Busy Busy

I haven't been reading because work has been busy for me. I'm in the middle of Spider Bones.

One for the Money Review

I only picked up this book after seeing the trailer for the movie... which I have not seen yet. It sounded like a book I would enjoy and a series that I might get into.

Synopsis: Stephanie Plum lost her job as a lingerie buyer and in a desperate attempt to make money to prevent her apartment and car being taken away she gets a job with her cousin as a bounty hunter.

Review: I overall enjoyed this book. It's not the best crime novel I've read, but it was decent. It was fast paced and had enough excitement. What I like most about this book is that it probably made a lot of women like me wondering if they too could be a bounty hunter or a police officer.

What I think this book that made me not completely fall in love with it and not sure if I will read the rest of the series is that Stephanie is too much like me and when I read a crime novel with a female lead that is not what I really want. So it's more of a person thing and not so much that the book wasn't good.

I gave it four stars because while it was a good book it wasn't the best.

My Rating:

Wild Rose: The True Story of a Civil War Spy

I somehow got into female spies. I found an article in the History Channel magazine about a German spy sending dolls with messaged in them. From then on out whenever I had a history project come up I would see if there was something about female spies I could do it one. In the fall I am taking my last history research class and it covers the 19th century South. I knew there was female spies during the Civil War and started to look for book that would help me discover what is mentioned and what is not mentioned.

Synopsis: For sheer bravado and style, no woman in the North or South rivaled the Civil War heroine Rose O’Neale Greenhow. Fearless spy for the Confederacy, glittering Washington hostess, legendary beauty and lover, Rose Greenhow risked everything for the cause she valued more than life itself. In this superb portrait, biographer Ann Blackman tells the surprising true story of a unique woman in history. 

“I am a Southern woman, born with revolutionary blood in my veins,” Rose once declared–and that fiery spirit would plunge her into the center of power and the thick of adventure. Born into a slave-holding family, Rose moved to Washington, D.C., as a young woman and soon established herself as one of the capital’s most charming and influential socialites, an intimate of John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and Dolley Madison. 

She married well, bore eight children and buried five, and, at the height of the Gold Rush, accompanied her husband Robert Greenhow to San Francisco. Widowed after Robert died in a tragic accident, Rose became notorious in Washington for her daring–and numerous–love affairs.

But with the outbreak of the Civil War, everything changed. Overnight, Rose Greenhow, fashionable hostess, become Rose Greenhow, intrepid spy. As Blackman reveals, deadly accurate intelligence that Rose supplied to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard written in a fascinating code (the code duplicated in the background on the jacket of this book). Her message to Beauregard turned the tide in the first Battle of Bull Run, and was a brilliant piece of spycraft that eventually led to her arrest by Allan Pinkerton and imprisonment with her young daughter. 

Indomitable, Rose regained her freedom and, as the war reached a crisis, journeyed to Europe to plead the Confederate cause at the royal courts of England and France. 
Drawing on newly discovered diaries and a rich trove of contemporary accounts, Blackman has fashioned a thrilling, intimate narrative that reads like a novel. Wild Rose is an unforgettable rendering of an astonishing woman, a book that will stand with the finest Civil War biographies. (Taken from GoodReads)

Review: I really enjoyed this book. While it lacked any details on the spycraft of spies during the Civil War there was a little information. Either no one truly knows all the details or the author wanted the book to be about Rose herself and not so much how she was a spy. Reading through the book you get a good sense on what was taking place during this time in Washington D.C. and how hard it was for those invovled. I took away from this book that Rose ONeale Greenhow was a strong woman who never backed down from her beliefs. I think it's a book any girl or woman needs to read. It's a great book on a woman who was respected by high official men and was important to the cause. 

I gave this book 5 stars because I was written so well and it truly gave me some insight to both the Confederate side (most of my history courses seem to favor the Union) and how some women actually felt during the war. 

My Rating:

Late March Recap

So I never did a review/recap of the books I read in March for the To Be Read Pile Challenge. I only read one book and that was Enclave. I read nothing else and I am not sure if I will be able to finish anything for April either. I am still reading Wild Rose about a female Confederate Spy. It's pretty interesting.

I am a slacker

So it's almost the end of March and I have not finished a single book. I am working on a historical book called Wild Rose by Ann Blackman. It's about Rose O'Neale Greenhow who was a Confederate spy during the Civil War. It's a very interesting book and may be a source for my senior research class.

It's almost the end of the semester for me so I have tests in a lot of my classes right now and it's hard finding the time to read. Also, I want to start on fiction books, but I know if I start on one I will ignore this book I'm roughly half way through. So I think for this month I will have no completed books and while I am a little upset by that I also know that things happen.

Enclave Review

I have been trying to get to this book and I finally got to it. Okay, I pushed some other books back to read it and someone asked me to read it next because they wanted to know how it was. I am not sure what it is about YA distopian novels that I love, but I do. Which is kind of weird for me since I use to get nightmares about the end of the world and hated when my boyfriend would watch Life After People and any of those kinds of shows. I couldn't even watch The Road, yet I love this genre.


Synopsis: In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember. 

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning. 

Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first Deuce thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace. 

As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known. (Taken From Goodreads). 

Review: I was hoping that my lusting to read this book would not disappoint me. While I will admit there are a lot of Ya distopian books out there and I am sure that there are a lot of rip offs and copy cats out there, but luckily I have not run across any of those.  I was caught by the books synopsis and I knew I had to read it. I was blow away about how simple this book is, yet all the thoughtfulness the author put into this book. 

What I like about this book was that it focuses on those who lives underground. I never thought about people might go underground or in subway tunnels to live. I think it's a new idea, but I don't know if someone else done it as well. I see that this is suppose to be a series, so I cannot wait for the next book. 

I don't normally do this, but on this book I read the author's note. She explained some of her research in writing this book and where the inspiration came for the enclave. I loved reading all of that. It shows that she put in a lot of effort to make it realistic. 

I rated this book five stars. I loved the book, it was an easy read and kept me entertained. 

My Rating:

TBR Challenge February Wrap-Up

So for the month of February I did not better than January, but no worse. I read two books. Hopefully I can do better the rest of the year, but who know what will hinder me.

I read:
Black Mass
Fallen

I started Enclave and hoped to have finished it, but I am still working on it. I sort of started a new business and that got me busy.