I'm back!!

Hey all!! I really have to apologize for my delayed disappearance. But I have a good reason...

Literally the same day I made my last blog post, I found out a little bookworm was on the way!! We were very excited, I was so very exhausted, and actually had an aversion to reading. It was quite strange, but even the thought of flipping the pages of a book made my skin crawl. Such sad days...

So I had many review copies that went unread, and a deserted blog. But the bookworm is here now, and sometimes she even lets me read for a little bit throughout the day. My plan is to read a lot of the copies I still have open even though they are all published by now, then start with new review copies.

Hopefully I still have some readers out there...

Review of The Skinnytaste Cookbook by Gina Homolka

Released September 30, 2014

Synopsis: Gina Homolka is America’s most trusted home cook when it comes to easy, flavorful recipes that are miraculously low-calorie and made from all-natural, easy-to-find ingredients. Her blog, Skinnytaste is the number one go-to site for slimmed down recipes that you’d swear are anything but. It only takes one look to see why people go crazy for Gina’s food: cheesy, creamy Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken and Broccoli with only 420 calories per serving, breakfast dishes like Make-Ahead Western Omelet "Muffins" that truly fill you up until lunchtime, and sweets such as Double Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies that are low in sugar and butter-free but still totally indulgent.
 
The Skinnytaste Cookbook features 150 amazing recipes: 125 all-new dishes and 25 must-have favorites. As a busy mother of two, Gina started Skinnytaste when she wanted to lose a few pounds herself. She turned to Weight Watchers for help and liked the program but struggled to find enough tempting recipes to help her stay on track. Instead, she started “skinny-fying” her favorite meals so that she could eat happily while losing weight.
 
With 100 stunning photographs and detailed nutritional information for every recipe, The Skinnytaste Cookbook is an incredible resource of fulfilling, joy-inducing meals that every home cook will love.

Review: I was so very excited to get this book for review. This recipe blog is my favorite, my go-to for weekly dinners. I've been following the progress of this book on her site and couldn't wait to get my hands on it! The cover is beautiful as is the under cover (the photos actually printed on the book.)

It really is beautiful. Nice quality hardcover cookbook with color photos for most (not all) of the recipes. This was really the only thing I was disappointed in- I prefer to have pictures in my cookbooks and would have loved this even more if each recipe had its' own photo. 

As on the website, each recipe states how many servings the ingredients make as well as a full set of nutritional information including calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate, fiber, protein, sugars, and sodium. The recipes are easy to follow and don't have a ton of steps so anyone can follow along.  The book is broke into categories, i.e. Skinny-licious Soups & Chilis, Skinny Bites, Lean Meat Dishes, Skinny Sweet Tooth.

Highly, highly recommend this book for anyone that needs to cook meals!

*This book was provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for my review.

Review: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Published February 5th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

Review: This book takes place in an alternative, steam-punky Victorian era. It was a bit much for me. We were just thrown into this world with little to no explanation or description of what was going on. Sopronia's family is done dealing with her exploring and curiosity and send her off to finishing school. But this finishing school isn't typical, they also teach espionage. Dun dun dun....

Something that really bothered me about this book is that once Sophronia was at school, she really changed and without much time or effort. Yes, she does break the rules, climbs around and goes into the engine room. But gone is her curiosity, her taking apart things to make them worse. It was almost like 2 different characters, and neither one really got deeply developed. 

I felt so lost throughout this story, like I had missed some background information or skipped portions of the book. But I hadn't. I didn't feel like there was a plot for most of this book.

All in all, a so-so 2.5-3 star read. I will read the sequel because on goodreads, the sequel has higher ratings than this story.

*I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Family Inheritance by Terri Ann Leidich

Published October 1st 2014 by BQB Publishing

Synopsis: Called to the bedside of their dying mother, three sisters reluctantly return to their childhood home in northern Minnesota. What should be a reunion of love and warmth is tainted by the ghosts of their childhood; their parents' farm is a place of painful memories. With their mother in a coma, Helene leaves behind a shell of a marriage in Atlanta---her country club lifestyle not at all what it seems. Alice has finally fled an abusive husband but is afraid her failing courage will put her children in danger. Waking up beside yet another stranger, Suzanne can no longer deny how an alcohol addiction may destroy everything she's worked for---an addiction that barely masks the terrible wounds on her soul. They may have escaped the farm, but Helene, Alice, and Suzanne find they are still perpetuating a cycle of pain, abuse, alcoholism, anger, fear, and bitterness. Seeing themselves through each other's eyes, the sisters are forced to confront their demons. Will they be able to tread through the wreckage of the past to create lives filled with hope, love, and triumph?

Review: I loved, loved LOVED this book!! I couldn't put it down. The characters and situations were so very real, very raw, and extremely relatable. Three sisters who had a not so great upbringing, who all left home as quickly as possible and never looked back. Who are forced together when their mother falls ill.

Helene looks like she has the perfect life- a rich husband, a smart kid, a big house with a maid. But when you really look at her life, it's not as great as it looks like on the surface. Alice is heavy, in an abusive marriage with 2 kids, who has no job and whose family does not respect her in the least. She is able to leave, but is she able to pull life together to make it for her kids? Suzanne suffers from alcoholism- will it ruin her entire life or can she overcome it and her childhood and make herself a better woman?

The plot is likable, the characters are lovable, the situations are real. The dialogue is funny, thoughtful, and completely sister-like. Not that I would know from experience, but the banter is real and at times comical. They were always trying to one up each other, even when it came to who's life sucked the most. It was so nice to see their relationships changing, evolving, and them figuring out who they were and what they mean to each other.

I highly highly recommend this book to anyone, especially fans of chick lit!!!

*I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. 

Review: Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle

Published August 26th 2014 by Schwartz & Wade

Synopsis: How can twelve-year-old Gabriel find his missing father, who seems to have vanished without a trace? With the help of Paladin—a young raven with whom he has a magical bond that enables them to become one creature—he flies to the foreboding land of Aviopolis, where he must face a series of difficult challenges and unanswerable riddles that could lead to his father... or to his death.

Review: This was a book that I almost put down before I hit the halfway point. It seemed like two stories happening at the same time but had nothing to do with one another. I was getting confused an annoyed. What does a talking raven have to do with a walking desk? And why does no one think that either thing is weird?! But I am so so SO glad that I kept reading along. Because once the connection between the two ideas was made, this story got good. 

This is a middle-grade mystery/fantasy novel that is based upon riddles. Ravens love riddles. In order for a raven to trust another raven, they have to first solve a riddle. Lucky for Paladin, Gabriel is a world class riddle solver. He can also talk to ravens and more (but those would be spoilers so I won't go any further!) 

Though this story did have a good plot, the characters really made it for me. You have Gabriel, a boy whose father has been missing for years. Pamela, a 12 year old girl with an annoyingly controlling mother who makes her practice the violin 3 hours/night. Abby, the girl across the street whose shoes never match and hair is always crazy. Last but not least you have Somes, who has the saddest story of all throughout this book. He starts off as a bully but finds a way into your heart once you know more about him and his life. 

I would definitely have loved this book in about 4th-6th grade. Pick it up, read it with your kids, recommend it to teachers to have in their classrooms!

*I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin

Published September 23, 2014 by EgmontUSA

Synopsis: The Bourne Identity meets Divergent in this heart-pounding debut.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah has a rare chance at a new life. Or so the doctors tell her. She’s been undergoing a cutting-edge procedure that will render her a tabula rasa—a blank slate. Memory by memory her troubled past is being taken away.

But when her final surgery is interrupted and a team of elite soldiers invades the isolated hospital under cover of a massive blizzard, her fresh start could be her end. 

Navigating familiar halls that have become a dangerous maze with the help of a teen computer hacker who's trying to bring the hospital down for his own reasons, Sarah starts to piece together who she is and why someone would want her erased. And she won’t be silenced again.

A high-stakes thriller featuring a non-stop race for survival and a smart heroine who will risk everything, Tabula Rasa is, in short, unforgettable.

Review:  This book was really like Divergent (I've never seen the Bourne Identity...I know, I know.) High action, large men with guns, a raging blizzard, a creepy hospital, and a love interest all rolled into one story makes for a fairly good story.

Sarah is a strong female lead. Sure, she has many vulnerabilities. Mostly because of her Tabula Rasa treatments; how can she be rock solid when she doesn't know who she is or where she came from? She relearns her history through little flashbacks of memory, which I really found to be a great piece to this story. Her interactions with Thomas (the computer hacker) were fresh and at times comical and other times emotional. 

The plot was original- a secret hospital performing brain wiping? Then one night soldiers invade and from there, this is a twisting, turning plot. Some of the twists were so unexpected!! It was nice to read such an original idea and think that it would make a cool sci-fi novel if they focused more on the background and procedure. 

I would recommend this book for any fans of Divergent, as well as any dystopian and/or sci-fi novel fans!

*I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Published September 9. 2014
Broadway Books

Synopsis: Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power. Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Divani. Officially, the quiet mousy woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters-dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem-and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well.

Review: This book was totally outside of my comfort zone. Epic fantasy is not a genre that I pick up very often. In fact, I don't know if I have ever picked it up. When looking on Blogging for Books, this cover was beautiful and the synopsis seemed intriguing so I decided to give it a go.

Right off the bat, there are a bunch of names in this book that I cannot pronounce. This also makes it difficult to keep all the characters straight. What made it even more difficult in this instance was the fact that half the 'characters' in this book were long ago Gods that all had different powers. Woah was I lost for a bit. But the more I read, the easier it was to remember who was who. 

The main characters, especially Shara and Sigrud, were very strong characters. Sigrud was probably my favorite of them all; in my head I pictured him as a heroic Hagrid. They had solid dialogue, and really had different personalities and language to keep the plot going. 

Now, I had never read anything by Robert Jackson Bennett. But man, can he write!! The creation of this world (as well as a few parallel ones), the cast of characters, the mystery, the magic...it takes a strong author to create a scene quite like the one in this novel.  The descriptions were vivid, the characters strong, the situations imaginative and fluid. The last half of this story grabbed me and held on tight, I read the last 200 pages in one sitting!

A great fantasy novel that may just prompt me to pick up more fantasy in the future!

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.