IN THE FACE- LORELEI ARMSTRONG

This story definitely stood out in many ways compared to others that I have read. There are a lot of things that I really liked about it, and thought were very original, and there were things that I did not like so much.
Evo Selig is a beautiful man. He was the product of what is called shaping. When Evo was a little baby his parents took him to a doctor to have his face shaped so that he would grow up to be a beautiful, perfect looking person. True to the doctors’ word, Evo becomes a very famous man; he stars in all of the most popular films, has lots of fans, and is loved by just about everyone.
A man winds up murdered on the property of the doctor who shaped Selig’s face years ago and an investigation takes full swing, along with lots of media coverage. A simulation is found of the murder on a video feed and detectives MacEvoy and detective Cleinrath find that it is not actual footage, it is a simulation, and the person they see on the feed carrying the dead body is either being set up, or really did commit the crime; that is what they need to find out.
This story takes lots of twists and turns, and a few more people wind up dead before the surprise ending. This is one of the things I really liked about the story. It was never obvious who the killer was. There were a few people that I thought may have done it, then as the story went on, I found myself ruling them out. The person who ended up being the killer was someone I never suspected.
What I did not like so much about the story was that I felt it was unclear in a few spots. For starters, I have never heard of face shapers and am not sure if there are even doctors out there that do that (I hope not!). I am going to assume that a lot of readers are in the same boat as me, so therefore I think that there needed to be more explanation of this. Also, I found that some characters were thrown into the story before they were properly introduced. I found myself feeling a little confused for longer periods of time than I would have liked. Eventually I found out who the people were, but more of an introduction and more details about them would have been nice.
My last criticism was about computers and simulations. I am in no way a computer geek, so other than the internet, Microsoft word and the occasional card game, I do not know much about computers and what they can do. This book has a lot of talk about simulations. For the longest time I had no idea what that was and what exactly it entailed. I figured out most of what I needed to know throughout the whole story, but I felt that the story would have been much better if I would have known what a simulation was. A big part of the story is the killer murdering people, then making simulations of the murder and sending it through the computer for people to see.
Overall this was an okay read. It was definitely different than anything I’ve ever read about, and I really liked the ending, but the writing was a little weak and I found a lot of holes in the story. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed if they read this, I just think that with a little more work this story could be truly great.


Like i stated above, this was a really interesting book, it just has some kinks that should be worked out. If you are a book lover, it is still worth the read. If you are a computer geek, and know a lot of the terminology, then you'll like this book even more! visit www.frontstreetreviews.com for more reviews!

MERCY STREET-MARIAH STEWART

Never having read anything by Mariah Stewart, I decided to read a few reviews from other books she has written before I read Mercy Street to get a feel for what I was in for. Of course all of the reviews I found were positive and highly recommended this author. I became excited to read her story and dove in. True to their word, her reviewers were right on the money. Mariah Stewart has a gift with her words. I was pulled right into this story and could not take my eyes away from the pages. It takes a massive amount of talent to be able to use words that have enough power to make someone want to put their own life on hold for a few hours so they can finish your book.
Mallory Russo is a private investigator. She used to be a detective, but due to a big misunderstanding on the force, she decided it best to retire early. She now has been hired from a wealthy man to investigate the murder and disappearance of four teenage children. These children met late one night at a favorite hangout of theirs, the playground, to talk about something that had been bothering one of them. The next thing you know two of them are shot in the head and killed instantly and the other two have disappeared. Nobody has a clue if they are alive or dead. Nobody knows where they could possibly have gone. Finding a strip of cloth from one of the kids clothing on the chain link fence leaves Mallory hopeful that they were able to get away from their attacker. Having lost a baby and wife out of thin air a year before, Robert Magellan decides to fund this search in hopes of a happy ending. He has had to suffer a year of not finding any answers and knows the agony it has caused him, and he wants to spare others of that same fate.
Detective Charlie Wanamaker, the detective that is hired to the department to take Mallory’s place, is also in on the search. His reasons are the same as Mallory’s, but also because he finds himself getting lost in her eyes and wanting to know more about this recluse woman. The two of them re-interview and go over all of the evidence that the police have already gone through, and find a few clues along the way that help with the case.
The ending is surprising and action packed. Mariah Stewart gives her readers a healthy dose of romance and suspense that sates our appetites. Her use of wordage is fluid and she gives just enough detail to allow you to feel as though you are riding in the car right along with Mallory and Charlie as they go from suspect to suspect. I would recommend this book to anyone who is shopping for an amazing read with lots of suspense, twists, turns, and some budding romance. Kudos to Mariah Stewart for what looks like another amazing book!


