In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren and you can find official information like how to participate, why it was started and other goodies about IMM on the IMM Page.

I have wanted to start participating but either forgot or just didn't receive anything that week.



The past week I received 33 Days from Bill See as an eBook through email which I love because I can highlight, take notes and check definitions with the touch of my finger on my Nook. Check out the review here.


I received by snail mail The Journey by Wanda Brunstetter from GoodReads as a firstreads winner. I so excited to read The Journey. It has been quite some time since I have stuck my nose in a Christian Fiction book. I used to devour the Beverly Lewis series.

How funny that I went from reading a book about a rock band (drugs, sex and rock n roll) to reading a book about Amish lifestyle.

I broke down and purchased Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux which I have been reading this past week.


I also decided that I would purchase Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender and make one of my friends read it for me as I just wasn't sure the doll coming alive wouldn't scare the crap out of me. She is going to read it while I decide if I want to, but Oh how I want to!!

What came in your mailbox? Check out others here!

On My Wish List

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Shoplifting from American Apparel:
Set mostly in Manhattan—although also featuring Atlantic City, Brooklyn, GMail Chat, and Gainsville, Florida—this autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a cultish following, has been described by the author as “A shoplifting book about vague relationships,” “2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague relationship issues,” and “An ultimately life-affirming book about how the unidirectional nature of time renders everything beautiful and sad.”

From VIP rooms in hip New York City clubs to central booking in Chinatown, from New York University’s Bobst Library to a bus in someone’s backyard in a college-town in Florida, from Bret Easton Ellis to Lorrie Moore, and from Moby to Ghost Mice, it explores class, culture, and the arts in all their American forms through the funny, journalistic, and existentially-minded narrative of someone trying to both “not be a bad person” and “find some kind of happiness or something,” while he is driven by his failures and successes at managing his art, morals, finances, relationships, loneliness, confusion, boredom, future, and depression.

The Four Ms. Bradwells
Meg Waite Clayton’s national bestseller The Wednesday Sisters was a word-of-mouth sensation and book club favorite. Now the beloved author is back with a page-turning novel that explores the secrets we keep, even from those closest to us, and celebrates the enduring power of friendship.

Mia, Laney, Betts, and Ginger, best friends since law school, have reunited for a long weekend as Betts awaits Senate confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court. Nicknamed “the Ms. Bradwells” during their first class at the University of Michigan Law School in 1979—when only three women had ever served full Senate terms and none had been appointed to the Court—the four have supported one another through life’s challenges: marriages and divorces, births and deaths, career setbacks and triumphs large and small. Betts was, and still is, the Funny One. Ginger, the Rebel. Laney, the Good Girl. And Mia, the Savant.

But when the Senate hearings uncover a deeply buried skeleton in the friends’ collective closet, the Ms. Bradwells retreat to a summer house on the Chesapeake Bay, where they find themselves reliving a much darker period in their past—one that stirs up secrets they’ve kept for, and from, one another, and could change their lives forever.

Once again, Meg Waite Clayton writes inspiringly about the complex circumstances facing women and the heartfelt friendships that hold them together. Insightful and affecting, The Four Ms. Bradwells is also a captivating tale of how far people will go to protect the ones they love.

Cover Me: A Health Insurance Memoir
Growing up in middle-class middle America, Sonya Huber viewed health care as did most of her peers: as an inconvenience or not at all. There were braces and cavities, medications and stitches, the family doctor and the local dentist. Finding herself without health insurance after college graduation, she didn’t worry. It was a temporary problem. Thirteen years and twenty-three jobs later, her view of the matter was quite different. Huber’s irreverent and affecting memoir of navigating the nation’s health-care system brings an awful and necessary dose of reality to the political debates and propaganda surrounding health-care reform.

Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult since I read all of her books within the same time period. I started and didn't stop til I have read every single one of them. I was hooked from the first book of hers. She has this incredible way of seeing people and their lives. It gives them a life that I can put their shoes on and walk in them. I can feel their pain and their life. I can see their conflicts and decide for myself what I would do. As a friend of mine says, "Jodi Picoult breaks your heart." Therefore it is no secret I am a HUGE fan of Jodi Picoult.

Sing You Home was no different than the other books. It was simply fantastic. I felt so many different emotions that at some points I put the book down and swore I wouldn't read anymore then like watching a train wreck I picked it back up and was, once again, sucked back in.

The characters surprised me consistently and I was wowed and sadden. I loved Zoe who was the main character. She is married to Max who is a previous alcoholic. They have tried for years to have children, but even with help she has another miscarriage. Max decides he can't do it anymore and gets a divorce. Zoe finds she is destroyed. She throws herself into her work as a music therapist and finds a friend at work. A woman therapist who turns into a new love and eventually they marry. As Zoe is finding a new life, Max is too, with a very religious church of his brother and his wife. A once married couple becomes complete opposites and when Zoe reveals she would like to use their leftover embryos for her new wife to conceive, the battle begins. The church against lesbians who want to have a family with kids.

