Book Review – Page 9 – Book Journey

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling (HP Readalong w/giveaways!)

Published on November 16, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

This is the cover of the book I read from. This is the 20 year anniversary edition of The Sorcerer’s Stone. I picked this one up in New York at the Harry Potter Exhibit

This is the first book from our Harry Potter Re-Readalong (not too late to join in!)

I wish I could remember exactly when I read this book for the first time. I believe it was sometime around when the first movie came out in 2001. I remember wanting to know what my sons were reading. Little did I know that I was about to read the book that would set off something in me that would lead to:

1. Owning all the books in paperback and hardcover

2. Owning all the books in audio (fantastic by the way – both narrators Jim Dale and Stephen Fry – wow!)

3. Owning several Harry Potter Board Games including HP Scene It

4. Going to the Harry Potter Exhibit with Reagan (Miss Remmer’s Reviews) while in New York

5. A different year dragging Cindy from Cindy’s Love Of Books to Potted Potter in New York. (For the record she had not read the books which made her even more of a trooper to attend with me and she loved it!)

6. Going to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios three times in the past three years with my son who is into it just as much as I am.

7. Of course seeing and owning all the movies. 😉

8. Early acceptance into Pottermore

My ticket to the HP Exhibit which I keep in my book as a book mark

I love this first book. There is so much going on here not only within the book but the fact that the book exists at all. If you have ever read or listened to anything about JK Rowlings start with this book it is fascinating stuff. She was turned down again and again publishing houses stating that no one would want to read about children that had magic skills and misbehaved in school. Bloomsbury was the publisher that said yes (hazah to them!!!) and this book – opened up doors to change the publishing world forever…

HP and The Sorcerer’s Stone is fun to re-read as there is so much I pick up on now that I have read all the books. I feel like I pick up something new each time I read it and I have to smile at the sheer brilliance of how the books tie in so well together. JK did not know at the point of book one that there would be seven books – but they sure read like she knew exactly where she was going.

The short synopsis (just because I like writing about it)… Harry Potter is raised by his aunt and uncle after being left in their care upon the death of his parents. Harry is treated very poorly as an unwanted intruder in their lives and sleeps in a small space under the staircase. As he approaches his eleventh birthday he finds out that things are not exactly as he had been told all of these years. His parents actually come from a magical background and Harry is about to be introduced to his first year of school at Hogwarts.

Harry can not believe his luck as of which he had none before. He has a little help from Hagrid in picking up the supplies he will need and then he is on the train to Hogwarts where he meets Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger, two students who little does Harry know – will become lifelong friends, something he has not had before.

Of course all is not smooth sailing for our young Harry. We also learn about he-who-shall-not-be-named (Good old Volde!) and his role in Harry’s parents deaths as well as Harry’s scar. For years no one has heard from him but things are about to change and of course Harry would be the main focus of HWSNBN return.

This is the original drawing of Snape as JK first pictures him. This picture is in my book.

I am going to believe that most of you reading this post have read this book or at the very least, have heard of the Harry Potter phenomenon. I seriously have to smile when I think of how this series has held on – now being one of the biggest attractions at Universal Studios Orlando, so big in fact they just added on in 2014 a whole new amazing section that actually goes into the next park! I wrote about that here.

I adore this amazing book filled with magic and messages of good… just listen to Dumbledore’s quotes throughout the book and the series – these are amazing life lessons:

“Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help.”
Harry thought. Then he said slowly, “It shows us what we want… whatever we want…”
“Yes and no,” said Dumbledore quietly.
“It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.

“To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure’.”

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone is just the beginning. If you have never read the series, I invite you to join our group now. If you have read it many years ago, you are also welcome to join in the fun. The giveaways are available to those signed up for the readalong, so come on in. In fact out first giveaway is posted by Donna at Writer’s Side Up for a set of cool bookmarks.

I am looking forward to the next book!

*Readalongers be sure to link up your Sorcerer’s Stone post here. House points for participants comments on HP posts that are linked as well as the post itself.

Bedbugs by Ben Winters

Published on November 12, 2014November 12, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Susan and Alex Wendt believe they found the perfect apartment. Top floor, two bedroom brownstone recently renovated. It is close to a park for their daughter Emma and the price is one they can not pass up. The old widowed landlady is short of a full deck but harmless.

Shortly after moving in Susan starts to notice that some things are just not right. First it is the mysterious lifted floor board that they did not notice when they moved in… then it is the strange smell in the spare room… then it is the bites. Susan wakes up with bite marks on her that are consistent with bedbugs… oddly it is only Susan that is being bitten. Alex and Emma are fine. The house is checked twice by an exterminator with no finding…

so if not bed bugs what is it?

I have wanted to read this book since it came out in 2011. I liked the mysterious cover, and the fact that author Ben Winters also wrote Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters, this seemed like it could be a fun read.

