My Top Books of The Year

Here's a list of my favorite books of the year and the date that I read them so you can go back and check them out:

The Last Song: January.
The Cinderella Pact: February.
The Girl Who Chased The Moon: April.
A Model Summer: June.
Hex Hall: July.
Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel: October.
The Art of Racing In The Rain: December.

Hold Still

My mom read this book and liked it. My sister read it and didn't. So I wasn't sure what I would think.

It's about a teenage girl Caitlin who's best friend Ingrid kills herself. This book follows Caitlin's year after her friend's death. I felt like during her journey of adjusting to her BFF know longer being around helped her figure out who she really is and grow up a bit. She finds Ingrid's journal and learns the things that she never really knew about her friend. Aren't most people more open in their journals than they are in real life?

Throughout the school year, she makes new friends, gets her first boyfriend, and deals with her photography teacher who ends up dealing with the loss of Ingrid as well.

I liked this book because so far it's been the one of the few teenage books where all the characters aren't out there having sex, drinking, smoking, drugs, etc. So that was nice. Also, I think the message was to live life and always be there for your friends and family, because you never know when one simple talk might change their mind about doing something drastic.

The Art of Racing In The Rain

I read this book because everyone else in my family read and said I should to. At first it took me a while to read it because I wasn't sure what it was about. "You don't need to know what it's about. Just read it!" OK, so I did.

It's about Enzo, the dog, and life through his eyes. From the time he is a puppy and meets Denny, witnessing as Denny gets married, has a child, races cars, loses his wife, almost loses his child due to a scandal that didn't happen. From puppy to adulthood, to his last day.

It was a touching story as far as the dog's life goes, makes me wonder how much of what we say and do that our pets truly understand. Probably not much, otherwise the cat would know how mad I get when they poop on the floor.

Parts of this book made me mad. The whole part where everyone thought that Denny had relations with an underage girl even though he didn't really made me mad. People being accused of things they didn't do angers me.

But other than that, and all the racing talk (because it bores me),it was a touching read and something to check out

Murder At The PTA

For a mystery, this one was kind of weak. The principal of the elementary school gets murdered because she wants to add onto the school. The main character, Beth, hardly even knew the lady, but as always in these kinds of books, took it upon herself to find out who the killer was. Also, because her stupid best friend was getting death threats because of her local blog. As much fun as it is to gossip, when your life is in danger, you should probably stop. Mostly I was annoyed by how nice Beth was. I want a series where the character has a backbone and doesn't let everyone walk all over her.

I usually like mystery books because the chapters are short and quick, but these were long and there was just to many people, I got confused. And once you find out who the killer is, I had no idea. But maybe I zoned out and missed some info that wouldn't hinted that it was this person. Hopefully I'll remember to not read anymore from this series again.

Mini Shopaholic

This book really should've been titled Shopaholic Tries to Throw A Party, because really that's all it's about. I was expecting it to be more about her being a mom, and yes her out of control 2 year old daughter is mentioned throughout the book, but mostly it focused on Becky trying to throw a surprise birthday party for her husband and doing a horrible job at it.

This character has really started to annoy me. She's 29, married with a 2 year old daughter and she still acts as dumb as Jessica Simpson. All she does is tell lies to people and talk about shopping. Grow up already!

And just how stupid is Brandon and her parents and everyone? They put up with her lies and act like it's an everyday thing (which it is), but it just gets her into more and more trouble. How she hasn't had a breakdown and gone completely mental is beyond me.

I really do not plan on reading anymore of her books again. I hate stupid female character, it's like they are stereotyping females. Like all we care about is shopping. Not true.

Shoes To Die For

I'm starting to think that the older books in this series is better than the newer ones. I like this series because the books are short and funny and are pretty fast paced. In this one, Jaine gets a job writing for a clothing store when the hateful employee Frenchie gets stabbed in the neck with her Jimmy Choo. Everyone suspects friendly Becky, so Jaine tries to find out who really did it. The reason for the murder was pretty lame.

The emails from the parents are still funny.

Flawless

This is the second book in the series and picks up where the last one left off. The 4 friends are still being stalked by the mysterious A, who threatens to share all their secrets. They suspect that it's this boy Toby who knew that Alison was responsible for blinding his sister with a firecracker. In the end we realize that it wasn't him, so that could only mean that A is still out there.

This one wasn't as good as the first. Maybe if there wasn't so much product placement and these darn girls would just come clean with one another. Makes me glad I don't have any deep, dark secrets. They cause to much stress.

Plum Pudding Murder

I had a hard time getting through this book. It was a little to fluffy. There's no action in it until about the second to last chapter. I like her other holiday mystery books, but this one fell a little flat. Spent more time talking about cookies (seriously, how are these people not horribly overweight?) and trying to find out ways to prevent the cat from killing the Christmas tree. And the reason why the person got killed, I didn't think it was very interesting. The book does come with lots of recipes, so you cooks out there will probably enjoy that.

