It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Read and Reviewed

Crashing Eden by Michael Sussman (4-star)

Gabby, God's Little Angel by Sheila Walsh (5-star)

Sword Bearer by Charles Landreth (2-star) 

Books for Posting Review

Currently Reading:

Julia Reynolds is a homicide detective with beauty, brains, a smart mouth and a sharp investigative eye. She is the perfect foil for Tony Camarelli, who is handsome, tough, dedicated and thorough. Together they make a great team, trading banter, fighting crime, out to catch the bad guy. It all sounds like a normal day at the office for these two partners. Except for one little detail…she’s dead. Julia and Tony have worked together for twelve years. Their partnership is cut short the day that Julia is killed in the line of duty and Tony is left to pick up the pieces. 

When Julia’s ghost comes back to haunt him, she wreaks havoc on his peace of mind, plays on his nerves and interrupts his love life. It soon becomes clear that she won’t leave him alone until he agrees to partner up again. Hot on the trail of a sadistic monster, they must fight against time while trying to adjust to their new “living” arrangements.

Book Review: Crashing Eden by Michael Sussman

Crashing Eden


Author: Michael Sussman
Paperback: 218 pages
Publisher: Solstice Publishing (paperback: TBA, e-book: May 1, 2012)
Goodreads Link


Note: I received a review copy of this book free from Novel Publicity. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ 




My thoughts:


Crashing Eden has a good plot and likeable characters. While the story is mainly about the lost paradise, Eden, the author manages to incorporate a family story that grabbed my attention til the last pages of the book. 


Joss Kazdan's brother, Eli, has been the target of bullies whether in school or in their community. Joss, as a big brother, should have been there to protect Eli but he thought it wasn't a big deal until Eli hanged himself in Joss' closet using Joss' belt. The family struggles everyday, Joss' mom continuously blames him for not telling them about it, his father, a best-selling novelist, cannot write anything at all because of his depression, and this leads to Joss wanting to be a full time worthless kid in the family. I loved Joss' little sister, five-year old Callie. Joss loves her sister so much and everytime he wants to end his life, he would always think about Callie and his problems would go away. The characters and situations are believable, I was so absorbed with it but I almost stopped reading Crashing Eden because of the teen suicide, something I'm not really comfortable reading since I became a mommy. 

As for the Eden legend, I like to think that children 6 years old and below have a connection with the lost paradise. The storyline is really nice to read. While I enjoyed reading the Eden story, I was quite disappointed with the ending of this book. I'm trying to find a word that would describe the ending, maybe corny or cheesy? After reading a very serious and interesting storyline, the ending shifted to something like I was reading a children bedtime story. 

Overall, having read Crashing Eden only for hours, I definitely can say that I immensely enjoyed reading this book, without the cheesy ending, I would have rated this five.

About the book:


For one boy and his friends, the path to Paradise comes at a cost—one they may not be prepared to pay. When a biking accident leaves 17-year-old Joss Kazdan with the ability to hear things others can’t, reality as he knows it begins to unravel.

A world of legends exists beyond the ordinary life he’s always known, and he is transported to the same Paradise he’s studying in World Mythology. But the strange gets even stranger when his new friends build a device that delivers people through the gates of the Garden of Eden.


Now Samael, the Creator God, is furious. As Samael rains down his apocalyptic devastation on the ecstasy-seeking teens, Joss and his companions must find a way to appease Samael—or the world will be destroyed forever.


About the author:

Michael Sussman is the author of Crashing Eden, a YA fantasy/paranormal novel, and Otto Grows Down, a children’s picture book featuring illustrations by Scott Magoon. 


Dr. Sussman is a clinical psychologist and has also published two books for mental health professionals. He’s the author of A Curious Calling: Unconscious Motivations for Practicing Psychotherapy and the editor of A Perilous Calling: The Hazards of Psychotherapy Practice.

Dr. Sussman resides in the Boston area with his son, Ollie.



Author's website
Author's page at Solstice Publishing

Thursday Trailer: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead


Hardcover: pages, TBA
Release Date: June 12, 2012, Razorbill
Amazon Buy Link


Synopsis:



Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students--children of the wealthy and powerful--carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead's breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher.

Follow Friday

It's time for the weekly hop!! If you want to join the fun, visit Alison Can Read  for the link.

Q: Have you had a character that disappointed you? One that you fell in love with and then "broke up" with later on in either the series or a stand-alone book? Tell us about him or her.

I was gonna say Bella of Twilight Saga but I realized I never liked her that much to be disappointed in her. One character that I really loved was Anita Blake (by Laurell k. Hamilton), I loved her witty dialogue, her attitude and views on life. Anita's job as necromancer made her different from other paranormal characters. 

I was really disappointed with her when she acquired the powers of all the paranormal beings around her and especially when she joined the vampire and werewolf politics. It's sad to see her like that. I wish she just stayed as necromancer. I stopped reading after book 9, Obsidian Butterfly (my review here). I'm not really sure if I would continue reading the series, still have a few more Anita books in my tbr pile. Maybe someday I will but definitely not anytime soon.

How about you? Happy Friday!!!

Giveaway INTERNATIONAL!! : Firmoo Eyewear

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Firmoo.com started conducting a survey concerning the efficiency of the optical industry in the United States and found that this industry is one of the most inefficient ones in the country. The immense markup by the retailers does not benefit the optical stores too much as the traffic to each store is very limited, yet the consumers need to pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of eyeglasses worth just a fraction of what consumers pay. This is why Firmoo.com has established the online optical store here bypassing most of the expenses incurred in the brick and mortar stores. Through the harmonious collaboration between our optical experts, direct manufacturers and our overseas laboratories, Firmoo.com offers our customers the cheapest prices at the fraction of what optical store charges.

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GIVE AWAYS GIVE AWAYS

Firmoo, a US-based eye wear company is giving away five (5) pairs of eyeglasses/sunglasses/goggles from its online eye wear shop, Firmoo.com. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!!


*USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papau New Guinea, UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden，Netherland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Malta, Luxembourg, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Korea, South Korean, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Poland, Czech, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Iceland.

To join this eye wear giveaway, simply leave a comment at the end of this post. Extra points will be given to those who will follow Bookingly Yours, share this post thru Facebook and/or Twitter, with the link/s included in the comment section. This will end on May 9 and the winners will be announced shortly thereafter.


Good luck!!!!

Guest Author and Giveaway: Bryan Cohen

Bryan Cohen here, guest poster and author, promoting my new book The Post-College Guide to Happiness for The Happiness Blog Tour. I'm giving away free digital review copies of the book and doing a giveaway for paperback copies, audio copies and even a Kindle Fire! Read on and check out the info below the post.


“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”

― Jonathan Safran Foer


I haven’t had it as rough as some people I know. Yes, I’ve had my heart broken and I’ve lost people I love, but I know many people who have doubled me in both respects. One of the common wishes for those who have been hurt so often is to try to shut down emotionally. They try to deaden themselves inside so that the painful things don’t feel quite as painful. The problem with this is that quieting the pain also quiets the potential joy as well.


I’m a very emotional guy and I always have been. For many years I was a fool who rushed in emotionally, which led me to many disappointments and I considered trying to shut myself down emotionally so I could lessen the frequent pain I felt. Sure, I was a little melodramatic and hormonal in my youth, which contributed to my limbic craziness, but I can’t even imagine what I’d be like today if I was able to create an emotional wall that nobody could penetrate.


I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much satisfaction from finding true love and I wouldn’t be able to express myself with such a wonderful partner. Finding my true life’s work in writing might have passed me by because I wouldn’t have been able to recognize how important the feelings of fulfillment were to me. I might not have felt fulfilled at all if I was as closed off as I wanted to be. In addition, the love I feel from helping someone to improve their writing or to create something of their own might have been cut in half. This is a feeling that keeps me going and productive and without it I might have given up on these pursuits long before I found success in them.


If I had crushed my ability to feel sadness, I might have never felt the large dose of happiness I feel today. I’m extremely fortunate to be able to feel these emotions so richly. If you have closed yourself off from pain, I realize that it’s very hard to open yourself back up again. If you don’t allow yourself to feel these emotions, however, you may never be able to experience true and complete happiness.

Bryan Cohen is giving away 61 paperback and audio copies of The Post-College Guide to Happiness and a Kindle Fire between now and May 7th, 2012 on The Happiness Blog Tour. All entrants receive a free digital review copy of The Post-College Guide to Happiness. Bryan hopes to give away at least 1,000 copies during the blog tour. To enter, post a comment with your e-mail address or send an e-mail to postcollegehappiness (at) gmail.com. Bryan will draw the names at the end of the tour. Entries will be counted through Sunday, May 6th.


Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing. He has written nine books including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More, 500 Writing Prompts for Kids: First Grade through Fifth Grade, Writer on the Side: How to Write Your Book Around Your 9 to 5 Job and his new book, 1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More. His website Build Creative Writing Ideas helps over 25,000 visitors a month to push past writer's block and stay motivated.

Feel free to follow along with the tour at The Happiness Blog Tour Hub Page or on the book's Facebook Page.

Book Review: Sword Bearer by Charles Landreth

Sword Bearer 
Seeds of a Legend

Author: Charles Landreth
Paperback: 410 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (October 28, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Charles Landreth. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings: ★ ★

My thoughts:

I was so excited to read this book, even brought this with me while traveling. The first few chapters were really, really good. I liked the plot and I enjoyed reading about Jonran's invention, his journey, meeting friends, enemies, etc. However, I was too distracted with overly long paragraphs and few character dialogues. I have to admit that I have short attention span, had the hardest time staying awake while reading this book. 

Overall, it had a promising start, a good plot (I love Elves!) but hated the writing style. Anyway, here are some of the positive reviews for this book - click HERE.

About the book:

Sword Bearer is Book 1 of the Seeds of a Legend trilogy. The reader follows Jonran, the main character, as he escapes the cataclysmic destruction of his highly technological world and finds himself on a more primitive planet. Entering the world through a portal his body is transformed into that of an ancient race of people not seen in over a thousand years. As he looks for a new life in this world, he befriends a skilled but questionable thief that helps him through the trials of slavery and the gladiator ring.

Finally gaining his freedom, he falls in love with an Elven woman in the midst of a rebellion that splits her race. As the two escape the violence, they meet many challenges and find themselves put on a secret path by an old wizard's apprentice. That path leads Jonran to obtain a magic sword that the apprentice hopes will save his master, who is frozen in battle with an evil invading army. That sword, combined with the crystals of the Elemental Lords, is the only hope to push back the enemy horde and save the world.

About the Author:

Charles Landreth, a new author living in Dallas, Texas, has been a fantasy buff from an early age. First experiencing fantasy from years of Dungeons & Dragons adventures, he expanded his story telling with influences from bestselling authors such as Tad Williams, Raymond E. Feist and many more. Being an avid reader, he draws on a diverse group of styles to create The Seeds of a Legend series.

Guest Author: Mathias B. Freese

“. . . [T]hey introduced me to Krishnamurti fifteen years ago, by lending me a (now) tatty edition of his The Flight of the Eagle, which although baffling and to some extent unnerving me at the time, has led a direct path to the text I now write.” Roland Vernon, Star in the East


Since 1975 I have been reading the works of Krishnamurti, spiritual teacher and remarkable human being. Often we are surrounded by rather unusual people in our culture or the cultures of other peoples who we know nothing about. And then they die, and we die. When you read history, you muse about the life of Spinoza, for example, writing his philosophical work and then passing on. Often unknown to the world at large, these brilliant isolates, like Spinoza, are known to a few, most likely friends or family, and yet a hundred years later they have shaken the world with their ideas. Such was Krishnamurti.


