Book Review - The Birds Nest Outside My Bedroom Window - Cynthia M Sauter

Title: The Birds Nest Outside My Bedroom Window                      

Author:   Cynthia M. Sauter

Review:  When I read the author’s note attached with the book, I was thrilled to read it. It was written as a remembrance for her children when they watched the birds outside their second story window. They actually started watching /noticing these birds because of her father-in-law who happened to be going through the final stages of cancer. It is quite a unique story and that intrigued me.

I sat down and read the book to my two children as well as a neighbor’s child who was playing with us that day. Neither of my children liked the book much, but the neighbor child talked about how he liked the birds in the book. I didn’t love the book myself. There were a couple grammatical errors and the story seems like it is written for adults more than it is for children.

 I was also a little confused with the artwork. Some of the pictures are numbered, some have a penciled in text at the bottom. Sometimes the nest was drawn in pen and sometimes in pencil. The inconsistency of the artwork bothered me a bit. Because this is a children’s book, the artwork is a huge part of what keeps the kids attention. It fell short for me and my kids.

That being said, I admire Sauter for writing and publishing the book for her and her children. What a fun way to remember a loved one as well as support a local artist and friend. We should all have the courage to go out and accomplish the things on our own “bucket lists.” Way to go Cynthia Sauter!

Thanks Heather for this review.

Publisher: Published July 11th 2011 by Authorhouse

ISBN: 9781452099576

Copyright: 2011

Pages:  22

Quick Review:  2 out of 5 stars

Why I Read It:   Sent for review

Where I Obtained the Book:  Sent by author.

Synopsis: The birds nest outside my bedroom window is a true account of watching eggs in a nest which was so close I could have touched it. It was written when the family was dealing with the cancer of a loved one and his dying process. Thus, these birds were gifts from God to say in the moment and enjoy something for awhile each day.

Author Biography: Cynthia M. Sauter lives in Connecticut. She has two other children's books in the works. Also, she is working on a book called Red Embers which is poetry and short stories about her experience with loss.

Other Reviews:

Book Review - The Darlings - Cristina Alger

Title:  The Darlings

Author:  Cristina Alger

Review:  I enjoyed this book.  The writing is well paced and the story line kept me reading.  The story was interesting and very much about today and the way money is used in this country by those who have it anyway.  The abuse of power was disgusting and I like to think they all got what they deserved in the end. 

If you like fast paced novels with lots of drama and family issues this is the one for you.  You will keep turning the pages late into the night wondering what is going to happen and how it is going to happen?  Did the guy really jump off the bridge?  Read this book to find out and keep an open mind….not all of us have money like these guys…I don’t at least.  Wow to have that kind of wealth and power…what would you do first?

Great debut novel and I look forward to her next book.

Publisher: Published December 24th 2012 by Penguin Books (first published February 16th 2012)

Copyright: 2012

ISBN: 9780143122753

Pages: 352

Quick Review: 4 out of 5 stars.

Where did I get the book:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis:  A Bonfire of the Vanities for our times, by an author who "knows her way around 21st-century wealth and power" (The Wall Street Journal) Since he married Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to all the luxuries of Park Avenue. But a tragic event is about to catapult the Darling family into the middle of a massive financial investigation and a red-hot scandal. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties really lie.

Debut novelist Cristina Alger is a former analyst at Goldman Sachs, an attorney, and the daughter of a Wall Street financier. Drawing on her unique insider's perspective, Alger gives us an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society—and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions that powerfully echoes Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children and reads like a fictional Too Big to Fail.

 

Author Bio:  Cristina Alger graduated from Harvard College in 2002 and from New York University School of Law in 2007.  She has worked as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs, & Co. and as an attorney at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale, & Dorr.  She lives in New York City, where she was born and raised. The Darlings is her first novel and she is currently working on her next book.

