Book Review: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
I've lost it. The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry the ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her 'happy ever after' begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring but in the panic that followed, she has now lost her phone. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton doesn't agree. He wants his phone back and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other's lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents... she soon realises that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

In Sophie Kinsella’s latest standalone novel I’ve Got Your Number the heroine Poppy Wyatt has lost her engagement ring and not just any ring, it is Magnus’ (her fiancé) great grandmother’s emerald engagement ring, a ring so valuable that Magnus had to go into a vault and retrieve the ring before proposing to Poppy. And now Poppy has lost it, on the day she is supposed to see Magnus’ parents for the first time after getting engaged. It would be an understatement to say that Poppy is panicking and of course things get worse after Poppy loses the one way anyone who has found the ring to contact her (her cell phone) so what does she do? She steals a phone or well saves a phone since the item in question was taken from the trash. Who cares if it’s a company phone and that the person calling it (Sam Roxton) demands that she returns it (turns out the phone belonged to his personal assistant), Poppy NEEDS it and she’ll return it as soon as she gets her ring back. In fact she even offers to substitute as Sam’s PA until this whole mess is over. Oh the trouble this girl gets herself into.

In I’ve Got Your Number Poppy Wyatt is a people pleasing physiotherapist about to be married into a family of over achieving geniuses. Sam Roxton is a high level executive who isn’t big on socialising or writing messages that are more than a sentence long and by a series of unexpected events they both get tangled up in each other’s lives. Initially both Poppy and Sam clash as they are both very different personalities and neither can really understand the other but they both also have what the other needs and in the end really help one another to realize their faults and their strengths.

Ever since I read the humorous Can You Keep A Secret a few years ago I have been a fan of Sophie Kinsella's standalone books. They are what you want to read if you need something funny and cute to put you in a good mood, the novel equivalent of a romantic comedy. This book was both a light and quick read and the heroine, like all Sophie Kinsella heroine's, is a likeable character who after getting herself in to a few ridiculous situations realizes how strong, smart and capable she really is. Some people may dismiss books like these as pure fluff but I just desperately want to read the next book this author writes.

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Book Review: Hammered by Kevin Hearne

Hammered by Kevin Hearne
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.

By the end of Hexed, the second book in the Iron Druid Chronicles, Atticus had made two deals and was in debt to two very powerful people. The first, an Indian witch named Lashka who in turn for helping Atticus kill a dozen bacchants requested that he steal for her an immortal youth-inducing Golden Apple. The second person was Atticus’ long-time friend and lawyer Leif Helgarson a Nordic-vampire who in exchange for helping Atticus take down a coven of evil witches and demons would require Atticus’ help in killing Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Both favours require Atticus to travel between planes and to the world of Asgard; both favours also put Atticus in a lot of trouble.

Atticus does not want to go to Asgard, he does not want to make his existence more known to those that might want to smite him or put the ones he loves in danger but he gave his word and despite receiving two warnings from two gods of two different religions he is still going to go ahead with his quest, a quest that he might not walk away from. Hammered definitely had a different feel to it than the first two books in this series. It was still a fun and humorous read but there was also a more serious tone interspersed throughout the narrative as well as an obvious hint that things were about to change forever and not necessarily for the best.

I enjoyed this third volume but not as much as its predecessors. Although there was interesting back stories revealed on not only Atticus but Granuille (Atticus’ apprentice), his friend Leif, and Gunnar, the Alpha werewolf of the Tempe pack, there were also stories shown about other characters that were introduced for the first time in the novel that I wasn’t too interested. It was my least favourite part of the novel and wished would have been done differently or cut down shorter. Still, if you are a fan of the series this is definitely not an instalment you should skip; many changes take place in this volume as well as hints of things to come. I believe this book was not only the end of an ARC but a set-up to the next one.

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The Infernal Devices, volume 1 manga COVER

Not sure if this is well known already but I just saw this on the YenPress website and had to share.

A prequel to Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, The Infernal Devices is the story of Tessa Gray, a sixteen-year-old American girl traveling alone to Victorian London who runs afoul of the city’s sordid supernatural underworld. Rescued by the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, Tessa quickly finds herself caught up in an intrigue that may very well destroy her new friends – including the two enigmatic young men, Jem and Will, who have taken her under their wing…

Dark hair and brilliant blue eyes hmm I wonder, could this be Will? I was surprised to see this image as the cover because below is a cover of an issue of YenPlus magazine that also has Will on the cover, and usually the cover shown on an issue YenPlus turns out to be the cover for the next upcoming volume in a a series.