Killing Bridezilla

I didn't really like this one as much as some of the others. The plot was good enough, who doesn't want to kill a Bridezilla? But I felt like the author was trying to hard to make it funny to, and just threw in a bunch of random stuff that happens to Jaine that I feel would probably never really happen.

So, yeah, a girl Jaine went to school with hires her to rewrite the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet so that she and her soon to be hubby can do a little show in front of the guests at their wedding. While doing this, Jaine runs into other girls from school and they all seem to have it out for the Bride. One the day of the wedding, the Bride falls off the balcony and dies. So, Jaine decides to help her friend who is being accused of loosening the screws on the railing to cause the Bride to fall to her death. This one wasn't as easy figure out.

Death By Pantyhose

All her books are pretty much the same, but still enjoyable. But I do hope one day she gets the cat declawed. I'd be super peeved if my cats were clawing up the furniture and pillows and everything.

In this book Jaine is looking for work (like always) and gets hired by Dorcas, a comedian who needs Jaine to write good jokes for her. The first night that Jaine goes to hear Dorcas's act, she meets a bunch of people who later become suspects when Dorcas's arch enemy Vic ends up dead, with Dorcas found standing over the body. In hopes of getting paid, Jaine decides to solve the mystery of who killed Vic. I'm kind of proud of myself, because I usually don't ever figure it out, but this time I did.

I still love the funny emails from the parents. They are probably the best part of the books. And how the author voices what Jaine's cat is thinking.

Morning Glory

I got this book because I want to see the movie. I thought that the book was made first, then the movie, but it's the other way around. This book is actually based on the screenplay for the movie.

It's about Becky who works for a morning news show in Jersey until one day out of the blue she gets fired. She manages to get a job in NYC working for another morning show that is in dire need of a make over. On her first day she fires one of the anchors and needs to find a new one, so she manages to get her idol Mike Pomeroy to co-host with snotty Colleen Peck. Of course the two don't get along and cause more trouble for Becky. Gold star to her for not giving up when everything seems to keep going wrong.

The book wasn't super wonderful or anything. I still want to see the movie though.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder

A few years ago I read another collection of holiday mystery stories that these three authors put together, so I was interested in reading this new one.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke: This was the best one, I thought. Hannah's neighbor keeps blasting Christmas music, so bad that the cops come and she finds the neighbor dead. So she plays detective to find out who killed him. The reason for the killing was actually a pretty decent reason. The thing that annoys me with the Hannah books, is that she has two boyfriends. Just pick one already.

The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies by Laura Levine: I like the characters in this story the best. Jaine's parents are so funny. She goes and visits them in FL and during the Christmas play the local playboy gets killed. Was it one of his 3 girlfriends or someone else. I love how the author voices what the cat is thinking. Because it's probably true.

Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots by Leslie Meier: I didn't like this one. I'm kind of iffy about the Lucy Stone books. Every so often there will be a good one, but most are just a little to dark for me. In this one, a little boy is kidnapped and Lucy tries to find out who did it. It was actually pretty easy to figure out. And probably very realistic.

Pretty Little Liars

The ABC Family Channel made a show out of this series, and usually when a TV show or movie is based on a book, I'm interested and read the book.

This book actually wasn't that bad. Someone needs to write a series where the characters aren't spoiled, rich, private school kids. This is kind of like Gossip Girl, but with a murder mystery. There are 5 BFF's, and then one night one of them goes missing. Alison. Apparently she's the one who held the group together, because after she disappears the other four stop talking to each other. 3 or so years pass after her disappearance, and out of no where the four girls start getting texts and emails from someone named A who seems to know all their secrets. Could it be Alison? Maybe she isn't dead. It freaks the girls out and towards the end of the book it sounds like they start talking to each other again. It leaves off with them receiving another spooky text from someone they know is dead.

I didn't like the fact that their parents let the girls drink and look the other way when they do something bad. It was a quick read and good enough that I want to read the next book in the series. I did watch a few mins of the TV show, and thought it was horrible. I can already tell that the book is going to be better than the show.

The Alchemist

I'm not really sure what to think of this book. The back cover says that it's going to change my life forever. I'm pretty sure that it didn't do that.

From what I could understand, its about a shepherd who seemed pretty content with his life. He wanted to travel so he became a shepherd, had a crush on a girl in another town and was all excited to see her again, and then one day he stops in a town to rest and goes to see a gypsy to see about a dream he keeps having. She tells him that he has a treasure waiting for him at the Pyramids and he must go to it. Then he meets a king who tells him the same thing and how to get there. Of course the boy can't get anything for free and has to promise the Gypsy that he'll give her some of his treasure and he sells some of his sheep to the king for his advice. As far as the sheep go, the whole time all the author did was say how sheep only cared about food and water. I'm no Dr. Doolittle, but I think that sheep and all animals feel more than just hunger and thirst.

Anyway, so the boy starts his quest for his treasure and ends up getting all his gold stolen so he starts working at shop selling crystals. He does this for about a year and makes enough money to continue his journey. The whole time he's going on about how he wants to be a shepherd again. He was happy with that then the desire to find a treasure changed everything. Stupid boy.

