Joan Adamak

I am a senior lady, presently residing in Prescott Vally, Arizona. I have lived a very full life, but now I am interested mainly in writing, volunteering, traveling, metaphysical practices, spiritual counseling, am a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction and I do reviews for Amazon. I have three 3 Kindle books on metaphysics: "Lifting the Veils of Death;" "Infinite Realities;" and "Manna for the Millennium." My new book is my first attempt at fiction and is an historical romance entitled "Phillipa and the Big Scot" being published through Smashwords.

Website: http://www.joansmusings.com
Twitter: Joavone
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_tab_pro
Blog: http://wwwjoansmusings.blogspot.com

• Revenge: No Statute of Limitations on Dec. 20, 2011
  
  This is a mystery only in the sense that the reader is in the heads of the protagonist Jake, the detectives trying to solve the case, the four rich women who are victims and the husbands of these victims. Not until about the last third of the book, does the reader find out why, who and what is involved to cause this complex process of him reconstructing a house to imprison these four women, strict conditions under which the women must live for seven months, that what he thought would be a snap turns out to be as wearing on him as the women. As the story unfolds, the lives of each of the couples is a plot in itself, including a male and female detective and how the personalities of these women change over the months. The reader, as well as the women, are kept in suspense as to whether he eventually will hurt them or kill them, but because no demands for ransom are made in the first few weeks, the detectives are helpless because there are no clues, no weaknesses of the kidnapper, finally leaving them without any purpose for the kidnapping. . I generally do not care much for mysteries because the plots are usually the same, but this one is so different that I couldn’t put it down. It was just an accident that I happen to purchase the book and I am so glad. The only weakness in the book is that the editors, whom the author hired to edit the book, did a terrible job and it is full of typos and wrong words, which would detract from the story if the plot and scenes were not so powerful. I discussed this with the author and he is appalled and at a loss as to what to do about the non e-books because of the expense involved to republish. I read an e-book. I truly recommend this book to everyone. If this is a first published book for this author, all I can say is “wow.”
  
• Revenge: No Statute of Limitations on Dec. 20, 2011
  
  Review by Joan Adamak This is a mystery only in the sense that the reader is in the heads of the protagonist Jake, the detectives trying to solve the case, the four rich women who are victims and the husbands of these victims. Not until about the last third of the book, does the reader find out why, who and what is involved to cause this complex process of him reconstructing a house to imprison these four women, strict conditions under which the women must live for seven months, that what he thought would be a snap turns out to be as wearing on him as the women. As the story unfolds, the lives of each of the couples is a plot in itself, including a male and female detective and how the personalities of these women change over the months. The reader, as well as the women, are kept in suspense as to whether he eventually will hurt them or kill them, but because no demands for ransom are made in the first few weeks, the detectives are helpless because there are no clues, no weaknesses of the kidnapper, finally leaving them without any purpose for the kidnapping. . I generally do not care much for mysteries because the plots are usually the same, but this one is so different that I couldn’t put it down. It was just an accident that I happen to purchase the book and I am so glad. The only weakness in the book is that the editors, whom the author hired to edit the book, did a terrible job and it is full of typos and wrong words, which would detract from the story if the plot and scenes were not so powerful. I discussed this with the author and he is appalled and at a loss as to what to do about the non e-books because of the expense involved to republish. I read an e-book. I truly recommend this book to everyone. If this is a first published book for this author, all I can say is “wow.”
  
• The Accidental Anarchist on Jan. 07, 2012
  
  The Accidental Anarchist From the Diaries of Jacob Marateck By Bryna Kranzler Translated by Shimon Wincelberg and Anita Marateck Wincelberg Bryna Kranzler, the granddaughter of Jacob Marateck, gathered all of the information gleaned by her parents, Shimon and Anita, from the diaries of Jacob Marateck and compiled it into a comprehensive personal journey of Jacob Marateck, capturing the incredibly wry humor of her grandfather. Jacob was a Polish Jew and in 1902 Poland was a part of Russia. Jacob left school when 13 because there was little for Jews in Poland or Russia, tried being a Jewish student for a month, then joined his brother Mordecai as a baker’s assistant for seven years, and when he became disgusted with the 20 to 22 hour workdays, agitated the rest of the crew to revolt. Eventually he lost his baker’s job, but managed to become a labor organizer, without pay, influencing 3,000 other workers to revolt against the Czar, for which eventually he was sentenced to death twice, which he managed to evade. All young men at age twenty-one were automatically conscripted into the Russian Army and he found himself with other Jews, Polish, Russian and German conscripts. Throughout the entire story, Jacob’s suffering and his survival centered on the Jews. For several hundred years, life in Russia for all, other than the aristocracy, was brutal, and especially so the pogroms against the Jews. And it was no different in the Army. Military conditions for everyone in the Russian Army were incredibly bad due to inept officers, lack of food, clothing, and billeting. From the very first the raw conscripts went days hungry, no place to sleep, perpetually wet and freezing cold due to long Russian winters. And the Jews in the military were the last to receive anything. It was the practice of the Russian Officers to send the Jews out first, often without requested armaments so they would get killed. In the early 1900s the Russian Army was sent to Manchuria to fight the Japanese. Jacob told of horrendous military conditions; that more men were killed fighting the Japanese than had died in all of the wars up to the battle of Waterloo. The Russian Army didn’t have any type of modern equipment except rifles, often lacked ammunition, and the officers weren’t trained well in war maneuvers. The Russian units became separated and lost much of the time, sometimes firing on each other. The Japanese were well trained, well equipped and won every battle. Only an armistice saved Jacob and a few of his friends for most of them were killed or died from wounds because of inadequate medical help. About the time of Jacob’s release from the Army, he and his unit had gone four days without sleep, and he fell asleep while on duty. Caught by an officer, the military court condemned him to be executed. At the last moment, the court accepted his defense and changed his sentence to ten years hard labor in Siberia. He spent over a month being shipped north on a rotting barge and then it would take about eight months, weighted down in leg irons, to walk the thousands of miles north to Siberia. Cassocks on horseback guarded the prisoners, who died from exposure, starvation and bodily injuries, if not killed first by a Cassock. Eventually Jacob and a fellow Jew, known in Warsaw as King of the Thieves, escaped and faced new adventures and dangers. This story is written like a novel with drama, romance, conflict, danger, and much Jewish philosophy, but peppered throughout with humorous analogies and metaphors that make light of what otherwise would be a very dark and depressing story. I enjoyed every word of it and recommend it to all readers, especially those who like historical novels for this could be considered one if it wasn’t for the fact that it is non-fiction.