I Smell Books

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

2012-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

It was a productive and yet relaxing 3 day weekend! And one thing I for sure wanted to check off my to-do list was to finish The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. I am a HUGE fan of NS and I've read every single one of his books, but this one just shyly missed the mark for me. And a brief heads up, there's a bit of a spoiler in this review, but like most NS books it's fairly predictable anyway so does that REALLY count as a "spoiler"?

I love a good romance story mixed in with a bit of suspense, which is true of all of his novels, but this one also added the issue of infidelity. And as much as I may love the characters and even feel for the situations they may be in - I just can't justify a situation where cheating on your spouse is an ok thing. Isn't the goal of every writer is that their reader can identify with the characters? Well this where I take it too personal and I just can't identify or go there in my head. I too, like anyone else out there, have had a first love back in high school. And a book like this takes you back to all those old feelings and memories. And for me, those memories and feelings are best left in the past and not brought to the forefront of my mind where I'm left wondering, "what if?"

The concept just didn't grab me and I'm bummed that this isn't one I'll be raving to all my friends about. Marriage is too often cheapened in this day and age and one's own selfishness is too often the priority, leaving the families behind, broken and hurting. I was disappointed in Amanda and some of the decisions she made. Life is hard and terrible things happen to good people, but it's not a free pass to do whatever you want. I like this quote a friend of mine posted the other day, "We are not who we are because of what's been done to us. We are who we are because of how we choose to respond."

Bummer, hopefully better luck next fall.

Description: THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they've taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past.

Rating: ***

Recommend: I think I'm incapable of not recommending a Nicholas Sparks book, but this one would definitely come with a disclaimer. ;-)

New Year, New Goals, New Books

2012-01-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to get off my lazy-iPad-addicted-arse and pick up some new reading material!!

Right now, I'm reading The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. I started it on my way home from Seattle after visiting for Christmas break. Unfortunately, I had little time to escape away into some reading (ahem, unlike my sister Kati), so it wasn't until the flight home that I was able to crack this baby open.

I love me some Sparks ;-)

Speaking of new beginnings, the hubbs has decided he's going to get in some serious reading while he's got a couple months of down time before cutting season begins. On the flight home, he also cracked open a new book (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley) and finished it within 5 days!!! He thinks he's going to out-read me this year. That's just crazy talk.

As soon as I finish The Best of Me, its on like Donkey-Kong, cause I got my very own copy of Nobody's Child from author Austin Boyd that I plan to devour! Whohoo!!

And for your sheer enjoyment, check out this stop-motion video of books left alone after the bookstore closes.

Be back soon, promise.

The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy

2011-10-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

There were moments in The Soldier's Wife where I was completely absorbed and lost within the town of Guernsey & Vivienne's sweet family that lived there. But then there were other moments where I felt like it just dragged on and on, and I didn't feel an urgency to pick it back up. It was a hot and cold book for me. I never at one point wanted to quit reading it, but the story line for some reason just wasn't strong enough to make me want to grab for it either. Ugh, probably more my issue than anything to do with the storyline or author.

I will say, my lackluster for this story may have something to do with the fact that I'm always a bit turned off when a love story involves a married man or woman falling in love with another person outside of their own marriage. There's just something about a cheating spouse that no matter how its sugar coated, will get under my skin. I wanted to get swept away with Gunther and Vivienne, but in today's day and age where marriages have been cheapened and discarded so easily, I just can't get lost in the allure of an affair.

But that's just my opinion.

Description: A novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier's Wife asks "What would you do for your family?" "What should you do for a stranger?" and "What would you do for love?"

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship and her family safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.

Rating: ***

Recommend: It seems to be quite the hit for those who loved the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

2011-10-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've been dragging in the book department, but I'm hoping that now with fall in full swing the allure of cozy sweaters, fuzzy blankets & hot coffee will draw me back into a good book once again.

Currently, I'm reading From This Moment On by Shania Twain,

but the fees I'm racking up from the library are starting to scare me. Don't get me wrong, the book is extremely fascinating and I'm absolutely loving it! BUT between both my sisters visits from Seattle, a wedding in Arkansas, parties to plan for our church home group, painting the outside of our house and a slew of other activities going on - I just haven't found the time to even catch up on my Tivo, much less get lost between some pages.

I am planning this afternoon to catch up on a long overdue book review of The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy which I had received through Shelf Awareness and Hyperion Books.

Isn't that cover just gorgeous? For whatever reason it makes me think of Kate Beckinsale in the movie Pearl Harbor.

Stay tuned, I promise I'll be back soon.

Hunger Games Movie Sneak Peek!

2011-08-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else catch the released sneek peak preview of the Hunger Games?!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

So exicted!

But March 2012 is so far away!!!!

3 months.....

2011-07-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

until this :-)

Favorite cover yet!

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

2011-07-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I can't get over Chevy Stevens writing! I was blessed to have been chosen to receive an advanced readers copy of Never Knowing and it was literally the book that motivated me to finish all the others I needed to read first. I kid you not, I was LONGING to pick it up! A friend of mine had recommended Still Missing and after that I was hooked and couldn't wait for Chevy's next book! Every day my friend Debbie, asks if I've finished Never Knowing yet, cause she's been dying to borrow it.

Never Knowing is about Sara who discovers her birth father is a serial killer/rapist. And that's honestly all I'm going to say about it other than the description down below. It. Is. Insane! I had to take 20 minute breaks and play with my dogs so I didn't get my heart rate up too much! And no, this wasn't one I was reading late into the night! No way was I going to let myself have the opportunity to dream about any of this. Shoot, I watched "Kid in a Candy Store" on TLC and then dreamt about cupcakes and doughnuts the next couple hours! But seriously, curled up on my couch with a glass of cold sweet tea where I felt nice and safe was the perfect setting for indulging in this psychological thriller! I LOVED every single page of it and highly recommend! Quite honestly, I'm surprised I didn't bite off all my fingernails. Ms. Stevens is definitely a new favorite of mine and I'll be looking out for her third!

Never knowing is now available in stores and online, so don't wait to get your copy!

Description: From the acclaimed author of STILL MISSING comes a psychological thriller about one woman’s search into her past and the deadly truth she uncovers.

All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara’s home life was not ideal. The question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps and find closure.

But some questions are better left unanswered.

After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother—only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting women every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her.

What if murder is in your blood?

Never Knowing is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand herself, her origins, and her family. That is, if she can survive...

Recommended: Yes! But only if you love a good suspense! And I mean GOOD!

Rating: 5 stars

Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee

2011-07-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yet another thriller! What's with this kick I'm on?! I really have to credit my friend Debbie for shoving these into my hands while I'm at work, because she definitely knows how to recommend a book that gets my attention.

This story has to be one of every parent's worst nightmares. A group of kids get picked up for summer camp when the parents discover sometime later after the real van arrives that they're children have been kidnapped! I could not put this one down! And it had me guessing till the very end, which of course is always a bonus.

I guess it would be a little harder to read if you actually had little ones, but since I don't it didn't bother me too much. There's a scene when the kids are out in the middle of the woods in this little shack and a bear appears - my palms were literally sweating as this was all going down. I devoured this one!

Description: After passing the bittersweet parental milestone of putting her daughter, Sarah on the bus to sleep-away camp for the first time, Lena Trainor plans to spend the next two weeks fixing all the problems in her marriage. But when a second bus arrives to pick up Sarah for camp, no one seems to know anything about the first bus or its driver.

Sarah and three other children have been kidnapped, and within hours of the crime the parents receive an email demanding $1,000,000. When the specifics of the delivery terms throw suspicion on the parents of two of the abducted children, some of the parents begin to turn on each other, exposing fault lines in already strained marriages and forging new alliances. While the kidnapped children are living their parents' worst nightmare, the police are trying to sort the lies from the truth in conflicting stories and alibis that seem to be constantly changing.

Deftly weaving the emotional story that pits the parents of the missing campers against the police—and each other—with the fate of the kidnapped children hanging in the balance, Never Wave Goodbye will keep readers holding their breath until the last page.

Rating: 4 stars!

Recommend: A feast for suspense lovers!

A Young Wife by Pam Lewis

2011-06-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

When I received an advance copy of A Young Wife from Simon & Schuster (love their books!) and glanced at the cover, I knew this would be a book I would really enjoy. Yes, I do judge a book by its cover, I mean don't you look at a beautifully presented dinner and immediately start salivating? Well I'm the same way with a gorgeous book. Those swirls behind the title and author actually reflect light and it creates a beautiful two-dimensional picture.

As for the story itself, I found myself immediately able to dive right in and get lost in the story of Minke, a 15 year old who becomes a care-taker for an older gentleman's dying wife and not too long after ends up marrying him after his wife suddenly dies, moving Minke with him to Amsterdam where they start a life. The story definitely had its moments where I was completely entranced. Even now weeks after reading it there are scenes that the author painted that I can't erase from my mind. And then in other moments, I was kinda put off by the direction of where the story was headed. As strong as this one started out, it continued to ebb and flow in keeping my attention and at the end I was glad I had read it. So my recommendation is to read it and form your own opinion!

ALSO! This book releases tomorrow, so go here to get yourself a copy!

Description: When fifteen-year-old Minke Van Aisma travels to Amsterdam to care for the dying wife of a wealthy man, she has no idea what adventures await her. Within hours of his wife’s death, her employer proposes marriage, and within days the couple has set sail for the oil fields of Argentina. They settle in the rough coastal town of Comodoro Rivadavia, where Minke eventually learns that her husband is not a successful trader, but a morphine producer. The future that seemed so bright takes an even darker turn the morning their toddler son, Zeff, is kidnapped. Soon after, morphine production is outlawed and her husband must immediately emigrate to New York. Already pregnant with their daughter, Minke has little choice but to wait for the new baby’s arrival, then follow Sander to America, and leave her firstborn behind forever. However when she arrives in New York and discovers that her husband has betrayed her, she takes her daughter and leaves him, finds work as a seamstress, and vows to return to Argentina and find her son. How she manages to find her child, and how she takes her revenge on the people who orchestrated his abduction, is a triumphant tale of personal sacrifice, determination, and love. A sweeping saga that crosses three continents--from the opulent life in Amsterdam during the 1900s, to rough living on the Argentine coast, to the impoverished life of a recent immigrant to New York--A YOUNG WIFE is a journey no reader will forget.

Rating: ***

Recommend: Yes, I think many folks might enjoy it.

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo

2011-03-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a skeptic when it comes to these kinds of books. I know there's a lot of folks out there that would disagree with me, but I just have a hard time believing that someone can experience heaven in such a detailed way and yet not even have clinically died. However, I do believe when we worship, we can experience & even visualize the throne room of heaven where we enter the presence of God - BUT I do not think that that ACTUALLY means we've experienced THE throne room of heaven.

I'm probably one of the only naysayers out there as far as this book goes, and though its an inspiring story and I feel deeply for the family who had to endure such a tragedy - I can't help but read this without a huge grain of salt. I'm sure Colton experienced God in an intimate & real way while unconscious, but I don't believe he actually visited heaven itself.

But again, I have friends who absolutely loved this book and ate it up! So if this story peaks your interest, I recommend reading it yourself and coming to your own conclusion.

"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16

Description: Heaven is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

2011-03-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

Okay first of all - Do not read this book at night or when you're home alone! HOLY COW! I don't EVER read this type of book because it scares the crap out of me, and maybe had I known what I was getting myself into I would have never picked it up! But at the same time, the fact that I couldn't put it down must count for something, since it had my complete attention over just a few days! It was like a horrible car accident - you don't want to look, but you just can't turn away either. And to think that this is Chevy Stevens' first published book just completely blows my mind!

This story brings you into Annie's sick, tormented, twisted, abused world of spending an entire year with a psychopath who abducted her while she was showing a house. And the whole time I just kept thinking about Jaycee Dugard and all that she went through. As sick and twisted it was reading about Annie in this completely fictional story, this type of thing does happen to real women today!

What I truly did enjoy about the story is that the author so realistically dives into the pyschological aspects of how Annie had to get inside the head of her tormentor and figure out he thinks so she can best survive. It was intriguing and upsetting at the same time. Jaycee had to do the same thing - survive by whatever means. As humans we can be so much more resilient than we realize.

My friend Debbie at work dropped this one off at my desk saying that she couldn't put it down and I just had to read it. Though I had it on my to-be-read list, I'm not sure I would've really gotten to it without her persuasive nudging. I definitely couldn't handle these type of stories all the time, but every once in a while, during the middle of the day, WITH my husband in the house, then sure I'll tackle a psychological thriller like this one. Whew. Intense people, ridiculously intense!!! And then the ending - WOW, didn't see that one coming!

Description: On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two year old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever- patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

The truth doesn’t always set you free.

Still Missing is that rare debut find—a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

2011-03-01T15:03:00.001-08:00

What a cute story! My friend Emily at Rediscovering the Joy of Cooking, recommended I pick up it up for a fun, light read and I'm so glad I did! It's completely YA, but I really needed something easy to tear through after Mary, Queen of Scots.

I love that this darling, little love story takes place at a boarding school in France. And Anna is just the sweetest thing who has this quirky movie obsession and goes around watching all the American films in different theatres writing out her reviews in a little notebook. I also think that Etienne is simply adorable and quite charming. Though I felt like I was too old to be reading this, it was so easy to get completely wrapped up and remember all the giddy feelings that I once possessed when I was back in high school secretly longing for the attention of the cutest boy in school.

I will say there were a couple of turnoffs for me in this book - and that was the occasional and random crudeness that showed up every now and then. I just felt like it was completely unnecessary and didn't really add anything to the story. The other thing I didn't like was the implication that Anna's father was Nicholas Sparks, and the negative light it shed on him. Sure maybe the author didn't outright say his name, but it was so clearly implied! Hey! I love Nicholas Sparks, please don't dog on him!

Overall, a fun, light read and for a chick-lit book, I very much enjoyed it!

Description: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

Rating: ****

Recommend: If you enjoy chick-lit or YA - then yes, you'll really enjoy it!

The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots by Carolly Erikson

2011-02-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Well the first chapter was good, and then.....it pretty much went downhill from there. This book was chosen as last month's book club pick and I have to be honest and admit that I really struggled with finishing it. I didn't care too much for any of the characters and it was so all over the place. I just didn't get it, truly. Seriously, I wouldn't recommend spending the time on this one. Sorry. I think I'll have to pick up The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory to hopefully redeem the story of Mary, Queen of Scots.

But hey, I hate being completely negative - there are some folks out there that truly enjoyed it! So for some more positive reviews, go here.

Description: Born Queen of Scotland, married as a girl to the invalid young King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly kingdom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. A second marriage to her handsome but dissolute cousin Lord Darnley ended in murder and scandal, while a third to the dashing Lord Bothwell, the love of her life, gave her joy but widened the scandal and surrounded her with enduring ill repute.
Unable to rise above the violence and disorder that swirled around her, Mary escaped to England—only to find herself a prisoner of her ruthless, merciless cousin Queen Elizabeth.
Here, in her own riveting account, is the enchanting woman whose name still evokes excitement and compassion—and whose death under the headsman’s axe still draws forth our sorrow.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

2011-02-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was chosen for book club back in November. Of course I'm just now getting around to writing a review! Though I very much enjoyed this book, I didn't love it. I think more than anything, I was drawn to all the familiarities of home. I loved being able to visually imagine where I was in Seattle and picture different settings. I grew up in Seattle and lived there until I was 26, so it holds a ton of memories for me. But what's truly surprising to me, was that I was completely unaware of the racial discrimination in the Northwest. Even my parents are both Seattle natives and they had never brought up this vital piece of our local history! It was kinda crazy and I was really quite shocked!

Overall it was a sweet love story and kept my attention through out. Others in our book club enjoyed it even much more than I did.

Description: In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Sure.

I'm Reading A Book!

2011-01-24T12:02:00.001-08:00

So I know I have some reviews to catch up on, but until then.....

please enjoy!

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes

2010-11-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yea!! I love it when I come across a new author and am completely blown away! Crossing Oceans is a breath of fresh air in Christian Fiction today. I have such difficulty finding an inspiring and not overly-cheeseball story in the Christian genre. When I saw this in the library, I honestly didn't even know it was Christian fiction, I was just purely drawn to the cover (yes, I'm a cover snob). It wasn't until I read the acknowledgements that I discovered the author's faith.

The story itself was so moving and spoke so deeply to me on forgiveness, selflessness and love. It's not often that you sit there on the couch after the last page has been turned and just have to soak in the magnitude of what happened. I was completely enamored with Jenny and the choices she had before her as she lived out her remaining time with her daughter, Isabella. I don't want to say too much, because honestly through the entire story I really wasn't sure which direction things were going to go. It wasn't at all unpredictable and even though I've never been faced with cancer, I felt her sorrow, fear, courage and determination the entire journey.

