The Tiki Barber Biography

   My next book to review came from a free box (Sorry, Tiki ) after what looks like some water damage. It's not the type of biography I'd typically read since I have no interest in football. But...I've heard of Tiki, so I rescued it from the free box and added it to my summer reading pile.
  Tiki's early life is upset when his dad walks out on the family, but with a strong-willed mother the family thrives. Tiki and his twin brother Ronde excel at school and then on the football field. The detailed chapters about Tiki's football games drowsed me, but for a fan of the game they'd probably be eye-openers. I dig the familial backgrounds of all biographers, so the only chapter that really held me was the first chapter and the pictures.
 There are no real juicy stories here, just a typical biography with a positive message.
 Off to my recycling pile it goes! (sorry again, Tiki!)

Bend Your Brain Review

This book is fun with a capital F. Loaded with a variety of puzzlers of varying levels, there is something here for everyone: Rebus, Chain Game, Dominant Eye Tests.dot-to-dots....every page is a new activity.
  Anyone 13 and older would enjoy these puzzles. They're a pleasant change from crossword puzzles and search-a-words that you normally find in the puzzle book section. Seek this book out! As a puzzle connoisseur, I give it my 5 star recommendation.
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Sample puzzle pages:

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

  The last novel I read was Long Lost. I got this book a few years ago at a church garage sale for 25 cents, and it's been waiting in my to-do pile since then. So here it goes...
 Long Lost starts with Myron Bolitar getting a mysterious phone call from a long lost ex-lover, Terese. She asks him to come to Paris and at first he thinks it's crazy, but after he finds out his current girlfriend is taking off to her parents house down south and he gets into a rumble with her son's basketball coach, he decides to go for it and meet Terese in France. He's got  nothing left to lose in the states.
 He arrives in Paris, and as soon as he leaves the plane he senses trouble. He's detained by the French police  for questioning, but he's at a loss as to what they're talking about. His ex-lover's husband was murdered?? She had a husband?! He had no idea. The story unfolds from there as the two lovers reunite. Toss in a mysterious blond girl and umbilical cord blood for plot twists and you have a one-of-a-kind plot.
 The characters are intriguing without being boring. I liked Myron's friend who reminded me of Better Call Saul from Breaking Bad.  I thought my eyelids would go south when I read the name "Mohammad Matar", It didn't- the story kept it's pace and there was never a dull moment.