LETTERS FROM CHRISTOPHER by Cheryln Cadle is not worth wasting your time or money on. I give it 2 Stars out of 5 ⭐⭐

Title: LETTERS FROM CHRISTOPHER

Subtitle: THE TRAGIC CONFESSIONS OF THE WATTS FAMILY MURDERS

Author: CHERYLN CADLE

Genre: NON-FICTION, TRUE CRIME

Publisher: SELF PUBLISHED THROUGH AMAZON

Rating: 2 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐

Chris Watts – A Family Annihilater
This piece of human garbage killed his pregnant wife and two babies

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

Letters from Christopher is a true crime story with important information to put the pieces of the puzzle together for inquiring minds. Read herein the completely truthful account of what happened to Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and Nico Watts.

MY REVIEW:

I have a keen interest in True Crime, and as such when I discovered the existence of this book while browsing the Amazon website, I decided to give LETTERS FROM CHRISTOPHER a chance.

The way the book is described, readers will be deceived into thinking that the author has a long-standing and prolific letter-writing relationship with Chris Watts. THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

I expected that the book would contain the actual letters written both to and from the author. In other words, I expected to be privy to the actual letters. AGAIN, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. (There are a few letters at the end of the book, but not many.)

It only took a few pages before I realized this book was written by an amateur author. Anyone who has followed my Book Review Blog will know that I am an avid supporter of new authors. However, being written by a first-time author does not guarantee I will give the book a high rating. What it does mean, is that I am a bit more willing to overlook SMALL editing and/or proofreading errors.

I am 100% honest when I write my reviews. This is what I believe people want when they read book reviews. No one wants to spend their hard earned money on a disappointing read. There are so many fabulous books on the market today and it would be a shame to miss out on one of them because you wasted your money buying a book that did not live up to your expectations.

So, why am I disappointed in this book? Well, besides being full of typos and terrible grammar, it does NOT offer much in the way of new information. Basically, the author just took the information that has previously been reported and wrote it out in her own words. Words that are written with more grammatical errors than a grade one book report.

In addition to that, the author seems to be incredibly naive. I believe she has lost touch with reality when it comes to the topic of Chris Watts and the beautiful family he slaughtered in cold blood. Cheryln is a religious person. I am not sure what brand of Christianity she subscribes to, but it involves the belief that Chris Watts only murdered his family because of a demon.

It never ceases to amaze me just how fast criminals, and murderers in particular, once caught, profess that they have found God and that God has forgiven them. What a crock of crap!!! This is just one more manipulative ploy by a psychopath who feels nothing and who knows exactly what buttons to push to obtain sympathy from women.

Even if I believed the crap that Chris has clearly manipulated Cheryln Candle into believing, I cannot give this book a rating higher than 2 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐ This is for the reasons listed above as well as the fact that there are very few actual letters included in the book. This is supposed to be a book called LETTERS FROM CHRISTOPHER, but where are the letters.

Please do not waste your money on this book. There are other books about the Watts family murders that are more worthy of your time and your hard earned money.

I am including links to some videos about the case that are more informative than the book.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=duu2NePfEo0

Documentary:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MbGl8r5MzUI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPt3uvJZAU

2 minute long video – A tear rolls down his cheek at sentencing – The only time this monster showed any emotion was at his sentencing – the year was for himself, not for the wife or babies he so callously slaughtered…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=syQwvoZZvGI

THIS IS CHERYLN CADLE:

2 Stars for Steve Baba’s Book Detailing His Arguments Against Raising Minimum Wage – BOOK REVIEW

 

Cover Photo Obtained From Amazon

Title: TEN UNAVOIDABLE PROBLEMS WITH A “LIVING” MINIMUM WAGE: From 100% Waste of Your Money to Millions Unemployed

Author: Steve Baba, P.H.D.

Type of Book: eBook

Length: 117 pages 

Genre: Non-Fiction, Economics

Release Date: June 12, 2014

Publisher: EEENI Inc. 

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️

~ I received a free copy of this book from Amazon. 

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: 

“Using non-technical language and a dialogue format, this short book explains the problems with a high “living” minimum wage and the misleading minimum wage arguments. Economic concepts are presented in a Socratic discussion with a labor activist at McDonalds.”

MY REVIEW: 

According to the author, “… a high, living minimum wage is strategic folly from the start or as Milton Friedman stated, ‘a monument to the power of superficial thinking.'”

