Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pub. Date: February 2006
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Format: Hardcover, 334pp
ISBN: 0670034711
Genre: Non-Fiction
Library Loan
Coming to Theaters: August 13th, 2010

Author Elizabeth Gilbert has been through an emotionally exhausting divorce and the breakup of a tumultuos love affair in a very short time period. After which she realizes, as most women do in relationships, she has lost her own identity and her own way in life. This realization leads her on a year long spiritual journey like no other that she shares with the reader along her way in Eat, Pray, Love. This memoir is written in three sections: Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and finally Indonesia (Love).

With raw emotion and a window into her soul, Elizabeth Gilbert shares with the reader her amazing journey to spiritual self acceptance. I loved the way the book was written and how it felt so emotionally true. My favorite of the three locations was Italy and at the end of Italy I was sure I would have given the book 5 stars. After India, although I still enjoyed the story, I was down to 4.5 and after Indonesia I was down to 4. All three segments of her journey are very good stories and very well written but the story of her in Italy was just so amazing and touching and relatable to me that it would have been very hard to beat honestly. I felt for her, I felt like I understood her and I felt like at times she understood me and parts of my life that are unsatifactory to me. This story makes the reader want to go on their own journey of spiritual enlightenment, at least it did for me. The fact that this is a true story makes it all the better in my eyes.

Favorite Quote: "Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be."

I didn't go into much detail in my review because this book was chosen to be the WoWO book club selection for the end of July, so I will be reposting this review along with the WoWO discussion at that time with more details (So Check back!!). Gilbert has another book out called Committed, which is a continuation of her life once she returns home. I believe that I will be reading this book, maybe even if the other girls in the book club are interested we will make it a book club read. Also plan to see the movie, hopefully with some of the WoWO's!

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Charms)
• Truth is Stranger Than Fiction Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge
• PBT BINGO - Poetry tag
• PBT June tag (Travel)

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Pub. Date: March 1997
Publisher: New Press, The
Format: Hardcover, 284pp
Series: Kurt Wallander Series, #1
ISBN-13: 9781565843417
Library Loan

This book was originally published in Sweden as Mordare utan ansikte in 1991 and was translated into English by Stephen T. Murray for this publication.

I obtained this book from the library in order to read it for my Fantasy Thrillers and Horrors Yahoo Book Group.

Kurt Wallander is a severely flawed man - he has an tricky relationship with his ex-wife, a daughter who doesn't want anything to do with him, and an aging a father who is hard to deal with. With all of these personal issues he has to solve the highly volitale case of a brutal murder of an elderly couple in a swedish farmhouse with very few clues.

In this first book of the Kurt Wallander Series we follow Wallander through his daily routines of life and work and get a glimpse of the Swedish way of life. I found these glimpses interesting but I can't seem myself continuing on with the series. I don't know if it was the translation or the Swedish murder mystery that made this book seem too simple and more about the main characters development than solving the actual mystery, it was like made for tv mystery for me. I found that the ending was very anti-climatic and I wished there was a better wrap-up and that the clues found in the beginning of the story actually meant more to the solving of the crime.

This book fits the following challenges/categories for me:

• Hogwart's Reading Challenge (Muggle Studies)
• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge ** FINISHED CHALLENGE **
• Fantasy Thriller and Horror Reading Group

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Rating: 2/5 Stars

• Pub. Date: November 2009
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Hardcover, 507pp
• ISBN: 0060852577
• Library Loan

Harrison Shepherd was born in the United States but spent his childhood in the 1930's in Mexico being raised by his mother. He spent his life writing journals of the world around him. These journal's were then turned into this "memoir". Some information was filled in by Shepherd's writing assistant and others by newspaper articles of events. Moving back and forth from Mexico to the United States Harrison Shepherd unveils the happenings in the world and the man that he becomes in the process. Along his travels he works with artists Diego Rivera and Frida Khalo and gets involved in political turmoil with Lev Trotsky.

I hate to say negative things about books because others may really like them but for me this book was a bit of a snooze fest. A lot of effort was put into this book to make it feel more like a memoir than fiction and it did, a little too much in fact. There were too many words in this book. This is my first Kingsolver book so I cannot compare it to others but she is VERY thorough. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's not so good. In most instances in this novel I did not need many of the extra monotonous information.