His influence grows ever more and colleges have introduced his works into their curriculum, but he is hard to categorize, define, corral or explicate, as most unique people are. I have learned a great deal from him over the years; he has opened my eyes much more than they would have been. At the tip of my tongue are some of his insights: all societies are essentially corrupt, the observer is the observed (think on that one for an hour!), look as if it were for the first time (good for therapists and better still for family and relationships), the word is not the thing itself as well as the elusive and enigmatic, for we mere mortals, choiceless awareness.

After his death in 1986 at 90, the Krishnamurti Foundation continued to produce a plethora of materials, especially his recorded talks and writings; they are endless. The books that I have found quite telling are Think on These Things, The Flight of the Eagle and The Awakening of Intelligence. Read these three in this order and you either quit on him or have your pistons shut down. His teachings have saturated who I am as to raise high my good cholesterol, delightfully insidious. When I am stressed or experience angst, the fear of fear or the fear of death, I return to his writings. A disciple of his, Pupil Jayakar, wrote a biography of him which was given to me in the 1980s by a class that knew my fondness for K. They inscribed their feelings about me on the inside book covers which is interesting to read 25 years later. However, I am rereading the book once again; a chapter a night, for one has to go slowly with K. Here is one quotation I underlined last night.


Krisnaji asked:


“If you knew that you were about to die, what would you do? Can you live one hour completely — live one day — one hour — as you were going to die the next hour? But if you die so that you are living fully in this hour, there is enormous vitality, tremendous attention to everything. You look at the spring of life, the tear, you feel the earth, the quality of the tree. You feel the love that has no continuity and no object. Then you will find in that attention that the ‘me’ is not. It is then, that the mind, being empty, can renew itself.”


Mathias B. Freese
Website
Amazon
Goodreads

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Read and Reviewed

Escape From Camp 14 by Blaine Harden (5-star)
Initiation by Imogen Rose (4-star)
The Truth About Cats by Molly Brandenburg (3-star)

Books for Posting Review

Currently Reading:

She believes I am all but dead.

But I can hear her...

I've been still for many years now, my eyes closed, my body sunken, my muscles wilted, a soft, seductive beep-beep-beep of life-sustaining machinery just behind my head. I don't know why they keep me here, or why they bother to keep me alive; and yet they do. And they come and go, night and day and night, men, women, children, even an occasional pet; nurses, doctors, family, friends, strangers; they talk to me rarely, sometimes to themselves, and frequently to each other, or to no one. And they have very much to say, I have found.

They don't know that I can hear them...

But I can.

Book Review : Gabby, God's Little Angel by Sheila Walsh

Gabby, God's Little Angel

Author: Sheila Walsh

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 20, 2011)

Amazon Link

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from Booksneeze. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts: 

Gabby, God's Little Angel is the first angel book I've read to my kids, 6 and 3 years old, and they loved this book so much! The illustrations of angels and matching colors are cute and very nice to look at. The story is simple, can be easily understood by young readers. I liked that there are bible verses in the book and a picture of mom and daughter praying at night. I  felt that my kids are now ready for more bible stories after reading this to them. A book I highly recommend to mommies looking for a great book to read to her children.  

About the book:

This first book in a delightful new series offers a comforting message for young readers-God loves you very much and is always watching over you!

What little girl wouldn't love her very own guardian angel? Parents and children alike will be won over by this humorous tale of Gabby, a guardian angel in training who has much to learn about taking care of God's little ones. Her new assignment is to protect a young girl named Sophie, but Gabby soon realizes that watching after Sophie is a bigger challenge than she had expected! After a close call while riding her pony, Sophie learns what the Bible says about guardian angels: "He will put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go" (Psalm 91:11 ICB).

About the Author:

Sheila Walsh is an author, speaker and Bible teacher who has sold over 4 million books. Her heart is to show what happens when your real life meets the Word of God. She is the author of the #1 best-selling line of Christian books for little girls, "Gigi, God's Little Princess." Sheila is the creator of Children of Faith and the Gnoo Zoo, a ministry to children that communicates God's love for them. She is the author of several books for women including "Honestly," "Gifts for Your Soul," "Living Fearlessly," and "The Best Devotions of Sheila Walsh", "The Shelter of God's Promises" and her latest book, "God Loves Broken People and those who pretend they're not." As an accomplished musician, Sheila has recently released the CD "Beauty From Ashes." Sheila, her husband, Barry and their son, Christian live in Dallas, Texas.

