Monday, December 30, 2013

The Champagne Diet Eat, Drink & Celebrate by Cara Alwill Leyba [CLP Book Tour]



Genre:
Self-Help
Publication.Date  July 2nd 2013
Pages:120
Published By:  Passionista Publishing
WebsiteCara Alwill Leyba

The Champagne Diet Goodreads
My review copy:I received a copy from the author through CLP book tours in exchange for an honest review. 

                                     Where to get:



This book is for the woman who wants to feel good about herself and her body, and learn how to start incorporating healthy habits into her life. It's for the woman who doesn't want to trade in her champagne for skinny jeans. It's for the woman who is done with dieting, and ready to start paying attention to her health before that number on the scale. It's for the woman who is ready to stop letting her weight define her, and is ready to understand why it always did. This is not a diet book. This is a lifestyle guide. This book will change the way you view your weight and yourself forever. You will walk away feeling empowered, inspired, and downright sexy (and probably craving a glass of bubbly). You will learn how to celebrate yourself and your body. You will learn to make your health a priority, always. And most importantly - you will learn to love yourself, exactly as you are. So get ready to embark on a complete dieting and lifestyle overhaul, sister. You are now on The Champagne Diet! "The Champagne Diet will resonate with every woman with it's realistic and simple approach to dieting. Alwill delivers a personal, relatable, and funny guide to shedding pounds without deprivation." - Kim Barnouin Co-Author, Skinny Bitch



A world without pasta and wine is a pretty sad world in my eyes. I would personally rather be ten pounds heavier and actually look forward to meals, rather than be a starving, miserable twig.
The practice of negative self-talk affects the relationships we have with ourselves, the relationships we have with lovers, friends, and the way we present ourselves to the world. Ultimately, that negativity can be responsible for the way our entire lives are shaped.
The Champagne Diet is all about indulging in the best of the best, so I'm going to have you create your own self-esteem routine to keep you sparkling. Think about the things that make you feel sexy, feminine, and glamorous, and incorporate them into your everyday.



         
I know you must be thinking "another diet book, how many of these can I read?" BUT this is NOT just another one of THOSE DIET Books. This is a book about self-esteem, lifestyle changes, and making yourself into the woman you ultimately want to become. This book doesn't promise you skinny, it promises healthy and isn't that so much better? Cara had been there. She's done all the fad diets and lost and gained just like the rest of us. She decided to tell us her journey in hopes that we could benefit from her trials. Get rid of self hate and start realizing how great you truly are. That's what this book can do!

Through out the book there are short inspirational quotes that get you hyped up to read what the rest of the chapter has to tell. I for one absolutely LOVE quotes so this is definitely MY CUP OF TEA! I just loved the way the author started many of the chapters with a personal story of her weight issues and then told the reader how she used The Champagne Diet to turn it all around. I was feeling inspired from page 1 all the way to page 120. 

Now believe me when I tell you this is NOT a get skinny quick routine. This is a lifestyle change with the added reward of feeling good about yourself and wanting to keep making positive changes into not only your diet but also your life. Whether you need to lose weight or you just need a positive influence in your life at the moment, THIS BOOK is the one I would reccomend picking up. With only 120 pages you can read this in a short afternoon and keep coming back to it when you need a positive quote or two. 

There was one thing that I didn't enjoy about this book. I kept thinking that I was going to hit the chapter that would give me ideas for meals or snacks. That chapter never came. The book does discuss what general foods to eat such as cut out low fat, high sodium weight loss meals. You should cook your meals and try to go as organic as possible for you. However, I am one that likes a visual of the changes to my diet so a short chapter on foods or sample meals would have been very helpful. 

That being said, I have already made some of the changes this book recommends and I will continue to make some more. One of the best pieces of advice Cara gives her readers is this "Once you begin to shift your focus to the things that matter, the number on the scale will become less and less important" I just LOVED the fact that Cara focuses on healthy instead of skinny. That is so important in today's society. There is nothing wrong with being a women you enjoys food as long as you are a women who loves herself enough to stop when you know you've had enough. 

About the Author:


Cara Alwill Leyba is a best selling author and life coach from New York City who encourages women to live their most effervescent lives and celebrate themselves. She runs an international private coaching practice where she works with women who are ready to make their happiness a priority. Through loving guidance, support and an expert perspective, Cara empowers women to be the change agent in their lives.
Her blog, TheChampagneDiet.com has been featured in Glamour, Shape, Marie Claire UK, Cosmopolitan South Africa, and a host of other publications worldwide. Cara's writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, Marie Claire, xoJane, Mind Body Green, and many other sites.
Cara is the author of two books: Sparkle: The Girl's Guide to Living a Deliciously Dazzling, Wildly Effervescent, Kick-Ass Life, which was a #1 Amazon best seller in the Happiness and Self-Esteem categories, and The Champagne Diet: Eat, Drink, and Celebrate Your Way to a Healthy Mind and Body, which was a #2 Amazon best seller in Self-Esteem.
When she’s not popping bubbly and blogging, Cara spends her days leading a digital advertising team at MTV Networks. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and dog.


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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (Review)



Series:
Precious Stone Trilogy #1
Genre:
Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance
Publication.Date:May 10, 2011
Pages:322 (hardcover)
Published By:  Henry Holt
Website:Kerstin Gier 

Ruby Red on Goodreads
My review copy:
Borrowed from library

Where to get:


Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.
(Goodreads)

Her shoulders were shaking, and her sobs sounded like the desperate cries of an injured animal. He could hardly bear it. But he knew from experiences that it was better to leave her alone. So he sat down beside her in the dew covered grass, gazed at the smooth surface of the water, and waited.
"You want to marry me? On board the Titanic? Are you out of your mind?" "It would be so romantic." "Except for the bit with the iceberg."
I'm sure it was the squirrel business hat made Lesley and me the only girls in the class who weren't crazy about Mr. Whitman. I kept trying to fall in love with him (if only because the boys in our class were all somehow totally childish), but it was no good The squirrel comparison had lodged itself in my mind and wouldn't go away. I mean, how can you feel romantic about a squirrel?

I am so the minatory on this, it's ridiculous. Everybody in the YABBC and my buddies on Goodreads and beyond like the book - the series even! I, however, only got about 100 pages in before giving in.

The writing is done very well and I had zero issue with the style, dialogue, or descriptions. My issue is with our main character, Gwen. All her life her cousin Charlotte has been trained for the moment she goes back in time. The time traveling gene, passed through the female line, only appears in certain family members born on certain dates - those prophesied by Issac Newton himself. This is not an issue for Gwen. She actually pities Charlotte, who missed out on much of her childhood due to training, and is constantly questioned by her grandmother and aunt as to whether or not she feels dizzy.

My issue comes into play after Gwen first time travels. She tells her best friend, Lesley, whom she tells everything to, but she doesn't tell her family. Why? Because she thinks they'll think she's crazy. Really? You're family knows there is such a thing as time travel, it's not like this would be coming out of left field.

Also, Gwen can see ghosts. Except nobody but Lesley believes her. Seriously? You're family knows time travel is real, but has trouble believing in ghosts. Her mom even tells her something along the lines of "I believe that you believe you see ghosts." Why is it so hard to imagine other paranormal aspects are out there? Aunt Maddy has visions. But Charlotte calls her Aunt Mad Maddy. This is not a stretch people!

Okay, rant over.

Seeing as I only got 100 pages in, Gwen things could get better. I don't know. I can only assume that's the case due to it's high rating on Goodreads and all the love my friends give it. Do I think you should give it a chance? Absolutely! Like I said, the writing was well done and descriptive. I was vaguely interested in the mystery that had been presented by this time, just not enough to continue. I'm the minority here, folks. Please don't take me word on this to be the end all be all. Read it and decide for yourself.

   
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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!!

Sophie loves her Christmas tree!
Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you all are having a wonderful time with family and friends! I just wanted to take a little bit of time and say Merry Christmas!

Joe, Sophie, and I had a wonderful Christmas! We got quite a few things for the house. We bought a new fridge and dishwasher. Since, well it's a long story and it's not needed to go into. But we also received quite a few things for the new bathroom that we are working on and for the kitchen. We have a lot of thank you's to do for our friends and family who have helped us out with this whole debacle.

As for the rest of the night, since all of our family parties are out of the way. It is time to make a comfort food of creamy wild rice soup and relax before having to get back into the working grind.

I do want to apologize to all of our readers as to how I haven't really been around a whole lot. But, we've had a lot of personal struggles to go through before I moved in with Joe and our dog Sophie. But I am finally getting back into a regular routine and come in the New Year, expect to be seeing me a lot more!

