In My Mailbox

 

 

Last week, I forgot to list a book that I had won from Ashley’s Christian Book Reviews. That e-book is Shadows of Pain by Ashley Dawn. Thank you, Ashley!

I also forgot to list Threading the Needle by Marie Bostwick – I got this paperback from a giveaway.

And now on to books I’ve received this week

From the author – the following e-books:

Jack Hunter – Secret of the King by Martin King

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani

From Goodreads group – Read It & Reap:

Angel Evolution by David Estes

Book # 9 of 2012 – Good in a Crisis by Margaret Overton

Book to be released on January 31, 2012.  Pre-order your copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Goodreads Summary: Honest, hopeful, hilarious—the smartest, most knowing account of a woman and the calamities of midlife since Nora Ephron’s wryly humorous Heartburn.

During the four years of physician Margaret Overton’s acrimonious divorce, she dated widely and indiscriminately, determined to find her soul mate and live happily ever after. But then she discovered she had a brain aneurysm. She discovered it at a particularly awkward moment on a date with one of many Mr. Wrongs.

Good in a Crisis is Overton’s laugh-out-loud funny story of dealing with the most serious of life’s problems: loss of life, loss of love, loss of innocence. It’s about spirituality, self-delusion, even sheer stupidity. It’s written from a physician’s perspective, but it’s not about medicine, per se; it’s about coming of age in adulthood, an effort to help others through the awful events that can cluster in midlife. She does this with laughter and the recognition that you may come out the other end, as Overton did, definitely humbled… and only slightly smarter.

To learn more about the author, please go to the publisher’s site. 

I’m not sure I was the right demographic for this book. At least, I hope I’m not. The author writes about her experiences going through a divorce and going through the dating world and all the hilarity, sadness, hope, and hurt that goes along with that. Then she had so many other things happen to her that it is just amazing that so many shitty things have to happen all at once to one person (I know how that goes). She said “midlife is one big snowballing cluster fuck.” How true that is. However,  as she points out, sometimes you just have to laugh.

Some of that laughter comes from all of the dates that she went on  - one guy who seemed to love green and liked plaid thongs for himself. However, dating wasn’t all laughter for her. There was some crazy and hurt in there too.  There was guy that she dated that would have drove me crazy with saying over and over again “the fact are” or “at the end of the day”. There is a guy in my vanpool exactly like this, and he does drive me crazy.  One thing that I couldn’t help but notice with all of her dating was her fear of being alone. I think she recognized this at some point.

The message I got from this book is that sometimes you have to be patient – patient when trying to figure out what those signs mean; patient when just going through and dealing with life. And you also just have to laugh even when there is so much chaos in your life because otherwise the fragility of life (as she stated life is) would just suck you under. As we all know, this is really hard for most of us to do.

(You can tell a doctor wrote this book since she kept using medical terminology so that got a little annoying. )

I gave this book 4 STARS.

E-Book received from the publisher (Bloomsbury USA) through Netgalley for an honest review.

Kindergarten

For those new to my blog, I have 4 1/2-year-old twins (Benjamin and Ella) and an almost 3-year-old (Nicholas) (turns 3 in February). My twins will be starting kindergarten this fall. They turn 5 in June. The twins and Nicholas are 20 months apart.

This morning the school had a tour. Apparently, it was supposed to be for adults only but the secretary failed to tell me that in the e-mail she sent me after I told her I would be bringing the twins. Oh well, I wasn’t the only one with my kids there so I didn’t feel too awkward.

We got there a little early, so we waited in the school cafeteria for a bit for the tour to begin. The school had 6th graders take a couple or so parents on the tour. You could tell that the 6th grader with us (Leah) was a bit nervous. She first took us to the gym (they only have gym 2 days a week for 60 minutes total which seems so little but I guess they do have recess too), then we went to the music room (they also get this 2 days a week for 60 minutes total). The music room looked like fun!

Then we came to the 1/2 day and full day kindergarten rooms. Unfortunately, the full day kindergarten teacher wasn’t there because she was sick, but it was still nice to look at the room where my kids will be going in the fall. We got to watch the class for a bit (the sub said it looked crazy, but it is organized chaos).

