Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for Natasha at Maw Books for challenging me to write a haiku today. This came as a result of Natasha's book review today. It is food inspired. Since today is Thanksgiving and I made Pretzel jello salad I dedicate this haiku.

gelatinous mass

entwines cream cheese crunchiness

surprisingly good

Check out the Button!

Trin from Bloody Bad Books was super nice and made a button for my blog. I think it looks amazing! Thank you so much Trin. So if I added the widget right and the html is working in my favor, you should be able to snag my button. I am going to attempt more haiku in the next little while. I know I haven't paid much attention to that recently, and I am saddened. I've got to live up to my blog title after all.

Plus: attention all Blogger users. Now you can easily make a label cloud. Just go to your Layout page and edit your labels. You can choose to have your labels in a cloud and even hide labeled posts you don't want readers to see. I did my labels in a cloud, even though I think the words are too closely spaced. That will be an issue to address on another day.

Reading Journal October 2009

Here I am partway through November, and I almost forgot to do my Reading Journal for October. I didn't really read all that many books in October. Actually, I am struggling to remember if I read more than the two classics I finished.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (this one actually spanned a few months)
Shudder by Jennie Hansen

I guess that pretty much sums it up. Three books in a month. I don't quite know what to think about that. Life just gets busy I guess. At this point it doesn't look like November is faring any better.

I did complete the classics challenge, so that is something I am proud of anyway. Here are the books I had planned to read on my Classics Starting Post. I read 7 books. I stuck pretty well to the list except I read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson instead of Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. I still have some classics on my shelf that I am attempting to get to.

Books Finished for Classics Challenge

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
3. Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
6. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
7. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

Shudder by Jennie Hansen

Shudder by Jennie Hansen
My Goodreads rating 5 of 5

I have been meaning to review this book for a week now, but the planets didn't align. You know how things go when life gets crazy.

Shudder is about a girl named Darcy. Her best friend and roommate, Clare, is about to get married to a man named Blaine. Blaine is a prestigious lawyer, but Darcy just can't like him no matter how hard she tries. There is just something that is not right with Blaine. When Blaine tries to move into their apartment the relationship becomes strained with Clare, because Darcy cannot go against her beliefs. Darcy moves out, but tries to support Clare in her decision. At that moment, she doesn't know if she will ever be friends with Clare again, but she lets Clare know she will be there if Clare needs her.

Although there is a little bit of a love interest in this book, I wouldn't consider it a romance book. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more on the romance end, but that is okay. I liked the suspense parts, and there were plenty of them. This book is a look into an abusive relationship, and seeing how someone can get trapped into one. Although, I am sure there are many differenct reasons and outcomes.

There were a couple different plot lines in this book. I've already mentioned the love interest and the abusive relationship. The other one revolves around an unsolved murder. I don't think it was too much to have all three of these plot lines in the book. It made for an interesting and suspenseful read.

I want to thank Jennie Hansen and Covenant Communications for sending me this book to read and review. I think I have said before that Jennie Hansen is one of my all time favorite authors. If you are looking for more adventure/suspenseful books you might try reading Jennie Hansen's The Bracelet series. They are really good. Also check Jennie Hansen's blog. She does giveaways twice monthly for books off her bookshelf. It is really easy to enter. All you have to do is leave meaningful comments on any of  her posts.

Also I don't know if I ever posted the picture of Jennie and I at Deseret Book's Ladies Night Event that happened last month. I went to see her and got some books signed. She was so sweet and wrote me a long message in my favorite book by her, When Tomorrow Comes.






My son went with me. I was a little flustered, because as soon as we walked into the store, he ran off and got lost. Thankfully I found him!






Reader Question: Any favorite authors you would like to share about? I know I have more than one.