Conspirata: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris - DNF

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, so that's why my review format will be different for this one.

I copied the following book description from amazon.com:
Beginning in 63 B.C.E. and told by Cicero's slave secretary, Tiro, this complex tale continues to chronicle Cicero's political career as he charms, co-opts, and bribes his way into the exalted position of consul, ruler of Rome. Although Cicero is known as a brilliant politician and philosopher, he was also a slick manipulator and shameless schemer, competing with equally sneaky rivals Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. Cicero realizes that as the empire expands, the greatest threat to Rome comes from within, plotted by well-financed conspirators bent on turning the republic into a dictatorship. With fabulous oratory and trickery, Cicero uncovers and crushes an insurrection, exposing himself to great danger and possible assassination. Riots, murder, civil unrest, corruption, treachery, and betrayal mark Cicero's political legacy, resulting in a battle between him and Julius Caesar. Throughout, however, Tiro remains loyal and remarkably astute, recognizing that it is an act of madness for a man to pursue power when he could be sitting in the sunshine reading a book. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


So my thoughts and why I didn't finish it:
I actually didn't put much effort into this one.  I think I made it close to 50 pages and put it down.  Here's the thing, it just wasn't the book for me at this moment.  I actually think that I will pick it up at some point in the future.  I think if I finish it I will end up enjoying it and liking it.  I just wasn't enjoying it right now.    Usually when I don't finish I book I have strong reasons why, something usually annoys me.  This one is different.  I can't say that anything annoyed me, I just wasn't really interested.


There are a bunch of good reviews on Amazon though, so if it sounds interesting and you want another opinion I recommend looking there or doing a blog search online.


I did receive this book from Simon & Schuster to review, and I thank them for that.  I will return to this book, at some time, unfortunately that time isn't now. 

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

Genre: fiction
Pages: audio
Challenges: audio book challenge
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Anne Marie recently lost her husband and found herself a widow.  This is the first Valentine's day as a window and she spends it with friends, who are also widows.  They decide to come up with 20 wishes.  These are 20 wishes for things they want in life.  Depending on the woman, this ranges from a pair of red boots to falling in love to traveling to Paris.  While there are several characters, Anne Marie is probably the one we learn about the most.  She wanted a child, but her late husband didn't.  Soon Anne Marie finds herself looking after Ellen, a second grader.   She also finds herself forming a new relationship with her stop-daughter.

This is part of the Blossom Street series, but the other characters that we know and love from that series don't really show up in this book.  I feel the only reason it's part of the series is because Anne Marie owns the bookshop that is located on Blossom Street and therefore it takes place in roughly the same area.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I thought this book was pretty good.  I enjoyed it, but didn't enjoy it as much as I have the other books in the Blossom Street series that I've read.  I don't know if I would have preferred to have read this one rather than listen to it, or if it's just that I wanted the other characters back.   This book was good though and if you are reading the Blossom Street series I definitely recommend not skipping this one.


This audio book was rented from my local library.

Happy 101 Award

Thanks to Aleksandra from Aleksandra's Corner for this latest award.  The award is so darn cute, who doesn't love a good cupcake?

I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy.  So here it goes (in no particular order of course):
1. Reading  (I'm sure you could have figured this out right?)
2. Relaxing in my pool
3. Running
4. Chocolate
5. Hanging out with friends
6. Resolving a pc issue at work
7. Music
8. Seeing how much I save by using coupons (and matching with sales, rebates, etc)
9. Organization
10. Traveling with Husband

Friday Smile - Joan of Arc Chapel

Last week my husband and I went on a mini vacation.  We went to Madison, Wisconsin so he could go to a concert (The Appleseed Cast) with a friend. As luck would have it my Mom has a condo up there and she was staying at it, so we were able to stay with her and her boyfriend and hang out with them too.  The next day we left to go to Chicago to hang out with some of Husband's friends for a couple days before heading home.  On the way to Chicago we decided to stop in at Marquette University.

