Heaven is a Bookstore about life, love, cats, photography, writing, tmj, retail

Wordless Wednesday - Homemade Bread

2012-02-01T01:00:00.003-07:00

Honey Oat Wheat Bread that I made from scratch for sandwiches. Oh and it tastes as good as it looks!

WordlessWednesday

Review - Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

2012-02-01T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Pandemonium
Delirium #2
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publish Date: Feb 28, 2012
Hardcover, 375 pages

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Let's start with the fact that the ending is shocking, amazing and absolutely jaw dropping. I was so ecstatic that I wanted to scream. I was hoping for an ending like this, I had an inkling, but really? I was floored when Lauren Oliver did it. YES!

I am a fan of Lena, the main character in this series. Lena is sweet, kind and follows the rules until she meets Alex. A boy who is supposedly cured of the dreaded disease, love. But as she spends more time with him, her eyes open to a world of possibilities. She must choose between the world she knows and love and a world she may want to know, but leave everything behind. I can't give away too much as YOU MUST READ THE FIRST BOOK, but this book leaves off literally where the last one ended. Nothing left to our imaginations.

Lauren Oliver introduces new characters in this book. Ones we aren't meant to like and ones I liked instantly, but really, this book just made me love Lena more. She is in great pain and feels utterly lost. Everything is new, but the pain is so fresh she can barely breath. Learning to live with this pain is possibly too great. Raven, a woman who has felt the pain Lena is dealing with, tries to help, but is she may have ulterior motives. When it comes to survivial, it is so hard to judge between those who are willing to survive at all costs and those wanting to simply help.

Summary -

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

Review - Room by Emma Donahue

2012-01-30T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donahue
Publish Date: Sept 13, 2010
Publisher: Little Brown & Company

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Unfreakin-believable!!!

Seriously amazing and I loved every minute of it. Even the parts that made me cry inside for Ma.

READ IT!!!

The first couple of pages, I kept revisiting all the people that have said how wonderful this book was and comparing it to the infancy of Jack, the main character and his writing this book. I wondered if I would find this book as intriguing as others. (A bit like the movies, when the reviewers give rave reviews, I rarely every like the movie.)

But OMG this book is mind boggling. It changes everything. The person I really felt for though was not Jack, but his mother. I couldn't stop wanting to protect her, to hug her. The way she lives through being stolen and hidden in a room for seven years. She has Jack, her son from the man who kidnapped her. And then she has to endure Jack and all of his inquiries and needs for like to remain the same. I really don't want to tell too much. This book should really be experienced by all. So fabulous!!

Summary -
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.

Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

Review - Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

2012-01-27T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Caster Chronicles #1
Author: Kami Garcia
Publish Date: Dec 1, 2009
Publisher: Little Brown Books
563 pages

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I enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and for some reason, it really kept me reading.

I say this because there were many times during this book I was confused as to what was happening. There was a lot of back and forth from present times to past without explanation; people with the same names; and descriptions that feel short of telling what was going on. I do think that the author kept the reader in the dark on purpose as she didn't want to reveal too early. Usually this would bother me and make me not like the book or want to stop reading, but I really enjoyed this book. Really!

It could be the characters were very well written. Lena is the main character. She is turning sixteen and at that time, she will either be Dark or Light; good or bad. She wants to be good, but has seen people close to her go bad and she is scared. The more the book moves along, the more she learns about other people who are bad. I truly felt for Lena. She is so different and refuses to be drawn in to the followers. In this she is cast aside and left to be scorned, criticized and the entire town turning against her. Any teenager would be distraught, yet Lena holds on. I loved it.

Ethan is the boy who has been dreaming about Lena without knowing it is her til he sees her. For some unexplainable reason, they are drawn to each other. Surprisingly, against all odds (the entire town) he stands up for Lena and protects her. His best friend, Luke stands up for Ethan as much as he can given his mother is the first to cast stones in Lena's direction.

Kami Garcia wrote the book so that the reader didn't like Amma nor Macon - Amma being Ethan's aunt and Macon is Lena's Uncle. Neither of which really ever tell the two what is happening which leaves the reader (and Lena/Ethan) wondering what they are hiding. As the story develops I love the way Garcia reveals the true identity and wishes of Amma and Macon.

I didn't want to like Ridley either, Lena's cousin who turned Dark last birthday. She wants nothing more than to be mean to Lena. To show her up and make fun of her, but they reveal the true meaning behind her actions later in the book and I just immediately felt for her.

It was so beautiful how the author subtly put the title in the book about three quarters of the way through too! Look for it.

Seriously looking forward to the following book. I'd like to read about Ethan and his history of his family. The part where his mother has passed away and his father stays locked in his study all day to be near her, yet there is a force pulling Ethan to the study and magically unlocking the door for him (and him only) to enter. So awesome!

Next Up -
Beautiful Darkness
Caster Chronicles #2
Kami Garcia

**See why I feel it is so difficult to rate a book? This book left me wondering what I didn't like about it because something held me back, yet I couldn't put it down. **

Summary -

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Review - Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

2012-01-26T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Two for the Dough
Stephanie Plum series #2
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publish Date: Feb 5, 2004
Publisher: Penguin

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I am completely captivated by this series. I read the first one simply to see the movie. Heaven forbid I see the movie first and I just love Katherine Heigel.

I bought the second one just to find out if the others were as good as the first. I have to say the second one lacked just a little bit. But only a touch. There were a few slow moments in this book, but for the most part it was as comical, fun-sleuthing and gun totting as the first. I really like that there is a romantic pull between Stephanie and Morelli, the sexy cop she chases in the first book. I love that they pull her Grandmother in the story. She wants to be a cop too, so Stephanie gets to keep bringing her Grandma along on these adventures and the two of them get into quite the trouble!

One of the great things about her books is they are available through the library, but I have been buying them on my Nook because I know I will want to keep them.

Summary -
Kenny Mancuso shot his childhood buddy Moogey Bues and then jumped bail. Now bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on the case to track Kenny down. Then someone finished Moogey off, Kenny can't be found, twenty-four coffins are missing, and there's some ex-army heavy artillery roaming the streets.

Wordless Wednesday - kitty pics

2012-01-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

Can you tell Tuesday thinks I take way too many pictures of her?

Wordless Wednesday

Review - Frostbite by Richelle Mead

2012-01-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Frostbite
Vampire Academy #2
Author: Richelle Mead
Publish Date: April 10, 2008
Publisher: Razorbill
Paperback, 327 pages

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I am really glad I decided to give Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series another chance. I wasn't thrilled with the way she wrote the first book that kept the reader in the dark.

The second book in the series starts out by explaining all the questions I had from the first book. It was so very helpful. It also made the rest of the store that much more interesting.

I am really in love with the star crossed lovers Rose and Dimitri are being shown as. Even though they are destined not to be together, they still are so utterly romantic.

Also in this book, Rose meets her mother for the first time ever. Her mother walked away from her as a child to become a protector as Rose is now. Talk about trying to live up to your parent's expectations. Rose has no idea how volatile her relationships can be.

Summary -

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It's winter break at St. Vladimir's, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy's crawling with Guardians—including Rose's hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn't bad enough, Rose's tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason's got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks… This year, St. Vlad's annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…

Review - One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

2012-01-20T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: One for the Money
Stephanie Plum series #1
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publish Date: June 13, 2006
Publisher: St Martin's
Paperback, 320 pages

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I walked by this book at work so many times and never even picked it up, then it showed up on our New in Paperback table with Katherine Heigl's picture on it and I stopped in my tracks. WHAT?! A movie of hers I had missed? That's crazy talk. When I looked up the movie, I realized it hadn't come out yet. I was on a mission to read the book before the movie comes out. I plan on seeing that movie.
I was so pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed these books. Granted, I did picture the ever exciting and funny Heigl as the actor in this role, but it is written so funny. Stephanie is the main character. A woman who is losing her life. She is out of a job, can't pay her rent or bills. She takes a job as a bounty hunter - just some easy grabs til she can get back on her feet. Unfortunately, she is the most unpredictable woman who ends up accidentally falling in to the wrong places at the wrong time. She meets horrible men who despise women, especially women who are as self supportive as she is. I find myself laughing out loud, struggling to control the grin spreading across my face. Janet Evanovich has done a spectacular job bringing Stephanie Plum to life.

Check out the Movie Trailer -

Summary -
Read the Dynamite Blockbuster that Started It All!

Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man.

Review - The Dispatcher by

2012-01-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Dispatcher
Author: Ryan David Jahn
Publish Date: Dec 27, 2011
Publisher: Penguin

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I was at work, this book popped on the coutner and I immediately stopped what I was doing and read the back and the front of the book. It sounded so fabulous! What could be more of a page turner than a phone dispatcher getting the call from her daughter that disappeared seven years ago?

I hate to say it, but I should have put the book down after the first chapter. It was the most gruesome, bloody, gore-filled book I have read in a long time. I tried so hard to like this book. Heck, I read the whole thing, but so many times I got lost in the man using an axe to cut off another guy's toe or the man who uses his fist to shut up women.

But hey, to each their own. Feel free to let me know if you like this book. The reviews at B&N are 5 stars, so what do I know.

Summary -

Ian Hunt is the police dispatcher for the small town of Bulls Mouth, East Texas. Just as his shift is ending he gets a call from his fourteen-year-old daughter, Maggie.

Maggie, who has just been declared dead, having been snatched from her bedroom seven years ago. Her call ends in a scream.

The trail leads to a local couple, but this is just the start of his battle to get his daughter back. What follows is a bullet-strewn cross-country chase along Interstate 10, from Texas to California.

The riveting new novel from the acclaimed author of Acts of Violence and Low Life is a brilliantly original, blood drenched thriller, about the lengths a man will go to for his daughter.

Wordless Wednesday - Homemade Pizza

2012-01-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Homemade pizza dough with cheese, canadian bacon and pineapples.

Wordless Wednesday

Review - Scored by Lauren McLaughlin

2012-01-17T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Scored
Author: Lauren McLaughlin
Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: Oct 25, 2011
Hardcover, 240 pages

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This book was so awesome!! I loved every minute of it. It was so cool the way it referenced the utopian books from my high school days like 1984 and Brave New World as if the new dystopian is the old utopian. It was a quick read, but very entertaining.

What would your score be if you were ranked according to the company you hold, the decisions you make and all of it was big brother caught on tape. There are kids who are scored and those who are not, those who are not will never get in to college, get a good job or live a life of stature. Those being scored can use everything to get a better score, even use each other's failings to gain more points. What if you could save someone, but hurt your score in the process, would you risk it all? What if your best friend made a decision that plummeted your score, would you disown them?

Summary -
Set in the future when teenagers are monitored via camera and their recorded actions and confessions plugged into a computer program that determines their ability to succeed. All kids given a "score" that determines their future potential. This score has the ability to get kids into colleges, grant scholarships, or destroy all hope for the above. Scored's reluctant heroine is Imani, a girl whose high score is brought down when her best friend's score plummets. Where do you draw the line between doing what feels morally right and what can mean your future? Friendship, romance, loyalty, family, human connection and human value: all are questioned in this fresh and compelling dystopian novel set in the scarily forseeable future.

Review - Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

2012-01-13T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Every Other Day
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Egmont USA
Publish Date: Dec 26, 2011
Hardcover, 336 pages

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Let's start with the obvious - the cover is SPECTACULAR!! Without knowing what the book is about, the cover itself makes me want to buy it!

This book was so weird it was awesome. Kali, the main character is a demon hunter one day and a normal human girl the next. It is continuous torture. She feels the need to hunt and kill one day and go to school and be normal the next. She can feel the minutes and hours counting down as if the clock was in her bones. She doesn't really know her background of where she came from just that her dad has a don't ask, don't tell policy that makes Kali feel alone.

When she notices a tattoo mark on a popular girl's back that signifies she will die soon, she makes a hasty decision to help her by putting her own life at risk. And the fun begins. She is thrown into the mix with new people, those who want to help and those who don't. She finally gets some insider information about her own history too.

