Maybelle in Stitches will have you in stitches and tears and giggles.


Deb’s Dozen: 12-Word Summary – WWII welderette, builds ships, homemaker, loss, love, from friends to family

The time is World War II – 1943; the place is Chester, Pennsylvania; the setting is the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock; the main character – Maybelle Kazinski, welderette. Yes, you read that correctly – welderette. In 1943, many women were called into action at home – filling the jobs the soldiers and sailors left behind. So Maybelle became a welderette – worked her way up from cutting bolt holes in the sheet metal to welding seams on the warships that came through their plant.

Maybelle and her best friend, Doris, both worked in the plant. Their husbands had gone off to war after a very short period of marriage – in Maybelle’s case, two weeks. She longs for her husband, Holden, as does Doris for her husband, Mickey. Doris is lucky, though; she hears from Mickey fairly frequently – at least as often as the V-mail gets through.

Maybelle, a tomboy of sorts, lives at home with her mother, Francine, who would put Betty Crocker and June Cleaver to shame. When Maybelle’s mom dies unexpectedly, Maybelle is lost – she doesn’t know how to do all those house-wifely things. Thank heavens Doris lives just down the street, and their boarder, Roger, is handy in the kitchen and as a scrounger, too.
Cleaning out her mother’s things, Maybelle runs across a quilt her mom has started – piecing together materials from Maybelle’s past – her baby blanket and other memorable bits of cloth. Doris has the inspiration that they should finish the quilt – despite the fact that Maybelle can’t sew.

How the girls manage without their spouses, manage without Francine to guide them in the house or on the quilt, and how the war affects them with its effects, is a touching and wonderful story. I smiled in sympathy at Maybelle’s ineptness in the kitchen, cried when Francine died, giggled at the antics of their dog, and wanted to quilt along as they progressed. You’ll love this story of the gals left behind during World War II and how they coped – sometimes brilliantly, sometimes in spite of themselves.

Joyce Magnin has written several books including The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow, which was named one of the “Top 5 Best Christing Fiction Books of 2009” by Library Journal. Joyce is mom to three children, has one grandson, and mothers a neurotic parakeet.

I was given a copy of Maybelle in Stitches by Abingdon Press for my unbiased review.

Are We the Brothers’ Keepers?


Deb’s Dozen: 12-Word Summaries – Tragedy, treachery, twins, twists, and turns. Mother, siblings, spouses, suitors. Living water.

Seldom have I been drawn into a book so quickly. She had me at the first sentences, The ringing phone interrupted my first good night’s sleep in two weeks. My heart raced, and the Sixth Commandment echoed through my groggy brain. I am archaeologist Grace Madison, and I do not typically kill people. I could immediately identify as my favorite Proverb is 27:14, which paraphrased says, Whoever greets his friend early in the morning with a loud voice shall be cursed.

I was one with Grace at that moment. I read the next sentence, The shot shattered the window inches from her head. Okay, now I’m really hooked. Two paragraphs and one sentence into the book and I know that I’m in for a raucous ride with twists and turns and trauma and tragedy. Little did I know how true that snap assessment would prove.

From Belgium and Colorado and Paris and the Swiss Alps, the family Madison convenes to find their missing member, Maggie, the hydrologist, kidnapped once before. Enter the Mossad, the MOSES team (a group of geriatric academicians who’d helped in the last Madison family fiasco), a renegade priest, and a beautiful red-headed scoundrel who loves son, Jeffrrrrey, now married to MI6 agent, Becca.

All the players in place, the chase can now begin. With a multiplicity of backgrounds in play: Jeff, the son and linguist knowledgeable in archaic languages; Grace, the archaeologist with decades of experience; Maggie, the hydrologist and missing daughter; Mark, Grace’s husband, and ex-CIA; and Becca, Jeff’s wife, the aforementioned MI6 agent, the story quickly becomes convoluted. Water and Luther and Israel and Rome and Venice are all involved in a mystery the group must solve by following a four-thousand-year-old artifact trail .

I loved the way NLB Horton keeps all the players straight and always progresses toward the culmination of the story even with all the convolutions resident in the plot. We know that the assembled team will be victorious in the end – how could they not be? Still, with the stumbling blocks and villains in their path, we can’t help but keep turning pages to find out how they will succeed.

I was disappointed in the ending, but as there is a third book underway (the first was When Camels Fly), I surmise that NLB Horton wanted to keep the suspense at a high level. Even as a standalone novel, you won’t be disappointed in the read. I give the book 4 stars.

I was given a copy of The Brothers’ Keeper by RidgeRoute Press for my unbiased review.

Underdogs: Canines, Convicts, Courage, and Christmas – all wrapped up in one!


Deb’s Dozen: 12-Word Summaries – Sad journey with losses, but a joyous Christmas of helping and hope.

I loved the book. I laughed and cried and laughed again. What a wonderful Christmas book this is! Although the author has been through pain and losses – both of a step-son and multiple dogs, she still finds hope, love, and cheer to ease her way through the journey of life. I was with her every step – many of us have endured similar hardships. I admire her stick-to-it-iveness and her willingness to try new things and to look for joy in her surroundings. Underpinning her whole story is her firm conviction that God is good – all the time. You’ll want to get several copies of this book to give as gifts as well as keeping one for yourself!

Her biography tells us that Connie (Sturm) Cameron has a gift for inspirational writing, touching the heart in a way that truly blesses the reader. Her Leaps of Faith weekly newspaper column is a feature in five newspapers, where she shares her thoughts about life and her faith. Connie’s latest book, a 365 daily devotional, Stories of Faith and Courage from Prison (AMG Publishers), is packed with moving testimonies of hope behind bars. Co-authored with Jeff Peck (formerly of Prison Fellowship International), their book has endorsements by Chad Hovind, author of Godonomics, and Carol Kent, author of When I Lay My Isaac Down.

I know Connie to be a warm and loving person – her character comes through in her writing – you’ll want to get to know her, too!