Tag: reads

Flashback Friday: Books I Loved When I Was Younger

DeAnneLeave a comment

We all have those books that hold a dear place in our hearts. Books that looking back may not be perfect but that we can reread time and again because of how much we loved them in our youth. I’m going to take a walk down memory lane and talk about some of the ones I loved and still love.

Nancy Drew – I read a lot of Nancy Drew as a young teen. I was voracious in my devouring of books so my mom suggested I try them out, thinking they would last me a while. Yeah, I read all of the original stories, the extended originals and most of the files books. I’ve now collected all of the originals and all of the filed through 100. These books are a product of their time and aren’t perfect, but in a lot of ways they are also timeless. I can usually pick up one if I’m in a slump and fly through it.

L.J. Smith – I may be somewhat revealing my age, but I read pretty much all of L.J. Smith’s books when they came out. The Forbidden Game trilogy (my favorite), Vampire Diaries (the originals, not the ones that were added on later), Secret Circle, Dark Visions and Night World (do not even get me started on Strange Fate unless you want to hear a mega rant). I now have two sets of the original cover editions of the Forbidden Game trilogy, as well as two editions of all the Night World books, including first editions and the new beautiful re-released ones. No, they don’t necessarily hold up as well to modern standards, but they all have such a dear place in my heart.

Anne of Green Gables – I was gifted a box set of the entire Anne of Green Gables series as a child, another gift from my mom, because I loved the TV series that was made (starring Megan Follows). I didn’t get to them until I was a little older, but they are a huge chunk of my adolescence. I have thought about getting a new set of books since mine are very battered, but haven’t settled on what exactly I want yet.

So there we have it, a very narrowed down snippet of books that I loved and still love. What are some of your old favorites?

Happy reading!

Review: Norse Mythology

DeAnneLeave a comment

Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction, presents a bravura rendition of the Norse gods and their world from their origin though their upheaval in Ragnarok.

In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to the myths in envisioning the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki—son of a giant—blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Gaiman fashions these primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds and delves into the exploits of deities, dwarfs, and giants. Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose, these gods emerge with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again.

I already knew going in that I liked Neil Gaiman’s writing style, so I was excited to experience the Norse myths though his style. I think this is a great example of modern language and story telling techniques refreshing these old myths and making them more accessible to people who may not want to read them as they were originally written.

Gaiman injects his usual wit and cleverness in the stories and in my opinion makes them vibrant and an easy, enjoyable read. He sets up the myths well and laid a great groundwork so that the worlds and characters could be understood. This is great for people who already love the myths or those just getting into them.

Happy reading!

Review: The Last Conversation

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What’s more frightening: Not knowing who you are? Or finding out? A Bram Stoker Award–winning author explores the answer in a chilling story about identity and human consciousness.

Imagine you’ve woken up in an unfamiliar room with no memory of who you are, how you got there, or where you were before. All you have is the disconnected voice of an attentive caretaker. Dr. Kuhn is there to help you—physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She’ll help you remember everything. She’ll make sure you reclaim your lost identity. Now answer one question: Are you sure you want to?

This is the last story from the Forward collection I had left, so I was excited to get to it. Since it is so short I don’t want to say much about it since it would likely be a spoiler. This was my first experience with Paul Tremblay’s writing though I’ve heard tons of great things about it in the past so I was eager to see if I liked it. I did really enjoy the writing and the language used – plus the twist at the end was really good and surprising. The story itself speaks to a number of things regarding science, morals and the lengths that people will go to. I felt that the story could have been much longer and kinda wished it was, but I still really enjoyed it.

Happy reading!

Review: Murder Is a Debate

DeAnneLeave a comment

Nora and her two best friends, Liv and Nina, aren’t like most people. Nora is the private school kid; the rich girl, though everyone hates her. Liv and Nina attend the run-down public school on the opposite side of town where the football team is a solid two and the art department was shut down due to funding. Their worlds should have never collided, but they had one common factor that brought them together, murder.

In an online mystery chat room, the three girls meet and decide to form The Murder Club. Each week one of the girls must come up with a murder scenario for the other two to solve. It’s fun. It’s active. It’s also deadly.

When one of Nora’s classmates ends up dead, she’s suspicious of her new friends. His death mirrors the very same scenario Nora came up with in their previous meeting. As clues emerge, pointing more definitively at the members of the Murder Club, Nora begins digging for her own clues, bringing fantasy to reality. Could Liv and Nina be involved, and if so why?

They were all curious, but the question is, was one of them too curious?

I didn’t know much about this story going in, but the description caught my interest so I decided to give it a listen. This story was a lot of fun, while also addressing a lot of deeper issues such as anxiety and mental health. The main character, Nora, really goes through a lot of things that are only made worse by figuring out that she has issues with anxiety. A lot of the other characters contribute negatively to that, but there are definitely some stars that are loyal and truly want to help her as she works to unravel what is going on in her town.

