♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: An Apple a Day by Caroline Taggart

An Apple a Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs—Timeless Words to Live By
Caroline Taggart

Release Date: March 3rd, 2011

Publisher: Reader's Digest

Page Count: 176

Source: Complimentary copy provided by publicist, FSB Media, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

From Old Testament proverbs to modern phrases like "the best things in life are free," An Apple a Day takes a fun look at expressions that "have stood the test of time." Read through from start to finish or search through the list of hundreds of the most common proverbs, arranged from A to Z for easy reference. You'll learn about each proverb's surprising origins, why some are valid and others are not, the derivation and meanings behind them, and their relevance in today's society. Includes entries like: 

Two heads are better than one: Like the less-familiar "Four eyes see better than two," this proverb extols the benefits of having someone else help you make up your mind-and it's a view that goes back to at least the fourteenth century. But while it is always useful to have a second opinion (A sounding board? Someone else to blame?) it might also be worth bearing in mind the disadvantages of design or decision-making by committee: something that really pleases no one. So whereas two heads may well be better than one, three could be a crowd.

Laughter is the best medicine: This idea is an ancient one and is found in, appropriately, the book of Proverbs: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." It has prompted a surprising amount of research, with the result that some scientists claim that laughter has the same benefits as a mild workout-it stretches muscles, sends more oxygen to the tissues, and generally makes you feel healthier. One study even claims that laughing heartily for 10-15 minutes burns 50 calories. But let's pause for thought here. The world may laugh with you over a joke or a rerun of Seinfeld, but if you make a habit of laughing heartily for 10-15 minutes for no apparent reason, the world is going to think you are nuts and cross the street to avoid you. It may be worth striving for a happy medium.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away: A common British folk saying, this is one of the few proverbs that can be taken at face value. All it means is that apples are good for you. The Romans knew this and so did the Anglo-Saxons, who listed the crabapple as one of the nine healing plants given to the world by the god Woden. They probably didn't know, as we now do, that apples contain fiber, antioxidants, and sundry vitamins and minerals that help to prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, and various forms of cancer. But they did know that they were cooling, cleansing, and soothing, whether taken as a natural diuretic or applied externally to inflammations. An anonymous medieval text called The Haven of Health recommended eating an apple to "relieve your feelings" if you were going to bed alone, while Ayurvedic medicine says that apples cure headaches and promote vitality. So the jury is out on whether or not apples are good for your sex life, but they are certainly good for pretty much everything else.

Guaranteed to amuse and inform, this is the perfect gift for any language lover. Make this and all of the Reader's Digest Version books a permanent fixture on your eReader, and you'll have instant access to searchable knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

What Stephanie Thought:  Ever wonder what classic proverbs, such as "out of sight, out of mind" mean and where they came from? They're petty little phrases that automatically come out of my mouth, but I've never really stopped to think what their literal definitions are.

Presented, are the origins of each phrase, the definitions, and appropriate usage examples. So next time you say something like "silence is golden", it won't be in the middle of a genuine moment of silence.

An Apple a Day not only defines these universally acknowledged words of wisdom, but also tells you how they came about, who uses them, when to use them, and their significance. There's no point in saying something you don't mean, and certainly no point in saying things you don't know what mean. We have begun to take the beautiful English language for granted because of how naturally it's thrown around, but this book helps reevaluate the importance of our sociable phrases and the history behind them.

Stephanie Loves: "Out of sight, out of mind — The idea that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view." — one of the proverbs that defines my life.

Radical Rating: 9 hearts: Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Save as Draft by Cavanaugh Lee

Save as Draft
Cavanaugh Lee

Page Count: 336
Release Date: 1 February, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher, via Romancing the Book, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you both!!)

