April 2012

Book Review: Hollywood in Heels

Katie April 23, 2012 0Comment

Hollywood in Heels is an autobiography of sorts by Charity Gaye Finnestad.  I have to say, I absolutely loved Charity’s writing style and it made me want to keep reading to find out what she had going on in her life next.  The book starts with her backstage modeling lingerie for a party hosted by Puff Daddy. (Or PDiddy? Whatever.)  Then we flash back to her being a kid to find out just how it was she ended up in Tinsel Town.

All of the names of people in the book are changed – and she doesn’t just change them to another name starting with the same letter, she gives them all nicknames. “Stunt Girl”, “The German”, “Duck”, etc.  It is fun reading about all her experiences – be it with relationships with friends, guys or at modeling or extras.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to the younger crowd, while I do enjoy reading YA books this is definitely not one of them.  But I would recommend it to anyone else 🙂  The stories are great – and you just can’t make this stuff up!

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley.

About the Book

Hollywood in Heels is the true story of a working model struggling to make it as a writer AND find meaningful relationships in a city where sex is the primary commodity and illusion the name of the game.

Sexy, smart, shockingly honest and wickedly hilarious, this memoir chronicles the life of Charity Gaye Finnestad, a small town girl from Oregon on a quest to make it in Tinsel Town.

From sipping on five-hundred dollar bottles of champagne in celeb-filled mansions in the hills to cruising the aisles of the 99 Cents Only Store to stock her fridge, Charity’s adventures are like nothing any dreamer could’ve imagined. While the landscape may differ from where many call home everyone will relate to the dating highs, hopes and heartbreaks she encounters along the way. Join Charity on her journey to catch her writing dreams and find the true love of her life to fly beside her.

Coming from 36 Inch Publishing, Hollywood in Heels will be available for purchase April  3, 2012 at Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon’s Kindle Store, and Barnes and Noble’s Nook books.

Book Review: The Tallest Watchtower

Katie April 22, 2012 0Comment

I have to say, the description of this book was a bit deceiving. It mentions “these very impressive short stories”, which led me to believe there would be a handful of stories included in the book.  Imagine my surprise when I downloaded the book and found that the book was in total, 12 pages, with only 2 stories included.  I guess I also was assuming that “collection” means more than 2 items. Lesson learned.

It is very hard to write a review of such short stories and not give anything away!  The first story is called Lucy and is about a couple who choose to adopt a child.  Things don’t go exactly as they planned.  The second story is called The Tallest Watchtower and is about September 11th and the aftermath.  I have to say that I enjoyed the first story much more than the second.  In fact, I did not like the second story at all.

Overall, I also did not like the writing style of the author (Omid Baghizadeh), while I enjoyed the concepts of the stories and how they made you think, I just thought they could have been written a little bit differently.  The conversations in the story didn’t seem to make sense or flow.

Book Description

The human heart is taken over by these very impressive short stories. The Tallest Watchtower is a wakeup call for our sleeping sense of empathy and charity and a reminder not to forget those who are not among us but between us and our God. Their memory is always respected. Containing stories of first loves, new loves, and the horrific events of September 11, 2011, this collection is sure to bring a reaction.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fearless: The story of Adam Brown

Katie April 21, 2012 0Comment

When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was ready.

In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.”

Fearless is the story of Adam Brown, a man of extremes, whose courage and determination was fueled by faith, family, and the love of a woman. It’s about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses and persevered to reach the top tier of the US military. Always the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments, Adam’s final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice.

Book Review: A Natural Woman

Katie April 21, 2012 0Comment

Lately, I’ve read quite a few books that have featured Carole King as one of the players but none of these have been written by Carole herself.  A Natural Woman is Carole’s Memoir.  She mentions in the beginning that putting the book together was like choosing songs for an album.  All her stories won’t make it in to the book, only the ones she felt she needed to include would be.

The book, while great, is long.  It does have to cover 7 decades, afterall.  It is just over 400 pages and is split up into 4 parts. It focuses on her family growing up, her relationships, her children, and of course her career.  It was nice to hear everything from the horses mouth, so to speak, and not from second hand reports in some of the other books. (Though she did mention that she interviewed some of her friends and family to make sure that she got things accurate!)  There is one story about how she fell off the stage in Dublin while performing with Bob Dylan.  She said that the reporters were sharing stories like they were playing a game of telephone and the situation was reported with all sorts of crazy reasons why she fell off the stage before anyone actually got a statement from her with what actually happened.  (Her stay at the hospital only ended up costing her about $24 thanks to Ireland’s healtcare system!)