The emotional roller coaster that Picoult takes the reader on in this book was so fantastic. I found myself on both sides at different times. Throughout the whole book though I had one consistent feeling, I did not like the weakness of Max's character. I was disappointed that he kept riding the wave of other's.

I loved the music therapy information throughout the book. I believe that things like this work and I really enjoyed all the detail and seeing it develop. The book includes a CD to listen to while reading. A concept I also find fun and entertaining. Something different.

I do not want to spoil any of the details of this book. Read and decide on your own.

Caite of A Lovely Shore Breeze wrote a review of this book, but her findings were different than mine.

Find this book on GoodReads or Barnes&Noble

Synopsis from GoodReads:
Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max. In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max.

Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child.

SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?

Review: Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

I find it a bit funny that I read this book by accident. I have been waiting to read Kim Harrison for quite some time now. I also have been waiting to read Jennifer Rardin's Once Bitten, Twice Shy.

I was playing with the digital library trying to download books to my Nook and ended up downloading both by accident. Didn't even realize it. I don't read the back of a book (summary) so I had no idea what to expect from either of these books. I was about halfway through when I realized I was disappointed. I finished the book before I realized I wasn't even reading the one I thought I was - lol.


There were times I was tempted to skip ahead pages just to find out what was going on. It developed incredibly slow. I like when a book keeps you guessing, but this one, I felt, kept the reader at arms length for much of the book which made it hard for me to really get into. I really enjoyed the characters and I liked the plot. I liked the ending and it did start to get more interesting toward the end It was good, just slow. For a first book of a series, I am not sure I would continue reading this series after this book. I am however going to. (smirk) I am hoping the second book gets better. (to be continued)

This was my VERY FIRST Kim Harrison book and it will not be my last. I am really looking forward to reading Dead Witch Walking. It is the first book in the Rachel Morgan/Hollows Series.

From Good Reads: Once Dead, Twice Shy:

My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it.

Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff.

But don't take my word for it. Have you read this book yet?

Lost in Lost

Work has been insane this past week. We are currently doing inventory - or prepping to do inventory anyway. I've been working odd hours and my body is all out of sorts which is never good for me. I am so in need of structure and routine. Right now, I am exhausted, but can't seem to get to sleep and then so tired in the morning, I can't get up. My allergies are making me sneeze all the time and when I am not sneezing my nose is so plugged I can't breath. I haven't been eating the best food either. Couple more days and then inventory day which will be a 12 hour day not to mention an overnight 12 hours. But this is such an exciting time at work. I am learning so much. I am meeting so many wonderful people. It's great.

We went to another store to assist with their inventory day. I loved it. I have been in inventory for other companies and other stores, using the same inventory company. It is all pretty much the same process, just need to learn how we do it at my new place. Everyone I meet has no qualms with helping me, teaching me how it is all done. They all give great tips too on what things we can do better at our store or what things they have done to improve their own store.

I'm happy. Despite the fact that Saint is so far away. I get to see him about once a month now. It is hard and sad, but as he says, we are making plans for our future. These changes may be scary (him finding an apartment in another city without me; me taking a job without him) we are making choices to be together in the future.


In my down time, I have been watching as many Lost episodes as possible. One of the guys at work recommended I see them. I used to read a plethora of blogs about the show, but never really watched them. From the first couple of episodes I was hooked. Now I am loving them and can't get enough.

I have tried to read the books in my Nook - We Bought A Zoo and Omnivore Dilemma - which We Bought a Zoo lost my attention after about half the book and Omnivore Dilemma is good, but not good enough to keep my constant attention. Then I saw Jodi Picoult's new book on the NY Times Best Sellers, but can't bring myself to buy it because I can borrow the book for free from work (if it's a hard back), but not til after inventory. So I am trying to be patient. I can read for free one hour a day at B&N, but only when I get the chance to head over there. Just a couple more days and then I can finally read the entire book without interruption. It will be almost like a reward of working so hard and so many long, weird hours at work.

Wish List

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven

Synopsis

They were young, brilliant, and bold. They set out to conquer the world. But the world had other plans for them.
Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes.
In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes.
Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever.
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of hubris and redemption told with Gilman's trademark compassion, lyricism, and wit.

