Book Feature: Time Kids Historical Reference Guides for KIDS

If you have a child in the upper elementary, middle school grades you're probably familiar with beginning essay papers and beginner researching. Its a hard thing to learn but if you have the right resources it can make it easy.

Featuring:

Heroes of History Series with Alexander Hamilton and George Washington

   

Both of these titles will be published in June 2018, with more to come in Fall 2018 (Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall), these are a thorough, kid-friendly look at people from the history of the United States. I know history can be a bit boring if not dry, but these books give fun facts with quick information that make learning about these people quick and easy. These would make a great classroom or library resource!

Our Nation's Documents

On sale this week, Our Nation's Documents goes into the founding documents and the ones that shaped our country to what it is today. This one is elementary friendly and makes learning about these documents fun and easy to learn. The book gives great definition to the people of the time, features "conversations" between the characters who were responsible for each document to answer the questions kids would ask, talks about the most important amendments and really delves into why they are important, but coolest to my kids were the maps of what the United States once looked like (before we were 50 states). This really is a must have in any classroom collection aimed at teaching the basics of democracy.

      

Book Review: Cooper

I'm trying to get through my series' on my book shelf but I'm doing it so slowly. Hopefully I can pick up the pace a bit, I have one left in this series and I can already feel that it's going to be massive.

Cooper - Harper Sloan

Do you take me seriously? Because I don’t. I use my jokes and easygoing personality to hide the pain I’ve felt since he took his last breath. I’m adrift without my partner in crime, my best friend…my brother. I can taste the vengeance just within my grasp. 

Until she barges into my life. Promising me happiness and a peace I’ve been craving for years. She is the sun to my darkness, the happy to my despair. 

But she holds secrets. Just like I do. She holds hers close, where I just pray mine don’t rock the walls we’re trying to build. 

Now I’m stuck at a crossroads between my desire for revenge and my craving for her and the life we could have together—and I have no idea which road I should travel. 

All I know with crystal clear certainty is that the past has the power to destroy it all. 

I know I've said that you don't need to read the other books to understand the current one, but I lied. The more I read these the more I feel like you do need to read the series, especially if this one. Asher Cooper comes into the fold because his brother is essentially murdered trying to protect one of their own. Asher is grieving in a self destructive way, and Chelcie is there to pick up the pieces.. or take the brunt of his grief.

Once Asher gets over himself, and learns Chelcie is pregnant with his brother's oopsie baby, he's determined to crawl out of this hole he's put himself in. He is trying to seek revenge for his brother's death not realizing that it could take him away from Chelcie and the baby forever.

I won't lie, I really liked this book. I like all of these leading men in the series so far and this book was no exception. The best part? Is there is a MAJOR twist in plot towards the end of this one, I thought for sure it was going to end differently and bam- we've got a surprise. I can tell this is Harper Sloan's earlier work because her newer books have a more refined feel to them but these are really good and I recommend this series if you're looking for fast reads with hot guys.

   

Book Review: Love Hack

I'm a fan of short books so when I heard about this one coming in at around 160 pages, I was all in.

Love Hack - Kimberly  Dean

Security analyst Spencer Weiler is excited when he lands a job at Afire Industries. The responsibility is daunting, but nowhere near as exhilarating as working with Josie Johnson, the pretty program manager in charge. Spencer lusts after her, but knows that she only sees him as a work friend. He needs to make himself over if he’s going to have a shot with her. 

Josie is all too aware of the cute computer geek watching over her. He was tempting before, but with his newfound muscles and sexy haircut, he’s suddenly an irresistible stud. She makes the first move and is stunned to learn that her hot IT guy is just as studious in the sack. Their affair turns hot and heavy, but Josie had broken her rule about dating coworkers once before. It hadn’t ended well. When her ex returns and posts scandalous pictures of her on the Internet, it’s not Spencer’s muscles that she needs. She needs a hacker. 

So in this book we have Spencer, newly hired to Afire to help with security after a hack in the start up company portion of Afire. As soon as he meets Josie, who runs the start up, he's instantly smitten. In love, even. He's never seen anyone like her and he can't help but lose his cool around her. She has sworn off dating people she works with after her ex Nolan continues to harass her. That doesn't stop Spencer though, when he finds out some compromising photos of Josie are unleashed onto the Internet, he steps in to save the day... which jump starts their relationship.

I'm giving this one a solid 3.5 stars and I'm only knocking it down a bit because I hate that Spencer feels like he has to buff up for Josie. I'm appreciative that he did for description purposes, but I hate when people feel like they have to change who they are to impress someone else.. is that a good basis for a relationship? I don't think so. I did like the story line with the compromising photos and the ex, and I love how Spencer steps in to save the day (repeatedly). If I had to find another fault it would definitely be Josie and her damsel in distress, over-reacting, and unable to help herself for all of her logical thinking, it almost doesn't jive. Her pen collection? Love it and I'm secretly jealous.

Overall? It's a great little read, plenty of sexy action and a pretty solid little story to go along with it, minus the little things I didn't care for. Solid 3.5 star.

   

Ultrasounds, not just for babies.

Can I just say that it was extremely strange to have an ultrasound done when I'm not pregnant? I didn't really put much thought into it before I got there but as I'm laying down and she put the gel on my stomach, I had a little bit of a panic attack and decided I absolutely couldn't look at the screen.

I was getting an ultrasound done before my endoscopy in June to figure out why my stomach and abdominal area hurt all of the time. This was checking for gallstones, I think.

But it just reminded me that I will never be pregnant again. Don't get me wrong, I don't want another baby- four is quite enough, thank you very much. But the idea that I can't ever do it again feels... constricting. It's one thing to know you could technically still have another baby, even though you don't want one versus knowing that the option was taken away from you. My parts don't work the way they should anymore and there is no fix for that. It won't get better.

So as I was laying there it was a really strange feeling. It got me wondering if things like this will always pop up and take me aback, surprise me. Will these feelings ever just go away? How do I make them not happen? I'd really like to go through my life not being affected by pregnant women, ultrasounds, vaginal exams, new babies, all of it. I feel like such a terrible person who can't be happy for people in the mix of all the greatness that is a new baby because of my terrible experience. I shouldn't feel sad or angry, I had four babies, more than so many women get.

Which only reminds me of being angry because I can't remember their new baby smell, their cries, things they liked. Did they like to snuggle? Did I? Did they like fresh pajamas and baths? Lullabies? What was my favorite thing about them? Did they have fuzzy hair on their heads? Did I rub my face on it?

None of this is fair and I don't know how to get over this hump. It feels like a mountain some days.

Book Review: You All Grow Up & Leave Me

I wanted to review this one because the premise is so much like what we've seen in the news within the last couple of years- teachers running away with their students. It's so bizarre, it makes it fascinating.

You All Grow Up and Leave Me - Piper Weiss

A highly unsettling blend of true crime and coming-of-age memoir— The Stranger Beside Me meets Prep—that presents an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of girlhood within Manhattan’s exclusive prep-school scene in the early 1990s, and a thoughtful meditation on adolescent obsession and the vulnerability of youth.

Piper Weiss was fourteen years old when her middle-aged tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, one of New York City’s most prestigious private instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. In the aftermath, authorities discovered that this well-known figure among the Upper East Side tennis crowd was actually a frightening child predator who had built a secret torture chamber—a "Cabin of Horrors"—in his secluded rental in the Adirondacks.

Before the shocking scandal broke, Piper had been thrilled to be one of "Gary’s Girls." "Grandpa Gary," as he was known among his students, was different from other adults—he treated Piper like a grown-up, taking her to dinners, engaging in long intimate conversations with her, and sending her special valentines. As reporters swarmed her private community in the wake of Wilensky’s death, Piper learned that her mentor was a predator with a sordid history of child stalking and sexual fetish. But why did she still feel protective of Gary, and why was she disappointed that he hadn’t chosen her?

Now, twenty years later, Piper examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and a dispassionate investigative reporter, hoping to understand and exorcise the childhood memories that haunt her to this day. Combining research, interviews, and personal records, You All Grow Up and Leave Me explores the psychological manipulation by child predators—their ability to charm their way into seemingly protected worlds—and the far-reaching effects their actions have on those who trust them most. 

This one was kind of hard for me to get through and I'll be honest, I could have put it down by the mid point and called it good because I just couldn't get into it. Though I finished it, it felt kind of pointless. The book is kind of odd and uncomfortable in a lot of ways and that's saying something for me because I'll read most anything. There are large chunks of this book that feels pointless and could be taken out, it took so long to get to the dramatics of the story that it's hard to get (and stay) engaged.

What was interesting is that the question that basically spurred the book was "why not her?". Why was she not the attempted kidnapping victim? What was it about that particular student and not her that would lead a man to throw his life away? It is a true crime story memoir so if you're a fan of that, you likely will enjoy this book a lot. Or if you are a fan of the early 90's tennis scene you might relate to all of the references and information about it.

It just reminded me of that recent case where a teacher abducted his student who he was in love with and seemingly held her hostage. I will never understand what sends people over the edge like that.

