Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (Illustrated Edition) by J.K. Rowling ~ Illustrations by Jim Kay

The beloved first book of the Harry Potter series, now fully illustrated by award-winning artist Jim Kay.

For the first time, J. K. Rowling's beloved Harry Potter books will be presented in lavishly illustrated full-color editions. Rowling herself selected artist Jim Kay, whose over one hundred illustrations make this deluxe format as perfect a gift for the child being introduced to the series as for the dedicated fan.

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.

All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley--a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry--and anyone who reads about him---will find unforgettable. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS

I'M GOING TO ADD MY BIG OLE SPOILER THING FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN'T READ THESE BOOKS YET. I'M ALSO GOING TO ADD A FEW PICTURES THAT ARE IN THE BOOK SO YOU CAN SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS AND RUN OUT AND BUY IT, IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

LET US BEGIN!





Poor Harry's parents were killed by VOLDEMORT! Yep, I said it :-) So Dumbledore (the head honcho) and the gang decide to leave Harry with his mother's sister, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and their brat of a son, Dudley. This was a huge mistake because they were so mean to him growing up. He had to live in a cupboard under the stairs and wear Dudley's hand-me-downs. They didn't get him gifts or do anything nice for him. :-( They didn't even tell him what really happened to his parents, what they were and what he was... until one day.. on his eleventh birthday he started getting all of these letters in the mail inviting him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But his stupid family tried to keep the letters from Harry, this didn't go over well and we get to meet sweet, wonderful Hagrid. :-)

Hagrid is stunned that Harry doesn't know anything about anything and begins to fill him in, he also brings him a cake for his bday :-)





Moving on.. so Harry finds out about all the things he needs to find out about and Hagrid carts him off to the bank to get all of this money his parents left for him so he can buy supplies for school! I just loved in the movies and the books when they went shopping at Diagon Alley. I want to go there!

After Harry gets to school he gets into Gryffindor with his new friends, Ron, Hermione (my heroine), all of the Weasley's, and Neville. There are a lot of sweet people in their house.

He has an arch nemesis named Malfoy that get into Slytherin, the house Voldemort was in at one time.

Soooooo.... I'm not going to tell every little thing about the book as most have read it and some that haven't just might take a little peek :-)

Let's sum this up to say that Harry gets on the Quidditch team (read to find out what that is), there are trolls with nasty snot, a secret the group are trying to figure out, great times spent with Hagrid, many magical moments and an appearance of sorts by someone that will not be named......

I'm going to leave you with some pictures from the book, I had no idea that Jim Kay who is the illustrator is the same man who illustrated, "A Monster Calls," by Patrick Ness and he also has a rescued greyhound like me :-) Yay! ...OH and there will be no captions to the pictures, you can figure out most yourself or just look at the pretty pictures, just know that there are many more pictures in the book and all of the pages have something cool on them! I highly recommend this edition of the book!









I will say again to go out and buy this illustrated edition, it's so wonderful and I can't wait to get the rest of them in the illustrated editions!!!!!!!! Like yesterday!!!!!! Kudos to J.K. Rowling for writing the series and to Jim Kay for his wonderful illustrations! Professor McGonagall approves :-)



I LOVED TAKING THIS TRIP BACK DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH THE GROUP AND THE MAGIC!

 GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1438931165

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Illustrated/dp/0545790352/ref=la_B000AP9A6K_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451245684&sr=1-3

Hipster Animals by Dyna Moe

A field guide to scenesters, trend-hoppers, and other cutting-edge species you’ve like, probably never heard of. They’re pretty obscure.

 An illustrated pocket guide to the hip characters populating “cool neighborhoods” across America, Hipster Animals helps readers identify these urban wildlife in their natural habitats. Including details on the creatures’ identifying characteristics, diets, mating behavior, and calls, this parody reference guide provides a snarky glimpse into the foreign—yet all too familiar—world of the trendsetters among us. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS

OMG! THIS BOOK!



You have different groups of hipsters in the book. They have them put into groups in the book. You have, Food & Drink, On The Scene, Fashion & Style, Tech & Online, Music, Friends & Lovers, Entertainment & Recreation, Make & Hoard, and The Finer Arts. There are random tidbits about things on different pages as well.

I thought these hipster animals were just cute, my favorite being the horse, I call him Meh, I will add his picture on here.

