Review - Diary of a Mad Fat Girl

Diary of a Mad Fat Girl
By Stephanie McAfee
Amazon Kindle - $0.99
Nook - $0.99

Ace Jones needs a vacation, but she's not going to get it. What she gets instead is a good dose of scandalous small town politics that takes her on a wild quest for truth and redemption. Things get really complicated when the love of her life, who she hasn’t seen or heard from in over three years, shows up and vows not to leave town until she agrees to marry him. Diary of a Mad Fat Girl is as adventurous as it is entertaining as Ace and her friends delve into illegal surveillance, stalking, and covert operations in a strip club.

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I really enjoyed this story a lot. And for 99 cents, you can't beat the price. It's a pretty fast read at 126 pages. The pacing is fast and steady. There are a few things going on. #1 Ace is mad at her friend Lilly who cancelled their annual spring break trip - and Lilly has something shady going on. Then their friend Chloe is once again beaten by her abusive husband, only this time she has a miscarriage. So Ace lets go of some of her anger at Lilly to help both her and Chloe get out of their respective jams. In the meantime she has a mess in her own love life to clean up.

Characters are fun and actually pretty realistic. You feel like you could be friends with everyone in the story, well...except for that abusive husband guy. Also Ace is a plus size main character and she doesn't really care that much about it. She has her moments, like going to the gym, but usually she is pretty comfortable in her skin. I'll let you find out about Lilly and Chloe.

So go buy a copy - as I said, you can't beat 99 cents. It is also a lendable Nook Book so if anyone out there with a Nook or a Nook App wants to borrow it, let me know. :)

Review - Elijah via A Cozy Reader's Corner

I did this review as a guest blogger over at A Cozy Reader's Corner

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Author: Matt Schorr
ISBN: 978-0615424347
Publisher: Lone Coyote Productions
Purchase Link: Elijah
Source: Author for A Cozy Reader's Corner
Reviewer: Angela Holtz

About the Book
One Lord. One faith. One Baptism. These are the dictates that rule Antioch, a small rural community tucked away in the hills of Kentucky. There is no dissension. No discord or strife. All of Antioch's citizens gather each week without fail at one church. One church and no other: ChristPoint. The Rev. John Joshua Hutchinson serves as pastor for the church and indeed the entire community. As Antioch's sole spiritual leader, he holds near-absolute power over all who live there. But that's about to change. A mysterious stranger is about to enter Antioch, an unassuming man with incredible power all his own. His name is Elijah, and he wields a power like no one in history--save one. But who is he? What is he? Can he be trusted? Elijah's presence will challenge not only the power Rev. Hutchinson holds over Antioch, but also the mindsets of the entire community.

Review
Elijah is a mysterious character with a fantastic healing ability. He doesn’t know how he got it; he doesn’t even attribute it to God. It just is, with its own rules. He can’t heal himself and he can’t heal dead. He has been wandering searching for God or something when he walks into a Pizzeria in the town of Antioch. This is a very strange town. The waitress, Lori is an outcast in town, along with her friend Marcus. The characters are actually really deep, considering how fast the story moves. I fell in love with Lori and Marcus, and just wanted to give Elijah a hug. There are other less likable characters, such as Josh the minister of ChristPoint church, the ONLY church in Antioch. And Josh truly rules all of Antioch, well beyond the Sunday service.

Years ago, Lori was dating and even engaged to Josh. Something big happened between them that forever changed them. Elijah comes and makes a connection with her and offers to help. Even with all that is going on around Lori, Elijah has his own past too. It probably feeds into his reasons for helping Lori and honestly helping the entire town.

That a man could have so much charisma as to slowly take over a town is totally believable, look at what Hitler managed. It also highlights that while faith can give people hope and strength, it also has the danger of taking over in a much more sinister fashion through fear and anger.

My favorite thing about the story was the flow of the story. It is a really fast read, written simple and steady. Anything the characters dealt with never slowed down, he just wrote through adding thoughts and feelings and color where needed. The story is written from third-person point of view, but with the spotlight on Lori, Josh or Elijah.

The title of this story caught my attention, as it was nearly my 2nd son’s name. Plus Elijah is a pretty big character in the Bible as well. A well chosen name for this story. On the cover there is a young man hidden in shadow, the cover is very dark. It does intrigue you, when I received it in the mail, I dropped everything I was trying to read and read this cover to cover.

