A Year of Fog

Read in April

397 pages

Abby Mason, photographer, turns away from 6 year old Emma for just a moment, that's all it took to lose her fiance's little girl. With determination and heartache Abby searches her memory and San Fransico in search for Emma.



This book was very sad and bittersweet. I really did enjoy this book, the chapters are short so it was easy to find a stopping point without forgetting anything so I could take care of other things. There were a few chapters or parts of chapters that I thought were a bit dry and unneccessary. Abby's search for Emma takes her to Costa Rica, which really made me want to become and expat, learn to surf, and just live on the beach. This is a must read.



Links I like for this book:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Year-of-Fog/Michelle-Richmond/e/9780553591392/?itm=1



http://michellerichmond.com/

www.bantamdell.com

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Read in March/April
350 pages
Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it -- not any of it.

I bought this book because it was on sale. I'm mildly interested in seeing the movie and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I found Becky to be mostly really annoying and selfish. I really don't understand her thought process at all. What frightens me is that there really are people like her out there walking around. The end seemed to all just come together with a perfect pretty bow. However, through the whole thing I did laugh a few times. The letters from the bank responding to Becky's lame attempts to not pay her bills I found amusing. I'll probably read a few of other books in the series but not anytime soon. I was say this is good summer reading. I read it rather quickly, it didn't really take a lot of thinking. Easy plot, easy story, easy everything.

Links I like for this book:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&ISBN=9780385335485&ourl=Confessions%2Dof%2Da%2DShopaholic%2FSophie%2DKinsella

www.readsophiekinsella.com

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock

Read in March

368 pages

The title characters in Me & Emma are very nearly photographic opposites--8-year-old Carrie, the raven-haired narrator, is timid and introverted, while her little sister Emma is a tow-headed powerhouse with no sense of fear. The girls live in a terrible situation: they depend on an unstable mother that has never recovered from her husband’s murder, their stepfather beats them regularly, and they must forage on their own for food.

I picked up this book just after Christmas and have been putting it off. Finally I picked it up a day or so after finishing up Shelter Me. It really only took me about 2 days to read this book. At first I was a bit annoyed because the story is told from 8 year old Carrie's perspective and therefore almost rambles and speaks like an 8 year old would, and add the deep southern Carolina accent and I found myself rereading a lot of sentences here and there. Soon enough I got use to the writting and grew to really appriciate it more because I really started feeling for Carrie. This book makes me want to cry for her for the terrible situation she was in. About half way through the book the end was becoming more and more predictable, however, I was so wrapped up in Flock's story telling that I didn't seem to mind. Once I started getting into the predictable twist toward the end I found I couldn't put the book down. Poor Mollie was trying everything she could think of to get my attention and I just couldn't put down my book, I wanted to know what was happening to poor Carrie and Emma. This is the first book of Flock's that I have read and I am looking forward to reading more of her books. She's a great story teller. She has a website, check out the links below.

Links I like for this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Emma-Elizabeth-Flock/dp/0778327337/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238292875&sr=8-1

http://www.elizabethflock.com/

Suggestions Desperatly Needed!!

HELP!!!! I'm really afraid that I'm not going to make my goal this year at the rate I am going. Please ANYONE, send me books that you recommend! You can either post a comment to this or you can send me an email:

batinka77f@yahoo.com

Shelter Me

Read in March

448 pages

Janie LaMarche is alone with two young children when she loses the love of her life. She recieves the last gift from her late husband in the form of a new front porch and learns to live her life from some of the most unexpected people.

I was begining to wonder if I was ever going to find a book to read for this month. I started a couple and couldn't get through them and I really thought that I wouldn't be able to reach my goal. I really didn't care for this book at first, I found Janie to be too angry. She was understandably angry for sure, but she was just getting annoying. I enjoyed young Dylan and his friend Keane and especially Tug and Aunt Jude. Janie has such a great support group around her and that's what I liked about the book because instead of pulling away from her support group Janie leans on them and understands that they are a little crazy but they are the ones that get her through each day.

Some links I like:

http://www.amazon.com/Shelter-Me-Juliette-Fay/dp/0061673390/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238021074&sr=8-1

Outlander

Read in Feb
627 pages
Claire steps through a stone formation and ends up in 1700's Scotland. There she meets and becomes involved with Jamie Fraser. Claire and Jamie move throughout Scotland as Claire comes to terms with her unique situation.

I had heard about this book through several members of www.goodreads.com so I finally decided to pick it up. I was told that this book was pretty steamy in parts but I don't think that I would really qualify this book as a romance novel, though it did get very hot in parts. I really enjoyed the story of Claire and of Jamie. I do think that Jamie is too good to be true, but that's why we read stories! It did take a while to read as it is a long book, and the books keep getting longer and longer throughout the series. This is a series, and I do love a good series, of 6 books, currently. I believe that there is a 7th book on the way, someone, please correct me if I am wrong. After several attempts at finding the second book in the series, Dragonfly in Ember, I was able to pick it up cheap at a great used bookstore on Crescent and N. Anthony.

Here are some links to check out.

www.goodreads.com

http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235325208&sr=8-1

http://www.dianagabaldon.com/

Craziness

As if I'm not busy enough with Mollie, work, 3 different Bible studies, and finding time to sleep and eat, I picked up a book at church, Parenting from the Pew: Guiding your children into the Joy of Worship by Robbie Castleman. I'm going to try to finish Outlander as I am reading this book since I am so close to being done with it. I'm pretty excited to read Parenting from the Pew as it has been recommended several times to me, and almost always comes up when I complain when Mollie acts up in church. I know most of the time I really shouldn't worry about it because if it isn't my child making noise in church it's someone else's, so I am not alone. However, I'm almost always on my own with Mollie at church since we are the only ones from our house that goes, so there is no one to help me with Mollie and that makes me feel even more self conscience about Mollie's toddler noises. I'll read it and give you my review of it. Also stay tuned for my review of Outlander, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I have about 200 more pages to go in this book so it won't take me much longer. I don't get to read hardly at all, if any, on Mondays because of work and then Bible Study Fellowship right after. Mondays are LONG days in the Grover house since neither Scott or I are usually home till around 9 or 10.

Nineteen Minutes

Read in January
480 pages
A story about a high school shooting in Sterling, New Hampshire. This time the shooter is caught alive and we see what goes through the mind of the teenage shooter and all those around him.

This is the typical Picoult formula. I do enjoy her books though for the twist at the end, which are usually pretty good and worth getting through all the courtroom melodrama. She really gets to the heart of the matter right away which really makes it easy to get into and hard to down. It also is heart wrenching to read through the actual shooting. Picoult really does a great job for making you feel for each and every character, good or bad. I recommend this book to hardcore Jodi Picoult fans.

Links I like for this book.

http://www.jodipicoult.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Minutes-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743496736/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233881955&sr=8-1