I could relate to several of these hipster animals but I'm not telling which ones. LOL

Here are some pictures of a few of them including the Meh horse. :-)








The drawings are great and so are the sayings that go with each animal. I think if you want a good laugh that is totally different then you will probably like this book! Although, there are some cuss words in the book so I'm not sure if you want to let your young child look at this without you proof reading it first!

*I would like to thank Blogging For Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVEIW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1480816449

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Hipster-Animals-Field-Dyna-Moe/dp/160774791X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451172651&sr=8-1&keywords=hipster+animals

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni

Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah’s disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn’t believe that Edmund House — a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah’s murder — is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.

When Sarah’s remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she’s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past — and open the door to deadly danger.@goodreads

 MY REVIEW:

4 STARS




I thought the book was good! There are a lot of twists and turns for sure! And I didn't even pay attention that this is the first book so I'm guessing this is a series! Yay! I like Tracy Crosswhite's character.

Tracy is a detective, she decided this when her sister Sarah disappeared 20 years ago and there was never any closure for Tracy. The town of Cedar Grove put a man named Edmund House away for the crime, but something seemed off to Tracy...none of the evidence seemed right, but no one would listen to her. The town, including her father, said it was Edmund because he was in jail for a short 6 years for beating and raping a girl...6 years.. yeah..

The book goes back and forth between now and when Tracy and Sarah were last together. You get little clues along the way. Most of it was pretty obvious at one point but then they turn around and throw a twist in there!

Anyway, so these remains were found by a mans dog while they were out in the woods. These remains were proven to be Tracy's sister Sarah. Tracy immediately goes to Cedar Grove from Seattle to be involved in what is going on. Sarah's remains were found in the woods, but something was weird about the findings....no.. I'm not saying what!



Tracy and Sarah were friends with Dan and a bunch of kids growing up.. it is a small town. Anyway, Tracy catches up with Dan and he is a lawyer, she asks him to take a look at all of the work she has kept on the case for 20 years. She tells him there are some things that don't add up. Dan decides to take on the case with Tracy because he can see the things she pointed out to him. It's like really... you people just let this go through?

Oh and Dan has two cool dogs named Sherlock and Rex, they are Rhodesian Ridgeback/Mastiff mixes. Needless to say they are huge and cool. I always have to mention the dogs... moving on...

Every turn that Tracy and Dan make, they find more secrets and someone starts threatening their lives. I mean you have to have that right?



It all comes out in the end and it wasn't what I was expecting. Like I said before, some things you know right off the bat, but then the author just twists it around a little bit and your like.. REALLY!?

All in all, I liked the book a lot and I plan on reading more Tracy Crosswhite books.

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1358519050

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1477825576?keywords=my%20sister%27s%20grave&qid=1451165782&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

A New York Times bestseller

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS

First before I freak clean out with all of my spoilers and gifs and such, let me calmly say that I loved the part where Will and Nathan were watching one of my favorite movies of all time. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

NOW LET ME GO ON TO THE FREAKING REVIEW AFTER I HAVE DRIED MY TEARS AND YES THERE WILL BE SPOILERS SO DON'T LOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT!



I have laughed, I have cried, I have loved this book! Why did it take me so long to get to it!!?



Lou is such a beautiful person, I just loved her and I want her as my best friend, her and Sugar from another book. Anyway, Lou loses her job at the cafe (The Buttered Bun) that she worked at for 6 years.. was it 6 years? anyway, a long time. See her boss was going back to his country to take care of family and closing the shop. She goes looking for some other jobs because she helps her family with bills. She's 27 and lives with her mom, dad, sister, sister's child, and grandpa and times are tough. There are some times in the book that I wanted to smack her whole family by the way they treated her, but overall they really loved each other and they were all a hoot in their own way.

Speaking of hoot, Lou is freaking hilarious just being herself. I am going to post a few excerpts, but let me backtrack...

Lou finally has one last offer from the agency on a job to take care of a guy during the day. Lou is leery of this as she doesn't want to be wiping no butts and such. Fortunately for her( or not depending on what you think of the ending) it's not a butt wiping position. She is supposed to sit with Will, try to make him happy, give him his meds, feed him, that sort of thing. He has Nathan a medical care dude to take care of all that stuff.

Oh, well I guess I should have said Will is a quadriplegic. Man, this book is so good and has me so all over the place with this review! I know I'm going to leave something out.

