Walks With Men

I have no idea what this book was about. It was 100 pages of randomness. A girl meets a guy who ends up being married, and instead of ditching him, she and the guy end up getting married, though he was rich so you can't really blame her. Then her old boyfriend shows up and gets hit by a train and dies. Then the girl and the guy divorce and he disappears, so the girl moves to Virgina and the book ends with her visiting her step father. If it hadn't been so short I wouldn't have kept reading it.

Wicked Appetite

I'm not a big Janet Evanovich fan, but I did like this book. From what I understand it's part of a new series. What I thought was interesting is that its supposed to be about the 7 deadly sins. This one was mostly based on Gluttony, so there was a lot of food talked about in it. The main character Lizzy works at a bakery making cupcakes. Me being me naturally wanted cupcakes.
Lizzy's life is pretty normal until one day two tall dark mysterious men show up in her life. One, Wulf, is evil and the other, Diesel, is good. They are both on the hunt for the 7 Stones, which from what I understand could be deadly if fallen into the wrong hands. Got a little confused on that part. Its a quick wacky story with a one eyed cat and a monkey and Lizzy's friend who wants to be a witch.

I Don't Know How She Does It

This book took me longer than it should've to read it. I had read it years ago, probably when it first came out, but couldn't remember anything from it, and now that they made a movie out of it, I wanted to check it out again.
I didn't really like it. I'm not a mother, nor do I currently have a job or husband, but my friends do, and they seem to make things work. I suspect that the author wrote this book so that people could understand what all a full time working mother has to go through, but geez, I don't know why everyone was so impressed by Kate doing a bunch of stuff, when a lot of working mothers do the same thing and don't get the attention for it. But should they get the attention? Isn't that just how things are now days? And it seems like it was Kate's choice to go back to work full time. Really, if it was so stressful, than she could always have just quit her job, got a part time one, or just let the hubby make the money. There's nothing wrong with that. And honestly, I'm really not surprised that her hubby left her. She was kind of a bi**h to him. But yeah, there were times he could've stepped up a bit to help out. I think that with good time management, Kate could've been a lot happier. Found a way to work and be there for her kids. And maybe keep her To Remember list a little more handy so she wouldn't forget stuff.

Private

It took me forever (ok, maybe two weeks) to read this book. I was in the mood for a thriller and the discription for the storyline on the back of the book made it sound interesting, and it probably would've been if there weren't so many different things going on at once.
Sounds like this is the first in a new series about a P.I. type business who works with the local cops to solve cases. In this book they solve the case of the Schoolgirl murderer. Someone who has been killing teens for a few years. And they deal with some shady backdoor dealing for cheating at NFL games, and the main character trys to find out who killed his best friends wife. Had it just been one or two of these plots, the book would've been easier to follow.
I'm not a big fan of his writing, so I don't know why I keep getting his books, but I should probably stop.

Foul Play

N/A

Murder By The Slice

I had started reading this book before and gave up on it. But I decided to give it another try. It was ok, nothing super. It is set around Halloween, and I love Fall, so thats why I wanted to read it, but I just didn't get the cozy Fall feeling of the book. And Phyllis still annoys me. She just seems mean. And she and Sam just need to hook up and get it over and done with. In this book, the rude president of the PTO ends up dead, and since everyone hated her, everyone is a suspect. The PTO group asks Phyllis to solve the case of who killed her. And since retired women in their 60s have nothing better to do, she sticks her nose in everyone's business and solves the murder. Not my favorite book, but I do like some of the others, so I'll keep reading the series.

A Peace of A Murder

I had started reading this book before. Not really sure why I stopped, but I decided to give it another try. Problem was that when I stopped reading it the first time I had skipped to the back to find out who the killer was, so that kind of ruined it this time around. But it was still interesting. Phyllis annoyed me, she seemed a little rude to Sam sometimes. And of course he just seems a little to nice. I was sad that she killed off the Mattie character. Little old ladies are cute. She kind of reminded me of the character Sophia from the show The Golden Girls.

311 Pelican Court

This book was OK. I was really into at first, but then it just seemed like it went on and on. I was glad that Maryellen finally realized that Jon was cool and they got together. Ditto with Olivia and Jack. And Zach and Rosie work out their problems. Now she just needs to get Grace and Cliff together, which happens in a later book I think. But these books kind of makes me not want to get into a relationship. All these people do is fight. Jeez Debbie. There are some sane people out there in the world who don't always have an issue with someone they are smitten with.

