Review: Jenny Pox by J. L. Bryan

I won a copy of this book from LibraryThing.



About the Book

Eighteen-year-old Jenny Morton has a horrific secret: her touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague, the "Jenny pox." She lives by a single rule: Never touch anyone. A lifetime of avoiding any physical contact with others has made her isolated and painfully lonely in her small rural town.

Then she meets the one boy she can touch. Jenny feels herself falling for Seth...but if she's going to be with him, Jenny must learn to use the deadly pox inside her to confront his ruthless and manipulative girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.

For more information about Jenny Pox please visit J. L. Bryan's website Follow him on Twitter or Like him on Facebook

My Review

I liked the story good enough. It just took me quite a while to get into this one. Once I got about half-way through the story I was attached and it went really fast. But getting to that "I don't want to put this one down" point took a while.

The premise of the story is pretty neat. Jenny has a "Midas Touch" of sorts, only it's in reverse. She's shunned by her father and by her peers. If life isn't hard enough for a teenager already poor Jenny's been dealt the worst hand of all. I really felt so sorry for her. I just wanted her to not be ostracized. All any girl wants is to find that place where she fits in. Jenny knows that she's not normal, but she's learned how to live with the hand life has dealt her. She's just biding her time until she can live out her life without the eyes of the town watching her.

As the story progresses and Jenny finds someone that she can actually touch I really wanted this to be the end to all of Jenny's problems. Ashleigh was such a horrible person and I really wanted to see her get what should have been coming to her. I wished from the first encounters with Ashleigh that Jenny would just have touched her and removed that thorn from her side. Seth seemed to sway back and fourth, sometimes I really wanted to hate him and other times I wanted to hug him. When it's revealed what is causing Seth's mood swings I couldn't wait to see how it was taken care of.

The end of the story was really good. It wasn't a cheesy ending, and it tied things up nicely. I was very happy with it. It was an enjoyable book to read and I connected with the story after a while.

Review: The Goblin Market by Jennifer Hudock

I won a copy of this book from LibraryThing.





About the Book


Meredith Drexler has been the sole caretaker for her young sister Christina ever since their father went away. Sacrificing her life and her freedom to ensure Christina has a better life, Merry’s only escape from the monotony of every day life is her daydreams. When Christina arrives home late one evening speaking in delirious riddles, Meredith discovers her sister has been poisoned by Goblin fruit obtained in the Goblin Market.


She must travel to the heart of the Goblin Kingdom to retrieve the antidote to save her sister’s life, but at a price no sister should ever have to pay. Along the way, Meredith falls in love with the forest god who names himself her consort, and discovers a strange truth about her past and her identity.


For more information about The Goblin Market you can visit Jennifer Hudock's website or follow her on Twitter.


My Review
I really liked this book. I couldn't put it down, it just drew me in right from the beginning. It reminded me of the movie Labyrinth - which is one of my favorite movies. I pictured Meredith as Sarah, and of course David Bowie was in there too. And while parts of the book are similar to the movie there is enough of a difference that it wasn't just a rewrite of Labyrinth.


Meredith seems to have been given a TON of responsibility that she might not have been ready for. She's the guardian to her sister Christina. The loss of her parents made Meredith grow up long before she should have. But Christina has always had someone there to care for her. Meredith seems to resent this fact to a point, but being that Christina is in her care she's determined to do whatever it takes to make sure she's ok.


The imagery Hudock uses is amazing. The pictures that I painted in my mind were beautiful and fully detailed. What I liked the most is that each new area Meredith enters into is vastly different from the last, and yet each is described wonderfully. While my imagination was allowed to fill in some of the scenery there was so much description that I had such an amazing picture.


The story is full of suspense. Every obstacle Meredith encounters makes you wonder if she's going to be able to fulfill her mission. The characters she meets to help or hinder her add to the story so much. As each new character was encountered I wondered what "side" they were going to take.


It really was a wonderfully written story and kept me intrigued right up till the end!

Review: Hull's Landing by James Melzer

Thanks to the author for letting me review this one.



About the Book

Nestled deep in the heart of Pennsylvania is the small borough of Hull’s Landing. While it may seem like just an ordinary place, The Landing holds a secret so dark, that there are those who will do anything to protect it.

For decades, young girls have been disappearing like clockwork. While some have their suspicions, the entire town lives in fear; and for good reason. When Rita Clemens, a former member of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, decides to make her new home in Hull’s, she begins to uncover what the locals have tried to keep hidden for so long.

As the race against time begins, Rita will have to do everything she can to protect herself, and to save a child’s life, before one of the world’s oldest evils can be unleashed.

Hull’s Landing is an original novella from the author of ESCAPE, and is Rated R for violence, adult situations, and language.

For more information about James Melzer please visit his website.

You can purchase a copy of Hull's Landing on my Amazon Store.

My Review


This one was a bit difficult for me to read given the subject matter. I have never been abused in any way, and I can't imagine what kinds of feelings are associated with it. The book was really good, but it is a bit graphic and it took an emotional toll on me to read it.

I did like this one. Like I said the subject matter was difficult to read, but the story was really good. It did take me a while to read, as I had to put it down a couple of times and get my head away from it. But I always came back to it because it is such a compelling story.

Rita was an awesome character. She's a take no s**t from no one kind of woman and when she realizes something's up in Hull's landing she won't stop until she figures it out. Her questioning of the locals puts her at odds with many of them, but she just keeps digging. And while I felt that she could handle herself towards the end I felt nervous for her because I kept feeling like she was going to push the wrong person and end up in a horrible situation.

I really liked this one and I will personally be looking for more of Melzer's work. However I do have to warn that this book is not for the faint of heart and deals with a very mature subject matter. I can usually read any subject without having to step away from it, but this one is very strong. It's not offensive (at least I wasn't "offended") but it was hard to read.

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: 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!

Review: The Kingdom Hall No More by Daniel Chamberlayne

I'd heard about this book while doing some research on religions. I purchased this from Amazon.



About the Book:

Freshman author Daniel Chamberlayne discuss his 16 years experiences growing up as a Jehovah Witness and attending the Kingdom Hall in Hollis, Queens, New York Daniel discusses all his activities in the kingdom hall and what led up to getting baptized with no choice of his own and what led up to getting "disfellowshipped' and "shunned" from the organization and how is Daniel living now since his departure of the Jehovah Witnesses in 1990.

You can purchase a copy of The Kingdom Hall no More from my Amazon store.

My Review:

Having Jehovah Witness family members and having attended meetings with them as a child I tend to connect with books about Witnesses as I know the subject matter. However I am not a Jehovah Witness but I feel to have a better understanding of religion you have to understand them all, whether you agree with their philosophy or not.

I did connect with Daniel in this story. I remember going to the meetings as a child and knew exactly what he was talking about. Which made it much easier for me to connect. Although, not having much experience attending other religious events as a child I would expect them to be similar from a child's perspective. But this story isn't so much about his attending meetings as a child as it is about his journey through life and the actions that led to his disfellowship.

His story is not unlike many others that I have read or heard about. Although his is filled with more famous people than the rest. It's amazing how many people who were influential in rap and hip-hop Chamberlayne has connected with in his life. I know they weren't the stars they are now when he met them, but I would have been so star-struck and he kept his cool. I know I wouldn't have been so cool about it.

My heart hurt for Chamberlayne as he talks about the dark times when he was shunned by his mother and most of his family and friends. As a child you tend to befriend the friends of your parents, and because his mother's friends were almost all witnesses most of his friends were witnesses. That would have been hard to deal with. And some of the tactics his mother takes to make him accept his life as a Jehovah Witness were just crazy to me. My parents and I disagreed many times about many things but I would never have been subjected to what his mother subjected him to. I was so sad.

The writing wasn't great, but the story and the things Chamberlayne went through (the good and the bad) were so compelling. I just wanted to keep reading to see what kind of craziness was going to happen next! I'd say it was well worth the read. 

Review: Ghellow Road by T. H. Waters

Thank you to the author for sending me this book to review.



About the Book

Ghellow Road is a literary diary of a young girl's journey through the tangled labyrinth that is her life. Theresa's story begins in a large midwestern city where she is born to loving parents in 1965. For a brief moment in time, her life is full, as is her heart, and the world is hers to receive without consequence. As time passes and Theresa grows, supernatural forces begin to shape her existence, no matter how carefully her father colors the empty spaces of her world. After a series of tragic events, Theresa and her family seek refuge in a small Minnesota town nestled near the shores of Rainy Lake. She creates a new life for herself there, sharing adventures with friends and riding the ups and downs of adolescence. Yet through it all, her mother remains forever lost in the prison of her own mind and forever lost to Theresa. The young girl feels as though she is leading a double life, one that no one else could possibly understand. She begins to peer at the world as if looking through a thick, black veil, never certain which pieces are illusion and which are not. Through the kindness and support of the townspeople, She eventually summons the strength to survive. This is a story of tragedy and triumph. This is the story of my life.

You can purchase a copy of this book from my Amazon store.

My Review

I hate to start off saying this story is sad, because I know that's not the author's purpose. However there was so much to the story that was just sad. I cried a few times while reading it. There were quite a few high points in the story also, it's just that while I was reading this book I was in a mind frame that made me connect so much more with the sad stuff.

Despite the fact that it made me cry I do have to say that I really liked this book. It was very well written and I connected instantly with Theresa. I felt all the emotions she was experiencing throughout the book. Knowing that this was a biographical story absolutely gave me a more intimate connection to the story. But I do feel that even if it wasn't a true story I would still have had the same connections to the story. It was so well written that I could easily get lost in the story.

Whenever I read a true story, or a story based on the author's life I find myself wondering how the author can so freely open themselves up like that. There are some things that happen in this book that had they happened to me I don't know that I would be able to share them for the world to see. I think that takes an extreme amount of bravery and courage to just lay it all out there for the world to scrutinize. But I'm glad that there are people like T.H. Waters that will take us along with them through their lives. So in closing I just have to say thank you to T.H. Waters for allowing me to lose myself in the story of your life. It was emotional, captivating, and inspirational!

Review: Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann

I got this book from the Waterbrook Blogging for Books Program.



About the Book

Battling his own personal demons, Police Chief Jonah Westfall knows the dark side of life and has committed himself to eradicating it. When a pair of raccoons are found mutilated in Redford, Colorado, Jonah investigates the gruesome act, knowing the strange event could escalate and destroy the tranquility of his small mountain town. With a rising drug threat and never-ending conflict with Tia Manning, a formidable childhood friend with whom he has more than a passing history, Jonah fights for answers—and his fragile sobriety.

But he can’t penetrate every wound or secret—especially one fueled by a love and guilt teetering on madness.

From best-selling author Kristen Heitzmann comes a spellbinding tale of severed connections and the consequences of life lived alone.

For more information about Indivisible you can visit Kristen Heitzmann's website. or you can like her on Facebook.

Purchase this book from my Amazon Store. 

My Review

Being an animal lover this one was kind of hard for me to read. The writing was great but the subject matter was something that really makes me emotional. I can't stand to read about hurt animals, and this book had quite a few hurt animals in it. The whole book I wanted to know who did it and I wanted to do the same horrible things to them.

I couldn't figure this whodunit out until the very end. I guessed it just a few pages before they discovered it in the book. I was so surprised, it was such a crazy twist! I would have never thought of ending the book the way it was. But it was so awesome that now that I know how it ends there's no way I'd ever want it to change. It really blew me out of the water!

The writing was very well done in this book. I didn't get lost in the dialog, and the dialog actually was "real." I also think the handling of the subject matter was done nicely. This book had a few gruesome parts, but it didn't focus on the gruesome, it focused on the love story that arises from the chaos is great. A real love triangle!

Despite the gruesome parts this book was still very good and I couldn't put it down. I think I laid in the tub for well over an hour because I didn't even want to set it aside while I got out of the tub. It really keeps the suspense going. Just as things start to wind down they get going full speed again. I really makes for a fast and compelling read.

Review: Curios by Richard Marsh

I won a copy of Curios in a member giveaway on LibraryThing.



About the Book

"The most effective shocker yet invented by the author of The Beetle. Grim, fantastic and humorous in an original fashion." - The World

"Weird, grotesque and comical. Told with the spirit and vigour that we have learnt to expect in the work of Mr. Marsh." - The Speaker

Curios is a series of seven short stories narrated alternately by Mr. Pugh and Mr. Tress, rival collectors of "curios", who are sometimes best of friends and often worst of enemies. Pugh is superstitious, tending to believe every antique he comes across is haunted. Tress is cold and cynical and will stop at nothing - even theft or murder - to add to his collection.

Ranging in tone from horrifying to mysterious to darkly comical, these stories follow Tress and Pugh as they come in contact with an array of strange objects, including a poisoned pipe that seems to come to life when smoked, a 14th century severed hand bent on murder, and a phonograph record on which a murdered woman speaks from beyond the grave.

Curios was first published in 1898, the year following Marsh's greatest success, The Beetle. Owing to the poor quality materials of which it was made, only a handful of copies of the first edition of Curios have survived. This edition reprints the unabridged text of the first edition, restoring this delectably gruesome and hilarious book to modern audiences.

For more information about Curios you can visit Valencourt Book's website.

My Review

I didn't really care for this book. The main two characters Mr. Pugh and Mr. Tress weren't really all that developed. I found it hard to understand how they felt about each other. They kept talking about being friends and yet they were so underhanded and deceiving with each other. The stories themselves were really odd. They items that the two collectors find were very unique, but that's about where the interest ended for me.

I couldn't get into the writing, I couldn't connect to the characters, and the stories were just too odd for me.

Review: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I bought this at a book sale in the lobby of my therapist's office.



About the Book

The World's Bestselling Mystery

"Ten . . ."
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U. N. Owen."

"Nine . . ."
At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead.

"Eight . . ."
Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one . . . as one by one . . . they begin to die.

"Seven . . ."
Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?

For more information about And Then There Were None visit Harper Collins.

My Review

This was the first Agatha Christie novel that I have read. I was very impressed and wished I'd actually taken the time to read her in the past.

And Then There Were None was a really good whodunit mystery. The ending kind of amazed me. The murder wasn't who I expected it to be, and the explanation of how they pulled off all the murders was pretty clever. I liked the premise, that all the people on the island were made to be suspect. Through their guilt of things they had done in their past they all had the ability to pull off the murders.

The writing was really good. It was very fast-paced but it didn't move so fast that I was lost in what was going on. The murders happened in a way that as soon as I "recovered" from one another one had happened. That was the greatest part of this book, that it kept the suspense going and didn't really have any down time.

I am very glad that I decided to pick up this one. I really enjoyed it and will be getting my hands on more Agatha Christie soon!

Review: The Gods of Greenwich by Norb Vonnegut

Newman PR sent me a review copy.



About the Book

Forget about Bernie Madoff or Gordon Gekko—there’s a new villain on Wall Street…

Norb Vonnegut didn’t realize how close he skirted to non-fiction when he was writing his spectacular debut Top Producer. Penned before tumultuous revelations and scandals rocked the financial world in late 2008, Vonnegut’s novel depicts, with an insider’s solid knowledge, the tricks that the industry’s real top producers pull in their frenzied pursuit of billions. Now Vonnegut sets his electrifying follow-up in the high-rolling world of hedge funds, lending his seasoned perspective to a riveting thriller.

Jimmy Cusack is the tough kid from a blue-collar neighborhood who made good on Wall Street. Well, almost. After a sterling start to his career, things have soured. His hedge fund has collapsed. The bank is foreclosing on his upscale condominium. And his wife is two months pregnant. That’s the good news. When Cusack takes a “must-have” job with Leeser Capital, a Greenwich fund impervious to the capital market woes, his real troubles begin.