Now, Will is all snarky and pissed off when we first meet him but he soon warms up to Lou. He finds her funny as well.. Oh, let me add a couple of excerpts.



♣♣♣♣♣

I swallowed, staring at it, and slowly lifted my eyes to his. Those few seconds were the longest I could remember.
"Can that thing get a puncture?" I said, finally, nodding at his wheelchair. "Because I have no idea where I would the put the jack."

"He's talking a bit more too. We've had weeks where he would hardly say a thing, but he's definitely up for a bit of a chat the last few days."
I thought of Will telling me if I didn't stop bloody whistling he'd be forced to run me over. "I think your definition of chatty and mine are a bit different."

♣♣♣♣♣

There is a funny part in the book where Lou starts getting Will to go out on little trips. They end up at some wine place and while he is sipping and spitting wine and talking it up with the owner Lou is wandering around. Will says something about Lou joining them and she says she can't, that her mom taught her it was rude to spit. Well, you hear the crickets while they stared at her. I liked to have cracked a rib laughing. I can't do the excerpt because I forgot to write the page number down. :) Anyway, there are a lot of funny little moments, nothing mind blowing but it just flows with the book and it's not so dismal.

Okay so there is a reason that Lou is really there and when she finds out she quits but gets called back in... she decides she's going to try to cheer Will up and get him out. So, like I said they started going on outings and some are disasters, but some are magical.


I totally get Will's point of view. Because (view spoiler)

Just ahhhhhhh... I want to say, but I can't. Lou gets online and talks to some other quads and their caregivers to get ideas.

Oh, I forgot to mention Lou has a boyfriend named Patrick she has been with for 6 years, I'm not sure why because he's not her type. Glad that ran it's course. So.. moving on, Lou books a trip for her, Patrick and Nathan to go do some extreme stuff and hang out at the beach. They almost weren't able to go because Will ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. I think Nathan said in the book it happens about once a month or something puts him in the hospital once a month or so. But they end up getting to go anyway. They have such a good time and some really sweet things are said.... then.. it just wasn't enough.. I was just devastated. I understand, but I was just devastated at the end. I knew what Will was going to do for Lou too, I mean anyone who reads the book will know that.

I just have to say, I really loved this book and am grateful for GR and GR friends because I have branched out more in reading different books and might have missed this gem, even though it broke my wittle heart :-(

GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1347158621

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Before-You-Jojo-Moyes/dp/0143124544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450747034&sr=8-1&keywords=me+before+you

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.@goodreads

 MY REVIEW:

4 STARS

When I first started this book, I couldn't get into it, it was slow, or maybe it was just my reading slump. Who knows, at any rate after I got back into reading it I enjoyed it. After a bit it picks up and is a really good story.

Wilhemina (Wil) is the orphan queen of Aecor. Her parents were killed many years ago during the 'One Night War' Wil and a bunch of other kids were taken to an orphanage. The Aecor kingdom is now watched over by some jerk. Anyway, a guy named Patrick, who is the leader of the Osprey's, rescues all of the kids and they join his group. They are all trying to get Wil back to Aecor and make the kingdom prosper again. But, not all is as it seems in this group.....

Here's a real Osprey if you interested ↓ He/she says hello!



Soooo... those that do magic can't do it any more because it has been banned. The reason for that is that the magic creates wraith, it's called a toxic by-product. What it does it gets into people and animals and mutates them. They are evil and try to kill everything when that happens. They have glow men, gargantuan cats, insects.. you get the picture. They can transform into whatever in some cases.


There is a guy that runs around in a mask killing the wraiths and taking anyone that uses magic to the police. People call him Black Knife.


Black Knife is trying to figure out Wil and her band of merry men and women to see if they are thieves or use magic... etc..

Wil has magic by the way and uses it every now and again.

Wil and her best friend Melanie, that is in the Osprey group too, plant themselves in the Palace acting like other noble women from another kingdom. This happens to be where the king that killed Wil's parents lives. Isn't life grand. But not all is as it seems of course. Oh and his son is there as well and she doesn't like him either.

Anyhoo.... Patrick is the leader of the Osprey's and he turns into a big ole jerk, trust me.

