Jan suggestion

for whatever reason I can't find the Book Nook on FB....so here's my book suggestion for Jan...

THE THREE KINGS by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Some Good Books.

I know I've been kinda out of the game. I've got some good reasons though... new twins... and my CD player broke (I only "read" books on CD... It's all I've got time for.) Well, with the babies getting bigger and getting a new CD player, I feel like I can almost get back into the game. :)

I asked my hubs to grab some books from the library- just randomly. He came home with these two. The Lock Artist and Caught. Both were pretty good. The Lock Artist has some language in it that I had to turn off the CD when the kids were around, but other than that... it was intriguing.

Caught is about a reporter who's job it is to catch pedophiles in the act. She goes on line, pretends she's a teenage girl, makes arrangements to meet up with these grown icky men... and when they show up, there is a huge camera crew and a reporter waiting inside instead of a teenage girl. Then she blasts the men on TV.
It seems all fine and dandy until pretty much everything becomes warped. She can no longer trust her gut, and it seems like a conspiracy is coming against her as well.
It's a good story. I'd be interested to see what other books this author has written. I've never heard of them before.
The Lock Artist is about a man who's writing letters from jail about his experiences as a kid, his experiences as a teenager who gets sucked into the life of being a safe cracker, and everything else in between.
He was called "The Miracle Boy" after a tragedy happened when he was young and then he couldn't speak again. He got taken in by his uncle who ran the local liquor store- where after the uncle changed the locks out- he got fascinated by how locks worked.
It got a little confusing at times because his flash backs and flash forwards were only a years time difference- and then it would change to present day 10 years later, and his childhood 9 years earlier.
It was a pretty good book (aside from the language coming out of nowhere)...

AND.... I just started "reading" this today. I am HOOKED! I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.
(as I was looking for this image, I saw this was made into a movie last year.... Where was I? How did I miss that?)

The Constant Princess

Philippa Gregory's book "The Other Boleyn Girl" is probably on my Top 20 book list. I have been looking forward to reading another book by her but just haven't had a chance until this past week. "The Constant Princess" tells the story of Queen Katherine of Aragon. She was King Henry VIII's wife when he met Anne Boleyn. The books tells of her Spanish upbringing and her fight to become the Queen of England. This book did not flow quite as freely as "The Other Boleyn Girl". The story was intereseting but it was weighted down with a lot of history and I know you guys may be thinking,"what do you expect it is a historical fiction book?" This is true but I like a little more fiction and a little less history. If you haven't ever read any of Gregory's books I do not recommend starting with this one but it would definitely be an interesteing read for a 2nd or 3rd book.

I'd Know You Anywhere

Are you girls all ready to start tomorrow? I know I'm supposed to be leading this one, so I wanted to go ahead and jump on top of it. It would be great if we could all start around the same day! Let me know! Thanks!! :)

CALLING IT

Well...

One thing is for sure, we all want to read different things! Ha! ;)

The only one that didn't get the same number of votes as the rest of the books was "A Soft Place to Land", so that one was the only one eliminated.

No more voting, I don't think it's necessary (feel free to object).

I guess we'll just have these as our books for the rest of the year. I know with the holidays coming we may not have as much time, but we can still try! :)

October:

I'd Know You Anywhere

Still Missing

November:

A Lesson Before Dying

Room

December:

Fragile

Second Time Around

I also want to come up with some way to make us all more involved in these books and with having active discussions on here about the books.

I'm thinking of making a facebook page under my account. When you do a page, such as the one I have for my business, there is actually a discussions tab on there and plus, we can kind of post on there when we're starting or finishing without having to come do a complete post. What do you think?

I also, though, would really like to have topics of discussion for the books we read. I know a lot of novels have book club readers guides in the back of them and that would be a great resource for us to use, but I'm not sure how to do it. The only way it would seem possible is if we all really make an effort to be reading each book at the same time and I know that's not always practical.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions! :)

Promises To Keep

I read this in 3 days, which is almost a record for me! I am so easily distracted! ;( I LOVED, LOVED it. It was my 4th Jane Green book, and I plan to read all of hers that I can (and/or ones Candace recommends, lol). It was a library book (I was 1st to check it out! :D) and I passed it on to my sister-in-law to enjoy before I turn it back in. Such a touching book. Really illustrates to appreciate the mundane things in life, to treasure the simple pleasures.......to be present in every moment.

