Book Journey

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

Published on January 22, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Felicia Ward is now in a place that is out of this world. Literally. Since her death right before her eighteen birthday things has been a little…

off.

Felicia now lives in a place called Level 2 where she and the others there spend time in “pods” where they access memories from their life day after day after day.

Then one day someone who Felicia knew on earth breaks into her chamber and this is no memory, this is real! Julian in life was a dangerous distraction… and now here on Level 2, Felicia has to wonder what his motive is for looking her up. Julian wants to break her out of her chamber saying there is a war going on and Felicia is a big part of if they succeed or fail. Though reluctant to trust Julian, he makes her a promise that is she goes with him now, he will make sure she sees Neil again, the one she loved more than anything.

Felicia follows Julian and learns there is way more to Level 2 than meets the eye and a battle is about to begin… a battle of souls and Felicia is right in the heart of it all.

Level 2 is my favorite type of YA fiction, when you take our world and make it different…. JK Rowling did it in the Harry Potter books, and Lenore Appelhans does it in Level 2. See, in both of these books/series, the world as we know it still exists… there is just something more that we do not know about it.

Lenore creates a sub world that is both dismal and intriguing, after all, on one hand you have full access to your memories and you program them in your mind just like you would if you watched a DVD that was programmed into your mind, reliving all your favorite moments with all the feelings and all the emotions… on the other hand that is really all you have is your memories.

I enjoyed Level 2. I like Felicia’s spunk, Julian’s mysterious ways, and Neil’s goodness. Level 2 itself is a great world character filled with new unthought-of things that fully engaged me and at times, frightened me… (wait until you hear about the lakes of the underworld….)

Level 2 is a wonderful read and in the end it left me feeling there must be more, I hope there is more.

Morning Meanderings… Dang… It is COLD Outside

Published on January 22, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning from the middle of Minnesota. Current temp, -22F. It’s true. Here is the warning I just pulled off the weather website:

Wind Chill Warning remains in effect until noon CST today.

The National Weather Service in Duluth has issued a Wind Chill Warning, which is in effect until noon CST today.

Location: northeastern Minnesota including the locations of Walker, Brainerd, Aitkin and Hinckley.
Wind Chill values: expect wind chills of 25 to 40 below zero. Winds this morning will be a bit lighter than yesterday, but morning lows will be colder. The coldest wind chills will occur through about 10 am.
Impacts: Frostbite can occur on exposed skin within 5 to 10 minutes in these conditions.

Mmmm hmmm…. sun lover me…. why do I live here? Oh yeah, because I LOVE spring through fall… and yes, spring is coming. 😀

I was on the North shore this weekend… I know I know… why not go where it is even colder? And I took a couple pics of my jeep that was going to go in a post on Saturday but I have no internet at the cabin and when I drove into town to use their internet my laptop battery died and well… anyway… no pics. BUT – here they are now:

20130118_144632 — **Friday afternoon when I arrived in Finland Minnesota. Mmmm hhhhhmmmmm there is a Finland Minnesota.**

20130119_084246 — **Saturday morning, when I woke up at 6:30 am in Finland Minnesota.**

Anyhoo…. got to use a shovel….

Today I am off work but busy with a couple appointments that I need to get ready for so wanted to pop in and say its cold but I am a Minnesotan therefore chances are I will survive this too. Later I will be posting my review of Level 2 (do not miss this!) and I though since I am rambling and random this morning, I would leave you with this funny book trailer that was with my Shelf Awareness email this morning:

The Murder Of The Century by Paul Collins

Published on January 21, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

June 26, 1897, New York. A farmer in Long Island is startled when he finds that his duck pond, and his ducks are red with blood. Meanwhile, two boys playing on a pier on the Lower East Side discover a human floating torso wrapped in oil cloth. In Harlem, blueberry pickers find neatly severed limbs in a ditch.

Who was this mystery man? No witnesses… no suspects, and there was no head.

In the midst of this hideous crime two of the big media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph’s went after the media side of the case without holding back. The headlines battled one another, reporters lurked around looking for suspects, awards were posted for the finding of the head and even children took to the streets for a chance at winning the loot.

Considering this is based on a true crime… truth really can be staggering than fiction.

In the end, what is discovered is beyond imagination for the time….

Why did I read this? Honestly… I do not know. I found I had downloaded it from audible.com in September and I can not recall if it was on a recommendation, a sale audio…. or what drew me too it. But too it… I was.

Murder of The Century was interesting. I had not considered before what newspapers went through to get the big scoop and in this read you discover that not too much is off-limits, including one part where the one newspaper company sends all of its reporters out to cut the lines on the phone booths so when the other newspaper got there to call in their notes, they would not be able to.

As the murder unfolds and people come forward a trial starts that is also quiet interesting and eventually a solution to the crime that is both surprising and through provoking.

My only complaint is that somewhere int he middle it bogged down…. suddenly the audio felt long and I was waiting to get interested again, which I did… but not a big fan of books or audio that drag out.

Fans of true crime I think will enjoy this for the amazing story and a gruesome crime that is unthinkable and when you hear the motive behind it….

WOW.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)65 Comments

Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited. **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Under the new and hopefully improved 2013 guidelines, the winner each week will receive a $5 Amazon gift card. This past weeks winner is:

Laurel Rain Snow!!!!

Oh my gosh… first of all I had no intention of going “dark” over the weekend. I was at the cabin which has no internet but I drove to the cafe in town about 10 miles away so I could write a Saturday post, put up some pics and write a review. Well, my battery is very bad on this laptop and only goes for about an hour without being plugged in (super annoying… really). So….. I almost finish the first post when it runs out and shuts off. So…. I was not about to go back to the cabin, charge up and drive in again so I call it a fail for the weekend – but what a treat for this week because….

I read 5 books this weekend!!! Yes 5!!!! WOW that feels good…. and some good ones too so watch for come pretty exciting reviews coming up this week! Gushers…. really… and thinkers too. 🙂

So before ,y weekend away my week was going pretty awesome too… here is what I did get posted:

Between The lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer (SOOOOOO good!)

Mad River by John Sanford (my first Sanford…and in audio!)

GONE by Randy Wayne White (audio review)

I finally finally finally posted my super fun fitness challenge for 2013. Oh yes readers…. we can be super cool readers… and be fit! It;s true! 😀 Please check it out 😀

It feels soooo good to be reading again! From this weekend you can also add Level 2, The Midwife’s Tale, Born This Way, Will To Murder and Where God Finds You. All to be reviewed soon.

As for whats next…. well….

It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

EEP right? I started this one this morning and it is so far…. delicious!

Eddie Huang is the thirty-year-old proprietor of Baohaus—the hot East Village hangout where foodies, stoners, and students come to stuff their faces with delicious Taiwanese street food late into the night—and one of the food world’s brightest and most controversial young stars. But before he created the perfect home for himself in a small patch of downtown New York, Eddie wandered the American wilderness looking for a place to call his own.

Eddie grew up in theme-park America, on a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac in suburban Orlando, raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) hustlers and hysterics from Taiwan. While his father improbably launched a series of successful seafood and steak restaurants, Eddie burned his way through American culture, defying every “model minority” stereotype along the way. He obsessed over football, fought the all-American boys who called him a chink, partied like a gremlin, sold drugs with his crew, and idolized Tupac. His anchor through it all was food—from making Southern ribs with the Haitian cooks in his dad’s restaurant to preparing traditional meals in his mother’s kitchen to haunting the midnight markets of Taipei when he was shipped off to the homeland. After misadventures as an unlikely lawyer, street fashion renegade, and stand-up comic, Eddie finally threw everything he loved—past and present, family and food—into his own restaurant, bringing together a legacy stretching back to China and the shards of global culture he’d melded into his own identity.

When I read Anthony Bodain’s book I loved it… I just love food memoirs… so here I go again… 🙂

The compelling tale of a girl who must save a group of bonobos–and herself–from a violent coup.

The Congo is a dangerous place, even for people who are trying to do good.

When one girl has to follow her mother to her sanctuary for bonobos, she’s not thrilled to be there. It’s her mother’s passion, and she’d rather have nothing to do with it. But when revolution breaks out and their sanctuary is attacked, she must rescue the bonobos and hide in the jungle. Together, they will fight to keep safe, to eat, and to survive.

I hear Eliot read a part of his book in New York this past June and I was sold. I knew then I had to read this book.

That’s my week! I am wondering what you are reading these days 🙂 Please add your link below where it says click here so myself and others can some and see what you are reading. I am curious if you too are getting in good reading this time of year or if this is a slower time for you to read. 😀 You never know where that next great read may come from….

(On Twitter our hashtag is #IMWAYR)

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

For those of you who review mainly Middle Grade (MG) and/or Young Adult (YA) reads, please also add your link to this meme as well:

morning Meanderings… Packing Up and Off I Go!

Published on January 18, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Good morning! Happy Friday!

This morning I am packing up the jeep and Sammy (the dog) and I are heading to the cabin for the weekend. I need some “get away and write” time so here I go.

Going with me are several books to read while I take breaks and of course some movies for the late night “my eyes are too tired to write” times.

I will be checking in throughout the weekend when I pop into areas that have internet. Someday I am really hoping the cabin will have internet… that would be pretty awesome. 😀

I hope you all have something wonderful planned for the weekend… be it books, or getting out and enjoying whatever weather you have happening! 😀

Oh and if you are looking for a fun health challenge this year… click the button below. 😀

GONE by Randy Wayne White

Published on January 16, 2013January 16, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Hannah Smith comes from a long line of Hannah Smith’s before her. And Hannah one, two, and three all seemed to be these strong self-sufficient women, who have left Hannah (Hannah four by the way) feeling as thought their shoes might just be too big for her to fill.

Hannah is a fishing guide and she enjoys this sort of living, but then inherits her Uncles PI agency as well. When asked by a fishing client to search for his missing niece, Hannah sees a way she can combine her love of the sea with her newly inherited position. This Hannah thinks, will be a great way to try her hand at this PI stuff.

What Hannah discovers is a sick sociopath who likes to seduce young rich unsure of themselves women, kidnaps them and then after robbing them of their fortunes disposes of them however he pleases. As Hannah works to hopefully save this latest missing girl, she learns a lot about herself along the way.

GONE was my first book I have read (or in this case listened to) by Randy Wayne White. In the beginning I had a hard time absorbing all that was going on. The constant mentions of the Hannah’s who has gone before our current protagonist Hannah four, had me thinking there must have been previous books featuring these Hannah’s… which as I learned, there was not. This was the first book.

This was a book that felt like the plot had many holes, and relationships were just as holey and I didn’t understand the closeness of characters who had just met – both male and female.

Eventually I found some rhythm to the book and started to enjoy the story line as long as I didn’t think about it too closely.

Thank you to Penguin audio for

giving me the opportunity to listen to

and review this book.

Morning Meanderings…. Fitness and Reading

Published on January 16, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good morning all! 😀 I am back to work today and that’s good because I do like my job. 😀 I am on the next couple of days and then I believe I am going to the cabin this Friday for the weekend and I am pretty stoked about that… it’s been since November since I have been there.

Yesterday among other things, I finally put up my fitness challenge that I was working on since early December and then busy times happened. I am kind of excited about it! I know there were a dew of you waiting for me to get it posted and I finally have:

Mmmmm hmmmm…. there she is! 😛 The 2013 12K Fitness Challenge is on! Well, almost on. It officially starts on February 1, but the sign up is on. I hope you stop by Team Kickin it and read what it is about. There is something for all levels… all goals. If you know anyone who may be interested in joining me on this adventure, please send them my way. 😀

In bookish news, I am about half way through Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans and I am liking it. What an interesting concept! I hope to get that finished in the next day or two here.

Hope your mid-week is awesome 😀

Mad River by John Sanford

Published on January 15, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

During a poorly planned robbery, a store clerk is left dead. Now the three Minnesota teens, Jimmy Sharp, Becky Welsh, and Tom McCall try again and their second victim dies in a car heist during the getaway. With two murders under their belt, the teens sense of fear of the unknown has reached such a level it is like an adrenaline rush. They decide as long as they have gone this far, they might as well settle some old personal hurts.

And the crime spree begins.

When Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil Flowers comes on the scene, he walks into a case that is already a hot mess. The teens have so far avoided getting caught leaving a wake of destruction. While they seem to have no morals, they are not dumb. Virgil is put in charge of the case but it is like herding cats when you try to get all the different areas of the law to play nice together. While Virgil works to bringing in the kids alive, that is not a shared feeling throughout the investigation.

Virgil eventually is able to make contact with one of the teens who is having second thoughts about the plans. Now Flowers is trying to get to the teens to get them out of this mess alive, before the other arms of the law get to them first.

Hot mess is a great way to describe this one. I think this is my first John Sanford and I was surprised at the raw bluntness of the book…. harsh words, insane and graphic acts of crime, fast paced action… you open this read and you are thrust head long into the middle of the action and be careful not to get hit by the blood splatter.

*whew*

I enjoyed John Sanford’s writing, and his characters even if he wrote some without a soul or a conscience. Creepy characters are not a deal breaker for me, kids with no sense of right and wrong hit a gray area for me. I did however like Virgil Flowers, described as an aging hippy type, log hair, flowered shirts… he somehow alone leveled this read out bu his sense of humor and his battle against his upbringing by his Pastor Father who has given Virgil an underlying faith that even against his will, curbs his decisions.

I personally don’t think I will seek out any more of the Virgil Flowers novels, I would however like to take another look at John Sanford and see what else this great author writes.

Morning Meandering…. Challenges For Me!

Published on January 15, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning! These bonus days off have been AWESOME! Yesterday I had a couple of meetings and a couple of errands in the morning and then the rest of the day was mine – *insert mwwwwaaaaa haaaa haaa laugh here* . I updated my sidebar, wrote a review, cleaned up some tabs and yes – I ever read. 😀

I have missed books.

