Favorites of 2011 and End of Year Book Survey

My Top 10 Favorite Books of 2011: (in no particular order, except for #1 which was my favorite)

1. Right Package, Wrong Baggage-Wanda B. Campbell
2. Promises in Death-JD Robb
3. The Twilight Series-Stephenie Meyer
4. Be Careful What You Pray For-Kimberla Lawson Roby
5. Torn Between Two Lovers-Carl Weber
6. Summer at Willow Lake-Susan Wiggs
7. The Hot Box-Zane
8. Drop Shot-Harlan Coben
9. So Much Closer-Susane Colasanti
10. The Liar's Club-Layla Jordan

Here are my responses to The Perpetual Page Turner's End of Year Survey.

1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
Right Package, Wrong Baggage. Loved the characters and the story line, I definitely recommend it.

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
It's a toss up between Sweet Valley Confidential and Sizzling Sixteen. I probably shouldn't have expected too much from the Sweet Valley book, but it could've been much better than it was. And I really wish the Stephanie Plum series wasn't going downhill, I miss the witty writing from the first few books.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
Twilight. Seriously, I thought I would hate it and not even be able to finish it, but I'm glad I actually enjoyed the series.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
Right Package, Wrong Baggage

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
Twilight Series followed by the Myron Bolitar series

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
Layla Jordan (although technically I read the book in 2010, but oh well.)
Harlan Coben
Wanda B. Campbell

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Twilight again

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
Torn Between Two Lovers

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?
n/a

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
Looking through all of the covers, none of them are really a favorite.

11. Most memorable character in 2011?
Jacob Black!

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
All We Know of Heaven-Jacquelyn Mitchard

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
n/a

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
Twilight

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
I don't know if this is my favorite, but it's the main one I remember right now:
"You were very deeply asleep; I didn't miss anything." His eyes gleamed. "The talking came earlier."
I groaned. "What did you hear?"
His gold eyes grew very soft. "You said you loved me."
"You knew that already," I reminded him, ducking my head.
"It was nice to hear, just the same."
I hid my face against his shoulder.
"I love you," I whispered.
"You are my life now," he answered simply.

I think it's really sweet once I look past the creepy/stalkerishness of Edward.

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
Breaking Dawn, only so I could reread it before the second movie comes out.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Right Package, Wrong Baggage (Micah's secret finally being revealed) and Torn Between Two Lovers when we find out who Big Poppa is.

And as a bonus, my favorite songs of 2011, in no particular order, except for #1: (and these are all songs that were released as singles, otherwise the list would just be the tracklisting from Beyonce's 4 album):

2. Run the World (Girls)-Beyonce
3. Best Thing I Never Had-Beyonce
4. Someone Like You-Adele
5. Look At Me Now-Chris Brown
6. Ni**as in Paris-Jay-Z and Kanye West

And my favorite song of 2011:

Beyonce "Countdown"

Have a happy new year! See you next year!

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon Update #4

I finished reading RL Stine's Silent Night 2. I was planning to read Silent Night, but couldn't find it, but SN2 is just as good. I love Reva Dalby, she's so snarky and mean.

So that's three books down, one and a half left to go!

Review-'Twas the Spy Before Christmas

'Twas the Spy Before Christmas by Connie Keenan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a cute little holiday novella. I really enjoyed the characters of Dan and Beth and their growing romance. I actually wouldn't have minded if it had been a full-blown novel, just to see how their relationship progresses.



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Source: Freebie from B&N (still free!)
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Show Me the Free, E-Book Challenge, Contemporary Romance Challenge

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon Update #3

Indulgence in Death: read pgs. 136-169 (33 pages)
Twas the Spy Before Christmas: read pgs. 10-43 (33 pages)

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

The Book Vixen is hosting the 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge.

Details:

Runs January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012 (books read prior to 1/1/12 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2012 than you did in 2011. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. Nothing is set in stone; you can change levels at any time during the challenge.
Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
Grab the reading challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you could track your progress on Goodreads or LibraryThing.

Levels:

Getting my heart rate up – Read 1–5 more books
Out of breath – Read 6–10 more books
Breaking a sweat – Read 11–15 more books
I’m on fire! – Read 16+ more books

I will have read about 60 books by the time 2011 is over, so next year I am setting my goal for 65 books, so I am signing up for the Getting My Heart Rate Up level.

Review-The Bite Before Christmas

The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This Christmas story is actually 3 novellas in one. The first one is about millionaire vampire Connor Drake who is desperate to get his home in the holiday spirit. His vampire friend, matchmaker Angelina, sets him up with event planner Jillian. The second story is about Angelina's fried Vivian, who is madly in love with her coworker and is devastated when he tells her he is dying. And the third story is about Angelina herself, who has an "It's a Wonderful Life" style intervention regarding her own boyfriend Ian.

I really enjoyed the first two stories, the third one not so much, although I did like Angelina as a character. The author has an easy to follow writing style, very humorous and snarky. I would read more by this author.



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Source: Freebie from B&N (no longer free, though)
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Show Me the Free Challenge, E-Book Challenge

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon Update #2

Total time read: 2 hours and 7 minutes (again!)
Books read: The Bite Before Christmas (pgs. 170-238 FINISHED)
Indulgence in Death (pgs. 103-136)
Total pages read: 151 pages

Merry, merry Christmas to all!!!!

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon Update #1

Between last night and this morning:

Time read: 2 hours and 7 minutes
Books Read: Indulgence in Death (46 pages read, now on pg. 103 of 384)
The Bite Before Christmas (87 pages read, now on pg. 170 of 238)
Total pages read: 133 pages

Happy Christmas Eve!

2012 Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge

The Unread Reader hosted the Show Me the Free Reading Challenge in 2011 and this year's she's doing it again, this year called the Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge.

Challenge Guidelines:
If you have a blog, create a post announcing your participation in the challenge. Please include a link back to this post.
Non bloggers: participate by linking up your profile URL from the site you plan to post your reviews on such as Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
When you post your book review, you MUST reveal how you obtained the free & legal download. Please make your source clear.
You can list your books in advance or list them as you read them.
Crossovers to other reading challenges is acceptable, but ARCs/galley e-books DO NOT count. Again, this is a Reading Challenge to read as many of the FREE e-books legally offered for your e-reader. To get started, check out the Top 100 Free books on Amazon, or the Free e-books on Barnes & Noble.
Any linked reviews that do not meet the guidelines will not be entered into the monthly drawing for the prize of the month.

