Passion

By Lauren Kate

Book 3 of 4, (book 1 is Fallen, 2 is Torment) ~Book 2 is my FAVORITE!!!

Book 4 is out this spring, Rapture. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I have loved this whole series, all of the books are such FAST reads. (I picked this one up, and before I knew it is was 200 pages in...) This really could have been the last book, but I am ok with one more... I just wish I didn't have to wait!

I wish that my friends had read it,,, I NEED someone to talk to about it!!! And I can't do it here... cause you haven't read it!!!

Would I recommend it? YES READ IT!!!

Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn't need to be that way. . . . Luce is certain that something-or someone-in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last. Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever. Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series

The Language of Flowers

By Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This was a good book, fast, super sad..., I liked the story. Every page is sad... so if you need a sad story this is it... (I really did like this book, I don't know why the only way I know to describe it is SAD...) The book made me sad, and made me think of all the awful things in my life... but it is FAST!!! And the story keeps you going, I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next...

Would I recommend it? To my mom yes... but not to my friends....

(I guess my jury is still out on this book...)

A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it's been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what's been missing in her life, and when she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

Torment

By Lauren Kate

Book 2 of 4... (Book 1 is Fallen)

Book 3 is out, Passion, (I can't wait to get it!!!)

I loved this book, even more then Fallen, I felt like I could not turn the pages fast enough!!! An absolute MUST READ!!!

Although in this book I did not like Daniel as much as in the first book! I felt like he gave NO answers, and was just playing games with Luce... I wanted to yell at him... 'NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM RELATIONSHIPS WHERE YOU DON'T TELL EACH OTHER THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!' I wanted to yell at Luce to 'GET A BACK BONE', the whole book I wanted her and Daniel to just sit down and really talk... (but that is just me, I tell my hubbie EVERYTHING... maybe not always a good thing...)

I really loved this book! I stayed up all last night to finish it! Once you start you can't stop! It is adictive! I LOVE IT!!!

You have got to read the series!!! It is amazing!!! I think this series is for anyone 17 + everyone will love it!!! (and so far in the series nothing has happened that I would feel weird with my 17+ reading! LOVE THAT!)

My Favorite Line... 'Loneliness in a crowd of people is the worst kind of loneliness'. So TRUE! Love it!!!

visit~ www.fallenbooks.com

Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive Fallen series... where love never dies. From the Hardcover edition.

I have a NEW love!!!

Ok, so this IS a book blog... but I just had the most wonderful morning... I spent my morning busting threw the crowds, stroller and all, at H&M. and I LOVED every moment!!!


I could live there! (had I had a book and a chair, I may have! Oh and no children...) I found something amazing for everyone in my family... (many something's for me!) I am SOOOOO in love! Can we say PRINCESS?!!! It was AMAZING!!! And I am IN LOVE!!!

Recipe of the WEEK: Cranberry Chicken

With every good book, you need good food!!! (probably why I have 40lb to loose...)

3-4 lb Chicken, cut in serving pieces
1/4c diced onion
16 oz can WHOLE cranberry sauce
1c BBQ sauce
s&p to taste (I like a lot of pepper with cranberry... I don't know why, it just taste good!)

Combine all and our over chicken in a slow cooker, cover and cook on high 4 hours, or low 6 hours. (my family likes for me to shred the chicken right before I serve it!)

I serve with baked potato, stuffing and broccoli. YUM!

And There We Are !!!

There are the 52 books, that turned into 56, and counting... From now on I will just update it when I finish a book! And I will hopefully have more time to critique them!

Candle in the Darkness

By Lynn Austin

Book 1 of 3

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the whole series!!! I think that everyone should read the whole thing, (really once you start you can't put it down!!!) The characters are all amazing! And the web that Lynn Austin weaves is incredible!


Book 1 in the Refiner's Fire series. The daughter of a wealthy slave-holding family from Richmond, Virginia, Caroline Fletcher is raised in a culture that believes slavery is God-ordained and biblically acceptable. But upon awakening to the cruelty and injustice it encompasses, Caroline's eyes are opened for the first time to the men and women who have cared tirelessly for her. Her journey of maturity and faith will draw her into the abolitionist movement, where she is confronted with the risks and sacrifices her beliefs entail.

Fire by Night

By Lynn Austin

Book 2 of 3

Book 2 of Refiner's Fire. The drama of the Civil War unfolds through the eyes of two very different Northern girls. Lovely Julia Hoffman has always enjoyed the carefree life of her well-to-do family, but when she fails to attract the attention of Rev. Nathaniel Greene, a fierce abolitionist, she determines to bring meaning to her empty and shallow existence. When she becomes a Union nurse, her eyes are opened to the realities of war and suffering. She also meets Phoebe, who has entered the army under false pretenses--and whose journey to understanding herself, as well as the tumultuous world about her, is revealed with sensitivity and drama.

