Bookish Organized Chaos

I don't know how I missed this, since the person behind it, Ashley with Creative Whim, is my blog host for my main blog. But I'm wondering if any of my booklikes peeps have heard anything about this proposed new site.

Ashley is also the designer of the Ultimate Book Blogger (UBB) plug-in, which is beloved of wordpress book bloggers. She has her own book blog, and is well-connected with the book blogger community. I can also personally attest that she is extremely responsive to questions - every time I have put in a service ticket, my question has been answered or issue resolved within hours.

Her kickstarter page is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1537387347/litrate-an-online-community-for-book-lovers?ref=card

I still haven't really connected with leafmarks. I remain bound to Goodreads by one group, the challenge function (which is far superior to the booklikes challenge) and their book database.

“I took the sharp curve too fast, causing the urn to tumble off of the backseat and roll across the floorboard.”

Olivia has it all, a dream job, loving family, and handsome fiancé.  Her mother then dies of cancer, and she has to come to terms with it.  She and her sister Georgia find out that their mother wants to have her ashes scattered in her hometown, a place that she never talked about or visited since she left.

Olivia and Logan, her teenage niece, goes for a summer trip to the South.  Once she gets there she begins to peel away her mom’s secrets of her early life.  Secrets that make her question everything in her life including marrying her fiancé.

Cancel The Wedding (416 pgs, Harper, August 5, 2014) is Carolyn T. Dingnam’s debut novel.  Her writing can be comparable to Jennifer Weiner, since the novel is emotional and focuses on frustrating family issues.

I really enjoyed getting into the detailed thoughts of Olivia.  It really got me into the emotions of the situations that she encounters.  I also loved the setting of this story, it really goes along with this summer season.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves a good emotional women issues.

Yeah Bub. STFU.

I need to stop watching tv and playing SIMs for hours on end and start limiting my time doing those things, so I can do what I really want to do, but tell myself that I don’t have time to do anymore and that is writing.  Since there is nothing really on tonight and the internet is getting boring for some reason tonight I have trolled around my computer and found that I have my writings on here.  I really want to read them but I”m scared at hearing my inner critic, but maybe that is what I need to get my ass in gear and do what I really want to do and that is write.  I actually signed up on a website of writers.

I have given myself so many excuses for why I haven’t been writing or finishing my 3 stories.  “I will get to it when..” pops into my head.  I will get to it when the weekend comes, when I go on vacation, when I get home from work, I will right before bed, I will right after hockey season, I will right after our renovation project.  

Why am I’m not writing about these things while they are happening so I can look back on them and draw inspiration from these experiences when I’m ready to create?

I’m going to challenge myself to write more, edit more proofread more.  Not starting the first of the month or the first of the week, but staring now.  For everyday that I don’t do something to do with writing (not reading other people’s work, but I will still do that because that is where I get a lot of my inspiration as well.), I will put a quarter (.25) into a jar.  I can’t justify one day why I did not write.  When I say write, I mean I need to at least have written 250 words.  Once I have filled the jar I will then donate that money to something stupid, because it is stupid to not write.

It is so interesting how one writer can make so many diverse characters in not only each book, but also in their different series.  Take David Baldacci's series King and Maxwell and Will Robie.  King and Maxwell are former Secret Service detectives that end up finding themselves in unique adventures, but they really try to stay within the law.  Will Robie is a CIA agent that follows mostly his gut.  King and Maxwell reminds me of good cop and Robie is bad cop.  So whatever is your mood, David Baldacci is the author to read.

"I am a doctor"

That first sentence doesn't really show the greatness of this book.  Summer House with Swimming Pool (387 pgs, Hogarth, June 3, 2014) is the second book that I've read by Herman Koch.

Marc Schlosser has to hide a medical exam gone wrong of a Ralph Meier, a famous actor.

It really is hard to say more about what the book is about without giving away the surprises that it brings.  Koch has brought back his genius way of blending present events and past events.  He keeps you guessing at what's going to happen next.

I really loved the way that Koch detailed out Schlosser's thoughts.  It was like you totally understood where he was coming from and really makes you agree with him on most of his points.

I would recommend this book to someone that is into the psychological.  

"Hannah O'Brien walked into the large kitchen, ready to throw something."

Hannah O'Brien has turned her childhood home in the West Keys into a B&B.  She never thought that she would be faced with a homicide on her property, but with her ability to talk with spirits she is bound to figure out who killed the undercover cop.

The Cursed (500 pgs, Center Point, August 1, 2014) by Heather Graham is an mixture of thriller and romance.  I received this book through NetGalley for an honest review.  I have read a few of Graham's novel's, but this one I actually finished.  It definitely follows the romance formula (girl mets boy, boy has an interesting past, girl falls for boy, sex, more sex, and then problem solved and everyone lives happily ever after), but the mystery and paranormal aspect of the story was what kept me reading.  You will definitely be surprised at the outcome.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves romance and suspense. 

From JennyJen's post at Goodreads :https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/show/46445583?ref=ru_lihp_lk_us_120_mclk&uid=1772040384

"A rash of grisly serial murders plaqued Seattle until the infamous "Beacon Hill Butcher" was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985."

He is now retired, and widowed, and giving his house to his grandson, Matt.  While doing renovations, Matt unearths more than he bargained for.  It is something that will change his life and relationship with his girlfriend forever.

The Butcher (352 pgs, Gallery Books, July 12, 2014) by Jennifer Hillier is one of those stories that you already know the who, but you have to figure out the why and how.  I received this book through Edeileweiss for an honest review.

The description of the killings are the exciting parts of the story.  They where so real.

The issue I had was the predictability of the flow and the repetition of the dialogue.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes an easy read on psychopaths.

"In the days leading up to my husband Owen's death, he visited Alison's house every afternoon."

Augusta and Owen have moved to the country to leave their past troubles behind and persue their art.  Alison moves in over the hill and befriends the comfortable couple.  Nora, Alison's daughter moves in and their past comes back to haunt them.

Life Drawing (256 pgs, Random House, July 15, 2014) is the debut novel by Robin Black. I received this book through Edeilweiss for an honest review. It was so beautifully detailed that I want it to speak for itself.

"The rhythm of this becomes more frequent, until the clapping and slapping, the odd skirmishes with the invisible, are drowning out the conversation."

The characters were so real with real emotions and real problems.  

I recommend this to anyone that loves realism and great literary story.