Posts Tagged ‘August 2010’

Title: Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart
Author: Beth Pattillo
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Guideposts
Year: 2010
Pages: 263

Acquired via Link + at my lovely neighborhood on campus library.  I’m reading this book for the Everything Austen II Challenge at Stephanie’s Written Word.

England.  I have very recently discovered that I kind of love all things British.  And maybe, in the future, I might like to live over there.  I love the accents.  And the tea.  And the history.  There is just so many wonderful things.

And in Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart I got the wonderful opportunity to travel to England with Claire Prescott in order to attend a seminar at Oxford on Pride and Prejudice.  And the academic in me couldn’t help but squeal in delight at the premise of this book.  While Claire is no academic herself–she is merely going in her sister, Missy’s place; Claire is still the perfect heroine to embark on this amazing and life-changing journey.

And for Claire, everything has to go wrong before she can find her happy ending.  A strange old woman approaches her claiming to have the lost first manuscript of Pride and Prejudice, First Impressions.  Claire, feeling out of her element in the strange world of academia, is not sure what to make of the manuscript.  But once she starts reading the pages, she is enthralled.  The story is strikingly different from the Pride and Prejudice that we all have read and loved.

As if that isn’t enough, there is a man with striking similarities to Mr. Darcy.  Although Claire doesn’t get the allure of Mr. Darcy, she is drawn to James Beaufort.  But she already has a boyfriend back home, Neil.  But like all relationships, Neil and Claire have some issues.  Most of them are related to the issues that Claire has with her sister, issues that Claire is terrified to face or admit to (and many of them are painfully related to the death of her parents when she was only 18 years old).

This book definitely explores some of Austen’s themes and how they relate to modern times.  Is Mr. Darcy really all that he’s cracked up to be?  Is he the kind of guy that women she be looking for?  Is happily ever after really attainable or do we sometimes have to settle a little to find happiness in any given moment?  While Austen’s novels are a far cry from fairy tales, they still seem to set women up in some ways for an unattainable romance.  Today’s men are not created like the men in Austen novels, but that doesn’t necessarily make them any less worthwhile.  If you like a good romance, or a book that explores romance, than this is definitely a book you’ll enjoy.  I know I certainly did!

Title: Damsel Under Stress (Book 3 in the Enchanted, Inc series)
Author: Shanna Swendson
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 2007
Pages: 306
Acquired via the Link+ system at my friendly neighborhood library.

These books are becoming more and more irresistible to me in the worst possible way.  The last book irritated me beyond believe, but the ending hinted that there would be more of dreamy wizard Owen Palmer, so I had no choice but to read on …

And I was right, this book had it’s fair share of the handsome yet mysterious and extremely nerdy Owen.  But Katie didn’t seem to learn her lesson.  And while I adored her Southern charm in the first book, Enchanted, Inc., it has been wearing on me and I couldn’t really stand it any longer in this installment.  I kind of wanted to slap Katie and shake her until she realized that she was being kind of stupid.  But I guess when you’re living in the midst of a magical war that you’re trying to keep from your very best friends and family, things can get a little muddled.

And if things didn’t get shaken up a little, this book wouldn’t be possible.  And the adventurous aspects that I felt were missing in the last book were definitely present in this one.  We get a lot more magical mayhem; possibly more than we might actually want.  But the gem of this book is the blossoming love story. I only wish after reading this book that Owen Palmer was a real man.  I love it when a book can make you fall for its leading man.  Again, I also loved the glimpses of city life in New York, especially since this time we got to see New York around Christmas time.

While this book had its flaws, I was still frantically turning the pages to find out what would happen next.  I’m definitely going to be picking up the next installment, Don’t Hex with Texas very soon so I can find out what happens next.

Title: The Game On Diet
Authors: Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson
Genre: Nonfiction, Health and Fitness
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Year: 2009
Pages: 352
This book was acquired for my iPad from the iBooks store.

I have to admit that I have some serious body issues.  I’ve had these issues since the sixth grade.  I always compared my body to other girls and the other girls always had an advantage.  When I was figure skating, I had amazing legs, but my abs weren’t toned enough.  And when I quit figure skating, everything seemed to go downhill from there.  And college has not been good to me.  The late night study sessions have turned into outrageous snackfests that have left me at my heaviest weight ever.  And I’m not a total couch potato either, I hit the gym several times a week.  So I knew that I needed to find a diet that would force me to focus on improving my horrible eating habits.

This book does just that.  Although it is a diet plan, The Game On Diet is designed to be more of a game than a diet.  You get points for making healthy choices.  Brian and I are currently playing against each other: if he loses, he buys me a pair of shoes and if I lose, I buy him a video game.  Let me tell you, we are both motivated.  And that is what is great about this book: it motivates you in several ways instead of just one.  And so far, it seems to be working.  I miss my sweet deserts, but I’m sure that when I fit into my skinny jeans again, I won’t be complaining.

And the book was actually fun to read!  Who knew that a diet book could have you literally laughing out loud.  Maybe it is because Krista Vernoff is a writer on Grey’s Anatomy, one of my favorite shows possibly ever.  Her witty humor shines in this book and actually made me read it from beginning to end (most diet books bore me to death and end up sitting on my bookshelf unfinished!).  But not this one.  I have actually reread section of this book because they were either extremely helpful or they were just that funny.

So the verdict is that I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with body issues.  It is not a cure all, but it is definitely a step in the right direction and one that I’m really excited to be finally making!  Also, if anyone wants to set up a game with me in the future, I’d love to play with a team.  Brian and I decided it would be the most convenient to just play our first game against each other, but I would love to try it out from the team perspective in the future!