Review: Almost Perfect- Brian Katcher

Title: Almost Perfect
Author: Brian Katcher
Pages: 360
Genre: YA GLBT
Source: Library
Who Recommended Book to Me: This book was featured on Michelle's Bookshelf. Click here for her phenomenal review.

Logan Witherspoon recently discovered that his girlfriend of three years cheated on him. But things start to look up when a new student breezes through the halls of his small-town high school. Sage Hendricks befriends Logan at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. Sage has been homeschooled for a number of years and her parents have forbidden her to date anyone, but she won’t tell Logan why. One day, Logan acts on his growing feelings for Sage. Moments later, he wishes he never had. Sage finally discloses her big secret: she’s actually a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at Sage and disowns her. But once Logan comes to terms with what happened, he reaches out to Sage in an attempt to understand her situation. But Logan has no idea how rocky the road back to friendship will be.



My Thoughts:

This book wounded my very soul. I am sitting here with tears in my eyes, trying not to break down and sob. Someone please explain to me why some people have to deal with so much hatred directed towards them just because of who they "are" as a human. Why do they have to worry that if their truth is told they may die because of it? I've always told my two boys that it never mattered to me whether they were gay, ( I never thought to include transgender) because I would love them no matter what. Now I realize, I truly realize, that a mother's love is NOT enough to help a person make it in this world. My eyes are open even wider as I come to grips with what anguish, self-hatred, disgust, depression, rejection, a person who is transgendered has to deal with in their daily lives. How every day they have to hide who they are. Can you even begin to imagine the loneliness this person experiences? This is an IMPORTANT book...a must read for any young person who is transgendered, for any person that loves a transgendered person. In my opinion, this is one of the best GLBT books that I have ever read...EVER!

Highly Recommended!
out of 5

Library Loot

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

I'm almost embarrassed to write this post because I have only one book to talk about.....yep, you read that right......ONE! But I think it will turn out to be a great one.


Rainwater - Sandra Brown
** Diane of Bibliophile by the Sea writes some of the best reviews of books that I read on a daily basis and she totally sold me on this one. I haven't read a Brown book in ages because honestly, I felt she was tired and overdone. Another friend whose opinions I highly respect is JoAnn/QuAppelle. She is one tough cookie to win over and she gave this one 4 out of 5 stars!



Books Read in 2010 to date: 34
Number of Books Checked out from the library:15

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

It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

I'm a high school senior living in Washington. I suffer from panic attacks that sometimes make me feel like I'm going to die. I tell myself that I'm being silly, but it doesn't stop them. Right now I'm obsessing over a boy in a red jacket that I saw on my web cam. He visits the elephants and the zoo and I just know that we are meant to be in each others lives.
~ The Nature of Jade

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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!

I hurry home after school the day after I see the red-jacket boy. I want to see if he and the baby will reappear.
p. 18 ~ The Nature of Jade

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

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

I was a lucky winner at Ryan's blog Wordsmithsonia a few weeks ago. Below are the ARCs that I won!Hush, Hush- so can't wait to read this one!!
Bees and Mist- I wanted this since the first time I saw the beautiful cover.
The Magicians- Very excited to have won this one!!!
Primitive- new to me author and it looks very suspenseful!!
The Amanda Project - which is missing from the photo because I gave it to an aspiring writer at my middle school. I thought this book was perfect for her!!

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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.

Here are the books on deck this week:

Review: Love and War: Finding the Marriage You Dreamed Of

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic. They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgement: Marriage is fabulously hard. They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we'll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.


Guest Reviewer: Tracy's Thoughts:

I’ve read a few other books by John & Stasi Eldredge and I really enjoy the personal stories that they share, stories of the difficult struggles they have faced individually and as a couple. I appreciate that they put it all out there to help others work through their struggles. However, I was disappointed because so much of the information in Love & War was a repeat from other books I’ve read (Captivating and Wild at Heart). This book is written for couples so it covers both the strength of men and the beauty of women. It is my opinion that you should read this book first.

One of the most profound lessons of Love & War for me was that a couple’s heart is to fight a great battle TOGETHER. So many times we get stuck in a rut and focus on the day to day things that must be done. Our focus should be on what we want to accomplish together. The Eldredge’s point out that if we don’t find a great battle to face together, we will start one with each other.

Love & War also discusses the ways that Satan attacks our marriage by playing on our weaknesses and our past. But as Christians we need to remember that when we become complacent, GOD also sends disruptions. These disruptions are meant to be a wakeup call to refocus our efforts together.

It was just a nice reminder that true love always puts others first. If I spend more time finding ways to love my husband and working on the log in my own eye, I won’t have nearly as much time to focus on all of the things he’s done to “wrong me”.

*** Many thanks to my friend Tracy for reading and reviewing this book for me.

This book was provided for review by the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

To learn more about or purchase these books at RandomHouse.com:

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?)

All Graphic Novel reviews today folks!! The pictures are pages taken from each graphic novel and not their cover.




