Playing with Boys

This was a fun read about 3 woman trying to make their way in Los Angelos. One is a "star" manager but her biggest client is this Mexican mariachi band who's side job is being major drug runners and of course her firms boss is also included so all of sudden she's out of a job when they get busted. So then it's about how she makes her own company with this other woman actress who becomes her client and another woman who's a new screenwriter. It's cute and it leaves you feeling good at the end. Some of the woman drama that is portrayed gets slightly monotonous but overall I enjoyed it and it made me smile.

Shanghai Girls

Hmmm...as a big fan of Snowflower and the Secret Fan, I have to say that Lisa See really let me down on this one. the beginning of the book was engaging and the middle...well...nothing ever happened. Then at the end she just left you hanging. It was as though she was as tired of this book as I had become and just needed to end it. So she did. Mid plot she just ended it.
Sorry guys...but I would really not even bother with this one! On to the next one!!

The Time of My Life

I listened to this book, which was read by the authors, and enjoyed it very much. You know, when you hear someone has a fatal disease, you always wonder, why them? Well, after "reading" this, I have a bit of an idea why!

First off, Patrick was a HUGE smoker. He smoked right up until his death. His wife was also a smoker and they would fly in their airplane and smoke in the cockpit, which resulted in two near plane crashes because the smoke damaged the plane! Seriously. Makes you realize how lethal smoking is if it can do that kind of damage to an airplane.

And he was also just plain brutal to his body. As both a dancer and a football player in his youth, he damaged his body to great extremes. He had a "suck it up" mentality which I thought was interesting when he said, near the end of the book, that Swayze men (who live with this mentality) never live very long. The oldest living Swayze man he knew was his father, who died at 57 *which is the same age as Patrick was when he died this past summer.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book very much and even more so hearing it in their own voices. I would highly recommend it!

AMAZING book! It's really really long and I read it straight for like a week! I was so involved I would be sitting at work thinking about how much I wanted to pull it out and read! I love Follett's writing but the characters in this story just make you feel so much. They go through so much heartbreak and are given so many obstacles and still manage to find the good and enjoyment in life. Persistance was a common thought I had while reading. Be persistant and anything can happen.

Loved reading it!

Saturn Return

This book is a self-published novel about "Saturn Return" which is the mentality that for a certain period you are out of sorts with the universe and then it all becomes right including your love life and work, etc. The whole idea was rather fanciful to me because it suggested that we don't really have any control in how our life turns out and that things will happen to make it right when it is the right time for it to. And to a point I agree with that but this was just so far beyond for me that it got a little annoying. The main characters of the book are fun to get to know and read about, a little too oh everything is so great at a few points but overall a good read. And quick.

Note: the author is mark Levine and there is a website where the book can be bought if wanted.

An Echo in the Bone

I was so excited to read this book because I absolutely love the first 6 in the series. Unfortunately it def wasn't as good as some of her previous ones. There was a lot more of the other characters talking and switching around and mainly just a lot of info that I am not as interested in. Towards the end though it def picked up and became the books that I remember so I have hope for the next one (in a year...lol).

The 19th Wife

This is two different stories about members of the Mormon community "The Firsts" who escaped from the religion and what their experiences were within. It was interesting to a point, but kept jumping around and had a lot of extraneous information that was tiring to read and didn't add anything to the story. I was also confused throughout most of the story about who's point of view we were reading from or who they were talking about.

I believe The 19th Wife (a different one) is just a single story of one woman and then they took her story and combined it with a few so maybe just hers would be better, but I was not a fan.