Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Dark Divine-- Book Review


Thanks to PrincessBookie for this book and this is my Honest review.

I finished this book last night and its a good story.

Grace Divine is daughter of a pastor. Grace's life seems so perfect. She is in AP courses and helps the needy. Jude is her brother and he also helps the needy too. Daniel is a childhood friend that comes back into her life after being gone for 3 years. Daniel has had a rough life and something bad went down between Jude . Grace realizes that her family has been keeping secrets from her and her life isn't as perfect as it seems. I liked the analogy of the lose thread of her favorite shirt..if you pull on the lose thread, the shirt will unravel.

I did like mentioning of the prodigal son story from the bible about the Good son vs. the bad son.

The book brought up a good question: Who are the monsters ? Are they vampires or werewolves or some who abuses children or names calling . Are they hiding in plain sight ?

I loved this cover . The book does leave the door open for another book...

Book Review=4

Monday, January 4, 2010

Plans this week

Schools back in session and we are back to the routine. I understand its tough on the teachers but we have presidents break coming..

Scouts

Reading books/reviews upcoming

Have been taking pictures with my new camera.

Been working with A on what she knows..

Its been a Great vacation..DH was home and we were able to visit with family. Kids played the wii until the ball dropped. B loves his Ben 10 : Alien Force Game..

All my 5 kids are now in primary( church program for youth) . I'm not teaching any of them , this year but I'm excited to be with them.

Fallen/ Hush Hush review



Fallen is about Angels. This was another talked about book in 2009. Luce is always meeting Dan every 17 years and dies or doesn't last for very long. I would to meet and be attracted to 2 boys in my first week of reform school. Loved the cast of characters like Gabbe, Cam, Arriana. This takes place in the south at a boarding school. Luce colors to wear at this reform school is black. Dan has always been in love with Luce. He also runs hot and cold with her . By the 16th chapter I finally understood more about Dan and why he acted certain ways. I liked this book because it has a love triangle, mystery, and romance. I loved the cover of this book and its a good story. The next book is Torment and comes out Sept 2010. This I'm excited for ;)


Book Review=4


Hush Hush is also about Angels. This was another big talked about book in 2009. This book has Patch and his mysterous ways. Nora Grey is drawn to Patch and can't decide to run or hide from him. She meets in her biology class. Nora along with her friend Vee are looking for love. Nora is trying to be a student and solve paranormal all on her own. They live in Farmhouse at the end of town. She has a cell phone but the house doesn't have fast internet..that didn't make sense. Nora seems to know the cops better than I thought she would. Her mom is busy working and is hardly around like in Twilight.( Pet Peeve right now). This book mentions the Book of Enoch and this is important to the story along with Cheshvan.I didn't really like Patch or understand why he loved Nora.


Book Review=4

If you read either of these books..what was your favorite ?? I will continue to read both in these series but I preferred Fallen over Hush Hush.

These are mY BOOKS and my honest thoughts on them.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Beautiful Creatures-- Book Review






I've heard online about this book and it was all good. The last time I heard so much hype about a book was Twilight saga.






I didn't get an ARC( Advanced Reading Copy) but I bought my book. This is one book to add to the collection.





This Story takes places in the Gatlin County in the South. Its told by Ethan and what happens when he meets Lena.


Everyone has a secret it seems.


Lena is a Castor. Ethan has been dreaming about Lena for sometime before she arrived to town.



I loved Ridley , and Amma , and the librarian -family friend.



This book is detailed in family history and I had more questions after reading it. It did start out slow but I think that its normal in these books that are going to be a series.




Lena is counting down til she is 16 because thats when she is chosen as witch for either white witch or black witch. Lena is a natural and very powerful. It was nice to see family , no matter how weird, they are there for each other. Loved Lena's house.




Loved the romance between Ethan and Lena , and a locket that they found together gets them started on the journey to find out more about both their families.
I can't put into words how moved and felt the characters struggles ..but this book was awesome. I've telling my friends about this book since I've read it.


