The Hunger Games

Going to start reading The Hunger Games! Gotta see what all the hype is about these books!!

Leaves danced sadly with the wind, waving goodbye.

Letter in Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin

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This book was one of the best books I've read so far this year! Even though it took me awhile to finish reading this book I loved it! 

Letters in Cardboard Boxes is about a woman, Parker and her grandmother Dotty and their letters they sent to each other of their imaginary trips across the world while Parker's parents were traveling across the world. It was a way for both Parker and Dotty to communicate. After receiving some bad news about her grandmother's health, she rediscovers the letters between her and Dotty, along with some of her family's untold stories. She also finds letters that portrays her grandmother's youth a lot different from the woman who had raised her. Along with reading the letters from her grandmother, we're experiencing what Parker is as she learns how to cope with life's unexpected twist and turns.

There wasn't a time where I got bored and had to put it down. I didn't come across any parts of the book where I felt like there needed to be more added on or there was too much information. It really flowed very easily from beginning to the end. The way this book ended is kinda in a leeway. It ended the way that a book should normally end but it also gives way that there's going to be more to this story and I know that there's always more to a story like this. It won't matter if she writes a book to finish the rest of the story (which I can't wait to read if that happens) or not. It was definitely a book that everyone should read!

Happy New Year's Eve!!

It is the last day of 2011! I only have 7 hours left of 2011 and this year has flown by! One of my goals this year was to read 111 books but I only got 19 books read this year and I'm not regretting it at all. I've been so busy with working full time and going to school full time that I barely get in anytime to read a book. I haven't decided how many books I'll read for 2012. I was thinking either 50 books (a book a week) or 144 books (12 books a month). I may go towards 50 books since it'll be a lot easier for me! I put off reading any books for the last week since I'm in Florida and I'm visiting family here. Since I'm going back home tomorrow (13ish hours drive) so I'll be able to read and finish a book tomorrow (and possibly post a review when I get home)!

ex·pa·tri·ate - A very lucky person living in a foreign land.

Single in the City by Michele Gorman was without a doubt the best book ever! I rarely read books that are based in other countries (mostly because not a lot of authors write books that are mainly based in another country). Reading this book just made me want to go to London even more! I've always wanted to go to London to see all of what's there and reading this book kinda gave me a glimpse of what London has to hold.

Single in the City is about a 26 year old American who flies to London on the spur of the moment. She has no job, no friends and no clue on how to "build" her dream life. While in search of new love, new life and a sense of herself, she meets new roommates (who are from Australia) and new friends who all help her as she goes on the search for Mr. Right.

Things I loved about this book, what's not to love? I loved it all! It was funny and it was fast-paced. Reading this book, I could actually put myself in Hannah's place and see it all in my mind as if I was living that life. I was reading this late last night and everyone was asleep and I had to hold my laugher in because I didn't want to wake anyone up. There wasn't any thing that was bad about this book. I didn't get confused at any parts throughout the book or have to go back and reread something because it didn't make sense or anything. The book just flowed along and there wasn't a single boring part in this book!

Haven't been on here in awhile!

Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't been on here in quite a bit! I've been busy with finals at school and work and I'm reading four books all at the same time so it's taking me some time to actually finish them! I'm almost done with at least two of them so hopefully I'll be able to finish them this weekend when my Thanksgiving break starts and I'll post the reviews for them as soon as possible!

These are the books that are on my to read list!

two new books!!

Bought The Next Always by Nora Roberts! and I just got Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman in the mail today! I got it for free from some site or something lol. So I'll be reading these two books and have a review posted for them soon! :)

thirty-five, one hundred...

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Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann was amazing!! I've read her other books and they were just as good as this book!! I had already started this book in August but I was only about two chapters in and then school started and I put this book off and then Sunday I decided to read the book and I finished the whole book while watching Godfellas! weird I know but that's how long it took me to read the book! lol I deffenly cannot wait to read The Unwanteds and I also cannot wait for her other book Dead to You to come out! Dead to You comes out on February 7, 2010.