I seriously LOVED this book!! Finally a book I was really looking forward to that did not let me down!!

Summary -
Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

Review - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Flight by Jennifer E Smith

2012-01-12T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Statistical Probability of L0ve at First Flight
Author: Jennifer E Smith
Publisher: Poppy
Publish Date: Jan 2, 2012
Hardcover, 236 pages

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The romantic in me just cried out for this book. I wanted so badly for Hadley and Oliver to end up together.

Okay, yes it does seem a bit far fetched that two random strangers meet on a plane, talk forever and feel that kinship that grows to be love in less than 14 hours. BUT my non-rational heart in me screams, "It is possible!" There are many moments in this book that I caught myself denying the parts actually could happen, but that was immediately covered up by love itself does find it's way.

Hadley is going to London to see her father who is getting remarried to a woman Hadley has never deigned to meet. Quite frankly she wouldn't even have been on the way to this wedding had her mother not insisted she go. Her father left them after being in London for half a year and falling in love with this other woman. He broke up their family and broke Hadley's heart. She doesn't want to see him.

Oliver is going to London to return to his family. His story is a bit of a mystery until the end so I am not going to give away any of it.

Hadley and Oliver are cute together. They kind of fit. There strangeness in family matters and their vulnerability catches my heart. I really liked that Jennifer Smith did a great job never letting on whether or not they would actually end up in the end. So read it and find out.

Summary -
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Review - Vampire Academy by Rachelle Mead

2012-01-09T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Vampire Academy
Vampire Academy #1
Author: Rachelle Mead
Publisher:
Publish Date:

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I was completely confused for most of the book. What is a dhampire? Did she just misspell Vampire? What is a Moroi? If any book needs a companion it is this series. Rachelle Mead took no time in building the plot she jumped right in to the story. We, as readers are meant to just catch up.

Regardless of being a bit in the dark, I still really enjoyed the first book and will continue to read the next ones.

Rose is a body guard for Lissa. Lissa drinks blood and when they fled the school for protection from an unknown thread, Rose allowed Lissa to drink from her blood. When dragged back to school, Rose was in grave trouble. She ended up being in the spotlight among her peers. She chooses to take the brunt to protect Lissa. The have a bond where Rose can see within Lissa's mind and can feel her emotions. This comes in handy when protecting Lissa, but can be a burden when Lissa wants to keep secrets. Rose and Lissa have many secrets.

Rose has a very handsome, big shouldered instructor for training skills. They mostly run, but there is hope of one day learning all his protection skills. She spars with her peers in class and mostly just tries to survive after years on the lamb with Lissa.

There is so much packed in to this first book it will be interesting to see where this goes. As with the fact, this book seems to have so many followers, it's fun to be in the know.

Summary -
Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .
Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever...

Best Books of 2011

2012-01-06T01:00:00.001-07:00

In no particular order,

here are my
TOP BOOKS of 2011

B efore I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson
D eli riu m by Lauren Oliver
Th e B ody Finder series by Kimberly Derting
Drink Slay Love by Sarah Beth Durst
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Dir ty Life by Kristin Kimball
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Thirst by Christopher Pike
The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

These books were not necessarily printed in 2011, but I read them in this year. It was a tough call because there were so many awesome books that grabbed my attention for so many different reasons. These particular books will stay with me for a long time. The impact they had on my thoughts, feelings and actions.

Review - The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

2012-01-05T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Probability of Miracles
Author: Wendy Wunder
Publisher: Razorbill
Publish Date: Dec 89, 2011
Hardcover, 366 pages

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I love the vibrancy of the cover and knowing this book has sadness injected in it, it definitely helps soften the book.

Cam has cancer. Her recent diagnosis is that she is in the final stages and cannot be saved. Her mother refuses to believe she will die and takes them to Promise, Maine a place known for it's healing properties. Cam on the other hand would rather wallow in her sadness and die at home, but seeing her mother's need to believe she goes along with the move. Along the way, she encounters her friend, who is also ailing from the same cancer and her grandmother who is a bit crazy.

Cam's life is filled with chaos, inside termoil and staving off her families need to believe in something more than just life and death. Her mother constantly pulls her in to her life saving schemes and her sister is a bit selfish and acts out accordingly. Stuck in a car with these two and her bird, Tweety keeps things interesting.

When they finally reach Promise, Maine could it be that Cam really is starting to show signs of curing. She is feeling more energy, her bruises are fading and she is finding a life. She meets new people and falls in love with a boy.

My favorite part was even though Cam is no longer willing to fight this disease she doesn't let it drain her of her life. She is still sarcastic, funny and able to prank. It gives this book what makes it stand out among those other sad books.

Summary -
Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine - a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it's undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingoes in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe - in love, in herself, and even in miracles.

A debut novel from an immensely talented new writer, The Probability of Miracles crackles with wit, romance and humor and will leave readers laughing and crying with each turn of the page.

Wordless Wednesday - I love winter

2012-01-04T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2012-01-03T01:00:00.001-07:00

When The Lights Go Down In the City by Journey
If you work in retail, my heart goes out to you. Holiday is not the worst time of the year for customer service people . . . it is the time right after. When we get these stray people who seem to think if they yell and scream and throw a fit, we will miraculously change the corporation's store policies to suit their needs. Instead of trying to be civil and/or being aware of the return policies, they choose to be hateful and ruin everyone else's day. Sorry, tough day.
This song was in my head when I got home.

"Here we had this incredible tool at our disposal with the Internet. We had search. We had wikis. We had all the social networking tools. We had micro-lending and personalized charity. But poverty wasn't going away. If anything, the internet was widening the gap between rich and poor."

Scored
Lauren McLaughlin

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Review - Cinder by

2012-01-02T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Cinder
Lunar Chronicles #1
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Jan 3, 2012
Publish Date: Feiwel & Friends
Hardcover, 387 pages

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Cinder is the story of Cinderella told in the form of cyborgs, princes and Lunars (ie: witches). I really love the layout of this book. It is sweet, interesting with just the right amount of futuristic play. Marissa Meyer did such a wonderful job keeping the feel of Cinderella, but making it her own.

Cinder is a half human, half cyborg. An accident in her life at an early age allowed for her to be remade in to a cyborg. Her stepmother, Adri is mean (of course). She has two step sisters, Pearl and Peony. Feeling a bit like the movie, Ever After with Drew Barrymore, Pearl is the hateful sister and Peony is the nicer, friendly even sister though she must keep up appearances in front of her stepmother. They live in a world plagued by letumosis which is killing humans every day and the prince's father has recently been infected. Finding the cure will not only save the King, but maybe all of humanity. Among one of the methods of finding a cure cyborgs are being drafted to aid in finding a cure (ie: science monkeys). When Cinder's awful stepmother gets it in her head to subject Cinder to the "not so optional" draft for science, she is sent away to be poked and prodded with the disease until she dies.

There is of course a handsome prince, Kai, who meets Cinder at the market where she works to earn money for her stepmother by fixing mechanical parts. Kai is in need of her services when his cyborg nanny has gone on the fritz. Naturally there is a connection, but with him being undercover in the market and her being a cyborg/human, how will love ever come about?

This was so much fun! What a great way to incorporate a child's tale with technology and witchcraft.

Cinder's story continues with Scarlet, Cress and Winter consecutively being released one each year.

Summary -
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

Book Review - Homer's Odyessy by Gwen Cooper

2011-12-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Homer's Odyssey
Author: Gwen Cooper
Publisher: Bantam
Publish Date: Sept 7, 2010
Paperback, 299 pages

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For those of you who own cats, this is not a book you will want to read in public. I was constantly caught laughing out loud, making odd noises and such because I too have a cat (or two) who do very similar chaotic and hilarious antics. I couldn't help but fall deeply in love with Homer in the first chapter.

I have been fondly stroking this book at work for months now. For whatever reason, I didn't pick it up until this past week. I just felt the need to read something of love and romance, but not the "ruggedly handsome swashbuckling shirtless sex hero." Rather I was in the mood for romance of the hairy kind.

For exactly two days, I have had this insane smile on my face while reading this book. It so warm and affectionate. Gwen writes with such abandonment that I can't help but see each and every detail in her stories of Homer. It begins with a start from the vet who had removed and sewn Homer's eyes shut. I found this heartbreaking and the most perfect beginning to an amazing tale.

Summary -
ONCE IN NINE LIVES, SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS.

The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight.

Everyone warned that Homer would always be an “underachiever.” But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease, survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen’s life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night. But it was Homer’s unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that transformed Gwen’s life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized that Homer had taught her the most valuable lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes.

Review - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

2011-12-22T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher: DoubleDay
Publish Date: Sept 13, 2011
Hardcover 387 pages

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You know when people use the term "dating up," well, this book is reading up. The level of writing is so poetic and beautiful that it really did feel as if I was reading poetry in another language. It was simply artistic. I found myself mystified by the words, the phrases and use of description that amazed even my 4 year old imagination. It would be a travesty if everyone did not take the time to read this book.

There are two main characters in this book, Celia and Marco, though they are really not introduced for a quarter of the book. Their lives start out as simple side stories that eventually twist and turn to interweave together. Then the last quarter of the book introduces side characters as a sort of main character replacement. Without giving too much detail, as the mystery of this book is much of the magic, it feels a little like six degrees of separation and how each person who enters your life may factor in to the development. People who are behind the scene end up being cataclysmal. One of my favorite characters is Bailey, a mere boy who feels out of place in his own life. His parents want him to run the farm, he feels the need to go to Harvard and then this circus arrives and he is drawn to it and the players inside. A seemingly innocent character with much to give.

This is not a blockbuster book, nor a sad drama filled read. It is simply an intricate weaving of people's life's with the magic and dream-like state of perception. Who's perception, depends on the chapter.

I would love to see this turned in to a movie, but would be surprised if anyone could give it the justice as Erin Morgenstern gave it.

Summary -
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

wordless wednesday - snowy river

2011-12-21T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Review - Crossed by Ally Condie

2011-12-19T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Crossed
Matched #2
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publish Date: Nov 1, 2011
Hardcover, 368 pages

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I am starting to think I am just not a fan of the second book in a series. I once heard that a trilogy goes something like birth, life and death. The first book in the series is the beginning. The excitement of everything new and wild. There's love and learning and risk. The second book is built on the first. Maybe a few new characters, some new adventures, but it is almost like they are just setting us up for the final book. I feel like the second book is a roller coaster ride that never ends. I feel a bit tired, a bit motion sick, a bit bored mixed with the excitement, happiness and love reminisce of the first book. This isn't sounding like a positive book review, but the fact is, I like this book. The plot and concept are brilliant. The characters are smart, funny, vulnerable and good. There are secrets everyone is keeping, but we know it is for their own safety. It is very much a mirror to life, should we ever have society like this, hence dystopian.

Ally Condie has a very unique writing method that makes me feel I am there and I just love Cassia. If she were real, we would definitely be friends. She makes a great female role model. And Ky makes me sigh. He is romantic and caring and yet determined to be with Cassia. Secretly I like him better than Xander. But I like flaws. Xander seems too perfect, even though they reveal his secret in this book! The development of this society outside the city is fascinating. Meeting the farmers, their life and deaths. Wandering from outside territory and dealing with kids like them only lost. Finding Cassia's and Ky's own ways and wants.

I WISH I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!

It kills me to have to wait. I get why people say they wait for the entire series to be printing to start reading. I almost felt I needed to reread the first book. Regardless, I fell in love again. And it finished with a very wonderful lesson of "be careful what you wish for."

AND HER THIRD BOOK, yet to be determined, has the words on the pre-book cover "It's her turn to choose. Fall 2012. All will be sorted."

OMG I am so excited to read the ending. I hope she chooses Ky, but then again, the next book should have more about Xander so I will get to know him better. Maybe, maybe I'll like him better?

Summary -
The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-12-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Bond Girl by Erin Duffy (see MY review)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
One For the Money (Stephanie Plum Series) by Janet Evanovich (soon to be a movie)
The Litigators by John Grisham (really for my mom, but I'll read it too!)
Crossed by Ally Condie (review posts Monday)

WHAT'S IN YOUR MAILBOX?

