When You Don’t Love That Book That EVERYONE Seems To Love

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)75 Comments

Recently I feel as though I have hit a couple “must read” books that I just didn’t feel the love.  I t starts out the same, I heard about the book through lets say:

  • Book friends

  • magazine

  • Book sites like shelf awareness

  • Book Blogs

The book sounds… well, AMAZING.  The reviews are AWESOME.  I read the synopsis and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!  I then:

  • Purchase it from a book store

  • download it on to my NOOK

  • pick it up in audio from audible.com

  • cross my fingers and rub my lucky rabbits foot and hope I am offered it for review

And then I dive in… reading it or listening to it on audio….

and occasionally it happens….

it sucks. 😯

Ok, ok, maybe sucks is a strong word, but it doesn’t fit for you.  It’s unclear, the characters are not developed well, you are lost within the story line with the first 30 minutes, it’s too long, it’s too short, the language makes you cringe, the crudeness makes you wonder why everyone raved about this book, in the end story lines are left wide open, there is no closure, there is too much closure, it quite possibly is… dull.  (and by saying this I do not mean all of the above, I mean a book may be disliked for any one of these reasons… or well, yeah, all of them.  😀

You get my point. 

And then, for those of us who review… you review.

I have noticed one of two things happening on these reviews.  1.  You write your honest and truthful review.  You are fair, you keep it light, you don’t use words like “it made me want to vomit” or “I could have thrown this book across the room, picked it up and thrown it again, preferably into a burning fire pit”, no instead at the end you may add warnings or be aware of: and you quietly and accurately list things to watch out for in the book if said book has things to watch out for (ie. language, crudeness, graphic). 

and 2.  You let it all hang out in the review.  You put your emotion into it, you DO mention if it made you want to vomit or if you wanted it to burn in a fire pit.  If you screamed or yelled or cried or groaned out loud… you say it. 

Honestly, I tend to lean more towards #2 in my reviews.  I like to know how a book affects people, even if it is negatively… I like a little spunk in my reviews….  😛

So here are my questions:

When you do read these awesome books that turn out to be not so awesome, how do you review them?  Are you more of a #1 style reviewer, or a #2?  When reading a review (book bloggers and non book bloggers) which style of review do you prefer?

Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Michael Zarkades was a busy man.  His job as a lawyer kept him at the office late at night, and back again early in the morning.  His wife Jolene handled everything else, groceries, home upkeep, the needs of their two children, Betsy (12) and Lu Lu (4), bill paying, carpooling, and a pilot for the National Guards.  Their lives went 100 miles and hour – in opposite directions.

With a marriage already on the rocks, the news of Jolene’s deployment could not have been worse timing.  Michael had just taken on a tough case.  Betsy was practicing (and very well I might add) at being the “oh poor me” teenager, Lu Lu valued all her mommy time. 

With Jolene gone for what looks like will be a year, Michael gets a full dose of what it is like to try to manage  career and family.  When the unthinkable happens, this family with all of its frayed ends, will need to use everything they have to pull it together…. or unravel forever.

 

 

I have dabbled a bit through the years in Kristin Hannah’s books and have enjoyed what I have read.  Home Front was one that was introduced to me by a friend, and I was due for another audio so really, why not?

The narration was done by Maggi-Meg Reed and at first I could not get over how much she sounded like Kathleen Turner, A very strong, self-assured, sometimes over dramatic voice that at first bothered me, as it felt too strong for Jolene… and then later in the audio, I decided it was perfect for Jolene… in fact the parts where she reads the overly spoiled and whiny Betsy actually cracked me up.  (Even though seriously if there was ever a character I wanted to slap and tell her to grow up, it is Betsy).

The story told here is interesting as usually when we think of someone going off to war, it is the husband, or the son.  Kristin Hannah twists that up with the “what if instead it was a woman, and not just a woman, but a married woman with two small children.  What if it was the man left at home to handle things?

Jolele’s time away is riddled with her seeing war first hand, yet trying to make her family believe through the occasional phone call or email that she is in a safe zone, mostly flying around VPI’s.  While you see all that Jolene is hiding, you see Michael go from angry at his wife, to coming to more of an understanding of how serious where she is can be. 

