First up, some candy: the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. There are currently fifteen novels in this series, I read six of them... in one weekend. These books are seriously fun. They are quick and easy, but the main character (a bumbling bounty hunter who lacks skill, but makes up for it with luck and moxie) is thoroughly engaging. She cracks you up and I more often than not I laughed out loud at the situations Stephanie found herself in (in which Stephanie found herself. I have not finished the series, but I'm sure I will at some point in the near future.
Next we have another series: the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. This series focuses on a soldier (Richard Sharpe) in the British Army as they fought Napoleon's forces in Spain during the 
Peninsular War in the early 1800's. I'm not going to lie, I know nothing about the Peninsular War. Correction: I knew nothing about Peninsular War. Sharpe, his company and his close friends may be fictional, but the battles they fight and their General (Arthur Wellesley) are real. Cornwell does a great job combining authentic, historical events with his fictional plots. You may notice the Sharpe picture is not a book cover. Indeed that gentleman looks familiar, doesn't he? Sean Bean (Borimir from Lord of the Rings, the bad guy from Patriot Games, and more!) who[m] I love, played Richard Sharpe in quite a few BBC movies based on Cornwell's novels. You can actually find quite a few of them on youtube, Sharpe's Rifles is the first one. The movies are just as much fun as the books AND you get to picture Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe with every chapter that you read. At this time I have read Sharpe's Rifles, Sharpe's Eagle, and Sharpe's Sword. I skipped around a bit.
Peninsular War in the early 1800's. I'm not going to lie, I know nothing about the Peninsular War. Correction: I knew nothing about Peninsular War. Sharpe, his company and his close friends may be fictional, but the battles they fight and their General (Arthur Wellesley) are real. Cornwell does a great job combining authentic, historical events with his fictional plots. You may notice the Sharpe picture is not a book cover. Indeed that gentleman looks familiar, doesn't he? Sean Bean (Borimir from Lord of the Rings, the bad guy from Patriot Games, and more!) who[m] I love, played Richard Sharpe in quite a few BBC movies based on Cornwell's novels. You can actually find quite a few of them on youtube, Sharpe's Rifles is the first one. The movies are just as much fun as the books AND you get to picture Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe with every chapter that you read. At this time I have read Sharpe's Rifles, Sharpe's Eagle, and Sharpe's Sword. I skipped around a bit.I succeeded in reading a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman, but it was not the collection I mentioned earlier (see The Thirteenth One). The collection I read is entitled M is for Magic. You can find it in the Young Adult Lit. section. There were a couple short stories in this collection that you can find in Smoke and Mirrors, but most of them are not repeats. Gaiman does a great job bringing the fairy tale to the modern day. His stories are enchanting and intriguing and, sometimes anyway, creepy as all get out.
In other news, Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer is just as fun as the title and cover 
suggest. You get a vampire story without massive amounts of angst and brooding (there is a little angst, but the vamp is in eighth grade and, you know, he's a VAMPIRE- mostly) and inappropriate/unhealthy relationships with human girls (*cough* Twilight *cough*). This story has none of the stuff that has been turning me off to the more recent vampire stories and all the fun of a vampire story. I am looking forward to other books in the series (which, incidentally, have equally cool titles and covers!).
suggest. You get a vampire story without massive amounts of angst and brooding (there is a little angst, but the vamp is in eighth grade and, you know, he's a VAMPIRE- mostly) and inappropriate/unhealthy relationships with human girls (*cough* Twilight *cough*). This story has none of the stuff that has been turning me off to the more recent vampire stories and all the fun of a vampire story. I am looking forward to other books in the series (which, incidentally, have equally cool titles and covers!).And finally, I present to you The Package Deal by Izzy Rose. It's a story (mostly memoirs) about 
a single, career girl whose life gets turned upside down when she falls in love with a divorced father of two. She ends up getting married, moving and being a jobless step-mother. The stories within her story are amusing and, many times, emotional. I actually found myself crying. My parents are still married and going strong, as are the parents to all of my close friends. While I am academically familiar with divorce, I am not actually intimately familiar with it. I know how hard it can be for the kids and the parents and the step-parents, but I guess I had never been emotionally confronted with how difficult it is. And the situation in this book sounds like a more stable, healthy and positive situation compared with a lot out there. The book is a solid one and the advice sprinkled throughout is solid as well. It is secular, so no Christian observations (yes, Christians get divorced too), but it is still an excellent read. I came away from this one feeling like I learned something!
a single, career girl whose life gets turned upside down when she falls in love with a divorced father of two. She ends up getting married, moving and being a jobless step-mother. The stories within her story are amusing and, many times, emotional. I actually found myself crying. My parents are still married and going strong, as are the parents to all of my close friends. While I am academically familiar with divorce, I am not actually intimately familiar with it. I know how hard it can be for the kids and the parents and the step-parents, but I guess I had never been emotionally confronted with how difficult it is. And the situation in this book sounds like a more stable, healthy and positive situation compared with a lot out there. The book is a solid one and the advice sprinkled throughout is solid as well. It is secular, so no Christian observations (yes, Christians get divorced too), but it is still an excellent read. I came away from this one feeling like I learned something!Book Count: 14/25.
See you in a couple weeks.
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