Okay, Soooooo.....

Only ONE book got more votes than the rest of the books and that one was.....

I'd Know You Anywhere

These....

Still Missing

A Soft Place to Land

A Lesson Before Dying

Room

Fragile

Second Time Around

all got the same number of votes.

*Sigh*

SO, PLEASE come back before the end of the day and vote for the TWO that you'd like most to read out of those six books. I'm not going to re-link them, because the links are all in the first voting post I did.

PLEASE OH PLEASE do this guys. I thought about just making our next several months worth of books off of this post, but I hate to do that, because that would probably go into next year and I know I'd love to hear more suggestions from you guys before then. This list will be OLD NEWS by December. :)

Thanks girls, you're the best!! :)

Juliet, Naked

Ok, I've started and I really like it! I'm about 160 pages in and I'm hoping to get more read tonight. Things are starting to really happen now so it's getting interesting!! Can't wait to hear what you all think about it!

my vote(s)

1. Fragile

2. A Soft Place to Land

3.I'd Know You Anywhere

4. Ever After

5. Room

;D

VOTE, GIRLS, VOTE!!!

I'm so excited, I'm practically bouncing up and down in my seat! :):):)

We have FIFTEEN BOOKS to choose from!

Fragile

Still Missing

A Soft Place to Land

A Summer Affair

Super Bowl Marriage

If You Want Me to Stay

Ever After

Map of the World

All the Pretty Horses

Stones from the River

A Lesson Before Dying

Joy School

Second Time Around

Room

I'd Know You Anywhere

Thank you SOOOOO MUCH for suggesting so many awesome new and old books. I truly cannot wait to see what we end up with!

Since we have so many to choose from, I think we should vote for our top FIVE BOOKS.

And it just took me FOR-EVER to link all those book titles to this post, so PLEASE take 5 minutes and click on the titles and read about them to help you pick your 5 FAVORITES.

Then the top FOUR will be our books for the months of October and November.

PLEASE VOTE!!!

It's so much more fun if we have LOTS of participation and I really want us to have books chosen that we ALL want to read! :)

Voting ends FRIDAY AT 8PM.

THANKS GIRLS, LOVE Y'ALL!! :)

Dead Until Dark

I think I may be one of the few left in the world that hasn't read any of the True Blood books. I finally got around to trying the first one and I loved it. When True Blood first starting airing on HBO I was able to watch the first 4 or 5 episodes. Then we moved and I decided no more paid movie channels so my little ones didn't accidently come across something they shouldn't. So I haven't been able to see how the first season ended (I have them on my Netflix list but there are also 200 other movies listed on there)....does anyone see a trend here (100+ plus books to read on my bookshelf, 200+ movies to watch on my Netflix list) I definitely need more time in the day. :)

Anyway, for those who have been living under a rock for the last few years. Dead Until Dark is the story of Sookie Stackhouse (I sooo love this name, I don't think she could have come up with a better name). She lives in a small town in Louisiana where vampires are starting to mainstrem (live with humans). Just as the vampires are starting to settle in the town there are murders of young woman who just happen to be vampire lovers. Is it the vampires doing it or some of the town folk who are upset the woman are mingling with the vampires? The TV series (at least the ones I saw) are pretty true to the book so I am finally able to know who the murderer was. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Fly Away Home

I'm waiting on Juliet Naked from PBS, I may have to end up getting it from my library, but in the meantime, I'm reading this.

It is awesome!! Jennifer Weiner is so mesmerizing in her writing from the very first page (IMO) and I always forget it until I pick up another of her books.

This one is about a disgraced senator's wife and her two daughters... one who is a doctor and seemingly the "perfect" daughter and the other a recovering addict, who is actually the better person all around. I'm enjoying getting to know these characters and I hate putting it down after each chapter.

Has anyone else read this one?

Also:: Thanks so much to everyone who is suggesting books!!! I love seeing what everyone has their eyes on, it's so much fun!! :) Tomorrow is the end of us suggesting books and after that, we'll vote on next month's books! Can't wait to see what we pick!!

