Taking advantage of Minecraft to base stories around is a fairly common thing lately. It leads to some lackluster illustrations in my opinion, but my kiddo rather likes it, so - obviously good for the target audience. The speech bubbles and lettering is nicely done and easy to follow. I liked that this book introduced both time travel and a Rube Goldberg device. That was an unexpected pairing and what talked me into giving the book a shot. It also doesn't shy from introducing readers to words like Australopithecus and then promptly explaining them in a very concise fashion. It doesn't treat the readers like they are idiots, and I truly appreciate that.

Read: April 28, 2017

By: Beth Harbison

 

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beth Harbison delivers a poignant and witty story of a woman’s journey back to the past, IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME, coming in paperback June 14, 2016 (with a new 83/18 cupcakes adorable cover). Readers will go back to revisit their younger years, for a thought- provoking look at the people in our lives, choices, and questions, of what if.

“Sometimes – some rare times—when a soul has left in its own time, it leaves a love one wholly unprepared. Missing some of the most important lessons that were meant to be shared.”

“Can a soul find it’ way back to communicate in a less subtle way? To remind their loved one of those things they must know in order to find their own fate."

The night before Ramie Phillips; thirty-eighth birthday, she is on a boat (yacht) off the coast of Miami, Florida-- like something you would see on the cover of Conde’ Nast Traveleror other luxury magazine.

She did not grow up rich, In her youth she enjoyed a happy Charlie Brown landscaped middle class life in Potomac, Maryland, close to the DC border. She grew up loving math and her dad was a banker. When she was five her dad taught her about the stock market and how to track a portfolio. He taught her how to invest.

Thanks to her dad, she had a nice little nest egg for herself before she hit it big working with Whitestone, one of the top private equity investment firms in the country.

A daddy’s girl, her Dad died unexpectedly halfway through her college education. He smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, then a stroke. She thought he would be around forever and in her life. He was to be a grand dad. Her mom had always feared his upcoming death. Her mom had a hard time; however, Ramie came through for her investing her life insurance so she could live off the dividends.

Skip to the boating event, as the book opens, with champagne, cocktails, friends and a little too much to drink. Her friend just found out she is pregnant. Here she is, close to forty years old and now she is feeling sorry for herself. Her big birthday bash, had been overshadowed by toasts and congratulations for Lisa’s unexpected pregnancy.

What happened in her life from ages eighteen to thirty-eight?

She knows she is feeling like a baby. Beings selfish. Could she have known her previous partner in crime (herself) might feel a little weird about being ambushed by the news of her total acquiescence to domestication. She knew her friend would never be fun anymore. She tells her she is happy and begins to dwell on her situation. She has a nice life and career, but no personal life. She is not happy. She had been left behind. She had made mistakes.

Soon she dives off the boat and all she remembers is pain, and everything going black.

She wakes up in her childhood room. Dream or not, this was a moment in her life where she would get a second chance, with someone she had loved and lost. However, she is trying to talk about things in the future and her dad is of course still alive. Her mom thinks she is getting ready to go to school.

Now she finds herself back in time to the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Will she be able to change her decisions, and get what she wants from the past for her future?

Harbison always combines wit, emotion, and some tough life lessons. We all wish we could have a redo; and regret many things in our past, and questions of "what if" we had made a different decision, or choices back when,--- how would my life be different today. A journey of a thirty-eight year-old woman with her insight into the future and in her current role as age eighteen.

Thought-provoking! Makes you take a step back and appreciate those in your life. For Fans of In Twenty Years and The Year We Turned Forty as well as time traveling. I am normally not a fan of time travel; however this one was done really well.

For all you wondering why I am just now reviewing this book. I read it last year, and realized when reading an advanced reading copy of her upcoming new book, One Less Problem Without You, (great read), Coming July 26, 2016, was referring back to link to the review, and discovered I failed to write the review. (my bad)!

Quickly did a recap, since still on my Kindle, and even purchased the audiobook, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy for a fun time-travel trip. Guess my review, will be “timely for the paperback”, coming June.

I do not read as much chick-lit, as I did in my younger years; however, always enjoy Harbison’s books. She was initially the one to turn me on to the genre with her funny audiobooks. Always tons of fun, wit, and humor-and much more than fluff –there is depth, life, emotions, and so much more!

On a different note: Would like to take this opportunity to highlight St. Martin’s Press and compliment the team on all the beautiful covers! The Beth Harbison name is branded by her covers, and each and every one pulls you in to her character’s world. They are perfect. A cover can make, or break a book in my opinion, and all St. Martin’s Press’ covers are first-class- one of my favorite publishers.

 

  

Coming in Paperback

June 14, 2016 

If I Could Turn Back Time

Buy the Book 

 

Told with Beth Harbison's wit and warmth, If I Could Turn Back Time is the fantasy of every woman who has ever thought, "If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I'd do things so differently...

