My Secret Life: "Spring For Susannah" by Catherine Richmond

"When Susannah goes to Dakota territory as a mail-order bride she finds something she never dreamed she would—true love.
With no prospects for marriage and her parents recently deceased, Susannah Underhill agrees to go west to the Dakota territory to marry her minister's homesteading brother, Jesse. But Susannah is painfully shy, doesn't see herself as worthy of love from either a husband or from God, and lives in constant fear that Jesse is going to ship her back to Detroit.
In spite of her petite size and the fact that Susannah doesn't look like she could survive on the prairie, Jesse quickly discovers that his new wife is a greater blessing than he even hoped for. The years she spent as her father's veterinary assistant allow her to save Jesse's ox and twin calves and to help neighboring farmers with their animals.
But Susannah's feelings of unworthiness are deeply rooted, and she can't believe that Jesse's praise—or the tenderness and love he shows—could possibly last. The thawing of her heart seems almost as distant as Spring in the midst of the winter blanketing the Dakota prairie."


     This book is all about a woman's journey to the Dakota territory, Susannah Underhill is a quiet reserved woman and appears to be very afraid of Jesse Mason when she arrives in her new home. 
     Jesse on the other hand, is quite the opposite of her. He's outgoing, but very loving and tender to Susannah. My opinion on the overall relationship of the newly married couple; I think it's cute. 

     The overall positive stuff I liked about this book was that Jesse is the most tender and loving husband that any woman would want to have. Right from the start Jesse adores Susannah, and thinks she's the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Which in my opinion is what any man should think when he gets married, and what he should think always throughout his marriage to that one woman. 
     I like how Susannah transforms from being quiet and reserved, to a little more outgoing and comfortable with her surroundings, which eventually leads to some big decisions around the ending chapters. And I really do like how the Mason couple's relationship grows and flourishes into a real married couple relationship slowly but surely throughout the book. It's a big difference when Susannah feels so comfortable with Jesse as to be playful with him, as husband and wife usually are. 

     However, there are some negative things that I have to say about this particular book. 
     I think that somewhere around the middle of the book it was really dry, and so I didn't read it for a little while. And the key with books for me is it really has to grab my attention, and if I really like a book I can read it within a few days. This book took me about a month or so. 
     I also have some warnings, it does have some little bits of married couple type stuff that they only do in the bedroom. But its hardly even descriptive, it was borderline icky stuff I guess you could say. And they don't describe what happens when they are doing it, all it is- is them getting in bed and then waking up the next morning. 
     It's a little inappropriate in the sense that Jesse does try to undo the front of her bodice several times throughout the book, but as I said before it's not descriptive beyond that. And then there is a reference to an old time condom, when issues arise with Susannah's health; concerning her bodies' skills to get pregnant. 
     Along with that stuff, I found it a little disturbing that Susannah had a terrible experience before the beginning of the book. I haven't exactly figured it out for sure yet, but I believe it has a reference to a terrible experience she had with a banker who broke into her house... and from what I could tell she was definitely beat up pretty bad, and then possible rape but I haven't figured that out for sure. I'd say she was just assaulted pretty bad, and thus her fear of Jesse. 
     Other than that I really don't have any complaints, but I didn't like how much... bedroom... stuff... was referenced, I mean yes they are married, and yes married people do it. But you don't need to tell us every time they do it. 


     And, yeah... other than that it was a good read. :) I don't think I'll ever read it again, but it was entertaining. 

~Jazz




*Thank you to Booksneeze.com for providing me with a free copy of this book for reviewing purposes* 

*I am not obligated to write a positive review, only an honest one*

My Secret Life: Heads up.

Just thought I'd say that I will be reviewing "Spring for Susannah" soon hopefully, and give you a full review when I finish it... I've got like 5 or 6 chapters left soooo hopefully I'll post it soon. :)
<----- This is what the cover looks like.

So yeah, I would love to say something about the book right now, but I haven't finished it... partly because I lost interest in it so I didn't read much of it for a while haha.
I'll have a review up soon. =)

My Secret Life: Fifteen and feeling boring...

Heyo everybody, 

     So... I'm not exactly sure what to write in this blog post, I suppose this will probably a relatively short one. Umm... I guess I've been getting back into the writing groove a lot, me and my friend Kayla are writing this book called "Back to the Heart". Really excited about that actually! =D 

Summary; 

 

Joshua Phoenix, mega-star on the Hollywood scene, and every day his ego becomes bigger and added to his already big-head. On the outside he's the boy next door, the boy every father would be comfortable letting their daughters date him, but behind the scenes of his glamorous Hollywood life. He's mean to everyone, and treats them all like dirt. 

After firing his sixth director for his music video that has yet to be filmed, and embarrassing himself and his family publicly, his single mother decides she's fed up with his attitude and makes the decision to send him to Copper Hills, Wyoming for the whole summer.

There he is set to live with the Carter's; a family living on a horse and cattle ranch. And that's when he meets his match; Riley Carter. A headstrong cowgirl with a "take-no-crud" personality. But this cowgirl despises Hollywood stars, always making normal people feel low and pathetic. But with the two teens stuck together for 3 whole months, can Josh teach Riley to have a little summer fun, and not fear the future but to chase her dreams? And can Riley teach Josh what a real life is?