It was.

And creepy too.

I enjoyed this read! I learned a bit about bedbugs and while the book is a bit creepy it is leveled out with other interactions to keep it from going full on itchy!

The narration of Elisabeth Rodgers is good. She does a great Emma! You route for this family while at the same time there is enough suspicion to go around to keep you guessing as to what is really happening. I am glad I finally fit this one in!

Like a little creepy? A little edgy? Something that would make a good movie? Give Bedbugs a try!

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 6 hours and 54 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: September 6, 2011

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books (September 6, 2011)

Hop Skip Jump – Order This Book Today and pick it up for FREE!

Published on November 11, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)2 Comments

I posted a couple of days ago that I was reading this book.I signed up as one of 75 blogs to chat up this book. If you know me (and I hope if you read Book Journey you feel as though you do 😉 ) you know that if I can find a way to make something fun – that is the way I am going to go.

Today, November 11th, if you order the book you will receive a $15 ecard which will cover more than the cost of the book. Use this link to learn more about that! There is also a quiz you can take on that page to see

The 75 techniques in this book will guide you to be more playful and productive as you move through three vital phases of the manifestation process: dreaming (Hop), experimenting (Skip), and taking action (Jump). Discover your Play Personality and learn how to use it to create more experiences in which work feels like play, and struggle gives way to momentum, ease, and joy.

Includes a FREE downloadable Productivity Pack

Read it and want to chat about it?

Twitter: @hopskipjumpbook as well as @ArtellaLand.

Facebook: Hop Skip Jump

In the meantime… what do you do to make your work fun? I will share more on this during my review 🙂

The Vineyard by Michael Hurley

Published on November 7, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Holy cover LOVE!!!!!

Dorey Delano, Charlotte Harris, and Turner Graham used to be roommates in College at Smith ten years ago. Dorey is struggling with the possible undertaking of the family inheritance and legacy. She invites her two college friends to join her at the seaside resort on Martha’s Vineyard for catching up with each other and rekindling their once strong friendship. Dorey has no idea what baggage and agendas come with this invite; Dorey as well has her own things going on. Each girl is carrying a weight from their current worlds. When a strange man comes into the scene, known only as “the fisherman”, he has an agenda… and it is going to change the girls in ways they would never imagine.

The Vineyard is filled with so much I enjoy in a good book! Great character development, strong females, a little agenda, a little mystery… even crime. The Vineyard’s synopsis was fully loaded with a great storyline for each of the three women even without the addition of the fisherman, but tossing him in the mix added another layer of “ooh…. what is going to happen now?”

I really enjoyed The Vineyard. This is a book that has something for everyone. Way to go author Michael Hurley in writing such an engaging read! Take the time to pick up a copy of this gem! I hope we will be hearing more from this author.

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Ragbagger Press (November 25, 2014)
Language: English

I read this book for a TLC Book Tour. Thank you TLC for the trip to the Vineyard!

The Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

Published on November 6, 2014November 6, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Twelve year old Easter and her sister 6-year-old Ruby have lived a lifetime in their short years. After their mom received full custody, having the once ball player Wade sign away his parental rights. Wade, admittedly has made poor choices in his life, drifting from one quick money maker to the next. When their mother dies suddenly, Easter and Ruby are put in foster care. Wade decided his wants his girls back and will do anything to make that happen – including taking them against their will – and against the laws.

Brady Weller,ex-cop with his own history of mistakes is the girls court appointed guardian, and he has decided that these girls will not fall through the cracks in the system. Using his past skills, Brady goes after Wade; but more importantly – he after the safe return of the girls.

Wiley Cash is one smooth writer. He has a way of telling a story that brings you right there. I enjoyed this read of a man desperate to be with his children, but still making the same mistakes he always has. You have to give Wade credit, I believe his heart was trying to be in the right place.

The book is fairly short, but satisfying. I enjoyed the multiple narrators of the story and how they all fit into the bigger picture.

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (September 23, 2014)

TEN by Gretchen McNeil (Spooky Reads!)

Published on October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

A party weekend.

When both Meg and Minnie receive the invite to an amazing house party on a remote island, it is hard to pass up. While Meg is a bit resistant of keeping her whereabouts from her parents, Minnie’s contagious excitement, as well as the thought of a whole weekend at a luxurious house with cute boys is admittedly hard to pass on.

Dropped off by the ferry as a storm settles in the girls find that the host will not be arriving until the next day as she missed the last ferry over. The ten guests, a mix of girls and guys – including the guy that Minnie is crushing (is that still what they say?) on, and Meg secretly likes as well.

Then things start to go wrong. As the wind howls and the rain beats the windows… one of the ten dies. Scared and trapped on an island the remaining teens have no options but to wait out the storm and hopefully the arrival of help in the morning…

… and then another one dies.

