My Journey with Josie by Salvina Grice

Genre: memoir, non-fiction, realistic non-fiction, autobiography

Published: December 10th 2013

Pages: 256

Published: FriesenPress



                             Synopsis

My Journey with Josie is the author's personal story of her sister in the prime of her life, facing her diagnosis of terminal cancer. Preparing to leave three young children and a close knit family behind, this is an honest account of the deep rooted pain of losing a loved one. From struggles and tears comes hope that healing is possible.


                                                                             Thoughts

I'm going to have a hard time collecting my thoughts, on how this book was I know I am. But the first thing that comes to my mind, is the fact that I constantly procrastinated on picking this up. Like I don't know why I didn't get around to reading it right away, but that's what happened. I don't know what it was, but I guess I was scared to read about the cancer aspect of it all. I know that cancer runs in my family. But I'm afraid now that I am going to get it someday too.  That is what I tell myself, all the time, but now I'm realizing that there was another reason, a much deeper reason. Some things just can't be explained (Chapter 40 title).

I knew that before reading the book, that it was going to be very raw, and emotional. But what I didn't know was how raw and emotional this memoir really was. However, I did manage to finish this without crying or having a melt down (Chapter 38 title). 

Cancer is a very sensitive topic for many people, and it is very hard to deal with, in all cases pretty much. But it is something that leads to death in the end, for most families. I'm saying most families because, there are people who do get cancer and they survive. But in this case, that did not happen to Josie. She ends up suffering from this 'disease' for almost a year. She was diagnosed in 1994, and passed on in 1995(on May 14th to be specific). I just want cancer to go away, because I don't want people to suffer, it's not in my nature to enjoy suffering onto others. I just wish that there was a cure for it so that nobody has to deal with it or suffer from the awful disease that kills people everyday.

This story is told entirely in the author's perspective, through either her personal thoughts or her journals. But it also entailed Josie's journal entries, and a little bit of Tina's entries. It was very interesting to read some of Salvina's thoughts and to read her perspective on what was going on throughout her life of losing her mother, and then losing Josie, as well as her brother Sam and her father. But there were some parts were I just felt like I knew way too much for my own good. I also felt that I was sort of invading the authors personal and private thoughts, but that is how raw this book actually is.

So, I thought that this book was very heartbreaking, sad, and emotional. But there are so many other emotions that I can mention, but those are my main feelings about this memoir. I recommend this book, to people who want a family oriented read, with raw and powerful parts, with a little bit of heart break, sadness, and happiness at the same time. Basically, if you want to feel all the feels in one book, then you should read this one.

*I know that it is extremely difficult to say those final goodbyes ( Chapter 31 title) to our family members, who are dying. But after that happens, yes it is going to be hard to live without them, but it is something that has to be done. We have to move on with our lives, but that is what the author has a really hard time coping with. But I just want to say to all the families who have a member who has cancer, or has died from it, that everything will be alright, yes it is a sad time in your life, but you will get through it. Without going through the rough patches in life, you won't get to the good patches. There will always be good times and bad times, but in the end, it will all work out for the better. And that is the main message of this memoir.*

                                                                             Rating
 
                                                      4/5

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Genre: romance, young adult, new adult, contemporary

Published: October 30th 2012 (paperback)

Pages: 259

Publisher: Simon Pulse

                               Synopsis

 

Ashton is getting tired of being a good girl. It's exhausting trying to live up to the expectations of her parents and to be worthy of the town's prince charming, Sawyer Vincent. Maybe that's why she's found herself spending time with Sawyer's cousin Beau while Sawyer is away for the summer. Beau is nothing like her perfect boyfriend. He's the sexiest guy she has ever seen, dangerous in way she's only dreamed about...and the guy she should stay away from.

     Beau never envied Sawyer his loving parents, his big home, or his position as quarterback. He loves Sawyer like a brother. Which is why he's tried everything in his power to keep his distance from Sawyer's girlfriend. He's been in love with her for forever, but Ashton is Sawyer's girl, and off-limits. But when Sawyer leaves for the summer, Ashton, the one girl Beau would move Heaven and Earth for, suddenly wants to rekindle their friendship.

     What starts out as friendship slowly becomes something more. Much more. Ashton and Beau don't want to hurt Sawyer, but the more they try to stay away from each other, the more intense their urges become. And it's getting way too hard to resist...

 

 

    

                                                                             Thoughts

 

I will admit I have been eyeing this book, for a long time now, and I am so glad I picked it up when I did. I was expecting a forbidden romance to come out from this novel, but it wasn't exactly forbidden for very long. I was also expecting a steamy romance as well, which is exactly what happened. Okay, I can go on all day about what I expected from this book, but then this review would last forever. Since I finished Meant to Be (which I have a review on this blog), that involves a good girl (and not so good boy). I was definitely in the mood to read a book similar to the good and bad of the main characters.

