The Blessings of The Animals - Review

Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch. Stymied by her recent divorce, she wonders if there are secret ingredients to a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the entire institution is outdated and obsolete. Couples all around her are approaching important milestones. Her parents are preparing to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. Her brother and his partner find their marriage dreams legally blocked. Her former sister-in-law—still her best friend—is newly engaged. The youthfully exuberant romance of her teenage daughter is developing complications. And three separate men—including her ex-husband—are becoming entangled in Cami’s messy post-marital love life.

But as she struggles to come to terms with her own doubts amid this chaotic circus of relationships, Cami finds strange comfort in an unexpected confidant: an angry, unpredictable horse in her care. With the help of her equine soul mate, she begins to make sense of marriage’s great mysteries—and its disconnects.

My Review:

I loved the story that is woven throughout the pages of this novel, The Blessings Of The Animals by Katrina Kittle even though there are elements about it you may not care for. One of these is the gay marriage between Cami's brother Davy to his partner David and their subsequent attempted adoption of a child. This is something that goes against my beliefs but I found that I could still enjoy the story of Cami and her daughter, Gabriella, as they struggle to find a way to keep their farm intact while going through a rough divorce from her ex husband Bobby.

Since dealing with this exact situation in my own personal life, I could relate to Cami's struggle to see her husband leaving and divorcing her as something as a blessing of a life to come. The wonderful parallel between a horse she has rescued from an abusive woman as part of an animal control raid, teaches her through the love and compassion of caring for a wounded horse, that she too can learn to trust and love again. There are so many great parts of this book, between all the animals that Cami gets stuck with caring for when no one else will and besides the horse, Moonshot, is the relationship she has with Muriel her beloved goat.

This story truly is a must read for anyone that has that unique connection with animals and the love that coexists between us and them in our own language of love. I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and would still rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars for the story content.

If you would like more information on this book, the author and where to purchase a copy, please click on the book title below:

The Blessings of The Animals

Also Katrina Kittle will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl (actually, with Book Club Girl's co-worker, Erica) on August 26th at 7pm ET? Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/book-club-girl/2010/08/26/katrina-kittle-discusses-the-blessings-of-the-animals.

Not That Kind of Girl - Review

In Not That Kind of Girl, Carlene Bauer takes us through her personal memoir of growing up like I did, raised in the Catholic church. There were the days of watching a Thief in The Night and then lying awake wondering just when Jesus was going to come back and take people away while leaving the unbelievers behind...

For more exciting details visit my review and opportunity to enter a giveaway of this personal memoir by Carlene Bauer at:

Reviews From The Heart

The Fixer Upper

My Review:

What a wonderful and intriguing story of a renovation of an old Georgian Mansion called Birdsong and the latest indictment of Dempsey's old boss Alex for allegedly trying to buy his way into an oil company's bill in Washington. Since Dempsey works for Alex as a junior associate lobbyist, she finds herself embattled with this FBI investigation when her boss turns her in to the FBI and claims himself innocent of all charges. He subsequently fires her as a way of making the story stick.

Since Dempsey can't really work in Washington right now, her father, Mitch, wants her to head down to Georgia to fix up and flip an old house he has inherited from his grandfather. What Dempsey finds there is truly an overgrown money pit, complete with a live in, old lady who insists the house belongs to her.

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews takes you on quite adventure in not only the art of restoring a home where every penny counts and just when you think there isn't anything more than can go wrong, it does! The characters are so believable that you wonder if Birdsong really doesn't exist. This is a fabulous summer read that takes you away and you can completely lose yourself in another life.

I received The Fixer Upper, compliments of TLC Book Tours and would rate this book a 9 out of 10. There are some sexual scenes between Dempsey and her attorney's son, but they are brief and don't distract from the story.



