book reviews |
book reviews |
Award-winning, multi-genre, multi-volume author Mary L. Schmidt, introduces us to this highly celebrated memoir, “Her Alibi”: Visions of her Cherokee grandmother, Cordie, flashed through Mary's mind as her mother, Marguerite, informed her that her stepfather shot himself and was in the hospital. Oh no! No! This can't be! Not after the joking around at my home last night. NO!!!! Did she use me last night? She'd never use her scapegoat child. No, she couldn't! Even Marguerite wouldn't sink that low! Or would she? Marguerite had always been abusive and vile to most people, and especially to her children and husbands, but would she shoot Harold? Yet, here I was, and I had to tell the police that, yes, my mother was at my home all evening and into the night. How despicable that my mother connived her way into using me as her alibi. This book is a true memoir drawing upon the locals and inspiration of the areas in which the author lives and works. Names of towns, places, facilities, and people are real except for three men. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not coincidental in nature and places where events take place are from her life growing up. Amazon Number One Bestseller - 2022 Literary Titan - Gold - 2022 SoCal Book Awards - Honorable Mention - 2022 Reader's Choice Book Awards - Finalist 2023 London Book Awards - Honorable Mention 2023 Los Angeles Book Awards - Honorable Mention 2023 NABE - Gold - Best Book in the Category of True Crime Fall 2023 Author Shout Reader Ready Award Winner - Recommended Reads 2024 Silver Medalist in Non-Fiction/True Crime Readers Favorite 2024 IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist Family Relationships 2024 Author Shout Reader Ready Award Winner - Recommended Reads 2024 Life Experiences/Memoirs Winner International Impact Awards 2024 This story was hard to take in. I have heard many stories of abusive parents but this is one of the worst. This book is quite well written. It has an engaging style and a good tempo. Abuse of this type is horrific and children are seldom believed. I am sorry you had to endure this suffering at the hands of the person who should have been your protector and cheerleader. 4.9 stars for certain things I am picky about. You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Her-Alibi-Mary-L-Schmidt-ebook https://www.goodreads.com/-her-alibi https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Her-Alibi/Mary-L-Schmidt https://www.walmart.com/Her-Alibi-Paperback https://www.waterstones.com/book/her-alibi/mary-l-schmidt https://www.barnesandnoble.com/her-alibi-mary-l-schmidt https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/her-alibi-4 You can follow the author: https://x.com/MaryLSchmidt https://whenangelsfly.net https://www.facebook.com/mary.schmidt.50/ https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/-Mary-Schmidt https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/ https://www.facebook.com/mary.schmidt.50/ Copyright © 2025 Mark L. Schultz except for the author’s introduction
39 Comments
1/13/2025 09:04:11 am
Thank you for your thoughts on this memoir. Sadly, others have been used as alibis by one or both parents in coverups of terrible things. My stepdad's story had to be told. Thank you.
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Mark
1/13/2025 09:24:23 am
There is no excuse for what you went through.
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1/13/2025 09:54:08 am
I was in Miami in November of 2024 for this very book receiving a solo silver medal in the Reader's Favorite book awards. It was awesome meeting other writers that I knew from social media and friends. My husband, Mike, wants to go back and eat ALL of the autyhentic Cuban dishes at Versailles. In all honesty, if you win an award such as this one, try to attend. The connections with others around the globe is amazing. This was our fourth trip after not going for five years due to Covid. You learn alot about marketing and you get so many pictures to use with marketing.
Mark
1/13/2025 12:52:24 pm
That was a wonderful experience. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing that recent story and a good piece of advice.
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1/13/2025 05:38:49 pm
Hi. That food was truly awesome.
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Mark
1/13/2025 07:24:02 pm
That trip was hard! I know a little bit about balance disorders, my wife has Meniere's disease.
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1/14/2025 09:15:42 am
I understand Meniere's disease.
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Mark
1/14/2025 09:38:15 am
Zero tracheal motility must make eating quite difficult. I imagine that you take small bites and chew thoroughly.
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1/14/2025 10:35:11 am
Zero esophageal motility means small meal amounts as food simply dumps into my stomach. Too much and instant reflux.
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Mark
1/14/2025 02:34:33 pm
I have no doubt that books were a welcome escape for you. For me it was merely a way to escape near-terminal boredom.
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1/15/2025 08:56:59 am
Why do I write?
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Mark
1/15/2025 10:32:22 am
You have many reasons to write. No doubt about that. Thank you for writing. Adult child abuse is abhorrent to me also.
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1/15/2025 12:39:58 pm
Having worked as a registered nurse for decades, I'm able to add medical situations into my books.
