Review: Rampant

Title: Rampant
Author: Diane Peterfreund
Pages: 406
Rating: 5/5

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . .

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything (www.bn.com).

This book is amazing! This is probably my favorite read so far this year. I read this book in one sitting, only moving from my seat to refill my wine glass, and go to the bathroom! I'm pretty sure my hubby thought I grew roots into the chair. Once I started, I could not put this book down. It was too good! I cannot wait to read the sequel.

Our main character Astrid, is thrown into the world of unicorn hunting when her and her then boyfriend, are attacked one night in the woods. Astrid comes from a long line of unicorn hunters, and throughout the novel, we learn her history and the history of her family. Astrid's mom is a little wacked out, and the one drawback to the novel, but not enough for me to give the book less than five stars.

One reason why I think I really loved this book was the fact that it was unique. So many of the young adult novels today revolve around vampires, werewolves, and fairies. Not that I don't love those books too, but unicorns was something different. Plus, I had always pictured unicorns as My Little Ponies with a horn. Boy, was I wrong.

Another thing that is really cool about this book, is all of the research that author, Diana Peterfreund put into it. Check out her website here. It is chocked full of information about unicorns, plus a summary of the next book in the series.

March in Review

So this post is a bit behind, but I figure better late than never. Reading wise, March was a horrible month for me. I managed to read six books with one DNF, that I hope to one day complete. I just lost my groove and nothing caught my interest. I think I'm over it now, but with the nice weather, I find my reading time cut in half (and obviously my blogging time). There's just so much to do!!

We have a lot we want to do outside, including raising the garden and boxing it in, putting in a new flower bed, plus weeding, mulching and edging the existing beds. We already put up a new shed, put the cover back on our outdoor patio pavilion, and bought new patio furniture (which is so comfortable and I have been living on because the weather has been beautiful). We ended up going with a set with a padded love seat, two side chairs and ottomans. When I get a chance, I'll take pictures and so everyone where I'll be spending my summer :)

We didn't have any luck with the pregnancy efforts this month, but we are starting the process to become foster parents and are looking into adoption. We had another consult with the Drs and the direction we have been taking is not working for us. They are recommending hormone injections (really expensive!) for the best results. Besides the price, our chance of multiples increases from 2% to 20% and that scares the heck out of me. We actually chose to take a break from everything this month and just give ourselves some time to think.

Hope everyone had a wonderful month!

Review: Fried Green Tomatoes

Title: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Author: Fannie Flagg
Pages: 432
Rating: 4.5/5

An American classic resplendent with the charm, grace, and grit of all good southern literature, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is Fannie Flagg’s enduring tale of the beloved folks who live in a small Alabama town. At its center are some truly remarkable women, connected by a place and a generosity of spirit grounded in family, good friends, and good food.

The story begins in 1985 with the friendship between shy, middle-aged Evelyn Couch, sadly aware she’s gotten “lost along the way,” and Ninny Threadgoode, an eighty-seven-year-old resident of the Rose Terrace Nursing Home in Birmingham. Evelyn soaks up the older woman’s stories of Whistle Stop, Alabama, where Ninny’s irrepressible sister-in-law Idgie and Idgie’s friend Ruth ran a cafe–the center of life in this small town. Indeed, it is the story of wild, wonderful Idgie, and her big sense of humor and bigger heart, that give Evelyn the courage to find her own happiness (www.bn.com).

Fried Green Tomatoes is my absolute, all time, favorite movie. I don't know why I've waited so many years to read the book. It was amazing.

I've never read any novels by Fannie Flagg, but I have definitely found a new favorite author. Her writing style totally captures that down home southern feel that brings her characters and stories to life. I was blown away by the writing in this book. One thing I learned while reading this book, is that the movie is actually a much milder version of the book, and like most things, I enjoyed the book even more than the movie.

Like the movie, my favorite character in the book is Ruth. She's such a complex character who touches the lives of so many. She always touched my heart in the movie and she's done the same in the book. Ruth's life because quite complicated when she chooses to marry a man who doesn't respect her and treats her like a piece of garbage. He's arrogant and abusive and the best thing she ever does is to leave him. In doing so, she makes a wonderful life with Idgie, and we get to see how she influences all of Whistle Stop.

