Book Journey

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

Published on February 26, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Natty and Sean have a typical marriage. Their two daughters are now teenagers, and both parents are busy working at the hotel they run together. They are busy people but comfortable in their lives. When their oldest daughter Felicity becomes ill on a school trip to France, Natty goes to be with her and bring her home. Natty’s best friend Eve offers to stay with Sean and their other daughter Alice to help out at the house while Natty is away. Natty is thankful for her friend.

But should she be?

Eve has other plans in mind. Playing the role of the perfect “wife substitute’ she plays right into everything that Natty would not. She cooks and cleans, catering to both Sean and Alice.

When Natty returns home with Felicity she finds that Eve has taken her spot not only in her home, but in her bed. Shell shocked, Natty tries to make sense of how quickly her whole life has crumbled. Every where she turns it seems that Eve is there, driving Shawn’s car, rubbing what she has done in Natty’s face.

Then Natty receives a mysterious note saying

“she has done this before.”

The note awakens Natty at a new level. She knows she needs to find out more about her so-called friend, having no idea that the road she is about to take is a deadly one.

Wow. Wow. Wow. What a great book! With a synopsis like this, it is all too scary real. Eve is a kind of crazy evil. The pace moves along quickly (which I like), and I had to keep listening just to know what was going to happen. It is definitely an engaging read. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

Natty is a great protagonist and Eve is an excellent villain. There is no middle ground here, the line is clearly drawn and I liked that. It was refreshing.

I listened to this on audio and Colleen Prendergast was an excellent narrator. It seems like I keep finding these audio books lately have heavily accented narrators and I think my head needs a break for that, but that is just me. 😉

Highly recommended.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 10 hours and 22 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Audible.com Release Date: October 8, 2014

Morning Meanderings… Keep Your Friends Close. Seriously.

Published on February 26, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Thursday! Slowly but steadily chugging along towards the weekend. Yesterday was productive and today should be too. I am getting a little reading in and a little more audio these days. I am actually excited that this Saturday I have an hour and a half drive which means audio time! That is when I get the big chunks in and I love it!

Currently I am listening to Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly and really enjoying it! When Natty leaves town to be by her daughter’s side when she becomes ill on a school trip, Natty rushed to be by her side. Thankfully Eve, Natty’s best friend offers to come and stay at the house to help with Natty’s other daughter. Yet when Natty returns, she finds that Eve has taken to her family a little too well and her husband Shawn has fallen in love with her. It is sooooogood!

I am reading New Uses For Old Boyfriends and while it is more of a chick lit lite read, I am liking the easiness of it. When Lila Alders life implodes, she finds herself back in Black Dog Bay where she grew up. When she finds that her mother is much in the same boat having dwindled the families fortune into the red it is up to Lila to start putting both of their lives back together. It is fun if a familiar synopsis.

Come to think of it, if you combined the books after Natty gets done with Eve, she could take Lila’s place and continue on into the next book….lol. Both are good in different ways but isn’t that what makes for good reading?

Today will be another good catch up day, I should get pretty caught up with projects if I stay steady. Lots of balls in the air but I think… I got this. 😉

Reading anything good?

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

Published on February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

15 year old Ivy lives on a tobacco farm with her grandmother, older sister and nephew. In most situations, Ivy feels like the adult as her grandmother is growing feeble, her sister struggles with mental illness, and often Ivy is left to care for nephew who is at the age where he gets into everything.

Jane Foster doesn’t need a job. In fact her husband would quite prefer if she would be content doing what other wives of his profession do… have lunch dates, set up hair appointments, and plan dinner parties. Jane however, is bored with that life and wants to do more. She joins Grace County’s Social workers and is assigned to Ivy and her family. Soon Jane finds herself too emotionally involved in Ivy’s case mush to the annoyance of both her boss and her husband. When Jane finds out that Ivy’s sister had been sterilized so she could not have any more children and that the plans were in place to do the same to Ivy, Jane feels she must make a stand for this family.

With what feels like everyone against her, Jane makes hard decisions that affect not only her job, and Ivy’s family, but Jane’s own personal life as well.

Author Diane Chamberlain has never disappointed me. Another mind blowing tale, except this one as I learned, has truth within it. At one time, there were state-mandated sterilizations that were used for those decided to be mentally ill, poor, anyone who the state deemed unable to take care of a child in their opinion. Crazy stuff.

In Necessary Lies, the story is told alternatively from Ivy’s perspective to Jane’s. It makes for an interesting read as these two women speak from their very different backgrounds. As the story progresses both Ivy and Jane find that they are not so different after all.

Very well done book, I listened to this on audio and narrator Alison Elliott set the perfect tone for this book. Fans of Diane Chamberlain, women’s literature, and historical fiction will not want to miss out on this one.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 10 hours and 51 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Audible.com Release Date: September 3, 2013

Morning Meanderings… And Once Again I Wonder If Sleep Is Really Necessary

Published on February 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Happy Wednesday! Does anyone else feel like your days just fill up to the brim? I love the diversity in all that I do but some days just thinking about the day ahead makes me have heart palpitations.

This morning I have been on the phone making last-minute arrangements to pick up donations for the Polar Plunge this coming Saturday. I have a coffee date at 9:30, working on a project for my husband and our business, and then back home.

Home means I have two assignments to get moving on for my Freelance business. I also need to get in my hour work out which I was going to do early this morning but being on the phone and chatting on Facebook eliminated that.

I need to find one more female author for Wine and Words to complete the 2015 line up and then I will get to work on updating the website. The Friends of The Library email needs to go out this morning about the meeting on Monday. I need to write invoices for work I have done. I need to connect the Camp Bike ride to Minnesota Bike Ride sites to get the word out.

I need to buy bananas.

Tonight is the City Library Board Meeting.

I do not have to do all of this today. I hope to do a lot of it today.

Anyhoo…. I didn’t mean to write about all of that but that is what is in my head right now. 🙂 Hopefully the rest of you have a bit of a mellower Wednesday. It is all good 🙂

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon

Published on February 24, 2015December 3, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Jake has always been a little quieter than the other children. He has always preferred to stay at home as a young child, and now at seventeen, Jake has only a few select friends. On the other hand Laney, his younger sister by two years has always been a social butterfly being able to fit in any situation.

Jake’s father Simon who stayed at home with the children writing medical papers while their mother Rachel worked out of the home as a lawyer, has often wondered what he could have done to help Jake fit in more with other children as he grew up. Had he hung on too tight? Too protective?

Now, the unthinkable has happened. There has been a school shooting and Jake along with another boy are the suspected shooters. But where is Jake? While his blood is found on school property, Jake is nowhere to be found. Simon and Rachel can not believe their son would do such a thing and as the press and the parents of the victims press in wanting answers about Jake, Simon wonders again… what could he have done differently – and more importantly, were was their son now?

Finding Jake was a hard but important read. I read this book in two days, devouring the pages and experiencing this tragedy through Jake’s parents eyes. It is always hard to know what to say about books like this. It is well written. Author Bryan Reardon puts you right there and my heart stayed in my throat most of this book wondering who would find Jake – his parents, the police… and when they did, then what?

I highly recommend this read. If you ever read Nineteen Minutes or We Need To Talk About Kevin, you need to read Finding Jake. This is not the book you think it will be.

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (February 24, 2015)

Morning Meanderings… And The Award Goes To….. Well Neil.

Published on February 24, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Tuesday! Really my first connection on Book Journey since Sunday evening when I put up the Monday What Are You Reading post. So……

That gives me free rein to chat up The Oscars from Sunday night.

Which.

I forgot all about.

I know right?

I don’t know what happened.

So I had to catch the highlights and YA once again for Neil Patrick Harris. After listening to his audio book a few months back it was so fun to see him complete this dream of hosting the Oscars, and host them he did. If you seen the Oscars or not – you more than likely heard about Neils’ EPIC intro that took not only the Oscar’s but probably Hollywood itself to a whole new level.

But… don’t take my word for it, see for yourself. I will wait here. Well… by the coffee pot. I will wait there.

I have a whole new respect for award shows thanks to Neil. Hi is just fun to watch, and having grown up on Doogie Howser, I really have watched him since he was young. And I would be remiss, if I did not find some way to connect this to a Harry Potter moment and here it is:

Not only Dumbledore…. Neil has style too.

