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SHELTER IN PLACE: An emotionally poignant, heart touching read.
Readers , Review / June 7, 2018

by Annetta Sweetko Nora Roberts’ SHELTER IN PLACE will pull out every emotion inside you and leave you speechless. That is precisely what happened to me. Very rarely does a book hold me in its spell like this one did and even fewer keep me reading until 3 a.m. SHELTER IN PLACE is divided into three parts with the first taking place 14 years prior with “Innocence Lost.” In this part we begin with three girlfriends at the mall going to the movies, though Simone Knox’s heart isn’t into it as her boyfriend of seven months had just dumped her. Simone had no idea what true devastation really meant until that night. Reed Quartermaine worked at the mall, but at the time was currently trying to get Angie to go on a date with him. He receives a maybe for the late movie, so he is happy and then it happens. Gunfire, people screaming, running. Simone in the bathroom hides and calls 911, Reed going back to work is in the midst of the chaos and finds himself inside of a kiosk with a lost little boy and calling 911 with Angie’s blood on his shoes. Life changes for so…

Maggie Adams | How I came up with Legends: Catori
Author Guest / June 7, 2018

Growing up in Grafton, Illinois, situated between the Mississippi River and the limestone bluffs carved from it eons ago, the legend of the Piasa Bird is well known. There is even a rendering of the Native American bird on a bluff wall on the National Scenic Byway (or as we like to call it, the River Road). The “Piasa” is a birdlike monster as large as a calf, with horns like a deer, red eyes, a human face, the body covered with green, red and black scales, and a tail so long it passed around the body. The creature was given its name by the Illini Indians, “The Piasa,” a bird that devours men. Well, I thought about legends, and how some have a basis of truth or religious belief attached to their stories. That got me to thinking about all the bedtime stories, campfire recollections, and folklore of the area, including the Piasa Bird. Now, wouldn’t it be cool if there really was some truth to the shifter tales we read about? So, I picked one area, Native American legends, and focused on that for my research. I learned about power animals or “spirit guides” that many tribes believe…