This was really well written and a quick mystery that had a few great twists that kept me guessing. I was fairly sure I knew who was doing everything, then was pleasantly surprised when I was wrong, which is always a good sign for me!

Happy reading!

Review: Battlefield Ghosts

DeAnneLeave a comment

A Confederate general peers out to sea: is he still guarding against a federal naval attack? A plaintive cry echoes at Antietam: did modern schoolboys meet the famous Irish Brigade? A collection of compact histories of important American battles — and the cries of the spirits that echo over the fields.

I love books that center around ghost stories in different regions, but this one unfortunately wasn’t one of my favorites. It was more of a historical book than a ghost story book, which is fine if that’s what you’re looking for. With each story I do recognize that you have to set up the story, but most of them only had a couple paragraphs at most about the ghost stories while the rest told the tale of the battles and people that fought in them.

Another thing that kind of affected my reading experience was that there were stories from both the Revolutionary War and Civil War, which isn’t a problem, but I had wished that they were in chronological order or separated into two sections. I was constantly having to double check which war things were happening in as some of them occurred in similar locations.

I am always down for a book of ghost stories and this one definitely had a number of very interesting experiences, it just wasn’t quite what I was expecting. If you’re looking for something much more historical detail heavy with a little bit of ghostly experiences, then you’d probably love this one as it does have a lot of great detail and is well written.

Happy reading!

Review: A Strangely Wrapped Gift

DeAnneLeave a comment

In A Strangely Wrapped Gift, you will find journeys from mental illness to recovery, from heartbreak to heart growth, from hopelessness to empowerment, and from the ocean to the stars. In these pages, Juniper takes heavy, emotional raw material and weaves it into stunning, relatable poetry you’ll long to share with friends and loved ones. This collection is a reminder that broken pieces make the most beautiful mosaics, and that all of us possess the power to bloom even after a harsh winter.

The poetry collection contains some beautifully written passages. The phrasing in many of the pieces was wonderfully done; however, I found myself not loving the format. This is probably more a me thing than a book thing, so keep that in mind. If you love the poetry format that is more small passages, then you will probably love this collection way more than I did. I just had a slightly hard time getting into the format.

That being said, the content of this was wonderfully done. There is a lot of discussion about mental health, OCD, heartbreak and recovery. It’s obvious that the author put her heart into her poetry and that is something I do love about this collection.

Happy reading!

Review: Infinite Possibilities

DeAnneLeave a comment

The New York Times bestselling author, teacher, and speaker provides the next step beyond his immensely popular Notes from the Universe trilogy with this special 10th anniversary edition of the modern classic that contains even more enriching wisdom for living an abundant, joyous life.

We create our own reality, our own fate, and our own luck. We are all filled with infinite possibilities, and it’s time to explore how powerful we truly are. With clear-eyed and masterful prose, Infinite Possibilities effortlessly reveals our true spiritual nature and exactly what it takes to find true happiness and fulfillment. Witty and intelligent, this is “the perfect book at the perfect time. It is full of wisdom, answers, and guidance—a unique combination that is guaranteed to help anyone during times of change and transition” (Ariane de Bonvoisin, bestselling author of The First 30 Days). This tenth anniversary edition features a new foreword by Bob Proctor and a new introduction from the author.

This book is written wonderfully, I felt that it was such an easy read that flowed like a conversation. If I had to compare it to something I would say it reads like a TED talk, which is understandable considering Dooley has taught his methods.

While I didn’t necessarily agree with the whole of Dooley’s perspectives, the book is full of good advice and a perspective that I think would be valuable to anyone looking to improve themselves or their life. There’s a lot of discussion regarding intention, how positivity and negativity can affect you, etc. Pretty much anything could take something from this book and find it useful.

All in all this was a very enjoyable read that I’m glad I was able to take the time to read. It’s got a lot of great points and even if you don’t agree with everything there are a number of things that could be helpful.

Thank you to Beyond Words for sending me a copy of this book for review, it is out now. Happy reading!

Blog Tour: First Cut

DeAnneLeave a comment

Wife and husband duo Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell first enthralled the book world with their runaway bestselling memoir Working Stiff—a fearless account of a young forensic pathologist’s “rookie season” as a NYC medical examiner. This winter, Dr. Melinek, now a prominent forensic pathologist in the Bay Area, once again joins forces with writer T.J. Mitchell to take their first stab at fiction. 

The result: FIRST CUT—a gritty and compelling crime debut about a hard-nosed San Francisco medical examiner who uncovers a dangerous conspiracy connecting the seedy underbelly of the city’s nefarious opioid traffickers and its ever-shifting terrain of tech startups.

Dr. Jessie Teska has made a chilling discovery. A suspected overdose case contains hints of something more sinister: a drug lord’s attempt at a murderous cover up. As more bodies land on her autopsy table, Jessie uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate network of powerful criminals—on both sides of the law—that will do anything to keep things buried. But autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she’s seen it all—even if it means the next corpse on the slab could be her own.

