Saturday Snapshot- Local Holiday- December 16, 2011

Last Saturday our town had their annual holiday day.  Local businesses, churches, and museums take part in a scavenger hunt.  Each location you visit puts a sticker or stamp on your sheet and often has a prize or treat to take or do.  Sometimes and ornament to make, cookies and hot chocolate to eat, food to buy, balloons and the like.  We've been going for six or seven years now but had never done the carriage ride.  This year we gave it a try.

The weekend before that we went on an evening carriage ride in another local city for their annual tree lighting ceremony.  We waited in line for forty five minutes and then took a ride through town.  The kids loved it so I thought they would all love to do it again.  My oldest was all grumpy about the carriage ride, so you won't see him in any of the pictures.

The carriage took us through the park and past the pool.  It was a nice gentle ride on a clear and nice day.

A small part of the ride was on a lightly used street and that part gave me an appreciation for Amish buggy drivers and riders, because cars would come up behind us pretty fast even though we were only on the street for a couple minutes.

One of the other attractions of the day was Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  They were by the local Institute where completed scavenger hunt forms were turned in for raffle tickets. You got one ticket for each stamp and we each had 15 of the 16 places stamped so we got a lot of tickets!  We won one raffle.  Our prize was from the Historical Society.  We won a DVD about the 150th Anniversary of our town and two history books.  My three year old won and he has been taking his history book to bed with him to "read"!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler

Overview

In this raucous collection of true-life stories, actress and comedian Chelsea Handler recounts her time spent in the social trenches with that wild, strange, irresistible, and often gratifying beast: the one-night stand.

My thoughts:I originally shied away from this book because I thought it was only going to be about men Handler had slept with just once, I enjoyed the two other books I read so much that I decided to give it a try.  It was just as funny to read as the other two and a lot of fun to read.  While it does focus a lot on sex, that isn't the only thing it is about and a lot of it is funny moments before, during or after sex.  Having the dog steal your panties, walking into an apartment that you know you've been to before but can't recall when, bringing your gay friend home for your sister's wedding and finding him misbehaving all over the place were all featured in these stories.  I now wish I had read the books in order, this one jumps off into where she was in books two and three.  They can all stand alone just fine, but it would have been nice to see her growing with the books instead of going backwards.  That said, I think some of the stories from the later books come from this same time period.  I like that Chelsea is fine with who she is and doesn't apologize for her behavior, if only we could all feel that confident in ourselves!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781582346182
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 6/28/2005
Pages: 213

Wicked Games by Jill Myles

Overview

Abby Lewis never pictured herself on the survival game show, Endurance Island. She’s just not the ‘survival’ type. But when her boss offers her a spot on the show and the opportunity of a lifetime, she packs her bags and heads to the tropics to be a contestant. Once in the game, though, it’s clear that Abby’s in over her head.

No one’s more competitive than sexy, delicious – and arrogant – Dean Woodall. Sure, he’s clever, strong, good at challenges, and has a body that makes her mouth water. He also hates Abby just as much as she hates him. That’s fine with her; she’ll just ignore the jerk.

But the rules of Endurance Island are working against them. Abby and Dean are teamed up – alone – on the beach. It’s either work together, or go home. Stuck with no one's company but their own, they learn they might just make a good team after all.

And Abby learns that with just a little bit of kindling, the flames of hate can quickly turn to flames of passion. This book features enemies, lovers, enemies who become lovers, and lots and lots of tropical heat…

Length: 59,000 words (about 260 pages)
 
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed Jill Myles Succubus Diary series, so when i saw this as a free ebook I added it to my Kindle library.  I started it awhile back but didn't finish it.  Last week I started it again and read it in just a few sittings.  It is the first book I finished reading on my Kindle Fire.  The premise is just like Survivor from the perspective of a journalist who is drafted onto the show. 

Myles did a good job getting Dean and Abby to work their way around to the need to work together and built their attraction pretty well.  Most of the other contestants were barely sketched out, but as they weren't the focus of the story it really didn't matter.  It was a quick read.  Abby's emotions were well done and believable.  I thought the ending wrapped things ups a little too neatly, but sometimes it is nice to have the characters you've spent time with settled and happy. I still enjoy the Succubus Diaries more, she really does a good job with the love triangle and supernatural elements in those.
 
