Pretty Mess - Erika Jayne

Shared with Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. Please feel free to play along.

Here's my teaser:

There's a fine line between keeping kids totally in the dark and telling them the adult truth. I do't think she got the balance right, and she erred on the side of telling me more than I could handle.

Photo source: Google

First paragraph:

I made my stage debut at the age of five. I was in the St. John The Baptist Kindergarten production of Mrs. Jingle B. It was a Christmas pageant with singing that sounded more like screaming in unison. The dancing looked like a bunch of drunk bunny rabbits trying to find their way home after a bender.

There is a new post regarding my health and wellness journey too...

An Insightful CBT Session

Love KB

x

Teaser Tuesday - The Outsider by Stephen King

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Purple Booker. Please feel free to play along.

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday• Grab your current read

Here's my teaser: 

"How did I get back upstairs?"Jeannie asked. "Did he...please tell me he didn't carry me after I passed out."

Author: Stephen King

Title: The Outsider 

I'm reading the same book as last week but it does have many pages. A real spooky read!

Happy reading

Love KB

x

Book Review: Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton

Burnt Offerings is the seventh in the Anita Blake series of books by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Anita Blake is a vampire hunter. She takes us into the world of vampires and other monsters. I would describe this story as a mix of horror, thriller, fantasy and erotica. There were some scenes which left me feeling rather uncomfortable, but I enjoyed the character of the leading lady so much that I wanted to read more. 

I didn’t realise Burnt Offerings was a book from a series until after I began reading it. I was able to follow the plot without reading the previous books, but I’m really looking forward to reading the series from the beginning. 

That's all from me today.

Love KB

x

Teaser Tuesdays ~ The Butcher's Theatre by Jonathan Kellerman

Here's my teaser for this week...

The key was to be careful. To make a plan and stick with it and clean up well afterward.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Happy reading
Love KB
xxx

Book review: Survival of the Fittest, by Jonathan Kellerman

Survival of the Fittest is a fast-paced, suspense-filled thriller. In this twelfth instalment of the Alex Delaware series, Jonathan Kellerman takes us on a chilling journey.

The story begins with a cold blooded murder in the Santa Monica Mountains. A young, slightly retarded school girl dies while attending a school field trip. There are no signs of a struggle or sexual assault. Her father is a diplomat, which leads the police to believe the death could be politically motivated but, the father doesn’t accept this.

Alex Delaware is a psychologist, as is the writer of his character. Dr Delaware is asked by his close friend Milo Sturgis, to assist him with the case. The unlikely pairing of Dr Delaware and the rather large, gay detective is once again rather amusing. One of the reasons I enjoy the Delaware series so much, is because of the close friendship and banter between these two characters. They remind me of an old married couple.

The victim’s father tries to control where the investigation is leading, which suggests to Alex and Milo that he may be trying to hide something. After another murder is discovered, Inspector Daniel Sharavi assists in the investigation. Daniel is an excellent Israeli police detective who was first introduced to us in an earlier book of Kellerman’s - The Butcher’s Theatre.

As the investigation progresses and the horrific reasons behind the killings begin to unfold, Alex must go undercover to expose a conspiracy and the people behind it. 

I found the title of this book interesting as it gave me an idea of what the content would be about. Survival of the Fittest is a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms which can adapt best to their environment. However, as I dug deeper into the plot, I discovered how this idea could be misinterpreted to suit an individual’s beliefs.

Survival of the Fittest is a thrilling, thought-provoking, page-turner. I enjoyed the combination of humour, psychology, pure terror and fun. Quite an odd combination, but it works.  Most of all, this book made me consider and question belief systems. I have read several of Jonathan Kellerman’s books and I would say this is one of his better ones. The plot is well thought out and the characters believable. Although Survival of the Fittest is part of a series, it is not necessary to have read the previous instalments to enjoy this book. I believe Alex Delaware fans will not be disappointed.

Love KB
xxx

Book review: Break No Bones, by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones is the ninth in the series of thrillers by Kathy Reichs, concerning the life and work of forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan. 

