Books Bought – Cindy's Love Of Books

Review/ The Girl On The Train

Posted on May 29, 2015May 15, 2015 by Cindy

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Format: Paperback
Published by London Publishers on November 20th 2014
Pages: 241
Buy on Amazon

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

I have heard alot of good things about The Girl on The Train and I was always tempted to pick it up when I was at chapters but I would always put it back because of the price. The price of the book was what bothered me because I knew it would be a book I wouldn’t end up rereading. Then I happen to see it at Costco for almost half the price I knew that was my sign to pick up the book and read it.

I was a little unsure because its being compared to Gone Girl a book that I really enjoyed reading. Honestly I have to say it started of slow for me and I wasn’t sure I was going to like this but once I got over that little hump OMG it was amazing. I loved the book and I could see why its being compared to Gone Girl.

The Girl On The Train has three narrators: Rachel (who is an divorced alcoholic), Megan (a lady Rachel sees on the train ride into London daily) and Anna (her ex husband’s new wife). You would think having three narrators to be a bit confusing but its not and looking at the book you would think it was sort of like a diary because you have a morning and evening entry.

Rachel begins her story in early July of 2013 and then Megan begins her story a year earlier from Rachel’s. Rachel’s is more current and Megan’s offers a little bit of a history of her character. It was nice getting that little bit on her. Then Anna comes in about 1/4 of the way through.

I am going to state right off the bat that I wasn’t a fan of Anna. I didn’t like her from the beginning and how she was always on Tom about Rachel. I honestly can’t blame Rachel because she did lose her husband to Anna because of the affair she and Tom where having. Gradually towards the end I started to like her but not very much.

Rachel was a train wreck waiting to happen and it was a story line you just had to read to watch it unfold. Yes Rachel is an alcoholic and she doesn’t deal with things very well but due to the emotional abuse she was going through do you blame her? I can’t imagine what it would be like to be told you will never have children especially if you really want one. With her problem with alcohol she basically has to hit rock bottom for her to see things aren’t that great.

I have to say that I was beginning to think that perhaps in one of her drunken states she might have had something do to with Megan’s disappearance because of certain things that had happened and this was when the book got really interesting and things began to unfold.

I was speechless when it got to the point that things were coming up. I had not seen that one coming and I think I literally sat there with my mouth open in shock. At this point I was unable to put the book down and spent the morning rushing to finish it up because I needed to know what was going to happen.

If your looking for a fun and thrilling read then I have to recommend this. Yes it starts off slow but once you hit the half way mark you will be engrossed in the book and unable to put it down.

Mini-Review/ In Real Life: Love, Lies & Identity in the Digital Age

Posted on May 19, 2015May 7, 2015 by Cindy

In Real Life by Nev Schulman
Format: Paperback
Published by Grand Central Publishing on September 2nd 2014
Pages: 256
Goodreads
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Computers, Dating, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Family & Relationships, General, Interpersonal Relations, Love & Romance, Media Studies, Motivational & Inspirational, Performing Arts, Popular Culture, Psychology, Self-Help, Social Networking, Social Psychology, Social Science, Television, Web

From the host of MTV's #1 show Catfish comes the definitive guide about how to connect with people authentically in today's increasingly digital world.IN REAL LIFE: Love, Lies & Identity in the Digital Age As the host of the wildly popular TV series Catfish which investigates online relationships to determine whether they are based on truth or fiction (spoiler: it's almost always fiction). Nev has become the Dr. Drew of online relationships. His clout in this area springs from his own experience with a deceptive online romance, about which he made a critically acclaimed 2010 documentary (also called Catfish). In that film Nev coined the term

Do you know what “Catfish” means? A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances. Have you ever lied about who you were online?

Nev Schulman, the host of the MTV show Catfish, was a victim of a catfish and this is his personal story. I have been a fan of the show for quite some time now and each and every time I watch it I shake my head and wonder how people can do this to other people? Why do we have to lie about who we are?

