Vacation Fun!

Hello Friends!!!

Can I just say that all of you rock? Thanks for the well-wishes on my camping vacation. I can't tell you how cool it was to come home and read all of your comments. For the past day I've been doing laundry and trying to get caught up, but my heart is still back at our campsite! I love the northern part of Michigan, there's something pretty damn magical about it. I would like to share a few pics with you today and I promise to take better pictures of the forest this weekend. I'm headed back up to join my hubby on Friday night. So very excited because Marc is staying with a friend for the weekend and Matt and I get some quality couple time!!!!

This is a picture of the toys that we were riding. Starting on the far left is my hubby's newest toy (2 months old) and what I drove on the trails. I did manage to beat the crap out of it! I will show you those photos later!!! The bike in the middle is my husbands KTM..he rips it up out there and is an amazing rider! The blue/white bike is my son's Marc. He's getting better every time we go out.

This is a photo of my hubby holding onto the guard that I "accidentally" ripped off of the RZR. Somehow I slid into a tree and this sort of got stuck behind the tree and I kept accelerating....which resulted in this HEAVY DUTY piece of steel being stripped from the RZR. According to the hubby this could possibly be a $500 boo-boo!!!!

This is what our faces looked like when we rolled back into camp after 5 hours on the trails!! Pretty huh?

 Don't those pics just warm your heart?? Marc and his girlfriend Shelby reading around the campfire????

This is the side where the metal guard used to reside!! Notice all of the scratches all over the plastic??? Well, I pulled off the whole side as we were riding down a huge washed-out area! Then because we couldn't fit through the trail my hubby tried to get the RZR out of the forest and he ended up damaging the other side of plastic!! He estimated that to replace those two pieces would be very $$$$$$!!! Aren't I lucky that he still loves me????

I've decided to market a new hair gel---DIRT! My hair was all over the place and it would stay like that until I washed it!! Marcus said that it looked like Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. Me being a die-hard 80's person thought that was extremely cool!!!!!!!! Much to his chagrin...LOL!!

Thanks everyone for stopping by today and I will take photos of the woods to share with you on Monday! But here is an example of what we were doing.

Pure Michigan ORV!

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- Happy that I read it...a good read.
2 of Hearts- Just O.K but nothing to write home about.
Joker Card - Don't bother (why did I?)

Broken (Grant County #8, Will Trent #4)- Karin Slaughter
This is my go-to author for a well-written police procedural that is sure to be filled with gory crime scenes and great characters. I stumbled upon Slaughter quite by accident and boy, am I ever glad that I did because Cornwell was disappointing me with every new Scarpetta book she turned out. The action starts right at the beginning and she deftly weaves the clues within the words of the pages, it's just up to you to try to figure out where all of the pieces fit. One of the best things about Slaughter's writing is that her crime is one that could happen and the characters are all very human, nothing comes across as trite....ever! This is a series that has to be read from the very beginning (IMHO) only because you need the past history to understand each characters thought processes and choices. If you're looking for an author who consistently delivers a solid book than look no further than Slaughter. Blindsighted is Book 1 in the Grant County Series...start there!
My Rating:

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6)- Diana Gabaldon
Gabaldon is my favorite historical fiction writer and the Outlander series is one that captured my heart from the very first book. I've been immersed in Jamie and Claire's world for over 16 years and have loved every single minute of it. This book was absolutely fascinating because I felt that I was right there in the middle of all of the pre-Revolution action. Gabaldon has a gift for details and placing you in that particular time period so that is why her books are CHUNKSTERS! I'm deeply involved in the entire Fraser clan's lives and each time something happened to one of them I found myself getting a tad emotional. If you're looking for a series that will span hundred's of years, time travel, romance, suspense, history, characters you fall in love with ( swoon...I love Jamie) then I highly recommend that you run to the bookstore and get Outlander. You will not be sorry and then you can join the legions of crazed women worldwide who want to run their fingers through Jamie Fraser's hair and hear him call you, "Sassenach."
My Rating:

Vacation in the Thumb!

Husband's truck filled with dirt bikes/camper filled with goodies and the Polaris RZR

I've waited 4 long years to get away and I can not wait! Some of you know that for a while I was a hostage in my own home and because of that I wasn't able to leave my husband or my son alone at any time. So this is the first time in a long time that I get to go somewhere with my family!! The northern part of Michigan has been singing to me in my dreams and the scent of pine and fragrant wildflowers is fresh in my mind. We like to camp off the beaten path and ride our dirt bikes and Polaris RZR. There's nothing quite like being out in the wilderness, sitting around the camp fire drinking beer, chatting with friends and family, and having no outside influences intruding on your day. We don't have anything special planned...just riding, eating, sleeping, swimming, reading, playing card games, drinking (for some of us) and relaxing!!

So please forgive me if I'm MIA commenting on your blogs.....I will return to my regular daily visits when I get back!!! Until then, enjoy your reading and whatever else you may have going on!!! And I'll drink an ice cold beer for all of you!!!

'Still Missing' by Chevy Stevens

Author: Chevy Stevens

Genre: Fiction

About: A young real estate agent who is kidnapped by a stranger during an open house and kept hostage for over a year.

