Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan {book review}

Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Penny chews or hard boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money . . . the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag . . . Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian's sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong. Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton's sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully coloured sweets. Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams - a novel - with recipes.

I loved Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan and picked this one up the day it came out. Another perfect summer read. It's easy going and a great story about making life changes. Although it's fiction I feel it shows that life can take some unexpected turns and we should just go with it! I am also excited because it has an advertisement for Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe! Already on my wish list!! ~LiSa

The Sheriff of Yrnameer: A Reccomendation

"Finally a science fiction book your grandmother will love--if she's a lustful, violent lady." -- Stephan Colbert

The author, Michael Rubens is a former writer/field producer for The Daily Show and Yrnameer is his first attempt at sci-fi.  Written in the style of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, the book is ridiculous and illogical but delivered in a dead pan way that's quite hilarious.  Rubens has a ways to go before he is really on the same ballfield as Pratchett or Adams, but this was his first attempt and he made me chuckle so I won't complain.

From the back of the book:

Meet Cole: hapless space rogue, part-time smuggler, on a path to being full-time dead. His sidekick just stole his girlfriend. The galaxy's most hideous and feared bounty hunter wants to lay eggs in his brain. And the luxury space yacht Cole just hijacked turns out of be filled with interstellar do-gooders, one especially loathsome stowaway, and a cargo of freeze-dried orphans.

Reluctantly compelled to deliver these defenseless, fluidless children to safety, Cole gathers a misfit crew for a desperate journey to the far reaches of the galaxy. Their destination: the mysterious world of Yrnameer, the very last of the your-name-heres—planets without corporate sponsors. But little does Cole know that this legendary utopia is home to a murderous band of outlaws bent on destroying the planet's tiny, peaceful community.

Follow Cole's adventures through a delightfully absurd science-fiction universe, where the artificial intelligence is stupid, dust motes carry branding messages, and middle-management zombies have overrun a corporate training satellite. In the spirit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is sci-fi comedy at its best—mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page-turner.

April's Book of the Month

Fool: A Novel 'This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity,...If that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!' So speaks Christopher Moore, one of America's funniest and bestselling authors, regarded as highly as classic satirists such as Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Read Fool and discover for yourself why this book has dominated bestseller lists across the world, and why it has reduced millions of grown men and women to tears of helpless laughter...

This book was suggested by Stacy over a year ago, but since I live in the UK and publishers are different and so on it only came out here early this year! So, since Stacy's birthday is in April I've decided that this should be the book of the month!!! Be sure to check out our Poll Page for the book discriptions for May and the poll on the side!!

Recommendation: The Heather Wells Mystery Series by Meg Cabot

Size 12 is Not Fat: When you peak at fifteen, where can things go but downhill?
Former teen pop sensation Heather Wells has hit rock bottom: tired of singing other people’s lyrics, she hasn't exactly been bombarded with recording contracts for her own songs. Worse, Dad’s in jail, Mom’s bolted for Buenos Aires, and Heather can’t seem to stop drowning her sorrows in Kit Kat bars. To top it all, Heather's fiancé Jordan Cartwright has replaced her – on the charts as well as in his bed - with America’s newest number one pop sensation, Tania Trace.
When Heather finds a job in a New York college dorm--right around the corner from her temporary digs in her gorgeous friend Cooper's attic apartment - things seem to start looking up.... at least until girls in the dorm begin to perish at an alarming rate. Elevator surfing is the official explanation from university administration, but Heather has other suspicions, and - enlisting a reluctant Cooper's aid - she attempts to get to the bottom of the rash of teen deaths in the building where she works, never knowing that it isn’t her supper she’ll be singing for this time, but quite possibly her life.

Size 14 is Not Fat Either: It's the first day of the winter semester at New York College, and assistant dorm director Heather Wells has a lot more to worry about than roommate conflicts. One of the New York College cheerleaders has lost her head - literally - in the Fischer Hall cafeteria, and no one can find the rest of her.
With the entire population of the dorm under suspicion for murder, it doesn’t look like anyone on campus, least of all Heather, who is starting night classes, is going to have a good semester. She’s got a decapitated cheerleader and a demoralized student body to deal with, as well as enough guy problems to make a normal girl seek shelter in a convent. With her ex insisting she has to be at his wedding - The Celebrity Wedding of the Decade, her incompetent new boss freaking out over his job demands, her long lost father looking to reunite (with an eye on Heather’s far-from ample bank account), and the love of her life still no closer to realizing she’s the girl of his dreams, it’s no wonder Heather prefers questioning suspects to dealing with her personal life.
But when the murder trail leads her to the door of one of New York College’s oldest and wealthiest fraternities, Heather finds that initiation rites have been taken to a whole new level . . .

Size Doesn’t Matter: Heather should be happy. She’s finally got a boyfriend and although he was only supposed to be her "rebound guy", things have gotten serious fast . . .
She's also actually passing her first college course, and better yet her dad’s moving out.
On the down side, her boss, Dr. Veatch, may well be the most boring man on the face of the planet . . . But that hardly seems reason enough to put a bullet through his head. Can Heather find her boss’s murderer, answer Tad’s question, and get her landlord Cooper to realize that by letting her go, he’s making the biggest mistake of his life, all while maintaining a fifteen hundred calorie per day diet?

Emma by Jane Austen -- A Book Review

Description:

Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.

(words and picture taken from Amazon)

My Review:
(Spoilers included)
What a great story! Austen wrote that she thought no one but her would like her heroine, Emma. I have to disagree I loved Emma. She’s a bit spoiled and thinks well of herself, but I ask myself is there anything really wrong with that? Being confident and self-assured are all qualities I look for in people. Yet being confident and self-assured can also be called arrogant or conceited. Which can easily be mis-interpreted in some people (Pride and Prejudice). What’s wrong with being happy with who you are? Being a spoiled brat is awful because one could never be satisfied--always wanting more. If you are a little spoiled it can be nice and most people deserve a little spoiling here and there. There are problems if you think you are perfect and think there is no room for improvement. Emma does not think herself perfect. She just acknowledges that she was born to privilege and plays her role of dutiful daughter and neighbor and she has someone making sure her head does not swell to the size of a watermelon…

(Spoilers Start Here)

...Enter Mr. Knightley! I think he gives Mr. Darcy a run for his money!! He is a lot older then Emma, but I think that was common for the time period. Men had to make sure they could afford a wife and home e&…so they married later in life and chose young brides. Which was suitable for the bride as they had the comfort of knowing they had a sensible man to take care of them financial. That they love each other is obvious when her friend Mrs. Weston confides to her that she thinks Mr. Knightley likes Jane Fairfax and Emma gets in a right start and starts rambling that he can’t marry and ruin her nephew’s prospects. Made me laugh. Which is another reason I like this book: it’s comical. Mr. Knightly has been patiently waiting for Emma to grow up. He does not say anything out right about Mr. Frank Churchill except for passing comments of his foolishness. When he realizes that Emma never had any real feelings for him he can’t help himself, but to confess his feelings. It's my favorite part in the book it’s what the reader has been waiting for!!

(Spoilers End Here)

Emma is a lovable character who grows and changes as the story moves on. She's caring to all around her. Except for that nasty Mrs. Elton!! The supporting characters are fun too and I dare say that you may recognize your friends and family in them! I've read it twice now and I can say I will read it again if I ever find a lull. I have tons of reading to get on with, but sometimes you want a carefree love story. Austen is wonderful and I have three more of her books to get to!!

For a full background on the story check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma