The end of year shuffle...

With the end of year in sight I have had to put my constant reading on the back burner. I have 2 kids at home for one more week, so my attention has one more distraction and when I say distraction I mean it lovingly and a distraction from reading.

However with Christmas I got $70 in bookstore gift cards. Boy does my family know what I like. I have the lists ready and when I enter the store I will purchase the books for upcoming challenges.

The New Year will bring my growing of knowledge into the book blogging world and hopefully a more organized page once I get the kinks worked out.

Looking forward to challenging myself more and entering more of the wonderful Reading Challenges that are out there.

See ya in the year 2010!

Teaser Tuesday:12/8/09

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. I am a bit late with this post, since I have been on the go, go, go. Figured better late than never!

The rules of Teaser Tuesday:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share 2 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

My teaser for the week:

The Accidental Mother
By: Rowan Coleman

"Sophie instinctively steeled herself as she followed Bella back down the hallway to the living room, imagining the very worst that could have happened. She did not imagine hard enough."

Can't wait to read more Teaser Tuesdays!

Family Tree: Review

Family Tree

By Barbara Delinsky

When Dana and Hugh Clarke's baby is born into their wealthy, white New England seaside community, the baby's unmistakably African-American features puzzle her thoroughly Anglo-looking parents. Hugh's family pedigree extends back to the Mayflower, and his historian father has made a career of tracing the esteemed Clarke family genealogy, which does not include African-Americans. Dana's mother died when Dana was a child, and Dana never knew her father: she matter-of-factly figures that baby Lizzie's features must hark back to her little-known past. Hugh, a lawyer who has always passionately defended his minority clients, finds his liberal beliefs don't run very deep and demands a paternity test to rule out the possibility of infidelity. By the time the Clarkes have uncovered the tangled roots of their family trees, more than one skeleton has been unearthed, and the couple's relationship—not to mention their family loyalty—has been severely tested.

My Thoughts:
From the moment I started this book I was captivated. As a mother I too wanted to protect the most innocent character in this book, the baby. Barbara Delinsky did a great job making the emotions in the book seem real and I truly felt every one of them. While I was reading I would lose myself in the in the mess that came with the birth of this child. Secrets that had been kept hidden for years were forced in the open, peoples character were in question. The only thing negative was that this story had to end.

This Chick rated this book:

On My Wishlist: 12/2/09

On My Wishlist is a Wednesday Meme hosted by Book Chick City. What you do is list the books you want to buy and haven't yet.

This could be a deadly Meme for me, since I am adding books to my wishlist everyday. With them posted and visible everyday I am going to use all my willpower to not buy them right away!

On my wishlist for today (I am choosing a few... there are so many more!):




Promise Not to Tell
By: Jennifer McMahon


Description of Book:

Forty-one-year-old school nurse Kate Cypher has returned home to rural Vermont to care for her mother who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered - a horrific crime that eerily mirrors another from Kate's childhood. Three decades earlier, her dirt-poor friend Del - shunned and derided by classmates as "Potato Girl" - was brutally slain. Del's killer was never found, while the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories. Now, as this new murder investigation draws Kate irresistibly in, her past and present collide in terrifying, unexpected ways. Because nothing is quite what it seems...and the grim specters of her youth are far from forgotten.


Accidentally on Purpose: A One Night Stand, My Unplanned Parenthood, and Loving the Best Mistake I Ever Made

By Mary F. Pols

Description of Book:

At thirty-nine, movie critic Mary Pols knew she wanted to have a baby. But never—not in a million years—on her own. To take on the physical, emotional, and financial challenges of motherhood without a perfect soul mate/husband would be absurd, kind of like not bothering to use a condom during a one-night stand with an adorable but jobless guy ten years her junior.

Pols spends the ensuing weeks despairing over everything, from the financial nightmare of single motherhood to the end of her hopes for a traditional life. Not the least of her worries is finding the right way to drop the bombshell on loved ones, including her five siblings and

eighty-four-year-old father, who has a German temper and an Irish Catholic attitude toward babies out of wedlock. Yet faced with the frightening, lonely truth that this might be her only chance at motherhood, she plunges ahead with the pregnancy and an Odd Couple version of a co-parenting relationship that looks like one more disaster in a long line of romantic disappointments. But even as she tries to give her son's young father a radical makeover, she realizes that his devotion and love for their child matters more than his spotty résumé or his inability to remember to put oil in the car. With humor, insight, and compelling honesty, Pols reveals what it means to compromise in the name of love and to find joy in an accidental life, suddenly brimming with purpose.