A Light to my Path

By Lynn Austin

Book 3 of 3

When word arrives that the Yankees are coming, an obedient house slave is faced with a decision--will she continue to follow the bidding of her owners, or will she embrace this chance for freedom?

I Still Dream About You

By Fannie Flagg

Funny, when it should NOT be funny, (it is about a very serious subject...) I liked reading it, even thought I didn't like the idea of it...

No I would not recommend it, even thought it is funny, it is about a women planning her suicide...

a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future. Meet Maggie Fortenberry, a still beautiful former Miss Alabama. To others, Maggie's life seems practically perfect-she's lovely, charming, and a successful real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty. Still, Maggie can't help but wonder how she wound up in her present condition. She had been on her hopeful way to becoming Miss America and realizing her childhood dream of someday living in one of the elegant old homes on top of Red Mountain, with the adoring husband and the 2.5 children, but then something unexpected happened and changed everything. Maggie graduated at the top of her class at charm school, can fold a napkin in more than forty-eight different ways, and can enter and exit a car gracefully, but all the finesse in the world cannot help her now. Since the legendary real estate dynamo Hazel Whisenknott, beloved founder of Red Mountain Realty, died five years ago, business has gone from bad to worse-and the future isn't looking much better. But just when things seem completely hopeless, Maggie suddenly comes up with the perfect plan to solve it all. As Maggie prepares to put her plan into action, we meet the cast of high-spirited characters around her. To Brenda Peoples, Maggie's best friend and real estate partner, Maggie's life seems easy as pie. Slender Maggie doesn't have to worry about her figure, or about her Weight Watchers sponsor catching her at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. And Ethel Clipp, Red Mountain's ancient and grumpy office manager with the bright purple hair, thinks the world of Maggie but has absolutely nothing nice to say about their rival "The Beast of Birmingham" Bingington, the unscrupulous estate agent who hates Maggie and is determined to put her out of business.Maggie has heartbreaking secrets in her past, but through a strange turn of events, she soon discovers, quite by accident, that everybody, it seems-dead or alive-has at least one little secret.I Still Dream About You is a wonderful novel that is equal parts Southern charm, murder mystery, and that perfect combination of comedy and old-fashioned wisdom that can be served up only by America's own remarkable Fannie Flagg.

The Legend of Shannonderry

By Carol Warburton

I totally LOVED this, and not just because I LOVE horses and Historical Fiction! (the two together are amazing!) A girl rising above adversity and making the world a better place, that is my kind of girl!!!

Would I recommend it? ABSOLUTELY!!! This is the every girl real life princess book!

Gwyneth Beddows, a young woman of nineteenth-century England, has often felt lonely and unloved by her father, who believes the rumors that his pretty daughter might not actually be his child. The one place the young woman can find consolation is in the saddle of her spirited stallion. The magnificent horse shows promise as a racehorse and has drawn the attention of Irish horse master Cormac D'Arcy, who is visiting England on business. The handsome young man also brings a lifechanging message from Gwyneth's grandmother-- a frail yet feisty Irish woman Gwyneth has never met. Events orchestrated by her father force Gwyneth to flee England, and with the help of D'Arcy, she arrives at Shannonderry, her maternal family's ancestral home, where Gwyneth learns of a legend that will have a profound impact on her life and the lives of those around her. Touched by the promise of destiny, Gwyneth seeks to save the family estate from certain ruin. But with fierce rivals on the scene and her embittered father in the periphery, Gwyneth faces grave danger that may place her far beyond the reach of D'Arcy's rescuing hand-- and she must call on the strength of her heart if the historic legend of Shannonderry will ever be fulfilled.

The Widower's Wife

By Prudence Bice

I enjoyed it's fast pace, and lovable characters.

Would I recommend it? yes! All fairy tale women, anyone who believes in happily ever after, would love it!

Trying to escape the crippling heartbreak of her fiance's betrayal, Jillian Grey answers a newspaper advertisement requesting a mail-order bride to care for the newly widowed Dalton McCullough's three young children. Jillian and Dalton agree that theirs is a marriage of convenience-and nothing more. But when they realize their growing attraction for each other, they must decide whether to give in to their feelings and risk upsetting their new family's delicate balance.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

By Beth Hoffman

Not my fav... very Secret Life of Bee's ish... I did like the start, but it went down hill, fast, after that!

Would I recommend it? no...

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell. In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer. Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a novel that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.

11 Birthdays

By Wendy Mass

Book 1 of 3 (so far...)