And the winners were for best Actor were:

WINNER: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Bradley Cooper for American Sniper
Michael Keaton for Birdman

And the winners for best actress were:

WINNER: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon for Wild

Best Picture was:

WINNER: Birdman

So many movies I have not yet seen! I love it and kudos to all the movies nominated that were first books!!! I want an Oscar night for books!!! Hmmmm…. let me think on that. 😉

Did you watch the Oscars? If you did what did you think of it?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on February 22, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)44 Comments

Hello! Welcome to It’s Monday What Are You Reading? The meme that we use to share what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list. 😀 You never know where that next great read may come from!

Honestly, I did not put in a lot of reading time this week although I really thought this weekend I was going to rock it. Instead I spent the weekend running errands, going to a movie, and today I spent the entire day building a non profit website for a bike ride event coming up in July.

Here is what I did post this past week:

The Sorcery Code by Dima Zales

Discussion Thoughts on the opening weekend success of 50 Shades of WHAT

An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey *best of 2015!)

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

Doctor Death by Lene Kaaberbol

For Saturday Snapshot I posted pics of the Glow Worm caves in New Zealand

The DUFF – The Book, The Movie and how my opinion has changed

This week is another fairly quiet one. I have a few meetings and projects but if I can complete this website and get the registration links up I should be good to go. Here is what I have planned for this week:

For My Ears

When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm – secrets much darker than she would have guessed.

Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong. Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: How can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

Violet Markey is on the ledge of her school’s bell tower, six stories up, and frozen in terror. Theodore Finch, the Freak, stands on the ledge nearby. Before she can panic, he calms her down and gets her back on solid ground. He even lets everyone think she’s the one who talked him out of jumping. Violet, until recently, was a popular cheerleader and Finch has a well-earned reputation for being manic, violent, and unpredictable. But Finch won’t let their encounter rest. He’s suddenly everywhere Violet goes and even signs her up as his partner on a “Wander the State” school project. As the two drive around Indiana, Violet begins to see the lame tourist attractions through Finch’s eyes, and each spot becomes something unique and special. He pushes and challenges the protagonist, and seems to understand the effect her sister’s death made on her. But though Violet begins to recover from the devastating grief that has cocooned her for almost a year, Finch’s demons refuse to let go.

I am not going to add any books to the mix, I have not finished what I said I would last week.

SO what are you reading this week? What did you finish last week? Share your Its Monday What Are You Reading where it says click here:

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For those who read mainly children and middle grade books please add your link here as well:

The Duff… The Movie, The Book, And How My Opinion Has Changed

Published on February 22, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Yesterday my cousin and I went to this movie. I wanted to go because:

1. I met the author my first year at the book Expo in 2010 (she was 17 at the time)

2. I read the book and was not a fan.

Book Synopsis:

Bianca has two popular and gorgeous best friends. The three have hung out together for years and while Bianca does not care about fashion or getting up two hours early to do her hair and make up for school it has always been a non issue.

Until now.

At a party, the hot popular guy that Bianca has her eye on, Wesley Rush takes advantage of Bianca’s feelings for him and then tells Bianca she is the DUFF of the group. Designated Ugly Fat Friend. Naturally Bianca is offended, but Wesley says not to take it so literally, it just means that she hangs out with friends that are much hotter than herself, making her the approachable one to get information. Wes explains that every group has one.

Over the next few days Bianca starts to notice that what Wes said might be true. Guys did approach her to get information on her friends dating status. With Bianca’s home life a mess with her fathers alcoholism and no one really to turn too Bianca throws all caution to the wind and sets her eyes on a goal that seems impossible…

Wes.

Ok that was based off the book synopsis…. the book had quite a few teenage sexual encounters and Bianca although being put down by Wesley could not seem to stop herself from coming back for more. I did read this book almost 5 years ago now so a lot of the details are fuzzy, but I do remember not liking all the extreme sexual content. I also did not like the idea of what a word like DUFF could do to a young girls image… if a young girl already had self esteem issues, reading this book I feared could make her even more so.

the movie synopsis was ~~somewhat~~ QUITE a bit different.

Movie synopsis:

Bianca has two popular and gorgeous best friends. The three have hung out together for years and while Bianca does not care about fashion or getting up two hours early to do her hair and make up for school it has always been a non issue.

