Front and Back Flap: Joy Candellaro used to love Christmas more than any other time of the year. Now, as the holiday approaches, she finds herself at loose ends. Recently divorced and estranged from her sister, she can't summon the old enthusiasm for celebrating. So without telling anyone, she buys a ticket and boards a plane bound for the rural Northwest. Yet Joy's best-laid plans go terribly awry. The plane crashes deep in the darkness of a forest. Miraculously, Joy and her fellow passengers walk away from the wreckage as the plane explodes. There, amid the towering trees, Joy makes a bold and desperate decision to leave her ordinary life behind and embark on an adventure... just for the holidays. Following the death of his ex-wife, Daniel O'Shea has returned to the small town of Rain Valley. Now he is a single father facing his son's first Christmas without a mother. Eight-year-old boy Bobby isn't making it easy- the boy has closed himself off from the world, surrounding himself with imaginery friends. When Joy and Bobby meet, they form an instant bond. Thrown together by fate, these wounded souls will be touched by the true spirit of Cristmas and remember what it means to be a family. Then a dramatic turn of events shows Joy the price of starting over. On a magical Christmas Eve she will come face-to-face with a startling truth. Now she must decide: In a time of impossible dreams and unexpected chances, can she find he faith to reach for the love she has found... and the new life only she believes in?I know this is a really long summay, but right now I don't really feel like writing much. But it was a great book, super surprising that she was ended up being Bobby's imaginery friend since Daniel acted so cold toward her! Weird in some moments and made others make sense. But def shocking when she woke up and they said it didn't happen, I thought it really didn't but guess the magic of Christmas and of Joy made it happen and she found where they were at. But anyways, might have one more book on here before 2010 ends!
Back Cover: It's the holiday season, and each of the roommates at 86 Bloomberg Place is a little blue. Megan has a difficult boss, and now her mom is going on vacation to Mexico, leaving Megan alone for Christmas for the first time ever. Lelani can't afford fly home to Hawaii and isn't sure she'd be welcomed anyways, not that she can admit that to anyone. Anna's old boyfriend- the one who cheated on her- has sailed back into her life, just when she's met a for-real "nice guy" she's been keeping secret from her largem crazy Latino family. And Kendall's met a famous actor, who might be the answer to her money woes- if she could only convince him she's the love of his life. Thank goodness God's around to listen when the girls need help! Let's face it, relationships are hard work- whether they're with family and friends, coworkers and customers, or boyfriends and girlfriends. And when you've got your first house, a real job, and grown-up responsibilities, too, relationships are loaded with confusion, emotion, and secrets you can't tell to anyone but God, let them eat fruitcake captures al the uncertainty and joy of being twentysomething in pitch-perfect detail- and the stories of these four girl just might sound like someone you know.Melody Carlson writes some awesome books. I didn't even know I was going to get this book I just went to the library and then it was in the Christmas section and I said I wanted to read a few Christmas books, so I got this one and another one! And it was good. Not amazing like some others, but I still enjoyed reading it, but I must say that Anna and Kendall are the crazy ones. When Kendall all lied to her parents about marrying this guy she met and lieing about getting a house in the neighborhood that famous guy was at and he didnt even like say anything about wanting her there, like wth! And then Anna being all pissed off at Lelani even though she knew that Jake was a snake! Arg haha but it was a good book and nice for them because they all had troubles and for all of them to let it out and be there for each other makes you so much closer and have awesome friendship that's for sure. But it was fun to read and I enjoyed it.
Back Cover: It finally happened: we went to college. We started over. No one knows who we've coveted, what we scored on our SATs, where our parents live, or when we became debaucherous. We've changed. Or at least, some of us have. But old habits are hard to break- especially when faced with your former besties and former flames. With everyone back in the city for the holidays, this break is guaranteed to be filled with makeups, breakups, and shakeups. This book was good, but not one of my favorites. It was confusing at first because it kept being Christmas like what? but then I was like oh this is the next year, so it was kinda cool to see and compare the differences that each person had with relationships and everything like Blair dating Pete, then dropping it for Nate, then Pete again, then Pete thinks she's with Nate cuz he crawls into bed with her then the next year she's with Chuck! Which I wonder has anything to do with because in the tv show she's with Chuck? Interesting. and it's like all these relationships when they're with the one they love it doesn't work ou and they go with someone else but then always thinking about the other one they were with. So there were a lot of hook ups let's see if I can name them all. Blair and Pete. Serena and Dan. Vanessa and Dan. Vanessa and Hollis. Jenny and Nate. Blair and Chuck. Blair and Nate. Serena and Nate. Who knows! haha but anyways, it was alright. Not as intesne for me, maybe because it was just same time of year for three parts of the book, but still work me buying, have to complete the collection! and waited one year just for the paperback!
Back Cover: In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest- nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past. Having retreated to her western Washington hometown after a scandal left her career in ruins, child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary little girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation. To reach her, Julia must discover the truth about Alice's past- although doing so requires help from Julia's estranged sister, a local police officer. The shocking facts of Alice's life test the limits of Julia's faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice- and for herself. In Magic Hour, Kristin Hannah creates one of her most beloved characters and delivers an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the meaning of home.AMAZING! Omg I absolutely loved this book. This is only the second book I've read by her but they are so diversely different and both so well written. It was heartbreaking that little girl them finding all those marks on her. And how she didn't understand anyone else. And especially at first, when they went in her head the first ime I'm like wth does this have to do with anything? but then I knew after that, and it was so sad how she could talk but made herself not do it, when that's what Julia wanted. The time she said the first word was like yes she finally talked! Cuz she knew it would make Julia happy. And it's crazy how at one moment you want something but over time you want the opposite. At first they wanted to find the parents, but then after Julia got through to Alice she didn't want anyone to step through and say Alice is my girl, but that's what happened! and it was so intense. Learning about that guy and then them finding that place in the forest where she was tied up. Scary, and things like that do happen to people, which is sickening really. How could someone do that? But that moment when her real dad was coming to pick her up, and Julia had to leave Alice, was so heart wrenching. I was like omg this is so sad! But then I knew when someone knocked at the door at the end it had to be Alice, I had a feeling. At first I thought she like escaped and somehow made it back on her own, but it was very courageous for George to give her daughter to Julia like that. But yeah so this book was great. It did take me a while to read, but yes I'm done with finals now!!! So on to the next one. Sadly I won't be able to make 100 books this year but still read quite a bit, can't believe it's been another year passed by! But reading will always be my fav.
Front Flap: After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the five remaining gates that guard the earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silver Bloods. Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of a crumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss of Kingsley and with her overwhelming esire to destroy Jack, she must focus all her energy on a perilous new threat. Vampires are being abducted and their captors are planning to burn them alive online... for all the world to see. Help arrives in the form of Deming Chen, a Venator from Shanghai, who must untangle the web of deceptions before the killers strike again. As the young vampires struggle for the survival of the coven, they uncover a deadly secret, a truth first discovered by Schuyler's mother during the Renaissance but kept buried for centuries. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler to a terrible choice that will ultimately map the destiny of her heart. Awesome book like always. Haven't read the one before it in a while, but of course you get back into things and remember what was going on. I think the stuff going on with Mimi was alot more deadly and intense though! But I loved it. And the cover too is nice. I am not sure what big secret they're talking about? I guess that's bad since I just finished it a few days ago, but with so much stuff on my mind with school, it makes sense right? Anyways, Schuyler and Jack are in love. Aw, yet they get separated at the end. What's going on there? And Mimi wants revenge, uh oh Jack is in trouble. Then Mimi has all this stress when she misses Kinglsey, and wow she's going to Hell to get him?? BRAVE! Plus they didn't even find any of the 5 gates which goes to show you there's still a long way for this series to go, which is good! Cuz I don't want it to go away anytime soon that's for sure. Deming was a good character to add into the mix since she was from Shanghai, that's awesome. And now her and those other two brothers are going out to find others like that half demon half human guy, forgot his name already, sad I know. But so adventorous. I was tired of reading about vampires for a while since last semester I had that class but now every now and then this book is great, esp I feel it's different than others for some reason. Maybe because the focus more on like the demons and the gates of Hell. Now that is something you don't want to mess with! Well it was a good read and so I'm hoping to maybe get 100 books by the end of this year but I'm doubting it, not even at 80 yet I don't think, but oh well, it's still a lot of books I read! :]
