Category: Reviews-Hachette

Simon’s Cat in his very own book Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: September 24,2009

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Simon Tofield’s animations have taken YouTube by storm. Now, the feline Internet phenomenon makes his way onto the page in this first-ever book based on the popular animated series. SIMON’S CAT depicts and exaggerates the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. The daily escapades of this adorable pet, which always involve demanding more food, and his exasperated but doting owner come to life through Tofield’s charming and hilarious illustrations.

MY THOUGHTS:

I have to admit I have no idea how to write a review for Simon’s Cat. The thing that makes it hard is there are no words to the book. Its full of drawings.

Michael loved watching the YouTube videos and asks to watch them all the time. He thinks they are so funny. He even made it a point to tell the secretary at our Doctors office about it on Friday when we were there. He was really happy when we got the book last week and it was a blessing when it came in because Michael was sick last week so this managed to distract him a little.

The illustrations are very well done and funny to look out. Michael gives the book a big two thumbs up.

Here are a few links that you can check out to see for yourself.

http://simonscat.com/ the official page
http://www.youtube.com/simonscat the YouTube page

Thanks Anna at HBG for sending the book to us. We loved it.

This book was provided for review by HBG USA.

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.

Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: February 2009

Thanks to Anna at Hachette for sending me this book to read and review. Sorry for the delay in getting this review up but I wanted to try a few more recipes before I wrote this review.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

During his forty years of medical practice and in his nationally syndicated column, Dr. Peter Gott has been asked constantly by patients and readers for a simple, foolproof way to lose weight. In response, he developed the No Flour, No Sugar Diet, which has prompted countless success stories from his patients, thousands of letters from his readers raving about their phenomenal weight loss, and his first New York Times bestselling book, Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet. And now, here are more than 175 new recipes promising rapid and effective weight loss.

It’s uncomplicated and inexpensive. It allows you to forget calorie counting and gram counting. Cheating is allowed! In this book, Dr. Gott shows how easy it is to experience a variety of wonderful meals (including dessert!) while eliminating flour and added sugar from your diet. Say good-bye to bagels and cakes-and enjoy lean meats; potatoes; rice; low-fat dairy products; vegetables; flourless, sugar-free cookies; and fruits. The inexpensive and nutritious dishes make maintaining this diet a snap for everyone, with recipes such as:

Breakfast:
Faux French Toast, Spicy Scrambled Eggs, Potato Pancakes with Applesauce
Soups:
Creamy Tomato, Turkey and Barley, Cuban Black Bean
Appetizers:
Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms, Salmon Cakes on Spinach, Cheesy Eggplant Wedges
Entrees:
Asparagus and Chicken Pasta, Stir-Fried Beef with Bean Threads, Jasmine Turkey Rice
Desserts:
Fruity Rice Pudding, Blueberry Raspberry Crumble, Banana Bread, Mandarin Mousse…and more.

In addition, the book includes advice on stocking your kitchen, understanding healthy carbohydrates and how to incorporate them into your diet, and avoiding the dreaded yo-yo dieting effect. Eliminate flour and sugar from your diet-shed excess pounds and enjoy your ideal weight!

MY THOUGHTS:

When I heard about this cookbook I wanted to read it. I have been trying to find ways to use less flour and sugar and for the purpose of trying to shed some weight.

The book is filled with over 175 recipes. At first I thought how am I going to do this and still have food that taste good? With alot of health problems in the family mainly on my mothers side (high blood pressure and diabetes) I grew up with not using salt and to this day it doesn’t bother me, although it does bother a certain member of my family.

When I started making the recipes I realized that I was worrying for nothing and the food taste delicious. From the cookbook I have made: banana oat muffins, spicy scrambled eggs, oatmeal meat loaf, Jasmine turkey rice and three bean salad. The only thing that worries me is the sugar substitute as there has been so many conflicting stories about it that it makes me worry.

Another great thing about the book its all laid out in simple terms and its easy to follow showing you how to read labels, show and what you need to have in your house and what to get rid of. Its a slow process but already seeing the difference.

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.

Obama’s Blackberry Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: June 2009

When we had our local Book blogger meet up this past weekend, I managed to snag this book from Linda Ellen’s pile of offerings. You can read her review HERE.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When Obama stated that if elected, he would keep his Blackberry, debate echoed through Washington and among the ranks of the Secret Service.

What would it be like to have a president who could Twitter, send text messages, and navigate the web with ease? What would it be like to receive a text message from inside the Oval Office and, most importantly, what would it say?

Now, for the first time, We The People are privy to our new leader’s epistolary back-and-forths on his wily hand-held device. We’re about to discover that his emails (and the replies, from his wife and daughters, Biden, Palen, Rush, Hannity, the new first puppy, and even Bush) are so tuned in to the language of electronic correspondence they come hilariously close to the brink of legibility.

This giftable, imagined glimpse into Obama’s beloved Blackberry traverses the mundane and momentous contours of the Commander in Chief’s life, from security briefings to spam, basketball practice to domestic bliss, and the panic of oops-I-hit-reply-all, to, of course, the trauma of dealing with the First Mother In Law.

