Shari MacDonald

I think the author of this book explained the characters in this story very well in her letter to the readers at the end. Tucker is a man who is obsessed with a desire to succeed. In this case it is to be the best pitcher he can be and to make it back into the major leagues. Casey needs to learn to take her anger to God. He knows her heart and she just needs to let go and not conceal her struggles from Him. She is the new young manager of the minor league team she has inherited. This story is about peoples hopes, their dreams and their passions.

I enjoyed the story; enjoyed getting a feel for baseball and the whole minor league team striving to get into the major leagues some day scenario. I also liked the way Tucker didn't give up on Casey and especially liked the ending interview of Tucker's when he told the reporters, "The truth is, I love baseball more now that I ever have before. But I have to admit, these days I've got a whole different kind of diamond on my mind." Way to go Tucker!!… (meer)

I won this signed anthology in a blog giveaway over two years ago. It has just been sitting on my shelf, passed over time and again. I couldn't help but think political equaled boring.
However, all the recent political stupidity regarding women's bodies has had me rather pissed off, so I decided to give the book a try. If it turned out boring, I'd just stop reading.

I didn't stop reading until the very last page.

I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging the anthology turned out to be. The voices varied in tone and topic, ranging from Benazir Bhutto balancing family and policy (all the more sad considering she was assassinated) to Barbara Kingsolver comparing herself to her daughter at thirteen. Some of my favorites included "Adoption in III Acts" by Kathy Briccetti, an intimate tale of how subsequent generations of her family had been adopted and the ordeal she and her partner were enduring to have them both listed as the mothers of their child, and "On Receiving Notice of My Stepdaughter's Pregnancy" by Mary Akers, in which she balances her love and frustration at her stepdaughter's choices.

The one weakness of the anthology is that it skews left--in some cases, far left. There's a lot of mourning over John Kerry's loss. A few essays verge on being outright antagonistic to Republicans, and sometimes the self-righteousness could be irritating. I consider myself an independent, and after reading so many liberal-themed essays in a row, I really yearned for more balance. My favorites essays were the ones that avoided those Republican/Democrat labels. Fortunately, there were many, and it's not as if any of the essays were "bad." I may not have agreed with the authors, but I found their arguments compelling and insightful.… (meer)

This was a story of Celia Randall; a lady who has lost loved ones and feels that God is playing a cruel game with her. She travels to Calinfornia with her dog Hank for a photography assignment and finds herself in a like/hate relationship with her new boss Marcus Stratton. She refuses to accept a close relationship with anyone so she won't ever be hurt again. And the rest of the story you can pretty well figure out.

I must admit there were parts in this story that did not hold my attention, but then I would come across another section that had me smiling and enjoying myself. I appreciated the insights that Celia's "friends" had regarding her misplaced thoughts on God. The author did a good job of answering some of Celia's questions about how she viewed God and for that reason alone I would encourage people to read this story. It was a quick read for me and although it had its slow moments, overall it was an enjoyable story.… (meer)