Review: Rippler by Cidney Swanson

I think I have finally been drug out of my reading funk by this great book. It was intriguing and fast paced so as to keep me reading from start to finish. I had a lot of "false starts" over the last month. I would read a few chapters, put it down to do something else and then never really have the drive to get back to it. Rippler, on the other hand, kept me reading almost "cover to cover". I read the first 78% of it (I was reading on my Kindle so I only know the percentage not the page) in a single sitting - only stopping because it was after midnight and I knew I needed to get up the next morning!

Book Description: Samantha Ruiz has a freak gene that makes her turn invisible, or ripple. She can’t control it, and it’s getting worse. Afraid of becoming a lab-rat, Sam keeps her ability secret, until fellow runner Will Baker sees her vanish into thin air. Will promises secrecy and help, and Sam begins to fall in love. Together, the two discover there are worse things than being a scientific curiosity. Someone’s been killing people who possess Sam's gene. A mysterious man from France sends letters that offer hope for safety, but also reveal a sinister connection with Nazi experiments. The more time Sam spends with Will, the less she can imagine life without him. When Sam uncovers secrets from her past, she must choose between keeping Will in her life or keeping Will safe.

About the Author: Cidney Swanson is the author of The Ripple Series. She began writing at age seven; her first novel began with “Ouch,” and her characters have been suffering ever since. Cidney lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband, three kids, two cats, one dog, and entirely too much rain.
Connect With Cidney on Facebook

Read a Sample of Rippler

Buy the Book: Rippler: Book One in the Ripple Series (Volume 1)

Here's What I Think: Most of you know that I am a bit of a book nerd. I love to read books - especially books in a series. I am part of a book club full of moms - mostly - that just love to read in their spare time. Rippler is the book that was chosen for my October book club and so of course I was willing to give it a shot. I mean isn't that the whole point of a book club - to try titles you wouldn't normally pick up on your own?
Well Rippler was one of those wonderful surprises. It is an incredibly well thought out and complete novel. It has action, fun, romance, mystery, and a twist of science-fiction. Sam and Will make this wonderfully well-rounded companionship - that goes so much deeper than just a partnership. The whole idea behind the book - it's hard not to spoil it by giving much detail - is intriguing because while it's hugely impossible - being able to be invisible - it has an element of plausibility - the idea that our genes can be tweeked and changed by singular interventions in our conception. I love love love stories like this. They use some of the simplest most basic concepts that we know about our lives and change them just enough to make us think "What If?"

I had the amazing honor of actually meeting the author of this book and getting to find out more about how the book was written. As a reader, I have always had this idea of how a book was written - and I now know that I was incredibly wrong! The way that a story evolves and grows can be vastly different from the first idea. I was so happy to be able to tell the author that she is a very talented character creator. The characters in this book are so clearly defined without be specifically labeled and categorized. I am planning to start the next book in this series - Chameleon - tomorrow so that I can be sure to have it read before the third in the series is released at the end of the year.

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated to publish this post. These are my real and true thoughts.

Book Club Review: Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin

If you are not sure how our book club works please check out the guidelines here: Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club.

Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl---until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé.
Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness. Something Borrowed is a phenomenal debut novel that will have you laughing, crying, and calling your best friend.


Here's What I think: Classic Chick Lit with a little something extra! It has all the components of chick lit without being totally predictable and mushy. I really enjoyed the voice in which this story is told. Rachel tells you what is happening, in real terms, as it happens. She is a real person that usually makes the right choice and is shocked when she realizes what she has put herself in the middle of. The story itself is a little bit shocking - I mean stealing your BFFs fiance is sort of out there, but the story is so well written you want the best for her. It is all about perspectives and circumstances. I am looking forward to reading more in this series.

If you have read and reviewed this title, or any of the titles in this series, please link them up here:

Jan. 2011 Book Club Selection: Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin.