This book is about this small town called Cryer's Cross. It started off when a freshmen, Tiffany had disappeared and no one could find her. Kendall is now a senior and her "boyfriend" / best friend Nico is the only person who understands her OCD but he's gone missing just after school year has started. While cleaning up the classroom one morning she noticed that the desk Nico sat at was Tiffany's desk as well before she gone missing. With such a small town it has a huge dark secret but Kendall doesn't want to saying anything about this coincidence and she needs help from a newcomer, Jacian if she wants to find Nico. In the book there are also some haunting passages from another world which can intrigue but also disturb the readers ( I know I was intrigue but a bit afraid ). This as far as I want to say on this book because any more I'll end up giving y'all spoilers of what's in this book!! 

This book was not boring at all! Even though it took me awhile to actually finish it, it did take me about wish hours to finish pretty much the whole book! That's gotta say something! I loved how Lisa McMann had given the main character OCD because there are not a lot of books that have OCD being the main part of the book and I coming from a place where I'm OCD(ish) and having friends that were OCD, I was able to relate to Kendall as well as Nico and Jacian as they were friends with Kendall and understanding that OCD is a part of her life.

Pennies from Heaven

This book was absolutely amazing!! I could not put it down at all!! It was free on Barnes and Noble so I figured I'd download it and see if it's any good and it is!! It's one of those must read books! I just checked on the amazon site and the book is for free for the kindle so if you have an iPhone or a iPod or any of those smartphones, go here to download it!! :)

Fools Rush In is about an almost 30 woman, Bella Rossi, who takes over her family wedding planning business. Bella lives in Texas with her parents, her aunt Rosa (mom's side) and Uncle Laz (dad's side) along with her younger sister Sophia. She also has three older brothers, one is married the other two aren't. (just a side note, they're all Italian). Bella had booked a "Boot Scoot'n" wedding and she was in need of a DJ that knows country music and her family only listens to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. So she's looking for a DJ and through a misunderstanding she gets the DJ, who also happens to be the man of her dreams, and that's when things just kinda started falling into place. Throughout the whole book there were some really funny parts that just made me laugh out loud and all of these mishaps that just made me cringe a little.

There were no parts in this entire book that I didn't like. There wasn't parts where I'd get bored and just not wanted to read the book. The book was fast paced and everything just flowed from one thing to another without making anything seem confusing. I loved how it was a mix of love and comedy. One thing for sure is that I'll be buying the other two books in the series! 

Haven't been on here in a long time!

Hey y'all!! It's been awhile since I've posted a review for awhile and it's mainly because I've been busy with work and school has just started so I haven't gotten a lot of time to finish reading a book and posting a review. I am reading a few books at the same time so it's a bit time comsuming to do that but I'm almost done with Holding Her Breath by Nicole Green! Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tonight and post a review tomorrow! :)

Olly-olly-oxen-free

This book was absolutely amazing! I started reading this about 9 last night and didn't finish it until about 12 or 1 this morning. That's how good it was! That's why this book is A Must Read! There are not a lot of books that will take me almost 4 hours to read from start to finish. This book was truly a life changing book. It made me see things from a different view. 

Basically the book is about a girl, Hannah Baker who had committed suicide but before doing that, she made tapes. Tapes with 13 reasons why she killed herself. It started in her freshmen year all the way up to the day she died. There was seven tapes, each side with one story (a reason). Which means there was 13 different people that these tapes had to go to so they can learn why they were responsible for her death. This is from both Hannah and Clay's point of view. As Clay was listening to the tapes, he went around their small town. Following along with the stories that Hannah was telling. At each place he discovered new secrets about Hannah and about everybody else that was on those tapes. What Clay had discovered changed his life (and in a way changed mine).

** Some Links **
Listen to the Tapes
13 Reasons Why website

The Nine Lives of Chloe King

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So I finished The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Liz Braswell last night!! It took me awhile to read it all. One of the reasons was that I was a bit busy with work but also because this book was hard to get into it. There were times when I would get bored and end up putting the book aside and do something else.

