At First Sight (Jeremy Marsh & Lexie Darnell #2) by Nicholas SParks

Synopsis by www.goodreads.com

There are a few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he’d never do: he’d never leave New York City; never give his heart away after barely surviving one failed marriage; and never become a parent. 

Now Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, engaged to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the start of their family. 

But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, a mysterious and disturbing e-mail sets off a chain of events that will change the course of this young couple’s relationship.

How well do we really know the ones we love? How do we handle the inevitable doubts, fears concerning parenthood, and stumbling blocks that are sometimes placed in our way? 

Continuing the story of the young couple introduced in Sparks’s bestselling True Believer, this novel captures all the heartbreak, tension, romance and surprises of those who are newly wed. 

An astonishing tale about the love between a man and a woman and between a parent and a child, At First Sight is about endings that bring new beginnings . . . tragedies that lead to unexpected joy . . . and, most of all, the magic of everlasting love.

My Comments :

I made the mistaken of reading this book first before I read "True Believer". Hence, there were some parts which I felt that I was in the blind.

Nevertheless, after reading the first book; am still of the opinion that this is not one of his best work.

First half of the story was rather dry. All Jeffery's self doubts and their arguments was not engaging at all. It did jot endear me to either Lexie or Jeffrey

Things only pick up soeed when the baby was in distress

overall this has been an okay reads. For me this have been two stars out of five

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Synopsis from www.goodreads.com

A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ...

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

My Comments :

The story was painfully slow. Up to page 200, the author was still building up background of various characters in the story. However, the last 100 pages or so saved the story or else I would say it's a waste of time reading this

The words used here were rather stilted. It was like something out of Enid Blyton's fairy tales genre. Not very suitable for modern days story.

For example page 118 " Fats had been told by a reliable informant that the one fail-safe way of quitting the Winterdown grounds without being spotted from a window was to climb over the side wall by the bike shed. "...it would have been easier to say Fats decided to skip school. .." the word "quit" makes it sound so dull and "old English". 

I don't feel the sense of urgency to know what willhappen next nor want to know who will win the post. 

But as i have said earlier, story only pick up speed in the final 100 pages or so. The book could have done with more trimming off unnecessary long winded portion.

For me this book is worth two starts out of five.

Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home by Eric Ryan, Adam Lowry

Hardcover, 158 pages

Published April 1st 2008 by Chronicle Books

Title :Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home

ISBN : 0811863913 (ISBN13: 9780811863919)

edition language : English

Synopsis at www.goodreads.com

When Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan founded Method, the environmentally friendly brand of cleaning products, they used packaging stylish enough to showcase on the counter top and pleasant aromas such as green tea and cucumber to transform household products into must-have lifestyle accessories. 

And when they coined the phrase "People Against Dirty," they weren't just talking about the stuff you track in on your shoes they also meant the toxic chemicals that make up many household detergents. 

Packed with helpful tips and surprising facts, their first book, Squeaky Green, is a totally informative and completely entertaining room-by-room guide to giving dirty the boot. Squeaky Green is rehab for chemically dependant homes.

My Comments :

I came across this book at Method's Blogger Tea Party earlier this month. Initially I thought this is just another books "teaching" us how to clean the house using their products.

Yesterday, they couriered some products to me together with this book. Nope, am not supposed to review this book. They just need me to try out their products. This book is just "additional information" for my reference.

As I flipped through the book, I found that it's actually very entertaining. Yup...usually I dislike reading Manuals or books that says Cleaning Tips as at the end each chapter they would tell me what product to use to get things clean. 

I was pleasantly surprised that this book is not one of such book. It did not drone on and on about how good is their products and nor highlight how to use their products. 

It is quite surprising that this is a straight forward book. I find myself "talking" to this book and it "answering" back. Am not cuckoo yet, okay....

Here are  example of my "conversation" :

On Antibacterial Soap 

Book : Antibacteria soap are pesticides. Meaning the ingredients in them are used to kill bugs...bla bla bla.....

Me : Oh yea? Then why is it they use it in hospital...?

Book : .American Medical Association does not recommend antibacterial soaps...they don't recommend using it at home  and don't even recommend them for use in pediatrician office...only place the recommend is in hospital... bla bla bla...antibacteria soap aren't effective at killing viruses that makes you sick.

Me : Uh...but what about flu ...touching surface that have someone with flu hand touched..I'll get from that too......

Book : ....you don't catch the common cold or flu from bacteria. You get them from viruses....

Me : *Palms on face* Science failed...

Book : .... keep in mind that antibacterial products are designed to kill living things, namely, bacterial. Guess what else is a living thing? You.

Me : .......

On Soap

Book : wash your hands with good old soap and water. Done properly, it's effective in getting rid of pesky germs

Me : But I hate to think of touching a bar of soap which others had touched with their dirty hand. Sometimes I see there are line of grimes on that bar of soup. It's just so gross

Book : Danny says, if you want to offer your family and friends a fresh piece of soap each time they wash their hands, look no further than your kitchen drawer. Run a vegetable peeler across the top to make individual soap curls' display them in a bowl in the bathroom and each guests can use a thin sliver to wash their hand clean.



Yup....this book have been fun to read.  There are a lot of helpful information in it and also opens my eyes on many things that I've taken for granted.

Overall, am giving this book full five stars and feels that every Mom or Dad should read this book at least once.

Cinderella & The Carpetbagger by Grace Robbins

• 
  

• Title : Cinderella & The Carpetbagger
• Author : Grace Robbins
• Publisher :Bettie Youngs Book Publishers
• ISBN9780988284821
• Price29.95
• CurrencyUSD
• EditionHardcover
• 
  

Synopisis from Netgalley.com


Harold Robbins’s steamy books were once more widely read than the Bible. His novels sold more than 750 million copies and created the sex-power-glamour genre of popular literature that would go on to influence authors from Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann to TV shows like Dallas and Dynasty. 