204 Rosewood Lane

I was really into this book in the beginning, but kind of zone out towards the end. It seemed a bit long. Olivia and Jack are really starting to annoy me. Its like the author can't decide if she wants them to be together or not. Make up your mind lady! And I don't know why Maryellen has such an issue with Jon. They are having a baby, and she's being a you know what to him, and he seems like a nice guy. Grace is still probably my favorite. To bad her hubby kills himself and her daughters suck. Oh well. Time to read the 3rd one.

16 Lighthouse Road

I've tried to read this book a few times before, but was never able to get through it, so this time I just stuck with it. It wasn't bad. Most of the characters are likable. Its great that Ian and Cecelia could work things out and stay married. I wasn't really a big fan of there's. I think I like Grace the most, but that might be because I'm in the middle of reading the second book which is more based on her. I was annoyed with how the author had Justine and Seth get married before they even dated. That's the thing that annoys me about her books, they just aren't very realistic when it comes to love. Who marries someone they are smitten with before they even date? Come on lady. Anyway, I'm gonna try and stick with the series.

Killer Crab Cakes

It was an OK book. About as good as the others in the series. This time Phyllis and her friends go to the Texas coast with her friends in tow to watch her cousins B&B, and of course someone dies and the guests want to leave. So Phyllis and Sam try to find out who really killed the guy so that her cousins business won't be damaged. I kind of suspected who the killer was because they seemed a little to friendly. And all the talk of crab cakes (even if they did kill someone) still sounded yummy.

The Pumpkin Muffin Murder

What caught my eye about this book is that it takes place around Thanksgiving, which is my favorite, because I love turkey and mashed potatoes and I love Fall. So tired of the summer heat, so I decided that reading a book that takes place during the Fall would be a good idea. It just made me hungry. lol. In this book Phyllis and her friends are helping with the Harvest Festival when they find a dead body dressed as one of the scarecrows. Since they are friends with the woman who is being accused of murder, they decide to find out who really killed her husband. I figured out who had done it pretty early on. But it was still a good read. The pumpkin muffin recipe looks pretty easy, and I might try it someday.

The Final Note

I probably would have given this book four stars if it wasn't so sad. And it wasn't the whole 'the wife might die' part that made me sad. It was the Grandpa part towards the end of the book, where he is telling the story of how he got Karl the guitar, which he gives to Ethan to play, so music plays a big part in this novel. It was a good book. Like I sad, a little to sad for my taste, but the writing was great, flowed well and could easily be read in a day. Ethan meets Anna while on a trip in Austria and they fall in love. When they get back to the states, he moves from Oregon to Idaho and they date and end up getting married. Then they start trying to have children, but she keeps having miscarriages. One day he gets a job in San Fran so they move and she gets pregnant again with twins, but only one of the little girls makes it. They are thrilled that after so many lost babies they have at least one. Then Ethan gets a promotion at work and starts working way to much, and one night he and Anna have a big fight and later that night she gets hit by a girl who was texting and driving (don't do it kids!) and ends up in a coma. Someone does die at the end, but it's probably not who you think it will be. I was very sad by who it was because I liked that character.

Pampered To Death

I hadn't been impressed with her other recent books, but this one was pretty good. Like always, the cat and the emails from the parents are still the best part. In this one, Jaine's friend Lance gives her a free week at a wonderful spa. Or so she thinks. Once she gets there (with her cat, who takes their cat with them to a spa?)she realizes that its actually a fat person spa where people can go to lose weight. Its also where some B-list celebs go to get away. One person is Mallory who ends up dead and of course she had found a way to make everyone around her hate her, so Jaine tries to find out who killed her so that the police will let her go home and away from Diet Hell. The storyline was a good idea and there wasn't a bunch of characters like in most mystery books.

