Muse's Whim

*I was given this book free by the author/publishing company in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.* Escape from Eden is a gripping tale of the corrupting force of absolute power, even under the guise of care, compassion, and Christianity. Our protagonist Mia is a teenage girl who lives in a Christian commune in the jungles of South America. Her mother brought Mia and her baby brother Max to Edenton when their father left the family. Mia's mother hoped that the Reverend would help to keep her family safe and raise her children in a Christian community far from the sin and degradation of the real world. But when slick New York teenager Gabriel is brought to Edenton by his parents, Mia's whole world gets turned upside down. All too soon the secrets and horrors of the commune are brought to Mia and Gabriel's attention, and the questions becomes not whether Edenton is worth living in, but will they be able to escape it. Elisa Nader writes a flu

Last year I made 2 resolutions - 1) to write everyday in Gayle - failed at that miserably; 2) to see the following 20 movies. Now I didn't get to see every one of these in the theatre as I had hoped but several of the ones I missed in the theatre, I saw on DVD before the end of the year. The only ones I haven't seen at all by this point are 10, 14, 18 & 20. Thor 2 and Hobbit 2 are still in theatres and I'm still hoping to see them there; Lone Ranger and Wolverine are out on DVD and I still intend to see them. So all in all, my second resolution wasn't a bust. :) The 20 movies I have to see in 2013 (in chronological order of release) 1. Beautiful Creatures 2. A Good Day to Die Hard 3. Warm Bodies 4. G.I. Joe: Retaliation 5. The Host 6. Iron Man 3 7. The Great Gatsby 8. Star Trek into Darkness 9. The Hangover Part III 10. The Lone Ranger 11. After Earth 12. Man of Steel 13. World War Z 14. The Wolverine 15. Elysium 16. The Mortal Instruments: City o

For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writer's Month and the NaNoWriMo organization (at www.nanowrimo.org ) sponsor a challenge to novel writers that they will complete 50,000 words toward their novel in the month of November. I've never done NaNo before, 50,000 words seemed like a crap-ton to get done in one month, and I didn't know if I wanted to commit to something like that. I have a few local friends who are writers who have been discussing doing NaNo recently, but honestly, I didn't think I was going to be one of them. Then today, I just signed up for it on a whim! :) I figured that by officially signing up for something that will basically keep me accountable, then I'll progress much further on Gayle then if I didn't. Plus, through the course of updating my info on the website, I found out I've already written 13,450 words on Gayle which is pretty awesome! :) Now I'm not shooting for writing an additional 50,000 on to

*I was given this book free by the author in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.* My Mother's Secret is a work of fiction, but it is based on the basic attributes of a true Holocaust story; Franciszka and Helena Halamajowa were real people who lived in Poland during the German occupation and helped many of their Jewish neighbors escape the concentration camps or death. The story is broken into five parts, each told from a different person's perspective. The writing is direct and informative - fitting to the stark reality of the story. There is no flowery language, and it is not prone to long passages of description. I do not believe that readers will find this style unreadable, but some may find the writing style a bit lacking. That being said, I think that the plot is written well, paced nicely, and it reads very quickly. I did think at times that if the story was set up in a diary or letter format, that the writing style might fit better. Ove

*I was given this book free by the author in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.* I recently read Harper Lee and Peppermint Candy by Paula Hennessy. I would consider it young adult fiction mainly because the protagonist is in her teens. It is realistic fiction also, which in YA, I don't tend to read a lot of. However, going in I didn't have any bias toward the genre. I was actually pleasantly surprised how much I liked it, considering the fact that I read much more sci-fi/fantasy. I thought that the main character Megan was very realistically written, and even though she has a bit of an extreme personality, at first, I thought it was also easy to identify with her. What she goes through and deals with as a teenager doesn't seem that far-fetched for any teen these days, and therefore, her reactions also are within the realm of believability. I also thoroughly liked the grandmother, Addie. She's very comforting and loving like most grandmot

I know I've already missed several movies on my bucket list - not sure if anyone is even aware - but I do completely intend to see them. However, today was my husband's birthday and of all the movies on my bucket list that are out in theatres right now that we haven't seen yet, Man of Steel was his hand's down pick so we went to see it today. Overall, it was amazing. I thought that the effects were just mind blowing - the increases in technology for cgi have made fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero movies miles ahead of what they once were. I also thought that the movie was very well cast. Anyone who read my bucket list saw that one of the main reasons I wanted to see this movie was because of Henry Cavill, and I have to say he didn't disappoint. I thought that Cavill looked very much the part of Superman, but more so, he played Clark Kent/Superman as a very human, very relatable person. The final scene between Superman and General Zod was especially moving. I also tho