It's Monday! What are you reading?

*This meme is hosted by Book Journey.  To join the fun, go to http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/. 

It's Monday!  Happy Memorial Day to everyone.  My read this week is The House of the Seven Sisters by Elle Eggels.  It is this month's public library book club book and I am told a great read.  Here's more info via the Barnes and Noble website:

When Martha and her six sisters are abandoned by their father following their mother's untimely death, the family bakery becomes their only means of survival. Martha, the eldest, is forced to lead the household and take on the responsibilities of her missing father. Witnessed through Emma, Martha's daughter from a failed marriage, The House of the Seven Sisters follows the siblings as they mature and, eventually, leave the bakery in search of self-fulfillment and love.

Each sister, however, will return to the fold, heartbroken and disillusioned after her chosen man -- the married mayor, the cowboy con man, the hunchbacked boy next door -- fails to stand the test of time. Together they turn heartbreak into hard work, transforming the bakery into a bustling supermarket, but just when success seems near, turmoil erupts, threatening the happiness and contentment they'd long suffered to achieve.

A quirky and heartwarming story of family, fate, and food, The House of the Seven Sisters is the enchanting tale of seven mysterious women who, both independently and as a family, try to come to terms with the past and carve a path for the future.

Sounds good, right?  What are you reading?

I am so sorry!

I apologize for being M.I.A. book bloggers and readers! I have been taking classes and working towards a master's degree for the past year. I will try to stop in and say hello as well as pass on any book talk I overhear. I am taking a class in social media this semester, so I am hoping to keep up with both blogs at once! Wish me luck!

Friday Finds -- 7/8

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My Friday Find this week is So Much to Say by Nikki Van Noy. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND has one of the largest and most loyal followings of any band today—after twenty years of constant touring and several acclaimed, multiplatinum albums, the members enjoy a connection with their fans that few other acts can match. Ask DMB devotees and they’ll happily tell you tales of amazing sold-out summer shows, the stunning venues they’ve seen the band play all around the world, classic live show recordings . . . and memories of good times with great friends, old and new. For hundreds of thousands of people, affection for DMB goes far beyond simple fan adulation—it’s a way of life. Journalist (and fan) Nikki Van Noy bridges the gap between the band and their followers, looking at the DMB phenomenon from all perspectives—including interviews with the band, Charlottesville insiders who knew them in the early days, and, of course, the DMB fans who witnessed it all.

Sounds great, right? What did you find this Friday?

Friday Finds -- 5/20

Happy Friday! My find this week is Home to Woefield by Susan Juby. This book peaked my interest because I have always wanted to try living on a farm! Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Prudence Burns, a well-intentioned New Yorker full of back-to-the-land ideals, just inherited Woefield Farm—thirty acres of scrubland, dilapidated buildings, and one half-sheared sheep. But the bank is about to foreclose, so Prudence must turn things around fast! Fortunately she'll have help from Earl, her banjo-playing foreman with a family secret; Seth, the neighbor who hasn't left the house since a high school scandal; and Sara Spratt, an eleven-year-old who's looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens. Home to Woefield is about learning how to take on a challenge, face your fears, and find friendship in the most unlikely of places.

What did you find this week?

3 W Wednesday -- 5/18

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? I am about halfway through A Clash of Kings, the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R.R. Martin.

What did you recently finish reading? I just finished the wonderful Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series). I need to write a review for this book and hopefully post it soon.

What are you reading next? I have People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks for book club and the new Sookie Stackhouse novel on deck.

How about you? What are you reading?

List of Reads -- A & B Edition

Recently, I updated my list of books read since starting this blog. Here are the As and Bs (by title) and a bit of commentary -- enjoy!!

A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans: Fun book, a bit long, and took me awhile to warm up to the main character.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick: Intense character read, terrible characters who make terrible decisions.

A Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens: Great read, interesting look at a obese woman's search for her husband and herself.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Meyers: My favorite guilty pleasure, fun and entertaining story about a chef, a hitman, and a wedding.

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris: Sookie Stackhouse series. Fun paranormal.

Already Dead by Charlie Huston: Intense detective story that takes place in the future with lots of vampires.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld: Based on the life of Laura Bush, engaging read, but slow at times.

Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes: Good chick-lit, sad story.

Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: Phenomenal read, highly recommended.

Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis: Funny, interesting story about a woman who is having trouble becoming an adult.