Geeks

I wrote a massive long review about how I hated this book, but it didn't save. Pretty much it's about two whiny 19 year old boys from Idaho (like myself) who hate it here and a the author gives the idea to move out of state because there are jobs for geeks all over. So he helps them move to Chicago and helps them get jobs and even helps one of them get into college. Fist off, Idaho isn't as bad as they make it out to be. Second, if they hated it here so much, then they should've just made sure they had great grades in high school and went to a college out of state like a lot of my classmates did. And is the author going to go out and play daddy to all the other teens who feel misunderstood in high school. Maybe if they hadn't spent all their time online or acting out, they might have gotten the courage to try new things and make some new friends and feel like the fit in a bit better. But nope, they were geeks (as they called themselves) and did nothing but play online and become hermits. I have no sympathy for these guys. If you don't like how your life is, do something about it, because not everyone is going to be lucky enough to get a news reporter to help them with the hard stuff in life.

Slightly Single

I love this book! This is my second time reading it and it's still uplifting. I think maybe Tracey annoyed me a little more with her denial and whining over her douche bag boyfriend Will being out of town for the summer and never calling her. Since she's spending the summer alone, she decides its a great time to improve her life. She loses weight (by exercise and smaller portions, what a shock, it does work) and saving money (to buy an awesome big bed) and reading the classics. She also meets a cutie guy named Buckley.

I think the reason why I find this so uplifting is because she is just like every other girl out there and she actually does something about it. Me for example want to lose weight and save money, but of course instead of doing so, I'm reading books and napping all day. lol. And yes, I know that she is just a fictional character and the odds of being able to lose 40 lbs in one summer isn't very realistic, but still, don't a lot of people look towards fictional characters to help them figure out life. How many movies have been made that touched people and helped them make changes. So maybe it isn't so crazy to idolize a book character.

Anyway, still love the book.

English Tea Murder

In the latest book, Lucy and her three best friends go to England (so jealous!) with a group of college students when on the flight there, their tour guide and college professor dies for what people assume to be an asthma attack. The most disturbing part about this is that they just leave him sitting dead in his seat for the rest of the trip, and no one acts like its an issues. Ick. They get to England and get a new tour guide, who Lucy used to have a teacher and throughout the whole book her friends (who started to annoy me, mostly Sue) joked with her about how he has a crush on her. It got annoying. Almost as annoying as it was that all Lucy talked about was how she was worried about her oldest daughter having problems at college. Who cares?! Not me. During the trip, one of the students almost dies by jumping off the pier into the water and Lucy's friend Pam gets pushed into traffic. Of course Lucy (who needs to stop reading and watching mysteries) gets all paranoid and thinks that there is a killer in their group. So she tries to find out who it is. And chances are, it is who you expect it to be.

I wasn't really that impressed with this book. Seems like all they did in England was shop, walk, look for tea and eat fatty foods. Even so, I still want to go someday.

A Hard Day's Fright

In this book, Pepper (who is still snobby) sees a ghost of a seventeen year old girl who died back in 1966 who needs Pepper's help in finding her body. Only the ghost is stuck on a bus. So every time Pepper needs to talk to her (Lucy) she has to get on the bus. Lucy was friends with Pepper's boss Ella so Pepper really wants to find out what happened. All in all, it was decent. Has a nice cliffhanger at the end to make the readers want to read the next book.

Kick Up Your Heels...

This was a interesting, quick, funny read about pretty much enjoying life and taking care of yourself. She talks about how people need to stop listening to the media and dieting and learn to love yourself for who you are. Has what she calls 'Juicy Tidbits' in each chapter which are info about ways to enjoy life and Ways to Wither which give you a list of ways to not be happy. Obviously that's not something you want to follow.

Sisterhood Everlasting

I didn't hate this book, but it really didn't seem very realistic. My friends and I are 29 like the girls in this book and their lives are nothing like other 29 year old that I know. First off, like 90% of my friends are married with kids. None of these girls are married. I was part of a group of four friends back in high school and 2 out of the four of us are married with kids, so the stats show that some of these girls should've been married. Anyway, we do find out later that Tibby does have a child and Bridget is expecting. And I know how these girls have the money to just jet set off to Greece, Australia, PA, etc. All of my friends are tight for money, so this is just not very realistic. Bridget lives in San Fran with her boyfriend, Carmen has turned into a snobby skinny NYC actress, Lena lives alone still pining over Kostos, and Tibby went to Australia and no one has heard from her in years until one day the girls get letters and plane tickets to meet her at Lena's grandparents house in Greece. They are very excited, go there and find out that Tibby has died. At first they think she killed herself but as the book goes on we find out that she was sick and happened to pass away while in Greece. This obviously depresses the girls and they suddenly realize that they aren't as close as they once where and they feel like strangers. They go their separate ways, Lena goes back to NYC and starts talking to Kostos, and thank goodness they get together in the end. Bridget runs away from her problems and ends up in Australia with Tibby's boyfriend Brian and finds out what happened to Tibby. Carmen, thankfully, finds her old self again. She was really starting to annoy me. The book was kind of weak, but it does get better towards the end. I just hope she doesn't write another one. The first book in the series is still the best

