Book Haul - sort of!

Photo found at cutepics.org

Yeah, I'm not above using a cute dog to get you to look! LOL!!! 

So, I don't really like to make the Book Haul, IMM-type videos/posts anymore, mostly because I'm too lazy but my cousin/twin came to visit us a few days ago and she brought me a bunch of things that she was holding for me in her house in Texas... so, rather than taking pictures I made a video :D 

Bought:

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Won:

The Karma Club by Jessica Brody (via Meg Cabot Fiction Club)

I Love the 80's by Megan Crane (Thanks to Daisy@Between the Pages)

Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm  (Thanks to Daisy@Between the Pages)

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong  (Thanks Liz @Midnight Bloom Reads)

Emma by Jane Austen (Thanks Alex @Blethering About Books)

Sirenz: Back in Fashion (Thanks Carie @In the Hammock Reviews)

Swag pack from Shelley Coriell author of Welcome Caller, This is Chloe

For Review (thanks William-Morrow Paperbacks!):

Sad Desk Salad by Jessica Grosse

Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

In the Back by Kate Klise

Well, that's it from me. 

Oh! Wait, I almost forgot about the Karma Club book trailer!!! So here it is:

Book Review: Texas Bride by Joan Johnston

At First Sight: Following the death of their parents during The Great Chicago Fire, the Wentworth siblings were put on a orphanage where they endured a lot of mistreatment from the main caretaker. Still, the six siblings managed to stick together... until Miranda, the oldest, turned 18. 

Knowing she had little chance of keeping them all together once she was out and and with a low-wage job at a hotel, Miranda agrees to go along with her sister Josie's crazy scheme and become a mail-order bride for a Texas rancher named Jacob Creed, hoping once she gets to Texas her husband turns out to be wealthy enough to allow her to bring all her siblings from Chicago to live with them. 

At the last minute, and following a rather harsh beating from the caretaker, Miranda decides to take her little brothers, Nick and Harry, along with her. 

When they finally arrive in Texas after a long, difficult trip things aren't quite what she expected. Her husband is young, and reasonably handsome but he's also butting heads with the biggest land-owner in the region, who happens to be his stepfather, and that's making his ranching operation twice as hard as it already would be. 

Jake also haves a young daughter, Anna-Mae, a surly, wheelchair bound father-in-law and its still clinging to the memory of his first wife, whom he loved dearly. 

Second Glance: So, I picked up Texas Bride both because I had heard good things about it and because I got the second book of the series, Wyoming Bride, for review. 

It took me a while to get into the story, because it does take a few chapters for Miranda and Jake to met, and once they did it was a pretty standard story of two people reluctantly falling in love with a few extra troubles thrown. Miranda and Jake weren't neither good nor bad and it was kind of nice seeing them blend their families, even if Jake was rather reluctant about it. 

It was the other problems that started to sink the book for me. Miranda decides not to tell Jake about her sisters at first since he's none-too pleased about her bringing along two extra-mouths to feed without letting him know first. And Nick's sourly attitude doesn't help. And this will complicate things later on, leading into the next book. 

Also, the feud between Jake and his stepfather is a bit senseless. It's never really explained why Blackthorne - the stepfather - is so hard on Jake, part of their animosity is explained but not all the way. And then the whole thing is over. 

Which was kind of the problem with the ending, it just ends all too neatly in someways, too neatly for a story that was all over the place all the time. 

1/2

Speed Date: A Snowglobe Christmas

The Deal: A Snowglobe Christmas features two novellas set in the town of Snowglobe, Montana. In the first story - A Yuletile Homecoming - two former lovers reunite in time for the holidays when Amy returns home to take over her mother's gift shop and discovers that her former fiance, who broke her heart when he decided to join the army, is also back in town. 

The second story - A Family's Christmas Wish - features a carpenter, Owen, who decides to take a job at an inn helping out Sarah, the owner, in exchange for babysitting for his daughter. Owen is getting ready to leave town, a year after losing his wife has taken a new job far away, but his daughter and Sarah's daughter have other ideas in mind. 

My Thoughts: So, I was feeling the Christmas spirit and decided to read this little anthology... and I sort of reached the conclusion that the Love Inspired line isn't really for me. 

I found the first story a bit on the dull side and it took me a good long while to get into it. I liked the second story a lot more but it could have been developed a bit better, it was too short and a little choppy. 

1/2

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Book Review: Body and Soul by Stacey Kade

Warning: This review will contain mild spoilers about the previous books in The Ghost and the Goth series. 

At First Sight: It has been almost a month since Alona Dare - former school princess and unconventional spirit guide extraordinaire - got trapped inside Lily Turner's body trying to save her and neither she nor Will - the ghost talker she's supposed to be 'guiding' - know how to reverse the process or what will it mean for both Alona's spirit and Lily's body. 

Besides, things are really complicated as they are with Alona trying to fit into Lily's old family and Will's confusion about seeing his ghostly-sort-of-girlfriend in the body of his former friend and Alona's belief that he cares more for Lily than for her. 

And with summer drawing to an end they are trying to find some answers following some clues Will's father might or might not have left for him. Which leads them to a medium called Malachi the Magnificent who's in a very unique ghostly situation. 

Second Glance: I honestly don't want to spoil too much about Body and Soul but I seriously loved the book. I had been putting it off because it was the last of the trilogy and I love the previous two books but it was a really good finale. 

I love seeing Alona and Will bicker with each other, in a way is their way to show that they care. And I liked that they really tackle the moral dilema of Alona being in Lily's body and what that means for everyone - Will and Alona and Lily's family who aren't aware that Lily's spirt is long gone - it didn't just skirt around the issue and made everything magically okay. 

Body and Soul is also very funny but it got me teary eyed a few time toward the end when you got to see that even if their relationship was very complicated, both Will and Alona were better off because of one another. 

As always, I love Alona Dare, I think she's the star of the series with her prickly personality and her tons of attitude hiding a very vulnerable heart, yet she never comes off as the victim, and that's pretty tricky to pull off. 

Bottom Line: Body and Soul was a great conclusion to a really awesome series and I can't wait to read Stacey Kade's next project, she's an author that combines humor and characters with surprising depth with great skill. I loved where Alona and Will ended up, the ending was satisfying but, at the same time, I wouldn't mind hearing from them again. 

1/2

Book Review: Romancing the Countess by Ashley March

At First Sight: Sebastian Madinger, the Earl of Wriothesly thought he had the perfect marriage to the perfect lady... until his beloved wife was found dead next to his best friend.

Leah George had known about the affair between her husband and Lady Wriothersly for almost a year before they were killed in a carriage accident. She had married in love and believed her husband loved her, but finding out about the affair was the death of her marriage when they were still basically newlyweds. 

Leah hated living with the secret and she slowly withdrew from society, her friends and even her family. And upon her husband's death, she decided she was going to live her life anyway she saw fit.

So Leah decides to throw a house party, even though she's only a few months into her mourning period and this would be a huge no-no. Sebastian is none too pleased with this, as he's determined to keep the affair secret so his son's legitimacy is not called into question, so he takes it upon himself to make sure Leah behaves as is proper and in doing so he finally gets to know her as a woman rather than just as Mrs. George, his best friend's wife. 

Second Glance: I was actually quite excited to read Romancing the Countess but it turned out to be a different book than I expected. There were parts that I did like, however. like seeing Sebastian and Leah get to know each other better - as before they only knew each other according to their relationship to the late Mr. George and they sort of assume things about each other than later turn out to be untrue.

But the rest of it was only so-so. I could understand Leah's loneliness and how much she resented her husband but her actions were mostly self-destructive to the point that it made her seem silly. The only parts I liked where when she stood up to her mom because her mom was rather awful.

Sebastian was a bit stuck up and I didn't like him as much. More than than, though, I just never felt the chemistry between them. 

Bottom Line: Maybe I was expecting a lot from this book, but in any case, Romancing the Countess fell a little flat for me. The writing is pretty good though so I might check this author again in the future. 

2/3