Review - Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

2011-12-15T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Perfect Chemistry
Perfect Chemistry #1
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books
Publish Date: December 23, 2008
Paperback 360 pages

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The first book in any series is always the best simly because of the freshness and awe of the new ideas and plot. This is definitely the case in Simone Elkeles Perfect Chemistry series.

Two defining personalities end up shoved together in school and though all things point to "never gonna happen," Brittany and Carlos learn very quickly being from the opposite side of town doesn't mean there can't be attraction. Brittany is a good, hard working student. She is working on being perfect. A good boyfriend, a kind person and trying to hide secrets from her own personal life. Partnered with Alex, a gang member, Mexicano who is tough and doesn't minx words, she is struggling to stay out of trouble. Just being his science partner is getting her in trouble with the local Mexicana girls at school. Alex then agrees to a bet with his friends that will not only endanger Brittany more, but might show Alex a side of himself he has never seen before.

I loved this romantic story. It is a bit like a fresh take on Romeo and Juliet, though the ending may (or may not) be different. I will not tell. It is wonderfully woven of two opposites that desperately want to just be who they are, but society and culture won't allow it. In order to protect what they want, they must do what they need. Coming from a Hispanic background, I just loved this book. It was what real life looked like to me when I was growing up. No matter what, no matter who, maybe, just maybe good will prevail all else.

Summary -
A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers. When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

Wordless Wednesday - The Owl

2011-12-14T01:00:00.002-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Review - Bond Girl by Erin Duffy

2011-12-12T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Bond Girl
Author: Erin Duffy
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publish Date: Jan 1, 2012
Paperback, 304 pages

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Fabulous book!! So frickin' entertaining! What a wonderful surprise. I picked up this ARC (advanced reader copy) and honestly, thought it was about a woman detective. LOL It ended up being about Alex who was brought to Wall Street where he worked by her father when she was growing. From the first day of chaos and speed, she was hooked. She ended up in bonds. Barely got a job and immediately became the office "Girlie" who got lunch and coffee. Feeling like she was lost and not made for this job, she keeps at it in hopes to finally feel welcome and successful.

I laughed out loud through this entire book. Writing was so wonderful I could quote half the book. I am really looking forward to seeing other works by Erin Duffy.

Summary -
THE TOP TEN THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT WORKING ON "THE STREET":
10. The number of U.S.-owned banks and/or brokerage houses actually located on Wall Street: zero.
9. Office windows that open are overrated.
8. Moran's Ale House & Grill, located in the heart of Manhattan's Financial District, caters primarily to Wall Street employees and people who want to marry them. It serves more beer between Memorial Day and Labor Day than any other bar in the city.
7. Free pizza cures all, especially before 10 A.M.
6. A $65 limo ride with road sodas is a perfectly acceptable way to travel 10 blocks...
5. ...or five blocks if it's raining.
4. Knowing math is important - but nowhere near as important as knowing wine, golf, and watches.
3. Gucci loafers go with every outfit, in all weather, all year round.
2. Socks are optional (and rarely necessary).

And the number on thing you probably don't know about working on the Street is...

1. A bet is a bet is a bet. If you lose at Credit Card Roulette, you will pay the bill. No one cares that you're only twenty-two and the bill is $1,000.

Review - Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

2011-12-09T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Chain Reaction
Perfect Chemistry #3
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books
Publish Date: Aug 16, 2011
Hardcover, 308 pages

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I stopped reading this book and picked up another book, then ho hummed my way back to the book only to realize I had already downed three quarters of the book. Oops! This book was the last installment in the series and apparently I liked it way more than I realized.

By now, I have come to really enjoy the lightness. I like that they cover racial issues and love being difficult enough to require work. It is nice to have such different stories and yet a feeling of familiarity. The characters have this quality where I don't want to like them, but they grow to become people I find fun and attractive. In the end, I am rooting for them to have a great budding relationship.

Check out my other reviews of Simone Elkeles books -
Leaving Paradise

Summary -
Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill.

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules.

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

Review - Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

2011-12-08T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Unraveling Isobel
Author: Eileen Cook
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: Jan 1, 2012
304 Pages

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Isobel was witty, fun and spunky. I liked her instantly. She was original and not afraid to face her demons. It is always a pleasure to read a female character who is strong and still able to be vulnerable. She has a history of "crazy" in her past with her father having been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. So she is in constant peril with the possibility that she is crazy. Her mother is a bit distant from her. They are better friends that family. And when her mother marries a new man and he drags them to a small island with him mansion and son, she is spinning her wheels. Isobel is befriended by the most popular girl in school and then develops a small crush on her step brother. Meanwhile she is seeing ghosts, or is she?

A really fun, light read. I enjoyed every minute along with the creepy parts too! Actually the creepy parts were so great! And I don't like to be scared.

***

Holy cow have you seen how many books Eileen Cook has written? Check out her blog here!

Summary -
Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Wordless Wednesday - Shamrock Farms

2011-12-07T01:00:00.001-07:00

I really didn't get as many great pictures as I would have expected, but we were on a moving tram and it was really overcast. However, we had a blast and drank lots of milk, ate ice cream and cream cheese and many other dairy products. YUM!

PS Their food smelled worse than their poop!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-12-06T01:00:00.001-07:00

Harvey Danger, I'm Not Sick, but I'm Not Well -

The french chefs always gave me a hard time for being slow, but I would rather be slow and get it right. But they were always on my bollucks anyway. About three months in, there was a terrible scene involving a plate of ravioli. The ravioli in question were more like dim sum - made without an egg yolk. Robuchon got a hold of the plate, and threw it at me. It hit the side of my face. My ear was blocked with hot food, my face was burnt, and there was ravioli all over the place.

Roasting in Hell's Kitchen
Gordon Ramsey

Review - Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

2011-12-05T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Desires of the Dead
The Body Finder #2
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publish Date: February 15, 2011
Hardcover, 368 pages

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I reviewed the Body Finder #1 here.

Violet continues in her destiny to find out why she has been given this gift and whether it really is a gift or a disease. She picks up where she left off in book #1 with Jay, her long time friend and (could it be?) future lover.

I won't go in to too much detail because I highly recommend these books and this author.

She meet Sara, a supposed FBI agent who starts to inquire about how she was able to identify a missing body no one else could find that was behind a very large and very secure door. Will Violet confide in Sara or will Sara use her gift as a beacon to FBI abuse? Or is Sara hiding a few secrets of her own as well?

New characters, new cases to solve and of course, a new murderer following and hoping to kill Violet before she finds out who dun' it. I am just love struck with this series and could find myself enjoying these books for years to come. I hope it will be more than just a 3 book series. It would be sad to see these end. The possibilities are endless with this character and her gift.

Check out my review of Kimberly Derting's new book The Pledge
AND
Pre-order the next in the series, The Last Echo, Body Finder #3 due out April 2012.

Summary -
The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Review - Hooked by Catherine Greenman

2011-12-02T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Hooked
Author: Catherine Greenman
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Publish Date: Aug 9, 2011
Hardcover, 276 pages

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Thea isn't the character I thought her to be. The has interesting relationships with her parents - her mother is a hippie with no real focus, nor parenting skills; her father is overprotective and has his own idea of how her life should be lived. She then falls in love with a guy who I kept wondering what it was she really finds attractive. She talks a lot about his wandering eye which resulted from a freak accident. How he likes her from the beginning, but isn't really all that attentive. Then to be with him, she starts missing school, not doing homework and forgetting about practice SAT tests. Before she knows it, she is pregnant. Though she tells everyone she is taking care of it, she kind of forgets it's even progressing. She is able to lie to everyone til one day she lets it out of the bag - she wants this baby. Her first real decision to take life into her own hands is pretty much her downfall.

I wanted to like Thea so much, but she kept letting me down and making stupid decisions. She seemed smart, but did things against her father out of spite. She never really tried to talk to him. She also used her mother's inability to be present as an excuse as her relationship. I was confused through this book. I wanted to like it so much because there were key stories and people I loved, but then they turned around and did something that left me questioning their motives.

It was a good book. It covered some very important topics of teenage pregnancy, parental relationships, opening up and knowing who you really are. It can be so hard to hear your own voice when everyone else is yelling over yours. Finding a personal voice is a struggle just from being a kid and having parents, but add to that any major obstacles and it ends up being a bit like this book.

Summary -
Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.
Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.
This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

Review - The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

2011-12-01T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Body Finder
The Body Finder #1
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: March 16, 2010
Publish Date: Harper Teen
Hardcover, 336 pages

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Because I would like to be a published author one day and know how frickin hard it is to write, I can't stand those people who complain about how slow an author is to come out with the next book. However, with that being said, I LOVE KIMBERLY DERTING!! I am now officially a HUGE fan of her writing and for the love of god, PLEASE TELL HER TO WRITE ANOTHER BOOK!

I read both the books in the series up to this point in probably two days. I am hooked!!

Violet is a girl with a special, secret power of being able to detect dead bodies. Animals and humans call to her when dying of unnatural causes. Ever since she was a little girl they have pulled her to them. Her family has spent massive amounts of time and energy trying to keep her secret, but when a serial murder enters the area and she starts feeling the echos off not only the victims, but the murder himself, it gets interesting.

I usually do not like scary topics. I like to sleep at night, but I was so fascinated with this book. The topic was so well written too. It made it completely believable and I loved every moment.

Violet also has a love interest that even she is unaware of until he starts to become the center of attention at school. The attraction and friendship that Jay and Violet share is wonderfully youthful and hopeful. They have been friends all their lives and as we learn about Violet, we also learn about Jay. Kimberly Derting crafts the intertwining relationship that I too, fell in love and hoped for a love connection.

She also wrote The Pledge which I reviewed as well.

Summary -
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

Wordless Wednesday - Izabel playing

2011-11-30T01:00:00.001-07:00

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-11-29T01:00:00.001-07:00

I have been singing this song since I walked in the cafe and found one of our baristas mopping the floor. I'm on the hunt for the DVD version.

It's a Hard Knock Life from the movie, Annie

She was familiar enough with the meaning of this new, and misplaced, noise. Or at least with what it signified. She had been hearing sounds, or seeing colors, or smelling smells like this for years. For as long as she could remember.
Echos, she called them.

The Body Finder
Kimberly Derting

Review - A Year and Six Seconds by Isabel Gillies

2011-11-28T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: A Year and Six Seconds
Author: Isabel Gillies
Publisher:
Publish Date:
Hardcover, 256 pages

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I am not sure if I agree with Isabel's idea of falling in love in six seconds. With my ex husband maybe, but that didn't last. My current boyfriend, I feel the love she speaks of, the kind where I see marriage, kids and an entire life together, but I am almost positive that I fell in love with him over a year (possibly just half a year).

Having been in a similar situation of loss and having to move on, I completely understand her feelings of having a beginning, middle and end of transition. Though for me there was a lot of numbness followed by confusion and often, "Are you kidding me?" anger.

Her biography was heart-felt, true and completely and utterly understandable. Though I always hate to do this, it is a bit of, if you liked "Eat, Love, Pray" by Elizabeth Gilbert you will actually like this one more. It isn't as whiny or poor-me. It is much more of Isabel being in reality and walking us through how she is living. We get to walk in her shoes as she transitions. I was so incredibly sad when she spoke of her kids and wondering if they alone would help him stay. The parts with her living with her parents again and watching their faces and seeing their expressions. Wonderful writing.

Summary -

When you're waiting for love, what seems like a lifetime may only be a year and six seconds.

Isabel Gillies, the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Happens Every Day, now picks up where she left off in the true story of her valiant yet sometimes bumbling effots to pick herself up after her husband leaves her for another woman and she is told by a friend it "happens every day."

It is winter when she arrives home in Manhattan, with her two young sons in tow. Her husband has left her, and she's forced to move back in with her parents until she can figure out what to do next.