A Disobedient Girl -

Synopsis -

Ru Freeman's debut novel chronicles the trials and travails of two Sri Lank

an women and their pursuit of freedom. Orphaned then absorbed as a servant into a well-to-do Sri Lankan family at the age of five, Latha Kumari grows up in tandem with the family's spoiled young daughter, Thara. However, Latha's mysterious origins and ambiguous caste ensure her a future of unpaid servitude in the Vithanages's household. Resentful, she involves herself with the man meant for Thara. This choice ultimately causes her loss and suffering. Alongside Latha's story is that of Biso's, who is fleeing a drunken abusive husband, a murdered lover and townspeople who whisper "whore" as she walks past. Biso escapes blindly to the salvation and promise of distant relatives in the north, but her journey with her three children across the country is tainted by murder and terrorism. The kindness of strangers runs out, but the end of Biso's tragic journey will end up being the promise of Latha's future. Freeman ill

ustrates contemporary Sri Lankan life through the battles waged between lovers, friends and strangers alike in this study in dignity, strength of character, tolerance and perseverance.

The Laws of Harmony -

Synopsis

Sunny Cooper has been running since she was eighteen—from the New Mexican commune where she grew up . . . and from the haunting memory of the freak accident that took the life of her younger sister. Now, at thirty-two, Sunny voices radio spots in Albuquerque while struggling to hold on to a floundering relationship. But when a second tragic accident—and the devastating truths that come to light in its aftermath—turns her world upside down, Sunny runs again.

In the town of Harmony on San Miguel Island, she takes a new job, learns to ride a motorcycle, and makes some surprising new friends. But the past is never far behind. A startling discovery—along with an emotional and revelatory reunion with her estranged mother—is forcing Sunny to step out from the shadows of yesterday to embrace an uncertain future.

Visit BookChickCity to see other's Wish Lists or to join in!!!

Wish List

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

The Bookseller of Kabul -

Synopsis

With The Bookseller of Kabul, award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad has given readers a first-hand look at Afghani life as few outsiders have seen it. Invited to live with Sultan Khan, a bookseller in Kabul, and his family for months, this account of her experience allows the Khans to speak for themselves, giving us a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and of a country of great cultural riches and extreme contradictions.

For more than 20 years, Sultan Khan has defied the authorities—whether Communist or Taliban—to supply books to the people of Kabul. He has been arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned, and has watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. Yet he had persisted in his passion for books, shedding light in one of the world's darkest places. This is the intimate portrait of a man of principle and of his family—two wives, five children, and many relatives sharing a small four-room house in this war ravaged city. But more than that, it is a rare look at contemporary life under Islam, where even after the Taliban's collapse, the women must submit to arranged marriages, polygamous husbands, and crippling limitations on their ability to travel, learn and communicate with others.


Jennifer Rardin series Jaz Parks -

Synopsis

Jaz Parks here. I. Am. Pissed. Just as Vayl and I arrive in Morocco to secure an ancient artifact, he wakes up calling me by another woman's name. And it's not even a good one. But since any form of argument transforms him into an unholy terror, I'm forced to play along until the gang and I can figure out what kind of power has so vastly altered his perceptions.

So it's time for me to do what any well-trained assassin in my position might do. I attack. What follows is a hair-raising, breath-taking bullet train ride to the finish as the crew battles on multiple fronts. I now know what I have to do - I must return to hell one last time.

What's on your wishlist?

A Discover of Witches book review

I was looking for a book to read and I wanted one that I wouldn't finish in a day. I have been doing that lately; finishing a book almost too quickly for my own good. I get so involved and then realize it's over. Sad. My criteria for this next book was that it required more time.

I looked all over and just wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to read. I am becoming a fan of sci fi. I love Biographies. I am a huge fan of fiction and I do love an occasional romance. I recently got into Nature with a focus on agriculture. I am a fan of real life stories. Mostly I love it when someone writes a book that allows me to live their life for a short time. One of my favorite aspects of a book is when the author is struggling with something, takes a huge risk and survives to tell the story. It is inspiring and usually a real good in-depth look at someone's life. And I am nosy.

After much struggle, I picked up the book A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I hesitated to read this because I was struggling with sleeping after reading all the science fiction books that were making my imagination just fly. I have so much negativity already in my head, I don't need to add anymore, so I was taking a break from the abnormal and psychological.

I have to say, I was so pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully positive and almost childlike this story felt. It had all the surprise and wonder of a children's story, but was thick with structure. It was such a brilliantly different look on the vampire/witches aspect that is all over. It was a bit of a paranormal romance mixed with scifi and fantasy adventure. It was so great how it was all wrapped together. Harkness did a fantastic job developing the characters and intertwining them together. I usually love the main character the best, but in fact, she did such a great job allowing these characters to develop that I loved the not so lovable characters too.

I won't spoil the ending, but I do hope this is a first of many to come. I would love to know what happens next.

