June Books

June books! It was a good month for reading. Maybe not so much for other aspects of my life, but I did get a few books in this month. LOL!

1. The Five Kisses by Karla Darcy
2. Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid by Maureen Driscoll
3. Why Prohibition! by Charles Stelzle
4. 12 Health & Fitness Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making by Michael Matthews
5. The Silver Locket by Margarey James
6. The Office Idiot Review by Pete Sortwell
7. The Variant Effect by G. Wells Taylor
8. The Top 30 Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes for Busy Women by Sarah Jessica Cook
9. R is for Running by Ray Charbonneau
10. Snow Bound by Blake Crouch
11. Conduct Unbecoming a Gentleman by Wareeze Woodson
12. Weight Loss Motivation Hacks by Derek Doepker
13. A Father's Odyssey: 75 Marathons in 75 Days by Terry Hitchcock and Peter Jessen (June 30, 2013)

Yup, that's 13 books for June. Not bad. Some books were longer than others, but a book is a book. Always fun to get lost in the pages of a story.

Top Books

Why Prohibition! is probably my favorite of all the books this month. Remember, I'm a history person, so this book may not be your thing, but I loved it! The book was written in 1918 and gave all the reasons why prohibition needed to happen and how to counter-argue those who felt Prohibition shouldn't pass. I loved reading all the arguments for Prohibition. It really is crazy all the reasons given that I never would have thought of: after the war, Europe would need our grain to rebuild; non-drinkers do not get paid as much as they should because bosses take into account the drunks at work; if passed, imagine all the money the family will have for food and luxuries. What I liked especially about this book is knowing how Prohibition went. It's interesting hearing the very logical explanations for Prohibition, which makes sense but that just didn't actually play out the way the dry's anticipated. Such a neat read not only for the content, but also for the writing itself. The writing style of the turn of the 20th century is truly different than how we write today. It's a great book to expose yourself to that writing style!

The Variant Effect was a good book too. I'll be honest, it was a bit graphic in terms of violence, but it was a really cool book. In a world where drug companies come up with medications that get passed quickly by the FDA, this book tells the story of a drug that cured just about everything, then it turned out to be worse than any disease it cured. Think zombies meet drugs with lots of violence and there you go. I liked this one because I've been on a zombie book kick lately and while this book kinda fit into that genre, it wasn't about zombies. It was definitely one of those books that I kept trying to find time to read it when I should have been doing other stuff. 

Don't Read

This month, there weren't too many in this category. I'll be honest, none of the books in June were awful (thank heavens!), so while the following books are not "don't read" worthy, I just wasn't digging them.

The Office Idiot Review is supposed to be a funny book and I've read another one similar that was funny, but this one just didn't seem to hit the mark. The premise of the book is the whole book are reviews of products by one particular office, where the people overlap in their reviews. Some of the reviews for office products were funny. But, for the most part, the reviews fell flat to me. I just didn't find them very funny. Maybe it was the story lines being woven through the reviews that didn't interest me. But, for some reason this book just did nothing for me.

Conduct Unbecoming a Gentleman is a mindless romance novel. I like these, especially in summer. Sadly, this one just annoyed me. The whole time the male protagonist just stuck to his own prejudices and refused to see what was in front of him. I get that's the way these books are supposed to go, but ugh. Maybe there were just too many examples of how the female protagonist was the opposite of what he wanted so the reader could fully be just as frustrated with him as she was. I don't know. I liked the premise of the book, but it just bothered me how stubborn the make was in this one. It was a decent read and I finished it, but it did make me a little annoyed...never good for a mindless romance novel.

The rest of the books were ok. Nothing to write home about, but not awful. I just love the Kindle because of all the books I read these days, unless it's a history or running book, I can pick something up for free on it and not worry if it's a great book or not. Best.Christmas.Present.Ever!

What did you read in June? Any recommendations?  

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April Books

It's that time again! Monthly book review. This month I read even fewer books than last month (only by 1 though!), but that's ok. It happens. It seems like I'm averaging 8-9 books a month. Without further ado, here are this month's books:

1. The Frenchman's Revenge by Taylor Lee (April 6, 2013)
2. How To Be A Totally Awesome Zombie by Melody Litton and Travis Thorton (April 6, 2013)
3. The Girl With The Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir (April 8, 2013)
4. Out of Time by Monique Martin
5. Mistress Trevelyan by Jennifer St. Giles
6. Wild One by Danelle Harmon
7. The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper (April 28, 2013)
8. Plague Zone by David Wellington (April 28, 2013)

Top Books

1. The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper was probably the only book I would put in the Top Books list this month. I'll explain why a little later. I picked this book up because I am trying to find as much wisdom as I can to find the key to losing weight. The 20 rules are pretty straight forward and simple. Honestly, they aren't earth shattering or complicated. 

I enjoyed the tone of the book, as if Bob really is talking to you. He recognizes some of his rules aren't easy and he gives step down methods if going straight off is too tough. Once you are through the rules, you move onto the menus for the four weeks needed to start a new habit. The last chapter are the recipes for the menus in chapter two. 

This is what I will say. It's in hard back right now and at Barnes and Noble's cost me $28.00. I later saw it on Amazon.com for $15.00. If you are going to pick this one up (as much as I hate to say it), go the on-line route. $13.00 isn't to be sneezed at.

Don't Read

This was hard. I didn't find one that stood out like other months as being a bad book. I'll be honest, there is only one that I would say even comes close to don't read and so I will place that book here with why I only feel it's half a don't read.

1. The Frenchman's Revenge by Taylor Lee was a bit Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde honestly. The storyline itself was good with a half-French/half-Chinese man taking charge of a gang in California that takes on the corrupt California government. It is a romance as well with the main character focusing on marrying his love during all the action. The issue I have with the book is that while a romance novel may have sex scenes, the ones in this novel were exceedingly graphic and long. I finally got to the point where I skipped them altogether and just read the part about bringing the renegade gangs to heel. That part was well written, engaging, and kept you wanting to read.

I will say, this month many of the books were ok. Not fantastic, but not horrible. They were entertaining, but not jump up and down shouting about how fabulous they are. I enjoyed Out of Time (which is part of a serialization I can't quite manage to read in order) and Plague Zone. Out of Time follows a professor and his assistant as they are jerked back to New York City 1929. They must find a way to survive until the next eclipse of the moon in six weeks. The two take jobs in a speakeasy and must help bring down a supernatural being before they possibly make it home. Plaque Zone follows the travels of a man whose family is killed in the first wave of the Zombie infection. He goes from Chicago to California to Seattle to avenge their death by locating the zombie who killed them. Along the way he has to dodge zombies himself and the Colonel who set himself up as despot in the area around Seattle. These two books were good, but not great. I would recommend them for their entertainment value, but they aren't the best of the best.

What did you read this month? Read anything great? Share with me! I'm always looking for a new book!

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