Thank You!!

At the beginning of this month, I posted that I had reached 1000 views on my blog in almost a year.  I was so happy to reach that milestone.  Now, in less than a month I am up over 2000 views.  To me, that is absolutely amazing!!

So thank you to everyone who has shared my page, retweeted my reviews, clicked my link on Goodreads or however you found me!!  I hope that you will continue to read what I post and I hope to post even more this year!!

Again a big thank you to everyone, without you, I might as well keep it all in my journal!!

Review--The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Henry Hayden is a best selling author in Germany.  He and his wife live a somewhat modest lifestyle.  He is adored by women and envied by men.  Henry is in the process of "writing" his next great novel, when his editor gives him some disturbing news.  This news sets off a chain of events that will forever alter the lives of everyone who knows Henry.

The Truth and Other Lies, had me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning.  Henry Hayden is a character you love to hate. I was afraid of him from the start and very glad he is not someone I would ever have to come in contact with.  With a friend like Henry, who needs enemies.

Everyone loves Henry, but why?  He's not really good at anything, including the writing that has made him so famous.  He's not especially nice to anyone, least of all his wife.  He love her, that is for sure for without her, he would be nothing.  But he struggles to remain faithful and to treat her in the same manner she treats him.

This is one of the best books I have read so far this year.  Highly recommended.

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**


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Review--Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Conor Grennan is an American traveling the world for one year.  One of his planned stops on his journey is at Little Princes orphanage in Nepal.  After this 3 months stay at the orphanage, he promises the children that he would return in one years time.  Hardly did volunteers return to the orphanage, after they left. Conor was abe to keep his promise and after his return he set out on a true journey...to find the families of the children at Little Princes and other orphanages in the area.  He set up a foundation in order to fund this necessary endeavor.  Many of the children had been taken from their homes by child traffickers with the promise to provide a better life for the children  Many of these parents had no idea where their children were and just as many children thought their parents were dead. Conor ended up staying in Nepal for the next three years helping reconnect Nepal's lost children with their families.

Many times when we do volunteer work whether it is within our own country or abroad, we go into it thinking how much good we are going to do for someone else.  What really is the case is that the volunteer is the one who ends up benefiting the most.  Hearts and minds are forever changed.  We implore our friends and family to help with the cause we are involved in and pray that we are making a difference.  I have never met anyone who has not had their lives impacted by volunteer work.

Conor is no exception.  He has made friends with these children, learned something new about a different culture and has taught us all something new with this book.  Little Princes, has touched my heart and I'm eager to know how the children of Nepal are doing now after all of the help that Conor has brought to the region.  You can find out  more about Conor's work visit http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/


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Review--Skinny Me by Charlene Carr

Skinny Me by Charlene Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jennifer is overweight and miserable.  She has recently lost her mother and even more recently, her job.  After a party at her cousins house, she is feeling even more miserable about her life.  She decides to make a chand and finally lose some weight.  She joins a gym and when she finds out her trainer is her cousin, Autumn's hot boyfriend, it's all the motivation she needs.  If she loses the weight she knows she will be so much happier.  She just has to reach that goal weight.  But with so many other issues plaguing her life is this really what is going to make her happy?  Will lusting after someone she knows is taken make her happy?

I could relate to Jennifer in some ways.  There are days when I look in the mirror and am completely unhappy with my reflection.  Then there are other days when it is no big deal.  There are so many women with body image issues all over the world regardless if they are overweight or not.  It's good to see Charlene Carr tackling an issue such as this one.  Jennifer's issues were more than just the number on the scale and until she was ready to face those issues and deal with them head on.  Along the way she ends and mends relationships and finds the person her family always knew existed, but hadn't seen behind all of the anger.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley*


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Review--Jemima J by Jane Green

Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jemima Jones is overweight.  She is aware of this fact and she's okay with it.  She loves models and magazines and frequently cuts out their pictures and tapes them to her wall.  Currently she writes the Top Tips for the Kilburn Herald in London.  She would like to right features, like her friend Geraldine, but right now, she enjoys "proofing" the copy.  She has a crush on another colleague, Ben Williams and occasionally, the three hang out.  Ben is crushing on Geraldine, while Jemima is crushing on him.   After an internet seminar given by the newspaper, the trio decides to check it out what all the internet hype is about for themselves.  When they find a chat room called Cafe LA, Jemima becomes JJ and her world is flipped upside down.

