Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker

Title:Once Upon A Day

Author:Lisa Tucker

Rating:

Who Should Read It?People needing to be reminded that strength and hope can come from the most unexpected of places; or anyone just looking for a good, heartfelt, touching story

What I Have to Say:I feel like I use the words heartfelt and touching a lot when I am describing books, but really, that's what this book is. Heartfelt. And touching. It was also really cool; Lisa Tucker came up with an amazingly interesting way to have the past meet the present without involving things like time machines or black holes (not that I have anything against either of those things in a book). The plot is right on, the characters are well-developed and absorbing, there is just the right amount of drama, and the writing style is easy to follow and to the point.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that "Once Upon a Day" is riveting, but it is gripping and amusing, hooking the reader from chapter 1 and keeping them wanting more.
This book is more than mediocre, more than good, but less than spectacular. There's something that's missing, some reason that I didn't love love LOVE it, but I can't seem to articulate exactly what that missing thing is.

Summary (from Publishers Weekly via Amazon):In the present day, 23-year-old Dorothea has left her overprotective father's secluded 35-acre New Mexico estate, called the Sanctuary, where she and her brother, Jimmy, had been sheltered from current news and all modern-day innovations. Searching for her runaway brother in St. Louis, Dorothea meets a recently widowed doctor-turned-cabbie, who introduces her to the vibrant outside world he's been trying to escape. A parallel tale set in the 1970s follows the budding romance between a successful film director and the waif who becomes his muse, his wife and the object of his obsessive control.

Good Grief by Lolly Winston Only Mediocre

Title:Good Grief

Author:Lolly Winston

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It?Anyone who knows what it feels like to break up with or lose someone you love

What I Have to Say: I've always wanted for someone to write the story of a really rough break up and the getting over of it. With mega focus on the process of getting over it. This is the closest I've ever come to reading something that seems to really get it. Even though it's not about a breakup, it's about a death.
Still, that's what I liked about this book. No longer being with someone you love, either through a breakup or a death, is HARD, and people don't just "get over it" and "move on." It takes time and a lot of hard work and sometimes drug and usually depression and hilariousness play a role. This book is brutally honest about that, and I loved getting to see the process of building new relationships through her pain that ultimately help her to push the pain further and further away from the front of her mind.
That said, this book was just GOOD, not GREAT. It's one of those books that you read and that you enjoy reading but that, in the end, leaves you without impression. The story is good, the characters are good, the "getting over it is good," and that's it. There was nothing so extra special that made me want to get up and scream "YES! This is the book about breaking up I've been looking for!!!!" Just,. . .mediocre.

Summary(from Publishers Weekly via Amazon):Sophie Stanton feels far too young to be a widow, but after just three years of marriage, her wonderful husband, Ethan, succumbs to cancer. With the world rolling on, unaware of her pain, Sophie does the only sensible thing: she locks herself in her house and lives on what she can buy at the convenience store in furtive midnight shopping sprees. Everything hurts—the telemarketers asking to speak to Ethan, mail with his name on it, his shirts, which still smell like him. At first Sophie is a "good" widow, gracious and melancholy, but after she drives her car through the garage door, something snaps; she starts showing up at work in her bathrobe and hiding under displays in stores. Her boss suggests she take a break, so she sells her house and moves to Ashland, Ore., to live with her best friend, Ruth, and start over. Grief comes along, too—but with a troubled, pyromaniac teen assigned to her by a volunteer agency, a charming actor dogging her and a new job prepping desserts at a local restaurant, Sophie is forced to explore the misery that has consumed her.

the Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede = not quite what I was hoping for

Um, will someone please explain to me why there is an AURYN on the cover of this book?!? I guess it's supposed to be the ring talked about within, but it just seems wrong.

