Lucy has a lot on her
plate. While dealing with the unexpected and tragic death of a family
member, Lucy realizes she has been given an extraordinary gift: She can
communicate with the departed and sense things that are no longer a part
of this world. While honing her psychic skills, Lucy copes with the
grief of death and tries to keep her broken family together amid their
mourning. Meanwhile, Lucy's relationship with Jack is strained and she
wonders if she can keep him in her life when dealing with her family's
misery. But tragedy strikes Lucy's family again, and Lucy's new skills
are put to the test as she races against the clock to save one of her
siblings, who has vanished without a trace. MY MOTHER'S GIFT, sequel to
the moving THE RIGHT FAMILY, examines companionship and obsessions,
grief and understanding, forgiveness and scorn and is the powerful
conclusion to THE RIGHT FAMILY series.@goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK BY THE AUTHOR IN EXCHANGE FOR
MY HONEST REVIEW AND I'M SO GLAD IT'S ANOTHER OF HER BOOKS THAT I JUST
LOVE! I'M REAL PICKY WHEN I GET A BOOK FROM AN AUTHOR BUT I'M NEVER MEAN
IF I DON'T LIKE IT :-)
In
the first book I talked about Lucy with her big family and Jack with
his brother. Jack and Lucy were good friends from young and then they
get separated later on just as they were having feelings for each other.
They found each other again and a death happened in Lucy's family and
she had to stay while Jack went back home. But they promised they would
stay together and Jack said he would wait for her, my @ss!
Anyway,
so Lucy is trying to help with the family and grieve over the loss.
They have a big family of brothers and sisters and mom and pop.
But.....Lucy.... gets a gift from the beyond... and she's visited by a
family member from the beyond in the form of a lady bug and such. I love
ladybugs... sorry.. 
She loves these visits and talks, and then she finds out shes a medium....
But it's not all creepy like, well not in the book anyway, it could get creepy on down the line.
In
the last book Lucy's sister Kat gets together with Jack's brother
Charles...now, they are living together in an apartment and working on a
fishing boat catching tuna. Kat used to live with her best friend
Demetry, but they left and moved to Boston. 
Lucy's
brother Thomas and best friend Amelia are officially together and they
are sweet together. Well, they are both hardheaded and what not but it's
cute.
Meanwhile good ole Jack sends a jerk letter to Lucy and is sitting around in Indiana doing things he should not be doing! 
Then
out of the blue, here comes a psycho from one of Lucy's family members
past and starts shooting up people and kidnapping and what not. It's
like, what is wrong with this unlucky family! 
SEE THAT PRETTY CABIN ABOVE.. UP THERE ↑
Isn't it just beautiful.... well it's not when someone kidnaps you and
ties you up and has you there in the middle of no where because they are
crazier than a sh*t house rat and then just when you think nothing else
can get any worse, here comes some other nut ball having their dogs
attack and kill the first kidnapper and then kidnap you again and take
you to a basement lock up. I mean holy crow!!!!!! I would be like, I
need off this crazy train, after I peed on myself and such!
So
this really handsome detective (Demetry) is working with Lucy to try and
find her family member. He's sweet and yummy and I was hoping for
something with him, but no go. 
So,
they work together with Lucy's insight, so to speak, and they find the
first kidnapper (dead) and then they find the second kidnapper (dead) ..
must suck to be a kidnapper.
And then they all live happily,
banged up ever after. And two different people have some babies and
weddings and not all in that order. 
I loved this book better than the first one!
GOODREADS REVIEW:
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
The second paperback edition of a glorious two-volume, full-color graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's #1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery and Carnegie Medal-winning novel The Graveyard Book, adapted by P. Craig Russell and illustrated by an extraordinary team of renowned artists.
Inventive, chilling, and filled with wonder, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book
reaches new heights in this stunning adaptation. Artists Kevin Nowlan,
P. Craig Russell, Galen Showman, Scott Hampton, and David Lafuente lend
their own signature styles to create an imaginatively diverse and yet
cohesive interpretation of Neil Gaiman's luminous novel.
Volume Two includes Chapter Six through the end of the book.@goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
I loved the first volume of this book when I read it from the library so
I bought the first and second volumes. I'm guessing this is the end for
Bod and the family unless they make one where he is out on his own,
it's sad :-(
In this edition we have Bod going on in years from like 11 to 14 and then a young man going out on his own.