In My Mailbox

IMM (In My Mailbox) is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren. 


This is a way to share books we received for review, bought, and borrowed from friends or library.

Received for review

On the eve of her 18th birthday, high school junior Alice Goodenough feels on top of the world. Classes are almost finished. She’s about to start her summer job at the local library, where she’ll be surrounded by all of her favorite books. And she has a wonderful boyfriend.
Then the rabbit shows up. The giant talking rabbit. He has a message:
200 years ago, the Brothers Grimm unleashed their stories upon the world.
Literally.
With the help of a magic pen and paper, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm brought all of their characters to life. The world was a more magical place … for a time. Slowly, the Grimms’ characters began to change for the worse. They became Corrupted. Evil. They didn’t belong in our world, but it was too late for the Brothers Grimm to destroy them.
Only a hero could save the day. Every generation for the past 200 years, a hero has been chosen to fight the Corrupted and rid the world of the Grimms’ fairy tales. To her horror, Alice has been chosen as the next hero. As her 18th birthday nears, she begins to realize life is never going back to normal. School will never be the same.
As for her boyfriend, Edward … well, he just might be hiding a terrible secret.

Guest Author: Christopher Rudy

Chris Rudy

True story of sexual deviant illuminates dangers women face, impact it inflicts on community 


Chris Rudy and George W. Davis offer suggestions on how to deal with sexual predators in “The Last Victim”


CANTON, Ohio – Authors Chris Rudy and George W. Davis tell the story of a man they believe is one of, if not the most dangerous criminal in Northeast Ohio history in “The Last Victim” (ISBN 1468017608). Rudy and Davis stress that the crime of rape is very important because of the effect it leaves on victims.


The authors tell the story of William Edward Griffith Jr. whose criminal acts of voyeurism and rape spanned three decades and six states. He attacked women in different states, and essentially reached the pinnacle as a serial rapist, before coming across Melissa Brown, who became his last victim.


Rudy was inspired by Melissa when he attended the victim impact portion of the parole procedure in Ohio. He describes Melissa’s testimony as moving especially when she referred to herself as the last victim, the one whose case put him in prison. The heartbreaking testimony inspired Rudy to speak out against sexual criminals and the torment they leave on their victims for a lifetime. 

Rudy and Davis’ book takes readers on a journey through the investigation that would eventually lead to the imprisonment of Griffith. Rudy sums up the damage caused by sexual predators.


“We hope the reader will be inspired by this horrific tale, to write their area legislators. Sexual predators are the most dangerous people in society and need to be locked up, not free to feed on the defenseless in society,” Rudy says.  “States across the nation are not putting the Adam Walsh Act to full use”


“The Last Victim” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.


About the Authors:
Chris Rudy has been a law enforcement officer and detective for more than 30 years. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Rudy has degrees in organizational management and criminal justice and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.   


George W. Davis is an award-winning journalist, who retired after 42 years full-time in the newspaper industry, but he continues to report police and governmental news as a free-lance writer. He became the city of Canton’s first and only Public Information Officer. 


MEDIA CONTACT
Chris Rudy 
Email: carudy.karudy@gmail.com
Phone: (330) 949-6334
Website: www.thelastvictim.net


REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

Follow Friday

It's time for the weekly hop!! If you want to join the fun, visit Alison Can Read  for the link.

Q: Fight! Fight! If you could have two fictional characters battle it out (preferably from books), who would they be and who do you think would win?

Oh this is fun! I would love to see Jean-Claude (from Anita Blake series) fight with Quinn O'Connor (Riley Jenson books). Both are old and powerful vampires, oh surely with those powers they have, the battle would be epic!  As for the question who would win? Jean-Claude is only about some hundred years old but Quinn has over a thousand years making him very ancient and more powerful. So I believe Quinn would win!


How about you??? 

Book Giveaway: Escape From Camp 14 by Blaine Harden

The shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. 
North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin's Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Donghyuk did.


In Escape from Camp 14, acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and through the lens of Shin's life unlocks the secrets of the world's most repressive totalitarian state. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence-he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Through Harden's harrowing narrative of Shin's life and remarkable escape, he offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world's darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.

GIVEAWAYS GIVEAWAYS GIVEAWAYS

Penguin is giving away one paperback copy of Blaine Harden's Escape From Camp 14, and this is open to book readers and bloggers from the U.S. and Canada, must be 18 years old and above.
  
To join the book giveaway, just follow Bookingly Yours, leave a comment with your email. Extra points will be given to those who will share this post thru Facebook and/or Twitter, with the link/s included in the comment section. Book give away will end on May 3 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. 

Book Review: The Truth About Cats by Molly Brandenburg

The Truth About Cats
Notes From The Feline Underbelly


Author: Molly Brandenburg
Paperback: 80 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (November 3, 2011)
Amazon Link


Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the the author, Molly Brandenburg. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.


Ratings: ★ ★ ★


My thoughts:  


I actually accepted the request for my kids (6 and 3 y.o.) as I was told that the book is appropriate for cat lovers of all ages. Both my kids love to play with cats... and hamster, fish, birds, chickens - yes they have chickens as pets! I was out running some errands when my husband read the text and showed the illustrations to ours kids. They were frowning when they handed the book to me right after I got home. I thought it would be something they would enjoy reading, apparently, my kids found the illustrations too weird.

Okay, so mommy read the book instead. I'm not a cat-lover and as far as I can remember, I've only held one cat once in my life when I had been forced to bring that cat to my cousin's house. Anyway, I read the book and honestly, I had a good laugh just by looking at the illustrations especially the cat's expressions. I see those expressions all the time when I'm feeding their cats or when the cats are near our neighbor's doggies. I even shared some of the funny illustrations to my husband one time he's out with the kid's pets.  

Some children may find the illustrations too weird, maybe because they love to see colored pictures. I also found the text too complex for younger kids to understand. I honestly don't think this is appropriate for younger children below nine.

About the book: 

Get ready, get set, MEOW! Are you ready for the truth? Can you even handle the TRUTH? For cat cartoon enthusiasts, the truth has arrived, in cartoonist Molly Brandenburg’s THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS. It’s the funny, furry, follow-up to Brandenburg’s first book of cat cartoons, EVERYDAY CAT EXCUSES, the hilarious exploration of the inner life of cats, published by Sterling Books in 2008. Brandenburg’s cartoons are also currently a regular feature of the political website Restoringtruthiness.org. THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS is a random series of cat cartoons that explores the major issues of the kitty universe, including theological concerns, sleeping in piles of other cats, and the real question of who exactly has first dibs on the kibble bowl.

The book also introduces Frankie the cat, the loveably soulful cat with his eyes on a Hollywood career. In a series of lively line drawings, Frankie’s story is revealed, as this weight-challenged black and white cat finds his status on the home front threatened when a tabby kitten moves in and takes over his special place on the bed. Small issues, perhaps, to humankind, but to a feline, finding the right place on the owner’s bed is big time stuff, to be sure! THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS reveals all this and more. It’s sure to be the cat’s meow for cat lovers of every age. Available early November 2011 on Createspace.com and on Amazon.com! The truth is out there. And it’s sure to have a lot of fleas.

About the Author:

Molly Brandenburg is a writer, cartoonist, comedy performer and singer. Her cartoons have been published in newspapers and magazines, as well as the political website RestoringTruthiness.org. Her first book of cartoons, EVERYDAY CAT EXCUSES was published in 2008 by Sterling Books. When not drawing cartoons, Ms. Brandenburg performs as comedy lounge singer Miss Peggy Judy, who can be seen at PeggyJudy.com. Molly lives in Los Angeles with her daughter, Emma, and their three cats, Frank, Ava and Angel.