Lori Ericson

Beth Carter Gifts Romance Readers with Fun Holiday Tales

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Posted on December 17, 2025 by Lori Ericson

I enjoy holiday-themed books this time of year. Last year, I read romance writer Beth Carter’s Miracle on Aisle Two. Then she surprises me with yet another romance out this Christmas!

Carter’s holding an online launch party for The Christmas Fib this Thursday (Dec. 18), per her Facebook page. I just finished reading The Christmas Fib. It’s a fun page turner that starts with Brooke Hamilton opting to relax alone for the holidays and lying to her mother about being ill to make it happen. Shouldering grief for her dad and guilt about the big lie, she hopes to create new holiday memories in the snow-capped mountains of Colorado. When Brooke checks into a quaint inn, this fun holiday story unfolds with lots of wonderful glittering Christmas treats and all the romance you could ask for from Santa. The Christmas Fib may just be more fun than Carter’s first Christmas romance, Miracle on Aisle Two!

As always, I try to highlight a few words for this book review blog. For these two delightful holiday reads, I simply picked words pertaining to the season.

From The Christmas Gift: “’Mom.’ Tate rolled his eyes. ‘You know I don’t believe in Santa.’

‘In that case, no gifts for you from Old Saint Nick.’

Gift, noun. 1. a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.

an act of giving something as a present
a very easy task or unmissable opportunity

2. a natural ability or talent.

verb, give (something) as a gift, especially formally or as a donation or bequest

present (someone) with a gift or gifts
endow with

From The Christmas Gift: “I’m planning to make all of your favorite things. You know, those fun treats we always make at Christmastime like chocolate-covered cashews, butterscotch haystacks, and your favorite, chocolate rum pecan pie. I also bought stuff to we could make those pretty holly centerpieces, and—”

Christmastime, noun. the Christmas season. Christmas is a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.

From Miracle on Aisle Two: Sobbing happy tears, she mumbled, “I love you, too. If I didn’t believe in miracles before, I certainly do now.”

Miracle noun. a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.

a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences
an amazing product or achievement, or an outstanding example of something.

ORIGIN: Middle English: via Old French from Latin miraculum ‘object of wonder,’ from mirari ‘to wonder,’ from mirus ‘wonderful.’

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Check out Beth Carter’s Christmas romances and her Coconuts series onAmazon

Or, see her Facebook at page https://www.facebook.com/authorbethcarter

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

“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.

Henry’s HAPPY PLACE Snicks a Chunk of Heart

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Posted on November 20, 2025 by Lori Ericson

Happy Place by one of my romance favorites, Emily Henry, takes a piece of your heart with this one. The story had me flipping the pages as the tension built between this couple that should be together, was once together, and then split after letting childhood hurts come between them. Henry does wonders with character development, builds a world of unique friends, each bringing something different to the story. I had to see if this sweet couple would get back together with the help of their friends, or would their breakup cause the tight group to fall apart as well. I enjoyed every chapter!

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.

In Happy Place, I noticed a word I rarely see, and the sentence is so yummingly Henry, it had to be included for this review.

From Happy Place:

The second the door snicks shut, I whirl on him, prepared to attack, only to be hit with the full force of his closeness, the strange intensity of being behind a closed door together.

snick, verb: 1- cut a small notch or incision in (something) 2- cause (something) to make a sharp clicking sound, make a sharp clicking sound.

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

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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

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― 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.

My Vocabulary Book Review of FORGET ME NOT by Julie Soto

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Posted on March 11, 2024 by Lori Ericson

Forget Me Not is a romantic tale that I picked up at the library and had to include here. The story is very well written with a plot that had me rooting for both lead characters and turning the page to see if they’d finally end up together. One’s a florist, the other a wedding planner, and you can’t get more romantic than that. Author Julie Soto does a captivating job of weaving just enough spicy scenes with conflict over a big wedding that could set them both up for promising professional futures. You’ll have to pick this one up to see if or how they work it out.

In this blog, I offer a different type of book review — one that’s combined with vocabulary building. Included below are a few interesting flower/plant names I found in Forget Me Not. Julie Soto included several of them, and I found myself looking them up for images after a few scenes. Not until the scene was over, I couldn’t stop reading!

The definitions here are for just a few words from Forget Me Not that, as it turns out all start with A, and I found them interesting:

astilbe: noun. an Old World plant of the saxifrage family, with plumes of tiny white, pink, or red flowers. ORIGIN — modern Latin, from Greek a- ‘not’ + stilbē, feminine of stilbos ‘glittering’ (because the individual flowers are small and inconspicuous).