Levels:
Coupon Clipper: 12 Books
Penny Pincher: 24 Books
Super Saver: 30+ Books

I am going for the Coupon Clipper level.

Books Read:

2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge

The Eclectic Bookshelf is hosting the 2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

Rules:

Anyone can join.
You don't need a blog to participate. If you are a Non-blogger please leave a comment with a link (if you review elsewhere) to your review or with the book(s) you read.
Audio, ebooks (some libraries allow ebooks to be checked out), bound books are ok.
No re-reads
Create a sign up post and post the link in the linky below.
Challenge goes from January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012
Levels:

Level 1 - Read 12 library books
Level 2 - Read 24 library books
Level 3 - Read 36 library books
Level 4 - Read 37+ library books

I am going for Level 2-24 library books.

Books Read:
1. Mama Dearest-E.Lynn Harris
2. Smokin' Seventeen-Janet Evanovich
3. Diary of Mistress-Miasha
4. Too Hot for TV-Cheris Hodges
5. What's His is Mine-Daaimiah S. Poole
6. Scandalicious-Allison Hobbs
7. Fade Away-Myron Bolitar
8. Say Amen, Again-Reshonda Tate Billingsley
9. Off the Chain-Candice Dow
10. Silenced-Kia Dupree
11. A Stolen Life-Jaycee Dugard
12. Treachery in Death-JD Robb
13. Tempted by Trouble-Eric Jerome Dickey
14. Money Never Sleeps-Tu-Shonda L. Whitaker
15. Deliver Me From Evil-Mary Monroe
16. Don't Even Go There
17. I'm Telling-Karen E. Quinones Miller
18. Sometimes it Happens-Lauren Barnholdt
19. Back Spin-Harlan Coben
20. White Lines-Tracy Brown
21. Explosive Eighteen-Janet Evanovich
22. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight-Jennifer Smith
23. Do You Take This Woman?-RM Johnson
24. The Available Wife-Carla Pennington
25. Mistress No More-Niobia Bryant
26. White Lines II: Sunny-Tracy Brown
EDIT on May 29, 2012: Now going for Level 4 (37+) books

2012 E-Book Challenge

I took part in The Ladybug Reads 2011 E-Book Challenge and I definitely want to do it again this year. This year it is hosted by Workaday Reads.

Challenge Guidelines:
This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012.
Anyone can join, you don't need to be a blogger. If you don't have a blog, feel free to sign-up in the comments. You can post reviews to any book site (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc).
Any genre or length of book counts, as long as it is in ebook format.
You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the E-Book Reading Challenge.
You can move up levels, but no moving down.
Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

Levels:
Floppy disk - 5 ebooks
CD - 10 ebooks
DVD - 25 ebooks
Memory stick - 50 ebooks
Hard drive - 75 ebooks
Server - 100 ebooks
Human brain - 150 ebooks

This year I only managed to read 9 e-books (hopefully at least 11 by the end of the year) so right now I'll put myself down for the CD level, but will hopefully be able to move up to DVD level.

Books Read:
1. One for the Money-Janet Evanovich

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon

Since I am off work until after the new year, this will be the perfect chance to get some last minute reading done before the end of the year. Jessie at Remarkable Reads is hosting the Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon, which started yesterday and runs through midnight on New Year's Eve.

My plan is to spend at least two hours a day reading (an hour in the morning and an hour before bed). The books I plan to read are:

1. The Bite Before Christmas-Heidi Betts (currently on pg. 83 of 238)
2. Indulgence in Death-JD Robb (currently on pg. 57 of 384)
3. Dating Mr. December-Philipa Ashley
4. Twas the Spy Before Christmas-Connie Keenan
5.

I haven't chosen a 5th book yet, although I would like to. That will take my 2011 Books Read number to 62.

Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge: Wrap Up Post

Callapidder Days' Fall Into Reading Challenge ended yesterday. I did not read all the books I had originally planned to but I was able to finish these from the list:

1. In Between Lies-Shawna Hill
2. I Loved You First-Reena Jacobs
3. Message from a Mistress-Niobia Bryant
4. The Million Dollar Divorce-RM Johnson
5. If You Walked In My Shoes-Gywnne Forster
6. The Hot Box-Zane
7. Breaking Dawn-Stephenie Meyer
8. Halloween Night-RL Stine
9. Halloween Party-RL Stine
(I am currently reading Indulgence in Death by JD Robb, which is also on that list.)

In addition, I also read these books:

10. Visions of Sugar Plums-Janet Evanovich
11. God's Gift to Women-Michael Baisen

I don't really have a favorite book from this bunch, although I really enjoyed Breaking Dawn, The Million Dollar Divorce, and The Hot Box.

I did enjoy the challenge and I hope to participate in it again next year.

Review-God's Gift to Women

God's Gift to Women: A Novel by Michael Baisden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


God's Gift to Women is a novel by radio personality Michael Baisden. I had read his book The Maintenance Man a few years ago, which I wasn't too impressed with, but I decided to give him another chance.

This novel is a typical fatal attraction story, where the main character Julian Payne (a radio host, just like Michael Baisden, what a coincidence!) has a one night stand with a woman named Olivia. Julian lets Olivia know that this is only a one night stand because he and his daughter will be moving to a new city the very next day. Olivia won't take no for an answer and follows them there.

I didn't really like Julian and I thought he was kind of a punk about the whole thing and the story had a few plot points that just seemed dumb and implausible (like Olivia becoming a longterm substitute at Julian's daughter's school...is it that easy just to become a sub?) but it did leave me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. A quick, enjoyable read.




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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Mystery and Suspense Challenge 2012

I am again signing up for Book Chick City's Mystery and Suspense Challenge for 2012.

I will be doing the first level, to read 12 mystery and suspense books in 2012. I will keep track of my progress here.

Books Read:
1. Smokin' Seventeen-Janet Evanovich
2. One for the Money-Janet Evanovich
3. Fade Away-Harlan Coben
4. Treachery in Death-JD Robb
5. Back Spin-Harlan Coben

Review-Visions of Sugar Plums

Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This Plum holiday novella has been on my bookshelf for a few years now and I've never gotten around to reading it. I've been pretty much over the Stephanie Plum series for awhile now, and I'm only reading the rest for completion, but I figured since this book came out awhile ago that it might have some of the same magic of the earlier Plum books.