He finally makes enough money to continue his journey and meets and Englishman who is on the same quest, but in search of The Alchemist. So they and a bunch of other people travel through the desert and end up at an Oasis and the boy meets a girl and falls in love. And then he meets the Alchemist. Then the boy and the Alchemist travel for many, many, many days to the Pyramids, along the way the boy learns stuff about life. So he gets to the Pyramids and starts to dig for the gold, and some bad guys show up and one mentions had dream that he had had. Thus brings the boy back to church the boy had stayed in back when he was a shepherd. And there he finds his treasure. It was at the beginning of his adventure the whole time.

The only thing I could think of as to what the moral of the story is that maybe you need to take chances and have adventures in order to find what you are looking for

The Carrie Diaries

I'm well aware that teens smoke, do drugs, have sex, talk about sex, and cuss. And regardless of what they read, they will probably always do these things. I just have a slight problem when a book that is targeted for teens has all these things.

This wasn't a bad book, I just would have liked it better if it was in the adult fiction section and not in the teen section. I don't have a kid, but if I did, I wouldn't want her to read something like this, she might get the wrong idea and think that having sex while in high school and smoking and lying to their parents is an OK thing. Before you think I'm prude, I have nothing against sex, I just think people should wait until they are 18 and out of high school to do it.

This book is about Carrie Bradshaw when she was 18. I kind of felt like there wasn't much of a connection between this Carrie and the one in the show. She was still confused about guys, which I think we always will be, but I never expected her to grow up with 2 younger sisters, a single father, and be on the swim team. Not sure exactly what I pictured, but that wasn't it. She didn't really have it easy in high school. Her friend Lali is super mean to her, and pretty much the popular girls think she's just weird. I did like The Mouse and Walt. Friends come and go in High School. Especially when guys are involved. Most of the time I kept wondering if I would have liked it better had I not seen the show. Then I wouldn't be comparing adult Carrie to teenager Carrie. People change over the years so I should've have expected them to be the same.

It really wasn't a bad book, just next time she writes a book which is all sex talk and language, I'd feel better if it was for adults and not for teens

Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel

I found this while browsing at the library and sounded decent enough so I thought I'd check it out.

It's about Lou, who used to be an ugly duckling, but then on prom night when a guy was trying to force himself on her, she turned into a werewolf. She thought that she had killed him, so she and her best friend Cindy run away. After Lou turned back into a human, she was a beautiful swan, so she became a supermodel. 7 years later, one day after a shoot, a policeman comes to see her, saying that there have been many murders of girls who look like her. He suggests that someone might be out to get her. Then she starts having dreams of women getting murdered, so she helps the cop find the killer. Meanwhile, she has also looked into a private eye to help her find her birth parents because she was adopted and wants to know if they have any connection to why she turns into a werewolf.

I was totally loving this book until towards the end vampires show up. I'm so tired of vampires. Lou is a likable character. She's not stuck up and snooty like you'd expect a supermodel to be. The way it ended suggests that there will probably be a sequel.

It's a clean book, I don't remember a lot of bad words in it, and I think there was only one sex scene. Nothing to graphic. If you like supernatural stuff, this would probably be a good read for you.

While I'm Falling

Not really sure what drew me to this book, I think I just like reading about people who are having breakdowns and their life is just going downhill to make me realize that my life isn't that bad. How sad that I need a novel to remind me of that. It's just a reminder that no matter how bad things look, they can always be worse.

This book is about Veronica who is a pre-med student in college and is having a bit of a breakdown. And things only get worse when her parents get a divorce and her mother ends up homeless with the half dead family dog. Veronica and her mother kind of help each other realize that no matter how crappy things might be, if you work at it, it will turn around for the best. I liked the mom, and felt sorry for her as well, because she's almost 50 and has to crash in her daughter's dorm room because she can't get into a new apartment for awhile. How awful for a parent to have to admit that to their child. What I liked was how she managed to stay upbeat. Or at least act like she was. If I was her, I would have lost my mind. Maybe she did and was just stressed out to the point where you can't feel the stress anymore. Like you are high or something.

Anyway, I liked it. The chapters are bit to long, and even though it's pretty short, it does kind of feel like it goes on forever. But other than that, it was decent.

The Awakening

This book is nothing like the TV show. For some weird reason I actually like the show, so I wanted to read the book that it was based on. Other than the characters names being the same and Elena falling in love with a vampire, nothing else was the same. The character's personalities weren't even the same. I don't expect great things from teen books, but this one was just awful. Maybe the series gets better, but I have no intention of finding out. Really the only reason I kept reading it was because I had paid money for it, and I was waiting for Damon to show, which he doesn't until the end of the book.

Skip the books, watch the show.

Summer At Willow Lake

I wasn't sure if I would like this book, I read another book from the series and it just didn't spark any excitement, but this was hard to put down. Maybe it's because I've never been to summer camp, so reading about Olivia and other's good and bad times at summer camp was interesting.