I read this book for one of my book clubs and only finished it because I was using it for a travel game for Play Book Tag Bingo. I had already invested several days and had several cities to use for the game and couldn't turn back.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge

The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1) by Michael Scott

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Pub. Date: May 2007
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Format: Hardcover, 400pp
Age Range: Young Adult
Series: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series, #1
ISBN-13: 9780385733571

I received this copy from my friend Louise when she mistakenly purchased this book instead of The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. She gave me the book to trade for the Alchemist and little did I know that one of my book clubs would vote to read this book a few months later.

Josh and Sophie Newman are Twin's who came to visit San Francisco for the summer when they unsuspectingly get involved in a battle between what was only known to them as mythological creatures. They quickly find out that there is truth to legends and the people they new and Nick and Perry Fleming are much more then they ever imagined.

This story is chock full of mythology legends and supernatural reasons for different things that happened in history (for example the Great Chicago fires). I can see why people have compared this series to Harry Potter but for me this fell a little short of that. It was written for a younger group that Harry Potter was, at least it seemed so to me and it missed a certain spark that Harry Potter has. In it's own right I can see children enjoying this series, but for me I expected a Harry Potter replacement and didn't get it. Maybe I was expecting too much. It was still and enjoyable read, but I don't think I'll read on in the series at this point.

Wikipedia states that the film rights to the series have been sold to Lorenzo di Bonaventura and IMDB.com now lists The Alchemyst film as "in production". I will probably see the movie when it's out on cable, because I'd like to see the translation to film and I think this book has enough action that will translate to the big screen well. I am curious how they will make some of these characters look as well.

This book fitst the following Challenges/Categories for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge
• Fantasy Thriller Horrors - May Group Read

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Pub. Date: November 1998

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Format: Trade Paperback, 372pp

ISBN-13: 9780375706776

Oprah's Book Club Selection

Sybil Danforth was a midwife in Vermont in the 1980's. One fateful night she had a birth go horribly wrong and an emergency C section was necessary. Sybil was sure the woman was dead when she began the the procedure but aspects of the evening bring doubt as to what really happened that fateful night. This story follows the trial of Danforth from the night in question through the end of the trial, from the perspective of Cybil's daughter Colleen, a teenager at the time of the trial, now looking back as an adult telling the story of her past.

I enjoyed certain aspects of this book, the idea of the trial and the details of the birth were very interesting to me. Even the story coming from the perspective of the child was a nice take on the story. I however felt there was too much medical detail for me, I felt squeamish in many of the birthing scenes. I also felt that I new most of the story already in the beginning and then the trial rehashed the story with not much unknown details, a few but not much to me. So I got a little bored with the story until the trial's conclusion. I'm glad that I read the story but I hoped for more from Bohjalian.

This is my second book by Chris Bohjalian, the first book i read by him was Before you know kindness. I was absolutely enthralled with that book but the ending left me wanting a different outcome. That said, I still think that the drama in that story was much better than this one. I can't say that I would recommend to anyone but someone interested in Midwifery but I would give the author another try in the future, I see a lot of potential in the complexity of his writing.

As my last read for the month of march, this book fits the following categories/challenges for me:

• Hogwart's Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• PBT Bingo (Contemporary Tag)
• Buddy Read at The Reading Cove

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress Series #1)

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon (October 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061245089

Cat is half human/half vampire. Cat is a mystery to herself and to others as a half breed. Her mother was raped by a young vampire and ended up pregnant. The result of which is Cat, undetectable and unsuspectable by Vampires and humans alike; This makes Cat the perfect person to avenge her mothers rape. Cat spends her free time killing vampires to help her mother cope with what has happened to her. When Cat meets a vampire, Bones - a vampire bounty hunter, that convinces her to work with him instead of kill him, she reluctantly agrees if he helps her find and kill her father. Cat never thought she'd fall in love, but Bones turns out to be more than just another Vampire.

I really enjoyed the story of Cat. Parts of the story were a bit on the corny side but it was still original and interesting to dive into the lives of Cat and Bones. I plan to read on in the series and see where the story takes me.

This books fits the following Categories/Challenges:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• Romance Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• New Authors Reading Challenge

WoWO Book Club Meeting and The Love Ceiling

On Friday night we had our fourth Women of Washington Oaks (WoWO) Book Club meeting. Sadly it was a tough week for the WoWO's and several tragedies hit some of the women of the club. Some managed to make it, and I'm very glad that they did but for those who couldn't make it this month, we missed you greatly... Here is to quick healing and our loved ones being in a better place.