Title:the Seven Towers

Author:Patricia Wrede

Rating:

Who Should Read It?Anyone interested in reading a cute, quirky fantasy with bad guys and big evil monsters

What I Have to Say:Contrary to what is said in Amazon's product description, this is not one of Patricia C. Wrede's best. It's quirky, but not quite as quirky as I was hoping for. It's funny, but not quite as funny as I was hoping for. It's daring, but not quite as daring as I was hoping for. You get the point.
That said, this book has *7* main characters (that's right, SEVEN), and they are all well-developed with very different personalities. The plot is well-developed and intriguing and leaves the reader guessing right up to the very end.
It really is a great book, and I have trouble pinpointing WHAT exactly it is that I have to complain about; it was exciting and adventurous and not quite what I wanted it to be.
Still, though, a book worth reading!

Summary (from amazon!):They are seven players in a game of deadly magic— Eltiron, Prince of Sevarin; Crystalorn, Princess of Barinash; Ranlyn, the desert rider; Jermain, the outlaw; Vandaris, the soldier; Carachel, the Wizard-King; and Amberglas, the sorceress. Each of them has a secret, and each fights his or her part in the thrilling battle that has put seven kingdoms on the very edge of destruction. Filled with wit, swordplay, humor, and intrigue, this early novel is one of Patricia C. Wrede’s best

Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama

Title:Dreaming Water

Author:Gail Tsukiyama

Rating:

Who Should Read It?People who enjoy books that explore relationships in depth, especially those of a mother and her daughter

What I Have to Say: Gail Tsukiyama has such a beautiful, graceful style of writing that I feel as if she could write about ANYTHING, and I would love it. Everything just sort of flows, each idea merging neatly and beautifully with the next one. With Dreaming Water, as with every other book I have read by Gail Tsukiyama, I felt as if SHE must have been ALL of the characters. How else would she have that much insight into what that kind of relationship must be like?
Dreaming Water, aside from being about a relationship between a mother and her sick daughter, a girl and her sick best friend, and an American woman and her Japanese husband, this book is about strength and courage and being open enough to see things through different eyes than your own. It's about what makes life worth living but also about why these things make it okay to die.
It's such a simple story, but Gail Tsukiyama's telling renders it heartbreaking and heartwarming and magical.
This book is majestical.

Summary (from weread.com):Hana is suffering from Werner's syndrome, a disease that makes a person age at twice the rate of a healthy individual: at thirty-eight Hana has the appearance of an eighty-year-old. Cate, her mother, is caring for her while struggling with her grief at losing her husband, Max, and with the knowledge that Hana's disease is getting worse by the day.

Hana and Cate's days are quiet and ordered. Cate escapes to her beloved garden and Hana reads and writes letters. Each find themselves drawn into their pasts, remembering the joyous and challenging events that have shaped them: spending the day at Max's favorite beach, overcoming their neighbors' prejudices that Max is Japanese-American and Cate is Italian-American, and coping with the heartbreak of discovering Hana's disease.

One of the great joys of Hana's life has been her relationship with her beautiful, successful best friend Laura. Laura has moved to New York from their hometown in California and has two daughters, Josephine and Camille. She has not been home in years and begs Hana to let her bring her daughters to meet her, feeling that Josephine, in particular, needs to have Hana in her life. Despite Hana's latest refusal, Laura decides to come anyway. When Laura's loud, energetic, and troubled world collides with Hana and Cate's daily routine, the story really begins.

Sundays at Tiffanys by James Patterson doesn't go far enough

Title:Sundays at Tiffany's

Author:James Patterson

Rating:

Who Should Read It?For anyone interested in reading a good, sweet love story with a twist

What I Have to Say:What a great IDEA! Unfortunately, I wish that someone else had gotten to it first. I mean, seriously, how cool would it be to have an imaginary friend when you are little. And then to run into him later in life and fall in love. SO many amazing things could have been done with this idea, and I just feel like James Patterson didn't go nearly as far as he should have and didn't do nearly as much as he could have. He didn't take the idea and run with it, so to speak. The imaginary friend wasn't well enough explained, the love story was so under developed that it was basically not developed, and the mother of the main character was stereotypical and seen a thousand times before.
That said, it was still pleasant enough to read, and the idea was good enough that the book had no choice but to be exciting. I was never once bored, and I never felt like it lagged.
All in all, an okay book.

Summary (brought to you direct from Amazon):America's #1 bestselling author, James Patterson, brings us a magical story about a love that transcends boundaries . . .

AN IMAGINARY FRIEND

Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, a powerful Broadway producer, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He's perfect. But only she can see him. Michael can't stay forever, though. On Jane's ninth birthday he leaves, promising her that she'll soon forget him.

AN UNEXPECTED LOVE

Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets someone-a handsome, comforting, funny man. He's perfect. His name is Michael . . .

AND AN UNFORGETTABLE TWIST


This is a heartrending story that surpasses all expectations of why these people have been brought together. With the breathtaking momentum and gripping emotional twists that have made James Patterson a bestselling author all over the world, SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY'S takes an altogether fresh look at the timeless and transforming power of love.

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Title:Twenties Girl

Author:Sophie Kinsella

Rating:

Who Should Read It?This is for everyone who has ever enjoyed a good chick lit book, no matter what kind it is.

What I Have to Say:Go Sophie Kinsella for writing a ghost story! And for doing it oh so well. Frankly, I am ridiculously impressed. I feel like so many authors lately are trying to do the supernatural thing, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE it. I am a total supernatural fan. But I feel like it's really hard to write a book about something supernatural and have it accesible to everyone (not boys in this case, but you know what I mean), even those totally not into supernatural things. Sophie Kinsella has not just succeeded, she has mastered the art. "Twenties Girl" is fun and quirky, and every twenty something has been there and done that, minus the ghost.
Reading this book was so much fun that I just KNOW Sophie Kinsella had a rockin'time researching and writing this book.
An easy breezy totally necessary read!

Summary (from fantasticfiction.com):Lara has always had an overactive imagination. Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Normal twenty-something girls just don't get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara's great aunt Sadie - in the form of a bold, demanding Charleston-dancing girl - has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can't rest without. Lara's got enough problems of her own. Her start-up company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, and she's just been dumped by the love of her life. But as Lara spends time with Sadie, life becomes more glamorous and their treasure hunt turns into something intriguing and romantic. Could Sadie's ghost be the answer to Lara's problems and can two girls from different times end up learning something special from each other?

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot is AWESOME!!!!

Title:Being Nikki

Author:Meg Cabot

Rating:

Who Should Read It?Really, anyone into teen fiction; anyone that likes books with girls and boys and love and excitement and pseudo mystery.

What I Have to Say:It's hard for me to say something about a Meg Cabot book other than "It's Meg Cabot; need I say more?" And really, I feel like saying that again. The fact is, I love Meg Cabot, and I love everything I've ever read that she's written, even if some are better than others. Airhead was definitely better than others, and I was worried that Being Nikking wouldn't be able to live up to the awesomeness of Airhead. It definitely did, perhaps even surpassing it. It's creative, it's original, it's a love story, and it's a mystery. Cabot's continuation of the life of Emerson Watts and supermodel Nikki does not disappoint. Em is a fun, witty, likable character, and it's impossible not to laugh (or cringe, depending) at the situations that she regularly finds herself in. I couldn't put this book down as I followed Em on her exciting and dangerous voyage towards truth, and by the end I was practically falling off ly seat (or rather out of my bed), mouth agape, wondering how I will EVER manage to wait until 2010 to read the next book in the series.

Summary (direct to you from Amazon):Things aren't pretty for Emerson Watts.
Em was sure there couldn't be anything worse than being a brainiac the body of a teenaged supermodel.

But it turned out she was wrong. Because that supermodel could turn out to have a mother who's gone mysteriously missing, a brother who's shown up on her doorstep demanding answers, a former best friend who's intent on destroying Stark Enterprises to avenge the death of his lost love, and a British heartthrob who's written a song about her that's topping the charts.

How can Em balance all that with school, runway shows, and weekend jaunts to St. Johns - especially when she's got ex-boyfriends crawling out of the woodwork who want more than just a photo op; a sister who is headed to the high school cheerleading championships; a company she represents that seems to be turning to the dark side...

Not to mention trying to convince the love of her life that models aren't really airheads after all...especially one model in particular.

But then, nobody said it was going to be easy being Nikki.