Trophies by Heather Thomas

This is the story of 6 trophy wives in LA. Marion Zane is the main trophy, she has MAJOR INFLUENCE. She is the one that has the most influence and gets the most recognition from others. Lyndy used to be the main trophy, until Marion showed up. Now Lyndy pretends to be Marion's friend but is secretly waiting for the chance to take her down so she can be the one with MAJOR INFLUENCE again. Patty Fink is a trophy whose husbands keep dying and leaving her their fortune. Currently she is married to Lou, who is in his 80's. Pepper Papadopoulos is as southern as they get. She is married to a Greek heiress and they have 5 kids. Maya Hanson is a supermodel and married to a handsome actor. She also has 3 body guards who have been with her since she was a young girl. Claire is brand new to the trophy scene and trying to find her way. She must deal with three step-children who hate her, a husband who appears to still want his ex-wife, and a nanny who hates Claire.

What was fun about each of these characters is that while they appear to be the typical trophy wife, once you get to know each one, they are a bit different from what you would expect. Marion is caught up in looks and society, but at the same time, the charities and the things she does are very much for those who aren't as privileged. She also has a black book. While she doesn't spread "secrets" she does keep them all in a little black book that is in a safe. She uses this when she needs somebody with connections. Life seems to be going as planned for Marion, except all of a sudden it appears that somebody is out to get her. Her marriage falls apart and it is all she can do to keep things looking fine on the outside, while trying to figure out who is behind this. Her husband doesn't realize that they are being set-up.

Lyndy is personally happy that Marion's life seems to be falling apart. She can't wait to be the #1 trophy again.

Patty has a man on the side and things go from bad to worse when the guy decides he is in love with Patty and wants her to leave her current husband.

Pepper thinks things are going well, until her husband starts acting funny. Little does she know that it is due to witch craft that a greek women is doing on her husband, she is out to ruin his marriage.

Maya couldn't be happier, until her husband decides he wants kids. One of Maya's secrets is what her childhood was like and the reason she can't have kids. However, if this info go out her career would be ruined, so she never told her husband.

So at the beginning of this book, all the ladies appear to have the perfect life and a great friendship. Then everyone starts having problems.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought the ladies were fun. I thought the things they did seemed far fetched, but then I wouldn't know if it is typical or not for a Trophy in LA. However, even though they were far fetched, it was funny and kept my interest. I loved how they all stood up for each other and tried to help out those who were in trouble. The only thing that bothered me, were all the grammar mistakes. Usually I'll notice some and it won't be a big deal, but this book seemed to have more than normal.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? If so, let me know and I'll link to it below.

Sorry, no reviews linked so far

(new author.fiction.511pg)

Updates almost done!

I have added most of the challenges back up (I think) and pretty much have my blog back in order. I still have to create my blog roll, but that will take time and something that I'll probably do little by little. I would love to get it all done now, but alas, the house needs to be cleaned and a baby shower card (for today) needs to be made, and I need a bath. haha!

So..if you use google reader or something similar to read posts on my blog, please click through and take a peak and let me know what you think!

Booking Through Thursday - Stories

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next?
Or, um, is it just me?

It's not just you! I rarely, if ever, read a story for the literary meaning. haha! I read a story because it sounds good. I read a story because I like the characters. I read a story to visit other places or a time in the past. I think one of the reasons I don't read a lot of classics is because I don't want to have to "think" when I read the book. I don't want to look for the "literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor". I read a book for entertainment, because I have to think all day at work, I don't want to think when I read for fun.

Finally...making some headway

I was finally able to get a new template set up. So I still have lots to do to get things as I want them....but the blog should start coming together again.

The Debs by Susan McBride - now released

This book is now released! Woohoo! I expect all of you to let me know once you have read it so I can link to your reviews. haha!

Ok, really. I was able to get my hands on an advanced copy of this book way back in April and read it in May (because I just couldn't wait). Since that was so long ago, I thought I would mention it again now that it is published and available to the general public (i.e. - all of you who weren't lucky enough to get an advanced copy.) :)

To read my original review, click here.

Here's a copy of the book trailer too. I took it off of http://www.youtube.com/, it can also be seen at http://www.susanmcbride.com/

The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

This is the story of Pan Yuliang. While Yuliang is a real person, this story is a work of fiction. It follows Yuliang's life based on what facts are available, but of course keep in mind that it is a work of fiction. You got that, it made sense right?