Husband graduated from Marquette and I've never been.   It was actually fun to see.  I work for St. Louis University, which is a Jesuit school just like Marquette, so we spent some time comparing the two.  I thought I won when I said that SLU had the exorcist.  (Have you seen the movie The Exorcist?  The priest that worked with the boy (it was a boy in real life) was a priest at SLU).  Then he won when we visited the Joan of Arc chapel.

The chapel was built in the 1500's (or early..I can't remember)  in France.  The Chapel was moved to the US in the 1920's and then to Marquette in the 1960's.  It's very pretty and has a lot of character.  In fact, it contains the Joan of Arc Stone.  The stone is said to have been kissed by Joan of Arc herself and be colder than any of the stones surrounding it.  I felt it and it didn't seem that way to me, but you never know, maybe it was having an off day.

So today's pictures are the Joan of Arc Chapel....hope you enjoy.

This is Husband imitating the statue. The statue is of the French guy that had the chapel brought to the states. You can actually see the chapel in the background.

This is the Joan of Arc Stone - it's the one on the bottom where you can see that a lot of people have touched it.

This is the back of the church.

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Ace
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 304
Challenges: 101 Fantasy, Series Challenge
Author's Website


Simple Description:
Mercy has a tough decision to make in this book. She has to decide on either Samuel or Adam. Both are very dominate werewolves and she might possibly be in love with both of them.  While she has that to deal with, she also has to do a favor for the fae Uncle Mike.  This favor ends up getting her in more trouble than first anticipated.   She was spotted helping the fae and now some of the powerful fae want her dead.   She also sets out to get Zee released from jail, she knows he didn't commit the crime he is there for.  However this proves difficult because the fae are fine with him being in jail and being the scapegoat.  It also appears that magical fae items are missing, one of them just happens to keep showing up when Mercy least expects it.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I know I know..there are a ton of the vampire, shifter, werewolve books out there, but I can't help reading some of them.  I loved this one, it was so much fun.  I love Mercy.  She knows she shouldn't do some stuff because it gets her in trouble, but she just cant help herself.   I also like how she handles different situations with the werewolves.  I think I like this series just for the characters and not so much for the mystery.  yeah, the story is good, but I know I would read it even if it wasn't considered a mystery.   Definitely a book/series I recommend to others who like this kind of thing.


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

Dark Summer by Iris Johansen

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: St. Martins
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 357
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense
New-to-me Author:
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Devon Brady is working a search and rescue operation with her dog Gracy when she meets Jude Marrok and treats his dog, Ned.   Marrok disappears and leaves Ned in her care.  This annoys her and she is tempted to keep Ned instead of giving him back to his owner.  Little does she know that by making her keep Ned in her care, Marrrok but Devon in a lot of danger.   It seems Marrok and his dog are being hunted by some rich old white guy.   This guy will stop at nothing to get his hands on the dogs.  

Devon is soon a part of this fight.  She tries to keep those she loves from being hurt but also believes the white guy needs to be stopped.  Of course, it wouldn't be a romantic suspense if there wasn't some attraction between Marrok and Devon.  

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
This book took a bit of time to really get into it.  I don't know if it was the way it was started or something else, but it seemed like I had come into the middle of a series.  I checked and it's a stand-alone book though. So for me, I had to get past that before I could really get into the book. I'm glad I did though. I really enjoyed this one.  It kept my interest and I wanted to know what would happen.  I loved Devon and while Marrok can be a pain, you can't help liking him too.  Of course, I'm a dog lover and so I loved how the dogs played a big part in this book too.


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

The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Putnam
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 495
Challenges: New Author Challenge
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
I'm being lazy and copying the info about the book from the author's website.  Actually, it's part lazy and part "I really don't know how to describe this book".  Here it is:
Carved into the towering cliffs of central Greece, the Metéora
monasteries are all but inaccessible. Holy Trinity is the
most isolated, its sacred brotherhood the guardians of
a secret that has been protected for centuries.

In the dead of night, the holy retreat is attacked by an
elite group of warriors carrying ancient weapons. One by
one, they hurl the silent monks from the cliff-top to the rocks
below ― the holy men taking their secret to their graves….

