Haig’s Christmas Series Offers Holiday Fun for Young Readers

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Posted on November 13, 2025 by Lori Ericson

The Girl Who Saved Christmas is an absolute fun read for the holidays and would be a great Christmas gift for a younger reader. I’d seen the film adaptation of Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas last year and spotted this gem at the library while looking for middle-grade fiction. I want to read Father Christmas sometime in the coming weeks. I’m sure it’s just as delightful. The stories are full of adventure and Christmas magic. (Side note: I’ve written a middle-grade Christmas book myself that’s set to publish in 2026.)

In this blog I offer a different type of book review—one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included here, are a few interesting words I found in The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig.

These particular words are not unfamiliar in meaning but are important to the book and appropriate for the coming holiday season:

possibility: noun. a thing that may happen or be the case; the state or fact of being likely or possible; likelihood; a thing that may be chosen or done out of several possible alternatives; unspecified qualities of a promising nature; potential.

From The Girl Who Saved Christmas:

“She was the one who had hoped the most that first-ever Christmas. The one who had put enough magic in the air simply by believing in it. And that was before any child in the world had known about Father Christmas. She had believed. Not in him. But in possibility. In the kind of possibility that could mean something like delivering toys to every child on earth could actually happen.”

—

magic: noun. the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces; mysterious tricks, such as making things disappear and appear again, performed as entertainment; a quality that makes something seem removed from everyday life, especially in a way that gives delight. — adjective. used in magic or working magic; having or apparently having supernatural powers. — verb. move, change, or create by or as if by magic.

From The Girl Who Saved Christmas:

“I was so happy that Christmas, opening those presents. So, so, so happy. Not because of the presents, but because of the magic that had brought them there. To know magic exists.”

—

time: noun. 1. the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. 2. a point of time as measured in hours and minutes past midnight or noon. 3. time as allotted, available, or used. 4. An instance of something happening or being done; an occasion. 5. (times) (following a number) expressing multiplication. 6. The rhythmic patter of a piece of music, as expressed by a time signature. — verb. 1. plan, schedule, or arrange when (something) should happen or be done. 2. measure the time taken by (a process, activity, etc., or a person doing it).

From The Girl Who Saved Christmas:

“She closed her eyes and thought of time. If only she could go back in time to be with her mother again. Or forward to when she could leave this place.”

—

Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or The New Oxford American Dictionary.

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“The word is only a representation of the meaning; even at its best, writing almost always falls short of full meaning. Given that, why in God’s name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only cousin to the one you really wanted to use?”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

A Scottoline Psychological Thriller Clarifies a Phrase

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Posted on November 8, 2025 by Lori Ericson

A VOCABULARY BOOK REVIEW OF The Unraveling of Julia

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline tells the tale of a young widow who inherits a Tuscan villa and vineyard, plus a load of money. And a lot goes wrong in Scottoline’s psychological thriller style for Julia Pritzker. The mysterious inheritance forces her to face the world again after her husband is murdered in a mugging. Julia struggles with the idea of not knowing why she was named in the will. She does her own investigating and tries to find a possible link to her biological family as well. But once she gets to the villa, a lot of weird stuff happens, and she begins to question her sanity and even worry for her life.

The Unraveling of Julia is full of rich detail of the Tuscan hills where most of the story takes place.

In this blog I offer a different type of book review—one that’s combined with vocabulary building or sometimes just a fun look at words.

From Scottoline’s thriller, I chose a phrase when that pulled me out of the story just because I have always misunderstood it and likely have never seen it spelled out before. I thought the phrase was “on tenderhooks” and didn’t know where it came from, but got the meaning, sort of. I had to look it up when I saw “on tenterhooks” in The Unraveling of Julia. And then I had to laugh at myself.

From The Unraveling of Julia:

“Julia felt on tenterhooks about whether they’d succeed, and her worries about Gianluca gnawed at the back of her mind all day, too.”

“On tenterhooks” is a phrase that, per Merriam-Webster online, refers to “waiting nervously for something to happen.” The word tenter means “a frame used for drying and stretching cloth” and is related to tent, so being “on tenterhooks” compares the tenseness of the stretched fabric to the tension of nervous waiting.

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BLIND RAGE—An Eerie Ozarks True Crime Tale

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Posted on January 24, 2025 by Lori Ericson

Blind Rage is a true crime story about a murder that happened not far from my home here in The Ozarks. The horrific tale of family jealousy can be blamed on the dearly departed, who adopted a young girl only for appearances. The family dynamic that develops leads to the tragic crime detailed in fine storytelling that had me flipping the pages.

