The book goes back and forth between its two main characters. We start with Lee Turner in October of 2026 (yes, part of this book takes place after it was written). Lee has just murdered his college roommate, but he doesn’t quite remember how or why. Most importantly of all, he doesn’t remember what he did with the body.

So he flees New York City to escape justice, taking refuge in his father’s new house in Japan. But he keeps an eye on the news to see if the police are on to him. But there’s no report of a student turning up dead or even going missing. Lee is on the run, but no one is looking for him.

His dad’s new house is the perfect place to hide out. It’s hidden from view by sword ferns and wild ginger, but something seems off. For starters, animals never seem to come near the house. Then there’s the window that is sometimes there and other times just a wall. Last, but certainly not least, is the woman who sometimes appears in the yard with a sword.

Even before he murdered his roommate, Lee’s life was one of tragedy. His mom was Japanese, so he’s half Japanese, and his white dad seems to have a fetish for Asian women. His mom disappeared when they were on vacation when Lee was a child. She left no trace, other than a pair of suitcase wheeltracks in the sand outside their hotel. The best guess the authorities could make was that someone killed her and stuffed her in a suitcase, which seems like a pretty outlandish conclusion to jump to.

The woman with the sword is Sen, the last samurai. Although she’s a girl, she convinced her dad to train her in the ways of the samurai so they would be ready when it was time for the samurai to rise up.

Sen is living in October of 1877, right after the failed Satsuma Rebellion when the samurai, having been legally abolished, tried to rise up and fight for their place in Japanese society.

It did not go well for the Samurai, either in the history books or in this book. Sen’s father was one of the men who fought in the rebellion. When he returns home in defeat and moves his family into this remote house where no one can find them, Sen knows her father has died and been replaced by a demon because there’s no way her father would accept defeat and bring shame on himself and his family.

Nevertheless, he is still her father and she is determined to make him proud, despite the atrocities he commits and forces her to commit.

Shortly after moving into his father’s house, Lee discovers the door to his closet sometimes acts as a door to Sen’s world and the two can see and talk to each other and even cross the closet’s threshold and into each other’s world/timeline.

Sen, of course, thinks Lee is a demon.

Lee quickly figures out that Sen is a ghost. He asks her how she died, but since she hasn’t yet died in her timeline, she has no idea.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I’m going to spend the rest of this blog post talking about the end of the book with serious spoilers, so if you have yet to read the book and you don’t want the ending spoiled for you, consider yourself warned.

You know that book where someone thinks they’re being haunted by ghosts, but it turns out they’re the ghosts and the “ghosts” they think are haunting them are the living people who moved into their house after they died?

This book is kind of like that but it turns out both of them are ghosts.

We learn fairly early on that Sen’s mother took her to the ocean when Sen was a child and tried to drown her, but apparently didn’t try hard enough because Sen washed back up on shore and made her way home and neither she nor her mother ever spoke of the incident.

What we don’t find out until the end is that the goddess of the sea took pity on Sen and refused to take her life, instead making sure she made it safely back to shore.

It was later, when her father cut her down, that Sen died.

Except Sen doesn’t realize she died, because the sea goddess once again came to her rescue, bringing her to the secluded Japanese house that exists in its own reality and its own timeline.

Similarly, when Lee gets into a fight with his roommate and tumbles over the handrail and dies, the sea goddess takes pity on him and takes him to the same house where she has been sheltering Sen. Since the house exists in its own reality, Sen and Lee are able to communicate, but it takes them a while to figure out the truth of who they are and how they got there.

What I don’t understand is that, when Lee arrived at the house in Japan, his dad’s girlfriend, Hina was there. But when Sen crosses over into Lee’s world and spends some time with him and his family there, Hina attacks Sen, saying she’s going to hurt Lee.

At the end of the book, we find out that Hina is really the sea goddess, which means she knows everything that happens in all the timelines for the house, so she should know that Sen never attacks Lee in any of those timelines. Also, she started this whole thing by bringing Sen to the house to protect her, so why is she now attacking her?

