The Host by Stephanie Meyer

It's been quite a few months since I picked up a book. I saw this on the Lucky Day shelf at the library and just thought I'd give it a try.

The Host is an intersting story. When I think about how to explain it, I feel like I sound crazy! It's my first sci-fi book and I thought it would be fun to try something new.

There is an alien species that takes over earth and uses humans as their "host" bodies. They basically inhabit their body and erase the human within them. The aliens are peaceful so the world is a better place and feel that their exsitance on the planet is necessary for the human species. But humans are resisting, fighting back and hiding for their lives.

Melanie is one of them. She, along with her brother and Jared are on the run trying to survive being taken as a host. When one day Melanie is captured. Wanderer is the alien that tries to take over but Melanie is stronger and fights back. Her mind is wining but she is also beginnign to share what she knows about Jared and her brother. Eventually it leads Wanderer to where they may be hiding. Can Melanie protect them?

I actually really liked the book. It's very different from anything I have ever read. I have never read the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and really liked her writing style. You become invested in the characters and want to know what happens to them. This is not a fast paced book but I was still intregued.

I watched the movie afterwards and thought it was awful. I thought they could have done so much better. Not much was the same and I just wasn't happy with it. So I say forgo the movie and just read the book.

Brotherhood by Jerry B. Jenkins

I haven't picked up a book in a few months! I even started a few but haven't stuck with them. I have this book as a free download on my kindle app and thought I'd give it a try.

I have read the Left Behind series that Jerry B. Jenkins co-wrote but this is my first solo book I've ready by him.

In The Brotherhood is about Boone Drake. He had everything, a great family; wife and child, a great job, involved at church. Things just seem to go to be true. When one day all that changes. Life comes to a stop and Boone is left questioning everything, even his faith. You follow Boone as he tries to pick up the pieces and start over. He just might discover God is closer than he thinks.

I liked this book and I would like to read the next book in the series, The Betrayal.

Halfway to Forever by Karen Kingsbury

This is the 3rd and last book in Karen Kingsbury Forever Faithful series.

This book brings back the characters from book one as well as book two and picks up a few years down the road from where the other books leave off.

Each family is florishing and half way to forever when their lives are all turned upside down! They never saw the struggles they were about to endure coming and their faith is tested!

I don't want to tell many details so that those that have not read book one and book two will not have a spoiler!

This book took me a little longer, I was busy with other events in my life and this one was a little harder for me to be sucked into. I did like the story but have to say that the first two books in the series were my favorite. I do recommend any Karen Kingsbury lover to read this series as usual she is a great writer!

A Moment of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury

This is the 2nd book in the Forever Faithful Series. If you haven't read book one you can see my review earlier in January 2013.

Tanner Eastman and Jade Conner were best friends for three years when Jade moved away because of a family scandal. Tanner always said that he would one day marry Jade but as years went by he thought they would never see each other again.

Many years later Tanner takes a summer internship and of all things runs into Jade, the women he always thought of. They spend all their time together and quickly fall in love when one night they have a moment of weakness that tears them apart for years.

They each moved on, in their own way, when Jade ends up being in need of help from the one person she had promised herself that she would never see again.

This was a great story. This is the first series I have read by Karen Kingsbury that from book 1 to book 2 there are completely different characters introduced, though Karen does bring characters into book 2 from book 1 to tie them together. I highly recommend this series.

Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury

Waiting for Morning is the first book in the Forever Faithful series.

Hannah Ryan's world was turned up side down when her family was hit by a drunk driver. From that moment on her faith in God has wavered as she is now on a mission for revenge against the drunk driver to pay for what he did to her family.

Her daughter, Jenni, is left to go through loss alone since Hannah is so busy with court hearings and MADD meetings and she goes into a depression.

This story touched me personally in some areas! I cried through  most of the story and it was really good! I highly recommend you read this one!

Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots by Leslie Meier

This is the 3rd short story in the book.

Lucy Stone is a mother of 4 and a busy newspaper reporter. When she runs into a little boy Nemo at the grocery store and ends up buying a cookie for him, she is curious about his parents. Especially when the next day Nemo is kidnapped.

As a reporter Lucy tracks down clues to help solve the mystery of who may have take Nemo. She can't enjoy her Christmas until she does.

This one had potential to be a better story to me. As Lucy is investigating she does things that I am not sure a reporter could do and get away with. Like leaking information to the victims before the police so she could see their reactions for her own investigation. When things come to a close, it's so fast and there is no true ending. It  is such a dramatic ending (which could have been thrilling) but there is no follow up. When Lucy returns home her husband (which I didn't even know if she was married until the last 5 chapters of the story) he asks her where she was and she just reply's; "Running errands!". There is no celebrating or anything to bring the story to a close.

Over all it was a good story. I liked the story line and the writing. I just wonder with this one why it was left as a 150 page short story and not made into a true novel to make it a great story.

The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies by Laura Levine

This is the 2nd short story in the book that I requested from the library. I didn't not know that it was as 3 in 1 but I thought I'd give the other stories a shot and was pleasantly surprised. This was actually my favorite of all 3.

Jaine takes vacation to visit her parents at Tampa Vistas in Florida. She endures the ideosecrensies of her parents. From her father who buys a gold spinning Christmas tree and spends all her time there trying to get it to work, to her mother with her flamboyant sweatshirts with Christmas decor and her desire for everyone to love them! They are proud parents showing off their daughter who writes commerical songs as if she a Hollywood screen writer!

One night they go to the performance The Gingerbread Cookie that saves Christmas to watch all their neighbors perform when one of the actors fall to his death.

Jaine then takes on a little investigating of her own to find out who the murderer could be living among them in Tampa Vista retirement homes!

This book was so funny. I have to warn there is a little language, not much but that might make some turn away. It's a 100 page cute story that I really enjoyed. I would actually look up another book by her to read. Great Christmas fun!