In this blog, I offer a different type of book review — one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included here are a few interesting words I found in Blind Rage, written by Anita Paddock and published by Pen-L Publishing.

The definitions here are for just a few words from Blind Rage important for the telling of this story of family horror:

— blind rage: noun. violent, uncontrollable anger; an instance of aggressive behavior or violent anger caused by a stressful or frustrating situation.

From the beginning of Blind Rage, where Paddock offers a definition of the term:

“Rage can sometimes lead to a state of mind where the individual is capable of doing things that may normally seem physically impossible.

A person in rage may also experience tunnel vision, muffled hearing, increased heart rate, and hyperventilation.

A person in a state of rage may also lose much of the capacity for rational thought and reasoning and may act violently on impulses until the source of their rage is destroyed.

People in a rage have described experiencing things in slow motion and may suffer a form of amnesia regarding the incident itself.”

— resentment: noun. Bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly.

From Blind Rage:

“Ruie Ann Park thought there was no one in the world as smart as her Sammie. And through the years at home in Van Buren, Linda knew she was the inferior child, and she buried her resentment and anger deep inside while her brother ignored her and her mother controlled her every move.”

— showplace: noun. A place of beauty or interest attracting many visitors.

From Blind Rage:

“At first, the seventy-five-year-old widow didn’t realize how badly she was injured but she could feel the sticky blood on her neck and arms. Her head throbbed worse than any migraine she’d ever had, and when she tried to lift it, she couldn’t. Her throat was dry, and she wished for a sip of water. Minutes passed before she lost consciousness, and her last thoughts were of how she would ever get rid of the blood stains in the showplace of Van Buren, Arkansas.”

Here’s a link to Blind Rage directly from Pen-L Publishing : BLIND RAGE

And a link to the book on Amazon: BLIND RAGE

AND, if you’re so inclined, check out A Lovely Murder, the second book in my Danni Deadline romantic thriller series. A third one is in the works—meaning it’s now pouring out on the page/computer screen. And a 2nd edition of the original A Lovely County will be out soon. Details to come!

A link to A Lovely Murder directly from Pen-L Publishing: A LOVELY MURDER

OR, a link to my book on Amazon: A LOVELY MURDER

What are you reading this week? Do you love a book that challenges you to look up words?

A VOCABULARY BOOK REVIEW: FLY AWAY

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Posted on April 17, 2024 by Lori Ericson

Fly Away is an intense romance by Kristin Hannah with the expected character development that makes Hannah a go-to author. Hannah weaves the human experiences of grief, hope, expectation, obligation, and more into a fantastic tale of love. Not only romantic love, but also a mother’s love, and the love between best friends. Fly Away is also about the promises we keep and the ones we can’t.

In addition to Fly Away, Hannah is the author of Firefly Lane, now a Netflix series. Published in 2013 by St. Martin’s Press, Fly Away is among many titles by Hannah. Find her on Facebook or at kristinhannah.com.

I haven’t read them all, but books by Hannah I haven’t read are on my TBR list. I love her writing, her characterization that makes me care, and her descriptions. Her plotting, twists, and turns keep me reading. I can’t comment on Hannah without pointing out the beautiful covers for most of her books, including the cover for Fly Away.

In this blog, I offer a different type of book review — one that’s combined with vocabulary building. The definitions here are for just a few words from Fly Away that I found interesting, unfamiliar, or unusual in use:

grief: noun 1. Deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone’s death. 2. Informal trouble or annoyance.

From Fly Away:

“Grief is a sneaky thing, always coming and going like some guest you didn’t invite and can’t turn away.”

AND

“Johnny closed his eyes. He’d worked so hard in the past few years to move past grief and fashion a new life for his family. He didn’t want to remember that terrible year, but how could he not—especially now?”

flotsam: noun. (Anglo-French flotesom, from Old French floter to float. Of Germanic origin: akin to Old English flotian to float, float ship) (circa 1607) 1. Floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly: floating debris. 2. a: a floating population (as of emigrants or castaways) b: an accumulation of miscellaneous or unimportant stuff.

From Fly Away:

“When she’d introduced him to her best friend, Kate Mularkey, who’d seemed paler and quieter, a bit of flotsam riding the crest of Tully’s wave, he’d barely noticed. It wasn’t until years later, when Katie dared to kiss him, that Johnny saw his future in a woman’s eyes.”

papasan chair: noun. a bowl-shaped cushioned chair often with a rattan base.

