Vacation Reading

By the time you probably see this I will have already left for vacation.

I am headed to Chicago, IL. I have googled the directions and I am looking at about a 18 hour drive. Googled said almost 16 hours but I am adding in gas time, bath breaks and stopping to eat. I have to say that this trip won't be made in one day because that is just crazy and its too long to do it in one day. So the trip is being broke up into two days. Not sure exactly where we will be spending the night.

Anyways I have packed a bag of books to bring with me. I have to say it was really hard to look at my book case and pick and choice. So here is what I am bringing with me:

*Seduced by The Wolf by Terry Spear (I read one of her books last summer on vacation and could not put it down. Ended up reading it in a day. So fingers crossed this one is like that.)

*Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci (Cecil is comig to town in August and I am going to see her.)

*Death's Excellent Vacation

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Cross Fire by James Patterson

*Stash by David Klein

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I know I packed way too many books as always but I always fear that I won't have enough to read. Honestly its crazy because I know for a fact I will be able to find bookstores along the way.

The books with this * in front of them are books I am making it a point to read because they were sent to me for review. The others are books I own or borrowed.

Do you tend to over pack the books when you go away?

(Review & Tour) Online with God, A 90 day Devotional

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton

and the book:

Online with God, A 90 Day Devotional

Zonderkidz (April 9, 2010)

***Special thanks to Pam Mettler of Zondervan for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laurie’s first published work was a note passed to a boy in elementary school. You would have thought that this most embarrassing moment would have stopped her writing career. But instead, Laurie is the author of thirty five books and author/illustrator of two more. Laurie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and two daughters.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $9.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (April 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310716152
ISBN-13: 978-0310716150

Press the browse button to view the first chapter:

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MY THOUGHTS
I just recently got this book and as much as I wanted to read it in one sitting, which I could have easily done since its only 185 pages, I didn't. I took it as reading it one day at a time for 90 days.

I admit I am not an overly religous person and you might be shocked to hear the last time I went to church for a reason other then a wedding, funeral, baptism (Christening) or first communion. Yes its bad.

I am speaking as an adult and I wonder if I was younger what impact it would have? I know there is plenty of young people who don't go to church or even think about God.

This book is aimed at girls. We all went through what girls of today are going through but we didn't have cell phones, computers and many other things to distract us.

The book is done in blog format in a girls point of view. Its a personal blog and she is writting to God.

Once I am done with the book I will be writting a more detail review.

Mailbox Monthly Happenings Kids Edition

I was going to include this in my mailbox post but its a little too long. This is what Michael got in the mail this month.

Thank you to Kristi at The Story Siren and Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting these weekly memes. You can take part in both by going to each of their blogs and following the rules.

I have decided to do this as a monthly meme and I have to say I am not sure if I will continue to do it this way or not I guess it will depend on the reaction I get to it. If I do continue to do it monthly it will be done the last Friday of the month.

These are all review books:
-The Lego Book by Daniel Lipkowitz
-Standing Small A celebration of 30 years of lego mini figures by Kevin Martell
-#2 Ripleys Bureau of Investigation The Dragon's Triangle
-#3 Ripleys Bureau of Investigation Running Wild
-Ripley's Wild Animals
-Ripley's Human Body
-Ripley's Mighty Machines
-Ripley's Space
-Ripley's Believe it or Not: Enter if you Dare!
-Terry Fox A story of Hope by Maxine Trottier
-Matthew and the Bullies by Sarah Duchess of York
-The Case of the Crooked Carnival by Michele Torrey ill by Barbara Johansen Newman
-Calvin can't fly the story of a bookwarm birdie by Jennifer Berne ill by Keith Bendis
-Man gave names to all the animals by Bob Dylan ill by Tim Arnosky
-1+1=5 and other unlikely additons by David LaRochelle ill by Brenda SExton
-Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman ill by Liz Woodruff

I want to send out a huge Thank You to DK Publishing, Ripley's, Scholastic Canada and Sterling Publishing for sending Michael all these great books. Thank you so very much.

Mailbox Happenings (Monthly Edition)

Thank you to Kristi at The Story Siren and Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting these weekly memes. You can take part in both by going to each of their blogs and following the rules.

