Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Racous Year of Eating Locally
Rating: 3/5 Stars

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Harmony; 1 edition (April 24, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 030734732X

Genre: Non-Fiction

Received book in Shelfari Book Chat Book Swap

The authors of this book memoir their journey of eating locally (with-in 100 miles radius) for a year. This idea comes into fruition one day when they are in a remote location and only have a few items on hand and can't get to a store. They must feed themselves and their guests on what they can find locally. They fish and forage for mushrooms and veggies from their old garden and come up with a meal that proves you can make something good from seemingly nothing (of course you really need to know how to cook first - and be a little adventurous).

At the first of Spring they start their journey with only eating foods the come from with-in 100 mile radius of their home and it starts out a little bumpy. Sure they can find food, living in the Vancouver area, but it's expensive and again, you must have a creative cooking bone to accomplish this task. Their first meal cost them $128.87. This is when they realized the challenge they were facing. Being able to sustain this lifestyle will be harder then they imagined.

There were alot of good scenes in this book, I felt it honest and interesting. There were parts about the food itself that bored me a bit, but the relationships and the events were great. I really liked how they gave themselves a free pass when they were invited to a neighbors house for dinner (not alienating their friends) and when they travelled. I love the idea also of being able to bring food home from 100-miles of where they travelled to as well. Now, I am not one who would normally consider doing something like this but as soon as I finished Chapter One (March) I was sold on the idea. I started looking at local eating websites and all of a sudden this is something I'd really like to try to do. Living in Southern New Jersey should make things easier for me, right? We have so many farmers markets right near me. Well, Im seriously considering trying it. I think that the ramp of this task would be tremendous but once you got the hang of it (Canning, freezing, etc) it would end up being very rewarding.

This books fits the following Categories/Challenges for me:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• Truth is Stranger than Fiction Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• New Authors Challenge

WoWO Book Club Meeting and Wild Heart by Lori Brighton

Tonight was the June WoWO Discussion and we discussed Wild Heart by Lori Brighton. The WoWO group won copies of Wild Heart from Lori through the http://www.authordiannalove.com/ website. This is a really great website with lots of information on Dianna Love as well as other authors. If you sign your book group up they give away copies of books regularly; just sign up once and you are entered for all drawings. When I was contacted by Cassondra from the authorDiannaLove.com website I was so excited that the WoWO won copies and we would read a book from a debut author. Little did we know that it would be such a fantastic book, and that Lori would be so pleasant to deal with when sending the copies and so much more. Lori signed each book individually named to each member, she included a bunch of goodies that can be found in England, autographed book cover memorabilia boards (sorry I am unsure what to call them but they are cool) and the all this came with a very nice personal letter from Lori to the group. Lori made the entire experience of winning the books and discussing the story, that much more enjoyable.

WoWO Rating: 4.3/5 Stars

Personal Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Pub. Date: November 2009
Publisher: Kensington Publishing

Format: Mass Market Paperback, 320pp
ISBN: 1420108654

Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance

Debut Novel

9 Copies for WoWO obtained in a giveaway on http://www.authordianalove.com/

About Wild Heart:

In Sussex England in the late 1800's, Ella is hired to be governess to Leo Roberts who is the next in line for earldom. Leo, the grandson of Lord Roberts is said to be wild and in great need of refinement. Ella does not know what to expect from this boy who is to be earl, but how bad could it be? When Ella learns that the grandson to be Earl is actually a grown man she quickly becomes concerned that he is too wild to refine. Leo is completely untamed and animalisic, raised on his own in the wild of India after his parents were brutally murdered. Leo's grandfather needs Ella's help in making Leo presentable enough to take over earldom when the time comes. Ella wonders how she is suppose to make him presentable, refined and learn the ways of his class when he is a grown man who seems to be too wild to help and doesn't particular care to be helped. Ella, and this reader of the book, become taken with Leo rather quickly and their attraction is too wild to contain.

The romance scenes in this book are STEAMY and well written. Coming from someone who does not typically read romance, I was completely captivated by this story. This book is not just a Historical Romance, there is a twist of paranormal running through this book as well as some mystery and adventure. I don't want to give away anything to the plot so I left the paranormal out of the synopsis, but trust me it adds an extra element to make the story even better than the steamy attraction between Ella and Leo.

