Another Chance Ranch

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica - Review

A chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this stunning new psychological thriller from national bestselling author Mary Kubica (taken from book description)

How is it possible to like and dislike a book at the same time? That is really how I feel about this one. I will do my best to describe this one to you, but it won't be easy to describe without giving it all away. I will try my best!

Setting 

Chicago.  Picture cold, and rainy.

Characters 

Heidi. Wife to Chris. Mom to Zoe. Bleeding heart kind of soul who works for an adult-literacy charity.

Chris. Husband to Heidi. Dad to Zoe. Investment banker. Pretty boy. I admired this guy.

Zoe. Typical pre-teen. Hates everything. Vegetarian.

Willow. Says she is 18. Homeless with a baby. Loves Anne of Green Gables and the library. After her parents passed, she was placed in a foster home. Has lots of secrets that are revealed up until the very end of the book.

Like I said before, it would be very difficult to describe this one without spoilers.

It is told from multi-character point of view - Heidi, Willow & Chris.

Heidi keeps seeing the same girl at the train station wearing an army green jacket, carrying a worn leather suitcase, and a baby, named Ruby. One day she approaches her, and asks if she can buy her dinner. Willow says no. But Heidi doesn't give up. This becomes a theme in the book. She tells Willow how to calm the colicky baby, and that she will be diner if she changes her mind. And she does! Willow and her baby show up. Heidi has given Willow her raincoat to wrap the baby in, and her business card.

Obviously, Willow calls her because Heidi ends up bringing Willow and Ruby home to a horrified husband and daughter. She tells her husband that it is only for one night, but one night turned to two, and two to three, and so on.

This act of kindness on Heidi's part became something more twisted. 

You will learn:

Where Willow and Ruby came from.

What happens next!

 

Why this title is in the mystery-thriller genre.

But, you will have to learn all of this for yourself, because if I continue telling you about it there will be lots of spoilers. And I'm not spilling the beans.

For me, this book was most definitely a page-turner. I read devoured it in 2.75 days. Are you wondering how I could like and dislike it at the same time if I devoured it like that?  Well, I didn't like the way it ended. Let me clarify. It isn't a bad ending, but it really wasn't a good ending. It was abrupt. Make sense? In my opinion, I felt like the author could have taken a little more time on the ending.

Would I recommend this book? I don't know. I did recommend this book to one friend before I finished it. Then I finished it, and kind of changed my mind. Here is what I am going to say to anyone that asks about this book.  There are lots of mixed reviews, and maybe you should check those out before you commit to reading this one.

There is so much more I want to say about this one. If you read it, or have already read it and still want to chat about it - email me! I'd say comment below, but then it would spoil it for everyone else.

anotherchanceranch at gmail dot com

Special thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Half Moon Bay, CA

We travel quite a bit with McD's job, and I can honestly say that we would never be able to stay at these nice places if it weren't business related.

Let me tell you about this last trip.

We went to Half Moon Bay, CA, and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton. (I told you we wouldn't be able to go to these places.)

The photo above is just one of the many beautiful views from the coastal trail.

This photo is also from the coastal trail. There is a nice little bridge with this view out onto the ocean. The air coming off of the water was so cold that we each snapped a photo, and then moved on.

Yes, I said the air coming off of the water was so cold. This is not your sunny California location. This was the forecast for the week we were there.

Our first day there was sunny, and felt warmer than 57 degrees. After that, it was misting, chilly, and cloud covered, but it was still beautiful!!

Kinda pretty, huh?

This is the best Key Lime Pie I have ever eaten, nevermind it was the first piece I ever ate. :) If you have a chance to go to Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay, you must eat a piece of this pie.

It is kind of hard to tell what this is, but you know I will tell you. This is a semi-hairless dog. It was the ugliest dog I have ever seen in person. It was very friendly, but certainly not one of the dogs I wanted to pet.

That day McD was free for lunch, so we headed to Pasta Moon in town, and I have to say that was the best Italian food I have ever eaten. It is true Italian food, and all of the pasta is made there on site. Yum!!!

This is the menu for the last night we were there. It looks like a lot of food when it is all printed up like this.

Here's the salad.

And the entree.

The prawn were on a plate of their own, and I was happy to share them with one of our friends at our table. I did eat the short ribs and potatoes. I was still a little hungry, so when I received a text from my friend telling me that they had a surprise for me I was pretty excited! She wasn't feeling well, so she and her husband skipped the last dinner. I was sending her photos of the meal that she was missing. :)

My surprise? Well, it was a fabulous piece of Key Lime Pie from Sam's Chowder House!!  The only problem was that I didn't have any silverware in my room. The only thing that looked like it could be used as a utensil was a Ritz stamped shoe horn. Don't worry, I didn't. I tore that box apart and ate it right out of the box. :) Where there is a will, there is a way!