Apparently she didn’t think through the repercussions when she brought another spirit from another timeline to a house that exists outside of time.

I did find myself eager to keep reading this book to find out how it ends, but once I got the end, I was disappointed. I wanted a ghost story and this isn’t a ghost story. At least, not in the way I normally think of ghost stories.

It is well written though, so don’t let my misconceptions turn you off. You may very well enjoy it more than I did.

The post Japanese Gothic appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

Cordy had not done any damage to Uncle Phil’s house, but she let me know how upset she was at having been left alone all day.

“I know, baby. I’m so sorry,” I crooned as I scratched her ears, then her butt, then her ears again as she rotated, barking occasionally to let me know that just because I was scratching her didn’t mean she forgave me.

“OK, let’s go for a walk,” I said.

She yipped and headed for the door, waiting impatiently for it to open.

I grabbed her leash, just in case I needed it, then let her run outside without bothering to leash her.

“Mind if I walk with you,” said Michael.

“Of course not. But don’t you have to go take care of your horses?”

“I texted Jacob and asked him to let them out for me. It’s not ideal, but they’ll be fine for one day.”

“You really don’t have to babysit me.”

“I just want to make sure you’re OK.”

“I’m fine. It was just a panic attack.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know you get panic attacks.”

“Phil doesn’t even know. Which reminds me, don’t say anything to him about it.”

“Why not?”

“You know how his generation is. Mental health isn’t real. Just pull yourself together and get over it.”

He huffed a laugh. Then he seemed to think for a moment before saying, “Do you think it runs in your family?”

“Probably. I don’t think my mom ever had panic attacks, but she definitely struggled with anxiety. Why do you ask?”

“I think Phil might have some anxiety of his own.”

“What? Just because he has dreams of people chasing him and wakes up with his jaw locked in a grimace.”

“He told you about that?”

“Yep. I would definitely say anxiety runs in the family.”

We walked in silence for a bit. Then I said, “Your turn.”

“My turn for what?”

“Tell me something embarrassing about yourself.”

“I think we covered that when you walked in on me singing K-Pop Demon Hunters.”

I laughed. “What’s your favorite song from that movie?”

“Soda pop.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It has a sway, but also a bop. Then they time the ‘pop’ in soda pop with that bop, and I can’t get enough.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“What’s your favorite?”

“Free.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

I sang, “‘Let the past be the past ‘til it’s weightless.’ I love that line.”

Michael nodded, then waited a beat before saying, “So what are you running from?”

“What?”

“What’s in your past that you want to let be the past ‘til it’s weightless?”

“Well, Vincent, for starters.”

“Are you ever gonna tell me what happened there?”

“He cheated on me.”

“He what?” Michael stopped dead in his tracks, but I kept walking, looking down at my feet.

After a moment, he jogged to catch up with me. Cordy got excited when she saw him running and started nipping at his heels. I was grateful for the distraction.

To be continued…

The post New Pastures: Part XXXII appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

The swarm developed feelings for Daffit and ended up telling him its whole deal. It thought honesty was the way to his heart, and while it’s not like lying was a good policy, it is naive to think he could just get over the fact that it killed his friends. It doesn’t think it killed anyone, but by the end of the book, it has come to terms with its murderous ways. It has also changed form to one it thinks fits it and chosen its own name: Clay. It has somehow convinced people it’s been there all along.

Jellet doesn’t know that her brother is dead and it’s unclear whether anyone will tell her. At the moment, I think Daffit is the only one who knows and he told her Jessen is away on a mission, but of course he can only keep that up for so long.

Jellet was sent to a planet for research and stumbled upon other humans! They are not friendly because they assume unfamiliar humans are working with the Caryx. However, she met up with an anthropologist named Galan who can kind of communicate with them because their language is similar to some of Ajian’s ancient languages. They come up with a plan to make it look like they were attacked and Galan was killed. In reality, Jellet intentionally shot herself and Galan is off with the other humans to learn what he can about their origins and what they can do to take down the Caryx.