For more information on this wonderful book, the author and where to obtain your copy, click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/04/mary-kay-andrews-author-of-the-fixer-upper-on-tour-june-2010/

If you'd like to enter my giveaway for a copy of this book, head on over to my book review blog:

Reviews From The Heart

Heart of Lies

Meet Leo Hoffman, a dashing young Hungarian, born with a gift for languages. After his dreams for the future are destroyed by WWI, he attempts to use his talent to rebuild his life, only to find himself inadvertently embroiled in an international counterfeiting scheme.

When he discovers he's wanted across the European continent for a host of crimes including murder, he escapes with his lover to Shanghai, taking with him a stolen treasure that will prove to be his salvation or his death warrant.

But he soon learns that the gangsters who control the decadent city do not intend to let him outrun his past, and when the Japanese invade, one wrong move costs him everything he holds dear. (excerpt from back cover).

My Review:

This book is a blend of Bourne Supremacy meets Mission Impossible. The book starts off with his Leo Hoffman as he learns that his foster mother and her husband have been murdered due to their communist dealings. Leo had not involved himself in their plans and thus finds himself being warned by the Countess, who he shared a brief affair with that his life is in danger if he remains here.

Since Leo is a man gifted in the ability to quickly learn new languages just by being around those that speak it, he is hired by a man named Bacso who finds a way to make Leo a rich man to use those languages to eavesdrop on a arms deal with several wealthy businessmen. Since Leo has lost everything, he agrees. Yet before the day of the meeting, he is asked by the Chief of Police in Budapest to purchase a diamond and emerald necklace for a wife of someone he is having an affair with.

The Chief doesn't want his integrity and position compromised, and he tells Leo that he will make it difficult for him to leave the country if he doesn't help him out. Forced into this situation, he agrees and purchases the necklace.

While Leo is out making the purchase he falls instantly in love with a lady in Paris named Martha Levy. She too, has the mutual feelings of love for Leo, the suave, handsome looking, charasmatic man she meets in a cafe. They spend the night in a Paris hotel and Leo proposes not being able to spend one more day without her. She agrees!

The next day, he reads in the newspaper that a man has been arrested for using counterfeit money trying to cash a franc note. This is when Leo realizes that the money he has used will now indite him with the purchase of the necklace, the chief gave him. It was a set up. Now Leo leaves a note for Martha telling her he has to leave the country to go to Shanghai, but will be contacting her shortly and that his feelings for her have not changed.

This is where the story begins its face pace adventure that lasts non stop til the last page. This book does have minor profanity, sexual content with several characters having illicit affairs but overall the book does a great job at keeping the story intact while meandering through the toughest of historical times leading up to WWII.

I received the book, Heart of Lies, by M.L. Malcolm, compliments of TLC Book Tours and have been delighted to offer a lucky follower of mine a copy. Simply head over to my book review blog, Reviews From The Heart, be a follower of mine there and leave me a comment. The giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada only. No P.O. Boxes please! The giveaway ends on July 5th.

For more information on this book, the author and where to purchase your copy, please click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/04/m-l-malcolm-author-of-heart-of-lies-on-tour-june-2010/

Denial

Alone in an unlocked house in a safe neighborhood in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, two obedient, good girls, Jessica Stern, fifteen, and her sister, fourteen, were raped on the night of October 1 1973. When they reported the crime, the police were skeptical.

Following the example of her family, Stern - who lost her mother at the age of three - denied her pain and kept striving to achieve. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal, she could not feel fear in normally frightening situations. Stern thought she disassociated from the trauma altogether, until a request took her back to that night more than thirty years earlier.

The world-class expert on terrorism and posttraumatic stress disorder began her own investigation, with the help of a devoted police lieutenant, to find the truth about her rapist, the town of Concord, her own family, and her own mind. The result is Denial, a candid and deeply intimate look at a life, a trauma, and its aftermath. (excerpt from back cover).

My Review:

This is a difficult book to read without getting emotionally involved with Jessica's story of the traumatic rape her and her sister experienced in 1973. The details are real and vivid as she uncovers the hidden triggers in her own life that take her back to a time she disconnected from herself in hopes of putting all the pieces back together. Jessica is working with Paul, a police lieutenant that reopens this case based on evidence he discovers that leads to 44 more rapes that occurred in the same area by what they now believe was a serial rapist.