To those of us who were able to attend we discussed The Love Ceiling by Jean Davies Okimoto.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Pub. Date: September 2009

Publisher:Endicott & Hugh Books

Format: Paperback, 320pp

ISBN: 0982316739

We won copies of this book from BookMovement.com, this is a fabulous site for book clubs, it's a great resource and they have lots of great giveaways! So thank you very much to Pauline from BookMovement for notifying me that I won the books and hosting the giveaway. A big thank you goes to Jennifer Justice at Endicott & Hugh Books for sending the copies for the group to read.

The Love Ceiling Synopsis (From back of book):

After the death of her Japanese American mother, sixty-four-year-old Anne Kuroda Duppstadt finds the courage to confront the toxic legacy of her father, a famous artist and cruel narcissist. When a former art professor invites her to his island art studio, she begins pursuing her lifelong dream to become an artist in her own right. But the needs of her family tug at her heart. Her thirty-two-year old daughter s love life is falling apart, and Annie s husband, facing retirement, struggles with depression, leading her to conclude, There is a glass ceiling for women...and it's made out of the people we love.

The Love Ceiling draws readers into the soul of a universal theme for women: the pull between family and creative self-expression. It is the story of a daughter, a wife, a mother and grandmother, and a journey into creativity.

Being that we won the copies of book, the WoWo's were very excited to read the book and discuss it and really wanted to love the book. But sadly several of us (4 to be exact) had trouble getting through the book, and started to skim to the end or completely stopped reading all together.

The story was a nice story but several of us felt that some of the story lines went too far and others didn't go anywhere at all.

Some of the favorite characters were:

• Sam
• Lena
• Martha Jane

The discussion was very light on this book and although Peggy had a lot to say about the book, no one else could really answer the questions posed due to having trouble following the story or not being able to finish. I believe this to be mostly due to not being able to related to the characters and what they were going through. The storyline was not bad, however many of us felt that it was a bit dry at times and it was hard to hold our interest.

As we always try to do, we had something book related at the meeting. Since the book has painting as a major element of the history of the main characters, this time we had a canvas and paints. The WoWO painted the picture below, inspired by the love ceiling's front cover with our own WoWO twist:

It's the WoWO boat! Sorry Tricia that I wouldn't let you do your sun with dark sunglasses ;) This painting is now hanging in the basement where the WoWO's meet to discuss the books we read. And here is a picture of some of us working on the painting:

from left to right: Myself, Louise, Linda, Peggy, Tricia (Photographer: Lori)

The Book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (ARC)

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Advanced Readers Copy
Publisher: Viking
Format: Trade Paperback, 288pp
Age Range: Young Adult
ISBN: 978-0-670-01110-0

**I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lia is a teenage with alot of issues, the worst of which is that she is anorexic and she cuts. Lia has recently been released from her second stay at New Seasons and now lives with her father, step-mother and step-sister. This book starts at the time in her life when her former best friend dies in a hotel room after calling Lia thirty-three unanswered times. Cassie and Lia hadn't been friends for some time and Lia didn't answer her call, now that Cassie is dead Lia is haunted by her friends death. Lia struggles with her weight, her self-esteem, her family and her guilt.

I had some trouble getting into the story at first because of the way it was written, it truly felt like a young adult book. Some young adult books don't feel distinctly young adult, but this one did. Once I got into the swing of the writing there was a lot about this story that felt real to me. I felt like I was looking into the thoughts of someone with Anorexia, at least as I would imagine they would feel in certain moments. My favorite aspect of this book was seeing into Lia's thoughts with the words crossed off in the sentences, things that she thought but wouldn't say aloud. Another aspect of the book that got to me was the statement ... When I was a real girl. It was used throughout the book and everytime I read it, it struck a cord with me.

--Spoiler warning:
I really liked the fact that ultimately it was her love for Emma (her step-sister) that brought her back into the life of the living. She loved her so much and she wanted to be around to be a role model for her, and teach her how to knit.
--End Spoiler

This book was completely different than anything I've ever read. I liked the end more than the beginning, but that may have been due the time it took to get into the writing style and being Young Adult. It was really well done and I would recommend it as a good read for young teenage girls.

