REVIEW for Unnaturally Green

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

TITLE:               Unnaturally Green
BY:                     Felicia Ricci

GENRE:           Memoir

RATING:          4 Stars

I love reading memoirs that are written with a funny twist and Unnaturally Green was the perfect story.

Author Felicia Ricci has written a delicious little romp into the world of theater with all of its ups and downs.  One of the best things about these types of stories is that, while you are discovering all the author’s secrets, you also get to ‘listen in’ on the secrets of those around her – which is a lot of fun.

Although I have never had a huge curiosity about the theater and what goes on behind the scenes, I felt as though I was a little bird, perched in my hiding place, snooping (love it) on all the secret happenings that we going on in Ricci’s life and it was a blast.  

From the (sometimes) hellish stage experiences to the somewhat funny AND convoluted love events of her life, she is not shy about inviting us into her world – the good and the bad.

Her honesty is refreshing and the writing style is just the way I like it – down to earth and engaging.

The story of Ricci’s life is interesting and the way she shares it with us is inviting.  The only negative?  I HATED the cover of this book – but don’t let it fool you, the content is absolutely worth it.

REVIEW for I'M Not Her

Thank you to Kay at Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of this book.

TITLE:         I'm Not Her

AUTHOR:   Janet Gurtler

GENRE:      Contemporary novel

RATING:    4 Stars

Okay, I don't normally read books that are so difficult to read because I hate crying when I am reading.

However, I had heard so many good things about this book (all deserved) that I decided to give it a try. I thought this was both a tough and touching read.

The book deals with "the Big C" - which in itself petrifies me. The author introduces us to two sisters and we open the chapter with Tess and Kristina - who are polar opposites but are (for the most part) loving sisters.

With the eternity of youth, it seems as though they have their whole world ahead of them - until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer and nothing is the same again.

This book focuses on how the entire family deals with the illness, all the while incorporating the ups and downs of teenagers and the things they go through.

Like I said, this is a hard book to read, but the touching moments make it all worth it.

Beautifully written.

IN MY MAILBOX - for week ending November 26, 2011

The week started off very well with a brunch hosted by Nikole from Scholastic Canada!  I was thrilled with the books she gave me.  Here is a list of all the books that came into my home this week.

From Nikole at Scholatic Canada (for review):

• The Boy Project by Kami Kinard
• What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman
• The List by SiobhanVivian

From Abe Books:

• Just Another Manic Mum Day by Mink Eliott

For my Kindle:

• The Brenda Diaries by Margo Candela

REVIEW for Creep

Thank you to the awesome Anneliese at Simon & Schuster Canada.

TITLE:              Creep

AUTHOR:         Jennifer Hillier

GENRE:            Thriller/Suspense

RATING:           4 Stars


I received Creep through the publicist at Simon & Schuster who sent me the book as a "get well soon" gift because I broke my foot and ran out of books to read.

For some reason, this book never registered on my "book radar" which is kind of odd because it is definitely one of the bes thrillers/suspense I have read in the last 10 years.

The book opens with our main character, a teacher and (oh yeah!) a sex addict who is trying to remove herself from a sticky sexual relationship she has been having with someone in her class. She has decided to accept her boyfriend's marriage proposal and thinks that all she has to say is "its over".

Unfortunately, it becomes apparent, very quickly that this relationships is not going to go ahead quietly. In fact, there may or may not be pictures/video of the affair and we soon realize that the student is hardly harmless.

What follows is a definitely creepy, creepy story of stalking, harrassment, fear and murder! Not necessary in that order. I think what made this book so enjoyable for me was that the entire premise was extremely possible. It is very easy to find yourself in a sexual situation with someone that you THOUGHT you knew - and you really didn't.

The story moves at a very quick pace and I found myself engrossed and turning the pages very quickly to find out what would happen next. I really hated both main characters as I thought that neither had very redeeming qualities and kind of deserved each other, in some ways.

The only negative, is that I thought the writing was, at times stilted and could have flowed just a tad better. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought the title was perfect.

If you are looking for a suspense filled, scary and totally creepy book, this is the one for you.

REVIEW for A Year Straight

A big thank you goes out to Andie from Seal Press for having so kindly sent me a copy of this book!

TITLE:               A Year Straight

AUTHOR:         Elena Azzoni

GENRE:           Memoir

RATING:          4 Stars

Reading A Year Straight brought out an interesting mixture of emotions for me.

I have always admired people who can write their life story honestly.  I can only imagine how difficult it must be to expose your life in that way – to let your readers into your most intimate thoughts and emotions and I can truthfully tell you that My Year Straight is definitely one of the most honest books I have ever read.

