Audio Book Review: Ravenhill Court by David R. Beshears

This is an engaging Sci Fi puzzler.

Ravenhill Court
Written by: David R. Beshears
Narrated by: Karen Krause

Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:05-13-14
Publisher: David R. Beshears
Genre: Science Fiction, Short story
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Present day... A man returns to a long-abandoned neighborhood. Doors stand ajar, shutters hang open, lawns and landscaping are unkempt. The man sits on the curb and opens a leather-bound journal. Through the journal, he recalls the events that took place in Ravenhill decades earlier.
Journey back to 1964... The man is just a boy. He and his friends find that their neighborhood, a cul-de-sac set into the foothills along the California coast, is not all that it appears. There are strange happenings - some amazing, some terrifying, and all pointing to the fact that this little community of families might just be something other than what the rest of the world perceives it to be.
Thirteen year-old Ben Foster, along with his friends Peter and Louis, and his older sister, Julie, set out to find the secret behind the peculiar events that the outside world doesn't see and that those living in the neighborhood either choose to ignore or are conspiring to keep hidden.
Young Peter will set the tales down in his journal, which years later a grown Ben Foster will clasp as the last surviving corroboration of their adventures and of their astonishing discovery.
©2010, 2014 David R. Beshears (P)2014 David R. Beshears

Review:
Ben Foster is a grown man who returns to Ravenhill Court to reminisce about his childhood. Ben recalls that his childhood friend, Peter, was ridiculed and scoffed at by most of their peers and many adults. Peter’s father had dissappeared leaving behind a confused young boy who has unexplained dreams and visions. His friends believe him and support him even though some of what he sees includes aliens and other strange things. Ben shares their adventures as set down in Peter’s journal where he also noted descriptions and sketches of his unusual dreams and strange occurrences.

The close group of friends includes Ben, Peter, Ben’s sister, Julie, and a new friend, Louis. They have their own club house and try to protect each other from the bullies in school. They consult their favorite professor, who seems to have extra knowledge about the community, when thirteen year old Peter has new, insistent and scary dreams of a strange travel gate. The professor gives them cryptic instructions that leave them with more riddles and questions.

Ben and his friends follow the professor’s directions to seek the ‘alien gate’ and transfer a special crystal. Their attempts are opposed by enforcement officials who meet them along the way and challenge their actions. The teens pursue their investigations into possible conspiracy and uncover circumstances that are shocking and alarming.

A remarkable secret is revealed in Ben’s story as he and Julie expound on the history of their adventures to a skeptical Louis. The reader is left wondering... is it real or a dream community? It made me think of The Truman Show and even that comparison may be a bit of a spoiler.

The entire tone of the story is nostalgic and mysterious. The clubhouse is a great setting for the kids to ponder the mysteries around them. The clandestine nature of the childrens’ adventures kept me engaged in the entertaining mystery. This is a quick listen to satisfy a science fiction urge in a hurry.

Audio Notes: Karen Krause does a fine job of “story-telling” in her narration. She gives the characters their distinct voices, even capturing Julie’s whining badgering and frustration trying to get information. I definitely enjoyed this in audiobook form and although I recommend the story itself, I encourage audio fans to pick it up for a quick listen that may leave them pondering.

I selected this from AudioBook Jukebox to listen to for November Sci Fi Month.

It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday November 17, 2014

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

This has been a nice week getting settled back at home. Playing some catch-up at work and relaxing with my DH at home. 

You might see that I have made a change in this post. I have combined IMWAYR (this weekly post) with Monday Mailbox since many of the people do both and so it might make it easier to comment just once. :-).

Surprisingly I had a good week of reading. Some was nearly done last week. I finished four books and am almost done another.  I posted three reviews, one with tour giveaway and one with guest post.  I did get all the usual memes posted this week. 

I didn't get to visit last week. My internet kept going off mid evening so I was going to bed early.
Thanks as always to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts:

• It's Monday! What are You Reading? November 10, 2014.

• Mailbox Monday November 3, 2014.

• Book Review and Tour Giveaway: Peace & Goodwill: a contemporary romance, a Christmas Novella (The Minstrel Series Book 4) by Lee Strauss; Contemporary Romance, Christmas Novella; my rating 4.25. Ends 11/18/14.

