First Frost Review

Title: First Frost

Author: Sarah Addison Allen

Category: A book published this year

Copyright: 2014

Number of Pages:291

Summary: Claire, who can bring out emotions with anything she cooks. Sydney, who’s haircuts can cause you to have the perfect day. Bay, Sydney’s daughter who can tell where everyone and everything belongs. First Frost follows the lives of these three Waverly women.

Claire has left her catering business behind to focus solely on Waverly Candies. She only makes three kinds, -- rose to remember lost love, lemon verbena to soothe your throat and mind, and lavender to promote happiness – but business is booming for her and she never has time for much else. When she stops making the candies with the flowers from her garden and no one notices a difference in how they make them feel, she starts to question if her gift even exists.

Sydney desperately wants a baby with her husband Henry. She wants him to have a son that he can share his world with. The longer she tries, the more focused she becomes on it and she begins to lose sight of the people and the life she already has.

Bay has met the boy she knows she belongs with and who belongs with her. It’s too bad that when she writes him a note explaining that they belong together, he doesn’t seem to believe her.

Will Claire find her happiness? Will Sydney be able to get pregnant? Will the boy Bay belongs with ever stop long enough to realize he belongs with her too? Give First Frost a try to find out! 

Review: I always enjoy Sarah Addison Allen's books. I view them as great light chick-lit reads. I love to read one after a long or difficult book. Hey! They're my literary palette cleansers!

First Frost was really enjoyable for me for probably all the reasons it shouldn't have been. None of the twists surprised me, but its predictability is one of the reasons I chose it. I wanted a book I could read easily without having to think too hard about it.

Claire and Bay's situations made sense and were interesting to read, but I didn't get Sydney's. She was trying so hard to get pregnant for her husband, but she hadn't even spoken to him about having a baby. Then when he finally does find out what's been troubling her, he tells her he doesn't need a baby, so she was stressing about nothing. 

Overall I enjoyed the book. I'm not sure it's one I would recommend people if they asked me for a really good book to read, but I'd recommend it if someone asked for a book to take to the beach with them.  

Next I am going to read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 

Back of the books states! Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds -- smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. 

Thorin Monday 1/26/15

This is the "What?! I swear I wasn't going to chew on your book even though I have a toy right her beside me." face. (He totally started to chew on my book too!) Little rascal.

A Discovery of Witches Review

Title: A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness

Category: A book with more then 500 pages.

Copyright: 2011

Number of Pages: 579

Summary: A Discovery of Witches is about a female witch named Diana Bishop who has chosen to ignore the magic inside her. One day, as she is doing research at the Bodleian library in Oxford, she calls up a manuscript, Ashmole 782, that is positively radiating with magical power. Having chosen to ignore her magical side, she studies the manuscript as though it is just like any other and then sends it back into the stacks.

Soon after, creatures of all types start showing up in the library to watch Diana. Among them is the vampire Matthew Clairmont. When a few fellow witches threaten Diana, due to their desire to keep Ashmole 782 from falling into the hands of daemons or vampires, Matthew takes her into hiding.

As the two grow closer, the Congregation (made up of three vampires, three witches, and three daemons) will stop at nothing to get their hands on Diana and Ashmole 782.

Can Diana and Matthew, with the help of their friends and family, stand against the Congregation? Can they uncover the mysteries of Ashmole 782 before the Congregation does? Grab your own copy of A Discovery of Witches to find out!

Review: I absolutely loved this book. It is full of magic, adventure, mystery, science, and history. I am sure the science and history are stretched but I love that Matthew is so old that he spent time with the likes of Shakespeare and Darwin. I also felt that the characters were well written and well thought out.

The only thing I didn't like was that Matthew seemed TOO perfect. Find your list from when you were 14 of qualities you wanted in a boyfriend, and Matthew's that person and then some.

Aside from that though, it was a fascinating read. There were a few twists that I didn't see coming and the ending left the story at a point where I want to race out and buy the sequel to find out what happens next. Unfortunately it's also close to 600 pages and I'm nto sure I have time for it this year.

Have you read A Discovery of Witches? If so, what did you think? If not, I highly recommend getting your hands on it!

Next I am going to read First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen. It is the sequel to Garden Spells which is a book I read a few years ago and absolutely loved. This book came out on Tuesday January 20, 2015 so I am just itching to dig into it.

Amazon description states: A magical new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Lost Lake, featuring characters from her beloved novel Garden Spells.

Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beat-up suitcase.  He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever...

Lupin Monday!

Well Lupin is also feeling a little left out of the New Years Resolutions gig. Who'd have thought? So here are his:

First: He would like to lose a little more weight. ALMOST THERE!!!
Second: He would like to try to have a little more patience in regards to Thorin.
Third: He would like to learn how to make his own cookies.
Fourth: He says to heck with number 2! He wants to devote all his time to destroying the annoying bouncy brown puppy thing.

Should make for an interesting year in the Lendzion house!

White Fang Review

Title: White Fang

Author: Jack London

Copyright: 1906

Number of Pages: 298

Summary: White Fang by Jack London follows a part dog, part wolf cub as he goes from playful puppy-hood to ferocious killer. White Fang is born in the wilds of Northwest Canada where he learns early in his life that it is a kill or be killed world. Not long into his life though, his mother is recognized by an Indian as a dog his brother used to own.  As his mother rejoins the tribe, White Fang realizes that even though he would prefer to stay in the wild, he is just not ready to leave his mother.

From the tribe, White Fang learns to respect those who use “not live” things to bring on “the hurt.” Though he learned many difficult lessons through the discipline doled out to him from the tribe, nothing prepared him for the cruelty of man brought on to him by Beauty Smith, a man who buys White Fang from his Indian “God” through means of trickery and turns him into a fighting dog.

White Fang’s story receives its happy ending when a man happens upon the dog fighting ring by chance one evening and forces Beauty to sell White Fang to him. Through patience and kindness of his new master, White Fang learn that not all men are cruel and that not every world is kill or be killed.

Review: I have never read a book from the perspective of an animal, and White Fang is not just an animal, he is a vicious and deadly killer. I found the book to be a very intriguing read and would definitely agree that it is a book all should read.

I had a hard time with some of it though. At times, it felt like I was watching a show on Animal Planet where a lion is ripping apart a gazelle, only I couldn’t look away from the screen so I didn’t have to see it. Some of the kills in the book were difficult for me to stomach.

Next I am going to read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

Back of the book states!  In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript,Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont

After reading a classic I am jonesing for some fantasy. Have you read White Fang? If so, what did you think of it?

Thorin Monday! 1/5/15

If you are like me, then your Mondays can almost always use a little pick me up. My remedy for this is to start Thorin Mondays.

This weekend, Thorin expressed that he felt left out of the whole New Year Resolutions thing so he decided to make a few of his own.

First, he would like to try to lick less.
Second, he would like to try to fart less.
Third, he would like to try to convince his humans to feed him more often.
And Fourth, he would like to master the perfect head tilt so as to help with number three.

Book 1: "White Fang" by Jack London

Book 1: White Fang by Jack London.

Category: Read a book with nonhuman characters.

There is no particular reason why I chose to start with White Fang. It is probably because it is unlike anything I have read recently or ever.

Back of the book states:

“White Fang tells the story of a half-wolf, half-dog nearly destroyed by the cruelty of mankind. Brought to the very brink of existence, White Fang is lucky enough to experience the one thing that can save him – human love. Slowly, the ferocious White Fang grows into a creature capable of bravery, loyalty, and affection.”

Sorry for the short post, next week’s will be longer because I’ll talk about this book as well as state what the next book I’ll be reading is. 

January 2015 - Drink a Gallon of Water Every Day

So here we are, January 1, 2015. Today is the first day of our first resolution which is to drink a gallon of water every day. The alternative to this is to drink half a gallon a day which is 8 8oz glasses of water. For the month I will be doing the alternative version to this challenge.

First off, what do you need to do this challenge? When I am trying to drink more water I like to have a designated cup that is just for drinking water. Here is the one I have chosen to use. It is a 22oz cup so I basically need to drink 3 of these each day to get my water in.

Next, I need a fun way to track my water. I know there are a lot of phone apps out there that will help you do this, but I am a pen and paper kind of girl so I created a sheet that would make it more fun for me to check off each glass of water I drink. I used excel to create this awesome little sheet. All 31 days are listed and on each day I used a picture of a glass that I made teeeeeeeny tiny to represent the 8 glasses each day.

I also need my trusty blue Crayola marker to color in the glasses because as an adult I just don't get to color enough.

I do not think I will be getting all 8 glasses in today. It's 9:40PM and I have only had 6 glasses today. I might be able to squeeze one more glass out of the day but if I drink 2 more I will not get much sleep tonight!