Savvy Diva's Take on 44 Days of Random Thoughts &Observations by Jahzara

Savvy Diva's Take On  44 Days of Random Thoughts & Observations by Jahzara

Paperback, 184 pages Published  by Jahphut

This book is being reviewed through Virtual Tours. Book was provided for review. No compensation was received for review. All opinions are my own.

The Savvy Diva's Take On 44 Days of Random Thoughts & Observations is exactly what it says. You will get to know the Savvy Diva and most likely will be able to picture her talking to you after the first few chapters.  The chapters are days of her thoughts and observations. Some are funny and some are serious. Most of them, I found, I could relate to. I like Jahzara's writing style. She talks to you as if you were with her. This brings you comfortably into her thoughts. I find this a good book to use for reflections. Jahzara talks about things most women have experienced or know someone who experienced it. Several times reading the book I was in full agreement with her. 

Day 4 If I Were A Boy... I knew reading the title of this day I was going to like it. I can remember thinking how lucky boys were when I was growing up and my mom kept telling me I couldn't do something, "because your a girl".  Which only served to make me determined that I could do it - what ever it was- no matter what. I also spent time daydreaming all the stupid stuff I would do if I was a boy. Chug a can of soda and belch way loud - got it covered.  Pee standing up - no problem. Peeing my name I haven't mastered. Climb a tree, play baseball, tell the stupidest joke on earth, spit a few times - easy peasy. So I knew I could get into this chapter. I was not disappointed. Jahzara took it to the adult level and I had a good time with it. 

Day 5 brings us to Big Love. Okay this is a first. No one knows I watch HBO's Big Love. Well no one knew. I have managed to keep it a guilty secret pleasure for all these seasons. I only watch when no one is home. I don't answer the phone unless I pause it so no one will guess what I am watching. I knew I was in trouble when I saw Day 5.  I absolutely LOVED Jahzara's take on this show. For me, part of the draw of watching this show is the WTF moments and part of the draw is the question of could I fit into a family like that? And who would I be? I could certainly handle a sister helping out with the pregnancies. I freely admit I would have welcome a sister to send my kids to when I was tired of playing referee. There were even times when I would have gladly shoved an ex to another women. Oh yes I watch and think hmm maybe there is something to this. Maybe, if I had sister wives, I wouldn't have needed the divorce.  But then reality sets in and I realize most likely someone would have ended up deceased. Since it wasn't going to be me I might have ended up with all the children. Well that takes care of that little fantasy.

Pet peeves. Day 6. We could stay at Day 6 for a long time.  I know exactly how she feels when her CD is cracked open and played before she gets to listen first. And the fries thing. Oh how I related to that. What is it with people in the car who always say they don't feel like getting anything when you pull into a drive thru and then will go after your fries when you pull away? I want to break fingers over hot fries. It never fails. If I order extra fries nobody touches them. But let me take the person at their word and do not order any extra - it is a guarantee they are going to eat my fries. For real, if your hanging with me and we pull up to McD, ORDER something! Because you may get hurt going for my fries.

These are just a few days of what Jahzara writes about. I could go on and on. It is a short but fun book. You don't have to read it in order or all at once. It is the perfect book to carry with you for those odd moments waiting with nothing to do. You can read a day, share it with whoever is around you and reflect on your feelings about what you read. It also is a good book to leave out for guest in your home. 

To read an interview with the Savvy Diva please go to http://reviewfromhere.com/2011/12/09/interview-with-jahzara-the-savvy-diva/

To read the Savvy Diva's awesome blog please go here: http://jahphut.com/divablog/

Comments Always Welcome!

She Had No Choice by Debra Burroughs

She Had No Choice by Debra Burroughs

Lake House Books

*I was given a copy of this book for review. The opinions expressed are my true feelings. No compensation for this review was received. This review is part of Virtual Tours*

She Had No Choice was inspired by a true story. It starts out with the Ramirez family in Mexico during the time of the Spanish Influenza of 1918. When the flu takes the lives of half of the children, Emilio and Juanita Ramirez make the hard decision to leave everything behind and take their remaining children north to the United States. They hope to make a life there for their family. After 4 years of working in migrant fields, Juanita dies and Emilio makes the decision to send 12 year old Sofia to his sister to raise. It is his hope that she will be taken care of and given an education that will give her a future. Unfortunately, Emilio's sister is angry over not being given a choice in accepting Sofia and takes it out on her. She is given work in her aunt's hotel and home. There is no education and the only love she receives comes from her cousins. After her aunt dies things improve a bit for Sofia since her cousins are free to treat her as family. 

Sofia, still aching to be loved, meets and falls for a young man. He pressures her to have sex with him and when she finds herself pregnant, he dumps her. Her cousins help her as much as they can but an unmarried woman in a well to do family was an embarrassment. Sofia makes friends with Rosa and from her meets Carlos. He takes her and baby Eva to California for migrant work.He does not marry her but they live as man and wife. Carlos does not really love Eva and reminds Sofia that Eva is a bastard. When Sofia tells Carlos she is pregnant, he tells her it better be a boy. It is and Sofia stays with Carlos. Soon after they have twin boys and then a daughter. Carlos drinks and has a temper while he is drunk.  At one point Carlos gives away one of the twin boys. When Sofia finds he is being abused she brings him back home. Other times he is physically abusive. Eva spends her first years wondering why her dad does not love her until Sofia tells her that Carlos is not her father.  Then Eva tries to stay out of his way. Eventually after one of the beating s to Sofia, Carlos "makes up to her" by marrying her. Not the best decision Sofia could have made but then you have to remember this was back in the 1930's when choices for women were limited. We move on to the 1940's and read of the family's hardships with the war and being poor. It was heartening to read that the children were permitted to stay in school. Being a migrant family often meant that children were needed in the fields as they grew up. When Carlos decides that it is time for Eva to join the work she devises a way to stay in school. During the 1950's Eva had left home and Sofia was still with Carlos and their nine children. Eva is living with a nurse and is being given the opportunity to change the course of not only her life but also her mother's. Will she take it? Will she succeed where her mother failed? Or will she, as so many children from DV homes do, follow in the footsteps of her mother?

 For me this book was slow going because of the narrative style. It is  third-person style which I find, at times, to be difficult for me. I find it hard to form a relationship with the characters when a story is told in this style. However it is a compelling look at everyday life in a alcohol related domestic violence home. It is a poignant reminder of how sad and painful that life is for all. Sofia and Eva's hopes for the future and their tenacity at reaching that brighter future brings to mind the resilience of families caught in this nightmare. I found this to be a very interesting story and would like to read what happened after this book ends. 

  

Debra Burroughs is a Good Reads Author: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4586634.Debra_Burroughs

Comments Always Welcome!

Review of Space by Emily Sue Harvey

HALLOWEEN FUN BOOK GIVEAWAY ENTRY

(books in the giveaway are not necessarily books being reviewed)

Space by Emily Sue Harvey

Paperback, 260 pages

The Story Plant

*I was given a copy of this book for review. The opinions expressed are my true feelings. No compensation for this review was received. This review is part of Virtual Tours*

In reading books I find that my life, beliefs and experiences are hard to divorce from what I am reading.  When writing a review I try to keep in mind that everyone has different beliefs and experiences. So when I read a book that is excellent but has an element, (or elements), that I think may tend to have people place it in a certain slot, I feel the need to say something about that.I hate when a book gets pushed aside as being one for Christians, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccans, Homosexuals, Heterosexuals, etc. I hate labels which may be why I read so many genres. Anyway. This book does tend to focus on the Christian faith. The family depicted are Christians and they rely heavily on their faith to get them through. If you are not Christian, or are but tired of it being pushed at you in books, please do not let that deter you from reading this book. Emily Sue has written a truly compelling book. 

Deede Stowe and her sisters were adopted by very loving parents. They were raised in an atmosphere where family is everything. When Deede marries Dan she dreams of having her own blood children. However the years pass by and she is forced to watch both of her sisters have families. She receives the devastating news that she will most likely not be able to have a child of her own. Heartbroken she and Dan decide to adopt. Before they are able to put that plan in action,  Deede finds she is pregnant.  She and Dan raise their daughter, named Faith, as a miracle child; pouring love into her. 

The story opens with Faith as an adult with a failed marriage, a child and a devastating drug habit, returning home to live. Dan and Deede are ready to live out their dream retirement. This now becomes impossible. Keeping Faith out of jail and clean is costing them everything. Their once tranquil home is now a battlefield. Private time is now a necessity for respite from Faith and her problems. Gone is the use of that time as romantic and sexual. Space for each of them as a family, as a couple and as individuals is at premium rates. Faith is draining them not only financially but in every way possible. With relapses, promises, deception, theft and the ever growing legal problems the family is drowning. Dan has reached his limit and is going the tough love route. Deede doggedly goes the unconditional love route. Faith continues on in the selfish, needy, angry way of addicts and the self loathing, guilty and depressive way of early recovery. No one knows more than she what she has lost and the destruction she has wrought. All they have left to cling to is their faith; in God, in His will and mercy, in each other and in the family.

This is a chaotic story. Emily Sue has done an amazing job of making it very real. The battles, the relationships, the feelings are all very candid. The family and all they go through is not just presented to us as Dan, Deede and Faith but includes all extended members of the family. There lies both their strength and their weakness. This is a truly honest,vivid look at the cost of drug addiction and family. You will feel the pain of being torn between your spouse and your child. You will come to know the ugliness that can appear in the best of families. You will marvel at the ability to keep hoping when it appears that all hope is gone.  This could have been a very depressing book. Instead, while being heart wrenching, it is very inspiring.  It is a testament to love and the ability to change yourself when change is all that is left. 

I am giving this book 4 and a half stars because there is one part I felt the author dropped a bit on. Faith has a daughter, Maddie, who is there in the beginning and then kind of drops out in the middle to be picked up again at the end. Even though the author addresses it later on I would have preferred to know why she was gone from the story upfront. It is not a major distraction but you will most likely be asking, "what happened to Maddie?" at one point. 

This is the first book of Emily Sue Harvey that I have read. I have her next book waiting for me on my Kindle. I am looking forward to reading Unto These Hills. I f it is as good as Space I will most likely go back to pick up her other books.

     

Please check out Emily Sue Harvey at her website: http://emilysueharvey.com/ 

Fan her on Good Reads: Emily Sue Harvey Good Reads Author

Please leaves comments below. I am always interested.