There is a scene with Jenny and Craig that had tears literally rolling down my face. Ok, maybe two scenes where I cried, but the first one where he takes her someplace blindfolded and then explains why he brought her there....uh-mazing. Loved it.

Gina, I'm super excited to have found you and hope you continue to publish more books! Gina can be found at her website or her popular blog Novel Journey.

Description: Jenny Lucas swore she-d never go home again. But being told you-re dying has a way of changing things. Years after she left, she and her five-year-old daughter, Isabella, must return to her sleepy North Carolina town to face the ghosts she left behind. They welcome her in the form of her oxygen tank-toting grandmother, her stoic and distant father, and David, Isabella-s dad . . . who doesn't yet know he has a daughter. As Jenny navigates the rough and unknown waters of her new reality, the unforgettable story that unfolds is a testament to the power of love and its ability to change everything-to heal old hurts, bring new beginnings . . . even overcome the impossible. A stunning debut about love and loss from a talented new voice.

Rating: *****

Recommend: I loved it so much I'm highly recommending you get your hands on your own copy! I'm passing my copy on to my mother-in-law whose been anxious to read it as well.

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

2010-11-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

Moonlight Mile is the sixth book in the Kenzie & Gennaro series, but primarily follows up as a sequel to the fourth book Gone Baby Gone. I actually hadn't read any others in the series before this one, but I had seen the movie Gone Baby Gone so I was able to somewhat trek along. I found Moonlight Mile to be extremely fast paced and I thoroughly enjoyed the quick wit of Patrick & Angie (a.k.a. Kenzie & Gennaro), but overall this style of story is not really my thing. It was quite violent in some places and though I can stomach that in a book, there's no way I could have handled some of the scenes visually. Thankfully the humor was there to break up the intensity and not allow it to get too heavy.

If detective stories are up your alley, than I would highly recommend Moonlight Mile for a quick & exciting read. I probably won't read any others in the series, but I wouldn't dismiss Dennis Lehane altogether because I very much enjoyed Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone.

Moonlight Mile releases today in stores. Thank you to Harper Collins and Shelf Awareness for the Advanced Reading Copy!

For more info and a sneak peak into the first 3 chapters, please visit Dennis Lehane's website.

Description: Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood twelve years ago. Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl—only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.

Now Amanda is sixteen—and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda's aunt is once more knocking on Patrick Kenzie's door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, clever young woman—a woman who hasn't been seen in weeks.

Haunted by their consciences, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most. Their search leads them into a world of identity thieves, methamphetamine dealers, a mentally unstable crime boss and his equally demented wife, a priceless, thousand-year-old cross, and a happily homicidal Russian gangster. It's a world in which motives and allegiances constantly shift and mistakes are fatal.

In their desperate fight to confront the past and find Amanda McCready, Kenzie and Gennaro will be forced to question if it's possible to do the wrong thing and still be right or to do the right thing and still be wrong. As they face an evil that goes beyond broken families and broken dreams, they discover that the sins of yesterday don't always stay buried and the crimes of today could end their lives.

Rating: ***

Recommend: If you like action/suspense thrillers, then for sure you should pick up a copy!

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

2010-10-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

You know you got your hands on a great book when you can't stop thinking about the characters long after you've set it down...and then again when you wake up the next morning. Kristin Hannah writes in such a way that you almost feel like you're reading letters from a friend. As I'm brushing my teeth last night, I'm thinking to myself, "What is Lexi going to do now?!" and "Come on Zach, you have got to see what's going on here." or "Jude, sheesh woman, get it together!" I couldn't control my constant inner dialogue between reading intervals and constantly wanting to know what happens next. If I had 2 solid days of free time, there's no doubt I would have read Night Road straight through.

Oh and the descriptions of Seattle! Having grown up in the Greater Seattle area most of my life, I was so comforted and excited to see such accurate descriptions of favorite places back home. I couldn't help but smile when I knew EXACTLY which triangle piece of grass the homeless hang out at just past the Pike Place Market, or dinner at Canlis, or the view over Elliott Bay. It was awesome because I could clearly picture where everything was taking place and after moving away from Seattle 4 years ago this story brought me right back to home.

I have been a huge fan of Kristin Hannah's since reading Angel Falls years ago and since then have not read a novel of Kristin Hannah's that I didn't absolutely love. She is truly one of my favorite authors and one I will always highly recommend!

A special thanks to Bookreporter.com for selecting me to review an advanced copy! For more info on Night Road please go to Book Reporter or visit Kristin Hannah on Facebook! Night Road will be released on March 29, 2011, so mark your calendars!

Description: Jude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. But senior year of high school brings unexpected dangers and one night, Jude’s worst fears are confirmed: there is an accident. In an instant, her idyllic life is shattered and her close-knit community is torn apart. People—and Jude—demand justice, and when the finger of blame is pointed, it lands solely on eighteen-year-old Lexi Baill. In a heartbeat, their love for each other will be shattered, the family broken. Lexi gives up everything that matters to her—the boy she loves, her place in the family, the best friend she ever had—while Jude loses even more.

When Lexi returns, older and wiser, she demands a reckoning. Long buried feelings will rise again, and Jude will finally have to face the woman she has become. She must decide whether to remain broken or try to forgive both Lexi…and herself.

Night Road is a vivid, emotionally complex novel that raises profound questions about motherhood, loss, identity, and forgiveness. It is an exquisite, heartbreaking novel that speaks to women everywhere about the things that matter most.

Rating: *****

Recommend: If you haven't read one of Kristin Hannah's books yet, I highly recommend starting with this one! She is a fantastic women's fiction author from the beautiful Northwest.

Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers

2010-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Francine Rivers - I love you. Please do not wait so long to write another book. K, thanks bye.

Her Daughter's Dream was the sequel to the Her Mother's Hope which I had read last May. Usually when I pick up a hefty sized book I get a bit nervous that it will take me forever to get through it. But with Francine, the more pages the better, because I don't want her stories to ever end. She is hands down THE best Christian writer out there and more versitile than anyone I know of. She can write historical fiction, current fiction, Christmas stories, novellas... pretty much anything and I have read and loved every single one.

This series takes the reader through 4 generations of women starting around WWII and ending through 2004. The first book was quite heavy and could even seem disheartening at the struggle of relationship between Marta, her parents and then her own daughter Hildermara. But really, Francine was only setting the stage for the redemption and growth to take place in the next generations of the second book. I thought her writing demonstrated so well what we often aim for generationally in wanting to learn from our parents mistakes and grow in the midst of our own, so that we can set up the next generation for even more growth & success. And at the same time, this 2 book saga also depicts so clearly how if we are not careful to recognize the unhealthy patterns of ourselves we can too easily pass them down to the next generations as well.

I appreciated that Francine Rivers included a three page note at the end of Her Daughter's Dream explaining how the inspiration of this series came from experiences in her own life and the women in her family.

Description: In the dramatic conclusion to Her Mother’s Hope, the Cold War has begun and Carolyn is struggling to navigate her shifting family landscape and the changing times. With her mother, Hildemara, away in a tuberculosis sanatorium, Carolyn develops a special bond with her Oma Marta. But when Hildie returns, tensions between she and Marta escalate, and Carolyn feels she is to blame. College offers the chance to find herself, but a family tragedy shatters her independence. Rather than return home, she cuts all ties and disappears into the heady culture of San Francisco. When she reemerges two years later, more lost than ever, only her family can help rebuild a life for her and her daughter, May Flower Dawn. Just like Carolyn, May Flower Dawn develops a closer bond with her grandmother, Hildie, than with her mother, causing yet another rift between generations. But as Dawn struggles to avoid the mistakes of those who went before her, she vows that somehow, she will be a bridge between her mother and grandmother rather than the wall that separates them forever. Spanning the 1950s to the present day, Her Daughter’s Dream is the final chapter of an unforgettable epic family saga about the sacrifices every mother makes for her daughter—and the very nature of unconditional love.

Rating: *****

Recommend: To everyone, but especially the daughters who've struggled in the relationships with their own mom.

Update on Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010:
~~Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers~~
Black Rain by Graham Brown
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
~~The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman~~ (added to challenge)
~~Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins~~ (added to challenge)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2010-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I probably have the worst memory known to man. So it took me a bit of ramping up before I could finally place everyone and what role they played in the first two books. I really wish I would have reread Catching Fire before jumping into Mockingjay. My poor friend Julie had to put up with my endless questions, "Now who was Peeta?" Haha, you think I'm kidding..... Ok, you can pick your jaw up off the floor now.

There's quite a few mixed reviews on how this all wrapped up, and since I'm not a big believer in spoilers (at all), then I'll just say that I was completely content with the way it all ended. Ok, a teensy bit sad about one thing, but overall content.

If you haven't read this series yet, honestly now is the best time to get started because you won't have to wait a year like we all did! I just got my friend Alicia hooked on the series and she texts me regularly with updates on her progress. I hope she doesn't call me asking questions, cause I probably won't be able to help much ;-)

Five stars on the series and so glad I pushed myself to try a writing style I would have never otherwise tried if it wasn't for the fabulous blogging community out there so highly recommending it!!

Description:
"My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead."

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

Rating: **** (I said five stars on the SERIES.) :-)

Recommend: All three!

The Possibility of Everything: A Memoir by Hope Edelman

2010-09-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

I was overall intrigued, but oftentimes annoyed by this memoir. It got way too New-Agey in many parts and there were a couple times I felt like the author's insecurity of what reviewers thought of her came through in her writing...and that annoyed me. After all, she is a New York Times bestselling author, so why is she sharing moments of insecurity like that with the reader, which not to mention has nothing to do with the actual story?

Anyway, the parts about dealing with "Dodo", her daughter's imaginary friend and how it affected their day-to-day life, their marriage and their relationships was extremely interesting. But the random tangents and pages of information on the Mayan's beliefs of the moons and stars and blah, blah, blah....Lord help me, I was like - ok, get on with it already.

So I guess my impression of this book is - meh, half and half. It was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages, but not interesting enough to recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to Shelf Awareness and Random House Publishing for the Advanced Review Copy!

Description: From the bestselling author of Motherless Daughters, here is the real-life story of one woman's search for a cure to her family's escalating troubles, and the leap of faith that took her on a journey to an exotic place and a new state of mind.In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and isolated, she was primed for change. Into her stagnant routine dropped Dodo, her three-year-old daughter Maya's curiously disruptive imaginary friend. Confused and worried about how to handle Dodo's apparent hold on their daughter, Edelman and her husband made the unlikely choice to take her to Maya healers in Belize, hoping that a shaman might help them banish Dodo–and, as they came to understand, all he represented–from their lives.An account of how an otherwise mainstream mother and wife finds herself making an extremely unorthodox choice, The Possibility of Everything chronicles the magical week in Central America that transformed Edelman from a person whose past had led her to believe only in the visible and the "proven" to someone open to the idea of larger, unseen forces. This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family' s emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband went looking for in the jungle and what they ultimately discovered–as parents, as spouses, and as ordinary people–about the things that possess and destroy, or that can heal us all.From the Hardcover edition.

Rating: ***

Recommend: nah.

Fall Into Reading 2010 Challenge

2010-09-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

My word do I get nervous when it comes to signing up for challenges! I feel all this pressure and unless I'm sure I can complete the challenge, then I don't want to participate at all (thus my despise of New Years resolutions - ick.)

But I'm going to do my best and give it a shot, PLUS I need that extra push to get some of these books read!!

Callapidder Days is hosting the Fall Into Reading 2010 Challenge which will take place September 22 - December 20th, 2010. We just have to make a list of which books we want to read during that time, then post our list on to Callapidder's blog. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to it - plus my list of books are all ones I'm extemely excited to read so I shouldn't have a change of heart when it comes to picking the next one up.

Here's my list - I'm sticking to 7 so I don't get overwhelmed!

1. Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers

2. Black Rain by Graham Brown (our bookclub pick)

3. Night Road by Kristin Hannah (ARC) 4. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (ARC) 5. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks6. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner 7. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

To see what other participants are reading, just visit the Callapidder's linky page.

Moonlight In Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles

2010-09-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Y'all this was a home run for me! I was so pleasantly surprised with Moonlight In Odessa. Whenever I pick up a debut book from a new author, I get a little nervous about what I might be getting myself into. And this was Janet Skeslien Charles' first novel. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I had received Moonlight in Odessa close to the time it was published in September of last year from Bloomsbury USA and just now got around to reading it. I know, somebody slap my hands!

But seriously, I would so recommend this to all of you! It was a very intriguing storyline and some of it I completely related to being as how I myself met my husband through an online dating service called Christian Cafe. Now I wasn't a foreigner looking for a VISA, but the long distance relationship part and inner conversations of trusting someone new was definitely familiar! I just fell in love with Daria, a woman in the Ukraine who is struggling to make her mark in an oppressive country and yet to not lose hope that love was out there waiting for her. She had so many internal struggles and I found myself empathizing with her and cheering her on through her long journey from Russia into America. And I do hope that this second novel she's writing is a sequel that picks up right where she left off with Daria in America, because I felt like it was just getting really good and so badly want to know what's happened with her since!

Overall, a great read and one I highly recommend! I will for sure be keeping Janet on my radar in the future! And thank you to Bloomsbury USA for the free copy!

Description: Odessa, Ukraine, is the humour capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it’s Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmon’s advances by recruiting her neighbour, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria’s job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes “socials” where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it’s not exactly what she thought it would be…

A wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don’t acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism, Moonlight in Odessa is a novel about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Absolutely!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

2010-08-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

If you plan on reading The Passage and don't want the plot spoiled for you, I wouldn't continue reading this review.

I feel like the only way I can give a thorough explanation of why I disliked The Passage so much, is to be specific on why I had such issues with it. And unfortunately, contrary to popular opinion out there, I am definitely NOT a fan.

The first 100 pages or so of this book completely sucked me in and I was all on board with the premise, thinking that it would be good for me to get outside of my comfort zone and enjoy an intriguing science fiction/thriller once in a while. And just when I was getting attached to all the different characters and able to keep track of who was who - the author then kills everyone off!!!! Are you kidding me?! This is at like 300 or so pages in and he just starts from scratch and fast forwards a hundred years after the virus disaster breaks out! THEN I got to spend the next hundred pages or so trying to relearn new characters, NEW SLANG AND LANGUAGE (which kinda pissed me off - I mean "Flyers!" seriously?) and figure out what the crap is happening now. It moved so ridiculously slow in some places and then the momentum took off in others. Which thankfully, it did get pretty exciting at times and that kept me going, but really my main motivation in finishing the book was having some closure at the end by finding out how it all wraps up. And all I could keep thinking as I'm plowing through all 800 some pages is - 'Man, he should have broke this up into a 3 part series!" Finally around 1am, sometime last week, I'm nearing the last 50 pages and thinking, 'This is it, it's all coming down to this' - and then I come to realize, IT'S THE END OF PART 1!!!! WHAT?! I mean are you kidding me? I was so frustrated, cause after all that I didn't have hardly any closure.

And just a little side note, I know most people are thinking of these creatures as vampires, but really I would liken them more to an enlarged, scaly bat. They can't speak at all and instead make clicking noises in their throat and hunt in packs of three, which is more animalistic than human. The only 'vampirish' characteristic about them is that they can't survive in daylight and feast on humans.

Description: "It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction. (From the Publisher, Random House)

Even though my review is less than flattering, I do really want to thank Random House Publishing for sending me a copy to review!

So in closing - in MY opinion, this is not the Great Summer Read of 2010 (as it has been proclaimed to be), but I do think it would make for a much more fascinating movie being as how I could watch in two hours what took me two months to get through, not to mention I've heard the rights have been sold to Ridley Scott's production company.

For more flattering reviews, please visit Charlotte's Web of Books, Hey Lady or Book Chatter. I love these ladies and highly value their reviews, so I was a bit surprised we felt so differently about the book. But just so you don't think I'm crazy, you can also visit Devourer of Books or visit Goodreads.com.

My rating: *

Recommend: I've heard that this book is likened to The Stand by Stephen King (which I've never read) so if you're a fan of The Stand, than you might enjoy this as well. Otherwise - don't waste your energy on the book and just wait for the movie, it will save you A LOT of time!!

Slower than Molasses

2010-08-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

Must. Finish. Strong.

This book is killing me people but I'm compelled to finish it. Lord help me, of course it has to be 770 pages long. I honestly thought this would be a serious page turner, but its just bad. AND it's an ARC. I feel horrible that a less than flattering review is coming, but seriously its taken up two months of my reading time.

I only got a hundred or so pages left, so I hope to finish real soon!!

Anyone else read this?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2010-06-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was our April/May Book Club pick. Most everyone in our book club seemed to really enjoy it and rated either 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads.com, but as good as it was it was also extremely intense and at times very hard to stomach. It is definitely for an adult audience and I wouldn't recommend reading it at night when you're home alone! The paperback came in at close to 650 pages and it wasn't until page 200 that it started to grab me. There was a lot of setup and honestly I was grateful for the two separate story lines, because the half concerning Mikael Blomkvist's libel conviction was seriously too boring and informational for me. I just couldn't get into the whole Wennerstrom side of things.

