*Review* Halo City by Mary Ting

Genre: YA Paranormal

Published: March 2, 2014

Pages: 112

Goodreads

Synopsis

When a massive group of angels known as nephilim—half human, half angel—had been found by the Royal Council, they were taken to Halo City. Instead of cleansing the Earth with a flood, which had been done before, the Royal Council created a place just for this group of angels. While they were being taken, one of the Twelve, named Aden, rebelled and convinced many alkins to join his cause—to live freely among the humans and take over Crossroads.

After the fall of Aden and his followers, Michael was taken to Halo City to heal. Not only did Michael have a difficult time settling into his new environment, he had conflicting issues regarding his past. Upon meeting the alkins, a particular one by the name of Davin refused to give up on helping him deal with his struggles. Together, they discovered a strange being that would appear at the Crossroads at unexpected times. Souls wandering there was nothing new, but this one aged as time passed. Mystified, they both searched for answers while refraining from telling the Twelve about her. Who is this being that had enraptured Michael’s attention? And will Michael finally forgive himself and find the happiness that he yearned to have?

Review

I was hired to provide post publication proofreading for this book. The only aspects of the story that I had any influence on were the spelling and grammar. If you feel that my connection to the book makes my review untrustworthy, so be it, but this is my honest review.

This story is basically Michael's version of the events that take place in Crossroads. The focus of the story is more on Michael's life in Halo City during that time, rather than just focusing on his interactions with Claudia, so it didn't feel too repetitive or like I was just reading the same story over again. It was really interesting getting this insight into Michael's life as an Alkin and his role in Halo City. 

Another major high point for this book was seeing how Michael and Davin's relationship developed over time. Because I read this series completely out of order to begin with, I didn't realize that they weren't always besties. That being said, the story could have used a little bit more justification for the change in their relationship status. 

The icing on this particular cake was getting to see Michael's motivations for his role in Claudia's life though. It's one thing to believe he's doing it because he's half-angel and that's just what you expect from angels, but that's clearly not his sole motivation for helping. And seeing that relationship blossom from his perspective was really rather sweet and touching in my opinion. 

My personal advice for this series reading order is that you should start with Crossroads, then read Halo City, although you could also base your reading order on numbers and not touch Halo City until after you've read Beyond. Ultimately, the choice is up to you. 

I give Halo City 4 out of 5 stars because even though I'd already read the story from a different POV, it didn't feel like I was just reading the same story over again. - Katie 

Amazon

About the Author

International Bestselling Author Mary Ting/M. Clarke resides in Southern California with her husband and two children. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Writing her first novel, Crossroads Saga, happened by chance. It was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother, and inspired by a dream she once had as a young girl. When she started reading new adult novels, she fell in love with the genre. It was the reason she had to write one-Something Great. Why the pen name, M Clarke? She tours with Magic Johnson Foundation to promote literacy and her children's chapter book-No Bullies Allowed.

Ways to keep in touch with the author:

Newsletter Updates: http://eepurl.com/YMyCn

Website: www.authormaryting.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormaryting
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CrossroadsBook
Twitter: @maryting
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11283685-crossroads
Blog: http://www.marytingbooks.blogspot.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/authormaryting 

I started writing Crossroads after my grandmother passed away about 3 years ago. When these characters came to life in my mind, along with the character Gamma, inspired by my grandmother, it was a way for me to heal. I decided to start from a dream I had in high school, chapter one. Chapter two is also based on my dream as well. I didn't think I would have much to write about, but when I made Claudia to be more like me, it was easy. Her first car, her first job, her first experience at camping and her grandmother having a stroke was all part of me. Too bad Michael wasn't real...lol!!!

Many people like Davin, which I'm really happy about because his character was inspired by my friend who passed away. He was very likable and was a best friend to all his friends. Patty is my friend from church. She is exactly how I described her, social butterfly who knows everything about her friends and fashion. I named Claudia after a student I once had many years ago. I can still picture her face, just like an angel. When I was much younger, I had a crush on a boy name Michael, but his character is based off my husband, protective, romantic, and silly at times. No... he doesn't have wings...lol!!!

