Steph and Stace's March and April Book Club Book Review

We decided to do a joint book review every month and since we had that AMAZING trip last month we didn’t do March’s book club review so this month we are doing March and April’s together. Yay!

In March we read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, best selling author of Rules of Civility. A member of my book club is very interested in Russian history and literature so this was her pick. I’m not going to lie and tell you we were all ecstatic to read it because well quite honestly we are uncultured and it looked boring. I did have the fear! But I was also excited about it because I knew it was going to be different from my regular reading which can be a good thing.   

We all jumped in and within 3 days I had received texts from 3 different people, one of them decided after the first chapter that it wasn’t worth it and decided to be done. The other two moaned via text. It made me nervous.

I started it and was immediately intrigued with it but then as I went on I found it to be quite odd. Beautiful writing style though but just very odd. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was reading.

Count Alexander Rostov- recipient of the Order of St Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt- is a “Former Person.” Russia’s new Soviet masters have sentenced him to house arrest in Moscow’s luxurious Metropol hotel, where he lives out his days pairing wine with his meals and dashing around like Eloise, if Eloise were set in a version of Stalinist Russia. Anyway, confined to his hotel the Count passes whole decades making a world out of a hotel and the people in it. A precocious 9 year old, a moody chef, the maitre d’ and others that drift in and out of his sphere.

The book itself was superbly well written. The author eases you along in the story with phrases so poignant you almost don’t realize how emotionally invested you are until the end when you set it down and sigh. I have nine members in my book club, 3 of us didn’t finish it. It was too slow moving and didn’t capture their attention. One of us finished it but thought it just horribly boring. 5 of us loved it and we had an amazing discussion.

It wasn’t exactly an action packed book and I honestly have a hard time knowing for sure how much I liked it. It was slow and very different but it was also moving and beautiful. I don’t think it's one that I would have on hand to recommend to everyone and I honestly don’t see myself reading it again. If the right person came a long it is something I would recommend but carefully just because it is a slower paced book and I like more quick flowing books. I gave it a solid 3 stars which is commendable for how I rate my books.

In April we ventured out of Russia and into Victorian England. The New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, Deanna Raybourn, has introduced another intrepid adventuress in Veronica Speedwell. The first book in the new series is A Curious Beginning and takes place in London 1887. Veronica has buried her spinster aunt and is now free to resume her world travels in pursuit of natural science and most especially butterflies. She prepares to embark on the journey of a lifetime but fate has other plans when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German Baron who has ties to her mysterious past.

I loved the Lady Julia Grey series and was very excited to dash off on new adventures with Veronica Speedwell. The book begins very well and launches you into the plot very quickly. However, I was disappointed in the writing. It read flat, and I found Veronica off putting. The story took odd twists and turns, the characters were poorly developed and the author spent so much time telling me how independent and adventurous the heroine was I found myself irritated by her.

I had never read anything by Deanna Raybourn and this was the first book club book that I was super excited about because I love this type of genre. It was written in first person which was a little surprising to me. Most of the books I read are third person and when I do come across a first person perspective it's usually Young Adult. I didn’t dislike Veronica as much as Steph did it actually surprised me how irritated she was with Veronica because normally I’m the one really put off by a lot of female characters. What bothered me the most, like Steph mentioned, was the lack of character development in particular Veronica’s love interest. Raybourn just didn’t give me enough to feel like I really knew the characters.

Here’s how the book club members received it. Two people loved it and started on the second book right away. Three of us found it an easy and enjoyable enough read but found it generally silly. And four of us hated it and spent an hour of book club picking it apart.

I did however read the second one mainly because it counted towards my 100 new books. The third one isn’t out yet. Will I read it? Probably but again only because it's another book I can count towards my hundred. On that topic I'm on book 41 of 100 new books. Yeah baby!

Next months book is The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. I'm excited to dive in to yet another new author.

Steph And Stace's February Book Club Review: In The Woods

We thought it would be fun to do a book review together and for my 100 New Book Challenge Steph suggested I read her Book Club books. I did read January’s book Britt-Marie Was Here and I loved it! Going forward we will do a joint post for the book club books.

For February the book club decided to read a mystery novel. We hadn’t read a mystery in quite some time and we try to diversify our genre’s. In The Woods by Tana French, book one in the Dublin Murder Squad, was our choice. I really enjoy murder mysteries as a general rule. Sometimes you just need to sink your teeth into a really good detective story. And let’s be honest Dublin Murder Squad is a great series title.

I did like that it was based in Ireland I do enjoy a good accent. Why don’t you summarize cause I’m not so good at that and you like to talk.

Rude! That’s not a nice thing to say. I can’t help it if I have interesting things to say. Sheesh. In The Woods was the winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It is  a mystery about two detectives trying to solve the murder of 12 year old girl. 22 years prior to the novel’s events Adam Ryan and his 2 friends failed to return home after an evening playing in the woods (hence the title), also don’t worry I’m not giving away any plot twists. Adam is the only survivor to come out of the woods and the unsolved mystery of his friends disappearances haunt him into adulthood. Adam now goes by his middle name to avoid the media and has worked his way up to detective in the Garda murder squad.

The main plot of the novel circles around Ryan (Adam) and his partner Cassie struggling to solve the murder of a 12 year old girl, whose murder takes place in the same woods where Ryan’s friend’s disappeared. Chilling right? Stac? Chilling?

Yeah you’d think that wouldn’t you. It took a bit for me to get into the story. It’s in first person and I don’t love that writing style. Also I felt like no matter how much I read I wasn’t getting very far in the book. I really liked Ryan’s partner Cassie as for Ryan? The more I got to know him the more odd I found him and not necessarily in a good way. Speaking of things being odd the book was a little odd. It was not what I was expecting at all and sometimes that’s really enjoyable. This time? It was just odd for me.

Ok I’ll go there with it being an odd book. The writing was fairly descriptive with points of foreshadowing which never really came to fruition. I enjoyed the character development even though I didn’t care for Ryan so much either. Especially by the end. I don’t know that I can say I enjoyed the book itself. However, I didn’t want to stop reading it. I really wanted to know how it would end. Also I do have to say I’m an excellent mystery novel solver. It takes a good story to get past me. I knew who was involved in the murder but the details and some of the characters involved ended up surprising me which was nice.

I agree about wanting to finish it. Even though I didn’t love this book I had to know the end. I don’t know that I’ll want to read the entire series but I do want to read the next one.

Part of the fun of a book club is being able to discuss the book with others. Stac and I almost always read the same books because we love to talk about them. I don’t know that I would recommend this book to someone, if you’re looking for a good mystery I think I’d go to a different book, but for a debut novel Tana French really came out swinging.

That is true I keep forgetting that it was a debut novel. I guess one of the main things that bothered me was it was a little jumbled, she had good descriptions but poor segues.  I think I liked it more than you did. Wouldn’t you say? I really would.Yeah it happens. None of the ladies at book club loved it but we all had lots to say about it and had a great discussion. There really are things to be said about this book and so if you do decide to read it please please let us know what you think.

Next month we’re reading The Gentleman from Moscow, my friend Alyssa loves Russia and this is her pick. I’m excited to get into it! I don’t know that Stac is all that excited about this next one…. I wouldn’t say I’m not excited. I’m more looking forward to reading something else out of my reading comfort zone because I really don’t think this is a book that I would just pick to read. Hopefully it will be a good experience. That’s all the people want! It is! I love stepping out of my comfort zone and loving it. Well good job finishing In The Woods, it was long. It really wasn’t that long but it felt long.  Dude, it really did but I finished before the end of the month. Bam! But you didn’t finish before book club. I’m just saying. That’s a thing. Okay you have got to get over that.  I did not realize it was a thing considering I can’t actually go to the book club. I’ll try harder next month. No promises. No you can do it. I might be busy. No you’re definitely not busy.

Anyway! Happy reading.

Stace's Book Review: Split

This year I have decided to do the 100 New Book Challenge. The main reason I decided to do it is so I am forced to branch out and explore more of what the literary world has to offer. I'm a big reader but I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a well read person because I tend to stick to the same types of genre's. Steph did the 100 New Book Challenge last year and had actually asked me to do it with her, and I was like yeah heck no, but I wish now that I had done it with her. As the year came to a close I realized that I had read about 50 new books without even trying. With Steph's example I decided, I can do 100 new books in a year. Sure! 

Lets just get this out of the way Split by J.B. Salsbury has nothing to do with M. Night Shyamalan's movie Split. Not the same. This book review is about Split by J.B. Salsbury just so we're clear.  

Split is based in Payson Arizona about a man named Lucas who was living his life as inconspicuously as possible. He is hard working, respectful and socially awkward. He also happens to have multiple personality disorder. When his bosses daughter, Shyann, moves back to town Lucas is instantly attracted to her and that terrifies him because of who he is and what he has done.

This book is an example of me branching out. I tend to read more light stories, historical romance, paranormal romance, stuff like that. This is not my cup of tea but I thought why not. It sounded intriguing so I gave it a go. I'll be honest I didn't love it. It might seem strange to do a book review on something that I didn't necessarily like but that's what can happen in the book world sometimes you pick a book and its just not what you were hoping for.

The main reasons why I didn't care for it was the language. There was A LOT of swearing. While I'm not particularly bothered with some swearing there were two characters that made it just to much for me. Another reason that I wasn't a huge fan was that I didn't really buy that the characters would act the way that they did sometimes. When you read a great book you totally go there with the characters and with Split I just didn't. Also the writing wasn't amazing. Author's can get away with a lot for me if the writing is good. Salsbury was just okay. Not the worst, not the best.

Some things that I did like about it was it made me think. Multiple personality disorder is an interesting thing and I wanted to see the direction the author would take with something like that. I had a few interesting conversations with my husband about it. And even though I read it about two weeks ago I still think about it sometimes. Will I read another book by J.B. Salsbury? Probably not. But I'm glad that I did. It was refreshing to read out side of my comfort zone. 

Stace's Book Review: A Discovery of Witches

I'm a reader. I love all sorts of books but there are those certain few that just stick with you and become a part of your top ten favorites or ones that change your reading life. A Discovery of Witches is one of mine. It is actually the first of a Trilogy called the All Souls Trilogy by Debra Harkness. My mom was the one to tell me about it and I loooved it.

Its about a woman named Diana Bishop who is a professor of alchemy at Oxford, she also happens to be a witch. She requests a book from the stacks for her studies and when she receives it knows instantly that there is magic in it. The retrieving of this book  changes her life for she learns that the book is coveted not just by other witches but other creatures as well and it leads her to meeting the ever wonderful Matthew De Clairmant who happens to be a vampire. 

