Folly Beach

Just an example of how rock star I am? I read this book over two days while walking my daughter to summer school, while taking Jackson to the park, while doing laundry and during commercial breaks of Mob Wives.

Folly Beach- Dorothea Benton Frank


A woman returns to the past to find her future in this enchanting new tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love. With its sandy beaches and bohemian charms, surfers and suits alike consider Folly Beach to be one of South Carolina’s most historic and romantic spots. It is also the land of Cate Cooper’s childhood, the place where all the ghosts of her past roam freely. Cate never thought she’d wind up in this tiny cottage named the Porgy House on this breathtakingly lovely strip of coast. But circumstances have changed, thanks to her newly dead husband whose financial—and emotional—bull and mendacity have left Cate homeless, broke, and unmoored.


Yet Folly Beach holds more than just memories. Once upon a time another woman found unexpected bliss and comfort within its welcoming arms. An artist, writer, and colleague of the revered George Gershwin, Dorothy Heyward enjoyed the greatest moments of her life at Folly with her beloved husband, DuBose. And though the Heywards are long gone, their passion and spirit lingers in every mango sunset and gentle ocean breeze. And for Cate, Folly, too, holds the promise of unexpected fulfillment when she is forced to look at her life and the zany characters that are her family anew. To her surprise, she will discover that you can go home again. Folly Beach doesn’t just hold the girl she once was . . . it also holds the promise of the woman she’s always wanted—and is finally ready—to become.

Let me tell you right off that I loved this book. Dorothea Benton Frank has such a great wit and sense of humor and it completely comes across through her writing. I love how this book reads as if you were having a phone conversation with your best friend. The also interesting thing is that it's two stories in one, specifically, it's a play within a story. Which I didn't think I would care for but actually enjoyed it a lot.

The *best* part of this book is seriously, the aftermath of Cate's husband's suicide. Seriously- you could just imagine one really bad thing after another coming down and you want to feel bad but find yourself laughing. Mostly because it's all so very bad and most people would be at a loss for what to do, but Cate is spunky and just gets on with it. Which I can relate to because I've had a really bad summer with my husband where literally, one thing after another, kept coming at me and I just kept going. You don't have a choice when others depend on  you.

I have lots of comments on this book I really want to share.. but it would kill the story for you I think. But I do suggest this as a good read because the writing is superb, the play within a story is different but interesting, and overall- it's a good lesson in life. Oh! I will say- the play within a story? Well I liked it because she completely changes her writing voice. You wouldn't get that it was written by the same person and I was really impressed with her ability to change like that.

So- as usual, don't take just my word. Check out what other bloggers had to say about it HERE, see her webpage, or her Facebook page!

You Are Not Your Brain (and GIVEAWAY)

The title of this book kind of reminds me of that movie "Dinner For Schmucks" where it was mind power versus brain power. I don't know.. maybe that's just me.

You Are Not Your Brain- Jeffrey Schwartz, M.d and Rebecca Gladding, M.D.

Two neuroscience experts explain how their 4-Step Method can help break destructive thoughts and actions and change bad habits for good.



A leading neuroplasticity researcher and the coauthor of the groundbreaking books Brain Lock and The Mind and the Brain, Jeffrey M. Schwartz has spent his career studying the structure and neuronal firing patterns of the human brain. He pioneered the first mindfulness-based treatment program for people suffering from OCD, teaching patients how to achieve long-term relief from their compulsions.

I will tell you that the reason I picked this book to review is because I have a very unhealthy way of thinking when it comes to diet and exercise. I am extremely good at talking myself out of good behaviors and convincing myself that the bad behaviors are not only more fun and awesome, but will be better for me later on. Despite the fact thunder thighs are not my friend.

Basically everything in the book comes down to four steps:


Step 1: Relabel: Identify your deceptive brain messages and the uncomfortable sensations; call them what they really are.

Step 2: Reframe: Change your perception of the importance of the deceptive brain messages; say why these thoughts, urges, and impulses keep bothering you: they are false brain messages.

Step 3: Refocus: Direct your attention toward an activity or mental process that is wholesome and productive -- even while the deceptive brain messages are still bothering you.

Step 4: Revalue: Clearly see the thoughts, images, and impulses for what they are -- simply sensations caused by deceptive brain messages that aren't true and have little to no value.

Without going into a whole lot of detail about it (which is all explained really well and there are worksheets in the book for you to work through on your own) I will say I found them very helpful. At first the book started slow with me with a lot of precursor explainations that I didn't find relevant to me, but once it started talking about these four steps I was really interested. One of my favorite parts of this book is when it talks about biology is not your destiny. I find that people are so quick to rely on their biology to dictate their life versus trying to change themselves for the better. It's harder to change yourself but it's more rewarding.

The other part of the book I found really helpful is the discussion of positive versus destructive anxiety. I am a high anxiety person and I often have to talk myself into things I know I'll enjoy because my brain is constantly telling me negatives. It's a problem to say the least. But I really felt like I had a better grip as to why I have that inner struggle so often.

Overall, I found this book to be extremely helpful. If you are at all interested in learning about the brain, how to make changes in your life or both- this book is for you.

AND... maybe you could win it. That's right- I'm giving away ONE copy of this book to one of my readers (US/Canada only... sorry). All you have to do is leave a comment with your email address and I'll draw a winner on Monday!

If you want to hear what other tour stops had to say, go HERE.

South of Superior

Unknowingly, when I picked this book to review I didn't even think about the setting of the story. And how completely cool it was that my Michigan trip was in the same area. So add that to another reason I loved this book. And I have to say it- I kind of love the cover of this book.

South of Superior - Ellen Airgood

When Madeline Stone walks away from Chicago and moves five hundred miles north to the coast of Lake Superior, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, she isn’t prepared for how much her life will change.



Charged with caring for an aging family friend, Madeline finds herself in the middle of beautiful nowhere with Gladys and Arbutus, two octogenarian sisters-one sharp and stubborn, the other sweeter than sunshine. As Madeline begins to experience the ways of the small, tight-knit town, she is drawn into the lives and dramas of its residents. It’s a place where times are tough and debts run deep, but friendship, community, and compassion run deeper. As the story hurtles along-featuring a lost child, a dashed love, a car accident, a wedding, a fire, and a romantic reunion-Gladys, Arbutus, and the rest of the town teach Madeline more about life, love, and goodwill than she’s learned in a lifetime.

I have to say right off the bat, this author did an amazing job at pegging people's personalities. Not just those who are from a large city (which is easy) but those who are from smaller towns and rural communities. Not every author can really get them all to be so different and accurate to what real life is like so for that reason alone, this is a fascinating read.

But the story is just really great. I really liked Madeline's character because she's very much like someone I know and love because of her really irritating quality of seeing everything in one perspective. She wants to hold a grudge against her grandfather, who in her eyes, abandoned her when she was a child. What she doesn't know or see is that he had a lot of other commitments and challenges that took precedent over a child who would likely have a better life somewhere else. So in his eyes, he made the right decision even if he doubted himself. To Madeline though, it was an unforgivable act. I think lots of people are like that though, aren't they? They don't always take in all of the different reasoning's a person did what they did, they only look at how it affected them.

What I also really liked was how this author really showed the importance of community. I think, especially now, we've moved far away from the mentality that we're a community and we help each other out, regardless of how someone got to be less fortunate. Whether they are just down on their luck or a town drunk, they still need to eat and feel a sense of belonging. And think about your own life- when was the last time you brought a dinner to a neighbor just because? Probably never. Why not? Because they would be suspicious and think you've lost it? That's sad. It's sad that society has moved from that when it really seems we'd all be better off to go backwards in some sense.

So I have to say- I really enjoyed this book. A lot. It was really a good story that made me think about changing a few things in my own life and just being more selfless towards others. I like to think I am already but there is always room for improvement. I might not have a lot but I have more than some and I could (and should) be doing more for others. So I'm making it a priority. But nonetheless, I highly recommend this book and I don't think you'll regret it.

Check out what other tour stops had to say HERE, check out the author's webpage (which is pretty interesting) HERE, and her Facebook HERE.

Anthropology of an American Girl and GIVEAWAY

Time for another book review and I'm going to be straight up honest. This book isn't for everyone. Clocking in at 597 pages it isn't for the faint of heart and probably not a person with dyslexia either.

Anthropology of an American Girl- Hilary Thayer Hamann

This ambitious work explores the sexual and intellectual awakening of a young American woman struggling to remain true to herself as she encounters love, passion, and death amid the challenges and heartbreaks of growing up. Newly edited and revised, Hilary Thayer Hamann’s Anthropology of an American Girl is an extraordinary piece of writing, original in its vision and thrilling in its execution.



Self-published in 2003, the book touched a nerve among readers, who identified with the sexual and intellectual awakening of its heroine, a young woman on the brink of adulthood. A moving depiction of the transformative power of first love, Hamann’s first novel follows Eveline Auerbach from her high school years in East Hampton, New York, in the 1970s through her early adulthood in the moneyed, high-pressured Manhattan of the 1980s.


Centering on Evie’s fragile relationship with her family and her thwarted love affair with Harrison Rourke, a professional boxer, the novel is both a love story and an exploration of the difficulty of finding one’s place in the world. As Evie surrenders to the dazzling emotional highs of love and the crippling loneliness of heartbreak, she strives to reconcile her identity with the constraints that all relationships—whether those familial or romantic, uplifting to the spirit or quietly detrimental—inherently place on us. Though she stumbles and strains against social conventions, Evie remains a strong yet sensitive observer of the world around her, often finding beauty and meaning in unexpected places.

OK. I'm nothing if not 100% honest with my readers about everything I write about and my book reviews are no different. I did not finish this book. For me to say that is a huge deal because I finished two books I absolutely hated, including Wuthering Heights and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. But the difference with those books were that I really felt like it'd come around and I'd eventually get it. I didn't, but throughout both books I really felt like it'd come around.

And I've really thought about what it was about this book that couldn't draw me in. And you know what it was? The overuse of adjectives. Basically the entire writing style. For this being a debut novel it's really heavy. I found myself having re-read passages because I might just be stupid, but I didn't get it. The entire story is meant to be written from the point of view of a woman who is recalling her first love and the ones that came after yet... reading this I'm thinking, "I know high school wasn't like this and I didn't speak like this at all." It never felt authentic and it never felt like something that would logically be happening. Here's an example:

"Jack's body had not yet moved. He was like a jetty rock, obstinate and motionless against the savage force of the sea. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do or say so I waited, passing time by thinking of things I knew. I knew that he loved me desperately, never more so than at that moment. I knew that he was ready, aroused for once by the honorableness of his emotions, and yet the anger that moved him had no means of expression. How betrayed he must have felt by his belligerent pacifism, by the ambivalence he'd constantly displayed. He was thinking that the attack had not been arbitrary, that it had happened to me for a reason. He was thinking the reason was him."

Ok. Now, what did that even mean?? Because I'm not sure. Part of me is sad that I'll never know what happened between Jack and Evie but on the other hand, who cares? After getting half way through the book I can't even tell you what it was even really about, what the story was. There was nothing in any of the pages I read that made me want to turn another page and keep going. For me, reading is an escape and it should be fun. I don't like having to think a whole lot about what I'm reading to process it. I like being able to relate to a book within my own life or back story and even though I've been a teenage girl working through the weird phases and first loves and all of that... I could not relate. In the end, I feel like the author has tried too hard to write a book that would be a classic, or something that would end up on a must read list somewhere.

See what other bloggers had to say about this book HERE and check out the book page HERE. Now, although this wasn't the kind of book meant for me, it might be for you. And I am never one to discourage a person from reading a book. I really think that someone with an interest in literature, writing, or books around this theme would really enjoy it. Of all of the reviews I've read it seems pretty divided as far as you really like it or you don't. But I say try it.  

In fact, I would like one of you to read it and tell me what you thought about it. The publisher is offering one of my readers their very own copy of this book (US/Canada only, no PO boxes). All you have to do is leave me a comment with your email address and I will draw a winner on Wednesday, so enter now!

The Seven Year Bitch. (... and there is a GIVEAWAY!)

Oh man. I can't even tell you how much I relate to this book and I have an entire post coming about it... very soon. But in the mean time, if you are married, divorced, or think you ever want to be married... this book is for you. Man or woman it does not matter because I think we can all relate to it.

The Seven Year Bitch - Jennifer Belle

What’s a fabulously fun New York City girl to do when she finds herself in a matrimonial rut — disillusioned, sex life with her husband on the wane, and quickly turning into a big-time nag? No, she hasn’t gotten the seven-year itch — taking care of the kids and her husband and rarely feeling that her needs come first has turned her into a seven-year bitch. That’s New York author Jennifer Belle’s deliciously provocative phrase for the boredom, anger, and hurt that can creep into even the best of marriages — and affect even the calmest of wives. In The Seven Year Bitch, Belle delivers a dead-on, raw, and hilarious account of motherhood and marriage, and discovers that the life you have is exactly the one you wanted.

If you are married and have not quite made the seven year mark I will tell you it's real and it's scary. A good friend of mine told me once that if you can weather the seven year itch you can take on the world. Maybe not the case with me since Matt and I aren't the best team ever, but I do feel like we've hit a milestone of sorts and already being a few days beyond our seven year wedding anniversary... it feels different.

What I absolutely loved about this book is that I could absolutely relate. Isolde is a busy mom and you can tell she loves her husband and her son. A lot. But she also knows that part of her is missing and maybe it's the new found stay at home mom status (been there) or maybe it's the lack of intimacy (done that) or the uncertainty of wanting to have more kids (still working on it) that makes her so relate able. Everything in this book is like talking to your girlfriend about your marriage. It feels like a letter you get in the mail from your best friend who's living it and you find yourself nodding your head in agreement.

"...frankly sex seemed just a little bit pointless. Now that I knew what it was like to make love and get a baby in the end, doing it just for the sake of doing it sometimes didn't seem worth giving up the sleep for.."

Jennifer Belle so completely hit the nail of marriage on the head because this entire book is so completely accurate to what married life is really like that it could be a memoir. For so many women, in particular, marriage and a family IS what they had always wanted.. and once you achieve that there is this overwhelming "and now what?" feeling that comes over you. And nobody tells you about that. Like so many things in life people tell you that it's going to be great and fun and wonderful and it just isn't. And this book highlights the ups and downs of what a real marriage is like.

The only part of the story that I didn't like what the entire nanny storyline. Her nanny has a hard time getting pregnant so Isolde forks over thousands of dollars to help her get pregnant through various methods. In the end I felt like the nanny basically used Isolde because it constantly felt like there was some ulterior motive happening with the nanny. In fact, that entire character and story line could be removed and this book would be even better.

I do recommend this book because it was a quick read, I think you'll relate to it and honestly? It was entertaining. What more could you want?
And... it's your lucky day because I have TWO copies of this book to giveaway (only US/Canada peeps... sorry!). If you want this book you need to:

1. Be a follower of this blog- you know you want to be a lambwhore.
2. Leave me a comment (with your email address).

The winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 23.

In the meantime, check out what other bloggers had to say HERE, Jennifer's website HERE, or Jennifer's Facebook HERE.

The Art of Saying Goodbye

I'm not really one for novels that tell you about the power of friendship, mostly because I think it's corny and the public library is full of these already. I was excited about the book but once I got it, I'm going to be honest, I was wondering what the frack I was thinking. But luckily, it was a good book so I'm happy to tell you about it.

The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn Bache

She was the thread that wove their tapestry together.



