Tag: book-review

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Beautiful Ugly: An Engaging Review of Alice Feeney’s Novel

L.M. Hosler

Beautiful Ugly is the first book that I have read written by author Alice Feeney. But it probably won’t be the last book of hers that I read.

Beautiful Ugly is quite an interesting story of a man whose wife has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Or she has just up and walked away from their marriage. This is the theme of the book and it’s told from Grady Green’s view for most of the book. But then it switches to Abby’s side of the story. It keeps you guessing the entire length of the book.

Abby was an investigative reporter who sometimes received death threats about her stories. Her husband Grady is a New York Times bestselling author. But Grady can’t seem to write a new book. He seems to be to be struggling after he lost his wife a year ago. His finances are in a bad place and he is about to become homeless. Grady is really a loner who wants to spend his time isolated but writing or with Abby before she disappeared.

And then his agent suggests a new direction that helps Grady recover and write another bestseller. She offers him a rent free cabin on an island that has only a few residents. On this island he can concentrate on writing a new book.

Grady agrees and moves temporarily to this island. Here he meets some strange residents and experiences strange happenings. Sometimes he feels like he’s losing his mind. But he can start a new manuscript. Grady has trouble sleeping and thinks he has seen his absent wife on the island. Is he cracking up or is Abby really there on the island?

The characters are very realistic and believable. Especially poor heartbroken, beaten down Grady Green whose only love is his dog since Abby is gone.

Abby is not quite as well portrayed. Her character though a main character is much of the time only Grady’s memories. But there are times we hear her story. Her story is also told in a lot of her memories of Grady and their marriage. Was she happy or unhappy with her marriage. Were there problems that Grady was unaware or chose to ignore?

There’s other characters of residents on the island that Grady encounters. Most of these characters though are minor characters. But each one adds to the story and the mystery.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it kept me guessing until close to the very end. And it has quite a surprise ending. I couldn’t have guessed what that ending was going to be. I love a good book with a very different ending than you would suspect.

history, History, Women and History, writing

The Untold Stories of Women in Vietnam: A Review

L.M. Hosler

The Women

Written by Kristen Hannah

Most of us have either lived through the Vietnam war or had relatives who served in the war. Others have seen movies based on that war. I myself grew up during the sixties and early seventies. I was lucky that none of my brothers were drafted during that era. Two of my brothers had already served and had families so they were not drafted. My other brother was the right age to be drafted but I am not sure how he didn’t get drafted. Maybe it was because he was in college at that time. I also had a brother-in-law who was stationed in Germany and managed to avoid the war in Vietnam.

Many of our young men were drafted and served in Vietnam. Thousands and thousands were killed in that war. But there was little to no mention of the women who served in Vietnam. The nurses, doctors, red cross women and many others all served their country in Vietnam. But those women were not considered to have seen combat.

That is what the book “The Women” is about. It’s about women who served as nurses in Vietnam. It’s particularly about one woman who joins the Army Nurses Corps. Her brother had been given a party in his honor before he left for the war. Frances (Frankie) had always been extremely close to her brother. She considered him her best friend. Frankie decided she would join as a nurse. After being turned down with the Navy and the Air Force, she signed up with the Army Nurses. Ironically, her brother is killed before she leaves and she is devastated by the loss of her brother. Frankie’s enlistment causes a strain with her family. She was raised to get married and have children. She was not raised to go off to war.

Women’s Memorial Honoring Women Who Served In Vietnam

Frankie experiences things she would never have dreamed as a sheltered young lady. But she soon adapts as well as she can, forms close friendships with other nurses and even falls in love. But in wartime, friendships may last a lifetime but love can be a short lived thing as she finds out.

After doing two tours in Vietnam, she returns home. The country is protesting the war. Veterans are not welcomed. She finds that people including her parents don’t want to talk about the war or her service in the war. Frankie finds that fitting in anywhere after the war is almost impossible for her.

This book details Frankie’s struggles to adjust in the world after the war. She finds it difficult to understand why women are not considered war veterans. Women, like the men she helped to save, also played significant roles. In fact, it was often said that no women ever served in the Vietnam war and many people believed this.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend reading this book. Of course, growing up in the Vietnam era, I knew some of what happened to veterans. I understood how hard it was for them to return to a country that had sent them to war. This country then learned to hate veterans who had fought in this war. They were mistreated and called baby killers. I liked the characters very much. It was very interesting to see Frankie change from a spoiled rich girl to a capable nurse who saved lives.