Skirting The Grave

I don't know why I keep reading this series. I don't hate the characters or anything, though Maddie does get annoying sometimes because the author tries to make her seem perfect. The chick is crazy. I have nothing against people being into fashion, but come on, what are the odds that every time she finds a new vintage dress it just happens to fit her. People these days are not the same size as people back in the 50s. And who says 'scrap' instead of 'crap'. Crap is not a bad word lady.

I kind of zoned out during this one, there were just to many characters. Kind of had a hard time keeping them in track and the storyline really wasn't that exciting. So unless you are a huge fan of the series, you can probably just go ahead and skip this one.

Trading Up

This book was a waste of time. It was a reminder why I try to avoid chick lit novels. I think this is maybe the 3rd time I've tried reading it, and forced myself to get through it. First, it was WAY to long, as were the chapters. And if the author was trying to make the main character Janey likable, she was WAY off. It follows the story of 33 year old Janey Wilcox who is a stuck up Victoria's Secret model who thinks everything is about her and marries a rich man she doesn't even love, because apparently that's what people do in NYC. This book actually made me never want to go to NYC or get married. Everyone was lying and using everyone else to try and either get ahead or cover their butts. Thumbs down.

Groundswell

I hate to give first time authors a negative score, because at least they are attempting their dream and writing a book, which is more than I've done. But this one was kind of weak. I was on the USA Today website and found a article about how this book might be a reflection on the author's unsuccessful marriage (for those of you who don't know, she was married to Billy Joel, the singer), and she denied it, but come on, there has to be some truth to it.

Anyway, it's about a small town girl who falls in love with a movie star who falls in love with her, they get married, then seven years later, she finds out that he cheated on her with her BFF (that's original), so she leaves him and goes to Mexico where she gets smitten with a surfer. Of course the book as a happy ending, but more than half of it was telling the story about how she and her hubby met. I guess I was expecting more on her journey to rediscover herself and move on with life after she finds out about her hubby. But really, there's only about 50 pages of that. There really wasn't very much emotion in this book. Like you know that she's supposed to be happy or sad or whatever, but the author doesn't really go into depth with the feelings, so that kind of helped make it a little flat.

Dork Diaries 3

These books are really cute. Even if they are for ages 9+, I enjoy reading them. It makes me wish that I could draw and wrote in my journal more. But my life isn't nearly as over dramatic as a 14 year olds is. In this one, there is a talent show going on at school and Nikki wants to win because then she can get a full scholorship for the school, but of course Mackenzie (the mean popular girl) tries to ruin it for her. Its funny.

The Chick And The Dead

This is the second book in the series, and it was OK. I found a lot of the characters annoying. And as far as the 'who done it' mystery goes, it was pretty easy to figure out.

Pepper gets another visit from a ghost who needs her help. This time it's Didi who wants Pepper to prove that her sister is the one who stole her best selling book idea.It was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it, but not really that exciting.

Night of the Loving Dead

This is the first book I've read in the series and i liked it. it was different. It falls into the Supernatural category, which isn't something i usually, but for once its about ghosts and not vampires or werewolves.

Pepper can see dead people, and they want her help solving mysteries for them. This one has to do with a mad scientist who wants to be able to connect to the other world and does experiments on a bunch of homeless people. It was kind of sad actually as once hes done testing them, he kills them. Pepper gets mixed up in all of this. There's a nice twist towards the end.

I didn't mind her to much, but she is kind of snobby and cares to much about looks. I want to hope that the author makes her a little more chill in the other books.

You Learn By Living

This book was OK. I didn't find it super life changing or anything. Its a pretty simple basic book, targets to the point where we should learn as much as we can, and face our fears, and try new things. That's what I like about Eleanor Roosevelt. What I've read about her, it seems as if she was a shy girl, but as she got older, she wanted to learn as much as she could and do new things and stop being afraid of things. Basically she lived her life.