Girl in the Mirror
By Mary Alice Monroe

Description of book:

Charlotte Godowski was used to the horrified stares she received from strangers. She'd learned to accept her facial deformity, until one cruel incident compelled her to have the surgery that changed her life forever.

Charlotte Godfrey is beautiful beyond compare. In Hollywood, where such beauty is power, her rise is meteoric. Suddenly she has everything she could want: acceptance, a future and a love she believes can see to the true beauty within.

Charlotte Godowski and Charlotte Godfrey are two sides of the same women -- a woman who can trust no one with her secret. But when fate forces Charlotte to deal with the truth -- about her past, about the man she loves, about herself -- she discovers that only love has the power to transform a scarred soul.

This is just a snippet of my forever growing to-read book list. What is on your wishlist? Don't forget to head to Book Chick City and leave your link.

Teaser Tuesday: 12/1/09

I have seen this meme for a while and I finally caught it early enough in the day to participate (doing happy dance). This is in fact the first meme I have ever done on this blog.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should Be Reading:

The rules of Teaser Tuesday:

1. Grab your current read.
2. Open to a random page.
3. Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
4.*** BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS*** (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser Tuesday:

Family Tree
by Barbara Delinsky

"Hugh turned and glared at his brother and uncle. He felt like he was being cornered, pushed toward something he loathed but was helpless to stop."

Head on over to Should be Reading to participate in today's Teaser Tuesday!

Pretty Little Liars #2 Flawless: Review

I read Pretty Little Liars #2 for the Pretty Little Liars Challenge over at Trisha's book blog.

Pretty Little Liars #2 Flawless by: Sara Shepard

Spencer stole her sister's boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya . . . as much more than a friend. Hanna's obsession with looking flawless is making her sick. And their most horrible secret yet is so scandalous that the truth would ruin them forever.

And why shouldn't I tell? They deserve to lose it all. With every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message I send, I'll be taking these pretty little liars down. Trust me, I've got enough dirt to bury them alive.

My Thoughts:

I spent the first book being a mom and angry with the actions of these girls. This time, however, I finally got emotionally attached to each and every girl. So far every book has a big secret that is revealed even though the whole "A" mystery is still that... a mystery. I am dying to know who is this "A" person is and all the secrets that still need to come out. This book may not be the type of books I tend to read, but I am now invested in the story line.

This Chick rated this book:

2010 Reading Resolution Challenge

I have been going through all the many many challenges out there in the blogging world and came upon Jenny's over at Jenny Loves to Read. She is hosting her very first challenge, and this is going to be a fun one! It has a New Year's resolution theme and titled 2010 Reading Resolution Challenge. We all make resolutions, well I know I do it, and what better way to make a resolution with what I love to do best... READING!


Here are her rules:

*Create your personal reading resolutions for the upcoming year in a post and link to it at the bottom. If you don't have a blog, that's cool too. Post your resolutions and updates in the comments of this post.

*Make sure to link back to this page so others can visit your pages and blogs.

*Get started on your resolutions! Once every 2 months, starting on February 15th, I'll have a post to check-in and see how everyone is doing. Kind of as a reminder to you to check your own progress.

*Challenge runs from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. There is no pressure or consequences with this challenge. I view it more as a personal challenge I can grow from. (Sounds corny, I know.)

Oh where oh where do I begin? There are so many habits I really do need to fix.

1. I resolve to go to the library. I cannot leave the bookstore without buying a book and I am running out of book shelves to store them. When I go to the library I will bring a book I have finished to donate as well.

2. I resolve to read books I have not finished and are collecting dust, because they are on my "to finish reading pile."

3. I am always reading the review section of People magazine and always say, "I really want to read that book." I resolve to read one book from an issue of People a month.

Lastly,
4. I resolve to try at least 1 genre I have not tried to read. This will be the hard one, because I have this preconceived notion that I will not like it.

I have a feeling these resolutions will be ones I actually keep. I mean it has to do with reading, so how could I not?

