Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Teaser Tuesday



Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:


  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.


  • "Let me guess, mister.  You want to get to know me.  You want to find out how I think and what I feel.  And most of all, you want to know how a nice girl like me got into a business like this."
    P. 65 Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

    Monday, January 28, 2013

    Book News: 2013 Newbery Award Winners


    The 2013 Newbery Medal Winner is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, published by HarperCollins Children's Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. 

    2013 Honor Books:

    For more information on the winners check out the 2013 Newberry Award Winners Official Page.



    Saturday, January 26, 2013

    Book Review: Trusting God by Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith, and Mary Southerland





    A Girlfriends in God Faith Adventure.

    Gwen, Mary, and Sharon make up the Girlfriends in God Ministry Team and together they wrote this book on how to trust God.  The book is broken into weekly segments which is then further broken down into six days each written solely by one of the authors with a recap at the end of each week.

    I love that they use stories and examples from their own lives to illustrate the points they make each day.  They show how to trust God in the real world, not just with words but with action, and they show us we don't do it alone.

    This book is perfect for a pre-teen or teenage girl.  She can read it alone or with a group, as the ministry team recommends a Girlfriends in God team.  If you're looking for a good way to help your teenage daughter learn to trust in God this is a book you should definitely check out.

    I read this book as a book request for Blogging for Books via the Adobe Digital program on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.



    Friday, January 25, 2013

    Book Review: Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth




    Not as good as the first book, but definitely worth the read, and absolutely makes me yearn for book #3.  If you have not read Divergent (Divergent #1) I recommend you not read this review as it contains spoilers!

    The Dauntless have attacked the Abnegation.  Tobias a.k.a Four and Tris have shut down the simulation.  Tobias, Tris, some of the Dauntless, and the remaining Abnegation are on the run.  Jeanine Matthews is after them, after the Abnegation for a secret their leaders supposedly know and after the Divergent, to figure out how their brains work to make simulations that can control them instead of the other way around.

    This portion of the Divergent story is still about choices.  Who do you side with?  Who do you trust?  Is it faction over family or family over faction?  Tris has to make decisions whether to go with someone she deemed an enemy or someone who she loved with all her heart.  What is the most important move to save not just her faction but all factions?

    There are many times Tris does something to piss me off.  Many times.  I credit that to the great writing of Veronica Roth.  She is able to write a story and create a character that brings out emotions in me the reader.  While she is a great writer there are a few parts of the story that feel very deus ex machina like how Tris is able to solve everything that comes her way even when it creates bigger problems.  The way she solves her problems in some instances is the deus ex machina.

    This book ended with the feeling that it could be the end, but it's not.  Roth is working on book #3 right now and claims it will be published in the fall of 2013.  I cannot wait!

    I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.


    Tuesday, January 15, 2013

    Teaser Tuesday

    *Yes, the blog is wider and there are three columns now.*

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

  • "My mother taught me.  She loved to paint, and I do, too."
    P. 78 The Icecutter's Daughter by Tracie Peterson

    Thursday, January 10, 2013

    Book Review: Goodnight, Brian by Steven Manchester




    What do you do when fate deals you a bad hand?  Don't give in.  Don't give up.  Don't let your faith down.

    Angelina DiMartino's grandson, Brian, was stricken with a terrible disease due to the formula his mother had been feeding him starting at the age of four months.  The doctors believed although he would live, he would never walk or talk or do anything.

    Angelina, better known as Mama, knew better.  She took fate and threw it out the door.  She never gave up on her grandson and she wouldn't let others do it, either.  This is a poignant tale of a woman's faith shaking up everything fate has handed her grandson.

    Steven Manchester has written a heartwarming story of a grandmother's love and stubbornness.  He's captured the emotion and love in the two characters of Mama and Brian.  The reader does see how different people in the same family react to debilitating news that a baby has to suffer because the formula they were taking did not provide the right nutrients for him to develop properly.

    Throughout the entire story I wondered the meaning of the title.  Why was it chosen?  You may be curious about that, too, when you read this.  The meaning is superb but not clear until the end and that's the way it should be.

    I read this as a review request using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this in any way.

    Tuesday, January 8, 2013

    Teaser Tuesday


    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:





  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.



  • An hour ago, nothing that happened felt real to me.  Now it does.
    P. 1 Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

    Monday, January 7, 2013

    Top Ten Tuesday



    Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013

    1. Read Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.  My mom received this for Christmas.  It's older style English (I'm not sure if it's Old English) so it'll be tough, but as I've said before, I've got the internet to help me!

    2. Read at least 79 books as per my Goodreads goal.  I read 78 last year and hope to read one more than that this year.

    3. Start writing a book.  It's been my dream since I was in middle school to have a book published.  I've started writing so many times and scrapped whatever I've written.  In one case, before computers, I actually lost what I wrote!  I want to be a published (with a real publishing company) author.  I can't get there if I don't start and I haven't started anything in a while.  

    4. Read at least 25 ebooks as per my Ebook Challenge.

    5. Read all the books in my To Be Read pile before Christmas (that gives me 12 months!)

    6. Clean out my bookshelf.  I have a lot of books (I'm sure some of you have more!) and am running out of space.  I don't like to get rid of any books I own, but maybe I should or maybe I should just reorganize.  Gotta make room for the new books, you know!

    7. Participate in more giveaways.  That's not for me to win; that's for me to give books away!  Share the joy of reading.

    As hard as I think about it I can only come up with 7 goals for the year.  I think they're good goals.  I hope I have a happy year and I hope you do, too!

    Book Review: Canary Island Song by Robin Jones Gunn


    Second chances.  Carolyn is in need of them and she is going to get them in this wonderful stand alone novel by Robin Jones Gunn.

