Drive-By Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hello guys, I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did. I just got back from Gatlinburg, Tennessee a few hours ago and now I get to start back schooling this week (greeeeat).

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett a couple of weeks ago, I just haven't gotten around to putting up a drive-by review of it yet.

First of all, this is a PHENOMENAL book! Unbelievably fantastic; I literally could not put it down (I hate to hear that in a review, but it's the God's honest truth)! I started it on a Friday and finished it two days later on a Sunday. It's by no means an "easy read' considering it's a pretty large book. Not just by the number of pages but the physical size of it also. However, there are a good many pages: 451 to be exact.

This was Kathryn Stockett's debut novel and it was published in 2009. I just heard about it a few months back so I decided to get a reading sample of it through iBooks on my phone and I instantly loved it.

The book is set in the sixties and is told by three characters; two maids, Aibileen and Minny, who work for Southern white women, and a recent college graduate, Skeeter, who aspires to be a writer (and is best friends with Aibileen's boss). Skeeter's real name is actually Eugenia, but everybody calls her Skeeter because of her unusual nose. Each chapter has a certain character speaking and the stories in the chapters often overlap, which I liked, because it showed different perspectives in a situation.

The voice and language of each character is distinct in its own way and I felt that Kathryn did an excellent job in creating complex characters who I actually felt emotionally connected to.

One thing that got me interested was Skeeter and how she aspired to become a writer, because I also have that aspiration and wanted to see how the author portrayed the struggle of an author. If that makes sense. And since this was Kathryn's first novel, I can't help but think about how she herself must have struggled to get published much like her character, Skeeter. I'd like to think that, in a way, Skeeter was a persona of Kathryn to some degree. Maybe I'm just over-thinking it though.

The one thing I loved (as a writer) but disliked (as a reader) was how the chapters ended. When there was an intense moment in the chapter or some kind of a major event that I was anxious to learn more about, the chapter would end in a cliffhanger and the next chapter would be a different character sharing their story. So then I knew I would have to keep reading through that character's story to figure out what happened in the previous character's story. I think that is why I finished the book so quickly, because I was utterly immersed into the story. I didn't so much as hate how the chapters ended, but when I get so enveloped in a story it made me a little upset for a few seconds. From an author's perspective, I completely understand why she did them this way, because the author wants to keep readers interested enough to keep reading through the book.

I'm not even going to hesitate in giving this book a ten out of 10. And as it stands, this is my second favorite book of all time, which is saying quite a bit since I've read almost forty books just in the past few months.

I assume you wonder what my favorite book of all time is, and the answer is it is not one book, but three in a series. I talk about it quite often, and I'm currently about 30% of the way through the third and final book in the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson. I started The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this weekend and I hope to finish it in about a week, God willing. (And if I don't get bogged down with too much schoolwork.)

If you haven't read The Help, pick it up at your local bookstore or borrow it from your local library (there I go plugging libraries again!). Even though I'm quite a cheapskate, I actually bought this book for around $12 brand new at Amazon. That was a few months ago so it may be cheaper now, so if you haven't read it, GO GET IT! Also, they have already filmed the movie adaptation of this and I will definitely be seeing it when it premieres this fall!

Book Review: Vixen

Synopsis: (inside cover)

JAZZ...BOOZE...BOYS...

It's a dangerous combination.

Every girl wants what she can't have. Seventeen-year-old GLORIA CARMODY wants the flapper lifestyle--and the bobbed hair, cigarettes, and music-filled nights that go with it. Now that she's engaged to Sebastian Grey, scion of one of Chicago's most powerful families, Gloria's party days are over before they've even begun...or are they?

CLARA KNOWLES, Gloria's goody-two-shoes cousin, has arrived to make the high-society wedding comes off without a hitch--but Clara isn't as lily-white as she appears. Seems she has some dirty little secrets of her own that she'll do anything to keep hidden...