My Year With Eleanor

Maybe 2 or so weeks after I got let go from my job I happened to be up in time to watch some of the 4th hour of the Today show and they had the author on and I kind of took that as a sign that I should read this book.

When Noelle gets let go from her magazine job just before she turned 29 (my age!), she's not quite sure what to do. One day she's at a coffee shop and on the chalkboard was the quote "Do One Thing Everyday That Scares You" by Eleanor Roosevelt. She took that as a sign that she needs to for the person she used to be. She realizes that she doesn't go out as much as she used to, and even her friends have mentioned that she's not as adventurous as she once was. So she decides that starting on her 29th birthday that for the next year she is going to face a fear a day.

So this book tells of some of her scary adventures like shark cage diving (which sounded fun until I watched Jaws this past weekend, lol), skydiving, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, taking Trapeze lessons, doing stand up, etc.

Since Eleanor Roosevelt was what gave her the idea, throughout the book she tells the story of Eleanor, who I didn't know anything about before reading this and she seemed like a pretty cool woman.

While I don't have the funds or friends willing to do scary stuff like this with me, I really do think of the quote that started it all often. I'm afraid of everything, people, the dark, etc. So I often remind myself to stop being scared, to go out and do things, even if its hanging out with someone I don't like when it means I can hang out with friends I do like at the same time. And hopefully I will keep this up throughout my life and do wild things like she does, because if you are going to be alive, you might as well live life.

An Uninvited Ghost

I really liked the first book in this series so I was excited to hear about the second one, but I just had a hard time getting into it. There was just to much going on.

In this one, Alison's guesthouse is open for people to stay in, so she has a group of Seniors staying and the two ghost that live there do shows to entertain the guests. One day a mysterious ghost named Scott comes to Alison and her ghost friends for help finding out if he had killed someone during a planned prank. Then a reality show ( a knockoff of the show Jersey Shore) comes to film at her B&B and one of the stars goes missing. And then the lady who Scott was worried that he had killed shows up and ends up dead. So Alison, along with the annoying detective, have three mysteries to solve. Way to much going on. Got a little lost. Hopefully the next one isn't all over the place.

Buttercream Bump Off

I don't know if I was just very distracted when I read this book, but I had a hard time getting into it. It wasn't bad, I like the series and that characters, it just wasn't interesting this time. Mel and Angie own a cupcake shop and this time around the guy who Mel's mom goes on a date with ends up dead, and then Angie starts dating his son who might be the murderer. So Mel and her friend Tate, who realizes that he has feelings for Angie, try to solve the mystery of who really killed the rich old man. All while making and eating cupcakes. I'll still read the next one in the series when it comes out

Out of Sync

I really liked this book. It felt very real and honest and kind of makes me want to start living life. And its short so he gets right to the point. Talks about his childhood and how he started singing and how he joined NSYNC and all about the crazy fans and attempting his childhood dream of going into space and what if felt like to be gay while in a super popular boy band. He seems like a really nice guy. And he seems devoted to his fans and was heartbroken when NSYNC split up (it was Justin's fault). A good read for any NSYNC or Lance fan.

Breakthrough

This book took me like a month to read. Of course stopping to read other books probably didn't help, lol. This book kind of reminded me of her other book that I read called Knockout. It has SO much information and your mind gets a little boggled. Its like a text book, you can only read a few chapters at a time, then take a break so you can soak in what you just learned.This book says that it's about the 8 steps to wellness, but really it kind of just seemed like another chance for her to get people to do bioidentical hormones.

The 8 steps are: 1.) Get Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (told ya), which basically from what I understood is that when your hormones go all wacky, like during menopause, you can just this other hormones that are identical to the ones that you lost. It makes sense and based on readers letters, it sounds like it works. And it also sounds like its pretty expensive.

Step 2.) Avoid Chemicals & Detoxify. Well that's a given.

Step 3.) Take Nutrition Seriously. Well, yeah. We all need to start eating 'real' foods. After hearing about all the chemicals that are in your foods, how could you not want to?

Step 4.) Create a healthy GI Track.

Step 5.) Avoid Pharmaceuticals Unless Absolutely Necessary. She's kind of anti drugs. This whole book talks about how drugs don't work and just mask the problem instead of fixing it. Makes sense. I'm seriously bothered by how the drug companies sell products that don't actually work just so they can make money.

Step 6.) Supplement Your Diet. Take supplements, but she and the doctor she spoke with stressed that the One-A-Day vitamins that I think most of us take are basically crap. Darn it, because that's usually what I take.

Step 7.) Exercise Regularly.

Step 8.) Get Proper Sleep. She talks about Melatonin a lot in this book and I have friends who say that it works. I tried it, it liquid form, and it did nothing for me. I might try it again in pill form to see if it works a little better.

Some notes that I took while reading: Drink 8 ounces of Pomegranate juice a day.

Premarin, Prempro, and Provera are VERY bad synthetic hormones that come from pregnant horse urine and it sounds like it doesn't even work. Ick, why would you want horse urine in you? MSG is bad, and the FDA only puts 99% of it in foods under a false name like natural flavoring otherwise if there is a 100% of it they have to actually say that its MSG and by now we all now that its deadly.

Diet soda is a no-no. They say that it can cause cancer, and if that is true, it worries me because my mom and other family members drink (or drank) it. One of my friends told me that it can make symptoms for MS super bad.

She also talks a lot about how birth control pills are bad, that they can mess up your hormones. She pretty much blames them for the reason why she got breast cancer.

Water, sea salt, good oils, and exercise keeps constipation away.

And breast message and nipple stimulation can prevent breast cancer.

All in all, it was a very interesting book. If you don't want to read the whole thing, at the end of each chapter where she spoke with a doctor, there's a little breakdown of the important things, so you could just read those and save some time.

You Know You Love Me

These books seem very unrealistic to me. At least I hope they are. If parents really let their teens smoke, do drugs, get drunk, and have sex, then they need some parenting classes. I understand that kids will do what they want, but the author portrays the parents to act like they don't care. Anyway, I'm done with this series. I'll just watch the show until it starts to annoy me. Again.

Gossip Girl

I caught an episode of the show the other day and decided I want to check it out again, so I got the first and second book from the library and put the show on my Netflix queue.

This is the first book, and after reading it for the second time, I still don't believe that teens smoke, drink, and having this much sex. Glad I don't have a teenager. I'll still read the second one, just because I already have it checked out from the library, but really, the show is so much better. So skip the books and watch that.

500 Health & Fitness Tips

I don't know if this really counts as a book, it's basically just a bunch of exercises and healthy food choices put together in a small book for teens. I'm also not a teen, but I think this would be very good for a teens, kind of wish it was out back when I was a teen. A lot of the exercises are things that you can find on pilates, yoga, and cardio workout DVDs. Some of them looked like fun. The food section was kind of common knowledge type of tips, stuff you'll find in any health magazine. But it is convenient to have all of that in a book. Anyone could get use out of it, but if you have a teen, you should give her a copy. Its never to early to start learning healthy eating and exercises.

The Wednesday Sisters

Considering how short this book is, I had a heck of a time getting through it. It just didn't flow well. The story was a good idea, 5 mother's who meet at a park and become close friends and start writing, and their journey as the years go by. They each have something they have to deal with. One gets cancer, one has trouble having a baby, one finds out that her husband has been cheating on her. There's probably something everyone could relate to. Not being a mother myself, I wonder if maybe it would appeal more to women who are. I did like their friendship. It's always good to have close friends around for those tough times and happy times.

The Lost Art of Gratitude

This book wasn't super wonderful or anything. It had more action in it than the others in the series have. Isabel runs into a woman that she knows one day who invites Isabel and her family to her son's birthday party. While there she (Minty)asks Isabel for some help, claiming that she had an affair with another man who is really the father of her child and not the husband and he is threatening her to get to the child and wants Isabel help her. So she talks to the guy who says that he's not doing anything that Minty is telling people he's doing, and later says that he will give up completely on trying to see his son. Then Isabel finds out that Minty has been telling people that Isabel is causing trouble for her and her family. This woman is crazy. Then again, with a name like Minty, how could you not be?

So that's pretty much the main plot of the story. And Isabel and Jamie finally get engaged. And Cat is being a brat. Isabel isn't as snooty in this one as I felt she was in the last one, but she can be a bit mean sometimes.