Jellet thinks humans are the undying enemy the Caryx are so afraid of, but Daffit isn’t so sure and Clay points out that makes no sense in the context of how the Caryx took them down on Ajian.

Daffit was ordered by the Caryx to make more humans. Rather than forcing sexual intercourse, they decide to make test tube babies. He puts Tanner in charge, even though Tanner is continuing to be a whiny little bitch who refuses to see that Daffit is doing everything he can to keep them all alive.

Tanner develops a second project he doesn’t tell Daffit about right away. It turns out the Soft Lothark have their own language hidden in their physiology, which is why they eat their dead: to destroy the evidence. This is because the Soft Lothark are also enslaved by the Caryx, so they have had to develop their own system of secret communication. As such, they can’t let word about it get out, so when Tanner makes the mistake of telling Daffit about it in front of the Soft Lothark, they act swiftly and efficiently to kill him. Daffit has to tread very carefully now to ensure he doesn’t suffer the same fate, so he manages to convince the Soft Lothark he doesn’t know about/won’t reveal their secret. Then he orders someone else in the lab to destroy all records of that project.

The next person to take over after Tanner makes the mistake of thinking their work has value to the Caryx, and therefore they have leverage. He organizes the other workers so they can strike if their demands are met.

Daffit puts it off as long as he can and tries to reason with the guy, but when all else fails, he handles it the way the Caryx handle it: by breaking the guy’s arm.

Daffit also convinces a famous author to help him craft propaganda to keep people inspired and ready for a revolution that might not come for generations. He’s really playing the long game.

Campar was sent on a mission with Rickert. One gets really sick and depressed and the other almost gets burned alive, but they both manage to make it back even though Rickert doesn’t. They also made a new alien friend who is also enslaved by the Caryx. Campar has taken to calling him I think “giant slug” and he calls Campar “meat with sticks.” They form a sort of friendship and the giant slug requests both Campar and his lover to join him on his next mission because he thinks that’s what they want even though they barely survived the last mission.

Rickert did not survive the mission. The swarm asked permission to use his body and he gave it so his death would actually mean something.

Daffit thinks he can take down the Caryx if he takes down all their leaders at once, but Campar points out that, if all it took was a coordinated strike, couldn’t the deathless enemy have accomplished that on their own?

Daffit’s theory is challenged when he finds out each Caryx leader only lasts a few years before getting killed by one of their own children. The current queen dies in this book and is replaced by the daughter who killed her and it barely merits a mention from the librarian in charge of Daffit and his crew.

The last scene of the book is Galan talking to some humans from another world, leading me to think that’s where the downfall of the Caryx lies…

I had a hard time with this one. Maybe I should have done a better job refreshing my memory on the prequel before diving in, but I felt pretty sure the cliff hanger the first book ended on was memorable enough that I wouldn’t need a refresher.

I was wrong, and so I spent most of this book trying to remember who was who and what was what. I’m also not sure it helped that I listened to the audiobook, as that might have prevented me from focusing.

The post The Faith of Beasts appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

The doctors wanted to keep Phil overnight for observation. He bitched and moaned about it, but Charlie didn’t budge. She tried to hide it, but I could see how much the whole ordeal had scared her.

If I was being honest, it had me pretty rattled, too. I thought for sure Phil was a goner when I saw him get swept up in the herd. Better men than Phil had met their end in just such a situation and I didn’t like to think how close we had come to losing him.

I waited until we had left Phil’s room before telling Charlie out of the side of my mouth, “I do not envy the nurses who have to take care of him tonight.”

Charlie laughed a weak laugh. “Yeah, they say doctors make the worst patients, but they haven’t met a Busch.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Phil to single-handedly change their minds.”