I am comfortable giving this book a 5. I came home late Friday night and spent another 2 hours to finish this book, even though I knew I’d pay for it the next day when my 2 small children were ready to start their day. It was that good!

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Posted March 30, 2011 at A Cozy Reader's Corner - I'd like to thank Tiffany for allowing me my first ever guest spot and letting me read such a great book I otherwise never would have seen.

41 Followers!!!

I have 41 followers??? When did this happen? I swear the last time I looked I hadn't quite reached 20 yet. I'm so touched, impressed, excited!

I'm also so close to 50. So if I do make it to 50 followers, I will have a special giveaway. Not sure what yet, but I'll think of something. Perhaps a crochet vampire, perhaps a special book, or maybe something I haven't quite thought of yet.

Thank you everyone for sticking around and seeing where this takes me. I really like the book review curve I have been on recently. And getting an opportunity to review other stuff is almost as exciting. But nothing beats the thrill I get when I receive a newly printed book in the mail that isn't even on the shelves yet. It's like being welcomed to the front of the line for free cake.

Where am I headed as I go forward. Well so far I haven't turned on advertising. I don't do this for the money, as I said free books RULE! As I move forward I do hope to keep going out after books to review. If I get more and more followers, that will get easier to do. After all, book reviews are advertising for the books. More followers, the more willing they are to toss a book at me.

It also means more giveaways. Once again, it has to do with advertising and the more people I have in my corner, the more the publishers will be willing to throw my way. I'm learning a lot, this will never be my job but it's a hell of a hobby!

I'd also like to give a big thanks to Eric with Quirk Books for getting me started. He sent me my first books to review and keeps me in mind when they need reviewers.

And if you want a new book to check out, he actually wrote one called Textual Healing. I'm dying to read this one, but haven't managed to snag a copy yet. :) I have heard very good things about it though.

Sunday Stealing: The 5000 Question Meme, The Final Part

Cheers to all of us thieves!

76. Do you prefer Disney or Warner Brothers? Dreamworks

77. What is the first animal you would run to see if you went to the zoo? I love the barn area at the Detroit Zoo with horses, pigs and cows and GOATS!

78. Would you consider yourself to be romantic? Not much

79. If the earth stopped rotating would we all fly off? No but it wouldn't be good

80. What is the one thing that you love to do so much that you would make sacrifices to be able to do it? read

81. If you (and everyone) had to lose one right or freedom, but you could pick which one everyone had to lose, what would you pick? I have no idea, I couldn't possibly decide that.

82. If you had to choose would you live on the equator or at the North Pole? equator - warm, warm, warm

83. Would you rather give up listening to music or watching television? television

84. What do you think makes someone a hero? Doing good for the act not the recognition

85. What cartoon would you like to be a character in? Bob's Burgers

86. Name one thing that turns your stomach: movie gore

87. What was the last thing you paid for? McDonald's Breakfast Burritos

88. Are you a coupon clipper? no, I wish I understood all that

89. Get anything good in the mail recently? CW's black spiderman costume came from Hong Kong yesterday, he LOVES it!

90. Which would you rather take as a gym class...dancing, sailing, karate, or bowling? karate, I've done it and it's fun.

91. In Star Trek people 'beam' back and forth between different places. What this means is they stand in a little tube and their molecules are deconstructed and sent to another tube somewhere else where they are reassembled. Only problem is when the molecules are deconstructed the person is dead. When they are put back together it is only a clone that has all the dead person's memories. Is the person who gets beamed the same person on both ends? Sure, your memories and personality are what make you you.

92. What insects are you afraid of? hornets, bees, spiders

93. If you could print any phrase on a T-shirt, what would it say? I've had children, bring it on!

94. What's the most eccentric thing you have ever worn? whale bone bodice

95. If you could pick one food that you could eat all you wanted but it would have no effect on how much you weigh, what food would it be? ice cream

96. What are your parents interested in? I truly don't know

97. Have you ever caught an insect and kept it as a pet? yeah, but those caterpillars never last long

Have you ever caught and tamed a wild animal? I rescued a baby bird once, but never kept it. No, never done that nor would I, they should be free

98. What is more helpful to you, wishes or plans? plans I guess

99. When do you feel your life energy the strongest? evening

100. You are spending the night alone in the woods and may bring only 3 items with you. flashlight, toilet paper, sleeping bag