Sunday Salon 2/26/17

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

 

Here we are again on Sunday, the last Sunday in Feb it is hard to think that March is already nearly here! There has been so much going on this year for me already sometimes I am surprised when I look up and see what day it is. The good news is that in March we will be seeing Beauty and the Beast pop up in theaters. Very excited about it! I mean what book lover hasn’t been a fan of Belle at one point or another?

I have not gotten as much reading done as I wanted to this week, but I am still having fidgeting issues so I hope that at some point I will be able to shake out of that. At any rate I am getting the itch that I often find myself getting every so often. What is that itch you ask? It is the undeniable itch to read a specific time period. Lately I have managed to find some balance in what I am reading. I have even really stayed pretty well into the modern stuff (hey for me that is an accomplishment lol) but I am straying out of that now. I am finding that it is time to dive into the Tudor court again.

The good news is that this is an era which is pretty popular and there are several very good authors who write within it. I mean when I get stuck in a mood to read oh say the Revolutionary war time frame I find there is not as much to choose from. That is changing as more authors seem to be wanting to write in that era but I digress. The problem I have come on in this instance is that I have so many books on hand to choose from I have no idea where to start.

So, friends any suggestions? LOL

 

Book Review: Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage

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Remember the places you touched me.

The parts of Mira Cillo that Ben touched are etched on his soul.

Palm. Hair. Chest. Cheek. Lips. Throat. Heart.

It was the last one that broke her. After her death, Mira sends Ben on a quest for notes she left in the seven places where they touched—notes that explain why she and her sister, Francesca, drowned themselves in the quarry. How Ben interprets those notes has everything to do with the way he was touched by a bad coach years before. But the truth behind the girls’ suicides is far more complicated, involving a dangerous infatuation, a deadly miracle, and a crushing lie.

There are some books that when you go into them you have fairly high expectations, for me this was one of those books. Unfortunately, it didn’t really live up to what I hoped it would, I tried, I really did, but even with that said it doesn’t make it a bad book. It could just be that this book was not my personal cup of tea in general.

Two young sisters are found wrapped together, clutching one another at the bottom of a quarry, the question then becomes how did they get there in that place together? The premise of this read is solid, it promises for intense reading and at times discomfort for the reader and on that it does not disappoint and it lives up to the title of the girls being broken. The cover of the book is also haunting and beautiful at the same time, yes you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes a good cover really can be an added bonus.

The way the book unfolded and the letters we see through Ben’s eyes is interesting, but for me it just was not interesting enough. The story goes back and forth in time and there are times that on its own made things a little harder to stay connected. There are books out there that can do that two different time lines game fairly well and one’s that can’t for me this one fell into the can’t area. Then there is the over detailing on things. This is what for me caused my attention to wane from the story. While the writing is beautiful when I get to many details thrown at me, I feel as if I can’t imagine the world for myself. I like to feel as if I can picture some of the story in the way that I want to picture it and that is where I get a disconnect. I also honestly found Ben to be more than a little bit creepy, but that could have been what the author was going for.

So at the end of the day this book was not the worst I have ever read by any means, but it just falls into the meh area for me. I am sure other readers will like it better so I wouldn’t call it a complete pass, it will depend on what kind of writing you really enjoy.

I would like to thank the Publisher for allowing me to have a digital ARC from NetGalley of this book. This review is completely my own and honest opinion and has nothing to do with getting the ARC for free.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 2/21/17

- Ambrosia 31 Comments
Teaser Tuesday

 

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• 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!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

It would seem my last few book selections have been a little..on the dark side, lol This one seems to fall into that category as well but I was very excited when I was approved for this title on NetGalley.

“Everyone wanted to touch us,including you. So remember the seven places you touched me. That’s where you’ll find the truth. Start at the beginning in my words. Ben wiped sweat from his eyes. Mira had left him something. Mira had left him her words. Letters, notes, something. Where?” ~ 3% Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage

Musing Monday 2/20/17

- Ambrosia 8 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEKS RANDOM QUESTION: Do you like new book smell? Old book smell? All book smell?

So this weeks question is rather random but it is something that I ponder frequently because I love old book smell. New books are nice too but there is just something more familiar and calming about the smell of old books to me. The lack of book smell was one reason that I did not jump onto the Kindle bandwagon when they first came out. Price was a factor too (is it me or were they way more expensive when they first came out? Like massively.) but it really did come down to the lack of book smell for me.

I still love walking into a used book store the smell is one of a kind. I will always pause and just enjoy that smell for a moment before I go on to continue my shopping. I often do the same thing when I walk into a library. I know they have tried to replicate that smell in candles and the like but for me it is never the same. Old book smell is one of a kind.

Sunday Salon 2/19/17

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I used to be able to curl up with a good book in the same place for hours on end and simply get lost in the world that was being given to me though the pages. I have not been able to do that recently. This is not because of any lack in the books it is because of me and how I have been the last 4 years or so. A lot of it I think is because that is when my anxiety really got worse. My mind just refuses to be still, no matter how much I try. I am sure that some of you reading this will understand the issue. I do hope at some point to be able to make my mind relax enough so that I can curl up for hours at a time again.

Of course, just because I can’t spend hours at once reading doesn’t mean I don’t read. I have learned to smile and not just laugh outright at some of the mistakes the kindle reader makes. When I pick up a hard copy book I can read for an hour at most before the brain starts running again and demands that I do something else. That is the biggest issue for me, there just are not enough hours in the day to do every single thing that my mind comes up with. From writing ideas to, crochet ideas too, make up ideas, to clothing ideas and so on and so forth you get the drift. So many wonderful ideas I want to bring to life and I can’t make time stop so that I can do them all and then write a book. There are also the regular duties we all have in life, mothering, cleaning, working. Oh right and every once in a blue moon I manage to get some sleep. I guess one benefit of being a chronic insomniac is that you do tend to get more time in the day than many others, but that is going to be a completely different kind of post.

I have been thinking about the trouble I have keeping still a lot lately. I know I need to work on it so I am going to make an honest effort to do so this year. I was treated to a fidget cube, several days ago and I am wondering if that will help me with this new mission. I love writing and crochet so much that it often feels like if I am just sitting and only reading (vs having kindle read out loud to me (like I am right now lol) or listen to an audio book, my hands want to be crocheting. So maybe the fidget cube, will keep my hands busy while I read. I plan on giving that a try later this week.

Alas, I fear this has become a little bit of a random ramble. I am going to blame that on the lack of sleep again I am afraid. I almost got to sleep at a semi normal hour for once, and then new little boy Misha decided my feet were his fun toys. I wasn’t even moving them! Little stinker and yet I love him for it.

Here is hoping for a good week for everyone reading this.

Book Review: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz #1) by L. Frank Baum

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Follow the yellow brick road!

Dorothy thinks she’s lost forever when a tornado whirls her and her dog, Toto, into a magical world. To get home, she must find the wonderful wizard in the Emerald City of Oz. On the way she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. But the Wicked Witch of the West has her own plans for the new arrival – will Dorothy ever see Kansas again?

Every now and then I like to travel back to books that I loved when I was younger. When a new show that is based on an old favorite book I really want to read the book again, thanks to Emerald City I went back and read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book is truly enjoyable and one of the reasons that I became such a fan of books along with some other classics of course.

The book is so much different then the classic Judy Garland film, it is darker and of course the slippers aren’t ruby at all but silver. There really isn’t much I can say about this book other then I enjoyed every page just like I did when I was a kid. It is a classic for a reason and as one of the earliest fantasy works you can really see how it plant the seeds in the genre. It might seem “trope” like to readers who are coming to it late in life or the younger generation but when it was written it really was something different. To me it stands the test of time even if it doesn’t to others. This will be one that I keep coming back to every now and then. Not much left to say because really I think almost everyone has read this one or at least knows a fair amount about it.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 2/14/17

- Ambrosia 29 Comments
Teaser Tuesday

 

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• 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!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Happy Valentine’s Day…I am sure there is something to be said about my quote this week considering the day lol

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Musing Monday 2/13/17

- Ambrosia 10 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEKS RANDOM QUESTION: If you could travel to one place you’ve read about in a book, what place would you visit and what book was it from?

I thought I would walk a little more on the creative side with the muse this week. I have been needing a little bit of a creative kick in the pants lately and this might be just the thing for me, I hope it is fun for you guys too. Books take us to different worlds, with different people and we can often see things we would never otherwise dream of. This is not only fantasy lands of course but times of the past and even modern times just with different jobs. A lot of the places I read about are dangerous but I still find that I would like to go there.

