Book Review: "The Fever"

The Fever by Megan Abbott is an interesting book, written in a unique style that goes back and forth between three narratives -- a father's, a brother's, and a daughter's. Falling somewhere in the categories of drama and mystery, this book revolves around the lives of the teenage female inhabitants of one particular town, who one by one, all contract some mystery illness. All sorts of potential theories abound -- have these somehow been caused by the HPV vaccine? How about tainted water in the local lake? How about... the questions go on and on, with no real, concrete answers, and no real conrete links between any of the illnesses, either. No two show the exact same symptoms, which only intensifies the worries. Seemingly, nobody's safe if they can't come up with any answers. And yet, the main character of the story seems to be excluded from what's happening. She worries -- understandably so -- whether or not she'll be the next casualty? Given there aren't any answers, the fears are not unfounded.

Without giving too much away, the resolution of the book did not end up feeling very satisfactory for the story. The ending was incredibly rushed, lots of loose ends were left untied, and it's not the sort of book that would warrant a sequel when the culprit is discovered. Add this to the myriad of typos and fragment sentences that seem to be a large part of this author's style, and this book felt very lacking on multiple levels. I feel generous in rating it even a 3 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Assume The Position: Memoirs of an Obstetrician Gynecologist"

I know, I know. You must already be thinking wtf??? just at the title of this one, but it came up as a recommended book after I read Baby City, and honestly the title both made me giggle a little and intrigued me at the same time. (Plus, I was hoping maybe it might take away a little bit of my own phobias surrounding gynos, but no such luck.)

This book is, predictably, an autobiography of a former OB/GYN. I was hoping perhaps this book might have the same sort of excitement and flavor as Baby City, but honestly... I hate to say this about someone's life story, but it was actually pretty dull. (I was also put off by the many numerous typos. This is one thing that irks me about Kindle Direct Publishing and the fact that literally anyone can publish a book now; there's no editors who come in and check for these things anymore.) It details the whole journey, from med school through this man's entire career, and everything in between, as well as life after medicine. Given it's a field I once thought I might go into myself, I'll admit that I thought perhaps I could live vicariously a little here, but again, no such luck, since the book seems to focus more on things like how this job affected the author himself in his life rather than what goes on behind closed doors. (I realize there's patient confidentiality to take into account here, and this actually makes him a very good doctor for respecting that, but in terms of an author, maybe not so much.) Honestly I'm not quite sure what I was expecting here, but the whole book just felt like it was lacking a certain something I can't quite put my finger on, and I was never able to shake that feeling. For that reason, I'm rating it a 3 out of 5 stars. Not the worst book on the planet, but not the most gripping of tales, either.

Book Review: "On Christmas Eve"

Before you say anything, yes. I know. Christmas was a month ago (almost to the day, in fact!), and yet I'm just now reviewing this one? ...Frankly, I expected it to be a super quick read, and normally, it would have been, but having to catch up on Etsy orders, it took me until just now to finish it. No judging.

Anyway, that aside, this past NaNoWriMo season I decided I might like to take a crack at writing some children's books sometime (no, it wasn't my NaNoWriMo project this year), but that it's been so long since I've read one, I've almost forgotten what children's literature looks like. So, I harkened back to one of my favorite old mainstays of children's lit: Ann M. Martin, author of the beloved Babysitters Club series (of which I used to read practically religiously, and may even give a re-read to in the not-so-distant future). Truth be told, I actually was unaware she'd written anything outside of the Babysitters Club series/franchise, so when I learned by chance that she's actually written quite a few other books, I was intrigued, and this particular book happened to be the first one I was able to track down.

It's hard to really give a proper synopsis of this book without giving the entire plot away, but in a nutshell, our main character, a little girl named Tess, has a best friend (Sarah) whose best friend's father is dying of cancer. As this story takes place back in the 1950s, children were not yet allowed to visit patients in the hospital, and as such, Sarah progressively begins spending more and more time with Tess's family, even as the holidays approach. She remains ever hopeful that her father will be home in time for Christmas, even though the odds of that happening become more and more bleak as time marches on. Tess does everything in her power to try and keep Sarah in good spirits, including making sure she's included in her own holiday festivities (which she normally is anyway -- these two have been joined at the hip practically since birth), and at one point, even plan out a Christmas 'concert' to put on in the parking lot of the hospital, right outside her father's window, singing all his favorite carols.

