Book Review: Nobody's Baby But Mine

Before I start this review I want to address a question you might be asking yourself You're probably thinking, "Wait, is she really going to review a "romance novel"? Well, the answer is yes. Reviews can be for all sorts of things. Because I don't just read really deep or smart or important books. I like all kinds, and I'm not only going to show certain sides of myself that are cool, or smart, or sophisticated. Because while I'm (of course) all of those things;) I am also...well... a lot of other things, too. So, if this appeals to you, READ it! If not, don't.






Summary:
Genius physics professor Dr. Jane Darlington desperately wants a baby. but finding a father won't be easy. Jane's super-intelligence made her feel like a freak when she was growing up, and she's determined to spare her own child that suffering. Which means she must find someone very special to father her child. Someone very ... well ... *stupid*.

Cal Bonner, the Chicago Stars' legendary quarterback, seems like the perfect choice. But his champion good looks and down-home ways are deceiving. Dr. Jane learns too late that this good ol' boy is a lot smarter than he lets on---and he's not about to be used and abandoned by a brainy, baby-mad schemer.

My Thoughts:
Um...This was sooooo good! I'm not one who usually reads romance novels, however this was neither trashy or cheesy or distasteful. It was such a great story. I loved the characters, especially Cal (Hello!) It was great how at the beginning of the book Jane is described by her neighbor as boring, and had been dumped by her boyfriend because she didn't interest or excite him anymore. But you soon learn that Jane is none of those things. I loved how even at her "late" age in life she got a fresh start and was finally able to be her true self. Someone who was lively, spirited, witty, and sexy. I also loved the fact that she didn't have to work on becoming those things. It was her natural self and Cal just brought it out in her. I loved how they fought with each other. The fights didn't feel uncomfortable or sad and they weren't hurtful when they fought. It was just them being completely themselves and brought out the fierceness in them both. Jane does cross some SERIOUS ethical and moral lines by tricking Cal into getting her pregnant. I'm not condoning that action. However, I have known some women who get so baby hungry that they really get a little bit crazy. It really is something that happens, so I can forgive a normally sensible woman such as Jane convincing herself that tricking a stranger into getting her pregnant could be justifiable.
It was funny and surprising and just GOOOOD.

Book Review: The Help

Summary:
If you've enjoyed the southern charm of Fannie Flagg or The Secret Life of Bees, you'll find The Help a delight. Miss Eugenia Phelan ("Skeeter" to her friends) is a young woman of privilege who enjoys her fellow Junior Leaguers but sometimes finds their ways at odds with her own principles. She plays the part of her station in 1960s Mississippi but can't help feeling dissatisfied with keeping house and acting as recording secretary at league meetings, and yearns for something more.

Minny, Miss Celia, Aibileen, and Yule May are maids employed by Skeeter's friends. Each woman cooks, cleans, and cares for her boss's children, suffering slights and insults silently and sharing household secrets only among themselves. In the wake of the Junior League push to create separate bathrooms for the domestic help within private homes, Skeeter contacts a New York book editor with an idea. Soon she's conducting clandestine meetings with "the help" to capture their stories for publication. It is a daring and foolhardy plan, one certain to endanger not only the positions but the lives of the very women whose stories she transcribes -- as well as her own.

Stockett is a wonderful novelist, and The Help is a charming, thoughtful novel about women finding their voices, and the truths we see when we have the courage to look unflinchingly into the mirror.

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were written so well, and the subject matter is something that I haven't really thought much about. The characters surprised often me with their depth, intelligence, and the way they behaved.

I couldn't put this book down, read it!

Book Review: Cowboys Never Cry

Summary:
Cassie Danner doesn't swoon over cowboys. A young widow with a still- mending heart, she seeks solace in her new summer job as cook on a Wyoming dude ranch. How ironic that she ends up tussling with Robbin McKeag, the ranch owner's son and a superstar celebrity for having played iconic cowboys on the big screen.

Disillusioned with fame, Robbin has retreated to his dad's ranch to reconnect with the land. But there's something about Cassie that gets his goat. And Cassie can't help but be drawn to Robbin as he struggles to become a better man. Are they about to play out a classic romance, or will the cowboy mystique and charm wear off?