From Fly Away:

“His father-in-law, Bud, sat in the big papasan chair that easily held both boys when they played video games, and Sean, Kate’s younger brother, lay asleep on Will’s bed.”

de rigueur: adjective. (French)(1833) prescribed or required by fashion, etiquette, or custom: proper

From Fly Away:

“Her voice had that brittle sharpness that had become de rigueur since puberty. He sighed; even grief, it seemed, hadn’t softened his daughter. If anything, it had made her angrier.”

Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or Merriam Webster.

A VOCABULARY BOOK REVIEW: ONE TRUE LOVES

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Posted on April 5, 2024 by Lori Ericson

One True Loves caught my devoted interest in the first chapter. That’s when Emma Blair’s husband, lost at sea in a helicopter crash years before, calls just as she’s finishing up a family dinner with her financé. The plot enfolds two love stories and Emma must make a choice, her forever choice. Author Taylor Jenkins Reid yanks a rope around your heart and keeps it restrained between the pages in this beautifully written tale that could have no better ending.

In addition to One True Loves, published in 2016, Reid has a number of titles under her belt including Daisy Jones &The Six, now a miniseries on Prime video. Visit her website at TaylorJenkinsReid.com for more information.

In this blog, I offer a different type of book review — one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included here are a few interesting words I found in One True Loves, written by Taylor Jenkins Reid and published by Washington Square Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The definitions here are for just a few words from One True Loves that I found interesting, unfamiliar, or unusual in use:

hooligan: noun. (perhaps from Patrick Hooligan—Irish hoodlum in Southwark, London 1898) Ruffian, hoodlum.

From One True Loves:

“To them, I had gone from a precious little girl to a hooligan overnight.”

conciliatory: adjective. 1. a. not flowing in a current or stream (stagnant water) b. Stale 2. Not advancing or developing.

From One True Loves:

“’I’m going to give Eli a conciliatory hug and then, Olive, we can head home,’ she said.”

gamine: noun. (French feminine of gamin) 1. A girl who hangs around on the streets. 2. A small playfully mischievous girl. adjective Of, relating to, or suggesting a gamine.

From One True Loves:

“The only change she can see is my short, blond hair.

‘It’s very gamine.’”

assuage: verb. 1. To lessen the intensity of (something that pains or distresses): ease. 2. Pacify, quiet. 3. To put an end to by satisfying: appease, quench.

From One True Loves:

“It was gestures like that, small acts of intimacy between them, that made me think my parents probably still had sex. I was both repulsed and somewhat assuaged by the thought.”

stagnant: adjective. 1. a. not flowing in a current or stream (stagnant water) b. Stale 2. Not advancing or developing.

From One True Loves:

“People aren’t stagnant. We evolve in reaction to our pleasures and pains.”

Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or Merriam Webster.

Riley’s Ghost by John David Anderson

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Posted on February 4, 2024 by Lori Ericson

Riley’s Ghost is an enchanting tale that was listed as “SCARY” for middle-grade readers at my local library. As an author, I’ve taken an interest in middle-grade fiction. I’ve written a Christmas and have plans pending for a somewhat scary middle-grade novel in the future.

Riley’s Ghost was a great choice as a writing sample in the genre because it is so well done. Author John David Anderson goes deep into the character’s head as she deals with a scary night, recalls memories both good and bad, and learns a lot about herself. I enjoyed the tale and the character, but I was very impressed with the writing skills. Anderson also throws in some words to challenge the young readers who pick up this book and won’t be able to put it down until Riley’s nightmare of a night comes to an end.

In this blog, I offer a different type of book review — one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included below are a few interesting words I found in Riley’s Ghost. I love that a book written for middle-grade readers included words that challenged me!

The definitions here are for just a few words from Riley’s Ghost that I found interesting:

sarcophagus: noun — särˈkäfəɡəs — a stone coffin, typically adorned with a sculpture or inscription and associated with the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece. — ORIGIN: late Middle English: via Latin from Greek sarkophagos‘flesh-consuming’, from sarx, sark-‘flesh’ + -phagos‘-eating’.

From Riley’s Ghost:

“What had he called it? A vessel? It sounded like an old word, full of antiquity and ritual. It reminded Riley of a museum she’d gone to once that had a sarcophagus of some pharaoh on display; scattered around it were jars of limestone that supposedly held the dead man’s lungs and liver and stomach. Vessels.”