 

I seriously can't believe that I literally read this book in ONE day. That is crazy for me, because I have never in a million years have actually read a book in one day. I was addicted from page 1 and I couldn't put it down the entire time. I was surprised to find out that this was actually a very light and quick read. The first half of the book reminded me very much of the 2014 movie  Endless Love which I adore, so if you guys have seen it then you will understand why. Then the second half was when most of the drama and heartbreak occurred.

 

I LOVED Ashton as a character from start to finish. She didn't bother me at all, and there wasn't any point, where I was super irritated with her. So I was able to read the book without getting completely angry, which is a good thing. The way the author described her, was amazing. Like she was GORGEOUS!!!! I wanted her look of blond hair, green eyes, tan legs. I was actually jealous, no seriously I'm not kidding I was. The reason being was because:

1. I have wanted to dye my hair blond now for a while.

2. I want green eyes, to replace my brown eyes. ( I know that it's not gonna happen)

3. I want to have tan legs, but I don't live near a beach so where can I go to tan?!

But the number one reason why I loved Ashton, was because I felt that I could relate to her, and I felt connected with her, just by reading this. I was sort of always the good girl, with a bit of bad inside of me just wanting to come out just like Ashton throughout the novel.

 

There's not much to say about Beau, but man was he ever amazing?! He was a sexy character, from his handsomeness(that's not even a word), to his personality. Obviously, since I am a girl I can't relate to him, but I can understand that by the end of the book he has a lot of issues to go through because he has found out that him and Sawyer are brothers. Yes, I said brothers! I was sort of expecting it, but then again I wasn't. If you want to know how this whole brother thing happens, then you're going to have to buy and read the book to find out. :)

 

Overall, I am in love with this book. I would consider this book to be one of my favourite books of all time. I very much recommend to you this book, if you want a light, but dramatic summer read, that is quick, as well as one that has a hot romance.

 

 

                                                                  Rating

 

                                                5/5

Currently Reading

Hello, everyone it is Nicole Henderson here and the book that I am currently reading is the Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines.
   Now, I have only started reading this today,(yes, you heard me today) and I'm already halfway done the book. I had to stop reading it just so I could do this blog, but I love this book so far. It is steamy, romantic, and quite adorable. As well as heartbreaking.
   This plot is about a girl named Ashton, and she is a total good girl. She has to constantly live up to her expectations, of being perfect because she is dating the "oh-so-perfect" Sawyer, and her father is a pastor at a local church in a small town of Alabama. But Ashton is getting super tired of living up to them. So, when her boyfriend is away for the summer, things start to heat up with Sawyer's cousin Beau. Now the three of them have been best friends since forever, so Beau and Ashton don't want to ruin the friendship they all have. But Beau, is madly in love with Aston, and she loves him back in a way that she will never love Sawyer. So then the rest of novel, goes through with what other people will think of them together, and all the drama attached to that. This will most likely lead into a happily ever after with Ashton and Beau, but I will have to wait and see on what happens.
     I adore this book so far. I hope I finish most of this before I have to leave to go somewhere for the night. But I will definitely do a book review on this when I'm done.

Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill

Genre:young adult, romance, contemporary

Published:January,7th 2014 (paperback)

Pages:304

Publisher:Ember



               Synopsis

 

 

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddled of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the-gasp- wrong guy. Straight-A student Julia may be accident-prone, but she's the queen of following the rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her... well, pocket. Julia also believes in fate, and that Mark, her childhood crush, is her MTB-her meant to be.              

     But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to be defenestrated(SAT word: thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class clown Jason , on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts... from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to live a little along the way. And thus begins a wild-goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

     Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

 

 

 

Thoughts

 

So, when I picked up this book from the bookstore, I was quite happy because of the fact that I have been wanting to read it for quite some time, and I was very much drawn to the plot, and how different it was from just another typical romantic-contemporary.

 

From what I understood of this story, was that Julia was a good girl who never broke the rules and was always prepared. Then she is partnered with her nemesis Jason, on a class trip to London on spring break. Then after a party that she goes to, she starts breaking all the rules. Then (for me) it just goes downhill from there.

 

The thing was, was that I really wanted to enjoy this story, and I tried so hard to love it. But for some reason, I just couldn't. I did however think that this was a very entertaining read. I also liked how there was balance between happy and sad, throughout the novel. I actually really loved reading about the different places that everyone went to while in London, like the Globe Theater, Shakespeare's birthplace etc..

Julia was a part of the novel that I did not enjoy so much. Julia was okay, but she wasn't the greatest character to read about. I found her to be really stuck up and annoying, and she seemed to be that type of person where she just had to know everything about anything and in real life(remember that this is a fictional story), THAT IS NOT OKAY! She was constantly living in her own fantasy world, and was always looking down upon people all the time, (which luckily, Jason literally calls her out on both of those things). Into which I had a really hard time connecting and relating to Julia as a character, which sort of made me not love this book 100%.  

Jason, was very funny, entertaining, and super crazy. He was a great character, and I really liked him a lot, in comparison to Julia. Jason was actually the reason why I kept reading, because he was so full of life, and energy. I wouldn't say he was witty necessarily, but just that he was very good with his words. His look was also different than any other male character in the young adult genre, with his red hair (I'm not sure on his eye colour, and anything else about his looks for that matter), but it was very refreshing to read about. It would have been interesting to read the book through Jason's eyes, just to see his way of thinking be different compared to Julia's in the novel. 

I loved them when they were together, I found it to be really funny when Jason and Julia just start hating on each other, with Jason constantly calling her 'Book Licker', and her absolutely despising it. I liked how these two characters were portrayed as complete opposites of one another. In general, I really like reading books about the main character hating the love interest, and seeing how it all goes down from there.

 Overall this book was not a favourite of mine, but I do like it enough to give it a good recommendation. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it completely.

  Rating

 

3.5/5





Currently Reading(s) + Update!

Update!


Hello everyone it is Nicole Henderson here, and before I start anything with the books that I am reading right now, I just wanted to give you guys an update on why I have been away from this blog for so long. The first thing is obviously: school.  School just caught up with me and I had so much homework and second semester was starting as well and that became so busy. Yes, I had time to read but I didn't have time to actually sit down and write a review. The second reason why I was so busy was because I had many personal things involving my family, and the current issues that we are dealing with are very hard on all of us. I rather not share for again, personal reasons. So that is it for the updates, and let's get on with what I am currently reading.


Currently Reading.

The first book I am reading right now, is called My Journey with Josie by Salvina Grice. I am halfway done the book, and I must say it is pretty good. This memoir is about this authors sister who died of cancer, and it just talks about her journey of coping with all of this. It also talks about her own family background of being an Italian girl who was sheltered,and that her mother died of cancer, so the whole family struggles with that. It is a very heart wrenching read so far. It is very sad, however I have not cried yet. Now, this book is very personal to me for many reasons. I will do a book review on this when I am done, so I will explain them on there, as well as going into more detail of what the book is about. So far, I'm liking it.





The next book that I'm currently reading at the moment is Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. I am not to far into the book to make a verdict on whether I actually do like it or not. But I will say that it seems like it is a very lighthearted book, with full of wittiness and funny dialogue.
It is about this girl named Julia and she goes on this school trip to London, England with her classmates for spring break. Now Julia is a good girl. She doesn't break the rules, and she is always prepared for anything. But that is about to be broken, when she is partnered up with her 'personal-nemesis' Jason. She goes to one party, and she ends up getting a mysterious number from someone. So Jason promises Julia that he will help her find out who this other guy is. So, to me it seems like a typical romance with humor, and a sense of adventure. So, I will see how this novel turns out.




So that is all for what I am currently reading at this moment, as well as my update. My next post will be a book review for sure. So that is it and until then, goodbye everyone.

Revealed by P.C Cast and Kristin Cast

Genre: paranormal(vampires), young-adult, romance, fantasy

Published: October 15th 2013

Pages: 306

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

                                                                        

                        Synopsis(from flap)

Drastically altered after her fall. Neferet is clinging to life with one goal in mind: to regain her strength and consciousness. But before she goes into hiding to relive her past-and hopefully find the key to surviving in the present-she will make one deadly strike. This time against a human. And the aftershocks will leave no one untouched.
  In the wake of a gruesome murder, Tulsa humans are panicked, blaming the House of Night for what was clearly a vamprye attack. But Zoey and the rest of the school know that none of them was involved. So who killed the mayor of Tulsa? As the police open an investigation, tensions on the other fronts are growing even higher-Dallas is on a rampage against Zoey and her friends. When he finally makes a move against Stevie Rae and Shaunee, the battle lines are drawn-and someone will have to take the fall.
  Meanwhile, somethings going on with Zoey...and not the fun kind of something. She's feeling strange and stressed all the time-well, more stressed then usual. Which shouldn't be a surprise, considering that a powerful immortal is on the loose and she's having some boyfriend issues. Again. But is something bigger at work? Z might not have long to find out. Light and Darkness are out of balance, awakening Old Magick....and Old Magick always demands a sacrifice.
   In the thrilling eleventh House of Night novel, more then just the House of Night is at stake in a dangerous battle for Zoey's life-and soul. Can the Nerd Herd help her stay free long enough to fight back?

                                                                                                                     

                                                                 Thoughts

I have been waiting a full year to get this book into my hands, so I can read it. But I had a very complicated experience to get this book, so it was definitely worth reading. So, after I got the book after the experience(which I rather not share), I decided to wait a few weeks to read it since I was already reading another book at the time. But I just couldn't wait anymore(after a few days), so I started reading.
 I was expecting this book to be dramatic and heavy, which it was. I was also expecting it to just sort of have a conclusion  on what they are going to do. What I mean by that is: for Zoey and her friends to  have an actual solution on how to kill Neferet.  But they came up with nothing instead, which made me feel disappointed.

Now, I have been reading the entire series since 2009, and I always have had mixed feelings on the series. But reading this just escalated these mixed feelings even more. Like I don't even know what to think about it anymore. Some books are good, and some are bad. With the reviews, some have been good and some were bad. But I will be giving a mixed review.  

Revealed was not the best book in the series, but I still had a great time reading it. I loved the characters(expect Zoey), and the overall plot is pretty good. But what I didn't like in the book was that the plot in this book was just sort of the same plot from the previous book; Hidden, but it was just mixed around to make it more dramatic, and to make the plot (for lack of a better word) worse(or better, whichever way you want to put it).

Zoey, Zoey Zoey, what should I say about you first? Oh! I got it! Zoey is one of the worst main characters I have read in a book. I don't know what the thing is about her, it's just that I don't like her. But, there are also lots of little things about her that make me not like her ethier. And trust me there are too many little things to say, so I won't be explaining any of them right now (I'm being serious). Another thing I want to say, is that Zoey just irritates me so much, and just her attitude was getting me angry. What she was going through with the stress, is way to much for a 17 year old to go through. It's not healthy. And the whole point of reading a book is to escape reality, but reading about her stress just brings my current reality into reading, and it makes it less enjoyable. 

Overall, I won't go into too much details, but it wasn't the best book ever  but it was still entertaining. I seriously cannot wait for the final book, I just hope they end the book on a really good note. And actually end the series well.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                              Rating

3.5/5

October-November 2013 Book Wrap Up (2)

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here, and this blog post is going to be my book wrap up for October and November. I'm really sorry I have been so busy with school, and everything else in between, that I have not had a chance to read a lot. And as a result, I haven't had the time to blog. I only read 4 books in the last 2 months, and I normally don't read that amount.(I am so ashamed of myself) I promise I'll be reading more in the next two months mainly because of the Christmas break. So, without further ado let's get on with the wrap up.

The first book I read in the month October, was Blue Bloods by Melissa De la Cruz. It is the first book of the Blue Bloods series. Since October was the month of Halloween, I was in the mood for something more paranormal and creepy. And I also wanted to move onto a new vampire series since the House of Night series is almost done. Anyways, I loved this book, and enjoyed every minute of it, and I rated it a 5/5 stars. If you want more details, on why I loved it, I did a review on this blog. The second book I read in October, until the beginning of November was I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. Since I finished Blue Bloods, I wasn't fully satisfied on my mood, so I picked up this book. And after I read it I was definitely satisfied. I loved this book as well, it was full of suspense, and mystery. Like, I have no more words to describe on how amazing it was. But it was a very different genre for me to read, as I normally don't read these types of books. I rated this a 5/5 stars. It was so good. I did a book review on this blog too.  

The third book I read throughout November was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I was now in the mood for something more romantic. So I chose this one, just because it was right there in my school library. It was sort of an impulse actually. I have seen the movie many times before, so just reading the book made me not like it very much. Yes, yes I wasn't a huge a fan of it. Things were very different from book to movie, and it was so confusing for me to understand. However, in my opinion the movie was way better. I rated this a 3/5 stars, if you want to know more details about why didn't like it so much,  I have a review on this blog.   The last book I read in November was Revealed by P.C and Kristin Cast. It is the 11th book to the House of Night series. I have wanted this book since last year, and it was a very complicated experience to actually get this book. But I read it just now, so I still need to collect my thoughts on it. But I will say to you now, that it wasn't as good as their other books have been. That's it, that is all I will say about the book. I will write a book review on this blog, for the full details on my thoughts on this book. 

 

So that's it for this book wrap up. And again. I'm super sorry I haven't been blogging, I have literally been so busy with life, and school, so I haven't had the time to read. I promise that during the holidays I will read A LOT more books(and they are going to be long ones).  

Until the next post, goodbye everyone.