By Golly, Ollie!

  • Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

    Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

    Let me just gush about the pages of Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick for a minute.  Each one is formatted and designed to perfection.  Each page has a cute background, not unlike Twitter.  The blog entries are headed by spiffy blog headers.  And before each tweet is a small little picture of the…er, tweeter?  Tweet Heart was such a visually appealing book!

    The characterization was pretty good, especially considering Rudnick had to do it in 140 characters or less.  Although, readers get to learn more about Claire and Bennett through their blogs and Will and Lottie through e-mails, too.  I thought the characters were pretty realistic, but I hate to say it, all the characters annoyed me at one point in the story.  They either seemed too shallow or too obsessed with their image, but for the most part, they all experienced some kind of transformation at the end that allowed me to appreciate the characters.  Or at least made the characters more palatable.  Lottie and Benn were the best considering they acted as a voice of reason throughout the novel but with just the right amount of snark.

    The plot was equal parts fun and frustrating (OMG!  @WiseOneWP, how could you do that?) but also a tad bit predictable.  I think readers will want to snag this novel for its unique format instead of its mind-blowing plotline.

    Overall, the book was a fun and fast read.  I just wish there were more #hashtags.  I think this is considered one of those summer day beach reads, so even though beach season is several months away, make sure you pack this book in your beach bag!

    Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

    Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

    Released: June 2010
    Genre: Romance
    Age Group: Young Adult

    [add to goodreads ]

    Claire can’t believe it when her dream guy starts following her on Twitter. She never thought he noticed her, and suddenly he seems to understand her better than almost anyone. But the Twitterverse can be a confusing place, especially when friends act differently online than they do in person. Things get even more complicated when Claire realizes she’s falling for someone else, the last person she ever would have expected.

  • Textual Healing by Eric Smith

    Textual Healing by Eric Smith

    First, there is Andrew Conner, or as he prefers, Ace. He was once a best-selling author, but now he suffers from a drought of inspiration. He’s neither the hyper-masculine brute nor the silent, brooding type that seems to plague too many novels (of the romantic sort). He’s dorky and quirky and witty and well-read, and even at his lowest, Ace still elicits some smiles—even a few chuckles. Then there is Hannah, a spunky gal from Montana, who makes me wonder why can’t more heroines be like her. She has an insatiable case of wanderlust, and she speaks her mind. She just might be the cure for Ace’s writer’s block. We have a setup for a story that I’m guaranteed to love.

    Even though I was a total sucker for Ace and Hannah, my actual favorite characters are the wonderfully written secondary characters. On one hand, I connected with Valerie, a young woman working in Ace’s bookshop. She’s shy, teetering on socially awkward, and she always has her nose buried in a book or her homework. But! She has a secret, which is revealed in time. On the other hand, I loved the Orchid, the ninja who owns the flower shop across from Ace’s bookstore. She only speaks in haikus and she (almost literally) kicks ass. I say almost literally because I don’t think she actually kicked anyone in the rump; she does tie up “evil-doers” though, and she chucks shuriken at people

    This only scratches the surface of all the incredible characters readers meet in Smith’s Textual Healing. I was in book heaven since I’m one of those people who crave well-written characters over intriguing plot and world-building and…other stuff.

    There were several pop culture references, which might be distracting to some readers. I thought they were tastefully done though and often hilarious. I especially loved the nod to the epic pirate vs. ninja debate. And, although often laugh-out-loud hilarious (seriously, it was), some of the humor was a little…overkill? For the most part though, Smith knew where to draw the line.

    I typically avoid romantic comedies/romance novels, but Textual Healing offered a fresh approach to a plotline that can easily become clichéd and full of one-dimensional characters. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.

    Textual Healing by Eric Smith

    Textual Healing by Eric Smith

    Released: November 2010
    Genre: Romance
    Age Group: Adult

    [goodreads]

    Few people have to deal with a haiku-speaking flower-shop-owning ninja every day on their way to work. Unfortunately for Andrew Connor, he is one of those people. And poor Andrew, his week has been a rough one. His former bestseller, Chasing Fireflies, is on clearance at Barnes & Noble for $1.37, his girlfriend left him for a corporate America action figure, and he’s been tricked into joining Textual Healing, a support group for writers who can’t seem to write anymore. Dealing with his employees at his failing used bookshop, a strange new love interest from the Midwest, and a pet sugar-glider that has somehow managed to destroy his entire apartment… when will he ever find the time to put pen to paper again?

  • House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

    House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

    When I downloaded House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo, I had the wrong impression of it.  I thought it was just a horror story.  I hate horror movies, but I love horror novels.  I thought I’d give it a go since I haven’t read one in ages.  But, I was wrong about House of Dark Shadows; it’s far from being just a horror story.  It’s a page-turner filled with time travel, adventure, spookiness, and suspense— the kind of suspense that made me subconsciously start reading faster.

    When Xander and David found themselves traveling through a portal in their linen closet to a locker in their new school, I thought I had everything figured out.  I thought I knew exactly who the perpetrator was, who left the big, bare footprints in the dust.  But, goodness was I wrong!  This novel has so many twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing all the way through.

    I loved the family dynamics in the story.  Reading about the interactions between Xander and his younger brother, David, was a joy.  The Kings have a healthy and realistic relationship with each other; they’ve just gotten in the habit of keeping some important secrets from each other, but what family doesn’t? Sometimes I did have trouble keeping track of the two brothers.  I thought more could have been done to develop the two characters, but perhaps this will come during the second book of the series.  I also found the father’s logic troubling.  Without it, there wouldn’t be much of a story, but it’s kind of unbelievable.

    I also loved the descriptions; they were so vivid in this novel.  I had a movie rolling in my mind the whole time as I read.

    The book also makes several pop culture references.  I mean a lot.  A few seemed relevant, even humorous.  But, after a while, I felt like there were far too many, and I didn’t think they were adding anything to the story.  I can’t imagine reading this novel many years from now since I think many of the references will be lost on readers.

    Overall, the story was great!  It’s perfect for reluctant readers because it’s fast-paced, full of action, and a relatively short read.  I think young readers will want to grab a copy of the second book of the series, Watcher in the Woods (out now) to find out what happens next!

    House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings #1) by Robert Liparulo

    Released: May 2008
    Genre: Fantasy, Horror
    Age Group: Young Adult

    When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land. But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into–as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house. They soon discover there’s something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong direction. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school. Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places–in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen’s dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

  • Wandering Through North Dakota

    Wandering Through North Dakota

    Walking in North Dakota

    After reading Greyhound by Steffan Piper, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my most recent cross-country trip.  And by recent, I mean a trip I made in August 2008.

    I’d always wanted to ride a train.  There is something so fantastic about trains, assuming of course you don’t live right by a railroad where a train roars through at 3:00 in the morning as I did for the past three years.  Still, to me, they seem like magnificent, old relics of the past.  Or even better, they are full of magic and take people to places like Hogwarts!  But, who has time to take a train anymore?  With business meetings to attend or families to help take care of, taking a 23 hour train ride to a destination is preposterous especially when planes cut the travel time down by 21 hours.  So, when my brother invited me to visit him in Cavalier, North Dakota, I decided I’d make an experience out of it and take a train cross-country.

    The train was a mammoth!  I’d only ever seen the piddly Amtrak that came through town– from Chicago to Detroit.  But, the one I rode from Chicago to Fargo was a double-decker and incredibly spacious!  I’d packed all sorts of things to keep me entertained, but not once during the 23 hours trip did I get bored.  Looking out the window as we passed through each state was entertainment enough.  It was so beautiful.  I only wish I would have had the courage to find the lounge car with the big picture windows. What a thrill it would have been to see the land like this.

    I felt pretty accomplished knowing I could check North Dakota off my list of States to Visit Before I Die (unofficial name).  The land was so flat and sparse which made the North Dakota sky seem extra big compared to Michigan’s sky.  The only things that occupied the sides of the road were sprawling fields of sunflowers, abandoned farmhouses, power lines, and…well, actually, that’s it.  There was much more in Fargo, but I was hours north of any city that would be considered “big”; Pembina county only had a population of 1,500.  There wasn’t a whole lot to see or do, but I’d go back in a heart beat.  It was nice to be away from my hectic college town.

