Book Review: The Royal Treatment by Lindsey Leavitt

The Royal Treatment is the 2^nd book in a three book series called Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt

The series is about a 14 years old girl named Desi who learned in the first book, Princess for Hire, from her crazy Fairy Godmother that she’s  has magic potential in her and with this MP she can become the image of the princess.  The princesses for a number of reasons (Leavitt write witty and crazy stories for each princess) they need a vacation and have called the agency for a sub.

In The Royal Treatment Desi works on her training for  level two sub called Betterment of Elite Sub Training (BEST) and trying out for the school play Midsummer Night Dream.

Leavitt has not lost her touch on writing a humorous fun full book.  I wish to see more conflict going on with Desi and her own story instead of the conflict coming from the princesses’ storyline.  

WHAT I LOVE about this book is there is now a hint of romance and what’s to come.  I always look for romance in a story weather it’s a book, a movie, or a T.V. show

I don’t want to ruin it for you, everything else I want to say will have spoilers so I’ll leave you with…

There the boy I wish she pick…

And

There the boy she can’t forget!

BTW My Favorite character is still the non-cinderella Fairy Godmother Meredith.

almost last day!

One more day of work and it's SUMMER!
I plan

• to have fun
• to get closer to My God
• to finish my first draft of Keep Faith (Southren Girl Spy)
• to read, read, and read some more
• oh and search for a job

stuck on 17 - End of School Days Project

Well after today there are 10 more days of school, w/ two weekends and (maybe) two workdays then it's SUMMER!

Somehow for about 2 or 3 days I got stuck on 17 days left.  I miscounted twice lol.  Really don't know how is happen other then I miscounted.

I'm trying to change chapters 10 - 13 maybe ever change ch. 14 and ch. 15 but I'll see when I get to that point in the plot.

~Later

New to my Bookshelf

Here's what new to my bookshelf this week.

In Young Adults
Forbidden Boy by Hailey Abbott
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Sean Grisworld's Head by Lindsey Leavitt
The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson
Waiting For You by Susane Colsanti
Faithful by Janet Fox

In Adult Fiction
A Penny for Your Thoughts by Mindy Starns Clark
Covet by J.R. Ward
Love Finds You in Last Chance, California by Miralee Ferrell
Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Others
Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together by Ron Hall  & Denver Moore


I've rewritten chapter 7 in my story.
There are 19 school days left.

End of School Days writing project.

I've decide give myself a project and call it End of School Days writing project.
The Goal:
To write everyday and to leave my story on a cliffhanger so I'm looking forward to writing once home from work (I work at primary school pre-k -2nd)
20 days of school, 4 weekends and 2 teacher work days left.

I have about 9,000 words written so far.
I'm going back and looking at the 20,000 words I have written in all and try to see what's cause me to get stuck in the middle.   I'm backtracking in my story and hope to rush forward soon.
I have realize that I want my heroine to be scared off and fearful, but I now realize she's not one to be scared off. 
And she didn't like my plot so now I'm changing it.  She's about to get more then she can chew!

Tuesday Teasers

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that the other Teaser Tuesdays participants can add the book to their to-be-read lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:
She was still standing beneath that ceiling light. And still staring.

The Avid Writer (a blog by another aspiring author)

Here's a blog by another aspiring author.
The Avid Writer

You will also find her on twitter

I just found her on twitter yesterday.  She's inspired by Jane Austen and other classic females authors.

Here a clip of her biography  (this is what catch my attention)


I was born with writing in my blood; however, I never thought myself an inheritor of the talent.
My father told me I wrote on everything–from walls, to floors to furniture. I always had something to write about. My first book was Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. I would read it to my parents before bed. My father told me, one night, he found the book completely re-written in my usual chicken-scratch writing. He had me decifer the new storyline, and had me read aloud my “edited version”. He told me, he was so impressed that he clapped when I finished; he was speechless! I  had completely made the story my own.  I was four years old at that time.

Read the rest here

Edward Cullen or Jesus Christ?

First yes I admit I have read two of the four books in the Twilight Saga.

But Bella Swan at the end of New Moon (the 2nd book) is talking about Edward turning her into a vampire.  Making plans and taking votes from the rest of the Cullen's vampire family on the matter of changing her.

This bothers me. Big Time.
Because to me she's giving her life to the wrong immortal.

She wants to be turned into a vampire.
(Another form of rebirth)
Bella is choosing to live forever on this problem full planet we call earth, with no way to leave the pain of sin behind.

Jesus Christ offers another rebirth
(BTW This one is real and possible for EVERYONE)
John 3:1-5
 ¹ Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
 ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”
 ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
 ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
This is the passage that we get our idea about "rebirth" As you can see Jesus really say born again, but for my point I'm going to use rebirth.

Anyway if Bella was real I'd tell her to let Jesus turn her into a follower of the way (Jesus says " I'm the Way the Truth and the Life" John 14:5

Note, I didn't say turn into a Christian.

Because I believe the word has so many different meaning to so many different people my point will not come across very well.
We as the Father in heaven's creation need to follow the way (His Son)

Jesus Died for our Sins

Edward Cullen can't die for anything including Bella (Yes I realize there is a way for him to die and he almost took his life to be with her in heaven because he thought she was died.)

Jesus on earth was human -Mortal
He died, came back again and went to heaven on the third day.  Now he waits for the end of time so He can be with us, all of us!

Here the thing we are immortal just like Him! Like us, His body died but His Spirit lives forever.  Our bodies will die but our souls in live forever!

This is way I think Jesus is a better choice for Bella (if she was real that is)

He is a loving, mighty perfect choice for you!

Listening to Jeremy Camp

My iPod has been playing Jeremy Camp non stop lately.
His songs just speak to me.  As I listen they act as prayers to God .

While writing

While writing today I scared evil out of someone.... Really I did.
(laugh will glee)

A goal

I finally have a goal to aim for.
Today I decided I going to grad school.
Time to start looking at programs and go from there.
I hope to be college bound in fall 2012
yeah give me over a year to get there lol
feel good to have a goal!

Book Review: Anna and The French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.


Wow, all I want to say about this book is wow! but I'm sure you wish for a better review then just Wow! Anna and the French Kiss did indeed make my toes tingle and my heart melt.  I want to read it again, but I'm going to put some space between now and reading it again, so I can get that wow feeling again.
I love how Perkins made Etienne St. Clair drool worthy, but his height is short for a guy.  That one imperfect made him ever more likable.
While I did have a silly grin on my face most of the time I read this book, and love Anna and St. Clair, this book is about the up and down of living in high school (as Anna point out in the book, living in a boarding school you means you don't get to leave high school, day or night) and relationships.

If you love an  Plain Jane love story, no magic, no Mythical heroes, and outer space, this book is for you! Don't miss out! 

By the way Stephanie Perkins is my new Author Hero!

What Young Adults novels have grabbed your attention lately?

Princess For Hire Book Review

From inside cover:

When a flawlessly dressed woman steps out of an iridescent bubble and wants to know, like, now if you like to become a substutute princess, do you

a) run

b) faint

c) say yes!

For Desi Bascomb, who's been longing for a bit of glamour in her Idaho life, the choice a definite c)-that is, once she can stop pinching herself. As her new agent, Meredith, explains, Desi has a rare magical ability: when she applies the ancient Egyptian formula "Royal Rouge," she can tranform temporarity into the exact look-a-like of any princess who needs her subbing services. Dream come true, right?

Well, Desi soon discovers that subbing involves a lot more then wearing a tiara and waving at cameras. Like, what do you do when a bullying older sister puts you on a heinous crash diet? Or when the tribal villagers gather to watch you preform a ceremonial dance you don't know? Or when a princess's conflicted sweetheart shows up to break things off - and you'r sure she would want you to change his mind?

