Showing posts with label Joan Hall Hovey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joan Hall Hovey. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2017

And Then He Was Gone - Joan Hall Hovey, Author



Quick Veggie chili
(A Joan Hall Hovey Special)

Chopped half onion
Can tomatoes
Can tomato soup
1 Can white beans
1 Can kidney beans
1 cup mixed vegetables (frozen)
1 teaspoon chili powder

Simmer for half an hour or less and serve.  Place a cake tray under the pot to keep chili from sticking.

And Then He Was Gone - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of: Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

His hands still on the rope, then dropped away as he stared with shock and terror, mouth agape, at the water.  As if the table had suddenly transformed into a deep reservoir, water gushed from it, spilling onto the floor, flooding it, then spiking up suddenly as if alive, like thrusting fingers, reaching for him.  He gasped and lost his footing, tumbling off the ladder and bringing it down on top of him.  Laying on his back on the floor, his terror-filled eyes were riveted on the horror unfolding before him.  Even as he managed to get back up on his feet, his eyes never once left the visage that Julie thought had to be the results of some sort of conjoined hysteria, since they were both witnessing it...As he backed away from what her rational mind insisted had to be some trick of the imagination, long skeletal fingers shot out of the water and clamped around his wrist.  Beneath his screams, she heard the sirens in the distance, but that did not quite register, perhaps only existed in some other realm, some alternate universe, for Julie was aware of nothing except what was happening here and now...  Adam was here.

Julie's husband Adam went missing on July 14th, her birthday.  He was supposed to take her out to dinner but he never showed.  She drove around town looking for him and even submitted a missing person's report with the police department.  Six months later they were still questing and accusing her of murdering her husband and doing something with his body.

Many years earlier a boy named David was found in the lake after someone tried to drown him.  He didn't die but ended up in a coma for what was the better part of his life.  After all those years he has finally awaken to a life with no memory.

So, what does a missing husband and a boy that has been in a coma for 19 years have in common?  As I read the story of both I saw a very twisted mind that reeked pure terror on both families.  It held me in suspense to see what this sick mind would do next.  I have to say that I had a hard time putting this book down.


Saturday, August 30, 2014

The Deepest Dark - Joan Hall Hovey, Author



Joan Hall Hovey's Dark and Stormy
  Date Squares

1 pkg. pitted dates
1 1/2 cups of orange juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups of rolled oats
1/3 cup water

In a pan, cook dates together with orange juice, 1/3 cup brown sugar and water.  Set aside.
Cream butter with remaining 2/3 cup of brown sugar.  Stir in flour, and add oats.  Mix until crumbly.  (It's easiest if you use your fingers.)  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a lightly buttered 9" glass dish.  Spread date filling over crust.  Lightly press remaining mixture on top.  Bake in a 350 degree oven 25-30 minutes ( until light brown).  Makes 64 1" squares.



The Deepest Dark - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish - (I couldn't put this book down!)

She had started for the kitchen when she stopped in the doorway between the living room and kitchen, thinking she'd heard a noise outside.  She listened.  Heard it again.  A squeaking of the porch swing chain?...Hearing nothing further, but still wearing the same uneasy frown on her face, she continued on to the kitchen.  She was reaching into the drawer for a knife to cut the pie with when she heard the noise again.  She looked in the direction of the sound and that's when she saw the grinning face in the window.  Her heart lurched painfully but before she could cry out, something crashed against the back door.  It burst open and three men strode into her kitchen, big as life.  Three men she had never seen before.

Ethel and Hartley have raised their daughter and still lived in their country home where neighbors were not a walk away but a drive away.  In their 80's they had grown use to their solitude so when their uninvited visitors bust through their door they are at a total loss.

Abby used the facilities, washed her hands and splashed warm water on her face, patting it dry with rough brown paper.  When she came back out of the washroom, the woman was behind the counter. "Help yourself to the coffee, dear," she said.  "Freshly made."... "Thanks.  I needed that."  "You're welcome.  Don't know about you, but this rain is getting me down.  Awful about those three escapees, isn't it?"

Abby is on her way to the lake cabin her husband had bought for their secret get-away.  After the disasters she had faced just a few months earlier she wasn't sure of her real reason for going there.  She needed time away from everyone but with the bottle of pills in her purse, along with her depression, she just might make this her final resting place.

This book is one for the movies.  As the author brings the Ethel and Hartley, Abby, and the three men together it becomes a book that I had hard time putting down.  I actually read it in just three nights.  I hurt for Abby and her previous problems.  I felt for Ethel and Hartley as they are subdued by the three men.  I feared the three men as they prompted fear on everyone that came into contact with them.  But I learn something from reading this book.  There have been times that I go to the mountains alone just for the quiet.  As with Abby's lake cabin, my favorite place had no telephones and no TV... just peace and quiet.  Never again will I visit my favorite cabin without a phone!

So, if you want a real page turning, grip the edge of the chair and leave the lights burning read, you will surely have it with The Deepest Dark.




 
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