Rune Factory

I've talked to you a lot about the Harvest Moon games that I've played, but I don't think I've yet mentioned the spin-off series called Rune Factory, so here we go!

So far, I believe there are four Rune Factory games. I have played the first three, but I have not played the first one enough to remember much about it. I do remember that, so far, all three games have the same beginning, simply with different characters.

The games begin with the main character wandering into a small town. A girl (eligible maiden, actually) finds our protagonist and asks him what's going on. He responds that he doesn't know because he has lost his memory.

The girl gives our protagonist a name, which the player can choose but the game does offer a suggestion. Then she invites our hero to work on her farm, claiming it's just going to waste anyways and he'd be doing her a favor.

At some point during the girl's persuasion, our hero can tell he's being taken advantage of. However, it's either the girl or the girl's father that absolutely refuses to take no for an answer.

And so the game begins, with our protagonist living on a borrowed farm, expected to jump right in to the village life and have a blast.

There are variations between the games, of course. But I'll mention those when I come to each of them. Ciao!

Chinook at the Park

A while ago, my mom and I took our dog Chinook to a park, and he took to it better than expected.

Our dog, sad to say, is a bit of a coward. He fears fireworks and thunderstorms and even our freezer. He runs away from strangers when they approach him, though he'll bark at them all day if he's safely inside and they're ringing our doorbell outside. He doesn't usually care for new environments.

However, the park we took him to was apparently different. The park was mainly a water park, but it also had a dog park and some trails for walking or biking.We stopped by the dog park first.

It was a hot day, and there were only three other dogs there. Chinook sniffed each one, but none of them (Chinook included) were interested in playing because of the heat.

So Mom and I eventually decided to take Chinook out of the dog park and go on a walk. Chinook didn't like any of the bridges, but otherwise he seemed to enjoy the trip.

When we got back to our vehicle, Chinook didn't want to get inside. He didn't want to leave!

So, yes, that day was a fun experience.

Even if it lasted only about an hour due to the heat. ^^'

Lord of the Ring

Lately, I've been trying to read J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Ring series.

Late in the previous semester at college, my college had a book sale. At this sale, my friend found the entire series plus a bunch of bonus stuff in one book. She was considering buying it until I mentioned that if she didn't, I might.

I'd never read the series before, and I remember very little of the movies that I saw only once a few summers ago. I'd honestly never had much of an interest in them until so many of my friends at college would randomly go off on long discussions about how awesome it is and quote a few lines at every turn.

Almost instantly, my friend backed off on her claim to buying the book, encouraging me to buy it.

So I did. One novel divided into three sections, which in turn are each divided into two sections, before coming to the breaking down by chapters.

Sadly, my progress is slow. I've been reading it steadily for about a month, and I've only finished little more than a sixth of the book. But I think I'm picking up my pace now that most of the world-building has been completed and I can focus on plot.

I'll probably let you know my thoughts when I've finished. Deal? =)

Dee Henderson

Now that I've talked about all of Dee Henderson's books that I've read, I'll try to touch on some of her other books.

The only two O'Malley series books I didn't really say much about were Full Disclosure and Jennifer: An O'Malley Love Story. But since in a previous post I did give a bit of info on them both, let's move on.

Henderson's Uncommon Heroes series has a few more books. In order, they are True Valor, True Honor, and True Courage. I have never read any of them, nor have I heard Mom talk specifically about them, so I can't give you much in the way of plot summary and writing quality.

Henderson also has a series called Shield of Honor, but I can only find listed the first book in the series: The Witness. Again, I don't know anything about it.

Finally, Henderson seems to have written several stand-alone books. Then again, Full Disclosure is actually listed on Goodreads as though it is a stand-alone novel, even though every impression I got from my Mom pointed towards it being part of the O'Malley series. So I'm not sure if any of these other "stand-alone" books are actually somehow connected with some of Henderson's other series.

Anyways, if you wish to see the list of Henderson's books for yourself, please follow this link. Kaiti out.

True Devotion

Now that I've told you about all of the O'Malley series that I've read, let's turn to the only other Dee Henderson book I've read: True Devotion, the first book in a series called Uncommon Heroes.

The two protagonists in this book are Kelly Jacobs and Joe Baker.

