“Anxiety plays a major part in demoralizing the body as it leaves the body and mind wide open to diseases.” 
  -Alexander Chase


I believe that I have just gone over the edge. As a consummate reader, I spend mornings perusing various news sites, food sites, housekeeping sites and entertainment sites. For my own peace of mind, I am going to have to find another hobby. According to everything that I have read over the last year or two, my stay on earth is tenuous at best, and everything I eat, drink or do is contributing to my early, and most likely painful, demise.

Okay...I gave up meat products in my home...no deadly chicken bacteria lingers on my counters, and I use disinfectant wipes occasionally, when I fear some nasty bacteria has invaded my kitchen. Today I read, “Why Your Beloved Disinfecting Wipes May Be Making Your Kitchen Dirtier.” Are you kidding me? Are there really people out there whose main job is to find out how nothing...and I mean nothing...is safe.

There are hormones in my meat, mercury in my fish, pesticides in my produce, and apparently e coli is everywhere. I read an entire article on how I should use disinfectant wipes on every surface near me on a plane, but this latest article contradicts the first one and tells me that I am spreading germs whenever I swipe a wipe. Cruises are out, because who needs Norwalk Virus? Also, according to a recent article, one can never tell when a crew member might attack. Aghhhhh.

Drinking is also harmful to our health, apparently. I am not talking about alcohol this time (although we all know about the “ills of alcohol”), I am referring to all other liquids. The sugar in soda will get you, but artificial sweetener in diet soda is infinitely worse. Don’t drink too much juice because that will also give you a sugar overload. Water has always been my beverage of choice, and I carry a bottle around wherever I go. Big mistake! It seems the bottles are shedding micro-plastic pieces into the water, so bottled water is a no-no. Perhaps I should fill a thermos with good old tap water...but wait...the latest article I read says that micro-plastic contamination has been found in tap water throughout the world.

I think the only answer is for me to stop reading. There is no way that I can give up eating and drinking everything, and the anxiety of reading what I am doing to myself can’t be good for me. Maybe I should just veg in front of the television.  Wait a minute, that won’t work. First of all, I recently read that sitting in front of a television for extended periods can shorten your lifespan by several years. Also, those commercials are killers.

Watching television without the benefit of fast forward has become a real anxiety provoker. First we are told about all of the illnesses that are lurking around every corner, and then we are given a list of “side effects” attached to every drug. Anyone who actually reads that list and still opts to take any medication is braver than I will ever be. Every time I am prescribed a medication or advised to take a vaccine, I need to give myself a pep talk to do what I know is right.

There is nowhere to turn for those of us who want a healthy lifestyle without becoming neurotic, so I intend to listen to the advice my mother gave me many years ago. Most things are safe to eat, drink and do in moderation. A glass of juice in the morning, one or two cups of tea/coffee through the day and an occasional milkshake is just fine, and I am going back to carrying my bottles of water, because hydration trumps micro-plastic fear. I will bravely eat my mercury laden fish and take a chance on contaminated veggies. I will even bravely use my disinfectant wipes on airplanes and in hotel rooms as I take the occasional vacation. I will do it all in moderation. In fact, the only thing I will give up is reading the articles that have been messing with my mind, because anxiety is probably my worst enemy.

I will never give up reading good books though, and this week’s book really kept me going. Your Son is Alive by James Scott Bell was a well written puzzler that took my mind off of worrying about my tuna fish sandwich.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

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​Genre: Thriller

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James Scott Bell introduces us to good people facing an impossible situation in his thriller, Your Son is Alive. When Dylan and Erin Reece’s son was kidnapped fifteen years ago, their world, and eventually their marriage, came to an end. The passing of time doesn’t dull the hurt, but Dylan is determined to try to find happiness again when a note is slipped under his door. Your son is alive is written in crayon, and Dylan must find out if this is a sick joke or a miraculous truth.