I'm on the fence about reading the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's the 2nd book of the 3 part trilogy and even reading the prologue and part of Chapter 1 from the end of TGWTDT, I could tell its going to definitely be another one that's hard to stomach. Apparently, they've made a movie on TGWTDT and its coming soon to theatres, but again I just don't think I could see it. Some people like that whole Hanibal Lector suspense thing, but I'm just not one of them. Still, a very captivating and intriguing read, but not my first pick for an enjoying read.

Description: An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pieced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Not for the faint of heart. There is some intense sexual brutality that is hard to get out your head. Yeesh!

Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

2010-05-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

If you've followed this blog at all, you know that I adore Francine Rivers! And after one too many years of waiting, she finally came out with a new book called Her Mother's Hope. I reserved my copy with the library immediately and savored every one of those 483 pages. She just has such a captivating way with her writing and completely entrances you with her stories. I love everything about her writing - never too much detail, but enough to pull you into the setting.

Her Mother's Hope is the first book in a 2 boook series. I hope this is just the start of a whole slew of writing for Francine, because there just isn't enough good Christian writing out there. I'm not a huge fan of Christian books, just because they can be so darn cheesy sometimes! But Francine knows the perfect balance of bringing you into the story and making it so relatable and yet you're also able to draw encouragement and valuable lessons to live by. She doesn't apologize for the spiritual threads woven throughout her story, yet she doesn't cram it down your throat either.

A couple months back, our book club chose her book A Voice In The Wind, and many ladies commented how much they enjoyed it even though they themselves aren't professed Christians. I just think that Francine has such an amazing platform to speak from and is planting so many thousands upon thousands of seeds in women's hearts of who God is as a Father and His love for his children. Even with the story being set back in Switzerland in the early 20th century, you still find yourself being able to relate to the character's feelings and dilemma's. I absolutely loved it - five stars from me!

Description: The first in an epic two-book saga by beloved author Francine Rivers, this sweeping story explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters over several generations.

Near the turn of the 20th century, fiery Marta leaves Switzerland determined to find life on her own terms. Her journey takes her through Europe and finally lands her with children and husband in tow in the central valley of California. Marta’s experiences convince her that only the strong survive.

Hildie, Marta’s oldest daughter, has a heart to serve others, and her calling as a nurse gives her independence, if not the respect of her mother. Amid the drama of WWII, Hildie marries and begins a family of her own. She wants her daughter never to doubt her love—but the challenges of life conspire against her vow. Each woman is forced to confront her faulty but well-meaning desire to help her daughter find her God-given place in the world.

Recommend: Absolutely!

Rating: *****

The Friendship Factor by Alan Loy McGinnis

2010-05-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

I read this book very slowly in tiny bits & pieces over the last 6 months or so. It is so full of valuable nuggets of information that I would just take a bite or so and then savor the wisdom found within these pages. I truly enjoyed it and would highly recommend The Friendship Factor to anyone desiring a deeper understanding of human relationships and how to form healthy friendships.

Description: At the heart of each relationship, says McGinnis, is the friendship factor--the essential ingredient of warmth and caring. With captivating case histories and anecdotes about such famous people as George Burns, Howard Hughes, and C.S. Lewis, McGinnis shares the secret of how to love and be loved.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Absolutely.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

2010-05-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

After very much enjoying the Twilight series, I had also heard some good things about the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, and wanted to check out the first book Dead Until Dark.

Um yeah, no thanks.

It was an easy read like it was directed at a younger audience but the content was way too mature for even me at times and I really do hope teenagers or kids aren't reading these! Yikes!

I didn't care at all about any of the characters and thought they were all so shallow and there was so much focus on sex, geez....enough already! But because there is such a buzz about them (and I had to wait FOREVER for a copy from the library) I really wanted to see what they were all about. If I had teenagers and they wanted to read these, I of course would want to read it first so I knew what type of stuff my kids were filling their minds with. I would hope most parents would take the time to look into what types of books they're kids are into. As a matter of fact, I still have not read any of the Harry Potter books but want to just so I know what's out there and why there's so much hype about them. I have many friends who love them and others who won't read them but already have a set opinion on them, and in those situations I always want to read it myself to form an opinion on the matter.

I'm glad I read it for the sole reason of knowing what they're about, but I have zero interest in reading the others in the series.

Sorry y'all. You win some you lose some.

Description: Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana, but she keeps to herself and doesn't date much because of her "disability" to read minds. When she meets Bill, Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's the type of guy she's waited for all of her life, but he has a disability, too--he's a vampire with a bad reputation. When one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next.

Recommend: Nope.

Rating: *** (Only cause it kept my attention & was easy reading).

Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

2010-04-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Even though I had heard the term "Apartheid", I wasn't quite familiar with what it was, where it occurred or when it took place. If Kaffir Boy was written purely as an historical account, I couldn't have gotten through it, but because it was told as a true story from the author himself, that definitely helped keep my attention throughout.

Kaffir Boy was definitely an eye-opener for me, and there were moments when it was hard to digest and believe that these things actually happened to someone and that even at his age of 4 years old in the beginning of the story, he could remember so many details! My friend Julie had chosen it for our book club (a couple months back - yes, I'm JUST now getting around to finishing it) and I thought it was a great choice for us ladies. It's not something I would have picked up on my own and at times it was a struggle to get through only cause it covered so many years of this man's life. Coming in at 368 pages it was a bit too drawn out for my liking, but I was nonetheless fascinated and at the end desiring to find out what happened to Mark once he arrived in the U.S. and what the transition into college and American culture was like for him.

There is a sequel to this story that was published in 1990 where Mark tells of life since arriving in the U.S. at age 18 on a tennis scholarship and the struggles he faced in becoming the man he is today. The book is called Kaffir Boy in America and I'll be adding it to my ever-growing TBR list.

Description: Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa's most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university.

This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. For Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered "Kaffir" from the rat-infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do -- he escaped to tell about it.

Rating: *** (only cause it was so long, had it been shorter I would have given it 4 stars)

Recommend: There are parts where I would definitely say is more appropriate for an adult audience, but yes I would still recommend if you're not familiar with apartheid in South Africa.

Book Club Pick

2010-04-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

This next month's book club pick is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I was wondering if any of you folks had read it yet and what you thought of it??

Description: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.

It's about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

It's about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age--and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it--who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism--and an unexpected connection between themselves.

It's a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.

It sounds fascinating don't you think? I trust your opinions first and foremost, so go ahead and fill me in - any thoughts?

Total Neglect On My Part

2010-03-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had any time to get crackin on my stack of books piling up! And as the weather turns warmer here in Nashville, I'm itching to get outside, sit in the sun and enjoy a good book!

Any spare moment I get I pick up Kaffir Boy which was last month's book club pick. It is so freakin intense and not one I would recommend before heading off to bed. Even still, I'm thoroughly enjoying it and will write up a review as soon as I've finished. I don't normally pick up these type of books unless they're assigned for book club, so its good that I'm getting stretched outside of my comfort zone.

One of my huge goals this summer is to read some of the ARC's I've received over the last 6 months. I feel awful I haven't gotten to them yet, so I'm making that a HUGE priority to work on. Even just yesterday I received The Passage by Justin Cronin from Random House Publishing and I can't wait to get started on it! The cover is just intoxicating and the storyline is again not normally something I would pick up and completely intriguing. Have any of you read this one yet? I'm curious as to what y'all think?

Other books on my ARC list to knock out are The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman,

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner,

Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles,

and then finally Then Came the Evening by Brian HartEven confessing that I have these titles and have not reviewed them yet puts a huge knot of guilt in my stomach and I feel just sick thinking about it. Like just as guilty as I still feel about not sending out all my thank you cards for our wedding 4 years ago (yeah I know I suck and it eats away at me ALL the time).

As for other updates - my inlaws arrived into town last night and will be staying with us for a week! I'm super excited because it will force me to relax and enjoy some fun things! We have planned to work on a puzzle (I'm a puzzle nut and love them), head out to see the Bodies Exhibit, maybe catch a movie and then Friday I'm off work for Good Friday (you gotta love the South!)! As a special treat, my inlaws brought me a HUGE box of Myers Lemons from their tree. Myers Lemons are SO good with a glass of sweet tea and I have so many of them now that I'm going to look up some recipes to use them with. Plus Sherry recommended squeezing the juice into ice trays & freezing it to make the lemon juice last longer. Then all I have to do is drop a few cubes into my ice tea whenever I want it - LOVIN' THAT IDEA!

Finally!

2010-02-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

I was perusing the giveaways on Goodreads and came across a new book being released on March 1st by Francine Rivers, Her Mother's Hope - FINALLY! I'm so excited to finally get my hands on a new FR book! AND it's part one of a two book series, which means another one will soon follow!! Yes!!If you haven't read Francine Rivers you are missing out - one of my favorite authors of all time! I have given Redeeming Love away many times as gifts to friends & family.

Francine - if you ever happen to see this post - THANK YOU for releasing a new book!!

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff

2010-02-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

It's rare that I would give a book five stars, but there isn't anything that I didn't absolutely love about Fireworks Over Toccoa! I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive an Advanced Reading Copy through the publisher via a Goodreads Giveaway and was so pleasantly surprised to discover I'd received a copy in the mail.

I probably read more than half of the book while soaking in the tub with a cold drink. And after the water had gone tepid, I would refill with more hot water & just keep on reading. I could not put this one down! I thought it was in the ranks of a Titanic-ish, epic love story. Romantic, tragic, passionate, fun...it captured me from page one straight through to the end. And what really adds to the story, is that it takes place during World War II. It's just my opinion, but I think it would make for a terrific movie. I highly recommend this one - you'll find it in stores on March 30th!

Description: Lily was married for just days before her husband was sent abroad to fight in WWII. Now, he and the other soldiers are returning, and the small town of Toccoa, Georgia plans a big celebration. But a handsome and kind Italian immigrant, responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned captures Lily's heart and soul. Torn between duty to society and her husband, and a poor, passionate man who might be her only true love--Lily must choose between a love she never knew and a commitment she'd already made.

Poignant and elegant, FIREWORKS OVER TOCCOA is a mosaic of all the emotions that only love can make possible.

Rating: *****

Recommend: For sure - but be aware, there is one steamy passionate love scene!

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

2010-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

I'm a little speechless on even where to start with this book. I think my mouth fell open from page one and didn't shut until page 288. My friend Amy bought this book for me as a birthday gift last year and I finally got around to picking it up. But once I did, it was hard to put down - well except for the times I needed to take a deep & cleansing breath. It was a lot to digest, let me tell ya. If anything, this book proves that we can literally become who we want to be and our past or upbringing does not need to define who we are. I am completely astounded at the drive and strength of Jeannette Walls and her siblings to be successful, educated and independent. Too many times society and individuals cast blame for their problems on the parents who've raised them or the surroundings they were raised in. If you hapepn to believe this, then I challenge you to read The Glass Castle, it will blow your mind.

Description: Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.
Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.

True Colors by Kristin Hannah

2010-01-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

I'm already a sucker for books about three sisters, being as how I have two sisters of my own, but this book truly does not disappoint! I've often enjoyed Kristin Hannah, she is just one of those authors you know you can trust will deliver and you don't even have to read the inside cover to know you will immediately devour it.

I immediately connected to the family relationships and felt as if I completely understood where each family member came from and why they made the decisions that they did. There was so much detail, but not so much that it became mundane or boring. And though the storyline was intense at times, it had bits of humor woven throughout that kept it light and entertaining. One message the author highlighted that I so loved, was the difficulty in doing the right thing even when it may cost you the ones you hold so dear. I enjoyed every minute, it was an incredibly story of grace, unconditional love, forgiveness, passion and the strength of family.

I actually wish this was book one of a trilogy, because I fell so in love with the sisters and their families that I wanted to know what life looked like after I closed the last page.

Description: True Colors is New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah’s most provocative, compelling, and heart-wrenching story yet. With the luminous writing and unforgettable characters that are her trademarks, she tells the story of three sisters whose once-solid world is broken apart by jealousy, betrayal, and the kind of passion that rarely comes along.

The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother’s death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.

Winona, the oldest, needs her father’s approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn’t have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she’s determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him.

Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain.

Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town...

In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.

With breathtaking pace and penetrating emotional insight, True Colors is an unforgettable novel about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption---and ultimately, what it means to be a family.

Rating: ****

Recommend: I highly recommend, its just an overall feel good book!

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

2009-12-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

I rarely read non-fiction or memoirs, but this one I made an exception for since it was chosen for our November book club. And I am so grateful to my friend Julie who picked it, because I may not have otherwise given it a chance.

Same Kind of Different As Me alternates chapters in telling the story of Denver Moore and Ron Hall and how a courageous woman's love & selflessness brought these two men together to make a difference in their community and in their own lives. I was deeply moved by their conviction, their passion and their courage. It wasn't difficult for our book club to find things to discuss and bring up examples that made us really think and evaluate our own life in regards to service to others. This story will stick with me for some time to come. I highly recommend picking this one up!

If you hadn't heard of it before, you're about to. Mark Clayman, producer of Pursuit of Happyness has been signed on to produce the film and Samuel L. Jackson will be playing the role. The movie is set to release sometime in 2010. For more info, you can visit their website: www.samekindofdifferentasme.com My suggestion though, don't look at the photos on their website or in the book itself until after you have finished reading the book, it can be a bit of a spoiler for the ending.

There's also another book that was published this last September in response to Same Kind of Different As Me, called What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing. It is filled with stories from readers who were inspired and went out to make a difference in their own communities and within their own lives.

Description: A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana...and an East Texas honkey-tonk...and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda...an upscale New York Gallery...a downtown dumpster...a Texas ranch. Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, it also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Without any hesitation.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

2009-12-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

I think I'll go ahead and put the blame of my pathetic lack of reading on this book. Because it bored me to no end. And I being a Type-A personality, cannot just leave a book unfinished and move on. Nope, I have to sit there and drown myself in all 332 pages of blahness. Thanks Dad, you get the credit for that one. :-P

The Heretic's Daughter was a huge disappointment to me. It was chosen as our November book club pick and I went into it with pretty huge expectations. But unfortunately it fell super short for me. By the time I was about 200 pages in, it started to get interesting, but then the scenery didn't change for like another 100 pages and I was ready to poke my eyes out with a pencil. (Sorry Kathleen, I really hope you're not reading this.) True, there were parts in the story that were completely gut-wrenching and the fact that so much of it is based on history, is just horrific to me. But the delivery just really lacked for me, and I think it was because the story was told from the young daughter's perspective, whereas I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was written from the mom's. And the red book! What on earth? Can someone please explain that to me??!! That was the thread of motivation I was holding onto and then what the heck happened? I didn't get it - so were they witches? Were they not? SO confused here people.

Description: Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived. Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier. She paints a haunting portrait, not just of Puritan New England, but also of one family's deep and abiding love in the face of fear and persecution.

Recommend: Not really, unless you're a huge history buff - then you might really enjoy it.

Rating: **

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

2009-12-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

SO at the beginning of 2009, I set myself a New Years goal to read 50 books this year - yea, not gonna happen. Does it annoy anyone else to set themselves New Years goals only to miss them? Cause it drives me nuts and I wonder why every year I continue to torture myself. Grr...

All you Nicholas Sparks haters - plug your ears.

LOVE THIS BOOK. I honestly thought it was one of his better books in a while. I seriously think I devoured this one too fast - man I hate it when I do that! I thought Ronnie was adorable and I loved her dad. But do yourself a HUGE favor. Do NOT research who will be playing the part of Ronnie when the movie comes out - IT WILL RUIN IT FOR YOU. As much as I was head over heels in love with this book, I still couldn't get the chick who will be playing Ronnie out of my head and it added all sorts of imagined cheesiness to it. And that kinda sucked. But still, there was tears by the end, so my expectations were fulfilled. Sigh....so good.

Haters - you can unplug your ears now.

Description: #1 bestselling author Nicholas Sparks's new novel is at once a compelling family drama and a heartrending tale of young love. Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

Recommend: Of course, I always recommend Nicholas Sparks.

Rating: *****!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2009-12-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

Whoa did I get behind on my book reviews. I'm quite surprised some of you are still out there actually. And for you faithful followers, thank you for holding out and being patient with me :-)

Ok, on to Catching Fire. I absolutely loooved it, though I think I liked Hunger Games a bit more, but STILL this book was rockin. When I turned the last page, I just kinda sat there reeling from what had just happened and trying to take it all in. I really hope it doesn't take too long for the third one to come out, because my memory sucks so bad, I might have to re-read them to remember what happened! A perfect sequel though, so if you haven't read these yet - get. on. it. ;-)

Description: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Recommend: Yes and yes.

Rating: ****

Dear John Trailer

2009-11-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

SOOOO Pumped about seeing this movie! I'm a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks (boo to all you haters!) and can't wait to see his new movie that comes out February, "Dear John". I remember I enjoyed the book, but now I just need to remember how it ended. My memory is so bad. :-(

Too Cute Not To Share.