Other Reviews:

NPR

NYTimes

USA Today

Monday in my mailbox

What was in your mailbox this week....anything like these books?
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Moment comes a remarkable new novel that explores how and why we fall in love.Laura works in a small hospital on the Maine coast, scanning and x-raying many a scared patient. In a job where finding nothing is always the best result, she is well versed in the random unfairness of life, a truism that has started to affect her personally. Her husband Dan has become a stranger since losing his job. With a son in college and a daughter set to leave home, she wonders how the upcoming empty nest will affect the disconnected state of her marriage.



Still, Laura jumps at the opportunity to attend a conference in Boston where she meets a man as grey and uninspired as her drab hotel. His name is Richard. He’s a fifty-something salesman, also from Maine, also in Boston for the weekend. When a chance meeting brings them together again, Laura begins to discover a far more complex and thoughtful man behind the flat faÇade. Like herself, Richard ponders his own life and wonders if the time has come to choose desire over obligation.



Five Days is a moving love story that will have readers reflecting about the choices made that so shape all our destinies. Featuring Kennedy’s trademark evocative prose and his brilliant ability to delineate life the way it is truly lived today, it is a novel that speaks directly to the many contradictions of the human heart.

In a tough job market, only a select few succeed at the interview process. What sets them apart? As President of Shimmering Resumes, Paul Freiberger helps job seekers rise above the competition and get hired. Now he's giving you the tools to ace the interview and win the job. You will learn how to: be ready for The Only Question You Must Be Able to Answer (not) tell the interviewer about your weaknesses answer any trick question or oddball question ask the right questions be confident in any interview situation avoid interview mistakes negotiate the salary you deserve Use the practical, effective, and proven techniques in this book to convert "We'll be in touch" to those four words everyone wants to hear: "When can you start?" "This book is powerful and expertly researched. Packed with interview advice you need to get your next job."-Larry Kramer, President and Publisher, USA Today.
No matter where you are on your beautiful, often exhausting journey through motherhood, Joy-Worthy gives you a plan to put yourself first without guilt and rediscover what gives you joy. If motherhood is sucking the joy right out of you -- or you fear it might -- joy coach and licensed social worker Julie McGrath offers down-to-earth guidance on how to get your own needs met so you can be a better mother and create the fulfilling life of your dreams. You don’t have to put your happiness on hold -- you can learn how to be happy right now, because you are joy-worthy!
In this frightening novel about the future, a series of catastrophic events not only cripples the world’s economy, but also ushers in the return of slavery. Traci and Bill Bianco were living the all-American dream, until the world as they knew it came crashing down.

Years after a black man is elected President of the United States and the Empire State building is toppled by an explosion, the nation is in a state of upheaval. But it’s Hurricane Molly in 2018 and The Stock Market Crash of 2020 that seals the country’s fate. Once the economy takes a nosedive, ordinary Americans must resort to the barter system to get by.

Food and shelter are exchanged for labor and initially it seems as though it may work, until the unscrupulous begin to take power and laws are changed. Though Traci and Bill actually fare better than most, economically, they are confronted with a new risk—interracial marriage is once again deemed unlawful and anyone caught is subject to arrest. Soon Traci and their four-year-old daughter are on the run.

Strange Fruit offers a post-cataclysmic world when desperation reigns supreme and people resort to the cruelties of the past to take control.
Welcome to the world of Number Cross Puzzles. These puzzles are designed to be both quick and challenging— they can be completed in as little as five minutes. (Using a pencil is definitely recommended!) Number Cross Puzzles improve critical thinking skills by utilizing problem solving strategies and logical reasoning in students. Recommended for anyone ages 8 and up.

Giveaway Hop - Kick-Butt - Turn You Passion into Profit - Walter Goodridge

I would have to choose Katniss from the Hunger Games...that girl is a fighter and not going down.

* Book Information - Giveaway and Feature- How about kicking some butt with a book on how to turn your passion to profit!!!!!!  Read on for your chance at a free copy chance.