Strange things continue to happen to Dylan and Erin as they work together to find out whether their son is truly alive, and Bell makes the reader care for these characters as we go on this search with them. This easy-to-like book takes us on a roller coaster ride with each chapter leaving us wanting to turn another page.

The chapters alternate viewpoints between Dylan, Erin and occasionally the “bad guy,” and I always find that method keeps me invested in the story. Every time I think I have something figured out, Bell adds a new twist to the mix. I enjoy the music and movie references that he throws in, and the memories that Dylan and Erin have about their five years with their son Kyle are relatable enough to capture any parent’s attention.

Bell writes without sexual scenes, vulgar language or gratuitous violence, and I found that a refreshing change of pace. Your Son is Alive is a great addition to anyone’s thriller collection.

- Beverly
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Publisher - Amazon Digital Services LLC
Date of Publication - ​April 28, 2018

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”
—-H.L.Hunt


After a visit to the newly opened Earth Fare market in my neighborhood, I began to evaluate the choice of a primarily organic diet. I know that some people believe it is the only way to eat, and others think it is a devious plot to extract more money from harried shoppers, but I stand somewhere in the middle. My allergy, or “histamine” reaction to MSG since I was a very young woman has made me aware of all of the additives that are slipped into our food. While they are not all our enemies (way too many lives were lost to spoiled food before the advent of preservatives), many of them do prove detrimental to our health. 

Unfortunately the modernization of our world over the last hundred or so years has added things into our environment which have most certainly proven detrimental to our well-being. The pollutants in our air and water are often carcinogenic, and we have little control over that on a daily basis. “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, and said there was also convincing evidence it increases the risk of bladder cancer,” according to the World Health Organization's cancer agency, so one can only guess how many additional deaths the last decade has brought to us. We need only to look as far as Flint, Michigan to see how dangerous chemicals polluting our water can be.

While we have little control over the air and water that surrounds us, I like to believe that I can control some of the products that I voluntarily ingest. I am not fanatical about it, and while most of the fish and produce that I bring into our home is free from added chemicals and hormones, I am aware that many of the restaurants I visit don’t follow those standards. Most of the produce that we purchase is from the farm that is a few miles from our home. While they are not officially organic (their land had not been fallow for the required number of years when they began growing on it), they use no pesticides or poisonous chemicals on their land. We supplement that with organic whenever we can, and our seafood is either wild caught or organically farmed. We don’t cook with meat products, so that is not an issue.

The major drawback to organic eating is the cost factor. It is difficult to understand why an organic apple or peach is so much more costly than its conventional counterpart, but my research made it clearer for me. When they don’t use pesticides, they must find alternative measures to protect their crops. Many of these methods include manual labor which is costly. The certification process itself is expensive, and constant education for the farmers adds to their costs. Since most organic farms are small, they don’t gain the financial benefits that big farms get, and supply and demand hikes up prices since there are many fewer organic buyers.

I respect those who choose to prioritize differently than I do. After all, there are many ways to spend our hard earned dollars, and the choice should be our own, but after further research I have decided to try to eat as chemically free as possible. Am I sure that will add healthier years to my life? Of course not, but since there is so much that I can’t control, I would like to feel that I can do something to keep myself free of chemicals that might harm me. The old “better safe than sorry” saying calls to me each time I stand in front of a fruit bin.

On a wildly different note, if we are talking safe versus sorry, David Rosenfelt gives us a taste of that in his new thriller, Black and Blue. Protagonist Doug Brock is after a serial killer in the third book of this series, and Rosenfelt’s witty hero takes the reader on many twists and turns before we reach the finish line.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog

​Genre: Thriller

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David Rosenfelt’s protagonist in Black and Blue, Doug Brock, is a New Jersey state police officer. This is the third book in the series that features Brock, who was shot in the line of duty and is suffering from amnesia. He lost about ten years of his immediate past memory after the shooting and has gained approximately fifty percent of it back as of this novel.