October Suggestions...

these looks interesting as well!

Fragile by Lisa Unger

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fragile/Lisa-Unger/e/9780307393999/?pt=BK&stage=bookproduct&pwb=1&


Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Still-Missing/Chevy-Stevens/e/9780312595678/?pt=BK&stage=bookproduct&pwb=1&

October Suggestions...

ok not sure how my suggestions will go, considering I've been reading the same book the entire summer; Eat Pray Love...I've finally made it to Bali..lol

OK so here's some books I've recently acquired and hopefully will get to read soon.....

a soft place to land by Susan Rebecca White

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

super bowl marriage by Terry Owens

If You Want Me To Stay by Michael Parker

Ever After by Karen Kingsbury

Map of the World

Map of the World by Jane Hamilton (Again the images and links are giving me fits...)

This was another one of those "old books" that I wanted to check out and I'm glad I did this one. Not one of my favorites, but the author is definately a good storyteller. It's about a part time school nurse/mom who lives on a farm in the middle of suburbia with her farmer husband and two little girls. Tragically, one of her best friends' daughters drowns in the pond on their property and as she is trying to grieve and make sense of the little girl's death, she is accused of sexually assulting a local elementary student who comes from a troubled home. Charges are brought up against her and the story bounces between her perspective and her husband's perspective. The author does a great job as a storyteller and it really hits home about appreciating what may seem like the simple or mundane things in our own lives. Don't ever take them for granted :-)

Has anyone every read her other book "The Book of Ruth"? This is supposed to be a pretty decent one too. I may try that out.

October Suggestions

I swear I'm not slacking!!! I had such good intentions...on Saturday I took the girls to the bookstore and miraculously Charlotte (who is a terror in a bookstore!!!) fell asleep in the stroller so I was able to stroll through with Shannon and browse for once :-) I looked at like 20 books that sounded interesting and texted the names/authors to myself so I could look them up at the library later. Well, all my hard work didn't pay off...my phone decided to be a pain and lock up and I had to factory reset it LOSING ALL MY OLD TEXTS!! Anyway, wouldn't you know I can't remember a single title I looked at!! So, I'm too tired/busy/exhausted to go back anytime soon to look again, but I have two that I checked out of the library recently but haven't gotten around to reading. I went on an "old book" hunt last week and here are two I found. They are ones I've always wanted to read and I'm going to give them a shot at some point...

OK, I'm trying to upload images and it's not happening, nor can I get the links in!! So, here are the titles ...

1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

This is the same author as "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men". I loved "The Road" and this book also has gotten a lot of good reviews.

2. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

I hope I haven't read this at some point. I've seen it around for sooooooo long. It sounds good, just don't want to get 50 pages in and think this seems familiar :-)

Come On Girls!!!!

I know there has to be SOME BOOK you've seen that has caught your eye... at Target, Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Amazon, WHERE EVER!!!

Please suggest them!!! Please, OH Please, OH PLEASE!!!

Only Tempie and I have made suggestions. You have until Wednesday! :)

My October Suggestions

2 Suggestions for October

Both of these books have been reviewed by People magazine, who gave them both 4 out of 4 Stars. I'm definitely reading both these, but I thought they would also be great thought provokers and would probably be great for book club.

Room is a novel that's said to be a lot like the Jaycee Dugard story to read more about it, click here.

I'd know you anywhere just sound.... amazing.... I can't wait to read this one. To read more about it, click here

Try to get your suggestions for October in by Wednesday, Sept 15 if you can. Thanks girls!! :)

out of it..

I'm feeling so out of the loop! :-( I read you guys posts and don't even remember half the books you all talk about... I've been reading the same book all summer, it's a great book and I'm loving it, just don't have a lot of down time these days! Don't worry I'll catch up eventually and be able to join into some of the discussions!! lol  At least I'm getting to know which books are worth my time and money by reading ya'lls posts!! Thank ladies!! ;-)

Promises to Keep

I started this yesterday and I am really loving it. I have never read anything by Jane Green before but from the very first page I was sucked into the book. Her writing style is so easy to read and it keeps you wanting to read the next chapter. I also like how at the end of each chapter is a different recipe.