 Title: Turn Your Passion Into Profit: A step-by-step guide for transforming ANY talent, hobby or passion into a money-making venture

Author: Walt F.J. Goodridge

Formats:    ebook AND hardcopy (pdf, kindle, nook, paperback)

ISBN-10:    0974531324

ISBN-13:    978-0974531328

Genres/categories: Non-Fiction; business, entrepreneurship, self-help

Synopsis: Walt Goodridge’s “Passion Profit” formula is simple. Take a passion–something you love to do, something you’re good at, something you already have a certain amount of expertise in, something that interests you–and use it as the basis of a way to make money. It’s a simple strategy that could be your “plan B” during an economic downturn! Find your purpose. Discover your passion. Create a product. Market it for profit. Yes, you CAN make money doing what you love!

Word/page count:  (338 pages @ 7 x 10)

Order direct from publisher: http://www.passionprofit.com

Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069AOMAY

Nook:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/j/1006207914?ean=2940013880467

Author website: http://www.waltgoodridge.com

Available on Amazon and BN.com

Additional Information:

INDUSTRY REVIEW: [From the Library Journal]...Libraries might find their readers better served by Walt Goodridge's Turn Your Passion into Profit , which is noteworthy for its more complete coverage and practical, down-to-earth tone and style.- --The Library Journal, Susan C. Awe, Univ. of New Mexico Lib., Albuquerque

Quoted and excerpted in Jay Conrad Levinson's The Guerilla Marketing Job Escape Plan,

Author Wylie's Only the Crazy and Fearless Win Big, Peter Patsula's Successful Business Planning in 30 Days, recommended in The Entrepreneur's Information Sourcebook, 

Featured, reviewed and quoted in Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Black Enterprise, Career Focus and other magazines.

PHILOSOPHY:

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RAISE YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING WORKING A JOB

"The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest-in other words, your passion!"

VALUE NO ONE CAN STEAL: 

"If you create and market a product or service through a business that is in alignment with your personality, capitalizes on your history, incorporates your experiences, harnesses your talents, optimizes your strengths, complements your weaknesses, honors your life’s purpose, and moves you towards the conquest of your own fears, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that anyone in this or any other universe can offer the same value that you do!”

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Book Feature - Back Before Dark - Tim Shoemaker

Title:  Back Before Dark

Author:  Tim Shoemaker

Author Tim Shoemaker Delivers a Spine-Tingling Follow-Up 
Tale in the Code of Silence Series

Author Tim Shoemaker brings attention to the startling number of child abductions in a riveting new novel in the Code of Silence series for teens and younger readers.  BACK BEFORE DARK (Zonderkidz; $14.99; March 2013), follows Shoemaker’s precocious teenage characters from the first book as they find themselves knee-deep in another dangerous case.

It is a normal evening for 14-year-old cousins Cooper and Gordy, and their friends Hiro and Lunk, who are out riding their bikes through the park. Then, all of a sudden, their lives are drastically changed when Gordy is kidnapped right before their eyes. 

With the police at a loss for leads, it’s up to Gordy’s determined friends—and Hiro’s gumshoe tactics—to find and rescue their pal. But none of them are prepared for the perils that lurk around every corner and threaten to split up the group, permanently. And Cooper’s often reckless rescue mission puts his and Gordy’s lives at risk. 

Shoemaker’s penchant for suspense will keep readers clinging to each page, anxious to find out what happens as the teens venture down one dark path only to find to another.  Fans will be left guessing all the way up to the book’s shocking conclusion.

At the end of the story, Shoemaker provides readers with discussion points and a question and answer guide from an actual police officer that teach kids how to take proper safety precautions in the event of an abduction. 

Complete with information that both adolescents and their parents can review, BACK BEFORE DARK is the perfect combination of thrilling realistic fiction and helpful truths. Readers will also learn that friendship, perseverance and faith can get them through any situation, no matter how impossible it seems.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Shoemaker is a speaker and author of several books, including 2012’s The Code of Silence. He has three grown sons and has been happily married for more than 32 years. His popular fictional stories are often inspired by his experience with kids as a volunteer youth leader for more than sixteen years.  He lives in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.

 Author interview here.