     It's a lot of fun writing it with Kayla, =) I'm really looking forward to finishing it. And maybe even someday if we decide to we might even be able to get it published together, it'd be neat. And so far we've got lots of stuff planned out, even though I just came to the conclusion that there are a few kinks that we really need to work out haha. 

     Other than that, umm... nothing else has really been going on. Summer's here! =D Though it doesn't feel like it, everybody's to busy to do anything. =/ Horseback is fun though, I still get to go every week which I'm really happy about. And I get to ride Benny and Tipper way more than I deserve lol. 

     I've also been watching a lot of Medium lately... probably more than a person should. Maybe I should get out and do something more often. But yeah, I've been pretty good other than that. Kind of struggling with a few things in my head currently, but life's pretty good for this fifteen year old. =) 

     Besides the fact that I feel like my life is kinda boring, and needs more pizazz. I'm sure that will change soon, I'm smart and if I put my mind to it I can find something to add more "pizazz" to it haha. Anyway, I'll try to post more often. Hope everyone is doing well! 

Love, 

-Jazmine

Book Review: Nick of Time - By Tim Downs

**This is not my photo**

I just finished reading "Nick of Time" by Tim Downs; a book in the series of "Bug Man Novels".
Personally, I was a bit skeptic when I first read the description of this book but I was introduced to a whole new kind of writing and I actually really like it! Don't be fooled by the description if you are one to decide on reading books by the back cover, I personally thought it sounded stupid and more like a book a 9-year-old would read. But I was completely wrong.
I am happy to post this description of the book...

Forensic entomologist Nick Polchak lives in a world of maggots and blow flies and decomposing bodies. No wonder he's still single. 
But Nick has finally found a woman as strange as he is - a dog trainer Alena Savard, a woman who is odd, reclusive, and can seemingly talk to animals. It was a match made in heaven. 
Nick and Alena are scheduled to be married on Saturday - but there's one small problem. Nick has disappeared.
Caught up in a murder case involving an old friend, Nick finds himself on a manhunt that's drawing him farther and farther from the church where Alena is waiting. But will he make it back in time? Could Nick's single-minded focus cause him to forget his own wedding? Is he really pursuing a killer, or is he running away from something else? 


I have to say, I was very uneasy about reading this book, I was quite afraid I would have very little positive things to say about it ha-ha. But I rest my case, I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. This book had to be one of the most strangest reads I've ever picked up, but the character development is interesting, and the quirky ways of Nick and his VERY amusing antics and dialogues made it a fun and mysterious/suspenseful book! Never thought by looking at the back of the book that this book would be anywhere near making me laugh pretty hard.
Nick is a complete jerk sometimes, but the way he does things is REALLY funny. He's very sarcastic, and loves snapping at everyone (especially policeman ha-ha).
The story I would have to say is very intriguing, I don't really have anything much to say about the plot of the book, other than its very unique. Overall I really did like this book, it was a nice story with humor, mystery, and suspense. That's another thing; it constantly kept me on my toes when I got to probably around the middle of the book...

Negative stuff I suppose, there is a few references to beer but no one get's drunk, and there is no inappropriate content such as even a little kissing. And there is one scene with Alena, she took shelter in a bar to wait out of the rain for a call from Nick, and there is a man who flirts with her and follows her out of the bar when she rejects him. And it suggests that he was cheating on his wife at home, and there is a little bit of confrontation that suggest something bad might of happened if she hadn't done something about it, but nothing bad does happen so don't worry.
Those things don't bother me personally, but I thought I should throw that out there in case there is anybody who happens to come across this and doesn't like reading that kind of stuff. Along with that stuff there is some violence things, but that's what comes along with being a forensic scientist/entomologist.
But the things that do bug me; (haha, not meant to be a pun with the "Bug man" ;) is that I couldn't tell who was talking half of the time sometimes, I think that's a pretty amateur mistake on a writer's part, I mean I'm only fifteen and I try to throw a few "He said" "she said" things in there every now and then.
But there wasn't very much besides a couple of descriptions in between phrases, and those were the only times I knew who was talking.
That bugs me a lot, I have to go back and make sure I know that was Nick who said this... and not the other person.
I was also a bit disappointed with the ending, but I suppose not all books can end the way you wanted it to. I think the thing I like about the ending is that it leaves it open for sequels, or not, so the readers can imagine the future of Alena and Nick by themselves.
That's all I have to say negative about it though.

One more thing though...
There is a pretty radical twist in the book! You will be just as surprised as I will be! I am not going to say anything about it but... WOW. I was totally not expecting that twist in the book, Tim Downs caught me completely off guard lol!
That's it for my review. =) Hope you pick up this book and read it, if you like things like I just described.

Overall I rate this book four out of five stars. 

~Jazmine

Thanks to booksneeze.com for supplying me with this free copy of the book for purely reviewing purposes. 

NOTE: I am not obligated to write a positive review, only an honest one.