I do want to post special thanks to every girl on this amazing Bookish team. You girls are wonderful and we have really done something truly spectacular and we have become good friends. And to our readers, thank you so much for sticking with us through everything! We couldn't do any of this without all of you!

I hope all of your holidays have turned out beautifully and happy reading!!

Much love!
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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Announcing: January TBR Pile Read-A-Long -> Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Hi guys! Thanks for joining our 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge! As you know, each month we'll be hosting TBR Pile Read-a-Longs to help you (and us!) tackle our TBR Piles :)

In mid October we've posted a voting poll and asked you to vote on the book you'd like to read together with us in January! And the winner is.. *drumroll*


Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor! 

About the book:


Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Hardcover, US, 418 pages
Published September 27th 2011 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Read-a-long schedule:

 There will be 2 (two) discussion posts:

  • 1/15: Chapters 1-30
  • 1/30: Chapters 30-60
Wrap up (in which we share our favorite quotes, moments, reviews) + giveaway (for participants only):
  • 1/31: Wrap-up post
Mailing list:

To make sure you don't miss any of the discussion / giveaway posts as they go up on Bookish, please remember to join the TBR Pile Reading Challenge mailing list - we will be sending updates and notifying you about TBR Pile posts & read-a-longs as they go up on the blog! 

Never too late to join!

Let's have lots of fun tacking our TBR Piles together and then discussing the books we've read over a cup of delicious tea/coffee :) 



And remember, it's never to late to sign up for 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge and/or join our monthly read-a-longs, so spread the word and invite your friends to join the fun!

Hopeless For You by Hayden Hill (Review)

Genre:
New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publication.Date  September 3, 2013
Pages:215
Published By:  Hayden Hill
WebsiteHayden Hill

Hopeless for You on Goodreads
My review copy:Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Where to get:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988695103?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0988695103&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forever-my-girl-heidi-mclaughlin/1114035505?ean=9780988695108&itm=1&usri=9780988695108&cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-GwEz7vxblVU-_-10:1&r=1,%201
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780988695108
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Girl-Beaumont-Heidi-McLaughlin-ebook/dp/B00ATNJW3Y/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=



"If I am more alive because love burns and chars me, as a fire, given wood or wind, feels new elation, it's that he who lays me low is my salvation, and invigorates the more, the more he scars me."
― Michelangelo

Ash Jensen, a squeaky-clean sophomore at the University of Tennessee, has a trail of baggage a mile long―she buried her fiancĂ© only a year and a half ago. She swore she'd never love again but when she finds herself interned to a yummy Canadian conservation officer that promise is tested big-time. Kade Gyllenhahl sports wild tattoos, a rebellious attitude and a fohawk to die for. He's definitely the wrong man for her and she knows it.

Kade doesn't have time for a girl like her. She's a pretentious, unreadable princess who lives her life by her parents' rules. Kade knows nothing about her past and he'd prefer to keep it that way. Besides, he'll lose his job if he sleeps with Ash. Now if only he could get his mind off her.

When the two of them end up alone and isolated on a routine field trip in the woods, things get a little complicated...

One man afraid of commitment.
One woman afraid to love again.
Two lives.
Two hearts.
One life-changing journey.
(Goodreads)

I saw him rush into my room, ready to beat off whatever attacker he found. I saw his bright, emerald green eyes from earlier, full of lust and promise. 
I heard Ash beside me. "I love it."
She might as well have said "I love you" for all the effect her words had on me.
"Damn straight dealing with people is complicated. You're quite the girl, Ash, did you know that? Quite the girl. You and me, we're not so different at all."
"Ah, stop. I can't take it. I don't want to remember you this way, Blaine. Not as a backpack humper."
"But I'm hopeless for you, Ash."


Another New Adult romance! And another New Adult romance that looks perfect for me, to boot. I'm happy to say that I took to this one much better than the last. Actually, I enjoyed Hopeless For You very much. 

Kade is another reformed man-whore, but we don't see him on an outing with some random chick when we first meet him. No, instead we get him the morning after. For some reason, I kind of liked this. It showed the reality of who the character was without going too far. Because, really, I do NOT need to see him hooking up with the girl in his very first chapter. And from then on out, there was no sign of his old ways. He was a nice, solid character that had some growing to do and got down to it. Now, after finishing the novel, I adore this boy. I loved being in his head and seeing how things were for him, and watching him overcome his own issues. He really is just a big ol' sweetheart.