Wendy is SO whitey, (not that I know her, but her books are!) I loved all 3!

I think that most girls 10-15 years old would love the series, (and moms don't have to worry about the content!!! major plus in my BOOK!)

Turning eleven is normally something to be excited about. And, normally, Amanda would be,except that her mom just lost her job; her older sister Kylie is impossib≤ her best friend has decided that trying out for the gymnastics team will pave their way to popularity (even though Amanda can't do a back handspring to save her life); and her other best friend (well, ex-best friend) Leo, with whom she shares a birthday, is having a separate birthday party this year for the first time since, well, forever.When Amanda wakes up the day after her birthday, glad to have it behind her, she can't understand why her mom and dad are singing “Happy Birthday ” to her. She thinks it's a joke. Or is it?

Mount Vernon Love Story

By Mary Higgins Clark

SO CUTE! And so historical! It made me want to go to Mount Vernon, to see all the places in the book! I fell in love with President Washington... (and then he broke my heart, when he said that 30 is OLD!!!)

Would I recommend it? I think everyone I know has read it, but if you have not, then you need to!

Charming, insightful, and immensely entertaining in its unique presentation of one of America's legendary figures, shows the reader the man behind the legend, a man of flesh, blood, and passion.

Hidden Places

By Lynn Austin

I really liked this one, (however, my mom did NOT!)

I would recommend it, (I would recommend all of Lynn Austin's books!) It is clean, and strong. The characters don't sit back and wait for life to take care of them, they make it!

A deep yearning for home had led Eliza to Wyatt Orchards ten years ago. Now widowed with three young children, she faces mounting debts and the realization it is all up to her. But she has no idea how to run an orchard alone. When a stranger appears at her doorstep, Eliza guesses he is no different than the other out-of-luck characters searching for work during the Depression. But the familiarity with which Gabe tends to the farm raises unanswered questions. With a vulnerable heart, she is unwittingly drawn to his gentle ways. But Eliza also fears that Gabe hides a past and motives that could jeopardize all she has fought to attain for herself and her children....

Cane River

By Lalita Tademy

I did not love this as much as I wanted to... I love this sort of book, historical fiction, and yet I found it wasn't what I had hoped it would be... I waited the whole book for a character to stand up for them selves... I am still waiting...

Would I recommend it? no...


An obsessive odyssey to uncover her familys past. Through exhaustive research, interviews, and the help of professional genealogists, she would find herself transported back to the early 1800s, to an isolated, close-knit rural community on Louisianas Cane River. Here, Tademy takes historical fact and mingles it with fiction to weave a vivid and dramatic account of what life was like for the four remarkable women who came before her. Beginning with Tademys great-great-great-great grandmother Elisabeth, this is a family saga that sweeps from the early days of slavery through the Civil War into a pre-Civil Rights Southa unique and moving slice of Americas past that will resonate with readers for generations to come.

Finally

By Wendy Mass

Book 2 of 3(so far)

I love this whole series! Young girls will love it! Rory may be me! (I also find a way to mess up the things I have been waiting for!)

Rory Swenson has been waiting her whole life to turn twelve. You can pierce your ears when you're twelve. You can go to the mall with your friends unchaperoned when you're twelve. You can babysit when you're twelve. You can get a cell phone when you're twelve. Hey, and not for nothing, you can even ride in the front passenger-side seat when you're twelve. It seems like all Rory has been hearing from her parents has been, "When you're twelve,when you're twelve, when you're twelve". Well, in exactly 18 hours, 36 minutes, and 52 seconds, it will finally happen. Rory's life will officially begin.Wendy Mass delivers once again with this humorous, touching, and abundantly charming story about an (extremely!) important birthday year that readers will really take to heart.

Family Affair

ByDebbie Maconber

SO CUTE! Jack, oh I mean the book... well both!

Would I recommend it? Yes to any college + girl looking for a fun light read!

Lacey Lancaster has always longed to be a wife and mother. However, after a painful divorce, she decides it's time to lay low for a while in her charming San Francisco apartment with her beautiful Abyssinian cat, Cleo.

Everything would be wonderful, except for her utterly impossible neighbor Jack Walker. When he's not arguing day and night with his girlfriend, begging her to move in with him, he's chasing down his cat named Dog, who seems determined to get Cleo to succumb to his feline advances.

Then Lacey discovers the awful truth—Cleo is in the family way and Dog's to blame. She's furious that neither Jack nor his amorous animal seem too upset about the situation.

But Lacey learns that things are not quite as they seem.

Rules

By Cynthia Lord

It was a good book for brothers and sisters, (who has not been embarrassed by they siblings at one time or another, disability or not?)