No such luck. It opens with a man named Diesel miraculously appearing in Stephanie's living room, and unfortunately he's there throughout the rest of the book as some sort of piss-poor Ranger replacement (who is nowhere to be seen in this one.) The rest of the book includes the usual Plum antics: Stephanie's car catches on fire, Lula attacks some midgets, Grandma Mazur loses her teeth, Joe kisses Stephanie on the forehead, same old same old

A very generous three stars. It had a few enjoyable moments, but they were few and far between and I have no intentions of reading any of the other Plum holiday novellas starring Diesel.



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Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Review-I Loved You First

I Loved You First by Reena Jacobs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I Loved You First is a young adult novella about a college student named Alex, who has a crush on her best friend Seth. Seth is the perfect guy and the perfect best friend, except for one being problem: he's gay.



I liked Alex as a character and could relate to her in some ways-hanging on to Seth because he was her only friend, and leading Dink on since he was the only guy to pay her some attention. I've always had trouble putting my own self out there and making friends, so I could understand how Alex felt in that regard. I didn't like Seth and it did annoy me that Alex was so hung up on him and I was waiting for her to get over that. The story dragged some but it did have me wanting to see what would happen next. A decent, coming of age novella that would be a quick, enjoyable read.



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Source: Received from author for an honest review
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Young Adult Challenge, E-Book Challenge

Review-Breaking Dawn (Spoilers!)

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



So I finally reached the end of the Twilight series. I had intended to finish reading this before the movie came out, but I was finished with the first part which was all the movie covered, so I was good.

The book starts with Bella preparing for her wedding to her vampire beau, Edward. I really like how fast-paced this part was and how it wasn't dragged out. I enjoyed reading about their wedding and got a bit teary-eyed as Bella said goodbye to her father before she and Edward left on their honeymoon. Of course the highlight is when good old Jacob, BFF, shows up because of course he wouldn't miss his best friend Bella get married. But when he finds out what she and Edward plan to do to consummate their marriage, he isn't too happy and has to be removed from the wedding.

Edward then whisks Bella off to Isle Esme, a private island for their honeymoon. Again, these were some of my favorite parts of the book (and the movie!) I feel that this is when Ms. Meyer does her best writing, when she's writing the romantic elements between Bella and Edward. This part ends with Bella realizing that she's pregnant and vowing not to let anyone do anything to her baby.

The next part is Part 2: Jacob. Despite the fact that Jacob is my favorite character, I disliked that he had a whole section told from his point of view. All of the other books had been solely from Bella's point of view, I figured this one should have been too, but whatever. Parts of this section really dragged. I don't like Jacob as much when he's in his wolf-form and when he's "sharing thoughts" with the rest of the pack, which is the majority of what happens. The best parts of course is when he's with the Cullens and his reactions and interactions with Bella's pregnancy. He's there for the whole thing and is able to figure out what the baby wants when none of the other supposedly super smart Cullens could do. At the end of this part, the baby is born, Bella dies, and Edward injects her with his venom.

The last part is back to Bella's point of view. She has to silently endure the pain of the venom spreading through her body and when she awakes, she's now a vampire. I was really excited to read about how Bella would be like as a vampire and while certain parts were interesting, I thought Ms. Meyer took the easy way out by having Bella adjust oh-so-very-well to vampire life. This section is mostly about their upcoming battle with the Volturi. As I wrote about in my New Moon review, anything dealing with the Volturi is not appealing to me. I feel that this is when the writing gets sloppy and drags on, and there were about a million vampires introduced here that I cared nothing about. I enjoyed the battle scenes with James and co. in Twilight, and Victoria and the newborns in Eclipse, but I can't stand these scenes with the Volturi. This one was even worse than the one in New Moon because in this one there is all this build up for NOTHING.

Once we finally got passed all that Volturi nonsense, we then say goodbye to Bella and Edward and their family. I am so glad that I finally gave the Twilight series a chance this year and got to know these characters. While they (with the exception of Jacob) are certainly not my favorite characters or the most well-written, I enjoyed reading about them and I will miss them. I liked the movie a lot more than the book and I look forward to the second part coming out next year.



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Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Young Adult Reading Challenge
Source: purchased

Breaking Dawn Part 1 Premiere

Tonight I was able to see an advance screening of Breaking Dawn Part 1. omg, it was amazing!!!! I loved it! And I'm going to see it again on Saturday with my boyfriend! Can't wait!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (33)

I'm still reading the glorious trainwreck that is Breaking Dawn. I'm about 500 pages in and after a couple of slow parts, it finally picked up and I couldn't put it down over the weekend. I finished the first 2 parts (which is where I assume the Part 1 movie will end at) and contemplated holding off on reading the last part until right before the final movie comes out, but no, that wasn't going to happen. I still have about 300 more pages to go, so I doubt I'll be done by Thursday (which is when I'm seeing the movie) but we'll see!

Review-The Hot Box

The Hot Box by Zane

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Zane has always been one of my favorite authors and this book definitely shows why.

The two main characters are Lydia and Milena, two best friends from a small town. Despite living in the small town, Lydia has big dreams and hopes to one day make it big in New York City or Hollywood. For the time being, she's stuck working part-time as a cashier at Food Lion and living with her safe but boring boyfriend Glenn. To spice things up a bit, she's also been sleeping with Glenn's best friend Phil for years.

Milena had planned to have the perfect life. She was going to marry Jacour, a hot shot baseball player. However, she learned that he slept with some strippers at his bachelor party so she called off the wedding and went into seclusion, swearing herself off from men. That is until Jacour comes back into town and she has to find a guy to pretend to be her boyfriend, so Jacour doesn't think she needs him. Enter Yosef, a man she literally finds in the street.

As always, Zane creates colorful characters that you can relate to and a spicy, steamy plot that makes you want to keep reading. I enjoyed the little twists at the ending, especially Milena's. A definite must-read.



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Source: Library
Challenge: 100 Books in a Year

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (32)

It's Monday, What are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished The Hot Box by Zane and Halloween Night by RL Stine.

