Category: Challenges (past)

Fourth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge

Posted on by Cindy


I recently saw this posted and had to check it out, Mother Reader (Pam)is hosting this great 48 Hour Book Challenge. This is the fourth year.

Its happening the weekend of June 5th. If you are interested you can check out Mother Reader’s blog for details and you can sign up there as well. I know I won’t be able to stay awake and will end up sleeping and having to do things during the weekend but I thought I would commit to giving as much as I possibly can. I am going to start the Friday the 5th at 7am and I will wrap it up on Monday the 8th at 7am.

I have several YA books that I have received and/or borrowed from the library that I will be reading that weekend and I think they will fit in perfectly for this book challenge. I have been thinking about it and for every book I read I will be making a donation to a local volunteer organization called Born to Read.

Born to Read provides training, books and support to child care workers, volunteers and parents. The Volunteers work to ensure that children have books and are being read to aloud from an early age and that they begin school excited about books and are ready to learn.

Research has shown that children who participate in reading activities for at least 15 minutes each day from birth will succeed in school with higher levels of language development, personal, social and conceptual growth.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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**Always Watching Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: May 2009

This is the first book of the mother-daughter collaboration of Brandilyn and Amberly Collins. There is a second book called Last Breath which is due to be released on October 2009. Which I have to say that I will be dying to read.

This book is part of the First Wild Card Tour that is taking place today. I am going on record for saying that I LOVED the book. It was a page turner for me from the first page. I admit I had to read it all in one day. I tried to put it down several times but I couldn’t because I had to read what was going to happen next.

Always Watching is about teenage girl named Shaley O’Connor. Her mother is a rock star named Rayne O’Connor. The book opens with the concert and Shaley getting ready to leave for the airport to pick up her best friend, Brittney. She is waiting for Tom, who is her mother’s make up artist. As the time is getting closer to leave Tom is now where to be found. Shaley and Mick, a body guard, go looking for him. Shaley discovers Tom’s body in one of the rooms. At first she thinks he is joking but then realizes that he was murdered.

The next day she receives a package she opens it up to disover a white rose wrapped in green paper tied with a red ribbon with a note that says “Always Watching”. She thinks its from her father, she has no idea who her father is, and doesn’t really worry about it until she heads to the local mall with Brittney and Bruce, another body guard. She is then surrounded by paparazzi asking all kinds of questions about the murder. Finally getting out of the mall and into the limo she finds a photo that was taken the night before as they were entering the hotel with “Always Watching” written on the back.

In the next town another murder happens and the victim is Bruce. Thinking its another body guard who is responsible Shaley puts her trust in the wrong person but then realizes that she is actually with the killer.

I have to say the suspence in the book was great. Reading the book I had no idea who the killer was until he revealed himself in the end. I was wondering why Shaley was targeted and I wondered who the person was that had hired the killer to watch out for her and why? I guess that will be revealed in Last Breath.

You can buy the book directly from Amazon

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

**Murder By Family Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: September 2008

I first heard about Kent Whitaker and Murder By Family when he appeared on the Oprah show recently. After watching the show I really wanted to read the book. This is a true story and it happened to the Whitaker Family.

The story is about the Whitaker family, (mother)Tricia, (father) Kent, and their two sons Bart and Kevin. The story starts out when the family went out to celebrate what was thought to be Bart finishing college. Unfortunately this is the last time that they will be together. When they return home there is a masked gunman waiting in the house. Tricia and Kevin are shot and killed instantly, Kent gets shot in his shoulder, and Bart one in the upper arm, fracturing the bone. The gunman escapes.

Kent had wondered who would do this to his family. They had no enemies.

The motive for the shootings was that the family interrupted a robbery in progress and that it gone wrong. That theory didn’t seem strong as nothing has been touched and the house didn’t look like it.