Who should read it? Any kid who thinks life is never going to get any easier or better...

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules —from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple ” to “keep your pants on in public! ” —in order to head off his embarrassing behaviours. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Winter Garden

By Kristin Hannah

I LOVED IT, it may be my fav book of the year!!! It really was AMAZING!!! (caution it had a few choice words...) That said... it was AMAZING!!! I called my mom asap, and best friend, and told them both they HAD to read it!!!

Mother and daughters NEED to read this book! For every daughter who has ever wondered what made her mom the mom/person that she is... There is so much that we don't know about our moms! They are stronger then we ever give them credit! Buy it for your mom, and then thank her for her past that you don't know!!!

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn't know her mother? From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time--and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

Miles to Go

By Richard Paul Evans

Book 2 of 5...

I like this series, they are short/ fast reads! I love Alan! and just think, when you finish it in 1 hour, you only have 8,735 hours to wait for the next one!!!

Would I recommend it? wait for #5 and then read them all!!! (really they expect us to invest 5 years of our lives into this???)

After Alan Christoffersen lost the life he made in Seattle (his wife, home, and career), he went on a walk. With this simple premise, Evans launched this life-affirming series, which has now sold over half a million copies. As the protagonist also reveals in Miles to Go, the intended destination, Key West, was chosen for being "simply the furthest point on the map" from his starting point.

Wish

By Joseph Monninger

FUN! Kids will love it, esp shark loving kids! Boys will love the adventure, (just cover the cover first...)

Would I recommend it? yes to any 4th to 7th grader, and any one who loves YA books, (like me!)

Bee's brother, Tommy, knows everything there is to know about sharks. He also knows that his life will be cut short by cystic fibrosis. And so does Bee. That's why she wants to make his wish-foundation-sponsored trip to swim with a great white shark an unforgettable memory. But wishes don't always come true. At least, not as expected. Only when Bee takes Tommy to meet a famous shark attack survivor and hard-core surfer does Tommy have the chance to live one day to the fullest. And in the sun-kissed ocean off a California beach, Bee discovers that she has a few secret wishes of her own. . . .

Grounded

By Kate Klise

I forgot that I had read this,,, and had to read the info to know what it was about... not a good sign... (for me, or the book?) I don't remember liking it... I have had an 'oh yeah' moment... and it was fun... but a little fun on a LOT sad... not my cup of tea...

Would I recommend it? no...

After her brother, sister, and father die in a plane crash, Daralynn Oakland receives 237 dolls from well-wishers, resulting in her nickname: Dolly. But dolls are little comfort to a twelve-year-old girl whose world is rocked by the dramatic changes in her life, including her angry, grieving mother’s new job as a hairstylist at the local funeral home. Dolly gets a job, too, where she accidentally invents a fashionable new haircut. But her real work begins when a crematorium comes to town, and someone has to save a dying business, solve a burning mystery, and resuscitate the broken hearts in Digginsville, Missouri, population 402.

The Goodbye Quilt

By Susan Wiggs

Oh my goodness... one day my kids will leave me... and go off to College... I wish I was making them something amazing to take with them! I enjoyed this book, it wasn't my fav, but I didn't hate it, or throw it at the wall... so... It just didn't end the way I wanted it to...

Would I recommend it? um... (my mom read it, and didn't like it...)

As her only child Molly readies for college, local fabric shop owner Linda Davis shares one last adventure with her daughter--a cross-country road trip to move Molly into her dorm. As they make their way through the heart of the country, Linda pieces together the scraps that make up Molly's young life.

The Year of the Dog

By Grace Lin

I read this on a Road-trip! It was a great road trip book! Not too deep, and fun!

This book would be fun for any 3rd or 4th grader!

Its the Chinese Year of the Dog, and as Pacy celebrates with her family, she finds out that this is the year she is supposed to find herself. As the year goes on, she struggles to find her talent, makes a new best friend, and discovers just why the Year of the Dog is a lucky one for her after all.

Matched

By Ally Condie

Book 1 of 3

I was sucked in on the very first page! (true, I felt like I was reading 4 other books... all the new teen series have a lot in common...) Can I just say that Xander is HOT!!! (I know he is only in my imagination,,, but in my imagination he is HOT!) I can't wait for my number to come up at the Lib. for the next one Crossed!

Who should read it? My best friend~ YES... Teens??? well it is not as questionable as some of the teen series out there... So moms read it first! and then if you approve, pass it on!

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. Look for CROSSED, the sequel to MATCHED, in Fall 2011!

The Lake of Dreams

By Kim Edwards

I loved this book, from beginning to end! I love the idea of diving into the past, and finding out who you truly are, and where you come from! And any book where a mother and daughter learn to get a long is a good book in my book!

