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Monday, January 30, 2012

Teaser Tuesday


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted byMizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...



  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's my teaser this week:


"Seventeens is when a Healer's power manifests in its entirety," he said.  "And for you...well...let's hope I can train you enough before you come of age that you'll be able to manage that when it happens."


All Wounds - Dina James pg. 46

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading

 Mailbox Monday was originally hosted by Marcia at the Printed page but now it is a traveling meme. This month it is being hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

I picked up a few Nook books this week.

































It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the last week:


Books I am reading this week:

All Wounds - Dina James
Harbor - John Ajvide Lindqvist
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare (work in progress)

Books to Finish This week:
All Wounds - Dina James

Friday, January 27, 2012

Cinder - A Review

Cinder - Marissa Meyers (publisher)


Synopsis:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Thoughts:

Okay I really was not sure of this book when I received it. I was a little concerned with it be based on fairy tales. I went in thinking I'd know the story line and outcome. Not the case with Cinder at all and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. I flat out loved this book!
It's loosely Cinderella based. You have a mean, evil Step-mother and sister. A handsome Prince, even a carriage of sorts. With an added going crazy scientist and evil Queen from another planet, and you have a book chock full of actions and suspense. 
Cinder is a cyborg. Not fully human and not fully machine either. She is treated like a second class citizen and not worth a dime. That right there had me rooting for her. Then add the fact she's tough and a fighter when put to the test. I loved that about her character. I loved that she was willing to take risks and fight when needed. Then you have Prince Kai. The whole kingdom of girls swoon over him. He's not your normal overbearing, narcissistic prince. This prince is caring and empathetic and has had his share of heartaches. Let's not forget about the evil Queen Levana. She is the perfect villain. I pretty much distrusted her from the get go. Kinda hard not too with her actions. 
There are so many great characters in this book but don't want to go into too many for fear of giving away details. The plot line was fantastic and kept me riveted. If I had any gripes is the book stopped at a big ole cliffhanger and now I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2!

Author's Website: Marissa Meyers

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Switched - A Review

Switched - Amanda Hocking (Library Thing Early Reviewers)

Synopsis:

Amanda Hocking is an indie publishing sensation whose self-published novels have sold millions of copies all over the world, and Switched is the book that started the phenomenon.  Prepare to be enchanted…
When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right.  She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because of Finn Holmes.
Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her.  Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit.  But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth:  Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth—and he’s come to take her home.   
Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening.  And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…

My Thoughts:
What a solid start to a new trilogy. Being a fan of Paranormal style books, I found this one about the Troll world refreshing and new. The characters were interesting to say the least. I found that almost all of them had traits I hated and enjoyed. Making it hard to decide if I like or even trust them. Wendy is like able and not at the same time. Sometimes I found her to be incredibly narcissistic and other times you see snippets of vulnerability that makes you want to comfort her. 

Elora I want to throttle but acts much like I imagine a queen would act. Rhys , I just end up feeling bad for. Tove, I can't decide if he's trustworthy or not. Finn I adore but most of the time want to smack him upside the head. There's a handful of other characters I assume will have more play in the other two books. 

All in all not a bad way to start a series, I'll be checking out the next book as well. Curiosity has grabbed me by the collar and I would like to see where the story is going. 

Author's Website: Amanda Hocking

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Kitchen Daughter - A Review


The Kitchen Daughter - Jael McHenry (publisher)

Synopsis:

After the unexpected death of her parents, painfully shy and sheltered 26-year-old Ginny Selvaggio seeks comfort in cooking from family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning (“do no let her…”) before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish.
A haunted kitchen isn’t Ginny’s only challenge. Her domineering sister, Amanda, (aka “Demanda”) insists on selling their parents’ house, the only home Ginny has ever known. As she packs up her parents’ belongings, Ginny finds evidence of family secrets she isn’t sure how to unravel. She knows how to turn milk into cheese and cream into butter, but she doesn’t know why her mother hid a letter in the bedroom chimney, or the identity of the woman in her father’s photographs. The more she learns, the more she realizes the keys to these riddles lie with the dead, and there’s only one way to get answers: cook from dead people’s recipes, raise their ghosts, and ask them.

My Thoughts:

I really liked this book. Matter of fact I read it in one afternoon. I have been in a slump as of late and with one turn of a page of this book, the slump melted away and I was drawn into Ginny's world. 
Watching Ginny transform from a scared woman with Asperger's, who just lost her parents, to a strong independent woman facing her fears and life, was amazing. I really enjoyed how food and cooking were brought into the book. Being someone who doesn't enjoy cooking, this book made me wish I did. Jael made cooking look so cathartic and made me want to go bake some bread or soup. 
There were other great characters in the book. Gert, David, the ghosts. Even Ginny's sister, even if I was never sure of her angle. To be honest even though these characters were great. This book really, for me, was all about Ginny and watching her evolve. 
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a character that will reach out and grab your heart and attention. 

Author's Website: Jael McHenry

Monday, January 23, 2012

Teaser Tuesday


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted byMizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...



  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's my teaser this week:


A couple things made that day stand out more than any other: it was my sixth birthday, and my mother was wielding a knife.  Not a tiny steak knife, but some kind of massive butcher knife glinting in the light like a bad horror movie.  She definitely wanted to kill me. 


