The Apothecary by Samantha Jillian Bayarr

An Ebook available from Amazonhttp://tinyurl.com/6359ylq

The Apothecary  is a good mixture of romance, ghosts, and mysteries from the past. Claire Mayfield discovers on her mother's passing that her mother had many secrets that she didn't share with anyone. So it came as a huge shock to find out that she is to inherit a haunted mansion, an orphanage, a cottage and a lot of ghosts.  Her mother's attorney stops Claire as she's leaving the cemetery and gives her his business card and tells her to contact him.
Claire insist that her mother didn't have much when she passed and thinks this attorney has the wrong girl or is just confused. Her best friend Emily, later convinces her that she has nothing to lose by making an appointment and after all he was attractive. Claire nearly faints when she snoops through the paperwork on the attorneys desk because she'd been having terrible nightmares about a house that looks like a photo in the folder. Already stressed from losing her mother and having nightmares she rushes out of the office. Feeling very scared and confused she's sure she doesn't want to see the attorney again. Emily keeps her balanced and sane and once again gets her to investigate what the attorney has to tell her. When she does, she's not sure she wants to accept the inheritance. After all who wants a mansion that the father was accused of killing all his children in and they've haunted the place for the past 100 years. No one's lived in it since. Spooky, very spooky. Overall a fun story and I am always a sucker for a ghost here and there.

Terri Clark Linden Narrator of The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

Wendy McClure author
Terri Clark Linden Narrator

The Wilder Life
Wendy McClure
Terri Clark
Duration:   10 hours, 37 minutes

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Terri C. Linden does such and excellent reading of this book that I had to check that it wasn't being read by the author. She definitely has a handle on Ms. McClure. Ms.Linden reads flawlessly, and manages to convey so much in her voice that it literally sets the mood.  This is one of the most outstanding narrations I've heard as she not only captures the personality of the author but the feel of the story. The story leaps to life under her amazing talent as a narrator.

The Wilder Life is about McClure's quest for getting a sense for the real Laura Ingalls Wilder from The Little House on the Prairie series. Wendy McClure's revived interest in Laura World as she calls it, comes from regaining her childhood books and reading them again. She then looks on Ebay to locate a butter churn to have a first hand experience of what it's like to churn your own butter. She searches the internet to gather as much information as possible about Laura and she takes us on that journey talking about the blogs, the books and her contacts with some of the authors. We are taken back in time as she visits many of the museums and places where the Wilder family lived and played out their lives. We even have a quest for the simpler life on a working farm that's run like it might have done in the days of the Wilders.

My favorite part was the overnight stay in a covered wagon. With no electricity, they used flashlights to find their way around to bunk down for the night. In the wee hours a horrendous storm was pounding and lashing all around them. Lightning was striking too close for comfort. As little shelter that the covered wagon gave them they were glad they were not outside in a tent. Chris, her boyfriend was such a sweet and supportive guy that when the storm woke him, he immediately said, "what about the crops".  He was so good at getting into the role playing to please Wendy. What a guy. Weather was always a concern for the Wilder's as they did and could lose their crops from heavy hail and high winds.

I had to overlook the frequent snipes, as so many things said, that were nice, were followed with or preceded by a curt comment. This was so frequent that it kind of lessened the pleasure of reading the book. I would like to have had more details about some of the locations like Plum Creek as I never watched Little House on the Prairie, and did not read the books. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book and was impressed with how well Ms. Linden narrated it.