TEN was creepy good. It made me think of good old 80’s type scares like Friday the 13th or Halloween. Ridiculously filled with holes if you look to closely at the story line, but you are having such a great time reading that you choose to let that pass.

I enjoyed the old school feel that TEN contained within its pages. Not gore… not horror… but a good old fashioned scare. The book keeps you guessing… I had several ideas throughout the book of who was behind it all and each of my guesses were wrong. This is the kind of story that makes you wonder who is really a friend.. and who is a crazed killer, and what a wild yearbook this will make.

The friend who is most likely to murder.

Fans of good scares that don’t gross you out will enjoy this book. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray; Reprint edition (September 17, 2013)

Four Friends by Robin Carr

Published on October 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Great neighborhoods are hard to find, but Gerri, Andi, and Sonja have one. These three ladies meet up every morning at 6 am to take their morning walk, catching up and starting their mornings right! It is good to have friends, and the morning that Andi kicks her cheating no good husband to the curb, Gerri and Sonja are there for support. Gerri with her steadfast ways, and Sonja with her perfect remedies like fen-shui and oil scents that can take away the negative feelings a bad marriage can leave behind.

But no one in this group of friends is safe from hard times.

Gerri has a wonderful marriage and partnership with her husband and father of their three children Phil. So when she learns of cracks in what she thought was an uncrackable union, she battles anger as she tries to repair the damage – unsure if she can.

Sonja’s constant pursuit of the balanced life between health, eating right, and keeping to a non bending schedule, is enough to drive her husband right out the door. This leaves Sonja feeling like she just blew a fuse because in her world, she should have known this was coming.

And Andi, now looking at the remains of failed marriage #2, wonders what about her attracts cheating losers. With an adult son who is battling his own issues, Andi is just not sure is she can let anyone in again.

And then there is BJ. The neighborhood runner. She keeps to herself; but when tragedy strikes in the neighborhood, she steps in to help – and the girls find that having a new voice in the group is refreshing, even though they can tell that BJ comes with her own mix of troubles as well.

First up, the title caught me right away (if I was British I would say straight away, but I am not and I don’t know why I mentioned that here…). I love books with strong female character friendships. I think it is because I value those strong friendships in my own life and I know how much they have helped me through hard times.

Four Friends is a great read for people like me who like friendship stories. This is not a wishy-washy lite chick lit book – the women in this book deal with very hard and very real issues. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of Gerri’s strong independent nature, Andi’s worries about trying to find real love, Sonja trying to overcome her perfectionism, and BJ’s dark past.

Robyn Carr writes a great friendship book. One I was engaged in right from the beginning. I would not mind at all if these women popped up in another of her books. If there was a home available on their street I would love to move in and hang out with them!

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (March 25, 2014)

SPUN by Catherine McKenzie

Published on October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Amber Sheppard, made famous for her role as The Girl Next Door, has been sober for two years now since her stint in rehab. You would never know it though by the gossip magazines. Every paparazzi picture of her wearing sun glasses means “hung over”, every shot of her looking too thin is “drug use”. If that is not enough, she is still trying to avoid her other addiction as well, the hot movie star Connor Parks, who has tried to win Amber back since she quit him like her other unhealthy addictions.

Yet now, a text from Conner brings Amber to him… as one if often drawn to things that are not good for us… and the decisions she makes during this crucial time, will change her life forever.

I have enjoyed Catherine McKenzie’s writing and believe I have now read everything she has published. When I read SPIN in 2012 I enjoyed it. It was a different type of read for me with a new subject line… rehab.

Now Catherine McKenzie has written SPUN, a follow-up to the people who graced the rehab two years prior. What I found interesting, was the main protagonist in SPIN was Kate, a tabloid reporter with a party-too-much-and-too-hard-problem, and Amber was someone she met in rehab. It was interesting to see Amber’s story take the lead in SPUN, and Kate is now a secondary character.

It was fun to revisit these characters. SPUN is written as a novella, 140 pages and worth your time. Do you need to have read SPIN to enjoy SPUN? No, but I would recommend SPIN as well as it is a fun read that leads right into SPUN.

Paperback: 140 pages
Publisher: Catherine McKenzie (May 16, 2014)
Language: English

Fun Fact: Catherine McKenzie was one of our authors for Wine and Words 2014. She was an awesome addition to our event and a lot of fun to talk to:

A few of our wine and words authors having fun at the photo booth! Left: Catherine McKenzie, Barbara Claypole White, Lorna Landvik, and Randy Susan Meyers

Some of the Friends group and the authors - far left - Catherine McKenzie — Some of the Friends group and the authors – 3rd from left – Catherine McKenzie

HIDDEN by Catherine McKenzie

Published on October 5, 2014October 5, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Jeff Manning just fired a man who at one time, was the man who hired him. Life… is odd Jeff contemplated as he walked home from work, and while closing his eyes to relax from the tension of the day, he is hit by a car and killed.

