Special Announcement!!

So I happen to love the Chloe Neill series Chicagoland Vampires. There are a total of four books (as of 9/20/11) out. First being Some Girls Bite, the second being Friday Night Bites. Third is Twice Bitten, and the fourth installment is Hard Bitten

This series has it all. Love, laughter, family, friends, enemies. It's beautifully writen. You will fall in love with the characters and be left wanting more.

Speaking of wanting more...the fifth installment Drink Deep release date is November 1, 2011. I for one will be special ordering to make sure it shows up on my door step that same day.

Give this one a chance, I know you will love it!

Go to Chloe Neill for more info.

(and I also just noticed I haven't posted reviews for any of the first four books. So...I'll get right too it first thing in the morning. I have them on goodreads and librarything. So look out for them!)

Shades of Magic by K. D. Wilson

Edgar becomes a wizard's apprentice but soon finds that magic is fading, everyone is losing their powers. He sets off with his uncle, master, and trainer -Magnus to discover the reason behind the magic woes before magic is gone forever.
Adelaide takes a job working with a herbalist, Hestia. She soon finds out all is not it seems. In a world where girl are not allowed to practice magic she finds Hestia lives a secret life as a powerful witch, and she herself can do magic. Powerful magic.
The two teams meet up and try to save the whole magic community.

The concept of the story is good, something I have seen before, but still a good quick read, the writing reminded me of a teenager writing a short story for English class though.

[received though LibraryThing’s Member Giveaway Program]

1/5

101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire by Joleene Naylor

This only takes about 20 minutes to read. It's basically just common sense travel tips, with a vampire twist. Very amusing. And it's just like the title, tips, it's not an actual story, keep that in mind.

3/5

The Outside of August by Joanna Hershon

"For as long as Alice Green can remember, her elusive mother, Charlotte, has moved in and out of family life—disappearing relentlessly and often without explanation. Despite the exotic clutter of souvenirs that detail Charlotte’s international travels, the Green’s home becomes progressively hollow, as nothing but Charlotte can fill the empty spaces.
...
When, years later, her unfettered brother becomes strangely remote, Alice journeys to find him in an isolated beach town. It is there that a deeply buried secret will have to unravel in order for Alice to come to terms with her fractured family and her place within it—and learn to let go of a mother she perhaps never really knew."


I couldn't get into this one at all. It dragged on for me, and it just lacked...something. I dont' really know what made me so turned off to this book, but I just struggled through it. You couldn't really identify with the characters.

1/5

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie

Had the perfect amount of romance and action. Jennifer Crusie is becoming one of my favorites!

[Note: I plan to come back to this and write a better review as soon as I get more settled in with the blog]

3/5

Wayward Son by Tom Pollack

Received as an early review book from LibraryThing:
Wow, I enjoyed this one, Wayward Son, was very intriguing, you feel as though you are figuring everything out as it goes along. Beautifully written. And it is left open for a sequel, but you don’t feel completely left hanging as some authors like to do. Highly recommend giving this one a try.

3/5

This Will Not Look Good on My Resume by Jass Richards

Wow. This book was great. Brett Laramie has just about every job you can think of...and she's been fired from just as many.
The way this book is done, you really feel like you are there, or...at least a the bar hearing all the juicy details!
Wonderful read, funny, sarcastic. Loved it!

3/5

No Sneakers at the Office: A Practical Handbook for the Business World by Adam T. Scholl

Now this is a book you can actually use! I'm glad I got to read it, I was very satisfied, and have a few good tips for when I am looking for a new job.
I highly recommend it!

4/5

DEAD[ish] by Naomi Kramer

A very quick read, took me about an hour to get through it. Strong language. Linda is a ghost who wants to find her body so she hires Trent, a private investigator. Trent goes to her ex, who is the one who killed her, and humor ensues. I can’t think of a polite word to describe this book, but it is mildly humorous.

1/5

Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis

This one was a very quick read, but I will admit that I had to push myself to do the reading. The characters didn't really do it for me. Not only was it confusing to keep them all straight, but they were introduced in such a way that they were very forgettable.

The idea of the book was a good try, and it had a bit of good humor, but all and all, I wouldn't read it again. Give it a try, though, and see what you think...

2/5

The Negotiator (O'Malley book one) by Dee Henderson

The O'Malley series is about a group of young adults who have formed a family, they aren't blood related. They grew up in an orphanage and looked out for each other, and then later changed their last names to O'Malley, giving each kid who everyone wants, a family.

The Negotiator is the first in the series, about Kate O'Malley. It's starts right off in a bank, Kate is called in and finds that there is a FBI agent as one of the hostages.
Eventually they strike up a friendship, but Dave (Mr. FBI) wants it to be more. Only Kate isn't a Christian.

This one is a really good read, I'd like to say it's my favorite of the O'Malley's series, but you fall in love with each character. And I can relate to each of them. I'd recommend you pick this one up. Two thumbs up.

3/5

The Next Thing on my List by Jill Smolinski

Wow, there are some mixed reviews about this one. I, myself, got this book from my sister who just raved about how wonderful it was. So I thought I would give it a try and I thought it was wonderful. Unlike some of the other reviews, I think you should waste your time on this one.

Jill Smolinski takes you into the lives of 34 year old June Parker, who is just going through life, but after a car accident where her passenger, Marissa, gets killed, she decided to finish Marissa's "20 things to do before my 25th birthday".

