BOOK REVIEW: Arranged, by Catherine McKenzie

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Kristilyn

RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2012
AUTHOR LINKS: WEB / TWITTER / GOODREADS / FACEBOOK
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Canada
FORMAT: Paperback
SOURCE: Purchased
BUY NOW FROM: Amazon

Anne Blythe has a great life: a good job, good friends, and a potential book deal for her first novel. When it comes to finding someone to share it with, however, she just can’t seem to get it right.

After yet another relationship ends, Anne comes across a business card for what she thinks is a dating service, and she pockets it just in case. When her best friend, Sarah, announces she’s engaged, Anne can’t help feeling envious. On an impulse, she decides to give the service a try because maybe she could use a little assistance in finding the right man. But Anne soon discovers the company isn’t a dating service; it’s an exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriage service. She initially rejects the idea, but the more she thinks about it-and the company’s success rate-the more it appeals to her. After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world, so why wouldn’t it work for her?

A few months later, Anne is travelling to a Mexican resort, where in one short weekend she will meet and marry Jack. And against all odds, it seems to be working out-until Anne learns that Jack, and the company that arranged their marriage, are not what they seem at all.

MY REVIEW

Ever since I finished reading Catherine McKenzie’s wonderful novel, Spin, I was itching to get my hands on some more of her books. It’s always so great to find a gem of a Canadian writer that I felt I had to snatch up everything she had to offer! When I was wandering through the bookstore the other day, waiting for the longest mechanic appointment ever, I picked up a copy of Arranged, which was just released in Canada at the beginning of this month. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: Touch of Power (Healer, #1), by Maria V. Snyder

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Kristilyn

RELEASE DATE: December 20, 2011
AUTHOR LINKS: WEB / GOODREADS / FACEBOOK
PUBLISHER: Mira (an imprint of Harlequin)
FORMAT: Paperback
SOURCE: Library
BUY NOW FROM: Amazon

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life…

MY REVIEW

We all have those books. You know what I’m talking about. Those books that everyone is raving about, those books that make you want to desperately see what all the fuss is about, those books that make you come *this close* to caving on your book-buying ban when the library wait list bodes to be a little too long. Continue reading →

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Happy Accidents, by Jane Lynch

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Kristilyn

RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011
AUTHOR LINKS: TWITTER / GOODREADS
PUBLISHER: Hyperion
FORMAT: Audiobook
SOURCE: Library
CHALLENGE: 2012 Mixing It Up Challenge – Biography
BUY NOW FROM: Amazon

NARRATOR: Jane Lynch

In the summer of 1974, a fourteen-year-old girl in Dolton, Illinois, had a dream. A dream to become an actress, like her idols Ron Howard and Vicki Lawrence. But it was a long way from the South Side of Chicago to Hollywood, and it didn’t help that she’d recently dropped out of the school play, The Ugly Duckling. Or that the Hollywood casting directors she wrote to replied that “professional training was a requirement.”

But the funny thing is, it all came true. Through a series of Happy Accidents, Jane Lynch created an improbable and hilarious path to success. In those early years, despite her dreams, she was also consumed with anxiety, feeling out of place in both her body and her family. To deal with her worries about her sexuality, she escaped in positive ways such as joining a high school chorus not unlike the one in Glee but also found destructive outlets. She started drinking almost every night her freshman year of high school and developed a mean and judgmental streak that turned her into a real- life Sue Sylvester.

Then, at thirty-one, she started to get her life together. She was finally able to embrace her sexuality, come out to her parents, and quit drinking for good. Soon after, a Frosted Flakes commercial and a chance meeting in a coffee shop led to a role in the Christopher Guest movie Best in Show, which helped her get cast in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Similar coincidences and chance meetings led to roles in movies starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, and even Meryl Streep in 2009′s Julie & Julia. Then, of course, came the two lucky accidents that truly changed her life. Getting lost in a hotel led to an introduction to her future wife, Lara. Then, a series she’d signed up for abruptly got canceled, making it possible for her to take the role of Sue Sylvester in Glee, which made her a megastar.

Today, Jane Lynch has finally found the contentment she thought she’d never have. Part comic memoir and part inspirational narrative, this is a book equally for the rabid Glee fan and for anyone who needs a new perspective on life, love, and success.

MY REVIEW

This was a wonderful, wonderful listen! I’ve seen Jane Lynch on so many TV shows over the years and have been one of the many TV-watchers addicted to Glee in the past few years. Jane’s character, Sue Sylvester, is just great — as are all the characters I’ve seen her play. They’re all sarcastic and funny! Continue reading →