Who should read this? Any mother/ daughter. Any one who likes the idea of digging in to the past!

Kim Edwards now gives us the story of a woman's homecoming, a family secret, and the old house that holds the key to the true legacy of a family. At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home from Japan, only to find herself haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade ago. Old longings stirred up by Keegan Fall, a local glass artist who was once her passionate first love, lead her into the unexpected. Late one night, as she paces the hallways of her family's rambling lakeside house, she discovers, locked in a window seat, a collection of objects that first appear to be useless curiosities, but soon reveal a deeper and more complex family past. As Lucy discovers and explores the traces of her lineage00from an heirloom tapestry and dusty political tracts to a web of allusions depicted in stained-glass windows throughout upstate New York-the family story she has always known is shattered, Lucy's quest for the truth reconfigures her family's history, links her to a unique slice of the suffragette movement, and yields dramatic insights that embolden her to live freely. With surprises at every turn, brimming with vibrant detail, The Lake of Dreams is an arresting saga in which every element emerges as a carefully place piece of the puzzle that's sure to enthrall the millions of readers who loved The Memory Keeper's Daughter .

Signs of Life

By Natalie Taylor

Perfect for any one who has ever wanted to crawl into bed and never get out! (it has some language,,, so read cautiously). Ok so I have never lost anyone, mostly not my hubbie... but when I read it I was in... you know that place... the place where you just want to give up! This book spoke to me, and if Natalie could get up and dust herself off... then by golly so could I!!!! Really, you will laugh, you will cry, you will ask 'why me?' and then in the end you will know that you are the luckiest person in the world!!! Because you have... well whatever it is that you have!

Who should read it? Any one 'STUCK' in 'THAT' place!

I know. I know. No one says it but I know -from Signs of Life Twenty-four-year-old Natalie Taylor was leading a charmed life. At the age of twenty four, she had a fulfilling job as a high school English teacher, a wonderful husband, a new house and a baby on the way. Then, while visiting her sister, she gets the news that Josh has died in a freak accident. Four months before the birth of her son, Natalie is leveled by loss. What follows is an incredibly powerful emotional journey, as Natalie calls upon resources she didn't even know she had in order to re-imagine and re-build a life for her and her son. In vivid and immediate detail, Natalie documents her life from the day of Josh's death through the birth their son, Kai, as she struggles in her role as a new mother where everyone is watching her for signs of impending collapse. With honesty, raw pain, and most surprising, a wicked sense of humor, Natalie recounts the agonies and unexpected joys of her new life. There is the frustration of holidays, navigating the relationship with her in-laws, the comfort she finds and unlikely friendship she forges in support groups and the utterly breathtaking, but often overwhelming new motherhood. When she returns to the classroom, she finds that little is more healing than the honesty and egocentricity of teenagers. Drawing on lessons from beloved books like The Color Purple, The Catcher in the Rye, and the talk shows she suddenly can't get enough of, from the strength of her family and friends, and from a rich fantasy life-including a saucy fairy godmother who guides her grieving-Natalie embarks on the ultimate journey of self-discovery and realizes you can sometimes find the best in yourself during the worst life has to offer. And she delivers these lessons, in way that feels like she's right beside you in her bathrobe and with a glass of wine--the cool, funny girlfriend you love to stay up all night with. Unforgettable and utterly absorbing, Signs of Life features a powerful, wholly original debut voice that will have you crying and laughing to the very last page.

Princess Academy

By Shannon Hale

Oh, this book needs a series, at the end I was so sad, and wanted MORE! Miri is SO lovable, she is the every girl! Not the popular/beautiful girl that we all envy and secretly hate, she is us... she is me! The looser who no one understands... and yet in the end...! (you have to read it!)

This book is perfect for any girl, any age, who has ever dreamed of becoming a princess!

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.

Chasing Veameer

By Blue Balliett

Book 1 of 3

LOVED IT! Even my Hubbie loved it! So fun! We loved the clues, and trying to solve all the puzzles! Boys would LOVE IT!

Would I recommend it? If you have a thinker, or child who loves puzzles, this is the PERFECT Christmas gift!

When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?

The Buddha in the Attic

By Julie Otsuka

Book 2 of 2 (for now...)

I was NOT a fan! It was suppose to be a book about the Japanese 'picture Brides', um... it kind of was... I guess.... It was so choppy and not written as a story at all!

Would I recommend it? in short NO!

A novel that tells the story of a group of young women brought over from Japan to San Francisco as 'picture brides' nearly a century ago. In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces their extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown l∧ to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war. In language that has the force and the fury of poetry, Julie Otsuka has written a singularly spellbinding novel about the American dream.