2009-10-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

I came across this video over at Busy Bee Lauren (who I think is completely adorable) and fell head over heels in love with these little otters.

Watch the WHOLE thing.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2009-10-21T13:55:00.001-07:00

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games by now, well then you must be living in a cave because it's all the rave in the book-blogging world. But hey, I'm not too far out of the cave myself, because I think I was one of the last people to read it. In September it was my turn to host our book club which also meant I got to choose our next month's selection. So with my fingers crossed, I chose The Hunger Games based completely on all the amazing reviews I had seen from my fellow book bloggers. Then a couple weeks ago our book club met up again to discuss what everyone thought. I was nervous to see how all the ladies would respond, since most everyone had never heard of it before and also because it happened to be a YA novel. But as it turned out, not only did most everyone love it - BUT many of them had already gone on to read the sequel, Catching Fire!

Normally, this is not the type of book I would normally gravitate toward. But this awesome book blogging community has introduced me to a whole new world of honest reviews and recommendations, and without them I would never come across such amazing fiction! Thank you faithful book bloggers, I do appreciate all your reviews!

I'm almost finished with The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (SSHHH! all you NS haters!) and I'm absolutely loving every page of it! And soon as I finish (probably tonight), I'll be diving in to book #2 Catching Fire! I'm pumped to see what happens next! If you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, seriously just do it - you will be glad you did! The best way I can describe what type of book it is - is Gladiators meet Survivor.

Up next for our book club - The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. I've had this one on my radar for a while and am so excited it's our next pic! Which reminds me, I need to go to the library to pick up my copy on hold.

Description: Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Definitely, but it is a futuristic sci-fi type book with a twist of romance. And even though its YA, I would say it's best for ages 13+.

I Apologize by Bradley Booth

2009-09-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, this isn't going to be easy. First of all, I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway, and the author even signed the inside cover which was very sweet and thoughtful.

The premise of the story was so intriguing and being that it was based on the author's life experiences, I had really high hopes while reading it. Unfortunately, it fell very short of my expectations and I was put off quite a bit by the dialogue between the two main characters, Tony & Christina. Every time I would pick up the book to continue reading, I found myself in the midst of a Spanish soap opera. The lines shared between the two were just so over dramatic and cheesy. At first Christina came across as mysterious and charming, but then started to freak me out with the shaving scene and things she would say. I thought it was going to turn into a psycho murder mystery. She was so insecure and controlling and I was hoping Tony would make his escape.

Honestly, I think it would have been more impacting and relatable if the author would have just written a memoir. I'm curious if the author really did experience all that was written about Tony or was it a bit embellished? By the last page, I just kinda just sat there stunned wondering - "Huh? What the heck?".

Mr. Booth, I am so, so sorry. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I just couldn't relate or even empathize with the characters at all. You have some definite potential though, and I wish you the best in your future novels!

Description: “It’s been five years—why does her memory still haunt me so? Have I not paid my penance? Why won’t the demons of my past leave me in peace?”

These are indeed troubling times for entrepreneur Tony Richardson. After years of living an insipid and orderly life on Long Island, the events that led to the tragic death of his fiancée return with resounding fury . . . starting, oddly enough, when he consents to dine in the company of the beguiling, intrusive Christina Jaloqua.

When Christina declares her love and desire to marry him, Tony is overwhelmed by fear that his world will be torn apart again. Unwilling to admit that his petulant attitude is because of his growing affection for her, Tony devises a plan to liberate himself from Christina’s intrusiveness and return his small, methodical world to order.

Tony soon finds out that logic serves no purpose in affairs of the heart; Christina’s elaborate ruse engulfs him into an unplanned marriage and, worst, an unwanted pregnancy.

Now, locked in a labyrinth of fear, Tony struggles to escape the winding corridors filled with ghastly images from the past. As he reaches a dead end, will Tony vanquish them once and for all—or will they again steal his chance at happiness?

Rating: **

Recommend: No, and not just because the storyline wasn't gripping, but also because the love scenes were way too explicit.

I have a co-dependent relationship with my library.

2009-09-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

So yeah, basically I justify my weakness with checking books out at the library, because they are free. Why do I feel guilty then? I'm not quite sure. I walked out of the office yesterday with my loot and was trying to sneak to the elevators just in time to get caught by a co-worker. Yes, I'm a nerd and I love books. Mkay?

Now that that's all out in the open - here's the loot I brought home!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Had this one on hold & can't wait to start it this weekend!)

True Colors by Kristin Hannah (I'm a fan of Kristin Hannah and this one is about 3 sisters, so of course, I'm intrigued already!)

Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories by Lauren Groff (This is one I wouldn't normally pick up, but it's not very big and I'm kinda curious.)

Hold Love Strong by Matthew Aaron Goodman (I'm a little nervous about this one. It was a complete impulse-shelf-pick-up and I haven't heard anything about it, though the ratings on Goodreads look fairly high. Thoughts anyone?)

And then earlier this week, I picked up my hold of Nicholas Spark's latest The Last Song. (Yippee! Every fall he publishes a new book and its something I look forward to every year!)

I'm super excited and can't wait to get started on Hunger Games! It's this months book club selection (chosen by Mwah) and I keep hearing nothing but amazing things about it. And then I'm also dying to crack open Nicholas Spark's latest, because he is truly my favorite author and I will read anything he puts out. Looks like I know what I'll be doing this weekend!!

Has anyone read any of these titles and have any thoughts to share on them?

Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

2009-09-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

I've decided to join my first Reading Challenge by participating in the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009 hosted by Callapidder Days.

It's a laid back challenge that allows me to make out a list however long I like with the books that I would like to read between now and December 20th!

So here's my list:

1. ~~The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins~~

2. ~~The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks~~

3. ~~I Apologize by Bradley Booth~~

4. The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman

5. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

6. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

7. The Shack by William P. Young

8. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

9. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

10. Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh

11. The Widow's War by Sally Gunning

12. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

13. The Girls by Lori Lansens'

14. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

15. True Colors by Kristin Hannah

16. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

17. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

With a 3 day camping trip coming up next month, plus the Dewey Read-a-Thon and a Fall Reading Weekend with the girls in November, I'm hoping I have plenty of opportunities for getting some quality reading in!

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

2009-09-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Oh you guys, it was just so painful. I NEVER leave a book unfinished, but I'm telling you, I was THIS close. The Devil in the White City was chosen for last month's book club and I just couldn't figure out what was so great about it. I really think it just depends on whether you happen to be a big history buff or not. I was talking with a friend of mine and likened reading this book to reading parts of the Old Testament. You would read pages and pages of mind-numbing information along with insane amounts of details in making buildings, which I likened to all the "begats" of the Old Testament. And then every once in a while you would come across something cool and interesting. But overall. P-A-I-N-F-U-L. It wasn't my thing, but hey, that's what book clubs are for right?

This month it was my turn to choose and I decided on Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. When I made the announcement, all I got was blank stares. And a lot of the women weren't even there to hear the announcement. My hope is that everyone will give it a shot and in turn end up loving it. I've just heard too many awesome things about it through the blogging community and can't wait to get my hands on a copy. Come on library - hurry up!

Description: Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.

Rating: **

Recommend: Seriously, I'd prefer dental work over reading this again.

Why the heck not?

2009-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year we like to call BBAW, (or Book Blogger Appreciation Week) and I came across this fun little ABC meme-diddy and felt like giving it a shot. Why the heck not right?

Sooo here's a few personal tidbits about myself so you could get to know me a little better!

Available or single? Married for 3 1/2 blessed years now!

Best Friend? My husband. And my sisters. And my friends Tina, Jessica, Suzanne, Julie, Alicia, Amy, Ida....I really could go on and on. I can't pick just one.

Cake or Pie? Bolth. (No spelling error, that's how I say it :-) )

Drink of choice? Coffee or G2. I drink a lot of bolth. (ha! there it is again!)

Essential item for every day use? Q-Tips. I'm obsessed with them.

Favorite color? Greys, blacks & whites.

Google? Of course.

Hometown? Kenmore, WA

Indulgences? McKay's Books, Chocolate, Shipley's Donuts, sleeping in :-)

January or February? January. It's our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of the day we met.

Kids and their names? Wouldn't you like to know? Too many name stealers out there, sorry.

Life is incomplete without…? My man.

Marriage date? January 14, 2006 (1-14-06! We used to say that when we were engaged all the time! "Want to make out?" "1-14-06!"

Number of siblings? 2 Fabulous Sisters, Kristin & Katrina.

Oranges or apples? Apples.

Phobias and fears? Anything creepy-crawly. Roller Coasters. Puking. Expired Foods. Losing someone I love.

Quote for the day? My friend Julie sent me this today - "Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work." - William Arthur Ward

Reason to smile? It's Friday.

Season? Fall!

Tag 3 people: Yeah no.

Unknown fact about me? Well then where would the mystery be?

Vegetable you hate? Cauliflower

Worst habit? Biting my nails.

X-rays you’ve had? My hand and my chest.

Your fave food? Desserts.

Zodiac sign? Taurus

If you decide to "play," just leave a comment with a link to your ABCs!

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

2009-09-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

I loved, loved, loved this book! It was so cute and so fun, a perfect light read. I completely fell in love with Sarah Moon and thought Will Bonner was just too adorable. I even loved his teenage daughter and felt for her as she struggled through figuring out who she was and learning about her difficult past.

It wasn't too mushy and wasn't at all flaky - not your typical chick lit, but definitely more like a sweet women's fiction. I also loved how the author incorporated the comic strips throughout the story, just too fun and so hilarious.

I'm looking forward to checking out some of her other stories - though if I could suggest anything to the author it would be to re-release her prior books with more catching covers. The cover of Just Breathe is really what drew me in and I can't deny it, I'm a total cover snob. :-P

Description: Chicago cartoonist Sarah Moon tackles life's real issues with a healthy dose of sharp wit in her syndicated comic strip Just Breathe. As Sarah's cartoon alter ego, Shirl, undergoes artificial insemination, her situation begins to mirror Sarah's own difficult attempts to conceive. However, Sarah's dreams of the future did not include her husband's infidelity: snag number two in Sarah's so-called perfect life.

With Chicago—and her marriage—in the rear view mirror, she flees to the small Northern California coastal town where she grew up, a place she couldn't wait to leave. Now she finds herself revisiting the past—an emotionally distant father and the unanswered questions left by her mother's death. As she comes to terms with her lost marriage, Sarah encounters a man she never expected to meet again: Will Bonner, the high school heartthrob she'd skewered mercilessly in her old comics. Now a local firefighter, he's been through some changes himself. But just as her heart is about to reawaken, Sarah discovers she is pregnant. With her ex's twins.

It's hardly the most traditional of new beginnings, but who says life and love are predictable… or perfect? The winds of change have led Sarah here. Now all she can do is just close her eyes… and breathe.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Definitely!

Friday Fill-Ins

2009-08-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

1. I remember, I remember rarely anything.

2. Dear Family I want you to know that I miss you terribly.

3. Is that my weight !!??

4. I'm trying to resist the temptation of getting anxious and impatient.

5. I'm saving a smooch just for you!

6. If I made a birthday list a Nikon digital SLR would definitely be on it!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up with my best friend Tina, tomorrow my plans include baking my Daring Bakers Challenge with Jill and Sunday, I want to clean my house, nap and read!

I love me some ARC's!

2009-08-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

Eeek! I received an ARC of The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman in the mail this week through Shelf Awareness and I'm super excited to read it! I feel beyond blessed that publishers send me books to review, it really has become a dream come true! Thank you!!

Here's the description from Goodreads.com:

From the bestselling author of Motherless Daughters, here is the real-life story of one woman’s search for a cure to her family’s escalating troubles, and the leap of faith that took her on a journey to an exotic place and a new state of mind.

In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and isolated, she was primed for change. Into her stagnant routine dropped Dodo, her three-year-old daughter Maya’s curiously disruptive imaginary friend. Confused and worried about how to handle Dodo’s apparent hold on their daughter, Edelman and her husband made the unlikely choice to take her to Maya healers in Belize, hoping that a shaman might help them banish Dodo–and, as they came to understand, all he represented–from their lives.

An account of how an otherwise mainstream mother and wife finds herself making an extremely unorthodox choice, The Possibility of Everything chronicles the magical week in Central America that transformed Edelman from a person whose past had led her to believe only in the visible and the “proven” to someone open to the idea of larger, unseen forces. This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family’s emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband went looking for in the jungle and what they ultimately discovered–as parents, as spouses, and as ordinary people–about the things that possess and destroy, or that can heal us all.

Book Club: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2009-08-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

So I've mentioned briefly before that I had joined a ladies book-club. Well back in July I wasn't able to attend the meeting due to scheduling conflicts so I wasn't there when they announced that our next assignment was to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett! I was so ecstatic when I found out because finally it was a book I hadn't read yet! And not only that, but it was one on my TBR pile. Double bonus!

I ADORED this book! Yeah! Finally a book I could rave about! After the last couple reviews I was starting to feel like a Negative Nancy and was really hoping I would have something positive to say :-) And Lawd (that's how they say it in The Help) have mercy! I'm sure glad I read it!

The story revolves around three women set back in the 60's in Jackson, Mississippi. It was a time of uproar and turbulence as the lines drawn between races were challenged and crossed. The author gracefully switches between the three character's points of view in such a way I was never confused or lost. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and was completely emotionally tied up in the well-being of Skeeter, Aibileen and Minnie. Though I have to admit, Minnie was my absolute favorite! There is a scene in there that will have you rolling on the floor. I felt as if Minnie were in the room herself telling me about the "something terrible" she did! I really don't want to give anymore away than what the synopsis already portrays - but you will absolutely fall in love with these characters and be astounded that this is a first-time novelist. Put this one at the top of your TBR list! Kathryn Stockett is sure to become a favorite of mine and I'm looking forward to see what she comes up with next!

Here's my bookclub meeting at the Arrington Vineyards in Arrington, Tennessee for dinner and discussion on The Help!

Can you honestly imagine a more beautiful location to have a book and some wine?

Description: Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

Rating: *****!

Recommend: Completely!

Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn

2009-08-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Altogether Secrets to Happiness was a bit too much of a soap opera for me. I felt the friendships between Holly, Amanda and Betsy were all really shallow with hardly any moral-redeeming qualities. At times I was impressed with Holly's stand against infidelity, but then she had her little 22 year old boy-toy on the side of which she broke his heart. And then there's Amanda who seems to have a great marriage and a small child and she's off having an affair with some other guy that Holly ends up falling for herself. Betsy thinks she's too old to find a man, so she's contemplating the door man. Oh and then there's Holly's ex who's off cheating on his girlfriend with some crazy floozy. I mean really - is being happy all about who you're having sex with? How shallow can we be? I thought it was sad that each character was desperately grasping at something else that might possibly fill that void and make them happy.

The only redeeming element for me was the little sick dog that Holly adopts who has a brain tumor. Finally a part of the storyline that has to do with giving and selflessness. That part of the story actually reached me a bit and I was glad it was included. Oh that and the cover, I love the cover!

I really do hate writing a negative review, but I feel I need to be honest of my impression of Secrets to Happiness. But to be fair, please check out these other reviews:

Everyday I Write the Book
Booking Mama
A High and Hidden Place
S. Krishna's Books

Description: Holly Frick just went through the worst kind of divorce: the kind where you're still in love with the person divorcing you. Alex had left her on January 3rd like a benevolent CEO who holds off the pink slips until after the holidays. Holly is left to wonder if she'll ever find happiness again. Like Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse, Holly is intimately involved in the lives of those around her, and she's compelled to give advice with unwavering moral certainty. And, like Emma, she is often completely off the mark. Soon, her advice will get her in over her head, and she'll find herself playing therapist to her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend while at the same time falling for her married friend's lover. Smart and touching, Secrets To Happiness is a hilarious look at the funny things people do to be happy.

Rating: **

Recommend: Sorry, not this time.

Precious by Sandra Novack

2009-08-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

The storyline of Precious just altogether irked me. The majority of the book centered around the Kirsh family and hardly any attention towards Vicki Anderson who went missing at the beginning of the story. Then way too much detail was given on the relationship between Eva and her pathetic married high school teacher. He was such an idiot I wanted to flick him in the forehead! Then there's Eva's mom, Natalia who left her two daughters to discover herself with another man overseas and then returns back home which just about made me want to throw the book across the room. She behaved as if leaving her family shouldn't affect them at all and she could pick up right where she left off. I know life is messy and I wasn't asking for rainbows and butterflies, because I can tell you I've experienced my own fair share of mess - but still!

I mean sure, the characters were all complicated and flawed, but there was no redemption to them and they were so independent of each other. The story didn't drag on at all and was actually written really well in a way to pull you in therefore it was easy to get into, but at the end I was just blah about the whole thing and eager to fill my head with something else.