Halfway across Europe, Richard Byrd fears for his life. He
has uncovered the location of a magnificent treasure. But
there are those who are dedicated to protecting it,
and they will stop at nothing to prevent its discovery.

Hoping to save himself, Byrd contacts two colleagues,
Jonathon Payne and David Jones, and begs for their help.
The duo rushes to his aid and quickly find themselves caught
in an adventure that will change their lives forever.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I'll say first that I had some issues with the book but that in the end I really did enjoy it.
Right off let me say that I had a review copy of this book, an uncorrected proof, not for individual sale, etc.
I had some issues with the writing.  Things that I don't think were changed for the official print but I don't know that for sure.  One of the things that bothered me was that you would be getting the story from one guys point of view, this guy would call somebody on the phone, and while they were talking, you would start getting info on the person who was called.  Things such as the person moved their hair or put their feet up on a desk, something that shouldn't be known since the story was being told from a persons point of view who couldn't see them.  See what I mean?  stuff like that.

However, the story itself kept my interest.  So even though there were things that bothered me, I wanted to figure out how the story was going to end and had enough interest in it to continue reading it.

I liked it enough to consider reading one of the author's other books.



Thanks to Nicole from Authors on the Web for providing this book for review.

Somebody(s) love me! - ie Award Time

I was honored with two awards recently.  Thank you Jingle and Stacy!  Awards always give me that warm cozy feeling.

Stacy from A Novel Source gave me the One Lovely Blog Award.

(pst..if you haven't checked out A Novel Source yet, you should.  I just love the header photo)

Jingle had three awards and I was given the luxary of picking which one I wanted, and I will admit that I selected the Beautiful Blogger Award because I thought it was pretty.   lol!

Now, part of the Beautiful Blogger award is to list 7 tidbits about myself  that you might not know.  I'll give it a shot, but chances are some of you already know some of this.

1. While I do work in IT, I actually have to BA's.  One is in IT and the other is in Psychology.  Psychology was my first love. I'm fascinated by it.   When I first started to study it, I had dreams of becoming a profiler for the FBI.   Now, I realize I couldn't stomach it, especially since you have to be an FBI agent, I can't picture myself in that role.

2.  Speaking of #1, I'm amazed that people who have served in the US Military feel that I would actually be a good fit.  I've had several ex co-workers who once served tell me that they think I would actually excel in that kind of environment, but I can't see myself going to war.  I don't think I could handle it mentally.

3. There are several countries that I dream of visiting one day and hope that I do.  To name a few: Egypt, New Zealand, and Australia.   I think traveling outside the US isn't going to happen for awhile. We've had some wonderful trips in the not so distant past, but hubby can't handle it right now and I have hopes of starting a family soon.  He knows that once our future kid is in or out of college, I expect to travel outside the US again.

4. I think I would actually do a very good job at Survivor but my  husband doesn't think so.  Likewise, I think we would have a really good chance at winning The Amazing Race, but he doesn't think so.

5.  I contribute my love of travel to my paternal Grandparents and my parents.  When I was younger my Grandparents went on several trips a year, mostly to Europe.  I remember looking at pictures and being wowed by what they had seen.  I wanted to be like them when I grew up.  My parents took my sisters and I camping/backpacking for 2 weeks every summer.  While I'm not the camping/backpacking type anymore (my allergies are too bad and I get altitude sickness) I loved those trips and look back with fondness. 

6.  Speaking of #5, there are a few funny stories from some of our hiking adventures.  #1 - on one trip when I was young, we did a day hike up a mountain and back.  I had a little red backpack. (If any of you have backpacked before or at least seen pictures..keep in mind that backpacks have a strap that you buckle around your belly).  Before the trip started I put a handful (or two) of smarties in a little zippered pocked on my backpack.  As we hiked up the mountain, I would reach around and grab a piece of candy.  We got to the top or at least our destination, ate lunch, and after a rest we got ready to start back down.  We couldn't get the little red backpack strapped around my  middle anymore.  I ate too much.  My stomach was too big! Lol!     #2 story.  I hate hills.  My parents also weren't the kind to buy us candy while at home, we only had it at holidays, if it was given to us, or on vacation.   In order to get me to hike up a big hill my parents would bribe me with a candy bar.  The minute they said candy bar, I was on my way.   Now, I put hills in my running  routine because I know it's good for me.  My Mom says this is the perfect shirt for me. 

