Author Guest Blog on September 7th

On September 7th, Heather Lynn Rigaud, author of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star, will be a guest blogger.  A copy of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star will be available.  If interested in being in the drawing for the book, please leave a comment here.  Thank you!

Divergent (YA)

Divergent (YA)

This is the first book in a dystopian series.  At a certain age, teenagers must decide what faction they are going to choose to belong to.  If they don't make the cut, they become "factionless" or homeless.  Beatrice decides to join the Dauntless faction and reinvents herself as Tris.  She suffers physically and mentally through the hazing period.  She finds herself connected to Four, one of the trainers.  Tris realizes that there was more to her seemingly quiet mother than meets the eye and Tris has to find the strength to stop a war.  This had a lot of action in it.  I enjoyed it and I usually do not like these types of books.  I will read the rest of the series when they come out.

In my mailbox/inbox

In my inbox/mailbox this week:

Kindle books:
The Unraveling of Abby Settel
Bloodspell
Circle of Fire
Blood Awakening
Learning Curves
Velva Jean Learns to Fly
Pretty
Devil to Pay
Don't Say a Word
Unholy Magic
Unholy Ghosts
City of Ghosts
A Cat with No Clue
Good Girls
A Killer Collection
Fatal Appraisal
August Moon
The Sauvignon Secret
Poison Diaries 2
The Fairy Rose
The Book of Blood and Shadow
Bloodlines
The Most Dangerous Thing
Searching for Meredith Love
Power of Six

Library:
Summer Rental

Netgalley:
Dancergirl
Saving June
How to Eat a Cupcake
Bride of Night
Post-it Note Diaries
You're Not the One

Books:
The Memory Palace (ARC)
Vampire Haiku
Roses (Paperbackswap)

Upcoming author blog visit

On September 7th, Heather Lynn Rigaud will be visiting the blog to talk about her new book, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star.  I am halfway through the book and am really enjoying it so far.  Make sure you save the date!

Tighter (YA)

Jamie begins a summer job nanny young Isa.  Isa's former nanny, Jessie, died the summer before in a plane crash with her boyfriend, Peter, who was piloting the plane.  Jamie bears a physical resemblance to Jessie so the townspeople are drawn to her.  Jamie is drawn to the ghost of Peter.  Jamie does not know if this is really happening, if it is a side effect of the pills she has been taking or if she is going crazy like others in her family.  This book was a mix of a ghost story, realistic fiction of a girl with a drug addiction, a mystery and a romance.  This was a decent read.  I was sent this book to review through the Amazon Vine program.  I enjoyed it.  Jamie was a good main character--she was complex and that made her interesting.

Smokin' Seventeen

Smokin' Seventeen

I love this series.  No matter how many cars are destroyed, how many times she wavers between Ranger and Morelli or how many doughnuts she eats with Lula, Stephanie Plum never gets old for me.  In this book, dead bodies are being dumped at the bond office, which isn't doing much for business.  Worse yet, some of the bodies are labeled "For Stephanie".  This doesn't really narrow down anything since there are quite a few people at any given moment who would like to kill Stephanie.  Through it all, Stephanie keeps her sense of humor--even when chasing a bond skip who thinks he is a vampire, even when Vinnie paints a more endowed picture of her on the office wall to drum up business, even when Morelli's grandmother puts the "Vordo" on her.  These books are pure entertainment.

Barnes and Noble delivery

Received a nice book order from Barnes and Noble today.  In the box was:

Flowerbed of State by Dorothy St. James

Perfect Little Ladies by Abby Drake

Ruby Red by Kersten Gier

The Implosion of Aggie Winchester by Lara Zielin

All You Desire (sequel to The Eternal Ones) by Kirsten Miller

Let the reading begin! :-)
 

Such a Pretty Fat

Such a Pretty Fat

I love Jen Lancaster's writing.  It is witty, bitter and refreshingly honest.  In this book, Jen is using her journey of weight loss as fodder for her new book.  She tries Jenny Craig, Weight Watches and her own methods with varying levels of success (don't get her started on Atkins!).   Throughout it all, Jen realistically details her dread of exercise, her embarrassment over her body at times and her excitement at going out bare armed for the first time in a long time.  This book is hilarious and such fun to read.  I highly recommend it.

Tout Sweet

Tout Sweet

This is a memoir in the vein of Eat, Pray, Love.  Karen decides to start over after she and her boyfriend break up.  She decides to leave London behind and buys a house of her own in France.  As she fixes up the house, she gains back her independence and creates a new world for herself, filled with interesting people she meets in her new village.  Karen does not seem to be incredibly lucky in love, which makes me feel for her, but she keeps her optimism which I like.  This book had elements of chick lit in it, a great deal of humor and good writing.  Karen honestly details the highs and lows of her new life in France.  I enjoyed it a lot.  I was sent this book by Sourcebooks to review. 

Goddess Cottage

Goddess Cottage

This book has all that a paranormal reading fan could want--witches, werewolves, vampires and magic spells.  Sierra finds out that she is the last in a long line of Ivory female witches and to save that line's power, she must travel to Alaska and mate with Hayden, a werewolf.  Of course that is not easy with Raven, a jealous werewolf who wants all the power for herself.  This book had a good paranormal story, decent characters, a bit of action and some romance.  It was a quick, fun read.  I was sent this book to review and I enjoyed it.

South of Broad

South of Broad

This was my first book by this author and what a way to start! This was an excellent read.  I loved the characters immediately and their connection to each other.  Leo King is the main character and he introduces a group of odd teenagers to each other in the late 1960s--rich kids Chad, Molly and Frasier, orphans Niles, Starla and Betty, should be orphans Trevor and Sheba and black football captain Ike--in a time when rich and poor, black and white, should not have mixed.  This group remains true to each other over the years and through horrible things and that made me care greatly about them.  The writing is superb and even though the book was over 500 pages, I could have read 500 more.  I strongly recommend this book.  I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher.

Current Read

Current Read:

I am about halfway through South of Broad and concentrating on that for now.  I am hoping to have it done for Wednesday's book class.  I am really enjoying it and have read close to 150 pages just today.  

Current Reads

I am currently reading South of Broad.  This will be my first book by Conroy.  I am on page 41.  I am really liking the character of Leo.  

Last night I began Divergent on my Kindle.  I am only 2% in so far.

For review, I am reading Goddess Cottage by Sheri Dub on my Kindle.  I'm about 60% into this book and am enjoying it.


On the YA front, I am about 30 pages into Beauty Queens and getting some chuckles out of this book!

July Reads at a Glance

In July I read:

1.  Juggling Fire (YA)  (4/5)
2.  Chapter and Hearse (5/5) 4th in series
3.  In the Heat of the Bite (4/5) 2nd in series
4.  The Lightning Thief (YA) (5/5) 1st in series (Kindle)
5.  Bad Dog (5/5)
6.  My Jane Austen Summer (4/5)
7.  Prophecy of Days (YA) (4/5) 1st in series
8.  Books can be Deceiving (5/5) 1st in series
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4.5/5) 1st in series (Kindle)
10. Click: an Online Love Story (4.5/5) (Kindle)
11. The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree (5/5) 1st in series (library book)
12.  A Weekend with Mr. Darcy (5/5)
13.  Mudbound (5/5)


Books read in 2011:  72