It is often said among appellate litigators that oral arguments rarely affect the outcome of a case. The written arguments—the briefs—are the coin of the realm. Perhaps for that reason, most analysts of the marathon five-hour oral argument in the affirmative action cases before the US Supreme Court on October 31 concluded that nothing of […]
Original source: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2022/12/08/affirmative-action-supreme-court-ifill/
A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman takes us to Petoskey, Michigan, a lakeside community where we meet Susan, her grandparents and their employees at the family bookstore, Sleigh By the Bay. Susan’s grandparents have a unique love story, and Susan has been searching for her own Kris Kringle. The tale that unfolds will delight you…..
A Wish for Winter
by Viola Shipman
Genres: Women’s Fiction
Source: Publisher
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
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Heat Level: 
Despite losing her parents in a tragic accident just before her fourteenth Christmas, Susan Norcross has had it better than most, with loving grandparents to raise her and a gang of quirky, devoted friends to support her. Now a successful bookstore owner in a tight-knit Michigan lakeside community, Susan is facing down forty—the same age as her mother when she died—and she can’t help but see everything she hasn’t achieved, including finding a love match of her own. To add to the pressure, everyone in her small town believes it’s Susan’s destiny to meet and marry a man dressed as Santa, just like her mother and grandmother before her. So it seems cosmically unfair that the man she makes an instant connection with at an annual Santa Run is lost in the crowd before she can get his name.
What follows is Susan and her friends’ hilarious and heartwarming search for the mystery Santa—covering twelve months of social media snafus, authors behaving badly and dating fails—as well as a poignant look at family, friendship and what defines a well-lived and well-loved life.
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Viola Shipman has been on my radar thanks to blogger friends, so I grabbed A Wish For Winter for the Ho-Ho-Ho readathon as a winter selection, but it has a strong holiday theme as well. Susan’s life has been filled with tragedy, love, books and a childhood wish to meet her own Kris Kringle.
This is very much a women’s fiction selection, and I loved the small-town charm, rich, colorful characters and character growth. Susan has a tightknit group of friends and family. I loved the bookstore from events to celebrations.
The central storyline surrounds a Santa race where Susan meets a man in a Santa suite who might just be the one. Only he fails to meet her after. Her friends help with the hunt to find this Kris Kringle and along the way we see character growth, healing and more. The tale takes us through the major holidays, health emergencies, blind dates, and book events as the search hits the media. I could see the story as a Hallmark movie or motion picture.
A touching story from beginning to end, all set with a bookstore as the backdrop. While romance is central, the story is more about friendship, family and personal happiness. I loved the cozy independent bookstore and small-town in a big city charm. I highly recommend to fans of holiday chick-lit with well-developed characters and depth.
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In A Wish for Winter Viola Shipman, bookstore owner Susan, searches for her own Kris Kringle. #WomensFiction #HolidayRead #bookreview #NewRelease #romance
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Viola Shipman is the pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Summer Cottage, as well as The Charm Bracelet and The Hope Chest which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and become international bestsellers. He lives in Saugatuck, Michigan and Palm
Springs, California, and has written for People, Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping, and Taste of Home, along with other publications, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.
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Original source: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2022/12/a-wish-for-winter-viola-shipman.html
A dragon named Dan lives high on top of a mountain called Marbled Mountain in Cloud City. Next to the mountain is a beautiful place called Sparkle Land, where a unicorn named Fran lives. They are both excellent and caring creatures who think they have everything they could ever need right where they are. Then one day, a big storm sweeps them both away from their homes, and they wind far from their mountain home. When the storm stops, they find themselves lost and hurt. Can these two different creatures become friends and work together to get home?
The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship, written by Charly Froh, is a magical adventure story that will captivate children. The first thing that caught my attention with this children’s book is the vivid and beautiful images created by Zuzana Svobodova. Children will love the bright colors and playful images that greet them with the characters Dan and Fran. Teachers and parents will love how the characters embody the characteristics of helping others, being bright, and appreciating the life they have.
One of the important lessons this magical book teaches kids is that it is okay to ask for help from others. Both characters had a problem after they were stranded by the storm and could not find their way home alone. Using teamwork and making friends made it so they could travel home safely and have fun along the way.
The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship is a well-written and illustrated picture book that will inspire children to imagine and teach them it is alright to need a helping hand sometimes, even from someone you don’t know well. This touching story of a dragon and a unicorn building a friendship and taking an adventure together is heartwarming and will become a favorite with children and adults alike.
Pages: 40 | ASIN: B0BNVLP3RC
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/08/the-dragon-and-the-unicorn-the-magic-of-friendship/
Magician Emu by R.C. Chizhov is an exciting story about self-discovery. As a young child, finding your way in life can be challenging, especially if you take a unique path that not everyone understands. Magician Emu aspires to be a great magician one day, just like Spikey Spike, so she learns all his magical tricks and reads all of his books to become an extraordinary talent.
When Magician Emu’s plans don’t turn out as expected, the story takes on a fun and surprising twist, which I found delightful and entertaining. The story is brilliantly written in a way that keeps the reader engaged with the character and the importance of the book’s message of perseverance and resilience. It’s also a great way to promote the importance of being comfortable as yourself and finding your own path in life.
I truly enjoyed this book and its whimsical, light-hearted, but crucial message for kids. Magician Emu is the ideal character, who struggles with many of the same challenges that most of us do, and for this reason, the story is easy to relate to and find thoroughly satisfying and inspiring.