I love the way the author tells us, right up front, that she is a lesbian, all the while having developed a crush on her (male) yoga teacher.  This, of course, triggers a series of questions – namely, how does she really feel about men?

This is the jumping off point for an ‘experiment’ of sorts, where she decides to ‘date’ men for a while to see if the yoga teacher was simply a fluke.

From this point on, we are privy to the author’s frankly (for the most part) disastrous dating experiences with men.  She often finds herself ‘partying’ with her female friends and sleeping with men and compares these events openly – mainly realizing that being with women, for the most part, is wayyyyy easier on many, many levels.

This book was extremely interesting and entertaining to me because of the juxtaposition of spending time with women and men – i.e. is it truly ‘greener’ on the other side?  I believe that this is a question that many women ask themselves I believe and this book gives us a very interesting take on the answer.

There is a fair amount of sexual descriptions (which is fine) and a lot of funny stories.  The writing is also very engaging and often made me feel as though I was ‘privy’ to some great inside scoops (my favorite).

The ending totally surprised me – but I will leave that as a surprise!

Loved this book.

Montreal Book Bloggers meet up with author Cecil Castellucci and publicist Nikole from Scholastic Canada

The week started off very well with a brunch for the Montreal Book Bloggers which was hosted by the wonderful Nikole from Scholastic who was in Montreal for the Salon du Livre.  It was great to see Nikole again who lives in Toronto!  and who invited author Cecil Castelluci to join us!


Cecil is originally from Montreal, but has been living in L.A., although she has never forgotten her Montreal roots.  Her newest book First Day on Earth has been released:

We had a great time - chatting, taking pictures and getting the "inside" scoops from the perspective of an author and a publisher.


Here are a few pictures


Nikole and I:

Cecil and I:

A cool group shot:

Thank you, thank you Nikole and Scholastic Canada.

IN MY MAILBOX - for week ending November 19, 2011

Wow! another week has already gone by.  Its almost December ackckckckck!

From the publisher for review:

• Fever by Lauren DeStefano (for review);

From Amazon.com:

• Sophie & Carter by Chelsea Fine

For a blog tour:

• 5 Stages of Grief by Bethany Ramos

For my Kindle:

• DancerGirl by Carol M. Tanzman (from NetGalley)

REVIEW for Falling for Me

Thank you to the wonderful Harper Collins Canada for so kindly (and quickly!) sending this book to me!

TITLE:               Falling for Me

AUTHOR:         Anna David

GENRE:            Self-Help/Memoir

RATING:          4 Stars

For more information on this book, please visit the publisher's website at:

http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/Falling-for-Me-Anna-David?isbn=9780061996047&HCHP=TB_Falling+for+Me


I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book because I had a bit of a worry that it might be 'one of those' - you know the kind - where you have to stand on your head and spit out nickles in order to be the person that 'you want to be'.

Instead, I found a heartwarming and highly enjoyable story of one woman's quest to figure out what the heck is going on and, more importantly, what the heck she is doing wrong since she is, for the most part, nowhere near where she would to be.

I loved the story from the opening lines - as the trigger for David's instrospection is brought on by the desire to be with a married man. Loved, loved that this was the trigger as there seems to be so many married men running after single women (and, I am sure the other way around as well).

The author discovers, by chance or by destiny (you decide) a book written by Helen Gurley Brown - in the 'old days' and makes a commmitment to honor Brown's suggestions on how to be a single woman!

Of course, what follows is a story of hit ans misses with some truly funny moments and some less funny ones. Throughout it all, however, you feel connected to the author who struggles to find the logic and the direction through some life lessons that can only be called painful at times.

The story is told in a down to earth and honest manner and the author does not shy away from taking us into her confidence.

I loved, loved this book.

IN MY MAILBOX - for week ending November 13, 2011

This was a great week in books (and a few other goodies I got).


Firstly, I received a great sample of Kraft Canada (full size) products which included:  Triscuit Thin Crisps, Christies StiX, 6 packages of gums, 2 boxes of cookies, Kraft Diner and lots, lots more.


As for books:


From Abe books:

• Sparks by S.J. Adams;
• 1222 by Anne Holt;

From Ebay:

• Diary of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee;

From the publisher (for review):

• A Year Straight by Elena Azzoni (for review);

For my Kindle (ebooks):

• Confessions of a Failed Anorexic by Michelle Cantrell;
• Disengaged by Beth Orsoff
• 101 Things you Thought you Knew about the Titanic but Didn't! by Tim Maltin and Eloise Aston

REVIEW for What Came First

A huge thank you to the wonderul Carol Snow for sending me a copy of her book!