Charlie laughed. Then she laughed harder. Then she was sobbing.

“Hey, you OK?” I said.

I stopped walking and put my hands on her shoulders so I could look at her, but she avoided making eye contact with me. She put her hands on my arms and nodded, looking everywhere but at me.

Then she started hyperventilating, and that’s when I got scared.

“Can we get some help over here!” I yelled like a character in a movie.

Charlie shook her head and backed away from me, pulling herself out of my grasp. She leaned up against a wall and crossed her arms over chest as she struggled to breathe.

“What’s going on,” said someone in scrubs.

“She can’t breathe,” I said.

Charlie shook her head. “Panic attack,” she wheezed.

“You’re having a panic attack,” said the person in scrubs.

Charlie nodded.

“OK sit down over here,” she said as she guided Charlie to a chair. “I’ll get you some water.”

“That’s it?” I was incredulous.

Scrubs shrugged. “There’s nothing else we can do for a panic attack. She’s doing the right thing, crossing her arms over her chest and slowing her breathing.”

She disappeared and I looked at Charlie. Sure enough, her breathing had slowed.

“Have you had a panic attack before?”

She nodded.

“Since when?”

“Since forever.”

“You never used to get them when you were here.”

“OK, you want to be literal? My first panic attack was the first month after college.”

“And how many have you had since then?”

Charlie shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it’s a regular occurrence, but sometimes when things get really crazy at work, or my mom gets cancer, or my uncle almost gets trampled to death.”

She started wheezing again and crossed her arms back over her chest.

“OK, OK, I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “Forget I asked.”

Charlie started laughing, which, unfortunately, didn’t help her breathe any better.

Scrubs returned with a bottle of water, and Charlie wheezed a thank you.

“Still having trouble,” said Scrubs.

“I was feeling better until he started asking intrusive questions,” said Charlie.

Scrubs gave me a look that asked if I was trouble and needed to be dealt with.

I put my hands up like I was being held at gunpoint and tried to explain. “I was trying to help.”

Charlie laughed and waved off Scrubs. “It’s fine, really. I got in my own head and made it worse. It won’t happen again. Promise.”

Scrubs said, “You sure?”

Charlie made a cross over her heart.

Scrubs said, “I’ll be at the nurse’s station if you change your mind,” then gave me another warning look before heading to said station.

Charlie giggled before taking a sip from her water bottle.

“You think that’s funny?”

She giggled again as she nodded.

I was tempted to storm off, but I was still too worried about her to even pretend to be upset. Instead I said, “I take it that means you’re feeling better?”

“Much.”

“Good. We need to get you back to Phil’s house before Cordy destroys it.”

To be continued…

The post New Pastures: Part XXXI appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

I was kind of disappointed.

It’s not a bad book. Something about it just didn’t pop for me the way First-Time Caller did.

This is a sequel, which means Aiden and Valentine make a few short appearances, so we can see how disgustingly in love they still are. Maybe it was the fact that we never get to see Lucie’s adorable and incredibly sweet child that I missed in this book.

That said, Jackson does have two children for whom he is responsible. His mother proved to be a totally inept parent and he basically had to raise himself. Once he was old enough and financially stable enough, he got custody of his younger twin sisters and has been raising them.

The girls are adorable, and of course there’s no better rescue-the-cat-type scenario than volunteering at an early age to be a parent to children who need someone to step up.

My problem with it is I think at one point it’s said that they’re teenagers or preteens, but they act way younger. There was 0 teenaged angst, which I would think would be even more prevalent being raised by a sibling rather than a parent.

Meanwhile, Delilah is just trying to get taken seriously at work, which is tricky when your boss keeps putting you on assignments that require dressing up in ridiculous costumes.

Even Jackson rolls his eyes at her, but of course that’s only until he gets to know her.

