The Replacement

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I put off reading this book for awhile - I was interested in it enough to want to read it, but at the same time repulsed by the idea of the book. While I was looking for something for The Duder to read, I picked up this book and committed myself to reading it. I'm glad I did and I hope that TD will read it too.

It's a strong character driven story, we're given a clear view of the protagonist and the antagonist is hearsay and acts until almost the end of the story when she is finally a character. I loved that aspect - we knew who we were against, but the struggle was to get our hands on her! loved it.

I also enjoyed not getting fed an entire history of being for the strange creatures that live under Gentry, or even a definition of what they really are. It let my imagination fill in the details (I pictured them very Tim Burton-ish) and the story wasn't held to any rules - as often happens with creatures (such as vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc).

There is some strong language (about 10 instances of the "F" word), sexual references, and teenage alcohol use, however I feel that this is not out of context with the story line (read: situational and not gratuitous) or real teenagers.

Looking forward to reading more from this author.



 Summary: Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.


Recommended Reading:
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Torment by Lauren Kate
Matched by Ally Condie
Crescendo (Hush, Hush Saga #2) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia
Radiance by Alyson Noël

October-ish

October is here. Oc.to.ber. Also known as The Month of Pumpkin Everything.

It's crazy how fast life is moving these days. It seems like just last week I was just prepping the deck and yard for summer, and now it's time to put everything away to bundle up for another winter on the prairie.

The leaves are slowly changing color, slowly falling from the trees. Soon this will pick up the pace, one day the trees will be clothed in beautiful yellow, orange and dusky red, and then the next they'll be bare, exposed branches. We've had unseasonably warm weather here, and I've been enjoying it. I've spent more time in my yard during September and (so far) October than I did all of the summer.



I'm still struggling with This Girl. She creeps in when I least expect it, I can only turn myself inwards, breathe, and try not to hurt anyone with my broken pieces. I am not healing, I am not fighting back, I am only surviving at this point.


Anxiety has been killing me since August. Every day I seemed to be wound up in knots, my thoughts and emotions like fallen leaves blowing across the yard. Whirling around and around with no destination. I'm working on getting rid of this anxiety, but sometimes setting up the boundaries and saying no umpteen million times creates a lot of short term anxiety itself. Most of my anxiety is caused by other people thinking I'm available at the drop of a hat or not respecting my time. I'm over it. I need my life back. I need to enjoy these things that I'm doing.


I have several goals through October.

1. Continue managing my anxiety (or if not managing it at least being cognizant to recognize when anxiety could influence my behavior and gracefully excusing myself to a better place), boundaries, and keeping my to do list proportional to reality.
2. Read three books. I seriously let the TBR list get out of control this year. Three books really isn't going to make much of a dent in that stack, but it will make me feel better about goal #3.
3. Finish prepping for NaNoWriMo. This year I am not reading in November. I am consciously choosing to not read. This hasn't happened in a decade. I have always had a book started, a book I'm struggling through, or a book that I'm blatantly ignoring in favor of Netflix. I am not reading in November. Instead I'm going to really do NaNoWriMo. No more of this moaning about never finishing my manuscript. It's getting done. I'm going to take all that stuff that I struggled to learn in my college class and put it to work in October so I can sit down and just write. Write and finish.

I have a few other small goals around the house, but they're just "blah blah blah". Little projects that once I sit down and do them I can easily knock out in an hour here and there.


October is going to be a month of renewal for me, I can feel it.

Patchouli Soap From Shari's Handcrafted Soap

1995 called and they miss me. I've been madly in love with anything Patchouli (and Sandalwood) all summer. It's been taking me back to my incense burning high school days. The colors in this soap are just an awesome tribute to Autumn, earthiness, representing a time to just settle and gather yourself (returning my inner hippie to her box in the corner) so I thought this would be a great time to try the Patchouli Soap from Shari's Handcrafted Soap out.

Ingredients: Olive Oil, Distilled Water, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Buttermilk, Unrefined Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Fragrance, Sodium Lactate, Skin Safe Mica, & Tussah Silk

First Glance: This bar is stinking huge! I didn't even look at the bar weight when I ordered, but when I took the bar out of the box I was floored by the size. It's manageable for small adult hands, but it's a thick cut bar with a good weight to it. The website says it's 5 ounces, but I'd guess that's a general minimum. I didn't weigh it to check. Packaged in stiff heat shrink with two open ends for sniffing capabilities, I could see most of the bar even with the two stick-on labels on the front and back.