Synopsis of the book -

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well.

Link to the author's website

Wish list

Trying a new meme from Book Chick City called On My Wishlist.

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Alex and Me -

Synopsis

On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you."

What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous - two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures.

In The Sanctuary of Outcasts -

About In The Sanctuary of Outcasts -

Neil White, a journalist and magazine publisher, wanted the best for those he loved-nice cars, beautiful homes, luxurious clothes. He loaned money to family and friends, gave generously to his church, and invested in his community-but his bank account couldn't keep up. Soon White began moving money from one account to another to avoid bouncing checks. His world fell apart when the FBI discovered his scheme and a judge sentenced him to serve eighteen months in a federal prison.

But it was no ordinary prison. The beautiful, isolated colony in Carville, Louisiana, was also home to the last people in the continental United States disfigured by leprosy. Hidden away for decades, this small circle of outcasts had forged a tenacious, clandestine community, a fortress to repel the cruelty of the outside world. It is here, in a place rich with history, where the Mississippi River briefly runs north, amid an unlikely mix of leprosy patients, nuns, and criminals, that White's strange and compelling journey begins. He finds a new best friend in Ella Bounds, an eighty-year-old African American double amputee who had contracted leprosy as a child. She and the other secret people, along with a wacky troop of inmates, help White rediscover the value of simplicity, friendship, and gratitude.

Funny and poignant, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is an uplifting memoir that reminds us all what matters most.

The Imperfectionists -

About The Imperfectionists

‘Off the record, who is it?’
He hesitates.
‘I don’t see why you need to know.’
But he does see, of course. ‘It’s my son.’
Their chuckles are audible over the speakerphone. ‘Are you serious?’

Lloyd Burko is having troubles with his sources, with his technology at the paper, and with his family. Deadline is closing in and he is falling apart. The Imperfectionists is a novel about the quirky, maddening, endearing people who write and read an international newspaper based in Rome: from the obituary reporter who will do anything to avoid work, to the young freelancer who is manipulated by an egocentric war correspondent, to the dog-obsessed publisher who seems less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound, Schopenhauer.

With war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the climate in meltdown and bin Laden still in hiding, the paper has plenty to fill its columns. But for its staff, the true front-page stories are their own private lives. As this imperfect bunch stumbles along, the era of high terror and high tech bears down, the characters collide, and the novel hurtles toward its climax...

So what's on your wish list?

What are you reading??

I am currently reading Columbine by Dave Cullen and I really like it, but it is disturbing and heart breaking. At first the narration was very emotionless and didn't really pull me in, but once Cullen got the actual event, it all came together and just creates these incredible, hard-to-believe images. I just struggle with holding back tears along with the frustration and heart ache all must have felt.

Previously I read, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which I loved, but it was about death, dying and high school girls being mean. And I read it way too fast. It is a Teen Fiction book, but I am finding that many teen fiction books are really good. I just wish they weren't such easy reads.

Before that, I Am Number Four which was FANTABULOUS, but had all that paranormal stuff that freaks my mind when it is late at night. I loved how different it was and not just your standard science fiction or vampire star crossed lovers. I cannot wait til the next book!

And before that I read, Water For Elephants, which I truly believe will be the book of the year - plus they are coming out with the movie. HA! It was simply stunning and I was riveted.



But I am at a loss as to what to read now. I would like to get away from all the paranormal, science fiction and maybe read something happy, but I am totally open for suggestions. I'd really love to read a great biography.

What are you reading?

What book have you read in the past that was so fabulous and you couldn't put down.

Bookclub - Girl who Played with Fire

This past month our bookclub has been reading The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.

I have to say, when I started reading the first book - The girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I only made it through the first couple of chapters and then put the book down. It just didn't interest me. I figured I wouldn't be reading the book. But after my mom read the first one and was half way through the second (which is the one we read) I was intrigued that she liked them so much. I then sighed and decided to plug through the book. I had one week to finish it before our book club met.

After about a third of the way through it, I couldn't put it down.

There is a lot of mathematical equations in this book many of which I felt were unnecessary and just gobs of words, but I also ascertained that it was telling how the main character, Salander was able to focus and control life.

It was very intriguing how they told the story from a couple of different view points - not just Salander, but the journalist, Blomkvist, the friend Wu and other police officers. It made it a bit confusing at times, but I think helped it portray all the deep feelings within this book.

The conversation of this book led to others about the affects of gender on culture; the impact we allow people in power positions to have; the portrayal of lives in the media and how far is too far; allowing someone to be proven guilty before a trial has started. The list of possibilities this book opened up was lengthy.

I really enjoyed reading this book and discussing it.

I give the book 4 stars because it took a bit to get me interested in it.