    Carolyn's twin sister, Marilyn and her two daughters had been living with her for the past few years and now Marilyn has remarried giving Carolyn a second chance at living on her own.  She gets into redecorating and even finds a guy to date, which is something her young adult daughter, Tikki, wants her to do.

    When problems with the man arise, Carolyn decides it is time to visit her mom in Canary Island, a surprise for her mother's seventieth birthday.  This trips gives her the biggest second chance of all when she runs into an old flame.

    A story of romance as well as of finding one's self again is this.  Carolyn has to learn to let go of her past and reconnect with God before she can move on with her life.  It's something we may need to do ourselves.  It's a great lesson taught through the pages of the story.

    Gunn does a great job of getting into the character of the island.  Included in the back of the book are pictures from her trips to Canary Island where she had fun and did research for her story.  The evidence is written in black and white.

    I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

    Wednesday, January 2, 2013

    Book Review: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger




    11-year-old Reuben Land narrates the story of his family during a monumental moment in their lives.  His father, a janitor at the local high school, comes across two boys attacking a girl who happens to be his son, Davy's, girlfriend. The two boys seek revenge.  One night Davy commits an act of vandalism to the boys luring them to his home.  That night he waits and when they arrive he shoots them both dead.

    Davy is immediately arrested.  During his trial, Reuben and their sister, Swede, plan to break him out of jail but they never get the chance for he has done it himself.  In one of the many miracles performed by their father, the Lands receive an Airstream and go out in search of the missing son and brother.  The crux of the story is the Lands on the journey to find Davy and keep the police away.

    The events in the story take place because God has told Jeremiah Land, Reuben's father, what to do.  God works miracles throughout the story using Jeremiah.  The first miracle Reuben discovers is his father praying to God while walking along the bed of his truck.  He reaches the end and instead of falling, he walks on air.  It continues from there.  Reuben feels there is something special about his dad.

    I'm going to be honest, I'm not really sure what to say here/how to review this book.  That's why I've procrastinated doing so.  It was a great read.  I did give it five stars. I think it's a fabulous story I recommend to anyone.

    Reuben Land is a fine narrator.  He brings his own perspective to the events as well as adding in things his siblings have told afterwards, not too much it gets to be that he knows everything, but small pieces to give the feeling he really is telling us this story later in his life.

    I love what Swede brings to the story: her epic poem about Sunny Sunshine.  Throughout the novel she is seen typing away at the typewriter she is given for her birthday creating more bits to the poem she allows Reuben to read and ultimately share with us the reader.  Their adventure helps create the plot for her poem and teaches her lessons about how to treat the characters.

    I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.


    Book Review: Secrets (The Hero Chronicles #1) by Tim Mettey




    Nicholas Keller and his aunt Cora, I mean mom, move to a new town every year on the same day.  To Nicholas she is his aunt, but to the rest of the world, Cora is known as his mother.  She wants it this way to help keep his identity a secret.  That is also why they move every year.  She does not want anyone finding out the truth about her nephew.

    What is his secret?  Nicholas doesn't know all of it nor that there is more than what he does know.  Five years ago he rescued some people during the 10-10 earthquakes that killed his parents.  The media has been after him since then.  Nicholas believes that is the whole secret, but there's more.

    The new town the two usually move to is small and away from where they originally lived, but not the one Cora has picked this time.  The town of Winsor, located only an hour away from Nicholas's original hometown, has a sprawling high school with a very publicized football team.  At the request of his guidance counselor to get involved in something, Nicholas joins the football team.  Trying out, he's not sure he'll even make it, but suddenly finds himself on the varsity team and the bane of the captain.

    This story is about Nicholas's time at the high school.  He's supposed to keep quiet and not draw attention to himself, but everything he does goes against his aunt's wishes.  He tries to do what she wants but it always backfires on him.

    It is a decent story.  It is one of those fantasy hero stories with a secret world humans are to know nothing about.  I think it's best suited for an older middle grades reader.  Everything about the book screams cliche.  There's the cliche captain of the football team, the new kid, the girlfriend, everything.  It is corny, but it doesn't feel out of place.  I don't know if that's saying what I want it to say.  What I'm saying, I guess, is that it fits.  The story would not be the story without the cliche.

    What's Nicholas's real secret?  Read the book to find out!

    I read this as a review request using the Kindle app on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

    Tuesday, January 1, 2013

    2012 Reading Challenges

    Happy New Year!  It is now 2013.  2012 is over.  We start a new year and with that means new reading challenges.  How did I do with last year's?

    2012 Goodreads Challenge: I do not remember what I started the goal at.  I think it was 53 or something.  As I passed the goal I upped it and I kept upping it until December.  My final was 76 books and I read 78.  My goal for 2013 is 79.  One more than last year.

    2012 Reading Challenge

    2012 Reading Challenge
    Leah has completed her goal of reading 76 books in 2012!
    hide

    2012 E-book Challenge: My first goal was the CD level of 10 books, but I quickly passed that so I upped my goal to the DVD level of 25 books.  The final tally was 36 books, if I counted correctly!  With this post I would like to announce I am entering the 2013 E-book Challenge.  My goal is the DVD level again with 25 books.

    CFD Author Challenge: My goal was to read 5 books by an author on the Christian Fiction Devours List. Unfortunately, I only read 1.  I will not be continuing this into the new year.

    Happy New Year!

    Teaser Tuesday



    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.
  • Ellis looked relieved or intrigued or maybe both.  "I thought that was the case."  He nodded at the band she still wore on her finger.  "I just wanted to clarify because, you see, I'm in the same situation."
    P. 47 Canary Island Song by Robin Jones Gunn