This is the story of Olivia who faces another break up and runs away for the summer to help renovate the camp that her grandparents used to run so that they can have their anniversary there. Enter old flame Connor and flashbacks. It reminded me of the movie Indian Summer, which for all I know is where she got the idea for this novel. The ending was kind of cheesy, but it was a good book.

The Scarlet Letter

I wanted to read this book because I wanted to see the new movie Easy A which is like a teenage version of this story. The movie was better.

I'm not a fan of the classics, because the writing is hard for me to follow. While I'm sure this was a great book, when none of it makes sense, it was difficult for me to focus on it.

Basically, Hester got busy out of wedlock and had a baby, so everyone tags her as a adultery, and she had to walk around with a big red A on her clothes. What I didn't understand is why she had to continue to wear the darn thing for like the rest of her life. Isn't have a little girl running around proof enough that she did something she shouldn't? What annoyed me the most is how the author mentioned way to many times that she had a scarlet A on her breast. Yeah, we kind of figured that out from the title, no need to keep reminding us. I don't know why she just didn't take it off after a few years. Or why she didn't just move to someplace where she could start new.

"A is for Awesome!"

The Postcard Killers

Your typical James Patterson thriller. Fast paced and entertaining enough that you want to keep reading to find out what happens. This one is about a couple who goes around Europe killing other couples. It's pretty twisted. And lets hope a movie is never made from it, because I suspect that it would be pretty gory.

One Night

This book was pretty horrible. Clearly it's predictable in the sense that you know that Carrie and Kyle are going to fall in love even though they hate each other. But it seemed like there wasn't much of a thought out storyline. Like she just made up stuff as she went. Now, I'm not a professional writer, but I always thought that you had to have some ideas as to what you wanted to put in the story. Usually her books are like that. This one wasn't. The only reasonable character in the book was Kyle. What he saw in Carrie is beyond me. So skip it and go read the Blossom Street series.

Lakeshore Christmas

I was expecting more from this book. Something warm and inspiring. Like the cozy feeling you get from a Debbie Macomber book. I didn't get that. It was a decent book, just not enough excitement. And really not that much romance. Maureen, the town librarian, and Eddie an ex-actor who I think she was trying to seem like a bad boy are put together to make the Christmas pageant. Spending time together makes them realize that even though they are opposites they fall in love. That's about it.

There was another storyline about a single mother named Daisy and unless I zoned out, I don't think she ever told us which guy in her life purposed to Daisy.

There was to many characters so it was a little hard to follow. But regardless of all this, I'll still check out the other books in the series. I'll just read them in order, might make more sense.

A Bend In The Road

I didn't really like this so much. It was kind of predictable. Miles's wife dies in a horrible hit and run accident and he is left trying to find out who did it while raising his young son. Then one day he meets Sarah, and finally starts to feel like he's moving on with his life, then some new evidence comes up with the case of his wife's murder, and he pretty much goes crazy. Even before the author tells us who is responsible for the murder, I know who did it. And I suck at solving mysteries.

The Wedding

A girl at work lent me this book to read saying that it was really good. I remembered that I checked this book out from the library many months ago and never read it. So clearly this was sign that I was suppose to read it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a little bitter towards romance. I have nothing against it and wish that romantic things happen to everything. I've just never had anything romantic happen to me, so I have a hard time believing that it actually happens.

This is the story of Wilson who is married to Jane who is the daughter of Noah and Allie who are the characters in The Notebook. Wilson forgets his and Jane's 29th wedding anniversary and worries that his marriage is about to come to an end, so he asks Noah (who I think is one of the best characters ever created)for advice and gets an idea how to save his marriage. It actually seemed like a really simple idea. Mostly he started to pay more attention to her and stopped working as much and lost some weight. One day their daughter tells them that she is getting married. In a week. On Wilson and Jane's 30th anniversary. So the book follows the preparation of this wedding. Actually, it was Wilson who does a lot of the work and while the daughter and Jane thank him a bunch of times for all the work he does, I kind of felt like the didn't give him enough credit. It was a good book with a twist at the end. I love the part with Noah and the swan. And I hated his kids for not believing his theory of it. I could see myself thinking the same thing that he does.

I didn't like Jane that much, kind of how I didn't really like Allie in The Notebook. The guys do so much to express their love for the women, but it seems like they do nothing in return. Maybe he just can't write women very well.

Christmas Letters

I started reading this book before maybe a year or two ago and stopped for some reason. Guess I thought it was lame and cheesy. It actually wasn't that bad.

It's a very typical Debbie Macomber romance novel, where at first the guy and girl don't get along, then they do, and by the end of the book they are planning a wedding even though they have only known each other for a few weeks. That's unrealistic and doesn't happen.

Katherine writes Christmas letters for people and one day runs into Wynn who wrote a best selling book about raising children. Katherine disagrees with his theories and this causes a conflict, but then they start to like each other, then another conflict happens, but by the end they have made up. No shock there. All her books are the same. Other than that, it actually wasn't to bad. The chapter where they babysit is kind of funny.

Wicked Witch Murder

Don't be fooled. The description of the book makes it sound like it takes place during October, but it actually starts in June and the happens expand throughout the summer into October. I was a little disappointed in that.

