Flawless (Pretty Little Lairs #2):

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The pretty little lairs pick up right where they leave off, with Ali's body now found underneath her backyard and a murder investigation in full swing no lairs is left unscathed. With Foxy (Rosewoods super posh gallia of the year) just around the corner and Hanna's relationships with her dream guy Sean on the fritz she is left reeling. Sinking feelings of slipping back into dorkdom has her binge eating and back to old habits. With such old habits follows A who never seems to miss a beat with any of her lairs.
As for Spencer well much can be said about dating your sister ex boyfriend but should such things be said? Her A+ grades are slipping with the secret meetings she's had to have with Wren and with her parents giving her the freeze out over the whole 'kissing-your-sisters-boyfriend-is-deplorable-Hastings-behavior' Spencer is gripping at straws to hold up her perfect star daughter routine while A threatens her aimlessly over E-mails and texts.
Aria, my personal favorite little lair, has not had it easy what with her family about ready to fall off a cliff and her dads quirky mistress insisting their in love A's benevolent presence seems to irritate her more than anything. Her love life has taken a shocking turn for the worst as well, he English teacher found her phone and claimed she was out the ruin him, which paved the way for Sean to waltz in the same Virginal cookie cutter Rosewood guy who no longer thinks he wants to wait to have sex anymore-talk about a slap in the face to Hanna.
Now Emily; the confused little mermaid who may or may not be a homofob, which is really quite dreary seeing as she is lesbian. I'm rooting for that one though, screw her parents stuck up conservisim throw that shirt off, knock back a whiskey sour and kiss the girl already-if your into that sort of thing that. If not, give it a whirl anyway. And Toby, sweet, delusional, possibly phsyco freak killer Toby whose hiden secrets I am awaiting En Pointe to be revealed.
A, that rascal and her overly-patient nature to drag out every climax to her secret bomshel's like its European oil drums.
I loved how it started with a flashback and then how it proceeded on right where the first book left off, how the author assumes one read the first installment of the series and spend no time in retro long the past book(s). How boorish is that? I mean I did read New Moon before Twilight but there is no need to spend half my time reading about what happened in the first novel just to be equipped to dive into the second installment.
Each book is a wondrous read I found, like escaping into my many soap operas. I adore it when I get so involved in a series that I place on hold the next four books in it.
Complaint department: she spent too much time stressing A's vigorous  vice grip over everything, also the switching between points of view was okay but that was it, it was okay. The plot was nice well detailed and I always love a Galla, however I was expecting more intrigue in each of the lairs lives and I would have liked to see them moving together as friends. But you know I am so impatient. I am off to watch We Bought A Zoo with the family now; Guten Nacht lovelies.

I Remember Mommy's Smile:

Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780-6154-4752-0
Cover price: $11.95
Available at: I Remember Mommy's Smile
Availability: E-book Edition
Publisher: Baker's Dozen Press

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars. 

The words were simplistic and easy for children to connect with. I commend the amount of strength it took to writ this book; I don't think I could talk about my grandfather in such a way. The thing about loss is that the person who's been lost is important to us, it is hard to talk about it because we want to keep what we have left of them to ourselves. A human being needs to know two things about loss: 1.) There was nothing you could do to stop it. 2.) It was not your fault. 

This book made me cry and eternally sorrowful, it is etched into me so profoundly because it is true and raw. That alone is a reason to have this book sitting on your self. Everyone should know that its ok to talk about them but you shouldn't be forced to; you want to keep your grief silent take all the time you feel is necessary.  

The illustrations are quirky, different, and completely the perfect matching with this book. I don't think I could have imaged it better. The rich velvety colors and bold interpretations of the authors words was inspiring. The book itself was well bided and held my interest. The memoir type in which Dina recalled her mother was heart wrenchingly warm. The sheer depth of this children's book entrapped me in the story the words hung in my head heavy and my own memories swirled around them in an unpleasant way. It was deeply troubling to read this because I found so saddened and at the same time enlightening. I found that I learned many things from this book, things that seemed so self-evident to me that I couldn't understand why I'd never understood it before. 

My favorite quote came on page 30 where Dina depicted her mothers funeral and how a funeral parlor man took her hand to leave "I kicked the man's legs to make him go away." it showed Dina's courage while facing something she was saddened or afraid of. I liked how she left nothing out how the first page started out frank and bold. 

If you are to make a memoir make it clear that it's not a fictional romance, because sometimes people believe that losing there high school sweetheart will be the end of the world. What the book clarifies is that though you are sad now; it gets better. The pain ebbs but it's always there, Dina let's the children know that you can still live with the loss and sometimes you can even have fun. 

Complaint department: I didn't particularly enjoy the overly simple wording, but then again I am more leant towards prose in children's books.

Compass:

Format: paperback 5.5 x 8.5

ISBN: 978-4327-8696-0

Cover price: $11.95

Availability: E-book Edition

Pages: 68

Category: Poetry/American/General

Available at: Outskirts Press

Distribution: Ingram, Baker & Taylor

Published: Outskirts Press, Inc

Publication Date: April, 05, 2012

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

I am avid lover of nature most especially rain, thunderstorms are electrifying. So when I was given the opportunity to sit down with Erik Hansen's new poetry book I was in awe. I was entrapped by his vivid use of realism and vice grip on detailing the little things of nature that breathe life into its imagery. His poems were fluid and flawed, emotional and real and if you know my poems than you know that's basically how I write. Poetry is the deepest form of expression (though I suppose a painter would say so of pushing leaded paint around a canvas to form a musician)  there is nothing poised or neat about ones emotions. Brutal things emotions are.

Anyhow, Erik managed well, to capture nature while also throwing in his own reflections on his personal thoughts; thoughts having arose from glimpsing nature. I was deeply saddened that I was not outside while reading this or in the mountains perhaps by a kindling fire. Now as a history major I was entranced, his use of Berlin's aches, stark detailing of Oxford, and devastation of young soldiers in South Africa. He seemed to have touched on ever subject poetry ought to touch upon. Most of his poems did not rhyme in the classical form and I did find that at points I was wishing for a bit more... I don't know refinery perhaps. Then he would say things like:

"Francis, Francis

Where do these ghosts of yours come from?

These "dead sons-of-bitches" grinning whitely

In the streetlights glow"

And I'd be so taken aback with inspiration that I'd forget the book and start scribbling away a poem of my own thinking where the hell did that come from?

I do so adore being surprised.

As for instance when I reached his poem entitled Hush where his words danced along the lines of prose sucking me into a story of a man infused with his first hunt. Words would slap out at me such the likes of:

"Cold and sweating

Begging to sleep

Praying to die

Trudging across the fields

Of fresh cut stubble

Cutting my feet"

And once again I am left reeling, brows creased in concentration when I reached the end of the poem I let out a rush of breath and said "Where the hell the did that come from?"

What I most enjoyed about Erik's poems was the simplistic way in which they flowed almost faulty; how his poems were a crack in his mind not written but just there. A metaphor for it would be the San Andreas fault line how it is simply there, deeply rooted in danger and realism. How we all know of it , we drive over it, live by it, not accepting but ignoring it's presence. Humankind has always been truly good at ignoring unpleasant things, the fault line will crack and split in two, shifting the earth, stranding people in the mountains from the people in the valleys below; but it hasn't happened yet so we ignore it. Erik's poems make me think of all the things I am forgetting the remember.

Why the rating: I did not connect with every poem, some we're a bit boorish I admit, (which is not to distract from the others that were not) some poems melted away from the pages leaving me with thinking they were just lines and words. Rhyme is something I am fond of and though my own poems do not have much of it (I'm told) I found Erik's to be lacking also a bit of rhythm - as mentioned before. To a point in which I found myself adding or replacing words in a poem.

Favorite Poem: Daughter; it was so richly... just full of love. The greaat exactitude his words reaked with made my heart ache. How he choose his words to shape his daughter to form his image perfectly and the amount of pride that shone through the words was endearing. Also it was simple and smooth little words here and there to snap my attention, to make my lips twitch into a fond little saddened smile. For what it made me remember.