Magician Emu is the perfect addition to your child’s library at home, or as a great read at school or daycare. It’s a fantastic book for children learning to read, and an important reminder to celebrate who we are as individuals, while supporting our kids, so they may grow into strong and confident adults.
Pages 31 | ASIN 173795267X
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/08/magician-emu-a-magical-story-of-believing-in-yourself/
Down Wind and Out of Sight by Douglas Richardson is an unexpectedly riveting and compelling novel that exceeds expectations. Hugh Ullam has had a complicated life since his childhood. As an Aboriginal child born in Australia, he faced horrific discrimination and mistreatment from an early age. However, his life would eventually follow an unforeseen journey with many ups and downs. Landing a new job at Bohemia Manor as its General Manager, he gets to share a living with a peculiar mixed group of people, among them Rickey Bayard, an autistic kid and the central focus at the manor: the group’s intention is to guide her and protect her under her father’s directions.
During the first chapters, time seemed to pass by, just as time passed by at Bo Manor. This gave the book’s first quarter slow pacing that made it hard to figure out where the plot would eventually lead to. However, after a while, unprecedented events started to happen, and the story reached a high level of intrigue. The plot becomes quite suspenseful, and every chapter brings the reader closer to the familial bond that inevitably is created between the residents of the manor. Time builds affection among the characters, bringing to light their unique traits and depth of thought.
The entire storyline is an enjoyable ride full of twists and turns. The plot became thicker after every chapter and allowed the book to develop into a unique thriller that was hard to stay away from. A page-turner, the novel builds tension and presents complex characters with distinctive personalities, and one inevitably grows attached to them. The book also showcases relevant societal problems that make people’s lives more difficult. For example, there are realistic depictions of racism at many levels, following specific historical events and shedding light on problems of the present and past that have setback the lives of many. There’s also a detailed and accurate portrayal of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that was showcased in a strangely beautiful manner.
The secluded group at Bo Manor soon has to devise a master plan to avoid trouble. Still, racial discrimination and excessive abuses of power might make their journey a lot harder than anticipated, relying entirely on each other’s wit, intelligence and determination.
Down Wind and Out of Sight is a thrilling mystery with intricate plot points providing readers with edge-of-your-seat suspense. As this action-filled story plays out, the characters work their way into your heart, and you start to question the lines between right and wrong, and do the ends justify the means?
Pages: 394 | ASIN : B09RML3H89
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/08/down-wind-and-out-of-sight/
When the world envelopes itself in the flames of war and death moves freely across the landscape, how far would you go to rid it of evil? What would you do to protect all that is good and right? What sacrifices would you make? For duty is the death of love.
An Enemy Like Me is a poignant novel brought to us by author Teri M. Brown. It tells the story of Jacob Miller, an American of German Descent. His life was a struggle from the moment he first drew breath. Growing up poor in Ohio during the Great Depression, he battled starvation and came near to death. Jacob believes his life has changed and he has found his “happy ever after” when he meets his wife. Together, they start a family and finally life is looking good. But then, the world throws itself into disaster. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he feels compelled to join the military, for a number of reasons. Jacobs’ struggles continue and he is forced to endure more than most. And when he returns home, he finds that although the war is over, it still rages on inside him.
This is an emotionally-resonant historical fiction novel that explores war, and it’s impacts, in unique ways that few military fiction novels do. I enjoyed the historical references in the book and I felt that this book utilizes those historical facts well and uses them to tell a compelling story. Against this vivid historical backdrop we follow Jacob, and his story is interesting, but I would have loved to have explored his character further and deeper because what is given to readers is fascinating. There were so many people affected by World War Two and I feel like Jacob is a good representation of the majority of people that fought in that war, and probably wars afterwards. It’s not about how his story is different, it’s about how his story is similar to many other soldiers and their families, and how those heartaches and tragedies of war, which are strikingly painted in the story, are felt by all.
The writing style is good and, besides a few clichés, this is an engaging and evocative story that fans of historical fiction will enjoy. This novel stands out in a packed genre for its emotional exploration of subjects like family, society and war.
Pages: 328 | ASIN: 1639885455
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/08/an-enemy-like-me/
I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir by Fran Abrams details the author’s first-hand experience as an activist in the second wave of feminism, expressed in poetry. This pivotal era paved the way for many women, including modern-day opportunities and equal rights. While the earlier first wave set the stage in the fight for equality, the 1960s’ second wave provided more women with the same professional and financial opportunities as men.
While I enjoy reading the history of feminism and human rights’ movements, I found Abrams’ style of verse added a deeply personal, almost romantic, touch to the memoir, which kept me interested and intrigued. The story guides the reader through various periods of the author’s life, starting from childhood, where she quickly learns and discovers a world where women are taught their “rightful place”, which at that time, was considered running the household and raising children. The author also references the racism of that era, which also had a profound impact on many women who were not represented equally within the feminist movement.
The poetry is subtle, story-like, but makes an impact from the voice of an active participant, without becoming too ambiguous. Abrams does an outstanding job describing historical events from a woman’s perspective, and pointing out the ways of thinking at that time, and how racism and sexism impacted her life personally. Abrams discusses the challenges of falling in love with someone of a different ethnic background, and the difficulties they faced and overcame together.
I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir is an excellent memoir that follows the hardship of one woman in a male-dominated field, personal relationships, and the related challenges with striking accuracy and passion. I recommend this book for its thought-provoking content, engaging poetry, and how it conveys the importance of remembering history and learning about the struggles of equality from someone who experienced it personally.
Pages 88 | ASIN 1639886540
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/08/i-rode-the-second-wave/