REVIEW for The Mayo Clinic Diet Book

Thank you to Anna at FSB Associates for sending me a copy of this great book!

TITLE: The Mayo Clinic Diet

AUTHOR: Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud

GENRE: Health/Fitness

RATING: 4 Stars

First, I have to say that this is one of the most beautiful diet books I have ever seen. It is full of color and has some great pictures! It actually made me happy to just read the book - this was a great start for me! I am NOT a believer in fad diets - they don't work AND they are unhealthy for us. Fortunately, that is also the premise of The Mayo Clinic Diet.

This book clearly explains the reasons we get fat - and does so in a friendly user way - bypassing the boring scientific stuff and putting on a level we can all understand. The book starts off by easing you into losing 10 lbs in the first few weeks - by modifying one unhealthy behaviour at a time. Then, it continues by amending, tweaking and continuing these good eating/moving habits as a new lifestyle change that is permanent.

There is a lot of detail in this book - and lots of great pictures and tips. While there is no groundbreaking new information, it is all well presented and very, very inspiring.

There are a few recipes towards the back of the book, but really, this is really about modifying our lifestyles - instead of the quick diet fads that don't work. Loved, loved, this book.

I also received the "Journal" that goes with the book. The Journal is also beautiful and comes in spiral form, which is great for carrying to the gym. The only thing - there is actually too much information in the Journal. I like my Journals to be about recording your successes! which this one has - but there are also too many other things in the book. In this case, less would have been more.

Nonetheless, I am using the Journal and it is a good tool.

REVIEW for The Mindful Investor

A huge thank you goes out to Erika for sending me this great book!






TITLE: The Mindful Investor

AUTHORS: Maria Gonzalez and Graham Byron

GENRE: Personal Finance/Investments

RATING: 4 Stars




It has been said that one of the biggest problems with most people, when it comes to investing, is that they do it out of emotion instead of logic and business sense. The Mindful Investor tackles this very subject and is written specifically to help people become more serene and calm around anything involving the investment process.

This book is loaded with great wisdom - not about which shares to buy to make a quick buck, but rather encourages the reader to take a different view on the whole subject of investing - and stop doing it with the heart. Taking the drama out of investing is really what this book is about and it does extremely well.

I loved reading this book and even though I am currently happy with my investment and have no intention of making any major changes, I still found myself calmer after reading it! Great book.

REVIEW for Wherever Nina Lies

A great big thank you to Nikole for sending me this book!

TITLE: Wherever Nina Lies

AUTHOR: Lynn Weingarten

GENRE: YA

RATING: 3 Stars

I am not usually into YA mysteries - but this book is actually about alot more than just your basic "whodunn it" and was a read that I enjoyed. Nina has been gone for a few years and her sister Ellie is not dealing with it well - she has so many questions and no answers. It turns out that Ellie decides to try to find her missing sister and she will get some help from a guy she meets - who seems to share her pain.

What I liked most about this book was the strength in Ellie. This was a fun character to read about - she was smart and determined and at the same time, managed to keep her sense of humour. There was alot to like about this book, I liked the writing style and, of course, Ellie. I also liked the clear message this book is sending - do what you believe in - and never let someone stop you from getting to your truths. It is also about dealing with forgiveness, loss and sorrow.

What I did not like - I kind of did not "get" into the sudden revelations towards the last part of the book - it felt a little like a gimmick to me that this novel did not need. There was also some weird situations like how Ellie could simply take off like that, etc that bugged me a little bit. Overall though a good read.

REVIEW for The Secret of Your Name

A huge thank you goes out to Red Deer Press for sending me this great book and CD!




TITLE: The Secret of Your Name

AUTHOR: David Bouchard, Dennis Weber (Art), John Arcan (Music)

GENRE: Children

RATING: 4 Stars

I aboslutely love the books by Red Deer Press. While they are mainly aimed at children, these books are consistently beautifully illustrated and incredibly informative - always of the highest quality and The Secret of your Name is no exception.

This hardcover book actually comes with a CD - and takes an in-depth look at our heritage, mainly exploring the world of the Métis. Frankly, up to the time I read this book, I did not know much about the Métis- which really when you think about it, is a shame as they form such an important part of Canada and its history. Its scary to me that I know more about the history of the US than I know about my own country. The Secret of your Name takes a look at their world, exploring the music, their art and telling us their history - their background.