The Help

I don't usually read long books, I have a short attention span and most books really don't need 500 pages to tell a story. But this one felt about right. There was definitely enough going on to keep you reading and not feel that it was to long. I also don't usually read books that are about something that angers me. I will never understand why people are racist. Parts of this book really got me worked up, because that's pretty much what its about. A white girl Miss Skeeter has a dream to become a writer and one day decides that its time that people hear the stories of the black women who work in white people's homes. So it follows the lives of Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen during the time that they are trying to put this book together. I don't get the white women in this book. They'll let black people raise their children because they are to lazy to do it themselves, but they won't let them use the same toilet as they do. They cook your dinners dumb ass! If they were going to spread black people cooties, having them touch your food is a better way for them to do it than using your potty. It's stupid. And did it ever occur to people that if we just treated people equally from the start that this whole racism thing could probably have been avoided? OK, that's a rant for a different time. But this was a good book and I'm looking forward to see the movie when it comes out this summer.

Bossypants

I'm giving this book 3 stars because it is funny. You'll chuckle throughout pretty much the whole thing. But the thing that bothered me about it, is that usually when someone writes a book about their life, they usually are a little bit more serious and share more info. Up until she starts talking about 30 Rock and SNL, I was having a hard time figuring out if the stories she was telling were real or if she was just trying to get a laugh. I'm still boggled by the period story. Did she really not realize that she got her first period because it wasn't blue liquid like in commericals or was she just trying to make the experience funny? She cusses a lot in this book, so if that is something you aren't comfortable with, I'm just warning you. All in all, I think I really was hoping for something more like the other celebs usually write about, a little more about her childhood, likes/dislikes, schooling and other careers before she got hired at SNL. And captions for the photos. There are a few photos, but without captions how the heck are we supposed to know exactly what we are looking at. The book did make me want to watch her movies (watched Mean Girls and Baby Mama tonight), so if anything, the DVD sales for her movies and 30 Rock will probably go up, so she's got that going for her.

Murder 101

This book was pretty decent. It wasn't anything super wonderful, actually kind of makes me want to take a break from mysteries because they are all the same. Recently single girl somehow gets caught up in a murder, meets a hot detective/cop (because they are always hot), and they fall in love. Geez. Allison is a teacher at a university and one day the cops show up at her office and inform her that her that the dead body of one of her students was found dead in her recently stolen car. For once she doesn't try to solve the murder on her own like most main characters usually do, but she does get herself in sticky situations. Which annoys me. But its a fast read and I'll probably check out the next one in the series.

Such A Pretty Fat

I'm not sure if I want to give this book 4 stars, but since I wanted to keep reading it and it actually made me want to get into shape, I figure it deserves it. I read her first book a few years ago and didn't like it. Even if you know that you are a snobby bitch, I don't think its really good call yourself one. She has some self-esteem issues. I'm not sure why I wanted to read this, guess I thought I'd give her another chance, and it's about her wanting to lose weight, which is something I always want to do. At one point I almost wanted to give up on the book because I got tired of listing to her complain about her weight (which makes me wonder if that's how my friends feel when I whine about being chubby. Sorry friends.) But once she starts going to the gym and gets a personal trainer and starts to eat better, she gets a little less bitchier. Wait, what? Having energy and being able to fit into your clothes makes you happier? Who knew! She also gave me some hope that if a 'fat bitch' as she's called twice in this book can get a husband (even though he has some mean moments) than I can to! (and I'm no where as fat or rude as she is). And like I said, it does make me want to start exercising and get into shape. So yeah, I'll probably check out one of her other books.

Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen

I don't know if I would say that this book was amazing that the 5 stars claim it is, but it was really good. Read it in like 4 hours.

It's about Catherine Grace who is a the daughter of the preacher in small town Ringgold, GA who's mothered died when she and her little sister were very young. The first part of the book is about her life growing up in a small town with a preacher for a dad and her joy for Dairy Queen's Dilly Bars. Maybe that's what I should've gotten when I went there today instead of their club. lol. Oh well. Maybe next time.

When she turns 18 she leaves for Atlanta, GA because she has always dreamed of getting out of her small town. She's there for a few months, living with a nice old lady and working at a department store when she gets a message that sends her right back home. Once she's there she comes to terms that this is where she is supposed to be.

It was kind of sad and I didn't like the twist they throw in about her mother. That kind of annoyed me. My library put it in the young adults section, but adults will like it to. I did.