The story takes a turn when Jessica herself learns the story of from her father when questioning him for the book why he didn't come home from Norway after learning of their rape like he should have. She never questions her families role in learning of her rape, whether its to push it under the table and move forward in life or why the police even doubt that the rape occurs after reading the full account of the crime. We learn that her father grew up in Germany at the time of the Nazi regime and even then was threatened and beaten as a child for being a Jew, so you think that alone would make him sensitive to the needs of both of his daughters during the rape. Yet we have to remember that he doubts whether it really happens even after he reads the full report.

This is a really powerful memoir and shows how some people can deal with a traumatic event and still lead seemingly normal lives on the outside while turmoils boils under the surface. It also details for you what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is really like for someone living with it while appearing normal on the outside to the rest of the world around them.

I received Denial, A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern, compliments of TLC Book Tours and once again am amazed at the courage it took her to investigate her own rape and subsequent stories surrounding the people involved in her life at the time.

If you would like more information about this book, the author and where to purchase a copy, click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/03/jessica-stern-author-of-denial-a-memoir-of-terror-on-tour-junejuly-2010/

Based On Availability

From the very first page of this stunning novel, readers are drawn into the lives of eight seemingly ordinary women who pass through Manhattan's swanky Four Seasons Hotel. While offering sanctuary to some, solace to others, the hotel captures their darkest moments as they grapple with family, sex, power, love and death.

Trish obsesses over her best friend's wedding and dramatic weight loss. Robin wants revenge after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of her older sister. Anne is single, lonely and suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Drug -addicted rock star Louise needs to dry out. Southerner turned wannabe Manhattanite Franny is envious of her neighbor's lives. Shelia wants to punish her boyfriend for returning to his wife. Ellen so desperately wants children that she insists she is pregnant to her disbelieving husband. And Morgan, the hotel manager - haunted by the memory of her dead sister - is the thread that weaves these women's lives together. (excerpt back cover).

I found this book amusing, sad, and somewhat haunting at times as you immerse yourself in the life stories each of these women find themselves in. Their lives are all woven together by their brief encounters at the Four Seasons Hotel along with the hotel manager Morgan whom you meet in the first chapter. Morgan is obsessed with the hotel and the lives of the people she happens across while rummaging through their rooms while the guests are out. She finds their prescriptions medicines which she is more than happy to take a few while looking at the contents of their room. I found this disturbing due to the position of hotel manager that Morgan is in.

The book has some profanity scattered throughout the pages and sexual encounters with married men and hotel staff, but other than that, the book is creatively told how each of their lives are connected in some way with another's.

I received Based On Availability from Alix Strauss, compliments of TLC Book Tours and would rate this a 6 out of 10. It's available in paperback and eBook formats. For more information on this book, the author and how to purchase a copy, please click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/04/alix-strauss-author-of-based-upon-availability-on-tour-june-2010/

I am offering one lucky winner the chance to win a copy of this book simply by clicking on my link to my book giveaway blog. Click here to enter.

In The Sanctuary of Outcasts, A Memoir

Daddy is going to camp.

That's what I told my children.

But it wasn't camp...

Neil White wanted only the best for those he loved and was willing to go to any lengths to provide it - which is how he ended up in a federal prison in rural Louisiana, serving eighteen months for bank fraud.

But it's no ordinary prison.

For more on this review including a giveaway click here.

Life After Yes

About Life After Yes

This is the story of Quinn—born Prudence Quinn O’Malley—a confused young Manhattan attorney who loses her father on that tragic September morning that changed everything. Now, at an existential crossroads in her life, Quinn must confront impossible questions about commitment and career, love and loss. Her idealistic beau desperately wants a wedding, and whisks her away to Paris just to propose. But then Quinn has a dream featuring judges and handcuffs and Nietzsche and Britney . . . and far too many grooms. Suddenly, her future isn’t so clear. Quinn’s world has become a minefield of men—some living, some gone, and traversing it safely is going to take a lot more than numerous glasses of pinot grigio.