I'm so sorry, I'm not trying to rag on the author at all - it was just the storyline and premise that I was disappointed with. Not my cup of tea, but there are others out there who fully enjoyed it. So please check out their reviews for a more well-rounded opinion!

Book Addiction
Booking Mama
The Literate Housewife
Fizzy Thoughts

Description: The summer of 1978, ten-year-old Vicki Anderson rides her bike to the local park and goes missing. Her tight-knit blue-collar Pennsylvania neighborhood, where children roam the streets at night playing lightning tag, above-ground pools sparkle in backyards, and flowers scent the air, will never be the same.

Down the street from Vicki’s house, another family is in crisis. Troubled by her past, headstrong Natalia Kisch has abandoned her husband and two daughters for another man. Frank Kisch, grappling with his anger, is left to raise their girls alone, oblivious to his daughters’ struggles with both disappearances: Eva, seventeen, plunges into an affair with her married high school teacher, and nine-year-old Sissy escapes to a world of imagination and storytelling that becomes so magical it pierces the reality of the everyday.

When Natalia unexpectedly returns, the struggles and tensions that have built over the summer erupt into a series of events that change the Kisches irrevocably—forcing them to piece together their complicated pasts and commitments to each other.

In this haunting, atmospheric debut, Sandra Novack examines loss, loyalty, and a family in crisis. Lyrical and elegiac, Precious illuminates our attempts to make sense of the volatility that surrounds and consumes us, and explores our ability, even during the most trying times, to remember and hold on to those we love most.

Rating: **

Recommend: I'm sorry, but I really can't recommend this one. But the other reviewers definately would, so don't forget to check out what they had to say!

Still breathing, still reading

2009-07-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have GOT to get better about posting. It's been a crazy last few weeks with family in town visiting and I just haven't had much time to read or get online. And I also am finding it increasingly difficult to stay motivated to read with it being absolutely gorgeous outside! We've started taking the puppies to the dog park and heading to the drive-in, taking long walks or drives, hanging out with friends and then a friend of mine recently had her baby.

Right now I'm in the middle of Precious by Sandra Novack and its been a struggle to get through. As intense as the storyline is, its really not grabbing me and the affair between the 17 year old girl Eva and her married, high school teacher is a huge deterrent. Ick. I really wish there was more focus on the missing 10 year old girl, Vicki Anderson rather than Eva's little rendezvous'.
But on to much more exciting news! I came home yesterday to a brown paper package (who doesn't love those?!) and discovered that Simon & Schuster had sent me a beautiful new copy of Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner!!! Whohooo!!!!!! Thank you Simon & Schuster, you rock my world!! I leave for CA in a week and a half and I can't wait to bring some reading material along with me and relax for 10 days straight! It's going to be heaven. And one of the books I really need to get started on next is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Its this month's book club pick and the first that I haven't actually read already. I LOVE my new book club and all the ladies that I'm getting to know better! We meet once a month and everyone brings tons of yummy treats and goodies. This next month we'll be meeting over at the Arrington Vineyards, which I've never been to before so I'm super pumped!

So that's about it for me, I hope you all are having a fabulous summer yourselves!

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

2009-07-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

Alright, so how many of you have one of those "lists" of celebrity's that are like your top 5? BE HONEST! I sure do and I know Jason has some lady celebrities that make him weak in the knees as well. He's a sucker for Ashley Judd and Lisa Hartman. My faves have always been Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey.

The Actor and the Housewife is a story that makes you think, what would you do if you had the chance to become best buds with one of those on your top lists? As a matter of fact, it really just brings up good questions in general of where a married woman or man should draw the lines in relationship to someone of the opposite sex, even as friends. I'm a big fan of boundaries. I think they are there for you and your spouse as a blessing and for the protection of your marriage. The author, Shannon Hale addresses the issue of "the appearance of evil" and I'm a believer that even the appearance of something suspicious is best to be avoided. I really don't agree that there should be two men in which you share your heart and your deepest thoughts with. Your best friend should be your husband and should be the first and only man you turn to when sharing your heart, your thoughts and your dreams. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you disagree with me on that one. But marriages today are not nearly respected and protected as much as they used to be and therefore its not surprising to see covenants and hearts broken over and over again.

As for the book itself, the dialogue was extremely witty and engaging and I looked forward to picking it back up and seeing what would happen next. Though it was similar to watching a scary movie, because you want to watch but yet your peeking through your fingers. I was so hoping that Becky would make good choices and establish boundaries, but unfortunately I didn't agree where she drew them. I was glad that at times Shannon conveyed how a situation such as this could cause pain and division in the marriage. But even still, they were playing with fire and it was a fantasy in my opinion to think that this could be a realistic relationship for any of them. I mean seriously, how many husbands are ok with their wife getting a phone call at 2am from their best guy friend? Maybe if he was gay? But even still?!

The ending came as a complete surprise, and concluded that God was instrumental in how it all played out, that He was the orchestrator of these relationships. Seriously. Seriously? For me, that was stretching it a bit far.

I wouldn't say this book is for everyone And even though I disagreed with some main principles and choices throughout the story, I think it would make for a very good book club discussion. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this became a motion picture, because it's an interesting storyline and I could totally picture Ginnifer Goodwin as Becky and Ryan Reynolds as Felix.

Thank you to Bloomsbury USA for sending me an ARC to review!

Description: From New York Times-bestselling author and Newbery Honor winner Shannon Hale comes an utterly satisfying new novel that asks the question: Can a seemingly normal, happily married Mormon mother-of-four be best friends with Hollywood's hottest (happily married) heartthrob.

Becky is seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she meets her dream actor Felix Callahan by chance. Twelve hours, one elevator ride, and one alcohol-free dinner later something has happened, though nothing has happened… it isn't sexual. It isn't even quite love. But soon Felix shows up in the Utah 'burbs to visit and before they know what's hit them, Felix and Becky are best friends. Really. Becky's husband is pretty cool about it. Her children roll their eyes. Her best (girl)friend can't get her head around it. But Felix (think Colin Firth) and Becky have something special… something unusual, something completely impossible to sustain. Or is it?

Shannon Hale's latest novel is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, completely real, and utterly surreal too. One of those magical stories that explores all the permutations of what happens when your not-so-secret celebrity crush walks right into real life, and changes everything…

Rating: ****

Recommend: yes, I think it would make for a great book club discussion.

Be Still My Beating Heart....

2009-06-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

Jeep at 5 months old

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

2009-06-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

You know you've come across a great book when you're still thinking about it as you lay down to go to bed for the night. I was stunned by how real Alice was to me. It gave me an insight into this disease that I might not have otherwise had.

There was a scene in Still Alice, where Alice, a Harvard professor heads to one of her classes thinking she's going as a student, and doesn't even realize that this is a class she's supposed to be teaching. After 20 minutes go by, she gets up and checks her watch, glances over at another student and remarks, "Well I don't know about you, but I have better things to do with my time." I was awestruck after that. Wow. Alice mentions that she struggles with wishing she was diagnosed with cancer instead because at least she could have the option to fight. But with Alzheimer's, she was very aware that her memory was fading and she had to live through the humiliation of what episodes she would endure in front of her family, her colleagues and friends. I was brought to tears at times because it was so sad and others because it was so touching. It took me a while to process the entire story once I was finished. And I knew the author ended it the way she did, because she wanted the reader to really think through the entire situation. Powerful. And totally amazing that this is Lisa Genova's first novel.

I look forward to more from Lisa Genova and applaud her thoroughness and detail in describing for her readers in a very accurate, clinical and emotional way what Alzheimer's can do to an individual and a family.

Description: Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what's it's like to literally lose your mind...

Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.

Recommend: In a heartbeat.

Rating: ****

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

2009-06-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Reading about food never sounded, tasted or smelled so good. I could swear the flavors were melting on my tongue and the aroma's were filling my senses all through the author's writing. Heavenly would be a perfectly suited word to describe the ambiance this book creates. It was incredible. I loved the food descriptions, the atmosphere, the characters, the relationships, it was all so balanced together like an incredible recipe itself. But here was my only regret - it was too short. There was so much more I wanted to know about these characters. I wanted to see more of their lives after the cooking school, what they did with their new found knowledge and passion. It just felt so unresolved at the end. I was left salivating for more!

I highly recommend this read; its light, delectable and will leave you wanting more! Thank you Erica for writing such a beautiful story! Oh and please, please, please write a sequel!

Description: The School of Essential Ingredients follows the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant every Monday night for cooking class. It soon becomes clear, however, that each one seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. Students include Claire, a young mother struggling with the demands of her family; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer learning to adapt to life in America; and Tom, a widower mourning the loss of his wife to breast cancer. Chef Lillian, a woman whose connection with food is both soulful and exacting, helps them to create dishes whose flavor and techniques expand beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of her students’ lives. One by one the students are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of Lillian’s food, including a white-on-white cake that prompts wistful reflections on the sweet fragility of love and a peppery heirloom tomato sauce that seems to spark one romance but end another. Brought together by the power of food and companionship, the lives of the characters mingle and intertwine, united by the revealing nature of what can be created in the kitchen.

Recommend: Absolutely!

Rating: ****

2009-06-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

I got two new ARC's in the mail this week and I'M FREAKING OUT!!! Excited freak out, not bad freak out.

I can't wait to get started on them, cause they both look fabulous :-)

First, Bloomsbury sent me "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale. For more info you can visit the author's website here.

Then the second book I recieved yesterday was through GoodReads.com, "I Apologize" by Bradley Booth. And the cherry on top? The author autographed the inside with a sweet note :-) I have a strong feeling this one is going to rock my world. For more info, you can click here.

I can tell already, this is going to be an AWESOME summer! Ok gotta run, I have some serious reading to do!!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

2009-05-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

I received an advanced copy of this book through Shelf Awareness and am so glad I did!! I didn't actually know a whole lot about the Salem Witch Trials and I was intrigued to learn more about them, especially written in the form of a story taking place between that era of history and modern day.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story - there was a perfect combination of mystery, suspense, history, intrigue, magic and even a little romance. I was a bit nervous to be honest, because I'm not a huge fan of the idea of witches or witchcraft whatsoever. But then at the same time I very much enjoy movies like Indiana Jones and there is socery weaved into the plot of those, so I was very much interested to see where this would go. And it did not disappoint. I found myself stealing away whenever I could so that I could finish it and find out what happens in the end between Connie and her professor. I will be honest there were times in the book that the spells written out made me uncomfortable and I would scan over them, because I believe there is power in words and the spiritual realm does exist and I didn't want to give anything demonic access into my life. That may sound wild to some of you, but that's honestly where I'm coming from when reading this book and would be my only caution to anyone else who wants to read it.

This author did her homework, and I can really appreciate that so much! She just didn't spew out a bunch of fiction, but she really tied in a lot of history and research, and it makes a big difference in the storyline. I also want to point out that author herself is a direct descendent of Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the Salem witch trials and Elizabeth Howe, who did not. It appears to be Katherine Howe's first novel and I think she nailed it.

I'm really grateful I had the opportunity to read it and if you might be interested in learning more about The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane or Katherine Howe, just click here.

Description: A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Yes, I think it was a great story!

My Sisters Keeper Trailer

2009-05-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

I saw this trailer the other day and got so excited I marked my calendar for June 26th when the movie comes out!!! If you haven't read the book yet, you should read it before the movie hits the theatres - its one of my favorites! AND not to mention, my sister Kati will be in town, so I can go see it with her!!!!

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

2009-04-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

I absolutely have a thing for beach books and then you add the fact that I'm completely fascinated with glass-blowing, I knew that this book would have all the ingredients for a great novel. But I think I should have kept my expectations down just a tad, because I really wasn't prepared to read 400 some pages of Sheila cheating on her husband. I know - duh, Kim, "A Summer AFFAIR". For some reason I had it in my head that it was referring to a grand party. After all, the story revolves around the elaborate planning of the Nantucket's Children Summer Gala. Yeah, that was my bad. Still, I have little to zero tolerance for people who have affairs and because the story centers around Sheila, I really had no desire to see things work out for her and felt no sorrow when she struggled. I just felt like - "girl, you made your bed, so deal with it". Oh and then the ending....grrrr.....I WISH I could go off on that one, but there may be some of you who are really interested in this one and I don't want to ruin it for you.

Even still, though I wasn't jumping up and down over the story line and there were times that I could slapped Sheila Cook more than once, and I wasn't satisfied with how it all turned out... I found myself captivated by Elin Hilderbrand's writing style. The story itself didn't completely turn me off to Elin as an author and I've heard wonderful things about Barefoot, which is still on my TBR list. I'm definately giving her another shot, but just keeping my expectations a little bit more in check.

Description:
Sheila Crispin Cook, mother of four young children and nationally renowned glassblower, bites off more than she can chew when she agrees to co-chair the Nantucket's Children Summer Gala. Sheila is asked to chair the benefit, in part, because she is the former high school sweetheart of rock star Max West. Max agrees to play the gala and it looks like smooth sailing for Sheila-until she promises a "museum-quality" piece of glass for the auction, offers her best friend the catering job, goes nose-to-nose with her Manhattan socialite co-chair, and begins a "good-hearted" affair with the charity's Executive Director, Lockhart Dixon.Hearts break and emotions are pushed to the limit in this riveting story of one woman's attempt to deal with loves past and present, family, business, and high-powered social pressures. Elin Hilderbrand's unique understanding of the joys and longings that animate women's lives will make this her newest summer bestseller.

Rating: **

Recommend: Meh.

Cause That's How We Roll

2009-04-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

The 24-hr-read-a-thon was somewhat of a success. I say somewhat because a bunch of girls got together over at our friend Julie's home with books in tow and ready to enjoy a full long day of catching up on some much needed reading and relaxation...

Aww...can't you feel the heat of the sunshine just by looking at this picture? That would be myself, Amy and Julie out on the lawn reading and Tabby up on the porch. It was so lovely and so serene. And I even have the sunburned back to prove the hours of enjoyment!
Books, bare feet and blankets.
This is not a posed picture, we truly were sitting in our chairs, enjoying each other's presence and reading our books with either a glass of wine or in my case a bottle of G2 :-) Divine isn't it?
....
....
....
But then.....
We started to get a little distracted...

Maybe the heat was getting to us....

Or maybe we were taking an afternoon break to celebrate Melanie's birthday ghetto style. (click on picture for larger view)

Ain't nothing but a G-thing, right Rachel?

Here's Master-C blowing out her candle and receiving her dirt cake. (which is basically a cake made to look like a potted flower)

Cause that's how we roll yo.

It was such an awesome weekend. I almost finished one book, but I had puppy-duty from 5pm on and they took up a lot of time to watch. We are definitely going to do this again! And next time, collectively we'll track how many pages read.

24 Hour Read-A-Thon (or Don't Be a Hater Cause I'm a Booknerd!)

2009-04-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm finally going to do it!

This Saturday, April 18th is the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon!! I'm super excited, a little nervous and a tad bit overwhelmed. And because I didn't want to feel like a complete geek and isolated all alone, I've asked some of my girl friends to join me for a relaxing day of nothin but readin in the sun! (I might have just left out the words "Read-A-Thon" when explaining it to them) But even still, there's some interest and we're all pretty pumped up to give it our best shot, even if we don't make it the full 24 hours!

Books will be read, sweet tea will be served, lounge chairs will be brought, snacks will be prepared and hopefully tans will be gained! Yea!!!

I'm going to do my best to get access to a computer while at Julie's house, cause sadly I do not own a laptop, and post pictures and updates of our girly reading weekend!

I don't have over ambitious expectations to be knocking out a stack of books, but I'm selecting a choice few I've had in mind!

And dude, if you're all about showing some love and supporting this endeavor, please make a donation over at Saint Jude Children's Hospital!

More to come!

Riven by Jerry B. Jenkins

2009-04-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

This book took me FOR-EV-ER to read. I thought that because I loved the Left Behind series, I couldn't go wrong with another book by Jerry B. Jenkins, but dude, seriously 544 pages?? I honestly could have done without the first 350-400 pages and still have gotten the same message without ALL THE DETAIL. Brady Wayne Darby's life was described in detail from the time he was 14 through 33 years of age! For reals! Less is more my friend, less is more.

The other thing that was very difficult for me was the character descriptions. I just felt like they were inaccurate to what someone of that age would be like or how they would think. At one point he described a young girl in a scene and I could have sworn she was like 5, but then I find out she's like 12 - what??! It was hard to follow and even after 500 some pages and all the drama, I didn't feel much for the characters. And seriously, I should have been bawling by the time this sucker was over. It really did have a great message, but the delivery really lacked for me. Sorry folks, I was just overall disappointed with this one.

Description: When a condemned man with nothing to lose meets one with nothing to gain, everyone washed by the endless ripples of that encounter will forever recall the day a little bit of heaven invaded a whole lot of hell. Brady Wayne Darby and Thomas Carey could hardly have been more disparate individuals. Yet when Darby, a no-account loser raised in a dingy suburban trailer park, encounters Carey, a weary man of God, an entire--state indeed, a nation--is affected. Embark on a wondrous journey where death, guilt, and despair are unfathomably trumped by rebirth, forgiveness, and hope.