MY THOUGHTS:

This was a quick and easy read. I actually managed to read it in one sitting while getting supper ready Sunday night. The book is entirely fiction and they are not the real messages from Obama’s blackberry.

It was a very light and funny read. One that made me laugh was a text message between Obama and the secret service it was about Obama asking the secret service if they knew where he was and of course they did know from the lincoln bedroom to the china room. The ones from bill Clinton were pretty funny too. Also was Abraham Lincoln from up above.

The author really got the personalities just right when he wrote the text messages and emails. He even included some spam as well. He mentioned Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, his wife, daughter and many others.

I know as I was sitting reading this book I couldn’t help but laugh at some of them and I wonder what his real blackberry would reveal?

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.

Swimsuit Review

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: June 2009

I have to send a huge THANK YOU to Miriam at Hachette for sending me Swimsuit to read and review.

As many of you know by now I am a huge James Patterson fan. I can actually read his books in a day and this was the case for this book. It was shortly after the Quebec holiday that we had family in town and decided to go to the zoo which is about an hour out of Montreal and I made sure to pack this book into the bag and I was going to read it on the way there as well as sitting in the water park. I was lucky enough to grab a lounger and there I sat while the kids took part in the water park.

I could not put the book down so I was really disappointed on the way home when we hit a huge thunder and lightening storm with tons of rain needless to say I stayed up late that night to finish this book.

This is James Patterson’s newest book to be released. He has been writing since 1976. He has written over 50 books. Both fiction for adults and series for young adults.

I am always wondering whenever I pick up his books if I will like it? Does he still have that IT factor? The answers to those questions are YES! I LOVED IT! and YES He does still have that IT factor. I am amazed that he does still have IT after writing well over 50 books. He is writing because he wants to not because he has too. He manages to suck you in as a reader and makes it impossible to put his books down.

This is the case in Swimsuit. Swimsuit is about Kim Daniels who is a beautiful swimsuit model. She is in Hawaii on a photo shoot when she goes missing. No one knows she is missing until her parents get a late night phone call saying that she is missing. Her parents manage to get flights out to Hawaii right away so they can search for Kim. No one is really concerned at first because they think she ran off to enjoy Hawaii.

Her parents are trying to get into speak with the Police but funny enough they have odd hours. With the help of Ben Hawkins who is an ex-cop who is turned reporter for the LA Times. He offers to help the family out and tells them he can be an asset to them with the investigation.

With more bodies turning up and no witnesses or evidence everyone is scrambling to find out who this killer is and why is he killing.

The killer video tapes each of the killings because there is a price on all of these videos and an elite group who is willing to watch them. He calls them the PEEPS. They are a bunch of wealthy people who will pay big bucks for a cheap thrill that doesn’t get their hands dirty.

Will they be able to stop the killer before he kills again or will more lives end?

If you have never read Patterson before and are looking for something then I have to suggest this one. Its a stand alone book. It will suck you in from page one.

UP COMING BOOKS:
James Patterson has three upcoming books this year:

  • Alex Cross Trials set to be released in August 2009
  • I, Alex Cross set to be released in November 2009
  • Witch Wizard set to be released in December 2009

Come back at the end of August for my review of Alex Cross Trials.

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.

The Castaways Blog Tour & Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: July 7, 2009

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand is part of the July blog tour by Hachette.

Thank you to Miriam for sending this book. I am always honored to be part of the tours of books that Hachette offers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy’s closest friends for what will be revealed.

MY THOUGHTS:

Elin Hilderbrand is a new author to me. She has written seven previous books and from the descriptions of the books they all sound like they will be fun summer reads. I have them all on my wish list of books to read.

The story takes place in Nantucket. It involves four couples. These four couples are all the best of friends that live in Nantucket all year round. The chapters are told by the eight characters involved in the book.

The characters are:
Greg & Tess-Greg is a womanizer & in a band. Tess is a mother with two kids.

Deliah & Jeffrey-Deliah is a mother of two kids and party girl. Jeffrey is a local farmer

Phoebe & Addison-Phoebe has a drug problem, loves to spend money and a trophy wife. She use to have a twin, Reed, but he died jumping from a window at the World Trade Center on September 11th. Addison is a rich real estate agent on Nantucket. He is divorce with a sixteen year old daughter.

Chief & Andrea-Eddie (The Chief) is the police chief. Andrea is Tess’s cousin and is a mother to two kids. She use to date Jeffrey.

In my opinion it appears as though Greg and Tess are the golden couple of the group. Greg and Tess have had their fair share of trouble from countless miscarriages Tess has suffered to the possibility of Greg’s infidelity that almost caused them to end their marriage.

Tess and Greg managed to over come it all and planned on celebrating their 12th anniversary together and planned to sail from their home in Nantucket to nearby Martha’s Vineyard and possibly spend the night. On the way their, their boat ends up capsized and both Greg and Tess are killed.