As Kent goes on trying to live through the next few days and weeks he begins realizes that the police are zeroing in on Bart as their prime and only suspect. With Bart’s trouble past the fingers point to him. A part of Kent doesn’t believe that Bart could actually do this to his family and another part wonders what went wrong to make Bart want to do this. When Bart discovers he is about to be questioned he takes off to Mexico and lives there for 15 months until he is arrested and returned home.

When Kent realizes that Bart is wearing a mask. Meaning that Bart was one way around the family, one way around his girlfriend and her family and one with school and friends. He begins to realize that maybe Bart did have a part in the murders.

Murder by Family is a remarkable book and I truly enjoyed reading and I had a hard time putting it down. Kent Whitaker is a very remarkable man. For a person/father to not only show great courage in writing this book, (which he was reluctant to write at first cause he just wanted privacy after his ordeal, but God played the part in him writing the book) but he also showed forgiveness for the actions of his son.

Kent is a deeply religious Christin man and it is through those convictions that he is able to forgive his son for the deaths of Tricia and Kevin. You can see his strong faith through out the book.

What surprised me about this story was that Bart had tried twice before to have his parents killed. Both times they were warned and didn’t really seem to take the threats seriously. Also what kind of surprised me was how long it took the police took to build their case. I spoke with a friend who is a police officer and he told me that yes sometimes it can take that long to build up their case and that it sometimes doesn’t happen over night. This is real life and not a tv show.

To this very day Bart sits in cell on Texas’ Death Row awaiting his death by lethal injection. This was another blow to Kent and the family because Kent argued long and hard for Bart to be given life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.

Also included in the book is some great photos of the family young and old. It makes the story seem that much more real.

You can buy a copy from Amazon.

You can also check out Kent’s website.

Also I want to send congratulations to Kent and Tanya Youngling who will be getting married this upcoming weekend May 9th.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

New York Debut (Carter House Girls BK 6) Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: May 1 2009

This is book six in the Carter House Girls series called New York Debut.

I am really enjoying this series. These are great books for young adults. There is nothing graphic in them. They are very good reads with a message in each one. I find that these books need to be read in order so that you can understand the characters and storyline.

The book begins were book five, Lost In Las Vegas left off. We know that Taylor went into rehab in LA for her drinking problem.

The book opens with “Where is our Taylor?” asks Grandmother pleasantly. She doesn’t know about Taylor going into rehab. DJ begins to tell her Grandmother why she went to rehab. DJ thinks she is somewhat responsible for it all happening. The only ones who know where Taylor is, is Casey, Connor and Rhiannon. She makes them promise not to say anything to the other girls because she thinks its Taylor’s place to tell them.

Kriti has come back from Christmas vacation not her normal self which the girls seem to notice right away. When DJ discovers what is really wrong with Kriti she gathers Rhiannon and Casey and they plan an intervention. There would be no story if nothing happened to a character or characters right?

When Eliza returns from Europe she wants to know where Taylor is and will stop at nothing to find out. With New Years Eve approaching Eliza asks Mrs Carter if its okay if she can help out Harry and have a New Years Eve party. Mrs Carter agrees once Eliza says she will take full responsibility for it. Knowing there will be trouble the other girls decide they want no part of it and make other plans. We all know it wouldn’t be a story if nothing happened right? Well lets just say the police were involved and Eliza went to jail. Mrs Carter puts her under house arrest and she has to clean up the house.

With New York Fashion Week approaching Mrs Carter begins to prep the girls for the fashion show. They have been invited to Fashion Week and model for a new and upcoming designer Dylan. Mrs Carter decides to open up the training for other girls in the community to give them a chance to go to NY. Of the girls who will be training is Madison and Tina. If you remember from previous books they are the mean jealous girls who go to the same school as the Carter house girls.

Who will go to Fashion Week? Will Taylor come back from LA? What will happen in New York?

I mentioned before that I am really liking this series by Melody Carlson. The characters are all believable. This time for some reason I didn’t like Eliza. I think it was her whole attitude of being better then everyone else. I didn’t really like her throughout the series but this time she seemed to rub me the wrong way. Its nice to see Casey turning herself around.

