Updates, and Catching Up (Both kind of mean the same thing)!

Nicholas Sparks, Safe Harbor (another thing is I can never remember if the title of this book is Safe Haven or Safe Harbor)!


 One and a half stars out of five!

So, I am finally talking about Nicholas Sparks’ latest book, Safe Haven Do you want the truth? Of course you do! I didn’t like it at all. Being it was Nicholas Sparks I expected more. I love Walk to Remember and of course The Notebook, but this new novel just left me unsatisfied. Primarily because I felt like I have read this sort of book before, it just wasn’t fresh or exciting. It was a little like a bad Lifetime movie. And that is saying a lot because I actually like Lifetime! Since, I did finish this book months ago I won’t go into a lot of detail about the book but the story line is simple. The main character, a woman, is in an abusive relationship with her husband, a cop. She manages to escape and assumes a new identity in a small North Carolina beach town. She begins to heal both emotionally and physically and begins to open her heart again. Just when she is finally settling in and isn’t scared anymore, a ghost from her past returns. Can you guess who? I bet you can. It was a very predictable book. I hope his next book is better.

Bright Young Things: four out of five stars!

I read Bright Young Things last month. This is the beginning of a new series by Anna Godbersen. Godbersen brought us the Luxe series. First of all I absolutely loved the Luxe series. A young adult author, Godbersen novels are set in the early 1900s and are new, historically rich and exciting. Because of her wonderful first series I was looking forward to Bright Young Things. She didn’t disappoint. Although, I believe BYT falls somewhat short of the Luxe series I loved this book. Godbersen writes in a way few authors can and her characters appear real. The novel follows two best friends on their journey from their dead end town to New York City. One is looking to see her name in lights and the other is looking for her father. One of the girls befriends another girl, a modern, spirited person. The book tells of these girls’ adventures and experiences with love and life. Believe me I don’t make this book sound as good as it really is. Pick up a copy and see for yourself!

I currently am on break. I have a large majority of my Christmas shopping completed and thus will have more time to read and post (hopefully). I have a huge stack of books to read including Flipped (I read this when I was a teenager but, just watched the movie, which is cute, and now I have to read it again), Beachcombers, Fireflies over Toccoa, and The Richest Season. I am reading Fixing Delilah right now. You might remember my post about Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah is Sarah Ockler’s second novel. I am on about page forty and it is really gooooood. So far so good at least! I will get back to you when I finish it. At this rate it will probably be Sunday (if not tomorrow) ha!

Read, Reading, Want to Read

Book(s) I Am Currently Reading :

         Bright Young Things By: Anna Godbersen
         Opinion: To Be Determined


Books I Want to Read:

Falling Home By: Karen White

Saw this being reviewed on another blog, and it looks really good!


Breaking Dawn
By: Stephenie Meyer


What do I really have to say about this one?




Eat Pray Love  By: Elizabeth Gilbert

 

I would like to see what all the fuss is about.
Although, I have heard a lot of people say it is hard to get into.
Books I Have Read (Plan to Review):

Safe Haven by: Nicholas Sparks
Yes, I promise I am going to review it!


The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes  By: Diane Chamberlain


This one was a plesant surprise!

While We're Far Apart   By: Lynn Austin



Not as great as some of her others.

The Help   By: Kathryn Stockett


I read this book quite a few months ago. Since, my memory is a little foggy I am not going to give it a full review. But, I will say, that this book is great. It was very unexpected, but I will have to say this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. And, I didn't really understand what exactly the cover meant until I read it, but once you do you will really like it and appreciate it as well. I recently learned that they were making a movie, and I am not sure what I think of this.

Secrets She Left Behind By: Diane Chamberlain

Score: 4 ½ out of 5

Prior to about two weeks ago I had never heard of Diane Chamberlain. How is this possible? I have no idea!

Anyway, while browsing at my local library I stumbled upon a Diane Chamberlain novel. Immediately upon glimpsing the cover, I knew I had to read this book. The main reason is there was a quote on the front that said, “Diane Chamberlain is the Southern Jodi Picoult.” Right there, was all the encouragement I needed. I absolutely love Jodi Picoult. She is one of my favorite authors and anyone who is compared to her is worthy of my attention.

