Everblossom by Larissa Hinton

Genre: Fiction/poetry/short story

Review: This is a collection of poetry and short stories. I was super excited to read it because I loved the picture of the flower on the front and I just had high hopes from that. As I read the poetry, I loved it. The poetry made sense and was deep. Some of the poems were deep and some were a little shallow but they were all fun. Then there were the short stories. I really wasn't a big fan of them. I felt they were poorly written and could have been so much better. They had plenty of potential and covered some pretty intense topics.
One of the stories was "Born Without a Heart" and I could totally relate to it... at least the beginning. I thought it would be something sweet and sad but then it turned into boyfriend girlfriend drama... again. These stories were just not able to hold my attention but I'm sure they're great for other people. :)

Author: Larissa Hinton was born in 1989 so she's 22 years old. She is from Virginia and is a grad student working towards becoming an english teacher. She is a writer, teacher and bookaholic and keeps a blog about books. :) To read more about Larissa Hinton go check out her blog here.

Rating: ** Two Stars

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M.O.D. By J.C. Allen

Genre: Thriller (?Ehh... sort of?)

Review: I read this book for my radio show review with Dawn Tevy on Angels and Warriors. I must admit, when I finished it, I had a three page long insult for this guy. But then I spoke with his mother on the radio and got his story and now... well, I feel bad giving him a negative review. But, I cannot lie to Linda's readers, so here is the truth. I did not like this book at all. (And that says a lot for a woman who cannot talk politics because they make her so angry!) Generally I try to find something good about a book, but I could not find it here. There were a lot of grammatical errors, the characters were flat. The massive contradiction in the story just rub me the wrong way. (One example: the internet hacking group, M.O.D., is fighting to get back to the constitutional rights of citizens; but has stolen money, weapons and other equipment from the U.S. for this purpose. Their members live in an Utopian society where people set their own work hours, choose what they want to do and get paid whatever they need to live. Very, socialist/communist society! And how does this jive with the Constitution?!?!?) The whole story is surreal and science fiction, at best. Which would be fine if it were not set in 2009! Hmm... but you get it, I don't like it at all!

Author: And here is why I am not totally bombing this book. The guy who wrote it is in jail, for a crime he claims he did not commit. He says his ex-wife set him up to keep him from getting custody of their two daughters. Now, I am not gonna weigh in on whether or not I think he is innocent or guilty, but the guy wrote this book (and about 20 others) on an old-school type writer. He does not have the same capabilities of research that are at the fingertips of most writers. And given that pens and pencils can be used as weapons in prison, I'm guessing he doesn't have a whole lot of access to those either. Which seriously limits the pre-planning phase most authors go through. Could I have done better under his circumstances? Mmmm... don't know, don't want to find out!

Rating ** Two Stars

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The Thirteenth Unicorn by W.D. Newman

Genre: Fiction/Fantasy/Young Adult

Author: W.D. Newman is the pen name of William Dale Porter. He lives in upstate
South Carolina with his wife and two children. He is a self published author and currently working on a sequel to The Thirteenth Unicorn called The Black Dragon.







Synopsis: Ben and Casey Alderman have to spend the summer with their grandparents in Pickens, SC. They notice their grandma, Louise, acting suspiciously around a patch of bamboo and decide to explore with the neighbor's children, Meg and Jeff. They end up finding themselves in another world in an adventure none of them thought they'd find behind the farm house. They find that the survival of a world is in their hands as they have to face mythological creatures and fight along side some as they work together to save one.


Review: This was a free ebook available on the nook. As I started reading it, it became very obvious that it was self published. I didn't realize that when I downloaded the book. There were lots of editing errors and the writing needed a little bit of work. The writing was a lot of telling but not enough showing. There was plenty of details but not the right kind of details so it made the writing a bit choppy. However, the story was fun. It was sort of J.R.R. Tolkein meets C.S. Lewis. Parts of it were a little dry but the adventure was fun. There were also characters that I felt weren't needed. They were hardly in it at all -- just no point to them. Mainly Meg and Jeff. I did find that most of the characters were very cliche and had no personality. Hob, Gob, and Nob were the only characters I found with any personality. They were quirky and quite funny. Sometimes, I really did laugh out loud with them. If you enjoy adventure and mythological creatures and don't mind typos and grammatical errors then this would be a great book for you. It really was a fun story, it just needed more editing.


Rating: ** Two Stars (because of the lack of editing)

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Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir
Author: Gilbert is an award winning author for both fiction and non-fiction. Her book, Eat Pray Love spent 57 weeks in the number 1 spot of the NY Times paperback bestsellers list.
Synopsis: Elizabeth Gilbert had the "American Dream" life. She had a husband, a fabulous house and a great career but she wasn't happy. This book follows her journey to find happiness as she travels the world to discover the balance she needs in her life.
Review: I found this book pretty dull, honestly. The author was very clever and had some great lines but overall I was bored reading it. I also felt that the author was very selfish. I mean, it's important to find happiness, I agree. But, in that search for happiness is it okay to walk on other people and to cost them their happiness? I felt that in her journey she had no concern for others. It was her journey and no one else mattered. Also, the language in this was a bit intense. It wasn't that common but she used the F word often and G**D*** several times. Let me just say, this one isn't a book I'll be recommending to my friends.
Rating: ** Two Stars

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The Other Life by Ellen Meister

Genre: Fiction

Author: Ellen was born in Bronx, NY. She graduated with Magna Cum Laude in English from the State University of New York in Buffalo. Today, she lives in Long Island, NY with her husband and 3 children. (For a full bio go here.)

Synopsis: The author has a book trailer. I thought I'd just put that up here. :)

THE OTHER LIFE by Ellen Meister from Ellen Meister on Vimeo.

Review: Let me just be honest. When I was a child I was diagnosed with ADD, dyslexia and reading comprehension problems. Therefore, books have to be very interesting to hold my attention. I had a bit of trouble with this book. It was everyday issues with everyday problems and I had a hard time getting into it. It wasn't much of a page turner for me. I like the author's style of writing though. It was clear and I could totally understand it and connect with the character. I just had a hard time getting into it. I got through chapter 11 or 12 then flipped to the back and read the final chapter and the epilogue and followed everything that was happening. I felt like I missed nothing. She has gotten raving reviews from lots of people though so I'm sure that I missed a lot. I just had a hard time getting into it. There was some harsh language in it as well.

Rating: ** Two Stars

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Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Genre: Fiction/Magic Realism

Author: "Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston and New York.

"Hoffman’s first novel, PROPERTY OF, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, the writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become PROPERTY OF, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.

"Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published a total of sixteen novels, two books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her novel, HERE ON EARTH, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. PRACTICAL MAGIC was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, AT RISK, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from LOCAL GIRLS, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. BLACKBIRD HOUSE is a book of stories centering around an old farm on Cape Cod. Hoffman's recent books include AQUARMARINE and INDIGO, novels for pre-teens, and The New York Times bestsellers THE RIVER KING, BLUE DIARY, THE PROBABLE FUTURE, and THE ICE QUEEN. GREEN ANGEL, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale about loss and love, was published by Scholastic and THE FORETELLING, a book about an Amazon girl in the Bronze Age, was published by Little Brown. This fall Little Brown published the teen novel INCANTATION, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year. In January 2007, SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS, a novel about one family’s secret history, was released on the 30th anniversary of the publication of Hoffman’s first novel.

"Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Weist. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Redbook, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, Self, and other magazines. Her teen novel AQUAMARINE was recently made into a film starring Emma Roberts." (Info cam from here.)

Synopsis: This story was about two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens who were orphaned when they were young and raised by their aunts in Massachusetts.Their aunts were outcasts of the town because of their powers. The sisters' own powers start to surface which makes them determined to leave the little town where everyone knows them as "witches" and to fit into "normal" society. The sisters go in their separate ways. They are only reunited when trouble strikes and they are forced to all work together and embrace their magic to overcome the trouble in their own backyard. 

Review: The movie was one of my favorites growing up and I was sure the book would be just as good if not better. It seems like I should have learned by now that movies are often nothing like the books. Practical Magic was not an exception to this rule. I didn't like the writing style in this. The way it was written felt like the majority of it was back-story. I didn't get any detail or feel like I was there with the characters. There was no chance to connect to the characters in the story and that's very important to me. Not to mention the intense language that kept popping up in the story.

Rating: ** Two Stars

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