We then saw where the rest of the grades were at, the computer lab, the library (such a cute little library), and the doors to go out to recess (which they get twice a day in full day kindergarten). Since we’ve been to that school to play on the playground, my kids know all about how to get to the playground.

Then we came back to the cafeteria for the Q&A session with the school psychologist, the school nurse, the registrar and the family advocate. The principal wasn’t able to make it, but I did meet her at the Kinderfest over the past weekend. My kids were getting a little restless during that time and were ready to go to their preschool.

I think my kids will like it there. Thankfully, since they only have 1 full day class there, they are o.k. with twins being in the same class. It seems like such a nice small school with only 23 kids in their full-time class. Registration begins on Monday and we’ll find out in a week or so whether they got into full day or not. The registrar says that they’ve never had to do a drawing on who gets into full day, so that is good. Full day does cost us $3,100 per child per year so it will be the same as what we are paying for preschool – not much of a savings there. We’ll have to wait until 1st grade for that, I guess. Of course, the year after that, Nicholas starts school so we’ll be paying again (unless, of course, our district finally lets full day be free).

As we were leaving the school, I asked Ben & Ella whether they wanted to go to school there, and they enthusiastically said yes. The registrar said that they are going to have another open house in May so the kids can meet others in their class and meet the teacher and get to play in the room for a little while. I look forward to that and I know Ben & Ella do too.

I do wonder how Nicholas is going to adapt to this change. His brother and sister won’t be at the same school/daycare as him anymore. He didn’t like it too much at first when I dropped him off at the preschool and left with Ben & Ella, but once Nicholas was in the school, he was fine. That gives me hope he will be o.k. this coming fall.

They mentioned that the K-2nd grade kids take recess together, so that means that Nicholas will have recess with his brother and sister. Hopefully, that is a good thing.

It’s an exciting next step in our parenthood journey. I look forward to my kids being in school. Parts of school I hated, but I do remember other parts fondly (like the book fair that the school was having today – I guess I’ve always been a book lover). I can’t wait for my kids to start in on the good parts and hope that the bad parts are rare.

Book # 8 of 2012 – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Goodreads Summary: A best seller and critical success in Latin America, Europe, and the USA,One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendia family one sees all humankind, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility–the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth–these, the universal themes, dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, alive with unforgettable men and women, and with a truth and understanding that strike the soul, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece of the art of fiction.

This book was January’s pick for one of my book clubs. I’ve been meaning to read it for some time, so I’m glad it was picked as this month’s pick. In the beginning of the book is a family tree – you can see from there that quite a few characters have the same name. Right then I knew I was going to have trouble telling characters apart. Thank goodness for that family tree!

I thought the book was good and interesting but so very long. It seriously felt like it took me 100 years to finish it though I think I read it on 5 of the last 7 days. There were times that I was very interested in the story and couldn’t wait to find out what happened, then other times, I thought the story was so slow.

A friend of mine told me that this is a book that will stick with you no matter how you feel about the book, and I think that is true. I do keep thinking about this family that is portrayed in this book. This family and town have such a sad and also, a  funny and magical past (thinking of the insomnia plague, the length of the lives of some of the characters, the gypsies and the room that never got dirty that had the scrolls). One part of the story that just resonated with me was the ending (and not just because there was a sigh of relief that I had finished it) but the images in my head that came about (with the wind as the scrolls were being read).

Another thing that I am going to think about is wow, there was a bit of incest in this book, wasn’t there? They must really be in solitude if they thought that was just fine (though I suppose some didn’t know or they just didn’t care). It brought up memories of reading Middlesex (those of you who have read that book will understand why) – I really enjoyed that book though (and funny enough, it is March book club pick for this book club).

In the end, I gave this book 3 STARS. I wasn’t amazed by it as so many others, but I didn’t hate it. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long to read.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox – a meme started by The Story Siren that I thought I would start doing since I’ve started to receive a lot more books lately. Since this is my first one, I’ll list books that I’ve received in the past few months that I have not reviewed yet. And then for the future, I’ll try to post weekly or monthly depending on how many books I receive.