7. This is one I've mentioned before, but my sisters and I find it funny and I thought I would mention it anyway.  My parents had three girls. I'm the youngest and I'm around because my father agreed to have another kid in hopes of having a boy.  My sisters have 3 kids between the two of them (and the oldest is pregnant again!  yippy!) and they are all boys.  We often comment that our father (who has passed away) has something to do with it and would find the situation very funny.    I should mention, though, that my sisters and I were all tomboys growing up and the joke was that my Dad really did have sons.

So there you go!  I hope you enjoyed the little tidbits and learned something new.

Thanks again to Stacy and Jingle for the lovely awards!

Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun by Victoria Laurie

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Obsidian
Genre:Mystery
Pages: 310
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense. TBR
Author's Website



Simple Description:
M.J. isn't too pleased with Gillie when he tells her they are headed to San Francisco, in a couple of hours, to be on a tv show.  Things get worse when they arrive and meet the other guests, two of which are as fake as can be.  However the 4th guest, Heath, is a true medium.  Their stay at The Duke, the most Haunted hotel in San Francisco, starts off with a bang, with a woman who appears to have jumped to her death but her ghosts lets M.J. know that wasn't the case.

Things go from bad to worse when a dagger is placed on the table for M.J. and Heath to investigate and the evil inside it actually physically hurts the two mediums.

Soon M.J. and Heath are trying to deal with one nasty demon and one nasty murderer.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I loved it.  I love this series.  It's just a fun cozy mystery.  If you like reading paranormal mysteries, I think you'll enjoy this one.  M.J. is hard on Gillie sometimes, but Gillie sometimes deserves it.  Either way, you can't help loving both of them.  This is definitely a series I would consider a must read for cozy mystery fans or paranormal mystery fans in general.


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

Friday Smile - The NEW master bathroom

We are finally finished with the master bathroom remodel!  Yeah!

Here's a run down of what we did:

1) The doorway to the bathroom was two smaller doors, something we didn't like.  When it was hot out the doors stuck and one of the doors had a hole and it looked like somebody punched it. So we made the opening smaller and put in one door.

2) The shower.  No really..the entire thing.  It was kinda small, felt cramped.  The doors need to be replaced, it was trimmed in gold, the faucets were gold.  I don't like gold.  The shower walls were made out of tile and the grout needed to be replaced in parts and I couldn't get it clean in most places (I don't think the previous owners cleaned very much).  The shower base was just nasty.  We took down the wall between the shower and the toilet, we had the plumbing moved to another wall and then had to move the shower drain as well so it would be in the middle of the new base.   We bough onyx for the sinks and the shower base and walls.   The two wall panels are solid panels, so much easier for cleaning. The two other walls are glass.  Of course, in the picture you see blue tape in the corner, that's not going to remain there.  The glass was installed today (Thursday) and we'll be able to remove the tape tomorrow (Friday).

3) The toilet.   The toilet was 20 years old, there really wasn't anything wrong with it but we wanted one that used less water.  

4) The Vanity.   I wanted a drawer stack in the middle to give us more storage, Husband didn't really care but I convinced him this was the way to go.   We found out that the builders didn't measure right when they built the half-wall between the vanity and the toilet and they had to shave down parts of the original vanity to get it to fit.  Since we went with three full cabinets (not the opening like we had before) this wasn't an option.  So the half-wall had to go.    The counter tops/sinks are onyx.  The bowls are rectangle in shape, something we think is fun and different.   We also went with new faucets, mirrors, and lights.  The mirrors we had before were oval and had roses on them, not something I really liked.  We wanted something more modern.  Also, we ordered handles for the vanity, they just haven't arrived yet.  

5) The Tub and floor.  I'm combining this one because the tile we used around the tub is the same for the floor.  The tub itself is the only thing original to the bathroom.  There was nothing wrong with it and since it's a whirlpool tub it would have been expensive to replace.  We did change out the faucet and the jet thingies. I don't know what they are called, but the pieces that go around the jets in the tub.  They were gold and since we were replacing everything to be brushed nickel we had to replace those too.  We decided on a white to blend in with the tub.

