Romance for Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day approaching I thought this would be a good topic. What are your favorites?

A recent favorite of mine is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I don’t know how someone could read this book without falling in love with Edward Cullen. Sure a man like him probably doesn’t exist in real life (putting the vampire aspect aside) but he really is what a lot of us always dreamed of when we were young. The feelings of the new love and relationship very much reminded me of how I felt when I was young which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.

       

Twilight is also a part of the ever popular vampire genre, but even if vampire novels don’t appeal to you, I think you might like this one if you love romance. Oh, and I absolutely love the book cover.

       

Another favorite of mine is The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger. I think this was one of those “you either love it or hate it” type books. It did take me a while to get into it, and I almost gave up on it after 50 pages, but I continued and ended up loving it. I like books that really develop their characters so I loved this aspect about the book. Yes, it was confusing at times, but the story line is so original. It’s one of those books that definitely is worth a few readings. Oh, it seems they will be making it into a movie soon too.

         

Of course I can’t talk about romance without mentioning a classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Beautifully written and wonderfully romantic. If you are apprehensive about reading a Jane Austen novel try a movie first and see how you like it. I recommend the A&E miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, the one starring Colin Firth. It’s a perfect movie to watch for Valentine’s Day.

        

So what are your Valentine’s Day recommendations. Leave me a comment and let us know.

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler 

“My mother is a wench. It says so on her w-2″ and so starts this quirky novel. 

Calliope and her mother are on the move a lot. Her mom makes jewelry which she sells at Renaissance Faires along with serving as a wench. They have a very strained relationship, to say the least. Cal’s mom, Delores, has the tendency to run from things. She packed Cal up a few years back, taking her from her loving father and stable home life.  Cal has been taking care of Delores ever since.

Eliot lives with his mom and dad outside of Asheville, NC. They run a  “Christian” weight-loss camp.  “The Dad,” as Eliot calls him, broke his back years ago and from that experience he turned to Jesus.  Eliot and his mom have been basically unhappy ever since. Their family life has deteriorated. The fun care free times are gone.  His dad has cashed in on Christianity and now everything is about making more money.

When Cal and her mom move to the Asheville area for a Renaissance Faire, Eliot and Cal meet and they connect immediately. Their love story is very sweet. They help one another through the turmoil of being a teenager in an adult controlled world.

 One aspect that I thought was interesting, without giving too much away, was it showed how in many situations parents create the illusion that their children have some say in important life matters, when in actuality the parents have already made up their minds and have no intention of hearing what their children have to say.  I think it’s interesting and wonder why a lot of us parents don’t listen to our children more often. 

 I really enjoyed the narration from the point of view of both Calliope and Eliot. Each chapter switches from one character to the other and it makes for good reading.

I think a lot of teens would enjoy this book and I give it  3.75 out of 5 stars.

I love YA books.

Yes, I am 28 years old, not exactly considered a “young adult” by the book industry, but I have discovered YA fiction once again.

I’m not sure how old I was when I stopped reading YA. I started reading adult fiction when I was about ten along with YA fiction. I guess I was somewhere around 15 when I started phasing YA fiction out. I’m sure it had to do with the fact that at that age I wanted to be older and wiser; I longed to be an adult. So out with the old and in with the new, and I let go of my favorite authors like Christopher Pike, Lois Duncan and Barthe DeClements.

Then about a 6 months ago I was at the library (trying again to read borrowed books and not my own) and I picked up The Giver by Lois Lowry. I have always wanted to read it, mainly because of the controversy surrounding it, and I loved it. Alas, my love affair with YA began there.

Since then I have read some really great YA books, and added many to my TBR (to be read) pile. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is one of my all time favorite books now and I cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy. I loved Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and I thought Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was excellent with a good message and great sarcastic humour.

So if you see me reviewing books that your kids are reading, now you know why, and you might want to pick them up and read them too.