supposition and coincidences that make Stan look guilty. I’ll let you read the story to find out what happens, but in true Laine Moriarty form this is a page turner that has you guessing until the very end.

Posted in Personal

Lessons from Nature

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. It’s been a while since I’ve written a post and I apologize. I’ve been busy with work and kid events. My youngest has decided to play tennis, and it has been great fun watching him. He is improving every time he plays and that has motivated him to keep practicing.

Photo on Visualhunt

I’m so thankful to the coach who asked him to play. His father and I had been trying to motivate him to try a sport because he’s very agile, but whatever we suggested he just wasn’t interested in that activity. Sometimes it takes another adult that you respect that makes all the difference, and for my youngest it was his math teacher who was also the tennis coach.

Photo on VisualHunt.com

So, I am very thankful for his teacher who recognized a spark in my youngest and motivated him.

 

But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about something I’ve noticed in nature, and that is, every species seems to work together to take care of each other except for humans.

For example, there is evidence that trees in a forest can communicate with each other through their root system. When there is one tree that is doing poorly, the other trees send nutrients and healing antibodies (for lack of a better word) to the one that is sick.

 

Photo on Visual Hunt

Another example is elephants. Did you know the females stay with their mother their whole lives and help raise the babies? When one of the weaker elephants falls and needs to rest, the other females circle it with their tails facing their fallen friend and ward off predators until their friend can continue her journey.

Photo on Visual Hunt

Did you know the only species that kills within their species is humans? Sure, animals fight for positions within their herd, pride, or tribe, but they never reach the point where one of them dies. Why is that, I wonder?

Maybe we’ve gotten too far away from nature and need to go back. I wonder what kind of world we would have if we all tried to cooperate and look out for each other? Instead of competition we’d have cooperation. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I know, it’s an unrealistic thought. There’s always going to be competition. It’s the way humans are wired, but if we can, we should take a lesson from nature and do our best to look out for each other. 😊

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment!