Book Series Review: Until the End of the World by Sarah Lyons Fleming

I'm not typically a fan of horror, zombies, or books that mess with my emotions as broadly as this book did. That being said, all four books in this series where addictive, well written, kept me guessing, and thoroughly had me on edge in one way or another.

The author of Until the End of the World, Sarah Lyons Fleming, has a way with words that is not only unique but makes her one of the better authors I've discovered in 2015. If you choose to listen to this series instead of read it, the Audible version read by Julia Whelan is an excellent choice. She adds to the characters with her tone, pitch, and pauses.

It's been a long time since a book made me sad, angry, scared for the characters, and truly helps you understand how everyone feels when they love, have great loss, and are in a struggle for their friends and their lives on top of normal daily struggles like love, babies, family, work and friendships. It was fun to watch the various characters grow up as they where challenged and overcame the odds. Not everyone survives and parts of the book get fairly graphic with death, danger, and the worst humanity has to offer. Really makes you think what would happen if something terrible befell the world, on the other hand I'm constantly annoyed with their tactics for preparing of eminent danger - I mean you know its coming, have the whole world as your free shopping mall and are going to make due with a chain link fence and some leather?

• Until the End of the World - Book 1
• So Long, Lollipops: The Free Until the End of the World Novella - Book 1.5
• And After: Until the End of the world, Book 2
• All the Stars in the Sky: Until the End of the World Book 3

Book Review: Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

This murder mystery is a sad tale that merges real life mysteries from the past with the present. Most of the magical twists and turns are nothing more than personal secrets bottled up like a volcano and presented with beautifully written descriptors.

I enjoyed this short book. It immediately pulled me in and moves along at an even keel. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romance novels, murder mysteries, or stories about people discovering their genealogy.

Written by: Carol Goodman

Narrated by: Jen Taylor

Looking for Reading Material. What is YOUR Favorite Book?

I love Books

I adore reading books of all kinds. There are few genres that I will completely rule out. Horror and westerns do not generally appeal to me, but I have read a little of both.

Big books, short books, happy books, books of adventure, true tales, educational novels, fantasy novellas and books of dystopian futures have all pulled me into their little worlds and broadened my perspective. I really need to blog more and share my personal favorites, thoughts, and tid bits on all these books. I try to keep up but it seems easier to read than it is for me to write. With that in mind, I'd love your suggestions. I have a long que at is it both of sponsored books, freebies from authors, and even finished books that need blogged about but I'd love to know my friend's favorites. Please leave your favorite book in the comments of this post so everyone can benefit.

One of my favorite books is the Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. You can find more of my favorites by viewing the favorites genre of this blog or skimming through the 5 star reviews

It's not Often I Return Books Unfinished...

Book Review: The Last Testament by David Javerbaum

I began this book like any other, with an open mind and an eagerness to get connected with the narrator and characters. That never happened. I tried to start the book multiple times and just didn't enjoy the narrator or story line. It's a satire on religion that, for me, was hard to listen to. A narrator change might have made a big difference, but who knows. You can't win them all.

My latest book purchases

Reviews coming soon!

Purchase Summary

Arcadia Falls

Written by: Carol Goodman

Narrated by:

A Big Thanks to Craig Halloran

This post is going to be short, but should entice you to stay tuned. Craig Halloran and I connected recently thanks to an introduction from Brian Rathbone.

Craig generously provided me with copies of his series, The Chronicles of Dragon. I've already finished the first book of seven (books 8-10 coming soon). I'm steadily on pace to finish the rest of the series in the next couple weeks, but I'm a little afraid the beautiful weather has been distracting me from writing. So, this is an advanced thank you to Craig and heads up to anyone who reads this blog: I will be reviewing all seven of Craig's books, doing a give away, and an author interview very soon.

Until then, happy reading.

Advertisting and Guest Posts

Would you be interested in writing a post for my site or for AgencyCouture.com? If you are you’ll be allowed to also add a two sentence paragraph at the end of the post promoting yourself and/or services. Posts will be moderated for content approval. Make sure your post is between 200-1000 words. Please get in touch with me first to discuss topics. You also need to review the post thoroughly for spelling and grammar.

Words Hold the Means to Meaning

Content on the Web

There is a plethora of writing that has come with the objectivity of internet blogs, sharing and social networks. A plethora of writing and not all of it is good writing. We, as writers and bloggers, have forgotten the importance of well thought out storytelling. Storytelling is more than just writing to get out a point, it is the process of giving true meaning and depth to what we have to say. It has become cliche to say “content is king on the internet” that is not to say that it isn’t true, it’s very true but that also makes it the catalyst for quickly drawn stories that often lack thought or provocation. I’m also not trying to imply that I’m not guilty of the same crimes I’m accusing the rest of the internet, I too am guilty of this verdict. Hook, line and sinker.

Web Design and Marketing for Ministries

Moving Ministries Online

This is a post I wrote sometime in 2009, I'm moving my old posts to my new blog and trying to slowly give them new life. This post may not be 100% updated but most of the content should still be relevant.

Are you new online? Here are a few tips I put together for a potential client and larger ministry.

Perhaps you can use this information to get your own projects started.

Tools for your project & Strategy tips:

Facebook – Make sure you use a business page. There are 4 types of accounts you can setup but make sure you choose the right one. A group will make it hard for anyone to join who has too many groups, business pages you can never cap out on. A profile is technically against Facebook rules and if you are caught with a business account as a personal profile they block your address. A community page is more like a wiki page and has less management tools and can’t be customized the way a business page can. See Facebook.com/AgencyCouture for an example of custom tabs. In the end the tabs could be customized with FBML (a type of code) to add your events, store, membership sign up and automate pulling in your blog. Use the side bar under the photo to enter contact information, other social networks and your site and a little tagline about the ministry. This NEEDS to be updates a min. of once a week and no more then 3 times a day. Too much you annoy people and too little they forget about you.

Artistic Anguish

In a country that is predominantly modeled around a nine to sixteen hour work day how do we separate ourselves from the path of struggling success? Let me rephrase that, how do you separate your personal goals and happiness from your daily struggle with work success?

louvre - working for success, artistic anguish

DIARY: That One Guy

"Always code as if the maintainer will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live."


EDIT THIS POST BEFORE PUBLISHING

Traveling (Flash back)

Today is the first day I’ve reconsidered traveling. I was told my apartment was suppose to be showed yesterday, so made a point to leave the house two hours early and head to a wine tasting. They showed up today at 5:30, I was still in my pjs working on my computer. Needless to say I don’t want to leave my house just yet but don’t want to awkwardly sit here while people wander through my home.

About my apartment

I have a gorgeous apartment in the Lyndale area of uptown Minneapolis. Uptown Minneapolis is gorgeous from March to November and my apartment is in the heart of it all. It’s a spacious modern one bedroom overlooking the street from the third floor. I get plenty of light and love the interior design. I can walk to Calhoun square from here within ten minutes. Basically this apartment is to die for and is fairly reasonably priced, it’s not suburb pricing but for the considering it’s pretty good. Plus it comes with one parking spot and street parking is free. It’s a gem on the edge of the nice neighborhoods and what I what consider the precipice of the ghetto. Any further East of my place and everyone only speaks Spanish or Somalian. To the West is Fujiya (the delicious little sushi spot) and more of the upscale living. For me it’s perfect, minus the fact that I hate winter and it’s in the middle of one of the coldest states in the United States.

If you’re interested in the apartment let me know. You can just leave a note in the comments and I’ll get ahold of you.

Quote: The Four Brothers of the Spirit

The Four Brothers of Spirit

“The child is taught from earliest consciousness that she has these four brothers with her in the world wherever she goes, and that they will always look after her. The brothers inhabit the four virtues a person needs in order to be safe and happy in life: intelligence, friendship, strength and poetry. The brothers can be called upon in any critical situation for rescue and assistance. When you die, your four spirit brothers collect your soul and bring you to heaven.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Findley's Lass (The Clan MacDougall Series, Book 2) by Suzan Tisdale

Book Review: Findley's Lass

Book Author: Suzan Tisdale

"I write romance blended with mystery and intrigue and bad guys that you just want to see hang. Perfectly imperfect heroes and heroines.

