Drifting in the Push

A memoir that reads more as fiction than reality, this adventurous trek of one young man will inspire readers to go out there and take a chance on their futures. Adventure is just around the corner if you'll only follow it! Going all the way back to his early childhood years, Dan is the kind of person you just want to be friends with. Always eager to lend a hand, hard working, fun, and a little naive, he's the kind of guy who you'd love to shoot the shit with. Whether it's summer jobs that should have been thought through, horrible living conditions (imagine the worst place you've ever seen, and then double it), partying a little too hard in college, or trying vainly to get the girl, Dan has a story to top yours. When he graduated college with no prospects he decided that something would come to him and he eventually ended up living in Alaska doing odd jobs until he fell into carpentry and finally got steady employ. Always at his side is his lovable sidekick Hank, part husky, part mutt, all around adorable and central to nearly every story. Together they battle bears, drug dealers, hypothermia, and ant-freeze, nothing is insurmountable when they are together. An enjoyable funny read that will definitely leave you wanting to know how the story continues. I'm eagerly awaiting the follow up!

Pop Manga Coloring Book

A fun and funky coloring books that fans of manga will eat up. The coloring book is on the large side so not easily frame-able but you'll want to display these pretty pages when you're done coloring them. It's filled with adorable creatures, big eyed beauties, underwater awesomeness and a little chibi that pops up on some pages and offers coloring advice. It was hard to find a page to start with because they were all begging to be colored! My only beef with this coloring book is that the pages aren't perforated so it's not easy to rip out your masterpieces when you're done. Other than that, it's really beautiful. A bonus is, that even though it's a paperback, it has a removable dust jack that has a large bonus coloring page on the inside of it. Win!

I received this coloring book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Action: A Book About Sex

While I enjoyed this book I found the writing style to be a bit much. Amy Rose Spiegel uses a lot of "millennial" vernacular which isn't awful, but the prose can be very tough to read and long winded. You can open to any page and find a sentence that's just way over written. This book is a look at bedroom etiquette, hooking up, sexual dos and donts, personal stories, getting your freak on, and other sexy shenanigans. I was surprised when I discovered that the author is only 23, she has certainly, seen experienced, and done more than I probably ever will. Certain sections are laugh out loud funny and amusing and other sections dealing with consent and rape are definitely more sobering. This book will appeal to younger free spirited millennials and wasn't awful, but wasn't quite my cup of tea either.

Chocolat

I grew up loving the movie and when I read the book 5 years ago, I was disappointed because I kept comparing it to the movie. I'm glad I waited a few years to re-read it because I LOVED it the second time around! It made much more sense to me and I get why the movie changed several aspects of the story line. There is something so charming about small town living and this book explores that in a big way. Vianne and her daughter Anouk go wherever the wind takes them. They are outsiders, essentially gypsies, unable to stay in any place very long. When they arrive in the small charming French town, Lansquenet, they decide to stay and open a chocolate shop. The resident priest couldn't be more outraged. How dare this woman barge into their town and open a chocolate shop during lent, she will tempt and corrupt the townspeople! Vianne slowly starts to win over some of the towns more open minded residents but it remains a struggle for her to please everyone. The gypsies, the thief, the dog lover, and the crass old woman, have become her friends but some of the Bible brigade and the priest will take time. A wonderful book and fantastic movie. I had no idea that this was a series so I shall have to check out the other books as well!

The Things We Knew

Five siblings, five separate paths, everyone has moved on. Everyone that is except, Lynette. As the youngest she stayed behind in Nantucket to help with the house and their father after their mother's untimely death. As her father slips farther and farther into Alzheimers and the house sinks further in to debt she knows she has to seek help. Her siblings have proven to be no help so she goes to the bank seeking a loan and instead finds her childhood crush. Nick was her older brother's best friend and just when she thought they might mutually like each other he was off to college and she hasn't seen him in 5 years. Nick is convinced that she needs to sell the huge home, but it's so full of memories that she doesn't think she can part with it. Also there is a pesky little thing in her mother's will stipulating that all 5 children have to be present and all agree on whatever happens to the estate. With no other options she resorts to assembling her far flung brothers and sister. Gray, the musician with addiction problems, the happily married dad, the too busy for family lawyer, and the missionary in Africa. With everyone together for the first time since their mother's death memories and truths start to surface. Will Lynette be able to handle it? Is it better to leave the truth buried? Who can she trust? Does Nick really care for her? While definitely classified as inspirational, it's not over the top zealous like some in the genre and will have a wide range of appeal to other audiences. I could have done with Lynette being a stronger character. She didn't want to be treated like the baby of the family but she definitely acted like it on occasion. I preferred some of the other characters a little better.

I received this book for free from Litfuse Publicity in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Bound

A fantastic rendition of the classic Cinderella tale. Years ago I took a class on fairy tales and we explored how many different cultures all across the globe have very similar stories and traditions, one of the most common is Cinderella. Last month we read Cinder which is a futuristic cyborg rendition of the Cinderella trope and this book, Bound, is a twentieth century Chinese retelling. Xing Xing lives in a cave with her stepmother and her stepsister Wei Ping and due to her feet being unbound is forced to do all the servant work. Xing Xing was educated up until her father's death so her stepmother is convinced that no one will ever want to marry an educated unbound, unattractive girl. Filled with great Chinese elements about family, traditions, calligraphy, and fish, this book compelled me from the get go. Donna Jo Napoli is  master at fairy tale re-telling.

Sex Criminals: Volume 1

Easily one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. This oddly erotic, humorous, and ridiculous comic had me hooked from page one. When Suzie was a young hormonal teenager she discovered that she could freeze time anytime she orgasmed. She thought she was alone with that odd power until she met this guy at a party and they hooked up. When they discovered that they were both alone together in the frozen orgasm time they realized that they weren't the only ones. And the next logical step of course is to use their combined powers to rob banks, which leads to sex in a lot of public places. But even that is admirable because Suzie is a librarian and the big bank is foreclosing on her library. They'll just be stealing the exact amount of money to save the library. Well that and having the best sex of their lives. It's over the top fun, I need more!! Suzie may be my new favorite fictional librarian.