Annabelle by Nancy Christie

Annabelle is a very hauntingly dark short story. So, obviously, I was thrilled to read it.

Annabelle is the daughter of a painter. Her father’s artwork means everything. So much so that it controls the family.

Annabelle’s mother is her father’s model. She receives all of the attention because as I said before, the art is everything.

Annabelle becomes jealous. She wants to be noticed. She wants to be wanted.

When the twist in the story is revealed, everyone’s life is turned upside down and it becomes more dark and disturbing than I had originally thought it was.

There is not much I can say without giving away the whole story. Go read it!

4/5 stars. It was a little slow in places, but the story was good and I was able to read it in one sitting. 

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When Good Boobs Turn Bad: A Mammoir by Jill Foer Hirsch

As you can probably conclude from the title, this is a memoir (or “Mammoir”) about Jill Hirsch and breast cancer.

While cancer is a very serious topic, Jill was able to get through her diagnosis, treatment, and recovery by using humor. She displays that in this book of hers.

It takes you through every stage of her battle with cancer, and it is laced with humor the whole way through.

It is very informally written, almost as if you are reading a journal written by Jill. It keeps the book interesting and fresh.

Jill proves that you can get through any struggle with the support of family, humor, (plus making people feel sorry enough for you to buy you gifts….).

This is a lovely little book. Little because it is pretty short. It was very light hearted for such a heavy topic.

5/5 stars. Fun to read and very well written

It reminded me of a book I reviewed at the beginning of the year Chief Complaint: Brain Tumor by John Kerastas

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i and the Great Divide by Fiona McGlynn

i and the Great divide is a children’s book that deals with the topic of divorce. 

 In a home that is dealing or has dealt with divorce, many times a child may feel like it is his or her fault that their family is being broken up. Often, this is not the case. This story is told in a very unique way with letters of the alphabet representing people and families. 

I feel like when children who are going through a divorce look through this book, they will relate to it. They may not realize why at the very beginning, which I feel would be good for them. If they open a book knowing it is about divorce, depending on the family situation, they may have a certain attitude going into it. Once they get through it and realize they can relate it to their life, I feel as though it will shed some understanding on the situation and cause a child to understand it in their own way.

It is a very cute book. It is written extremely well, flowing from page to page seamlessly. The illustrations are adorable and match the words very well. It is easy to understand for all ages, and I feel that any child that is struggling through their parents’ divorce would enjoy having a book to relate to. 

 5/5 stars.

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i and the Great Divide by Fiona McGlynn coming to Amazon Create Space September 12th, 2013

New children’s book on divorce, “i and the Great Divide” sparks family conversations

Overview: “i and the Great Divide” is an illustrated children’s book, designed to leave kids in divorce feeling loved, peaceful, and self-expressed. Both print and kindle copies will be available for purchase online (via Amazon and Createspace) September 12^th, 2013.

Synopsis: In a world where alphabet letters are people, word families can go through big changes just like human families can.

The letter "i" experiences this one day when her parents, "t" and "n" start to fight. "i" gets into all kinds of trouble as she tries to make things go back to the way they were. Just when things can't get worse, she experiences a transformation that leaves her feeling loved, happy and grateful for her family (and the changes too!)

I appreciate where Fiona is coming from with this book. I think there need to be more books like this for children that handle tough subjects. Stay tuned - I will be posting a review of the book as soon as it is released!

Links:

Book Trailer

Book Website

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To Learn more about Fiona and the Illustrator Robin Urquhart, click through to the Read More

Cover Reveal for Addison Westlake's new novel "Facebook Jeanie"!! Out on October 1, 2013

Synopsis from the author Addison Westlake

"It's Bridget Jones meets "Groundhog Day"...

Ever wonder if you made the right choice? What if you could go back and find out?

31-year-old Clara is in a steady relationship—with Facebook. Every night after her depressing bureaucratic job (so much for saving the world), Clara comes home to her empty apartment (yes, she was dumped) and settles down with a pint of ice cream for some good, old-fashioned Facebook stalking. It's her college boyfriend, The One Who Got Away. With the bod of a God and a net worth of umpteen bamillion, he now has the perfect life—everything she could have had if she hadn't been so, so stupid.

But, wait. Jeanie from Facebook shows up at Clara's job. There's a new app they're beta-testing and Clara's perfect for it. That night she clicks on it and... nothing happens. But the next morning when Clara wakes up at noon, hung over, listening to her roommate blow-drying her hair and singing "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It", she realizes she's back in college. With the chance to do it all over again.

Back in the world of frat parties, BFFs, and long-suffering, overlooked lab partners, join Clara as she discovers what it really means to hit the reset button on life. What could possibly go wrong? And, this time, can she get it right?"

I am a fan of Addison's writing. If you search way back in my blog to last year, (which I wont make you do so here is a link - Christmas in Wine Country ) I reviewed her novel Christmas in Wine Country Available Here!

Not only is she a wonderful author, she is a pleasure to work with and I cannot wait to read her new novel. So, do not forget, it will be available on October 1st, 2013 and I strongly recommend picking it up. 

Also, stay tuned because I will be posting a review of it as soon as I finish!

To learn more about Addison Westlake, click through to the Read More

Fundamental Problems by Michael J. Tobias

Fundamental Problems is a collection of short stories that challenges the reader to think outside of the box.