 

 

Coming July 26, 2016 

One Less Problem Without You 

Buy the Book 

 

Be sure and move, One Less Problem Without You to the top of your list! (just finished it and "promise" to write my review before Tues. pub date). You will love the Cosmo chic cover, the three gals whose lives connect, a bad guy, teas, and "Diana’s Drinks" with 30-yummy cocktail recipes at the end of the book. Need I say more?

 

 

On a personal note: I think I was meant to go back and re-read this book. Makes you think of your parents. This week received the news my mom (some of you know she has battled cancer for 3 ½ yrs.) -now her body is shutting down, with less than a few months left to live. All of her many friends are saying their goodbyes, and I will be returning home, within the next couple of weeks, from South Florida to NC to spend some time with her and the family. This will be a difficult time- and not sure what lies ahead, as my dad depends on her for everything (they just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary), and his health is poor as well.

This is when we all want "more time", and regrets for all the time we have wasted. As she mentioned this week, even though she has known she has stage IV cancer for years, she kept thinking she was going to beat it, and she would have "more time." Now there is none. This book brought back some special memories and times with my mom, as a teen.

JDCMustReadBooks

Back to the Future: Untold Tales and Alt... This graphic novel is mostly focused on Doc but it also has Marty, Clara, Biff and many others from the movies. It's a collection of scenes that weren't in the movies. Some are an alternate or add in and others feel like explanations or behind the scenes extras. The reader gets to see Marty and Doc's first meeting, Doc's younger days and new adventures in time travel. Many of the stories are relayed by Doc to his and Clara's children Jules and Verne.

Back to the Future fans are sure to love these tales. It's also family-friendly, great for all ages.

 

 

   This is NOT your average zombie novel! As much as I love the standard zombie thing, I really enjoyed this story! I mean what's not to like...undead that stave off munching brains by consuming alcohol, a surly zombified private dick fumbling through piecing things together, a brothel, talking heads (seriously only a HEAD), robots, voodoo, bootleggers, Nazis and pretty much any other thing you didn't even know you wanted!

 

 

 

  I loved the zombies! It was really different to see them still have most of their mental faculties in their undeath. They do suffer from a bout of temporary amnesia upon first waking up in their afterlife, which only adds to the suspense and fun of them trying to figure out who they are, why they're kind of alive, and what the hell to do now that they are naked in a swimming pool with a gapping hole in their chest.

 

 

 

It was so entertaining to see Braineater Jones (yes that is his name...that he gave to himself) throwing himself into bad situation after bad situation trying to figure things out. All the while trying to stay hopped up on enough hooch to not turn into a real braineater. Oh yeah, did I mention that there's the whole problem of alcohol being really freaking hard to come by?

 

 

 

 

  I love the whole noir vibe too. Think Sin City in the 1930's, with a real undead problem. Just awesome. The lingo, the feel, the cesspool of a city, I dug it all, in a big freaking way.

 

 

 

I also appreciated the humor. Kozeniewski has a wry sense of humor, and it really fits perfectly in this story. There are so many other things I could say about this book, but 75% of the fun of it was being shocked by what was happening next. It was clever, funny, surprising, grisly, morbid, unique, and about 100 other awesome things.

 

 

 

 

 On a side note, can someone please make this into a graphic novel, cause that would be some next level stuff! And yes....please judge this book by it's cover, because it's equally as badass inside.

 

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.  

 

   Now I see what so many people were raving about! This book was fantastic! So I've heard people say, in regards to advice on writing, to write what you know! And with the Casquette Girls it was clear that one thing Alys Arden knew was New Orleans, but what made it REALLY burst from the pages so vividly was the fact that you could tell that she not only knew this place, she LOVED it. And this story shinned brightly because of it. The plot was a little slow progressing, but honestly I never felt bored or uninterested. The city she took such care in detailing was a character in itself, and it enthralled me, even being so devastated after a major hurricane. This city felt alive and I couldn't help falling in love it, page by page.  

 

    The supernatural elements to the story kind of snuck up on you, a little at a time, and I actually quite enjoyed the way this was done. Each introduction to something new gave you time to ponder what it meant, where it came from, and all those fun, nagging questions. The mystery just kept building and building, from so many different angles! It also worked brilliantly once you started getting the glimpses into the past, and how much of it was integral to what was happening around Adele now, hundreds of years later. I really enjoyed both the happenings in the past and in the present. I thought it was funny that as Adele was reading Adeline's journal, she developed this bond with her, she couldn't help becoming invested in these people, which was much how I felt while reading this book. I enjoyed each carefully crafted character. I loved how each one of them didn't feel all good, or all bad. They felt flawed, and real, and I loved them more for it. I also loved the brew of mystical, mythical and magical here. Every supernatural thing came together in this story in the most natural feeling way. I don't want to get into specifics because I was actually quite surprised by some of things that came into play here, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone else who might not know about everything to expect from this book.

 

    I could go on and on, but really I think if you are a fan of mystery, magic, the occult/supernatural things, and just great writing in general, you should do yourself a favor and pick up this unique and fantastic book! I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next, and I'll definitely be on the look out for more from her!