These books are very academic and nothing like Twilight in case you were wondering. They are filled with creatures such as witches, vampires, and daemons. The characters in them, big or small, are very believable and by that I mean I buy it. I buy it if a character is a total chump or a big sweet heart. The author stays true to her characters and that is my favorite. A lot of authors do not do that and it drives me crazy. Even if a character that I thoroughly enjoy acts like a jerk or something as long as it is true to character I don't care.

Some downs about the trilogy is that it is, like I said, very academic and almost all of the characters are so much smarter then me. Steph said that reading them makes her feel dumb because of their conversations and knowledge and as I've mentioned Matthew is a vampire so the man has much knowledge about history and biology and basically everything. Reading these actually makes me feel smart because I'm all "Oh, you want to have a conversation of alchemy? Done." Of course I can't really have a conversation about alchemy but it makes me feel like I can. And I don't want to  turn people off to reading them but they are very long, like, close to 600 pages long. Its ok! It doesn't feel like you are reading this giant never ending book. Almost everything in them is prevalent to getting to know the characters and the main out come of the story.

The All Souls Trilogy are just good solid books that are in depth, have well rounded characters, are intriguing and fascinating and keep drawing you in. If the books being so long is a little intimidating I absolutely recommend listening to them. They are phenomenal to listen to because a lot of the characters have different accents like, British, Scottish, and French and the narrator does such a good job at portraying that.

Please give them a try, at least the first one, and if you hate them than obviously stop (and be judged by me) but they are a Stace must read. A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy)

Call The Midwife- Steph's Book Review

      Have I mentioned previously how much I enjoy book club? Well I do. This month was particularly enjoyable as I loved the book and it provided excellent discussion. We chose to read Call The Midwife because we had all heard of the TV series but none of us have started watching it yet. One of my friends did actually watch the first episode quite some time ago but she was pregnant with her third child and as she was watching she burst into tears and turned it off. Now that her baby is over a year old she decided it would be OK to try the book and see how it went.
 
     We all really loved it. As a content disclaimer there is a portion of the book that deals with prostitution in the slums of London. There is a whole chapter that is very sexually explicit and also very sad. However, as one of my friends commented, the author keeps such an upbeat and really pretty jovial tone throughout the book that we weren't overly disturbed. So anyway that's really the only content warning for the book.

   If any of you have ever read All Creatures Great and Small by James Harriot, the British veterinarian you will have a good idea of how the tone and generally feeling of this book will go. She is an excellent writer, very easy to follow and easy to invest in all of the people she brings to life. She writes in the cockney accent so I could actually hear the conversations in my head which I love.

     The book is a memoir of Jennifer Worth's time as a midwife in London in the 1950's. I love this period in history, especially women's history as it's just after WW2 but before the explosion of the 60's. Worth comments in her forward about how the 60's brought the Pill to the general public and so birth rates went drastically down but in the 50's women were still having an average of 10+ pregnancies. She talks about what it meant to be a nurse and how she was actually safer as a nurse than many of the police officials because the status was so well respected in the community. She tells stories that make you laugh out loud. I kept reading parts of the book to my husband and I was crying I was laughing so hard. There are parts of the book that are poignant and others that are just sad.

   I loved her voice as an author and I loved the subject matter. If you are someone that is hesitant to read non fiction or anything even mildly historically based this would be a great starter for you. It's easy to read and not overly long. However, I would not recommend this to anyone that is pregnant, or is dealing with fertility issues. Childbirth and motherhood are very soft issues for most women and while there is some strictly medical view points in the book it's also told with a lot of heart.

You can find it on Amazon here: Call the Midwife
    I hope you choose to give it a shot! Happy reading!

 

Stace's Book Review: The Reef

This book is one of my favorites. Its on my top ten. To be honest I can't exactly pin point why I love it so much. Its a Nora Roberts so that alone makes me happy but, you know, Nora isn't perfect and not all of her books are the best things ever. The Reef though, that is one of them. Its my happy book. Its the one I can read over and over and not get bored.

The Reef is about  a family, the Lassiters, who have been treasure hunting for generations looking for new wrecks in the sea and living from boat wreck to boat wreck looking for a new find. In particular they are looking for a ship that is said to have had a necklace aboard that is cursed, Angelique's Curse, is what it is referred to. They feel that in search of this necklace it had cursed their family but they are obsessed with finding it. While the Lassiters are searching for Angeliques Curse they team up with another family, the Beaumonts. And that is how Matthew Lassiter and Tate Beaumont meet. The love interests! 

This book is just so richly written. It has conflict, mystery, different family relationships and life styles. I think one of the reasons I love it so much is that its about the wonder of the sea. I am someone who my husband claims can't swim. I can! I doggy paddle and float so obviously I can swim. I don't love the water because most of the time water is outside and I get burned by the sun no matter how much sunscreen I put on and though I can in fact swim I'm not great at it. Also, the ocean kind of freaks me out. I've seen Jaws. But, I have always been fascinated with the sea. The different kinds of creatures down there and the vastness of it. Its a whole other world that both interests and scares me. 

That's part of the reason why I like The Reef so much. Its about a completely different life style then I am used to and maybe kind of wish I had the guts to be apart of. And if you can't live by a beach or be at a beach all the time then why not read about it every now and then.

I also really like the characters. The bad guy isn't over the top and Matthew Lassiter is a very sad man but he's not mopey and annoying. I really like Tate as well. She is independent but she's not miss I don't need anything or anybody and has close ties with her family.

