Dragon House is a story about love and commitment. Iris is the daughter of a Vietnam war vet who started the concept of a school for orphans in Vietnam. Iris, at his death, committed herself to accomplishing her father's goal. Noah, is an Iraqi war vet who was injured both physically and mentally during his service. Noah and Iris form an unlikely alliance and travel to Vietnam together to work on the school.

Iris is joined by Thien, a Vietnamese woman who works with them on the development of the school and shares in the dangers to bring their goal to fruition. Thien touches Noah as he sees again through her, the beauty of life vs. the despair he feels.

The book also describes the orphans on the street, the "johns" who control them, the graft and corruption in the country but at the same time the elegance of the people who live there.

Mr Shors has crafted a lovely story of lives that intertwine and touch each other to overcome grief, hardship and loss to reach a common goal. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to young readers and readers like myself.

The Spare Room focuses on Helen who decides to take on the role of caretaker for her friend Nicola who has terminal cancer but refuses to consider the possibility of death. My impression was Helen truly cared for Nicola but did not envision the care required due to Nicola's continuing pursuit of alternative treatments.

I was struck by Helen's continual whining and I was saddened and embarrassed by her response to Nicola's desire to seek life even when the treatment was so harsh. I did not feel the bond between the two women and I was struck by how lonely Nicola must have felt towards the end.

I did not find Helen's treatment of her friend and her condition enlightening. The story was a tragedy of a friendship during very adverse times.

The story of a journalist's travels from Moscow through Beijing. The idea to converse with the locals, understand their opinion of their government and their view of the US and the West was a good idea but fell far short of what I had expected. I had difficulty understanding in the outlying republics which are now independent of Russia, the hate for George Bush and the seeming embrace of Putin and authoritarianism. In China the author notes the inhabitants love of Western "culture", i.e. nightclubs, music, dress, vs.the popularity with some of Genghis Khan and the celebration of National Day and Mao The book would have been relevant if the author could have provided a more robust perspective of why these individuals would choose autocratic government vs. democracy. How can the atrocities committed by these leaders not create a drive towards free societies?

Tethered is both a murder mystery and at the same time the personal self discovery and awareness of the narrator. The story is both sad and haunting as I discovered and grew to understand Clara who was the narrator and an undertaker. The detail the author provides on the embalming process in contrast to the human touch Clara provides in her care of the deceased was both at times macabre and so very touching. The author kept you wanting to learn more about Clara and her relationship with her Grandmother, Trecie, the missing child, Mike the detective involved in the case and Linus who owned the funeral home.

The author does a wonderful job drawing you into the main characters lives through flashbacks and memories. I found the story unique as told from the perspective of a female mortician, and sad due to the child abuse content. I also watched Clara as she struggled with her inability to pull herself from her world working alongside the dead to the world among the living.

I would recommend this book to a book club as the narrator is an interesting study in addition to the author's choice of Clara as the narrator.

I gave a 4 rating as there were some aspects of the story which were predictable but I found this a good read with aspects to details which you could almost see, smell, and hear. This book would appeal to teens and adults. It is an easy read and I found I wanted to keep picking it up to see how the story unfolded.