Sarah's father is allowed to come home for Christmas -- coming home from the hospital "for the last time." Tess remains optimistic that perhaps this means he's getting better, and that this is the end of his medical woes, but Sarah knows more than she's letting on. Still, ever the optimist, Tess this whole time has been devising her own secret plan to stay up on Christmas Eve so that she can meet Santa Claus, face to face. Initially she has her own motives for wanting to do so, but when the time comes, she has only one Christmas wish: for Sarah's dad to get well again.....but there's some things that even Santa can't fix.

This story brought back an old childhood myth I had long forgotten about: the story about how at midnight, on Christmas Eve, animals are able to speak. (I always did wonder if this was true, and if I had gotten around to reading this book a little bit sooner, I probably would've stayed up at midnight this past Christmas Eve to see if my dog could speak at midnight. No hurt in hoping, anyway. ;)) Even as an adult, just reading about that even in this story, I got ridiculously excited and swept up in the hope that maybe this myth just might be true. Forget about meeting Santa -- I'm way more all about the prospect of talking to pets!

Anyway, this story is definitely one of hope, on many levels, and is definitely one that any child who's ever lost a parent (or any other relative, for that matter) to cancer might be able to relate to in not only the loss itself, but in how it changes and affects your life afterwards, and forces you to grow up way too fast. This really hit home, and I commend Ann M. Martin for going there. But I ALSO commend her for including a point where Sarah begins to find joy and hope in her life once again, even in the face of loss. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "Lucky Man: A Memoir"

It's no secret to anyone who knows me personally that lately, I've been on a huge Michael J. Fox kick. (No, really; I barreled through the entire series of Family Ties in the span of one month. I've been attempting to watch anything he's ever been in.) I more recently found out that he's also an author who's written three books. This is the first of those three.

Lucky Man: A Memoir is not exactly an autobiography, although it does have a lot of the makings of one. How it varies, however, is that it focuses primarily on Michael's journey with Parkinson's disease: how it started, how it progressed, how it affected his life, the extents he'd go to to try and mask his symptoms so nobody would know about it for years, and how he eventually became somewhat of an ambassador for the disease, although hesitant to become its poster child. At the same time, however, it does include a lot of details involving his personal life that don't necessarily have anything to do with the disease either; returning the humanity to Michael that the label of victim almost immediately stripped from him as soon as he went public about his diagnosis.

The book bounces back and forth a lot between earlier days and more modern times; in a way, he's writing two separate timelines in tandem. Although that may sound weird or confusing, it actually works. What makes it work even moreso is that Michael is one of few celebrities who've written a memoir that's written in the same exact style he speaks in. (Davy Jones is one other such example whom I've personally read an autobiography of that encapsulated that quality.) You enter the book almost feeling as though you know him because of this quality.

I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed every last bit of this book and took my time savoring its every last word. I highly recommend it to just about anybody, and I rate it a 5 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "Baby City - An Inside Look At Labor & Delivery"

Baby City: An Inside Look At Labor & Delivery by Freida McFadden & Kelley Stoddard is not exactly a memoir; it's based in truth, on real life, but with just enough details changed to where it cannot necessarily be considered so much a memoir as a realistic fiction. That said, the book itself purports that everything between its covers IS based in true happenings lived by the authors on the maternity ward. However, the story is told as a first-person recounting of events -- as a singular someone. You can begin to see where this starts to make sense in how these are stories that happen every day in maternity wards around the country, but at the same time, has just enough fiction peppered in as well as to make it uniquely their own.

Anyway, this is the tale of a resident at Cadence Hospital (may or may not be the actual name of a real hospital) who works all hours on the maternity ward, and has to put up with trying to train new medical students on rotation -- some of who are more annoying than others (if you read this book, there's one in particular who you'll know exactly who I'm talking about). There's many different personality types at play, both amongst the staff and of the patients, and this book is also a wonderful example that no two births go exactly the same -- even with a veteran mother who's already had five children. It's also a perfect example of just how quickly things can turn tragic in the blink of an eye, and even in our modern age, there are no assurances when it comes to childbirth. There's a lot of humor included in the stories throughout the book, but overall, there's a brutal reminder of humanity, and that it is not just an industry; these are people's lives, their hopes, and their dreams we're talking about.

The book isn't perfect -- it has a lot of typos throughout it and could have been edited a lot better than it was, but ultimately, I found it to be a very enjoyable read and would recommend it highly to anyone who has an interest in the medical field, be it obstetric or not. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: Keith Moon Stole My Lipstick

With a title such as Keith Moon Stole My Lipstick, I thought there was no way that a book such as this could lose. ...I thought wrong.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of The Who. Nor that my favorite member of the band is Keith Moon. (I'm even posting this on what would have been his birthday.) When I found out a book by this title even existed, naturally I was intrigued. Given the sort of antics that Keith was so famously notorious for, I began brainstorming what sort of a story this could possibly be. I came up with all sorts of possibilities of what Keith could have done with this lipstick....if, in fact, he did truly steal anyone's lipstick. Or perhaps it was just an attention-grabbing title? Who knew...

The book is rather convoluted. First off, it's pretty bad when I initially couldn't tell whether this book was actually an autobiography, or rather, just a very realistic work of fiction involving real-life celebrity names as the main players. It took me several chapters before I started fact-checking names -- the author's name, the name of the publication she worked for, etc -- to see if they existed in real life or not. ...Unbelievably, they did. Alright, at least we've established one thing here. Now knowing that this was in fact a true story, I began to digest it as an autobiography...which are normally my favorite genre of book. This one, however....

It's strange. It had all the elements going for it that under normal circumstances, would automatically be enough to make me love it. It's an autobiography. It's by a british author. It's about classic rock music. There's mentions of the Beatles, the Who, the Monkees, even Lorna Luft, for god's sake (about as close to Liza Minnelli as we get in this book, unfortunately), as well as some classic film stars such as Bette Davis. There's even a fairly good story about Andy Williams in here. And yet.... I still have to say, this book was about the dryest thing I have ever read.

Even the anecdote for which this book was titled after was amazingly lackluster. Yes, Keith stole the author's lipstick. All he did with it was draw on his chest, and remove his shirt to show off his artwork in the middle of a show. ...Honestly, I was expecting a much larger, grander-scale story about Moonie here.

 Another gripe I have is how the author is just so unimpressed with just about everyone in this book, and feels the need to nitpick everyone -- usually on their appearance, mostly. Good god, woman, if you were so miserable in your work, why didn't you leave a lot sooner and do something else if you didn't even like any of these people? (Seriously, when we're even at the point of nitpicking Paul McCartney's appearance and failing to understand why the world thinks he's cute....Houston, we have a problem.)

Lastly, and my biggest problem with this book indeed, is the fact that -- okay, this book is written by someone who wrote for music publications FOR YEARS. Not only that, but has since gone on to write 25+ books... AND YET, spelling errors, grammatical errors, YOU NAME IT, they all run absolutely rampantly through the book. I could've excused a few here and there, but honestly, they were all over the place to the point where I was getting beyond annoyed even just trying to read the book and kept having to put it down every few pages to calm myself.

I wanted to enjoy this book; I really did, but I just didn't. And I admit, that left me feeling very sad and quite empty, given what all the book was about, but it was just written in such a way to where I highly doubt it ever grabbed anybody. I'm going to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars, and even at that, I feel like I'm being generous.

Book Review: "Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood"

I'm going to throw a disclaimer out there right here and now: if you're easily triggered by child abuse, TURN BACK NOW. DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW NOR THE BOOK. This is not a happy-go-lucky read (who would've assumed that anyway, given the title?) -- no, no. This is a horribly harrowing tale -- a heartbreakingly true story -- that will make you sick that a human being could actually inflict this -- ON PURPOSE -- on an innocent child. And not just on one -- MULTIPLE CHILDREN.

This book is about a little known mental disorder called munchausen by proxy, and a mother who took it out on so many innocent children.

