BOOK REVIEW (97): The Baby Project

BOOK REVIEW:

The Baby Project

It wasn't until I picked this title up from the library on a whim (while picking up other loans) that I realized I hadn't read a Harlequin in months. I've been on a dry spell and I needed to end it. And what a way to end it!

Susan Meier's The Baby Project, the 1st title in the Babies in the Boardroom trilogy. Each title features one of the three Andreas brothers. These trio of billionaires are powerful, intelligent, sexy...and damaged.

In The Baby Project hero Darius Andreas, the eldest Andreas brother, is in heroine Whitney Ross' family legal offices to hear his late father's will. When he walks out of the office, he's learned two things: 1) his father lived up to his womanizing ways until the end, 2) Darius is a father to his baby half-brother, Gino Andreas, and 3) Darius has to share his new parental/custodial duties with Whitney, the best friend of Gino's late mother.

6-month Gino is alone in the world, and Darius and Whitney have to learn to push aside their animal attraction to focus on raising the little boy in their care.

I liked this story because Darius didn't shy away from pursing Whitney, and Whitney didn't wilt like a flower (at least she didn't once she shared her sad past with Darius). Their chemistry leaps off the page, it kept me turning page after page considering it starts off a tad slowly (and maybe a bit melodramatically).

I think it also helped that I loved Darius' banter with his two brothers, Cade and Nick. These three were hiliarious. I only wish I was surrounded by these three. Seriously. I was jelly of Whitney.

I had nothing bad to say about this one. Even the build-up to the black moment wasn't cheesy. It set up the cheesiness then -- BAM! genius plotting saved the day and I closed the book grinning after a super-cute epilogue.

Now to hunt down Books 2 & 3.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (96): Beauty and the Basement (Twice Told Tales #4)

BOOK REVIEW:

Beauty and the Basement

I wanted to save this book for later, but I not only ended up reading it earlier -- I also finished it in one very short sitting.

It's too bad. As the second book from the Twice Told Tales series by author Olivia Snowe (and illustrator Michelle Lamoreaux), this fairy tale re-telling was better than the first book I read from this series (that was the Little Red Riding Hood one and you can find it here).

The plotting was better with this one. The characterization didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth, and though the external conflict was worthy a few eye rolls the ending was plausible and I could swallow it comfortably.

But let's talk characters:

We got 15-year-old Belle Beaumont who has an obnoxious father -- the guy was more of a butt-hole than the original fairy tale version or Disney's take on the tale. I promise you'll feel no sympathy for Belle's father, Jack Beaumont.

Belle I liked.

She was spunky, optimistic, yet she had her morals all-lined up and that, IMO, made her a far better character than Scarlet in the LRRH Twice Told re-telling. Like I would actually want to meet this girl and have a chat with her and ask her why her parents thought it fit to call her 'Belle' when her last name already means 'beautiful mountain' (<-- with the extent of my French)?

Carlo Mostro*, a.k.a. the Beast, was also pretty cool. Like Belle's he is a 15-year-old boy whose become a summer shut-in since a tragedy befell his family. With his mother in and out of his life, Carlo becomes anti-social and mean. The thing is I LOVED watching Belle slip past his defenses without so much as saying a word at first: he just thinks that's she's really pretty and why not?

Then, of course, it goes the cliched way and I'm sure you can piece that together as it doesn't stray too much from the original plot.

You have Belle whose physical beauty matches her internal beauty. And there's Carlo, the misunderstood Beast. Disney added the twist of the cursed servants, and we get only one "servant" in this, the Mostro family chef.

If you can't piece it together, might I suggest picking up Beauty and the Basement. This installment in the Twice Told Tales series is fantastic and should be shared!

I only wish that there was an epic transformation at the end, instead of a boring old change of heart. ;) There is rain at the end, just no fingertip 'light-show' transformation.

*NOTE: Because it was bugging me, and it read like 'monster' I looked up Carlo's surname. 'Mostro' does mean 'monster' in Italian. What a last name! Haha.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮

(4 stars) 

BOOK REVIEW (95): Ghost Town (Saranormal #1)

BOOK REVIEW:

Ghost Town

Back with another review: this time I didn't stray too long after completing this one. Though I did read it super slow, I blame school (*ahem*andmybadtimemanagementskills*cough,hack*).

This is the first in the MG series Saranormal by Phoebe Rivers. This series stars heroine/MC Sara Collins and her ghost-seeing, medium-like abilities. Ever since Sara was four she's been able to see ghosts -- 12 now she's trying her best to keep her secret just that a secret. But it's getting hard with all the dearly departed hanging around her new home, Stellamar, a fictional seaside town in New Jersey.

She's making friends and that's keeping her over-protective dad happy. Still at this rate with a ghostly old man warning her about danger on the pier where all her friends hang out, Sara isn't sure how much longer she can pretend to be normal without packing up and leaving Stellamar for good.

What I loved about Book One Ghost Town was Sara's sarcasm and that she isn't 100% confident in herself; that made her seem normal, and she isn't exactly rushing out to save the world. She's also not a pity case: sure she's got powers, sure she doesn't have a lot of friends, but she's still a normal pre-teen (plus her extra special power).

I liked the pacing, too. I didn't expect anything super deep. Don't go in having watched too many episodes of College Medium and Long Island Medium and any other whacko reality show of that variety. It might go that way, sure, in the next 10ish books of the series, but Book one is clear of that nonsense.

Saranormal #1: Ghost Town was a quick, fun read. I recommend picking it up if ghosts and drama and MG is for you.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (94): Alice in Rapture, Sort of (Alice #2)

BOOK REVIEW:

Alice in Rapture, Sort of

This is the newer cover -- again, very pretty illustration here of Alice and sorta boyfriend, Patrick.

But here's the original 1989 version, and that's the one I borrowed from the library:

WARNING: this will be a short review. Although most of my reviews are short, this one will be definitely short short.

Once again Alice didn't fail to make me laugh.
Alice and I get along now, especially after the dreck (and horror) that was the beginning of the first book in this series by author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

So this 2nd book picks up where the first book left off with Alice graduating sixth grade and moving on from elementary to junior high/middle school. It's the summer before her seventh grade year and Alice has a boyfriend officially! And so do her two best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth. The group of six do everything together: until something happens to drive a wrench between them and get these tweens thinking about what it means to be "grown up".

Alice wants to be with Patrick, but not at the cost of her friends -- it's really a vicious cycle of thought. I think what I really liked about this book is that Alice has matured in a lot of ways. She isn't quick to judge people and there's more depth to her decision making. She actually sounds WAY wiser than I did at 12. That's why the title to this book was so awesome!

The ending is really great, too. You'll understand if you decide to pick this next book up and read for yourself which is way I gave it...

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (93): Noelle's Christmas Crush (Crush #4)

BOOK REVIEW:

Noelle's Christmas Crush

Okay, I read this a couple weeks ago but I'm getting to the review now.
This is the 4th book in the Crush series by Angela Darling. And you can go check out reviews to the first three books here, here, and here.

That out of the way, let's get to the review.
Like most of my Christmas-y reads this year, I read this a bit earlier then the actual season start (and now with American Thanksgiving over, Christmas and New Years' are in full swing).

So this book, Noelle's Christmas Crush is about, well, 12-year-old Noelle and her crush on a classmate, Noel. Hehe. I still giggle when I think or say their names together: Noelle & Noel sitting (under) a (Christmas) tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

This is what I found when I searched up that old playground song. Best picture of this ever (look at their lips!)... Hahaha.

So Noelle likes Noel and she wants to invite him to her birthday party. She's on of those (lucky? unlucky?) people born on (or near) a holiday: Noelle's birthday is on Christmas. She hasn't minded this before, but this year she's 12 and older and she wants an un-Christmas birthday. Basically she wants a separate birthday party and she wants presents that are a combo of her b-day and Christmas.

Anyways, she's in party planning mode and the best way to cap off her party would be if Noel were to accept her invitation. You'll have to read the book to find out if he does.

What I liked about this book was the family element. The other stories had bits and pieces of it, but not to the degree of this book. I think that goes to say it went with the holiday theme, but it was still heartwarming following Noelle interacting with her older brother and her parents and aunts and uncles and Grandmother.

The one thing I thought was cheesy was Noel was born on Christmas Eve. That had me rolling my eyes, but I let it go since it didn't get in the way...too much. The ending was my favourite surprise as Noelle comes to learn something really special about Noel's life.

Again: you gotta pick up Noelle's Christmas Crush to find out what I'm hinting at and join in on the fun and sweetness of this short read.

Other than making me hungry (the mention of holiday treats) I would recommend this book to anyone interested. Upside of picking this one up is that you don't have to read the first three books to enjoy Noelle and Noel's story.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (92): Cassie and the Woolf (Twice Told Tales #2)

BOOK REVIEW:

Cassie and the Woolf

I found this series by accident.
I was looking around in the MG/juvenile section in my local library and I found this title by author Olivia Snowe and illustrator Michelle Lamoreaux. I'm happy for the accident, even if the read wasn't so great.

I'll explain: like most writers/readers, I love reading fairy tales, comparing and debating the themes and subject matter in fairy tales and folklore, so I was perfectly at home with this re-telling of "Little Red Riding Hood" in Snowe + Lamoreaux's Cassie and the Woolf.

So in this version we have 13-y/o Cassie Cloak -- *ahem* real original name, lol and instead of a "red riding hood" she's got her nifty "red raincoat" -- and she's all grown up now to go fetch her grandmother's daily meal and deliver it to her without the company of her mom. On this trip she's caught up in a storm and she's cornered by Caleb Woolf, the antagonist and Cassie's school peer -- although Caleb's two grades older.

Caleb follows her to Granny's and the rest is history, of course, or according to Perrault the corruptness of stupid mothers and older females and naive little girls who let "big bad" men into their homes and lives...and between their legs?

DISCLAIMER: Cassie and the Woolf is PG, if you don't count the psychological eff-ery at the end of the book. Which brings me to the problem with this re-telling: how Cassie (or LRH) was portrayed and her character arc. There should have been some kind of warning that this read like a dark MG (think along the lines of Gaiman's Coraline). There was even a hint of magic that wasn't handled very well, because it felt more like a deus ex machina then a natural growth out of the conflict and plot.

Little Cassie was kinda...witchy. I mean, the ending was SO messed up. Like beyond levels of messed up. I really thought I was being Punk'd until I saw it was, indeed, THE END.

It was just weird. I won't spoil it, so go pick it up, but I warn you be prepared to make that ^^^ face above.

One pro (worth this review's 2 stars) was that the story stayed as true to Grimm version (and Perrault as well) as an MG read could without crossing parental boundaries and pissing people off. Basically the message remains the same, don't invite trouble and stay vigilant as naivety is NOT cute all the time and can lead to real problems (plus the modern caveat of settling scores).

My verdict:

✮✮

(2 stars)

BAKING REVIEW (11): Chocolate Crinkles

BAKING REVIEW:

Chocolate Crinkles

Hello! I can't believe I'm at baking review #11 already. I had a lot of fun in the kitchen, baking these treats and then eating them for the reviews. ^^

But as the year went on I started to get stuck on what I wanted to do, and since I'm limiting my resources to what I have in the kitchen, it's been pretty hard. Finally I settled on something simple enough to do without caving and making a trip to the grocers to buy ingredients.

My November treat was a type of cookie I'd never heard before, chocolate crinkles.
Have you tried it before? Yes? No? Let me know either way.

Now I used a recipe like this one (only with less eggs) for the chocolate crinkles. I don't recall the actual link for the cookies, but they were very similar.

Now here's an example of what the finished product looks like from this blog, Simply Recipes:

Very pretty. You can see why they call it chocolate crinkles.

And here's what mine looked like:

Doesn't look as great (I scrimped on the icing sugar), but apparently it tasted really good (according to my family). I had a contrary opinion. I should preface my review by explaining that I actually find brownies too rich for my taste, although I have no problem with double fudge chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate crinkles felt too dry. I had them with milk and it helped, but I would have appreciated them more if they were moist.

It was really a brownie-cookie rolled in confectioner's sugar.
Personally I'm not raring to try the recipe again, but I figure I might try to redeem myself with these cookies some day.

In the mean time, it was so-so and my 2.5 rating reflects that.
If you ARE a brownie person (like my siblings and parents) try the crinkles for yourself. It just might suit your tastes and give you a new recipe to add to your favs inventory.

My verdict:

❤❤.5

(2.5 hearts)