false 90 322 124 true 5679153 read 16 true 3727097 currently-reading 182 true 3727096 to-read 201 false 4001003 arcs 24 false 6918836 wish-list 4 false 5554250 this-week http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74345599 to: Last Breath (The Rayne Tour, #2) by Brandilyn Collins
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This book picks up exactly where book 1 - Always Watching ended. Caution - spoilers if you have not read the first book!

Shaley and her mother's band are headed back to the hotel after their bus driver, Jerry, is killed. He had been the one who had murdered Shaley's friend Tom and he was also the one stalking her. The last thing he said to her was "Your father sent me".

There were many paparazzi at the hotel and Rayne, Shaley's mom was hit by a car. She cracked her ribs and broke her left wrist. She was taken to the hospital in Denver and this is where the rest of the story plays out.

Shaley's mom overhears Shaley talking to her best friend on the phone as she is telling her what Jerry's last words were. As Shaley has never met her father, nor does she know anything about him, this really threw her for a loop. With her mom overhearing her, she knows that she now has to share it with the police detectives.

Rayne figures it is finally time to tell Shaley about her father, so in between sleeping and pain medication, she begins the story of how her and Gary, her father, met. Is the man who sent Jerry really her father? If Rayne's remembrances are true - why would he want to hurt Shaley? How far will Shaley go to find the dad she has always wanted?

This was another fun read in this series. It was very quick - read it in a couple of hours during the Readathon. I am hoping there is going to be a book 3. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74345449 to: Mom Needs Chocolate: Hugs, Humor and Hope for Surviving Motherhood (Paperback) by Debora Coty
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If you are reading this book - get ready to laugh! It is full of humor, much of which I am sure, only a woman/mother can really understand. Like the spontaneous release of milk upon hearing ANY child cry in the story found below in the first chapter.

Each chapter reads like a daily devotion - usually starting with a scripture and ending with a prayer - and some "Faith in Action" questions. I did not sit down and read this book straight through, though it could be done. I chose to read one (or a few) a day - I just kept it accessible where if I had a few minutes and needed a pick me up I could read a chapter. The chapters cover everything from depression, piggishness and aging to God's Omnipotence, gratitude and prayer.

She talks about how (God) "wants us to be filled with His joy, not weighted down by the joy-sucking dully-funks." And I love how she describes dully-funks - "that black hole when nothing particularly bad is happening, just nothing good," or "that bottom-of-the-barrel place where your spirits are lower than chicken scratch."

I found this little book to be full of humor, wisdom, down-to-earth prayers - and it helped me to put things into perspective when I think I am the only one who doesn't always get it right. This is a very readable and relatable book and I recommend it to every mom! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65679428 to: June Bug (Paperback) by Chris Fabry
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63416810 Last Light over Carolina (Hardcover) by Mary Alice Monroe
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74345343 to: Messages to Myself: Overcoming a Distorted Self-Image (Paperback) by Helen B. McIntosh
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Sometimes it is really hard for me to review a non-fiction, self-help book - and this was one of those times. I like her ideas, in that you have to "reframe" your thinking or self-talk. Many of us immediately go to the negative if something bad happens and she says we need to learn how to go away from these negative thoughts about ourselves and look at how God would see the situation - and that regardless of what you think about yourself - God created you perfectly and He is enough. See, I am not sure that I am doing a good job explaining here - so let me tell you about a conversation that I had with my oldest daughter tonight.


She was upset because a boy she liked at school told her that he didn't have time for a girlfriend right now. The first thing she said to me was - "He says he doesn't have time for a girlfriend, but he just doesn't want me to be his girlfriend." I talked with her a little bit and told her not to read anything into what he had said - and that maybe this was God's way of telling her that there was somebody even better out there - she just needed to wait a little longer.


This is very much a faith-based book and if you are already a Believer it would be a good book to have if you struggle with self-doubt, depression, feelings of insignificance. I am not sure how a person who hadn't accepted Christ as their Saviour would view this book though. I am not sure that it would actually lead someone to Christ. I like knowing that I am not alone in these thoughts and behaviours though, and Dr. McIntosh gave lots of great scripture references to help boost you up.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74345418 to: Pendragon's Banner (Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, #2) by Helen Hollick
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Once again, Helen Hollick gives us a wonderful addition to King Arthur's story. Arthur started in The Kingmaking as a teenager - not even knowing that he was the heir to the throne. In Pendragon's Banner, he is not only King, but husband and father - and battling to do justice to all those roles.

Arthur has married Gwenhwyfar and with their children they have traveled, eventually settling at Caer Cadan. The traveling and Arthur's "wandering" have taken a toll on his and Gwenhwyfar's marriage. Add to the fact that Gwenhwyfar was also very intelligent and was somewhat a warrior herself - coming from a long line of warriors - there was bound to be conflict between the two. Even though they were estranged, they manage to come back together. Arthur is also battling his first wife, Winifred, and Morgause who has cursed his children if Arthur should ever come after her.

This book covers about 6 years but it does not lack for political struggles, battles, infidelity, romance. What you will not find though is Merlin or Excalibur or the Knights of the Round Table. This is historical fiction without all the fantasy - a King Arthur we can believe might really have lived.