Determined to feel strong, remain lovable, and be productive, she creates and tackles a staggering to-do list, starting with (and not necessarily in order of importance): get along with her parents in tight quarters; find a preschool spot for son mid-year in Manhattan; break down only in front of best friend and not in front of children; receive one great, romantic kiss.

She makes her lists, she dates, she cries, she and her whole crowded family get the flu; and then, just when Isabel least expects it, she falls in love. A Year and Six Seconds is a buoyant, real, romantic comedy with an uplifting message, reminding us that while we all struggle and stumble at times, somehow we can come out just fine on the other side.

Visits, Homemade Desert and finished a book

2011-11-25T08:33:00.002-07:00

I got lucky this year and received the day before Thanksgiving off from work. And even more lucky my boyfriend received a four day weekend before hand, so he came out to visit me. We spent some good days off baking, cooking, cuddling, watching movies and reading. Mostly just enjoying what would be our life should we ever live in the same city. Then we drove to his place. He likes to call them our summer and winter homes. He then got ready to work a couple of overnights for Black Friday and then an official opening on Black Friday. While he slept - tried to sleep, I went to my parents house.

I took my 15 year old niece driving. I think it was only her second time, though if you hear her talk, she has been "practicing"driving for years. I drove her to the courthouse parking lot and gave her the wheel. I talked her through where everything was in the car and then asked her to tell me what Bampy (my father) had told her. She then moved the mirrors and got settled. We basically spent thirty minutes or so driving loops through the lot and then parking. She was hilarious. She got nervous and said sorry, to which I shrugged because I am the girl who apologizes for saying sorry. She hit a curb and then rolled over the curb almost immediately thereafter, which ended our driving practice. I think she was getting tired and distracted. It was fun and I will never forget it. I hope to be able to assist her in the next year with more practice, but finding a good deserted place is a bit hard.

Saint and I spent time lying to each of my parents while we bought them both an ipad. They each wanted to give the other one and didn't know how or when to do so. We bought both and then I had to finagle them in the house without either knowing they each had purchased one for the other. My mom's birthday is next week and since my father will be out of town we gave it to her yesterday when we were all present. Then my mom wanted to give my dad his so they could learn together. I thought it was fun, neither had any clue. Which is really unique for me, as I cannot keep a secret. They were both highly pleased. We joked about rewrapping the ipad boxes for years to come.

Saint was a trooper and after four hours of sleep after being up and working for 30 hours, he still wanted to attend Thanksgiving at my Uncle's. My uncle's partner is a chef and oh boy, he makes fantastic food. It is all simple and healthy. I love that. I swear one day I will take a week off and go live with them while he teaches me to cook. He made turkey, stuffing, cranberry chutney, Parmesan potatoes, green beans and salad. I never like green beans, but I am forcing vegetables down my throat to find out how and why I like/don't like them. Knowing I detest green beans I served myself some anyway. OMG they were so delicious!! Weird. I still cannot get over how good they were. He only braised them and then added spice, so they were hardly cooked at all. Maybe that is key?. He then pulled out pumpkin cheesecake, coconut cream pie and then offered up chocolate volcanoes. I chose the chocolate because I knew Saint would get the others. I then could have a bite of his and enjoy my own.

We then had to head out so Saint could go back to sleep and prep for work in less than five hours and I had to start the drive home. Coming home to my cats, Izabel and Tuesday make the drive home not so bad.

I finally finished listening to Daughters of Darkness by VC Andrews on my Nook. It was so interesting. I will post the review later this week.

I will be working later today which in retail is code for cleaning up the Black Friday mess. lol

Have a great one!!

Black Friday is right

2011-11-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

I have worked in retail for over 13 years and I still cannot stand the madness that goes into this one day of the year. I get that -

it is the busiest shopping day of the year
estimated to bring in over $65 billion
offers great deals
makes shopping easier bc it is on one weekend
creates competition among stores which lowers prices
wages of time and a half
more job possibilities (really? ok fine)

BUT -
It also makes workers work on days that they should be with their families. My boyfriend works at a major retailer and not only worked on Thanksgiving, but worked TWICE. On a holiday. TWICE

Have we really come to point in our commercialized society that we cannot allow people to spend ONE DAY with their families? Have we become so involved in the bottom line that we cannot push the open doors back to normal or semi-normal hours? Do we really need 24 hour stores? Do we really require a midnight opening to get the TV of our dreams?

When we drove by Best Buy around noon on Thanksgiving there were already a couple dozen people waiting outside. SERIOUSLY?

Is getting the better deal more important than being with family?

I wish that we could close the retail doors for 24 hours a couple of times a year for all families. I understand this seems unrealistic because we need hospitals, gas stations, grocery stores, but do we really need video rentals, books, clothes, electronics open 24 hours a day? Can we not live without for one day?

Did you see the article about the group of workers who imposed a law about not working on Thanksgiving? That is the kind of attitude I am looking for here. We can still offer the doors to open at 6am and have blockbuster sales, but can it not wait for ONE DAY?!

Maybe I am just a little bitter as my boyfriend worked from 10pm to 7am and then went home to sleep for a few hours before braving it at my family's house and then going back home to sleep so he could go back to work at 9pm. On a holiday!

Review - You Against Me by Jenny Downham

2011-11-24T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: You Against Me
Author: Jenny Downham
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Publish Date: Dec 2, 2010
Hardcover, 413 pages

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I picked up this book expecting fireworks. Rage. Anger. Emotion. Fighting. Blood. Sacrifice. But it was calm. It was quiet. It was inner turmoil. It was loss and confusion. And then there was the possibility of hope, finding truth and will it really prevail?

It begs the question, Does Truth Really Win?

And does winning really mean good things will happen?

You Against Me focusing on the emotional and familial ties when tragedy strikes families. It doesn't just affect the family that was attacked. It pains the family who attacked as well. I was so enthralled with the power Jenny Downham gave the family of the accused rapist. I loved her character, the sister of the rapist, Ellie. She was scared and wanted to do the right thing, but WHAT is the right thing? I wanted to put this book down and run it is such a tough subject, but it pulled me in and I found myself rooting for these people. I wanted to the truth to come out and then I wasn't sure because with truth comes consequences and in this book, no one gets out without pain.

I am very interested in checking out Jenny Downham's other book, Before I Die. I love emotional books that make me think and this one, You Against Me had me struggling with all feelings.

Summary -
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skillfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for one's family and for another.

Wordless Wednesday - Funny sign

2011-11-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Saw this in a bookstore and seriously, it is SO TRUE!! I can't tell you how many random, completely inappropriate telephone conversations people have no problem projecting throughout a bookstore. I do not think people care or realize how loud they can be without knowing it. Especially someone with a bluetooth in their ear. I have heard about drugs, babies, insurance, credit card numbers, you name it.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-11-22T01:00:00.001-07:00

Another fantabulous song by Journey - Faithfully

A plan was beginning to form in the silence. It was a crazy plan, and Mikey tried to push it away, but it kept building. He thought of home, told himself he should have a kick-about in the courtyard with Holly to make up for not taking her to school, told himself to get some shopping done in case Mum forgot. But the plan wouldn't go away. His family would have to manage - he couldn't look after them all the time. "You busy tonight?"

You Against Me
Jenny Downham

My WANT List

2011-11-21T01:00:00.001-07:00

I am waiting with little patience for the following books. Not only are the covers beautiful and very striking, but the summaries make me want to read them right now.

Title: Every Other Day
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publish Date: Dec 27, 2011

Summary -
Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publish Date: Jan 3, 2012

Summary -
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Title: The Butterfly Clues
Author: Kate Ellison
Publish Date: Feb 14, 2012

Summary -
Penelope (Lo) Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. Her dad's consulting job means she's grown up moving from one rundown city to the next, and she's learned to cope by collecting (sometimes even stealing) quirky trinkets and souvenirs in each new place--possessions that allow her to feel at least some semblance of home.

But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers a beautiful, antique butterfly pendant during a routine scour at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as "Sapphire"--a girl just a few years older than Lo. As usual when Lo begins to obsess over something, she can't get the murder out of her mind.

As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues," with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld much closer to home than she ever imagined--a world, she'll ultimately discover, that could hold the key to her brother's tragic death

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-11-20T01:00:00.001-07:00

You Against Me by Jenny Downham
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
Think Like A Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett
No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie
Bond Girl by Erin Duffy

**Don't forget to enter my current GIVEAWAYS - Thirst #1 and #2
AND
** A Love by Any Measure

What's in your Mailbox?

Review & Giveaway - A Love by Any Measure by Killian McRae

2011-11-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: A Love by any Measure
Author: Killian McRae
Publisher: Tulipe Noire Press
Publish Date: Nov 8, 2011
Paperback, 344 pages

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I do not remember what I read when reading the summary, but when I finally got my hands on this book and starting reading it I literally stopped and said, "What?" I have no idea what I was expecting when I wanted to read this, but boy oh boy was I pleasantly surprised. This book was fantastic. Reminisce of when I was growing up and obsessed with romance novels. There was some serious sex scenes in this book and boy are they HOT!

Maeve is a woman who is just trying to support her father and live in the home she has known her entire life, but her landlord is threatening to throw them out if she cannot come up with the rent. She would do anything to keep it. Or would she . . . Maeve ends up agreeing to be her lord's beck and call girl. He will get to spend double the amount of time with her, doing what he wishes of her and he will consider it payment. She is a respectable woman who is engaged, but they cannot wed til they have the money to survive with their homes. Problem is her lord is the boy she once fancied. The boy who taught her how to read and showed her his heart, then left with her heart.

A wonderful book of romance the old fashioned way. And I do not mean that literally, if you know what I mean. I loved this book. With the woman's petticoats and the lord's use of language. The proprietary way men and women interact. A lot of fun! OH and there is a HUGE TWIST towards the end! Will Maeve and August get swept up in lust or will Maeve settle with Owen, her fiancee?

GIVEAWAY

Mandatory Entry: Please comment here with WHY you want to read this book

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then I will choose another winner.

Summary -
An Irish lass. An English lord.
A love that overcomes all boundaries.

August Grayson has secretly dreamt of the girl living on his family’s Irish estate since childhoods spent together in Killarney. Now a proper Lord of the British Empire, he knows that Maeve could never be more than just a distant fantasy. Still, if only...

Maeve O’Connor owns nothing in this world but her good name, which proves just enough to win a proposal for a marriage of convenience to a good, Irish lad. Until the wedding, however, she’s in dire straits. Rent on the cottage she and her father share is due, but there simply isn’t the money to pay. Driven to desperation, Maeve hopes Lord Grayson, her childhood-chum-turned-dashing-English-rogue, will prove lenient when she comes seeking clemency.

The temptation presented proves too much, and August offers Maeve a compromise: should she permit him twice as long on each succeeding visit to do whatever he wishes in pursuit of his pleasure, he will consider her rent paid. Starting with a mere five seconds, pulses soon out race the ticking clock, as August’s desires become Maeve’s own. Passion blinds them to the challenges closing in on both the Irish and English fronts, threatening to destroy the love they’ve discovered.

Working to bridge that which divides them, tempting fate with each stolen kiss, and torn between desire and obligation, Maeve and August must strive to overcome all and find a love by any measure...

Review - Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

2011-11-17T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Deadly Cool
Deadly Cool #1
Author: Gemma Halliday
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publish Date: Oct 11, 2011
Paperback, 320 pages

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Deadly Cool is a typical teenage read. And by this, I mean I awesomely recommend this book for EVERY teen. It has murder, trust issues, friendships, laughter, cute boys, bad boys and all the other funny events that make a good book. It is clean, by the by.

I truly enjoyed this book. Gemma did a great job keeping this lively and mysterious as well. I wanted to know who the killer was and I wanted Hartley to get the guy (whichever one was the best - ie: not a killer).

Hartley is the main character. She is funny, trustworthy and just wanting her boyfriend to be true. Unfortunately, in the first page we find he may be cheating on her. Still knowing the facts (what appear to be facts) Hartley continues to search for the truth regarding her ex-boyfriend. She makes new friends and enemies along the way.