Maybe the powers that be finally realized the position of the sword could be sending off the wrong sort of message ;).

What do you think of the cover? Prefer it to the image on the magazine or not?

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Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter

Production Company: Abraham Productions/Bazelevs Production/Tim Burton Productions
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writers:Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay/novel)
Main Stars: Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.

Once again, I have only glimpsed the trailer for this movie and was not sure what to expect. Somehow I just could not wrap my head around the thought of the once President of the United States being a vampire hunter. It just looked like a good movie and Reeshe and Sandy were hyped to see it, being vampire buffs.

The base of the story revolves around a young Abe vowing to kill the man he witnessed kill his mother. Later coming to finding the man he finally got up the nerve to kill could not be killed because he is a vampire.

Abe meets up with Henry who tells him he is a vampire hunter. Henry promises Abe that he will have his revenge, but first he must become a vampire hit man for him. He must have no friends and no family, and be ready when he tells him. There is not much more I can say without spoilers, but I must say there is an interesting twist.

There is plenty of action which is slowed down like in Sherlock Holmes, to allow you to see the blow by blow. It is also very interesting the way they incorporate some of the historical facts of his political life into the movie, like the battle of Gettysburg.

We highly recommend you go see this movie and hope that this review, though short will want you to go and check it out for yourselves.

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Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

In the aftermath of the recent tragedy in Colorado, we decided to still go see this movie. It is so sad that there are people in this world who prey on innocent victims in there moments of insanity. Our blessing go out to those have lost loved ones, hurt or suffered any traumatic damage in this incident.

Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Entertainment
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, and Bob Kane
Main Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway

Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.

I think we all agreed that this movie was well worth the wait. Somehow I expected more with all the hype. But I guess I should have watched the trailer before. Reeshe and Sandy know a lot more about the character of Bain so it was more to their expectations.

I was never much a fan of Christian Bale as Batman fan; I must say he did a really good job. In this movie you see a more emotional side of the Dark Knight, as he struggles with his inner turmoil dealing with his lost love and choosing to protect his beloved Gotham City.

Anne Hathaway as the catwoman/burglar I thought was no Hallie Berry or Michelle Phiffer, but she did a wonderful job. The chemistry between her as Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne was spectacular...and she sure can handle the bike! Her quirky personality is always a plus too.

My favourite casting was Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Detective Blake. I think he has really come a long way from his role as an alien in the popular 90s TV show Third Rock from the Sun. We can look forward to seeing big rolls from him in the near future.

Although I think this movie could have had a bit more action, we all greatly enjoyed the story and of course seeing all the new bat gadgets.

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Book Blogger Confessions #15

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books and Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews.

Making money off your blog: There was a recent controversy about bloggers charging authors for reviews (You can read about it here) which leads to this week's question:
Almost all of us blog as a hobby in our spare time, usually for free but is there anything wrong with making money off your blog?

Should bloggers charge for reviews?
What about advertising on a blog?
When a blogger does allow book related advertising does it turn you off? Make you wonder about the honesty of their reviews?

Do you have a problem with purchase links (Amazon for example) that earn a blogger a small commission if a person purchases a book through that link?

I suppose it depends on how you are making money off your blog. Some ways I am more comfortable with than others. Like with affiliate links, I am ok with this because the money a person gets through the affiliates link doesn’t cost the buyer any extra, so it’s a win/win for both blogger and buyer. Advertisements is a sort of grey area with me, now the blogger is receiving payment directly to advertise an author’s/publisher’s books and other things so they aren’t just a book blog but are now leaning towards becoming a marketing site. However, advertising alone isn’t too much of concern for me but if a blogger also reviews a book they are advertising then I can’t trust their review because how can they give a negative review to a book they are being paid to promote? This also applies to being paid for reviews, I don’t think book bloggers should charge for reviews, how can their followers trust what they are saying when they have been paid for their opinion?

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Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

I wasn’t too interested in Pushing the Limits, one I don’t read much contemporary fiction and two the cover kind of screams romance but I got the ARC at BEA and so much people who had read advanced copies were giving Pushing the Limits positives reviews, including one of my favourite authors so I decided to give it a shot. This novel is so much more than a romance.

Told from alternating points of view Pushing the Limits is about Echo, who ever since an attack she can’t remember that left her arm permanently scarred is trying not only to remember what happened to her so she can move on but is also trying to deal with the grief of losing her brother Aires who died overseas on deployment. It’s about Noah, who after a fire kills his parents has been shipped from one foster home to another and only wants to be reunited with his little brothers again. It’s about two people struggling with overwhelming issues trying to find hope and happiness.

