SORRY EVERYONE!!

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to write a real quick post, apologizing for not having anything posted in a very long time!!! I moved into a new apartment, and we JUST got internet in the new apartment. I will HOPEFULLY be back on regularly, and able to post reviews!

Leaving By Karen Kingsbury

Title: Leaving

Author: Karen Kingsbury

Where I got it: Karen did a contest on her Facebook page where 40 of us out of thousands got to read an Advanced Copy of this book, and I was one of them that was chosen!

Why I Read It: Not only do I love Karen's books, but Bailey is one of my all time favorite characters EVER!

Rating: 5 stars




Summary from Barnes and Noble:

The Bailey Flanigan series begins with Bailey leaving Bloomington for the adventure of a lifetime. She has won an audition for the ensemble of a Broadway musical in New York City. She's determined to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but is she really ready to leave family and friends for the loneliness of the city? And what of Cody? His disappearance has her worried about their future and praying that their love can survive.

In order to be closer to his mother in jail, Cody takes a coaching job in a small community outside Indianapolis. New friends, distance, and circumstances expose cracks in his relationship with Bailey Flanigan.

Love, loneliness, big opportunities, and even bigger decisions highlight the first book in the new Bailey Flanigan series that features members of the popular Baxter family and finally completes the Bailey Flanigan/Cody Coleman story.

~~

So, as was mentioned in the summary, this is the first book in the Bailey Flanigan series. For those of you who don't know who Bailey is, she's a character from other books that Karen has written. Bailey is such a lovable character, that Karen decided to make Bailey her very own series. 

This book was absolutely amazing. It was heart warming, funny, sad, heart breaking, inspiring, and incredible all rolled into one. Karen has a way of making ALL of the characters come to life in your mind when you're reading her books, and this book was no exception. I felt like I was BEST FRIENDS with Bailey, and knew her family in real life. When a book can make you feel this way, you know it's a one of a kind book!

This book is about Bailey finally realizing that her dream is coming true, and in order for her dream to come true, she has to Leave her family and friends in her own state of Indiana, and move to New York to be in a Broadway play. It's not easy for ANYONE to leave loved ones behind to make your own dreams come true, but Bailey shows us that it's okay to do so. And that God has a plan for ALL of us, and that once he opens a door for that plan, we must take it with our heads held high or we'll regret it for the rest of our lives. 

I've been on both sides of this book. I've been the one who has left, when I went to a new city for College and left my Mom, who is my hero, behind. And I've been on the side where I've been the one who has been left behind. My ex boy friend and I split up and went our separate ways because God opened doors for him to follow his dreams, and I didn't, and couldn't, get in the way of that. 

This book teaches us that it's okay to follow our dreams. That it may hurt to follow your dreams because you're leaving your loved ones behind, but in the end, it's what you accomplish that matters the most. 

Anyone who is struggling with finding their way in life, finding out if love is worth fighting for, and WHO is worth fighting for, who is trying to find a relationship with God, or rekindle their relationship for God, or those of us who aren't sure if dreams really DO come true, should read this book. You don't have to necessarily read the books that Bailey is in in the other series outside of this series to understand the back stories, so if you're starting with The Bailey Flanigan series, it's okay. You'll enjoy them just as much as I did and do! 

A cool fact about Bailey, and this series is that it's pretty much based off of the life of Karen. Almost everything that Bailey goes through, Karen's daughter Kelsey has been through too. Not EVERYTHING in Bailey's life reflects Kelsey, but a lot of it does. 

Kelsey plays Bailey on Facebook, so "Bailey" has her own Facebook page, which can be found HERE.

I'm excited for the next book, Learning, to come out on June 22nd! I can't wait to see where Life, and God, takes Bailey next!

As I mentioned, I was picked as a winner in a contest from Karen where I got to read an Advanced Copy of this book and do a review for her. This book will be published and available for everyone to read on MARCH 22ND, 2011!

Find Karen Online:

www.karenkingsbury.com

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKarenKingsbury

My Rating:

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

Title: Best Friends Forever 

Author:  Jennifer Weiner

Where I Got It: Someone bought it for me!

Why I Read It: I've heard a lot about Jennifer as an author, and wanted to try out some of her books!

Rating: 4/5


Blurb from the back of the book:

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weather girl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened." Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together.

This book was actually very well written, and as the blurb says, it was hilarious! It had it's parts that were kind of boring, of course, what book doesn't? But for the most part, it was very entertaining! 

I felt like I could relate to Addie quite a bit when it came to having friends in High School, being picked on, etc. I wasn't UNPOPULAR, but I wasn't popular either. High School was a lot less hard for me than Elementary was, but in that aspect, I could definitely relate to Addie. 

Addie and Val had a falling out in high school when Val told Addie a secret, and Addie felt as if she needed to tell someone to help Val out. Addie did no wrong, but Val couldn't see it at the time. In the way Val handled it (I don't want to say too much), she wasn't a very good friend. I feel as if I could relate to Addie in the way of losing a good friend over something incredibly preventable, and being so hurt over it. 