This book is definitly on my top 30 list of best reads!!!! it was excellent! visit www.frontstreetreviews.com for more reviews on some awesome books!

LOOSE GIRL- KERRY COHEN

This is a must have!!

All of us women have a special power that men do not have. We have the ability to seduce and get what we need by using our body parts. Using that, plus our sometimes manipulative talking, allows us to be a very powerful being. Unfortunately by doing this, we are not only disrespecting the person we have turned our attention on, but also we are disrespecting ourselves. Kerry Cohen does just that. In her memoir, Loose Girl, she shows us just what women and young girls are capable of and how our society can take advantage of that.

At the age of eleven, Kerry realizes this power she has when an older man gives her a suggestive smile while he is checking out her young, maturing body. This power she had was lying dormant until this point in time. She got an adrenaline rush, and decided that she really liked how it made her feel. From then on out she started to seek out men, using her body to get their attention. She hung out at clubs, went into the city, went to boys’ homes that she didn’t even know, and hung out with the wrong crowd to accomplish this. She starts to sleep with a lot of these boys and men and eventually even loses count of how many she has slept with. Some people in her life start to lose respect for her and I think at one point she even starts to lose respect for herself.

Kerry realizes along that way that what she really wants is to feel loved. Her parents are split
up, and are not very good role models to boot. She and her sister have grown distant as well. Kerry saw her mother act sexually inappropriate with her sister, and her father tried to climb into bed with her one day. The boundaries of what are sexually appropriate and what is not has been blurred for this young girl. With that image being skewed and her hunger to feel powerful, Kerry gets herself into a routine that is very damaging to her. She has to deal with heartbreak after heartbreak, gets used, contracts STDs, etc. She eventually realizes that she is doing something wrong and that if she keeps acting the way she is acting she will never find true love. Kerry goes to great lengths to get some help for herself.

This memoir does not leave anything out and Kerry Cohen allows you to feel her greatest triumphs and her greatest failures. I was very impressed with this book and how honest Kerry Cohen was able to be with her audience. Her writing was smooth and easy to follow and she gave us just enough detail to really pack a punch. I think this is an excellent book for all young teens to read. The more we can educate these girls the better. All of the events that take place in this book are all things that could easily happen to any one of us. If you have young children and want to try everything you can to help them succeed in a very tough society, where they get lots of attention for all of the wrong reasons, then this is a book you should make sure they own.

Check out more of my reviews at www.frontstreetreviews.com!!

EXTRAORDINARY WILL-TRISH EDMISTEN

Wow, this book was amazing!!!!!