Austenland by Shannon Hale: Fun read for those who love Austen spin-offs.

Beach Trip by Cathy Holton: Women's fiction that details the adult friendship between four women. Good book club pick.

Best Intentions by Emily Listfield: Character driven novel that looks at marriage in crisis with a bit of a mystery.

Breaking Point by Suzanne Brockmann: Is it bad that I don't remember what this book is about? My guess -- a special forces unit who saves someone.

Burn by Linda Howard: I think this is the book where the main character wins the lottery and is kidnapped on a cruise.

I would recommend Agnes and the Hitman (so much fun) and Art of Racing in the Rain (it will make you laugh and cry). Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think?

Friday Finds -- 5/13

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find for this week is Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward. The premise is very interesting. The authors took turns writing chapters with no outline or ending in mind. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two. When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?

I am really looking forward to reading this. What did you find?

Friday Finds -- 5/6

Happy Friday! My find this week is My Jane Austen Summer by Cindy Jones. I absolutely love this kind of modern day take on Jane Austen and am looking forward to reading it. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Lily has squeezed herself into undersized relationships all her life, hoping one might grow as large as those found in the Jane Austen novels she loves. But lately her world is running out of places for her to fit. So when her bookish friend invites her to spend the summer at a Jane Austen literary festival in England, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself. There, among the rich, promising world of Mansfield Park reenactments, Lily finds people whose longing to live in a novel equals her own. But real-life problems have a way of following you wherever you go, and Lily's accompany her to England. Unless she can change her ways, she could face the fate of so many of Miss Austen's characters, destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. My Jane Austen Summer explores how we fall in love, how we come to know ourselves better, and how it might be possible to change and be happier in the real world.

Sounds good, right? What did you find this week?

3 W Wednesdays -- 5/4

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? I just started Book 2 in the A Song of Fire and Ice series, A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin.

What did you recently finish reading? I finished Book 1 in the A Song of Fire and Ice series, The Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin.

What are you reading next? I need to tackle House Rules by Jodi Picoult for book club on Monday night.

What are you reading?

Review -- A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans

A Hopeless Romantic
by Harriet Evans
Simon & Schuster, 2007
544 pages
* I bought a copy at the bookstore.

Summary (from Barnes and Noble): Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. Her friends know it, her parents know it - even Laura acknowledges she lives either with her head in the clouds or buried in a romance novel. It's proved harmless enough, even if it hasn't delivered her a real-life dashing hero yet. But when her latest relationship ends in a disaster that costs her friendships, her job, and nearly her sanity, Laura swears off men and hopeless romantic fantasies for good. With her life in tatters around her, Laura agrees to go on vacation with her parents. After a few days of visiting craft shops and touring the stately homes of England, Laura is ready to tear her hair out. And then, while visiting grand Chartley Hall, she crosses paths with Nick, the sexy, rugged estate manager. She finds she shares more than a sense of humor with him - in fact, she starts to think she could fall for him. But is Nick all he seems? Or has Laura got it wrong again? Will she open her heart only to have it broken again?

Review: Laura Foster is annoying and yet I love her. In the beginning of the novel, Laura makes romantic mistake after mistake and her choices effect her family and friends. Once she realizes the terrible mistakes she has made and looks to put her life back together, that is when the tale really picks up speed. At 544 pages, it is a bit long, some sections drag while others race by. In the end I was happy to have read it. It was an enjoyable and entertaining read. Rating: *** out of 5.

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 5/2

Happy Monday everyone!! Today is my last day of class for the semester. My final paper is finished. The powerpoint is all prepared. Wish me luck!

Though I haven't been blogging, I have been reading! Currently, I am about 75 pages away from finishing Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. The books are getting a lot of buzz due to the HBO series, so I needed to see what the fuss was about. This book is fantastic. If you like fantasy, heroes and heroines, but for an adult audience only, then definitely give this book a try.

Okay -- off the work and then class. Have a great day!!

Friday Finds -- 4/8

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! This week my find is The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. Here is the publisher's description from their website:

In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth—the ultimate betrayal—that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 4/1

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is The Sherlockian by Graham Moore. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning — crowds sported black armbands in grief — and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin. Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found. Or has it?