Precious

I won an autographed copy of this book from Goodreads.com. It is by new author Sandra Novack. The book tells the story of The Kisch family in the summer of 1978. Their ten year old neighbor has gone missing, the mother has left her family, and the seventeen year old daughter is having an affair with her teacher. The family also includes nine year old Sissy who is just trying to get through her summer having to deal with all the emotional things going on around her and the father who can be distant at times.

I was really hoping to really like this book but I thought it was just okay. The book seemed to jump around alot and I had a very hard time getting into the book. The storyline itself was pretty good. If the author made the chapters flow together a little better this would have been a really good book.

Sept Books...

Hey Girls!! Hope the beginning of Sept finds you all well and ready for a new season...I sure am :-) Wasn't sure if there was an order to the books for Sept already set, but I just picked up "Juliet Naked" from the library and was wondering if I should start it or hold off? I know it's the holdiay weekend and you may all be busy, so no rush on getting on it. Just wanted to write this up while I was thinking of it. I probably wouldn't get it started until next week anyway. Have a great weekend!!!

My Name is Memory

This was a good one :-) It read fast and the plot was pretty interesting. It focuses on the idea that souls live many lives (well, most of the time) and are reincarnated in other bodies. Most souls don't remember previous lives but certain dreams, fears, happy feelings keep showing up in the soul's new lives. However, a very small fraction of the population are souls who remember past lives. Daniel is one of these people who has "the memory". He has fallen in love with the same woman's soul over the past two thousand years. In some lives he finds her but they are at different stages of their lives (i.e. he is a child, she is old). He is able to recognize her, she has no clue. Finally they are at the same age and he has found her, but convincing her is another story altogether.

I think this is supposed to eventually be a trilogy. I would definitely recommend and I also plan on reading the remaining books.

Columbine

This ties in with my comment I just made on Tempie's post about Skeletons at the Feast.

I have been so intrigued with the horrible tragedy at Columbine High School since it happened during my Freshman year at ECU. I'm the kind of LAME person who will sit and watch hours upon hours upon hours of coverage of anything LIKE this on the news and on documentary channels and cry my eyes out thinking of those poor kids and most of all their destroyed PARENTS. OH my gosh. So, when I went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago to get one of our monthly reads and I saw THIS book, I grabbed it. I didn't know if I would get to it anytime soon, but I knew I had to have it.

Well, ever since then, this book has been staring at me from the bookcase shelf right beside my bedroom door, so last night, when I finished The Island, I picked this up and I've been completely engrossed in it ever since.

This author's writing is so compelling and he really tells the story of what happened and all involved in a very objective way. I"m loving this book.

Skeletons at the Feast

Based on recommendations from you guys I added this book to my wishlist many moons ago and I finally got it a few weeks ago. I started reading it this week and I am sorry to say I could only get to page 78 and I decided I couldn't read anymore. I was so confused about who was who and some of the things that happened were so disturbing. I have 100+ books on my bookshelf to read so I decided to move on. Has anyone else read any of the author's other books? I was just wondering if they were any easier to read.

Sept Suggestions

I went to the library yesterday and started grabbing. Here's what I walked away with. I really don't know much and haven't heard anything about any of these so they are all a shot in the dark :-)

The first one is by the author of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but from what I can tell this one isn't a young adult novel.

Finny

This is my book club's current selection for the month. We picked it because the author contacted our group (this is his debut novel) and wanted to come met with us to discuss it. Finny follows the life of a young girl named Delphine "Finny" Short. It starts out with her being 14 and living at home with her parents. Her family is a unique sort and she doesn't quite fit in. She then meets a boy named Earl whose family life is just as strange if not stranger than hers. She falls in love and because of this new found love her parents ship her off to boarding school. There she is roommates with a girl named Judith. Judith seems to have the rich life that Finny would love to have and she can't believe this girl actually wants to be friends with her. Earl and Judith seem to weave in and our of her life in the book and help make her the person she grows up to be. This books seems to be full of "unique" people and I had to wonder are there people out there that really know this many eccentric people. Towards the middle of the book I knew I liked it but it was almost a little too bizarre for me (I don't think that is the right word but I can't think of any other way to describe it). By the end though I loved the characters and the book. If you get a chance to read this I definitely recommend it.

