Review: Burned- Book #1 Burned Series - Ellen Hopkins -  March 2006 This particular book, I read about 13-15 years ago which would have been sometime between 2006-2009. During this time, I had just discovered Ellen Hopkin's books and had fallen in love with them as she talked and touched on what was normally seen as taboo topics for teenage fiction. Growing up in quite a sheltered life as my parents were Pentecostal Christians and my dad was quite strict, this was my way of discovering the outside world and learning about these sorts of topics. In the past six months, I decided to start clearing some of my older books which included recently one by Ellen Hopkins called Flirtin with the Monster. After reading this it spurred me back into wanting to read her other books again and I have Smoke which is Book #2 in this series on my kindle. So, I hopped onto the Libby library app and came across Burned which is Book #1. Re-reading it now in my 30's compared to my late teens/early ...

  Review: Keeping Kate - Lauren Winder Farnsworth - January 2015 One of my favourite things that I enjoy reading is contemporary versions and retellings of classic tales such as Austen/ Bronte/ Fairytale works. Keeping Kate is a modern day retelling of Jane Eyre. As this is published by Cedar Fort, the book also has a LDS basing on the story as the two main characters Kate and Tyler come from strong Latter Day Saint backgrounds and the novel of course is set in the heart of the Mormon culture in Utah. When Kate was a little girl, her parents died and left her with her uncle and aunt then more tragedy struck and Kate was left with just her Aunt and her awful cousins - like Jane Eyre, Kate was sent away where she learned her schooling and how to become a Nanny in return for board/tuition. The other side of the story is set years ago when a happily married couple Tyler and Camille discover they are to have a baby girl. The story then jumps nine-ten years into the future ...

Review: Sense and Sensibility - Rebecca H. Jamison - August 2014 As I am such a huge fan of renditions and especially Austen's tales when I saw that Sense and Sensibility had been re-written I knew I had to read it . In Sense and Sensibility , we meet Elly and her older sister Maren. Their father has just died from Cancer and now their house is being taken from the bank as they are in debt and cannot cope with all the bills. With Maren, still depressed from her father's death and her mum looking after their autistic sister Grace and juggling jobs - Elly takes it on herself to find herself a job as a programmer. She turns to the last place she ever thought she would, but then again she is desperate - her ex-fiance's Jake's business. They write code for Issuing machines for Libraries. Jake first left her and was already dating someone else - the day after they broke off their engagement and then he stole the code that her father's company was working on before J...

  Review: Destiny - Book #1 Destiny - Cindy Ray Hale - November 2013 Destiny is living in a world where she feels she does not belong as though her family used to be Baptists , Destiny and her brother Michael still attend Bethel Baptist School despite their religions changing over to Mormons or LDS. If only those around Destiny understood that she isn't really different because of her beliefs and that she hasn't been brainwashed. Because of her religion choices, Destiny is treated like an outcast and the worst thing is she has a crush on the principal's son Issac. At least Destiny isn't fully alone she still has her best friend Shanice and now newcomer Hannah. It seems this year will be Destiny's year to shine as she proves to everyone that just because she is a Mormon doesn't mean she is a leper and who knows her actions may capture the heart of Issac Robinson. The other thing I did like about this book was the quick snippet of Destiny reading ...