If you can't really decide what you want to read or if you want to escape into something that isn't like your life go be apart of the Beaumonts and Lassiters lives, its a great escape. The Reef  

The Fault In Our Stars- Steph's Book Review

 

   



    I love my book club. It is one of my favorite nights each month. I've been attending for around 6 years now and have read so many things I would never have read on my own. The book we read for May was one of them. I'd seen The Fault In Our Stars on book lists and goodreads but after reading the synopsis I decided it wasn't for me. Reading a book about teenagers with various terminal illnesses just didn't sound like my idea of a good time. I don't enjoy going in to a book or movie knowing that I'm probably going to weep. But one of my friends at book club mentioned she had read it and really wanted to discuss it with us so everyone voted in favor of this book. I was extremely skeptical. And then very pleasantly surprised.

    It is relatively short and very easy to read. I've never read anything else by John Green but based on this experience I would seek out more of his books. I enjoyed his writing style very much and was surprised by his ability to create a relatable teenage girl. The story itself is told by Hazel, a 16 year old with cancer. She has had cancer for a number of years and lives in a kind of limbo. Not in remission exactly but it't not progressing either. Hazel attends a Cancer Support Group and there meets Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor. You know where this is going don't you?

      I couldn't believe how immediately I felt attached to the characters. I loved the dialogue! Their interactions with each other and other characters in the book rang so true and familiar to me. I told my book club friends that Hazel reminded me of me! She talks like I talk. She interacts with her friends the way I do and the way she thinks really struck a cord with me. And I'm sorry you can't help but fall a little in love with Augustus Waters. He breezes in to her life with humor, philosophy and a killer smile. I absolutely loved the relationships that developed between Hazel and her parents, her friends and Augustus. It felt real to me, very human, with the emotional swings of a teenager coupled with the depth and sadness of a life with a sick child. I have a hard time with some of the teenage heartbreaker stories by Nicholas Sparks because it feels like he's ripping your heart out just because he can. The whole story is told to break you in to pieces. I didn't feel that in this book. I needed 3 tissues to get through it but none of the emotion or sadness was unnecessary. It all belonged. And by the end I had felt it all just enough to be satisfied. 

     

     

Steph Reviews Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy

  

         One of the best compliments someone can give me is to say "You need a good book? Oh go ask Steph she knows about lots of good books!" I am here to tell you about a really good book.  My book club read this about a year ago and I was torn because it's part of a trilogy and I think it's hard to read a series or trilogy in a book club. But we did it and let me tell you I am completely hooked. This trilogy is classified as YA fantasy but I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this to a 14 year old. The characters and story line, and subject matter read much more adult. Nothing shocking or off putting necessarily, just not (in my opinion) for young teenagers.

     Ok so the story is about a 17 year old girl named Karou who lives in Prague as an art student. She lives alone in her flat filled with sketch books and odds and ends collected from around the world because her only family are monsters who live in "elsewhere". She was raised by hybrid beasts, Brimstone, Issa, Twiga and others. They call themselves chimera and when she wants to visit them or Brimstone needs her for an errand she goes to an old rundown building in Prague and knocks on a door that is actually a portal leading to another space or world. Brimstone collects teeth from traders around the world that he buys for wishes. There are portal doors in major cities around the world for traders to use or for Karou to go through to collect the teeth. They give him snake, shark, lion, human, tiger teeth and he gives them wishes. Gruesome right? Why does he collect teeth? It's absolutely genius. 

    Karou doesn't know why she was raised by these few chimera, she doesn't know if there are others in another place. She doesn't know what Brimstone does with the teeth or why, suddenly, black hand prints are burned into all of the portal doors around the world. She doesn't know if the rumors of implausibly beautiful beings who's shadows show angel wings are true.  As you get to know Karou, her chimera family, her spunky best friend Zuzana and all of the other creatures in this story you will find yourself completely pulled in. I rank this trilogy with other YA fantasy like Twilight, Hunger Games, the Lunar Chronicles. The third book just came out a few weeks ago and I'm currently rereading Daughter of Smoke & Bone and the second book, Days of Blood and Starlight, before I let myself jump into the third one. 

   Seriously if you enjoy YA fantasy at all you will love these books. The ratings on Goodreads are above a 4 and our whole book club enjoyed it. I even got my husband to read them. Laini Taylor is a fabulous writer who can relate to the reader even through the emotions of a 17 year old girl. She feels real and her emotions and reactions were really pretty credible. The writing is easy, fun and very vivid. I also found the mystery of the book enjoyable rather than frustrating. Give it a shot! Happy reading! Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone)  

Steph's Kid Book Hunt

      As my children have gotten older it's been a constant challenge to find books that are at their reading level but also age appropriate.  My oldest daughter, Addy, is a voracious reader so I find myself constantly looking for new books to give her.  As her parents, we really are pretty conscientious about what she reads so far as content goes. We keep our kids on a pretty tight leash with TV viewing, internet exploration, and books. My feeling is that they only have so long in which to remain innocent, it's my job to let them keep that innocence as long as possible. 

    I thought that in the spirit of parental comradery, I would share a few of our favorites. I have had this kind of conversations with numerous other moms and we all agree that it would be really nice if there were a list somewhere that we could consult. My daughter is 8 1/2 but because of her love of reading, her reading ability is higher than what is normally considered a second grade level. So in my list I will do my best to ball park a difficulty and age range so far and comprehension and content go. 