…

sharbade: noun. Sharbade is a game played on specialized scooters and is a mixture of hockey, soccer, and basketball. The name is derived from Shoulder Arm and Back Development- the parts of the body put to heaviest use in playing the game. Participants use only their hands and arms for propulsion of a scooter on which they lie while playing the game. A basketball court is typically used as the playing field. Each team has seven players on the floor at one time and another seven on the bench. A maximum of 15 players can be on a team.

(I had to get this definition on the internet from Utah Valley University’s information on its intramural sports program page.)

From Riley’s Ghost:

“Of course Riley might have administered a few of those bruises herself. Like the time she rammed into Caroline Silton so hard in sharbade that she knocked the girl off her scooter and then accidentally—because it was an accident—rolled over Caroline’s hand, sending her to the nurse.”

…

tchotchkey: noun — tchotchke | ˈCHɒCHkə, ˈCHäCHkə | (also tsatske) — 1 North American English a small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional; a trinket. 2 US English a pretty girl or woman. — Origin: 1960s Yiddish

From Riley’s Ghost:

“The librarian’s desk was much the same—perfect blocks of sticky notes and a tidy wire cup of sharp pencils punctuated by an odd assortment of tchotchkes accumulated from Mrs. Grissolm’s summer vacations: a conch from Costa Rica, a surfing Santa Claus from Hawaii, a miniature Big Ben that chimes out on the hour. Order and chaos. Just like life.”

…

zerbert: noun — 1 (informal) The sound made when someone places the mouth against skin and blows, imitative of the sound of flatulence. — Synonym: raspberry

From Riley’s Ghost:

“If the offense was minor—thrown broccoli, a scribbled wall, a dirty look—he would gobble her up in his arms and say, ‘You little monster’ before commencing to zerbert her into submission or swing her upside down by her ankles.”

…

Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or The New Oxford American Dictionary.

A Vocabulary Book Review of THE GIRL WHO COULD MOVE SH*T WITH HER MIND

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Posted on October 10, 2023 by Lori Ericson

This blog offers a different type of book review—one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included here, following a short review, are a few interesting words I found The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford.

I read this book hoping to attend Ford’s visit to our local library. I missed the visit but enjoyed the book just the same.

The book’s plot is sci fi and thriller skillfully combined to pull you along as you feel the main character, Teagan Frost, a psychokinetic working for a secret government team of experts in handling extreme situations, search for some sort of normalcy in her strange world.

The book is set in L.A. but written by an English author who had never been there. It makes for some interesting twists in spelling. Words like tyres and cheque and authorised were a little unexpected in spelling for a novel set in the states, but added to the fun read for me.

The following includes just a few words from The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind that are important to the book, that I found interesting, or words used in an interesting way:

Psychokinetic/Psychokinesis: noun. Plural. The supposed ability to move objects by mental effort alone. (psychokinetic: adj.)

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Page 1: “Pro tip: if you’re going to take a high dive off the 82^nd floor, make sure you do it with a psychokinetic holding your hand.”

Pugnacious: adjective. Eager or quick to argue, quarrel or fight.

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Page 392: “It’s a pugnacious, almost childish look: a look that says I know what I’m doing, and you couldn’t possibly understand. It’s raw, boiling arrogance.”

Rebar: noun. A steel reinforcing rod in concrete.

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Page 93: “It’s a piece of steel reinforcement bar—what house builders call rebar. It’s tough to see because it’s almost buried, twisted like it was nothing more than a length of wire. It wraps around his throat three times, dug in so deep that it’s almost decapitated him.

Clusterfuck: noun. A disastrously mishandled situation or undertaking.

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Page 1: “I make my way over to find her staring at a clusterfuck of tangled cables spilling out of one of the servers.”

Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or The New Oxford American Dictionary.

BOOK OF WORDS: Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Lori Ericson

This blog offers a different type of book review—one that’s combined with vocabulary building.

Included here, following a short review, are a few interesting words I found in Almost Dead, one of dozens of novels New York Times best-selling author Lisa Jackson has under her belt. In researching for this blog, I was surprised to learn that she and another author I love to read, Nancy Bush, are sisters.