This thriller begins when Doug and his partner Nate are presented with a cold case murder that took place right before Doug’s shooting. A wealthy businessman, Walter Brookings was killed, and the murderer was never apprehended. Someone recently shot attorney Alex Randowsky in the same manner, with the same weapon, and the connection puts these two partners in the middle of the case. Doug worked the original case but, unfortunately,  remembers very little. He worries that Danny Phelan, a suspect he dismissed in Brookings'  murder might actually be responsible for both shootings. When he starts receiving notes from the perpetrator and another man is murdered in the same way, he realizes just how personal this whole thing is getting.

It is no secret that I am a fan of Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series, so finding out that Andy is Phelan’s attorney made my day. I love how characters cross over series and was entertained at the meeting of these two witty protagonists. Both series are written in a similar style, heavy on characterization with humor lightening some otherwise heavy situations. I stopped reading serial killer novels several years ago, but there was no way I would pass up a Rosenfelt contribution. As is the author’s style, there are a great deal of twists and turns before we get to the unexpected ending.

Black and Blue can definitely stand on its own, but if you haven’t read the first two books in this series (Blackout and Fade to Black) you might want to start with them.

- Beverly
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Publisher - Minotaur Books
Date of Publication - ​March 26, 2019

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“A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable”
—-Billy Graham

When I was ten years old, and my best friend and I talked about our future husbands, hers was going to be a prince...handsome and rich. My future husband was going to make me laugh. Even then I was well aware of the importance of a sense of humor. My chosen form of wit then (and even now) was laced with a bit of sarcasm, but I laughed at anything from the three stooges to Mark Twain. I realized that humor would see me through the saddest of times.

I married a man whose sense of humor was evident from our first date, and we raised two children who inherited our love of laughing. I always tried to inject humor into my classrooms and continue to laugh at life’s absurdities rather than beat my chest when life throws one of its many curve balls.

That is why I am particularly concerned when I watch humor being parsed like a poorly diagrammed sentence, with each piece held up as an example of what is wrong with society. Comedians are being forced to apologize time and again for comments that would have been laughed at several years ago. Don’t get me wrong, bullying and racial/religious/gender insensitivity should not by part of a comics routine, but the rest of America needs to learn how to recognize a joke.

Frankly, I can’t imagine why anyone wants to be a politician these days, but luckily some are willing to sacrifice their time (and sanity) to make a difference. We, in turn, repay them with criticism as we measure their words. Former congressman and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was speaking in front of a crowd several days ago and joked about his marriage. Nothing major. He explained how his wife, Amy, raises their kids “sometimes with my help.” Same sort of joke that men (and women ) have been telling for years, except now it is deemed so offensive that he felt the need to apologize. “Not only will I not say that again, but I’ll be more thoughtful going forward in the way that I talk about our marriage, and also the way in which I acknowledge the truth of the criticism that I have enjoyed white privilege.”  

Are you kidding me? Have we become that sensitive to humor?

Do you know that according to Mayo Clinic studies, laughter can soothe tension, activate and relieve your stress response, and stimulate your heart, lungs and muscles? In the long term it can improve your immune system, relieve pain, and improve your mood. Whether or not a sense of humor helps you live longer is debatable, but it certainly makes your life a lot more enjoyable.

There are many things that Americans need to work on, if we wish to recover over the next few years. Our image throughout the world is tarnished, our humanitarian ideals have been weakened and bigotry has once again reared it’s ugly head. The pendulum will swing and things will improve, but we must not lose our collective sense of humor along the way. It is laughter that will indeed help us outlast the unbearable, even as we find ourselves the focus of the joke.

Since reading is another thing that makes my life enjoyable, I keep a list of my favorite authors in a tablet on my nightstand. Rick Mofina is one of my go to authors, and I featured him in madderlyreview’s author section in 2014. In that feature article I talked about first being introduced to him:  "Sometime in 2010 a friend suggested I read the book Six Seconds by Rick Mofina.  I remember picking it up after breakfast, I remember closing it at midnight, but I honestly remember nothing in between.  That was when I knew that I had found an author to follow.”
​
I have not changed my mind, and his latest title, Missing Daughter, is not to be missed.

A complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog

​Genre: Thriller

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Mofina captured me again with his latest thriller, Missing Daughter. There have been quite a few novels about missing children published in the last few years, and that is not a topic that I find comfortable. Since I am a fan of this author, I decided to give this one a try and wasn’t disappointed.

When Maddie Lane disappears from her bed one night, her family is devastated. Her parents, Ryan and Karen, are questioning themselves and those around them, while her brother Tyler feels responsible for not being there to save his sister. As always, Mofina’s development of his characters add tremendous depth to the story. Even the secondary characters have interesting backstories that keep the reader wondering about who could be involved.

The plot is well developed and the twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. Mofina throws in clues that foster theories...a nearby halfway house for convicts...a teenage boy who admits being by her window...a collection of secretly taken pictures of Maddie...but nothing seems to pan out. Time goes by and it is difficult not to lose hope, but we ultimately do get answers as the author wraps up his story.

Missing Daughter can’t help but tear at you heart, but it is truly worth adding to your library.

- Beverly

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Publisher - MIRA
Date of Publication - ​February 19, 2019

“The end doesn't justify the means.”

—-Ovid (c.43 BC-AD 18)


Many people are aghast at the thought that a large number of wealthy and influential people in our country allegedly used their wealth and influence to achieve a goal that those of us with less of each could attain. The media can’t turn away from the circus now surrounding Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, two celebrities among scores of others who allegedly used bribes and fraudulent methods to get their children acceptances to sought after colleges that they would have otherwise been denied. Television networks are now falling all over each other trying to distance themselves from these stars. Loughlin, in fact, has been booted from the two shows she is currently starring in, "Fuller House" and "When Calls the Heart."

I find it troubling that our country seems to have skipped over the “innocent until proven guilty” part of our justice system and jumped right into the “make them pay” point of view. Instead of waiting for a jury of peers, the community begins meting out the punishments that seem to satisfy those with the loudest mouths. People are losing their livelihoods and their reputations over accusations that might later be proven false, and “innocent until being proven guilty” has gone the way of the eight tracks...nice to have around and pull out when it suits us but too bulky to really use anymore.

In my eyes, IF these allegations are true, I believe that the damage done to the children of these people surpasses the damage done to society as a whole. We look to our parents to help build our moral fiber, and if a parent condones or encourages a child to commit fraud to achieve a goal, the fiber begins to wear thin. If Loughlin’s children were never really part of a crew team but were encouraged to take pictures that showed otherwise, then they were made complicit in fraudulent behavior. They were being taught that the ends ALWAYS justify the means. They don’t! It is our place to make sure our children understand that how we get there is more important than getting there itself. If these accusations are proven true, these parents failed at the one job they committed a crime to succeed at, and their children will pay the price.

Our country will pay a bigger price however, if we continue to whittle away at the justice system that our forefathers believed in and let vigilante justice take hold. Frankly, even if these women are found guilty, I fail to see how that should affect their ability to entertain. Should they be imprisoned, their shows will naturally be altered, and if they are not imprisoned, then the audience can decide whether or not to watch their shows. It is not their employers’ place to mete out justice. I understand why certain jobs might need to keep felons off the payroll, but if we continue forcing entertainers to be morally ideal in all aspects of their lives, we will soon have to spend long hours watching re-runs of Pat Boone( google him if you don’t remember). It is way too dangerous to encourage any form of punishment that tends toward vigilantism, and even though I loathe what these people did, they must be afforded protection in the United States of America.

On another note, I read two books this week. One was an advance copy of a book due this fall by John Dobbyn. It kept me up reading until two In the morning for two nights running and taught me things about the real Dracula that I never knew. It is also too early for me to share my review with you. I didn’t mean to read it yet...really...but it was that good. Unfortunately, the other book I read was not good, and although I finished it, I will not share it with you. So, unfortunately I must ask your understanding...there will be no review this week. I have just started a good book though, so I will be prepared come next Friday. 


