Review and Giveaway: Julia's Child by Sarah Pinneo

Title: Julia's Child

Author: Sarah Pinneo

Genre/Audience: Women's fiction, adult

Publication: Plume, 2012

Source: For review

Summary: Julia Bailey has a whole lot on her plate. Not only is she a New York City mom and wife, she is also running a floundering business, Julia's Child, an organic food line for toddlers. She works long days concocting healthy, but appealing meals for children, while attempting to get her line into some big time stores such as Whole Foods, but can't seem to catch a break, or make a profit. Then, by chance, she gets to appear on a popular talk show, and things start looking up for her struggling business. Can she juggle all of her responsibilities and keep her head? Can she finally succeed enough in business to stop draining the savings account? This debut novel takes us into the mind and heart of an every day mother just trying to make her place in the world.


My Thoughts: First off, I'm incredibly impressed that this is Pinneo's debut novel. The writing is really great and the author seems like a seasoned pro. Additionally, I thought this was a pretty unique story. It takes the typical "busy mom living in the city" story and turns it on its head. I can't say I've ever read anything else that features an organic toddler food line and I think it was so cool that she added this element in to make for something unique. So, I liked that a lot... and now I want some muffets.

I also really liked Julia herself. She was a really sympathetic character and I found myself rooting for her the whole way. I felt terrible knowing that her business wasn't doing well, and I felt elated when she got several "big breaks." I admired her spirit and tenacity, most of all.

My one complaint with the novel was the pacing for me. At times, I felt it was a little bit slow and not very exciting. I do understand why that is, though. This is the story of a hardworking mom trying to succeed at being a mother, a wife, and an entrepreneur. I think that Pinneo wanted to show the day to day life and the struggles that come along with all of those responsibilities, so even though it isn't always thrilling, it is true to life, and I get that. I think one day I'll be able to relate better to these kinds of stories when I have kids of my own.

Anyways, a cute read about a hectic momma and her start-up business that I would recommend to fans of foodie type fiction, and especially to moms!

My Rating: 3.5/5

Giveaway: I have one copy available to a lucky U.S. reader! Just leave me your e-mail address below if you'd like to be entered into the drawing. Giveaway ends in one week on 2-9-12! Thanks and good luck!

Weight loss is hard.

I am on an epic weight loss journey! That may or may not be an exaggeration...

All my life, I've been chubby. My weight has been up and down over the years. A few years ago, I was going to the gym on a daily basis, and my weight was the lowest it'd ever been. Then college started, and a new medication, and my weight flew up again, and I've decided it really sucks and that I don't want to be overweight anymore. I hated being overweight, but I was smart and funny, so I had other things going for me and I just kind of let it go. I've always been the funny friend, and I've relished that role, but why not be something more? I just cannot accept an unhealthy lifestyle for myself anymore. I want to be healthy and live longer (so that I have time to read all of my books, of course!), and I'm doing something about it.

Here I am today. Note the round cheeks. They GOTS to go.

I've started working out on an (almost) daily basis. I initially wanted to jog around my apartment complex every night. I did that... once. The following day, it started snowing and the roads got unbearably slippery. Besides, I was mostly speed-walking. I'd jog for a few seconds, then walk. So, I realized that was not a good idea for the winter. Then I got a Wii for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and have stocked up on exercise games. I've been doing "Gold's Gym Dance Workout" every day, and it gives me a great workout. It combines Latin dance with Cardio kickboxing. I also got Zumba and some other work-out games that I'll be trying soon.

The Gold's Gym game sets up a two week program for you, so I'm just finishing that up before I start the others. The work-outs are kind of short so far (they are up to about 20 minutes), so I'm still trying to build up to longer workouts. I've also gotten some work-out DVDs like the "Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred." Again, just waiting to finish up the program I'm currently doing before I start those. And let me tell you, my arms and legs are screaming in pain! Even though it hurts, it's a good hurt! I know it's helping me, and that soon, it won't hurt at all. I can't wait until I can follow the exercises without my arms flailing around haphazardly halfway through the program. Ha!

I initially was going to just focus on exercise then slowly work a healthier diet into it, but my pal, Adam, from Roof Beam Reader, has changed my mind. We've been talking about fitness on Facebook and he has been really helpful and encouraging. He's helped me understand that my diet is just as important as exercising, and recommended I download My Fitness Pal onto my phone, which I have. Now, I'm tracking calories as well. Thanks for the inspiration, Adam!

I've also gotten a lot of weight loss memoirs from the library to read. I'm hoping to find inspiration in them and that reading other people's success stories will push me to keep going. So, if you see an increase in reviews of those kinds of books, then that's why, but I'll try not to overdo it. I have a ton of other books to read as well, so worry not!

This is going to be a really long and hard journey. Already, I find myself lacking motivation some days, but I'm determined to not give up this time around.

I hope you don't mind the personal post. I try to work them into my blog once in awhile. If you have any tricks, tips, etc. please let me know.

Review: Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

Title: Scotland by Starlight

Series: Sequel to A Scottish Ferry Tale

Author: Nancy Volkers

Genre/Audience: Romance, adult

Publication: CreateSpace, 2011

Source: For review, CLP Tours

Summary: In A Scottish Ferry Tale, we meet Cassie, a young college-aged woman on a trip to Scotland, who meets Ralph, a Scotsman who is in his 40s. The two fall quickly in love, but Cassie goes back to the states, and her indecisiveness nearly destroys their relationship. In this sequel, Cassie and Ralph have reunited for good, and Cassie moves to Scotland to start her life with Ralph, to whom she soon becomes engaged (again!). This story chronicles their new life together, with their friends, family, and ups and downs of the relationship.

My Thoughts: I read and reviewed A Scottish Ferry Tale months ago and absolutely loved it. I was charmed by the vivid setting and the lovely Ralph. I was really excited to read the sequel, and while I still enjoyed it, I wish I had read it sooner after finishing the first one. I had a difficult time remembering all the details and occurrences of the first book, so I was a little frustrated at first while reading. I remembered the basic premise of the first story, but would have liked more of a detailed recap. I also was confused by a lot of the characters and had no recollection of who they were. I think I would have liked this book even better if I had gone right from the first book to this one. 

I really enjoyed the romance and chemistry between Ralph and Cassie. It was evident from the very first book that they truly belonged together. I love stories like this, and reading about true love. The romance is excellent, but also realistic, with disagreements, jealousy, etc.

The first half of the book was a bit slow for me, but about halfway through, it really picked up the pace and I started to get back into their story just like the first time around. These books, by and far, are some of the best self-published books I have ever read. The writing flows smoothly, the story line is unique, and there are basically no grammatical or editing errors, which I really appreciate (I do have a degree in English, after all).

I would highly recommend you pick up this series if you love romance, vivid settings, and other countries. However, I'd recommend you read them back to back to get a better reading experience without forgetting any of the first story, like me. As I said, I LOVED A Scottish Ferry Tale, and I really liked this one too, but forgetting some of the details and characters made it just a little less enjoyable for me... still highly recommended though.

My Rating: 3.5/5

I'm moving, so please update your subscription! :)

Just a heads up that I'm making the transition over to Wordpress very soon. It's been in the works for awhile, but I've been on a waitlist for Southtown Creative, who is transferring and designing my blog. Well, the time is almost here! I will be self-hosting my blog via Wordpress.org and I will also be getting my own domain, FINALLY, after 2.5 years. I decided to take a huge step by self-hosting my blog so that I can have 100% control and ownership of my blog. It will be a little costly for start-up, but I think it will be worth it.

I'll be moved over in just a couple of weeks, so I wanted to let you know that if you want to keep up with the blog, you will have to subscribe some way other than GFC, which I'll be getting rid of. You can subscribe by e-mail to the right (and I believe that feed will automatically transfer over with the new blog) or however else you'd like. :) I hope that most of you will find another way to follow the blog because I've loved getting to know you all.

I will of course post another update with the new domain address once the transfer is complete, but just wanted to give you a chance to start switching over now. Thank you, guys!

Review: The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell

Title: The Chalk Girl

Series: Kathleen Mallory, #10

Author: Carol O'Connell

Genre/Audience: Suspense, mystery, adult

Publiation: Putnam, 2012

Source: For review, publisher

This is a guest review from my mom, Kim, who reviews for me occasionally, since we have very similar taste in books. :) Please welcome my mom!

Summary: The little girl appeared in Central Park; red-haired, blue-eyed, smiling, perfect - except for the blood on her shoulder.  It fell from the sky, she said, while she was looking for her uncle, who turned into a tree.  Poor child, people thought.  And then they found the body in the tree. 

For Mallory, newly returned to the Special Crimes Unit after three months lost time, there is something about the girl that she understands.  Mallory is damaged, they say, but she can tell a kindred spirit.  And this one will lead her to a story of extraordinary crimes; murders stretching back fifteen years, blackmail and complicity and a particular cruelty that only someone with Mallory's history could fully recognize.  In the next few weeks, she will deal with them all...in her own way.

(This summary is from the back of the book... we usually write up our own summaries, but I had a hard time summarizing this).

My thoughts:  Steph received this an an ARC from the publisher, who stated that even though this is the 10th in this series, it could be read as a stand-alone.  When I first started reading it, I really enjoyed it, particularly the character of Coco, the little red-haired girl.  I wanted to give her a hug and bring her home with me.  Once I got further into the book, I felt like I was a little lost, as there were a lot of characters introduced without a lot of explanation and there were alternate plots going on.  As far as the "Chalk Girl" in the title, I believe she was mentioned a couple times, but I'm not really sure of her relevance to the story.  I think there was a great book in here somewhere and with a little streamlining and some editing, it would have gotten there, but I was confused through much of the book.  I'm not sure if this is because I hadn't read the previous ones in the series or there was just too much going on.  I am intrigued by the main character of the series, Kathy Mallory, so I started reading the first book in the series last night.  I'm not too far into it yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.  I am holding off on a rating at this point, as I would like to give it a fair shot once I've read some of the others in the series.  So that would be my suggestion - start with book one in the series, Mallory's Oracle.  I'm assuming since the author made it all the way up to a doing a tenth book in the series, that it must be good, I just didn't get that from where I started.  I will keep you posted.