Breathless

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When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go. And when he does the unthinkable, it’s all Katie can do to keep her head above water.

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I was drawn into this story because I wanted to see how the lives would turn out for Katie & for her brother Will... it definitely wasnt a story-book ending that you expect with every story.  I appreciated that.

It was a story though of a young girl trying to hide her past, while relying on her strength of swimming & starting a "new life" in a new place... making new friends.

I did enjoy the characters... from Katie's room mate that you can never put your finger on, to her boyfriend who I appreciated the story having a Christian character that wasnt TOO much a joke.  He kinda was in parts, but the story did keep him as a Christian.

It was a view in the things that make it so hard to grow up... family issues, friendships, relationships, pressure from sports, the "mean girl"... growing up is tough.

The story didnt blow my mind... but I did want to keep reading to see how Katie's life would end up.

I also loved the ending went & showed "10 years later"... I always like that - to see a little deeper into the story.

My rating:  3 skeins

Letting Go

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Book: Letting Go

Author:  Victoria Watson

Letting Go is a collection of eight short stories from Victoria Watson. Each of these tales has a twist that the reader won’t be expecting. Regret, and how just one moment or snap decision can change your life forever are key themes in each of these stories.

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I got this for a free download on my Kindle. 

Its a quick read.  I read the whole thing in one day.  And some of the stories, we interesting.  One or two, I really enjoyed.  One or two, I thought was totally boring & not grabbing my attention.  So it was a fun, easy read... & getting one or two that I really enjoyed for free - not a bad deal.

My rating:  3 Skeins

Prisoners in the Palace

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Book:  Prisoners in the Palace

Author:  Michaela MacColl

Liza is expected to make her debut in 1830s London, but when her parents die suddenly, she is left penniless and must instead enter service. Through fortuitous connections, she gets a position as a lady’s maid to 17-year-old Princess Victoria, who lives with her mother in the neglected and tension-filled Kensington Palace. Liza begrudgingly adjusts to this new role and slowly comes to care for the temperamental, haughty, and pitiable princess even while she rejects lewd advances from Sir John, the household’s powerful secretary. Ultimately, Liza befriends a young boy and a newspaperman (who soon becomes a love interest) in order to confront the public slander surrounding the princess. This novel is full of historical detail, vivid settings, and richly drawn characters, and themes of friendship and romance give the story teen appeal; Liza is a brave yet conflicted young adult with whom readers will identify. The author takes liberties with some historical facts (clarified in an afterword) to create a tale of espionage, romance, grief, and hope

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I got this book with the Kindle Deal of the Day.  That always makes me leary, but I do love all things "Royal" so I thought I'd give it a go.

I was so glad I did.

This was an easy read & so enjoyable.

What made me love it even more, in the end, I researched some of Queen Victoria's history.  There were most of the names that were involved with the book.  And even cooler, the diary entries from Victoria were legit diary entries that are in historical records. 

I love that the author turned the facts into a fictional story... it makes sense that it could really happen.

While not a "deep" novel, it was interesting to get a glimpse of history & a different time period & an idea of what Victoria may have been like as a teenager.

And ultimately, the story is about Liza, the maid that once was "higher esteemed" until her parents died.  To see her grief & journey through life & see the woman she would become as she's helping her friend claim the throne as Queen, that's the real story... a story of friendship, of a young lady becoming her own person in the world.

I really did enjoy this book...

My Rating:  4 skeins

150 Pounds

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150 Pounds by Kate Rockland


A smartly-written novel of two women starting at opposite ends of the scale--and finding compromise and friendship in their journey towards 150 pounds In the fast paced life of blogging, two women stand out: Alexis Allbright, of Skinny Chick, and Shoshana Weiner, who writes Fat and Fabulous. Both have over five million loyal readers. Both are hungry for success. But the si...moreA smartly-written novel of two women starting at opposite ends of the scale--and finding compromise and friendship in their journey towards 150 pounds In the fast paced life of blogging, two women stand out: Alexis Allbright, of Skinny Chick, and Shoshana Weiner, who writes Fat and Fabulous. Both have over five million loyal readers. Both are hungry for success. But the similarities stop there.

With over 100 pounds on the scale separating them, weight isn't their only difference. Alexis is a loner who is so bitchy the only person who can stand her company is her gay best friend Billy. She gives neurotic New Yorkers a run for their money with her strict daily workout routine, and weighing of food. Shoshana is Alexis’s opposite. Living in Jersey with rowdy roommates, she is someone who “collects friends,” as her mother puts it; and treasures a life of expanding circles...and waistlines.

When both appear as panelists on a popular talk show, their lives intersect in ways neither could have imagined. In turns comedic, heartwarming--and familiar to any woman who's ever stepped on a scale--Alexis and Shoshana realize they have far more in common than either could have possibly imagined, and more importantly, something to offer.
 
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Being someone who has struggled with weight my whole life, I appreciated this book in the telling of how hard it is to deal with it.  From both sides... the over weight perspective & the "skinny". 
 
I love that we get to know more about both ladies in this book... get to see the history behind their lives & may have influenced their body shapes in the present.
 
Both ladies were so different & I found myself connecting more with Shoshana... (of course, she's the over weight one) & disliking Alexis... but learning more of her life & her strugles, I ended up cheering for her as well in the end.
 
This book was a nice easy read, made me chuckle in spots... made me appreciate the friendships & family in a life.  And love seeing how in the end, life change you.  Heart, BODY & Soul.
 
*This book does contain profanity
 
My Rating: 3 skeins

The Devil in Pew Number Seven

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(This book was given to me by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for a fair & honest review)

The Devil in Pew Number Seven

byRebecca Nichols Alonzo, Bob DeMoss

The Devil in Pew Number Seven

2011 Retailers Choice Award winner Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him--with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in hi...mor Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him--with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca's father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the family's kitchen . . . And Rebecca's life was shattered. If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet "The Devil in Pew Number Seven" tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family's faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness

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I was so wrapped up in this book...

amazed that there was such evil in this world... such evil in a man who sat in the church building & planning harm to a family... a family that served God.  It blew me away.

I was so angry at this man for hating this family so much... I was angry that the pastor didnt move his family - that this little girl had to grow up with such fear.  I do understand the call God had on his life, but wow... being an outsider, its hard to imagine.

My heart broke for Rebecca & what she had to endure.  To have to be so fearful, everyday - not a childhood that is deserved.

And then to witness what she witnessed...

its amazing she turned out to be the person she is today....

I love a good true-life story... true stories show you that sometimes books cant even imagine this stuff up... life is bad enough ...  & courageous enough... & strong enough.  It really is eye opening to witness the love of Jesus in action, especially to people who dont deserve it.  Its also eye opening to see how active the devil is in this world too....

I really did enjoy this book.  Once I started it, I couldnt put it down.  Finishing it in one day.  I had to know the whole story... find out the ending...

My Rating:  5 skeins

Here's a preview of the Dr. Phil show they were on...

Whisper from the Ashes

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Whispers from the Ashes

byPatricia Hester

A coming of age mystery, set in 1950s Pennsylvania as the coal mining industry fades and the area plunges into recession, Whispers from the Ashes follows one family as they struggle with an underground anthracite fire that is creeping toward their home in the mountainside town of Giant's Despair.

Young Molly Branigan, a descendant of the nineteenth century Molly Maguire 'gangsters', paints a subtle picture of crime and punishment as she investigates the secret scandals of previous generations of her family. From a father who rode the rails during the great depression, his hobo friend Magee, her historian mother, and numerous friends and relatives, she slowly garners clues to five mysterious deaths listed in her great-grandfather's hidden diary. While researching the deaths, she struggles with her father's alcoholism, her first crush, and a threatening teenage boy
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I got this book as a free download on my Kindle.  I looked up the reviews & they werent awful so I thought, why not.

Glad I had it.

It was an interesting story, seeing a family dynamic through Molly's eyes as she tries to figure out the mysteries & history of her family... all while growing up, loving her parents & siblings & growing up.

I would almost forget it was a book set back in the 50's... it was still relevant.  Family keeping secrets, alcholism, death, struggles...

It was a long story - over 400 pages - & I wasnt sure where the story was going - or what the point of it was really... but the ending was sort of a mystery solved... & in the end, I just wanted this family to be happy.  I felt connected to Molly & her relationship with her mother & father.

Didnt disappoint me one bit reading this.

My Rating: 3 Skeins

Water for Elephants

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Book:  Water for Elephants

Author: Sara Gruen

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

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I've heard so much about the book.

am still waiting to see the movie (I like to read a book before I see the movie.  Let my imagination have first dibs)

I wasnt disappointed in the hype of the book.

I loved hearing Jacob in his "old state" & seeing what happened to him ... where he ended up... & the story of how he got there... the circus.

I couldnt help but envision Robert Pattison & Reese Witherspoon since I do know they are the lead movie characters... but it suited the characters I grew to know in the book.

I literally cried at parts of animal abuse... I teared up at the relationship of Walter & his dog, Queenie... I got chills at how badly Jacob wanted to help Marlena... & I rooted for Rosie when she got to take revenge for all the abuse she had to endure.

The story of the back side of a circus is another view.  Dirty, grungy, sneaky, nasty... but full of people who have hearts... & those who dont.

I could have done without a lot of the graphic details & story lines that really didnt need to be there (in my opinion) but I guess I'm just jaded from reading too many Christian novels. 

I did enjoy the book though... now off to see the movie :)

My Rating:  4 Skeins