Then last night after setting up the rest of my 2013 WHERE Are You Reading Challenge, I stared looking for other challenges I wanted to be a part of…. and here is what I came up with:

The audio book challenge is always a fun one and really, not a big challenge for me as I am constantly listening to audio every day. Still… I like to play. 😀 Here is how she sets it up:

There are five levels to the challenge

Flirting-Listen to 6 Audio Books

Going Steady- Listen to 12 Audio Books

Lover- Listen to 25 Audio Books

Married-Listen to more than 25 Audio Books

You Define the Relationship- Create your own challenge (choose your own name and level starting as low or going as high as you’d like)

This is a fairly laid back challenge and I want it to be as enjoyable as possible.

Audio Books can be any genre
You can cross challenges
You don’t have to be a blogger to participate. You can tell us about what you are listening to in the comments of the monthly link up.

So using Teresa’s guidelines, I am going to up the level and say I will go for a goal of 40 audio books this year and I will call it the ADDICT Level 😉

And Lori is having an A to Z Challenge that looks like fun so I thought I would try that too:

This challenge is simply to read a book that has a title that starts with each letter of the alphabet.

I think that is about it. Last year I had signed up for about 7 and just couldn’t keep up with them and honestly I don’t know how I did on them. They are fun though, so here I go again :D. It feels good to be getting back on track.

Today on my day off one of the things I will be doing is reading Lenore Appelhan’s debut book, Level 2. Lenore is awesome, a book reviewer and someone I have had the privilege of meeting in New York. You can find Lenore at Presenting Lenore, stop by and congratulate her on release day!

Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Published on January 14, 2013January 14, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Delilah would rather be reading a book then hanging out with friends, taking on sports, or hitting the coffee shops like most girls her age. She has been labeled a loner, and that is fine by her.

But lately, it has been just one book that has her attention and it’s a bit embarrassing as it is a Fairy Tale written for someone much younger than she with illustrations and the whole works. But there is something about this book called Between The Lines that speaks to her….

I mean… REALLY speaks to her. Because one day, Prince Oliver calls out to her literally from the pages. Page 43 to be exact…

and both their worlds change.

Oliver has a life within the book, he plays a role when the book is open and does his part, as all the characters do, to perform for the reader. When the book is closed, the characters have lives, playing chess, baking cakes…. but Oliver has seen the world behind the readers face when the book is open and he knows there is something more out there… something he longs for, and the fact that Delilah’s face is pretty nice to look at, just makes him want out of the book even more.

So… how do you pull a character out of a book? Oliver isn’t no background character like third henchman on the left… nope… he is the main protagonist.

So Delilah and Oliver work together to try to figure out a way for him to be released from the book. Oliver finds his world flat and bland and Delilah really doesn’t have much more of an exciting one. Can this fairy tale really have a happy ending?

So I am in Barnes and Noble recently (yes, yes, my Mother Ship) and I am craving a little YA. This book caught my eye and after reading the first few pages I knew I wanted to know how this story would end.

Jodi Picoult explains in the beginning of the book that this story line was actually her teenage daughter Samantha’s idea. Samantha called Jodi one day while she was on a book tour and said she had an idea for a story. What if the characters within a book had lives once the cover was closed, just like we do when we are not reading? Jodi liked the idea and offered to write the story with Samantha. This decision led to a two-year project of writing and editing through weekends, evenings, and during summer vacation… the result? Well….

I read Between The Lines in about 4 hours. I literally did not want to put the book own. Beautiful illustrations pop up on the occasional page and lets just say, I can see why Delilah was fascinated with Oliver. The story alternates between the Fairy Tale, Delilah, and Oliver and honestly to me it was brilliant. I always love books that break the mold and this is one that did just that.

The book is sweet and funny. When it is Oliver’s chapters and he is trying to understand Delilah’s world, there are some funny moments. For him, if it doesn’t exist in the book, he knows nothing of it… here is a funny section from page 21 that Oliver narrates as he is trying to understand the readers world:

I’ve learned many things the otherworld has that we don’t: television (which is something parents do not like as much as books); Happy Meals (apparently not all meals bring joy, just the ones that come in a small bag with a toy; and showers (something you do before bedtime that leaves you drenched).

I really enjoyed the book… it has its flaws but nothing that was a deal breaker for me and I honestly loved the break from serious reading to enjoy a sweet tale of fairy tale romance between a Prince and a book lover (I personally think, the way it was meant to be.)

I will keep this book with my other books by Picoult, but this one I think will hold a special place in my heart as it is not the hard story line that she writes for adults, but a softer side that I really really enjoyed. I recommend this book for YA lovers young and old…. not every YA book needs to be tricked out with hot guys on motor cycles, high school age gorgeous vampires, or dystopian bread makers, some just require a prince….

and his horse.