Fried Green Tomatoes is a wonderful feel good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who just wants to take an afternoon and get away!!

Here's a preview for the movie, which I also recommend to everyone!

Review: Aunt Dimity's Good Deed

Title: Aunt Dimity's Good Deed
Author: Nancy Atherton
Pages: 276
Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to Aunt Dimity, Lori Shepherd was lucky enough to have had a fairy-tale courtship complete with a Handsome Prince and a cozy, honey-colored castle in which he popped the question. It all happened so quickly, so effortlessly, that Lori fell in love with her blue-blooded prince before she really knew who he was. And maybe that's where she made her first mistake. Now married for two years to said prince - Bill Willis, a workaholic lawyer who is, she admits, "honest and scrupulously considerate about his socks" - Lori finds herself inconsolably depressed. She loves Bill dearly but all he does is work, work, work - even their honeymoon was interrupted by a flurry of faxes. And to make her feel even worse, her busybody aunts-in-law keep badgering her about when they will have a new little Willis! But how will that ever happen if she never even sees her husband?

Seeking to recapture the romance in her young marriage, Lori plans a second honeymoon at Aunt Dimity's English cottage. But at the last minute, Bill, true to form, can't make it, so Lori's reliable as-the-sunrise father-in-law stands in (how romantic!) - only to disappear minutes after their arrival, with Lori's pink flannel bunny, Reginald, in tow. Inspired by Aunt Dimity and accompanied by her very precocious twelve-year-old friend Nell, Lori packs the car and sets off on a backroads search for Willis, Sr. Nell proves herself a helpful guide (keeping Lori on the right side of the road!) as well as a mistress of disguise, while Lori finds herself aghast at her own unseemly attraction to Bill's dashing English cousin, Gerald. Soon Lori, Nell, and the ghostly Aunt Dimity find themselves at the center of a centuries-old Willis family scandal that, if revealed, could mean the end of life as they know it, for Willises on both sides of the Atlantic (bn.com).

Lori is really struggling with her life. Her husband Bill, who was the world's sweetest man when they first met, has turned into the biggest workaholic on the planet. To make matters even worse, Lori is feeling incredible amounts of pressure to have a baby and she can't figure out how that will ever happen when Bill's never home!

Lori plans a second honeymoon, hoping the time away from the office and the fresh England air will due Bill a world of good. However, things quickly go down hill, when Bill is called away on business and Lori makes the trip with her father in law. Then to make matters worse, Willis Sr disappears on a wild goose chase trailed by none other than Aunt Dimity and Lori's flannel bunny Reginald!

Lori sets out with Nell, Emma and Derek's daughter in tow and always seem to fall one step behind Willis, Sr. But along the way, they met several family members of the English side of the family and mysteries and secrets abound. Furthermore, the whole situation is complicated by Gerald Willis, Bill's dashing English cousin who seems to take a liking to Lori.

There's nothing I like more than family drama! And boy this book had it all...secret affairs, murder, mystery and mayhem. It was great to see how it all fit together, and how Aunt Dimity touched the lives of others. I just cannot seem to get enough of this great series and hope that it continues to be this enjoyable!

Review: Aunt Dimity and the Duke

Title: Aunt Dimity and the Duke
Author: Nancy Atherton
Pages: 288
Rating: 5/5

Emma Porter is forty, fat, frumpy, and a passionate amateur gardener. When her longtime lover dumps her for a younger woman, Emma escapes the cloying sympathy of family and friends by setting out on a summer-long driving tour of England 's glorious gardens. A Dimity-contrived coincidence brings her to Penford Hall, a sprawling Gothic mansion in Cornwall , where the Duke of Penford is awaiting a miracle. An ancient artifact known as the Lady's lantern must light of its own accord or the Penford line will come to an end--but the lantern is missing.

Convinced there's more than one mystery to solve at Penford Hall, Emma accepts the Duke's invitation to stay on and restore the once-glorious chapel garden to its former beauty. The dark rumors surrounding the death of rock star Lex Rex, who drowned five years ago in the Duke's yacht, and the suspicious near-death of the Duke's beautiful, supercilious cousin, set Emma--with Aunt Dimity's ghostly guidance--on the path to Penford Hall's secrets and the discovery of unexpected love (aunt-dimity.com).

