Book of the Month - April

We are hosting a monthly event called "Book of the Month". This is done to highlight of one the books that you have read in the previous month.

 This will enable us to comment form one blog to another. Books you recommend for others to read. Hope you guys will join us. We would love to see your favorite book of the month.

"Book of the Month" is a monthly event hosted by Book Whales and this happens to be the first month. Every month after "Book of the Month" will be done at the end of the month. 

My Book of the Month (April): My Book of the Month was Perfect by Ellen Hopkins.

Summary: Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect? A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves. 

You can check out my review here.

Numbers Make the World Go Round

Cosmic Numbers: The Numbers That Define Our Universe by James D. Stein

Summary: In Cosmic Numbers, mathematics professor James D. Stein traces the discovery, evolution, and interrelationships of the numbers that define our world. Everyone knows about the speed of light and absolute zero, but numbers like Boltzmann’s constant and the Chandrasekhar limit are not as well known, and they do far more than one might imagine: They tell us how this world began and what the future holds. Much more than a gee-whiz collection of facts and figures, Cosmic Numbers illuminates why particular numbers are so important—both to the scientist and to the rest of us.

Review: An informative book about the part that numbers and math play in our world. 

The author is a mathematician, not a physicist or an astronomer, so he sometimes does not know or understand the physics or science behind the cosmic numbers. He does admit to not knowing certain things and not being able to explain, but it is a bit annoying. I'm sure he could have found someone to ask and it feels like a cop out. The numbers lose some of their import if we do not know what makes them so important to science, physics, and our daily lives. Stein has done some fascinating research and the reader learns a lot about the back stories behind the numbers. 

A healthy variety of numbers are covered and the chapters are very informative yet brief enough to keep one's interest. One or two of the math formulas are a bit complex, but for all the math formulas (except one), the author provides examples and shows how he got to the formulas. To me, physics is such a fascinating topic because it uses both math and science to explain the world. This book demonstrates just how important math and cosmic numbers are to life as we know it. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend to those interested in math, science, or physics. 

Shortest Reign in History

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir

Summary: Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey–“the Nine Days’ Queen” –a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.

The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn’s beheading and the demise of Jane’s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. With the premature passing of Jane’ s adolescent cousin, and Henry’s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor. 

Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.

Review: A tragic tale told through many eyes.

This book is told through the first person view many characters and a couple are only used a few times. I would say that a lot of liberty is taken with the thoughts and emotions of some of the characters, especially the parents. But this liberty (and no one truly knows the innermost thoughts of the historical figures that the characters are) adds to the emotional depth of the story. It also allows the reader to see how the plot to put Jane on the throne progresses. Lady Jane Grey is an incredibly tragic figure and I still find it incredible she was on the throne for only nine days.

Jane is portrayed as a very sympathetic character, but I still couldn't help the fact that I wanted to smack some sense into her. I know children was supposed to be obedient to their parents, but Jane had no spine. She was very learned, but didn't have much common sense. She would fight over silly things and give in over big things. I have read one other book about Lady Jane Grey and that book, along with this book, have her personality significantly changing making her a stronger person once she takes the throne. I wasn't able to buy that though. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this to those interested in the Tudors or historical fiction about royalty.

Now That I'm Done School...

Since I am done graduate school, I'll have so much more free time.

What I Plan On Doing:

• Read more (obviously!!)
• Add pages to my blog
• Participate in more book blog tours
• Do author interviews and guest posts
• Participate in more book memes
• Create a book challenge for my blog
• Join other blog book challenges
• Try to finish my challenges on Goodreads
• Try to read more books from tbr shelf on Goodreads
• Play video games again (up first is Mass Effect 3 and Persona 3)
• Learn some crafts (currently knitting and latch hooking)

Black Oil, Red Blood Blog Tour

Black Oil, Red Blood by Diane Castle

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review. 

Summary: The thing about cancer is it’s hard to prove somebody gave it to you on purpose—but Chloe Taylor can prove it. In fact, she proves it for a living. She sues oil refineries that would rather save a buck than comply with safety regulations designed to do important things like, you know, keep people alive.

Chloe had a successful career until circumstances forced her to move to the bass-ackwards town of Kettle, Texas (human population: 4,000; gun population: 34,356). Big Oil industry giant PetroPlex employs half of Kettle’s population, and there’s no question the judge in the town’s got oil stains on his hands. It’s no wonder she’s been on a losing streak lately. She suspects she’s been litigating on an uneven playing field, but when her star expert witness turns up dead less than 48 hours before a make-or break hearing, she knows.