With a group of women as diverse as the ladies from Brightwood Trace, you might not think them to be close. There’s Julianne, a nurse with an unsettling psychic ability that allows her to literally feel what her patients feel, Andrea, a strong fortress sheltering a faltering core, Ginger, a mother torn between being a stay-at-home mom or following her career aspirations, and Iona, the oldest, whose feisty, no-nonsense attitude disarms even toughest of the tough. Not exactly the ingredients for the most cohesive cocktail . . . Until you add Paisely, the liveliest and friendliest of the clan, who breathed life into them all. But when their glowing leader falls ill with cancer, it’s up to these women to do what Paisely has done for them since the beginning: lift her up. Overcoming and accepting the inevitability of loss, the women draw closer than ever; finding together the strength to embrace and cherish their lives with acceptance, gratitude and most importantly, love. Finally living with the vigor that Paisely has shown them from the start, they are able to see their lives in a new light, while learning to say goodbye to the brightest star they’ve ever known. Over the course of just three months, these four women will undergo a magnificent transformation that leaves nobody unchanged.


I will start by telling you that this is another one of those books where the readers voice changes between characters. Each woman is friens with Paisley is different ways and not necessarily with each other. Some characters I felt were stronger than others and some are the kind that you just get annoyed with because you know someone like them in real life. Mostly, they are the kind of people who aren't able to move on in a positive direction from anything. Everything in their life after a particular event somehow reflects that event and not in a great way. Does that make sense?

But what I really liked about this book versus other books where a character has cancer... is that it's clear she's going to die. You know that almost completely from the beginning. So it's refreshing that you don't have to go through tedious storyline about treatments and if they will pull through. No. She's going to die and it's like the beginning of a grieving process for everyone. I will say that this book really reminded me of Friday Night Knitting Club so if you didn't like that book you probably aren't going to enjoy this one. I also appreciated that this book kind of centered on the fact that people are essentially scared of death. They don't know what to say, they don't know what they should do, and they fear for themselves. As if your dying friend is going to rub off on you and bring you to an early demise. I think that's just human nature but I liked how even in the face of death Paisley knows this and it seems like she accepts it, despite all she has done for others. And it makes you ask yourself... what would you do if you were the friend? Or what if you were Paisley?

Check out what other tour hosts had to say about this book HERE, check out Ellyn's website for more information about this book and her other novels HERE, or you can check out her Facebook page HERE.

Vampires, Birds or Mosquitos? Hard to tell.

So tonight is all about Tahquamenon Falls and how we almost died of blood loss. 'Tis true friends.

On Friday evening we ended up driving to the lower Tahquamenon Falls because there is some driving distance between lower/upper and yeah. It just made sense. It was kind of drizzling but not bad and I told the group that if it was raining, I was OK with running to get my picture and running back to the vehicle. I wasn't about to make people get pneumonia and shit.

So while the rain wasn't an issue the mother effer mosquitoes were. Seriously. They were after us. Mostly Jon though. But they were sucking us dry, they were big enough that you could see the stripes on their ass and they made whizzing noises by your ear.  Seriously. They were out of control.

 Lower Falls... pretty, huh? You'll notice Matt and I here are hoods up. We snapped and we hustled. Those mosquitoes were no joke folks.

 On Saturday we woke up to pouring rain and even colder temperatures. BUT we braved it. This time we all remembered to bring our bug spray. And we all suckered up and bought ponchos which looked exactly like white Hefty bags, yall. So here's the upper falls:

 Matt and I modeling the Spring 2011 Hefty collection. I sprayed us down, then the freaking bags down with bug spray. I also inhaled/ate some bug spray. I don't suggest it... it tastes terrible.

 Some super nice hard core hiker guys (who didn't have ponchos on) took out group picture. You'll notice that Jennifer and I had our hands into our sweatshirts.

 It was also fun because there was a sign that said "94 Steps to Brink". Um, no joke yo. Again, it was only 94 steps one way and by the time I got back to the top I felt like I did enough stairs for awhile. But it was worth it.

These falls are absolutely beautiful. I have such a love of waterfalls. Some day I'd like to swim under one. That seams like that would be kind of awesome, right?

So I've crossed yet another thing off my 30/30 list. Woo! I am really glad that I drove the distance to see these because they were beautiful. Plus I would really like to take up hiking with legit gear and stuff. It would have been fun to go into the woods but yeah. We weren't prepared for the bug overload.

Tomorrow is Dear Sara-- send your questions to: sarastrand9438(at)hotmail(dot)com bitches! :)