Trying out posting from phone

Got the new Samsung Galaxy phone about a month ago.  I'm still discovering all the things I can do with it, this includes posting from my phone.  I don't know how I lived without such a fancy shmancy phone.

Book Club: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells

When Siddalee Walker, oldest daughter of Vivi Abbott Walker, Ya-Ya extraordinaire, is interviewed in the New York Times about a hit play she’s directed, her mother gets described as a “tap-dancing child abuser.”  Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda.  Devastated, Sidda begs forgiveness, and postpones her upcoming wedding.  All looks bleak until the Ya-Yas step in and convince Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, called “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.”  As Sidda struggles to analyze her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty of imperfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for.

2/5 stars (it was ok)

I thought the book started off a little bit slow.  I really did not care for the characters Sidda and Vivi Walker, even at the end I wasn’t that attached to them.  I liked the other Ya-ya characters and I think Teensy was my favorite.  The scrapbook sounded very interesting.  Overall it was an okay book.  I would have rather only follow Vivi’s story and not even had Sidda in it.

Our next book:  The Year of Pleasures - Elizabeth Berg

Book Review: I Am Number Four: The Lost Files – Secret Histories – Pittacus Lore

I Am Number Four: TheLost Files – Secret Histories – Pittacus Lore

I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Secret Histories is a collection of three action-packed novellas that share stories the Mogadorians don’t want you to know about the inner working of their regime as well as how they engineered the attack on Lorien.  Originally published as e-novellas, now, for the first time ever, they are together in one print volume.

You already know the truth about the Garde and the Mogadorian invasion, yet there is still so much to learn.  The stories in Secret Histories will help you get the answers you seek, but they will not help you stop the coming war.  Only the Garde can save our planet.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

The first novella follows Adam (a Mogadorian) and One, a continuation from the Lost Files #3.  This picks up right where that left off with Adam in the ravine.  You see how One has changed his way of thinking and has put him on the Garde’s side.  The second story follows a young Sandor in Lorien and the last days.  It shows what life was like on Lorien and how the Mogarodians attacked the planet and how the Garde children were able to escape.  The last story continues where the first one ends, again with Adam and how he really kicks some Mogadorian butt and helps out the Garde.  This book got me very excited to The Fall of Five.

Book Review: The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson

On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine.  The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit.  There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life.  She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal.  As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man’s disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

The beginning of this book is not for the weak of stomach.  It starts out right away with the narrator having a horrible car accident that burns him severely.  Then goes on to the hospital and his recovery, which involves so many things on his skin that are described in detail.  He doesn’t meet Marianne for a while into the book and when she is introduced her characters fascinated me.  She told many stories about how they met in Medieval Germany and even has stories of people she knew a long time ago.  All of the stories that are very interesting.  You see the narrator turn into a whole new person, not just physically but mentally.  He was such a selfish, cocky person before his accident.  I even loved the dog in this story, Bougatsa and the role he plays in all of this.  I think the most interesting thing of all is that I got done reading this book and then realized that we never found out the narrators name.

Book Review: Love, Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl –Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end of Stargirl.  The novel takes the form of “the world’s longest letter,” in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year’s time.  In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life.

In Love, Stargirl, we hear the voice of Stargirl herself as she reflects on time, life, Leo, and – of course – love.

3/5 stars (liked it)

I liked this follow up book but not as much as the first one.  Although it was nice to see where Stargirl moved to and how she was affected by the way things went with Leo.  It was her first love and she even tried to change who she was for it.  But in the end she knew she would never be happy except to be herself.  This book is filled with very interesting characters and some other non-common names.  I like that this was from Stargirl’s point of view.  I almost wish there was a 5 years after follow up to see where Leo and Stargirl are and if they will ever find each other again.

Book Review: Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli

From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, hallways hum "Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock's heart with one smile.  She sparks a school-spirit revolution with one cheer.  The students of Mica High are enchanted.  Until they are not.  Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her - normal.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

I didn't think I would like this book as much as I did.  The book is written in the point of view of Leo, which I did not like at first because I really wanted to know what was going through Stargirl's mind.  But in the end I was glad that the book was in his point of view.  Stargirl is the most caring but not normal girl and was very hard for people to accept her.  I really think that we need more people like her in the world.  She was a very brave person to not conform to "normal" and to be herself and care about everyone.  I am planning to read the next book about her.

Book Review: A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness

Deep in the heart of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Diana Bishop—a young scholar and the descendant of witches—unearths an enchanted alchemical manuscript.  Wanting nothing to do with sorcery, she banishes the book to the stacks.  But her discovery has set a fantastical underworld stirring, and soon a horde of daemons, witches, and other creatures descends upon the library.  Among them is the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire with a keen interest in the book.  Equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense, A Discovery of Witches is a mesmerizing and addictive tale of passion and obsession that reveals the closely guarded secrets of an enchanted world.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

At first I was not too crazy about this book, it starts off slow.  Introducing Diana, a reluctant witch that finds a manuscript.  Also we meet Matthew a very old vampire that is also interested in the manuscript.  But as we learn more and more about Diana’s past and her ancestors and Matthew’s long life as a vampire the book gets more and more interesting.  There is also a bit of history and I’m normally not one that likes reading about history but this book made it interesting.  I could not put the book down the last 100 pages and now I wish that the next book was in my hand so I could continue it.

Book Review: 100 Ghosts: A Gallery of Harmless Haunts – Doogie Horner

100 Ghosts: A Galleryof Harmless Haunts – Doogie Horner

We’re all familiar with the classic Halloween ghost – you cut two eyeholes out of a bed sheet and BOO!  You’ve created a simple, ready-to-go costume.  But what if these friendly haunts walked—erm, floated—among us in real life?  If we encountered them on a day-to-day basis, how would they look?  Writer, designer, and stand-up comedian Doogie Horner explores every sort of spook in 100 Ghosts: A Gallery of Harmless Haunts.

Inside 100 Ghosts, haunts come in every shape and size imaginable.  In addition to your “classic” bed sheet with eyes, you’ll find new faces, like mustached, no-nonsense “Undercover Cop,” a fuzzy Muppet, and Marilyn Monroe prettily posed above that famous air vent.  You’ll encounter a threadbare “Homemade” ghost with button eyes and patches, a nervous ghost with a literal knot in his stomach, and a ravenous ghost slurping down a bowl of spaghetti (where does it go?!).

100 Ghosts is a whimsical, haunting collection that shows that ghosts, like their human counterparts, can come in all different shapes, sizes, and personalities.  This fun book is a delightful gift for adults, kids, and anyone in need of a friendly fright.

3/5 stars (liked it)

I received this as an advance read from Quirk books.  I read this book in one sitting and found the pictures really silly and creative.  I also had my husband read it and my 9-year-old son read it.  I think my 9-year-old son got the biggest kick out of it.  This is a book that I will leave sitting out on my coffee table for guest to leaf through.  I think one of my favorite ghost was “Harry Potter” ghost.