Diana the witch comes to town and opens up a shop and no one seems to have a problem with her except over religious guy Ike who blames her for everything bad that is happening in Tinker's Cove. First the lack of water, then some fires that happen, then floods that come, the death of his wife, the illness of his daughter, etc. The book is pretty much just him blaming Diana for everything and Lucy trying to keep her kids from doing witchcraft. Yes, there is a mystery. A guy who turns out to be a witch is found burned to death in the woods behind Lucy's house, so she tries to find out who did it.

It was entertaining and a little creepy.

Juliet

I've never been a fan of Romeo and Juliet. Someone killing themselves because the one they love is dead just isn't realistic. It's not that I don't find it romantic. Crazy maybe, but I guess every girl wants to believe that there is a guy who couldn't stand to live life without her.

I've never read the play, so I really don't know how much of this actually takes place in Shakespeare's work. I read somewhere that this book is like The DaVinci Code for girls. Maybe because there's romance involved, but there is a mystery too. Only, how much of this is really true, I don't know.

Julie Jones is a pretty boring 25 year old girl. Then one day her Aunt Rose dies and leaves her a letter, a passport, a key, and a quest. Julie who finds out that her real name is Giulietta Tolomei and is sent to Siena, Italy to uncover the mystery of what really happened to her parents, and find a treasure. Once she gets there she learns that her family and another family are a bit at war with each other. Much like in Romeo and Juliet. There is danger lurking around every corner and no one she should really trust. After all, when it comes to a 'treasure' everyone wants it.

There were lots of twists in this book, maybe it keep the reader interested. It was a good book. It tells the story of Julie, but it also tells the story of Romeo and Giulietta from 1340 and how they met, fell in love, and died. Even though I liked it, I got a little annoyed with how Julie's life basically was always based on this darn play. This is just proof that reading Shakespeare can get you into trouble.

I personally think that Juliet was a diva and Romeo was an idiot.

Dead As A Doornail

To be honest, I really did not like this book. Had to force myself to finish is. It just kind of felt like nothing to worthy happens in it. Someone tries to kill Sookie (again), she and her friends find out who it was. Same old story, just a different killer. When will she learn that hanging out with vampires and shapeshifters is just bad for her health.

Catering to Nobody

The first 50 or so pages of this book was interesting, enough that I wanted to keep reading it to find out who the killer was, but the rest of the book was slow moving and the author found a way to put the blame on pretty much every character. So you never really had any idea who-done-it. Not a fast read at all, and I found most of the characters (even the one who dies) very annoying. Thank goodness one of them dies.

Goldy is catering for a funeral when her ex-father-in-law Fritz gets poisoned. So the police think that she did it and shut down her business. Like in most mystery novels, the police never seem to do their job right so Goldy has to step in a solve the case herself. All while trying to find work and deal with a sassy 11 year old boy. He annoyed me to. Basically it kind of seemed like the author wanted as much bad stuff to happen to this character as possible. And there's a lot of language. So if you don't like that, skip it. I've read other books from this series, I might read the next one. Hopefully it's better

Larceny and Lace

This is the second book in the series and in this one, Maddie is opening up her Vintage Magic clothing shop, only of course murder follows. First the playhouse across the street burns down killing the owner. Then Maddie and her friends find human bones wrapped up in a quilt they find in the shop, so of course they decide to find out what happened, getting themselves into danger along the way.

I didn't hate the book, but felt like there were to many characters and I got a bit confused. I like all the main characters and cant decided if I want Maddie to hook up with Nick or Lytton. They both sound pretty hot.

The Christmas Cookie Killer

The word I used most while reading this was Fluffy. Because even though its a mystery and a little old lady gets strangled with the belt of her bathroom, everyone just seemed a bit to friendly. Even when the author was trying to make someone seem mean, it just didn't really feel that way. And she tries to hit it in your head that not everyone is what they seem. Everyone has secrets.

This is the 3rd book in the series, but I'm tired of the heat and liked the cover. It's warm and friendly, despite the headless gingerbread man.

Phyllis and her friends are having a Christmas cookie exchange when she goes next door to give Agnes some cookies and finds her dead. While trying to help her, Phyllis gets whacked in the head and passes out. So the book is following Phyllis while she tries to find out who killed her neighbor and tried to kill Phyllis. The author tried to make it so that it seemed like everyone had a motive, but I figured out who it was. Didn't know why, just who. This person seemed just a bit to nice. Despite my so-so feelings, I do want to read more in the series.

Dead To The World

I liked this one better than the others, I think because it was more than just Bill, Sookie, and vampires. Bill isn't even really in this one. He's out of town and one night driving home from work Sookie sees Eric running down the road. Turns out he lost his memory. Some evil witches put a spell on him and causes him to lose his memory because they want his bar. So Sookie has to keep him at her place to keep him safe. A frisky vampire and a frisky human make one dirty chapter. Meanwhile, Jason goes missing and no one can find him.