It’s hard to say much here without giving away major plot points so I will just say that Kristin Hannah does a fine job of surprising the reader of what will happen next.  The easy answers, are not what we find here, but in the end, I think we can make peace with the way it is. 

While come parts of this book/audio felt unnecessarily drawn out, in the end, I liked it. 

 

Here are a few other fine Book Bloggers thoughts:

S. Krishna’s Books

A Bookworm’s World

My Friend Amy

A Musing Reviews

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Morning Meanderings….Bike Rides past….

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)49 Comments

Good morning!  😀

This weekend I am right on top of some great picture happenings (I hope!).  Later today I think I am going to a friends property to help her when the BEES come in.  Yes, she is a new Beekeeper!  I didn’t know that Bee Keeper outfit was on my bucket list… until I seen her in, and now I must got here.  SO… she is supposed to call me if that is going to work out for later today.

Then tonight, me friend Amy and I will take off for the first bike ride in Minnesota that starts tomorrow morning.  It is called the Ironman, mainly because it goes no matter what the weather and not once, has the weather been nice in my five years of this ride:

2008:  storming and lightning:  30 degrees out

2009:  Rain and snow flakes

2010:  Light rain (the best we ever had for conditions)

2011:  Hail and storms – my friend Wendy and I skipped the ride went shopping and to a movie instead.

Now, tomorrow calls for isolated thunderstorms, 80% chance of rain.  100% annoying…

Just once… if it could be nice.

The ride is a 30, 45, 60, or 100.  My goal is always the 100, but the weather messes that up.  I will leave it up to Amy what we do. 

In the meantime, for Saturday snapshots I thought I would post a few pics from last years rides to hopefully get me ready to RIDE!

Brainerd Ride

 

Hard boiled egg… on a stick
MS150…. a two day ride where we call this the Bike Cemetery.

 

..ummm… later that same day of the MS150… mile 71 to be exact.

 

Me and my cousins wife Rhonda

 

My bike!

 

Stop by At Home With Books and see what else is being discussed at Saturday Snapshots.  As for me, I will be back in a nit, helping with a seminar this morning… need to write a couple posts and pack!  😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead Running by Cami Checketts

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

What is it about running?  It can relieve a days stress, it can clear your head…. shoot it can ease a lifetime of sorrows, and for Cassidy Christensen, it can help her escape.

Cassidy is haunted with memories of the senseless murder of her parents, and now running has taken her to a new level of “escape” that she did not realize she needed, or wanted until she started to run.

RUN.

When Cassidy starts training for a Marathon (which she didn’t want) and captures the attention of two very interesting and good-looking men (which she did want), things become interesting.  Add in a couple of dangerous guys on the side that are not exactly looking out for Cassidy’s best interest, instead they are tied into her parents murder and still look at Cassidy as a pawn they can use….  Things, as Cassidy is about to find out, are not as she had been lead to believe…

RUN.

My blurb about the book is on the back cover….SSSQQUUUEEE!!!!

 

Dead Running starts out at a warm up pace.  As I dipped into those first pages I met Cassidy, her sister-in-law, her brother, a Nana, a great friend, a petite weird red-headed girl  here forward known as “Hot Redhead”  and a couple good-looking guys.  While my mind wrapped around who was who and what was what….

I started to warm up to a slow jog…

Entering Cassidy’s world was fun.  As a protagonist, I liked her.  I liked her a lot.  She was smart, but not fake, and funny…. a moment when she screams out “Pelican Poop!” when confronted with a mystery man at the front door caused me to laugh out loud, and I would soon find out that would not be the only time laughter would escape me during this read.  Her training for that marathon was inspirational, I wish I had her determination!  When she later gags while trying to swallow a Vanilla Flavored Gu, I laughed again.. this was a girl after my own heart… I have had the same reaction.

…and then I am running…

page by page I found myself flying through this book.  The characters are real, interesting and engaging.  Yes I too want to meet Damon and Jesse… I am just saying… 😀  Tie in a big mystery and a lot of danger and I was sold.  Cassidy’s sister-in-law Rachael “El” would be the sister-in-law I had always dreamed of, a friend and confident… and her BFF Tasha cracks me up.

