Missing You

NYPD Detective Kat Donnavan hasn't really dated since her fiancé, Jeff, dumped her 18 years ago; 2 years after her father was murdered and she was consumed to solve his murder. Her friend, Stacy, signed her up for a year's subscription for a dating site. Who does Kat first stumble across?! A picture of her former fiancé. 

Brandon Phelps is a teenager who believes his mom has been kidnapped, despite her texts, emails and calls confirming she is ok. Brandon contacts Kat to help find his mother, since he discovered she was going away on a weekend trip with her new online friend, Jake. Jake and Jeff are the same person.

  

Titus is a business man  who is out to earn money the easy way, by kidnapping rich people and torturing them. 

Can Kat handle the death of the man who confessed to her father's murder, flashbacks from her old relationship, and tracking down the whereabouts of Brandon's mother?? 

This is my first Harlan Coben book to read, but it definitely will not be the last. I'm a slow reader and it usually takes me more than a week to finish a book. Missing You took me 2 days. That could be record-breaking for me! 

The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom

After reading this quick read, I thought I would give my quick review of it. 

Paige and her four girlfriends, who also happen to be neighbors, have a long friendship behind them. One day, they get the news that one of their girlfriends, Karen, died in a freak accident, alone. 

Paige decides to do some of her own investigation after Karen confided a dark secret to her only days before the accident. The local cops know that they have an open and shut case. Ruled: accident. Paige isn't so sure. 

Paige is determined to track down her best friend's killer.

This book is a very easy read, but also very boring. Paige is an extremely self-involved mother of 2 who does not take anyone else's feelings into consideration. She is strong and hard-headed. There are parts where I feel like I'm watching an episode of Desperate Housewives with the secrets and can plotting amongst some of the friends. 

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Debating on rating this a 2. Loved delirium and couldn't wait to pick this book up to see what happens next. This book did not peak my interest and seemed to drag on. Parts of it did not even make sense and I'm still very confused. I can see that the 3rd book will have a very rough, confusing love-triangle going on.

 

Lena lef her world to join the wilds with her love, Alex, only to have him killed before they made it. now, she must learn to adapt to the life of the wilds without the one person who convinced her of the deleria and to leave all she has ever known.  Eventually, Lena learns to trust those around her and adapt. 

 

After going on a mission that even she doesn't know what all it entails, she falls for Josh.  They have to fight for their lives and make it to a safe place outside. 

 

Lena learns that her mom helped rescue her, but she hasn't seen her mom since she was told she killed herself after the deleria took over her body.  She knows she's alive, but to see her... wow.  and not to realize who she was until she is long gone again?

 

Lena promises she won't leave Josh, and then she hears a voice behind her. Alex. 

 

I'm not sure I really enjoyed this as much as the first one. It didn't grab my attention and I found parts confusing. And Alex is back? but he died.  Maybe he was only injured and just held captive, but why didn't they just kill him since they know he wasn't cured?  Guess I'll read the 3rd book and find out what happens next.

Mothers Day 2014

 

On Friday before Mother’s day, I received a card in the mail from my mom (who lives in the same town as me, who I see almost once a week at least).  I opened it, and it was a Mother’s Day Card. I’m not technically a mother, but I did inherit 3 stepkids, so I have the step “mom” title.  The card was sweet.  I thought nothing more about it.  I’m not a mom. 

 

Sunday morning (Mother’s Day), the first words out of Bo’s mouth is “Happy Mother’s Day”. He was acknowledging my hard work as the stepmom and my mother-role in our family.  It was sweet!  Not what I expected. I’m not a mom. 

 

We went out with his family to celebrate his mom, Nini, and sister as mothers.  We then went out to dinner with my parents. (We celebrated my family’s mother’s day the night before).  That evening, I get a phone call from my sweet kids who wanted to tell me Happy Mother’s Day.  Melted my heart.  They were acknowledging me as one of their moms.  I won’t compare myself to the role their actual mom has, but it’s still great to know I have been accepted and everyone knows that as a stepmom, we are still a mom/caregiver to our children.  When we went to bed that night, the last words Bo told me again was “Happy Mother’s Day”.  It’s been great! 

 

Three days later, a friend of mine had mailed something to me that also said “Happy Mother’s Day”. And he hasn’t even MET my family yet.  Made me smile again.

A Plain Death

Chloe, a 24 year old computer engineer is offed a job by phone in a small town Amish town of Appleseed, in Knox Count, OH. After moving her 3hours away  from Cleveland, as she arrives in her new town she encounters a 19 year old blonde female being harassed on the side of the street.  Chloe steps in and offers to help the girl, who jumps into her car and said she is going home with her. 

