GUEST REVIEWER for Daughter of Smoke and Bone

A big thank you to Little Brown for sending me a copy of this book.

TITLE:              Daughter of Smoke and Bone

AUTHOR:        Laini Taylor

GENRE:           YA

RATING:         5 stars (according to Sharon)

My friend Sharon was very excited about reviewing this book - so, here is her review (hint: she loved it!).

First and foremost, I would like to thank Tina, my coolest friend for giving me this book to read. OH MY GOD! I will try my best to do this book justice, because it simply was so good, I can’t find all the words.

The world that Laini creates, with Karou’s chimaera “family” and the angels (Seraphim) that are at war with them, is at once beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Who is the “beast”, you will ask yourself. She uses such powerful descriptive, I could see Brimstone, with Kishmish atop one of his great ram’s horn, so clearly in my mind. The love that she has for her family is beautiful.

But what are the teeth for that he sends her out on missions to get? And why is her hair blue? She has tattoos on her hands, but why? You will get the answers, at the end, but till then you are glued to this book. All I can really say is, if you want a book that you will never forget, and then cry because you have to wait for book 2, this is the one for you. Excuse me while I go get another Kleenex....sniff sniff.

REVIEW for You Have Seven Messages

Thank you to the wonderful Random House Canada for sending me this book.

TITLE:            You Have Seven Messages

AUTHOR:       Stewart Lewis

GENRE:          YA

RATING:        3.5 Stars

I enjoyed reading You Have Seven Messages as it was an easy read. I also like the writing style which was down to earth and to the point.  I really don’t enjoy books that are so flowery that you somehow lose the plotline as you try to get through the text, so this was definitely not (fortunately) an issue here.  However, I have to say that I have to admit to being a little bit disappointed with the storyline.

Considering the subject matter, which I thought was a brilliant idea and, when you think about it, could not have been written 20 years ago (no technology) I was thinking this book would be sad and highly introspective.  It is not really and this is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Firstly, I think I set myself up with this one – expecting the book (and the author) to take a different route.  Secondly, the author does a great job of keeping us (me) engaged, through some cleverly developed characters and through the relationships that Luna keeps after her mother’s death.

Yet, I was hoping for some more ‘sobering’ and ‘deep’ moments where Luna discovers a bunch of things about her mother (and, in the process, about herself) which would have given this book a more personal feel.

Nonetheless, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read – simply not the one I would have written.

IN MY MAILBOX - Week ending September 24, 2011

For the last few weeks, my mailbox has been pretty empty.  Well, this changed dramatically this week as it was a week of gifts and more gifts!! Thank you to all the authors and publishers who so generously replenished my "to be read" pile :)

From the author for review:

• 31 dates in 31 days by Tamara Duricka Johnson (for review)

From the publisher for review:

• It's Classified by Nicolle Wallace (for review)
• Artic Land by Vladyana Krykorka (for review)
• Red is Best by Kathy Stinson and Robin Baird Lewis (for review)
• Double or Nothing by Dennis Foon (for review)

From Abe books:

• Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a Hoader by Corinne Grant

Books purchased at Barnes & Nobles in Burlington, Vermont

• Crackback by John Coy
• Fat Cat by Robin Brande (read this one already, but wanted to read it again)
• Life in the Fat Lane (see a pattern here?)  (have already read this one but wanted to reread it).
• Rescue Me DVD The Complete First Season
• Rescue me DVD The Sixth and the Final Season.  I don't normally buy DVDs as I don't usually want to rewatch them over and over again - but Rescue Me (one of the best shows on TV) is the exception.  I am slowly building my Rescue Me collection and I was happy to find season 1 for $14.99 in Burlington.  Of course, I had to purchase the Sixth and final seasons as well as it is not yet available in Canada and I REALLY wanted to see the final episodes.

Ramblings and musings

Usually I reserve my blog for book reviews, but I have been wanting to ramble and muse about books for a while now, so I thought today was a good day to do so :)

I love to read, always have.  I have always considered my love of reading as the greatest gift I have ever gotten and, of course, I have read countless numbers of books in my life to date and I plan on pursuing this passion for the rest of my life.

However, I have had some concerns in the last few years about books and the publishing world in general.


Firstly, I am firmly on the side of those who DESPISE ebooks and ereaders of ALL KINDS.  Be it Kindle, Kobo, IPads - I don't care.  If you have to plug it in or power it up and charge it, in order to read it, then I don't want it.  NOTHING beats the feel and smell of a physical book and this will never change for me.


Unfortunately, I am seeing more and more authors and publishing houses "going to the dark side" with ebooks.  While I can see that the industry is trending in this manner, it does not mean that I have to like it. Can you imagine a used bookstore loaded with "virtual books" - I don't even want to think about it.


Secondly, over the course of the last 3 years or so, I have seen a very disturbing trend in "book genres" - mainly books on dystopia and/or dead things that like to come back to life.  I just don't get it! what is the fascination with reading about vampires, werewolves, zombies and people who die but don't stay that way?  and what is up with all this dystopia? These books, for the most part, are so depressing.


I guess what I have an issue with is not so much the fact that these books exist, but rather that there are sooooo many of them - it seems as though so many authors are jumping on the bandwagon, especially in YA.  The result?  visiting the bookstore with the hope of finding something OTHER than these types of books to read is getting to be a futile thing.

I can't tell you how mad I get when I am desperately looking for a new book to read, only to discover that there are tons and tons of new releases geared towards zombies and dystopia and almost nothing else!!!


What about the rest of us???????


I know that many readers (mainly those who enjoy these genres) will vehemently disagree with me - but what can I say?  I don't like zombies!!!!!!!!


So, dear publishers AND authors, please give us more choices, pretty please.

REVIEW for L.A. Mental

A huge thank you to HarperCollins Canada for sending me this wonderful book.
TITLE:                L.A. Mental

AUTHOR:          Neil McMahon

GENRE:             Thriller

RATING:            4 Stars

I love, love Neil McMahon and it seems as though he had not released a new book in ages.  Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to read and review this one.

L.A. Mental is a thriller - dealing with a very scary possibility - what if someone could invent a way to control your mind and your emotions - cultlike, by simply giving you something to sniff?  Yep, it is actually kind of scary and this novel made me freak out a little bit, as I had never thought of this as a possibility.

The main character Tom is likeable and is fun to follow, as he tries to unravel the reality behind the violence aimed at his brother Nick.  The storyline develops at a quick pace and McMahon isn't one for useless descriptions and boring details - which I adore.  I found myself involved in the plotline and wondering what would happen next which is something I always get with novels by McMahon.

Because the story is so "possible" I found the whole plotline engaging and just a tad creepy.  Overall this is a wonderful thriller - except for a few things.  Firstly, the book is too short.  The ARC I had was only 290 pages, which for a thriller with acientific basis is not enough time to set up the story, clearly develop it and end it to my satisfaction.  The other thing is that, while the story kept me interested, it was not as intense as it could/should have been.

Having said that, I still loved this one and will be anxiously awaiting the next one from McMahon.

IN MY MAILBOX for week ending September 17, 2011

These posts are very easy to write - once again this week, I received absolutely NO BOOKS!!! arghghghgghg!

SIMON & SCHUSTER Canada Book Event and Book Review

While Montreal is known for lots of things, book events is not one of them!


This is why I am thrilled to announce that Simon & Schuster Canada and author PJ Bracegirdle have gotten together to present a book signing in The Joy of Spooking series!

LOCATION:  Shaika Cafe, 5526 Sherbrooke Street West


DATE:             Saturday, September 17th, 2011 7:00 p.m.

COME JOIN US IF YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOK REVIEW:

I have to admit that i had never heard of this series before, but found myself falling completely in love with both the story AND the characters.  What a gem of a book.  While it endeavors to be "spooky", it is full of fun characters that I simply adored.  The story has a bit of everything - a nemesis, a haunted mansion and a "famous" person that turns out to be anything but!

I loved it and it is a perfect read for your child - no bad dreams afterward, only a satisfying story. 

A Remembrance of 9/11 and A Decade of Hope

A huge thank you to Viking Adult for sending me this book!

TITLE:             A Decade of Hope

AUTHOR:       Dennis Smith

GENRE:          Non fiction

RATING:         5 stars

Today is a sad day for most of us in the world.  I am not American and I was lucky enough to not have known any of the victims of 9/11, but I remember how horrified I felt as I watched helplessly what was happening.

I have not read many books on 9/11 as I have always felt that I did not want to know more than what I had seen on that day, but A Decade of Hope sounded very uplifting and I felt that, 10 years later, I was in need of some positive about this event.

I loved Decade of Hope.  Of course, I don't love the "very" reason this book came into existence, but I felt a little bit of peace as I read some of the stories, realizing just how resilient the family and friends of the victims were/are.

Written with love, respect and with a glimmer of hope for the future, this book is a gem of hope.

REVIEW for The Whole Package

A big thank you goes out to Penguin and the Berkley Publishing Group for so kindly sending me a copy of this wonderful book.