Personally , I absolutely loved this story. I wanted to give it 5 stars but just couldn't bring myself to do it. My main reason for giving the book a 4.5 over a 5 was more about the genre than the book itself, I think Im in denial that I love Historical Paranormal Romance. I can't find anything wrong with the story itself, the writing was absolutely spot on and perfect, but I have trouble giving 5 stars to a book that isn't a book like "The Help". I'm working on this though, and will definitely read the next book that Lori has coming out next year called "Wild Desire".

The WoWO Discussion (Contains Spoilers):

Everyone of the WoWO who read the book, loved it. We all pretty much agreed on every point of the discussion. We felt that in the beginning we did not know what to expect from this book. By the cover and synopsis it looked to be on the trashy side but once we started reading, it grabbed us and we realized quickly that it was very well written and the romance wasn't trashy at all. The different scenes and settings in the book were vivid and easily pictured. We thought that the supernatural elements (Ella feeling emotions) was a nice twist to the story, standing itself out from other Historical Romances. We liked that you didn't know much about Leo and his past but the reader learned about him through Ella's point of view, with her flashes of memories she got from Leo and his telling her stories as well.

During Leo and Ella's first conversation by the sea, everyone expected that Leo really needed Ella and we were surprised and happy that he was pretending to be savage and he was actually well spoken and intelligent. As far as the romance in the story goes, we though it was STEAMY and enticing and well done. Some of our favorite steamy scenes were the picture painting, the skinny dipping, the folly in the rain and the final love scene where they finally get to consumate their attraction. One of us was frustrated with the lack of completion of the earlier love scenes in the book (She wants all sex all the time - lucky girl ;)), but the rest of us loved the suspense and attraction that it caused and how happy we felt when they finally did have their moment.

Some of the early suspects to Leo's parents death were Akshay, Henry, Henry's father. No one really suspected that the Grandfather was involved in the cover-up but we feel it made for a good twist to the story. The author stated to me in a note that readers either love Leo or hate him and we can't figure out why anyone would hate him, he was absolutely perfect. Everyone liked Ella and felt she was a lucky girl to have found Leo :) (Hey Jealousy!) Everyone's favorite character was.. surprise --- LEO. Our Least favorite character was the Grandfather - He only cared about a having a proper successor and didn't care who was hurt in the process.

Our final thoughts on the story were that we all enjoyed the book more than we thought we would at first, it was a very pleasant surprise. We would definitely recommend the book to others (I already have!) One of us, loved the meat of the story but was disappointed in the beginning and the ending, she felt the ending left too many loose ends. Everyone else however, loved how the ending was left open for more of the story to come later in another book.

We felt the cover of the book was fitting to the story. We thought the title was good but something more savage like would have been more fitting for us... "Savage Heart" was our best take at a good title (We don't claim to be experts here..lol)

We as a group would love to read her next book called "Wild Desire", coming out in 2011. This book features Ella's cousin Colin, so we hope it continues the story. We would however be more excited to read the continuation of Ella and Leo's story. We would like to see a follow up on the Statues mentioned in the story and more about what the map is, as well as what the future holds for Leo, Ella, Akshay and Fran.

Top: Myself, Linda

Bottom: Louise, Karen, Peggy
Missing from Picture: Lori
(Yes, that picture in the background is the WoWO painting from the Love Ceiling!)

The book chosen for next WoWO discussion is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert on July 30th.

This book fits the following Category/Challenges:

• Hogwarts Reading Challenge
• The Romance Reading Challenge
• RYOB 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

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

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

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

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

Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Best Friends Erin and Darcy have agreed to answer personal adds for a friend who is doing research on the kinds of people who place personal ads. When Darcy is out of town and Erin goes missing, Darcy is determined to figure out what happened to her. Once Erin's body shows up, Darcy decides to, against the police and better judgement, go on dates with the guys who Erin had dated recently. When Darcy turns into the next target, there is no turning back for her.

In classic Mary Higgins Clark style the mystery unveils and you are left uncertain who the killer is until the end. This was a very quick read for me and as usual Mary Higgins Clark throws enough character development into the book that you think you know who the killer is but you really have no idea. You get to know and like the characters and the twists and turns come openly. Her writing always reminds me a bit of Agatha Christie with the way she unveils the killer.

