To The Edge

To The Edge by Cindy Gerard

Gerard is masterful at creating emotional characters. If you enjoy romantic suspense you need to be familiar with her work! I love her “Black Ops” series. This is the first in her “Bodyguards” series.

I loved these characters. The book was steamy, emotional and full of suspense.  

Monday Recommends

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Classic YA: The Outsiders by SE Hinton
2. Relax Your Mind: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson
3. Suspense: Dark of the Moon by John Sandford
4. Complex: The Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
5. Unique YA: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. Sweet Romance: Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
7. Entrepreneurial: Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
8. For Parents: Perfect Parenting by Elizabeth Pantley
9. Leadership for Women: Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois Frankel
10. Emotional Romance: Only With Your Love by Lisa Kleypas

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Sweet Romance: It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
2. Heart Wrenching Memoir: They Cage the Animals At Night by Jennings Michael Burch
3. Spirit Stirring: Bhagavad gita
4. Dramatic Mother/Daughter: One True Thing by Anna Quindlen
5. Classic: 1984 by George Orwell
6. Parenting Help: Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Kurcinka
7. Steamy, Action packed, Emotional: The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series (starts with Dark Lover) by J.R. Ward
8. Wrenching: 102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer
9. Amazing Author: The World According to Garp by John Irving
10. Hilarious: My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

Call After Midnight

Call After Midnight by Tess Gerritsen

Hmmmm….Gerritsen’s earlier work is definitely not up to the Rizzoli/Isles series I am so in love with.

This one was a cookie-cutter suspense, full of contrived characters and lacking in true suspense.

Overall, it was just an okay read, which is surprising from Gerritsen. The Rizzoli/Isles series is brilliant! If you are giving Gerritsen a try for the first time start with "The Surgeon."

Stuff

While I have been recovering from surgery I have been reading a lot of my personal comfort lit...romance. Even while preparing for surgery my mind was not able to focus on other genres. In a few months when I catch up with my posts (have so many lined up!) you will be seeing a few straight weeks of romance reviews. These books have definitely kept me entertained for the last few months! Love those HEA's! (Happily Ever Afters).

Also...any other music lovers out there? I love to find new songs! I wanted to share a favorite I found recently. Go out to spotify and listen! Love this guys voice. It is "Hey Hey, My My" by Battleme.

So my recovery has been--sleeping, romance reading, Netflix and Spotify. Busy girl. 

Dying to Be Me: My Journey From Cancer, To Near-Death, To True Healing by Anita Moorjani

Amazon Description:

"In this truly inspirational memoir, Anita Moorjani relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body began shutting down—overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience where she realized her inherent worth . . . and the actual cause of her disease. Upon regaining consciousness, Anita found that her condition had improved so rapidly that she was released

from the hospital within weeks—without a trace of cancer in her body! Within these pages, Anita recounts stories of her childhood in Hong Kong, her challenge to establish her career and find true love, as well as how she eventually ended up in that hospital bed where she defied all medical knowledge. As part of a traditional Hindu family residing in a largely Chinese and British society, Anita had been pushed and pulled by cultural and religious customs since she was a little girl. After years of struggling to forge her own path while trying to meet everyone else’s expectations, she had the realization, as a result of her epiphany on the other side, that she had the power to heal herself . . . and that there are miracles in the Universe that she’d never even imagined. In Dying to Be Me, Anita freely shares all she has learned about illness, healing, fear, "being love," and the true magnificence of each and every human being! This is a book that definitely makes the case that we are spiritual beings having a human experience . . . and that we are all One!"

My Thoughts

This was a good read. I enjoyed Moorjani’s triumph over illness. Her positivity through horrible circumstance was inspirational.

Expecting Adam

Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth And Everyday Magic by Martha Beck

Amazon Description:

"John and Martha Beck had two Harvard degrees apiece when they conceived their second child. Further graduate studies, budding careers, and a growing family meant major stress--not that they'd have admitted it to anyone (or themselves). As the pregnancy progressed, Martha battled constant nausea and dehydration. And when she learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she battled nearly everyone over her decision to continue the pregnancy. She still cannot explain many of the things that happened to her while she was expecting Adam, but by the time he was born, Martha, as she puts it, ‘had to unlearn virtually everything Harvard taught [her] about what is precious and what is garbage.’"

My Thoughts:

This was a sweet story. I enjoyed Beck’s telling of her journey into Motherhood and the challenges that come with a baby with Down Syndrome. Beck is a little over the top, at times, but I loved her fierce passion for her child.