Until now.

Bianca goes to a party at the most popular girl in schools home it hopes to see her crush Toby. When her hot neighbor the popular Wesley Rush that Bianca can not stand tells her that she is the DUFF of her group of friends, Bianca is offended. She leaves the party early. At home she has no one to talk to as her divorced mother is a published Life After Divorce guru with her mind set on publicity events and what to wear. Bianca decides if she is not part of a group she will not be the duff, so she proceeds to dump both of her bewildered best friends.

Bianca makes a deal with Wesley to help him with his failing grade in science if he helps her to sharper up her image to get Toby’s attention. By working together the two discover they have more in common then they thought.

The movie is a lot different from the book. There is no sex (YAY!). Bianca’s dad is already out of the picture in the movie (probably due to the alcoholism and divorce). Wesley is not an ass, in fact quite likable and you route for him. Madison, the popular mean girl ex girlfriend/girlfriend of Wesley is an awesome addition to the movie but does not appear in the book. There is also a funny teacher who really takes Bianca under his arm who also does not appear in the book.

While book (my original review) and movie are different, the ending good message is the same. It was curiosity that made me see the movie made from this debut book, and I am glad I did. The movie is really funny. My cousin and I laughed out loud many times. To me it flowed better than the book did, but at the same time it gave me a new appreciation for the book and it’s overall message.

See the movie – at a PG13 rating it is a fun one and yay to author Kody Keplinger! What an exciting moment this has to be!

**Fun Fact: At the end of the movie there is a quick cameo from author Kody Keplinger. If you do not know what she looks like you may miss it.

Morning Meanderings… New Books

Published on February 22, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Happy Happy Sunday!

It has been another fast paced week and a good one. I was able to have lunch with a friend, take a yoga class (my first ever!), and went to the movie The Duff yesterday afternoon. (More on the movie later)

Books came in this week:

Dove Arising by Karen Bao (audio book)

The Lake Season by Hannan McKinnon

The Status Of All Things by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

As Good As Dead by Elizabeth Evans

The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell

A Fireproof Home For The Bride by Amy Scheibe

SEEKER by Arwen Elys Dayton

The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

Today I will be working on a website for camp and a bike ride event for July. Hopefully this afternoon I will get a little much needed book time. Seems like I have been real good lately filling up every little moment with projects.

Enjoy your Sunday! Any fun plans?

Morning Meanderings…. Glow Worm Caves Of New Zealand

Published on February 21, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

Good morning! For today’s Saturday Snapshot I thought I would share with you a little information on the Glow Worm Caves in New Zealand. When traveling there last month I had never heard of the glow worm caves. Our travel-mates were signed up to do a tour at the caves and we decided to join them.

What a trip in education!

The caves are located in Waitomo, New Zealand. From our cruise ship that had docked in Auckland it was about an hour to the caves.

The glow worm is actually while pretty to look at, also gross. It is apparently the larvae life cycle of an insect and looks like a maggot. (The caves were dark so thankfully we only seen the pretty part).

Glow Worm caves, New zealand, book journey — Pictures are not allowed in the caves so this picture is from the Glow Worm website as linked here

The caves themselves are beautiful lime caves. I wish we could have taken pictures inside, the rock formation was beautiful.

The female glow worms drop a line which is what you see in the picture. The line attracts insects and they get stuck to the line. It is crazy but the females live two days and the males live three days. The cycle continues due to the thousands of eggs each female lays in her short lifetime.

Glow worm caves, book journey, new zealand — This picture is also from the glow worm website as linked here

It is deep within the caves that we then get in the small boats. We are asked to remain very quiet as our voices cause vibrations and disturb the glow worms. It is a pretty cool experience.

Just outside the caves I was able to get a picture of two of our travel team, Wendy and Ray. I think it is funny that everyone else around them are smiling too. New Zealand… so friendly! 🙂

You can read more about the glow worms on the Glow Worm Tour website. It is a unique tour. I had never heard of a glow worm until the tour.

Check out more Saturday Snapshots here.

Today I may just read. Or I am talking big. I keep saying I am going to read all week but I have been busy with projects and the books kind of go to the wayside. I do need to have some book time this weekend. Order of the Phoenix and a few others wait on me.