• Book Review: What a Lady Needs for Christmas (MacGregor Series) by Grace Burrowes; Historical Romance; my rating 4.5.

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway November 14, 2014.  Open Worldwide. Ends 11/20/14.

• Book Review: Louisiana Fever by D. J. Donaldson; Forensic Mystery; my rating 4.5. 

• Guest Post by D. J. Donaldson: A Forensic/Medical Author’s Take on Ebola and the CDC.

• Sharing Beyond Books #177 Comment Giveaway 11/15/14; Open Worldwide. Ends 11/22/14.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement November 15, 2014.
  

Finished Reading:
1. eBook/Kiindle

Peace & Goodwill: a contemporary romance, a Christmas Novella (The Minstrel Series Book 4)
by Lee Strauss
This was lovely. My review and a tour giveaway is linked above.
Click on book title for full description.

2. Audio Book/MP3

Falling Up: Hours
This is distinctly different. 
I will post a review this coming week. 

3. eBook/Kindle

Louisiana Fever
by D.J. Donaldson
I really liked this! My review and a special Guest Post are linked above.
Click on book title for full description.

4. Print

The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future!
by Jonathan Cahn
I really found this interesting.
Ladies Book Club was postponed until Saturday 11/22. I will post my review and giveaway then.
Click on book title for full description.

Currently reading:

1. Audio/MP3

WARP Book 1: The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P.)
by Eoin Colfer
I am enjoying this rather dark time travel sci fi.
Received through SYNC 2014 Summer audios.
Publisher's Summary
Riley, a teen orphan boy living in Victorian London, has had the misfortune of being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, an illusionist who has fallen on difficult times and now uses his unique conjuring skills to gain access to victims' dwellings. On one such escapade, Garrick brings his reluctant apprentice along and urges him to commit his first killing. Riley is saved from having to commit the grisly act when the intended victim turns out to be a scientist from the future, part of the FBI's Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP). Riley is unwittingly transported via wormhole to modern-day London, followed closely by Garrick.
In modern London, Riley is helped by Chevron Savano, a 19-year-old FBI agent sent to London as punishment after a disastrous undercover, anti-terrorist operation in Los Angeles. Together Riley and Chevie must evade Garrick, who has been fundamentally altered by his trip through the wormhole. Garrick is now not only evil, but he also possesses all of the scientist's knowledge. He is determined to track Riley down and use the timekey in Chevie's possession to make his way back to Victorian London where he can literally change the world.
©2013 Eoin Colfer (P)2013 Listening Library Audio

2. eBook/Kindle

The Red Book of Primrose House
by Marty Wingate
This has started out well. I'm enjoying the gardening while waiting for the mystery. Received through NetGalley.
Book Description
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
In Marty Wingate’s charming new Potting Shed Mystery, Texas transplant Pru Parke’s restoration of a historic landscape in England is uprooted by an ax murderer.

Pru Parke has her dream job: head gardener at an eighteenth-century manor house in Sussex. The landscape for Primrose House was laid out in 1806 by renowned designer Humphry Repton in one of his meticulously illustrated Red Books, and the new owners want Pru to restore the estate to its former glory—quickly, as they’re planning to showcase it in less than a year at a summer party.

But life gets in the way of the best laid plans: When not being happily distracted by the romantic attentions of the handsome Inspector Christopher Pearse, Pru is digging into the mystery of her own British roots. Still, she manages to make considerable progress on the vast grounds—until vandals wreak havoc on each of her projects. Then, to her horror, one of her workers is found murdered among the yews. The police have a suspect, but Pru is certain they’re wrong. Once again, Pru finds herself entangled in a thicket of evil intentions—and her, without a hatchet.

