Book Review: Hollyweird

Katie May 12, 2012 0 Comments

Hollyweird is a young adult novel by Terri Clark.  It starts out innocent enough, Aly wins a contest to meet Hollywood Heartthrob Dakota Danvers and fly out to Hollywood from her home in Colorado.  She takes her best friend Des with her and her sister Missy, freshly 21 years old, comes along as their guardian.

Once they arrive in Hollywood they are greeted by a driver as well as Jameson, one of the people who works for Dakota.  At a photo shoot, Aly has a moment where she thinks that Dakota’s eyes are glowing and red.  She shakes it off as nerves, but later on Desi sees the SAME thing when she goes to Dakota’s make up trailer to retrieve sunglasses she had left behind.

Jameson reveals to the girls that Dakota is a devil – and not just any devil – Satan’s son!  The girls end up pressing Jameson to find out what HE is and it turns out that he is a fallen angel.  They find out that Hollywood, or Hollyweird, rather, is full of paranormal beings.

The girls and Jameson must then go on a mission to stop Dakota from doing some pretty bad things. (I’ll leave the details to THAT for you to find out by reading the book)

The book is young adult so it is a pretty quick and fun read.  The plot of it was a lot like random stories I think of in my head (but never write down) so I enjoyed it because it felt like it could have been something I would have written (but even if I did start to write it down, I’d never get around to finishing it) The only thing that tripped me up a bit was that chapters alternated being narrated by Jameson and Aly.  At times I put the book down and forgot where I was – which led to a bit of confusion, though it’s probably just my fault for not reading a chapter straight through. 😉

Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys YA novels with a flair for the paranormal worlds.

I received a free review e-copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Paranormal + Hollywood + cute fallen angel = WIN

When sixteen-year-old Aly King is the grand prizewinner in the “Win a Date with Dakota” contest, it seems like a dream come true. Along with her best friend Desi, and soap star wannabe sister Missy, she flies from Colorado to Hollywood for her celebrity date. Like every other girl in America, Aly knows that Dakota Danvers is a smoking hot movie star. What she doesn’t know is that he’s also Satan’s son.

Luckily for Aly, in the City of Angels there is one actual angel, Jameson Dagon. Granted, Jameson is a fallen angel, but he has one last chance at salvation if he can derail Dakota’s evil machinations. Can Jameson protect Aly and Desi from Dakota’s damning influence, put up with Missy’s prima donna antics-and ignore his smoldering attraction to Aly?

Book Review: How to Travel the World For Free

Katie May 10, 2012 0 Comments

When I saw the title “How to Travel the World For Free” I instantly knew I wanted to read this book and find out how!  After reading it, I’m not sure that this method is for me – but it was certainly interesting reading about Michael Wigge’s travels.

His goal was to get the Antarctica – The End of the World – all while starting out on his travels without a penny.  He spent time dumpster diving for food and also told his story at various bakeries and restaurants in hopes that they would just give him food (he had an 80% success rate in the US, but didn’t do as well in some other countries).  He did strange things on the street for a dollar – like in Vegas he was a human couch and let people sit on him to rest for a dollar.  And in San Francisco he had a pillow fight with people for $1 (This seemed to be one of his more successful endeavors). He also sold himself as a butler for a day and did other odd jobs in exchange for cash or train/bus/plane tickets.

I think the most fascinating part of his story was the “detour” he took to Hawaii and how that went about happening for him.  I won’t give away too many details of how that all went down because you should definitely check out this book for yourself.

Did he meet his goal of Antarctica? Or did he cave and use a credit card to buy some food after going a day and a half without eating?

Do you think that you could survive traveling without any money and having to beg, borrow, steal and couch surf?  I am not sure that I could do it but I definitely give props to those who can!

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

Find out More at: http://www.howtotraveltheworldforfree.com/

Book Review: Groove Music

Katie May 9, 2012 0 Comments

Groove Music is a book by Mark Katz.  It is about Hip Hop, but more specifically, The DJ and how DJs mixing led to hip hop and DJ battles and all sorts of fun stuff.  It actually took me a while to get through the book, I think because hip hop isn’t really my “thing”, so I don’t know as much about all the players as I do with some of the other music books I have read.

Interestingly enough, a couple of pages in I saw a familiar word – “MMMBop”!  It talked about how the single had record scratching in it, and previously that had not really been done in pop music.  I was actually so excited to see this mention that I ran off to my coworker to share.  The song is actually mentioned again a bit further in to the book and it talks about some other songs from that time frame that also brought the record scratching to more mainstream music.

I went in to the book thinking I wouldn’t recognize anything mentioned in it – but there is a lot of talk about the song “Rappers Delight”, and I actually saw Sugar Hill Gang live a while back – they opened for NSYNC.  Not sure how that pairing came about and it was only my 2nd concert ever, waaay back in 1999… so I don’t really remember much about them. (cool story right?)  But there was also mention of Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff which I definitely listened to a ton as a kid because my mom loooves Will Smith.