This book fits in the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Personal Rating: 3/5 Stars

Mini-Group Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Pub. Date: March 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover, 532pp

Received free copy from Partique.com for the House Rules book club event.

Jacob, an 18 yr old boy obsessed with crime scenes, has Asperberger's syndrome. The affect that this diagnosis has on his family, from the time of his birth, is deep rooted and causes fractures in their family unit. Theo, Jacob's younger brother, feels alienated from school friends and invisible at home. Emma, who's husband left shortly after the diagnosis, is having a hard time making ends meet and keeping the family afloat. She writes an advice column from home, that gives her the ability to be with Jacob at all times. Oliver is a young lawyer just making his way in the world with a big case thrust his way that will either provide him opportunity for success or huge failure as a lawyer. Rich is a police detective who is tough to call emotionally but ultimately seems to want to do whatever it takes get his cases solved.

The book is written from four different perspectives: Theo, Jacob, Emma, Oliver and Rich. This give the reader a more reliable source of the truth as it occurs, and how it affects everyone involved in the story. All of these characters come together on a case that with change everyone's lives involved forever.

I was chosen to lead a House Rules Book Club event from Partique.com. In return for a copy of the book, and another by Picoult and Cookies provided by Lucy's Cookies, I hosted a House Rules Book Club with a few of the girls from the WoWO book club (a mini-WoWO book club event) on Saturday night.

This event was hosted by many book clubs across the globe and they provided resources to the book clubs for the event. I was grateful for the free stuff but I expected the event to be more interactive at the time of the event. I logged in at 7pm with my group and we attempted to get other groups to talk but it didn't really happen that way. So we went off on our own and had a really great time.

Some of the topics discussed were (Contains slight spoils) :

• Favorite Character: Oliver
• Emma was a great mom and did the best she could given the circumstances
• Theo's character seemed to be too good to be doing the things he did all on his own without peer pressure involved. We didn't think that he would aware of why he was breaking an entering like he was, and that he wouldn't have done it on his own accord (based on his character as we knew him)
• We felt that Rich was only thrown in to throw you off from Oliver and Emma's relationship and that he could have been left out of being a narrator without any detriment to the story.
• We thought Henry was an Ass.

The book brought out opinions and had us sharing stories that made us laugh so hard that we cried. Any book that can do that makes for a great book club book and I'd recommend it to book clubs for a good discussion book. The Reading Guide provided by Partique.com was a bit wordy but we were able to break it down for the discussion and include our own topics.

My personal thoughts about the story was that it was well written, which is expected from Jodi Picoult. She is a master in writing about controversial topics, and she is a favorite author of mine. I however felt this one was very similar in concept to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, which is one of my favorite books. The story lines were different, the points of view changed for a more well-rounded story but the concept for me was too close.

If you read House Rules and liked it, you will love Mark Haddon's book. If you haven't read it and like the topic on House Rules, I'd like to suggest it to you as a must read.

The girls and I will definitely be doing more mini-Bookclub meet ups in between the larger more formal WoWO Book Club Meetings.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• Romance Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Challenge

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pub. Date: September 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Format: Paperback, 192pp
ISBN-13: 9780743273565

In 1902's West Egg, NY life is very different than Nick Carraway, newly transported from the west, is used to. His neighbor Jay Gatsby lives an extravagant lifestyle that intrigue's Nick until Nick gets swept up in the drama that comes with this type of lifestyle. His cousin Daisy and her husband Tom are also living this lifestyle and what develops between all the characters in this story is crazy and unbelievable yet could be right out of the pages of today's tabloids.

I am so glad I read this story, it was nothing like I expected it would be and I was so pleasantly surprised. This is a classic story that was true to the time it was written and is even true to society today, it is truely a timeless classic. A complex story of interwoven characters that is better than most stories written today. The twists and turns to the story were great and now I'd like to see the movie, to see these characters come to life. Each character was developed nicely and were wonderful in their own flawed way.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Muggle Studies)
• The Romance Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge
• PBT Favorite Tag
• PBT BINGO Favorites Challenge

Supernatural: Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Rating: 3/5 Stars



Pub. Date: July 2007
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 336pp
Series: Supernatural Series, #1
ISBN-13: 9780061370908



This is an in-between the series book to the Supernatural T.V. Show on the CW. This episode fits in Season 2 between "Crossroad Blues" and "Croatoan."