This book fills the following Categories and Challenges for me:

• RYOB Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Challenge
• PBT Feb Tag: Other
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge

February WoWO Book Club Meeting and Dear John by Nicholas Sparks Review

For our Second WoWO Book Club Meeting we read and discussed Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. Before the book discussion we got together and watched the movie and that was a fun time in itself. Between Tricia's yelling out during the movie what was different in the book and my very first Appletini in a movie theater (Lori corrupting me). We had a really fun time at the movies. Later in this review I'll speak of what we liked and disliked about the movie compared to the book. But for now, I'll stick with the book review first.

Group Rating - Book: 4/5 Stars

Group Rating - Movie: 3/5 Stars

Dear John is the story of John Tyree and two very key relationships in his life. The relationship between him and Savannah, who he meets while home on leave from the Army. They have a whirlwind romance for a few fabulous weeks and then he must go back to Germany, where he is stationed. They write letters and their relationship takes ups and downs as any long distance relationship would. The other key relationship in John's life is the one with his father. John was raised by only his father after his mother left when he was young. They had a relationship that was built around collecting coins and not much else. John couldn't connect with his father on an emotional level and it led to his rebelling and to a strained relationship with his father.

Everyone in the group enjoyed the story. In this one we were split on most parts of the book. A few of the girls wished it would have ended differently but several of us thought that it was a realistic ending. We debated on whether John and Savannah were really in love or in some form of infatuation. I was one of the peope who thought that it was infatuation, especially on Savannah's part. For the most part we felt that without the story of John and Dad there wouldn't be much meat to this story. Sparks did a very good job with the Character development of John and the father. Their relationship was intriguing and touching. As favorite characters go - John received 8 votes and his father received 1 vote.

Some our favorite parts in the book were:

• The connection that they had with watching the moon at night.
• When John starts to take nightly walks with his father
• When John's dad was ill
• When Savannah gives John the book
• When Savannah explains why she wants John to write instead of emailing or calling.
• and for good measure - p.209 ;-)

As for the Movie, there were so many changes that I won't list them all but the ones that stood out as good or bad were:

• Tim is the father of Alan instead of the brother - not good
• Tim was scruffier and different that expected - not good
• John didn't have his tattoo's - not good (I was so looking forward to these!)
• Savannah doesn't give John the book - not good (important story line)
• The September 11th tragedy was much better felt in the movie than the book - good change
• John's father was played by Richard Jenkins - good good good!
• I would like to add that Channing Tatum is HOT.. and although I wasn't convinced of him by the previews.. he convinced most of us by the end of the movie.

So, which was better, the Movie or the Book? 7 of us thought the book was better and 2 of us thought the Movie was better. The two that liked the movie better stated that it was mostly for the ending, which was slightly different. I personally liked the book more after seeing the movie, it made me appreciate scenes and developments that occurred in the book that did not happen in the movie.

I'd like to say a special thanks to my co-worker Chris for making the WoWO Logo at the top of the page and to Linda for making these fabulous book markers for all the girls!

Next Up for the Women of Washington Oaks is The Help by Kathryn Stockett on March 24th, so look out for the next post of the WoWO Book Club.

On a personal note Dear John filled the following Categories and Challenges for me:

• The Romance Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• PBT February Tag: Relationships
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge
  

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Three Cases, all being looked into by Private Investigator Jackson Brodie. The book jumps around to be told from different perspectives and this gives an interesting view on the stories.

In the beginning we learn a bit about each of the cases individually and then as the story unfolds you see some overlaps in the story from Jackson's uncovering of the details and meeting with all the clients.

I have been sitting on this review for days because i didn't know what to say about it. I enjoyed the beginning of the book and learning about all the cases but it just fell flat to me. So, this review is more about just stating that I read the book and wasn't wow'd by it. I wish it grabbed me more. I know others who have loved it but it just wasn't for me.

This book fills the following Challenges/Categories for me:

• RYOB Challenge


• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge


• PBT Tag: Relationships


• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge


• New Authors Challenge

WoWO Book Club Meeting and Happy Hour Review

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Last night was the very first book club meeting for the Women of Washington Oaks (WoWO). Since I organized this book club by winning copies from the author of Happy Hour, Michele Scott, it made sense it would be at my house to start. There were 6 of us last night and we had a ball.

