Review: Heading Out To Wonderful

Heading Out To Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

What to say about this book? It started off intriguing and I thought I had a winner in my hands. But, mid-way I was really kind of sick of the obsessions and the story in general. I was asking a lot of questions and wondering why people were doing what they were doing and why others allowed it to continue. I kept faith through the end that details of the story and the characters would eventually be explained, but that just wasn’t the case. The reader is required to fill in some pretty major plot holes as well as make up stories about seemingly important details. I felt cheated by this book. There were too many unanswered questions, too much left to the imagination and too many situations that just didn’t make sense. There was so little background information that the story ended up falling flat; no rhyme or reason. Plus, to make matters worse, the story became eye-pokingly redundant mid-way through. Such promise, but it seems like half of the story has gone missing. The viewpoint just didn’t work for me…big disappointment.

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Review: God Is an Englishman

God Is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book took me on a non-stop cycle of intriguing and interesting to eye-poking boring. When the focus was on the characters and the relationships that developed among those characters, I couldn’t put it down. It was really quite good. However, Delderfield would go on and on and on and on about Swann’s work and it bored me to tears. I was able to get the gist of his work without page after page after page of excruciating detail. Unfortunately, this detail took up a huge chunk of the book which means that only a small portion was actually interesting and worth reading.

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Review: Fever 1793

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Review: Ellis Island

Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first part was good; the latter became a bit redundant and annoying. I thought Ellie would never stop whining. I was also kind of confused by the title. I really looked forward to reading a bit more about Ellis Island so when it was only briefly mentioned (used as a portal to Ellie’s self discovery and discontentedness) I was a bit disappointed. Ellis Island actually only graced a handful of pages. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it better if I was prepared to read a book that had nothing to do with Ellis Island.

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Review: A Drowned Maiden’s Hair

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Light, fast read. I thought it was well written and the characters were pretty well developed. It was intriguing and held my interest. I can see its appeal to the younger audience.

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Review: Blackberry Winter

Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It started off intriguing. I enjoyed the two different stories merging together, but felt it became too coincidental. All of the coincidences started to seem almost absurd. The story also became very very predictable. The ending held no surprises as one could easily see how the book would eventually end. Characters were okay, the story was okay, the book was okay.

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Review: After the Fog

After the Fog by Kathleen Shoop
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The subject matter itself was quite interesting; the way in which it was told was a huge disappointment. I really disliked the main character, which completely ruined the entire book for me. The subject of the killing fog was really intriguing, but it was told via a judgmental, irritating and narcissistic character. I didn’t connect with her, as a matter of fact, I just didn’t care what happened to her because she was THAT irritating. Her holier-than-thou attitude got old really fast and her constant self pity just made me want to throw her into the fog hoping she would never emerge. I kept hoping the author would move past this selfish character and focus more on the fog. Such a disappointment.

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Review: War Brides

War Brides by Helen Bryan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This turned out to be such a disappointment! If it weren’t for the last three or four chapters, I would have bumped this up a least another star. But, the ending was just stupid; seriously, that is the best word I can think of to describe it. Why not let the story unfold as it was happening? I just don’t understand why Bryan decided to ruin a perfectly good book with a stupid, annoying, rushed ending. It had such promise, but Bryan obviously took on more than she could handle and decided to rush the ending as she had no other way to tie together all of the pieces she left behind. The book went from being intriguing to a hokey mess. Such a disappointment.

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Operation Write Home

2013 Resolution: Start a blog. Check! Let’s call this a trial run while I figure out wordpress. I have always been hesitant to start a blog; who’s going to care what I have to say anyway? However, this is the year I decided to start joining in on some challenges. It seems to me that many of the talented ladies and gents who submit their work have blogs. So, alas, here is my craftaster (as my husband so affectionately calls my creative process). I hope to finally challenge myself with some sketches, color combos or photos.

Anyway, onto the card – I recently decided to start making cards for the great organization Operation Write Home. This organization personally touches my heart and I just love to think that I have a very small hand in helping our brave men and women stationed around the world keep in touch with their loved ones. Honestly, that is where most of my creative energy has been going lately. Here is a card that I sent in with my last batch.

What did I use?  This is good, because in my craftaster I can rarely find the products that I have used on a card.  Perhaps a blog will make me less of a craftaster and actually set aside the stamps and such that I have used in order to list them.  Probably not.  Once I get in a groove things start flying.

 

Supplies

• Cardstock:  Neenah solar white, Stardream Metallic Papers
• Ink:  Tuxedo Black, various copics
• Stamps:  Gina K (Buds & Vases, Smile)
• Dies:   My Favorite Things (Fancy Flourish)
• Other:  gems, glossy accents (for the leaves)

There is no lif…

There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.

-Willy Wonka