Looking forward to the next book in the series, Social Suicide. I will be passing this on to my 15 year old niece. She is not a big reader, but I am working on her. As it is a smaller book, it is less intimidating. It is also light-hearted and a catch.

Summary -
Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he's pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren't enough, now he's depending on Hartley to clear his name. Seriously? Not cool.

But as much as Hartley wouldn't mind seeing him squirm, she knows he's innocent, and she's the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school's resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer's next victim.

Winner (winner chicken dinner)

2011-11-16T01:00:00.001-07:00

The winner of Shatter Me is:
Tiffany Drew
of
Book Cover Justice

I have emailed the winner
who will have 48 hours to email me
with the address

PS: It was totally her birthday on Monday!
She's old!
She turned 30
(jk, about the old part)
Go wish her a
belated happy birthday.
Go ahead
her link is there!
GO!

BUT stop to enter my other giveaway
for
Christopher Pike's
Thirst 1 and 2

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-11-15T01:00:00.001-07:00

Here's an oldie, but goodie!! It's from the 70s, actually the year I was born. It is one of the first songs I ever heard working in retail on the one CD they sent to our store each month and we played it til the next month CD came. I knew this song by heart in less than a week. You can imagine how often we hear the same songs when there is only one CD for the entire month in a store. But I loved this song then and I love it now!!

Alicia Bridges - I love the nightlife

Uh, wow. Chase was actually kinda hot.

I mean, if you went for the whole bad boy thing. Which I totally didn't. Bad boys were bad, and I'd had enough bad boyfriend to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.

Deadly Cool
Gemma Halliday

Review - The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

2011-11-14T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Pledge
The Pledge #1
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publish Date: Nov 15, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages

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I am so bummed I waited so long to read this book. I truly got stuck in the book. I couldn't put it down and now I have to wait til the next one. What a bigger bummer.

I loved Charlie. She was fantastic. Her character was heart warming. She was kind, honest, protective of her family, hard working, sweet and someone I would have been friends with. Her friend Brooklyn was a nightmare. She is selfish and always looking to gain everyone's attention. Charlie's youngest sister, Angelina (I think?) was pure joy. I loved that she was silent. The fact that she didn't speak was well portrayed in this book and I quite admired her independence and spirit. Ugh, to fall in love with a man like Max is a great work of literature, but I won't even tell you if Charlie does. Max is just a hunky, nice seemingly fellow. His friend are not so much.

Derting did a wonderful job keeping the reader in the dark and hinting at just the right amount to keep my peeked through the entire book. I wanted so badly for a specific type of ending and even though it wasn't exactly how I imagined, I wasn't disappointed and cannot wait for more.

This reminded me of Phillipa Gregory, but a bit lighter and cautionary for teens. It didn't have all the violence and cussing. I liked that it was clean and I could easily see any teenager reading this.

I read the ebook version of this book and was lucky to catch sight of the hardcover at work and OH MY is this cover spectacular. I love the lace and the darkness of it, but it's still very romantic and historical. A great cover!!

Summary -
In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-11-13T01:00:00.001-07:00

The Delivery Man by Joe McGinnis Jr
The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

From Library:
Cloaked by Alex Flinn

From NetGalley:
The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

What's in your mailbox?

Wordless Wednesday - Snow Squirrel

2011-11-09T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-11-08T01:00:00.001-07:00

This song is on constant loop on my itunes. It is really sad and I can understand the love and loss she feels in this song, even with the amazing relationship I am in. It is just such a hauntingly beautiful song.

Adele - Someone Like You

"The boy kneeledlike he was going to start exercising right there in the dust. The place where he had spilled his cup was completely dry; I couldn't even tell it had been wet. I could see the elastic bad of his underwear and the smooth skin where his back was exposed. NO marks, scratches or scabs of any kind. My own hands looked like some kind of treasure map, except the lines didn't lead to riches."

The Water Wars
Cameron Stracher

Author Signing - Kathleen Flinn

2011-11-07T01:00:00.003-07:00

I was lucky enough to be able to meet, shake hands with and talk with author Kathleen Flinn. She was signing books at a local indie store. She got there from a flight from Colorado and was wearing clothes for colder weather. Right from the get-go she was cracking jokes. I loved that she is from a small town and asked if anyone else was from there - there was one woman and Kathleen says, "Oh then I can't tell that joke!" She is the most fabulous woman!! It felt like Kathleen and I had been friends forever - YOU know those people. I loved listening to her speak. I was just mesmerized. She is funny - she actually worked at a comedy club while in college - and she is charismatic. She immediately pulled me with her kindness and warmth.

Literally - when you see the picture she took with me and my SIGNED copy of her book! She just grabbed me and hugged me! Completely fearless of people. LOVE it!

She wrote, "Be fearless in the kitchen!" And look how cute her stamp is!!

I read her first Cooking Writing book called The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry which I LOVED!! She is a writer. When she comes home from a vacation she finds out her job is no longer. She calls her boyfriend and says, "Hey I'll move in with you," but he says, "No you should go to cooking school like you've always wanted." So she ends up in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu and from there her stories are just riveting. I laughed, I cried and my mouth watered the entire time. My mom even made a recipe out of the book. That is one thing I love, all of Kathleen's books come with recipes.

Her new book, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School is about a group of complete misfits in the kitchen - KIDDING. She talks to people, goes in their kitchens and teaches them not only how to cook, but what to look for and why to buy certain things. She doesn't just teach people how to cook, but WHY to cook.

Here's one of her stories from the book . . .

I cannot wait to sit down, read and then cook from her new book! So excited and really blessed that I got to meet her.

BUY NOW!
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ADD TO WISHLIST!
Goodreads

She talked about two other books she is in the process of writing and I AM SO EXCITED! She is just such a talented writer.

JOIN!
Kathleen's Blog

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-11-06T01:00:00.003-07:00

The House of Thunder by Dean Koontz
Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
Sanctus by Simon Toyne

**Bookin' with Bingo**

What's in your mailbox??

Review & Giveaway - Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

2011-11-04T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publish Date: November 15, 2011
Paperback, 342 pages

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This book is written with very little conversation. Much of the first half of the book is Juliette's inner dialog. As she hasn't seen or touched anyone in nearly 300 days, she is becoming very used to her own company. Juliette cannot touch anyone for fear of hurting them, as she has been put her for that reason alone. She recounts that day over and over again where her parents turned their back on her and society forgot about her. Then a man is thrown in to her cell to save space. He wants to know her, she wants to be left alone. Yet, living together in a small cell, neither one can ignore the other. He cannot understand why she won't talk or touch, yet he is fascinated by her. He reminds her of someone she once knew in school, but it must be a coincidence . . . or is it?

An incredible romance book that is linked with chaos, destruction and the struggle for power. This book will enchant anyone and thrill the reader into wanting more. I know I do. I cannot wait to see what turns up in the next book.

Juliette is so fragile, I want to protect her, but sadly she is so powerful she doesn't need protecting. She needs love and hungers for human connections. She is so sure of her worthlessness that she cannot stand even herself.

Adam is a strong man who is in this same hell as Juliette. He wants her. He knows her in ways she will never understand. Maybe just their situations are what makes him know her. Either way, he cannot keep is hands off her. But can he really touch her without dying?

Juliette falls in love with Adam, but how can this be if she cannot stand human contact?

GIVEAWAY
For one advanced readers copy of
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Paperback copy

TO ENTER:

Mandatory Entry: Please comment on this post with your e-mail address detailing

WHY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS BOOK

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Details: This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Deadline to enter is midnight on November 14, 2011.

Winner will have one week to reply
to email with mailing address
and
then I will choose another winner.

Summary -
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Review - Matched by Ally Condie

2011-11-03T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Matched
matched #1
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publish Date: November 30, 2010
Hardcover, 366 pages

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Cassia is what every girl wants to be by society - good. She follows the rules, she is excited for her future, she is good at what she does. She is in love with life. She has dreams. She just wants to live a good, happy life. So when her Matching Banquet comes around, she cannot wait. It is the moment all teenagers wait for. To see who she will spend the rest of her life with. She is lucky to be matched to Xander, he friend since she was younger. Most matches do not know their people. Cassia finds Xander handsome and good as well. She feels so lucky. Until fate steps in and shows her another face on her screen. One she doesn't know. It confuses her and makes her start to question everything. Especially when she meets this mysterious man. He is kind too. But he has knowledge. And knowledge is power. Ky and Cassia are paired together in an outdoor retreat class and soon become fast, secret friends. But the more Cassia gets to know Ky and waht he knows, the more she wonders if being good means following society or her own heart.

I loved this book because it talks about following your inner feelings rather than doing what everyone else is doing. Listening to our own inner dialog can be extremely difficult. Cassia is a strong and bright character, which I like too. When she really starts paying attention, she sees things that are supposed to be not seen and instead of forgetting them, she starts to wonder. Without making rash judgments, she learns what she feels and how she views the world. Even, at times, against the own advice of her close friends. In a society, that on the outside seems to want the best for each person, turns out that the best for each person also benefits the society - and maybe more for the Society than the person. To follow society or follow your heart . . .

I am really excited to read the next installment. What Cassia does and who she ends up with, will be interesting.

Check out the next in the series - Crossed!
The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

Wordless Wednesday - Cat Shawl

2011-11-02T01:00:00.001-07:00

As a kitten, Izabel loved to curl up in my neck. Apparently, she never grew out of that phase. She lays with her feet on my left shoulder, and her body over my chest and her tail curled around my head. Usually. There are a very varied versions of this position. Sometimes I wonder if Izabel is really that cuddly or just trying to smother me. You cannot tell, but I am actually reading a book off to the side too! Talk about multitasking.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-11-01T01:00:00.001-07:00

The other day at work this song popped in my head and I couldn't get rid of it. I swear I have a constant movie soundtrack playing in my head with the pictures and everything. I really am still humming it. For days people. It is featured in the movie Life or Something Like It with Angelina Jolie. There is a HILARIOUS part in there where they show her singing this song, absolutely plastered with no background music and on the air.

Rolling Stones - I Can't Get No Satisfaction

Here is the part of the movie I love - (it's about 2min in to clip)

(way more than 2 sentences. sigh. oh well)

"Farmer John cleared the light dusting of snow off the chopping block, and I laid the hen down sideways. She didn't squirm or try to right herself. Perhaps the vodka was working as intended. John used both of his hands to hold her body in place while I used my left hand to gently hold her head. I was sure to cover the one eye that was looking up at me, Even though I knew her prehistoric brain was unable to add two and two together to understand that she was about the undergo division. I didn't want the swinging hatchet to be the lasting thing she saw."

The Bucolic Plague
Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Review & Giveaway - Thirst #1 by Christopher Pike

2011-10-31T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Thirst #1
The Last Vampire, Black Blood and Red Dice
Author: Christopher Pike
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: Aug 7, 2009
Paperback, 624 pages

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Amazon

Let me begin this review by pleading with the publishers to make this an ebook. It is big enough to be a door stop. If it wasn't such an awesome book.

Second, let me say that this was my first Christopher Pike book and after reading Until We Die, I am now officially a fan forever. I love his writing. It is so poetic and prolific. Even go so far as to say a fine line between emotionless and filled with emotion so deep it penetrates ever fiber. I was pulled in at the same time I was repulsed. Just amazing writing.

Alisa is the main character who doesn't have much human in her anymore. She has been a vampire for over 5000 years. She takes what she wants. She uses people. Surprisingly though, she doesn't kill and not just to maintain her secrecy. She has reasons that are revealed through the book at specific times. She tells of the beginning of the vampires, how they came to be, how she came to be one and how she left behind a life she actually loved. She has learned to not just survive, but to live, a little. Then her maker turns up and he is wanting to kill her. As any parent can attest to, parent's are generally smarter and stronger. This is a fight to survive and at the same time, she feels a bit of love for her creator. What a conundrum to be in. She also meets some really fun characters. Humans and other vampires she never knew existed.