Sam and Dean are asked to do a job for Ash, in NYC. One of the band members of Scottso is being haunted by a woman screaming "Why won't he love me?" While investigating this haunting they put together that a few eerie incidents are related to the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and they decide to investigate.

DeCandido did an excellent job getting down the personalities of the Winchester boys as well as incorporating past story-lines from the T.V. Series. As I was reading I found the book a bit Cliche' at times but then I realized, that's exactly what the T.V. Show is.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

• p178, "A while back Aldo had himself a girlfriend who was a real 'rycher." Sam squinted. Dean rolled his eyes. "He means a Queensryche fan, not the first officer of the Enterprise."
• p186, "A Marine and a Navy guy walk into a bathroom together. They both take a piss, and then the sailor goes to the sink. The Marine heads for the door, and the sailor says, 'Hey- in the Navy the teach us to wash up after we take a leak.' And the Marine turns around and says 'Yeah? Well, in the Marines they teach us not to piss on our hands.'"
• p.191, Dean says "you're right, with me it'd be only the one night, maybe two." He grinned. "But it'd be a helluva night." (Ain't it the truth!)

I'd also like to say that there were extra things in the book that really lead to the whole experience. The Acknowledgements (and I don't always read those), the Historian's Note and the Author's Note with a Music set list of recommending listening while reading were all very cool features.

The only thing that I didn't like about the book would be the parts that were from the ghost's point of view. I could have down without knowing how she felt while haunting the house.

The book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Care of Magical Creatures)
• Books About TV
• RYOB Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Author Challenge
• PBT Favorite Tag and BINGO game

Someone to Watch Over Me by Judith McNaught

Rating: 1/5 Stars

Mass Market Paperback
Pub. Date: October 2003
560pp
Library Loan

Leigh and Logan have the perfect marriage, or so Leigh thinks. They are both extremely successful in their chosen fields and they have worked hard for what they have. One night when Leigh is suppose to meet her husband at a cabin on land he purchased to build on, she ends up in a car accident that puts her in the hospital. Unable to contact her husband or locate the cabin the police and Leigh are unsure what to make of him missing.

Leigh slowly learns that her marriage isn't anything like she thought it was and nothing was as it seemed. The good become evil, the evil become good, who can she trust?

Let me start by stating that I am SHOCKED beyond belief that this is the same author who wrote Every Breathe I Take. I read Every Breathe I Take last year and I absolutely loved it. I gave it 5 stars and was so surprised that I found a new author in a romance genre. I am by trade not a romance reader, but have found myself reading them lately for one reason or another (never by my choice alone!) but this one was one I was really looking forward to based on the other book and the fact that it has a romantic suspense twist.

Everything about this story was cliche' and corny and down-right predictable.

Spoiler alert:

I don't know what the deal was with Leigh and Michael's "Romance" but I had real problems with this aspect of the story. It seemed so forced and odd, I just don't understand it. She loved her husband the days before and she finds out the truth about him and their marriage and instead of taking it slow she gets forced into another marriage in a minute, I say forced because to me it didn't read like love it was more obsession on his part and desperation on hers, it was just weird for me. Everything about this relationship was just wrong for me!

End Spoilers.

I really hope that Every Breathe I Take is more McNaught's current style (written in 2006) and that it's so good because she has grown over the 3 years! I will give her another try but I'm so shocked that I could rate the first one a 5/5 Stars and then the next 1/5 Stars, it was so completely unexpected for me!

This book fits in the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Muggle Studies)
• Romance Reading Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Paperback
Pub. Date: February 2010
413pp
Library Book

Ronnie and her brother are products of a divorced family unit and Ronnie holds a lot of anger towards her parents but especially her father for leaving the family. When Ronnie was younger her father taught her the piano and she was a prodigy but now she refuses to play the piano and is an all around rebellious teenager. One summer, her mother forces her to stay with her father for the summer and Ronnie is not pleased with the prospect of spending the summer in North Carolina with her father. While in North Carolina, Ronnie's life unfolds in ways she never expected, at the end of the summer she has changed by leaps and bounds.

I was apprehensive when my friend asked me to read this book so that we could go see the movie together but I'll read anything for a discussion and for the bonus of seeing the book turned to film. I was apprehensive because I had read in Entertainment Weekly magazine that the book was written specifically for Miley Cyrus. If I have my information correct, Miley Cyrus had asked Disney for a movie similar to "A Walk To Remember" and Disney went to Nicholas Sparks and asked him to write it, and here we are. Now EW.com says that Miley did a great job in the film, so I'm looking forward to seeing how she did in the movie. But the book fell short for me.