Though I was busy with work, being a wife, a mother, and PTA president, I would always find time to write, even if that meant typing while I was cooking or brushing my teeth. Crossroads was written for a fast, fun reading with likable characters. Many have emailed me to let me know how Crossroads has helped them escaped from their everyday stress. Also, how they've connected to this book because of chapter one, having a loved one passed away. I took on a journey not knowing how rewarding it would be for me. I've meet so many wonderful people from all over the world through facebook, goodreads and blog sites. I've made everlasting friendship where friendship knows no boundaries. And I have to thank my grandmother who continues to watch over me from Heaven.

*Book Movie Match-up* #BeatTheBacklist - The Giver by Lois Lowry *SPOILERS*

Book Published: April 26, 1993

Pages: 180

Genre: Middle Grade Dystopian

Goodreads

Movie Premiered: August 15, 2014

Length: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, and Meryl Streep

Synopsis

This haunting story centers on Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he's given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.

This Review Contains Spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk.

Reviews

Photo Credit: Goodreads

This was a re-read for me. The last time I read it, I was probably twelve. I don't remember for sure though, but it's a book we read for school and since Jonas is a twelve, I assume that's about when we read it. I thought I remembered the story pretty well, and I did, kind of, at least the major points. Like I remembered that they don't have color in the community and that was the first thing Jonas started to see. I remembered that Jonas would be in charge of all the memories from the past. And I remembered that when he left, he took the nenwchild, Gabriel, with him. But there were many aspects of the story that I either forgot, or that just didn't make much of an impression on me as a child.

Reading the book again as an adult was a different experience, largely because some of the details stood out to me more. Like the fact that the kids get their jobs at the Ceremony of Twelve (some of them will be thirteen by our standards at this point, but still very much children) and one of those jobs for women is birthmother. This is a job with a very short training period according to the book, which means that fourteen year old girls are being impregnanted to maintain the population. And since each birthmother has three births in three consecutive years before becoming a laborer for the rest of her life, and there are fifty children assigned each year. This means that out of the approximately twenty-five girls born each year, seventeen of them will be give the job of birthmother (probably. There is talk of twins being born, but when they're identical, one of them is chosen for release rather than being assigned. So even if birthmothers are expected to deliver twins with each birth, they'd still probably want to have thirty birthmothers at all times, so ten girls from each year will be given the job of birthmother under those circumstances. These are things I thought about during this re-read.) But that won't affect Jonas. He's a boy. He's also special. Different. 

Another thing that stood out more to me this time around is that "release" is actual murder. I just remembered it as being a virtual death sentence because being banished from the socialist utopian community that provides literally everything for you would not end well. That is honestly what I remember thinking happened though, probably because that's what Jonas believes until the climax of the story.

My final takeaway. At first during my re-read I was actually a bit appalled that my school district in rural Kansas would let kids read this, let alone require it. But as I started to think about what I remembered, I got it. The things that horrified me so much as an adult didn't even register to me as a child. It was just more detail that didn't seem to matter much in the whole scheme of things. And since they didn't directly affect the main character, they really ultimately didn't.

I also expected this book to bore me more than it did this time around. It's written for children after all, and it was a re-read. It should have been snooze city for me. But the nuance and little details that seemed so insignificant to me as a child kept it interesting and even got me a bit fired up. I can honestly say I'd recommend this book to children and adults. 

5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Photo Credit: IMDB.com

I had high hopes for this movie, but they were very quickly dashed. One of the first major issues for me was that Jonas is very clearly not a Twelve in the movie. Nope. He, Asher and Fiona are all approximately eighteen. I'm sure this was done to make the idea of the birthmothers more palatable, but it was disappointing nonetheless. On top of that, they tripled the population of the community. Instead of there being fifty children assigned each year, there are 150 children assigned, which made Jonas number fifty-two instead of the number nineteen he is in the book. I can't even fathom the reasoning behind that change because it means the movie needed more extras. Then Fiona and Asher were given jobs different from what they received in the book. The reason for that becomes clear later on in the movie and was clearly done to add drama, but it irked me something fierce. 

What really bugged me about the movie though, is that they made Jonas's escape The Giver's idea. He dropped subtle suggestions to make it seem like it was Jonas's idea, but it was apparent that it wasn't the first time he tried to convince a receiver to run away. I mean, there was the previous failure that was all his fault (that was in the book, but it played out slightly differently than in the movie). This gets to me because in the book, The Giver is really against the idea of giving the memories back to the members of the community (which is what The Receiver running away would accomplish), but Jonas keeps pushing and eventually he comes around. Essentially, the movie took the very basic ideas behind the book and used them, and then changed everything else. And because I really enjoyed the book, that was a horrible thing for them to do. 