 

The soap itself is lovely. Beautiful swirls that made me think of falling leaves blowing across my yard. The colors are solid and consistent, no graininess or unmixed color blobs in the swirls. The bar had a very glossy sheen and beautiful planed edges.

 

First Use: The soap lathered immediately with big luxurious bubbles. The bar is super hard, so there wasn't much change at all to the appearance of the soap. I was kind of disappointed in the smell - it didn't seem very "Patchouli" to me. I had to work to really pick out that scent. It almost seemed like there was a light citrus and powder scent covering up the patchouli. I do like the scent, it just wasn't what I wanted from a patchouli soap. No lingering scent after showering - which is ok and expected.

Overall Thoughts: This is a great soap, and while the scent wasn't what I expected, I am still ecstatic with my purchase from Shari's Handcrafted Soap. I look forward to using the other five bars that I bought from her. (Reviews coming! I promise!)

Disclaimer

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Sherry's Stuff. All products I review are either purchased by me, given as a gift, won, or received in exchange for an honest review.

The Sweetheart of Prosper County

The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was very easy to fall into. It was a well written story with characters, plot, struggle and resolution. I appreciated the spiritual aspects featured in the book - and if this was written as a YA Christian book, it was very REAL. This book didn't preach, it talked about boobs, and boyfriends, and squishy feelings. It also talked about prayer and letting God be God. I would have no problems loaning this book to any of my Youth Group kids - which is probably the first time I have said that about a Young Adult book, EVER.

This is the author's first book and I'm looking forward to adding more of her books to my reading list.



Synopsis: Almost-15-year-old Austin Gray is tired of standing at the curb and watching the parade pass her by. Literally. She decides this is the year she’ll ride on the hood of a shiny pickup truck in the annual parade, waving to the crowd and finally showing the town bully that she’s got what it takes to be the Sweetheart of Prosper County.
 But far from simply being a beauty contest, becoming Sweetheart involves participation in the Future Farmers of America (FFA), raising an animal, and hunting or fishing. Austin will do almost anything to become Sweetheart, and has the support of her oldest friend, Maribel, her new FFA friends (including the reigning Sweetheart, and a quiet, cute cowboy), an evangelical Elvis impersonator, a mysterious Cajun outcast, and a rooster named Charles Dickens. If only her momma would stop overprotecting her, and start letting Austin live her own life. But Austin can’t move on until Momma moves on, too—and lets the grief of losing Austin’s daddy several years before out into the open.
 Here is a bighearted story that will leave readers agreeing with Austin that sometimes, it’s not what you ride, it’s how you roll.


Recommended Reading:
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Pop by Gordon Korman
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
Donut Days by Lara Zielin
Prophecy of the Sisters… by Michelle Zink
Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I am completely underwhelmed. Did I miss something? What was the plot of this book? What was the struggle? What was the flaw to be overcome? This book had no point, no purpose, other than to host a couple cute sentences of dialogue and few zingy one-liners. The only compliment I can pay to this book is that the sentence structure and word choice were well done.



Summary: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got sucked into the hype, I'll admit it. It was enjoyable and I look forward to the next books. The story is told from multiple view points - each chapter is a new character clearly marked so that there is no guessing (I like that). The overall story voice was very static, not much changed in rhythm or word structure to indicate a new voice, although characters were very strong in action and thought. Plot was strong, action was strong, a beautiful weaving together of fantasy and medieval history into a world we can make sense of but yet a new place with history and traditions (and stories!) to be discovered. It was difficult to find the protagonist and antagonist in the story - until I realized it isn't one person against another, it's family against family. There are loveable characters - characters to cry for and laugh with. Characters to fall madly in love with or shake them from their stupidity. This book is very strongly anchored in many of the things that secure a strong series, and I'm glad I fell into the hype.



Synopsis: Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.

Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.


Recommended Reading:
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Soapmaker's Companion

The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How by Susan Miller Cavitch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a source of great information - there's lots of it, from technique to science. It was a bit dry and hard to follow at times. Recipes are for large batch. Must read it again to take notes for some of the chemistry breakdown. No photos, pictures are hand drawn (note: this is an old book, published over 20 years ago), no relevant information for internet suppliers, etc.

Summary: Basic soapmaking instruction and specialty techniques like marbling, layering, and making transparent and liquid soaps.