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Mark
1/15/2025 05:58:33 pm
54 books. Congratulations!
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1/16/2025 09:12:57 am
A grade school teacher. It started as a two-stanza rhyming poem. No set rhythm, just two short rhyming stanzas.
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Mark
1/16/2025 10:27:32 am
I remember carbon paper and carbon copies well. The first several books I proofed were carbon copies. With electric typewriters there was an easy adjustment for the keys to strike the top paper harder and produce a better carbon copy. We are dating ourselves.
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1/16/2025 12:33:18 pm
I've never, to my knowledge, seen a UFO or UAP. Never.
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Mark
1/16/2025 02:03:39 pm
If there are aliens it would be cool to meet nice ones. I doubt we would survive any other type of encounter. A theme frequently explored on one of my favorite TV shows when I was young. The Twilight Zone.
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1/16/2025 07:07:14 pm
A cryptid - you are too funny! I'm 99.9% sure I have not.
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Mark
1/16/2025 07:53:06 pm
I haven't seen a cryptid either. There were times when I was hiking in the woods or SW Washington that I felt like I was being watched. But I never saw anything I didn't recognize.
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1/17/2025 10:17:59 am
For Her Alibi, and it is a short book, one draft and one round of edits. The subject matter was all I could do then. You caught a couple things when you read it.
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Mark
1/17/2025 10:21:22 am
The loss of a pet is painful. I have missed Grizz for around 10 years now.
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1/17/2025 06:31:56 pm
I have one set of 12 sequential books plus six others that deal with children's issues.
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Mark
1/17/2025 06:38:01 pm
You're right. You are neither a pantser nor a plotter. You're a hybrid. Pretty much in the middle of the spectrum. It helps when you know a lot about your topic.
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1/18/2025 06:26:08 am
Hybrid? I do tend to write what I know and what I don't know, I research heavily. I can write elements I want in a book, even if I don't the element or location very well, then when it is time, I research.
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Mark
1/18/2025 07:40:38 am
That makes a lot of sense.
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Mark
1/18/2025 10:02:05 am
I suspected as much. I wanted to ask because it's one of my questions.
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1/18/2025 04:26:24 pm
I've never written fan fiction. When I could escape my mother, I read and lost myself in books. I preferred pretending to be Nancy Drew or Cherry Ames, etc...I also pretended to be females in a couple of comic strips like Dr. Morgan and me as June.
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Mark
1/18/2025 05:39:30 pm
Very good, I have not written fan fiction either. It never occurred to me to try that. Like you, I wanted to read and nothing more.
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1/19/2025 09:03:46 am
AI is not for me as far as writing goes. I put bits of me in each book, some more than others. I have not and will not use AI in writing a book. A book created with AI will stand out as such due to the way it works. Using AI is not being a creative person. AI will add word count, but they are general sentences that contain generalities that require no brain and heart use. NOT. FOR. ME.
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Mark
1/19/2025 09:09:37 am
I have been laughing at your squirrel memes for years! Thank you for so much entertainment. I appreciate your talent with graphics and covers. I have little skill in that area.
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1/20/2025 09:31:43 am
Thanks for liking my squirrel memes. Squirrels can really funny. .
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Mark
1/20/2025 09:39:28 am
Early last year AI was pretty good at writing short stories. IAI functions quite well with short answers but the creators have been improving the program steadily. Now, an author can develop a plot and characters and then ask the AI to write a story in the style of a famous author.
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1/21/2025 08:37:38 am
Well, then. I guess AI has come a long way. I had NO idea. But not for me.
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Mark
1/21/2025 08:46:04 am
Yes, the algorithms change quite often. The plebians are seldom warned or given an explanation.
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1/21/2025 09:23:19 am
First paying job was as a babysitter for the first time ever for a toddler. Diaper changes were easy and feeding was easy. She was one year old. Her mom started a new job. He mom lasted three days at the new job as it was really hard to do the work. I was a three day babysitter for a one-year-old. Then I got a job as dishwasher at a cafe that had giant auto dishwashers...then promo to waitress...then hired on as special waitress at fancy hotel eatery. The tips were huge at that place. Anyway, from there I did other jobs, graduated high school, college, nursing, on staff and travel nursing, and then disability and writing. That sums it up. Thank you for having me on here. I appreciate it.
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Mark
1/21/2025 09:54:05 am
Babysitting for a neighbor was one of my earliest paying jobs also. She had three kids under eight. I also mopped the kitchen floor sometimes.
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Who am I?An avid reader, typobuster, and the Hyper-Speller. I am a husband, father, and grandfather. Archives
February 2025
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