Author Jerry Jenkins says: “This is the novel I have always wanted to write. I determine whether a fiction idea has merit by how long it stays with me. Does it rattle in my brain, and do I find myself telling it to my wife and other confidants? Is it the type of a tale that will draw me back to the keyboard every day? Two-thirds of my published books have been novels, and only three have had that effect on me. I give my all to every one, but special joy and anticipation attend those that genuinely feel like the best ideas. Riven is my fourth such labor of love. The two main characters have remained in my memory since high school 40 years ago. The story idea is perhaps 20 years old. And those mystical, interweaving elements I hope make it all work have been tugging at me for more than a decade. If a novelist has a life’s work, this is mine. I hope in the end you agree and that Riven stays with you long after the final page.”

Rating: **

Recommend: Not really.

Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian

2009-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm getting back on the horse and making time to read once again. I had to take a little break there for a while, and now that I spend so much time outside with my adorable puppies, I'm finally getting back into reading.

I picked up Trans-Sister Radio at McKays Used Books and thought it sounded intriguing since I had recently seen an episode of 20/20 titled, " 'I'm a Girl' - Understanding Transgender Children". I was so moved by this show, I thought it was just heartbreaking to see these kids born physically inside one body and hormonally born with the other. I also recently saw an episode of Private Practice, where they discussed the birth of a hermaphrodite baby and the burden placed on the parents to choose this child's fate as to which sex it should be. These issues are rarely discussed in our society and I think people are afraid to recognize how real they are. What if something like this happened to your child, or your best friend's child? How would you respond? How would you love them and encourage them through it?

The book was definitely interesting, though there were issues touched on that even made me a bit uncomfortable. It's not a memoir or a biography, it is a work of fiction. I definitely wouldn't say run out and read this, if your not prepared to keep an open mind on what these lifestyles and issues can include. But nonetheless, I'm glad I read it, for I believe it gave me some insight into the struggles and thoughts of people who live their lives with these circumstances.

Description: This sympathetic novel about the effect of a sex change on a romantic relationship, a family, and a community could almost be sold as a textbook--a kind of transgender Guide to the Perplexed. With its calming tone and scrupulous sensitivity to the feelings of all involved, it sometimes reads like a textbook, too. But while nobody is likely to launch a protest campaign over the cautious revelations of Trans-sister Radio, that's precisely the subject of Chris Bohjalian's seventh novel, in which a male college professor in a small Vermont town transforms himself into a woman. Even Dana Stevens's initial step in this direction--donning women's clothing--elicits a powerful reaction from the community.

And what about Dana's new girlfriend Allie Banks, a beloved local schoolteacher who fell in love with him before learning of his plan? Her initial instinct is to end the relationship. Then she decides to stand by Dana, inspired rather than daunted by her stuffy ex-husband Will's opposition to the "effeminate" guy she's dating, and by the horrified reactions of the parents at her school. She does, it's true, continue to love Dana after the sex reassignment surgery. And she stoically endures the threatening notes in her school mailbox and the crude graffiti on her front door, as well as the minor vindication of a local public radio story on their battle. Yet Allie never makes the emotional shift from heterosexual woman to lesbian. Breaking off the affair, she spends months mourning the man she had fallen in love with.

Assuming, as we are meant to, that Dana is outwardly becoming the person she always was inside--that biology is anything but destiny--there's only one character who undergoes a profound change over the course of the novel.
Structuring his story around the transcript of a fictional National Public Radio feature on transgender, Bohjalian shifts the point of view with every chapter: the characters often seem to be enlarging on comments they had made for broadcast. We hear from Dana, Allie, and Will in turn, as well as Carly, the daughter of the divorced couple. In this sense, Trans-sister Radio gives everyone equal time. And for good or ill, it has none of the bluster or transgressive charge of Gore Vidal's late-1960s bombshell, Myra Breckinridge. Instead it brings transgender home, rendering it (to quote Dana herself) "domestic as a balloon shade or a perennial garden. And just as harmless." --Regina Marler

Rating: ***

Recommend: I think it takes a certain audience to process this kind of material.

Happy Friday!!!!!

2009-02-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

1. Give me the space heater back and I'll not hurt anyone.

2. Whenever I'm bored, I bite my nails.

3. I wish the work day was already over.

4. Sugar Cookies was the last thing I ate that was utterly delicious.

5. To live in this world is a blessing.

6. Other than this one, Katie Hallstrom is the last blog I commented on.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on some tv and reading, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in and snuggling with my man, making homemade soup then chilling with my friends and Sunday, I want to spend the entire day with my man!

2009-02-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

OK so I've been unmotivated in finishing the book I've been reading lately. It just isn't doing it for me. But what IS doing it for me, is all the fun I'm having with this little guy ;-)My dear friends, the Frees family, bought me a TIVO for my birthday last year and after saving up for the wireless router & transmitter and getting it all set up a while back, I have been overjoyed with being able to record all my favorite shows!!!!

Here's a taste of what you would find in my TIVO playlist:
What would I find in your TIVO playlist?

Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon

2009-01-27T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is one of those books that you're completely drawn to and then once you delve deep into the plot you want to keep reading because you're dying to solve the mystery, but at the same time your cringing your way through it thinking..."Please don't go there, please don't go there....oh its so going there."

The content this story addresses is not for the weak of heart. It's gut-wrenching stuff and quite honestly, very real too. I personally have known a few people close to me that have gone through similar experiences and though its ugly in every way, its really necessary for us to understand so that we can better empathize and comfort those who've suffered. This story is about a lot more than just an abduction. I tore through the last hundred pages and when I finally put it down, I felt so burdened and sickened that I had to watch a few episodes of Mad About You with my hubby to shake off the funk I was left in.

So all in all, a very well written story and extremely engaging. It took me a bit of work to keep the characters straight, since the chapters alternate between Rhonda Farr's childhood and the present tense, but once you find the groove its hard to put down.

Description: One summer day, at a gas station in a small Vermont town, six-year-old Ernestine Florucci is abducted by a person wearing a rabbit suit while her mother is buying lottery tickets. Twenty-three year old Rhonda Farr is the only witness, and she does nothing as she watches the scene unfold – little Ernie goes with the rabbit so casually, confidently getting into the rabbit’s Volkswagen bug, smiling while the rabbit carefully fastens her seatbelt.

The police are skeptical of Rhonda’s story and Ernie’s mother blames her outright. The kidnapping forces Rhonda to face another disappearance, that of her best friend from childhood – Lizzy Shale, whose brother, Peter just so happens to be a prime suspect in Ernie’s abduction.

Unraveling the present mystery plunges Rhonda headlong down the rabbit hole of her past. She must struggle to makes sense of the loss of the two girls, and to ask herself if the Peter she grew up with - and has secretly loved all her life - could have a much darker side.

Rating: ***

Recommend: not for everyone, the content can be very difficult to get through.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

2009-01-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

Boy am I pumped up to review "The Mighty Queens of Freeville"! And not just because its my very first ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) from Hyperion (who-hooo!!! Doing my happy dance here), but also because I absolutely adored this memoir!!

I actually don't read that many memoirs, because I'm afraid I'll end up bored and trudging my way through it, but I found Amy Dickinson to be a pure delight. Some of you might know her from her advice column, "Ask Amy" that appears in more than 200 newspapers. The stories and events she would describe were not always easy to read, but what struck me the most was her amazing perspective and positive outlook even after such difficult circumstances. I truly believe that you can allow something devastating to destroy you by making you an angrier individual, or you can allow it to mold you and define your character, making you wise and stronger.

I was probably close to halfway through this book when my cat got really ill and I was so distraught that I could focus on nothing but her well being. And because of all this distraction, I had to take a bit of a break from reading for close to a week. Right after the chaos subsided, I eagerly picked it back up only to read Chapter 6, "Livestock In the Kitchen" and sat there on my couch with tears running down my face as she shared the story of her own sick cat Pumpkin. Holy cow. It was like my best girl friend sitting there sharing her story and we were laughing and crying together. That's really what I loved about Amy's writing, she wrote as if she were having a conversation with you one-on-one over a hot cup of coffee in your comfy sweats. I swear I was laughing with her one minute and crying the next.

Thank you Betsy at Hyperion for sending me this gem of a memoir!

Description: Amy Dickinson has made a career out of helping others, through her internationally syndicated advice column "Ask Amy." Readers love her for her honesty, her small-town values, and for the fact that her motto is "I make the mistakes so you don't have to." In The Mighty Queens of Freeville, Amy Dickinson shares those mistakes and her remarkable story. This is the tale of Amy and her daughter and the people who helped raise them after Amy found herself a reluctant single parent. Though divorce runs through her family like an aggressive chromosome, the women of her family taught her what family is about. They helped her to pick up the pieces when her life fell apart and to reassemble them into something new. It is a story of frequent failures and surprising successes, as Amy starts and loses careers, bumbles through blind dates and adult education classes, travels across the country with her daughter and their giant tabby cat, and tries to come to terms with the family's aptitude for "dorkitude." Though they live in London, D.C., and Chicago, all roads lead them back to her hometown of Freeville (pop. 458), a tiny village where Amy's family has tilled and cultivated the land, tended chickens and Holsteins, and built houses and backyard sheds for more than 200 years. Most important, though, her family members all still live within a ten-house radius of each other. With kindness and razor-sharp wit, they welcome Amy and her daughter back weekend after weekend, summer after summer, offering a moving testament to the many women who have led small lives of great consequence in a tiny place.

For more info, you can go to the website http://www.themightyqueensoffreeville.com/

Rating: ****

Recommend: Definitely.

When life gives you lemons...

2009-01-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

...you make lemonade right! Well how the timing couldn't have been more encouraging to receive a Lemonade Award than this week!!

After my poor cat Banks getting really sick from her shots last weekend and then having someone steal all our lumber for the fence we were building, including an actual portion of fence already built, I received this lovely little award from Desert Rose Booklogue:

So in the tradition of receiving these lovely little awards, I'm passing it on to some of my favorites:

2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews

Book Escape

Booking Mama

Books on the Brain

Charlotte's Web of Books

Everyday Reading

Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?

Maw Books Blog

and there's a bunch more, but those are just a few that I love!

Best Discovery of 2008!

2009-01-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

I've been on the lookout for a good used bookstore for as long as I've lived here in Nashville. And then one day my friend Alicia asks me if I've been to McKay's Used Books yet. Just before Christmas I was hoping to pick up a few classics for Jason's gifts and thought maybe I'd check them out first.

I'M SO GLAD I DID!

Best used bookstore ever!!!! The next time I went I brought Jason with me and found myself a mini grocery cart they provided and LOADED UP! I walked out of that place with 23 books and spent only $27!!!!!

I'm officially in love with this place :-)

Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson

2009-01-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been relying mostly on recommendations and fellow book bloggers reviews before I pick up a book to read. But I happened to come across this one in the library and thought that both the cover and the premise were quite intriguing. It didn't take me long to become completely absorbed in the character's situations and emotions, and as much as I really wanted to like this book, it left a sour taste in my mouth by the end.

I was pretty bummed out by how crass the author would get with the language, it is just is a total turnoff to me when foul language is used too often. To be honest, the F word is not romantic in any way whatsoever. Any even apart from that, I really started to care about this newlywed couple who had suffered such a tragedy, and the way it ended was so dissatisfying! Sure you might say, well life doesn't always include a happy ending, but at least leave the reader with some hope, or a silver lining. The book jumped around so much between the past & present that I didn't really understand the point of it. Every time there was a flashback to their wedding, I thought, yes - because that was this all comes down to, their committment to one another. But no, not really, I guess it was more to talk about his catering?

I was left with this pit in my stomach and thought, yuck. And I'll just leave it at that.

Description: It only takes a moment for your life to be changed forever—as the characters of this darkly comic novel discover early on. The fateful moment for the newlyweds Ross and Iliana comes with the freak automobile accident that leaves Iliana paralyzed, Ross grief-stricken, and both of them struggling to come to terms with a married life nothing like they originally had in mind. As the usually affable Ross struggles with guilt and with finding ways to cope with his newly fractured life, Iliana gets used to her unwelcome existence as a wheelchair-bound wife, to her husband’s growing sense of alienation, and to their awkward new lack of intimacy.

What ultimately happens with Ross and Iliana is as unexpected and surprising as the fateful mishap that sets the events in motion in the first place. Sitting Practice is a clever and insightful study of love’s collision with harsh reality, told by an author with a remarkable instinct for the workings of human nature, a nimble gift for language, and the ability to find humor in the oddest places.

Recommend: Nope

Rating: **

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

2009-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

At last! I brought this big ol' mama-jamma book with me on our trip to California and had the toughest time putting it down! I was anxious to see how it all ended and found myself as pathetically wrapped up in this series as everyone else I knew who had read it. It truly was a great series and I'm truly amazed how someone can create such a world on paper. Fantasy is typically not my thing, so I really thought this would be a stretch for me, but it was so easy to get wrapped up and now I'm waiting along with so many others with bated breath for the next film based on the series to come out in theatres!

I'm still a bit in awe that I read this 756 page book within a week's time. That sucker took up more than half my carry-on! And I loved how it ended, I thought it was perfect.

As far as recommending this series, there are people I work with who ask me if I would recommend this series to their kids. My response is, if it was me, I would ask my child to wait till they were 16 before reading it, because I feel the nature of the content can be a bit intense and mature for anyone younger than that. And if I were a parent who had a 16 year old interested in this series, I would first want to read the books myself, so that I could sit down with my child and have a conversation about what they thought of it. This series is so popular amongst our youth and I don't feel that by not allowing my kids to read the series is going to protect them any. I would hope that my kids could read a series like this and filter it through the belief systems they've been brought up with so they view these books through a healthy and balanced worldview. There are definite parallels I found myself aware of through this series that I felt related with my Christian walk, and those are the types of conversations that I hope book series like these will someday spark with my own children.

Description: When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

The astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.

Recommend: 16 and Up!

Rating: *****

Things I Want My Daughters To Know by Elizabeth Noble

2009-01-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have two younger sisters, Kris and Kati. So naturally, when I come across a story that delves into the sister relationships and how they deal with a difficult situation I'm naturally drawn in. I fell in love with this family and was extremely intrigued by how they dealt with the loss of their mother to cancer. I myself have never really lost a loved one before, so I have no possible way to imagine how painful it must be. But the way Elizabeth Noble pulls you in, you feel as though your walking in each of their shoes. Yet at the same time there was a great balance with humor so it wasn't overly depressing.

But I do have just one teeny complaint, and that was that I had a hard time with a lot of the British slang. I wish there was an index in the back that explained what they all meant.

So all that to say, I will be adding Elizabeth Noble to my list of authors to keep an eye out for!

Description: How do you cope in a world without your mother?

When Barbara realizes time is running out, she writes letters to her four daughters, aware that they'll be facing the trials and triumphs of life without her at their side. But how can she leave them when they still have so much growing up to do?

Take Lisa, in her mid-thirties but incapable of making a commitment; or Jennifer, trapped in a stale marriage and buttoned up so tight she could burst. Twenty-something Amanda, the traveler, has always distanced herself from the rest of the family; and then there's Hannah, a teenage girl on the verge of womanhood about to be parted from the mother she adores.

But by drawing on the wisdom in Barbara's letters, the girls might just find a way to cope with their loss. And in coming to terms with their bereavement, can they also set themselves free to enjoy their lives with all the passion and love each deserves?

This heartfelt novel by bestselling author Elizabeth Noble celebrates family, friends...and the glorious, endless possibilities of life.

Recommend: Yes

Rating: ****

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

2008-11-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Ahhh......there's no satisfaction quite like a Nicholas Sparks book. Ever since I fell in love with the movie Message In a Bottle years ago, I had to get my hands on anything Nicholas Sparks had ever written. And I have never not enjoyed one of his beautiful love stories. My sister Kati and I are even known to mark our calendars the day one of his new novels is marked for release. I would love to even meet him some day and have him sign one of the books I own.

So back to The Lucky One. The novel centers around U.S. Marine Logan Tibault and the picture of a beautiful woman he stumbles upon while on tour in Kuwait. Logan comes to believe that this picture is his lucky charm as it carries him through many near-death experiences. I won't say much more about it, because I hate to give anything away. If you enjoy Nicholas Sparks, you have to put this one at the top of your list, and if you've never read him before this is a great one to start with!

I was also very excited to recently learn that not even weeks after the book release of The Lucky One, Warner Brothers purchased the rights to make the movie!!! I actually haven't even seen Nights In Rodanthe yet, but I'm hoping to rent that one as soon as it comes out in Netflix. What can I say? I'm a total sap and he's my fav :-)

Description: When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet.

Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

Recommend: Absolutely!

Rating: *****

Too fun to pass up! (My score 42/100!)