Dr Brennan (also known as Tempe), travels to Southern California as a replacement for a colleague. Tempe finds herself teaching at an archaeological field school in the ruins of a Native American burial ground, on the shores of Charleston. While she is working there, a decomposing body is found in a shallow grave. The body has been recently buried and is wrapped in rotted fabric.

The local coroner Emma Rousseau, who is an old friend of Tempe, asks her to stick around to help with the investigation. As Tempe follows the evidence, another body is discovered. The examination of the bones shows the victims died in similar ways. As yet another body is found, Tempe comes to a horrifying conclusion concerning the death of the victims.

During this time, Dr Brennan is juggling an extremely complicated personal life. Her boyfriend, Detective Ryan decides to pay her a visit to spend time with her. Her ex-husband is working on a case involving the disappearance of a local woman and is staying in the same house as Dr Brennan. She struggles with her feelings for both of these men.

Break No Bones contains the fascinating forensic details we have come to expect, an intricately wound plot and characters we have come to know and love. Our heroine becomes more relatable and down to earth as this series continues. At times, I found the forensic details difficult to follow and stomach, but I believe they are a necessary part of the story. Fans of Kathy Reichs will not be disappointed with this well written, page-turning thriller.

Kathy Reichs shares the same profession as her leading lady, Dr Brennan. She is a forensic anthropologist for the province of Quebec. Her first novel Deja Dead, was a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel.

The popular TV show ‘Bones’ is based on this bestselling series of books. Being a fan of both the show and the books, I’d say they share few similarities; the forensic aspects and the name of the leading character. If you are a fan of the show, prepare yourself for a much different tone in the books. Both the TV show and the books have their own merits, but I find their styles quite different.

Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Total Control by David Baldacci

It's pouring with rain today which makes it a great day to stay in an read a book. I've only just started this one, but I have a feeling it's going to be a great read.

Here's my teaser for this week...

After today he could actually say for the first time that the risk had been worth it. All he had to do was survive today.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Happy reading
Love KB
xxx

Book reviews: Song of Susannah, by Stephen King

Song of Susannah is the sixth book in Stephen King’s, The Dark Tower series. With over 400 pages of a blend of western, science fiction, horror and fantasy, it’s an intriguing read. As with earlier books in this series, it is important to read the previous instalments to fully appreciate this book.

The Dark Tower series centres on the last gunslinger Roland Deschain and his quest to reach the top of The Dark Tower. The tower is the point where the hearts of all worlds join and something or something is trying to destroy it. Roland’s character was inspired by the Man with No Name, which was portrayed by Clint Eastwood and from Robert Browning’s poem, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. He begins his journey alone but encounters many friends and enemies along the way.

Song of Susannah continues from where the previous book The Waste Lands ends. Our hero and his travelling companions, a young boy Jake Chambers, his pet Oy, a Catholic priest Father Don Callaghan and Eddie Dean a heroin addict, are on a mission to find the woman of their group. She is pregnant and missing. The party is separated to different times and place Jake, Father Callaghan and Oy arrive in New York of 1999, while Roland and Eddie go back to Maine 1977.

Susannah Dean is on a mission of her own. Since her pregnancy, she has been suffering from split personalities and is mainly under the control of a demon named Mia. It is important to Mia that this baby is born in a certain place and she is determined to reach it.

This book includes the usual revelations and horrors we come to expect from Stephen King. The characters are like family to us now and easy to return to time and again. This book is certainly not my favourite of the series but the suspense kept me turning the pages. The most enjoyable parts for me were the incorporation of Stephen King the writer and Father Callaghan from Salem’s Lot, into Roland’s journey. I imagine there will be mixed reviews from Stephen King fans regarding this book but it is part of the journey which must be taken before the final book in the series can be read.

‘One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing. Come along with me, will ya not?’ – Stephen King.

Teaser Tuesdays ~ The Chinaman by Stephen Leather

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser...

The bike's lights were still flashinig. Her frown deepened and at that moment the twenty-five pounds of Semtex explosive in the back carrier box exploded in a flash of blinding white light, blowing in the window and striking her with thousands of glass daggers.





Have a great day/night and I'll see you again soon.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ The Land Of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser...
Although everyone knew they could take partners other than their mates, he knew that some people didn't necessarily want to watch their own mate couple with someone else. He knew he didn't.


Have a great day/night and I'll see you again soon.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx





Our recipe on our joint blog today is...NZ Lamb Shanks

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Falling For You by Jill Mansell

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser...

If she hadn't been too vain to wear her glasses, she'd have spotted the nail sticking out of the wall, encouraging a clematis to entwine itself around it, and her trousers wouldn't have got disastrously ripped.

Mistake number three had been climbing over a five-foot wall with the help of a sawn-off tree trunk without pausing to wonder if the drop might be greater on the other side, and whether there would be another handily positioned tree trunk to enable her to get back.


Have a great day/night and I'll see you soon.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser...

"Why do we practice Yoga?" he asked again. "Is it so we can become a little bendier than our neighbors?"





Have a great day/night and I'll see you tomorrow.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so others can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

My teaser is from the same book I was reading last week...it's a HUGE book, hehe! 



And he had turned his back on her so absolutely, torn her out of his life with a ruthlessnes which was so thorough, so final, that he might as well have died, for all she had left of him. It was truly hardly to be borne.



Have a great day/night and I'll see you tomorrow.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Something Dangerous ~ Penny Vincenzi

One of my goals this year is to read more books. You can read my reviews and learn where you can purchase any of the books I've read this year here...KB's Bookshelf.

Here's a bit of the blurb from the back cover...


It is 1928: the dizzy twenties are passing into the glamorous thirties, and the misery and horror of the First World War are far behind. But, as the twins move into adult life, against their glittering socail background the spectre of Nazi Germany, wearing its terrifyingly seductive face of success and prosperity, is growing. Gradually the twins' lives darken un unimaginable ways: Venitia finds herself humiliated and rejected in what promised to be a brilliant mariiaged; Adele is trapped in war- torn Paris with two tiny children. Then and only then do they find their own worth and what they are truly capable of.


KB's Comments


This is the second book in a series of three. The characters are strong and the plot interesting. I love a girlie book which is set in past times. I find learning more about history through a novel much more interesting than reading a history book on the topic. I'm already over half way through the next book and it's fab.

Are you reading anything interesting besides my blog?

See you tomorrow for Coco's Animal Antics
Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so other's can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser: 



He looked so genuinely wretched, so nervous that she was quite shocked. And suddenly she saw herself through his eyes, as a rich and very spoilt woman, wielding considerable power, both domestically and professionally, a woman not unlike Celia, in fact; she had become exactly the person she would once havc wanted not to be, and so shocked was she by this perception of herself, that her eyes filled with tears.






Have a great day/night and I'll see you tomorrow.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Something Dangerous by Penny Vincenzi

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by the lovely MizB of Should Be Reading.

Here's how it works...

Grab your latest read, open it up and share two sentences from the page. Easy as that. Don't forget to link back to MizB and share the title and author of your book so other's can add to their TBR (to be read) list if they wish.

Here's my teaser:


Kit was sudddenly very still: it was if a hot white light had flared in his head. The memories, the odd memories, making sense with each other and at last: LM saying 'your father must be so delighted...and Oliver too'; little Noni, looking at the photograohs of Sebastian, saying 'he looks like Kit, really exactly like'; the game at Christmas, Gordon Robinson's voice 'absolutely identical brains, the three of you.'



Have a great day/night and I'll see you tomorrow.
Happy reading,
Love KB
xxx

Living With Whitesnake

Whitesnake  and I have enjoyed our couple of days off. My parents introduced us to a new restaurant called Oceans  a few weeks ago. We enjoyed the food, the atmosphere and location. Unfortunately, it was pouring down with rain so we couldn't really appreciate the scenery. The sun was shining on one of our days off so we decided to head back there and enjoy the view. 

I headed to the hairdressers the next day. Spent two hours catching up on the goss from the hairdresser and being pampered. Came home to find the dinner prepared, the housework done and the washing on the line. Isn't my man wonderful! That gave me the afternoon to relax and start a new book - Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6), I'm already 200 pages in,hehe.

Steve has ten days off starting from Monday, woohoo! I can hardly wait.

Later gators
xxx

LITTLE GIRL LOST AND BOOKS READ THIS MONTH

LITTLE GIRL LOST


I turn to talk to my mother but where has she gone? The market is crowded but I’ve never felt so alone. The hustle and bustle continues around me as I stand glued to the spot. How will she ever find me in this noise and confusion? I panic as I see the unending tide of strangers surrounding me. They tower above me, making me feel insignificant. A hand reaches out , I entrust it with my escape. Mum finally arrives at the market office to take me home. The terror I've felt is mirrored in her face. She folds me up in her warm embrace and I am safe once again.

WORST READ OF THE MONTH

It’s unusual for me to start a book and not finish but this one was giving me a headache. I think she is trying to hard. What do you think?

An excerpt from – The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

By nightfall the headlines would be reporting devastation. It was simply that the sky, on a shadeless day, suddenly lowered itself like an awning. Purple silence petrified the limbs of trees and stood crops upright in the field like hair on end. Whatever there was of fresh white paint sprang out from downs or dunes, or lacerated a roadside with a streak of fencing. This occurred shortly after midday on a summer Monday in the South of England.

Shirley Hazzard was born in Sydney and is the author of the award winning - The Great Fire but definitely not my cup of tea.


BOOKS READ DURING JUNE

14. The Meaning Of Night - Michael Cox
15. Windfall - Penny Vincenzi

16. B Is For Burglar - Sue Grafton

I've started another book but don't think my chances of finishing it this month are very good.

Not much to report today. Looking forward to All Blacks/Italy tonight. Here's hoping they do a better job than last week.

Later gators

xxx

P.S. My dear friend Missy has asked me to contibute a story to her Melting Pot.

MELTING POT

Hope you likey.

KB
xxx

BOOKS I'VE READ THIS YEAR

After noticing a huge decline in the number of books I read last year, I've decided to keep a tally here of books I've read, hoping it will inspire to read more. I'll be reviewing my favourite reads on a monthly basis.

As a member of bookcrossing.com, I share books I've read with friends, rather than leave them on my shelves to gather dust. I leave my books in public places, send them to friends or give them to charity. If there is a book listed which you are interested in reading, drop me a note and depending on availability, I'll see what I can do. I'd rather give a much loved book to someone I know who'd read it than leave it somewhere on the off chance a stranger will pick it up.


BOOK OF THE MONTH

Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner - Kerre Woodham




When radio personality and columnist Kerre Woodham found herself fat, forty and depressed, she had two choices:

Do nothing and not make fifty.
Do something to get her life back.

I couldn't put this book down. Kerre had me LOL page after page. She writes about her journey from overweight party girl to completing the New York Marathon. There's hope for me yet, hehe.

Here's a sample from her story:

There you are, planning a quiet Wednesday evening in with the kids while your husband is away on business and a friend drops round on the way home from work. A couple of hours later, you've got Bryan Adams on at full blast, you're dancing round the living room, you've sent the oldest child out for McDonald's and the two of you have even polished off the bottle of creme de menthe that's been sitting in the booze cupboard for the last ten years. A night like that is never planned, and is certainly not wanted, but when the Piss Fairy sprinkles his dust, you're goners. So I'm constantly battling the Piss Fairy. He took the first decade of my adult years,I won back seven - and now we've reached an uneasy truce.

WHAT'S TAKING UP MY FREE TIME?

I've love to read as long as I can remember. I'm part of an online book club - bookcrossing.com. Many of the bookcrossing members are also involved in the online community - livejournal.com. One of the activities we part take in is keeping a record of the books we've read during the year. I was horrified to discover my tally for the year to date is 7 . Yikes, this is a pitiful number for me compared to previous years. I used to read more when I was working. I have more free time on my hands now which begs the question - what's taking up my free time? Me thinks some changes need to be made.

*goes to find book to read*