Review-One for the Money (book and movie)

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Great book, one of my favorites. This is the Stephanie Plum I fell in love with, the witty dialogue, the LOL situations, the lovable bumbling idiocy of Stephanie as she figures out the bounty hunter business. It's such a refreshing change from the disappointment of the last few books in the series.

The movie, however, does no justice to the book. I should've gone with my first instincts when I heard this movie was coming out and just not bother to see it, but the closer it got to release date and the more previews I saw, the more I wanted to see it, especially after rereading the book. But I should've waited until it came on TBS or something. I'm pretty much indifferent to Katherine Heigl (liked her on Grey's Anatomy, loved her in Knocked Up, haven't paid much attention to anything since then) but she wasn't so good as Stephanie. She played her a little too overly confident for my tastes. I hated the guy who played Morelli. I'd give the movie a 2.5 out of 5. If they decide to come out with another one (and I hope they don't) I won't be seeing it.



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Source: bought
Challenges: Outdo Yourself, Mystery and Suspense, Ebook Challenge

Review-Diary of a Mistress

Diary of a Mistress: A Novel by Miasha

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I began reading Diary of a Mistress last Saturday morning. I figured I would read a couple of chapters before getting out of bed and starting my day. Well, about two and half hours later, I had finished the book. It was so good, I couldn't put it down and just had to keep reading to see what would happen.



Angela is a woman who has had no problems with sleeping with married men. She's mentally unstable due to her poor relationships and has been in and out of mental facilities. During her latest stint in one, her therapist tells her she should keep a diary to help her air out her feelings. Angela does--writing all about the relationship she's had with a married man named Carlos.



Monica, Carlos' wife, thought they had the most beautiful, wonderful marriage, until she receives the package in the mail that contains Angela's diary. At first she is skeptical about it, but then too many things to Angela writes about add up to things that have actually happened in Carlos and Monica's marriage.



The book was full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming and kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait to see what Monica would do and what would be the outcome of Angela's little plan. I definitely enjoyed this one.



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Source: Library
Challenges: Support Your Local Library, Outdo Yourself

Review-Smokin' Seventeen

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another typical Stephanie Plum novel. What more is there to say, they are all exactly the same at this point. I could see who the killer was a mile away. In fact, it was so obvious that I was actually surprised when that's who it turned out to be, because I was like was it supposed to be that simple to figure out?

In other news, the more I see the previews for the One for the Money movie, the more I want to see it. I'll be rereading the book beforehand, to remind myself of the days when the Stephanie Plum series was great and laugh out loud funny. Nowadays, not hardly.



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Source: Library
Challenges: Outdo Yourself, Support Your Local Library, Mystery and Suspense

Review-Mama Dearest

Mama Dearest by E. Lynn Harris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read a few E. Lynn Harris books years ago (Invisible Life, As I Am, and something else) so I was somewhat familiar with Harris' writing styles and his characters. This book is about Yancy Braxton, a former Broadway diva who is struggling to get back on top of the game. Derailing her plans is her mother, Ava, who has recently been released from prison.

The story is very slow moving, although it does make you want to keep reading to see what Ava's plans are for Yancy and just how low she will go. I wasn't a fan of any of the characters, especially Madison B. I'm not sure why, I just didn't like her at all.

There were also a couple of grammatical errors such as tense changes in the same scene (one second it's in the past tense, the very next sentence it's in the present tense), things like that drive the English major in me crazy.

All in all, not a bad book, it just takes awhile to get into. I might have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books about Yancy right before this one.



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Source: Library
Challenges: Outdo Yourself, Support Your Local Library

2012 Reading Goals and Challenge Round Up

GoodReads Challenge
This year I am challenging myself to 65 books.

The Book Vixen's Outdo Yourself Challenge
Last year I read 61 books, so this year I hope to outdo myself by reading 65, which is the Getting my heart rate up level.

Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge
I still have a bunch of freebies on Strawberry from last year that I never got around to reading, and I know I'll get more this year, so I hope to read at least 12 free e-books, which is the Coupon Clipper level.

2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge
I signed up for this one since most of the books I read anyway are from the library. I originally signed up for Level 1-Read 12 books, but I'm already going to change that to Level 2-24 library books.

2012 E-Book Challenge
I am going for the CD Level-Read 10 e-books.

Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge
I am going for 12 mystery/suspense novels this year.

That's it for now. Happy reading to all!

2011 Reading Year in Review

This was my first full year as a book blogger and I really enjoyed it. I have renewed my love of reading, expanded my never-ending TBR pile, and have a way of keeping track of all the books I read and my feelings on them. I signed up for many challenges in 2011, here's how I did:

GoodReads/Book Chick City's 100 Books in a Year Challenge
I was only able to read 61 books this year.

Book Chick City's Mystery and Suspense Challenge
Close but no cigar, I read 10 out of 12 books.

The Book Vixen's YA of the '80s and '90s Challenge
There was no specific number of books to read for this one, but I read 5, which is good enough for me.

The Unread Reader's Show Me the Free Reading Challenge
This one was a fail. I wanted to read 24 free e-books on Strawberry, but was only able to read 8.

Midnight Book Girl's Read Me Baby, One More Time Challenge
I signed up to re-read 6 books, I read 5 so not so bad.

Romance Book Maven's Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge
Read 8 out of 10 books.

The Ladybug Read's E-Reader Challenge.
I thought I would be reading a ton of books on Strawberry, which is why I signed up to read at least 20 e-books. Due to the fact that I put myself on a book buying ban and got most of my books from the library, I was only able to read 11.

Jamie's Young Adult Reading Challenge
Read 15 out of 20 books

Book Chick City's Summer Romance Challenge
This is the only challenge I completed this year. I read 8 books.

I didn't sign up for as many challenges this year, so hopefully I will be able to complete more of them this year.

Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon Update-FINAL

I enjoyed participating in Jessie's Wrapping Up 2011 Readathon. The books I read were:

The Bite Before Christmas
Indulgence in Death
Silent Night 2
'Twas the Spy Before Christmas

I didn't even start a 5th book since I went out of town for New Year's Eve, but I am happy that I was able to wrap up the year with reading 4 books.