Book Review: Tales From Imagination's Closet

Tales from Imagination's Closet by M. Allman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book came to me by way of the Goodreads First-reads Giveaway. I love that program! I have gotten to read a number of books I never would have otherwise.

This is a collection of very short stories, some are as short as one page, to as long a three or four pages. They are just wild tales of things that probably could never happen, but you wish they would, or think about or imagine.

I loved it! It was so neat, and it was a quick read. I started it in the afternoon and had it read before I went to bed. My daughter is now wanting to read it, and I am excited to let her.

I really enjoyed the collection of stories, all a little different, but the same in some respects. They all fit well in the book together, and I just kept reading. This was fun!



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Book Review: Found (The Missing, #1)

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Every year, one of the things I do to help out at the schools my children attend is to work the BookFair. The BookFair is where lots of great books are sent into the school library by Scholastic and they are up for purchase by the students and parents and the school receives money in return from the sales. I love working the BookFairs.

This year, I purchased this book, it was the first time Book 1 in the series had been there, they had book three last year, but this was the first time I saw book 1, so I bought it, and took it home and read it myself! Funny thing was, I bought the book Friday morning and had it finished by the time the dance ended Friday night and I had to take my daughter home!

Jonah is the main character, and he is 13 years old. He has always known that he is adopted and never really thought about it. He has a new friend Chip, that just moved to the neighborhood and they have fun together, but it is still the beginnings of the friendship. And then there is Jonah's sister, Katherine, who isn't adopted.

The whole story starts with a letter in the mail. Jonah receives a letter and all is says is "You are one of the missing", six little words. They all see the letter, and finally it is brushed off as a prank, that is until Chip gets home and finds that he got a letter. He thinks it's funny, because he thinks it means the new kids in the school have accepted him and anyway he isn't adopted, until his father has to admit that he is. What, now this rocks Chips world because his parents have "lied" to him for 13 years.

The letter and the "lie" lead the three to start looking into Chip and Jonah's adoptions and to find out more information, which leads to the biggest mystery of all.

It is so well written, easy enough for children to understand, but even as an adult, I have loved the book! Now I am passing it on to my son to read, and looking forward to reading book 2 in the series. As of right now, I know that there are four books in this series, and they seems to be a huge hit with the kids, as a number of the teachers were buying or wish-listing this series at the BookFair.




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Book Review: Shelter

Shelter by Harlan Coben

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


OMG!  I just finished this book, and all I can say is that I can not wait to read more! It was so awesome, so many twists and and turns, so many mysteries within mysteries, that I kept reading and reading and then the next thing I knew the book was done, and I was like what? wait? no, not yet!

This was just an excellent book, and it was the first time I had read this author and I was loving it. I just can not get over how much I loved this book. I can't even think what to say about the book at this point, I am still so amazed at the book, at the masterful way it was told, at the way I got carried away and involved in the characters. I could feel everything Mickey was going through, I related to Ema, and I even understood Spoon. It was such a wonderfully told story, with so many twist and turns, but yet it was followable. I never got lost in the story, things unfolded in different waves, but it all made sense.

Of course, the end had me yelling out NO and wait...I'm not ready for it to end, I want to know more about Mickey and Lizzy and even Myron.  There are just so many questions left to be answered, but even more, it was that I connected with the characters and I wasn't ready to leave them.

I was so excited to be selected as a First-Reads giveaway winner and get this book. It was an bonus for me, I got to encounter a new author, and found a book that I loved! Thank you Good Reads!!



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Book Review: Happy Beginnings: How I Became My Own Fairy Godmother

Happy Beginnings: How I Became My Own Fairy Godmother by Lorena Bathey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of the first book I ever won on the Goodreads First-Reads Giveaway, and I had it sitting there to read, but it kept getting pushed to the side by other things, another cozy and what not. I feel bad that I let it sit, but I did finally get to it, and finished it quickly!

It is a really good read for anyone who is divorcing, single or just not feeling like life is going right. I enjoyed her sense of humor, her honesty and the way she put everything out on the table and told you what she was going through and how she dealt with it. Sometimes it wasn't the greatest way or with the best results, but she didn't cover that up, she told you about it and the lessons that she learned from it.

If nothing else, if you take away from this book that life is a series of lessons, and how you react to the lessons and what you learn from those lessons, shape you and your future, then I think the author got what she wanted across.

I enjoyed the book, and plan to pas it along to a friend that is going through a messy divorce right now, as hope and encouragement that life will get better, and you don't have to depend on someone to make it that way, except for yourself.

Thank you Goodreads and the First-Reads giveaway for giving me a chance to read this book. It is not something I ever wou9ld have picked up at the store, but I enjoyed it and felt like I actually got alot out of it. Thank you!!



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Book Review: Death Threads (Souther Sewing Circle, #2)

Death Threads by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So this is the second book in the Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series, and it was really good.

I am getting to know the characters better, liking Tori and Milo, seperately and together.

I am about a week out from finishing it, and just not able to focus on what to say today, but I wanted to get something posted about it. I will try to change this later.



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Book Review: The Traiteur's Ring

The Traiteur's Ring by Jeffrey Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So this book came to me by way of the Goodreads FirstReads Giveaways. Yeah! Free book!