 

Together - in(RL)

In 2006, I never dreamt that I would actually meet Robin (Pensieve) in real life. It just so happened that we were able to meet face-to-face at the in(courage) in(RL) event.

in(RL) = in (RealLife)

It was their second year hosting this upside down conference, their words not mine. Women can tune into a webcast from home on Friday and then on Saturday join in via their computer screens and connect with other (in)courage readers and new friends right in their own community. (I was completely out of my community, but quickly made new friends.)

Exclusively designed by Lisa Leonard for (in)courage, this necklace beautifully reminds women of the importance of community.....coming together to share, listen, and encourage one another.  Robin was such a sweetheart, and gave me my very own ((together)) necklace. We were finally together!

Everything seemed so fitting - in(RL), ((together)), friends. It was perfect!!

At one point during the day, I caught myself staring at Robin. There were many thoughts going through my head. First of all, I was really there, sitting in her house, watching her television (we watched everything on DVD), and mingling with her friends. I wasn't dreaming! I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to finally get to hug her neck, and for putting such an inspirtational woman in my life. God is really, really good to me!

This was my first in(RL), and I am looking forward to many more! I hope next time you will join me!

Thankful Thursday - Jan. 10, 2013

Last month, December 2012, I went on my very first mission trip and this is a photo of our team. Let me introduce you to everyone. From the top, left to right: Trey, me, Amber, Jessica, Stephanie, Granny, Vanessa. Middle, left to right: Daryl, Bob, Jeff, Rob, Grant. Bottom, left to right: John, Shawn, Grant, Ronnie, Bob, Danny, Cory.

I feel bad because I can't recall where everyone is from, but I can tell you that our team represents at least four states. We were all brought together by God, to do work in His name. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of this team.

I went for weeks thinking that the next mission trip I could go on would be in July, and the timing of that one just isn't right for me this year. It would take a lot of sacrifice on my part, and I am praying about that. But then last week, Trey posted on Facebook that there is a trip this month, and it just so happened that there was at least one person that ended up not being able to go. I immediately sent him a message telling him that I was very interested in going.

Fast forward a few days. I spoke to Trey, got the details on the trip, and told him that I would have to talk to McD, but that I would get back with him. He gave me twenty-four hours. Six hours later, I told him that I was going!

I am so thankful for this opportunity to go and serve our Lord!

It is a new team, and I will only know one person (Trey) going. So, I will get to meet new people too!

If you don't mind, please keep me and the rest of our team in your prayers as we go to Mexico City.

Now, what are you thankful for today?

Life, Lessons, & Love

Let's see, where shall I begin?

I have been living life instead of blogging, and I have really missed it.  I have thought about blogging while I'll be going and doing, but haven't sat down to actually write. 

Hopefully I will get back in the groove.  I've been reading a lot of new books to review, trying new recipes, will be planting a garden soon, traveling, etc.  So, I do have material to write about.  I even have some photos. Imagine that.

Speaking of travel, I recently went to Hawaii. 

It was beautiful!! Rainy, but still beautiful!

One day the sun came out while we were in our room, and as we all noticed the spectacular view I know I heard all of us inhale as it took our breathe away.

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this is the view from our room.  I should say that this photo has not been edited at all.  I resized it, and here it is. 

I learned a valuable lesson while in Hawaii.  Don't go to Hawaii during the rainy season, and expect to lay on the beach. We were able to walk on the beach though, and that was nice.

Something else I learned was that fruit and vegetables taste so much better in Hawaii.  I am not kidding.  Oh, and french fries with truffle oil are delicious!  If you ever get the chance to eat at the Truffle Fries at the Yard House take it!

I absolutely positively love these two ladies. 

This is my seester, Jenn and my Granny. 

I will tell you more about our trip next week, but I wanted to profess my love for them both here today.  They already know how much I love them, but I wanted you to know too.  Plus, I like this photo of them.

My seester and I haven't spent a whole lot of time together, so this trip was super special for me.  We shared clothes (a first), make-up, she painted my toes (another first), laughs, looks, etc.  We will never forget this trip that Granny was kind enough to take us on.  Hopefully it won't be the last trip we all take together.

Be sure to come back tomorrow.  I am having a giveaway that you won't want to miss. 

(Hint: PW)

Was That A Rat?

Let me introduce all of you to Kevin.  Kevin is the one on the left, not the security guard. 

Yesterday, I shared with you our dining experience at Fogo De Chao, and I mentioned that there was a funny story about our walk back to the hotel.  Well, here it is.

