I Brake for Yard Sales Review

I Brake for Yard Sales: and Flea Markets, Thrift Shops, Auctions and the Occasional Dumpster by Lara Spencer

Genre:  Interior decoration

Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang

Source: Personal Library

Book Description:

Good Morning America correspondent Lara Spencer is a self-confessed frugalista with a passion for shopping at yard sales, thrift shops, and estate sales, and for decorating her home and friends’ homes with her fabulous finds. In I Brake for Yard Sales, Lara shares her secrets for bargain hunting and tells you where to shop, what to look for, how to pay for it, how to restore it, and finally, where to put it in your house. Looking for the newest arrivals at your local thrift shops? After busy Saturdays and no-pick-up Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the best days to shop for fresh items. Peppered with wisdom from world-renowned appraisers whom Lara knows from her previous work on Antiques Roadshow as well as contributions from well-known designers, this book also features the house of comedienne and good friend Kathy Griffin, which Spencer herself refurbished and decorated.

Review

Like Lara, I love Goodwill and have bought several things for my home there and spent way less than if I had bought it new. In this age of reusing and recycling this is a great way to save money, help others and keep things out of the landfill.

Lara shows you how to mix and match styles, colors and how to give new life to old things.  I enjoyed this book and learned how to better shop at thrift stores in the future.

If you want to save the planet and money then pick up this book and learn how to tell trash from treasure.  Happy Hunting Y’all.

Happy Reading!

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Interesting article

Creating Time Review

Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life by Marney K. Makridakis

Genre:  Self help

Publisher: New Library

Source: Sent by publisher for review

Book Description:

Most of us have said, “If only I had more time,” as a way of explaining why we aren’t leading our most fulfilling lives. This book turns the concept of time management upside down by presenting exciting new tools for viewing and experiencing your time. Creating Time combines creativity with science in a gorgeous colorful format that presents a fascinating adventure in which you will imagine, create, and completely reshape the way you experience time. Each chapter presents a shift-making concept illustrated by real-life examples, step-by-step introspective processes, and powerful creative projects that inspire a new sense of time, a liberating view of self, and a fresh perspective on the meaning of being human, empowered, and fully alive.

Review

What do you think of when you think of time?  Do you wish you had more time? If you answered yes then this book will help you rethink what time is and how to make your life better. The author starts each chapter with a poetic pause that “explores time through a metaphorical lens”.

She gives you an Artsignment to explore your feelings about time in the hopes it will free you to change your thinking and gain more time and reclaim your life.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who feels there isn’t enough time to get everything done.

Happy Reading!

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Sexy Vegan Review

The Sexy Vegan: Extrordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude by Brian L. Patton

Genre:  Cookbook

Publisher: New Library

Source: Sent by publisher for review

Book Description:

Are you craving a way to eat killer food without killing yourself, animals, or the planet? Is your brain bloated from watching cooking shows that present recipes you’re never, ever going to make? Have you been searching for a way to prove to your friends that vegan food can be just as delicious, hearty, and satisfying as the meaty meals they’re accustomed to? Then this is the book for you.

Of his journey from watching food porn on his parents’ couch to cooking in Hollywood kitchens to becoming vegan, author Brian Patton writes:

My roommate said he didn’t know what made me a bigger loser: that I was painstakingly preserving episodes of 30 Minute Meals or that I was trying to conceal their existence by labeling them Star Trek....Once I discovered that I could not only survive but thrive without taking the life of another being, I was sold. I was a vegan. For good.

And that’s how an “ordinary dude” became the Sexy Vegan and started creating “extraordinary food” with a decidedly real-meal appeal. On every page, Brian proves that seriously good food needn’t be too serious.

Review

If you’re thinking of becoming or are already a vegan then you’ll want to add this book to your cookbook collection.  The recipes are simple and remakes of common dishes.

Brian covers cocktails, snacks, entrees and even pizza.  One of the recipes that sound really interesting is a recipe for jambalaya. Instead of regular sausages he uses pretend chipotle sausages which he has a recipe for that.

This is a fun and easy cookbook that can help you stay on a vegan diet or help you decide if you want to be vegan.

Thank you to Kim Corbin and New World Library for sending me this book.

Happy Reading!

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is one p. 68 of Buried in a Book by Lucy Arlington

 Thanks again….Sean.  His name tasted good on my lips, like I’d just sipped a fine glass of wine.

Happy Reading!

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Fifty Shades of Grey Review

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

Genre:  Adult Fiction

Publisher: Vintage

Source: Purchased

Book Description:

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms. Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires. Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

Review

What an absorbing and erotic read this is, but it’s not the main story, just a way for two people to discover what their limits are and maybe find love.  This first book in the trilogy introduces us to Christian and Ana and the darkness that is inside Christian and how Ana struggles to bring him into the light. It’s also a psychological novel that can show how one person can control another.