We
all know Silas as his guardian (the vamp) and he wants to keep Bod safe
inside the graveyard as the man that tried to kill him as a baby is
still out there in the world looking for him. But Bod puts his foot down
and says he wants to go to school. Against his better judgement, Silas
decides to let Bod go, but he tells him to stay low and don't draw
attention to himself. Well, that doesn't last long as Bod takes on the
school bullies, but he just wants to make things right. 
Then
Bod can't go to school any more because it is too dangerous, and he so
loved just sitting in the library reading. Anyway, so a little bit later
Bod's little friend Scarlett that used to visit the graveyard moves
back to town and they get to meet again when they are a little older. 
But
as we all know things don't stay all safe and cozy. The man named Jack
that killed Bod's family and tried to kill him finds him. He's in some
weird group with some other men. Not giving all of the story away!
Anyway, the man had befriended Scarlett and her mom and found Bod that
way. 
So
Bod and Scarlett go back to the graveyard to hide, well Bod has some
things up his sleeve and takes care of all the men in different ways. 
After all of this, Scarlett thinks Bod is a monster....sigh.. stupid girl... so Silas goes to erase her and her moms memory. 
Sooooo,
we get to the end with some very painful good-byes. It made me sad,
don't judge me! :-) But the time has come for Bod to go live his life,
without his graveyard friends :-(
I
really enjoyed these two volumes of these graffic novels. It was just
so cool watching Bod grow up with all of the ghosts from the graveyard
and Silas.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1490908430
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
http://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Book-Graphic-Novel/dp/0062194844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451774225&sr=8-1&keywords=the+graveyard+book+volume+2
In LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, Jenny Lawson baffled readers with stories about growing up the daughter of a taxidermist. In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. And terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.
According
to Jenny: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just
an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos
over to your house without telling your husband first because you
suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos.
And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos."
"Most
of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess
because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new
normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'"
Jenny's first book, LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, was ostensibly about family, but deep down it was about celebrating your own weirdness. FURIOUSLY HAPPY
is a book about mental illness, but under the surface it's about
embracing joy in fantastic and outrageous ways-and who doesn't need a
bit more of that?@goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
I thought this book was ↓
I
have to say I laughed a lot at her humor, I found that I say some of
the things that she says. I feel for her that she has all of these
disorders because I have most of the same disorders that she has but I
have a few more, and not everyone feels the same when they have these
disorders, they have different phobias. But it's all scary and a
suckfest! And unfortunately, most people just think your having them on
or you should just get over it... yeah, if it was only that simple. 
Now,
that being said, I have had a good time with this book. I laughed so
much and that is a good thing. There is one part in the book where she
is talking about the Asian toilets, I have taken a picture to show the
little picture in the book, hopefully you can see it and I'm going to
add the excerpt from the book! 
------>EXCERPT<------
Here are a few of the buttons on the Japanese toilet:
I'm
not entirely sure what these are all for but I think the top one that
looks like a stick figure is to notify people that you've found the
Blair Witch, and I think the next one means "Poop won't go down, Use
your foot." I assume the orange button on the far left is for starting a
war, and then there are two for washing your boobs for some reason, and
then one about levitating on a fountain, and I think the last one is
for ordering bacon? Frankly, I was too afraid to try out all of the
buttons because just sitting on it triggered something that made it
breakout into song. It was unsettling. Like, a pooping lullaby. Frankly,
I think we've gone too far if you need someone to sing you to the
toilet. In fact, I think the toilets were scarier than the whole rest of
the trip, including our room being broken into by non-ninjas.
The
author talks about many different things, her phobias, how her doctors
react to her, (I have had that many a time!), funny things that she has
done or not done or can't remember. It's just on and on and I love that
she can joke and be funny while going through all of these things and be
able to talk about them. And her husband... FANTASTIC MAN! Most men
don't want to deal with women with mental disorders, actually I have
friends and men that don't want to deal with it, and I'm guessing it's
good I dropped dating before I want crazy :-)
Here is another
excerpt from the book that she described about depression that I just
loved because I have gotten the same thing. ------>Excerpt<------
I can tell you that "Just cheer up" is almost universally looked
at as the most unhelpful depression cure ever. It's pretty much the
equivalent of telling someone who just had their legs amputated to "just
walk it off." Some people don't understand that for a lot of us, mental
illness is a severe imbalance rather just having " a case of the
Mondays." Those same well-meaning people will tell me that I'm keeping
myself from recovering because I really "just need to cheer up and
smile." That's when I consider chopping off their arms and then blaming
them for not picking up their severed arms so they can take them to the
hospital to get reattached.
