Kelly's Book Journal

Trouble in Spades by Heather Webber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this. It was a quick read. The main character (Nina) is a strong woman and I like reading about her home problems intermingled with her detective abilities. Makes for good entertaining reading.

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Synopsis.

Landscaping is Nina Quinn’s business, but trouble seems to be her middle name. Saddled with a recently expelled, faithless local cop husband, a teenaged terror of a stepson, and the yappiest, most unhousebreakable Chihuahua in captivity, Nina needs a respite--and the backyard makeover she’s undertaking for her sister Maria and Nate, Maria’s fiancé, may do the trick. But, of course, Nate vanishes mysteriously, and Nina’s gardening magic inadvertently turns up a corpse. And with a thief on the prowl who’s preying on the neighborhood elderly, a suspicious Pandora’s Box of a package arriving on her doorstep, and yet another body inconveniently turning up, Nina’s going to have to dig into her community’s dirtiest little secrets to regain her peace and sanity--if she can manage to stay alive long enough to enjoy it

A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's been a few years since I read the Landover novels and hadnt realised he had released this one. I found it really easy to get back into the series and enjoyed the book very much. Terry Brooks has an easy writing style and the words flow effortlessly on the pages. View all my reviews >>

Synopsis curtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Princess Mistaya Holiday hasn't been fitting in too well at Carrington Women's Preparatory. People don't seem to appreciate her using her magic to settle matters in the human world. So when she summons a dragon to teach a lesson to the snotty school bully, she finds herself suspended. But Mistaya couldn't care less - she wants nothing more than to continue her studies under Questor the court magician and Abernathy the court scribe. However, her father Ben Holiday, the King of Landover, has rather different plans in mind for her. He thinks he'll teach her about perseverance and compromise by sending her to renovate Libiris, the long-abandoned royal library. How horribly dull. But before long, Mistaya will long for the boredom of cataloguing an unfeasible number of derelict books - for deep within the library there lies a secret so dangerous that it threatens the future of Landover itself ...

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't enjoy this as much as Pride and Prejudice. I found at times that I got a bit confused with what was going on and what character was being talked about in the book by other characters. But apart from that, it was an enjoyable read.

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Amazon.com Review

Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:

Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!

Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure. --Alix Wilber

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

My rating:
4 of 5 stars

Wow, what can I say? I read this in ebook format which contained 3423 pages! I really did enjoy this book although I read it inbetween other books. I know it is considered as one of the greatest books ever written and I would have to agree with that. The book takes you through Napoleons invasion of Russia and the impact it has on five Russian Familys from the nobility. It is also a love story spreading throughout the Russian Invasion. The ammount of characters is immense and I did struggle at first with the Russian names but got there in the end. A lot of people I know knocked me for readig this book, calling it 'boring'. I asked them if they ever read it and most said 'no'. Maybe they should then their minds might be richer for it, because mine is. View all my reviews >>

The Life in the Wood with Joni-Pip, by Carrie King

My rating:
4 of 5 stars

Although this book is aimed at young teens, (Although the Author defines that as Children aged 9 - 90!)I really did love this book. It took me back to my childhood when I invariably had my nose stuck in Enid Blyton books, in which I used to spend all my pocket money on. Carries writing is much stronger than Blytons and all the characters are very endearing. My 11 year old twin boys loved the book and we all can't wait for part two in the triology. We were lucky enough to meet Carrie at her book signing.
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Synopsis curtesy of Carries website

http://lifeinthewood.com/index.htm

The Story The Life in the Wood with Joni-Pip is targeted at Children aged 11-14. (Although the Author defines that as Children aged 9 - 90!) The story opens with the Bombing of Bath in England, in April 1942. After spending a night in the cellar, Philip Garador, an American, decides to move his family to Berry Bush, near Edwinstowe in Nottinghamshire. Their country cottage, Knotty Knook sits at the foot of Windy Woods, nestled on the edge of Sherwood Forest. Joni-Philipa is the spoilt and brattish, oldest daughter of the family and objects most strongly to this upheaval of her privileged life in Bath. On their journey to Berry Bush, the family stop for a picnic by a river. The grumpy eleven-year-old stays in the car, even refusing to play Skimmers with her 16-year-old brother, Alex. While sitting alone with Ethelred-Ted, her beloved, German Teddy Bear, she receives a surprise visit from three strangers; a girl of 13, Flip, who she finds fascinatingly familiar, although they have never met before and two boys, Craig, 14 and Steve, 16. These three have strange glittery stuff in their hair. Flip urges Joni-Philipa to change and ‘be nice’ telling her that her Future depends on it! They disappear as quickly as they appear and Joni-Philipa forgets they ever met, although she keeps having momentary flashbacks of them. She has no friends in Berry Bush but Ethelred-Ted, Poppy-Plump-Pij, a scatty wood pigeon and Hetty the Wee, a wise Scottish hedgehog, become her constant companions. They receive another visit, only this time from 2007 and they are given an incredible formula. They then embark on an adventurous journey that takes them over the WOT (Wall of Time), where they try to change a Bad Past (BP) into a Better Future (BF). During their Quission (Quest + Mission), they unearth some secrets of Life, including: POOLS (personal orbits of life), Déjà vu, The Kaleidoscope of Life, Pastures (where the Past meets the Future) and the OOMU (Observatory of Memories Unknown.)

The Navigator by Clive Cussler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was Cussler at his best. The book kept me riveted and I had trouble putting it down. Kurt Austin is one of my favourite characters of Cusslers.

Synopsis curtesy of Penguin Books.

Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second, very nearly, is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Kurt Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave. What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top-secret scientific project that could change the world forever. And that's before the surprises really begin . . . View all my reviews >>

A Funny Olde Worlde by Jonathan Pidduck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. It is well written, funny, witty and the characters are very endearing. I am really hoping he writes some follow up books. If you are a Pratchett fan, then I highly recommend this book!

Synopsis.

When the Hedral Watcher was in need of a warrior to defeat an all-powerful warlock, he knew that Thane -- an intergalactic mercenary -- was just the man for the job. Unfortunately, he ended up with a Ramsgate biker, an inept wizard with an attitude problem, and a blond Amazon in a squirrel-skin bikini. As the omniscient being on the planet, he had a funny feeling that -- barring a miracle -- it would all end in tears. But the make-shift company of warlock-hunters had other ideas... View all my reviews >>

Key of Valour by Nora Roberts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I did enjoy this triology in the end. It had all the usual Roberts ingredients.

Synopsis curtesy of Amazon.

'Do you believe in magic?' When Zoe Mc Court was sixteen she had been dazzled by the handsome and wealthy James Marshall. He had taken her innocence and left her to bring up their child alone. Now, after ten years of struggle, Zoe's life is finally coming together. Her son, Simon, is her pride and joy, and she is about to venture into business with her new-found friends Malory and Dana. There is even a hint of romance on the horizon, in the very sexy form of Bradley Charles Vane IV, a man whose wealth and good looks make Zoe a little wary but seriously tempted to throw caution to the wind. But before she can embrace her future she has a challenge to face. For Malory, Dana and Zoe have been chosen to undergo a quest to free the souls of three demi-goddesses trapped by an ancient evil. It is a challenge that promises great riches but also grave danger. And, of all of them, Zoe has the most to lose. Three women. Three keys to find. If one fails, they all lose. If they all succeed - money, power and a new destiny awaits. It will take more than intellect, more than determination. They will have to open their hearts, their minds, and believe that everything and anything is possible. View all my reviews >>

Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the storyline. Simple reading for me. Roberts at her best!

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Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading the sonnets. I read the book over a period of months simply so I could take in what each sonnet was about and enjoy them. This was my first Shakespeare book and I am looking forward to reading all the others.

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