I have also included in this post the meme that I am hosting BOOKS BOUGHT. If you would like to take part in the BOOKS BOUGHT all you have to do is leave a comment here and I will go and check out the books you bought. There is no set time to post its just whenever you buy books that you want to share with your readers.

Although I have to say seeing these will make your wishlists just a little longer.

I have decided to do this as a monthly meme and I have to say I am not sure if I will continue to do it this way or not I guess it will depend on the reaction I get to it. If I do continue to do it monthly it will be done the last Friday of the month.

REVIEW BOOKS:
-Premiere on the Runway by Melody Carlson
-Catwalk on the Runway by Melody Carlson
.Once Wicked Always Dead by T. Marie Benchley
-Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins & Amberly Collins
-Katy's Debate by Kim Vogel Sawyer
-Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Denham
.One Day by David Nicholls
-Eyewitness Travel: Chicago
.All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
-You Can Cook by Annabel Karmel
-Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher
.Stash by David Klein
-Online with God by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton
-Boyfriends, Burritos and an ocean of Trouble by Nancy Rue
-Motorcycles, Sushi and one Strange Book by Nancy Rue
.Think of a Number by John Verdon
-The Starlet by Mary McNamara
.Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink
-Death's Excellent Vacation by Charlaine Harris, Katie MacAlister plus many others
.The Fall by Chuck Hogan
-Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci
-Ready Set Grow
-Eye Witness Travel Montreal Pocket Map & Guide
-The Rough Guide to Saving and Selling online by Ian Peel
-The Rough Guide to Cloud Computing

BOOK LOVE FROM BLOGGERS:
The Sister Wife by Diane Noble from Kathy from Bermudaonion

Cross Fire by James Patterson from Tina from BookShipper

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore and
Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan from Amy from Amy Reads
Thank you!

ROUND ROBIN:
Kelley Armstron organized this and I was really lucky to hop on to this round of Round Robin. The book that was going around is Angelic by Kelley Armstrong.

BOOKS WON:
Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel was a win from Amanda at The Zen Leaf
Fables: Legends in Exile (graphic novel) was a win from Trisha from Eclectic/Eccentric

BOOKS BOUGHT:
.Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison
Prom Girls by Lesley Fletcher
.Sea Exchange by Aimee Friedman

BOOKS BORROWED:
-Top 8 by Katie Finn
.One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare
.Twice Tempted by a Rogue by Tessa Dare
.Reality Check by Jen Calonita
.Jessica's Guide To Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
.If I stay by Gayle Forman
.The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
.Ghostgirl: Rest in popularity by Tonya Hurley
.Ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley
.Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare [from Donna at Books Bound


SWAG:
The lovely Mindi Scott sent me a handfull of her bookmarks of her upcoming book Free Fall with a beautiful note. Thanks Mindi.

Just a FYI titles with this - beside it mean my reviews are scheduled to post in August and titles that are clickable are books I have reviewed already.

So this is my month in books what did you get? Have you read any of these titles?

Vacation Time

Just a heads up to all my readers that next week I will be away on vacation for a few days. I am heading down to Chicago (Naperville) to visit family. This will be my first time there. A few years ago I actually drove through IL with a friend so it will be nice to see Chicago and the area.

Hey if you happen to be in the area and want to meet up let me know and perhaps we could do coffee. If you could leave a message here before the weekend that would be great otherwise I will be with limited (if any) internet access so I might not be able to check emails or blogs.

Specking of the blog, I have a week of stuff planned such as:
-August 2nd (Monday) review (possible) First Wild Card tour of Katy's Debate by Kim vogel Sawyer
-August 3ed (Tuesday)review (possible) First Wild Card tour of Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins & Amberly Collins
-August 4th (Wednesday) review (possible) First Wild Card Tour of Catwalk on the Runway by Melody Carlson

(The reason I say possible tour is that I am hoping to have that info before I leave for vacation.)

I plan on doing some shopping while I am away because at the end of August I have my 2 year blogiversary so I want to pick up a few prizes.

Have a great week everyone.

