Where the Dark Stands Still, by A.B. Poranek
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Where the Dark Stands Still, by A.B. Poranek {ends 4/25}
Where the Dark Stands Still, by A.B. Poranek
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Book Review: The Cemetery of Untold Stories, by Julia Alvarez
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Book Review: Expiration Dates, by Rebecca Searle
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Book Review and GIVEAWAY - The Fortune Teller's Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor, by Dr. Lally Pia
Guest review by: Becki Bayley
“Flight attendants, prepare yourselves. Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be landing at San Francisco International Airport. Welcome to California.”
As the pilot’s jovial announcement crackled on the intercom, my legs trembled in anxious anticipation. A sharp, stabbing jolt of excitement hit my chest so hard that I doubled over and grasped both knees for a few seconds. I pulled out my immigration and naturalization paperwork from my handbag for the tenth time, to assure myself that it had not disintegrated in transit, and caressed the shiny stamp at the top of the precious document that symbolized my passport into this new culture.
Squashing my face against the window, I tried to capture every image and sensation of this descent into my new home, America! I’d imagined tons of skyscrapers, not this blue crescent of ocean glimmering next to golden sand. A towering bridge came into view. I wondered which one it was. It looked magnificent. We got so close to the water that I could see sunlight glinting on bright blue waves.
Lally encountered many obstacles, but she always held on to the prediction to her father from the fortune teller when she was just a baby.
Official synopsis:
When a military coup in Ghana leads to the abrupt closure of Lally Pia’s medical school, she is left stranded there, thousands of miles away from her family in California, with no educational prospects or money. Adding to her turmoil is her discovery that her American Green Card has been botched, which means she has no country to call home. But a Sri Lankan priest told Lally that she would one day become a “Doctor of Doctors” —and she is intent on proving him right.
This sizzling multicultural roller coaster illustrates the power of self-determination as Lally, a young immigrant with a drive to succeed, takes on obstacle after obstacle—an abusive relationship, the welfare state, and a gruesome job where she has to dismember human bodies—in order to fulfill her dreams. A story that will resonate with anyone who has faced cultural and immigration hardships, The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy is a nail-biting journey across continents, through hardships, and into ultimate triumph.
The cards seemed to be stacked against Lally. The reader is brought into the story of a twenty-year-old woman left behind by her family. Her parents and siblings moved to California while Lally stayed to finish up medical school in Ghana. But when the medical school closes and Lally’s green card doesn’t get her a clear exit strategy to join her family in California, she’s left to rely on the kindness of family friends for months waiting for either the medical school to reopen, or her green card status to grant her admittance to California.
Through it all, Lally’s positive spirit remains unstoppable, and the fortune teller’s prediction to her father remains a voice whispering to her through all her struggles. She’s supposed to be a medical doctor, and she isn’t sure who she is if this basic belief held by her and her family doesn’t end up to be true.
Lally’s story is a compelling and well-written memoir of her journey through young adulthood and some tough choices. The book earned 5 out of 5 stars and would be great for those who like female success stories and stories of life in other countries and cultures. Lally’s life could have gone in so many different directions, and she appreciates this and tells it well.
{click here to purchase via Amazon affiliate link - only $8.99 on Kindle right now!}
Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys taking care of her family, reading, and doing things to surprise her kids. Check out other books she’s read lately at her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.
GIVEAWAY:
One of my lucky readers will win a copy of The Fortune Teller's Prophecy!
Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, March 27th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be contacted via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.
Good luck!
The Fortune Teller's Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor, by Dr. Lally Pia
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Book Review and GIVEAWAY: The Resort, by Sarah Ochs {ends 3/26}
The Resort, by Sarah Ochs
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Book Review: The Queens of London, by Heather Webb
Guest review by: Becki Bayley
Lilian angled her body away from people rushing through the hallways of the police headquarters. They were all men, some of whom still stared at her as if she were a circus animal even after seven years on the force. Others gave her openly hostile glares or insulted her. Much as she liked being a part of Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police, she didn’t particularly enjoy the persisting derision. She couldn’t avoid it that day; she’d been told to meet with the chief. He’d said there was an important case to which he wanted to assign her. She couldn’t imagine what it was, but she was breathless with excitement at the thought.
She rapped decisively on his office door.
“Come in!” the chief barked.
“You wanted to see me, sir,” she said, stepping inside.
Diamond Annie and Officer Lilian Wyles were each powerful women in London, but Hira wasn’t sure how much she wanted to do with either one of them.
Official synopsis:
1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She's ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family"―it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen.
Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the "women's work" she's been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for―and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.
When Hira runs away from her uncle’s house, she isn’t sure where she’ll go, but she knows if she stays she’ll be sent to a boarding house and school for orphans. Nothing in her coddled life so far has readied her for that. While she hasn’t been able to live with her parents in India, her uncle has taken care of keeping a roof over her head, good food on the table, and competent servants, governess and tutors. Now that her parents have died, her uncle has decided his responsibility is over.
Hira is soon a pawn in a much bigger game. Diamond Annie is grooming her to be a great thief in her organization, and at the same time Officer Wiles wants to catch Diamond Annie and help Hira choose a life that isn’t funded by crime. Between these three strong characters and a charming shopgirl who witnesses some of it and wants a happy ending for herself and everyone else, the perspectives of London in 1925 are quite varied.
The author’s research shines through in this historical fiction and what results is a great and engaging story. The book earned 4 out of 5 stars and would be recommended for those who enjoy stories from the early 1900s, London, and compelling characters with very different motivations.
{click here to purchase via Amazon Affiliate link}
Becki Bayley is a book reviewer and blogger, Instagram-er, and TikTok-er from Michigan who goes by SweetlyBSquared.