Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

This book seriously surprised me! I would give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I found it difficult to get into at first. It really didn't seem like it was going to be very good. As I kept going it just got more and more interesting. Then at the end... holy cow! So messed up for them I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even thinking that what happens could even be a possibility! 

Overall, even with the slow beginning, I loved the way this book is written. There is enough going on through out the rest of the book that it really pulls you in and keeps you there. I always have a few books going at once but I had no desire to read anything else. I would say probably around the half way point this book was all I thought about.

Very enjoyable, funny book! I recommend all that enjoy young adult, fantasy books please read this.

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

The Extraordinary Means Book Tag! ~Bonnie

Hello all!

Since my sister Emily did this post I thought I might as well do one as well. All of these are fairly difficult for me. There are so many options, with so many authors or books that I love. 

1) I would give up the Internet for a month for a signed first edition of this book:

I don't really have an absolute favorite book that I would love to own a first edition to. I would take any signed book and cherish it from any author really. I feel like my answer should be that I would want some wonderfully old book that will be a classic for generations to come. But that just isn't the case. I would probably take something from my childhood and that would be one of Shel Silverstein's books of poem. Most likely it would be Where the Sidewalk Ends. I do have my copy that my parents gave to me is 1991 and it sits with all my other old timey books high on the shelf. I have so many pages dog eared with the poems I loved as a child.

2) I would give up pizza for a year if it meant I could sit next to this author on a long plane ride:

I think for this one I am going to have to go with Cassandra Clare or maybe even Diana Gabaldon. I absolutely love the series written by both of these women and would love to pick either of their brains about anything and everything.

  

3) I would sit through a thousand hours of commercials if it would ensure that Hollywood made this book into a movie:

I have to agree with Emily on this one. Out of all the books I have read this year, More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera was the most exceptional book I read. I devoured it in pretty much one sitting. 

4) I would never read a new book again if it meant I could live inside this book:

I have to go with the shadow hunter world here. I adore this world and the how wonderfully the books are written. I wouldn't care if I was a shadow hunter, vampire, warlock or werewolf in this world. Actually, being a warlock would probably be pretty bad ass. I am pretty sure I wouldn't want to be a fairy, unless maybe I was actually a good fairy.

5) I would let my google search history be made public if it meant I could be best friends with this author:

This one I simply cannot answer. There is just too long of a list of authors that I would love to be friends with. 

6) I would donate everything I own to Goodwill if it meant I could date this book character in real life:


Same as above really -- how can someone choose?! There have been so many wonderful options for fictional boyfriends that I would take any one of them! Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs, Chaol, Rowan, Ronan, Gansy.... I could just keep going on forever. But I will spare you all! Lol

Anyway, time to go shopping for costumes!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Holy smokes! This book was just great. I really had no idea what it was about before I dove into it. I absolutely loved it! The 1920's is one of my favorite decades and I loved that this book was set in that time period. I however did not realize how dang creepy it was going to be. I read Goosebumps as a kid and from there moved on to Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I loved them but along the way, honestly, I became a big chicken. I won't watch horror anymore and I stopped reading it. Had I known this book was so creepy I probably would have never picked it up. I am glad I didn't because I would have missed a great book. 

I normally read a few books at time. This book was so well done that I just couldn't stop reading it. I was thinking about it always. I even took a different book to work to read to break this up a little bit, but I regretted that the entire day. All I wanted was to sit and devour this book.

I have picked up the second book, Lair of Dreams, at the library and I am dying to read it. I am so trying to hold off until next weekend. There will not be much time to read between now and then. And I want to be able to sit and just read all of the 600 pages right away. 

Please read this book!

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Library Re-discovered ~Bonnie

Last week I decided it was time to take my daughter to the library. She just turned seven, so I realize I may be a little on this. But it was high time I thought that she sees all the books it has to offer. She of course has the library she goes to at school and she brings home some books from there when she gets the chance. But I wanted her to experience a public library. With all kinds of books, movies, magazines. And of course all the different people, young and old enjoying what books have to offer.

She loved it and picked out a few books, but since I needed a new card (it's been over 10 years since I went to a library) I was only able to get two books. So, we each picked out a book to take home. I received the bit of mail they sent to verify my address earlier this week, so we headed to the library this morning to check out more. I took both her and my nephew who is staying with me for awhile. They both picked out a ton of books and I have quite the task of helping them read the all now. 

I wish that this experience is one that I had shared with my daughter sooner. Being that she has never really shown an interest in reading, something that I hope she grows out of, I had not really thought about it before. I didn't think she would enjoy it as much as she has with just these two trips. I recently discovered that she enjoys Shel Silverstein's as much as I did as a child. I am hoping that between that and the magical library she learns that reading really isn't so bad. There has to be a reason why Momma loves it so much right?

Do you all visit the library for books? Do you check out a few at a time or just one? When did you start taking your children, if you have any?

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

I was not a big fan on this last book. I think it may have ruined the trilogy for me. I read the first two back at the beginning of the year. I really enjoyed both, they were fantastic I thought. But this last book fell so short. I thought that it took me so long to get into this book because it was the last one. And when I was done with it there was no more. Sometimes, that can be a really depressing thing, just knowing that there will be no more living in a world you loved.

Unfortunately, with this book it seemed like there was a word count to be met. So many descriptions for something when only one is needed. The entire thing seemed to be drug out so far because of this. And honestly I am really not sure of everything that happened. Because of the way it is written it was extremely convoluted to me. I didn't understand half of what went on.

I think overall I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars. After my love for the first two, this third book severely disappointed me.

Let me know what you thought of this book.

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie

The Merciless by Danielle Vega

I am really not sure how I feel about this book. I only gave it 3 out of 5 stars and for that, I feel like I am being pretty generous. 

This book reminding me of the movie The Craft. It has been a million years since I watched the movie, but there is something about it that makes me think of that. Maybe it is only the fact that there are four girls or maybe there were other things. I am not sure what it was. To me it seems like this book would actually make a better movie then a book. 

It did hold my interest and for that I was able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. At least once I actually focused on it. There were some parts that actually made me jumpy. Though, I would really call the book scary. 

I'm not really sure if there was a point to this story. Or if it is just a creepy book about evil girls. All of the girls in the book seem to have some pretty serious issues with different things. 

If you have read this let me know what you thought.

Thanks for reading!

~~~~~Bonnie