Harriet Beamer Takes The Bus by Joyce Magnin - Review

Magnin, Joyce. Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus. Zondervan, 2012. $14.99. 320p. 9780310333555
Genre: Christian Fiction
Rating: 2/5

Every now and again we look up and wonder, what’s it all for? What is the purpose of my life? Well, in Harriet Beamer Takes The Bus, Harriet sets out to discover just that. 72 year old Harriet is a widow who lives alone in Bryn Mawr, PA.  When her son Henry and his wife Prudence discover that Harriet has fallen and can’t get up, they make a bet that if Harriet has broken her foot in the fall,, she has to come live with them. Clear across the country in Grass Valley, CA.  Give up the house her late husband built. Give up the friends she’s made. Give up her independence.  This, she does not want to do. But, the foot is broken. And Harriet is a bet-honorer.  

Harriet finds a buyer for the house, packs up her stuff, ships her dog Humphrey on ahead, and decides the only way she is going to California, is in her own way, in her own time. She's going to travel across the country using public transportation.

This adult road trip was not fun as it could be.  Harriet gets a Droid (just one of many name drops) and uses it to find hotels and transportation as she travels across country and she never once can't find a place to stay, no matter how last minute she calls.  She has a few small mishaps along the way – sometimes public transportation doesn’t run where she needs it and a couple attempt to steal her credit card – but she pretty much makes it all the way across the country no problem. Along the way she ships ahead the salt and pepper shakers that she collects. Meanwhile, Henry and Prudence, the son and daughter-in-law, face their own struggles. Henry has lost his writing mojo and Prudence is overworked. These problems too are easily overcome.

Along the way, I didn’t get a sense of the places Harriet visited or even Harriet herself.  She was your stereotypical spunky near-octogenarian, ala Betty White, but not near as funny. She spends such a little bit of time in each location that everything becomes a blur, both for Harriet and the reader.  The constant references to Amelia, the GPS in her phone, and YouTube, where a video of Harriet hitting a “hoodlum” with her tote bag has been uploaded, become tiresome instead of cute and affecting.  I really just wanted her to make it to Grass Valley already. Henry and Prudence are their own brand of bland. Nothing happened to reveal their characteristics so I had no idea what to expect from them and no emotional investment.

***SPOILER ALERT***

 I was, at first, interested in knowing if you could actually take public transportation across the country.  I was disappointed when Harriet suffered a heart attack before she could make the final leg of her trip. It was a baseless plot mover that led to me caring not caring whether she could make it or not.

***END SPOILER ALERT***

I would give Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus by Joyce Magnin a 2.  If I searched really hard, I could pass this along.

You might think differently,

Over on Goodreads - Harriet Beamer Takes The Bus - has a 4/5 stars as of 4/25/12.  If you think you might like this one, leave me an email address in the comments and I'll pass the ARC along. US Only.

Take a quick stop at Harriet's Blog to see her dog Humphrey and hear about her travels!

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Review - The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove
Lauren Kate
Razorbill/Penguin
245 pg (ARC)

My Summary
Natalie has come a long way to get to senior year in Palmetto. She's changed her looks and taken on a new background. Now all she has to do is win Palmetto Princess and she'll finally feel accepted. She has the perfect boyfriend and the best connections. There's only one person who can mess things up for her and that's Natalie herself.

My Thoughts
Betrayal starts out strong - I love Natalie's snarky voice. She's on the top and she knows it. She makes the rounds of the school, touching base with all the right groups ensuring that she and Mike will be Princess and Prince this year. We meet Justin (JB) while Natalie's on her rounds and we get the first hint that Natalie is not what we think.

As the story goes on though it morphs into more of the rich, high school soap antics type book we know so well. The way Natalie decides to callously cover up her mistake just bored me. The more I found out about her the less interested I was in her story.

I also felt there were too many pieces thrown in that weren't necessary to the story - Natalie's dad, Double D threatening Natalie, the whorish ways of the sophomore girls... I thought the ending was a copout also. What ever happened to Baxter and OP? Since a man can't change are we to assume Natalie couldn't change either?