Seriously, people say the dumbest things, but most mean well.....
Like
I said, I thought this book was great and I would recommend to
everyone, although not everyone will like it as much as I did. :-) You
know opinions are like though!
And remember...
FIN
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1334832864
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250077001?keywords=furiously%20happy&qid=1451752850&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
When two soldiers from
opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk
everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.
From bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan, Saga
is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place
in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in
this sexy, subversive drama for adults.
Collects Saga issues #1-6. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
OMG! THIS NOVEL IS FREAKING AMAZING! I HAVE BEEN HEARING ABOUT
THEM AND GOT LUCKY TO GET THE FIRST ONE MARKED DOWN ON AMAZON, BUT NOW I
WANT THE REST AND CAN'T AFFORD THEM, THE DAMN AGONY!This
is one crazy world! You have some crazy peeps up in here and peep
things, they is also some great snark :-) Gotta love the snark!
So
Alana and Marko have a little girl but this is forbidden because they
are different and how knows about all of that stupid political stuff
with all the rules. But these two didn't follow the rules and had a
little girl :-) 
Then
a few minutes after having the baby some freak with an old tv or
computer monitor for a head wants to take them to jail. His name is
Baron Robot XXIII, yeah.. so anyway. 
Alana,
Marko and the baby miraculously don't get killed and they get a map and
try to find a way to get off the planet. They have some problems here
and there a long the way. 
But
you know, things like this happen. So onward they go. Oh and this crazy
Robot Prince hires some people to try to find them and the baby. 
Right now he's on the toilet reading a romance novel! Go figure! ↑ You should have seen him and his wife having or trying to have sex, he couldn't perform and stuff. Ewwww!
These are the two that are hired to find them. The one called The Stalk is a cray cray looking chic thing! 
Then
you have The Will and he's relatively normal and he has a lying cat..
who can tell if your lying. God, to have one of those right? 
OMG!
There is a unicorn head lady in there too. I can't get a really good
picture of her so you will just have to read the book. You should read
it anyway because it rocks.. anyhoo....
So this ghost named
Izabel decides to help the family get to the ship and off the planet if
she can go with them so off they go! 
They go through some more shite but finally end up on their way :-) 
Let me leave you with this other freaky image from the book. LOL. 
The hookers down the road on the left if you want to get your uh FREAK on! Fin.....
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1488339984
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607066017?keywords=saga%20volume%201&qid=1451654627&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
Music means more
than anything to high school student Cate Reese; it’s also what unites
her with Cal Woods. Devoted classical guitar players, Cate and Cal are
childhood friends newly smitten by love—until a devastating car accident
rips Cal out of Cate’s life forever. Blaming herself for the horrific
tragedy and struggling to surface from her despair, Cate spirals
downhill in a desperate attempt to ease her pain.
Fellow student
David Bennet might look like the school’s golden boy, but underneath the
surface the popular athlete battles demons of his own. Racked with
survivor’s guilt after his brother’s suicide, things get worse when
tragedy darkens his world again—but connecting with Cate, his sister’s
longtime babysitter, starts bringing the light back in.
As Cate
and David grow closer, the two shattered teenagers learn to examine the
pieces of their lives…and, together, find a way to be whole again.@goodreads
MY REVIEW:
3 STARS
This is my first kindle first pick of the month book and I thought this book sounded really good.
I
loved how the author wrote a lot of the book almost like poetry. I did
think the book was a bit long for me and I love big books, but in this
case I don't think it was needed.
Cate and Cal play classical
guitars together, Cate is in love with Cal, or so she thinks. Then one
night there is a fateful car crash where Cal dies. (This is not a spoiler, it's on the book description.)
Cate blames Cal's death on herself because she didn't tell him to slow
down. Cate has a very hard time with this as her and Cal were friends
since they were little. She goes on a very downward spiral.
Cate
also babysits a little girl named Kimmy. There is also Bryn and David
that are sister and brother to Kimmy. Cate has known David for years but
never really talked to him because he was always the player jock, then
something happens to him and they start to notice each other in small
ways. ----> This is NOT an insta love story or a love triangle.
