A Small Kindness

A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kindness is like "a game of tag," and every one of us can pass it on to someone else.

A delightful story, with illustrations reminiscent of Trudy Ludwig's The Invisible Boy, where kindness spreads color as the tale progresses. It's set at an elementary school with a very diverse class of students (and teacher) with varying hair and skin colors, as well as a child who uses a walker and another with a hearing aid.

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We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book introduces a modern Cherokee family and some of their traditions throughout the year, centered around being grateful for each season. Cherokee words are integrated into the text, then at the bottom of the page, that page’s word is spelled out in English, written out phonetically, written in Cherokee script, and defined. There is a glossary at the end of the book to explain concepts like shell shakers, Trail of Tears, gigging, stickball, etc. It’s just a fabulous book about gratitude and Cherokee culture.

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A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's Sunshine Vicram's first day on the job as Sheriff of Del Sol County, New Mexico. She got elected despite being unaware she was even running, thanks to her parents, who were determined to both bring her back to Del Sol and get rid of the corrupt, inept incumbent. Within minutes of her arrival, homemade muffins are delivered, horrifying her staff, who have long since learned that the size of the muffin basket portends the scope of the crazy or catastrophic cases coming their way. Today's basket is huge, and sure enough, a short time later a Mercedes crashes through the front of the sheriff station, driven by a desperate mother whose teenage daughter has just been kidnapped--an event the daughter has been predicting since she was a little girl. Sunshine and her deputies have only three days to find Sybil before her captor kills her.

I stayed up WAY past bedtime because I couldn't stop reading until I finished this book. The writing style is very witty (quite similar to Jones' Charley Davidson series) and just as fast-paced as the plot. In fact, the relationship between Sunshine Vicram and her daughter Auri reminded me a lot of Lorelei & Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls. Well, except that Lorelei knows from the beginning who Rory's father is, and Sunshine doesn't figure out Auri's until WAY WAY WAY after the reader catches on.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, language is secondary. The closest genre this book/series fits into at the moment is humorous mystery/suspense. There is a strong romantic subplot, (well, two, actually, and a bit of a third) but it will probably take another book or two (or 5, at the rate Sun's going) to develop into anything like a real relationship. There is one dream sequence that counts as a sex scene and some sexual references. Since the plot of the book focuses on a current and a past abduction, there is also reference to rape, in case that is a trigger for anyone. Also some off-screen violence, a bit of profanity sprinkled throughout, and on-screen teen bullying of Auri by a Mean Girl & her lackeys.

The diverse, quirky characters include many with brown skin in various shades and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, chiefly Latino, African, and Apache. The father of one character is deaf, and another character is on the autism spectrum, so ASL is mentioned semi-frequently. Unlike with Jones' Charley Davidson series, there is only a hint of anything possibly beyond normal human experience. It's not urban fantasy. A minor character from the Charley series has a small cameo, however, and that was fun!

I read a free ebook ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for my honest review. The only bad thing about that is that now I have to WAIT for the next book in the series to be written. Waiting is HARD.

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Cooking for Ghosts

Cooking for Ghosts by Patricia V. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What happens when four women with four very different life histories meet online and decide to open a restaurant aboard a haunted ship? Lives change, decades old mysteries come to light, and more than food spices up the kitchen.

This book had a little bit of everything: ghosts, romance, mystery, culturally diverse characters, murder, and relationships of many kinds--between friends, parents and children, husbands and wives, newly formed couples, and with ghosts. It's set almost entirely on the Queen Mary, a once-grand ship now permanently docked in Long Beach, California. The ship is both haunted by ghosts and sentient in her own right, taking an active role in the events of the story.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, once I got into it. The women's histories are revealed slowly, and the story is told from nearly everyone's point of view at some point. I highly doubt that Rohini's storyline would have wrapped up so tidily in real life--too many loose ends were glossed over, such as where Naag was staying & what did he leave behind--but I was glad it ended as it did. Likewise, as improbable as it was that all four women ended up paired off, I'm glad no one was left alone & lonely.

For readers' advisors: character and setting are primary doorways. Profanity is sprinkled throughout. There is some sexual content, but no explicit sex scenes. Violence occurs but isn't graphic. The pace is fairly leisurely most of the time, speeding up a bit at the end. It's primarily magical realism. (The author is a big fan of Sarah Addison Allen, as I learned after I finished reading.) One minor character is gay.

This first book in the series is about 3.5 stars, but I'll round up to 4 because I'm looking forward to reading the next two.

The publisher sent me a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

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