The Vow by Kim & Krickitt Carpenter

I really liked the movie The Vow.  Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams are two of my favorites!  And I love a love story!  So I really wanted to love this book.  But I didn't.

The book is very different from the movie.  And it is written more like a journal of events and their feelings during those events than a story.  It just wasn't well written I felt like.

I do love their story and how their faith in God and their commitment to the marriage got them through in tact.  It wasn't a pretty story, but life never is and their faith through it all really is amazing!

It's a good story and worth reading, but don't expect movie love or a story that sucks you in.

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.

Sweet Potato Queens One True Book of Love

I was invited to join a book club a few months ago and this was our very first book pick (our second was 50 Shades...yeah we're that kind of book club).

Here is the synopsis from Paperbackswap.com:

From the back of the book: — To know the Sweet Potato Queens is to love them, and if you haven't heard about them yet, you will. Since the early 1980's this group of belles gone bad has been the toast of Jackson, Mississippi, with their glorious annual appearance in the St. Patrick's Day parade. In this book, their royal ringleader, introduces the Queens to the world with this sly, hilarious manifesto about love, life, men, and the importance of being prepared. Chapters include:

* The True Magic Words Guaranteed to Get Any Man to Do Your Bidding

* The Five Men You Must Have in Your Life at All Times

* Men Who May Need Killing, Quite Frankly

* What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes, or Just for Entertainment

And, of course:

* The Best Advice Ever Given in the Entire History of the World

From tales of the infamous Sweet Potato Queens' Promise to the joys of Chocolate Stuff and Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas, this irreverent, shamelessly funny book is the gen-u-wine article.

For me this book was kind of funny and semi-entertaining, but I didn't love it.  It did make for some really awesome discussions at our book club.  

The book also includes some delicious sounding recipes.  One woman made the dip and brought it to book club and it was pretty tasty.  I tried the pineapple-cheese casserole dish on my own and it was just ok.

Overall I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Run at Destruction by Lynda Drews

I think this is my second true crime book.  I don't know what made me pick Run at Destruction.  Of course it probably had something to do with my obsession with the Nancy Cooper trial.  She was a runner.  And a love triangle sounded scandalous and would probably make for a good story.

The book is written by the victim's best friend over 20 years after the incident.  It is a story about a case back in the 80s.  A woman dies from a combination or carbon monoxide poisoning and drowning in her bathtub (sounds like something that might happen to me on one of my bad Ambien nights.  I could probably accidentally kill myself on that stuff.)

The woman's husband was having an affair with one of his co-workers.  All of them are teachers.  All of them are runners and very involved with the local running community.

The book takes you through the events of that day, flashes back to things that happened in the past and takes you through the trial.  But the best part of the book I thought was the last chapter that talks about what has happened to all the main players in the story since the trial.  I felt like there was too little in that last chapter and too much in the rest of the book.  I felt like it could have been condensed a little more and was a little slow at times.

It was a very interesting case though.  And the way it is left, it still leaves the question on if Pam's death was suicide, murder, or accidental death.  I think based on what I read it was murder, but I guess only the husband and God know the truth.

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.

Specials (Uglies, Book 3) by Scott Westerfeld

I liked this series.  I really did.  But it took me forever to get through this book!  I wasn't as in love with the whole thing by this point I guess.  Or maybe I just don't like when Tally turns in to someone other than herself.

Basically this book picks up where book two left off.  But now Tally has been turned in to a Special.  And not just any Special, but one of the elite new Cutters within the Special Circumstances.  The Specials are enhanced even more than the Pretties to the point of looking harsh and cruel, but still beautiful.  The best part is all your physical abilities and senses are enhanced and optimized.  You are pretty much invincible.  And you are programmed to think you are better than everyone else.

Tally is teamed back up with her BFF or "frennimie" Shay.  They have wild adventures trying to stop the New Smoke and help her ex-lover Zane.  It's all very "icy" and "bubbly".

But part of me started to get annoyed with these books.  The main characters value being pretty above everything and think they are better than everyone and now they are cutting themselves to get "icy"??  Not the best example.  It all turns out with a good moral story in the end, but I don't know...I just didn't love them.  Something was off about the storyline to me.  They just didn't sit right with me in the end.

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.

I'm going to stop my journey with these books here for now.  I have the last book Extras, but I need a break for now.

Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp by Stephanie Klein

Every girl I know has had body issues, been obsessed with their weight, felt bad about their weight, and/or been on a diet (or 12) at some point in their life.  Seriously men, you don't need to worry about our weight for us, bring it up, hint at it, point it out, or even mention it because we are hyper aware of the situation and have been since we were kids probably.  Seriously, is this just a girl thing?

That is why I was drawn to this book.  Not because I had ever been to fat camp, but because I can relate to fighting the scale and living in a world where fat is the last thing you want to be. 

The book was a little disappointing for me.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as I had hoped.  The author is really funny and witty and tells a lot of great stories, but I don't know, for some reason I wasn't a huge fan.

Most of the book centers around one of her summers at fat camp.  It brought back memories of summer camps I had been to.  I went to one where we were not allowed meat or caffeine for the week.  It was rough.  I can't imagine one where I had to get weighed all the time and have nothing but diet food!  But her stories are funny and she does give a lot of insight into childhood/teenage weight struggles.

But I think my favorite part of the book was the end where she is all grown up now in her 30s and describes how during her pregnancy her doctor ordered her to gain more weight and she was terrified.  But then she goes on to say "When we die, no one remembers us for what we weighed. Our weight isn't etched into our headstones."  She describes how almost every girl she has known has also had struggles with food, exercise, their body and weight- everything from bulimia to as simple as hiding junk food under the bed so no one would know you broke your diet or obsessively working out several times a day.

I'll try not to get too into my feelings on the whole subject since I could probably go on for hours.  And while I was a little disappointed with the book, I was glad I read it just to see that I'm not the only girl who struggle to find the "happy medium" in the battle of the bulge.

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

I was drawn to this book because in the description it says the main character makes a list of things she wants to do before she dies and you know how I love life lists!  Before I Die by Jenny Downham is the story of a young girl, Tessa, who is dying.  When the book starts she has been sick for some time and now she doesn't have long left. 

Tessa does make a list of things she wants to do before she dies, but they consist of most of the things you would think a typical teenager would put on such a list like "Have Sex" and "Try Drugs". She also steals her dad's car one day to experience driving.  I think she just wants to "be bad" and hey it is okay because she is dying anyway right? 

She has a friend who enables her in indulging her "wild side".  And sometimes she finds these things she thought would make her feel alive leave her feeling just a little bit empty. 

She does end up falling in love which is sweet and it was interesting to see the thoughts of a teenage girl facing death, but overall I was not a big fan of the book.  The end was pretty sad and I felt like her character really didn't grow that much over the course of the story.

It was an interesting book, but also really weird in a Catcher in the Rye type of way, and also pretty depressing.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Girls by Lori Lansens

Lori Lansens novel The Girls is the story of Rose and Ruby Darlen who are the oldest surviving craniopagus twins (they are 29 year old conjoined twins who are joined at the head.) I chose this book because I thought it was such an interesting perspective. I wondered how they did everyday things and what kind of adventures they would have.

When I read the first paragraph I thought it was one of the best things I have ever read:

"I have never looked into my sisters eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood in the grass and raised my arms to a beguiling moon. I've never used an airplane bathroom. Or worn a hat. Or been kissed like that. I've never driven a car. Or slept through the night. Never a private talk. Or a solo walk. I've never climbed a tree. Or faded into a crowd. So many things I've never done, but oh, how I've been loved. And if such things were to be, I'd live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially."

I love these words. How the dance together and ring so true and leave you with a deep sense of what really matters when you strip everything else away from life.

I was so excited to get in to this book after I read that paragraph. But I think my expectations were set too high. Don't get me wrong I loved the story. I loved reading about their life and all the twists and turns from their perspective. Most of the story is told from Rose's perspective but there are a few chapters sprinkled throughout from Ruby's perspective. There are some very unexpected twists and turns and I did care about the characters.

I just never fell in love with them. I wasn't dying to get home to read. I didn't find myself longing to know what happens next very often. But it was a good story and Lansens does sprinkle some more poetic, moving paragraphs like that first one, but it just didn't grab me as much as that introduction.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Life's a Beach by Claire Cook

“Life’s a Beach” by Claire Cook (who is also the author of “Must Love Dogs”) is the story of a 41-year old woman, Ginger, who really doesn’t know who she is or what she wants. She is living in a FROG (Finished Room Over Garage) at her parents house. She has a cat named Boyfriend (which I thought was funny at first, but then not so much later as I saw how much of an indicator it was of Ginger’s “issues”). She has a (sort of) real boyfriend, Noah, who seems like a great guy but never calls and basically just pops by randomly throwing pebbles at her window to get her to open the door. Her sister, Geri, is the total opposite of her and has the house, husband, kids, and great job to prove it. Geri is constantly stressing over her upcoming 50^th birthday. Their parents (who have their own “issues”) are trying to sell their house which forces Ginger to think about what she wants to do next. She recently started a sea glass jewelry business (which isn’t exactly booming) but spends most of her time watching her sister’s kids. The journey really starts when a shark movie starts filming in her small beach town and her nephew gets a part in it. It all wraps up pretty neatly with the unexpected 50^th birthday party for her sister.

There is a lot going on in this book, but none of it is really enthralling. It is an okay book with lots of laugh out load moments, but it never really had me on the edge of my seat. I did manage to finish it in about a week, so it wasn’t bad, just sort of a basic fun story. One thing I did pull away from the book was the idea of sand bottles (it was worth reading just for that).

I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Here is a link to the author’s website:

http://www.clairecook.com/

(It looks like she has a new cute book out called “Summer Blowout”)