Will Eric get his memory back? Is Jason alive? Can the vamps and werewolves and shape shifters kill the evil witches? You'll just have to read it to find out.

Club Dead

It took me a bit to get into this book, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood to read it, thank goodness these books are pretty fast paced and you can easily read one in a few hours.

In this book, Bill is gone on a secret project, and one day Eric shows up and tells Sookie that Bill is in danger and might be dead and needs her to go to Mississippi to listen in on the minds of people to find out where he is.

So she does, and as always, gets herself into trouble. I love a quote from the book... "Don't go looking for trouble; it's already looking for you." Something like that.

Deeply, Desperately

The second book in the Lucy Valentine series and this time Lucy and her boy toy Sean have come together to help people find their lost love. While doing so, Lucy also helps the police to find a missing woman. On top of that, she and her friend Marisol try to prove to their other friend Em that her boyfriend is a jerk and to not marry him. Lucy has her own love issues when Sean's ex comes back and won't leave without a fight. Of course it has a happy ending. It's cute and a quick read.

Living Dead In Dallas

I didn't like this one as much as the first one. I'm having issues with lead female characters falling in love with vampires and always putting themselves into danger. And this is why I should probably stop reading this series.

Sookie had made a deal with Vampire Eric that she will help him read minds of people, so he has a friend in Dallas who needs her help. So she and Bill go to Dallas and she helps out Vampire Stan, and of course almost ends up dead in the process. There was a really bothersome chapter at the end when she goes to an orgy. I should probably just suspect that there's always going to be sex in these books.

Anyway, this book just didn't interest me, so I'll probably take a break before I read the next one (if I choose to continue.)

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

It was a different kind of book. Instead of one story, it follows the lives of about six or so people set up in short little chapters. It was good. You have your favorites, I liked six year old Bertie who is just trying to understand the world. You'd have to check the book out to really understand what its about. I enjoy this author's work. I love the titles of his books. They are always different, but somehow comforting.

Dead Until Dark

I don't know if this came out before the whole Twilight thing or not, but I am getting kind of tired of the whole female human in love with the male vampire and putting herself and everyone she knows in danger because she spends to much time with the vampire.

Sookie meets Bill and they become smitten with each other, and a bunch of females get killed and every suspects either the vampires or Sookie's brother Jason. The mystery gets solved when the killer of course comes after Sookie.

I do like it better than the show True Blood. A good chunk of characters on the show annoy me, but I can stand them in the book. Best of all, there's no annoying best friend Tara. But she might show up in later books.

Will I read the rest of the series? I don't know. Maybe.

Hex Hall

Even though this book was written for teens, I really liked it. Maybe because it wasn't as descriptive as most adult books are. Just got straight to the point.

It's about Sophie who is a witch and gets sent to school for other witches, vampires, faeries, etc. Once she gets there she finds out that she's not who she thought she was.

I kind of felt like a Harry Potter for girls only not as complicated. It was a quick read and I liked the main character. Heck, I even liked the bad boy, I'm sure he would be very hot in real life.

A Veiled Deception

This is the first book in this series. I had already read the 3rd one, and this one wasn't as exciting. Not really a lot of action in these books, just kind of an easy read. I still like the characters and will still read more from the series.

In this one, Maddie's sister is suspected of murder so she tries to find out who the real killer is. The ending was a little weird, but when she had her flashbacks, they were described better so it wasn't as confusing.

Death By Diamonds

It's a quick simple read about a lady who can touch a piece of clothing and see the story behind it, using that info to help her solve mysteries. It was easy to follow, except when she was touch the clothes, then things got a little confusing. It kind of seemed like she was in the past and the present at the same time, and I never really understood what was going on.

But other than that, I liked it enough that I'd read other books in the series.

Breaking Dawn

Oh boy, where do I even start? I've been bitching about this book for weeks and finally finished it. And I still have no idea why people love this series.

This is the final book in the series (thank god) and here's what happens....

So Bella and Edward get married. Because they are in love and do the whole Romeo and Juliet b.s. (you know, "if you die, then I will kill myself so that we can be together"). Who actually does that? Oh that's right... NO ONE!!!!

So they get married and Jacob shows up at the wedding and I was hoping that he'd go crazy and start a fight because for some strange reason he is in love with Bella and hates Edward because he got her and because he's a vampire and vampires and werewolves aren't suppose to like each other. I get that. Werewolves are cooler. But his stupid friends stop him from fighting.

Bella and Edward go on a honeymoon and of course get busy. They had so much fun that he knocks her up. Good job dude. Now, keep in mind that Bella is still human, and now she has a vampire baby inside of her. They go home to the Cullen's clan and everyone keeps an eye on her while she's prego because its a new thing for a human to be having a vampire baby and no one knows what to expect.

Well, the evil vampire baby (who is just creepy as hell no matter how cute the author tried to make her) grows super fast, so there is not enough room in Bella and the baby starts breaking Bella's bones and everyone is worried that its going to kill her. No such luck. The baby is born and in order to save Bella, Edward as to turn her into a vampire. So now she's a vampire and apparently vampires are super strong and super hot and in her case super annoying.