Both Jackson and Delilah are meteorologists, but Jackson works for the local radio station and Delilah for the local TV station. They’re separate companies, but they share a parking lot and Jackson’s spot is right next to Delilah’s spot and she is apparently incapable of perpendicular parking because she can never keep the car in her allotted space.

It’s not just parking. Delilah is kind of a mess, literally and figuratively, and her mess tends to spill over onto Jackson every time they meet. It’s not a good way to make friends with someone who abhors mess because he dealt with it constantly from his mom growing up. Routines and systems saved him, and now Delilah keeps messing with them and he’s not OK with it.

When it turns out there’s an historic blizzard approaching Baltimore, the radio and TV stations decide to team up for coverage of the event. Jackson and Delilah are sent into the mountains where the storm is predicted to hit hardest to jointly report on it.

Of course they end up falling in love, first when Jackson realizes that despite the fact that Delilah’s boss is a turd who has been orchestrating her downfall through petty schemes like giving her shitty assignments that require her to dress up in ridiculous costumes, she knows her stuff when it comes to meteorology and takes her work very seriously.

Delilah sees this assignment as her opportunity to be taken seriously, so she makes a deal with Jackson: if he helps her do the assignment justice, she’ll help him find his fun side.

Of course, Jackson also has to deal with family drama, and he gets to see another side of Delilah when she’s worrying about her grandfather who raised her but is now struggling with dementia and sometimes mistakes her for her mom or tries to talk to her about school.

This book was fine. As with First-Time Caller, the audiobook has two narrators, one for each main character. They both do a great job, so the fault is not with them. Something about this book just didn’t click for me, but I hope it does for you.

The post And Now, Back to You appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

“What in the Sam Hill,” Chad cried as he watched Uncle Phil spin away from him.

I was frozen with horror, unable to do anything but watch as the cows and their massive bodies pushed Uncle Phil up against the fence and out towards the pasture.

Phil had almost reached the pasture when the herd thinned enough to release him from the gate, at which point he crumpled to the ground.

I screamed his name and ran to him, praying to a God I didn’t believe in that he wouldn’t be dead.

As I hopped over the fence, I saw him coughing and clutching his ribs and I sent a prayer of thanks that he was still breathing.

“Can you move?”

“I can move,” he wheezed, making the statement less than convincing.

“What in the hell are you doin’ on my property!”

“I don’t know, Chad,” I yelled in his face. “What were you doing on his property last night?”

That shut him up, at least long enough for me to drape one of Uncle Phil’s arms over my shoulders and help him to his feet.

“You said you were lost.”

“And you stole Phil’s cattle.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“Actually, we can,” Michael said as he emerged from the barn, waving his phone back and forth. “I got all the evidence right here, and I’ve already emailed it to Jen.”

“You — I — Get off my property!”

“Gladly,” Michael said as he wrapped Uncle Phil’s other arm around his neck and we both helped him to my car.

Uncle Phil, as it turned out, had three broken ribs and a whole lot of bruises.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t worse,” said Michael as we gathered around Phil’s hospital bed.

“I don’t feel very lucky,” said Uncle Phil.

“I get that. Our stealth missions could definitely use some work.”

“Did you really get the evidence and send it to Jen?”

“Get the evidence? Yes. Send it to Jen? That part I made up so Chad wouldn’t try to destroy my phone.”

“Well, you might want to send it to her, or at least email it to one of us. We can’t risk losing them if anything happens to your phone.”

“On it.” Michael was still tapping on his phone’s screen as he said. “What about the photos on your phone?”

“I lost my phone when the cows shoved me up against the fence. It must be trampled to phone dust by now.”

“OK, so it could have gone better,” I admitted.

Michael and Uncle Phil both laughed, which was quickly cut off when Uncle Phil groaned and clutched his sides.

“Maybe take it easy on the jokes for a while,” said Michael.

“I guess that means cartoons are off the menu,” I said.

Both men looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Since when were cartoons on the menu,” said Uncle Phil.

“Since I discovered a whole bunch of old Looney Tunes on YouTube.”

