Review - That Day In September by Artie Van Why

Artie Van Why lived in New York City for 26 years and worked across from the World Trade Center. He was there in the streets the morning of 9/11 and his book That Day In September is Artie's personal tribute to honor those who died.

That Day In September chronicles Artie's eyewitness account of the attack on the World Trade Center and the weeks and months following.  Most people remember exactly what they were doing on that dreadful day and where they were when they watched the televised footage of the horror that took place but is nothing compared to the atrocities and awfulness that people who were actually there must have experienced. 

This book is absolutely the most humbling book I've ever read.  The emotions that have come from someone who has actually experienced such trauma from the minute that when at work he heard the first boom and wondered what on earth it was, to finding out what it was and seeing, feeling and hearing how it was affecting both himself and the people around him at the actual time is remarkable.  They way in which Artie has perfectly written this personal tribute and memoir is reflective, overwhelming, amazing and is a piece of history which I will keep on my bookshelves and pass on to my very young son to help him understand what actually happened on that day, and for us all to look back at in years to come

I cannot possibly imagine how anyone who experienced this day for real would feel. For those who lost loved friends and relatives, my heart goes out to you.  Bless you all.  This tribute from Artie Van Why is simply perfect! 

Artie now lives in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania.  He moved there in October 2003, after having lived in New York for 26 years. 

Please find links to Artie's Facebook Page, Amazon (UK) page and Good Reads page. 

Review - Astral Travelling, The Avatar and Me by Richard Holmes

This book was a complete change from the chick lit books I've been reading lately. 

Split into two halves, the first half tells the story of how Richard managed to pull himself up from what he describes as “emotionally hitting rock bottom” and with some spiritual help he turned his life around.   He describes that he started to have out of body experiences which he eventually viewed as amazing adventures.  He describes these astral travelling journeys in an incredibly interesting and fascinating way that keep you spellbound and wanting to read more. 

The second half of the book talks about how he decided to take some time out from his “normal” life and spend some time at the ashram Prasanthi Nilayam, in Puttaparthi Southern India in 2009 and tells of the amazing people he encountered along the way, right from the person he sat next to on the plane, the taxi drivers at the airport, the people he shared a dormitory with, and then eventually a room with.  He talks about how he felt when he first saw the man he had learned so much about - Sri Sathya Sai Baba and how he got closer and closer to him. 

Richard is a fascinating writer and man.  The book is so written and in such an intriguing way that keeps you enthralled all the way through the book at times feeling that you were accompanying him on his journey.  The way he describes his voyage to India, the colours, the smells, the food, the places he visited and the energies that he felt while he was there make you feel that you are there right beside him. 

Richard is a medium and clairvoyant.  He has written a number of spiritual books and also produces meditation CDs aiming to help change the lives of many, many people from all backgrounds.    He turned his own life around from being an alcoholic and uses these methods and principles to help others with their struggles assisting them in finding their own potential and turning their negative mindsets around.

To learn more about Richard his website can be found at www.richardfholmes.com.uk or you can find his blog at http://richardfholmes.wordpress.com

Review - Fat Girls & Fairy Cakes by Sue Watson

What a fabulous fabulous book!  Laugh a minute, cry a lot, relate to most of it, empathise tons and I enjoyed it absolutely loads! 

Fat Girls & Fairy Cakes is one of my most favourite books I've ever read!  Due for launch on 8th September, congratulations go to Sue Watson on her debut novel.  I'm sure she'll be celebrating many more in the future.  Next week I'll be running an interview with the author and later this week I'll be running a giveaway so you have a chance to win this fantastic book.  Let me tell you a little more  . . . . .

Busy Mom Stella works in the world of TV and husband Tom is a TV camera man.  Stella’s impossible super-bitch boss makes life as difficult as possible arranging meetings at ridiculous times and arranging for her to be away from home for weeks on end.  Tom is completely sick of being the main parent in charge, who gets to pick up the pieces and realises that his hopes and dreams are been quashed so that Stella can achieve hers. 

When Stella returns home after a spell of a few weeks ago producing a program in Yorkshire, she finds that she has come home to a different life to the one she left behind, a daughter that she doesn’t really know much about anymore and a husband who is not a happy bunny!  She starts to suspect that Tom might not be as honest as she thought he was and could be up to no good!

When Stella is stressed, she bakes to get rid of her worries and her tensions, making the most fabulous cakes and not realising how much of an important aspect of her future, her baking is to become.   