And..of course..the walls.  The walls are red.  I know, this is totally different from what you normally see in a bathroom but you know what, we like it.  It works for us.   

The after pictures aren't that great, but I am so excited to have this project mostly finished, I just had to share!

Please see below for the slideshow, if you would rather go directly to picasa to view the photos, please click here. 

Oh, and just in case you were wondering..barely anything went in the actual trash.  We sold the toilet, shower doors, shower base, and the complete vanity.   The flooring and tile did have to be thrown away though.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Genre: fiction
Pages: audio
Challenges: audio, new author
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
I'm having a hard time even wanting to give a description because I know this book made it's way into many blog reviews.  I feel like most of you have either already read the book, plan to read the book, or know what it's about but don't have an interest in reading it.

So for those of you who maybe haven't heard of this book yet here's some info ( because I'm sure there are some of you, I can't possibly be the last one to read it can I?).

Guernsey is a British Island that was occupied by the Germans during WWII.   This book is a story of those islanders as told via letters and telegrams.  It's after the war, 1946,  and they talk about things going on now and things that happened during the occupation.   There is one outsider, Juliet, she befriends the Islanders and they are telling her their stories and she's working on a book about the island and what they islanders went through and how they coped.

Sounds interesting but not enough to make you  run out and buy it though right?  This is a really hard book to describe!

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
Following the above comment, you must go out and buy it!  I am!  I actually borrowed this as an audio book from the library but I know it needs a spot in my library and I know I'll buy myself a copy.   You get so wrapped up in island life and what they islanders went through and learning about the different individuals through Juliet's eyes.  You don't want it to stop.   This is an excellent book, I can't recommend it enough.  Since I can see into the future (snicker) I can tell you that this will make it as one of my top reads for the year.

Now, you might say that you don't usually read books dealing with WWII so of course this isn't for you.  But it could be!  See, WWII is definitely an important part of the book but it's not the whole book.  The book is about the people.  You want to meet Darcy.  You want to play with Kit.  You want to go to one of the literary meetings and talk about your book, you want to meet all these people and have tea.

Of course, you also want to visit Guernsey.   I think it's funny that last weekend I was in my car headed home after a run, and the current letter being read was about the island.  It's something like 7 miles long and 5 miles wide (that's what I think was said and I'm too lazy to actually look it up) and the only thing I could think of was "Wouldn't it be cool to run across the island?"  Now yes, I know there wouldn't be a road or path that went straight across the island, but I still think it would be cool to go running on the island, take a long run and start at one beach and run across to the other.  Sounds like fun right?  yeah yeah..I'm nuts, I know.

However, I still can't help be want to visit Guernsey and go to the museum of the underground hospital, visit the castle, stay at a manor house.  I did actually look to see how expensive a stay would be.  I found the Hotel Fleur du Jordin which is restored farmhouse and rates start at 46 pounds per person per night. I can handle that.  Let's be honest, who wants to go to an island like this and stay in a modern chain hotel? Where would the fun be in that?

I also found this article at at Boston.com with an article about Guernsey and a video that somebody took visiting it, talking to some of the islanders, etc.  I didn't read the article, but loved the video.

Don't worry, I found pictures for you too.  Who wouldn't want to visit after looking at these pictures?
I just need to figure out how to convince the husband he wants to travel for 10 hours on a plane so we can visit this island and take a Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society tour!  Better yet..why bring the husband when he wouldn't enjoy the tour like we would, what say you and I make plans to meet there? We can spend our afternoons reading on the beach and our evenings blogging about it.  Where do I sign up?


This audio book was rented from my local library.

Cozy Mystery Challenge 2010

I've finally gotten my list together for my own challenge. It only took me about 10 days, nothing like procrastination.

It was a hard list to create actually.  I wanted to try and not double up on any of the books but then when I realized how many books for challenges I needed to read, I quickly decided it was ok to double up on one or two.

Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay
Devil May Ride by Wendy Roberts
Death Perception by Victoria Laurie
Murder by the Slice by Livia J. Washburn
A Flicker of a Doubt by Tim Myers
A Vintage Murder by Michelle Scott

As usual, when dealing with lovely me, I give myself the right to make changes to that list as I see necessary.

The Cozy Mystery Challenge Blog can be found here.

Defenders of the Scroll by Shiraz

Copyright: 2008

Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: YA
Pages: 248
Challenges: New Author
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Alex has to face the toughest decision so far in his young (16 years) life, does he go to school and take his last final tomorrow or go to the audition his band member got with a music executive?  As you can guess, the dream of being a rock star won.

Thins soon change and Alex realizes that the decision he made wasn't that tough, not life or death tough.  Because, you see, during the audition he trips and falls and walks up in another world.  Or maybe it's the same world but a time in the past.  It's never clear.   His mission is to protect a young wizard princess named Dara.  Her father is the King and one of the most powerful Wizards in the kingdom. He has been captured and put all his wizardry power into a scroll that Dara has.  She uses the magic to bring Alex to her.  She was really trying to get the leader of the warriors that protect her kingdom, the Axeman, but did something wrong to get Alex instead.

Early on Alex realizes he can summon warriors from one of the books that went with him to the current world/time that he is in.  Together these warriors help Alex keep Dara save from pirates and evil shadow warriors.  At least, we assume they do, the story doesn't end with this book.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
hmm what to say about this one.  Overall, a very enjoyable book that kept my interest.  Why am I uncertain about it then?  Well, the writing was a bit off to me.  Sure, I know Alex is a teenager from present day, but sometimes he annoyed me.  I think they tried to write in some of the things that kids do and say but it was so incredibly obvious and didn't flow with the story that it was annoying.  Then there was my major pet peeve, the story doesn't end.  Sure..the book ends, but he story doesn't.  They don't even find the King, which is what they set out to do.  Nope.  They survive the latest attack and them boom..end of book.  I hate that!  I realize it's done so that people will buy the next book but it tends to piss me off and make me refuse to buy the next book.   You guys know me, I love a good series, but I like the story to end and the next book to feature the same people and have another adventure.  Don't keep me hanging.   Of course, I do sometimes buy the next book because I liked it enough, but it still annoys me.

So yeah, the story was decent, kept moving, kept me guessing on what was going to happen next, but there were still things that bothered me and keep me from raving about this one.

I recommend, if you are interested, checking out the blog.  The prologue and I think the first 3 chapters are available online.  That should give you and idea on if you want to read the entire book or if it's not your cup of tea.


Thanks to the author(s) for providing this book for review.
I am an amazon associate.

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: Stephanie Plum Challenge, Audio Book Challenge
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Fearless Fourteen starts out with Stephanie convincing Loretta to go to the police station to get a new court date and promising to look after her teenage son if she doesn't get out in time to pick him up from school.  I suppose you can guess that she doesn't get out in time.    Mario, the son, is taken to Morelli's house where he spray paints the dog and the garage door and other things.  When Loretta finally gets bonded out again, she disappears.

Stephanie and Morelli think this has something to do with her brother, Dom Rizzi.  Dom recently got out of jail , he was in there for robbing a bank.  He had 3 other partners and it appears they want the 9 million Dom hid before he went to jail.  Loretta is being held hostage until the 4th, unknown, partner gets the money.

Meanwhile, Lula has surprised Tank by convincing him they are engaged and wanting the wedding to be the following month.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I have to admit, when I first started to read this series I loved and read a lot of them fairly quickly.  Then I hit that mark where the books were just the same time after time and I didn't care to read them and went for awhile without actually reading one.  Then I decided to get one on audio.   Fantastic idea!  I love the audio versions of these books.   I thought this one was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.  I'll definitely finish this series, but I'll wait a month or two to listen to the next one.



This audio book was rented from my local library.
I am an amazon associate.

