May Wrap Up!

I read four books, and listened to three audio books, so I made it through 7 books this month! This is a personal best!

I'm lucky enough that my job allows me to listen to audio books while working. The books I listened to this month included a re-listen. I listened to Innocent In Death by J D Robb for a second time. This audio book I believe got me out of the school book required reading for English courses slump, and back into books I enjoyed. This book was just as good the second time as it was the first.

I also listened to Graceling by Kristin Cashore. This is the first book of the Graceling Realm series. This book was entertaining and just flows so well; I can't wait to get to the next book in the series called Fire.

I finished the Divergent series, and finished listening to Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I do have to agree with what I've heard, the ending kind of lets you down. At the same time though, I can't see it ending any other way. *SPOILER* move to the next paragraph if you don't want to know the ending. When Tris dies, your heart breaks, and just like, "nnoooooo!!!" But at the same time, I feel Tris was only around for the purpose of freeing everyone, and putting an end to the experiment. I don't believe she would have been happy in the world, and what it becomes.

I finished reading The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly. Not a book I really cared for. It was entertaining, but I felt there were hidden meanings hiding in the words and what was happening that I wasn't getting.

I also read two books I obtained for free in exchange for my honest review, Lie Down with Dogs, book 3 of the Black Dog series, by Hailey Edwards (see my full review here) and Netherworld, The Chronicles of Koa book 1, by K N Lee. I received an invite to participate in the Blog tour, and will post my review sometime in June. I'll provide more details once I receive them.

I read Tempted by Midnight, 1001 Dark Nights book 10, by Lara Adrian. I checked this book out from my local library and even though it was short, I am interested in reading more my Lara Adrian.

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Book Review: Until Tuesday

Before getting in to this review, I just want to say thank you to all our service men, women, animals, and their families. To answer the call to serve, it takes a special person; you are all heroes.

Until Tuesday is both motivational and inspirational without being a self help book or religious.

This is the story of Former Captain Luis Carlos Montalvan and a Golden Retriever named Tuesday. Tuesday is a service dog who ended up needing some help of his own after his experiences growing up as a puppy. He was part of a program called Puppies Behind Bars where people convicted of a crime and serving time in prison can train a dog to be a service dog. Each dog has to know certain tricks so they can help someone.

Tuesday went through a few trainers at the beginning through no fault of his own. His first trainer from Puppies Behind Bars was paroled, and from there once he learned all the tricks he needed from one trainer he moved to the next until finally being paired with Former Captain Luis Carlos Montalvan. Luis was injured in Iraq plus suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The two then slowly begin to help heal each other's wounds.

The book is well written, beginning with Tuesday in his puppy years and what he went through, and then goes to Luis and his first tour in Iraq. From there he leads right into his pairing with Tuesday and everything just flows together.

Reading about what this pair has been through and how hard they have fought to be where they are gives you strength to get through the day. Luis talks about his struggle with people not believing
Tuesday is a service dog because most people think a service dog only helps the blind. So he is continuously kicked out of stores and restaurants. People not seeing Tuesday as a service dog even messes with a date Luis goes on, as the bus driver did not want to let him on thinking Tuesday was a pet, and then the restaurant he took his date to, the greeter did not want to let him in because of the health risks.

What these people don't know is the daily grooming he must do for Tuesday so that he can take Tuesday in all these establishments. He even talks about one of the people who received their service dog the same time he did, and how they almost lost their dog because it was believed they weren't taking good enough care of the dog.

This book is great for readers of all ages, and it doesn't matter what genre is your favorite. I give this book 5 stars because it will touch you and stir all kinds of emotions.

eBooks vs Physical Books

It's the question of the decade, and possibly of this century; do you go with physical books or electronic books (eBooks). My personal opinion is for eBooks, unless the book will be used as a reference book, then I prefer a physical copy.

I overall prefer eBooks because they are easier to hold for me. Depending on how long a book is, my hands get tired of holding a book very easily. I will read maybe five pages and then have to re-situate the book in my hands, or constantly change hands. Often this will lead to pain, which takes away from the story. I become so distracted by the pain I either give up, put the book down, and go do something else, or set the book down, shake my hands out and try to find a new sitting position so I can hold the book or prop up the book so I don't have to hold it.

Yes, I hear you, "Sarah, get a book stand". I have a book stand, in fact it's in the photo above, holding my tablet that I use for reading eBooks. Again, this solution, depends on the book. There are books, with text so close to the bottom of the page that I have to keep lifting the book to read the bottom of the page. This gets rather annoying, rather fast.

Another thing I like about eBooks, you can buy them or borrow them at any time. You don't have to wait for a store or your local library to open to go pick up a book. Pre-Order? Available on the app at midnight if I was so excited about a book that I wanted to start reading the book right away. Only downside, is I've found it's midnight where the seller - Amazon.com, Kobo, etc - are located. Still better than waiting for 9 am, and the store doors to be opened. Also, I'm not sure about your local area, but around me, I haven't seen or heard of very many midnight book releases. Like waiting for a big video game, you can go wait in a line so long you've never seen a line so long ever in your life; I don't see this often at all. I enjoy these lines; I get to meet new people with a similar interest.

EBooks travel better. When going on a family vacation, no worries about nothing to do while there and running out of books. With eBooks, I can stock up, and have more books with me than I know what to do with, but the weight of my bag will never change.

The downside to eBooks, is if using them for reference, such as with the MLA style guide you probably used in high school or college, I find it faster to find what I need by flipping pages.

User/system error is also possible with eBooks. A few times, I tap the screen to wake up my tablet and I touch the screen in a way that it thinks I'm trying to use the dictionary feature or highlight text. Somewhat falling under both, user and system error, is letting the battery die on my tablet. Okay, I don't really let the battery die, but it happens. I forget to shut down the tablet, like after the last book I finished, I got sidetracked with some audiobooks and physical books I checked out of my local library, turned on the tablet today to find it has a low battery. (Needless to say, I am charging the tablet while I write this.)

This is in no way meant to sway you one way or the other, this is just my opinion and my personal preference. Do I look down on those who prefer physical books? No. I respect their opinion, just as I hope they respect mine.

Book Review: Lie Down with Dogs by Hailey Edwards

I love the writing in this book. The no nonsense, no BS attitude of the main character is a style I enjoy reading.

Lie Down with Dogs is the third book of the Black Dog series by Hailey Edwards. I have not read the other books of this series, but after reading this book I would like to go back and read them. This book is one that you can read, if desired, before the others. There are things I felt I was behind on, but things were explained enough that I understood enough of what was going on. Still, I felt like I was missing something by not reading the other books, and not having the back story when I started reading.

This book is about Thierry, who is part Faerie, part human. She is the daughter of the Black Dog, and a princess because she was tricked into a fight, and in Faerie the crown is won, not passed down by bloodline. After not sticking to an agreement with her bosses, she is suspended from her job as a conclave marshal and her friend Mai takes her on a "vacation". Also, her incubus friend Shaw, slash want-to-be boyfriend, is looking for his lost sister-in-law. No one has seen her for a decade and he's following a lead in Orlando, just one hour away from where Thierry and her friend are vacationing.

While vacationing, strange things happen. Then her friend Mai is drugged, and not only is Theirry's well-being threatened, but now they've threatened Mai. The two girls, get out of Dodge and go stay the night with Shaw. Everything going on has to do with Thierry being the soon to be Queen of Faerie, as many in Faerie do not want her to lead them. It is up to Thierry to figure out what is going on. There is also a twist at the end that leads you to want to read the next book.

Is this book worth reading? Yes, I would definitely recommend it. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, and that is even with me reading the series out of order. Go check out the Black Dog series by Hailey Edwards which would be (in order): Dog With A Bone, Heir of the Dog, Lie Down with Dogs, and then Old Dog, New Tricks which hasn't been released yet.

Have you read any of the Black Dog series, or any of Hailey Edwards books? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.com.

If you liked this review, you can also follow me on Google + or Twitter. I'll be posting about what I'm reading and include links to the reviews.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to all you Moms out there. Being a mother is not easy to human children, or to pets, or both.

Being a mother means wiping tears when they hurt themselves. Being a best friend when their first boyfriend totally crushes their heart. Being a mother means giving them chicken soup when they are sick.

Being a mother also means, playing fetch (assuming yours actually bring the toy back). Means breaking out the camera when they do something cute. Being a mother means NEVER getting a day off (even when they are with a trusted family member for a few days, you still worry).

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there from one child/doggy mother to all of you!

My kids making sure I give them attention in the morning :-)

TBR - May 2015

Something else I worked on this weekend, other than purchasing and planting a Japanese Maple, is making a list of all the books I own - Kindle or otherwise - that have not been read. I have over 70 books to be read, and still counting. So, since I'm going to be reviewing more books, I thought now would be a good time to give myself a kick and start widdling down my TBR pile. I also signed up with NetGalley.com and have been approved for copies of 4 books. Since I'm relatively new to the site and don't have much to show for my book reviewing (previously reviewed for Yahoo! Voices, but the site was taken down, and those reviews are no longer on the web) I want to thank the publishers and authors for allowing me the priveldge of reviewing the books. These books, that will likely take up my May reading are:

Lie Down with Dogs by Hailey Edwards, published by Crush Star Multimedia, LLC.

Thierry's husband is plotting evil things, and I imagine things aren't helped any when her presence in Daytona stirs up another evil presence.

This book is already out, it was published April 30, 2015, and is actually the 3rd book of the Black Dog series. You can check this book out on Amazon, it is $3.99 on Kindle.

Netherworld (The Chronicles of KOA) by K.N. Lee, published by Booktrope.

In a small nutshell, this book is about the Netherworld Division who works to keep creatures from the Netherworld in check.

This book is also available for sale on Amazon, in either Kindle or Paperback format.

Cherringham: The Last Puzzle (A Cozy Crime Series) by Neil Richards and Matthew Costello, published by Bastei Entertainment.

The beneficiaries of Quentin Andrews must solve a crossword, and whomever solves the puzzle will inherit his fortune. The biggest mystery they find, is if Mr. Andrews was murdered.

This is currently available for pre-order on Amazon, and will be released on June 1, 2015.

The President's Shadow by Brad Meltzer, published by Grand Central Publishing.

I can't do as well a summary as what is already presented, so quoting the hook they have:
"A severed arm, found buried in the White House Rose Garden.
A lethal message with terrible consequences for the Presidency.
And a hidden secret in one family's past that will have repercussions for the entire nation."

This is also currently available for pre-order on Amazon, and will be released June 16, 2015.

Sometime in May you should see reviews for each of these, so be sure to stay tuned....

We Planted a Tree!

We have been wanting a Japanese Maple for our yard for...years. Since we moved in. We haven't gotten one until now because we were doing our research, deciding where exactly it would be planted, and saving for one. Japanese Maples are expensive. When we went to the local nursery, we were lucky and found they were having a sale that included 25% off the Japanese Maples. This helped bring the price down some. Getting the tree home was...umm...interesting. My fiance and I were singing/humming 'Welcome to the Jungle' on the way home because we had branches of the tree surrounding us.

Looking from passenger side at tree in car

Looking from driver's side at tree in car

As you can see, it was a bit interesting driving from the nursery. Thankfully we didn't have far to go to get home. We had fun digging the hole, which according to the directions was to be 3 times the size of the container, and then just as deep so that the soil level of the tree would be level with the surrounding ground. It wasn't that windy today, but it was enough to almost tip the tree over. The wind successfully knocked it over while we were digging the hole. To help hold the tree up, we also went and got stakes and tied the tree so it would remain standing while it works to take root in it's new home.

Japanese Maple in it's new home

Writing Bookworm Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Holy mother freaking starships! (Not sure where the space reference came from.) You have got to read The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen if you haven't already. This book is so phenomenal, I would have to give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I checked out the book from my local library using Overdrive Media. It looked like it might be an okay and entertaining book.Wow, was I wrong. This book was more than okay, it's a Superman kind of super. I started listening to the book at work, then after listening to it there, I was so hooked I had to continue while I was home. I just finished the book last night.

The story is about the kingdom of Carthya, the King, Queen, and Crowned Prince have just been murdered. The Regents are keeping it quiet though to attempt to keep the kingdoms enemies from knowing how weak they have just become. One of the Regents goes to various orphanages and brings a few boys back to his home to learn to become the long missing and presumed dead, Prince Jaron. His ship had been attacked and sunk by pirates and in 4 years, his body has never been recovered.

Jennifer A Nielsen does a wonderful job of building suspense, and leaves hints to something you will probably see coming, but I'm not going to say anything more on the topic if I can help it. It's part of what makes this book so fun to read. Don't worry, if you catch on to the hints, leading to future events, you won't be disappointed. You still will not know what is going to happen next. You will wish for and anxiously await events to take place, wanting to know how everything goes down.

This book drew me in, and had me so worried for the boys, one in particular, wondering how they were going to get out of a certain situation, or get away, I drove my fiance nuts pacing our house. A book has never filled me with so much nervous excitement that I had to move.

Whether or not you intend on becoming a writer, you need to go pick up The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. There is suspense, surprise, sword fights, treason, murder...this book has everything!

Jennifer builds the characters and gives their histories seamlessly. The narration doesn't really feel like narration. And the way the suspense builds without you really realizing it, it is something else. This book is a must have for any writer, and for anyone who loves or even hates to read. Read this book, and you won't regret doing so.

Something else a book has never made me do...I just placed an order on Amazon for The False Prince, The Runaway King, and The Shadow Throne on Amazon so I can own all three books in the Ascendance trilogy. Run, do not walk to your local library or bookstore and check out The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, put down whatever book you are currently reading, and start this book. You will be glad you did.