BUY LINKS: Harlequin Indiebound Amazon Barnes & Noble Books-A-Million
Target Walmart Google iBooks Kobo

I won’t lie, part of the reason I was drawn to this book was because it is set in the Bay Area and that is one of my favorite settings for a book, but I was also really interested in the plot. I have not read from the M.E.’s point of view before, especially one that dives into cases and tries to unravel the mysteries of them. Needless to say I was intrigued.

This story was full of twists and turns, sometimes due to Dr. Teska’s decisions and assumptions, sometimes because of the actual crimes and criminals. I really enjoyed how things starts falling into place throughout the story. I also loved the personal touches such as Teska’s propensity to curse in Polish, her interactions with her brother and the hijinks of her dog.

I would keep in mind that this is told from the point of view of a M.E. so there are autopsy descriptions that are graphic, though matter of fact. If that kind of thing makes you squirmish please be aware of that.

Judy Melinek was an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco for nine years, and today works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland and as CEO of PathologyExpert Inc. She and T.J. Mitchell met as undergraduates at Harvard, after which she studied medicine and practiced pathology at UCLA. Her training in forensics at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner is the subject of their first book, the memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner.

T.J. Mitchell is a writer with an English degree from Harvard, and worked in the film industry before becoming a full-time stay-at-home dad. He is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner with his wife, Judy Melinek.

Social Links:
Twitter: Judy: @drjudymelinek TJ: @TJMitchellWS FB: @DrWorkingStiff

Instagram: Judy: @drjudymelinek

Goodreads:
Judy: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7382113.Judy_Melinek
TJ: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1899585.T_J_Mitchell

Happy reading!

Blog Tour: A Love Hate Thing

DeAnneLeave a comment

When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love

When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares, and the total feeling of not belonging in the posh suburb. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the mean streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even care how the rest of his life will play out.

In Pacific Hills, image is everything. Something that, as the resident golden girl, Nandy Smith knows all too well. She’s spent most of her life building the pristine image that it takes to fit in. After learning that her parents are taking in a former childhood friend, Nandy fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames. It’s the start of summer vacation and the last thing Nandy needs is some juvenile delinquent from the ’Wood crashing into her world.

Stuck together in close quarters, Trice and Nandy are in for some long summer nights. Only, with the ever-present pull back to the Lindenwood streets, it’ll be a wonder if Trice makes it through this summer at all.

Buy Links: Harlequin Amazon Barnes & Noble Indie Bound Kobo
Books-a-Million Google Play

I don’t read a ton of contemporary YA but the premise of this one piqued my interest and I wanted to check it out. It was definitely a compelling story that delved into subjects such as stereotypes, perceived status, racism and more. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the representation, but I really enjoyed the progression of the story and characters. There were characters that I wish we’d had more of an insight into, as they were a little two dimensional. I found myself wanting to know more about their back stories so that I could understand some of their actions, but since they weren’t the main characters I do understand why there wasn’t more about them.

The pacing and switching off of the POVs made this a really fast read and the story kept moving really well. There were definitely some sections that made me anxious because of what was happening which to me is a good sign of the quality of writing. Overall this was a really compelling and worthwhile read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Whitney D. Grandison was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, where she currently resides. A lover of stories since she first picked up a book, it’s no surprise she’s taken to writing her own. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and an audience of over fifteen million dedicated readers.

Social Links: Instagram: @wheadee
Twitter: @whitney_DG

Happy reading!

Let’s Chat: How I Read So Many Books

DeAnneLeave a comment

I get the question a lot from people in my life as to how I’m able to read so many books. Last year I read 301 books and that surprised quite a few people in my life, even though they almost always see me with a book or kindle. The question that always follows is ‘how?’ so I’m going to break down some of the things I do to read so much.

So the first thing that really ups my game is the fact that I am able to listen to audio books at work. I’ve mentioned this many times, but it really helps. With a lot of books I’m able to listen at about double speed, though depending on the speed of the narrator’s speech I have been known to up it to 2.5 times speed. If I was not able to listen to audio books my numbers would be no where near what they are.

I also read a number of different formats and things such as graphic novels, poetry collections, manga, etc. will obviously take less time to read than full size novels. I also enjoy novellas and don’t turn my nose up at shorter books, I don’t choose books based on their page count so I often end up with a wide range of lengths and formats.

Another thing I’m able to do is read multiple books at once. I know that a lot of people can’t do this or don’t like to do this. I used to not be able to do it but then I went to college and had a double major, so I was constantly reading multiple things and having to keep them straight (often many different types of literature, not just textbooks) and I think that is what really started my ability to read different things at the same time. I will give one caveat though that they have to be different genres/types of stories.

The only other thing I really do, which I know a lot of other people do as well, is make sure I make time for reading. Like I said, I always have some form of a book with me and even if I can only eek out half an hour on my lunch, I take it.

So those are the main things I do that allow me to read so many books. Sometimes I have years like last year but sometimes I don’t. I’m definitely always trying to read more, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t.

Happy reading!