LORRAINE DYER, Gloria's social-climbing best friend, is tired of living in Gloria's shadow. When Lorraine's envy spills into desperate spite, no one is safe. And someone's going to be very sorry....

From the debut author Jillian Larkin, VIXEN is the first novel is the sexy, dangerous, and ridiculously romantic new series set in the Roaring Twenties...when anything goes.

My Thoughts:

I usually get really bored with historical fiction. I guess it's because I hate history. I mean I don't hate it with a passion, I just hate studying and memorizing it in school. Vixen was actually my first historical fiction set in the 1920s. I really enjoyed it. It consisted of 3 points of views, Gloria's, Clara's, and Lorraine's. I usually hate books that have more then one POV because they are hard to follow. Vixen on the other hand is easy to follow. Every chapter says the girl's name at the beginning of whose POV it's in. I did happen to catch one mistake in the book. It was in one of Lorraine's chapters, but the author accidently made it Clara's. It was only one sentence, so not that big of a deal. I almost read right over it. Hah. My favorite character would have to be Clara. Lorraine got on my last nerves. She was constantly whining about how Gloria didn't deserve the stuff she got. It just got annoying. Gloria wasn't as bad as Lorraine, but she got a little annoying sometimes. She was always complaining about her life too. Clara actually had a mystery to her storyline. I found it very interesting. 
I would love to live in those days. To go to the speakeasies and all sounds fun. Maybe its just me? Lol but it sounds really interesting to be all sneaky. It was also very dangerous since the speakeasies are illegal. Of course, most of the cops are payed off by the mobsters. 


I can't wait til the next book in the Flapper series comes out! It's called Ingenue (The Flappers). It will be released on August 9, 2011. Which is on my birthday!! YAY! Well there is one thing I know I will be doing on my birthday, going to B&N and getting this book! 


If you haven't read this book, you should really check it out! I recommend it to anyone who loves a good romance with lots of twists and mysteries. 


Rate: 4/5

IMM (3)

If you don't know much about IMM, check out The Story Siren. 

Sorry guys I know its been awhile since we have posted anything. I have been very busy with school work. I even got behind. I've been working my butt off to catch up. In the next coming week I'll be posting a review of Vixen and hopefully Nightshade.

From Alexa at Pages of Forbidden Love
 A Blue So Dark

What I bought:

Heartsick

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1)

\

I'm sorry that the pictures are sucky ones. I was doing homework while I was taking them. Multitasking!! Plus the only way you could see what the book was, if I put it in front of the computer. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this post of In My Mailbox. Also don't forget to see what's in everyone's mail!

Alexa- Thanks for the book! Can't wait to read it! Whenever I get the chance. Stupid college! Lol

What's in your mailbox??!

Winner: Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop

I'm guessing this is what you have all been waiting for. Lol Sorry I'm just now posting it. It's because I had class today so I've been pretty busy! Well anyways I used Random.org to get the winner and the winner is......

The Winner is..........

Drum Roll..

..............

........

.....

Samantha35

An email has been sent, you have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen!

Congratulations!!!!!!

I would like to thank everyone for participating in this giveaway!

Oh and a huge thanks to the new followers! YAY!

A big thanks to Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf and I am a reader, not a writer

for hosting this awesome blog hop!

I hope everyone else win lots of prizes!! :)

Oh and check back soon for more giveaways!

Thanks everyone!!

IMM (2)

If you don't know much about In My Mailbox, check out The Story Siren. She tells you everything you need to know about it!

Since J. Pardue did IMM last week, I get to do it this week! :) Anyways I got 4 books total in the last two weeks.
Three of them are from Pure Imagination. I won her Blogoversary Birthday Bash. I was really surprised, when I got the email. It was really unexpected. I hardly ever win anything. Like I enter almost all of the blogs on the New Year's Revolution Blog Hop and I didn't win at all. Well hopefully I win something in this blog hop! I just want to thank Lori at Pure Imagination again for the books and the awesome contests she has on her blog!

Contest Books That I Won:

Nevermore

ARC of Shade

She even put I red ribbon around the book. I thought it was the cutest thing ever!

ARC of Please Ignore Vera Dietz

I also joined Different Area Codes Book Tour. Which is basically an ARC tour. It's really awesome! 

ARC Tour Book:

Vixen (The Flappers)

I absolutely cannot wait to start Vixen. I have a week to read it. So I gotta hurry up and get off of here! I'm almost done with Nightshade. I got about 100 pages left, give or take. So as soon as I'm done with that, I'm moving start on to Vixen.

WHAT IT'S YOUR MAILBOX?

Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop

This will be the second blog hop this blog has done. The last one was very successful! The winner chose ARC of  Personal Demons.

This blog hop is hosted by Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf

and I am a reader, not a writer

It starts at 12:01 on Jan. 14 and last til 11:59 on Jan. 17.

I will use Random.org to choose the winner and will post it on Jan. 18 around lunchtime. 

Now for what you all been waiting for....

what you can win!

Since I want to get rid of these books, I'm going to put the two books that were left over in the last blog hop in this one. Plus a new book!

This time the winner will win two books!!  I give you three to choose from, but you only get to pick 2.

Book #1: Crank

Book #2: Book of Shadows (Sweep, No. 1)

Book #3: Saint (Paradise Series, Book 2) (The Books of History Chronicles)

Requirements! 

US only.

Leave a comment with your email

You do not have to follow, but it will be greatly appreciated! :)

After I email, you have 48 hours to respond, or I pick another winner.

Oh and don't forget to check out all of the other great blogs!!

Drive-By Review: The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Hey guys, this is another drive-by review. A big thanks to everyone who participated in the New Year's Revolution! Now let's jump into the review.

This is my second James Patterson book; my first was Private which came out shortly before this book. It was also co-written with another author (as is this one). For some reason, the past couple of years (I believe) he has been using co-authors for a portion of his books.

I personally like his books, FallenVamp has told me she doesn't like him at all, but I like his books because they generally have a very intriguing murder storyline. Somehow he works in a love interest in there and it becomes a little lovey about 5% of the time (that may be the parts where his co-authors come in, just an assumption). His books are usually easy reads for some reason, and it could very well be because the chapters are only about two or three pages long; occasionally there will be the four to five page chapter. There's nothing wrong with that either, I think he utilizes short chapters in his books.

Here's a summary:

NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.

Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

Now, if you have read The Millennium Series (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc. by Stieg Larsson) you might think this story takes the popular location of that book and puts it in this one because the majority of the book takes place in Sweden and surrounding area. Also, notice the woman lead character's last name is Larsson. I don't think James Patterson stole these elements from the book, but I think that book writers in general have seen how successful The Millennium series has been so they're moving into that territory. That's just my take on it.

I'm not going to do a favorite quote like I did in the last drive-by review, because this isn't really a book that had a funny/important to humanity quote. It was a good book and I'm sure any James Patterson fan will pick it up (probably already have, it's been out for almost a year), and I definitely recommend it to any Patterson fan. If you're not one of his fans, you'll probably have to get used to his style and it might be an immediate turn-off for a lot of readers. In spite of how negative I'm sounding, it was very well written and the plot was original, engaging, and quite possibly plausible given the deranged person has the tendency to kill tourists.

I'll give it a 7 out of 10 and if you want to read it, my advice is to just borrow it from someone or get it from your public library. In my opinion, it was a short and easy read (but interesting!) so I wouldn't pay the Barnes & Noble price for it ($27.99). Then again, I buy a very little percentage of the books I read thanks to my public library. So support your public library and don't be ashamed to get books from a library: you're saving money and you're taking advantage of the government's tax dollars! (I think, does the government pay for public libraries or what? If you know, leave the answer in the comments because I would like to know.)

That's it for this drive-by, check back for more book-related posts and fun (and free!) giveaways, and be sure to become a follower (look to the left of this post).

Winner!!: A New Year's Revolution Giveaway

A big thanks to all the people who became GFC followers and twitter followers. Thanks to all who enter the giveaway.And a Huge thanks to Candace, Lori, and Angela, for hosting this amazing blog hop!
Ok now what you have all been waiting for.......
DRUM ROLL.....................................................................THEWINNERIS LINDA HENDERSONCongratulations Linda!The winner has been contacted. You have 48 hours to contact me back before I pick another winner.Thanks again to everyone who enter. Make sure you all check back here again on Jan. 14 because I'm doing another blog hop giveaway!

My New Home Away From Home

Hey guys! Today started a new chapter in my life. I officially moved into my dorm at my college. I gotta tell ya I'm exhausted! >.< I cleaned, and I mean CLEANED my dorm room good! I'm not really a clean freak, but when it comes to public places like a dorm room, hotel, anything really public I am. Think about it, there is no telling who has been in this dorm room, what has been done in this dorm room, and if this dorm room has ever really been cleaned. Maybe its just me. Lol. I still haven't gotten the chance to meet my roommate. I don't even know her name. She got here way before I did, unpacked all of her stuff, and then left. I don't think she has been back since then. Well we don't actually start our classes until Monday, but they let the residents go ahead and move in last Wednesday. I moved most of my stuff in that day, except my fridge and shower supplies (like shower shows!!! hahaha). That's the stuff I moved in today. I was going to stay on Wednesday night, but it was really hot in my room. I could barely breathe. It felt like 80 degrees up in that joint. So today I brought me a fan. I finally got my room cooled off. I hope my roommate isn't cold nature..... Well if she is hopefully we can compromise somehow. >.> I decided that I would share the pictures I took of my dorm room. 

Of course I'm not completely finished decorating it. I'm just whipped out today. I even brought the books that are in the giveaway so I can shipped them right out once I know who wins, contact them, and they contact me  back with their info. I would have felt extremely awful if the winner would've had to wait weeks before they got it. 

Oh yes I almost forget to tell you peeps!! Ok today was my first time ever going grocery shopping by myself. I mean I went to grab a few things every once in awhile back home for my parents, of course my friends were the cashiers and bag boys. Anyways, I was "buggieING" along and like everyone is staring at me! Ok I'm 4"11 and look really young, but come on people I'm 18! It's not like I'm five years old buying grocery. So the whole time I'm shopping, I'm laughing my ass off at the people giving me weird looks. I think its just so funny! Oh here's the good part! I get up to the check-out line and I have a really cute guy as my cashier. He asked me if I had an Ingles card, I told him no I just moved here. Well that struck up a conversation between us. He just moved here from Ohio. We talked and talked until the old guy came up behind me wanting to check out, I'm thinking of all check-out lines you had to come to mine?!?! The cute cashier guy was really sweet. At least now I have something to look forward to, when I go to the grocery store! :) Oh and sorry boys. I know that was more of a girl thing. But I thought I would share it with you!!

Update- Still reading Nightshade. A little over half-way finished with it though! The blog hop is going great guys! Thanks for those of you who became followers!! I joined another blog hop giveaway. It start Jan. 14. I explain more about it when it gets closer to the date. I have no idea what I'm giving away yet. I might giveaway the books that's left over from this one, but throw in something extra. I don't know yet though! 

Happy Readings to All!!

In My Mailbox

This is the first In My Mailbox, for this blog. If you don't know much about it, The Story Siren does a fantastic description!

So today, I came in from school and noticed I had a box from USPS. It was my College Algebra book that I ordered on January 4, 2011 (this past Tuesday). Not that a college math book is totally interesting, but I thought it would be great considering the place that I ordered it from to try and give it exposure.

The place I ordered the book from is called AbeBooks. Any college student knows that books are expensive if you buy them from the bookstore, so like I do for everything else, I looked online. Amazon and eBay are my go-to places for online shopping, but they didn't have the book cheap enough. The book is $158 retail, and online at Amazon and eBay they were only about twenty dollars cheaper. I'm always seeking a better deal, so I Googled the ISBN.

I stumbled upon a link, which happened to be AbeBooks. The book was the exact one I needed and brand new for only $19.00. Standard shipping was $4.80 while Priority was $9.00. I hit the motherload with this deal. At first I didn't think it was legit, and since you can only pay by credit card (the only downside to the site; I tried paying with my debit card but it was declined) I looked up to see if there were other users who had used it before with positive results. Luckily, there were good opinions about it. So of course I bought that book with Priority shipping because I needed it by the end of this week for the class.

Despite my skepticism, the book was in the mail today. I was ecstatic. The first reason being that I got it so cheap, the second reason being I got it so fast (three days!), and the third being that this site is completely legit. So now my mission is to give exposure to them and let people know it really works and their prices are legit.

Check out the photos of the book and the thank you note the seller sent me in the package. The thank you note had a pack of Smartees attached to it. I thought that was a pretty nice little extra.

Here's the link for anyone interested: http://www.abebooks.com/

Passion Cover Revealed!

As you guys have probably noticed, I've am a fan of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. The first book in the series is Fallen and the second is Torment (Fallen). The third book is going to be called Passion. It will be up for grabs on June 14, 2011. The cover of this book has finally been unveiled!! YAY!

Drum Roll.......................................

I absolutely LOVE the covers in this series! They are so gorgeous and breathtaking. I love the big bolds of color here and there. Gosh so excited!! Anyone else thinks this cover is very lovely?! 

Teaser Tuesday! (1)

Hi guys and of course chicks! I haven't done a Teaser Tuesday in a couple of weeks. Being the holidays and all, I never had any time! >.< Hopefully I get back in the groove of things!
Teaser Tuesday was created by MizB at Should Be Reading. 
It's actually really fun to do. A lot of blogs are starting to do it now. It's a fun way to see what our fellow bloggers are reading and get a little teaser of the book and see if we would be interested in reading it too! Anyone can do Teaser Tuesdays! 


Teaser:
"I think we should try it. One step at a time," I said. "If it sucks, we'll separate and wait until the order is given in October."

Author: Andrea Cremer

Title: Nightshade: Book 1

Kleptomania At School [Nonfiction]

I have a story that actually happened this week to a beloved teacher at my learning establishment. It deals with theft, which I'm sure happens quite often at school as well as in the real world, but this is the first time it has hit so close to home, err, school.

I'm sitting in second period as usual reading a fantastic book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook, The Accidental Billionaires. It is very eye opening in that I never expected something as renowned as Facebook to have come from such a mess of roots. But all things have their low points I suppose. Getting on with the story, I'm sitting in the back office of a classroom reading because I'm in "Accounting 2"--I say this because I'm technically enrolled, but I don't do any accounting at all, I'm more of a teacher's aide. A student comes into the office asking if he can borrow a flash drive from the teacher so he can put something on it for Hallmark (he is a self-proclaimed poet) and I assume he's going to send some of his work to them.

She tells him the flash drive is in the drawer of her desk--the one in her classroom and not the one she is currently occupying in her office--so he leaves and I assume he goes to retrieve it. I think nothing of this and get back to reading about the "socially autistic" Mark in my book.

The next day, I come into second period and hear the teacher talking to another student about her iPhone being stolen. I'm in the back office while she's talking to the student in the classroom and I move closer to hear the conversation. I'm shocked the learn the details about her precious iPhone (which she's had for only a few months) was stolen; however, she got it back...in a much worse condition.

She began to tell me all the details: she had put her iPhone in the drawer of her desk in the classroom for the first time because her husband was on the road and if he broke down, needed help, et cetera, she wanted him to be able to reach her. Said flash drive from two paragraphs ago was in the same drawer with her phone. So you can only imagine the thoughts going through that kid's head when he saw a shiny, new iPhone ripe for the taking.