Now the sad part of this post. I am really looking forward to meeting the author, I have had one other chance to have a book club sit down with an author about the book and it is a great experience. My husband is having to go to New Orleans and originally he was leaving the day after my book club meeting and they have now changed it to the day of which means I am going to have to miss this. He is in the Marine Corp and some of you know how the military works, it could change at any minute. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it happens. :)

ONE DAY

Okay, I am about to finish this one. It has turned out to be so awesome! I think I had a hard time getting into it at first because of the British English. Seriously. I had to get used to it, but once I got into the swing of the author's writing and the... British English, the story is excellent!

I don't know if any of you have started it yet, but this is the gist of it....

Dexter and Emma meet each other on July 15th 1988 and this is the beginning of their amazing, tumultuous, etc.... relationship. Every chapter takes place on July 15 and each chapter is one year later than the one before it.

The book is very bittersweet and I've heard some say that they think these two just love being miserable, but towards the end, it's all worth it. Until tragedy. But I don't want to ruin it for you.

This author has an awesome sense of humor and you'll find yourself thinking in British... at least I have... it's probably because it's taken me so long to read it.

Don't be turned off by the fact that it has now taken me two weeks to read this book. The reason it has taken me so long is because I've only been able to read right before I go to sleep at night and by then I'm so exhausted, I'm lucky if I complete a single chapter.

I HOPE each of you reads this. I love Dexter and Emma.... Dex and Em.... Em and Dex.... so much, it's actually really sad that I'm almost through with their story. ;)

Saving the World

This is the 3rd book in the Maximum Ride series. It was okay. I feel like most of these books spend the first half rehashing what the other books have said so it takes me until the halfway point of the book to get into it. I will read the next one only because I want to know what happens but I can't really recommend this series to anyone. I guess the good thing is they are quick reads.

The Island

I started this last night and really like it so far. I am at the 14% point so probably about page 59. Has anyone else started it yet?

Knit Two

I know a few of you didn't like The Friday Night Knitting Club but I thought it was a cute book. I decided to give the second book a try. I liked the first one better. Most of the book involved everyone single person from the first book having some kind of personal issue. The best part of the book though were the last 20-30 pages. It had the same closeness that the first book had and made me glad I read the book.

OOPS!!

Soooo, I went to Barnes and Noble today to pick up one of our picks,

Juliet, Naked

only to find out that... it doesn't come out til

SEPTEMBER.

OOPS

So, how about we switch and make

One Day

an AUGUST pick

and move

Juliet, Naked

to

SEPTEMBER.

Sound good?

Great! :)

Ok SLACKERS!!!

SLACK McSlacksters!!

I'm assuming nobody else is going to vote...

In which case, we have a FOUR WAY tie.

Therefore, I'm going to make an executive decision and cast two of them as August's books and two of them as September's books.

Work for you? It works for me!! :)

So, here goes...

August:

The Island (Because it's a summery book)

Juliet, Naked

September:

One Day

Promises to Keep

VOTE!!!

WOW, What a slacker I am!

I've been meaning to post this since yesterday morning and one thing or another kept side-tracking my brain.

Please, oh PLEASE, everyone VOTE!!!

Tempie and I are the only ones who suggested books this month, so everyone, just vote for your top three that you'd like to read! :)

Tomorrow midnight if you possibly can!

Thanks everyone! :)

Garlic & Sapphires

This was my book club's selection for July. The book is the story of the author's job as the restaurant critic for the NY times. Each chapter gives the details on a different restaurant and the disguise she would use for her visits. This book made me so hungry. She could describe food almost well enough for you to taste. My book club had our meeting today and some people called this book food porn. :) I thought the book was pretty good. She has two other books out that is suppose to be even better than this one so I think I will check them out.

Some recent reads of mine...

This is the only one of the Women's Murder Club I have read, but I loved it and want to backtrack and read them all. Fabulous. And this is also my 1st Mary Kay Andrews novel, but so far I am really enjoying her! She reminds me of Janet Evanovich in her style of writing but this one does not have mystery or a crime involved like most J.E. books (at least not so far, I'm 1/2 way through)...SO, Candace, you may wanna give her a shot! ;D She's fun and girlie. Otherwise, I 've just been catching up with you girls. I've read Barefoot and A Summer Affair and Summer People ( all Elin Hilderbrand) and The Glass Castle (wow!) and hmmmm......some others but my brain can't recall them at this moment.