This is a story about bullying, bitchiness, friendship, love, tears, motherhood, revenge and about taking opportunities and making dreams come true.  It’s written beautifully, flows really well and is SO hard to put down.   One night I woke up in the middle of the night and instead of even attempting to go back to sleep, got up and read some more of this fabulous tale!

Stella is such a wonder character, having traits and personal issues that most women would be able to relate to.  Sue has an absolutely amazing way of making you feel the emotions of her characters, and making you step into their shoes. 

Fat Girls & Fairy Cakes is such a great story, and so well written that I find it hard to believe that this is Sue Watson’s first book.   If this one is anything to go by, I’m sure Sue will enjoy tremendous success for many books to come and will be up there with some of the best authors around!  I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.  An absolute cracker! Every woman should have it in their collection!  Just trust me and buy it!

Manchester born Sue Watson, moved to London and enjoyed working on tabloid newspapers and women’s magazines before moving in TV, becoming a producer at the BBC where she dreamt about writing. 

She lives in Worcestershire, with her husband Nick and daughter Eve.  She is currently writing her second novel.

You can find out more about Sue in the following ways :

You can buy Fat Girls & Fairy Cakes from Amazon

You can "like" Sue on Facebook 

You can follow Sue on Twitter

You can also catch up with Sue's blog



Review - Sophie's Turn by Nicky Wells

A laugh out loud, extremely easy to read, fabulous book that whisks you off and transports you a whole other exciting world! 

Sophie, a budding journalist on a London paper used to be a massive fan of rock band Tusk back in the 80s and travelled the country in her youth to follow Tusk and blagged her way into their dressing room and onto their tour coach with the lead singer Dan who was the man of her dreams!  

She is now with Tim, an Accountant and he is a nice, average man, but there's not much excitement and romance in her life, much to the disappointment of her best mate Rachel . When at the airport, waiting to check-in for a flight, she spots a familiar face in the queue who turns out to be Darren, one of the old members of Tusk.  He amazingly recognises her too and they meet up and have a chat before she flies off to New York.  He tells her that the band have reformed and are doing a few intimate gigs and she decides to go and watch one of them. 

This puts her back in touch with the band and particularly back in touch with the man of her old dreams Dan, who sweeps her off her feet and after inviting them to cover their new tour proposes to her! 

Find out whether the grass really is greener on the other side and who Sophie decides to be with in this fabulously well written, romance which is guaranteed to make you smile and has a quite unexpected ending.    Sophie is an outstanding and believable character who'd you love to be friends with. 

Can't believe that this is Nicky's first book.  She writes in such a fabulously colourful and descriptive way which makes you believe you are the main character of the book, and feel the deep emotions of the characters.  I was on that tour bus!  I was singing and dancing at the concerts! I love Tusk!  I for one, and I'm sure anyone else who reads this excellent debut novel from Nicky, will be awaiting the next one with baited breath.  I love her style of writing, and this book was an absolute pleasure to read. 

Born and raised in Germany, Nicky moved to the UK in 1993.  Having received degrees from the University of London and from the University of Oxford, she spent 6 years as a researcher and project manager for an international HR research firm.

Nicky left work in late 2004 to spend three months writing Sophie’s Turn, before the birth of her first baby in April 2005 and she currently lives with her husband and two sons in Bristol, and is trying hard to work on her next novel as much as being Mom to 2 small children allows.  

To find out more about Nicky Wells and her fabulous writing, you can check out her website http://nickywellsklippert.wordpress.com/

Review - Coffee at Little Angels by Nadine Rose Larter

Crikey!  This book had me sat around the pool on holiday with tears streaming down my face and people asking me if I was ok!  What a tearjerker but a lovely and well written one at that!

Coffee at Little Angels is about a group of small town high school friends.  Some have moved away from the town to make a life elsewhere, and some have stayed around.   They share a ton of memories between them, some good and some bad, but haven't really caught up as a group for a long time.  Reunited in grief when one of their group Phillip, is killed in a hit and run accident, they all return back to their home town, dealing with his death in different ways.  The book starts with Phillips death and his thoughts and feelings and a really strong opening line!  

A number of both new and old issues and emotions are raised and dealt with between this group of friends, and the book deals with many subjects including that of grief, loving and losing, discrimination, jealousy and above all friendship.

Nadine's style of writing is excellent, with the emotions from these very strong characters being felt deeply and you could easily imagine yourself being an additional member of the group sitting around the breakfast table joining in with the conversation.   The book was not written in chapters but in reasonably short sections from the view of each of the characters making it easy to read, once you had worked out the style. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book even if the sobbing left me feeling a little exhausted! 

I believe that Nadine decided to write this and use her experiences from losing a childhood friend of her own, which is perhaps why it's written so well and so clearly from the heart.   An excellent and delightful read, so honoured that I have been invited to review it. 

Nadine lives in Port Elizabeth with her son, fiance and two step children.  She is never happier than when she's writing, writing short stories and poems from a very early age. 

Over the last two years she made the decision to become a full time author and is developing her writing skills all the time.  Judging on this book, I think she's doing a fantastic job! 

You can find out more about Nadine and her other writing  at http://www.passingtheopenwindows.co.za/

Review - Breaking Even by Kathleen Kole

A fantastic book which gets you thinking about your own life and whether what you have is enough for you, or whether you want more!

Penelope is a sensible accountant who is engaged to Ben, a lovely, kind man and they have been together for what seems like forever.  One day while helping out her sister in law to be by taking the kids to school she locks her keys in her car, and is offered help by the most handsome man she thinks she's ever seen.  She finds out that Scott was left a single dad when his wife died with a child at the school too and he totally bowls her over.   After spending a little time with him, she finds herself becoming very girly and excitable!

On an impulse, Penny goes out and gets herself a makeover and buys herself a flashy new sports car and is amazed by the different reactions she gets from the family and friends in her life. She is surprised by her own reaction to how she feels about the excitement of meeting someone knew and is astonished that he finds her as attractive as she finds him.  It makes her question her own life and think about whether she and Ben are actually happy together, or whether they are just ambling along in a life which they are used to, which now seems a little staid and boring.   She finds herself wrestling with her emotions on this rollercoaster journey in her life.

Without giving away anymore of the plot, this is a great book, a really good read, which gets you reflecting on your own circumstances and thinking about how you would feel in this situation!   It certainly made me want to go out and get a makeover and buy a flashy new car. It's a story about good friends, family, love and relationships.  An extremely well written, enjoyable and easy to read book with terrific characters which kick started both my holiday reading and my new Kindle relationship and made me forget that I was not reading an actual book.   Kathleen's writing has you feeling all the emotions that the characters feel and I'm really looking forward to reading Kathleen's next book Dollars to Donuts. 

Kathleen is an extremely talented writer.  Born in Edmonton, she began storytelling in grade school and has many fond memories of entertaining her friends by story telling in her back yard.  She pursued a career in story telling and graduation from college with a Diploma in Radio & Television Arts and became a freelance writer for local newspapers.   She lives with her beloved husband, adored son and daft dog! 

If you'd like to know more about Kathleen Kole and her writing and books, check out her website at http://www.kathleenkole.com/. 

My Kindle Experience

Apologies for the lack of blog posts recently, I've been on a family holiday to Menorca.  Weather fabulous, a few initial hiccups with the accommodation, but all ok in the end.

It was my birthday just before we went away and I was lucky enough to be given a Kindle.  I wasn't sure about having one, as I've always been a big reader and love the feel of a book in my hands and turning pages etc.  

I normally go away with around five books weighing my case down and then swap books with my other half and start reading the ones that he finishes as I'd normally run out!  This time I decided that I wasn't going to take a book at all, hoping that I'd get on ok with my new reading device as I'd be hunting down a book shop if I didn't.

OMG - I have a new best friend!

I LOVE MY KINDLE!

Probably helped by the fact that the first book I read on it, which was called Breaking Even by Kathleen Kole, was an absolute cracker, I didn't miss the feel of a book once.   Once I got into this fantastic story, I didn't really notice that I wasn't reading a book. 

No glare at all, so great to read outdoors.  Light and easy to hold, and easy to turn the pages, I don't know how I managed without one.  Easy to slip into my handbag to bring out at any time giving me the chance to carry on reading, and I managed to get through 9 books.   

I did find the "talk to me" feature a bit wierd as it has an odd voice (which I was prepared for as I had been told that) but also that it didn't stop at sentence ends, just continued talking so I shan't be using that particular feature.   

I didn't realise that you can also use it to go onto the internet, a feature that I would definitely use and a nice surprise and you can also transfer music files onto it too so can listen to music while you are reading.  I'll be playing around with these features now I'm back.  The model I had was the £111 version as I felt that this would be perfect for what I needed it for.  And it SO was!

All in all, I would definitely recommend a Kindle to anyone who loves books.   After I've raved about mine, my sister has already put one onto her birthday list and my 79 year old Aunty has already gone out and treated herself to one too.

Will crack on with all my reviews now and will be posting them very soon! 

Catch you later

Kim

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