The Breach by Patrick Lee

Here is quick little review of what I just completed off my list. This is at my blog too, though I altered it slightly for this post.  :)

The Breach by Patrick Lee is absolutely not a book I would normally buy, ever. I'm a romance junky and this is all sci-fi-ish and a total guy book, which means it might as well be a classic that was written before my time. However, Fill-in-the-Gaps is all about me broadening my horizons, so when I saw this awesome cover art and a great title, I bought it. I figured I would make myself read it in the name of my Fill-in-the-Gaps list. 'Make' is not the right word, 'couldn't hardly put it down' would be accurate. I finished Lee's book in five days. I would have finished it faster but I had to force myself to put it down. Lee's believable writing along with my dream world is quite a crazy combination. That's a compliment, if you're wondering.

From the very first sentence Lee's writing had me, and by page five I was in love with his character, Travis Chase. All I wanted to do is wrap Travis up and make him all better.... and I didn't even know what he'd done to get where he was. For all I knew, he deserved his circumstance. I didn't care. I knew right then that I would follow Travis Chase to the ends of the fiction world, and I will. When book two comes out, I'm there. Oh and FYI to the ladies who like a strong female character... Chase teams up with a fantastic, kick-ass female character. White-hot embers. That's all I'll say.

Lee's book is one that proves any reader can be won over; any reader can be dragged across the line they've drawn, into areas they have always disliked.

I'm going to go off and pray that my grammar hasn't send any of you over the edge while all of you go buy this book. See you reading pals later   :^)

EDIT: I completely forgot about this. My twitter friend @Susan_Adrian is holding a contest at her blog on this book. If you want to try and win it, go here.

Bite Me! by Melissa Francis

AJ Ashe isn't your typical seventeen-year-old vampire—as if there is such a thing! She's stuck in the middle of a huge fight between her two BFFs. Her ex-boyfriend—whom she's still totally in love with, by the way—is now her stepbrother. A former classmate—who, um, she may or may not have turned into a vampire—is stalking her. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands. What ever happened to the good old days, when all a vampire girl had to worry about was the occasional zit and hiding her taste for blood?

Melissa Francis

My thoughts:

I've never been one for YA, so I figured I'd use this list to dabble in it some. If you can't tell, I'm shamefully avoiding all those classics on my list. I particularly have never been one for a book such as Bite Me! by Melissa Francis. One of the main conflicts in the story is that the main character's mother ends up married to the boyfriend's father. Ew! It's just so wrong. They are forced to break up because they are now step brother and sister.

Other than the step brother and sister conflict, it was an okay read. Melissa Francis is funny and that carried the book for me. Even so, it took me a while to finish it and I won't be rereading, but passing it on to my teen step daughter.

Also you should check out the author's website. It's an awesome one.

Happy Holidays!

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I am alive and I am reading, just very slowly. It's a good thing I joined this group because otherwise I would never complete any of the books on my list. On to the review...

What made me put this book on my list was that my husband read it, finished it, raved about it, and then acted on it. A rare thing for either of us when it comes to a self help book. This book has put a little bit of my faith back in self help books. Some of these people do actually know what they are talking about.

This review will be short and sweet because to me the book was just that. I'm not speaking in terms of length but in comprehension. In short, this man just makes sense. He explains things well and cuts through all the hoopla. I also appreciated the fact that even though the book is primarily about finances he touches on other aspects of life.

He is also truthful and blunt, something I like and can appreciate. His methods are not easy and take sacrifice, hard work, and focus. If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.

Since reading this we have paid off a loan, gone on a spur of the moment trip, fixed a flat the day it occurred, and learned how NOT to touch our stock and let it build. If you need a good financial push then I encourage you to read this book.

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

I only had three of these books on my list, because at the times I was unaware that there were four. I have finished all four and written about them at my blog.

So that's three off my list and I buy Silver Phoenix today and start reading it. Yes, I am going to finish To Kill a Mockingbird. I am. I am. I am.

Crystal's Fill-in-the-Gaps List

PROGRESS: 05/100

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
3. Kill Her Again by Robert Gregory Browne
4. Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
8. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
10. Marley & Me by John Grogan
11. Silas Marner by George Eliot
12. The Shack by William P. Young
13. The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
14. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
15. Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
16. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
17. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
18. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
19. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
20. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
21. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
22. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
23. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
24. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
25. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
26. A New Earth by Eckert Tolle
27. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
28. The Last Lecture by Randy Paush
29. Henderson and Rain King by Saul Bellow
30. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
31. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
32. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
33. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
34. Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle
35. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
36. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
37. Persuasion by Jane Austen
38. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
39. Emma by Jane Austen
40. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
41. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
42. Atonement by Ian McEwan
43. Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh
44. My Antonia by Willa Cather
45. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
46. Crazy Love by Francis Chan
47. A Genie in the House of Saud: Zubis Rises by K. F. Zuzulo
48. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
49. Drum Roll by Ernest Hemingway
50. Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
51. Power Play by Joseph Finder
52. The Syndicate by Jon F. Merz
53. Company Man by Joseph Finder
54. High Crimes by Joseph Finder
55. Black Hole by J. P. Daly
56. The Devil Inside by Jenna Black
57. The Devil You Know by Jenna Black
58. The Devil's Due by Jenna Black
59. Speak of the Devil by Jenna Black
60. The Dust of 100 Dogs by A. S. King
61. Rowan of the Wood by Christine & Ethan Rose
62. Bite Me! by Melissa Francis
63. The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay
64. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs [Mercedes Thompson Series]
65. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs [Mercedes Thompson Series]
66. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs [Mercedes Thompson Series]
67. Even by Andrew Grant
68. Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir by Daniel Tomasulo
69. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine
70. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
71. Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
72. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
73. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
74. Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
75. Good Grief by Lolly Winston
76. FIrefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
77. The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano
78. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
79. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
80. Anything by Ann Tyler
81. Dracula by Bram Stoker
82. State of Fear by Michael Crichton
83. Congo by Michael Crichton
84. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Drumas
85. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
86. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
87. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
88. 20,000 Leaues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
89. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
90. On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
91. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
92. The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
93. Little Wars by H. G. Wells
94. Some Chistmas Stories by Charles Dickens
95. The Breach by Patrick Lee
96. Lilith by George MacDonald
97. All Things Considered by G. K. Chesterton
98. The Vicar's Daughter by George MacDonald
99. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
100. The Poetics by Aristotle