3. Print

We Are The Destroyers (We Are***Are We Book 1) 
by D. K. Lindler
I have just started this but am looking forward to it.
I received this for review from the Cadence Group.
Book Description
Publication Date: September 15, 2014
Captain Bel’lar can’t accept that he’s lived all this before.
Overconsumption is destroying his home planet, and synthetic foods are turning his people into degenerated mutants under the control of the Brotherhood of Syn. As one of the few remaining but persecuted Organs—those who still live the organic lifestyle—Bel’lar and his small crew must escape from their dying world to the semi-mythical blue-white planet. They are to discover if it is really what the prophecies say it is: a place for humanity to make a new beginning.
But the visions of his beautiful companion Ry Sing, a mystic and seer shake Bel’lar. She tells him that eons ago, Bel’lar was also faced with the burden of saving his people from their own greed. Only then he was the Great One, the sacred head of their religion. He had seen no other way to liberate them from their collision course with environmental destruction and spiritual degradation than to purify the planet in a great cataclysm… But could the horrible vision be true? Could he really have done such a thing? And what about the scriptures that predict that a man with a mark like his would be fated to purify a corrupted planet once again and free the souls?
As Bel’lar, Ry Sing and the rest of the elite team embark on their mission to save mankind, the truth of the vision begins to reveal itself, and Bel’lar’s destiny is set before him. But will he be able to avoid it this time? Or is he fated to live the vision once again?

4. Audio/MP3

Divided We Fall
Written by: Trent Reedy
Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
I spotted this in my SYNC audios so picked it for a Sci Fi listen.
Received through SYNC 2014 Summer audios.
Publisher's Summary
From the author of Words in the Dust: an actionpacked YA novel set in a frighteningly plausible near future, about what happens when the States are no longer United.
Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enrolled in the National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowdcontrol mission... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd. By the time the smoke clears, 12 people are dead. The president wants the soldiers arrested. The governor swears to protect them. And as tensions build on both sides, the conflict slowly escalates toward the unthinkable: a second American civil war.
With political questions that are popular in American culture yet rare in YA fiction, and a plot that's both excitingly provocative and frighteningly plausible, Divided We Fall will be Trent Reedy's very timely YA debut.
©2014 Trent Reedy (P)2014 Scholastic Inc.

I am caught up on my daily Bible reading.
I have disciplined myself each morning to read my Bible passage before I pick up print, Kindle or mp3. I am really enjoying the reading.

November I am participating in Sci Fi Month. The first week was full of tour books but I have started some Sci Fis now.  I have three titles that are ready for review posting this coming week. 

Novenber Scheduled -
11/22 Ladies Book Club - Mystery of the Shemitah w/ Print GW (ready for review)
11/26 Sugar's Twice as Sweet: Sugar, Georgia: Book 1, by Marina Adair  w/ ebook GW

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.  This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) and after a tour of hosts has returned to its permanent home at Mailbox Monday.
Thanks to the ladies sharing hosting duties: Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.
Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This covers two weeks as I didn't post last week.
I received/selected four review titles.
I purchased four $.99 kindle titles this week as well as getting many free kindle titles.

(Although I have gotten to a couple, I still have many author requests to consider and reply to.)

Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

Review Titles

I selected this title through NetGalley as it sounds beautiful and is perfect for helping to remember the true meaning of the holiday season.

Every Valley: Advent with the Scriptures of Handel's Messiah
Westminster John Knox Press
This gift-worthy book will delight and inspire classical music fans and those for whom Messiah is a beloved Christmas tradition with essays exploring the theological, historical, and pastoral implications of the Scriptures that make up Handel's Messiah.

I received the crime mystery Louisiana Fever 

for review with guest post by the author 

both of which are linked above under

What Are Your Reading.

Both of these were received from Hachette/Grand Central Forever Yours Romance line:

Sugar's Twice as Sweet: Sugar, Georgia: Book 1

by Marina Adair 

 Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

Small town romance with a bad boy 

who wants to prove he is ready to settle down.

This is for tour and my review on November 26.

Home for the Holidays

A Cavanaugh Island Novella

by Rochelle Alers

Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

This Christmas novella is set in charming, Sanctuary Cove featuring popular characters from Rochelle Alers' bestselling small-town, Cavanaugh Island contemporary romance series.

Love is always in season.

This is part of tour with my review end of November or first of December.