The story was well written, as Nicholas Sparks is the master of this kind of story, and it was a nice story but it was very predictable. It felt like a story I've read a thousand times so in that aspect I was bored with parts of the story. But there were parts of it that I enjoyed and I was interested to see if my plans for the characters were the same as Sparks' plans - and they were. I can definitely see Miley Cyrus playing the part of Ronnie and with EW.com's review of the her in the movie, I look forward to the movie.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challange (Charms)
• Romance Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 4/5 Stars

We'll I finally read and finished Eclipse! I can't believe I made it through and thoroughly enjoyed the story in the process. Let me explain a bit why I am so surprised. When I first read Twilight I was intrigued by Bella, Edward and Jacob but I seriously could not stand Bella. Then I immediately went on to New Moon without a break and enjoyed Bella and Jacob without Edward so much that when I then immediately went on to eclipse and Edward was back and Bella was so desperate for him, I just couldn't take it anymore and just about threw the book out the window. I didn't throw it out the window but I did stop reading it.

I recently watched New Moon and it reminded me how much I enjoyed it when I read it and I must admit I have fallen in love with Jacob's character (and yes Taylor Lautner too). It has been at least a year now since I read New Moon and thought enough time had gone by that I was ready for Eclipse, especially with the movie coming out this summer. And boy am I glad I decided to pick it back up! Bella still annoyed the heck out of me, in the beginning, but by half way I was enthralled with the story line.

The rest of this review will most definitely have spoilers in it, so if you haven't read the book please stop reading here and come back once you've read the book.

Where to start! First the one thing that really bothers me about this series. Bella's NEED for Edward is very odd, but I did like how the author with help from Jacob's character admitted how unhealthy this relationship was for Bella. I keep hoping to find out that Bella and Edward has the predestined imprinting that the werewolves have and that's why she's so crazy for Edward, because it really is just crazy.

I loved the Vampires and Werewolves working together and thought that these scenes were very well done. I liked how they got along and at the end had some respect for each other and I hope to see them work together in the future. I do not like how Bella chose Edward over Jacob, but that's just because I'm on Team Jacob 100% but I did like how Bella finally admitted that she had feelings for Jacob. Until now I felt really bad for Jacob seeming so desperate for someone who only thought of him as a friend and now that we see that she does love Jacob after all, it somehow seems OK to me that she chooses Edward (I still love Jacob more!).

I really hope that Stephenie Meyer gives Jacob a love that can be returned how he deserves! And this is how I know I'm starting to adore this series because I'm beginning to care about the characters, more than I'd like to admit.

And one more thing before I end this review....

(Thank god he's 18 years old or this would be creepy!)

Go Team Jacob! ;-)

This book fits in the following Category/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Transfiguration)
• Romance Reading Challenge
• Finish that Series Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• PBT April Tag: Favorite

A Tribute to Gale K and Living Dead in Dallas Review

Not long ago I met a woman by the name of Gale in my Play Book Tag Group on Shelfari. She was a delightful woman with a very similar taste in books as mine. We got to know each other more when we were both chosen for the Darlingly Dynamic Diva's Group in a game we were both playing. Recently her daughter posted to The Play Book Tag group that Gale passed away last year. Sadly Gale stopped posting several months ago and I personally feel very sad that I didn't notice her absense sooner. We often make friends with people online and then don't realize how much time has passed since we last spoke with that person. I am vowing to try to change this about myself. Gale was a wonderful woman who should be remembered for her sweet demeanor and great taste in books, I wish I knew her longer.

In memory of Gale I wanted to share Gale's Shelfari profile and the picture of her mosaic tabletop that she created (above right):

"Although I have only been a member of Shelfari for a short time I have been reading for many years. I received my first book at the age of six and have been reading for pleasure ever since. My hobbies are reading, quilting and stained glass. My "photo" is actually a mosaic tabletop I built and is stained glass on clear glass. I have been married for 31 years and have two grown children who are also readers. One of my favorite things to do is work with beginning readers. I love to see children fall in love with reading, it opens a whole world of possibilities for them. I enjoy discussing books with others and fully admit to a gap in the non-fiction area of my reading list."