This Week: I'm reading Halloween Party by RL Stine

Up Next: BREAKING DAWN!!!!!

Review-If You Walked In My Shoes

If You Walked In My Shoes by Gwynne Forster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



In this story we have Coreen a successful business woman who has a secret: years ago when she was a teenager she was raped by a classmate, and she gave the baby up for adoption. No one knows this, including her husband Bates and his two sons. Coreen and Bates already have enough strain on their marriage, due to her blossoming career.

Frieda Davis is the child that Coreen gave up all those years ago, and now, as a grown woman, she has vowed to find Coreen and get revenge on her for giving her up and causing her to spent years being sexually abused by her foster father. She comes up with a plan to ease her way into Coreen's life so that she can make it miserable.

The premise of this book sounded really good, but unfortunately did not live up to that. It dragged on in many parts and not one of the characters was likeable at all. The only thing that kept me reading was to see exactly what Frieda would do when she finally met up with Coreen and even that was a letdown. This is a generous 3-star rating.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (31)

Last week: I finished If You Walked In My Shoes by Gwynne Forster and Message from a Mistress by Niobia Bryant (reviews coming soon!)

This Week: The Million Dollar Divorce by RM Johnson

Challenge Complete: 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge

I completed BookChickCity's 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge on September 27, 2011. Here are the romances I read:

1. Harvest Moon-Rochelle Alers
2. Summer at Willow Lake-Susan Wiggs
3. Fools Rush In-Janice Thompson
4. The Winter Lodge-Susan Wiggs
5. The Wolf Prince-Karen Kelley
6. Last Night's Kiss-Shirley Hailstock
7. Seduced on the Red Carpet-Ann Christopher
8. Queen of His Heart-Adrianne Byrd

Favorite book: Summer at Willow Lake and Seduced on the Red Carpet
Least favorite book: The Wolf Prince

Series Sunday Review (5)-In Between Lies

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie. Here is my Series Sunday pick:

In Between Lies by Shawna Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In this story, we have Savannah, a successful career woman who has been hurt by love before. She cautiously enters into a relationship with Kevin, a handsome weather reporter from the local news. Kevin seems like the perfect guy, but of course he's hiding a secret: namely his ex, a crazy, stalkerish woman named Naomi. Even though Kevin is happy with Savannah, he can't resist slipping back into Naomi's bed.

This was a typical crazy-woman-stalks-man-and-his-new-woman story, but there were a few twists and turns along the way. It started off a bit slow and it took me awhile to warm up to the characters of Savannah and Kevin, (also there were quite a few grammatical errors that made the teacher in me cringe) but the story line did keep me on the edge of my seat and wanting to find out just what would happen next. I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending and I look forward to reading the next installment in this series, to see what crazy Naomi will do next.



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Source: downloaded
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Challenge, E-Book Challenge, Show Me the Free Challenge

Theme Thursday (18)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

This week's theme is SORRY / FORGIVENESS.

My entry comes from In Between Lies by Shawna Hill.

"Hello, Savannah. It's nice to see you too." Lenora walked into the kitchen and sat beside her sister. "Wait, before you say anything and let me apologize with all my heart about what happened between me and Dre. I know I was wrong and you should hate me to death."

Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge

Fall Into Reading is a fun, no-pressure challenge hosted by Callapidder Days. Here are the guidelines:

Make a list of books you want to read (or finish reading) this fall. Your list can be as long or as short as you’d like.

Write a blog post containing your list and submit it to this post using the Mr. Linky below.

Get reading! The challenge goes from today, September 23rd, through December 21st.

Check out other participants’ lists and add to your own to-read-someday pile, if you wish!

Write a post about your challenge experience in December, telling us all about whether you reached your goals and how Fall Into Reading went for you. But remember: this is a low-pressure challenge that should be fun. As long as you do some reading this fall (and enjoy it!), that’s good enough for me.

Here are the books I plan to read for FIR:

1. In Between Lies-Shawna Hill (read: October 1, 2011)
2. Intimate Betrayals-Shawna Hill
3. I Loved You First-Reena Jacobs
4. Indulgence in Death-JD Robb
5. Message from a Mistress-Niobia Bryant (read:
6. The Million Dollar Divorce-RM Johnson (read: October 20, 2011)
7. She Creeps-Alex Hairston
8. The Heart of a Panther-Latia Howard
9. Fade Away-Harlan Coben
10. Backspin-Harlan Coben
11. If You Walked in my Shoes-Gwynne Forster (read: October 10, 2011)
12. Shakespeare's Champion-Charlaine Harris
13. The Hot Box-Zane
14. Breaking Dawn-Stephenie Meyer
15. Halloween Night-RL Stine
16. Halloween Party-RL Stine

Most of these are library books that I've had out for awhile and haven't had a chance to read yet. Hopefully I'll be able to get through this list, as well as more books, during this time.

Theme Thursday (17)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Readig Between Pages

This week's theme is SOUND / MUSIC.

My entry comes from Queen of His Heart by Adrianne Byrd:

The decor of white and silver gave the place a modern chic feel, while the music pouring through the speakers was an odd combination of nature sounds and classical piano.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (30)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished reading Last Night's Kiss by Shirley Hailstock, an African-american contemporary romance that I downloaded for free from B&N. Solid 3 stars, nothing to write home about.

This week: Right now I'm reading Seduced on the Red Carpet by Ann Christopher, another african-american contemporary romance, with the exact same premise as the book I read last week, but with much more interesting characters, and hotter love scenes.

Up next: I need to read another romance so I can finish up the Summer Romance Reading Challenge, which will most likely be the only challenge I complete this year.

In My Mailbox (7)

I have been meaning to do an IMM for awhile, but haven't, so these are books that I've gotten over the past few months.


Intimate Illusions by Shawna Hill





In Between Lies by Shawna Hill





Received from author Shawna Hill, downloaded onto my Nook Color (Strawberry)

I Loved You First by Reena Jacobs





Received from author Reena Jacobs, also downloaded onto Strawberry.

Heart of a Panther by Latia Howard and Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris.

Latia is actually my coworker, we teach 5th grade together this year. We've worked together for years, but this is the first year on the same grade level. This is her memoir, and although I'm not the memoir type, I had to show my support.

