Book Review Discussion: Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson

Book: Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Review and Utah Book Month
From: ARC from the author at a book signing (to be released Jan. 2015)

Short Synopsis: Charlotte (formerly Piper) has just escaped an abusive childhood. She is now ready to change her life and put everything behind her. Then she sees a little girl that appears to be suffering the same awful abuse that she herself has just escaped. Charlotte has to help her and now her life is going in a completely different direction than she planned. Thanks to help from a strong and understanding boy named Cam, it just might be possible to overcome all.

My Response: Ah, tough subject matter! This is torture abuse, literally. It's hard to even imagine. But despite the harrowing bits, it's also an inspirational tale that leaves you with the feeling of  "you go girl" toward Charlotte. She is strong and determined, yet she is also unable to do this alone. Thanks to some friends she meets along the way, she is able to fight back and overcome. It's page turning to watch. Yes, hard, but also, yes, awesome. Cam, an unlikely friend she finds along the way, is amazingly understanding. I'm not sure any normal person would stick around and just... you know... take the good with the bad. Because this bad is pretty bad.

Bottom Line: I totally enjoyed this one. A sad, powerful story. (Note: This book doesn't come out until Jan. 2015 and I usually don't review something so far ahead of time, but have made an exception this time as part of Utah Book Month celebrations!)

Let's Talk About: What are your feelings reading about reading about abuse? I know it's hard, but it's also eye opening and something that we need to do to be aware. Don't you think? Or do you think it's better left unsaid and unwritten? Or do you think that sure, it should be written about, but you don't have to read it? Thoughts?

Other Reviews:

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! The story was so intense. I wanted to finish it as soon as I started reading it. From Jenni Elyse

This is a very realistic fiction with a very important theme, one that unfortunately is probably more true than any of us outside this type of a situation may know. From Lisa Loves Literature

Side Note: Don't read this after dark! I had some weird dreams after reading into the night. I just couldn't put it down, but I paid for it! From Kami's Library Thoughts

Currently: Back to School? Already?

CURRENTLY

(written this very second)

Listening: Nothing. I should fix that. What should I listen too? We've been listening to a lot of MIKA at our house these days. Raise your hand if you know this singer??

Watching: I started the second season on Netflix for Hell on Wheels. Also, I watched the first episode of Outlander on the computer. Didn't catch the second one last night. Not sure if I'll manage to keep up with this one. But anyway, that's all the TV I've watched in the past few days. Feeling some withdrawal. I need the new shows to start up! I want Once Upon a Time and Parenthood and Survivor and... well... at least those ones....

Reading: I haven't been doing very well with my Utah Book plans. Only two books down! And I started a third and it's not grabbing me. I think I'll try another one today and see if it takes hold a little better.

Writing: Having fun chatting online with my little group every Tuesday... those that come anyway! I'm still making slow but sure progress with editing and revising my Nano story. Starting to gear up and think about a new Nano story for this November.

Also, we are very close to jumping full force into creating my new writing space. I have every reason to believe once this is done, my writing will totally take off! Ha!

Blogging: Gah... I guess I'm in a slump! Just not feeling it these days. Forcing myself to write those posts that actually do show up. I hate that. Here's hoping it changes.

Anyway, smack in the middle of Utah Book Month and have plans to start gearing up for a full on Bloggiesta which is fast approaching! Oh my word, but time flies!

Eating: I've been tracking my eating at My Fitness Pal now for three full weeks. I HATE IT! Hate it tell you. I feel hungry all day long. And there is nothing to show for it. But I'm determined to keep trying. I've managed Zumba several times, which I actually really love. It's just finding a moment to squeeze it in. But yeah, I'm tired of being fat, but the effort not to be fat is exhausting and frustrating. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this sentiment.

Crafting: Nothing but I need to do some wedding scrapbooks so bad.

Miscellaneous:

• school starts this week for kid #4. Kids 1 through 3 all start various colleges the next week. Party on.
• we've plans to go camping this weekend as our final hurrah. But there are so many things happening that we'll miss that we wonder why we even tried.
• Oldest kid turns 25 this month. He is freaking much worse than I am.
• the whole writing blog posts for Comic Con has not turned out as expected. Two weeks have gone by and I haven't seen a thing yet. Sigh.
• I want to see The Giver. And I want to see Richard Armitage in that tornado movie. And people... is Guardians of the Galaxy really that good. I mean...really?
• And all the talk about Robin Williams and depression and all... has made me depressed. No joke.
• Ah well. I guess that's all that's on my mind at the moment.

Happy new week to you all!

Utah Book Month Party 2014

Once again, we are gathering all our awesome bookish-ness in one place and you know you want to be there! Yes it's true, to end our fun celebration of Utah Book Month, we'll be having a party at the same park in Lehi where we've been the past couple of years. Except this year, we'll be in the directly opposite pavilion then we have before, which means we'll be at the NE spot...so take note! Here are the details:

Utah Book Month Bash

Saturday, August 30, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.

Wines Park in Lehi, Pavilion #1 (NE Corner)

• Bring a small dessert to share; we'll provide plates/forks/napkins/cups/water.
• Bring ONE book (per attendee) to swap.
• We do have a pavilion with picnic tables, but you may also want to bring chairs or blankets for sitting on the grass.
• Families are welcome - there is a playground for kids

Check out the Utah Books Blog for directions. 

We hope to see all you bloggin' buddies and favorite authors there!

Here we are a couple of years ago.
I would love to see this many come again!

In Which The World's Strongest Librarian Comes to Book Club!

Since it's Utah Book Month this month, our book club decided to read a book by a Utah author. The book they chose was The World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne. Turns out, the library even had a book club set for this book! Which is always a plus for our book club.

We planned to meet next week on our normal third Thursday but after a fun turn of events due to a Twitter conversation I had, we met last night instead and Josh Hanagarne himself came and joined us!

I was so very nervous. Talk about doing something out of your comfort zone! So I rallied the book club and I said, hey, if you haven't read the book yet.. read it now! And bring guests (friends, husbands, kids, moms) to book club! And they did and last night, we had an awesome, interested and engaged crowd!

And Josh came and he was fun and interesting and willing to answer pretty much any question we had. In the end after we gave him a thank you gift that included a t-shirt from the library, he even modeled his book stack spine tattoo when he changed shirts. LOL!

Some of the things we talked about:

• his relationship with his parents, particularly his mom who was featured so strongly in the book. 
• how the book came about, which was sort of accidentally, when someone fell in love with his blog
• how he learned to write? From reading! And practicing. "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write."
• the difference between a memoir and an autobiography: a memoir is a certain slant on a life...there's a theme. An autobiography is the whole life of a person... beginning to end.
• Did you get your Mark Twain set back? YES!!
• "Everything is a story." Even math spreadsheets.
• We talked a lot about honesty. His book is so honest and forthright, and yet, things in just the past few years have changed yet again. And now he's so different even from the person who wrote that book. There's another memoir in the works to talk about all the changes...I think.
• One of the big changes.. divorce. I know many of us were curious about this one and he talked about it a little. 
• Book crushes since Fern? The girl that appears only for a paragraph or two in Carols Ruiz Zafron's The Angel's Game. 
• Some favorite books: anything by Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, Catch 22, Don Quixote. But the book he's read the most... Terminator 2!

Here's a few pictures: 

Josh Hanagarne with girlfriend Angela

A crowd shot

More of the interested audience!

Here's our posed picture... and even then a few people
didn't jump in.

Changing shirts and showing of the tattoo!

My husband handed him a phone book.
This was the result!

 Such a fun evening! It will go down as one of our best book club moments. Thanks to Josh for joining us!

Book Review Discussion: Longing for Home by Sarah M. Eden

Book: Longing for Home by Sarah M. Eden
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:★★★☆ ☆
For: Utah Book Month
From: I bought it.

Short Synopsis: Katie is from Ireland. She had a terrible time there due to the potato famine. She is now in America trying to make a life for herself so she can get back to Ireland to make amends with her parents. This finds her in Wyoming as a housekeeper to a guy and his two daughters. Things are not as she expected, but she figures it out. What she really doesn't expect is to get right smack in the middle of the town conflict between the Irish people and the other people. And somehow, everyone is counting on her to fix it.

My Response: I enjoyed the romance. Very sweet, though beware, it's a triangle! And the Irish culture was awesome to learn about. But I got tired of the conflict... it seemed repetitive. Like, okay, I get it...now.. on with the story! Also, I didn't get why Katie herself was so important to the solving of this issue. I mean, really? Strange. Anyway, I do want to keep reading the sequel to find out who she picks, though it seems obvious at the moment. Both love interests are pretty wonderful and I can see her dilemma!

Bottom Line: Sweet, fun story. Nothing to rave about but it was enjoyable to read.

Let's Talk About: Accents. Ireland has an awesome one, just like Scotland and I enjoyed the portrayal of this accent and their sayings very much in this book. Do you like it when an author writes the brogue of a certain language? Or does it make you crazy and take you out of the story?

Other Reviews:

Of course, there are a couple of handsome men to add confusion to the mix. This is called "A Proper Romance", after all. From Good Clean Reads

I realized that as I was getting closer to the end of the story that it was an actual story as well and I enjoyed that aspect of this author. From Minding Spot

One of the best parts of this book is the hilarious banter that the characters toss back and forth between one another. From Gamila's Book Review

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'm Not So Sure About

The prompt at The Broke and the Bookish today is "to read or not to read?" Or.. what books are we not too sure about reading. Here's what's on my list:

1. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon: This is the second Outlander book and with all the hoopla about the new TV show (yes I watched that first episode. Yes I totally loved it. Scottish music, Scottish accents... so much swoonishness!) it makes me want to keep reading this series, but there were so many things about that first book that disturbed me I'm not sure about it! These books make me nervous.

2. And the same goes for the Game of Throne books. I read the first one and wow wow wow. I'm so curious about the rest of the series, but I just don't think I can stomach it.

3. My daughter wants me to finish reading the Percy Jackson books and I just can't muster up any enthusiasm for them!

4. I'm not even a little bit interested in J.K. Rowling's adult books.  But sheesh, it's J.K.!

5. I've been seeing this Me Before You book everywhere. Is it for me? Is it not? I'm not sure.

6. I wonder if I'll ever read Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Once yes. Now, I'm not so sure.

7. There are many Oprah books that I bought back in the day that I wonder if I'll ever read now. Some still seem a bit appealing, others not so much.

8. I have Requiem by Lauren Oliver on my kindle, the final in that series. People haven't said good things about it. But I want to finish the series, and yet, I don't want to waste time on it if it's really terrible!

9. Even though I love Maggie Steifvater, I'm not sure I'll ever finish (only read the first one) that werewolf trilogy of hers. I think what she's done since is much much better. So it'll make me crazy to go back to that, right?

10. And to end, something I am pretty sure about, I highly doubt I'll ever read that one 50 shades series. You know the one? :)

How about you? What books do you wonder if you'll ever read?

Utah Book Month: The Maze Runner Movie

Here's my son back in 2009 with both
James Dashner and J. Scott Savage at
one of our blogger parties.

You are probably sick of me telling the story that begins like this.... "Remember that one time when James Dashner came to our book blogger party? No, when he came, like, three or four times to our book blogger parties?"

Yes, that story. He came to our party back when The Maze Runner was just a gleam in his eye! He was telling us all about it, this new book of his, and was so excited. Though he did seem a little worried that everyone would think he was floating on the coat tails of The Hunger Games.. except his book was written before he'd even heard of The Hunger Games. People don't understand the timing of these things and he was worried.

Anyway, his excitement was catching and I couldn't wait to read this book when it finally came out. I loved it! Granted, I was a little disappointed in the follow up books. They fell a bit flat for me. But still, that first book, The Maze Runner, was awesome.

And now, a movie? And a movie that looks to be as big as any of the other recent YA book-to-movie successes? It's crazy! It's awesome! I still remember that gleam in his eye and now... this BIGGNESS? I love it.

So here's to Utah authors making it big! And getting their books made to movies!

Have you seen the latest trailer? It's brand new. It looks so good guys. Scary and good. And the guy who stars in it...I think he's spot on. It's Dylan O'brien who I fell in love with on Teen Wolf. He plays Stiles there and he stole the show. He looks to be so perfect for this part. I can't wait to see it and see how he does.




Anyway... congrats to Mr. Dashner, our very own Utah author! I know what I'll be doing on September 19!