The book is about a girl who just turned 16 and she had fallen off a tower and survived it! That's when she started getting all of these "superpowers" like claws, being able to see in the dark and jumping from roof to roof. However with those abilities came a death wish, someone is out to get her but who? Because she had nine lives she was considered to be the "chosen one" and not many people were happy with that including the pride leader of the Mai, Sergei who has taken her in to protect her from a "cult" called the Tenth Blade. While in hiding she learns a little bit about her history and the history of the Mai. 

After finding a friend in an alley bleeding to death, thanks to the Tenth Blade members, she decided it's time to take control and end this "feud" between the Mai and the Tenth Blade that's been going on for almost 5,000 years! With the help of her two best friends, Amy & Paul, her mom, Kim (a member of the Mai), and Alyec, who is also a member of the Mai as well as one of her "boyfriends"and Brain who is the son of the leader of the Tenth Blade & Chloe's other boyfriend, Chloe tries to put a stop of the fights between the two groups. Like it says on the back of the book, Chloe has nine lives, but will nine be enough? Go read the book and find out!!

One of the things that I didn't like about the book was that it was really hard to get into it. I had a hard time focusing on the book. There were times when I would have to force myself to finish reading a chapter. I don't know if it was maybe how the book was written or if it was just something else. The book was really good, but it wasn't a cannot put the book down good. 

My favorite part of the book was how she had to choose between Brain, a human and she cannot kiss him or she'll kill him and Alyec who is a Mai and they were considered the It Couple in the Mai. I also loved how she was trying to balance the two lives (Mai and Human) together with the hopes that they can be able to interact with each other without killing or fighting. I would have to say the only time I was not able to put the book down would be the last few chapters. Those chapters was when it really got good and I had to finish it!

Straight Stalk

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Straight Stalk by Tera Lynn Childs was a really good book! It was about this girl, Bethany Lange who is from the South (like me!) and she had a history of boyfriends turning gay. She was signed onto a tv show that's similar to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ( I read somewhere that they were similar to each other). She was a consultant on for helping with picking out clothes for the guys. There was five other guys on the show (all gay) and one of them was her ex-boyfriend, Evan and she had a major crush on another one, Chris. When she finds out that her ex was on the show, she wanted to prove that he wasn't gay and with the help of Chris and Kit (Chris sister and her helper at her shop) she stalked Evan to find some proof that Evan was really straight. Don't want to give you any more without giving away the ending! 

The book was funny pretty much all throughout the book. I loved how Bethany's southern manners was displayed in the book, I loved how it wasn't just shown in the beginning and then disappear as the book went on. The manners kept popping up and made the book even more funny at certain parts. As for Evan, I kept on guessing on whether he was truly gay or if he was straight the entire time I was reading the book. There wasn't much that made me hate the book, I mean I'm giving it 5 hearts! The book was really well written and there wasn't any parts that made me get confused and have to go back and re-read to understand it. It was a book that I was able to read from beginning to end without any confusion. I definitely can say that I will be putting the rest of Tera Lynn Childs' books onto my to-read list because I'm sure the other books will be as good as this book was! 

Do you listen to music while reading? What kind of music do you listen to while reading?

I always have music playing when I'm reading, either off my computer or I'll put on my headphones on. I always have either classical music or songs that are slow. Those fast paced songs tends to distract me and I lost focus of what I'm reading.Most of the time, I end up tuning out the music whenever I"m into a really good book and whenever I'm done reading or take a break I'll remember that I had music playing. The one song that I love listening to while reading (and I don't know why) is A Little Past Little Rock by Lee Ann Womack.

Do you listen to music while you're reading? Why or why not? What type of music do you listen to? Any songs that you always have playing while reading?

A Little Bit About Me!