Product Details
BN ID: 2940012237422
Publisher: Jill Myles
Publication date: 3/5/2011
Format: eBook

It's Monday, What are you reading?

I still need to write reviews for books I finished the week prior to this:
Wicked Games by Jill Myles
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

This week I finished:
My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
Zane's Tale:  A Succubus Diary Short by Jill Myles

The books I am still working on are:
Throwaway by Heather Huffman
The Hollows Insider: New fiction, facts, maps, murders, and more in the world of Rachel Morgan by Kim Harrison
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
The Shadow of Your Smile by Susan May Warren

Last week was just so busy that I didn't get reviews posted for the books from the week before and even missed my first Saturday Snapshot since I started participating.  I'm hoping to get caught up this week!  I was really excited when Chelsea Handler's book finally arrived.  I requested it on Paperbackswap almost a month ago and the sender marked it as shipped.  I got three emails from Paperbackswap asking if it had arrived before it did.  It came two days before the final estimated arrival date and I discovered the sender hadn't bother to send it until well past the ship date.  I know it arrived before the action date, but part of me got really annoyed.  If it is the post office who delays shipping and arrival it is one thing, that happens and we all understand it, but to lie about sending it just seems so dishonest to me.  Oh well, it's here, I read it in a little over a day and I loved it just like the other two I read. 

This week I sent out my Secret Santa package as part of the The Broke and Bookish Secret Santa.  This is the second year, but my first participating.  Seems like a lot of fun.  I'll be sure to post what I get when my present arrives!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Overview

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce—and goes out of his way to make that very clear—she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

My thoughts:
Last fall I read so much about this book.  I added it to my TBR list and wish list but didn't get around to buying a copy until recently.  On my shelf already is book two, Torment, that I picked up at Border's when it was going out of business in our area last winter, but I didn't want to read it until I'd read Fallen.  Neither or our libraries had copies.  I used a gift card to buy this for myself last month.  Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down!  It is definitely a page turner!
 
I wasn't sure what to make of Luce and Daniel at the beginning.  Either I forgot what I read in the reviews last year or I skipped them, as I sometimes do when I want to be surprised by a book.  I'm big on surprises and not knowing things ahead of time with both books and movies, it just adds to the fun!  I kept thinking I knew what the secret was and I did turn out to be mostly right, but in the desire to not give spoilers I won't say what the secret was!
 
Luce was so driven that she started to seem almost a bit too interested at times in Daniel's past and his family.  While it turned out there was a reason she couldn't let it rest, her obsession did start to worry me at times.  I haven't taken it off the shelf yet, but I can't wait to dive into the second book to see where Luce and Daniel go from here!
 
 
Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780385739139
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication date: 9/28/2010
Pages: 496
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Series title: Lauren Kate's Fallen Series

It's Monday, What are you reading?

The books I finished last week were:
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Wicked Games by Jill Myles
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

The books I am still working on are:

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
Throwaway by Heather Huffman
The Hollows Insider: New fiction, facts, maps, murders, and more in the world of Rachel Morgan by Kim Harrison
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews

Book I bought or received last week:
From my mom:
Maybe This Time by Jennifer Cruise
A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber

From the used bookstore:  (I went in to look for books for a Secret Santa exchange I signed up for and walked out with more books for myself.  Bookstores are dangerous for the wallet!)
The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson
A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox
How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life by Kirstie Alley
William and Kate by Christopher Anderson

Last week I also got an early Christmas present, actually two, but only one is really book related.  I now have a Kindle Fire and a Garmin sports watch.  I am having such fun playing with both!


This is hosted by Shelia at Bookjourney so stop on over to see what other people have been reading and buying!

Saturday Snapshot- Snowy 5K- December 3, 2011

This was taken at the end of October when my husband and I ran in our third 5K during the snowstorm that shut down our area for days.  Up until then I had never run in the snow or rain.  Even running outside when it was cold was new to me!  I dressed too warmly and got uncomfortable, but it turned out to be a fun experience.  Our next race is on New Year's Eve.  It will be a nice way to say goodbye to the old year in a healthy way.

This is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.  You can stop by her blog to see who else is participating and follow links to each of the posts.