The rest of the group is dealing with the sudden lose of Greg and Tess and are trying to cope with their deaths. Out of the group its Addison, Andrea and Deliah who seem to be having a harder time dealing with the deaths. But why? Could it be that Addison and Deliah have secrets that no one in the group knows about?

We know Andrea would be having a difficult time handling Tess’s death because they were very close and were cousins. She at times felt like a mother to Tess. She decides that since Tess and Greg had no provisions in the will regarding the two kids she decides that since she is family she will take them. This comes to much disappointment in Deliah.

I enjoyed the book. There was tons of secrets going on within the group and it made you wonder how will it play out and would they be revealed. Looking forward to reading more by Elin.

This is the third day of the tour with two more days to go.

If you want to read more reviews you can check out the following bloggers that will be hosting this tour today:
http://debbiesworldofbooks.com/
http://www.reviewfromhere.com/
http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/
http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/
http://frommipov.blogspot.com/
http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/
http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://books-movies-chinesefood.blogspot.com/

Many of the bloggers above are giving away copies of the book so if your interested in reading it then enter their contests.

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.

Secrets to Happiness Review & Early Bird Blog Tour

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: March 2009

Thank you to Miriam at Hachette for sending me this book to read and review. This is part of the Early Bird Blog Tour.

Here is a list of some of the participating blogs touring the book today:
Participating Blogs:
http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com/
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/
http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/
http://www.readingwithmonie.com/
http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset
http://epicrat.blogspot.com/
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/
http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com/
http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com

My Review of the book:

Sarah Dunn is the author of The Big love which I haven’t read yet.

First I have to tell you my favorite part of the book. It was this passage on page 109.

“So, on this particular Sunday afternoon, before she has so much as walked through the bookstore’s front doors, Holly had made a few rules for herself: (1)she could only buy books she actually intended to read; (2)they had to be light enough that she could take the subway home; and (3) she couldn’t spend more the thirty bucks.”

I could relate to this in so many ways as I am always saying something like that before I walk into a bookstore. Thankfully the second works really well if I go downtown to the bookstore as I am busing it and then the metro. Needless to say and I admit I don’t follow the rules. What fun would it be to do that?

Secrets to Happiness is about Holly Frick who is a divorced (she is still in love with her ex, Alex)television writer. Her career is slowly dwindling. She’s written a novel called Hello, Mr Heartache but it sold less than 500 copies. Not your typical best seller.

Trying to get over Alex has been hard for Holly. She is still hoping that they will get back together. She still loves him. When Holly attends a baby shower given by her old friend Betsy she meets Betsy’s 22 year old brother Lucas and begins an affair with him. She figures she should have some fun if Alex is.

Amanda is Holly’s best friend and she’s married to Mark. They have a thirteen month old son named Jacob. Amanda tells Holly about her affair with Jack. She tells Holly that she has to meet him. When Holly agrees to meet him she doesn’t like him. Then a chance meeting she sees him and they agree to go out for coffee.

Amanda ends her affair with Jack when she realizes she doesn’t want to loose what she has. Amanda insists that Holly contact him. Really what kind of person would do that? I don’t think I could do that, could you?

Holly and Jack begin to date. Dating Jack, Holly ends her affair with Lucas. Shortly after Amanda and Jack decide to continue their affair and realizing he still cares about Amanda he breaks up with Holly.

I should also mention that in the beginning of the book Holly decides she is going to adopt a dog. She goes to the animal shelter to adopt a dog. There is one that catches her eye a dog named Chester. Chester has a brain tumor she finds this out after being drawn to him. His owners brought him to the shelter cause they couldn’t afford the operation. A vet has offered to do the operation so that Chester will live. I think this was a great thing that Holly did to adopt a sick dog.

There is alot going on in the book and at times it can be confusing. I know at times I had to flip back a few pages. Over all I enjoyed it. I was even laughing out loud at a few spots.

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.

The Girl She Use To Be Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: March 2009

Thanks to Miriam at Hachette Books for sending me this book to read.

This David Cristofano’s debut novel. He did a great job. I enjoyed reading the book. I found some sections were a real page turner and that kept me interested and wanting to read more. So much so that I was able to read it in a weekend.

The main character is Melody. Her real name is Melody Grace McCartney. She is 26 years old and has been in the Witness Protection Program since she was six years old. Her and her family were placed in the program when they witnessed a brutal murder by a member of the Bovaro Family. When Melody is 15 years old her parents are murdered by the Bovaro’s.

Melody has lived through numerous aliases through out her life. She no longer knows who she is as she has always been what they told her to be. For once she wants to feel real again and be herself.

She notifies the authorities that her life is in danger and while she is being given a new identity she meets Jonathan. He is a Bovaro, in fact the son of the mafia boss. The ones that want Melody dead. He promises to help her but she is unsure at first but then quickly realizes that be might be the only one to help her. She wonders if she should trust him or is he leading her to death’s door? He is charming and good looking and he sways Melody.

There is suspence, action and chases that make the book a page turner. Looking forward to future books by David.

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.