On My Wishlist (monthly edition)

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme that is hosted by Carolyn at Book Chick City. If you haven't check out her blog yet then you really should. Carolyn is a fantastic blogger.

I have decided that instead of doing this as a weekly meme I am going to do this as a third Wednesday of the month meme.

Here is the books that I have recently added to my wishlist.



The Haunted by Jessica Verday
Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Clock Work Anger by Cassandra Clare
Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
Wildthorne by Jane Eagland
Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
A Mermaid's Mirrorby L.K Madigan
Torment by Lauren Kate
Cathing Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

This is what is on my wishlist. Whats on yours?

Hmm rather annoyed

Tonight as part of my usually evening routine I was on twitter. As I was reading all the tweets I noticed a tweet by Jennifer @TequilaReader. If you click on @TequilaReader you will go directly to her blog. She had mentioned A Books Blog had taken her blog content and others that she knew as well and basically copied and pasted it on there site. All without authorization!!

I was curious so I went to check it out and guess what? Yes, that is right content from Cindy's Love of Books appears on this site. Now should I be flattered that my blog is worthy of stealing from or should I be annoyed that it was taken without my permission?

Okay I have to confess I am a little flattered that someone would steal my content because I never felt that my content was that great and I base this on a few things such as my numbers, followers, comments etc so of course it feels a little good.

Now the more I think about it I am annoyed because like I said my content was taken without my permission and sadly since it has been taken I haven't had any benefits from it such as more comments, followers etc. So yea darn it I am annoyed.

I will be contacting this blog and telling them to please remove my content.

If you have a few minutes I would seriously check this blog out to see if any of your content is there. I didn't go through the almost 600 pages instead I used the search tool on the site and entered my blog name and it all popped up.

What would you do if you found your stuff on this blog? Has it happened to you?

(Review) The Starlet

TITLE: The Starlet
AUTHOR: Mary McNamara
PUB DATE: June 2010
PAGES: 320
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
SOURCE: I received an advance readers copy of The Starlet from Leigh at Regal Literary. Thank You for contacting me with the request to review this.

ABOUT THE BOOK
It's a not-so-well-respected rule in Hollywood that what happens on location stays on location. But when a hot young leading man winds up dead in his Rome hotel room, his costar's life is about to go off the rails in a very public way—even by celeb standards.

At the tender age of twenty-three, Mercy Talbot has won an Oscar, battled addiction, wrecked more than her share of cars, and burned down her house. Her look-alike mother keeps her on a tight leash (and fueled with an endless supply of OxyContin and cocaine) and her producers demand a grueling schedule. By the time she stumbles across Juliette Greyson, a Hollywood insider on a much-needed vacation, Mercy is surrounded by photographers and about to emerge drunk, high, and naked from a public fountain. Whisking her away to an idyllic Tuscan 'retreat,' Juliette is about to discover another rule of Hollywood: wherever the starlet may go, the drama will follow.

MY THOUGHTS
I have to say that I really love the cover of the finished copy. I just love how the "S" is done compared to the ARC version. Very smoky-ish. (Is that even a word?)

As I was reading this for some reason I kept thinking of all the Hollywood starlets that have been making the news headlines ie Lindsey and I could almost picture Mercy as her. The reason I say this is because what Mercy did. Lindsey basically did too so I found it made the character really believable. Granted there was times I would have reached into the book to strangle her because of the things she was doing.

Another great element in the book was the deaths of the characters such has Mercy's boyfriend Lloyd, who is found dead. Was it a suicide? Perhaps a drug overdoes? Murder? So many things lead to each one and I have to admit I was curious to find out because the books opens with Lloyd being dead.

Lloyd's death isn't the only one we see another one happening. This was appears to be accidental but we quickly find out that perhaps it was being at the wrong place and the wrong time. Just when you think you might have it figured out Mary throws a twist into the story.

Publishers Weekly describe this book as "sexy, scandalous and suspenseful" and I have to say that this is exactly what this book is.

Mercy is only 23 years old and strung out on all kinds of illegal substance. She is grieving the lost of her boyfriends death. She is in Italy filming a movie. Mercy is so strung out of her mind that she doesn't realize what she is doing and has jumped from the top of King Triton into a famous Roman fountain. So being a famous celebrity the paparazzi capture this whole event. Thankfully Juliette sees all this and jumps to Mercy's rescue.