Won

None

Purchased

I purchased four $.99 Kindle titles this week - three Christmas and one I liked the blurb and want to try:

A Legendary Christmas Boxed Set
Jan Scarbrough, Maddie James, Magdalena Scott, Janet Eaves

Starlight, Star Bright (Christmas Holiday Extravaganza)

JoAnn Durgin

Lady at Arms
Tamara Leigh, S. Hunt Schmanski

Love on Main Street: A Snow Creek Christmas

Juliet Blackwell, Rachael Herron, LGC Smith, Cecilia Gray,

Ruby Laska, Adrienne Bell, Lisa Hughey

Free

Over the past two weeks I downloaded another 98 free Kindle titles. Titles found linked through Bookbub, Bookfun, Ereader News Today, Free Par-tay, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink or Kindle ebooks.

Sunday Words of Encouragement November 15, 2014

It was wonderful to be back at our home church this morning. We had great praise and worship time and then a lovely communion celebration.

Our Sunday School teacher is still in Revelations 20 (v11-15) which speaks of the Great White Throne Judgment that all men will face. Today however was about the Bema judgment ( 2 Corinthians 5:12) when Believers stand before God and give an accounting for our actions, our works. We will not be judged for sin as there is no condemnation for those who have believed and received salvation.

What we will be judged on and rewarded for is the good deeds we have done with right motive (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).  Lives here are fleeting and it is inappropriate to just bide our time and get through this life. Faith provides salvation but works follow and should produce fruit. After sharing a long list of scriptures describing, affirming and evoking “good works” our teacher noted: we should be laying up treasures in heaven not on earth. What we do for Christ is really all that matters. He wants our obedience to be shown by sharing his love, blessings and abundance, not hoarding them to ourselves.

Interestingly, our Pastor’s sermon was that Grace is the True Gospel. He is technically totally correct that we are saved by grace and grace alone. It is our believe and trust in God that saves us and that is a free gift. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves except to accept by faith the freely offered gift of salvation: payment for sin, redemption, by Christ’s death.

The two messages might seem at odds until we recognize and understand that they blend. Once we believe and have accepted the free gift of salvation by grace, our growing knowledge of God and His love should bring us to want to do His work where and when He directs in our lives.

As I looked for a video to go with this message I did find Bema Seat by Petra. 

That is very lively and fitting although you have to listen closely as the lyrics are not included.

However then I came upon this video and I really liked it's screen messages
as well as the well-known worship song.

Verses for today:

Romans 14:10-12
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Lord, I do feel that time is drawing short. And even if the time of your return is not as imminent as I might believe, my time on earth is limited. Therefore, I seek Your daily guidance as to where and when I might share share Your love and the abundance you have graciously bestowed upon me.

Sharing Beyond Books #177 Comment Giveaway 11/15/14

Hello again on Saturday night and Welcome to Sharing Beyond Books, SBB!

I've had a catch up week at work while I try to get used to being off the RV schedule (early nights and early mornings). My home computer seems to be faltering with the internet which has been a little difficult.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas although it is hard to think another year will soon be over.