Kelly was the wife of a Navy SEAL who died some time before this book begins. Now she's hurting emotionally and spiritually, and it takes a near-drowning experience as she tries to rescue a teenaged boy before she can start straightening her life back out.

Joe, also known as Bear, is a Navy SEAL who was best friends with Kelly's husband. He knows exactly how much Kelly hurt when her husband died, and he can't ask her to risk that pain again, no matter how much he loves her.

And then - danger. Closer than any of them could ever suspect, the man responsible for Kelly's husband's death is back. Not only do our heroes have to worry about the deadly missions, but important work gets done before each mission as well. This man's last contact (for clarification: not Kelly's husband) ended up washed up on a beach dead; and now, Kelly is his new contact. Joe pulls out every trick in the book to keep the past from repeating itself, but it just might not be enough.

I liked this book. The only thing keeping me from reading the others in the series is the fact that Henderson seems to thrive on murder mystery material, and at least one murderer appears in every book of hers that I've read so far. Reading too much of that might start to depress me, or scare me; not sure which one.

But in small doses, I like her books, and this one is no exception. I feel really awful for one of the characters, and I forget what happens to him by the end of the book; but other than him, pretty much every ends up with their happily ever after.

The Rescuer

The last book in the main part of Dee Henderson's O'Malley series is The Rescuer, in which we mainly follow Stephen O'Malley, but Meghan Delhart is also a protagonist.

Stephen is having issues. He used to be a firefighter with Jack, but then he became a paramedic. After several years, he developed a phobia of blood and had to quit. Doubled with quitting his job, his sister Jennifer dies, so Stephen does the adult version of running away: He takes an extended vacation.

Stephen's first and last stops along the road happen to be at Meghan's house. Meghan is an old friend who went blind after a car accident years ago. Since then, she's been living alone with her guide dog in a small town where she works for her father.

When Stephen stops running, he settles down in an old farm house just outside of Meghan's town. I think that's around the same time that a gem thief and eventual murderer comes into town. While Stephen is working towards turning his hobby into something that will make him a living, he discovers what the gem thief is looking for: jewelry pieces hidden all over the farmhouse and even in the barn, hinting that not all was as it seemed with the man Stephen bought the grounds from.

So, as per the norm, danger follows as, one by one, secrets in the past become revealed. And in the midst of all the danger, the protagonists managed to make some good memories.

My usual complaint about the romance applies here. Meghan is a Christian, and Stephen is not. But Meghan was definitely better than most of the others about resisting, despite the fact she'd had a crush on Stephen since before she got serious with God. She earned my permanent respect by outright telling Stephen that if it came down to a choice between him and God, Stephen would lose.

I also must say I think I enjoyed the Christian aspect more in this book. Stephen didn't make his choice when his life was at stake; he made his choice when he realized, on one calm night, that eternity was at stake.

The Healer

The Healer is the next book in Dee Henderson's O'Malley series, and the two protagonists are Rachel O'Malley and Jack's boss Cole Parker.

I forget the official title of Rachel's job, but her specialty is helping kids through trauma. She's good at helping anyone through trauma, really. She's also there for her own family as they deal with Jennifer's cancer.

There's a minor problem, though. Everyone relies on Rachel, including Rachel herself. All the years she's been doing this, she's never relied on anyone else, and she finally seems to be reaching her breaking point. Even though she accepted Christ in the previous book, Christianity is so new to her, and it scares her to know that there's nothing she can do in return to merit the love of Jesus - and she's facing a similar problem with her current romantic situation.

To be honest, I don't remember too much of Cole in this book. I remember a lot about him from the last book, but not so much in this one. He's strong physically, mentally, and spiritually. He becomes a shoulder for Rachel to lean on, and boy does she need it.

Aside from Jennifer's cancer, there's another crisis Rachel ends up in. I think the book started off with a flood, but the biggest mass trauma started in a school shooting. And if memory serves, there was another murder incident too.

So, yeah. Drama. Lots of it. It's been so long since I've read the book, I don't remember the finer details of my opinion towards this book. But I'm sure it was decent, at the least. =)

...Wow, that wasn't very convincingly put, was it? But I mean it; I'm sure it was pretty good overall.

Ohhh, wait, I just remembered another tragic event that happens in this book. Yeah, this is probably the most depressing book in the series. Maybe that's why I don't remember much of it: Too much sadness, so I made myself try to forget it?