I read this book in one day. Usually I then will turn around and review it right off while it is still fresh in my head. With this book, I had to walk away from it for awhile. I had to wait until my emotions were a little less fresh in regards to this story. This book had me crying page after page after page. This is a first for me. Sure, I sometimes get misty eyed when something terrible happens to a character or when something miraculous happens, but this was all pure, raw emotion spilling fourth.
Brandy is a nineteen year old girl who is doing normal nineteen year old things. She works at McDonalds and hates it, so she finds a new job in an office and continues to go to school. When Brandy meets Will, the son of her boss, Felicia, everything appears normal. I thought this was going to end up being a typical romance, with some twists and turns and possibly a break up or a ‘happily ever after’ type story. Boy was I wrong.
Trish Edmisten takes her words and lifts them off of the page and shoots them straight into your heart. Will and Brandy fall in love and are extremely happy. What Brandy doesn’t know is that Will has a secret. He is no ordinary, healthy young man. Brandy finds out that Will has fought and survived a brain tumor that could just as easily have killed him. They make a pact that no matter what happens, they will continue to stay together, even if the tumor comes back full force. That’s just what happens; Will’s tumor comes back and he finds himself once again fighting for his life. Brandy and Will no longer have a normal relationship where they can take things slow and just enjoy life. They now are dealing with a love that may be short lived and tear their lives apart. Instead of going to the movies on a Friday night, or ordering in pizza with the love of her life, Brandy finds herself quitting school and completely taking care of Will to help him fight for his life, and their relationship.
Trish Edmisten grabs hold of your heart and will not let go until the very last page. She forces you to come to grips with the fact that this could happen to anyone; even you. She makes you realize just how precious life is and that once you find the gift of love and happiness you should enjoy each and every precious day because you never know when it is going to be your last. Finding true love is a rare and beautiful thing, and there is nothing stopping the powers that be from tearing it away from you. For days after reading this book I looked at my relationship in a while new light and pondered what I would do if I lost the love of my life.
I would recommend this book to everyone to read. Grab a box of tissues and tuck in to read it front to back. This is a reality check for everyone and is a must have on your shelf.

This review is also posted at www.frontstreetreviews.com

POISONWOOD BIBLE-BARBARA KINGSOLVER

I did not do a formal review on frontstreet.com for this book, but I thought I would talk about it anyways. My cousin from Colorado had to read "The Poisonwood Bible" for a class and answer some questions about it and she asked me to read it as well so we could work on the questions together. I finally finished it at work last night. I thought it was pretty good, but I remember a few years ago it was like this big deal, and I'm not seeing that.

I really like how Barbara Kingsolver broke up "chapters" by using all four sisters and their mother as separate narrators. By doing it this way, I felt as though we really got to get to know each character, their flaws, their strengths, etc. Since the book was over 400 pages, I think this was key so that the readers didn't get bored.

If this book is bordering on truth, which I am assuming it is, then I really learned a lot a bout Africa, the Congo, etc. It was really neat to learn about their culture, how they survive, how many of them don't survive, and then to put all of that in perspective about how we live everyday and what we take for granite. I really think this is a great book to have high school age children read because it shows them that there is a different world out there and that here in America we really have it made. For a lot of teenagers, the biggest crisis in their life is to keep up with their friends when it comes to clothing, and all of the latest gadgets, who has the most hip hair style, etc.

Has anyone else read this book? Did you have any favorite parts? Any parts you didn't like?

On another note, I know that I have been lacking lately with posting on here...I promise I will start to do it more often! I had about 63 family members from all over the US come up to Maine to visit out at our family camp this year and it was soooo hectic for a few weeks. My grandparents were the last to go and they just left on Friday, so things are starting to get back to normal! I hope you all can forgive me, stay patient, and continue to visit my site! :-)

INCOGNITO SERIES-KAREN WIESNER

So far I have reviewed six of Karen Wiesner's Incognito books. I am working on her latest one right now. I took a look at her web site and found that she doesn't plan on stopping the series anytime soon. Within the next few years she will have at least a few more books in the series done.
http://www.frontstreetreviews.com/ is where you can check out all six of my reivews for that series. In a nut shell the books all follow the same theme. They are action/romance stories. The books can be read seperatley and/or out of order if you wish, but it goes the most smoothly if you read them in order. The theme that is the same in each book is the Network. The Network is kind of like the CIA, but it is even more hush hush and only the top US officials, including the president know of the Network's existance. The Network obtains justice where justice is due. They target drug traffickers, terrorists, etc. There is a specific ranking within the Network. The members of the Network are called operatives. They give up their freedom to ensure the freedom of the rest of the world. There are different levels of operatives; these different levels decide what it is you are allowed/not allowed to do. It takes years to train an operative to be able to perform at the neccassary level. They go through every type of traning imaginable: torture, etiquette training, training in seduction, business, fighting, weapons, etc.
Each book targets a different operative (s). The book becomes their story, which also inclues romance. As an operative you are strictly forbidden to have a romantic relationship of any kind within the wall of the Network as well as without. What the top officials don't understand is that it is human nature to love and crave a connection, so each story delves into this. If caught, the operatives face severe punishement, and even death.
The six books that I have read so far have been amazing and worth the read. I would recommend them to any and everyone. Karen Wiesner has written many, many books and has a great skill for writing.
Have any of you bloggers out there read anything by her? I have yet to read her other books yet. Do they compare to this series?