Munchausen, in and of itself, is a mental illness that manifests as an individual who will chronically -- pathologically -- feign illness in the pursuit of sympathy and attention. There's a wide spectrum of severity a person might go to the lengths of in this endeavor, but more serious cases will drive an individual to actually seek out medical help for their mystery ailments -- but, unlike a hypochondriac, who doesn't actually have anything wrong with them, the munchausen patient will go to great lengths to manifest specific physical symptoms in order to obtain unnecessary tests, medications, surgery, you name it. Because they find ways to provoke actual symptoms, they're not dismissed in the way hypochondriacs are; rather, they fly under the radar as a doctor will fall for test after test to try and diagnose these mystery illnesses. And as soon as one doctor may hit a brick wall and give up, the patient will just pick up anew with a different doctor and start the process all over. You would not believe the lengths people would go to as a result of this psychiatric disorder.

Now, in munchausen by proxy, this is a disorder that affects a caretaker -- typically, a mother. The difference is that this patient doesn't make themself out to be the ill one -- no, no. This is where hte "by proxy" part of the name comes in. Generally they'll start with a child, usually a very young one who doesn't know any better, and will start to shape them into the sick child they want them to be. They may intentionally injure the child; they might poison them; they might do any number of atrocious things, all to provoke symptoms in what would otherwise be a normal child, but for whatever sick reason, the parent wants to make their child out to be ill and abnormal for their own emotional gain. Some children end up so badly abused in this manner that they end up dying as a result... and it just looks like a medical mystery. The parent starts again on another child. Until a trained professional who knows what to look for spots specific patterns happening over and over with multiple children of a specific parent, the person may easily get away with it unnoticed by the medical profession and never end up so much as persecuted for what they've done, despite all the world of hurt they've so needlessly caused.

The author of this book, Julie Gregory, was one such victim.

The book follows the story of Julie from as far back as she can remember, and even at such a tender age, you start to witness various forms of abuse unfolding and this poor little girl not having so much as a clue as to what's being done to her, or even that any of it's wrong. One of the earliest clues that something is very off with this family: on a very early remembered car trip, her mother offers her a mini sucker from inside her matchbook. Julie comments on her excitement at seeing the double row of suckers lined up in there, but it isn't until she starts describing the consumption of this 'treat' that you realize that, with no uncertainty, this poor child literally IS eating matches and doesn't have a clue that they're not some kind of candy. (And thus we see probably one of the earliest examples of how her mother managed to coerce symptoms out of an otherwise fine child....) As horrifying as that example is? It's only the very tip of the iceburg of what lies between the covers of this book. That was actually a tame example. Without giving too much away in the way of details for those of you who do wish to read the book, the mother DOES go so far as putting her child electively through unnecessary surgery, amongst so many other things. And that's just the MBP end of things -- this isn't counting the other numerous abuses that Julie is forced to endure at home.

So much of my subconscious desperately wanted to believe that this book were a work of fiction, a horror novel, but not real....and every time I had to remind myself that this did, in fact, happen to a real, live, living and breathing human being..... I couldn't help but lose a little more faith in humanity that someone out there could be as horrible as that to another person. And the knowledge that this is just one girl's story -- there's probably hundreds, if not thousands of others out there who've suffered silently at the hands of such torment as well. It boggles the mind to even try to grasp how a person could even live with themself after inflicting such a thing on another human, and yet, the fact that there's a name for this condition goes to show just how many people there must be in the world who're guilty of doing such things. With no pun intended on the title, one can't help but feel a little sick thinking about these things.

This story is terribly unsettling, but eye-opening for sure that there's a problem like this existing in our world that very few people are able to see if it happens in front of them. One can only hope that by telling her story, that Julie's bravery will help others come forward and share their stories as well in hopes that MBP will become a more widely-recognized form of abuse that will not be tolerated if detected, and hopefully many lives can be saved and spared. As jarring of a story as this is, I have to rate it a 5 out of 5 stars, because it's SO well-told to where it puts you right in Julie's shoes, and your heart aches for everything she's gone through.

Book Review: "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl"

Similar in style to The Fault In Our Stars, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is another teen/YA story dealing with the topic of teenage cancer. The difference in this case being, it's told in a bit of an off-color style, without any huge lesson to be learned, or teary-eyed love story to be had, or any of the stuff that made up TFIOS.

This is the story of Greg Gaines; amateur film-maker, and his desire in life to remain politically neutral when it comes to the delicate ecosystem known as high school. His partner-in-crime (or rather, partner-in-film-making) Earl, despite being from entirely different worlds, gets dragged along for the ride. Greg is basically your typical all American overweight dorky teen boy, whose exploits with girls are quickly made known -- as well as all the ways he's managed to fail with all of them.

That is, until one of them later down the road ends up developing cancer and his mother forces him to go rekindle a friendship.

It's an awkward, bumpy ride. Greg isn't exactly thrilled with this plan; nor is Rachel, the girl in question. Yet they manage to forge a sort of friendship, especially when she gets made privvy to the top-secret library of films that Greg and Earl have made over the years that have never been seen by another set of human eyes aside from their own. She becomes their biggest fan -- and as her illness progresses, her best friend rallies for them to make a special movie, just for her.

Cue many failed attempts at making this film. They try it in a variety of different styles, none of which pan out into turning into much of anything worthwhile. The harder they try, the worse the attempts become, until Earl's sudden realization hit that they haven't been truly trying to make a film about this girl... they'd revolved it around themselves the whole time without meaning to, while never truly getting to know the girl known as Rachel, and before they know it, it's too late.

There's no sappy love story here. Not even a proper coming of age story. And yet, there's a certain truth that rings through in this novel that makes it feel authentic, as if this were a true story that really happened to someone. There's something to be said for that.... and for that, I rate this book a 4 out of 5 rating. I'd say it's well worth giving this one a read.

Book Review: "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang"

Chelsea is back and better (badder?) than ever! I loved the other book of hers I read, which I previously reviewed on this blog, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea so I had high hopes for this one... I was not disappointed! I think I liked this one even more, in fact.  C'mon, the book starts off with its first chapter being about her childhood addiction to compulsive masturbation. What's not to love? ;) You can probably take a good guess at the type of topics the rest of the book contains just from there. I love raunchy humor, so this is right up my alley. If you're not into that, steer very clear of this book or you'll likely get offended. Otherwise, kick back, get yourself a drink, and enjoy! 5 stars!

Book Review: "Seriously...I'm Kidding"

I'll admit; after the last Ellen book I read (which has the prior review on this blog), I was more than a little hesitant to read this one. But I plowed on, and I'm happy that I did, as this book was much more well-written than its predecessor. It's still written as a collection of short stories -- some seemingly stream of consciousness -- but unlike the last book, it doesn't feel so A.D.D. that it almost seems like you're reading the ramblings of a cocaine addict. (I mean no disrespect whatsoever to Miss Ellen.) This has a much smoother pace, and for it, I was able to appreciate the humor much more and just all around enjoyed the book a lot more, and for that, it wins a 4 star rating!

Book Review: "The Funny Thing Is..."

I love Ellen. I really, really do. So it was my assumption that I would also adore anything she wrote. Well..... her humor doesn't really carry over to the written word quite as well, let me tell you, unless you prime yourself for it. If you base this on writing style alone, it's very A.D.D. and jumps all over the place. Now, if you sit and imagine it in her voice, it regains some of the funny and some of her style, but just on its own, it seemed a bit lackluster to me. Which was a disappointment, as I've been waiting for over two years (!!!) for my local library to finally have this book on its shelf. It's ALWAYS checked out, so I'd falsely assumed it must be one of the greatest books ever written. (Or something.) And while indeed, it's not terrible, it just... I don't know, it feels like it's missing something. I can't put my finger on exactly what that something is, though.

I'm rating this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "A Life In Stitches - Knitting My Way Through Love, Loss, and Laughter"

For any of those of you who may not know me personally, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I love to knit. No no, I mean really love to knit. And I'm blessed that I'm in a position where I can earn money doing what I love. Now, that said - finding this book was an absolute act of serendipity, as it was beside another, completely unrelated book on the shelf that I was actively seeking out, but the second I saw this one, I knew I had to grab it too. And what a sweet surprise I was in for!

First off, the author is from Oakland, California. Read as...less than 20 minutes away from me. O_O That was new for me; usually the closest a local author to me comes is about San Francisco! This was immediately followed by the crazy thought of omg, how come I don't know this person? We should totally be friends! Well, while I'm not crazy enough to go out of my way to seek her out or anything, the more I read about the stories of her life, the more and more I realized they closely mirror my own, and it almost felt like reading about a slightly older version of myself. It was the strangest feeling, but a really good one, needless to say. It was almost like feeling validated in my hobbies of choice; seeing that yes, there truly ARE others out there who not only partake in them, but succeed very much with them!

So enough about me. Back to the book. This is totally a feel-good book, and while it definitely helps to also be a knitter, I'm sure you could probably still get a lot out of it even if you don't personally know a thing about the craft. These are stories all throughout different stages of the author's life, from childhood onward. And this isn't your grandma's story: this is about a modern woman, living with her domestic partner, making her way in the world through not-so-traditional means, while at the same time, when you think about it.... what could possibly be more traditional than knitting and writing in the big scheme of things? There are tons of parallels of old and new throughout all the stories in the book.

Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of this book. :) 5 stars for you, Rachael Herron!

Book Review: "The Four Dorothys (Drama!, #1)"

With a title like The Four Dorothys, my initial assumption was the book was likely about drag queens. (No really...for those not in the know, Judy Garland is more or less the patron saint of the LGBT world. The rainbow flags are even a nod to her.) Well, this book isn't about that (although I wouldn't have been opposed if it were -- quick, somebody write one! ;)). No, this story is about an ill-fated high school production of The Wizard of Oz that was doomed from the moment it left the gates, and ended up in complete and total utter sabotage. Without giving too much away, this story quickly becomes that of a whodunnit? nature. It's well-done though, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I also give props to all the chapter titles being named after different Broadway shows. (I literally squealed when I saw one was named after The Boy From Oz.) Even if you're not a Broadway geek like me, you'll probably still enjoy it even if some of the more subtle references sail over your head; the story itself is still phenomental. Big 5 stars for this one!

Book Review: "dancergirl"

dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman is somewhat of a tale of warning of the perils of becoming a viral internet star. Just how easy it is for things to spiral out of control, for people to become obsessed, deranged, and a dangerous stalker...

It is also a mystery and suspense novel, as our heroine/victim Ali tries to figure out who's doing this to her, all whilst the acts becoming increasingly worse and far more disturbing with every step, perpetually ruining Ali's life. In our modern digital age, this is something that can, and does, happen quite frequently and is almost enough to be classified as a horror story for anyone who has ever uploaded a video of themself to the internet. For all the good that our modern age brings us, it brings along with it very real dangers lurking in the dark corners, and this book is very much a reminder of that.

That said, this story is exquisitely told and I couldn't put it down. 5 stars!

Book Review: "Let It Snow - Three Holiday Romances"

I'm sure you guys all remember my Lauren Myracle phase, where I barrelled through just about every book she wrote in a few months' time. ...Except this one, because our library's copy was ALWAYS checked out. Well, I finally got a hold of it (a couple of years later), and while I was anticipating it to be your typical, run of the mill collection of short stories, it does fit that bill...but more.

You see, these aren't just any holiday-themed short stories. You don't realize it going into it on the first one, but every detail is important, as all three of these stories are intertwined and connected (and pulled together especially at the end of the third story). It's done VERY expertly and really cutely, in my opinion. I found myself starting to fangirl every time the stories started to crossover on each other and link together, and it happens with increasing intensity the further it goes on, until you just feel like you know this close-knit small community in full. A nice quality to embody in a Christmas-themed story, if you ask me. Ranking this one 4 stars!

