So I got a new Computer!!

Hello my darling peeps!!!

If I've been too quiet in the past few weeks, it was in great part due to the fact that my dear old lappie was sent to the shop to be fixed.

Sadly, after over 20 days it was decided she was too old and was irreparable, but since I was still under guarantee, the store ended up covering 60% of the cost of my new lap top, so YAY!!

Anyway, I hope that with the new laptop I can finally get back into blogging and reading and commenting, now that I got a proper laptop rather than the netbook I was using before (the screen was SO TINY!!!) 

Well, see in the interwebs!

Book Review: Sugar and Spice (Confectionately Yours 4)

The Deal: After a bit of struggle, it seems like Hayley is finally settling into her new life living with her mom and sister Chloe above their Grandma's tea shop. She seems to be in good terms with her best friend Marco and having a lot of fun with her new friend Meg.

But lately, Chloe seems a little down, which worries Hayley since Chloe is the sunniest kid around. And then she finds herself in detention with Meg and Artie - her former best friend turned nemesis.

From detention, the three of them start hanging out together a little and Meg comes up with the idea of hosting a talent show to showcase all the kids of their school, and of course she ropes Hayley and Artie in.

In the home front, somethings seem to be afoot as well.

My Thoughts: Sugar and Spice continues with Hayley's adventures and I keep on loving them. There is something just really, really comforting about reading her adventures. She's such a normal kid, and she makes mistakes and is confused but has a good heart.

I love reading about her cupcakes and how close she is to her sister Chloe and how she tries to make sense of the changing world around her.

I definitely recommend this series to all the Tween girls out there, and to anyone who likes desserts, but it is going to make you pretty hungry.

Anyway, I can't wait for the next (and final) book of the series which was just released.

Book Review: How to Marry A Highlander by Katherine Ashe

The Deal: Even being an ear, marrying off seven sisters with no money is a hard proposition; and one Duncan isn't too happy to find himself in. But duty calls and he does want to see his sisters happily settled and secure. So off to London he goes to try to find seven eligible bachelors... but instead he finds Miss Teresa Finch-Freeworth.

Teresa was off living her own life and trying not to think too much about that handsome highlander she had seen once in a party, when her family decided it was in her best interest to be married to the local curate - never mind that he's rather severe, self important and doesn't understand Teresa at all. 

Hearing that Duncan is back in London, Teresa hatches a crazy plan to get herself the life she want, sure that she didn't imagine that connection she felt with Duncan when they saw each other across the room at that party.

Having gone through marriage once - and having tragically lost his wife and child - Duncan doesn't want a marriage minded miss following him around, but he can't resist Teresa and strikes a bargain with her: if she finds a husband for each of his sisters, he'll marry her. The catch? she only got one month to do so. 

My Thoughts: Okay, so I read How to Marry A Highlander because Daisy @ Between the Pages reviewed it and I thought it sounded delightful.

It was. 

This is a novella, so everything happens quickly, yet Ms Ashe managed to introduce and make me care about Teresa and Duncan very quickly - the mark of a good novella/book in my opinion - and even about the sisters, which were rather hard to keep straight sometimes. Teresa and Duncan were both lovely characters.

Duncan has a bit of a shady past and that was fun, and the bargain he strikes with Teresa made up for some very steamy scenes. Teresa was just fun and caring, and he really did want the girls to find good husbands, she was a generous soul and I liked that.

Hot to Marry A Highlander was a delightful book and I'm very glad I read it. It only took me a couple of hours to read it and it left me grinning. I do wish it had been longer though, and that the sister's romance had been a little more fleshed out, but I understand it was a novella so no hard feelings about it.

Speed Date: The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace

The Plot: Madelyn Hawkins is relishing the experience of taking college courses while still in high school, enjoying the freedom it represents to be going to the local community college rather than to her old school where her dad teaches. So, to her it seems like fate when her first class, Biology, happens to be taught by a young and handsome professor, and she keeps running into him.

Madelyn knows it's wrong to be flirting with Bennett, he's her teacher and he thinks she's at least 18, rather than 16. But Madelyn is giddy with her new found freedom, her crush to speak out... and the more she waits, the harder it gets. 

First Date: Oh, so this whole book is one big letter to Bennett. Not sure how I feel about that. Madelyn keeps interrupting to fill in with back story saying "Remember when..." or "You said...". Not particularly fun.

Second Date: I am officially weary of this style, also shocked by how little seems to happen in this book. Honestly. I've read MG books where 12 year olds have more chemistry than Bennett and Madelyn. 

Third Date: That's it? for real? Why do I feel like I just wasted my time? Right... Because this is anticlimactic as hell,. that's why.

Relationship Status: Why do I do This To Myself?

All right, I was kind of excited to read The Truth About You and Me, I thought it might be interesting, studying this whole age difference thing, maybe the guy really loved her and it was all tragic, or maybe he was a creepy manipulative bastard and this was an Issue Book but nope.

The Truth About You and Me is the book where nothing much happens and everyone gets away scoot free. A big part of the problem is the way the story is told, through letters and flashbacks, so you know that it's all happened already, there is no sense of urgency, and then it just turns out that nothing interesting or important happened anyway. Like, at all. 

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: E for England by Elisabeth Rose

At First Sight: After almost a year of separation (and at least six months since she last heard of her soon to be ex-husband), newly single mom Annie is still quite pissed off at said ex, but trying to make ends met the best she can while caring for her two young children. 

Her situation is far from ideal, though. She's barely making enough at her job, she hasn't been able to save enough to go back to school and she's currently crashing at a co-worker's apartment. The last thing she wants to do is date... until she meets her downstairs neighbor Hugh.

Hugh is a doctor who just moved from London to Sydney, and he isn't particularly interested in dating either, let along a single mother with 2 kids - which complicates things a bit since he doesn't want to have kids ever, even if he does seem to enjoy being around Annie's kids just fine. 

Slowly, Hugh and Annie form a friendship that might possibly grow into more... just when Annie's husband decides to show up again.

Second Glance: E for England was a fun contemporary read, but I still had plenty of ups and downs with it. Annie and Hugh - and their friends - were pretty fun, Annie's kids weren't annoying and they all had a good chemistry together, that was definitely a plus. 

But other stuff was a bit irregular. Annie's husband is a major douche bag, and the amount of time that takes her to come to her senses about him bothered me... a lot. The whole E for England thing was a bit too crazy (basically, Annie's roommate is trying to sleep her way through the alphabet of countries) and I felt like it was just thrown in to give the book a cute title. 

Annie herself is pretty high strung, and sometimes overreacts a lot about simple things. I wished they had explored Hugh's background a little more, there was potential from some awesome storytelling there. 

But still, the story was pretty fun and the ending was sweet. No sexy times though, in case that's a deal breaker for you, either way.

Bottom Line: I do recommend E for England if you're looking for a quick read. I do like the Australian setting a lot and the story was pretty good all around. There were some really refreshing things about the story, like the fact Annie and Hugh become really good friends first. 

Love,