The teacher didn't check the drawer until two periods later to find out her phone was missing. After a moment of disgust and anger, she knew exactly who had taken it. She made her way to the office, where she found no administrators (I mean of course, right) so she proceeded to the school resource officer's room. After much deliberation and a name misinterpretation, the phone was seized and the student was apprehended.

The teacher was beyond pissed. She came back to her room after being reunited with her beloved iPhone and began to realize that all of her information was gone. The phone was barren: her contacts had been erased, her email accounts had been deleted, her case that was installed was removed, her SIM card had been discarded, her photos, music, and all media were gone. G-O-N-E, gone.

A group of students in her classroom overheard her plight and said that the student involved was notorious for stealing things, especially cell phones at school. If there was a cell phone to be had, there was a cell phone to be missing. The students also gave her some unsettling news: the student had been showing off the phone all throughout the day, and they knew exactly where he had discarded the case and SIM card.

She went on a hunt for the missing items that could be replaced and found them exactly where the group of students said the items would be. Everything on the SIM card had been erased and the coup de grâce was that the card was broken in half. The SIM card was taped back together and put back into the phone, but it still wouldn't work. She had never backed up her phone via iTunes, so she lost EVERYTHING.

All of her contacts were officially gone and she didn't know how they would all be replaced. Malice probably couldn't even describe how she felt at this point, but it's the only word that comes to mind.

After being searched, the officer found more phones on his person, which were taken and bagged. The student was suspended for only five days and the teacher said she wanted him out of her class.

It has been two days now, and nothing has changed. She hasn't gotten her contacts back or even a new SIM card, but the only thing she can do is move on, much like any person would do in a tragedy. Even though this was just a phone, it was her source of communication and it shows just how much we rely on our phones now. Maybe it means we shouldn't put all of our faith in them, because things can obviously happen, or maybe it means we should just be more careful, but with any situation there's always a lesson to be learned or a point to be made.

Maybe something good can come out of something bad.

A New Year's Revolution Giveaway!!

2010 had a lot of great books published! I think 2011 is probably gonna be better! Ah I can't wait! Candace from http://www.candacesbookblog.com, Lori from http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/, and Angela from http://www.readingangel.com/ are the one's hosting this big blog hop giveaway!

This blog hop last from Jan. 3 12:01 AM- Jan. 9 11:59 PM.

US only. Sorry International people maybe next giveaway...

On this blog you will have a choice between an ARC of Personal Demons, the book Crank, or the book Book of Shadows (Sweep, No. 1). These books are both in very good shape. Sweep is brand new, Crank hasn't even been read and Personal Demons has only been read once, by me.

ARC of Personal Demons

 Sweep (Book 1)

 Crank

Requirements:

You don't have to be a follower, but if will be greatly appreciated! 

My 1st blogoversary is coming up and the more followers I have the more things I will give away! 

The only requirements are for you to leave a comment with your email and live in the US. 

I'll will contact the winner by email and the winner will have 48 hours to respond 

or I will pick another winner.

Good luck to everyone!

Drive-By Review: Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Hello everybody and Happy New Year to you all!

So this morning after sleeping off the New Year's hangover (kidding, I don't drink) I set a goal to finish one of the books I borrowed from the library; not a New Year's Resolution but merely a daily goal I set for myself. I read from the second chapter to the end in one sitting so I was pretty proud of myself considering it only took a few hours.

The book I read was Hot Six by Janet Evanovich, which is the sixth book in the notorious Stephanie Plum series that is still being written today (the most recent is Sizzling Sixteen, which you guessed it: is the sixteenth book in the series).

Because I like to ramble and because I read so many books, I don't actually have time to do a full review of each and every book I read, so I'm going to start doing "drive-by reviews"; however, on occasion I might do a full-blown review on a book if it was just that amazing. Now this book was good but this series is a pretty easy read (considering it took a few hours to read), but "easy read" does not hold a negative connotation by any means.