The illustrations are beautiful - full of rich colors and mesmerizing. The story is told in English and Michif.

What a beautiful book.

REVIEW for The Reincarnationist

Thank you to Adam at Harlequin for sending me this book!

TITLE: The Reincarnationist

AUTHOR: M.J. Rose

GENRE: Paranormal Thriller

RATING: 2 Stars

I have read a few of M.J. Rose's books and frankly, this one felt a little off to me, not to mention incredibly slow. While this book is supposed to be a bit of a paranormal thriller with our main character Josh having his mind and thoughts invaded by someone else's thoughts and memories, I found that I just could not get into the whole thing enough to care.

There are references to archeological finds that are supposed to be intertwined with his memories and we do get a bit of a history lesson, but overall, this book was just way too slow for me.

REVIEW for A Royal LIttle Pest Mine!

A big, big thank you goes out to the wonderful people at Fitzhenry & Whiteside for sending me this great little book!


TITLE: A Royal Little Pest Mine!

AUTHOR: Anita Reynolds
ILLUSTRATOR: Karen Roy

GENRE: Children

RATING: 4 Stars

Reading A Royal LIttle Pest Mine! was an absolute joy! I absolutely loved this little book - illustrated by Karen Roy and written by Anita Reynolds.The storyline about a little prince who has many toys and never wants to share his riches. The little prince meets Princess Ella and he expects to be able to play with her great toys (although he does not want to share his own toys). However, things don't work out quite the way he wants it to and he soon learns how painful it is when someone will not share with you.

I also liked the interaction between the female and the male - prince and princess - which was a definite nice touch to the storyline.

Done in a sensitive and touching way, the message comes across subtly never removing from the enjoyment of the story.

The illustrations are wonderful and full of color! I loved this little book.

REVIEW for Kiefer Sutherland - Living Dangerously

Thank you to the wonderful people at Transit Publishing for sending me this great book! I had been dying to read it!!!!

TITLE: Kiefer Sutherland - Living Dangerously

AUTHOR: Christopher Heard

GENRE: Biography

RATING: 4 Stars

http://www.articlealley.com/article_1391435_54.html

Kiefer Sutherland is a mystery to me and I wanted to find out more about him and what makes him tick so when I heard about a Montreal based publishing house releasing a biography on Sutherland, I immediately wanted to read the book.

Kiefer Sutherland: Living Dangerously is exactly the type of book I was looking for. From the prologue where the author, Christopher Heard states that he never writes a book on someone he has never met, to the engaging, informative and respectful tone of the storyline, there was absolutely nothing I did not like about this book.

Heard first explains his own personal encounters with Sutherland - then segways into Sutherland's youth and then basically discusses every movie Sutherland ever made. Some movies were covered in bigger detail of course, but I have to say that the author does a fine job of giving us a thorough overview of Sutherland's professional life - intermingled with events that were also happening in his private life.

If there is one negative comment that I would make is that I was hoping for a little bit more "personal" stuff - but overall, this is a minor exception to a very well written biography.

The author really hits his stride when he talks about Sutherland and "24". I loved the little "tidbits" he shares such as when Sutherland and his TV daughter had to tape a scene where they are talking on the telephone - but were really sitting only a few feet from each other.

The author does a great job of showing us the many sides of Sutherland - he can be an absolute pro when it comes to his professional life - but can also be an absolute horror when it comes to his personal life. Heard balances this off very well -
in the end, Sutherland is pretty much the way I thought he would be and thanks to this biography, I feel as though I know more than I use to.

I also liked that the author always uses a tone of respect when talking about any person in this story. He is balanced and respectful rather than negative, sarcastic or overly "fan" like - I also thought this added a touch of seriousness to the book. I hate reading biographies when they are written by authors who are so obviously "in awe" of their subject matter - this is not the case here.

If you want a down to earth, engaging and entertaining biography on Sutherland, this is the book for you!

REVIEW for Love Struck

A big, big thank you goes out to author Chantel Simmons - a wonderful Canadian voice!

