Sloppy Firsts

 I wasn't sure if I would like this since it's a teenager novel, but I found it to be kind of funny. It was kind of like Mean Girls meets Juno (though no one gets pregnant) meets a John Hughs teenage 80's movie. Jessica's best friend moves away leaving Jessica stuck with friends she doesn't like, a secret crush she's embarrassed about, and all the fun of being  teenager. I liked it.

Twenty Wishes

 After reading the first chapter, I wasn't sure if I would like this book or not, but I kept reading and it turned out to be really cute and good. Kind of cheesy and predictable, but most of her books are. It's about four women who are widows and they decided to make a 20 Wishes list, kind of like the girl's version of The Bucket List. They write down all the things they want to do that they haven't done before, like go to Paris, or buy a fancy new car, or dance around barefoot in the rain. What really made the book readable was the cute girl Ellen, who ends up changing the life of one of the characters. She makes kids seem not so bad. It was a quick fast read, and introduced new characters. It's the 4th book in the Blossom Street series, and I was glad that the author made a new main character, because I was getting tired of always reading about Lydia who owns the yarn store, which is why I still have yet to read the 3rd book. This is a good book to help you remember why we have wishes in life.

Gorgeously Green

 All 'Green' books I read pretty much tell me the same thing, as did this one. But this one was a bit different than the others. It was a lot more detailed and gave lots of web sites to visit to learn more about how to keep yourself, your home, and the planet green. What I liked was how it mentioned beauty products. I have super sensitive skin, and after I read the beauty chapter and reading the list of toxins that are in the products we use, it's no wonder my skin looks like crap. There's a great web site www.safecosmetics.org where you can type in your products and it will tell you how harmful or not they are. That's a real eye opener. The book did get kind of boring towards the end, because I really felt like I was reading the same info over and over that I had read in other 'green' books. But it was still very helpful, and if I thought that anyone would actually read it, I'd give it as a gift. So get out there and be green.

The Sugar Queen

 What an amazing book. I love the cover, it's what got me to want to read it. The characters are vivid and likeable. They each have their own little story. There's a character who has books that follow her around. They just show up out of no where. I never would have even thought to come up with something like that. Magical is a good word for this book. It just grabs your attention and you can't put it down. Check it out, you'll love it.

Sammy's Hill

 I always saw this book at the bookstore, and always thought it looked really boring. Then a month or so ago I heard an interview with the author and found her amusing and decided to give the book a try. It follows the year in the life of Sammy who is working in DC with Senator Gary. It's full of politics, most of which flew over my head, and probably would be boring if the main character wasn't goofy and fun. It's smartly written with humor. I would really like to ask the author if some of the wacky things that Sammy does are things that she does. So check it out. I'm eager to read the sequel.

A Good Yarn

 I love these books. They are so sweet and innocent and even though you know that whatever troubles the characters go through during the book, things always work out in the, its still a good read.

This is the second book in the Blossom Street series. It continues to tell the tale of Lydia who opened up a yarn shop in Seattle. She has knitting classes, and meets 3 new people who are so different, but help each other out and become good friends.

Call me bitter, and I know I am, but some of the things these people do for almost complete strangers seems pretty far fetched. Would you really give $500 to a teen in your wife's knitting class just so she can buy a dress for Homecoming? Not likely, but wouldn't that be nice?

The main character, Lydia is started to annoy me. In the last book she dumped her boyfriend because she thought that she had cancer again, and when she found out she didn't, she begged him to take her back. In this book, she suspects that he's getting back together with his ex wife, so she breaks it off without even listening to his side of the story, and of course when she found out it wasn't true, she begged him to take her back. Geez woman, insecure much?

But they are still good books and I'm eager to read the third one.

The Cluttered Corpse

 I hate stupid characters, and the chick in this mystery just annoyed me. This book caught my eye because Charlotte is a professional organizer who solves crimes. I love organizing, and each chapter gives a little tip. It was good up until she started sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Her client gets accused of murder so of course Charlotte decides to figure out who really did it, only to get herself into more trouble with each chapter. When will people learn that when your tires get slashed, your house gets broken into, your friend get run over, etc that you should back off. And the thing that really annoyed me is how she kept being nice to this girl who she used to be friends with. The whole time, the girl was a bitch to her and yet Charlotte goes off and risks her life to save her. The girl is a cop, a bitchy one, so I'm sure she would know what to do. I thought I might read the other book in this series, but now I'm not to sure. Something tells me she just as stupid in that one as she was in this one.