In these "drive-bys" I will give an excerpt from the first chapter, a couple of sentences on my opinion of the book, and my favorite part(s) of the book. So here goes:

Excerpt: "Truth is, I didn't for a minute think she'd jump. For one thing, she was wearing a four-hundred-dollar jacket from Wilson Leather. You just don't jump off a bridge in a four-hundred-dollar jacket. It isn't done. The jacket would get ruined. Carol was from the Chambersburg section of Trenton, just like me, and in the Burg you gave the jacket to your sister, then you jumped off the bridge."

Favorite parts:

#1 "Munson knocked the two of us aside and streaked down the stairs. He ran the length of the house and out the back door. I was close behind, and Lula was about ten feet behind me. His foot had to be killing him, but he ran flat out through two yards and then cut off to the alley. I took a flying leap and caught him square in the small of his back. The two of us went down to the ground and rolled around, locked together, swearing and clawing. Munson was trying to scramble away, and I was trying to hang on and cuff him. It would have been easier if he'd had clothes to grab hold of. As it was, I didn't really want to grab what was available.

"Hit him where it hurts!" Lula was yelling. "Hit him where it hurts!"

So I did. A person reaches a point where she just doesn't want to roll around anymore. I hauled back and gave Munson a knee in the gonads.

"Ulk," Munson said, and assumed the fetal position.

Lula and I pried his hands away from Mr. Sad Sack and cuffed him behind his back.

"Wish I had a movie of you wrestlin' with this guy," Lula said. "It reminded me of that joke about the midget at the nudist colony who kept sticking his nose in everyone's business."

Mitchell and Habib had gotten out of their car and were standing a few feet away looking pained.

"I could feel that all the way over here. If we get the word that we have to rough you up, I'm wearing a cup." Mitchell said.

#2 "It's his legs," Lula said. "They froze up in a seated position." She pulled a lawn chair off a stack at the back of the garage and set the chair next to the dead guy. "If we put him in a chair he'll look more natural, like he was waiting for a ride or something."

So we picked him up, set him into the chair, and backed away to take a look. Only, when we backed away, he fell out of the chair. Smash, right on his face.

"Good thing he's dead," Lula said, "or that would have hurt like the devil."

We heaved him back into the chair and this time we wrapped a bungee cord around him. His nose was a little smashed and one eye had been jarred closed from the impact when he fell, so one was open and one was closed, but aside from that he looked okay. We backed away again, and he stayed in place.

#3 "Amen," Lula said, and she made the sign of the cross.

"I thought you were Baptist?"

"Yeah, but we don't got any hand signals for occasions like this."

This book, like all in the series, is hilarious and even though they all have the same basis with Stephanie running around getting into shenanigans, they are quick reads and will provide entertainment so don't hesitate to read any of them. The first one was published in 1994 and she's written one a year since then. I will be moving onto the seventh book eventually and I look forward to the next "chapter" in Stephanie's life.

Challenges!!

I was just sitting here thinking, "hmmm what could make this year more fun than the last?" Then I thought about a challenge!! I'm going to do being two. The 2011 Debut Author challenge and my own challenge of 30 Books in 365 Days. Hopefully I'll be able to accomplish these tasks, while still maintaining good grades, keeping up with my blog and the blog world, also graduating high school!
Now the 2011 Debut Author Challenge is hosted by The Story Siren. (cool name by the way) The challenge consist of reading a minimum of 12 YA/MG books. The authors of these books must be making their debut with publication in 2011. This challenge begins on Jan. 1, 2011, which is today in fact so Happy New Years! It ends on Dec. 31, 2011. If you would like more info on this challenge or would like to join click HERE.
I already have 4 of the books pick out for this. They are:
For January- Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
For February- A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
For March- Clarity by Kim Harrington
For April- Enclave by Ann Aguirre
When I get the rest picked out I'll make a new post with all of them.

Finally 30 Books in 365 Days is my own challenge. I want to try my best to read 30 books before this year is over. My first book is going to be Nightshade: Book 1. Now this challenge it doesn't matter when the books are published or anything, just as long as I read them in 2011.