ReadPrint.Com

I stumbled upon the Read Print site from BzzAgent.

About the site:

What is Read Print? Absolutely FREE online books Thousands of novels, poems, stories Easy to read books online WARNING ? The surgeon general reports that having these many free books at your disposal can be highly addictive.

I think this is an awesome site for those who can read books online. I, however prefer them on paper. The list of authors and books is great and there is a wide variety. I just don't have the attention span to stare at the computer screen and read a book. To those who do you won't be disappointed at the selection of Literature!

Pretty Little Liars: Review

I read Pretty Little Liars for the Pretty Little Liars Challenge at Trisha's Book Blog. This was the first book of the challenge.

Pretty Little Liars
by: Sara Shepard

In the exclusive Philadelphia suburb of Rosewood, Alison is the Queen Bee of her elite seventh grade hive. BFs Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily vie for her attention, even as each of them hides a hideous secret only Alison knows. So when Alison goes missing after a slumber party, never to be seen again, each girl is heartbroken, but also a little relieved. Now it is three years later, and though the four girls have grown apart, they are each still hiding something. Artsy Aria is carrying on an affair with one of her teachers, fashionista Hanna shoplifts to accessorize her trendy outfits, blue-blood Spencer is sleeping with her older sister’s boyfriend, while straight-A Emily is trying to ignore her attraction to a new female classmate. When the girls begin receiving threatening text messages and emails that from someone known only as "A," they must confront the fact that against all odds, it appears Alison is back. Could Alison still be alive? And if so, why is she so determined to uncover all their dirty little secrets?

My Thoughts

This book was a nice fast, light read. However, it was hard getting past being my mom self to an almost pre-teen. As I was reading this all I could think was, "If I caught my daughter pulling this stuff there would be serious consequences." By the time I got to the middle of the book I was able to push that out of my mind and start anticipating who this "A" person was. I am looking forward to finishing the series and finding out all the secrets of this group of girls. It was good start to a hopefully great series.

This chick rated this book

Those were the days...

You know the days when you could lay in bed or on the couch and stick your nose in a book and read and read.There were no distractions, or little people hungry, thirsty, or wanting to be entertained. You could start and finish a book in one day without stopping. The dishes could pile up, meals could be missed just in order for you to see what exciting thing would happen next.

Then life and responsibility happened and the screaming and crying ensued. Fires need to be put out. Now quiet time is a blessing and never greeted lightly. Times of sleep are embraced and the time for reading can only then start.

Thankfully that time is used wisely and books are still finished in a timely fashion. In this house evolution is happening.

Flashback Friday

Thinking this might be a weekly activity on my blog.

For Flashback Friday think back to the books you read as a child. What do you remember most about the book or series? Do your children read them? Will you introduce your children to them?

This week the book, well series I am going to flashback is the Choose Your own Adventure series. I remember reading these like they were going out of style. I had stacks of them to read and read each one till I exhausted all the different choices I could make. I did cheat at times and read ahead so I new I would get to the end of the book in one piece and in a sense win at my own game.

Surprisingly these books are still being published. At least they were in 2006 and 2007. I may just have to introduce this series to my oldest chick... wonder if she will love them as much as I did.

The Four Seasons: Review

The Four Seasons
By: Mary Alice Monroe

"They are the Season sisters, bound by blood, driven apart by a childhood tragedy. Now, thirty years later, they embark on an emotional search for the child Jilly had given up for adoption. During the search, the sisters rekindle their love and the lost dreams of their youth. THE FOUR SEASONS is a story of rediscovery, love and forgiveness as family secrets are revealed."

My Thoughts

I have not read a book where I had to keep reading just to know what happened next. This book definitely was that book. You couldn't help get lost in these sisters and the journey they went on. The secrets and twists may have been easy to guess, but I had to keep reading just to know all the details and to see if I was indeed right. At the end I was sad this story was ending. There were a couple things I wish could have been talked about more in the end, but overall this is one book I loved. I will for sure be reading more novels written by this author!

This chick rated this book

Alice In Wonderland Challenge

I have been looking and looking at reading challenges and came across one that brought me back to my literature classes in college. I love analyzing the classics, but also reviewing the movie? Oh how fun!



