Freedom from Toxic Relationships: Avril Carruthers

Pages: Paperback, 272 pages

Published: Expected publication: April 1st 2012 by Independent Pub Group

Genre: New Age/ Fiction/Spiritual

Date Finished: 31^st December 2011

Rating/ Recommendation: 3 stars ***

Synopsis:

A guide to the tools needed to leave painful, destructive relationships behind, both at home and at work, with dozens of helpful case histories Starting with details of how to recognize the manipulative or sweetly corrosive partner, the family dynamics that make Christmas and other get-togethers hell, and the nightmare boss, this book teaches readers what they can do to leave painful, destructive relationship patterns behind. Toxic relationships come in many guises, which can make them hard to identify. This guide explains that often they don't entail physical violence so much as a slow erosion of self esteem, a loss of personal identity, or a growing desire to please friends, partners, family members, and others who are impossible to please. Many toxic relationships begin early in childhood, or as people start to form their own personal relationships, and even when they find the courage to move on, if the fallout from these relationships is not dealt with, they may end up attracting more of the same. This book teaches how to observe these patterns in relationships, making it possible to truly move on.

Review:

I picked this book up feeling like it was a support sign from the universe. Id’ been having a lot of trouble coming to terms with why the past few years I haven’t been able to find my true self and after once again falling for a friend malicious and hurtful manipulations I was ready to seek professional help. It came at the wrong time of the year so when I walked into the library and saw this book, I decided it was a good sign I was making the right decisions in clearing away toxicity in my life.

While the concept of cords and their connections that cross between the living world and ethereal and spirit world, there wasn’t really anything revolutionary that I haven’t already read about before or know inside myself to be true. In regards to the toxic relationships, I felt the information was more common sense to me. It is hard to break the vicious cycle and I would like to look into cord clearing myself at some stage.

I would recommend this for people interested in learning more about the connections we create as humans to animals, people, objects and place and for those interested in learning about a different way to think spiritually.

Almost New Years !!!

Wow 2011 already over? I must say this year has been a crazy one and for many reasons – mostly bookish. I think my collection has more than doubled, on account of the first few months of the year being high buying with my impulse to ‘Must have’ books. I am only hoping 2012 will be the great year of reading and getting those books off my shelf, and less buying – ah practicing more self restraint.

Next year I am participating in a few challenges, ones that will interconnect with each other, often crossing paths and easing my mind. These will be listed below and there is a link to these on the right hand bar, as well as to my own self created challenge- Chick Lit related.

I am more than excited to get started on next year’s reading list and know that if I want to reach my goal this year I will need to up the ante and start reading more and spend less time on the internet. I will need to be at least finishing books within 3 days, although I do know with some books that it isn’t possible and in those times I will let it be what it is. Along with that I kick start the year with my Chunky book on the month – The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn and from my off the shelf challenge combining with many others – Falling Under by Gwen Hayes.

I have two stray books from my challenge this year that I won’t be adding to this year’s list or next years, but will be doing reviews on which is Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani and Freedom from Toxic Relationships by Avril Carruthers ;Both which are taking forever to read, but need that time to take in. This is a first for me not to panic and force myself to finish these before midnight. With everything going on right now I wouldn’t mind a night off and I cannot wait till the clock turns over so I can settle down for a great read. [That is if I am home by midnight]

So here’s to a good year of reading and blogging. I am hoping to be going back to college next year and maybe even find that Job I am searching for. The right balance. I need it. Good Luck all you readers and bloggers out there and let me know what your reading goals are for January. Thank you for your support.

Challenges in 2012:

· TBR Pile

· Zombie Challenge

· Sophomore Challenge

· Harry Potter

· Off the Shelf

· Horror and Urban Fantasy

· Speculative Romance

· Chick-lit Challenge

· 100 books

· Y.A Contemporary

Wow a lot I know but I have a good feeling it will be a wonderful year.

Xx Blair

Someday Angeline - Louis Sachar

Pages: 192

Published: March 31st 2007 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (first published May 1st 1983)

Genre: Middle Grade/ Contemporary

Date Finished: 30^th December 2011

Rating/ Recommendation: Yes- I would recommend this book.

Synopsis:

Nobody understands why Angeline is so smart. She could read the first time she picked up a book, she can play the piano without ever having had a lesson, and she even knows what the weather is going to be. But being smart is causing Angeline nothing but trouble. The mean kids in school call her a freak, her teacher finds her troublesome, and even her own father doesn't know what to do with an eight-year-old girl who seems to be a genius. Angeline doesn't want to be either a genius or a freak. She just wants the chance to be herself and be happy. But it's only when she makes friends with a boy the kids call "Goon" and the teacher they call "Mr. Bone" that Angeline gets that chance.

Review:

I think I was one of the very few people who didn’t read this book when I was a child, or if I did I haven’t got the memory of it. But when I was looking through my local library for something I could carry around with me when I needed something light to read I found Someday Angeline. I don’t know what I was expecting, but to begin with it read like a typical children’s story that was a little to juvenile foe me and I definitely wanted something more, and something more was what I got when I read Someday Angeline.

I really enjoy the story, although for the most part I wanted to punch the adults in the face. I cannot stand it when an adult feels inferior to a child and acts like a child, dumbing their intelligence and capabilities down just because they need to be the powerful one. Feel like a big man, or woman? I always ask and it pained me to see Angeline suffer so much at the hands and words of these people.

