The Book Cove

Mark Watney is having a really bad day. Due to a chain of accidents the astronaut has been marooned on Mars. Believing he’s dead, his crew left for Earth. He has no way to communicate with either the spaceship or NASA. Not that it matters, because in less than sixty days, he’ll be out of food, water, and air. Yup, a really bad day. Unless he finds a way to survive on a barren planet for four years until the next Mars landing, he will be completely and totally screwed.    What is Right With This Book? When you think back on your list of top ten books, more than likely most, if not all, will have been read before you turned thirty. The books you loved in your formative years stick to you like hot fudge to hips and stay a happy memory for the rest of your life. You revisit them now and then like old friends and leave with a warm and happy feeling. (After thirty, you are no longer formative. Mostly you are sludge that can only think with a regular infusion of caffeine a...

Book Information Genre : contemporary romance Age : New Adult Pages : 337 Version : eBook Series : standalone ( Blurb ): Money ~ power ~ fame  Kelsey Growing up in the arms of one of the wealthiest families in America, I lived a champagne lifestyle and never wanted for anything. That life came with stipulations… 1. Marry the man I don’t love. 2. Make my parents proud. Wrong. I left my Manolos and fancy apartment behind and fled that life to find out who I really was. Someone unexpected bulldozed my life. Riley Jackson He was the man everyone, including me, wanted, but his future was one I wasn’t sure I wanted to thrust myself back into. And when he chose a career over the family business, his family supported him instead of pushing him away.  My past collided with my future. I didn’t see it coming. If I had, I would’ve ran far, far away. Now I’m stuck in the same position I started in two years ago, except this time, it’s not my decision to make. Loyalty to y...

Happy Friday!! I'll make everyone's Friday just a little bit better by starting off with this cute picture of my puppy, Emma: Too much cuteness to handle at once! Now on to the news... Reviews I've finally gotten back into the swing of reviewing and I've slowly been accepting books to review (versus only reading books I've purchased due to time constraints). So more people on the review request list have been hearing from me, however, there are 100's on that list and I cannot (and do not) want to read them all. As  usual, I will try to get as many reviewed by guest reviewers as possible but that too is a little slow going these days. Blog Takeover Our last blog take over winner was Nick Tory. If you did not catch his entries, you should do so now! They're hilarious, spot on, and a little bit crazy! In September we will have our 2nd blog takeover winner, author Emily Walker. And if her posts are anything like her winni...

It's been a while since I (Jessi) have put a review up! I've been pretty busy with work the last few months but every now and then I have managed to read a little before I go to bed. Most recently completed was book #1 of the Shatterproof series by Jordan Burke, Privacy Code. Book Information Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Suspense Age group:  New Adult Pages: 178 Version: eBook (Blurb):  Everyone has secrets. No one has secrets like Watts. Catherine Kolb has found the perfect diversion from her life of nearly complete seclusion: a virtually anonymous correspondence with a man she knows only as “Watts.” Intelligent, mysterious, and with an insatiable appetite for sex, he begins to draw Catherine out of her closely guarded world, tempting her with his words—some dirty, some simply enticing… “You should indulge your curiosities, especially the forbidden ones.” Watts insists on privacy. He has no choice. In the wrong hands, his secrets could get people killed. Inc...

Sometimes fiction collides with fact in the most unusual ways. Beverly Nault talks about her novel, Fresh Start Summer .   This is the story of two towns, one real and one imagined, that came together in an unusual way. Several years ago I began a book series based on a small town filled with folks you’d want to as friends in a setting you’d never want to leave. They would have their share of squabbles, but the quirky and colorful characters would get past their differences to strengthen friendships and their community. Each title would take place during one season, so I pictured a main street with the changing appearance of trees, from the icicled branches in winter to spring’s promise of buds and blooms. I “planted” cherry trees that would blossom in the spring along cobblestoned walks lit with modern gas lamps, inviting park benches, and curiosity shops beckoning a leisurely visit.  This town would need the perfect name, something referring to the cherry tr...

  Life is full of hidden perils. Some you can see coming; smog, rabid dogs, visits by your in-laws. Some you can’t; El Nino, UV radiation, and the Hanta virus. Some you don’t expect at all. Thank goodness for Andrew Shaffer and his handy guide to threats you never even knew existed.   Why bother breaking a sweat over global warming or Thanksgiving with Uncle Dwayne when a greater danger lies in wait from a sharknado? For those not in the know a sharknado is a tornado that forms over the ocean. Its whirling fury sucks up several hundred sharks and then flings them out in a random pattern over the nearest city. Needless to say, this agitates the sharks and causes them to chomp away on people with happy abandon. SyFy Channel movies have been warning us to duck and cover for years, but no. You wouldn’t listen, would you? Now sharks are falling from the skies and you have no idea what to do. Luckily Andrew Shaffer does. He has put all this useful information together in on...

    Before I get into it, I want to give a huge thanks to Jessi and The Book Cove for allowing me to take over the blog this week.  I had a blast.  This is a great website and blog and I feel some remorse for ruining it for seven days.  I was once told to always leave things the way you found them, but I just remembered that a minute ago and now it's too late.     I put on my website's bio page that I live in the mountains and fight bears, but really that's just because I have no interest in writing an actual bio. While I do fight bears, I actually live near Chicago, am a special educator, and have two pre-school aged daughters. (I know every single word to Ariel's Part of Your World.)     My writing is highly influenced by writers liked John Swartzwelder and Richard Stark.  I read a great deal and I try to read a bit of everything.  My all-time favorite books include, in no particular order, The Forever War, The Art of Fielding, ...