This is a question that for me will probably change depending on my mood or what I am currently reading. With that said I think right this moment if I had to pick I would like to go to the world of Harry Dresden. Harry lives in our world but of course it is a bit different. Harry gets to go and play with the Sidhe (okay not always that fun) and just some of the adventures he has seem fun even if they are dangerous. Besides, who wouldn’t want to get to talk to Bob the Skull? Or leave out pizza for toot toot the fairy. So, what world would you like to go to?

Sunday Salon 2/12/17

- Ambrosia 1 Comment

The Holiday on steroids is almost upon us, yes I am talking about Valentines day. I know I am sure I sound a little bit like a bahhumbug (no idea what you would call a valentine scrooge so, going with this lol) but it really bothers me on a whole. The holiday is really nothing but one that is designed for people to spend money. Don’t get me wrong I love a good Valentine gift as much as the next girl (although my idea of a good gift might be different from others, ie: jewelry is pretty and all but a stash of yarn will really make me happy!) but no matter where you shop you can’t escape the bombard of pink and red and candy.

Upon further thought maybe it is the Pink that drives me so batty about this holiday, anyone who knows me knows how much I dislike pink. Unless it is the story of the Pink Carnation and then well all systems are go. At any rate I have been a bit on a meh with the oncoming Holiday for many reasons this year. Which means I also haven’t done the one tradition I enjoy doing on this pumped up Holiday. I pick out a historical romance and make my “valentine read” I didn’t do it last year either. There is my overshare for the day 😉

Not to much else going on right now book wise. This week has been full of tidying up some work things and working on a crochet pattern that until I get it done as I see it in my head I just won’t be happy. My creative brain is slowly chugging along and hopefully it will start to pick up some speed soon! I was told I should walk on the wild side a little bit more like I used to. SO here I go I am going to walk on the wild side with Sunday Salon and hit send without proof reading. *Gasp*

Book Review: Bloodstorm (Heart of a Vampire #1) by Amber Kallyn

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When duty forces a shaman to stop a vampire from her revenge, love doesn’t just burn… it bites. For two hundred years, Niki DeVeraux has been tracking the monster who murdered her family and made her a vampire. She finally catches up to him only to face more than she bargained for in a too-sexy sheriff who makes her remember she’s still a woman. With duties as Keeper of the peace and Sheriff, Shane Spencer must protect humanity and stop the friction between the local Arcaine races before it turns into an all out blood war. When wolves start turning up dead, the tension between the races grows and suspicion falls on Niki. Shane knows she’s not to blame, and it has nothing to do with the primal urges she stirs within him. Working together, they must stop the hostilities from going over the edge. Trouble is, the desires raging between them might prove more dangerous than the surrounding threats.

At long last here is my final review of books I read in 2016. I know it seems like I took forever and I did a bit, but here it is. Long live 2017 from now on.

This book was alright, I would not jump up and down and call this my next big vampire series to read but I also didn’t hate it. It is a fast and easy read at only about 190 pages. What kept me from truly being able to fully love this book instead of just feeling lukewarm about it was that everything just felt a little bit on the surface. If the book had been longer, we may have been able to dig into it more, get more connected to the characters and their stories.

Due to the fact that so much of it was just right on the surface there were quite a few plot holes big enough to drive a mack truck through. I hate saying that, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. The format is there, the interesting characters and other items that could have really drawn the reader in are all there but they are only lightly touched on. Case in point Nikki is hunting down the Vampire who turned her into a vampire. His name is Thomas, when he came, he killed Nikki’s entire family, but allowed her to not only live but turned her. Why? What was his motivation in doing that? Why not kill her as well, so that he was not leaving someone behind who could seek vengeance upon him? Let alone turning her into a creature like him with long life so that she could basically hold on to that grudge. What was his thinking behind that? It wasn’t like she stayed around as his companion or anything.

Shane also came across as a character that was a little creepy. He was more than happy to have a sexual relationship with someone who looked much younger? I had some of the same issues with Twilight, but at least Edward was dating in his own, age pool per-say. He didn’t look like an adult going out with a teenager. With all of that said, it was not the worst book I have read and even if it was superficial I did enjoy it. I would not be picking on these exact points if I didn’t. I just wanted to enjoy it much more.

My Gemstone Rating:

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