Take Me Away is hosting The Alice in Wonderland challenge. There are also prizes to those that finish this challenge as well and who doesn't like prizes!

Rules for challenge:

• Starts September 1, 2009 and goes through August 31, 2010
• You can join any time during that time frame.
• This challenge has two parts; you can decide at any time until the end if you would like to complete only the first part or both. However, prizes will only be awarded to those who complete both parts.
  
• If you have already completed one of the tasks in the past 6 months you may count ONE towards this challenge.
• Books may overlap with any other challenges.
• Books may be read prior to publish date if you are able to obtain a copy. (Don't worry about the advantage someone has because everyone should have the same opportunity to complete the challenge at the same time).
• When you've made the decision to play, post about the challenge and please link your icon to this post. It doesn't necessarily have to be the link on your sidebar if you put it there and are linking to your post, but at least on the picture when you post about this challenge.

There are 2 tasks to this challenge:

Tasks: (Part 1)

• Read and review Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Read and review Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• Read and review Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin (publish date December 2009)
  
• Read and review one other book from the list of "retellings and sequels" or "literature with allusions and influences" from the list here . If you know of a book that will work that is not on the list, you may use it, but please have it approved as part of the challenge first.

Tasks: (Part 2)

• Watch and review Disney's animated version of Alice in Wonderland
• Watch and review one live action (already released) movie version of Alice in Wonderland.
• Watch and review Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (due for release in 2010)
• Watch and review one other movie listed under "Film" here

The Pretty Little Liars Challenge

Blogging all about books is new to me, and I have come to find that there are challenges with books too! Oh I feel like a child at Christmas!!



To get me started I found the Pretty Little Liars challenge at Trisha's Book Blog. This challenge runs from September 24, 2009 and ends December 31, 2010. In order to complete the challenge you have to read all the books from the Pretty Little Liars series.

The books in the series are:

*Pretty Little Liars

*Flawless

*Perfect

*Unbelievable

*Wicked

*Killer

*Heartless (Which will be out on January 19th,2010)
*Twisted (2010)

When completed there are also prizes you can win. So if you are interested head on over to Trisha's blog!

I cannot wait to get started on my first challenge and start many more!

My first review: The Shack

The Shack
by Willam P. Young


Description Found on Book

"Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book! "

My Thoughts

This was my first religious fiction book and I am glad I picked this book. It is hard to read. Not as in a horrible read, but in tugging at the heart strings alone. Every parent's fear is loosing a child, but how does one ever get over losing a child in a way as this? This book takes you through the struggles the main character, Mack goes through in ways you never thought possible. You may not believe healing can happen this way, but I found the strength to look to the Heavens above with any struggle I may have. I think it will make anyone who reads this think, "Hmm never thought about it that way." The author couldn't have written this book any better.

This chick rated this book:

What's your poison

With the many ways technology keeps advancing there are so many ways to read a book. There is the old fashioned way of paper, which still is a world wide favorite. Then there is audio. This is the most convenient if you are more of an auditory person. What is great is you can pop a cassette (for you people my age), or CD and now download it to an ipod (for you new generations) and listen to it where ever you go.

Technology has now taken reading one step further. You can now by a digital reader like the Kindle and have 100's of books at your fingertips in one machine. It's the ipod for books. Even the Iphone has book applications where you can buy books (Kindle app) or buy and app that has it's own library.

What is my poison?

I have to say I love it old school. I love having that actual book in my lap with pages to turn. However, sometimes I do forget my book when I leave the house so my Iphone is my back up.
My books are my American Express card... I never leave home without it!

My Life of Books!

Welcome to a little experiment I thought I would dabble in. Not sure how wet my feet will become with this blog, but hey why not try.

As far back as I can remember or well knew how to read I loved reading. I was the girl that would want to fill her suitcase with books instead of clothing when going on vacation. Even now I only buy purses big enough to hold the books I am reading. These purses have to be on the bigger side since most books I read aren't tiny.

Now don't be fooled by the title of this blog page. It isn't going to be about chick flick type books. I used this catchy title as a spin off to my family blog 3 Chicks and a Rooster. Honestly I am a lover of all genres.

I found this survey from The Introvertz Book Survey and thought I would use this for you to get a little background into what kind of reader I am... If I am writing about what I read this survey seems befitting.