THE LOST EPISODES OF BEATIE SCARELI-GINNETTA CORRELI

So I was a little skeptical at first about reading this 'experimental novella'. it was sent to me via computer, it looked unorthodox and the title gave away nothing. i put it on the back burner for a week or so, then one day decided to read at least the first few pages so see if i should put it further on that back burner. it starts by giving very straight forward, short descriptions of the characters. Ginnetta Correli had me at that. I did not stop reading until I got to the end, and at that, when it did end, I kept scrolling down, hoping for more. I wasn't ready for it to end the way it did, I wanted to be in Beatie's world forever so that I could root her on as she went through her life.

as I stated in my review on www.frontstreetreviews.com, this book was short, and to the point, getting right in on the action. Beatie Scareli is a 12 year old girl. She lives with her schizophrenic mother, and her abusive father. He mother is ill to the point of not even being on the same planet as the rest of the world, doesn't take her meds properly, sleeps endlessly, and cannot take care of her own hygiene. She ends up in a mental hospital and Beatie's dad divorces her. She moves in with a man she met in the hospital.
When Beatie goes to visit her mother every week she tries to avoid the boyfriend because he tries to touch her in inappropriate ways and is a raging alcoholic. Her mother is too sick to even notice, except to get jealous that Beatie is getting more sexual attention than she is.
Living at home with her father is not much better. He hits her, ignores her, and eventually even he tries to get inappropriate with her. Beatie doesn't have a chance at hell for a normal life; in fact, all she knows is this life, so it IS normal for her.
The story continues with more instances that make you feel so badly for Beatie. There isn't much detail about minor things, which i think is appropriate in this book. The details would just sugar coat the real purpose of this book. This is a real, raw look at abuse and what an unhealthy family looks like and the damage it can do to a child.
I am definitely saving this on my computer, and will read it again. Hopefully I'll get a copy of the book at some point when it comes out in print!

WOMB CHILD-ALTHEA PASCASCIO

okay, i really don't want this to turn into a political debate any more than it has to, but i fear that it will be inevitable.
"Womb Child" is a pretty short novel. the narrator is a fetus that is inside of his mothers womb. This fetus, before going into the womb, was an angel up in heaven and spent many, many years learning about who it's family is going to be, and what it is destined to be when it is born. When it finally gets a chance to enter into the womb as a fetus, it already has a very intelligent mind from day one.
As the book goes on, the fetus's soon to be parents realize that having a child may not be the best thing right now. They discuss the option of abortion. Because the fetus is so intelligent, it can hear and understand everything the parents are saying. The fetus gets so upset at the prospect of abortion that it purposfully causes it's mother pain by moving all around. The fetus says that it has a destiny and will save lots of lives, and by aborting it we are basically dooming all these people.
When the parents decide not to abort, but decide to give it away for adoption, the fetus becomes upset again. It goes on to say that the fetus was meant to have this specific set up parents and all will be doomed if another family brings it up.

So basically the message behind this book is that it is pure evil to abort or adopt. It is saying that babies have a brain from day one of conception, there is a plan in place from the get go of what they are supposed to do with their lives, and that they are very aware of it. It isn't until the actual birth when they forget that they were an angel.

as i said in my review at www.frontstreetreviews.com, i think that the story was cute, but this author definitly had a political agenda, and for her to say that adopting or aborting, at the appropriate time of course, is pure evil is a little extreme. this puslished book is so that she can send a political message to whoever will read it.

see, i knew this would turn into a political post ;-)

APPLES & ORANGES-MARIE BRENNER

This book took me a little while to get through because it appears to be so jumbled and disorganized. To us, it is, but to the author, Marie Brenner, i'm sure it makes perfect sense. This book is all about her relationship, and sometimes lack of a relationship with her older brother Carl. This book gives us snapshots and tid bits of her time with him.

My formal review is at http://www.frontstreetreviews.com/ if you are interested. What I focused on in my review was the fact that this book, in my opinion, was mostly for the author herself. She wanted to have a written account of her life with her brother and try and answer some questions for herself. I think this was brave of her to do. She questions the relationship they had, thinking maybe it could have been better, etc.

Her brother is diagnosed with cancer, and in the end it steals his life. This book shows how these two siblings rekindled their sibling relationship with the little time they had left. I think that this book allows us to imagine a lot of what happened in between the bouncing around of memories. We weren't there to experience it with them, so we are left to our imagination. I think by writing this book it helped to convince Marie Brenner that she was a good sister, and did have a special relationship with Carl. I commend her on this.

This is a good read for anyone who knows what a relationship is like with a sibling. It is not easy, but at the same time it is one of the most rewarding things in life.

LET'S TALK

okay so today is a slow day for me here at work. I only have one client and the staff member that I am working with is handling the group therapy today so I'm in the office doing some paperwork and trying to act busy. Now would be a good time for you book lovers out there to comment on a book I"ve posted so we can get a conversation going! Come on, I know you are out there :-)

SHAKE DOWN-JOEL GOLDMAN

Next up on our list of good reads is ''Shake Down". As I said in my formal review on www.frontstreetreviews.com, this was a good murder mystery. I really got into the characters, there were a lot of nice twists and turns that I did not expect and I was never really bored.
What makes this book stand out from most murder mystery plots is the fact that the main character is not allowed to work the case because his boss puts him on medical leave due to uncontrollable shakes that he is having. Instead of the book starting out with a murder, then you get to know the FBI characters and police, then off you go, this book adds a little more spice to it.
I do wish that when the doctors figure out why it is he is shaking, that they make it part of the story more because this is something that you deal with the entire time, then it seems like just a few paragraphs are dedictated to explaining what it is.
I also thought the ending could have used another 20 or so pages. We wait soooo long to finally figure out all the answers to our questions, and then feel a little short changed. Now don't get me wrong, the book was great, and I did like how it ended, I just wish it was explained a little more. Maybe the author is planning on writing a series to this book? If so, that would be fine by me! I'd go out and buy it.
So for your murder/mystery fans out there, this is one you don't want to miss. It is just enough out of the ordinary to make it worth the trip to go out and buy!

AND THE WINNER IS!!!!!!!!

allrighty! time is up and it's time to choose a winner!!!!

I'd like to congratulate the winner of my first ever book give away......drum roll please.....WINDYCINDY!!!!!

Congrats!! I"ll be contacting the author and will have him send you the book directly! I hope you enjoy the book and I hope after you are done reading it you will visit my blog again and let me know what you liked about it! :-)

STILL A LITTLE MORE TIME

Due to the fact that i'm at work all day today, the free book contest will not be ending this morning, but instead will be ending this evening! Make sure you send me a message! You don't have much time! Good luck :-)

huffin and puffin it at the gym

okay so usually i blog on here about books i read, but we're gonna step outside the box for a minute. i just got back from the gym and daaaamn I'm tired. i could easily shower, then curl into bed and sleep the rest of the day away. i thought working out was supposed to give you all this extra energy and boost your day! well I'm calling their bluff cuz i think that's buulllllll crapppp.

i also blame the gym on why I'm not posting as many book blurps on here as i should. i work out to stay healthy, but then it makes me tired, so my creativity gets sapped in the process. it's a lose lose situation here folks!

okay, off to the shower, then I'll get some food so try and steal back some of that energy that the gym gods have so rudely taken..i may even post another book on here today!

don't forget about the contest for the book "An Embarrassment of Riches"!!! I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow :-) we've already got some great entries!

STILL ALICE-LISA GENOVA

First off, don't forget about the free contest book giveaway that I posted in my last entry. The winner will be announced FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY so you don't have much time to enter! :-)

This next book that I read was truly a sobering book. I did a review on it almost a month ago now. If you are interested in that, go to www.frontstreetreviews.com to check it out. As I mentioned in my review, this is the type of book, in my opinion, that would not be appropriate for people who have loved ones that have Alzheimer's disease. This book would just depress the crap out of you.

