Waiting for Daisy

Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein

Amazon Description:

“Peggy Orenstein's widely hailed and bestselling memoir of her quest for parenthood begins when she tells her new husband that she's not sure she ever wants to be a mother; it ends six years later after she's done almost everything humanly possible to achieve that goal. Buffeted by one obstacle after another, Orenstein seeks answers both medical and spiritual in America and Asia, all the while trying to hold on to a marriage threatened by cycles, appointments, procedures, and disappointments. Waiting for Daisy is both an intimate page-turner and a wrly funny report from the front.”

My thoughts:

I would recommend Orenstein’s book to the memoir crowd. However, I do think there are better infertility themed memoirs out there.

It was at times tedious to read her account. She is also hard to engage with. However, she does tell an interesting story and I was able to sympathize with her experiences.

I was always afraid of infertility. It has to be incredibly frustrating when your body doesn’t cooperate. I was blessed with 3 easy conceptions, but I felt a bit guilty that it was so easy for me, when I knew other women who were struggling.

Everyone is Beautiful

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

Katherine Center is an entertaining voice. I loved this storyline. Lanie is lost in motherhood. She and her husband Peter have moved across the country with their three small boys. She is away from family and friends, in support of her husband’s dreams. Lanie starts to find herself again. She starts a new gym, signs up for photography classes and makes a new friend. But in uncovering her own passions, will she lose the other important pieces of her life?

Easy to relate to, as a Mother your own feelings are often lost in the shuffle. For me it is kids, work, husband, me. I enjoyed hearing Lanie’s journey through the same feelings.

I recommend Center for the “Chick Lit” type reader.

The 4-Hour Work Week

The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

Amazon Description:

“Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:

• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
• How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent "mini-retirements"
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office.”

My Thoughts:

I recently picked this book up, for the second time. I really envy Ferriss’s spirit and unique approach.

A few quotes that I love that he includes:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”—Mark Twain

“Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.”—Ralph Charell

A great book for the entrepreneurial mind!

Something Wonderful

Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught

Amazon Description:

“The tempestuous marriage of Alexandra Lawrence, an innocent country girl, and Jordan Townsende, the rich and powerful Duke of Hawthorne, is about to face its ultimate test of tender loyalty. Swept into the endlessly fascinating world of London society, free-spirited Alexandra becomes ensnared in a tangled web of jealousy and revenge, stormy pride and overwhelming passion. But behind her husband's cold, arrogant mask, there lives a tender, vital, sensual man...the man Alexandra married. Now, she will fight for his very life...and the rapturous bond they alone can share.”

My Thoughts:

McNaught has beautiful writing, as usual, and she is able to emotionally engage the reader. However I am over the “innocent girl” storyline. I was really bored and I didn’t like the hero or the heroine.
Jaded, am I? Perhaps.

Lover Reborn

Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

Next in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is the very sizzling story of Tohr and Autumn. The only frustrating thing for me was that dead people/vampires are always coming back to life in this series. So why couldn’t Wellsie??

Once again, there are many side stories being developed. I am anxiously awaiting the story of Layla and XCor.

First book in this series is Dark Lover. Check it out!

Everything Changes

Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper—

Amazon Description:
“To all appearances, Zachary King is a man with luck on his side. A steady, well-paying job, a rent-free Manhattan apartment, and Hope, his stunning, blue-blooded fiancée: smart, sexy, and completely out of his league. But as the wedding day looms, Zack finds himself haunted by the memory of his best friend, Rael, killed in a car wreck two years earlier–and by his increasingly complicated feelings for Tamara, the beautiful widow Rael left behind.
Then Norm–Zack’s freewheeling, Viagra-popping father–resurfaces after a twenty-year absence, looking to make amends. Norm’s overbearing, often outrageous efforts to reestablish ties with his sons infuriate Zack, and yet, despite twenty years of bad blood, he finds something compelling in his father’s maniacal determination to transform his own life. Inspired by Norm, Zack boldly attempts to make some changes of his own, and the results are instantly calamitous. Soon fists are flying, his love life is a shambles, and his once carefully structured existence is spinning hopelessly out of control.”

My Thoughts:
Tropper is one of my favorite authors. This book fell a little flat for me. I didn’t engage as strongly in the plot as in some of his other work. But I still really enjoyed the story. Tropper is the master of dysfunction and witty humor.