Print Books Received:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivy (Publisher)

Girl Land by Caitlin Flanagan (Publisher)

Life, in Spite of Me by Kristen Jane Anderson & Tricia Goyer (Goodreads giveaway)

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy (Goodreads giveaway)

Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House Readers Circle)

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good At It) by Gene Edwards (Goodreads giveaway)

E-Books received from Netgalley for review:

On Haunted Ground by Lisa Rogers

Emerald City by Alicia K. Leppert

Good in a Crisis by Margaret Overton

E-books received from Library Thing:

Caprice by Edward Aubry

E-books received through Goodreads Making Connections group for review:

BaSatai: Outside In by Suzan Battah

Meeting Destiny by Nancy Straight

Something Witchy This Way Comes by Veronica Blade

E-books received from the author:

Upsetting the Tides by David Englund, Wanda Mitchell,and John Berdahl

Promise Me Eternity by Ian Fox

The Mediator by Michael Abayomi

Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five Stones by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

Books for Upcoming Tours or from Tour or Review Groups:

Always You by Shilpa Mudiganti (Enchanted Book Tours) – Tour Stops Here February 15

Easter’s Lilly by Judy Serrano (Ever After PR) – Tour Stops Here February 20

Brother Number Three by by Judy Serrano (Ever After PR) – Tour Stops Here March 14

Twice Cursed by Jacqueline Paige (Bewitching Book Tours) – Tour Stops Here March 15

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington (Hollow Tours) – Massive Review Date is March 1

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (Hollow Reviewers)

E-Books from other sites:

Maya Papaya by JC Andrijeski (win with the books website – found via goodreads)

Book # 7 of 2012 – Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

Goodreads Summary: The much-loved entertainer opens up about her personal life, her talk show, and joining the judges’ table of American Idol.

I got the audio of this book thinking that I love Ellen’s stand up routines and what a better way to “read” her book than to have Ellen read it to me. It would be like hearing her stand up routine, right? Well, while some parts it did feel like that, for the most part, it didn’t. Also, this is my first try at an audio book. I wasn’t sure if it would work for me. I do think I would have done better with the actual printed book. I find that I get too distracted to really pay attention (especially since I listened to it while driving to and fro work or vanpool meeting spot).

And now for the content of the book itself – some of the time Ellen was rather serious on topics (and well, that’s good but I guess I was expecting more comedy) – for example, when she talked about striving to be happy with your life and why we care about how far people will take this year’s green (well, actually that was a bit funny because was that really a question we should concern ourselves with). There were some funny bits – my favorite being when she asked whether others considered wine one of your fruit servings for the day. Ha!

Anyway, I thought it was good, but I think I’ll stick with the printed book from now on.

3 STARS

Audiobook received from the library.

Book #6 of 2012 – Creatura by Nely Cab

Goodreads Summary: When seventeen year-old Isis Martin is having trouble sleeping due to perturbing dreams of a horrific growling beast, she decides to confront her fear. But what Isis discovers is something other than a menacing entity.

The human-like creature offers Isis assurance that he is not a figment of her imagination. Unwilling to accept his avowal, Isis sets his words to contest by asking the entity to prove himself – a dare, he readily welcomes.

It is in her dreams that Isis innocently stumbles upon the silent existence of the divine lineage of those that man has long forgotten.

In a quaint town, deep in south Texas, this story leads Isis onto the path of impermissible love and captivating life-changing truths. Isis Martin’s journey is sure to leave any reader ravenous for more.

Find the book trailer here.

About the Author:

Nely Cab lives in south Texas with her husband and son. Aside from writing, she enjoys drawing and painting. The tree illustration depicted on the cover of her up and coming book, Creatura, is a sample of her artwork.

Currently, Nely is working on the second chapter of the Creatura series.

For more about the author, please visit her website.

This book was an interesting read. I was certainly invested in the story early on and I liked it. I look forward to reading more about this story.