Happy reading,

- Beverly

Making it through the ceiling to the other side was simply a matter of running on a path created by every other woman's footprints."
—-Shonda Rhimes


I enjoy being a woman and have never had a desire to trade places with a man. I probably would have been less satisfied 75+ years ago, when women were expected to keep the houses clean, their husbands happy and their mouths shut, but things have changed...are still changing...and women can lead interesting lives while raising a family.  Women, in fact, now have full careers while they also raise their children and keep up with the housework.

That is why it is so difficult for me to understand why women are treated less than equal throughout the world. The United Nations recognizes 197 countries in the world, and according to a study done by World Bank, only six of them(Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden) treat women as 100% equals.  According to an article written by Rob Picheta and Kieron Mirchandani, CNN March 2, 2019, “The criteria analyzed were: going places, starting a job, getting paid, getting married, having children, running a business, managing assets and getting a pension." Those were broken down into questions such as: "Can a woman travel outside her home in the same way as a man?" and "Is there legislation specifically to address domestic violence?" The global average was 74.71%. The United States came in at 83.75%, which didn’t even make the top 50.

Somewhere in the days of the hunters and gatherers, it was decided that females should tend to the menial chores while males went out “ into the world” and brought home food while acting as protectors. (Hmmm...I wonder how many cave women had a vote in that decision). We see cavemen depicted as grabbing women by their hair and dragging them as acquisitions instead of equals. While these pictures have been modernized through the changing cultures, men are still often raised to believe that they are the stronger sex and should have first dibs on the stronger job opportunities. Women, in fact, should be thankful for the opportunities they are afforded, and if that comes with a little bit of inappropriate groping, so be it. If they decide to complain about that behavior, they will quickly find themselves ostracized and often forced to “resign.”

It is amazing to me that men are still protected by each other in this age of “me too,” but it happens in the work place, in social environments and in our justice system.  When Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky gave Brock Turner a six month sentence, his reasoning baffled women everywhere. He explained that he felt giving him a harsher sentence than six months (to serve only three for good behavior) would have a “severe impact” on his life. I wonder what kind of impact he thought being raped behind a dumpster while unconscious would have on his victim?

The sad thing is, I don’t think Brock Turner really believed he was doing anything horribly wrong that night, because family and society protect and defend young white males. His dad wrote a statement saying, “His life will never be the one he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action...”. His friend explained it wasn’t really rape, just too much campus drinking and promiscuity. It is difficult for young, affluent white men to accept their wrong doings when no one else in their circle does.

It is not just our country that protects young men. In Canada several years ago a seventeen year old young woman was violently attacked and raped by a sixteen year old young man in a restroom at a school dance. She was rushed to the hospital and into emergency surgery to stem the massive bleeding. She was then asked what she was wearing and if she was sure it wasn’t consensual. When the young man was ultimately found guilty of her rape and one he had perpetrated before, he was sentenced to three years, but the judge ruled only two weeks of that sentence had to be served in custody and the rest under supervision. The judge said that he had taken into consideration that the young man had missed graduating with his friends and was being shunned in his community. He also said he thought there was a low risk of re-offending. Since the young man had been found guilty of two rapes at the age of sixteen, one has to wonder what a high risk would be and what message the judge is sending to young people everywhere.

It is frightening how deeply the illusion of men’s superiority is embedded into our everyday culture, and I imagine that it will take longer than my lifetime for that glass ceiling to be totally shattered. I am encouraged though when I see the strength and determination of women today and the supportive men that surround them. I truly believe that when women finally reach total financial and social equality, our world will be a better place for every man, women and child that inhabits it.

Speaking of making our world a better place, in his newest book, Without Precedent,
J. D. Trafford takes on our country’s drug crisis and “Big Pharma’s” part in it. True to form, Trafford weaves a story that keeps the reader turning pages deep into the night.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog