Night Ferry by Michael Robotham

Another good book from Robotham. I admit that I missed Joe in this one but it was still a good read. This was about trafficking people, medical rape, prostitution and so on... but the main story was about a young orphan forced into a surrogacy but when the biological parents are murdered it turns into a race to save the young girl and her pregnancy. I will definitely recommend.

The Glass Case by Kristin Hannah

This is a short story. I love how Kristin Hannah can write such well described emotions. I just like the way she writes period, she's good. With this story, I felt like it ended too soon and I'm sure it's because it's a short story but I wanted/needed more...

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Loved it. Soooo much better than 15 & 16. I don't know what more to say about Stephanie/Morelli & Ranger after getting to #17 but I thought it was good and made me lol.

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

This book was interesting. It's YA and that's not generally my genre but it was a breeze to read - except for the beginning where I was a little confused but I suppose the author did that on purpose bc of the whole story line.

This book was about a young lady, London Lane, who couldn't remember the past and can see the future. As a matter of fact, everyday at 4:33AM, her mind is "reset". So, every night before bed she writes notes regarding her day so she can read them every morning and catch herself up. Gets interesting when she gets a boyfriend and has to remember him everyday THEN she starts seeing "scary" things in her future that make her want to learn more about her past.

Cute book.

I will recommend this book to others.

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

WOW! I loved this book! Great story telling here. I swear the author left a cliff hanger at the end of 85% of the chapters in this book. Really really good!

The story revolves around Glen Garber and the accident that killed his wife Sheila. Of course it's a mystery but in more ways than one so Glen is scrambling the whole time trying to put together what he knows into something that makes sense.

The ending will astound you. I doubt you'll see it coming. The author did a great job wrapping it all up at the end as well. Well done!

Will I recommend this book? Shoot! I was recommending it before I even finished it. YES!

10th Anniversary by James Patterson

Another good Women's Murder Club book. I swear they haven't let me down yet. 3 different plots going at the same time with varying intensities and all wrapped up nicely at the end. Very easy read. Definite recommend.

I know this is a short review but these books are hard for me to review properly since there are so many stories going at once.

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

Not a bad book but nothing exciting ever happens. I like a little more action but I'm slowly learning not to expect it from Elin Hilderbrand and that's not necessarily a bad thing. In my opinion, she's in the same writing group as Nicholas Sparks.

However, this book is about a family of women [mom and her 2 daughters and their aunt (mom's sister)] who go to stay on Tuckernuck, an island just outside of Nantucket, in house that's very old. They are forced to bond because there's not much else to do but like anytime you get more than one woman in a house - there's drama. In the end, we learn everything happens for a reason.

I would recommend for mindless, easy reading - it was a good story and I like the way it unfolded.

Love Lies Bleeding by jess McConkey

This was a confused little story. I wanted to like it, I really did but the ending sucked. I felt like I missed something. It's a story of a girl recovering from a tragic accident while being controlled by her father and fiance while being haunted by a woman she never met. Weird. I didn't connect with the characters and I'm left with so many loose ends and questions that were never answered. I'm still scratching my head hoping the next book I choose will be better.

I won this book from Librarything.com and I won't be recommending it. It's just not worth it.

1 - 2 - 3!

Ha. I learned something today. My 4yr old would not get out of my bedroom this morning when he knows he's not allowed in there so:

ME: You have to the count of 3 to get out of my room... ONE!... TWO!... [scrambling to get his own room] ....THREE!

JACK: Why'd you say three (big frown)? That makes me sad.

ME: [making all kinds of mental notes] Why does it make you sad?

JACK: It does.

So, I've learned that counting to 3 really does work, at least for Jack. Now to find out if it works on Dylan.

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

I thought this book dragged out a little longer than it needed to. I enjoyed it but I guess I was expecting [wanting] something a little more fast paced.

The story is about an adopted woman who set out to find her birth parents and ends up learning the lesson that you should be careful for what you wish.

I liked how the story ended and I will recommend. I can't wait to read her first novel Still Missing.

Blame by Michelle Huneven

Giving this book 2 stars was generous of me. I really couldn't be bothered with it which is why it took me so long to finish it. It's upsetting since I wanted to read it FOREVER and then to dislike it so much. Maybe, just maybe my expectations were a little too high.

The story is about a woman who was charged with murder and how she dealt with the consequences through her life.

Also, I didn't like the author's writing style, it aggravated me the whole time.