The proverb at the beginning of the book really captures the theme of the entire book – “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Once Isis and David’s relationship gets through that rocky start and they realize what they mean to each other, it is rather sweet.  They meet in a an unconventional way (the man of her dreams – ha) – with David trying to push her away and then Isis doing the same. At first, the way that David acted with her, I wasn’t sure he was a good guy to be with. He seemed rather possessive and not in a sweet way, but in an abusive way. After he goes to visit a friend, it seems he changed and I grew to like him more. Isis sometimes bothered me too only because I really don’t see teenagers talking the way that she did sometimes – for example,”I beg you to abnegate me because I don’t have the strength to renounce you.”  Nely Cab does have some beautiful writing though.

There was a reveal in the book that didn’t really come as a shock to me, but the getting there was fun. I would recommend this book to anyone interesting in YA books.

On a side note, I do find it kind of funny that two of the last few books I’ve read, there is a significant age difference between the male and female characters.  Is that a thing now? In this one, he looks like a teenager but he is really 2-3,000 years old.

And finally, just a minor critique or observation:

I wondered why Isis went into that dream in the beginning if she knew that the dream would cause her insomnia.

3 STARS

E-Book received from the author via the Making Connections group with Goodreads for review.

Book #5 of 2012 – Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads Summary: In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

I love Cassandra Clare’s novels. They just draw me into the world that she created so completely. This book is no exception.

The book starts right after the events of the 1st book of the series. Mortmain is the bad guy on the loose who wants Tessa for some unknown reason. Her friends are there with her to try to figure out why and to fight against him. The story is action-packed and Ms. Clare throws in some curves I was not expecting. It is also is quite heartbreaking.

I definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes this genre. I’m looking forward to City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) coming out in May!

4 STARS

Book received from the library.

Protect IP Act/SOPA

Watch this video on what these acts will do and how to fight them.

And for a funnier explanation, go here.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Ages: 13 and up
Pages: 384
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers  - Katherine Tegen Books

Release Date: January 31, 2012

Goodreads Summary:

NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

About the author: Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut.

To find out more about the author, check out her website.

I really enjoyed this book. It seemed like a completely new idea to me (though there are books out there that deal with reincarnation) and I love the fantasy aspect of it (with dragons!).

Ana is a new person – a new soul – amongst several old souls who have been around for thousands of years (speaking of, something that my husband will find funny is the fact that Ana really is 18 while Sam looks 18 but is really a 5,000 year old soul – after the age difference with Twilight, he might find this amusing or maybe amusing isn’t the right word.) Ana doesn’t know why she was born when everyone else is reincarnated and she is set to find out why. Along the way, she encounters those who want to help her and those who treat her like an outcast mainly out of fear of the unknown.

It had to be rather lonely to be the new person (and you get that feeling from Ana a lot) – something like being the new kid in school but about 1,000 times worse since you know there are no other new kids coming. Everyone else had known each other for thousands of years too, not just since Kindergarten (which what it felt like for me when I started high school).  I felt bad for her in another way because her mother hated her and she treated Ana poorly.

On the other side, Sam and the others have known each other for many lifetimes. It had to be weird to all of a sudden have a new person around and so I guess I can understand some of that mistrust that some felt and that fear that turned into hate. You would have to wonder if this meant the end to all of you, and that would be very scary. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to have been reincarnated for so long to now think there is a possibility of never coming back. I would think then you would try to live your life to its fullest every day. Of course, do we do that ourselves? Not usually.

This book had a bit of a religious undertone to it. There was also a God-like figure in the book called Janan that some of the people believed in and some didn’t. Some wondered when he would come back to rescue them (like Jesus), while others wondered why he let them be hurt at all – isn’t this a question that so many of us have day-to-day – why does God let bad things happen to good people?  One of the characters said “I want to believe we humans aren’t at this alone….”  It certainly makes things calmer for me if I believe that God is there looking out for us and my life has a purpose.

I think my favorite part of the book is that there is someone out there for everyone. Each lifetime two souls will find each other that are meant to be with each other. That they share the same “passions of the soul”. The romantic in me really likes that.  :-D

4 STARS

Pre-order your copy from Amazon or Barnes and Noble!

Book received from the Hollow Tours as part of the Incarnate Book Tour.