The author has certainly done his research and there is a TON of info in here (even on female DJs!) and lots of pictures to go along with the text as well.  Pictures of DJs and even equipment!

I received a free e-copy of this book to review from the publisher from NetGalley. I was not asked to write a favorable review and all opinions are my own.

About the Book

It’s all about the scratch in Groove Music, award-winning music historian Mark Katz’s groundbreaking book about the figure that defined hip-hop: the DJ.

Today hip-hop is a global phenomenon, and the sight and sound of DJs mixing and scratching is familiar in every corner of the world. But hip-hop was born in the streets of New York in the 1970s when a handful of teenagers started experimenting with spinning vinyl records on turntables in new ways. Although rapping has become the face of hip-hop, for nearly 40 years the DJ has proven the backbone of the culture. In Groove Music, Katz (an amateur DJ himself) delves into the fascinating world of the DJ, tracing the art of the turntable from its humble beginnings in the Bronx in the 1970s to its meteoric rise to global phenomenon today. Based on extensive interviews with practicing DJs, historical research, and his own personal experience, Katz presents a history of hip-hop from the point of view of the people who invented the genre. Here, DJs step up to discuss a wide range of topics, including the transformation of the turntable from a playback device to an instrument in its own right, the highly charged competitive DJ battles, the game-changing introduction of digital technology, and the complex politics of race and gender in the DJ scene.

Exhaustively researched and written with all the verve and energy of hip-hop itself, Groove Music will delight experienced or aspiring DJs, hip-hop fans, and all students or scholars of popular music and culture.

Book Review: Dreaming of the Dead

Katie May 8, 2012 2 Comments

 Dreaming of the dead is written by Marilou Trask-Curtin and talks about the real life experiences that she has had with the dead.  When she was four she had a near death experience and since then she has been able to communite with those who have passed.

She grew up being raised by her grandparents, who both passed away within 4 months of each other when she was just 18 years old.  Her grandmother went first and came back to tell her that she missed her grandfather terribly.  He died 4 months later.  He returned to let her know where his safe deposit box was hidden while she and her boyfriend Butch were looking around the house for it to bring it to the bank.

Butch also came to her in a dream to let her know that he had died. Some months later a relative asked her if she knew about Butch and when she replied that he died, the relative was shocked. 

Some of the stories seem a bit far fetched – but are interesting all the same – embellished or not.  While at Gillette’s castle (in Connecticut!) she decided to write a biography on William Gillette and he visited her in her dreams several times to give her permission to write it and check on her progress.  Also while she was in Connecticut she had dreams of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe (all of which have homes / museums here in Connecticut, though I’ve yet to visit either).

I too am sometimes “connected” with those who have passed in my dreams – mainly just my maternal grandparents though, never anyone else.  They tend to pop up in other dreams though, for Marilou it seems like there are special dreams from these people just for her.  Mine are more like interruptions, they pop up out of nowhere to tell me something. Sometimes what they tell me makes sense, othertimes I am baffled.

Although I did once have a visitor in my room, though the fact that I could only see their back has led to much speculation over whether it was my uncle or great grandfather (who died in the bed that I was sleeping in at the time.)  The figure seemed to be young which led us all to believe that it was my uncle who was killed in vietnam, but Marilou writes that some of her dreams included her grandfather and British actor Jeremy Brett looking much younger than they were when they had passed.  So I guess I’ll never know who it was, unless they decide to come by again and let me see their face!

I found this book to be incredibly interesting and for once it was a book with “ghosts” that didn’t really freak me out! (I even read chapter 1 while in bed trying to fall asleep!)   Although now the urge to check out Mark Twain’s house has gotten even stronger – and maybe we’ll have to check out Harriett Beecher Stowe’s home and Gillette castle as well!

I received a free e-copy of this book through NetGalley from Llewellyn Worldwide.  I was not asked to write a positive review and all opinions are 100% mine.

About the Book

Ever since a near-death experience when she was four, Marilou Trask-Curtin has been able to communicate with spirits, primarily in unusually vivid and realistic dreams. Over the years she has seen many spirits, and has communicated with her first love, her beloved grandfather, and even British actor Jeremy Brett, with whom she’d grown close through years of correspondence. The spirits come to offer advice, reassurance, or to let her know they have died or are about to-this includes her companion animals who return to show they’re as full of health and joy as their human counterparts in spirit. The author also tells of dream visits from historical “mentor” figures such as Samuel L. Clemens and Harriet Beecher Stowe, as well as many others. Dreaming of the Dead offers readers an incredibly compelling journey to the world that awaits us all on the other side of life’s doorway.