Almost Dead is the story of a young mother who’s awash in grief at the sudden loss of her grandmother. Cissy Cahill thinks that grief is making her lose her mind when she hears footsteps and senses strange shadows in the family’s San Francisco home. Then other members of the affluent family suffer sudden brutal deaths. Cissy is forced to dig into the family history to find answers and hope to discover the killer. Almost Dead kept me guessing until the surprise twist in the end, like Jackson’s writing often does.

A Few Words from Almost Dead:

Rabbit-Warren: n. a series of underground tunnels where rabbits live; a building or place with many connected rooms, passages, etc., where you can get lost very easily. “The real work took place behind a solid-core door that led to rabbit-warren work spaces, of which Sybil Tomini’s was one of the largest.”

Disabused: v. persuade (someone) that an idea or belief is mistaken “‘It wasn’t all that terrific,’ Cissy disabused them. ‘We Cahills seem to have trouble in the happiness department.’”

Progeny: n. a descendant or the descendants of a person, animal, or plant; offspring. “They all knew that was wrong, all realized that her father, and all of his progeny, had been scammed by that vile grandfather of Cissy’s.”

Stygian: adj. of or relating to the Styx River. <SPECIAL USAGE> Poetic/Literary very dark. “All the while she eyed the shadows and stygian umbras; the wet, shivering plants; the dark sheltered nooks where the exterior corners of the house met.”

Umbras: n. the fully shaded inner region of a shadow cast by an opaque object esp. the area on the earth or moon experiencing the total phase of an eclipse. “All the while she eyed the shadows and stygian umbras; the wet, shivering plants; the dark sheltered nooks where the exterior corners of the house met.”

Moue: n. a pouting expression used to convey annoyance or distaste. “Marla made a moue of distaste at the memories of her mother-in-law.”

Definitions are typically from The New Oxford American Dictionary through Kindle or internet research, including Wikipedia.

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is… the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” — Mark Twain

What interesting words have you taken note of lately?

Daughter of the Howling Moon

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Lori Ericson

I’ve read paranormal, but it’s not my favorite genre. I may have to change my mind after reading Daughter of the Howling Moon by R.H. Burkett, but this tale is more of a mystery/thriller with some paranormal elements. I was so impressed with the writing style, the storyline and the characterization that I had to tell you about it here.

This book absolutely draws you in with the first chapter and keeps you in its claws with every turn of plot.

Here’s a taste of one of the most engaging characters I’ve ever read, Bethany Ann from Chapter 1: “Mama looked like always. Well, maybe there was hint of paleness around her mouth and a funny rattle to her breathing, but certainly not anything close to the feared shadow of Death. Then again, what was Death supposed to look like, anyway?

‘Is that you, Bethany Ann?’

‘Yes, Mama,’ I said and took her outstretched hand in mine.

Her hands looked the same too. Hard and calloused from years scrubbing clothes on the old washboard out back and permanently faded from the harsh lye soap. Washing, cooking, and cleaning, that was Mama in a nutshell. Probably would be the exact words chiseled on her tombstone too.”

I was intrigued by the synopsis and the first few pages of this book. I read on and couldn’t stop. I realized the thrill of the mystery in this story was pulling me from page to page, keeping me guessing and dying to know more. Burkett does an outstanding job of presenting her characters and immersing the reader in the story through her portrayal of those characters, making you care, root for them, against them and everything in between. When I turned to the last page, I was absolutely disappointed to have to let go of Bethany Ann and her Ben! The story was complete and Burkett did a great job of telling it, but I wanted more!

Here’s a snippet from Ben’s point of view: “Maybe he imagined it. Maybe the effects of a long day in the heat and sun coupled with a hungry gut, a tried butt and a short night of drums pounding his head had scrambled his thinking. He didn’t know. But stagnant, humid air cooled and whispered to the tree tops. Night sounds of swamp creatures hushed as if the crickets and bullfrogs were holding their breath. A shimmering, much like moonbeams on still water, danced just out of reach. He blinked, not trusting what he saw. And the girl in front of him stood taller and spoke with a dangerous, powerful voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention.”

The reader gets easily and totally immersed in the scenery because of the outstanding description. I was in the head of Bethany Ann and Ben with Burkett’s fine and inspiring writing style. This is without a doubt a fantastic book with a storyline that will keep you guessing until the end.

I highly recommend this read. Published by Pen-L Publishing, Daughter of the Howling Moon is a sure bet for any reader of mystery, paranormal or thriller.

Check it out on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Howling-Moon-R-Burkett/dp/1940222710/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427400245&sr=8-1&keywords=Daughter+of+the+Howling+Moon