Can You Keep A Secret?

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed Can You Keep A Secret?. I loved Emma. You read this book and laugh at loud. You think things that happen to Emma never happen but in your mind you are going, "please at least not to me"! We all know Emma, her flatmates, her boyfriend, her co-workers. We have all had moments when we cringe at something we did or said. we hope some of those times remain secret. We know others want them known so they can laugh even though they also have those moments. Emma doesn't have earth shattering secrets. They are relatively harmless but embarrassing. The kind you and I most likely have. I think that is the charm of Emma. There were places in this book where I laughed out loud and places where I was held in suspense. It is a book about life, friendship, boyfriends and, of course, secrets.



View all my reviews

Feature & Follow Friday

Follow My Book Blog Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View andAlison Can Read where we all get together and say HI! @ lucky blogs will be selected to be a feature, one for each site. This weeks lucky blogs are...The Little Book Blog and The Book Addicted Girl. If you would like to play along be certain to visit Parajunkee' View or Alison Can Read for all the details.

Q. Let's step away from books for a second and get personal. What T-Shirt slogan best describes you?

It says Goddess in Training

Theme Thursday -

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event hosted by Reading Between Pages that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)

Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading

Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post

It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week’s theme is

ANY ACTION (go, walk, close, clap etc)

Both vampires moved off the bed  and stared at each other silently with wide-eyed expressions. Pg 138

Caleb spun around to see who was addressing him and noted two tall men in dark suits standing at the end of the hallway from where he had wandered. Pg 275

Bloody London Sunset Book Two of the Sunset Vampire Series by Jaz Primo.

What action did you choose? Leave a comment please letting me know where to find it. Thanks for stopping by. If you choose to follow thank you.

* WARNING* This post is about Vets and is brutal

I originally wrote this post as part of a meme. For some reason when I went to the Host page a prior meme went up instead of the home page. So I wrote the wrong meme. The meme this was written about was for July 4th and we were to connect our  post to that theme. Sorry about the confusion with this one. I have no idea why the home page did not come up first. I am leaving the post up as I  think it is important. The author of the book I took the snippet from is trying to give a voice to Veterans. His information is at the bottom.

* WARNING* The snippet I chose is intense, brutal, contains foul language and for me is important.  I realize it is long. I chose it because I know that everyday somewhere in the world a soldier is going through this - whether it is a flashback or it is happening in real time. And they did it  or are doing it for us. The people back home. I am not in support  of war. I am in support of our soldiers who have kept us and who continue to keep us free. My son fought in Iraq. He came home with memories like this one and unable to walk on his own anymore. While I do not believe we truly had a reason to be in Iraq, he went and did his job. I am proud of him. Regardless of the reason we are over there my son went believing he was helping someone. He talks of the good people he met over there. Not soldiers he met there but Iraqi citizens. The ones who wanted to be free. The ones who thanked him. The ones he wanted more than anything to help. So now he lives with PTSD and walking with assistance while he waits for new legs. And when asked, he says he would go back and do it again for those people and to keep us free. I hope you read it. I hope you understand why I think it fits the theme.

I hear the crackle in the middle of my head. Tango Seven—multiple events in your vector, last five minutes. Exercise caution. Sound is a vibration. This vibration grows, echoes, deeper, shimmying through me. We’ve been waiting for action since we started staging. We’re soldiers, we joined up, no one made us. We want to fight. We want to prove ourselves, to find out who we are when the air bends and the fire fills us. We crossed the border two days ago and we’ve spent two days driving, swallowing pills, driving some more and sitting out a sandstorm that lasted six hours where nobody could sleep cause we kept saying to each other, They know this stuff and we don’t—when it stops, they’ll be on us in a minute but they weren’t and then driving driving some more, past blown-out buildings and blown-out tanks and my headphones screaming. 
The waiting is killing. No more waiting. Fight. Fight now. That’s what I want because I don’t know what else to want. And then, without transition, we’re fighting. I hear the CRACK!! over the music and the Humvee right in front of us bounces into the air like a milk carton somebody kicked and we’re almost on top of it by the time we stop. It’s in the narrowest place, of course, wedged between two cinder block walls set close together, between two neighborhoods that hate each other and both hate us and we’re bogged down, nowhere to go, can’t get around it. 
Man Down! Man Down! Monroe is shrieking into the headset and we see the Vee behind us drive right up and Shumwalt the medic jump out to help but he isn’t there more than ten seconds before he’s rushing back to his mount, shaking his head like it’s detached. 
I shut off the music, not that it matters much—the gunfire is louder than the headphones all the way up, loud enough to wake the dead. In which case, start with the medic—his head is severed by rounds from three different directions and then blown sky high by a rocket that takes out his Humvee, throwing it six or seven feet in the air and crushing it against one of the cinder block walls. Some guys scramble out—how are they alive?—they get five or six steps before being cut down. There’s too much fire from all over. These guys have guns and lots of them. 
Half a second later, we’re in the crosshairs. The door and windows of our truck are pounded with bullets. It’s built for that, we’ve been told a hundred times but so many are coming at once that I watch the panel buckling right in front of me, puffing like the wrapper around the popcorn in the microwave. I’m embedded, the writer, the carry-along, an extra, an amusement most times, a burden at the moment. I have a gun in my belt but it might as well be a cap pistol. 
We’ve got to move—Ram it! Monroe tells Gunner, the driver. If his name is Gunner, why isn’t he the fucking gunner, dammit? Nonetheless, Monroe says Ram it so Gunner puts the thing in gear but then all at once, there’s a different banging on the doors, banging and screaming—two of the guys from the medic Vee want in. Get us out of here! I hear someone screaming and Philips opens his door at the same time Grover opens his. Just in time for the poor son-of-a-bitch on Philips side to get riddled six or seven times in his vest—not dead 

