Book Review - A Great And Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It was the title and the cover that drew me in. What an amazing title, that could lead to so many different ideas, so many different twists and turns that could lie within it's bounds.

While I enjoyed the book, it wasn't quite as epic as I thought it might be.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is a ghost story in the gothic sense, full of Colonial India, British boarding schools, dead mothers, gypsies, and hidden away secrets. There's even a shrieking maid or two and a charming spinster teacher. This is a fun read, no doubt, and is very close to a four-star rating for me, but the slightly overhanded hints that this might be the saga of a female Harry Potter type turned me off the slightest bit.



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Book Review - The One That I Want

The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Everyone knows what it's like to be stuck in your life like the main character, Tilly; to be living day to day, feeling like you're repeating yourself, feeling like changing anything would be as hard as wading through quicksand, feeling like it's easier to deny that anything is wrong, that anything is boring, that our plans may have been misguided.

Or maybe it's just me.

Either way, I could relate strongly to the main character in this book, though the reasoning and type of life issues that dealt to the denial and the being stuck were very different in our lives. Still, I ached for her as she dealt with her difficult marriage, her trying sibling relationships, the hearbreak of her alcoholic father and the emptiness left by the loss of her mother. When an unexpected gift of clarity leads her back to her once-intense love of photography and leads her to re-examine the life she's lived, Tilly finds that everything is not quite as she thought it was, and what she once thought was the key to her happiness might just be the quicksand itself that is holding her back from change.

You'll root for Tilly and her family as they struggle through re-making themselves, and you might see a little bit of yourself in her triumph.



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Book Review - A Heartbeat Away

A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There are some times of the year when the US government is particularly vulnerable to attack. One of those times is during the State of the Union address, when nearly all the members of the line of succession to the presidency are located in one room.

In A Heartbeat Away, the terrorist group Genesis takes advantage of this by releasing a deadly virus during the State of the Union, forcing a lockdown of the capitol building to prevent spreading the virus through the country. Meanwhile, an intrepid journalist and hermetic virologist strive to unlock both a cure and the identity of the Genesis group, uncovering multiple nefarious plots along the way.

With a lot of action, some shocking moments that made me gasp out loud and a gripping plot, this book is worth a read. Then again, if like me, you could think of worse things than a shake-up in American political structure, you may find a few points where you're wondering whether or not it'd be good for the US (trust me, I don't actually wish the Washington politicos ill, but it did make me wonder!).



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Book Review - If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now

If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now by Claire LaZebnik

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I wanted to like this book more than I did, but I found it very difficult to relate to the main character. The title and the cover were what grabbed me, and - to be honest - if I'd read the blurb or the beginning of the book I probably wouldn't have chosen it.

Rickie is a 25-year-old single mom, living at home with her wealthy parents while raising her son Noah. She struggles with the fact that her parents provide her with everything she could want, including clothing, support, and free babysitting, and with the fact that her gluten-intolerant son needs a special diet and is occasionally flighty. These horrors of her terrible, tragic life are also complicated by her relationship with her brother-in-law's brother, who travels out of town frequently.

She's very put upon. As you can see, I'm terribly sympathetic. Especially since her family is incredibly accepting of how rude she is to them, despite their best efforts to smother her by buying her expensive clothes and giving her a credit card (that they pay the bill for) to use fo her personal expenses.

But hey, life can always get better! Her son Noah has an incredible new PE teacher and T-ball coach, who not only is hot and smart, but is great with kids and loves Noah, giving him special attention and helping him make friends and learn about sports - since his mom can't even be bothered to play catch with him once in a while. He does have a girl friend, but that's okay! Rickie can solve that problem too.

I think if you can relate to Rickie and her "problems" you might relate to this book. I spent my time reading it being frustrated with her and wishing she'd grow up.



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Book Review - Now You See Her

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Marcy's life is a bit of a wreck. Her mother killed herself. Her daughter presumably died in a canoeing accident, though her body was never found. Her husband left her for a golf pro at the club, just before their anniversary. To try to perk herself back up, she decides to take their anniversary trip to Ireland on her own - why waste a fun vacation after all? And it's sitting in a pub, chatting with an American tourist that she sees her daughter - outside in the rain, through the ad-pasted front window of the pub.

This revelation turns Marcy's life upside-down. She would do anything, of course, to find her daughter whom she loves and desperately misses. She begins searching the streets for her daughter, showing around pictures, asking questions, and eventually becoming friends with the handsome young bartender from the pub where she'd spotted Devon - her daughter - as well as the American tourist she'd been chatting with at the time. While both men seem determined to help her on her quest, one also ransacks her room, gets her in trouble with the local police, and is undermining her at every turn. But which?

This is a fun, sometimes very sad, romp through Cork, Ireland - a place I've always wanted to visit. The main character is engaging and sympathetic, though the story has some holes and strange twists that seem overly-dramatized. Still, it's an engaging read.



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Expert? Talent? Who me?

I have been working my behind off lately to work up a portfolio for my application at Demand Media for an "Expert" position.  I needed to show off that I could teach concepts on video, that I had a personality that translated well on screen and that I could work professionally on-air. I had to show a knowledge of social media, including twitter, bloggin, and Facebook, and that I had enough background knowlege that I could star in a diverse series of videos.

I spent so much time worrying about it before I submitted the application that I found myself up late, stressing, worrying... and I shouldn't have.  I submitted my application finally on Friday afternoon, and this morning I was accepted.  I was so excited!  I bounced.  I yelled.  I called my husband at work.  I congratulated myself on building such a fantastic portfolio up.

I discovered through the portfolio making process that I really loved making videos.  It took me back to when I was teaching crafting classes regularly.  I felt connected and inspired. But there's a hitch.

I discovered today that the Expert position is unpaid.

Seriously?  Unpaid?  They've been paying me for my writing for a year now, and then get me all excited about the prospect of this position, get me to work up a portfolio for it, then inform me it's unpaid.  Seriously?

Technically, they didn't "inform" me at all.  I spent all day going over and over their training materials trying to find the pay rate today, and finally asked on the forum.  Another "Expert" clued me in.

I think I'll continue to make the Youtube videos.  I'm sure that I will, but unless I can find a local videographer willing to split his fee with me, I don't know if there's a point being "talent" for them. At least with YouTube I might make some Adsense revenue eventually!