The votes are in and the selected book for January 2011 is Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin! So if you have read and reviewed this book on your own blog, please link directly to your post in the linky below. If you plan to read it this month, please come back after you have posted your own review on your blog and link it up. Remember, just do a review post as you normally would and then link up directly. Then go over to some of the others and see what they had to say about the book!

If you are not sure how our book club works please check out the guidelines here: Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club.

Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl---until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé.
Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness. Something Borrowed is a phenomenal debut novel that will have you laughing, crying, and calling your best friend.

Pleas Vote for Januaray 2011 Book Club Selection

2011 is upon us! Here is a list of choices for Book Club to start off 2011 with a great book! Please vote in the widget at the top right of the sidebar!
If you are not sure how our book club works please check out the guidelines here: Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club.


Here are the choices for this month:

Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be, So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1 - she's five-foot-eleven inches of rock-solid girl power and #2 - she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over--although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.
Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys....

The Passage by Justin Cronin First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl---until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé.


Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness. Something Borrowed is a phenomenal debut novel that will have you laughing, crying, and calling your best friend.

PLEASE VOTE USING THE POLL LOCATED IN THE TOP RIGHT SIDEBAR!!

Voting will take place between now and December 31st. On January 1st I will announce the book selection and post the linky for you to begin linking up your reviews of the selected title.

Review: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown - November Book Club

 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Book Description: When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy... the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair... a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.
An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war...

About the Author: Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling novels of all time. Named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine, he has appeared in the pages of Newsweek, Forbes, People, GQ, The New Yorker , and others. His novels are published in 51 languages around the world.

Here's What I think: Well I understand what the fuss is all about. Dan Brown is an incredibly talented author. He creates a completely realistic world in which unthinkable things really are happening. He is very skilled at creating that feeling of total suspense. He carefully crafts each character without making you feel like you are reading each person's biography, but rather that you are getting to know them, as anyone else would, in the space of time that you first meet and do something together. However, if you have seen the movie prior to reading the book - like me - it might be difficult to read. I am one of those people that can only watch a suspenseful movie once, and can only read a book once and if someone spoils it and tells me what happens, I will have trouble reading a book or watching a movie. (This is also way I do not recap what happened in the book in my reviews and if I am going to mention any sort of spoiler I try t warn people as much as possible) This is because, for me, the thrill of a mystery is trying to solve it before the ending. That being said, I struggled to finish this book because, even though there are some variations, it follows essentially the same chain of events, with a ultimately the same outcome. I have also come to the conclusion that I can only read a book prior to watching a movie and not the other way around. I would definitely want to read the next in the series if I hadn't already seen the movie, so I may just skip ahead to the third installment - The Lost Symbol.

This book was the November 2010 Book Club Selection. If you have reviewed this title before, please link up your review here. If you have read and reviewed any of the books in this series by Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code or The Lost Symbol) please feel free to link them up as well.

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated to publish this post. I had it on my bookshelf.

If you are an author and/or publishing house and would like for me to publish a review of your book, please feel free to contact me at: polsen11atcomcastdotnet

December 2010 Book Club Selection - Sort of

The end of the year is quickly approaching. I wanted to do something slightly different this month. Since I know that everyone is very busy around the holiday season and finding time to read books is few and far between, I wanted to make book club a little easier for everyone! So for the month of December - I would like for everyone to link up the post of your Favorite Book Review on your own site for 2010. All I ask is that you go to that review and add the Book Club logo (just right click and save as picture) to the bottom of the review post. If you are linking up a review that was also once a giveaway, please put in big bold letters if the giveaway has ended - and please do not just link up your current giveaway (I have a linky for that every Thursday!)

I am actually very excited about see what everyone thought was their very favorite book review of the year!!

We will resume voting for and reading a book as a club in January 2011 (seriously had to think to type that!). And if you have some suggestions for a book you would like included in the voting, please list it here!

November Book Club Selection

If you are not sure how our book club works please check out the guidelines here: Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club.

Thank you so much for all of the votes for the November book club!! The votes have been tallied and this months book club selection is:

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown  When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy... the Catholic Church.
Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair... a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.
An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war...