Book 7 & 8 are in the works. I can’t wait to read book seven called Bikini Breakout. What will happen when the girls go on spring break?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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**Stop The Traffik People Shouldn’t Be Bought & Sold Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUD DATE: April 1 2009

I had just seen a documentary of trafficking the night before First Wild Card Tours had announced this book so I really wanted to read it. Its not really a book its sort of like a magazine. Its filled with all kinds of photos, charts and graphs. There is also stories from the girls and women who were bought and sold.

The book is produced by the United Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.

We hear stories every day about this and its sad to see it still goes on in every part of the world. It was sad to read that parents and family members were actually selling their children for a little bit of money. As a parent I could never sell my child no matter how badly I needed money. Its also sad to see that as humans we have no repect for other humans and that we are looked at not as humans but was objects to be bought and sold.

Stop the Traffik was formed in 2006. Their mission is to put an end to people trafficking, preventing the sale of people, prosecuting the traffickers and protecting the victims.

They estimate that for every minute two children are trafficked for sex and that roughly 1.2 million a year. They also report that 98% of the ones that are trafficked are girls and women. To date this is the most common form of trafficking.

Other forms of trafficking are domestic slaves, child soldiers. organ and forced labour.

To find out how you can be a part or for more info go to www.stopthetraffik.org

The book was okay it had some interesting facts and to read the personal stories of the victims was interesting to see why and how they were sold. The majority was sold because the were in poverty and either wanted to support their families (they thought the money was being sent home which it wasn’t) or they had drug, alcohol or medical problems and they needed quick money.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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LIfe Cycles Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: August 2008

When I first got the email to review Life Cycles I just had to read it. I replied back and Neil graciously sent me the book postmarked all the way from Australia. Thank You so very much Neil for your patience and understanding.

About the book:
‘Life Cycles’ is a ground-breaking new theory on what life is all about. It is both controversial and evidence-based and states that we live our lives in symbolically repeatable twelve year cycles. There are two important years in the cycle and this is where we see fate take a hand in unusual ways.Designed to entertain and inform; details from the public record are used to dissect the lives of world leaders, showbiz personalities, criminals and ordinary citizens. You will learn about your life’s symbolic meaning and be introduced to a whole range of new terms and icons.You won’t read anything quite as original and intriguing and you will never look at your life the same way again. Is it just fanciful or does it represent the most important addition to esoteric knowledge for thousands of years?But what’s this! There’s the sound of an engine warming up and there you are on a platform beside your own private train, pulled up at Revolution Place and they’re telling you to get aboard.

My Review:
I found the book to be very interesting because I am always interested in books that talk about fate and things happening for a reason. What I wanted to know was how important the numbers in the year of my life planned in my life.

Cycles happen yearly typically from birthday to birthday. This has nothing to do with astrology, planets etc.

Two out of the twelve years are “out of control”. Meaning that fate and events take over our lives that we usually have no control of. Have you ever noticed that happening and wondered why?

There are seven stages in our lives. They are: birth, infant, child, teenager, young adult,middle age adult, and late adult. The cycles are from birth to death.

When its broken down every twelve years is known as the Flames of Revolution. The numbers for this is 12-24-36-48 etc. During the 12th year cycle there is a change and its not under out control.

The year of the broken pathway happens every 7th year. These numbers are 7-19-31-43 etc. In these times its the year of the change and new responsibilities and challenges happen. These happen out of our comfort zones.

Neil mentions that 24 and 36 are always the two numbers that stand out when he was doing his research on people. He took the time lines of famous people, celebrities, world leaders, criminals and ordinary people.

The book goes into detail about the numbers and what the years mean. I won’t go into much more but I will share some of what the numbers mean to me. In the book he explained how we can do this on ourselves by using the following numbers: 7-12-19-24-31-36. Those are the numbers in the Revolution and broken pathways.

7- I can’t really remember anything significant happening then.