And always a happily ever after. -- Suzan Tisdale"

Quote: A Soul without Wisdom and Little Grace

A Soul Without Wisdom

“I filled the song with everything I wished I could teach him about life. I tried to reassure him with every line about how the world is hard and unfair sometimes, but that it's all OK beacuse he is so loved. He is surrounded by souls who would do anything to help him. And not only that- he has wisdom and patience of his own, buried deep inside his being, which will only reveal themselves over time and will always carry him through any trial. He is a gift from God to all of us.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Diary: A BIG Thank You to Brian Rathbone

Thank You, Author Brian Rathbone

Brian found me on Twitter shortly after I started posting my book blog posts on social media. We hit it off as online friends. He's funny, I'm nerdy, and well I thought he was so interesting that I had to check out his site. I love indie authors and fantasy books so I figured I'd enjoy his work, so far I was definitely right. After following the link from his Twitter profile, I noticed a few things where broken on his site and walked him through fixing him. In the long run, a lot more things broke and we reconnected. That led to a whole new website. I'm proud to present BrianRathbone.com. It still has a ways to go but is leaps and bounds ahead in design, analytics, among other nerdy things.

Quote: The Tempest

The Tempest

“Go back to bed so that, when the tempest comes, you'll be strong enough to deal with it. And the tempest is coming, dear one. Very soon. But not tonight.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Freelance Design

I no longer do freelance work, except in VERY rare cases. Just updating an old post.

My company, Agency Couture, specializes in bringing small businesses online. We leverage social media to reach your target demographic and bring consumers to your website. If you are new to the online space you may be interested in a training workshop or one-on-one classes in person or via Skype. These courses can be customized to your needs. What takes the most time out of your day? Let’s put together a plan to show you how to simplify your tools and the time you spend online using the right databases, social media tools, metrics, and by implementing an easy-to-use back-end on your site called a content management system (CMS). How can I help you and your business succeed online? Let’s chat about web design, social media customization, or speaking opportunities, send me an email or use my easy to use contact form.

My Bike Arrived at Northtowne Cycling!

Kalkhoff Impulse

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars

Des Moines has a fair sized biking community and multiple bikes shops. Unfortunately not very many of those bike shops carry electric bikes. So I called around. That is when I met Derek, the owner of NorthTowne Cycling in Cedar Rapids. NorthTowne does carry electric bikes.

Choosing a Bike

Derek is a busy guy, especially in the spring, but took a lot of time to correspond with me via email and multiple phone calls to discuss what I wanted in a bike. I did my research before ever calling Derek and had narrowed down my search by talking to a few California bike shops. In fact, by the time Derek and I spoke for the first time I'd probably called over twenty bike shops and watched dozens of videos on Electric Bike Review. At that point, Derek was my last hope before ordering the bike I wanted from California and hoping it fit.

I've been wanting an electric bike for over a year. My research began in ernest fall of 2014, but really ramped up after I discovered Electric Bike Review. That's when I realized everything I wanted in an electric bike would not really suit me. Highly recommend checking out the Electric Bike Review community before even considering an electric bike. My original top 2 picks where immediately squashed by bad reviews and the amazing competition.

Book Review: How to Catch a Prince By Rachel Hauck Published by Zondervan

How to Catch a Prince

Rachel Hauck

Book Description

Prince Stephen came to America to escape responsibility. But what he found complicates his life more than ever.

Corina Del Rey is happy with her life in Melbourne, Florida. She spends her days engrossed in her career as a journalist and has her sights set on climbing the corporate ladder-if for no other reason, to distract herself from her dissolving family. But when she is confronted with the past she fought so hard to put behind her, she struggles to make sense of her future.

Changing Permalinks in WordPress for WAMP Users

WAMP Tip

Users of WAMP (Windows): Some versions of WAMP (all versions?) do not enable mod_rewrite or permit following SymLinks by default.

BOOK REVIEW: The Wood's Edge by Lori Benton (Sponsored by Blogging for Books)

The Wood's Edge by Lori Benton

First Two Chapters

About The Book

At the wood’s edge cultures collide. Can two families survive the impact? 

The 1757 New York frontier is home to the Oneida tribe and to British colonists, yet their feet rarely walk the same paths.

Free Flowers, Delivered - Bouqs

Send 1 Bouquet Get 1 Free

Bouqs

Get your free flowers

Disclosure: If you click on the link to get free flowers, I might get free flowers too.

Featured Vlog - Book Nerd Paradise + @BrianRathbone

Book Nerd Paradise

Featuring Guest Brian Rathbone

Checkout Book Nerd Paradise on Youtube, or Brian Rathbone and the World of Godsland.

The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

The Finishing Touches

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy

Overall

Performance

Story

If you love Hester Browne books or just funny chic literature, then you will love The Finishing Touches. This book doesn't start off as a typical Hester Browne novel with a free-spirited women running a business. Instead, she is running a finishing school for girls. You will learn about etiquette, fashion, and have fun while reading this novel.

