Over the last few days I had the opportunity to finish two books that I have been working on.

First: "Beltane" by Raven Grimassi. I have the entire series that Llewellyn has put out for the entire wheel of the year. This particular book was a nice read with just enough information about Beltane to keep you interested but not so much that you get bored by too much information. It is easy to go overboard on all of the correspondences to the point that the reader starts going cross-eyed. This is not so with this book. Just enough to work with to help you celebrate you festival but not to much. I enjoyed this book.

Second: "Plum Wine" by Angela Davis-Gardner.

This love story confronts the issues of how our own personal pain from past experience affects our ability to love in the future. The setting of this book takes you to post Hiroshima Japan. The affects on the people of this place and how it has affected others around the world. Not only does it look at war it also embraces the issues that are placed on children who are not given the love that most children take for granted. Sometimes we can overcome our past and sometimes we cannot. I especially liked the setting of Japan and the descriptions of the beauty of the land. Being able to have a small window into the world of another culture was a pleasure for me. While this was a Love Story it was more about our ability to look at what responsibility we each have to take in our own personal decisions. I believe this to be the best part of this book. While the stories themselves were adequate it was the ability to cause the reader to explore their own feelings regarding themselves and the world that truly made it worth the read.