Magnolia Summer by Jaci Burton

Amazon.com Book Description:


Returning to hot, steamy, Magnolia, South Carolina, is the last thing Jordan Weston wants to do. The death of her grandmother and inheritance of the family plantation mean she can sell the land and make enough money to realize her dream—to open her own theater in New York.But more than the weather sizzles in Magnolia. Jordan's forced to hire Sam Tanner to repair the old house. Jordan lusted after Sam in high school when he was the bad boy and she was the nerdy drama geek. He'd even kissed her once, firing up her adolescent fantasies, then laughed when she ran away. Though she tries to resist his considerable charm, Sam's not giving her any quarter. He's making it abundantly clear that this time she isn't going to run.Under a scorching South Carolina sun, her resolve to remain impervious to Sam melts and she gives in to her desire. After all, why not engage in steamy sex with the bad boy of her dreams to while away her time in sultry Magnolia? When the project is finished, she'll go back to New York and forget all about Sam.If only her heart would let go of foolish dreams.


My Book Review:


I was looking for a steamy romance book to get the summer season started, and boy did I pick a good one with Magnolia Summer.  This is the first time I read a book by Jaci Burton, and I was pleasantly surprised with the storyline. I am a huge fan of stories set in the South, especially in North & South Carolina, and this story is set in Magnolia, SC which automatically got my attention. From beginning to end, the characters of Jordan and Sam had me engrossed in their tug-of-war feelings for each other. I was mildly surprised with the erotic sex scenes in the story, be aware that there are explicit erotic sex scenes, but reading about Jordan's and Sam's sexual relationship was a hell of a lot of fun! ;p I loved how Jordan and Sam's relationship went from being wary about each other, to discovering mutual sexual satisfaction, to finally discovering that they were both falling in love with each other. In the end, I loved how Jordan finally realized that her real dream had always been at home in Magnolia instead of her runaway dream of making it big in NYC, and that the love she thought she'd never have with Sam was right before her eyes the whole time! This was a fun book to read, all romance readers will definitely enjoy this one! 


RATING: 4 STARS ****

From Traditional Reader to E-Reader (Kindle) Addict!

Growing up I received the gift for loving to read books from my parents, especially from my Mom. My Mom and I shared a love of reading from various genres and favorite authors until her death in March 2007. We both had an extensive paperback and hardback book collection that we proudly displayed in our bookshelves. I guess you can say we were traditionalists, as we both loved the feel of a good book in our hands, and the excitement of turning the pages as we became more engrossed in the stories. I was a diehard anti e-reader until my interest was piqued by my friends who owned the Kindle. So to satisfy my interest, I downloaded the Kindle PC to my laptop this past January. I figured if I liked reading e-books I would think about buying a Kindle. WOW!!! In a matter of days of downloading the Kindle PC I found myself completely addicted to the extensive variety of e-books available to read! In just a week of having the Kindle PC I had downloaded over a hundred free, low priced and my favorite authors' books! To complete my addiction I joined a Kindle lending community and a Kindle Board ... yup I was now a card carrying member of the Kindle Addicts Club. lol :p I knew I had to get a Kindle, I wanted the ability to take it with me wherever I went, as the laptop just wouldn't cut it! So my hubby surprised me with a Kindle and my e-book collection has now grown to over 1000 e-books to this date, and believe me it will continue to grow! While I will always have the traditional paper book lover in me, I am grateful that I own a Kindle because it has opened me to many genres and new authors that I wouldn't have been exposed to if I just stuck with my paperbacks. So bookworms what are your thoughts on this topic? Do you have a similar experience?

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Amazon.com Book Description:
Death is the narrator of this lengthy, powerful story of a town in Nazi Germany. He is a kindly, caring Death, overwhelmed by the souls he has to collect from people in the gas chambers, from soldiers on the battlefields, and from civilians killed in bombings. Death narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when she is roused by regular nightmares about her younger brother's death. Death focuses on the young orphan, Liesl; her loving foster parents; Max, the Jewish fugitive they are hiding; and a wild but gentle teen neighbor, Rudy, who defies the Hitler Youth and convinces Liesl to steal for fun. After Liesl learns to read, during the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, she collects more  stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. When she reads a book in the bomb shelter, even a Nazi woman is enthralled. Then the book thief writes her own story.


My Book Review:
This book was voted June's book selection under the General Fiction genre for a monthly book group that I belong to on Facebook. When I looked up this book on Amazon.com, it had great reviews and I was really excited to read this book. From the start, I was intrigued by the author's choice to have Death be the narrator of this story, in fact I thought that it was a pretty cool idea. But as I got further into the story, I noticed that it was becoming rather hard for me to read, I thought the story was long and drawn out. I also found the story hard to digest, for this story revolved around a very dark and terrible period, namely WWII and Nazi Germany. My emotions ran the gamut as I read the story, the author provides a very thorough yet troubling description of Hitler's Nazi Germany, and the brutal treatment of the Jewish people by Hitler and his German Nazi citizens. I did love the characters in the book, especially Hans (Liesel's foster father) and Max (the Jewish refugee that Liesel and her foster parents hid in their basement). I loved those two characters the best because out of a very brutal and dark period in our world's history, these two characters displayed the best of humanity through their compassion and gentle ways. It took me a while to understand what the the true message of The Book Thief meant. I believe that the author meant that through being able to read, it gives a soul (person) a voice to demonstrate one's ability to stand up for themselves and  survive in a very tough world where a person can otherwise get lost in the shadows. Through the grimness and tragedy that surrounds this story, I do believe that it is a poignant story that does provide food for the soul. 




RATING: 2 STARS **