Book Review- Firstlife

I finished reading Firstlife (Everlife #1) by Gena Showalter last night for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…

So.  Unfortunately for me, I have to finish every book I start.  Otherwise this book would have been a DNF from a few chapters in.  And it only got slightly better for me.

Myriad and Troika.  Two realms.  That I kept getting completely confused.  It took me at least half the book, if not longer to understand the difference in the two and remember them.  Ugh.  Not fun to constantly be questioning what is going on.  (Oh and don't get me started about the short message pages and trying to figure out who was sending them.)

And Ten.  I couldn't stand her.  She seemed like she wanted to be lovable but was portrayed as too tough and there was nothing that made her sympathetic to me.  And the whole Archer versus Killian thing.  I actually felt sorry for the boys.

The story was too dark for me.  There's such thing as an action packed book, and then there's such thing as a book with way more drama than necessary.  So many things happened that were just weird and left me saying "Why?"

I was really hoping to like this book.  I really was.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Magonia

I finished Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley a little while ago but am behind on reviews!

From Goodreads:

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.
Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?


Weird.  Weird weird weird.  I just could not get into this.  Without spoiling it for you, it turns out that Aza is something not human.  And what she is, is something I've never read about before.  Which quite honestly is a good thing.  I can't even really wrap my head around it enough to write a proper review.  So I'll sum it up by saying it again.  It was just plain weird.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review- Love Fortunes and Other Disasters

I just finished reading Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

In the tradition of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, one girl chooses to change her fortune and her fate by falling in love.

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love.

Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian.

Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love?

Here we go with an unpopular review.  I just didn't like this book.  I hate to say it but it annoyed me the whole time I was reading it.  There is such a thing as too descriptive and I felt like this was it.  The whole setting was just weird too.  It had touches of magic in that there were different charms but that was the only "paranormal" (for lack of a better word) part of the book. And it was in a fictional place (obviously because of the magic) but I couldn't tell where this was supposed to be--America, Europe, it's own island?   It's like the author couldn't decide if she wanted it to be contemporary or a different genre.  I don't even know how to describe it.  And then you have the fact that it seemed like it was set back in the eighties with talk of cassette tapes and libraries with card catalogs and no mention of computers.

I didn't really care for any of the characters.  Fallon was only fifteen but away at a boarding school and she came across way older than a fifteen year old. Which struck me as weird.  Why not make the character older?   I guess if I had to pick one character to like, it would be Sebastian.  A touch of bad boy but with a good boy heart.

The plot idea was okay.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was set in a book that actually I got into.  Ehhh

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Love Fortunes and Other Disasters will be released on May 12, 2015.

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Everyone She Loved

I finally finished reading Everyone She Loved by Sheila Curran.


From Goodreads:


A wise and triumphant novel about four women who've come of age together only to discover that -- when it comes to the essentials -- life's little instruction book will always need revising. Penelope Cameron, loving mother, devoted wife and generous philanthropist, has convinced her husband and four closest friends to sign an outlandish pact. If Penelope should die before her two daughters are eighteen, her husband will not remarry without the permission of Penelope's sister and three college roommates. For years, this contract gathers dust until the unthinkable happens. Suddenly, everyone she loved must find their way in a world without Penelope.

For Lucy Vargas, Penelope's best friend, and a second mother to her daughters, nothing seems more natural than to welcome them into a home that had once belonged to their family, a lovely, sprawling bed-and-breakfast on the beach. This bequest was only one of the many ways in which Penelope had supported Lucy's career as a painter, declaring her talent too important to squander. But now, in the wake of a disaster that only lovable, worrisome Penelope could have predicted, Lucy has put her work on hold as she and Penelope's husband, Joey, blindly grasp at anything that will keep the girls from sinking under the weight of their grief.

With the help of family and friends, the children slowly build new lives. But just when things start to come together, the fragile serenity they have gained is suddenly threatened from within, and the unbreakable bonds they share seem likely to dissolve after all.