Now, this review has gone terribly off course. I did intend to solely write about “Secrets She Left Behind” and here I am going off on a tangent!

The main questions are as follows: did I agree that Diane Chamberlain is a Southern Jodi Picoult?, did I enjoy the book?, and is she worth reading? Yes to all three.

I saw similarities in her writings to Picoult’s. She allowed each character to tell their own story, which Picoult is famous for doing. Chamberlain’s characters were almost real, full of life and one of the best traits, flawed, extremely flawed.

“Secret She Left Behind” began on the day nineteen year old Maggie was being released from a year long prison sentence for arson. The book tells the tale of all the characters continuing to deal with the aftermath of the arson especially now that Maggie is home. We have seventeen year old Kevin who was severely burned in the fire, Maggie’s fifteen year old brother who also witnessed the fire. But most importantly, we have Sara, Kevin’s mother whose disappearance on the day of Maggie’s release complicates and intensifies the plot. Adding in many smaller characters, who we also get to know well, this book is one of those you want to rush through. But, on the same hand, you want to savor it.

One bit of advice I would give anyone considering reading this book is read “Before the Storm” first. Although, both books can be considered stand alone novels, Before the Storm is the story of what happened before the fire and is more the story of Maggie's brother Andy.

http://www.dianechamberlain.com/index.htm

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo By: Stieg Larsson

I figure all blogs (especially book blogs) need variety, so I asked my wonderful friend Rebecca to review a book that is totally different than the books I read. You would have to be living under a rock, to not have heard the buzz The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series  is receiving. So without further ado here is my first guest reviewer's take on a very distinctive book.

                5 stars out of 5!

          What do you get when you mix a cold case murder, violence, love and an anti-social genius? Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought this book after receiving my Kindle DX in the mail, and desperately wanting to try it out, I bought Larsson’s best-seller without really knowing anything about the hype surrounding the Millennium Trilogy. The book is a staggering 600 pages, and I have to admit, the first 50 pages mainly consisted of conversation and background information. However, the semi- boring beginning was well worth the rest of the book. In fact, I finished it in two days.
          By reading Larsson’s words, I was thrown into the streets of Stockholm, drinking coffee in a street side café. The protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, is a shamed journalist who watches his reputation fall to pieces after being convicted of libel against a wealthy Swedish businessman, Hans-Erik Wennerström. Redemption arises when an elderly ex-industry leader, Henrik Vanger, offers Blomkvist a deal: solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece, Harriet, and receive damning proof of Wennerström’s misdeeds. Unable to refuse, Blomkvist uses the help of Lisbeth Salander, an anti-social girl with a dragon tattoo, to solve the case. Though rail thin, petite, and Goth’s fashion icon, Salander is nonetheless a treasure chest of uncanny wisdom and resourcefulness. Blomkvist and Salander unveil startling information about the Vanger family: information that may cost them their lives.
         If I had to describe Larsson’s novel in one word: thrilling. Every page of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an adventure. However, I have to warn you: this book isn’t a light, “day at the beach” read. You’ll undoubtedly be on the edge of your seat and biting your nails, as Larsson does not hold back on describing the abuse and sexual violence the characters encounter on their journeys. In fact, the original Swedish title of the novel is Men Who Hate Women. So beware: mature readers only!
       After you get to page 600, I guarantee that you’ll run to your nearest book supplier to pick up The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. Unfortunately, Larsson passed away after submitting the trilogy to his publisher. Nevertheless, his amazing talent lives on in the pages of these incredible novels.

Novel Safe Haven to be reviewed....soon!

I just picked up my copy of Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks! What does this mean? Well, a review of this book is coming soon. How soon, I have no clue. I am pretty swamped right now with a lot of different responsibilities but, I will try to find time to read. This book looks promising, let's hope it is.

Twenty Boy Summer By: Sarah Ockler

           Daresay I give it five stars?


4 and 1/2 stars out of 5!

I stumbled upon this book. One of my all time favorite authors is Sarah Dessen. Earlier this summer I was watching a video on Barnes and Noble.com in which Sarah was recommending her favorite summer books for young adults. Being such a fan of hers, I immediately jotted down the books she mentioned. Twenty Boy Summer was one of those.