Bottom line is – this book gave me all the good vibes of an early Stephanie Plum (Evanovich) novel without the ditsy main character, but with the hot guys, a meatier read, and just a lot cleaner all the way around.  I really loved it. 

Not many books will keep me in the house on my day off in my pajamas past noon just because I can not put it down long enough to take a shower and get ready for the day.  This one did exactly that.  Do yourself a favor and give Cami Checketts a try,  I adored her touching book Sister Pact, and really think she has grown even more as an author in Dead Running.

**  A few days ago I posted a wonderful fitness giveaway Cami Checketts is having in honor of this books release!  Please check it out… signing up is as easy as a comment.  😀

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

 

A portion of the proceeds from Cami’s books will be donated to The Child & Family Support Center. For more information on this worthy cause, please go to www.cachecfsc.org

Thank you Cami for the advanced opportunity to read and review this book!


Morning Meanderings… Some Days Just Fall Apart…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Good morning and happy Friday!!!!  The weekend is upon us and not a moment too soon 😀

So I have to share a TRUE story of what happened here yesterday. 

I got off work yesterday afternoon with every intention of going to Kick Boxing.  I got home, wasn’t sure what time the class was, left a message with the teacher, got busy responding to comments, and then finding out the class was at 5:30 and I still needed to make dinner for Al and a lunch for him (he has been working overnight on a road project) I decided I could not be super woman, took off my cape and resigned myself to cooking. 

When food was done I text Al, believing he was in the office behind our home, and told him dinner was done, his lunch was packed come and get it!  He called me and said he had actually went to the job site (30 minutes away) early to get some prep work done and would be gone for the night.  Our conversation then went something like this:

Me:  Seriously?  You couldn’t have sent me a quick text and let me know that you were leaving early? 

Al:  Sorry, didn’t think of it.

Me:  I could have went to kick boxing, but I didn’t think I had enough time to make you dinner and do that.  If I would have known, I could have went to the class.

Al: *silence*  (He is good at that)

Me:  Well, fine.  Dinner is done I guess for whenever, see you in the morning then.

Then I decide, well I am home, and it is nice out and I should start mowing the lawn.  It is a three hour project and I thought I could start it, do the front, and finish the back tomorrow.  I go to the garage and our college sons car has been parked in such a way that I can not get the mower around it.  I go back in the house and scrounge for keys… I find keys.  I then spend the next ten minutes trying to start the car.  It will not turn.  It is a newer car (mistake purchase by our son but that is another story….) so I think maybe it has a button you need to push before the key will turn, I search around…. nothing. 

I call Al.

Al:  Hello?

Me:  Is there a secret to starting Justins car?

Al:  Not that I know of.  Why?

Me:  I need to move it to get the mower out… I cant turn it on. 

Al:  So you got the keys out of the shop.

Me:  No, they were in the house.

Al:  Those are to his old car.

Me:  Fine… I got this….

I get the CORRECT keys, move the car get the mower out… FINALLY!  Wasted time:  20 minutes, but we can still do this!  I mow 1/4 the front yard and run out of gas.  I go to the garage and thankfully find a container that has a little in, hopefully enough to finish the yard… and I put it in the mower and go to start it and….

break the key off in the ignition. 

Yup.

Now I am sitting in the front yard on the mower staring at the key slot wondering if I am being PUNKED.  I take the broken key and try to hold it to where it broke off inside and turn… after three attempts… it works.

I continue mowing now trying to think of how I will shut it off when I am done… I need not have worried, about 15 minutes later…. I ran out of gas.  😯

So now… what? 

Frustrated, I am determined to finish the front lawn.    I grab the empty container to put in the jeep to go get gas and I must have bumped my IPOD (which ear buds are still in my ears) and suddenly Adam Ant is playing You Dont Drink and Dont Smoke which is a great 80’s song… and I break out in dance in my garage. 

Yes I did. 

The.. whole… song.