     The first series of books that Addy read independently was The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Initially, I was reading it to her at bedtime but soon those 20 minutes a day were not enough and so she started venturing ahead on her own. I was both very proud and very sad. She was in kindergarten at the time, late in the year, and also she is a fall birthday so she was 6 when she was reading these. However, my son Derek (who is still in kinder and is a summer b-day) is 5 1/2 and he has recently expressed an interest in reading them on his own as well. The books are very early chapter books. Very (almost painfully) repetitive and simple to follow. There are about a million (really only like 46 or something but still) of them so if your child is interested you can stay with this series for quite some time. I think it was a great series to start out with because it is interesting and fun but it's so easy to read that they feel successful when they finish.
Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past Noon

   She also read the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. These are older books, written in the 1950s, about two little girls and their adventures. The books get progressively more difficult and some of it is hard for little ones to relate with just because of such a huge generation gap but she really enjoyed them.

     There is a series of easy readers about a girl named Cam Jansen by David A Adler that Addy also really enjoyed. It was another one that provided a successful enjoyable read for her but was pretty simple.

   A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy have been some of her favorites. She has reread some of them 3 or 4 times. She started reading these in 1st grade. There are more words per page in these books and the dialogue is a little older. But she really enjoys the mystery element. We have had a lot of fun conversations about who she thinks "did it" so I could tell she was absorbing what she read. 

   Geronimo Stilton books by Elisabetta Dami are also very fun. They do read like a comic book and I have a friend who didn't like that about them but it didn't bother Addy. Again she was in 1st grade more toward the end of the year so she was 7 or so when she got into these. There is a spin off about Geronimo's sister Thea Stilton. Those read older to me and I didn't enjoy them as much so she only read a few.

    The Rainbow Magic books were a huge favorite. They are also all very similar and easy to read so by the time she had read a few of them (there are also about a million of these) and had the format down she could read one of them in about a half an hour. 

    We were introduced to a series called The World According to Humphrey by Betty G Birney when Addy was in kindergarten. I read them out loud to her but by the time she was at the end of 1st grade and into 2nd she was rereading them on her own. It is a wonderful non-gender specific story about a class pet. This is one of my personal favorites.

     The American Girl books were a great bridge into more mature books. The vocabulary in some of these, especially the mysteries, is definitely more advanced and they cover more serious topics (especially the Addy series).  But Addy says that series is her favorite. 
  
    She also really loved reading Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows. She read the first one so fast I didn't believe her when she told me she was finished so I read it and quizzed her on it. She totally read it and caught things that I had missed! These are super fun and a little older but still great for younger kids. 

     These next few are all older books, I actually had a hard time letting her make the adjustment into some older subject matter but it has been good for her. Some of her friends in her new school got her interested in The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckely. It's a fairy tale type book about 2 sisters and all of the fairy tale creatures they encounter. It is definitely at least a 2nd grade level for both vocabulary and content (mild fantastical violence) but it is absolutely one of her favorites. 

      Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew  by Carolyn Keene is a fun more modern version of the classic. The girls in the books are older and so again I would say 2nd grade at a minimum but they are very fun and relatively short. 

    The last 2 I'll mention today are Harry Potter and the Books of Beginning series'.  She started reading Harry Potter about a year ago but it was too soon. The vocabulary and complexity was too much for her. But she asked to revisit it a few months back and has been loving it. She's currently on book 4 and I can't decided how far I'm willing to let her go. We'll see. The Books of Beginning by John Stephens are ones that my husband and myself have thoroughly enjoyed. She read the first one before I could get to it and after I read it I was a little concerned because it really is kind of scary and intense. It didn't seem to bother her but then she started getting nervous about being alone and I think it was the book. So we've put that one on hold for now but I recently recommended it to my friend who's son is 10. 

     We are a book family for sure and I have loved watching my kids discover their own love and taste in books. It's one of my loves in life that I can share with them and I adore watching them immerse themselves in a good book.
You can find a list of these books here : Book List   




      

Stace's Book Review: Tyrannosaur Canyon

    

     This book was a happy unplanned find. I'm pretty sure Steph actually found it. We had a long layover somewhere and were stuck at a lovely airport, so of course we were looking at books, and she picked this one up. Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston. I love Douglas Preston. He actually has quite a few books that he co-writes with Lincoln Child that I will post about another time. I call them my men, why, its hard to say that's just what happened. My parents would ask me what I was reading and I would just say 'one of my men' I don't know I'm weird. 

     Douglas Preston books are usually about some type of new scientific discovery and the different people wanting to get credit and study the finding. That may sound boring but its not because Douglas Preston wrote it. His books are kind of reminiscent of Michael Crichton stuff but I personally like Douglas Preston better. I'm not a science kind of gal. I don't know about basically anything scientific and so I feel super smart reading these books and maybe sometimes I don't know the terms but it doesn't matter the story is still awesome.

     Sometimes I have a hard time describing things and I am afraid of giving to much away because one of the great things about this book is discovering so I am going to put what is on the back of the book because it is so cool.

A moon rock missing for thirty years...

Five buckets of blood-soaked sand found in New Mexico...

A scientist with ambition enough to kill...

A monk who will redeem the world...

A dark agency with a deadly mission...

The greatest scientific discovery of all time...

What fire bolt from the galactic dark shattered the Earth eons ago, and now hides in that remote cleft in the southwest U.S. known as...Tyrannosaur Canyon? 

