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The Favorite Sister
The Favorite Sister
Jessica Knoll | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
6
5.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Goal Diggers is a reality TV show based on women entrepreneurs. These women have made their own way in life without the help of a man. The story centers around two characters on the show, Brett and Stephanie. Brett is the lesbian who doesn't care about what others things about her, with the bike riding studio who donates proceeds from her studios to women in Morocco who have to walk miles for water. They use the money to purchase bikes for these women. Stephanie is just the opposite refusing to film without a full face of makeup and she has written a few novels and now is on tour for her first "memoir". The other 2 characters on the show are Jen and Lauren, who don't really get along with the rest of the cast, and joining them this season is Kelly, Brett's older sister. Is reality TV really real? Are what is going on in these women's lives really happening or is it played up for the audience. This book takes us from Pre-Production on the show to Post-Production for one of the most explosive seasons. Are you ready for the ride?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Getting into this book was hard. It took me 10 days to read it and I thought I would get through it pretty quickly. I love the Real Housewives series with my favorites being Atlanta, and Beverly Hills and this book I thought was going to be like taking a behind the scenes look at a show like that. It was, but for me it fell a little short.

The book starts with Kelly talking about Brett's death. But we have to go through the whole season of filming to see how that all plays out. Each woman has a secret to keep with one being bigger and juicier than the next. So from the start I was intrigued and I had to find out how Brett died, but it just took so long to get there. Back stories and front stories, and Interviews and lies. It's all a complete mess. The best part of the book for me was the last 10%.

Do you watch Reality TV? My husband calls it mind polluting. But he watches a couple of them with me. I've always wanted to know if the show was scripted and if these women were all either enemies or best friends when the cameras go off. You get a glimpse of that in this book. They take us through an entire filming season before the audience gets to see what happens. Producers sending texts to cast members before they are going to meet up with certain people to remind them of last filmed conversations? I need to ask Andy Cohen if that really happens. But with so much drama going on, whose lies do you believe?
  
A Girl’s Guide to the Outback
A Girl’s Guide to the Outback
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It is amazing to me how just a few words can make you smile or tug at your heartstrings. Jessica Kate really took me on a marvelous ride in this book. I loved the fun cover, the textured feel to it and all the quotable moments in this book.

     When I started reading this book, I immediately noticed how easy it was to relate to the characters. I personally think that it is because deep inside most of us associate with either Sam or Kimberly on some level. They had fun together, teased each other, and they did hurt each other (unintentionally). The making of a quintessentially fun couple. Any great relationship or story is based on how people handle themselves when they are faced with obstacles and Jessica Kate made these characters shine in the way that they handled the obstacles that came up.

     In the Girl’s Guide to the Outback, we see some really great examples of overcoming obstacles, building friendships, compassion, and patience. There are two main characters Sam and Kimberly who made me smile more in the space of an hour than I usually do all day, and whom I feel will go down as some of my top favorite characters of all time. I would argue that Julie and Mick could be considered somewhat main characters as well, they were great and put smiles on my face as well
  
Izombie: Volume 1: Dead to the World
Izombie: Volume 1: Dead to the World
Chris Roberson, Mike Allred | 2011 | Comics & Graphic Novels
8
8.0 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
I first heard about this book from Elena reads books and was instantly intrigued!This book sounded fun, I haven’t read much about zombies and also just wanted to read more comics/graphic novels. It was totally fascinating from the start and definitely different.

Gwen appears to be you average everyday person at the start, other than working as a gravedigger she is normal, except she’s not! She is a zombie! but not your stereotypical zombie – she doesn’t walk around groaning, her face and body are not decaying. As long as she eats one brain per month she will not turn full zombie. However eating brains comes at a cost, first of all the brain has to be pretty fresh (hence being a gravedigger), she obviously can’t get caught, they taste bad….oh and she gets stuck with the deceased’s memories for a period of time. The last brain she ate was from a young family man who was killed by a serial killer. Gwen takes it upon herself to investigate why the man was murdered. Also there are a group of female vampires who don’t kill their victims they just feed little and often from men that attend paint balling in the woods. However there is always one that can’t play by the rules and is starting to attract attention from these ancient monster hunters.

There were so many different types of character/monsters in this book, we had zombies (obvs)Ghosts, Vampires and even a WereTerrier which I thought was kind of cute. This is a more of a fluffy zombie book and totally different from the walking dead. I liked all the individual characters but there wasn’t a lot of development and I think this was because there was too much trying to happen in one volume. We had the story of Gwen, it would then jump to the Vampires and then to the hunters, which made the plot line a bit disjointed. Some of the characters….Mainly Dixie was portrayed as being self-centred, all she thinks about is herself and Gwen is unable to rely on her even though she is her best friend. All the females in the book all seemed to have perfect bodies… I wish they just made some females different shapes and sizes. I really liked the art style and colours that were used to set the tone of the book. This was a great introduction to the story and I will be continuing on with the second volume.

Also there is a series on Netflix adaptation that is loosely based on the comic, I might start watching it as my partner has watched it and said it’s alright. Have you watched izombie? whats your thoughts on it?

Overall I rated this 3.75 out of 5 stars
  
This book was not at all what I expected but, I don't mean that to sound negative in the least. Let me start by saying that I bought 2 copies of it so I could read 1 & give the other to my nephew for Christmas. I'd seen the trailer for Rise of the Guardians & when I heard it was based on this book I had to read it.
It is written as a legend of how Santa Claus came to be well, Santa Claus! If you think though that you can read this novel & finish with an answer you are wrong. It is just the beginning to the tale of St. Nick.
It starts when a wayward moonbeam accidentally wakes up Pitch, the Nightmare King. Pitch's job was to go around the world feeding off the good dreams of people & replacing them with nightmares. He seems to be succeeding until a wise old wizard tricks a wily thief into coming to his town's aide. That swashbuckler happens to be Nicholas St. North, the man who is presumably going to end up as jolly ole St. Nick.
This is a great story & a quick read. I am looking forward to seeing the movie though I doubt it will be much like the book so be warned!!