The odd thing is I did not know I had any music on my IPOD… I only use my IPOD to download books.  😀

I did get gas, I did finish the front lawn with a broken off key, and I lived to tell the story.  😀

So the moral of this is, may your Friday put a little dance in your step.  😀

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

They were the best of friends.  Gwen, Mickey (both girls) , Tim Jr, Sean, and Gordon (Go-Go), the latter three being brothers.  They were then in their childhood, always together, always in the woods exploring and pushing the boundaries or their surroundings summer after summer.  Until that one summer when tragedy strikes, a secret is kept, and the five are never quite the same, nor their friendship quite the same… ever again.

Fast forward 30 years and tragedy has struck again.  This time it is with Go-Go, the youngest of the five, has died in what is still undecided… accident or suicide.  After all, Go-Go carried with him, perhaps the deepest secret of them all. 

The remaining four come together for the first time in many years, looking for answers, and wondering if that fateful day all those summers ago is not the answer to what haunts them still today.

Laura Lippman has written many amazing books. Of these.. I have read only three. I need to get going 😉

As anything that has the name Laura Lippman on it, I was excited to jump into this read.  The synopsis… friends from childhood go through something BIG together, are bound to a secret and as with all of us, adulthood happens… we move on, we move apart… and those bounds that were once so tight, are now merely spider web strong.  I do love books about friendships….

The Most Dangerous Thing is spilled out onto pages with multiple narrations, each of the five have an opportunity to tell a portion of the story.  I personally enjoy multiple narration when it is done well, chapters changing narrator, you get to see different sides unfold. Lippman does a pretty good job of not confusing me in the “who is telling the story now?”  I believe this is the first time I have read a book with this many narrators though. 

So hmmm…. where do I begin?

I have said in the past that I prefer books with fewer characters and I think that is because I really like to get to know a character.  In this read while the main five were doable, there are also the parents who are brought into the conversations and while that was done well, for me… it was a lot of voices in my head.  I think perhaps that is what leaves me with a “hmmmmmm” feeling.  I did not feel strongly for any one of them, while an interesting story – it branched out so much and switched narration to the point I never fully sunk into this read, and ooh, I do like to sink into a read. 

Overall I think Lippman’s writing is something to experience, however if you are new to her books I would not start with this one, she does have more engaging reads. The Most Dangerous Thing is a book that was interesting and held my attention, but was not a “WOW” for me. 

Her main character from her detective series, Tess Monaghan makes an appearance in this book and I thought that was kind of fun.  I like it when authors do that.

Thank you to TLC book Tours

for the opportunity to read and review this book

Morning Meanderings… Guess What Arrived In The Mail?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Thursday.  Even as I type this morning my wrists hurt.  When I walk to get more coffee my calves hurt… I can’t tell you how happy that makes me 😀  I started Kick boxing again on Tuesday, plan to go again tonight, and yesterday did Group Power and later Rollerblade with my friend Wendy.  *waves to Wendy who reads these posts from work*  😛

As for the title of this mornings post…. a couple of books arrived earlier this week that have me SO EXCITED!!!! 

Yup!  Insurgent AND These Girls.  I have been waiting for Insurgent and These Girls?  Don’t even get me started on how much I enjoy Sarah Pekkenen’s writing!  😀

Remember that stray dog that wandered into out lives and into our heart right after Easter?  Well Sam, as he is now named, is doing wonderfully.  We now have a vet who guesses him to be between one and two.  He has a lot of puppy in him.  When I come home from work he is so excited that when he jumps on me to be petted his feet actually leave the floor.  I call that “loving with your whole body.”  Thank you Kerri for thinking of us when you found him… even when I told you “no” the first time.  😀

Sam and Bailey (out 13-year-old shih-tsu) get along great.  It is good to see them together.

Hanging out together in the front room. Bailey (left) and Sam.
This morning, while I am writing this post…. Good morning Sam, 🙂

Have a great day everyone, be sure to stop by later for my review of Laura Lippman’s the most dangerous thing. 