Disturbed!

Okay, this blog is for anyone who's read James Patterson's Where the Wind Blows and has at least started the Maximum Ride Series.

Tempie, you're the only one I know for sure has read these, so at this point, I'm asking YOU....

I THOUGHT the Maximum Ride books were about Max and the rest of the kids from THE SCHOOL. Icarus... Matthew... Wendy... Peter...

Am I wrong?

I'm so confused, because I started the first Maximum Ride book last night and there's a character named Max, but the others all have different names. Also, are Kit and Frannie menitoned in these books?

I'm so disappointed. I don't know if I'll be able to read these if they're not the same characters.

My August Vote

1. The Island

2. Fly Away Home

3. Promises to Keep

Holy smokes! These authors are my FAVES!!! Sorry I have been AWOL.....its just been crazy around here! ;D Not complaining, just saying;) I am really looking forward to this month, hoping that one (or more) of my girls (authors;)) wins! LOL

August

Here are my suggestions for August:

My June and July Book Reviews!

These are all the books I've read outside of our monthly books during June and July.

I've never been a fan of Nora Roberts. My mom is a HUGE fan of hers and she's always trying and trying to get me to read her books, but everytime I've tried, I just couldn't get into them.

I think it's because the books of hers that I've tried out were strictly romance novels and I'm not much of a romance novel girl. I like when the books I read have romance IN THEM, but not when that's the sole focus of the book.

Anyway, this book, THE SEARCH, was soooo good! I could hardly put it down. Not only is the story completely engrossing, but her character development is awesome.

And this book was also so interesting because it was about a woman whose profession is training dogs to be search and rescue dogs and she leads search and rescue teams looking for missing people. And it had a little bit of a love story entertwined and a HUGE amount of mystery, which is where my heart lies. :)

Because of this book, I now can't WAIT to read another Nora Roberts mystery novel.

You guys should know by now that I'm a huge James Patterson fan. Some people take issue with his short chapters and stories that move at lightning speed, but I love them. They never disappoint in being true nail biters and I especially love to read one of his books after I've just read a book that had excruciatingly LONG chapters and a million words per chapter with tiny writing on the page. LOL... his books are the complete opposite of that.

This one, The 9th Judgment, was really good, but it's the kind that can really turn your stomach as well. Not because it's super gory, because it wasn't that at all, but this one was about a killer in San Fransisco whose targets are always women and their children.

I knew that that particular subject matter would both draw me to the book out of pure fascination and also make me want to throw it on the ground and stomp it to death everytime a sweet mother and her baby were MURDERED.

The good thing is that the murders were NEVER detailed. I think the writers did it that way because of the extremely sensitive subject matter.

Anyway, if you like a good, fast paced mystery, read it, you'll like it! :)

Well, looky there, another Patterson (along with the next two!!).

I have about a million unread (not really, but close) books in my house, but I can't hardly bare for any of them to be James Patterson books. You know he cranks out about 4-6 new books a year and I am an avid collector of his books, so no matter how many unread books I have, his always have top priority in my house.

This one was great, but different. It was different because they never really named the killer! So odd. But it was a fantastic story and I have a feeling this one will have a sequel in the future because of the fact of not naming the killer. One thing that really got me about this story was the fact that I could really see some psycho path doing something like this. This one was actually, though, about a GROUP of psychos. The killer in this book kidnapped famous people and then videoed the murders for this group of super rich people located all over the world just for their watching pleasure.

It was different, but good.

When the Wind Blows.... I was honestly a little hesitant to read this one, because it has a bit of fantasy involved, but in the end I gave in and read it and boy am I glad I did! This one is my favorite Patterson book. Favorite. Ugh. I want to read it again just thinking about it.

I don't want to give too much away, but this book is the beginning of a whole slew of his books in the Maximum Ride series.

The basis is that there are a group of scientists who manufacture children who have avian dna.

They can fly.

It's awesome.

Read it. :)

I'm reading The Lake House right now. It's the sequel to When the Wind Blows. I'll be finishing it up sometime today. I really like it a lot, can't wait to see where it ends up...