The blonde, Becky, is an Amish runaway with nowhere to go and invites herself to live with Chloe. Becky calls her brother, Timothy to tell him she is ok and has a new friend. Timothy takes it on himself to befriend Chloe. One day while Chloe is at work, Becky calls to tell her she was in an accident. While driving Chloe's car without permission, she runs into an Amish buggy, killing their Bishop. 

Upon further investigation, the police determine that the brake-lines were cut in Chloe's car, and their first suspect is the two men who were harassing Be ky on Chloe's first day in her new town. 

The police ask Chloe to help figure out who would want to kill the girls, and Chloe uses her new connections to the Amish town to do just that. 

This is a cute, quick read. I really wasn't too sure how it would end for most of the story-line, and I prefer books that aren't obvious like this. 

I rated this a 4 out of 5. 

Dakota

Back in October, October 5th to be exact, last year, Me, Bo and the kids were spending a weekend in Austin, helping his sister and her family move. My mom was doing us an awesome favor by dog-sitting two of our three dogs, Dude and Dakota. We brought Sunshine with us, but didn't have room in the car for all three, more room in Bo's Mom's house to keep all three while we were staying with her.

On that beautiful, hot, Saturday afternoon, my mom called to tell me that Dakota, my sweet, beautiful Vizla (who looks like a Pitbull :P ) was bit in the face by a snake (turned out to be a nest of snakes t give her more than 7 snake bites). She said she is ok, but her face is swollen and it's obvious she is in pain. Mom took her to a vet and they gave her some antibiotics and sent them home. Sometime late that night, my mom noticed that both of her eyes had red liquid coming out them, she couldn't open her eyes, and her face and neck had swollen much much more.

Mom made the decision to take the dog to a neighboring town where they had a 24 hr pet hospital. They immediately admitted her in, and gave her several doses of antivenom. not konwing what kind of snake, they couldn't be 100% sure which antivenom to give her, but did their best. That Sunday evening when I got home, I went to visit her and that Monday morning I moved her from the hospital to a local vet for care and treatment.

Throughout that week of her staying in their care, frequent calls checking on her, visits every morning and evening with her, their lovely assistant staff, were quick to jump to conclusions about Dakota's fate and pass those conclusions on to me. I was first told she wouldn't make it through Monday. Then I was told on Tuesday that she will probably lose one or both eyes due to the liquid coming out. Then I was told she will need blood/platelet transfusion (for only many thousands of $$$), among other things I'm sure. I was a nervous wreck that week!!! Friday I was able to bring her home, thank goodness.

That night, she had scratched the top of her head and it peeled off a healing scab from one of the TEN (yes, you read that right) TEN SNAKE BITES on her face. Her head was filled with lots of fluid/puss which began pouring out of her head from that scab wound. The following Monday, I had to admit her back to the vet clinic for her to have surgery so they could insert a tube in her face to drain the liquids. She had to wear a cone for a week. Friday, they removed the tube and she was slowly getting back to her self.

Several months later, Dakota was still lazy and not moving as much. This is due to her white blood cells count dropping so low and her turning anemic. 

Today, she is a great, healthy baby again. She is more loving than she was before the snake bites, and just wants to sit and cuddle any chance she can get.  

Delirium

I was looking for a new book to read, while I waited for the one I really wanted to read to be available at the library. I'm not a fan of buying books if I can rent them/check them out for free. The book I chose was comparable to The Hunger Games. 

The United States Of America has found a way to cure the infected people and maintain control.  When a person turns 18, they undergo a brain procedure that will prevent them from becoming infected. The disease: LOVE.  Prior to turning 18, you must go through testing so they can determine if/what college you will go to, what you will study, who you will marry, and how many children you will have. 

Lena is counting down the days to your 18th birthday for the procedure.  She is ready to be cured before she is infected.  The infected are either killed, held in The Crypts, or flee the city to live in the Wilds, never being allowed to return.  When Lena and her best friend Hana were out for a jog one evening, they meet a cured man, who takes a liking to Lena.  She thought she was safe to be around him, having the feelings of the disease inside of her, because he is cured, so no harm can come from it.  Turns out, he isn't cured afterall. 

While secretly dating Alex, lying to her family, and falling victim to the disease of love, Lena is no longer is eager for the cure.  They plan to run away into the Wilds and be together forever, until the protectors discover that she is infected!!  The evening before her re-scheduled procedure, Lena escapes her house and runs off with Alex, only to have the police, protectors and helicopters chasing after them as they drive quickly towards the Wilds to escape for good. 

I have to admit, I was very upset up the ending of this book. I know this is a series, and am now eager to see the next book to know what happens to Lena.