Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Moses Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccien

This is another egalley from Netgalley. I believe it has also already been published. But as this is a holocaust story I was extremely intrigued and wanted to read it. It was a quick read, it is a book for young adults, probably upper elementary-middle school.

This is actually a true story, about a set of twins, Eva Moses and Miriam, identical twins. They began their lives in Transylvania, the only Jewish family there, which was not a big deal until a German teacher was sent and they spread the hate propaganda of Hitler, and their friends now turn on them. At the age of 10 they are taken with their family in a cattle car packed with other Jews to Auschwitz. At the station they are separated from their family when it is noticed that they are twins. It is assumed that their family all go to the side that ends up dying, as they never see them again. Another set of twins from the area and their mother also go with the Moses and other twins. The mother is allowed to go because she says she can tell secrets and information about twins to the scientist performing the experiments, Dr. Josef Mengele. Anyone who has studied the holocaust has heard of Mengele and his experiments on twins. He would subject them to horrible diseases and other torture just to see the difference between the twins. And when one twin would die, they would then kill and autopsy the other to compare what the difference was. Eva decided she would not let her sister die, and this is her story of how she does whatever she can to keep herself and her sister alive. This is another hard look at how some survived in the concentration camps. It also shows what happened after they were rescued, and how things weren't just all of a sudden perfect.

A really touching story, and a good read for any student interested in learning about the holocaust.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

This was an ARC that was just sitting out on the breakroom table at the bookstore where I work. I cannot believe it hadn't been picked up yet as we have many science fiction fans working at the store it seems.

Anyway, this was a good book. It reminds me in a way of the book World War Z in how it is told. It is several different entries. These are supposedly videos saved by Archos, going through the whole time from when the robots began to take over and try to eliminate humans, to the end where humans fought back to save their world. I honestly wonder how some of these videos were obtained, as if they are showing the ways that humans came up with to defeat the machines, wouldn't them being recorded have given their side away to the robots if they were recording it?

It of course is along the lines of Terminator, and that is quite interesting. The machines in this story though don't want to destroy the world, they, Archos, just believe that humans time is over, and they want to study the earth without humans around destroying it as they believe. In the end the humans are able to use the technology against itself, in ways that you don't always see coming. I love that the author of this actually has a Ph.D. in robotics and that is why it is so realistic I think. Some people might say too technical, but I'd have to disagree. I can't wait to recommend this book at the store.

The Cellar by A.J. Whitten

This was another egalley from Netgalley. This book is actually already published, but I still was interested in reading it.

First off, let me say this story was pretty scary! We have two, kind of three, main characters. First are the two sisters Meredith and Heather. They recently lost their father in a car crash, and since have moved in with their aunt and two twin cousins, and while the girls are lost, their mother has begun shopping constantly and not being there for her daughters. The third main character is Adrien, a very attractive and mysterious boy who has just moved into the really crummy rundown house next door to them.

At school all the girls seem to fall in love with Adrien, including Heather. Meredith however senses something isn't quite right with him. Adrien always leaves his sunglasses on, but he does pull them off one time to intimidate Meredith, and she sees maggots and other worms crawling out of his eyes. Turns out Adrien is a zombie basically, and lives with his "mother" or another zombie. Adrien needs to find a body for his mother to move her soul into because her current body is decomposing fast. Adrien however wants to find a new person to live with him and be rid of his mother. He controls hyenas and pirahnas, vultures, flies, all kinds of creatures that help get rid of what he and his mother do not eat. As zombies, they must continue to eat humans to "live". And because they are voodoo type zombies, they also know magic, and that is how Adrien pulls people under his spell.

This is a good story. My only complaint is the jumping back and forth between the three main characters. While Adrien's parts are easy to tell, between the two girls is occasionally confusing until you get some hint of which sister it is. But as I've said before in other blogs, this isn't my favorite way of storytelling. However, again, this was a really good, scary book. I will definitely recommend it to teens, as well as anyone who enjoys zombie stories.

Falling in Love With English Boys by Melissa Jensen

Believe it or not, as much as I enjoy chick lit, I normally don't get into teen "romance" novels anymore. What I prefer in chick lit is that I feel a connection or similarity to the main character, in other words, she can't be married or divorced or have children, as I have or am none of those things. And as I am not a teen, I usually don't get into their romance. (Don't bug me about Twilight, I know it's a teen romance, and I love it because Bella reminds me of myself!)

Anyway, I got this as a stripped copy from the bookstore. I picked it up because I too enjoy a good British accent, I prefer an Irish one, but British is good too. This story also has a diary in it, reminds me a bit of another book I read recently, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, only not as serious. Our main character is Cat, and she has had to travel with her mom, or (s)mother as she calls her, to England so her mother can work at the British Museum on an author named Mary Percival. Apparently Mary had a daughter named Katherine, same name, just with a K, and Cat's mom gives her Katherine's diary to read. The diary is a fun read and look into the past, back into days of going to parties, and the time of going to war with Napoleon. While she is there, there is of course a cute British boy that Cat meets, and of course develops a crush on. Issues arise as you would expect, and so therein lies the romance.

I also found it amusing that the character wants to run into Prince William and hook up with him, as this prince just got married and is no longer on the market.

A fun, humorous read that I really got into. I tried to just keep it for reading during bubble baths, but I really got caught up in the story and ended up finishing it in bed one last week, well last week depending on when blogger lets me publish this post.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.4 Part 3

Okay, third and final part. However, not sure when you'll see this as I'm still having trouble posting my blogs at home even though I can type them up and save them.

First is Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tannen. This is a teen novel about a girl who is a writer and wins a trip to go interview a bunch of celebs. Her plan goes down on a desert island where she is now stranded with 5 stereotypical hollywood star types. Somehow she is able to post on her iPhone about their amusing adventures as they try to survive and hopefully get rescued. Sounds fun!




Second is One Second After by William R. Forstchen. This is a book I saw when straightening the fiction section at the store. Instead of nuclear war, the weapon of choice is an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP), and it defeats the United States. This weapon will take us back to the Dark Ages, before the invention of electricity. The reviews of this say that it is something that we might actually have to worry about, as our enemies may already have this. Again, a really interesting sounding storyline.









Third and the final for this volume is All the Lives He Led by Frederik Pohl. This is a science fiction book. In this, there is a theme park in 2079 at the site of Pompeii, 2000 years after it's last eruption. It is still unstable and could erupt at any time. A big celebration is planned in honor of the 2000 year anniversary, and there are terrorists who are thinking to use this to their advantage.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.4 Part 2

Okay, finally getting around to adding another post about this. Hoping this one will get posted as soon as I'm done, as I have 5 books to actually review as well.

First is Mercy by Rebecca Lim. This is another angel story. Our main character is Mercy, who wakes up and can't remember who she is. She finds out that she is one of the angels who was thrown out of heaven for supporting Lucifer. Now, to get back to heaven, she must help out a bunch of people. I think this is going to be a series. I've had luck with 2 angel stories, the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, as well as Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. And in a way, the whole Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare is actually about angels too. So I'll add this to my list of angel stories to read.

Second is Ark by Stephen Baxter. In looking this up to talk about it, I see that it is a sequ

el to another book called Flood. The whole story is that the sea levels begin rising, flooding the world. Now, normally, I'm not a believer in the whole global warming thing, but this story isn't necessarily all about that, it actually sounds like an interesting story. I've read other books by Stephen Baxter, so look forward to reading this one as well.

Finally is Treasures From The Attic by Mirjam Pressler. Especially after I just finished the book called Surviving the Angel of Death about twins who survived the holocaust and experiements by Dr. Mengele, I am very ready to read this book. This as you may guess from the title is about Anne Frank, the famous holocaust diary written in an attic. A daughter in law goes to clean her mother in laws attic when she dies, and finds a treasure trove of Anne Frank artifacts. The family didn't know that they were a part of history, and learn from what they find.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.4 Part One

I'm thinking to do this volume in three parts, as I have compiled a list from the last 3 times I worked of 9 books. And I hate to put 9 books in as I always have trouble messing with the pictures and getting them lined up with the info about them. So, here we go with the first 3.

Tighter by Adele Griffin. This is a ghost story I think. The main character is Jamie, and she has moved to a small island. There was an accident there recently where a couple died, and supposedly Jamie looks like the girl. And she can somehow communicate with the spirits. So basically she will have to figure out what the spirits want from her, and what actually happened to the couple. I also have to say, just look at this cover, what a great way to grab someone's attention and get them to pick up the book to see what it is about.

Five 4ths of July by Pat Raccio Hughes. This is a historical fiction, and a boy main character. As the title suggests, we follow our main character, Jake Mallory, over 5 years, beginning with July 4th 1777. Jake is 14 at the time, and celebrating the country's new independence. He wants to get out, away from his overbearing father, and see some adventure, and he does over these years.

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs. Again, a really cool cover made me pick it up. Even though I haven't really been able to get into any of the mermaid books that are out there. But this sounds like it might be cool. Our main character has the cool name of Tempest, and she is half mermaid. She must decide by her 17th birthday if she wants to continue living on land, or go back to the sea. She has a boyfriend named Mark, and she loves to surf. But surfing she meets a guy named Kai who is very intriguing, and she possibly thinks there is something otherworldly about him as well.

Okay, stay tuned for part 2 of this!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 10: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

I read this as an egalley from Netgalley. At first, they declined my request to view it because my blog didn't have at least 100 followers. So that is something I'm working on, getting more followers. But, I was so interested in getting to read this book that I persevered and emailed them back, pointing out that I was a teacher as well as a blogger and a bookstore employee, and they went ahead and granted me permission to view and download it. And boy am I glad they did! This book sucked me right in, and kept me thinking about when I could get back to reading it as I was working throughout the day.

Our main character is Emma, who has just moved to live with her Aunt in New York. She's lost her brother, and her mother, and was living with her step-father, who was a drunk, until an tragic accident that left Emma with bad scars on her arms. She makes up a back story to tell everyone, to try to avoid questions and ending up with the same lack of friends back home. She makes some friends the first day, Jenn, and Angelique. Jenn is pretty popular, and has a friend named Kirsten, who right off the bat doesn't like Emma. The reason for that is because Kirsten likes this boy named Anthony, in fact, is kind of his girlfriend, but he is a flirt, and even follows through on that with asking girls out. And he's a creepy kind of flirt, and a bully as well. Emma is saved from some tense moments by a boy named Brendan. And Brendan is hot, and Emma can't seem to get him off his mind, partly because he seems to see right through her lies about where she came from, but doesn't bother to call her on it and mess it up for her. He seems to be really interested in her at a get-together one weekend, but then turns cold afterwards. Emma also has had some strange things happening to her, the lights in streetlights going out and the bulbs exploding as she walks under them. Her friend Angelique is a witch, and helps Emma out. Finding out that there is an ancient curse affecting both Emma and Brendan.

The story, the romance anyway, reminds me of Bella and Edward quite a bit, probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. With the hot and cold moments between Emma and Brendan, hey, I just noticed their names are kind of a reverse of Bella and Edward if you think about it. :-) Anyway, it sucked me in, had some good new twists that I hadn't seen before with what was going on. And I loved the curse storyline. When I was done reading it, I remember even thinking at work that night that I wanted to get back into that storyline, then having to remind myself that I was done with the book and there was no more to go to. However the end did have a preview for a follow up book with Angelique, so I'll be very excited to read that when it comes out. Great book!

Book Blogger Hop #3 and Follow Friday #1

Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word. It is sponsored by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:

If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?

This is a hard one. I almost feel like I would like to be in the world in the book Delirium by Lauren Oliver or the world in Matched by Ally Condie. You may ask why, as these are both dystopian books. However both have something that I think I might like. In the first one, all humans are "cured" of the disease of love. I think, since I'm alone and single and getting pretty old, that if I didn't feel I needed love, then my life might be easier. Also, in both books you are usually set up with someone else that is your "match". And in that case, instead of not minding being alone, I wouldn't have to be alone. Kinda depressing reason, I know, but that's what I first thought of with this question. On a sillier note, I would like to be Bella in Twilight for a day, but when she's enjoying Edward, like their honeymoon in Breaking Dawn, as opposed to one of the battles or dangerous scenes. :-)

New this week! I keep seeing everyone who does the Blogger Hop tend to do Follow Fridays, so I thought I'd join as well. I'd like to find more book blogs, as well as get some more followers. I know because I have under 100 followers, that sometimes the Net Galley publishers won't let me have their books, so I thought I'd work on getting my followers up through this. So here goes.


Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers, they also have a feature blogger chosen randomly, and to participate you must follow them as well. This is sponsored by Parajunkee. They also have a question to answer, and here is this week's question.

It's circle time. Time for us to open up and share. Can you tell us FIVE quirky habits or things about you? We all have them...

1. I keep a journal where I keep track of all the books I've read, and when I started them and when I finished them. Even if it's a book that I've read before, if it takes up reading time, it goes in the book. I like to keep track of how many books I read in a year, and I started it before I found Goodreads.com.

2. I prefer to use the bathroom at home as much as possible, because I feel like if I can't read during that time, it's such a waste of time. Silly, and weird, I know. But I hate to give up any minute that I could spend reading, when it seems sometimes I have so little time to read.

3. I have to have the light switches in certain positions. There is a light switch panel in my downstairs living room that has a switch for the light, the ceiling fan, and the stairway light to go upstairs. During the day, I need the stairway light switch to be down if the light is not on. I have a similar preference for the light switches at the top and bottom of the basement stairs. Don't know why, just prefer it that way.

4. I like to write, or at least start stories, but I never seem to finish them. I always want to put my daydreams down on paper, if not to publish, just so I could read them again when I want to enjoy them.

5. I talk to my dog and pretend she's talking back. I live alone, give me a break. :-)

Welcome to any new followers I get from this! Leave me a message and I'll come follow you as well!

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

While I did enjoy this book, and hope that there is a sequel so I can find out what happens next, I must say it didn't quite live up to all the hype I read about it. I think that I more enjoyed Delirium and Wither as what I consider similar dystopian themes. However, it was good, and I will recommend it to anyone who enjoyed those books I just listed.

In this book, humans have developed a virus that makes them infertile after about the age of 18, so they must turn to teens to have their children for them. To help with that, it has become the thing to do, from the ages of 14-18, to become a surrogette, and get paid if possible. Our main character, Melody, has found out she has a twin named Harmony, who has come to live with her, and maybe bring her back to her the religious farm she has grown up on. Melody is wanting to get bumped by a professional and is under contract to do so, as soon as the couple finds a donor male who they feel is similar enough to the husband. However, Melody is getting older, and needs to do this soon, as soon she too will be infertile. Melody has great reproaestheticals, which means her looks and genes are very desirable. She is part of a club that helps promote the teen surrogettes, and even has to help her friends in this club who are pregnant and getting ready to deliver. This society is very plugged in to social network, so everyone knows what is going on.

I had some problems with all the new words that were created for this, sometimes had to stop to reread it, but other than that, the story is good. There is a little twist, which you might see coming, but I liked it, and as I said, can't wait to hopefully read on and see what happens next. I hope Jondoe turns out to be like he seems to be at the end.

Abandon by Meg Cabot

I have to admit, that actually, until I decided last minute to go see Meg Cabot down on the Plaza a couple weeks ago, the only books I'd read by her were adult ones, like Boy Meets Girl, ones told in email and texts, and instant messages. Quick, fun, chick lit reads. I loved them all. I'd never read any of her teen or ya books as they just didn't quite sound like I'd want to read them. I'm ashamed of myself now as I loved Abandon, and after listening to her talk about another series, the Airhead series, I now want to read those as well.

Abandon is kind of a re-take on the whole myth about Persephone and Hades, only retold with a modern take. I'm so glad to hear it is a trilogy as it left off on a major cliffhanger in my opinion and I 'm really enjoying the story. Our "Persephone" is named Pierce Oliviera. And she met her Hades, when she was younger at the cemetary for her grandfather's funeral. When she is older, she drowns in her family's pool, and goes to hell, where she is confused and scared until she sees the familiar face of the young man she met when she was a little girl, only now, he looks to be about her age, because he has not aged since that time she first met him. His name is John, and he offers to save her if she comes to live with him. He gives her a necklace to protect her from danger, such as the Furies, but she doesn't want to stay here, so she is able to run, and is brought back to life. She runs into him as he seems to show up to save her when she is in danger. And she ends up back in Florida, Key West, when something really bad happens and her mother must find her a new school. We find out there is more to the story than her just happening to meet him by coincidence when she was a child.

A very good story, and I look forward to seeing where it will continue. I've included a picture of when I met Meg Cabot in this blog as well.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.3

It's been awhile since I did one of these, partly because I haven't been working that much, and partly because I've been really busy. So this volume will actually include both nights I worked this week, but only 3 books, as again, with our lack of employees lately, I don't have as much time to wander and find new books.

First is The Friendship Doll by Kirby Lawson. This is a young readers book, and is told kind of from the doll's viewpoint I think. But the premise is that in 1927 there were 59 of these dolls sent from Japan to America as a friendship offering. These are the tales of the girls that they lived with and the friendships they made. The story goes that only 45 are left, and they hope that after reading, maybe someone will help find the 13 others or solve the mystery of what happened to them.

The 2nd book is a teen book called Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. Again, the cover drew me in when I had to reshelve this book thanks to a lazy customer, but hey, if they hadn't left it sitting somewhere, I might not have seen it, so let's look on the bright side. The story is that this is a family of time travelers. They are prepared as they grow up for this, except our main character Gwyneth, who supposedly was born at the wrong time and missed this gene. But, for some reason, her mother was wrong, and she does time travel. She works with someone named Gideon, where the time traveler gene is passsed through the men in the family. They travel through 18th century London as well as contemporary London.

And finally, this isn't really a book to read, but one that I could use as a single person. I'm always looking for cookbooks for just one or two people so I don't end up with a ton of leftovers. I often get bored of leftovers really quickly. Especially if the recipe isn't really that good. On our new cookbook table we have one called: The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. This sounds like it has a lot of recipes, even Julia Childs types of recipes, but it helps you to not waste food and save money as a single person. Don't know when I'll buy it, I've promised myself not to buy anymore cookbooks until I actually start cooking out of the ones I have.

Book blogger Hop May 13th, 2011

Haven't had time to do this in so long! But home today so thought I'd join in. The Book Blogger Hop is sponsored by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:

Are you going to Book Expo America (BEA) and/or the Book Blogger Convention (BBC) this year?

My answer is unfortunately no. I've known about BEA for years from working at the bookstore. But I just heard about BBC this past month or so. Since I may be giving up on my search for a job as a school librarian, maybe next year, instead of saving money for the state library convention, I'll save money to go to the Book Blogger Convention, something I can do without having to have someone hire me. Sorry, a bit of bitterness there, because I love reading, and I love sharing books and reading with students, but don't get much chance in my science classroom, and can't seem to get a chance to get in a library to do it.

I've got 2 books to blog about, I'll try to do it this weekend, Abandon by Meg Cabot, and Bumped by Megan McCafferty.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 9: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

This is my first egalley I'm reading from NetGalley, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to blog about it yet, because some of the galleys said something about waiting until 30 days before the book came out, but I'm going to go ahead with this one and try to be better next time, and hope this is okay.

This book was really good. The storyline is a supervolcano at Yellowstone Park erupts and of course, this sends the world into disaster. The beginning you're in major suspense while the main character, Alex, is home alone because his family went to visit other family, and he wanted to stay home as an adult. Of course this is bad, because when his home is destroyed and they begin to have looting and robbing, he knows all he wants is to go find his family. And so we follow him on his journey. The ash from the volcano is like snow, so he finds that skis help him to travel. Along the road he meets helpful people, murderous people, and ends up at the home of a very nice woman and her somewhat grumpy daughter. They take him in when he collapses thanks to the prison escapee he last ran into attacking him. He spends time on their farm where they are able to grind corn and seem to be able to make it. They decide to go into town to see why the rabbits are dying, and when they're gone, disaster strikes back at the farm. Now they must set out to find his family again. Along the way they come across a woman with small children that they help, and then find their way to a government disaster camp. Which turns out to be almost a concentration camp in a way. When they can escape they move on to find his family again.

I like that Alex knows martial arts, it makes it a bit more likely that he is able to survive this situation when it becomes violent. I like that they don't gloss over that he is a teenager who does want to have sex. I saw a review that said these things were annoying, but I feel they fit the story perfectly and will make it very accessible to teens. I also was greatly reminded of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and will be able to recommend it to people who enjoyed that. Now, it doesn't come out till October, so I'll be eagerly awaiting to share it!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 8: Wildefire by Karsten Knight

From signing up on a website to get free egalleys which are ARCs, I've learned that I probably shouldn't blog about books so far ahead of their release date. But I'm going to go ahead with this one since I just finished it and want to share how much I enjoyed it.

I haven't read the Goddess Test, although this was compared as being better on Goodreads, but now I will have to read it. The basic story is that all gods and goddesses do die, but they are immortal because they will be reborn to live again. The drawback is that they are not born with their memories, they have to rediscover who they are all over again.

The book starts out with the main character, Ashline Wilde fighting another girl at school over her cheating boyfriend. I must admit that this beginning did not really grab me, because I'm not really into the whole fighting thing. But the story is great. Her sister, Eve, shows up and really causes problems, making even more violence. It ends up that Ash transfers to a small private school in California to get away from the mess. Yet, for some reason, many other gods and goddesses have shown up at this school. There is a reason, one of the students is a Siren who has called them all here. Ash and her sister Eve were adopted, and both have dreams about a younger version of them, possible another sister. While Ash and her friends are learning about their powers, as well as trying to have normal high school lives with romance, sports, and classes, Eve comes back as well as other enemies.

I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel, it left off in a way that was so shocking! I was going to be really ticked at the end, won't tell you why, let you read it, but then something happened that my jaw dropped and I was suddenly upset that this book wasn't even published yet because now I have forever to wait until a sequel comes out! Great story! It will probably be one of my staff recommendations at the bookstore I work at, but not till the end of July. :-(

13 Treasures Book One by Ethan Dempsey

Okay, first, want to mention that I got to meet Meg Cabot yesterday! So cool!

Now, I've been putting this review off for a little bit. I'm not quite sure how to do it. This is a book that the author was selling personally at the MASL conference a couple weeks ago. When he told me the synopsis, I thought it sounded great, and would be a great book for boys. After reading it, I still think the plot is a great idea. Unfortunately, I don't feel that it was easy to read. Now my comments may be a little unfair because this book was self published, therefore it didn't have the editing that a book published by an actual publishing company would have. The way the actual dialogue was written was using proper English, not the way people actually talk, and that made it harder to read. There were also a few typos, but that's not that big of deal since I've found typos and stuff like that in bigger publishers books as well. But reading this book made me understand more about what the authors I've listened to speak lately have said about how editing is such a big part.

The story reminds me of the movie National Treasure, and I think the author compared it to that as well. Basically our main character is a high school senior named Evan Snowden. His grandfather tells great stories and seems to know a lot about mysteries throughout history. Supposedly he used to travel all over the world chasing tales of mystery to try to prove them. When the book starts his grandfather has been attacked in a house robbery. When Evan goes to the hospital and his grandfather finally awakens he gives him instructions to find something hidden in his house. When Evan and his best friend Charlie go to the house to get it, the people who broke in before come back. And now Evan and Charlie are drawn into the mess. In order to be safe they must find what this clue the grandfather has given them leads to. Basically it will be 13 treasures, 2 of which I believe they find in this book.

One other complaint, the author sometimes call Grandpa Kent just Kent, or calls the parents by their first names and that can sometimes be confusing to remember who it is you are reading about.

So, what I will say is that I will share this book with students who I think might be interested in it, but I don't know that if I was a librarian I would for sure invest in putting it in the library. Although it is a Missouri author who is a teacher, and that is kind of cool. I have also learned for my own writing, that I need to go back through and have someone else read for me and edit. And, maybe self publishing isn't the best way to go, unless you have the money and just really want to see your story in an actual book form.