Monthly Archives: June 2014

Annika Riz, Math Whiz

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Author:  Claudia Mills
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux                              annika
Genre:  Middle Grade
Source:  Claudia Mills

 

 

 

 

Goodreads:   Annika Riz loves math more than anything. She’s trying to teach her dog, Prime, to count. She’s determined to beat fellow math whiz Simon Ellis in a Sudoku contest at the public library. She even sleeps under number-patterned sheets. But Annika’s best friends Kelsey and Izzy think math is boring. All they care about is the upcoming school carnival: their principal is going to be dunked in a dunking tank and their class is going to have a booth selling home-baked cookies. But then disaster foils the friends’ cookie-baking plans. Can math save the day?

Ope’s Opinion:  Claudia Mills really knows how to write a story in the perspective of a  middle grade student.  She has an awesome way of showing the positive attributes of each  student.  I am also impressed with her writing of the friendships between the girls.  They are supportive of each other, but everything isn’t all perfect. 

If you have a person in your life who is looking for books to read – Claudia Mills has several that I can recommend.   Kelsey Green, Reading Queen and Zero Tolerance are both great!  She has written several others too.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this so much I know several friends to recommend it to.
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The Matchmaker

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Author:  Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company                matchmaker
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: A friend

 

Note:  Available to buy tomorrow.  June 10.

Goodreads:  A touching new novel from Elin Hilderbrand in which a dying woman sets out to find love for those closest to her – before it’s too late

Dabney Kimball Beech, the 48-year-old fifth generation Nantucketer, has had a lifelong gift of matchmaking (52 couples still together to her credit). But when Dabney discovers she is dying of pancreatic cancer, she sets out to find matches for a few people very close to home: her husband, celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech; her lover journalist Clendenin Hughes; and her daughter, Agnes, who is engaged to be married to the wrong man.

As time slips away from Dabney, she is determined to find matches for those she loves most – but at what cost to her own relationships? THE MATCHMAKER is the heartbreaking new novel from Elin Hilderbrand about losing and finding love, even as you’re running out of time.

Ope’s Opinion:  Elin Hilderbrand did it again.  She wrote a book so good you will remember the characters long after you have finished the read.  This book is all about the characters and their relationships to each other.

I really liked the way HIlderbrand wove the people Dabney matched together with what was going on in the present time of Dabney’s life.  It worked so well to give history in a refreshing way.

The end of the book gave you a feeling of everything being wrapped up.

I am ready for Elin Hilderbrand’s next book.  She does  not disappoint!

Rating: Five Chairs – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on….
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Distant Shores

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Author:  Kristin Hannah           distant shores
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Genre:  Chick Lit
Source: Purchased

 

 

Goodreads:  Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a family. From a distance, their lives look picture perfect. But after the girls leave home, Jack and Elizabeth quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job, Elizabeth puts her own needs aside to follow him across the country. Then tragedy turns Elizabeth’s world upside down. In the aftermath, she questions everything about her life—her choices, her marriage, even her long-forgotten dreams. In a daring move that shocks her husband, friends, and daughters, she lets go of the woman she has become—and reaches out for the woman she wants to be.

Ope’s Opinion:  This book started out very depressing with neither Elizabeth or Jackson being happy with their marriage, themselves or their careers.  The story moved slow and didn’t really improve.  

Jackson is a jerk and Elizabeth has no back bone.  It always disappointments me when a woman is not written strong enough to stand up for herself.  I don’t agree with just throwing a marriage away, but I don’t think Elizabeth should have just taken Jackson back without more work on both their parts.

I was disappointed Elizabeth did not find her “passion”.  She did not get back to her painting or find something new to fulfill herself.

Overall, I was just disappointed in this book.

Rating:  Two Chairs – I may have one friend who might like to read this book.
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My BEA Broadcast

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Wednesday was Book Blogger Conference.

The best session was Software 101: Best Blogging Tools

Thea James was the moderator.
She was : Amazing
Asked questions I wanted the answers to
Kept the dialogue moving right along
Made us laugh a few times too!
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Photo from BEA

The speakers were: Sarah Wendell
Stephanie Sinclair
Becca Brennan

They all had interesting information to share.
They kept my attention and taught me a few things.

The other sessions left me disappointed.
I did not come out with much information to use.

Let me know how the conference was for you.
I would like to hear about the other sessions.

The One & Only

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the one and only

 

Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source:  BookSparks

Goodreads:   In her eagerly awaited new novel, beloved New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin returns with an extraordinary story of love and loyalty—and an unconventional heroine struggling to reconcile both.

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

Ope’s Opinion:  I have heard this book compared to Friday Night Lights.  I agree with this!  If you liked the show, football, and Texas, you will probably want to read this story.  It took me a while to get into this book – there was a lot of back ground you need to understand the relationships between the people and football to enjoy the rest of the story.

The friendship between Lucy and Shea was strong and wonderful.  It was great to see one friend who wanted the family and kids, while another was more into the career, yet they remained close friends their whole lives.

The romance relationships in this book were not my favorite.  I think Shea was smart enough to get out of a bad relationship, but I didn’t really care for the relationship she end up in.  I would have liked the ending to have been different.

Rating: Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
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