Trouble in Mudbug

Trouble in Mudbug is a fun little book featuring mystery, suspense, humor and a splash of romance. Maryse has been living single since her good for nothing husband skipped out on her two years ago. Her mother in law, however, has not left Maryse to herself...even in death!

What's worse than a whiny, selfish, intrusive mother in law haunting you? Someone trying to kill you too! Luckily, Maryse has a mysterious (and very sexy) new zoologist working in her office to protect her.

I especially love books that are based in the South and Jana DeLeon hit the mark with this New Orleans series. Best part? You can get the Kindle Edition right now for FREE! Get it while you can, you won't be disappointed.

Gone

Gone by Michael Grant is the first book in YA/Sci-Fi/Horror series that will keep you up at night. First, because it's difficult to put down and secondly, because it's hard to shake the images this book creates.

One second, everything is normal. Kids are in school while their parents work or take care of younger children. Then in the blink of an eye, everyone 15 and over disappears. Gone.

Suddenly these children are left alone to deal with some very adult situations. If that wasn't enough, some of them are beginning to develop some strange powers and frightening animal mutations are starting to appear.

Gone is a nail biting, edge of your seat kind of book. It's disturbing without being overly gruesome. It's frightening without inducing too many nightmares. And there's just a touch of romance, but not too much.

Oh, by the way...I did not appreciate R.E.M's It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) being referred to as an "old" song. Even if it was recorded in 1987 and well before the characters of this book were born. It makes me feel old, ok? So just stop it!

Outlander Read-a-long Week 2

I am thoroughly enjoying Outlander and this read-a-long! Stalking the Bookshelves has provided us with questions for Chapters 8-14.


Here are my answers!

1.  Claire has been given the task of healer at the castle. She must adapt her nursing skills for the time and learn what herbs and etc will cure each particular ailment that is presented to her. Do you have any home remedies that were passed down to you (cure for a cold, bee sting or what have you)?  Nothing uncommon. My family prefers chicken and dumplings to chicken soup though!

2. What do you think would be the biggest challenge of living in the past? (Clothing, hygiene, food, etiquette or etc.) For me I think it would be emulating the language and behavior of the other women of that time. For example, Claire refers to boxing to Jamie and he has no idea what she's talking about. What surprises me, is how Frank got upset with Claire over her vulgar language but she has been able to control it well since stepping through time. 

3. Do you have a favorite character, scene or quote so far? If so, share it with us. Really? Jamie! Duh! I could care less about Frank. In fact, I think Claire should just forget about trying to find her way back to the stones and just enjoy Jamie. I would! Well then again, my husband is not dull like Frank. I'd return to my husband...but if I were Claire, I'd just make myself at home in Jamie's arms!

4. What did you think about the addition of the blood bond in the wedding ceremony? Is this something you would do with the one you love? My husband is important enough to me that I would, but I would not be happy about being sliced open, yow! 

5. Are you reading along closely with the scheduled chapters or are you ahead or behind? I am one chapter ahead, simply because I had to know what happened on their wedding night! Heehee. 

Visit Tangled Up in Blue for next week's questions and check back in with me next week to see what I have to say about chapters 15-21! 

Wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a story about ten year old August Pullman, a boy with rare and severe facial deformities. August has been homeschooled his entire life to accommodate his many surgeries. Now he is embarking a new journey, entering middle school!

This was a book club read for a local group. They tend to pick some downer books and my expectations for this one were not high. However, I was surprised to find a book the was uplifting and completely inspiring. I wanted to jump into the book and just hug Auggie! I won't give anything away, but this book left me teary. I thoroughly enjoyed cheering August Pullman on throughout this book. A must read!

Outlander Read-A-Long Week 1

Jess at Gone With The Words provided us with some questions for Chapters 1-7. 


Here are my answers!