As for the Shakespeare book, I received that from one of the posters off Proteacher during our annual back to school PT exchange. My elf put together a really nice package for me and this book was included in it. I've never read any of Charlaine Harris' books although I have wanted to read her Sookie Stackhouse series. I am looking forward to reading this book, if only because it has something to do with Shakespeare and I love Shakespeare!

So that's it for me. Aside from some teacher workbooks and the book from my coworker, I have stuck with my no book buying ban. I have so many books in my TBR that it will be awhile before I'll have to actually buy a book (well, at least until November, which is when I plan to buy Breaking Dawn, so I can read that before the movie comes out.)

Have a great week!

Series Sunday Review (4)-The Wolf Prince

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie.

My series Sunday pick for this week is:


The Wolf Prince by Karen Kelley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



In this story, we have a pretty, blonde rich girl named Darcy who lives in a big mansion. She has dreams of becoming a PI, but her adoptive mother thinks it's too dangerous for her. One day while out strolling in the woods, she thinks she sees a wolf, and then thinks someone is trying to attack her, so she hits him over the head with a stick.

Turns out she hits the head of a guy named Surlock, who is completely naked and after being hit, can't remember who he is or what he was doing there. So Darcy decides to take him in and have him pretend to be her boyfriend to impress her parents.

Throughout the story, Darcy and Surlock grow attracted to each other and sleep together several times, much to the disappointment of Darcy's longtime friend Peter who has decided he loves her.

This was my first paranormal romance novel (not counting the Twilight series, which I love) and it was not a favorable introduction to this genre. Darcy and Surlock are nice, but I just couldn't find myself caring anything about them. In fact, at the end of the story when Darcy gets kidnapped, I was hoping her kidnappers would kill her off so the book would end. It was just long, boring, and tedious. I was going to abandon it around 80 pages in, but then it picked up a bit, so I kept reading. That was a mistake, because it just went downhill from there. The only good parts were the love scenes.

The Wolf Prince is the third book in the Princes of Symtaria series, although it can be read as a standalone. I have no desire to read any other book in this series.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, 2011 Summer Romance Challenge

Theme Thursday (16)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages

This week's theme is HEALTH (Health / Wellbeing / Illness / Disease/ etc )

My entry comes from The Wolf Prince by Karen Kelley:

Her laughter only grew louder. It didn't mix well with the humming and Darcy could feel a headache coming on.

Review-So Much Closer

So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Brooke is a high school junior who, on the last few days of junior year, decides she needs to profess her love to Scott, a fellow junior whom she believes she is destined to be with. Before she can tell him her feelings, she learns that he and his family are moving from their New Jersey town to New York City.

But not to worry! Brooke then decides that she's going to follow him to New York because she will move in with her father who abandoned her and her mother years ago who just so happens to live in the neighborhood that Scott is moving into. How convenient!

I normally hate stories that have plot contrivances like that so I was a little iffy on this one at first. However, I really liked Brooke and being able to watch her adjust to her new life in New York. She starts her senior year at the same school Scott goes to, and they have a fun class together called Out the Box. We are able to see what happens with Brooke's crush on Scott as well as the relationship with her father, and her new friends Sadie. Sadie finds out what a genius Brooke is and gets her to sign up for tutoring, where Brooke begins tutoring another senior named John, an eccentric boy with a learning disability.

I really enjoyed the characters of Brooke, Sadie, and John. I like how "take charge" Brooke was in regards to her feelings for Scott. I wish I had her determination! I also enjoyed her rants about the public school system. As I said, Brooke is a genius, but gets by on Cs in school, simply because her teachers (before she came to New York and met the Out the Box teacher) never challenged her or forced her to step up. As a public school teacher myself, it's things like this (even though this book is fictional) that let me know that I do need to be here to show that not all teachers are simply here for a paycheck(small as it is anyway.)

I wasn't too much a fan of Scott, and the outcome of he and Brooke's situation could be easily predicted, but it was still interesting to read how it happened. I was very pleased with the ending.

A solid four stars and I definitely recommend this enjoyable young adult read.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Young Adult Challenge

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (29)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week I finally finished The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs.

Right now I'm reading So Much Closer, a young adult novel by Susane Colasanti.

These extra days off from school due to the earthquake and then the hurricane have helped me speed up my reading a bit, lol.

Series Sunday Review-The Winter Lodge

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie. I'm posting mine early since, due to Hurricane Irene, I possibly might not have any power tomorrow (hopefully I will. But all the schools will not have any so I won't have work on Monday. Wishful thinking, of course.)

The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The Winter Lodge is the second installment of the Lakeshore Chronicles, a series set in the small town of Avalon, New York. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, Summer at Willow Lake which told of the romance between Olivia Bellamy and Connor Davis. This book focuses on Jenny Majesky, the illegitimate half-sister of Olivia.

Jenny is the owner of the town's bakery and has just suffered the loss of her beloved grandmother. Then one night her home ends up catching on fire and she is forced to spend a few days living with the chief of police, Rourke McKnight. Jenny and Rourke have long had feelings for each other. But Rourke had graciously stepped aside when his best friend Joey professes his love for Jenny and they become engaged. Rourke carefully keeps his heart guarded and never lets anyone get too close.

I enjoyed this story, although not nearly as much as Summer at Willow Lake. Jenny and Rourke aren't as interesting as Olivia and Connor. I did like finding out what had happened with Jenny's mother and why she had abandoned Jenny (and Olivia's father) all those years earlier. We also find out more about Daisy Bellamy, Olivia's teenage cousin, who has her own little crisis to deal with. I definitely recommend this follow-up to Willow Lake and I look forward to the next in the series.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge

Brief Blogging/Reviewing Break

I know there are a couple of authors that I had agreed to do reviews for, so I just wanted to post that for the next couple of weeks or so I'll be taking a brief blogging/reviewing break until the back to school rush dies down and I am actually able to do some reading again.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (28)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey,

I'm still reading The Winter Lodge. Between being in Atlanta this weekend (although I did do a lot of reading at the airport) and teachers officially starting back this week and students coming next week, I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately and probably won't be for the next couple of weeks :( The back to school rush has begun!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (27)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished Something Borrowed and attempted If These Walls Could Talk, but abandoned it.

This week: I'm reading The Winter Lodge, the sequel to Summer at Willow Lake.