TITLE:                The Whole Package

AUTHOR:           Cynthia Elligsen

GENRE:              Contemporary fiction

RATING:            4 Stars

I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of this author before. However, since I am a huge fan of "chick lit" I wanted to read The Whole Package.

While I can't say that this is your usual "chick lit" story as it is more contemporary fiction, I will say that it had a healthy dose of "chick lit" humor, backed up by three very solid true to life experiences that made reading this book a joy.

I won't bother going into all of the "background" but rather, will start off by saying how much I loved reading about Doris, Cheryl and Jackie - the three main characters. They are all in their 40's now and have each lived "their" own lives, yet, none of it has come out the way they had planned. In fact, if you ask them, its all become one jumbled mess and certainly, none of them is living the lives they had dreamed of.

Enter - the friendship AND the idea! Opening a restaurant that caters to women.

What I loved best about this book was the feeling I got as I read each sentence - that life can be tough and can easily kick you in the teeth (not to mention derail your best laid plans) but that there are people around you who have been put there to help you get through the tough parts of life.

This book is about finding yourself, finding your path, but most of all discovering that you don't have to do it alone, that friends are there through the good and the bad.

The writing is touching with the perfect dose of humor. I never felt as though the dialogue was over the top or silly and in fact, I found myself re-reading a few passages as I thought they were truly "beautifull said".

Another bonus for me was the beautiful cover. I have to admit to judging a book by its cover and the cover for The Whole Package was simple but very, very eye catching. I thought it worked perfectly with the storyline.

A great read.

IN MY MAILBOX - Week Ending September 10, 2011

This is going to be a very quick In My Mailbox.

For the first time in a verrrrrrrryyyyyyyy long time, I actually received no books this week (:

REVIEW for Tout Sweet, Hanging Up my High Heels for a New Life in France

Thank you to Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

TITLE:                   Tout Sweet, Hanging Up my High Heels for a New Life in France

AUTHOR:              Karen Wheeler

GENRE:                 Memoir

RATING:                3 Stars

I love reading these types of books - those that make you feel as though anything is possible, if only you are willing to think outside the box and take a chance.

While I have never been particularly attracted to France as a destination, I am also quite amazed by the number of people who seem to settle there.  Maybe its because I can speak French every day of my life, but the whole French thing is kind of over for me.  Nonetheless, I have to admit that France always makes a great background for these types of books, once, of course, I have passed the point of thinking "how can they afford to go and live there?".

Tout Sweet (love the clever title) is fun to read.  The description of France and all of its glory is very obvious in the storyline.  However, for me, this story fell flat and I think it is because of the writing style.  I just found it uneventful and kind of boring.  While I am not a big fan of lots and lots of detail and an even lesser fan of flowery prose, I think this book could have used a bit of that. 

The writing just could not keep me interested which was a shame because I know the author had an entertaining tale to tell.

IN MY MAILBOX - Week Ending September 3, 2011

YIKES!  September is already here!!!

Here is what came in my house this week:

From the publisher for review:

• Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein (for review)
• You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis (for review)
• Falling for Me by Anna David (for review)

From Chapters bookstore:

• Epic Fail by Claire Lazebnik
• Spiced by Dalia Jurgensen

From Abe books:

• What Came First by Carol Snow

REVIEW for Dreams of the Dead

Thank you! thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book.

TITLE:                      Dreams of the Dead
AUTHOR:                Perri O'Shaughnessy

GENRE:                  Thriller

RATING:                4 Stars

I have been reading the Nina Reilly series since the very first book.  I have to admit that I actually did stop buying them for a while as I thought that the series was starting to feel stale to me. 

Having said that though, I found myself 'in the mood' to read up on Nina and her gang and was thrilled to get this copy from Simon & Schuster.

I loved, loved it.  Getting back into Nina's world felt like a special treat and I realized that I missed the entire cast of characters.

In Dreams of the Dead, Nina has to face the father of the man who killed her husband (although I have to say that I was never a fan of the whole 'Nina husband' storyline).    It sems as though confronting this man won't be the end of it, especially after he informs Nina that his son may very well be alive, living in Brazil and staking a claim to his father's fortune.

While Nina does not want to believe it, she fears for the safety of her family and what follows is a wonderful thriller - taking us on a wild ride to discover the truth - one weird murder at a time.

The clues are there and Nina is following completely unsure of where they will lead her.

I loved this storyline for two main reasons.  a)  I love the Nina Reilly cast of characters (although Sandi can be a tad annoying at times) and b)  I just could not figure out where the authors where taking this story until the very end - which is excatly how I love my thrillers!!!

Extremely well written and more importantly, well paced - there is no giveaway here - you will seriously be wondering what is going on and if Nina will finally see the end.