Carole is a phenomenal talent and a great writer too! (Of course.) I thoroughly enjoyed this book!  If you are a fan of Carole’s work, I definitely recommend  that you check out this book. Her life is absolutely fascinating and a bit of a rollercoaster at times as well.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review.

About the Book

Book Review: Day of Infamy

Katie April 19, 2012 0Comment

I’ve never really been a fan of History, it was never one of my strong subject in school. But when I saw “Day of Infamy” by Walter Lord available on NetGalley I decided to check it out.  I’ve seen the blockbuster movie about Pearl Harbor many, many times (3 of which were at the theater which is rare for me – I barely go to the movies at all let alone 3 times to see the same movie, but I do love Ben Affleck) but never really read up on the attack before, aside from whatever may have been in a text book.

Day of Infamy explained the day really well.  It also explained everything in such a way that it didn’t occur to me I was reading up on history, just that I was reading a book.  I can see why the book has been a best seller and I think that teachers should consider using this book in class because had I read it in school I think I would have retained a lot more information than I did from History class.

The book is relatively short, only 12 chapters and about 300 pages of content with extra pages for acknowledgments and the like. I had no trouble reading it in one evening, probably because it was so engaging.

I definitely recommend this book for history buffs and someone just looking for an interesting non fiction read.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

About the Book

Lord’s classic, bestselling account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor

The Day of Infamy began as a quiet morning on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. But as Japan’s deadly torpedoes suddenly rained down on the Pacific fleet, soldiers, generals, and civilians alike felt shock, then fear, then rage. From the chaos, a thousand personal stories of courage emerged. Drawn from hundreds of interviews, letters, and diaries, Walter Lord recounts the many tales of heroism and tragedy by those who experienced the attack firsthand. From the musicians of the USS Nevada who insisted on finishing “The Star Spangled Banner” before taking cover, to the men trapped in the capsized USS Oklahoma who methodically voted on the best means of escape, each story conveys the terror and confusion of the raid, as well as the fortitude of those who survived.
Walter Lord (1917-2002) was an acclaimed and bestselling author of literary nonfiction best known for his gripping and meticulously researched accounts of watershed historical events. Born in Baltimore, Lord went to work for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. After the war’s end, Lord joined a New York advertising firm, and began writing nonfiction in his spare time. His first book was The Fremantle Diary (1954), a volume of Civil War diaries that became a surprising success. But it was Lord’s next book, A Night to Remember (1955), that made him famous. The bestseller caused a new flurry of interest in the Titanic and inspired the 1958 film of the same name. Lord went on to use the book’s interview-heavy format as a template for most of his following works, which included detailed reconstructions of the Pearl Harbor attack in Day of Infamy (1957), the battle of Midway in Incredible Victory (1967), and the integration of the University of Mississippi in The Past That Would Not Die (1965). In all, he published a dozen books.

Book Review: Bandwidth

Katie April 17, 2012 0Comment

I picked this book solely based on the title, at first, hoping that it would in some way be technical. I’m not sure why I wanted to read something technical but I can’t tell you what possesses me to pick half the books I do to read.  After reading the synopsis of the book (which is provided below my review) I still seemed interested.

So, could I trust my gut on this one? Absolutely.  It wasn’t quite as technical as I thought it might be with a title like Bandwidth – but that was totally ok with me.  It is quite a thriller and an easy read (or was it easy simply because I flew through it because I could not wait to see what was going to happen on the next page?) and some chapters were only a page long! (I love those kinds of chapters.)

It is hard for me to  review thrillers because I don’t want to give anything away that might ruin your experience reading the book.  Let me just say there are a lot of characters to keep track of – but at the end it kind of gives you a “where are they now” so you won’t have to make up what happened to them. (Although sometimes making things up is more fun than what the author writes, but not in this case.)

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great thriller that they can read over just a couple evenings or maybe on a Saturday.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review from the publisher through NetGalley.

About the Book