Santa Maybe

This is just a cute, light hearted Christmas story. I just got it at Seagul Book for $2.99. They have some super good deals on Christmas books right now.

With a successful bakery to run, super cute nieces and nephews to spoil, and plenty of good friends to keep her company, Abbie's not about to start crying over the fact that she doesn't have a boyfriend to spend Christmas with. But when her sister convinces her to write a note to Santa, Abbie has no idea that a little Christmas magic is about to land her the man of her dreams. Or rather, the man is about to land smack dab on the floor in front of her Christmas tree--with no memory of how he got there.

Now Abbie and Ben have to figure out where he came from, who he really is, and if he's actually availble.

Nicholas Sparks

Most of you are probably familiar with Nicholas Sparks. I have read most of his books, and I really like them all. They usually get me crying pretty good. Here are 4 of them that I would highly recommend:

The Notebook

The Choice

The Gaurdian

A Walk to Remember

This is my all time favorite book of his. Good lessons learned. I even had my teenage son read it. It's so much more than a love story.

They have made a lot of his books into movies. None of the movies do the books justice. So, read the book first, and then see the movie.

2 Books

The Best of Times and A Far, Far Better Place. Both of these books are by Anita Stansfield. I grew up reading her books in high school. I'll admit that I do like her books, but feel like they are all the same in a way or carry the same type of story line. I thought these books were good.

Sorry for not putting pictures, I'm lazy today.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

I really do like the Shannon Hale books. I have posted about some of her other books too:

The Goose Girl
Enna Burning
River Secrets
Forest Born
Princess Academy

I can't wait for Meg to be able to read these books so that I can read them again with her. I like books with happy endings and S. Hale doesn't disappoint. It another young reader so it is easy to get through.

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. With the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, the other decidedly less so—the girls are confronted with both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this little-known classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset in a land inspired by the Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Brett did a job for a gal (Megan) and she is a book reader too, so she was nice enough to call me and we shared book recommendations. We have read a lot of the same books. She recommended this one. It was nice to read a book by Shannon Hale that was more of an adult book. I also love the BBC Pride and Prejudice - thank you Becca for the introduction to it as I am now a proud owner. I'm not obsessed with Colin Firth or Mr. Darcy like Jane is in this book; I just love the book and they did a great job on the movie.

This is a fun read, but now I feel like a need to read some of Austens' other books too, since I have only read Pride and Prejudice so far. Any suggestions on where to start?

Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

I saw this book recommended on a blog I ran across. I don't like scary/thriller books because I am whimpy and then worry about those things happening to me, but this was a very mild book. I liked it, but probably won't read it again.

In her new thriller, America's #1 bestselling Queen of Suspense delves into a legal battle over the guilt or innocence of a man accused of murdering his wife. Woven into her plot is an eerie, little-understood but documented medical phenomenon -- the emergence of a donor's traits and memories in the recipient of a heart transplant.

Natalie Raines, one of Broadway's brightest stars, accidentally discovers who killed her former roommate and sets in motion a series of shocking events that puts more than one life in extreme peril.

While Natalie and her roommate, Jamie Evans, were both struggling young actresses, Jamie had been involved with a mysterious married man to whom she referred only by nickname. Natalie comes face to face with him years later and inadvertently addresses him by the nickname Jamie had used. A few days later, Natalie is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound.

Immediately the police suspect Natalie's theatrical agent and soon-to-be-ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. He had long been a "person of interest" and was known to have stalked Natalie to find out if she was seeing another man. But no charges are brought against him until two years later, when Jimmy Easton, a career criminal, suddenly comes forward to claim that Aldrich had tried to hire him to kill his wife. Easton knows details about the Aldrich home that only someone who had been there -- to plan a murder, for instance -- could possibly know.

The case is a plum assignment for Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old assistant prosecutor. As she spends increasingly long hours preparing for the trial, a seemingly well-meaning neighbor offers to take care of her dog in her absence. Unaware of his violent past, she gives him a key to her home...

As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, her boss warns Emily that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments that defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury.

In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk.

A compelling novel that probes the mysteries of the human heart and mind, Just Take My Heart is Mary Higgins Clark's most spellbinding tale

Uglies

Ranay loaned me this book. It is similar to "The Hunger Games" in that civilization as we know it has changed or progressed. I like "The Hunger Games" better, but this was good and there are three or four more books in this series.

"Uglies"
"Pretties"
"Specials"

and there might be one more that I am forgetting.

The Star Garden by Nancy Turner

This is the third and final? book of the series. The author goes back to the journal type writing like she wrote in the first book "These is my Words." Although the 2nd and 3rd book of the series were good, I like the first book the best!

Sarah's Quilt

by Nancy Turner

It's the next book in the little series about Sarah Agnes Prine. I really liked how the first book - These is My Words - was written. It was written in a journal style that I really liked. This book was written as a normal novel, so I missed the other style of writing. I did enjoy this book, but the first remains my favorite so far.

These is My Words by Nancy Turner

Okay so I really do like 98% of the books that I read. This one I love. In fact when I finished it I started it over again. It takes place in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's early 1900's. The family is moving to settle in another part of the Territory when it begins. They see a lot of hard times. It is written as the diary of the main character Sarah Prine. Get this book and read it!

My sister in law recommended the book and I just found out there are 2 more in the series: Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden. I am on the waiting list for them at the library.

The Fishers of Men Series

Okay so if you haven't noticed yet, I like/love most of the books I read. These were especially interesting to me because I did not know much about the Jewish religion or their customs. I enjoyed reading about the time of Christ.

Fire and the Covenant

The Fire and the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund

I really liked this book. I have to admit that I thought I knew the story of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies, but now I really know.



It was a tear jerker. I can only try to be as faithful as those saints. I am still in awe.

The Shadow Children Series

The Shadow Children Series, by Margret Peterson Haddix, is great. We bought them for my 4th grade daughter, and she has gone all the way through the 7 books in a matter of a couple of weeks. I am reading them too, and I really like them. They are quick and easy to get through. They have really short chapters which I like, because if you only have a few minutes of downtime, you can easily get through a few chapters.

They are set in the future. People are only allowed to have 2 children. The whole series is about what happens to the 3rd children (or shadow children). The government runs the Population Police, and it's their job to track down and kill any illegal shadow children.

Here are the titles of the seven books:
1. Among the Hidden
2. Among the Impostors
3. Among the Betrayed
4. Among the Barons
5. Among the Brave
6. Among the Enemy
7. Among the Free

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I recently read the whole "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series - 5 books in all. To my surprise I really liked them. Actually while and after I read these books I really wanted to learn more about the Greek Gods. These are also young reader books so very easy to read. I recommend them.

Harry Potter

I know these are not new books, but I have just recently re-read all the Harry Potter books. I love love love them. I love the movies too, but as we all know books are usually better. Anyway I think sometimes people do not give them a chance because they think that they are too young. But be serious ladies. Vampires/Wizards? I hope my imagination never stops wanting those magical worlds with endless possibility. Anyway I have the whole series if anybody wants to borrow.

Princess Academy

This is a young adult book. I liked it, it was a quick read and easy to get through. The Author is Shannon Hale. I've also read Goose Girl and have a couple of her other books on hold at the library. If you are looking for a simple, good book this is a good one.

PS - Tricia, I think Bailey would really like these books too - if she hasn't already read them.

A Company of Swans

Love this book! It was a recommendation off of Stephenie Meyer's list. I checked it out from the library, then bought it, lent it to Nicole, re-read it, love it.

It is a young adult historical romance novel published in 1985 by Eva Ibbotson.

Brief synopsis:

Harriet Morton lives in Cambridge with her widowed father who is an intolerant Merlin Professor of Classics, and her frugal Aunt Louisa, who wishes her to marry an uninteresting entomogly student named Edward Finch-Dutton. After her father bans her from attending school, believing women should not be highly educated, the only freedom allowed to her are ballet lessons at Madame Lavarre's school. One day at her lessons, Sasha Dubrov, a famous ballet master visits her studio and asks Harriet to join his company for a tour of South America. Although she wants to accept, her father refuses to let her join the tour, and instead bans her from ballet lessons when she suggests the idea.

That is just the tip of the ice berg folks! The fun is just beginning. I do have to say that the first part drags on in much detail, but endure through the first few chapters, and you're in for a fun adventure!

-Ranay

P.S. Has anyone ever read any of this author's other books?

First Recomendation

Okay my first recommendation is to read The Hunger Games and it's sequel Catching fire.




I really liked both books, unfortunately there will be another book coming out to make it a Trilogy. I hate to wait!! I have no idea when the third book is supposed to be out.