Since they are short stories, it reads very quick.

It opens up with a story about our planet Earth being destroyed by alien creatures. What a nice welcome story.

After that the stories get progressively better. I feel as though there is something for everyone hidden within the pages of this short story compilation.

The writing style keeps you engaged until the last page. It is also very short, so it will not take up a lot of your time. I was able to finish it in one sitting, so if you have an open afternoon and enjoy reading short stories, I would recommend getting your hands on this book and enjoy getting lost in another world for an hour or two.

4/5 stars just because the opening story and the ending story were the weakest ones to me. I would expect them to be the best ones. 

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Homo Saywhaticus by Lance Manion

Homo Saywhaticus is a collection of short stories and it fall under the genre of Adult Humor. Very adult…

The book sort of reads like a blog, which makes sense because Lance is a blogger. I don’t read many comedy or humor books, but I felt myself enjoying this one.

It can get very raunchy at times, and at other times you are not even sure what it even going on. But, I think that is the point. It is a book that doesn’t make you think a whole lot. It could be a break from reality if you are having a stressful day. Just pick it up and read one or two of the short stories, and they may make you laugh.

I found myself laughing out loud a few times, wincing a few times, and utterly confused at other times.

It was quite the journey, but a fun one.

4/5 Stars. 

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Zoo by James Patterson

If you want a book that will keep you hanging on until the last page just for the madness that ensues throughout the novel – this one is for you.

The world as we know it is coming to an end. Man-made problems are coming back to haunt the human population.

The animal population is turning against the humans, and they are out for blood!

The concept of this novel is actually extremely terrifying. I suppose that is what Patterson does best though. When fighting against other humans, at least you have the advantage of language. Whether you speak the same language or not, there are usually universal signs to get your point across.

With animals, it is a whole different story. You don’t know what they are thinking at any time. And when they attack, you have no answers for why or what you can do to stop it.

Oz, the main character, has noticed a strange trend in animal behavior for many years. He has spent all of his money trying to share his discoveries but is constantly blown off and called crazy. It is the classic case of “This will NEVER happen to ME.”

Once animal attacks start happening all around the world and in really extraordinary circumstances, his findings start to get noticed.

After taking a trip to Africa, and encountering these tragedies first-hand, Oz has all the material he needs to prove that he is, in fact, not crazy after all.

This novel was sort of different for a Patterson book which was interesting at the beginning. But in typical Patterson form, he grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let me go until I closed the final cover.

It is interesting to read, and maybe it is not the most likely of scenarios, but it does make you think a little more about what we are doing to the Earth.

5/5 stars

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You Are To Decide.., but Death and Rising Are Through Human Flesh by Walt March, Antony Sturdee, and Claire Glowen

I will start this by saying that from the title of this book, you can’t really figure out what it will be about. That is the case with some books, which is fine, but with this one it is different. Even after reading it I am not really sure what it was about.

I guess there was a main storyline; The main character is a detective. Tragedy strikes his family and others around him. The horror seems to be stemming from this mysterious book that was given to his wife and child. He and his partner Felix team up to try to solve the crimes.

Then there was the poetry that was thrown in the complement the novel. I think this was a good strategy in theory. It helped break up the story in to smaller and easier to read parts rather than having just a plain wall of text. Coming from someone who can lose interest easily if I am not given short chapters or some sort of a break in the chapters, I liked this concept.

The execution, though, I felt was very weak. Many times I was wondering how the poems flowed with the story. Other times I wondered if they were meant to fit at all or if they were just a small thought given to us from the main character. Some of them did fit and flow with the story, and when they did, it was enjoyable.

Then there was the non-poetry, non-main story line that consisted of just the thoughts of the main character on various topics often revolving around religion. When you decide to write on religious topics, it is really either hit or miss. There is rarely a middle ground that the stories fall into and I felt this one was sort of a miss. I didn’t understand how most of it tied in together, and the flow was just not there for me.

The writing in this novel was very, very formal. For me, if I am reading formal writing, I feel like I am reading a text book and it makes it hard to focus on the story line. I found myself getting lost often, but not really wanting to go back and reread the paragraph, page, etc.

The only thing that kept me hanging on until the end was wanting to figure out what the story was behind the mysterious book. Once I got to the end, I felt it was severely lacking and I felt like I didn’t receive a full story.

The concept behind this novel was pretty good, the execution missed the mark though.

2/5 stars. There was mystery to the story, but the thoughts didn't flow together. 

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The Students Sold Us Secrets Volume One by Lee Mavin

The Students told us secrets is a collection of short stories that are written in the form of journal entries by students.

The narrator is an anonymous teacher who received these texts and compiled them in the process of evaluating student behavior of the generation. Behavior against each other, and behavior towards those in power such as teachers.

While this is a work of fiction, it is horrifying that many students, I’m sure, actually have the thought processes close to the ones in this collection. The stories themselves are full of horror, suspense, and gore, but the fact that these are not too far off from reality makes them even more terrifying.

I love short stories. There is just something about the way that they have to be told in such a limited amount of pages that makes them difficult. They can either be really good and well written, or you can leave them with the sense that you didn’t receive the full story and there is something missing.

Lee Mavin did a very good job of putting these stories together in a way that they flowed well together. I felt as though I received all of the details necessary to put the story together. It was well written, and it was a very interesting read.

5/5 stars

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