She’s Killing Knit

Debbie knit (actually crocheted) FIVE comfort shawls for the Cozy Butterfly Project! Thanks, Sh’awl! Last week, my good friend and sister writing group member, Debbie Broderick, delivered not one but FIVE comfort shawls to Hospice of Southern Maine as part of our Cozy Butterfly Project. I was totally blown away by her generosity and adeptness… Continue reading She’s Killing Knit

Book Review: LOST MY WAY IN THE DARKNESS by Mack Ames

LOST MY WAY IN THE DARKNESS, an indie penned by educator Mack Ames, is hard to categorize. Set in the 1980s, it’s a boyhood Coming of Age story with Christian and Inspirational themes. Despite the religious undertones, Ames doesn’t hold back in terms of realistic, rough language, sensitive and gritty topics, and realistic situations. Episodic… Continue reading Book Review: LOST MY WAY IN THE DARKNESS by Mack Ames

Book Review: LIVING WITH MR. FAHRENHEIT by Lisa Beecher

LIVING WITH MR. FAHRENHEIT: A First Responder Family’s Fight for a Future After a Mental Health Crisis A memoir of great pathos and greater courage, LIVING WITH MR. FAHRENHEIT grabbed me from the very first page, blazing so hot I couldn’t look away despite the pain, relentless and brutal, recounted throughout the book. There is… Continue reading Book Review: LIVING WITH MR. FAHRENHEIT by Lisa Beecher

Book Review: Aventurine and the Reckoning by Anne Britting Oleson

I finished  Aventurine and the Reckoning  by Anne Britting Oleson in the wee hours of the morning, propelled by a suspenseful story that started out in a slow roll and gathered momentum toward a tense and satisfying conclusion. Oleson’s lovely writing style drew me in as did her descriptions of English cities, villages, restaurants, meals,… Continue reading Book Review: Aventurine and the Reckoning by Anne Britting Oleson

Free Fiction: The Ornament

Finley Frances Merriweather, decorating her tree alone for the first time in, well, ever, flopped herself onto the antique couch she’d reupholstered in green and gold brocade and wailed.  Snowball, her West Highland Terrier, cocked his head and whined. He jumped onto her stomach, thirty overweight pounds knocking the air out of her so that… Continue reading Free Fiction: The Ornament

Free Fiction: Little Red Roadster, A Christmas Story

Sasha hadn’t counted on snow. Just a few miles west, the sun splashed down on the Pacific, and sandy beaches encircled her island hometown like a brown sugar rim on a fancy cocktail. She’d packed up her little red roadster with presents wrapped for the east county charity event her cousin had planned and headed… Continue reading Free Fiction: Little Red Roadster, A Christmas Story

Vintage Lit: Mary Roberts Rinehart & Her Maine Connection

Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Yellow Room

We’ve all heard the big Maine literature names from days of old: Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, E.B. White, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edna St. Vincent Millay. I love them all. However, there is more to Maine literary history than these venerable writers. I’ve been astounded to realize that many popular-in-their-day genre fiction writers also… Continue reading Vintage Lit: Mary Roberts Rinehart & Her Maine Connection