June meets interesting people along the way, including herself. This book will have you in tears as any chick-lit book would, but Jill doesn't keep you there. This book has some very amusing high points that will have you laughing.

Give this one a try, you might be surprised, you might even find yourself writing your own list!

4/5

A Man's Heart by Lori Copeland

A Man’s Heart is about the on again off again relationship of Jules and Cruz. Both of them are potato farmers, Jules however goes off to college to learn more about the trade. More then that, since her parents had a disastrous, she also uses college as a way to run from her relationship with Cruz, who wants to marry her. Since she jilts him twice, he tells her that its over and she goes off to college not returning for years later when her father dies.
This story was beautifully written, and the characters were lovely. The only thing I didn’t really like about it was the little plots in it that were addressed, like it would have been nice if Cruz had found out about the bull accident. Because the cover story just wasn’t believable in my opinion. But still excellent book!

Received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer's program.

3/5

Waiting on the Moon

Waiting on the Moon by Kristin Hannah

This book was hard from me to put down from the first page. Without giving anything away, it starts out with a young woman who ends up losing her memories from a head injury. She is taken to an asylum, where Dr. Ian Carrick -a reclusive doctor- takes care of her.
The group, as the author refers to them, of inmates not knowing her name, dub her Selena. Selena has to relearn everything about life, her mind set is like that of a child. Like, for instance, fire bad.
While Selena is relearning everything she is bringing out the best of her fellow 'inmates', as well as their leader and caretaker, Ian. And instead of just living together, thanks to Selena's amazing kind pure soul, they learn to live as a family.
The book is heartbreaking and fantastic all wrapped in a nice package. You end up wanting to root for all the characters! A must read! Two thumbs up.
4/5

California Angel

I first read this book back in 1996 or so when it first came out (or was re-released, I'm not really sure) I was about 10 or so when I read it, and didn't understand a lot of what was in the book, but I kept it, because the story itself was good.

When I was adding books to my library (on LT) I came across it again, and found that there were no reviews for it. Huh? It's a great book, at least to what I remember. So I cracked it open again, and remembered why (and understood so much more being older!) I loved this book.

It starts out with a little boy named Raymond, and a teen who appears and talks to him. The nun is stunned, where did this woman come from? Raymond, who never talks to anyone talked to her. They exchanged rings (his being plastic, hers being a ruby) and then the girl disappears.

Years later Toy Johnson is a teacher, everyone likes her, she takes care of everyone the best she can. Whether giving kids money for jackets or giving families rent money so they don't get evicted. Her husband, a surgeon, forbids her from doing this, saying that it's his money he worked for it and he won't share it with lazy bums.

So Toy moves in with her best friend, and fellow teacher, Sylvia. They go to New York where things get...a little weird.

She has dreams about helping children, like helping a little boy get away from fire, only she wakes up in the hospital (Sylvia notices she isn't really breathing and calls 911) with burns on her hands.

Then, the reporters come and she is accused of murder.

**This is an excellent story and you'll be pulled in from the very beginning. A must read, go on give it a try.**

"...Makes us believe in the human spirit, and what is can accomplish...a great page-turner" - Associated Press

4/5

The Here, and Now

So, here is what is happening my friends.

I will be taking the next several days (and okay, maybe weeks. I get distracted easily) to move all my posts from my old blog to the new blog. As well as pull some posts from various other sites that I post too.

In that time I expect there to be a lot of uploads all at the same time, and since I'm coming back to the blog scene under the radar after a year or more, I don't really have to worry about loyal followers timelines getting blown up. I'm going to leave my blog private until I get relatively caught up.

But that's the word for now. I haven't gone under a rock and read 100 books in a day and posted about them all. No. Just getting everything to the new blog. Which is here.

Welcome home!

Charlie.

Out of the mouths of Babes

So my sister and her family came to visit this weekend, so we could spend a little time with the newest addition to the family and my eldest nephew could ride his four wheeler. On Saturday they went to my grandmother’s who hasn’t seen the new baby yet, but my eldest nephew didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay with his aunt, who plays ‘war’ with him, and more importantly will play whatever DS game his is playing with no complaints.

After about an hour I couldn’t take playing his games anymore, I passed him on to my father, who took him outside and played in the tree house. I retired to my room to catch a few chapters of the book I was reading. I had gotten to one of those parts where it is a struggle having to put down the book because it’s gotten so good. So it was a blessing to have free time to read.

A little while later my nephew comes in and says, “I’m bored. Will you play with me.” To which I tell him I will in a little bit, and inwardly cringed at the thought of having to play with those little action figures again. I told him to play with my father (who acts likes he’s my nephews age most of the time anyway, they are the perfect pair) and he told me that my father was resting.

“He says he needs to rest and is watching T.V., Nana can’t play with me because she is walking around the house” “Did you ask her what she is doing? I know that Nana would LOVE to drop everything to play with her first grandchild” “No I didn’t ask she is just walking around. Papa is playing with the dog…”

And then he said this.
To me.
His aunt who loves her books.


“You are the only one doing anything useless. You are just reading, and you aren’t even reading something real.”

“Excuse me? This is a book, very important. And real, I’m holding it, ain’t I?" because apparently when someone close to me says horrible things about something I love to do, my grammar and English lessons goes right out the window.

To which he sighed, asked me if I ever read anything real, to which I said replied yes, and he didn’t believe me so I told him I read the newspaper daily. He shrugged and said he would go see what my father was doing. I died a little inside. My nephew who used to love to read only a few short months ago, told me that reading was useless.