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

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.



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenge: 100 Books in a Year

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.



View all my reviews

Review-Confessions

Confessions by Sasha Campbell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Confessions started off kinda slow, but definitely picked up and was really good!

This story is about two best friends, Nikki and Trinette. Trinette is married to a good man, Leon, but they don't live together because he has a job in another state. Trinette is basically one of those "all about the money" women and will sleep with any man that will give her that money. She was really making me mad throughout the beginning of the story because she was basically acting like a straight up 'ho, but she does come to realize the error of her ways, but that's only after she loses Leon. Pure example of someone not knowing what they've got until it's gone.

While Trinette's story was interesting, I was much more intrigued with Nikki's. Nikki is also married, but her husband Donovan is away at war, and they've drifted apart in their marriage. Donovan sends her a letter saying it's best that they just move on with their lives. Nikki is devastated for awhile, until she meets the sexy and fine Kenyon. He seems like a dream come true, but of course you can't judge a book by it's cover. Kenyon proves to be straight up stalker crazy. Some of the things he was doing and saying, and Nikki and Trinette's reactions to him, had me cracking up at some parts.

I give this book 4 stars because it definitely kept me entertained. It started off slow and there were a few parts that I didn't like (mostly the parts involving Nikki's radio talk show host job) but other than that, I recommend it.



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Review-Natural Born Hustler

Natural Born Hustler by Nikki Turner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Natural Born Hustler is the story of 18-year-old Desember, who is, as the title says, a Natural Born Hustler. She will sell anything-aside from her body-legal or illegal, to make some money. After leaving her mother's house because she can't stand her stepfather, Desember goes to live with her boyfriend Fame, who is a hustler in his own right. The book begins with him getting shot and ending up in the hospital, seemingly as payback for him having hustled the wrong guy.
The story started off kinda slow, and I didn't really like any of the characters, but once Nikki Turner got into the back story on how Desember and Fame ended up where they were at the beginning, it quickly picked up and got interesting. This was a short read (only 114 pages) and I would've liked to get more into Desember's head to find out a bit more about her. I liked the whole Bonnie and Clyde vibe she and Fame had and I would've liked to see that explored more.
The book ended with a To Be Continued so I will definitely be picking up the next one to see what happens next.



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Review-Married on Mondays

Married on Mondays by HoneyB

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was written by HoneyB, which is the pseudonym of Mary B. Morrison.



The three main characters are sisters Foxy, Deja, and Victoria, who run a pastry shop called Creme by day, and then service clients sexually at Creme Fantasyland by night. All three sisters are married to three partners in a law firm: Foxy to Winton, who no longer pays any attention to her and is having fun on the side; Deja to Acer; and Victoria the "virgin" to a woman, Naomi. Foxy is still sleeping with her ex-fiance Dallas and Victoria has still been with her ex-boyfriend, Rain, who is the chief of police and threatens to rape Victoria if she doesn't give him her virginity.



This book was a quick read (started it last night and finished this morning) mostly because I kept reading to see if something would happen. This book basically had no plot. The characters, especially Deja, were not really fleshed out. I wondered if maybe this were the second book in a series because I kept feeling like I was missing something. I wanted to read more about the sisters' adventures at Creme Fantasyland than with their own spouses. I couldn't care less about Winton and mistresses Isis and Nova Scotia.



I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars because it did keep me mildly entertained, although I was close to giving it 2 stars.



View all my reviews

Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

In the mail:

A lot of R.L. Stine's Fear Street books that I won on ebay. The books are:
The Girlfriend
The Boyfriend
The Baby-sitter II
Blind Date
The Hitchhiker
Halloween Night
One Evil Summer
The Face
What Holly Heard
Broken Hearts
Silent Night
Silent Night II

Most of these I've read before, except maybe The Boyfriend (can't remember) and One Evil Summer. I absolutely LOVE the Silent Night books (Reva Dalby is such a great character), as well as Broken Hearts and Halloween Night.

From the library:

Diamond Playgirls-Daaimah S. Poole, et al
Work What You Got-Stephanie Perry Moore (YA Novel)
Natural Born Hustler-Nikki Turner
Promises in Death-JD Robb
Confessions-Sasha Campbell
Step Up-Monica McKayhan (YA Novel)
Married on Mondays-HoneyB
Rachael Ray's Book of 10-Rachael Ray
Biggest Loser Family Cookbook

What was in your mailbox this week?