A love triangle evolving over e-mails, texts, and Facebook messages that makes you wonder if the things we leave unsaid—or rather unsent—could change the story of our lives.
===========================================
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011
From: Izabell
To: Reader
Subject: Save as Draft
===========================================
Are we Facebook friends yet? I'm the wactress (waitress/actress) turned lawyer who lives her life online. Anyway, I've got this problem. There's this guy Peter. He's my best friend and co-worker, and we just started dating, which is potentially a huge mistake. But that's not all. There's this other guy, Marty from eHarm, and he ran with the bulls in Spain. I can't get him off my mind. What a mess. I'd love your advice if you can take a second out of your crazy, high-tech life. Shoot me an e-mail, text me, or BBM. And friend me if you haven't already! You can find me on Facebook under Save as Draft.

Izabell

What Stephanie Thought: Save as Draft is a charming novel that's bound to leave you hanging and frustrated at end, the very first epistolary fiction piece I've read since Paula Danziger's Snail Mail No More. 

Written entirely in emails, text messages, and Twitter updates, this book is sweepingly honest, as well as full of emotion. There lies a secret thrill in being able to peek inside someone's private life, especially in an era that is so dependent on internet communication.

Cavanaugh Lee does not stop there. The essence of Save as Draft delves even deeper than the privacy of a password-protected email account, because the reader gets the inside scoop on what the characters don't. Emails that have been "saved as draft" or in less-techy terms, written but unsent, are revealed, opening up a whole nother road in knowing what the characters are actually thinking. 

Izzy and Peter, the engaged couple seemingly have everything paved out ahead of them. But miscommunication and too many saved drafts take a toll on the passionate relationship. You'll love reading how their relationship builds, climaxes, and abruptly falls, making you both cringe (because of how closely this hits to home—this might as well be YOUR love life in YOUR email account) and smile (from the wit and the glad-it-wasn't-me! incidents) all within the same page.

I love how the plot  is conveyed through Facebook notifications (Izabell Chin has added you as a friend on Facebook) and eHarmony profiles to develop characters. It's a fun, flirty way to get to know the protagonists and the main conflicts.

The ending made me so mad, but I couldn't have made it any more perfect. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say that it was sort of a tragic ending. Meaning, things do not end happily-ever-after as predicted. The ending is happy yes, just not the way I had thought it would be. Save as Draft is a heartbreakingly realistic novel that demonstrates human error in the ways we never speak what we think... and never think what we speak either.

Stephanie Loves: "I joined eHarmony ... destroy this e-mail at once. I can't believe I'm even telling you. If you ever tell a soul, I will have you murdered by an Italian man with greasy hair whose name is Angelo.

You should totally do eHarm too. Some of these dudes are hot. I'm sure the girls are hot as well. I mean, I'm on there. ;-)"

Radical Rating: 8 hearts: An engaging read; highly recommended. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro

There are some books that make you want to rip your roots out of your head (example), and then there are some that are so easy and breezy to read/comprehend, that you can't keep your hands off it. Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro was a book of the latter description. There's nothing that I like better in a book, than the style it portrays, of "beach read":

Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
Tina Ferraro

Page Count: 240
Release Date: 13 March, 2007
Publisher: Delacorte (Random House)
Source: Received a copy as a gift from the author, with no expectations of a review, let alone a positive one (thank you, Tina!!!)

Sophomore year, Nicolette Antonovich was dumped two days before prom by the hottest guy at school. As a result, she became the proud owner of one unworn, perfectly magical pink vintage dress. But Nic is determined to put that night behind her for good. She's a junior now— older, wiser, and completely overwhelmed by a new set of problems: (1) The bank's ready to foreclose on her childhood home. (2) Her father's too busy with his "replacement" daughter to care. (3) Her best friend's brother is an eternal thorn in her side. (4) Her best friend isn't exactly the rose attached to that thorn. (5) Rumors are flying around school that could get her kicked off the volleyball team, which would (6) ruin all chances of a college scholarship. (7) She still likes the boy who dumped her in the first place. (8) And what in the world do you do with an unworn prom dress, anyway? Strangely, it's getting to the bottom of this last dilemma that just might hold the answer to all Nic's problems.

Tina Ferraro makes reading so fun. Not only was the plot lively and enjoyable, but her style is just so... me. I felt like I was Nic, I felt like I could apply to all the concerns she had.

Every girl has gotten her heart b r o k e n by a guy she's smitten with. Every girl has experienced unrequited love within the high school hierarchy, because there's always that one boy she's in love with, that's put his heart in another girl's hands. Well, that's Nic.

See, she gets asked to prom by the boy of her dreams, but, nightmare of all nightmares: the night of, his out-of-town girlfriend is suddenly so in-town, and she gets stood up. The horror!

But maybe getting stood up by a guy who you've always liked, but never really gotten to know, isn't so bad after all. Maybe it'll give you freedom to do other things, like practice for the volleyball team, or maybe, just maybe, you'll have room to realize that your crush was superficial, and that there's someone else out there, who'll be good to you like they really mean it. And you never know—there just might be a better use for that unworn prom dress (still hanging in your closet), that will make skipping prom all the more worthwhile, that you would never have imagined.

With the quirky and intriguing voice of a distressed high school student that every girl has been, Tina Ferraro creates a fast-paced, heartwarming page-turner that teaches the value of the prettier things in life, and the value of a really nice prom dress too.

Radical Rating: 8 hearts: An engaging read; highly recommended. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

You could tell I felt like really messing around with colors today...and evidently, the review/description colors are inverted. Might keep it this way. Have a marvelous rest of the week!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: The Younger Man by Sarah Tucker

The English really do do it better. I discovered the delightful Sarah Tucker when I first picked up her novel, The Last Year of Being Single. It didn't seem like my type of story, but after reading the first page, I was eager to find out what would happen by the last. When I finished it, I felt sort of changed. I felt like I had to do something; I felt like it wouldn't be quite right for me to just close the book and put it place it on my bookshelf and forget about it forever. So I went online and bought two of her other books. When I was through with them, I contacted her, telling her what a fan I was, and how much I enjoyed her stories. I also asked if she would mind "autographing" the books for me. She doesn't live in the country, so bookplates seemed to be a good idea. She enthusiastically agreed to send me a few, thanking me for being a reader on the way. Two weeks later, I received something in my mailbox, but it wasn't an envelope of bookplates. Sarah had sent me two of her books, two I didn't have, and they were SIGNED! That very same day, I started and finished The Younger Man, and I am thrilled to be able to share my review. It makes me so happy how generous and loving to readers that authors can be these days. This one is for Sarah Tucker:

The Younger Man
Sarah Tucker

Page Count: 272
Release Date: 1 January, 2006
Publisher: Red Dress Ink (Harlequin)
Source: Gifted by author (thank you, darling!!!) in no way expecting a review, let alone a positive one

Does life really begin at forty?

Successful, divorced lawyer Hazel Chamberlayne is sexy, independent and about to hit forty. Hazel also has a group of friends she loves and trusts, who love and trust her... and she doesn't need a man.

Not, that is, until the intelligent, engaging and ten years younger Joe Ryan becomes a new partner in the law firm. It's one thing to spice things up with the occasional passionate indulgence, but in a job where the path of true love runs straight into the divorce courts, Hazel isn't sure she can believe in her own happy ever after.

Though, just like a bikini wax, isn't love supposed to be less painful the second time around?

 

The first idea you get when you read the blurb is "cougartown". It's an idea that seems to be overrated these days, called hot by tabloids like E!News and People magazine. I personally find it annoying because of how "cool" it's made out to be. Why should age differences in relationships be cool? After reading The Younger Man however, I could tell why.

Hazel Chamberlayne is me. I'm not Hazel Chamberlayne, but she's me, she's you, she's every girl who has ever gotten her heart broken. Her love life has been through hell and high water, so at forty, she knows what she wants in life, and it's definitely not a new husband. She's got a beautiful daughter going off to college soon, a tight-knit circle of friends that you and I would both die to have, and is a successful, confident woman with a fantastic high-salary job. She already has a happily-ever-after life, one that began when her marriage ended, so who the hell is Joe Ryan, showing up at her firm like nobody's business? Who the hell is he to make her forget all of that, and to make her want to start over again?