Switched - Amanda Hocking pg. 1

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Mailbox Monday and What Are You Reading

 Mailbox Monday was originally hosted by Marcia at the Printed page but now it is a traveling meme. This month it is being hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

Another empty mailbox for me this week.

It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the last week:

Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells
The Kitchen Daughter - Jael McHenry

Books I am reading this week:

Switched Amanda Hocking
Harbor - John Ajvide Lindqvist
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare (work in progress)



Books to Finish This week:
Switched - Amanda Hocking


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading


Mailbox Monday was originally hosted by Marcia at the Printed page but now it is a traveling meme. This month it is being hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

A very slow mailbox week which is very okay with me. I was too busy to get much done last week









It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the last week:

Nada it was a very slow reading week for me

Books I am reading this week:

Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells
Harbor - John Ajvide Lindqvist (this one is pretty good but has been put on hold for a bit)
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare (this book is taking me months to read but I expected it would)

Books to Finish This week:
Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

11 22 63 by Stephen King

11/22/63 - Stephen King (bought)

Synopsis:



ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, THREE SHOTS RANG OUT IN DALLAS, PRESIDENT KENNEDY DIED, AND THE WORLD CHANGED. WHAT IF YOU COULD CHANGE IT BACK?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963—turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

My Thoughts:

I loved Mr. King's new book! His books always take me longer to read than most. I think because I take more care with his words and don't want to rush them, even if I feel like devouring every last one. I just don't even want to miss any little details.

When I found out what this book was about, I couldn't wait to read it. I kept thinking, what if you got the chance to go back in time and stop the assassination?  What would the world be like to day if you could? I also kept wondering what the ripple effect of something like this? Any small change can alter one's life. I figured a change this big would have a dramatic ripple. 

As I long time fan of Mr. King, what holds me true to his books, is his storytelling. I just really enjoy it.  I love the world he creates, his characters. He certainly didn't lessen his ability in this book. Jake, George however you wish to call him, is a well built, and likable character. I admit my soft spot is for Sadie. I really enjoyed her character. I loved her fiery spirit. Another character I found myself fascinated with was the Yellow Card Man. A tiny part in the whole scope of things but one of the more important characters. I was glad to have learned what we were able to have learned about him, but would've loved to learn more. 

Read the book. You'll enjoy it. 

Author's Website: Stephen King

Monday, January 9, 2012

Teaser Tuesday


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted byMizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...



  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's my teaser this week:


"Thanks for joining us, magepire. What the hell took you so long?"  This from the seven-foot-tall demon standing in the center of my living room. He tapped a hoof on the hardwoods and shot a glare that would make a lesser woman piss her pants.


Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells page 11 (ebook)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading


Mailbox Monday was originally hosted by Marcia at the Printed page but now it is a traveling meme. This month it is being hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

I bought one book last week:























It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the last week:

11 22 63 by Stephen King

Books I am reading this week:

Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells
Harbor - John Ajvide Lindqvist
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare (work in progress)



Books to Finish This week:
Silver Tongued Devil - Jaye Wells
Harbor John Ajvide Lindqvist





Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Yoga Club - Blog Tour January 4, 2012

The Yoga Club - Cooper Lawrence ( blog tour)


Overview


Chatting it up with bendy WASPs is the last thing on Coco Guthrie’s mind during her 8:30 a.m. yoga class. Having made her fortune as the world-renowned inventor of Butt-B-Gone derriere cream, Coco still doesn’t feel like she belongs among the upper class— until she attends the swankiest Halloween soiree in Greenwich, Connecticut, where three of her fellow morning yogis shared her brilliant idea to appear as Sarah Palin. Soon it’s clear that a love of stretching isn’t all this accidental sorority—which includes a single mom with echolalia, an entertainment reporter who charms the pants off handsome stars, and a drama-prone producer with a taste for drag— have in common.
When the four mischievous Sarahs wander away from the party to sneak a peek at the mayor’s neighboring estate, they are stunned to find him adorned in leather and latex, and rolling up a woman’s body in a Persian rug. To make matters worse, someone has spotted the spying Palins. Someone who threatens to expose their torrid affairs in business and the bedroom. Now the unlikely foursome must use all their wits and wiles to get to the bottom of the kinky crime. But will their budding friendship be strong enough to protect their deepest secrets?

My Thoughts:
This will be kept short and sweet. I had a bit of a rough time getting into the book. I think mostly because it's a perfect beach read and I wasn't in the mood for that kind of book. With that said, I actually enjoyed the book once I settled into it. 
It's a fluffy read where the characters can be outlandishly fun and frivolous and yet maintain a decent story line even if it was a tad predictable.
So if a fluffy, relaxing beach read is what you are looking for. This is a great book to grab and read. 

Author's Website: Cooper Lawrence


Monday, January 2, 2012

I'm back...

from an unexpected winter blog break. Seems like I lost 3 weeks somewhere and not sure where it has went. With the holidays and my son coming home on leave for 2 weeks of it, then add work and my gym schedule, it seems I have barely had time to breathe let alone get much reading or blogging done at all. However the holidays are over, my boy is back in Florida and my youngest goes back to school tomorrow. With that said I plan on jump starting my 2012 reading and blogging year strong and getting back into the swing of things starting this week.

Happy reading all!!