“What kind of an adult watches cartoons?”

“This kind of adult,” I said, pointing at myself.

He huffed a laugh like I had made another joke, but I assure you I hadn’t.

Michael just kept looking at me as though he was reassessing everything he had thought he knew about me.

To be continued…

The post New Pastures: Part XXX appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

After listening to You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian, I had decided her books weren’t for me. But the characters stayed with me, as did some of the better bits of banter.

Eventually I realized I liked the book, I just hated the audiobook narrator.

So when this book by Sebastian came out earlier this year and people started raving about it I decided to read it rather than listen to it.

I’m so glad I did!

This book is delightful, and it was the perfect antidote to Whidbey, which was so depressing and hopeless.

The book is told from the POV of Simon, an actor on a successful sci-fi show similar to Star Trek or Stargate. Simon plays the doctor, a main character, but not the lead.

The captain is the lead, and he is played by Charlie, a prettyboy who made a name for himself in reality TV and managed to leverage that into an acting career.

Unfortunately, Charlie did not deal with success well. He had some substance abuse issues the first season of the show, which resulted in some bad behavior.

He has since cleaned up his act, but Simon never really forgave him for that first year.

I should point out that all this is revealed to the reader slowly. Simon talks about Charlie as if he’s still that fuckboy and it takes the two of them sitting down and having real conversations before Charlie’s side of the story is revealed.

Simon’s contract is up and he’s getting ready to move to NYC for a theater gig.

But everyone knows he and Charlie have been feuding since Day 1, and Simon is afraid it will look like he got pushed off the set for being difficult to work with.

Simon’s reputation for being “difficult” stems from an incident on a previous project. The director was a nightmare and Simon wasn’t sure how to deal with it, and the fact that he failed to handle it as gracefully as he could have has haunted him ever since.

Meanwhile, Charlie has managed to charm everyone (except Simon) into forgiving him for his previous bad behavior. If Simon were being honest with himself, I think he would admit he’s jealous that Charlie is more charming than he is and that has a tendency to work in his favor both personally and professionally.

Simon isn’t just awkward. He suffers from anxiety and OCD to the point of needing medication just to be as functional as he is.

He also suffers from migraines and sometimes his migraine medication and anxiety medication interact badly. At the time the book takes place, he’s dealing with a new migraine medication that doesn’t work as well as his previous medication, but also doesn’t interfere with his other meds.

Not helping matters is the fact that his ex just moved in and Simon is both more aware of his crazy and trying extra hard not to let his ex-boyfriend/roommate know just how crazy he is.

For example, he needs the handles of all the mugs to face 4 o’clock, and as soon as I saw that, I was like, “That’s brilliant! Of course they should all face 4 o’clock!”

Then I checked my cupboard and realized the handles of all my mugs already face 4 o’clock. The only difference between me and Simon is that my brain won’t scream at me if something is out of place.

Despite how much Simon hates Charlie, it’s clear from the beginning that Charlie likes Simon. I don’t mean it’s clear from the beginning that he has a crush on Simon, just that he’s constantly offering to do things like give him a ride home and inviting him over to his place for a cast party.

So when it’s suggested the two stage a very public friendship before announcing Simon is leaving the show, Charlie readily agrees, whereas Simon is more grudging in his acceptance.

Simon gets to see a different side of Charlie pretty early into their “fake” friendship when Charlie has a family crisis Simon ends up tagging along for.

Once Charlie opens up about his less-than-savory past, it’s easier for Simon to open up about his anxiety and migraines and the ways in which they tend to make his life more difficult than it needs to be.

The two grow close pretty quick, and I loved pretty much everything about it. I love that Charlie starts reading romantasy as a way to try to get close to Simon.

I love Simon’s bossy little dachshund because every book needs a sassy little bitch.

And I love the banter and the fact that these two lovebirds just want to take care of each other.