Now I imagine that the movie would be far more enjoyable if you'd never read the book, or at least if you hadn't read the book recently since the major plot points are what would likely have stuck in your head from before. So my advice, if you really want to watch the movie, do it before reading the book, because it just can't compete. 

This movie gets a D, because ultimately it all but failed to engender the same feelings as the book and missed most of the details along the way. - Katie 

Amazon

About the Author

*From Amazon

Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After several years at Brown University, she turned to her family and to writing. She is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader.s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association.s Children.s Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com

Author Interview

*From Amazon

A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER

Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?

A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.

Q. What inspired you to write The Giver? 

A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it’s very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places—and many of them are probably things that I don’t even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it’s not an easy question to answer. 

I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I’m not sure why that is, but I’ve always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.

Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?

A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn’t have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. And babies always represent the future in the same way children represent the future to adults. And so Jonas takes the baby so the baby’s life will be saved, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.

Q. When you wrote the ending, were you afraid some readers would want more details or did you want to leave the ending open to individual interpretation?

A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don’t do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don’t want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.

Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?

A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I’m always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don’t think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they’re out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that’s true for the people they left behind as well.

Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?

A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas’s world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. He can be Jonas or not, as you wish.

*Stacking the Shelves* 21 January 2017

(Titles link to Amazon via Amazon Affiliate links)

Stacking The Shelves is a feature/weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews in which you share the books you are adding to your shelves, both physical and virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Now, I already have a monthly post I do featuring the books I get in the mail (and it's a lot because I have a serious Goodreads First Reads giveaway addiction), and I'm going to try to start posting my monthly Read-A-Thon posts again too (even if none of the Platypires will be joining me), which will cover the books I receive through Netgalley. But I also go to my thrift store at least once a week, and often leave with a bag full of books. It's such a common occurrence that I'm known as The Book Lady to the frequent volunteers (and I suspect that they've started scheduling their $1 bag of books sales for Thursdays simply because that is the day I usually visit.) So my Stacking the Shelves posts are going to focus on my thrift store hauls, because this is my blog and I do what I want. 

On that note, here are the books I picked up this week.

Modelland by Tyra Banks - I honestly didn't even notice who the author was when I grabbed this book, I just loved the cover. 
The World of the Crusaders by Joshua Prawer - I homeschool my children, and even though they're currently in kindergarten and 2nd grade, I like to snag educational books when I find them. You never know when they will come in handy. 
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - I actually already had a hardback version of this book (at my parent's house in Kansas) and a paperback copy at my house here, but I like the cover on this one (it's got the picture of the girl on it.) 
The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections by Tom Brokaw - While I don't actually end up reading much non-fiction, I always mean to. I'm sure this will fall squarely into that category. 
The Romantic Novel in England by Robert Kiely - I'm fairly certain this was a textbook for some sort of college literature class...It was printed in 1973 so it has that lovely old book smell to it too. 
Best Recipes of the Great Food Companies by Judith Anderson - Who doesn't love a massive cookbook, especially one with recipes marked by the previous owner. 
East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart by Susan Butler - Amelia Earhart is kind of a big deal in Kansas (I believe she was born in Atchison) and I'm from Kansas, so obviously she's kind of a big deal to me. Also it has the whole educational thing going for it. 
The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson - This just looked like a rather interesting middle grade book, and I'm always on the lookout for books that my son may enjoy when he's a little bit older.
The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones - I always loved books about magic and Merlin when I was a kid (and that was pre-Harry Potter), so this book really caught my attention when I saw it on the shelf at the thrift store. 
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer by The Goldman Family - This is a book that appeals to the reality tv addict in me I think. It's that aspect of my personality that is fascinated with the OJ Simpson case at the very least. 
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner - So on Amazon you can buy the two books together for Kindle and not separately, apparently...Fortunately I did actually get both of them at my thrift store this week. The covers made me think of Dumbledore and Greek mythology.
The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees - I really like books that at least resemble historical fiction, and this book apparently draws it's inspiration from Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night, so surely it must be good, right? 
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy  by Karen Foxlee - The cover is blue, that's really all it took to draw my attention to this book. I imagine it's more likely to appeal to my daughter in the future than it is to my son.
Warriors #3: Forest of Secrets by Erin Hunter - I'm pretty sure I've managed to snag the first two books in this series at the thrift store in the past (I know for sure I have the first one). Who wouldn't want to read a book about warrior cats?
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan - I feel like Percy Jackson and the Olympians books are pretty much required reading for middle grade children these days, so I try to snag them when I see them. 
Moldylocks and the Three Beards by Noah Z. Jones - How could I not buy a book with a title like that. Looking at the cover, I feel like this may be sort of like Captain Underpants "for girls." 
The Canterbury Tales  by Geoffrey Chaucer - So when I was in college, I actually took a Chaucer seminar class, so I own a copy of this book in Middle English, but I'm here to tell you, Middle English is almost like a foreign language, so it's nice to have a copy that's been translated into modern English. 
1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall - Because I needed a massive book that would tell me what other books I should be reading. Duh. 
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan - So funny story. I thought I was getting The Lost Hero (also by Rick Riordan) but apparently this book just has the wrong book jacket on it. (Glad I actually checked inside the cover before posting. How embarrassing would that have been?!)
The Brides of Chance Collection by Kelly Eileen Hake, Tracey V. Bateman, and Cathy Marie Hake - I'm a sucker for a good historical romance, getting six of them in a single book seems like a great deal to me. 
What Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know edited by E.D. Hirsch Jr. - Like I said before, I homeschool, and my son will be a 3rd grader next year, so this will help me ensure he has a well-rounded education, in theory. 

