Disclosure: I purchased this book with my own money. I have no connection with this book’s publisher or author in any way. No compensation was received for this review.

I have to say, I have never read a Jodi Picoult book before. I’ve seen a lot of them at Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, etc but I have never wanted to read one before. Her books have always seemed to me like the kind of books I just wouldn’t be interested in. So when a co-worker was describing My Sister’s Keeper to me, I thought it sounded good enough that I would read it. I finally obtained a copy of the book a few days ago, and read the majority of the book in 2 days.

This book made me laugh, made me cry, and made me angry. From reading the horrifying discovery of Kate’s APL, to Jesse’s run ins with the law, to Anna’s courage in standing up for herself, I ran the gamut of emotions. This book was hard to put down, and although the ending caused me to cry and I wished it had ended differently, I’d read it again in a heartbeat.

Anna has spent her entire life being her older sister Kate’s live-in donor. Kate has acute promyelocetic leukemia and is in constant need of granulocytes, bone marrow, and other things. In a lot of ways, she feels like the only reason she exists is to do this for her sister. So when she decides she’s had enough, right when Kate needs a kidney transplant, as you can imagine, the world for this family blows apart.

You will laugh. You will cry. You will be angry. But most of all, you will think. Was it right for Anna’s parents to force her to donate everything she could to her sister? Was Jesse’s determination to get into trouble to make himself seen by his parents, or his way of punishing himself for not being the one who could save his sister? And what about Kate? She is the recipient of all of Anna’s “donations” and “gifts” but are they really what she wants? Would she rather just die and get it over with, or would she rather keep her sister around as a way to keep herself alive?

This book was wonderful, beautiful, and heart-rending. I am not often touched in this manner by books. My only thought is, if I cried at the book, what will happen if I see the movie.

Five Stars for this wonderful novel.

Disclosure: I purchased this book with my own money. I have no connection with this book’s publisher or author in any way. No compensation was received for this review.

If you could not tell, I adore Christina Skye’s Code Name Series. So far, four of the books are now reviewed on this site, including this one. Code Name: Blondie, like the rest I read before it, did not disappoint me at all!

What do you get when you combine a photographer who has just been in a plane wreck and a Navy SEAL just trying to get his job done on a deserted island? You get Code Name: Blondie! Murder, mayhem, and mystery ensue in this hilarious novel.

The Foxfire group is at it again, still trying to capture their nemesis from Code Name: Baby. They’ve traced him to a deserted island and are desperate to get both him and the weapons system he stole back. The only problem is, our SEAL ended up rescuing a couple of people from a plane crash at the same time. Now he has both of them to deal with, as well as attempting to find his man and the weapons system.

One of our crash victims is Miki, a photographer out to make a name for herself. Unfortunately, she ended up with a sleaze for a boss and when they have to fly out of their tropical paradise to head for home, they end up doing so with a storm rolling in! After they make an emergency landing/crash into the ocean, she ends up being rescued by Max Preston, Navy SEAL and Foxfire member.

What happens from there is pure, unadulterated lust, fun, murder, and mayhem. You just have to read this one to believe it. If you’re a fan of romance and action, definitely pick this book up.

Another five star read from Christina Skye.

I want a vacation and not one that involves having things run down my throat. I am having enough medical problems lately that I am seriously considering creating a blog just for them and my road back to health. Yes, I’m having enough of them. They aren’t as serious as cancer (I think) but then again, I’m not done being poked and prodded to find out what all is wrong with me.

But as far as taking a vacation goes, I would love to be able to go on cruises, bus trips, or just something that gets me out of town and off in my own little world for a little while. I’ve taken a trip to Texas, I’ve made trips back to Iowa for vacations twice, I’ve gone to California for vacations twice, I’ve gone to Disney Land once when I was little. I also went on a camping trip with the LDS church youth to Yankton, SD, and a temple trip with the LDS church to Chicago, IL. So I have gone a few places.

But I’d love to see Florida, New York, North Carolina (the heart and soul of NASCAR), Seattle, places like that. Places that you hear about for this or that reason, but ordinarily wouldn’t go to unless you either had someone who lived there to visit or had some reason other than just being a tourist. Note that I did not mention Hawaii. I don’t fly. So I do have places I’d like to travel. The issue is, getting the money to go.

Boy, today I didn’t have to worry about over stuffing myself on Pizza Ranch’s buffet. The reason? Well, I will tell you this, it definitely wasn’t due to my having taken the best diet pills! No it was due to something else entirely. I didn’t have any pizza.

You see, Pizza Ranch’s buffet is set up so that you can ask for a pizza that you like when you order the buffet. BFL and her mom like sauerkraut and candian bacon (nasty if you ask me) and I prefer the chicken or cheese alfredo pizzas. Well, they had a chicken alfredo w/ broccoli on thin crust on the buffet (like 2 slices) so I ordered a regular chicken alfredo w/out broccoli. The person taking the order says “oh the buffet ends in ten minutes, so I’ll have to ask you to just take the chicken alfredo pizza that’s on the buffet and pick the broccoli off.”

Excuse me? You honestly mean to tell me that you are refusing to make the pizza I’m asking for because you have one YOU feel is acceptable to ME already on the buffet? Yet BFL and her mom were allowed to order their pizza. Now here is the issue I had with it. I don’t like broccoli on my pizza. I can’t stand thin crust pizza. If the crust had been regular, I might have picked the broccoli off. However, that being said, the whole point here is – if someone who was allergic to broccoli had happened to be the one ordering it, they could NOT have simply picked it off. And there has been a big stink around our area about restaurants not being willing to make things to order for whatever reason, and getting in trouble for it due to allergens.

Now I could have been a butt and said I was allergic to broccoli, which I’m not. However, I was pretty miffed that I couldn’t order my pizza but my friends could order theirs, and theirs was one that if they didn’t take it all (they did, but still) very few other people would have taken it. I can see that customer service has taken a complete and utter dive.

I like to play video games. I don’t really care too much if they are on pc, playstation 2, playstation 3, or gamecube. I am not one for the wii. Bleh.

However, I am now strongly considering the wii, if only for the wii fit. I am in need of some serious exercise assistance as I am now once again struggling to lose weight. I am planning on (as soon as I’m used to my new shoes) doing some walking, but still, some other exercises would be good. Obviously, I’m a bit too large to actually use the wii fit, but if it could make the exercise a bit more fun, that might just help motivate me.

Goddess knows, I need motivation.