I’ve read better written books, but this one makes you want to continue to see where the characters will go and how far.  If you don’t like explicit sex, then you should avoid this book.  I liked the characters, but found them to not be that believable. This would be better as a movie than as a book.

I don’t usually buy books because of the hype, but I wanted to see for myself what the hype was about.  Curiosity can kill the cat and the cat has no lives left. I don’t usually do negative reviews, but I felt I needed to make an exception.

Happy Reading!

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Wife 22 Review

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

Genre:  Adult Fiction

Publisher: Ballantine

Source: Library Thing Early Review

Book Description:

For fans of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It comes an irresistible novel of a woman losing herself . . . and finding herself again . . . in the middle of her life.

Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).

And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.

61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.

67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.

32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.

Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Review:

This was a wonderful read.  I’m sure we’ve all felt that our lives were stale and boring, married or not, and wished it were different.

When Alice is asked to participate in this study, she didn’t realize that she was really unhappy and didn’t know how to fix it.

Alice gets caught up in Researcher 101 and they both realize they are crossing a line that shouldn’t be cross, but neither one wants to end the “relationship”. 

This is a fun look at modern marriage and how life can become stagnant without us realizing it and how we can try to bring more happiness into our lives if we’re willing to turn a few stones over and really look at ourselves.

Happy Reading!

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Famous manuscripts that were rejected at first

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/40-famous-manuscripts-that-were-rejected-at-first/

Happy Reading
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Living Fully Review

Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath by Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche

Genre:  Adult Non- Fiction

Publisher: New World Library

Source: Shelf Awareness Win

Book Description:

We all aspire to live fully and freely in the moment.

In Living Fully, Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche reveals timeless wisdom that can help us fulfill this deepest aspiration. Each succinct teaching is a luminous jewel, an invaluable guide to actualizing our innate potential and breathing with joy and ease.

Today, with so many struggling with financial, relationship, and career challenges, Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath is a timely prescription. Rinpoche offers the tools we need to experience genuine inner freedom, uncorrupted by endless craving for something better. Topics include beginning with a pure motivation, the preciousness of breath, healing oneself and others, the essence of meditation, and spontaneous fulfillment.

Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche has written the book that our troubled age has been yearning for. It is a treasure trove of heartfelt advice on how to seize the moment and live with kindness and understanding. Rinpoche’s teachings gently beckon us home to the purity and simplicity of our true nature. At peace with ourselves and at ease with the world, we can discover what it means to live our lives fully.

Review:

This was a wonderful introduction to the teachings of Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche and some of the tenets of Buddhism.

I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about Buddhism and trying to live a full life and finding peace with yourself.

Rinpoche talks about intentions, honesty, wakefulness, simplicity, karma, and meditation.  He doesn’t preach, but just introduces readers to these basic concepts.

The main thing the author wants you to take away from this book is

  “Do not measure yourself by how affluent, successful, or influential you are. Measure yourself by how content you are, by how present you can be in each moment.”

Happy Reading!

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Interesting Article Benefits of Being an Avid Reader

I received this link in my email and thought you'd like to read it

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/04/09/your-brain-on-books-20-proven-benefits-of-being-an-avid-reader/

Happy Reading

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is one p. 98 of Fifty Shades of Grey  by E L James

  The first thing I notice is the smell: leather, wood,polish with a

  faint citrus scent. It’s very pleasant,and the lighting is soft, subtle.

Happy Reading!

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Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth

Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth by Jane O’Connor

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source: Library Thing Early Review

Book Description:

Nancy Clancy is growing up and ready for a whole new adventure . . . in her chapter book debut!

Nancy and her best friend, Bree, have everything they need to solve a mystery, from their totally professional trench coats to their top-secret code.

But when crime strikes in their classroom, will these super sleuths be able to crack the case?

Find out in the glamorous start to an all-new chapter book series featuring everyone’s favorite fancy girl!

Review:

I love the Fancy Nancy books and this is a great edition for older readers. Nancy and friend Bree love Nancy Drew and are looking for a case to solve.  

During Family Night at their school a mystery appears and Nancy is determined to solve it, even if it means a classmate may have commited the crime.

If your daughter enjoys Fancy Nancy then she’ll enjoy this one.

Happy Reading!

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Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is one p. 32 of Don’t Breathe a Word  by Jennifer McMahon

When Lisa first heard the bells, it was as if the whole forest was singing.

“Shh,” she said to Sam and Evie, finger over her lips. “Listen.”

Happy Reading!

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