A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Ace
Genre: Mystery

Pages: 208
Challenges: Reliquiae Challenge

Simple Description:
This is actually a compilation of all the short stories that the author had written with Sookie as the main charactor, so far anyway. I believe there is another short story being published later this year so of course that wasn't included. I believe there were 4 stories in all.

I am glad I read the introduction, the author tells you when they stories were originally published - as in what is the timeline between these stories and the actual books.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I thought the stories were fun. They were fast reads, they were short and to the point. I think it would have been more fun to read the stories between the other books, as they were written, but it was still fun to read them.

If you haven't read the short stories yet and are a fan, I recommend this book.

I know I know, not the best review but with this type of book, you can't really get into the stories. They are so short and cute/fun, I figured an over-all review would be good enough.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Bathroom Remodel - a teaser

We aren't even finished with the demolition yet, but the new products were delivered last week and I'm super excited so I wanted to share. I have some before pictures, a couple of my husband working, and then pictures of most of the products. Enjoy!

Hopefully you can see the pictures below, if not (or if you want to see bigger images), click HERE to go to the album.

Friday Smile and stuff

First I just want to say that I'm way behind in my blogging right now. I admit to doing a lot of my blogging from work and while my boss and I thought this week would be slow because most people were taking off, I was actually very busy. I pretty much worked from the time I got there to the time I left, it was awesome! I love being busy. I suppose I could have done things in the evenings at home, but I bought a Wii and my husband gave me games for Christmas and I bought my husband Nintendo DS - needless to say I've been playing video games and watching tv in the evenings. haha! Now we are both suffering from a cold, so I'm not going to do much more than the two reviews I just posted (I back dated them) and this post.

I did get some book related items for Christmas. Those are always fun. I had put a couple of t-shirts on my wish list for the in-laws and then my husband surprised me with one.

I got these:

Ban Ignorance not Books

(website isn't displaying it...but that's what it says - I love it)

Book Chick

(website not playing nice with this one either..but it's black and says book chick in pink letters and has a cute pink bird on it)

and my husband surprised me with this one, gotta love the guy!

Team Jacob - real men don't sparkle (and yes..I did wear it when I went to see New Moon this past weekend)

http://www.cafepress.com/+team_jacob_womens_light_tshirt,357558754

oh, and I got this t-shirt, it's not about books but I love it.

I run like a girl, just try to keep up

http://www.cafepress.com/+run_like_a_girl_womens_light_tshirt,157175070

I also want to share some pictures from Christmas. These are pictures of my sisters, their husbands and kids. I'm also including one of my Grandpa with a great-grandson and my Mom with two grandsons. It wouldn't be complete without a picture of Myla being festive.

Reads for December 2009

Total books read: 12

New Authors: 5

Mystery: 2

Non-Fiction: 1

Fiction: 4

Young Adult: 5

Audio: 3

Pages: 3008

DNF: 0

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Unhallowed Ground by Heather Graham

The Christmas Secret by Donna VanLiere

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke

Superfoods RX

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

204 Rosewood Lane by Debbie Macomber

The Recipe Club by Andrea Isreal & Nancy Garfinkel

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel

Copyright:2009
Publisher: Polhemus Press
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 358
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
This is a tale of friendship had, friendship lost, and, well, repeat. It's told in the format of letters and then emails. Mixed in are recipes that sounds yummy.

The story starts when Valerie and Lilly are adults and have been estranged for awhile. Then it goes back in time to the early 1960's when they were young girls. Through their emails you learn about their friendship, how each had their own demons at home and took different paths in life. Valerie is incredibly smart. Her father is an inventor, or at least he tries, but her mother suffers from psychological issues and doesn't leave the house. Lilly doesn't care much for school. Her mom is an actor and a free bird. Her father is a psychologist. Lilly's father actually studies Valerie's Mom and treats her and also becomes Valerie's tutor. This ends up causing major issues between the girls. Lilly goes on to doing the normal thing you expect from somebody growing up in the 60's and 70's (according to tv/movies anyway). She gets into the drugs, sex, and protest scene and stays there. Valerie kinda goes around all of that and actually goes to college, which Lilly's dad pays for.

Soon things become strained for the two girls and it isn't until 2000 that the reconnect, have another falling out, and then finally reconnect again.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

I thought this was a great book. I found it interesting to get the story from both sides. It was interesting to see how to girls who were so close when they were younger took such different paths in life and where the ended up. I love the letter/email format too..I think it makes for a quick read.

I definitely recommend this book to others, I think a lot will enjoy this story of friendship.

Thanks to Caitlin at FSB for providing this book for review.