When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he's about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold - using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories - who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 3/25

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

The yoga studio is where daily cares are set aside, mats are unfurled, and physical exertion leads to well-being, renewal, and friendship. An aggressively expanding chain of Los Angeles yoga "experience centers," has Lee and her extraordinary teaching abilities in its sights. They woo her with a lucrative contract, a trademarked name for her classes, and a place for her handsome musician husband. But accepting the contract means abandoning the students at the homey studio Lee runs in L.A.'s Silver Lake district- and leaving behind four women whose friendships are suddenly more important to her than retirement benefits and a salary increase.

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 3/18

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find for this week is The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected.

This sounds fantastic. What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 3/11

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find for this week is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levitan. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.

Doesn't this sound fantastic? What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 3/4

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build. When Ramona’s soldier son-in-law is wounded in Afghanistan, her daughter, Sophia, races overseas to be at his side, leaving Ramona as the only suitable guardian for Sophia’s thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. Heartbroken, Katie feels that she’s being dumped again—this time on the doorstep of a woman out of practice with mothering. Ramona relies upon a special set of tools—patience, persistence, and the reliability of a good recipe—when rebellious Katie arrives. And as she relives her own history of difficult choices, Ramona shares her love of baking with the troubled girl. Slowly, Katie begins to find self-acceptance and a place to call home. And when a man from her past returns to offer a second chance at love, Ramona discovers that even the best recipe tastes better when you add time, care, and a few secret ingredients of your own.

Sounds good, right? What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 2/25

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Bennie Salazar, an aging punk rocker and record executive, and the beautiful Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs, never discover each other's pasts, but the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other people whose paths intersect with theirs in the course of nearly fifty years. A Visit from the Goon Squad is about time, about survival, about our private terrors, and what happens when we fail to rebound.

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds -- 2/18

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Happy Friday! My find this week is The Secret of Everything by Barbara O'Neal. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way down her list of goals to “fall in love and have a family.” A self-described rolling stone, Tessa leads hiking tours for adventurous vacationers–it’s a job that’s taken her around the world but never a step closer to home. Then a freak injury during a trip already marred by tragedy forces her to begin her greatest adventure of all. Located high in the New Mexico mountains, Las Ladronas has become a magnet for the very wealthy and very hip, but once upon a time it was the setting of a childhood trauma Tessa can only half remember. Now, as she rediscovers both her old hometown and her past, Tessa is drawn to search-and-rescue worker Vince Grasso. The handsome widower isn’t her type. No more inclined to settle down than Tessa, Vince is the father of three, including an eight-year-old girl as lost as Tessa herself. But Tessa and Vince are both drawn to the town’s most beloved eatery–100 Breakfasts–and to each other. For Tessa, the restaurant is not only the key to the mystery that has haunted her life but a chance to find the home and the family she’s never known.

I read The Lost Recipe of Happiness by Barbara O'Neal and really enjoyed it (click to read my review). Can't wait to read this one! What did you find this week?

Review -- Finny by Justin Kramon

Finny
by Justin Kramon
Random House, 2010
384 pages
*I purchased this book.

Summary (from Barnes and Noble): We meet Finny Short as an observant, defiant fourteen-year-old who can’t make sense of her family’s unusual habits: Her mother offers guidance appropriate for a forty-year-old socialite; her father quotes Nietzsche over pancakes. Finny figures she’s stuck with this lonely lot until she meets Earl Henckel, a boy who comes from an even stranger place than she does. Unhappy with Finny’s budding romance with Earl, her parents ship her off to Thorndon boarding school. But mischief follows Finny as she befriends New York heiress Judith Turngate, a girl whose charm belies a disquieting reckless streak. Finny’s relationships with Earl and Judith open her up to dizzying possibilities of love and loss and propel her into a remarkable adventure spanning twenty years and two continents. Justin Kramon has given us a wickedly funny odyssey with a moving and original love story at its core. Finny introduces us to an unforgettable heroine, a charmingly intricate world, and an uncommonly entertaining and gifted young novelist.

Review: When the reader first meets Finny, she is a scrappy sarcastic teenager that feels out of place within her own family. Then she meets Earl and the love she feels begins to change her and as the story continues a variety of events change the course of her life. The book is a great character driven novel and a surprisingly lovely love story. Though, at the heart, it is really a story about growing up and the people and places who influence how a person sees the world and themselves. The author has a wonderful writing style that just flows and the reader gets caught up in Finny's world. A really beautiful story that I could envision as a wonderful movie. Really beautiful, entertaining, and a fantastic read. Rating:****1/2 out of 5