Wil starts going out on missions with Black Knife, yeah, they become friends and then fall in love.. isn't that sweet and they kill wraiths together and save people on the streets. Well all of that sweetness goes away when we find out who Black Knife really is.. that's always the case.. well mostly anyway.

The ending of the book was like.. um.. cliffhanger like that... really? Of course now I'm going to have to read the next book as I have a fondness for Will and Black Knife now. I like people that have bad arseness in them :)

I'm glad I pushed on through the book because it did turn out really good for me. I try to do that because a lot of times that is the case.

Fin

 GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1277556503

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062317385?keywords=the%20orphan%20queen&qid=1450616857&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

The Dirt on Night Grave by Darynda Jones

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In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

2 STARS

Sigh......



I really loved the first book but I didn't like this one :-(


I read the first book and I loved it. I loved Charley and her snark and all of her friends and most definitely Reyes! I do own some of the other books, but I haven't read them as yet. This one book is not going to change me from going back and reading the prior books since I did love the first one.

Charley has amnesia and going by the name of Janey Doerr. Something terrible happened in the prior book and caused this to happen. All of her friends are surrounding her, including Reyes until..they hope..she comes back to her senses.

She still have Charley snark that I love though :-)

---->EXCERPT<----

♣♣♣♣♣

"Can I take your picture? I have to post this on one of those sites that has photos of UFOs and Sasquatch. Otherwise no one will believe me."

"They have programs."
"Right? Those things are great. I watched a zombie program last night, and tonight I'm going to watch this one about a blond chick who controls dragons. And there's this sexy short guy who's drunk all the time."
"Not those kinds of programs." She admonished me with a withering stare. It almost worked.
"There are clinics."

♣♣♣♣♣

Charley/Janey still sees ghosts and she's trying to figure out who she is and why she sees said ghosts. All the while she is working at The Firelight Grill as a waitress. Reyes comes around every day a long with her other friends and some even work there. I don't want to give too much away though.



I like some of the things that went on between her and Reyes in this one, trying to find themselves so to speak. But I really didn't like when I found out what she is... this is just not that kind of book to me. I like the idea of Charley and her snark and her seeing ghosts and solving crimes. Not this other stuff.. It just doesn't go with who she is, in my opinion, when I found out at the end of the book. I'm sure all of this is told in the prior book.

Anyway, I know plenty of people love this book and many more will, it just wasn't for me. :-(

*I would like to thank NETGALLEY and ST. MARTIN'S PRESS for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest reivew.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1432935173

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Ninth-Grave-Charley-Davidson/dp/1250074487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450229221&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dirt+on+the+ninth+grave

Tough As They Come by SSG Travis Mills

Thousands have been wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five have survived quadruple amputee injuries. This is one soldier's story. 

Thousands of soldiers die year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was caught in an IED blast four days before his twenty-fifth birthday. Against the odds, he lived, but at a severe cost—Travis became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation.

Suddenly forced to reconcile with the fact that he no longer had arms or legs, Travis was faced with a future drastically different from the one he had imagined for himself. He would never again be able to lead his squad, stroke his fingers against his wife’s cheek, or pick up his infant daughter.

Travis struggled through the painful and anxious days of rehabilitation so that he could regain the strength to live his life to the fullest.  With enormous willpower and endurance, the unconditional love of his family, and a generous amount of faith, Travis shocked everyone with his remarkable recovery. Even without limbs, he still swims, dances with his wife, rides mountain bikes, and drives his daughter to school. 

Travis inspires thousands every day with his remarkable journey. He doesn’t want to be thought of as wounded.  “I'm just a man with scars,” he says, “living life to the fullest and best I know how @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS

OMG! This book had me sobbing at parts. I'm really glad I got to read this man's story.



This is the story of SSG Travis Mills and how he became the 4th out of 5 quadruple amputee's and survived. Travis talks about life growing up, what it was like, what he wanted to do with his life, things like that. He really wanted to play football but he didn't make the grades out of high school to get asked to play. He decided to go to community college and decided he was wasting his money and then joined up with the military.

Travis talks about the squadron he was in charge of, his friends there, his family, how he met his wife, his baby girl, parents, everything. He's a tough man to go through all the went through and felt that he let his men down. There were a few times in the book that he lost his spirit but he came back and fought all of that away.

The journal entries from his wife in the book and thoughts from his parents just about keeled me over. I cried and cried, and Travis talking about how he felt like he couldn't take care of his family. But his strength and will to fight back as he has done all of this life was a thing of inspiration.. and yeah.. I cried at that too.

