China Rich Girlfriend

jacqui_monet
March 1, 2019

Title: ChinaRich Girlfriend

Author: Kevin Kwan

Series: Crazy Rich Asians, number 2

Genre: Adult/ Romance/ International

Pages: 479

This book, the second in the CRA trilogy did not disappoint at all! The story picks up 2 to 3 years after the first and, my goodness, it doesn’t miss a beat. Like all good soap operas we’ve got a car crash, plastic surgery, social climbers, meddling parents, a wedding, shopping sprees (in Paris!) and fabulous parties.

We’re reaquainted with past characters and introduced to a host of new ones who are hell bent on shaking things up. I loved seeing where Rachel, Nick, and Astrid are in their lives and seeing previous side characters like Kitty Pong become more fleshed out was fantastic. Kevin Kwan continues to do a great job at peeling back the curtain on the ultra elite VVIP life. I eagerly await book three.

Ratings

Plot: 5/5          Characters: 5/5          Ease of Reading: 5/5

Crazy Rich Asians

jacqui_monet
February 22, 2019

Title: Crazy Rich Asians

Author: Kevin Kwan

Series: Crazy Rich Asians, number 1

Genre: Adult/ Romance/ International

Pages: 546

I  enjoyed this book a lot. It was a pretty quick read and I appreciated that the author used authentic slang from the different languages that the characters speak and included a glossary for those terms and them bottom of each page.

Even though many of the characters come from obscene amounts of money, they still felt like real human beings. None of the characters were “all good” or “all bad” which tends to happen in these types of stories. Everyone had their own motivations, hopes and dreams. There were also a ton of characters, so I liked that the author titled the chapters with the character whose POV we were experiencing.

I’m definitely going to read the rest of the trilogy and watch the film.

Ratings

Plot: 3/5          Characters: 5/5          Ease of Reading: 5/5

Witches of East End Book Review

jacqui_monet
October 25, 2016

witches

Title: Witches of East End

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Series: Witches of East End (book 1)

Genre: SciFi, Fantasy,

Pages: 288

Ok, so my favorite writer for the past few years has been Melissa de la Cruz of the Blue Bloods and the Ashleys series. I have loved almost every book that she has written. I mean, there was one that I got less than a chapter into and pitched it. But this book was great! In keeping with the Halloween theme I read The Witches of East End.

The Witches of East End is the first in her series about a pair of sisters and their mother who try to live quiet lives without magic in a simple cottage in the Hamptons. Now, I feel that I must add that this is not a “pretty, rich, white girls with problems they created” type of book. In fact, not all the problems that come their way are their fault. Trouble tends to come to them because they are a little too generous. You see, they have been banned from using their powers but then one of them does so to help a friend who’s been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. Then they all start helping people. THEN they get accused of being witches. So much for laying low. The story is really interesting and has since become a series on Lifetime which is also pretty good.

Speaking of series: if you have read the Blue Bloods series of the same author (which you should in order to be able to laugh at certain jokes) you will recognize characters that have cameos. I’m not saying that you should read all of those to be able to understand this book, but I am saying that you should read this between Blue Blood books 7 and 8. Mimi talks about some of the action that takes place in this book, therefore it’s crucial for BB fans to read this.

 

Check out the links below to get the book yourself:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Cleo’s Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

jacqui_monet
October 16, 2016

The girls of Monster High are definitely of the “pumpkin spice latte” persuasion. Concerned with friends, fashion, boys and trying to pass their classes the ghouls are basically your average teen aged girls. That being said, grab your apron ‘cuz it’s time to get baking!

You will need:

Flour 1 ½ cup

Ground Cinnamon ½ tsp

Salt ½ Tbsp

Egg White 3

Baking Soda ½ Tbsp

Baking Powder ½ Tbsp

Ground Cloves ¼ tsp

Ground Nutmeg ¼ tsp

Sugar 1 ½ cup

Fat free Vanilla Yogurt ½ cup

Canned Pumpkin 1 cup

2 bowls, 1 oven, sifter, whisk, greased loaf pan

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Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Sift flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves and nutmeg into a bowl.

In a larger bowl, whisk together sugar, yogurt and egg whites.

Stir in the pumpkin.

Stir the dry ingredients from earlier.

Transfer the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes.

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Once completely cooled I like to top it with a powdered sugar glaze. It’s just about equal parts of water and powdered sugar. It should be smooth and slightly runny.

Alternative:

Instead of a loaf pan, you could use mini Bundt cake pans.

You can also sub the powdered sugar glaze for store bought cream cheese frosting. YUM!

Monster High Book Review

jacqui_monet
October 8, 2016

MH

Title: Monster High

Author: Lisi Harrison

Series: Monster High (book 1)

Genre: YA/ SciFi

Pages: 246

Review:

So I started reading Monster High by Lisi Harrison, and when I say “started” I mean that I’ve inhaled all four of the original books. Ms. Harrison is the woman who brought us The Clique and Alphas. That being said, although I initially loved the idea of famous monsters’ children (or grandchildren) attending a normal high school while reluctantly “hiding with pride” I was afraid that the story would be well, shallow.

Ms. Harrison’s characters in her previous stories have tended to be incredibly one dimensional. I am glad to share that this series has been great. Heck, she even has a mean girl learn her lesson. Unlike Sharpay from High School Musical who has to relearn her lesson over and over and… Done with the rant. Anyway…

I love her decision to use nearly all of the different characters that Universal Studios explored in the 1930s. The books have everything from swamp monsters to mummies and Hyde to the son of Medusa. All of the characters are very different from each other and even though some of them are popular kids at the school, Lisi Harrison does a great job at making sure that they all have different goals and anxieties. Not all of them are popular by the way, some of them are practically invisible to those around them especially Billy (but he actual is invisible).

