One For The Money by Janet Evanovich

Goodreads Summary: Pestered by her close New Jersey family, Stephanie Plum offers to catch high-school crush Joe Morelli, cop turned bail jumper, for her cousin Vinnie's company. She questions "working girls" to find the missing girlfriend of vicious prizefighter Benito Ramirez while Joe secretly watches her back. Ranger mentors her and supplies vehicles when hers explode.

Why I Read This Book: I saw the preview for the movie of this one and decided to read the book first. It was a good choice, because the movie wasn't great!

Review: I found this book to be engaging. A lot of stuff happens, which is exciting, and its sometimes predictable, but not always. The book was fast paced, and witty, and had a good story line. It wasn't amazing, but it was good. I read it while on the plane, and didn't get bored. Even though there isn't much else to do on the plane, if I have a non-engaging book I can get bored easily. This was a good read for that.

If you watch Dexter, I was picturing Joe as Joey Quinn from that show. I pictured Stephanie as Hilda from Ugly Betty. I watched the movie afterward and thought Katherine Heigl was ok, but my mental casting was better :)

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Goodreads Summary: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Why I Read This Book: I added this to my list forever ago because I liked the way it sounded, and the cover was so pretty. I added it to one of my challenge lists for April, and then one day at the library, it was on the shelf and I checked it out! I love when that happens!

Review: I always assumed I would like this book fine. The plot was different to something I would normally have read, but upon expanding my horizons, I knew that I would probably like this based on the summary. So when I started reading it, and didn't have a clue what was going on, I was a bit disappointed. It took me a long time to get through the first half of this one. BUT, then the light bulb clicks, and you finally understand this odd world, and the book gets FABULOUS. I didn't relate to the main character much, but I loved her. Karou is so interesting, and incredibly artsy (probably the main reason I didn't see any of myself in her, as I am not very artsy). I loved this book, and I think everyone should give it a go. I'm really excited for the second. Give it a chance though, if you don't love it at first. This is the first book in a series, and sometimes they can be a bit slow getting started. This one is sooo worth it though. You will be a bit afraid, sad, delighted, and there is a swoon worthy boy. It's fantastic.

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Catching Up On Some Reviews

Hello Everyone,

I know I said sometime in the summer not to expect me back for awhile! Unfortunately, I still am crazy busy and not getting enough reading done to be blogging lately, or even considered a book worm! Hoping that is going to change soon, as at the end of this month I won't be working 2 jobs anymore! I will be back in school, so I won't be where I used to be, but should still be picking up books a little more often!

I have quite a few reviews to catch up on again. I was posting 3 in each, but I didn't really like how that was going, so I'm going to do some separate, short ones to get caught up.

In other news, 5 things that are going on in my life that I can tell you about:

1) As I said, I will be going down to one job and back to school. People are very surprised about this, but I have quit my full time job! I will be working at the restaurant as much as possible, and will be taking 2014 to finish my MBA and am also going to complete a Masters Certificate in Supply Chain Management and Procurement. SO that will be a big change for me!

2) I joined a book club! Our first meeting was last week, and we read 'The Husband's Secret'. Our next book is The Glass Castle, which I already read, so I don't think I'll re-read it, but I like being a part of it. More on the Husbands Secret later.

3) Next week I am going on vacation!!!! Yay!! I can't wait. 8 days in Las Vegas will be a blast!!

4) I have hurt my back :( I'm actually in  a great deal of pain right now and had to give up my shift at BP tonight in favor of making a massage appt to see if I can get it fixed. Not good times.

5) And lastly, I am almost caught up on watching Dexter, we are set to watch S08E05 next, so I will soon get to find out how the season finale is do disappointing. Its still a good season, so it sucks to know it ends poorly. Oh well!

Anyway, over the next few days some book reviews will get posted, so take a look for them. Maybe there will be some you haven't read!