but knocked over and that saves him and us. 
For just a second, everything slows down as the guys on the end lean out to pull the two grunts into the Vee. I’m sitting, staring out the windshield, a dazed drugged-up sedation case and my eyes widen as up the road on the other side of the burning Humvee crawls a bus. The local town bus, the rattle-trap skinny-tire flaking-paint Fallujah regular city bus, low-cost rapid transit fucking bus on its rounds, following its route, the driver doing his usual civil service job of looking exactly ten yards ahead of him and no more. And now he’s opening his doors at the bus stop—which just happens to be in the middle of a firefight. And as the doors are open on both sides of our Humvee and a thousand rounds are flying at us and Gunner is about to drive right over the flaming fucking Vee in front of us to get out of here, I see a procession of soldiers in uniform filing neatly off the bus. Like they paid their fare downtown and waited politely with their guns for twenty stops from there to the war. And now they’re lined up, joining the rest of the warring neighborhood factions, shooting at us while the last two start setting up a rocket launcher and aiming it right at me. 
“Gunner GO!!!” I yell and Gunner puts the thing in gear as they haul the last soldier in through Grover’s door. Right then, Philips takes a round right in the neck that spurts all over the cab and he slumps to the floor. The rest of us all lean over to grab him and pull him up. At that instant, I hear a sharp hiss and raise my head a fraction, a millimeter, a milli-millimeter or whatever’s smaller than anything—and see a rocket, the one launched by the bus soldiers, hovering right in front of my nose, passing so slow, so slow I can read the serial number on the side, right through the cab of our Humvee, screaming in one door, across the aisle between front seat and back and then out the other door without touching a thing, a person, anyone or anything. It explodes against the cinder block wall, happily about five yards behind us as we jump the other Hummer. My nose is singed black for a week. It’s three days before I can hear much of anything, even Metallica. But Gunner hit the pedal at the right time and we will live, at least a little longer. 

Ted Krever. Mindbenders (Kindle Locations 805-846). 

Ted is trying to do something to help Vets by offering them a place to tell their stories. If you are a Vet, or know a Vet who may be interested, please direct them to his website. He is  an honest man with a lot of integrity and respect for our Vets. Please go to his blog, scroll down and read Vets- Better Off Dead?- July 26, 2011, 
My Vet Story from ‘Mindbenders’ (Part One) - http://wp.me/p1twy1-c3 
‘Mindbenders’ excerpt 2 – Greg in Iraq - http://wp.me/p1twy1-cg

http://tedkrever.com/blog/my-books/mindbenders/

Please leave a comment. 

Two Blog Hops- Many authors

'Waiting On' Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill from http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave your comment below!

Here are 2 of the books I am waiting to come out. Both are due for release August 16, 2011. The first is part of a series - The Charley Davidson Series in Paranormal Romance. The second book is snark done southern style. It doesn't get any better. I love snarky, southern women. Maybe because I grew up loving so many of the ones in my life. I think they are both going to be great, fun reads!

Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones

From  GoodReads

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper Extraordinaire, is back in this sexy, suspenseful novel of supernatural shenanigans

When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.

Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?

Here is your signpost for the most hilarious read of the summer: Second Grave On The Left.

