FREE Kindle books

Some of you may already be aware that there are some free ebooks on Amazon.com but for the rest of you out there with e-readers who didn't know this, you should definitely check out Amazon the free books are on the right side of the page. While most of the books are classics, you'll likely find some mystery, romance, puzzle and recipe books too. So check it out, load the books to your e-readers (or in my case the Kindle for Mac) and get to reading all for FREE!

The Time Traveler's Wife- by Audrey Niffennegger

Like many people, I saw the movie "The Time Traveler's Wife" starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana and LOVED IT!  While the movie came out in 2009, I finally got around to reading the book "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger this year when I saw it on a special library display. While of course watching the movie gave me an idea what the storyline was, the book (of course) gave more background information on the characters and showed their motivations.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it starts out with Henry a time traveler meeting his future wife, whom his future self has met as she grew up. The logic itself is a bit difficult to understand, so I suggest that the reader just "go with it" and try to not over-think the process, and like Henry — take the time traveling as it comes and goes.

Reading the book was a joy, but it did require me to flip back in the book often to review the date to see whose perspective the section was written from. (Since most chapters are written from both Clare and Henry's perspective, the reader must remember who the "I" is during conversations, part of my frustration is inherent in the book and concept of time travel and the way the book is written.

I rate the book a reluctant 5 stars only because the book wasn't easy to read, but it was FUN and indeed a great read!

Texas Gothic- by Rosemary Clement-Moore

If you are looking for a book filled with mystetry, intrigue and a spunky main character, you've GOT to read the book 'Texas Gothic' by ROsemary Cement-Moore.  Known for her great prose and strong lead characters, this book takes readers to small-town Texas Ranch, with sisters Amy and Phin and a boat-load of other college-age kids. When Amy and Phin agree to take care of their Aunt's farm while she's away on a vacation they expected to water plants and feed the ghoats. What they didn't expect, was to dig up bones and meet some ghosts!

Once again, Rosemary brings characters to life with great narration, witty word-choice and vivid details. While I haven't reviewed Clement-Moore's other books on this blog (although I've read everything she's written so far) I whole-heartedly recommend the books and am excited to award my first 5 stars on this blog.

I particularly liked Clement-Moore's description of Amy's body language when she first meets Ben, and the way Amy names people she just meets, such as "Dumb" and "Dumber" "Boots" and "Truck".

Keep them coming, Rosemary! Readers need more clean (yet spooky and fun) books to read!

For more information on the author, visit her website www.readrosemary.com

My 2012 Goal

Obviously, I LOVE reading, or this blog wouldn't be as dear to my heart as it already is. With that being said, I often feel like I don't have the time to read as much as I'd like to. This year I'm setting a reading goal of 26 books. While this may not seem like a lot of books, only 1 book every 2 weeks, I think it will still prove to be a little difficult, given that I'm still in school, working and have three children.

Entwined- by Heather Dixon

I'm not sure how this book got into my library queue, but I was interested in the book merely for the cover- it looks so magical! Entwined by Heather Dixon is a coming of age story of sorts about 12 princesses who live in an enchanted castle. Azalea, the main character and oldest princess, must help her sisters through the grieving process once their mother passes away.

I rate this book 2 1/2 stars out of 5 mainly due to a slow storyline and parts of the story just didn't make sense. For example, I  often wondered if I had skipped a page in the book because I seemed to be missing some of the story. While I understand the author's reasoning behind adding some particular quirk to a character — in this case Azalea curling her toes in her boots — she seemed to do the motion too often (in both good and bad situations) and the author could have slightly altered the phrasing a bit so that the motion wasn't so redundant. Another part of the story that I just didn't understand was that the royal family seemed to live well beneath their means — Why is is that the Prime Minister lived better than the king himself?  For those reasons I rated the book a 2 1/2 stars out of 5. I'm willing to read more by Heather Dixon, and hope to see further stories about Azalea and her sisters as they explore the use of magic in their castle.