I picked up this book randomly from the library shelf. I knew nothing about it or its author before I started reading. It is a bit different then what I would normally read, which is one of the benefits of randomly picking up a book. The book starts with the main character in a car wreck which starts bringing back memories from her childhood. The book is told from three different perspectives, the present, her father, and a journalist. The reader is introduced to her past before the main character even is. In one way this was a great way to structure the story. It allowed for more detail into her childhood. In another way, it was not as satisfying. It was very easy to figure out what was going on, and the ending of the book was not a surprise in any way.

The writing was good. The book flowed well, was edited well, and the main characters were well defined. The side characters were a little bit generic, but they also do not feature in the book as often. I cannot figure out why the viewpoint of the journalist was included. It was over the top, served little point to the narration, and was a horrible stereotype. Religion was portrayed as evil in this book, and men were not portrayed in a very good light either. The premise was interesting and worth reading, however, I think it had the potential to be better.

It is hard to find a new take on urban fantasy, and very easy to make some cliche story. While Don't Rush Me builds off a lot of familiar elements in urban fantasy, it also brings in its own. For one, the main character is a human. Although, she is not quite human and her unique gifts have her thrown into a middle of a missing persons investigation.

Nora entered foster care when she was seven. Her natural ability to attract males made her a target for sexual abuse. If this is a trigger then I would highly suggest that you stay away from this book. The main character is constantly dealing with the trauma of her past. While it builds up her character I do wish that it was dealt with a bit more tack and less of a plot move.

The book is well written with engaging characters. The plot is not a surprise and is fairly straightforward. There are still questions that are left at the end of the book. I am sure they will be addressed as the series progresses. The story could have been more complex and at times it was completely cheesy. However, I really enjoyed reading the book and plan to continue on in the series. The strength is int he word combinations and character development. Although it would be great to see the writers continue to develop more dynamics.

If you like urban fantasy and are looking for something different that is worth the read then I would recommend that you check out Don't Rush Me.

I picked up By the Book from the bookstore, one of the rare books that I bought not only in paper, but also for full price. It was a gift to myself for a rare child free afternoon. It was an amazing gift.

I fell instantly in love with the book. The main character is an English professor who loves books. She loves them so much she went against her family's wishes and became an academic. Her life if flowdering. She has to get a book published in order to gain tenure at a Southern California university where she has been teaching for the last three years. I work at a large university in Southern California, so I saw a lot of humor in the setting of the novel. I could relate to needing to stop for In N Out fries, and I laughed out loud at the email telling faculty that they could not be in the room for faculty evaluations. I am one of few, I am sure, who found the humor in this as I do course assessment.

I love this book. The characters are very real. They are being thrown by the events of everyday life. The comparison between live at twenty and live at thirty is both sad and humorous. The writing is brilliant. They say that those who can't teach - but thankfully Sonneborn can do both. Well in all fairness I have no idea how well she teaches, but I am sure does quite well at that also. I have no doubt that By the Book is a book that I will pick up many more times.

I would consider Snow City to be speculative fiction. It suspends the rules of our own reality without truly being science fiction. The main character, Echo, lives in a world of her own creation. It started as a dream to escape from her own harsh reality until one day she woke up to find herself a true citizen. For months she stayed in the background content to watch the world around her. That is until she found another who needed her help.

When Echo takes guardianship of Chastity, a sixteen-year-old ghost, she is forced to live within the realm of Snow City. The more she becomes involved in the world the more she starts to question her own perfect fantasy.

Kathryns writing has a certain charm. It is a bit distant and mystical, yet it works for this piece. The story starts off slow, mostly because coming into the world with little explanation is extremely confusing. Yet, the story still grips you and holds you until the end. This is a great read if you are looking for something a little different.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a children's book that any child, and any parent can relate to. We would read this book often when my son was much younger. It helped that my son shares the namesake and has had plenty of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.

The writing is cute and flows well. It tells the story of Alexander who has a day where everything just seems to go wrong. In his childhood wisdom, he wants to move to Australia. The conclusion to the book is the realization that some times you just have bad days.

The pictures are black pen sketches. In the limited edition version Alexander is represented in color.

Overal, it is a cute book. It has been a classic in our house, and I can continue to see it being read for many years to come.

I picked up this book because it was on Amazon's 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime. I honestly had no idea what it was about. When I first picked it up I thought great another zoo book with pretty pictures. Except that this book is not another zoo book at all. Instead it tells the true story of two penguins in the Central Park Zoo. These penguins fell in love and tried to hatch their own egg without success. It it was a hard feat since both the penguins were male. So, a zookeeper took an egg that would most likely not have survived, and placed it in their nests.

There are many different types of families, and this book is a wonderful reminder of that. It is great read for all children to understand that families do not have to have one mother and one father to be happy, and for the children to be loved. The story was told in a beautiful way, it left me a bit misty at the end. I was curious if it was based on real life events, and was thrilled to read about the events that this story is based off of on the last page of the book. I am really glad that the author included the extra information.

The pictures in this book are in full color and well presented. They look like they were done with watercolor. The pictures themselves take time to process, and make it enjoyable to see over and over.

I really wish I had known about this book when my children were younger. Although I am glad that I finally picked it up.

I picked this book while looking around a bookstore. I had never heard of it, and it was not a normal type of read for me. However, the writing looked good and it was on sale so I decided that I would give it a try.

The writing remained good. The sentences flowed well, the characters were well developed, while purposely being not developed. While confusing for me to explain, Banner did an excellent job with the characters in this book. They were real people, and yet completely disconnected. For this story it was perfect.

The main character was the most intriguing. The reader is finding out about her at the same time that she is finding out about herself. Her memories leave a mystery. I can honestly say that I did not see the ending coming in the completeness that it did. I had my theories, and they were not quite correct. It was very well done.

I was impressed with how Banner handled the psychological aspect of it all, although the therapist annoyed me quite a bit. I am really glad that I decided to pick this book up. It was a refreshing change, and I have found I added yet another psychological thriller to my reading list this month because I enjoyed it so well.

Shifting stories is a collection of short stories in the Mercy Thompson universe. Many of the stories were previously published and were brought together for this compilation. However, there are a few stories that were newly published. In one way this made it easier to read all the side stories to this universe without having to go find and/or purchase a wide variety of books. In another way, this seems like another way of getting money out of a successful urban fantasy author.

I had not previously read any of these stories, with the exception of Alpha and Omega. I have previously reviewed this separately and I skipped over reading it in this book.

The stories are short highlights of the Mercy Thompson world. Many of the stories feature characters that only show up briefly in the main series. It is was a great way to see the world from other character's perspectives. There is also a story that focuses on Ben and another that focuses on Warren. Neither of these were mind exploiting explorations into these characters. However, they were fun reads.

This is a collection of all short stories by Beatrix Potter, including her tales of Peter Rabbit. The stories are geared towards children and often feature personified animals. Occasionally the stories also feature children. If there are adults in the stories they seem to be the villain.

These stories were first published over a hundred years and you can tell. Some stories seem to withstand time, these do not. While I read some Beatrix Potter to my children, it never was something that I found enjoyable. Neither did my children seem to attach to the stories. However, when I read them all the way through as an adult I decided that I honestly do not enjoy them.

The stories are of animals who wear clothes, talk, and smoke. Yet, they are also treated as animals by the humans at the same time. It was an awkward distinction for me. Also, the stories never really seemed to go anware. The topics are awkward, one rabbit went to save his children from a fox who planned on eating them. Maybe if there was a point at the end it would be less weird. Yet, there is not. It is just tales of weird interactions.

I may be in the minority on my views of this book. Many others seem to treasure the tales. They are even being made into a movie. For me, these stories were not what I would pick to have still been around a hundred years later.