Book Journey

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)

Morning Meanderings… Back To The IHOP

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

Good Morning. Since Donna from Writer’s Side Up likes hat I am in IHOP every morning… thought I would take a picture. 🙂 Here are my discoveries about 4 am IHOP:

1. A lady that works the early shift at IHOP, also works at the hotel I am staying at. She is very nice.

2. Some people… should not dress themselves.

3. When a man walked in this morning wearing all camo from head to toe (and no not a hunter)…. I wanted to say, “Oh! I almost didn’t see you there!” But refrained as I thought he may not get it. 😉

4. 50’s music. I did not know that was an IHOP thing. I like it. Wish I had packed my poodle skirt.

5. I wish I had an IHOP attached to my house at home. I would go there every morning… coffee and an English muffin. Life would be so simple…

Getting ready for work this morning… or more honestly… I am ready for work just caffeinating myself for another 11 hour + day. I am tired. I have not had a day to myself since October 19th, before vacation with my son. That is a lot of days of being “ON”. As an introvert that takes its tole. I am spent. 🙂

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 🙂

No Land’s Man: A Perilous Journey through Romance, Islam, and Brunch by Aasif Mandi

Published on November 10, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Aasif Mandvi and his family moved to America mainly because his father was fascinated with an incredible United States tradition…

BRUNCH!

You may know his from his work on The Daily Show, or in movies such as Die Hard With a Vengeance, Analyxe This, and Spider Man 2…even a Domino’s Pizza commercial.

Aasif narrates this incredibly funny audio from his early years of dancing to Michael Jackson to his first kiss; to later when he screws up Brook Shields party to receiving tv and movie rolls beyond “here, wear this turban,” and “”get on this flying carpet.” Aasif shares his lifes ups and downs of being an Indo-Muslim-British-American actor.

This audio was a lot of fun to listen to. I always enjoy actors and tv personalities that narrate their own audio books. It only seems right that they should be telling their story. Aasif narrates with a high energy and fast talking manner that you think he is hopped up on coffee (or perhaps that brownie he mentions along the way…).

Honesty, I did not know much about Aasif going into the read, but after listening to this book I have a whole new appreciation for the talent of this man who never stopped doing what he loved and made his way to who he is today.

Highly enjoyable! Fans of Aasif are not going to want to miss out on this up close and personal look of his life.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 4 hours and 23 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: November 4, 2014

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on November 9, 2014November 10, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Hey there! Welcome to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading!

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. Fair warning… this meme tends to add to your reading list! 😉

Well hello from Florida again! This time I am working – long hours, in the heat with the bees. Life… is never dull. Where I am staying the internet is a solid maybe so I post when I can, but if you notice my absence I am either exhausted or can not get on line. 🙂

Here is what I did post this week:

Accidents Of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Movie Review – Nightcrawler

The Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

The Vineyard by Michael Hurley

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (have been waiting for this one!)

AND don’t forget the HP readalong just started – its not to late to get in on the fun – posts, prizes, badges… check it out – tell your friends! 54 are signed up now!

Reading and audio have slowed down since Tuesday. With my long hours I am too tired to read. I listen to audio when I am in the hotel room. Here is what I am working on this week (I will still be working in Florida all week):

For My Ears:

“My father moved our family to the United States because of a word. It was a word whose meaning fascinated him. It was a singularly American word, a fat word, a word that could only be spoken with decadent pride. That word was . . . Brunch! ‘The beauty of America,’ he would say, ‘is they have so much food, that between breakfast and lunch they have to stop and eat again.'”
—from “International House of Patel”

If you’re an Indo-Muslim-British-American actor who has spent more time in bars than mosques over the past few decades, turns out it’s a little tough to explain who you are or where you are from. In No Land’s Man Aasif Mandvi explores this and other conundrums through stories about his family, ambition, desire, and culture, stories that range from dealing with his brunch-obsessed father, to being a high-school-age Michael Jackson impersonator, to joining a Bible study group in order to seduce a nice Christian girl, to improbably becoming America’s favorite Muslim/Indian/Arab/Brown/Doctor correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

This is a book filled with passion, discovery, and humor. Mandvi hilariously and poignantly describes a journey that will resonate with anyone who has had to navigate his or her way in the murky space between lands. Or anyone who really loves brunch.

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment. Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up. Big mistake.

Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs… or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad – until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

*In hindsight, Bedbugs may not be the best choice while staying in a hotel room 😉

For My Eyes:

Most of us view work and play as mutually exclusive opposites, but now you can blend them together in your new route to joy-filled success. 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.

That’s the plan anyway. What are you reading? Add your link to your own It’s MOnday What Are You Reading below where it says click here:

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

Looking forward to what you are reading!

Morning Meanderings… Shoddy Internet

Published on November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Good morning! Live from Florida day 6 on my Bee Keeping trip. Splitting hives has been interesting. I planned on writing a whole post about it yesterday but the internet is so spotty here and I could not get my pics to load. I will try to post the whole process next Saturday.

In the meantime I can give you one picture:

Yeah that’s me. Behind me are some of the hives we are working on. I have to run – work starts in 4 minutes and I am still sitting in IHOP. Have a super Sunday!!!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Published on November 8, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

I have had this one on pre-order for weeks! ~Sheila

Amy Poehler. You probably know her from Saturday Night Live or Parks and Recreation. She has also been in movies: Blades Of Glory, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow, and Baby Mama just to name a few. She is funny… from her days of growing up in a safe area outside of Boston to breaking into improv, this is Amy…and this is her story.

I listened to Yes Please on audio as I always try to do when it comes to biography’s being narrated by authors. I love to put the voice behind the story. Amy is an excellent narrator, she narrates like she talks and you feel like she is in the room with you and you are having coffee and talking about… well, Amy.

I enjoyed getting to know Amy a bit more. The chapters regarding improv, Parks and Rec making it or breaking it, 80’s references – were some of my favorites. There was much to this listen that I enjoyed. There was also some I did not enjoy… the other chapters by people such as her parents was awkward. The chapter on how she was born was sweet… but made the book feel topsy-turvy – some funny… some sweet… I don’t know how to describe it. I enjoyed it, but it was not all I had hoped it would be…

and maybe that is on me. 🙂

If you enjoy Amy Poehler I think this is worth a read (I hear there are great pics in the book!) or listen. I would love to hear other opinions on this one.

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)

Morning Meanderings… Tales From The IHOP

Published on November 6, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning! Currently living out of a hotel room in Wildwood Florida helping my friend with the bees! It is early – EARLY. I got up at 4:30 am after hitting the snooze 3 times from my 4 am setting. We are meeting up at 5:30 to get started as the sun comes up but I need a little “wake up” time so I am at the IHOP attached to our hotel.

IHOP at 4:30 am is very pleasant. The music is 50’s style. The coffee is hot. My English muffin with a little strawberry jelly makes me happy. It is me and one trucker in here. I own the IHOP at 4:30 am. Throughout my time here we will probably become very close.

Today we will be splitting bee hives. We have been here since Monday running around getting everything lined up. Tim (Amanda’s husband) arrived yesterday with the semi of our boxes and pallets and everything we need to get going. By the time we prepped everything it was 5 pm so we called it a day to get back before the sun went down. We will work sun up to sun down today – breaking for lunch. I am taking audio with me in case I feel like popping in the ear buds and getting into a book while I plug away.

I should have some pictures up tomorrow.

Have a super awesome day. In Harry Potter updates I made a prize page yesterday morning. Lots of fun things being given away for this readalong. Check it out. I finished book 1 last night as I drifted to sleep. Never gets old…