In this hilarious, winning debut, one girl's dream of glamour transforms into something bigger : the desire to make a positive impact. And an impact Desi makes, one royal fiasco at a time.

Review: I enjoyed the book Princess For Hire.

Sorry I forgot to write a review right after I finish reading it.

First the fairy Godmother Meredith is not your disney bubbly fairy godmother, not at all. In fact you have to wonder about the bubbly fairy godmother once you meet one in this story.

Desi, the heroine is a teenager in need of a friend or two, she wish to make a different in the world. Her way of course!

I want one of her self design t-shirt!

This book is an awsome must-read full of magical moments!

I can't wait for the next book!

I give this book 4 1/2 stars.

I give the cover 5 stars.

so what books have you read lately?

Until next time,

Annie

P.S. happy reading and writing!

2011 Debut Author Challenge (by Story Siren)

My list of debut authors books I wish to read this year as part of Story Siren's challenge.
1) Across the Universe  By Beth Revis
2) Flawless by Lara Chapman
3) Timeless  By Alexandra Monir
4) Hourglass By Myra McEntire
5) Other Words for Love By Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

I plan to add more books later as I learn about them.

1st day of snowed in writing project

Sunday's night a big snow storm hit the South.  And I ended up snowed in at the house I'm house sitting.  So I have no company around, it's the perfect day to get some writing in.

I also finish reading Alex Flinn's Beastly.

Yesterday I wrote 1,500 more words on my novel current title Keep Faith.

Today I'm snowed in again so I hope to get another 1,500 words done.

Snow and the book Beastly by Alex Flinn

Down here in the south we got more snow then I have ever seen in my life! I have never been anywhere north of... well never been up north during the winter, so I'm sure this 10" of snow is nothing to northerners!
So I finish reading the book Beastly by Alex Flinn this cold snow in winter day.
There are the covers one with movie tie in and one without.  I read the one with the rose.  personally I like the rose cover best.
So you can guess from the title this book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
I love the tale of Beauty and the Beast, I have since I was little before Disney come up with their movie.   I have a book from when i was somewhere between 6-8 years old.  In this book this is picture a long with the fairy tale and beast look like a pig that can walk on his two hing feet.  Anyway I still have it.
So in Alex Flinn's retelling, the story take place in New York and in today's time.  Kyle Kingsbury is the hottest guy in his ninth grade class and he knows it too.  BTW Flinn picks a good name for the handsome but cruel boy.
Kyle decide to play and trick on of the Uglies in his grade, by asking her to the dance, when he has already asks sexy Sloane as his date.  When at the dance the other "ugly" girl find out she tell him he has left her with no chose and with that he turn into the beast hours later.   Will the beast find true love and break the curse or will he live as the beast forever?

Alex Flinn didn't disappoint me, she twisted the story to blend fairy tale and real life.  Explaining parts of the classic tale that never made sense, like why is the beast a long in the first place, why really why would a father trade his daughter for his own freedom.
BTW just from the preview I've seen for the movie, parts are going to be different from the book.

I highly recommend this book for any Beauty and the Beast fan!

 

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Just Thinking....

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it 'The Present'."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

I saw this quote on a calender today.  It's got me thinking about life.  What I think is I can't really do anything about what happened in all my yesterdays and tomorrow... well I worry about tomorrow.  I tried not to but I do.  I worry about will I have a job next year... If I really what to be a writer, in the hopefully near future, why don't I write more?

But what I really got out of this quote is yesterday and tomorrow are not really all that important.  Yesterday has happened and tomorrow has yet to come.  So Today is what is important.  My pastor this past Sunday said something a long the lines of there will never be another 2011, there will never be another today.  So make the best of today. 

I have decide to make 2011 a excellence year!

My New Year's Resolutions

"Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

and

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6:25-34
So there are my New Year's Resolutions