204 Rosewood Lane by Debbie Macomber

Copyright: 2002
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Fiction/Romance
Pages: Audio
Challenges: none
Author's Website



Simple Description:
This is the second book in the Cedar Cove series.

Grace's husband disappeared in the last book and in this one she is dealing with that. She ends up filing for divorce since it's been so long since anybody has heard from him and somebody believes they saw him get in a taxi with another woman. She also has an admiror, Cliff Harding. While he is giving her time to get over the divorce, he is also making it known that he likes her and wants to date her.

Olivia and Jack are still a couple however things keep getting in the way of their relationship. First Jack's son has troubles with his girlfriend and moves in and Jack also thinks Stan wants Olivia back.

I think Zach and Rosemary Cox are a new couple. They have two kids, Rosemary is a stay at home Mom who is active in a lot of non-profit companies and school activities. Their marriage is in trouble because Zach wants a wife who stays home and cleans house and cooks all day. Rosemary enjoys doing all the charity work.

There are also lots of pregnancies in this one! And more people to read about and become friends with than I mentioned.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I really enjoyed this one. I think I like the Blossom Street series better, if I have to be honest, but I still really enjoy this one too. It's been awhile since I read the first one and so I didn't remember everything that happened but I wasn't lost for long. I know there are more in the series and the author definitely leaves things open for several of the characters so you have something to look forward to with the next book.

While I do own this book, I did listen to the audio version at the library. I can't say the reader is my favorite but she did a good job. I didn't find myself wondering or losing focus.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.
This audio book was rented from my local library.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Copyright: 2005
Publisher: Hyperion
Genre: YA
Pages: 375
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Percy Jackson is at yet another boarding school and is almost at the point of being kicked out of yet another boarding school. He's been diagnosed with adhd and dyslexia. Nothing seems to go right in his life. He loves his Mom and wants to be with her but can't stand her new husband, Smelly Gabe.

While on a school field trip the math teacher tries to kill him and he is able to kill her with a pen that turned into a sward. The pen was thrown to him by his Latin Teacher. However as soon as it's done, everyone acts like nothing happened and there never was a math teacher named Mrs. Dobbs.

Things go from bad to worse when Percy goes home for the summer, knowing he's been kicked out of another boarding school. However his Mom has a surprise for him, they are going to the beach for vacation, without his step-dad. However the first night there they end up being chased by an evil monster that Percy kills after it kills his Mom. Then he finds himself in a summer camp for half-bloods. It appears that Percy's father is a god, you know, one of those that lives on Mount Olympus. Percy learns that WWIII is about the happen because the God's are upset with each other and it's up to him to stop it.

Percy sets out on a quest with a Satyr named Grover, another half-blood named Annabell, and the pen/sword. The goal is to retrieve the stolen item from Zeus and Percy's personal quest is to save his Mother, who he believes is still alive but trapped in the Underworld with Hades.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I absolutely loved this story! I remember reading all about the Greek Gods in 7th grade. We had to learn all the names and what they were God of. I remember looking forward to the contests in class where we would go up against our class mates to see who knew it better. While I'm a lot older know and dont' remember most of that anymore, it was still a lot of fun to read this book and recognize the names and recognize the Gods and what they did. This is such a fun spin on mythology, it's something I think a lot of kids would enjoy. I really wish this book was around when I was learning it in school, I can only hope that if my teacher is still teaching, she encourages the kids to read this for extra credit or possible as an assignment.

I can't wait to read more in this series. Oh yes..this is Book one in the series. I also can't wait for the movie to be released in February. The movie is actually what prompted me to read the book. I've owned the book for awhile now, but kept putting it off. Then I saw a trailer to the movie and it looked so darn good. I knew I had to read the book first. Just from watching the trailer, I can tell there are differences, but the movie still looks good.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Merry Christmas from my house to yours

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope all of you have a great holiday and can spend it with friends and family. I hope you all get a book (or two!) and some quite time to read.

Most people put a star or an angle on top of their Christmas tree. Not us, we couldn't do something silly like follow the crowd when it comes to a tree top ornament. Nope..we have the sacred...Christmas Penguin! Lol! We love it. I have no idea why somebody came up with the idea of making a penguin Christmas tree topper but we just love it. I think it really shows our personalities.

Here are our stockings, yes there is stuff in them already which is why the red/white stripped one looks funny. My stocking is on the left, it has snowflakes on it since I love snowflakes. My husbands is in the middle. Our dog Myla even has her own, it's on the right.

It took us forever to find stockings like this. We looked every year. It was our first Christmas in our first house, probably about 6 or 7 years ago. My husband wanted the old fashioned knit kind. We looked high and low and finally found them at a store called Restoration Hardware.