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday

I like this series, because it does make you think a little, but Isabel is starting to annoy me a bit. She's starting to come off a little snooty. I lost track of how many times the author felt the need to mention that she has lots of money. Goody for you Isabel. And her niece Cat needs to just accept the fact that her Aunt started dating her ex and had a child with him. I don't know why these books are in the mystery section, because there really wasn't any mystery to solve. Yeah she was going to help a friend clear his name, but then it turns out that there was nothing that needed to be cleared. No mystery to be solved. That's was really just in one chapter. The book is short and a pretty quick read. Even though she annoys me, I'll still keep reading the series.

Nutcase

There's a quote on the cover that says that this book is madness and mayhem, and that sounds about right. There is so much going on its a little crazy. But interesting. It's about Kate Holly who is a psychologist and this follows her adventures with her wacky patients (the girl with the many personalities freaked me out) and dealing with her ex-hubby Jay (they seemed cute to me, so hopefully they stay together) and a few other crazy things. It's a quick read, but the second in the series, so you might want to start with the first one.

Absolutely, Positively

I like this series, but this one didn't quite do it for me. The characters are still good, Lucy and Sean seem so cute, but there were to many different story lines and I got a little confused. But other than that, it was a decent book.

The EveryGirls Guide To Life

I thought that this book was a 'self-help' book, but it was more of a 'lifestyle' book. The first part is about organizing your home which read more like a home improvement book. And the part where she talked about make-up and hair sounded like something from a beauty magazine. The Health and Fitness section was pretty interesting, about how she lost 40 lbs and kept it off by eating smaller portions and exercise. It had some good advice, but when I think of 'self-help' its more on how to improve your outlook on life and be more positive, etc. I didn't feel like this had that. It sounds like she spends so much time working and organizing her house, that I'm wondering when she has time to have fun. She seems pretty happy, so she must sneak it in there somewhere. I was also a little bothered about how she kept calling this guy Keven her 'partner' but would never say if he was her hubby, boyfriend, etc. She'll share that she washes her hair like twice a week and wears thongs, but won't share her relationship status? Weird.

Stirring Up Strife

I would've given this book more stars, but there were to many characters and I got a little confused. Plus the Nathan and Quinton characters bothered me for some reason. But other than that, it was a decent book. The library I got it out had put it in the religious section, and yeah, it is about a Bible Study group and there are scriptures before each chapter, it really isn't that religious. Should be in the Mystery section instead. Its about Cooper who meets a lady who suggests that she join her Bible Study group. Cooper is a little down because her boyfriend of 5 years dumped her 6 months ago for another girl, so she decides to check this group out. On the first day she finds out that the lady who first mentioned it to her was murdered and everyone thinks it was the husband. So the Bible group decides to clear his name. I felt like there were to many people involved and she probably could've cut out a few. But it was still a good read.

Tell Me Where It Hurts

After reading this book, I don't think I would ever get a dog. Those poor things get hurt easily. Yes this is a book about the life of a animal surgeon, but it really seemed like all he did was work on dogs who had cancer or messed up their leg somehow. Even so, it was a very interesting book. He tells stories of different surgeries that he has done on animals (mostly dogs, but a few cats) and he adds in a lot of facts about vets. It's funny to, so don't think its just a sob fest of poor little puppies losing their legs. I admire animals. They seem to have a magical strength that it seems like humans don't have. If they get hit by a car and lose a limb or whatever, they just take it and as long as they are being loved and cared for, they are happy. If only people were that easy. So yes, this is a good read of anyone who thought about being an animal doctor, or just likes animals

Farm Fresh Murder

A mystery book should excite you and this one just didn't for me. I don't really care about any of the characters, so that makes it hard to get interested in a book. The concept is good. I never go to Farmers Markets, but they just sound so fresh and good. Unless of course someone gets murdered there. Ha ha.

The Perfect Storm

I wanted to read this book because many, many, many, years ago during my first semester of college I had to write a paper for English class about the movie (and probably was supposed to read the book), and last week I saw the movie on TV and I thought that maybe I should read the book after all. I was under the impression that it followed just the one boat where the six men had died, but it was more about all the boats and people who were involved during the storm. I zoned out a few times because it is full of facts more so than a storyline. Like a long newspaper article. But other than that, it was a pretty interesting book.