Ok…..so the story starts off present day. Well, not present day as far as 2008 is concerned. It starts off in the year 1957. Yuliang is living in Paris and is a well known artist. Then the story goes into the past to when she is just a girl, around 14 years of age. She was living with her Uncle since both her parents had passed away. Then one day her Uncle takes her on a trip, and sells her to a brothel. Her Uncle is an opium addict and needed the money for debt, and as you can guess – more opium. We stick with Yuliang as she is trained to be a girl in the brothel and finally when she becomes a "working" girl. Then we follow her as she catches the eye of a man named Zanhua. He is able to get her out of the brothel and takes care of her. Unfortunately Zanhua has a government job and it is not looked upon nicely that he is with Yuliang. While Zanhua is married, it is still common practice for men to take on a concubine. So they have a ceremony where they "wed". He takes her to Shanghai and provides a house and money for her. He also teachers her how to read and write.

Soon Yuliang becomes involved in the art world. She is able to be admitted to a local art school where she is seen as one of the top students. She even wins a scholarship to study abroad in France. Yuliang's work is often scandalous; she paints a lot of nudes. This is something not deemed as appropriate, outside of the art world.

This story takes us on a journey of how a young girl was sold to a brothel, but was able to move beyond that and become a famous artist. This book shows how her life was very hard at times, but how she kept going and kept working at her dream.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. The story kept me interested and I wanted to know how everything was going to end. As with most historical fiction books, I like to just note that while I enjoy history, I don't know a lot of the facts. So this story was interesting and I liked learning about what life was like for a woman in Yuliang's position. However, I can't tell you if everything was historically accurate or not. I suppose you'll have to read it and find out for yourself huh? I will say that I found the story line regarding foot binding interesting. It wasn't the main story, but was something brought up throughout the book. Since I find foot binding interesting, I enjoyed this aspect of the story. Yuliang did go through foot binding, but her husband was one of those against it. So they went through the process to reverse the foot binding.

Please see below for links to other reviews of this book. (If you have read this, please contact me so I can add a link to your review).

Sorry…so far no reviews linked.

(fiction.new author.408pgs)

Sorry...

The blog is still a mess and the widgets and info on the side isn't showing! Every time I try to upload a new template, I get an error. I contacted blogger, finally, and hope to have somebody working on it for me. If they can't fix it...I might end up just moving all my info to a new blog address. I created a new one with blogger and uploaded one of the templates I like....so we'll see.

I'll let you know once I either have this one updated or if I have to move....

Booking Through Thursday

Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There’s no way my parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So … What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

Hmm...I'm not sure what my earliest memory was. I'm sure it was my Mom who took me, she did that stuff a heck of a lot more than my Father. We didn't do much at the library except get more books, check out, and go back home. I do remember the reading clubs they did for kids every summer. You would get a prize once you reached each level, and there were usually several levels. I remember when I wasn't old enough to do them and my sisters were, I was sooo envious. Then it was my time...and I read so fast that I usually had every level completed by the middle of the summer. haha! I've looked for adult reading clubs, but sadly, no prizes.

Blue Smoke and Murder by Elizabeth Lowell

Jill Breck receives word that her great-aunt Melody has passed away. Melody lived in the original Breck family ranch and somehow caught the house on fire when filling the stove with oil. She perished as did the house and the barn. Jill goes back to the land and to the original farm house that is on the property. When she goes to pump water into the bucket, she finds a note from her Aunt telling her to check her favorite childhood hiding spot and to be aware of danger. In the hiding spot Jill finds 12 of the 13 paints that have been in the family for generations. She soon learns that her Aunt sent one of the paintings to an art dealer to see how much it would be worth. The painting was lost but considered not worth much because it wasn't signed. Jill thinks it is odd that in the same letter, the art dealer offers a large sum of money for the painting. Jill takes pictures of some of the other pieces of art and emails them to several other galleries to get additional information. Jill also begins to believe that her great-aunt was murdered and she is sure it had something to do with the paintings.

Soon, Jill receives a call from one gallery owner who is very interested in seeing the paintings. When she agrees to meet him at a public place, the guy never shows. When Jill heads back to her car, she finds that somebody trashed her car. Lucky, Jill recently met a man who worked for St. Kilda counseling and ended up saving his son. He gave her his card and said to call if she was ever in trouble. This seemed like the perfect time for Jill to make that call.

Zach works for St. Kilda and is asked to protect Jill. They are attracted to one another right away, but don't want it to interfere with the work. They soon realize that the paintings might be unsigned work of one of the most famous western artists. They start a mission to figure out if they are originals by this guy and why somebody wants to destroy the paintings, and Jill, if she continues to be in the way.