Jacob used to be my favorite character until he started to like the evil vampire baby (named Renesme or something weird like that) and imprints on her. In werewolf world, imprinting is kind of like love at first sight. When you imprint it means that this is the person for you. So it was really creepy (and f-ed up) that he did it with Bella's baby.

So a bunch of boring pointless everyday crap happens, then one day when Bella, Jacob, and Nessie (they nicknamed the baby Nessie) are out hunting some other vampire sees them and goes and tells the higher ups that vampires and werewolves are friends and that they have a child with them. The Cullen's get word that the Voltri (?) are coming and want a war. And since there is more of them than there are of the Cullen's get worried so they call all their friends to help with this war. Finally some action! Not so fast, once the head vampire clan show up and they see Nessie and get the full story and realize that she has no threat to humans or anyone else, they decide not to fight. Damn.

So everyone has a happy ending. Bella and Edward have their creepy child, Jacob has his future wife, and no one died. How sad. :o(

Closet Confidential

This book was incredibly boring. It took me forever to read it. It was a reminder why I stopped reading this series. I had originally started reading the series because the main character is a professional organizer and I like to organize things, but she is just annoying. Stop getting yourself into trouble. Yes, you solve the case, but people get hurt in process. Plus she's to nice. One of her clients kept blowing off appointments, and does Charlotte get mad? Nope. Come on lady.

Skip it and read something else.

Thursdays At Eight

It's your typical fluffy Debbie Macomber book. Every so often I enjoy her books, because even though the characters always seem like goody goodies, real life stuff happens, possibly something that the reads might relate to.

This book was about four friends who had met at a journal writing class and decided to keep meeting up every Thursday at 8am for breakfast. I personally, could never get up that early. Karen is in her twenties and dreams of being an actress, but soon realizes that maybe that's not what she really wanted. Her struggle is dealing with her older sister who Karen finds out is getting abused by her husband.

Liz, my favorite, is in her late 50's and realizes that maybe its time to move on from the death of her husband and find love again.

Claire, I thought, was a bitch. She is divorced from her husband because he left her for someone younger, and she is just so bitter about the whole thing and even gets mad when her children want to spend time with their father. Her anger towards him changes (slightly) once she finds out that he has cancer and is dieing.

Julia wasn't much better than Claire. She's in her 40s I think, and finds out that she's pregnant. This poor unborn child. She hates him from day one and her children are just as bad. Thankfully everyone changes once the baby is born.

It was a decent book. Nothing I'd read again, but I usually don't feel that way with her books.

Night of The Living Deed

After I got this book home and was about to read it, I thought that maybe it wasn't since a good idea to read a book about a haunted house, since I often think that my apartment is haunted. But the book wasn't scary at all. It was actually kind of funny, and I liked it. Its about a woman and her daughter who buy a giant house in New Jersey and she is trying to fix it up and make it a guesthouse. But soon she finds out that its haunted by two people who were murdered there and they ask for her to help them find out who killed them. I was a little disappointed by the ending because I was expecting the ghost to be able to move onto the afterlife or whatever once their case was solved, but it sounds like they are stuck in the house. That would suck being stuck in one place forever. I was a little sad for them.

Unforgettable You

My friend was reading this book and said she really liked it so I was expecting something life changing, and maybe for some people it was, but mostly its just about her giving advice on topics and telling us how to be more lady like, which is an OK thing, I agree that getting drunk and acting slutty and stupid is a bad idea. Kind of felt like she was trying to get the reader to think that she was perfect, even though she said she isn't. Its suppose to be a motivational book, so of course she's not going to let her bitter side out. Its a self help book of sorts so everyone is going to take it differently.

Eclipse

The 3rd book in the Twilight series (because they will just never end) and I'm a little bothered to say that I didn't hate it as much as the other two. It's way the hell to long, these character talk to much. I know its a book and its good to be descriptive, but we really don't need to know every single detail about what ever single character is doing.

This one picks up where the last one ended. Bella and Edward are still in love with each other and even though he is creepy and she causes to much drama and trouble, if you look past all that, their love is kind of cute. And of course Jacob is in love with Bella still. I must be missing something. Why are all these guys smitten with her? She causes a war between everyone.

Because of her, some newbie vampires start working with Victoria (who really I was starting to like because she's the only one smart enough to kill Bella) come to town to kill Bella and everyone who gets in their way. So the wolves and the vampires come together to fight for her safety.

They fight, the bad guys die and now everything should be happy go lucky. But Bella has to go break Jacob's heart first. Which he was kind of asking for. Stop hitting on some other guy's girl. I don't care if he is some creepy vampire, he did risk his life and others to save her from being killed (silly on his part). Then again, Jacob did do the same.
They do finally kill off Victoria, so now I'm thinking that Bella needs to just move away now that it seems like no one is out there hunting for her. But then she would be all moody and miss Edward and I'll have to start hating her even more.