Juliette is use to celebrities and their behavoirs because she is a PR who works in a very posh LA hotel. She knows how to handle these kinds of celebrities. What we quickly discover about Juliette is that she is also a recovering addict and she has left LA behind her to get her bearings back and she is at the family estate in Cerreta. The estate is a two-hundred acre family farm near Siena that she and her cousin, Gabe, have inherited from their families.

Will Juliette be able to save Mercy or will it be too late?

Local Book Blogger Meet Up July Edition

Today was the Local Book Blogger Meet Up and its been awhile since I have seen Avis and Linda. Its actually been since we got back from NYC/BEA. I actually saw Donna and Tina since our trip. It was great to see everyone and to be back in a routine of meeting up again.

As we sipped our assorted drinks (hot chocolate and a cold apple & strawberry drink for me, I am not sure what everyone else had) we talked about our trip, about BEA, we got Avis's feedback about BBC that she went to, spoke about the next BEA, life and of course books.

I managed to pass on a few books to Tina (which I know she loved) along with a few magazines, passed on two to Linda and one to Avis. I love sharing books with everyone.

I managed to come home with only one book and its this one:

ABOUT THE BOOK
Wedding bells ring

Detective Alex Cross and Bree''s wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.''s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories--is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?

A murderer returns

The case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims'' movements--information that only a Washington insider could possess.

Caught in a lethal cross fire

As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson''s most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever.

I am really excited to read this one as I am a huge James Patterson fan. So check back in November for my review of this book.

See you guys in August!

(Review) Sea

TITLE: Sea
AUTHOR: Heidi R Kling
PUB ADTE: June 2010
PUBLISHER: Putnam Juvenile
PAGES: 336
AGES: 12 and Up

Source: I obtained this galley from Vimala from Penguin Canada.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Still haunted by nightmares of her mother’s death, fifteen-year-old Sienna Jones reluctantly travels to Indonesia with her father’s relief team to help tsunami orphans with their post traumatic stress disorder—something Sienna knows a lot about. Since her mother’s plane went missing over the Indian Ocean three years before, Sienna doesn’t do anything if it involves the ocean or planes, so this trip is a big step forward.

But the last thing she expects is to fall for Deni, a brooding Indonesian boy who lives at the orphanage, and just so happens to be HOT. When Deni hears a rumor that his father may be alive, Sienna doesn’t think twice about running away with him to the epicenter of the disaster. Unfortunately, what they find there could break both their hearts.

MY THOUGHTS

As you can see I was reading my copy of Sea not near the sea but actually the St Lawerence River near the Canoe Club in my area. The day I was reading this Michael was in a boat paddling around so I took the opportunity to read.

I enjoyed the book and I was pleasantly surprised at how it ended.

The book opens up with the chapter title called four weeks later. From that page I was curious to see who this girl was, what happened to the boy she loved and why she was on the other side of the world.

On the next page it begins with everything that happened four weeks before that. We are introduced to Sienna who just turned fifteen years old. Her father gives her a birthday present that she never expected in her whole life. Its a plane ticket to Indonesian. Her father wants her to go with him for two weeks to help him at a orphanage because they were the worst hit from the tsunami.

Sienna is torn between her fear of flying and we find out why and we find out why and I think I would be two and certainly would think twice about. Its only after seeing a video of the kids from the orphanage that makes her rethink her decision about going.

Leaving behind her friends and a possible boyfriend, Spider, Sienna decides that she will go. Just like most typical fifteen year olds the boy at home gets quickly forgotten when she spots Deni who lives at the orphanage and is labelled as the bad but but we quickly realize that he isn't. Deni is just trying to cope with loosing his whole life, home, and family.

Sienna and Deni are instantly drawn to each other and she will do anything to see that Deni is happy even if it means loosing him in the end and Deni will do anything to see Sienna happy even if it means breaking a few rules.

I absolutely enjoyed the book and I have to stay there was always an element that happened that kept me turning the pages to find out what was going on.

Thanks again to Vimala for sending me this great book.