JJ meets Brad in the chatroom and after talking for a while, they exchange photos.  Brad is a hunk and JJ is smoking hot, but Jemima is not and before she agrees to meet Brad in person, she has to lose about 100 pounds.  With this goal Jemima sets out to join a gym and get a personal trainer and the weight falls off. Armed with a new body and a new attitude, JJ is off to LA to meet Brad.  Is he going to be the man in the pictures?  Will they fall madly in love and will she finally get the man of her dreams?

Many women can relate to Jemima J.  She is self conscious about herself and how the world perceives her.  I could see myself in her shoes.  I was afraid for her when she went to meet a man on the other side of the world that she had met on the internet.  I wanted Ben to see her as more than a friend.  I wanted her roommates to not be such idiots.  Jemima is a character that you can understand and root for.



Second Title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015.


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Review--Gray Mountain by John Grisham

Gray Mountain by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Samantha Kofer is a real estate attorney working for a huge law firm in New York City.  When all of the banks go belly up so does Samantha's job.  She was given the option to being furloughed for one year and during that year, she is encouraged to volunteer during this year off at a non-profit that the firm has chosen.

Trying to find the right place to volunteer has been difficult since there are so many out of work lawyers who are all going through the same thing.  She found "The Mountain Legal Aid Clinic[who]ran its low-budget operations from an abandoned hardware store on Main Street in Brady, Virginia, population twenty-two hundred and declining with each census  Brady, was in southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, coal country."

In Brady, Samantha works with Mattie and Annette and meets many of their clients who are poor people in need of everything from simple divorces and wills to black lung disease claims  Mattie's nephew, Donovan, is also in Brady and his firm fights coal companies tooth and nail for the people of coal country who have been destroyed by their illegal practices. There are a lot of things that happen that help to shape Samantha into a more respectable lawyer, but they don't come without great loss.

John Grisham likes to get the heart of the matter, he likes to grip at your heartstrings so that you can feel the characters that he is portraying.  For a big New York City attorney, though, Samantha is not really a character I got to enjoy as much as I thought I would.  She seemed a bit of a wimp in some instances.  Whining about never setting foot in a courtroom or drafting a will.  I wanted to jump in the book and smack her one good time.  Whether or not you have done these things, you are a lawyer, and is this not in your job description?  This is one of the worse John Grisham books I have read.  It didn't have the same go getter attitude that the other books have.

Overall, the book kept me interested and wanting to know what was going to happen next.  There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat.  I'm wondering if there is going to be more from Samantha Kofer, because the story seemed unfinished.



First title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015!



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I've Reached 1000+ Views!!

First of all, I want to thank all of you who have taken a few minutes to check out my blog.  Whether you have liked it or hated it, at least you took the time.  My intentions when I started was to post a lot more than I have thus far, but there is this little thing called life that gets in the way sometimes.

I know that my reviews may not be the most interesting, but I try to tell everyone exactly how I feel.  I'm thankful to all of the authors who have given me their books in exchange for my review and who have allowed me to share their books with my audience.  Those authors include, but aren't limited to: Vince Milam, Jenni Boyd, Russell Brooks, Ty Patterson, Story Cartel, and Blogging for Books.  You all have helped to expand my bookshelf and my mind.  For those of you, who I did not include, please know, it's not for lack of appreciation, these are just the most recent authors I have read.  I also want to think my other book bloggers as many of you have provided me with the inspiration to keep this going even though you may not know it.

Reading and writing are my favorite things to do, and it has always been my dream to be a book reviewer.  Whether or not, I'm good at it, I really enjoy it and that makes it much more enjoyable for me.  I hope to be able to post more non-review posts this year and hopefully gain a bigger audience.   I've tried the blog thing before, but this is the first time I've actually done what I wanted to do with it.

The blog has been active for less than a year, and so far I'm very happy with how it's come along and how I've been able to keep up.  My most view post was my review of Ruby by Cynthia Bond  I read it last summer, and now it has been selected as Oprah's 2.0 Book Club selection.

Again, I thank you all for listening/reading!!  I hope you will share this blog with others and that I will continue to grow.