Overall the book was just OK for me. It wasn't great but it wasn't awful because once we get into the meat of it, I perked up, it just took awhile to get there. The writing feels like we're wandering aimlessly sometimes and that makes it hard to stick with. But this would be an interesting book to pick apart at a book club or discussion group because there were so many opportunities this guy had to do this with any of this students but he picked this one girl for a reason. She fought back but I wonder if in hindsight he thought of another student who probably wouldn't have fought back? What if that girl never did fight back, do you think he would have continued picking students? It's strange because I guess we'll never really know how the human mind works in these situations.

I'm giving this one a solid 3 stars. I would have given it 2 but the true crime aspect of it was fascinating for me even if the memoir aspect didn't grab me as much.

   

Book Review: Sometimes I Lie

This book was heavily promoted this winter and just the premise alone was intriguing, so I didn't read any reviews and I impulsively bought this while at the mall visiting the Easter Bunny.

Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 

1. I’m in a coma. 

2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 

3. Sometimes I lie. 

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

When I immediately finished this book my first thought was that it didn't live up to the hype and was stupid. Fast forward a day and I'm still thinking about it and the more I do, the more I like this book. Things that didn't make sense at the end kind of do now and it's like a slow burn- the author's talent in this book comes out so slowly but in the most perfect way. To be honest, I have no idea who is really who, which girl really wrote the diaries, and which girl really belongs with the parents. I have no idea and it's so bizarre but I'm left thinking both sisters are absolutely sociopaths, hands down.

So in this book it flip flops from before Christmas and after Christmas, there was an accident somewhere in the middle that leaves Amber in a coma. She's aware of her surroundings but she can't remember what exactly what happened, but the police seem to think it was her husband that left her covered in bruises behind the wheel of a car. Or was she? Maybe she wasn't driving. Maybe it was the guy she inadvertently found herself having an affair with? Or maybe her sister Claire is involved? Her friend Jo might know, but nobody knows where Jo is. And how is Madeline connected in all of this?

The first 3/4 of this book are SO SLOW and you're reading it thinking you need this information, it's all important somehow but you don't know why, so it takes you such a long time to get through it. Then, out of nowhere, the ball picks up and all of these facts and details are coming at you and you're left feeling like you have whip lash because it's like, WHAT?! What is even going on here?! The ending was very good but it's killing me to not know where the damn bracelet came from?? When the story unravels and you figure out what's going on, you feel so stupid that you didn't read between the lines the whole time and to me, that is a master storyteller.

Excellent book, I highly recommend this one if you're a fan of thrillers.

   

Book Review: Break Point

I can't wait to tell you about what I did yesterday but that'll come soon enough. But I had an amazing day. To top it off, I finished this book so it made it an even better day.

Break Point - Rachel Blaufeld

Juliette Smith, star tennis player, is starting over at a new university. Traumatized by hazing at her last school, all she wants is to attend classes, win tennis matches, and be left the hell alone.

She should have known her coach, Drew King, would be a problem from the moment he flexed his sexy-as-hell forearms.

What happens when you mix a pissed-off woman with a bunch of snooty teammates and a hot coach? 

A heated match, complete with team politics and a forbidden game of singles with the coach.

It’s reckless and hot until one of them taps out.

Unable to admit she may be better off as a double, Jules is convinced she needs to play the game of life alone. Then life throws her a lob and she runs smack into her past.

Coach King is back, and he wants to take control of the game. But she’s not certain she wants his advice when it comes to the life she’s built.

The power struggle is on, but this time off the court.

Alright, so this book actually moves pretty quickly and I really appreciated that. I hate books that take FOREVER to get to the point and this book got good almost immediately.

We have Juliette, Jules, who is a college student/tennis player who is transferring from another college after a fairly traumatizing experience. She is smitten with her coach, Drew King, almost immediately and he takes an interest in her as well. Obviously a forbidden romance, they begin a relationship in secret and when it threatens to expose them both, Drew up and disappears, leaving Jules devastated. Time brings them together again six years later but things are totally different for them. Jules has a secret she's kept from Drew, can they work past that and start again?

This book was so great. I really enjoyed it, flew through it in a short amount of time. It's not overtly sexual, we've got some love scenes but they aren't in explicit detail, but you get enough to feel steamy. I loved their story, I loved their characters, but Drew is so stand up and good that you can't help but root for them. My only criticism is that Jules is a little too stubborn that it almost makes me doubt if her feelings for Drew match his for hers. It's not major but it's enough to knock it down a little from a 5 star review.

I received this one in my recent Bookworm Box subscription and it's another 4.5 star book from them. As expensive as the box is, their book selections have been on point. I can't remember a book I've received that I haven't loved.