Descriptive Words: tense, heart-racing, frightening, realistic, horrifying, gut-wrenching, and believe it or not hopeful

Thoughts: I started this book in the early morning and could not put it down until I finished it. I found myself clenching the book at times because of the certain scenes that I was reading made my emotions go over the top. I thought the author wrote a solid, first-rate story that kept my interest from page one and had me rooting for Annie throughout the story. I really liked the way the story was set up with Annie recounting what she endured as she visits almost daily with her psychologist. It was truly amazing that she survived her kidnapping/rape/torture/emotional/physical abuse ordeal. I liked Annie's honesty and her voice. The kicker for me is that this story came across as something I know that women throughout the world have endured. This is a story that must be read to be fully appreciated, telling you much more in my opinion would be ruining the story for those of you who want to read it. I can honestly say that it's a favorite read for me for this year and I highly recommend it.....BUT I do suggest you read it during the daylight hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Source: Shelf Awareness

Why I Chose: I was immediately captured by the plot and thought this could be a good read.

Recommend? Absolutely! But if you're squeamish about women being abused/raped/tortured/...etc. and have nightmares easily then you may want to pass. I only say this because the manner in which Annie was abducted could happen to any one of us and that makes this book so realistic and oh so scary!

Rating: 5/5


Thank you to Shelf Awareness for sending me a review copy.
I was not compensated for my review.
My thoughts on this book were in no way influenced by the author.
They are my personal reflections based solely on MY experience while reading this novel.


Review style courtesy of Lynne's Book Reviews

 

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@Barrie Summy

July Totals

Books Read:
1. Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper: 4/5
2. Disrupting Grace: 5/5
3. After the Fall: 3/5
4.The Space Between Us: 4.5/5
5. The Clouds Roll Away: 3/5
6. When She Flew: 4/5
7. The Murderer's Daughters: 5/5
8.  Never Let You Go: 3.5/5
9. Hidden Wives: 4.5/5
10. Letter To My Daughter: 3.5/5
11. Benny and Shrimp: 3/5
12. Irish Country Girl: 4/5
13. A Note From an Old Acquaintance: 2.5/5
14. Still Missing: 5/5
15. Broken: 4/5
16. The House Next Door: 4/5
17. Blind Hope: 3/5
18. A Breath of Snow and Ashes: 5/5

Total Pages: 6137
Favorite Book(s):The Murderer's Daughters, Still Missing (review tomorrow), and A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

Mailbox Monday and It's Monday...What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday

is hosted by Chick Loves Lit (August Host)
We share what books that we found 

in our mailboxes last week.

Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City- review copy from Sourcebooks
Miracle of Prato- tour book for August 26th TLC Tour stop
Small Death in the Great Glen- Shelf Awareness

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hosted by Sheila
One Persons Journey Through a World of Books
Weekly meme where we discuss the books you've read
and those you plan to read in the coming week.

Read and reviewed last week:

A Note From an Old Acquaintance- predictable 2.5/5

An Irish Country Girl- do not miss a chance to read this one...delightful! 4.5/5

The Space Between Us- final thoughts on this great read-a-long 4.5/5

Six Sentence Saturday books:

The House Next Door- suspenseful and creepy! 4/5

Blind Hope- inspiring but preachy 3/5

Tentative reviews for this week:

Still Missing- Tuesday (finally finished this one!!)

Broken (Karin Slaughter)- Wednesday

A Breath of Snow and Ashes- Six Sentence Saturday

Books on deck for next week:

Calling fans of Ellen Hopkins!! Check this out!

I recently received Ellen's newest book FALLOUT in the mail the other day. You should have seen my face when I opened the package...priceless! I had no idea that this ARC was going to show up on my doorstep. I did a happy dance much like Snoopy and giggled like a crazed lunatic. I've been looking at this one for over a week now and petting it every time I pass by.....and then today I had an IDEA!!
What if I read the book and then passed it on to another Hopkin's fan and they read it/reviewed it, and then passed it on to the next person, and they read it/reviewed it, and...well, you know how this goes right???

Here's how I'm thinking of doing this.

We will do a blog tour of this book and highlight it 4 times until the end of September. In order for this to work though, each person must finish the book within 8 days and then get it sent out immediately to the next person on the list. If one person breaks the chain then the tour will fail and that person will be cursed with nothing but horrible reads for the next 7 years of their lives!! If you're a fan of Hopkins then you know this book, even though it is over 500+ pages, will only take you a day or two at most, to finish! 

Please let me know in the comments if you would like to play along with me. I'll even make a button for it...not sure how, but I will figure it out! Remember, you must be committed to mailing this out to the next person on time or else this will fail and that would suck big time! Plus, I will list the tour on my sidebar and then everyone will know who dropped the ball!! LOL!!

I will let the 4  participants know by email. Please note that you will be responsible for $$ to send the book to the next reader. Media mail is perfectly acceptable and it will only be within the U.S. so it shouldn't run more than 3.00

Participating so far:
Jan of Eating Y.A. Books