One of my favorite characters throughout the book is the human she meets at school. He is nerdy and sadly, dying. She knows upon meeting him he is nearing death and yet she builds a bond with him. He almost becomes her confidante, but at the risk of him being killed before he dies as Alisa's life is filled with death. He is funny, smart and has dreams about her. They have such an incredible story together. I really enjoyed this part.

Cannot wait to pick up the next one in the series. I do have it on my shelf, as once again, it is not available in ebook format. Heaven forbid. More heavy lifting. (lol)

Summary -
As to blood --
ah, blood, the whole subject fascinates me. I do like that as well, warm and dripping, when I am thirsty. And I am often thirsty....

Alisa has been in control of her urges for the five thousand years she has been a vampire. She feeds but does not kill, and she lives her life on the fringe to maintain her secret. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must break her own rules in order to survive.

Her quest leads her to Ray. He is the only person who can help her; he also has every reason to fear her. Alisa must get closer to him to ensure her immortality. But as she begins to fall in love with Ray, suddenly there is more at stake than her own life....

GIVEAWAY
The giveaway is for BOTH
of my personal copies of
Thirst #1 and Thirst #2
by Christopher Pike
I will announce the winner when I post the
review for Thirst #2
Dec 1st.

TO ENTER:

Mandatory Entry: Please comment here with your e-mail address

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
- Subscribe via e-mail, follow or subscribe to the feed. You must verify the subscriptions. (1 entry each)

This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Deadline to enter is midnight on November 30, 2011.

Winner will have one week to reply
to email with mailing address
and
then I will choose another winner.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-10-30T01:00:00.002-07:00

The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Bringing Home Adam by Les Standiford
Far From the War by Jeffrey David Payne
Switched by Amanda Hockings
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
Thirteen Reasons Why by
Shatter Me by Tehereh Mafi

Shout out to Reading Angel blog

What's in your mailbox???

What do you know about VC Andrews?

2011-10-28T01:00:00.001-07:00

I have always had this preconceived idea that VC Andrews wrote horror novels. Which, if you have read my blog, I am not a fan of. I don't like to be scared. Thrillers, yes. Horror, absolutely not! After all the vampire series I have been reading lately, I thought I would give the Daughters of Darkness book a try when I drove in to town to visit my family. Plus, I knew I would be driving in the morning light. Nothing is ever as scary in the morning.

It could just be the speakers voice is wonderfully soothing, but I AM IN LOVE with this book. Sadly it is not a series.

She writes like a poet. She includes wonderfully intrinsic detail and story telling, within the actually plot. It is mystifying how beautiful the words come out.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VC ANDREWS???

What should I read next? Where do I go from here?

I am so excited. I have found a new author. Course, I am in love with Christopher Pike novels too, so I am recently double lucky to find a new author.

Crafty - Christmas Ribbon Wreath

2011-10-27T01:00:00.002-07:00

I have been thinking about a ribbon wreath my family did ages ago and I cannot seem to get it out of my head. I have wanted to replicate it for years. Couple of days ago, I decided now was the time.

Texted my mom and told her I was coming over and could she please try and remember how we did the ribbon wreath?!?!?! Of course, she loves crafts, so she was excited.

My mom and I went to Michaels. We wandered around the store looking for the wire wreath holder. While looking, we passed this incredibly beautiful red peacock. I couldn't take my eyes off it. My mom said we would try and find a future craft to work it in. Sigh, we kept moving.

Turns out, Michaels doesn't carry the single wire wreath we were searching for. We got the back up wreath. A four wire round wreath. (I bet we could have used a wire hanger, but then shaping it would be a pain.)

We headed over to pick out ribbon.

I found a basic ribbon and then using the wire wreath tried to layout a plan while matching other ribbons to the main one I liked. I chose a white ribbon with red and green sparkle dots on it. I then chose a sheer green ribbon to match it. I figured I could use the two ribbons and alternate the ribbons on each ring. Green, polka dot, green and then polka dot. OR I could do one row of dots and then three rows of green. Not sure yet.

Realizing the ribbon had red, I asked my mom if she thought we could work the red peacock in?? She thought we could.

We went back to consider the peacock as the accent to the wreath.

SCORE!!

We headed home with our goodies.

My mom cut the ribbon while I tied. A good strategy because as she cut the ribbons and figured out how many each sections of wire wreath would fit the best.

Fold the ribbons in half, then slide the ribbon between the wire bars, then tie the ribbons in a loop around the wire. We had to play with it a bit to find the right length and knot to the front.

For the second wire ribbon, just fold the previous ribbon down if it gets in the way.

Here's an example of when I needed to fold the previous tied ribbon down to reach the back wire.

After working the polka dot ribbon and then the green ribbon, we both started wondering if a thick red ribbon would make the wreath pop more. The red ribbon is actually wired. I wasn't thrilled with this til I realized how much more the ribbon would stay in place and help the wreath to keep shape. I am glad we ended up with red wire ribbon.

We went back to the store and grabbed a sparkle ribbon, after much debate, as we really wanted a ribbed ribbon, but couldn't find a reasonable price.

Here's my favorite part - the peacock!!

Here's a close up of the layered ribbons.

It took 2 hours to do this project. Four hours, if you include the time my mother helped me. (lol, this was a funny debate between the two of us) I kept saying, "look at the wreath I made". But she helped me a lot and I never gave her any credit. Whoops!

What do you think?

For not having any plans, nor colors, nor real ideas what I wanted to do, I think it turned out great!! Very festive and I can never get enough green!! Or red for that matter.

My mom wrote down all the measurements, if you are interested, just email me.

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-10-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

SO EXCITED!! Jurassic Park comes out on BluRay FINALLY!!!! TODAY!!
So in honor of that, Soundtrack Edition features no other than, Jurassic Park movie. This is incredible pieces of music that I play whenever I am at home, but not in the same room.

Opening Song -

Theme Song -

Journey to the Island -

Trailer -

American culture is no longer created by the people. Our stories, once passed from one generation to the next by parents, neighbors and teachers, are now told by distant corporations with "something to tell as well as sell." Brands, products, fashions, celebrities, entertainments - the spectacles that surround the production of culture - are our culture now.

Culture Jam:
How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge - and Why We Must
by Kalle Lasn

Something New

2011-10-24T01:00:00.001-07:00

Here's one I haven't dealt with in all my years in customer service/retail industry . . .

Found a small, clear, plastic bag of white powder in the store. Laying on the bench near the magazine rack.

Had to call the police to come pick it up. Met a really nice young officer who tested it. Turns out it was nothing that was drug related. Bummer. Still exciting though.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-10-23T01:00:00.002-07:00

Blue Moon by Alyson Noel
Thirst #1 and #2 by Christopher Pike
A Match Made in Heaven by Kristin Walker
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Cultural Jam by Kalle Lasn
Cooking with Trader Joe's
The Time In Between by Maria Duenas
Making a Meal of It by Jui-shan Chang

WHAT'S IN YOUR MAILBOX???

Awkward.

2011-10-21T01:00:00.002-07:00

Have you seen this show?

It is MTV Show called Awkward.

When I went to visit my grandparents, I was lucky enough to fly Frontier and we had tvs.

OH YES BABE!! I SAID TELEVISION!! Over 24 channels.

For someone, like me, who doesn't really ever watch tv. Doesn't have cable, satelite or more than four channels. On a very clear, lucky day. I was thrilled.

In less than four minutes, they had me at MTV. I never even opened my Nook. Yes, that's right. The girl who can't go minutes without reading, actually watched tv. I leaned back, got comfy and tuned the entire world out. As a child, I learned that this was very easy to do. I could read a book and look up only to realize it was late, my parent's had gone to bed and the only light left on was the one next to me. I had no idea they had spoken to me, turned out the lights and went to bed.

Heaven. I was in Heaven.

Or maybe just completely zoned out and stoopid for two hours.

After about twenty minutes in to the flight, they ask you to swipe your card. I had never gotten my credit card out of my bag so quickly. I swiped. $6 wasn't bad. I would have had a price though. Even for tv and two hours to sit.

Awkward reminds me of a few shows I watched when growing up, but sadly cannot remember any of them. It is about a teenager going through the tough years of school with about as much grace as . . . well . . . , me. Jenna is the main character. She has a blog. I totally heart her already. She is creative and very sarcastic. From the MTV website -

Despite Jenna Hamilton's awkward entrance into the new school year, her perseverance and wit help her stand out from the crowd.

First episode she gets a random letter from "A Friend" who tells her she could become invisible and no one would notice. Ouch! Why are people so mean? Everything she does seems to have issues. But her personality and outlook on life persevere.

She is in love with a boy who wants to keep their non relationship a secret. Suck. He sniffs his pits when he is nervous. Odd. He gives her these incredibly sweet looks - that she counts. Cute.

Her best friend, Tamara, is hilarious. She wants to be popular so bad it kills her. Literally, she keeps messing up trying too hard. I love the episode where they are invited to a party and Tamara keeps taking random pics of people to post on her facebook.

There was a couple times on the plane where we encountered turbulence and I was so obsessed with this show that I tapped the tv trying to get it to come back on. I may have even said a few, "OMG R U KIDDING ME?!?!" out loud. Back to our regular programming.

Here's an episode -

Funny Story

2011-10-20T01:00:00.001-07:00

The other night around 1am, I woke up and realized I couldn't remember locking the safe at work. You know, the thing with all the money in it? The one I had forgotten to close and lock a month or so ago and my boss had been the one to find it. Needless to say, he wasn't a happy camper. He even took a picture of the safe being open, so I could "see" that I had left it that way. I didn't want to make that mistake again.

I laid there for I don't know how long, going over each and every detail of my closing shift trying to remember when or if I had closed the safe door. I couldn't remember doing it. The longer I spent trying to remember, the surer I was that I hadn't done it.

I was freaking out a bit.

I thought about driving over and making sure it was closed, but I worried I would attract more attention that way. I didn't think there was any good kind of attention at 1am.

Instead, I came to the conclusion that I would be the the first person to our weekly manager meeting. This would provide me with time to check the safe and not get in trouble should it be open.

I left the house early enough I was sure I would be the first one there, but as I rounded my boss' street I saw his car turn on to the one lane street I was on.

CRIMINY! The man was early!! You have got to be kidding me!! My blood pressure starts to rise, my heart beats increase even more. I know I will be fired for sure.

Can't. Let. That. Happen.

The one day I need to beat my boss to work, he is early. And here I am stuck behind four cars and the one in front of me is driving so slow!! No matter what I do I cannot get the car in front of me to go faster. I finally lose sight of my boss' car and I don't know which way he went.

I chose the freeway thinking it will be faster than going through town. I veer on the on-ramp and am immediately bombarded by semis and trucks. As I am zooming around them - safety mind you - I see a cop car farther up has already pulled over a speeder. I have to slow down. Damn it!

As I get off the freeway, I remember my boss saying he was going to bring breakfast to the meeting. I immediately relax thinking, that must be why he is so early.

As I pull in to work parking lot, I notice I am the only one there.

PHEW! Made it.

As I walk in to the Cash Office, I turn and lo and behold . . . the safe is closed and locked.

No need for worry or loss of sleep and now I realized just how crazy I am. When we sit down to the meeting, I tell the story to the managers, including my boss. I cannot keep this a secret. It is way too funny. And stupid. And yes, loony.

My boss tells me he has driven to the store numerous times because I couldn't remember if he pulled on the doors to make sure they were locked.

So apparently, I am not alone in my psychosis.

Wordless Wednesday - Colors Changing

2011-10-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-10-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

I love this soundtrack. As a child, whenever my family had cleaning day, my parent's would open up all the windows and play Hispanic music. I could never figure it out. Later, as an older child, I realized it was because my parent's loved the music of my dad's upbringing. My grandmother is Mexican and Indian and my grandfather is Spanish. They have always listened to this kind of music and spoken Spanish. It is one of the reasons I took the Spanish language for over a decade. They used to fake talk about my sister and I in Spanish. We were gullible enough to think they really did talk about us. Now I can't wait to teach my children Spanish and embarrass them with the cultural music that I love.

