Welcome to the Weekend Blog Hop

WELCOME TO WEEKEND BLOG HOP



Welcome to Weekend Blog Hop. Thank you for joining us and linking up. We are happy you are here and hope you will always come around. We have had a great week and now it's time for us to increase our followers by Blog Hopping all through the Weekend. Come and make new friends and find some interesting blogs to follow.

Link up your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google + page Linky Followers or Pinterest page...

Happy Hopping.

Please only family friendly blogs only!!!

To sign up for the blog hop please visit Reflexicons - the rules of the blog hop are listed on her blog.

Enjoy!

Review: Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled by Bert Murray

I have to thank the author Burt Murray for letting me review this one.



About the Book

Meet Colin Preston.
19 years old and a student at Elerby University in upstate New York.
He drinks too much.
Lives for the Beatles, John Lennon and classic rock.
Falls for the most beautiful sophomore on campus.
His life is about to change forever.
Funny. Moving. Honest. Raw.
An entertaining coming of age novel about friendship,
music, first love and betrayal.

For more information about Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled you can visit the book's website.

To purchase a copy of Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled you can visit my Amazon store.

My Review

Colin Preston is a bit of an outcast in this book. He doesn't really fit in anywhere, which I think is why I liked him so much. It's not so much that he doesn't care about what other people think about him it's more that he's just so different from everyone else. He loves the Beatles - their music comes up quite a bit throughout the story. It was interested for me to see how he connected to the music so much. It seemed like when he couldn't connect to anything else, the Beatles were there for him. Given that I liked him so much I hate to say that he was quite quirky. I'm still trying to figure out if he was crazy, but quirky sums it up nicely. And some of the things that happen in the story make me feel so sorry for him. I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be ok.

All the people in the book were quirky though. The parents were odd, the aunt and uncle were odd, the professors were odd - even the beautiful Jasmine had her quirks. It really makes you realize that no one is "normal" we all have quirks but those quirks are what make us who we are.

The writing was pretty good. I found it to be quite humorous. There weren't any ROFL laughing moments, but I let a few snickers out while I was reading it. There were some serious sides to the story also. There are some pretty dark themes that come up throughout the book, and without the humor to lighten them up I think this would have been a much more difficult book to read.

Overall I thought it was pretty good. It wasn't a great novel, but it was pretty good.

Review: The Void by Bryan Healey

Thanks to Bryan Healey for sending me a review copy of his latest book!



About the Book

A man is trapped in his own mind. Confined to a hospital bed for years, his family and friends believing him all but dead; somehow he can still hear. And he listens, he keeps breathing, keeps thinking, as those around him suddenly condemn him to death. With a life destined to end, he recounts his battlefield experience of death and violence, his own struggle with drug addiction and depression, and coming to terms with his own mortality, the importance of family and the meaning of life. And as he thinks, he
lays, still as always, wondering when the final moment will arrive...

For more information about The Void and Bryan Healey you can "Like" him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter or visit his website.

Purchase a copy of The Void from my Amazon store.

My Review

I've read two of Healey's books before and I LOVED them. This book took my expectations and blew them out of the water.

Within the first few pages I was crying like a baby, and it didn't let up much from there. I read this in one sitting, as I just could not put it down, I was so attached to Max right from the word go. Healey's ability to write with so much emotion is truly amazing to me. He has this ability to grasp my attention and not let go till the last word.

The story deals with something very controversial, taking a comatose patient off of life-support. I feel that regardless of your feelings on the subject The Void is an eye-opening story. It makes you wonder about all the what-ifs that surround a decision like that.

I love how well the story flows. Max, the main character, seems to float around between the world that is moving on around him and the world that he remembers. Despite the jumping back and fourth the writing just moves along and it does not feel choppy. That's one of my favorite aspects about Healey's writing - his ability to jump the story around without really bringing attention to the fact that you're jumping around. It's something that I do not come across often and I truly appreciate the author that has that kind of ability.

Healey is truly a master of his art! One of my favorite all time authors for sure!

Review: Kasey to the Rescue by Ellen Rogers

I won this book in a giveaway on Library Thing.



About the Book

In this heartwarming memoir, mother-of-five Rogers shares the remarkable and surprising story of how a mischievous capuchin monkey transformed her family, bringing hope, humor, and happiness as they faced their greatest challenge.

To purchase a copy of Kasey to the Rescue you can visit my Amazon store.

My Review

So those of you that read my reviews regularly know that I am an animal lover, so this book is an automatic favorite of mine. While the monkey obviously was a huge part of the story there was so much more to this book.

This one was kind of in reverse for me emotionally, I normally cry at the end of a book - but this one had me crying right from the start. As Ellen makes her way to be with her son and she explains what happens, and what is going on in her mind I instantly began to tear up. I'm not a mother yet, so I can only imagine the rollercoaster that you go through emotionally when you find out your child has been seriously injured. The emotional connection was so strong for me with this book. It took me through fear, happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, joy, and contentment.

I did love Kasey, he was always getting into mischief! Once Kasey was introduced to the story there was always something going on. However this was more of a story of a family trying to learn to live new lives in the face of a tragedy then it was a story about a monkey. Kasey becomes an integral part of the new lifestyle that Ellen and her family take on but there was so much more that the family had to deal with to become what they are now.

This story is so touching. I really connected with Ellen and her family right from the beginning. I'd say that even if you aren't the animal lover that I am you would still enjoy this book so much!