5 Dogs Book Blog

Review by Elleanore G. Vance Killashandra Ree has trained at the conservatory for years. The Maestro has told her that with her natural ability of Perfect Pitch, all she needs is time and training to be a starring soloist.  Except now, a decade of hard work and dedication later, he is telling her that there is a defect in her voice. She will only ever be a chorus member. Her life's ambitions are dashed in an instant. She is far to passionate to be a member of the chorus, so she packs her bags and heads to the spaceport While trying to decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life in the spaceport bar (where else does one contemplate life's big questions?) She meets a man from Ballybran. Well, okay. He's not "from" there. No one is "from" Ballybran, he works there as a crystal singer. They hit it off and he talks Killashandra into showing him around.  They have a fun time for a few days, maybe a month, and then he announces that he needs to ret

A review by Eleanore G. Vance My first experience with Rosemary Woodhouse was the Roman Polanski film 17‐or -so years ago. Hubby and I lived in a wonderful old building in Downtown Indianapolis known locally as The Admiral; and it was here that a neighbor lady showed me the film. Later she would drop by her personal copy of the novella, complete with Joss Stone CD bookmark. It would take me 15 more years to get around to reading it, and I am so glad I did! Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are newlyweds, looking for an apartment in the city. As Guy is an actor, a central location is essential. The same day that the couple signs a lease , they get a call from the Bramford. An apartment is suddenly vacant in the exclusive building with a sinister reputation.  They tour the apartment. Over the objections of Hutch, Rosemary's author friend, they take the apartment. After all, who cares about reputation when they are closer to the theaters for Guy, and Rosemary loves it so!... If only they h

Review by Elleanore G. Vance Guy Montag is a fireman. No, not that kind of fireman, a Salamander fireman. He sets the fires. Hes not just burning books, but setting entire houses alight with kerosene. The reason for the legal arson; the crime? Owning books. Then a new family moves in and their neice begins to accompany Montag part of the way to work. They talk and Guy begins to question his entire life and his livelihood. His wife's most recent suicide attempt has him worried, but she is in denial that anything at all has happened. Suicide seems to be a well acknowledged issue in this society as some white cover-alled, cigarette smoking men show up to transfuse your blood and pump your stomach. All very routine and boring. I honestly suspect that a healthy dose of anitdepressants is given with the new blood, given how we see Mrs. Montag develop over the last two acts. In the first act, Guy awakens to his world, and in the second his wheels begin to spin. In the third, he secu

Kenzie and Gennaro book 1 A review by Elleanore G. Vance CW: this book uses a variety of slurs (1-2 whole pages of n-word slurs somewhere in the middle, and a few more sprinkled throughout, among others ), domestic abuse, transactional sex, abuse of power, parental abuse of a minor, sexual abuse of a minor, sexual assault and sexual trafficing. Should you decide to read this book, know that some of these are plot points and may be upsetting. This may not be the book for you. Patrick Kenzie is a private detective whose office is in the belfrey of the neighborhood catholic church. His partner is childhood BFF, Angela Gennaro, who is married to former pal Phil.  (It is not a happy union.  More on that later)  The pair are hired by a trio of politicans who want them to recover some documents purloined by a former employee.  While in search of the documents and the woman who took them,  Patrick and Angie confront personal demons.  Then they get a scrap of a piece of evidence that threat

by Dorothy Gilman Mrs. Polifax #1 a review by Elleanore G. Vance Emily Polifax is afraid to take her geraniums to the roof of her apartment building in New Brunswick, New Jersey because thenprecipice was entirely too inviting that one time.  Whennher doctor sees the change in her, knowing that she is recently widowed with adult children, he suggests  she try a new hobby. Something she's always wanted to do; charitable work, the arts, and tavelling are among his suggestions. But what has Emily Polifax always wanted to do? Her dearest childhood ambition? Why, to be a spy, of course! So she boards a bus to Langley, letter of introduction from her senator in hand. She wasn't  supposed to meet Mr. Carstairs, she was supposed to talk to an underling and be given a tour, then sent on her way. Mr. Carstairs happens to meet her when he barges into the conference room she is waiting in, believing her to be a retired feild agent reporting for a courier job. The courier is to go to M

 A retrospective by Elleanore G. Vance Gene Stratton-Porter was the Nora Roberts of her era, having sold more than 10 Million copies by the time of her death in 1924. She was Disney before Disney was Disney; a rare artist who got to enjoy the popularity of her work and the riches it brought. Born August 17, 1863 in Wabash County Indiana, young Geneva was fascinated by the natural world around her. The locals would come to call her The Bird Woman due to her own prowess with healing and raising local birds.  In 1884, Gene met Charles Porter; two years later they married, and a year after that their only child Jeanette was born. Sometime after that, Gene began writing nature pieces for magazines, learned photography and watercolor so that her pieces weren't just illustrated, but illustrated with lifelike full color. Her first accredited novel was Song of the Cardinal in 1903. She would go on to write eleven more novels, eight nature studies, two books of Poetry, and four collections