I'm going to leave the rest of the review to mostly excerpts from the book because they are just too good. I will comment here and there. I would recommend this book to anyone in the military or that would just like to read about this man. It's truly heartfelt.



♣♣♣♣♣

My rank was staff sergeant. I was an NCO, part of the backbone of the army. Specifically, I was a weapons squad leader in 1st Platoon, Bravo Troop, 4/73rd Cavalry Squadron, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. It's a long title, I know. Basically I was a paratrooper and a combat infantry soldier. I was a frontline soldier in a war without front lines.

I called Riot up to me and asked him where he thought we should put up the gun. I knew where it should go, but I wanted to let him decide, making sure he knew his stuff. He motioned to exactly where I thought we should put it, a good spot, and I said, "All right. Go get Neff and bring him up here." That was it. Riot left to go get Neff, and as he did, I set my backpack down. The backpack touching the dirt was all it took.
Such a simple act of war.
My world erupted.

Travis goes into great detail of what happens from there and what he remembers, no holds barred, the bad and the ugly and the gore.

The book backtracks back and forth between things that happened.

Okay then, that's what I'd do. For my first deployment, I was going to be one small part of the greater force of ISAF, helping to fight the war against global terror. It felt a lot more purposeful to me than sitting in community college, worrying I was wasting my money.

The morning of April 10, 2012, dawned bright. It was four days until my twenty-five birthday, and we were now six weeks into this deployment.

This was the day he got blown up.... the first family member called was his brother-in-law, Josh Buck, he's in the military too, but was able to get to him and spend the time with him before anyone else.

The nurse brought Josh some of my personal effects that I'd had on me when I was wounded. Among them was my wedding ring. My ring finger had been destroyed, but one of the medic at the scene had thought to find the ring. It was caked with blood and dirt. Josh asked the hospital staff for a couple of alcohol wipes. He sat in the hallway and painstakingly scrubbed until every bit of blood and grime was gone. I was still sedated, and this gave him something productive to do to take his mind off things, he said. He vowed that theh ring would not be out of his possession until he could give it to Kelsey.

When the job was finished, he put the wedding ring in his pocket next to my Purple Heart.

There are some funny parts that happened with Travis and his dad trying to cheer him up. I'm not going to put that here, but I will put in a little convo him and Josh had that cracked me up from all of the crying.

Josh was in my room.
I could see him clearly.
"Josh," I said.
"Yeah?"
"I see dead people. Don't you?"
"There are no dead people in the room," Josh said flatly. "Go back to sleep, Travis."
Five minutes went by. "Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"Those dead people are still here."
"Are you serious?"
I cracked a grin. "I'm just messing with you, dude."

I loved this part because I hate when parents don't correct their kids or try to at any rate.

Normally I like kids, and I tried to shrug it off. But the kid kept staring-and staring and staring- and the kid's parent saw her do this but didn't do anything about it. Finally, fed up, I hissed to the kid, "You know who did this to me? The bogeyman in your closet and the monster under your bed."

I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!

I'm leaving you here with one last excerpt:

I don't think what I've gone through is particularly harder than what plenty of other people go through. Maybe your mom has gone through terminal cancer. Or maybe you lost your job. Or maybe you struggle with addiction. I don't compare the degree of difficulty in my story to anybody else's. We all have our unique challenges to go through. The point is that you can keep going You can choose to never give up. You can choose to never quit.

THANK YOU FOR THAT TRAVIS, WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN. TOO MANY PEOPLE TELL YOU LOOK AT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE GOING THROUGH, YOU COULD BE THAT PERSON AND TRAVIS DIDN'T DO THAT, HE SAYS TO NOT GIVE UP AND THAT NO ONE'S PROBLEMS ARE ANY WORSE THAN ANYONE ELSE. BLESS HIM!

Travis also started the Travis Mills Foundation, which benefits and assists wounded and injured veterans. Check it out: www.travismills.org

*I would like to thank BLOGGING FOR BOOKS for a free print copy of this awesome book in exchange for my honest review.*



Travis, his wife Kelsey and their daughter Chloe.

 

 

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1468485154 

 

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

 

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/110190478X?keywords=tough%20as%20they%20come&qid=1450104275&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1