The restaurant was a few blocks from our hotel, and our hotel was right across the street from Freedom Plaza.  Freedom Plaza just so happens to be where they have one of the Occupy D.C. camps.  More on that another day.

There we were, eighteen of us, walking back to the hotel.  Kevin wanted to walk by the Occupy camp, and I told him I would walk with him.  Everyone else stayed on the opposite side of the street.  As we were walking through the crosswalk, he told me that he would be my protector and I replied that I hoped so.  Of course, we were laughing and joking about getting too close to the camp. 

We rounded the corner, and I saw something scurry across the sidewalk, or so I thought I did.  I asked him if he saw that.  He didn't, so I blew it off.  Less than three steps down the sidewalk, I saw something else scurry across the sidewalk so I grabbed Kevin's arm and said I saw rats.  He said he didn't see them, and kind of laughed at me like I might be seeing things.

I turned around to see what was behind us, and there were two rats scurrying across the sidewalk.  But at the same time I was turning around to see the rats running behind us, Kevin saw them running in front of us.  His voice went up two octaves as he half way yelled, "Let's get out of here!" 

Just so you know, I am laughing almost hysterically just thinking about it.

We hightailed it out of there, screaming and laughing the whole way.  Kevin said something about us getting a jay-walking ticket, and I was laughing to hard to respond.  When I saw a rat the size of a small cat coming up out of the sewer, I could've cared less about a jay-walking ticket. 

This could be one of those you just had to be there stories, but it was just too funny for me not to share.  The one thing that keeps me laughing is how Kevin told me he would be my protector right before we saw the rats, and how he sounded like a girl telling me to get out of there. 

Another thing that keeps me laughing is wondering what the people in the Occupy camp thought of us two hillbillies screaming and running from the rats that were running right into their camp.

A Restaurant Experience in D.C. - Fogo De Chao

Fogo De Chao is a Brazilian Steakhouse.  Fogo De Chao means fire on the ground, the gaucho way of preparing meat.

We made reservations for our group, hoping this would be a new experience for everyone.  It turns out that the only person that had been to this type of restaurant before was McD.  He knew what to expect, but I think it was still a fun experience for him. 

Since we were mostly newbies, we were given detailed instructions on how to dine at Fogo De Chao.  Our instructions were for us to enjoy the salad bar first.  Then, when we are ready for our second course we were to flip our little cards over.

When we have enough or are finished with our meal, we were to flip the card over again.

Sounds easy enough.

This is what it looked like when a server brought something to you.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but Farmer Ribs has some tongs in his right hand.  Part of the instructions were that we needed to take our serving with our tongs.  That was easy enough to remember, but the turning the cards over at the appropriate time got a little confusing.  Just when you thought you had enough on your plate a server would come by with some amazing looking steak, pork, or lamb and you'd ask for some whether your card was right side up or not.  It didn't bother the servers, but it did give all of us a giggle.

Our reservations were for 7:30 pm, there were eighteen of us, and we were out of there in under an hour.  We were all very impressed with the great service. 

Go to Fogo.com to see if there is a Fogo De Chao restaurant near you.  It would be a fun night out for the family.

Come back for a funny story about our walk back to the hotel tomorrow. 

The Highlight of My Trip to Washington D.C.

Last week, we were in Washington D.C. and I loved it!  Every freezing cold moment of it!  But, the highlight of our trip, for me, was the night we took a toured D.C. at night.  It was so AMAZING!

We rented a limo, but not just any limo.

It was a Hummer that seats 20 people.  It was nice!

We made several stops, and here are some of the shots I took to share with you guys.

The Capital.

The Washington Monument.

The back side of the Jefferson Memorial.

Jefferson.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK, Jr. again.

As we climbed up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial, this was my view.  It was awesome.  I just had to capture it.

The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorites.

The Lincoln Memorial.

This is the statue that we just love that is at the Vietnam Wall.  These guys are looking at the wall, and when it was raining on Sunday it looked like they were overwhelmed with emotion.  The raindrops became tear drops.  The mood was very somber that day. 

Iwo Jima Memorial.  This isn't the typical view of this memorial, but you know that I like to be a little different.

And last but certainly not least...

The White House.  We were running out of time on our three hour tour, so I had to take this photo as Dan, our driver, stopped in the intersection. 

We had a great time!  If you ever get a chance to go to D.C., GO!  If you ever get the chance to take a tour of the memorials and monuments at night, GO!

This was the highlight of my trip to D.C.!

Absolutely the Best Entertainment & It's Free

Who doesn't like to watch people?  Seriously?  That might be the most entertaining pasttime that costs absolutely nothing. 

