Book Review: Naughty Neighbor

Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was one of the cheesiest romance novels I've ever read. I can do cheese (I love Twilight for God's sake!) but this was over the top even for me. In addition to the romance plot line there was also a mystery plot line that seemed implausible and I had trouble following.

People say that Evanovich is really funny but that wasn't true of this book.
To be fair, this book was written pre-Stephanie Plum days and probably wouldn't have been rereleased if it wasn't for the success of the Stephanie Plum series. I've only read One for the Money and it was quite a bit better than this book.

I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator was not good. She had an overly theatrical voice that heightened the cheesiness level that much more. I may have liked this book better if I had read the paper version.
View all my reviews >>

Elderly West

T-Ball

Both boys played T-ball this summer. West's was developmental – they just worked on skills and didn't play games. For some reason I don't have any pictures of it. Poor West. Cash was in a real league for the first time. They played games that were limited to one hour and they didn't keep score.

(Also – the dad of a kid on Cash's team was named Cash. That's the only other Cash we've ever met in person. He said my Cash was also the only other Cash he'd every met.)

Farwell, Summer

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! School starts in a week. Cash will be off to kindergarten. *sniff*

We've had so much fun this summer that I haven't even had time to stop and blog about it so I thought I'd spend this week before school starts recapping our summer.

Cash's preschool graduation kicked off summer break:

Next up, we went to the Ohmaha Zoo in June. The temperature was in the mid to upper 80s and we thought it was hot. Ha! It was 105 degrees today. Good thing we went at the start of the summer.

A monkey and an ape:

I love that West and this fish have the same expression:

We stopped at Panera on the way home. The boys were really hungry:

Book Review: The Actor and the Housewife

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would consider this book to be a modern-day fantasy. It asks the question – what if you met one of your celebrity crushes and became best friends with him? And more than that, is it possible to have a male best friend when you’re a married woman?

Mormon housewife Becky Jack is married and seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she has a chance encounter with British movie star Felix Callahan. This book follows their friendship over several years.

I loved the witty banter between Becky and Felix, although at times it seemed a bit overdone. Felix was a wonderful character – I want him to be my best friend. He was so charming and funny. I was completely immersed in the fantasy (How cool would it be to be best friends with a movie star??) right up almost to the end. I didn’t like the ending – my fantasy would end differently.

This book would make a great movie. Either Hugh Grant or Colin Firth would be perfect to play Felix. I could see Bonnie Hunt or Sandra Bullock as Becky.
View all my reviews >>

Book Review: The Last Supper

The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy by Rachel Cusk
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Last Supper is a memoir by Rachel Cusk of a summer spent in Italy with her husband and two children. I could not connect with the author in this book at all. She shares no background information or any personal information about her or her family and writes in a very detached, dreamy style. She never even refers to her daughters by name, just "the children". In reading a memoir, I expect to be able to form some kind of connection with the author and I felt none with Rachel.

Her metaphors are very creative but she spends paragraphs describing the minutest things in very descriptive, melodramatic detail and never really gets to the point. And that's what I wondered when I finally made it to the end, "What was the point?"

(I received this book courtesy of the publisher and the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)

Book Review: Comfort Food

Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Comfort Food centers around Martha Stewart-type TV chef Gus Simpson, a fifty year old widow with two grown daughters. Her cooking show ratings have been declining and The Cooking Channel wants her to team with sexy Latina cook, Carmen Vega. There are also several subplots going on: Gus's youngest daughter is afraid of commitment and has been engaged three times; her neighbor Hannah has a big secret that only Gus knows; and Gus and her daughters are still mourning the loss of Gus's husband just to name a few.

I listened to the audio version of this book which I think added to my enjoyment of it. The narrator did a great job for creating a unique voice for each character in the large supporting cast. I have a feeling that if I had just read this book, it would have gotten three stars because it was a fairly fluffy, formulaic story with some pretty cheesy romantic bits. It was entertaining and funny though and I think would be a quick read.
View all my reviews >>

Book Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This review contains spoilers for both this book and the movie Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

This novella expands the story of Bree Tanner, one of the newborn vampires mentioned in Eclipse.
This book seemed pretty pointless to me. My theory of why it was written is that the makers of the movie Eclipse called Stephenie Meyer and said, "We want to have the Volturi know what Victoria is up to before the fight." and Stephenie said, "Okay, let me dash off a quick novella that will include that so the fans don't get mad at you for changing the story."

It irritates me that Stephenie is writing pointless novellas when she could be using her time to finish Midnight Sun. Quit fooling around and finish Midnight Sun Stephenie!
View all my reviews >>

Movie Review – The Twilight Sage: Eclipse

They just keep getting better and better! I thought Eclipse was the best Twilight Saga movie yet. I think both Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson must have taken acting lessons since New Moon. Kristen Stewart's performance especially was markedly improved. I didn't find her annoying at all which I didn't think would ever be possible after how annoying she was in Twilight.

This movie finally lets Edward have the sense of humor that he has in all the books. Robert Pattinson is even hotter when he's allowed to lighten up and smile a bit instead of being so gloomy all the time.

I thought Melissa Rosenberg did a great job of leaving out and condensing a lot of the controlling behavior in the first part of the book that makes Edward look like an ass and a lot of other parts that were repetitive in the book. I think the movie was more focused and faster-paced (in a good way) than the book. Now I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Breaking Dawn movie (or movies) turns out!

Book Review: Eclipse

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review after second reading: The first time I read this book, I read it really fast because I couldn't wait to find out what happened. In this second reading I slowed down and noticed how Edward is kind of a jerk in the first part of the book. (Blasphemy, I know!) His controlling attitude over Bella is not cute. And Jacob was not really as annoying as I remembered him being upon the first reading. Maybe because I now picture Taylor Lautner in my head and his hotness dampens the annoyingness. I found myself actually considering switching teams for a moment! But I couldn't go through with it – my heart belongs to Edward.