1. What book are you reading now?

I am actually reading 2 different books at the moment.

The Shack by William P. Young

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian

2.What are your favorite books? [You can put specific books or genres or both.

I truly have only one book that I can read over and over and over again. I have read and analyzed this book to death. If you see my original copy you will find writing all over the margins and highlighting galore. This book is:

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

3. What 's the funniest book you ever read?

I would have to say The Queen of Babble series by Meg Cabot.

4.What books have changed the way you look at the world or the way you live your life?

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

This book made me get out of my "It's all about me" phase and showed me that there truly were bigger issues in the world.

5. What books have affirmed what you believe about life or the way you look at things?

This would be one of the books I am reading now.

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian

6. What books have you changed your mind about?

A question like this always makes me chuckle, because the answer is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I was one of those that did nothing but slam the series and wondered how one book could gain such a following. Then one semester in college I had to take a Children Lit class. What book was on the list? None other than Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. After reading that I couldn't put the rest down.

7. What are some of the scariest books you've ever read?

I honestly don't think I have read one that was the scariest. Now I have read plenty that kept me on the "edge of my seat" so to speak.

8. About how many books do you think you have you read in your life?

Wow this is one question I cannot answer for I have read too many to count!

9.About how many books do you own?

This is again another question I really can't answer. This number changes every time I head to the library to donate books. I also have many many boxes of books stored. I have no room and these books I can't part with.

10. How many books per month do you usually borrow from the library?

I honestly haven't been to the library in months. I have many books I have bought to read that I am trying to catch up on them before I add more to my stack.

11. Do you read in bed?

Always! Can't go to sleep without reading my current book. Something I have been doing for a while now.

12. Do you ever read while walking or driving?

Walking yes and with driving only if I am reading directions. If I feel I am not safe texting and drive there is no way I am reading a book while driving.

13. OK, let's get real. Where is the strangest place you've read a book?

I have read a book in many places but I would call them strange.

14. Do you listen to audio books?

I don't have the attention span to listen. I must read... I have always been a visual learner.


15. What book was the most difficult to read?

I have read many difficult books, but they were difficult in many ways. Some were to thick with information and difficult for me to grasp. The language in some were hard to understand (Shakespeare for example).

16. Do you read every word of a book, or skip parts that don't hold your interest?

I am ashamed to say that if a book gets slow in many parts than I give up. There are few that I have tried reading again.

17. What books do you keep intending to read but put off?

They used to be school books that just didn't interest me. When I put off a book the main reason is for lack of time to concentrate. These books are usually my classic literature books that I must concentrate on the language and underlying meanings.

18. Do you buy new or used books, paperbacks or hardbacks, leather or collector's items?
I try to by used or paperback , but sometimes I take the plunge and go for hardbacks if that is all the book store has. There are a couple 1st editions I want to acquire at one point.

19. How do you feel about writing in books, dog earing, etc

If it is a book I am reading for school than I will write all over it. Especially if I am writing a paper related to it. Some books I don't mine but some are too precious to me. As an adult I refuse to dog ear. Especially if I will be donating. I try to keep the book I donate in pristine condition. Well as pristine as I can with my youngest Chick finding her way to them.

20. What is the first book you remember reading

Well I can remember the first series I read. That series was The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin.

21. Do you lend your books? Ever had to hire Large Louis to get it back for you?

If I am going to donate them then I have no problem lending them out. If they are treasured books I would hire Large Louis to get them back. The person they are lent to would be forewarned.

22. What were your favorite books when you were a child

I have to say that my favorite books as a child were the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald and Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

23. What children's books do you most enjoy as an adult.

Classic children books like Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne and the ones listed above.

24. What books would you especially recommend to young people?

This is a question I can't answer because my philosophy is to choose books you want to read. I have learned this by my oldest daughter. I have given her many recommendations and even bought her some as a surprise. The only books she finishes are those she has chosen on her own. I have told past students that it is important to choose books you are interested in reading.

25. Do you ever read the ending first?

Have I been tempted? Absolutely. Will I ever? Absolutely not! I just can't ruin the story for myself!

If you haven't taken a book survey I suggest you do. It would be fun to read the different reading personalities out there!

HAPPY READING!!!