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl: Observations on Life from the Shallow End of the Pool by Celia Rivenbark

From GoodReads

From the bestselling, award-winning author of You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start In The Morning, comes another collection of hilarious observations that will resonate with women, mothers, and girlfriends everywhere 

In her newest wickedly irreverent humor collection, Celia Rivenbark cracks up while getting her downward facing dog on, pines for a world in which every mom gets to behave like Betty Draper and wonders why everybody's so excited about the Science Fair when there aren't even any rides. In it you’ll find essays on such topics as: 

Menopause Spurs Thoughts of Death and Turkey 
I Dreamed a Dream That My Lashes Were Long 
Twitter Woes: I’ve Got Plenty of Characters, Just No Character 
Movie To-Do List: Cook Like Julia, Adopt Really Big Kid 
Charlie Bit Your Finger? Good! And other thoughts on the virus that is YouTube 

And much more! For any woman who longs for the good old days when Jane Fonda in legwarmers was the only one who saw you exercise, YOU DON’T SWEAT MUCH FOR A FAT GIRL is comfort food in book form.

Available at local book stores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Available now for Pre-Order.

WWW Wednesdays

 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading a couple of books:

Seers by Heather Frost

Coming out October 2011

For Kate Bennet, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.

A Bloody London Sunset by Jaz Primo

Available now at local book stores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Katrina Rawlings is a vampire who has finally rediscovered happiness for the first time in centuries. But unwanted complications erupt with a vengeance. Decisions of necessity combined with dark memories from a forgotten past threaten her relationship with the love of her life. When a sacrifice must be made, can she endure her decision?
Caleb Taylor's life is finally back on track. He has rebounded from a near mortal injury, both physically and emotionally. Yet, his reality is shaken by the suggestion of a betrayal of trust from the woman he loves. Can the power of love overcome the power of a lie?
Paige Turner is a century old vampire who fearlessly revels in a simple existence pursuing blood, dancing, and sex. Simple needs, and all met in the same manner: hot, fast, and without regrets. But a spontaneous visit leads to heartfelt sacrifice, and unexpected complications strike fear to the core of her soul. Will she survive the revelations?
In the exciting second installment of the Sunset Vampire Series, a trust is betrayed, bonds of friendship are strained, relationships may end, and a tenuous neutrality among the world's vampire population is threatened. With stakes so high, some will not survive A Bloody London Sunset!

I am loving both!

I recently finished reading 

A Fit of Hissy: a Schlockumentary by Jeni Decker and Kat Nove

Available on Amazon.com 

A Fit of Hissy is a mélange of schlock, a cornucopia of wisdom; observational satire, short stories, delectable musings, and the occasional song parody.

I am beginning to suspect anything by these ladies is going to make me laugh insanely. Seriously if I get locked up in an asylum I think they should accept partial blame. This book will make you laugh hysterically, (even in public places). 

What I plan to read next

When She Awoke by Hillary Jordan

Coming out October 2011

I won this book from Goodreads. 

Faith, love and sexuality have fallen prey to politics in this stunning creation of America in the near future, from the author whose international bestseller, Mudbound, so hauntingly recreated America’s past. Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family, but after her arrest, she awakens to a nightmare: she lies on a table in a mirrored room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new “chromes”—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime— is a new and sinister form of reality TV. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. The victim, says the state of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love. Inspired by The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a dark fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate a dystopian, theocratic America of the not-too-distant future, where convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated, but “chromed” and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the moral authority of a country that politicizes the personal.

Not sure yet what other book(s) I will choose. I am fast finishing up the two I am currently reading. So I need to choose. Maybe I will find something in your comments!

Don't forget to leave a comment telling me where to find yours. If you don't have a blog for me to go to, please leave a comment telling us what book you are waiting on, reading, finished and/or what's next.. Thanks for stopping by!

Featured Author - Stephany Simmons Voodoo Dues

Stephany Simmons author of Voodoo Dues, available now, graciously granted 

an interview with me. Ms. Simmons, thank you for stopping by and letting us get to know you a little bit.

How did the idea for Voodoo Dues come about?

 I think the starting point was setting the story in my home town, in my neighborhood. It just made the story flow easier. The rest just fell into place from there.

Who do you read? Any favorite book or authors?

Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Christopher Moore, Janet Evanovich (while not UF, she makes me lol.)

From your book, who are the characters most like each of you or who is your favorite?

I think personality wise, I’m most like Lian. Figg is a sort of mashup of my two female best friends. I have to say that Carl quickly grew on me. He’s certainly a fan favorite!

When you enter a room, what theme song is playing?

I’d like to think that it’s the old Wonder Woman tv theme song, but in reality, it’s probably something quite different.

My brother-in-law says that it is the Imperial March from Star Wars (Darth Vader's theme) lol. Oddly enough, I think is just as freaking awesome as the Wonder Woman theme.

