Stainless Steal Hearts

Real-life surgeon Harry Kraus skillfully weaves together politics, bioethics, and hidden agendas in this compelling medical thriller. Matt Stone, a promising young surgical resident, discovers that chief surgeon Dr. Michael Simons and local abortionist Dr. Adam Richards are secretly running experiments on live aborted fetuses, “stealing” their hearts to give to infants with congenital heart problems. Both doctors’ reputations depend on the secrecy of their research, which is a serious violation of hospital policy.

Meanwhile, Layton Redman, pro-choice candidate for governor, has a secret of his own-a staff volunteer is pregnant with his child. Redman arranges an abortion for the mother, but a serious car accident brings her to the emergency room, where Stone saves the life of her unborn child. This pits him against Simons, who was counting on the aborted fetus for his repulsive research project. Now Stone must gather enough evidence of the undercover experiments and expose Simons-before the vengeful chief surgeon ends his career.

Rating: Five Chairs – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on….

Author:  Dorthea Benton Frank
Publisher:  William Morrow
Pages:  336
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source:  BEA

Goodreads:  When Jimmy McMullen, a fireman with the NYFD, is killed in the line of duty, his wife, Jackie, and ten-year-old son, Charlie, are devastated. Charlie idolized his dad, and now the outgoing, curious boy has become quiet and reserved. Trusting in the healing power of family, Jackie decides to return to her childhood home on Sullivans Island.

Crossing the bridge from the mainland, Jackie and Charlie enter a world full of wonder and magic—lush green and chocolate grasslands and dazzling red, orange, and magenta evening skies; the heady pungency of Lowcountry Pluff mud and fresh seafood on the grill; bare toes snuggled in warm sand and palmetto fronds swaying in gentle ocean winds.

Awaiting them is Annie Britt, the family matriarch who has kept the porch lights on to welcome them home. Thrilled to have her family back again, Annie promises to make their visit perfect—even though relations between mother and daughter have never been what you’d call smooth. Over the years, Jackie and Annie, like all mothers and daughters, have been known to have frequent and notorious differences of opinion. But her estranged and wise husband, Buster, and her flamboyant and funny best friend Deb are sure to keep Annie in line. She’s also got Steven Plofker, the flirtatious and devilishly tasty widowed physician next door, to keep her distracted as well.

Maine

For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.” At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.

As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.

By turns wickedly funny and achingly sad, Maine unveils the sibling rivalry, alcoholism, social climbing, and Catholic guilt at the center of one family, along with the abiding, often irrational love that keeps them coming back, every summer, to Maine and to each other.

Author:  Charles Duhigg                                              
Publisher:  Random House
Pages: 400
Genre:  Self Help
Source:  BEA












Goodreads:  A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.

An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones.

What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives. 

They succeeded by transforming habits.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation. 
    

 Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. 

Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Ope’s Opinion:  This book felt more like a research paper, then a self help book.  I am not sure of the authors intentions, but the research to back up his theories sort of bogged down the enthusiasm I wanted to feel to change my habits.  It took so long to read and get through the research I lost my excitement about trying something new.

Rating:  Two Chairs – I may have one friend who might like this book.

     FTC – Disclosure of Material Connection: 

            I received one copy of this book free of charge from BEA. 

            I was not required to write a positive review

                 in exchange for receipt of the book;

         rather the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

                                                       

                                       

Author:  Ann Bird Joseph Beatty                              
Publisher:  Publisher Page
Pages:  480
Genre:  Mystery
Source:  BEA

Amazon:  James and Caroline Mayfield had lived for thirty-seven years never knowing their only child, Emily Mayfield, who was kidnapped at birth and taken from her rightful parents.

For the first time in his life, Ty can’t bear to leave. Helping this sexy seductress-in-training walk on the wild side is making him desire things he shouldn?t?including leaving the military for good. As their just-for-fun fling becomes something more, Mallory and Ty wonder if they could really be this lucky in love. After all . . . anything can happen in a town called Lucky Harbor.

Ope’s Opinion:  I enjoyed reading this story.  I did not realize this was part of a series.  I thought the book stood on it’s own.  I did not like the constant use of the “f” word – I thought it didn’t add ( actually took away ) from the characters.  There was a lot more description of their sex then I needed.  All said,  I would still read another book by this author.  The actual story was enjoyable.

Rating:  Three Chairs – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

                             

                           

                                              FTC – Disclosure of Material Connection: 

                                I received one copy of this book free of charge from BEA. 

                                         I was not required to write a positive review

                                             in exchange for receipt of the book;

                                  rather the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

                                                       

        

           

Author:  Susan May Warren
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Pages:  353
Genre:  Christian Fiction
Source:  I purchased it.






Goodreads: A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage. After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember? Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future?

Ope’s Opinion:  When I started this book it grabbed me.  After a while it started to drag, but because I had read Susan May Warren before I did not want to give up on it.  There were some good parts.  I am a fan of Christian Fiction, but even parts of this sounded – not preachy, but a lot of faith talk.
                     
                            I would recommend this author.  She has written some awesome books.  Find one of her story lines that you are interested in and she will keep you reading.



Rating:  Three Chairs – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Author:  Sally John
Publisher:  Tyndale House Publishers
Pages: 388
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source:  I purchased it.







Goodreads:    What does a nationally known marriage expert do when her own marriage falls apart? Just as Jillian Galloway sets out for a publicity tour to promote her new book, her husband drops a bombshell: He wants a divorce. Jill flees to her parents’ home in the California desert, wondering whether everything she’s built her career on–indeed, everything she’s built her life around–is a sham. Navigating this “side road” of life is an uphill climb that leads to new understandings about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with the One who created marriage.








Ope’s Opinion:   It started out good.  It caught my attention at the beginning.  I got bored real fast.  It just moved too slow.   I thought there was too much time wasted talking about where Jill was and how she couldn’t figure out how to deal with Jack wanting a divorce.  I felt like I read the same things over and over again in each chapter.
                             There is a third book, I am not even going to attempt it.


Rating:  Two chairs – I may have on friend who might like this book.

Author:  Sally John
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Pages:  391
Genre:  Christian Fiction
Source:  I purchased it.








Goodreads:  Sheridan Montgomery leads a charmed life as the wife of Eliot, U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. But an attack on their lives cripples Eliot, and they retreat to a remote Mexican village. As Sheridan quietly cares for her husband, she sees her dreams slipping away. Luke Traynor shatters their reverie when he arrives to tell Sheridan of her father’s heart attack and the evidence implicating him in a conspiracy. Sheridan returns to Chicago to untangle the web of her father’s past and is forced to confront her feelings for Luke, a trail of deceit, and the truth about her marriage.




Ope’s Opinion:  I am ( was ) a huge Sally John fan.  This one really disappointed me.  It began very
 s-l-o-w  and never picked up the pace.  There were some interesting twists in it, but it took them a long time to be revealed.  It was kind of a depressing book.  There are three in the series.  I am going attempt number two and three, with the hopes of better results.
                            If you have the opportunity, please pick up one of Sally John’s other books.  They were amazing.





Rating:  Two Chairs – I may have one friend who might like this book.