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: