Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Review-The Sunday Morning Wife

The Sunday Morning Wife (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents)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

Monday, June 27, 2011

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?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

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."

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Review-Not Easily Broken (spoilers)

Not Easily Broken: A NovelNot 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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Saturday, June 18, 2011

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.

Monday, June 13, 2011

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! :-)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Mini-Reviews

Princess SisterPrincess 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 RelationshipWhy 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

Thursday, June 9, 2011

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."

Monday, June 6, 2011

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (20)

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

Past 2 weeks I finished:
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Heaven Right Here by Lutishia Lovely

Currently Reading:
Princess Sister by Sheila Copeland
Why Men Date B*tches by Sherry Argov
The 17 Day Diet

Did not finish:
Winter Break by Kayla Perrin. I like Kayla Perrin's romance novels, but these college-based mysteries that she writes are just not the business. I read Spring Break last year and it was nothing to write home about. I was plodding away through this one when I got to about page 60 or so and realized I was wasting my time and decided to move on.

Up next...I don't know. We finally have only 9, yes NINE days of school left. I can't wait. This was actually one of my best classes (well, up until spring break, now they are mini-monsters but I really can't blame them) but I am so ready for this year to be over. So sick of waking up early, grading papers, entering in grades, typing lesson plans, printing lesson plans, trying to find a working printer to print the lesson plans, putting in copies, etc, etc. I need a break. So in 2 weeks it will all be over and I will be FREE!