Ann's Blog
Ann McCauley is a Pennsylvania women's literature author, who wrote the books Runaway Grandma and Mother Love, both available for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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March 2022
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03/31/22
March Blog
Filed under: General
Posted by: Ann @ 10:04 am
Hallelujah, spring is finally here! At least that’s what the calendar says...we enjoyed a few beautiful early spring-like days before the official start of Spring. And since then, we’ve had unseasonably cold weather with ice and snow. I delayed making an appointment to have my winter tires changed over to summer tires until next week. And I’m hoping that won’t be too soon. Good grief, such weather we’ve been having. The daffodils are sprouting up to welcome the change of season and that makes me sigh in relief. Enough already!
 
Our loyal, sweet, playful and delightful little Lhasa Apso dog, Lucas Casanova, age 16, died March 11, 2022. Our home feels empty without him. We have many wonderful memories of our lives with Lucas. He was the best jumper - over ditches, and small hurdles, he had the grace of a professional jumping horse, in miniature, of course. 

I have done a fair amount of reading and writing as my life has slowly gone back to our more normal pattern. Reviews of the four books I read this month are below: 

Teresa James WAFS Pilot  Gear Up/Gear Down, a P-47 to Newark, can be read at this Story Circle site:  https://www.storycircle.org/book_review/teresa-james-wafs-pilot-gear-up-gear-down-a-p-47-to-newark/
It was a wonderful historical biography of one of the original WAFS from 1940. She was a Pittsburgh, PA girl. It is an excellent book that honors the brave women of early aviation. Story Circle sent the book to me for review.
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty, (Fiction/Suspense. 2021. Henry Holt& Co, MacMillan Publishing), is similar to several of Moriarty’s other novels as the author cleverly crafts
her stories with subtle and limited clues. The reader expects one thing when
the plot suddenly makes U-turns, when you least expect it. Even the prologue
was like an introduction to a different story, as it seemed to have nothing to
do with Apples Never Fall. The novel started out very slow for me. For
the first 120 pages I did not like any of the characters, but I kept reading since
it was my Book Club’s reading choice for April. And I‘m very glad I finished
reading it, the plot twists of this story will stay with me for a long time. The novel grew on me with each passing
chapter. The teaser line on the cover jacket sums of the intrigue of the novel;
‘The Delaney family love one another dearly – it’s just that sometimes they
want to murder one another…’ The adult Delaney children face a dilemma, their mother
is missing, should they call the police? Even if the most obvious suspect is
their father? It became a real page turner. 


 The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. Fiction based on History. 2001. Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen,
already married to a young officer who serves the king. As one of the Queen’s
‘ladies in waiting’, she unwittingly catches the wandering eye of the handsome
and charming Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary believes for a while that
she’s fallen in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as
unofficial queen. She bas two illegitimate babies with the king and eventually
realizes she’s a pawn in her family’s ambitious plots as the king’s interest
begins to wane. Mary is forced to step aside for her sister, Anne. Her loyalty
to the original Queen never falters as she comes to understand the travesties of the
royal court. With her own destiny suddenly unknown, Mary realizes that she must
defy her family and take fate into her own hands. The Other Boleyn Girl is a
riveting historical drama. It brings to light a woman of extraordinary
determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and
glamorous court in Europe. How she survived a treacherous political landscape
by following her heart. A compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue
surrounding the Tudor court of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the infamous Boleyn
family. Excellent reading.


The Girl From the English Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat. 2020. Historical fiction. Graydon House Publishing. This is the author’s debut novel; she was born and grew up on Jersey. Both sets of her grandparents were involved in resistance activities during the German occupation; this background provided her with first-hand information and added layers of authenticity to the novel. Her descriptions of the effects of starvation on the body were the most poignant I’ve ever read. The extraordinary story starts in 1940 on Jersey, the largest island in the British Channel Islands, still only an area of nine by five miles. It follows protagonist Hedy and her friends as they struggle for survival, including the role played by a German officer in the occupying army. They sometimes regretted not evacuating as many of the Channel citizens did in the weeks before the Nazi invasion. Hedy felt she was a tiny bit safer staying on Jersey than she would taking her chances on the European continent since she was Jewish. Author Jenny Lecoat developed great personalities for her cast of characters who were real people during WW2, as were many of the events. Her plot twists in this well researched book, a page turner on the very first page.


We went to see the movie, DOG, and enjoyed it. It’s a feel good movie. Not a great movie, but a solid entertaining show. We’re still enjoying Heartland for the second time. We are getting much more out of it this time, many innuendos and dialogue we’d missed the first time. And all the beautiful horses, ahh…its a total delight.

I wish you all a blessed and Happy Easter.

Till next time, stay well and safe…and keep reading, my friends.

 Later, Ann

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