TITLE:           What Came First

AUTHOR:     Carol Snow

GENRE:        Chick Lit (YEAH!!!!!)

RATING:      4 Stars

I discovered Carol Snow a few years ago and loved her book so much that I immediately ordered all of her backlist. Which brings me to her most recent entry - What Came First.

I am so thrilled that Snow continues to write chick lit and does it so well. While other authors have chosen to get off the genre, Snow has consistently written entertaining and completely engrossing novels that I simply adore and What Came First is no exception.

You can easily see, by the cover that this book is about children - having them, dealing with them, as well as dealing with the lack of them. In fact, Snow has cleverly intertwined her story of 3 women - who are all quite different (boy! are they!) but the two things they have in common is that they all are dealing with children issues AND they all are dealing with relationship issues (although this is definitely secondary for the most part).

Vanessa, Wendy and Laura find themselves caught up in their own lives - Vanessa is desperately hoping for a child, Wendy has two (from a sperm bank) who appear to be more than she can handle and Laura seems to have the perfect son (also from the sperm bank). Except that absolutely none of the women are happy - they are all busy wishing for something more and throughout the novel, we will discover that each woman learns a life lesson - watch what you ask for, you might get it.

I found the storyline and the characters very engaging. Snow writes for me, with characters that are flawed but also likeable - who deal with their lives the best way they can. Usually, the males in her stories are secondary and while Eric does play a fairly important role in the story, it is still the women who dominate.

This book is entertaining, all the while showing us that life definitely has its ups and downs. Snow also intertwines the life of her characters in a way that I never saw coming - but really "buckles" up the storyline.

The only negatives I have - the relationship between Laura and her son was a tad annoying. Laura went to ridiculous lengths to please her son and this touched a wrong chord with me. The other issue I had was that I found the Wendy and the Vanessa a bit whiny. I would have liked for them to have a bit more backbone. The Eric character was perfectly written - exactly the way I expected him to be.

I loved, loved this story and I can't wait to read the next book.

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY

I have been feeling 'off' thrillers for a few years now, but I can still enjoy a good story and usually, Faye Kellerman delivers - which is why I am very anxiously WAITING for Gun Games which is scheduled to be released in January 2012.  It seems so far away sigh!!!!

BEA in 2012 will you ever get here?

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I have a few 'life' themes that keep popping up!


The first one is that I love, love books - obviously.  This blog was born out of this love of reading and exchanging opinions about books.


The second one is that I suffer from an eating disorder, which, for the most part, I have been dealing with and doing the things that I need to do to stay healthy.


While my love of books has been flourishing, my food issues have been creeping back up lately and have been exasperated by the fact that I broke my foot and can no longer go to the gym (or even take a nice long walk for that matter).


I admit that going to the gym for me is the same as having my teeth pulled out without benefit of novacaine, but I was still doing it in order to stay relatively sane (cauz when my food is crazy, trust me, so is my head).


So, since I am pretty well stuck in this maze for another 4 to 6 weeks (that is when the dr. tells me I *should* be back on my feet, I have decided to enlist your help in order to keep me honest!


I have given myself until BEA in 2012 (which is the first week of June) to loose the weight that I have gained in the last while which is somewhere between 20 and 25 lbs which is amazing to me!!! My weight doesn't creep up it just lands on me and clings there!

Anyway,  I am going to start going back to Weight Watchers which I haven't been overly successful with in the past, but will try again as I know a few good friends who swear by it.


I will also be focusing more on going to 12 step meetings and finding my spiritual side, which i seem to have put aside as of late.  I can never seem to balance my day to day life with my spiritual side and that is ALWAYS a challenge for me - time to do more work on this aspect I guess as I know that when I am focused on being a better person and doing things for other people (as opposed to focusing on Tina's issues) I always feel better.


Finally, I am also hoping to take all the $$$ I am presently spending on unhealthy foods and redirecting it to my BEA fund (which has also been suffering as of late).


I am sharing this with you because I need to stay honest about what i am doing, which means coming on this blog once a week and honestly reporting how my eating (and hopefully weight loss) is going.


Feel free to post suggestions or ideas or even recipes :)  everything is appreciated as I cannot do this all by myself.


Hopefully, once the foot heals I can start doing the dreaded gym workouts again!


Thank you for being there and supporting me.  I can't wait for BEA 2012 to get here!

IN MY MAILBOX - for week ending November 6, 2011

Well, its already November and it is getting cold in Montreal.  This means that its even MORE time to settle in and read some great books.