The book starts off when Addie was a little girl, living with her parents and brother in a neighborhood in Pleasant Ridge, Illinois. Pleasant Ridge is ( in real life ) a suburb of Chicago. One day Addie was looking out her window before lunch or dinner time (I can't remember which) and saw a moving truck pull up into the house across the street. She saw a little girl get out of the car following the moving truck, and realized they were the same age. Addie got excited, hoping to have a new friend. 

Later, Val introduced herself to Addie, and Addie invited her to eat lunch with them. The rest is pretty much history. They were across-the-street neighbors, who hung out every single day. They grew up together, never leaving each others side until the event happened in high school. 

My only complaint about the book is that I felt like the event that happened to cause them to drift apart, wasn't well detailed. I felt like there was lots of missing pieces. Also, the event that happened before Val showed up at Addie's door 15 years later, involved another character in the book, and I felt like he kept getting lost in the story. Pages and pages would go by before Jennifer would mention him again. 

Over all, this was a fantastic book, and I would recommend it to anyone! I am also going to be checking into her other books very soon!!

Don't forget to leave feedback!!! 

My Rating:

Book Blogger Hop!!!

Hey Everyone! It's that time again... Time for the Book Blogger Hop! If you've never participated before, go visit Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books!! There you'll find the blog entry all about the Book Blogger Hop!!

Every Friday, Jennifer posts a new question for everyone to answer, and to hop around to other book bloggers blogs (haha) to see their answers too!

This weeks question is:

What are you reading now, and why are you reading it?

Right now I am reading, Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner! It's a FANTATSTIC  Book! And I'm reading it because I read a book review a VERY long time ago on it, and fell in love with it and instantly added it to my TBR List. This past Christmas I particpated in a Secret Santa and this book was sent to me via my Secret Santa! Best Christmas Present Ever! So now I am finally reading it!!!

What book, or books, are you reading?

Stylish Blogger Award!!!

Hello Everyone!! This is kinda late (I've been soo busy!), but I recently got a Stylish Blogger Award from T.C. McKee! She has been helping me out quite a bit lately with the whole blogging stuff, trying to give me tips to get more traffic on my blog, etc. So, I want to Thank her from the bottom of my heart for helping me out with the tips/ideas, and for giving me this awesome award!!!


Now, as most of you know, when you receive an award, you have to pass it on to 15 people! I am not expecting everyone to pass this award on to others, because I know a lot of you are busy. I just ask that you PLEASE accept the award, and let me know in a comment that you accepted it! So, without further ado, here are the 15 bloggers that I chose:



Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner
Steph at StephTheBookworm
Cindy at Oodles of Books;
Carrie at Just One More Chapter
Kate at Kate's Library
Bewitched Book Worms
Isalys and Vanessa at Book Soulmates 
Emilie at Emilie's Book World 
Danielle at Every Last Page
Bree at Bree's Books
Angela at Library Girl Reads
Lost in the Library
The Book Bee
YA Highway
A Book Geek



And now, here are seven facts about myself!


1.) I love the smell of new, and old books.
2.) I hate winter, even though I live in one of the snowiest states in the US.
3.) In the past year or so, I've learned how to live for me, and not for pleasing others.
4.) I absolutely love working at my place of employment!
5.) I'm a huge people-person, and I get bored/lonely quickly when I'm not around people.
6.) I absolutely love food. I love cooking food, reading about food, eating food, watching Food Network, I love everything about food!
7.) I have a dream to have a book published someday.


I hope you all enjoyed receiving this award from me, and enjoyed reading my seven facts! Now, I would like all of YOU to share at least one fact about yourself with me, so I can get to know all of you too! Also, if you were a winner of this award, remember that you DO NOT have to repost, or pass it on, I just simply would like you to comment on here and let me know you've received the award, and share a fun fact! =)

Thanks again to T.C Mckee for giving me this award!!!

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Title: Eat, Pray, Love

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Where I Got It: I bought it from Walmart

Why I Read It: I've been wanting to read it for a very long time, and after hearing such good things about the book AND the movie, I decided to buy it and read it.

My Rating: B



Blurb from the back of the book:

In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was suppose to want -- husband, country home, successful career -- but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. 

First I must start of by saying how humorous this book was. I found myself literally laughing out loud numerous times through out this book. And, if you know me at all, you know that I love a book that makes me feel emotion as if I'm the one writing it, or who lived it! Out of everything likable in this book, I'd have to say that's my ultimate favorite. 

The only thing that I didn't really enjoy about the book is that I found myself getting bored through out some parts of it. I was getting so bored, that my mind would wander off and think of other things while reading, and by the time I realized this, I'd have to go back a page or two to reread it to understand what was going on. However, this didn't happen a lot, just a few times here or there, and it wasn't enough to ruin the book, or make me hate it. 