We just returned from a trip to our nation's capitol, Washington D.C., and let me tell you, it is a great place to watch people. 

Over the next week or so, I will be sharing some of our adventures there with you.  We had a great time, and experienced new things.  We also have ideas of what we would like to do the next time we visit there.

We set out to walk the Mall, and encountered many people roaming around with signs. 

I'm not sure if you can read those or not, but they say "I Am the Pro-Life Generation."  There were people all over DC carrying signs like these, and other signs as well.

You see, it was the anniverary of the Roe v. Wade case.  Pro-life and pro-choice signs were every where!  People were standing on the corners handing out signs for those that didn't bring their own.  As for me and my group, we just kept on walking.  Walking and watching is how we rolled. 

It was really interesting to see how far people had come to stand for their beliefs. There were buses from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and New York.  A very nice couple of elderly ladies told us they were from North Dakota. 

There were both young and old carrying signs.  Many of the pro-life generation sign holders weren't even a glimmer in their momma's eyes in 1973, but it is something is studied in school. 

Every monument we went to there were protestors.  This young lady was looking up at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. sculpture.  It is awesome!

I am telling you, they were every where!

We live in a great country!  I am so thankful that we live in a place where we can take a stand for what we believe in, voice our opinions, and not be punished for either.  Now, some people take this a little too far, and I will show you some photos of that sometime soon. 

It was cold and rainy that day, but it didn't stip them for protesting or us from walking and watching. 

The weather added a different element to our day.  As I stood next to the statue of three soldiers looking at the Wall, the Vietnam Memorial, and I saw the raindrops streaming down their faces like tears it made me even more emotional.  The first time I saw the Wall it was unbelievably moving, but the sun was shining, so just that one element had changed and it was a downright breathtaking moment. 

After walking the Mall, we went to the American History Museum and look what we saw.

How fitting for the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

 

Clam Bake & Concert in Rhode Island

On our last night in Rhode Island we were able to attend a real clam bake.  This was the first clam bake we had ever been to, and to be honest with you I had no idea what to expect.  I didn't know if all they would serve was clams or what. 

I was very happy to see lots of other stuff there as well.  I am not a clam kinda girl.

They took the tarps off of these pallets full of food when they began their speech about how they make the food for a clam bake.  From what I could hear, which wasn't much, was that the food is cooked with steam.  I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that is what the man said.

There were 3 pallets of corn, red potatoes, and clams.

These dudes started carrying the food over to the tables that were set up.

It was really interesting to see how these trays/pallets were stacked just right so all of the food would cook evenly.

Look at those lobsters hanging out of that bottom tray.  That is what I was waiting for.

There were only two trays of lobsters, so everyone saw that and started making their way to the tables to make sure they got one of these beauties!  The one thing that bothers me about this photo is all of the feet in it.  I didn't realize there were so many bare toes in this photo.  Toes and lobster? Ew.

I did get a lobster.  Look at that monster!  He was yummy!!  I tried to get a photo of his eyelashes, because believe it or not...he had the prettiest eyelashes I have ever seen on a lobster. 

McD decided to try clams for the first time.  Don't you just love his bib?

 

And he swore he would never eat them again.  He couldn't get the taste out of his mouth fast enough.

The lighting under the tent was horrible.  Gotta love those bibs!

We had so much fun that night!

After the clam bake we were invited to an intimate evening with Jo Dee Messina.

We were able to get there early enough to get front row seats, and I was so glad we did.

I just have to say that I have always liked Jo Dee Messina, and when I found out that we would be seeing her in concert I was estatic!  I was a little worried that my doctor wouldn't let me go on the trip, but he did!  And I saw her!  And I loved every minute of it!

Some of the people sitting with us weren't sure they knew who she was, but when we started talking about all of her songs they remembered.  Then it turned out that they still knew every word to every song she sang, except the new song she sang for us.  It is great!!  Can't wait for you to hear it!

She answered questions, took photos with people, took requests even.  She sang Amazing Grace, and I promise you I got goose bumps.

Jo Dee Messina singing Amazing Grace.  She sang all four verses!!  It was amazing!

She also sang our national anthem, and I got goose bumps again as the whole crowd got to their feet and even sang along.  Goose bumps I tell ya!

She is a very pretty lady.  Very funny, and down to earth. 

One thing that I told McD after the concert was that I wondered if she was pregnant.  Then just not too long ago I heard a report somewhere that she is pregnant.  :)

I'm sorry I don't remember this guys name, but he was the shy one.  While she was belting out Amazing Grace, he sat there and seemed to be reflecting. 

That was a fun night!  If you ever get the chance to see Jo Dee Messina, DO!  You'll really enjoy it!