That is quite the list of new books if you ask me, and they cost me a total of $2.00. I LOVE my thrift store's bag of books sales so hard, but I would have bought most of these books even if they were at full price ($0.25 for paperback and $0.50 for hardback.) It's just icing on the fictional cake when I can stick them all in a bag or two and pay one low price. And I'm already fighting the urge to start reading a couple of these, but that would totes go against my #YearOfReadingFreely aspirations, even if getting all of these books for just $2 is basically the same thing as getting them for free. - Katie 

*Review* You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: October 4, 2016

Pages: 320

Goodreads

Synopsis

A hilarious and affecting essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from celebrated stand-up comedian and WNYC podcaster Phoebe Robinson.

Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comic, which means that, often, her everyday experiences become points of comedic fodder. And as a black woman in America, she maintains, sometimes you need to have a sense of humor to deal with the absurdity you are handed on the daily. Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: she's been unceremoniously relegated to the role of "the black friend," as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she's been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel ("isn t that . . . white people music?"); she's been called "uppity" for having an opinion in the workplace; she's been followed around stores by security guards; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. the. time. Now, she's ready to take these topics to the page and she s going to make you laugh as she s doing it. 

Using her trademark wit alongside pop-culture references galore, Robinson explores everything from why Lisa Bonet is "Queen. Bae. Jesus," to breaking down the terrible nature of casting calls, to giving her less-than-traditional advice to the future female president, and demanding that the NFL clean up its act, all told in the same conversational voice that launched her podcast, "2 Dope Queens," to the top spot on iTunes. As personal as it is political, "You Can't Touch My Hair" examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases with humor and heart, announcing Robinson as a writer on the rise."

Review

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. Now when I listen to an audiobook by a celebrity, it's very important to me that the celebrity do the narrating (and so far in my experience, they usually do). Phoebe did her own narrating, and it's possible she ad-libbed at times (it seemed like she was ad-libbing at times). In any case, I think it's definitely worth springing for the audiobook regardless of whether there was ad-libbing or not. If nothing else, you're guaranteed to get the info in the tone it was intended since you're hearing it straight from the author herself. 

I am a liberal and a feminist, so I was already receptive to the information Ms. Robinson was providing. In spite of that, I caught myself #AllLivesMatter-ing her. She was talking about the pressure black women face to meet specific, basically impossible, beauty standards and I thought "Uh, that's all women." I know better than to do that. I was listening to this book specifically to get more insight into the issues Phoebs was talking about, and I still #AllLivesMatter'd her. I shamed myself then paid attention. Clearly I still needed this book based on that though. And Phoebe clearly knows what she's talking about. That was made clear when she proclaimed that oatmeal raisin cookies are not real cookies. Pretty much everyone knows that to be a fact after all. 