1. Outlander is a well-known book. Before you cracked it open, what were your expectations or assumptions about this story? Or did you jump into it with a blank slate? I had tried reading Outlander a couple times in the past. I had heard from several people that the books were wonderful, but they failed to mention that the first chapter can be difficult to get through. I had assumed that it was just not my style or that it wasn't the right time for me to read it. Luckily, I found this time that if I had just stuck with it long enough to read chapter 2 I would have been just fine! Once I reached chapter 2 I was hooked! In fact, I had to make myself stop so I wouldn't get so far ahead. I know some of my fellow bloggers/readers have read ahead, but my memory just doesn't allow me to do that.
2. Claire’s husband, Frank, is fascinated with learning more and more facts about his family tree, which extends back pretty far. Do you or anyone in your family keep a family tree? How many years/generations back does it go? If not, have you ever considered or attempted to create one? My grandparents had a plaque given to them containing a lot of information about our family history. I haven't looked it over since I was a kid but it was very interesting and went back several hundred years. 
3. How did you find Claire’s initial conclusion as to her surroundings after waking up from going through the stones? Did you think that was a reasonable conclusion? I did think it was reasonable for Claire to assume she had stumbled upon a reenactment rather than travel through time. Wouldn't you?
4. How about her composed, rational way of dealing with the fact she’s traveled back in time. Did you find it believable? Do you think you would have acted the same way? What good does freaking out do? Every time travel movie or tv show I've watch the person who came from the future (or past) starts telling everyone they see their crazy time travel story. Everyone thinks they're nuts! In Claire's situation I think telling the truth about where she came from could have gotten her killed or at the very least she wouldn't have been given shelter and resources. 
5. At this point in the story, what are your feelings or expectations on Claire and Jamie? Is Frank still a factor for you? This is a point my husband and I have debated about. Claire is still married to Frank and she should respect their marriage by remaining faithful (his opinion), but after a certain point she will need to accept this as her reality and move on with her life even if that means excepting a new man into her arms (my opinion). Personally, I like Jamie a whole heck of a lot better than Frank. I wholeheartedly believe that Frank is the reason that the first chapter of this book is so dull.
Bonus Question: Frank encounters a man outside of the inn where he and Claire are staying. He is afraid it might have been a ghost. What do you believe it was? Do you have any predictions or suspicions on what that was about? Having not read this before, I believe that it was Jamie. I'm guessing he stepped through the stone and traveled forward in time. 

It's not too late to join in! Visit Stalking the Bookshelves for next week's questions and check back in with me next week to see what I have to say about chapters 8-14!

The Power of Six, 365 better each day, and Winning by Losing

I haven't been reading much the last week what with dealing with a three week long migraine. I found it's a little hard to focus on the words when I'm half blind with pain. 

 The Power of Six is the second in the I am Number Four series. Because of my lack of competent thinking at the moment, I'm just going to tell you what I thought of it.

The series itself, while predictable sci-fi/alien/young adult fiction, is an enjoyable easy read. The Power of Six by itself was a little disappointing to me. It wasn't that the story wasn't good or the writing was bad, it's just that it was a middle book, if that makes sense. See this is where my migraine has me go on random tangents!

The book starts where the first book left off and had no real ending. It wasn't even so much a cliff ending to me, but rather just an abrupt ending. There was no closure whatsoever and it just left me feeling like there were chapters missing.

Now I know this is supposed to make me rush out and buy the next book to find out what happens next, but really I just felt like I had wasted my time. Sure I got to meet some new characters and see a little character  development with the previous people, but I just felt like this book was a series of random dialog and fights. I mean, several chapters were of the Numbers just kind of sitting around waiting to happen. And then when danger did present itself, it seemed fairly easy to handle. Not that they didn't struggle, but it just seemed like no big deal.

All in all, if you like the first book, you have to finish the rest, otherwise it's just a waste. It's an enjoyable time wasting read...but still wasteful.




This book had a lot of great ideas, however most of it could be found from just about any magazine on the racks for women.  Lot of it was also common sense, like go outside and listen to music that makes you happy. I had this as a 21 day check out from the library so I didn't have the time to read one a day as I had wanted. Reading a few "days" at a time, the tips started to become a little repetitive. I think it would have been a bit better if the book had been sorted by topic instead of randomly flipping back and forth between weight loss and depression. Overall, many of the tips were interesting and helpful. Actually, I would have liked to see this as a one a day desk calendar rather than in book form.

Unfortunately, my checkout of Winning by Losing expired before I was able to finish reading it, though I did put it on hold for the next available copy.

Going into this book I was expecting...I don't know, Jillian to be mean and yell at me or something. What I found instead was a good break down of really useful weight loss information.

Now I know what you're thinking, rapid weight loss is not healthy. Well! She actually only promotes 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week and the advice in the book is the as what you would find from other sources.

But like I said, I was unable to finish the book due to time constraints. I just have not reached a point where I am able to devote 100% of my reading time to non-fiction or in this case self-help. Anyway, once I have finished the book, I will be soon to update on what I thought of this book.