----> DAVID <----
But my eyes have been on the wrong things. The prizes...are not what I want.
And
maybe it's because I hang back now, watching, that I see her. If I were
still a blur of motion: football, track, grades, girls--girls, girls,
girls--I would've missed her.
She's like...a still point.
All around her, the world twists and turns, but she is still. Like the horizon.
♣♣♣♣♣
----> Cate <----
"Because I'm at your house practically every day?" And
because...The afternoon light slants through windows set high on the
walls, hitting his eyes. Because of that, the golden spill of honey in
your eyes. God, what's wrong with me?
There are a lot of other characters that play key roles
in the book. Cate's best friend is having problems with her girlfriend
who is a jerk. David is having trouble with an old friend of his that he
just wants to strangle. We have drugs, rape, murder (which wasn't
dwelled on too much, but they deserved it anyway), dysfunctional
families, bands, love, music, music, music. The book has a lot going on,
from one thing to the next. Some moments I wanted to give it 4 stars
but then I would be back down to 3. I liked it good enough, but there
were just too many details of random things throwing me off so it's a
solid 3. I did fall in love with the writing style though..anything that
reads like a lyrical soul is awesome. Yep, I made that up :-)
The ending was decent enough, some things came together for each person.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1485851517
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
http://www.amazon.com/Before-Goodbye-Mimi-Cross-ebook/dp/B00ZWWG712/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1451580597&sr=8-1
It’s a year and a half after the events of Anarchy—a novel hailed as “bewitchingly perplexing and supernaturally entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews)—and the world is alive with magic in this third astonishingly imaginative novel in the fantasy trilogy that began with Advent.
On
a tiny archipelago out of sight of the rest of the world lives Rory, a
ten-year-old boy. He and his mother and a handful of survivors live an
exhausting and precarious existence, entirely isolated. The sea is
alive, and angry. Every man Rory can remember has been drowned. Everyone
knows he’ll be next.
One night, for the first time since the
world changed and the curse descended, strangers appear on the island.
They’re on their way to England, seeking a powerful magic ring. And one
of them seems to know Rory by sight…
Caught up in their quest,
Rory enters an England of terrors and marvels, at the heart of which
lies a place where journeys unimaginably longer and older than his will
reach their end: Pendurra. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
3 STARS
I feel like I just fell down the rabbit hole!I liked this book well enough, but let me say there is a whole lot of crazy going on up in this book.
I
don't usually read book three of a trilogy before reading the first two
books, but I read this book was fine as a stand alone. And this is
true, although I do want to go back and read the first two books just to
see where it all started.
I only gave this three stars because
there were things I loved and at times it dragged for me. If I was just
rating it for other worldly, crazy stuff, then I would give it a 5
because it has all of that in a nutshell. I think I will read this again
after the first two and see how it works for me a second time around. I
hate rating books on partial things.
In this particular book
you have Rory and he's ten years old. He lives on an island with his mum
and other women. There is one other boy but things don't work out so
well for him. They all have to ration not only food, but just random
things like clothes etc because once these things are gone, they are
just gone....unless you can make your way to one of the other islands or
the mainland. This isn't done too much because you either don't come
back or you are taken by THEM. Rory's sister and father tried to make it to the mainland, but they never came back.
Let
me see if I can do this without spoilers. Rory ends up getting off the
island by accident. He ends up with a crew of three people that have
different magical abilities. They all make it to the mainland and then
more crazy stuff happens and Rory ends up with another group of people.
Wow, this is really confusing isn't it. You really just have to read it
because it's got a really good and bizarre plot.
I guess I
should mention all of this is like after a type of apocalypse. There
used to be days like the here and now, our world. Now it's all kinds of
crazy. This book has magic, shapeshifters, God, Sirens, prophets, evil
people, and some other stuff that is right on out there. There are still
buildings that the people live in that was from before, you know like
regular houses, churches, etc. I thought it was funny when Rory
mentioned there was one working toilet on their island and you could use
it and flush it as long as you filled the thingy up with water. I don't
know why but I thought that was funny, I guess because of all the
surroundings that it just seemed funny to mention taking a poo in a
working toilet! Lol
Anyway it was a good book and I look forward to reading the first two and this one again and see how they all add up. **I
would like to thank NETGALLEY and ATRIA BOOKS for giving me the
opportunity to read this book in exchange of my honest review.**
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1483098976
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
http://www.amazon.com/Arcadia-Advent-James-Treadwell/dp/1451661703/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1451425633&sr=8-1
Lucy has always had a
soft spot for Jack. As they grow up together, their friendship turns
into something more, but when tragedy strikes, Jack is whisked away,
never to be heard from again. Several years pass. The boys in high
school don't interest Lucy, and she continues to think about Jack -
where did he go? What does he look like? Does he think of her? When she
finds out where Jack might be located - halfway across the country in
Indiana - Lucy drives to meet him, not knowing what she'll find, if
he'll recognize her, if he'll turn her away, or if he'll even be there.
But when Lucy's mom suffers a long-coming mental breakdown, shattering
the family to pieces, Lucy is pulled back to Connecticut, left wondering
what will become of her and her long-lost love. Blurring the line
between friendship and love, responsibility and instinct, THE RIGHT
FAMILY is a beautifully written story that is not to be missed.
@goodreads
MY REVIEW:
5 STARS
I would like to thank the author, Susan B. Roara for a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.
Now, that being said, I guess I'm more picky when I'm reading an
author's book, I feel like I have to be more brutally honest and hope
for the best. In most of the cases I have found rare gems out of these
books. This is one of those cases, I loved this book. Yes, there were a
few things I would have liked to know more of, but there are a lot of
characters in this book and I think the author did a wonderful job at
creating them. When I don't want to put a book down then I know it's
going to be a treat.
This book is also written in the different characters viewpoints but it's not confusing in the least! Lucy
and Jack were best friends as kids and just as they were growing into
something more, Jack gets taken out of Lucy's life. A tragedy strikes
and Jack and his brother Charles disappear. 
I
actually felt very sorry for Jack's family life in the beginning and I
was worried about Lucy's family life as well. Lucy has a somewhat large
family and her mom has a big job taking care of all of them. There are
Lucy, Kat, Julia, Thomas, Kaylan, Jessica and Mikey, they all live with
their mom and dad.
The book moves forward a few years and Lucy
is older, going to prom, has a best friend Amelia, graduating before
long and still... thinking of Jack. What happened to him?
I will
say Charles and Jack were separated and Charles ran away and left Jack,
but Jack got the better end of the stick. It's one of those.. if only
situations....
We don't get too much involved in Lucy's younger
siblings but Kat, Julia and Thomas have big parts in the book. Kat is
living a life with a big secret. Thomas has a secret of his own and
Julia is just trying to help keep things together. Their mom is acting
stranger and stranger, it's like she's about to have a mental breakdown.
Their father is trying to do what little he can to help since he's the
one that works all of the time to keep them all together.
Then
lo and behold, Charles comes back to town! He forms a bond with Kat and
friendship with Thomas (Tommy). When Lucy finds out he's back she is on a
mission to find out what happened to Jack and gets Charles on board. He
was hoping that Jack would show back up in town looking for him so he
gets a job and a little apartment.
Lucy and Kat find out the
place Charles and Jack's mom was born and Charles remembers the social
workers mentioning an grandfather they had when they were picked up as
children. And that is all it takes for Lucy to get everyone involved in
going on a road trip from Connecticut to Indiana to try to find Jack.
This road trip includes, Lucy, Charles, Tommy, Amelia and Kat!
And
guess what? They find Jack :-) He's living on a farm and I'm not going
to say why, what he's got going on, how is life is or what all has
happened to him. You have to read the book :-) I love saying that!
Needless
to say Jack is so happy to see his brother and Lucy... there hasn't
been a day that she's not on his mind. Well, he had a few slips there,
but then he got on the right track again! :-)
Unfortunately,
while they are out of town, a tragedy strikes Lucy's family and her,
Kat, Tommy and Lucy's friend Amelia have to race back home. Charles
stays behind with Jack.
Jack and Charles do come back to visit
Lucy and Kat and it's really bittersweet and sad. I'm really hoping it's
a good ending in the next book. The end of this one is up in the air as
decisions can't just be made because of what happened in the family.
How can you make the choice of love or your family that needs you. You can't really.. can you? 
Once
again, I loved this book and what a wonderful story for the author's
first novel! I can't wait for the next one..unless it doesn't have a
happy ending.. just kidding! GOODREADS REVIEW:
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