Thanks to everyone who commented last week.
Everyone seems to agree that they like epilogues and have read some books where they wanted more. Sarah M mentioned wanting a series instead of just an epilogue. Nrlymrtl wants more at the end of Gaiman books which I think I can understand from the one I read. :-)

~~~~

The Winner from SBB #176 comments is: #5 bn100 who can make a GC choice if international or book choice from the ARC/Review titles, Christmas titles or Love titles - all linked near the end of the post.  Please let me know your choice by completing the (new) WINNER FORM.

WEEK #177 (One Question.)

Q1. This week nrlymrtl asks: 1. Have you ever taken a class on book binding so that you could repair your own favorite books??

A: I have never taken a book binding class. However, looking at these creative bindings makes me interested. 

Image found at Refinery29!

Thanks to those who are sending in Questions. DON'T BE SHY! Surely everyone has a Q or two you'd like to ask. Input suggestions in this Suggested Question Form. At the end of each month I draw from the suggestions I used during the month and that person will get a book choice or GC. I thank everyone for submitting questions. Thanks for sending in questions! We still have a supply of questions but from the same people so hopefully others will send more in -- even if they are duplicates I'll weed through or try to modify to use.

Your turn to share:

Q1. nrlymrtl asks: 1. Have you ever taken a class on book binding so that you could repair your own favorite books??

SBB Comment Winners can choose a selection from the Valentine and "Love" books, the Christmas Giveaway Books (this is the new link), or the June 2013 Newly Updated ARC/Review List.

SBB Rules:
a) Must be a follower.
b) Share a comment on either of the two questions above.
Open internationally and an international winner may get a smaller book or a $5.00 GC if I decide the mailing is too much.
I will pick a Comment winner from all comments made through Saturday November 22, 2014 at 5 PM  central.

Guest Post by D. J. Donaldson: A Forensic/Medical Author’s Take on Ebola and the CDC

Outbreak… Breakdown

A Forensic/Medical Author’s Take on Ebola and the CDC

by D. J. Donaldson

My book, Louisiana Fever, involves the spread of a bleeding disease known as Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever. This is a real disease that, like its close relative, Ebola, is caused by an infectious virus. And having researched this thoroughly (and having come from a forensic/health background) I feel compelled to weigh in on the Ebola outbreak.

When I was plotting Louisiana Fever, I figured I ought to have a character in the book that was once an infectious disease specialist at the CDC. It seemed like a logical idea because the CDC is this country’s unquestioned champion against virulent organisms, an organization staffed with experts that know every nuance of tropical viruses and how they can be controlled.

To make sure my writing about the CDC would have an authentic ring to it, I asked the public relations office of the CDC if I might be given a tour of the place. “Sorry,” I was told. “We don’t give tours.” Considering how many dangerous viruses are stored in the various labs there, that seemed like a good policy, even to me. So there would be no tour. But then I heard from someone in my department at the U. of Tennessee Medical Center that one of our former graduate students now worked at the CDC. I began to wonder if this connection might work to my advantage.

And it certainly did. The former student was now a virology section chief. A SECTION CHIEF…. Holy cow! This could be my way in. But would the man be generous by nature and sympathetic to writers? He proved to be both of those.

On the day of my visit, I reported to the security office as instructed. There, I had to wait until my host came to escort me into the bowels of the place… no wandering around on my own with a visitor’s badge. That day I saw the hot zone in action and spoke with experts in many fields of virology, even spent some time with the world expert on porcine retroviruses. At the end of my visit—including all the cumbersome clinical protocols I had to engage in both before and during said visit—I not only left feeling more educated, but actually more safe and secure that no tropical virus would ever be a threat to this country… not with the meticulous, detail-oriented, security conscious, microbe fighters at the CDC watching out for us.

So, it’s with much regret and… yes, even a little fear, that I witnessed the head of the CDC recently assuring us that the Ebola virus is very difficult to transmit and that we know exactly how to control it. Instead of (what looked like) his clumsy attempts to soothe an ignorant and paranoid public, the CDC head should have given a blunt assessment, educated everyone like adults, and encouraged them to exercise precaution. Then, seemingly in answer, two nurses who cared for the index patient from Liberia become Ebola positive. And the CDC clears one of those nurses to take a commercial airline flight, even though she was in the early stages of Ebola infection…depressing. From a medical professional standpoint, this was practically criminal negligence. At present, the disease is not transmitted by air ("airborne"), but any scientist worth his/her salt cannot account for mutations the virus may undergo. This is why the job of the CDC is to contain harmful microbes, issue protocols to protect the public against them and ultimately eradicate them... period. It is not to be PR professionals for television cameras and fostering carelessness.

I’m still convinced that the combined knowledge and brainpower of the CDC staff will be a major impediment to any virus taking over this country. But Ebola probably has some tricks we haven’t seen yet. That means we may lose a few more battles before we can declare that this particular threat is behind us.

Meanwhile, how is development of that Ebola vaccine coming?

D.J. Donaldson is a retired professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center—where he taught and published dozens of papers on wound-healing and other health issues. He is the author of Louisiana Fever, one of the seven in the Andy Broussard/Kit Franklyn series of forensic mystery thrillers.
Don Donaldson Website Link

Louisiana Fever:  http://bit.ly/1u5ohGC

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1tEzXhI

B&N:    http://bit.ly/1tjAQw9

Apple:  http://bit.ly/1zhb3YX

Kobo:   http://bit.ly/1tQODeM

Please see my review post for more information about Louisiana Fever.