Sadly, my summer is almost coming to an end, next week is teachers' first day back at school, but I am going in all this week to start putting my new classroom in order. It is a mess! My nephew and I went in today (although he was no help) and stayed for about 5 hours. I got my cabinets cleaned out and organized, and I'm exhausted! So much more to do! Hopefully I'll be able to finish my book by this weekend when I go to Atlanta to visit my bestie!

Happy reading folks!

Review-If These Walls Could Talk (DNF)

If These Walls Could Talk by Bettye Griffin

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Couldn't finish it. Too many characters, none of whom were developed so I couldn't keep any of them straight. I got to page 66 before I got bored with all the house hunting and no advancement to the plot.



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Review-Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

This was a really good book, although very predictable. Everything that you think will happen, does, but the book still kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering if it would deviate from the predictable path (it never does.)

I really liked the character of Rachel and I could identify with her in a lot of ways. Not in the having-an-affair-with-your-best-friend's-fiance way, but because I know what it's like to be 30 and still single and feeling as though you will live the rest of your life alone. I could identify with feeling as though you are always in competition with your friends. And once she and Dex began the affair, I could understand her pain and frustration of not knowing if he shared the same feelings as her.

We are clearly supposed to dislike Darcy, which I do. Just when you are wondering why Rachel even bothers being friends with her, there is the scene with their sleepover after Darcy's bridal shower, which I thought was really cute and allowed me to like Darcy a little bit, up until the end when she messed that up again. I do like Emily Giffin's writing style and I am curious to see what happens with Rachel and Dex's relationship and Rachel and Darcy's friendship, so I do plan on reading Something Blue, the sequel to this one, even though it is from Darcy's point of view.



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Source: purchased from B&N onto Strawberry
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, E-Book Challenge

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (26)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

I almost forgot to post this today as I forgot it was Monday since I'm spending the week in the lovely, sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! It's amazing, I could just stay here forever!

Last week I finished reading Fantasy in Death by JD Robb and Dr. Feelgood by Marissa Monteilh.

This week my beach read is Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. I've been wanting to read this since I saw the trailer for the movie. I heard that the movie was awful and I'll wait until it's on cable to see it, but the book so far is pretty good.

Have a great week peeps!

Theme Thursday (15)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

This week's theme is ANY ACTION (go, walk, close, clap etc)

My entry comes for Dr. Feelgood by Marissa Monteilh:

He danced with everyone, including doing the cha-cha with Dr. Lois Gotta-Find-Me-a-Man Taylor. But, I snatched him away when "I Don't See Nothin' Wrong" by R. Kelly began. It was time to slow dance and she needed to back up. One song is my absolute limit for sharing. There'll be no bumpin' and grindin' with my man.

Review-Fantasy in Death

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The game started with a murder. Now, it's Eve Dallas's move.

It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced: the founder of the computer gaming giant U-Play is found decapitated in his locked, private playroom. And now Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death...
Typical Eve Dallas thriller. I did enjoy it, however since I'm not into the fantasy games, parts of this went over my head a bit and I found it a tad too futuristic and unbelievable. I kinda liked how Eve had already figured out who the killer was but wouldn't tell us, and I was happy to know that I guessed right (although I hadn't figured out the motive.) While this won't be one of my favorites from the series, I definitely recommend it if you're an Eve Dallas fan.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Mystery and Suspense Challenge

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (25)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson

This week: I'm reading Fantasy in Death by JD Robb.
My goal is to finish this and then at least 2 of the other paperbacks I got from the library before we head to the beach on Sunday (and while at the beach to read a ton of books that have been sitting patiently on Strawberry waiting to be read). Hopefully now that my two-week science course is done, I can squeeze in some more reading time.

Have a great reading week!

Series Sunday Review (3): Fools Rush In

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews.

Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ever wonder how Italian sounds with a Southern drawl?
Bella Rossi's life is just starting to get interesting. When her Italian-turned-Texan parents hand over the family wedding-planning business, Bella quickly books a Boot-Scootin' wedding that would make any Texan proud. There's only one catch--she doesn't know a thing about country music. Where will she find a deejay on such short notice who knows his Alan Jackson from his George Strait? And will Bella ever get to plan her own wedding?

Fun, fresh, and full of surprises, this flavorful combination of Italian and Tex-Mex highlights the hilarity that ensues when cultures clash.

This was a really cute story. Bella and her crazy Italian family kind of reminded me of Stephanie Plum and her crazy family, only without the bounty hunting, pot roast, and sexy Officer Morelli. Instead Bella has wedding planning, lasagna, and her sexy cowboy DJ.

Bella has just been placed in charge of the family's wedding planning business and she's a nervous wreck that she will screw up. She has to hire a deejay who loves country music for her first country western themed wedding and a mix up leads her right into the arms of DJ: Dwayne Neeley, Jr. As Bella and DJ grow closer, we're introduced to all the wacky hi-jinx that happen when their two families get together.

I really enjoyed the character of Bella, although she was a bit too much of a worrywart. I thought she and DJ were really cute together, however I thought their relationship moved a little too fast in the beginning and that they really didn't get to know each other a whole lot. I thought this would be solely a romance novel and focus mainly on their relationship, but it was more Christian-fiction and focused mostly on Bella's family, with her and DJ's relationship as a nice little side plot. I did enjoy the Christian element to the story and it did give me a lot to reflect on as well.

There are two more book in this series and I look forward to reading them.



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Source: freebie for the Nook from B&N, you can snag it here.
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Challenge, Summer Romance Reading Challenge, Show Me the Free E-Reader Challenge, 2011 E-Reader Challenge

Theme Thursday (14)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

This week’s theme is SMILE (Laugh, Grin, Giggle, Guffaw, etc).

My entry comes from Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson.

Once again the song distracted me. I found myself smiling as I heard "Just like birds of a feather, a rainbow together we'll find."

Review-Summer at WIllow Lake

Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Real estate expert Olivia Bellamy reluctantly trades a trendy Manhattan summer for her family's old resort camp in the Catskills, where her primary task will be renovating the bungalow colony for her grandparents, who want one last summer together filled with fun, friends and family. A posh resort in its heyday, the camp is now in disarray and Olivia is forced to hire contractor Connor Davis—a still-smoldering flame from her own summers at camp. But as the days grow warm, not even the inviting blue waters of Willow Lake can cool the passions flaring or keep shocking secrets at bay. The nostalgic joy of summers past breathes new promise into a special place and people…a promise meant to last long after the season ends.