Vanished by Joseph Finder

Well this was a pretty good book. I've wanted to read this book since it came out and I finally got a copy. It's about a guy who's looking for his brother who apparently "vanished" after him and his wife were attacked in a parking lot after eating dinner out one night but things aren't always as they appear and Joseph Finder delivers all the twists you can imagine in one intense plot.

Yes, I recommend!

I think we're going to need more M&M's...

I'm potty training Dylan and he's been having pee pee accidents more and more frequently so today, after his first accident, I offered up some M&M's every time he went pee on the potty after that and as a bonus, I gave him a small cup of them when he did the tiniest of poo on the potty because that never happens.

Now he's peeing on the potty every 20 mins or LESS. It's been so much that the last time he went to the potty, he couldn't even go. Also, every time Dylan gets candy, Jack only thinks it's fair that HE gets candy as well since he also pees on potty. =)

Like I said, I think we're going to need more M&M's but on the bright side, Dylan hasn't peed in his pants since that first accident of the day! Maybe I'm on to something!

On Folly Beach by Karen White

This was a book about a family and their lies that were buried in the past but it was also about love, loss and forgiveness. The story was that of a mystery that unraveled over two different spans of time, the one where the story began and the one where it was all dug up, relived and finally settled. **For me, I thought it was a little on the dull side but that's because I love a good suspense but I'm not going to fault Karen White for that, I knew what I was choosing when I chose to read this book.

I would recommend this book.

My "pieces"

Today we got to hang out pool side with my in-laws for a little pre Father's Day dinner and my brother-in-laws birthday. My brother & sister-in-law have 3 kids and they are all about the same age of my kids so you know it's a lot of fun. The kids play together well and have a great time.

Tonight on the way home, I asked Jack if he liked his cousins and here's how the conversation went:

JACK: "Yes but somebody tried to break my pieces."

Me: "Who?"

JACK: "Matthew."

Me: "What pieces?"

JACK: "My hand, my arm, my leg, my belly, my head"

The conversation went on and on about his "pieces" and I just thought this was the cutest thing ever, for him to call his body parts his "pieces" that I had to blog about it because I didn't want to forget it.

I love my kids.

I'll teach them...

...how smart I am!

We have a blow up swimming pool on our deck for the kids to play in on the HOT days. Everyday I have to constantly tell them not to play in the water.... not yet. I have things to do in the house and if they are in the pool, I can't be doing what needs done in the house - I'm not just being wicked.

So the water was all dirty with mulch and bugs and the rocks Dylan felt the need to put in there and after another morning of telling them to stay out of the water I decided I was going to dump it. hahahaha That was heavier than I thought it would be and in turn, took longer than expected because I had to scoop and dump, scoop and dump, scoop and dump (you get the picture) until I could finally tip it.

Said, water went over the side of the deck where the kids instantly ran to play in only now it's muddy and dirty. What the hell was I thinking? At least on the deck the water was cleaner than MUD.

Doh!

Lost by Michael Robotham

I can't quite give this 4 stars because I thought it was a little slow. I love Michael Robotham and like a lot of suspense/thriller authors I read, his mind scares me. To be able to write as a cop and a psychologist and do it so well and then to write such twisted story lines.... creepy. This book was about a cop with amnesia trying to piece together some of the events that happened that landed him in the hospital, in a coma for 8 days. I thought the ending was brilliant but the rest of the book dragged on.

Would I recommend it? Is it Michael Robotham? lol Of course I would!

A crush?

Jack goes to a daycare program during the school year and his teachers are Ms. Erin and Ms. Katie. He's been going for 2 yrs and school is out for the year now, however, everyday for the past 2 wks or so Dylan tells me he wants to see Ms. Katie. His wish came true when they had an open house at the school where each class was to perform a little song; they fed us, hot dogs, juice boxes and cookies for dinner. So we get there and immediately try and hunt down Ms. Katie so Dylan could say hi - we found her fairly quickly but when we pointed her out to Dylan and then approached her - he wouldn't look at her, wouldn't say hi, nada.

I think my 2yr old has a crush on a girl. Really? It starts at 2 now?

Don't breathe a word by Jennifer McMahon

In a word, weird.

This book started out very weird, a little too off-the-wall for me. I thought, "Here we go." but then it evolved into this intriguing mystery that I couldn't put down. I needed to know what in the world was going on and then after every twist and turn imaginable, it came to an end that I didn't like but I guess it fit the bill.

Would I recommend this book? I would but I'd forewarn the reader that's weird.

Melt. Down.

Today we took the kids to the beach. It was a beautiful day. Pure fun in the sun. A little cool, low humidity, full sun, the works for a day at the beach. We stayed out for, at least, 4 hours. The kids played in the sand, played on the swing set (how nice of them to put up a swing set on the beach), played with each other, fed the seagulls, again, the works.

We came back to the condo so every one could shower and then we headed to dinner where Dylan had a full on melt. down. IN the restaurant. Screaming, crying, pitching a fit, not wanting to sit his seat etc... Then Jack had to go "nasty", the waitress forgot a potato and in all the chaos Austin and I both choose a meal that cost $27.99 *thud*. Apparently that wasn't enough because we then paid $13.00 for 3 ice creams.

BUT we really had a great day. I couldn't ask for more.

Skipping a beat by Sarah Pekkanen

Cute book! I really liked this book much better than The Opposite of Me.

This book is about losing yourself and how we take the most important things in life for granted. I really liked how the book was written and how it slowly unfolded, how Julia took a long time to let her guard down, made it seem more real.

Definite recommend.

Mortified

My hair dresser is a spunky chick. We get along great and laugh the whole time I'm there. Yesterday I got my hair cut and when I got there she was cutting a young man's (maybe 16 yrs old) hair. When she was done and he got up, she hugged him. Well, I was sitting right there and saw this so I say [out loud], "You never hug me." So she walks up to me and hugs me and says, "Feel better?" I said, "Much better." hahahaha Right?

WRONG!

When it was my turn, I got in her chair and she informed me that she hugged him because his dad was dying of cancer and that hospice was at his house and there were only days left.

GAH. Can I just go curl up in a hole somewhere?

M.O.R.T.I.F.I.E.D.

Road Kill

I've killed my first [crazy ass] squirrel yesterday on my way to the post office. I saw it dart out in the street but there was no way I could stop, swerve or anything and I just waited for the dreaded *thud* when *thud*, it happened. I just shuttered. Normally, when the [crazy ass] squirrel runs under my truck they walk away unscathed. Not this time. I watched my rearview mirror for confirmation [because maybe - just maybe - I ran over a rock] and there it was, a little squirrel twitching on the road. :(

Now, the only thing worse than killing a squirrel and seeing it twitch in the road is the fact that it happened ON MY WAY to the post office - meaning - I had to drive past it when I came home... only to see a bird already picking it apart. Gah! How awful.

What a traumatic day.

Mosquitos

Poor Dylan. :( He is every mosquitos dream. They love him and you can tell. I know that they like to feast on him and his reaction to the bite is bad, for example, most of his mosquito bites are the size of nickels or pennies - ONE bite. Because I know he's hunted prey of the mosquito, every morning when he gets dressed I spray him down the a sunblock that's also a mosquito repellent. Obviously it didn't matter because his poor arms and neck are covered in bites. He didn't sleep well last night despite the anti-itch cream I used or the Zyrtec I gave him before bed. The only reason his legs aren't bitten up is because I keep making him wear light pants outside even though it's getting hotter and today, it's already 85 deg but I'm making him wear a long-sleeve shirt. He's young enough not to complain about the pants, the long-sleeves or even the bug bites but I feel so bad for him :( walking around here constantly scratching.

Jack and Dylan play together in the same yard but they leave Jack alone.

Gods in Alabama

I liked this book but it wasn't very 'meaty'. There were a few lines that literally made me laugh out loud and anytime a books gets me to show emotion like that, whether it's laughing, crying, anger etc... I have to give it credit. Still, I feel it was lacking something.

Would I recommend it? Probably.

Am I ready for this?

Ready or not it's here. What's here? You want to know? Chin hair. EEK! Nooooooo, not mine!! Austin's!!!!!!!!!! I know he's in the thick of puberty but it just caught me off guard. To be honest, it caught him off guard as well. I was driving him to his friends house yesterday and I looked over and there it was! I said to him "You have chin hair." He said, "I do?" So then he had to look and he said, "I do!" lol Now he's been periodically "shaving" is "mustache" but for some reason chin hair is more serious. Why? I have no idea. One other thing is this... before we saw him on Tuesday, it had been a week since we saw him and I promise you, in that week, his voice got even deeper. I could "hear" the change in just a week. Pretty soon, I'm going to notice his body filling out. It seems that puberty is happening so fast.

So, again, I ask, "Am I ready for this?"

A rainy day

Well, it's a rainy day here and that means the kids are inside which means fighting. Right this minute they are being good but they have been fighting all day. I can't seem to figure out how to make them share and this is what causes so many problems.

One really cute thing from today... Dylan wanted to press play on the DVD player and he can JUST reach it on his very tippy toes with his shoes on so he was trying and trying and Jack came over and said, "Let me help you Dylan." and he picked him up just enough at the waist so he could hit the button. What a sweet moment for those two.

Now will the sun come PLEASE????

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline

Well, here's what I thought. The first 50pgs - great - the next 150 awful - the last 150 redeeming.

I hated the first half of this book so much that I couldn't get past it. There was no way to redeem it for me but it did get better.

The story is about a lunch room volunteer trapped in a fire with the choice to save 2 other girls or her own daughter. She tried to save all 3 but it wasn't good enough and she got a lot of crap from other parents about her saving her own daughter and not the other two. Rose came off as weak, passive doormat and I had a really hard time with that. At one point, I almost didn't even continue to read it but then she went and uncovered and help catch all the bad guys.

I will not recommend this book to anyone.

I won this from LibraryThing.com!

The Beach

Took the kids to Mimi & PopPop's last night and drove to the beach. So we got in late last night. It's a little cool though, pants and jacket weather. Just waiting to go eat crabs right now but we just found out that the restaurant doesn't open until 4... 3 more hours to go. Oh what to do!? That's the question. It's too cold to swim, too cold to lay out, I hate to shop... so it's time to chill with a good book on the patio and listen/watch the waves with the hubby. And RELAX without the kids.

Postcard Killers

This book is about murders that take place across Europe and the only thing that connects them are postcards. This really wasn't my favorite by James Patterson but it wasn't bad either.

I will recommend this others but I'd tell them to save their money and get it from the library.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

This was a book about a murder, love, betrayal, faith, honesty and sincerity. I, however, did not like this book. It is not my style at all. I rated it a 3 bc I really liked the characters, I grew to love that family but truly, for me, this book is an equivalent to Out Stealing Horses which I didn't like either.

I want to say that I don't think it was bad, just not my kind of book so I will refer it to the right people.

If you gotta be dumb, you gotta be tough.

Lesson learned - once again - today after the night out last night with Bill and Captain Morgan. That's right, I got drunk. I don't do this very often so I paid for my stupidity this morning but we did have a good time with the Southern Maryland Woman's League where there were auctions, silent auctions, appetizers, dinner and, of course, the complimentary bar. All of this was to raise money for battered women so my hat goes off to them for such a good cause! But I digress... so once dinner was over, we left and went to a bar where we (read *I*) did some more drinking and a little dancing. The BEST part of the night? The girl that came with our friend asked me, "So how many times have you been told that you look like Sandra Bullock?" Well, NEVER! It made my night and then she just called me Sandra all night. haha

All good things must come to an end... we left and went home. This morning, I had to deal with the reality that I was NOT Sandra Bullock and I had a few too many Captain 'n Cokes and 3 kids to tend to by myself. Ugh.

If you gotta be dumb, you gotta be tough. =)

Boo!

Did I scare you? lol It's been a very long time since I've posted here. I've decided to wipe the dust off and try blogging again. I'm sure I'll be posting some book reviews and some of the cute and not-so-cute things my kids do as well.

But first I wanted to tell you this late breaking news, I'm going on a date tonight with my husband sans kids... it's been a while but I figure why stop there... so next weekend we're going to the beach sans kids. I guarantee you we'll be eating CRABS!

off to see what they are into -------->

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

** spoiler alert ** I loved this book. It was my first Kristin Hannah book - even though I own most of her work - and now I can't wait to read another one. I cried - several times. I seriously can't tell you the last time I cried when reading a book and reading the last 2/3rds of this one, caused me to cry and cry. The first 1/3 of this book was just blah to me though.

I will say that I almost couldn't stand Jude's mourning - how it carried on for years and years and the fact that she was so hateful about it. Also, I was glad for the way it ended - I could see no other ending and it would've ruined it for me if it was any other way.

Anyhow, I will definitely recommend this one!!

These things hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Wow Wow Wow! Another grand slam for Heather Gudenkauf. A twisted tale of love, lies, betrayal and devotion. I think I have a new favorite author. I will definitely recommend this book!