People are strange, so finish this sentence:  People think I am strange because…

 I can happily go for spans of weeks without any outside human contact. Usually until a friend accuses me of being a hermit, then I’ll make myself rejoin the real world.

What type of writing atmosphere do you prefer?

My brain is generally a mass of clutter, so In order to make myself focus, I need quiet without too much ouside stimulus.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

Ben and Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio ice cream

What  are you reading now?  

Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez

Tell us about any upcoming books?

The second installment of the Lian and Figg series should be available sometime this fall.

Where can people find you? (Blogs, websites, book signings )

http://stephanysimmons.com

Ten for the fast round

Dogs or Cats? dogs

Beach or mountains? mountains

Coffee, tea or soda? Coffee (strong and sweet)

Cake or pie? pie

Movie or book? book

Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt? Either one as long as they were playing something really nerdy like a physicist.

Museum or zoo? Museum

Phone call or text? Definitely text. I despise talking on the phone.

Computer games or board games? Computer games

E-reader or real book? E-reader

Voodoo Dues by Stephany Simmons

Ms Simmons is a new author for me. I got this book when the author requested a review. This is no way influenced my review. This is an honest and true review of the book.

Book Synopsis:

As an Anthropologist, Lian Cairn specialized in the study of others, the not so totally human races that exist in the shadows around us. After a life changing event, he decided to leave that career behind to become a bar owner. Settled firmly in his new life, he’s looking forward to the mundane, but finds that his old life isn’t going to disappear as he’d hoped. 

When the local Voodoo Queen’s Grandson is murdered outside his bar, and she comes to Lian for help, he and his quirky bartender Figg, are sucked back into the world he’d hoped to leave behind. 

Voodoo Dues introduces us to a new series – The Lian and Figg series. The book starts a little slow but soon I was hooked. Since this is the start of a new series, I liked that it was a slow beginning as it gave me time to get to know the main characters. The characters of Lian and Figg were developed enough to allow you to form a relationship with them and yet mysterious enough to allow for future discoveries. In a series I really like that as it is like a friendship – I still discover ‘new’ things about my friends even after 20+ years. The balance is a hard one to achieve.  Ms Simmons was able to strike that balance. All of her characters are developed enough for you to relate and care for them. My favorite is Carl. I certainly hope to see him in future books. Ms Simmons pays a lot of attention to details and is very good with description. I was able to easily picture the book in my mind as I was reading it. I thought Ms Simmons also portrayed the religion of Voodoo well. She has a mix of truth and also addresses the myths of it in a real way. Over all I found Voodoo Dues to be a suspenseful, fun, fast read. I give it 5 stars. I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Ms Simmons is an author to watch! 

You may find out more from this author on her website http://stephanysimmons.com 

Book available on Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Dues-Lian-Figg-ebook/dp/B005E8F77Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311491816&sr=8-2  

Companion Book (an expanded steamy love scene between Lian and Figg) http://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Dues-Companion-Lian-ebook/dp/B005EAMB44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311491816&sr=8-1

Teaser Tuesdays- Stephany Simmons, Jeni Decker & Kat Nove

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules for participating in this meme..
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine are (sorry just like I am having trouble with only 2 sentences - I also read more than 1 book at a time.):

VooDoo Dues by Stephany Simmons

"Evil is targeting my family." She kept walking, just ahead of us. "Pierre's death is only the latest harm done. We are cursed and I do not know who is responsible."

This is about 23% into the book.

Available on Amazon for $2.99:  http://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Dues-Lian-Figg-ebook/dp/B005E8F77Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1311589575&sr=1-1

A Fit of Hissy: a Schlockumentary by Jeni Decker and Kat Nove

Since discovering these ladies, ( Twitter was never so wonderful), I have had to buy more undies. I find myself needing to shower and change them more often. I should buy Depends but I am not feeling like admitting I might need them to get through these books. I said might. Really.  Anyway, here is the teaser:

"Yes, I am. I wanted to memorize my copy of 'How to Please your Man in 20 Simple Steps, All of Them Involving Inconvenience and Discomfort to You', but I used it to club my ex-husband to death and the police confiscated it."

"That's a shame. It sounds like the type of book that would be helpful to you. Now go fetch me some coffee, and don't put any of those frilly girly things in it like cream and sugar."

Located about 4% into the book.

It truly sounds like breakfast at my house.  

Available on Amazon for 99 cents:  http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Hissy-schlockumentary-ebook/dp/B0052F3PQE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311589399&sr=8-1

Hope you enjoyed my teasers. Please leave a comment with either where we can find yours or ,(if you are not participating in the blog hop), a teaser from whatever book you are reading. I love finding out about books I haven't found on my own. So please, however you got here, leave a comment and let me know what you are reading!