So please read the selection, put up a review as you normally would on your own blog, include the Busy Moms Book Club Badge somewhere in your review post, and then come back over here to link it up with the rest of us. Then if you have time, head over to other people's reviews and see what they thought. If you reviewed this title in the past, feel free to link it up now.

Please Vote for the November 2010 Book Club Selection

Can you believe that it is already almost NOVEMBER??? Which mean it is time to start voting for the November Book Club Selection.
If you are not sure how our book club works please check out the guidelines here: Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club.

Here are the choices for this month:

Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be, So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1 - she's five-foot-eleven inches of rock-solid girl power and #2 - she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over--although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.
Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys....

Marked (House of Night Series, Book 1) By P.C. and Kristin Cast After she is Marked, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny— with a little help from her new vampyre friends.



Heart of the Dragon (Athlantis, Book 1) by Gena Showalter Grace Carlyle's world was about to change... Deep in the jungle on the trail of her missing brother, Grace never expected to find a secret world populated by mythological monsters -- nor guarded by a sword-wielding being whose beauty put mortal men to shame.
Darius en Kragin belongs to a race of shape-shifting warriors sworn to guard Atlantis and kill all travelers who stray within its boundaries. Yet when Grace stumbles into his realm, he finds himself tempted to betray his centuries-old vow.
Now their forbidden love will either bring their worlds together -- or tear them both apart.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown  When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy... the Catholic Church.
Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair... a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.
An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war...

PLEASE VOTE USING THE POLL LOCATED IN THE TOP RIGHT SIDEBAR!!

Voting will take place between now and October 31st. On November 1st I will announce the book selection and post the linky for you to begin linking up your reviews of the selected title.

The Votes Are In and the October Book Club Selection is...

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for this Month's Book Club Selection. The results of the poll are:

DarkFever (Fever Series, Book 1) by Karen Marie Moning  MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands….

Now, go on and read the book! Then go onto your blog, write up your review - how ever you normally would on your own blog - and link back to your review (direct links only please) on the linky below. If you have already reviewed this book feel free to add your "old" review as well. If you do not have a blog to post your review on, please feel free to leave your review in the comments below. Make sure to stop by some of the other reviewers' posts to see what they thought! And if you could please just add that Busy Moms Who Love to Read Book Club Logo to your review I would be very grateful.
<a href="http://busymomswholovetoread.blogspot.com/search/label/Busy%20Moms%20Book%20Club"><img src="http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd153/polsen11/Blog%20Stuff/BusyMomsBookClub-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

So let's see your review:

Review: Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark - Book Club

Where Are You Now? A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark

Book Description: From America's Queen of Suspense comes a gripping tale of a young woman trying to unravel the mystery of a family tragedy -- a quest with terrifying repercussions.

It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11 does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls.

Mack's sister, Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother's Day call, Carolyn interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie, receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: "Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me."

Mack's cryptic warning does nothing to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn's honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia.
Carolyn's pursuit of the truth about Mack's disappearance swiftly plunges her into a world of unexpected danger and unanswered questions. What is the secret that Gus and Lil Kramer, the superintendents of the building in which Mack was living, have to hide? What do Mack's old roommates, the charismatic club owner Nick DeMarco and the cold and wealthy real estate tycoon Bruce Galbraith, know about Mack's disappearance? Is Nick connected to the disappearance of Leesey Andrews, who had last been seen in his trendy club? Can the police possibly believe that Mack is not only alive, but a serial killer, a shadowy predator of young women? Was Mack also guilty of the brutal murder of his drama teacher and the theft of his taped sessions with her?
Carolyn's passionate search for the truth about her brother -- and for her brother himself -- leads her into a deadly confrontation with someone close to her whose secret he cannot allow her to reveal.