Pushing the Limits was both a deep and compelling read that had me glued to the pages and desperate to find out how the story ends. Katie McGarry knows how to create realistic characters and she knows how to get me to care about them. Both Noah and Echo are the reasons I did not want to put this book down, not only did I want to find out how their individual stories pan out but I wanted to see their relationship through and to find out what would become of it. Echo is a girl who was betrayed be someone she should have been able to trust above everyone else and because of the aftermath she hides herself from the world and has become a shadow of her former self. Noah is the result of the failings of the Foster Care system, there is barely anyone he will trust and he is both hurt and angry. It took me a while to like Noah; I could sympathize with him sure but because of his reputation for doing drugs and sleeping around with girls it wasn’t until about one hundred pages in that I started liking him as a character but I eventually did and in the end he was the character that had me crying and wanting to comfort.

Pushing the Limits is not a fluffy light read but nor will it bog you down and fill you with angst. Pushing the Limits is both real and hopeful and a stand out début.

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Winners: Lazy Days of Summer Giveaway Hop

Thank-you to everyone who entered the giveaway and became new followers! It really means a lot to us ^_^. The winners of a a hard cover copy of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick are:

Krista and Sophia Rose

 

Both winners will be contacted through email but if either do not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.

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Out this Weekend - Total Recall and The Watch

So there might be a storm heading by here Monday which means this weekend I will be shopping for a few things like water, batteries, canned foods and plastic tubs to keep my books safe because my house may be safe from flooding but not leaks if the shingles decide to go. Enough with storm talk though, it's not here yet and this weekend we have a couple a good mood movies to see.

The team is seeing this one tonight. Kitten and I just picked up tickets during lunch time. This looks like it could either be really fun and great or just bad, lets hope it's the former.

This is my first time seeing the trailer for this but Kitten says it's look like it's going to be funny and it has a few well known comedy actors. The plan is to see this one tomorrow.

Last weekend the team watched both The Dark Knight Rises (awesome movie) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (very entertaining). Check back this weekend for reviews by Kitten on both movies.

What movie would you like to see this weekend?

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Feature Fiction - Drowning Instinct by Isla J. Bick

Ever stumble across a book that you instantly love? You've only seen the description and the cover but you already want to share the book with everyone you know? It doesn't happen often but it does happen so I thought I would create a little feature to showcase the books that make me want to share them with the world even if I haven't read them yet.

Publisher: Lerner Books/Carolrhoda Books | Author: Isla J. Bick | Release Date: January 28th 2012

There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord's first sixteen years were not exactly a fairy tale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Iraq. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire.

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and everyone cries for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain...magnetism.

And there are stories where it's hard to be sure who's a prince and who's a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

Why Feature It?

I haven't read this one yet so I don't know if I will personally like it but I have read reviews and blurbs and it just SOUNDS like it's going to be one of those books that will stick with you for a very long time. It also sounds like the kind of book I would stay away from, in fact if you look at my Scribing Shadows' Review Policy I will not accept books about continued abuse of any kind and I don't have this in my policy but I also do not read or watch anything about student/teacher relationships (Vampire Academy was an exception) and the synopsis for this book hints that there might be some student/teacher stuff going on but this just SOUNDS so good that I am going to ignore my rules and give it a shot. Hopefully this decision won't bite me in the butt.

Blurbs About the Book

"...a compelling study of brokenness that persists across generations and of salvation by unconventional means."
--A RECOMMENDED READ, Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
"Bick ...writes about dysfunction with a professional's insight."
--Booklist
"Bick's deft handling of a controversial subject will have readers waiting to see what she writes next."
--StreetInsider.com
"DROWNING INSTINCT builds and builds ... while there are many monsters in the story, some are more monstrous than others."
--Examiner.com
"...takes hold of you and doesn't let you go until the very last page."
--Ashley Perez, author of The Knife and the Butterfly
"Intense, suspenseful, passionate...Insanely good."
--Xpresso Reads

About the Author

Ilsa J. Bick is a child psychiatrist, as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe, former Air Force major, and an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, e-books, and novels. She has written extensively in the Star Trek, Battletech, Mechwarrior: Dark Age, and Shadowrun universes. Her original stories have been featured in numerous anthologies, magazines and online venues. Ilsa's YA paranormal, Draw the Dark, was also a semifinalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (as Stalag Winter). Ilsa currently lives with her family and other furry creatures in rural Wisconsin and across the street from the local Hebrew cemetery. One thing she loves about the neighbors: They're very quiet and come around for sugar only once in a blue moon.

Do you have a book that you haven't read yet, but want to share with everyone?

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