Fools Rush In
Trailer

I Wonder
Chris Isaacs

Para Donde Vas
The Iguanas

Si Tu Te Vas
Enrique Iglesias

"Good boy," she murmured. She slid the ice cream between his lips.
"Why are -," he began.
"Shh," she said, "Nearly dawn. No time for talking."

Drink, Slay, Love
Sarah Beth Durst
(Check out my review)

Review - Oink! My Life with Minipigs by Matt Whyman

2011-10-14T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Oink! My Life with Minipigs
Author: Matt Whyman
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Publish Date: February 17, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages

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Barnes and Noble
Amazon

I have always had this thing for a farm. Yes, I am totally crazy. I know that the work involved in a farm is astronomical! But my heart would love to visit (?) a farm. Especially since I can't convince Saint to go farm with me. lol

This book should have been called, "My wife traded my balls in for two mini pigs." This poor guy! I feel so bad for him. His life is turned upside down when his wife wants to add mini-pigs to the mix of four kids, cats and chickens. These kids and Matt's wife, Emma, gang up on him to help out which is code for turn your life upside down. His office becomes the place for the pigs, they pee on his toes, they take his spot on the couch and so much more.

When I started reading this book, I thought, a set of mini-pigs that would be awesome. After three quarters of the book, I decided mini-pigs are too messy. And way too much trouble! The story was sweet and funny and just so incredible.

Summary -
What happens when a man wonders aloud if a pig would make a good pet? A great deal -- once his wife discovers a kind the size of a handbag. Matt Whyman is a writer and house husband. He enjoys the quiet life. His career wife, Emma, prefers the chaos a big brood can bring. On top of four challenging children, one freaked-out feline, a wolf-like dog and a wild bunch of ex-battery chickens, she brings minipigs Butch and Roxi into the fold. But can the new arrivals really cuddle up on the sofa, or will their growing presence spark a battle of hearts, snouts and minds? Funny, touching and entertaining, Oink! charts the trials and errors of one man and his menagerie. With help and advice from a seasoned local smallholder, Matt sets out to master the art of managing minipigs -- inside the house and out. Then someone suggests breeding minipiglets, and Matt's understanding of marriage is tested in the most unexpected ways...

Review - Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

2011-10-13T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Drink, Slay, Love
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publish Date: Sept 13, 2011
Hardcover, 385 pages

Goodreads
Barnes and Noble
Amazon

I honestly didn't see myself reading this book. I am kind of over vampire books. Yet, I am not. (lol) Seriously, some vampire books are so similar it's sad. Then again, I am surprised over and over again with books like this one.

Pearl is a vampire who is cruel, heartless and on her way to being a stereotypical vampire. She has a handsome boyfriend who hangs out with her as she pushes all the risks. Until one morning, she is staked with a unicorn horn. She wakes up on the porch of her families house, still alive. Her family is completely annoyed with her bringing attention to the family. As Pearl starts to figure out quickly, with the staking comes special powers like walking in the daylight. But she soon realizes her powers give her more responsibilities. She is now the person in the family who must find the answer to their problems - she must find the food for their big bash with the King Vampire. As she hangs out with humans, high school humans nontheless, she starts to find her conscience. Not a good thing for a vampire. At the same time, she realizes what true friends are. She must choose friends or family.

I loved this book. So much fun. Very different and very entertaining. Hoping and praying that this will be the first in a long series of other books for Pearl!

Going to read Sarah Beth Durst's other books!

Summary -
Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast -- as the entrees.

The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

Wordless Wednesday - Dinner

2011-10-12T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In

2011-10-11T01:00:00.002-07:00

Having gone back to my grandparent's house recently, all the places we've been and seen, it's the one place that hasn't changed since I was born. This song was in my head. It's so beautiful and mysterious, yet achingly comforting.

I know this is Soundtrack Month, but I am sorry, had to go with the song in my heart.

Sheryl Crow
Home

Here's where I've been the past week

2011-10-10T01:00:00.001-07:00

Took a little siesta from blogging this week as I have been dealing with a lot lately and needed to catch up on things. Mainly needed some person health days. Here's a few bullet points -

My grandmother was sick and we thought we might lose her. Thankfully she is recovering. I was able to go see her and spend five days with her and my grandpa. I learned so much from this trip. I learned I can be the adult when necessary, as I was with my grandfather and niece, I had to make some decisions and drive at night. Needless to say, I couldn't be all weepy and difficult. (not that I am) It was very eye opening for me. I heard stories of my grandfather when he was an MP and overseas in the Korean War, when my grandparents met and dated and so much other wonderful history. I heard about my uncle when he grew up being a sheep farmer, then going off to war at age 15 to WWII. I want to go back and record all that stuff before it is too late.
Haven't seen Saint in almost a month, having withdrawals. He visited this weekend. Just missed our first snow, but we had a wonderful weekend. We didn't do much, but enjoying each others company is how we do it best.
My cat, Izabel, has a ruptured ear drum and we think that might be the reason she has been acting a bit strange like walking off the bed and falling over. Apparently the vet says ear drums grow back??? (google searching this) She also has a heart murmur. We are having blood tests run for that. I will find out if she will ever be able to have her teeth cleaned again, as they cannot do this without anesthesia and anesthesia is not good for heart murmurs.
I have been trying all class to get ahead of my schedule of work and homework and haven't been able to do so. My days off have been spent doing all things not school. I finally caught up, but will hopefully get ahead this next week. (fingers crossed)
I bought another new cookbook. GASP! (i know) I found a few good recipes I love and decided to go shopping. GASP! (again) After the past couple months of living off cereal, coffee and take out, this is a pleasant surprise to even myself. I made a really good Cajun Chicken and Andouille Sausage recipe with pasta, but too much cajun and I think over rice with spinach would be better. I also made a wonderful Pork Tenderloin over Sweet Potatoes that was so AWESOME!!
My boss was sick for over a week. We did our best to avoid him and let him be, but there is only so much we can do to not have a meeting. Not to mention we all walked around with hand sanitizer and wipes, even wiping his aura. (LOL great joke for a boss) The day after we convinced him to take days off, I got sick. UGH! I am recovering and okay, not nearly as bad I thought I would be, but nevertheless. It stinks to be sick. I am popping Zinc, Vitamin C, Aspirin (for headaches) and having a nice Hot Totty before bed with whiskey. (granted occasionally with nose plugged bc whiskey is harsh stuff, but I am wimpy when it comes to alcohol)

How are you?

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-10-03T23:00:00.006-07:00

Soundtrack Edition

This week in Tune In Tuesday's Soundtrack edition, I chose 10 Things I Hate About You. One of my classic favorite movies to watch on continuous loop. Great songs too!

Sunshine On My Window

Even Angels Fall

Cruel To Be Kind

Your Winter

Using a heavy Texas accented, very bubbly voice read the following -

"Thank you ladies. I am thinking that is where the rest of the plane is." Taylor pointed to the thick black smoke spiraling up from the jungle. "There might be more of us in there. We need to organize a search party. A Miss Teen Dream Recon Machine. Any volunteers?"

Beauty Queens
Libba Bray

On My Wish List

2011-10-01T01:00:00.002-07:00

As of this week, my wishlist contains two main authors - Bill Bryson and Jon Krakauer. This week I'll feature Jon Krakauer because I probably have at least four for Bill Bryson on my list.

Jon Krakauer
Into The Wild - Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, Krakauer searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled 24-year-old Chris McCandless to leave civilization behind and head into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Four months later, McCandless's emaciated corpse was found at his campsite by a hunter. Mesmerizing and heartbreaking, Krakauer's powerful and luminous storytelling blaze through every page.

Into Thin Air - A beautiful, lush, fully illustrated edition of a true publishing phenomenon, Into Thin Air: The Illustrated Edition contains hundreds of never-before-seen photographs in a magnificently produced volume and includes a new Afterword by the author. 350 halftone illustrations.

Prophet's Prey - Prophet's Prey offers the gripping, behind-the-scenes account of a bizarre world from the only man who knows the full story.
Despite considerable press coverage and a lengthy trial, the full story has remained largely untold. Only one man can reveal the whole, astounding truth: Sam Brower, the private investigator who devoted years of his life to breaking open the secret practices of the FLDS and bringing Warren Jeffs and his inner circle to justice. In Prophet's Prey, Brower implicates Jeffs in his own words, bringing to light the contents of Jeffs's personal priesthood journal, discovered in a hidden underground vault, and revealing to readers the shocking inside world of FLDS members, whose trust he earned and who showed him the staggering truth of their lives.
From the private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the arrest of Warren Jeffs, the maniacal prophet of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), comes the page-turning, horrifying story of how a rogue sect used sex, money, and power disguised under a favßade of religion to further criminal activities and a madman's vision.

Review - Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman

2011-09-30T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Babe in Boyland
Author: Jody Gehrman
Publisher: February 17, 2011
Publish Date: Dial

GoodReads
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Amazon

I have been wanting to read this book since it came out. I love the cover and it really makes me want to pick this book up. Reading a book about a girl wanting to be a writer is even more fun!

I read this book in a few hours. It was a fun, fast read. Incredibly funny parts that had me laughing out loud. Wonderful, heart warming parts that made me want to find these people and give them a hug. And horribly mean people that I wanted to beat up, but Nat did a good job giving them what they deserved.

Natalie is trying to become a real writer. Her friends are making fun of her for writing her Dr. Aphrodite article that answers questions girls send in. They feel she is not answering them well and the comments are even worse. Her friends challenge her to find a topic that is real enough to enter into a writing contest. When she cannot get the answers she wants, she goes undercover at a local boys school to get the reality. She falls head over heels for her hunky roommate, she ends up in a very compromising position with her best girl friends and she is using her acting skills the entire time. Her voice changes and she forgets occasionally that she is supposed to be a boy. Hilarious how she compares the two sexes. So much fun!!

Summary -
When high school junior Natalie - or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper - is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want. But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected - especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

Review - How to Sleep Alone in a Kingsize Bed by Theo Pauline Nester

2011-09-29T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: How to Sleep Alone in a King-size Bed
Author: Theo Pauline Nestor
Publish Date: April 15, 2008
Publisher: Crown

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I really enjoyed this book. It was similar to Eat, Pray Love but without all the laying on the floor sobbing in misery. (Not that that is bad, mind you) Theo uncovers her husband's gambling problem which she is sure she should have seen coming, but it is too late by the time she gets to the heart of the matter. She goes through the normal phases, but the entire time questioning if she is doing them correctly. How many times have we chided ourselves for living through a tough point in our lives and thinking we are doing it wrong? Theo embraces her heart and learns to live through each emotion wondering the entire time if she is making the right decisions for her and her children.

Summary -
“I feel like I’ve joined an enormous club, something like the Veterans of Foreign Wars. We are weary with battle fatigue and sometimes even gripped by nostalgia for the good old, bad old days, but our numbers are large,” writes Theo Pauline Nestor in this wry, fiercely honest chronicle of life after divorce.

Less than an hour after confronting her husband over his massive gambling losses, Theo banishes him from their home forever. With two young daughters to support and her life as a stay-at-home mother at an abrupt end, Nestor finds herself slipping from “middle-class grace” as she attends a court-ordered custody class, stumbles through job interviews, and–much to her surprise–falls in love once again. As Theo rebuilds her life and recovers her sense of self, she’s forced to confront her own family’s legacy of divorce. “I’m from a long line of stock market speculators, artists of unmarketable talents, and alcoholics,” writes Nestor. “The higher, harder road is not our road. We move, we divorce, we drink, or we disappear.”

Nestor’s journey takes her deep into her family’s past, to a tiny village in Mexico, where she discovers the truth about how her sister ended up living in a convent there after their parents divorced in the early sixties. What she learns ultimately brings her closer to understanding her own divorce and its impact on her two daughters. “I knew from experience that for children divorce means half the world is constantly eclipsed. When you’re with one parent, the other must always slip out of view,” Nestor writes.