I also love that we get to see some of the online discourse around their relationship as it’s going public. The book gets its title from the fact that, in addition to playing characters on a spaceship, there’s a devoted fandom of the show that has been shipping Charlie and Simon’s characters as gay lovers from the jump. Clearly they were seeing on screen what Simon and Charlie couldn’t admit to in real life … until now.

If you’re wondering about the sex, it’s not quite fade-to-black, but I’d say it’s just one notch above it. It’s kind of like a network-TV-level sexy montage where you get vibes of what the sex is like rather than explicit descriptions.

The post Star Shipped appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

As soon as we got inside, I lost no time in making my way over to the fence, climbing over it, and flipping the switch that turned on the single, bare lightbulb that hung from the ceiling.

Phil stayed on the ground level, walking amongst the cattle, checking the tag on every ear he passed.

I climbed onto the fence again, swinging one leg over the top so I could stand on the middle rung of the fence with one leg on each side to keep me stable. From that height, I had a better vantage point to view the cattle.

Ledd used red tags to mark his cattle, whereas Phil used yellow tags on his.

“I see four cattle with your tags.”

“Four? I counted three,” said Phil.

I pointed to the corner closest to me where a yellow tag stood out, almost directly under the lightbulb.

Phil took out his phone and snapped another photo. Realizing I should have been doing the same, I whipped out my phone and quickly took photos of all the yellow tags I could see. Then I zoomed out and took a few photos of the whole herd, just in case we were able to find more yellow tags in the photos later on.

“OK, we got our evidence,” I said. “Time to go.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than the doors to the field opened wide. But Phil hadn’t opened them. He was still making his way among the cattle when they noticed the open doors and moved as one to head outside.

I couldn’t do a thing to help him. If I cried out to warn him, he probably wouldn’t even hear me. Even if he did, there was nothing he could do, caught as he was in the middle of the herd. If I jumped in and tried to grab him, I’d be in the same predicament he was in. Two men against a herd of cattle was indistinguishable from one man against a herd of cattle. The only difference would have been two dead men instead of one.

I watched helplessly as the herd of cattle swept Phil out of the barn and up against the fence that funneled them into the field. The last I saw of him, he had his hands above his head and was twirling like a ballerina as the cows spun him against the fence on their way out to pasture.

To be continued…

The post New Pastures: Part XXIX appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

It’s pretty tough, but (at least in this book) there’s always the chance you could host a cooking show and become loved by housewives all over the country for being exactly who you are.

It’s never said that Elizabeth Zott is neurodivergent, probably because the term didn’t exist at the time, but it’s clear she doesn’t think like most of us think.

She takes things very literally and she refuses to back down when she knows she’s right. I don’t think she’s unaware of the idea of “playing along to get along,” it’s just that she has no interest in playing that game.

Her interest is in science. Specifically, chemistry.

But she has to leave college before finishing her PhD because a professor assaulted her and, when she fought back, she was forced to leave school while he got to keep his job.

She was so close to finishing her degree that she couldn’t afford to go to another school and start all over again, but she still insisted on pursuing a career in chemistry.

I love how Elizabeth deals with the patriarchy. It’s not that it doesn’t infuriate her. It’s just that she doesn’t let herself dwell in her anger. Instead, she accepts that what happened happened, and then she moves on.

So she gets a job as a lab tech.. She’s not exactly working as a chemist, but she’s still working in a lab helping with experiments, which is the minimum she’ll accept.

Then she meets Calvin Evans, another brilliant chemist who just happens to be the most eligible bachelor in the lab. When the two get together, everyone is confused because they don’t see what Calvin sees in Elizabeth.

SPOILER ALERT!

From here on are some pretty serious spoilers, so if you don’t want important parts of the book spoiled for you before you read it, stop now.

Calvin dies in an accident, but not before impregnating Elizabeth. When the lab finds out about her “condition” they fire her, even though she’s been doing work on which some of their funding relies.