Chasing Lincoln's Killer

By James L Swanson

I really do like history... this was the toned down version of Manhunt.

This book is for any one who likes history, or any child (5th grade +) learning about Lincoln in school!


This fast-paced thriller tells the story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day-by-day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices. Based on James L. Swanson's best-selling adult book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, this version, written especially for young people, is a fascinating look at the assassination of the 16th president of the United States.

But there's more to the story. Here, listeners will meet Abraham Lincoln the man, the father, the husband, the friend. And they will get a firsthand sense of t how Lincoln's death impacted those closest to him.

The Bride's House

By Sandra Dallas

This was a fun book! It takes a look back and unites past generations!

Would I recommend it? Yes, my mom would love it just as much as my best friend!

It’s 1880, and for unassuming seventeen-year-old Nealie Bent, the Bride’s House is a fairy tale come to life. It seems as if it is being built precisely for her and Will Spaulding, the man she is convinced she will marry. But life doesn’t go according to plan, and Nealie finds herself in the Bride’s House pregnant---and married to another.

For Pearl, growing up in the Bride’s House is akin to being raised in a mausoleum. Her father has fashioned the house into a shrine to the woman he loved, resisting all forms of change. When the enterprising young Frank Curry comes along and asks for Pearl’s hand in marriage, her father sabotages the union. But he underestimates the lengths to which the women in the Bride’s House will go for love.

Susan is the latest in the line of strong and willful women in the Bride’s House. She’s proud of the women who came before her, but the Bride’s House hides secrets that will force her to question what she wants and who she loves.

The Shadow of Your Smile

By Mary Higgins Clark

I love all Mary Higgins Clark Books! (I would like to see her have a 'normal' main character one day... All of her main characters are beautiful!)

Who should read it? any 20+ girl! (all Mary Higgins Clark books make perfect airplane reads!)

In The Shadow of Your Smile, worldwide bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark weaves a spellbinding thriller revolving around a long-held family secret that threatens to emerge and take the life of an unsuspecting heiress. At age eighty-two and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave. Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church - the final step before sainthood. In her lifetime, Sister Catherine had founded seven hospitals for disabled children. Now the cure of a four-year-old boy dying of brain cancer is being attributed to her. After his case was pronounced medically hopeless, the boy's desperate mother had organized a prayer crusade to Sister Catherine, leading to his miraculous recovery. The letters Olivia holds are the evidence that Catherine gave birth at age seventeen to a child, a son, and gave him up for adoption. Olivia knows the identity of the young man who fathered Catherine's child: Alex Gannon, who went on to become a world-famous doctor, scientist, and inventor holding medical patents. Now, two generations later, thirty-one-year-old pediatrician Dr. Monica Farrell, Catherine's granddaughter, stands as the rightful heir to what remains of the family fortune. But in telling Monica who she really is, Olivia would have to betray Catherine's wishes and reveal the story behind Monica's ancestry. The Gannon fortune is being squandered by Alex's nephews Greg and Peter Gannon, and other board members of the Gannon Foundation, who camouflage their profligate lifestyles with philanthropy. Now their carefully constructed image is cracking. Greg, a prominent financier, is under criminal investigation, and Peter, a Broadway producer, is a suspect in the murder of a young woman who has been extorting money from him. The only people aware of Olivia's impending choice are those exploiting the Gannon inheritance. To silence Olivia and prevent Monica from learning the secret, some of them will stop at nothing - even murder. Clark's riveting new novel explores the juxtaposition of medical science and religious faith, and the search for identity by the daughter of a man adopted at birth.

Dreams of Joy

by Lisa See

book 2 of 2

I really, really, really loved this book! It is the perfect finish to Shanghai Girls! I loved the struggle of the daughter and the love of the mother! Being a daughter and mother, I could see both sides perfectly!

Who should read it? My mother, best friend, and Book Club!

Devastated after discovering the shocking truth about her mother and father, Joy (from the "New York Times" bestseller "Shanghai Girls") flees to China to find a new life (and her real father)--and Pearl, realizing what has happened, sets out for Mao's China, resolved to find her daughter.

The Wright 3

By Blue Balliett

book 2 of 3

I really liked this whole series! Perfect Tween gift (hint hint, Christmas is coming up!) Each book has a game in it! So fun, even my hubbie would love it!

Would I recommend it? Yes to any tween, (esp boys) Mothers can feel safe with this book!

Spring semester at the Lab School in Hyde Park finds Petra and Calder drawn into another mystery when unexplainable accidents and ghostly happenings throw a spotlight on Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, and it's up to the two junior sleuths to piece together the clues. Stir in the return of Calder's friend Tommy (which creates a tense triangle), H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man, 3-D pentominoes, and the hunt for a coded message left behind by Wright, and the kids become tangled in a dangerous web in which life and art intermingle with death, deception, and surprise.