In this entertaining and uplifting novel, Sheila Curran explores the faith one woman placed in her dearest friends, the care she took to protect her family and the many ways in which romantic entanglements will confound and confuse even the most determined of planners. A story about growing up and moving on, about the sacrifices people make for one another and the timeless legacy of love, "Everyone She Loved" is, above all, about the abiding strength of friendship.

There are some books that I read a chapter here and a chapter there and take me forever to read.  This was one of those books.  I  never got into it.  At all.  But I make myself finish every book I start, so here I am. 

There were too many sub-plots.  Way too many.  Death and cheating and lesbianism and obesity and anorexia and bulimia.  Add it crazy characters, none of which I liked, and it didn't make for such a great read.  Okay, I take that back.  I kinda liked the two kids although its really more that I felt sorry for them than anything else.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I gave this book a 2/5 rating.

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the author in return for an honest review.

Book Review- The Dream Thieves

I finally finished reading The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater.

From Goodreads: 

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES

bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

At the end of the review of my first book in the series, I said that I wasn't sure if I would pick up the second one.  I wish I hadn't.  I could NOT get into this book.  But as I've said before, I'm one of those people who have to finish what they started.  So it took me 18 days to finish.  Sigh.

I just had such a hard time following along with the story line.  Why things were happening and who was who and what was what.  I felt like it jumped around a lot and I just couldn't keep up.  And it just wasn't interesting me.

And like in the first book, the characters didn't do anything for me.  I didn't really care about any of them although I think the Gray Man had the most dimensions. 

Oh well. 

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2013 150+ Reading Challenge: 48
2013 ARC Reading Challenge: 27
2013 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 37

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from a friend

Book Review- Ralph's Party

I just finished reading Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell.

From Goodreads:

Meet the residents of the London brownstone on 31 Almanac Road who together weave a tangled
web of romance. Ralph, a ne'er-do-well artist, suddenly realizes he's head over heels in love with his new flatmate Jem, the most fun and sensible girl he's ever encountered. Unfortunately, Ralph's best friend, Smith, has already won Jem's affections, although Smith has not entirely given up his passion for the femme fatale, Cheri, who lives upstairs. Across the hall, Karl and Siobhan have been happily unmarried for years, until Karl gets a smashing job as a London rush-hour DJ and momentarily gets tempted into Cheri's cozy lair. These six star-crossed tenants become more enamored, and more confused, as the story progresses-until their true destinies are revealed on one crucial night-the evening of the extravaganza that is . . . Ralph's party. This wonderfully hip new novel was an instant popular success when it was first published in England, and American readers are sure to be captivated by the debut of a talented new writer.

I was expecting this to be a cute British chick-lit story.  Instead there were times that I was grossed out and felt that there was over-sharing involved. 

I just couldn't really get into the story.  I didn't care much about the characters or what was happening.  At first, I got confused about which was with which character but at the end you could see the connection of all of them.

I have a couple of other books by this author on my bookshelves.  Hopefully I'll like them better.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2013 150+ Reading Challenge: 41
What's in a Name? 6 Challenge: Party or Celebration
2013 Embarrassment of Riches TBR Reading Challenge: 5
2013 Quick Fix Challenge: 19

*FTC Disclosure: I bought this book

Book Review- Love in the Time of Global Warming

I just finished reading Love in the Time of Global Warming by Fransesca Lia Block for and Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

Once again, I am apparently in the minority on Goodreads.  Apparently a lot of people liked this book.  I, however, did not.

Ok, I give it that the writing was descriptive.  But to me, that's about the only good thing.  It wasn't descriptive in a good way.  The plot was horrifying and gory.  And there were too many random things.  Giants and Sight and Earth Shakers. and mythology.  Oh and don't forget the butterflies.  And I didn't like Pen at all.  The only redeeming quality she had to me was the love for her brother.  This whole thing just didn't work for me.  And that's all I have to say about that!