Book Review=5
Questions: All the lies and deceit that was occurring to the teenagers seemed a bit much. Do we lies to protect them or brutal honesty ? It seems to be a recurring them in Hollywood lit , but it recurring in real life ??
I think a part of being a parent is to have some secrets from our kids. I know I'm going to tell my kids the brutal honesty all the time. I do think its a Hollywood theme.
Do you think Lena and Ethan were to too chaste with only random kissing? With rampant teenage pregnancies and condoms being distributed in schools, do you feel these YA novels that stick to just kissing and no curing aren't reality , or do you agree with their good show of morals ??
I think it shows another reality, and my growing up could have been like Lena and Ethan's life. I didn't swear or date much in high school. So I could relate to Lena in a way. Reading books is a good way to travel to a different world and authors choose their worlds. I as a consumer have a right to read or buy their product or not. I like authors that are responsible and also have kids because many authors want their kids to read their books or see their movies like Stephenie Meyer as example. Granted when I was growing up there weren't too many kids having kids when I was in High school.
Obviously the authors lean toward a very strong liberal viewpoint...in that sense how feel about censorship and do you feel it fair to label all conservatives this way ??
It didn't bother me on their viewpoints..its fiction. But I don't like being label for certain things whether you are white,black, city , folk or gay or straight. A person is person. No life isn't fair but you what life gives you whether they are lemons or tomatoes..Its your life and your choices.
Southern , small town close mindedness is a big feature of Beautiful Creatures, did you find the towns reaction to Lena something that could happen or a gross southern small town stereo-type ??
I can relate to living in small town. I moved to this town in Ca in my Senior Year and it was change from living in the city. I could count the gas stations and stop lights and I had to go different town if I needed to help my mom with the grocery shopping. In small towns-- Many more people go to town meetings. I knew what was happening in my local paper. I think that this stereo type does ring true in many ways whether you are in the south or Northern CA. But stereotypes are all around on TV, books, schools, and Movies. Think of your favorite show..I'm sure that there are many stereotypes in there. Movies a classic example of stereotypes is and what comes to mind is THE BREAKFAST CLUB or SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL. There is a Jock, Beauty, Nerd, or outcast.
BWB Review=4




This is going to 5 book series and a movie too.



Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year


I'm going keep doing what I'm doing with my kids and making sure that they doing their best in all aspects of their life.

Going to keep reading and planning more MNO with girl friends from church / MLM/ MOPS.

I get to register K for kindergarten -- that's 4 in elementary school

We plan on working on the front yard and improving the house.

Tonight we will be ringing in the new year with sparkling apple cider and playing the wii.

These aren't really Goals per say...but stuff I will be doing through out next year.

Best Books --2009

Catching Fire
Shiver
Beautiful Creatures
The Maze Runner
As you Wish
In the Forest of Hands and Teeth
Change in Altitude



Lu Shae Jewelry-- Product Review

I got an offer to pick some new jewelry out. I don't get myself much fun things to wear on a daily basis.

I was contacted by LuShae Jewelry to pick something out and do my Honest review of it. I went to the site and had a tough time picking something for myself. They are based in Australia. There are necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings. All the items I did like in the earrings were all sold out. Which got me thinking that others like the same items I do.

I picked a 4 channel ring and these are made with cubic zirconium. Its very sparkly and the delivery of it was fast. I happened to do the wrong ring size , and the returning the ring has been very easy to do.

I'm been impressed by the service and attention to detail as a customer and looking for jewelry, but the only thing missing from the picking the jewelry are customer reviews of the item. I would have liked to have known whether to purchase a bigger size or other customers comments on the items, they have purchased.

The company is based in Australia and there many beautiful pieces to choose from and I had a tough time deciding myself. I'm been impressed by their service and attention to detail to me as a customer. Thanks

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Truly Madly-- Book Review


Lucy Valentine is from a family of matchmakers. Her dad has incident and decides to leave town and put Lucy in charge of the office. Lucy has a unique talent of finding lost things. Lucy meets Sean a retired fireman who send her sparks.



Lucy is trying to solve the mystery of a client and find his lost love. Lucy is smart, funny , and doesn't want to follow in the curse bad love of her family.



Its definitely chick lit and very fast read. I think I will read the next book in the series.



Book Review=4



This book comes out Feb 2010.



Thanks to Scribner for my copy and this is my honest review.