Friday Smile - Germany and my back story

Today I thought I would share this picture and my back story regarding the Germany trip we did.  We went to Germany about 3 or 4 years ago (I can't remember exactly what year we went).  About a week before we went to Germany I woke up one day with major back pain.  No idea what I did.  I went about my business as best I could.  The next day I looked up exercises to strengthen my lower back and started to do those, although I was in so much pain I could only walk for 5 min at a time (2 days before I woke up with the pain I had been running 5k on my lunch hour) and could barely do the different exercises that were suggested.   I wasn't going to let this stop me from going on the trip though.

So picture me, in an airplane for at least 10 hours, with back pain so bad it hurt non-stop when I was sitting.  I tried to walk up and down the aisles but couldn't straighten my left leg completely so I was limping and losing my balance with each step. hahaha!   I handle pain pretty well, but towards the end of the flight it was so bad I was laying with my head in my husbands lap almost crying.

So we get there and we walk around a bit, me limping (or as I say "gimping") along side my husband.  Now imagine us renting a car.  He rented a stick shift because it's cheaper and I can drive it.  Only problem, my back was so bad and pain radiated down the back of my left leg that it was so painful to push in the clutch.  It made for some very interesting driving.  Oh..and Husband can't drive a stick shift so we weren't able to have him drive.

Also, imagine me walking around barefoot on the hotel carpets and commenting how weird the carpet feels in Germany.  Until one night, I'm taking my socks off and realize it's not the carpet that feels funny, I have loss of feeling in my left foot. hahaha!  That was cause for a lot of laughing.   Of course, also try to picture me trying to put socks on or take them off when I couldn't bend over very far because my back hurt so bad, needless to say it was an adventure trying to tie my shoes too.

So..we get to the castle you see above.   There is an incredibly long and steep hill you have to either a)walk b)take a horse drawn carriage or c)ride a bus to get to the castle.  We didn't get tickets to go inside the castle because Husband had  been on a work trip the week  or two before we left and sat next to a guy from Germany on the plane.  The guy said the castle wasn't worth seeing on the inside because none of the furnishings were original to the castle and if you have seen other castles, it just wasn't worth it.  However, we did want to get to the top of the hill to see the castle.   Our first choice was the bus, but due to all the snow and ice on the road, the buses weren't running.  My second choice was the horse, but Husband dislikes the smell of horses.  That left walking.  And boy did we walk!  It became a game to catch people who were ahead of us and pass them and to also catch the horse carriages, which we did.  My reward for doing this with back pain?  Getting some good pictures at the top and also these doughnut/pastry things they called snowballs.  Oh yum.

At one point while riding the subway, we get off and are walking behind another couple and the girl is limping.  Husband turns to me and says "That's us!"  It was pretty funny.

The first leg of the trip was pretty hard for me with my leg and my heel (heel hurts if I'm on it for awhile..so these trips are always hard on my feet anyway).  Towards the end of the trip I noticed that I was able to start straightening my leg completely and the pain was better.

The pain wasn't gone though and once we returned to the states I went to a dr.  I had a herniated disk.  Go figure!  The Dr. was incredibly surprised that I was walking around and working out as much as I was, even though it wasn't much.   He said mine was one of the worst he has ever seen (and yes this was a specialist).  He asked if I was doing anything for it and I explained how I was trying to walk and doing some exercises and he just shook his head.  He said that's exactly what people need to do but because it's so painful they rarely do.  I was proof that it worked.

So here we are 3 - 4 years later.  Back still gives me trouble, I can't sit on an airplane without it hurting.  Most days I'm pain free at this point, but it took a long time to get this far.   It was 2 years before I could actually run again.  Then, of course, I start running again last Spring, and in August I hurt my foot, heel fracture.  So now..I'm back to running and fingers crossed nothing else happens.

Why did I share this?  I can't think about Germany without thinking about my back.  It's funny that I'm now on orders not to live anything over 40lbs (or something like that) because I can make it worse (my herniated disk is still there..but due to exercising and strength training I'm able to keep my back strengthened and it helps with pain but I did lift dog food bags sometimes and regret it for days afterwards).  Yet, before I realized this I was lifting my suitcase up/down stairs, on to beds, etc.  haha!  And the different things such as thinking German carpet was weird but finding out it's because I didn't have feeling in my foot.  I still shake my head and laugh at some of the things about that trip and my back.

