Candy's Raves (and Rants)

We have kids. That means we have a lot of kid’s books – which means that I stubbornly believe that I’ve read them all. So, when the publishing assistant gave me this book and asked me if I wanted to read/review it, I took it, glanced at it and though “yeah, another person writing a children’s story with too long of a title… whatever”. I plopped the book over on the side of the table facedown and went to turn around to do something. It was then that I noticed the photo of the author. I did a double take (no, really). It’s a kid! Dude, a six year old wrote this book!

That got my attention because, honestly, I wasn’t sure I believed it. I mean, yes, a six year old could totally write a book, but I found it hard to believe that he did it by himself. I flipped through it real quick, but it fell to the pile for a few weeks before I remembered it and dragged it out to read it. I wasn’t sold on it until I saw the word “concoction” in there twice. Yes, it’s a big word, but thinking back, I can remember my kids at that age wanting to make “concoctions” so it fit so well. The fact that it’s a juice concoction, just made it all the more fabulous.

The writing is very good for a six year old – actually far better than some adults I’ve read lately, if I’m being honest. I did ask some questions of the assistant and was told that yes, he had an editor and they went through that process. It shows; it’s well polished, but whomever they hired to do it did an excellent job because it still feels like a book that was written by a child, but just polished up. Kudos to them.

The illustrations are so beautiful. So well done. So that leaves the plot. What a cute little story. It would be perfect for a bedtime story for your younger kids or a book to read with them as they get older. It’s not going to win any awards for plot by itself, but it’s well thought out and it shows that he really thought about his story and where it was going to go. I’d say this is in my top 5 kids books we’ve gotten in in the past couple of years. Well thought out, well plotted, well written, well edited and well illustrated. That’s a win!

I would highly recommend this for people with kids – not only is it a cute book, but ya know… it shows that kids can publish their own books as well. I think that is a good lesson in and of itself.

As a side note, my very favorite part of this book is the dedication which reads, “To my family and the color yellow.”

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I noticed this book earlier this year, but – and I’ll be honest there – the cover was just uninspired and uninteresting. It wasn’t until I saw the description somewhere that I realized that it was totally something I would read. I purchased it early last month and earlier this month the author contacted me asking for a review. I took that as a sign and told her I’d already purchased it on my own and would read it – figured I’m supposed to read it since it kept catching my eye…

Wow. This is such a well written book. As a child that grew up in a family with domestic abuse, it’s almost cathartic at times, as strange that may sound. At times, though, the authors make me cringe. It’s obvious they either have never experience what they are writing or haven’t done their homework. This author hit it on the head. The feelings that Joy exhibits at a child are right on. Happy that her mom is letting her “get away” with something and guilt when they get caught. Her actions as an adult further show this author’s homework was well done – the trust issues, the forced isolation, the burning need to help others in the same situation, etc. I think this was the stand out for me for this book. How true it felt. I kept reminding myself that it was NOT a memoir. It was fiction.

The story is sweet, but very very predictable. This isn’t a mystery and the author pretty much guides you where she’s going. In some ways I kind of was hoping for some sort of shift there so that it didn’t go how it was obviously heading, you know?

I saw a few grammar/spelling errors, but nothing too awful terrible. If there were others, I was entirely too wrapped up in the story to care – which I suppose is the whole point anyway.

The author handles the subject of domestic abuse well, nothing is too graphic, but it’s graphic enough to feel real and make you follow the storyline. None of it is gratuitous and the vast majority of the story takes place once the main character is an adult and revolves around her life today. And, yes, it’s a romance.

It’s really sad that this book has this cover – I’m not sure what it should have been, but this one makes it fade into the background of other books – it really deserves something that reaches out and grabs the reader. Let’s face it, we all pretty much judge books by their cover.

I would highly recommend this book to those that enjoy women’s fiction with a warning that it does have some tough subject matter, but is mostly an uplifting (yet not religious) story of hope — and of joy.

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Book count for 2011: 32

The author sent this book to us asking for a review. It looked like something a good friend of mine and fellow blogger at Dy’s Take would enjoy so I asked if she wanted to do a guest blog – she agreed it looked like her genre and off it went to her… this is what she had to say about it…

This book took me back in time to my high school years.

More specifically, to the years I spent in my high school’s creative writing club listening to Anne Rice wannabe’s read aloud their prose after school in an overly warm classroom.

The basic idea of the book — a separate but equal style racial division is interesting. Unfortunately the prose was florid and overblown in places, excessively spare in others, and had plot holes you could drive a semi full of Twilight novels through.

The first day of the story is spun out over the course of several chapters, then months go by in a single jump — the inconsistent pacing made my head hurt.

Honestly, I can’t in good conscience recommend this unless the author decides to seriously overhaul the manuscript, even out the pacing, make the character’s voices more consistent, and just generally put a little more effort into it.

The basic notion had potential, but it read like it was (a) written by an angsty 16yo or (b) a unreviewed, unrevised first draft.