Shortly after, Claire, Jeff’s wife melts to the floor as the police deliver the news. His son, Seth runs to his room crying… their family home now broken with grief.

At a meeting at Jeff’s office, the news is somberly delivered of Jeff’s accident and another woman screams “No!” in disbelief as the truth sinks in. Tish, who met Jeff at a company party, has to now decide how to best move forward drawing as little attention to herself as possible. She goes to Jeff’s funeral as the company representative.

Told in the alternating voices of Jeff, Claire, and Tish, HIDDEN reveals what was …. what is… and what will be.

So…. funny thing. I had just finished reading SPUN by this author and in the back of that books was the first chapter of this one, HIDDEN. I read that chapter and was engaged enough to go and grab HIDDEN that has been unread on my shelf and not only start it; but finish it in one reading. If you have ever wondered if those little chapters at the end of a book about another book by the same author work, the answer is apparently a clear and resounding YES.

HIDDEN is an intriguing read. You are quickly hit with the plot and the rest of the book is explaining how things came to be in flashes back for all three – Jeff, Claire, and Tish. Chapters will be in present time and then a comment or a happening will lead to a chapter that takes you back so you can fully understand how things came to be. It is actually an interesting way to write, especially since one of the narrators, who we never get a real chance to know in present time, is dead.

My only struggle with this read was that sometimes I did not know right away who the narrator of a chapter was. I would have to skim ahead on the page to get to the “Oh, this is Jeff speaking”, or “Oh this is Claire.” In the end, the story is not all wrapped up with all things tidy. As I finished the book I was a little bummed about this, yet as it begin to sink in, I started to appreciate the ending more knowing that all things in life do not have the opportunity to be neatly categorized, labeled and put into a cute box.

HIDDEN is a book that will make you think about relationships and what truly can never 100% be known.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: New Harvest (April 1, 2014)

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (Banned Book… BUT Was It Real?)

Published on September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Being a teenager is not easy now… and it wasn’t then.

Told in the first person perspective of an unnamed teenage girl, who is just trying to fit in. When she is invited to a popular girls party she can not believe her luck! They play a game called “Who’s Got The Button”, which our narrator later learns that several of the cokes they are served at the party are laced with LSD… the question is who will get them? Our narrator of course is one that does, and she experiences her first high.

As time goes on, she becomes more willing to try other drugs to find out what they will feel like. She becomes not only popular in her school, but also a drug dealer to pay for her habits.

Written in diary form, Go Ask Alice walks you through the drug use and the terrible happenings associated with her highs such as sex, leaving home, in with the wrong so-called “friends” and then leads to her trying to come clean and be the girl she knows deep down inside she is.

WOW. I picked up this book at our recent Friends Of The Library sale. I am always on the look out for classics and banned books (often one and the same) when I seen a copy of this book. Go Ask Alice is small, 224 under size pages and written in diary format so is a quick read. My plan was to read this for banned book week, and although I did not finish it during the week I meant to, I did finish it.

Go Ask Alice, written originally in 1971 is still relevant today. I am not sure why it is called Go Ask Alice, there is a small encounter with a girl named Alice… but nothing worthy of naming the book after her (although I did momentarily wonder if the “Alice” she seen in the book, was indeed our narrator thinking of herself as another person…)

The book is sad. You find our narrator trying to break free of the circle of drugs and those involved, but it is a struggle in many ways. Even when she does get clean, she is pursued by the users as well as nightmares and well… read the book. There is more to this story.

Go Ask Alice is said in the front of the book that is the actual diary of a teenage girl. If you look on-line, you will find there is much discrepancy about this claim. Snopes.com calls it out as fiction. Merely a cautionary tale. It also calls out that the book is not really anonymous, although this is pretty common knowledge now – the author is actually Beatrice Sparks who had written a number of teen books dealing with topics such as AIDS, teen pregnancy, cults, drugs, and eating disorders.

True story or not, it made for an interesting read and truly can put the fear of drugs and the dangers of hanging with the wrong people in you.

Recommended. So you too can say you read it.

Go Ask Alice… WHY Was It Banned?

Since it’s publishing in 1971, Go Ask Alice has become one of the most challenged and banned books of all time. Due to its frequent and strong references to sex, heavy drug usage, and teen pregnancy, libraries and schools across the country have banned the novel as it sits at number 23 on the American Library Association (ALA) “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books” from 1990-2001. In Charleston, South Carolina, Dr.Chester Floyd, Berkeley County school district’s superintendent, pulled the novel off the shelves of all public schools within the district.