Life After Yes is a blisteringly honest, thoroughly modern tale of life and love in chaos, marking the arrival of a truly exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.

About Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Aidan Donnelley Rowley is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School who writes about life as a mother and writer on her blog Ivy League Insecurities (www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com). She was born and raised in New York City, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters.

Follow Aidan on Twitter: @ADonnRowley

Connect with Aidan on Facebook: Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Aidan Donnelley Rowley TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, May 18th: Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker

Thursday, May 20th: Confessions of a Bookaholic

Monday, May 24th: Books Like Breathing

Wednesday, May 26th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, May 27th: Rundpinne

Wednesday, June 2nd: Cindy’s Love of Books

Thursday, June 3rd: Write Meg

Monday, June 7th: Crazy for Books

Tuesday, June 8th: Heart 2 Heart

Wednesday, June 9th: Thoughts From an Evil Overload

Thursday, June 10th: Book Club Classics!

My Review: As with all my book reviews I have promised to provide an honest review in my own opinion and while the story between the lines is great, as a Christian reviewer with many readers who feel the same as I do, I have to say that this book shares a great deal of profanity. It may not bother some but I have to say it did bother me. Halfway through the book, in my opinion the book is very graphic in it's ability to share the intimate details of the sex life of Sage's and Quinn's life in the bedroom, as well as a man she barely knows who loses his phone in her lap during a cab ride in NYC.

The story is basically what some women may fear once they say I do, after the initial proposal and then second guess themselves through their day to day experiences and wonder if they did the right thing by saying Yes. The book is based in NYC just after 9/11 as Quinn has lost her father and therefore has to deal with losing her father while making sure she is doing the right thing for her life. She sees marriage as a one time thing and wants to make sure she is doing the right thing.

I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours and looking past the material contained within the pages, I found the story to be very real to the things many women would experience.

Summer at Tiffany - A Memoir

Do you remember the best summer of your life?

New York City, 1945. Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend Marty Garrett, arrive fresh from the Kappa house at the University of Iowa hoping to find summer positions as shopgirls. Turned away from the top department stores, they miraculously find jobs as pages at Tiffany & Co., becoming the first women to ever work on the sales floor, a diamond-filled ay job replete with Tiffany-blue shirtwaist dresses from Bonwit Teller’s – and the envy of all their friends.

Looking back on that magical time in her life, Marjorie takes us back to when she and Marty rubbed elbows with the rich and famous, pinched pennies to eat at the Automat, experienced nightlife at La Martinique, and danced away their weekends with dashing midshipmen. Between being dazzled by Judy Garland’s honeymoon visit to Tiffany, celebrating VJ Day in Times Square, and mingling with Café society, she fell in love, learned unforgettable lessons, made important decisions that would change her future, and created the remarkable memories she now shares with all of us in Summer at Tiffany, A Memoir by Marjorie Hart.

I was provided with the opportunity to review this book compliments of TLC Book Tours and found this book amazing and a must read. It is in the midst of WWII, and food rationing and stories in the newspapers and movie newsreels were common place. Since this book is a memoir you find out just what it is like to be a young college girl living in NYC at the height of the war. Times were hard as everyone was doing their part to aid in the war, from saving chewing gum wrappers and nylons to bacon grease. You even learn where they were making part of the atom bomb. This is a classic book that ties a personal touch to history during a time when we waited for news that the war would end.

For more information on this book, the author and where to purchase your copy in Tiffany trademark blue available in paperback only, click on the link below:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Summer-at-Tiffany/Marjorie-Hart/e/9780061189531/

One lucky winner will win a copy of this book, simply be a follower of mine and share the best summer of your life in the comment section. Winner will be announced on June 9th. Please NO P.O. Boxes and this giveaway is for US and Canada residents only!

