Leslie Keller Books

Part 8 “I gave up on happily ever after. Maybe I'm not cut out for a relationship. Maybe, I just don't like being committed to one person for longer than two weeks.” =================================             Clare stood in the drive waiting to see if Wyatt would return. Her answer came when the porch light was turned off. She didn’t like to admit when she made a mistake and, in fact, she believed she rarely did. But this time she realized she had gone too far. What did she care where his wife was?   As much as she tried to avoid it, the thought pierced her heart that perhaps Charlotte’s mother had died and now, with his father on the brink himself, her behavior had been selfish and inappropriate.             She couldn’t face Mae and didn’t know how to make things right. She stopped on the side of the road and called Richard, her fiancé. He managed crises ...

If you act quickly you can make it to the Arizona Horseman's Challenge & Expo on April 19th through the 21st in Queen Creek, Arizona.  This horse show includes clinics and competitions with a Saturday evening special concert by Shari Rowe. If you are a rider, or if you just love horses as I do, you can watch the clinics on training, driving your horse, packing your horse for trips, desert dangers, sport therapy for your horse and more. When you need a break from all the horse action, there are vendors for your shopping fix. Also featured is an exhibition on the Arizona Wild Horse Inmate Training Program. You may have seen the trailers for the movie, The Mustang which is a work of fiction but based on this type of program. Location: Horseshoe Park & Equestrian Centre 20464 East Riggs Road Queen Creek, AZ 85142 Hours: Friday 9-8 pm Saturday 9-10 pm Sunday...

This month's charity post focuses on a local charity, Kitchen on the Street, which helps those less fortunate by providing food assistance to those in need. Here's a summary from their website: Kitchen on the Street (KOS AZ) began serving the community in 2007 when the Scarpinato family learned about the prevalence of food insecurity in local Arizona children. Hearing that thousands of children that received breakfast and lunch at school but were going hungry on weekends compelled Vince, Lisa and Taylor Scarpinato to found Kitchen on the Street as a means of bringing food and hope to children in need. In 2007 Kitchen on the Street was limited to one program to serve the hungry children of Phoenix, a food backpack program providing shelf stable meals and snacks to food insecure children. As a volunteer driven faith based non-profit organization, KOS relies on the community to meet the needs of the hungry and hurting. Thanks to the generosity of individuals, business o...

As we move through the States, this month's craziest criminals are from Delaware. We start with the drunken burglars, add in a dash of child care workers and finish with insurance fraud. Dumb criminals come in all forms. From Fox News on January 13, 2015: A man returned home in Bear, Delaware to find two criminals passed out in his house surrounded by empty liquor bottles. From Newser.com: A Delaware man climbed in a rear window of a house to rob it, and got so drunk inside he was unable to climb back out, say police. His inspired solution? Call 911. The burglar stayed in the house for several days, over the course of which he drank three bottles of gin and two bottles of whiskey, before he finally decided to call the police to extract him. Part of the reason he had such a hard time leaving was that he allegedly had broken in to the exact same house in April, prompting the homeowner to replace all his locks with new ones that require a key both from the outside...

To celebrate a special occasion I made reservations at Maestro's Ocean Club restaurant in Scottsdale for a Saturday night. Although our reservation was for 6pm the restaurant was already quite busy and loud.  I've dined here before but didn't remember the volume being so high. I was looking forward to a dinner with piano music in the background and good conversation but what I received was a meal where we yelled at each other to be heard. To say this spoiled the meal would be incorrect because the food and service were exceptional. However, if you are looking for a romantic spot, this would not be it. Two of us ordered the small filet mignon (@$49 each) Oscar style (topped with lump crab, asparagus and béarnaise) which added another $40 to the price. The rest of the party ordered seafood - sea bass, tuna and one salmon. We added sides of the lobster mashed potatoes (at a whopping $38), gorgonzola macaroni and cheese, brussels sprouts and green beans with almonds, each at ...

I haven't loved a book this much in longer than I can remember. I read every genre, except horror and nothing has kept me a prisoner of the page like Gail Honeyman's beautiful story of a woman lost in a world of regret, shame and abuse. This description sounds like the book is depressing but it's the opposite. The evolution of the character is heartwarming and you'll only be sad when the book is done. I don't want to give away the story so this review will be intentionally vague.  When you first meet Eleanor your impression is one of a completely different person than the one who emerges as the story unfolds. Eleanor works in an office, the same job she's held for a long time but despite that she has no friends. Her co-workers snicker about her, she believes her boss hired her because he felt sorry for her and she has scars - some visible and others not.  She lives by a strict set of self-imposed rules and to vary them causes her great stress. But one ...

I love cocktails because they have multiple personalities. They can be serious, fun or downright naughty. There's no occasion in which the combination of flavors won't help set the mood. I know that sounds like I spend all of my time drinking but I honestly don't. There are days (hours, minutes) when I don't have any adult beverage. Some of my sample recipes immediately go down the drain and others down the throat. Here's one I haven't made but it sounds great for a Sunday brunch. Muddle 8 large mint leaves in a cocktail shaker * Add 1 egg white Add 2 ounces of gold run Add 1 ounce thawed frozen orange juice concentrate Add 1/2 ounce of lime juice - can be fresh or not Add 1/2 ounce of simple syrup ** Add 1/2 ounce of heavy cream Shake for 30 seconds *** Add ice and shake again for 30 seconds Strain into a martini glass and top with seltzer. Garnish with an orange slice or a twist of orange rind * Muddle - using a muddler, if you have one, cru...