In My Mailbox (68)

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for In My Mailbox. All links go to goodreads.com. Summaries are also from goodreads.com.

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

When Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemies, she’s certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer, one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack and the man she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

Images: Goodreads

Waiting on Wednesday (56)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme started by Jill at Breaking The Spine highlighting books that are going to be published soon. Here’s what I’m looking forward to.

Torn by Stephanie Guerra

Stella Chavez is your classic good girl: straight As, clean-cut boyfriends, and soccer trophies . You’d never guess that Stella’s dad was a drug addict who walked out when she was a kid. Or that inside, Stella wishes for something more.

New girl Ruby Caroline seems like Stella’s polar opposite: cursing, smoking, and teetering in sky-high heels . But with Ruby, Stella gets a taste of another world—a world in which parents act like roommates, college men are way more interesting than high school boys, and there is nothing that shouldn’t be tried once.

It’s not long before Stella finds herself torn: between the best friend she’s ever had and the friends she’s known forever, between her family and her own independence, between who she was and who she wants to be.

But Ruby has a darker side, a side she doesn’t show anyone—not even Stella. As Stella watches her friend slowly unravel, she will have to search deep inside herself for the strength to be a true friend, even if it means committing the ultimate betrayal.

Image: goodreads.com

In My Mailbox (67)

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for In My Mailbox. All links go to goodreads.com. Summaries are also from goodreads.com.

I seem to be on a Meg Cabot kick – this is the second book by her I’ve borrowed from the library in the last couple weeks.

Insatiable by Meg Cabot 

Sick of vampires? So is Meena Harper.

But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them.

Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her; no one ever does).

But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side . . . a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.

The problem is, he already is dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own.

And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.

Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . .

Images: Goodreads

Waiting on Wednesday (55)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme started by Jill at Breaking The Spine highlighting books that are going to be published soon. Here’s what I’m looking forward to.

Enchanted by  Alethea Kontis

It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past – and hers?

I haven’t read many fairy tale re-tellings, but this one looks so good! Luckily I won’t have to wait too long for it, it’s released next week. 

Image: goodreads.com

In My Mailbox (66)

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for In My Mailbox. All links go to goodreads.com. Summaries are also from goodreads.com.

I’m really trying to be good and borrow less books from the library and read more of the books that I have on my bookcase, so only one book from the library this week.

She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot 

There are a few places screenwriter Lou Calabrese would rather be than crammed into a helicopter with Jack Townsend, star of her claim to fame, “Copkiller,” and whose ex just ran off with Lou’s ex. Talk about uncomfortable. But when, halfway out to the isolated arctic location where “Copkiller IV” is currently shooting, their pilot turns murderous and their helicopter crashes, Lou realizes her day has just gotten a lot worse.

Now, while family and friends back home fret over her disappearance, Lou is on the run in the arctic wilderness with America’s sweetheart Jack Townsend and only the contents of her purse, his pockets, and their mutual knowledge of survival movie trivia to keep them alive. Can these two children of Hollywood put aside their differences and make it back home without killing each other? Or much, much worse, actually start to like one another?

Images: Goodreads

In My Mailbox (65)

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for In My Mailbox. All links go to goodreads.com. Summaries are also from goodreads.com.

Just one book from the library again this week. I’m really trying to read more of my books that I have instead of getting lots from the library.

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

Things in Delilah Hannaford’s life have a tendency to fall apart.

She used to be a good student, but she can’t seem to keep it together anymore. Her “boyfriend” isn’t much of a boyfriend. And her mother refuses to discuss the fight that divided their family eight years ago. Falling apart, it seems, is a Hannaford tradition.

Over a summer of new friendships, unexpected romance, and moments that test the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, Delilah must face her family’s painful past. Can even her most shattered relationships be pieced together again?

Images: Goodreads

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Published By: Penguin

Date of Publication: 2008

Categories: Adult, Food, Non Fiction. 

Pages: 205

Summary (from goodreads.com): Michael Pollan’s last book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

Review: Awhile ago I put this book on hold at the library. I forget what made me want to read it, but when I got home with it and read the summary, it sounded pretty good. I was excited to read it.

While I thought some of it made a lot of sense (eating as much as you can unprocessed), some just didn’t make sense to me (don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients). Um, most of the salads I make have more than 5 ingredients. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t make them unhealthy.

Something I’m going to try really hard to do it eat more local produce. Generally that’s only something that can happen during the summer here. 6 months out of the year there’s snow on the ground, so that makes growing things here pretty hard. But there’s a farmer’s market that’s pretty close to me during the summer that I can buy all kinds of veggies at. While I’ve made trips there previous summers, I’ll try to get there most weeks this year.

Another thing that it really made me think about is the processed food I eat. I’ve found myself reading ingredient lists more and trying to pick things that have the least amount of additives. At least it’s a start, right? I think I’m going to try making things at home rather than always buying the grocery store version just because it’s quicker and easier.

All in all I thought this was a good read that makes me think more about what I eat. Have you read it? What did you think?

Image: goodreads.com

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library.

In My Mailbox (64)

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for In My Mailbox. All links go to goodreads.com. Summaries are also from goodreads.com.

I only ended up getting one book from the library this week.

The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory

As a new queen, Elizabeth faces two great dangers: the French invasion of Scotland, which threatens to put Mary Queen of Scots on her throne, and her passion for the convicted traitor Robert Dudley.
But Dudley is already married, and his devoted wife Amy will never give him up, least of all to an upstart Protestant Princess. She refuses to set her beloved husband free to marry the queen; but she cannot prevent him from becoming the favorite and the focus of the feverishly plotting, pleasure seeking court.
Others too oppose the marriage, but for very different reasons. William Cecil, the queen’s wisest counselor, knows she must marry for policy; her uncle hates Dudley and swears he will be murder him first. Behind the triangle of lovers, the factions take up their places: the Protestants, the priests, the assassins, the diplomats and the moneymakers. The very coin of England is shaved and clipped to nothing as Elizabeth uncertainly leads her bankrupt country into a war that no-one thinks can be won.
Then someone acts in secret, and for Elizabeth, Dudley and the emerging kingdom, nothing will be as planned.

Images: Goodreads

Waiting on Wednesday (54)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme started by Jill at Breaking The Spine highlighting books that are going to be published soon. Here’s what I’m looking forward to.

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that’s just fine by her. She’s got her friends – the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She’s got her art – and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it’s hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they’re dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

Image: goodreads.com

Waiting on Wednesday (53)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme started by Jill at Breaking The Spine highlighting books that are going to be published soon. Here’s what I’m looking forward to.

Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all… Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family’s deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own – one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all…

Image: goodreads.com