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Love in Time of Global Warming will be released on August 27, 2013.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2013 150+ Reading Challenge: 16
2013 ARC Reading Challenge: 11
2013 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 13
2013 Standalone Reading Challenge: 4
2013 Quick Fix Challenge: 7

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- The Blessed

I just finished reading The Blessed by Tonya Hurley for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

From the author of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy—a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?

Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief.

Ugh. This is the closest I've ever come to putting a book down and not finishing it.  Unfortunately, I can't ever let myself do this.  And the book never got any better.

I never really knew what was going on.  I don't know if it's because it was a retelling of some religious story or not, but I didn't get it.  And the writing was so choppy.  Nothing really flowed. 

I didn't like the characters either.  Well, that's not completely true.  Agnes was pityful.  Not sure if that made me like her, but I didn't dislike her like I did the others.  And Sebastian vs. Dr Frey.  I knew really figured out who was the bad guy and who was the good guy.  And honestly, I didn't care.  I just wanted the book to be over.

This is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy but I will not be picking up the next two to read.  This was definitely not a book for me.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

The Blessed will be released on September 25, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 61
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 49
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 52

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Elemental

I just finished reading Elemental by Emily White for an Around the World ARC tour.

From Goodreads:

Just because Ella can burn someone to the ground with her mind doesn't mean she should.

But she wants to.

For ten years—ever since she was a small child—Ella has been held prisoner. Now that she has escaped, she needs answers.

Who is she? Why was she taken? And who is the boy with the beautiful green eyes who haunts her memories?

Is Ella the prophesied Destructor… or will she be the one who's destroyed?

After reading the summary, I thought this book would be paranormal in nature so I signed up to read it.  But it turned out to be sci-fi with religious undertones so I really didn't enjoy it.  I need to stay away from sci-fi books.

There were too many different species (or was it religions?  I couldn't figure it out) and worlds/planets for me to really grasp anything.  I got confused reading it a lot, and that's not what I want to happen with a book.

I didn't like Ella.  She seemed weak to me with nothing really strong about her.  I get that she was held captive for ten years, but come on.  She broke down and fainted with everything.  And Cailen--cool name.  But not a male character I cared about.  I didn't really get all his hot and coldness.  Neither of these characters were likeable or sympathetic to me. 

There was a lot of action in the book, a little of it pretty graphic.  That's fine with me, but I need some character story too.  I dunno.  This book just didn't do anything for me (although the star rating on Goodreads is on the higher end).

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Elemental will be released on May 1, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 34
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 29
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 10
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 31

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Masque of the Red Death

Early this morning, I finished reading Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

I had high hopes for this book because I saw some great reviews and it had a higher rating on Goodreads.  I should have known I wouldn't like it.  For some reason, I often don't like books that others raved about.

I hate writing negative reviews.  I really do.  I know that authors put sooo much hard work into their books and so I hate writing anything critical about them.  But I didn't really like anything about this book.  I couldn't stand any of the characters.  Araby was incredibly boring and uninteresting and I never found myself caring about what she was doing or what was happening to her.  And there was a love triangle, which I usually enjoy because I either feel so strongly for one of the guys or am torn because I love both of them.  But in this story, I didn't like either of the guys.  I thought they were both jerks and while Will's only redeeming quality was his love for his younger siblings, Elliott didn't have any good qualities.  Blah.

And the plot.  It as just so dark and gory and there was nothing that I found myself liking about it.  There was a big twist at the end but I really don't think it was well done.  It was too far fetched and not believable. 

Yeah, so I was truly disappointed in this book.  The ending leaves off like there will be a sequel, but if there is one, I won't be picking it up.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Masque of the Red Death will be released on April 24, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 19
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 17
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 17

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Sweet Valley Confidential

I stayed up late last night to finish Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal. 