When I log on to Shelfari and see her still in my friends list it brings a pang to my heart to think she is no longer with us. Gale was a great contributor to the group and she is greatly missed.

As a tribute to Gale a group of us at PBT decided to read a book from her shelf of Shelfari. My book of choice was Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris. Gale was a big fan of Sookie and this review is for her:

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
#2 in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series
Rating: 3 Stars

Pub. Date: March 2002
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 304pp
Series: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series, #2
ISBN: 0441009239
Purchased from Amazon.com

One of the staff from Merlots is found dead outside of the bar and finding out who did it leads Sookie to places she never thought she'd go. Meanwhile, Sookie has been employed by the Vampires yet again and her and Bill set off to Dallas to locate a missing vampire. Sookies skills are necessary to covertly find out what people know from the place the vampire was last seen. Before they can head out she is attacked by a maenad as a message to the vampire Eric.

I am a big fan of the True Blood HBO Series and I believe that comparing the latest season to the book is actually taking away from the book for me. The stories are similar enough to make you compare them but different enough to be disappointed in the book. The Southern Vampire series is definitely unique and interesting. Harris has a great imagination and I like what she brings to the world of vampires, but I almost wish the book was exactly as True Blood season II was. I didn't want to spend this entire review talking about the HBO series because it's about the book but it does add to some disappointment for me when reading the book.

I will be reading the next book in the series before the next season of True Blood, as to not ruin the book for me. I believe that I'll enjoy it alot more and appreciate it what it is instead of comparing it.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Transfiguration)
• Romance Reading Challenge
• RYOB Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• PBT March Tag: Other

WoWO Book Club Meeting and The Help Review

On Wednesday night we had another successful Women of Washington Oaks (WoWO) book club meeting. This time we discussed The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Rating: 4 Stars by the WoWOs

In Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 things were very different then they are today. During this time there are very clear lines between the white middle class elite and their African American help. As we learn in reading The Help, these lines do not get crossed without very real consequences. The Help follows three different, yet extraordinary, women through their everyday lives during this time: Skeeter is a white woman, just graduating from college, whose mother is disappointed that she has not found a man yet. Growing up she had a maid who, when she returned from school, was no longer employed at her home and no one will speak of what happened to her. Aibileen is an African American maid who is caring and nurturing to the children she is raising for the families that she works for. Aibileen loves and cherishes Mae Mobley, the latest child she is raising, and tries to show her that she is beautiful and how to be anything but the racist women she is fated to become. Minny is a ballsy and spunky African American maid who has had problems in the past with her mouth. She finally is able to secure a position with Celia, who is new in town and doesn't not know of her reputation. These three women come together to make real change happen in Jackson, Mississippi and the reader gets to be a fly on the wall for their courageous and very well written journey.

If you have not read this book, there are some spoilers below in the text and the pictures:

The group as a whole enjoyed the story and loved the characters. One person rated the book 3.5 (due to subject matter not being her thing) but everyone else rated the book 4.5 to 5. Which is the highest ratings yet from the WoWO. We had one person who hadn't finished the book, but she will now that she has heard what we loved about the book. The group was torn on who their favorite character was. We all agree that the three main characters were wonderfully written and we loved them all. Minny is Ballsy and has a lot of Spunk, Aibileen was caring and nurturing and was the one to stick her neck out there and bring everyone together for the book to be a success. Skeeter was a great catalyst for change and shows that not everyone during this time felt the same. Our least favorite characters are pretty easy to guess if you read the book: Hilly being the number one choice, Leroy and Skeeter's mom were close behind in the votes. We all also agreed that Two Slice Hilly deserved what she got in that pie from Minny.

We all believed that if Aibileen stayed working for Elizabeth that there was a good chance Mae Mobley would have grown up to be just like her mother. Racism is taught and no matter what Aibileen tried to instill in her, the chances were slim that she would be different than the others as she grew up.

All of us felt that the setting was wonderfully written and you could picture the places and scenes vividly in your mind. The shifts in point of view gave a good and complete narrative to the places, people and events in the story and the character development was very well done. Several in the group didn't love the ending because they didn't feel they got the closure they needed for some of the characters. We are hoping that this was left open because there is a sequel coming, we would love to have another look into the lives of these women a few years down the road.