Nantucket Nights... I liked it. It was not my favorite Hilderbrand book. I almost quit it, but I'm so glad I didn't.

It's one of those books that just takes a little bit to get into, but once it started going, it was really, really a good story.

Thanks Heather, for convincing me to keep going. ;)

Castaways... I was told by someone... Heather, was it you?... that this is the book that put Elin Hilderbrand on the map.

I have to say I am surprised by that. I liked this book, but A Summer Affair was sooooo much better and that one was written one year BEFORE this one, so I'm kind of confused by that.

Castaways was a major mystery. It's about a group of 8 friends, 4 couples, and all of them have history together. They've been friends a really long time and have major, major drama that has played out between them and will play out between them.

In the beginning of this story, one of the couples dies and the whole story is focused on trying to figure out exactly what happened because there are a ton of mysterious circumstances. Each chapter is told by a different member of their group, so you really get to know each character intimately.

And really, I would highly recommend this book, it was a great story. I think what disappointed me was that the story was not what I thought it was going to be about. I thought the couple who died were really going to be found as "castaways" on an island. But that is not it at all! Instead, the book is called The Castaways because that was the nickname of their "group". Anyway, it's great, and I would read it again.

I know I just went through those really fast, but that was a lot of typing and remembering to do all at one time! ;)

Can't wait to see what you guys end up recommending for our August read! Try to get your recommendations in by tomorrow midnight if you can!

My August Suggestions!!

ONE DAY: I first saw this book in People magazine and since then, I've seen it all over the place. I want to read it sooooo bad. It sounds amazing to me! :)

The Island: Elin Hilderbrand. Enough said.

Fly Away Home: Jennifer Weiner. Enough said.

Promises to Keep: I have to be honest. Jane Green is very hit or miss for me. I either LOVE her books and they're some of my all-time faves, or I just can't get past the first chapter. I think I'll love this one. It's about a photographer. What's not to love about a photographer. Right? Right. ;)

Okay, I can't wait to see what the rest of you guys come up with! Bring em on!!!

Oh, and on another note. I haven't done any book reviews since I got my new computer. Why, you ask? Because it's a Mac and Mac's don't have the right click option, which is how I always went to B&N and saved my book images. WELL, I just learned that with a Mac you do CONTROL CLICK and it's the same as right click on a PC. What can I say? Sometimes I'm a slow learner. ;)

So, because of that, I'll soon be doing a review post reviewing the last 10 or so books that I've read. :)

Talking to Girls about Duran Duran

I won this book from the Goodreads Giveaway. I am a child of the 80s and I love everything about it. The music, the movies, etc. This books is about the authors life during the 80s. Each chapter is named after a song and how it related to his life. I can totally relate to this because my life has a huge soundtrack. If I hear the remade version of "It's My Life" by No Doubt or "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters I instantly think of when both of my kids were newborns. Why you may ask? Because I would watch MTV for those middle of the night feedings because that is the only time they played videos and those two got played every night. Anyway, if you are too youngs to remember much during that decade or if you don't really like it than you may not enjoy this book. I liked it but I think it was mainly because it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.

Summer's Child

I've been meaning to do this post for a couple of days now, but we've been super duper busy, going non-stop, as I'm sure all you girls have. Summer is CA-RAZZZZYYYY!!!

I am in the homestretch with this book, and I think it's AMAZING. This is my absolute favorite kind of writing. There is constantly something happening and the mystery just keeps getting thicker and thicker by the page. I don't want to say too much, because I'm not sure if the rest of you have gotten around to starting it yet, but if you have, pLEASE tell me in the comments, because I would LOVE to have a conversation about all that's going on in the story!! :)

VOTE!!!

Everyone please take a second to vote for your two favorites from the books that Tempie and I suggested!

My Suggestions

Okay, girls, I have a new computer... a Mac and unfortunately, I can't figure out how to save the pictures of just the books, so I'm going to post the book titles I am suggesting and highlight them with the links to the page they're on at Barnes and Noble.

