Maybe I should have called this month Book-tober?!

This month, my goal was two-fold. I didn't want to have as many re-reads as last month. And I wanted to complete the Oz series. Let's see if I was successful, shall we?

Sara Crewe and A Little Princess; being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The first was like the Reader's Digest version of the second. This is the story of a pampered little girl who becomes a pauper when her father dies, leaving her penniless and alone in the world. She is allowed to remain at her boarding school, but must work as a maid. She is clever, with an active imagination. One day, all of her imaginings become her reality. And she truly becomes a little princess!

Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz. Technically the eighth book written about the Blue Bloods, but only the sixth that is actually story. Two of them give background on the Blue Bloods. These are a fabulous vampire series. In it, the vampires, or Blue Bloods, are born vampires. They live a cycle, then their blood "rests.". When they are ready, they can return and live another cycle. Because of this way of life, they are "born" with memories of all of their lives. And they were famous people in the past. The biggest addition to the vampire lore is that they are the Fallen Angels. Two of them actually chose to become Blue Bloods, in an attempt to save their brethren. In this series, the Blue Bloods are being killed (the true death, which means they can never come back in a new cycle). They realize that they are being attacked by the Silver Bloods, Blue Bloods who have turned on their own and drunk vampire blood (a grave offense). The characters are interesting (each Blue Blood has a twin, to whom they are bonded each cycle). Sometimes, things go wrong though. And bonds are broken. In this book, we learn some back stories. We descend into the seventh circle of Hell. And we try to find a way to stop the Silver Bloods. I really enjoyed it. Pissed that the last book doesn't come out until 2013 though. Dang long time to wait....

Rinkitink in Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, The Magic of Oz, and Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Book ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen in the Oz series. The tenth book takes place in the island countries surrounding Oz. Prince Inga (whose family owns three magical pearls that will protect, give strength and impart wisdom) and King Rinkitink (and his talking goat Bilbil, who is actually an enchanted prince) are forced to rescue Inga's parents and the rest of his countrymen when they are taken prisoner. With the help of the Pearls (and Dorothy and the Wizard), they are victorious. They briefly go to Oz but eventually return to their island kingdom, happy and secure. In the eleventh book, Ozma and all of the magical items in Oz disappear one night. As Dorothy and her friends go in search of her, they learn that an evil magician is behind the disappearance. Once they find the magician, Dorothy turns him into a dove. He eventually repents of his bad deeds. And everyone in Oz is happy again! Book twelve gives us a little more background on the Tin Man. He was in love with a Munchkin girl when he back the Tin Man. In this story, he decides to track her down and marry her (because he'd promised to!). In addition to meeting new friends along the way, they have many adventures and eventually find Nimmie Amee (the Munchkin girl, who has married someone else by this time). In book thirteen, the wicked Nome King is back. He teams up with a young boy who has learned a magical word that can transform anyone into anything. The Nome King wants the animals of Oz to help him conquer Ozma. Unfortunately for him, good always conquers evil in Oz. He and the boy are transformed into nuts (no, seriously, a walnut and a hickory nut) by the Wizard. Then they drink from the Fountain of Oblivion and are allowed to stay in the Emerald City forever. In book fourteen (the last official Oz book written by Baum), Dorothy reads Glinda's Book of Records and discovers two groups of Ozma's subjects (the Flatheads and the Skeeters) are at war. Ozma and Dorothy then go to find these subjects. When they end up in trouble, Ozma's advisers- the Wizard, Glinda, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, basically the whole cast of characters we've met up til now- come to their aid.

The First Husband by Laura Dave. I really liked this book, from start to finish. Actually, start to finish it only took me a day! It's a very easy read. It's about a woman who's boyfriend of five years decides he needs to learn who he is. Without her. So what does she do? She meets someone else and, within six months, has married him and moved from LA to western Massachusetts. Of course, the ex decides he wants her back. And she loses her job as a travel writer, only to get offered a better job. Along the way, she finally learns who she is and what she wanted all along.