Daddy's Little Girl

By Mary Higgins Clark

I loved it, I was wrong about the ending! (I usually can tell you how a book will end, by the end of the first chapter, so I love it when an author tricks me!!!)

Who should read it? 20+ girls, my mom would love it, and so would my best friend! You can't go wrong with a Mary Higgins Clark!

Ellie Cavanaugh was seven years old when her older sister was murdered near their home in New York's Westchester County. It was young Ellie's tearful testimony that put Rob Westerfield, the nineteen-year-old scion of a prominent family, in jail despite the existence of two other viable suspects. Twenty-two years later, Westerfield, who maintains his innocence, is paroled. Determined to thwart his attempts to pin the crime on another, Ellie, an investiga-tive reporter for an Atlanta newspaper, returns home and starts writing a book that will conclusively prove Westerfield's guilt. As she delves deeper into her research, however, she uncovers horrifying facts that shed new light on her sister's murder. With each discovery she comes closer to a confrontation with a desperate killer.

A Stolen Life

By Jaycee Dugard

This is a memoir... real life... real life goes too far for me... It does have a happy ending! And I read it thinking, wow this girl is AMAZING, and people are IDIOTS! Really how this man got away with it is crazy!

Who should read it? any one who is ok with real life, (I read for an escape from real...)

When Jaycee Dugard was eleven years old, she was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was missing for more than eighteen years, held captive by Phillip Craig and Nancy Garrido, and gave birth to two daughters during her imprisonment. On August 26, 2009, Garrido showed up for a meeting with his parole officer; he brought Jaycee, her daughters, and his wife Nancy with him. Their unusual behavior raised suspicions and an investigation revealed the tent behind the Garridos' home where Jaycee had been living for nearly two decades. A Stolen Life was written by Jaycee herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, compelling narrative, she opens up about what she experienced--and offers an extraordinary account of courage and resilience.

The Calder Game

By Blue Ballett

book 3 of 3

Out of the 3 this was my least favorite, but once you start a series, you HAVE to finish it! and I really did enjoy the first and second!

Who should read it? Any 5th grader, boys would esp LOVE it! Makes the perfect tween gift!

When Calder Pillay travels with his father to a remote village in England, he finds a mix of mazes and mystery . . . including an unexpected Alexander Calder sculpture in the town square. Calder is strangely drawn to the sculpture, while other people have less-than-friendly feelings towards it. Both the boy and the sculpture seem to be out of place . . . and then, on the same night, they disappear! Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly out to help his father find him. But this mystery has more twists and turns than a Calder mobile . . . with more at stake than first meets the eye.

Red Scarf Girl

By Ji-Li Jiang

I enjoyed this book, I enjoy books that teach me, I enjoy history and getting to see different sides of the story! I love real life happy endings!

Would I recommend it? yes to any one who loves history, or China. Also any child who is learning about the Chinese Cultural Revolution!


In 1966 Ji--li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China's Communist Party. But that year China's leader, Mao Ze--dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed. Over the next few years Ji--li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co--workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji--li faced the most difficult choice of her life. Told with simplicity and grace, this is the true story of one family's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

Blackbird House

By Alice Hoffman

Again, I am not a fan of Alice Hoffman, this book is NO different. (So why do I keep reading her? I really am trying to like her!) This book was a bunch of short stories, so once you start loving a story or character, you are on to the next. Instead of one unfinished ending you have 20!

Would I recommend it? Only if you like to feel unfinished!

Traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years. In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House.

I'll Walk Alone

By Mary Higgins Clark

Let me start by saying, I LOVE MARY HIGGINS CLARK BOOKS! This one did NOT let me down! It is so fast, I couldn't put it down!

Would I recommend it? Yes to grown up women! (that have someone to protect them...)

Who has not read about—or experienced—with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity?

In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra “Zan” Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Zan is already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park—a tragedy that has left her torn between hope and despair.

Now, on what would be Matthew’s fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody—but who? Zan asks herself desperately, and why?—has stolen her identity.

Pippi Longstocking

By Astrid Lindgrin

I read this to my kids (and hubbie) on a road trip, it was perfect! Something my whole family could love! I had loved it as a kid, and knew it would be a big hit!

I would recommend it to every one, the whole family, it is a sit down and read out loud book!


A rollicking story of Pippi who lives without any grownups in a little house at the edge of the village. The matter-of-fact way in which her absurd adventures are related is one of the chief charms of this story.