In 2007, Nev fell victim to a catfish. With the help of his brother and a friend they tracked down his catfish and discovered that she was a middle aged woman. They turned this into a documentary that ended up being a hit at the Sundance Festival and from their the show was created.

The book touches on his own personal experience as well as his favorite parts of the tv show along with some advise on how you should and shouldn’t act online.

The book is broken down into three sections: Catfishing: A Primer, How to Live and Love Online and How to Live and Love Offline too. Within the book are emails, text, photos and so much more that add to the book. I think this book is really aimed at the teens/young adults instead of my generation.

This was a pretty quick read and I did enjoy reading it. I have never been catfished and I think thats because I am a pretty cautious person when it comes to that because I have been taught if its too good to be true then it probably is.

(Review) Sins of the Angel

Posted on May 15, 2015May 7, 2015 by Cindy

Title: Sins of the Angels Author: Linda Poitevin
Pub Date: September 2011
Publisher: Ace/Penguin
Pages: 336

Source: I purchased a copy of this book

About The Book:
A detective with a secret lineage. An undercover Hunter with a bullet-proof soul. And a world made to pay for the sins of an angel…

Homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis answers to no one. Especially not to the new partner assigned to her in the middle of a gruesome serial killer case-a partner who is obstructive, irritatingly magnetic, and arrogant as hell. Aramael is a Power–a hunter of the Fallen Angels. A millennium ago, he sentenced his own brother to eternal exile for crimes against humanity. Now his brother is back and wreaking murderous havoc in the mortal realm. To find him, Aramael must play second to a human police officer who wants nothing to do with him and whose very bloodline threatens both his mission and his soul.

Now, faced with a fallen angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse, Alex and Aramael have no choice but to join forces, because only together can they stop the end of days.

I have to send out a huge thank you to Tynga’s Reviews for introducing this book to me. Once I read her review of Sins of the Angels I knew I wanted to read it. The book sounded really good and the author was Canadian on top of that.

This is Linda’s debut novel and a first book in a series. I have to admit that I don’t urban fantasy but after reading this I must say I am curious to read more in this genre as well as Linda’s future books and I found out that in March the next book in The Gregori Series is Sins of the Son will be released.

I loved this book and I loved reading it. I loved the story, the characters and the setting.

Sins of the Angels takes place in Toronto. (Which is roughly 8 hours from Montreal.) and its about Alexandra Jarvis who is a homicide detective. She is a strong woman with a disturbing past and its slowly revealed in the book as the story progresses.

Alexandra is in the middle of a horrific serial killer case and the bodies are slowly adding up and she is not thrilled when she gets a new partner, Aramael. With each new body we can see Alexandra is remembering things from her own past that she is trying to deal with and when she thinks she is seeing her partner as an angel she is worried that she will end up like her mother, crazy.
Little does Alexandra know but Aramael is really an angel and he is back to catch a fallen angel before its too late and he is there to save Alexandra who will eventually discover that she is half angel/half human and she is in danger.

I have to say that I had a love/hate relationship with Aramael. He came off as a jerk but eventually I ended up loving him because even though he is a angel he is a angel with feelings and you could see that is was starting to care for Alexandra.

I am curious to see where this storyline will go.

April Book Unhauling #4

Posted on May 3, 2015April 29, 2015 by Cindy

April was a pretty good month for me because I manged to read a bunch of really good books this month and we are still slowly doing Spring cleaning. This summer I plan on tackling the boxes in the basement and doing another clean of the bookcases.

Right now I am trying to focus on the children and middle grade books because I would love to make a drop off at my son’s school before June if possible because I know thats when the librarian closes the llibrary and does her count.

Are you curious to see what I am unhauling this month?

These are all books we have read and I know I won’t be rereading them again and for Michael its stuff he doesn’t want anymore.

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (my review will be posted in May)
Pokemon DP Battle Dimesion The Secret of the Tower
Geronimo Stilton Alerte aux meteorites sur silexcity
Geronimo Stilton Qui a Vole le Diamant geant?
Tiyi, Princesse d’Egypte
J’aime Lire Un Cheval pour Noel
Book Of Hockey Lists by Paul Romanuk
Hockey Trailblazers by Nicole Mortillaro
Pokemon Black & White Emolga Makes Mischief
Pokemon Black & white Ash’s Triple Threat
Pokemon Black & White Sandile in Trouble
Phineas & Ferb Lost at Sea
Dear Canada Pieces of the Past the Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz
The Warrior Sheep Go West
The Quest of The Warrior Sheep
How to Outplay a Bully by Nancy Wilcox Richards
Hockey Rules by Irene Punt
The Rink Rats by Irene Punt
The Wicked Slapshot by Irene Punt
Foul Play by Karen Edwards
Project Jackalope by Emily Ecton
Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader for Kids Only
Hockey Superstars all time greats
2011-2012 Hockey Superstars
NHL Hockey an offical fan’s guide
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Hard Luck
Don’t Try to Find Me
The Girl on the Train

The total unhauling for April is 28 and the total to date is 89,

Write On Review-a-Thon

Posted on April 24, 2015April 23, 2015 by Cindy

Tonight I was going through my blog roll and I stumbled upon this, Write On Review-a-Thon hosted by Brianna from the blog The Book Vixen. What I didn’t realize was that its a monthly event. What a great way to keep on track if you should fall behind in your reviews especially if your doing a read a thon.

If you curious to see when the next Write On Review-a-Thon is click on this.

I know I can’t be the only blogger who is behind in writing reviews for their blog right? Please tell me I am not alone? So I figured that I am going to sign up (Here) and this weekend I am going to force myself to sit down and finally tackle the review pile of books. I am determined to get these posted for the month of May and June.

My review list includes:

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
Fakebook
In Real Life: Love, Lies & Identity in the Digital Age
Courtney Crumrin vol 5, 6 & 7
Girl Online
Attachments
Captivated by You

I have a few more that I will add to the list I just need to double check that they aren’t posted already.

Will you be taking part in this?

Review/ The Limit

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Cindy

The Limit by Kristen Landon
Format: Paperback
Published by Simon and Schuster on 2011-12-06
Pages: 291
Goodreads
Genres: Action & Adventure, Family, General, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Science Fiction, Young Adult

An eighth grade girl was taken today . . .

With this first sentence, readers are immediately thrust into a fast-paced thriller that doesn't let up for a moment.

In a world not too far removed from our own, kids are being taken away to special workhouses if their families exceed the monthly debt limit imposed by the government. Thirteen-year-old Matt briefly wonders if he might be next, but quickly dismisses the thought. After all, his parents are financially responsible, unlike the parents of those other kids. As long as his parents remain within their limit, the government will be satisfied and leave them alone.

But all it takes is one fatal visit to the store to push Matt’s family over their limit—and to change his reality forever.

I have been doing some major cleaning up around my desk, on my desk, under my desk and my book shelves to get ready for the summer and I thought since I had a stack of quite a few books that I read last year and never got to review that I would do just little mini reviews of them.

I have to say first off that the cover is very different from the one I own. For some reason I like the original one much better then the newer version.

The Limit is set way in the future where every family has a set spending allowance that the government has imposed. If the family goes over that limit their children over the age of 13 are taken away to special workhouses and they are suppose to work of the debit to bring it down.

The main character Matt who is 13 years old is feeling pretty good that he won’t be take because he assumes his family is very good with their spending and is shocked when one day they come for him. Matt has no idea what to expect from these workhouses and is pretty shocked when it goes.

The work house is almost like a tiered system where the smartest kids get the most out of the system. Matt falls in to this category. The rooms on the top floor are pretty posh, they have a pool, all the food you can eat and the freedom to buy anything their little hearts desire.

I have to say when I was reading this I was like WTH….how can they have all this access if their families are in debt? It doesn’t make sense so with that you want to read to find out more about this.

Will Matt figure out what is going on? What will he do when he finds out the truth?