I downloaded this freebie awhile ago and am just now getting around to reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The main character, Olivia, travels back to her family's old camp resort to renovate it for her grandparent's wedding anniversary. Olivia spent many summers there as a child and teen, and while there, she met and fell in love with Conner Davis, her first love who ends up breaking her heart.

Olivia heads back to Camp Kioga with 3 failed engagements under her belt, and she's not looking for any type of romance. But who ends up being the only contractor in town who can help work on the camp renovations? Conner Davis. As they get reacquainted with each other, the chapters flashback to when they were teens at the camp, and what drew them to each other, caused them to fall in love, and what forced them apart. I generally don't like stories that use a whole lot of flashbacks (like in Sweet Valley Confidential...yuck) but I didn't mind it at all in this instance, because we got a lot more insight into Olivia and Conner.

Also, there are two sub-plots, one involving Olivia finding out a shocking revelation about her father, and the second involving Olivia's younger cousin Daisy whose parents are going through a divorce that reminds Olivia of her own parents' divorce years ago, and Julian, Conner's rebellious half-brother who is sent to spend the summer at the camp with him. Again, I generally dislike sub-plots in romance novels, because they usually involve people I don't care about, and they take away focus from the main characters. But I really enjoyed reading the back story on Olivia's father, and the budding friendship between Daisy and Julian. Apparently Susan Wiggs has a whole series of these books, focusing on the people from Camp Kioga, and I look forward to reading them all.



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Source: Freebie from B&N
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, 2011 Summer Romance Challenge, Show Me the Free E-book Challenge, 2011 E-Book Challenge

Theme Thursday (13)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

This week's theme is BODY PARTS (Hands, feet, fingers, waist etc).

My entry comes from my current read, Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs.

"My God, Mariska," her father whispered. He lowered his head to his hands, and rested his elbows heavily on his knees. He looked diminished, somehow, as though the revelation had destroyed some vital part of him.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (24)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished Remember Me by Christopher Pike and Diamond Revelation by Sheila Copeland

This week: I'm reading Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

What are you reading this week?

Review-Diamond Revelation

Diamond Revelation by Sheila Copeland

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Apparently this book is the third in a series (preceded by A Chocolate Affair and Chocolate Star). I wish I had known that before reading this book, so I could've read those first and then I might've liked this one more.

The main characters in this story are Sabre, a young up-and-coming music star; Topaz, a veteran musician with the perfect family; and Nina, Topaz's cousin who is trying to revamp her recording company.

None of these three characters was likable at all. Sabre sets out to destroy Topaz's life once Topaz decides to return to the music industry. Topaz's stupidity continues to cause problems in her marriage. And Nina is too busy smoking pot to properly run the music label. In between all that is a typical baby switching/who the baby daddy drama. The ending, while sad, is very predictable.

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year



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Theme Thursday (12)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
*This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

Tis week's theme is FACIAL PARTS (Eyes, Ears, Nose, Lips etc)

My entry comes from Diamond Revelation by Sheila Copeland:

Germain put his hands around Topaz's forehead and massaged her temples. "Sometimes I wish I could get inside your pretty little head so I could know what you're really thinking. You're not keeping anything from me, are you?"

Review-Remember Me

Remember Me by Christopher Pike

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Shari Cooper was a typical teen with boyfriend trouble and cravings for chocolate cake. Now she's a ghost trying to solve her own murder.

This has always been one of my favorite Christopher Pike books. Excellent story with interesting characters, especially the main character, Shari. Through Shari we get an in depth look at death as she sets out to prove that she did not jump off a balcony to her death at a friend's birthday party, and that she was in fact, murdered. The suspects are the other kids at the party: Jo, Shari's best friend; Dan, Shari's boyfriend who has been cheating on her; Beth, the birthday girl whom Dan is cheating with; Amanda, a shy, quiet girl who is the daughter of Shari's housekeeper and the girlfriend of her brother; and Jeff, the guy Jo has a crush on. As Shari travels in the afterlife trying to make some sense of her death, she is joined by a former classmate, Peter, who was killed in a motorcycle accident and Jeff's brother.

This story is full of twists and turns and is an enjoyable, creepy read. Shari Cooper definitely gets her one wish when the reader is finished this story: people will remember her.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Mystery and Suspense Challenge, Young Adult Books of the '80s and '90s, Read Me Baby One More Time

Theme Thursday (11)

Happy Fourth of July and Happy 100th post to me! Fitting that it would be on July 4th. Anyway, this Theme Thursday is late, but I couldn't find any references to the theme in the book I was reading last week, so I was just gonna skip it altogether, but I found a perfect one this morning in the book I'm reading now.

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
*This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is JULY 4th (Celebrations, Independence, Freedom, Flag, Fireworks etc)

My entry comes from Remember Me by Christopher Pike:

But I used to have more important things to think about than God. Like whether I should try to have sex with my boyfriend before I graduated from high school or whether I should wait until the Fourth of July and the fireworks. I wanted it to be a special moment. I wantd my whole life to be special. But I just hardly ever thought about God.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (23)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last Week: I finished reading Drop Shot by Harlan Coben.

This Week: I'm reading Remember Me by Christopher Pike.

Up Next: Diamond Revelation by Sheila Copeland

Series Sunday Review (2): Drop Shot

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews.

1. Read an installment of a series.
2. Post a review/recommendation on your blog, FB, Twitter, Goodreads, or Shelfari pages.
3. Share your review/recommendation by posting the link in the comments section below.
4. Include the title, author, and name of the series so that other Series Sunday participants can add the book to their TBR Lists.

My Series Sunday pick for this week is Drop Shot, the second book in the Myron Bolitar series.
Drop Shot by Harlan Coben

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Valerie Simpson is a young female tennis star with a troubled past who's now on the verge of a comeback and wants Myron as her agent. Myron, who's also got the hottest young male tennis star, Duane Richwood, primed to take his first grand slam tournament, couldn't be happier. That is, until Valerie is murdered in broad daylight at the U.S. Open and Myron's number one client becomes the number one suspect.