Don't worry..I have a sever allergic reaction story about Paris. I bet you can't wait for another Friday where I tell you about that.

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 386
Challenges: What's in a Name?3 (body of water)
Author's Website


Simple Description:
Mel needs a change.   She is a nurse in LA and things were going great, until her husband was murdered.  She is having a very hard time getting over his death and needs a change of scenery.  She decides to accept a job in a little town called Virgin River.

When Mel gets to Virgin River she finds that it's not even close to what she expected.  The house she is supposed to stay in rent free hasn't been cleaned in years, the porch collapses the first night she is there, and the town Dr. doesn't think he needs a nurse or anybody's help for that matter.

The only good thing is the handsome man who runs the bar, Jack.

Then the first morning she is there, she finds a baby who was abandoned.  Mel's calling is delivering baby's and working with them and new mother's.  She decides to stay until a home can be found.  The once that is taken care of, she decides to stay for a patient who is going to give birth soon.  

Soon it looks like Mel might stay for awhile, between the babies and Jack, things are picking up.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I absolutly loved this book!  Virgin River is the first in the series and I'm dying to read the rest.  Doc doesn't want Mel there and he doesn't try to hide it, but Mel doesn't let him get away with his old time ways either.  You want Jack and Mel to get together, they seem perfect for each other.  There's also a teenage boy who doesn't make the right choice but you want him to be ok because he's basically a good kid.  

This is the type of book where you fall in love with the characters and you want to move to Virgin River so you can hang out with them.



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

I am an Amazon Associate. 

Monthly Challenge Update

Total challenges I'm participating in during 2010: 17
Total challenges completed in 2010: 2

Overall Thoughts:
It's the 2^nd month of the year and I've finished 2 challenges so far, very happy about that. I've also read several more books for challenges I'm completing in, maybe this year I won't be franticly trying to get some of the books finished in time.

This month I read at least 1 book for the following challenge(s):

Pages Read (3,734/31,000)
100+ Reading Challenge (17/100)
New Author Challenge (5/15 completed) – Girl Mary, Spinning Forward, The Excalibur Murders
Year of the Historical (4/12 completed) – Girl Mary, Black Horses for the King, The Queen's Fool, The Excalibur Murders
Audio Book (5/20 completed) - Blood Brothers, Twenties Girl, Size 14 is Not Fat Either
Arthurian Challenge (2/2) – Black Horses for the King, The Excalibur Murders
Young Adult Challenge (2/12 completed) – Black Horses for the King
What's in a Name?3 Challenge (1/6 completed) – The Queen's Fool
TBR Challenge (4/24 completed) – Year of the Historical
Chick Lit Challenge (2/8 completed) – Twenties Girl
War Through the Generations (Vietnam) (1/5 completed) – The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff
Buy 1 Book and Read It (2/12 completed) – The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff, The Excalibur Murders


Challenges I didn't read a book for:

101 Fantasy Challenge (3/7)
Series Challenge (1/7 books, 0/3 series)
New Author Challenge (1/15 completed)
Stephanie Plum Challenge (2/5 completed)
Thriller and Suspense Challenge (1/12 completed)


Completed Challenges:

Reliquiae Challenge - Finished in January
Arthurian Challenge – Finished in February

February 2010 Reads

Total books completed: 9
New Authors: 4
Mystery: 2
Non-Fiction: 0
Fiction: 6
Young Adult: 1
Audio: 3
Pages: 1783
DNF: 0


Girl Mary by Petru Popescu
Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
Spinning Forward by Terri Dulong
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff
The Excalibur Murders by J.M.C. Blair
Size 14 is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot (sorry..never got around to writing a review on this one)

Cozy Mystery Challenge Time!

In the past I have used this blog for my Cozy Mystery Challenge, but this year I created a brand new blog dedicated to the challenge!  If you are interested, please head over to the Cozy Mystery Challenge blog to read the challenge rules and (hopefully) sign up!  Stay tuned for a list of the books I hope to read for the challenge.