Although The Help is fiction, I personally loved how Kathryn Stockett incorporated her real experiences with Demetrie and being from the south into this book. I also loved that the descriptions of the cover of Help, the story the women wrote in the book, being the same as the cover of The Help. These two elements really gave the story an aire of realism and made you feel as if you were reading truth instead of fiction.

Entertainment Weekly mentions that there is a movie in the works for this book and we are excited at the prospect. We will definitely make the WoWO group trip to the movies for this one!

I would like to say a special thank you to Lori, Tricia and Bernice for bringing Minny's Chocolate Custard Pie! For those of you who read the book, you'll love this:

Tricia wouldn't eat it though... Hmmmm... Should we be worried?!?! Tricia hated Hilly enough to probably go as far as Minny did. Don't get on her bad side!

May I present to you the Lovely Sisters of the Mighty WoWO:

Left to Right:

Louise, Tricia, Karen, Peggy, Lori, Faith(Me), Myrta, Linda (w/Miles) and Bernice

Thank you ladies for making this book club such a success!

Also, Thanks to "the Help" from last night, Hector! Thanks for making sure we had our drinks full and food in our bellies! We appreciated all the help ;-)

The WoWO's next book club meeting will be on May 14th and we will be reading The Love Ceiling by Jean Davies Okimoto.

The Help book fits into the following categories/challenges for me:

• RYOB Challenge
• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Charms)
• New Authors Challenge
• PBT Mar Tag: Other

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Dragonflight is book one in the Dragonriders of Pern Series.

I couldn't come up with a synopsis for this without giving away plot lines so here is the synopsis from BN.Com:

After ten long turns, Lessa was ready to come out of hiding, to reclaim her birthright...and to Impress the young dragon queen and become Weyrwoman of Benden.Suddenly the deadly silver Thread once again threatened all Pern with destruction. But the mighty telepathic dragons that for centuries had defended Pern were now few in number, not nearly enough to protect the planet in its hour of greatest peril. So Lessa hatched a daring and dangerous scheme: Rally support from people who had long ago ceased to exist...

I had some trouble with the language/translation of this book, especially in the beginning on the ramp up. The details didn't interest me all that much and I didn't take the time to really focus on the language and the details. If there was something I was unclear about I forged through the text and hoped that it would become clear to me later, sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. I'm glad I read the book, because it was a good storyline, but I wasn't enthralled with it. I did feel I was rushing through to finish it, and that may be what my main issue was in not getting the details. I was a bit disappointed by the way it felt to end before it should have but then I heard that this was written with a series in mind, so then it makes sense to leave some of the plot line open. Some friends whose judgment I trust liked this story alot more than I did, so I know it probably deserved more deep reading than I gave it. I may come back and re-read this one at some point, naybe it wasn't the right time for me to be reading this one. I will read on in the series if my fellow group members from Fantasy Thriller and Horror want to continue with it as a group, but I probably wouldn't continue it on my own.

This books fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge (Care of Magical Creatures)
• Monthly Mixer Mele (A in April)
• New Authors Challenge
• PBT March Tag: Other

Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

In the sequel to Ashes to Ashes, A internal affairs cop, Andy Fallon, is found dead with a single message on the mirror, "Sorry." Although it looks like it could be a suicide or accidental death, something just doesn't seem right to Sargent Kovak. Even after the cops sweep this one under the rug as an accidental death, Kovak can't stop diving into the depths of this one. When Andy's father Mike is found dead and it too looks like suicide, until it is found to be a murder staged as suicide, Kovak and his partner Liska know that Andy's death is not what it seems to be and they are determined to find out the truth.

There are alot of characters in this book and most of them are called by nicknames such as Ace, Tink, Kojak, etc. This book seemed very much like a real life detective story to me. It was gritty and interesting, all the characters were well developed and you find yourself suspecting this person or that one until the truth is unveiled. Some very good twists and turns and the gritty cop roles were well done. Some of the cops were a bit over the top with their stereotype, but that's true in life too. Tami Hoag knows how to write a murdery mystery gritty and suspenseful, just what you want in a mystery read. There was an unexpected twist at the end, that gave the book a little extra punch. It would have been ok with or without it, Im not sure which I would prefer actually. Sometimes I need a happy ending and sometimes I don't, this time it was just fine the way it was.

This book fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Challenge - Defence against the Dark Arts (Murder Mystery)
• RYOB Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Challenge
• PBT March Tag: Other