Now, I am not sure if I would have found it without her suggestion. As I said in my last post, I do not buy the books I read; I check 90% of them out at the library. So, after searching for Twenty Boy Summer at my library (including all branches), with no luck, I gave up.

Turns out, I was meant to read this book. During Labor Day weekend my parents and I were at our beach house. On the first day, we went to the library. Guess which book was being displayed in the young adult section? Yep, this one!

Whoa...I didn't mean to write all that even BEFORE I start reviewing the book!

So, as you can see I gave this book an extremely positive review. This is because I honestly loved it. It was really similar to a Sarah Dessen novel, but almost better. Sshhh..I didn't say that! Just looking at the cover, one would think this book was about something positive or just about a summer conquest. Not at all. This book was primarily about loss, grief, coping and moving on. Debut novelist Sarah Ockler handled each of these aspects extremely well. One of the main themes was also friendship, and whether our best friendships can handle betrayal. Warning, however this book is far from innocent, one of the topics is virginity....or rather the losing of said virginity.

I believe the best books are those that when you finish you feel as though the characters really spoke to you, like you have lost a friend. This is how I felt while reading this book, I really felt as though I would want to be friends with the main characters, Anna and her best friend Frankie.

I devoured this book; it was one of those I could not put down. Sometimes, I read a book and it is so good I read it as quickly as I can. This was one of those.

I highly endorse this novel. And, the good news for me is, while I cannot ever read this book fresh again, Sarah Ockler has a new book coming out in December. Fixing Delilah- read about it here, http://sarahockler.com/books/

And, I will leave you with another review that I found on a book blog. The review is really good as is the web site! This blog will give you more of the plot of the book.


http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-20-boy-summer.html
                   
  

Loaning library books, the Kindle and the real thing

 Any Kindle lovers out there? Well, I am sure there are plenty. Personally, someone could give me a Kindle and I still wouldn't use it. Why? Let me count the reasons. Probably, the largest reason is I am a book lover. Now, I say this carefully. BOOK LOVER. To me, not just the printed text makes a book but the actual cover, weight, design, smell. All of this is really the essence of a book. I also love that if I personally own the book, all I have to do to locate it is to look on my book shelf.


I have read chapters of books on the computer. When various authors release a sneak peek at their books, I have read them online. This is really the only time I ever hope to do this. Reading one or two chapters is enough. Give me the actual hard copy book any day. Then I can take the book and go anywhere, read outside on the swing, on an airplane, in a lawn chair in front of the ocean. I know many have valid arguments about the high points about the Kindle but as far as I am concerned they are not for me.

The second topic I want to discuss is loaning books at the library. Many people steer clear of the library and instead buy each book they read. Ever since I have been a small girl, my parents have taken me to the library. And now, I can't imagine buying every book I want to read. I can't imagine how much money I would spend on books!!! Lucky for me, my library has a librarian who is whole-heartily open to suggestions. I have in the past given her suggestions of books to consider. Also, loaning books through my library system, one can borrow books from not only my branch but all of the public libraries in my county. This is probably the same for most counties.

I am back! Sorry for the year long absence!

So, not surprising, to me at least....it has been over a year since I have even signed on to this blog. I was just reading my first ever post (one of two) and was humored by my admitting to not following through on journals. So, sorry!!!! I will try to do better on this attempt! Fingers crossed!!!!! I actually had the worst time finding this blog. I had no idea how to locate it. I did remember the name, but I could not find my blog when I searched for it. Long story short, I found it (obviously). And, I am ready to give blogging another go. Since, last summer I have probably read close to one hundred books. I will not run out of items to blog about. I am really looking forward to giving my opinion on one particular book. I will reveal it: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. I won't give anything away, since I won't be posting about it immediately. I also plan to discuss the Twilight Series. I will give my honest opinion about the books and why or why I don't like them. Hmmm...which do you think it is? I also hope to acquire a few followers...currently I have zero.I definitely need to work on that!  Anyone want to follow me? Ha! No, not stalking!