Buddy's Tail By K. Anne Russell

Buddy Boutonnier, a big-hearted Standard Poodle, subsists in the bare backyard of a tract hme in the desert city of Yucca Dunes. MacKenzie, a Border Collie, and Javier, a Chihuahua, provide Buddy with companionship and bring him food scraps when his neglegtful owners forget to provide for him.

When Buddy's owners decide to move, Buddy meets a wonderful lady who visits his house with prospective buyers. The poodle's humans try to sell their dog and Buddy goes through a series of unsuitable living situations. The final family returns Buddy to the tract home not realizing the owners are out of town. His only lifeline, MacKenzie, is killed by an evil Hummer driver while bringing him food. Tiny Javier tries to support Buddy with the aid of Dumb Derek, a Rottweiler whose brain is damaged from years of guarding a chemical dump. The two are unable to help the poodle.

Buddy dies, but is brought back to life by Sonny, the Good Shepherd. Sonny grants Buddy's wish to go live with the wonderful lady, in return for his promise to go with Sonny when he comes back for him. Buddy has a happy life with the lady and her dog, Skootch. Together they rescue abandoned Leroy and abused Roxanne. Years later, during Skootch's fifteenth birthday party, Sonny comes for Buddy. True to his word, he goes without complaint.

Sonny takes Buddy to Haven, the canine paradise, where he is reunited with MacKenzie. Sonny explains the rules in Haven; dogs acquire free will and give up their role of caring for humans. Their only responsibility is to help guide other dogs to Haven. Buddy excels at guiding, but on a mission to bring back a bomb dog from Afghanistan, Buddy breaks the rule and helps a human, the dog's Marine partner.

The residents of Haven are furious with the poodle and he is exiled to the perimeter of paradise. There he meets a young girl who died of cancer and befriends her, another infraction of the rules. He is dragged before the communal tribunal, where MacKenzie defends him. With the help of the marine and the girl, MacKenzie convinces the judges that Buddy is not an offender, but a hero.

Buddy's story teaches young readers about the bonds of love and friendship, the role of free will in building character, the importance of responsibility in our lives, especially as it relates to animal welfare, and the acceptance of death as part of life's journey for ourselves and our pets.

My thoughts on this book.....

I loved it!!! I will be reading it to the children in my family and encouraging everyone I know to do so also.

Termination Orders: Code Name Cobra By Leo Maloney

Leo Maloney, former Black Ops contractor, penned this action thriller novel as a quasi-memoir about the dark but arguably necessary side of intelligence that the government officially denies. The book spans the late 1960's through 2001 depicting events witnessed first-hand by the author embodied in the hero, Dan Morgan. It is a masterly blend of Black Ops intrigue interwoven with imaginative sequences of fiction. The reader must guess which accounts are real and which are merely storytelling.

Termination Orders: Code Name Cobra races the reader through a twisting plotline, populated by memorable characters who make their way through a tangled web of ethical questions, personal priorities, and suspense. The storyline is comprised of counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and target reconnaissance, in a crescendo of events set across three continents from a fireside ambush at a Kandahar village pig roast, to the vast inner halls of the CIA, to a window-ledge view through a sniper scope aimed at Gaddafi in Libya.


My thoughts:

I really liked this book. From page one, it kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next. The characters were believable and easy to like or hate, depending on whether or not they were the good guys. I would love to see this book made into a movie. It was an easy read with chapters that weren't too long, and written so that someone who doesn't know a lot of "military speak" could understand.

Recovery By Alexandrea Weis

Still devestated two years after the mysterious murder of her beloved David Alexander, Nicci Beauvoir surprises everyone in the Big Easy by returning to her hometown with a new admirer: the cool and contentious Dallas August. But the attractive stranger is asking a lot of questions about David's death, making Nicci's family and friends speculate about his true intentions. Only Nicci knows that Dallas, a high-priced corporate spy, has come to New Orleans to flush out David Alexander's killer. Playing the part of her lover, Dallas escorts Nicci around town hoping to get closer to his possible suspects. But hiding amid the city's elite is a jealous maniac waiting to make Nicci suffer.
As the days pass and the danger grows, Nicci's relationship with the handsome spy turns from adversarial to amorous. Desperate to unearth the identity of David's murderer, Nicci and Dallas decide to lure the killer out of the city for one final showdown. It is a deadly decision that could cost Nicci everything. But it may be her only chance for....Recovery.

Recovery is the second novel in the Nicci Beauvoir series by Alexandrea Weis.

This book is a romantic thriller set in post-Katrina New Orleans. I was a little concerned about reading this book since it is part of a series. I haven't read "To My Senses" but I was still able to keep up with the story line in "Recovery" fairly easily.

I found the book a little hard to get into in the beginning, but by the end of the first chapter I wanted to see where things were going to go between Nicci and Dallas. I was also lured in by the setting of the book being in New Orleans since I have visited there.

The author kept me hooked as to who could possibly be David's killer. The scenes where Nicci and Dallas were alone and fighting their feelings for each other were very good. The ending actually surprised me and I look forward to the next book in the series.