Once I got over the fact that this book would make no mention of Lori or the Willis family, I really enjoyed it. This book actually takes place before the time of Aunt Dimity's Death, and tells the story of Lori's numbers at Dimity's cottage in Finch.

We are first introduced to Emma and Derek in Aunt Dimity's Death. Emma had completely redone the garden, and Derek was in charge of all the home renovations. Also, it is mentioned several times throughout the book about an incident that happened at a chapel in Penford Harbor. Well, this book tells the story of that chapel and it was really well written and a great read.

I really enjoyed the character of Emma. She is so uncertain of herself in the beginning of the novel, and not really happy with her life. She's convinced herself that all is right in her world, and heads out on a journey to see all the famous gardens in England. After a chance encounter with the Pym sisters, Emma finds herself a guest of the Duke of Penford Hall. There she is asked to redo the garden for an old chapel that holds great meaning to both the Duke and the town of Penford.

Derek, and his two children Nell and Peter are also at the hall, hired to make some renovations on the property. Derek is still grieving the loss of his first wife, and his children are hiding a big secret from him. It takes both the hall and Emma to make him see what is really going on in his life.

One thing I loved about this novel, was the mystery and the intrigue surrounding this massive hall. Even the Duke and his loyal servants come across as a bit creepy and secretive. Towards the end of the book, this was really a page turner, and I couldn't wait to find out the answer to the mystery. The twists and turns made for a great surprise at the end!

Review: Aunt Dimity's Death

Title: Aunt Dimity's Death

Author: Nancy Atherton

Pages: 244

Rating: 4.5/5

When Lori Shepherd was a little girl she used to lie in bed at night with a stuffed rabbit named Reginald and listen to her mother's stories of the indomitable Aunt Dimity, who lived in far-off England . But now Lori is a newly divorced, down-on-her-luck grown-up, her mother is dead, and Lori's long since realized that Aunt Dimity was just a character in a comforting bedtime story.

Or was she? One day the bedraggled Lori is summoned from the latest of her dreadful temp jobs to the Dickensian law firm of Willis & Willis. There Willises Junior and Senior inform her that Aunt Dimity was indeed a real person--a very rich real person who's just died and left Lori a respectable bequest. Unfortunately, there's one catch: Lori must visit Aunt Dimity's English cottage and find a secret hidden among the treasure trove of letters written by her mother and Dimity over the four decades of their friendship.

What begins as a fairy tale in an improbably cozy setting becomes a mystery--and a ghost story--as Aunt Dimity's gentle spirit leads Lori on an unotherworldly quest that Dimity could not fulfill in her own lifetime. And for Lori, Dimity's bequest is even greater than she dreamed, as she discovers that in this life, true love can conquer all (aunt-dimity.com).


What a great start to a really cute series!! I really liked Lori, and instantly feel in love with Aunt Dimity. I flew through this book, and can't wait to read more of the series.

I'm new to this whole cozy mystery thing, and I do enjoy a bit of murder and intrigue in my mysteries, but I found the premise of this book to be just what I was looking for. This is the type of book that you can curl up with beside a warm fire, wrapped up in your favorite blanket and get lost in. I loved the descriptions of the Dimity's gardens, and found myself longing to take a trip to England to enjoy the English countryside.

One thing that I thought made this book, was Bill Willis and his father William Willis Sr. This father and son team of lawyers are so sweet, and Bill's love for Lori is adorable. I'm looking forward to reading more about this relationship in coming books. Also, I think William Willis Sr is one of the cutest older gentleman characters I've read about in a long time. He truly cares about Lori and what happens to her.

I've already finished the next two books in the series, and should have the reviews up today. What I'm wondering is, are there more series out there written with the same type of style as these? Like I said, I don't know much about cozy mysteries, but I really am enjoying them, and I'd like to here your recommendations for other series I might enjoy also.

I'm alive.. :)

Hello all! I am indeed alive, I was just down for the count for a while. I was struck with the most horrendous stomach flu two weeks ago that pretty much wiped me out. It's only been in the last few days that I've started to get my energy back. I'm behind on my book reviews, and I have a movie review to write up too. I'm hoping to get that done today, because the only other thing on my agenda is a haircut!

I can't wait to catch up with everyone and I've missed blogging and glad to be back and feeling better!!