Ash is the regular girl with issues from her past. I'm not going to say I ended up adoring her like I did Kade, but I did end up not hating her and maybe even *GASP* liking her. A little. Maybe. But that's more than I can say for a lot of female book characters, so... She did just as much growing as Kade did, and it was great to watch. I felt so sad for her. I'm a sucker for those kinds of things, especially when we get to see snippets of them together? It makes me feel so sad! But it's great that the character moves on and that by the end, I'm feeling pretty darn good for that character. So, yay Ash!

Kade and Ash together was incredibly sweet. They both clearly needed to work through their stuff, but they still got closer through it all. Their feelings for each other did seem to escalate quickly, but after everything they go through in this book, it's something that's pretty easy to look past. I love these two as a couple, and watching their journey to BECOMING a couple was something I definitely enjoyed.

I expected the plot of this book to follow the regular New Adult tendencies. Especially with statements like "things get a little complicated" and "one life-changing journey" in the synopsis. I thought it'd be all romatic problems with the regular problems thrown in. You know--we just CAN'T be together because of this totally bogus problem that we'll solve easily later on in the story! Yeah, well, there's none of that in here. Things seriously DO get complicated and they do go through quite the journey. I certainly did not expect the path this story took, but I really liked it.

Overall, Hopeless For You is a great New Adult romance with characters I enjoyed, a plot that threw me for a bit of a loop, and romance that made my tummy tingle. Seriously, y'all. It's great!




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Saturday, December 21, 2013

2014 Reading Challenges - Bring it on!

2014 is almost here and it's time for me to decide which reading challenges I will be participating in next year :) I browsed around and found dozens of cool challenges, and honestly, I just want to sign up for them all! But we all know that it is simply not possible. I would then probably fail  them all :) 

SO! I did some heavy thinking and I came to conclusion that I will focus on doing three things in 2014: 1) tackling my TBR Pile (books received for review / purchased that were published in 2013 and earlier, 2) catching up with my NetGalley and Edelweiss review pile and 3) finally reading some classics!

Here are the three challenges I will be participating in:

tbr Pile Reading Challenge:


Hosted here, at Bookish! -> to sign up you can click on the banner below :) (Pssst! We have prizes and read-a-longs lined up for the entire year of 2014!).


For this challenge I am aiming at:

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling <- 
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children

I am going to be realistic and not get too ahead of myself this time. I think I can probably read 30-40 books from my TBR Pile in 2014. If I'll read more, well then, even better, I'll just move up a level or two! :)

Here are some books I am hoping to read for this challenge:

1) The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
2) The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
3) Legend by Marie Lu
4) Thornhill by Kathleen Peacock
5) Longbourn by Jo Baker
6) Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
7) Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan
8) The Ocean At The End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
9) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
10) The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon 

(I'll be adding books to this list as I go)

Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge:

Hosted by Falling For YA -> click on the button to sign up!



For this challenge I am going for:

Aluminum – 5 books
Bronze – 10 books
Silver – 25 books
Gold – 50 books <-
Platinum – 75 books
Diamond– 100 books

Yes, I am going to be more ambitious with this one, as I have way too many books on my NetGalley and Edelweiss pile (*perks* of being pre-approved!). 

Here are some books I am hoping to read for this challenge:

1) The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose
2) The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
3) Grim (Various - Anthology)
4) The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow
5) Pieces of Me by Amber Kizer
6) Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
7) Plus One by Elzabeth Fama
8) Snowblind by Christopher Golden
9) The Rule of Three by Eric Walters
10) Freak of Nature by Julia Crane

(More to be added!)

Back To The Classics 2014:

I've been wanting to read some classic books for a very long time now, but never really felt motivated enough, what with all the ever-growing review pile and all... Well, it's time to change that! I'm going to finally tackle some classics in 2014!

Hosted by Books and Chocolate <- click on the button to sign up!


Here are some books I'm hoping to read for this challenge:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3) Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
4) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5) Dracula by Bram Stoker
6) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
7) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
9) The Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Alan Poe

(More to be added to the list, hopefully!) 

So that's that for me :) What challenges are you participating in in 2014? Let me know! :)
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