Alice is a woman who is in her early 50's. She is bright, intelligent, works as a prominent college, travels, wrote a book, teaches, etc. Her and her equally smart husband have three children together, ranging from college age to 30ish. Alice starts to realize that she is forgetting things more often, getting lost in places that she usually knows like the back of her hand, missing flights because she forget she had a plane to catch, etc. This leads her to eventually go to the doctor, who in turn runs a bunch of tests and confirms that she has Early on set Alzheimer's disease. This devastates her and her family.

I think you all can see where this story is leading. She declines, more and more. People with Early on set Alzheimer's decline more quickly than someone who gets it later in their life. In less than two years Alice doesn't even recognize her husband or children.

I felt so depressed and helpless and scared after reading this book. I was depressed because I cannot believe that we haven't found a cure for this terrible disease. I felt helpless because I cannot imagine having a loved one go through this and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it but sit around and wait for them to forget who you are. And I felt scared because I can think of nothing worse but to one day lose your mind like that. I would rather die. There is no quality of life if you don't know anyone around you or can't remember what you had for breakfast.

I think for someone who is looking for more information on the disease, this would be a good story to read. The other reason is simply for the fact that up to three dollars from the purchase of this book goes to the Alzheimer's Association. Every little bit helps!

Again, I loved the book, loved the characters, but damn it sobered me up.
If anyone out there is interested in reading it, or has read it, give me a shout out! I'd love to hear what you think!

WIN A FREE BOOK

Ladies and Gents!!! For those of you who like getting things for free (who the heck doesn't), there is a contest that my editor at http://www.frontstreetreviews.com/ is holding for this book that I just wrote a review for. The book is called "An Embarrassment of Riches", Gerald Hansen. This author was generous enough to be willing to give away five copies. front street will be giving away 4 of them, but I get the privilege of giving away one of them!

The book is set in Northern Ireland and is in very thick Derry Dialect. So yea, it is little hard to understand at first, but you find yourself easily understanding it after 10-15 pages. It's dark comedy. To put it in a quick nut shell it's about a woman who wins the Irish lottery and how she spends most of it on material things and how her family will stop at nothing to try and milk her for it, thinking she owes it to them. It's hilarious! Read more at www.frontstreetreviews.com . My review of it was just posted so you'll find it right on the main page.

HOW DO YOU WIN????

All you have to do is write me a comment here on my blog and give me a shout out telling me that you want this book! Leave me your email address and if you win I will contact you for your mailing address. Don't post your mailing address on the site because then everyone will see it. If you want more of a description of the book, go the front street.com and read my review!

Lastly, if you want to try and win one of the four copies at front street, just click on the contest link and follow the directions. it's easy as pie! This is a book you'll read again and again and it will stick out among the rest. Gerald Hansen is one talented man with a great sense of humor.

Let the blog comments roll! :-) I'll be announcing the winner on Friday! Good luck!

Willie's Dad-Stanley Williams

Again, it's been forever since I've posted...I've been in Florida, my Grandpop has been sick, life is in full swing! alas.

I think I've missed a few in between, but the next book I read and did a review for was called "Willie's Dad", by Stanley Williams. This is a childrens book. As always, my full review of it is at www.frontstreetreviews.com if you are interested! But by reading this, you get my uncensored opinion here! muahahah. just kidding. well, not really.

As I said in my review, this book is an innappropriate subject matter for children. In my opinion. i don't want to be harsh, and I hate giving out criticism to authors who work so damn hard on their books, but hey, I'm a reviewer, it's what i must do; respectfully.

I was watching CSPAN yesterday and it had Steven King, his wife Tabitha and there kid Owen (I think it was there kid!). A question they were asked was about what they think of criticism to their book. Suprisingly, Steven King stated that he HATED it when reviewers criticised his book. He said that it hurt, made him feel like crap, etc. It really put things into perspective. At the same time though, how are you gonna learn and be able to make your novels the best they can be without an honest review?