I loved this book. It's a romantic suspense and while I love these, for whatever reason I haven't read one in awhile. So this book was right up my alley. I haven't read books by this author before, although I have had her on my wish list for awhile. I wasn't disappointed. This book is the 4^th (I believe) in the series. I didn't realize this at first, but while reading it, it seemed like there was a background to St. Kilda Consulting and some of the characters. So I looked it up and sure enough, it's the 4^th. You can definitely read this book and not miss anything though. I certainly loved it enough to plan on reading the other 3 in the series.

Please see below for links to other reviews of this book. (If you have read this, please contact me so I can add a link to your review).

Heidi's Books reviewed this one here

(mystery.new author.404pgs)

Please excuse the mess...

I'm working on changing around the layout for both my blogs, so some stuff might be missing for a bit and it just might be a bit messy until I get it all straighted out.

I'll post once I am all finished so that those of you who use google reader or another blog feed will be know and can check out the new look if interested.

Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva

With his latest book, Daniel Silva takes us through Moscow and France as Gabriel Allon tries to get information needed in order to stop an al-Qaeda attack. He is supposed to be on his honeymoon, but Gabriel gets word that a reported in Moscow has some information and will only speak with Gabriel. He travels to Rome to meet the reporter but before he can, the reporter is murdered. This is the 2^nd reporter to be murdered and he believes there is a link.

Gabriel works with his boss and it is determined that he should go to Moscow and meet the only reporter left who might have the information. Traveling under a fake name and occupation, he meets with the reporter. He is able to get the information needed. It appears the person who has contacted the reporter about the possible attacks, is the wife of Ivan Kharkov. Ivan is a millionaire who actually sold the weapons to the al-Qaeda. Now Gabriel must figure out how to get in touch with the wife and get the information needed to stop the attacks before they happen.

Overall thoughts? I really enjoyed this book. I admit that it took me awhile to get in to it. I have heard good things about the authors books and have been wanting to read one for awhile. That being said, they are a different type of mystery than I am used to reading and I think that's why it just took me longer to really get into the story. Once I did, I was sucked in. I really liked Gabriel and some of the other characters. I couldn't wait to see how they would carry out some of the plans they did. That's probably what I liked the most, knowing what they needed to do and that it seemed impossible, then reading about how they did it.

This is actually the 8^th book in the series. I thought this was a stand-alone. Haha! Now that I know it's a series, I can honestly say that I don't think it mattered that I read the book out of order. I never felt like I was missing something. Now that I do know it's a series, I think I need to start at the beginning, so plan on seeing more reviews for this author later on.

Please see below for links to other reviews of this book. (If you have reviewed this book, please let me know and I'll link to it)

No links yet!

(mystery.new author.425pg)

Selections for the Cozy Mystery challenge

First, let me say that I have the option to substitute at will. haha!

Ok, what you have all been waiting for, here's the list that I'll try to read from. I'm going to try hard to read all 4, possible more if time permits. However with studying for my certification and 2 classes starting in September, I might not have time.

Killer Pancakes by Diane Mott Davidson
Murder With Reservations by Elaine Viets
Murder on ice by Alini Adams
Design four Murdery by Carolyn Hart

Love Today by Maxim Biller

It's not very easy to see the picture is it? The cover is white, with the word Love on it, so it's hard to see with white background in the post.

Ok, so about the book. The book is a collection of short stories and each story is about love. I always find it hard to review short story collections because I can't give an overview of the story, there are too many! Each story pretty much takes place in Prague or somewhere in Germany.

The stories were pretty short, the book as a whole was a very quick read for me. I picked it up because I left Moscow Rules at work on Thursday and needed something to read at home. Each story is about love (I know, I'm repeating myself). However they aren't the typical love stories that I was expecting. I most cases, the couples don't seem to want to be with each other. In all honesty, the stories were a little weird. I don't think I really got any of them. I got a couple, but most I didn't. I don't know if it was a difference in culture or if I just didn't put enough thought into each one. That being said, I was drawn to the book and wanted to read the next story to see what would happen with that one. So I'm just not sure what to really say about this one. It was ok, not the best book, but far from the worst.

I hope somebody else in blog land has reviewed this one so you guys can read a couple different reviews to get a feel for it.

In fact, if you have reviewed this one or seen the review, send me an email or post a comment, I'll put a link to the review below.

(new author. fiction.216p)

You gotta read this..

For fans of Elaine Viets, you should read this blog article she wrote for The Lipstick Chronicles.

I had the pleasure of going to a book signing for Elaine not too long ago and she was great, very funny.

I avoided my google readers while studying for my exam and now I'm avoiding studying for my exam while reading google reader.