From Goodreads:

Now with this striking new adult novel from author and creator Francine Pascal, millions of devoted fans can finally return to the idyllic Sweet Valley, home of the phenomenally successful book series and franchise. Iconic and beloved identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back and all grown up, dealing with the complicated adult world of love, careers, betrayal, and sisterhood.

*************There are major spoilers in this review***********

Oh man, writing this review makes me so sad.  But I haven't felt this strongly about a book in a while and it's not a good thing.

I grew up reading Sweet Valley Twins, then Sweet Valley High, then Sweet Valley University.  And then in a college course a couple of years ago, I had to write about books that I read when I was younger and I wrote about these series, which made me start to read Sweet Valley University again.  And it brought back a rush of good emotions.  I was addicted to this series!  I watched it on TV, I had the board game, I wanted to name my first daughter Elizabeth.  I missed these characters.  So when I read that my beloved series was going to have a new book out, set ten years later, I absolutely couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

So I sat down, all excited to dive in.  And was immediately disappointed.  And it only got worse.  The whole book was about cheating and betrayals.  I mean, there was always drama in the books before, but it was Sweet Valley.  There was always some sunniness to the book.  But not in this one.  There was just anger and sadness and it was depressing.  There were so many times that I wanted to throw the book across the room.  And there were so many times that I rolled my eyes.  If Jessica said "like" one more time, I was going to scream.  That phrase is like, very old, and like 27 year olds don't really, like, use it.  Grr.

And the characters.  I get that people change.  But there wasn't one character that stayed the same.  And with the exception of Bruce, they were all worse as older characters. I wish that this was more of a reunion book and that the characters had stayed the same.  Elizabeth--I get that she wasn't going to stay completely goody-goody, but now all of sudden she's sleeping with guys right off the bat and drinking and cursing.  Jessica---what a whiny brat!  I get that she's sad and upset that she hurt her twin but the old Jessica would have found strength and gone to get her twin back.  Winston---umm, still can't see him being a jerk like he apparently was after college.  Steven--gay.  Okay, didn't see this one coming.  And there was no mention of Billie at all.  I dunno, I could go on and on.  And then at the end, Elizabeth forgave her twin just as soon as she showed up on her doorstep.  Come on!

I really don't think it was necessary for Francine Pascal to write the book this way.  The book never really needed to be written.  I think she did it for her fans, who missed the twins and Sweet Valley.  And if thats the case, then she should have written for her fans, many who I think would have liked a happier version of the grown up Sweet Valley.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:

2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 49

*FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for free for an honest review.

Book Review- Road Trip of the Living Dead

I just finished reading Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry.

From the back cover:

Celebrity party girl Amanda Feral is back from the dead, and hungrier than ever for a good time. With her zombie gal pal Wendy and vampy gay sidekick Gil, this stone cold fox is dressed to kill, on the prowl, and ready to take a big juicy bite out of Seattle's supernatural nightlife. But what's a zombie chick to do when her 'Mommie Dearest' gets sick? If you're Amanda Feral, you can either ignore the wicked old witch - or bury the past by visiting Ethel before she kicks it. Amanda's not thrilled about the idea of crossing three states just to be criticized. But Wendy, who's always looking for fresh meat, is up for the adventure. And Gil, who just launched his 'luxury' resurrection business, needs to disappear because a pissed-off client is out for his blood.

First, they pack their stiletto pumps and plasma into a skeevy rattrap on wheels that used to be a Winnebago. Then, with a little help from a Korean-ghost hood ornament, a masochist named Fishhook, and a slew of 'moderately accurate' psychics, they hit the highway - their way. Of course, they'll have to navigate past some neo-Nazi skinheads, a horny dust devil, a hunky werewolf cop (who could pass for an underwear model) and an unsightly horde of Kmart shoppers. But for this glamorous gang of ghouls this trip is about to take a dangerous detour that could give road kill a brand new meaning...