The one thing I find fault with is, why do the children have to suffer for what their parents have done with the money? Its not like the children forced their parents to over spend. I think as the parents and adults we need to teach our children good spending habits and explain to them that their are consequences to their spending money when they don’t have it to spend.

I really enjoyed the book and it was pretty fast paced which I really enjoy.

Review/ Greater Than Angels

Posted on April 18, 2014April 28, 2014 by Cindy

Greater Than Angels by Carol Matas
Published by Scholastic Canada on 2013-10-01
Pages: 160
Goodreads

An unforgettable reminder of the resilience of human compassion, even in the face of the worst horrors of our history.

In the autumn of 1940, Anna Hirsch and her friends and family are rounded up by Nazis and deported to Gurs, a refugee camp in the south of France. Food is scarce, and the living conditions inhumane. Even worse is the ever-present fear that they will be relocated once again -- this time to one of the death camps.

But when word comes that Anna and the other children are to be moved, their destination is not Auschwitz or Buchenwald, but Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: a tiny village whose citizens have agreed to care for deported Jewish children.

Based on the true story of a French village that banded together to protect the Jews during WWII, this unforgettable tale honours the contagious goodness that permeated one corner of a region otherwise enveloped in evil, and celebrates the courage of all those who put their lives at risk to save others.

Shortly after going back to school from March break (in March) Michael came home to tell me that he (being in a grade 5/6 split class) was going to have to a Holocaust project with the grade 6ers and that he would have to do this project again in grade 6.

I honestly have to say that I am not very pleased with the teachers he has and the school for not giving the parents a heads up that this was going to happen with the grade 5s. That Monday back she started to read this book and honestly Michael was a little upset about the whole thing.

If you know Michael in real life you will know that he is a sensitive child as he takes things to heart. For him to discover this in the way she was teaching it, it was a shock. She did not sugar coat anything and she provided all kinds of information to the kids. Needless to say I wasn’t happy about it.

He then proceeded to tell me that on top of this book being read in class that they were going to have to read a book on their own and if he didn’t have one by the middle of the week she was going to assign one. Which I have to say really upset me because we had no list of suggested books and the ones she was suggesting in class Michael got confused because she was saying this one was good for grade 5 and this was good for grade 6 etc.

I sent a note telling her I needed the age appropriate and school board approved list and no book was to be assigned. Needless to say we were able to pick one and that review will be coming up later on the blog.

Enough of my rambling here is my review of Greater Than Angels.

Michael told me that the teacher was reading this in class and when I looked it up online its listed for grades 6 to 8 so I quickly bought it for my ereader because if there was going to be any issues I wanted to confront the teacher with it because she seems to forget that there is 9/10 years old in that class. I have to say I worried when I saw that grade level because thats an age group of 11 to 14 years old.

Greater Than Angels is a fiction book but its based on a true story of a little French village named Le Chambon that took it upon themselves to help, protect and hide Jewish children from the Nazi’s.

The main character, Anna is fifteen years old when the Nazi’s come to round up the Jewish people. She is taken with her mother and grandmother. The males and females have been separated and they all presume the worst.

They are taken to Vichy, France to a concentration camp. Anna is shocked at what she sees, there is no food, no running water, no bathrooms, no beds just a limited amount of straw and due to the rain its cold. muddy and damp. Everyone is hungary and cold. Sadly its in this camp that Anna’s grandmother dies.

A year of living like this the Swiss Red Cross has offered all the children an opportunity to live in a home by them. The mothers quickly give their children over because they hope they will have a better life then what they have now. This is where the generousity of Le Chambon sur Lignon comes into the story.

Things at Le Chambon are looking up for the kids. They are all healthy, happy and warm. They are allowed to attend school and live a pretty normal life or one that can be expected considering the circumstances.

The war is still continuing and its not looking good. Anna receives news that the camp her mother is at is being sent East so Anna is given permission to go and see her mother and its at this point you know this will be the last time Anna gets to see her.

Eventually things become to dangerous in Le Chambon and the child are forced to run and hide. Will Anna be able to make it or will she get caught?