I wanted to point my faithful readers to this article. It was so funny I laughed out loud several times. No wonder my co-workers think I'm weird.....

oh boy oh boy oh boy - I can't wait for True Blood

So my loyal readers will know that I love the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

Should I start the countdown until the series based on her books airs on HBO? September 7th is the magical day....mark it on your calendar....pint a note on the tv....do whatever you need to do. lol!


Here's an article regarding True Blood that I found online at The New York Times.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

This is the 10^th in the series. And what a series it is! I just love these books.

Ok, so not going to give you the background or anything. If you have been reading my blog regularly, then you have already read reviews about this series. So I'll just dive right into the actual review.

Lisa and Herb are putting together a family reunion for both sides of the family. There are over 100 people attending! (Can you imagine trying to organize that?) Anyway, what could go wrong right? Well, when a relative who has been missing for 30 years shows up unexpectedly, you know something is going to happen.

Hannah is sent to find this guy the next day so he can be included in the family picture. She finds him, but somebody got to him first and he has been murdered.

Some of the local relatives ask Hannah to look into the murder and of course she can't resist. Later it becomes even more important to her to crack this case because Lisa's Dad was seen walking around that night. Hannah knows that if the police knew this, he would be their prime suspect. So Hannah decides she must find the killer before the police get wind of this.

To make maters even more dicey, Mike has asked Hannah to share whatever info she gets with him and he will share info with her. She isn't sure about this at first, believe he won't hold up his end of the bargain, but finally agrees to do it. But…will Mike really share info with her?

See..this is one of those series where yeah, the murder part of it is fun, but I just love the characters and could care less about the murder investigation. Haha! It makes me want to live in a small town and open up a bakery. I just love how the characters interact with each other.

So this was my feel good book to get me out of the slump after not passing the big exam I took on Friday. Whenever I read a book in this series I feel like I'm reading about my friends. So this was a good choice. Now, I just have to wait until next year to read the next in the series. I was on her website and believe it's titled Cream Puff Murder (or something like that). I just remember seeing cream puff and hoping there is a recipe for those since I love them. Speaking of recipes, this book had a lot of really yummy sounding recipes that I can't wait to try.

***Have you reviewed this book on your website? If so, let me know and I'll include a link to your review below.***

I happen to know that my good friend over at Heidi's Books already reviewed this one, you can find her review here.

(mystery, 321pgs)

A+ CompTia A+ certification Study Guide Sixth edition

I know, I know. None of you want to read this book so why am I reviewing it?

I didn't want to so much review it, as just show why my reading stats weren't as high for July and why I haven't been around much. Plus, I read the book, so it counts towards my stats right?

For the last month I have been reading this book and studying for my A+ certification. I took the first test this past Friday, and failed. So while pretty upset, I'll be taking a couple days off of studying and then I'll be doing it all over again.

This also explains why instead of reading Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva next, I'm reading one of my comfort authors, Joanne Fluke. I was really upset about not passing the test and just needed to hang out with friends. So....I'm going to spend today trying to de-stress from a month of hard studying and prepare myself for another month or so of studying. Sounds like fun right? And...what's even more fun...to get the certificate I actually have to pass 2 different tests. So once I pass this first one...it's another month or so of studying and I take another one! I just KNOW you all envy me right now. haha!

new author/non-fiction/929 pgs

The Girl with no Shadow by Joanne Harrris

This is the follow up book to Chocolat.

Vianne Rocher and her daughters, Anouk and Rosette have finally settled in a new place to live. Vianne is now going by Yanne and has sworn off of magic.

She is involved with a man named Thierry who, while she doesn't really love him, is willing to take care of her and the children.

Things start to change when Zozie shows up. She reminds Yanne of what she used to be. She uses magic, although Yanne doesn't realize this as much. Zozie also steals people's identities and has her heart set on taking the identity of Vianne Rocher. Zozie imbeds herself into the Chocolate shop and makes sure that she is needed. She brings the shop around and gets new customers, etc. She also becomes a good friend to Anouk. She starts to teach Anouk magic too.

Things gets strained when Roux shows up looking for Vianne. Things start to fall apart for Vianne. She isn't sure if the children and her will be able to stay...or if it's time to move yet again.

I'll first admit that I never read Chocolat. I saw the movie...but never read the book. So it did take me awhile to get into the book, and think that could be why. It took me awhile to just figure out what is going on and get everyones story straight in my head. Once that happened....I ended up really liking the story. I might even go back and read Chocolat.

If you have reviewed this book on your blog, let me know and I'll link to your review!

Holly left a comment and mentioned she reviewed Chocolat, since this is the sequel, I thought I would link her review of Chocolat.

new author/fiction/444pgs