Maybe I'm just bitter towards love or something, but these people are teenagers! Well, not Edward. I really have a hard time believing that you can find true love when you are in high school! Seriously lady, give it a couple of years and see what happens. People change. But instead of being smart and doing that, Edward and Bella are getting married. Oh geez. The one thing that I do like about Edward is that he was willing to do a Vegas wedding. Rock on. That's how it should be.

So really, other than being crazy long, it wasn't a horrible book, it talks about love a

lot and the fight scene near the end was kind of exciting. I'd still rather be a werewolf than a vampire.

The Last Olympian

This is the last book in the series, and I just felt like there was to much going on. The Titans are trying to take over Olympus and the Gods and lame and don't do a whole lot to stop them, so Percy and his friends have to fight in the war.

And the ending was really sappy.

Getting Old Is Criminal

I started reading this before and I guess I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book, but I wanted to read it again, and it actually wasn't that bad.

It's the 3rd in the series I think and in this one, Gladdy and her elderly friends try to solve the crime of a elderly man who likes to get busy with old women and then kill them. It talks about old people having sex way to much for my liking. They also try to find out who the "Peeper" is who whips it out while watching women through their windows. A little bit creepy.

My issue with these books is that these ladies don't act like they are in their 70s and 80s. They run around like teenagers. I'm pretty sure I wont be like that when I'm that age. I'm not really like that now.

The Skinnygirl Dish

You can't really rate this book. It's a book that was made to help you not fear cooking and get some ideas on healthy recipes and how to love your kitchen. Depending on if you take the advice or not determines the rating.

Basically, what I got from the book was, keep your kitchen clean and organized, stock foods that you will eat, and use what you have.

She compares the kitchen and cooking to your closet and dressing. You would never eat or wear something you didn't like, and you should dress up your meals like you would with an outfit. It makes a lot of sense. I did mark some recipes that sounded good and simple, but don't hold my breath because I know I will probably never make them. But I marked them just in case I change my mind.

It's a good book for someone who likes to cook or wants to start.

New Moon

Don't read this if you plan on reading the book and don't want to know what's going to happen.

Here's the Cliff Notes version of the book, because frankly, it's to long of a book, so I'll save you some time.

It starts out with Bella having a little teenage crisis because she turns 18. I can't call it a midlife crisis, because she's only 18. She has a nightmare where she sees herself as a little old lady and Edward is with her, but since he's a vampire, he doesn't age. So she gets all freaked out, because why would a vampire want to be with a granny.

Edward and his family throw her a birthday party, which she is not happy about, because she's moody and doesn't like to get presents. I would LOVE if someone put a new stereo in my car. She's opening presents and gets a paper cut. Think of the last time you got a paper cut. It was probably no big deal, didn't even really bleed. Well, with hers, she started to bleed like crazy, and of course she was in a room of vampires so they got hungry. One tried to attack her, but Edwards pushed her out of the way, and into a glass table, where of course she cut herself and started to bleed even more.

Fast forward, Dr. Cullen fixes her up and Edward takes her home. Soon after he stops by her place and dumps her. Saying that it's not safe for her to be around him and his family because of situations like at her bday party. Her, being all teenager-ish, gets all sad and doesn't want him to leave. Basically he tells her that he does not want her in his life. While I hate both of these characters, what he said was kind of harsh. So he leaves, and she gets all depressed and doesn't hang out with any of her friends and starts having nightmares where she wakes up screaming. I can't say that I've ever started having nightmares because a boyfriend broke up with me. Holy issues Batman, this girl needs help.

Her dad gets worried about her and she tries to convince him that she's OK, so she starts hanging out with Jacob, who makes her feel better. For whatever reason, Jacob is in love with her. I will never understand how she has two guys smitten with her. They start hanging out, and she starts doing reckless things, like riding motorcycles and jumping off cliffs, because she realized, that when she does these wild things, she can hear Edwards voice.

One day, Jacob starts to act weird. Well, she finds out that he's a werewolf. And he and his crew hunt vampires. Bella is not happy about this, because she loves vampires and wants to become one. Why the hell would you want to become a vampire? Trouble is caused when Edward's sister Alice shows up because she had a vision that Bella tried to kill herself by jumping off a cliff (into water) and wanted to check on her. They find out that Edward thought that Bella was dead, and he doesn't want to live without her (even though he broke her heart and left her) so he was planning on killing himself.

So Alice and Bella rush to Italy to stop him. Sadly, they do. Then there's some stuff with other vampires who are like higher up in the vampire world, kind of like royalty or something, I was a little confused, but from what I got out of it, it sounded like they wanted Bella to become a vampire, and if the Cullens don't turn her into one, they would kill her. Something like that.

But, the Cullens and the werewolves have a treaty that says that if a vampire bites a human, the werewolves are allowed to kill the Cullens. So, if the Cullens don't bite Bella, she'll be killed, but if they do, the werewolves will kill them. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this. So, of course that causes some tension between Edward and Jacob, because they hate each other, but love. Bella and I just don't understand it.

Watch the movie, it pretty much takes the important parts out of the book. I'll still read the other books in the series, because I'm hoping that either the werewolf or the vampire kills Bella. She's annoying.