Having said that, I broke my foot two weeks ago and I mentioned this in an email to one of my favorite publicists - who immediately offered to send me a good book to help me get through it.  This is why I love the book community (and my wonderful, wonderful publicists)  they are kind hearted and wonderful.  She could not have been more "on the nose" as to what would make me feel better! So thank you Simon & Schuster Canada (and the kind and thoughtful Anneliese).

From the publisher for review:

• Creep by Jennifer Hillier (my get well better gift);
• Red Means Run by Brad Smith (for review);
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (for review);

From Abe books (yeah, I love shopping on this site):

• Amplified by Tara Kelly
• Need to Know by James Grippando
• Just your Average Princess by Kristina Springer

From the author (for review):

• Unnaturally Green by Felicia Ricci (for review):

My brand new Kindle - complete with pink cover!

From now on, I will also be listing all the ebooks that I get!!!

REVIEW for Dieting with my Dog

A huge, huge thank you goes out to author Peggy Frezon for so generously sending me a copy of her wonderful book!!!

TITLE:             Dieting with my Dog

AUTHOR:        Peggy Frezon

GENRE:          Memoir

RATING:        5 Stars

I rarely give 5 stars - but this book truly deserves it. Unlike many, many diet books out there (or diet memoir books) this book was simply a joy to read. While, of course, the main point of the book was the author's struggle with her weight and how she dealt with it, the stories she shares, as well as the absolutely gorgeous and adorable pictures of her dog (and home) are what truly sets this book apart from so many others.

This is not an overly book and it actually reads more like a friend talking to another friend. There are no long and boring involved stories, but rather some cute stories (and some less cute but very touching stories)about a woman who is trying to get her weight (and her life) on track with the help of her adored pet.

I can't say how much I enjoyed reading this book. It made me smile and it made me want to go out and get a dog (which my cat would definitely NOT enjoy).

As I mentioned the pictures are great and I really fell in love with the picture of the house right next to a tranquil lake. I have actually taken that one out of the book and posted next to my desk.

This is a heartwarming story for those of us who struggle with weight, but it is also a heartwarming story for all of us who love our pets.

Loved it.

Going to the DARK SIDE - Yep, I am there

For those of you who have been reading my blog over the years, you know that I have been HIGHLY critical of ebooks and ereaders and vowed that I would never get one.  In fact, I call it 'going to the dark side'.

Well, apparently, I am now on the dark side as I was offered a Kindle as a Christmas gift and jumped on the offer.  So, what happened?  Actually, a few things managed to make me change my mind - and, while I believe these are valid reasons, I have to say that I am still extremely conflicted about ebooks -  I LOVE, LOVE touching and reading 'real books'.  For me, ebooks are simply electrical discharges - so, nothing will EVER make me swear off 'real books' but rather, I think I will balance between 'real books' and 'ebooks' as necessary.

REASONS TO GET AN EREADER:

1)  Although in many cases, I feel as though ebooks are wayyyyy tooo expensive, I have noticed that when it comes to chick lit (my favorite genre and one that I am having an extremely difficult time finding these days) I can have a huge selection of ebooks for $2.99 each.  This is amazing - considering the book version can be as expensive as $20.00.  In some cases, these chick lit titles were only released as ebooks - I will now have a huge selection to choose from.

2)  I am not a book stacker.  That is, I usually have about 2 or 3 books in reserve - waiting to be read, but that's it.  Most of my blogger friends have hundreds and hundreds waiting for them - this is NEVER the case for me.  Which means that if I don't time it properly or, if for some reason, there is a particular month (or months) where there are no good releases (in my opinion), I end up without anything to read.  This means having to order through Abe or Book Depository or Amazon - which takes time.  With my Kindle, I can simply download any book, at any time - which means I will never have to wait again (I am soooo bad with delayed gratification).  The reality is that our Indigo and/or Chapters bookstore is extremely limited in stock and I usually end up leaving there without having bought a book!!!

3)  I am tired of dragging around 2 or 3 books with me 'just in case'.  The Kindle I am getting is tiny and fits in my purse!!!

4)  I will be able to have a Pink covered Kindle - so cool (yeah, shallow I know).

5)  I was given a Kindle as a Christmas present.

REASONS NOT TO BUY AN EREADER:

1)  Ebooks are not real books;
2)  I love, love the smell and feel of a book - ANY BOOK!
3)  I am petrified that technology is going to destroy centuries of book love (starting from the earliest printing presses.....)
4)  Just because....

Well, there you have it.