This book was in my book club and at first I wasn’t certain if I was going to read it. I am just really not very much into the Vietnam era when it comes to books and movies. But this book was different and an awesome book. I truly enjoyed reading this one.

Copyright:

Linda Hosler

July2025

Entertainment, Uncategorized, writing

Exploring Fiona Davis “The Spectacular”: A Book Review

L.M. Hosler

A few years ago I joined our local book club. I love reading and I hoped to find new authors that I would enjoy reading their books. I have indeed found a few new authors that I am now trying to read all of their books. I really enjoy John Grisham, Linda Castello, and Nora Roberts. Now, I am going to read more books by Fiona Davis.

I have just finished the book “The Spectacular” written by Fiona Davis. I found it very interesting and entertaining. It first starts off in 1992 then reverts back to 1956. The story begins with Marion, the main character, being escorted back to Radio City Music Hall. For a short time, she had been one of the famous Rockettes. Then the story shifts to 1956. At that time, she faced difficult choices about her future. She needed to decide what she really wanted to do with her life. In the 1950s, many believed that women should be wives. They thought women should stay at home as mothers. But Marion had taken dance lessons all of her life and loved dancing. For Marion, this led her to difficult family issues.

The New York City Bomber

As Marion moves ahead with her life, relationships shift and change for her. One of these relationships is with her sister Judy. Marion and Judy’s relationship had been strained for several years. Just when their relationship appeared to be improving, the New York Bomber sets off a bomb at Radio City Music Hall, endangering both the audience and the Rockettes. The New York Bomber had been setting off bombs in public places for years throughout New York City and never been caught.

The Handsome Young Doctor

Marion meets a young doctor. He is working with the mentally ill. They set to work together to try to find the bomber. Peter Griggs creates a profile on the bomber. However, the police don’t put much faith in his profile. But working together, Marion and Peter Griggs just might be able to find the bomber when the police can’t.

In conclusion

I very much enjoyed this book. The characters were very real and it was a great story. I love history. This was the first time I had ever heard of the New York Bomber. He really did exist and terrified New York City for some years. The book is fiction but the bomber was real. The bomber added excitement to the book and held my attention. It also kept you interested. You wanted to find out if Marion would follow her father’s wishes and marry her high school sweetheart. Alternatively, would she follow her heart?

history, History, Uncategorized

Exploring Grisham’s An Innocent Man: A Wrongful Conviction

L.M. Hosler

Great Book And A True Story

John Grishman is a well known author of at last count fifty books. Grishman is an attorney turned crime novelist. Having studied the law and worked in courtrooms, he has an inside knowledge as to how the law works. I have really enjoyed the majority of his books, but I still have several I haven’t read yet. But I did finish his book based on a true story titled “An Innocent Man” written and published in 2006 and I am currently reading his latest novel FRAMED which is an account of ten miscarriages of justice.

An Innocent Man Novel

This novel is the story of the life long struggles of a young man who almost died on death row before having his name cleared and regaining his freedom. It’s the story of a young man with a promising future in major league baseball who ends up on death row.

The story starts with Ron Williamson as a young boy exploring his athletic skills not only in baseball but other sports as well. It then moves to his career in the baseball minors teams and his realization that he has an injury that will never let him move to major league baseball.

After losing his dream of becoming a major league ball player, Ron’s life gradually begins to decline until he and a close friend are arrested for the murder of Debra Sue Carter. With no real evidence other than jail house snitches Ron is convicted and sentenced to death row. This takes place in the courts of a small county in Oklahoma where Ron is not the only victim of a very bad police investigation. There are several others who are wrongfully convicted and may still be serving time.

Justice Denied

Ron Williamson and his lawyers filed every appeal possible but all were denied until the Innocent Project took his case and eventually after eleven years Ron Williamson finally walked out of prison as a free man.

This was an awesome book in regards to how anyone can end up charged and convicted of something they had nothing to do with. A few parts of the story such as the different trials were a bit dry but other than that I would recommend reading any of John Grisham’s books. I personally was appalled at some of the law enforcement tactics which led to not only Ron Williamson’s conviction but other victims of the system.