Sample Sized Reviews or Where Have I Been?

Well, so far this summer has not turned out like I planned.

Hubby is in Romania for two months. I have no problem with that. He is taking a language course and then will be doing research for his Master's thesis. In five short months I will be living my own movie, "Tammy and the Professor". It's ironic you see as my mother named me after the Tammy movies from the 60s starring Debbie Reynolds, Sandra Dee and I can't remember who else.

Yes, the issue is not hat he is gone, but rather my grand plans in his absence.

First let me apologize for my absence. It was unexpected. Hubby left on June 29, but the last two weeks of June were spent running errands and taking care of business to get him ready to go. When I did have a moment to breathe, I was far to tired to do anything, not even read, and I was often in bed by 10:00. That is big considering I would be up until at least midnight every night. So no time in June.

I figured once he left I would have all the time in the world. I went to Vermont for July 4th to see my niece, nephew and sister-in-law and the few days in between Cam's departure and heading to Vermont were spent getting me ready to go to Vermont. it was only a four day trip, but the drive home was ridiculous and I didn't get home until about 9.

So with the weekend over, I figured I have plenty of time to write and read. I really am so naive. I still have a lot of work to do around the house. I have cleaning to do. Weeding to do. Errands to run. Bills to pay. A bicycle to ride. Clothes to fold, well T-shirts really, and clothes to hang. My fear was that I would end up doing nothing and I would stare at the ceiling in my spare time due to a brain implosion. Well, that fear was unfounded.

As it turns out, I still have no time for anything. The weekend is my time to get things done. And I swear I have not been sleeping the day away. The trouble is everyone wants to make sure that I am not hibernating in Cam's absence. I love our friends, I really do and I feel so lucky to have them in our lives, but I just can't keep up this pace. Last weekend was the first weekend after July 4th. I went to the movies Friday, the pool all day Saturday and on Sunday had a barbecue/pool invitation, a pool invitation and a dinner invite. I never stopped moving. So Monday comes along and I am dead tired.

And, of course, I have to spend quality time with Egg. He misses his daddy and he constantly tells me about it. Well, what he does is yell loudly in my ear and demand scratchies. But all the time. If I am not moving for a second he is on me like white on rice. He is used to daddy being home during the day, but now he is all on his own.

Today is my first day I can really spend some time writing. And that is only because I put another chair next to my computer so he can nap on that while I type from the other. I do have to leave in a couple hours though as I'm heading to a show with Cam's sister and niece. Tomorrow, maybe the pool if the weather is nice.

Anyway, I do plan to take more time to write even if that means I have to kiss off some of the chores. I hate cleaning anyway. I can't hire a cleaning service, though, because I don't like people touching my stuff.

This is supposed to be about books, not my pathetic excuses. As I have not been able to get any reading done, I decided to write a very short blurb about some of the samples I have managed to read.  

Galgorithm by Aaron Karo
This read like a movie or a commercial/infomercial and not in a good way. The book is from a male point of view, our narrator so calculating, knowing just how to advise fellow male students on what to do to get the girls to notice them. I made it through two chapters before deciding it wasn’t for me. - No

Dark Paradise by Angie Sandro
Another witch story, but add in a touch of voodoo in the deep, deep south. Woman, witch, curse, deep south. Sound familiar? I think I’d prefer to just finally read Beautiful Creatures. - No

My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten
Rowena is a recent dumpee and like many dumpees, her ex left her for another girl. Well, he cheated on her. Just once I would like to see the relationship end because it just wasn’t working out, not because the guy was cheating on the girl. Just once. Regardless. Rowena had a summer job lined up at the mall, which she now doesn’t want to take because of her ex and his new GF. Since she has to work to contribute to her college fund, she finds a job listing for a body art specialist which happens to be at the local Renaissance Festival. I am a fan of the whole medieval thing and you’d think it would be right up my alley, but I just could not get into this. - No

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
Samantha, our main character, is suffering from a condition. She has episodes where she starts thinking all these terrible thoughts about the people around her. It is difficult to control and she has a hard time hiding it from her friends. She has to focus on thinking new thoughts to drive the dark thoughts out of her head. Her mom helps her calm down and get control of her thoughts. Samantha intrigues me and I definitely want to know more about the root cause of her episodes. - Yes

Rook by Sharon Cameron
This is Paris in an alternate reality. The city has sunken and anyone opposing the current party in power are executed. The Red Rook rescues condemned prisoners before they can be executed, leaving behind only a red rook feather in their prison cell. What no one realizes is that the Red Rook is actually a privileged woman of city about to marry a wealthy elite. It is sort of a Scarlet Pimpernel story but with role reversal for a new generation. - Yes

Liam Darcy, I Loathe You by Heidi Jo Doxey
I saw this on the book shelf. It is the first in the Jane Journals at Pemberley Prep series. Well, I like the sound of that. So, I downloaded a sample. What I didn’t realize is that the story doesn’t center on any one character, or at least it didn’t seem to from the sample I read. There are journal entries from at least 6 girls. For me, at least from the length of the sample, there was no cohesiveness and it was all over the place. I couldn’t get a feel for any of the characters and the journal entries were relatively short so it jumped around a lot. - No

Hockey Tutor by Mary Smith
Well, I do love hockey and the price was right. The smart girl is hired by the Dean to tutor a new transfer student, Andrew, who also happens to be the school’s best shot at a championship season. The trouble is he has a bad attitude and failing grades. Katie is being paid $20,000.00 and given a company car by Andrew’s father, but only for the semester. She will tutor him, make sure he does his work and gets to class on time. Well, this just seems a little ridiculous. - No

Imperfect Chemistry by Mary Frame
Lucy has a position at a university and a grant to allow her to study emotion as it relates to passion. The trouble is she has never experienced it herself. Well, that is not the only problem. Lucy has a PhD in microbiology which she got at the ripe old age of 20. What? I can understand graduating high school early to start college and maybe finishing a bachelors early, but it is a little far fetched to me that by the age of 20 she could complete her PhD program. My brother is studying for his PhD in physics and he’s been at it for 5 years. This is just such a ridiculously implausible idea to me. It is currently priced at $0.00 on Amazon, but even that is too much to pay. - No

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent
I know there’s been a lot of buzz about this book, but it seems like another zombie story, which I am kind of getting tired of. Nina is not a privileged girl. She has an arrangement with the maid of a well to do family. She gets paid $15.00 a week to take the daughter’s school clothes and wash them. Nina and her sister wash them Monday and wear them all week, cleaning them over the weekend and return them to the maid by Monday am. On her way home she is attacked by a degenerate, but you might as well call it a zombie. She’s rescued by an exorcist that seems to be operating outside the system. - Maybe

Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London
Aimee had planned to spend the summer living with her friend Becky while her parents travel to Cambodia, but Becky’s come down with mono and Aimee’s grandmother is not coming until July. Her parents decide to send her off with her brother who is on tour with only the hottest musical act in forever, Seconds to Juliet. Unfortunately, their front man, Miles, is her brother, Nick’s best friend and he was her first crush. But since he made fun of her for always tagging along with them, she has gotten over her crush and has been avoiding him ever since. How can she continue to avoid him when she is forced to be on tour with him? - Yes