Ok, this book just didn't do it for me.  Yes, some of it was humourous, but most of it was just disgusting.  It was too gory and skeezy for me.  And a lot of the jokes were too dirty, either sexual or toilet humor, even for me.  I didn't like the characters either.  Blah.  The only reason it got a 2 rating because if you break it down into the basic plot, it was okay.  This is not one book that I would recommend.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

This book fulfilled an item in the following challenge:
Paranormal 999 Challenge: Misc (Zombies)

*FTC Disclosure: I traded this book with a friend

Book Review- Three Girls and Their Brother

I just finished reading Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck.

From the inside flap:

Now that it's all over, everybody is saying it was the picture-that stupid picture was behind every disaster. . . .

They may be the granddaughters of a famous literary critic, but what really starts it all is Daria, Polly, and Amelia Heller's stunning red hair. Out of the blue one day, The New Yorker calls and says that they want to feature the girls in a glamorous spread shot by a world-famous photographer, and before long these three beautiful nobodies from Brooklyn have been proclaimed the new "It" girls.

But with no parental guidance-Mom's a former beauty queen living vicariously through her daughters, and Dad is nowhere to be found-the three girls find themselves easy prey for the sharks and piranhas of show business. Posing in every hot fashion magazine, tangling with snarling fashonistas and soulless agents, skipping school and hitting A-list parties, the sisters are caught up in a whirlwind rise to fame that quickly spirals out of control. When Amelia, the youngest of the three-who never really wanted to be a model in the first place-appears in an Off-Broadway play, the balance of power shifts, all the pent-up resentment and pressure comes to a head, and the girls' quiet, neglected brother reaches a critical point of virtual breakdown. And against the odds, even as the struggle for fame threatens to tear the family apart, the Hellers begin to see that despite the jealousy, greed, and uncertainty that have come to define their relationships, in the celebrity world of viciousness and betrayal, all they really have is one another.

Narrated in four parts, from the perspective of each sibling, Three Girls and Their Brother is a sharp, perceptive, and brilliantly written debut novel from an acclaimed playwright.

Ok, I hate to write a negative reivew, but I just did not enjoy this story at all. None of the characters seemed real to me, at all. And none of them had any warmth. The only one that I even marginally liked was, Phillip, the neglected brother, but that's only because I felt sorry for him. The mother and the two older sisters were completely self-involved and I thought that the youngest one, Amelia, could have and should have stayed true to herself in enjoying school and not getting caught up in the world of fame. And none of it seemed realistic to me. I mean, I'm sure that underage models do drink at parties and events, but I don't think that fourteen year olds parade around drinking without any kind of adult supervision. I just can't see it. I was really hoping to like this story, but it just fell really short for me.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Book Review- Excuse Me, Your Soul Mate Is Waiting

Last night I finished reading Excuse Me, Your Soul Mate Is Waiting by Marla Martenson.


From the back cover:


Each of us yearns for that one true love--our own soul mate. Now the search has become much easier with the help of Excuse Me, Your Soul Mate Is Waiting. Marla Martenson has combined her talent and wisdom with the sure-fire techniques of the Law of Attraction to help you bring that special love into your life.


There are just four simple and easy steps to follow--
1. Name what you DON'T want to happen.
2. Name what you DO want to happen.
3. Feel what you want.
4. Allow it to happen.


This is a fun, concrete, and practical approach to finding Mr. or Ms. Right. Using the best-selling guide, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, as her "bible", Marla challenges her readers to stop being victims and take control of their lives. This joyful book empowers you to find your true heart's desires.


Ok, I'm not sure, but I just didn't buy into this book. I get being upbeat and positive, but I think this just took it too far (or maybe I'm just too cynical). The author talks a lot about thinking positive things which gives off vibrations at high frequency (and vice-versa) and when people are vibrating at a high frequency, they can pull their desires into their lives. I just don't see that working. I do think its a good idea to identify what you do want in a relationship though, and I agree with the book that you shouldn't stay in a relationship just because its comfortable. Luckily, right now I don't need to put this book into practice, but maybe if I have the unfortunate need to one day, I will try it out.