Everything is Broken

On May 2, 2008, an enormous tropical cyclone made landfall in Burma, wreaking untold havoc, and leaving the official toll of 138,000 dead and missing. In the days that followed , the sheer scale of the disaster became apparent as information began to seep out of the hard-hit delta area. But the Burmese regime, in an unfathomable decision of near-genocidal proportions, provided little relief and blocked international aid from coming into the country. Hundreds of Burmese citizens lacked food, drinking water and basic shelter, but the xenophobic generals who ruled the country refused emergency help.

In the book, Everything is Broken, A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma, by Emma Larkin who had been traveling to and secretly reporting on Burma for years, managed to arrange a tourist visa in those frenzied days and arrived hoping to help. What she discovered during her time there is chronicled in this book. It is sad and tragic to learn of the international aid that was launched by so many countries willing to help and sadly turned away by the government of Burma. Meanwhile people went hungry, and bodies lay decomposing in the water ways, while the survivors scrambled for any available help from the kindness of strangers and people working together to survive.

This book was an eye opening account of just how strict some countries can be and how the military runs the country and does what is best for them instead of helping the people. Bribes were common and while the death count continued to rise daily, the government staged theatrical performances for the local news and media to report that things in Burma were not as severe as previously thought. It is a sad reminder that unlike the United States, the basic human rights are still being overlooked.

I would highly recommend this book as a true account of what happened to a little known country that was devastated by a natural disaster. While the world intervenes in some countries we did little to help the people of Burma in the wake of being at war in Iraq.

I was provided with this book compliments of TLC Book Tours and once again would recommend it to anyone looking for true stories of our earth’s history. I can only hope that as more people become aware of these situations like Burma, North Korea and even China, that basic human rights can not continue to be overlooked.

For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up a copy for yourself, please click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/04/emma-larkin-author-of-everything-is-broken-on-tour-june-2010/

Leaving Unknown

From the author of The Best Days of Someone Else's Life comes a funny and touching story of a young woman who, while traveling across country, finds herself stuck in Unknown, Arizona.

Sweetlips, Tennessee; Toad Suck, Arkansas; Okay, Oklahoma; Truth or Consequences, New Mexico; these are just a few of the towns Maeve Connelly passes through on her epic roadtrip to the less interestingly named Los Angeles, California. But when Maeve's beloved car, Elsie breaks down outside of Unknown, Arizona, she is in for a much longer rest stop than she expected.

Maeve talks her way into two jobs, settling in for the long haul when she realizes first that she doesn't have enough money to pay for the spare part, and a second that the only car repairman within distance is on a walkabout without a specific end date. As Maeve finds herself more and more at home with the quirky denizens of Unknown - especially a certain children's book author who just happens to be her boss - she must decide if she can finally, after years of uncertainty, find a place to start her future. But when a secret from Maeve's past comes to light, will she be able to accept that even though her friends now know the full story, perhaps all of her dreams can come true after all?

I loved this book, Leaving Unknown by Kerry Reichs. It combined the perfect blend of humor and romance with a touch of mystery to make one of the best books I have read so far. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best. This one rates a 10! When Maeve's luck of financial dependence on her parents comes to a grinding halt after receiving the latest bill for her country club spending and losing her job in the same day, Maeve finally decides in order to begin her life fresh, she must move away and try to make it on her own. After emailing a friend who works at a fabulous movie studio in L.A., Maeve decides this is just the ticket out of her troubles. So packing up what little personal belongings she has, along with her roadside companion Oliver, a cockatiel, she heads out in her old reliable car, Elsie on a open trail for L.A. Yet life, hands her an unexpected surprise when Elsie breaks down just outside of Unknown, Arizona in the dead of a cold night...to read more, check out this amazing book. I can't imagine a better summer read than this one.

