Don't Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Another book review!  I promise you this is worth your time.  I just loved this book to bits and I really have to share it!

You probably have seen the film, Pay It Forward which stars Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.  The film was based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  I had the honour of meeting Catherine on-line after I searched for her on Facebook as soon as I began reading Don't Let Me Go.  Let me tell you, it's not only her book I find amazing, Catherine herself is pure awesomeness!

Without much further ado, let me share with you this astonishing book!

Back cover summary:

Sometimes a child knows better... 


GRACE 
Ten-year-old Grace knows that her mum loves her, but her mum loves drugs too. And there’s only so long Grace can fend off the ‘woman from the county’ who is threatening to put her into care. Her only hope is... 

BILLY 
Grown-man Billy Shine hasn’t been out of his apartment for years. People scare him, and the outside world scares him even more. Day in, day out, he lives a perfectly orchestrated silent life within his four walls. Until now. . . 

THE PLAN 
Grace bursts into Billy’s life with a loud voice and a brave plan to get her mum clean. And it won’t be easy, because they will have to confiscate the one thing her mum holds most dear . . . they will have to kidnap Grace.

Why I like it:

A heartwarming tale of friendship and love.  Love in all forms.  The story depicts the goodness of humanity.  That in each of us lies kindness, no matter who or what we are.

I loved the characters in this story.   It's a feel-good book that would make you wish there was a Book 2.  It's funny, soul-soothing...full of selflessness and compassion.

I am particularly impressed with how the author switched point of view from an adult to a 10-year old girl.  I think it's brilliant!

I am now definitely a fan of Catherine Ryan Hyde!

"So I guess people figure it's not as hard to lose your mother when you never got along anyway.  But they're wrong.  They're dead wrong.  It's always hard to lose your mother.  Always.  If you loved her, if you hated her.  If she smothered you, if she ignored you.  It doesn't matter.  She's your mother.  Your mother.  That's just a very tough bond to break." 

- Jesse, page 233, Don't Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book above. This is an honest review and I was not compensated for this.

The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little

I waited so long for this book to arrive on my doorstep so that when it finally did, I almost screamed in delight!

Livie, the main character, did not only make me reconnect to my child-self but also helped me come to terms with the things in my past, things I can never change.

The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little helped me understand my own fears when I was an eleven year old girl.  Most of all, it made me understand and love my mother more than I already do or did.

This is one of the books that I highly recommend to both children and adults alike.  It's an emotionally powerful book.  It may not have the same effect on you but I can assure you that it is an excellent read.  I am certain you will enjoy every word, every page.  To me, this means I will be reading more books by Ms Little.



Back cover blurb:


Twelve-year-old Livie is living with a secret and it's crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother's coma, but she can't tell anyone. It's up to her to find a way to wake her momma up.

Stuck in the middle of three sisters, hiding a forbidden pet alligator, and afraid to disappoint her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else, Livie struggles to find her place within her own family as she learns about the powers of faith and redemption. Livie's powerful, emotional, and sometimes humorous story will stay with readers long after the last line is read.

Set in the lush bayou of Louisiana, Kimberley Griffiths Little brings Livie's story to life with power and grace.

Disclaimer:  I own a copy of the book 'The Healing Spell.'  This is an honest review and I was not compensated for this.

Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Summary:


The world is changing.

For thousands of years, witch song has controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons. But not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by the dark Witch, Espen.

As the last echoes of witch song fade, Espen grows stronger as winter and summer come within the space of a day. Now she’s coming for the one she missed—a shy, untrained girl of fifteen named Brusenna.


Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find Espen. Fight her. Defeat her.


Or there won’t be anything left to save.

My thoughts:

This is a world where witches do not use wands.  Instead, they sing.  I find the beginning very slow-moving but right in the middle and throughout the end, it was full of suspense and action.  


I wasn't able to connect to/with Brusenna and I feel sad about that.  I wish there were more flashbacks in the story, more thoughts that would have made me feel closer to the MC.  Her behaviour and reactions to things confused me at times.  Nevertheless, I must say that this is a creation of an extraordinary world of magic and music.


This is a story of love and loyalty.  It ended in an unexpected way which made it even more interesting.  


Amber Argyle has created an enthralling world. A unique story of witches. An impressive debut novel.  


Disclaimer:  I received an ARC of the book above from the publisher for an honest review and I was not compensated for this review.

Wednesday Fun - I've been tagged!

I have just learned that I've been tagged by Author Jessica Bell last month!  Yes, last month! Can you imagine how bad I am that I have not read it???  So if I have not visited your blog for awhile, forgive me.  It's not only you.  I have noticed quite recently that a few of my followers are 'unfollowing' me, maybe they think I've forgotten them because I have not been commenting for awhile.  That's sad.  Believe me, I have been trying.  I am! I really am! Just can't keep up, lovelies!  Eeeeeeekkkk!!!

*Calming self down*

*Breath in.  Breath out.*

Shall we continue? Jess tagged me so here's what I need to do:  I have to answer the following questions and follow the instructions and tag five lovely bloggers.

Do you think you're hot?
Are you referring to my body temperature? I can assure you, it is normal. Hehehe.


Upload a picture of wallpaper you are using at the moment.
This was taken in 2008 when husband and I went to London with our two good friends, Jemima and Orren.  I loved those two days with them. This shot was taken by Orren and it reminds me so much of how much fun we all had.

When was the last time you ate chicken? 
Last week.  I made chicken/pasta soup.  


The songs you listened to recently?
I Finallly Found Someone by Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams.  I loved the film, Mirror Has to Faces and it was on TV a few days ago....so I thought I'd listen to the 'theme song' on youtube.

What were you thinking as you were doing this?
I need to sleep.  Yes, I do.  I really do.  ZZZzzzzzzzzzz.

Do you have nicknames? Yes

I am called:
Len by everybody
Leni by family and closest friends

Tag five bloggers and state the reason why:


Theresa Milstein - because she's a lovely friend.  It always makes me smile when I get an email from her.  She is always so kind and helpful to me, always has the answer to my questions.  She's a great friend and a talented writer. I heart her! 


LindyLou Mac - for all her book reviews which I love and look forward to reading.


Glynis Smy - she's been a blogger friend since I began blogging and I did not even realise she's always there to visit my blog, even when I had no followers!


Lisa Stowe - she believes in me and my writing and that is huge.  Her words of encouragement are something I hold on to when I get really down and I feel like I write crap.


Jessica Bell - tagging you back, Jess! She's such an inspiration to me.  I cannot think of anything she can't do - she writes novels, poetry, she sings (and she's got an angelic voice!) and she edits, too! Not to mention her good looks! I think when the Universe distributed talent and all things good, she was in the front row!


******


The winner of the Book Give-away is Ycel Zaleta!!!  I will be posting/mailing the book soon! Congratulations!


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Starring in the Movie of my Life by Laurel Osterkamp

A review and a book give-away!!!

Back cover summary:


Thirty-five-year-old Samantha acts without thinking. Her heart is huge while her sense of purpose is small; she's willing to fight for those she loves, but she's never learned to fight for herself. Eighteen-year-old Melody is cold and calculating, and she's driven by the desire to better herself. As these compelling yet deeply flawed women battle for the affections of 25-year-old Nathan, he becomes increasingly confused and torn between them.

Nathan is Melody's English teacher, and after he saves her from being raped, she becomes attached. Melody longs for the affection she's never felt, so she involves people in her self-invented drama, making sure she is at once the star and the director. Meanwhile, Samantha is newly married to Nathan. But Samantha has hang-ups about motherhood and lingering feelings for her ex. To make sense of the world, Sam relates her life to the themes of her favorite movies, while she independently makes a documentary to jump-start her non-existent film career.

What I think about it:

The story is almost multi-plotted, with an interesting sub-stories pertaining to each character.  It has an efficacious plot in keeping one engaged.  The story revolves around characters with secrets that are slowly revealed from chapter to chapter.  


The creation of a selfish brat Melody is quite impressive that as I was beginning to despise her and her callous, heartless actions, I was so surprised near the end at how much I warmed up to her.  All of a sudden, I discovered that after all, she had a good heart.


In the story, Sam and Melody needed redemption.  In the end, however, I think it was Nathan who needed to be redeemed.  I felt sorry for him.  He seemed to be the victim of it all and did not deserve any of it. He was a good man and was manipulated by not just Melody, but also Sam in my view.  Whilst I loved Sam at first, in the end I couldn't understand what she was doing - making the story even more riveting and interesting.


There were typo errors which distracted my reading but over all, with intriguing, multi-faceted characters, combined with well-woven, dark, murky, and sometimes even perplexing secrets within the storyline, I can say this is a good book and an excellent read.


*****

I have a copy of Starring in the Movie of my Life to give away! Woot-woot!  Thank you, Laurel!

All you have to do is follow and leave me a comment below to enter.  Don't forget your email address!  


I will pick the winner next week!


Very pleased to also let you know that this book is A 2011 Award-winning finalist for the
National Indie Excellence Book Awards
(Chick-Lit) and
International Book Awards
(Women's Fiction & Young Adult Fiction)


Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of the book from the author for an honest review and I was not compensated for this review.

Recommended Read: Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Hello bloggie friends!  Thank you for all the comments on my book review of Breakthrough by Stephen Tremp.  I hope you don't get tired of my posts but today's post is another book recommendation that I feel I must tell you about because it is really a good one!

Hopefully, my next post will be more exciting than a book review *fingers crossed*

Hope you are having a beautiful Wednesday!!! 

To save your daughter

You must tell the world

You wish she'd never been born.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Back cover blurb:

Willow O'Keefe had seven broken bones before she took her first breath.

Now her life is lived on a knife-edge.  Born with brittle bone disease, she will never learn to skate like her sister.  Even walking can be dangerous:  one wrong step and she is back in a cast.

The medical bills are crippling her family.  So when a lawyer tells Charlotte, her mother,   that they might have a case to sue for wrongful birth, she feels bound to consider it.

Except that winning would mean losing her best friend - and telling the world that she wishes her much-longed for, adored daughter had never been born...

Why I like it:

I have read four other books of Jodi Picoult.  I must say, this, so far, is the best. Very beautifully written. So poetic from beginning to end. With the most impressive details, obviously a well-researched work. It's a story full of not just love, but 'heart' itself.

Willow, a 6-year old little girl is the character with osteogenesis imperfecta in this beautiful story. The prologue alone tore my heart to pieces. I must admit that it hit home. I saw myself in Charlotte. This is a must-read. Whether you are a mother or not, I think you will enjoy every page of this book. It has taught me a lot about a condition that was unknown to me. And it shows a life of a family with a child with special needs lead.

With an unexpected ending, I was left with a bleeding heart. Being a writer myself, what other way would I end a story like this but to give the main character a little bit of mercy? It wasn't the perfect ending. I didn't like it. In real life, it would have broken people's heart. But as a reader, it left me something to think about. And a question that Charlotte may be asking Sean, "What do we do now?"

******

More on Jodi Picoult's Handle with Care

I found this book trailer on you.tube, hope you'll like it:

Disclaimer:  I own a copy of the book 'Handle with Care.'  This is an honest review and I was not compensated for this.

Breakthrough by Stephen Tremp

Background:

A scientific breakthrough in Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes, is stolen by a group of misguided M.I.T. graduate students. They scheme to usher in a global science-based oligarchy. Greed, betrayal, murder, mayhem, spiritual contemplation, and unconditional love define the power-play struggle in this fast-paced suspense thriller of technology gone too far. As the death toll mounts, will Chase Manhattan and a multi-faceted cast of characters escape their hit list and destroy the discovery which threatens life as we know it? 


Why I like it:


Full of heart-stopping action!  Lots of chasing, suspense-filled book.  If you love Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft, you'll see a few Lara Croft-like women in this novel by Stephen Tremp.  Chase Manhattan, the main character, is surrounded by them.


What makes it interesting is how well-researched the book is.  It is amazing how it tells about parallell universes, wormholes and time-travel.  It left me wondering, asking myself the 'hows' and 'what-ifs.'  I love this kind of story.  It's fast-paced.  Yes, the kind that will take you to the edge of your seat.  I know it's a cliche but how else would you describe an exciting book such as this?



More Info:


Breakthrough, the first book in the Adventures of Chase Manhattan series, begins with a big bang and offers the audience exciting, unique, and diverse heroes and villains. The result is a fresh suspense thriller series integrating elements of greed, betrayal, passion, lust, unconditional love, coming of age, and hope. The action is swift. There are numerous  twists and turns that will keep the reader turning the pages and wanting more.


Breakthrough is available for download to the Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, and Google Android at Smashwords and for the Kindle at Amazon.


Disclaimer:  I received a free electronic copy of the book from the author for an honest review and I was not compensated for this review.

Ordinary Angels by India Drummond

An angel is about to fall.

Although most of Zoe Pendergraft's friends are dead, that means nothing to her.  After all, they died long before she met them.  What does matter is the angel who took her dancing and turned her world upside down.

But grim reality intrudes when she finds  a body, and the Higher Angels accuse her best friend of the murder.

Knowing she's the only one who can stand against the Higher Angels, Zoe uses any means necessary to save her friend....all the while, wondering if the tempestuous love she's feeling is real.

The blood on her hands forces Zoe to question herself, and her angel to question her.

Content warning:  Contains strong language and supernatural sizzle.

Falling in love with an angel.  After immersing ourselves with stories of wizards, vampires and werewolves, it's now time for something new:  angels.  India Drummond has just the right book for us. Ordinary Angels.

I must admit, I fell in love with the cover of the book straight away.  Don't you just love it? Reading it made it even better.  I was captivated by Alexander.  I wanted to be Zoe.  India has created interesting characters in Zoe, Alexander, Henry and Zoe's Gran.  Zoe sees dead people, angels and demons.  The setting is not in the far-away fantasy land.  What's interesting is that Zoe works in an office.  It's like the supernatural meets the real world.

The intimate scenes are immaculate.  Have you seen the film, City of Angels which starred Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage?  Do you remember how they made love?  Do you remember how pure, innocent and celestial the love scene was?  That is how I would describe the intimate moments between Zoe and Alexander.  They are powerful. They remain with you.  India has captured me.  She writes in a way that each chapter gives me a sweet 'aftertaste' that she makes me long for more.

Don't be the last to read India Drummond's debut novel.  It is truly an enjoyable book you'd like to take with you - for a relaxing read by the beach, at the park or even in your own home - with a cup of hot choco!   

One of my favourite parts of this book:
Instead of answering or asking questions she knew he must have, Alexander kissed her hard on the lips.  "I do not want to be without you,"  he said. (p.139)


To find out more about India Drummond and her book, here's her website:  http://www.indiadrummond.com/

Disclaimer:  I received a free electronic copy of the book from the author for an honest review and I was not compensated for this review.

Recommended Read: Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain

Back cover blurb:


Since that awful day, Laura Brandon's little girl hasn't uttered a word.  When a psychiatrist suggests that Emma won't talk because she's terrified of men, Laura is guilt-ridden. To help Emma, she needs to know what unspeakable secret lies behind her husband's suicide.


Laura thought her family was perfect, but her quest leads her to a shocking truth.  For her child's sake, should her father's sins be kept silent?

****




When I was out with my husband quite recently and picked up Diane Chamberlain's book, Breaking the Silence, I knew it was a good story but I didn't expect it to be exemplary.  OK, maybe I am not in the position to say it is exemplary, I am not a highly-acclaimed critique but I must say, I have read many books and this is highly commendable.  The moment I began turning the pages, I was hooked.  I couldn't stop.

Every chapter in the book is linked to the next.  It has multiple plots and impressively written. From Laura's pendant in the beginning of the story to her daughter's inability to talk.  Every single sentence is carefully woven, interlacing each of them into the next part.

I love the way this novel was written.  Definitely my cup of tea.  It is not overly wordy.  I like Diane's style.  I will definitely read more of her!

How about you? What are you currently reading? What books do you recommend?

Disclaimer:  I purchased the book, Breaking the Silence.  My review was in no way influenced by the author or the publisher.

Death by a Dark Horse by Susan Schreyer - Blog Tour De Force Stop 12!

It's been awhile since I've read a mystery so when Author Susan Schreyer offered me an e-copy of her debut novel, Death by a Dark Horse, I was excited!  So, first and foremost, I'd like to thank the lovely Susan who's now become an on-line friend, for the opportunity to read a very good book and to post a review on it.

Death by a Dark Horse is the first in the Thea Campbell Mystery series.

Here's the back cover blurb of her book:

Thea Campbell goes out for revenge when the one person who is the most likely and least likely candidate for thief steals her horse. But Olympic hopeful Valerie Parsons is past caring about being arrested. She’s dead. At first Thea’s horse is assumed to have killed the woman, but when the coroner determines it was a human hand and not a horse’s hoof that ended Valerie’s life Thea becomes a person of interest. Now intimidating people with little regard for due process are showing up on her doorstep looking to even the score. Toss in her wrecked love life, a sexy geology professor who stirs up more than dust, and an alleged psychic horse, and it soon becomes apparent that Thea’s predictable life is now out of control. As she takes charge of clearing herself of the murder she discovers the victim had a knack for making enemies—one of whom is Thea’s ditsy sister. She pursues her investigation with more at stake than ever, and in a seedy biker bar comes face-to-tattoo with information that will lead the police to the real killer. She dutifully reports to the detective in charge. But Thea is wrong. As close to dead wrong as she ever wishes to get.

The book is narrated by Thea Campbell.  She is an accountant and amateur dressage rider.  Now, if like me, you don't know anything about horses, dressage means:

From dictionary.com: the art or method of training a horse in obedience and in precision of movement.   The story revolves around Thea and her seven year old Hanoverian gelding, The Black Queen's Bishop who she calls 'Blackie.'

Why I like it

The story will keep you guessing from the beginning to the end!  It's a total page-turner.  I love how Thea cares about Blackie like a friend, beyond caring for a pet.  At times, she almost even forgets about herself and the fact that the police may also consider her a suspect!

Thea is a magnetic character who you'd want to stick with in a book, you'd want to be friends with her if she was a person in real life, and perhaps even help her do the detective work!  I admire her braveness and can't forget the moment she saw Valerie's body, right there in front of her.  I gasped as I read this part and thought 'My God, if this was happening to me, I'd drop dead!'  Each time I guessed who the killer was, I was wrong.

If you are a mystery book-lover, this book is definitely for you! A book that is cleverly-written!  I'm giving it 5 stars!  I would certainly get the next book when it is out.  Yes, the next in the series, Levels of Deception, will be out in February 2011 so watch out for it! 

I'm sure you'd like to get to know Susan more and find out more about her books.  Please click here to see her website and check out her blog!

Author Susan Schreyer is the new mystery author to watch out for!

This book review is part of the Blog Tour de Force that I am participating in.  I hope you find the time to visit other blog participants as well. To view authors and books in the Tour, please click here. Win prizes, including a Kindle! Go!


You can also go straight to Susan Schreyer's Blog for details on how to win! Go!

Disclaimer:  I received a free electronic copy of the book from the author for an honest review and I was not compensated for this review.