From Forget Me Not: “I built a chandelier by suspending a rectangular tray from the ceiling in the back room with a lightweight chain. I filled it with pink baby’s breath and feathery blush flowers from an astilbe.”

amaranth: noun. 1 any plant of the genus Amaranthus, typically having small green, red, or purple-tinted flowers. Certain varieties are grown for food. Family Amaranthaceae: several genera, especially Amaranthus 2a purple color. 3an imaginary flower that never fades. ORIGIN — mid 16th century: from French amarante or modern Latin amaranthus, alteration (on the pattern of plant names ending in -anthus, from Greek anthos‘flower’) of Latin amarantus, from Greek amarantos‘ not fading’.

From Forget Me Not: “I shrug. ‘There are so few A-M-A words in the world. Amaranth?’

‘You are conveniently forgetting amazing. What is Amaranth?’

‘I didn’t forget; I disregarded. Amaranth is a plant. Drooping pink flowers that I use in bouquets sometimes.’”

amaryllis: noun. a bulbous plant with white, pink, or red flowers and strap-shaped leaves, of the type genus of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. A South African plant (Amaryllis belladonna, also called belladonna lily), and (popularly) a tropical South American plant that is frequently grown as a houseplant (hybrids of the genus Hippeastrum, formerly Amaryllis) ORIGIN — modern Latin, from Latin Amaryllis(from Greek Amarullis), a name for a country girl in pastoral poetry.

From Forget Me Not: “‘Amaryllis,’ I say, my voice soft in the quiet shop. I lift my eyes to her, and she’s pressing her lips together, a blush on her cheeks, a stain on her neck as vibrant as the Red Pearl amaryllis. ‘Is your mother a fan of musicals, or…?’

Her eyes sparkle again. ‘How does someone like you know a minor character from The Music Man.’”

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

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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.

Bride Swap — A Romance by Author Beth Carter

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Posted on January 19, 2024 by Lori Ericson

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 Bride Swap.

Bride Swap is a fun romantic read. Author Beth Carter provides a heartfelt tale of two female characters each struggling to make it on their own, one with a child to support. You’ll have to pick up a copy of Bride Swap to see who’s getting married or not.

The definitions below are for just a few words important for the telling of this absolutely adorable love story:

engaged: adj. 1. Busy; occupied. BRIT. (of a telephone line) unavailable because already in use. 2. Having formally agreed to marry. 3. (architecture) (of a column) attached to or partly let into a wall.

From Bride Swap:

“She glanced at her bare ring finger. She was newly engaged but hadn’t yet told anyone at the station. She knew how some of her more cut-throat colleagues would be once they heard she was set to marry the top anchor at the rival television station across town.”

swag: noun. 1. An ornamental festoon of flowers, fruit, and greenery. 2. INFORMAL money or goods taken by a thief or burglar. 3. AUSTRAL/NZ a traveler’s or miner’s bundle of personal belongings.

Slang definitions include: 1. Term for advertising merchandise, branded merchandise, or promotional products. 2. Formerly used for anything cool.

From Bride Swap:

“Emma, you’re more creative than me, plus you make all of that beautiful swag for authors. You’re amazing with that stuff. I’d love for you to plan a gorgeous wedding for Trent and me.”

transfixed/transfix: verb. 1. Cause someone to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment. 2. Pierce with a sharp implement or weapon.

From Bride Swap:

“He stood transfixed as if he were a marble statue. The smirk Paige had seen one too many times appeared as Trent asked, ‘Did someone have a bad day? Is it that time of month, Paige, or is Zach-y boy going after your job like I knew he would?’”

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

Her Name Was Rose

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Posted on January 3, 2024 by Lori Ericson

Her Name Was Rose is a wild ride of a psychological thriller that caught me up in the first chapter and kept my head spinning until the surprising turn of an end. Some of the language can be attributed to the novel’s setting on the Donegal Coastline of Ireland.

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 Her Name Was Rose by Claire Allan.

The following includes just a few words from Her Name Was Rose that I found interesting:

eejit: noun. Informal Irish and Scottish form of idiot.

From Her Name Was Rose:

“I want to be a complete madly-in-love eegit and wear a T-shirt that says I love Owen & Owen loves me! on it.”

klaxon: noun. <Trademark> An electric horn or a similar oud warning device. Origin — Early 20^th Century from the name of the manufacturing company.

From Her Name Was Rose:

“She’d spoken to my family, for God’s sake, sounded the ‘Emily is going off the deep end’ klaxon.”

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.