I enjoyed the quirky nature of this book and would recommend it for all children. It is a great story of perseverance and having faith in one’s self despite the odds. Definitely a great quick read if you come across it and if you do let me know your thoughts.

Eve- Anna Carey

Pages: 318

Published: December 1st 2011 by HarperCollins/ Harper Teen

Genre: Dystopian/ Y.A

Date Finished: 29^th Decemeber 2011

Rating/Recommendation: 5 stars *****

Synopsis:

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life

Review:

I had been battling with myself whether to pick up Eve since it came out in my local stores.

Apart from falling instantly in love with the cover, the plot sounded promising, although similar to a novel I had recently picked up. Not to mention the cost of paperbacks in Australia is robbery. It wasn’t until I watched a review by Richard Denney that I decided that I had to read it.

Eve is a bomb rights from the get go. One of those novels that you hear the warnings and once you’ve started reading it there is no turning back. It is fast paced, raw and while I was reading it I felt like I was watching a movie. It was so easy to read I was turning pages faster than my eyes could travel.

For the longest time the fact that Eve was a Valedictorian seemed to encapsulate her personality, and that was all she was. Smart, naïve and beautiful but then as the truth came full circle and her place in New America was revealed, it finally made sense why there was such emphasis on it and let me tell you I never saw that coming and I loved it.

Eve is one of those characters you both want to slap and hug both at the same time, and I loved her journey, but I really honestly enjoyed all the characters, especially the dugout boys and Caleb who is so sweet, and a savior in a time when men are violent and brute [what has changed?] There was one scene in particular with really showed the true colors of many characters and it almost had me in tears for each character grew getting to know Arden and Eve and I loved getting to know everyone of them, even the King; who fascinated me to know end.

There were times when reading this book that I felt my heart beating so fast and my skin crawling. There is honestly no better feeling than reading a book that craws under your skin and into your heart and mind and makes you question humanity and the choices we chose to make, as well as the ones that are dangerously made for us.

I am not one to read a lot of Dystopian, although I do have a lot on my shelves, but I really loved the barren landscape. There is something dirty, and raw even in the aftermath of death that makes me so much more grateful for the resources that we have, and I am not talking about technology. A lot of humans have lost the resources and strength for survival, and I really enjoyed reading about Eve’s journey from being a brainwashed prisoner without choices, to really experiencing life in all its darkness and light.

The last chapters were a little strange for me. In a world created on control with little resources I found it some parts hard to digest and they didn’t make a great deal of rational sense to me; Especially Caleb’s mode of transport. However it was all explained in the end, and it tore my heart apart truly.

I would recommend this book to lovers of Dystopian who like a small amount of romance that doesn’t dominate the whole plot. I will without a doubt be reading the next book in the trilogy - Once -when it comes out. It’s expected due date is July 3^rd 2012 [ Yay near my birthday]

Marked- P.C & Kristin Cast - House of Night # 1

· Pages: 348

· Published: January 15th 2009 by ATOM (first published May 1st 2007)

· Genre: Paranormal/ Y.A

· Date Finished: 22^nd December 2011

· Rating/ Recommendation: 3 Stars ***

Synopsis:

After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them)

Review:

I always wonder whether my mood affects a book when I am reading it, because I started out this book with less than high hopes and I was pleasantly surprised that I was enjoying the first 30 pages or so, and then from there it went downhill; which really pissed me off.

Before some haters come along, I want it to be clear that I didn’t expect Marked to be anything amazing and it did have its pro’s. It is obvious that the authors have done some research and are passionate about mythology, but I am sure I am not alone when I say that it read like similar to a lot of novels to begin with and just took far too long to get to the freaking point.

To be honest I am really anti-religious smothering and her parents annoyed the living shit out of me, so I was on her side from the start, but for me while I was reading it the story became more about everyone else and there was way too much inner dialogue about pointless things that were just obvious. It just lacked that buzz, the need to keep reading to find out what’s going to happen to Zoey, her friends and her enemies.

Call me a stickler, but even though I do enjoy a good vampire novel, I am tired of the old hackney selfish, childish, weak female protagonists. And their top notch hoe bags enemies. Give me something new. Because once I passed the first 40 pages I just didn’t give a crap about the main character all too much. That was until the last hundred pages, when the plot picked up and the story got to the point. I found it addictive reading and it started warming towards characters Zoey included [ Even though her choice of cursing really started to get on my nerves- who says poopie?] and I am keen to read more about her in future novels, something I must admit I was adamant I wasn’t going to do until third way through.

Scarily enough I actually started respecting Zoey, she proved herself to be not only a likable character, but one that I could resonate with and she really stood her ground and didn’t take shit from anyone, which is hard in the human world. I cannot imagine how hard it would be when you’re not only going through DNA change, but realizing that you are not just a vampire, but something so much more than that. And that’s what excited me the most about this novel.

I know a lot of people, me included wanted to give up on this novel, but I am glad I didn’t. I would say for those curious about the series, give it a try. It does take a while to get to the point, but I think for the unique plot twists it is worth it for an easy read.

Will I continue with the series? Yes I think I will, but not straight away.