TITLE: Love Struck

AUTHOR: Chantel Simmons

GENRE: Chick Lit

RATING: 4 Stars

I am the hugest fan of Chantel's first book Stuck in Downward Dog!!! so it was with huge excitement that I dug into Love Struck. I am not disclosing any spoilers that are not already on the back cover.

I love the premise of the book - a young "with it" image consultant finds out, in the most hilariously possible way" that her husband has been cheating on her. But before she can confront him, she is called by the hospital and informed that her husband was hit by lightning and can't remember what happened - over the course of the last few weeks/months - which means he does not remember the affair (or does he?).

The author chooses to walk a very fine line - in using a very delicate and painful subject matter, but twisting it on its ear with humor. I am not sure how she managed it, but it worked.While I was seriously upset, on behalf of the main character, about her cheating husband, I also found myself kind of liking the "new man he becomes" and actually finding myself willing to "gasp!" give him a second chance.

One of the things that I realized is that i was not always a fan of the main character Poppy who, through, the whole event, somehow keeps vascillating between beeing helpless and annoying but also showing some definite "I am woman, hear me roar" type of attitude.

Its interesting to see how she reacts to the affair - mainly by turning the problem onto herself and trying to look more like "the other woman" which seriously and hilariously backfires on her for the most part.

Throughout the whole storyline, I kept wondering if hubby really did not remember of if he was faking it as a way of saving their relationshp.There is alot going on here and I loved it! Nobody is exactly who they seem and nothing is clear cut and ovbvious.

There is a tone of melacholy behind the whole storyline, but there is also some seriously funny episodes.

This was a great, great read! Another winner!

REVIEW for Checkout

A big thank you goes out to author Anna Sam for sending me a copy of her book!


TITLE: Checkout

AUTHOR: Anna Sam

GENRE: Memoir

RATING: 4 Stars



I love reading books written by people who share their experiences while working at a particular job. Checkout by Anna Sam is exactly this type of book. I am always amazed at all the behind the scenes "goings on" in a particular job or field. I mean, I see people working in the supermarket every day and, to be honest, never really gave alot of thought to all that goes behind making a "good cashier". Its like I go to the store and miraculously "poof" someone is there to help me. So, I absolutely loved reading about the stuff that goes on that the average customer never gets to see, hear or experience.

Author Anna Sam does a fine job of telling us, without too many boring details, the finer (and less fine) ins and outs of working on the checkout counter. She is very witty and each experience is written with a healthy dose of dry humor which works perfectly with the stories she is sharing.

The only thing I had a bit of an issue with is the non-continuation of the storyline. Sam jumps from one experience to the next without much of a set up and it always took me a few seconds to get into the next story (or chapter) - still, this proved to be a funny, entertaining and oh my god! I will look at my supermarket people totally differently from now on - type of read.

IN MY MAILBOX

I am not sure why I don't participate in this meme more often! its one of my favorites as I love to read other people's blogs to find out what they got! - it is a great way of adding to my "to buy" list of books!

In the last two weeks, not much came to my door - which I hate :) I mean I am getting really spoiled with these weekly book arrivals - so I am kind of like a junkie without a fix (or in my case) a compulsive overeater without a hot fudge sundae! So bring on the books - and I got some great ones this week!

Thanks to: Alea at http://aleapopculture.blogspot.com/ and Kristi at http://www.thestorysiren.com/ for starting this meme.

Here is a list of the books I got this week:

On Monday:
- The Curable Romantic - from the publisher for review
- A Match Made in High School- from author Kristin Walker for review
Tuesday:
Nothing
Wednesday:
- Chocolate Wishes - from author Trisha Ashley for review
Thursday:
- The Complete History of
Why I hate her - from author Jennifer Jacobson for review
- Kiefer Sutherland -
Living Dangerously from the publisher for review
Money 911- from the publisher for review
Friday:
TO BE DETERMINED!!!

I am quite excited by all of these books!!!! But I have to say that the Kiefer Sutherland book is a bit of a surprise. I like him and I am thrilled to read a biography on his life (since he is Canadian) but what makes it more fun is that the publisher is actually a Montreal based company. WOW! that is R-A-R-E let me tell you. So I am very grateful to them for being so kind and sending me the book!

REVIEW for False Convictions

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending this book to me!