I expected this book to make me laugh more than it did. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, I just spent more time angry than laughing. And I remember the anger more than the laughter, although that means the information made a bigger impact than the jokes, and that's not exactly a bad thing. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in getting more insight into the issues affecting women and minorities. 5 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

PHOEBE ROBINSON is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress whom Vulture.com, Essence, and Esquire have named one of the top comedians to watch. She has appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Call with Carson Daly; Comedy Central’s Broad City, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and @midnight with Chris Hardwick; as well as the new Jill Soloway pilot for Amazon I Love Dick. Robinson’s writing has been featured in The Village Voice and on Glamour.com, TheDailyBeast.com, VanityFair.com, Vulture.com, and NYTimes.com. She was also a staff writer on MTV’s hit talking head show, Girl Code, as well as a consultant on season three of Broad City. Most recently, she created and starred in Refinery29’s web series Woke Bae and, alongside Jessica Williams of The Daily Show, she is the creator and costar of the hit WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens as well as the host of the new WNYC podcast Sooo Many White Guys. Robinson lives and performs stand-up in Brooklyn, NY, and you can read her weekly musings about race, gender, and pop culture on her blog, Blaria.com (aka Black Daria).

*Review* Scary Stories to Tingle Your Butt by Chuck Tingle

Genre: Erotica

Published: August 5, 2015

Pages: 92

Goodreads

Synopsis

In the dead of night comes a terrifying scream, not of fear, but of hardcore gay passion between a man and the gay bigfoot that haunts his balls. 
If your butt is already tingling as ferociously as ours, then this is the collection for you. Presenting Chuck Tingle’s Scary Stories To Tingle Your Butt, a seven book collection of the most bone-chilling tales to ever harden your bone.

Within you will find the following masterworks of modern literature…

BIGFOOT PIRATES HAUNT MY BALLS
VAMPIRE NIGHT BUS POUNDS MY BUTT
ANGRY MAN POUNDED BY THE FEAR OF HIS LATENT GAYNESS OVER A DINOSAUR TRANSITIONING INTO A UNICORN
MY ASS IS HAUNTED BY THE GAY UNICORN COLONEL
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA STALKS MY GAY BUTTHOLE
THE CURSE OF BIGFOOT BUTT CAMP
REAMED BY MY REACTION TO THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK

Reader beware, you’re in for a boner!

Review

I listened to the audiobook version of this book because that was cheaper than buying the kindle version. I have to give major props to the narrator for being able to read these stories without completely cracking up. I honestly have to wonder how many times he practiced before recording, because it was probably a lot. I spent a lot of time cracking up while listening because of the sheer absurdity (which is exactly the reason to listen to or read Chuck Tingle in the first place.) 

I did make the mistake of listening to this while doing dishes, while my children were awake, without headphones. Don't do that. You'll regret it unless your children are old enough to be at least a little sexually aware, and then they will regret it, and probably not be able to look at you for a couple days at least. But just to be on the safe side, I recommend wearing headphones at all times while listening to this book if you choose to go the audiobook route. 

Like all Chuck Tingle stories, these were bizarre and absurd. It was a perfect outrageously funny read, and just what I needed to cleanse my mental palette. My biggest complaint is that there was no delineation in the narration indicating that a new story was starting. And since there was only one narrator, the stories all blended together a bit. 

I apparently have a thing for bigfoots because my two most favorite stories from this collection were Bigfoot Pirates Haunt my Balls and The Curse of Bigfoot Butt Camp. And I honestly can't decide which one I liked more. Maybe it's because Bigfoot is the most human like of the characters written about in this collection, so it's the most believable (because I obviously listened to this collection looking for believability.) 

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good laugh who doesn't mind absurd, raunchy kink thrown in. 4 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

Dr. Chuck Tingle is an erotic author and Tae Kwon Do grandmaster (almost black belt) from Billings, Montana. After receiving his PhD at DeVry University in holistic massage, Chuck found himself fascinated by all things sensual, leading to his creation of the "tingler", a story so blissfully erotic that it cannot be experienced without eliciting a sharp tingle down the spine. Chuck's hobbies include backpacking, checkers and sport.