I  feel like this book can teach everyone something. It obviously taught Elizabeth a lot as she was traveling from place to place, writing this book and experiencing life in such a different way. The knowledge, advice, suggestions, and thoughts through out this book give us all a feeling of, "Oh, what a great life lesson!" 

For example, I've been going through this "woe is me" stage every now and then and feeling BLAH, and REALLY down about my 7 year relationship that ended a year ago. Even after a year, it still hurts. Well, I was having one of those days and I picked up this book and immediately read this part:

"I thought David was my soul mate."

"He probably was. Your problem is you don't understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it."

By reading this part of the book/story, I was like, "Wow. So everyone really DOES have more than one soul mate." Then it made me think about how much my life has changed since meeting my "soul mate", who has now left, and how in the end, it's the best experience that I, or anyone else can ever have and that it's okay to be hurt/sad/upset, but it's also okay to move on with your life. There WILL be more soul mates! There was one other quote/part of the book that goes hand in hand with this too. I'd like to share it with you also.

"My heart was broken so badly last time that it STILL hurts. Isn't that crazy? To still have a broken heart almost two years after a love story ends?"

This entire book has so many awesome parts/quotes/sections in it with SUCH deep thoughts/meaning, just like the two that I shared with you. And, as I said, a life lesson for me that I learned from reading this: It's okay to love again.

I do think that this book is a must read for all woman. Men would enjoy it too, I'm sure. But because this was written by a woman, and it has the life lessons that every girl needs to learn sometime in their life, I think every woman out there should read this. In fact, I'm going to pass this own to a friend of mine to read, so SHE can learn from this book, then I hope she'll pass it on to someone else. I highly recommend this book to everyone, woman especially. 

When I talk about life lessons, I'm talking about learning that life isn't always bad. I'm talking about that even though Elizabeth was miserable in her life, she had the guts to get up and DO something about it. Not only did she help herself, but along the way she met incredibly, amazing people, who not only changed HER life, but in some way, she changed theirs as well. And I think everyone should know that this actually does happen. 

As I said, I highly recommend this book to everyone, a high focus on woman. I hope that you all go out and read this, if you haven't already. I highly recommend you read the book, before seeing the movie however. I haven't seen the movie yet, but as it goes with all books made into movies, I doubt the movie even comes close to giving the book justice! 

One other positive thing about this book is that at the very end of the book, there are pages of the other books Elizabeth Gilbert as published. One of them is actually a sort of continuance of this book. It tells what happens to her, and some of the people she met along the way. I don't want to say too much, or I'll give out too many spoilers!!! 

I am giving this book a B, only because of the very few less entertaining parts that were through out the book. 

If you've already read this book, PLEASE leave me some comments/feedback on this. I would LOVE to know what you think/thought of it. Or, if you've seen the movie, and not the book, I would LOVE to hear from you as well!! 

My Rating:

50 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone!!! I have FINALLY reached 50 followers!!! I said that I was going to do a giveaway when I reached this, so, here I am with the updated, detailed information on the giveaway, and how to enter/participate, etc! 


Here are the rules:


1. ANYONE in the UNITED STATES can participate! Sorry International folks, I will do a giveaway for you real soon!


2.) You HAVE to be a Follower. New, or old! 


3.)  You get additional entries if you're a follower, meaning, you'll get an entry for signing up, then you'll get an entry for being a follower. Also additional entries are possible in the following ways: Posting an entry on your blog about the giveaway, posting on your Facebook, Myspace, etc. about the giveaway, and/or posting something on Goodreads about the giveaway! I WILL NEED LINKS TO ALL OF THIS IN ORDER TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES!


Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what you can win. So, here are the prizes:


ONE lucky FIRST PRIZE winner will choose what book they'd want from Barnes & Noble that is $15 or less! I will have this book shipped to them!


TWO lucky SECOND PRIZE winners will be chosen to receive a USED copy of one of the books that I own. Now, There will be a "first prize-second prize winner", if that makes sense. Whoever is RANDOMLY drawn for the second place prize  first, will  get first pick of which book they want. Then the second person for second place prize will get a pick out of what's left. Does this make sense?


So in total, there will be THREE winners! 


Here is a list of the books I will have available for the SECOND PRIZE WINNERS to win:


Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Nosy Neighbor by Fern Michaels
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


How to enter:


Please leave me a comment ON THIS ENTRY ONLY with the following information:


Your first name, which two books you'd be interested in if you were second place, your email address where I can contact you if you win, any links to announcements of this giveaway so you can get extra entries, and whether your a new, or old follower! 


Winners will be chosen at RANDOM using Random.org. However, the more entries you have, the more chances you'll have at winning!! 


This giveaway is going to go from NOW until February 1st. It gives people THREE weeks to enter, get information needed, etc. Once a winner is picked, I will post an entry with the persons name, the link to their blog, etc. They will have 48 HOURS to contact me to claim their prize.


If you have ANY questions, feel free to email me at: stephanysbookreviews@gmail.com


I'm excited about this giveaway folks!! LETS DO THIS!