Book Review: The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy

Title and Author of book: A Year of Ice by Brian Malloy
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction
Genre: YA GLBT
Where did I get the book: My public Library

Who recommended this book to me? I heard about this book from reading Matt's blog A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. He always has the most eclectic tastes in books and I always come away in awe of his writing skills and of the complex novels he reads.


I'm always looking for well-written and HONEST gay/lesbian YA books. This one is both of those things and so much more. It's not just a story about a young man named Kevin who knows he's gay and just wants to find someone to love. It's about how his life is in such chaos since the death of his mother and finding out dark secrets about his father. It's about life and being a teenager on the brink of adulthood and feeling like you're ready to take on the world, but also wanting everything to stay the same and to remain safe. I loved every single word in this book and the ending wasn't quite what I expected, but I feel pretty confident that Kevin is going to find his "own" place in the world. For those of you that are participating in the GLBT Challenge for 2010 this is one book that I highly recommend for your list.

Library Loot-December 16

Hosted by Eva at A Stripped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures.
We share what we each picked up at the library during the week.

Christmas is Murder: A Rex Graves mystery by C.S. Challinor
** I read Nan's awesome review and immediately requested this one from my library!







Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
** Janel and JoAnn both liked this book so I decided to get this one for my Japanese Literature Challenge!







Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1)by Gail Carriger
** Linda of Book Girl of Mur-y Castell wrote a fantastic review of this one and I've seen it off and on throughout blogger world. I caved and requested it!! Hi Linda.....finally blamed you for a book!!!!! HA!HA!






A Plateful of Murder (Hemlock Falls Mysteries) by Claudia Bishop
** I grabbed this one because I'm still infatuated with cozy mysteries and this has two stories in one!! Yay!!!







A Quilter's Holiday: an Elm Creek Quilts novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
** I've read all of her Elm Creek Quilts and the holiday one matches the season..how could I resist?





Books Read in 2009 to date: 179
Number of Books Checked out from the library:26

Winner of Embellish

Wanda

Please respond to my email with your address!!
Sorry for getting to this contest so late everyone!

Teaser Tuesdays and It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

I'm in England learning the true meaning of Christmas.
~ A Christmas Carol
____________________________________________________

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

" The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost.
"A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still."
Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.

p.44 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Mailbox Monday- December 14

Mailbox Monday
is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

Through the Heart by Kate Morgenroth
** This one just showed up one day, I didn't request it so how it got here is a mystery. But it sounds like a great read!!

Synopsis:
As Nora and Timothy take turns telling their sides of the story, the reader is caught in the net of their love, and the chilling murder that results. With big questions of love, fidelity, filial responsibility and the role of fate, Through the Heart is a page-turning love story with a jaw dropping twist readers won't soon forget!



Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
** Review copy courtesy of publisher
I think this one is going to be a different read for me...but I'm looking forward to it. Has anyone read it yet?

Synopsis:
Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.

WHAT CAME FOR YOU?

Six Sentence Saturday

Welcome to Six Sentence Saturday.

Where I try to express my thoughts on recent reads using only 6 sentences!!!!.
At the end of each review I will post a
rating scale of 1-5 using the cute and original (lol) Playing Cards.
Rating scale will be as follows:

5 of Hearts- You must read this book NOW!!
4 of Hearts- A great read, put it on your TBR list.
3 of Hearts- Glad I read but no big deal
2 of Hearts- Why did I finish this?
Joker Card - Don't bother (why did I?)


A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #1) by Charles Finch
** I have finally learned that some stories are slow for a reason. This one is slow in pacing because the main character Charles is a man of privilege and wealth. His days are not owed to anyone but himself, so he goes about his day at a leisurely pace. He is asked by his good friend Lady Jane to begin an inquest as to how her former maid died, he finds himself with a wonderful puzzle to try to piece together. I enjoyed this mystery very much and found that I really liked Charles and his "close friendship" with Lady Jane. Nan of Letters From a Hill Farm, has given me much insight on how to enjoy these slower paced stories and for that I thank her!!
My Rating:






Hold My Hand by Serena Mackesy
** I read an awesome review of Hold My Hand at Fleur Fisher's blog and immediately knew I had to read this book. I was not disappointed. Take a woman who married for love (she thought) and then ends up being on the receiving end of abuse. She flees with her daughter to the Cornwall area to be a caretaker of an old mansion that quite literally is haunted. This is a very suspenseful book with a ghost that is twisted and sinister- and she's a child!!! The atmosphere of this one has been compared to Rebecca (which I have yet to read) and if you enjoyed that book plus books with that Gothic eeriness to them, then you should put this one on a TBR list!!
My Rating:






Kith (The Good Neighbors #2) by Holly Black
** Jumping back into a graphic novel was a fun way to spend an hour this past week. At times I did find myself a little lost in the story. That is the drawback to a graphic novel...the art work is open to interpretation to add to the story, and sometimes I don't INTERPRET correctly!! Black has once again taken the reader into the dark side of fairies and at times humans. If you've read her novels I think you would enjoy this graphic novel series. If you're picking up a graphic novel for the first time...don't start with this series because there are much BETTER ones out there!!
My Rating:

Show and Tell

Pieces of Me

There's more to me than just books and reading, so today I felt like sharing another hobby of mine that I love to do, which is scrapbooking. I was introduced to this hobby about 6 years ago and I fell in love with it. I made my Mom a scrapbook of her parents, siblings, my Dad, and me and my brother. After that I was hooked. I don't scrap every day but I do go almost once a month with my best pal Tracy and we spend the WHOLE day just having fun and getting a few pages done!! Here are some of my favorite pages that I would like to share with you today.

Marc learning how to eat...it only took him 13 years!!!

My cutie patootie nephew Simon at the beach.

My boys being goofy inside a photo booth!!!

Marcus with his best buddy Tyler...they've been friends since Kindergarten.

My boys at the beach a few years ago...Trouble is exactly right!!!


Thanks for stopping by today and if you're
kind enough to leave a comment
tell me what other hobbies besides reading do you enjoy?????