Drat

So... I had this nice long informative post all written up the other night when all of a sudden the power went out and I lost it. Don't you love it when that happens? I shall now attempt to recreate it in short form.


The Saints and Sinners of Okay County - Dayna Dunbar
This is a great retro novel (set in 1976 or so) in small town Oklahoma. Aletta Honor is pregnant with her fourth child and has no idea where her husband is at the moment. With a stack of bills to pay, she is getting desperate. She attempts to set up a kolache stand during the annual Czech Festival but she burns them all and has to settle for peddling lemonade. After she uses her long hidden psychic powers to save the life of a customer, she decides to put a sign up in the front yard and offer psychic readings from her home. Town and husbandly drama ensues, but Aletta knows she is doing what she should be doing. This was a great novel.

Nostalgia rules. I've been on a teen novel kick lately. These are all good ones.
Gingerbread - Rachel Cohn
All American Girl - Meg Cabot
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Filthy Rich - Dorothy Samuels
Not a teen novel although I did find it in the Young Adult section. If 34 is now considered young adult... yay! This was a cute read.

Meely LaBauve - Ken Wells
I found this book in the Young Adult section at the library but I wouldn't really consider it that genre. The main character is a 15 year old boy but the subject matter is a little mature. Of course, it isn't anything I wasn't reading (or doing for that matter) at that age. It is touted as the Cajun Huck Finn, but I have to disagree there as well. It is much better! This is a must read or any age, male or female.

Can You Keep A Secret - Sophie Kinsella
Yet another gem. I've been anxiously awaiting her next novel, and this one was well worth the wait. Funny, charming, witty. Everything it should be. I was hooked. And I have read where the movie rights have already been scooped up. Although Kate Hudson is set to play the main character and I don't really see her as fitting the part, not that I don't like her but it just isn't her.


The Breathtaker - Alice Blanchard
This was one wild ride of a book. Set in Tornado Alley (which is where I live) this murder mystery is an experience. I love it when a book is in familiar settings, you can learn something from it, and it keeps you hooked. It took me much longer than usual to figure out whodunit in this one. I definitely recommend this one.

The Solace of Leaving Early and Neil Gaiman

Finally finished The Solace of Leaving Early. It started off incredibly slow and I really didn't think I would get past it. That and I was not liking the main character at all. About halfway through it started getting better, and by the end of the book I was loving it. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a waste of time and effort to read. It's funny how some authors get better with time and some get worse.
I re-read Neil Gaiman's The Wolves in the Walls and Coraline. He is amazing. A friend has loaned me Stardust to re-read. I need to scour the used book stores as his are books I need to keep. I don't often re-read books, so I like to have the ones I love around when the urge strikes.

i'm a slacker

I haven't been doing a whole lot of reading lately due to pursuing other pleasurable pastimes. Maybe I should just start listing the books with a rating system as lazy as I am! ha!

So 5 Minutes Ago - Hilary DeVries
This was not as good as it was hyped to be, or as good as I was anticipating it to be. It wasn't bad by any means, it was just a little too fake at times for me. But then, we are talking Hollywood here....

Scottish Girls About Town - 16 Scottish Women
Scottish Girls wasn't as bad as Irish Girls About Town, but neither was I very impressed with it.

Lucky Stars - Jane Heller
Overall, a cute, entertaining read.

And now.. the good stuff! Ta-da!

Blessed Are The Cheesemakers - Sarah-Kate Lynch
Do yourself a favor and RUN - don't walk- out and get this book! It is one of the best reads I've had in a while, yet not weighty or depressing. I wanted to hang out at Coolarney House and soak up the magic. Lynch's writing made me feel as if I were.

Something Rising (Light and Swift) - Haven Kimmel
This IS the best read I've had in a long while. It was more "wordy" than I normally like, but in Haven Kimmel's style it made the story. Pick this one up when you are out getting The Cheesemakers. You won't be disappointed.
I picked up The Solace of Leaving Early, Kimmel's second novel, yet couldn't really get into it. I am going to give it another try now. I'll also have to look for her first one, A Girl Named Zippy.

I had a whole pile of other books that were such crap that I won't even go into them.

win some, lose some

It seems to be the trend lately to read a while and then catch up on updating. Better late than never, eh? I got a huge stack of books at the library last week, but only a few of them have been able to hold my interest. The others I have been vacillating back and forth on, a chapter here... a chapter there. Hopefully the next batch will hold more goodies.

Emma's Secret - Barbara Taylor Bradford
This was another one that went back unread. Barbara's books are always very well written, but they are usually too... staid... I guess is the word. I may check it out again when I am in a different frame of mind.

Straight Talking - Jane Green
Okay, this book annoyed the hell out of me for the most part. It was a good book, but it was just too rambling, wishy-washy, whiny and I could not sympathize with the main character at times. I could in theory on the subject, but I suppose it was just that the other stuff got in the way. Maybe it was my mood, I don't know, because here lately all of her books have annoyed me on some level. Bookends was the first novel of hers that I read and it was amazing, and I've been somewhat disappointed by all of the others.

Luck of the Draw - Carolina Garcia-Aguilera
This book was indeed the luck of the draw. It was outstanding! Very well written, very engaging. I shall be checking out all of her other novels ASAP.

The Cure for Death by Lightning - Gail Anderson-Dargatz
I've seen this book many times at the library but had never checked it out. I finally picked it up and am glad that I did. It has some subject matter in it that I am not too fond of reading about (but then who wants to read about horrible reality?) but it was such a great read, and it left the indelible reminder that life happens, it isn't always pretty, but it does go on and you can make it the best it can be. I loved the realism of the book even if it was harsh. It was very evocative of the time yet not stuff that is written about a lot.

Found another pile

I have so many stacks of books sitting around that I sometimes lose track of what is where. I found two more that I have read in the last couple of weeks that got buried. Both of them are from Red Dress Ink. The first one is Speechless by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout. There were parts of this book where I didn't really like it but overall it was a good read. Second up is Engaging Men by Lynda Curnyn. Again, it was just an average book. Both weren't horrible, but they weren't the best I've ever read. Speaking of Red Dress Ink, I can't wait to order Fat Chance by Deborah Blumenthal and Inappropriate Men by Stacey Ballis!