What the author is trying to prove to readers is that raising the minimum wage for workers to an actual living wage is a bad idea. 

Obviously Steve Baba does not get paid anything close to minimum wage. 

According to this book, “…EMPLOYMENT would not change or fall very slightly. But EMPLOYMENT, people working at jobs, is not the same as UNEMPLOYMENT which is people looking for jobs who can’t find jobs… the number of workers employed remained constant, but work supplied by other workers increased, so at $10 or $15 an hour, the supply of labor is greater than the demand for labor.” 

As far as I am concerned, this is incredibly flawed logic. He states that more people will be looking for work if the minimum wage is raised and he is probably correct about that. However, these people are already unemployed, it is just that their numbers are not included in unemployment statistics because they are not even looking for jobs currently. Some of these people are receiving welfare, some are receiving pensions, some are young people whose parents are covering their expenses. But, if the minimum wage was raised to a “living wage” of course these people would have an incentive to seek employment. They would have the opportunity to get off welfare or to supplement their pension income, etc. THIS IS A GOOD THING! 

Lives cannot be wholly measured by statistics, labels and numbers. Just because they are not officially labelled as unemployed, does not mean they aren’t employed. It just means that they are labelled something other than “unemployed”. 

I found it frustrating that the author who purports to have a Ph.D. Is trying to mislead people with this book. And, I feel that he is insulting the reader’s intelligence. 

He states that “It is 100% waste of the $7.75 pay increase since nobody is better off.” This is a total crock of crap. (Excuse my candour.) He uses the example of a stay-at-home Mom to try to prove his point. He says that by the Mom entering the workforce, the kids become “latch-key kids” and no one is better off. I would have to disagree. The kids would be much better off. By working for a decent, living wage, the mother is now able to afford to buy nutritious food for her children and is able to provide them with proper winter coats and boots rather than having to send them to school cold and miserable. Perhaps she might even be able to enroll them in sports or tutoring programs. Any or all of these examples could only come about if the mother was able to earn a decent, living wage and all of these examples enrich her children’s lives. 

I could refute just about everything Steve Baba writes about, but if I did that this review would be way too lengthy, so I will not do that. Instead, what I will do is give this book a rating of 2 out of 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️ 

I found the “conversational” style that this book is written in to be extremely annoying. If this had been an actual conversation, it would not come across so stilted. It would also not be so adamantly one-sided. 

I also found the author to be condescending. He comes across as if he thinks the reader is ignorant and/or just plain stupid. In my opinion ‘talking down’ to your readers will not win you any fans. However, I also got the sense that the author would not care if he had fans or not. It is his opinion that is the right one and anyone that disagrees with him must be “stupid”. 

I am very glad that this book was free on Amazon because that means that I didn’t waste any money on it. I only wasted my time.  

While I disagree 100% with the author’s theories and I am doubtful that the author has much “real-world” experience with people who work for minimum wage, I do agree that his arguments might be persuasive to people who are in a similar socioeconomic class to his own. It is for that reason that I am willing to rate this book higher than I really want to. I rate it as 2 out of 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Author Photo obtained from http://www.amazon.com

 
Steve Baba has a Ph.D. In Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and has taught economics in USA, Europe and Asia. 

CATCHING UP by Bronagh Fegan – AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

Cover image obtained from http://www.amazon.com

CATCHING UP WITH THE GIRLS: This Is Your Pilot Speaking, An Audible Original Pilot

Author: Bronagh Fegan

Type of Book: Audiobook – Unabridged

Narrators: Louise Ford, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Carrie Quinlan, Grainne Maguire and Andy Goddard

Length: 30 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Release Date: June 11, 2015

Publisher: Audible Inc.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐

Audible has created a few short pilot episodes of various serials and offered them up as free downloads. People are needed to vote for the best one and that one will continue to be produced.

Carol has been living in New York for the past five years. She has just moved back to England and her old friends have set up a get together at a local Wine Bar.

This meeting devolves into a
“bitch-fest”. There were a couple mildly funny parts, but I actually found this audiobook more annoying than entertaining.

This “serial pilot” warns listeners at the beginning that they should “buckle up” because they are entering “the United States of Hilarity”. This is flat out untrue. This was not funny in the least.

The only redeeming feature is that the full cast of narrators are all very talented. They do a very good job with poor material.

I cannot rate this audiobook any higher than 2 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