At least in part because of her knowledge of chemistry, Elizabeth also happens to be an amazing cook. When her daughter’s friend’s dad finds out about this, he decides to set her up as the host of a cooking show called Supper at Six.

He tries to make her act like a traditional housewife for the show, but quickly finds out she has no interest in acting. She immediately takes over the show, not only with her forceful personality and strong opinions, but her approach to cooking as a lesson in chemistry wins over audiences all over the country.

In everything she does on the show, she uses precise measurements and explains to her audience the chemistry that’s making her cooking work.

I don’t think I loved this book as much as everyone else did, but it did win me over pretty quickly. It’s a beautiful story and so well written that I couldn’t help falling in love with the characters.

P.S. At one point a stray dog adopts Elizabeth and she names him 6:30 because that’s what time it was when she found him. We get scenes and parts of scenes from 6:30’s perspective and it’s perfect. Of course he’s the best character.

The post Lessons in Chemistry appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.

“Hi,” I said, plastering a smile on my face as the woman opened the front door to the farmhouse. “I’m so sorry to bother you this early in the morning, but I was hoping you could help me.”

“Of course. Come on in and I’ll get you a cup o’ coffee while you tell us what’s wrong. I’m Danielle, by the way.”

It was so far from the suspicion I was used to encountering (and arming myself with) in the city that it took me a moment to recover from the shock. I had forgotten how trusting and willing to help people are out in the country.

Then I remembered these people were stealing Uncle Phil’s cattle.

“It’s so embarrassing, but my car has run out of gas. I didn’t realize how far it is between gas stations out here. If you could just give me a ride to the nearest station, I’d really appreciate it.”

“You know what, I think we have a couple of gallons in the shed, don’t we, Chad?” The woman said as she handed me a cup of coffee.

“Sure do,” said the guy who was sitting at the kitchen table polishing off a plate of eggs. Presumably this was Chad. “Let me just let the cows out, and I’ll go get it.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, but I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your spare gas. If you could just give me a ride to the nearest station and I’ll buy myself a couple of gallons and be on my way.”

“Nonsense. It’s no bother,” said Danielle.

“Besides, we keep our spare gas in the shed out by the barn,” said Chad. “It’s on my way back from letting out the cattle. Won’t take but a minute.”

“I can’t let you do that. I wouldn’t want to think how ornery cows must be when you wake them before sunrise.”

Danielle and Chad both laughed at that. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”

“Guilty as charged,” I said. “I’m afraid I’m just another city slicker here to ruin everything that makes your town so special.”

They both laughed at that and I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that my self-deprecating joke had had the desired effect.

“Cows never complain about getting fed early. Now tryin’ ta feed ‘em late is another matter entirely. Besides, sun’s almost up as it is.”

I started and looked out the window. Sure enough, the sky had gone from pale pink to bright blue. Maybe it was late enough that Michael and Uncle Phil had gotten what they needed and were already on their way back to Uncle Phil’s side of the fence.

Danielle followed my gaze and ushered me out the door after Chad. “Why don’t you follow Chad out to the barn and he’ll get you what you need.”

“Thanks so much,” I said, handing her the half-empty coffee cup. “I’ll be sure to bring it back full of gas.”

“You don’t have to worry ‘bout that,” said Chad as we made our way out to the barn. “Just pass it on to the next fella who needs a helpin’ hand. It might not be the way you city slickers go about things, but it’s how we do things out here.”

Again I had to remind myself that these people were stealing cattle worth thousands of dollars from Uncle Phil.

That got a lot easier when he opened the gate between the pasture and the barn. He stood on the safe side of the fence as the cattle passed him by. I saw him counting the cattle as they left the barn, and I saw him do a double take as Uncle Phil spun past him. He had his arms up over his head like a ballerina as the cows spun him against the gate on their way out to pasture.

To be continued…

The post New Pastures: Part XXVIII appeared first on Alison Ver Halen.