Heyy! So my name is Shelby! I'm 19 and in college right now! I decided to do a book review blog because I love reading! I mean I have two bookcases and they are overflowing with books and pretty much every surface in my room is covered with even more books! Ask anybody that knows me well and they'll tell you that you'll see me reading a book like all the time, I'm never without a book! This post is basically just an introduction to my blog site and what to expect and information of how my site works! First off since I am new at this, my reviews may seem different from what you would expect in a review but after awhile my reviews will change and fit to the way I would like to review books and so on... I already started a book review on another site and I decided to go ahead and post them on here so that way people can see my other reviews since it'll be awhile before I'll post a new review!

What is the toughest request anyone can be asked to fulfill?

Breathless Review

January 29, 2011

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So I finally finished Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel! I was actually reading two ( maybe 3 ) books at the same time so I was rotating from book to book. Anyway, Breathless was absolutely an amazing book. Lurlene McDaniel knows how to write a good book! I've read pretty much all of her books and with each book I feel like I'm part of the story. Breathless had to do with a champion diver, Travis and over the summer he decided to do a stunt at a lake and all he thought he did was break his leg but as it turns out, he had a rare form of cancer. And to save him, the doctors tell his parents they must amputate. From that moment, his life and the lives of everyone around him are changed forever. Each chapter was from someone's point of view. There was Cooper, Travis best friend. Travis asked Cooper to help him with something, a tough request that no one would ever want to do. ( you'll have to read the book to find out what the request was! ). Then there was Emily, Travis's little sister, who loved her brother and would do anything for him. She was ignored by her parents since they were focusing on Travis and getting him better. And then there's Darla, Travis's girlfriend. Travis saw her for who she was and not by what everyone else see her as. As for Travis, he was a diver and a good one. He wanted to control how the course of his life should go. As I was reading this book and it came to the request Travis asked Cooper to do, I would understand why he would want to do it. If I was in his position, I would want to do it. This is truly a sad book and is definitely one of her best books she's ever wrote! Go out and buy the book! Or check it out from the library! 

My favorite quote out of the entire book was "I know what I did and why I did it. Am I a killer, or a deliverer? I believe I am an Angel of Mercy."

Deep in the Arms of Prince Valium

A Paramedic’s Story Review

A Paramedic's Story by Steven "Kelly" Grayson was really good! I got it for free on my nook from Barnes&Nobles so I figure it's free so I'll go ahead and read it. It was really really good! It's different from what I normally read but it was better than I expected. The book is a true story. It has to do with Kelly Grayson and his life as a Paramedic. Each chapter was a different story of someone dying, involved in a wreak and so many more, my favorite part about each chapter is the titles - each title was funny and a few didn't make sense at first but once you read the chapter, you'll get it. It was based in Louisiana which is where I'm living at right now and that was probably one of the reason why I read it. The book had some funny moments and a few sad moments. I can't really tell you much because anything I say about this book, will pretty much spoil it! So I'll post the passage from Amazon.com of the product description of the book. 

"Welcome to the life-and-death world of an EMT—sometimes bloody, sometimes even funny, but always compelling.

When someone dials 911, Emergency Medical Technician Kelly Grayson is there—to restart the heart that has stopped beating, deal with dangerously high blood alcohol levels, or pull a body from a mangled car wreck. As an EMT, Grayson sees people at their best and worst, in situations that can be gruesome, moving, and heart-breaking. Regardless of the emergency, Grayson is the first line of defense, picking up the pieces and saving lives—or, sadly, watching them slip away.

A Paramedic's Story is bursting with stories that run the gamut from lighthearted to heart-wrenching. With his brutally candid style, Grayson gives readers his special insight into the human condition, and shows us what it feels like to hold lives in his hands every day.".