12- When I think back the only thing I can remember was starting junior high. Need I say more. I was no longer going to a country elementary school anymore but going into the city for junior high. This is grade 7. New people around.

19- I know during this year I did step out of my comfort zone and through the power of persuasion from my cousin and his girlfriend I ended up telling my cousins friend that i like him. It didn’t work out for us but we remained really good friends to this day.

24-This was a big year for me. I got a full time job, moved out of my parents house and started to date a guy. (That relationship never lasted the year)

31-The new challenge for me was this year I had quit my job and was only married a few months. So I was getting use to being a wife and all the responsibilities of running a house. Thinking about children.

36- My dad passed away so dealing with that and then a few weeks later having my mother move in with us from NB.

Other numbers that have meaning to me are:

Illusion (climbing over the ridge) 21 Graduated and 33 had Michael

The Year of change was 37 when I started to review books and have a blog.

The year I had fate in my hands was when I was 26 I had reconnected with my high school sweetheart and went to see him for two weeks in the US. We have once again reconnected to this day but as friends.

I have to say that I had a hard time writing this review. For me its just that I had a hard time putting all the info from the book and putting it into my own words so that it could make sense. If this interest you then I suggest you get the book and do your own Life Cycle. I know when I look back and see that things did happen and I am sure I always questioned why now I know why.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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** A Reliable Wife Review

Posted on by Cindy

<-Canadian <-American PUB DATE: March 2009 This is Robert Goolrick's debut fiction book. He previously wrote a memoir before this. I discovered that Sony Pictures has acquired the rights of this novel and are planning on making a movie. I would love to see this when its done. Reading the book I could actually visualize it done as a movie. The details that Robert wrote about made the novel seem so real and life like. The story begins in a rural Wisconsin town in 1907 in the winter time. Ralph Truitt placed an ad in the newspaper for A Reliable Wife. He received several replies but one caught his attention and he was corresponding with her. She was coming in on the train from Chicago. Ralph is an older man in his 50's and he is a successful business man who appears to own the town as everyone seems to work for him. Ralph is lonely and has been for the past twenty years. His first wife had an affair with an Italian that Ralph paid to work for him and from that affair she had a son that she tried to pass off as Ralph's. They also had a daughter but she died when she got sick. Having had enough of her he threw her out and she fled with her lover. Ralph was furious and he ended up driving the son away. Which made the son furious with him and he held the grudge for many years. Is this grudge enough to kill? On the train coming from Chicago is Catherine Land. She answered his ad and has agreed to come to be Ralph's wife. We soon discover that Catherine is not who she says she is from changing clothes and getting rid of them, to hiding her jewelry and when she arrives in Wisconsin and gets off the train Ralph sees that she isn't the same woman that is in the picture she sent. She admits that its her cousin. Why is she lying and what is she up too? Realizing that he can't leave her at the train station he takes her home and on the way home they have an accident. Catherine saves Ralph's live and with the help of a housekeeper they nurse him back to health. When Ralph is getting better he seems to see Catherine in a new light and talks about his troubled past with her and she listens to it all. When Ralph tells her about the private investigators he has hired to search for his son and that its possible that he is in Chicago he sends Catherine to confirm it and to bring him home cause he can't. After they are married Catherine heads to Chicago. Its there that we see the troubled life Catherine has lived from working the streets to support her and her sister to having her sister being homeless. We also find out that Catherine knows Tony, Ralph's son and that they are lovers for awhile. She knows Tony's side of what happened to him and his mother and she promised him earlier on that she would do anything for him. Does that mean murder? I really enjoyed the book. I found it to be a quick read. I have to say that I had a love/hate for Catherine. One minute she was doing something that I loved and then the next I hated her. I think that is what made the book so good. I also could relate to the winter weather that was going on in the book. Reading it I had to keep reminding myself it was happening in Wisconsin and not Canada. I am curious to see what the movie will be like. What do you think? When I was looking for a cover for the book I came across two of them one is a Canadian cover and the other is American. I love the Canadian cover.What about you?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.