What readers don’t know is that Robbins—whom the media had dubbed the “prince of sex and scandal”—actually “researched” the free-wheeling escapades depicted in his books himself . . . along with his drop-dead, gorgeous wife, Grace. Now, in this revealing tell-all, Grace Robbins rips the covers off the real life of the international best-selling author. 

The 1960s and ‘70s were decades like no others—radical, experimental, libertine. Grace Robbins chronicles the rollicking good times, peppering her memoir with anecdotes of her encounters with luminaries from the world of entertainment and the arts—not to mention most of Hollywood. The couple was at the center of a globetrotting jet set, with mansions in Beverly Hills, villas and yachts on the French Riviera and Acapulco. 

Their lives rivaled—and often surpassed—that of the characters in his books. Champagne flowed, cocaine was abundant, and sex in the pre-AIDS era was embraced with abandon. Along the way, the couple agreed to a “modern marriage,” that Harold insisted upon. But Grace has the last word, and the “original Beverly Hills Housewife” lays open their fascinating, provocative roller-coaster ride—and shares her own Cinderella tale.


My Comments : 

I admit I was intrigue at how it would be like to be the wife of the world famous author of hot, steamy and sexy novels.

This book is true to its title, Grace Robbins, certainly led a Cinderella life. Plucked  from a dead end marriage into the life fame and wealth. It was amazing reading how she poke fun of herself .

It was unlike some other memoirs which I've read before in which author seems to hide their negative side and push forward their good sides . I love the way where she was being candid of the mistakes that she made and at some parts even poke fun of it. For example, the part where she ruined the deck of their yacht.

Kudos to her for being brave enough to admit that she also took some responsible on the crack of their marriage. It's amazing how a wife willing to turn a blind eye on infidelity in the name of love. She must have been hurting a lot . Also I like that there was not much "bitchiness" involved when the inevitable ending came.

The only downside of this memoir is  that my copy is e-book . Hence it was lack of photographs which usually accompany any memoirs. It would have been great if readers also gets a glimpse of some of the events mentioned in this book. Am not sure whether there are any photographs in the Hardcover version.

Overall, am giving it four stars out of five.

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

Synopsis from www.goodreads.com

Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. 

At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." 

A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. 

Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness -- sexual pleasure for its own sake -- or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.

My Comments :

I like to thank King Hua for giving me this copy of Paulo Coelho book when I mentioned that I wish to read more of his works.

Yea, am not a novice in his work. Have read a few of his book and the one I like a lot was The Witch of Portebello. It certainly "bewitched" me

As the synopsis mentioned, this is a story of self-discovery.

This is a hard book for me to read as I tend to stop and ponder how changes happens. Change does not happens overnight. It was amazing "watching" Maria breaking the boundary which she had set one by one ; the heart break...the "what if" and lastly the choice.

Many had commented on the ending. Has the author been pressured into writing the ending to please the readers? Oh well, I guess it would be up to you to comment whether you like the ending or not.

For me, this has been the perfect read.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Synopsis by www.goodreads.com

From the no. 1 bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the book that readers everywhere have been waiting for: his first novel in six years.

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and step-mother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Adbullah, Pari, as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named, is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their skulls touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways that we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history, and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us

My Comments :

For me this book was certainly worth the wait. 

The story grabbed me from page one itself. Khaled Hosseini certainly a master in word play. It was like the words comes alive and shake you and demand that you pay 100% attention to them.

This is not only the story of Abdullah and Pari but also of people whom they came into contact with. Each person have their own story of loss and regret.

I think the main topic of this book is of loss and regret. Please don't get me wrong. This is not a depressing book. It's more of highlight the sense it.

I would say if I were to compare this book with The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid suns, I vote this book as his best work so far. Let's just hope that I don;t have to wait another 6 long years for his next master piece.

Am giving  this book full 5 stars.

The Undone Years by Shamini Flint

Summary as per www.goodreads.com

On a rubber plantation in Malaya, on the eve of the Second World War, three teenagers enjoy their last summer of freedom and innocence. Matthew is the son of the English planter who runs the estate and his best friend, Rajan, is the son of his father's clerk - but despite their parents' disapproval of their friendship, they feel like equals. When beautiful, strong-willed Mei Ling arrives, both boys' heads are turned. But before any romance can blossom, the Japanese invade.

Against a backdrop of the fall of Singapore, the communist insurgency and the eventual Japanese surrender, The Undone Years is a very human story of love and betrayal in a time of war

My Comments : 

Have you ever read a book that is both complicated and yet simple? I think some of you would have encounter this feeling too if you are a passionate reader.

This is one of those complicated and yet simple.

I have read a few books that is based on the Japanese Occupation of Malaya. Hence for me the plot of this book is quite straight forward and simple. The story is pun in such a way that for first timer or those who doesn't know the Malaya history would find it easy to catch up with what's going on during that time.

The complicated part is the part where the author managed to highlight the emotion involved at that time . How each characters have been caught off guard when The Japanese invaded Malaya. Yup, many things that in normal days we swear we won't do but we might collapse and do it when desperate. Things that is done may have been meant to protect or an innocent act may in turn cause great harm to another.

The author really had a flare in manipulation the characters. And I salute her for having the stomach to put in words on how the tortures were meted out to the prisoners.Those with a weak stomach, would be advisable to skip page 313-316.

Overall I love the story very much. It would be nice if the chemistry between Matthew, Rajan and Mei Ling is more intense. As it is, I get the feeling is that they are just good friends. Only  at the ending did the feelings became apparent.

Am giving this book 4 stars out of 5 stars.