Author: nancyjmessina

The Kiss Quotient

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“A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.”

So I love Romance novels. They are my guilty pleasure, but traditionally I stick to the truly fantastical ones; the ones that could never happen in real life because they are in space, have magic, or are in the distant past, but all the hype for this book got to me and I checked it out. Boy am I glad that I did!

This book was a page turner. I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know more about Stella and her desire to find a way to get over her dating issues. I needed to know Michael’s backstory. Why did he decide to become an escort? The secondary characters were great as well, truly helping to move the story along.

These characters drew me in and I was rooting for them the whole time. I laughed, I cried, and I wanted to punch Philip for the jerk he seemed to be. So if you want to try out a contemporary romance, I would highly recommend this one.

All About Science – For Kids

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So being stuck at home with a 3 year old means that we are reading a lot of kids books. This post is meant to highlight two of our family favorites that have a science focus.

“Prudence looks like a full-time cow she wanders through pastures, she swats flies, and she lines up for supper. But Prudence is a part-time cow she is also a scientist, an architect, and an inventor, studying and building and dreaming and creating.”

I loved this story from the beginning, but it took my daughter a while to see how wonderful it really is. This special cow tries everything, but that doesn’t mean that her fellow herd members thought her trials were great. She wants to fit in, but being a cow and enjoying learning just didn’t quite mesh, but she does find a way to still be a full time member of the herd.

“Simple explanations of complex ideas for your future genius! Written by an expert, Newtonian Physics for Babies is a colorfully simple introduction to Newton’s laws of motion. Babies (and grownups!) will learn all about mass, acceleration, the force of gravity, and more. “

This story is perfect for getting your child involved in science and learning. It starts off with “This is a ball”, which is a simple concept. Then you learn about mass. Which is bigger, the big ball or the little ball? Then comes gravity. With a favorite toy you can quickly make the point of what gravity is and does, to every child’s delight. Then comes Isaac Newton, who gets an apple dropped on his head and you have a story of success. My daughter loves this story and can now almost “read” it to me, just by looking at the pictures.

For anyone with kids, these are two great stories. Even if you don’t have kids, they are still cute and fun to read.

The tale of the dueling neurosurgeons : the history of the human brain as revealed by true stories of trauma, madness, and recovery / Sam Kean

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” Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike–strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents–and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the brain were destroyed, altering victims’ personalities. Parents suddenly couldn’t recognize their own children. Pillars of the community became pathological liars. Some people couldn’t speak but could still sing. Sam Kean explains the brain’s secret passageways and recounts forgotten tales of the ordinary people whose struggles, resilience, and deep humanity made modern neuroscience possible.”

So this book took me almost an entire year to read and you might be thinking, well then I clearly didn’t like it, but that wasn’t the case at all. In truth, I am so used to reading fiction, that reading nonfiction was very refreshing, but it was time consuming. The material in the book was dense, but fascinating. I always wanted people to comment on the book when I was out and about with it, so that I could tell them whatever fascinating story Kean was explaining at the time.

I have recommended this book to many people throughout my year of reading it and I wanted to recommend it here as well. This book might take a while to get through if you are used to quick fiction stories like I am, but if you have any interest at all in understanding the brain, this is a perfect book to read. I didn’t even know I wanted to know about the brain until I started reading this book and then I was hooked. I wanted to know about the crazy experiments that have been done and gain a better understanding of how the different areas of the brain work. You never know when the information from this book will help you understand what is happening with a friend or loved one.

If this sounds like something you want to try out, check out The tale of the dueling neurosurgeons from our shelves today.

Kate Daniels Series

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” When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake. “

I am always looking for books that have that the hint of romance and fantasy piece and this series delivered. Kate is a strong female lead that has no problem working in a magically unpredictable world. Even when the romantic interest part joins the series, it doesn’t weaken her character, which was a relief.

The first book in the series might be a little confusing as the world building took a bit to adjust to, but once I understood the rules and how things worked, I flew through this series and each time I finished a book I couldn’t wait to start the next one. The nice part about the series though is that you don’t really have to read the next one in most cases. Each book is complete in itself, but does have an overarching villain that I was always curious about.

I think the author does a great job of building suspense and doesn’t rush into situations or conclusions of a particular story line. I would say that having read straight through everything that was listed as a main Kate Daniels’ story, I would recommend that you also read the supplemental material in the correct order. There were a couple of times where I felt I had missed something and having gone back and read some of the supplemental materials, it all comes together.

So if you are looking for something a little different and love fantasy with a hint of romance, I would say this is a great series for you.