What she doesn’t know is the key piece of information that got her expert killed. It turns out PetroPlex is harboring a shocking secret—one that has the potential to skyrocket gasoline prices, spark an energy market meltdown, and trigger riots, chaos, death, and destruction on a global scale. Chloe must discover the secret and expose the villains before she is permanently silenced, all while juggling a troublesome ex-fiancé and a tantalizing new flame along the way.

Review: An action packed story with likable characters and delicious justice.

This book starts out simply enough. Chloe is the prosecuting lawyer on a case against PetroPlex (I couldn't help but thinking of BP as PetroPlex when I read this book) when her expert witness ends up dead. Obviously someone had him killed to keep him quiet since he knew too much. I believed it was PetroPlex who killed him to keep him quiet. Chloe starts to investigate and the repercussions of her actions manages to ensnare and involve almost the whole damn town. A conspiracy is at work and the bodies start to pile up. The plot does get a tad ridiculous at times, but it was very entertaining. 

The characters were a big part of this book. I loved the sad irony of Chloe wearing designer clothes and eating ramen every night for dinner. She was strong, compassionate, and, especially important, was smart about her ex-fiance. Nash was the strong, but not totally silent type. I enjoyed the blossoming romance between Nash and Chloe. Miles had to be my favorite though. He could be a little over the top, but his reactions to his situation were very funny. Despite the serious nature of this book, the characters and their interplay had me laughing a number of times. 

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that enjoy legal fiction, thrillers, or stories where politics play a large role. 

He's A Jerk and She's A Moron

Angel In a Red Dress by Judith Ivory

Summary: Beautiful, level-headed Christina Bower has every reason to avoid Adrien Hunt. He is an earl, while she is of common birth—he will never offer marriage. He is a man of intrigue, perhaps playing both sides in a most perilous game. Worst of all, the arrogant, lethally charming rogue revels in his reputation as libertine, unrepentant of the many bedchambers through which he's romped and the many hearts he's broken.

Yet the warmth of his breath on her cheek makes her knees weak— though Adrien would never admit that his pursuit of sensible, lovely Christina goes beyond mere desire alone. Does she dare submit to the irresistible devil's practiced seductions? Does she dare enter Adrien's dangerous world—and if she surrenders to it, will he only break her heart, too?

Review: A book so bad that I actually wished that the hero had died. 

This book was certainly not what I expected. The summary and the prologue made it seem that this would be a standard man woos woman. And it did start out that way, but the first chapter quickly dissuaded me of that opinion. Three years are skipped between the prologue and the first chapter. You eventually more about the situation, but it was still jarring. The other two parts of the book do skip some time, but not as much as the first part. 

The first part was the most decent and most like an actual romance novel. Christina (who is not level headed) becomes Adrien's mistress (but it's ok since she was previously married and not a virgin). Why is that women in romance books lose all brain function when a man touches you? There are too many instances of Christina saying no to Adrien and Adrien doesn't stop, but she "gives in" because his touch feels good. I wanted to bash Christina over the head. The second part finds Adrien and Christina in France and turns from a romance to a lesson in French history and politics. Adrien is still an ass. I sincerely wished that Adrien would die and that Christina would come to her senses. But alas, I was not so lucky.

Rating:






Recommendation: I cannot recommend this book.

Emmy: The Physics Wonder Dog

How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog by Chad Orzel

Summary: Physics professor Chad Orzel and his inquisitive canine companion, Emmy, tackle the concepts of general relativity in this irresistible introduction to Einstein’s physics. Through armchair—and sometimes passenger-seat—conversations with Emmy about the relative speeds of dog and cat motion or the logistics of squirrel-chasing, Orzel translates complex Einsteinian ideas—the slowing of time for a moving observer, the shrinking of moving objects, the effects of gravity on light and time, black holes, the Big Bang, and of course, E=mc2—into examples simple enough for a dog to understand. A lively romp through one of the great theories of modern physics, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about space, time, and anything else you might have slept through in high school physics class.

Review: An informative yet somewhat cutesy way to learn physics.

It was a cute concept to have the professor explain physics to his dog, but it got old after a while. It wouldn't have been so bad if Emmy hadn't interjected at various points during the chapter. It broke up the flow of the chapters. The interactions were funny and I did laugh at loud at times, but it somehow cheapened the book. Yes, I know it's the title of the book, but the interactions between the author and Emmy should have been kept the beginning and minimized in the rest of the chapter. 

I had some trouble at first with special relativity. I know the basic concepts behind it and I felt that the author did not explain them too well and often used very convoluted examples. Sometimes the pictures and diagrams hindered understanding versus the purely verbal. It is a somewhat hard concept to understand. I like general relativity better and the author does a better job of explaining it. This book was mainly a review for me, but I did learn some new information. I liked this enough to be willing to give the author's other teach dog to physics books. 

Rating:







Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those with an interest in physics or to those who wish to learn more about general and special relativity.