Well, for starters, he's eye candy. Major eye candy. Jaw-dropping, eye-popping, saliva-inducing eye candy. And you know what? This bastard is nice too! And dare I say it—funny! (collective gasp!!).

Before she can tell herself not to fall for this guy, she finds herself falling for him anyway. It's bad enough that's he's so darned perfect; why must he be ten years younger?

I winced, I smiled, I teared up, and I damn near fell out of my set laughing, while reading The Younger Man. Tucker's charming, goofy British style is sure to make you as well. I have to warn you though, there was some pretty funny English lingo that I didn't quite understand, but it wasn't awful; I could figure out most of it by context. I love Sarah/Hazel's voice, though. British people are so suave and cynically hilarious. I enjoyed this one a lot. I also now love them Brits!

Radical Rating: 9 hearts: Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: I So Don't Do Makeup by Barrie Summy

Didn't get this one cheap, but free! It's not an actual copy, and just an Advanced Reading Copy, but I was fortunate enough to snag one from RandomHouse and review it. I outgrew middle age novels when I was about twelve, but I still like to read them for variety. Here's I So Don't Do Makeup by Barrie Summy: 

I So Don't Do Makeup (I So Don't Do Mysteries #3)
Barrie Summy

Page Count: 288
Release Date: 11 May, 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)
Source: Complimentary ARC provided by RandomBuzzers (publisher) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

No one messes with Sherry's mascara! A little cherry lip gloss never hurt anybody, right? That's what I thought until my sleepover. My friends went to bed all happy and moisturized... and woke up with serious skin issues! Luckily, I happen to be pretty good at solving mysteries. Because now I'm skin deep in one.

Someone's tampering with the makeup at the mall kiosk where Amber works, and she needs my help. I'm kind of a crime-solving celebrity. My mom is a ghost (really!), and together we've worked on some important cases.

But I'm tackling this mystery by myself. I'm even going undercover—without makeup—to solve it. That's right, if I'm going to crack this case, I'll have to say... I so don't do makeup.

I really didn't expect to like this book. Just by looking at the cover, you think that it's "just another chick-lit for preteenage wannabees" and then by reading the title, that thought is confirmed. The protagonist, Sherry, considers herself a sleuth (her name's short for Sherlock). In this book's case, she is playing detective to catch the horrible person who's been tainting the makeup at her favorite mall kiosk. I hadn't realized that this book was third in a series of Sherry's adventures. However, I read it fine without reading the first two books, so it makes a great stand-alone novel.

Most of the plot, as you can expect, was all happy-go-lucky. Sherry is thirteen, has a boyfriend, an extensive vocabulary, and an oddly quick thinking process. Yet, she's never worn makeup (before her incidental sleepover), loves glitter, and hates her stepmother. Is she mature, or immature for her age? I'm not quite sure. Also, there are some supernatural elements involved: her mom, who passed away, comes to visit her as a ghost, and Sherry always looks forward to meeting up with her. 

The book is very fast-paced and fairly entertaining. I went through it in about three hours. Nothing fancy to particularly stick in my mind (heck, I'm already forgetting some of it... but in my defense, it's been a few months since I've read it), and it definitely is sort of painful to read at times (everything in Sherry's life is so disgustingly perfect, which bothered me a bit). All the events are things that would never happen in real life because real life never works that accurately. There are almost no surprises in the story, and when there is the teensiest trouble (the face mask caused rashes!), someone always comes to the rescue immediately (of course her stepmom is a health freak who just has soothing cream in her medicine cabinet. Really?). And obviously, the ghost mother thing. Note to author: if you're going to incorporate a ghost in the story, at least make it meaningful and realistic! Sherry's ghost mom only took away from the action!

All in all, it wasn't bad. But it's not something that'll haunt/affect me for the rest of my life either.

Radical Rating:  7 hearts: Not without flaws, but overall enjoyable. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Hope you enjoyed the review!