2012 A Year In Retrospect

2012 brought a year of changes for me. While my children were growing up, I only ever worked part time usually leaving a lot of time to devour the books I love so much. Once my son graduated and went into the Navy and my daughter was finishing up middle school and started high school, I went back to work full time. Cutting my reading time way back. As a result my blog doesn't get updated as much as I would like and I don't get to read near the amount of books I would like to read.

Fast forward to July. I made the crazy decision to go back to school. So come September I started school by taking one class while waiting for financial aid to come in. Next week I start my first full term at school. Not only will I be working full time, I will now be going to school full time as well. Quite the load I have taken on. Some days I think I'm nuts for taking on such a load.

So what does this mean. Simply put my reading for enjoyment is going to lessen a bit more and my posts will be slower than before. I'm not shutting down my blog. I'm not ready to close that chapter of my life. Too much hard work and sweat put in here to put it away just yet.

I'll be around just not as much as past years.

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season and I hope for a wonderful year to come.

Happy New Years All!!

Nobody Had To Know - Blog Tour

Nobody Has To Know - Frank Nappi (Blog Tour)

Summary:

Nobody Has To Know, Frank Nappi's dark and daring new thriller, tells the story of Cameron Baldridge, a popular high school teacher whose relationship with one of his students leads him down an unfortunate and self-destructive path. Stalked through text-messages, Baldridge fights for his life against a terrifying extortion plot and the forces that threaten to expose him. 

Nobody Has To Know is a sobering look into a world of secrets, lies, and shocking revelations, and will leave the reader wondering many things, including whether or not you can ever really know the person you love.

My Thoughts:

This book pulled me in quickly and the story line kept my interest. The book moved quickly and was easy to follow with. If I had any real complaints it would be Cameron, I just despise him. It made it hard to read at some points and I would have to put the book down. I always came back though. I just had to know how it ended. All in all not a bad read.

Frank Nappi's Bio: 

Frank Nappi has taught high school English and Creative Writing for over twenty years. His debut novel, Echoes From The Infantry, received national attention, including MWSA's silver medal for outstanding fiction. His follow-up novel,The Legend of Mickey Tussler, garnered rave reviews as well, including a movie adaptation of the touching story "A Mile in His Shoes" starring Dean Cain and Luke Schroder. Frank continues to produce quality work, includingSophomore Campaign, the intriguing sequel to the much heralded original story, and is presently at work on a third installment of the unique series. Frank lives on Long Island with his wife Julia and their two sons, Nicholas and Anthony.

Relevant Links:

Frank Nappi's Web Site:
http://www.franknappi.com/

Frank Nappi's Blog:
http://www.franknappi.com/blog.html
Frank Nappi's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/authorfranknappi
Frank Nappi's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/FrankNappi
Frank Nappi's Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/fnap33
Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186
Nobody Has to Know blog tour site:
http://nobodyhastoknowblogtour.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone's day is filled with lots of love and joy!!

Just One Day - A Review

Just One Day - Gayle Forman (publisher)

Synopsis:
A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

My Thoughts:

A wonderful journey of far away lands, love, friendships, and most importantly, self discovery. 

On her trip to Europe Allyson meets and does the one thing she never does. She lets loose. She throws caution to the wind and travels to Paris with a guy she met for only moments the night before. Williem is a free spirit who seems to just roam though life. I think it's an interesting but lonely way to live. During the course of the day and night Allyson falls in love with Williem. By morning, he was gone..

What we get next is a year of watching Allyson mourn hide and with the help of some friends she very slowly makes at college. We get to watch Allyson discover who she really is. 

I enjoyed this book. The characters were vivid and interesting. Allyson drove me a bit crazy at times but I think that's because of her youth and immaturity. Considering that, watching her grow as a person was interesting. I think Dee was my favorite character. He is the guy she picked in her Shakespeare class to partner with.  He is flamboyantly wonderful and I would love to have a friend like him. I like Williem too even if we only met for a short while. I look forward to reading his story next year. 

If you're a fan of Gayle Forman, you won't be disappointed. If you've never read one of her books, you should.

Author's Website: Gayle Forman

What Are You Reading

It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the week:

Notorious Nineteen - Janet Evanovich

Books I am reading this week:

Just One Day - Gayle Forman

Books to Finish This week:

Just One Day - Gayle Forman

What Are You Reading

It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the week:

None. Almost finished Notorious Nineteen. Just haven't had time to just sit and finish it up.

Books I am reading this week:

Notorious Nineteen - Janet Evanovich

Just One Day - Gayle Forman

Books to Finish This week:

Notorious Nineteen - Jane Evanovich

What Are You Reading

It's Monday. What are you reading this week? Hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. This is a meme to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books I finished in the week:

Annie on My Mind - Nancy Gardner
Pages for You - Sylvia Brownrigg
Italian for Beginners - Kristin Harmel

Books I am reading this week:

Notorious Nineteen - Janet Evanovich

Books to Finish This week:

Notorious Nineteen - Jane Evanovich

Been missing from the blog for past couple of weeks. Work has just gotten insane and by the time I get home from work, I'm off to the gym and then I get to sit for a couple hours and try to unwind before I rinse and repeat. Not a whole lot of time to read or blog currently. I hope work will slow down in a few weeks and I can be back around more.