Back to the book! This short childrens book is about a young child who's father is in jail. We're not told why, but we are told that it is for a looooong time. This child visits his father in jail with his mother and her boyfriend. The father hugs the kid and tells him thathe loves him and doesn't want him to make the same mistakes he did, and that he wants this new man (mom's boyfriend), to be his new father. Then he walks away. Mom gets married to this new man. End of story.

Now I understand Stanley Williams' point about how some kids go through the situation of their father being in jail, but I think that maybe this should have been geared towards kids in like 5th-6th grade. a young, young child in my opinion will not understand this, and this book will definitly not put a smile on their young, innocent face. Books are meant to be read and enjoyed, not to sober you up and make you sad (this is for kids i'm talking).

So I have to give lots of kudos to Stanley Williams for taking this step, and I think he does have potential, and his writing isn't all that bad, but the subject matter is just way too innapropriate. I would never let my children read a book like that.

What do you think? would you read this to your children?

The Wentworths-Katie Arnoldi

hmmm what to say about this book....well, the word AMAZING comes to mind. Let me set this up for you as simple as I can. There's a rich family, you get inside of all of their heads, they are snobby, in denial about the outside world, they all have MAJOR faults, they don't accept outsiders, and then something huge and tragic happens in their little bubble and it kind of wakes them up and taps them in with the rest of the world. End of story.

For those of us who dislike rich people (and yes, I do, and it's probably because I'm jealous), you'll love this book. It's halrious and it almost makes you happy to be poor because you ever want to be like them; not for all the money in the world.

The mother is an anorexic lady who knows her husband is cheating on her with basically every woman under the age of 25 but chooses to close her eyes to it. Her youngest son is as gay as gay can get and instead she chooses to believe he's retarded so he can't help himself.

The father is big and fat and probably going to drop dead of a heart attack any time. He sleeps with young pretty little things and buys them lots of things to keep them happy.

The oldest son is a sadist and dates women that look only like his mother (uhhh gross) and he loves to spank them and to dabble in bondage. He is an ass hole.

The middle child is just like her mother. They even share clothing. She has a pill popping problem but is in denial about that. Her 15 year old daughter is a coke addict, and her little boy is a clepto.

The youngest kid is gay. gay gay gay. But everyone in the family doesn't see it. He is the only one in the family who is half normal. He knows he's gay, he knows they pretend not to see, he knows he does drugs to get away from his utterly fucked up family. He knows they are in denial about everything. He's in his 30's and lives with his parents still. sad.

the rest of my review is at www.frontstreetreviews.com if you want to check it out. this was a great book. it really makes you think that your problems and flaws really arn't that bad!

In the Shadow of the Glacier- Vicki Delany

I've posted about a few mystery books on here, but this one is by far the best! if you walk away agreeing to read any of these mystery books, this is the one to seek out! not to say the other's are great, but this one outshines them!
The difference with this story is that I feel as though the author allows you to really really connect with the characters, so you actually really care what happens to them. I found myself feeling what they were feeling. I felt frustrated when Molly Smith, a police officer who is helping on the investigation of who killed a man in her town, can't find a lead to the murder. My heart goes out to her friend who gets brutally attacked by her stalker. I feel elated when they finally catch the psycho behind all of this.
This story is set up in a small town in British Columbia, Tralfalgar, to be exact. Everyone there knows everyone and they all basically grew up together, so it's a big shock when someone winds up dead.
My review is much more detailed so check it out at www.frontstreetreviews.com!

Marathon Murders- Chester D. Campbell

This book, as you can tell by the title, was a mystery novel. It was the fourth in the series, so the characters are main characters, which are the two PI's (private investigators) are already introducted many times before this book. The book thing is, that you don't have to read the first three to understand the book. The author does a nice job at re-introducing us to Greg McKenzie and his wife.
at first i didn't think I was going to like this story because it seemed a bit slow, but I really got into it and found that the ending had a nice twist. It's set up as a typical mystery story; someone goes missing, you find out they are dead, a few more people die, you look for clues, you have a few suspects, then it ends up being someone you really didnt suspect. Chester Campbell does a good job at staying on track and giving good information, without going overboard with too much detail.

