Review: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have nothing bad to say about this book. I loved her first book and I love this one too.

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Review: Ross Poldark

Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I watched the Masterpiece Theater version of this that was on the past year and really loved it. The show is pretty faithful to the book. I have a feeling it may have pulled some plot from the next book but I'll have to wait to read that one to find out for sure. I really enjoyed this one and the fun was not diminished at all for having seen the show first.

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Review: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those situations where you just cannot with any fairness judge someone who went through this ordeal unless you were with them in the thick of it. This book made me very grateful I am not a doctor or a nurse and that there are so many people willing to do such a stressful job.

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Review: Night of Cake & Puppets

Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aawwww.... the night Mik and Zuze fell in love. I wish someone planned out a date this cool for me. Lovely little side story to the trilogy.

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Review: The Palace Job

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this book at first. I think it was all the foreign names that I kept stumbling over made it hard for me to keep my stride with the story. I did really love the dialog though, it was very funny. And who doesn't love a book with ass-kicking female heroes and unicorns? Looking forward to reading the other books.

This review is in exchange for a free e-galley from Netgalley.com.

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Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I believe the line from Legends of the Fall goes: "It's a story as old as Tristan & Isolde." What a great series. What was nice was that it was a trilogy that deserved to be a trilogy. It wasn't one story stretched beyond recognition and wrung out to dry. I really need to buy my own copies to add to my collection. I saw that movie rights have been sold. I hope it gets made and they do it justice.

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Review: Neverwhere

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The print in this edition seems really small. If that's something you have problems with you might want to read this as an ebook or large print edition.

It's been a while since I originally read this so I couldn't tell you how different it is from the first edition. Still a good story though. Makes me want to paint the characters. I would really like to hear the last BBC radio show they did of this, need to track it down. Towards the end it started to remind me of the end of A Christmas Story.

I didn't read the story at the end about the Marquis' jacket. I'll have to come back to that sometime in the future.

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Review: Days of Blood & Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Does a great job of moving the plot forward, introducing new ideas that fit in smoothly, and developing the characters. Not at all a victim of the awkward book 2 of the trilogy syndrome. Can't wait to see how it all wraps up.

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Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a wonderful, cool, new world this book is. I really liked this one. It was chock-a-block full of magic and imagination. I got this one from the library but may have to buy copies to add to my collection. Can't wait to read book 2.

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Review: Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets

Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets by Jacob M. Appel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I was reading this I was thinking it could be a lot of fun if Appel and Kelly Link collaborated on some stories. But I digress....

Appel's books are always a pleasure. He has such an original story-telling style. This is a great collection of love and loss, probably much more honest (in it's own way) than many other attempts out there.

This honest review is thanks to a free copy received from the author.

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Review: Magonia

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to be honest. I wanted to read this book because Neil Gaiman gave it a good blurb. This caused me to have rather high expectations that it just couldn't live up to. Don't get me wrong. This book is very original and has some lovely imagery. I just couldn't get as into it as I hoped I would. I think it's a book I will like more on a second reading though, after some time has passed. I do think it would make a very cool movie.

Would be willing to bet this title came about from someone's child not being able to pronounce the word "magnolia."

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Review: Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice

Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first, I wasn't a fan of the way the author jumped around from one person's narrative to another's. It made it difficult to engage in the story when you didn't get too far in to learning about one person before you were on to someone else. By the end, this proved to very effective as it established a broader perspective of the events described in the story. Turns out, that broad perspective is what makes this book so wonderful. It revolves around a few main characters and one major battle but the sheer quantity of people involved and touched makes it really amazing.
Good story for fans of Unbroken and anyone interested in history in general.

This honest review is thanks to a free e-galley received from Netgalley.com.

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Review: Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a fun format for a memoir. I have to admit, I skipped reading most of the notes at the bottom of the page directing you to different sections so I'm not sure how funny all of those were. The few I took in were cute. The only regret I have about this book is that I read it without having gotten around to watching How I Met Your Mother yet. Kind of spoiled the ending for me, I think. Neil does have the tendency to bend the truth in a few of his tales so maybe he didn't give anything away. I'll have to watch and see.
If you've ever enjoyed anything this man has done (I don't think I've seen much more than Doogie), you'll probably enjoy reading this. If nothing else, he spins a good yarn.

This review is in exchange for a free copy received from Bloggingforbooks.org.

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Review: Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"the wind blew, but not too hard and we were happy and gay for it was only twenty below zero and the sun shone." Silly midwesterners.

This was a great read, from a historical perspective. This was written first and was the base of the novels and tv show everyone knows about. The show and the novels were so well done, it's easy to think of them as pure fact but they were souped up a bit and toned down for children.

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Review: I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook

I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook by Sarah Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been having a lot of problems with sugar addiction lately. I think it's because I cut back on the amount of fruit I was eating, I was just craving sweets all the time. This was a new experience for me as I've never had a huge sweet tooth. I picked this up looking for some helpful guidelines. Basically, you need to quit cold turkey, including fruit. Then you can ease back in to making more sensible choices. As someone who works out a lot, I'm not sure I'm ready to give up fruit yet and I'm not a big dairy eater but I'm going to give the rest of it a go. There are some really great looking recipes in here. Can't wait to try some of them.

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Review: Prudence

Prudence by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And just like that, Carriger is back on top form. Not that she was ever far off. Fun, fun read.

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