Book Review: You Couldn’t Make It Up!

Katie June 5, 2015 0 Comments

You Couldn’t Make It Up is the autobiography & memoir of Mike Freedman – it talks about his life and travels, among other things – but isn’t in chronological order (other than his early years – which ARE in order, it doesn’t really matter.)  The chapters are made up of several shorter stories, which I liked because I found things easier to read with it all broken up like that.  Some of his travel stories included being detained in Canada for “taking a job from canadians” and searched in Canada for staying only for dinner – only for them to not find anything other than what he said in his luggage.  A lot of the stories, after reading them, you think – “You couldn’t make this up!” hence the name of the book.  Oh and did I mention he even got bitten by a tarantula once? *shudders*

Mike has held a lot of different and interesting jobs, and has a lot of stories about it all. As the write up says – it is an amusing and fast read – it is written like Mike is telling you the stories more conversational than anything else – which I find helps me to get through books faster.

Definitely an interesting read worth taking the time out to check out!

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

About the Book

Believing life is not a rehearsal, and with the world at his feet, Mike took it full on!

How many people can say they’ve survived a tarantula bite, been deported from Iran, explored the wilderness in Antarctica, and served on a Foreign Office Commission? Mike Freedman can.

You Couldn’t Make It Up! is his memoir, spanning 70 years, that details his extraordinary experiences. Having been on a plane halfway across the Atlantic during 9/11, as well as exploring the Malaysian jungle and Namibian desert and running marathons, Mike tells of how he is lucky to have had such an array of exciting and scary experiences. Despite having been expelled from school, Mike has received degrees from University College London, Oxford, University of the Arts, London, and Saskatchewan in Canada. His life is littered with unusual events and unbelievable escapes that show just how you can make your own luck.

An amusing and fast read, written in a chatty and friendly style, You Couldn’t Make It Up! will appeal to anyone of an adventurous nature, while serving as an inspiration to the younger generation and providing a reminder to the older of a golden time. In addition to Mike’s many adventures, You Couldn’t Make It Up! also details his moral and political values, adding a serious facet to the book.

“I wanted to leave my story as a legacy to my children and grandchildren,” says Mike, who classes himself as a wilderness adventurer as well as being a husband, father and grandfather. He had a successful international business career and parallel political one. Mike is now an artist.

Book Review: If You’re Not The One

Katie June 5, 2015 0 Comments

If You’re Not The One is about Jen Wright.  The book jumps around a lot from different time periods, but the main idea is that Jen was in an accident and is now in a coma.  While in the coma, she thinks about what led up to the accident and her life with her husband.  She is having all sorts of what if questions, wondering about what would have happened if she ended up marrying some of her earlier boyfriends so we find out about Aiden, Tim, Steve and Joe as well as Max.  The book bounces from her fantasy life with these other men and how it would have turned out, what children she would have had, etc. And present day where Max is by her side hoping she will soon wake up.

I have to say, I really was not a fan of this book. I didn’t like the jumping around, it made it confusing and difficult to follow at times.  And the ending was LAME! I may even say it didn’t really have an ending.  I wasted all this time reading the book just to be left hanging.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review.

About the Book

What if you could do it all over again?

Jennifer Wright is pretty sure her husband doesn’t love her anymore. She and Max used to be the perfect couple, but the pressures of work and kids have pulled them in opposite directions. Now , Jen is full of “what if” questions about whether her bland, suburban existence is all she was ever destined for.

When a terrible accident sends Jen into a coma, she is able to see what her life could have been if she had run off to Australia with the handsome, dangerous man she met on vacation, or if she had stayed with her workaholic college boyfriend. Would she ever have loved another child as much as she loves her daughters? Could she have become rich? More than anything, Jen wants to do the right thing for her family. But what she discovers may leave her with even more questions about the choices she made, and no easy answers about what to do next.

Book Review: Heart of the Game

Katie June 5, 2015 0 Comments

Heart of the Game is a baseball romance novel, but it is unique because it is a romance between two women which really is not typical of books where baseball is involved.  Sarah Duke has just become a full-time sports reporter for the biggest website in the major leagues. She loves her job and she loves baseball and she loves that she is one of the only few women who have such a job.  Then one day she meets a young boy who is as into the game as she is.  She talks to him about the game but when she offers to take him to the bullpen his Mom is not happy that she was going to take off with him without asking permission.  Sarah, or Duke as she is called throughout the book, apologizes profusely and ends up forging a friendship with this boy, Joe, his little brother Charlie and his mom, Molly.  She wants to be friends with the boys and talk baseball with Joe and keep him in love with the game, so she offers to babysit while Molly goes on a date with a woman named Lauren that had been pursuing her.  Once things go south there, Molly and Duke end up having a bit of a thing – but it’s hard for Duke to balance her love of baseball and her love of the job with Molly, the boys and their schedules.

I enjoyed this book, but I really didn’t like the character of Molly.  She liked you to think that she was in control, but when she lost control then it was everyone’s fault but her own.  I also felt like a lot of the time she couldn’t make up her mind as to what she wanted (especially when it came to Duke) and she would agree to things in the moment and then as soon as things went south it was all Duke’s fault and they shouldn’t be together, blah blah blah.

I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

About the Book

Sometimes baseball is just a metaphor for life, and sometimes it works the other way around.
All Sarah Duke ever cared about was baseball, and she’s finally earned her shot as a full-time sports writer. She loves the work, she loves being one of the few women to ever gain access to a man’s world, but most of all, she loves the game. When Duke meets Molly Grettano and her two sons at the ballpark, she instantly connects with the young family, but Molly isn’t sure Duke’s ready for something more. Molly wants someone softer, more feminine, and more importantly, someone steady. She and her boys have been abandoned before, and she’s vowed to never to put them in that position again. If she were ever to trust anyone, it would have to be someone fully dedicated to her and her children. Duke has a lot of heart, but neither woman is sure there’s enough room left in it for anything other than baseball.

Book Review: Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff)

Katie June 5, 2015 0 Comments

Tom Gates is back in Book #2. I haven’t read Book #1 but that’s ok.  Tom Gates is in Middle School and this is his diary.  I found that he puts a LOT of effort into the book, drawing letters bigger than others, drawing pictures and doodling – but comes up with all sorts of excuses when it comes to homework.  If he put half as much effort into his homework as he does his book – well, I guess there’d be no reason to have a book then, would there?  Tom is in a band called DOGZOMBIES and they are getting ready to have their first gig, after they find a drummer, of course.  Then one day Tom realizes he has a toothache but tries to hide the fact that it kept him up all night by blaming the scary movie he watched instead because he didn’t want to have to give up sweets.  Tom also can’t stand his sister Delia and the band’s one song is “Delia is a Weirdo”

This was a fun read, mostly due to the way that Tom wrote the book with all the drawings and doodles.  A great Children’s read.

I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

About the Book

Middle-school comedian, homework dodger, rock-star wannabe, master doodler—Tom Gates is back with two more episodes full of visual humor and kid appeal.

No school for two whole weeks! Now Tom has plenty of time for the good stuff, like finding new ways (so many!) to annoy his big sister, Delia. Or watching TV and eating caramel candy. Or most important, band practice for DOGZOMBIES in his best friend Derek’s garage (while not encouraging Derek’s ’60s-music-crazed dad). All that stands between this band and rock greatness is, well, a song (besides “Delia’s a Weirdo”). And finding a drummer. And landing a gig. Will Tom let a killer toothache and pesky overdue homework get in his way?