I kept looking at the title, and I just didn't get it because i was reading it as "traitor" and after getting into the book, i realized that "traiteur" is a cajun/creole way of saying a "seer" or someone who has a power or second vision or sight. That made a whole lot more sense.

Ben in the lead character, and he was born and raised in the cajun back-country by his Grammy, who was a seer of the area, she protected the area. Ben is a Navy Seal, and a protector in his own right, when he is confronted by an elderly seer in a village in Africa and the Seal's are fighting off Al Quaida.  Ben isn't sure what to think, he doesn't recognize or want to recognize that part of his history, he has put all memories of life in the back country with his Grammy behind him and not thought of them except as crazy dreams. Now he has to confront them as real life and something that he has to deal with.

For being a story written about a group of men, which I really didn't think I would like or be able to relate to, it was really good, although I find that the lead, Ben has more trouble accepting the supernatural in the world than a female tends to do.  It was still a good story and one that I found myself enjoying and having trouble putting down.

That all being said, I did have to go back and read the things written in the cajun tongue a couple of times and still not being sure I quite got what the author intended.



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Book Review: Sew Deadly (Southern Sewing Circle, #1)

Sew Deadly by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was born and raised in Indiana, no where near the South, but give me a book set in the South and I am one happy camper! Add in sewing and I am tickled pink, so I was excited to find this book.  Book One of the Southern Sewing Circle Series.



Tori moves from Chicago to take a job in Sweet Briar SC, but things are not all that they seem.  The job Tori got was a vacant position, but one the town made available. So there is a great deal of tension in town, add to that Tori finding the town beauty queen behind the library dead, and things get even worse, with people publicly taking sides!



The Sewing Circle was briefly mentioned and it was a big part of Tori getting to know the town, but real true sewing wasn't really mentioned, unless you consider the pattern at the end of the book real sewing.



As for Tori, I didn't get a chance to learn much about her, she was being tormented and teased and generally just trying to defend herself for so much of the book, that I can't say if I like her or not yet.



That all being said, I am more than happy to give book two of this series a fighting chance, then again, I might even have to give book three and four a chance, just being that I love anything southern and sewing!



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Book Review: My Dyslexia

My Dyslexia by Philip Schultz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


My oldest child has struggled with reading and school all his life, and we fought to get him tested for learning issues, only to be told that he is not dyslexic but there is something up, and to then fight to get services for him.

I got this book from Goodreads FirstReads Giveaway, and was pleased. I thought it might help me understand the issues and what was going on. And to be honest, I did learn alot.

It is written by a Noble Prize winning poet, who just happens to have dyslexia, but only learned that recently, not when he was in school.  He talks about his feelings in school and the way his dsylexia made certain things hard if not impossible to do or understand, and I loved the honesty and the willingness to share those points, those lows and later the highs of his life.

i would recommend this to anyone who is family or friends of someone with a learning disability, it will help to understand the certain things that are going on that just can't be described. It's a good read and a fairly quick read at that too.



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Book Review: Dial Emmy for Murder (Soap Opera Mystery, #2)

Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the second book in the Soap Opera Mystery Series written by a long-time soap actress herself.

Now, the first was good, and this one a little better.  Maybe it's just that first book think, that you seem to find the second book better.

Alex is still our lead, and she is a little more open to the reader and other people in this one, and we gets hits of her ex-husband Randy in this book, and that proves to be exciting and the idea of Randy in the next book is what is making me want to read the next book.

Detective Jakes is a nicer verison of himself and more interested in Alex, believes in her more and wants to date her. Sometimes I felt that masked the whole Detective part and that he was believing in her thoughts too much, it didn't ring true to the personality of a Detective.

Paul, the former police officer and boyfriend gets let down easy in this book. Alex tried, but kept him at an arms length the whole relationship and it finally got to be too much, enter also Jakes who is pulling her attention and the relationship was doomed.

I think it's Alex's belief that she has to do it herself, no let anyone else in and do it alone that is so off-putting. Now, if we learn more about ex Randy in the next book, maybe I will understand it more, but I just think she has a mixed up view, that she should rely on people more.

But after all that is said, I still want to read the next book in the series, with teasers that Randy may appear in the next book, I want to find out about that one. It was good, there was more intrigue and twists in this one, in all I felt the second book was a better written book. So again I will recommend it and withhold overall judgement for another book.



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Book Review: Death in Daytime (Soap Opera Mystery #1)

Death in Daytime by Eileen Davidson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm always in the mood for a new Cozy Mystery series, and I picked up books 1 and 2 of this one on PaperbackSwap so I thought I would give them a chance.

The author is a long-time soap actress and so she would know about the soap world, although I don't think I have ever seen any of this occuring before, but it's a cozy mystery.

The lead character, Alex looks like the author in my mind, and she is engaging enough, you feel for her and you like her, but she's just kinda there. I don't know, there is just something about her that pushes me back a bit, and maybe that is on purpose since her ex-husband embazzled money from her and others and so she is always holding others at arms links.

The detective counter-part in this if Frank Jakes, of just Jakes, and he comes across as a bit of a ladies man.

I liked it well enough to read the second book in the series, and maybe I will know more then, but over-all it was a good read, just not my favorite, but good enough to try another and to recommend to friends.



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