I hope some day soon that Hester Browne makes this book into a series.

I highly recommend The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne.

Business Review: NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness + Kalkhoff Impulse 8

Review of an Iowa Bike Shop

Cedar Rapids, IA

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars

I found NorthTowne from Google Maps of all places. Des Moines electric bike selections are pathetic, so I made my search a little wider. Nearly had to order a bike from San Francisco. Shipping a bike that you can't test first is crazy, so I was extremely excited to speak to the folks at NorthTowne. I sent them an email with everything I was looking for and they gave me valuable feedback that helped narrow down my options. I then read reviews and watched videos on Electric Bike Review to follow up.

Review: Hello Fresh Meal Steak Tagliata by desaraev

Meal Delivery Service

Steak Tagliata

Healthy Recipes and all the Ingredients Delivered Weekly

My Rating: 5 Stars of Hello Fresh

Delirium (series) by Lauren Oliver

Delirium

Book Author: Lauren Oliver

Delirium Trilogy

Delightful Narration + Adventurous Cautionary Tale of a Futuristic World Without Love

Overall

Performance

Story

Delirium is a story of the United States in a hypothetical future where scientists have cured love. In this world love is seen as a delirium, a mind-poison, and something to be feared. Men and women are segregated. The USA has borders reminiscent of the German Holocaust or the Berlin wall. Everyone is a prisoner. The procedure is required and at first the lead character is looking forward to it.

"The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't." Love, also known as Delirium.

Product Review: St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub

St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub, 6oz

Overall

My little brother first introduced me to St. Ives' scrubs. He has been overseas for a number of years in areas that are not kind to on skin. So, he started using scrubs and face masks to maintain healthy skin and moisturize. One time, when he was home to visit we did face masks and he introduced me to St. Ives. 

Actually, long before the face mask story he had asked my father and I to mail him some of this stuff. Anyway one way or another, my brother introduced me to this product.

I've always enjoyed using clean and clear products to prevent acne and clear out any unwanted goop from inside my pours. I still use it, but every few days or so I also use St. Ives. I highly recommend the product as a nice scrub to remove dead skin and to clean up. I do not recommend it as a daily scrub or stand alone product, however, my brother might say differently.

I buy most of my household goods on Amazon, because I hate shopping. I have this on auto subscribe. If you are interested, you can purchase St. Ives for around $5-8 on Amazon.

Please note: At the time of this review St. Ives has never sent me free products, paid me to write a review, or given me discount codes. If I'm sent freebies or money I will disclose it in my reviews. I do however receive a few pennies if you click on the images or links provided to help you find this product and purchase it on Amazon. I only get that money if you click the links and then make a purchase. It's not a lot of money and if you like this blog, I hope that doesn't put you off simply because it helps support this bloggers writing habits.

Happy online shopping and enjoy your clean, fresh, scrubbed skin!

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

The Runaway Princess

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy

Overall

Performance

Story

A modern day prince charming story. Hapless princess goes through some of the craziest dating twists that only the rich might run into. It's cute and silly. The story leads you on and has you on edge laughing. I love Hester Browne. She is one of my favorite authors, which is why this book earned not only my favorite author award, but also favorite story award.

A Duck by Any Other Name

Let’s call a duck a duck, okay? By duck I mean spammer. If you spam me via email, Twitter, Facebook, direct mail or any other medium don’t be upset when I do my darnedest to block you from my community, my world, my time. I get it, spammers are people too, but you and I get to choose which people we associate with don’t we. That doesn’t mean I’m condoning being an asshole to people, but in a way I am. If you spam me I will block you. If you mass spam me and I will probably snarkily comment about it and then block you. Let’s call it my own personal primal instinct. So, when you randomly message me and 20 of your closest strangers, whom you’ve never met, and ask me to follow you on Twitter and I ask you why I should follow you if the majority of your tweets are asking other people to follow you en mass, don’t be mad at me when I directly ask you why I should follow you. It’s a valid comment, a simple question and I think it’s a fair one. What would you bring to my world when the last 20 things I see when I skim through your Twitter life appear spammy? You can respond calling me an asshole, but really who does that reflect on, me or you? I stand by my comment and I frankly don’t think I was much of an arse to this person (yes, this really happened). If you randomly found me and want to offer me something of value, like a question, a comment on my blog, actually read one of my tweets and reply to it and then ask me to follow that’s one thing, but it’s clearly another to follow 20 people and retweet their blog posts and then ask me to do follow you just because. I’m not that picky in who I follow, clearly, all I ask for is authenticity and I’ll be damned if I’ll apologize for asking someone why I should follow you. It’s not a snarky question, it’s not rude, it may be aloof but at least it’s not spammy. Happy Spamming. If you quack like a duck, act like a duck but call yourself a horse makes no difference when I say I hate ducks.

Power Life Yoga 200 Hour Teacher Training Certification Celebration

Yoga

Today we celebration the end of a path and the beginning of a new journey. 25 yogis-in-training embarked on a certification program 10 weeks ago. I'm honored to be a part of this humble group of teachers, students and friends. I've learned much, and gained many friends. I hope to share some of this wisdom with you soon but today I...

Default Values

Challenge

Choosing which values in a menu should be default. Ever go to a site that has a very small country set as the default value, a country that may not even have internet (or at best makes up .5% of online internet users)? Had the UI/UX Designer thought through the system configurations, you may have filled out that form slightly faster (it’s a convenience factor).

Solution

Most users don’t want to fill out long forms and will go to another site that will make the process easier for them if you make them fill out a ten page survey on their life history. While the default values you choose may not be right, it is better to have a value as an example that can be easily changed than to have an empty field.

Personal Branding

Branding Yourself or Company

You’re a brand. I don’t want to argue over that, I’m just going to state it as a fact. Your reputation is no different then a corporate brand’s reputation. Reputations can be tarnished, beat up, or soar to heights unimaginable just by word-of-mouth. What you do in the process of branding yourself makes all the difference, so start thinking about it, your brand I mean.

Christian Hommel: Interior Architect

Christian Hommel and I met through an exchange program. He came and visited America from Germany well over a decade ago as an exchange student. He didn't live with my family, although we did host multiple exchange students, but we became long time friends. We where much closer pen pals in my early pre-teens and some what lost touch in my college years but Facebook recently reconnected us. He and I have traveled similar paths in life over vast distances and I think his amazing young career deserves checking out!

Graphic Designer Tools from Color Theory to a Preview of the New Photoshop

Design Tool Recommendations

I just couldn’t help but share this with you. As a designer, color can make all the difference in the world. It effects readability, feeling and can compliment spaces. Think of how blue in all its coolness and depth makes you feel, light, calm, connected. While red is known to make you hungry, angry, in movies it’s used to relate to death coming up in a scene, and is used in presidential ties to show strength and power. The image below is from the Floating Frog. Even if you’re not a designer, this will catch you up on color theory. If you’ve ever seen a color wheel, you know it’s like a designer’s cheat sheet to selecting colors. Another great tool is Kuler.

Listening on Twitter

Communication is Important

As Chris Brogan likes to say, “you have two ears and one mouth,” so use them in proportion. The following article has a few tips on how to listen on Twitter: http://www.twitip.com/listening-on-twitter/

I’d like to add that using Twitter search or a tool like Radian 6 you can readily track your name, company and sentiment. Consider using this to track happy and angry costumers so that you can respond in real-time accordingly.

How are you listening? What metrics are you considering?

Public Speaking

Presenting

Desarae Veit is a consultant and speaker. Her company Agency Couture, LLC. helps businesses and social causes raise their visibility and generate leads through smarter marketing, branding, web design and social media. In addition, Desarae provides online etiquette training, keynote presentations and workshops to business owners, job seekers and ladder climbers on the process of leveraging personal branding online and offline.

Personal Branding

Being Your Own Brand

You're a brand. I don't want to argue over that, I'm just going to state it as a fact. Your reputation is no different then a corporate brand's reputation. Reputations can be tarnished, beat up, or soar to heights unimaginable just by word-of-mouth. What you do in the process of branding yourself makes all the difference, so start thinking about it, your brand I mean.

Trouble Editing Styles in Google Chrome > Elements?

Styles

I did too and this page may help: https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/elements-styles I’m not sure what I did but all of a sudden I couldn’t edit existing styles. What fixed it? CTRL + SHIFT + C. I’ve read other posts where people have done other things and broke it as well but this did the trick for me and I couldn’t find it noted anywhere else so just throwing the tip out there.

GREAT SASS setup information or (SCSS)

SASSY CSS Pre-Processor Review and Tips

Checkout this blog for a great tutorial. It walks you through setup step by step. http://blog.assortedgarbage.com/2012/03/using-dreamweaver-with-sass-and-less/

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

Honeymoon Hotel

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy

Overall

Performance

Story

This book reminds me of the 2001 movie of Jennifer Lopez as The Wedding Planner. It's a light hearted novel of love, marriage, and silly fun. Like most of Hester Browne's novels, this book is love-able chic literature.

I first fell in love with Hester's books with the Little Lady Agency series. The characters and story plot are very similar. Both books involve strong, independent, silly women who fall in love with men who need to grow up.

I recommend this book if you are looking for an easy-read to pass the time.

Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne

Swept Off Her Feet

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy

Overall

Performance

Story

Swept Off Her Feet is a quick read. This book is full of quippy honest humor. The book is engaging and quirky, a typical fun Hester Browne love-struck comedy.

I first fell in love with Hester's books after reading the Little Lady Agency series. All of her books are fun, easy to read, and hilarious. If you are looking for a happily-ever-after tale, this is the book for you.

Happy Birthday Dad! @gveit

Happy Birthday to the Best Guy I Know

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Dad.

A happy happy birthday to you!

Love you a lot! You're a great father and I'm very lucky to have you as my father.

xox

Love,

Your little girl

Little Lady Big Apple by Hester Browne

Little Lady Big Apple

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy

Overall

Performance

Story

Little Lady Big Apple is the second installment of the Little Lady Agency series. The love-able protagonist, Melissa, travels with her boyfriend and they are confronted by a number of obstacles. Jonathan forces the lead to leave her business, the business she loves, and goes from a fan-favorite to a hard to love character, and back to love-able in the span of a few pages.

This book will make you laugh, smile, and pull your heart around with ink. I love the British accent throughout the book and silly use of 'arse' throughout. I highly recommend this book for a light-hearted read.

Author: Abbi Glines

About Abbi Glines

Erotica & Young Adult Fiction Author

Born Birmingham, Alabama, The United States

Gender female

Genre Young Adult, Romance

Abbi Glines is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series.

"“Everyone always says that love was enough. It wasn't. Not when your soul has been shattered.” "

-- Abbi Glines, Fallen Too Far

Kiro's Emily (Book 10 of Rosemary Beach Series) by Abbi Glines

BOOK REVIEW: Kiro's Emily

Book 10, Novella, Rosemary Beach Series

Book Author: Abbi Glines

"Innocence Meets Hard Core Musicians"

Overall

Performance

Story

Recommended Age: Adult, Young Adult

Genre: Drama, Fiction, Love, Romance, Sex, Women's Literature,

Characters: Musician

Book Type: Audio, Novella

This book is a lot like the Notebook in some ways. A bit rushed at the end, full of cutesy romance and innocent quips.

The ending, for me, was unexpected. I found this book delightful. It's a bad boy meets good girl romance. At the beginning of the story Emily, the main character, is off on an adventure with her risque cousin. Her cousin is sleeping her way to and through a band that they are following around the country. Emily refuses to follow the status quo and sleep around, but somehow strikes up an unusual friendship along the way that leads to romance. Tragedy strikes towards the end, but in some ways works out as an epic love tale. The book has some pretty heart wrenching moments, and other moments where you wonder why anyone would act so foolishly.

I recommend this book as a romantic read, but gave it only four stars because it could have had more depth and the ending seemed rushed.

About Book Review Rating and Awards

What are the Stars?

Books may be rated 1-5 stars. 1 star being the lowest possible rating and 5 stars being the highest. Books that have not been read do not have a rating.

Every book review may have an overall rating, a performance rating, and a story rating. The overall rating takes into account both the story and performance. The Performance rates the narrator, if the book was reviewed as an audible book. The story rating is for the book overall.

Books are not graded by spelling or grammatical errors, although poor performance or books that are hard to read may factor in layout. If something stands out, this will generally be mentioned in the review.

Products only have an overall score. Additional ratings may be added later for product and business reviews.

The Starts look like this:

Overall

Performance

Story

At any time, you can click on the stars to see a list of books, products, or businesses with a similar rating.

Author: Alyson Noël

About Alyson Noël

Best Selling Author

Born Orange County, The United States

Gender female

Genre Young Adult, Children's, Paranormal

Influences: Judy Blume -- JD Salinger -- Life

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning, author of 21 novels.

Books by Alyson

• FAKING 19

• ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS

• LAGUNA COVE

• FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG

• SAVING ZOË

• CRUEL SUMMER

• FOREVER SUMMER (a LAGUNA COVE/CRUEL SUMMER 2-in-1)

• KEEPING SECRETS (a SAVING ZOË/FAKING 19 2-in-1)

• the IMMORTALS series: EVERMORE, BLUE MOON, SHADOWLAND, DARK FLAME, NIGHT STAR, EVERLASTING, the IMMORTALS spin-off

• RILEY BLOOM series: RADIANCE, SHIMMER, DREAMLAND, WHISPER

• THE SOUL SEEKERS series: FATED, ECHO, MYSTIC, HORIZON; with short stories appearing in the anthologies FIRST KISS (THEN TELL), KISSES FROM HELL, & DEAR BULLY.

"Rules should always be bent, if not broken. It's the only way to have any fun."

--ALYSON NOËL, Evermore

Diary: Spring is finally Here

Happy St. Patricks

 

Warm Weather!!!

I couldn't be happier to see the sun. Warm weather finally arrived this March. I'm writing this on Tuesday, March 17th. Sunday was my first day getting out. I went for a nice long bike ride. The next day I felt the burn. The sun got to me. The bike burned out my muscles. Still, I couldn't be happier that the weather is turning.

Happy St. Patricks. Hope it was fun for you! I missed all the green beer this year.

Book Update

Currently going through books faster than I can make hot cakes, that is to say, I'm not a very good cook and I really like books. Writing reviews however, is time consuming, but I have a slew of them on the way!

Bike Garter Product Review

Bike Garter

Like wearing a dress, but need to bike somewhere. No girl want to show off her undergarments on the go, so checkout the bike garter.

Sold on Amazon and Eleanor's NYC by Bird Industries.

Comes in 6 colors, hand dyed, and three sizes.

Purchase

Book Review: Cursed (The Watchers Trilogy) by S.J. West

Cursed

"Blessed and Love Struck by This Mysterious Series"

S.J. West

Overall

Performance

Story

By S.J. West Cursed (Watchers Trilogy) epitomizes everything I love in a book or series. It offers romance, humor, and mystery. Author S.J. West doesn't spell out every detail in the series or answer all your questions up front, she lures you in with one mystery after another and leaves you yearning for answers, mystery, and a few more moments with her lovely characters. 

The Watchers Chronicles is blessed, pun intended, with not just one handsome lead male character, but three. The book includes a damsel in chronic distress, and her witty southern side-kick best friend. 

BOOK REVIEW: BANG (The Black Lotus Series Book 1) by E.K. Blair

Bang

The Black Lotus Series

E.K. Blair

Overall

Performance

Story

It all begins and ends with a bang.

E.K. Blair is a New York Times Best Selling Author, Bang (Black Lotus #1) (The Black Lotus Series), is the first book I've read by her. Bang is heart wrenching. I finished the first book in this series in one day and am now traumatized waiting for the second and third to be released. 

Last week (Feb 27, 2015) while interviewing indie author Nicole Collet, she recommended Bang and a few other books for me to read. This is the first book in her long list of recommendations that I dove into, head first. I nearly cracked my head and heart open with this book (diving head first). 

Book Review: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

My New Favorite Chronicle

Overall

Performance

Story

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.” 

“I'm sure I'll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on.” ― Marissa MeyerCinder

"Science Fiction Meets Cinderella + All Your Other Favorite Fairy Tales"

The Lunar Chronicles starts off with a book called Cinder. This is a futuristic dystopian view of Cinderella in reverse. A young girl who loses everything in the worst ways possible only to discover things she never knew about herself and make lots of new friends against impossible odds on a mission to save two worlds. 

Books: Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf is an autobiographical manifesto by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 192 5 and Volume 2 in 1926. Someone recently recommended I read Mein Kampf. I have not read it. I did however, study propaganda in relation to art, design, and advertising in college and remember discussing this book (maybe I did read it then, if so it would have been over a decade ago).

I do not have a lot of useful information to convey on this book. I'm open to starting a discussion on this book if anyone else is interested, then I will read it and reopen this review at that time. I'm disinclined to read this, even the reviews are a little disturbing (scroll down to book description or Amazon.com Review).