     Oh my gosh!! So good. What I really love about this book and author is that there isn't to much mumbo jumbo science stuff to make one confused but it feels legit. I love the adventure and the mystery about it and the suspense building that goes on. Its really one of those books where you get on the edge of your seat sometimes. There is swearing. In this particular book I did not feel there was a ridiculous amount but that is a prominent thing in his books. There is also some intimate moments but the author does not dwell on them. Also, there is actually a book before this called The Codex that also has characters from Tyrannosaur Canyon, Tom Broadbent and Sally Colorado. You don't have to read it first, we didn't, but in Tyrannosaur Canyon it does mention stuff that makes you think there was a book before but you are in know way lost or confused if you read Tyrannosaur Canyon first. I also thoroughly enjoy The Codex. I think our dad said he liked that one better then Tyrannosaur Canyon. For me, The Codex can be creepier, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good creep out every now and then but in The Codex they are in the jungle and there are a lot of yucky things in the jungle but again The Codex so good.

      So if you are in the mood for something kind of different and not huge on a love story, there still is a little one but not the main part of the story, and that's adventurous and keeps you guessing with really good writing Douglas Preston is your guy.
Tyrannosaur Canyon

     

      

Stace's Book Review: Graceling

   This is a book that Steph told me about. It is a YA and its by Kristin Cashore. Graceling could be considered a fantasy, I suppose, because in it the characters live in Kingdoms and lands that are completely made up by the author. It is not hard to follow which sometimes can happen when you are taken completely out of the "normal" world.  

    Now, in this world that the author has created for us, there are some people who are Graced. A way someone can tell that a person is Graced is that their eyes are two different colors. I thought that was an interesting idea the author had. Being Graced means that you are exceptionally good at something whether it be swimming, cooking, or in the case of the main character Katsa, killing. Katsa is a 17 year old girl and she is basically the king of her kingdoms "thug." But, one night while on a mission, she meets Prince Po and he changes her life.

   Graceling is about the adventures they go through together and the hard things they have to endure. One of the things I really like about this book is that Katsa isn't too annoying. She can be a little bothersome at times but not too bad. I really really love Po, wish he had a better name, but I love him. Graceling is an easy read and it had more content and depth than I originally thought it would. 

   There is some violence, because you know there is a killing Grace, but not as much as one would think. There is no language. I would put the intimacy level at a 3 or 4, so not too bad. I feel like it would be appropriate for a fourteen year old to read. Graceling is also a book I had gotten from the library and ended up wanting to own it. That doesn't happen with every book I read so I thought that said something about the author's style of writing.  It's one I can and want to go back to.  Find it on Amazon Here: Graceling

Steph's Review of Shadow Spell Book 2 Cousins O'Dwyer Triology

    It's so bittersweet to finish a book in a series knowing that there is still another one coming. I always hurry through the book because I can't wait to get to the end but then when it's over I have the "good book let down" because I know I have to wait for the next one.  I enjoyed my time with Conner and Meara in this book. Shadow Spell picks up a few months after The Dark Witch left off and follows a similar format. The 6 friends are still fighting the evil Cabhan as best they can with magic, love, friendship, and wits. I truly loved getting to know Conner O'Dwyer a little better. He is an excellent character and an extremely likable guy that everyone loves. He would almost be irritating if he weren't so darn awesome. 

     Meara was also a good character and I think that their differences played well off of each other. Their interactions are believable and as their relationship progresses to the "next level" there are some humorous moments. The magical battles ramp up a bit as the story starts to wind toward the final book. I really enjoyed that Nora Roberts upped the ante some with physical danger and some new magical "tricks" as they get ready for their final battles. 

     I always struggle with a book review because I want to share my opinion with out ruining the book for those who haven't read it or sending you into the book without a bias. I will say that while I really did enjoy it and am looking forward to the next one there were pieces of it that were mildly confusing. The dialogue in their planning sessions was by turns too vague or too in depth.  Shadow Spell isn't particularly long but I did find myself skimming bits of it to get the story moving along. Now that I'm only one book away from finishing the trilogy I hate to say that this isn't one of my Nora favorites. Don't get me wrong and please don't let me put you off of reading the trilogy, but compared to some of her others it just doesn't strike the same emotional cords. Stace finished a couple of days after I did and she was telling me that she enjoyed this one more than the first. I would say I agree with that but I think mostly it's because Conner is such a good guy. Stace also said that she almost started crying during a more emotionally intense part of the book. I did not find myself weeping, I blame Stace's pregnancy.....you know it's  true Stace.

   Shadow Spell is a very quick read and I don't think that anyone who read the first one in the series will be disappointed by this one. I look forward to reading the last book this fall and finding out how the 6 of them will close out the story. To purchase Shadow Spell on Amazon click on the link below.  

    

    Shadow Spell: Book Two of The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy

Books or an ereader?--Stace

    For Christmas Steph and I each got a kindle. Now getting a kindle or any e-reader really was a hard choice for us to make because we love books. We love the actual holding of the books, the smell of a new book, the feeling of holding a long awaited book in your hands, and the feel of the pages in your hands. It's just a fantastic experience. We almost felt like we were betraying books by getting the kindle; we were very torn. Then we decided to get the kindle because we did realize that we could have more books and that they were cheaper. Our book shelves are completely full; Steph even has to keep some of her books in boxes. It's a crying shame. 

    One of my favorite things about the kindle is that it's like a flipping portable library! Who could have a problem with that? I traveled for the first time with my kindle this last trip and it was great because now on airplanes you don't have to turn off electronic devices, you just have to have it in airplane mode and it fits ever so nicely in my purse. When I travel I always take about three books with me and this made it so much easier. Granted I had three different chargers, Ipad, kindle and phone, but it was something I was willing to do.