Funny, openhearted, and brave, How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed will speak to anyone who has passed through the halls of divorce court or risked tenderness after loss. It marks the debut of an enchanting, deeply truthful voice.

Wordless Wednesday - Google Map Car

2011-09-27T20:04:00.002-07:00

Wordless Wedneday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-09-27T01:00:00.002-07:00

Heard this song on the radio today and even though it's a bit corny, I immediately felt I knew what the lyrics were saying. I miss my boyfriend like mad. I wish to high hell we lived together. It is horrible only seeing him once a month. I want to hold him, touch him, see his smile, sleep next to him and the list goes on. So here's to all the romantics out there.

Jet Lag
by Simple Plan

"To be honest, I dig having a secret identity, even if it is kind of a misnomer. I think everyone should have at least a part of them that's self-invented; in fact the world would be much more interesting if we all created our own identities afresh whenever we felt like it."

Babe in Boyland
Jody Gehrman

Review - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2011-09-26T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Shiver
The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Author: Maggie Steifvater
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
Publish Date: Aug 1, 2009
Hardcover, 400 pages
(my version audio book)

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I have no idea what I expected with this book. I think I bought it as an audio book because I remember seeing the cover at work and thought it looked good. It was also my first audio book in about a decade so I wasn't so hip to the voices. They just didn't sound like what I would figure if I read the book.

HOWEVER, I did enjoy the book. I like the story line. I liked Grace and I thought Sam was surprising. Grace's thoughts and feelings were moving. Sam was very thoughtful and pervasive. I was so intrigued that I looking forward to the next book. I will be reading it this time rather than listening to it. It was romantic. It was different and I liked that the story line was new and fresh. I usually don't enjoy books with little to no conversation, but this one held up considerably with thoughts and feelings.

Funny thing about audio books, they can make or break the book depending on the voice and inflections. In my head, I create my own, so I know I will like them.

Summary -
Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-09-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

IMM was really light this week. Got back from visiting my boyfriend and parents only to find out my grandmother is really sick. Deeply worried. Not to mention I have school that I am trying to get ahead on. PLUS I decided to help take my mind off my gma, I started catching up on True Blood new series. OH YEAH!! Even picked up a Merlotte's shirt for Halloween.

For Review -
Sign Language by Amy Ackley
**BIG THANKS to Amy for contacting me and asking me to review her book!!**

Bought -
Loved by Morgan Rice (Vampire Journals #2) ONLY 2.99!!!!
Check out my review of Turned - #1 in Vampire Journals

Borrowed -
As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott

I am currently listening to Beauty Queens by Libba Bray on audio. Has anyone read or listened to this book? It is CRAZY! The story line is so odd and yet, I find myself laughing hysterically. I am not sure if I like it or if it is just off the charts weird. Yet, I can't NOT like it.

Any opinions on this book??

Anyone read it yet?

What's in your Mailbox???

On My Wish List

2011-09-24T01:00:00.001-07:00

Babe in Boyland
When high school junior Natalie - or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper - is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want. But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected - especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?
The Kitchen House
When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.

Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.

Review - Turned by Morgan Rice

2011-09-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Turned
The Vampire Journals #1
Author: Morgan Rice
Publish Date: Jan 24, 2011
150 pages
Ebook format

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I was browsing through the steals and deals for Nook and happened upon this book. It is 99cents!!! I grabbed it right up. And was not disappointed. I have never read or even heard of Morgan Rice as an author. I kept getting her confused with Ann Rice when searching for her other books. But after reading this book, I am so happy to say I have added a new author to my list of authors I LOVE TO READ.

I am really excited because I just purchased book 2, Loved in the series for ONLY $2.99! These two books were only available on as ebooks otherwise I would have bought them in book format to own and keep.

The book starts out detailing Caitlin's life of moving around at her mother's wim. Her mother is vain and always looking for someone else to blame. She even goes so far as to claim Caitlin is at fault for her boyfriends leaving her after he made a pass at her. Sad. Caitlin just wants to blend in and be normal for awhile. This will not happen. As she turns a certain age she will change and not just in the hormonal, girl changes, but rather her need for blood. She is . . . different. And is immediately put into the spotlight due to her lack of knowledge of what is happening to her. At the same time she is losing a grip on her own life.

She finds a few friends and a few foes on the way, but I was completely mesmerized by this book. I loved it and was so engrossed I finished it in one morning. I think I blinked and was on the last quarter of the book. Good stuff and love that it is a series.

PS At the time of writing this review, all the other Nook ebooks in this series were only $3.99! After one being 99 cents and two being $2.99.

Summary -
Eighteen year old Caitlin Paine finds herself uprooted from her nice suburb and forced to attend a dangerous New York City high school when her Mom moves again. The one ray of light in her new surroundings is Jonah, a new classmate who takes an instant liking to her.

But before their romance can blossom, Caitlin suddenly finds herself changing. She is overcome by a superhuman strength, a sensitivity to light, a desire to feed--by feelings she does not understand. She seeks answers to what’s happening to her, and her cravings lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. Her eyes are opened to a hidden world, right beneath her feet, thriving underground in New York City. She finds herself caught between two dangerous covens, right in the middle of a vampire war.

It is at this moment that Caitlin meets Caleb, a mysterious and powerful vampire who rescues her from the dark forces. He needs her to help lead him to the legendary lost artifact. And she needs him for answers, and for protection. Together, they will need to answer one crucial question: who was her real father?

But Caitlin finds herself caught between two men as something else arises between them: a forbidden love. A love between the races that will risk both of their lives, and will force them to decide whether to risk it all for each other…

Review - Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

2011-09-22T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: Leaving Paradise
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher:
Publish Date:
Paperback, 303 pages

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I am quickly becoming a HUGE fan of Simone Elkeles. I have read two of her books and am excitingly waiting the next book to be ready at the library for me. I was worried about reading this book and being disappointed. Nicely, I wasn't at all. I really loved this one. It was just wonderful.

I loved this book. I fell in love with it. I thought the horrible incidents that were dealt to both Caleb and Maggie are things no one should have to deal with and yet, they did. I am afraid to speak too much about this book as I may reveal the ending of this book, but I highly recommend it. It was a quick and easy read, but so worth it. I think one of the reason I like Simone Elkeles so much is that she develops all characters around the main characters so well that they too stand out.

It is also a clean book for teenagers to read. Even though it deals with drunk driving, it is done tastefully and not revealing too much too early for those still trying to making choices. Very easy book to discuss with your fellow teenagers.

Summary -

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday - Tune In & Teaser

2011-09-20T01:00:00.001-07:00

Seriously, what girl doesn't just LOVE this song?!?!?!!!

Before He Cheats
Carrie Underwood

"The waves were small and inconsistent, and I was just kind of rolling along with them, relaxing on my board and my left arm dangling in the cool water. I remember thinking, "I hope the surf picks up soon . . .," when suddenly there was a flash of gray."

Soul Surfer
Bethany Hamilton

Review - The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

2011-09-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

Title: The Other Wes Moore
Author: Wes Moore
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publish Date: April 27, 2011
Hardcover, 233 pages

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I feel a bit odd giving a review of a book that details two men's real lives. Especially since I really didn't like the book. I thought the concept of the book was fantastic. Two boys with the same name, born in the same neighborhood only to grow up totally different choices and lives. But ultimately the book fell short. It had some good information, good history and great stuff on the insides of gang life. Sadly, it didn't pull me in and make me want read more. I finished it because I respected these men and their lives.

Summary -
The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.
Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question.
In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

IMM - In My Mailbox

2011-09-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Won:
Hotwire (Maggie O'Dell) by Alex Kava

Review Request:
The Safehouse by T. Thomas Ackerman

Steals and Deals for ebooks:
Sam I Am (October Trilogy) by Heather Killough-Walden
Turned (Vampire Journals) by Morgan Rice

ebooks:
Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry) by Simone Elkeles
Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

On My Wish List

2011-09-17T01:00:00.001-07:00

THE ORCHARD is the story of a street-smart city girl who must adapt to a new life on an apple farm after she falls in love with Adrian Curtis, the golden boy of a prominent local family whose lives and orchards seem to be cursed. Married after only three months, young Theresa finds life with Adrian on the farm far more difficult and dangerous than she expected. Rejected by her husband's family as an outsider, she slowly learns for herself about the isolated world of farming, pesticides, environmental destruction, and death, even as she falls more deeply in love with her husband, a man she at first hardly knew and the land that has been in his family for generations. She becomes a reluctant player in their attempt to keep the codling moth from destroying the orchard, but she and Adrian eventually come to know that their efforts will not only fail but will ultimately take an irreparable toll.

Soul Surfer -
When Bethany Hamilton lost her arm in the fall of 2003 to a shark attack, it looked as if the career of one of the country's top amateur surfers was over. But just ten weeks later, she returned to competition in her native Hawaii, vowing never to give up the sport she loves. She has since earned an indelible place in America's heart by making appearances on 20/20, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and a host of other venues. Now, in Soul Surfer, this extraordinary fourteen-year-old recounts her incredible, harrowing story in her own unforgettable voice.

Bethany has already lived more than a lifetime's worth of triumph and tragedy, and she shares every poignant moment in these pages. Readers learn how she rose once again to the challenges of competition after a life-changing event, how she dealt with the maelstrom of media attention, and how she relied on her faith and innate positive thinking to embrace changes that would undo most people. Written with passion and insight, and filled with thrilling moments of the sport Bethany has come to personify, this is a portrait of American heroism that will captivate readers of all ages.

Review - Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard

2011-09-16T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Like Mandarin
Author: Kirsten Hubbard
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publish Date: March 8, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages

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This was a real interesting read. I liked it and yet, I kind of didn't like it. I kept waiting for something to happen and yet it was just a book about two girls and their time together. How they grow and how they learn from each other. How they hurt each other and how they learn to appreciate each others differences.

I really thought the journey Grace and Mandarin take together. I found it inspiring that Grace wanted to be like Mandarin and didn't really know how it was to really be Mandarin. It was really interesting to see Grace develop as she grew to learn what Mandarin actual had to deal with on a personal, private level.

Again, not necessarily a book I recommend for a younger teen. Talks a lot about sex, especially sex with older, strange men. Mandarin drinks, smokes, works in her father's bar, cheats, doesn't do her school work, etc., etc,. Not a great role model for the younger crowd.

Summary -
It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin. When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their Badlands town. Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

Review - Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

2011-09-15T01:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Twenty Boy Summer
Author: Sarah Ockler
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Publish Date: June 1, 2011
Hardcover, 290 pages

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Barnes and Noble (Paperback $8.99/Nook $7.99)
Amazon

I absolutely enjoyed this book. I was horrified, laughed out loud and fell in love all over again. HOWEVER, I do not see this as a teen book. I think this type of book is a definite example of how teen books should be rated. Yes, I am a big believer in freedom of speech, but as a woman and knowing my 14 year old niece, I would not allow her to read this. Simply because I feel that it is preferable for an older teen. It talks about promiscuous sex. Teens lying and making a game of sex and dating. These girls laugh about lying and drinking. Yes, I also realize that this is what teens do, but I do not think this is appropriate for girls still developing their values. It would be a good book if we both read it and talked about it, but I still think it is preferable for an older teen.

Knowing that, I had a fabulous fun time reading this book. The basis of this book breaks my heart. A girl, Annie, falls in love with her neighbors brother, Matt, coincidentally it is her best friend, Frankie. They keep it a secret and it is beautiful. Before they can tell her they are in love, he dies. Tears. Really. Sarah Ockler did such an incredible job telling this. In order to survive, Frankie turns to boys, sex and make-believe. She convinces her best friend, Annie, to dare to use twenty boys to help Annie lose her virginity the summer they go to California with Frankie's parents. Frankie is a maniac. She lies, drinks and is basically a self-centered person. Meanwhile, Annie is mourning her own broken heart, all alone, in secret.

It was so wonderful to read the way this all develops and then blows up. How things can mend in our own hearts and how people may not be who we think they are.

Summary -
"Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?"
"Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?"

According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday to me!

2011-09-14T01:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday