Room for Love by Andrea Meyer

Can't remember why I ordered this book into the store. But the plot of it sounded pretty good. The main character, Jacquie, is a writer for a film magazine, and also of course looking for love. She gets the idea to meet guys by answering their ads for roommates in the want ads. And decides to write an article about all the guys she meets and which ones ask her out, etc. The idea is that you can learn so much about a guy by seeing how he lives. Now Jacquie has her own apartment that she owns. So when she actually meets a guy that she falls in love with, she must lie about her own place, and move in with him. Will he understand when the article comes out? Or is Mr. Perfect really the one for her?

There were many parts in this that I bookmarked, so I'm going to point those out next. I do have to say that she had a guy that worked at the hardware store by her place, and he had a dog, and at the first I thought he was the guy she should end up with. But when I pictured him, I pictured the guy Lynn Kegan, who is a HGTV hunk. But anyway, let me tell you about the parts that I really connected with.

1. First thing I loved is at the beginning when she talks about playing the MASH game. I totally loved that game! Still play it occasionally when I get bored in meetings. :-)


2. Later she talks about when she is lugging tons of bags home she curses the guy she hasn't met yet who should be helping her lug it. I feel the same, kind of. I think a lot about how I better just learn to carry stuff by myself, because there may never be a guy to help me with that. This is first also where we meet the hot hardward store guy.


3. 2 pages later she says she wonders if she jinxed herself by buying an apartment before she had someone to share it with. I wonder the same thing. I know it is a good financial thing to buy your house, but did I jinx myself out of meeting someone by buying my house first?


4. Another way that she is just like me is that she has always lulled herself to sleep with fairy tale love stories she made up in her head. I do that ALL the time. In fact, not always lulling myself to sleep. Often when I'm bored at work, or driving in the car, I'm creating my fantasy in my head. Be it meeting David Cook and having him fall in love with me, to creating ways to maybe find out that guys in my actual real life are interested in me and they come forward and tell me.


5. One of the guys she goes to check out his apartment is really hot in a preppy way. Yet he doesn't ask her out. And she wonders the same as I do. Why is those guys never seem interested in her/me?


6. When she says she's annoyed that her thirties are no different from her twenties. Kind of feels the same for me. Alone then, alone now. Maybe less men even kind of interested now would be a difference.


7. Just a small thing, but she mentions Kevin Smith! I love Kevin Smith!


8. Not to give anything away. But her apartment catches on fire at the end, and I laughed at the part where they are talking about what things she probably lost in the fire, and her sister asks what does she think happens to vibrators when they burn.

Anyway, it was a fun book. I'm also in the middle of reading a biography of the actress who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, and it is really good so far. Can't wait to write a review of it.

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I kind of dreaded picking up this book. Which is weird. I did like Wicked, but it was kind of a weird book. And so I figured Son of a Witch might be hard to read. But once I picked it up and started reading, it was easy enough to get into and a good enough read. Now I do have to say that as usual, Gregory Maguire is always a bit out there, past where I prefer, but it was an okay sequel to the book before. But now I'm at a quandary. While it was good, I'm not sure if I want to go on and read the next book, I think it's A Lion Among Men. We have the hardcover at the bookstore on the bargain tables for like $5.98, so I probably should go ahead and get it at that deal. But here's what I wonder. As many books as I have to read, should I waste time feeling like I have to finish a series just because I've started it? If I only find it mediocre in entertainment. I mean, yes, once I picked Son of a Witch up, I was involved and interested in it. But it wasn't a book that I thought about picking up and when I could read it again. To me, that doesn't make it a "great" book. In a similar situation, I've been an L.J. Smith fan since I was in high school with the Secret Circle series. I read the first 4 Vampire Diaries books, and enjoyed them, but then when 2 new ones came out, I thought they were horrible, and have decided I'm done with that series. But the Wicked series is so popular, I kind of feel like I should read them all.

Oh well. I'm currently re-reading Eclipse to get ready for the movie coming out next Tuesday at midnight. Now that's a book that I keep thinking about reading instead of blogging about a book I finished or watching the tv shows I've DVRed. :-)

Next on the list is a book by the girl who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie television show.

Elephant Run by Roland Smith

I am a HUGE Roland Smith fan. I was first introduced to his writing when he came to speak at my school, and I have yet to be disappointed by a book from him. I will admit this started out a bit slow, I was reading it just during lunch at school, and I think that was the problem. When you pick this book up and just read, you soon get sucked into it. This is another book that really gets you interested in history. Elephant Run takes place in Burma during World War 2. There isn't really a Burma anymore. It is Myanmar now. But this talks about the elephants in that area and tells how the Japanese came in and used the elephants and the people who trained them, the mahouts, to build up their defense. I love the nature that Roland Smith also uses in his books.

I also like that there are literature circle questions included with this addition of the book. Tempts me to use it as a book I read during my Greater Gator class next year. We'll see. I do kind of like to do books that they can read off the Truman list to help the librarian as well.

Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman

This is another of my chick lit finds at the outlet bookstore in Osage Beach. It was a cute idea. The main character quits her job after she finds out her boss just wants her to sleep with him, and he calls her a stupid secretary. Well, Molly, was just about to go to a conference in Paris with her boss, which would have been her first time out of her small town. Well, at the last minute she decides to go ahead and use her ticket to go into Paris on her own and just enjoy herself. And, well, an adventure begins. She meets a wild Australian girl who gets her out and introduces her to some fun people. And while out with this group, a fantasy comes true when she meets Fabrice, a handsome French artist. And while she thinks she just wants her weekend in Paris, like most girls, she falls in love. There is a nice side story about how she doesn't know who her father is, as well as her new Australian friend helping her get back at her boss. All in all it ends well, and makes me want to go on vacation by myself like that. And it makes me wonder, would it be really empowering to have someone draw/paint you like she talks about?

There is one part in the book that I marked to talk about. When she gets introduced to her new French friends by Alicia, her new Australian friend, they do a major makeover on her before they go out, fashionable, sexy clothes, and makeup too! I just wish I could have someone do that for me. I have no idea on makeup, and any time I try it just looks like crap. So it always makes me wonder if that would be all I needed to find my right guy? Silly, I know.

Anyway, a fun chick lit!

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - an Eclipse novella - by Stephenie Meyer

Of course I had to read this novella set in the world of the Eclipse novel of the Twilight series. And of course I was done in less than 24 hours. I would have had it read before I went to bed that Saturday night, but I had to get up early the next morning, so I finished it Sunday afternoon.

Bree Tanner is the vampire we meet at the end of Eclipse. She was part of Victoria's army created to come and help Victoria kill both Bella and Edward if possible. As we know from Eclipse, Bree is the only one who survives this fight, because she surrenders. In this novella about her second life, we learn probably why this happens. Bree learns before the rest of the vampire army that just because they are vampires, they won't burn up in the sun. She makes a friend, maybe more, named Diego, and they kind of figure out that Riley, their leader, isn't quite truthful. They are all afraid of the vampire who made them, HER, and they don't know her name. We know this is because Victoria didn't want Alice to be able to pick up her plans, or Edward. Bree has another friend, Fred, who has this power to make people get so disgusted when they are around him that they just avoid him, and sometimes even forget he is there. He helps Bree deal with the other newborns, who as we've learned from Jasper are as violent as possible, and this helps both of them stay alive.

You feel a bit for Bree, as she has hoped that by surrendering she can at least meet again with Fred. We know from Eclipse though, that the Volturi will take care of her, and she won't get this chance.

It was an interesting read, but as what makes the Twilight series is the Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle and relationships, it isn't quite what those of us who are Twilight fans want. We only see Edward and Bella at the very end, and not really much to know about them. But it was still worth reading. And as the Eclipse movie is about to come out, I wonder how much of this vamp army story Stephenie gave the movie makers so that they could include in the movie.

Lies by Michael Grant

This is the 3rd book in the Gone series by Michael Grant. In this book it seems that we may actually find out what is going on outside the dome. It seems as if the parents are outside, all the adults, and they can see inside and kind of see what is going on. One of the "mutants" inside can talk to the parents in her dreams and sees that the kids should go ahead and leave on their 15th birthday when they have the chance. But it also seems maybe that when the kids "die" inside the dome, that they end up waking up outside the dome. So, we're not left knowing after this book if that is the absolute truth or not though. We also meet some new kids who live on an island. They are supposed to be the adopted kids of a "Brangeline" modeled couple. One of Caine's crew knows about this island, and thinks there may be food on it. Well, he's right, these kids living there have a lot of food, and no one but themselves to eat it. The bad thing is, they don't know quite how bad things are being stuck on their island, and one of them is sick. So the oldest one is going to try to fly a helicopter off the island for help.

And of course, the bad guy from before, Drake, who everyone thought was gone, is back somehow, along with another dead girl. So there is another enemy. Plus the "normal" kids are fighting against the mutants, setting fires and beating them up. And we find out that maybe this is all a big "video game" going on in Astrid's little brother Pete's mind. Pete is a mentally challenged kid, autistic, and may not know what he is doing.

I think this left off for yet another book in the series. Because it didn't really end anything, and it seems that our kids still need to get out of the dome.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Wow, it's been forever since I've posted, and I'm actually going to skip a few books I've read since I'm so behind. But I'll jump back in with the new series by one of my favorite YA authors, Rick Riordan. While this had some really interesting stuff with all the Egyptian mythology mixed in, I must say I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the the Percy Jackson series. I think part of it is the way it skipped back and forth between the 2 narrators, who were brother and sister. It got confusing and I don't know, it's just not my cup of tea. I think kids will enjoy it though. And I will of course recommend it to all who enjoyed Percy Jackson.

I know this is a really short post, but it has been a week or two since I finished the book, so I'm going to go on to another book now.