There is also a good mix of “normies” or normal kids like Melody and her sister Candace who move to Oregon from Beverly Hills at the beginning of the first book.

I say read the books or buy them for a teen girl you know. It’s a great way to introduce SciFi to younger people without being too out there. Another plus is that it’s a series and introducing a series to a young reader is the best way to ensure that they continue reading. Simply put: if they love the characters, they will want to know what happens to them.

Remember, if this book interests you, check out the links below to experience Monster High for yourself.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Audio Books

*Side note: my brother Josh and I plan to be dressing up as Clawd and Clawdeen Wolf, the werewolf siblings at the high school, for Phoenix ComiCon next year. There is also a cartoon for Monster High on youtube, but be aware that it doesn’t follow the story line of the books AT ALL. Think of cartoon as more of an extended epilogue. I still think it’s kinda cute though. They have also released some full length animated features and a live action film is in the works (supposedly).

Judy’s Trifle Cake

jacqui_monet
June 19, 2016

In Daddy-Long-Legs, Judy goes to to a girl’s college and meets many new types of people, makes life-long friends, travels to places she’d never thought she’d go and experiences incredible new things. Segue! I think that a poor orphaned girl (whose name was literally chosen from a gravestone and the phone book) would love any chocolate dessert that was presented to her while away at her fancy new college. This recipe is recreation of something that my mother used to make for my siblings and I as kids. This version though is very quick and inexpensive. It’s light and airy and oddly refreshing. Judy’s Trifle Cake will leave a great impression on your dinner guests and not just the poor college students.

You will need:

Chocolate Cake ( I used a boxed cake baked in a 13 x 9in pan)

Chocolate Pudding (seriously, I’m not against the boxed stuff you guys)

 

Whipped topping (you can make it from scratch OR Cool Whip)

Vanilla extract.

Fresh Fruit (think berries)

chocolate shavings or mint

Directions:

Prepare the Pudding as the box says and chill in the fridge.

Prepare the chocolate cake but make a few substitutions. Butter for Oil and Milk for Water. Add a cap full of the vanilla extract. Place the baked cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Transfer it to a cutting board or tray (upside down) and return to the freezer for another ten. Once completely cool, slice off the top to make it level and all four sides. Next, cut into cubes.

There are a few different ways that you can plate this.

  1. If you have a trifle dish  you can layer everything together. Cake, pudding, fruit, whipped topping until the dish is filled. At the top, garnish with fruit and a sprig of mint.
  2. In a mason jar you can do the same thing treating it like a tiny trifle dish.
  3. On a dessert plate you can  make a square with four cubes, cover with pudding and you can either spoon or pipe the whipped topping. Lastly, garnish!

Well, that’s all for now. I hope you enjoy this super simple dessert!

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Daddy-Long-Legs Book Review

jacqui_monet
June 17, 2016

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Author: Jean Webster

Series: kind of the sequel, Dear Enemy, takes place in the same world but not with our protagonist.

Genre: YA

Pages: 185

When I first saw this book, it was sitting sadly on the shelf at the library. The front cover was particularly boring featuring an ambiguously aged girl sitting with a pen and paper half smiling out of a window. Then I thought, “Daddy-Long-Legs? Really? What is this, the true life story of Little Miss Muffet?” So, being the strange ol’ bird that I am, I checked the book out.

You know the old saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover?” It totally applies here. Daddy-Long-Legs was a great read. With only 185 pages, I inhaled the books in a couple of hours. Two words: page turner.

First published in 1912, Daddy-Long-Legs tell the story of an orphan named Jerusha aka Judy who gets sent to college anonymously by a man who donates to the orphanage. This mystery benefactor will pay for her tuition, books, food, clothes and any and all incidentals along the way. Judy is told that she can attend school without fear of being indebted to him, but on two conditions.

  1. Judy must write a letter to him every month until she graduates knowing full well that he will never write her back.
  2. She cannot know who her benefactor is.

At first I was worried when I realized that all but the first ten pages were written in a letter format. Yet, this style never got stale. Judy’s letters were so detailed that while reading, I forgot that there wasn’t any actual dialogue. The letters are also pretty funny especially when she is angry about something. Also, the book gets its title from the way Judy begins nearly all of her letters: “Dear Daddy-Long-Legs.” She calls him this because at the orphanage, she was got a glimpse of his leggy shadow.

Another worry I had, was the book’s publish date because I hate reading a book and experiencing some type of language barrier. (For example, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere; it’s good but the British slang is confusing. I guess I don’t watch enough BBC.) Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with that one bit. It’s almost as if Jean Webster debuted this book yesterday! The diction sounds current if not a more polite way of speaking. You wouldn’t even realize that this took place in yester-year if it weren’t for the cost of things being so little back then. The story also has interesting twists and turns like Judy falling in love with her roommate young uncle, school dances, vacations with wealthy friends and potential boyfriends.

So, I’ve concluded that I love this book and I stand behind it all the way. I mean, if the only thing I don’t like about it is the outside cover, it’s great! If you read this and decided you want more, films have been made in the US (several times), Korea and Japan as recent as 2005. There are even anime and stage versions that have been created. I haven’t seen all of them yet, but I will say that the Fred Astaire film is great, but has some very bizarre sequences that are literally excuses to have him dance.

 

If this book interests you, check out the links below to experience it for yourself!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006PV801Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daddy-long-legs-webster-jean/1120679007