    My friend who just recently started getting into reading also got a kindle for Christmas but she said that it has now turned into something for her son to play on. But, did it go to waste? No it did not. If that is something you also want to do with it then by all means. She had some pretty fun games on there so apparently, at least on the kindle, you have good game options. My son is not allowed to have anything to do with my kindle. It is mommies. If he wants to play a game we have the Ipad for that, but kindle is all mine. 
  
    The reason I am bringing all this up now is because, like Steph has mentioned, a new Nora Roberts has come out. I was a little torn and not sure what to do. Should I just get it on the kindle? It would be cheaper but, the new book that came out is a part of a trilogy and I have the first book. Well, I decided to not get it on my kindle and I'm so happy. Maybe people think I'm silly because if you have an e-reader why buy regular books anymore? Because it makes me happy! Some books need and deserve to be on your bookshelf, even if there isn't very much room. Steph decided to get it on her kindle and she paid half what I did. But I don't care. I had forgotten how it felt to go to the store and find the book and hold it and see the beautiful cover. It just made me so happy. 

   So I guess the point of all this rambling is that if you are a book lover you can do both. You can own an e-reader and buy regular books. There is no one that says you can't! And like I said, I love my kindle. It can actually be a little on the addicting side to go to amazon, see a book you like is .99 cents, and then get it instantly. I try and rack my brain on what else I can buy because its .99 cents for crying out loud. You can have both worlds and both worlds are ever so happy.  Here is a link to the kindle I own  Kindle Fire HD 7", HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB - Includes Special Offers
     

The Dark Witch- Steph's review

   I believe Stace has mentioned previously about our love of the author Nora Roberts. I think I've read almost everything she's ever written (which is saying something). Her most recent trilogy is called The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy and is set in Ireland (I love it when she sets things in Ireland). I don't care how bad a day your having, it is always made better when a book you've been waiting for is released! Yesterday was such a day for me because the second book is out! The first book is called The Dark Witch and in the prologue you are told the story, in first person, of a witch who lived long ago and the evil she had to protect her family from. She defeated the evil temporarily but her 3 children knew that someday it would be their turn to destroy their mother's enemy. Exciting I know! 

   This story is passed down from generation to generation until in the first book you meet Iona who comes over to Ireland from America seeking a connection with her ancestors. Each book is about a descendant of one of the dark witch's children. Each of them have their own obstacles to overcome and they find a way to connect with their ancestor to do their part. It's a great story. With magic, love, family connection, and of course the fight to defeat an ancient evil. What more do people want?! 

   The second book came out yesterday and I absolutely love to get a new book. It is an element of joy in my life. But to get the next book in a series hightens the joy considerably. Anyway I can't talk about it anymore I need to go read.  

Stace's Book Review: Shatter Me Series

   These books were very interesting to me. The author is Tahere Mafi and these are actually her first novels which surprised me because sometimes I can tell when it is a first for an author and these are just very well done. This is a story about a 17 year old girl, Juliette,  who cannot touch anyone because if she does she causes others severe pain and even death. And the sun has actually kind of rebelled against the earth causing drastic weather changes and the government has fallen apart. Juliette has been secluded from others and some want to use her to help reestablish the government while others want to use her to help smash any rebellion against the new form of government. There is a love triangle but I didn't find that to annoying which, for me, love triangles can be.

   There were several reasons why I liked these books and one of them was how it was written. Its in first person and the way that Juliette thinks is very different and interesting. I know I'm being pretty vague and I'm sorry its just I don't want to ruin anything and say to much because you find out some surprising things in the first few chapters. And that's another thing I like about her is that I never felt like the books were dragging and that I was just waiting around to get more information, she keeps the story going.

   There are a couple intimate scenes so I would probably recommend this to someone no younger then 16.  There is also a 1.5 and a 2.5 and normally I don't really care for those, they kind of bother me because I don't really see the point in a writer not just writing an entire novel. But I highly recommend them, especially the 1.5, if you can't get your hands on them for whatever reason then its no big deal its not like you miss anything huge it just helped me understand some characters a little better.

    The Shatter Me series was pleasantly surprising to me and I really enjoyed them. I also liked that it was just a trilogy because some YA books have like six in a series. I really hope Tahere Mafi comes out with more soon because I can't wait to see what she's going to come up with next.

Steph's book review- The Lies of Locke Lamora

    I'm normally not a big adult fantasy reader. I actually think the only other full series I've ever read that's categorized as adult fantasy is the Game of Thrones series (which I very much enjoyed). I usually don't have the patience or desire to invest that much energy in reading what's usually a very long involved book about a completely made up world where there is almost always a magical or supernatural element. It's just not my thing. However for book club this month we chose to read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and let me tell you, oh my goodness that was a good story.

    Initially when you start the book it feels a little odd. I had a hard time placing myself in the book simply because its a completely made up world. I had to get my bearings and the author uses A LOT of words. Now I know what you're thinking, it's a book, there are supposed to be words. But his descriptions of landscape, politics, and some historical events are very wordy. I was also really surprised by the amount of language in the book. If you are sensitive to swearing I do not recommend that you read this. It took me about 100 or so pages before I began to really enjoy myself.  The book itself is almost 500 pages (common with adult fantasy) and so really its only about 1/5 of the way through that I felt a connection with the characters. Once I hit the halfway mark I was hooked and completely emotionally invested. 