if you like mystery's, then you'll enjoy this story.
to see my full review, check out http://www.frontstreet.com/

Generation NeXt Marriage- Tricia Goyer

Well this is yet another marriage book that I read and reviewed. I don't have all that much to say about it. The things that stood out for me in comparison to other marriage books that I read was Tricia Goyers set up of the book. She broke her chapters up into topics she wanted to cover about marriage, gave her blip, but the different part was that all throughout she put what "real" people thought about that certain topic. There were people that she actually went out and interviewed and got their opinion on. I really liked that. So not only are we getting the author's view point, but we are also getting what random people across the country think about certain topics on marriage; what works, what doesn't, etc.

Since I havn't been married even quite a year yet, I'm not yet having some of the problems that long time married couples have. I'm taking a lot of the advice from these books and storing some of the information in my wee little brain until there comes a time when I may need to pull it out and use it. I even talk about some of it with my husband just to get an idea on what he thinks about it.

To see my full review on this book, and more detailed examples of what was in the book, go to www.frontstreetreviews.com to read it!

sorry!

Just a quick note! i've been sick recently so I've been wayyy behind on this site! I have five really great books to add on here and will start posting them tomorrow! two of them I need to wait on because they have not been posted at frontstreet.com yet, but three of them i'll be putting up here tomorrow!

<3 ashley

pep talk to all you blog readers

okay! I'm gonna give it to you straight! *rolls up pant legs and bends at the waist with hands on legs* in order for this blog thing to work, i need feedback! tell me i suck at writing, tell me you don't agree with my ideas, tell me you went out and read what i suggested, tell me what the weather is like in your town! tell me if you pick your nose or not! SAY SOMETHING!

There is great potential here people! *points to figures written on chalk board* If subject A (that's me) makes a move (writes a post), then subject B (all you wonderful blog readers) need to intercept the pass and run with it! (respond to what i write! talk about anything!). with that game plan you will have a great victory!

can I get a G-O B-O-O-K-T-O-P-I-A!!!!

Phew! *wipes brow* lets make magic people!

Pilate: A Brutal Bible Tale-Steven.Rage

I don't even know how to start talking about this one. I think it best to weed out those who wouldn't be interested first. This book is sick, it's disgusting, it's stomach curling, it's wicked, it's amazing! afraid yet? if so, go away now.

Steven Rage took a story out of the bible, the one where Jesus is betrayed, then crucified, and turns it into his own. His characters are demons, monsters, vampires. They are drug dealers, they make deals with the devil. I think i described it nicely in my review at www.frontstreetreviews.com. I even got an email from the author saying how i really "got him". Pretty good compliment I think...I was a little suprised and shocked as well, seeing how I was able to tap into the mind of such a scary dude.

I think for those of you who don't have weak stomachs, won't be offended because it is turning a religious story into something of its own, and who are in touch with their darker sides will absolutly will find what you are looking for with this book. Every page i turned a little voice in my head told me to put the book down and throw it away, but dammit, I wanted to see how far Steven Rage would go with it...and he went far!!!

So yea, read it if you are in touch with the taboo side of life, walk away if you can't handle the heat!!!!

A Slave No More-David W. Blight

okay so once again it's been forever since I've posted this. I have no excuses, just that life is slightly stressful right now!

Lets get right to it! A few weeks ago I read a book titled "A Slave No More" by David W. Blight. Right off the bat I knew it was not 'my kinda book'. But don't get me wrong, it IS a great book if you are into history, and knowing about the time when slavery was prevelent. David Blight came into contact with two authentic, never before published journals of two slaves. They wrote about their years as slaves, how they escaped/got freed, their families, and life after slavery. Pretty cool huh?
I thought at first it would be two stories of these men...wrong. David Blight is extremley knowledgeable and passionate about this time in history so he throws at you everything that is going on during that time; the war, the presidents and what they are doing to continue/stop slavery, etc.
If you are one that is interested in accounts such as these, take a look at my review of the book at www.frontstreetreviews.com and decide for yourself if the book is worth picking up! You won't be disappointed!