French Milk - Lucy Knisley
** I've read mixed thoughts on this one and decided that I really needed to read it for myself. I'm glad that I did. I enjoyed reading about Lucy's life and most especially the time she spent in France with her mother. I tend to like to read about the mundane things in life and so reading about what she ate everyday did not bother me but rather made me want to spend six weeks living in Paris without a care! I loved her drawings, writing, and the occasional photo that she included into this graphic novel. It might not be exciting for some, but I enjoyed it quite a bit!



My Rating:









The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam - Ann Marie Fleming
** This graphic novel strikes me more as a scrapbook from days gone by. The author never knew her Great-Grandfather but with the help of relatives, magic museums, and the internet she was able to put a time line to her grandfather's life. One of the reasons that I enjoyed this one so much is the genealogical aspect. I love researching my family heritage and Fleming's background is colorful. Her research took her to Australia, China, Hungary...she was a globe-trotter for sure. I learned a lot about the traveling magic shows and vaudeville back in its heyday and this graphic novel gives you a fascinating look into this time period!
My Rating:







The Color of Earth - Kim Dong Hwa
** If you get the opportunity to read this, I suggest that you go to the back of the book and read the essay entitled, "Painting the Lives of Women with Rain and Flowers." (it helps explain how Korean culture views a girl becoming a young woman-very insightful) This graphic novel is a very detailed look into the life of a young Korean girl coming into her sexuality. I love how various stages of her life are reflected in what kind of flower she likes or a certain boy may give to her. The power of rain and what it symbolizes is very poetic and beautiful too. I never looked at going through puberty as a beautiful ritual but after reading Color of Earth, I've come to appreciate that time in my life a bit more. I have already requested books 2 and 3 because I'm totally captivated by Ehwa's story.
My Rating:

Accomplice Press, LLC, Your Partner in Good Reading

I was approached by Karen from Accomplice Press to see if I would be interested in reading and reviewing any of their books on my blog. I told her that most of the genres that they featured interested me and that I would love to help support a "little" publishing house. I really like that they are out there giving the average writer an opportunity to be published. Here's is my guest post from Karen Jones, Promotions Manager of Accomplice Press. Also, this company is based in MICHIGAN!!!

Curvalicious: A New Endeavor, A New Kind of Heroine ______________________________________________________________________________

Accomplice Press is extremely excited to announce our new specialty line of books called Curvalicious. These novella length romance stories will feature strong, intelligent, sexy, voluptuous women. Our heroines will land the man of their dreams without losing a pound or changing their appearance and they will all get the happily ever after they deserve.

As curvy women and publishers we see that there is an entire group of vivacious females who are not being portrayed in traditional romance series. All one has to do is glance at the cover art to see what most publishers believe a sexy woman looks like. Real women come in every shape and size and we all have allure. This line will spotlight positive, life affirming relationships that we all dream of having. After all, we read romance books because we like a good love story that makes us smile and keeps us warm even on a cold, Michigan winter's night. Our line will have two heat levels because we understand that every reader has a different idea of what true romance should be. There will be Curvalicious Sweet which will have sensual love scenes, but no explicit language or sex and Curvalicious Spicy which is erotic romance containing explicit language and sex scenes.

Curvalicious is DJ Alling's baby, our inspirational Co-Founder, CEO, and Editor sums up why she designed this line in this moving quote: "Society and the media have convinced women that men won't find you attractive if you wear double-digit sizes. This is reinforced by the romance book industry. The leading terms used to describe a heroine are slender, thin, lithe, small, and tiny. Real women read romances, and real women deserve to be able to relate to the heroines. Romance stories are about fantasies, and as a large woman, I personally do not find it satisfying to fantasize about a man touching a body that I can't relate to. I also happen to know that men love women of all sizes. Sexy comes from within. That is why I created Curvalicious."

Accomplice Press is an independent boutique-style press but unlike most, we are a full service publisher. Our specialty is cultivating the rare relationship between author and publisher into a true partnership. We may be the new girls on the block but we have years of combined experience in the industry and always strive for excellence. All of our staff were authors first; this gives us a unique perspective on publishing. We offer print and e-book formats showcasing originality, fully developed characters, deep plots, intelligent voice, and enticing dialogue.



For the staff at Accomplice Press the most exciting part of this project is that we want you the reader to have a chance to become published authors. To kick off this new endeavor we are hosting a writing contest beginning on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010 and ending on May 14, 2010. The company will be accepting submissions in two different categories, one sweet and one spicy. On May 28, 2010 two winning entries will be chosen, announced on Accomplicepress.com, then contracted and published in eBook format. The top three submissions of each category will also be included in the first Curvalicious print anthology.

Curvalicious submissions must be sent to curvecontest@accomplicepress.com and must be received no later than midnight May 14, 2010 to be considered for the first print release. All the details and guidelines for entries are available at accomplicepress.com Our company is constantly searching for distinctive stories that need to be told but are often overlooked by literary agents and large warehouse style publishers. So at this time we are also holding an "open call" to any author searching for a publisher.

Accomplice Press will be attending Romcon in Denver this July; we would love to see you all there! Please join Accomplice Press Chatter http://accomplicepress.ning.com/ to stay updated on all of our upcoming news.

Happy Reading,

Karen Jones

Promotions Manager, Accomplice Press