"Grabbed me by the throat & didn't let go..." - Tami Hoag

The Surgeon Review

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The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen was really good! It's a Rizzoli & Isles series and if you've seen the TV show Rizzoli and Isles then you would know a little of what the books are going to be about. Now this book wasn't an episode as of yet, but it does kinda go with the TV show. Anyway the book was just a good book! It started off with a successful physician named Catherine Cordell who was nearly murdered a few years back in Savannah but lived to tell the tale because she blew her attacker away before he could finish the job. With her attacker's death, the string of grotesque torture-murders ends in Savannah, but then resurfaces in Boston. Which is just where Cordell now resides. The new murderer, nicknamed "The Surgeon", moves through Boston like air carrying out his sick fantasies that are identical to the string of murders in Savannah. You'd think it were the same killer, but how could it be? Well you'd have to read the book to see how it ends! I will give you a spoiler here, towards the end something had happened to Rizzoli that goes with something that had happened in the TV show. It has to do with her hands. That is all I will tell you! Also Isles isn't in this book at all, she wasn't mention at all throughout the book so I'm not sure why but I would hope that in the next book she'll be introduced. Another thing that was in the book is that every once awhile, in italics there would be a few paragraphs of what was going through the killer's mind and that kinda gave you a "look" into the killer's mind and it was interesting. I will definitely be buying the next book and possibly the whole series as I get into the books!

three charming angels often find themselves in trouble...

Where Angels Go Review

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Just finished reading Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber! It was really really good! I loved it! When I was reading something online about her and to see what other books she has written I saw that she has dyslexia ( for those who do not know what dyslexia means, go here. But basicaly it means that it impairs a person's ability to read. ) and she has over 130 million copies of her books in print! I was amazed that she was able write so many books with dyslexia andraising four kids! I will deffinely be reading many more of her books! I don't know why I've never read of her books before!

This book is about these three angels, Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy who are trying to help three different people who sent a prayer to God for something in their life. The book is part of the Angel Series. I didn't know until about half way through the book when I wanted to learn more about the author. In the book, Mercy is to help an elderly man who is dying of old age and needs help trying to get his wife to move into an assisted home so she's not alone in the house. Goodness is helping this young woman who been through a divorce over 10 years ago and she meets a guy on the internet but she is afriad of commitment. Shirley is trying to help a little boy who wants a puppy. I'm not going to really give any more because I'll end up telling the whole story and how it ended but I will tell you this, make sure you have tissues near by! This is a really good book and I plan on buying some more of her books, maybe the rest of the Angel Series books! I also have a book called Mrs. Miracle so I'll probably read that book next! 

A Romance of Many Dimensions

Flatland Review

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So I couldn't even finish reading the book! It was that bad! It was really boring. I had a hard time staying interested in it. My math teacher said it was a good book but I guess you have to be a math freak to like it. It was all about shapes and dimensions. Not my kind of thing I guess. So this review is short!

This is No Dream...

Ghost Walk Review

Ghost Walk by Heather Graham was a great book! I mean it was sooo good that when I was at CVS today looking for some batteries that I stopped by the books and I saw a book by Heather Graham that I just had to buy it! The book was about this woman, Nikki who's a manager of a New Orleans haunter tour company and in the middle of the night, she is awoken by her friend, Andy who was begging for help. The next day, Nikki finds out that her friend was killed at the same time that her friend was in her room. No one believes her except for one person and that is Brent, a paranormal investigator. The book is about Ghosts. That is not a spoiler, I mean the title of the book "Ghost Walk" is the spoiler. Anyway, Andy works with Nikki at the haunted tour and was killed by an overdosed of some type of drug ( I don't believe what kind of drug killed was mentioned in the book ) and Nikki is the only person that believes that someone had killed her and that it wasn't an accidental death. Brent, later comes back home to his hometown New Orleans to investigate the death of an FBI agent who was killed the same way that Andy was killed and believes that they are connected to each other somehow. Throughout the book, there was three main ghosts in the book and the only people that could see them was Nikki and Brent. With the help of the ghosts Brent is able to assist the police officers solve the murders of Andy and the agent. The book was good, loved how she put some of the New Orleans history in it( Even though I live in Louisiana, I cannot tell you if the history that been mentioned in the book is true or not ). She defiantly knew how to catch a person's attention and I didn't lose interest at all throughout the book.