My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This woman must have a very serious case of OCD, what kid enjoys tidying up not just her room, but her siblings and parents rooms as well? And she thinks tidying up your house is fun????
There are too many outlandish claims here. I cannot believe that none of her clients have ever rebounded as she claims and that all of the them have told her after taking her course that “Folding is fun!!!” I also don’t believe her claim that if you tidy your stuff other family member’s will suddenly want to do this as well. And folding clothes transfers positive energy to our clothes?
This book should have been a blog post; lots of filling with one small message, throw your stuff out! I would recommend you only read chapter three.

Here are the only unique points in this book:

DO NOT: Tidy a little a day. Tidy up ONCE, then daily tidying is using something and then PUTTING IT BACK in it’s place.

Do not tidy one room or drawer at a time, do this by categories: clothes, shoes, books, etc. Pull out every item of the category, create a pile and make decisions on what to keep.

Tidying up is: decide whether to dispose something or decide where to put it.

Don’t keep things, just because they were a gift. Only keep things that are used and bring you joy .

Store things Vertically, things at the bottom of piles tend to get forgotten. Fold clothes so they are stored standing up, so you can see them like the spines of a book.

Get rid of stuff until you reach an aha moment and you “know” that is the right amount of stuff for you.
I tried the folding method and it does give you more space in your dresser, but it has some serious flaws. It takes all day to take out and refold everything. If you make the rectangles just a little to big, the drawer will shut, but will not re-open. If you do not have enough shirts etc for a row, the vertical stack just falls over. You can NEVER take you clothes out to have them done for you because they will not fold your clothes in this method.  Oh, and this confirmed for me that folding is NOT fun!!!!

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Girl Sent Away by Lynne Griffin is the story of Ava, a teenager troubled by the loss of her mother and sister at an early age. As her behavior becomes worse, her father decides it is time to get help and sends her to a “school” for troubled teens, Mount Hope. But the school is not the helpful, peaceful place described in the brochure. This book is a good story and a very fast read, great for a weekend or a long plane ride. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not a how to get rich book, but it does highlight the parallels the authors sees among the world’s richest individuals. To become the elite of the elite, you must have a monopoly or some other way to game the system. It was very well written and worth taking the time to read it, even if I don’t think it will help me reach the Forbes billionaire list. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Bad Conscience, a fiction by Michel Quint, an earthquake hits, bringing the worst in some people in the affected area. Looting begins in the city. The earthquake also gives two officers an unexpected opportunity to try to find the city’s hidden drug labs and lords. The book has a little of everything. Expensive cars, a bag of stolen jewels, high speed car chase and of course murder. The only thing missing from this book was act four. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I rate give this book 4 out of 5 starts, it was crazy, and I like it! It was a very short book and would be great for anyone who would like to finish a book over one evening or one flight.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reamde by Neal Stephenson was one really long book! I thought it had some great characters and lots of actions. Definitely worth the read. I regret that I got this book as an audiobook to listen during the commute. Made it a little hard to follow, so if you do read this book, READ this book or listen in a quiet place

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The main character Che in Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright is a wine critic who had a very interesting Mother growing up. When her Mother passes away she receive a note with her ashes, requesting that she take them on a pilgrimage to Canterbury as they had long ago said they would do together.

She joins a tour of all women to take the pilgrimage together. Everyone is challenge to tell a story, as Chaucer’s pilgrims did. Some of these stories are better than others, but all seem much to short. The backstory of Che’s life was the best part of the book, some of the other characters and their stories were underdeveloped.

This a good chic book to read on a long weekend when you husband is out of time. Pull up a glass of wine…but make sure it is a good one, maybe a full body red, Che’s favorite. But skip the cheese; this book has plenty of it already.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pirate Hunters: The Search for Lost Treasure Ship of a Great Buccaneer by Robert Kurson is a thrilling non-fiction story of two men in pursuit of a sunken pirate ship. They are racing to find the ship as more competition begins to join the search and against the clock as more governments are forcing found treasure be handed over. But to find the ship, they first must understand the pirate captain behind the ship. The book has compelling backstories of the pirate as well as of the treasure hunters. This was a really interesting book.

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins was eye opening. I suspected the oil was the at the source of most US conflicts, but it goes much further than that. According to the author, we try to loan mass amounts of money many oil rich countries, know that money will come back to US construction and engineering companies. Because these countries near reach the projected growth we promised would follow the loan, we are also ensuring that we will have forced loyalty and cheap sources of oil. I did feel that the author was a bit of a hypocrite. He talks about what you can do, such as reduce your own greed and oil consumption, but talks about the large amounts of money he made, and how he has been traveling the world. Does not sound like he is taking is own advice. Now is a great time to read this book however, with another Bush running for office. This book talks about the many evils both senior & junior Bush have done while in office. READ IT!

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg is a historical fiction about the life of George Sands. It tells the story about this ones woman’s family secrets and her many romantic affairs. Overall, I would give this book a 3.5. It was not quite good enough to rank it 4 stars. I liked that the main character was a scandalous woman, especially for her time period; she would say what every was on her mind, dress in men’s clothes and smoke cigars. But some of the characters were not well developed and you don’t really get to know them. I also think the title is completely off, the main character seems to have a lot of disappointment in her affairs, and I don’t see how the “dream lover” is… The last hundred pages became a little tedious to read, and it became hard to finish reading the book. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler was the story of the Whitshank family. I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I would give this book a solid 4 out of 5 starts. It has strong characters and relationships. The story begins when Abby and Red start facing the challenges of aging and their children start pushing for them to get some help or to move to a retirement community. Determine to keep their independence and stay in the house, many family members move in to the house to help. Sibling rivalry begins to show in the close quarters of the old family home. We flip through time to learn the back sorties of this family. The book weaves together the story of the family dynamic, the love stories that brought it together and the secrets that it hold.

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