TITLE: False Convictions

AUTHOR: Tim Green

GENRE: Thriller

RATING: 4 Stars




I am a big fan of Tim Green - this guy knows how to write a thriller and False Convictions rates right up there. Green has brought back Cassey Jordan and she is a delightful mixture of sarcasm and idealism - she is fighting for the underprivileged and is approached by Robert Graham - he has lots of money and is asking Jordan to investigate a murder which happened in 1989 and where Dwayne Hubbard was jailed. Although she has her reservations, she agrees.

As she digs deeper and deeper into the old case, she realizes that perhaps Hubbard was falsely accused. At the same time, journalist Jacke Carlson is invetigating Graham and asks Jordan for help. While Jordan tries to save the life of an innocent man, she is wondering more and more why Graham would be so interested and involved in such a case - all the while being pushed by Carlson. Carlson and Jordan actually are a good couple - they are interesting and i found myself involved in their theories and investigation.

There are lots of twists and the plot moves at a great clip - which, to me, is incredibly important in a thriller. Some of the events felt a tad contrived, but I didn't really care because I was so heavily invested in the storyline.

From the first sentence, you can feel as though nobody is truly who they appear to be and Graham, while I could not get a handle on completely, I kind of knew had some deep dark secrets.

This is a wonderful thriller - I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say it was perfect.

REVIEW for The Life of Glass

Thank you to HarperCollins Teen for sending me this great, great read!!

TITLE: The Life of Glass

AUTHOR: Jillian Cantor

GENRE: YA

RATING: 5 Stars




I have said this many times over the course of my reviews, but YA are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful selection of top quality authors writing books aimed at them. When I was younger, we certainly did not have the wide selection and the quality that is found in today's YA books. I particularly enjoy the fact that both publisheres and authors do not shy away from writing books on difficult subjects - while doing it in a honest and compassionate manner - I certainly could have used a book such as The Life Of Glass when I was 14! This book touches on a subject matter that is extremely close to my heart.

Reading this book brought back alot of memories for me and I could feel Melissa's pain and at times, her complete feeling of disconnect from the world (a necessary move in order NOT to feel all the pain inside). Melissa is smart and has been dealt a huge blow -at a very young age - and is trying to cope and "deal" in the only way she feels she can - by reading her dad's journals. However, as with all things in life - there is a reason behind her dad's death - and Melissa will slowly, but surely learn her life lessons (those that life is teaching her and those that her dad wants her to know).

This book could easily have been just an average book, which eventually ends up in "sugar land" with everybody living happily ever after without a care in the world - but thankfully, the author's wonderful quality of writing and obvious love for her characters AND her storyline made this book, instead, a true gem.

I loved reading this book - it is a mature, sensitive look at grief and at how we go on after we have been ripped apart. But more importantly, it inspires us to "forge ahead" and to believe!

I LOVED, LOVED this one (sniff! sniff!).

REVIEW for He Crashed so I Crashed Him Back

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending me this book!

TITLE: He Crashed me So I Crashed Him Back

AUTHOR: Mark Bechtel

GENRE: Memoir/Sports

RATING: 3 Stars

First of all, I have to say how much I loved the title of this book! I felt as though the author was sticking out his tongue at someone and saying "la, la, la, la,la, la".

This book is actually a very thorough and informative look at one of the world's biggest attractions (for men at least) - Nascar racing!!! Yes, for all of you women who loose your men to the TV set every weekend, you can read up on how and when this race actually began.

Living in Montreal, where the Grand Prix is such a big deal, I have always been a little curious at the whole "race car" fascination. To me, its just a bunch of noisy cars going round and round and round. But, yet, the birth of Nascar in 1979 was quite interesting. I think what I liked the best was how all the players such as Bobbie and Donnie Allison and Richrad and Kyle Petty actually contributed to the importance of that first race - while keeping their own little personality traits and defaults alive and well. This obviously is where the title of the book comes from.

This is not a read for everybody. But, if you are interested in how things start and seem to take on a momentum of their own, this book is an interesting read.

Why do I think this one will be bought mainly by men? or for men?

REVIEW for Lunch in Paris

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending this book to me!