I liked the first book in the Myron Bolitar series, but I loved this one! Harlan Coben seems to be more comfortable with his characters and they all really shined in this story. I also liked the mystery better in this one, it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. I was way off on who I thought the murderer was, but once I found out who actually did it, it made sense.

The humor in this book came a lot more naturally than it did in the first book. I really like Myron, he seems like a sweet, smart guy, although I wish he would start carrying a gun with him. At least he's always got his best friend Win to have his back.

I'm still a little iffy on the relationship between Myron and Jessica, although I did find them to be really sweet together in this book. I hope she doesn't hurt him again, although it seems like that's probably going to happen.

A solid five stars for this one, and I can't wait to read the next one in the series (which will be whenever it is available at my library).



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Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Mystery and Suspense Challenge
Source: Library

Review-The Sunday Morning Wife

The Sunday Morning Wife by Pamela D. Rice

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The description of this book was so much better than what the actual book turned out to be.

The Sunday Morning Wife is about a woman named Yolanda who is married to Timothy who is a prominent pastor of a church. He has been physically, emotionally, and sexually abusing Yolanda for years. Unable to leave her marriage, Yolanda meets Andre whom she begins an affair with.

I found it very hard to sympathize with Yolanda. Yes I felt very sorry that her husband was beating her and calling her terrible names, but Yolanda did nothing to help her situation. I have never been in or witnessed an abusive relationship so I know it's easier said than done, but I don't understand why she didn't just leave him. She had plenty of money (that Timothy was spending all up) and she seemed semi-intelligent, so she could've just left him. They never really explain why she didn't, just her saying that she loved him. What is there to love about him, Yolanda????

This book still could've gotten 3 stars out of me, however this book suffers from the one thing that pisses this English major off the most: numerous grammatical errors. The publishers and editors of this book did a horrible job. Using apostrophes at the wrong time, no paragraph breaks in between dialogue changes, ugh I just can't stand it.



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Challenges Used For: 100 Books in a Year
Source: Library

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (22)

It's Monday, What are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished Harvest Moon by Rochelle Alers (4 stars)

Currently: I should be finished with The Sunday Morning Wife by Pamela D. Rice tonight.

Up next: Drop Shot by Harlan Coben and Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

What are you reading this week?

Theme Thursday (10)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:
*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
*This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is MALE PERSON (Father, Grandfather, Brother etc)

My entry comes from Harvest Moon by Rochelle Alers:

There was a swollen silence before Martin Cole's soft, drawling Southern cadence came through the wire again. "Oscar Spencer is lucky he's dead, or I would break his neck. What the hell kind of life did you have with him where--"

"I don't want to talk about it," Regina snapped angrily, interrupting her father. "He's dead, Daddy. Let him rest in peace."

Review-Not Easily Broken (spoilers)

Not Easily Broken: A Novel by T.D. Jakes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not Easily Broken tells the story of a married couple, David and Clarice. They have been married for 15 years, but lately there has been some strain in their marriage. A terrible car accident leaves Clarice with a badly broken leg and their marriage is put to the test even more.

Not Easily Broken was made into a movie that came out a year or so ago and it stars 3 of my favorite actors, Taraji P. Henson (or as she will forever be known as to me--Yvette from Baby Boy), Morris Chestnut, and Jenifer Lewis. They all did a fantastic job in an otherwise "just okay" movie. It's very rare that a movie is better than the book, but that is definitely the case with this one.

None of the characters in the book are well developed or sympathetic at all. We are left to wonder why Clarice and David love each other and why they should even stay together. Clarice just seems like a harping shrew. David is a spineless punk. And then there's Julie, who plays Clarice's physical therapist, whom David starts to have feelings for. They tried to make her sympathetic what with the situation with her son Bryce, but it just came across to me like she was using that tragedy to get closer to David. And then at the end, all of a sudden David and Clarice are going to stay together, and Julie is dating Brock? SO did David and Julie's feelings for each other just disappear? There is no way I'd want the woman that my husband developed feelings for anywhere around us, much less dating my husband's best friend.

Clarice's mother in the book didn't have nearly as large a role as she did in the movie, played by the fabulous Jenifer Lewis. She did a great job bringing some life to an otherwise boring and bland character, who again was never fully developed. All the actors did.

All in all, not a terrible book, but could've been much better. Skip the book and just rent the movie instead.



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Summer Reads: The Professional Version

These are the professional development books I plan to read this summer.



I read The Book Whisperer last summer and I enjoyed it, so I want to re-read it again this year and see if I can actually implement some of the ideas next school year. I've also browsed through Conferring with Readers a couple years ago when my school was doing a book study on it (note I said I browsed through it--never actually read it) and I'ma try to do reading conferences this year, so I thought it would be good to actually read it this time. I added the Mailbox Superbook Grade 5 since I'm being forced to teach 5th grade next year, despite the fact that I want to stay in Fabulous Fourth.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (21)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last Week:
I finished Princess Sister by Sheila Copeland and Why Men Love B*tches by Sherry Argov.

This Week:
I'm reading Not Easily Broken by TD Jakes

Today was a sucktastic day. My principal told me she's moving me to 5th grade next year :( I never wanted to teach 5th grade. Well, I never wanted to teach 4th grade either, but I wound up loving it. I'm going to miss being in Fabulous Fourth. Plus I'll have most of the same students I had this year. They weren't a terrible class at all (in fact, one of my best) but I just wanted a new group of kids next year. Even worse, I have to pack up my whole classroom (which I LOVED!) and move down the hall to another one. Oh well, I guess it won't be too bad. We'll see!

I hope you lovelies had a better Monday than me! :-)

Mini-Reviews

Princess Sister by Sheila Copeland

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Nice story. The characters weren't fully developed, but they were okay. I enjoyed the fact that the family was from Paris (I love that city and hope to go one day.)



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year


Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl-A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship by Sherry Argov

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Very eye-opening. I'm a total nice girl. gave me some good ideas on how to be a Babe In Total Control of Herself.



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Theme Thursday (9)

Theme Thursday is a weekly event hosted by Reading Between Pages.

*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.


This week's theme is NUMBERS.

My entry for this week comes from pg. 153 of Princess Sister by Sheila Copeland.

"Oh, and we finally have an official wedding date. We're getting married the first of February. We've only got six more months."
"We'll be twenty in February, too, mon ami."
"That's right, Claude. Soon, we'll be able to purchase our own drinks."