   The story is about a little boy named Locke Lamora who is orphaned and then trained as a thief in a world where this is a kind fate for those children left without parents. The background of the book reads a little medieval and so its course and the people are dirty and unscrupulous. Its very much an every man for himself take what you can world. Locke proves to be too good a thief and causes some trouble for his master and he is sold to a "priest" who is actually another thief and trained to be a member of an elite club of thieves. The story takes you back and forth between real time and Locke's past so as you follow the plot in the "present" you are also reading about the experiences he had during his training that led to the current situation. The dialogue is fantastic and I don't think there is a character that I don't like. Some of them you hate but it's a good hate. You know what I mean? Some characters you just love to despise. I won't tell you much more about the story because I don't want to give anything away! I will just say that it was a great story with moments of disbelief and humor but also some deeper emotion that I was pleasantly surprised by. Of course it's a series (isn't most adult fantasy?) and I'm excited to get my hands on the next one!

Stace's Book Review: Inn Boonsboro Trilogy

There is something that I have noticed about myself when it comes to books. I read by the author. When I read a book I like I want to get my hands on everything that author has written. One of mine and Steph's favorite authors is Nora Roberts. I know that Nora may have a bit of a bad rep because she is labeled as a romance author but we love her. One of the things I love the most about Nora Roberts is that she has a TON of books and I never feel like I'm reading the same story twice. She has murder mysteries, love stories, super natural stories, creepy ghosts stories, the woman can write a wide variety of good books.
The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy is about three brothers who run a construction company together and remodel or renovate businesses, homes ect. In this trilogy its about these three brothers, Beckett, Owen, and Ryder, along with their mother reconstructing an inn and bringing it back to life. Each book is about one brother and the woman they meet and the different stages of the inn that is kind of bringing them all together. There is also a ghost haunting the inn but don't worry its not creepy (if you want a creepy ghost haunting story read her: In The Garden Box Set . Wowza!) 
Usually when Nora writes more from a mans perspective there is a bit more language. One brother in particular, Ryder, can be a little more that way. There is also some love scenes and one of the things I like about Nora regarding the love scenes is that in her books she stays more with the emotional aspect as opposed to the physical. This trilogy I feel comfortable recommending to my 18 year old sister-in-law who is not married.
I have not mentioned the best part. You know when you are reading a book and you just wish that you could live where the character was living or eat at their favorite restaurant? You can! Nora Roberts restored inn Boonsboro. So when you are reading about the inn, or the book store, or the pizza joint its all real! A fun thing about the inn is that each room is named after a romantic love couple, with a happy ending, like Wesley & Buttercup or Elizabeth & Darcy. Me, Steph and our mom want to go on a girl trip there. I dubs to stay in Titania & Oberon's room because, well, its magical! And it has a giant brass tub, yes please.  
Here you can find book one of the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy;  The Next Always: Book One of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy

One Thousand White Women Book Review-Steph

Help me. I just finished assisting my oldest child with her math homework. Math is not my strong suit. I knew that there would be a time in my children's lives when they would realize that their mother is not all knowing. That there are some things that mom doesn't have an immediate answer for....I should have anticipated it being their math homework. She's 8 by the way. Judge all you want. But in my defense she's in a gifted/talented academy and their math is more advanced! So that that we're both in tears I think I'll take a break and escape to this lovely book I've been reading. 
A few days ago I started reading One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. It's historical fiction written in journal format, kind of like These Is My Words by Nancy E Turner. I was initially intrigued because the whole premise of the book is based on a political conference that was held in 1874 between a Cheyenne Indian chief and President Ulysses S Grant in which the Indian chief asked the president for 1,000 white women to be given to the tribe. In Native American culture the child belongs to its mothers tribe and so in an effort to assimilate themselves into the expanding American culture the Cheyenne decided to get an "in" for the upcoming generation. Now that's the kind of history I'm talking about! Now historically they were denied and sent home but Jim Fergus writes the book like it really happened and May Dodd goes to live with the Indians. 
I'm only about halfway through but I'm really enjoying the angle of the bride being taken to an unknown place. The Native American's are shown in a very complimentary light but the author also explores how foreign it all seems to her. Its about 400 pages so it feels like a hefty book but I'm actually breezing through it pretty quickly. However I did just realize that I haven't yet read my book club book for the month and my book club meets this Monday.....hmmm....decisions decisions. Well I'll keep you posted (ha!) on 1000 White Women and will also inform you on my book club book!

Stace's Book Review: I Am The Messenger

 Book Review: I Am the Messenger
 Found here: I Am the Messenger

 As we have mentioned we love love love books. One of my favorite books is called "I Am The Messenger" by Markus Zusak. Now the name may sound familiar for he is also the author of "The Book Thief." Now this book is nothing like The Book Thief. It is actually considered YA which I found surprising because the main character, Ed Kennedy, is 19 and it does not read like YA. I Am The Messenger is about 19 year old Ed Kennedy who is really doing nothing with his life. He is a cab driver living in Australia, that's right Australia, and he lives in a shack with his smelly dog the Doorman who likes to drink coffee. Ed is just going about his life, hanging out with his three friends when he gets an ace of cards and that is how he becomes the messenger. I am not saying anymore! If you are not a big reader this book is perfect because it isn't hefty, its an easy read, and it has heart and humor. If you are a big reader this is also for you. I have yet to come across someone who didn't like this book. 


Find it on Amazon: I Am the Messenger