Obviously the book chosen was Happy Hour by Michele Scott. In this story about friendship and support, are 4 friends who are going through some of the toughest times in their lives. Kat, a bit of a control freak - but who can blame her, is the divorced mother of 2 boys. Jamie is a wife and mother when tragedy hits and she's left to take care of her mother-in-law and raise a child on her own. Alyssa has a past that nobody knows about, until it comes back to find her in several ways. Danielle, mother of two girls, is trying to get her vineyard up and running when life takes an unexpected turn. Through their trials, at least these women have each other and their "Happy Hour" gatherings to get them through.

Here is a summary of what we thought of the book as a group:

We all found these women very relateable and would want to have these women as our friends. Over all , the women in the book club enjoyed the book and reading about the lives of these women. Favorite guys voted by the group were Tyler and Christian and most relateable woman was Kat.

The writing style, where each chapter was a different women's perspective, was split. Some of us liked that aspect of it, while others felt it was disjointed because once you got into a particular aspect of the story it jumped to someone else.

The average rating from the 6 of us was a 3.8. We thought that the book started off a bit on the slow side but by page 178 (apparently a favorite page for several of the girls) it picked up and enticed us to read on. Everyone was glad they stuck with it as it definitely paid off in the end.

We were split on whether or not we would want to see a sequel to Happy Hour, but mostly because we didn't want to see these women go through any more turmoil than they had already been through. The one thing we would like to see if a sequel were written is Alyssa and Darren happily married and Ian healed and healthy. Something tells me that we are invested enough in these characters that we would read a sequel if Michele Scott chooses to write it.

There was plenty of food to eat, an abundance of book chatter and the wine was flowing generously. All in all, I would say it was a very successful first meeting!

Next up for the WoWO book club will be Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. We will meet on February 21st and see the movie and discuss the two over dinner.

This book fits the following challenges and categories for my personal challenges:

• The Romance Reading Challenge
• RYOB Challenge
• New Authors Challenge
• PBT Jan Tag: Other
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge: M in noveMber (Michelle)

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Rating 4/5 Stars

Dexter is in for the challenge of his life when Deb gets stabbed and the person who stabbed her is on the loose. Dexter vows for revenge but things turn out different then they first seemed and there is no going back. Everything gets out of control and Dexter has to sink or swim and he's swimming for his life.

I think that Dexter on Showtime has ruined me for these books. Excellent story, but I can't separate the two characters from each other and I keep finding flaws in the books character that I'd never see in the Showtime character and it disappoints me. In the earlier books I could separate them, but in this one I just couldn't and it didn't live up to my expectations because of it.

Jeff Lindsay is amazing and has a great imagination. If it weren't for the showtime series, I'd have given it 5 stars.

This book fits the following Challenges and Categories:

• RYOB Challenge
• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge
• PBT Jan Tag: Other
• Monthly Mixer Mele - B in feBruary (by)

RYOB Challenge 2010

•Pick a number of books you’d like to read in one year

•Choose those books from your OWN collection

•Read them between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010And, that’s it!Some other guidelines for this challenge:

•Re-Reads are NOT allowed (the challenge is to get more of your own books read that have been sitting there waiting!)

•Audiobooks & e-books ARE allowed

•You do NOT need a blog to participate — you can leave comments on this post with your progress

Enter here: http://readerchallenges.wordpress.com/ryob-read-your-own-books/

Ok.. I know .. ANOTHER CHALLENGE? I just can't help myself! I am going to plan to read at least 20 books from my TBR pile but I hope to do more.

Check back for my progress here on my blog:

1. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
2. Happy Hour by Michelle Scott
3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
4. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
5. Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
6. Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein
7. Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag

8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (3/25)

9. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (3/30)

10. Supernatural: Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido (4/17)

11. House Rules by Jodi Picoult (4/25)

12. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (4/28)

13.The Love Ceiling by Jean Davies Okimoto (5/7)

14. Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (5/23)

15. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (5/31)

16. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (6/2)

17. Wild Heart by Lori Brighton (6/23)

18. Plenty by Alisa Smith & J.B. Mackinnon (7/12)