Book Review: "Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy"

When you think of Ozzy Osbourne, chances are the first images brought to mind are those of Black Sabbath and the Prince of Darkness........ not of a raging hypochondriac who was given his own weekly advice column, am I right? However, crazy as it sounds, it happens -- and the questions, his answers, and his own running commentary (along with charts and quizzes at the end of the chapters) fill the pages of this book in a wonderfully hilarious (if irreverent) way. Just about everything under the sun is touched upon at some point or another, but one that shows up over and over is the topic of drug use -- and Ozzy's insistence that everybody ought to try and quit drugs and alcohol (which was surprising to me that Ozzy of all people is so gung ho about this! Good on you, mate!) is peppered along with anecdotes and self deprecation. And... as it turns out, Ozzy is a huge hypochondriac and it's likely part of why the man's still alive all the crazy shenanigans he's pulled over the years. Good to know. ;) If you need a good laugh, this book has you covered -- even if you're not a fan of Ozzy's music, you can appreciate his sense of humor! 5 star review for Dr. Ozzy!

Book Review: "Diva (The Flappers, #3)"

I know I should have read this series in sequence, but I just couldn't help myself -- I was so in love with the cover of this one that I read it first. ;) (I'm going to backtrack and read the other two though.) Anyhow, Diva, the third book in Jillian Larkin's The Flapper series, is a perfectly marvelous romance/drama/mystery about the 1920's, right in the height of the same era as The Great Gatsby. The author certainly did her homework in terms of fashion, slang, popular locations, you name it... I was absolutely thrilled to see this. The book is really about three miniature stories all in one book, all intertwined and running parallel to each other. Each chapter is labeled with which woman it involves, so once you realize that, the book is far easier to follow. I don't know how much I can truly say here about the plot without giving it all away, so I'm going to just leave that part a mystery for you to find out if you should choose to read it. ;) Anyway, I absolutely adored this book and I'm rating it 5 stars!

Book Review: "Dean & Me (A Love Story)"

There've been few comedy partnerships like that of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis in the 20th century, and even fewer of them that were as genuine as this duo. Take a stroll down memory lane through the good times (and the bad times) with Jerry as he remembers his partner with the loving adoration that still lives on in his heart half a century later. The book details everything up from the beginning of when the two met all the way straight through to Dean's death, and everything in between for this star-studded ride. There's so much in here that Jerry shares with us about what life with Dean was really like; a side of him that the public never got to see until now. I took my time reading this to really savor everything Jerry had to say and truly enjoyed every minute of it. Rating this one a huge 5 stars! :)

Book Review: "Go The Fuck To Sleep"

Most kids enjoy a good bedtime story (or ten) to fall asleep to. Ah, those were the days... Well, when was the last time you saw a bedtime story aimed for grownups? Parents, specifically? Oh yes....that's where Go The Fuck To Sleep comes in. Beautifully illustrated, this book is just as much eye candy for the reader as it is filled with clever prose illustrating the frustrations of being a parent. You needn't actually have children to understand the humor; anyone who's so much as had to babysit a child even once will be able to appreciate this book. You needn't even head to the library to hear this fun little tale; just head on over to Youtube, where there's multiple celebrity readings of it. ;) Seriously though, this has got to be one of my new favorite things. Big five stars!

Book Review: "The Lolita Effect"

The Lolita Effect is basically a psychology/sociology book outlining the social fallacies surrounding the sexualization of girls today at younger and younger ages, fueled by the media perception, and yet all its implications seem to be lost on most people. This book outlines just how damaging this mindset is, as well as suggestions on how to help counter it. While by no means is it the end all cure for this problem, it's a good start. That said, most of the information in this book would have better fit as a website than a full book on the topic, where open discussions about the subject could be held. Nevertheless, it's sort of an interesting read if it's a hot-button topic with you. Rating this one 3 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Real Live Boyfriends (Yes, Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated--I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver)"

The fourth (and what I assume to be, final) book of the Ruby Oliver series, and I now retract my earlier statement -- this is my favorite book in the series. All is not well in paradise for Ruby with Noel, or so she thinks. He goes away during the summer to NYC to visit his brother, Claude, and comes back acting distant and weird towards Ruby. Naturally, her anxiety leads her to think the worst. The reality: far worse than she could have ever imagined.

There's much drama filling the covers of this book, and well-written drama at that. I really enjoyed it though, and I sailed through the entire book in two and a half days -- I just couldn't put it down, I had to know where all the twists and turns were leading to! I highly recommend this book if you've been reading the series, and am rating it a high 5 stars :)