My Thoughts:
I LOVED the romance. It felt so realistic and not the cliche of the perfect man and the perfect woman and they just have to finally communicate and "poof" they get together in the end. Both are wounded in different ways and have some baggage, but they are working through it and it brings them closer and closer until finally, in the end they are in the same place. There was some serious chemistry and heat between them! One character does have a bad mouth, so just a warning there.
However, I was a bit bored with the main character going on and on about her recycling program and how the ranchers disrespect of the environment and wildlife. The book should have either been about the romance or conservation, not both.

Reading this made me miss living near the mountains so much. All I want to do is go hiking, backpacking, camping, horseback riding, and river rafting. Maybe I need to move to Jackson Hole.

If you are easily entertained (like me) and love a good love story, you should read this!

Book Review: Great Expectations

GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens

Summary:
Dickens considered Great Expectations one of his "little pieces," and indeed, it is slim compared to such weighty novels as David Copperfield or Nicholas Nickleby. But what this cautionary tale of a young man raised high above his station by a mysterious benefactor lacks in length, it more than makes up for in its remarkable characters and compelling story. The novel begins with young orphaned Philip Pirrip--Pip--running afoul of an escaped convict in a cemetery. This terrifying personage bullies Pip into stealing food and a file for him, threatening that if he tells a soul "your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate." The boy does as he's asked, but the convict is captured anyway, and transported to the penal colonies in Australia. Having started his novel in a cemetery, Dickens then ups the stakes and introduces his hero into the decaying household of Miss Havisham, a wealthy, half-mad woman who was jilted on her wedding day many years before and has never recovered. Pip is brought there to play with Miss Havisham's ward, Estella, a little girl who delights in tormenting Pip about his rough hands and future as a blacksmith's apprentice.

I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.

It is an infection that Pip never quite recovers from; as he spends more time with Miss Havisham and the tantalizing Estella, he becomes more and more discontented with his guardian, the kindhearted blacksmith, Joe, and his childhood friend Biddy. When, after several years, Pip becomes the heir of an unknown benefactor, he leaps at the chance to leave his home and friends behind to go to London and become a gentleman. But having expectations, as Pip soon learns, is a two-edged sword, and nothing is as he thought it would be. Like that other "little piece," A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations is different from the usual Dickensian fare: the story is dark, almost surreal at times, and you'll find few of the author's patented comic characters and no comic set pieces. And yet this is arguably the most compelling of Dickens's novels for, unlike David Copperfield or Martin Chuzzlewit, the reader can never be sure that things will work out for Pip. Even Dickens apparently had his doubts--he wrote two endings for this novel. --Alix Wilber

My thoughts:
4 stars! It took me a while to really get into this book. I enjoyed it while I was reading, but it wasn't a book that I felt very motivated to pick up, at first. Once I was about half way through, I downloaded the audio version, and then I couldn't stop listening/reading. The reader (Martin Jarvis) was the best audio book reader I've ever heard! He did every characters voice completely unique. It was almost like listening to a play with each character read by a completely different person. Anyway, this isn't a review about the audio book reader so, here is my review of the book.

It is such a perfectly written book. I loved the character development. Pip isn't the same person at the beginning, middle, or end of the book. Dickens writes such a believable, although not always likable (at least in the middle of the book), character in Pip. Miss Havisham is written so eccentric and weird you get the sense that even though Estella was raised by her, Miss Havisham still kinda gives Estella the creeps. My favorite character is Wemmick. He is hard, cold, and cynical when he is at work in town. When he is home, he is fun, playful, lighthearted, and pleasant . Literally a split personality, and he acknowledges it. Joe was so endearing, and sweet. I found myself wishing he and I were "the best of friends"I also wanted to just yell at Pip or slap him for being such a jerk to Joe. It was also interesting to read about how important social class was during this time in England, it was literally everything and now in our current world this really isn't hardly an issue at all.
This was so worth reading!

DARE to fail in 2011

"Failure stripped away everything that was non-essential in me"
"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life" -J.K. Rowling.

I am going to DARE to fail in 2011! No more inaction or fear. I'm going to run a half marathon in April. I failed to do it this year (2010) because of a broken toe, but I'm not giving up, ever! (I just hope I don't have to break all my toes before I finally do it;) Oh, does anyone want to run with me?

What are you going to DARE to do this year?