About the Author: Mary Higgins Clark's fame as a writer was achieved against heavy odds. Born and raised in the Bronx, her father died when she was eleven and her mother struggled to raise her and her two brothers. On graduating from high school, she went to secretarial school, so she could get a job and help with the family finances. After three years of working in an advertising agency, travel fever seized her. For the year 1949, she was a stewardess on Pan American Airlines' international flights. "My run was Europe, Africa and Asia," she recalls. "I was in a revolution in Syria and on the last flight into Czechoslovakia before the Iron Curtain went down. After flying for a year, she married a neighbor, Warren Clark, nine years her senior, whom she had known since she was 16. Soon after her marriage, she started writing short stories, finally selling her first to Extension Magazine in 1956 for $100.

Left a young widow by the death of her husband from a heart attack in 1964, Mary Higgins Clark went to work writing radio scripts and, in addition, decided to try her hand at writing books. Every morning, she got up at 5 AM and wrote until 7 AM, when she had to get her five children ready for school. Her very first book was a biographical novel about George Washington, inspired by a radio series she was writing, "Portrait of a Patriot." Originally published in 1969 by Meredith Press with the title Aspire to the Heavens, it was discovered years later by a Washington family member and re-issued in 2002 with the title, Mount Vernon Love Story.

Here's What I Think: This was my first experience with Mary Higgins Clark and I fully understand why the call her the "Queen of Suspense"! I literally did not know who it was until the last few pages of the book. I had figured out bits and pieces but not even remotely how the puzzle went together. I love the types of stories that make you pay attention, because even the slightest bit of information will solve the case. There were so many separate story-lines going on at the same time, without it seeming chaotic. At some point in the story I honestly thought it was just about every male in the book who was guilty, except for the one that actually did it!! Carolyn was written so beautifully, you want her to figure it out before it's too late. And I loved that she wasn't some love-sick puppy when it came to Nick. She was smart and strong and held it together. The twists and turns of this book are amazing. I will say that the epilogue does take the story to a bit to sugar-coated place, but it was a good way to wrap things up. The entire concept of the story is totally plausible making it all that more engaging. I am so happy that this book got selected for the September book club. And I will be sure to read more from Mary Higgins Clark - in fact I already ordered a three novel set from PBS!

Don't forget to link up your review of Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark on the Busy Moms Book Club Linky!





Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated to publish this post. I purchased this book myself.

Busy Moms Book Club - September 2010

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for this Month's Book Club Selection. The results of the poll are:

WHERE ARE YOU NOW? A NOVEL BY MARY HIGGINS CLARK
Now, go on and read the book! Then go onto your blog, write up your review - how ever you normally would on your own blog - and link back to your review (direct links only please) on the linky below. If you have already reviewed this book feel free to add your "old" review as well. If you do not have a blog to post your review on, please feel free to leave your review in the comments below. Make sure to stop by some of the other reviewers' posts to see what they thought! And if you could please just add that Busy Moms Who Love to Read Book Club Logo to your review I would be very grateful.
<a href="http://busymomswholovetoread.blogspot.com/search/label/Busy%20Moms%20Book%20Club"><img src="http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd153/polsen11/Blog%20Stuff/BusyMomsBookClub-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>

So let's see your review:

Busy Moms Book Club - Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian Review Link-Up

Please link up your reviews of Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian
If you are new to my site, and don't know about the Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club - click here to learn more!

Transsister Radio by Chris Bohjalian



Set in the village of Bartlett, Vermont, Trans-Sister Radio tells the story of four people who are drawn into a complicated tangle of relationships—relationships that will profoundly change each of them. When Allison, grade-school teacher and divorced mother of a teenage daughter, meets Dana, she feels she's at the beginning of an intense, ideal romance. But Dana reveals that he's always felt himself to be a woman and plans to have the surgery that will make that feeling a reality, and soon Allison's love for Dana and her perception of herself is severely tested. She grapples with the fact that she might not be able to love Dana in a woman's body. She worries whether her teaching career will survive the scandal that living with a transsexual in a small New England town is sure to cause. She wonders what effect the situation will have on her relationship with her daughter, Carly, and how her ex-husband, Will, is going to view the situation.
Allison stands by Dana through the surgery and recovery period, enduring the opprobrium of the local community and a growing unease about her own sexual identity. Threatening notes left in her school mailbox, obscene graffiti scrawled on her front door, pressure from the school board to take a leave of absence, and a local petition about teacher morality all contribute to making Allison and Dana's relationship both a public issue and a private ordeal. Even Will and Carly become increasingly involved in Allison and Dana's predicament, and when they decide to air a program on transsexualism for Vermont Public Radio, they bring both clarity to the issue and a new set of changes for everyone involved.


Written with empathy and extraordinary insight, Trans-Sister Radio explores the uncertain terrain of gender identity, sexual preference, and the entire range of pleasures, confusions, and sacrifices that love demands.

Here's What I think: For me this book with a little to technical. Which I think is a direct result of the format - A National Public Radio Interview. Since my grandfather listened to these a lot when I was a child, it wasn't a totally new concept to me, but it still doesn't exactly fall into "novel" story. The character development is extensive, almost too much so. The concept of a woman who falls in love with a man who surgically becomes a woman was very interesting and well represented. I think the book was just too far outside my norm for me to really get absorbed.

If you are participating please feel free to include the Busy Moms Book Club Logo in your review as well as add the linky. Please link up your own reviews of Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian in the Linky Below:



Don't forget to vote for the September Book Club Selection in the poll located at the top of the Sidebar.

Total ReVamp of the BMWL2R Book Club

So in the last few month the Busy Moms Who Love to Read Book Club has not had much participation. Instead of scrapping the idea all together I am going to try to "revamp" the concept. It seems that it might be too much to ask people to answer a bunch of question - like taking a test or something. So here is my idea, instead of answering specific discussion questions, you simply do a review of the month's book selection, as you normally would, but you link it here on the linky. You can link your review at any point in the month (this means that even if you have previously read the selected book, you could link in your own review). Then go to some of the other reviews and leave some comments. So I think we can try this version of the book club for a few months and see how things go. To kick things off, let's first Vote for the Book Club Selection. Here are the choices:

Where Are You Now? A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark - From America's Queen of Suspense comes a gripping tale of a young woman trying to unravel the mystery of a family tragedy -- a quest with terrifying repercussions.

It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11 does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls.
Mack's sister, Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother's Day call, Carolyn interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie, receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: "Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me."
Mack's cryptic warning does nothing to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn's honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia.

Interview with The Vampire by Anne Rice - This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.

Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins - Jackie Collins returns with her 25th fabulous novel and her most beloved character…

Get ready for the scandalously scintillating read only Jackie Collins can deliver! Lucky Santangelo is back with a vengeance–still every bit as strong, sexy, and seductive as ever! But Lucky is older and wiser, and hot to reclaim her power position in Las Vegas. However, a deadly enemy from her past has resurfaced–a person determined to take everything from her, including the family she holds so dear: two sons and an out-of-control teenage daughter who is just as outrageous as Lucky herself. Like mother, like daughter.
And if that old saying holds true, it’s going to be one wild ride. Internationally bestselling author Jackie Collins marks her twenty-fifth novel with “another page-turning tale packed with intrigue, revenge and romance.”

How Sweet It Is by Alice J Wisler - Deena Livingston leaves behind a broken romance and her chef job in Atlanta to spend time at her grandfather's cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. But her grandfather has an odd request: he wants Deena to teach cooking classes to the ragtag group of middle-schoolers who attend the local afterschool program, The Center. Reluctantly, Deena agrees, but how is she supposed to convince these kids that cooking at home is better than eating at McDonalds? And after all she went through in Atlanta, why is she attracted to Zack, the social worker at The Center? Can a Dr. Seuss-quoting plumber, a curly-haired basketball player, and a group of middle-schoolers change Deena's outlook on life?

PLEASE VOTE USING THE POLL LOCATED IN THE TOP RIGHT SIDEBAR!!

Voting will take place between now and August 31st. On September 1st I will announce the book selection and post the linky for you to begin linking up your reviews of the selected title.