You can completely escape at one of the many cities, Maeve stops in and this one is another page turner to the end. I received this book, compliments of TLC Book Tours for my review. If you would like to know more information about this book and where to purchase your own copy, please click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/04/kerry-reichs-author-of-leaving-unknown-on-tour-june-2010/

As a special giveaway, TLC is providing me with a copy to giveaway to one lucky winner. You must live in the U.S. or Canada only and NO P.O. Boxes please. Simply be a follower of mine and tell me one place you would like to take a road trip to! The giveaway will end on May 28th!

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder

Imagine living your life in a small town called La Luna in Louisana your whole life. You can remember spending time at the corner grocery store getting a bottle of Coke from the old red and white cooler while sitting under the ceiling fan on a hot and muggy summer day hoping for the afternoon thunderstorm to come and cool you off. Other times, you would spend lazy days with friends and a picnic lunch at the river taking turns on the rope swing and seeing who could do the biggest cannon ball.

One day your mom gets breast cancer, something that you hardly can understand back then but something you think will get better the more times she goes to the doctor and the more treatments she gets. Your mom and you have a close relationship, closer than anyone in the world could possibly understand.

Your mother has been teaching you about healing hands while she makes the customers in her beauty shop, called the “Crowning Glory” feel more beautiful and alive than when they came in. She shows you that you too, have such a gift and you decide that when you grow up that is just what you will do, follow in your momma’s footsteps.

In The Crowing Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells, author of Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood, we read of Calla Lily Ponder’s childhood as described above and how she grows into the woman she is today. The losses and loves that come and go in her life and how the call of her small town of La Luna beckon her back like the moon she talks to when she gets lonely at night.

I had the wonderful privilege of receiving a complimentary copy of this book from TLC Book tours and have to tell you this is one of my most favorite books I have read so far. I felt like I was living the life of Calla Lily and the charm of the town she called home.



If you would love to know more about this book, the author and even where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the link below:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/03/rebecca-wells-author-of-the-crowning-glory-of-calla-lily-ponder-on-tour-aprilmay-2010/

More information about the author Rebecca Wells can be found here:
http://www.rebeccawellsbooks.com/

I will be giving away one copy of this book to a lucky follower of mine that leaves me a comment. The giveaway winner will be announced on May 3rd.

Sounds Like Crazy Giveaway and Review

Ever wonder sometimes what kind of personal trauma you would have to go through in order to have your personality split into 5 different people? How would you handle getting through life? How would you maintain relationships with family and friends?

In the book, Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey, you meet Holly Miller who is dealing with this very thing. Holly has suffered such a personal trauma so great during her childhood that it literally created 5 different people that live as a Committee in her head. There is Sarge, the faceless Boy, the prayerful Silent One, the rotound Ruffles, and then the leader of them all Betty Jean.

The book is the story about how Holly Miller manages life while working as a waitress in which the only way she makes more tips is to let Betty Jane, the southern sassy Belle take over and really make hearts melt. Yet Betty Jane isn’t always so nice when she doesn’t get her way and Holly has cycled through many jobs and this one isn’t about to last. She finally gets a job offer to do Voice Overs for a new animated series called the Neighborhood. With the cast of characters in her head, sounds like the dream job.

I had the delightful opportunity to receive a complimentary copy of the book from TLC Book Tours and was surprised when I got the book signed by the Shana Mahaffey along with a personal note from her. I have to say this book was amazing and read it late into the evenings as I found myself captivated by Holly’s character and the way she handles managing her life with 5 people in her head. This is a definite must read for anyone looking for an amazing, fun fiction book to read.



If you would like more information on the book, the author or where to purchase your own copy click here.

http://tlcbooktours.com/2010/02/shana-mahaffey-author-of-sounds-like-crazy-on-tour-april-2010/

You can learn more about Shana Mahaffey at her website below:

http://shanamahaffey.com/.


For readers of my blog the publisher and author are teaming up to give one lucky winner the same great opportunity as I had. You will receive your own personalized autographed copy of the book and a note from the author sent directly to you. Simply leave me a comment. The giveaway will end on Friday, April 20th.