For me, this book will only be purchased by request, so I give it 1 copy. I usually have a few students or teachers in mind when making a purchase and I couldn't think of any that might want to read this. But, I admit, these types of books are not my faves. I may have had a bias going in...so here are some other reviews.

Steph Su Reads
The Frenetic Reader
JuiciliciousssReviews

ARC provided by Around The World Tours

Review - ghostgirl and ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley

Readin'
ghostgirl
Tonya Hurley
Little, Brown
328 p.
3 hrs.

ghostgirl: Homecoming
Tonya Hurley
Little, Brown
284 p.
2hr. 15 min.

Writin'
In ghostgirl we met Charlotte and she'd totally transformed her life. New hair, new makeup, new clothes, new attitude...she was going to conquer senior year! And Damen. Damen is the most popular guy in the school and Charlotte has a huge crush on him. She's assigned to be his lab partner but then things go wrong. Dead wrong.

In ghostgirl: homecoming we are re-introduced to Scarlet, Charlotte's possession buddy. Scarlet's sister, Petula, gets a staph infection and is in the hospital. She's in a coma and they are not sure she'll get better. Scarlet decides to find Charlotte so that she can help her save Petula.

'Rithmetic
ghostgirl starts out strong: great premise, funny writing but then it kinda dwindles. Each part of the story is interesting: changing your life for someone else, dead education to help you cross over, trying to possess someone to get what you want, and a haunted house halloween party. Would probably have been better as four separate books. Also, Hurley seems to be cutting down a variety of people but I hope it's just some sort of tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. My main problem with ghostgirl is I didn't really feel a connection with any of the characters.

ghostgirl: homecoming featured much tighter writing. As with ghostgirl, there's more than one story line but Hurley is able to keep you focused on the main one. We get a better picture of Scarlet and understand that her trying to save Petula is motivated by her insecurity in her new relationship. This was a much better and faster read.

I give both books 1 copy. I'll get 1 copy of ghostgirl: homecoming and we already have ghostgirl.

Want to win a copy of ghostgirl and ghostgirl: homecoming? Check out Contest Monday!

Blog Tour And Giveaway- The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul

Readin'
The Vanishing Sculptor
Donita K. Paul
Waterbrook/Multnomah
Pgs: 398

Writin'
22 yr old Tipper is not sure what to do. Her father disappeared long ago leaving Lady Peg, and her, with the care and upkeep their estate, Byrdschopen. Tipper keeps hoping her father will appear as the money is starting to run out and she has had to sell some of sculptures to pay the servants and buy food. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse Tipper's father, Verrin Schope, returns. Sort of. He had been whisked away to a gateway that has become unstable. This unstableness meant that he could disappear again at any moment. Each disappearance/reappearance degraded Schope's health and he needed to find three of his sculptures to stay in this world. Unfortunately, Tipper had not only sold the sculptures, she didn't know who the final recipients were. Tipper, Verrin Schope, and Bec, her parrot guardian set out on a quest to retrieve the sculptures before it's too late.

Rithmetic'
Donita K. Paul introduces us to a world that is not quite different enough to make us forget our own. Couple that with a host of characters and the reader spends a lot of time trying to organize things. This proved to be distracting at times. As this was my first encounter with Paul's work, I'm convinced that being unfamiliar with her writing style was what stopped me from fully immersing myself in The Vanishing Sculptor.

Overall I give The Vanishing Sculptor 1 copy. I will purchase it for the school library but I will only booktalk it to specific audiences.

Author Talk
Donita K. Paul is a retired teacher and author of numerous novellas, short stories, and eight novels, including the best-selling DragonKeeper Chronicles, a series which has sold more than a quarter million books to date. The winner of multiple awards, she lives in Colorado Springs , Colorado , where she spends time mentoring and encouraging young writers. Visit her online at donitakpaul.com.

You can also find Donita K. Paul on Goodreads.

I have ONE copy of this book to giveaway! Just leave a comment and your name will be entered into a drawing! US residences only. The contest will run until July 8th, 11:59 PM, EST! Good luck!