The Forgotten Locket

By Lisa Mangum

book 3 of 3

This was a good series... (I am glad the waiting is over...) all the teens in my neighborhood were reading it, and I jumped on the wagon. It was good! I enjoyed all 3 books and fell in love with Dante!

Would I recommend it? yes, now that it is all out, and there is no waiting involved! Teen girls will fall in love!

Abby travels back in time to attempt to save Dante and defeat the wicked designs of Zo.

An Unlikely Suitor

By Nancy Moser

Loved it! I couldn't read it fast enough, my house was a mess, the dish were not done! I HAD to read it!

Who should read it? My mom! My Best friend! My book club! Any girl who has given up on the fairy tale!

Lucy Scarpelli, an Italian dressmaker from New York, befriends socialite Rowena Langdon as she's making her summer wardrobe. It's an unlikely friendship, but one that Rowena encourages by inviting Lucy to the family mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Grateful for Lucy's skill in creating clothes that hide her physical injury, Rowena encourages Lucy to dream of a better future. One day Lucy encounters an intriguing man on the Cliff Walk, and love begins to blossom. Yet Lucy resists, for what man will accept her family responsibilities? Rowena also deals with love as she faces a worrisome arranged marriage to a wealthy heir. And Lucy's teenage sister, Sofia, takes up with a man of dubious character. All three women struggle as their lives, and those of each unlikely suitor, become intertwined in a web of secrets and sacrifice. Will any of them find true happiness?

The List

By Melanie Jacobson

Loved it! SO FUNNY!!! I really found my self laughing so hard I was crying! (anyone who has ever been in a singles ward, or heard of one will understand!) ~I also at one time had a 'list' (I still do,) but I found that they are better when shared!~ My hubbie every night was like, 'what are you reading?'

Would I recommend it? Y~E~S!!! it is for anyone who needs a sunny day! and a happy ending!

Ashley Barrett doesn’t want to get married. At least, not anytime soon. She doesn’t care how many of her friends and family members and fellow churchgoers had weddings before they finished college — the last thing she needs in her fun-loving twenties is the dead-weight of some guy. And that’s why she created The List. By the time she completes all twenty-five goals — from learning a language to skydiving to perfecting the art of making sushi — she’ll be more ready to settle down. Maybe.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

By Jamie Ford

I did not expect to like this, but I was WRONG, I loved it! I loved Henry, as a kid, as an old man, I loved that even as a young boy he wasn't afraid of the 'un-known/ un-liked'!

Would I recommend it? To my mom, yes, to my best friend, yes, and even to my book club!

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

For One More Day

By Mitch Albom

LOVED IT! It really made me think... if I lost someone, would I have said what I wanted to say, would I have done what I wanted to do??? (I love all of Mithc Albom's books! they really make me think!

Would I recommend it? YEP to everyone! it is another great gift! (I love feel good books!)

This is the story of Charley, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father. He grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his father - and she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family. It leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life. But somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown, and gets to spend one last day with her - the day he missed and always wished he'd had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Charley discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own.

Locked in Time

By Lois Duncan

LOVE IT! I read this book when I was probably in 7th grade and have loved it since! I re-read it every few years! I LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! Each time I read it, it spooks me out even more!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! (Just not to my mom!)

It doesn't occur to Nore to take the dream-warning seriously. Her new stepmother and stepbrother seem nice. But why does Nore feel so uneasy around them?

Maybe she should have listened . . .

The Apothecary

by Malie Meloy

1 of...

FUN young read! (and NOT racy at all!)

Who should read it? best friend~ YES, HUSBAND~ YES!!!, mom~ no, Jr. high girls and boys!

It's 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows - a fascinating boy who's not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary's sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies - Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

When the Emperor Was Divine

by Julie Otsuka

1 of 2

I liked it, it was a good history lesson, about what happened to the Japanese in America during WW2. It was a little choppy, But supper fast, and told the story from the adult and child perspective. I maybe would have liked it to be a little longer, to finish a little more of the story...

Would I recommend it? um... maybe to someone who needs an airplane book.

Julie Otsuka’s commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese internment camps unlike any we have ever seen. With crystalline intensity and precision, Otsuka uses a single family to evoke the deracination—both physical and emotional—of a generation of Japanese Americans. In five chapters, each flawlessly executed from a different point of view—the mother receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on the long train ride to the camp; the son in the desert encampment; the family’s return to their home; and the bitter release of the father after more than four years in captivity—she has created a small tour de force, a novel of unrelenting economy and suppressed emotion. Spare, intimate, arrestingly understated, When the Emperor Was Divine is a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and an unmistakably resonant lesson for our times. It heralds the arrival of a singularly gifted new novelist.