Candide by Voltaire. I decided to go old school, y'all. Like 1759 old. At first, I thought I had read this book before. Then realized it seemed familiar because I know the music from the play. Yep- a nerd through and through am I! I found myself singing the songs that went along with different scenes in the book. For a book written so long ago, it was a very easy read. Candide falls in love, loses his love (only to find her again), survives every adventure that comes his way (sometimes to the point of ridiculousness- no one could escape from death as often as he and his friends do) and through it all wonders if "all's for the best in this best of all possible worlds."

Always Something There to Remind Me by Beth Harbison. Definitely a good beach read. Even though I read it pool-side. In the 1980's, Erin and Nate fell in love. They were young and it was more intense than young love should be. But it ended over a misunderstanding. Fast-forward 23 years. Erin is now a single mom, about to be engaged to a wonderful man. But she never truly got over Nate. When she sees him again, they immediately fall into bed together, despite the fact that he is now married. To one of her best friends from high school. If given the choice, do you choose the man you never stopped loving or the man who is perfect on paper?

Cinderella. Yep, I went for a fairy tale. It's amazing what you can download from iBooks. I feel like everyone knows the story and has read it in a collection of fairy tales (or just seen the Disney version, which was all I'd ever done). So I thought maybe I should read it. It was just what I expected. And very sweet, just like a Disney movie should be.

The Story Girl and The Golden Road by LM Montgomery. Both of these were re-reads. They are about a family (focus on the children) who live on Prince Edward Island. It's Dan, Felicity and Cecily King (siblings). Their cousins Beverly and Felix King (brothers). Another cousin, Sara Stanley (the Story Girl). The hired boy, Peter Craig. And a neighbor, Sara Ray. They have good natured adventures in the years they are all living on the family farm. Typical LM Montgomery charm and appeal.

40 Love by Madeline Wickham, aka Sophie Kinsella. Honestly, I'm still not sure what this book was about. It was British chick lit, which is usually my go-to. This one was about several couples (and their children), spending a weekend in the country for a fun tennis weekend. There were money problems, adultery, confusing British terminology. All in all, not my favorite. And I typically love 1- British chick lit and 2- the author who wrote The Shopaholic series. How she managed to go so wrong, I have no idea.

Sister by Rosamund Lupton. In this book, Beatrice returns home to England from NYC when she learns that her 21 year old pregnant younger sister Tess has disappeared. When her sister's body is discovered, it is ruled to be a suicide based on her postpartum depression after giving birth to a stillborn boy. But Beatrice doesn't believe that her sister would have committed suicide. And she doesn't stop searching for her sister's murderer. The book skips around in time a lot in the beginning, which I didn't enjoy. But once I got used to the writing style, I really enjoyed the book. The murderer (and the ending itself) was unexpected and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end of the book! This was Rosamund Lupton's first novel and I definitely thought she did a great job.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Alice Love wakes up from having hit her head at the gym. What's weird is that she doesn't go to the gym. At least, 29 year old and pregnant Alice doesn't go the the gym. 39 year old with 3 kids Alice does. Somehow Alice has lost 10 years of her life. She is now living a life that she doesn't even recognize because it was never the life she wanted. She is in the midst of a divorce from her formerly beloved husband and is almost estranged from her older sister. She realizes that 39 year old Alice is a bit of a bitch and she definitely doesn't like the woman she has become. When she does get her memory back, she has to figure out how to reconcile 29 year old Alice with 39 year old Alice. All I have to say is, thank goodness for the epilogue. It definitely gave me the ending I was hoping for!!

