It's Monday! Halloween Reading

Busy weekend but got some reading done! Yay! Look for my review of Abdication by Juliet Nicolson on Thursday. I will be reading The Listeners by Harrison Demchick and The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley. There will probably be quite a number of Halloween books read with the little girl, too. Her new favorite- Caillou's Halloween. :) Happy Reading! _________________________________________

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite days. The costumes, the decorations and the candy! As an adult, I haven't been into the costumes as much but now as a mom I am excited to have a little girl to deck out each year. 
Here are a few pics from my Halloween's as a kid. I was a child of the 80's, hence the "Let's Get Physical" costume. Not sure if I was going for zombie or ghost in the top right one. Let's go with ghoul.  Bottom- witch, of course. I believe that is a plastic cape. Haha.

And one more. Here is the little girl enjoying her first time trick-or-treating. My sweet little honey bee.
Happy Halloween! Visit Jenn's Bookshelves and check out her Murder, Monsters, Mayhem event going on now. There is also a giveaway. Go now and join the Halloween fun. :) _________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on book title and/or image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Lets Go Giants!!!

9:20pm and just got the little girl down for bed. I am afraid that the World Series and The Giants took precedent tonight. I have to say, it was kind of worth it to see her jumping up and down when the Panda got that third homerun. So cute! How did I not get that on camera?
Anyway, The Giants are in the World Series and being here in the Bay Area, we are a little preoccupied with baseball right now. Not much reading is happening. I am getting some knitting done. See this lovely orange raglan pullover I am making for the little girl? We love our Giants around here. :)

I do have a couple books on my bedside table right now:
Abdication by Juliet Nicolson The Listeners by Harrison Demchick
Hoping to get these read and reviewed by the end of next week. Happy Reading! _________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on book title and/or image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Toddler Tales 3: Halloween Fun!

Having a two year old during the Halloween season is amazing. We have been having so much fun decorating and putting "ah-oh-ween" everywhere.

Today we put up spiderwebs on the porch and the little girl helped to attach the little black spiders all over it. She was more interested on sitting on the pumpkins we got over the weekend but it was still fun.

Our crafty activity today was using foam stickers of face parts and putting them on cut-out foam pumpkins. We have some crazy looking jack-o-lanterns in our window!

Activity ( letter recognition, name knowledge):


While the little girl was in bed last night I cut out some small pumpkins from orange construction paper and wrote a letter of her name on each one. We will mix them up and arrange them correctly so they spell her name. She will be able to play with them for a few days and eventually we will glue them on a paper with a fence and learn the song 5 little pumpkins. The little girl's name is only four letters so there will be an extra to add on. :)

Decorations, crafts and treats. So much to do. The most exciting part for me is how much she has been enjoying the Halloween books I pulled out for her. We read a "ah-oh-ween" book every night!

Here are her favorites:

Froggy's Halloween by Jonathon London

It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall


On Halloween Night by Harriet Ziefert

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FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Book Review: Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Heat Wave by Richard Castle 213 pages, ebook Published September 2009, Hyperion
Do you all love Castle as much as I do? It is one of my favorite shows and I find it pretty ingenious that the writers have actually written and published the books that are mentioned on the show. I purchased the first book, Heat Wave, awhile ago but just hadn't found the time to read it until now.
First, I should say that you shouldn't expect great literature here. This is just a fun read. Silly, Castle fun. It's hard not to picture Beckett and Castle in the characters of Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook while following them as they investigate the apparent suicide of "a real estate mogul". 
Turns out that Matthew Starr did not jump but was thrown off the balcony. Detective Heat, along with Detectives Raley and Ochoa and the journalist tag-along, Jameson Rook do what they do to solve the murder and catch the bad guy (or gal). 
The murder mystery is okay, not too hard to figure out, but the Castle like feel is here in the banter between Heat and Rook, the relationship escalates a little faster in the book than in the series, but of course, Castle wrote it. He is living his fantasy, right?
If you enjoy Castle you will enjoy this book.
Source: purchased ebook _________________________________________
FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Book Review: Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler

Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler ebook, 334 pages Published June 2012, Astor+Blue
First the pharmaceutical companies now the body parts business. Wyler once again has made me a little freaked out about what goes on within the business of medicine. This is the second book by Allen Wyler that I have read and my favorite. It starts off with quite a surprise.
What happens when not enough people are donating themselves to science? Where do the cadavers and body parts for research and education come from? Dead Ringer shows how easy it is for people to disappear off the streets and end up on a table in a school anatomy lab. Or in the case of Andy Baer, his head finds its way to a demonstration table in Hong Kong where his best friend, neurosurgeon Lucas McRae, is about to perform a craniotomy. 
McRae, with the help of Detective Wendy Elliot, who has also lost a friend, set out to find answers and get justice for the deaths of their friends and the hundreds of others who have met their ends for the sole purpose of making a Funeral Director some extra money through selling body parts to researchers, medical schools, etc. 
This time, knowing "who did it" didn't hurt the story/suspense since it was more about how to prove the crime and get justice for the almost perfect murders. No bodies, almost perfect records, and the sad truth that those who have been killed are those who will not be missed- makes for a difficult case to make when all they have is circumstantial evidence. If you like medical thrillers, this is a book you should pick up. Source: Thanks Lauren from Blue Dot Literary, publicist _________________________________________
FTC Disclosure: Clicking on book title and/or image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Mailbox Monday

I have been trying to control the number of books that come in to our house lately. I am desperately running out of space in our small rooms. I do have two books to share today, though. One is for review and the second is for my book group. What books did you get this past week?

The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet
Mailbox Monday is being hosted this month by the Mailbox Monday blog. Click on over and see what books others got and share what came into your house. 
Happy Reading!
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FTC Disclosure: Clicking on book title and/or image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I finished some books! Yay.
Heat Wave by Richard Castle Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler
I will post both reviews this week.
This week I will be reading Abdication by Juliet Nicolson and probably continuing with Steve Jobs. I had thought about abandoning it but after our book group discussion I think I may give it another try. I may just skip ahead to the parts I want to read about.
Anyway, here's to a great week.
Happy Reading! _________________________________________

Sunday Salon: The Day after the Readathon

Good Morning Readers! 
Hope you all had a great Readathon! I was sad not to be able to officially participate this time. Maybe I can do some cheering next time. I was able to get a little reading in yesterday but definitely not as much as all those who participated in Dewey's 24 hour Readathon. I started Abdication by Juliet Nicolson and got 52 pages read. I am looking forward to checking out everyone's recaps today to see how everyone did.

Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay

The hubby, little girl and I had a lovely weekend. We went out to Half Moon Bay and visited a pumpkin patch. We came home with some great looking pumpkins and some really great photos. The little girl had so much fun. We went to Bob's Pumpkin Patch on Hwy 1. Besides pumpkins, they also had some farm animals and a hay pyramid for climbing. So much fun.  On Saturday, we had family over and had a nice dinner out. Earlier that day we went on a toddler friendly hike at Huddard Park. Really nice family weekend.
Today, on my agenda, is Book Group. We will be discussing the autobiography, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson over brunch. I am very interested to hear what others thought of this book. I did not manage to get it read in time. Half way through and I decided to stop. 
This week look for my reviews of: Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler Heat Wave by Richard Castle
Current read: Abdication by Juliet Nicolson
On the TBR pile: The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley
The Listeners by Harrison Demchick
Happy Reading! _________________________________________

Orange October

These playoff games are TORTURE! My goodness, the Giants really know how to keep us fans on the edge of our seats.

Let's Go Giants!

Anyway, October has been a slow month for me so far. I am still reading 2 of 3 books I was reading when the month started. One may be a dnf. I am having a hard time getting through the Steve Jobs book. I just don't feel the need to read any more about his temper tantrums and bratty ways. I have a toddler.

My other book, Dead Ringer, is good but I have been bad about reading. I have been knitting, watching baseball, taking care of said toddler. My reading time has been on the low side. I am half way through. Just need a few hours to sit and read.

I have been really missing all the fall online bookish activities: RIP, Dewey's Readathon, BBAW, etc. Was hoping to get back into it all this year but a 2yo takes a lot of energy and time. :) next year!

I do have a review for you all- Heat Wave by Richard Castle. Look for that next Thursday. And here are the books on my bedside table to be read next:

Abdication by Juliet Nicholson
The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley
The Listeners by Harrison Demchick

Happy reading!

Book Review: Ninepins by Rosy Thornton

Ninepins by Rosy Thornton 320 pages, paperback Published 2012, Sandstone Press Another great book by Thornton. I have enjoyed every book I have read by the author. Her characters are so well developed - likable and real and so easy to identify with. Ninepins is different than her previous books, a little more serious, a bit of a thriller but with the same heart.
Laura and her 12 year old daughter Beth are on their own living a slightly secluded property with a room to rent. In need of money, Laura rents the pumphouse out to Willow, a 17 year old girl who has been under care and has a social worker. A little worried about her past, Laura is a bit apprehensive about her new renter and the relationship she is building with her young impressionable daughter.
Willow definitely has an affect on their lives, but in ways they didn't expect. 
Source: Book sent by the author for review _________________________________________

Wednesday Knitting

Halloween is approaching so costume making has commenced. 
The little girl and I have decided on a Bee as the costume for this year. Like last year, I have decided to knit the main part of the costume. Once again, it is a functional piece of clothing with some black and yellow stripes to make it look bee-like. I have made her a tunic sweater with Fibonacci striping that will be paired with some yellow leggings, antennae headband and wings that I will either make or purchase. Haven't figured that out yet. Anyway, here is what I got so far. Needs some sleeves, and the last bit of the skirt but I am rather proud of this little sweater. First time coming up with my own idea, pattern. I kinda like it. It's a little hard to see the detail due to the bad lighting. Sorry. Didn't have time during the day to photograph.

Click the button to share your WIPs and/or see what others are working on.

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