I guess I was wrong and she didn’t enjoy it, eh? Darn. It looked right up her alley too! I will say that it seems to get good ratings, overall, on Amazon, but I’ll also be honest and say that usually Dy is pretty well right on with reviews (except when she hates on some of my favorite books, then she’s just plain wrong) Heh.

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Murder, mystery, romance, intrigue, a witness, an exotic locale and family dysfunction.

This is a pretty well used formula to write a good thriller/suspense (and sometimes a not-so-good one!). The author sent me a copy of this book early this year and I set it aside because I wasn’t in the mood for a formula book. I picked it up earlier this month when I was in a reading slump and needed to read something to break me out of it.

It worked! Yes, it’s a formula, but ya know, that’s okay. This one had a few little twists and turns added in that left me wondering what was going to be coming at me next. The thing that makes this book so well written is that the author feeds us just enough information to keep the action moving along. I didn’t feel any lull in the story and found myself staying up a little late to find out what happens next.

No grammar or formatting problems that I saw in the kindle version, it’s a clean easy-to-read book. The storyline is fabulous.

My one nitpick on this book is the epilogue. I’m not sure it was needed, and if it was, maybe just half. While I like my books tied up with a little bow, I’m not quite sure it needed this large of a bow. It didn’t ruin the book, not at all, but perhaps gave it a little bit more of a “seriously?” groan from me.

I’d recommend this book to those that like thriller/suspense books and anyone in a reading slump that is looking to bust out of it.

The Devil’s Deep by Michael Wallace

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Book count for 2011: 31

Just a quick break from the reviews to let you guys know of the Summer Reading Programs I’ve found so far this year. I love to read (duh!) and I’m lucky enough that my kids are huge readers too. Each year we do as many of these as we can. I’ve already printed their logs and we’re ready to go… so, join us!

Here’s a rundown of what I’ve found so far (feel free to let me know of others!)

1. Barnes & Noble – read 8 books and a get free book from their list

2. Borders – reading 10 books and get a free book from their selection in store

3. Half Price Books – Read 15 minutes per day (600 total in June and July) and get $5 gift certificate (I was hoping they were doing the weekly thing this year – that was great to go each week – and we always spent way more than the $5 LOL)

4. HEB – Read 10 books and get some prizes (a t-shirt and maybe some other stuff?)

5. Austin Library – Set a personal goal, read that many books and turn it in to get a free book from their selection

I’m definitely a fan of this author’s work. He sent me this book shortly after it was released and I snatched it up to read right away hoping to find something to grab me while I was traveling. I won’t say that it kept me up at night. It’s a pretty typical monster story with a very atypical monster. Very smart on his part for sure. I definitely had little to no idea what I was in for!

The writing is what we’ve come to expect from Pyle, very well done and very clean. Descriptive, yet not so much so that I want to take a chainsaw to the book when I done. (what? you don’t do that?) I didn’t notice any glaring errors or anything like that.

And this is where it probably isn’t very fair to the author. It’s like comparing children, right? But my problem with the story is that I was expecting more. I STILL get a little bit of a chill at times when I think about his book, Dismember, which was phenomenal (Really, go buy it. Now!). So, perhaps knowing what he’s done in the past and knowing how amazing that book was has jaded me a little. I find it hard to not compare. I know. I know. But for me, I don’t actually care about the characters when it’s a story that absolutely cannot be true (and my ability to suspend belief can be pretty strong here). So, I found myself not really caring what happened to the people in the story. That’s a rough one for me.

However, I must remember that while the previous book was a “this could maybe possibly happen and OMG!” that this book is a monster book. Totally different sub-genre of horror, I realize. No one can deny that this is an excellent monster book, that’s for sure. The story line is well developed (if a little rushed at the end) and it was a great ride. His ability to bring the monster to life and to leave me rooting for the good guys made it highly worth reading. Ultimately, it’s a monster story and ultimately it’s a well done book so I’m still rating this one high.

This is recommended for those horror readers out there that like a good monster story. I’m looking forward to see what he puts out next… this dude is seriously twisted.

Freeze by Daniel Pyle
Dismember by Daniel Pyle
Down the Drain by Daniel Pyle

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Book count for 2011: 30

When I first got this book, I was excited to read it, but it fell by the wayside for a month or so. I picked it up when I was kind of bored of the usual stuff I read and looking for something different. After trying to slog through the first quarter of it, I put it down again. I did end up picking it back up over the course of the next few months, but it didn’t really start pulling me into the story until around the last quarter of the book. It was definitely different, but…

The story itself is fun, a little more than “out there” and a whole bunch of crazy (but the good kinda crazy). I loved the plot and I loved the “what in the heck is this author doing now” moments. If it hadn’t have had this, would have easily given up on it. This probably the single biggest “saving grace” for this book. The storyline is fantastic. Really, it’s great.