Vonnegut’s unique insider’s perspective and his intuitive, darkly humorous writing are once again on full display in this fast-talking suspense thriller. A high-stakes poker game of a book,The Gods of Greenwich is a timely and gripping read that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat until the last card is played.
For more information about The Gods of Greenwich please visit Macmillen's website.

You can also visit Norb Vonnegut's website or follow him on Twitter.

My Review

I have to admit that when the opportunity to review this book was presented to me I did it simply because the name Vonnegut was on it. Now I know he's just a distant cousin, but how great would it be for two (even distant) members of the same family to be great authors??

I really liked Cusack, the main character. He was so likeable. He has charisma and could probably sell anything to anyone, but he never was out to get anyone (well at least until the end of the book, but I can't give that away!). His wife Emi I saw as being so cute and innocent looking, the kind of person you couldn't hate if you wanted to. I didn't care for Cy, his wife Bianca, Victor, or Rachel. But I think that was the point. Although I wouldn't do it, what Bianca does to Cy was fun to read. She went about things in the wrong way, but revenge is awesome :-)

This one kept me guessing all the way through. We know Rachel is a murder but we don't really figure out how she's tied into the story for quite a while. We're told about the Art dealer and the Banker in Iceland are in huge problems of their own, and while we're clued in a bit to what's going on between them and Cy I didn't really catch on completely for quite a while. This one was so well written that I gave up even trying to guess how it would end because I was so engrossed in what was going on right now. I really liked the ending. It tied everything up pretty well, it wasn't cheesy, and it wasn't a "everyone is happy" ending.

Even though this was about Wall Street, which is something I have very little interest in, the story was so engaging that even when I didn't understand what the characters were talking about I didn't feel bored by it. There was so much going on, so many different parts to the story, that it was hard not to get caught up in the middle of everything.

So I picked this book because it had the name Vonnegut attached to it. Was I disappointed? NOT AT ALL! I think there's something in that blood line somewhere. I can honestly say after reading The Gods of Greenwich that two of my favorite authors share the same last name. Even though the writing was totally different it was written so well that there's really no comparison. It's like comparing your favorite jeans to your favorite desert. They're both great, which is why they're your favorites, and it would be really hard to pick which one you like better.

Challenge: 100 books in 2011

This is the third year I've tried this challenge, so let's see how I do this year! I got closer last year...

I got this challenge from the 100+ books in 2011 group on GoodReads

1. How to Marry a Duke by Vicky Dreiling
2. How Sweet it Is by Sophie Gunn
3. Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt
4. Wild Legacy by C. Fern Cook
5. Journey on the Estrada Real by Glenn Cheney
6. No Hope for Gomez by Graham Parke
7. ebook: The Last Key by Rob Steiner
8. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
9. Deadly Heat by Cynthia Eden
10. Deadly Lies by Cynthia Eden
11. Still the One by Robin Wells
12. Pearl: A Life too Short; a Death too Long by Darlene Cox
13. Audiobook: Nora, Nora by Anne Rivers Siddons
14. Put on Your Crown by Queen Latifah
15. A Writer's Engagement by Robert Wacaster
16. Lipstick in Afghanistan by Roberta Gately
17. The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark
18. Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder by Steve Lehto
19. The Secrets of Newberry by Victor McGlothin
20. Just a Nice Guy by Phil Torcivia
21. Shattered Wings by Bryan Healey
22. A Line Blurred by Bryan Healey
23. Hull's Landing by James Melzer
24. The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo 
25. The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel 
26. Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby 
27. The Gods of Greenwich by Norb Vonnegut
28. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
29. Curios by Richard Marsh
30. Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann 
31. Ghellow Road by T.H. Waters 
32. The Kingdom Hall no More by Daniel Chamberlayne 
33. The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil 
34. Kasey to the Rescue by Ellen Rogers 
35. Colin Preston Rocked and Rolled by Bert Murray