Thanks for being patient with me. :)

The Last Summer of You and Me

Summer's Child

Thanks everyone and try to post a suggestion tonight! :)

July Suggestions

I'm leaving for my vacation tomorrow and as I was going through my books trying to decide what I wanted to take with me while I was sitting on the beach I decided I should post my suggestions for July so here they are:

This is Where We Live

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Goodreads. Reading the description of the book it sounded like I would really like it. Once I started reading the book it didn't really live up to its promise. The book was mediocre. It tells the story of a married couple who are trying to achieve their dreams while also suffering from money troubles. The chapters alternate between the husband & wife's point of view. I thought both of the characters were whiny selfish individuals and never really seemed to grow as characters. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

April and Oliver

Ok, I LOVED this one. Like, really LOVED it. I have a rating system for my books...0 being couldn't read/couldn't finish, it was that bad. And 5 being perfect (which very few are on my "perfect" list). I would give this a 4.5...and at some moments a 5. It surprised me, because I had no expectations going into this one. I hadn't heard much about it, just saw it on some list and my library had it, so I gave it a shot.

It's sort of a love story, but a very complicated one. Two old friends/step cousins are brought back together after a terrible tragedy. They were inseparable during their childhood but their lives have taken different paths. Now back in each other's lives, they are trying to figure out exactly what their relationship is. There is a lot of sexual tension and I was on the end of my seat trying to figure out what their next step would be. I couldn't put it down.

This is the author's first novel and she is fantastic. Her writing is so beautiful, that you can actually envision every single scene right down to the hand gestures and facial expressions. This could totally be a movie, and a really good one.

With all that being said, it's not exactly a "happy" love story. There is tragedy and heartbreak, and the characters' flaws and problems in life are very real. It's a little dark, but I wouldn't call it gloomy or depressing. I don't want to give anything away about the ending because you'll be wondering throughout the entire book how it's all going to end and I don't want to spoil that at all. I would stay away from the reviews on B and N if you really don't want a hint on how it ends either because those who didn't like it kind of give it away. I thought the ending was perfect, but I could see how some would be disappointed.

Read it and enjoy....or at least I hope you do :-)

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

I went ahead and started this one so I could get it back to the library in time. It's definitely different. I started the book out trying to figure out what was fiction and what wasn't (obviously anything involving vampires was not real). It got to the point I was driving myself crazy so I have decided to just read it and forget it is about Abraham Lincoln and that is helping. I on page 98 so I still have a little way to go.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I started this yesterday afternoon and I was hooked from the first chapter. For those of you who haven't started this yet the book is told from the dog's perspective. In the 1st chapter he is talking about how he is getting old and not feeling all that great and it is just time for the owner to let him go. I got all misty eyed because we have a 10 year old lab who has a tumor that we have decided not to operate on and when she starts getting uncomfortable it will be time to let her go. There are some many things in this book that remind me of her. This book also seems like a fast read, I have already made it to the half way point. I would love to hear what you guys think.

Let's Vote AGAIN!!! :)

While I would be completely fine with having all four of these books as books of the month, I think if we do that, we won't have time to read books that we WANT to read as well, so let's go ahead and vote again, girls. :)

The four books that tied in voting are....

The Beach Club

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Girl In Translation

Voting ends SUNDAY MIDNIGHT!!! :):)

VOTE!!!

Okay, guys, let's vote on June's books!

There weren't many nominations, so let's just vote for your TWO favorites. :)

And sorry this post is a day late. Yesterday I became temporary mother to one of my friend's three children, so until Monday I have an 8 month old, two 2 year olds, a 5 year old, and a 7 year old! Wow! ;)

It's going quite well, though, we're in a routine now, so it's not nearly as chaotic as it sounds. :)

Can't wait to see which books are chosen!!!

Voting ends tomorrow, FRIDAY, at midnight!!!

June suggestion...

hmm ok June suggestion...just finished watching Oprah and this book seems just "fabulous" ...lol The movie will be coming out August 13, starring Julia Roberts!

June Suggestions

Here are my three suggestions for June:

The concept on this book sounds a little weird but it has a 4 1/2 start rating and it has been reviewed by 828 people so it must be pretty good.

I also needed to suggest something off of my need to read shelves and this is the one I picked.

This is a book on my really want to read list.

Sorry guys I am not able to link the titles to websites so you will have to look them up for more info. :)