2008-11-24T14:23:00.001-08:00

I saw this meme over at Monniblog, and it just looked like too much fun to pass up!

The things I have done are in BOLD!

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (almost, but it was so expensive!)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (indoor)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted (drawn!)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (not yet!)
58. Taken a martial arts class (not for very long!)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

What about YOU?

Friday's Fill-In!

2008-11-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

1. The last band I saw live was Keith Urban, Leann Rimes, Kenny Chesney and Gary Allen.

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is the Macy's Parade!!

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is halfway done.

4. Thoughts of excitement to see Twilight tonight fill my head.

5. I wish I could wear jeans to work.

6. Bagpipes are not my favorite thing.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Twilight with Brooke & Angela, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in late and passing out Angel Food boxes to families in need with Jason and Sunday, I want to hang out in comfy clothes with my man reading the new Nicholas Sparks book and sipping peppermint coffee, while he watches the Titans game!

Testimony by Anita Shreve

2008-11-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with Anita Shreve's writing after reading The Pilot's Wife. Both my sister and I had been mesmerized by the story, so I made a mental note to check out her other books. After seeing others give rave reviews of Testimony, which just recently came out, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.

But oh, did I get a little more than I had bargained for. Sure I read the premise and knew the book was about a sex scandal, but holy crap I guess I wasn't exactly prepared to read about it all in detail! Yikes, unfortunately because the whole book revolves around what happens in that dorm room with the Avery Academy students, I'm really not all that comfortable recommending this book to my family and friends. Call me a prude, but it was just too much for me.

What's really sad though, is that unfortunately these kind of incidents occur too much within our youth today. The book does redeem itself in a way by showing just how much our choices can have consequences. What occurred within hours of these youth's lives, affected them, their families, the school and marriages for years to come. Still, in my opinion, the lesson learned was not worth reading the story.

Description: At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Rating: ***

Recommend: not in good conscious.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

2008-11-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

It's Friday afternoon and I'm dragging trying to get through the rest of the afternoon. I had too much overtime building up, so I took an extra long lunch and finished book two of the Twilight series, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It took me a few days longer to finish this one because I didn't find it nearly as intriguing as Twilight, but still my friends encouraged me to push through because book three and four are supposedly so worth it! There were definitely scenes in New Moon that had my blood racing, but more often than not it was just ok for me. But seriously, what a great series! And Stephenie is truly a gifted storyteller. If you haven't heard of the series yet, you're about to! Next week Twilight will be coming out in theatres and its going to be a madhouse for sure!

Check out the trailer below:

Description:Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won't be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy''s reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

Rating: ****

Recommend: If you read & enjoyed Twilight, then yes you have to read this one next!

Bad Kim! Bad!

2008-11-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

So I got super behind on my Google Reader and JUST NOW saw that I was tagged by the oh-so-awesome Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? to particpate in a Bookworm Tag!

Crap! What is my deal!?!

Trish thanks so much for thinking of me girl!

SO here's the rules once you're tagged:

*Pass it on to five other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence on that page, and also the next two to five sentences. The CLOSEST BOOK, not your favorite or most intellectual.

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley:

"He smells like aftershave that cost more than my brother's house. 'Leigh, it's so great to see you!' I hug him back in self-defense. 'Hi, Seth!' I squeak. I clear my throat. 'Wow, you look great,' I say. I feel incredibly grubby all of a sudden, like I was the one sleeping under a park bench and giving myself French showers for three days."

I’m tagging two people: Janssen from Everyday Reading, and Sarah from The Last Book I Read.

USA Today - Topselling Books

2008-11-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

I'm getting in on the action with the latest meme heading around the book blogosphere, it sounded interesting.

Bold what you've read, italicize what you own, star (*) books on your TBR list!

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
2. Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution - Robert C. Atkins
3. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
6 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
9. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre*
10. Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson
11. The South Beach Diet - Arthur Agatston
12. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
13. Angels & Demons - Dan Brown*
14. What to Expect When You're Expecting - Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee Hathaway
15. The Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren
16. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
17. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
18. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
19. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - John Gray
20. The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
21. Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
22. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
23. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... And It's All Small Stuff - Richard Carlson
24. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
25. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
26. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
27. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
28. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
29. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
30. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
31. A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
32. Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss
33. The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
34. Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
35. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
36. Body-for-Life - Bill Phillips, Michael D’Orso
37. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
38. Night - Elie Wiesel, translations by Marion Wiesel and Stella Rodway
39. Chicken Soup for the Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
40. The Greatest Generation - Tom Brokaw
41. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer*
42. The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
43. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
44. Good to Great - Jim Collins
45. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer*
46. Eragon - Christopher Paolini
47. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells*
48. Your Best Life Now - Joel Osteen
49. In the Kitchen With Rosie - Rosie Daley
50. Simple Abundance - Sarah Ban Breathnach
51. A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer
52. A Million Little Pieces - James Frey*
53. The Testament - John Grisham*
54. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger
55. Deception Point - Dan Brown*
56. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
57. Marley & Me - John Grogan*
58. Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter - Robert C. Atkins
59. Life of Pi - Yann Martel*
60. The Brethren - John Grisham
61. The South Beach Diet Good Fats Good Carbs Guide - Arthur Agatston
62. The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town - John Grisham*
63. For One More Day - Mitch Albom
64. The Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
65. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
66. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
67. What to Expect the First Year - Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff, Sandee Hathaway
68. Love You Forever - Robert Munsch, art by Sheila McGraw
69. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
70. A Painted House - John Grisham
71. The Rainmaker - John Grisham
72. Skipping Christmas - John Grisham
73. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
74. The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
75. Life Strategies - Phillip C. McGraw
76. Seabiscuit: An American Legend - Laura Hillenbrand
77. The Summons - John Grisham
78. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
79. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (never finished it with dad!)
80. The Runaway Jury - John Grisham
81. Goodnight Moon Board Book - Margaret Wise Brown, art by Clement Hurd
82. The Perfect Storm - Sebastian Junger
83. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
84. The Giver - Lois Lowry
85. Embraced by the Light - Betty J. Eadie
86. The Chamber - John Grisham
87. You: On A Diet - Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz
88. The Prayer of Jabez - Bruce Wilkinson
89. Holes - Louis Sachar
90. Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
91. The Shack - William P. Young*
92. The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
93. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
94. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
95. The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav
96. Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, Marci Shimoff
97. The Partner - John Grisham
98. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (yuk! Couldn't get through the audio version!)
99. Eldest: Inheritance, Book II - Christopher Paolini
100. The Broker - John Grisham
101 The Street Lawyer - John Grisham
102 A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 1: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
103 The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (didn't finish it cause I really didn't like it)
104 Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
105 The King of Torts - John Grisham
106 The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
107 The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans
108 Hannibal - Thomas Harris
109 The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
110 Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
111 The Glass Castle: A Memoir - Jeannette Walls
112 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
113 The Last Juror - John Grisham
114 The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
115 Left Behind - Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
116 America (The Book) - Jon Stewart and The Writers of The Daily Show
117 The Red Tent - Anita Diamant*
118 John Adams - David McCullough
119 The Christmas Box - Richard Paul Evans
120 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares*
121 Sugar Busters! - H. Leighton Steward, Sam S. Andrews, Morrison C. Bethea, Luis A. Balart
122 Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
123 The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
124 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life - Don Piper, Cecil Murphey
125 The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
126 1776 - David McCullough
127 The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller*
128 Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts
129 The Ultimate Weight Solution - Phillip C. McGraw
130 Protein Power - Michael R. Eades, Mary Dan Eades
131 Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, Marci Shimoff
132 Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
133 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
134 Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
135 You: The Owner's Manual - Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz
136 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List - Patricia Schultz
137 Self Matters - Phillip C. McGraw
138 She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
139 1984 - George Orwell
140 The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
141 The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko
142 The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory*
143 The Zone - Barry Sears, Bill Lawren
144 The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
145 The Lost World Michael Crichton
146 Atonement - Ian McEwan
147 He's Just Not That Into You - Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo
148 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
149 The World Is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
150 Cross - James Patterson

My Score:
Read: 26 books on the list. Look like I need to start reading some John Grisham!

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley

2008-11-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hmmm....where do I begin with this one? OK, the positives first. Driving Sideways was extremely entertaining. The humor was awesome and I found myself laughing out loud numerous times. I picked this one up because I had seen a ton of great reviews and it sounded like an intriguing storyline.

But about halfway through, I noticed I kept flipping toward the back of the book checking to see how many pages I had left. And you know that's never a good sign. Three quarters of the way through and I'm getting ancy. By the last couple chapters I was aggravated by the pointless and drawn-out circumstances, it needed to wrap up already. Gosh I feel bad saying that!

It was cute, but I felt like it lost a lot of momentum toward the end and had potential to be a bit more engaging. Sorry guys, I was a bit disappointed with this one.

But seriously, I swear I'm the only one who didn't really care for it - there are way better reviews out there. Check them out below!

Bookshipper

S. Krishna's Books

Booking Mama

Description: Leigh Fielding wants a life. Seriously. Having spent the past five years on dialysis, she has one simple wish: to make it to her thirtieth birthday. Now, thanks to the generosity of the late Larry Resnick and his transplanted kidney, it looks like her wish may come true.

With her newfound vitality (and Larry’s kidney) in tow, Leigh hits the road for an excursion that will carry her from Wisconsin to California, with a few stops in between: Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, the Rockies, Las Vegas–and a memorable visit to thank Larry’s family for the second chance.

Yet Leigh’s itinerary takes a sudden detour when she picks up a seventeen-year-old hitchhiker, Denise, a runaway with a bunch of stories and a couple of secrets. Add a long-lost mother, a loaded gun, an RV full of swingers, and Hall and Oates’s Greatest Hits to the mix, and Driving Sideways becomes a hilarious and original journey of friendship, hope, and discovery

Recommend: sure, you might really like it.

Rating: ***1/2

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

2008-11-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

Aw yes, the oh so popular Twilight that we've all been hearing about!

I finally caved in after the peer-pressure of my friends and decided to give this popular series a try and see what all the fuss was about. Many of you know I'm a Christian, so the idea of reading a series on vampires didn't automatically appeal to me whatsoever, BUT I wasn't going to judge until I knew what exactly it was all about.

First of all, the book is geared towards young adults, so of course you can't expect the writing to be all spectacular and awe-inspiring. It does irritate me a bit that so many people criticize Stephenie Meyer's writing as amateur. HELLO!! It really wasn't intended for us adults in the first place people, get a grip!

Second, yes the book does center around vampires. But the interesting thing that I found, was that it wasn't about everyday people who had decided to join a cultic lifestyle and live their lives as vampires. As a matter of fact, the vampires in these stories are more mythical creatures than anything else. They are immortal beings who have been living for hundreds of years and trying to co-exist with humans peacefully by no longer partaking of human blood, but instead hunt animals. I actually thought of it as more of a fantasy/sci-fi story, like reading Lord of the Rings.

But the thing that I found the most fascinating was that the story very creatively conveys the struggle between the flesh (or soul) & the spirit. These vampires choose to deny themselves and their natural tendency to want to "sin" if you will, that they have gone so far as to set up boundaries and rules within their lifestyles in order to abstain. I know it may sound far-fetched to some of you, but I couldn't help but relate this to a Christian principle for my own life. We are all born into a sinful nature and a selfish way of living. But God gives us rules and boundaries to protect us, to live a life that doesn't harm one another but instead edifies. And yet as like the romance between Edward the vampire and Bella the human, we can flirt with sin, we can try to walk up as close to that line as possible thinking we're stronger than our natural tendencies and walk away unscathed but in reality, it will bring consequences to not only ourselves, but to those around us. There's a reason the cover of this book has an apple on the front - Bella is for Edward, the ultimate temptation.

I don't know about you all, but I was getting a lot more out of this book than just the story itself.

I very much recommend this book, I thought it was a very well crafted story and extremely easy to tear through. Shoot - I finished all 530 pages under 24 hours! You will not want to put it down once you've started! I'm definitely looking forward to reading the other three books in the series.

Those are just my two cents!!

Description: “I’D NEVER GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO HOW I WOULD DIE– I’d had reason enough in the last few months –but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. . . . Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of something else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.”When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret. What Bella doesn’t realize is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back. . . .Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight will have readers riveted right until the very last page is turned.

Recommend: Yes, but if I had kids, I wouldn't let them read it unless they were at least 16 years or older.

Rating: ***** (to read a 530 page book in less than 24 hours, for me has to be worth 5 stars!)

The Memory of Water by Karen White

2008-10-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

The word that best suits this novel to me, is INTENSE! The story centers around two sisters who grew up with a mom that suffered from a Bipolar disorder. As grown women, you discover how they individually dealt with their pain and past.

Last Sunday, our pastor said that unless we deal with our pain, we will substitute it with something else, something to mask it and it will only fester on the inside, but it will never just go away. I found his message to be so applicable to this story, because no matter how far you think you can run from your pain, its still deep inside you until you face it. There was so much turmoil in this book, each character was struggling with their own fears in the midst of a clinical disorder in the family.

It wasn't a light fluffy read by any means, as a matter of fact, it took me a while, because after every chapter I had to put it down and take a deep breath. It's dark, its real and its very intense. I do believe that clinically a person can be diagnosed with a melatonin imbalance that can mess with the way a person processes, feels and thinks. I can't even imagine back in the day how they explained one's behaviour without just concluding that the individual must be crazy. As with this story, generations of a family have believed that there was a curse passed down that caused these women to do horrible things to their families and to themselves. Today we are fortunate enough to have much more information on how the brain works and how to treat this particular illness.

Here's a quote that really caught my attention:
"I think I'm beginning to understand that running away from fear doesn't make it go away. It's still there, waiting around the corner, and I figure one day I'm going to catch up to it and finally face it."

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book, but yet I was completely captivated. I wanted to see how these sisters dealt with their fears, healed the wounds between them and processed the hurts their family had been through. I would recommend it to those who are wanting way more than just a light read.

Description: On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood.

After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstable mother, and he is refusing to speak. In order to help the traumatized boy, Marnie must reopen old wounds and bring the darkest memories of their past to the surface. And she must confront Diana, before they all go under

For more reviews, click on the links below:

Booking Mama

The Friendly Book Nook

(If you have a review of The Memory of Water you'd like me to add, just leave me a comment!)

Recommend: I would recommend it, because I think its good for everyone once in a while to see the real and raw side of pain so we can have a greater compassion for others.

Rating: ****

Scary book giveaway!!

2008-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hachette Book Group has been dishing out boxes of 10 books each to various book bloggers for giveaways! If your interested in trying to win the 10 books listed below, go to Dewey's website to enter!!

2008-10-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

1. Follow the yellow brick road!

2. Books is something I always take with me on vacation.

3. To achieve your goals, you must never give up!

4. Being addicted to sweets is something I'd like you to know about me.

5. I have a wonderful husband that I adore.

6. Hope floats.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my book, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in with my man, working on the fence and getting coffee at Ugly Mugs and Sunday, I want to work on my quilt!

This doesn't mean I'm going to buy myself a lottery ticket.

2008-10-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

After entering a bazillion book giveaways over the last several months, I'm excited to say I've finally won one!!

My Friend Amy was hosting a giveaway of Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson back during BBAW and now my hope has been renewed that lady luck may not have completely shunned me.
I received an email on Wednesday from Amy saying that sure enough, I had won!!!

Other fun news, GreenApple Publicity offered me a free online copy of Jumble Pie by Melanie Lynn Hauser. If you are interested in reading this book, you can receive your own PDF copy by clicking here and signing up! It's easy, free and I've read some great reviews, so why wouldn't you try it??! As soon I get a chance to read my copy, I'll be posting a review as well.

Since the fall has begun, I'm finding it more difficult to squeeze in a few pages here and there. I went camping this last weekend with some friends and thought for sure I'd have time to curl up with The Memory of Water by Karen White in my lawn chair with a cup of coffee next to the campfire. But oh no! I was way too much of a chatterbox hanging out with my friends than to be found reading.

I'm also struggling to figure out how to balance the evenings between reading and indulging in my favorite fall shows!! Has anyone figured out how to do this?! I'm a huge fan of Dancing With The Stars (go Brooke Burke!), Greys Anatomy, Private Practice and Samantha Who?

What are your favorite fall shows that your keeping up with?

Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer

2008-10-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

How could you not want to pick up a book with a picture of a cupcake on the front? Good thing they didn't make it scratch and sniff, I might have licked the cover!

Sweet Love overall was a cute story and if you have a sweet tooth like I do, then you'll really enjoy reading about the dessert classes that Julie takes after much persuasion by her mother. I also really enjoyed the depth of relationship conveyed between Julie, her teenage daughter and her mom.