The problem is in the telling of the story, in my opinion. It’s slow moving. It’s bogged down. There are two many characters that don’t seem matter and just when I think I know that character, we’ve skipped over to something else that seems unrelated only to come back and I have to try to figure out who was who. I really think the book needs a good content editor. Someone to sift through it and bring out the best parts, reorganize the turn of events and keep it moving. As it is now, when it’s good, it’s really really very good. But when it bogs down and switches too quickly, it’s really really bad. It’s sad because this author can obviously write – and write very very well. It’s the editing that he’s sorely lacking.

Overall, I’d recommend this book if it had some serious content tweaking – to those who enjoy a lighthearted laugh and those of us with just a little bit of conspiracy theorists lurking under the surface (seriously, let’s talk about that moon landing)

I vacillated between 2 and 3 stars on this one, but ultimately, I had problems following the story lines and, well, that’s the most important part.

Whom God Would Destroy by Commander Pants

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Book count for 2011: 29

I purchased this book a year ago, but it kept getting pushed to the side. I was on a flight and needed something to read and saw this on my kindle and decided it was time to read it. I don’t remember much of the rest of the flights I took that day. This is a fantastically absorbing novel that pulls you into the world of the radium dial painters not only through history but through the fictional story that the author has created for us.

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really know much about the radium dial (well, I know about radium!). I knew something happened and I knew people died but not that they were ingesting this stuff! I actually learned a lot about that situation and how sad and out of control it was. I love when I enjoy a book and learn something and don’t feel like I’m having information shoved down my throat. Thank you to the author for presenting information in such a matter. Good for her.

The fictional part of the story was also very well done. I will admit that I was a little confused as to why the secrecy after all these years, but having said that, it didn’t detract from the story at all. I loved how it all pulled together. From what I can gather, this is the first novel by this author that I’ve been able to find and it’s such an amazing first effort – heck, had I not went looking, I would have sworn it was from a seasoned author. She manages to bring you into Helen’s life and and into the factory and subsequent years. I felt so connected to the characters that I found myself trying to talk to a few of them, trying to make them see things MY. I’m sure my fellow passengers thought I was completely crazy.

This book is highly recommended for those that enjoy not only historical fiction, but also good general fiction. Unless you only read one genre, this is something you would probably enjoy. It goes on my must read for the year, wish I had read it sooner!

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Book count for 2011: 28

Last Thursday, I was visiting Portland and after a disappointing experience with another restaurant in the area (see my previous review), my group of ten was left without a reservation. Ut-oh. A couple of the ladies had said that they visited Jake’s the night before and loved it and wouldn’t be adverse to going again. We walked over knowing that they might not be able to accommodate a large group, but hoping we could at least get on a list and walk around a bit or something.

They were not able to seat us right away, but the manager himself found us some tables together in the bar to wait (a very nice couple offered to move over to another area for us – nice folks all around). We ordered drinks and the waitress was able to get us some appetizers that were on the happy hour menu (even though we were past happy hour – we wanted hummus, darn it!). We happily chatted and waited 45 minutes to an hour and had a great time – the wait staff were all very attentive and we never felt like we were a bother at all.

We were seated and had a fabulous waitress (shout out to Amy). We were very very well taken care of. They even had a magician that came around to entertain us. I’m still working out how he made the dollar bill float. Cuz I was sitting RIGHT there in front of it. I suspect they put hallucinogenics in my water cuz nothing else makes sense. I’m just saying.

The decor of the restaurant is very nice, very regal – yet relaxing at the same time. It felt cozy, just what a steakhouse should feel like.

The food was amazing. I had a beet salad that was perfectly dressed and tasted amazing. I also had the Jake’s Mixed Grill and OMG. I ordered the steak medium and came out perfectly cooked along with a lobster tail and a prawn. Amazing. Simply amazing. We finished up with three desserts for the table and passed them around so everyone got a taste (major shout to the cheesecake).

I even forgot that gratuity was included because I was paying for a large party. Amy came over and quietly pointed it out and asked if I wanted to adjust it. I did a little, but still left her a large extra tip for being so honest.

Great place. Great food. Relaxed yet nice. A winner. I would not hesitate to go here again.

I also found out later that they are part of the McCormick and Schmicks family. We have one of those here in Austin so I’m looking forward to checking it here as well. Major thumbs up for Jakes!

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I was recently in Portland for a business conference and was taking ten people out to dinner. I asked our hotel concierge to recommend a place that was moderately priced (I was paying!) and would be accommodating. He suggested Pastini’s. He called, found out they didn’t take reservations for Thursday nights but the manager on duty told him that they would make sure there wasn’t a problem.

My group of ten ladies walked in and were treated rudely. Not only were we told that they didn’t have room for us and there would be a 45-60 minute wait, but he basically said “you’ll probably just want to leave”. No offer to split the party. No apologies. No offer to seat us in the bar while we waited. All of us felt like we were being told to just go away. A severely disappointing experience. He then demanded I give him the name of who the concierge talked to. Needless to say, we left, where I happily dropped $550 in drinks and dinner at Jake’s Grill a few blocks over.

Would not recommend this place to ANYONE. Avoid.

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