TITLE: Lunch In Paris

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Bard

GENRE: Memoir

RATING: 3 Stars


I am a little picky about memoirs set in Paris - being a French Quebecer - basically, Quebec French and Paris French are world's apart, but yet, we are constantly being compared anyway! which makes me NOT really want to read about all things French. However, this book had such a cute and fun premise that I thought "what the heck".

First of all I have to say that I thought this book dragged A LOT! From the first pages where our author explains to us how she met her husband - there are pages and pages of information that frankly, I could have done without. Although I have to admit that some of the stories were cute and it was interesting to me how Americans have this love affair with Paris - and it was obvious that the author was desperately trying to incorporate herself in the French world - which, trust me, is not all that its cracked up to be.

The writing was partly interesting and partly slowwwwww. I got through the book, mainly because I was looking forward to reading the "cute" parts of the book - otherwise not so much.

REVIEW for Just Call me Rita

Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of her book!

TITLE: Rita's Diary

GENRE: Chick Lit (sort of)

RATING: 3 Stars

I really did not know what to expect when I received a copy of this book. I have to say that the cover was a bit of a turn off - I am not sure if it was supposed to be sexy, but it was more creepy than anything else.

As I started reading this "diary" type book, I immediately realized that this is not for the faint of heart - i.e. this diary is explicit in almost every way and I can see how it could be taken as offensive to some people, however, since it takes a lot to offend or shock me, I decided to continue reading it.

Amazingly, I was kind of entertained by this book. The entries are all written in the 1980's and while I was in my twenties by then, reading some of this stuff did bring up some memories (albeit, mine were on the mild side) of what it was like to live in that decade.

Truly, the 80's was the decade of the decadent, the self-indulged and the "me, me, me" and as you read the entries in this book, you will, no doubt, remember how liberating and crazy it actually was to be hip and young during that period.

Someone once told me that the 80's was the decade of excess and certainly, this is true for the main character in this book.

This girl did it all and was not afraid to tell us about it! Some of it seemed somewhat gratuitous to me and a little pushed for the sake of "shock value", but I gotta say that overall, I actually thought this book was a great stroll through memory lane and through a decade that I am happy I don't have to live through again (but it was fun to remember it a little).

REVIEW for Spin

I am thrilled to have been asked to be part of the blog tour for this book! Not only is the author Canadian - she is actually from Montreal and works at McGill University!

TITLE: Spin

AUTHOR: Catherine McKenzie

http://catherinemckenzie.com/

GENRE: Fiction

RATING: 3.5 Stars

http://browseinside.harpercollins.ca/index.aspx?isbn13=9781554687589

Spin was a very interesting read for me. I am not a huge fan of contemporary women's fiction - as I much prefer chick lit. Somehow though Spin found itself squarely in the middle of both descriptions in my opinion. Not "chiklitty" enough for me, but not all that contemporary "fictionny" either.

The book opens with the main character finally getting a chance at her dream job - working for her favorite music magazine - so...... what does she do? gets talked into going drinking the night before the big interview. While I realize that this event sets the tone for the entire novel, I felt myself completely disinterested in Katie after that. Although this would be something one of my chick lit characters would do, there would be alot more silly humor surrounding it which would have made it, somehow for me, more acceptable. Nonetheless, I did continue reading the book as I really liked the style of writing, if not the main character.

As it turns out, Katie does not, of course, get the job, but she does get an opportunity to "write" about the big "it" girl of the moment who is heading for rehab. So, of course, Katie manages to get into the rehab to spy on the girl and report back. I also had some problems with this - using the rehab as a premise to "spy" on someone. So, I was having some serious problems with the premise of this novel!!!

However, as I kept reading, I discovered quite a few things. One of them being that the author treats addiction/recovery and rehab with utmost respect. It is not being dissed, but rather, she describes and talks alot about addiction and why and how it affects people. I was starting to sit up and take notice now - and....surprisingly, the main character actually shows some backbone AND some personal integrity as the book progresses.

By the middle of the book, I was completely hooked! The writing is great and the storyline is fulfilling and touching. I am so happy that I continued reading this one.

Its still not chick litty enough for me, but I got to say that I thoroughly did enjoy reading it.