I enjoyed this second installment of Pendragon's Banner as much as I did the first - but I found it hard to try to sum up. Most of this information is new to me, as I was never a big fan of the King Arthur stories. I am, however, a big fan of Helen Hollick's books and am looking forward to the re-release of the third book in this series next year. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75832517 to: The Laceyville Monkeys (Hardcover) by Harriett Ruderman
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This is a very clever book on teaching kids the importance of "saying the right words!" It is a rhyming book about a troop of 3 monkeys that will only perform when their owner, Hepzibah, asks them to, using very specific words. When the monkeys are kidnapped and taken to a talent contest by someone other than Hephzibah, because she doesn't ask appropriately, the monkeys will not perform. Of course, Hephzibah comes along and save the day by asking the monkey to perform using the special words.

The book was also illustrated very colorfully and humorously with many pictures of different animals performing silly things. While my son likes this book, I am not sure he got the "lesson" out of it - but who knows - it amazes me sometimes the things he picks up!
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74345299 to: Let's Walk the Talk!: Girlfriend to Girlfriend on Faith, Friendship, and Finding Real Love (Paperback) by Danae Dobson
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I have not read this entire book - but let me tell you why. I wasn't even through the first chapter before I went and found my 15 year old daughter and told her that this was a book that I wanted to read with her. What I wouldn't have given to have a book (or a friend) like this when I was a teenager. Luckily, my daughter still talks to me about everything - or so she says - but even so, there is so much going on in school these days that I would have been shocked by 25 years ago, that a lot of times I am floundering right beside her. But let me tell you a little more about the book.


The chapters are not very long - about 10 pages each, with a couple of those pages being answers from teens or people who work with teens to a question that has been posed relating to the chapter. So in this aspect, if we take a chapter every day or every 2 days, it should move along pretty quickly. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter which should open up some great conversations for me to have with my daughter. I figure if I just gave her the book to read, she would just skip these questions, like so many of us would if we didn't have someone keeping us accountable.


The book also has wonderful scripture references that are so pertinent to each chapter! There are things that I still stumble with as an adult where these scriptures will also help me on! It is also written in such an easy to understand language, and it doesn't sound judgemental at all. I even found much of it humorous as she will set up a situation and pretty much say - this is how I messed it up - and with what I know now - this is how I would handle it. Some of the topics covered are modesty, outward appearance, kissing, material things, bad language, relationship with your parents - well, you get the picture. All those things that are important or relevant in young girls lives today. If you have a daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter, friend that is between the ages of 12-20 - I would definitely recommend this book to her. I can't wait to get more into it with my daughter! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74346161 to: The Evolution of Shadows (Hardcover) by Jason Malott
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This novel is about the coming together of 3 unrelated people to search for Gray Banick, a news photographer who disappeared 5 years earlier in the Bosnian war zone. Lian was his girlfriend - and also the reason he went to Bosnia; Emil was the interpreter he met while on assignment, and Jack was a fellow news photographer who was Gray's mentor.

These three people come together to try to search for Gray, or Gray's remains, as a way to put an end to that chapter in their lives. Emil is still trying to find Mira, his fiancee who was taken away by enemy soldiers - in his head he knows she is dead, but in his heart, he refuses to give up hope. Katja, his current girlfriend, isn't sure that he will ever be able to let Mira go.

Jack has given his whole life to surviving in war zones. Where his homecomings with his wife used to be exciting - they have become alienated over the years and she now feels as if he has deserted her. Most of the big events in their life he has learned of over the phone, half a world away. Jack realizes that Gray is a surrogate son to him, to replace the one that his wife had miscarried 30+ years before.

That leaves Lian. She was always sure that her and Gray would not be together, but not because she didn't love him - even though she couldn't put it into words. Her family was bound by Chinese values and traditions, and those were put on her shoulders to carry forward. For this reason, she found herself engaged and married to Daniel, a Chinese doctor who works with her father. She realizes that she has been a coward her whole life, and hopes that by coming to Bosnia she will be able to come clean with Daniel about her past, and move forward in her life, on her terms.

That is, at least, how I viewed these three people. I cannot say that I "enjoyed" this book - as the setting isn't something that someone would "enjoy". But I found that I could not put it down! The story was told between present interactions amongst Emil, Lian and Jack and flash backs on their relationships with Gray. While there isn't a lot of action, it moves forward steadily, hauntingly, through war-torn Sarajevo and the surrounding countryside. While the setting of the story is tragic, there is an underlying romantic element of never losing hope. I highly - highly! recommend this book. It is a great debut novel and I can't wait to see what else Mr. Malott has to bring us.


For some reason, this passage has stayed with me:

"I will take pictures of the truth. They will be ashamed of themselves."
The man nodded. "But not until after my family is dead."
"I come from a sleeping people," Gray said.
"You are awake," the man said. "I must get back to my family." (p210) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74346138 to: The Belly Button Fairy (Hardcover) by Bobbie Hinman
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I won this book at BestFairyBooks.com. The book comes complete with an audio CD. There is only good to be said about it. It is colorful, humorous, and tells us where our Belly Buttons came from! (You didn't know that fairies gave them to you did you!) Ms. Hinman also has two more books in this line - The Knot Fairy - (the fairy responsible for tangling our children's hair at night) and The Sock Fairy (this little guy is the one that steals our socks and also gives us the occasional hole!) My son has enjoyed reading this one as well as The Knot Fairy that we received earlier this year. You should go check these books out over at www.BestFairyBooks.com! I guarantee, if you have a little munchkin - they will enjoy these little fairies! ]]>