Category Archives: Reviews

Feature & Follow Friday 10/4/13

friday feature followWhat its all about!

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers — but you have to know — the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

RULES: 1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts Parajunkee & Alison Can Read (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers. This weeks Featured Blogger is Attic Reviews.

2. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.

3. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.

If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed

4. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”

If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers. If you’re new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

This Weeks Question: What book (or TV show or movie) have you not read that seemingly everyone else has?
Believe it or not! I have never read the Harry Potter books. Years ago I was helping a friend’s son with his read requirement – the first book.  And the section we were reading bored me out of my mind. 

I have never watched Breaking Bad on TV. I know, I know but I haven’t watched much TV.  I just watched The Walking Dead until the show was featured in entirety in a 4th of July Marathon.

 Thank you for following Me!



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Filed under Feature & Follow Friday, Meme, Reviews

Coming Soon. PreOrder Now for Week of 10/7/13

Starry Night: A Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber. Available October 8, 2013. ’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.

Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.

Jesus > Religion: Why He Is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough by Jefferson Bethke. Available October 7, 2013. Abandon dead, dry, rule-keeping and embrace the promise of being truly known and deeply loved.

Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation in 2012 with a passionate, provocative poem titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” The 4-minute video literally became an overnight sensation, with 7 million YouTube views in its first 48 hours (and 23+ million in a year). The message blew up on social-media, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged.

In Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem—highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With refreshing candor he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior.

Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but simply a regular, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of false religion.

PreOrder: Available the week of October 7, 2013

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Takedown Twenty: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich. Available November 19, 2013. Pre Order Now. Have you been waiting for Stephanie Plum to return? In 1 ½ months she will be back with more zany antics and sexy men.

Stephanie Plum has her sights set on catching a notorious mob boss. If she doesn’t take him down, he may take her out.

New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in—not his poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men, Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail.

It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it, she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor.

With bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown.

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Filed under Books, Coming Soon, Pre Order, Reviews

Dreck – WWW Wednesday

WWW_Wednesdays4To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:

  • • What are you currently reading?
  • • What did you recently finish reading?
  • • What do you think you’ll read next?

Today I deviate from the standard meme.

What am I currently reading – easy, yesterdays Tuesday Teaser.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss.

What did I finish reading? – DRECK. Terrible dreckishy dreckful  dreck.

What did I finish reading? – DRECK. Terrible dreckishy dreck. A book (actually more than one piece of dreck, but the last one I read was dreckishy dreck) I offered to review.

A book that has a poor plot, clichéd villains, POV flip flops. No descriptions or descriptions that contradict.

The male dialogue usually ends with , ‘he sneered.

The young female police officer is always in trouble, has a temper and her boss doesn’t like her.  So he assigns a 20 year veteran cop to keep  her out of trouble while they investigate a vampire like killer.

No one believes in vampires. But it just happens that her partner is the vampire kingpin.  That’s right – Kingpin.

She kills him (the kingpin) and is covered with blood that spits. Sorry, that is what is written, spitting blood. Immediately there is a knock at the door. It is her boss, the Lieutenant.

” “I see we have a problem” he sneered.

“How did you know?”

“A neighbor called about the commotion. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll get this taken care of this for you.” ”

Oh the humanity!

I push myself out of a sense of duty to read on. It doesn’t get better.

I don’t want to write an unkind review. I don’t want to hurt feelings.

And I will not say something that isn’t true or I don’t believe.  So what is the answer?

Do I let the author know I have to give a bad review? Or do I just not review the book?

I am leaning the don’t review way out.

Input and advice would be appreciated.

Now, I that I am all worked up about the level of dreck my brain has endured, I need to relax.

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Filed under Books, Not recommended, Reviews

Friends & Liebster Peeps – Great Post

My blogger blog, Andrea Reads and Reviews was also nominated for Liebster by Argyle Doll. In the post I nominated several animal lover blogs.

One nominee was Three Pugs by Stella Rose. The pug answered my questions and she did a beautiful job.  Fun and funny. Stop by and read Stella the Pug’s answers.  Broaden your horizons and laugh.

Laughter and love from me. And my 2 pugs, 1 bug, 2 parakeets, the collective fish, 1 terrier mix, 1 shih Tzu and one beautiful Corgi, poodle, sheltie mix. We are not as funny as Three Pugs but sometimes we get the giggles and sometimes someone pees.

P.S. All family members are rescued and adopted except the Tzu. Chester came to the family via a step sister to help fill my broken heart after I had to let my dear Pepper go after 17 years.  I can say that I often talk about the family in My other blog, I Love Dogs and Animals.

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Tuesday Teasers 10/1/13

f4f66-teasertuesdayTuesday  Teasers! Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be  Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab  your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences  from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make  sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT  participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

“We were having this conversation on a fine summer evening, sitting out on the littlebalcony of her recovery room. It was a few months after her first donation, and now she was over the worst of it, I’d always time my evening visits so that we’d be able to spend a half hour or so out there, watching the sun go down over the rooftops.”

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

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Filed under Books, Meme, Reviews, Teaser Tuesday

Many Monday Plans – Monday Meme 9/30/13

Many Monday Plans. My Monday Meme.

What the heck am I going to do this week? Time for a plan. Oops, I should have done that last night – make a plan I mean. 
You can participate in Many Monday Plans – Monday Meme.

  • List 7 planning to do items. (It is a seven-day week)
  • Share with your friends.
  • List one TIP to share.
  • Enjoy your week.
  1. Read a book. Read another book. Read another book. What only 3 books? OK, Read 2 More.
  2. Blog. Plan to blog 3 times during the week for six posts or more. Schedule the posts. Review blog. Doggie Blog. Craft Blog. – Oh yeah, take pictures for craft tutorials. New Meme coming (and I don’t mean this one). Get With the Craft Blog! So Many Crafts. http://somanycraft.blogspot.com/
  3. Write a Review. Write another Review. Write still another review.
  4. Bathe some of the dogs. Hmmm, who is stinkiest?
  5. Shred paper in the office. This could take a while.
  6. Pack boxes and move to garage. Pack more boxes. Take a hot bath.
  7. Take a nap. A girl just wants to have fun.

Book reviews awaiting my brain and fingers:
The Morac
The Starlight Chronicles
Crime Bites – finish reading.
600 Hours of Edward
Edward Adrift

           

  • Craft Projects for So Many Crafts
  • Another Easy Peasy Wreath
  • Paper Stitching
  • Products and coupons

My Tip for the week. To remove odors, for example musty dusty books removed from storage.  Place a small container filled with vinegar nearby.  Odor gone!

My silly tip. Using embroidery floss instead of dental floss doesn’t work.

 

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Filed under Books, Crafts, Meme, Reviews

It’s Monday. What Are You Reading? 9/30/13

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It’s a great way to see what others are currently reading?

I finished Edward Adrift and just like 600 Hours of Edward the book was marvelous.
I am finishing several books for review. Just started a new one for review.   

Crime Bites and So Do I by Angela Lockwood. up dead all over town completely drained of blood. Are the murders random or whom/what is the common link? Does a vampire have civil rights in a human court of law? When the lead Detective is placed under surveillance, how close will she get to the new man and how much does she really know about him? How much does she even know about her own life? The two work together to bring down the murderer, uncover her past and maybe even make a future together for themselves. What twists, turns and surprises will they find along their way?

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Filed under Books, Fiction, Reviews