I finally found a book that has a name I absolutely love! When searching for my next thriller novel to read, I came across this one. Not only was the name awesome, but the storyline wasn’t bad! Before going into too many details, as in usual fashion, I’ll give you basic details of the book first. Here it is…

 

Ash – A Thriller (Asher Benson Book 1)

By: Jason Brant 

 

9 AM EST: A senator shoots himself on national television.

10:32 AM EST: An entire floor of government agents leap to their death from their office building.

12:57 PM EST: All the police officers inside a station murder each other.

And the day has just begun.

Lieutenant Asher Benson left Iraq with a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and a Purple Heart. His doctors warned that the symptoms would be life altering. They had no idea. As his body healed, the thoughts of those around him began to echo through Ash’s mind, stretching the boundaries of his sanity.

Five years later, Ash is drowning the voices with copious amounts of booze and self-loathing.

When unidentified intelligence agents abduct him in broad daylight, Ash is thrust into a world of espionage and assassinations. A unique terrorist is operating on U.S. soil, and the government needs Ash, and the malady that has plagued him for half a decade, to find the killer.

*Ash is the first book in the Asher Benson thriller series, which is full of snarky humor and nonstop action.

 

Non-stop action is right! From scene one to the end, the main character, Asher Benson, is constantly on the move, for good and not so good reasons. And speaking of Asher Benson, those who know me know I love the name Asher. That is the name we gave our second son after all! It was truly neat to read a novel with an awesome name like that.

I have to say the humor was great. It’s not for everyone, though! But I found it comparable to Adam Sandler, which I like. Not all of it is clean so be careful on that!

Overall, I thought the book was well-written. The descriptions were great, the storyline flowed smoothly, and the whole premise is fascinating. We’re talking telepathy and using ‘the force’! Star Wars fans may like that. Pretty fancy! The novel takes place in and around Washington, D.C., which is a city I’ve come to really love, so that was another plus.

This was a novel I really enjoyed. For all the reasons above, I have rated it five stars. Though this is the first book I’ve read from Jason Brant, it probably won’t be the last. A job well done, Mr. Brant!

To get your hands on this book, please go here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HL7Y1X2/

My boys love Star Wars. Wait, is there a stronger word for love? If there is, that’s what they feel about Star Wars! It’s almost an obsession, especially for my six-year-old. It’s what he likes to wear, watch, collect, play, et cetera. He almost lives and breathes it. And his younger brother may not feel as strongly about it as he does, but that younger brother of his does like it because he likes it.

Anyway…the local library was doing a special event called “Jedi Academy”. I just had to bring my boys!

 

We had no idea what to expect, but are glad we went. Upon arriving, we had to get a checklist of tasks each boy had to complete. When completed, a signature would go in the respective spot on the checklist, confirming they did, in fact, pass that part of their training.

There were three training areas. One was an obstacle course where they had to practice shooting, tossing, throwing, jumping, and kicking.

Another area was training the ability to use ‘the force’. Using teamwork, each young Jedi had to raise and lower a ball without the ball falling off its platform.

The last training area was creating a light saber. Here is what each of my boys came up with (and, yes, we helped):

 

 

When all things on the checklist were crossed off, they had to return it to the front desk at the library where they received this:

 

 

That wasn’t it, though! They had one last mission to go on now that they were Jedi Knights. They were given 10 stickers. Their job was to find 10 bad guys throughout the library that were evil, and then shoot them with the stickers. Some of the evil characters they had to find were Kylo Ren, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, and my personal favorite, Darth Vader. Take a look at these stickers:

 

 

As you can see, many kids enjoyed taking a shot at Darth Vader! All in all, a great event. I appreciate the library doing things like this, getting kids involved in healthy activities, and hopefully, getting excited about the library itself. I know my boys walked out of there with some books to read! And, yes, I need to get them there more often!

And though this was fun, one day I hope to take my kids to the Star Wars-themed land down in Disney World that is set to open in 2019 or so. That would be super enjoyable for us all!

This past Saturday my husband and I decided to take our two young boys to a movie rental place because I had gotten a coupon for a free rental. We intended on just getting the one rental, because let’s face it, it’s not like our boys really watch movies anyway. However, we ended up Continue reading “Movie Rentals”