But I got say, I was doing great up until the very end when I realized there was some loose ends that were never fully wrapped up by the author. I was left with the impression that maybe the author tried to cram in too much into the story. After I finished the last chapter, I kept turning the last pages wondering if somehow I missed something. For instance, without giving too much away, I wanted to know more about Julie's parents relationship, what was up with her dad and why he was behaving the way he was? Why did Julie's mother put up with it? Or how about Carole, I mean what the heck was that? We never fully get an explanation on that whole thing either...grrr a bit aggravating. But maybe it was just me and I totally missed it. But I'm a closure kind of girl, you know what I'm saying? I'll stop right there, because I really do try to keep my reviews short, so as not to give too much away.

But if you're interested in reading what others had to say, check out these other links below:

Booking Mama
Love To Read
S. Krishna's Books

Description: From a rising star in women's fiction, Sweet Love is an irresistibly delicious novel about the power of love, dessert, and the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters.

Julie Mueller, once a brilliant local television reporter, has been fired for the sin of being forty. Broke, divorced, unemployed, and struggling to raise a teenage daughter alone, she had given up on happiness until she receives for Mother's Day four dessert classes that spark not only a new burst of culinary creativity but a burning passion for one of her fellow students, Michael Slayton, a true love she let slip away.

Before Julie can win back her soul mate, however, she must make amends to those she's unwittingly hurt in her past and stare down a crisis every woman must face. Armed with the love of her mother, her daughter, her own determination, and lots and lots of chocolate, Julie takes to heart Shakespeare's plea: "Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said thy edge should blunter be than appetite."

Bestselling author Meg Cabot has said that "opening a book by Sarah Strohmeyer is like opening a box of chocolates - sweet, a little nutty, and absolutely irresistible." With this new novel, Sarah Strohmeyer - author of The Cinderella Pact and The Sleeping Beauty Proposal - proves those words especially apt and delivers a story as rich and satisfying as a chocolate layer cake.

Rating: ***1/2

Recommend: Most reviews I've read are nothing but positive and I think a lot of readers who enjoy chick-lit and women's fiction would enjoy it.

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

2008-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

Phew! I gobbled this one up! I started it last night after finishing The Wednesday Sisters and read 3/4 of it before bed. I was really looking forward to reading Sundays at Tiffany's because I so much enjoyed Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. But at the same time, the reviews I had read before weren't exactly glowing, so I was trying not to get my hopes up too much either.

And you know what, I loved it. I loved the little bit of mystery and magic involved. I loved the child-like innocence of the story and the purity of their relationship for each other. I thought it was beautiful and so sweet and all along I thought I knew exactly what was coming at the end, but I was wrong. The book really reminded me of the movie City of Angels, which I also loved.

As for the characters themselves, I loved the main girl Jane. She was so sassy and yet so sweet. When the authors wrote sarcastic little comments by the characters, I loved it and caught each one. I just felt like I could envision their chemistry and personalities so clearly. For me it was a home run and I only wish that James Patterson would write more of these stories more often!!

Description: As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, the powerful head of a Broadway theater company, has no time for her. She does have one friend-a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael-but only she can see him.

Years later, Jane is in her thirties and just as alone as ever. Then she meets Michael again-as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they've really been reunited.

SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY'S is a love story with an irresistible twist, a novel about the child inside all of us-and the boundary-crossing power of love.

For other reviews on Sundays at Tiffany's, check out these blogs below:

Girls Just Reading

Booking Mama

Rating: *****

Recommend: Absolutely for all those romantic saps out there like me!

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

2008-10-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Tons of positive reviews of The Wednesday Sisters have been circling the net for a while now. I'm probably one of the last people to actually sit down and read it.

And though I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, I don't think it had quite as much affect on me as it could have if I had not just recently finished The Knitting Circle. Thankfully there were some unexpected twists and turns that continued to keep me completely engaged. And don't get me wrong, I ADORE women's fiction, because I love studying human relationships, but I felt that these two stories in particular very much paralleled each other regarding the issues involving women and their friendships.
I still recommend it as a great read, I would just make sure to space this one out with the other friendship books out there that seem to be flooding the market.

Description: Friendship, loyalty, and love lie at the heart of Meg Waite Clayton’s beautifully written, poignant, and sweeping novel of five women who, over the course of four decades, come to redefine what it means to be family.

For thirty-five years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. Defined when they first meet by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love that has enveloped most of the Bay Area in 1967. These “Wednesday Sisters” seem to have little in common: Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago, brutally blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete, Kath is a Kentucky debutante, quiet Ally has a secret, and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett wears little white gloves with her miniskirts. But they are bonded by a shared love of both literature–Fitzgerald, Eliot, Austen, du Maurier, Plath, and Dickens–and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year.

As the years roll on and their children grow, the quintet forms a writers circle to express their hopes and dreams through poems, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, they experience history in the making: Vietnam, the race for the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they have ever thought about themselves, while at the same time supporting one another through changes in their personal lives brought on by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success.

Humorous and moving, The Wednesday Sisters is a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.

Here are other reviews I came across (if you have one that I haven't listed, let me know and I'll update the list!):

The Read Feed
The Written Word
Leafing Through Life
Rhonda's Corner of the World
Breaking the Spine

Rating: ***1/2

Recommend: It really was a great read!

Another Giveaway!

2008-10-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Stephanie over the Written Word is giving away a signed copy of "Keeping The House" by Ellen Baker and you too can enter to win by clicking here.

Not that you should, because that would mean it would decrease my chances at winning and this book looks pretty darn cute, don't ya think?

Yea, maybe you shouldn't enter - you wouldn't want to ruin someone else's chances. ;-)

Just kidding!!

Love The One You're With by Emily Giffin

2008-09-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

"But maybe that's what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all."

Thank God that passage was in there, because I'm telling you what, there were times I was ready to pick up this book and chuck it across the room. Let me back up. I take marriage extremely seriously. I take my vows very seriously and I do what I can to protect and nourish my marriage even if it means taking some drastic steps in some cases.

But this story was about coming across that one guy, that first love, after you had married someone else. And let me tell ya, I get it, I really do. What would you think, what would you do if you saw him? Everyone might handle the situation differently. But when you realize you have a really good thing, a wonderful man, just like Ellen knows from the beginning she has in her husband Andy, why on earth would you continually flirt with fire?

It would have been a lot easier story for me to digest if Andy was a total jerk, abusive, maybe had left her, or cheated on her...something to justify what she was doing. But here you have a great and attentive husband and she's off sneaking around...ok, I've got to stop or I'll give too much away. The book itself was well written and it definitely kept my attention, but I was just extremely frustrated with the story line itself.

I'm not deterred from reading Emily Giffin again, I've heard from friends that her other books are wonderful. But every once in a while, you come across that one book that hits a nerve and this one hit mine. If your a fan of Emily Giffin, by no means let my opinion keep you from reading it...after all, its just my opinion.

Description:
The New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof delivers another captivating novel about women and the choices that define them. This is the story for anyone who has ever wondered: How can I truly love the one I’m with when I can’t forget the one who got away?

Ellen and Andy’s first year of marriage doesn’t just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she’s living is the one she’s meant to live. Love the One You’re With is a powerful story about one woman at the crossroads of true love and real life.

See what others had to say about "Love The One You're With":

Book Club Classics
Girls Just Reading
A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore

Rating: ***

Recommend: meh, you wouldn't be missing out terribly if you didn't read it.

Yes! I'm It!

2008-09-28T17:28:00.001-07:00

Trish over at Hey Lady! Watcha Readin? tagged me for a meme on 6 Weird Things About Me!

Hey, don't everybody chime in at once now! I KNOW I'm a bit weird.

Before I get up close and personal with y'all, here's the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

Ok, time to get personal folks.

1. I pass out with eye stuff. Ever seen the episode of Friends where Rachel goes to the eye doctor....Yea, that's me. I don't know why it happens but if you touch YOUR own eyeballs, put drops in YOUR own eyes, take out YOUR contacts, I'm down for the count. I'm not as bad with my own eyes, but still can't put drops in my eyes without passing out. Weird, I know.

2. I have co-dependency issues with water bottles. There are currently six filled water bottles in my passenger seat and about 15 in my backseat. And don't touch them. I have no idea why, but I like them right where they are at.

3. There is a bubble in my nose. I'm being for real. If you gently squeeze the tip of my nose, you can feel it cave in and pop out. I haven't really met anyone else with this weird phenomenon, I guess I'm just blessed.

4. I wiggle when I'm eating something yummy without realizing it. My husband says he's never seen someone get so excited over food. Not like "yeah, I'm looking forward to Chinese food tonight", but more like doing a happy dance in the car and parking lot of my favorite donut shop. That's not so weird is it?

picture from here.

Take this picture for example, is it raising anyone else's blood pressure like it is mine right now?? Oh baby.

5. OK, so slightly less weird, but still probably not the typical norm - I don't like wearing skirts or dresses. I've come a long way from wearing jeans and grey hooded sweatshirts to work all the time. Now I actually MAKE myself put on a pair of heels and a skirt to work, but I feel so out of my comfort zone. I've worked at my job for 2 years now and after working there for a year and finally wearing a skirt, I'm not kidding.... EVERYBODY said something about it. "What? Kim in a skirt?!" Dude, I'm trying.

6. Ok, something random and a bit strange that not many people know. I've actually eaten quite a bit of dog food as a little kid. I still remember what it tastes like, it really wasn't all that bad.

picture from here.

How's that for laying it all bare?

Ok, so on to my tagging!

Lit Chick
Resonate
Hope is an anchor
Archives of our Lives
2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
The Magic Lasso

If you've already done the meme or its just not your thing, then no worries I'm just passin it on!

Get Out!

2008-09-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

(And that is meant to be said with your best valley-girl impression, because... *sigh*... well, we all have our flaws.)

Jason: "I have tonight off from work"

Me: "GET OUT!"

My sister: "You should have heard the way I told my boss off "

Me: "GET OUT!"

you get the idea....

So when I saw that my humble little book blog was granted with this lovely award, by Stephanie of Written Word, I instantly squeaked out "GET OUT!".

OK, so I'm a little excited about it and had to share my fun news with everyone. Stephanie, you completely rock and I admire you in many ways. I'm glad your surgery went well and I hope you continue to get better!

And keeping true to the spirit of blog awards, here are my shout-outs highlighting other blogs I truly love!

Book Escape

Books on the Brain

Booking Mama

Maw Books Blog

Bookshipper

The Written Word

Lit Chick

Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin?

S. Krishna Books

The Friendly Book Nook

Seriously, they're all great blogs and great individuals too, so check them out! Because of these lovely folks, in the last few months I've had a renewed passion for reading!

Some gas would do us all some good!

2008-09-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

1. There is no need to freak out about the gas shortage!

2. Where in the heck did the gas go?

3. Sitting in line at lunch waiting to fill my tank up is all I managed to do.

4. Prospects for finding alternative transportation is in the works.

5. Not enough gas in the whole state of Tennessee is the message.

6. Simplicity and tranquility are absent at the present moment, folks are downright freaking out.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to my husband finding some gas without being harmed by a desperate thug or redneck, tomorrow my plans include picking my mother-in-law up from the airport and Sunday, I want to relax with the fam over BBQ pork sandwiches and baseball! (I ran out of gas on those last two blanks - haa haa! Pun intended!)

Reading and Relaxation

2008-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

My hubby Jason captured a couple fun reading shots from this last weekend at the Columbine Bed & Breakfast in Louisville, Kentucky. We had a great time relaxing and then attending an 8 hour concert in Indianapolis!

I thought I'd post the pictures for fun, but if your interested in seeing more from the trip, check out my personal blog here.

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood

2008-09-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

I confess I'm a closet crafter (say that three times fast!). At 30 years old, I get a bit embarrassed confessing that I really do enjoy spending my evenings at home with either my nose in a good book or up to my elbows in embroidery thread cross-stitching. There's a reason my sisters call me "Grandma Scribbles". I'm a cross between a hip-hop lovin diva and an old soul ;-)

So with all that out in the open, you now know why a book about a knitting circle of friends sounded so appealing to me. As a matter of fact after reading The Knitting Circle, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to join a knitting circle if I knew of one.

The women in this story come from all different backgrounds and trials in their lives. But what I really appreciated was that as difficult of situations these women were living through, they found a way to persevere. It wasn't depressing, though it easily could have been, because the author was so great about showing how through the strength of each other as friends they literally could get through anything. It was powerful and inspiring and I really enjoyed this book a lot. Plus I now have this desire to try and pick up knitting again. I would highly recommend this book.

For more reviews on The Knitting Circle, you can click on the links below:

Book Club Classics
Books on the Brain
Booking Mama

Description: After the sudden loss of her only child, Stella, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island, as a way to fill the empty hours and lonely days, not knowing that it will change her life. Alice, Scarlet, Lulu, Beth, Harriet, and Ellen welcome Mary into their circle despite her reluctance to open her heart to them. Each woman teaches Mary a new knitting technique, and, as they do, they reveal to her their own personal stories of loss, love, and hope. Eventually, through the hours they spend knitting and talking together, Mary is finally able to tell her own story of grief, and in so doing reclaims her love for her husband, faces the hard truths about her relationship with her mother, and finds the spark of life again. By an "engrossing storyteller," this new novel once again "works its magic" (Sue Monk Kidd).

Rating: ****

Recommend: for sure, but you do need to keep an open mind.

Who Doesn't Like Free??!!

2008-09-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Lots of fun giveaways are taking place as part of the festivities of BBAW at My Friend Amy. Just check out what you can win through this week of September 15-19!!

Daily Raffles:
Monday--Books and Chocolate sponsored by My Friend Amy and Hey Lady! Whatcha' Readin?
Tuesday--Books and Going Green sponsored by My Friend Amy
Wednesday--Books and Coffee sponsored by My Friend Amy
Thursday--Books and Charity sponsored by My Friend Amy and Fashionista Piranha
Friday--Books and Movies sponsored by My Friend Amy.

Win a Book Club Girl Hostess Survival Kit!
Do you find it's your turn to host book club and not only do you not know what to serve but you don't know what books to offer up for the next month's selection?! Let Book Club Girl come to your rescue with the Book Club Girl Hostess Survival Kit.

One lucky winner of the kit will receive:

* A basket of cheese, crackers, cookies and wine for up to 12 people
* 5 great book group books to vote on for your group's next pick. And Book Club Girl will then donate 12 copies whichever book is chosen for your entire group to read.
* 12 Book Club Girl mousepads to give out as party favors that night
* 12 Book Club Girl bookmarks to mark everyone's favorite passages
* 12 Book Club Girl coasters to protect your coffee table from all those wine glasses!

TWO SORMAG Goody Bags containing books and more!

A Special Pamper Me Basket from Cafe of Dreams!
From Avon Foot Works
~ Inflatable watermelon shaped foot tub
~ 3.4 FL oz Watermelon Cooling Foot Lotion
~ 3.4 FL oz Watermelon Exfoliating Foot Scrub
~ 12 count Watermelon Effervescent Foot Tablets
~ An ARC of So Long At The Fair by Christina Schwarz
~ A variety of Hot Chocolate and Tea mixes

A pre-made blog template from SNSDesign!

A Subscription to Poetry Magazine from Savvy Verse and Wit!

BOOKS:
Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen
The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax
John's Quest by Cecelia Dowdy
Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy
Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
A Tale Out of Luck by Willie Nelson with Mike Blakely
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik
Gunmetal Black by Daniel Serran
Isolation by Travis Thrasher
The Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt
Every Freaking! Day With Rachell Ray by Elizabeth Hilts
Dewey by Vicki Myron
The Shiniest Jewel by Marian Henley
Keep the Faith by Faith Evans
The Book of Calamities by Peter Trachtenberg
A is for Atticus by Lorilee Craker
After the Fire by Robin Gaby Fisher
Mike's Election Guide by Michael Moore
War as They Knew It by Michael Rosenberg
Fixing Hell By Col. (ret.) Larry C. James
Wild Boy: My Life with Duran Duran by Andy Taylor
The Last Under-Cover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil By Bob Hamer
Border Lass by Amanda Scott
Insatiable Desire by Rita Heron
Hungry for More by Diana Holquist
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
Trespassers Will Be Baptized by Elizabeth Emerson Hancock
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by Trish Ryan
Never Surrender by General Jerry Boykin
Dream in Color by Congresswoman Linda Sánchez, Congresswoman Loretta Sánchez
Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton
Cobain Unseen by Charles R. Cross
Doing Business in 21st Century India by Gunjan Bagla
Branding Only Works on Cattle by Jonathan Salem Baskin
Launching a Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady, Orrin Woodward
How to Hear from God by Joyce Meyer
Knowing Right from Wrong by Thomas D. Williams
Pope John Paul II: An Intimate Life by Caroline Pigozzi
Pure by Rebecca St. James
He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobson
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobson and Dave Coleman
Move On, Move Up by Paula White
The Rosary by Gary Jansen
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
Right Livelihoods by Rick Moody
by George by Wesley Stace
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh
Dead Boys by Richard Lange
The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine Lopez
Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn
Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky
With Endless Sight by Allison Pittman
Harlequin Titles: To Be Announced.

Many other blogs are giving away books and prizes for BBAW as well! You can see the links to all of these giveaways here.