*Review* Lift and Separate by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

Genre: Chick-Lit

Published: December 1, 2016

Pages: 296

Goodreads

Synopsis

Marcy Hammer’s life has been turned upside down. Her husband, the head of a global brassiere empire, didn’t think twice about leaving her after thirty-three years of marriage for a 32DD lingerie model. Now Harvey the Home-Wrecker is missing in action, but Marcy’s through thinking about what a cliché he is. What she needs now is a party-size bag of potato chips, a good support system, and a new dress.

Striking out on her own is difficult at first, but Marcy manages to find traces of humor in her heartbreak. Even while devastated by Harvey’s departure, she still has her indomitable spirit and her self-respect. She has no intention of falling apart, either, even when her adult children drop a few bombshells of their own and she discovers a secret about her new, once-in-a-lifetime friend. Life may be full of setbacks, but by lifting herself up by her own lacy straps, Marcy just may be able to handle them all.

Review

I won a copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program in the hopes that I would leave an honest review. 

This book was a fairly quick read for me, and I pretty much couldn't put it down because it was like watching a train wreck. Basically it appealed to my baser, reality tv loving instincts. I really related to Marcy as a stay at home mom whose life has been determined by my husband's career, very much like hers. I'm honestly okay with that, for the most part, and so is she, but that made it really easy for me to slide into her size 8 Jimmy Choo's. This also meant that I spent the entirety of the story rooting for her and preparing to egg her husband's car if needed, because it became personal to me. 

There were several times where I didn't agree with the choices that Marcy was making, but I also can't honestly say that I would have actually made different choices myself. It has to be hard to decide to just throw away three decades of wedded bliss because of one affair, especially when your whole existence has pretty much revolved around your husband and his career. The unknown can be scary and I would probably want to cling to what I knew too. So ultimately I can understand why Marcy made the choices that she did, even though I think they were stupid (and I wanted her to be a strong, independent woman immediately.)

I was also really bothered by Harvey's obsession with women's bra sizes. It was a detail that absolutely makes sense in terms of the story and his profession, but it seems a bit creepy to me. Although that did make it easier for me to tell Marcy she should dump him like yesterday's garbage. 

4 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Buy the Book

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About the Author

For more than twenty-five years, Marilyn Simon Rothstein owned an advertising agency in Connecticut. She grew up in New York City, earned a degree in journalism from New York University, began her writing career at Seventeen magazine, and married a man she met in an elevator. 

Marilyn received a master of arts in liberal studies from Wesleyan University and a master of arts in Judaic studies from the University of Connecticut.

*Review* #BeatTheBacklist - The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Published: June 23, 2015

Pages: 392

Goodreads

Synopsis

“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.

Review

This book should have been a slam dunk for me, but sadly it wasn't. It started off completely intriguing me, I wanted to know more about the book barge and the woman who broke Perdu's heart. But I was not really treated to that information, so I started to lose interest. I just never really felt the impetus to find Manon that Perdu felt, so the trip to get there bored me, in spite of the antics that Perdu and the gang got up to on the way. Also, I really started to feel like Perdu was just pathetic, and that's who I was supposed to be sympathizing with. I mean, sure, I'm sorry he lost her the way he did, I guess, but dude brought it on himself with his dramatic reaction.

There were a couple of mini mysteries in this story, both of which I figured out before the characters did, granted that was largely because this was a story and that's just how things are supposed to happen in stories (so it was incredibly predictable.) 

There was one aspect of the story that just really made no sense to me at all though. When Perdu and Max haul up the anchor and leave on their journey through the waterways of France, they have basically no money with them, which is a bit of a problem. What makes no sense though is that at no point do they ever stop at a bank to pull some money out. I could understand Perdu not having any money, he may be a businessman but he lives like a pauper, but Max is a rather famous author, so money shouldn't be a problem. It just seemed ridiculous to me. 

The beginning of the story really was intriguing and the story flowed well, but it just didn't hold my interest like I had hoped it would. 3 out of 5 stars.

Copy received through Blogging for Books for review. - Katie 

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About the Author

NINA GEORGE works as a journalist, writer, and storytelling teacher. She is the award winning author of 26 books, and also writes feature articles, short stories, and columns. The Little Paris Bookshop spent over a year on bestseller lists in Germany, and was a bestseller in Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands. George is married to the writer Jens J. Kramer and lives in Berlin and in Brittany, France.

www.nina-george.com