Morning Meanderings… Don’t Just Pin It!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good morning!  😀  *lifts coffee cup to mouth “ow ow ow!!!”*  *Puts coffee cup back on table “ow ow owww”* 

Yup, I went back to kick boxing last night after ten months off and I feel AWESOME.  Well and sore this morning, but in a good way.  HOnestly there is something about putting gloves on and bashing a friend that well, brings peace to the world…. 😛

Ok, I didn’t bash her… but she did ask me not to hit so hard.  😯 

I can’t explain it but it just felt good.  It made me feel strong and I love that feeling.  I am no good at this.  I dont remember the moves and the long chains of commands from the teacher with the “do this, this this, then this this this, then that and this , with a double that and end with 14 this and 6 that with a double twist of that”… yeah…. I get lost.

BUT… I will get better.  And I am determined.

 

So…. has anyone else besides me caved and joined Pinterest?  I wasn’t going to you know… I wasn’t.  I didnt need another time suck in my life and I knew from the little I had seen of it that it would be just that….. pretty shiny pictures drawing me in… craft projects I think look cool but really when would I fit that in…..  but then during The Dewey Read A Thon it was brought to my FULL attention that Pinterest and book reviews do mix.  Once I was told that when you pin your book covers to Pinterest it links back to the review (if you link it from the post), AND that people have been picking up significant visitors that way….

suddenly I was listening.

So yes, now the past few weeks I have been pinning not only books from the blog, but I also found fitness tips, recipes, things I want to look at more closely and things that I think are funny… and life has been blissful…. pin this, pin that….

and then…

Trish from Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity totally calls me out on this:

Oh come on…

now I can’t only pin it, but I also have to do something with it?

GAH….

But she is right… I have pinned and pinned but I have not cooked one thing, tried one project…. so anyhoo…. I am in on this.  😀  You can click the picture above and read her whole post. 

 

In other news, yesterday I put up a read-a-long, check it out.  😀  Cami’s fitness giveaway is still going on…  and if you want to be my friend on Pinterest (or whatever it is called there…. ) I am Sheila DeChantal (and I think this is a link.)

 

 

 

The Secret Garden Read-A-Long May 1 – May 31

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)55 Comments

Recently in a post I mentioned that I was going to read The Secret Garden for the first time.  The comments that followed, shocked me…. there are a lot of you out there that have not read this book!  Suddenly I felt I was not alone on my little island of “Those Who Have Not Read The Secret Garden”…

and an idea was born.

Won’t you come and read with me?

If you are interested in doing this read a long with me it is open to those who have not read it before, and to those who feel they may be due for a re-read.

Then… on May 31st here, we are going to have a garden party! You will have a chance to link your reviews and there will be an online book discussion here, as well as giveaways…. all garden themed!

Want in?

Please grab the button above and either 1) write a post with the “woo hoo” I am going to do this read a long!  or 20 add this button to your sidebar or 3) both!

Please fill out this form if you are planning on participating:

Please link up below if you write a post regarding your participation.  I am excited to do this with you!  😀

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

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

I am so looking forward to this read, Camryn does a wonderful

job making me want to read it now!  😀 ~Sheila

Unraveling

Unraveling is a book by Elizabeth Norris that is about high school junior Janelle Tenner. Janelle lives with her younger brother, Jared, her dad, James, and her bipolar mother. Janelle, while leaving the beach, gets hit by a truck. She could’ve sworn she died. She felt her heart stop. Before she knows it, she is looking into the eyes of Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school that she hasn’t spoken to before. She knows that Ben somehow saved her, and she is determined to find out how.

 

Janelle, after being let out of the hospital, goes home with her dad, just to find out he has a strange case about unidentified people dying of extremely severe radiation. Janelle’s dad works for the FBI. Ever the eavesdropper on her dad’s work, Janelle decides to dive deeper into the case. Dead ends and meaningless information push her towards Ben. She needs to find out how he saved her, but instead, she finds herself growing closer and more dependent on Ben. Can she find out Ben’s secret and solve the case without falling for Ben, or will she die trying?

The Unraveling - The Australian Cover - how awesome is that?

I loved this book. It made me cry. In my opinion, any book that makes you cry for at least two minutes is a good book, but any book that makes you cry for more than five is amazing. This book was amazing. It had detail, and was impossible to put down after I started. I am looking forward to more from this author. I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted a fast-moving novel, who wanted a great read, or wanted to read a story of true. The ending kind of made me sad though, it ended kind of abruptly.  It was still amazing.

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.