    My brother has since relocated to Colorado; he moves around a lot because he’s in the Air Force.  He much prefers Colorado over North Dakota since there is much more to do.  I’ll actually be visiting him at the end of March.  Sadly, I’ll be stuffed onto a plane instead of a train.  I dislike planes.  They fill me with such fear!

    Have you ever ridden on a train?  What did you think of it?  Have you ever made a cross-country trip before?

  • Greyhound by Steffan Piper

    Greyhound by Steffan Piper

    This is one of those novels which I’m unsure how to categorize. It takes place during the 1980s, so I initially considered it “historical fiction”. Yet, the goal of the novel is not to define a decade or even just a specific period in the 1980s. I also considered it a coming-of-age story. Yet our protagonist, Sebastien Ranes, is only twelve years old, so he’s hardly “coming of age”. Genre labels aside, Piper wonderfully pens the story of a youngster growing up in the 1980s, forced to grow up a little faster when his mother sticks him on a Greyhound headed east to live with his grandparents.

    I liked Sebastien, but I didn’t sympathize with him as much as I thought I would; he did have such a terrible childhood, after all.  I felt like more could have been done to develop his character.  I understand he’s a boy of few words (he has a stuttering problem which began shortly after a traumatic event that happened two years before this story takes place) which is why getting into his thoughts is so important.  Unfortunately, half the time he seemed to be more concerned with the taste of the air from sitting so close to the bathroom than anything else.  Readers finally catch a different side of Sebastien towards the end of the book when he’s two bus stops away from his destination.

    I loved Marcus though.  He’s just one cool dude.  He’s wise.  His life experiences cause him to “be real” with Sebastien.  He never sugarcoats things.  But, there is another side of him that surfaces now and then that fills Sebastien and the reader with hope that not all things in the world are bad.  I enjoyed watching the relationship develop between the two.  While there were many serious conversations, there were also a few conversations that made me chuckle.

    My favorite by far:

    “Well, I guess there’s no harm.  Yes, I’m from L.A.”  He was leaning in close now.  “A place most people call the ghetto.”  His voice had dropped to almost a whisper.

    “Really?” I replied, wide-eyed.  “I once lived in a place with my mom and one of her boyfriends called The Grotto.”

    A lot of “Holy Crap!” events occur throughout this book, which helped break up what could have been an otherwise incredibly boring bus trip. That’s not to say these events were just thrown into the book just for the heck of it; I thought they were relevant to the storyline.  I just wish these events had been fleshed out a little bit more.  In parts of the book when not much is going on, Piper takes the time to draw the reader in with passages that appeal to the senses.  But it seems like the same consideration isn’t taken during all the commotion.

    Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I appreciated the premise of the story.  Having it take place during a three-day bus trip cross-country was pretty neat; surprisingly, a lot can happen in three days (and in such a confined space too).  Many of the characters introduced to Sebastien’s life (regardless of how briefly) were heartwarming, ensuring that the 12-year-old got to his destination safe and sound.

    Greyhound: a Novel by Steffan Piper

    Released: April 2010
    Genre: Coming of Age
    Age Group: Young Adult

    [goodreads | indiebound]

    Sebastien Ranes’s mother is no good; she chain-smokes cigarettes, smells like a soggy ashtray, and cares more about her pretty dresses and shoes than she does for her son.  Oh, and she is getting remarried to some deadbeat who doesn’t want Sebastien around anymore.  So, at the age of 12, Sebastien is placed on a Greyhound bus in California by his mother, and he is headed to live with his grandparents in Pennsylvania.  He has to make this three-day trip alone.  Just when Sebastien thinks his life will only be filled with disappointment, he meets Marcus, a black, ex-convict who becomes his guide and protector.  Along the way, Sebastien learns that while there are some appalling creepers out in the world—pedophiles, racists, everyday impatient jerks, there are also some unlikely folks in the world who have guidance and understanding to offer.

About the Blogger

My name is Jackie, and I am a millennial / mother / Michigander / blogger / wannabe runner / accountant / local library enthusiast / gamer, kinda. This is a personal blog, which means I’m not entirely certain what you’ll find here, but it will definitely not show up on the first page of Google search results.