I gave this book a rating of 2/5.


This book fullfills the following requirements:
A to Z Reading Challenge: E
Read Your Name Challenge: E

Book Review- The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I just finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.



From the inside flap:


We are in an elegant hotel particulier in the center of Paris. Renee, the building's concierge, is short, ugly, and plump. She has bunions on her feet. She is cantakerous and addicted to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she is everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood. But Renee has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furitively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants-- her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.


Then there's Paloma, a super-smart twelve-year-old and the youngerst daughter of the Josses, who live on the fifth floor. Talented, precocious, and startingly lucid, she has come to terms with life's seeming futility and has decided to end her own on the day of her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue hiding her extraordinary intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity, acting the part of an average pre-teen high on pop subculture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.


Paloma and Renee hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a new tenant arrives, a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu. He befriends Paloma and is able to see through Renee's timeworn disguise to the mysterious event that has haunted her since childhood. This is a moving, witty, and redemptive novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

Honestly, I did not enjoy this book at all. I had to force myself to read it. If I was one of those people who stopped reading after a certain number of pages, I would definitely have given up. I know that the book was translated from French to English, so I am not sure if that has something to do with why I didn't enjoy it. I just know that I didn't feel any connection to the characters or any warmth. I really had to struggle to pay attention. I wanted to like this book because I heard such great things about it, but I just didn't and am glad that I am done so I can move on to another book!



I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Book Review- How to Create a Magical Relationship

Last night I finished the book How to Create a Magical Relationship by Ariel & Shya Kane.

From the back cover:

What if you don't need to "work on" your relationship in order to fix it?

Read How to Create a Magical Relationship and you will:

• Learn the 3 simple Principles of Transformation so you can create a relationship that surpasses your dreams.
• Discover how to recognize and bypass the pitfalls to having a happy and satisfying relationship.

This book talks a lot about "transformation" instead of "change". On page 20, the book says that "Tranformation is simply a word we use to describe what happens when you discover how to live in the moment." The authors talk about how to be aware, or to see non-judgementally, to understand how you are as a person. There area 3 Princples of Transformation that the authors come back to a lot. I won't list what they are, because I don't want to give the book away, but they make sense.

I found this book to be okay. I feel that it was more a book to become aware of yourself rather than really a book on relationships. Honestly, through a lot of the book I was going "huh?". There was one part of the book that talked about looking at your views of the opposite sex and noticing all of the times that you talk negatively about them. But I think that some of the examples were too strict. Sometimes things are just said teasingly and just in fun. Not everything in life should be so serious! I did really like the part about trying to live in the moment. If there was one thing that I will definitely take away from this book, its just trying to stay in the present. I always worry too much and look into the past or the future, but I need to learn just to live in the now!

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

Book Review-Tantalize

I finished Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith tonight.

From the back cover:

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her hyprid-werewolf first love is threatening to leave her forever. And just as she and her uncle are about to unveil Austin's first vampire-themed restaurant, their chef's brutal murder leaves Quincie scrambling to transform fresh-faced Henry Johnson into a culinary Dark Lord in time for opening night. But there's more than meets the eye to this new hire, and Quincie is about to learn a whole lot about love... and blood.

I don't know what it was, but this book just didn't draw me in. I didn't find that I really liked any of the main characters. I don't know if it was the plot or the descriptions or characterizations or what. I just know that while I was reading it, I was ready for the book to be over and didn't really care what happened.

I gave this book a rating of 2/5.

This book fullfills items for the following challenges:

Paranormal 999 Challenge: Vampires (can also be used as werewolves)

A to Z Challenge: Z (since z is a hard letter, I will use any book with a z in the title)