A semi-charmed kind of life

I just finished watching The Lovely Bones, which is a movie based on a book I read quite a few years ago. Both the book and the movie are excellent (but somewhat disturbing, as it's about a 14 year old girl named Susie who is raped and murdered by a neighbor). One of the images that comes into play in the movie is Susie's charm bracelet. She was wearing it when she was murdered and the murderer keeps it as a trophy of sorts. I remember from the book that the charm bracelet was very important to Susie. It made me think about my charm bracelets. Yes, there is an "s" on the end of that. I have 2 charm bracelets. I don't wear them very often, but each charm holds a special meaning to me, just like they did to Susie. Some charms have more than one memory attached. Which makes them even more special.

The first bracelet has the most charms on it. It's actually completely full! The first charm is a worm with glasses sitting on a book. Yep- a bookworm. That's me! Next is a Celtic knot. I got to spend some time in Scotland in college and that reminds me of that time. A square that says "made in USA". Duh. A jack o'lantern. This has 2 meanings. I love Halloween. And my dad has always called me punkin. A Christmas tree. The bracelet itself was a Christmas gift and this charm was already attached. A lizard. This one, I'm not sure about. I think from all of our trips to the Bahamas, where the lizards are everywhere. A hand doing I love you in sign language. My parents and I have always done this to each other, especially if we are driving away. A clover, for all the fun St.Patty's Days down in 5 Points. A bottle of wine. Again, duh. Scales, which are both my astrological sign (Libra) and my job (scales of justice). A frog with a crown. Because sometimes you have to kiss some frogs to find a prince. A palm tree for our trips to the Bahamas. A shopping bag, although I don't like to shop as much as I used to. A beautiful cross, for my faith. A pair of tap shoes- I danced all while growing up. A baseball for my favorite sport. A flip-flop for my favorite shoes. A heart that says bridesmaid. I've been in a lot of weddings. An R for my last name. A treble clef- I played the piano and took voice lessons all throughout high school. A kitten- my parents and I have always had cats. A fish. Perhaps for snorkeling in the Bahamas? A fortune cookie. I love Chinese food! A sun hat for the Carolina Cup. 2002- the year I graduated from law school (my last graduation ever!!). A rabbit. One year for Easter, the Easter Bunny brought us real bunnies!! A sand dollar for family beach trips. A little devil- I thought it was cute! A cheerleader- all 4 years of high school and 1 year of college, thank you very much. A snowflake for the few times it snows here in SC. A pig for my goddog. I know, that sounds weird. But Pig is her nickname! A graduation cap- that one was for high school. A dolphin from when my parents and I went swimming with them. And a Confederate flag. Because I am a southern girl!!

The second bracelet has slightly less charms on it, but it's still got a lot of them! The first is a pair of handcuffs. I used to be a prosecutor and I dated a cop. Enough said. Next is the Empire State Building, to symbolize all of my trips to NYC throughout the years. A Gamecock, well, because I am a Gamecock fan. A Venetian punter's shirt from the last time I went to Vegas and stayed at the Venetian. Sadly, not because I've been to Venice. A lighthouse. Which reminds me of Cape Cod. Movie tickets- I LOVE going to the movies. A cranberry bogger- again to remind me of Cape Cod. A martini/cosmopolitan glass for many a girls night out. Sunglasses because I love to lay out. The Twin Towers. I remember going to the top of one of the Towers as a child. A sombrero for my love of Mexican food. A single rose. My high school boyfriend played soccer. During half time of one of the games, the guys got roses to give to their moms. Boyfriend ran up to give his to me! A flamingo. During one of our trips to the Bahamas, my parents and I got to see a rescue flamingo who didn't eat shrimp. So he was completely white! Amazing. An airplane because I love to travel. A crown- I am a princess after all! A horse. My parents and I went horseback riding on a beach in Texas. My horse decided to throw me. Amazingly, it didn't create a fear of horses and I've been horseback riding a few times since. A skier. Ive been skiing only a few times, but have always really liked it. I actually wish I could ski more often so I could be better at it. A bird talon- for the Gamecocks. And Chinese letters. I was fortunate enough to get to go to China a few years ago.

And those are my charms!