Here are the tour dates for this blog tour:

I will be doing a blog tour from January 11th to February 19th, 2010
I will be guest blogging on the following sites:
January 12, 2010: Peeking Between the Pages
January 15, 2010: Serendipitous Readings
January 22, 2010: The Book Chick
January 26, 2010: A Bookworm’s World
January 28, 2010: Pencil-Pushers and Ink-Splotches
February 2, 2010: Cindy’s Love of Books
February 4, 2010: Bookshipper
February 16, 2010: Imago Books Fantasy Realm
February 19, 2010: Guest on #Litchat on Twitter @4-5 p.m.

REVIEW for This Charming Man

Thank you goes out to Penguin Book Club.ca for sending me a copy of this book!

TITLE: This Charming Man

AUTHOR: Marian Keyes

GENRE: Chick Lit

RATING: 3 Stars

Marion Keyes has been writing about women and love for quite so time and it is obvious that she has her pulse on what make women tick. In This Charming Man, Keyes once again manages to bring us a story of 4 women who embark on a story of self discovery and growth by dating and having a relatinship with the wrong man. Unfortunately or fortunately, broken relationships often help a woman grow and discover more of what she is looking for (or not looking for).

In this novel, we find 4 women who have all dated this apparently suave and fast talking man - while his public image may be pure, these women truly know what kind of man he really is. What i liked about this novel is that although 4 women have dated this man, they are all very different and yet, very similar at the same time. Although they have all had bad experiences with him, somehow each of their experiences is directly tied to him - but also to their own flaws as well as their expectations and dreams.

The novel is all very well tied together in that these women all made me root for them, at the same time being quite conscious of the fact that each has somehow needed this broken relationship to make themselves richer in the end. One of the things that I don't like about Keyes novels is that they are generally too long and this one is no exception.

I did enjoy this novel, although I thought that the story could have been told in a shorter version of the book.

Overall a good read, but not the strongest Keyes book.

REVIEW for The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy

Once again, I owe a debt of thank you to Lori at Fitzhenry & Whiteside for sending me this poignant book.

TITLE: The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy

AUTHOR: Jill Maclean

GENRE: YA

RATING: 4 Stars

Yes, I am a person who likes to pick her books, in part, by their cover and I have to say that this book has a beautiful cover. However, the cover is not the only beautiful thing about this story.

MacLean has managed to hit on every front when it comes to storytelling. I loved The Present of Prinny Murphy. We are introduced to the main character Prinny. Her past hasn't been that great and life does not look like its getting any easier in the present. Her mom is an alcoholic struggling with her addiction, she is losing her best friend to "a girl" and she is being victimize by bullies at school.I felt for this little girl. It seems that no matter where she turned, she could not catch a break.

But, I loved that this story is one of hope, the message is all too clear - "never give up". Indeed, while this wonderful character desperately tries to rise above all the crap that is currently thrown at her, life finally decides to giver her a helping hand in the guise of a caring teacher.

What follows is simply a story of possibility and hope that our Prinny gets to discover and we are along for the beautiful ride.

I loved this poignant and very touching story.

REVIEW for Scarlett Fever

Another wonderful read, thanks to Nikole at Scholastic Books!






TITLE: Scarlett Fever

AUTHOR: Maureen Johnson

GENRE: YA

RATING: 4 Stars




This book is part of the Suite Scarlett series - which is a book I saw at my local bookstore, but for some reason, never picked up. So, I was a little worried about reading Scarlett Fever first. I need not have worried, as Scarlett Fever can easily be read "out of sequence".

Why? Because these books are highly character driven which means that once you start knowing the characters, the book is a charm to read. This is not to say that the plotline is not there, because it is, however, what really moves this book are the wonderful characters. Although I liked our main character, I was mostly enthralled by how ALL the characters play off each other and with each other.

My favorite character is definitely Mrs. Amberson. Scarlett is now her assistant (and this alone is worth reading the book as silly, silly things happen to Scarlett that will make you cringe, laugh and laugh some more). All the while Scarlett is trying to get through school, forget a romance and find a new romance. Lots going on!!

But as I mentioned, what drives this story is the respect and love that the characters have for each other. There is also alot of humor in this storyline and I loved the interaction between Scarlett and Mrs. Amberson who is quite the character.

I now have to buy the other book in this series to catch up.